* Greg Hinz…
Tomorrow’s showdown vote on whether U.S. House Republicans will dump Rep. Liz Cheney as their No. 3 leader may well tell us a lot about the future of Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and whether he’s seriously eyeing a race against Gov. J.B. Pritzker next year.
A vote to remove the Wyoming Republican will be taken as a sign that Davis, who has been rising fast in the GOP ranks and is considered a close ally of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, wants to stay in the House, where some consider him a committee chairman-in-waiting if the GOP takes control of that chamber next year. […]
(W)hat might be popular downstate or in pro-Trump areas tends to be the opposite in the rest of now- heavily blue Illinois. Says one top state Republican, speaking privately, “If he’s going to run for governor, he can’t vote to get rid of Cheney.”
Davis has a long voting history, so I doubt it’ll come down to that one vote in an actual gubernatorial election. But it will be watched closely by people who follow this sort of thing - a sort of “pundit moment” for Davis.
* The vote will take place behind closed doors, however. So there’s no guarantee we’ll know for sure what happened with individual members. From the DCCC…
Just days after GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney did the bare minimum and refused to promote the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, House Republicans shamelessly began their effort to replace her as the Number 3 Republican in the caucus. In her place, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has propped up Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist who peddles dangerous conspiracies about the results of the election.
Evidently, McCarthy’s concern about the silencing of conservative voices doesn’t apply if it’s a woman in his caucus who refuses to lie. If Republicans believe this vote is fair, why are they choosing to hide behind a secret ballot? Rep. Rodney Davis has refused to tell the Chicago Sun Times and Illinois Playbook where he stands — voters deserve to know whether he will punish Rep. Cheney for voicing the truth.
It’s clear that in order to succeed in the House GOP, members must promote dangerous conspiracies like the ones that caused the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s increasingly obvious that there’s only room in the House Republican caucus for people who will continue to promote Trump’s Big Lie and put our democracy at risk. This vote tells the American people that McCarthy and Republicans would rather punish Rep. Cheney for telling the truth about our elections than denounce Marjorie Taylor Greene’s racist white supremacist caucus or Matt Gaetz’s credibly alleged sex trafficking crimes. Rep. Rodney Davis owes it to his voters to let them know which side he stands on,” said DCCC Spokesperson Elena Kuhn.
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It’s just a bill
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Too bad the chamber’s deadline for Third Reading passage of House bills was April 23rd. It’ll get some nice play, though. And, who knows, maybe it’ll wind up being attached to another bill …
* From Anita Bedell, Executive Director of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems…
backroom gambling deal is being worked out behind closed doors, as the General Assembly nears the May 31 deadline. Three gambling issues under consideration:
Internet Scratch-off lottery tickets. Scratch-off tickets account for 2/3 of lottery sales. Instant scratch-offs are like playing games on phones, with a “Play Again” button that pops up after purchase. Anyone 18 and older could “scratch” tickets for hours on end and lose a great deal of money.
The Lottery simplified online registration during the pandemic, added Apple and Google Pay, and used web-push notifications/nudges on phones to lure gamblers. Having a gambling app in your pocket is a constant temptation to gamble.
Betting on Illinois College Sports. Threats against student athletes are real, especially when people are gambling on college teams. The 2019 gambling bill banned bets on Illinois college sports to protect college players, many of whom are under the age of 21.
More at the link.
* Greg Hinz…
The Illinois House has voted to “fire a shot across the bow” of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, the massive retirement system that’s been riddled with internal tension and has tapped its board chairman to double as its interim executive director.
In a near-unanimous action, the House voted 114-0 to approve a bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, that would impose a 12-month ban on any board member of a public pension system going to work for that system or any of its vendors. Four representatives did not vote.
Batinick said the measure would not apply to an earlier move by CTPF to make its board president, Jeffery Blackwell, the interim executive director, the fund’s top staff job. But the move is intended as a warning —”a shot across the bow”—to the $11 billion fund because there “seems to be a clear conflict of interest” in Blackwell supervising his own performance as both a board member and the executive director, Batinick told me.
