'I'm Scared': Mother With Health Issues Stares Down Virus 3 Times

ACROSS AMERICA — Maylette Brown's birthday was Friday. She turned 47 years old. She's too young to have funeral arrangements in place, but as the mother of three children and someone with a host of underlying health conditions, she does anyway.

Just in case.

Brown, of Winchester, California, dodged two coronavirus bullets last year.

She wasn't as lucky this year.

Brown has numerous underlying health conditions — asthma, breast cancer, lupus and others. Despite trying hard to avoid it, she tested positive for coronavirus this year.

On Thursday, Brown was home after being in and out of the hospital. She's on oxygen and has a chest port, and two home health caregivers are assigned to her.

Speaking by phone, she coughed and often gasped for air. She also got emotional.

"I'm not going to lie," she told Patch. "I'm scared."

Brown, whose salvation has been her faith, her children, and her neighborhoods, doesn't ask for much. Just prayer — and for people to stop bickering over COVID-19.

"This nation has lost so many people from this virus," she said. "People, stop complaining. Stick together and help each other. We all can do this."

Read the full story by Toni McAllister for Murrieta Patch

The Latest

When the United States' vaccine rollout began, concerns were raised on how those in rural areas might struggle to get access to it. Places like the mostly rural West Virginia were considered likely to struggle.

But the Mountaineer State, to some surprise, has been near the top of the states boasting the strongest vaccine administration rates. 85 percent of the doses the state has received had been administered as of Sunday, NBC News reports, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers.

The state's success can be attributed, in some part, to their decision not to enter into a federal partnership with giants like Walgreens and CVS, and instead rely on local drugstores, according to the report.

Interestingly, North Dakota — another mostly rural state — is the only one ahead of West Virginia in vaccine distribution. In more urban areas, struggles have been apparent.

In Philadelphia, a vaccine scandal has erupted in connection with a 22-year-old's startup company having been given thousands of doses of the vaccine by the city, NPR has reported.

In Los Angeles, the mass vaccination site at Dodger Stadium had to close temporarily on Saturday as anti-vaccine protesters blocked the entrance, the Los Angeles Times reported. People were already waiting in line for hours when faced with the 55-minute delay, the report states.

A post on social media described the demonstration as the “Scamdemic Protest/March,” according to the Times.

“This is a sharing information protest and march against everything COVID, Vaccine, PCR Tests, Lockdowns, Masks, Fauci, Gates, Newsom, China, digital tracking, etc,” the post promoting the protest stated.

No violence was reported at the protest, but many waiting in line were irked.

“This is the wrong message,” German Jaquez, a dentist, told the Times. “I’ve been waiting for weeks to get an appointment... I am taking a big risk being around patients. I want to be safe for my patients and for my family. The vaccine is the only way to beat the virus.”

A day earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order requiring face masks on all public transportation in the U.S., including planes, boats, subways, ferries, taxis, trains and rideshare vehicles. The order takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Monday and will continue indefinitely.

• CDC Issues Order Mandating Masks On All Public Transportation

As President Joe Biden looks to see his proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package move forward, 10 Senate Republicans havesent a letter to the new president looking to negotiate. The Republican's smaller counterproposal calls for $160 billion for vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment and more targeted relief than the president's plan to issue $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans, according to The Associated Press.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman suggested that the checks should be limited to individuals who make no more than $50,000 per year and families who make $100,000 per year.

"My hope is that the president will meet with us and we’ll be able to work out something that is bipartisan,” Portman said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

Talk of more economic relief comes as concerns grow on the possible spread of the more contagious coronavirus variants that have been reported here from South African, the United Kingdom and Brazil.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has updated its forecast on the American coronavirus death toll, increasing it by 25,000 by May as a result of the variants, according to a U.S. News report.

As these new variants emerge, public health experts are calling on Americans to mask up — and mask up again.

The time has come to upgrade the simple cloth masks that have become a staple shield during the pandemic. Now, public health experts are recommending that Americans don a second mask over — or under — the one they already wear. The best combination, according to a Washington Post report, will likely be a fabric mask on top of a surgical mask.

Fauci touted double-masking earlier this week during an appearance on the "Today" show, saying two layers "just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective."

• As Virus Variants Emerge, It’s Time To Double Up On Masks

Also, the World Health Organization has officially changed its guidance for pregnant women considering a COVID-19 vaccine. Previously, the WHO said only expectant mothers who were considered high risk should get the vaccine.

The move came after health experts expressed disappointment with the guidance, The New York Times reported. The experts noted it was inconsistent with guidance issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, while they have not been tested in pregnant women, have not shown any harmful effects in animal studies. And the technology used in the vaccines is generally known to be safe, experts said.

In other vaccine news, Novavax, a little-known, Maryland-based company supported by the U.S. federal government's Operation Warp Speed, confirmed on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine offers robust protection against the virus, The New York Times reported.

But here's the downside: The company has said its vaccine is not as effective against the fast-spreading variant first discovered in South Africa.

The announcement from Novavax comes came just days after Moderna and Pfizer said their vaccines were also less effective against the same variant.

Finally, Johnson & Johnson's one-shot COVID-19 vaccine is just about ready to go out to the public, although research is showing it is less protective than the two-shot alternatives.

Following Phase 3 of the clinical trials of the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, the company's vaccine showed it was 66 percent effective overall in preventing moderate-to-severe COVID-19, 28 days after vaccination, according to a news release from the company.

However, studies showed it was more effective — 85 percent — in preventing severe disease in all adults 18 years and older.

• Johnson & Johnson COVID Shot May Be Less Protective Than Others

Newest Numbers

At least 3,005 deaths and 148,461 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States on Saturday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new daily reported cases have fallen 14.4 percent, new daily reported deaths have risen 2 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 13.9 percent.

Currently, 97,561 people are hospitalized with a coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

More than 49.9 million vaccine doses have been distributed and 31.1 million administered in the United States as of Sunday afternoon, according to the CDC. More than 25 million people have received one dose and more than 5.6 million have received two.

As of Sunday, 36 states and U.S. territories remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

As of Sunday afternoon, the United States had reported more than 26.1 million cases and almost 440,800 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or The Washington Post.

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