Archives for February 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Biden administration’s plan to open 100 vaccination sites by the end of the month was initially embraced by governors and health officials, who considered it a much needed lifeline to get more Americans inoculated against the coronavirus.

But reality has quickly set in: Some are hesitating to take the offer, at least for now, saying they don’t need more places to administer doses. They just need more doses.

Eager to protect more people against the coronavirus, health officials in Oklahoma jumped at the chance to add large, federally supported vaccination sites. They wanted them in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and a third, mid-size city, Lawton, thinking the extra help would allow them to send more doses to smaller communities that had yet to benefit.

“We felt like if we could get them in the metro areas, what that would allow us to do is … free up a lot of our other resources to do more targeted vaccinations in underserved areas,” said state Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed.

Those plans are now on hold after the state learned that the sites would not come with additional vaccines. Instead, the doses would have to be pulled from the state’s existing allocation, and the three sites alone might have used more than half of Oklahoma’s vaccine supply.

“We’re not prepared to pull the trigger on it unless it comes with vaccine,” Reed said.

The Biden administration’s virus response plan calls for opening 100 federally supported vaccination sites by the end of February. It is preparing to mobilize thousands of staffers and contractors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. They already have been providing money, staffing or logistical support for many state and local vaccination efforts, but President Joe Biden’s plan specifically refers to launching new sites to help get vaccines to underserved communities.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain touted the initiative earlier this month after the initial sites were announced in Los Angeles and Oakland. Since then, the administration has announced a handful of others.

“We just opened our first two federal vaccination centers, in California this week,” Klain told NBC News. “We’re on our way to 100 of them by the end of this month.”

The White House told The Associated Press it could not provide a tally showing how many of the 100 new sites had been announced so far, but said it’s confident it will hit its goal by the end of the month.

Getting Americans vaccinated will be key to suppressing the virus and fully reopening the economy. So far, just over 46 million doses have been administered and the administration has pledged to ramp up daily doses to 1.5 million. Since the pandemic began nearly a year ago, more than 27 million Americans have been infected and the country is on the cusp of reaching 500,000 deaths.

Lack of adequate supplies across the country has led to cancelled appointments, shuttered mega sites and the halting of first doses to ensure that people can get their second shots. Governors have said consistently over the past two weeks that their biggest need isn’t a new distribution system, it’s just getting more vaccine.

“It’s not necessary in Florida,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said of the large federally supported sites. “I would take all that energy and I would put that toward more supply of the vaccine.”

Hesitancy over adding more vaccination centers without a significant increase in vaccines is coming from some of Biden’s biggest supporters. That includes some Democratic governors who roundly criticized the Trump administration’s decision to delegate much of the pandemic response to the states.

“Up until now, we’ve been under the impression that these sites do not come with their own supply of vaccine — which is the principal thing we need more of, rather than more ways to distribute what we already have,” said Tara Lee, spokeswoman for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. “If that changes and allocations are coming with federal sites, that would change our calculations.”

Wisconsin health department spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt said the agency is exploring how it might use the vaccination sites proposed by the White House but added, “Ultimately, we will need more vaccine in the state to support” them.

Other Democrats, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, have expressed similar sentiments.

“The moment that FEMA says we will supply our centers with additional vaccine, we want one,” Beshear said.

FEMA officials referred questions about the vaccination site goal to the White House, which described the initial effort as a pilot period in which the government would provide limited doses directly to the vaccination sites.

Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, told governors on a conference call this week that the administration is continuing to try to get more vaccines to the states. By next week, states will be sent a total of 11 million doses, an increase of 500,000 compared with this week.

That’s not enough to convince some governors to invite the federal government. The halting effort in part reflects a seismic shift in the way the pandemic is being handled. The Trump administration left many decisions up to the states, but Biden has likened the pandemic response to a war effort requiring a much greater federal role.

While that approach is welcome in some places, governors who are used to calling the shots want to be sure their states don’t lose any flexibility in how they manage vaccine distribution.

Mixed messages also haven’t helped. Officials in New York and Texas said the federal government told them that the vaccines distributed in the federal sites there would not count against the states’ allocations. That’s different from what state officials elsewhere have been told.

