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      Covid summer: Fauci warns US has ‘a ways to go’ despite lowest rates in a year

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      Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US, has warned it is too early to declare victory against Covid-19 as cases fall in the country to the lowest rates since last June.“We don’t want to declare victory prematurely because we still have a ways to go,” Fauci told the Guardian in an interview. “But the more and more people that can get vaccinated, as a community, the community will be safer and safer.”The Memorial Holiday weekend marks the unofficial start of summer in the US, and for the at least 50% of the adult population that is fully vaccinated, it could usher in a season of maskless barbecues and trips to the beach.Daily coronavirus cases have dropped 53% since 1 May, according to Johns Hopkins University data, but the rates are still high in the unvaccinated population and cases are growing globally. Already there have been more global cases in 2021 than in all of 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University data.“As long as there is some degree of activity throughout the world, there’s always a danger of variants emerging and diminishing somewhat the effectiveness of our vaccines,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid).The US has been under pressure to provide greater aid in global vaccine efforts and has in recent weeks committed to donate 80m vaccines in addition to the $4bn donation its pledged to Covax, the global vaccine-sharing scheme. Fauci said more help could be on the way.“We are discussing right now at various levels about how we might be able to up production to get vaccine doses from the companies that are already making them for us, get more doses that will be able to be distributed to lower- and middle-income countries,” Fauci said.At the same time, the US must address the issues stopping its people from getting vaccinated. Part of this group is strongly opposed to the vaccine but there is also a portion of the unvaccinated population that hasn’t been able to get the shot because of lack of access to information or transportation or concerns about missing work because paid sick leave is not guaranteed in the US.Fauci said this too is something the US is focusing its efforts on as Joe Biden’s administration seeks to get a first dose of the vaccine to 70% of the US adult population by 4 July.This month, the White House deployed more vaccination resources to underserved areas and mobile clinics and supported an effort by ride-share companies to offer free trips for people getting vaccinated. In April, Biden called for all employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and made a tax credit for small and medium-sized businesses to offer paid leave for employees to get the shot and to recover from any side-effects they might experience after.“Today, in our current day, the accessibility and the convenience of getting a vaccine is really rather striking,” Fauci said.But until the overwhelming majority of Americans have been vaccinated, the Covid-19 risk is still high in the US.As of Friday, 59.1% of Americans 12 and older had received their first dose of the vaccine and 47.4% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC).“We cannot abandon public health measures when you still have a degree of viral activity in the broad community in the United States,” Fauci said. “Although we’re down to less than 30,000 infections per day that’s still a lot of infections per day.”The national death rate among the unvaccinated population is roughly the same as it was in late March, according to a Washington Post data analysis published this month. The adjusted hospitalization rate is as high as it was in late February, though cases are declining, according to the analysis.Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in the next few months, coronavirus could spread out of hand among unvaccinated people.“Unfortunately these groups of people who are anti-vax or who will end up being susceptible to the disease are going to be in pockets,” Sell said. “It’s not going to be evenly distributed through the population.”Earlier this month, the CDC released an optimistic report which said in a best case scenario, Covid-19 infections could be driven to low levels by July if the vast majority of people get vaccinated and take other precautions, such as wearing masks and social distancing.The CDC report was not a forecast, but a set of scenarios created by six independent research teams using data through 27 March. The modeling does not include what could happen if there was a new, more dangerous variant.Sell expects things will be better this summer, but warned that autumn is still an unknown.“I think we should be humble about what our certainty is about how things will unfold,” Sell said. ”There have been a lot of curveballs.”In the meantime, clinicians like Dr Michelle Chester, who administered the first Covid-19 vaccine in the US outside a clinical trial, are pushing to get vaccinations in as many people as possible.“I’m happy with the numbers but we need to do more because there is still a huge number of people that are still not vaccinated,” said Chester, director of employee health services at Northwell Health, the healthcare system which has treated more hospitalized Covid-19 patients than anywhere in the US.Northwell Health has vaccination sites operating for people 12 and older in the greater New York City area. Some are open 24 hours a day to ensure people with difficult work schedules can find time to get the vaccine.“The more that we can get people vaccinated, the less we have to worry about the virus in a sense of it affecting those individuals who maybe cannot get the vaccine for medical reasons,” Chester said. “We’re protecting them.”Chester said there is still “a long way to go”, but she expects for her family, at least, a more normal summer than last year.“My husband is vaccinated, my daughter couldn’t wait to get her vaccine,” Chester said. “I feel very comfortable that my family is protected and I want that same level of comfort everyone else because I just want to get back to normal.” More

