COVID-19 Pandemic | The Georgia Star News

Tim Walz Signed a Law Creating ‘Ethnic Studies’ Requirements Extending to Elementary School Students

August 30, 2024 Daily Caller News Foundation

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz signed a law in May 2023 as Minnesota governor that will require schools to offer “ethnic studies” courses that may include lessons on “resistance” and discussions on “social identities.”

The law requires elementary and middle schools to teach ethnic studies classes by the 2027 to 2028 school year, while high schools must offer a course on the topic starting in the 2026 to 2027 school year, though some districts have already begun implementing ethnic studies programs. The program is described as an “interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity” and says it will emphasize “perspectives of people of color” and analyze “the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be social, cultural, and political forces.”

Commentary: An Ancient Faith Grows in Modern Times

August 18, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

As a journalist, it’s easy to turn around copy on any of the public policy and political debates of the day, but I struggle to write about religious issues in a meaningful way. My American Spectator columns detail the usual insanity in the California Capitol and Washington, DC, but what can I say about matters of faith, where my usual tool — reason — isn’t entirely useful?

I grew up Jewish, the son of a Nazi Holocaust survivor. Our religion was important, but I was raised in a secular home where religious observance didn’t reflect any deep expression of faith. That led me on a journey to try to make sense of this inexplicable world.

Commentary: Gain of Function, Loss of Everything Else

July 25, 2024 RealClearWire

It did not have to be this way. The COVID-19 pandemic cost American citizens their lives, their livelihoods, education, mental health, reputations and, ultimately, civil and religious freedoms. “The U.S. accounts for less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but more than 25 percent of total COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, and it currently ranks among the top 10 countries in COVID-19-related deaths per capita,” wrote the authors of  2023 commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And for all that, we have government to thank.

For years leading up to the pandemic, the nation had spent billions on preparation and planning for a biohazard attack or event. Whatever we learned was quickly discarded or undone by a lack of accountability, transparency, and humility. Decades of planning and untold man hours of research and training were rendered ineffective by a corrupt culture of greed, self-importance, scientific misconduct, and outright fraud. Because, while the government worked to prevent the worst, it was also helping to create chaos and contagion by funding and facilitating gain of function (GOF) research.

Excess Deaths Remained Elevated Even After COVID-19 Vaccines, Study Finds

June 8, 2024 The Center Square

More people died in Western countries than expected for three consecutive years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, despite containment measures and vaccines, according to a new study.

The study, published in BMJ Public Health, found more research is needed to determine why more people died than expected, a metric called excess mortality.

Commentary: The WHO Pandemic Treaty Is Deja Vu All over Again

June 6, 2024 RealClearWire

One would be hard-pressed to find many Americans today who look back at the pandemic with fondness or admiration for the way in which our government – including our public health officials – responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The mistakes made were legion, the cost mind-blowing, and the misconduct even worse. Indeed, Anthony Fauci, the very face of the pandemic for most Americans, seems to have embodied a contempt for integrity in government. His record-keeping practices and aversion to congressional and public oversight were the epitome of bureaucratic arrogance.

Trump Hints at Holding Fauci Accountable, Says He’ll Consider Pardoning Julian Assange If Reelected

May 29, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

Anthony Fauci and Donald Trump at a White House press conference in 2020

Former President Donald Trump hinted at holding Dr. Anthony Fauci accountable if elected president, and noted that he’ll consider pardoning Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Trump commented on potentially prosecuting Fauci in an interview with Tim Pool moments before his speech at the Libertarian National Convention, telling the podcast host he’ll be “taking a look at that very seriously.” Trump also vowed to commute “Silk Road” founder Ross Ulbricht’s sentence at the conference.

