The Indianapolis Colts are hoping to get left tackle Eric Fisher back on the field sooner rather than later as he rehabs from a torn Achilles, but recent events have stalled that process.
Fisher was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list last week and is still expected to miss practice time as he quarantines following a positive test. Though asymptomatic, Fisher still has to quarantine for 10 days from the test, which was Aug. 26.
Head coach Frank Reich admitted this is a slight setback when it comes to getting back on the field.
Its a stinking shame because man I really think he was tracking. I really think he was tracking. I think hes doing really well. I think this is a little bump in the road for him not for his recovery but just as far as timetable. But you never know, Reich told reporters Sunday. Were going to keep every option open but just logically speaking, you have to say that this is a little bit of a bump in the road as far as timing, but hes at a good spot physically as far as his Achilles is concerned.
Whats encouraging is that this really just pushes the timetable back and shouldnt have an impact on his ability to pick up where he left off in rehabbing the Achilles.
That said, the time away from the team will provide a difficult challenge for Fisher and the medical team. Hes seemingly close to returning, but this positive test will push that timetable back a bit. Fisher has spent the entirety of training camp and the preseason on the PUP list.
In the meantime, the Colts will roll with Julin Davenport as their starting left tackle. The team placed Sam Tevi on the injured reserve list following a torn ACL while they also waived Will Holden as a part of the roster cuts ahead of Tuesdays deadline.
You can keep up to date with all the latest cuts with our tracker.
Hopefully, Fisher will be able to return soon from the COVID-19 list and then the PUP list shortly after, but the fact that he has to quarantine certainly pushes the timetable back a bit.
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If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and are at high risk for developing severe COVID-19, you may be eligible for monoclonal antibody treatment, which might prevent you from becoming sicker.
Antibodies are part of our natural defense against viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But they take time for the body to make. Antibodies designed to attack COVID-19 have been developed, and in several studies have been shown to reduce the risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 and hospitalization when given early to people who test positive for COVID-19. This therapy is given as an infusion through an IV at one of the UNC Health infusion centers.
The criteria for patients to be considered for Monoclonal Antibody infusion therapy are:
Monoclonal antibody therapy needs to be given as soon as possible after symptoms start to workideally within 4 days and no longer than seven days.
To find out if you are at high risk and eligible for COVID 19 Monoclonal Antibody infusion therapy, please call the UNC COVID Help Line at 888-850-2684, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., 7 days a week.
Providers outside of UNC Health can also call the Help Line for information about whether patients meet detailed criteria and can be referred to a UNC Health clinic for monoclonal antibody treatment. UNC Health providers should check the intranet resources for treatment criteria and referral information.
The Colorado Board of Health late Monday approved an emergency requirement that all staff of licensed health care facilities in the state be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The move came at the request from Governor Jared Polis who asked that rules be implemented requiring health care facilities, such as hospitals, community medical clinics, hospice care providers and nursing homes, to mandate employees who interact with patients to be vaccinated.
The rule affects about 3,800 facilities across the state, including Valley View, Aspen Valley and Grand River hospitals locally.
About 30% of the states health care workforce remains unvaccinated, according to a news release issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Monday evening.
With the rise in the delta variant and increased stress on the health-care system, ensuring that all workers in licensed health-care facilities are vaccinated is one of the most effective means the state can take to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the most at-risk Coloradans and end this ongoing pandemic, the release stated.
But the decision hasnt come without some pushback, including in Glenwood Springs where about 100 people, including several Valley View Hospital nurses and supporters, gathered outside the hospital and along Grand Avenue to protest the vaccine mandate.
Valley View nurses Ashley Mason and Sydney Borem, who were at the protest, and many of their coworkers whove also chosen for different reasons not to get vaccinated now face the prospect of being fired if they dont.
Were already taking the proper precautions, and we will continue to do so to protect our patients, Mason said of the required use of personal protective equipment in the hospital.
This is about having the choice about what we put in our bodies, she said. It shouldnt be mandated.
Added Borem, As health care professionals, we advise our patients of the risk of vaccines, medications, surgeries, anything, and its their choice whether to proceed. As soon as we sit in that chair, we are no longer an employee, were patients.
