Report finds Black children hurt the most by COVID
The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on Black and other children of color, leading to higher rates of severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths caused by social and economic factors, a new report finds.
The report was released Monday by the Black Coalition Against COVID in partnership with the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, along with other historically Black medical schools and Black health care organizations. It was inspired by the widespread belief that children were not as susceptible to COVID-19.
Since the pandemic began, children account for over 18% of COVID-19 cases, with more than 14 million positive tests from children. Researchers believe this number is likely to be an undercount because testing was not available for children until May 2020 and they were tested less often than adults because they were believed to be at lower risk for infection.
According to the report, 1,556 children have lost their lives to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Compared with white children, Black children died 2.7 times more often than white children, according to the report, and were hospitalized 2.2 times more often than white children, something that vaccination status had a direct impact on.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
6 bodies and 154 cremated remains were stored in California warehouse, authorities say
HAYWARD, Calif. — The bodies of six people and the cremated remains of 154 others were recovered earlier this month from a former crematorium that had its license suspended five years ago, authorities said. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office in a statement said it is seeking help in reuniting one of the bodies and the 154 cremated remains with their families.
The remains were associated with Oceanview Cremations. Sheriff's Office spokeperson Lt. Tya Modeste said the business' license was suspended in March 2018 but that the bodies it is trying to reunite with families came to the business between 2013 and 2021.
Modeste said the bodies and remains were kept at a warehouse that was unauthorized to store remains. Five of the six non-cremated bodies were identified. Five were from Alameda County and the sixth from Sonoma County, she said. All six died between 2020 and 2021.
Authorities could not identify one of them, because Oceanview Cremations owner Robert Smith was unable to produce any viable information about the location of death or the next of kin, Modeste said.
—East Bay Times
Federal lawmakers call for travel advisory about fentanyl in pills at Mexican pharmacies
Congressional lawmakers are calling on the State Department to issue a travel advisory warning Americans that some Mexican pharmacies are passing off counterfeit pills made of fentanyl and methamphetamine as legitimate pharmaceuticals.
U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. David Trone, D-Md., sent a letter Friday to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken urging the department to immediately “warn Americans traveling to Mexico of the danger they face when purchasing pills from Mexican pharmacies.”
In explaining the need for such a high-profile warning, the letter repeatedly cited an investigation by the Los Angeles Times as well as a study by UCLA researchers — both of which found dangerous counterfeit pills being sold over the counter at pharmacies in northwestern Mexico.
“U.S. tourists who unwittingly purchase counterfeit pills from Mexican pharmacies — both with and without a prescription, according to the Los Angeles Times — face deadly risks from medications that have effectively been poisoned,” the letter said.
—Los Angeles Times
Iran’s judiciary says it pardoned 22,000 jailed protesters
Iran’s judiciary said it pardoned some 22,000 people arrested in widespread anti-government protests that erupted last September.
They are among some 82,000 people who were part of a prisoner amnesty announced last month by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, said in a statement on the state-run Mizan Online.
The pardons do not include protesters who have been accused or convicted of violent crimes, the statement added.
Iran has so far executed four people arrested for taking part in the protests that were triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who’d been detained for allegedly violating Islamic dress codes.
—Bloomberg News
