Coronavirus (COVID-19) Archives

Vaccination Rates Highlight Red and Blue State Divide

The Delta variant of COVID-19 has started to gain a foothold in the U.S. recently. On Monday, 32,105 cases were reported across the U.S., representing a 94 percent increase over the past 14 days. The uptick in cases is mainly fueled by rising case levels in states with low COVID-19 vaccination rates, with Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana seeing particularly alarming outbreaks.

GOP Opposition On COVID-19 Relief May Backfire

There is no doubt that the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill is popular among Americans. Among the bill’s many provisions include a provision that sends most Americans $1,400 in stimulus money, extends unemployment benefits, and provides many poverty-reducing measures, including a tax credit that could cut child poverty in half. However, the Republican Party has been completely united on opposing the bill, a decision which may come back to bite the GOP in the foot come the 2022 midterms.

Congress Passes $1.9T COVID-19 Relief Package

Both the House and Senate have now passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, 49 days after he took office on Jan. 20. The package passed both houses of Congress with zero Republican support, and the approval from Congress comes as U.S. COVID-19 cases and deaths are on a sharp decline and vaccine rollout occurs at one of the fastest rates in the entire world. The bill now proceeds to Biden’s desk, awaiting his signature in order for the bill to become law.

Senate Passes Biden’s $1.9T COVID-19 Stimulus Bill

The U.S. Senate passed President Joe Biden’s historic $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill after an all-night “vote-a-rama” session and a daylong struggle to convince one key senator, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to get on board with the bill. The bill passed 50-49 by a party-line vote and the House will vote on the bill again Tuesday before it is sent to the president to be signed into law.

Senate Official Rules Against $15 Minimum Wage In Stimulus

Democrats, especially progressive Democrats, suffered a major setback on Thursday in their bid to include a provision that would gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, after the Senate parliamentarian, who acts as the rule enforcer, said that it could not be included in the bill, since the bill is to be passed via the budget reconciliation measure.

Dems Pave Way to Use Reconciliation to Pass COVID-19 Relief

Senate Democrats took a major step Tuesday in advancing toward passing a major $1.9 trillion COVID-19 economic relief and stimulus package by voting to kickstart the process to pass the package via budget reconciliation. This is a congressional maneuver which could avoid a Republican filibuster in the Senate stopping the package from passing, since reconciliation requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate.

Biden Signs Executive Orders On COVID-19 Control, Stimulus

On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed another 11 executive orders to coordinate a better federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was severely mishandled by the Trump administration and has already taken the toll of more than 400,000 Americans to date. He is also expected to sign another two orders Friday to provide some more economic relief to the millions of people affected by the pandemic.

2020 Lookback: All the Major Events This Year

It is not a stretch to say that 2020 has been a tumultuous year for many. Amid a global pandemic that has infected over 82 million people globally and killed almost 1.8 million people around the world, with over 19 million cases in the U.S. and 336,000 deaths, 2020 has been chock-full of suffering and pain for many people. On this last day of the year, let’s take some time to reflect on some major events that occurred this year.

House Overrides NDAA Veto; Passes $2,000 Stimulus Checks

In a special holiday session between Christmas and New Year, the House of Representatives convened again to do two things, presenting a major issue to the GOP and causing a fracture within the party: scheduling two votes, one to override the veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and another to increase the amount offered to Americans via stimulus checks in the stimulus bill from $600 to $2,000.

Trump Signs Relief & Funding Bill, But Only After Aid Lapses

President Trump has finally signed the massive $2.3 trillion combined COVID-19 relief and government funding bill for the next fiscal year, despite calling the bipartisan bill, which passed both houses of Congress with overwhelming veto-proof majorities, a “disgrace” a few days earlier on Twitter. Though signing the bill will avert a federal government shutdown which would’ve begun Monday, the bill was only signed after two critical unemployment provisions lapsed.

Trump Demands More Stimulus, Throwing Relief Bill Into Doubt

After Congress finally managed to negotiate a bipartisan coronavirus relief deal after months of arguments and it passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming veto-proof majorities, President Trump is now throwing doubt as to whether or not the bill can be passed by demanding that the bill include more money than the proposed $600 stimulus checks and to cut back the non-coronavirus related spending (the bill is tied to an omnibus government funding package, which means it has lots of unrelated provisions).

Congress Passes COVID Relief Bill, Providing Temporary Relief

Capitol Hill leaders announced Sunday night that after months of partisan deadlock in Congress, they have finally managed to secure a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. This package is smaller than is ideal, but offers a sign of rare good news during an otherwise dark time and will provide some temporary relief to millions of Americans, which could avert a looming poverty crisis and the economy from falling back into recession.

US Reports 3,157 COVID-19 Deaths In a Day

The U.S. has reported over 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a day for the first time. On Wednesday, December 2, 3,157 new COVID-19 deaths were reported in the U.S. This breaks the record of 2,603 deaths a day back during the spring outbreak on April 15. Compared to the total number of deaths related to 9/11 (2,977), the number of deaths recorded today has already surpassed the total number of people who died on that fateful fall day in 2001.