The state Health Board ruled that nurses and other health-care workers who interact with patients will be required to obtain a first dose of the vaccine by Sept. 30, though it indicated that date is flexible.
The board is to convene again in October to consider the rule in a regular session, according to the release.
Previously, the state implemented a policy requiring all state employees to verify their vaccination status by Sept. 20 or submit to twice-weekly testing. Now, any Public Health, Department of Corrections or Department of Human Services staff members who interact with vulnerable populations and those living in congregate living settings will be required to get vaccinated.
The board implemented the temporary emergency rule on a 6-1 vote, the Denver Post reported.
During a roughly two-hour public meeting Monday attended virtually by at least 1,000 people, about twice as many people spoke against the mandate as spoke in favor of it, with some health care professionals arguing that vaccination was a personal choice that should not be forced on employees under the threat of losing their jobs, according to the Denver Post article.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more from the protest and reaction from area health care facilities.
Senior Reporter/Post Independent Managing Editor John Stroud can be reached at 970-384-9160 or jstroud@postindependent.com.
zimmytws | iStock | Getty Images
A new report released by the Social Security Administration on Tuesday reveals new estimates of just how much the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the program's already ailing trust funds.
The results show the funds from which the program pays benefits have been "significantly affected" by both the pandemic and the ensuing recession of 2020.
Now, the fund that pays retirement and survivor benefits known as the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will be able to pay full benefits as scheduled only until 2033. That is one year earlier than last year's projections.
At that time, the program will only be able to pay 76% of those scheduled benefits.
The Disability Insurance Trust Fund, meanwhile, will be able to pay benefits until 2057 eight years sooner than last year's estimates. At that time, Social Security will be able to pay 91% of those benefits.
Combined, both trust funds are estimated to be able to pay full benefits as scheduled until 2034, one year earlier than last year's projections, at which point 78% of benefits will be payable.
Notably, last year's projections did not take the effects of Covid-19 into account.
Though the depletion dates have been bumped up sooner, benefits will still be paid once those dates are reached.
In addition, though the cost-of-living adjustment for next year was projected to be 3.1%, that increase will likely be closer to 6% due to recent increases in the Consumer Price Index, senior administration officials said. That is in line with recent estimates.
That would be the highest increase in decades, due to recent price increases in areas like cars and energy. The COLA for this year was 1.3%.
While this report is the first to show the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Social Security, the full effect of persistent inflation likely will not be known until next year's report, said Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
A sustained inflation rate of more than 2% could have a meaningful impact on the program's finances, he said.
Here's a look at more retirement news.
The Aug. 31 release date of the annual Social Security trustees report is also the latest in at least 25 years, Akabas noted. Typically, the report comes out in April, though it has been released later than that in the past.
"It's concerning from that standpoint of wanting to make sure we're keeping a close eye on the program's finances," Akabas said.
While the report's results point to the need to fix the program either through increased taxes, benefit cuts or a combination of both it is unlikely to spur lawmakers to act immediately, Akabas said.
That's because the estimates for the program are not as dire as projected in the immediate aftermath of the onset of Covid-19 last year. Prior to the economic recovery, the Bipartisan Policy Center had projected the trust fund used to pay retirement benefits could run out as soon as 2029 to 2033.
While both doses of the vaccine are needed to develop a peak immune response against the virus, there's also a strong focus on the need for booster shots, or as we move in the future, COVID vaccination becoming an annual affair. The reason? A dip in immunity levels, even with the vaccines.
Although vaccines do generate a strong response against the pathogen, immunity, much like with the natural infection can wane over time, and with vaccines, it has been observed that the dip in protective antibodies could happen as early as 6-9 weeks with some vaccines. If we put this to perspective, it could mean that the ones who have been previously vaccinated, i.e. priority groups who were fully immunized by May, could now record a dip in their immunity levels.
It should be remembered that the diminishing immunity, a concern may not be as steep with everyone, but certain factors such as pre-existing illness and age (which were also eligible conditions to get people to get shots early) can further aggravate the decline. Thus, post the 3-4 month mark after full vaccination, there's a likely risk of waning immunity, which is now scientifically evidenced.
