Idahoans burn masks at State Capitol; police called to quell chaos at overwhelmed Florida vaccine site: Live COVID-19 updates

Jordan Culver and John Bacon, USA TODAY
·6 min read

Idaho State police on Sunday were investigating a protest at the state Capitol in Boise during which scores of Idahoans burned masks to protest coronavirus public health recommendations they view as restrictions on freedom.

Health experts say masks are critical tools against a disease that has killed more than 500,000 Americans, including almost 2,000 in Idaho. Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, has never ordered a statewide mask mandate, but seven counties and 11 cities have them in place.

State police say the protest Saturday drew about 100 people to the Capitol steps. Videos posted on social media showed adults encouraging children to toss masks into a fire.

"During the event, an open flame was ignited in a barrel," police said in a statement. "Those involved with the event were informed both before and during the event that open flames are not allowed on State Capitol grounds. The incident is under review."

Republican lawmakers in Idaho have introduced legislation to prohibit mask mandates across the state. Visitors to the Capitol are asked to wear masks, but they're not required and few Republican lawmakers wear them. Little, however, wore a mask to sign unrelated legislation Friday.

Last week, President Joe Biden dismissed the decision by some Republican governors to end mask mandates as "Neanderthal thinking." White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the comment as a "reflection of his frustration" about Americans refusing to follow public health guidance.

Also in the news:

►A Florida City vaccination site was overwhelmed Sunday after it drew so few eligible takers that is started inoculating any adult to avoid wasting vaccine. Word spread, and police had to calm the crowd when the site again enforced state eligibility rules: 65 and older; medical workers and police officers, teachers and firefighters over 50; and younger people with a physician’s note saying the virus would endanger their lives.

►Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed an emergency order adjusting the minimum distance between performers and audience members that previously challenged the return of productions in Las Vegas.

►NBA Commissioner Adam Silver touched on a wide range of topics – including vaccinations for players and a potential return to normal for next season – during a Saturday call on Zoom ahead of Sunday's All-Star events.

►Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Saturday received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, the first one-dose vaccine offered in the United States.

►The Dalai Lama, the 85-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, has received the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine at a hospital in the north Indian hill town of Dharmsala.

📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has almost 29 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 524,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 116 million cases and 2.5 million deaths. More than 116 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and about 88 million have been administered, according to the CDC.

📘 What we're reading: COVID-19 fueled a domestic violence crisis. Now, the stimulus bill could help women and children leave abusers.

USA TODAY is tracking COVID-19 news. Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Want more? Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Attendees toss surgical masks into a fire during a mask burning event at the Idaho Statehouse on March 6, 2021 in Boise, Idaho.
Attendees toss surgical masks into a fire during a mask burning event at the Idaho Statehouse on March 6, 2021 in Boise, Idaho.

Students struggle to learn to read behind masks, screens

Too many children may be falling behind in reading during the pandemic, teachers and experts say. The USA TODAY Network visited a handful of classrooms in different states to see how schools are adapting at a time when the teachers' axiom about students learning to read in early grades so that they can read to learn the rest of their lives has never been put to a greater test. Lost time from when schools shut down, inconsistent schedules since then, the limitations of teaching over video conference or even in person with masks and social distancing – these handicaps are hurting children learning to read more than kids at other grade levels, said Anjenette Holmes, a professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Picard Center for Child Development & Lifelong Learning.

"Learning to read is so challenging," said Laura Taylor, a professor of educational studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. "It’s a long process that takes years."

– Leigh Guidry, Mandy McLaren, Laura Testino, Isabel Lohman and Gabriela Szymanowska

Senators thank Georgia after Senate passes COVID-19 relief package

After more than 24 hours of debate, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock – two Democrats elected in Jan. 5 runoffs in what was once considered a Republican stronghold – spoke hours after the 50-49 vote that fell along party lines, saying the package would likely have never come to pass without their upset victories in November. Said Ossoff: "We will crush COVID-19, recover economically, safely re-open our schools, and get our daily lives back – and we’ll do it thanks to Georgia voters."

GOP Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming wasn't as warm to the bill, describing it Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" as a "wish list of liberal spending just basically filled with pork."

The bill would provide millions of Americans with $1,400 direct payments, billions of dollars for vaccine distribution and funds to help reopen schools and colleges. It also extends the federal unemployment benefit at $300 per week through the end of August, down from a $400 extension in the original bill.

California counties don’t want Blue Shield’s vaccine program

Counties across California are increasingly asking to opt out of the state’s centralized vaccination program run by Blue Shield, further complicating Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to smooth out what has been a confusing and disjointed rollout of coronavirus vaccines. None of the state’s 58 counties have signed contracts with the insurance giant even as the state moved ahead with plans to bring 10 counties in the inland sections of central and Southern California under Blue Shield oversight beginning this week, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

The state is in the process of switching over to a vaccine appointment and delivery system administered by Blue Shield that is expected to be completed by March 31. The decision announced in February to outsource functions to Blue Shield that had previously been managed by public officials at the state and local levels was intended to ensure vaccines are distributed equitably and reach low-income communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Study: Intellectual disability second-greatest risk factor for COVID-19 death

People with intellectual disabilities are at "substantially increased risk" of dying from COVID-19, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine Friday. Researchers with Jefferson Health in Philadelphia reviewed data on nearly 65 million patients – including nearly 130,000 with a recorded diagnosis of intellectual disabilities – across 547 health care organizations and found that having an intellectual disability was the strongest independent risk factor for presenting with a COVID-19 diagnosis and the strongest independent risk factor, other than age, for COVID-19 mortality.

People with intellectual disabilities may face higher risk of COVID-19 exposure for various reasons, researchers said, such as the inability to social distance because of regular contact with support personnel or sensory issues that make it difficult to wear face masks. The pandemic has also made it harder for people with intellectual disabilities to receive the health care support they need, the researchers said.

Contributing: Sarah Elbeshbishi, Matthew Brown and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY; The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID news: Idahoans burn masks at State Capitol; Dalai Lama gets dose

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That said, Chauvin maintained the neck restraint on Floyd, pressing his face into the hard street, for over nine minutes, despite Floyd’s pleas that he was having trouble breathing. Through more than the last four of those minutes, while Chauvin continued to apply this pressure, Floyd clearly was offering no resistance; Chauvin rebuffed a fellow officer’s suggestion that they roll Floyd onto his side (which, police are trained, facilitates breathing); concerned civilians beseeched Chauvin to relent; Floyd stopped speaking and appeared to stop breathing; the detaining officers could not detect a pulse; and an off-duty fire-department medic was denied the opportunity to provide CPR or other emergency assistance. Such was Chauvin’s persistence that he even maintained the pressure on Floyd’s neck for a full minute after the ambulance arrived on the scene. Less than an hour later, Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital. 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