Also on today’s menu:
Taking Steps Against COVID-19
COVID Surge Forces Hospitals To Restrict Care
Navy veteran Ryder Winegar, 35, of Amherst has received a 33-month prison sentence and a $15,000 fine for threatening to rape and murder members of Congress if they did not support President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
On the night of Dec. 15, Winegar downed a six-pack of beer, two bottles of sake, and a few tumblers of tequila before making the threatening calls to six members of Congress. Winegar’s attorney, Charles Keefe, said his client regrets his actions and now rejects the ideology that led him to prison. “After months of becoming caught up in ultra-conservative news-outlet information, and allowing himself to be indoctrinated with a dogma spewed by the former president and his followers, Ryder’s depression and anxiety found an outlet,” Keefe wrote. “Fueled by his intoxication, Ryder proceeded to leave a series of disgusting, racist, and threatening voicemails for six members of Congress regarding the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
Winegar grew up in the Church of Scientology, which teaches a belief in alien lifeforms that inhabit the human body and are the cause of all emotional problems, as well as belief in past lives and a science fiction-infused history of the earth. Scientology prohibits followers from seeking mental health treatment. After joining the Navy, Winegar excelled at learning languages and was honorably discharged, but had trouble adapting to civilian life afterward. He stopped taking medications like Zoloft, and became a heavy user of alcohol and marijuana.
Taking Steps Against COVID-19
Following the announcement of a case of the new Omicron variation of the coronavirus being discovered in California, President Joe Biden plans to announce new measures to get boosters for all adults, vaccinations for students to keep schools open, expansion of free at-home COVID-19 testing, stronger public health protocols for safe international travel, workplace protections, rapid response teams to help fight the increase in cases, supplying treatment pills to help prevent hospitalizations and death, a commitment to continue global vaccine efforts, and steps to ensure America is prepared for all scenarios involving the coronavirus.
Among the steps is a partnership with AARP to help promote the use of vaccines and to provide rides for seniors to get booster shots at local pharmacies, clinics, events, churches, or other locations. The Biden Administration is offering training to help staff the Centers for Disease Control’s National COVID-19 Vaccine Assistance hotline to answer AARP members’ and all seniors’ questions about boosters or schedule an appointment by calling 1-800-232-0233.
Employers throughout the country are being urged to provide paid time off to their employees to allow them and family members get first, second, or booster shots. Currently, about one-third of workers are not receiving paid time off for vaccinations, and thirty-five percent of parents report having concerns about taking time off work to get their child vaccinated or care for them if they experience side effects.
COVID Surge Forces Hospitals To Restrict Care
New Hampshire hospitals are contending with more than 400 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and some of them are beginning to restrict some elective procedures.
Faced with the new COVID surge, the hospitals are pleading with unvaccinated Granite Staters to get their shots, and for those already inoculated to get boosters as soon as possible.
“The combination of a COVID-19 surge that has been building since the late summer, and an influx of sicker-than-usual patients who have been putting off care during the pandemic, has been testing hospitals for months,” writes Josie Albertson-Grove in the Union Leader. “Add to those factors the effects of a nationwide shortage of health care workers and the burnout those workers are feeling from 20 months of dealing with a crisis.”
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