U.S. President Joe Biden signed his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package into law Thursday, opening the door for the release of federal aid for financially ailing American households and businesses.Biden, a Democrat, signed the package one day after the House of Representatives approved the bill 220-211 without Republican support and one day earlier than the White House initially had planned.“This historic legislation is about building a backbone in this country and giving people in this country, working people, middle-class folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance,” Biden said as he prepared to sign the bill.Republican lawmakers objected to the package, saying it was too large and did not sufficiently target those who were most in need of economic assistance. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday called the bill “costly, corrupt and liberal.”No federal minimum wage hikeThe measure narrowly passed in the Senate on Saturday after the chamber altered some aspects of a bill approved earlier by the House. Among the changes was the removal of an increase in the federal minimum wage.White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks to reporters at the White House, March 11, 2021, in Washington.White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki praised the legislation at a news conference Monday, saying that while there were some changes on the margins as the Senate acted, it represented the “core” of what Biden proposed.On Tuesday, she said Biden and other senior administration officials planned to continue to tout the benefits of the relief plan after it passed.“We certainly recognize that we can’t just sign a bill,” Psaki told reporters. “We will need to do some work and use our best voices, including the president, the vice president and others, to communicate to the American people the benefits of this package.“So, I think you can certainly expect the president to be doing some travel, and we’ll have more details on that in the coming days,” she said.
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Facebook has scrapped plans to connect California, Taiwan and Hong Kong via a 12,000 kilometer underwater cable, citing tensions between the U.S. and China.
The social media giant told the Wall St. Journal, which broke the story, it was halting the project due to political pressure from the U.S. government, which noted potential national security concerns.
“Due to ongoing concerns from the U.S. government about direct communication links between the United States and Hong Kong, we have decided to withdraw our [Federal Communications Commission] application,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “We look forward to working with all the parties to reconfigure the system to meet the concerns of the U.S. government.”
Facebook, along with several Chinese companies including China Telecom, applied for permits to start the cable in 2018. The cable would have sped up the flow of data across the Pacific.
This is not the first time a Pacific cable that included Hong Kong has been placed on hold. In September of 2020, Google and Facebook shelved the Pacific Light Cable Network that would have linked the U.S. with Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
Around the same time, Facebook and Amazon ditched a proposed cable link between San Francisco and Hong Kong called the Bay to Bay Express Cable.
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Denmark health officials announced Thursday they are suspending the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for 14 days as it investigates reports of patients developing blood clots after being inoculated.
On his Twitter account, Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said authorities were looking into “signs of a possible serious side effect in the form of fatal blood clots,” though he made clear the stoppage was a “precautionary measure,” saying it was not possible yet to conclude whether the clots were linked to the vaccine.
The Danish Medicines Agency also confirmed the investigation on Thursday in a statement, saying it would work with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and other European pharmaceutical authorities following the reports.
Austria suspended use of a batch of the vaccine earlier this week after a recipient was diagnosed with multiple blood clots and later died, and another was hospitalized with blockage in the arteries of their lungs – otherwise known as a pulmonary embolism.
The EMA investigated and issued a statement Wednesday saying it found no evidence so far linking the AstraZeneca vaccine to the two cases in Austria. The EMA said four other countries – Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia – have stopped inoculations from the batch while an investigation continues.
The batch in question went to 17 EU countries.
In a statement regarding the Austria cases, AstraZeneca said earlier this week its vaccine is subject to strict and rigorous quality controls and that there have been “no confirmed serious adverse events associated with the vaccine.”
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Four former living U.S. presidents are appearing in a new ad campaign to encourage people to get COVID-19 vaccines.In the video produced by the Ad Council, former President Bill Clinton says, “We’ve lost enough people and we’ve suffered enough damage.”There is a photo of Clinton and his wife, Hillary, receiving their vaccines.Former President George W. Bush says, “In order to get rid of this pandemic, it’s important for our fellow citizens to get vaccinated.”Like the Clintons, the video shows Bush and his wife, Laura, getting their shots, as well as former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, and former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.The former leaders talk about what they are looking forward to after being protected by the vaccine. Obama says he wants to “visit with Michelle’s mom, to hug her and see her on her birthday.”Bush says he is looking forward to seeing the start of the Major League Baseball season among a full crowd at the Texas Rangers’ stadium.Carter ends the ad by telling viewers, “It’s up to you.”Former President Donald Trump, who was hospitalized last year with COVID-19, is not featured in the ad.The video points viewers to a website featuring information about the different vaccines available, how they were approved, how to go about getting vaccinated and what the experience is like.
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Prince William on Thursday defended Britain’s royal family against accusations of racism made by his brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan, saying the royals are “very much not a racist family.”
In comments made during a visit to an east London school, William became the first royal to directly address the explosive interview broadcast Sunday in the U.S. that his brother and the Duchess of Sussex gave to Oprah Winfrey.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 12 MB480p | 17 MB540p | 22 MB720p | 48 MB1080p | 95 MBOriginal | 263 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioBuckingham Palace’s sought to respond to Harry and Meghan’s allegations of racism and mistreatment in a 61-word statement, but it has failed to quell the controversy.
William, second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, says he hadn’t yet spoken to Harry in the aftermath of the interview, “but I will do.”
Harry and Meghan’s comments have rocked the royal family — and touched off conversations around the world about racism, mental health and even the relationship between Britain and its former colonies.
Those tensions have only built as the public waited to see how the royal family would respond.
Meghan, who is biracial, said in the interview she was so isolated and miserable as a working member of the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts. She also said Harry told her there were “concerns and conversations” by a royal family member about the color of her baby’s skin when she was pregnant with their son, Archie.
