-- Residents of rural communities are at increased risk for severe COVID-19–associated morbidity and mortality. In September 2020, COVID-19 incidence (cases per 100,000 population) in rural counties surpassed that in urban counties.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order today prohibiting state governmental entities such as counties, school districts, and public health authorities from requiring mask-wearing, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
The executive order allows public schools to continue current mask-wearing guidelines through June 4. However, after June 4, no student, teacher, parent, or staff member can be required to wear a mask on school grounds, according to the order.
PHILADELPHIA — Only a trickle of people had visited her community vaccination site seeking a first coronavirus shot last Monday when Dr. Ala Stanford, a local pediatric surgeon, seized on an unexpected opening.
Across the street from the church parking lot where she had set up shop, a funeral home was holding a trio of services, including one for a victim of Covid-19. She mocked up new fliers, then delivered them to the funeral home. By the afternoon, several workers and guests had crossed the street to get inoculated, including Justin Larkin, a funeral attendant who stuck out his arm for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, then hustled back to his job.
DETROIT — Tanika Knighton knows how devastating Covid-19 can be: Her 62-year-old father died of the disease last spring, and she and her husband both got very sick last year.