Blackwell got the job in February, succeeding Mary Cavallaro. She resigned after just a few months in the job, saying in a statement that “I can no longer tolerate the chaos and toxicity of the boardroom, along with the vile disrespect and insults directed toward me, the leadership team and the hard-working staff of the fund by certain misinformed trustees.”
* Center Square…
Members from both sides of the aisle at the Illinois statehouse say they’re taking small steps to save taxpayers on the $140-plus billion unfunded liability of public sector pensions.
State Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, said after the legislature changed the pension plans a decade ago from Tier I to a plan with fewer benefits, Tier II may not cut it for some retirees. He passed Senate Bill 1675 requiring more state employees to save more on their own through a deferred compensation plan.
“So it doesn’t cost the government anything,” Martwick said. “It costs the pension systems a small amount of money in administration compared to their larger pot.”
* Same source…
Passions are pouring out on both sides of the issue of a measure to regulate retail pet stores.
House Bill 1711 would change state law to allow the sale of dogs and cats only if they come from an animal control facility or shelter. It passed the House with bipartisan support last month.
Illinois State Director for The Humane Society, Marc Ayers, advocates for the measure.
“And to change that source to shelters and rescues and animal controls so for one we can stop the proliferation of these puppy mills that they’re often coming from but also we can increase life-saving by adopting animals out that need a loving home,” Ayers told WMAY.
Jonathan Berning, co-owner of Happiness Is Pets with several locations in Illinois, said the measure would essentially shut down his business.
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* October of 2018…
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says she’ll seat a grand jury sometime this month to see if anyone broke any laws in how Governor Rauner’s administration handled the Legionnaires outbreak at the Quincy veterans home. Madigan announced her investigation yesterday. The Quincy outbreak began nearly four years ago and 14 people died from Legionnaires and 70 others became sick. Republicans say the investigation is little more than a last minute election year ploy to smear the governor.
Illinois Republican Party press release in the same time period…
“During her 16 years in office, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has done absolutely nothing to address the corruption from Speaker Mike Madigan and Illinois Democrats that has plagued our state for decades. But now that an independent investigation has found her party’s candidate for governor to be a tax fraud, Madigan has launched a clearly partisan investigation into a serious public health crisis that Governor Rauner took swift action on and has been transparent with the General Assembly and the media. This is nothing more than the politicization of the devastating deaths of Illinois veterans to distract from JB Pritzker’s scheme to defraud Illinois taxpayers hours before a debate.”
* From just before AG Madigan launched her grand jury probe…
Newly disclosed records from the office of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner document a pattern by the state of slow-walking and soft-pedaling bad news about deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at a state-run home for war veterans in downstate Quincy. […]
Some of the details that broke through the black ink are drawing new criticism from a nationally recognized infectious disease expert and prompting one Democratic lawmaker instrumental in establishing a state disease notification law to call for a criminal investigation.
“All aspects of this need to be looked at through the criminal process, whether it be manslaughter, neglect, you name it,” said state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, an Aurora Democrat and chief House sponsor of the disease notification bill.
I gave credit at the time to Rep. Kifowit for pushing AG Madigan into launching the criminal investigation…
Kifowit told me yesterday that she’s been pestering the attorney general since late August.
* Today…
* From Hannah’s story…
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego), who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee set to interrogate Pritzker administration officials about the LaSalle outbreak Tuesday told NPR Illinois she didn’t believe it was appropriate for lawmakers to pressure Raoul’s office to open a criminal investigation.
“I think the Attorney General has to decide for themselves,” Kifowit said. “That’s not the role of the legislature to tell a separate constitutional officer [to investigate]. “We’re going do all we can to investigate the situation and it’s up to the Attorney General to decide what path they’re going to take.”
Lots more in Meisel’s story, so click here and discuss below.
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It’s really not that much of a mystery
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a long piece about redistricting…
The Illinois Constitution says lawmakers have until June 30 to pass new legislative maps. If they don’t, map-making goes to a commission of eight people, four from each party. This group must agree on maps by Aug. 10. If five members don’t approve the maps, the name of either a Republican or Democrat is drawn from a hat to choose a ninth member to break the tie by Oct. 5.
