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The Greatest Winter Podcasts – The New York Instances

The Best Winter Podcasts - The New York Times

As the holiday season draws back and the long length of the winter months approaches, you can fight the mood or embrace it. Here is a playlist of cold weather podcasts, some fiction, some nonfiction, all of which are well told and produced, and all lying in the snow.

For music theater nerds:

Audio dramas – podcasting parlance for fictional podcasts – can sometimes get into trouble if a show is done too well. If a fiction presented in true crime style is too perfect in its imitation, the audience can feel betrayed (see: the angry reviewers of “Heads of the Sierra Blanca”). While “In Strange Woods” begins with your standard reporter ‘s tale of a teenager disappearing in the snowy woods of Minnesota, any matter of verité is completely resolved in minutes when the characters break into a song. If you don’t love musical theater then you can skip it. But the vocal performances are beautiful; The songs add drama in a way that manages don’t be annoying; and the protagonist of the series, a little sister mourning her brother, makes for an exciting story that is still unfolding – so far, three “chapters” of the limited series with five episodes have been published.

For storytellers:

The magic of live storytelling podcasts like “The Moth” and “Snap Judgment” lies in the way they break down the space between your headphones and the speaker on stage. Dark Winter Nights began in 2014 with the aim of making Alaskan stories accessible to anyone who wants to listen. These live event recordings are intended to transport you into “the stories we tell here in Alaska on dark winter nights,” according to presenter and creator Robert Prince, professor of documentary film at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Stories range from great to worldly, like a blind Alaskan woman who finally “sees” a whale on a trip with her family, or someone else who runs away from unusually alert bears.

For sports fans:

When it comes to cold weather athletics and a beautiful sounding story, most podheads probably think of Rose Eveleth’s “On the Ice” episode for the ESPN podcast series “30 for 30”. In this classic piece of sports journalism, Eveleth tells the story of the women who led the first all-female trek to the North Pole in 1997 (“no expedition experience required”, read the classified ad she drew). While the challenge at the center of the story seems to be the cruel conditions of the Arctic, the beauty in it comes not only from the women’s journey to the top of the world, but also from the life they left behind. If you miss the Winter Olympics and the stories of women athletes triumphing against impossible odds, try Bonnie Ford’s episode “Out of the Woods” about the 1984 kidnapping of Olympic biathlete Kari Swenson.

For true criminal freaks:

Wondery went on to become a great podcast player by producing lively and bingeable series, and one thing is clear: true crime. And as all good true crime fans know, there’s nothing more tempting than breaking a cold case. With Wondery as a partner, Salt Lake TV station KSL did just that in the case of Susan Powell, a mother of two from Utah, who disappeared on a stormy evening in December 2009. After her husband, Josh, the main suspect, killed himself and their sons in a fire two years later, local police declared the case closed. But with the help of Wondery, KSL reporter Dave Cawley searches the evidence, conducts new interviews, and discovers the dark legacy of psychological and emotional abuse within the Powell family in this well-told and bingeworthy 18-episode series.

For children:

Children (and their adults) who love the X-Men and other stories of adolescents with innate powers will be lost in this fictional saga. “Six Minutes” tells the story of Holiday, an 11-year-old with total amnesia who is found floating in the icy waters of Alaska by the Anders family. They immediately adopt her and tell Holiday that she is their own. But her veiled past is slowly being revealed, along with some superhuman abilities. The story is told in six minute increments and results in an epic 200 epic adventure.

Join the New York Times Podcast Club on Facebook for more suggestions and discussions on anything related to audio.

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Windfall Hospital System defies America’s gradual vaccine rollout development

West Virginia mistakenly gives 42 people Regeneron IV Covid treatment instead of vaccine shot

Covid vaccination efforts in the US are well below original estimates. More than 15.4 million doses have been given to states, but only 4.5 million Americans have received their first shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the Providence Hospital System has bucked the country’s slow roll-out trend, providing the first dose of the vaccine to more than half of its 120,000 employees in 51 hospitals in seven states.

Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, clinical director of Providence, told The News with Shepard Smith that “planning is the antidote to panic.” She said Providence began developing strategies in September to identify caregivers at greatest risk and incorporate technology such as email and text to streamline the rollout process.