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As Oprah Winfrey’s TV interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex reverberates internationally, it’s left the more than 50 million viewers grappling with the couple’s claims of racism and lack of support that Meghan says drove her to thoughts of suicide. But for many Black women worldwide, the headlines and social media discussions were painfully familiar. With social media conversations questioning whether racism affected Meghan’s treatment by the British press and royal family, many Black women say it is yet another example of a Black woman’s experiences with racism being disregarded and denied. “White supremacy seeks to isolate you, make you feel like no one is listening and no one is supporting you. It uses that as a tool to keep in power,” said Gaye Theresa Johnson, associate professor in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA. “And so when you aren’t validated in your feelings or feel supported, that does real harm.” The former Meghan Markle, daughter of a white father and a Black mother, said that when she was pregnant with her son Archie, a member of the royal family expressed “concerns … about how dark his skin might be.” The former television star also said she sought mental health help through the palace’s human resources department but was told there was nothing it could do. Almost as soon as the interview aired, many were quick to deny Meghan’s allegations of racism. The New York Post published a column titled, “Meghan Markle’s interview was full of bull.” British television host Piers Morgan quit his job on “Good Morning Britain” after facing backlash for saying on air that Meghan lied about suffering suicidal thoughts in what he called a “two-hour trash-a-thon of our royal family.” On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying the “whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan” but that “some recollections may vary.” Johnson said the doubts and questioning cast against Meghan’s claims were emotionally wrenching for many Black women, who may relate to the trauma of having their personal experiences with racism invalidated by others. “It’s an insult when people are incredulous about the racism people like Meghan Markle experienced because that incredulity speaks volumes about what people refuse to see, what is right in front of their eyes all the time and that some people have to navigate daily,” she said.A statue stands in front of Buckingham Palace in London, March 9, 2021. Britain’s royal family is absorbing the tremors from a sensational television interview by Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex.”That takes a toll on a person and their mental health.” Dr. Anita Thomas, executive vice president and provost at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, said watching Meghan’s interview with Winfrey was emotional. “It speaks to the burden that many African American women face,” she said. “For Black women, it was upsetting to see that, even when she had the courage to speak out about her experiences with racism, that she didn’t get the support that she needed and, in many ways, her experiences were invalidated.” Thomas said enduring such treatment requires “psychological and emotional energy” to navigate. “As a psychologist, I hope people talk about this effect of racism and sexism on psychological functioning,” she said. Sinai Fleary, founder of the UK-based Reggae and Rasta lifestyle publication Jus’ Jah Magazine, said while she initially saw an outpouring of support for Meghan, she quickly saw that change on social media. “They will dismiss, gaslight and ignore what we have been saying, and what Meghan and Harry have been saying,” Fleary, who lives in London, wrote on Twitter. “This is how the media and certain parts of the public work. Same formula, every single time.” Fleary told The Associated Press that Meghan’s interview brought back her own memories of being racially profiled in shops and seeing white women clutch their bags on public transit when they saw her. “If racism as blatant as what Meghan spoke about is immediately denied, will people believe me when I tell them about these less overt, daily examples of racism I face every day?” she asked. Fleary said the UK has a long history of dismissing Black women in conversations about racism. “They’re never believed,” she said. “It’s always deny and dismiss. It can be so blatant and people will still say they don’t see it.” Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pointed to the racist attitudes of the British media as a reason for stepping away from royal duties and moving to North America last year, something Harry reiterated in the interview with Winfrey. As Meghan and Harry began dating, many pointed to the relationship as evidence of Britain entering a “post-racial” era, but the racism Meghan faced from the British media told another story. When the news first broke of their relationship, publications were quick to refer to Meghan in racist terms, with one tabloid columnist referring to her “exotic” DNA. A Mail Online headline stated Meghan was “[almost] straight outta Compton,” and a Daily Star headline asked whether Harry would “marry into gangster royalty.” Then, when Meghan and Harry announced they would step away from official royal duties last year, people quickly began to question that racism was what drove Meghan away. Heather McGhee, author of the book “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together,” said the immediate rush by some to deny Meghan’s allegations were upsetting. And that denial is something Black women face every day, she said. “Very often, Black women in conference rooms and offices experience discrimination and have no recourse, in the same way that one of the more powerful Black women in the world had no recourse except to give it all up,” McGhee said of Meghan. “I hope we realize there’s a much less powerful version of Meghan likely at your office or school who is being discriminated [against] and doesn’t have champions. I hope this encourages more people to stand up for their Black co-workers, neighbors and friends.”
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Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that current vaccination levels indicate the United States could reach pre-pandemic levels of “normal life” by late August or early September.
Fauci made the comment during a virtual news briefing on herd immunity by the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
Fauci said their best estimates regarding when herd immunity would be reached and enough people are considered immune from the virus range between 70% to 85% of the U.S. population.
He said at current vaccination rates, that level should be reached at the end of the North American summer. But he also said that if the nation is vaccinating 2 million to 3 million people a day, society is increasingly more protected.
“You don’t have to wait until you get full herd immunity to get a really profound effect on what you can do,” he said.
Fauci said as the pace of vaccination ramps up, and the most vulnerable to the virus are protected, some government restrictions could be lifted.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cautioned that at this point, only about 10% of the population is fully vaccinated. But the CDC anticipated loosening federal guidelines as more people receive shots.
Fauci also said that a refusal from a significant number of people to get vaccinated will delay when the nation reaches the endpoint of the pandemic.
Also at the briefing, White House coronavirus adviser Andy Slavitt announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services procured an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
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The British Natural History Museum said it has recovered fragments of the first meteorite collected in the United Kingdom in 30 years and one of the rarest ever discovered. On the night of February 28, a fireball was seen streaking across the sky over southwestern Britain, dazzling onlookers and exciting scientists. No fragments from a meteorite — what a meteor is called once it lands on Earth — had been recovered in the nation since 1991. Museum researchers asked people to look in an area north of the town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire County. They received calls from the town of Winchcombe. Scientists went door to door asking people if they had seen anything. Several had, including a family that said a piece landed in their driveway.Researchers were even more excited when they realized the fragment was an extremely rare type known as a carbonaceous chondrite, which has never been found in Britain.Researcher Sara Russell explained that with about 65,000 known meteorites in the world, only 51 of them have been a carbonaceous chondrite, a mineral substance that is believed to date back 4.6 billion years to about the time the solar system was forming. The coal-black mineral contains all the original ingredients that created asteroids, comets, and ultimately, planets like the Earth.Russell said she had the opportunity to work with material gathered on an asteroid from a recent Japanese space mission.“This material looks exactly like the material they are collecting,” she said.
