May 4, 2021

Intro: Hey everyone, welcome back to What a week!, I’m your host, Olivia Lee, here to deliver your weekly dose of the news. Let’s get started!

In Local News:
https://katu.com/news/local/police-declare-riot-in-downtown-portland-on-may-day
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/05/may-day-demonstrators-gather-for-series-of-portland-events.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/05/portland-police-declare-riot-after-nighttime-may-day-demonstrators-break-downtown-windows.html

This past Saturday, demonstrators gathered for a series of May Day events in Portland, setting out on marches and distributing literature in Peninsula Park. The largest event began near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where about 100 people gathered for a march and car caravan demanding justice for migrant workers. Speakers at the event near OMSI rallied the crowd around themes of the exploitation of migrant workers, anti-U.S. imperialism and standing in solidarity with the working class.  After a day of mostly peaceful protests, demonstrators gathered in downtown Portland Saturday evening for a pair of quote “autonomous” May Day demonstrations that turned violent, causing police to declare a riot following reports of broken windows at multiple businesses.

In-state news:

https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-leads-country-in-covid-19-case-rate

A number of states, once known to be COVID-19 hotspots, such as Florida and Texas, are now seeing a decline in coronavirus cases.  Oregon, a state that has kept cases relatively low throughout the duration of the pandemic, is now the leading state, having the nation’s fastest growing rate of COVID-19 cases. Dr. Peter Graven with OHSU says a big reason for those numbers is primarily due to the fact that Oregonians got ahead of cases early, meaning fewer people were initially infected. Officials also believe this is due to a spike fueled by quote “human behavior,” as well as the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant, which is now the dominant strain in Oregon.

https://www.oregonlive.com/dining/2021/04/what-does-oregons-new-indoor-dining-shutdown-mean-for-restaurants-and-how-long-will-it-last.html

Last Tuesday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced that 15 counties, including most of the Portland metro area minus Washington County, will move to the state’s “extreme risk” category for COVID-19 restrictions. New bans on indoor dining and strict capacity limits on gyms, movie theaters and other businesses were implemented last Friday. This is a significant stepback for many small businesses already struggling to survive. According to Brown, the ramping up of restrictions is necessary in order to keep health care providers from being “stretched to their limits” while dealing with the pandemic’s latest spike. For the 15 affected counties, the ban effective as of last Friday marks the third indoor dining ban since COVID-19 cases first began to rise last year. For counties in the Portland metro area, both the initial shutdown and last winter’s dining “pause” lasted about three months. There is no end date in line yet as to when this ban will end, but modeling by Oregon Health & Science University does indicate that covid cases could peak around May 4th, with hospitalizations starting to fall two weeks later. 

In National News:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/04/27/cdc-guidelines-say-vaccinated-people-dont-need-wear-masks-outside/7395850002/
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/fully-vaccinated-cdc-masks-guidelines

Last week, the CDC released new COVID-19 masking guidelines, allowing fully vaccinated Americans to go without masks in small gatherings and outdoors, except in crowded settings.  The new guidance is intended for people who have met the fully vaccinated benchmark which is at least two weeks after their last vaccine shot. With about 30% of Americans now fully vaccinated, the new masking guidelines had been expected for some time and mark a small milestone for the country emerging from pandemic conditions. Masks should also still be worn when gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one household, and people should still get tested if exposed to someone infected, the CDC said. Under the guidance, fully vaccinated people should also still wear masks and stay 6 feet away from people while in crowds, at larger gatherings, or when visiting with someone at high risk from COVID-19.https://nypost.com/2021/04/30/tsa-extends-mask-mandate-for-planes-public-transit-to-september/Last Friday, the TSA announced that it will be extending the  mask mandate for planes and public transportation in the U.S. through at least September 13th. All US domestic travelers are expected to abide by this mandate regardless of their vaccination status. Children under two years old are exempt as are people with certain disabilities. Everyone else is subject to fines starting at $250 and rising to $1,500 for repeat offenders. Most airlines also ban customers who violate mask rules.

In International News: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/world/middleeast/israel-mount-meron-stampede.html

Last Friday, a stampede at a  mountainside religious celebration in Israel that drew tens of thousands of ultra-orthodox Jews left at least 45 people dead and hundreds injured. According to some estimates, about 100,000 people were crammed together late Thursday to celebrate a holiday on Mount Meron in northern Israel, despite warnings from the authorities about the risk of Covid-19 transmission. The deadly crush began around 1 a.m. on Friday, as celebrants began to pour out of a section of a compound where festivities were being held. The death toll of 45, released later by the Health Ministry, made it one of the worst civilian disasters in Israeli history.

Lastly here is the wildcard news for the week:
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/02/991232213/astronauts-splash-down-in-spacex-dragon-capsule-after-6-months-in-orbit
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/science/spacex-nasa-landing.html

Four astronauts who've spent the past six months aboard the International Space Station as part of the first operational mission of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule are back on Earth after splashing down safely last Saturday in the Gulf of Mexic...