Read it all.

Five health experts share how they’ve readjusted to life post-vaccination — and returned to some simple pleasures https://t.co/YvHGZLRa3z

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 10, 2021

Last month, the president would only commit to a return to normal by Christmas, citing uncertainty over how quickly the administration could ramp up its vaccination drive.

Biden will announce the new target during his first televised primetime address to the nation since his inauguration in January.

“He will communicate to Americans that, if we all do our part, there’s a good chance that families, friends, neighbours, will be able to gather in small groups to celebrate Independence Day on July 4,” a senior administration official said. “The next phase of our wartime effort will help us get closer to normal by July 4, Independence Day,” they added.

Read it all.

Biden to tell states to make all adults eligible for Covid jab by May 1 https://t.co/C3d9d0SkHb

— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) March 11, 2021

The Church of England, Marie Curie, Hope UK, Care for the Family, Ataloss and many charities and organisations across the UK, will join forces on Tuesday 23rd March for a National Day of Reflection to commemorate the first anniversary of the nationwide Coronavirus lockdown.

York Minster will open from 11.30am to welcome people for prayer, quiet reflection and to light candles for family, friends and loved ones. The Minster will fall still at 12 noon for a national one minute silence. A Chaplain will be present throughout the day.

The Revd Michael Smith, Canon Pastor at York Minster said: “This unprecedented event has touched communities all over the world. There has been heart-breaking loss of life, disruption to every sphere of life, enforced isolation that has been extremely difficult to endure and severe economic strain. Even the most basic human interactions such as comforting the sick and dying, or attending a funeral have been impossible for many.

Read it all.

Since the first lockdown began in 2020, millions have been bereaved.  

Join us on 23 March, the first anniversary of UK lockdown, for a National Day of Reflection to commemorate this tragic loss of life and show support for everyone who is grieving. pic.twitter.com/raGFlthQ6Y

— NAPA Living Life (@NAPAlivinglife) February 5, 2021

Tucked inside the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that cleared the Senate on Saturday is an $86 billion aid package that has nothing to do with the pandemic.

Rather, the $86 billion is a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income.

The bailout targets multiemployer pension plans, which bring groups of companies together with a union to provide guaranteed benefits. All told, about 1,400 of the plans cover about 10.7 million active and retired workers, often in fields like construction or entertainment where the workers move from job to job. As the work force ages, an alarming number of the plans are running out of money. The trend predated the pandemic and is a result of fading unions, serial bankruptcies and the misplaced hope that investment income would foot most of the bill so that employers and workers wouldn’t have to.

Both the House and Senate stimulus measures would give the weakest plans enough money to pay hundreds of thousands of retirees — a number that will grow in the future — their full pensions for the next 30 years. The provision does not require the plans to pay back the bailout, freeze accruals or to end the practices that led to their current distress, which means their troubles could recur. Nor does it explain what will happen when the taxpayer money runs out 30 years from now.

Read it all.

Tucked inside the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that cleared the Senate on Saturday is an $86 billion aid package that has nothing to do with the pandemic. https://t.co/a35w9O2xhR

— Anupreeta Das (@PreetaTweets) March 8, 2021

As time has gone on, evidence has grown on one side of the equation: the harm being done to children by restricting their “circulation.” There is the well-documented fall-off in student academic performance at schools that have shifted to virtual learning, which, copious evidence now shows, is exacerbating racial and class divides in achievement. This toll has led a growing number of epidemiologists, pediatricians and other physicians to argue for reopening schools as broadly as possible, amid growing evidence that schools are not major venues for transmission of the virus.

As many of these experts have noted, the cost of restrictions on youth has gone beyond academics. The CDC found that the proportion of visits to the emergency room by adolescents between ages 12 and 17 that were mental-health-related increased 31% during the span of March to October 2020, compared with the same months in 2019. A study in the March 2021 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, of people aged 11 to 21 visiting emergency rooms found “significantly higher” rates of “suicidal ideation” during the first half of 2020 (compared to 2019), as well as higher rates of suicide attempts, though the actual number of suicides remained flat.

Read it all.

