Daily Archives: January 25, 2021

President Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-U.S. travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation.

Biden is reversing an order from President Donald Trump in his final days in office that called for the relaxation of the travel restrictions as of Tuesday.

The decision to reverse the order is not surprising, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list highlights the new administrations concern about mutations in the virus.

The South Africa variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variant originating in the United Kingdom has been detected in several states.

Reuters was first to report Bidens decision to add South Africa to the list.

Biden last week issued an executive order directing federal agencies to require international air travelers to quarantine upon U.S. arrival. The order also requires that all U.S.-bound passengers ages 2 and above get negative COVID-19 test results within three days before traveling.

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Biden to reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions on travelers from Brazil, U.K., much of Europe, and add South Africa - KTLA Los Angeles

Santa Clara County will not provide Good Samaritan any more doses of COVID-19 vaccine unless it follows the rules, a sanction issued by health officials after this news organization reported hospital leaders allowed an affluent school district to skip the line and get vaccinated ahead of seniors and other vulnerable populations.

Good Samaritans actions are inconsistent with both the letter and spirit of the States direction on vaccine eligibility, Santa Clara County COVID-19 testing officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib wrote in a letter to the hospitals leadership on Jan. 22.

Fenstersheib said the county will provide enough vaccine to cover second doses for people already vaccinated at Good Samaritan, but will withhold additional vaccine doses unless and until Good Samaritan provides sufficient assurances it will follow state and county rules for vaccine distribution.

As first reported by San Jos Spotlight on Friday, Los Gatos Union School District Superintendent Paul Johnson emailed teachers and staff telling them they can sign up to get a vaccine at Good Samaritan at the behest of the hospitals chief operating officer.

Educators are not yet allowed to receive vaccines in Santa Clara County. The county follows state guidelines for vaccine distribution and barely has enough doses to vaccinate health care workers and people 75 and older. Good Samaritan itself reported to the county it is only vaccinating health care workers due to the shortage in vaccine supply.

Yet the staff at the Los Gatos school district, one of the most affluent in the county, was allowed to skip the line and sign up for vaccines as a reward for helping raise money for meals for hospital workers. Johnson encouraged teachers and staff to pretend to be health care workers when they sign up for a vaccine appointment at the behest of the hospitals top leadership.

As a result, Good Samaritan has not begun to broadly vaccinate persons 65 years of age and older, much less made focused and appropriate efforts to reach that group, Fenstersheib wrote in his letter Friday. Nonetheless, Good Samaritan offered to LGUSD that its staff, who are not health care workers, could make appointments and obtain vaccinations through Good Samaritan.

Fenstersheibadded thatGood Samaritans actions are problematic for multiple reasons, including not adhering to state and county guidelines,and putting Los Gatos teachers and staff ahead of those in areas hit much harder by COVID-19.

Good Samaritans decision to offer vaccination only to LGUSD staff also rewarded employees of a school district that had provided fundraising that assisted Good Samaritan employees, rather than prioritizing older educators or those from areas of the County with high prevalence of COVID-19, Fenstersheib wrote.

The move left some teachers outraged.

R.J. Fisher Middle School teacher Jim Fredette asked board members during a Jan. 21 meeting to demand Johnson rescind the offer because its unethical. He pointed to the fact that staff had to lie and attest under penalty of perjury that they were health care workers when signing up for the shots.

So this tumultuous episode in LGUSD history has reached its climax, Fredette said. While my 75-year-old Vietnam veteran father and 71-year old mother with metastatic breast cancer wait at home for appointments, district leadership has found a back door for Los Gatos teachers to receive vaccinations.

The drive to reopen Los Gatos schools and please the loudest parents, Fredette said, have broken our district leadership.

Some board members, however, said they didnt see anything unethical about the arrangement.

Lets be clear, the district did not reach out to Good Samaritan, Board President Daniel Snyder said. Good Samaritan reached out to the district to offer this to educators.

