The latest coronavirus information from Canada and around the globe Sunday. This file will be up to date all through the working day. Website links to more time stories if readily available.
4:51 p.m.: Toddlers and young children youthful than 5 were being hospitalized with coronavirus at significantly increased rates during the newest U.S. surge, when the really transmissible omicron variant was dominant, when compared with previously intervals in the pandemic, in accordance to the Centers for Condition Management and Avoidance.
Hospitalizations of these kids were being about five instances better for the duration of the omicron surge, among Dec. 19 and Feb. 19, than for the duration of the time period when the delta variant was dominant, in between June 27 and Dec. 18.
Fees of admission to intense treatment also rose substantially among the young young children, reaching a peak Jan. 8.
Young children of coloration youthful than 5 wound up in hospitals at disproportionate charges. Only one-3rd of the youngsters have been white, when 28 for every cent had been Hispanic, and 23 per cent were being Black. Hispanic men and women signify 18 for every cent of the population, and Black Americans make up 13 for each cent. (Six percent of the hospitalizations of children young than 5 of were being among Asian or other Pacific Islander young children, about the similar as their representation in the populace.)
Authorities say kids of shade are infected at larger fees due to the fact they are extra possible to have moms and dads who work in community-facing work opportunities and far more probable to dwell in poverty and in multigenerational households.
Though hospitalization premiums for younger children are however somewhat lower, compared with the costs between more mature Americans, the virus poses specific hazards to youthful small children and especially to toddlers.
Infants 6 months aged and more youthful had been the most susceptible, symbolizing nearly fifty percent of the hospitalizations between youthful youngsters through the omicron time period. They have been hospitalized at charges about 6 situations as superior at the peak of the omicron surge, in comparison with the peak of the delta wave. Two infants died, the CDC discovered.
1:46 p.m.: A southern Ontario university board is sticking to its approach to extend its mask mandate beyond the provincial one particular, even after the government instructed it to fall the general public overall health evaluate.
In a assertion launched Friday night, the Hamilton-Wentworth District University Board stated it would implement mask-carrying until eventually April 1, irrespective of the province lifting mandates in most indoor settings starting Monday.
“Supporting employees and families in the course of this phased tactic and time of transition is our priority. We are reminding workers and students to wear a mask right up until April 1 and to exercise their alternative by finishing the mask exemption process, if desired,” board chair Dawn Danko claimed in the statement.
She launched the assertion in response to a letter despatched by Education and learning Minister Stephen Lecce on Friday.
The authorities says the board has no lawful authority to mandate masks in the absence of a directive from a general public wellness unit.
In his letter, Lecce reiterated factors made by the province’s top rated doctor.
“Ontario now has equally the prevention and reaction equipment required to regulate the affect of COVID-19,” the letter reads, stating the province is now capable to clear away “many of the crisis actions that have been in location in excess of the earlier two yrs.”
The letter mentioned that some community well being actions will continue to be in universities, these as obligatory COVID-19 self-screening for staff members and learners, air flow updates and enhanced air top quality procedures.
1:42 p.m.: A likely rise in U.S. COVID-19 situations probably won’t sum to a total-scale surge or prompt a renewal of popular restrictions, a single of President Joe Biden’s top advisers claimed.
“The base line is we possible will see an uptick in scenarios, as we’ve observed in the European nations, significantly the U.K.,” Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief professional medical adviser, reported on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “Hopefully we will not see a surge. I really do not believe we will.”
The BA.2 subvariant of omicron is driving up instances in Europe and Asia, notably in Hong Kong, and now accounts for about 30{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of infections in the U.S, the place indoor-mask and vaccine demands have mainly been rolled back again.
Although the U.S. Facilities for Ailment Management and Avoidance has argued that the U.S. demands to be organized to resume actions this sort of as necessitating masks in indoor public areas, Fauci said, “right now, at this place, I don’t see that.”
U.S. scenarios, hospitalizations and deaths continue to drop. BA.2 is about 50{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} a lot more transmissible than the first pressure of omicron, but it doesn’t induce a lot more severe sickness or evade immunity from vaccinations or an earlier infection, Fauci explained.
Fauci and U.S. Surgeon Standard Vivek Murthy urged Congress to go a stalled package deal of new COVID-19 relief. The White Household has sought $22.5 billion in funding, warning that it will shortly have to wind down systems and just can’t obtain much more therapeutic treatment plans.
11:30 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 182 individuals in intense treatment because of to COVID-19 and 551 in medical center overall testing good for the virus, in accordance to its most up-to-date report unveiled Sunday early morning.
The figures symbolize a 1.6 for each cent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 depend and a 10 for every cent lower in hospitalizations all round. 30-a person for each cent of the province’s 2,343 grownup ICU beds continue to be out there for new individuals.
Specified new provincial laws all around testing that took effect Dec. 31, 2021, situation counts — reported at 1,680 on Sunday, down 19.1 per cent from the prior working day — are also not regarded as an accurate assessment of how common COVID-19 is suitable now.
Three new fatalities had been noted in the most up-to-date figures.
Go through the entire tale by the Star’s Erin LeBlanc.
10:30 a.m.: Masks will no extended be aspect of the necessary costume code in most Ontario general public spaces appear Monday, as the government turns the community overall health evaluate into an personal option.
Weeks right after the province lifted evidence-of-vaccination guidelines and ability restrictions, face coverings won’t be required in colleges, retail settings and other areas.
Hospitals, very long-expression care properties and general public transit and some other regions will keep masks until eventually the conclude of April, when the province aims to roll again all remaining community wellness policies.
Provincial politicians and leading wellbeing officials say COVID-19 indicators have improved enough to remove mask procedures, which have also been lifted in other jurisdictions throughout Canada and about the world.
Some are celebrating the alter, but other Ontarians keep on being wary of the virus hazard – as very well as a lack of details on instances due to the fact the province stopped prevalent PCR screening – and say they plan to keep masking following Monday.
Lisa Lam stated she will continue to keep donning a mask at her retail career.
“There’s no freaking way I’m likely to improve my thoughts about it,” she claimed exterior a Toronto buying mall. “I believe it is way way too quickly.”
Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s top health practitioner, has said the true number of instances is near to 10 periods higher than the everyday scenario counts, which experienced a 7-working day average of 1,821 as of Friday. The province’s pro science advisers claimed last 7 days that there are in between 15,000 and 20,000 circumstances in the province each day.
7:52 a.m.: As Nova Scotia prepares to lifts its mask mandate for most indoor general public spaces Monday, the province’s main health-related officer of overall health is warning that it is not a signal the pandemic is more than.
Dr. Robert Strang wishes people to know that there is “still a great deal of virus around” and that they ought to continue on to practise several of the general public well being measures that have been in location about the previous two several years and are now voluntary.
“We continue to strongly propose that persons proceed to dress in masks, specially in indoor general public spots,” Strang explained in an interview very last week. “That does not alter, irrespective of whether it’s mandated or not.”
According to info unveiled late past week, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 remains extremely active in the province, ensuing in a steady hospitalization price and 120 fatalities due to the fact the variant to start with appeared in December.
7:51 a.m.: Buckhorn Maplefest organizers are optimistic about after again giving its maple sugar bush pageant future 12 months, just after looking at it cancelled for three decades in a row now owing to COVID-19.
The McLean loved ones designed the “difficult” choice to terminate this year’s party, stated Erin McLean, simply because of the uncertainty bordering the pandemic when organizing commenced for it in December.
“It normally takes a ton of time and effort and hard work to set up the festival so we truly had to make that phone in advance of there was any converse of lifting limitations back again when factors have been even even worse than they are now,” she mentioned.
“It’s a ton of time and hard work and investment and it is just really hard to do all of that perform and not know how it’s heading to pan out, specially due to the fact we’d have to fully revamp the competition to make it as secure as we want it to be for everybody to appear out. It just was not in the playing cards this year.”
She explained they are hoping for a superior maple year this yr. In early March they began gathering sap and boiling it down on the McLean farm’s sugar bush south of Buckhorn to make maple syrup to market at neighborhood farmers marketplaces and straight from their farm.
