Viewpoints: A Very Curious Thing Happened At Biden’s News Conference; NY Must End Solitary Confinement

The Washington Post: Biden Didn’t Get Any Questions On Covid-19. That’s A Compliment.
In the tradition of most modern chief executives, Joe Biden arrived at his first formal presidential news conference with a nugget to announce: He was doubling his initial goal and would assure that 200 million coronavirus vaccine shots would be administered to the American public in his first 100 days in office. So it was perhaps odd that the president got no questions from reporters about the pandemic that in the past year has killed nearly 550,000 Americans, devastated the economy and upended just about every aspect of daily life in this country. (Karen Tumulty, 3/25)

Stat: Shattering The Infertility Myth About Covid-19 Vaccines 
During trying times, myths and falsehoods sprout like mushrooms after rainfall. One of many that has emerged so far during the Covid-19 pandemic is that vaccines against the disease will cause infertility in women. It won’t. The likely origin of this myth is a letter sent to the European Medicines Agency (the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) by two European anti-vaccination propagandists. They erroneously claimed that the “vaccine contains a spike protein called syncytin-1 [that is] vital for the human placenta in women.” (Eve C. Feinberg, 3/25)

Houston Chronicle: We Need An Operation Warp Speed For Underlying Causes Of Health Disparities
Disparities in COVID-19 infections have brought to light what many have known all along: there is no equity in health in the United States. Notice I did not say health care. It is true, there is a lack of equity in health care as well. Five million Texans do not have health care coverage, and that number is bound to grow as businesses close and people lose their jobs — and health insurance. However, watching COVID infections ravage communities of color, sometimes devastating several generations in a single family, it is obvious that COVID-19 found an easier place to take hold in certain populations than in others. (Ann Barnes, 3/26)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Debate Has Changed On The Obama Health Law
This week marked 11 years since Barack Obama signed his signature health overhaul into law. And despite years of loud protests from Republicans, the Obamacare system only seems to be taking deeper root. That was borne out at a Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill, as a U.S. House committee focused on ways to improve the current system. Instead of familiar promises to ‘repeal and replace’ the Obama health law, some GOP lawmakers used the hearing to try to figure out how best to refine and improve it. (Jamie Dupree, 3/25)

Also —

The New York Times: Governor Cuomo, End Long-Term Solitary Confinement 
The State of New York stands poised to overhaul the use of solitary confinement in its prisons and jails — a practice widely recognized as inhumane, arbitrary and counterproductive. Last week, state legislators passed the HALT (Humane Alternatives to Long-Term) Solitary Confinement Act, aimed at restricting the conditions under which inmates are held in isolation, including limiting confinement to no more than 15 consecutive days. The bill passed both the Senate and the Assembly with a supermajority of support and now awaits action by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He should move promptly to sign the reforms into law. The new restrictions would take effect a year after the bill becomes law. (3/25)

The New York Times: I Survived 18 Years In Solitary Confinement 
Imagine living alone in a room the size of a freight elevator for almost two decades. As a 15-year-old, I was condemned to long-term solitary confinement in the Florida prison system, which ultimately lasted for 18 consecutive years. From 1992 to 2010. From age 15 to 33. From the end of the George H.W. Bush administration to the beginnings of the Obama era. For 18 years I didn’t have a window in my room to distract myself from the intensity of my confinement. I wasn’t permitted to talk to my fellow prisoners or even to myself. I didn’t have healthy, nutritious food; I was given just enough to not die. (Ian Manuel, 3/25)