Los Gatos schools have not resumed in-person classes. The district has plans to open once cases in Santa Clara County fall below 25 cases per 100,000 residents.According to the states COVID-19 dashboard, the county averaged 67 cases per 100,000 this week.

Despite speculation from sources that Johnson sends his own kids to Los Gatos Union School District schools potentially raising questions about whether he could personally gain from the move the superintendent told San Jos Spotlight his children are adults.

But after the news broke Friday, Johnson sent a follow-up email to Los Gatos Union School District staff and teachers denying that the vaccinations had been part of a quid pro quo. Johnsons original email cited the fundraiser as a reason school staff can get a vaccine now because the hospital remembers their kindness in raising money for meals.

In my email to you, I mentioned the service opportunity last year. (Feed Our Heroes) We did that out of the sincerity of our hearts for the medical frontline workers as part of a Los Gatos community-wide effort, Johnson wrote. We did not give to get. The Good Sam vaccination efforts are not tied to our service, and Im sorry if this was miscommunicated.

By only offering vaccines to a certain school district, Fenstersheib continued in his letter, the hospital created additional confusion over who is eligible for a vaccine right now. As a result, other educators now incorrectly expect that they will be able to get a vaccine through Good Samaritan or other hospitals in the county.

The state earlier this month began vaccinating residents 65 and older, but health care providers in Santa Clara County, including Kaiser, are onlyvaccinating people 75 and updue to a vaccine shortage.

Fenstersheib finally laid out an ultimatum for Good Samaritan Hospital in his letter.

The County will provide Good Samaritan with sufficient vaccine doses to complete vaccination of those people who Good Samaritan has already administered a first vaccine dose for, Fenstersheib wrote, but the County will not provide Good Samaritan with any additional vaccine doses unless and until Good Samaritan provides sufficient assurances it will follow State and County direction on vaccine eligibility and provides the County with a concrete plan through with Good Samaritan will do so.

Contact Madelyn Reese at [emailprotected] and follow her @MadelynGReese on Twitter.

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South Bay hospital won't receive more COVID-19 vaccines after it allowed affluent school district to skip the line - San Jos Spotlight - San Jos...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) The Tennessee Department of Health hasconfirmed additional cases and deaths related to COVID-19 across the state for Sunday, January 24.

The total COVID-19 case count for Tennessee is 708,717 as of January 24, 2021 including 8,859 deaths, 2,128 current hospitalizations and 654,335 are inactive/recovered. Percent positive today is 9.78%. For the full report with additional data: https://t.co/jlAz8a6Upp. pic.twitter.com/K3dDTOQSVc

The health department reported 2,841 new cases, bringing the state to 708,717 total cases. Of those cases, 603,856 are confirmed and104,861 are probable.

TDH also confirmed 40 additional deaths, bringing Tennessee up to8,859 total deaths.

Out of the confirmed positive cases, 654,335 are listed as inactive/recovered, an increase of 3,052 in the last 24 hours.

There are 2,128 people currently hospitalized in the state.

Tennessee has processed6,184,590 tests. The latest update added 25,830 tests to the states total.

Vaccine Tracker

TDH updated TennesseesCOVID-19 Vaccination Planon Friday.

Protecting Medically Fragile Children and Adults

Tennessee has added people living in households with medically fragile children to Phase 1c of the states COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. Vaccination of their parents, caregivers and other household residents will help protect these children, as at this time no COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in children under age 16. Phase 1c also includes people age 16 and older who have medical conditions that put them at high risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19. This group is further defined in the updated plan, and occurs earlier in Tennessees plan than in federal vaccination recommendations.

Correctional Officers and Jailers in Phase 1a1

Tennessee correctional officers and jailers have been added to Phase 1a1 of Tennessees COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. These Tennesseans work in settings and roles that require frequent direct public exposure through close contact in confined spaces, placing them at high risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19.

