In the past two weeks, there have been about 237,000 new coronavirus cases recorded in counties that voted for President Biden last year — and 388,000 in counties that voted for Donald Trump. Adjusted for population, there have been about 126 new cases per 100,000 residents of blue counties and 278 new cases per 100,000 residents of red ones. On average, blue counties are seeing 10.2 new cases for every 100,000 residents, while red counties are seeing 19.5 new cases per 100,000 residents.

Source: The rate of new infections is about twice as high in red counties as blue counties – The Washington Post

Former Oregon state Rep. Mike Nearman has been banned from entering the Oregon Capitol building and its surrounds for the next 18 months after pleading guilty Tuesday to official misconduct. Last December, when the Capitol was closed due to the pandemic, Nearman opened a side door to allow a group of violent protestors inside. It led to a clash with police near the entrance. While explaining his actions to Marion County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Pellegrini, Nearman claimed he didn’t support what the group did upon entering but eventually admitted that he opened the door so he could “appear favorable to certain citizen groups.” Pellegrini drew parallels to the Jan 6. insurrection that happened a few weeks later. She ordered Nearman to perform 80 hours of community and pay the legislature $2,700 in restitution Source: Oregon Rep. Pleads Guilty to Allowing Violent Protesters Into State Capitol Through Backdoor

Source: Scientists Just Discovered Something Horrifying About Artificial Sweeteners

About 65 million US residents (19.7%) likely had COVID-19 by Mar 7, the model shows. Until that point, only about 1 of every 2.3 infections had been confirmed, suggesting that about 60% of all infections had been unreported.

“Our results indicate that a large majority of COVID infections go unreported,” the authors wrote. “Even so, we find that the United States was still far from reaching herd immunity to the virus in early March 2021 from infections alone. This suggests that continued mitigation and an aggressive vaccination effort are necessary to surpass the herd-immunity threshold without incurring many more deaths due to the disease.”

Source: US COVID prevalence likely 60% higher than reported, experts say | CIDRAP

Cal State University students, faculty members, and staffers will be required to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus before attending in-person classes or activities this fall.

University officials made the announcement Tuesday, as they seek to stem the potential spread of COVID-19 on their 23 campuses.

Source: Cal State Campuses Will Require Proof Of Vaccination This Fall | LAist

The Health Ministry said the virus was detected in three of the five shipping containers of frozen meat being brought in by a private company.

The contents of the three containers were to be destroyed later in the week, the ministry said in a statement.

Cambodia temporarily suspended imports from India during its massive surge in coronavirus cases earlier this year, but began allowing them again in recent weeks as the Indian numbers declined.

Source: Cambodia Seizes Virus-Tainted Meat Imported from India | Food Manufacturing

Source: Palestinians fire official who criticized activist’s death – The Washington Post

Globally, from March 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, we estimate 1,134 ,000 children (95% credible interval 884, 000–1 ,185, 000) experienced the death of primary caregivers, including at least one parent or custodial grandparent. 1, 562, 000 children (1, 299, 000–1, 683, 000) experienced the death of at least one primary or secondary caregiver. Countries in our study set with primary caregiver death rates of at least one per 1000 children included Peru (10·2 per 1000 children), South Africa (5·1), Mexico (3·5), Brazil (2·4), Colombia (2·3), Iran (1·7), the USA (1·5), Argentina (1·1), and Russia (1·0). Numbers of children orphaned exceeded numbers of deaths among those aged 15–50 years. Between two and five times more children had deceased fathers than deceased mothers. Source: Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers: a modelling study – The Lancet