Deseret News
- Why old tech tools are better at curbing loneliness in a pandemic – Phone calls and email beat out video chats for making people feel better, new study finds. Interesting!
- The danger of trading religion for politics – Americans are increasingly becoming ‘religious without religion’ — replacing faith with politics.
- Words of wisdom from Greg McKeown – The author of ‘Essentialism’ wants you to cut the word ‘priorities’ out of your life.
- Utah officials push ‘unprecedented’ campaign to reduce Latino suicide rates –
- Utah’s Hispanic population suffers disproportionately higher suicide, depression rates; Cox urges Latinos ‘¡Tienes el poder de salvar una vida!’
- What Utah officials told Pennsylvania about conducting elections – Justin Lee, Utah elections director, and longtime Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen explained the intricacies of the state’s election process, including how the vast majority of Utahns now vote by mail.
- Don’t ‘indulge in high-risk behavior’ even after getting COVID-19 vaccine, doctor warns – “Just because you’re vaccinated, with the level of transmission we’re having now, I would not be going to a bar for example. Or a restaurant with large numbers of people operating at high capacity,” he said, or to a movie theater without a mask.
- Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz just joined this conservative think tank – The Utah Republican has joined a group co-founded by author Peter Schweizer and Steve Bannon.
Salt Lake Tribune
- University of Utah study seeks health care workers and frontline employees who haven’t had the COVID-19 vaccine yet – Those who take part in 9-month study will be compensated up to $400.
- Exclusive: How the Utah Jazz got involved in the debate over the transgender sports bill – Jazz owner Ryan Smith reportedly said the legislation was not ready.
- Utahns impacted by COVID-19 can now apply online for rental assistance – Renters can request help paying for past-due rent, security deposits and utility bills.
Other
- Micron to put Utah computer chip factory up for sale as it shifts strategy (KSL) – Low demand means Micron cannot scale up manufacturing to a high enough volume to justify the costs of continuing to develop the chips.
- New greenhouse at Windridge Elementary supports hands-on learning (Standard-Examiner) – Although Friday was a day they typically spend learning from home, students flocked to the school to participate in the grand opening of their new greenhouse.
COVID Corner
- Utah reports almost 500 new cases of COVID-19 and five more deaths (Salt Lake Tribune) – After a nine-month low, number of new cases returns to plateau.
- Trump touts Covid-19 vaccine safety amid skepticism from Republicans (NBC News) – “I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly,” Trump said on Fox News, praising what he called “a great vaccine.”
- CDC identifies public-health guidance from the Trump administration that downplayed pandemic severity (Washington Post) – The analysis was done to promote public trust and ensure that the agency’s coronavirus guidance ‘is evidence-based and free of politics,’ a memo says.
- Covid-19: Moderna Begins Testing Its Vaccine in Children (New York Times) – will test its Covid vaccine in children under 12, including babies as young as six months, the company said on Tuesday. The study is expected to enroll 6,750 healthy children in the United States and Canada.
- ‘It’s easy to scare people’: Europe’s decision to pull AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine threatens global COVID-19 recovery efforts, US experts say (USA Today) – “While it’s easy to scare people, it’s very hard to unscare them.”
- Israeli study: Babies born to vaccinated moms have COVID-fighting antibodies (The Times of Israel) – All 40 infants in Jerusalem research have antibodies, suggesting they are born with immunity to coronavirus, according to Hadassah doctors.
- ‘Fully vaccinated’ hugs: The many benefits of embracing loved ones (Yahoo! News) – “We are fundamentally a people who want to be with others. To talk, to laugh, to hug, to hold one another.”