LGBTQ news and entertainment
Medical experts looking into the Provincetown outbreak of COVID-19 have found the now-dominant delta variant may be able to spread among fully vaccinated people. The good news among the Ptown crowd is there were very few hospitalizations and zero deaths thanks to the majority of those infected having been vaccinated. Continue reading “Delta Variant: ‘The Rules Have Changed, We Have A Different Epidemic Now’”
A Mississippi man who chose not to get vaccinated against the coronavirus had to have his leg amputated after he developed complications due to COVID-19. Continue reading “MS Man Skipped Vaccination, Got COVID, Lost His Leg Due To Complications”
CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reports from a Mississippi hospital where the number of COVID-19 patients has soared from 2 the first week of May to 59 today. In interviews, several of the patients share their regret over skipping the vaccines. Continue reading “CBS News: Mississippi COVID Patients Express Regret Over Skipping Vaccines”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will change course on Tuesday and recommend that people vaccinated for the coronavirus return to wearing face masks indoors in parts of the country with substantial Covid-19 transmission Continue reading “CDC Will Urge Vaccinated To Wear Masks Indoors In High Transmission Areas Of US”
Nearly 60 major medical groups including the American Medical Association are calling for all health care personnel to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as new cases continue to increase thanks to the Delta variant. Continue reading “Medical Groups Urge Mandatory Vaccinations For Healthcare Workers”
In his report for CBS This Morning, national correspondent David Begnaud recently spoke to a Louisiana man, Scott Roe, who is currently recovering from COVID-19 but remains adamant he will not be getting any of the vaccines available to the public.
Roughly one in three Louisianans are fully vaccinated. This week, the state’s health department reported the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since late February. Scott Roe is one of them. “Here I am recovering, getting out of here finally tomorrow. Am I going to get a vaccine? No,” Roe said. “Because there’s too many issues with these vaccines.” This father, former baseball coach, small business owner and hunter caught COVID and then developed pneumonia.
“Before you got sick,” Begnaud asked Roe, “if you would have had a chance to get the vaccine and prevent this, would you have taken the vaccine?” “No,” Roe said. “I would have gone through this, yes sir… Don’t shove it down my throat. That’s what local, state, federal administration is trying to do – shove it down your throat.” “What are they shoving,” Begnaud asked, “the science?” “No they’re shoving the fact that that’s their agenda,” Roe said, “their agenda is to get you vaccinated.”
GOP Rep. Steve Scalise, Roe’s representative in Congress, announced this week he just received his first Pfizer shot, and urged his constituents to follow suit saying the shots are “safe and effective.” Roe’s response? “Not proven.”
I don’t even have words for this pic.twitter.com/vrCnrfhnfb
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 22, 2021
(stock image via Depositphotos)
“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections,” wrote Dr. Brytney Cobia, a hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, in an emotional Facebook post Sunday. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”
“A few days later when I call time of death,” continued Cobia on Facebook, “I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same.”
“They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t.”
COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations are surging yet again due to the more contagious Delta variant of the virus and Alabama’s low vaccination rate. Alabama currently ranks last in the nation in vaccination rate, with only 33.7 percent of the population fully vaccinated. Read full report here.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) implores Americans to get vaccinated
“Ninety-seven percent of hospitalizations for COVID are unvaccinated people. It never occurred to me, after three highly effective vaccines were developed in under a year, that we’d have difficulty getting Americans to take the shots. But that’s obviously where we are.
“These shots need to get in everybody’s arm as rapidly as possible or we’re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for that we went through last year,” continued McConnell. “I don’t know how I could be any more clear than I have been. I’ve been saying the same thing about vaccinations all along the way.
“It is not at all unclear that the way to avoid getting back in the hospital is to get vaccinated,” he added. “I want to encourage everybody to do that and to ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice.”
Hannity on his show last night: “Please take Covid seriously. I can’t say it enough. Enough people have died. We don’t need any more death. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor… I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination.” Most folks are saying yesterday’s stock market drop, based in great part in coronavirus concerns, fueled McConnell and Hannity’s pleas. Both are wealthy men, and both lost money in the market yesterday.
Get vaccinated! These shots need to get into arms as rapidly as possible, or else we’re gonna be back in a situation this fall like what we went through last year. pic.twitter.com/J4o6yL5cn4
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) July 20, 2021
SEAN HANNITY: “Please take Covid seriously. I can’t say it enough. Enough people have died. We don’t need any more death. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor… I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination.” pic.twitter.com/tOi5ebpqSf
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 20, 2021
Is it surprising that a dip in the stock market is what it took for McConnell, Hannity et al to get serious about #COVID19 vaccines?
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) July 20, 2021
Andrew Lloyd Webber announced today that his latest stage musical, Cinderella, will not open due to a cast member testing positive for COVID-19. This past weekend, the production was forced to cancel both performances set to take place on July 17, 2021, due to “Covid related precautionary measures.” In his statement released today, Andrew Lloyd Webber shared, “Today, on this ‘Freedom Day’, I have been forced to take the heart-breaking decision not to open my Cinderella.” After mentioning rigorous testing utilized with the cast and crew, he (rather tastelessly) mentions that on Saturday “a member of our cast who has a cameo role” tested positive. Imagine how that makes that cast member feel – “It’s your fault and you don’t even have a big part!” The statement continued, “My sadness for our cast and crew, our loyal audience and the industry I have been fighting for is impossible to put into words.” On the show’s future, a spokesperson to BroadwayWorld: “It’s hard to see a route forward under the current rules, but we will do everything we can to come back.” 
Thinking best thoughts for the entire cast, crew, and creative team.
(image via Provincetown Bears)
The town is advising people to wear masks indoors, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, “where social distancing cannot be achieved.” The advisory also urges businesses to require customers show proof of vaccination when social distancing is not possible.
As of July 16, the town has reported 132 confirmed positive cases to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the advisory said. Of those cases, 89 are Massachusetts residents, 39 of whom live in Barnstable County.
The advisory was approved Monday morning during an emergency meeting with the town’s select board and board of health that was convened to discuss the rise in cases.
Many of the 132 cases were linked to events surrounding the 4th of July. Now that Bear Week just concluded, we might see another spike in the next 7-12 days. Town Manager Alex Morse told the Globe that the town has among the highest vaccination rates in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country. As of Monday, 83.4 percent of adults in the state have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.