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2021-02-19

'You just gave me life': Groups help seniors get COVID-19 vaccine appointments

The elderly of Arizona are having difficulty sign-up for a COVID-19 vaccine. Issues with the state website and difficulty accessing technology seem to be the main causes. The ADHS is working on making the website more functional and is using an appointment hotline to combat the issue. Local groups are also assisting the elderly with making appointments.

2021-02-18

Vaccine-gate in Peru

Peru's president, wife, and other well-connected politicians were getting the COVID-19 vaccine back in October, provided by the Chinese company Sinopharm. The vaccines were distributed before the vaccine was publically available, and some high-level officials have resigned.

2021-02-19

The Delta Flight Museum Will Become Georgia’s Largest Covid Vaccination Site Next Week

The state of Georgia has announced that they are partnering with Delta Air Lines to turn the Delta Flight Museum into a vaccination center. The center will be one of four major vaccination centers in Georgia. Vaccinations will be offered through drive-thru and walk-up.

2020-08-05

Social Justice and Public Health in 2020

From the article: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus, has created an unexpected and unprecedented lifestyle shift for many people across the globe. Several months into the pandemic, the public has been exposed to a number of issues they might not have previously considered or thought possible, from hospitals rapidly reaching capacity and the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the mental and social challenges of physical distancing and being quarantined.

2020-11-10

Sustainable Finance Addresses Social Justice As COVID-19 Raises The Stakes

From the article: Economic shocks from the pandemic have widened existing inequities around the world, leading to calls for greater social justice in dealing with this health threat. Poorer people, minorities, and women are suffering disproportionately from growing health, housing, income, and education gaps under measures to contain COVID-19 that could set them back for years to come. To fund programs to address the problem, governments, supranationals, and corporations, among others, have accelerated issuance of sustainable instruments--including social bonds, where issuance jumped nearly four times so far this year to US$71.9 billion from the 2019 level. We think the sustainable debt market, partly because of the rapid rise in social bond issuance, could exceed $500 billion this year.

2020-10-23

Social justice as a foundation for democracy and health

From article: Jennifer Prah Ruger uses the covid-19 pandemic to show the importance of countries implementing a justice framework for health and equality. This article is part of a collection launched at the World Health Summit, 25-27 October 2020, Berlin, Germany. Funding for the articles, including open access fees, was provided by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Council on Foreign Relations, support from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

2021-02-18

A Multi-Million Dollar Fake Vaccine Scam

Hundreds, an estimated 600, of fake vaccines were shipped to Hong Kong and internationally by a group led by "Kong". These vaccines consisted of nothing but saline solution or mineral water. They were being sold to medical facilities and other places at inflated prices. Officials in China have made at least 70 arrests in relation to this case with more suspected. It's reported that the group made an estimated profit of 18 million yuan or nearly 3 million U.S. dollars in this scam.

2021-02-12

After Vaccines, Joy, Relief and Game Night

As the COVID-19 vaccine rolls-out, nursing and retirement homes across the United States are starting to open up again. In many places, this means dinner, game night, and a select few visitors.

2021-02-09

Artists Reimagine How Covid-19 Will Shape the Art World

In a time when people can't go to museums or concert halls, arts and musicians are improvising. Many are taking part in digital exhibitions and performances. Others are embracing the practice of street art, it always artists to continue creating art and have more exposure to the general population.

2021-02-15

Black Lives Matter Protests Across Canada

This is a collage of the various BLM protests across Canada from the summer of 2020. The images are (top row, left to right): Toronto, Chatham, Vancouver, Calgary and (bottom row, left to right): Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax

2021-02-12

Local man becomes victim of COVID-19-fueled spike in unemployment fraud

Along with COVID-19 came a spike in identity theft. These thieves then use the stolen information to apply for COVID-19 unemployment benefits. In some cases, the states try to get the victims to pay back the money given to the thief.

2021-01-20T12:22:00

Too close to home

I was in class on a Wednesday and my phone kept going off like crazy.it was being so distracting so I just decided to check why it was going off and then turn it off for good. I picked up my phone and there were thousands of text messages saying "you need to get tested", "go get a test". At this point I was completely confused, so I asked them what was going on and they said that one of my friends had tested positive for Covid and that I need to get tested because I'm hanged out with them on that Monday. Once I read this I completely froze, I didn't know how to handle this information. I was scared for my life, and for hers, I wasn't sure if she'd be okay. If I was going to be okay. I wasn't paying attention to class at all and everything my teacher was saying was going completely over my head. School got out and all I could think about was how am I going to tell my parents that I came home possibly with Covid. The thought of just having to tell them the news and how they could possibly react to it scared the life out of me. I didn't think that I could tell them because I was afraid they would be too disappointed in me and to scared. I finally got the courage to tell my mom and she surprisingly took the news well. My parents weren't happy but they definitely weren't angry so that's good. They told me that I had to wash everything that I have touched in the past 2 days. I was so glad to tell my parents because holding that secret in was tearing me apart inside. I checked in with me friend everyday to make sure she was ok. It's scary to see it on the news and to hear it on the radio but once it hits too close to home, it can really change your entire life.

