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(NEW YORK) — Albert Pujols is reportedly returning to the St. Louis Cardinals, the team with which his career in the majors began.
Sources tell ESPN that the 42-year-old first baseman and the Cardinals reached an agreement Sunday night on a one-year deal worth $2.5 million for this upcoming season. His official return to the team is pending a physical.
Pujols’ time in St. Louis began in 2001. During his 11 seasons with the team, he won two World Series titles, was named the National League MVP three times and was chosen to appear in the All-Star Game nine times.
During the 2011 offseason, Pujols left St. Louis to play with the Los Angeles Angels, signing a 10-year contract with the team. In 2021, he was released from the Angels and ended up signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In his MLB career, Pujols has compiled a .297 batting average with 679 home runs and 2,150 RBIs.
Jessica Chastain had been nominated twice before nabbing Oscar gold Sunday night for her performance as the disgraced televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
However, backstage at the Oscars, she admitted hers was the first Academy Award trophy she’d ever even held.
“I’m friends with [The Theory of Everything winner] Eddie Redmayne and I’ve been to his house in London, and…Everyone was like, ‘Oh, look, his Oscar!’ And they all picked it up, and I was like, ‘I can’t pick it up!’ Like, I felt superstitious. So this is the very first time I’ve even held it!”
Considering that, where she’ll display it wasn’t on her mind either, “I have had no thought of where it’s going to go. But I will respect it for sure, wherever it is,” she said with a laugh.
That’s Dr. Taylor Swift to you and she’s feeling ’22 — because New York University is awarding her an honorary doctorate of fine arts.
Varietyreports that the “Shake It Off” singer will pick up her diploma at Yankee Stadium in May and be recognized as Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa. NYU also announced Monday that Taylor will speak at the “traditional” ceremony on May 18 and address the class of 2022.
NYU is the same university that offered a class on Taylor Swift, where students could study her as a music entrepreneur as well as the various pop and country songwriters that helped shape her music. The course also looked into how Taylor fit into the history of pop music “prodigies,” and how youth and girlhood are “often exploited” by the media.
As for Taylor, she recently unveiled a brand new line of merchandise aimed directly at college grads with her “I’m Feeling ’22” graduation collection. Items include stickers to decorate one’s mortarboard, tote bags, balloons, cake toppers, sweaters and even paper plates that are purr-fect for a graduation party.
We say purr-fect because Taylor’s cat Meredith is plastered all over the paraphernalia, along with the slogan, “Happy, Free, Confused and Lonely at the Same Time.”
You can stock up on those items now on Taylor’s online store. No word if she intends to use her merch when she celebrates her new diploma later this summer.
(NEW YORK) — The silence of the Polish countryside is shattered by the piercing rattle of heavy artillery fire.
A smokescreen obscures the horizon, and suddenly, the soldiers swarm. Moving in on armored vehicles, in helicopters, and atop assault watercraft, more than 2,000 soldiers combine to form a united front on the battlefield against an imagined enemy.
This is a NATO exercise — preparation in case these troops are called upon to defend the alliance’s territory. While it’s a scenario that once seemed unthinkable, here, just 10 miles from the Belarusian border and against a geopolitical backdrop dominated by rapacious Russian aggression, this is more than just a drill.
“It’s a show of force,” Lt. Karol Frankowski of Poland told ABC News, adding that Belarus, Russia’s staunchest ally, is likely watching over them via aircraft or drone.
Soldiers from Poland, Croatia, Romania, the U.K. and U.S. make up the battle group, one of four that received a surge of manpower to defend the eastern front in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Their American commander, Lt. Col. Trevor Phillips, said today’s practice feels “absolutely” different, colored by the crisis.
“It’s difficult to watch and not be able to do anything about it. We’re direct action type people. Our whole motto while we are here is ‘stronger together,'” Frankowski said. “No nation should stand alone. That’s why this is so important to us.”
Even the objective of the practice is shaped by the warfare in Ukraine. The scenario — troops facing off against rival forces who attempt to barricade a bridge — recreates the challenges of modern warfare, officials said.
“The idea is to destroy the enemy and make free passage for the troops,” Col. Piotr Fajkowsli, the leader of the Polish brigade, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Fajkowsli if he believed Russia would ever strike inside his homeland’s boundaries.
“Anything can happen,” said Fajkowsli, saying that not long ago, the thought of Russia descending on Ukraine with such brute force would have been considered by most to be “impossible in the 21st century.”
“Now we can see destroyed towns burning. It is crazy,” he said.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during Friday’s press briefing it’s an assessment the president and the White House believe as well.
“We do believe Russian aggression in Ukraine shows a willingness by the Russians to disregard international borders and to disregard the basic rules of the road of the international community that have been built in sustained over the course of seven decades,” he said.