She told Shepard Smith that one of the solutions is to create a “validation and verification” tool to manage vaccine rollouts in the vendor’s hospitals. The tool included the “roles” that consisted of specific jobs, and it also included places of work for those within the Providence system. People would then in turn reach and validate the data.

“By doing this, we avoided much of the dismay you’ve heard from other organizations that, despite their best intentions, accidentally left out important groups of people who should be vaccinated,” said Compton-Phillips. “I think the biggest lesson we’d have is not to hesitate to do something. Some vaccinations are better than none. Ask your people too, make sure you hear from them, not just them Trust data. “

Minister of Health and Human Services Alex Azar estimated that 20 million Americans could be “vaccinated” by the end of December and another 50 million could be “vaccinated” by the end of January. He added that “we expect” a total of 100 million vaccinations by the end of February.

CDC officials have attributed the slow rollout to complex vaccination stores, overburdened public health departments and health care providers, and the timing of the vaccination rollout during the holidays.

Federal officials have required states to run vaccination campaigns. On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted that hospitals in his state need to give vaccines faster and threatened with fines.

“Any vendor who does not use the vaccine could be fined up to $ 100,000 in the future. They must use the allocation within seven days. Otherwise, they can be removed from future distribution,” said Cuomo.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a similar warning to hospitals, saying the state could try converting test sites into vaccination centers. California Governor Gavin Newsom has pledged US $ 300 million for vaccination measures in his current budget proposal.

Providence’s successful rollout still identified areas that needed improvement. According to the Los Angeles Times, one in five frontline nurses at the Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Calif., Turned down the shot.

Compton-Phillips noted that the hospital is in an area that is underserved and caters to a large immigrant community. She said that Providence seeks to understand the barriers to vaccination in order to better serve the community.

“We know vaccines are hesitant, especially in certain underserved communities, color communities that have less confidence in the health system. So we’re working very closely with them to understand these concerns and make sure we address them.” them so we can really convince people to do what is in their best interests and protect themselves from this virus, “said Compton-Phillips.

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Does Coconut Oil Deserve Its Well being Halo?

Does Coconut Oil Deserve Its Health Halo?

Dr. Greenland reiterated this assessment, noting that “The marketing of coconut oil is confusing. Attempts are made to sell it as healthy fat, but those who know its composition do not believe it at all. “

These and other experts separate themselves from advertisers and proponents of coconut oil because of its chemical makeup and the well-established biological activity of various types of fatty acids.

“Fat can’t circulate on its own,” said Dr. Greenland, explaining that long-chain fatty acids, such as those found in beef tallow, are absorbed into the bloodstream by fat-carrying particles called chylomicrons, which release the fat to tissues throughout the body. Chylomicrons keep LDL cholesterol in circulation and provide ample opportunity to get stuck in the arteries. In contrast, fats that are mainly medium-chain fatty acids are more water-soluble. They can be absorbed into the bloodstream without the help of chylomicrons and transported directly to the liver, where they are used for energy.

Although lauric acid is usually called a medium chain fatty acid, according to Dr. Sacks really arbitrary. “The classification of lauric acid as a medium-chain fatty acid is a misnomer,” he wrote. “Instead of the number of carbon atoms in a fat,” he said, “what counts is how the fat is metabolized in the body. Lauric acid acts like a long-chain fatty acid that promotes atherosclerosis. In addition, coconut oil contains two other long-chain fatty acids – myristic and palmitic – and all three have arterial damaging effects on blood cholesterol levels.

One claim for coconut oil is undisputed: it can increase blood HDL cholesterol, which has long been believed to protect against heart disease. However, clear health benefits of HDL cholesterol in humans have yet to be demonstrated. Dr. Sacks reported: “Genetic studies and HDL-increasing drugs have so far not confirmed any causal link between HDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. HDL consists of a large number of sub-particles that can have adverse or beneficial effects. It is not known what foods or nutrients that increase HDL cholesterol do so in ways that reduce atherosclerosis and coronary events. “

The same goes for Dr. Greenland. “Efforts to increase HDL have not resulted in beneficial clinical improvements.”

Proponents also like to cite the fact that a number of indigenous peoples – including Polynesians, Melanesians, Sri Lankans, and Indians – consume fairly large amounts of coconut products without suffering from cardiovascular disease. However, most of these people have traditionally eaten coconut meat or pressed coconut cream as part of a diet that is low in processed foods and high in fruits and vegetables, with fish being the main source of protein. They are also much more physically active than typical westerners.