The pandemic year has been brutal for young people. And it's been much tougher in some places than others. Here's my latest for @propublica, a story from a part of the country where the line between disruption and normalcy was drawn especially starkly. https://t.co/ECsTdsDHSp

— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) March 8, 2021

Governor Henry McMaster and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) announced today that South Carolina will advance to Phase 1b of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan beginning Monday, March 8.

“Throughout South Carolina’s vaccination efforts, our priority has been – and continues to be – saving lives,” said Gov. Henry McMaster. “In the month of February, South Carolina made tremendous progress on expanding access to vaccinations as the supply of vaccine increased. Our hospitals, pharmacies and healthcare providers became more nimble and efficient at getting shots in arms. Because of these successes, we’re now in a position to make the majority of South Carolinians eligible to receive the vaccine.”

“South Carolina remains focused on protecting the lives and health of South Carolinians from COVID-19,” said Dr. Edward Simmer, DHEC Director. “With the significant increase in vaccine supply and progress in vaccinating people in group 1a, front-line health care workers and those aged 65 and over, we are now ready to move to our next phase. Our state’s vaccine plan prioritizes those with greatest risk, while ensuring equal access to the vaccine for every South Carolinian aged 16 and over.”

South Carolina’s phased approach to its COVID-19 vaccine rollout recognizes the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 increases with age, and people with certain medical conditions and occupations are at higher risk of exposure to the virus.

Read it all.

BREAKING: SC will move to Phase 1b of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plan beginning Mon, March 8. Eligible groups include anyone aged 55+, people with high-risk conditions, and frontline workers including school and child care staff.https://t.co/TZ1IhELyRq

— South Carolina First Steps (@SCFirstSteps) March 2, 2021

Gone! There was not really one obvious event which brought the pandemic into our reality. Not like when JFK was assassinated or 9/11. Everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when those tragedies occurred. Not so with the 2020 coronavirus.

It crept up on us. With some believing it was no more dangerous than the annual flu epidemic. Creeping, creeping, creeping and then it was gone. Not the virus but our freedoms!

Many of us were in shock for weeks trying to comprehend what was happening, others suffered the awful shock of losing a loved one to the virus. Some have created “bubbles” which include a few people, mostly family members, with whom they can have physical contact. Social distancing for social people? How awkward and uncomfortable. 14 day quarantined? A worldwide pandemic. Loss of our freedom to worship. How debilitating.

I am not sure when I first heard this phrase, but upon hearing it, it consumed my sequestered thoughts: “Why is God doing this for us?” A twist on the “Why is God doing this to us.” If you pause, as I have over these past months, you might be overwhelmed with appreciation for the answers you come up with….

Read it all.

Divine Physician, your Name is blessed for the work and witness of the Mayos and the Menningers, and the revolutionary developments that they brought to the practice of medicine. As Jesus went about healing the sick as a sign of the reign of God come near, bless and guide all those inspired to the work of healing by thy Holy Spirit, that they may follow his example for the sake of thy kingdom and the health of thy people; through the same Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever.

“The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life; the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician.” This quote by Dr. William Mayo reflects the mission of the Cancer Research Foundation. “to raise funds to support innovative cancer research #CRFcharity pic.twitter.com/esm7DC16t3

— Cancer Research Foundation (@CRFcharity) September 15, 2020

Nearly half of all U.S. adults who took pay cuts during the Covid-19 pandemic still have not returned to their previous incomes, according to a Pew Research Center report released Friday, indicating the pandemic’s lasting impact on many Americans’ finances.

Some 44% of American adults told Pew in a late January poll that somebody in their household has either lost a job or endured a pay cut since February 2020.

Among Americans who took a pay cut in the last year, 49% say they still make less money than they did prior to the pandemic, compared to 34% who earn roughly the same amount as before and 16% whose pay has increased.

Read it all.

Nearly half of all U.S. adults who took pay cuts during the Covid-19 pandemic still have not returned to their previous incomes https://t.co/ueF4udG2nO pic.twitter.com/4pZJ5c5u7y

— Forbes (@Forbes) March 5, 2021

Covid-19 has already left a trail of death and despair in Brazil, one of the worst in the world. Now, a year into the pandemic, the country is setting another wrenching record.

