Coronavirus Tidbits #190 May 1, 2022
Quick links
News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty
Announcements:
First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting.
Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that.
New post:
We’re Facing A Critical Shortage Of Medical Laboratory Professionals
News
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new seroprevalence data suggesting that as many as three in four children ages 17 and under in the United States has been infected with COVID-19, most during the Omicron surge.
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Moderna applies for authorization of vaccine for young children
In a welcome development for many parents of young children, Moderna announced today that it has submitted a request to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization (EUA) of its COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to under 6 years of age.
The request is based on a 25-microgram two-dose primary series of mRNA-1273. The application is based on favorable results seen during a phase 2/3 trial. No major safety events were recorded.
As reported last month, the efficacy of the vaccine in this age group against Omicron strain COVID-19 infections is not as high compared to previous strains: 51% (95% confidence interval [CI], 21 to 69) for children 6 months to 2 years and 37% (95% CI, 13 to 54) for kids ages 2 to 6 years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID Data Tracker shows 66.1% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 77.5% have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 45.7% of those eligible have received their first booster dose.
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Dr. Alexander Wong @awong37 While the vaccine efficacy numbers seem modest, remember that Omicron was literally EVERYWHERE over the last few months, and much more contagious compared to previous variants like Alpha or Delta. Also, nearly all public health protections were removed in this time frame. (4/9) ~ ~ ~
FDA signals it will approve Moderna for young kids
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet multiple times in June to consider different emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for COVID-19 vaccines.
The FDA’s Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Peter Marks, MD, PhD, said the officials won’t delay the Moderna decision for use in young kids to align with a decision on Pfizer in that age-group.
The FDA will first look at an EUA for the Novavax vaccine, followed by Moderna and Pfizer EUAs for children ages 6 months to 5 years. At the end of the month, the agency will meet to address strain-specific vaccines, a topic broached during an Apr 6 meeting.
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Higher COVID-19 death rates in the southern U.S. due to behavior differences
During the pre-Omicron phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, regions of the U.S. had markedly different mortality rates, primarily due to differences in mask use, school attendance, social distancing, and other behaviors. Had the entire country reacted to the pandemic as the Northeast region, more than 316,000 deaths might have been avoided, 62% of those avoidable deaths being in the South.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-higher-covid-death-southern-due.html?
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CDC: 58% of Americans have had COVID-19
New COVID-19 seroprevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the Omicron surge infected a huge swath of Americans, with overall seroprevalence rising from 33.5% in December of 2021 to 57.7% in February 2022.
The data, which reflect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood, indicating a previous infection, were published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The increase was seen most dramatically in children. In kids ages 0 to 11, seroprevalence jumped from 44.2% to 75.2%, and in kids 12 to 17, it rose from 45.6% to 74.2%.
“As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021,” the CDC and other US authors of the report said.
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America’s Frontline Doctors’ Prescriber Stripped of State Licenses
A physician who was prescribing ivermectin through the America’s Frontline Doctors’ telemedicine platform no longer holds an active medical license in any state.
medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/98407
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New modeling shows that ‘shielding’ strategies instead of lockdowns would have led to tens of thousands more deaths
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-shielding-strategies-lockdowns-tens-thousands.html via @medical_xpress #GreatBarringtonDeclaration
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Six in ten people hospitalized with COVID-19 still have a least one symptom a year later, long COVID study reveals
Six in ten people with COVID-19 still have at least one symptom a year later, a new study being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23-26 April) has found.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-ten-people-covid-symptom-year.html?
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Study: SARS-CoV-2 virus shedding varied widely in the mildly ill
Viral loads often peaked in saliva days before they did so in nasal swabs, which the researchers said indicates that saliva may be the better sample for early COVID-19 diagnosis. The Alpha variant’s viral loads and clearance dynamics didn’t differ significantly from those of previous strains,
they found a broad range of individual infectiousness, with a greater than 57-fold difference between the most and least infectious.
Findings may inform surveillance, control strategies
There were no significant links between participants’ symptoms and disease course, a finding that challenges the assumption that those who have more symptoms are always more infectious.