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The U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry said Wednesday the world’s developed countries – which emit most of the world’s greenhouse gases – “have every capacity” to address the climate crisis.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Paris with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, Kerry stressed that no one country or government can address the issue alone. Referencing the 2015 Paris Agreement, Kerry said it was about everyone accepting the same emission reduction goals.
But he said, too few nations have abided by their commitments. He said, “The point of Paris ((agreement)) is everybody has said that we will get on this road, and the problem today is we’re not on that road sufficiently.”
Former U.S. president Donald Trump had withdrawn from the Paris agreement, and U.S. President Joe Biden very soon after he was sworn into office, agreed to rejoin the accord.
French Finance Minister Le Maire said France was “very happy” about the U.S. decision, telling reporters that climate issues are the “main challenge of our generation and future generations.”
The 2015 Paris climate change accord commits countries to put forward plans for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is released from burning fossil fuels.
Kerry also mentioned the international summit to be hosted by the U.S. next month, featuring 20 of the world’s major economies – and biggest polluters. The summit is expected to lay out some of the groundwork ahead of November’s United Nations climate conference in Glasgow.
While in Paris, Kerry met with French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he also discussed climate change. He told reporters they had a very thorough discussion on how critical this moment in history is to address the issue. He conveyed that Macron wants to work with Biden on the reduction of emissions as well helping provide the tools to do so.
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Israel’s premier museum for Islamic art has scrapped the planned auction of scores of rare and precious items after public outcry over the attempted sale, which had been expected to fetch millions of dollars from wealthy private collectors. In a settlement struck Wednesday, the Sotheby’s auction house agreed to return 268 items from London back to the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem. The agreement ends a saga that drew broad condemnation and threatened to gut one of Israel’s prized public art collections. Art experts criticized the attempted sale to private collectors, saying it had been hidden from the public and violated the museum’s founding mission to edify the Israeli public about the Islamic world through art. As part of the arrangement, the Al Thani Collection, an art foundation funded by the ruling family of the energy-rich Gulf Arab state of Qatar, “will generously provide an annual sponsorship to the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art” for 10 years, while one of the Islamic Art Museum’s pieces will be given on long-term loan to the Al Thani Collection’s gallery at the Hotel de la Marine in Paris. The Israeli daily Haaretz said that Sotheby’s would receive a 2 million pound cancellation fee. Neither Sotheby’s nor the museum would provide details on the fee or the annual funding for the museum, though the auction house said “given the circumstances, Sotheby’s reduced its withdrawal fees.” The item to be loaned is an intricately decorated, 11th-century silver jug, part of a hoard of silver objects discovered in the early 20th century near Nivahand, in northeastern Iran. The item was purchased early last century by art collector Ralph Harari, who later sold it to the museum’s founder, Vera Salomons. An Arabic inscription beneath a frieze of running animals on the jug reads: “Perfect blessing, lasting wealth, abundant happiness and overall security to its owner.” It was not one of the items originally up for auction at Sotheby’s in October sale. Israel and Qatar do not have formal diplomatic relations, but contacts exist to facilitate Qatar’s transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Sotheby’s said it had facilitated the cooperation between the Islamic Art Museum and the Al Thani Collection. The Islamic Art Museum and the Hermann de Stern Foundation, which had initiated the Sotheby’s auction, welcomed the agreement, saying it “will ensure the continued operation of the museum over time.” “This is a truly momentous final outcome and we are thrilled to be partnering with The Al Thani Collection Foundation in this way to further our shared aims of increasing cultural exchange, while allowing the museum to continue to enhance art and culture for the benefit of the Israeli public and art lovers,” the museum and the foundation said in a joint statement. The Al Thani Collection said it was “very pleased to play a part in the survival of a unique institution that makes a meaningful difference to the communities around it.” Controversial saleThe items from the museum’s collection, including several centerpiece objects and prized antique watches, were slated for auction at Sotheby’s in October. The Hermann de Stern Foundation, a Liechtenstein-based trust that funds the bulk of the museum’s budget, said the sale was aimed at covering the cost of maintaining the institution. It insisted that it had the legal right to sell the items. The Hashava Foundation, an Israeli art theft prevention organization, petitioned the Supreme Court in November to halt the auction. It said the sale was “in gross violation” of Israel’s laws governing museums and antiquities, and that it would cause “irreversible damage and major loss to the general public.” Meir Heller, Hashava’s founder, said the organization was proud that the petition “achieved its aim and brought about the return of this rare and precious collection to Israel and its exhibition for the public.” The museum was established in the 1960s by Salomons, the scion of a British-Jewish aristocratic family who died in 1969, and named for Leo Arie Mayer, a prominent scholar of the Middle East. It is home to thousands of Islamic artifacts dating from the 7th to the 19th centuries. It also has a collection of antique watches handed down by the Salomons family, including dozens by the famed Parisian horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet. His timepieces adorned European royalty in the 17th and 18th centuries, including Marie Antoinette. Among the items that were to be auctioned were a 15th-century Ottoman helm inlaid in silver calligraphy, a 12th-century bowl depicting a Persian prince and a collection of antique watches, including three designed by Breguet. The removal of the artwork drew public outcry by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Israeli Culture Minister Hili Tropper, museum curators and academics, and forced the postponement and eventual halt to the auction. “I am delighted that all our strenuous efforts to preserve intact the entirety of the collection of the L.A. Mayer Museum have come to such a successful conclusion,” Tropper said, saying the Al Thani Collection Foundation’s “generosity is a great tribute to the spirit of cross-cultural cooperation.”