No other nation that experienced such a major outbreak is still grappling with record-setting death tolls and a health care system on the brink of collapse. Many other hard-hit nations are, instead, taking tentative steps toward a semblance of normalcy.

But Brazil is battling a more contagious variant that has trampled one major city and is spreading to others, even as Brazilians toss away precautionary measures that could keep them safe.

On Tuesday, Brazil recorded more than 1,700 Covid-19 deaths, the highest single-day toll of the pandemic.

Read it all.

The surge in Brazil’s coronavirus cases could stymie efforts to end the pandemic, scientists warn. A new, more contagious variant identified there has spread rapidly and shown up in two dozen other countries.https://t.co/fV0Mluc01z

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 3, 2021

The number of couples considering divorce dropped by two-thirds compared to before the pandemic according to a new study.

The study, from the Marriage Foundation, looked at 3,005 parents who completed the UK Household Longitudinal Coronavirus survey from the ONS. The data, which covers the period up to the end of September found little change since June.

Just 1 per cent of married dads and 0.7 per cent of married mums said they were considering divorce. This compared to 0.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent in June. Both these figures were lower when compared to pre-COVID times. Asked the same question between 2017-19, an average of 2.5 per cent of married dads and 5.6 per cent of married mums said they were considering divorce.

Harry Benson, the Marriage Foundation’s Research Director commented: “This data busts the myth that there is going to be a divorce boom anytime soon. Both this study and the previous one, published last year suggests the opposite, that spending more time with your husband or wife is beneficial for many of the UK’s 12.8 million married couples.

Read it all.

As a father, grandfather, pastor and community leader, I grasped the importance of understanding the vaccine. That meant getting the facts early on from the most qualified scientists and doctors. A panel discussion I hosted early in January with several of the nation’s leading infectious-disease experts—including Anthony Fauci, Kizzmekia Corbett and Yale medical professor Onyema Ogbuagu —provided a thorough description of the vaccine-development process. Particularly helpful were the details supplied by Dr. Corbett, a young black woman and key scientist behind the development of Moderna’s novel mRNA vaccine.

I received invaluable advice from my longtime physician, a black woman and member of my church who has herself received the vaccine. Because I believe in the multitude of counsel, I also spoke with several leading infectious-disease specialists here in the Dallas area, a metropolis that is home to many globally renowned health-care facilities.

Eventually, it came down to common sense. I am a 63-year-old black man, a little overweight and with an underlying health condition. The vaccine has been proven to diminish chances of people like me getting the virus. To date, the vaccine’s side effects have been minimal or nonexistent. It’s true that no one knows anything about potential long-term side effects. But here’s what we do know: The virus has killed more than 500,000 people in this country alone, but the vaccine has yet to kill a single person. Moreover, there is a great deal of information about lingering debilitating symptoms among those who survive the virus.

Read it all.

Like others in the black community, I was hesitant about the Covid vaccine. Then I did my research, writes @BishopJakes https://t.co/KB7ulG8imJ

— WSJ Editorial Page (@WSJopinion) February 26, 2021

“I’m almost at a loss for words at how amazing it is and how exciting,” said Dr. David Gifford, the chief medical officer for the American Health Care Association, which represents thousands of long-term care facilities across the country.

“If we are seeing a robust response with this vaccine with the elderly with a highly contagious disease,” he said, “I think that’s a great sign for the rest of the population.”

Experts attribute the improvements in large part to the distribution of vaccines. About 4.5 million residents and employees in long-term care facilities have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including about 2.1 million who have been fully vaccinated.

Other factors, including the steep drop in new infections nationwide in recent weeks, may have contributed as well.

Read it all.

New coronavirus cases among nursing home residents in the U.S. have dropped more than 80% since vaccines became available. Deaths have decreased by more than 65%. https://t.co/MyLvAxdGFx

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 25, 2021

Most churches have found a way to continue meeting despite the ongoing pandemic, but fewer met in person in January as COVID-19 cases spiked across the country.

