NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
The OBserVer — 7A
U.S. Senate a question mark for LGBTQ protections
Merkley leads renewed effort as House
passes bill for second time in two years
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press
Employees with the McKesson Corporation scan a box of
the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine while filling an
order at their shipping facility in Shepherdsville, Kentucky,
Monday, March 1, 2021.
States easing virus
restrictions despite
experts’ warnings
By HEATHER
HOLLINGSWORTH and
TAMMY WEBBER
Associated Press
sexual orientation and
gender identity.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici, a Democrat
from Beaverton, said
it’s time for Congress to
extend anti-discrimination
protection to other sectors.
“Our LGBTQ friends,
neighbors, colleagues,
and community members
should not miss an edu-
cational opportunity, or
be denied housing, credit,
or health care because of
who they are or who they
love,” she said as she spoke
during House debate on the
latest bill.
Oregon is among 21
states with a wide range
of legal protections —
the 2020 State Equality
Index compiled by the
Human Rights Campaign
says Oregon lacks a few
improvements — but 27
states have no protections
in their laws.
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are not medical exams or diagnoses. If you suspect a problem please seek treatment from your physician. **Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Blue Cross, The Blue Shield, BCBS and Federal Employee Program are registered trademarks of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue
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KANSAS CITY, Kan.
— With the U.S. vaccina-
tion drive picking up speed
and a third formula on the
way, states eager to reopen
for business are easing coro-
navirus restrictions despite
warnings from health
experts that the outbreak
is far from over and that
moving too quickly could
prolong the misery.
Massachusetts on
Monday made it much
easier to grab dinner and a
show. In Missouri, where
individual communities get
to make the rules, the two
biggest metropolitan areas
— St. Louis and Kansas
City — are relaxing some
measures. Iowa’s governor
recently lifted mask require-
ments and limits on the
number of people allowed in
bars and restaurants, while
the town of Lawrence, home
to the University of Kansas,
now lets establishments stay
open until midnight.
“Restaurateurs have been
down in the dumps for such
a long time. It is good to
see them start to get excited
again and be optimistic,”
Bill Teel, executive director
of the Greater Kansas City
Restaurant Association, said
of the mayor’s decision to
allow restaurants and bars
to resume normal hours.
The push to reopen
comes as COVID-19 vac-
cine shipments to the states
are ramping up. Nearly 20%
of the nation’s adults — or
over 50 million people —
have received at least one
dose of vaccine, and 10%
have been fully inoculated
2 1/2 months into the cam-
paign to snuff out the virus,
according to the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention.
Johnson & Johnson
shipped out nearly 4 million
doses of its newly autho-
rized, one-shot COVID-19
vaccine Sunday night to be
delivered to states for use
starting on Tuesday. The
company will deliver about
16 million more doses by
the end of March and a total
of 100 million by the end of
June.
That adds to the supply
being distributed by Pfizer
and Moderna and should
help the nation amass
enough doses by mid-
summer to vaccinate all
adults. The White House
is encouraging Americans
to take the first dose avail-
able to them, regardless of
manufacturer.
In New York City, where
limited indoor dining has
resumed, officials said the
J&J vaccine will help the
city to inoculate millions
more people by summer,
including through door-to-
door vaccinations of home-
bound senior citizens.
But the efforts come with
strong warnings from health
officials against reopening
too quickly, as worrisome
coronavirus variants spread.
On Monday, the head
of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle
Walensky, urgently warned
state officials and ordi-
nary Americans not to let
down their guard, saying
she is “really worried about
reports that more states are
rolling back the exact public
health measures that we
have recommended.”
“I remain deeply con-
cerned about a potential
shift in the trajectory of the
pandemic,” she said at the
White House. “We stand to
completely lose the hard-
earned ground that we have
gained.”
Cases and hospitaliza-
tions have plunged since the
end of January, and deaths
have also dropped sharply,
but they are still running at
dangerously high levels and
have even risen slightly over
the past several days.
“We cannot be resigned
to 70,000 cases a day and
2,000 daily deaths,” Wal-
ensky said.
Overall, the outbreak has
killed more than a half-mil-
lion Americans.
