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"WW C"- COVID-19, GLOBAL CASES SURPASS 676 MILLION...CASES 676,609,955 DEATHS 6,881,955 US CASES 103,804,263 US DEATHS 1,123,836 8:30pm 1/28/24
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Washington State fires football coach Nick Rolovich, 4 assistants for refusing state-mandated COVID-19 vaccine
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State fired football coach Nick Rolovich and four of his assistants on Monday after they refused to comply with a mandate that all state employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had set a deadline of Monday for thousands of state employees, including the Cougars' coaches, to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs.
"The noncompliance with this requirement renders [Rolovich] ineligible to be employed at Washington State University and therefore can no longer fulfill the duties as a head coach of our football program effective immediately," Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said during a Monday night news conference. "It is disheartening to be here today. Our football team is hurting. Our WSU community is fractured. Today will have a lasting impact on the young men on our team and the remaining coaches and staff."
Also fired were assistant coaches Ricky Logo, John Richardson, Craig Stutzmann and Mark Weber after they did not comply with Inslee's proclamation that was issued in August. Chun said there might be no precedent for a team losing its head coach and so many assistants in the middle of a season.
Defensive coordinator Jake Dickert has been elevated to interim head coach. His first game in charge will be Saturday at home against BYU.
Rolovich was the highest-paid state employee, with an annual salary of more than $3 million in a contract that runs through 2025. He had said he wouldn't get vaccinated but has declined to provide clarity when asked repeatedly for weeks to expand upon the reasoning for his refusal. The university provided multiple educational sessions for its coaches and staff about the vaccine, its efficacy and the process.
Chun confirmed Rolovich's departure will be characterized as a "for cause" separation due to his inability to meet the requirements outlined in his contract. As such, he will not continue to be paid as per the terms of his contract.
Rolovich, 42, initially said in mid-August he would comply with the vaccine mandate, but later confirmed he applied for a religious exemption. He has not specified his religious beliefs.
The university used a blind evaluation process, meaning the two-person committee that evaluated Rolovich's request did not have access to any identifying information while making its determination.
The committee returned its ruling Monday, and while Chun did not explicitly confirm how the committee ruled, it can be inferred the religious exemption was granted at that stage of the process because Chun said Rolovich's "accommodation request" was denied. The second step of the process, after the religious exemption was granted, would be for the supervisor -- in this case Chun and likely other university leaders -- to decide if accommodations could be made for Rolovich to fulfill all his contractual obligations.
Chun saying Rolovich's accommodation request was denied indicates an evaluation was made beyond the initial exemption request.
Rolovich was informed of his dismissal by Chun on Monday afternoon and left immediately after their meeting concluded, without addressing the team, Chun said. After meeting with Rolovich, Chun addressed the players in a meeting that was met with mixed emotions.
"Their responses were what you would expect out of a bunch of college-age young people that lost their head coach and a bunch of position coaches as well," Chun said. "That's a very close-knit group. They handled it maturely, but without a doubt there's a lot of disappointment, sadness, anger. It's a room filled with over 120 young people, so it's going to be the full spectrum of emotions. But they listened and they were all there."
It's unclear who will fill the five vacated spots on staff, which could be difficult considering the timing and that WSU's run-and-shoot offense isn't widely used (Rolovich, Stutzmann and Weber are offensive coaches).
"It's a very detailed, intricate offense, this run-and-shoot, and to get the right coaches that can help assist -- there just aren't a lot of people on the streets right now," Chun said. "We've been working on this for a couple weeks, just in case, and we'll go forward with a couple of those."
Rolovich revealed in July that he would not get vaccinated and couldn't attend Pac-12 media day in person because of it. He was the only unvaccinated head coach in the Pac-12 and had worn a mask during games.
Unlike last season -- when COVID-19 cases swept through major college football, postponing and canceling games weekly -- no games have needed to be rescheduled because of a coronavirus outbreak.