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Abortion is illegal in Malawi, unless the mother’s life is at risk, but that doesn’t stop an estimated 140,000 women per year having unsafe terminations that leave 12,000 women dead and countless others permanently scarred. Despite these numbers, efforts to liberalize current abortion laws are facing resistance from conservative groups.After getting pregnant at age 17, “Melita” – not her real name – saw abortion as her only option to stay in school.But Malawi’s 160-year-old abortion law only allows termination to save the life of a mother.So Melita went to a witchdoctor. She says a few hours after taking a concoction of herbs, she started bleeding heavily. The pain felt around my cervix was unbearable, says Metlia, and I started crying while rolling on the floor.Melita’s uterus had ruptured and had to be removed.Though she can no longer have children, Melita knows she was lucky.I have heard stories of women dying from back street abortions, she says. So, after experiencing persistent abdominal pain and bleeding, says Malita, I was very scared that I would also die.Research by the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and the Malawi College of Medicine shows 140,000 Malawian women have unsafe abortions each year. The dangerous procedures leave about 12,000 of them dead and countless survivors, like Melita, permanently scarred.Campaigners have since 2015 been pushing a bill on expanding legal abortions to cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity, and threats to health.Safe abortion advocate Brian Ligomeka says expanding abortion law would save lives of many mothers and alleviate maternal complications. (Lameck Masina/VOA)“There are three additional grounds that are there. When enacted, the new law will allow women who face physical and mental dangers to their lives to access abortion,” said Brian Ligomeka who is with the Safe Abortion Campaign groupBut protests in 2016 from conservative and religious groups, who call any abortion murder, delayed debate on the bill.Pastor Zacc Kawalala, a church leader in Blantyre, strongly preaches against abortion, describing it as murder. (Lameck Masina/VOA)”God considers life from conception, said Pastor Zacc Kawalala, a church leader in Blantyre. “God knows you while you are in your mother’s womb. God places you in your womb. And the Bible also tells us in Jeremiah chapter 20 that thanks to God the womb of my mother was not my grave. If somebody dies before they are born it’s like the womb was their grave.”Malawi’s lawmakers are expected to finally debate the bill before the current parliamentary session ends on March 26.
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Behind the counter of Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, near Philadelphia, owner Mayank Amin has been working late into the night since his independent drugstore received state approval to administer COVID-19 vaccines in late January.
There are thousands of emails to sort through and phone calls to field, supplies to organize, appointments to schedule.
Amin, known as Dr. Mak, set up a vaccination clinic on Super Bowl Sunday at the local firehouse that drew more than 1,000 people who kept their appointments for shots despite the snow that day.
“It was just like a party out there,” Amin, 36, recalled during an interview with Reuters in late February. “It was something you could have never imagined in your life, to see four strangers carrying somebody on a wheelchair to get them through the mud and into the building.”
Thanks to deep ties with their communities and the trust they have been able to establish over the years, some local pharmacists are instrumental in reaching people who might be reluctant to get vaccinated or may not know about vaccination efforts, said Jennifer Kates, the director of global health and HIV policy at Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Those local pharmacies are a really important trusted voice,” Kates said.
The vaccine rollout, which the administration of former President Donald Trump left to the states to carry out without a federal blueprint or sufficient funding, has proven to be choppy. Under President Joe Biden supply has increased but some distribution and access hurdles persist.
Montgomery County, where Schwenksville is located, has one of the highest per capita vaccination rates in the state, according to the state health department website. Pennsylvania ranks 28 out of 50 states with 18% of residents getting at least one shot, according to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention.
Surprise shot
On a gray Saturday morning in late February, Amin slipped into a Superman costume, the remnant of Halloweens past that he now sometimes wears for vaccinations, and drove through the frozen suburbs to deliver two COVID-19 vaccines to home-bound patients.
“What a surprise!” 74-year-old on Gail Bertsch said after Amin and a few volunteers, whom she had not been expecting, knocked on her door. She and her husband James, who suffers from dementia, both got injections.
“I can’t believe we can actually have this done,” she said.
Amin has also vaccinated people by appointment at his pharmacy, including holding a special clinic for pregnant women and another one for children with underlying health conditions.
Among them was the pharmacist’s nephew, who suffers from neurofibromatosis, a condition that causes tumors to form in the brain, nerves, and other parts of the body.
Some 3,000 people have received first shots of both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech through Skippack Pharmacy since early February, Amin said. Among some 1,000 residents who received second doses over the weekend were Chester and Martha Pish, 97 and 98 years old respectively, who have been married 78 years.
The effort has been all-consuming for Amin, and riddled with hurdles, including organizing vaccine stocks — which sometimes arrive at a few hours’ notice, a side effect of the supply chain hiccups that are among the problems that have plagued the rollout.
The young pharmacist reunites with his pregnant wife only on weekends as a health precaution and spends the week at his parents’ home in Lansdale. The couple will welcome their first child in May.
“I want to be there when my child is born, and I want to make sure that all my people are vaccinated by then,” he told Reuters. “If I can, that would be my dream.”
Come together
Pandemic hardship and now the drive to get shots into people’s arms have united his Montgomery County community behind the young pharmacist.
On a recent Friday, five volunteers converged in the back of the store. They filled spreadsheets with patients’ contact information and checked the inventory of vaccination supplies.
Amin has just one other full-time employee, Jacquelyn Ziegler, and two pharmacy student interns, Erica Mabry and Isabelle Lawler. But he can count on dozens of volunteers, including family members, to answer the phone and help less tech-savvy patients navigate the online system to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.
“It’s just incredible how everyone has kind of like filtered into this one space,” said event planner Courtney Marengo, one of Amin’s volunteers.
Amin said he did not set out to own a pharmacy. But he moved to fill a void left when Skippack, a 50-year-old local institution, was bought out by national giant CVS in 2018. The chain acquired Skippack Pharmacy’s assets but left it shuttered. Amin bought the pharmacy from CVS before the pandemic in hopes of keeping the resource in the community.
“I feel like sometimes things fall into your lap at certain points in your life,” he said. “You might not have planned for it to happen, but things happen for the right reason.”
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One of the most dramatic claims in Prince Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey was the allegation that their son was denied a royal title, possibly because of his skin color.
Harry and Meghan’s son, seventh in line to the British throne, is Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. In contrast, the children of Harry’s older brother, Prince William, are Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Meghan said that while she was pregnant “they” — presumably the palace — “were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince … which would be different from protocol.”
She implied it might be a case of “the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.”Was Archie Snubbed?