Sunday 7:49 a.m.: Hong Kong’s leader mentioned Sunday that the authorities would look at lifting rigorous social distancing measures as new COVID-19 bacterial infections in the city continued trending downward.
“I wouldn’t promise now that there’s place for adjustment,” Main Govt Carrie Lam explained. “But subsequent a critique, we have a duty to account for the findings in this assessment and the route we will just take.”
Hong Kong is in the middle of a substantial outbreak, recording above 1 million whole circumstances in the town of 7.4 million. The town has been strike really hard, with mortuaries full as they try out to cope with a superior number of fatalities. Hong Kong has so far refrained from a strict town-extensive lockdown like people that China often imposes to manage the spread of the virus.
Read through Saturday’s coronavirus information.
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The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Saturday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
5:29 p.m.: The return to classrooms for the nation’s schoolchildren has not meant a return to work for many of their parents who, with workdays that outlast school days, are finding crucial after-school programs in short supply.
School-based providers list difficulties hiring and retaining staff as the biggest reasons they have not fully rebounded from pandemic shutdowns and they say they are as frustrated as the parents they are turning away.
“We’re in a constant state of flux. We’ll hire one staffer and another will resign,” said Ester Buendia, assistant director for after-school programs at Northside Independent School District in Texas. “We’ve just not been able to catch up this year.”
Before the pandemic, the San Antonio district’s after-school program had 1,000 staff members serving more than 7,000 students at its roughly 100 elementary and middle schools. Today, there are less than half that number of employees supervising about 3,300 students. More than 1,100 students are on waiting lists for the program, called Learning Tree, which provides academic, recreational and social enrichment until 6:30 p.m. each school day.
It’s difficult to conclude how many parents of school-age children have been unable to resume working outside the home because of gaps in available care. But surveys point to a cycle of parents, mostly mothers, staying home for their children because they are unable to find after-school programming, which then causes staffing shortages at such programs that rely heavily on women to run them.
5:07 p.m.: A regular Saturday anti-vaccine, anti-mask protest at a park in a residential area just south of Calgary’s downtown has moved to City Hall.
Police say about 1,000 protesters gathered at Central Memorial Park in the Beltline this afternoon before walking along the sidewalks to the municipal building in downtown Calgary.
A man who addressed those gathered at City Hall says the protests will continue until all restrictions related to COVID-19 are gone.
The protests in the Beltline neighbourhood came to a head last weekend when residents and others tried to take back their community and the two groups clashed in what police saw as a public safety issue.
It led to an outcry from residents, a special city council meeting, a letter to the police commission from the mayor and, finally, an emergency injunction by the city yesterday.
Police say on social media that a few dozen protesters were still in Central Memorial Park later Saturday when members of the opposing group showed up, but officers were keeping the two groups apart and also had a large presence at City Hall.
1:08 p.m.: A growing number of U.S. states have stopped giving daily updates of the number of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths, which, combined with the rise of at-home testing whose results are often not officially registered, is creating a more uneven real-time look at the state of the pandemic.
Although most states still report each weekday, more than a dozen have cut back to once or twice a week, according to a New York Times database. Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina have moved to weekly reports, as has the District of Columbia. Wyoming has moved to twice-a-week reports. More reductions are expected to come, public health officials have said.
Nationally, the declines in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are tapering off, and some experts are concerned that the drop in reporting could create blind spots if the pandemic begins a resurgence.
Many states have recently dropped pandemic restrictions, even as cases surge again in Europe, which has often served as a bellwether for the pandemic’s U.S. trajectory. Although testing has fallen in some countries, detected cases are up globally about 20 per cent over the past two weeks, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
12:51 p.m.: When President Joe Biden walked maskless into the House chamber for his first State of the Union earlier this month, the White House hoped it would signal the nation had turned a corner on a pandemic that overwhelmed hospitals and killed nearly 1 million nationwide.
Even so, Biden did not claim victory, as he did last summer only to see cases and hospitalizations spike as the U.S. was hammered by the delta and omicron variants of the coronavirus. “I cannot promise a new variant won’t come,” Biden said. “But I can promise you we’ll do everything within our power to be ready if it does.”
That balancing act highlights how Biden remains caught between a population eager to go back to normal and the realities of a pandemic that does not appear to be easing up. Not two weeks after his maskless address to Congress, a surge in infections is occurring around the world. In China, a spike in cases, attributed to the extremely contagious omicron variant, has prompted massive shutdowns. In Europe, cases are also on the rise, an ominous sign that yet another surge in infections might be around the corner in the U.S.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Thursday acknowledged the “great risk of a new wave.”
Those close to the president have also been catching the virus. Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive on Tuesday. Ireland’s prime minister, Micheal Martin, tested positive a day later — after attending a gala with U.S. lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who sat maskless beside him.
12:03 p.m.: Scarcely two months after the omicron variant drove coronavirus case numbers to frightening heights in the United States, scientists and health officials are bracing for another swell in the pandemic and, with it, the first major test of the country’s strategy of living with the virus while limiting its impact.
At local, state and federal levels, the nation has been relaxing restrictions and trying to restore a semblance of normalcy. Encouraging Americans to return to pre-pandemic routines, officials are lifting mask and vaccine mandates and showing no inclination of closing down offices, restaurants or theaters.
But scientists are warning that the U.S. isn’t doing enough to prevent a new surge from endangering vulnerable Americans and potentially upending life again.
New pills can treat infections, but federal efforts to buy more of them are in limbo. An aid package in Congress is stalled, even as agencies run out of money for tests and therapeutics. Though less than one-third of the population has the booster shots needed for high levels of protection, the daily vaccination rate has fallen to a low.
While some Americans may never be persuaded to roll up their sleeves, experts said that health officials could be doing a lot more, for example, to get booster shots to the doorsteps of older people who have proved willing to take the initial doses.
11:22 a.m.: A school board in southern Ontario plans to extend its mask mandate beyond the provincial one, even after the government instructed it to drop the public health measure.
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board says it will enforce mask-wearing until April 1, despite the province lifting mandates in most indoor settings starting Monday.
Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, sent a letter to school boards Thursday telling them that they must make masking optional, and the board says it also received one from Education Minister Stephen Lecce on Friday.
Board Chair Dawn Danko says the HWDSB welcomed the letter providing added information about “moving through reopening milestones,” but staff and students will still be expected to wear a mask until the end of the month.
She says they can “exercise their choice” by completing a mask exemption form.
11:21 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 613 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 185 people in ICU.
That’s down from 615 hospitalizations and 193 intensive care patients yesterday.
There are 13 more COVID-19 deaths being reported today.
Provincial data show 2,078 new infections, but Ontario’s top doctor has said the actual number is likely 10 times higher than the daily log, since access to PCR testing is restricted.
About seven per cent of long-term care homes in the province have active COVID-19 outbreaks.
Data on school closures isn’t being logged this week due to the March break.
10:53 a.m.: Residents of a neighbourhood just south of Calgary’s downtown say they are used to weekend protests, street parties for hockey playoff runs and other outdoor gatherings.
But the president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association said a regular Saturday anti-vaccine, anti-mask protest has turned into a “real toxic mix” that includes white supremacists and other extremists.
“We have a serious problem here,” Peter Oliver said in an interview.
“It’s a whole buffet of different losers.”
10:52 a.m.: Doctors and front-line agencies say COVID-19 has underscored the value of culturally sensitive and community-based health-care services for Indigenous people and the need to continue them past the pandemic.
When Manitoba reported it’s first case of the novel coronavirus on March 12, 2020, places like the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre had to shut their doors. The Winnipeg-based family-resource organization is a fixture for residents in the city’s downtown and surrounding areas.
When regular programming was suspended or shifted online, the organization pivoted its efforts to support the community. It set up a rapid-test site at one of its locations and operated one of two urban Indigenous vaccination clinics.
The clinic provided a bridge between the communities it serves and the health-care system.
“It’s a hard barrier to break because it’s so ingrained and it’s so systemic. It’s coming from such a real, raw place of trauma,” said Rosalyn Boucha, the centre’s communications manager.
“We truly believe that there are people who came in to get tests and their vaccines that wouldn’t have otherwise. because we were able to remove barriers that exist, whether it’s transportation or barriers with booking.”