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How states handled the COVID-19 crisis? New analysis shows Utah, Nebraska, and Vermont were best with Montana and Florida right behind
The Report Card on the States measures and compares state performance on three metrics: the economy, education, and mortality from the virus. It answers the question: how did states do in balancing the health of their citizens, allowing their economies to remain operational and keeping job losses low, and keeping their schools open so that school-aged children did not suffer long term educational setbacks?
Each of these three metrics were equally weighted. The states that received an F grade were New Jersey, New York, California, Illinois and Washington, D.C. These states performed poorly on every measure. They had high age-adjusted death rates; they had high unemployment and significant GDP losses, and they kept their schools shutdown much longer than almost all other states.
The top performers were Utah, Nebraska, and Vermont with Montana and Florida right behind.
The study verifies other studies which have found that locking down businesses, stores, churches, schools, and restaurants had almost no impact on health outcomes across states. States with strict lockdowns had virtually no better performance in Covid death rates than states that remained mostly open for business.
The study also found that keeping schools closed had almost no impact on the death rates of children or adults, but it did severe damage to the educational progress of students.
You can read the full study here: https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Which-States-Handled-the-Covid-Pandemic-Best.pdf
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Contracting COVID-19 might increase your risk of type 1 diabetes
Researchers found that patients who were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, were 42% more likely to develop Type 1 diabetes than those who did not contract COVID-19 during the study period.
The risk is highest among the youngest of pediatric patients (those under the age of 1 were at an increased risk of 584%) and elevated among older adult patients with COVID-19. The researchers also observed differences across race and ethnicity, with risk of Type 1 diabetes associated with a COVID-19 infection being most pronounced among American Indian/Alaskan Native (130% increased risk), Asian/Pacific Islander (101%), and Black patients (59%).
https://medicalxpress.com/
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Antibiotic use in young children tied to reduced vaccine response
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have found that antibiotic use in young children is associated with lower vaccine-induced antibody responses to several childhood vaccines.
The study, published yesterday in Pediatrics, found that children 2 years of age and younger who had received antibiotics had lower levels of antibody protection from the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) than those who received no antibiotics. They also found that antibiotic courses that were accumulated over time were negatively associated with vaccine-induced antibody levels.
While previous studies in mice and adult humans have suggested a link between antibiotics and the immune response to vaccination, the study is the first to find such a link in children. The study authors say the findings suggest an outcome that could leave children vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases and highlight the need for more research on antibiotics and vaccine-induced immunity.
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Retina is not spared by SARS-CoV-2
The list of diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection is growing and now includes the retina. This is what is suggested by a prospective study by the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the Adolphe de Rothschild Memorial Clinical Research Center for Ophthalmology. This research reveals that 11% of people hospitalized for respiratory distress due to COVID-19 disease have retinal damage. This study can be found in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
Since the first pandemic wave of SARS-CoV-2, scientists and physicians have observed neurological and vascular damage in infected individuals. Since the retina is part of the nervous system and offers a direct and non-invasive observation pathway to the vessels, a research team from the HUG, the UNIGE and the Adolphe de Rothschild Memorial Clinical Research Centre in Ophthalmology performed fundus examinations on patients admitted to the HUG Internal Medicine Department for pneumonia due to COVID-19 and placed on oxygen therapy.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-retina-sars-cov-.html
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Zero-COVID strategy puts China between a rock and a hard place
Policy crossroads offers Xi Jinping no easy path
OPINION
April 28, 2022 05:00 JST
A screen shows Xi Jinping during an exhibition on the fight against the outbreak at Wuhan Parlor Convention Center: The omicron surge is happening at the worst possible moment for President Xi. © Reuters
Minxin Pei is professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a nonresident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out in Wuhan in January 2020, it was widely seen as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s gravest crisis. But his government quickly quashed the outbreak with harsh lockdowns and a zero-COVID strategy that no other country in the world could emulate.
On paper at least, China has good reason to tout its approach. The number of COVID cases and fatalities in China is much lower than in most other countries. This record of success has led Chinese leaders to stick to the zero-COVID strategy and flaunt it as evidence of the superiority of their one-party regime over disorganized and fractious liberal democracies.
But as President Xi is finding out, the trouble with the zero-COVID strategy is that it works until it does not. This approach may have been the right call in dealing with less infectious strains of the virus. But it is now proving to be ineffectual, if not counterproductive, when it comes to fighting the far more contagious but less lethal omicron variant.