Queen Elizabeth II has nine great-grandchildren, including Archie. They are not princes and princesses, apart from the three children of Prince William, who is second in line to the throne and destined to be king one day.
A decree issued by King George V in 1917 limits the titles of prince and princess to the children of the monarch, children of the monarch’s sons and “the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales” — that’s William’s son Prince George.
Bob Morris from the Constitution Unit at University College London, said the rule was drawn up to trim the increasingly unwieldy number of princely titles.
“Queen Victoria had nine children who were all princes and princesses, and then they had children and so forth, and George V took the view … that something needed to be done to tidy up the situation,” he said.
The queen has the power to amend the rules, and in 2012 she decreed that all the children of Prince William and his wife, Catherine, not just the eldest, would be princes and princesses.
Under the George V convention, Archie is not a prince, but will become one as the grandchild of a monarch once current heir to the throne Prince Charles is king.
In her interview, Meghan said she was told that “they want to change the convention for Archie.”
It is unclear what she was referring to, but Morris said Prince Charles has let it be known “that he favors a smaller royal family” when he takes the throne.
Archie was eligible for a “courtesy title” at birth, such as Lord Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. At the time, it was reported that Harry and Meghan had chosen not to give him a title.
But Meghan told Winfrey that “it was not our decision to make.”Does The Title Affect Archie’s Security?
Meghan expressed concern that without a title, Archie “wasn’t going to receive security.”
But a royal title such as prince or princess does not automatically bring security protection. Full-time working royals — including Meghan and Harry before they moved to North America last year — receive taxpayer-funded police bodyguards. Senior royals who have jobs outside the family, such as Prince Andrew’s daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, do not.What Does The Palace Say?
Buckingham Palace has not responded to specific allegations in the interview. In a statement, it said “the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
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Longtime NBC and CBS correspondent and television anchor Roger Mudd has died at the age of 93. CBS News says Mudd died Tuesday of complications of kidney failure at his home in McLean, Virginia.
The journalist famously once stumped Sen. Edward Kennedy by simply asking why he wanted to be president. During more than 30 years on network television, Mudd covered Congress, elections and political conventions. He was also a frequent anchor and contributor to various specials. His career coincided with the flowering of television news, when the big three networks and their powerhouse ranks of reporters were the main source of news for millions of Americans.
Besides work at CBS and NBC, he did stints on PBS’s “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” and the History Channel.
When he joined Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer’s show in 1987, Mudd told The Associated Press: I think they regard news and information and fact and opinion with a reverence and respect that really is admirable.''The Place To Be,” which came out in early 2008, and described the challenges and clashing egos he encountered working in Washington, where among other things he covered Congress for CBS for 15 years.
He wrote a memoir,
In an April 2008 interview on the NewsHour,'' he said heabsolutely loved” keeping tabs on the nation’s 100 senators and 435 representatives, all of them wanting to talk, great access, politics morning, noon and night, as opposed to the White House, where everything is zipped up and tightly held.'' CBS Reports: Teddy,” which aired just days before Kennedy officially announced his attempt to challenge then-President Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.
Mudd received a George Foster Peabody Award for his November 1979 special
In the report, Mudd asked the Massachusetts senator a simple question: Why do you want to be president?'' Well, I’m, uh, were I to make the announcement to run, the reasons that I would run is because I have a great belief in this country. … We’re facing complex issues and problems in this nation at this time but we have faced similar challenges at other times. … And I would basically feel that it’s imperative for this country to move forward, that it can’t stand still, for otherwise it moves backward.”
Kennedy was unable to give a focused answer or specify what he personally wanted to do.
It was enough to prompt New York Times columnist Tom Wicker to give Kennedy the Safire Prize for Nattering Nabob of the Year.'' Carter went on to win the nomination for a second term, only to fall to Ronald Reagan in the general election. On the stump Kennedy can be dominating, imposing and masterful, but off the stump, in personal interviews, he can become stilted, elliptical and at times appear as if he really doesn’t want America to get to know him.”
As Mudd told viewers:
Mudd spent a fair amount of time in the CBS Evening News'' anchor chair, substituting for Walter Cronkite when he was off and anchoring the Saturday evening news broadcasts from 1966 to 1973. Nightly News” with Tom Brokaw for a year before Brokaw went solo in 1983, and for a time co-hosted
But he lost out to Dan Rather in the competition to succeed Cronkite as the news anchor at CBS when the latter retired in 1981. Cronkite, for one, had backed Rather because he didn't think Mudd had enough foreign experience.
It was then that Mudd jumped to NBC as its chief Washington correspondent. In addition, he co-anchored NBC'sMeet the Press,'' the Sunday morning interview show. a promotable commodity” rather than a public service. His departure had been rumored since he sharply criticized NBC News for canceling the newsmagazine show
But when he left NBC, he said management viewed news as1986,'' which he co-anchored with Connie Chung. Roger Mudd was one of the most gifted journalists of my lifetime. An astute political reporter and guardian of the highest standards. Roger’s dedication to fundamental journalistic practices remains a marker for future generations,” Brokaw said.
In five years on NewsHour,'' Mudd served as a senior correspondent, essayist and occasional anchor. He hosted a number of reports on American history and education, includingLearning in America: Schools That Work” and The Wizard: Thomas Alva Edison.'' NewsHour” in 1992 to teach journalism at Princeton University, describing the offer to teach at the Ivy League school as simply too appealing to turn down. He also was a host and correspondent for The History Channel from 1995 to 2004.
Mudd left the
Among his other awards over the years, Mudd shared in a Peabody for the 1970 CBS documentary The Selling of the Pentagon,'' which looked at the military's public relations efforts. Mudd was the narrator of the program, which the Peabody judges said waselectronic journalism at its best.”
Early in his career at CBS, Mudd was teamed with Robert Trout to anchor coverage of the 1964 Democratic convention after CBS _ using Walter Cronkite as anchor _ trailed NBC’s Chet Huntley and David Brinkley in the ratings at the Republican convention. The memorably named Mudd-Trout team did not conquer NBC’s duo, and Cronkite was back as anchor on election night that November.
In 1990, he received the Joan Shorenstein Barone award for distinguished Washington reporting.