Taxpayer-Funded Research Investigated How ‘Populist’ Politicians Spread ‘Misinformation’ During COVID-19 Pandemic

May 13, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

The federal government funded a multilateral research project investigating how “populist” politicians allegedly sowed disinformation and eroded public trust during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) paid out a grant to support research investigating “how populist politicians distorted COVID-19 pandemic health communication to encourage polarized attitudes and distrust among citizens,” which made the public “more vulnerable to misinformation generally,” according to federal spending records. The project, titled “Pandemic Communication in Times of Populism,” received just over $160,000 from the NSF and is focused on how leaders in the United States, Brazil, Serbia and Poland approached the pandemic, stressing the importance of elevating public health experts over “populist” politicians, according to a presentation produced by the researchers.

Restoring History: Movement to Return Confederate-Linked Names to Schools Garners Traction

May 9, 2024 Just the News

A movement to restore the names of Confederate military leaders on schools is garnering traction in a Virginia county, with the school board set to vote on the matter this week amid fierce opposition from minority groups.

Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School were renamed Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School after the Shenandoah County School Board passed a resolution in July 2020 that condemned racism and affirmed the creation of an “inclusive environment.”

Chinese Investors Flee Country’s Market as Beijing Fails to Prop Up Economy

March 7, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

Chinese investors are racing to put funds in offshore assets as Beijing fails to successfully prop up the country’s ailing economy, according to Reuters.

China’s Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, which serves as an avenue for investors in the country to buy foreign securities, jumped 50% in January year-over-year, butting up against the $165.5 billion limit that Beijing has set on the fund, according to Reuters. Li Qiang, China’s premier, announced on Tuesday steps to transform the country’s development model and increase growth that has failed to pick up since the COVID-19 pandemic, with factors like deflation, poor household consumption and huge real estate debts dragging down the economy.

Investors Scoop Up Commercial Real Estate

February 13, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

Investors flush with cash are looking to buy up commercial real estate properties that developers are putting on the market at deep discounts as companies struggle to pay debts, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Many investment firms are looking to buy up discounted real estate after stacking up cash during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Ares Management, which is buying up 3 million square feet of office space with offers to buy up assets related to $500 million in high-priority property debt, according to the WSJ. Commercial real estate is facing around $2.81 trillion in loans that are set to expire through 2028 at a time when the industry is struggling with low demand and huge debt costs from high interest rates.

Religious Communities Coped Better During COVID-19 Pandemic, Studies Show

February 4, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

Religious communities in the United States and the United Kingdom were less depressed during the COVID-19 pandemic, two recent studies found.

University of Cambridge researchers conducted two studies, one in the U.S. and the other in the U.K., on the mental health and overall happiness of religious and non-religious individuals in 2020 and 2021, according to a Tuesday announcement. The research found that religion acted as a boost for both Americans and the British alike, with the risk of mental health worsening by 60% during the pandemic for U.S. citizens who were or knew someone diagnosed with COVID-19 if they professed to be non-religious.

China Finishes Off Year with Sluggish Growth as Economy Fails to Recover

January 17, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

China’s economy grew at a rate of 5.2% in 2023, failing to return to the same growth of around 6% year-over-year that was common before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The year’s growth was an improvement on the even worse growth in 2022, which totaled just 3% for that year, and economists expect similar sluggish growth in 2024 unless a big policy change occurs, according to the WSJ. A number of different indicators added to the dismal report, including real growth in urban disposable income, which grew at just 4.8% in 2023 and was the lowest year since 2002, barring 2020 and 2022.

Analysis Ties Surge in Inflation to Increased Spending, Value of Debt

January 16, 2024 Georgia Star News Staff

The U.S. government and those of other countries could be using higher inflation to lessen the value of growing public debt resulting from increased spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis by a Harvard economist working with The Heritage Foundation.

The study covers government spending from 2020 through 2022, the high point of the pandemic, and looked at the U.S. and 20 other economies in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

China’s Latest Economic Data Spells Even More Trouble for the Struggling Economy

December 16, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

New data from China shows the country’s economy is still failing to recover from the loss of growth it has seen since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While China’s economy did grow in November in a number of key areas, it was lower than economists’ expectations and was bolstered by a comparison from last year, when the country still maintained strict COVID-19 restrictions, according to the WSJ. Retail sales, which supports the key growth factor of domestic consumption, only rose by 10.1% year-over-year compared to the 12.9% growth that was expected, and fixed-asset investment rose 2.9% from January to November, as opposed to expectations of 3%.