Since the surge of the omicron variant hit China a month ago, Beijing has placed more than 340 million people under varying degrees of lockdown. Its largest and most important financial center, Shanghai, has been under lockdown for nearly a month now.
The human and economic toll of China’s zero-COVID strategy is mounting daily. Lockdowns have paralyzed a huge chunk of the Chinese economy and will depress its growth this year. The International Monetary Fund now expects China to grow 4.4% this year. A more pessimistic forecast puts Chinese gross domestic product growth at only 3.8%.
In face of the omicron surge, Xi has two equally unpalatable choices.
One option is to follow the lead of Australia and New Zealand, the two countries that abandoned the zero-COVID strategy after the omicron surge. The pressure for such a change, of course, is intensifying as officials and business leaders warn about an unfolding economic calamity and residents in locked-down cities circulate heartbreaking stories about food shortages, the incompetence of local officials and being denied health care.
Abandoning the zero-COVID strategy has clear benefits. China can avert a collapse of economic activities, mitigate the social costs of an outdated strategy and demonstrate that Beijing is actually capable of self-correction.
But this option also entails huge risks. Opening up will, unavoidably, result in an explosive spike in COVID infections, hospitalizations and fatalities. China’s inadequate health care system will be overwhelmed, at least for a few months.
Although critics of the zero-COVID strategy can counter that the success of China’s current approach is largely illusory, a surge in COVID infections and deaths, as well as pictures of a strained health care system, could incite a different kind of public ire and do untold damage to Beijing’s carefully cultivated image of itself as master of a competent regime.
The political and ideological costs of giving up the zero-COVID strategy will be even higher.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party would be effectively conceding that it really does not have a superior system with regard to Western liberal democracies. President Xi, a consistent champion of the zero-COVID strategy, may also have to take responsibility for maintaining the current course despite mounting evidence of its unsustainability.
The other option is to stick to the zero-COVID strategy, regardless of costs. In the short term, the government may succeed in slowing down the spread of the omicron variant and containing its impact.
But as the experience of Shanghai’s lockdown shows, even the most draconian measures will be unlikely to eradicate omicron, and China will soon confront a moment of truth when the six-week lockdown, the record set by Wuhan in 2020, devastates the economy but fails to wipe out the virus.
Worse still, the debacle of Shanghai’s messy and costly lockdown is almost certain to be repeated elsewhere.
Should Beijing, where the omicron variant is spreading, also have to be locked down, the political fallout would be far more consequential because the people living in the Chinese capital are known for their political activism and savvy.
Since most of China’s ruling elites and their families also live in Beijing, it is hard to imagine that experiencing weeks of virtual house arrest will not change their views on how best to deal with the pandemic.
The worst nightmare for China is that even extended lockdowns fail to contain the omicron surge, but that economic activity grinds to a complete halt in most parts of the country over the coming months.
A debacle of this magnitude will likely compel Chinese leaders to change course after a heroic but ultimately futile effort to sustain their zero-COVID strategy.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Zero-COVID-strategy-puts-China-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place
Diagnostics:
Comparison of Home Antigen Testing With RT-PCR and Viral Culture During the Course of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Key Points
Question How does the diagnostic performance of home antigen tests change during the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection?
Findings In this prospective cohort study of 225 adults and children with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, antigen test sensitivity was 64% and 84% when compared with same-day RT-PCR and viral culture, respectively. Antigen test sensitivity peaked 4 days after illness onset (77%); a second test 1 to 2 days later showed improved sensitivity (81%-85%).
Meaning The study results suggest that symptomatic individuals with an initial negative home antigen test result for SARS-CoV-2 infection should test again 1 to 2 days later because test sensitivity seems to peak several days after illness onset.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2791915
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— Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🥼🤹🦟🧀 (@MackayIM) April 25, 2022
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New story on #NPR: Can we trust rapid COVID tests against BA.2? This is what the experts say https://t.co/WRewZTteKa
— René F. Najera, MT(ASCP), MPH, DrPH (@EpiRen) April 27, 2022
Drugs and Vaccines:
New analysis by @washpost shows proportion of people dying from COVID that are vaccinated is rising, mostly in the unboosted, or where it's been some time since boosting. Hopefully will encourage eligible people to go get boosters to protect themselves https://t.co/z4qmVFG17q
— Tom Inglesby, MD (@T_Inglesby) April 29, 2022
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The Covid-19 Outpatient Treatment Roadmap
is a multifaceted tool for information on outpatient treatment options to support clinicians in the ongoing battle against Covid-19. As part of the CDC-funded Infectious Diseases Society of America’s Covid-19 Real-Time Learning Network, this resource outlines federal emergency use authorizations, guideline recommendations from national standard setting organizations, and more. As knowledge of Covid-19 continues to evolve, treatments and recommendations change. Visit the roadmap for a clear breakdown of the latest guidelines.