But that is also changing now, reported a New Zealand research team. The “imports of unhealthy foods like corned beef, fast foods and processed ingredients are driving huge increases in obesity and ill health.”

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UK choice to delay second Covid vaccine shot endorsed by advisors

West Virginia mistakenly gives 42 people Regeneron IV Covid treatment instead of vaccine shot

A pharmacist dilutes the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as he prepares it for administration to staff and residents at Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads, a senior community in Falls Church, Virginia, on December 30, 2020.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – Health experts have condemned the UK’s decision to delay the administration of a second dose of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, warning that the need to suppress the new strain of coronavirus “cannot be overstated “.

Shortly after the UK announced that the second dose of the Pfizer BioNTech jab, in addition to the newly approved Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, will now be given up to 12 weeks after the first dose.

The National Health Service had previously planned to give a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine three weeks after the first to ensure a high level of protection against the virus.

The UK’s Independent Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) said in a statement released on Sunday that it was “a very difficult and balanced decision” but was in favor of the UK government’s move to cover as high a proportion of the population as possible.

However, the change in policy would have to go hand in hand with several other measures. These included: publishing a detailed and compelling strategy to scale up vaccination, developing a rigorous assessment process, real-time assessment of ongoing virus variation, and the need to restrict movement to and from the UK to the rest of the world.

SAGE is made up of health professionals and scientists and is jointly managed by the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor and Chief Medical Officer.

Meghana Pandit, Chief Medical Officer of the NHS Trust, Oxford University, right, speaks to Trevor Cowlett, 88, before receiving the Oxford University AstraZeneca Plc and Covid-19 vaccine at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, UK on Monday. January 4, 2021. UK regulators approved the shot last week, giving it its first approval anywhere in the world.

Steve Parsons | PA wire | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The comments come despite the British Medical Association criticizing the UK’s decision to postpone the second dose of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. It described the move as “grossly unfair” to thousands of high-risk patients in England.

“The BMA is of the opinion that the existing commitment of the NHS and local doctors to these patients should be respected. If the GPs decide to keep these booked appointments in January, the BMA will support them,” said Dr. Richard Vautre, Chairman of the BMA GP Committee. said in a statement on December 31.

In response to these concerns, the SAGE Committee said, “Under normal circumstances, we would advocate continuing our previous plans of administering two doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine 21 days apart. However, these are not normal circumstances and it is are other important public health considerations. “

The German Ministry of Health asked an independent vaccination commission for advice on Monday whether it should follow in the UK’s footsteps.

A ministry spokesman confirmed to CNBC that the federal government had asked the Robert Koch Institute’s Standing Committee on Vaccination if the country should delay a second vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine. “Such a decision requires scientific consideration,” they added.

“Hard” measures required

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday the government could soon announce stricter public health measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

Johnson said “tough” measures could come for weeks. Currently, more than three quarters of the UK population is in Tier 4 – the highest level of restrictions.

The opposition Labor Party said the government must impose a national lockdown within 24 hours and warned the virus was “clearly out of control”.

The UK recorded more than 50,000 new confirmed Covid-19 infections for the sixth consecutive year on Sunday. The country continues to fight a new strain of the virus that is spreading faster.

To date, the UK has reported more than 2.6 million coronavirus cases with 75,137 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“It is now clear that the new variant of the virus that appears to have surfaced in south-east England is 40-80% significantly more transmissible than previous variants,” SAGE said in a Jan. 3 statement.

“It is also clear that the current Tier 4 restrictions cannot contain their spread even if schools and universities are closed.”

“The pandemic is now out of control and the NHS is struggling with some hospitals being forced to cease non-COVID activity. The NHS is no longer protected. For these reasons, there is a strong case for maximizing population coverage with at least one dose of vaccine although this requires a change in the dosage regimen, “added the group.