Prioritizing Age-Based Risk

Age-based criteria run concurrently to the phases in age brackets beginning with those aged 75 and above.

Appointments for Tennesseans eligible under the Phase 1 rollout of the vaccine can sign up for anappointment online.

And to see what the vaccine availability is in your county, click here.

During Thursdays Metro Coronavirus Task Force update, local officials deemed vaccines as the No. 1 tool to getting back to some sort of normal life. However, the vaccine is in short supply, leaving many wondering if they will ever receive one at all.

Mass COVID-19 vaccination sites are popping up across the country but not here in Tennessee.Places like Nissan Stadium in Nashville will not be used as a mass vaccination super site, at least for now. The Tennessee Department of Health said mass vaccination centers are not on its radar at this time. The Metro Nashville Public Health Department told News 2 large venues could cause huge crowds and become super spreader events if not managed properly.

COVID-19 in Tennessee

On Tuesday, Governor Bill Lee extended an executive order, which added additional restrictions on who may attend sporting events in the state.

A more contagious strain of COVID-19 could sweep through the country and become the dominant variant of the virus by March, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TDH announced two confirmed cases of the new strain in the state on Thursday, making Tennessee one of more than 20 states in the country reporting COVID-19 cases caused by variants.

COVID-19 in Nashville

Metro Schools will continue to hold all classes in the virtual environment stating the decision to continue online classes is due to the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 throughout Nashville and the state of Tennessee.

While MNPS say their COVID-19 Risk Score remains too high to go back, some parents believe the numbers the district should be focusing on are their childrens grades. As of January 7, 18.4 percent of the district was marked as failing.

A Nashville-based company has launched new technology to ease problems with the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Overcoming COVID

With vaccinations now underway, what will life in Nashville be like six months from now? News 2 looked at what it might take for Middle Tennessee to return to some form of normalcy in a special report Overcoming COVID: A Peek Into the Future.

Stay with News 2 for continuing coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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COVID-19 in Tennessee: 2,841 new cases, 40 deaths reported on January 24 - WKRN News 2

by: News Channel 11 Staff

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) The Tennessee Department of Health reported 112 new COVID-19 cases and five new deaths in Northeast Tennessee on Sunday.

New cases by county: Washington 36, Sullivan 29, Hawkins 20, Greene 17, Carter 8, Johnson 2, Unicoi 0.

There are currently 2,429 active cases in Northeast Tennessee, down from 2,505 yesterday. This marks the eighth consecutive day of declining active cases.

To date, there have been 45,468 cases and 813 deaths in Northeast Tennessee since the pandemic began.

The total COVID-19 case count for Tennessee is 708,717 as of January 24, 2021 including 8,859 deaths, 2,128 current hospitalizations and 654,335 are inactive/recovered. Percent positive today is 9.78%. For the full report with additional data: https://t.co/jlAz8a6Upp. pic.twitter.com/K3dDTOQSVc

The following data was reported in local counties: (number in parenthesis is change since yesterday)

Carter CountyTotal cases: 5,199Inactive/recovered: 4,874 (+7)Deaths: 119 (+3)Active cases: 206 (-2)New cases: 8

Greene CountyTotal cases: 6,766Inactive/recovered: 6,265 (+31)Deaths: 116 (+1)Active cases: 385 (-15)New cases: 17

Hawkins CountyTotal cases: 4,606Inactive/recovered: 4,228 (+31)Deaths: 72Active cases: 306 (-11)New cases: 20

Johnson CountyTotal cases: 2,052Inactive/recovered: 1,906 (+9)Deaths: 34Active cases: 112 (-7)New cases: 2

Sullivan CountyTotal cases: 12,961Inactive/recovered: 12,037 (+51)Deaths: 220Active cases: 704 (-22)New cases: 29

Unicoi CountyTotal cases: 1,700Inactive/recovered: 1,557 (+5)Deaths: 45Active cases: 98 (-5)New cases: 0

Washington CountyTotal cases: 12,184Inactive/recovered: 11,361 (+49)Deaths: 205 (+1)Active cases: 618 (-14)New cases: 36

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TDH: 112 new COVID-19 cases in Northeast Tennessee; decrease in active cases continues - WJHL-TV News Channel 11

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of January 23, 2021, there have been1,831,351 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 114,752 total cases and 1,872 total deaths.