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      Trump allies herald Biden investigation of Covid origins in China

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      Allies of Donald Trump took the unusual step of speaking out on Sunday in support of Joe Biden, regarding efforts to pinpoint the source of Covid-19 and find out if China knows more about the origins of the pandemic than it is letting on.Biden said on Thursday he was expanding an investigation into the outbreak, following a departure from previous thinking by at least one US intelligence agency now leaning towards the theory that the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.Michael McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas, and Matthew Pottinger, Trump’s former deputy national security adviser who persuaded him to start using the controversial term “Wuhan virus”, both welcomed the development.“It’s absolutely essential to find out what the origin of this thing is, it’s essential for us to head off the next pandemic, it’s essential for us to better understand the variants of the current pandemic that are emerging,” Pottinger told NBC’s Meet the Press.“Both of these hypotheses that President Biden spoke of are valid, it could have emerged from a laboratory, it could have emerged from nature. Neither is supported by concrete evidence but there’s a growing amount of circumstantial evidence supporting the idea that this may have leaked from a laboratory.”The Wuhan lab theory was dismissed by many scientists and the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Trump’s advisers was that the weight of evidence supported natural origins. The World Health Organization said in February it was “extremely unlikely” Covid-19 began in a laboratory.But the theory has gained traction. On Thursday, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said: “The US intelligence community does not know exactly where, when or how the Covid-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios: either it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals or it was a laboratory accident.“While two elements of the IC lean toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter – each with low or moderate confidence – the majority of elements within the IC do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.“The IC continues to examine all available evidence, consider different perspectives, and aggressively collect and analyze new information to identify the virus’s origins.”On Sunday, a WHO-affiliated health expert speaking to the BBC said the lab theory was “not off the table” and called on the US to share any intelligence.Pottinger said he believed researchers in China had more to say. “If this thing came out of a lab, there are people in China who probably know that,” he said. “China has incredible and ethical scientists, many of whom in the early stages of the pandemic suspected that this was a lab leak. [A researcher at] the Wuhan Institute of Virology said her first thought was, ‘Was this a leak from my lab?’“These people have been systematically silenced by their government. Now that the world knows how important this is, that might also provide moral courage to many of these ethical scientists for whom I think this is weighing on their consciences. I think that we’re going to see more information come out as a result of this inquiry.”The Wall Street Journal reported last week that three members of staff at a laboratory in Wuhan became sick with Covid-like symptoms before the first Covid patient was recorded in December 2019.McCaul, a former chair of the House homeland security committee, told CNN’s State of the Union he believed Biden’s 90-day intelligence review would likely be inconclusive because Chinese authorities “have destroyed everything in the lab”. But he said he welcomed the new investigation.“It more likely than not emerged out of the lab, most likely accidentally,” said McCaul, who has long argued that China and the WHO are culpable. More

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      ‘Tyranny’: Idaho governor repeals lieutenant’s mask mandate ban

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      The Republican governor of Idaho has repealed an executive order prohibiting mask mandates that was issued by his lieutenant governor while he was out of the state.Brad Little called Janice McGeachin’s action “an irresponsible, self-serving political stunt” and an example of the government “tyranny” she claimed to oppose.McGeachin, a Republican like Little, is a prominent pro-Trump figure in a state roiled by opposition to public health measures meant to contain the coronavirus. In March, she was present when protesters burned masks at the state capitol in Boise.Little has never issued a statewide mask mandate but he has worn a mask and encouraged others to do so. As across the US, case numbers are dropping as more Idahoans are vaccinated.McGeachin announced her own run for governor last week.Seizing her chance when Little was in Tennessee for a meeting of Republican governors on Thursday, she said her order banning mask mandates in schools and public buildings would “protect the rights and liberties of individuals and businesses”. In conflict with almost all public and scientific advice, the text of the order said masks were “ineffective mitigation measures”.In a statement on Friday, Little said he opposed mask mandates because government should not tell people what to do.“But as your governor, when it came to masks I also didn’t undermine separately elected officials who, under Idaho law, are given authorities to take measures they believe will protect the health and safety of the people they serve.“… The action that took place while I was traveling this week is not gubernatorial. The action that took place was an irresponsible, self-serving political stunt.”On Friday, McGeachin was using the nullified order in fundraising efforts.Little continued: “Taking the earliest opportunity to act solitarily on a highly politicised, polarising issue without conferring with local jurisdictions, legislators and the sitting governor is, simply put, an abuse of power.“This kind of over-the-top executive action amounts to tyranny – something we all oppose. How ironic that the action comes from a person who has groused about tyranny, executive overreach, and balance of power for months.”Adding that under McGeachin’s order there would have been no safety requirements for social workers visiting homes of at-risk individuals, at the state testing lab, or at prisons that could have been hit with coronavirus outbreaks, Little said the order conflicted with existing laws.“This is why you do your homework, lieutenant governor,” he said.Asked by a state Democrat to deliver an opinion, the office of the Idaho attorney general said McGeachin had the authority to issue the order, but it appeared to be counter to the Idaho constitution.Little and McGeachin have clashed constantly. Late last year, as Covid cases surged across the US, McGeachin appeared, holding a gun and a Bible, in a video released by the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a rightwing thinktank which opposed restrictions related to a pandemic it said “may or may not be happening”.“We recognize that all of us are by nature, free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights,” she said. “Among which are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property and pursuing happiness and securing safety.”According to Johns Hopkins University, Idaho has recorded more than 192,000 cases of Covid-19 and 2,090 deaths. The national caseload is 33.1m, the death toll close to 590,000. More

