#AloneTogether
* The $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill is approximately 10 percent of the U.S. economy.
* How ironic: Coronavirus-source China saw its economy grow 2.3 percent in 2020, while the economies of most countries, including the U.S., contracted. But, then, there’s nothing fair or equitable about a pandemic.
* The Dalai Lama has received his first shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
* Approximately 20 percent of Americans have had at least one vaccine dose.
* “The idea that kids rarely catch or transmit the virus was always dubious. But the emergence of the British variant, the so-called Kent strain that is set to become the dominant version of the virus in the U.S. by the end of March, has left this widely believed claim outdated and dangerous.”–Branko Marcetic, Jacobin.
* The University of California, Davis is offering students—capped at 2,000–$75 gift cards to be used for “staycations” as a way of motivating them to avoid non-essential travel during spring break.Sometimes public health guidance and common sense are just not incentive enough.
* “We project that high school students will very likely be able to be vaccinated by the fall term.”–Dr. Anthony Fauci.
* USF’s College of Public Health will host a series of Zoom sessions with Spanish-speaking faculty to discuss COVID-19 and share vaccine information with Spanish-speaking communities. Registration information is available on the College of Public Health’s Facebook page.
* In Miami Beach, fire department paramedics are delivering vaccines to homebound seniors.
* Gov. Ron DeSantis has waived fines imposed on those people or businesses who had violated COVID-19-related ordinances. In short, party on.