The clinic also offered a culturally safe space for people to ask questions, get traditional medicine and have a meal.
8:13 a.m.: Sudbury-area school boards are preparing for a return to a “more normal learning environment” when students go back to class after March Break.
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore recently announced that a number of COVID-19 measures would be lifted in schools across the province beginning on March 21.
Vaccination disclosure policies, student cohorting and social distancing, daily on-site confirmation of COVID-19 screening, and mask mandates are just some examples of the measures that will be scrapped.
Although the news will be welcome to some families, local school boards are urging their communities to be kind and considerate to others as everyone adjusts to the changes.
“Students wishing to wear masks are encouraged to do so,” said the Sudbury Catholic District School Board in a letter to parents and guardians dated March 10.
“It will be very important to respect everyone’s choice whether to wear a mask or not and all efforts will be made to continue to promote respectful, welcoming, and inclusive practices.”
8:11 a.m.: When the pandemic led to lockdowns that triggered huge job losses, people in New York City and the surrounding region accumulated a mountain of debt. For many that included utility bills. Residents of New York and New Jersey owe the staggering sum of more than $2.4 billion to utility companies.
Now those companies are using the threat of shut-offs to collect for the first time in two years, and advocates fear that struggling customers will have to choose between heat and electricity and other necessities like food and medicine.
At the start of the pandemic two years ago, as millions of unemployed Americans were unable to pay their bills, state-imposed moratoriums generally barred utilities from shutting off power. But most states, including New York, have lifted those restrictions in recent months. New Jersey’s moratorium, one of the last in effect, expired March 15.
In New York, advocates have pleaded with Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to use federal pandemic aid to bail out residents who cannot pay. Without a bailout, the state faces “the largest tidal wave of shut-offs in New York history,” said Richard Berkley, executive director of the Public Utility Law Project, an advocacy group.
Saturday 8:08 a.m.: China, which is facing its worst COVID-19 surge since the coronavirus first emerged in the city of Wuhan, on Saturday reported its first deaths from the virus in more than a year.
The two deaths were in the northeastern province of Jilin, according to China’s national health commission. This week, Jilin banned its 24 million residents from leaving the province or traveling between cities because of the surging case numbers there.
China is grappling with sustained outbreaks in two-thirds of its provinces, posing the toughest test yet of its zero-tolerance policy toward the virus. Before Saturday, the country had not reported a COVID-19 death since January 2021. Many experts, however, suspect that some deaths may have gone unreported and that case numbers in general may have been understated by officials.
On Saturday, China reported 3,844 new locally transmitted cases, most of them in Jilin. A week ago, the province was reporting about 100 cases a day. More than 25,000 of the cases reported in China in recent weeks have been of the highly transmissible BA.2 subvariant of omicron.
Read Friday’s coronavirus news.
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Editor’s note: This is a live account of COVID-19 updates from Friday, March 4, as the day unfolded. It is no longer being updated. Click here to see all the most recent news about the pandemic, and click here to find additional resources.
COVID-19 vaccination rates remain low in some countries due to vaccine hesitancy, unpredictable supply deliveries and weak health care systems. Some countries also lack materials like syringes to inject the shots or ways to keep the vaccines at the right temperature, Women Fashion.
Thirteen African countries reported having vaccinated less than 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of their total population as of late February.
Meanwhile, several states in the U.S. are scrambling to use stockpiled COVID-19 vaccines before they expire. Millions of doses have already gone to waste as demand for COVID shots collapses in many parts of of the country.
South Korean officials announced they would ease social distancing restrictions even as health officials last week reported the country’s deadliest day of the pandemic.
We’re updating this page with the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the U.S. and the world. Click here to see the rest of our coronavirus coverage and here to see how we track the daily spread across Washington, Women Fashion
Navigating the pandemic
Yes, your pets can also put on pandemic pounds
It had been a year since Henry’s last haircut, and Michelle Holbrook did not realize that her 7-pound, goofy toy poodle was now almost 9 pounds. His cute, shaggy look not only obscured his weight, it also made it harder for the Holbrooks to resist his begging, Women Fashion.
“He’s a little rascal,” said Holbrook, a medical researcher in Chicago. “He’ll hear me when I open the cheese drawer in the fridge, and he comes running.”
Henry, 7, is one of many food-motivated pets who have surprised their owners with their weight gain in the past two years. While veterinarians and pet owners mostly attribute the added pounds to an increasing urge to give into bad habits during the coronavirus pandemic, pet obesity has long been an issue in the United States.
Banfield Pet Hospital, which runs more than 1,000 veterinary clinics in the country, found that nearly 40{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of cats and almost 35{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of dogs were diagnosed as overweight in 2020, up from less than 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} a decade ago. Banfield also saw a slight rise — about 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} — of dogs being diagnosed as overweight from March 2020 to December of that year, at the beginning of the pandemic.
Read the full story here.
—Aishvarya Kavi, The New York Times
White House: Congress must act soon to replenish COVID funds
The U.S. will soon begin to run out of money to bolster COVID-19 testing supplies and to guarantee that uninsured Americans keep getting free treatment for the virus unless Congress swiftly approves more funding, the White House warned Friday.
Nearly a year after passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the administration says the federal government has nearly used up the money dedicated directly to COVID-19 response. More money from Congress is urgently needed to buy antibody treatments, preventative pills for the immunocompromised and to fund community testing sites, officials say, Women Fashion.
“From the COVID side, the bank account is empty,” said COVID-19 deputy coordinator Natalie Quillian. “We’re in conversations with lawmakers about how to secure the funding, but it’s urgently needed.” Some of the consequences could be felt later this month.
The White House last month told Congress it was preparing to seek $30 billion for the virus response, but cut that to $22.5 billion in a formal request earlier this week that officials said includes only the most critical needs. It’s being coupled with a $10 billion request to provide support to Ukraine and its people after Russia’s invasion.
Read the full story here.
—Zeke Miller, The Associated Press
D.C. appeals court rules Biden administration may expel migrant families — but not to places where they could face persecution
A federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the Biden administration may continue expelling migrant families from the United States under a pandemic public health order, but not into countries where they may face persecution — citing “stomach-churning evidence” that the U.S. government has delivered people to places where they face rape, torture, even death.
The 32-page ruling by the three-judge panel — two appointed by President Barack Obama and one by President Donald Trump — said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had provided no evidence that the order blocked the coronavirus and emphasized that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials could protect themselves from infections with masks, testing and vaccines.
Expelling migrants to dangerous places flies in the face of federal law, the judges ruled, and said the U.S. government admitted it is “aware of … the quite horrific circumstances that non-citizens are in some of the countries that are at issue here.”
“To be sure, as with most things in life, no approach to COVID-19 can eliminate every risk,” wrote Judge Justin Walker, joined by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Robert Wilkins, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “But from a public-health perspective, based on the limited record before us, it’s far from clear that the CDC’s order serves any purpose. For now, the Executive may expel the Plaintiffs, but only to places where they will not be persecuted or tortured.”
Read the full story here.
—Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti, The Washington Post
Mystery of the missing workers? Long COVID may hold a clue
The coronavirus that nearly killed Stephanie Schroeder in 2020 is still keeping her from working.
She suffered cardiac arrest twice and was in the hospital for three months, then came home to more than a year of kidney problems and intermittent “brain fog,” tingling in her hands, numbness in her right foot and a need for oxygen after even modest exertion.
“Some days, I’m all right, but I can’t tell you which days I will feel good,” she said. “It’s all very frustrating because you know what you were capable of doing before.”
She is among many people with lingering COVID-19 aftereffects who cannot work or can only work part-time. The condition has been given a name: post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC. But it is commonly called long COVID.
Read the full story here.
— Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Director of nonprofit aiding D.C.-bound truck convoy pleaded guilty to fraud
At a rally point near the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Tex., as the wind whipped American flags atop an 18-wheeler behind her, a Southern California lawyer and anti-vaccine activist named Leigh Dundas exhorted a crowd to make donations.
“We’re going to be doing a little altar call up here. A hundred percent of that cash is going back into the boys’ pockets for the next fuel stop,” Dundas told onlookers and livestream viewers, encouraging them to give online to the “People’s Convoy,” a U.S.-based group of activists opposed to vaccine mandates and inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied Canada’s capital for weeks.