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Pfizer COVID-19 third dose vaccine protection against hospitalization from omicron wanes after 3 months: study
A study released April 22 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine shows that a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine provides strong protection, roughly 80% to 90%, in the first few months against hospital admissions and emergency department visits caused by the delta and omicron variants. However, against omicron, this protection wanes over time-even after a third dose.
“Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 booster doses significantly improve protection against omicron, although that protection seems to wane after 3 months against emergency room visits, and even for hospitalization,”…”Trends in waning against delta-related outcomes were generally similar to omicron, but with higher effectiveness at each time point than those seen for omicron.”
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-pfizer-covid-dose-vaccine-hospitalization.html
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Paxlovid
In a statement, the WHO said it based the recommendation on new data from two randomized controlled trials that included 3,078 patients, which suggested that Paxlovid can cut the risk of hospitalization by 85% among high-risk groups.
The WHO said its recommendation applies to those who are at highest risk for severe disease, such as those who are unvaccinated, older, or immunocompromised. It added that data showed benefits were negligible in lower-risk patients.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/04/who-backs-paxlovid-high-risk-covid-patients
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Pfizer just gave me the figures regarding the proportion of people who had Covid-19 rebound in the Paxlovid clinical trial: About 2% of participants who got the drug experienced rebound, compared with ~1.5% of those who received the placebo rebounding within the same time frame. https://t.co/WxK9x8CyYv
— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) April 28, 2022
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Almost all COVID deaths can be prevented if people who test positive take Paxlovid. We are taking steps to make this "miracle pill" easy to get and widely available.
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) April 26, 2022
https://t.co/GKTTgXKcaj
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https://twitter.com/Boghuma/status/1519497557638094848?s=20&t=ZtQ51lCKFO5mVSMiEDcerw
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The consulting firm @McKinsey got $140 million in taxpayer dollars to help @US_FDA build drug safety programs—at the same time it was working for opioid giant @purduepharma. I demanded answers from the head of McKinsey on why the company hid this clear conflict of interest. pic.twitter.com/mZSLBXbXbJ
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) April 27, 2022
Devices:
Thousands of infectious diseases doctors who have spent 2 years battling Covid.
— Neil Stone (@DrNeilStone) April 23, 2022
First major conference in person since Covid.
Every single person wearing a mask.
Every
Single
One
Think about that.@escmid #ECCMID2022
Epidemiology/Infection control:
COVID-19 third leading cause of death in US in 2021
and deaths from COVID-19 increased by 1% in 2021 over 2020, according to new data from the National Vital Statistics System released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Only heart disease and cancer killed more Americans than COVID-19, with provisional death tolls from each cause totaling 693,000, 605,000, and 415,000, respectively. Those were also the three leading killers in 2020.
Approximately 60,000 more people died from COVID-19 in 2021 than the first year of the pandemic. In both years, the death rates from COVID-19 were highest in Americans ages 85 and older.
Overall death rates were highest among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic Black or African American people, the CDC said in a statement.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/04/covid-19-third-leading-cause-death-us-2021
Tips, general reading for public:
Ventilate.
Mask.
Vax.
Politics:
Covid:
People: aRe yoU goInG to mAsK fOreVeR
— Amy G Dala MD (@AmyGDalaMD) April 19, 2022
Me: well I still wear seatbelts & helmets, use sunscreen, get vaccinated, wash my hands, drink pasteurized milk, cook chicken before eating it, & don't drink water straight from the lake so 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
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Tweet of the day? pic.twitter.com/ssoWT1w7y8
— Callie Thompson (@callie_mt) April 19, 2022
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Your political and capitalist practices aside, please recognize that all types of diverse customers ride your planes. This insensitivity is costly and I’m curious to know what your affirmative practices will be for those with conditions that may have be at higher risk.
