The Curve: Make a plan to get your COVID vaccine
Pandemic news in your inbox for Monday, March 22, 2021
Happy spring!
In this week’s edition of The Curve: Pandemic news in your inbox, we’ll continue to look at the impact of a year of COVID-19.
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⏱ The latest
A look at the picture in Ohio: Another 931 new cases reported
And here’s what things are like across the country: Latest case count in the U.S.
Every adult Ohioan is eligible for a vaccine March 29. Make a plan to get yours
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced last week that every Ohioan will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine weeks ahead of President Joe Biden’s May 1 deadline. Ohio is receiving around 500,000 doses a day though, so adding millions more Ohioans may mean some people will wait a while. Regardless, check out this how-to guide I wrote for The Columbus Dispatch on how to find a shot.
Students can social distance 3 feet apart; FEMA to begin funeral reimbursements in April
As COVID-19 vaccinations continue to increase, the world is changing quickly. Students will now be able to socially distance in classrooms half the six feet expected by people in public. The U.S. is also expected to begin reimbursing some citizens for the funerals of family members who died of the virus, write Elinor Aspegren and Adrianna Rodriguez for USA Today.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit women harder, experts say
Not long after the coronavirus hit, it became clear that some groups of people would be disproportionately impacted. One of those groups is women, I reported for The Columbus Dispatch. During the pandemic, women have been more likely to lose their jobs or quit in order to take care of children who are no longer in school or sick family members, experts said.
🗓 A year of COVID
People recall where they were when the coronavirus pandemic began
A canceled vacation, the NBA suspending it’s season, nursing homes closing down to visitors. For most people, there’s no one moment the pandemic hit them. Instead, many people told me for a story in The Columbus Dispatch that the reality of the virus slowly sunk in over a few days or weeks. Some didn’t fully realize the seriousness of the crisis for months.
College newspapers didn’t consider COVID a big story. Then everything changed
In this interesting story by Elinor Aspegren for USA Today, college newspaper reporters and editors reflect on the early days of the pandemic. In mid-January, one student newspaper wrote that the risk for infection was slim. Two months later, many colleges were sending students home and transitioning to remote learning, including here in Ohio.
📰 Good reads
OhioHealth's public face during COVID pandemic, Dr. Joe Gastaldo driven by passion
In this story for The Columbus Dispatch, my colleague Ken Gordon profiles Dr. Joe Gastaldo, an infectious disease expert who has become something of a household name during the pandemic. Few doctors in Ohio have been as outspoken about the virus as Gastaldo has been.
Fully vaccinated and time to party. If you’re 70, that is
Some of the first Americans to be vaccinated are finally beginning to venture out of their homes, following a year of relative isolation. In this story for The New York Times, Jennifer Steinhauer writes that senior citizens feel safe gathering again for the first time since the pandemic began in March of 2020. Many are enjoying evenings out and ping-pong matches again, Steinhauer writes.
As COVID variants build up in U.S., some states report increasing cases… again
Although the national picture of the coronavirus has improved substantially in recent months, cases have risen in a few states. Those increases could be foreshadowing another wave of the virus as states ease restrictions with just 25% partially vaccinated so far, reports Andrew Joseph for health news website STAT.
'Too many people dying': How a surge in devastated families
Following months of a pandemic and a summer where violence skyrocketed across much of the U.S., the Franklin County coroner’s office in central Ohio struggled to keep up with the bodies. In just the first three days of the year, the coroner was notified of 36 unusual death, reports my colleague Mike Wagner for The Columbus Dispatch.