I checked the COVID-19 case counts last week, for the first time in at least a month. I can’t remember what prompted the search. When I told my husband what I’d learned, he told me he was “pretty checked out” of the pandemic.
Our kids still can’t be vaccinated (any time, pharmaceutical companies!), so there’s no logical reason for us to be less vigilant, but we’ve become lax anyway. I can tell, from both social media and real-world observations, that we’re not alone in that. The risk of infection is still there, so I don’t have a great explanation for the shift in mindset, other than the reality that hypervigilance is an untenable state of being. Stare at one thing long enough and eventually your eyes will blink away, all on their own.
The Big Takeaway
Coronavirus cases are rising in most states, with steep jumps in the Midwest and Northeast. But they’re still much lower than they were in the thick of the omicron surge in January. Back then, we were averaging around 800,000 new cases per day. Today, it’s closer to 50,000, similar to where we were in the early days of 2020, when we still believed in things like “science” and “flattening the curve.”
Officials have blamed the uptick on two new omicron variants, which are more contagious than previous variants but so far don’t seem to cause more severe illness. Hospitalizations have remained relatively low, increasing just 4% nationwide amid a 53% spike in new infections.
That trend is present even in states where cases have risen more rapidly, like Wisconsin, where daily caseloads have tripled in the last month. As of Monday, only 185 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide, less than 10% of the rate in January, the Wisconsin Examiner reported.
You may consider that good news, but it’s more complicated than it seems. Experts said the divergent data suggest that the overall burden of the virus is lower now than it was three months ago, but even so, infections are still multiplying. And that will probably continue as long as vaccination rates remain stagnant. Less than two-thirds of eligible people nationwide have received a full course of the COVID-19 vaccination, but it’s worse in Wisconsin, where just 61% of residents — and 27.5% of children between the ages of 5 and 11 — have had a full initial series.
Vaccines prevent serious infection, but they also guard against transmission, which is crucial as we move en masse back to our pre-pandemic, maskless behaviors. Absent public health guidelines and mandatory mitigation measures, it’s on us to gauge the level of risk we’re comfortable with in a given setting.
That’s straightforward for individual events like parties or plane rides, but it’s a lot harder for everyday activities like school. There’s no way to know how many kids in a given classroom are vaccinated, and mitigation measures have largely expired. Even states that still require things like minimum air-quality standards often have no manpower to verify that schools are in compliance, leaving parents largely in the dark about the safety of their children’s classrooms.
Some have tried to educate themselves — and others. Nissa Patterson, a public health official in New Mexico, started a Facebook group for mothers to discuss how to use scientific data to help their children return safely to school. There are roughly 100 members, including teachers, most of whom have focused on indoor air quality as a major predictor of transmission in a small space like a classroom, Source NM reported.
The science is pretty clear on the link between air quality and transmission of the airborne coronavirus — and on the general importance of clean air in classrooms. Studies have shown that schools with higher levels of carbon dioxide tend to have higher levels of student absenteeism, even without COVID-19. Once you throw the virus into the mix, the need for better ventilation becomes fairly obvious, experts told Source NM.
The state’s health department seemed to recognize this way back in 2020, when it tasked the New Mexico Public Education Department with inspecting air systems in school facilities. Schools with HVAC systems that could not accommodate highly rated filters were required to find other ways to get fresh air into classrooms, namely by purchasing filters or portable air purifiers.
The state allocated $11.9 million in federal relief money to help that effort, but its involvement essentially ended there. The Public Education Department doesn’t keep track of which districts use which filters (if any), or if those filters are adequate to protect against transmission of an airborne virus. State officials told Source NM that they gauge compliance via “written assurances” from superintendents and school boards, but as of Monday had not responded to a records request for those documents.
Of course, not everyone is conflicted or concerned by the rollback of public health restrictions. And some would prefer those repeals go even farther. Two Republican lawmakers in Kansas embraced anti-vaccine activists on Monday, calling on their colleagues to pass a handful of bills that would limit public health mandates and allow doctors to prescribe off-label drugs to treat COVID-19, per the Kansas Reflector.
That includes state Sen. Mark Steffen, a Republican anesthesiologist who’s been at odds with state regulators over his extreme love of ivermectin. Steffen said Monday the state needed to reorganize the board that disagrees with him because its members are “corporate doctors” selected by medical associations rather than “average Joe doctor(s) like myself.”
“That has to change,” he said. “Let’s keep our head down. Let’s keep charging forward. Let’s hold people accountable. Let’s stand for the truth. Let’s make this state better. Let’s make this country better.”
Charging forward: (Michigan) State reports 14 new COVID-19 outbreaks in schools in the last week … Lawmakers grill N.J. health commissioner on N.J.’s COVID response … White House pushes COVID antiviral amid funding stalemate with Congress
State of Our Democracy
The Minnesota Republican Party, tired of being embarrassed by its own members, is instituting new rules for an upcoming state convention, including a vetting process for volunteers and a ban on “public attacks” of itself or its endorsed candidates.
Under the new policies, statewide campaigns will have to submit a list of their volunteers a week before the convention and pay a $30 fee for each one who plans to attend. A former GOP operative said the measures seem designed to curtail chaos from fringe groups like Action 4 Liberty, an anti-mask, Big Lie-believing group that’s disrupted local conventions by successfully challenging “weak and feckless” Republican candidates. Police were called twice to deal with the group’s members at a local event in March, and a lawmaker sought to press charges after officials forcibly removed him from a meeting in February.
Basically, they seem like a reasonable, rule-respecting bunch of folks who are apt to respect new rules put in place specifically to quell their antics. But some GOP operatives said the rules have nothing to do with fringe groups. One said the fees for volunteers are needed to pay for the convention, and another said it’s simply a way for the cash-strapped party to make money. The GOP raised less than $46,000 in the first quarter of 2022, compared with $2.3 million for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
I cannot imagine why people won’t donate to a political party that has to pass rules to keep its members from acting in a manner that requires police involvement! Still, that’s better than the alternative of policing the convention floor in real-time, which one GOP official said would just be a massive bummer.
“What that will lead to is a very rambunctious, wild convention that won’t bring people together,” said Michael Brodkorb, a former GOP operative. “Every activist should feel good about the process … even if their candidate lost.”
Other feel-good processes: ‘Carpetbagger’ accusations continue in Pennsylvania’s GOP U.S. Senate race … Hatch Act complaints snag East Tennessee law enforcement officials … (Tennessee) Lieutenant governor slams critics of ethics reform bill … (Missouri) Attorney calls Eric Greitens subpoenas ‘a fishing expedition’ during Boone County hearing
From the Newsrooms
- ‘It’s Christ or chaos’: Idaho’s newest family policy center and its biblical beliefs
- Hate crimes, unfair policing: National, Florida officials push to improve conditions for Black males
- Iowa State left a prestigious association. What does that mean for the school’s reputation?
- (New Mexico) Residents staying in Mora are running out of food, official says
- Michigan opioid settlement funds will provide ‘welcome relief,’ leaders say
One Last Thing
The Mexican pizza is back at Taco Bell, y’all!
Judge me all you want, but the Mexican pizza (which, please understand, bears no resemblance to actual Mexican food) is one of the few truly good fast-food vegetarian options. Girl’s gotta eat. Girl stans a protein-filled, greasy delicacy.
*How do you do, fellow millennials?!
This edition of the Evening Wrap published on April 26, 2022. Subscribe here.
