Novak Djokovic told the BBC he would “rather miss out on future tennis trophies than be forced to get a Covid vaccine.”
Said Djokovic: “Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay.”
Novak Djokovic told the BBC he would “rather miss out on future tennis trophies than be forced to get a Covid vaccine.”
Said Djokovic: “Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay.”
Helen Branswell: “Two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s easy to lament all that has come to pass. The devastating losses. The upending of what we regarded as normal ways of life. The sheer relentlessness of it all.”
“But let’s stop for a moment and consider something else that may have escaped you: You have witnessed — and you are a beneficiary of — a freaking miracle. That miracle is the development, testing, manufacturing, and global distribution of Covid vaccines.”
“Experts say the U.S. needs clearer, more defined standards that will help the public understand when it’s safe to relax Covid restrictions — and when it might be necessary to bring them back,” Axios reports.
“Experts compare this need to a weather forecast or air-quality warnings: People are more willing to accept inconveniences if they understand the reasons why.”
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“Drug overdoses now kill more than 100,000 Americans a year — more than vehicle crash and gun deaths combined,” the New York Times reports.
“No other advanced nation is dealing with a comparable drug crisis. And over the past two years, it has worsened: Annual overdose deaths spiked 50 percent as fentanyl spread in illegal markets, more people turned to drugs during the pandemic, and treatment facilities and other services shut down.”
“Pfizer-BioNTech is postponing its rolling application to the Food and Drug Administration to expand the use of its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years,” NBC News reports.
“The move means that vaccines for this age group will not be available in the coming weeks, a setback for parents eager to vaccinate their young children.”
“California would be the first state to impose Covid-19 vaccine mandates at all workplaces under sweeping new legislation to be unveiled Friday,” Politico reports.
“The bill from Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D) comes as Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to release a statewide pandemic exit strategy signaling the transition to an ‘endemic’ phase of the public health crisis.”
Olivier Knox: “With relatively few exceptions in U.S. history, the top brass at the Pentagon has known more about waging war than the president of the United States, but he’s the one in charge. The CIA has more spycraft. NASA has actual rocket scientists. But they, too, answer to the Oval Office.”
“The pandemic has given Americans a refresher course in federalism, reminding us of the central importance of governors, even if Washington made many of the most consequential decisions, like spurring vaccine development. But it is also testing American attitudes about whether elected officials or infectious-disease experts should call the shots…”
“Politicians get the last word for the same reason the Constitution anoints the president commander in chief and reserves the power to declare war for Congress — they’re directly accountable to the voters. The experts are not.”
A new Pew Research survey finds Americans are increasingly critical of the response to Covid-19 from elected officeholders and public health officials.
“Amid debates over how to address the surge in cases driven by the omicron variant, confusion is now the most common reaction to shifts in public health guidance: 60% of U.S. adults say they’ve felt confused as a result of changes to public health officials’ recommendations on how to slow the spread of the coronavirus, up 7 percentage points since last summer.”
“Evaluations of elected leaders at all levels of government have also moved lower. A majority (60%) now describes the job Joe Biden is doing responding to the coronavirus as only fair or poor.”
“We should be pointing to the fact that these successes are because of things that we did. Democrats need to take the win on how far we’ve come.”
— Democratic pollster Brian Stryker, quoted by the New York Times, arguing that Democrats should celebrate the end of mask mandates.
Playbook: “The Biden administration is not following the shift of Dem leaders in the states. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told Reuters on Tuesday that — much as people would like to move past the pandemic — ‘now is not the moment’ to end school mask mandates.”
“But voters are increasingly siding with the governors… Meanwhile, Republicans are seizing on school mask mandates as a major 2022 issue.”
“But it’s not just partisan Republicans. A new advocacy group made up of well-credentialed doctors, Urgency of Normal, is trying to take the anti-masking movement out of the hands of the right.”
Earlier for members: Democratic Governors Take the Lead
“Blue state governors and state health officials who most vigorously embraced pandemic restrictions are pivoting toward a new era, using Omicron’s decline to dial back precautions that have become a hallmark of the last two years,” Politico reports.
“Health departments from Oregon to Maine have over the last few weeks ended almost all of their government-run Covid-19 contact tracing operations and shifted the responsibility to the public.”
“At the same time, Democratic governors in the Northeast and West, where case counts are dropping dramatically, are loosening mask policies and preparing residents for the reality that Covid-19 will be around long term.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Financial Times that the United States is heading out of the “full blown” pandemic phase of Covid-19, as he predicted a combination of vaccinations, treatments and prior infection would soon make the virus more manageable.
Fauci added that there would be an end to all pandemic-related restrictions in the coming months including mandatory wearing of masks.
Said Fauci: “As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus.”
“Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) will drop New York’s stringent indoor mask mandate on Wednesday, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require mask-wearing at all times, and marking a turning point in the state’s coronavirus response,” the New York Times reports.
For members: Democratic Governors Take the Lead on the Pandemic.
Tim Miller: “Over the past two weeks, several Democratic politicians have found themselves in the Twitter barrel as a result of photographs featuring their maskless (gasp!) faces in situations where either a) officials from their party had instituted a mandate on masks or b) the plebeians who surrounded them were unable to show their pearly whites due to the stringent social covenant in their environs.”
“This is horrible optics—and thus bad politics! Because whether we like it or not optics is politics. Since some of you don’t seem to understand why these pictures in particular are so bad, let me lay it out for you.”
Texas released updated statistics showing the number of abortions reported in the state decreased almost 60% in the first month after new restrictions went into effect, the Dallas Morning News reports.
“California will end its indoor masking requirement for vaccinated people next week but masks still are the rule for schoolchildren, state health officials announced Monday amid rapidly falling coronavirus cases,” the AP reports.
“After Feb. 15, unvaccinated people still will be required to be masked indoors, and everyone — vaccinated or not — will have to wear masks in higher-risk areas like public transit and nursing homes and other congregate living facilities.”
Axios: Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey are also moving to lift their mask mandates and New York is reevaluating the policy.
“Two years into the pandemic, politicians are still getting tripped up over face masks, lockdowns and other restrictions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus — sometimes rules that were put in place by the politicians themselves,” the Washington Post reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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