While the Nuggets themselves are coming off a schizophrenic and inconsistent week, to put it kindly, after home losses to Sacramento and San Antonio, the Blue Arrow has quietly been tying a bow around his most productive November ever.
Friday night’s 37-point performance against the Spurs at Ball Arena pushed No. 27’s scoring average over his first 12 games of the month to 23.2 per contest — easily his best clip for the month of November since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jamal Murray: budding All-Star — A-minus.
From Nov. 1-Nov. 28, Murray was connecting on 48% of his attempts from the floor and 40.4% from beyond the arc. As of Saturday morning, his November averages were 23.2 points, 7.3 assists and 3.0 treys per tilt.
If that sounds like a healthy jump from a year ago at this time, that’s because it is. Murray in November 2024 averaged 17.8 points, 6.7 dimes and 2.2 3-point makes over 10 games. In November 2023, Maple Curry averaged 12.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.5 treys over just four appearances.
Given that Murray is a historically slow-(ish) starter, Team Grading The Week (GTW) wanted to pause form stuffing our respective faces with turkey sandwiches and tip some collective caps in the Blue Arrow’s direction.
For another, here’s hoping that yet another tweak in the NBA’s All-Star game format opens up a window for Murray to finally make the cut at age 28.
Instead of conference-vs.-conference matchups, the main competition on ASG weekend will be a Team USA vs. Team World tourney. Only instead of two teams, there will be three teams comprised of eight players, with no positional restrictions, who will face off in a round-robin format.
With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.6 points, 6.6 assist per game as of this past Friday) almost a lock to take up at least one Team World backcourt spot, Murray is going to have to keep this pace up to join his fellow Canadian at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., come mid-February. But with each passing week, Murray gets that much closer to crossing the threshold from almost to All-Star.
Tad Boyle’s still got it — A.
New DU men’s hoops coach Tim Bergstraser sure got the GTW crew’s attention earlier this month by beating CSU Rams and Ali Farokhmanesh in FoCo. Steve Smiley’s UNC Bears men’s basketball team improved to 6-1 this past Wednesday with a victory at Air Force. Thanksgiving weekend means we’re going to finally get some meaty inter-conference matchups on the hoops front, and no local men’s team has stepped up over the past few days the way GTW’s old pal Tad Boyle has with CU.
Between Nov. 21-28, the Buffs (7-0) knocked off UC Davis at home by 16, then went to Palm Desert, Calif., for a holiday tourney — taking out a good San Francisco team by 10 and following that up with an 81-68 victory over Washington on Friday thanks to Bangot Dak’s 15 points and 11 boards.
The United States may be heading into its second severe flu season in a row, driven by a mutated strain called subclade K that’s behind early surges in the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.Last winter’s season was extreme, too. The U.S. had its highest rates of flu hospitalizations in nearly 15 years. At least 280 children died of influenza, the highest number since pediatric death numbers were required to be shared in 2004.Now, with a new variant in the mix, experts say we’re on track for a repeat. And with flu vaccinations down and holiday travel on the way, they worry that things may look much worse in the weeks ahead.The good news: Early analysis shows that this season’s flu shots offer some protection against being hospitalized with this variant, especially for kids. The bad news is that many Americans appear to be skipping their flu vaccines this year. New data from prescription data company IQVIA shows that vaccinations are down compared to where they usually are at this point in the year.A new playerFlu activity is low but rising quickly in the United States, according to the latest FluView report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Most of the flu viruses identified this season have been an A strain called H3N2, and half of those have come from subclade K, a variant that was responsible for a rougher-than-normal flu season this summer in the Southern Hemisphere.That variant wasn’t a major player when scientists decided which strains should be in the annual flu shots, so the vaccines cover a related but slightly different group of viruses.”It’s not like we’re expecting to get complete loss of protection for the vaccine, but perhaps we might expect a little bit of a drop-off if this is the virus that sort of dominates the season, and early indications are that’s probably going to be the case,” said Dr. Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for studies on the ecology of influenza in animals and birds at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.Early analysis by the U.K. Health Security Agency shows that subclade K has seven gene changes on a key segment of the virus. Those mutations change the shape of this region, making it harder for the body’s defenses to recognize.”That’s the predominant thing that our immune system targets with antibodies, and that’s also pretty much what’s in the vaccine,” said Dr. Adam Lauring, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School.UKHSA scientists found that the current flu vaccines are still providing decent protection against subclade K viruses. Vaccination cut the odds of an emergency department visit or hospitalization for the flu by almost 75% in children. The effectiveness for adults, even those over 65, was lower, about 30% to 40% against needing to visit the hospital or ER.But the scientists offer a caveat: These results are from early in the season, before the protection from seasonal flu vaccines has had time to wane or wear off. The findings are posted in a recent preprint study, which means it was published ahead of scrutiny from outside experts.Still, some protection is better than no protection, and while subclade K is expected to dominate the season, it won’t be the only flu strain circulating. No one gets to pick what they’re exposed to. Lauring said his daughter has just recovered from the flu, but it was a B-type strain.At the same time this new variant has emerged, flu vaccinations appear to be down in the U.S. According to IQVIA, about 64% of all flu vaccinations were administered at retail pharmacies, which administered roughly 26.5 million flu shots between August and the end of October. That’s more than 2 million fewer shots than the 28.7 million given over the same time frame in 2024.”I’m not surprised,” said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, who directs the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health. Vaccine skepticism expressed by leaders of the US Department of Health and Human Services has “injected chaos into the whole vaccination system,” she said.”There’s been a lot of attention on really non-issues,” like vaccine ingredients and separating shots, that she thinks “at the best, left people confused but possibly at the worst have left people worried about getting vaccinated,” she added.Flu vaccinations have also fallen in Australia, where subclade K was the predominant virus this year. As a result, flu hit a record, with more than 443,000 cases. Flu season in the Southern Hemisphere typically runs from May to July, so infectious disease experts often look to those countries for a preview of what might be on the way to North America.”What they saw in Australia is that they had a bad season. And so it’s concerning for you and us, what’s coming,” said Dr. Earl Rubin, director of the infectious disease division at the Montreal Children’s Hospital in Canada.’This is the time we start to see the rise’It’s difficult to say whether subclade K actually makes a person sicker than other flu strains, but if it drives more cases, it will certainly drive hospitalizations too, Rubin said.”When you look at severity, the more cases you have, if the same percentage get hospitalized, obviously you’re going to have more hospitalization if you have more cases. So it sometimes will look like the severity is also worse,” he said.Lab testing data has begun to show an uptick in flu cases.”This is the time we start to see the rise,” said Dr. Allison McMullen, a clinical microbiologist at BioMerieux, which makes the BioFire test, a popular diagnostic tool for respiratory pathogens.The company anonymously compiles its test results into a syndromic surveillance tool, which can offer a glimpse of what bugs are making people sick at any given time. At the beginning of the month, less than 1% of tests were positive for type A flu. Now it’s 2.4% – still low numbers but going up briskly, which aligns with the CDC trend.”We’re going to start seeing heavy holiday travel before we know it,” McMullen added. “With the rising cases that we’re seeing the U.K. and Japan, it can definitely be a bellwether for what we’re going to see in North America.”Signals are also rising in wastewater, said Dr. Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University. In October, 18% of samples in the WastewaterSCAN network — an academically led wastewater monitoring program based at Stanford University, in partnership with Emory — were positive for type A flu, Wolfe said. In November, that number had risen to 40%.”Flu is something where, when it’s not in season, we don’t detect it very frequently in wastewater,” Wolfe said. COVID, on the other hand, can be detected pretty much all the time, which makes it challenging to know if it’s going up or down, she said.The scientists can set a threshold for when they can declare that a specific area is in flu season, Wolfe says. So far, just four of the 147 sites they monitor in 40 states have reached that threshold. Those sites are in the Northeast — in Maine and Vermont — in Iowa and in Hawaii.”I am concerned, I guess, that we could have a big flu season this year based on what we’re seeing in other parts of the world, and particularly Europe and elsewhere,” Michigan’s Lauring said.”It’s not too late. Go and get your flu shot,” Lauring advised. “And be alert that it’s out there.”
The United States may be heading into its second severe flu season in a row, driven by a mutated strain called subclade K that’s behind early surges in the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.
Last winter’s season was extreme, too.The U.S. had its highest rates of flu hospitalizations in nearly 15 years. At least 280 children died of influenza, the highest number since pediatric death numbers were required to be shared in 2004.
Now, with a new variant in the mix, experts say we’re on track for a repeat. And with flu vaccinations down and holiday travel on the way, they worry that things may look much worse in the weeks ahead.