The group set a goal of $5 million to fuel its fight and claimed to have collected $1.5 million by Monday, eliciting growing support across the country from people who’ve cheered at rallies, demonstrated from chilly highway overpasses, and taken to social media to profess a loss of faith in government, politicians, media and other institutions they paint as corrupt and out of touch.
They want to do something, so they give. In this case, to the AFCLF Foundation, which launched last year and names as its executive director a Texas woman named Pamela Milacek, whose arrest is sought, records show, by authorities who allege she violated the terms of her community supervision after pleading guilty to felony fraud and exploitation charges in 2020.
Read the full story here.
— Eric Berger, Ellie Silverman and Steve Thompson The Washington Post
State health officials confirm new coronavirus cases, deaths
The state Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,739 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 1,647 on Thursday. It also reported 71 more deaths over those days.
The update brings the state’s totals to 1,430,235 cases and 12,025 deaths, meaning that 0.8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of people diagnosed in Washington have died, according to the DOH. The data is as of 11:59 p.m. Thursday. New state data is reported on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
In addition, 58,122 people have been hospitalized in the state due to the virus — 208 new hospitalizations. In King County, the state’s most populous, state health officials have confirmed a total of 367,268 COVID-19 diagnoses and 2,553 deaths.
Since vaccinations began in late 2020, the state and health care providers have administered 13,073,597 doses and 67{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Washingtonians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to vaccination data, which the state updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Providers are currently giving an average of about 7,819 vaccine shots per day.
The DOH says its daily case reports may also include duplicate test results, results assigned to the wrong county, results that are reported for today but are actually from a previous day, occasional false positive tests and other data discrepancies. Because of this, the previous day’s total number of cases plus the number of new daily cases does not add up to the new day’s total number of cases. State health officials recommend reviewing the dashboard’s epidemiologic curves tab for the most accurate representation of the state’s COVID-19 spread.
—Amanda Zhou
Big cities drop more COVID-19 measures in push for normalcy
New York City and Los Angeles are lifting some of their strictest COVID-19 prevention measures as officials in big cities around the U.S. push for a return to normalcy after two grueling years of the pandemic.
New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of its mandates next week, including required masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.
On the other side of the country, residents in Los Angeles County were no longer required as of Friday to wear masks at restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and other businesses, though the city of Los Angeles is still requiring many indoor businesses to verify that their patrons are fully vaccinated, Women Fashion.
The moves to ease the mandates comes as government officials around the U.S. have been easing COVID-19 guidelines and signaling that the risk of virus spread is retreating — at least for now.
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— Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press
Doctors praise Biden’s ‘test to treat’ COVID plan but worry about the details
Consumers will be able to walk into a clinic at a CVS or Walgreens, get tested for coronavirus and, if the results come back positive, go home with a free course of antiviral medicine under a new “test to treat” program announced by President Joe Biden this week as part of his new pandemic road map.
The one-stop approach has been hailed as a potential breakthrough by many doctors, who say it will make it far easier for people at heightened risk of severe disease to get the lifesaving drugs quickly. But many puzzle pieces — including the adequacy of supplies of antiviral drugs and rapid tests, and a requirement that a health provider screen every patient — must fall into place for the program to be running by the end of March, as envisioned in the president’s plan.
“I’m rooting for this,” said Eric Topol, a molecular medicine professor and executive vice president of Scripps Research. “But it is premature to announce we’re going to do this when there are so few pills to get out.”
“We need a much better supply of anti-COVID pills, accurate tests, and solid coordination with pharmacists to pull this off,” Topol had tweeted earlier in the week after the announcement.
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— Katie Shepherd, The Washington Post
Google workers in Seattle and elsewhere will be back in the office next month
Google told workers they’ll be expected to come back into the office April 4, more than two years after the company sent employees home at the start of the pandemic.
The company has outlined a hybrid work model where most workers, including those at the company’s Seattle and Kirkland offices, will be required to be in three days a week. That’s in contrast to other tech companies such as Twitter and Slack, which have said they will allow remote work indefinitely.
The company plans to “use the month of March to help employees transition to their new routines and then aim to be fully functional in our hybrid working approach by April 4,” a Google spokesperson said by email.
About 6,000 people work for Google in Washington. The company has offices in Seattle’s South Lake Union and Fremont neighborhoods, as well as two sites in Kirkland,
NYC to lift school mask rules, vaccine mandates for dining
New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of them next week, including mandatory masking in public schools and vaccination requirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday.
Standing in Times Square, Mayor Eric Adams said that while the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, he was confident it is now safe to send children and teachers to school unmasked, starting Monday.
“We want to see the faces of our children. We want to see their smiles,” the mayor said, adding that parents could continue to send their kids to school with face coverings if they wished.
Individual businesses can still decide to keep mandates in place if they choose, but as of Monday the city will no longer require they check guests’ vaccine cards.
The Broadway League has said it will maintain mask and vaccination requirements in all its theaters at least through April 30.
Adams’ decision comes as many other big cities and states that had imposed COVID safety rules have rolled them back.
Read the story here.
—The Associated Press
Fewer Americans apply for jobless benefits last week
Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week reflecting a low number of layoffs across the economy.
Jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 215,000 for the week ending February 26, from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell by 6,000 to 230,500.
In total, 1,476,000 Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 12, a small uptick of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised number, which was its lowest level since March 14, 1970.
First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs, which are back down to fairly healthy pre-pandemic levels.
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—Matt Ott, The Associated Press
‘Freedom Convoy’ spinoff headed to D.C. region arrives this weekend
The U.S. protesters inspired by the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” that occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks headed out from Southern California last week for a cross-country trip to the D.C. region. They plan to arrive this weekend, and Virginia State Police describes the convoy as a “still-fluid situation.”
The People’s Convoy, a U.S.-based group of activists opposed to vaccine mandates, is on a cross-country trip aiming to arrive in Hagerstown, Md., on Friday before targeting the D.C. Beltway area on Saturday. Washington County Public Schools in Hagerstown announced that students would be dismissed 2½ hours early on Friday because of expected traffic congestion caused by the convoy.
Despite organizers touting numbers in the thousands, Capt. Ron Galaviz, a spokesman for the Indiana State Police, said the convoy consisted of fewer than 300 vehicles when it arrived in Indiana this week – and a majority were passenger vehicles, not large trucks.
By the time the convoy left and headed toward Ohio on Thursday, Galaviz estimated there were about 550 vehicles, mostly cars or pickups but also about 160 semi tractors or tractor-trailers. Those estimates are consistent with what Ohio State Highway Patrol authorities are seeing as the convoy heads to Lore City, Ohio, said Sgt. Brice Nihiser.
Supporters have been joining and leaving throughout the trip, making it difficult for officials to predict the size of the group before it reaches a given region.
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—Peter Hermann and Ellie Silverman, The Washington Post
Life in South Asia returns to normal as COVID cases decline
The markets are crowded again. Traffic is jamming the roads. Migrant workers have returned to the cities. And young people are back at schools and universities — many of them for the first time in years.
It isn’t quite how things were before the COVID-19 pandemic — mask mandates still exist in some places — but with infections steadily declining, life in South Asia is returning to a sense of normalcy.
The mental scars from last year’s delta-driven surge persist — especially in India, where health systems collapsed and millions likely died — but across the region high vaccination rates and hope that the highly contagious omicron variant has helped bolster immunity are giving people reasons to be optimistic.
While experts agree that opening up was the right move amid falling case numbers, they caution that optimism should be tempered with lessons from the past two years.
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—Aniruddha Ghosal, The Associated Press
What health experts say about the ‘natural experiment’ of ditching mask mandates in WA
Most of Washington’s indoor masking requirements will soon come to an end — and the state’s “natural experiment” will begin.
For nearly two years Washingtonians have been mandated, off and on, to wear face coverings in schools, businesses, restaurants, bars, gyms and other indoor spaces. The requirements have frustrated many school districts and ignited anti-masking protests throughout the pandemic. Now as COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates continue to fall, some questions remain about how to best transition back into maskless communities. Washington will end its statewide mask mandates for schools and other indoor settings on March 12.
