All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

France to impose new national lockdown as COVID-19 cases rise | TheHill

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that France will go into a second national lockdown beginning on Friday due to the surging numbers of coronavirus cases in the country, according to a report from Reuters.

On Monday, France announced a record number of cases with over 52,000 infections recorded in a single day. Over 500 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday, the most since the first surge of cases in France in the spring.

Source: France to impose new national lockdown as COVID-19 cases rise | TheHill

Why Immigration Is An Issue Black Voters Should Care About in 2020

“Immigration, at its core, is really about defining this country as a white ethnostate in terms of power and privilege. And so white Europeans do not threaten that,” she said. “You don’t see ICE going around [St. Patrick’s Day parades] looking for the undocumented Irish people and trying to figure out how they can gather them up. But they will come to a Caribbean carnival. They will come to an African festival. But they won’t do that with white folks because the white people they’re not worried about.”

The Trump administration has not shied away from using immigration law to bolster its white supremacist beliefs, whether by effectively slaughtering the nation’s refugee system, allegedly referring to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries, or enacting a Muslim ban that Gyamfi refers to as “an African and Muslim ban at this point, that is preventing people from certain countries from coming into the United States, including Nigeria, a country with the most Black people on planet Earth.”

Source: Why Immigration Is An Issue Black Voters Should Care About in 2020

New voters surge to the polls | TheHill

More than 16 million voters who did not cast a ballot in 2016 have already voted this year, a sign that record-high enthusiasm in November’s elections will lead to an unprecedented turnout across the country. There are indications that the surge is being fueled by younger voters who have been targets of turnout operations funded by Democratic groups, and by minorities who are motivated to vote like never before, data experts keeping tabs on the early numbers say. Already this year, more than 4 million people between the ages of 18 and 29 have cast a ballot after sitting out 2016. They represent about two-thirds of all voters in that age bracket who have voted already. In states where voters can register by party, registered Democrats among those youngest voters outnumber registered Republicans by a nearly three to one margin.

Source: New voters surge to the polls | TheHill

PPE still lacking in nursing homes as COVID doubles down | CIDRAP (Not rounding any corner and not even catching up with needs)

The first report, published yesterday by the US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) and the Frontier Group, said that, 7 months into the pandemic, shortages of critical PPE like N95 respirators and medical gowns had worsened rather than improved. The shortages were reported to the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services by 2,981 (19.9%) of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes; in total, the affected homes have 226,495 residents. From May to August, 46% of all nursing homes reported that they didn’t have even a week’s supply of at least one type of PPE. The dearth of supplies worsened over the summer, with three times as many facilities reporting that they had no N95s, gowns, or eye protection in late August as in mid-July.

Source: PPE still lacking in nursing homes as COVID doubles down | CIDRAP

Boston Public Schools Suspends Athletic Activities Until Further Notice

A week after Boston Public Schools announced it was going fully remote as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise across the city, the district has announced that athletics will also be suspended for the time being.

A spokesperson for BPS said in a statement to GBH News on Tuesday that the district has suspended all athletic activities until further notice as it has moved to fully remote learning and as the city deals with the coronavirus positivity rate.

The move impacts all competitions, practice and “any other organized physical activities.” The spokesperson wrote that BPS will consider resuming athletics once the citywide positivity rate for COVID-19 is at or below 5% for two consecutive weeks.

Source: Boston Public Schools Suspends Athletic Activities Until Further Notice

Pa. hits COVID-19 high with 2,751 new cases reported, approaches 200,000 overall – pennlive.com

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 2,751 new positive cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 198,446. Tuesday’s cases set a new single-day high in the state. There were 23 new deaths reported Tuesday, Oct. 27 for a total of 8,696 deaths attributed to COVID-19. Over 2,254,523 patients have tested negative to date.

Source: Pa. hits COVID-19 high with 2,751 new cases reported, approaches 200,000 overall – pennlive.com

Montana exceeds 10,000 active COVID-19 cases | State & Regional | billingsgazette.com

Montana added another 855 COVID-19 cases Tuesday bringing the total active cases to an all-time high of 10,060.

In total, 29,346 Montanans have been sickened since the beginning of the pandemic. More than half of those cases occurred since the first of October when the state had tallied 13,500 cases.

Source: Montana exceeds 10,000 active COVID-19 cases | State & Regional | billingsgazette.com

Hospitals Are Reeling Under a 46 Percent Spike in Covid-19 Patients – The New York Times

In El Paso, where the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 has more than tripled over the past three weeks, doctors at University Medical Center have started airlifting some patients to hospitals as far away as San Antonio while treating others in a field hospital in a nearby parking lot. Across the border in Mexico, the mayor of Ciudad Juárez, himself hospitalized after testing positive for the virus for the second time, is urging a temporary ban on U.S. citizens crossing into his city. “We have never seen this in El Paso,” said Dr. Joel Hendryx, chief medical officer at University Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals along the border. Citing the need for field hospitals, Dr. Hendryx drew a sharp contrast to the city’s earlier surge in July, when mitigation measures drove case numbers down.

Coronavirus impact: Area school classroom shutdowns may preview more to come (shortage of substitute teachers and quarantines)

“The main issue is the fact that we employ many individuals who are retired teachers who may be in high risk populations and to ask them to go into a setting that may have people out due to COVID or simply quarantined because of COVID is not a chance folks are not willing to take,” said Brown. Source: Coronavirus impact: Area school classroom shutdowns may preview more to come