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Liz Szabo
Kaiser Health News
As an emergency physician, Dr. Eugenia South was in the first group of people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. She received her second dose last week – even before President-elect Joe Biden.
Yet South said she’s in no rush to throw away her face mask.
“I honestly don’t think I’ll ever go without a mask at work again,” said South, faculty director of the Urban Health Lab at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “I don’t think I’ll ever feel safe doing that.”
And although vaccines are highly effective, South plans to continue wearing her mask outside the hospital as well.
USA TODAY NETWORK
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan wants state lawmakers to pass a $1 billion COVID-19 economic relief bill that includes stimulus payments for about 400,000 eligible residents of the state.
The Republican said Monday that the bill, if passed, would provide a total of $267 million in stimulus money to individuals and families who qualified for the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2019 and 2020.
Families would receive $750 and individuals would receive $450 under the RELIEF Act, which Hogan will ask legislators to pass when they convene for the first time in 2021 on Wednesday. I cannot imagine anything that could possibly be more important for the legislature to pass, Hogan said.
The fate of President Donald Trump s call for an increase in pandemic stimulus checks to $2,000 was in doubt Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked Democrats initial attempt to approve higher payments.
All eyes are on McConnell and whether he will allow a bill increasing the one-time payments from $600 to $2,000. The Kentucky Republican did not indicate whether any measure would be brought to the Senate floor.
Instead, the GOP leader outlined three priorities the president demanded Congress examine, linking the increased stimulus payments with Trump s calls to repeal Section 230 that allows big tech companies legal immunity and an examination of election integrity after Trump s baseless claims of voter fraud after his defeat.
Dr. Anthony Fauci will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Thursday, Christmas Eve.
However, similar to his Thanksgiving celebrations, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert will be spending his birthday and the holidays reconnecting with family over Zoom.
Fauci has three adult daughters who all live in different parts of the country.
“The Christmas holiday is a special holiday for us because Christmas Eve is my birthday. And Christmas Day is Christmas Day. And they are not going to come home … that’s painful,” he told The Washington Post. “But that’s just one of the things you’re going to have to accept as we go through this unprecedented challenging time.”