Biden Is Increasingly Using ‘Wartime’ Powers to Interfere in the Economy

December 6, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

The Biden administration has increasingly relied on a law intended to shore up national defense in order to enact its economic agenda, boosting green energy initiatives and increasing production of certain goods to address economic issues.

President Joe Biden once again used the Defense Production Act (DPA), a law established in 1950 to give the president authority over domestic industries necessary for the national defense thanks to demands caused by the Korean War, in late November, this time to invest $35 million in domestic manufacturing on medicine components to address shortages, according to a statement from the White House. The use of the DPA is one of many following President Donald Trump’s expansion of the act during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to increase the production of equipment related to national health.

FDA Inspections of Foreign Drug Facilities Plummeted Since Before COVID-19, Study Shows

December 6, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has inspected fewer pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, with foreign facilities, including those from China, seeing the largest decreases, according to a study released in December.

In 2022, the total number of inspections of drug manufacturing establishments by the FDA decreased by 79% for foreign and 35% for domestic facilities compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study by Emily Cuddy, Yun Peng Lu and David B. Ridley using data acquired through Freedom of Information Act requests. Despite the drop in inspections, there was no corresponding decrease in imports or manufacturing, while resources allocated by the FDA toward inspections surged per inspection.

U.S. Preschool Enrollment Hits Lowest Level Since 2005

September 12, 2023September 11, 2023 The Center Square

Fewer parents sent children to preschool in 2021 in a decline that corresponded with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The percentage of 3-to-6-year-olds enrolled in preschool in the United States dropped by 9.3 percentage points from 2019 to 2021, from 51.1% to 41.8%, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report.

Schools Struggle to Get Students to Class amid Learning Loss

August 18, 2023August 17, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

Schools across the country are struggling to get kids to class while still recovering from the learning loss following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The New York Times.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress released a report this month showing that students who missed three or more days of school had lower math scores than those who were not absent. Schools, however, are having trouble finding bus drivers to get children to class, with some districts delaying their start times each day and others forced to postpone school for a week, according to the NYT.

Eight Former Georgia Employees Indicted for Unemployment Insurance Fraud

August 6, 2023August 5, 2023 The Center Square

A Fulton County grand jury has indicted eight former state employees on unemployment insurance fraud charges.

Prosecutors say the eight submitted false claims and weekly certifications to the Georgia Department of Labor during the COVID-19 pandemic to receive unemployment insurance benefits when employed by the state. According to the State of Georgia Office of the Inspector General, the eight received $170,931 in unemployment insurance benefits and federal supplements.

Poll Shows Voters in Battleground States Trust Republicans over Democrats on Education

August 4, 2023August 3, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

A new EdTrends poll of voters in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada, shows that Democrats have given up what was once a double-digit lead on “trust in education” and are now lagging behind Republicans by three percentage points.

The poll revealing the historic shift was released Friday by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), an organization that lobbies for Democrat candidates and heads campaigns to achieve “educational equity for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.”

Commentary: Mask Mandates Unmasked

May 25, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “There’s no reason for you to be walking around with a mask.” But the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) soon changed his stance. Although not 100 percent effective, Fauci said, wearing masks is “a symbol for people to see that that’s the kind of thing you should be doing.”

Justice Gorsuch Says Pandemic Created ‘Greatest Intrusions on Civil Liberties’ in America’s Peacetime History

May 20, 2023May 19, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

Justice Neil Gorsuch called government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic the “greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country” on Thursday.

Gorsuch made his comments in reaction to the Supreme Court’s Thursday dismissal of a case dealing with red states’ attempt to keep in place a Trump administration policy, Title 42, which allowed the U.S. to expel over 2.5 million migrants from the border due to a public health emergency. In an eight-page long statement attached to the decision, Gorsuch slammed an array of emergency power abuses employed by local leaders during the pandemic, from lockdowns to church closures.