Rolovich was hired from Hawaii two years ago, after Mike Leach left for Mississippi State, and led Washington State to a 1-3 record in the Pac-12 in a 2020 season cut short because of the pandemic. Washington State has won its past three games and is 4-3 this season, including a 34-31 win over Stanford last Saturday. Rolovich finishes with a 5-6 record at the Pullman campus in southeastern Washington.
Dickert is in his second season as Washington State's defensive coordinator after three seasons at Wyoming. He has not previously been a head coach.
Washington State president Kirk Schulz said nearly 90% of WSU employees and 97% of students had been vaccinated.
Players stood up for Rolovich as the season progressed.
Cougars quarterback Jayden de Laura told a sideline reporter after Saturday's victory: "Stop hating on Rolo. We love him.''
Wide receiver Travell Harris commended Rolovich following the game for being a "players' coach.''
"He's a coach we all love to play for,'' Harris said.
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State fired football coach Nick Rolovich and four of his assistants on Monday after they refused to comply with a mandate that all state employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had set a deadline of Monday for thousands of state employees, including the Cougars' coaches, to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs.
"The noncompliance with this requirement renders [Rolovich] ineligible to be employed at Washington State University and therefore can no longer fulfill the duties as a head coach of our football program effective immediately," Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said during a Monday night news conference. "It is disheartening to be here today. Our football team is hurting. Our WSU community is fractured. Today will have a lasting impact on the young men on our team and the remaining coaches and staff."
Also fired were assistant coaches Ricky Logo, John Richardson, Craig Stutzmann and Mark Weber after they did not comply with Inslee's proclamation that was issued in August. Chun said there might be no precedent for a team losing its head coach and so many assistants in the middle of a season.
Defensive coordinator Jake Dickert has been elevated to interim head coach. His first game in charge will be Saturday at home against BYU.
Rolovich was the highest-paid state employee, with an annual salary of more than $3 million in a contract that runs through 2025. He had said he wouldn't get vaccinated but has declined to provide clarity when asked repeatedly for weeks to expand upon the reasoning for his refusal. The university provided multiple educational sessions for its coaches and staff about the vaccine, its efficacy and the process.
Chun confirmed Rolovich's departure will be characterized as a "for cause" separation due to his inability to meet the requirements outlined in his contract. As such, he will not continue to be paid as per the terms of his contract.
Rolovich, 42, initially said in mid-August he would comply with the vaccine mandate, but later confirmed he applied for a religious exemption. He has not specified his religious beliefs.
The university used a blind evaluation process, meaning the two-person committee that evaluated Rolovich's request did not have access to any identifying information while making its determination.
The committee returned its ruling Monday, and while Chun did not explicitly confirm how the committee ruled, it can be inferred the religious exemption was granted at that stage of the process because Chun said Rolovich's "accommodation request" was denied. The second step of the process, after the religious exemption was granted, would be for the supervisor -- in this case Chun and likely other university leaders -- to decide if accommodations could be made for Rolovich to fulfill all his contractual obligations.
Chun saying Rolovich's accommodation request was denied indicates an evaluation was made beyond the initial exemption request.
Rolovich was informed of his dismissal by Chun on Monday afternoon and left immediately after their meeting concluded, without addressing the team, Chun said. After meeting with Rolovich, Chun addressed the players in a meeting that was met with mixed emotions.
"Their responses were what you would expect out of a bunch of college-age young people that lost their head coach and a bunch of position coaches as well," Chun said. "That's a very close-knit group. They handled it maturely, but without a doubt there's a lot of disappointment, sadness, anger. It's a room filled with over 120 young people, so it's going to be the full spectrum of emotions. But they listened and they were all there."
It's unclear who will fill the five vacated spots on staff, which could be difficult considering the timing and that WSU's run-and-shoot offense isn't widely used (Rolovich, Stutzmann and Weber are offensive coaches).