An assurance like that would allow Oklahoma to reconsider its decision to halt plans for the three federally supported sites. Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Bruce Dart said the state did the right thing when it learned the sites would rely on the state’s own vaccine allocation.

He said the state continues to discuss the program’s future with the federal government. If it could guarantee the doses would come from a separate federal supply, Dart said, “We’d be the first ones to say, ‘Come on down.’”

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Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Piper Hudspeth Blackburn in Louisville, Kentucky; Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida; Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington; Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; Zeke Miller in Washington, D.C.; John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois; and Don Thompson in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hundreds of meatpacking workers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus but the union that represents many of them says several hundred thousand more have not, despite the risks they continue to face at work.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International union is lobbying for workers to be moved up vaccination priority lists, and major meat companies have launched campaigns to educate employees and dispel rumors about the vaccines. One has offered bonuses to workers who get vaccinated.

But in most states, meatpacking workers are still waiting for their turn to be vaccinated and are ranked behind health care workers, residents of long-term care centers and people aged 65 and older.

Marc Perrone, UCFW president, argues that meatpacking workers, grocery store employees and other essential workers should be vaccinated ahead of older people who don’t have other health conditions.

“Those folks that have to keep our economy going, our food supply going, should in fact be next,” Perrone said.

While major meat companies have not advocated for their workers to jump the line, JBS, Smithfield Foods, Cargill and Tyson Foods are pushing to get their workers vaccinated soon.

“We have witnessed a troubling trend in some jurisdictions where our essential team members who were once prioritized in vaccination strategies are being pushed further down the priority list,” JBS spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said.

Among the first to get shots were 45 older workers last week at a Tyson Foods plant in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. JBS officials estimate that 500 of their workers nationwide have been vaccinated because they meet age requirements or work in occupational health jobs, but that’s a tiny percentage of the overall workforce. The industry employs more than 500,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, although not all of those are production jobs.

Antonio Jimenez, who works at a JBS pork plant in Worthington, Minnesota, said he was out of work for months after contracting the virus last year, and he still deals with lingering symptoms including fatigue. He believes he and his colleagues should be near the head of the line for COVID-19 vaccines.

“I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through,” Jimenez said. “Essential workers like us who keep America safe must be vaccinated.”

Some companies are trying to set up vaccination clinics at their plants. JBS has been working with health officials to vaccinate workers who are eligible because of their age while discussing the possibility of vaccinating all plant employees.

“We have not yet had the opportunity to vaccinate an entire facility, but we continue to pursue every option to ensure vaccine availability for our essential workers as quickly as possible,” Richardson said. “We are currently focused on achieving the highest voluntary participation rate possible and preventing barriers to getting the vaccine.”

Last spring, the virus tore through meatpacking plants, where workers stand shoulder-to-shoulder on production lines, and as a result the UFCW believes members will be eager for vaccines. In a recent union survey that also included grocery and other food production workers, 70% of respondents said they want to be vaccinated.

“They went through a little bit of hell during this pandemic and I think they’re ready to get the shots and get the pandemic behind them,” said Mark Lauritsen, the union’s vice president of food processing and meatpacking.

The UFCW, which represents roughly 80% of the nation’s beef and pork workers and 33% of its poultry workers, estimates that at least 21,900 meatpacking workers have been infected or exposed, and 132 have died of COVID-19.

After the outbreaks last spring, meat producers tried to protect workers by instituting temperature checks and wellness screening, installing plastic dividers between workstations, increasing plant sanitization, conducting random virus testing, and requiring masks and other protective gear. In some cases, companies upgraded their plant ventilation systems.

The companies say those measures have reduced infections in their plants, even as the virus spread widely last fall. The industry has been able to keep production to near capacity since the summer by expanding operations from just weekdays to include more Saturdays, and by producing larger cuts of meat to save time.

“We continue to see success from our approach, even amid the current increase nationally in cases,” said Keira Lombardo, Smithfield’s chief administrative officer. “While the nation has been in a period of high relative incidence, we continue to see a sustained period of low relative incidence – and many employees, from coast to coast, report that they feel safer at work than elsewhere in the community.”