As COVID-19 Spikes, the GOP Turns a Blind Eye

The United States is seeing its worse COVID-19 spike since the pandemic began in March. For the past 12 days, the U.S. has seen over 100,000 new confirmed cases. Texas and California both surpassed one million confirmed cases. Even in the Northeast, where, after a particularly disastrous outbreak in April, the states were able to stave off a second outbreak, cases are climbing up steadily once again. Throughout this crisis, the Trump administration and top Republican officials have been turning a blind eye.

President Trump Catches COVID-19: Effect On the 2020 Election

Early October 2, President Trump announced on Twitter that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, coming just hours that senior advisor Hope Hicks tested positive. This throws a major uncertainty into the 2020 presidential campaign race, throwing a major wrench into the president’s reelection campaign. The positive test comes after months of downplaying and minimizing the threat and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic by the current administration.

Pres. Trump Admits Downplaying COVID-19 Severity & DHS Leaks

President Trump has admitted to intentionally downplaying the severity of COVID-19 in a series of new tapes released by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward. Separately, Brian Murphy, a whistleblower who was formally the head of the intelligence division at the Department of Homeland Security, accused the department of serving the president’s political interests.

Is COVID-19 the End of Standardized Testing?

Here are some completely arbitrary numbers that most students will be all too familiar with (and will probably have obsessed over): 1,600, 36, 5, 800, 4.0, 45. (To anyone not in the know, in order, the numbers are a full SAT score, full ACT score, full AP score, full SAT subject test/sectional score, full GPA, full IB score.) These numbers, and what each student’s numbers are, basically defines whether or not they will go to college, and if so, which ones. However, like just about everything, COVID-19 may be about to change that.

Should We Reopen Schools?

With schools’ fall semester starting soon, a debate has been ignited over the reopening of schools. Generally, Democrats (being more open to stay-at-home lockdowns and other such measures) are against reopening schools for in-person, on-campus classes, while Republicans (generally against pandemic prevention measures), especially the president and his Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, is very much in favor of reopening schools. However, reopening schools, especially before the virus is contained, and particularly in hard-hit urban areas, is a terrible idea. Here’s why.

COVID-19’s Eviction Crisis

For American renters, a new, looming deadline is approaching. A federal eviction moratorium, listed in the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus Act) passed back in March, is about to expire. When the moratorium expires, more than 20 percent of the 110 million American renters could be at risk of losing their homes by September 30.

Analyzing Democrats’ and GOP’s Coronavirus Aid Proposals

While COVID-19 continues to batter America, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to debate over the next round of coronavirus relief measures. And the partisan divide and ideology is strong in this one, with Republicans’ bill strongly favoring businesses and Democrats’ bill favoring worker welfare and safety.

Trump’s War Against Mail-In Voting

President Trump and his reelection campaign have been getting increasingly vocal against mail-in voting, and many Republicans alike are vehemently opposed to it. In today’s post, let’s find out more about Donald Trump’s war against mail-in ballots and take a look at why he might be so against them.

What the US Can Learn From the Northeast’s Handling of COVID-19

In Northeastern states like New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, what was once the hardest-hit area of the country by the COVID-19 pandemic is now standing out above the rest and basking in its relative success of containing the pandemic back in April. What did these states do so well, that allowed them to avoid a second rebounding of the coronavirus like that in the Sun Belt now? And what can the now-hardest-hit Sun Belt states learn from the Northeast? Let’s find out more in today’s post.

Having an Internet Connection is a Civil Rights Issue

In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of schools across the country (and the world) have switched to all-online, remote distance learning. Unfortunately, this move to an all-online model has once again widened America’s social divide and urban/rural divide. It is demonstrating that a high-speed, stable internet connection is now not something reserved for the privileged few, but a service required for everyone.

How Wearing a Mask Became Political: The Politicization of Masks

Somehow, a simple covering that goes over your mouth and nose and which helps drastically reduce the spread of coronavirus/COVID-19 has become a source of major political debate in America. The looming question, though, is why. Why have masks become so political? Let’s find out in today’s post.

Coronavirus and the Politics of Health Care

As the coronavirus makes its “second sweep” across the United States, states with the highest percentage of uninsured residents have been hit the hardest, reigniting the debate over healthcare and insurance and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The last 13 states which have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA, including Texas, Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, and Wyoming are now seeing major outbreaks of the coronavirus. Let’s discuss the implications of healthcare on the 2020 election in today’s post.

America’s Coronavirus Missteps

America currently ranks number one in the entire world for the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. By July 12, 2020, over 1% of the entire population in the United States had contracted the coronavirus. What did the U.S. do wrong to cause the pandemic to become so bad? What can we learn from these mistakes? Let’s find out in today’s post.

SCOTUS: Forced Vaccinations From the Government? (Jacobson v. Massachusetts)

In view of the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that a coronavirus vaccine may be developed soon, I thought that it would be a great time to discuss the Jacobson v. Massachusetts Supreme Court case, which deals with forced vaccinations from the government.

The Politics of Lockdowns

In the age of the coronavirus pandemic, everything has become a political symbol. From something as simple as wearing a mask to state lockdowns, the pandemic is further dividing the two parties and causing society to become even more polarized.

Category: Coronavirus (COVID-19)