Before joining CBS News, Mudd worked at radio station WTOP in Washington. Before that, he was news director at WRNL Radio in Richmond, Virginia, a reporter for the Richmond News Leader and a research assistant with the House Committee on Tax-Exempt Foundation. He was also an English and history teacher and football coach at Darlington School in Rome, Georgia.
In 1977, Mudd received an honorary doctorate from Washington and Lee University, his alma mater. He donated his 1,500 volume collection of 20th-century Southern writers to the university in 2006. He earned a master’s degree in American History from the University of North Carolina in 1951.
Mudd, who was born in Washington, was a distant relative of Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who was arrested for treating an injured John Wilkes Booth shortly after Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. The doctor, who was eventually pardoned, said he hadn’t been aware of the killing when he aided Booth.
According to CBS News, Mudd and his late wife, the former E.J. Spears, are survived by their four children, as well as 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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Russia’s Internet regulatory body, Roskomnadzor, announced it had slowed down Twitter’s ability to function in Russia effective Wednesday — part of what authorities said was an initial penalty for the American social media platform’s failure to delete illegal content inside the country.According to a statement posted on Roskomnadzor’s website, 100 percent of mobile devices and 50 percent of stationary devices using Twitter would face a disruption in service in an effort to “protect Russian citizens.””The mechanism envisions slowing down the transfer of photo and video content without any limitations on text messages. Users will be able to exchange messages freely,” Roskomnadzor official Vadim Subbotin later clarified in comments to reporters.Subbotin added the restrictions would remain in place until Twitter complied with the request to remove offending content.Failure to do so, added Subbotin, could lead to a full blockage of Twitter inside the country.In its statement, Roskomnadzor said Twitter had failed to remove 3,168 tweets promoting drug use, child pornography, and teenage suicide and ignored “over 28,000 initial and repeated requests” to address content violations.There was no immediate comment from Twitter about the new restrictions.“Nobody has any desire to block anything,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov when asked about the issue in his daily call with journalists.“But taking measures that force the company to fulfill our laws is completely justifiable.”President Vladimir Putin had criticized the internet for preying on Russian youth during a meeting with young volunteers last week.“We all unfortunately know what the internet is and how it’s used to spread entirely unacceptable content,” said Putin, who argued the Web should be bound by “moral laws.”Kremlin(ru) goes darkThe moves against Twitter were quickly followed by news that a series of key Russian government websites — including the Kremlin’s main portal — were inaccessible to users.Other state websites that appeared to experience problems included the Interior Ministry, Russia’s Federal Council and Duma, the Ministry of Economic Development and even Roskomnadzor — the Internet governing body that announced the penalties against Twitter to begin with.Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development later clarified the problems had nothing to do with the actions against Twitter but were caused by technical issues at the state service provider Rostelecom.Yet it was an explanation that did little to tame speculation that something larger was unfolding online.The coming cyberwar?The move against Twitter marked the latest in a simmering battle between Russia’s government and global tech companies.The Kremlin has alleged that Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube are platforms that promote content supportive of Russia’s opposition while penalizing Russian state media content.Earlier this month, Russia announced it was suing Twitter and four other global tech companies for failing to delete posts expressing support for protests against the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navanly.Meanwhile, the problems with Russian government websites follow reports the Biden administration was preparing a cyber response —- both overt and covert — to what it insists is the Kremlin’s responsibility for the massive SolarWinds hack of U.S. government agency websites in 2020.Concerns over cyberattacks, and their fallout, have been a contentious aspect of the U.S.-Russian relationship since the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign — when the U.S. accused Russia of using cyber tools to interfere in the race. In 2019, Russia passed a law in defense of a “sovereign internet” — a measure that includes a “kill switch” intended to isolate Russian infrastructure from the worldwide web, if attacked.Internet activists argue the action is just the latest in a series of laws intended to tighten government control of the internet and clamp down on free speech.But experts have long questioned whether Russia’s internet governing body was capable of carrying out its threats to block big tech or the internet as a whole.In 2019, Roskomnadzor was widely mocked for botching its efforts to block the social message app Telegram. The effort to kill the service in Russia ended up disrupting service for hundreds of websites and commercial services, even as the app continued to function. On Wednesday, analysts suggested a similar dynamic was at play in the new fight between Russian censors and Twitter.“Russia’s slowing down of Twitter caused the outage of government websites,” explained Andrei Soldatov, a leading expert on Russian cybersecurity in a post to social media.“What was meant to be partly a nationwide test of the Sovereign Runet infrastructure, partly a warning to global platforms, (and partly a soothing message to Putin getting emotional), failed on all fronts.”As if to underline that fact, his message was posted to…where else? Twitter.Russia’s slowing down of Twitter caused the outage of govt websites.
What was meant to be partly a nationwide test of the Sovereign Runet infrastructure, partly a warning to global platforms, (and partly a soothing message to Putin getting emotional), failed on all fronts.
— Andrei Soldatov (@AndreiSoldatov) March 10, 2021
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The nightly internet shutdowns in Myanmar are part of a strategy employed by many governments worldwide in times of crisis. But they come with costs. VOA’s Michelle Quinn reports.
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The first federal recommendations for people vaccinated against COVID-19 allow cautious steps toward normal life.Too cautious, critics say.The In this Jan. 27, 2021, image from video, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during a White House briefing.Though vaccinated people are protected from severe illness, there is still a “small risk” that they could carry the virus without showing symptoms and spread it to other people, FILE – In this Feb. 5, 2021, file photo, Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans travel by boat along the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Fla.More than half of Americans are planning or have booked a trip, according to the U.S. Travel Association, an industry group.Public health experts have criticized Texas and Mississippi for completely reopening their economies and canceling their mask mandates. But they are not the only ones relaxing restrictions. Other states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, are allowing restaurants to go back to full capacity.“The CDC guidance is lagging what people are actually doing,” said Adalja of Johns Hopkins, adding that the agency is risking irrelevance. “People are passing them by, and I think they’re losing an opportunity to actually help people make better decisions.”Adalja also thinks the CDC would be better off approaching COVID-19 the way it does HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C or sexually transmitted diseases.“We know that abstinence-only education doesn’t work,” he said.Rather than telling vaccinated people what not to do, the CDC should explain how to lower their risks.“Don’t throw away your mask,” he said. “But don’t be worried about visiting your grandfather, or getting on an airplane or subway, or indoor dining. I tell people, go back to as close to normal life as you feel comfortable.”The guidance is “an important first step,” Walensky added, but it’s “not our final destination.” The risks that vaccinated people can still spread the virus is “an ongoing area of research,” she said, adding that the CDC will continue updating the guidance as new information comes in.
