Pandemic-related paid sick days and leave to expire Dec. 31 with no extension in sight
Like tens of millions of other parents nationwide, Jonathan and Sara Sadowski struggle to assist their four children, ages 5 to 11, with their online schooling at home. In addition, their eldest child, who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, needs special care.
So to help the kids and keep them safe especially their oldest child Jonathan opted to take 12 weeks of paid leave from his teaching job under a program authorized by an emergency federal law enacted in March. Qualifying for paid leave was a huge relief and has worked out really well, said Jonathan, who lives in Concord, New Hampshire.
COVID-19 pandemic paid sick leave program expires Dec. 31 if Congress doesn’t act
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
Posted Dec 18, 2020
This week, negotiations between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Republica leaders have intensified on a compromise bill that extends some of the expiring measures. But an extension of paid sick days and paid leave is not included in that bill.AP
Facebook Share
By Steven Findlay, Kaiser Health News
Like tens of millions of other parents nationwide, Jonathan and Sara Sadowski struggle to assist their four children, ages 5 to 11, with their online schooling at home. In addition, their eldest child, who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, needs special care.
Alex Marquez, of South Boston, was walking in Quincy Center on Tuesday, and said he will not take the vaccine when it becomes available. It s too soon, he said. I m not too sure about it yet. It s way too early.
Marquez said medicines are taken off the market all the time when side effects surface after wide release. If you take this, and there are long-term side effects, it s way too early to know, Marquez said.
He said he is open to taking the vaccine later on, but he wants to play it by ear.
Marquez is not alone in his hesitance to take the COVID-19 vaccine. A recent survey of nearly 2,000 adults published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open found Americans’ willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine was most linked to vaccine efficacy, adverse effects and duration of protection.
The effect of vaccination on the spread of COVID-19 disease
Researchers from Cornell University, USA, have modeled the effect of vaccination on the spread of COVID-19 disease. They suggest that vaccinating healthcare workers first followed by people who have many social interactions, such as grocers and airline cabin crew, will help reduce transmission. The research is published on the preprint server
medRxiv , prior to peer review.
Vaccines have been an essential strategy in the fight against COVID-19 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Many vaccine candidates have been developed, with one receiving emergency use authorization and several others close to receiving authorization.