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Show Covid Deaths, Omicron, Vaccinations, the Economy, and Law News To: Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner Date: June 14, 2022 From: S.J. Quinney College of Law Career Development Office Covid Cases and Deaths, Omicron, and Vaccinations The U.S. has exceeded one million official Covid deaths. As of June 13th, the U.S. had 85.6 million officially reported Covid cases resulting in 1,008,000 officially reported Covid deaths since February 29, 2020. As of June 13th, the U.S. was averaging 109,500 new Covid cases a day (up from a week ago) and 370 new Covid deaths per day (up from a week ago). Respiratory viruses that cause flu and the common cold typically surge during the fall and winter but have been unexpectedly sending children to the hospital in the spring and summer instead. Last month, children were admitted to the Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital with one or more of a range of seven respiratory viruses, including coronavirus. Some children were coinfected with two viruses and a few with three. Typically flu and cold viruses are seen in winter months, not in May. Doctors don’t yet know what is causing this very surprising viral aseasonality. The extraordinary measures people took to contain the coronavirus during the pandemic – like working from home and mask wearing and social distancing in public – also limited their exposure to common viruses. Now most people don’t wear masks and have resumed gathering in large groups indoors; they are now exposed to common viruses for the first time in nearly two years. The coronavirus is evolving to be more like respiratory viruses that cause the common cold, which can reinfect Americans every year, again and again. The Omicron BA.2 subvariant is increasing Covid infections, even among those who are fully vaccinated and boosted, and is increasing reinfections among those who previously had Covid. Fortunately, Covid reinfection cases rarely cause hospitalization and death. People can reduce the risk of exposure to the Omicron BA.2 subvariant by mask wearing indoors and in crowded outdoor spaces, social distancing, and better ventilation. After the Covid pandemic, more parents are refusing to get their children vaccinated for typical childhood diseases like measles and chickenpox. Some parents are even refusing boosters of the same shots they unquestionably accepted for their children before the pandemic. Rampant misinformation and disinformation about coronavirus vaccines has begun to taint some parents’ views of long-established vaccines. • • • • Disinformation – deliberately fabricated falsehoods and half-truths – quickly becomes misinformation – incorrect information passed along unwittingly. Political polarization about getting vaccinated against Covid has made some parents become anti-science, vaccine hesitant, vaccine skeptical, and even anti-vaccines. There also has been an erosion of confidence in medical expertise generally. On right-wing cable news and in social media, fake stories, bad information, and conspiracy theories get stuck in some parents’ minds, and they get confused. • • • • • • • The bogus story published in Britain in 1998 in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet proposed a link between the MMR vaccine given to two-year-old children and regressive autism prompted a wave of fear among some parents about vaccines that continues to this day. Although 10 of the 12 co-authors later issued a retraction, one of the authors continues to contend that vaccines are dangerous. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the assassinated senator, leads an anti-vaccine movement that once believed thimerosal, a mercury-laden preservative used in some flu vaccines, was damaging children’s brains and causing an “autism epidemic” but now contends that vaccine mandates are a form of totalitarian oppression of parental rights. Other media personalities, like Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, have publicly claimed that childhood vaccines cause autism. There also is a financial incentive to purvey vaccine misinformation. Certain doctors, for a fee, “sell” medical vaccine exemptions to parents who want to avoid vaccine mandates. Some anti-vaccine doctors also have websites where they sell supplements, merchandise, and books they have written. And many best-selling anti-vaccine books are sold on Amazon. Some wealthy conservatives have funded anti-vaccine organizations. Some vaccines do cause exceedingly-rare “adverse events” (e.g., as many as three in a million recipients of the flu vaccine get Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is less than the likelihood of being struck by lightning). These adverse events are trumpeted by vaccine opponents as proof of their beliefs. School vaccine mandates for vaccine-preventable childhood diseases (like polio and measles) have started to come under attack in some state legislatures. The FDA has deemed the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to be safe for children under 5. Independent advisers will evaluate the data and decide whether to recommend authorizing the shot for the only age group that does not yet have access to a vaccine. An NIH-sponsored clinical trial found no benefit from the anti-parasite drug ivermectin in lowering the risk of hospitalization or death from Covid disease. The Economy The national average price of gasoline reached $5 a gallon on June 10th and inflation in May was 6.8%, the highest in 40 years. Some analysts predict nationwide gas prices will average $6 a gallon by the end of this summer and will continue to increase because: • • • More Americans are taking car-trip vacations this summer. As the Covid-lockdown lifts in Chinese cities, auto travel will increase there. The European Union’s ban on Russian oil takes effect at the end of the year, which will further reduce the world supply of crude oil. High energy prices, high inflation, and higher interest rates have combined to caused Silicon Valley tech companies to lay off workers and slow investments, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index is down more than 35% from a year ago. Silicon Valley venture capitalists and CEOs are warning of a coming recession in high tech. 2 U.S. stock markets continued their sharp decline yesterday: the Nasdaq index fell another 4.7%, the S&P 500 fell 3.9%, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.8%. The Federal Reserve board is scheduled to meet today and tomorrow, and it is expected to raise interest rates as it tries to drive down inflation. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage reached 5% today; it was at 3% a year ago. JPMorgan Chase suggested today that the Fed might aggressively raise interest rates by 75 or more basis points this week. There are concerns the entire U.S. economy could slip into a recession as a result. This year the Fed is on track to raise interest rates four more times after this week’s increase. High energy prices and high inflation hit almost every segment of the American economy, driving up costs for most companies, which have passed these costs on to consumers by charging higher prices. This is top-of-mind for many American families which poses a political threat to the Biden administration before this fall’s midterm elections. And the White House has very few tools to bring down energy prices and reduce inflation. The administration’s decision to permit sale this summer of gasoline containing ethanol will in fact increase air pollution, and the U.S. has decided to try to repair relations with Saudi Arabia, a country which candidate Biden called a “pariah” state. Black Americans have been hit harder than other Americans by rising inflation, which is diminishing their buying power. A poll of 1,200 Black Americans showed they were concerned about the affordability of gasoline (79%), housing (75%), and groceries (66%). Only a third of Black adults have an emergency fund, compared with over half of adults overall. In 2020, 22% of Black households faced food insecurity, compared to 11% of all U.S. households. Law News In Big Law, the gender gap widens as women lawyers move from associate to partner. One female lawyer who left a large firm said law firms need to bring more objectivity into how they evaluate lawyers, including using outside auditors to ward off implicit bias against women partners in compensation. The gender-based pay gap widens as lawyers climb the ranks at large firms, with women still struggling to get full credit for their work and being sidelined for having children. Women made up nearly half (48%) of law firm associates in 2021. And male and female associates in large firms are compensated in lockstep fashion based on class year. But as women move up as associates and decide to have children, they often get “Mommy tracked” and get taken off the partnership track. They also get fewer opportunities to work on big cases or get face time with important clients. The pyramid structure of many law firms not only means fewer women partners, but also even fewer women in leadership roles, including who determines partner compensation. The “equity” in DEI should include pay equity for women lawyers. The following chart shows the percentage of women in law firm leadership roles: 3 4 |