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For an Train ‘Snack,’ Strive the New Standing 7-Minute Exercise

For an Exercise ‘Snack,’ Try the New Standing 7-Minute Workout

Hello everybody. Chris Jordan here and welcome to my 7 minute standing workout. No floor exercises, just a chair and a wall and that’s all you need. We do 12 exercises, 30 seconds per exercise with a 5 second break in between. Remember, ask your doctor and make sure you can exercise safely before you start exercising. Do not exercise if you think you will experience any adverse effects. And of course, during exercise, stop immediately if you experience pain and problems. Make sure you warm up and we’ll get started. All right, here’s our first exercise – marching / jogging in place. Let’s go. Raise those knees. Pump those arms. This is a cardio exercise. The goal here is to increase our heart rate. If you can, let’s go for a jog, a jog in place. Pump those arms. Raise those knees. Get on the balls of your feet. Pick up the pace if you can. To look good. Well too much then slow it down. Go back to a march in place. Remember only for your fitness. 3, 2, 1. Done. Next leg exercise – chair support squats. Here we go. Feet about shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, then lower yourself towards the chair. Use your arms to keep your balance. Go as deep as you can while maintaining good form and technique. Keep those knees behind your toes. Can’t go that deep, that’s OK. Come down halfway. Nice. Go on. Again, use your arms for balance. 3, 2, 1. Done. Time for something for the upper body. Let’s do a wall push up. Hands against the wall, feet away, body straight from head to heel, and then lower yourself and press against the wall. Feel your arms, shoulders, and chest work every time you lower and push yourself away. Too heavy Bring your feet a little closer. Too simple? Bring your feet a little further away. You are doing great. Keep breathing. We are nearly finished. 3, 2, 1. Next exercise for the crunching bike crunch. Hands behind ears. Here we go. March in place, bringing the opposite elbow to the opposite knee. Rotate your upper body while gritting your abs. To look good. If you can’t touch the knee with your elbow, just do the best you can. Get as close as you can, but make sure to grind your abs and bring your upper body towards the lower body. 3, 2, 1. Done. Time for cardio training – standing or squatting and boxing. Let’s go. Feet shoulder width apart, slightly wider and powerful. There is your stand and your box. If you can, let’s throw both a squat and a box in. To look good. Remember the goal here – cardio. Let’s get that heart rate up again. Hit a little faster. Squat a little faster. Too much? Just stop and hit. Here we go. Almost there. 3, 2, 1. Done. Keep going. Leg Time – Chair Support Split Squat. Left foot in front, right foot behind. Drop your right knee toward the floor. Keep your front knee behind your front toes. There you are. Use the chair for balance and stability when you have to. Nice. All right, switch legs. Right in front, left behind. Same movement. Drop your back knee toward the floor. Nice upright posture. Keep breathing. Adjust your range to suit your fitness level. 3, 2, 1. Done. Let us continue. Time for an upper body exercise. Let’s do a push-up for chair support. Hands on the edge of the chair, feet away, and off you go. Get this body straight from head to toe. Lower your body towards the chair and feel your arms, shoulders, and chest work each time you lower and push it away. Squeeze the abs, squeeze the core, squeeze the glutes and legs together to keep the body straight and stable. Almost there. Here we go. 3, 2, 1. Go on. It’s time to do another core exercise. Let’s make a wall board. Forearms against the wall, feet away, body straight from head to heel. There is your plank. You can do this on the floor and you can do this against the wall. Same thing. Too easy again? Take your feet further away. Too heavy Bring your feet closer to the wall. You can do it. Feel the abs work hard to get that body straight from head to heel. Also squeeze your legs and glutes together. 3, 2, 1. Time to move on. Next exercise – stepping or jumping. Here we go. It’s cardio time. What is the goal? Let’s increase that heart rate. Here is the step lifter. If you can, join a springbok. A little harder, higher impact, but it will increase your heart rate. If you can do this, do it. If you can’t, that’s fine, you’re going back to a step. Let’s increase the heart rate, but do it safely. 3, 2, 1. Done. Time for a leg exercise. Let’s make a wall seat. Sit against the wall with your knees just above your ankles. Back flat against the wall, arms crossed. Hold this position. You can adjust again. Too heavy Come a little higher Too simple? Come down a little deeper. They will find the right level for you. Stick with it. You have it. Feel the muscles in your thighs work hard to hold you in place. You have that. Let’s go. 3, 2, 1. Done. Let’s work on the torso again. We go back to the wall, wall pushed up. Hands against the wall. You know what to do. Feet off and lower yourself. Again, feel your arms, shoulders, and chest work hard as you push back and lower yourself back against the wall. Keep breathing. And you know you can adjust your foot position to make it easier or more difficult. Almost there. Here we go. 3, 2, 1. Last exercise for the core standing side crunch. Hands behind ears. Look at that. Right knee to right elbow, left knee to left elbow. Do your best to touch the knee to the elbow. If you can’t, that’s fine, just do the best you can. Make sure you bend at the torso and core to bring your knees and elbows together. You will feel this on the sides of the abs, a side crunch. Excellent. 3, 2, 1. Done. Congratulations. You have just completed my 7 minute standing workout. Well done. Come back and try again.