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      Low-income US immigrants feared seeking benefits during pandemic – report

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      Low-income immigrants in the US who struggled to afford basic needs during the coronavirus pandemic avoided seeking government benefits and other assistance because of immigration-related concerns, according to a new report by the Urban Institute.Immigrants, and especially immigrant women, have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic-induced recession, enduring higher unemployment rates than workers born in the United States, the Migration Policy Institute reports.While the economy sputtered, more than a quarter of adults in low-income immigrant families said they or their partner lost a job, the Urban Institute found. Roughly half said the pandemic had negatively affected their family’s employment, whether through layoffs, furloughs, lost income or other threats to their livelihoods.For many, that sudden economic distress coincided with serious material hardship in 2020, as they forwent costly medical care and scrambled to make rent or mortgage payments.Over 41% of adults in low-income immigrant families suffered food insecurity, more than a quarter had trouble paying family medical bills, and almost 23% struggled to cover their utilities.By December, a majority said they were concerned about paying for housing and medical costs, picking up enough work hours and being able to pay debts in the next month.But, even as low-income immigrant families worried about meeting their needs, a sizable chunk – 27.5% – decided against using non-cash government benefits or other help because of immigration-related concerns. They didn’t apply for or stopped participating in nutrition, health and housing programs, which could have provided the life-sustaining basics they needed.Low-income families with nonpermanent residents – undocumented immigrants, temporary visa holders, etc – were especially vulnerable to those chilling effects. Nearly 44% avoided assistance because of fears over their immigration status or enforcement, including whether it would affect their ability to get a green card.Their hesitation came during a high-profile, years-long battle around the trumped up public charge rule, which made it harder for poorer immigrants to become legal permanent residents and has since been rescinded.Under the former Trump administration, the talking points around that policy underscored a hostility toward immigrants who live in poverty, even though many aren’t eligible for public benefits anyway.“Give me your tired and your poor,” said Ken Cuccinelli, then the acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, “who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge”. More

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      Fury as Marjorie Taylor Greene likens Covid rules to Nazi treatment of Jews

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      Republicans and Democrats condemned Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday as the far-right Georgia congresswoman continued to compare measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust.But meaningful Republican action against Greene seemed no more likely than at any time in her brief but controversy-fuelled congressional career.The Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, said his party “condemned” Greene’s remarks but also used his statement to attack Democrats for allegedly ignoring antisemitism in their own ranks.Greene had already compared mask mandates to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust when on Tuesday morning she tweeted her opposition to companies and venues requiring proof of vaccination, a source of widespread rightwing complaint.“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s [sic] forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” she wrote.“Vaccine passports and mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxxed [sic] people who trust their immune systems to a virus that is 99% survivable.”The coronavirus pandemic is in retreat in the US but more than 33 million people have been infected and nearly 590,000 have died. The Biden administration said on Tuesday 50% of US adults were now fully vaccinated but progress has slowed amid widespread resistance to vaccination, particularly among Republicans.In remarks in the Senate, the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, the first Jewish person in that role, called Greene’s comments “sickening” and “reprehensible”.“She should stop this vile language immediately,” the New York senator said.McCarthy, the House minority leader, said his party “condemned” Greene’s remarks and added: “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling.”Elise Stefanik, a New York congresswoman recently elevated to House Republican leadership in place of the Trump critic Liz Cheney, said: “Equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust belittles the most significant human atrocities ever committed. We must all work together to educate our fellow Americans on the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust.”Greene was defiant, claiming not to have compared mask mandates and vaccination requirements “to the Holocaust, only the discrimination against Jews in early Nazi years”.McCarthy has not taken disciplinary action against Greene despite a series of controversies over remarks including advocating death for her political opponents.On Tuesday Nancy Pelosi, the target of such invective, told reporters Greene’s latest remarks were “beyond reprehensible” and said: “I think that she should stop talking.”Earlier this year, Democrats who control the House stripped Greene of committee assignments.On Tuesday, Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who like Cheney has become a pariah by rejecting Trump’s control of the party, called Greene’s remarks “demented and dangerous”.He also called for action from McCarthy, Stefanik and other Republican leaders.“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again,” Kinzinger wrote. “While we cannot stop her from calling herself a Republican, we can and should refuse to let her caucus with the House GOP.” More