The good news: Early analysis shows that this season’s flu shots offer some protection against being hospitalized with this variant, especially for kids. The bad news is that many Americans appear to be skipping their flu vaccines this year. New data from prescription data company IQVIA shows that vaccinations are down compared to where they usually are at this point in the year.
A new player
Flu activity is low but rising quickly in the United States, according to the latest FluView report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most of the flu viruses identified this season have been an A strain called H3N2, and half of those have come from subclade K, a variant that was responsible for a rougher-than-normal flu season this summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
That variant wasn’t a major player when scientists decided which strains should be in the annual flu shots, so the vaccines cover a related but slightly different group of viruses.
“It’s not like we’re expecting to get complete loss of protection for the vaccine, but perhaps we might expect a little bit of a drop-off if this is the virus that sort of dominates the season, and early indications are that’s probably going to be the case,” said Dr. Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for studies on the ecology of influenza in animals and birds at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Early analysis by the U.K. Health Security Agency shows that subclade K has seven gene changes on a key segment of the virus. Those mutations change the shape of this region, making it harder for the body’s defenses to recognize.
“That’s thepredominant thing that our immune system targets with antibodies, and that’s also pretty much what’s in the vaccine,” said Dr. Adam Lauring, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School.
UKHSA scientists found that the current flu vaccines are still providing decent protection against subclade K viruses. Vaccination cut the odds of an emergency department visit or hospitalizationfor the flu by almost 75% in children. The effectiveness for adults, even those over 65, was lower, about 30% to 40% against needing to visit the hospital or ER.
But the scientists offer a caveat: These results are from early in the season, before the protection from seasonal flu vaccines has had time to wane or wear off. The findings are posted in a recent preprint study, which means it was published ahead of scrutiny from outside experts.
Still, some protection is better than no protection, and while subclade K is expected to dominate the season, it won’t be the only flu strain circulating. No one gets to pick what they’re exposed to. Lauring said his daughter has just recovered from the flu, but it was a B-type strain.
At the same time this new variant has emerged, flu vaccinations appear to be down in the U.S. According to IQVIA, about 64% of all flu vaccinations were administered at retail pharmacies, which administered roughly 26.5 million flu shots betweenAugust and the end of October. That’s more than 2 million fewer shots than the 28.7 million given over the same time frame in 2024.
“I’m not surprised,” said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, who directs the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health. Vaccine skepticism expressed by leaders of the US Department of Health and Human Services has “injected chaos into the whole vaccination system,” she said.
“There’s been a lot of attention on really non-issues,” like vaccine ingredients and separating shots, that she thinks “at the best, left people confused but possibly at the worst have left people worried about getting vaccinated,” she added.
Flu vaccinations have also fallen in Australia, where subclade K was the predominant virusthis year. As a result, flu hit a record, with more than 443,000 cases. Flu season in the Southern Hemisphere typically runs from May to July, so infectious disease experts often look to those countries for a preview of what might be on the way to North America.
“What they saw in Australia is that they had a bad season. And so it’s concerning for you and us, what’s coming,” said Dr. Earl Rubin, director of the infectious disease division at the Montreal Children’s Hospital in Canada.
‘This is the time we start to see the rise’
It’s difficult to say whether subclade K actually makes a person sicker than other flu strains, but if it drives more cases, it will certainly drive hospitalizations too, Rubin said.
“When you look at severity, the more cases you have, if the same percentage get hospitalized, obviously you’re going to have more hospitalization if you have more cases. So it sometimes will look likethe severity is also worse,” he said.
Lab testing data has begun to show an uptick in flu cases.
“This is the time we start to see the rise,” said Dr. Allison McMullen, a clinical microbiologist at BioMerieux, which makes the BioFire test, a popular diagnostic tool for respiratory pathogens.
The company anonymously compiles its test results into a syndromic surveillance tool, which can offer a glimpse of what bugs are making people sick at any given time. At the beginning of the month, less than 1% of tests were positive for type A flu. Now it’s 2.4% – still low numbers but going up briskly, which aligns with the CDC trend.
“We’re going to start seeing heavy holiday travel before we know it,” McMullen added. “With the rising cases that we’re seeing the U.K. and Japan, it can definitely be a bellwether for what we’re going to see in North America.”
Signals are also rising in wastewater, said Dr. Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University. In October, 18% of samples in the WastewaterSCAN network — an academically led wastewater monitoring program based at Stanford University, in partnership with Emory — were positive for type A flu, Wolfe said. In November, that number had risen to 40%.
“Flu is something where, when it’s not in season, we don’t detect it very frequently in wastewater,” Wolfe said. COVID, on the other hand, can be detected pretty much all the time, which makes it challenging to know if it’s going up or down, she said.
The scientists can set a threshold for when they can declare that a specific area is in flu season, Wolfe says. So far, just four of the 147 sites they monitor in 40 states have reached that threshold. Those sites are in the Northeast — in Maine and Vermont — in Iowa and in Hawaii.
“I am concerned, I guess, that we could have a big flu season this year based on what we’re seeing in other parts of the world, and particularly Europe and elsewhere,” Michigan’s Lauring said.
“It’s not too late. Go and get your flu shot,” Lauring advised. “And be alert that it’s out there.”
The Better Business Bureau issued a warning that a Denver business might be defrauding Medicare and its customers.
The BBB’s advisory, posted Oct. 27, reported that the organization received complaints from two people who said they received bills from Centennial Medical Supplies for products they never ordered or received.
Since Sept. 15, 31 people left reviews on the BBB’s website alleging that Centennial Medical Supplies billed their insurance for products they never ordered. Those who specified the products said the company charged them and their insurance for catheter supplies they didn’t need or receive.
The true number of fraudulent claims may be higher, since not everyone looks at their insurance statements carefully, particularly if Medicare and their secondary plan covered the full costs, said Cameron Nakashima, digital campaigns manager at the BBB.
“Scammers are hedging their bets on people not checking their statements,” he said.
Someone responding to Centennial Medical Supplies’ email, who didn’t give a name, said they would look into any cases of improper billing if they received the patients’ information. The BBB previously reported that the company didn’t respond to its attempts to resolve customer complaints.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. There appears to have been a mistake,” the email said.
Two people were working at an office listed as the company’s address in south Denver. The one who answered the door said she was hired to “manage the mail” and didn’t know anything about Centennial Medical Supplies’ operations. The office had only one desk, and nothing suggested that other people typically worked there.
The BBB’s research suggests a previous owner was less than diligent when deciding who to sell his medical supply company to, Nakashima said.
“It was a legitimate business at one point, as far as we can tell,” he said.
Billing for medical equipment has become a significant source of income for scammers. Generally, people committing fraud obtain legitimate beneficiaries’ Medicare numbers and other insurance information, and use that to file what look like real claims for catheters or other items. Insurance generally covers the claims, with the person whose information was stolen finding out only if they receive a bill.
Nakashima said he isn’t sure why catheters are popular for fraud now, but it could be because they’re a relatively discreet item. Someone else handling the Medicare beneficiaries may not know if they use a catheter or think to question it, he said.
The BBB advised people to check their insurance statements regularly for unexpected charges, particularly if they get their coverage through Medicare, and to report any potentially fraudulent billing to Medicare and their insurer. No one can entirely prevent becoming a victim of a billing scam, but being careful to avoid sharing your insurance information with people you don’t know reduces the odds.
Keeping your passwords updated and setting up alerts on your accounts can also help, since fraudsters often don’t need to ask individuals for their Medicare numbers, Nakashima said.
“Data breaches, unfortunately, are just a way of life these days,” he said.
a new study shows COVID during pregnancy is linked to a higher risk of autism. Credit: MGN
CAMBRIDGE, MA – A Harvard Medical School study shows that COVID during pregnancy is linked to a higher risk of autism. Researchers studied more than 18,000 births in Massachusetts during the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic through March 2021 before vaccines were available. The study, published in the Journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, showed that of the 861 pregnant women who contracted coronavirus, 140 gave birth to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders or other neurodevelopmental issues by the age of three.
Dr. Andrea Edlow co-authored the study and emphasizes that while the findings don’t prove that COVID during pregnancy causes autism, it shows an “association.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this past spring that the CDC would no longer recommend the coronavirus vaccine during pregnancy.
ENGLEWOOD — Metro Denver budtender Quentin Ferguson needs Regional Transportation District bus and trains to reach work at an Arvada dispensary from his house, a trip that takes 90 minutes each way “on a good day.”
“It is pretty inconvenient,” Ferguson, 22, said on a recent rainy evening, waiting for a nearly empty train that was eight minutes late.
