One the one hand, evidence on the use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 shows that wearing a mask slows the spread of the disease. On the other hand, there is evidence that certain types of mask are useless and, if not worn correctly, only make the spread of germs more likely.
That was part of the dilemma for members of the Newfound Area School Board who had to decide whether to impose a mask mandate in the face of the rapid spread of COVID that has seen the number of students affected increase from 32 to 42 in one day.
Ultimately, a divided board decided to impose a district-wide mask mandate and to re-examine the data at each subsequent meeting to decide whether the edict is helping or not.
As of Sept. 13, the state reported that 154 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 112,326 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in New Hampshire.
The Biden Vaccine Mandate
President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate that requires federal employees to obtain a vaccination and employees in companies of 100 or more workers to either receive a vaccine or submit to weekly COVID tests has created some backlash, but it has general support among Americans.
However, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that only 18 percent of unvaccinated people would get a vaccine if their employer required it. “As a political matter, Biden is likely to find some running room here because most people have probably already gotten a shot and so they probably don’t mind that others would need to get one as well, but I think the real question is will a mandate cause an unvaccinated person to [get the shot], and I think it’s unlikely to be persuasive,” said Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based GOP strategist who has advised Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), himself a childhood polio survivor who has been urging fellow Republicans to get vaccinated. Jennings said Biden likely knows the unvaccinated will resist, but thinks “there’s more politically to gain from doing the mandate.”
Other Republican strategists think that opposing Biden’s vaccine mandate will help GOP officeholders and candidates. “This is a big winning issue for Republicans because I don’t think many people think that this is constitutional. There aren’t many people who make the case that OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] has the power to do this unilaterally,” said Brian Darling, a former Senate aide and GOP strategist.
The Fight Against Rabies
In what is being described as the largest air drop of its kind in Massachusetts history, state officials in two federally owned aircraft will be dispensing vaccine packets this week from low-flying helicopters in hopes of immunizing raccoons and other wild mammals from the rabies virus.
The waxy vaccine pellets also will be distributed by hand from vehicles along Nantucket Sound and by Joint Base Cape Cod. Officials also will be stocking bait stations on Buzzards Bay during the distribution.
Bait will be distributed in Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, Mashpee, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Brewster, Harwich, and Chatham on Cape Cod, and in Plymouth, Wareham, Carver, Kingston, Middleboro, Rochester, Marion, and Lakeville on the inland side of the Cape.
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