2020

Russian death rates of 2020 pike due to covid

It is a newspapers article by a Russian media Medusa that demonstrates that Russia has one of the highest covid-related death rates in the world.

2020-08-30

COVID-19 Senior Year

This story was important for me to share since it is my personal experience dealing with the pandemic. Although I was not sick personally, the virus took away the memories of my senior year.

2021-02-03

Funeral homes overwhelmed by surge of COVID-19 deaths in Fresno

COVID-19 has caused a surge in deaths worldwide. Funeral homes in the United States are feeling the effect, with many workers sometimes working more than 12 hour days 7 days a week. There has also been a shortage of caskets and urns as well as a strain on the supply of creation boxes.

2021-02-05

Defense Department sending 1,000 troops to assist with vaccinations

The article discusses the federal government's aid in California, where they would be sending troops to assist with vaccinations, as well as open two federally run vaccination sites in order to ensure that anyone wanting a COVID-19 vaccine would be able to get one.

2021-01-22

Prisoner Vaccinations

Prisoners are currently at the top of the list to receive the COVID-19 vaccine with outcry from the public. People believe that prisoners should not be receiving the vaccine and are upset that they are ahead of those who they deem more "deserving." One reason prisoners are getting the vaccine ahead of others is that they have a communal living situation and cannot socially distance which is a stipulation stated in phase 1 of the vaccine distribution. The outrage further reveals people don't view prisoners as human or even deserving of basic human rights or decency. It is also interesting that there isn't as much public outcry over politicians who downplayed the vaccine or elders who may not have been adhering to COVID guidelines receiving the vaccine first.

2020-04-06

Evangelical missionaries, COVID-19, and the rationalizing of infection

Excerpt from the article: "One talking point that commonly arises in evangelical subculture is that “there is no safer place to be than in the center of God’s will.” If God needs you not to have coronavirus, in other words, you won’t get it; and why would God want people to get coronavirus in church after all? Following the same principle, if God wants you to preach to uncontacted peoples, God will make a way. You don’t need to worry about diseases; if the people you’re trying to convert die, that will turn out to have been God’s will."

2021-02-07

Covid Rice and Beans Stock Use

When Covid hit in late February/early March, wide-spread food shortage rumors started to circulate everywhere. The news, social media, friends and family, and seemingly everyone continuously talked about the likely shortages that were going to start to take place. For a good week or two in March, it almost felt possible that our networks for food supply could be shut down, which resulted in everyone stocking up on certain items. One of the few things that I picked up was a big bag of brown rice and a pack of 15 cans of black beans. I hid those away in case the worst would happen. Now, nearly a year later, I am using those supplies and reflecting on the unprecedented panic that was going on at the time that I purchased these items.

2021-01-16

An Eco-Socialist model for fixing the COVID-19 crisis

Rob Wallace, an evolutionary epidemiologist with the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps, reflects on the state of the US's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He lists a set of demands, per se, that outline how focusing on an environmental ethic based on the principle of meeting the needs of each person can provide a way out of the pandemic.

2021-02-03

The Joy Of Receiving A COVID-19 Vaccine In A Nursing Home

Residents at a Colorado assisted living faclity got their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. They are now allowed to have gatherings as long as they continue social distance and wear a mask. Their family can also visit them once again as long as certain safety measures are followed.

2021-02-05

Antibody test in 5 cities nationwide 0.91% antibody possession in Tokyo (February 5, 2021)