He’s not complaining, however, because his relatively low income and Medicaid status qualify him for a discounted RTD monthly pass. That lets him save money for a car or an electric bicycle, he said, either of them offering a faster commute.
Then he would no longer have to ride RTD.
His plight reflects a core problem of lagging ridership that RTD directors increasingly run up against as they try to position the transit agency as the smartest way to navigate Denver. Most other U.S. public transit agencies, too, are grappling with a version of this problem.
In Colorado, state-government-driven efforts to concentrate the growing population in high-density, transit-oriented development around bus and train stations — a priority for legislators and Gov. Jared Polis — hinge on having a swift public system that residents ride.
But transit ridership has failed to rebound a year after RTD’s havoc in 2024, when operators disrupted service downtown for a $152 million rail reconstruction followed by a systemwide emergency maintenance blitz to smooth deteriorating tracks that led to trains crawling through 10-mph “slow zones.”
The latest ridership numbers show an overall decline this year, by at least 3.9%, with 40 million fewer riders per year compared with six years ago. And RTD executives’ newly proposed, record $1.3 billion budget for 2026 doesn’t include funds for boosting bus and train frequency to win back riders.
Frustrations intensified last week.
“What is the point of transit-oriented development if it is just development?” said state Rep. Meg Froelich, a Democrat representing Englewood who chairs the House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee. “We need reliable transit to have transit-oriented development. We have cities that have invested significant resources into their transit-oriented communities. RTD is not holding up its end of the bargain.”
At a retreat this past summer, a majority of the RTD’s 15 elected board members agreed that boosting ridership is their top priority. Some who reviewed the proposed budget last week questioned the lack of spending on service improvements for riders.
“We’re not moving the needle. Ridership is not going up. It should be going up,” director Karen Benker said in an interview.
“Over the past few years, there’s been a tremendous amount of population growth. There are so many apartment complexes, so much new housing put up all over,” Benker said. “Transit has to be relied on. You just cannot keep building more roads. We’re going to have to find ways to get people to ride public transit.”
Commuting trends blamed
RTD Chief Executive and General Manager Debra Johnson, in emailed responses to questions from The Denver Post, emphasized that “RTD is not unique” among U.S. transit agencies struggling to regain ridership lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson blamed societal shifts.
“Commuting trends have significantly changed over the last five years,” she said. “Return-to-work numbers in the Denver metro area, which accounted for a significant percentage of RTD’s ridership prior to March 2020, remain low as companies and businesses continue to provide flexible in-office schedules for their employees.”
In the future, RTD will be “changing its focus from primarily providing commuter services,” she said, toward “enhancing its bus and services and connections to high-volume events, activity centers, concerts and festivals.”
But agency directors are looking for a more aggressive approach to reversing the decline in ridership. And some are mulling a radical restructuring of routes.
Funded mostly by taxpayers across a 2,345 square-mile area spanning eight counties and 40 municipalities — one of the biggest in the nation — RTD operates 10 rail lines covering 114 miles with 84 stations and 102 bus routes with 9,720 stops.
“We should start from scratch,” said RTD director Chris Nicholson, advocating an overhaul of the “geometry” of all bus routes to align transit better with metro Denver residents’ current mobility patterns.
The key will be increasing frequency.
“We should design the routes how we think would best serve people today, and then we could take that and modify it where absolutely necessary to avoid disruptive differences with our current route map,” he said.
Then, in 2030, directors should appeal to voters for increased funding to improve service — funds that would be substantially controlled by municipalties “to pick where they want the service to go,” he said.
Reversing the RTD ridership decline may take a couple of years, Nicholson said, comparing the decreases this year to customers shunning a restaurant. “If you’re a restaurant and you poison some guests accidentally, you’re gonna lose customers even after you fix the problem.”
The RTD ridership numbers show an overall public transit ridership decrease by 5% when measured over the 12-month period from August 2024 through July 2025, the last month for which staffers have made numbers available, compared with the same period a year ago.
Bus ridership decreased by 2% and light rail by 18% over that period. In a typical month, RTD officials record around 5 million boardings — around 247,000 on weekdays.
The precautionary rail “slow zones” persisted for months as contractors worked on tracks, delaying and diverting trains, leaving transit-dependent workers in a lurch. RTD driver workforce shortages limited deployment of emergency bus shuttles.
This year, RTD ridership systemwide decreased by 3.9% when measured from January through July, compared with that period in 2024. The bus ridership this year has decreased by 2.4%.
On rail lines, the ridership on the relatively popular A Line that runs from Union Station downtown to Denver International Airport was down by 9.7%. The E Line light rail that runs from downtown to the southeastern edge of metro Denver was down by 24%. Rail ridership on the W Line decreased by 18% and on R Line by 15%, agency records show.
The annual RTD ridership has decreased by 38% since 2019, from 105.8 million to 65.2 million in 2024.
A Regional Transportation District light rail train moves through downtown Denver on Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Light rail ‘sickness’ spreading
“The sickness on RTD light rail is spreading to other parts of the RTD system,” said James Flattum, a co-founder of the Greater Denver Transit grassroots rider advocacy group, who also serves on the state’s RTD Accountability Committee. “We’re seeing permanent demand destruction as a consequence of having an unreliable system. This comes from a loss of trust in RTD to get you where you need to go.”
RTD officials have countered critics by pointing out that the light rail’s on-time performance recovered this year to 91% or better. Bus on-time performance still lagged at 83% in July, agency records show.
The officials also pointed to decreased security reports made using an RTD smartphone app after deploying more police officers on buses and trains. The number of reported assaults has decreased — to four in September, compared with 16 in September 2024, records show.
Greater Denver Transit members acknowledged that safety has improved, but question the agency’s assertions based on app usage. “It may be true that the number of security calls went down,” Flattum said, “but maybe the people who otherwise would have made more safety calls are no longer riding RTD.”
RTD staffers developing the 2026 budget have focused on managing debt and maintaining operations spending at current levels. They’ve received forecasts that revenues from taxpayers will increase slightly. It’s unclear whether state and federal funds will be available.
RTD directors and leaders of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, an environmental group, are opposing the rollback of RTD’s planned shift to the cleaner, quieter electric hybrid buses and taking on new debt for that purpose.
Colorado lawmakers will “push on a bunch of different fronts” to prioritize better service to boost ridership, Froelich said.
The legislature in recent years directed funds to help RTD provide free transit for riders under age 20. Buses and trains running at least every 15 minutes would improve both ridership and safety, she said, because more riders would discourage bad behavior and riders wouldn’t have to wait alone at night on often-empty platforms for up to an hour.
“We’re trying to do what we can to get people back onto the transit system,” Froelich said. “They do it in other places, and people here do ride the Bustang (intercity bus system). RTD just seems to lack the nimbleness required to meet the moment.”
Denver Center for the Performing Arts stage hand Chris Grossman walks home after work in downtown Denver on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Riders switch modes
Meanwhile, riders continue to abandon public transit when it doesn’t meet their needs.
For Denver Center for the Performing Arts theater technician Chris Grossman, 35, ditching RTD led to a better quality of life. He had to move from the Virginia Village neighborhood he loved.
Back in 2016, Grossman sold his ailing blue 2003 VW Golf when he moved there in the belief that “RTD light rail was more or less reliable.” He rode nearly every day between the Colorado Station and downtown.
But trains became erratic as maintenance of walls along tracks caused delays. “It just got so bad. I was burning so much money on rideshares that I probably could have bought a car.” Shortly before RTD announced the “slow zones” last summer, he moved to an apartment closer to downtown on Capitol Hill.
He walks or rides scooters to work, faster than taking the bus, he said.
Similarly, Honor Morgan, 25, who came to Denver from the rural Midwest, “grateful for any public transit,” said she had to move from her place east of downtown to be closer to her workplace due to RTD transit trouble.
Buses were late, and one blew by her as she waited. She had to adjust her attire when riding her Colfax Avenue route to Union Station to manage harassment. She faced regular dramas of riders with substance-use problems erupting.
Morgan moved to an apartment near Union Station in March, allowing her to walk to work.
She still hoped to rely on RTD for concerts and nightlife, and to reach DIA for work-related flights at least once a month. But RTD social media posts have alerted her to enough delays on the A Line that she no longer trusts it, she said. To reduce her “anxiety” and minimize the risk of missing her flights, she shells out for rides — even though these often get stuck in traffic.
She and her boyfriend recently tried RTD again, riding a train to the 38th and Blake Station near the Mission Ballroom. They attended “an amazing concert” there, she said, and felt happy as they walked to the station to catch the train home.