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UK rolls out AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

UK rolls out AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

Brian Pinker, 82, will receive the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca COVID-19 COVID-19 vaccine on January 4th, 2021 from Nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, South West England. –

STEVE PARSONS | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – UK has started rolling out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. This is another step in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s National Health Service (NHS) is the first in the world to use the push after it was approved for use in the UK by the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last week. The NHS said 82-year-old Brian Pinker became the first person in the world to receive the bump on Monday morning.

The approval and use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are seen as a boon in the race against Covid-19 as it is cheaper than the alternatives developed by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna.

In addition, unlike other vaccines, it can be stored, transported, and handled under normal refrigeration conditions (2 to 8 degrees Celsius or 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months.

When the vaccine was approved last week, AstraZeneca stated its goal of “delivering millions of doses in the first quarter” under its contract with the UK government to deliver up to 100 million doses in total.

As a two-dose vaccine, according to the agreement, it could vaccinate up to 50 million people in the UK of around 66 million people.

In a statement on Monday, the UK government said there are now more than half a million doses available, “with an additional ten million doses to be delivered over the coming weeks and months once batches have been quality checked by the MHRA.”

The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine complements a Covid-19 vaccination program launched by the UK back in December, when the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine launched with two doses. According to the government, more than a million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer shot. It was announced on Monday that more than 730 vaccination sites have been set up across the UK and that hundreds more will be opening this week.

As with the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot will be introduced first for priority groups, including residents and employees of nursing homes, people over 80 and health and care workers, and then for the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are extremely clinically vulnerable.

“Decisive moment”

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this terrible virus and I hope it gives everyone renewed hope that the end of this pandemic is in sight”.

Another vaccine may not come early enough for the UK, which is grappling with an increase in infections, largely due to a mutation in the virus that is making it easier to spread. Britain has now registered over 2.6 million cases of the virus and over 75,000 deaths, according to a record by Johns Hopkins University.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday that further restrictions on public life were likely as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

On Monday, Hancock told Sky News that the UK cannot roll out the vaccine any faster than supply allows. However, experts agree that the UK needs to step up its vaccination program as soon as possible. Last week, a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that the UK must vaccinate two million people a week to avoid a third wave of the coronavirus outbreak.

On Saturday, The Times newspaper anonymously quoted a “key member of the Oxford AstraZeneca team” as saying the drug company would increase production so that it would produce two million pounds each week by mid-January.

This goal is achievable, but challenging, says Dr. Andrew Freedman, Infectious Disease Reader at Cardiff University School of Medicine. He told CNBC on Monday that the speed of the rollout will depend on “the availability of the vaccine, vaccine production, but also its distribution and establishment of new vaccination centers and the recruitment of new vaccines”.

“It’s a goal, but it’s realistic and I think it can be achieved by the end of the month,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.

The most vulnerable are first vaccinated with shots initially taken in hospitals before the bulk of the shipments are sent to hundreds of doctor’s offices and nursing homes later in the week.

Somewhat controversial, the MHRA, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) and the UK’s four chief medical officers agreed to move the gap between the first and second dose of coronavirus vaccines that are now being given to the public . The change in strategy was to get most people protected in no time.

The British Medical Association said the decision to postpone the post-dose of the Pfizer vaccine and to cancel appointments for patients who had already been given the second dose was “grossly unfair” for thousands of high-risk patients. However, experts like Freedman said that with a vaccine like the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate, a longer gap between doses could increase the effectiveness of the sting.

The government last week insisted that “the priority should be to give as many people in risk groups as possible their first dose, rather than delivering the required two doses in as short a time as possible”.