A death reported on January 12, 2021 of a 72-year old female from Upshur County was reported in error and has been removed from the total death count.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 80-year old male from Summers County, an 88-year old male from Summers County, a 65-year old female from Cabell County, an 87-year old male from Hampshire County, an 83-year old male from Wood County, an 84-year old male from Wood County, a 69-year old male from Pleasants County, a 64-year old female from Wood County, a 76-year old male from Harrison County, a 69-year old female from Preston County, a 65-year old male from Nicholas County, a 95-year old male from Lewis County, a 68-year old male from Preston County, a 62-year old male from Wood County, an 89-year old female from Wood County, an 81-year old female from Wyoming County, and a 70-year old female from Logan County.

We mourn the tragic loss of these West Virginians and send our deepest sympathies to their loved ones, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,057), Berkeley (8,469), Boone (1,372), Braxton (721), Brooke (1,837), Cabell (6,728), Calhoun (202), Clay (324), Doddridge (393), Fayette (2,274), Gilmer (549), Grant (946), Greenbrier (2,137), Hampshire (1,302), Hancock (2,380), Hardy (1,136), Harrison (4,215), Jackson (1,545), Jefferson (3,139), Kanawha (10,628), Lewis (782), Lincoln (1,093), Logan (2,218), Marion (3,122), Marshall (2,640), Mason (1,470), McDowell (1,183), Mercer (3,795), Mineral (2,403), Mingo (1,847), Monongalia (6,741), Monroe (849), Morgan (848), Nicholas (990), Ohio (3,218), Pendleton (518), Pleasants (749), Pocahontas (545), Preston (2,336), Putnam (3,647), Raleigh (3,883), Randolph (2,085), Ritchie (527), Roane (437), Summers (645), Taylor (955), Tucker (430), Tyler (540), Upshur (1,406), Wayne (2,220), Webster (236), Wetzel (952), Wirt (310), Wood (6,302), Wyoming (1,477).

Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 1-23-2021 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

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Despite Carnival being curbed by COVID-19, many are bringing the party curbside with Yardi Gras! - FOX10 News

AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) As Massachusetts heads toward colder months, those experiencing homelessness will be facing dangers brought on by cold temperatures.

This is a life-threatening cold, New England is famous for this. And we are very careful on days like this with the heavy wind to make sure that people can get out of the cold. That is why we are open 24 hours a day, Kevin Noonan, Executive Director of Craigs Doors said.

Craigs Doors in Amherst has been running a 24/7 emergency shelter at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst for the winter. The organization provides a warm space, bed, and food, among other services to the most vulnerable of our community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to the homeless community. Noonan said it is critical now more than ever that the needs of those experiencing homelessness are met.

COVID is a horrible nightmare, because of our limited capacity of 14 beds, we do try to find other shelters but they are all full. If people have sleeping bags or tents that they want to donate to we will be happy to receive them, Noonan told 22News.

People experiencing homelessness have a much higher risk of developing exposure-related conditions such as hypothermia and frostbite.

According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 700 people experiencing or at risk of homelessness are killed from hypothermia annually in the United States.

To learn more about services provided by Craigs Doors, click here.

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Amherst organization helping those in need as COVID-19 and cold temperatures continue - WWLP.com

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) Mondays mass COVID-19 vaccination event at the Greenville Convention Center got an early start Sunday with a soft open, a Vidant Health official on location told WNCT on Sunday.

The official start to the mass vaccination, put together by Vidant Health and the Pitt County Health Department, is Monday morning. However, WNCTs Ford Sanders reports the first round started on Sunday with the first batch of appointments starting at 1 p.m.

