Page 12 - HOH

A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 29 January 2022

Continued from Front biostatistics at University of
More Americans are taking Massachusetts, Amherst.
precautionary measures In other developments:
against the virus than be- — The White House said
fore the omicron surge, ac- Friday that about 60 mil-
cording to a AP-NORC poll lion households ordered
this week. But many peo- 240 million home-test kits
ple, fatigued by crisis, are under a new government
returning to some level of program to expand test-
normality with hopes that ing opportunities. The gov-
vaccinations or prior infec- ernment also said it has
tions will protect them. shipped tens of millions of
Omicron symptoms are masks to convenient loca-
often milder, and some in- tions around the country,
fected people show none, including deliveries Friday
researchers agree. But like to community centers in
the flu, it can be dead- Delaware, Maryland and
ly, especially for people Virginia.
who are older, have other — The national drugstore
health problems or who are chain Walgreens is among
unvaccinated. pharmacies receiving the
"Importantly, 'milder' does government-provided
not mean 'mild,'" Centers McKenna Brown, 10, is given her vaccination card from Pharmacist Clint Hopkins as she was given masks. The chain has start-
for Disease Control and a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Pucci's Pharmacy in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. ed offering N95 masks for
Prevention Director Dr. Ro- Associated Press free at several stores, as
chelle Walensky said this long as supplies last. The
week during a White House the right thing to do — yet," have access to a refrigerat- Georgia, according to the company's website lists lo-
briefing. said Todd Culotta, who got ed truck. We don't want to COVID-19 Forecast Hub. cations in the Midwest for
Until recently, Chuck Cu- his shots during the summer. use it if we don't have to." New hospital admissions the initial wave of stores
lotta was a healthy mid- At one urban hospital in Dr. Katie Dennis, a patholo- have started to fall for all offering masks, but Wal-
dle-aged man who ran a Kansas, 50 COVID-19 pa- gist who does autopsies age groups, according to greens said more stores will
power-washing business in tients have died this month for the health system, said CDC data, and a drop in offer them soon.
Milford, Delaware. As the and more than 200 are be- the morgue has been at or deaths is expected to fol- — The leading organization
omicron wave was ravag- ing treated. University of above capacity almost ev- low. "In a pre-pandemic for state and local public
ing the Northeast, he felt Kansas Hospital in Kansas ery day in January, "which world, during some flu health officials has called
the first symptoms before City, Kansas, posted a vid- is definitely unusual." seasons, we see 10,000 or on governments to stop
Christmas and tested posi- eo from its morgue showing With more than 878,000 15,000 deaths. We see that conducting widespread
tive on Christmas Day. He bagged bodies in a refrig- deaths, the United States in the course of a week contact tracing, saying it's
died less than a week later, eration unit and a worker has the largest COVID-19 sometimes with COVID," no longer necessary. The
on Dec. 31, nine days short marking one white body toll of any nation.During the said Nicholas Reich, who Association of State and
of his 51st birthday. bag with the word "COVID." coming week, almost every aggregates coronavirus Territorial Health Officials
He was unvaccinated, said "This is real," said Ciara U.S. state will see a faster in- projections for the hub urged governments to fo-
his brother, Todd, because Wright, the hospital's de- crease in deaths, although in collaboration with the cus contact tracing efforts
he had questions about cedent affairs coordina- deaths have peaked in a CDC. "The toll and the sad- on high-risk, vulnerable
the long-term effects of the tor. "Our concerns are, 'Are few states, including New ness and suffering is stag- populations such as people
vaccine. the funeral homes going to Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, gering and very humbling," in homeless shelters and
"He just wasn't sure it was come fast enough?' We do Maryland, Alaska and said Reich, a professor of nursing homes.q

U.S. judge may suspend mustang roundup in Nevada; suit pending

Nevada where their advo- "If the court grants the tem- summer heat adds stress
cates say the federal gov- porary restraining order on the animals and in the
ernment is "needlessly and and sets a hearing next fall, contractor availability
recklessly" killing free-roam- week ... halts the gather for becomes a problem, Smith
ing mustangs in violation of a few days through next said.
U.S. laws. week, what's the harm?" Du The horse advocates say
U.S. District Judge Miran- asked lawyers represent- the agency is squeezing
da Du says she expects to ing the agency Wednes- the roundup of 2,030 horses
rule by Monday, maybe day during a hastily called in Nevada into a month un-
sooner, on the advocates' hearing in Reno. der an illegal environmen-
request for an emergency Maggie Smith, a Justice tal assessment of a series
court order pending an- Department lawyer, said a of gathers over 10 years.
other hearing next week to delay of even two or three Of the 1,048 gathered as
learn more about the po- days would prevent the of Wednesday, the bureau
tential danger of roundup agency from completing says 11 have died.
near the Utah state line. the removals before the The horse groups says the
The Bureau of Land Man- end of the year. low-flying helicopters com-
A livestock helicopter pilot rounds up wild horses from the Fox
& Lake Herd Management Area on July 13, 2008, in Washoe agement insists it must The bureau is prohibited bined with "unsafe muddy
County, Nev., near the town on Empire, Nev. gather the mustangs be- from using helicopters to conditions on the ground in
Associated Press fore the end of February drive the herds into tem- mid-January create a pure-
— one of several sched- porary corrals from March ly artificial hazard that is
By SCOTT SONNER eral judge is considering uled on an expedited basis 1 to June 1 when mares deadly to these wild horses,
Associated Press temporarily suspending the across the West due to se- typically are pregnant and a congressional protected,
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A fed- capture of wild horses in vere drought. give birth. After that, the public natural resource."q