A year into the pandemic, masks have become part of daily life. Want to use a face covering to broadcast your patriotism? Online stores sell masks with U.S. flags. Wondering how to pair your mask with your outfit? Magazines show how celebrities do just that at the big awards shows. (“These stars made a statement […]
The novel coronavirus is no laughing matter. Over the past year, it has killed more than 500,000 Americans, shuttered schools and workplaces, caused an economic recession, and strained the health care system. Throughout the pandemic, disinformation about the virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has been shared worldwide. Since the novel coronavirus first emerged […]
One year ago, Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The NBA suspended its season. About 1,000 Americans were infected, and the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. Today, more than 500,000 Americans are dead from COVID-19. The country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great […]
Nearly a year since the CDC first started recommending wearing face coverings in public, social media users are still denying their efficacy. “Every real world, randomized controlled trial on mask effectiveness demonstrates that masks are not effective in reducing the spread of viral infections,” says author Shawn Stevenson in an Instagram video. The post was […]
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is facing a new wave of criticism over her handling of nursing home residents with COVID-19, after a massive undercounting of deaths from the disease was uncovered in New York. Under her administration’s policies, hospitals released many elderly, recovering COVID-19 patients back to their long-term care facilities or to nursing homes […]
Hours after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, he gave his first prime-time presidential address to mark the anniversary of shutdowns across the nation — and to give Americans hope that the pandemic-era losses would soon come to an end. “This country will be vaccinated soon,” Biden said. “Our economy will […]
Tens of millions of Americans who have received their COVID-19 vaccines can now entertain the prospect of boldly going places, seeing people and doing things again, even if a return to normal life remains a ways off. The first set of public health recommendations for vaccinated people, released March 8 by the U.S. Centers for […]
Even after officially decamping for Palm Beach, Fla., former President Donald Trump has continued to stir emotions in his previous home state of New York. New York Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, a Democrat, said she believes a park currently named for Trump north of New York City should be renamed. Trump donated the land for the […]
Facing an unprecedented influx of absentee ballots during a presidential election in the middle of a pandemic, the Madison clerk came up with a novel idea. Instead of making voters come to them, they’d go to the voters. “It was an invention of necessity,” said Madison City Attorney Michael Haas. “City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl thought […]
Democrats are nursing a razor-thin majority in the Senate, and they’ve increasingly blamed the filibuster — a tool a minority can use to stall a bill unless 60 senators vote to take up the measure — for bottling up new legislation in the Senate. So Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., historically a defender of the filibuster, […]
Russian intelligence services have used online publications to spread disinformation that undermines public confidence in Western COVID-19 vaccines, according to the U.S. State Department. The Wall Street Journal reported that four online platforms have served as fronts for Russian intelligence groups. These sites have all frequently published misleading articles that exaggerate the safety risks of […]
With Congress expected to finalize a $1.9 trillion package to help Americans recover from the coronavirus pandemic, many are left wondering if they will get a stimulus check, and if so, when and how much. The relief package passed by the Senate is different from the version passed by the House in February. The House […]