Two for one in today's edition of recent COVID-19 news, first, President Biden announced on Wednesday that nursing homes and other elder care facilities that cannot prove employees are vaccinated will lose Medicare/Medicaid eligibility, along with other policies that will be taking effect at the federal level.
Biden said he is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to draw up new regulations making employee vaccination a condition for nursing homes to participate in Medicare and Medicaid. The decision on nursing home staff represents a significant escalation in Biden's campaign to get Americans vaccinated and the tools he is willing to use, marking the first time he has threatened to withhold federal funds in order to get people vaccinated.
"Now, if you visit, live or work at a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk of contracting Covid from unvaccinated employees. While I'm mindful that my authority at the federal government is limited, I'm going to continue to look for ways to keep people safe and increase vaccination rates," the President said during a speech at the White House.
Additionally, the President announced that he is directing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to use "all of his oversight authorities and legal action, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators" who want children to wear masks in the classroom.
The President indicated that American Rescue Plan funds can be used to pay educators who have their paycheck cut by local and state governments if their schools implement mask mandates.
The new actions announced by the President Wednesday afternoon come the same day the Biden administration said it would roll out a plan to provide booster shots to American adults beginning this fall.
Meanwhile in Florida, the state's largest school district, Miami-Dade County, is defying GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis's order against mask mandates and will order schools to enforce them for all students and staff.
The school board in Miami-Dade County voted to approve a face mask mandate that will be in place when the new school year begins next week.
The board voted 7-1 in a meeting Wednesday, creating a similar policy to the one in Broward County designed to protect students and faculty against COVID-19.
The policy allows for a medical exemption but defies Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order against mask mandates. It is DeSantis’ position, and that of the state board of education, that parents should have the choice whether their children wear masks at school.
Lubby Navarro was the only Miami-Dade school board member to vote against the mandate. Board member Christi Fraga was not present.
Public school starts Monday in the largest school district in Florida.
This effectively means all of Florida's largest school systems have now called DeSantis's bluff on cutting education funding. We'll see if he follows through.
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