Hits and Misses
Northwell Health via Associated Press
Dr. Michelle Chester, senior director of Employee Health Services at Northwell Health, administers the 2023-24 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Nurse Sandra Lindsay, vice president of public health advocacy at Northwell.
Metro Creative
According to figures released this by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of children living below the poverty line increased by a little more than 7% last year, returning it to pre-pandemic levels.
HIT: With school back in session and colder weather looming over the horizon, that means that the number of respiratory illnesses circulating is bound to increase – including COVID-19. While the pandemic has largely passed, people are still being infected by the coronavirus, and it still remains a threat to those with compromised immune systems, those whose health is frail and individuals who have not been vaccinated. This week, both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) signed off on a new booster shot that promises to enhance protection. As with previous shots, the booster offers no guarantee when it comes to catching COVID-19 – that can still happen, particularly if you are unmasked in crowded indoor events – but it makes it much more likely you will be able to avoid severe illness or hospitalization. Mandy Cohen, director of the CDC, said in a statement, “We have more tools than ever to prevent the worst outcomes of COVID-19.”
MISS: Inflation and the expiration of government benefits made available because of COVID-19 have brought a sadly predictable outcome – child poverty has increased. According to figures released this by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of children living below the poverty line increased by a little more than 7% last year, returning it to pre-pandemic levels. The expanded child tax credit provided $3,000 annually for children aged 6 to 17, and $3,600 for children younger than 6. It was helpful to low-income families to pay for everyday necessities like groceries or rent, and there’s little or no evidence that it drove parents out of the workforce. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman summed it up this way: “This new statistic is just completely heartbreaking and deeply disappointing. It’s also a specific choice. … In the richest country in the world, no child should have to go through this. And now it’s on us to fix this problem that shouldn’t have been created in the first place.”
MISS: There have been plenty of stories over the last year or so about audience members behaving atrociously when they are attending a movie or going out to see a live production, as if the lengthy, enforced isolation wrought by COVID-19 made people forget how to behave in public. This week, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, congresswoman from Colorado, became the misbehaving audience member with perhaps the highest national profile. While attending a musical version of “Beetlejuice” in Denver last Sunday, Boebert and a companion reportedly behaved so boorishly during the show – vaping, loudly singing along, recording the performance and giving an usher a middle finger – that they were escorted out shortly after the intermission. Boebert apparently raised a fuss, asking – predictably enough – if theater personnel knew who she was and vowing to contact the mayor. If there is anything encouraging about this incident, it’s that the folks who operate the theater almost surely knew who she was, and decided to treat her like any other unruly patron.