Justin Lessler, an expert
in infectious diseases at
Johns Hopkins University,
said in an email that the
vaccine already is contrib-
uting to a decrease in severe
cases and deaths among
older people, and is “quickly
becoming a bigger contrib-
utor” nationally.
“I suspect we will see it
overtake natural infection as
the biggest driver of immu-
nity late spring earliest,
more likely midsummer,”
Lessler said.
The Biden administra-
tion wants to see all three
vaccines distributed evenly,
while also acknowledging
that the easy-to-handle
J&J vaccine will be used
in pop-up mobile sites and
locations without freezer
storage capacity.
States are hoping that
the surging vaccine supply
will help tamp down new
infections.
In Massachusetts, Gov.
Charlie Baker lifted restau-
rant capacity limits entirely.
Theaters can open at 50%
capacity, with a maximum
of 500 people. And capacity
limits across all businesses
have been raised to 50%.
Las Vegas on Monday
became the latest of the
nation’s largest school dis-
tricts to return children to
classrooms. Pre-K children
to third graders will go back
two days a week, with other
grades to be phased in by
early April.
And in California, Gov.
Gavin Newsom and legis-
lative leaders reached an
agreement aimed at getting
most children back in class-
rooms by the end of March.
Under the deal announced
Monday, school districts
could receive up to $6.6 bil-
lion if they reopen by March
31.
President Joe Biden fell
well short of his goal of set-
ting up 100 new federally
operated mass-vaccination
sites by the end of February,
with just seven up and
running.
White House vaccina-
tion coordinator Jeff Zients
also acknowledged that
scheduling of vaccination
appointments “remains
too difficult in too many
places.” But he said the
White House is working
with states to improve
scheduling systems and is
exploring federal support
for call centers to make
it easier for people to get
appointments.
WASHINGTON —
Even as the U.S. House
passed legislation for the
second time in two years,
the Senate remains the
question mark for federal
efforts to shield gay, les-
bian, bisexual and trans-
gender people against
discrimination.
The House voted 224-
206 on Thursday, Feb. 25,
for legislation (House Res-
olution 5) to bar discrim-
ination in housing, credit
and other matters. A sim-
ilar bill with the same des-
ignation passed 236-173
in 2019, but died without
a vote in the Republi-
can-controlled Senate.
The Senate now has
a tenuous Democratic
majority — Vice President
Kamala Harris holds the
tie-breaker in a chamber
split 50-50 — but it is
uncertain at best whether
advocates can muster at
least 10 Republicans for a
60-vote majority to avert a
filibuster.
“Today’s House pas-
sage of the Equality Act is
an important step forward
and a shining source of
hope for every American
who values freedom and
equality for all,” Oregon
Sen. Jeff Merkley, one of
the longtime leaders of the
congressional effort, said
with Senate sponsors at a
news conference after the
House vote.
“So let’s celebrate this
major milestone, and also
use this day to recommit
ourselves to bringing the
fight to ban LGBTQ dis-
crimination to the Senate.
Let’s make 2021 the year
that we end discrimina-
tion that remains legal in
the majority of American
states. Let’s make 2021
the year that we ring the
bells of freedom for every
American.”
The latest bill won sup-
port from all four Oregon
Democrats, but opposition
from the lone Republican,
Cliff Bentz of Ontario.
Bentz’s Republican prede-
cessor, Greg Walden, voted
for the 2019 version along
with the Democrats.
A month after the
2019 House vote, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled
that the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, “based on sex,”
barred employment dis-
crimination based on
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*Hearing test is always free. Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evolution and ability to adapt to amplification. Hearing test is an audiometric test to determine amplification needs only. These
are not medical exams or diagnoses. If you suspect a problem please seek treatment from your physician. **Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Blue Cross, The Blue Shield, BCBS and Federal Employee Program are registered trademarks of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Blue
Cross Blue Shield Association and its independent licensees are not affiliated with nor do they endorse or sponsor the contents of this advertisement. Trademarks referring to specific providers are used by Miracle-Ear for nominative purposes only: to truthfully identify the
source of the services about which information is provided. Such trademarks are solely the property of their respective owners. The aids must be returned within 30 days of delivery pursuant to terms of your purchase agreement and 100% of the purchase will be refunded.