Month: May 2021

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The American public’s willingness to get a Covid vaccine is reaching a saturation point, a new national poll suggests, one more indication that achieving widespread immunity in the United States is becoming increasingly challenging. Only 9 percent of respondents said they hadn’t yet gotten the shot but intended to do so, according to the survey, published in the April edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor. And with federal authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for adolescents ages 12 through 15 expected imminently, the eagerness of parents to let their children be vaccinated is also limited, the poll found. Overall, slightly more than half of those surveyed said they had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, a finding that matches data from the Centers for Disease Co...

Last week, the official word came: If you're vaccinated, you can finally ditch your mask in certain social settings. One might expect the announcement to be met with waves of relief and an immediate shift in behavior. For some there was. But others remain quietly hesitant — even though it's safe, they don't want to take off their masks yet. According to new guidelines released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to wear a mask outside except in crowded settings, and can unmask during small outdoor gatherings with vaccinated people.  Masks have offered safety during unprecedented times. They were also divisive and often signaled to which political group you belonged, with studies showing that Republicans were less likely than D...

A sign on the ground directs people to get their COVID-19 vaccine at UCI Health Family Health Center in Anaheim, CA on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Paul Bersebach | MediaNews Group | Orange County Register via Getty Images More than 70% of Americans aged 65 and older are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Wednesday. CDC data shows an average of 2.1 million reported vaccinations per day over the past week, down from a peak of 3.4 million in mid-April. At the same time, the rate of new infections fell further. About 46,600 new cases are being reported each day in the U.S., based on a seven-day average of Johns Hopkins University data, the lowest level since the fall. U.S. share of the population vaccinated ...

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) any time day or night, or chat online. Ben Price always was the biggest presence in any room. Loud and funny, his smile was captivating, said his wife, Jennifer.  The couple owned a small business and two farms in an Illinois suburb west of Chicago, where they lived with their two teenage children. She said her husband was the hardest working man she had ever met.  “He was the epitome of unconditional love and loved his kids with all his heart," she said. Price tells herself it wasn’t her husband who died by suicide on one of their farms the morning of Feb. 28. She believes he was taken over by what some health care professionals call “COVI...