A new study from Nashville-based Lifeway Research found 76% of U.S. Protestant pastors say their churches met in person in January, down from 87% who said the same in September.

Even among those who are holding in-person services, few are near pre-pandemic attendance levels. Around 3 in 10 pastors (31%) say their attendance in January 2021 is less than half what it was in January 2020, months before the coronavirus prompted national lockdowns.

Slightly more (37%) note attendance between 50% and 70%. Another 3 in 10 say attendance is close to normal (70%-100%). Few (2%) have grown in their in-person attendance compared to one year ago.

Read it all.

76% of U.S. Protestant pastors say their churches met in person in January, down from 87% who said the same in September. https://t.co/FN8fotqiZK via @LifewayResearch

— Jonathan Norris (@jnorris849) February 26, 2021

As the nation passed 500,000 coronavirus deaths this week, government data revealed that the life expectancy for African American men dropped three years—triple the decline among Americans overall during the first half of 2020.

In an effort to help reach minority communities that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 but less likely to get the shot, a coalition of 150,000 churches recently announced its plan for vaccinating over 100 million black and Latino churchgoers.

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), which represents historic black denominations and partners with Latino leaders, has been lobbying the federal government for a more comprehensive plan to address disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake. NBCI president Anthony Evans wants to see the government more deliberately use churches’ built-in trust and familiarity to make the vaccine more accessible for minority populations.

Evans said at a press conference at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Washington, DC, last week that he supports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for who should become vaccinated first but worries that African Americans and Latinos who qualify because of their age or underlying medical conditions aren’t getting the vaccine.

Read it all.

💉 This black church group is giving its best shot at closing the vaccine gap for minority communities: https://t.co/Aj6gW1Cgeg

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) February 25, 2021

We shouldn’t confuse authoritarianism with tightness.

Following rules in terms of wearing masks and social distancing will help get us back faster to opening up the economy and to saving our freedom. And we can also look to other cultures that have been able to open up with greater success, like Taiwan for example. Increased self-regulation and [abidance of] physical distancing, wearing masks and avoiding large crowds allowed the country to keep both the infection and mortality rates low without shutting down the economy entirely. We need to think of this as being situation-specific in terms of following certain types of rules.

It requires using cultural intelligence to understand when we deploy tightness and when we deploy looseness. And my optimistic view is that we’re going to learn how to communicate about threats better, how to nudge people to follow rules, so that people understand the danger but also feel empowered to deal with it.

[In the U.S., for example, we] need to have national unity to cope with collective threat so that we are prepared as a nation to come together like we have in the past during other collected threats, such as after September 11.

Read it all (my emphasis).

can a culture change save us from the pandemic? My story for NPR https://t.co/NRnBmbGKp1

— fran kritz (@fkritz) February 24, 2021

Victoria Glosson’s viral video has more than 9 million views. The 22-year-old North Carolina woman told her father she was cancer-free.

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures, according to new research and data released by the companies.

The findings provide strong arguments in favor of delaying the second dose of the two-shot vaccine, as the U.K. has done. They could also have substantial implications on vaccine policy and distribution around the world, simplifying the logistics of distributing the vaccine.

A single shot of the vaccine is 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after being administered, according to a peer-reviewed study conducted by the Israeli government-owned Sheba Medical Center and published in the Lancet medical journal. Pfizer and BioNTech recommend that a second dose is administered 21 days after the first.

The finding is a vindication of the approach taken by the U.K. government to delay a second dose by up to 12 weeks so it could use limited supplies to deliver a single dose to more people, and could encourage others to follow suit. Almost one-third of the U.K.’s adult population has now received at least one vaccine shot. Other authorities in parts of Canada and Europe have prioritized an initial shot, hoping they will have enough doses for a booster when needed.

Read it all.

Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective after just one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers, according to new data https://t.co/EGOdiSocWq

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 19, 2021

A good letter from @patrick_kidd in today’s Church Times. There has been a bit of a tendency to see criticism of the church’s leadership as ‘attacks on the church’. It is nothing of the kind – it comes from pew and pulpit, not from ‘outsiders.’ pic.twitter.com/wu8nW1xBWK

— Jonathan Bish (@frjonathanbish) February 19, 2021

Take the time to read it carefully.