“It is not my belief that the people of Illinois would rather us have our redistricting on whose name, Republican or Democrat, is pulled out of a top hat,” said state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, arguing he believes Illinoisans would rather lawmakers use the best data they have now than leave map-making up to a random drawing. […]
Democrats say they have to draw a map by June 30 per the constitution. Republicans say they can wait for the Census. The constitution says lawmakers “shall” handle the redistricting process, but does not mandate maps to be complete by June 30 and creates a process for lawmakers to handle redistricting after June 30.
There’s really no need for this he-said/she-said stuff.
The Democrats want to avoid that October lottery, which gives the Republican Party a 50/50 chance of controlling the remap process. Republicans want to delay the process for the same reason. That’s it.
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* Tom Kacich…
Congressional earmarks — specific projects advanced by individual members of Congress for their districts through the appropriations process — once led to prison terms for congressmen and lobbyists, the rise of the tea-party movement and an earmark moratorium that has existed since 2010.
Well, guess what’s back.
They have a new name — community-project funding and member-designated projects — but earmarks have been revived by the Democrats who run the House and Senate. And Republicans have joined the revival — although not all of them are on board.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, is the only member of Congress from Illinois who didn’t submit any requests. Miller’s district includes Charleston-Mattoon, Danville, Paris, Rantoul, Tuscola and areas south.
According to Kacich, Rodney Davis requested $37.5 million, Adam Kinzinger requested about $81.8 million and Darin LaHood asked for $91.8 million. These are requests. Final amounts are to be determined.
* Meanwhile, US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi announced $1.27 billion in higher education funding from the American Rescue Plan, split almost evenly between student aid and institutional awards. The list is long, so click here to see it.
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* Just about everything is trending well, except for deaths among younger people, of course…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,562 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 26 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 1 female 30s, 1 male 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 4 females 60s, 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s
- DuPage County: 1 female 80s
- Knox County: 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 80s
- Moultrie County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,357,953 cases, including 22,261 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 46,334 specimens for a total of 23,435,198. As of last night, 1,930 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 489 patients were in the ICU and 261 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 4-10, 2021 is 2.8%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 4-10, 2021 is 3.3%.
A total of 10,037,624 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 83,887 doses. Yesterday, 58,709 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
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* AP…
Overall, the AP-NORC poll found about 1 in 5 American adults say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated, compared to about a third in January, when the shots were just rolling out. […]
Black Americans likewise are becoming more open to the shots, with 26% now saying they definitely or probably won’t get vaccinated compared with 41% in January. […]
32% of Republicans now say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated, down from 44% in January.
Other polls have been finding the same thing for months. There are gonna be hardcore holdouts, but what the government needs to be focusing on the most is making it easier to get the shot (24/7 vaccination sites, mobile vax centers at churches, schools, events, etc.) and using market research to reach out to people whose opinion can be most readily changed. The loudmouths on social media and cable TV will either eventually come around or they won’t. They should be at the bottom of the priority list, except to make sure their arguments are effectively and aggressively countered so that more people aren’t infected with a communications virus.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about the hesitancy issue today…
There are people who come from communities that have been hesitant for many years about the health care system in general, because it hasn’t treated them properly, that equity hasn’t been brought to them in the health care system. And so I can understand why people choose to maybe step back and wait a little while.
There are others who maybe don’t fully understand the science behind the vaccinations and therefore are hesitant because they haven’t learned enough about it, which I understand. We want to do a good job of educating everybody.