An Ohio judge on Monday ordered a hospital to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin an unproven virus treatment and livestock dewormer going against CDC and FDA recommendations.
Jeffrey Smith, 51, contracted the coronavirus in early July and has been in the intensive care unit on a ventilator at West Chester Hospital in Cincinnati for weeks, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.His wife, Julie Smith, filed a lawsuit against the hospital on Aug. 20, demanding an emergency order for the use of the animal medication in a Butler County court in a last-ditch effort to keep her husband alive as he suffers on deaths doorstep.
On Aug. 23, Butler County Judge Gregory Howard ordered that Dr. Fred Wagshuls prescription of 30 milligrams of ivermectin daily for three weeks be filled, as requested by his wife and his legal guardian.
Ivermectin is approved for both humans and animals, but animal drugs are concentrated at levels that can be highly toxic for humans. The FDA has no data proving ivermectins use as a COVID treatment, and warned Americans they are not livestock amid a rise in poison control calls from people suffering side effects.
Smith was admitted on July 15 to the hospital, where he was moved to the ICU and treated with the hospitals COVID-19 protocol, which included plasma, steroids and doses of remdesivir, an antiviral medication, according to court documents.
On July 27, after a period of relative stability, Jeffreys condition began to decline, the lawsuit says, and Jeffrey became unstable as his oxygen levels dropped. His condition continued to decline and he was sedated, intubated and placed on a ventilator on Aug. 1.
Several subsequent serious infections left Smith with a roughly 30 percent chance of survival by Aug. 20, when he remained on the ventilator in a medically induced coma.
At his point, the Defendant [hospital] has exhausted its course of treatment and COVID-19 protocol in treating Jeffrey, which is unacceptable to Ms. Smith, the lawsuit states.
Jeffrey has been on a ventilator for 19 days, the complaint continues. He is on deaths doorstep; there is no further COVID-19 treatment protocol for the Defendant to offer to Jeffrey; Ms. Smith does not want to see her husband die, and she is doing everything she can to give him a chance.
The lawsuit did not mention whether Jeffrey Smith had been vaccinated, though of the 21,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations since Jan. 1, only 500 patients have been vaccinated, the Capital Journal reported.
The Smiths have been married for 24 years and have three children, according to documents. Jeffrey is an engineer with Verizon.
Julie Smith took it upon herself to get in touch with Wagshul, a leading proponent of ivermectin from Dayton and founder of Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, who wrote the prescription for the drug. However, the hospital refused to administer it to her husband.
Wagshul told the Ohio Capital Journal that there was irrefutable evidence supporting the efficacy of ivermectin against COVID-19, and alleged a conspiracy to block its use by the CDC and FDA to continue its authorization of the available coronavirus vaccines.
If we were a country looking at another country allowing those (COVID-19) deaths daily we would have been screaming, Genocide! he told the paper.
Dr. Leanne Chrisman-Khawam, a physician and professor at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, called the care alliance snake oil salesmen, according to the Capital Journal. She cited several problems in the groups published research.
Based on evidence-based medicine and my read on this large number of small studies, I would find this very suspect, even the positive outcomes, she told the Ohio Capital Journal.
An update on Smiths new treatment has not been revealed by the hospital or Wagshul due to privacy laws, the paper reported.
Sssssseriously?
Getting very ill with COVID-19 is like getting bitten by a poisonous rattlesnake, according to a new medical study.
Researchers including from Stony Brook University on Long Island have identified an enzyme in the coronavirus that ravages the body like the neurotoxins from rattlesnake venom, according to the analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Targeting the enzyme, which causes severe inflammation, could better treat and save the lives of COVID-19 patients amid the virus resurgence with the Delta variant, said the studys scientists from the SUNY school, the University of Arizona and Wake Forest University.
The coronavirus enzyme, sPLA2-II, has similarities to an active enzyme in rattlesnake venom that is typically found in low concentrations in healthy individuals and has long been known to play a critical role in humans defense against bacterial infections, the study says.
But when the same enzyme circulates at high levels, it can shred the membranes of vital organs, said University of Arizonas Floyd Ski Chilton, a senior author of the paper.
The study supports a new therapeutic target to reduce or even prevent COVID-19 mortality, explained co-author Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta of Stony Brooks Renaissance School of Medicine.