This news covers the antibody rate in Japan, specifically in main cities like Tokyo, Osaka, etc. Because the rate of COVID-19 increased A LOT because people are still outside not taking social distance rules, I did expect the percentage to be higher, and it was. In trains, it is packed with people, and Japan is very analog in terms of remote working. A lot of companies still do not allow remote working plus do not change the time that the employees need to clock in and thus everyone commutes around the same time. Plus, because its winter and its cold, the trains and just local restaurants cannot open windows the whole time. Video translated by me. The antibody test conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in five cities nationwide to check the infection history of the new coronavirus found that 0.9% of people in Tokyo have the antibodies. It has increased nine times from half a year ago. Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Tamura: "There is considerable variation in numbers among local governments. Many people are infected and there is no herd immunity." Last December, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare conducted antibody tests on approximately 15,000 people in Tokyo, Osaka, Miyagi, Aichi, and Fukuoka. Using two types of tests, those who are confirmed to have the antibodies in both tests are judged as "positive". As a result, it was found that 0.91% in Tokyo, 0.58% in Osaka, 0.14% in Miyagi, 0.54% in Aichi, and 0.19% in Fukuoka had antibodies. In the survey conducted in June last year, Tokyo was 0.1%. 厚生労働省が全国の5都市で新型コロナウイルスの感染歴を調べる抗体検査をした結果、東京都では0.9％の人が抗体を持っていることが分かりました。半年前の9倍に増えています。　田村厚労大臣：「かなり自治体でばらつきが出ている。多くの方がかかって集団免疫という話では全然ない」　厚労省は去年12月、東京・大阪・宮城・愛知・福岡で約1万5000人を対象に抗体検査を実施しました。　2種類の試薬を使い、両方で陽性が確認された人を「陽性」と判定しています。　その結果、東京で0.91％、大阪で0.58％、宮城で0.14％、愛知で0.54％、福岡で0.19％の人が抗体を持っていたことが分かりました。　去年6月の調査では東京は0.1％でした。

2021-02-04

Reusing the old ward for coronavirus patients Chiba Cancer Center (February 4, 2021)

This is a news of using old medical hospital that is not used for COVID-19 patients’ areas because hospitals are being packed with COVID-19 patients. This will definitely help hospitals that are overloaded. However, I am surprised that they have not started this earlier, when japan was hitting the first wave of COVID-19. Personally, Japan does take a lot of time to initiate something like this (MY PERSONAL OPINION) so maybe they had some sort of reason why they didn't do that initially. Video translated by me. Reuse the unused wards for people infected with the new coronavirus. It is the old ward of the Chiba Cancer Center that begins accepting patients. It was not used because a new ward for cancer was opened in October last year. In Chiba prefecture, the prefecture was becoming more overloaded, such as the occupancy rate of corona beds approaching 70%. They we will start accepting elderly people with mild symptoms from the 5th, gradually increase it, and finally accept about 70 people. 使っていない病棟を新型コロナウイルスの感染者のために再利用します。　患者の受け入れを始めるのは千葉県がんセンターの旧病棟です。　去年10月に新しい病棟ができたため使われていませんでした。　千葉県内ではコロナの病床の稼働率が7割近くになるなど医療が逼迫（ひっぱく）していることを受けて、県が準備を進めていました。　症状が軽い高齢者を中心に5日から受け入れを始め、段階的に増やして最終的に70人ほどを受け入れるということです。

2020-03-24

Worldwide pandemic street art

USA Today, like many other media outlets, uses their platform to share images of street art that conveys community messages about COVID-19. Photographs range from March 2020 to January 2021 and include graffiti tagging, murals, paste-ups, and stencils. Many styles of art are represented and can be telling of how artists represent emotions of fear, solidarity, hope, thanks, and humor during the pandemic. Several of the contributions are put on boards covering windows of businesses that shut down during the pandemic, others are on hospital buildings, streets, and businesses.

2021-02-02

Statistics

Covid-19 is a highly contagious disease. In just California alone there has been 3.34m reported cases and 41,344 deaths. Worldwide there has been millions of deaths. The most recent spike in covid-19 was from November 20th to January 15th.

2020-12-21

A look at powerful social justice moments this year

Many photographs in this article show a beautiful moment within the context of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Some photographs show other events marked by the year 2020 such as the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the anniversary of women having the right to vote. If anything, 2020 was the most volatile year most of us have ever witnessed in our lives.

2021-01-30

Arizona doctors issue warning about MIS-C; a rare condition possibly caused by COVID-19

It is believed that children that contract COVID-19 are developing Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) after recovering. MIS-C can cause organs and skin to become inflames as well as cause high fevers. Doctors are warning parents about MIS-C because it can be deadly when not treated.

2021-01-30

Promising COVID-19 Vaccine News Has Some Itching To Travel Again

COVID-19 has led to many restrictions on travel, both domestic and international. Some families have already started planning for their next trip after the pandemic. The travel industry has taken a major financial hit due to the pandemic and many are hoping that regular travel will resume this year.