As Juvenile Crime Skyrockets to Record Levels, States Seek to Crack Down

May 9, 2023 Admin

As juvenile crime has skyrocketed across the nation following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, state lawmakers are looking to pass laws to curb rising youth violence and lawlessness.

Juvenile homicides nationwide increased by 44% from 2019 to 2020 and increased by 83% from 2013 to 2020, according to data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, as school closures and police reforms have contributed to rising youth crime. Lawmakers in Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and New Jersey have introduced bills to implement measures such as penalty enhancements for juvenile gang members, as well as mandatory holding periods for juveniles charged with violent crimes, to address the rising violence.

Commentary: The COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Church Attendance Habits

April 9, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

Will the churches be full this Easter?

Or did the COVID-19 pandemic, and the long time of closed churches, usher in a new era?

DOJ Won’t Make Inmates Sent Home During COVID Go Back to Prison

April 6, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

Thousands of inmates sent home during the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to complete the rest of their sentences there as long as they remain compliant, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday.

A final DOJ rule released Tuesday clarifies that inmates placed on home confinement under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will not be automatically sent back to prison when the Biden administration lifts the public health emergency, though the Bureau of Prisons retains discretion to impose sanctions on or return inmates who commit infractions. After multiple extensions, the Biden administration announced in January it would allow the public health emergency to expire on May 11.

GOP Rep Introduces Legislation to Make China Pay for America’s COVID Costs

March 1, 2023 Georgia Star News Staff

Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast introduced legislation to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a copy of the bill obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The bill seeks to allow the U.S. government to withhold debt payments to China equal to the cost incurred by the U.S. in response to the pandemic. The bill’s introduction comes days after the Department of Energy (DOE) found that the virus likely originated from a lab leak in China.

Georgia Education Officials Cite Education Loss as a Top Priority for 2023

December 24, 2022December 23, 2022 The Center Square

Georgia education officials say they plan to address lost learning opportunities stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But a leading Georgia nonprofit says state lawmakers should pass legislation to give parents more educational choices, saying the pandemic proved the “one-size-fits-all” model no longer works.

More Evidence Reveals CDC Colluded with Social Media Giants to Silence COVID ‘Misinformation’

December 13, 2022December 13, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

America First Legal (AFL) released a fourth set of documents obtained from litigation against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that reveals more evidence of alleged collusion between the nation’s public health agency and social media companies to censor free speech and silence Americans under the government’s label of “misinformation.”

Last week, AFL’s 600-page document release uncovered evidence that Twitter operated a “Partner Support Portal” for government employees and other selective “stakeholders” that would allow them to delete or flag posts viewed as “misinformation,” noted AFL, which is led by former President Donald Trump’s immigration advisor Stephen Miller.

Remote School Districts Saw Larger Enrollment Declines, Report Finds

November 30, 2022November 29, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

School districts that stayed remote as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw larger drops in their enrollment compared to in-person school districts, according to a Monday report by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

During the 2021-2022 school year, remote learning school districts lost at least half a million more students than school districts that returned to in-person learning, according to a report by AEI. Remote school districts’ enrollment dropped 1.3% more than school districts that were in-person 90% of the year.

Fauci and Wife’s Net Worth Skyrocketed During Pandemic, Analysis Finds

October 1, 2022September 30, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci and his wife saw a net worth increase of $5 million during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis by a government watchdog group.

Between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2021, the Faucis expanded their net worth from $7.6 million to more than $12.6 million, according to OpenTheBooks’ Wednesday analysis of the 81-year-old retiring NIAID director’s financial disclosures. The director was the highest paid federal employee in both 2021 and 2022, earning $456,000 per year and $480,000 per year, respectively, the analysis noted.

IRS Sent over $1 Billion in Child Tax Credit Payments to the Wrong People

September 29, 2022September 28, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent over $1.1 billion in child tax credit payments to incorrect recipients during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an audit by the Department of the Treasury’s Inspector General (IG) for Tax Administration on Tuesday.