Organizers said theyre the first of what will eventually be thousands of vaccinations every week. Sundays appointments were few in number with the rest of the appointments scheduled for Monday and beyond.

Im thankful that I am able to get it, said Meriel Fornes, a Greenville resident who got a vaccine shot.

People who got the shot on Sunday during the soft launch hope their neighbors will follow suit when they are eligible.

I would say just go for it because I havent heard any backlashes about it and I think it is very good and would be very nice, Fornes said.

Meriel Fornes, granddaughter, Melissa Fornes, said this was an opportunity her grandmother could not pass up.

When she gets the special service of coming in today as one of the first ones here at the convention center its very exciting for me and I am glad I was able to take her, and we are keeping her healthy, Melissa Fornes said.

Melissa Fornes is a nurse and said she knows the importance of the vaccine.

I pray that everything goes well with everyone who is receiving it and that it does help stop all this that is going on in this world, making it weird now, so people are ready to get back to their regular lives, Melissa Fornes said.

Meriel Fornes said she is grateful to be one of the first in the area to get the shot at the Greenville Convention Center mass vaccination site.

I just hope and pray that it works, and I believe it will, Meriel Fornes said.

The mass vaccination was announced earlier this week and was eligible to eligible community members throughout eastern North Carolina as defined by the state of North Carolinas health guidelines. Appointments are be required for eligible community members.

Online scheduling began Friday and, after some technical issues with the online scheduling tool, people were able to log online and complete the scheduling process.

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Mass COVID-19 vaccination event begins at Greenville Convention Center with soft open for appointees on Sunday - WNCT

THE NUMBERS

One Vermonter died of COVID-19 over the past two days, the Vermont Department of Health has reported. The death toll is now 170.

Bennington County, which reported 35 new cases on Saturday and 15 on Sunday, continues to have the highest rate of COVID-19 among Vermont counties, at 256.5 cases per 10,000 residents. Chittenden County is second, at 235.0, and Windham County is fifth, at 176.1.

Forty-seven Vermonters are hospitalized with the disease, and eight of those patients are in intensive care units.

The health department reported 268 new cases of COVID-19 in Vermont over the past two days. The cumulative total reported is 11,033, which is 274 higher than the total reported Friday. The department did not explain the discrepancy.

All of Vermonts 14 counties reported new cases over the past two days. Chittenden County had 94; Bennington County had 50; Washington County had 24; Rutland County had 23; Windsor County had 19; Franklin County had 12; Addison and Windham counties each had 10; Lamoille County had eight; Orange and Orleans counties each had six; Essex County had four; and Caledonia and Grand Isle counties each had one.

Over the past two weeks, Bennington County has reported 285 new cases, and Windham County has reported 116. Chittenden County, Vermonts largest county, has had 694.

So far, 295,625 people have been tested. The reported seven-day average for positive tests dipped to 2.4 percent.

The number of Vermonters reported to have recovered from COVID-19 rose by 219 since Friday, to 7,396.

The health department reported that 364 people were being monitored for the disease as of Friday, a decrease of 83 from Friday. Of these, 133 are visitors to Vermont.

The statistics supplied by the Vermont Department of Health at midday each day are accurate as of the end of the previous day. The information is preliminary and subject to change.

Approximately 41,742 Vermonters have received at least one dose of vaccine to date, according to health department figures released Sunday. That includes 31,800 people who have received only their first dose, and 9,942 who have received their second.

That figure represents 7.3 percent of Vermonters who are 16 years old or older. In Southern Vermont, 8.2 percent of those eligible have been vaccinated in Bennington County, and 6.7 percent in Windham County.

The state has launched a new webpage healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine where Vermonters age 75 and older will be able to book an appointment for their COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday.

The page is accessible now, but cannot be used to make an appointment until Monday.