BJ Motley, the president of the union for workers at a large Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, worries that they remain vulnerable and are not receiving vaccines quickly enough. With new variants of the virus emerging and a handful of infections still being reported weekly at Smithfield, he said workers must be vaccinated urgently.

Last spring, over 1,000 Smithfield workers in Sioux Falls were sickened and four died. Other meatpacking plants also dealt with major outbreaks and at one point in April the industry’s meat production fell to about 60% of normal levels.

“I think the company is not pushing enough to get these people vaccinated, but now they want them to show up at work,” Motley said.

Sandra Sibert, who has worked at the Sioux Falls plant for 15 years, said even with additional safety measures, workers remain worried about the coronavirus.

“Meatpacking workers are still getting sick in my plant. And I know they are getting sick at other plants across the country,” Sibert said. “Meatpacking workers like me are still facing risks every day.”

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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contributed to this report.

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Inside an empty Rod Laver Arena, the fluttering of a photographer’s camera suddenly seemed all too distracting before a player served.

Other sounds not normally heard also felt amplified: the creaking of electronic sunshades rising into position on changeovers, the pitter-patter of the ball kids’ shoes.

Terrific rallies were greeted with the lonely claps of a coach and physio. The cries of the new electronic line-calling system suddenly felt unnecessarily loud and obtrusive.

Crowds were gone from the Australian Open on Saturday because of a five-day hard lockdown imposed by the state government to contain an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. And with the lack of fans, players were faced with an all-too-familiar feeling: a distinct lack of buzz.

The first five days of the tournament felt completely different — like a return to pre-pandemic Grand Slam tennis. Sizeable crowds were allowed for the first time in a year, and although attendance was well below previous years, it didn’t seem to matter. The grounds felt alive.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in John Cain Arena during local favorite Nick Kyrgios’ third-round match against Dominic Thiem on Friday night. A raucous crowd made the most of what could be one of the last matches with fans at the tournament — they roared for Kyrgios’ winners, groaned with each of his mistakes and pounded the backs of their chairs in unison.

There were some less decorous crowd moments, as well. Rafael Nadal was heckled by a woman who yelled and waved her middle finger as the 20-time major winner prepared to serve in his second-round win over Michael Mmoh. He laughed it off, saying maybe she had “too much gin or tequila.”

The COVID-19 outbreak linked to Melbourne’s hotel quarantine system brought this festive atmosphere to a halt. The Australian Open was allowed to continue during the lockdown — but without fans.

Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina described the dramatic shift from playing in front of crowds to suddenly being faced with empty arenas again as “disturbing” and “in some ways sad.”

“I tried to convince myself that it’s a Grand Slam and that we are playing an important match,” she said after her third-round win over Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.

In some ways, the grounds had the feel of being closed up for the winter. The shutters were drawn on all the food and beverage stands, where just hours earlier, fans were lining up for top-ups on their beers during Novak Djokovic’s thrilling five-set win over Taylor Fritz.

A television had been left on at a promo stand for the Rafa Nadal Academy, filling an empty corridor at Rod Laver Arena with the sounds of young players training to a soundtrack of rock music.

Many doors in the arena were locked and the only people in sight were masked police officers and cleaners.

Making the whole scene even stranger was the fact that another women’s tournament had also begun Saturday for players who lost early in the Australian Open. It was difficult to tell whether the Grand Slam event was still happening — and who was playing in it.

Though some tournaments have allowed limited numbers of fans over the past year, players have more or less grown accustomed to playing in front of silent stands.

This doesn’t make it easier, though. Mackenzie McDonald said he and his third-round opponent, Lloyd Harris, were both confounded by an odd beeping sound they heard as they played on Court 3.

“It was actually the guys scanning badges at the front gates for the people who were coming in who were working the tournament,” he said. “But it took like seven games to figure that out.”

No crowds also means very little in the way of encouragement. Trailing in the second set, Harris kept up a steady stream of dialogue with the only person in the stands he could — his coach, Anthony Harris (no relation). It didn’t seem to help — Harris lost in straight sets.

Svitolina said without crowds, there are definitely some “low moments that can sneak into the mind.”

“When you are down, I think you feel like you’re almost alone here,” she said. “People give you energy, they are supporting you, they are trying to get you back into the match.”

