Covid-19

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the Public Health doctor for Mississippi took to Twitter Tuesday to correct the many conspiracy theories that are being spread about him and his family.

"I have received some threatening phone calls and want to clarify any confusion there may be with some conspiracy theories going around," Dobbs wrote.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) was forced to cancel its annual meeting due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Texas has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases, as just over 46 percent of its residents are fully vaccinated, and the state government has also banned mask mandates.

Although the COVID-19 Delta variant is potentially deadly all over the United States, the areas that are being hit especially hard tend to be Republican-leaning areas with low vaccination rates — areas like the one that New York Times reporter Alexander Stockton examines in a video that has been posted on YouTube.

The Ozarks, Stockton notes in the video, has some of the United States' lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates as well as what the reporter describes as "one of the worst COVID case rates in the country."

A Republican congressional candidate on Tuesday was called out for being completely wrong about the Food and Drug Administration's past approval of the drug thalidomide.

Posting on Twitter, New Jersey Republican Billy Prempeh attacked the FDA's full approval of the novel coronavirus vaccine by falsely claiming that the agency had caused several women to suffer from severe birth defects after approving thalidomide for pregnant women in the 1950s.

Images that were being widely shared on social media on Tuesday depict the devastating toll of COVID-19 on a Colorado fitness trainer who declined to be vaccinated.

Kelly Reinke, a reporter with Denver's NBC affiliate, posted the before-and-after images on Twitter, writing: "Left: Fitness coach Bill Phillips pre-covid. Right: Bill, 70 pounds lighter, barely surviving COVID-19 after deciding not to get the vaccine. He's getting discharged from St. Anthony Hospital on Wednesday with a new outlook on life and the shot."

Pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell asserted on Tuesday that the "entire" violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 "was an FBI setup."

During an interview with Real America's Voice host Steve Bannon, Powell explained why she was fighting for the people who are facing charges for their roles in the attack.

Two Florida parents who filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mask mandates in public schools argued Monday that the governor's mask-optional policies put their kids, who have serious medical conditions already, at greater risk from COVID-19.

This article was originally published at Florida Phoenix

A just-released NBC News poll reveals just how wide the divide is between those who have chosen to be vaccinated against coronavirus and those who refuse.

Last week powerful Texas Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick blamed the Lone Star State's poor vaccination rate on unvaccinated Black people, who he noted tend to vote for Democrats over Republicans.

The west Texas town of Iraan has a population of around 1,200. This month, in just two weeks, 119 people were tested for COVID-19 and 50 tested positive, giving the town a 42 percent positivity rate.

According to CNN's Rosa Flores and Ashley Killough, the town could be seen as a microcosm of what could take place statewide in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott's fight against mask mandates.

Despite a recent warning from the FDA about using livestock medication to treat COVID-19, Tennessee GOP lawmakers are calling for "normalization" of drugs like ivermectin.

The Tennessee Legislature's joint Government Operations committee discussed the issue Thursday — even though it wasn't on the agenda — after two speakers brought it up, according to a report from the Tennessean.

As the Delta variant of COVID ravages the southeastern region of the United States, officials in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates are pleading with residents to refrain from using a livestock drug to treat COVID-19.

Approximately 70% of recent calls to the Mississippi Poison Control Center are in reference to Ivermectin ingestion, according to notice released by the Mississippi Department of Health. Many individuals who called the center have mild COVID symptoms. The center is warning that the livestock drug, which is concentrated for larger animals, "can be highly toxic to humans."

Now that the FDA has given full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a major newspaper is taking the stand that Americans who refuse to take measures to protect themselves and their loved ones from the risk of infection should pay the price in the form of higher insurance premiums.

In an editorial in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the editors made the case that, outside of those whose health issues prevent them from getting vaccinated, the last reason to avoid the shot or shots has withered away.