With the UK’s vaccination programme this week reaching the 16 million dose mark, bishops and church leaders in the Church of England have been speaking out amid warnings that misinformation and low uptake among some communities poses a risk to the programme’s effectiveness in protecting the whole population.

As part of the NHS-backed #GiveHope campaign, launched last week, bishops and church leaders have joined together in sharing video messages encouraging communities to seek accurate information on vaccines, hold local conversations, and to encourage one another to take up offers of vaccines.

While uptake of the vaccine so far has met Government targets, significant numbers indicating mistrust, including in some UKME communities, mean that some people in younger age-groups may be less likely to take up the vaccine than the groups targeted to date.

Read it all.

The UK's vaccination programme is nearing 16 million doses.

Our church leaders have joined together to encourage you to take the vaccine when it's offered.

Find out more at https://t.co/WISUgdUfq2.#GiveHope pic.twitter.com/Mt4HFIBo6H

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) February 18, 2021

The pandemic has forced churches across California to keep their doors shut for much of the last year. For some, that has meant losing loyal congregants who lack internet service and, therefore, have been unable to watch sermons online. For others, the shift to streaming solely on social media has allowed them to actually expand their congregations.

City of Refuge is one the churches that has grown and Jones has used the opportunity to speak to more people about the dangers of COVID-19 and the safety of vaccines. In fact, the biggest reason he wanted to get vaccinated was to set an example for his congregation of 20,000, and for the hundreds of others who also now watch him online every Sunday.

Too many members are reluctant to get vaccinated, he said, despite the risks they face. They insist that the vaccines are “evil,” he said, and that the coronavirus was manufactured and that Donald Trump had something to do with it.

“It’s just the same old conspiracy stories. There’s no proof for any of that,” said Jones, 71, who also happens to be the brother of model and actress Grace Jones. “So what I do is I go in and say, where’s the proof? Let’s talk reality.”

Read it all.

The disparities in the distribution of #COVID19 vaccines continue to be not great. As of Sunday, Black Californians had only received 2.9% of the doses.

For my latest column, I spoke to @BishopNoelJones about the power of Black churches to help fix this. https://t.co/3DwIpU5vEq

— Erika D. Smith 🦅 (@Erika_D_Smith) February 18, 2021

But amid the clinking of silverware and the soothing sound of jazz, the losses of the past year could be felt at each table where someone was missing.

Good Shepherd shut down in March, even before the virus had been found in West Virginia. Residents went without visits with loved ones, outings to the movies, even fresh air.

“I felt really lost,” said Joseph Wilhelm, 89, a retired priest who said he had found it difficult to concentrate on prayer.

Twice, the nursing home tried loosening restrictions, only to shut down again.

Sally Joseph, 85, grew tearful as she told of being separated from her children and grandchildren. At Christmas, she looked out the window and waved at her grandson, who visited in the parking lot. “This is the hardest thing,” she said. “But then when I get weepy and feeling sorry for myself, I think, ‘Everybody in the world is having the same problem as I am.’”

Read it all.

“I’m too excited to eat,” said Betty Lou Leech, 97, sitting at her favorite table again after receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

Good Shepherd Nursing Home, where vaccinations have finished, offers a glimpse at what life after the pandemic may look like. https://t.co/PgACK8TwbL

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 16, 2021

All that changed last year, however, when joining another church became an option – a church 2,000 miles away.

Ms. Schultz began worshipping at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, one of many making room during the pandemic for new “virtual members” who attend only online. She watches services on YouTube in her bathrobe, attends social gatherings on Zoom, and is glad to be rid of what she calls “the judgment factor” that she’s too often felt when visiting churches in person. So when Wilshire Senior Pastor George Mason started inviting online attendees to join the congregation, no matter where they live, she eagerly signed up.