A man on the platform collapsed backward, hitting his head. He was bleeding. She called 911. Her boyfriend and other riders gathered. She ran across the street to an apartment building and grabbed paper towels. RTD isn’t really to blame, but “I just wish they had a station platform attendant, or someone. I do not know head-injury first aid,” Morgan said.
The train they’d been waiting for came and went. An ambulance arrived. They got home late, the evening ruined, she said.
“His head cracked open. He had skin flaps hanging off his head. This was stuck in my head, at least for the rest of the night.”
Watching an Anna Przy video is like watching the world’s most optimistic mental breakdown in action. Typically, she runs around her backyard in Michigan screaming about how scary the world is in a high-pitched voice that sounds like it’s on the verge of cracking. Sometimes she waves BBQ tongs at the camera while imploring the audience to “keep it up, cutie.” Other times, she obsessively vacuums the soil (she says because it’s dirty outside). Her advice is genuinely uplifting (“all of this is made up, and you can make up better stuff for yourself!”) but delivered as if she is hanging onto sanity by her fingernails.
It’s a weird way to do comedy, but it has built up a rabid following of over a million people across TikTok and Instagram. Now, she’s on her first national tour, the Big Dumb Crybaby Tour, bringing her unique mix of trauma dumping and jokes to Houston.
After being an event planner in Michigan for 13 years, Przy, found herself utterly adrift during COVID with no events to plan and slowly going crazy from isolation and anxiety. In 2020, she released the first of her manic affirmation videos to almost immediate acclaim. The rest of the world was falling apart, too, and she at least put a happy face on the madness.
“The pandemic hit, and I was pretty catatonic, actually,” she said in a phone interview as she drove to her gig in Baton Rouge. “But it was kind of the mental health crisis I needed to break me out of that mode. I was talking to myself while I was shouting about it outside.”
Przy’s style evolved over the next five years as audiences grew to understand her particular approach to comedy. It’s the sort of act that is hard to explain but instantly recognizable as funny when you see it in action. Przy’s absurdist physical comedy provides the laughs, from rolling down hills as she speaks to twirling brooms like a baton. Like a walking embodiment of chaotic good, her capering lightens the mood as she acknowledges modern woes like burnout, negative self-talk, and fear of the future.
It’s oddly motivational, like a clown who is also a therapist. Once Przy built her following online, people encouraged her to adapt her act to the stage in 2023. It’s been a surprisingly seamless transition that allowed her quit her job to pursue comedy full-time.
“People don’t end up on a stage unless they have a traumatic backstory,” she said. “The first show? I did not intend for it to be funny, but these moments hit really hard to where even I was giggling. Laughing is what makes you feel more normal about these big, scary pieces of your life. I can go up there and tell the world’s most traumatic story and get people to laugh and at the same time, making you feel less alone.”
That realness wrapped in silliness has made Przy one of the great parasocial figures on the internet. All along her 16-city tour, fans come up to her with hugs and tears because her act reached them beyond just making them laugh.
Part of it is that Przy’s act grew out of a collectively traumatic time for everyone. COVID cost millions of people their lives and tens of millions of people their sense of safety and security. Between conspiracy theories and financial struggles, many of us felt like screaming. So Przy screamed, and it was like a homeopathic catharsis. It might not be a good sign for the world that her act just keeps getting more popular, but it’s definitely still having an impact.
“I find that no matter what I say, somebody’s going to say they relate to that so hard,” she said.
Anna Przy performs Sunday, October 19 at 3:30 p.m. at Punch Line Houston, 1204 Caroline. $32 – $45. For more information, visit PunchlineHTX.com.
On Monday, September 22nd, millions of Americans tuned in to watch our nation’s leaders announce a correlation between the common pain reliever acetaminophen (Tylenol) and autism. As no surprise, the language was unprofessional and accusatory. The press conference was chaotic, but behind the chaos, some good points were made.
The central claim was simple: studies have raised questions about whether prenatal use of acetaminophen may increase the risk of autism or ADHD in children. The reality is far more complicated. The science is not settled. Some research suggests a weak association, while others find no link. No causal connection has been proven. What is certain is that millions of pregnant women rely on acetaminophen as one of the few safe over-the-counter options. The stakes of this announcement were enormous.
Instead of offering clarity, it produced confusion. Pregnant women across the country were left wondering whether to throw away the only medication their doctors had long assured them was safe. Wondering if they were the reason their child has autism. Families who already distrust government health guidance now feel more justified in ignoring medical advice. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are demonized without evidence, as though medicine itself were the enemy.
This is the wrong way to communicate science.
We’ve seen this play out before. From the mixed messaging during COVID to the ever-shifting vaccine guidance, Americans have been whiplashed by a stream of warnings and politically charged statements. Each time, trust erodes more. Announcing an unsettled scientific finding with the flourish of a campaign rally doesn’t inform people; it terrifies them.
To me, the CDC isn’t just a federal agency; it’s my neighbor. I walk past its gates on my way to class. Inside those buildings, scientists are undertaking some of the most challenging work in the world. Outside those gates, their voices are drowned out by politicians who treat public health like a prop. That disconnect, between the science and the show, is exactly why trust in health institutions is in freefall. To be clear: it is right for the government to investigate potential risks to maternal and child health. It is right to be cautious, to study the data, to give families the best information available. But how we share that information matters. Panic is not prevention.
Warning without context is not protection.
So what should have happened? First, the announcement should have come from scientists. The CDC and FDA should be leading these conversations, explaining clearly what we know, what we don’t, and what research is underway. Second, the message should have included practical guidance for patients: Talk to your doctor. Don’t stop medications abruptly. Watch for further updates as studies progress. Finally, the rollout should have modeled humility, the courage to say, “We’re still learning.” That kind of honesty builds trust, not fear.
Millions tuned in hoping to learn whether Tylenol is safe. What they got instead was another reminder of how fragile trust in public health has become. We deserve better than a circus.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the The Atlanta Voice.
WASHINGTON, DC – Google is offering YouTube account holders who were permanently banned for political speech an ability to be reinstated. The tech giant detailed its shift in a document provided to the House Judiciary Committee, and company officials admitted that Google once faced pressure from the Biden administration to remove content about COVID-19.
According to Google, YouTube “values conservative voices on its platform” and the company noted that creators “have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse.”
There are some encouraging signs that California’s summer COVID wave might be leveling off.
That’s not to say the seasonal spike is in the rearview mirror just yet, however. Coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater remain “very high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they are in much of the country.
But while some COVID indicators are rising in the Golden State, others are starting to fall — a hint that the summer wave may soon start to decline.
Statewide, the rate at which coronavirus lab tests are coming back positive was 11.72% for the week that ended Sept. 6, the highest so far this season, and up from 10.8% the prior week. Still, viral levels in wastewater are significantly lower than during last summer’s peak.
The latest COVID hospital admission rate was 3.9 hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents. That’s a slight decline from 4.14 the prior week. Overall, COVID hospitalizations remain low statewide, particularly compared with earlier surges.
The number of newly admitted COVID hospital patients has declined slightly in Los Angeles County and Santa Clara County, but ticked up slightly up in Orange County. In San Francisco, some doctors believe the summer COVID wave is cresting.
“There are a few more people in the hospitals, but I think it’s less than last summer,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert. “I feel like we are at a plateau.”
Those who are being hospitalized tend to be older people who didn’t get immunized against COVID within the last year, Chin-Hong said, and some have a secondary infection known as superimposed bacterial pneumonia.
Los Angeles County
In L.A. County, there are hints that COVID activity is either peaking or starting to decline. Viral levels in local wastewater are still rising, but the test positivity rate is declining.
For the week that ended Sept. 6, 12.2% of wastewater samples tested for COVID in the county were positive, down from 15.9% the prior week.
“Many indicators of COVID-19 activity in L.A. County declined in this week’s data,” the L.A. County Department of Public Health told The Times on Friday. “While it’s too early to know if we have passed the summer peak of COVID-19 activity this season, this suggests community transmission is slowing.”
Orange County
In Orange County, “we appear to be in the middle of a wave right now,” said Dr. Christopher Zimmerman, deputy medical director of the county’s Communicable Disease Control Division.
The test positivity rate has plateaued in recent weeks — it was 15.3% for the week that ended Sept. 6, up from 12.9% the prior week, but down from 17.9% the week before that.
COVID is still prompting people to seek urgent medical care, however. Countywide, 2.9% of emergency room visits were for COVID-like illness for the week that ended Sept. 6, the highest level this year, and up from 2.6% for the week that ended Aug. 30.