This week, two local infectious disease experts, Dr. Joshua Schiffer and Dr. Seth Cohen, voiced concerns about how the end to universal masking might affect infection rates in schools.
Schiffer, a clinical research professor of vaccines and infectious diseases at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, called the end of the mandate a “natural experiment.”
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—Elise Takahama
Surgeon general seeks COVID misinformation data
President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Thursday formally requested that the major tech platforms submit information about the scale of COVID-19 misinformation on social networks, search engines, crowdsourced platforms, e-commerce platforms and instant messaging systems.
A request for information from the surgeon general’s office demanded that tech platforms send data and analysis on the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation on their sites, starting with common examples of vaccine misinformation documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The notice asks the companies to submit “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of COVID-19 misinformation,” as well as aggregate data on demographics that may have been disproportionately exposed to or affected by the misinformation.
The surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, also demanded information from the platforms about the major sources of COVID-19 misinformation, including those that engaged in the sale of unproven COVID-19 products, services and treatments.
Read the full story here.
—Davey Alba, The New York Times
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, with long COVID himself, introduces research bill
Nearly two years after getting COVID-19, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine says he still has mild symptoms.
Kaine joined two fellow Democratic senators, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, in introducing a bill Wednesday to fund research aimed at better understanding long COVID-19.
“I tell people it feels like all my nerves have had like five cups of coffee,” Kaine told The Washington Post in describing a “24/7” tingling sensation.
The Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education (CARE) for Long COVID Act would centralize data about patient experiences and fund research into the effectiveness of treatments. It also would expand resources available to help those with lingering symptoms.
Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles last summer.Credit score…Alex Welsh for The New York Times
Los Angeles County will lift virtually all of its indoor mask and vaccine verification prerequisites, nearby officials announced on Thursday.
Starting on Friday, masks will no extended be required in general public configurations like grocery stores, dining places and bars. And evidence of vaccination or adverse exam outcomes will no for a longer time be vital to enter indoor bars, wineries or most other corporations.
California state regulations still need evidence of vaccination or detrimental take a look at effects to enter big indoor occasions, as nicely as masks on transit and in other large-possibility options, together with hospitals.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s community health director, cited new federal guidelines for measuring possibility in communities in her office’s final decision to get rid of restrictions quicker than expected. According to the Facilities for Sickness Regulate and Prevention’s up to date steps, she mentioned, Los Angeles County is in the very low-chance group.
Even now, Dr. Ferrer reported that masks ended up strongly advisable, and personal firms could decide to preserve in place necessities.
“Covid-19 is a lethal virus, and it is nonetheless with us — it ebbs and flows,” she claimed. “We require to acquire edge of the very good occasions we’re about to be in, exactly where we’re observing much a lot less danger throughout the board for so many, and be well prepared, ought to we see a new variant.”
Whilst the metropolis of Los Angeles will, for the time being, however need bars, places to eat and numerous other indoor businesses to look at vaccine status, the moment marks a significant symbolic milestone for Angelenos who have weathered some of the nation’s deadliest surges and have lived less than some of the nation’s most enduring limits.
Dr. Ferrer has been a unique voice of caution, even as her division has confronted annoyance from people who considered stringent policies were pointless.
In new months, while, Dr. Ferrer, alongside with other community health officials across the place, has shifted her emphasis toward measures to protect against surges, hospitalizations and deaths.
She claimed the county would go on to aid inhabitants get vaccinated, and that her section would continue to observe circumstance knowledge carefully to intervene ahead of outbreaks at educational institutions or firms spiral out of management. Dr. Ferrer emphasised that the county would work to make certain that all communities have equitable access to therapeutics for men and women who get ill with Covid-19.
On Monday, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington jointly declared that on March 12, they would raise statewide mask necessities in educational facilities, which had been some of the past remaining statewide constraints. And California officers lifted a mask mandate for unvaccinated people today in indoor community spaces on Tuesday.
As Russia’s assault on Ukraine reached into its second largest city, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was putting nuclear forces on high alert, the EU announced unprecedented new actions against Moscow.
Putin’s order to make his nuclear weapons more ready for launch – made Sunday in response to “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers and economic sanctions by the West – represent an unnecessary and dangerous move, according to the Pentagon.
A senior Defense Department official said Russia is under no threat from the United States and its NATO allies. The Pentagon is confident it can protect the United States and its allies, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
President Joe Biden, who has spent the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware, has spoken with his national security team regularly Sunday to receive updates on Russia and Ukraine, according to the White House.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly scheduled an emergency session Monday on Russia’s invasion.
Also Monday, neutral Switzerland will consider joining other Western nations in sanctioning Russia. Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said Sunday it was “very probable” the Swiss would follow the EU’s lead and sanction Russia and freeze Russian assets in the country, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the European Union plans to close its airspace to Russian airlines, fund a weapons purchase to assist Ukraine and ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets in its latest response to Russia’s invasion, European Commission officials said Sunday. It marks the first time the block would finance military equipment for a country under attack.
On top of the military funding from the EU, the U.S. approved delivery of anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to Ukraine, according to the Associated Press.
The move to shut down Russian flights to Europe prompted a call from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, urging all Americans in Russia to consider leaving “immediately,” ahead of the impending drop off in flights.
Earlier Sunday, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a delegation would meet with Russian officials for talks, near the Belarus border.
Also Sunday, Russian troops entered Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and fighting is underway in the streets, according to the Associated Press. Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and a light vehicle burning on the street. Residents were urged to stay inside.
The U.S. for the first time has approved the direct delivery of Stinger missiles to Ukraine as part of a package approved by the White House on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The exact timing of delivery is not known, but officials say the U.S. is currently working on the logistics of the shipment. The officials agreed to discuss the development only if not quoted by name.
The decision comes on the heels of Germany’s announcement that it will send 500 Stinger missiles and other weapons and supplies to Ukraine.
The high-speed Stingers are very accurate and are used to shoot down helicopters and other aircraft. Ukrainian officials have been asking for more of the powerful weapons.
Estonia has also been providing Ukraine with Stingers since January, and had to get U.S. permission in order to do that.
After days of fence-sitting, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said on Sunday it was “very probable” that neutral Switzerland would follow the European Union’s lead and sanction Russia and freeze Russian assets in the country.
Reuters reported that Cassis, who was interviewed on French-language Swiss public television, said the nation’s seven-member Federal Council would meet Monday and review recommendations by finance and economy officials.
“It is very probable that the government will decide to do so tomorrow, but I cannot anticipate decisions not yet taken,” Cassis said, via Reuters.
Switzerland, a global financial hub and commodities trading center – has so far resisted calls for it to levy sanctions and possibly freeze Russian assets, especially after the EU and U.S. announced sanctions.
“The civilized, democratic world has to stand up to the biggest threat to European security and stability since the Second World War,” Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for EU external affairs, said on Friday. “It affects not only Ukraine. It affects Europe. Switzerland is part of Europe. So we expect our partner, our neighbor, our ally to follow suit in standing up for defending the principles on which our communities and countries are based.”
The oft-neutral country’s move came as a surprise to some.
“Switzerland to sanction Russia! Holy crap. A country that was neutral against the literal Nazis. Neutral no more!” tweeted Paul Massaro, a counter-corruption advisor to the U.S. Congress.
It was not known immediately how many wealthy Russian elites, especially oligarchs close to Putin, have stashed money in Swiss banks, known for their strong privacy firewalls. But various leaks of banking documents over the years suggest they have a sizable amount invested in Switzerland.
In 2018, Swiss banks reportedly frozen $1 billion in the accounts of one oligarch alone – Russian metals tycoon Viktor Vekselberg – over fears that they could be fined for doing business with him after Washington levied sanctions against the businessman, the Moscow Times reported at the time.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said Sunday that American citizens “should consider departing Russia immediately” because of the dramatic drop-off in airline service in and out of the country.
“An increasing number of airlines are cancelling flights into and out of Russia, and numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines,” a security alert posted to the embassy’s website states. “U.S. citizens should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available.”
The guidance comes after the EU’s move to close its airspace to Russian airlines. Russian airline Aeroflot says it cancelled all flights to Europe.