2020-01-28

IMMY Labs offers POD to help distribute Oklahoma vaccinations

IMMY Labs is a local company in my area that had previously offered free COVID testing to Oklahomans. Starting last week IMMY Labs created a POD at the Embassy Suites in Norman, Oklahoma. This offered senior citizens and healthcare workers the opportunity to receive the Pfizer vaccine and automatically sign up for the follow up vaccination. The POD is processing approximately 1200 people a day. Before many people in my area were driving up to 150 or more miles, roundtrip, to try to get vaccines. This has greatly improved availability for the elderly in my area.

2020-12-23

Malaysia Islamic Authorities Say Covid Shots are Permissible

This article speaks of the way the Islamic world in Malaysia has reacted to the COVID-19 vaccine. The citizens of Malaysia are overwhelmingly Islamic as over 61% of those who live there identify as Muslim. The concern for many Muslims in Malaysia is not based in a religious belief against medicine; rather, many were concerned that some of the ingredients in the vaccine may violate their faith. However, the Islamic religious authorities in Malaysia are encouraging Muslims to receive the vaccine.

2020-01-29

Love and Loss

This is a symbolic collage that includes newspaper headlines during the pandemic. It is representative of the ups and downs of the past year. It is important to remember that it can always be worse.

2021-01-29

New York COVID-19 nursing home deaths may have been undercounted by as much as 50%, attorney general says

The New York Attorney General says that the official number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes maybe 50% below the actual number. However, the state's Health Commissioner disputes this claim saying that death statistics are determined by the location of death. Therefore, any nursing home resident that dies in the hospital is counted as a hospital death instead of a nursing home death. There has also been an investigation launched against several nursing homes that are sided to have violated COVID-19 protocols.

2021-01-27

OC health care worker dies after receiving 2nd COVID-19 vaccine shot; official cause of death pending

With any rushed medical treatment unforeseen consequences can occur. As the vaccine is released in the 10s of millions I pray Tim Zook's story is a completely isolated incident.

2020-07-11

Q Anon Shaman Video

Back when there was a rumor that COVID-19 couldn't survive in the Arizona heat. This guy is one of the people who got a platform during the Trump COVID era. This is a must-see video for future research into pandemic skeptics.

2021-01-25

"The Pandemic Is Finally Softening. Will That Last?" - The Atlantic

This Atlantic Monthly article, written by Robinson Meyer, details the race to vaccinate millions of Americans in the face of loosening mitigation efforts, new COVID-19 strains, and supply bottlenecks. According to Meyer, with the advent of several COVID-19 vaccines, some states and municipal governments across the country have loosened their quarantine restrictions in the belief that vaccination and lower death rates make lockdowns unnecessary. This is not true, and this loosening of restrictions may precipitate further surges in COVID-19 cases, especially as new strains from the UK and South Africa become endemic. Fewer vaccine doses will be delivered by Pfizer, due to an agreement signed by the Trump administration.

2021-01-28

Invisible Enemy

Living during the time of a pandemic has inevitably changed my own surroundings, but what I find most striking is the fact that many of these changes are almost invisible to me, considering I stay home as much as possible. Sure, I hear the fire engines and ambulances working around the clock every day, their sirens blaring, but since I am inside, I never see them. Even more concerning is the fact that people in my area have almost certainly been infected, but again, I have never seen any. Similarly, chances are if you have not caught COVID yet, all the knowledge you have about how to combat it does not com from ones own personal experience, but from instruction from a third party. As a result, I feel like I both have some sort of an idea of whats going on around me and how to deal with it, and also no idea. For me the silence that I hear is just as alarming, if not more so, than the sound of an ambulance tearing down the street.

2021-02-28T10:55

No shots for you!

This picture shows what I get when I try to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination through the Arizona Department of Health Services website. I'm basically out of luck for the time being. It is good that a vaccine is available now and the end of the pandemic is in sight, but the process is frustrating. While I understand that our state agency had to develop their website in a short time, they've known for months that vaccines were on the way. Their site is needlessly complex, buggy, and non-informative. I initially got hung up on a page that required me to enter my health insurance information; it took several tries and a few phone calls to figure out exactly what I needed to enter in each of the fields. Once I get through, I can't find an open appointment. There is no indication on the webpage, but it seems that the system returns no open appointments for me because I am not yet eligible. My mother who is more than 75 years old has managed to get an appointment and get her first shot. I'm concerned that many other people, particularly the elderly who need the vaccination more than others, will not get access to them because they will not be able to navigate through the website. I have read a number of media reports about this. It seems like poor planning to set up a process that relies on individuals to use the internet without offering an alternative.

2021-01-27

Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine Works Against Mutations Found in U.K, South Africa Variants, Lab Study Finds

With the emergence of new COVID-19 mutations, people have been worried about the effectiveness of the new vaccine. Studies have been conducted to see how effective the vaccines are against the mutations with Pfizer's vaccine showing to be effective against both new strains.