Because inhibitors of sPLA2-IIA already exist, our study supports the use of these inhibitors in patients with elevated levels of sPLA2-IIA to reduce, or even prevent, COVID-19 mortality.
Del Poeta said Chilton contacted Stony Brook to analyze blood samples in COVID-19 patients to study the snake venom-type enzyme.
Del Poeta and his team, co-led by him and research assistant Jeehyun Karen You, collected stored blood plasma samples and analyzed medical charts from 127 patients hospitalized at Stony Brook University Hospital between January and July 2020.
A collection of 154 patient samples from Stony Brook and Banner University Medical Center in Tucson between January and November 2020 also were examined.
Our study is especially timely given how the Delta variant is contributing to rising COVID-19 incidence and hospitalization rates both in the US and worldwide, You said.
As of Friday, 55,453 people have died from COVID-19 in New York state, according to data provided to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As the Delta variant makes its way through communities across the country, its crucial we keep doing everything we can to keep each other safe from the COVID virus, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Sunday.
Wear a mask, and, if you havent already, get your vaccine as soon as you can. The vaccine is the best way to protect yourselves and your loved ones.
Hochul and the state Health Department issued a mandate Friday requiring staff and students in public and private schools to wear masks for the new academic year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The DOH last week also approved an emergency rule requiring virtually all 450,000 health care workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other settings to get the coronavirus vaccine or face disciplinary action including getting fired.
Meanwhile, 634,157 people have been killed by the coronavirus throughout the United States.
As a new coronavirus wave accelerated by the Delta variant spreads across the United States, many Republican governors have taken sweeping action to combat what they see as an even more urgent danger posed by the pandemic: the threat to personal freedom.
In Florida, Ron DeSantis has prevented local governments and school districts from enacting mask mandates and battled in court over compliance. In Texas, Greg Abbott has followed a similar playbook, renewing an order last week to ban vaccine mandates.
And in South Dakota, Kristi Noem, who like Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Abbott is a potential 2024 candidate for president, has made her blanket opposition to lockdowns and mandates a key selling point. Arriving by horseback and carrying the American flag, she advertised the states recent Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which drew half a million people, as a beacon of liberty.
Ms. Noem brushed aside criticism from Democrats and public health experts about the gathering, which was followed by a local Covid spike, saying on Fox News that the left was accusing us of embracing death when were just allowing people to make personal choices.
The actions of Republican governors, some of the leading stewards of the countrys response to the virus, reveal how the politics of the partys base have hardened when it comes to curbing Covid. As some Republican-led states, including Florida, confront their most serious outbreaks yet, even rising death totals are being treated as less politically damaging than imposing coronavirus mandates of almost any stripe.
Freedom is good policy and good politics, Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and ally of Mr. Abbotts who has introduced federal legislation to end mask decrees and to forbid federal vaccine passports, said in an interview.
Mr. DeSantis has become a symbolic face of the battle, as President Biden has urged Republican governors opposed to mandates to at least get out of the way. This week, Mr. DeSantiss education commissioner withheld funds from two school districts that made masks mandatory.
Most top Republicans, including every Republican governor, have been vaccinated and have encouraged others to do so. But most have also stopped short of supporting inoculation requirements and have opposed masking requirements.
In many ways, Republican leaders are simply following Republican voters.
Skepticism about masks, vaccines and the rules governing them is increasingly intertwined with the cultural issues that dominate the modern Republican Party. The fear over losing medical freedom has become part of the broader worry that cancel culture is coming for conservatives way of life.
And while opposing pandemic edicts is a limited-government stance, the forceful approach of governors is at odds with the long-held principle of local control, making it the latest Republican Party orthodoxy to be cast aside since the beginning of the Trump era, along with free trade and limited spending.
The intensifying conservative mistrust of the news media and opposition to the directives of elite institutions and experts Dr. Anthony S. Fauci is now so reviled by some that Mr. DeSantis sold merchandise saying Dont Fauci My Florida have cleaved the country into two factions guided by alternative sets of beliefs.
One outlier among Republican governors is Larry Hogan, a moderate who leads Democratic-dominated Maryland. He recently required that hospital and nursing home employees be vaccinated.
