COVID-19 Update

World

New Cases:   442,545 (⬆︎ .37%)
New Deaths:      8,141 (⬆︎ .31%)

USA

New Cases:   48,808 (⬆︎ .16%)
New Deaths:     1,037 (⬆︎ .19%)

Vaccination Scorecard

Total Vaccinations:          68.9 million
Total Priority Population: 56.6%
Total Population:             20.7%

One out of every five Americans has gotten at least one shot, while we quietly topped over 30 millions cases.

Every Republican voted against the American Rescue Plan. It was a heavy lift, and Biden and the Democrats had to do it all themselves.

The "Pro-Life Party" opposed a bill that included lots of stuff actually aimed at advancing the GOP's traditional agenda. They all voted against it.

NYT: (pay wall)

Small Piece of the Stimulus Has Ambitious Aim of Saving Mothers’ Lives

The expansion of Medicaid is an effort to address the highest maternal death rate among wealthy nations.

It’s easy to overlook amid the hundreds of pages of the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan President Biden signed into law Thursday, but a short section aims to combat America’s maternal mortality crisis by expanding health coverage for new mothers.

The United States has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the industrialized world. A third of those deaths happen after delivery, when a significant share of American women experience a gap in coverage.

Under current law, all states provide Medicaid coverage to low-income women who are pregnant. More than 40 percent of babies born each year in the United States are to mothers enrolled in the public health program.

But coverage runs out 60 days after delivery, causing many women to become uninsured shortly after giving birth.

The American Rescue Plan will let states extend Medicaid coverage for a full year, and provides federal funding to do so. As with the enhanced child tax credit, expanding postpartum Medicaid is another stimulus policy that bolsters the safety net supporting low-income parents in the United States

- more -