As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.
Republicans are determined to prolong the pandemic, part infinity:
At the entrance to the Lowe’s in a central Ohio strip mall, a bright blue-and-white sign tells customers that, under local ordinances, they must wear a face covering inside. Next door, at Hale’s Ales & Kitchen, a sign asks customers to please be patient with a staff shortage — with no mention of masks.
The city line between Columbus and suburban Hilliard crosses right through the strip mall, Mill Run Square. In Columbus, where the Lowe’s Home Improvement Store lies, the city council early in the coronavirus pandemic created a mask requirement that remains in place. In Hilliard, where Hales is located, the city council has not imposed a mask rule, despite entreaties from the top county health official as coronavirus cases spiked.
Under a new law in Ohio — one of at least 19 states this year that have restricted state or local authorities from safeguarding public health amid the coronavirus pandemic — Franklin County’s health commissioner Joe Mazzola can no longer intervene. The county health department was stripped of its power to compel people to wear masks even as the omicron variant fuels a fifth coronavirus surge in the United States.
“We’ve not been able to put in place the policy that would protect our community,” Mazzola said.
The number of states that have passed laws similar to Ohio’s is proliferating fast, from eight identified in one study in May to more than double that many as of last month, according to an analysis by Temple University’s Center for Public Health Law Research. And around the country, many more measures are being debated or being prepared for legislative sessions to start early in the new year.
These laws — the work of Republican legislators — inhibit health officers’ ability to require masks, promote vaccinations or take other steps, such as closing or limiting the number of patrons in restaurants, bars and other indoor public settings. Often, the measures shift those decisions from health experts to elected officials at a time when such coronavirus-fighting strategies have become politically radioactive.
The article's headline, "Anger over mask mandates, other covid rules, spurs states to curb powers of public health officials," would lead one to think that the anger grew spontaneously (like that of the "Tea Party" astroturfers of a decade ago); it begs the question "who's responsible for stoking that irrational anger in the first place?"
Meanwhile, the toll on heroic health care workers that we see on our screens is mounting:
As more than 7,800 Americans are admitted into hospitals with the virus each day, from Michigan to New Hampshire, health care workers are once again finding themselves overwhelmed with the number of patients in need of care -- not only for COVID-19, but for other illnesses and winter-related ailments.
"We are burnt out, we are tired and we are disheartened. So much of what we see on a daily basis is preventable," Sarah Rauner, chief nurse practitioner at Beaumont Health in Troy, Michigan, told ABC News. "We are still living this every day."
In Wisconsin, just 4% of intensive care unit beds are currently available.
Sue Wolfe, a nurse at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, told ABC News that in her 38-year tenure as a nurse at the hospital, she has never seen anything like this surge.
"This place is so busy, so packed. ... We have patients coming in all the time, waiting in the waiting room, waiting in the hallways, waiting on carts, waiting to go upstairs," Wolfe said. "We also have a waiting room that's packed full of people that are coming in more and more each day with COVID."
Nearly 100% of the people requiring hospitalization are the unvaccinated, taking up ICU beds that might be needed for people with other life-threatening conditions.
Despite all of this, holiday spending showed the biggest gain in 17 years:
The latest COVID-19 variant is upending holiday plans for tens of thousands of travelers — but it didn’t do much damage to holiday shopping.
Airlines canceled hundreds more flights Sunday, citing staffing problems tied to COVID-19, as the nation’s travel woes extended beyond Christmas, with no clear indication when normal schedules would resume.
But shoppers shrugged off the omicron variant, and holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years, according to one spending measure. [snip]
Despite omicron, American consumers appeared undaunted. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks all kinds of payments, including cash and debit cards, reported Sunday that holiday sales had risen 8.5% from a year earlier, the biggest annual gain in 17 years. Mastercard SpendingPulse had expected an 8.8% increase.
The Washington Post editorial board calls for voting rights legislation, but uses a lot of "shoulds" instead of "musts":
Good. Voting is not an issue like health-care policy or tax rates, on which there is reasonable debate. No senator should cheer any move to weaken minority rights in the chamber, but these specific circumstances should compel even the most traditionalist of senators to contemplate change. President Biden says he supports suspending the filibuster rules to get it done. [snip]
Mr. Schumer should push hard to advance both voting bills. And if Republicans continue to fight them, Senate Democrats should look at reforming the filibuster.
"Democracy dies in darkness mush." Yawn.
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