TALLAHASSEE, Florida – The Florida capital’s school superintendent announced Sunday that masks will be required for preschoolers through eighth grade, making it the seventh district to challenge the Ron DeSantis government’s ban on these VOCID mandates. 19.
Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna said the district has experienced positive coronavirus testing since it opened Aug. 11 in Tallahassee and its immediate suburbs. He said parents who do not want their elementary or high school students to wear a mask should receive a signed note from their child’s doctor or psychologist by Friday.
Leon, who has 32,000 students, had initially withdrawn from that term after DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said districts could only impose a mask warrant if parents could exclude their children because of their account. They have threatened to cut funding for districts that impose stricter mandates and impose sanctions on their elected officials.
Hanna said she is “in favor of individual rights and freedoms and the rights of parents,” but that does not include the right to endanger the health of others.
“I don’t think masks are necessarily the end of everything, but we know they make a difference. The vast majority of health experts tell us they make a difference, “Hanna said in a statement on Facebook.
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MORE ON PANDEMIC:
– Blockages or vaccines? 3 Pacific nations try divergent paths
– US mask, vaccine conflicts falling into violence and harassment
– Pandemic fiction: Fall books include stories of the virus
– The Reverend Jesse Jackson, wife of Jacqueline, admitted to the hospital for COVID
– Hurricane Henri disagrees with Central Park concert saluting the rebound of the New York virus
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You can find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
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HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS MOST:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says he wouldn’t be surprised if the full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration comes soon and hopes to push for more mandates. vaccines by schools and companies.
Murthy said Sunday he didn’t want to get ahead of the FDA announcement, but disagreed on what could happen this week. He cited a wealth of data showing that Pfizer’s dosing regimen is safe and effective.
The vaccine is currently distributed under FDA emergency use authorization. Murthy said he believes once the agency completes its full review and approves approval, more Americans will be convinced to receive the shots.
He also envisioned more vaccination requirements, including teachers and staff, and described the mandates as something “reasonable” to create a safe environment for children and others.
Murthy said that given the highly transmissible delta variant, “we need to take every step we can” when health and wellness is “in line”.
He spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union”, CNN’s “This Week” and “Fox News Sunday”.
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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he tested negative for COVID-19 just four days after testing positive.
“I was told my infection was brief and mild due to the vaccination I received,” Abbott said in a video clip posted Saturday on his Twitter account. “Therefore, I encourage other people who have not yet received the vaccination to consider doing one.”
When the Republican governor announced Tuesday that he had tested positive for the virus, his office said he was in good health and showing no symptoms. Abbott said Saturday he will continue to quarantine according to doctors’ recommendations.
Abbott, who was vaccinated in December, has turned down calls to reinstate mask warrants as the highly contagious delta variant increases in Texas. He tested positive for the virus a day after appearing inside Dallas without a mask as he spoke to a room full of GOP supporters, most of whom were older and unmasked.
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TEHRAN – Iran has reported the highest death toll from COVID-19 pandemic in a single day, according to state media.
The official IRNA news agency said on Sunday that 684 people had died from the disease since Saturday, while more than 36,400 new cases were confirmed during the same 24-hour period.
The previous daily record of deaths from COVID-19 in Iran was recorded on 16 August. The country reported its highest number of daily cases the next day, with more than 50,000.
A five-day closure in the country ended on Saturday.
The current wave of infections is one-fifth of Iran’s pandemic and fueled by the highly contagious delta variant. The country is also fighting to vaccinate its population against coronavirus. About 7% of Iranians have been completely vaccinated.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Japan, Australia and New Zealand have weathered the first year of the coronavirus pandemic in relatively good shape, but are taking divergent paths to deal with new outbreaks of the rapidly expanding delta variant.
The discovery of a single local COVID-19 case in New Zealand was enough for the government to strictly shut down the entire country last week.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, however, Japan is resisting these measures in the face of a record increase, rather than emphasizing its accelerated vaccine program. And Australia has fallen somewhere in the middle.
The different approaches could have far-reaching consequences for the economies of these countries and for the health of their citizens.
Professor Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand, said countries around the world are struggling to adapt to the highly contagious variant.
“With the delta variant, the old rules don’t work,” he said.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A conservative Tennessee radio host who had been skeptical of the vaccine until he was hospitalized for COVID-19 has died. He was 61 years old.
Nashville’s SuperTalk 99.7 WTN radio station confirmed Phil Valentine’s death in a tweet Saturday.
Valentine had been skeptical of coronavirus vaccines. But after testing positive for COVID-19 and before being hospitalized, he told his listeners to consider, “If I have this thing from COVID, do I have a chance to die from it?” If so, he advised them to get vaccinated. He said he chose not to get vaccinated because he thought he would probably not die.
After Valentine moved to a critical care unit, her brother Mark said the radio driver spoke of “he was not a more vocal advocate of vaccination.”
“I know if I was able to tell you this, I would tell you,‘ He’s going to get vaccinated. Stop worrying about politics. Stop worrying about all the conspiracy theories, ”Mark Valentine told The Tennessean on July 25th.
“I’m sorry not to be firmer when it comes to getting the vaccine. Look at the dadgum data,” Mark Valentine said.
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CHICAGO: Civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a statement Saturday.
Rev. Jackson, 79, is vaccinated against the coronavirus and received his first dose in January during an advertising event, as he urged other people to receive the inoculation as soon as possible. He and his wife, 77, are being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
“Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” according to the statement from Jesse Jackson’s nonprofit, the Rainbow / PUSH Coalition.
“There are no further updates at this time,” the statement said. “We will provide updates as they become available.”
Protected by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jackson was key in guiding the modern civil rights movement on numerous issues, including voting rights.
Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he has remained active and advocated for COVID-19 vaccines for black people, who lag behind white people in the U.S. vaccination process.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky governor’s efforts to combat COVID-19 have suffered a major legal defeat.
On Saturday, the state high court paved the way for laws containing its emergency powers to come into force. The state Supreme Court ordered a lower court to dissolve a court order blocking new Republican-backed laws limiting Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s emergency powers.
The ruling revolves around a dispute between Beshear and the Republican-led legislature over the scope of the governor’s executive power in times of emergency. It occurs when COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increase in Kentucky.
The governor lifted most of his pandemic restrictions in June. But with the COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant, he signed a recent executive order imposing an inner mask mandate on K-12 schools, daycare and preschool programs throughout Kentucky.
One of the contested laws limits the governor’s executive orders in emergencies to 30 days, unless legislators extend them.
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PARIS – Thousands of protesters marched again in cities and towns across France against a COVID-19 health pass needed to enter restaurants and cafes, cultural and sports venues.
For the sixth consecutive Saturday, opponents denounced what they see as a restriction on their freedom. Many have criticized the measure, claiming that the French government implicitly made vaccines mandatory.
In Paris, four demonstrations were organized by different groups. Elsewhere in the country, more than 200 protests were taking place.
Despite the protests, polls have shown that most French people support the health permit. More than 40.5 million people in France, or 60%, are completely vaccinated.
Since last month, France has recorded a high number of infections, about 22,000 every day.