San Diego County
For the week that ended Sept. 6, 14.1% of coronavirus lab tests in San Diego County were positive for infection. That’s down from 15.5% the prior week, and 16.1% for the week that ended Aug. 23.
Ventura County
COVID is also still sending people to the emergency room in Ventura County. Countywide, 1.73% of ER patients for the week that ended Sept. 12 were there to seek treatment for COVID, up from 1.46% the prior week.
San Francisco
In San Francisco, the test positivity rate was 7.5% for the week that ended Sept. 7, down from 8.4% for the week that ended Aug. 31.
“COVID-19 activity in San Francisco remains elevated, but not as high as the previous summer’s peaks,” the local Department of Public Health said.
Silicon Valley
In Santa Clara County, the coronavirus remains at a “high” level in the sewershed of San José and Palo Alto.
Roughly 1.3% of ER visits for the week that ended Sunday were attributed to COVID in Santa Clara County, down from the prior week’s figure of 2%.
Anyone 6 months and older who wants a COVID-19 shot in Colorado can now get one, but the vaccine will only be free for those with the right insurance — at least for now.
Initially, pharmacies couldn’t administer the updated shots in Colorado unless a patient had a prescription. The state allows pharmacists to administer vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee, but not other shots.
Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer for the state health department, responded by issuing a standing order — essentially, a prescription for every resident – allowing them to get vaccinated at retail pharmacies.
But that order doesn’t guarantee insurance will cover the shots or that pharmacies will choose to stock them. Last year, fewer than half of people over 65 nationwide received an updated COVID-19 shot, with uptake dropping further in younger age groups, raising questions about whether health care providers will believe demand is high enough to justify buying the vaccine.
“The standing order provides accessibility. It doesn’t necessarily provide availability,” Calonge said Tuesday.
The Colorado Division of Insurance issued a draft rule last week that would require state-regulated plans to cover COVID-19 vaccines without out-of-pocket costs for people of any age, assuming the division passes it as written. Insurance cards from state-regulated plans typically have CO-DOI printed in the lower left corner.
The state’s rule doesn’t apply to federally regulated plans, which account for about 30% of employer-sponsored insurance plans in Colorado, Calonge said. Typically, however, those plans try to offer competitive benefits, since they mostly serve large employers, he said.
“My hope would be they would want to keep up with other insurers,” he said.
This isn’t the first time that people on state-regulated plans have had benefits not guaranteed for people with federally regulated insurance.
Colorado capped the cost of insulin and epinephrine shots to treat severe allergic reactions in state plans, but couldn’t require the same for plans the state doesn’t oversee. In those cases, it offered an “affordability program” requiring manufacturers to supply the medication at a lower cost for people who aren’t covered by the state caps, Medicare or Medicaid.
At least two Colorado insurers surveyed by The Denver Post said all of their plans will cover COVID-19 vaccines, while others hedged.
Select Health, which sells Medicare and individual marketplace plans in Colorado, said its plans currently cover COVID-19 vaccines without out-of-pocket costs for everyone. Kaiser Permanente Colorado said in a message to members that it will pay for the shot for anyone 6 months or older.
Donna Lynne, CEO of Denver Health, said the health system’s insurance arm is waiting on clarification about when it should cover the vaccines. Denver Health Medical Plan offers multiple plan types, some state-regulated and some under federal rules, she said.
“It’s less of a decision on our part than understanding what the health department and the insurance department are saying,” she said. “You can’t have one insurance company saying they are doing it and one saying they aren’t doing it.”
Anthem said it considers immunizations “medically necessary” if the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians or the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee has recommended them, but didn’t specify whether it would charge out-of-pocket costs for medically necessary vaccines.
If those bodies stated that certain people could get a particular vaccine — but not that they should — Anthem would decide about coverage “on an individual basis,” its website said. The other groups have recommended the shots for people over 18 or under 2, with the option for healthy children in between to get a booster if their parents wish.
The state’s Medicaid program is still waiting for guidance from federal authorities about whose vaccines it can cover, according to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and Medicare isn’t yet paying for the shots.
For most of the COVID-19 vaccines’ relatively brief existence, they were free and recommended for everyone 6 months and older. In 2024, the federal government stopped paying for them, which meant uninsured people no longer could be sure they could get the shot without paying.
Almost all insurance plans still were required to pay for the shots, though, because the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended them.
Doctors still could prescribe the vaccine “off-label” to healthy people, in the same way that they prescribe adult medications for children when an alternative specifically approved for kids isn’t available.
The committee’s decision also will determine whether the Vaccines for Children program can supply the shots for children who are uninsured, covered by Medicaid or are members of American Indian tribes, Calonge said. If the committee decides not to recommend the vaccines, those children likely won’t have another option to get the shots, he said.
When states and the federal government passed laws linking coverage to the committee’s recommendations, they did so expecting that it would also remain an apolitical arbiter of the evidence for vaccinating the population or specific subgroups, said Cathy Bradley, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health.
Now, that premise is in doubt, and states are looking for other ways to ensure access, she said.
Allowing anyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccine to get one from the provider of their choice is an important first step for Colorado, because the vaccines remain effective in preventing severe illness, Bradley said. As the situation develops, the state will likely need to come up with other partial solutions to preserve access, she said.
“It’s a different path for everyone, depending on what your coverage is,” she said.
(AP) The governors of Arizona, Illinois, Maine and North Carolina on Friday joined the growing list of Democratic officials who have signed orders intended to ensure most residents can receive COVID-19 vaccines at pharmacies without individual prescriptions.
Unlike past years, access to COVID-19 vaccines has become complicated in 2025, largely because federal guidance does not recommend them for nearly everyone this year as it had in the past.
Here’s a look at where things stand.
Pharmacy chain says the shots are available in most states without individual prescriptions CVS Health, the biggest pharmacy chain in the U.S., says its stores are offering the shots without an individual prescription in 41 states as of midday Friday.
But the remaining states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia — require individual prescriptions under the company’s interpretation of state policies.
Arizona, Maine and North Carolina are likely to come off that list as the new orders take effect there.
“I will not stand idly by while the Trump Administration makes it harder for Maine people to get a vaccine that protects their health and could very well save their life,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in the statement. “Through this standing order, we are stepping up to knock down the barriers the Trump Administration is putting in the way of the health and welfare of Maine people.”
Democratic governors have been taking action At least 14 states — 12 with Democratic governors, plus Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin is governor — have announced policies this month to ease access.
In some of the states that have expanded access — including Delaware and New Jersey earlier in the week and Illinois on Friday — at least some pharmacies were already providing the shots broadly.
Friday’s orders are expected to change the policy in all three states where they were put into place.
North Carolina’s orders were narrower than most. They apply to everyone age 65 and over and people who are at least 18 and have a risk factor. Other adults would still need prescriptions. Officials said the order takes effect immediately, but that all pharmacies might not have supplies on hand right away.
While most Republican-controlled states have not changed vaccine policy this month, the inoculations are still available there under existing policies.
In addition to the round of orders from governors, boards of pharmacy and other officials, four states — California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — have announced an alliance to make their own vaccine recommendations. Of those, only Oregon doesn’t currently allow the shots in pharmacies without individual prescriptions.
Vaccines have become politically contentious In past years, the federal government has recommended the vaccines to all Americans above the age of 6 months.
This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved them for people age 65 and over but said they should be used only for children and younger adults who have a risk factor such as asthma or obesity.
That change came as U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June, accusing of them of being too closely aligned with the companies that make the vaccines. The replacements include vaccine skeptics.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, framed her order Friday as “protecting the health care freedom” of people in the state.
One state has taken another stance on vaccines Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced this month that the state could become the first to eliminate requirements that children have a list of vaccinations.
Since then, though, the state health department said that the change likely wouldn’t take effect until December and that without legislative action, only some vaccines — including for chickenpox — would become optional. The measles and polio shots would remain mandatory.
NBCUniversal is phasing in a mandate for employees to work at least four days a week in the office.
News of the updated policy due to take effect on January 5, 2026, was conveyed to employees by COO Adam Miller in a memo, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline.
“As we look ahead toward an exciting 2026 and reflect on the past years, it has become increasingly clear that we are better when we are together,” Miller wrote. “As we have all experienced, in-person work and collaboration spark innovation, promote creativity, and build stronger connections.”
The move follows a number of similar initiatives across the media and entertainment sector. Paramount last week made the eye-opening decision to implement a five-days-a-week mandate, following in the mold of tech giants like Amazon, which have cited productivity advantages from workers collaborating in person.