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      Half of American adults fully vaccinated against Covid, Biden officials say

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      Half of adult Americans have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the Biden administration said on Tuesday.Joe Biden previously set a goal of having 70% of adults with at least one dose by 4 July. Vaccine hesitancy or resistance remains a problem, particularly among Republicans, with the rate of shots administered slowing.Elsewhere on Tuesday, Moderna enhanced prospects of more vaccinations for younger Americans when it said its Covid-19 shot strongly protects children as young as 12.Earlier this month, the US and Canada authorized a vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech for use starting at age 12.Releasing preliminary findings based on testing on more than 3,700 young people aged 12 to 17 in the US, Moderna said there were no Covid-19 diagnoses in children who were given two doses of its vaccine and four cases among those given dummy shots.The Cambridge, Massachusetts company said the vaccine appeared 93% effective two weeks after the first dose.The company also said its vaccine triggered the same signs of immune protection in children as it does in adults – and the same mild and temporary side-effects.Officials said they intended to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration and other global regulators early next month.The White House has ramped up vaccine distribution as coronavirus cases and deaths have fallen. There are three vaccines in use and the US has increased the number of shots it is exporting.In a statement issued as the Biden administration announced that 50% of US adults were not fully vaccinated, Donald Trump sought credit for progress against the pandemic, hailing “the record-breaking development of the vaccine and its early purchase and distribution by the Trump administration”.Trump called Operation Warp Speed, an administration initiative which worked on vaccine development, “one of the greatest miracles of the ages”.He also thanked members of his administration “who pushed so hard for a vaccine and got it done in less than nine months when everybody was saying it would take at least [three to five] years, and probably not happen”. More

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      2.7m people have signed up for $1m vaccine lottery, Ohio governor says

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      The Ohio governor, Mike DeWine, on Monday hailed the success of the state’s Vax-a-Million lottery in boosting demand for coronavirus vaccines, announcing that more than 2.7 million adult residents had registered for the chance of winning $1m in one of five weekly drawings.DeWine’s giveaway approach, however, has drawn the ire of fellow Republican state lawmakers, who are introducing legislation to shut the project down as “a frivolous use of taxpayer dollars”.The prize money comes from Ohio’s share of the $2.2tn federal Cares Act, which was signed into law in March last year.At a press conference on Monday afternoon, DeWine said he was encouraged by the take-up rate for the lottery, which is open only to those over 18 who can prove they are at least partially vaccinated before each prize draw. The first draw is on Wednesday.In addition to the adult cash draw, DeWine said 104,386 younger Ohioans aged 12 to 17 had registered for a chance to win a four-year full college scholarship.“Where we’ve seen the biggest increase is those 16 and 17 years of age,” DeWine told reporters.“One assumes that they’re very interested in getting that scholarship, they’re looking at college coming up and they’re looking to see if they can get in.”After the lottery was announced on 12 May, the number of vaccines administered in Ohio jumped by 33%. In that time, DeWine said, vaccine take-up by 16 and 17-year-olds had increased by 94%, by 46% for 18- and 19-year-olds and by 55% for those aged 20 to 55.In all, 2,758,470 of the 5.17 million eligible adults had begun the process of receiving the vaccine and registering for the draw, he added.“We’re more than happy with the results. This was just so important to our future as a state, our immediate future and our long-term future. Having more people vaccinated really allows us to get back to normal.”State representative Jena Powell, meanwhile, said she would introduce legislation to end the lottery to the Ohio house this week. She wants the money used for other initiatives such as small business recovery grants and mental health services for children.“The vaccine lottery is a frivolous use of taxpayer dollars. They have the ability to take the vaccine if they want but we shouldn’t be putting $5m of taxpayer money to [it],” she told 2News of Dayton.“I have to look at the whole picture and I know you’ve had a difficult year but we can’t make the future more difficult.” More