"It's a very detailed, intricate offense, this run-and-shoot, and to get the right coaches that can help assist -- there just aren't a lot of people on the streets right now," Chun said. "We've been working on this for a couple weeks, just in case, and we'll go forward with a couple of those."
Rolovich revealed in July that he would not get vaccinated and couldn't attend Pac-12 media day in person because of it. He was the only unvaccinated head coach in the Pac-12 and had worn a mask during games.
Unlike last season -- when COVID-19 cases swept through major college football, postponing and canceling games weekly -- no games have needed to be rescheduled because of a coronavirus outbreak.
Rolovich was hired from Hawaii two years ago, after Mike Leach left for Mississippi State, and led Washington State to a 1-3 record in the Pac-12 in a 2020 season cut short because of the pandemic. Washington State has won its past three games and is 4-3 this season, including a 34-31 win over Stanford last Saturday. Rolovich finishes with a 5-6 record at the Pullman campus in southeastern Washington.
Dickert is in his second season as Washington State's defensive coordinator after three seasons at Wyoming. He has not previously been a head coach.
Washington State president Kirk Schulz said nearly 90% of WSU employees and 97% of students had been vaccinated.
Players stood up for Rolovich as the season progressed.
Cougars quarterback Jayden de Laura told a sideline reporter after Saturday's victory: "Stop hating on Rolo. We love him.''
Wide receiver Travell Harris commended Rolovich following the game for being a "players' coach.''
"He's a coach we all love to play for,'' Harris said.
Yeah, due to sheer incompetence of everyone involved including governmental leadership on da federal level, I wouldn't be surprised if that new mutation of da Delta variant is already here.
This virus is not stupid we are going to be dealing with this virus for a long time….Also there’s another wave coming to America so be prepared
He made a thread
Scary ass nigga ain't got not nann shred of proof.
The grim reality of a partisan pandemic
By Philip Bump
National correspondent
September 27, 2021 at 5:35 p.m. EDT
About two-thirds of the deaths caused by covid-19 in the United States have occurred since last year’s presidential election. More than 4 in 10 have occurred since Joe Biden was inaugurated as president.
This isn’t how many people think of the pandemic. That it emerged during Donald Trump’s presidency and wound down significantly over the first few months of Biden’s can contribute to a sense that most of the worst effects occurred previously. But due to a combination of the daily death toll peaking in early January and the surge in cases due to the delta variant this summer, the most negative effects of the coronavirus have been felt during both administrations.
What this does not mean, though, is that the effects have been untouched by politics.
We’ve written before about how the most recent wave of deaths has overlapped with low vaccination rates — which itself overlaps with politics. Counties in which Trump’s margin was larger than Biden’s have seen disproportionately more unvaccinated residents. You can see that below: The number of unvaccinated residents generally increases from left to right, meaning from a bigger Biden margin in 2020 to a bigger Trump one.
Click Above Link To View Data
It’s tricky to capture the correlations of politics, vaccinations and covid-19 deaths, but here’s one approximation. If we divvy up 2020 vote margins into four groups (preferred Biden by a margin greater or less than the median in Biden-voting counties; preferred Trump with the same split) and divvy up death totals into four equal-size groups, we can then overlay vaccination rates, from the most to least heavily vaccinated counties (as indicated by small-to-large circles). The result is this map.
Click Above Link To View Data
Notice that there is no data for Texas. There are also several counties in California with small populations for which data was not provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the source of vaccination-rate data.
Vaccination rates are low enough in much of the South that the circles overlap. If we shrink them a bit, it’s easier to see the circles, though trickier to see the colors.
Click Above Link To View Data
That’s the delta surge — disproportionately in counties that were more supportive of Trump last year. But that doesn’t tell us everything we might want to know about the effects of partisanship on the pandemic.
We can view the effects of partisanship in another way. By grouping county-level data into roughly equal-size groups in terms of population, we see that the counties that were most supportive of Trump have also recorded the most deaths since the election.