Frankly, its confusing to me as to why some of my colleagues are mandating why you cant wear masks, or mandating that businesses cant make their own decisions about vaccines, or mandating that school systems cant make decisions for themselves, Mr. Hogan said in an interview. And then theyre talking about freedom? It just doesnt make sense to me.
The pandemic, public health officials say, is now largely one of the unvaccinated, and the virus is raging particularly in conservative states with far lower inoculation rates and more relaxed attitudes toward group gatherings. Of the 10 states with the most cases per capita in recent days, nine voted Republican in last years presidential race and nine are led by Republican governors, according to The New York Times coronavirus database.
Republican leaders posture, particularly on keeping schools from requiring masks, does not appear popular across the wider electorate. In Florida, a Quinnipiac poll released last week found that 60 percent of residents supported compulsory masks in schools.
But among Republicans, that figure was inverted: 72 percent of Mr. DeSantiss party said they opposed universal masking requirements in schools. The poll showed that a plurality of Republicans in the state also opposed a mask requirement for health care workers, a measure that is popular among independents.
Many Republicans are out on an island by themselves, said Whit Ayres, a veteran G.O.P. pollster. It may be a safe political place for some primary electorates at the moment. But ultimately you have to win a general election.
Aug. 31, 2021, 5:22 p.m. ET
Governors nationwide almost uniformly reject the idea that political considerations have shaped their Covid policies. Politics have played no role, said Ian Fury, a spokesman for Ms. Noem.
The offices of Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Abbott, Ms. Noem and other Republican governors did not make them available for comment. But advisers to multiple Republican governors said the widespread distribution of vaccines had changed the governing calculus when it came to masks and shutdowns. Both Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Abbott have focused on opening antibody treatment sites for those who contract the virus.
As Florida became the first state to reach a new peak in deaths since vaccines became freely available, Mr. DeSantis has remained steadfast in keeping schools from requiring masks without a parental opt-out.
We say unequivocally no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates, Mr. DeSantis said at a conservative conference in July.
These choices by governors carry a range of risks.
One Republican strategist privately lamented, only half-jokingly, that the party was going to kill off part of its own base with its vaccine hesitancy. Former President Donald J. Trump recently told donors at a New York Republican Party fund-raiser that he hoped his supporters would get vaccinated because we need our people, according to two attendees.
Even Mr. Trump is not immune from blowback, however. He received a rare rebuke from his base at an August rally in Alabama after he urged people to get vaccinated. Take the vaccines, he said. I did it. Its good.
Some in the crowd began to jeer; Mr. Trump appeared to soften his stance.
Thats OK, thats all right, he said. You got your freedoms, but I happened to take the vaccine.
Mr. Trumps political operation has clearly assessed where his base stands. FREEDOM PASSPORTS > VACCINE PASSPORTS, read one recent fund-raising text, selling $45 American flag shirts that declare, This is my freedom passport.
UnderstandVaccine and Mask Mandates in the U.S.
In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, saw his partys pushback firsthand on a 16-stop tour to promote vaccination.
Mr. Hutchinson signed a law this spring banning mask mandates, but with cases rising again this month, he said he regretted it. In Siloam Springs, he was pelted with questions from frustrated constituents, including one woman who told him that she had been praying that God himself will step in so that Christians are not forced by their employers and a mandate to get the vaccine.
Yet even if God does not, I will not bow, she said to raucous cheers.
Then there is Ms. Noem, who last month accused other Republican governors of pretending they didnt shut down their states, that they didnt close their regions, that they didnt mandate masks. The remarks were widely interpreted to be aimed at potential 2024 rivals.
Mr. Cruz, who ran for president in 2016 and could again in 2024, predicted a reckoning for politicians, including Republicans, who had embraced pandemic edicts. Theres a range of politicians in terms of how long they shut things down, he said. In my view, the shorter the better. But that will certainly be a legitimate topic for discussion and debate.
Mr. Ayres, the Republican pollster, said that governors trying to control the virus policies of schools, employers and local officials were breaking with years of tradition on free enterprise and local control.
Liberty has never meant the freedom to threaten the health of others, Mr. Ayres said. That is a perversion of the definition of liberty and freedom.