The IRS sent the payments to 1.5 million people between July and November of 2021 during the pandemic, according to the audit’s report. Additionally, the IG noted that 4.1 million taxpayers did not receive payments they should have, amounting to $3.7 billion withheld.

Sen. Roger Marshall Leads Republican Call to End Biden’s COVID National Emergency

September 24, 2022September 23, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced a resolution Thursday to end the COVID-19 national emergency declaration that is still in effect under the National Emergencies Act (NEA) despite Joe Biden’s comments that the pandemic is “over” in the United States.

“Since President Biden used his appearance on 60 Minutes to declare COVID is over, he must immediately terminate the COVID-19 national emergency declaration and wind down other emergency authorities that his Administration continues to force us to live under,” Marshall said in a statement released by his office.

Federal Government Gives Wuhan-Linked Organization $1 Million to ‘Prevent Future Pandemics’

September 6, 2022September 5, 2022 Admin

The federal government has awarded a controversial nonprofit a $1 million grant for research to help prevent future viral pandemics, an award that comes after more than two years of suspicions that the nonprofit in question may have been bankrolling certain types of highly dangerous coronavirus experiments in the city where the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Poll: Majority of Latinos Support Key Trump-Era Border Policy

July 3, 2022July 2, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

A majority of Latinos agree with Title 42, a Trump-era policy used to quickly expel migrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a poll released Thursday by Axios-Ipsos Latino in partnership with Noticias Telemundo.

Of the Latinos polled, 51% strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with Title 42 remaining, while 44% are opposed to keeping it, according to Axios.

Commentary: America’s Labor Force Problem Goes Beyond Economics

May 31, 2022May 30, 2022 RealClearWire

One legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic could be the devastation it brought to the American worker by disconnecting millions from the workforce.

New research estimates that 3 million workers plan to remain permanently sidelined over concerns of physical illness or physical impairment due to COVID-19.

U.S. Birth Rate Increases for the First Time in Seven Years

May 29, 2022May 28, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

The U.S. birthrate in 2021 increased for the first time since 2014, with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions potentially causing the jump.

The U.S. birthrate saw a 1% increase over the course of 2021 with 3.66 million babies being born throughout the year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. All age groups of women over 25 contributed to the jump in birthrates, with some experts suggesting that a lengthening COVID-19 pandemic might have contributed to the bump, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Analysis: Famed Bangladesh Mask Study Excluded Crucial Data

April 13, 2022April 12, 2022 The Center Square

With one exception, every gold standard study of masks in community settings has failed to find that they slow the spread of contagious respiratory diseases. The outlier is a widely cited study run in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic, and some of its authors claim it proves that mask mandates “or strategies like handing out masks at churches and other public events—could save thousands of lives each day globally and hundreds each day in the United States.”

Report: Biden Expected to Extend Moratorium on Student Loan Payments

April 7, 2022April 6, 2022 Georgia Star News Staff

President Joe Biden is expected to pause student loan payments through Aug. 31, once again extending the moratorium that has allowed Americans to postpone paying their debts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill first reported.

The Biden administration is expected to announce Wednesday another pause on federal student loan payments which will impact roughly 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, The Hill reported, citing multiple sources. The initial moratorium was scheduled to expire on May 1.

Report Highlights ‘Compounding Effect’ of Pandemic on Student Performance

April 3, 2022April 2, 2022 The Center Square

A new national report highlights the “compounding effect” the pandemic and remote learning have had on student performance, especially for the youngest learners.

The report from Renaissance Learning Inc., a Minnesota-based education technology company, found students have made modest gains since returning to the classroom, but have yet to catch up all the way.

‘Fauci’ Earnings Mystery: No Info on Box Office Take for Gushing Documentary About COVID Czar

September 27, 2021 Admin

Documentaries often earn a fraction of what their fictional counterparts generate, at least those without the names “Moore” or “D’Souza” attached.

“Fauci,” a film detailing the scientific life of the nation’s preeminent infectious disease expert, appeared to be an exception.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has his detractors, particularly on the political right, but he’s still the biggest name in medical science thanks to his leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic and near-constant media presence.