Click Above Link To View Data
This is useful because it allows us to evaluate a macabre question that has inevitably accompanied analysis of the effects of partisanship on vaccinations (and mask-wearing and distancing measures): Is it possible that there might be a political effect from Republicans being seemingly more affected by covid-19 deaths? Among those raising the point was a columnist for Breitbart who speculated that Biden was perhaps intentionally trying to see Republicans die of the virus … by advocating for effective vaccines, believing that such advocacy would spur a negative reaction. A baffling argument, but a creative one.
There’s only a relatively light correlation between 2020 margins and the percentage of each county that has succumbed to the virus. The county with the most deaths as a function of its 2020 turnout is one that supported Biden last year — Buffalo County, S.D. (The county that has seen the most deaths since Nov. 3 is, unsurprisingly, Los Angeles, but the toll is only a small percentage of the county’s total population.)
Click Above Link To View Data
But that’s only because 10 deaths in the county represents a large chunk of a very small area. Across the country, counties that preferred Biden saw a number of deaths equal to an average of 0.3 percent of votes cast in the county in 2020. In counties that supported Trump, the average was 0.4 percent — 25 percent higher but only a subtle difference.
If we use the same groupings of counties as we did when tallying the number of deaths overall, we see a stronger correlation. Places that offered more support for Trump have seen a disproportionate portion of their voting and overall populations succumb to the virus.
Click Above Link To View Data
That’s not a surprise. Overlapping voter turnout is just a grimmer way of looking at population-adjusted death tolls, a constant metric used in analysis of the pandemic. But it does suggest that any effects on elections would be subtle, given the relatively small number of people who’ve died compared with the size of the electorate. Happily.
What we can’t know, though, is who is dying. We know broad demographic categories — age, race — but nothing specific about those who’ve perished after contracting the virus. If we were to assume that the partisan split among those who died in each of the groups aligns with the county groups overall, just over half of those who died nationally since Election Day would have been Republican. That’s probably not a fair assumption, given the correlation between more-Republican places with higher rates of death and lower rates of vaccination. But, again, we have only so much data.
It’s admittedly grim to think about the effects of the virus in this way, if not callous. It is also a consideration that is perhaps unavoidable when seeing how the country’s stark partisan divide is appearing in the pandemic numbers.
By Philip Bump
National correspondent
September 27, 2021 at 5:35 p.m. EDT
About two-thirds of the deaths caused by covid-19 in the United States have occurred since last year’s presidential election. More than 4 in 10 have occurred since Joe Biden was inaugurated as president.
This isn’t how many people think of the pandemic. That it emerged during Donald Trump’s presidency and wound down significantly over the first few months of Biden’s can contribute to a sense that most of the worst effects occurred previously. But due to a combination of the daily death toll peaking in early January and the surge in cases due to the delta variant this summer, the most negative effects of the coronavirus have been felt during both administrations.
What this does not mean, though, is that the effects have been untouched by politics.
We’ve written before about how the most recent wave of deaths has overlapped with low vaccination rates — which itself overlaps with politics. Counties in which Trump’s margin was larger than Biden’s have seen disproportionately more unvaccinated residents. You can see that below: The number of unvaccinated residents generally increases from left to right, meaning from a bigger Biden margin in 2020 to a bigger Trump one.
Click Above Link To View Data
It’s tricky to capture the correlations of politics, vaccinations and covid-19 deaths, but here’s one approximation. If we divvy up 2020 vote margins into four groups (preferred Biden by a margin greater or less than the median in Biden-voting counties; preferred Trump with the same split) and divvy up death totals into four equal-size groups, we can then overlay vaccination rates, from the most to least heavily vaccinated counties (as indicated by small-to-large circles). The result is this map.
Click Above Link To View Data
Notice that there is no data for Texas. There are also several counties in California with small populations for which data was not provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the source of vaccination-rate data.
Vaccination rates are low enough in much of the South that the circles overlap. If we shrink them a bit, it’s easier to see the circles, though trickier to see the colors.