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U.S. President Joe Biden’s two dogs have reportedly been sent back to his home in Delaware after what has been described as aggressive behavior toward a member of White House security.
The U.S. cable channel CNN first reported late Monday one of the dogs, Major, had bitten a security staff member, citing people close to the situation. There was no report on how serious the bite was, but apparently staff felt it warranted to remove the dogs from the White House and its grounds.
Major, at three years old, is the younger of the Biden’s two German shepherds and was adopted from a Delaware animal shelter. The CNN sources said the dog has been known to display “agitated” behavior, including jumping, barking and “charging at some staff members. Reports say there has been no comment from the White House.
The other dog, Champion, is at least 13 years old and slowed by age. Both are the first rescue dogs to live at the White House.
In interviews, first lady Jill Biden has indicated it has taken the dogs some time to get used to their surroundings at the White House since moving in January. She said they tend to “run all over.”
The CNN sources which confirmed the dogs had been taken to Delaware indicated it is not unusual for the animals to stay there with “minders” when the first lady is out of town. Jill Biden left Monday for a two-day trip to Washington state and California.
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The World Health Organization reports one in three women globally, around 736 million, suffer physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by a non-partner. The study, the largest ever conducted on the prevalence of violence against women, is based on data from 2000 to 2018.Violence often begins at an early age. The study finds one in four young women aged 15 to 24 are violently abused by an intimate partner. WHO officials said this is of particular concern as it is during this formative age that healthy relationships are made.Short- and long-term impactsThe report said intimate partner violence is by far the most prevalent form of violence against women worldwide. It said abusive treatment can have both short- and long-term impacts on women’s physical and mental well-being. Claudia Garcia-Moreno is Unit Head in WHO’s Department of Sexual Reproductive Health and an author of the report.She told VOA problems include unwanted pregnancies and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections. She said many women suffer from mental health issues, particularly depression and anxiety which can lead to substance abuse and other risky behavior.“It can lead to death as well both, in the form of homicide,” Garcia-Moreno said. “We know that about 38% — and some studies report even higher of the murders of women are committed by intimate partners. And we also see a strong association with suicide and suicide attempts.”Abuse higher in poorest countriesData show violence disproportionately affects women living in low-and lower-middle-income countries. An estimated 37% of women in the poorest countries are found to have been physically or sexually abused by their intimate partners.Highest prevalence rates are in the regions of Oceania, Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The lowest rates are in Europe, and in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Asia.Garcia-Moreno said the prevalence of violence in intimate relationships in lower socio-economic regions is driven by a whole range of factors.“We know that there is a strong correlation with economic development and strong, stringent, rigid gender norms,” Garcia-Moreno said. “Discrimination against women, laws that maybe are unsupportive of women in terms of divorce or child custody or inheritance rights.”Women’s movements successful Garcia-Moreno said countries that have organized women’s movements are most successful in tackling this problem. Reducing the stigma around violence by intimate partners, she said is critical in addressing this issue.Authors of the study report that changing discriminatory gender norms and institutions, addressing economic and social inequalities, and ensuring access to education and safe work are other measures that can help prevent violence.
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The United Nations’ weather agency, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said Tuesday the record cold felt in the U.S. during February was the result of the same weather phenomena that sent above-average warmth to parts of the arctic.
At a virtual news conference from Geneva WMO, spokeswoman Clare Nullis told reporters that February saw much colder than average temperatures in North America and Russia, but warmer temperatures in parts of the Arctic and other regions.
Nullis cited a report from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this week showing the contiguous United States had its coldest February since 1989. She said the U.S. set 62 all-time daily cold minimum temperature records in a span of five days between February 11 and February 16.
But she was quick to note, “A relatively cold February does not negate the long-term warming trend from climate change.”By recent global standards, February 2021 was relatively cool.This doesn’t mean #climatechange has stopped.Average February CO2 concentrations at Mauna Loa, the world’s benchmark station, were 416.75 parts per million, up from 413.4 ppm in February 2020.https://t.co/kJLahYTm79pic.twitter.com/xvuIEBKUTa— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) March 9, 2021The WMO explained February’s weather was influenced to a large extent by a recent meteorological phenomenon called a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event, which occurred about 30 kilometers over the North Pole. This, scientists say, led to a weakening of the polar vortex, the area of low pressure and cold air surrounding the Earth’s poles, with swirling westerly jet stream winds circulating around them.
Those winds are normally strong enough to keep the coldest air in the Arctic during the winter. But the weakening allowed the cold air to spill out into the mid-latitudes, including the U.S., and for the warmer air to enter the Arctic.
Nullis said statistics show the record cold and cold waves seen last month in the United States and parts of Russia are becoming rarer, while heat records are becoming much more frequent, a trend which the WMO expects to continue.
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Buckingham Palace said Tuesday the British royal family is “saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the past few years have been” for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, popularly known as Harry and Meghan.Following a widely publicized CBS interview Sunday with Oprah Winfrey, in which issues of race, family dynamics and suicidal thoughts were raised, a Buckingham Palace statement issued on behalf of Queen Elizabeth said, “While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”The statement, published on Twitter, also said the couple and their son Archie will always be “much loved family members.”The statement comes after Markle, who is biracial, said a member of the family raised concerns over “how dark” Archie would be. The former actress is now pregnant with her second child.In February, the palace announced the duke and duchess would not return as working royals, almost a year after it was announced that they would be stepping down from their duties as working members of the royal family. The couple moved to North America later that year. They currently reside in California.Tuesday marks the first time the royal family has publicly responded to the issues raised in the Sunday interview.
