Below The Fold: The news that do not make the headlines but is important. By PL Hade
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is actively seeking public input on “reducing administrative burdens, undue complexity, unnecessary confusion, & processing & waiting times.” https://www.uscis.gov/…/dhs-seeks-public-input-to…
- NASA’s Perseverance rover keeps making history. The six-wheeled robot has converted some carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen, the first time this has happened on another planet https://sg.news.yahoo.com/first-perseverance-mars-rover…
- The US Department of Agriculture announced on Tuesday that it is extending a free school-lunch program for every K-12 student through spring 2022. The USDA estimated nearly 12 million kids live in a household that didn’t have enough to eat at some point in the pandemic. https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-usda-free-school…
- IMPORTANT
- “B117 variant found among Italy’s infected schoolchildren and is helping to fuel a “robust” uptick in the curve of #COVID19– with higher transmission rates “among the youngest age group” of the population.
- Roberto Speranza told reporters that the variant, associated with higher transmission rates, has shown pervasiveness “among the youngest age group” of the population.” https://finance.yahoo.com/…/virus-variant-races-italy…
- “In 2016, poor health strongly predicted Trump voting. A county’s rate of diabetes, alcohol consumption, obesity, etc. predicted its propensity to vote Trump *even better* than race/education. https://thehealthcareblog.com/…/americas-health-and…/
- Reminder: If you have someone in a long term care facility check that they require their employees to be vaccinated.An unvaccinated worker set off an outbreak at a U.S. nursing home where most residents were immunized. https://www.nytimes.com/…/vaccine-nursing-homes…
- Republicans unveil $568 bn infrastructure package to counter Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan. The proposal, which falls below an initial Republican target range of $600 billion to $800 billion, focuses narrowly on traditional infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, rail, ports, water systems and on broadband access. It would not result in higher taxes but be fully paid for through user fees and unspent federal funds. (Haven’t read the proposal yet – more next time.) https://www.reuters.com/…/republicans-unveil-568-bln…/
- The GOP has introduced a bill in NJ that would ban Covid19 vaccine passports. https://www.thecentersquare.com/…/article_392c109c-9e2b…
- “A Republican candidate for office in New Jersey’s largest county issued an anti-Christie fundraising appeal.” (It’s Bridget Kelly) Matt Friedman Politico
- Covid19
- 574,236 have died of Covid19
- NJ: 2895 confirmed new positives Wednesday. 527 probable new positives. (Last July we were in the 300s per day.)
- 31 deaths
- Rate of Transmission 0.93
- Counties with the highest positives: Essex 38, Middlesex 294, Bergen 264, Hudson 260