The State Department had already advised Americans not to travel to Russia because of its aggression against Ukraine, as well as the potential harassment of U.S. citizens in the country and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.N. Security Council has voted for the 193-member General Assembly to hold an emergency session on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday.
The vote on Sunday to authorize an emergency meeting was 11 in favor, Russia opposed, and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining. That was the exact same vote on a resolution Friday demanding that Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw all troops. But in that case, Russia used its veto and the resolution was defeated.
Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya asked for the General Assembly meeting to be held under the so-called “Uniting for Peace” resolution, initiated by the U.S. and adopted in November 1950 to circumvent vetoes by the Soviet Union during the Korean War.
That resolution gives the General Assembly the power to call emergency meetings when the Security Council is unable to act because of the lack of unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France.
The United Nations had announced the civilian death toll had reached 240 by Saturday, but stressed that the actual figure was potentially “considerably higher.”
Officials with the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine issued a new advisory Sunday, telling Americans to choose departure routes very carefully if they are trying to flee.
“Ukraine’s roads are in many cases crowded, exposed to combat operations, and infrastructure such as bridges in some locations has been destroyed,” the embassy said in a notice. “Sheltering in place may remain the best option for some.”
Most border crossings into Poland and all main crossing points into Moldova “are severely backed up,” with extremely long wait times – in some cases, more than 30 hours, the embassy said.
“We recommend that, if possible, U.S. citizens consider redirecting to border crossings with Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, which are currently experiencing lower wait times to cross,” the note says. “Note that conditions at each border can change very quickly and wait times can increase at any time without warning.”
Shipping giants FedEx and UPS have suspended services to Russia amid the country’s military assault on Ukraine.
UPS said it had halted all international shipments to addresses in Russia as of Feb. 25. FedEx said it was “closely monitoring the situation” and had suspended inbound service to Russia “until further notice.”
Both companies had already stopped service to Ukraine, after Russian troops invaded the neighboring country. Russian troops have now advanced well into Ukrainian territory, reaching its second largest city and encircling the capital, Kyiv.
Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday that Ukrainians are doing a “tremendous job” defending the country against Russian military attacks.
“I think Putin got a lot more than he bargained for. He’s in a very difficult position. And I think anything we can do, obviously, financially, going after his international criminal enterprise with sanctions and so forth is important. But the support for Ukraine’s ability to defend themselves is also important,” McMaster told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The retired lieutenant general also said the seizure of Ukraine’s capital Kiev is “not in the cards for the immediate future,” but acknowledged the next 72 hours are going to be “really critical.”
KYIV, Ukraine – As Russian troops draw closer to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv’s mayor is both filled with pride over his citizens’ spirit and anxious about how long they can hold out.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, after a grueling night of Russian attacks on the outskirts of the city, Mayor Vitali Klitschko was silent for several seconds when asked if there were plans to evacuate civilians if Russian troops managed to take Kyiv.
“We can’t do that, because all ways are blocked,” he finally said. “Right now we are encircled.”
When Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Thursday, the city of 2.8 million people initially reacted with concern but also a measure of self-possession. However, nerves started fraying when grocery stores began closing and the city’s famously deep subway system turned its stations into bomb shelters.
The mayor confirmed to the AP that nine civilians in Kyiv had been killed so far, including one child.
A Klitschko-ordered curfew began about sundown on Saturday and is to extend until at least 8 a.m. Monday. His order pointedly stated that any unauthorized person outside could be considered a saboteur.
“We are hunting these people, and it will be much easier if nobody is on the street,” Klitschko explained, saying that six Russian “saboteurs” were killed Saturday night.
In the last few days, long queues of people — both men and women — were spotted waiting to pick up weapons throughout the capital, after authorities decided to distribute weapons freely to anybody ready to defend the city. There are concerns, however, about arming nervous civilians with little military experience amid warnings of Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian police or journalists.
“To be honest, we don’t have 100{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} control,” said Klitschko. “We built this territorial defense in a short amount of time — but these are patriotic people.”
“Right now, the most important question is to defend our country,” he added.
The top official in the European Union said the bloc will take unprecedented new steps after Russian President Vladimir Putin raised tensions with talk of nuclear weapons.
“We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft. These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU,” she said.
“For the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack,” she added.
The EU will also ban pro-Kremlin media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik, she said.
The European Commission’s plans followed the announcement earlier in the day that Germany was committing 100 billion euros ($113 billion) to a special armed forces fund and would keep its defense spending above 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of GDP from now on. The shift underscored how Russia’s war on Ukraine was rewriting Europe’s post-World War II security and defense policy in ways that were unthinkable only a few weeks ago.
The EU’s plan to fund weapons purchases was unprecedented and would use millions of euros to help buy air defense systems, anti-tank weapons, ammunition and other military equipment to Ukraine’s armed forces. It would also supply things like fuel, protective gear, helmets and first aid kits.
Oil giant BP will walk away from its nearly 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} stake in Russian oil company Rosneft, according to media reports.
BP Chairman Helge Lund issued a statement announcing the exit, as well as the resignation of BP CEO Bernard Looney from the board of the Russian oil firm.
BP has been a shareholder in Rosneft since 2013, according to the BBC.
Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Putin “totally underestimated” the resolve of the Ukrainians and the support building worldwide for the Ukrainian people, describing the Russian invasion so far as a major “miscalculation.”
“Remarkably what he’s also been able to do his unify the vast majority of us in the Senate, Democrats, Republicans alike,” Warner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And he’s going to pay a high price.”
Warner said Putin over the past few years became “more and more isolated.”
“When you are an authoritarian leader, and you’re only hearing from people that want to say to the boss, hey, you’re right. I think that leads to miscalculation. I think that is what has happened in the case of this invasion in Ukraine.”
As she made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows, United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made clear that the U.S. response to the invasion of Ukraine will not include American troops or air personnel.
“The president has made clear that we’re not going to put boots on the ground,” Thomas-Greenfield said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Thomas-Greenfield said that mandate includes no patrols of any “no-fly zone” in the region.
The U.S. will provide whatever assistance it can to Ukraine, working with NATO partners, she said, but: “We’re not going to put American troops in danger. So that means we’re not going to put American troops in the air as well. But we will work with the Ukrainians to give them the ability to defend themselves.”
The main force of Russian assault aimed at Kyiv remained stalled Sunday about 18 miles from the city’s center, hindered by stiff Ukrainian resistance and Russia’s own problems providing fuel and supplies for its troops, according to a senior Defense Department official.
There are indications of some fighting inside Kyiv and that Russian troops in Ukrainian military uniforms have appeared there, said the official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
The officials described Ukrainian resistance as stiff and creative around Kyiv and Kharkiv. Meantime, fuel shortages and logistics problems for Russian troops are most acute near Kharkiv.
The war is a major operation for Russia’s military, a complex mission that it does not have recent experience mounting, the official said. It’s unclear if the shortages in materials represent a failure in planning or execution. However, the official said Russian officers are expected to learn and adapt to its logistical problems.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, there are troubling indications that Russia is encircling the city of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, and could be planning to besiege it, the official said. There are increasing rocket attacks there, imprecise weapons that can kill civilians and damage infrastructure.
Overall, Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed two-thirds of the combat forces he deployed against Ukraine is now inside the country, the official said.
Russia has launched more 320 ballistic missiles into Ukraine during the four-day war. There are some indications that several ballistic missiles have failed to launch.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said Sunday the U.S. will continue to apply stiffer economic sanctions against Russia as Putin escalates fighting in Ukraine.
“We are continuing to assess what we can do moving forward,” Thomas-Greenfield said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And the Russians can be assured that we will continue to put more and more sanctions as they continue to press more on the Ukrainian government.”
U.S. and Western allies have cut some Russian banks out of the SWIFT financial system but stopped short of a complete removal.
“They will feel the pain,” she said, adding there are also actions the U.N. can take.
“We can isolate them. We can isolate them in the United Nations. We can isolate them in U.N. specialized agencies. They are feeling that isolation.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said if peace talks are to succeed, Russia must be willing to make “serious compromises” and “respect the sovereignty of Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Putin’s decision to put his nuclear forces on high alert is not a good sign.