A call center number for anyone who is unable to register online, or who need to speak with someone in a language other than English will be announced on Monday and found on the MyVaccine website.

People are urged not to call any other Health Department number to make an appointment, or to call hospitals, health care providers, pharmacies or 2-1-1.

Vaccination appointments will begin on Wednesday.

If you plan to make an appointment for yourself or a loved one, visit healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine ahead of time to learn what information you will need to make the appointment. Youll also find links to Frequently Asked Questions and a video about the online process.

There have been 25 outbreaks in K-12 schools, with a total of 84 cases, the health department reported Friday. On average, there are three cases per school outbreak.

The department found that, while COVID-19 is being transmitted at schools, transmission is occurring in a limited capacity, since outbreaks at K-12 schools are usually small. It found that 83 percent of those at schools who had COVID-19 did not spread the disease to anyone else.

Portland police have arrested two people they say attacked a man because his car had Vermont license plates.

The suspects yelled at the victim and told him that he shouldnt be in Maine, then assaulted him on Friday afternoon, police said in a Facebook post.

They damaged his car and tried to pull him out of the vehicle, police said. The victim, whose name was not made public, was not seriously hurt.

Police responding to calls from witnesses found that the suspects had fled by the time they arrived, but both were arrested a short time later.

Nathaniel Glavin, 41, and Vanessa Lazaro, 22, both face assault and drug charges. Lazaro was taken to the hospital and Glavin was held on $10,000 bail. It was not clear if they had attorneys.

The University of Vermont womens basketball team has decided not to play the remainder of its season, the school announced Sunday.

The decision was made by the players with the full support of the coaches and the athletic department.

The team has played just six of its 12 scheduled games this season and has not played since Jan. 4. They finish with a 4-2 record.

The university did not give a specific reason for the decision but it came two days after the school suspended all athletic activity due to COVID-19 cases within the athletic department.

A coronavirus treatment that was once only available in hospitals is now being offered more widely across New Hampshire.

Infusion clinics for monoclonal antibodies have been set up at 13 hospitals and urgent care centers, according to Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette. The treatment also has been distributed to nursing homes.

This is really set up for those that are at highest risk for hospitalization and very serious illness. It is not a treatment that is typically used for people that are in the hospital or receiving supplemental oxygen, she said. So it really is done on an outpatient setting.

Patients will be referred to the clinics by their primary care providers.

Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee, who is set to take over as governor if Gina Raimondo is confirmed as President Joe Bidens commerce secretary, says hed like to see changes to the states coronavirus vaccine distribution plan.

The Democrat said Saturday he wants to speed up vaccinations for all Rhode Islanders aged 65 and older as well as for teachers and school support staff.

Under current guidelines, adults younger than 75 who are not in a nursing home or in another high-risk group have to wait at least until the second phase of the vaccine rollout to get inoculated starting next month.

Vaccinating educators will speed up the economic recovery, he said.

Were not going to open the economy until we do that, and teachers are not going to feel comfortable by and large until we get them vaccinated, he said.

McKee said he also plans on enhancing the states COVID-19 Advisory Committee, including adding Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and a national expert on the pandemic.

School districts across Maine are cutting back on in-person classes in response to staffing shortages in a number of critical areas as a result of a statewide surge in COVID-19 cases that began more than two months ago.

The shortages are affecting not just teachers, but transportation and custodial staff, The Portland Press Herald reported Sunday.

The Maine Department of Education doesnt track the number of open positions in schools but is responding to feedback from school districts about staff shortages.

More than 600 reciprocal and one-year emergency certifications have been issued to date under an executive order from Gov. Janet Mills to provide more flexibility for certifying education professionals. Nearly 2,800 educators have been certified without taking a standardized test that is normally part of the process but was also waived by the executive order.

The department is working with Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor to provide free learning facilitator training to students who can serve as substitutes or paraprofessionals in schools after a one-week boot camp.

Buxton-based School Administrative District 6 moved to remote learning recently due to shortages of bus drivers and mechanics who were in quarantine after potential exposure.