Playing in front of a boisterous home crowd again, Kyrgios realized just how much he loves this aspect of the game and he hinted he might not play a full schedule this year if there are no fans.

He struggled without a crowd in a warm-up tournament before the Australian Open.

“It was tough to have a chat with myself and look around and see no one watching and just trying to produce big tennis against a pretty good player,” he said. “I think sports is entertainment at the end of the day, and I want to be able to play in front of full crowds around the world.”

And nothing can replace the excitement of playing in front of fans in Rod Laver Arena. Karolina Muchova got that chance on Saturday against her Czech countrywoman, Karolina Pliskova, after being scheduled on smaller courts for her first two matches.

“I was actually getting happy yesterday morning that I’m finally going to play on a bigger court and there’s going to be a crowd,” she said after beating Pliskova.

Muchova didn’t get her wish, but she might have another chance. The fans could be back after the snap lockdown in five days. So, all she needs to do is keep winning.

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AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich in Washington contributed to this report.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Parades canceled. Bars closed. Crowds suppressed. Mardi Gras joy is muted this year in New Orleans as authorities seek to stifle the coronavirus’s spread. And it’s a blow to the tradition-bound city’s party-loving soul.

“This year, it’ll be heartbreak,” said Virginia Saussy, a member of the Muses parade “krewe” whose home, like many along a major parade route, usually overflows with people this time of year. “I think that people have to realize how unusual it is to have this pause in our culture.”

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the annual pre-Lenten bash celebrated along much of the Gulf Coast — with the biggest celebration in heavily Catholic New Orleans. Last year’s revelry is now believed to have contributed to an early surge that made Louisiana a Southern COVID-19 hot spot.

This year, bars are being forced to close during the final weekend of the season, which began Friday. Parades that generally start 12 days before the big day have been stilled. Mayor LaToya Cantrell is promising a crackdown on large crowds.

For Saussy, it means no kid-before-Christmas anticipation of her annual ride in the Muses parade, where she and other members of the all-female krewe toss repurposed high heels — decorated with paint and glitter to become prized parade souvenirs — to the throngs lining the parade route.

For Elvin King III, a trumpet player with the Warren Easton Charter High School Band, it means missing his favorite part of the parades: marching under a freeway overpass and hearing the music thunder off the concrete walls.

“I think everybody looks forward to the last year of marching because I wanted to go with a bang.” Then he adds in a quiet voice: “But, things happen.”

That mix of disappointment and resignation is everywhere.

“It won’t be the same. We’re in a different world,” says Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, a local musician who, most years, dons skeleton garb and leads similarly clad marchers on an early Mardi Gras morning march through the Treme neighborhood.

“I grew up as a kid, chasing all the parades,” says James Reiss, a bank executive and official of the Rex Organization, the 150-year-old club known for elaborate Carnival season balls and its annual selection of a prominent New Orleans man to serve as Rex, King of Carnival. Nobody is being tapped for the role this year and the Rex parade is canceled.

“We’re not mad about it. It just is what it is. The mayor’s doing what she has to do to keep the citizens safe,” Reiss said. “Mardi Gras in its entirety is satirical. We’re not really kings and queens. We’re doing this in the spirit of satire and celebration. None of it is worth putting people’s lives in danger.”

New Orleans’ Mardi Gras has had hard times before. The parade schedule was abbreviated and processions rolled past piles of flood debris in 2006, six months after levees gave way during Hurricane Katrina. In 1979, parades were canceled — or moved to suburbs — due to a police strike.

“But people could still party,” says local magazine publisher and historian Errol Laborde. Now, says Laborde, “There’s so much you cannot do. You can’t go to a neighboring parish. You can’t go anywhere in the world because it’s worldwide.”

Some locals are making the best of it, decking their houses like parade floats. A giant carton of popcorn, huge lollipops and a Paul Bunyan-sized ice cream cone are among the decorations on one two-story “house float” aptly titled “Snacking in Place.” Meanwhile, motorists can drive by an array of idled floats at New Orleans’ City Park.

And, like many aspects of pandemic life, some of the experience is moving online. For instance, nola.com, the website of The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate, planned to stream a program of local celebrities, chefs and artists Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. And the Rex Organization plans a Fat Tuesday “Salute to the People of New Orleans” that will be carried Tuesday morning by local TV stations and livestreamed.

