WV and National Disaster News - February 18, 2021

2/18/2021

West Virginia

· Has the COVID-19 vaccine been distributed equally in West Virginia? (WDVM)

· West Virginia braces for another winter storm (MetroNews)

· West Virginia's pandemic numbers continue to look better; restrictions might be eased by Friday on schools, businesses, including restaurants (WV News)

· West Virginia AG warns of price gouging in snow emergency (WHSV)

National

COVID-19 News

· A Grim Measure of Covid’s Toll: Life Expectancy Drops Sharply in U.S. (New York Times)

· Healthy, young people to be deliberately exposed to COVID-19 for study (WFLA)

· Pregnancy tied to estimated 70% higher COVID-19 rate (CIDRAP)

· Experts push CDC, White House to address COVID-19 aerosol spread (CIDRAP)

Vaccine News

· Some retirement communities lure new residents with promise of Covid-19 vaccines (NBC News)

· The myth of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Covid vaccines: Why false perceptions overlook facts, and could breed resentment (Stat News)

· 'Somewhere in there, the vaccine got overpromised': How the COVID-19 vaccination process turned chaotic and confusing (USA Today)

· Thousands of service members saying no to COVID vaccine (NBC News)

· Vaccines for all Americans by July? What to know about Covid-19 for Wednesday (CNN)

· Lowering Covid-19 cases is the best thing US can do to improve chances that vaccines will continue working, expert says (CNN)

· FDA could reject AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine on efficacy and manufacturing shortfalls: analyst (Fierce Pharma)

International COVID News

· Vaccine-wary France turns to citizens’ panel to boost trust in COVID-19 shots (Science Mag)

· COVID infections drop 16% worldwide in one week: WHO (UN News Release)

Weather

US needs to brace itself for more deadly storms, experts say

The Associated Press reports this week’s storms fit a pattern of worsening extremes under climate change and demonstrate once again that local, state and federal officials have failed to do nearly enough to prepare for greater and more dangerous weather. The article says the crisis sounded an alarm for power systems throughout the country: As climate change worsens, severe conditions that go beyond historical norms are becoming ever more common. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, “Building resilient and sustainable infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather and a changing climate will play an integral role” in creating jobs and meeting Biden’s goal of “a net-zero emissions future.”

CNN reports Texas lawmakers say the power grid was just minutes from failing on Monday before officials from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas initiated emergency rolling outages. Rep. Marc Veasey said, "I want people to know that we were minutes away from the entire grid crashing," Vessey criticized ERCOT and Republican leaders for not better preparing for the freeze. Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he has spoken with both the lieutenant governor and the state House speaker, and that an investigation of ERCOT is slated to begin next week.

Fox News reports some experts believe the Texas blackouts are symptomatic of a bigger problem with energy policies and that these types of outages could become a nationwide reality. This storm has caused over 150,000 outages in Oregon, Kentucky had over 100,000 outages, Louisiana had over 70,000 outages and West Virginia had nearly 50,000 outages and more outages are expected. The Washington Post reports after a 2011 arctic storm in Texas, a federal government report noted deficiencies across energy sources in the state and recommended more adequate winterization procedures for the infrastructure.

'Just a real mess': 100M from the South to the East Coast in path of a new winter storm; 2.1M power outages across 8 states

More than 100 million Americans are in the path of Winter Storm Viola as it tracks from the southern Plains to the East Coast over the next few days. The Weather Channel reports at least 30 people have died in weather-related incidents this week and the deaths are just one part of the disaster unfolding in several states, especially Texas, where millions of residents faced another night without power or water

Contact Information

West Virginia braces for another winter storm; Pregnancy tied to estimated 70% higher COVID-19 rate;