National News - Page 87

America’s economy is rebounding. But it is still in a deep hole

By Anneken Tappe America is emerging from the worst of the pandemic, and that will mean some eye-popping figures when the government releases economic growth data Thursday. But the big jump — fueled by resurgent consumer spending after a year in lockdown — will still be starting from a deep hole. Economists predict that the US economy grew at an annualized rate of 6.1% in the first three months of the year — faster the than the 4.3% recorded at the end of 2020, but far slower than the enormous 33.4% jump in the second quarter of 2020 when the

More relaxed CDC coronavirus guidelines could come soon, Fauci says

By Christina Maxouris After loosening its Covid-19 prevention guidelines somewhat this week for people who are fully vaccinated, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could soon go even further if new cases continue to decline, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. The seven-day average of new cases has dropped from about 60,000 new infections per day to “around 30 to 40” in the past few days, Fauci, the director of the National Instiitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto Wednesday. “I’ll guarantee you, Jim, that as the level of infection gets down, and we can get it

Some experts say new CDC guidelines are too cautious. Here’s why that matters with vaccine hesitancy

By Christina Maxouris In its gradual return to normal, the US took another step forward this week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance Tuesday on the activities fully vaccinated Americans can safely enjoy without a mask. The agency said fully vaccinated people can unmask at small outdoor gatherings or when dining outside with friends from multiple households — activities the CDC said require unvaccinated people to still wear a mask. But some experts say the new guidance is too cautious and doesn’t offer a strong enough incentive for Americans who still are on the fence about

Are we numb? Handling the collective trauma of police violence, mass shootings and a pandemic

By Matt Villano A reckoning with the deaths resulting from institutionalized racism, a resurgence of almost-daily gun violence and 3.1 million pandemic deaths worldwide, there has been trauma piled upon trauma upon trauma. It turns out these collective traumas are taking a toll on all of us, according to Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychological science, medicine and mental health at the University of California, Irvine. Over the course of her 40-year career, Silver has studied the effects of trauma on individuals and on society as a collective whole. The traumas of the past year — which are ongoing

Former CDC director: We can prevent the next pandemic

By Dr. Tom Frieden As the United States and the world continue to struggle in the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, one truth has emerged — it didn’t have to be nearly this bad. Preparedness can prevent epidemics. Covid started as single and potentially containable outbreak before spreading rapidly across the globe and changing life as we know it. But every year, there are many near misses — outbreaks that are controlled before they become epidemics. Much like the “curious incident” of the dog that didn’t bark in the night in the Sherlock Holmes story “Silver Blaze,” these epidemics

How the US went from having one of the worst Covid responses to being a global leader in vaccinations under Biden

By Ashley Semler For the last 100 days, President Joe Biden and his top advisers have mounted an urgent, wartime effort to get millions of coronavirus vaccines into the arms of Americans in order to beat back a pandemic that has upended the world for the better part of year. The effort, described to CNN during in-depth interviews with three of the administration’s top Covid advisers and two other White House officials, has allowed the US to go from having one of the worst Covid responses in the world to being a global leader in getting shots in arms. The

Biden will announce new CDC mask guidance Tuesday, sources say

By Kaitlan Collins and Kate Sullivan President Joe Biden is expected to announce Tuesday that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance for wearing masks outdoors, three people familiar with the expected announcement said. Ahead of his first address to Congress on Wednesday, the President will give remarks on the state of the pandemic on Tuesday. The three people familiar with the expected announcement said Biden will announce new CDC guidance on whether vaccinated people need to wear masks outdoors, though the final language of the expected announcement is still unclear. One of Biden’s top

US Covid-19 vaccination efforts may start to slow now, official says. Here’s why

By Christina Maxouris Covid-19 vaccination efforts may begin to slow down as more Americans get vaccinated, one US official told CNN on Sunday. More than 42% of the United States population has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 28.5% of the population is fully vaccinated. “We’re going continue to make progress, it might not be as fast as the first 50% (of the population vaccinated), I think that it’s going to be slower. But I think we’re going to continue to get there,” Andy Slavitt, White

The US tax code can make things even harder for Black Americans

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By Jeanne Sahadi Racial and ethnic inequities exist in nearly every system of society. And when it comes to ways in which Americans typically build wealth, the US federal income tax code may be helping to increase those disparities. The code has been designed with the intention of being broadly progressive — meaning the less you make, the less you are taxed. Or put another way, those with the ability to pay more should be taxed more. At the same time, it also rewards certain economic and wealth building activities, such as home ownership, retirement savings and investing. But it

New study shows why vaccinating everybody against Covid-19 is essential

By Madeline Holcombe Although there’s a growing sense that normalcy is within reach after the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, experts are continuing to push for more vaccinations — particularly as new research details the long-term consequences for those who are diagnosed with the virus. In what the authors say is the largest study to date of the long-term impact, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis found that people who had Covid-19 seem to face a much greater risk of death and need more medical care in the six months after their diagnosis, even if they had a milder form of

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