NBCU parent Comcast has already gone to a 4-day in-person work week.
Industries like finance have also moved toward a full-time in-person stance. The commercial real estate market in New York and other major cities has lagged behind national occupancy rates coming out of Covid. NBCU has a significant number of employees at its longtime base at 30 Rock in Midtown Manhattan. The Los Angeles home of NBCU at Universal City recently got some upgrades, including a new commissary, which could have also factored into the larger thinking.
Here’s Miller’s full memo:
Hi all,
I’m reaching out to share an update to our in-office schedule for hybrid employees. As we look ahead toward an exciting 2026 and reflect on the past years, it has become increasingly clear that we are better when we are together. As we have all experienced, in-person work and collaboration spark innovation, promote creativity, and build stronger connections.
To that end, effective Monday, January 5, 2026, the company will implement a 4-day in-office workweek for hybrid employees, who will now be required to be onsite from Monday through Thursday, with the continued option to work remotely or in the office on Fridays. We recognize that for some of you, being onsite on Fridays is part of your role, and for others, it’s a choice. Our offices are open daily, and we encourage everyone to take full advantage of working together in person.
Flexibility will remain an important part of our culture, and the company will continue to accommodate life events with options such as time off, adjusted hours, or additional remote days when appropriate. As always, employees should discuss these needs with their manager as they arise. We understand you may need to make adjustments to adhere to this change. We ask that you use the time between now and January to make any necessary plans. If you will not be prepared to comply with the 4-day in-office requirement by January 5, 2026, please discuss your options with your HR manager. If you are VP level or below, you may be eligible for a voluntary exit assistance package.
We have a lot to look forward to across the company as we gear up for 2026: an unprecedented “Legendary February” featuring the Milan-Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX and the NBA All-Star Game; the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Telemundo; the opening of our first-ever Universal Kids Resort; and NBC News’ coverage of the midterm elections. We’ll also celebrate important film releases, including Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey; Illumination’s Minions 3 and a new original film from Steven Spielberg, as well as new and returning series across Bravo, Peacock and NBC including The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, The Burbs and The Traitors returning to Peacock plus premiering for the first time on NBC. And of course, we will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of NBC.
It is shaping up to be quite a year, and I am looking forward to working with you all to bring it to life.
SACRAMENTO, CA – California is aiming to set its own healthcare and vaccine standards especially as the Food and Drug Administration approves its new COVID-19 vaccines. Under FDA guidelines, COVID vaccine access is now limited. Only people at higher risk for severe illness can receive them. That’s adults 65 and older, and those ages 5 to 64 with certain health conditions.
With a rise in cases, California health officials are looking into vaccine supplies, and as of now, there is a pause on vaccination appointments.
California, along with Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii are collaborating to create their own science-based COVID-19 vaccination guidelines. They have created the West Coast Alliance in response to what they call the Trump Administration’s “destruction” of the Centers for Disease Control.
I don’t know how I managed to beat COVID-19 for so long, even as family, friends and colleagues got hit with the coronavirus. Although I took precautions from the beginning, with masking and vaccinations, I was also out in public a lot for work and travel.
But my luck has finally run out, and it must have been the air travel that did me in. I returned from a cross-country trip with a razor blade sore throat and a stubborn headache, followed by aches and pains.
The first test was positive.
I figured it had to be wrong, given my super-immunity track record.
The second test was even more positive.
So I’ve been quarantined in a corner of the house, reaching alternately for Tylenol and the thermometer. Everything is a little fuzzy, making it hard to distinguish between the real and the imagined.
For instance, how can it be true that just as I get COVID for the first time, the news is suddenly dominated by COVID-related stories?
It has to be a fever-induced hallucination. There’s no other way to explain why, as COVID surges yet again with another bugger of a strain, the best tool against the virus — vaccine — is under full assault by the leaders of the nation.
They are making it harder, rather than easier, to get medicine recommended by the overwhelming majority of the legitimate, non-crackpot wing of the medical community.
Under the new vaccine policies, prices are up. Permission from doctors is needed. Depending on your age or your home state, you could be out of luck.
Meanwhile, President Trump fired Susan Monarez, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, essentially for putting her own professional integrity and commitment to public service above crackpot directives from a cabal of vaccine skeptics.
My eyes are red and burning, but can COVID be entirely to blame?
I got a booster before my travels, even though I knew it might not stand up to the new strain of COVID. It’s possible I have a milder case than I might have had without the vaccine. But on that question and many others, as new waves keep coming our way, wouldn’t the smart move be more research rather than less?
Trump downplayed the virus when it first surfaced in 2019 and 2020. Then he blamed it on China. He resisted masking, and lemmings by the thousands got sick and died. Then he got COVID himself. At one point, he recommended that people get the vaccine.
Now he’s putting on the brakes?
My headache is coming back, my eyes are still burning, and unless my Tylenol is laced with LSD, I think I just saw a clip in which Kennedy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in 10 minutes.
I appreciate the health and fitness plug, and because Kennedy and I are the same age — 71 — it’s impressive to see him in the gym.
But there’s something that has to be said about the Kennedy-Hegseth workout tape:
They’re cheating.
Take a look for yourself, and don’t be fooled by the tight T-shirts worn by these two homecoming kings.
Those were not full chin-ups or push-ups.
Not even close.
Cutting corners is the wrong message to send to the nation’s children, or to any age group. And how is anyone going to make it to the gym if they come down with COVID because they couldn’t get vaccinated?
Honestly, the whole thing has to be a fever dream I’m having, because in the middle of the workout, Kennedy said, and I quote, “It was President Trump who inspired us to do this.”
He is many things, President Trump. Fitness role model is not one of them, no matter how many times he blasts out of sand traps on company time.
Getting back to cutting corners, Kennedy said in slashing mRNA research that “we have studied the science,” with a news release link to a 181-page document purportedly supporting his claim that the vaccines “fail to protect effectively.”
That document was roundly eviscerated by hordes of scientists who were aghast at the distortions and misinterpretations by Kennedy.
“It’s either staggering incompetence or willful misrepresentation,” said Jake Scott, an infectious-disease physician and Stanford University professor, writing for the media company STAT. “Kennedy is using evidence that refutes his own position to justify dismantling tools we’ll desperately need when the next pandemic arrives.”
I lost my sense of smell a few days ago, but even I can tell you that stinks.
In previous years, the committee recommended updated COVID-19 vaccines within days of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving them. This year, the committee doesn’t have any meetings scheduled until late September, and may not recommend the shot when it does meet, since Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed multiple members with anti-vaccine views after removing all prior appointees in June.
The lack of a recommendation also means that insurance companies aren’t legally required to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine without out-of-pocket costs. Most private insurers will cover the updated shots this year, though that could change in 2026, according to Reuters.
Initially, CVS said it couldn’t give the COVID-19 vaccine to anyone in Colorado or 15 other states, because of their ACIP-approval requirement. As of Friday morning, its pharmacies can offer the shots to eligible people who have a prescription, spokeswoman Amy Thibault said.
As of about 10 a.m. Friday, CVS’s website wouldn’t allow visitors to schedule COVID-19 shots in Colorado.
Walgreens didn’t respond to questions about its COVID-19 vaccine policy, but its website said patients need a prescription in Colorado. A New York Times reporter found the same in 15 other states.
History of stroke or disease in the brain’s blood vessels
Chronic kidney disease
Liver disease
Cystic fibrosis
Diabetes (all types)
Developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome
Heart problems
Mental health conditions, including depression and schizophrenia
Dementia
Parkinson’s disease
Obesity
Physical inactivity
Current or recent pregnancy
Diseases or medications that impair the immune system
Smoking
Healthy people technically still can get the vaccine, but would have to ask a health care provider to prescribe it off-label. An off-label prescription refers to one given for a condition the drug isn’t approved to treat, such as a blood-pressure drug prescribed to prevent migraines.
Not everyone has a regular health care provider or the inclination to take time out of their day for an office visit, though. Insurers also vary in their willingness to cover off-label prescriptions.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. never asked to be briefed by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), said a former CDC director who stepped down in the wake of the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez on Wednesday.
Newsweek reached out to HHS via online form on Thursday for comment.
Why It Matters
The CDC is the primary public health agency for the United States. A federal agency under the HHS, the CDC is responsible for protecting the health of the nation through disease control and prevention. It is a global leader on infectious and chronic diseases and a go-to source of health information.
Kennedy’s views around vaccinations, raw milk and water fluoridation have faced staunch opposition from public health experts who warn of their health risks.
The revelation from Demetre Daskalakis, the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in an interview with CNN that Kennedy never sought experts’ advice will compound concerns among critics of his leadership.
