News Room

When it comes to COVID-19, what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. Las Vegas casinos reopened June 4, and they have become a likely hotbed for the spread of the novel coronavirus, public health experts said. But if tourists return home and then test positive for COVID-19, the limitations of contact tracing in the midst of a pandemic make it unlikely such an outbreak would be identified.

A vaccine for the coronavirus that causes covid-19 appears to be our best strategy to ending the current pandemic. Unfortunately, the fastest time frame in which scientists have managed to create any vaccine in history was four years, and there’s already plenty of skepticism surrounding the safety, availability, and effectiveness of any future covid-19 inoculation. So let’s go over the most pressing questions.

Thank you very much for the excellent article, “Get your flu shot!” Aug. 16, page A1, with the interview with Dr. Mark Kenton, who is urging that we get a flu shot this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I agree that this is imperative not only for our community’s health but also to try to limit the demands for healthcare resources during what will certainly be very challenging fall and winter seasons with students returning to our towns and with still many unknowns about the coronavirus.

Governors, please take a step back. It is time for mayors and city officials in your largest cities to assume full authority for managing the COVID-19 response in their communities. The very public battle between the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta exemplifies how the COVID-19 response has become more about political partisanship than public wellbeing.

Chicago grabbed the headlines in April and May with its surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths. It is relinquishing that dubious distinction to small cities and rural areas. Based on Illinois Department of Public Health data, since August 1, 29% of new state-wide cases have been in small cities and rural areas (those outside of the Chicago metropolitan area and the two primary Illinois counties east of St. Louis). For deaths, this number jumps to over 38%.