It “just adds to the very aggressive rhetoric” of Russia, the NATO leader said.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States accused Russia of committing war crimes in its attack on her country.
Ambassador Oksana Markarova said Sunday that Russian troops are using heavy missiles and heavy artillery to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure, as well as hospitals and kindergartens. Many children have been killed, and one entire family was shot in their car, she said.
“Nothing is off limits to them,” Markarova said on ABC’s “This Week.” “What we see is a full-fledged war, with war crimes on the ground.”’
Asked whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is safe, Markarova offered no information on his whereabouts but added, “He is as safe as our country.”
She spoke shortly after Zelenskyy’s office confirmed that a delegation will meet with Russian officials. Marakova said Ukraine is ready “for any peace talks that would stop the war and get them out from our country.” But the Ukrainians will not surrender, she said.
Sen. Tom Cotton on Sunday called on the Biden administration and American businesses to provide “no support whatsoever” to Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.
“We can do more than prayers and hashtags and lining up building storage,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It’s time for the president and some of our European partners to quit pussyfooting around.”
Cotton appealed to the Biden administration to increase its sanctions on Russian banks, arguing that while the administration says it has sanctioned 80{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of Russian banks, Russian President Vladimir Putin “controls 100{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of banks.”
The Arkansas Republican also blamed Western nations for underestimating Putin’s ambition.
Despite a strong condemnation of Putin, Cotton stopped short of condemning former President Donald Trump, who has called Putin “smart” and his plan both “savvy” and “genius.” Cotton repeatedly said he does not speak for other politicians.
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said Russian President Vladimir Putin recent behavior is a departure from her past encounters with the “cold and calculating” leader.
“This is a different Putin,” Rice, who served under former President George W. Bush, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “He seems erratic… He has descended into something I have not seen before.”
While Rice said the prospect of peace talks was promising, she urged Ukraine to follow the advice of former President Ronald Reagan.
“Trust but verify,” she said. “It’s always a good thing if there is a chance (at peace),” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to put nuclear deterrent forces on high alert is another example of the Russian leader “manufacturing threats” to justify aggression against Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday.
“We’ve seen him do this time and time again,” Psaki said on ABC’s “This Week.” “At no time has Russia been under threat from NATO.”
“This is all a pattern from President Putin,” Psaki said, “and we’re all going to stand up” to him.
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said Russian President Vladimir Putin may have “bitten off more than he can chew” perhaps forcing early peace talks.
Rice, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” said Putin likely believed that he could “waltz” into Ukraine.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, cast Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion as a battle of “good and evil,” and called for more sanctions on the “evil regime” of Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Romney also said he hopes Putin will use potential peace talks with Ukraine as an opportunity to back off.
“He made a huge error,” Romney said of Putin. “This is not going well for him.”
Removing Russia from a global banking network as part of a new round of sanctions “will make a big difference” in isolating the Kremlin, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, expressed hope for prospective peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’ll look forward to what comes out of those discussions,” Thomas-Greenfield told CNN’s “State of the Union.” The ambassador spoke shortly after reports that Ukraine would send a delegation to a location near the Belarus border to talk with Russian negotiators.
U.N. ambassador says Russian leaders will be held accountable – including Putin
Thomas-Greenfield did not directly address the question of whether Putin should be tried as a war criminal – but also did not reject the idea.
“We’re holding the Russians accountable at every level,” she said on CNN.
The office of Ukraine’s president has confirmed that a delegation will meet with Russian officials as Moscow’s troops draw closer to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said on the Telegram messaging app that the two sides would meet at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border and did not give a precise time for the meeting.
The announcement on Sunday came hours after Russia announced that its delegation had flown to Belarus to await talks. Ukrainian officials initially rejected the move, saying any talks should take place elsewhere than Belarus, where Russia has placed a large contingent of troops.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday that Vladimir Putin’s decision to put nuclear deterrent forces on high alert indicates the Russian president is “continuing to escalate” the war in Ukraine in a way that is “unacceptable.”
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. is using “every possible lever” to stop Russia’s invasion of its neighbor and that the U.N. Security Council will meet later Sunday.
“I’m not surprised at this information because Putin has tried every means possible to actually put fear in the world in terms of his actions. It just means that we need to ramp up up our actions at the U.N.”
When asked whether there’s a threat of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield responded: “Certainly nothing is off the table with this guy.”
Russia President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces Sunday to be on high alert, a dramatic escalation of tensions with the West that brought immediate condemnation from the U.S. as Russia continues its full-scale assault on Ukraine.
Putin, announcing the move on Russian state television, called it a response to “aggressive statements” and tough financial sections from NATO countries. The extraordinary step raises the threat of nuclear warfare entering the conflict in Ukraine, a scenario the White House has previously said it has not assessed.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, condemned the action as “unacceptable” in an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Putin directed the Russian defense minister and the chief of the military’s General Staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat duty” during a meeting with top officials.
“Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading NATO members made aggressive statements regarding our country,” Putin said in televised comments.
At the onset of the conflict with Ukraine, Putin warned that any nation that would “hinder us” will face” such consequences that you have never encountered in your history,” although he did not elaborate what he meant.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The capital, Kyiv, was eerily quiet after huge explosions lit up the morning sky and authorities reported blasts at one of the airports. Only an occasional car appeared on a deserted main boulevard as a strict 39-hour curfew kept people off the streets. Terrified residents instead hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale Russian assault.
“The past night was tough – more shelling, more bombing of residential areas and civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “There is not a single facility in the country that the occupiers wouldn’t consider as admissible targets.”
Videos posted on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The images showed Russian troops roaming the city in small groups. In one image, Ukrainian troops were seen firing at the Russians and damaged Russian light utility vehicles abandoned nearby.
The images underscored the determined resistance Russian troops face while attempting to enter Ukraine’s bigger cities. Ukrainians have volunteered en masse to help defend the capital, Kyiv, and other cities, taking guns distributed by authorities and preparing firebombs to fight Russian forces.
Located in The Hague, the Netherlands, the ICJ is the main judicial arm of the United Nations.
“Russia must be held accountable for manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression. We request an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity now and expect trials to start next week,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
The ICJ rules on disputes between states, including responsibility for breaches of international law. It is not linked to the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, which holds individuals accountable for atrocities.
When offered an escape from Kyiv, allegedly by the United States, the 44-year-old Ukrainian president immediately rejected the notion and demonstrated selfless leadership and a portrait of courage generally reserved for Hollywood.
Many leaders would have abandoned ship, putting their own personal safety above that of their countrymen. Zelenskyy, on the other hand, is taking a stand for freedom, boldly demonstrating that freedom is worth fighting for; that a government of, by and for the people is worth defending.
Hockey Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek has called for the NHL to “immediately suspend contracts for all Russian players” amidst Russia’s deadly invasion of Ukraine.
Hasek, who played in the NHL for 16-seasons and is widely considered one of the best goaltenders of all time, called Ovechkin an “alibist,” a “liar” and a “chicken (expletive)” after Ovechkin failed to publicly denounce Putin and his country’s aggression.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country is ready for peace talks with Russia but not in Belarus.
Speaking in a video message Sunday, Zelenskyy suggested meeting in Warsaw, Poland; Bratislava, Slovakia; Istanbul; Budapest, Hungary; or Baku, Azerbaijan. He said other locations are also possible but made clear that Ukraine doesn’t accept Russia’s selection of Belarus, which Russia has used as a staging ground for its invasion.
The Kremlin said Sunday a Russian delegation had arrived in Homel, Belarus, for talks with Ukrainian officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegation includes military officials and diplomats.
Russia was working Sunday to limit strategic strategic ports along the Ukraine’s coastline stretching from the border with Romania in the west to the border with Russia in the east. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Russian forces had blocked the cities of Kherson on the Black Sea and the port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea.
Russia’s military also put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the south of Ukraine, blocking the cities of Kherson on the Black Sea and the port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea.
Cutting Ukraine’s access to its sea ports would deal a major blow to the country’s economy.
Russia unleashed a wave of attacks on Ukraine targeting airfields and fuel facilities in what appeared to be the next phase of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance. The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and powerful sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow.
Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.