“It’s nice to be seen, noticed, and welcomed when you show up alone,” says Ms. Schultz, who tithes to her faraway church and sometimes has a speaking role during worship. “It feels like less pressure when you’re behind a screen. You don’t have to talk, but you can talk when you’re ready to talk.”

It’s a pandemic shift no one saw coming at the start of 2020. Churches that had long assumed their members would live nearby are no longer resigned to geographic constraints. As congregations have gone online to maintain ministries while social distancing, new worshippers from other regions have been showing up. Now some are getting even more involved. They’re becoming part of the fabric of church life as members, regular donors, and active participants in a host of church activities.

“Online really is a way to reach people that maybe we couldn’t reach in a local setting because some people wouldn’t come into a church building,” says Gary McIntosh, professor of Christian ministry and leadership at Biola University in La Mirada, California, and author of 23 books on church growth. “But they will observe a worship service online, and they will get involved in a small group online

Read it all.

By going online in the pandemic, local churches began getting visitors from everywhere. What happens when ppl from faraway stick around & become members? The idea of #church gets a makeover.

My report is the cover story in this week's @csmonitor https://t.co/t73utwoQPS

— G. Jeffrey MacDonald (@gjmacdonald) February 10, 2021

On Jan. 1, just a quarter of vaccine doses delivered across the country had been used, compared to 68 percent of doses on Feb. 11. A handful of states have administered more than 80 percent of the doses they have received. And even states with slower vaccine uptake are making strides. Alabama, for example, where the share of doses used has consistently ranked among the country’s lowest, is in the process of opening new mass vaccination sites in eight cities.

“Every state is improving,” said Claire Hannan, the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. “We still don’t have enough to vaccinate everyone over 75, so it doesn’t necessarily feel different for people who are trying to find the vaccine, but we are in a much better place now.”

Health officials acknowledge that it’s confusing to suggest that overall supply is limited, when federal data shows that many shots still seem to be sitting unused. But jurisdictions have said that they are working around the clock to close the gap between doses delivered and administered.

Read it all.

After a slow start, the vaccine rollout in the U.S. has become more efficient, health officials say.https://t.co/LrYK9T4Yac

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 12, 2021

Daily Morning and Night Prayer, or compline, are attracting online congregations of more than 200 people at a time at St Mary’s Church in Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, since the first lockdown in England. Before the pandemic, Morning and Night Prayer were said by clergy in the parish usually without a congregation.

During the services, broadcast on Facebook Live, the ancient offices of Morning Prayer and Compline are read and traditional prayers like the Benedictus and the Nunc Dimittis are used. The online congregations are encouraged to make prayer requests and even send through suggestions for their favourite hymns. There are also prayers for key workers including those in the health service and prayers for those who have lost their lives to Covid.

Parish priest Father Andrew Downes said large number of people tuning into the services – from across the country and also overseas – are shielding. The services also give people the chance to join worship with their relatives and friends across the country during the lockdown.

Read it all.

A Middlesex church has seen hundreds attending its online services of Morning and Night Prayer.

More than 200 people have been watching @stmaryssot's services of compline, a form of prayer service from the early years of Christianity.https://t.co/1TiI5ocQ6H

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) February 10, 2021

The Texas doctor had six hours. Now that a vial of Covid-19 vaccine had been opened on this late December night, he had to find 10 eligible people for its remaining doses before the precious medicine expired. In six hours.

Scrambling, the doctor made house calls and directed people to his home outside Houston. Some were acquaintances; others, strangers. A bed-bound nonagenarian. A woman in her 80s with dementia. A mother with a child who uses a ventilator.

After midnight, and with just minutes before the vaccine became unusable, the doctor, Hasan Gokal, gave the last dose to his wife, who has a pulmonary disease that leaves her short of breath.

For his actions, Dr. Gokal was fired from his government job and then charged with stealing 10 vaccine doses worth a total of $135 — a shun-worthy misdemeanor that sent his name and mug shot rocketing around the globe.

Read it all.