Former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials Dan Jernigan, Deb Houry, and Demetre Daskalakis smile as employees and supporters of the CDC line up outside its global headquarters on August 28, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia…. Former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials Dan Jernigan, Deb Houry, and Demetre Daskalakis smile as employees and supporters of the CDC line up outside its global headquarters on August 28, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
What To Know
Daskalakis, responding to a question about what Kennedy should be asked if he were to appear at a Senate hearing, said: “Has he ever been briefed by a CDC expert on anything? Specifically, measles, COVID-19, flu? I think people should ask him that.
“The answer is no. No one from my center has ever briefed him on any of those topics. He’s getting information from somewhere, but that information is not coming from CDC experts, who really are the world’s experts in this area.
“Perhaps he has alternate experts that he may trust more than the experts at CDC that the rest of the world regards as the best scientists in these areas,” he said.
This month, Kennedy announced a departmental decision to pull a total of $500 million in federal funding for 22 mRNA vaccine development projects “because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu.”
In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replaced them with people who have expressed skepticism about the current immunization schedule and previously spread vaccine misinformation.
The upheaval at the CDC signals an extraordinary rupture between its scientific leadership and political leadership at HHS during a period of major policy change to vaccine advisory structures and funding.
President Donald Trump nominated RFK Jr. to head the department, which he has since pushed forward under the campaign of Making America Healthy Again.
What People Are Saying
Kennedy said during a Thursday press conference with Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott: “There’s a lot of trouble at CDC, and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long term in order for us to change the institutional culture and bring back pride and self-esteem and make that agency the stellar agency that it’s always been.”
Daniel Jernigan, who has resigned as director, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC, told CNN: “I’ve been at CDC for 30 years, I’ve been through multiple different administrations, we’ve been able to work with a lot of different folks, different ideologies, but we always focussed on the science. Right now, I’m not sure.”
Debra Houry, who has also resigned as told CNN: “When you can’t make things work, sometimes leaving is the statement to make.”
What Happens Next
The Trump Administration named Jim O’Neill, a top deputy to RFK Jr., as the new acting chief of the CDC after Monarez’s ouster.
We all know that influenza is a common and serious viral infection, but it’s good to be reminded ahead of the upcoming flu season, which typically starts in October.Related video above: How the new at-home flu vaccine worksThere were an estimated 47 million to 82 million flu illnesses in the United States between October 2024 and May 2025, resulting in between 610,000 and 1.3 million hospitalizations, according to preliminary estimated ranges from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Most fatalities occur in older individuals, but children can also die from the flu. The CDC estimates that flu-related deaths in children have generally ranged from 37 to 199 deaths each flu season.Now, a new study in JAMA has examined a rare but severe complication that can occur in children who contract the flu. This complication, called acute necrotizing encephalopathy, or ANE, carries a mortality rate of 27% despite intensive care and treatment, according to the new research.I wanted to learn more about complications associated with the flu, specifically about ANE, what researchers learned about children with ANE, and how ANE can be prevented. And what should parents and families know ahead of the next flu season?To help with these questions, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University. She previously was Baltimore’s health commissioner.CNN: What are complications associated with the flu? Who is most at risk?Dr. Leana Wen: Most people who have the flu will recover without complications. They may go through days or even weeks having fever, runny nose, headache and fatigue, but these symptoms generally resolve without long-term consequences.Some people, though, experience complications that could result in severe illness or even death. These complications include pneumonia, sinus and ear infections, brain and neurological conditions, and the worsening of existing medical problems such as heart and kidney disease.People at higher risk for flu complications include people 65 years and older, children younger than 2 and pregnant women. In addition, there are a variety of chronic medical conditions that increase risk, including chronic lung disease, diabetes, heart disease, liver disorders, kidney dysfunction and any condition that makes you immunocompromised.CNN: What exactly is ANE, and how common is it?Wen: ANE is a rare but very serious condition that occurs as a result of influenza infection. It causes inflammation and swelling in the brain, and it can lead to seizures, impaired consciousness, coma, long-term brain damage and death.It’s not known precisely how common this condition is or whether the incidence has been changing in recent years. It can also occur after other viral illnesses, but it has been most closely associated with influenza, and most often in children.CNN: What did researchers in this study find out about children with ANE?Wen: They sought information from U.S. pediatric hospitals and public health agencies regarding cases of pediatric ANE treated between October 2023 and May 2025. In total, they included 41 children with influenza-related ANE.The median age of these children was 5, and about 3 out of 4 were previously healthy. Importantly, just 16% of those for whom vaccination history was available had received the flu vaccine that season.All these patients became very ill, and all developed encephalopathy, or altered brain function. Sixty-eight percent had seizures. Most had abnormalities in their platelet count, liver enzymes and spinal fluid composition.Most patients received a combination of therapies, including steroids and immunoglobulins. Out of 41 patients in the analysis, 11 died. The median period between symptom onset and death was just three days; most of the children who died had such severe brain swelling that the pressure forced the brain downward, crushing vital areas that control breathing and heart function. All but one of the children who died had not received the latest flu vaccine. Among the survivors included in the analysis, 63% had at least moderate disability.The first takeaway for me is that ANE, while rare, is extremely serious, with high morbidity and mortality. It can be deadly within a short period of time, which means prompt diagnosis and treatment are essential. Second, most children with ANE were previously healthy. Third, while some vaccinated children also became ill, most of those with ANE and nearly all of those who died had not received the flu vaccine that season.CNN: How can ANE be prevented?Wen: It is not known why most people who contract flu never develop ANE, but some do. It’s also not known whether there is anything that can be done once someone contracts the flu to prevent ANE.What is known is that getting the flu vaccine reduces the chance of contracting the flu and of becoming severely ill as a result. This JAMA study also suggests that vaccination reduces the likelihood of developing ANE and of dying from it. The article and an accompanying editorial emphasize the importance of everyone being up-to-date with the flu vaccine.CNN: What else should parents and families know ahead of the next flu season?Wen: Influenza is a common illness that can have serious complications, including in previously healthy individuals. Getting the flu vaccine is helpful both for reducing the chance of contracting the flu and for lowering the likelihood of developing complications. The CDC recommends the flu vaccine for virtually everyone 6 months and older. Parents should be sure that their children receive the flu vaccine in the fall and that they and others in the family are vaccinated, too.Of course, flu is not the only contagious respiratory illness that can spread in fall and winter months. It’s important for people who have fever and active respiratory symptoms to stay away from others, especially those most vulnerable to severe illness. Good hand hygiene can lower the risk of spreading contagious diseases, as can taking precautions like masking in indoor crowded settings.
We all know that influenza is a common and serious viral infection, but it’s good to be reminded ahead of the upcoming flu season, which typically starts in October.
Related video above: How the new at-home flu vaccine works
There were an estimated 47 million to 82 million flu illnesses in the United States between October 2024 and May 2025, resulting in between 610,000 and 1.3 million hospitalizations, according to preliminary estimated ranges from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most fatalities occur in older individuals, but children can also die from the flu. The CDC estimates that flu-related deaths in children have generally ranged from 37 to 199 deaths each flu season.
Now, a new study in JAMA has examined a rare but severe complication that can occur in children who contract the flu. This complication, called acute necrotizing encephalopathy, or ANE, carries a mortality rate of 27% despite intensive care and treatment, according to the new research.
I wanted to learn more about complications associated with the flu, specifically about ANE, what researchers learned about children with ANE, and how ANE can be prevented. And what should parents and families know ahead of the next flu season?
To help with these questions, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University. She previously was Baltimore’s health commissioner.
CNN:What are complications associated with the flu? Who is most at risk?
Dr. Leana Wen: Most people who have the flu will recover without complications. They may go through days or even weeks having fever, runny nose, headache and fatigue, but these symptoms generally resolve without long-term consequences.
Some people, though, experience complications that could result in severe illness or even death. These complications include pneumonia, sinus and ear infections, brain and neurological conditions, and the worsening of existing medical problems such as heart and kidney disease.
People at higher risk for flu complications include people 65 years and older, children younger than 2 and pregnant women. In addition, there are a variety of chronic medical conditions that increase risk, including chronic lung disease, diabetes, heart disease, liver disorders, kidney dysfunction and any condition that makes you immunocompromised.
CNN: What exactly is ANE, and how common is it?
Wen: ANE is a rare but very serious condition that occurs as a result of influenza infection. It causes inflammation and swelling in the brain, and it can lead to seizures, impaired consciousness, coma, long-term brain damage and death.