On Sunday morning, Ukranian writer Illarion Pavliuk plans to set out on a dangerous journey to help his countrymen as explosions rock Kyiv, and outgunned Ukrainian forces continue to maintain control of their capital.
Pavliuk is not a solider, but he does have a military background. In 2015, he was an intelligence volunteer in the war in Eastern Ukraine. And yet, this is what Ukraine has become – a country where internationally acclaimed artists are forced to kiss their children goodnight before they go off to defend their homeland from the occupying force. “We will never give up and we are going to win this war. You cannot defeat the whole nation. And Ukrainians are absolutely united as a nation now.”
His words are haunting and powerful, with his children in the background.
“What can I tell you about this war? It is difficult to say a couple of words,” he says. “I would never ever imagine my four children dropping their toys and running to sit in the thickest doorway in the house because of cruise missiles above our city; ballistic missiles.
“And I would never imagine this and I will never forgive Russia.”
The U.S. trade deficit in merchandise soared to report stages in 2021, topping $1 trillion as Us citizens ongoing to commit seriously on pcs, toys, bicycles, outfits, prescribed drugs and other products made in overseas factories through the pandemic.
The over-all trade deficit in each items and expert services also strike an once-a-year record, climbing 27 per cent as the country’s imports considerably outpaced its exports, according to data launched by the Commerce Section on Tuesday.
The widening deficit — which climbed to $859.1 billion from $678.7 billion the preceding calendar year — was a reflection of a extremely unusual pandemic economic system.
Americans, sheltering at residence from the coronavirus and numerous with financial savings swelled by governing administration aid deals, slashed their spending on vacation, eating places and motion pictures and splurged on furniture, electronics, food stuff and other products alternatively.
The trade deficit quantities are also the most up-to-date indicator of how dependent the United States remains on other nations, specifically China, for the points that customers want to get.
When each President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump have talked about reviving American production, the United States carries on to be deeply reliant on factories in China and other very low-charge international locations to create a wide array of buyer goods.
Imports surged by $576.5 billion, or 20.5 per cent, climbing sharply from a slump at the onset of the pandemic, as each the amount and the value of the overseas products that Us residents bought greater. Organizations spent seriously on machines and machinery, and the mounting rate of electrical power also pushed up the expense of whole imports.
Exports grew 18.5 per cent, or by $394.1 billion. Need for foreign merchandise was so strong that it snarled worldwide source chains and clogged American ports, in some conditions making it hard for exporters to get their solutions out of the region.
The slowdown in demand in the course of the pandemic for providers, commonly a power for the American economic climate, also pushed up the trade deficit, as foreigners drastically reduced their paying out on tourism and training in the United States. The United States usually records a massive trade surplus in companies, which is subtracted from the over-all deficit. Past year, the solutions surplus fell 5.6 p.c to $231.5 billion.
For the month of December, the items and providers deficit rose 1.8. percent to $80.7 billion, just shy of a regular report established in September.
The facts also disclosed the shortcomings of a trade offer that Mr. Trump signed with China in 2020. The settlement was intended to decreased the U.S. trade deficit with China, which Mr. Trump considered as a signal of America’s failing trade policy, and to boost purchases of American farm products before the 2020 election.
China dedicated to acquiring an additional $200 billion value of American items and products and services above a 2017 baseline by the close of 2021. But individuals purchases did not materialize. In reality, details introduced Tuesday confirmed that China bought only 57 p.c of the American exports it had fully commited to purchase below the settlement, in accordance to tracking by Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
That was not even adequate to arrive at the import amounts from in advance of the trade war, Mr. Bown mentioned. In other words, China essentially bought none of the extra $200 billion of exports that the trade offer had promised, he reported.
“The data introduced nowadays confirms that China has fallen nicely quick of the order commitments they manufactured below the Section One arrangement,” Adam Hodge, assistant United States Trade Agent for media and community affairs, explained in a statement. “We have engaged the PRC on its shortfalls for months, but have not observed genuine indicators towards generating great on the purchase commitments and our tolerance is putting on thin.”
He added that the trade offer Mr. Trump signed in 2020 “did not handle the main problems” with China’s state-led economic system, and that the United States would proceed its “efforts to form the atmosphere all-around China.” That included “building resilience and competitiveness at house, diversifying marketplaces, limiting the effects of Beijing’s unsafe techniques, operating with allies and associates, and making use of the total assortment of equipment we have to protect American economic passions,” he stated.
The Biden administration has been carrying out negotiations with Chinese officers about the trade offer and said that it intends to maintain China to its commitments. But it has not yet clarified what motion it will get in response.
The trade arrangement did include things like an enforcement mechanism, in situation one side failed to stick to via on assembly its commitments. In that scenario, the trade deal phone calls for both governments to carry out talks if those talks are unsuccessful, tariffs can be imposed.
But quite a few American businesses have complained that tariffs on Chinese solutions are now significant. And in discussions with the Biden administration, Chinese leaders have cited a clause in the trade offer that calls for consultations between the governments “in the event that a normal disaster or other unforeseeable occasion exterior the command of the Functions delays a Social gathering from well timed complying with its obligations.”
U.S. merchandise exports to China did improve significantly in 2021 from the preceding year, climbing 21.4 percent to $151.1 billion in 2021, which includes a record quantity of agricultural items. But American demand for imports from China also surged, and the U.S. deficit with China widened 14.5 percent from the former 12 months to achieve $355.3 billion.
Mr. Trump’s defenders have said that the trade deficit with China experienced been falling until eventually the pandemic hit. But Mr. Bown reported that even though the China trade deal could possibly have succeeded in shifting the phrases of trade concerning the two countries, that had small influence on the total U.S. trade deficit, which is pushed by even larger components like federal government paying out and economic advancement.
The China offer showed “that type of solution isn’t productive at tackling” the general trade deficit, “even if you imagine that’s an essential coverage situation to deal with,” Mr. Bown reported.
As opposed to Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden has created no concrete promises to decrease the trade deficit. But he has pledged to spur a revival in American producing and minimize the country’s dependence on China.
To accomplish this, the Biden administration has thrown its pounds at the rear of a substantial legislative bundle that would pour almost $300 billion into investigation and advancement and producing, which includes key investments in the chips sector.
Economists say these types of investments could strengthen the competitiveness of the American financial state, expanding careers and boosting exports. But this sort of a transformation would take place above the training course of decades, and the legislation would probably do little in the short time period to lessen American reliance on imports.
The ballooning trade deficit subtracted much more than a percentage level from economic progress figures past 12 months, a lot more than it has in a long time. Economists argue that the imbalances mirrored in a huge trade deficit can be related to a wide range of economic difficulties, such as much less manufacturing jobs, unsustainable financial debt hundreds and economic bubbles.
“It’s devastating,” said Robert E. Scott, the director of trade and producing policy research at the still left-leaning Financial Plan Institute, which has known as for additional remarkable action to minimize the trade deficit, like realigning the value of the greenback. He added that the trade deficit was “draining employment away from the restoration.”
“All that paying which is falling on imports is producing jobs somewhere else and not in the U.S.,” he mentioned.
However, there is discussion about just how alarming the trade deficit figures should really be.
Many mainstream economists say that trade deficits can rise for explanations that are possibly positive or unfavorable. These good reasons are commonly much more relevant to financial advancement premiums, government investing and the price of the U.S. forex, they argue, than they are to trade coverage.
Mary Beautiful, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for Global Economics, reported the ballooning trade deficit final yr mostly reflected the country’s ongoing strong financial expansion through the pandemic, which enabled People who were being homebound to buy the electronics, imported pharmaceuticals and place of work provides they wanted.
Ms. Beautiful reported that the relief packages made available by the Trump and Biden administrations aided keep Americans’ household equilibrium sheets pretty healthy through the pandemic, and Us residents responded by maintaining their spending robust.
And even with many pandemic-linked disruptions, the global source chain shipped document volumes of office environment materials, electronics, imported prescription drugs and personal protecting gear final calendar year, she claimed.
“In a whole lot of techniques, this is a delighted story,” she stated.
“People worry that we are accumulating personal debt with the rest of the planet, and that’s generally a issue,” Ms. Wonderful extra. “But there has not been any indicator that the U.S. is not able to find the money for it.”
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