Not good friends. After President Joe Biden called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a "killer," Putin wished Biden "good health," which is weird. Read more.
Vaccine vs. virus. The US is on the cusp of another surge as variants rage. The vaccine campaign is trying to keep up. More on that below.
Still looking for suspects. The FBI released new video of the assault on the US Capitol. See it here.
Easy as aspirin? Low-dose aspirin reduces risk of ICU admittance and death, researchers say.
Cabinet coming together. Biden's HHS secretary, Xavier Becerra, and CIA director, William Burns, confirmed.
CNN's Gary Tuchman asked an entire restaurant in Boise City, Oklahoma, about the vaccines.
"Does anybody here think it's a good idea?" Tuchman asked indoors at the busy establishment during breakfast.
Nobody raised a hand.
"I don't trust the government and I don't trust Biden," said one man at the restaurant.
Another guy said he gets the flu when he takes the flu shot, so his choice is to not take the Covid vaccine.
He's a liberal New Yorker. A group of men said they wouldn't take it even if Trump told them to.
"Trump is a liberal New Yorker," said one man with a laugh. "Why would we listen to him either?"
He voted for Trump as the best option.
You can't just read the headline. You have to read the story. The nonprofit Advance Democracy examined the vaccine misinformation that's pervading social media and in news headlines. From CNN's Oliver Darcy:
The findings, which were provided to CNN Business, show that headlines that, while sometimes factually accurate, are posted with "little to no context" are spread online and "weaponized" by anti-vaccination groups on Facebook where they amass thousands of interactions.
Three articles from local news sites gained more than 800,000 interactions on Facebook, the study found.
One of these local news headlines, for example, read, "Health care worker dies after second dose of COVID vaccine, investigations underway."
"[Anti-vaccination activists] are using these headlines to confirm the false information they believe about the dangers of vaccines, which is just scientifically wrong," Daniel J. Jones, the president of Advance Democracy, told CNN Business.
Vaccines on track. Biden said today that the US will meet his promise to get 100 million vaccines in arms by Friday.
Vaccine vs. virus: From CNN's report:
- Biden said 65% of people aged 65 or older had received at least one Covid-19 shot.
- The number of daily Covid-19 cases has continued to decline since a peak in mid-January.
- Covid-19 cases are rising by more than 10% in 14 states this week compared to last week, with half of those states rising by more than 20%. One month ago, on February 17, there were only three states showing increases of 10% or more.
The goal: Open access to vaccines to all Americans in every state by May 1. This week, Mississippi became the second state to open up vaccines to all residents aged 16 and older. At least five more states say they're on track to open up vaccinations to anyone 16 years or older by or before April 5.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of wearing a mask "for theater" since he has had a vaccination and thus, has immunity.
The exchange was tense as Fauci tried to get a word in. Paul, very clearly, does not want to wear a mask and does not care what the CDC says about wearing masks. He worries that people are going to be asked to wear masks for years unnecessarily. Watch it here.
The variants, which are popping off in New York, Florida and elsewhere, are the thing, Fauci was ultimately allowed to respond.
So. Wear the mask when you're around other people.
"Let me just state for the record that masks are not theater, they are protective," Fauci said.
First, this is what we're seeing at the border. Before you read a pedantic story about whether the situation at the border right now is a crisis, click on this photo essay by CNN's Catherine Shoichet.
The first image caption: Migrant children from Central America sit in the back of a US Border Patrol vehicle as they wait to be transported on March 14. They had just crossed the Rio Grande on a raft, traveling from Mexico into Penitas, Texas. Pictured in the front row are Yoandri, 4; Michael, 5; and Yojanlee, 2, all from Honduras.
Now, look at the effort being put into NOT calling this a crisis.
CNN's DJ Judd notes from the White House that press secretary Jen Psaki was asked Thursday if the US had committed to giving Mexico doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in exchange for its assistance at the border.
“There have been there have, there have been expectations set outside of, unrelated to any vaccine doses or requests for them, that they would be partners in dealing with the crisis on the border," she said. "And there have been requests, unrelated, for doses of these vaccines. Every relationship has multiple layers of conversations that are happening at the same time.”