Taking a long view, tourism officials are making efforts to stress safety for those who do come to this year’s muffled Mardi Gras, while showcasing the house floats and online attractions to keep the city on the mind of future post-pandemic tourists. And some believe new practices borne of coronavirus necessity will become traditions.

“This house float thing, I can see it spreading to all kinds of neighborhoods, and the neighborhoods having parties,” Laborde said. “I think this could really develop into something big.”

As for this year, Jay Banks, a city council member and former king of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, begun by Black laborers more than a century ago, says he’ll miss the 2021 parade.

“But I’m smart enough to know that missing it now means I can enjoy it later,” he said. “And I’m looking forward to enjoying it for many, many more years.”

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Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Each and Every Day” represents studies in courage, both in life and in the MTV documentary about young people and suicide.

In frank and revelatory conversations, nine survivors recount what took them to the brink and how they fought, and continue to fight, to keep claim on themselves and their right to live.

With suicides by young people already on the rise in recent years and the relentless pandemic piling on pressure, a film giving voice to those who attempted or considered suicide takes on more urgency. It airs commercial-free at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday on MTV.

One young person, a college student named Hannah, didn’t hesitate when she was invited to be part of the project from director Alexandra Shiva and executive producer Sheila Nevins. (The last names of the participants were omitted from the documentary.)

“It was an immediate ‘yes,’” Hannah said in an interview. “I need to do this, I need to take this opportunity to tell my story. Hopefully, kids and people out there who watch will listen to my story. Hopefully, they see that I overcame so many obstacles and they can, too.”

She emphasized what others in the film say: It’s critical to realize you can’t go it alone.

“I was struggling really badly and I didn’t reach out for help, and not reaching out for help almost killed me,” said Hannah. “I really want them to see what not to do.”

Family and friends also have a crucial role, Shiva said.

“If you think someone is thinking about suicide, ask them. Talking about it isn’t going to put someone more at risk,” she said.

According to a September 2020 report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate nationally among people age 10 to 24 increased 57.4% from 2007 to 2018, from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 10.7 in 2018. By comparison, the report said, the rate had been statistically stable from 2000 to 2007.

The pandemic appears to be further undermining mental health in America, with young adults aged 18 to 24 among the groups most prone to thoughts of suicide, according to a survey released last August by the CDC.

“Each and Every Day” doesn’t dwell on statistics or experts, instead giving the floor to the participants and their individual stories. There’s also a group Zoom discussion that lets the young adults connect with each other and, indirectly, viewers.

With quiet, undramatic honesty, they talk about how long they’ve battled depression — many since middle school — and what it took for them to realize they couldn’t survive without support. For those of color, skeptical community attitudes about mental health treatment and the pressure of expectations are cited as further burdens.

“I grew up with this idea of always having to be perfect, always having to portray Black excellence,” Hannah said.

Latino and Indian American participants said they’ve dealt with the prejudice that psychological issues are shameful, while LGBTQ participants share their own burdens. Others in the film prove that no one is exempt, including those who come from happy homes or affluence or avoid facing ethnic or other bias.

The filmmakers wanted to ensure “we had enough of a variety of experience so that if someone turns on MTV, they don’t feel like they’re not being represented. They can actually see themselves in someone,” Shiva said. The film also will be available on mtv.com and the MTV app, and later on Pluto TV.

An effort also was made to include the widely different therapies, some including medication and others not, that participants had found valuable.

The Jed Foundation, which aims to foster emotional health and prevent suicide among teens and young adults, was a partner with MTV Documentary Films on the project and was among the groups that helped Shiva and producer Lindsey Megrue find participants.

The foundation’s Donna Satow said she admires the brave candor of those in “Each and Every Day,” and believes they will carry weight with peers who see the film. She and her husband, Phil, created the foundation after losing their youngest son, Jed, to suicide in 1998.

“So many young people suffer in silence. They really do not want to speak up about these feelings,” Donna Satow said. “So when they see their own age group speak up and speak up in a language they actually speak and understand, it is powerful and it really moves the conversation to the next step.”

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