It’s not known precisely how common this condition is or whether the incidence has been changing in recent years. It can also occur after other viral illnesses, but it has been most closely associated with influenza, and most often in children.
CNN: What did researchers in this study find out about children with ANE?
Wen:They sought information from U.S. pediatric hospitals and public health agencies regarding cases of pediatric ANE treated between October 2023 and May 2025. In total, they included 41 children with influenza-related ANE.
The median age of these children was 5, and about 3 out of 4 were previously healthy. Importantly, just 16% of those for whom vaccination history was available had received the flu vaccine that season.
All these patients became very ill, and all developed encephalopathy, or altered brain function. Sixty-eight percent had seizures. Most had abnormalities in their platelet count, liver enzymes and spinal fluid composition.
Most patients received a combination of therapies, including steroids and immunoglobulins. Out of 41 patients in the analysis, 11 died. The median period between symptom onset and death was just three days; most of the children who died had such severe brain swelling that the pressure forced the brain downward, crushing vital areas that control breathing and heart function.
All but one of the children who died had not received the latest flu vaccine. Among the survivors included in the analysis, 63% had at least moderate disability.
The first takeaway for me is that ANE, while rare, is extremely serious, with high morbidity and mortality. It can be deadly within a short period of time, which means prompt diagnosis and treatment are essential. Second, most children with ANE were previously healthy. Third, while some vaccinated children also became ill, most of those with ANE and nearly all of those who died had not received the flu vaccine that season.
CNN: How can ANE be prevented?
Wen: It is not known why most people who contract flu never develop ANE, but some do. It’s also not known whether there is anything that can be done once someone contracts the flu to prevent ANE.
What is known is that getting the flu vaccine reduces the chance of contracting the flu and of becoming severely ill as a result. This JAMA study also suggests that vaccination reduces the likelihood of developing ANE and of dying from it. The article and an accompanying editorial emphasize the importance of everyone being up-to-date with the flu vaccine.
CNN: What else should parents and families know ahead of the next flu season?
Wen: Influenza is a common illness that can have serious complications, including in previously healthy individuals. Getting the flu vaccine is helpful both for reducing the chance of contracting the flu and for lowering the likelihood of developing complications. The CDC recommends the flu vaccine for virtually everyone 6 months and older. Parents should be sure that their children receive the flu vaccine in the fall and that they and others in the family are vaccinated, too.
Of course, flu is not the only contagious respiratory illness that can spread in fall and winter months. It’s important for people who have fever and active respiratory symptoms to stay away from others, especially those most vulnerable to severe illness. Good hand hygiene can lower the risk of spreading contagious diseases, as can taking precautions like masking in indoor crowded settings.
COVID-19 rates in the Southwestern United States reached 12.5% — the highest in the nation — according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County recorded the highest COVID levels in its wastewater since February.
The spike, thanks to the new highly contagious “Stratus” variant, comes as students across California return to the classroom, now without a CDC recommendation that they receive updated COVID shots. That change in policy, pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been criticized by many public health experts.
The COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, mutates often, learning to better transmit itself from person to person and evade immunity created by vaccinations and previous infections.
The Stratus variant, first detected in Asia in January, reached the U.S. in March and became the predominant strain by the end of June. It now accounts for two-thirds of virus variants detected in wastewater in the U.S., according to the CDC.
The nationwide COVID positivity rate hit 9% in early August, surpassing the January post-holiday surge, but still below last August’s spike to 18%. Weekly deaths, a metric that lags behind positivity rates, has so far remained low.
In May, RFK Jr. announced the CDC had removed the COVID vaccine from its recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and healthy pregnant women.
The secretary argued it was the right move to reverse the Biden administration’s policy, which in 2024, “urged healthy children to get yet another COVID shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.”
That statement promptly spurred a lawsuit from a group of leading medical organizations — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Assn. — which argued the “baseless and uninformed” decision violated federal law by failing to ground the policy on the recommendation of the scientific committee that looks at immunization practices in the U.S.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has been routinely recommending updated COVID vaccinations alongside the typical yearly flu vaccination schedule. In its update for the fall 2024-spring 2025 season, it noted that in the previous year, a COVID booster decreased the risk of hospitalization by 44% and death by 23%.
The panel argued the benefit outweighed isolated cases of heart conditions and allergic reactions associated with the vaccine.
The panel also acknowledged that booster effectiveness decreases as new COVID strains — for which the boosters were not designed — emerge. Nevertheless, it still felt that most Americans should get booster shots.
The CDC estimates that only about 23% of adults and 13% of children received the 2024-25 COVID booster — even with the vaccine recommendation still in place. That’s compared to roughly half of adults and children who received the updated flu shot in the same time frame.
House Republicans grilled former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic amid fresh claims that the Democrat has tried to deflect responsibility for a policy they claim contributed to a high rate of deaths in nursing homes.
Members of the Republican-controlled Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic peppered Cuomo with questions for hours about a controversial directive issued by his administration in the early days of the pandemic that required nursing homes and long-term care facilities in New York to admit COVID-19-positive patients.
Lawmakers accused Cuomo of ignoring the science on infectious controls in nursing home settings and federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare guidance that conflicted with his directive.
“Your directive was not consistent with federal guidance nor consistent with medical doctrine,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, committee’s chairman, said in opening remarks. “You do not put highly contagious patients vulnerable with vulnerable patients, subject to infection, or in this case, death.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, the panel released a memo claiming it has new evidence from testimony that Cuomo and his team “made a deliberate decision to exclude scientifically significant nursing home-related COVID-19 deaths from mortality rates” and “heavily edited” New York State Department of Health documents “to shift blame away from Mr. Cuomo and his team.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said the report’s findings show that Cuomo tried to cover up his involvement in a “fatal order” that led to the death of “vulnerable seniors” in nursing homes and got into a heated exchange with the former governor after calling on him to apologize to the families who lost loved ones in nursing homes during the pandemic.
“This is about the seniors. There are families sitting here today,” she said. “I want you to turn around, look them in the eye and apologize, which you have failed to do. Will you do it?”
Other GOP lawmakers criticized Cuomo for showing a lack of empathy about his responsibility for policies that they claimed contributed to a high rate of COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities.
“You’ve shown no remorse, no responsibility for the actions of your administration,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said in remarks. “That’s simply not leadership.”
Cuomo, a Democrat who stepped down from office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, defended himself before the House panel and blasted GOP members for conducting a “partisan” investigation.
He pointed the blame for the high number of COVID-19 deaths nationwide on then-President Donald Trump, whom he claimed “willfully deceived the American people” during the pandemic.
“His lies and denials delayed our response, let the virus spread, and this country never caught up,” Cuomo said in his fiery opening remarks. “And this subcommittee, run by Republicans, repeats the Trump lies and deceptions.”
Democrats on the committee, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., came to Cuomo’s defense during Tuesday’s overnight grilling and also sought to focus the blame on Trump’s response to the pandemic.
The March 25 directive required nursing homes to begin accepting “medically stable” patients recovering from COVID-19 in 2020 as they were discharged from hospitals. It was rescinded after several weeks, but Cuomo was widely criticized for contributing to the high death toll in the state’s long-term care facilities.
More than 80,000 New Yorkers died of COVID-19 from the beginning of the pandemic to May 2023, including 15,000 nursing home residents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cuomo pointed out that the U.S. Department of Justice investigated whether Cuomo’s policy violated residents’ civil rights in New York’s nursing homes and found no wrongdoing. He also noted a probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which was later abandoned. He said both investigations determined that New York’s directive was in line with federal health policies that were in place at the time.
“In addition, this report provides no evidence to support President Trump’s main allegations, repeated over three years, that New York’s guidance killed thousands in nursing homes,” he said. “All credible studies now say that Covid came into nursing homes through community spread, not infected hospital admissions or re-admissions. The numbers don’t lie.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday morning she has tested positive for COVID-19.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday morning she has tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement posted on X, Bowser said she will be following all public health guidelines, adding that she will miss the first day of school for pre-K students.
“I’m disappointed to not be able to celebrate the first day of Pre-K with our littlest learners,” she said.
Yesterday, I tested positive for COVID-19.
I’m disappointed to not be able to celebrate the first day of Pre-K with our littlest learners. I will continue to follow public health guidelines.
Bowser’s sister Mercia died in 2021 from complications linked to COVID-19.
Although deaths and serious infections have dropped dramatically since the height of the pandemic, COVID-19 hospitalizations slightly crept up during the summer. As a result, the U.S. Health and Human Services plans to allow Americans to order free virus test kits to be mailed to their homes, starting in late September.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