But I would just remind you that literally hundreds of millions of people around the world have been vaccinated. And here in the United States, there’s not a single instance of a vaccination, other than those three that were related, three people, out of tens of millions, I think we’re now past 100 million people that are vaccinated in the United States, three people that had what’s identified maybe as a pre-existing condition, but certainly in a category that it’s now identified. And so I just say it’s safe, you know, talk to your doctor. But talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends, your family, and I think you’ll find that it’s safe. For those of us who’ve been vaccinated, it’s a lot more comfortable to be able to be outside in a small group of people not wearing a mask. It’s a lot more comfortable to be able to go into a restaurant, and just know that you’re highly unlikely to get infected.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times story on Chicago Ald. David Moore’s campaign announcement for secretary of state…
In his announcement speech, Moore said he’d expand the use of technology in the office for access to libraries to help younger state residents “explore their skills” and establish youth engagement offices named for White at the state’s driving facilities as well as place advertisements on license plates in order to bring in revenue.
* The Question: Advertisements on license plates? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
bike trails
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Telehealth Saves Lives: Read One Man’s Story
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Jack Crowe felt a little something in his neck. When symptoms of a chest cold followed, Crowe and his wife left their cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and started driving home to Chicago.
Was it COVID-19? Crowe made a telehealth appointment with Rush University Medical Center to find out. Still far from home, Crowe told an ABC News affiliate, he was connected to a virtual care provider in five minutes.
That provider, nurse practitioner Nicole Marks, told the ABC affiliate that Crowe’s chest pain and shortness of breath were “red flags.” Crowe needed to be seen by a doctor immediately. Taking Marks’ advice, Crowe sought emergency care at a Wisconsin hospital. There, he was diagnosed with aortic dissection, a rare and serious condition of a tear in the main artery that carries blood from the heart.
“I went against my own instincts, which was to keep driving to Chicago another four hours. And if I had done that, I would have died,” said Crowe, who underwent emergency open-heart surgery.
The lifesaving care Crowe received is just one example of the urgent need to pass House Bill 3498 in the Senate and make telehealth coverage and payment permanent. Visit https://protectillinoistelehealth.org/ to learn more.
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The hollowing-out of Illinois government
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Memo to providers last month from the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Developmental Disabilities Division…
We wanted to share some exciting news. With the passage of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), states have been provided an additional 10% in federal Medicaid matching funds (FMAP) for Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services. The DDD has developed a plan to incorporate the additional FMAP funds, estimated at $45 million, for an increase in the proposed FY22 budget. This funding, when added to the funding proposed in the Governor’s FY22 budget, will allow for a total investment of $122 million in the I/DD system in FY22.
* While that’s in line with recent state spending, it’s a fraction of what a state study says it should be…
Three years after a federal judge found Illinois had failed to meet the standards of a consent decree mandating sufficient services to residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed budget falls far short of a state-funded study’s recommendation to address the problem.
The study’s five-year spending plan includes a first year increase of $329 million to the roughly $1.1 billion allocated to community providers who work with people with disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism.
Those organizations say the money would go a long way toward addressing the major issues they face: staffing shortages, a lack of day programs such as job coaching and a waiting list of more than 5,000 adults for services including housing. […]
Released in December, the five-year spending plan is the result of a 2018 federal court ruling that found Illinois was not in compliance with a 2011 consent decree requiring the state to make community services more accessible to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled the state had failed “to provide the resources of sufficient quality, scope, and variety.”
* More…
[John Pingo, President and CEO of the Goldie B. Floberg Center in Rockton] said this is what Illinois gets when the state underinvested in the system far too long.
“It cannot handle a giant system shock. And that’s exactly what the pandemic has done,” Pingo added. “It took a system that was just barely getting by and added a tremendous amount of stress.”
Pingo and [Mark Schmitz, the Transitions of Western Illinois Executive Director] appreciate that the Pritzker administration understands their concerns and continues to work on solutions. However, Schmitz said it could take years of concerted effort to get to where providers need to be.
“The increase in the governor’s budget is just barely keeping up with the increase in the minimum wage in the state. So, it’s not really getting us ahead in terms of fixing the parts of this that are broken,” Schmitz said. “Those keep coming in front of the court monitors to say Illinois has a broken developmental disabilities system.”
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* WGLT…
A McLean County Board member says his party has been plotting behind closed doors for months to create new district board maps that would make it harder for Democrats to get elected.