2021-01-26

Covid-19 Statistics

The numbers of Covid-19 really have no affect on me or most of my family. The lies of these numbers is tremendous, people reporting deaths without considering any other influences that have been previously harming or at least not helping the patient. I would pay for an accurate death poll of people who had died from just Covid-19 and only Covid. Then would we know the real 'numbers.' I am blessed however to say that I am aware of no close family member or friend that has had Covid, and that is something I will continue to thank God for. I still can't believe the fear pressed upon by the media and how stupidly successful it has been. People acting as if the Black Plague is running about and how the worst is always yet to come. For the better part of us, Covid has truthfully helped me get a step ahead of life. To get extra training in, doing things others weren't willing to do, it's given me a step ahead of a good amount of my peers. This virus will make of you what you make of it. Some people just choose to respond differently than others.

2021-01-26

Last Thoughts of Covid

This is what I think is my final entry for the archives. I'll be going into further information about statistics and my personal final thoughts. At the beginning of Covid, I really kept up with what was going, but now I'm more or less just not paying attention. I rely on my mom to give me information which is not the best because frankly I just don't trust the news sites my mom gets her information on. I take her info with a grain of salt. LA county just keeps getting worse and worse every day. On 1/26/2021 we have 3.21 million cases and 37,499 deaths. This isn't even all of California, its just one county. Looking at the chart cases have been more down from December. During December it just spiked way up. I wonder if we'll be even able to go on our 8th-grade east coast trip or go back for freshman year. It seems like this will never end and honestly, I've just kinda gotten used to it. Masks are a pain but they can also be helpful sometimes for other things than keeping you and others safe. These are my final thoughts, not a lot, I've just learned to accept it.

2021-01-26

Wealthy couple chartered a plane to the Yukon, took vaccines doses meant for Indigenous elders, authorities said

A wealthy couple from Vancouver, Canada flew to a remote indigenous community in the Yukon to get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The Yukon community was deemed a priority community for the vaccine due to the remoteness as well as the high number of elderly and high-risk residents. The members of the community are unhappy about the couple's actions and wish to see them punished.

2021-01-26

Documents that Explore Vaccine Differences Between States

It shows the differences in vaccines between states which will be valuable in the future.

2021-01-25

Statistics and Final Thoughts

According to the crooked New York Times, there are 3.19 million cases of coronavirus in the United States. To add to that stat, the United States has 37,203 deaths from covid. With this data, about 1.2% of people who got corona in the United States died. Globally there are around 99.4 million cases and 54.9M of the people recovered from it. 2.13 million people died around the world from covid. My final thoughts about covid are that we should continue life as normal, we have never done these ridiculous protocols and suppressive acts for cold and flu season so why should we do it with a virus that is not as deadly as the flu. Covid has become more than a virus, why would people start riots and destroy people's personal property in the name of social justice? People cannot be told to shut down life and stop what they have been doing for thousands of years. Maybe if the government didn't lock down people there wouldn't be as many riots and evil things done. Covid has become more psychological than a physical virus.

2021-01-24

Despite mistrust, Native Americans' participation in vaccine development proves vital

The story details how the Navajo Nation is fighting back against COVID-19. In particular, an indigenous healer, Timothy Lewis, volunteers in a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial.

2021-01-24

Navajo Nation COVID vaccine rolls out for elder population

Tséhootsooí Medical Center hosts drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine event. Elderly residents, 75 and older, of the Navajo Nation (Fort Defiance), are given the COVID-19 vaccine at Tséhootsooí Medical Center

2021-01-24

Students Accessing the Vaccine

College students have been left out of many of the COVID relief efforts such as the stimulus payments. And now due to their status as healthy and young adults, many of them are now at the back of the line for receiving the COVID vaccine. An estimate reported by best colleges states that college students can expect to get the vaccine in April with the rest of the general population. North Carolina initially planned to prioritize college students but has now recently revised its plan so that this is no longer the case. For college students, the COVID process can be incredibly frustrating as they exist in an economically precarious place, as they are going to school and in many instances unable to work full time or worked service jobs that do not exist under COVID conditions. Vaccine access seems to be another area in which college students are disadvantaged due to their status and age. https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/when-college-students-will-receive-covid19-vaccine/#:~:text=Most%20college%20students%20will%20wait,outstripped%20supply%20in%20many%20areas. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2021-01-14/nc-to-vaccinate-those-65-college-students-not-prioritized

2021-01-06

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