This doctor had six hours to find and give 10 eligible people the remaining doses of an opened vial of Covid-19 vaccine before it expired. Scrambling, he made house calls and directed people to his home. Then, he was fired and charged with stealing. https://t.co/WR7z1xAsGk

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 11, 2021

Simon Linton is a Paramedic Team Leader for South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. Despite having Covid-19 and battling increasing work pressures, Simon’s faith has actually been strengthened.

He said: “Prayer is such an effective and powerful blessing which I am so blessed to have. I find prayer to really focus my mind during such difficult times which gives me hope that my future is safe in God’s hands.

“This has given me such an increased level of peace. I would say that Covid has deepened my faith as it has challenged me to read His Word more and I have had a greater understanding about his promises for me.”

Unwell for three weeks in March-April last year, Simon has seen increasing numbers of patients needing help.

Read it all.

The #paramedic who finds ‘hope’ in prayer on the #Covid19 frontline https://t.co/LzJ1Y00aDO #prayer #religion #pandemic #compassion

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) February 9, 2021

Church of England Bishops have joined an NHS-backed campaign calling on congregations, communities and individuals to play their part in encouraging everyone who is offered a Covid-19 vaccine to take up the opportunity, and to have access to accurate information.

With concerns over misinformation and significant numbers indicating mistrust, including in some UK BAME communities, the bishops were speaking as part of a united churches campaign called Give Hope, which launched on Sunday.

The Archbishop of York, together with the Bishops of Dover, Durham and Truro added their voices to a video which was launched on Sunday, together with members of other churches and groups.

It is hoped that faith communities will use their networks to share trustworthy information about vaccines, helping to bust myths and reassure those who have been offered a vaccine of the true levels of associated risk.

Read it all.

Bishops have joined an @NHSuk-backed campaign launched over the weekend calling on congregations, communities and individuals to play their part in encouraging everyone who is offered a Covid-19 vaccine to take up the opportunity.https://t.co/XRcOeJ4S0O

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) February 8, 2021

p class=”css-axufdj evys1bk0″>Over the New Year’s holiday, the grown children of two immigrant families called 911 to report that their fathers were having difficulty breathing. The men, born in Mexico and living three miles from each other in the United States, both had diabetes and high blood pressure. They both worked low-wage, essential jobs — one a minibus driver, the other a cook. And they both hadn’t realized how sick they were.

Three weeks later, the men — Emilio Virgen, 63, and Gabriel Flores, 50 — both died from Covid-19. Their stories were hauntingly familiar at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles, by size the hardest-hit hospital in the hardest-hit county in California, the state now leading the nation in cases and on the brink of surpassing New York with the highest death toll.

In the intensive care unit on Jan. 21, Mr. Virgen became No. 207 on the hospital’s list of Covid-19 fatalities; Mr. Flores, just down the hall, became No. 208.

The New York Times spent more than a week inside the hospital, during a period when nearly a quarter of all Covid-19 patients there were dying, despite advances in knowledge of the disease. It was an outcome that approached that of some New York hospitals last spring, when the city was the epicenter of the pandemic.

Read it all.

"In the worst-hit part of California, a hospital struggled with a flood of cases." by BY SHERI FINK via NYT https://t.co/9myz2i4t7I pic.twitter.com/R3bHrRuM3r

— Jose Lopes (@BoscoJl65) February 8, 2021

There are no signs in front yards hailing the men and women who sometimes wryly call themselves “last responders.”

But for funeral directors across the country, like medical professionals, this has been a year like no other.

“There is no way to explain it,” said Stephen Kemp, 61, director of Kemp Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Southfield, Michigan, which borders Detroit. “I will never forget it as long as I live. In terms of sheer volume, it was surreal.”

In a normal month, Kemp estimates, he handles arrangements for about 30 bodies. In April, said Kemp, he did 152, mostly African American men. Now, even as his monthly toll has settled to about 40, he’s seeing people with comorbid conditions succumbing to the long-term effects of the disease.

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Thinking of all the chaplains, clergy, and post-death workers like my friend @elizfournier who’ve served in this relentless year of loss.

Funeral directors survive 'surreal' year with creativity and faith https://t.co/0w6vNFEvBt via @RNS

— J. Dana Trent (@jdanatrent) February 5, 2021