Republican Josh Barnett of Bloomington said County Board chair John McIntyre rejected his call for a bipartisan advisory panel to help draw the maps.
“They are trying to dump Republican voters from the rural areas into Bloomington-Normal in an attempt to keep control of the County Board for the next decade,” Barnett said. “They are not being open about that. They are not being honest about it and it’s time that it stops and is brought to light.”
Republicans currently hold an 11-9 majority on the board, but the GOP majority has been trimmed in recent elections.
Barnett said McIntyre responded that Democrats posed a “growing threat” on the board and said he was trying to “contain them.”
McIntyre denied he said that. Republicans lost two seats during last year’s election.
* WEEK…
A second Republican is having doubts about a GOP-backed plan to dramatically change the way county board districts are drawn in McLean County.
The county board’s executive committee voted 5-3 Monday in favor of a plan dividing the county into five large districts instead of the current structure of 10 smaller districts. However, the outcome of a full board vote, expected at a special meeting Tuesday, is very much in doubt. […]
[Republican board member Randy Martin] did not explain his concerns during Monday’s meeting, but told 25 News he’s worried the redistricting debate is creating an unhealthy rivalry between residents living in the country and those in the Twin-Cities. […]
As a result of what he said was a “shady” process, [Republican board member Josh Barnett] believes funding is at risk for the county-owned nursing home, the county’s behavioral health initiatives, and the McLean County Museum of History.
Meanwhile at the Statehouse, not a single solitary Democratic legislator has publicly threatened to vote against the upcoming remap legislation.
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* Press release…
As summer construction season ramps up, Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) today announced the fourth round of $250 million in Rebuild Illinois funded grants is available to advance municipal, township, and county projects across the state. With the latest round of grants, $1 billion in funding has now been distributed to address local transportation needs. The funding ensures that local governments can continue to invest in projects that sustain good-paying jobs and enhance quality of life for Illinois residents.
“In a sign that Illinois is overcoming years of dysfunction, we put together a bipartisan-backed Rebuild Illinois plan to build new roads and bridges and ports and airports and to fix existing ones. It’s the largest infrastructure investment in Illinois’ history. While other Midwestern states struggle to modernize, Illinois is passing them by. Already, our Rebuild Illinois plan has improved over 3,000 miles of highways, completed over 180 bridges, and launched hundreds more projects,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “But Rebuild Illinois isn’t just about building gleaming new state roads and bridges. It’s also about fixing local roads and bridges that make a big difference in people’s daily lives. Government ought to be all about making life better for our families and our communities right where we live. That’s why I’m so excited to be here in Champaign to announce $250 million in new grants for counties, municipalities, and townships – bringing our total funding for these grants through Rebuild Illinois to $1 billion.”
A total of $1.5 billion spread out in six installments is being invested over three years to advance municipal, township and county projects across the state. Projects include road and bridge improvements, traffic signal upgrades, new storm sewers and bike paths, sidewalk replacements and other long-term maintenance needs, with financial oversight from IDOT.
“At IDOT, there is no such thing as a federal road, a state road, a county road or a township road. They are all Illinois roads that the public depends on each day,” said Acting Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “Because of the vision of Gov. Pritzker, Rebuild Illinois is making historic investments in our local transportation system. Working together with our partners, we are strengthening all modes of transportation across all jurisdictions.”
A complete list of local agencies and awards can be viewed here.
The funding is in addition to the regular contributions through the state’s motor fuel tax formula, which have increased due to Rebuild Illinois and already account for $706.5 million to local governments in this fiscal year alone.
Passed in 2019, Rebuild Illinois is investing $33.2 billion into the state’s aging transportation system, creating jobs, and promoting economic growth. The landmark capital program is not only the largest capital program in state history, but also the first one that touches all modes of transportation: roads and bridges, transit, waterways, freight and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.
“This significant investment in new and improved infrastructure will allow our residents to travel safely and draw visitors to our area, helloing our whole community move forward from the pandemic,” said State Senator Scott Bennett (D-Champaign). “Continued commitment to our state’s transportation and infrastructure system is critical to jump-starting the economy and putting us back on track.”