“Everyone will continue to receive their second dose within 12 weeks of the first. The second dose completes the course and is important for longer term protection,” he added.

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‘Shedding our grip’: In some neighborhoods, the devastation of the pandemic goes far past the illness itself.

‘Losing our grip’: In some neighborhoods, the devastation of the pandemic goes far beyond the disease itself.

Numerous numbers can quantify how the pandemic and the resulting recession hit the United States: at least 7.8 million people fell into poverty, the biggest slump in six decades; 85 million Americans say they have had trouble paying basic household expenses, including food and rent.

But those numbers don’t capture the feeling of mounting despair in some communities that struggled before the pandemic. In certain neighborhoods on the east side of Cleveland, for example, longtime residents and workers speak of a steady breakup.

Shots echoed almost every night, they say. Cleveland Police reported six murders within 24 hours in November. Like in Cincinnati, Wichita, Kan. And for several other US cities, 2020 was the worst year for murders in Cleveland in decades.

Everyone’s talking about crazy driving – in the past few months, cars have crashed into a corner grocery store, house, and popular local restaurant in the neighborhood of Slavic Village. In Cuyahoga County, 19 people died of overdoses in one week. All while the virus continues its deadly spread.

“Sometimes,” said the Rev. Richard Gibson, whose 101-year-old church is in the Slavic village, “we feel that we no longer have a grip on civilization.”

The places where many would normally have found out about new benefits and new rules – such as having a decent internet connection – are now closed.

“Our library is no longer open, our Boys Club is no longer open,” said Tony Brancatelli, a member of the city council to whose parish the Slavic village belongs.

A decade ago, during the foreclosure crisis, parts of Mr Brancatelli’s parish were among the hardest hit parts of the country, but more people kept their jobs. They had friends and relatives whom they could move in with or contact for financial assistance. Today, when parts of the Slavic village have over 30 percent unemployment and a virus is spreading in small gatherings, these supports are not there.

And the virus continues to rage. Cleveland has been spared the catastrophic cases of cities like Detroit or New Orleans, but has just weathered its worst two-month expansion. At the end of December, four out of five intensive care beds in hospitals in Cuyahoga County were in use.

In the university settlement, a 94-year-old social service facility in the Slavic village, there used to be a weekly dinner for everyone in the community. This has changed for take away. Some of the people who have been routinely screened by the organization appear to have simply disappeared and stopped answering the phone or knocking on the door.

“The community felt frayed and forgotten anyway,” said Earl Pike, executive director of University Settlement. “It’s starting to feel a little ‘Mad Max’-y.”

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The houses of Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi had been reportedly vandalized.

The homes of Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi were reportedly vandalized.

It has been reported that the homes of political opponents and the two most powerful members of Congress, Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi, have been destroyed as their stalemate continues over a stimulus package criticized by left and right as inadequate – including President Trump.

In a statement on Saturday, McConnell, a Kentucky Republican and Senate majority leader, lamented what he called a “radical tantrum” that came from a “toxic playbook.” The Louisville broadcaster WDRB-TV reported that the Senator’s house was marked with red and white spray paint overnight. Photos show the letter on the front of Mr. McConnell’s house, including a message saying “Weres my money” on the front door. The Louisville Metro Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

“I’ve spent my career fighting for the first change and advocating peaceful protest,” McConnell said in the statement. “I appreciate every Kentuckian who has participated in the democratic process, whether they agree with me or not. That is different. Vandalism and fear politics have no place in our society. “

At around 2 a.m. on Friday, San Francisco police responded to a report of vandalism in a house in Pacific Heights. Graffiti had been sprayed on the garage door and “a pig’s head” was left on the sidewalk in front of the house, a police spokesman said. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the house belonged to Ms. Pelosi, a Democrat who serves as the house’s spokeswoman.

Police did not answer any other questions, including whether the pig’s head discovered on the property was real or fake. The Speaker’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

President Trump signed a bill last Sunday that included an incentive of $ 900 billion but called for payments to individuals to be increased from $ 600 to $ 2,000. Ms. Pelosi rallied support for the postponement and the House voted on Monday to increase payments. Mr. McConnell blocked efforts the next day.