Some governors who imposed mandates and lockdowns last year have even been targeted by state legislators who want to trim their powers.
In Ohio, the G.O.P.-controlled Legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, of legislation that reined in his administrations emergency powers to manage the pandemic. After requiring masks to be worn last year in schools, he has not renewed the order this fall.
Mr. DeWine, who drew national attention for his fast and forceful response to Covid in early 2020, now faces a 2022 primary challenge from Jim Renacci, a former congressman. Mr. Renacci said the governors handling of the virus was a big part of his bid.
He said Mr. DeWine had now gone quiet on mandates because he realizes what he did the first time did not make Republicans happy.
A spokesman for Mr. DeWine said the need for mandates had changed since vaccines became freely available.
The most severe Covid outbreaks have been most concentrated in the South, and the Republican governors of Alabama and Mississippi have largely embraced the no-mandate ethos even as cases have climbed to new heights.
Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi renewed an emergency declaration in mid-August but set clear boundaries: There will be no lockdowns and there will be no statewide mandates, he said.
The same week, two field hospitals were installed in the parking lots of Mississippi medical centers.
Jennifer Medina contributed reporting.
NEW DELHI The coronavirus continues to batter Indias damaged economy, putting growing pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to nurture a nascent recovery and get the country back to work.
The coronavirus, which has struck in two waves, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and at times has brought cities to a halt. Infections and deaths have eased, and the country is returning to work. Economists predict that growth could surge in the second half of the year on paper.
Still, the damage could take years to undo. Economic output was 9.2 percent lower for the April-through-June period this year than what it was for the same period in 2019, according to India Ratings, a credit ratings agency.
The coronavirus has essentially robbed India of much of the momentum it needed to provide jobs for its young and fast-growing work force. It has also exacerbated longer-term problems that were already dragging down growth, such as high debt, a lack of competitiveness with other countries and policy missteps.
Economists are particularly concerned about the slow rate of vaccinations and the possibility of a third wave of the coronavirus, which could prove to be disastrous for any economic recovery.
Vaccination progress remains slow, with just 11 percent of the population fully inoculated so far, Priyanka Kishore, the head of India and Southeast Asia at Oxford Economics, said in a research briefing last week. The firm lowered its growth rate for 2021 to 8.8 percent, from 9.1 percent.
Even growth of 8.8 percent would be a strong number in better times. Compared with the prior year, Indias economy grew 20.1 percent April through June, according to estimates released Tuesday evening by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.
But those comparisons benefit from comparison with Indias dismal performance last year. The economy shrank 7.3 percent last year, when the government shut down the economy to stop a first wave of the coronavirus. That led to big job losses, now among the biggest hurdles holding back growth, experts say.
Real household incomes have fallen further this year, said Mahesh Vyas, the chief executive of the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy. Till this is not repaired, he said, the Indian economy cant bounce back.
At least 3.2 million Indians lost stable, well-paying salaried jobs in July alone, Mr. Vyas estimated. Small traders and daily wage laborers suffered bigger job losses during the lockdowns than others, though they were able to go back to work once the restrictions were lifted, Mr. Vyas said in a report this month.
Aug. 31, 2021, 5:22 p.m. ET
Salaried jobs are not similarly elastic, he said. It is difficult to retrieve a lost salaried job.
About 10 million people have lost such jobs since the beginning of the pandemic, Mr. Vyas said.
Mr. Modis government moved this month to rekindle the economy by selling stakes worth close to $81 billion in state-owned assets like airports, railway stations and stadiums. But economists largely see the policy as a move to generate cash in the short term. It remains to be seen if it will lead to more investment, they say.
The whole idea is that the government will borrow this money from the domestic market, said Devendra Kumar Pant, the chief economist at India Ratings. But what happens if this project goes to a domestic player and he is having to borrow in the domestic market? Your credit demand domestically wont change.
Dr. Pant added that questions remained about how willing private players would be to maintain those assets long term and how the monetization policy would ultimately affect prices for consumers.
UnderstandVaccine and Mask Mandates in the U.S.
In India, things will decay for the worse rather than improve, he said, adding that the costs to users of highways and other infrastructure could go up.