As part of its current FY2021-26 Proposed Highway Improvement Program, IDOT is investing a total of $21.3 billion to improve roads and bridges. Of that, $4.7 billion is identified for the local transportation system.
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* Pretty sure the debate is long over on this one…
Arguing that the controversial Loop structure is Helmut Jahn’s definitive achievement, preservation advocates said Monday that the untimely death of the German architect “really does cement the argument that the Thompson Center should be preserved.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who put the building up for sale last week, on Monday said the state lost “a great artistic genius,” but the James R. Thompson Center doesn’t fall under the category of great, artistic work. […]
“I think it really does define his career,” [Ward Miller, the executive director of Preservation Chicago] said of the Thompson Center. “There may still be projects by Jahn in process, but we are never, ever going to see another design by Helmut Jahn be constructed other than what’s already planned, and I think that it really does cement the argument that the Thompson Center should be preserved.” […]
“The James R. Thompson Center was a building that never lived up to his creative genius,” Pritzker said. “We’ve obviously put out [a Request for Proposals] that allows people who are thinking about buying the property to preserve the building or choose something else.”
* Good point…
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This week’s best typo
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A bit of harmless silliness, but I laughed about this a lot yesterday so I figured I’d post it. NBC 5…
Speaking at an event alongside Gov. J.B. Pritzker Monday, Lightfoot said she certainly hopes Chicago can fully reopen by June 11, which is when Illinois plans to enter Phase 5, however she didn’t commit to a specific date.
“We’re headed in the right direction,” the mayor said. “But everything about this pandemic has to have an asteroid of caution, because of the twists and turns, and as the governor and doctor said, we’ve got to get people vaccinated, so that we can get ahead of these variants.”
She actually said “asterisk of caution,” of course, but I kinda like asteroid.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Today, Illinois faces a multibillion budget shortfall as more Illinoisans are relying on Medicaid to help meet their health care coverage needs. As legislators work to address these challenges, one way to help ensure continued cost savings is by strengthening the PBM tools that the State and employers use, which are poised to save employers, consumers and the State $39 billion over the next 10 years. These are meaningful savings that will help continue to contain costs, ensure consumer access to medicines and drive savings in public health programs.
Amid a pandemic and economic challenges, now is the time to strengthen, not limit, the tools that employers, consumers and the State rely on to manage costs and ensure consumers can access the medicines they need.
Learn more
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It ain’t over ’til it’s over
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Uri Friedman at the Atlantic…
The shift to the pandemic’s vaccination phase has prompted many people to dwell at the micro level: When will I be fully vaccinated? When will my family and friends get their shots? When can we all revert to something resembling normal life? But that has lent a false sense of security to the vaccinated and obscured the perils lurking at the macro level, as devastating new waves of COVID-19 crash over countries such as India and Brazil and spread more transmissible variants of the virus beyond their shores.
“The United States may be advancing remarkably [with] the pace of vaccination, but so long as you have uncontrolled pandemics throughout the world, every contagion increases the likelihood of an ‘escape variant’ that eventually, with the level of interconnectedness we have, will find its way even [to] populations that have been vaccinated,” Julio Frenk, a former Mexican health minister and World Health Organization official, told me. “No one is safe until everyone is safe.” [..]
“The more contagion you have, the higher the likelihood that you will have a mutation and that that mutation will lead to a more contagious variant. And that’s exactly what’s happened,” said Frenk, now the president of the University of Miami. […]
Pedro Hallal, the lead investigator for EPICOVID-19, the largest epidemiological study of COVID-19 in Brazil, told me that he’s concerned about new variants popping up in Brazil that could, for example, be more dangerous for children or undermine the effectiveness of existing vaccines. Brazil, he said, has become a “variants factory.” […]
At its current sluggish pace, Brazil will take another 12 months to vaccinate 75 percent of its population.
Go read the whole thing, particularly the last couple of paragraphs.
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Open thread
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Start your day with a little morning zen…
What’s up?
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