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Uganda launches its national vaccination program on Wednesday, two days after receiving 100,000 additional doses of Covid-19 vaccine donated by the Indian government.
So far, Uganda has received 964,000 doses of the vaccine through donations.
Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng said healthcare workers will be the first to get their shots followed by teachers and those in high risk groups, including the elderly.
The health ministry earlier said Ugandans seeking vaccinations must present a national identification card and non-citizens a passport.
Aceng also warned that vaccination does not mean the public should abandon Covid-19 safety protocols to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Uganda has confirmed nearly 40,500 infections and 334 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.
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The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine neutralizes the rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus recently discovered in Brazil, according to the results of a laboratory study. Scientists with Pfizer and the University of Texas took blood from people who had been given the vaccine and mixed it with an engineered version of the mutation, dubbed P.1. The researchers found the vaccine was roughly as effective against the Brazilian variant as it was against other, less contagious versions of the virus from last year. The results of the study were published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Here’s What Doctors Know About How COVID-19 Impacts the Body It’s been a year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemicRussia vaccine deal
In another vaccine related development, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF has signed a deal with Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Adienne to mass produce Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for eventual use in Europe. The vaccine would be manufactured in Adienne’s production site in Milan, Italy under a deal reached Tuesday. The European Union has warned member states against purchasing Russia’s COVID vaccine since the EU has not yet finished its review of Sputnik V. But the EU’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, has come under growing criticism for its slow approval process of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, prompting some countries to unilaterally approve Sputnik V. A peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet medical journal last month showed the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine is nearly 92% effective against symptomatic COVID-19. FILE – Travelers wear face masks while waiting to check in at the Southwest Airlines counter in Denver International Airport, Dec. 22, 2020, in Denver.US airline industry calls for new standards
As more and more coronavirus vaccines become available to the general public, the U.S. airline industry is urging the Biden administration to craft new standards for travel documents for travelers to prove they have been tested for, and vaccinated against, COVID-19. In a letter sent Monday to Jeffrey Zients, the head of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 coronavirus response team, more than 30 airlines, trade organizations and labor unions called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to take the lead in developing the new standards they hope will eventually lead to the resumption of global travel.Many nations and organizations are working to develop so-called “vaccine passports” for travelers to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But the World Health Organization says that such documents should not be used for international travel because coronavirus vaccines are not easily available globally. Vaccine passports
WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan told a press briefing on Monday there are “real practical and ethical considerations” for countries that are considering using vaccine passports and said the U.N. health agency advises against it for now. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines Monday for those who have been fully vaccinated, advising that they can gather without masks in small groups with others who have been inoculated, but that they should still wear masks in public.
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Last March, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, it had already proved to be lethal and highly contagious. It was a new virus with many unknowns. Since then, scientists have learned a lot about how it affects vital organs and its long-term effects. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a virus — officially known as SARS-COV2, short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2. It’s the second time a coronavirus has sickened people and caused death. SARS first appeared in China in November 2002. The current version of the virus emerged from China in 2019, which is why it is called COVID-19.A worker inspects vials of SARS CoV-2 Vaccine for COVID-19 produced by SinoVac at its factory in Beijing, Sept. 24, 2020.The virus invades the lungs. Once there, it multiplies and neutralizes the molecules that help us fight infection. Most people recover, but the virus can damage the lungs and leave patients gasping for air. Patient stories
Thomas Steele needed a double lung transplant because of COVID-19. “It’s nothing like sitting in your hospital room gasping for every breath and air you take, and I did that for 58 days,” Steele said.The lungs pass oxygen into the bloodstream, and the virus can damage the lungs and make the oxygen levels fall. Patients may need to be put on a ventilator to help them breathe. Blood clots
COVID-19 can also cause dangerous clotting in the bloodstream. People who already have damaged blood vessels, from high blood pressure or stroke, and those with heart disease have a higher risk of serious disease. These clots can form throughout the body, including in the lungs and the heart. The clotting can cause heart attack or stroke. Dr. Allen Anderson at University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio is one of many cardiologists who saw people with healthy hearts suffer heart damage.“They had elevations of blood enzyme markers that were consistent with a heart attack even though they didn’t have any blockages in their coronary arteries, they had heart rhythm disturbances, and this occurred with quite high provenance,” Anderson said.The virus and the inflammation that accompanies it, can damage the heart tissue. Some of the damage can be reversed. But some cannot.This 2020 electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S.Kidney damage
Doctors have also learned that the virus can damage another vital organ — the kidneys. A large New York medical system looked at more than 5,000 COVID patients last year.Dr. Kenar Jhaveri at Hofstra/Northwell in Great Neck, New York is the lead author whose findings were published in the journal Kidney International.“Of the 5,449 patients, 36.6% of them developed acute renal failure or kidney injury. Of the ones that got kidney injury, 14% required dialysis,” Jhaveri said.Scientists are still studying the impact of COVID-19 on the body. But the most severe effects start with the lungs. Damaged lungs have a harder time getting oxygen to the bloodstream. And organs need oxygen to function. If there is none, they can fail … the lungs, the heart, the kidneys and the liver. And then there are long-term consequences of the disease. Some are not life-threatening but can affect the quality of life. Lingering symptoms
Symptoms include persistent fatigue, headache, shortness of breath or chest pain. Others may experience brain fog or memory issues. And still others have lingering feelings of anxiety and depression. Anyone, not just those who were hospitalized, can have long-term symptoms. And there’s no way to tell who will be affected. “We don’t really know right now how many patients will develop these long-COVID symptoms after they have had this infection,” Dr. Kristin Englund, an infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic, explained. ” Studies look at anywhere between 10% and 80%, so there could be a large number of people who are experiencing symptoms well after that four-week time period when we expect people to normally recover.” Some medical centers have started special clinics to treat the long-haulers, people whose symptoms persist even after they have recovered from COVID. Others may not be long-haulers, but their lives have changed drastically because of COVID-19. “I’ll never be the same person for the rest of my life,” Steele said.He is one of many who will never be the same because of COVID-19.
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