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COVID-19: Understanding Liability Immunity Under the PREP Act The spread of COVID-19 continues to strain the health care industry, including by creating shortages of medical supplies. On March 17, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a declaration under the 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) to provide liability immunity for activities related to medical countermeasures against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. HHS amended the declaration on April 10, 2020. In order to address several questions and clarify the PREP Act’s scope, HSS published an advisory opinion on April 14, 2020. The...

Pennsylvania next week will send texts to about 250,000 people who got a first dose of COVID-19 but didn’t follow through on a second. The texts will go to people who got their first dose between mid-December and mid-May. The text will be “very short and very to the point” and include the message “the delta variant is here. Get your second dose of COVID-19 vaccine to be protected,” Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. It will include information for scheduling the dose. The tactic is part of an effort to jump-start the pace of vaccination in the state,...

The White House confirmed Thursday that President Biden will allow a federal eviction moratorium to expire on Saturday, but said he wants Congress to pass new protections due to the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s hands are tied by a recent Supreme Court decision that found there would need to be congressional authorization to extend a CDC-imposed ban on evictions beyond July 31. “Given the recent spread of the Delta variant … Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium,” Psaki said...

The New Mexico House Majority Leader is in serious trouble after being charged in a massive embezzlement scheme. Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton may have embezzled upwards of $954,000 dollars in a racketeering, laundering and illegal kickbacks scheme. The New Mexico Democrat was the eventual recipient of up to 60% of the government contracts with Robotics Management Learning Systems LCC, a D.C. based company. Law enforcement agents have executed search warrants at the home and business of state Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton. According to a filed warrant, she is under investigation for racketeering, money laundering and receiving illegal kickbacks. In April,...

DaBaby has quietly vanished from the lineup of this year’s Parklife Festival in Manchester, England, following homophobic comments he made onstage at last week’s Rolling Loud festival in Miami. ....During his Sunday appearance at Rolling Loud, the rapper was recorded during his set saying, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up… Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d*** in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.” The comments sparked criticism from Dua Lipa (who had...

The beheaded body of a Minnesota woman was found on a sidewalk in Shakopee, a suburb of Minneapolis, on Wednesday.On Thursday, the Shakopee Police Department identified the victim as 55-year-old America Mafalda Thayer of Shakopee. The police department said they responded to a report of an attack at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Spencer Street at around 2:31 p.m. on Wednesday.Shakopee Police announced they have arrested a suspect, 42-year-old Alexis Saborit, also of Shakopee, on suspicion of second-degree murder.Saborit is being held in the Scott County Jail, pending murder charges.Shakopee Police Chief Jeff Tate told Bring Me The News...

The Global Times, a Chinese state-run media outlet, advocated for the building up of China's military to serve as a deterrent to a potential armed conflict with the United States American officials see China as the top threat to the United States with regard to the economy, cybersecurity and military. President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that cybersecurity attacks could lead to physical confrontations with a country and said standing up to China requires the U.S. to maintain pace without unnecessarily increasing hostilities. The Times editorial board attributed Biden's remarks that a significant cyberattack could lead to a "real shooting...

California health officials have updated their guidance to ask people to once again don a mask in indoor public spaces, regardless of their vaccination status It comes as COVID cases are rising throughout the state, even among those who are fully vaccinated In Los Angeles, a full quarter of all COVID cases are among those who have been vaccinated, officials announced on Wednesday They have blamed the rise in the spread of the 'highly-infectious' Delta variant California Governor Gavin Newsom has already mandated that all state and health care employees either get vaccinated or get tested regularly Several companies have...

“The lockdowns are coming, the lockdowns are coming!” The lockdowns are coming! The lockdowns are coming! Ugh. — JD Rucker (@JDRucker) July 29, 2021 Today, the White House signaled they would consider a new round of lockdowns over the spike in Covid-19 infections across the country. Vaccinated and unvaccinated alike are testing positive for Covid-19 more than they were just a month ago. Now, the White House changed tune and said they would listen to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if they recommend locking down the nation again. Spoiler alert: They will. At a press conference today,...