Click Above Link To View Data
That’s the delta surge — disproportionately in counties that were more supportive of Trump last year. But that doesn’t tell us everything we might want to know about the effects of partisanship on the pandemic.
We can view the effects of partisanship in another way. By grouping county-level data into roughly equal-size groups in terms of population, we see that the counties that were most supportive of Trump have also recorded the most deaths since the election.
Click Above Link To View Data
This is useful because it allows us to evaluate a macabre question that has inevitably accompanied analysis of the effects of partisanship on vaccinations (and mask-wearing and distancing measures): Is it possible that there might be a political effect from Republicans being seemingly more affected by covid-19 deaths? Among those raising the point was a columnist for Breitbart who speculated that Biden was perhaps intentionally trying to see Republicans die of the virus … by advocating for effective vaccines, believing that such advocacy would spur a negative reaction. A baffling argument, but a creative one.
There’s only a relatively light correlation between 2020 margins and the percentage of each county that has succumbed to the virus. The county with the most deaths as a function of its 2020 turnout is one that supported Biden last year — Buffalo County, S.D. (The county that has seen the most deaths since Nov. 3 is, unsurprisingly, Los Angeles, but the toll is only a small percentage of the county’s total population.)
Click Above Link To View Data
But that’s only because 10 deaths in the county represents a large chunk of a very small area. Across the country, counties that preferred Biden saw a number of deaths equal to an average of 0.3 percent of votes cast in the county in 2020. In counties that supported Trump, the average was 0.4 percent — 25 percent higher but only a subtle difference.
If we use the same groupings of counties as we did when tallying the number of deaths overall, we see a stronger correlation. Places that offered more support for Trump have seen a disproportionate portion of their voting and overall populations succumb to the virus.
Click Above Link To View Data
That’s not a surprise. Overlapping voter turnout is just a grimmer way of looking at population-adjusted death tolls, a constant metric used in analysis of the pandemic. But it does suggest that any effects on elections would be subtle, given the relatively small number of people who’ve died compared with the size of the electorate. Happily.
What we can’t know, though, is who is dying. We know broad demographic categories — age, race — but nothing specific about those who’ve perished after contracting the virus. If we were to assume that the partisan split among those who died in each of the groups aligns with the county groups overall, just over half of those who died nationally since Election Day would have been Republican. That’s probably not a fair assumption, given the correlation between more-Republican places with higher rates of death and lower rates of vaccination. But, again, we have only so much data.
It’s admittedly grim to think about the effects of the virus in this way, if not callous. It is also a consideration that is perhaps unavoidable when seeing how the country’s stark partisan divide is appearing in the pandemic numbers.
The ol' lady and I were just talking about this shit. We might go Moderna for the booster. We got Pfizer for the first 2.
You going to mix them up?
I prefer not to get a mixed vaccine because I got the Pfizer both times but,if they don't have a Pfizer booster shot I guess I have no choice but to get the Modera or J&J booster shot..I'm really hope they have the Pfizer booster though.
I agree with them, they shouldnt take the vaccine... at all.
Back the blue and let them work unvaccinated.
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Bizzaro World, what you'd expect from Florida
Miami private school orders vaccinated students to stay at home for 30 days as 'precautionary measure'
A private school in Florida will require vaccinated students to stay home for 30 days after each COVID-19 vaccination dose they receive.
"Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive and may return to school after 30 days as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free," said a letter sent last week to parents at Centner Academy in Miami said, according to WSVN, a local television station.
The letter suggested that parents consider vaccinating their children in the summer "when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has quashed misleading claims that vaccines against COVID-19 may make recipients spreaders of the virus.
"Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus," the CDC's website said. "None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus."
In a statement to The Washington Post, David Centner, one of the school's founders, said that the decision was a "precautionary measure" based on "numerous anecdotal cases that have been in circulation."
"The school is not opining as to whether unexplained phenomena have a basis in fact, however we prefer to err on the side of caution when making decisions that impact the health of the school community," Centner added to the Post.