During the second wave in May, Mr. Modi resisted calls by many epidemiologists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to reinstitute a nationwide lockdown.
The lockdowns in 2021 were nowhere near as severe as the nationwide curbs last year, which pushed millions of people out of cities and into rural areas, often on foot because rail and other transportation had been suspended.
Throughout the second wave, core infrastructure projects across the country, which employ millions of domestic migrant workers, were exempted from restrictions. More than 15,000 miles of Indian highway projects, along with rail and city metro improvements, continued.
On Tuesday, Dr. Pant said Indias growth estimates of 20.1 percent for the April-through-June period were nothing but an illusion. Growth contracted so sharply around the same period last year, by a record 24 percent, that even double-digit gains this year would leave the economy behind where it was two years ago.
Economists say India needs to spend, even splurge, to unlock the full potential of its huge low-skilled work force. There is a need for very simple primary health facilities, primary services to deliver nutrition to children, Mr. Vyas said. All these are highly labor intensive jobs, and these are government services largely.
One of the reasons Indian governments typically have not spent in those areas, Mr. Vyas said, is that it has been considered not a sexy thing to do. Another is the governments dogmatic fixation with keeping fiscal deficits in control, he said. The government simply cant rely on private sector alone for creating jobs, Mr. Vyas said.
The only solution, he said, is for the government to spend and spur private investment. You have a de-motivated private sector because there isnt enough demand. Thats whats holding India back.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Irvin Torres, 12, gets his Covid vaccine from MSgt. Colton Shakespear with the Army National Guard. Torres just turned 12 in July and was receiving his second shot. Vaccine shots are the free Pfizer community vaccine clinic hosted by the Utah National Guard in partnership with the Weber Morgan Health Department at the Weber State University Continuing Education Center in Ogden, Aug. 11, 2021.
| Aug. 31, 2021, 7:44 p.m.
Editors note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
More than 1,200 more Utahns tested positive for COVID-19 in the past day and the rolling seven-day average for positive tests stands at 1,274 per day. Thats the highest that number has been since Feb. 2.
The Utah Department of Health reported 1,218 new cases on Monday, and 270 of those cases were among kids in grades K-12. There were 102 cases in children ages 5-10; 65 cases in children 11-13; and 103 cases in children 14-18.
Seven more Utahns died of the coronavirus in the past day. Two of them were under the age of 65, and one was under the age of 45.
The case count is down 361 compared to one week ago (1,579, on Aug. 24). It is 1 times what it was a month ago (787, on July 31), and almost 11 times what it was three months ago (113, on May 31). Six months ago, there were 263 new cases (on Feb. 28); and a year ago, there were 289 new cases (Aug. 31, 2020).
In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 5.1 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a UDOH analysis. The unvaccinated were also six times more likely to be hospitalized, and 5.1 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
An additional 3,570 Utahns were fully vaccinated in the past day, bringing the total to 1,579,076 48.3% of Utahs total population.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered 6,579 / 3,256,308.
Utahns fully vaccinated 1,579,076.
Cases reported in past day 1,218.
Deaths reported in past day Seven.
There were three deaths in Salt Lake County: A woman between the ages of 65-84 and two men 85-plus.
Utah County also reported three deaths: A man 25-44 and two men 65-84.
A Weber County woman 45-64 also died.
Tests reported in past day 9,250 people were tested for the first time. A total of 14,409 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day 485. Thats 20 more than on Monday. Of those currently hospitalized, 186 are in intensive care, eight more than on Monday.
Percentage of positive tests Under the states original method, the rate is 13.2%. Thats lower than the seven-day average of 14.9%.
The states new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Tuesdays rate was 8.5%, lower than the seven-day average of 10.7%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Heres what that means.]
Totals to date 464,422 cases; 2,634 deaths; 20,203 hospitalizations; 3,139,227 people tested.
According to the UDOH, Utah has seen 10,318 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 people who contracted the virus two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated. Thats 0.65% of people who are fully vaccinated.
Only 567 of those people required hospitalization 0.035% of those fully vaccinated. And there have been 52 deaths 0.0033% of those fully vaccinated.
This story is developing and will be updated.