California — Sacramento County has issued a new health order, requiring masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. The mask mandate goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 30. The requirement will last "until rescinded or amended in writing by the Health Officer." "While cases continue to surge and until vaccination rates have increased in Sacramento County, all residents must wear masks in all indoor public settings, venues, gatherings, and workplaces, such as, but not limited to: offices, retail stores, restaurants and bars, theaters, family entertainment centers, conference centers, and State and local government offices serving the public," Sacramento County...

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) tweeted Thursday that he “can pay bail for any Republican staffer arrested for not wearing a mask.” “If Kamala can pay bail for violent Antifa rioters, then I can pay the bail for any Republican staffer arrested for not wearing a mask,” Cawthorn said in a tweet that has since been deleted. Cawthorn’s tweet is in reference to a Thursday memo by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which states new masking rules resulting from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended guidance on Tuesday. “All USCP personnel must wear a mask at all times when...

A giant mural including a Black Lives Matter-style fist in New Jersey was partially whitewashed soon after it was finished following a flood of complaints, according to the artist. May Yuasa, 19, told NorthJersey.com that she spent 60 hours painting the mural on a Garden State Parkway underpass in Clifton last week after getting permission from City Manager Dominick Villano. But she was told that the part showing the fist quickly led to complaints — and Villano sent city workers to paint a white box over the offending image, he confirmed to the outlet. That decision sparked further outrage —...

All people in Sacramento County are now required to wear masks in indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status, the Sacramento County Public Health Department announced Thursday morning. The requirement extends to all indoor public settings, including retailers, restaurants, bars, workplaces and state and local government offices that serve the public. “Part of that is this time around, as compared to the health order we issued last year, is that we do have the vaccine and that continues to be the most important way for us to prevent infection,” Kasirye said.

For some, it may feel like the COVID-19 pandemic is already over. For others, it may feel like it will never end. We know from history that pandemics do have to end eventually, but when exactly will this one be over, and what does it take to finally get “back to normal?” The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March of 2020. In his remarks on March 11, 2020, the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable...

Manhattan is small, crowded, expensive, and stuffed with rats, cockroaches, and weirdos. There is rent control, which no one seems to mind, and then people exploiting loopholes in rent control, which no one minds except property owners, but since they are corporations everyone hates them even though nearly everyone in the city works for a corporation. If the economy in Manhattan plummets, the state will too, and that is why New York Governor and alleged creepy sexual predator Andrew Cuomo wants people to come back from the Hamptons and Florida and wherever and stop teleconferencing in. He urged private employers...

Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World in Orlando will be reinstating their indoor mask mandate on Friday, July 30, PEOPLE can confirm, requiring all guests and staff members to wear a facial covering while indoors. This rule will apply to all enclosed attractions, transportation systems (like shuttles, buses, monorails and the Disney Skyliner), stores, restaurants (when not actively eating or drinking) and more. It will also apply to everyone, whether they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or not.

​House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and his Republican colleagues blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Biden on Thursday for putting the “country in crisis,” pointing to the influx of immigrants at the border, the conflicting guidelines over mask wearing, rising prices of consumer goods and the surging crime rates in American cities. “We have a country in crisis​,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said during a news conference with other Republican House members on Capitol Hill. [cut] Standing on the Capitol steps, McCarthy said you can see the Senate on the other side. “Not quite sure where the CDC got, but somewhere...

The top three finishers of each Olympic competition are awarded the gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively. While the name seems to imply it, Olympic gold medals are not 100% gold. At one time the prize given to the first-place finisher in each competition was solid gold, but now Olympic gold medals are made mostly from silver. For that matter, the second-place silver medals aren't always 100% silver either, though they do contain the same amount of silver as the gold medal. As for the third-place bronze medal, it is made of exactly what its name claims. The specific composition...

President Biden on Thursday called for state and local governments to make $100 payments to every newly vaccinated American as authorities race to stem the newest wave of Covid-19 cases. [snip] [snip] [snip]

Biden administration is not ruling out new lockdowns and school closures in the U.S., the experts at the CDC are in charge