Were all thinking about teachers, but theres another whole side thats critical to the ability to function, and thats maintenance and facilities. , Superintendent Paul Penna said the district (backslash)All the things that keep our schools functioning behind the scenes are critical.

Funeral workers in Massachusetts are asking to be included in the first phase of the states COVID-19 vaccination plan, but so far state officials have resisted the request.

C.R. Lyons, a Danvers funeral director and president of the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association, said he was dumbfounded by the decision, The Telegram & Gazette reported.

The funeral association has been lobbying Gov. Charkie Baker to bump about 1,900 funeral workers into the first phase of vaccinations, noting that many other states have done so and funeral workers are the only COVID-19-facing workers in the state not currently in the first phase.

Funeral workers are caring for bodies of COVID-19 victims every day, requiring them to regularly visit COVID-19 wings of hospitals and nursing homes, they said. Many funeral workers have become sick with the virus, Lyons said.

A spokesperson for the state COVID-19 Command Center in a statement said the current plan is based on the recommendations of an advisory group made up of health professionals, community leaders and local officials, and that the funeral business was moved from phase three to phase two on Jan. 12.

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268 new cases of COVID-19, one death reported in Vermont over two days - Bennington Banner

One year ago this week, the Chinese Communist Party was on the verge of its biggest crisis in decades. The coronavirus had brought the city of Wuhan to a halt. In the following days, the governments efforts to conceal the pandemic would become public, sparking an online backlash of the kind the Chinese internet hadnt seen in years.

Then, as the blows landed faster than the Chinese propaganda machine seemingly could handle, a number of liberal-minded Chinese began to think the unthinkable. Perhaps this tragedy would impel the Chinese people to push back. After decades of thought control and worsening censorship, perhaps this was the moment that the worlds largest and most powerful propaganda machine would crack.

It wasnt.

A year later, the partys control of the narrative has become absolute. In Beijings telling, Wuhan stands not as a testament to Chinas weaknesses but to its strengths. Memories of the horrors of last year seem to be fading, at least judging by whats online. Even moderate dissent gets shouted down.

People in China should be bowing their heads this week in memory of those who suffered and died. Instead, the China internet is afire over the scandal of a Chinese actress and her surrogate babies, a tabloid controversy egged on by Chinese propaganda.

Anyone looking for lessons about China in the coming years needs to understand the consequences of what happened in 2020. The tragedy showed Beijing has the ability to control what people in China see, hear and think to a degree that surpasses even what pessimists believed. During the next crisis whether it be disaster, war or financial crisis the party has shown it has the tools to rally the people, no matter how ham-handedly Beijing deals with it.

This week I looked through my Chinese social media timelines and screenshots from a year ago. I was shocked by how many posts, articles, photos and videos have been removed. I was also surprised to remember the sense of hope at that moment despite intense anger and grief.

The shift was especially palpable the night that Dr. Li Wenliang, who was silenced after warning of the outbreak in late 2019, died of the virus.

That night, numerous Chinese people waged what amounted to an online revolt. They posted videos of the Les Misrables song Do You Hear the People Sing? They shared one of Dr. Lis quotes repeatedly: A healthy society should not have just one voice.

Even one of Chinas propaganda directives warned that Dr. Lis death was an unprecedented challenge. Young people told me that the official news media had lost credibility.

One of my followers on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, apologized for attacking me before. I used to think that people like you were evil, he wrote. Now, he added, I know that we were fooled.

A middle-age intellectual told me that he expected the population of liberal-minded Chinese people those who want greater freedom from Beijings controls to expand from his estimate of 5 percent to 10 percent of the total population to 30 percent to 40 percent.

Jan. 24, 2021, 8:21 p.m. ET

As these hopes rose, others tried to tamp down enthusiasm. One political scientist guessed the share of liberal-minded Chinese internet users would shrink, not grow. In three months, she predicted, the Chinese public would be celebrating the glorious victory over the outbreak under the leadership of the great Communist government.

