In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as cases spread rapidly and deaths mounted, then-President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw help for governors who didn’t treat him “nicely,” and his aides barred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from giving briefings for a staggering six months, according to a trove of new information released this week.

Emails between top officials from the CDC and Trump administration, released by a House panel on Friday, also revealed that Trump aides strong-armed the CDC into watering down its public-health guidance for churches in May 2020, just as houses of worship were emerging as particularly risky settings.

In early May, the CDC released two reports, one of which detailed how a pastor at an Arkansas church and his wife unwittingly spread the virus to 26 others, which came to balloon into a cluster of 61 people, of whom four died. The second report found that 87 percent of attendees at a choir practice in Washington had caught the virus.

The message, and accompanying recommendations that churches hold virtual or drive-in services only, was a stark contrast to Trump’s ridiculously rosy suggestion in April that the country should reopen entirely and be “raring to go by Easter.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, when the CDC sent its draft guidance for religious communities to the White House on May 21, 2020, Trump aides immediately pushed back, the emails show.

Aides expressed concern that the guidance “seems to raise religious liberty concerns” and suggested the CDC be allowed to publish guidance “contingent on striking the offensive passages.”

Source: Donald Trump’s COVID Pandemic Response Was Somehow Worse Than We Thought

the ongoing failure to protect the world’s largest rainforest from rapacious cattle ranching is no longer Brazil’s alone, a Washington Post investigation shows. It is now shared by the United States — and the American consumer. Source: How Americans’ love of beef is helping destroy the Amazon rainforest – Washington Post

Since 1982, all Alaskan residents have received a yearly cash dividend from the Alaska Permanent Fund. Using the Current Population Survey and a synthetic control method, this paper shows that the dividend had no effect on employment and increased part-time work by 1.8 percentage points (17 percent). A calibration of microeconomic and macroeconomic effects suggests that the empirical results are consistent with cash stimulating the local economy—a general equilibrium effect. Nontradable sectors have a more positive employment response than tradable sectors. Overall, the results suggest that a universal and permanent cash transfer does not significantly decrease aggregate employment.

Source: The Labor Market Impacts of Universal and Permanent Cash Transfers: Evidence from the Alaska Permanent Fund – American Economic Association

Source: Oil Boom Turns Texas Into the Earthquake Capital of the U.S.

Sometimes everything is against your thoughts or you should continue to move forward without relying on time. At least that moment teaches us something about speed.
The time that has come is never wasted.
Every moment is an important part of life so live every moment happily

Source: Moments… | Happiness for a moment with you….

Source: Child hepatitis cases falsely linked to Covid vaccine – BBC News

Amadou Elh Mamoudou counts himself fortunate. The 35-year-old survived a cholera outbreak in his village of Maradi, in south-central Niger, one of the areas most affected by the outbreak between March and December 2021.

Once recovered, Amadou joined health workers in his district to convince people there to get vaccinated, ultimately helping his district to achieve a 98% vaccination coverage.

Vaccination contributed to the fight against the cholera epidemic that affected seven regions of Niger, causing 5591 infections and 166 deaths, with a case-fatality rate of 3%. Vaccination coverage of 95%, combined with good patient management and hygiene and sanitation awareness, led to a significant decrease in the number of new cases, until the epidemic was declared over in the following weeks.

Source: APO Group – Africa Newsroom / Press release | Speedy vaccination campaign helps stop cholera outbreak in Niger