— Free Brittany Martin (@IfyWorks) April 19, 2022
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>> @oliverdarcy and @kaitlancollins' scoop: Dr. Anthony Fauci backs out of WHCA dinner over Covid concerns https://t.co/ReHdOIPIS1 pic.twitter.com/yCEYEXQce5
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 27, 2022
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Lack of Covid testing leaves researchers blind to evolution patterns, WHO warns https://t.co/Htd2uvqVKm
— Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) April 27, 2022
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Early adolescence is a time of huge cognitive change and a critical time to build students’ understanding of science, yet almost a quarter of middle school science teachers in the U.S. have no scientific background.https://t.co/vsKoQ6IDBJ
— Undark Magazine (@undarkmag) April 27, 2022
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Amazon waited until the day after union election in Staten Island to announce what for many will be very troubling news:
— Lauren Kaori Gurley (@LaurenKGurley) April 30, 2022
Nationwide, it will no longer pay workers who are out sick with Covid OR inform workers when someone at their warehouse tests positive for covid. pic.twitter.com/TaaVV89ATP
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Can we stop and take a second to contemplate the work of @laloalcaraz in today's @washingtonpost. Mil Gracias to all the trabajadores. pic.twitter.com/aPqammzCKw
— Ricardo Ruiz (@PoetRuiz) April 26, 2022
Biden:
NEW: President Biden today is unveiling five new judicial nominees, including two with public defender experience to be appellate judges on the 1st and 2nd Circuits, Lara Montecalvo and Judge Sarah Merriam. @Reuters https://t.co/YJqiOCX44m
— Nate Raymond (@nateraymond) April 27, 2022
Biden is also nominating Ana Reyes, a Williams & Connolly partner who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, to become the first Hispanic woman and openly LGBTQ person to ever serve as a federal district court judge in D.C.
The other district court nominees are Elizabeth Hanes, a former public defender and current magistrate judge who would serve in the Eastern District of Virginia, and Anne Nardacci, a Boies Schiller partner who would serve in the Northern District of New York.
According to the progressive group Demand Justice, today’s nominations mean that Biden will have nominated as many public defenders to be federal circuit court judges than all past presidents combined.
Musk:
on Musk buying Twitter:
— Valeva 🇺🇦 (@valevaval) April 26, 2022
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FYI: We’re blocked by Elon Musk.
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) April 26, 2022
So much for being “committed” to free speech. pic.twitter.com/iXsMQYq8v0
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Consider EV car alternatives to Tesla & divesting from Tesla stock ownership. A further Tesla share decrease of about 10-15% should be enough to tank the Twitter deal.
— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) April 30, 2022
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If you think Wellbutrin is dangerous, wait till I tell you about the car company that's recalled nearly half the vehicles it's ever made.
— Fable⁹¹ (@Fablewolf91) April 30, 2022
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https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/1520265951563816960?s=20&t=ZtQ51lCKFO5mVSMiEDcerw
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Elon Musk: I need $1.5 billion or SpaceX will go broke
— Warren Gunnels (@GunnelsWarren) April 30, 2022
Feds: Approved
Lloyd Blankfein: I need $824 billion for Goldman Sachs
Feds: Approved
Charles Koch: I need a $1.4 billion tax break
Feds: Approved
Average Joe: My wife got cancer. Can we get Medicare?
Feds: We're bankrupt
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This. pic.twitter.com/YjGkQk7WS3
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) April 29, 2022
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Elon Musk keeps tweeting that he loves free speech. So here's a thread with just a few of the countless examples showing he couldn't care about it less (🧵)
— Stop Cop City (@JoshuaPHilll) April 26, 2022
3. Then, there's Martin Tripp, a technician at a Tesla plant in Nevada who blew the whistle on the company. Musk allegedly hired people to hack and spy on Tripp after he cast doubts on Tesla’s environmental credentials.https://t.co/K5wG6kRrBh
— Read Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell (@JoshuaPotash) April 26, 2022
GOP:
This ad from @patagonia is so good pic.twitter.com/SiDh2oTq7Z
— Michael Thomas (@curious_founder) April 26, 2022
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His name was Wynn Bruce.
