3rd Alaska hospital to ration care as COVID-19 rate spikes
Three Alaska hospitals have now instituted crisis protocols that would allow them to ration care if needed as the state recorded the worst COVID-19 diagnosis rates in the U.S. in recent days.
According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, one person in every 84 in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to 29. The next highest rate was one in every 164 people in West Virginia.
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital activated the protocol Friday because of a critical shortage of bed capacity and staffing, along with the inability to transfer patients to other facilities. Two other Alaska hospitals, in Anchorage and Bethel, have invoked the same protocol.
Fairbanks Chief Medical Officer Dr. Angelique Ramirez said the decision to move to crisis standards was because of many factors, including community spread caused by the low vaccination rates and a high number of patients waiting to be admitted.
Statewide, 60% of eligible Alaskans are fully vaccinated. The Fairbanks North Star Borough is the thirdworst region for vaccination rates in Alaska, with just under 52% of eligible residents vaccinated.
Britain extending truckers’ visas amid shortage:
Britain’s government, under increasing pressure to ease a truck driver shortage and supply-chain issues that have left many supermarket shelves depleted and gas pumps dry, said Saturday that it was extending the temporary visas being offered to thousands of foreign truck drivers into next year.
It also said that military tanker truck drivers would be deployed across the country Monday to help deliver gas to gas stations.
The government’s announcement a week ago that foreign truck drivers and poultry workers would be allowed to work in Britain for three months — an effort to tide the country over through Christmas — drew criticism from British business leaders and the public. Ruby McGregor-Smith, the president of the British Chambers of Commerce, compared the move to “throwing a thimble of water on a bonfire.”
Now, 300 foreign tanker truck drivers will be allowed to arrive immediately and will be permitted to work in the country until the end of March, the government said Saturday. In addition, it said, 4,700 food haulage drivers would be allowed to arrive from late October and stay until the end of February.
Long lines formed at gas stations across London and other parts of Britain this past week as motorists resorted to panic buying after some stations ran out of fuel. But unlike the widespread shortages that resulted from an OPEC oil embargo in the 1970s, this time the problem has been a dearth of trained drivers rather than a lack of fuel itself.
The country has a shortage of up to 100,000 truck drivers, according to the Road Haulage Association. About 20% of those are drivers who left Britain after it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.
Senate OKs bill ending some furloughs:
The Senate met briefly on Saturday to send a bill to President Joe Biden reviving key transportation programs that had lapsed two days earlier and bringing back nearly 4,000 furloughed workers.
The rare weekend session was necessary because Congress did not address expiring transportation programs when it passed legislation Thursday to avert a government shutdown. Those reauthorizations had been included in a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that had been scheduled for a vote on the same day but never came up amid deep divisions among congressional Democrats over the measure.
Senators approved by unanimous consent a motion from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and the chairman of the Finance Committee, to extend the expiring transportation programs for 30 days and end the furloughs of 3,700 workers. The stopgap bill, which the House passed on Friday by a vote of 365-51, would extend the programs through Oct. 31.
It now heads to Biden, who is expected to sign it.
Philippine president to retire: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday announced he was retiring from politics and dropping plans to run for vice president in elections next year, when his term ends, paving the way for his politician daughter to make a possible bid for the top post.
Speaking before reporters, Duterte said many Filipinos have expressed their opposition to his vice-presidential bid in surveys and public forums.
“The overwhelming sentiment of the Filipino is that I’m not qualified, and it would be a violation of the constitution,” Duterte said. “I will follow what you wish, and today I announce my retirement from politics.”
The 76-year-old leader, known for his deadly antidrugs crackdown, brash rhetoric and unorthodox political style, earlier accepted the ruling party’s nomination for him to seek the vice presidency in the May 9 elections. The decision outraged many of his opponents, who have described him as a human rights calamity in an Asian bastion of democracy.
Philippine presidents are limited by the constitution to a single six-year term, and opponents had said they would question the legality of Duterte’s announced vice presidential run before the Supreme Court if he pursued it.
Trump tries to force Twitter to let him back:
Former President Donald Trump has asked a federal judge in Florida to force Twitter to restore his account, which the company suspended in January following the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s attorneys on Friday filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Miami seeking a preliminary injunction against Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey. They argue that Twitter is censoring Trump in violation of his First Amendment rights, according to the motion. Twitter declined to comment Saturday on Trump’s filing.
The company permanently banned Trump from its platform days after his followers violently stormed the Capitol building to try to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win. Twitter cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence.
Clashes in Yemen kill at least 10:
Clashes between Yemeni separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates and a rival splinter group in the southern port city of Aden killed at least 10 people including four civilians on Saturday, security officials said.
The fighting has taken place in Aden’s residential neighborhood of Crater, where the presidential palace and other government buildings are located, they said.