Unfortunately, she was correct.

To reclaim the narrative in the early days of the pandemic, as my colleagues have reported, the Chinese government began a tremendous behind-the-scene effort to make sure that the censors took control at even the most local level. They listened and read just about everything people posted. Then the censors either addressed the problems or silenced the dissenters. Chinese officials say the police investigated or otherwise dealt with more than 17,000 people who they said had fabricated or spread fake pandemic-related information.

After 11 weeks, the lockdown in Wuhan ended. By the summer, a photo of a crowded Wuhan swimming pool appeared on the home pages of many websites around the world. China emerged as a success story while the infection cases and death tolls in the United States and many other Western countries skyrocketed. The contrast made the effectiveness of the partys strong hand an easy sell.

The Chinese Communist Party has a long history of controlling history. In the United States, historical narratives shift and compete, leading to arguments and sometimes even violence, but constantly illuminating new perspectives and bringing greater understanding of what underpins the national identity. In China, by contrast, the government has successfully taught its people that the country is nearly ungovernable unless a strong hand controls the narrative.

The Communist Party has strict narratives about its most serious mistakes, including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Immediately after the Cultural Revolution, the so-called scar literature memoir-style novels by those who suffered during that troubled time became a popular genre. The party quickly realized the danger of letting the public share its individual traumas and banned the books.

Under Xi Jinping, the party has become even less tolerant of unorthodox historical ideas. In 2016, Yanhuang Chunqiu, a monthly history magazine in which moderate-minded retired officials published articles, was forced to surrender its editorial power to the authorities.

The narrative about the current pandemic is no exception. Journalists, writers and bloggers whose portrayals of the outbreak differ from the official version have been jailed, disappeared or silenced.

Fang Fang, a Wuhan-based novelist, became the most vilified figure on the Chinese internet in 2020. Her crime? Documenting her lockdown experiences in an apolitical account in an online diary.

People online call her a liar, a traitor, a villain and an imperialist dog. They accuse her of maligning the government and causing the Chinese people to lose face in the world by publishing an English translation of her diary in the United States. One man called on the government to investigate her for the crime of subverting the state power. One high-ranking medical scientist chastised her for lacking patriotic emotions.

No publisher is willing or able to publish her works in China. The social media posts and articles that support her are often censored. A few people who spoke up for her publicly were punished, including a literature professor in Wuhan who lost her Communist Party membership and her right to teach.

I think Fang Fang wrote about what happened, said Amy Ye, the organizer of a volunteer group for disabled people in Wuhan. In fact, I dont think she included the most serious situations. Her diary is very moderate. I dont understand why even something like that couldnt be tolerated.

This demand for a single narrative carries risks. It silences those who might warn the government before it does something foolish, like stumble into a conflict or interfere with Chinas economic growth machine.

It also conceals the true feelings of the Chinese people. On the street, in person, most Chinese will be happy to tell you whats on their minds, perhaps in exhaustive details. But China became a more opaque place in 2020. Online censorship became even harsher. Few Chinese people are willing to take the risks of speaking to Western news media. Beijing expelled many American journalists.

This single narrative also means that people who dont fit into it risk getting left behind.

Ms. Ye, the Wuhan volunteer group organizer, doesnt believe that Wuhan could claim a victoryover the pandemic. My whole world has changed, and it will probably never go back to what it used to be, she said.

Shes still struggling with depression and the fear of getting out of her apartment. An outgoing person before the pandemic, she has attended only one social gathering since the end of the lockdown in April.

All of a sudden we were locked up at home for many days. So many people passed away. But nobody was held accountable, she said. I would probably feel better if someone could apologize that they didnt do their job.

I cant forget the pain, she said. Its engraved in my bones and my heart.

Read the rest here:

How Beijing Turned Chinas Covid-19 Tragedy to Its Advantage - The New York Times