Wait. Nope. In a follow-up, Psaki was asked if her use of the word “crisis” indicates a shift in the administration’s stance. She corrected herself, calling it “challenges on the border,” and told a reporter, “Nope,” when pressed on if her language reflected a change in position.
The administration has spent days declining to call the surge of migrants at the Southern border a "crisis,” with Psaki instead telling CNN’s Phil Mattingly on Monday, "We recognize this is a big problem.”
And Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pushed back against the use of the word "crisis" during testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday, telling lawmakers, "I will share with you how I define a crisis. A crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration. That to me is a humanitarian crisis.”
Judging by your feedback, yesterday's newsletter edition about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his hands-off approach to restrictions and Florida's middle-of-the-pack record on infections and deaths touched a nerve. Big time. Many people wrote in with critiques of the report and impression that Florida is a success story.
A sampling:
Where DeSantis kept hands off, cities and companies stepped in:
"There may not be a state mandated mask mandate but many of the larger cities do have mask mandates despite DeSantis not backing up fines for violations. Also businesses - most supermarkets, big stores, etc. - require masks, and great numbers of people do wear masks? So it is misleading and incomplete information to say Florida doesn't have a mask mandate."
There were much lower death rates in many states with mask mandates:
"Just a thought: It might provide some balance to realize that the state that has been totally overlooked in reporting on COVID successes that support closing down for a period of time is OREGON. Hello--Oregon does exist. Our death rate since the beginning of the pandemic is under 3,000. We did have very strict mandates at the beginning but with good management from our Governor, we are coming out of the woods of shutdowns."
The data this reader mentions:
Oregon's deaths per 100,000: 56
Florida's deaths per 100,000: 151
The horrible choice we've all been making: Let me interject into the reader comments to say here that I think it's indisputable that Florida's lack of restrictions cost lives. The question is how many. The entire terrible debate we've been having as a country for the past year is what number of human lives is worth shutting down the economy. Florida's experience means we don't entirely have the answer. Some states with many restrictions have not fared much better than Florida. Other states with few restrictions have fared much worse. Florida has been the main hot spot for the new variant of Covid, according to CDC data. That's a knock on DeSantis' narrative that his state, with its middle-of-the-pack death rate and lack of restrictions, is a success.
Back to the comments ...
What about the retirees staying home?
A number of readers pointed this out: "One factor might be important as to why Florida seems to be booming--not only because of the climate but also the fact that Florida contains many of the rich retirees who have the means to keep at a distance and live the good life."
What about the vacationers vectoring the virus into and out of the state?
"A lot of Americans have gone on vacation to Florida and if they died from corona virus it would be in their home state!!!! So Florida is doing a great job in not following the rules ! They are opening their state and killing people but you think he is doing a great Job!!! Maybe you should see or check how many have died after vacationing in Florida. Please don't praise someone that is allowing visitors to his state to not follow rules."
It's a big state and regions have treated it more seriously than DeSantis:
"I truly believe that this 'supposed' success is that South Florida (specially at the tri-county area) that is heavily populated compared to the rest of Florida, has been really good with the mask mandate and with public schools keeping virtual education available for the parents that can take care of their kids and make their living from home! The county elected officials and Superintendent of the public schools are being the success case of this pandemic at Florida. ...
"I spent (as majority of neighborhoods and friends), 1 year inside my house, with my 3 kids doing virtual school, cooking all the meals to avoid restaurants, and wearing 100% of the time masks to have this false narrative that the state is opened for everyone!! This is fake!! This is not reality!"I live in Florida. The information is not accurate about Florida. In Palm Beach County, there were mask mandates. Many stores have closed for good. At first, schools were closed in 2020. Zoom classes were encouraged. Stores that remained open had mask mandates and distance requirements. Many people did not got to restaurants, theaters and bars. Clubhouses in gated communities have closed and still remain closed. And much more. The governor did little to help people."
We're trying to connect the dots at a time of political, cultural and economic upheaval.
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