The timing of the film’s Sept. 10 limited release, in cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, D.C. and New Orleans, seemed fortuitous given the aggressive Delta variant.

Except we’re still waiting on the box office tally.

Cities in Red States Show Best Economic Recovery from the Pandemic

July 8, 2021July 7, 2021 The Center Square

As the country continues to climb back from more than a year of an economic downward spiral during the COVID-19 pandemic, cities in states with Republican-led governors that imposed fewer restrictions are experiencing a faster and more robust comeback.

A study by WalletHub ranked the top 180 cities in the country to determine where economic recovery is occurring.

Commentary: Combating Global Food Insecurity

June 13, 2021June 12, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

As COVID-19, violent conflicts, and natural disasters persist around the world, an increasing number of people face an additional crisis: food insecurity. Although food insecurity existed in many low- and middle-income countries prior to 2020, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has escalated this global challenge.

Today, according to the United Nations World Food Program Live Hunger Map, an estimated 870 million people live on insufficient food consumption. This figure has increased since 2019, when an estimated 821 million people did not get enough food to eat.

Within the 79 countries in which the World Food Program operates, the number of people suffering from acute malnutrition or worse has doubled to 270 million people since 2019.

Commentary: Will the 2020 Madness Last?

May 28, 2021May 27, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

The COVID-19 pandemic is ending with mass vaccinations. So is the national quarantine. The riots, arson, and looting of the 2020 summer are sputtering out—leaving violent crime in their wake.

The acrimony over the 2020 election fades. Trump Derangement Syndrome became abstract when Donald Trump left office and was ostracized from social media.

Biden Admin Considers Changing Trump’s Pandemic Border Closures to Allow ‘Vulnerable’ Migrants into US: Report

May 7, 2021May 6, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

The Biden administration is reportedly considering changes to a Trump-era public health order that allows for asylum-seeking migrants to be rapidly expelled to their country of origin, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday.

The Biden administration’s unofficial plan could grant humanitarian exceptions to some migrants allowing them to enter the U.S. regardless of former President Donald Trump’s implementation of Title 42, a public health order issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic allowing officials to expel migrants at the southern border, BuzzFeed reported.

Emails Show Scientists Scrubbed Early Warning of Potential Lab Origin of COVID-19

March 17, 2021March 16, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

Emails obtained through an open records request show that several top scientists declined in an early statement about the origins of SARS-Cov-2 to acknowledge the possibility that the virus had escaped from a lab, a scenario that many disease experts still consider highly plausible.

In February of 2020, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy directed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to “rapidly examine the information and data needed to help determine the origins of the novel coronavirus that is causing a global outbreak of respiratory illness.”

WHO Official Warns Against Coronavirus Lockdowns

October 14, 2020October 13, 2020 Georgia Star News Staff

A World Health Organization (WHO) official urged world leaders this week to stop “using lockdowns as your primary control method” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, The Daily Caller reports.

The statement has prompted questions about whether the WHO has backflipped on its advice, after they previously advised against lifting lockdown restrictions too quickly. Back in June, Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, explained, “We all want to avoid whole countries going back into total lockdown, that is not a desire anybody has,” continuing, “But there may be situations in which that is the only option.”

Gov. Northman’s Virginia Power Grab Defies Science

October 10, 2020October 9, 2020 Jacob Taylor

The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) presented analysis of COVID-19 hospitalization data on patient demographics, age and sex, accompanying chronic conditions and length of stay during a webinar on Thursday.

The study reviewed statewide data trends from over 8,700 COVID hospitalizations in Virginia between January and June of 2020, and was presented by David Vaamonde, vice president of data analytics for the VHHA.

Commentary: Pelosi Holds Millions of Small Businesses Hostage While Working Families Struggle

September 30, 2020September 29, 2020 Georgia Star News Staff

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot less was known about the virus and how to counter it, and while the nation was still ramping up production of testing and hospital resources including ventilators needed, 25 million jobs were lost across the country, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Since labor markets bottomed in April, 13.8 million jobs have been recovered, as states have begun steadily reopening in the months since.