Covid-19: Almost two years later

We will be approaching two years since Covid-19 officially received its first case on March 4th. Since then, Covid doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. January 3rd marked the highest daily total of new cases in the U.S... in the midst of that news, our highest court is wrestling over several vaccine mandates to proceed. The mandate affecting businesses with more than 100 employees is set to take effect Monday, January 10. Cass County is also increasing in cases.

According to U.S. News and Reports the “United States reported nearly one million new coronavirus infections on Monday (January 3), the highest daily tally of any country in the world and nearly double the previous U.S. peak set a week ago as the spread of the Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing.”

With that, the U.S. and its individual states are wrestling with how to best fight against the Coronavirus, while trying to balance keeping schools and businesses open. As of the time this article this being written there are no reported Cass County schools or businesses closed. However, businesses and schools are no doubt being affected by the rise of Covid cases. In Texarkana, one of the Walmarts temporarily closed their doors, as with some schools in the surrounding areas.

Since the world has been battling this global pandemic for less than two years, there is still a lot of confusion, false narratives, and questions regarding how to best stop/prevent this disease. Since this is a hot topic politically it has further clouded the issue.

This was clearly seen during the supreme court hearings on Monday when two justices threw out potentially false facts while trying to respond to questions from lawyers on both sides.

First liberal Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor falsely claimed that were 100,000 pediatric Covid-19 hospitalizations. Poynter.org, a thinktank/FactCheck website for journalists, reports that “nobody seems to know where she came up with that number, but the truth is certainly nowhere close to that many children hospitalized or in serious condition from Covid-19. I will show you how difficult it is to know the true number but know that it is likely closer to 3,700 children. That’s a lot, and it is also not 100,000.”

While AP fact-checking calls it: “False. Federal data shows that around 5,000 minors are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Since August 2020, fewer than 83,000 kids have been hospitalized with the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The latest data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows 5,018 patients in pediatric hospital beds across the country who have either tested positive for Covid-19 or are suspected to have the virus. The number of confirmed cases was 3,743”

On the flip side, Twitter was ablaze, and other media pundits were yelling when they (correctly or incorrectly) heard Justice Neil Gorsuch say that the flu kills hundreds of thousands every year. However, the court issued a revised transcript of oral arguments that said he actually said hundreds, thousands of deaths every year.

Regardless of what either of them said, it most definitely points to people from both political sides looking for a “gotcha statement” to make the other side look bad; Something they can energize their base with when the supreme court issues their verdict on the two big vaccine issues.

The first big issue the Supreme Court is working through is what many call the business vaccine mandate.

The requirement, which would apply to companies with 100 or more employees, has so far faced multiple challenges that have stalled the mandate. That was until a three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the order in December.

In response, OSHA stated on their website. “OSHA is gratified the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard. OSHA can now once again implement this vital workplace health standard, which will protect the health of workers by mitigating the spread of the unprecedented virus in the workplace.”

The mandate called the Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) makes it so U.S. workers must be fully vaccinated by Feb. 9 or face a weekly COVID testing requirement. The mandate actually goes into effect this week January 10 and requires employers to choose to require vaccination or allow covered employees who are unvaccinated to wear a mask and provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test on a weekly basis.

“To account for any uncertainty created by the stay, OSHA is exercising enforcement discretion with respect to the compliance dates of the ETS. To provide employers with sufficient time to come into compliance, OSHA will not issue citations for non-compliance with any requirements of the ETS before January 10 and will not issue citations for noncompliance with the standard’s testing requirements before February 9, so long as an employer is exercising reasonable, good faith efforts to come into compliance with the standard. OSHA will work closely with the regulated community to provide compliance assistance.”

“Companies that fail to com ply with the order to have workers fully vaccinated by today could face fines in the range of $14,000. That figure could go higher for companies that willfully violate the order.”

Poynter.com reports that “OSHA indicated it would move slowly on enforcing the vaccine regulations while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether OSHA has the legal authority to enforce the rule ordered by President Joe Biden.”

“The new order says employers will have the burden of determining the vaccine status of all employees, meaning they will have to see proof of vaccination and maintain records. It says employers must, ‘Require employees to provide prompt notice when they test positive for COVID-19 or receive a COVID-19 diagnosis. Employers must then remove the employee from the workplace, regardless of vaccination status; employers must not allow them to return to work until they meet required criteria.’”

Here in Cass County businesses like McDonald’s, Walmart, Burger King, and such, that have over 100 employees employed by the company, (even though only a fraction work in a particular location or at a particular time) would fall under this rule.

Forbes notes that “Business lobbies, religious groups, and states with Republican leaders have led legal challenges against the mandates, arguing the agencies implementing them are overreaching their authority. On Friday, Scott Keller, a former solicitor general of Texas, argued in front of the court that the OSHA mandate will likely harm the U.S. workforce should employees quit over these vaccine mandates.

“Meanwhile the Biden administration has contended that these mandates are necessary to protect workers and health care providers amid a global pandemic. “The court should reject the argument that the agency is powerless to address the grave dangers,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said while arguing for the merits of the OSHA mandate.”

The other thing the Supreme Court will be deciding is “whether the federal government has the authority to force health care workers to be vaccinated without an option to stay unvaccinated and routinely test for the virus.”

“Based on the tone and content of the justices’ questions” Forbes Notes “during a Friday hearing, there seemed to be less concern about mandating vaccines for health care workers than for everyone else. But some justices hinted that it may be an overreach for OSHA to require vaccinations as a means of making workplaces safe.” As of Monday 8:00 p.m., the court has not ruled on either issue.

Currently, “Texas’ ICUs are 90% full with 28% of the ICU beds (1,821) being used for COVID-19 cases,” reports Poyner.com

According to the Texas Health and Human Services website, “Cass County as of 2022/01/09 at 10:45 a.m. showed 3104 confirmed cases; 1912 possible cases; and 163 deaths. In Texas, there were 127 Delta and 1343 Omicron variants. The site also shows that Cass County has one of the lower vaccine rates in Texas with only about a 1/3 fully vaccinated and about 40% have received at least one dose. Also, 56% of those 65 and older were fully vaccinated.

According to the CDC here are key things to know about the Approved Vaccines

Everyone ages five and older can get vaccinated against COVID-19. Learn how to find a COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccines are effective at helping protect against severe disease and death from the virus that causes COVID-19, including known variants currently circulating (e.g., Delta variant).

The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks, which are rare.

As with other routine vaccines, side effects may occur after vaccination. These are normal and should go away within a few days.

People who are fully vaccinated can resume many activities they did before the pandemic. However, people should wear a mask indoors in public if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission.

If you received a Pfizer-BioNTech (ages 12 and older) or Moderna (ages 18 and older) mRNA COVID-19 vaccine primary series and have a moderately or severely compromised immune system, you should receive an additional primary dose of the same mRNA COVID-19 vaccine at least 28 days after the second dose.

Everyone ages 16 years and older can get a booster shot. Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna (mRNA COVID-19 vaccines) are preferred in most situations. Although mRNA vaccines are preferred, the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine may be considered in some situations.

Unlike many medications, the COVID-19 vaccine dosage does not vary by patient weight but by age on the day of vaccination.

People can get a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines, in-