Mr McConnell said Tuesday that the Senate would “initiate a process” to consider larger payments along with Mr Trump’s other demands, including investigations into his unfounded allegations of election fraud in the 2020 election and the repeal of certain legal protections for Technology giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter.

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Inflatable Costume Could Be Behind Outbreak at California Hospital

Inflatable Costume May Be Behind Outbreak at California Hospital

An air-powered, inflatable costume that a worker wears for Christmas to spread the Christmas cheer could be responsible for a coronavirus outbreak that infected dozen of workers at a San Jose, Calif. Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

An employee wore the costume “briefly” in the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, spokeswoman Irene Chavez said in a statement. The hospital opened an investigation after 44 employees tested positive for the coronavirus between December 27 and Friday.

Inflatable costumes are usually powered by a battery-powered fan that draws air into the suit and helps it keep its shape. T. rex and sumo wrestler models are among the most popular. Some costumes cover the wearer’s face, others leave it exposed.

Ms. Chavez declined to say what type of air suit the hospital worker was wearing, but she described it as a “vacation theme”. As part of its response to the outbreak, she said, the hospital was investigating “whether the costume, which had a fan, contributed”. Air-powered costumes have been banned, she said.

It was unclear how long the staff member had been wearing the costume in the emergency room. The hospital declined to say if patients were infected.

It was also unclear whether any of the infected employees had received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but experts have said it will take at least a couple of weeks for the vaccine’s protective effects to kick in. 40,000 Kaiser employees in Northern California received the first dose of the vaccine.

“Any exposure, if it had occurred, would have been completely innocent and quite random as the person had no Covid symptoms and was just trying to lift the spirits of those around them during a very stressful time,” Ms. Chavez said of the costumed man Workers.

The emergency room will be thoroughly cleaned, Ms. Chavez said, and in addition to the protocols already in place, staff will be offered free weekly tests.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus is mainly spread via respiratory droplets and can be spread “sometimes by airborne transmission” of both larger droplets and smaller aerosols when people “cough, sneeze, sing, speak or breathe” .

Dr. Jose-Luis Jimenez, aerosol expert and professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder, helped investigate the Skagit County choir breakout, which resulted in at least 53 infections and two deaths from a singing practice in Washington state. In an interview on Sunday, he said the outbreak among staff at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center was most likely due to airborne transmission.

“It’s like a choir,” said Dr. Jiminez. “There is no way you can infect 43 people while wearing a costume, except through airborne transmission or aerosols, since you are in a costume and cannot touch objects or infect people through surfaces.”

The hospital is located in Santa Clara County, California, which has confirmed 73,493 coronavirus cases, according to a New York Times database. 2,397,923 cases have been confirmed across California.

According to the Times database, more than 21,000 people were hospitalized in California as of January 1, a 26 percent increase from two weeks earlier.

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U.S. air journey hits pandemic excessive over New Yr’s

U.S. air travel hits pandemic high over New Year's

A member of the New York Army National Guard distributes health forms to travelers at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York, United States on Thursday, December 24, 2020.

Angus Mordant | Bloomberg | Getty Images

U.S. air traffic reached its highest level since mid-March on Saturday, fearing that the increase in vacation travel will lead to another spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths in the coming weeks.

Even as the coronavirus raged across the country, 1,192,881 people passed airport security checks on Saturday, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Air traffic is still declining significantly compared to previous years, but increased during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays despite warnings from health experts and elected officials to restrict travel and family gatherings.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the pandemic could likely worsen over the next few weeks as the US has a delayed influence from vacation travel after Christmas.

“This is what happens. It’s terrible, it’s unfortunate, but it was predictable,” said Fauci, one of the country’s top infectious disease experts, during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.

December was the deadliest and most contagious month of the pandemic in the United States. According to the Johns Hopkins University, the country has an average of more than 2,600 deaths per day.

Three states have now also found cases of the new, more transmissible strain of coronavirus in people with no history of travel.

The general surgeon Dr. Jerome Adams on Sunday urged Americans to wear masks and social distancing to mitigate the projected surge in infections.

“What we do now is important,” Adams said during an interview on CNN. “If you’ve gathered outside of your household without a mask over the holidays, now is the time to take action.”

“You can still quarantine yourself. You can still get tested knowing that more than 50% of the spread is now in asymptomatic people,” he added.