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) April 24, 2022
He was a climate activist.
He set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court on Earth Day to protest government inaction on the climate crisis. pic.twitter.com/dsd0aMWNTK
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Combine this w/the Citizens United formula that money equals speech & so those w/the most money are entitled to the most speech, lack of campaign finance regulation & pols who depend on $ to hold power & you've got a country sinking ever deeper into the quicksand of corruption.
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) April 25, 2022
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Home Depot is now the biggest corporate donor to Trump's & GOP's 2020 election deniers.
— Paul Cogan (@PaulCogan) April 29, 2022
Shop Lowes which has a loyal American president and organization
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NEW: PA Lt Gov candidate Teddy Daniels (R) was hit with a protective order after his wife accused him of abuse. He also threatened to kill the family dog.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) April 28, 2022
He's endorsed by the leading GOP candidate for governor Doug Mastriano. Both Daniels & Mastriano were at the Capitol on 1/6.
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Not a good sign when your 60 page internal use memo to get on Fox News gets discovered pic.twitter.com/evTUilLObw
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 28, 2022
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Virginia’s AG sends a dangerous message to police
— Dennis S Brotman 🇺🇸 🟧🟦 #DemCast #DemCastGA ☮️ (@DenbrotS) April 26, 2022
AG Miyares, told police:
Don’t hesitate to shoot a civilian if you are exasperated, angry or feeling disrespected in the course of any encounter.
Republican top cop has no regard for civil rightshttps://t.co/JESzXAhmw8
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“The senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin" — John McCain in 2017 after Paul blocked a vote on a treaty for NATO membership for Montenegro https://t.co/yc0VcSrmR4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2022
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NEW: Madison Cawthorn was cited for having a gun at Charlotte Douglas International Airport today, per @wsoctv. This isn't the first time Cawthorn attempted to bring a gun into an airport; he had one in his carry-on bag at Asheville Regional Airport in February 2021.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) April 26, 2022
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Why did 193 House Republicans vote against a standalone bill to cap the cost of insulin at $35/month?
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) April 24, 2022
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UPDATE: In July 2021, @Toyota issued a press release stating it "decided to stop contributing to those Members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election"
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 25, 2022
In March 2022, it quietly resumed donating to those membershttps://t.co/GinjSomlzT
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The son of the dead Deutsche Bank executive is now also dead https://t.co/5DYWCZQLgf
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) April 26, 2022
Guns:
Unpacking the soul-crushing news yesterday from @CDCgov that guns are now the #1 cause of deaths in kids in the US:
— Scott Hadland, MD (@DrScottHadland) April 23, 2022
Injustice is clear as kids of color disproportionately harmed, and the rise from 2019 (blue) to 2020 (red) affects nearly all kids. pic.twitter.com/xgF3nfi0Tg
LGBT
Today’s move is taking what little visibility LGBTQ+ students may. This may seem small to some, but to queer students who may feel like they don’t have a place, this means the world. This may save a kid from making a similar decision like I did because we didn’t have these. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/g2jAQcUyvl
— Justice Horn (@JusticeHorn_) April 25, 2022
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Missouri is attempting to ban trans-affirming care FOR ADULTS and make being trans a felony AS AN ADULT and exactly zero cis people are talking about it today. https://t.co/Fwqll43eDv
— Sheryl Ring, anticapitalist lawyer (@Ring_Sheryl) April 24, 2022
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Two chunks of concrete were thrown through the front door of the Vermont Pride Center in Burlington last night. The Center received threats in recent weeks after Fox News host Laura Ingraham accused local schools of sexually grooming children. https://t.co/04e7V7zzfK pic.twitter.com/b3QmoZ1RkY
— Gillian Branstetter (@GBBranstetter) April 26, 2022
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BREAKING: Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for having a gun this morning at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, three sources tell @StolpWSOC9, @JPaulWSOC9 and me. More to come #ncpol @wsoctv https://t.co/b2tpYRX10q
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) April 26, 2022
Books
The Republican-led Tennessee legislature passed a bill that would require public school librarians to submit to the state a list of book titles for approval, as a GOP lawmaker suggested burning books that are deemed inappropriate. https://t.co/K9EHkBNwGY
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 27, 2022
