Kids make up 15% of new COVID cases – National & International News – WED 11Aug2021

COVID cases on the rise among children. Dems follow up infrastructure with $3.5 trillion budget. Biden says ‘no regrets’ in Afghanistan.

NATIONAL NEWS

COVID cases on the rise among children

The last week saw 94,000 COVID infections among children, accounting for 15% of cases nationwide. This is a significant uptick from the previous week (about 72,000), and the week before that (39,000).

Dr. Yvonne Maldonado of Stanford University says the rise in cases among kids is in step with the rise among unvaccinated individuals in general due to the delta variant. Maldonado also says the data does not yet suggest that the delta variant is overall more dangerous to children than previous variants. 

In states with available data, less than 2% of all child COVID-19 cases required hospitalization and only 0.00% to 0.03% were fatal. That said, Children’s Hospital Association CEO Mark Wietecha notes that many children hospitalized with the delta variant are getting sicker than with previous strains.

It is also worth mentioning that not all child hospitalizations are due to COVID. In fact, most are traceable to non-COVID illnesses, though some of these may be indirect byproducts of the pandemic. However, the overall volume of both COVID and non-COVID illnesses is creating a worrying strain on hospital systems and pediatric wards. That could spell trouble as many states resume in-person schooling.

School mask mandate debate heats up

Some states, notably Florida and Texas, have banned mask mandates in schools. But in both Florida and Texas, some school districts are fighting back, especially in areas where COVID cases are on the rise in general. School boards in Dallas and Austin, Texas, and Broward, Deval and Alachua counties in Florida have defied their respective state governors by setting mask mandates for students.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened to cut off the salaries of superintendents and school board members who violate his orders. Yesterday, the Broward County school board voted 8 to 1 to maintain its mask requirement and to proceed with legal challenges to DeSantis’ orders. Florida currently leads the country in pediatric hospitalizations with 300 reported this week. It’s not clear how many of these are a direct result of COVID, but the increase has pushed some hospitals to the brink.

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Dems follow up infrastructure with $3.5 trillion budget

Hours after the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed with broad bipartisan support in the Senate, Democrats pressed on with a 50-hour vote-a-rama to set the parameters of a $3.5 trillion budget proposal. Democrats see this plan as a much larger sequel to the bipartisan physical infrastructure plan, with “human” infrastructure at its core.

Whereas the bipartisan plan focused largely on transport upgrades with a modicum of climate change adjustments, the larger bill dedicates much more funding to countering climate change, including clean energy investments. It also includes billions for education, healthcare, agriculture and housing. and childcare. The bill would also make the new higher child tax credits permanent.

More controversially, the bill includes $107 billion for immigration reform. Since Democrats hope to pass the bill through budget reconciliation (to circumvent a Republican filibuster), the Senate parliamentarian may rule out these provisions since it isn’t directly related to budgetary matters.

A reconciliation vote also means that Democrats must have all 50 of their senators on board. This could prove difficult, with moderate swing-votes Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) already voicing concerns about the bill’s price tag and scope.

Importantly, today’s vote only sets a framework for the budget. A vote on actually passing a budget is still a ways off.

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For more details about what’s in the budget proposal, click here. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Taliban continues sweep in Afghanistan; Biden says ‘no regrets’

In recent weeks, the Taliban has overrun 9 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals, and more are sure to follow. The Taliban have managed to take many of these cities without firing a single shot. In most cases, demoralized Afghan security forces have put up little or no resistance. The ongoing departure of US military personnel has decreased air support and intelligence support for defending forces, leaving many of them sitting ducks amid a Taliban onslaught.

Many have criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal, but President Biden himself say he has no regrets about ending America’s longest war. Instead, Biden says Afghan leaders must unite and “fight for their nation”. Biden has good reason to put the onus on Afghanistan’s US-backed government rather than the Taliban. While it’s true the Taliban have pressed on with military conquest while only paying lip service to diplomacy, the Afghan government itself suffers from deep political divisions. These divisions have certainly compromised the effort to resist Taliban advances.

Some sources, citing US military intelligence, say the nation’s capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban within the next 90 days. Although the US will continue to provide material support to the Afghan military, Biden says “they’ve got to fight for themselves”.

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