The same school has a history of spreading inaccurate vaccine information and received attention in April when it asked teachers to hold off on getting their COVID-19 shots.
“We’re not telling teachers that they can’t get [the vaccine], we’re just simply asking that they hold off a little bit,” Joshua Hills, a parent and Centner Academy employee, said at the time, per WSVN.
“We’re not anti-vaxxers, we’re in favor of safe vaccines,” Hills added to WSVN. “Are these vaccines, is this injection 100 percent safe? As a parent of two children that go to this school, I’m not willing to take the chance on a question mark.”
The seven-day daily COVID-19 case average in Florida stood at 2,600 cases as of Sunday, as the state's leadership remains opposed to vaccine mandates.
Just last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vowed to sue the Biden administration over its employer vaccine mandate.
"Let's not have Biden come in and effectively take away — threaten to take away — the jobs of people who have been working hard throughout this entire pandemic,” DeSantis said at a press conference last week.
When asked for comment on the matter, DeSantis's Press Secretary Christina Pushaw referenced a Florida law that says "businesses and government entities are prohibited from requiring COVID-19 vaccine passports as a condition of entry or service."
The Hill has reached out to the Centner Academy and DeSantis for comment.
Miami private school orders vaccinated students to stay at home for 30 days as 'precautionary measure' | TheHill
Miami private school orders vaccinated students to stay at home for 30 days as 'precautionary measure'
A private school in Florida will require vaccinated students to stay home for 30 days after each COVID-19 vaccination dose they receive.
"Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive and may return to school after 30 days as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free," said a letter sent last week to parents at Centner Academy in Miami said, according to WSVN, a local television station.
The letter suggested that parents consider vaccinating their children in the summer "when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has quashed misleading claims that vaccines against COVID-19 may make recipients spreaders of the virus.
"Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus," the CDC's website said. "None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus."
In a statement to The Washington Post, David Centner, one of the school's founders, said that the decision was a "precautionary measure" based on "numerous anecdotal cases that have been in circulation."
"The school is not opining as to whether unexplained phenomena have a basis in fact, however we prefer to err on the side of caution when making decisions that impact the health of the school community," Centner added to the Post.
The same school has a history of spreading inaccurate vaccine information and received attention in April when it asked teachers to hold off on getting their COVID-19 shots.
“We’re not telling teachers that they can’t get [the vaccine], we’re just simply asking that they hold off a little bit,” Joshua Hills, a parent and Centner Academy employee, said at the time, per WSVN.
“We’re not anti-vaxxers, we’re in favor of safe vaccines,” Hills added to WSVN. “Are these vaccines, is this injection 100 percent safe? As a parent of two children that go to this school, I’m not willing to take the chance on a question mark.”
The seven-day daily COVID-19 case average in Florida stood at 2,600 cases as of Sunday, as the state's leadership remains opposed to vaccine mandates.
Just last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vowed to sue the Biden administration over its employer vaccine mandate.
"Let's not have Biden come in and effectively take away — threaten to take away — the jobs of people who have been working hard throughout this entire pandemic,” DeSantis said at a press conference last week.
When asked for comment on the matter, DeSantis's Press Secretary Christina Pushaw referenced a Florida law that says "businesses and government entities are prohibited from requiring COVID-19 vaccine passports as a condition of entry or service."
The Hill has reached out to the Centner Academy and DeSantis for comment.
Miami private school orders vaccinated students to stay at home for 30 days as 'precautionary measure' | TheHill
It’s coming I’ll keep tell me you’re another wave is coming people keep tell me you guys we have a few months to get this right or well it won’t be pretty you know what I’m going to say. I have to get my Ford F250 and mohawk women ready
So, how do we get da booster??? Just go to Walgreens or some shit??? I needs that.
Yep that wave is coming
My older family members scheduled an appointment at CVS/Walgreens/Publix online. Not sure if they'll ask folks under 65 any extra questions though.