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FL activist Chaz Stevens, citing Desantis’ new law, petitions to ban the Bible and books that reference the Bible because of its graphic depictions of rape, incest, adultery, murder and fornication. https://t.co/mICWARQwEr
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 26, 2022
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Florida school district bans picture book with sleeping baby images – Business Insider https://t.co/6j3bngTpQ1
— Michael F Ozaki MD (@brontyman) April 24, 2022
Florida:
https://twitter.com/anita1956/status/1517554078611476480?s=20&t=ZtQ51lCKFO5mVSMiEDcerw
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— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) April 23, 2022
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NEW: Disney ends its silence, quietly tells its investors Florida law prevents state from dissolving special district without first paying debt /1https://t.co/YlX3Gp8Xhf
— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) April 26, 2022
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Florida teacher forced to remove rainbow 'COEXIST' flag from classroom because it was 'political' https://t.co/6XTwYNF5gM
— WKRG (@WKRG) April 26, 2022
Georgia
After losing his Senate seat for being corrupt and failing the people of Georgia, David Perdue is now pushing the Big Lie to affiliate himself with the Trump base. Be smart, Georgia–vote for Stacey Abrams. https://t.co/wIIt6AAiqI
— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) April 25, 2022
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California
The sheriff’s attack on reporter @AleneTchek drew immediate condemnation from the newspaper.
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 26, 2022
“His attempt to criminalize news reporting goes against well-established constitutional law,” said @meridak, executive editor of The Times, in a statement. https://t.co/ZDmiTaktrG pic.twitter.com/fQ9QW4loHC
Ukraine
BLINKEN: If you look at the countries Russia attacked, these were countries that were not part of NATO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2022
RAND PAUL: You could also argue the countries they've attacked were part of Russia
BLINKEN: I firmly disagree. It's the right of these countries to decide their future pic.twitter.com/4ZeZOVrK0i
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These are the Republicans who voted to hide Putin’s war crimes… pic.twitter.com/fRukrvIsft
— Michael F Ozaki MD (@brontyman) April 27, 2022
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Some interesting nuggets in this article. Hard to overstate how important it has been that Ukraine has retained much of its air force and air defenses.https://t.co/3cq0NazyuT pic.twitter.com/9ikGOpa47Z
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 26, 2022
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Special Report: How military technology reaches Russia in breach of U.S. export controls | Reuters https://t.co/YoTyX2fdhL
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) April 30, 2022
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UK railways vs Ukraine railways pic.twitter.com/AV1twQWM66
— Max Fras (@maxfras) April 25, 2022
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This field in St. Michael’s, Md is expressing solidarity with #Ukraine️ pic.twitter.com/oLbPNWbPq5
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) April 23, 2022
Feel good du jour:
In a rush to catch a train, Sunita Kramer's 7-year-old daughter tripped and fell into the gap between the train and the platform.
— NPR (@NPR) April 27, 2022
That's when a stranger acted quickly to save her daughter's life.https://t.co/rgDTcHGkBu
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A Greek family saved them from Nazis. Now, they found how to thank them. https://t.co/QcSwALyQNK
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) May 1, 2022
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The Brooklyn Public Library has announced that any teenager in America is now eligible for a Brooklyn Public Library card.
— Goodable (@Goodable) April 22, 2022
Teens can sign out ebooks + audiobooks from wherever they live.
The move is designed to combat censorship, with some titles listed as "always available." pic.twitter.com/iweORm4QNG
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https://twitter.com/RhiannonDauster/status/1520535707655319552?s=20&t=ZtQ51lCKFO5mVSMiEDcerw
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Her name is Freshta Karim, and you can follow the amazing work the mobile libraries are doing at @charmaghz!
— Goodable (@Goodable) April 29, 2022
Comic relief:
This might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen https://t.co/RwYLJ7SDx0
— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) April 25, 2022
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https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1520445588105576450?s=20&t=GO2UY-OMZ77HSngqrMnI1w
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https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1520295996634411011?s=20&t=GO2UY-OMZ77HSngqrMnI1w
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https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1519019574519291904?s=20&t=GO2UY-OMZ77HSngqrMnI1w
Perspective/Poem
Murmuration of starlings in Spain.. pic.twitter.com/GlsTHCn6pH
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) April 30, 2022
Bits of beauty:
