Pittsburgh Gazette (December 26)
“As terrible as World War II was… COVID is exacting a far bigger toll among Americans.” The pandemic has already claimed twice as many lives in half the time. “And yet the contrast in national harmony and sense of national purpose is dramatic.” The sacrifices required today pale by comparison, but “many Americans regard wearing masks an intolerable inconvenience and practicing social distancing too great a sacrifice.”
Tags: Contrast, Covid, Inconvenience, Intolerable, Lives, Masks, National harmony, Pandemic, Purpose, Sacrifices, Social distancing, Terrible, Toll, U.S., WWII
Chicago Tribune (July 26)
“As companies across the Chicago area welcome workers back to offices, they’re often labeling them as either vaccinated or unvaccinated, with different treatment for each group.” Vaccinated workers may not be “required to wear masks or social distance” while unvaccinated workers may be “told to undergo weekly on-site COVID-19 testing, wear maks and social distance.”
Tags: Chicago, Companies, COVID-19, Masks, Offices, Social distance, Testing, Unvaccinated, Vaccinated, Workers
LA Times (June 14)
“The chances of getting COVID-19 will not be zero anytime soon—even for vaccinated people. So, for all of us to comfortably return to in-person work, send our kids to school and abandon our masks, we will have to rely on multiple lines of trust…. Unfortunately, Americans’ willingness to trust one another was already in decline before the pandemic began.”
Tags: COVID-19, Decline, In-person, Kids, Masks, Pandemic, Return, School, Trust, Vaccinated, Willingness, Work
Tampa Bay Times (April 5)
“Physical distancing and masks are being credited for a decline in common viruses.” Pediatric hospitalizations for respiratory illness are down 62% while only a single child has died of the flu, an illness that usually claims the lives of 100 – 200 children per season in the U.S. Beyond masks and physical distancing, other pandemic factors also play a role. “It’s become a serious societal faux pas to go anywhere with a fever – so parents don’t send their ailing kids to school.”
Tags: Ailing, Credited, Distancing, Faux pas, Fever, Flu, Hospitalizations, Illness, Masks, Pandemic, Pediatric, Respiratory, School, U.S., Viruses
Houston Chronicle (March 2)
“Houston is the nation’s first city to record every major variant of the novel coronavirus—many of which are more contagious than the original strain.” This unwelcome milestone “comes barely a week after the ever-evolving virus’ death toll in the United States passed the half-million mark, a grim figure that…experts believe will continue to increase unless Americans double-down on social distancing, masks and vaccination efforts.”
Tags: Contagious, Coronavirus, Death toll, Distancing, Double-down, Experts, Houston, Masks, Milestone, Original, Strain, U.S., Variant
Tampa Bay Times (March 1)
“Tourism businesses have struggled mightily during the pandemic. Last year’s spring break—normally their most lucrative time of year—was interrupted by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent business shutdowns and beach restrictions.” This year, they are “hoping that tourists with a pent-up desire to travel will turn this year’s spring break into a financial boon. They’re also counting on people using masks, socially distancing and washing their hands to help keep festivities safe.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Distancing, Interrupted, Lucrative, Masks, Outbreak, Pandemic, Restrictions, Shutdowns, Spring break, Struggled, Tourism
Washington Post (October 16)
“Europe set a record this week for new coronavirus infections, overtaking the United States in cases per capita.” With the new surge, Covid-19 has become “Europe’s fifth-leading cause of death” and there is now the potential that “death rates on the continent this winter could be five times as bad as the April peak if people are not strict about masks and social distancing.”
Tags: Cases, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Death rates, Europe, Masks, Peak, Record, Strict, U.S.
New York Times (June 25)
“On Wednesday it was as if the country had found itself back in March — at the start of the pandemic, in the early days of the lockdown, when masks were in short supply and when the death toll was skyrocketing.” The U.S. “reached another grim milestone on Wednesday as it reported 36,880 new cases,” breaking the previous high set on April 24. Instead of containment, new cases “have roared back in recent weeks.”
Tags: Containment, Death toll, Grim, Lockdown, March, Masks, Milestone, New cases, Pandemic, Skyrocketing, Supply, U.S.
The Economist (February 8)
Production of masks, “sadly, is one of the few economic ventures that is still expanding in this thrice-struck city.” Hong Kong’s “GDP shrank last year for the first time in a decade, thanks to the trade war and anti-government protests. The coronavirus now poses a third threat. Some economists have slashed their growth forecasts for Hong Kong by more than for the mainland.”
Tags: Anti-government protests, Coronavirus, GDP, Growth forecasts, Hong Kong, Mainland, Masks, Threat, Trade war, Ventures