Fajkowsli said they are ready to face anything the opposition throws at them. The people he is sworn to protect are a different story.
“We as soldiers are ready to fight against chemical weapons. We have protective gear. The civilians, they don’t,” he said. “This is the danger.”
After the bridge is won, the troops break. With the day’s mission completed, they stand temporarily at ease. They will convene again tomorrow to once again play out these war games that now seem all too real.
Phillips hopes the conflict doesn’t spill over NATO’s borders.
Who showed up to Hollywood’s biggest party night? Let’s find out!
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Joe Alwyn were a no show on the Oscars’ red carpet, but they danced the night away at CAA’s pre-Oscars party, reports Entertainment Tonight. A source said they “came together and stayed close the whole night.” The two also caught up with friends such as Zoë Kravitz and Hailey Bieber, with the insider adding Taylor tore up the dance floor.
Joe Jonas and wife Sophie Turner showed up at the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party, E! reports. Reports say the couple posed for a variety of photos but didn’t speak at all about Sophie’s pregnancy. The couple are expecting their second child. Joe donned in a black suit with a low neckline while Sophie opted for a flowing red gown that covered her pregnant stomach.
Despite some big names showing up at the festivities, some were noticeably absent.
Jennifer Lopez and boyfriend Ben Affleck were both no shows at the Oscars, denying the chance of the couple making a red carpet Oscars debut. Insiders aren’t surprised considering neither had a project up for an award, added Elle.
Selena Gomez was once rumored to be hosting the Oscars with her Only Murders in the Building co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, but she was unable to walk the red carpet because of scheduling conflicts, reports theNew York Times. The trio are currently filming the show’s second season and the Oscars shared a teaser of what’s to come during the show.
Angel Marchini/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
On Monday, Museannounced two London concerts to benefit three different charities in aid of the people of Ukraine.
The May 9 and 10 shows at the London Eventim Apollo will benefit both War Child, which helps young people impacted by war, and Doctors Without Borders, which provides medical care to those in war and disaster zones worldwide.
The shows will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Big Issue, a U.K. street newspaper sold by homeless people, providing them a source of income. The paper was name-checked in the Oasis song “Supersonic.”
“We’re honored to be able to play these shows over two nights for three outstanding organizations,” the band writes. “They’re out there delivering vital services time after time for the most vulnerable people in society, both in the U.K. and abroad.”
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, March 30 via Ticketmaster.
Muse recently announced that their ninth studio album, Will of the People, will arrive August 26.
While Elton himself couldn’t make it in person, the 30th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party, held Sunday night in Los Angeles, was a huge success.
The party, hosted by Elton’s husband David Furnish, and their friends Lady Gaga, Billy Porter and Eric McCormack, raised $8.6 million for the Foundation. Elton joined via satellite from his concert in Lincoln, Nebraska to thank the attendees, and shared a performance of “Your Song” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” During that performance, guests received limited-edition Elton John Eyewear “Gold Dust” frames to wear along with Elton.
Elton’s friend, singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile, performed at the party and duetted with singer/songwriter Jake Wesley Rogers on “Rocket Man.”
“I’m so grateful to my friends Lady Gaga, Billy Porter and Eric McCormack for joining David in hosting such an incredible evening, and of course Brandi Carlile for bringing down the house with an electrifying performance,” Elton said in a statement. “Most of all, I’m thankful to all who attended and participated to ensure that we can continue our lifesaving work to end AIDS. I could feel the love and support all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska!”
David Furnish added in a statement, “It was an especially unforgettable and emotional evening with our sons in attendance for the first time. They made their fathers extremely proud representing our family at the Foundation’s most important night of the year!”
Guests at the bash included Demi Lovato, Kevin Costner, Donatella Versace, Chris Pine, Zooey Deschanel, Fran Drescher, Patricia Arquette, Heidi Klum, Chrissy Metz and many more.
Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As many Americans resume some sense of normalcy in daily life, a large sector of the population hit hard by the pandemic requires more assistance than ever and nonprofit groups are working tirelessly to deliver essential help for the increasing number of seniors in need.
Hundreds of thousands of older adults across the country struggled with hunger and isolation before COVID-19, and Meals on Wheels said it has doubled down its efforts to meet growing demand even as compounding issues of inflation, food costs and gas prices rock its channels of support and funds.
The Older Americans Act (OAA) Nutrition Programs, which celebrated 50 years this month, provides grants to states to help support nutrition services for people over the age of 60 throughout the country. Meals on Wheels President and CEO Ellie Hollander called it “foundational financial federal support” for its more than 5,000 community programs, but told Good Morning America why especially in the wake of the pandemic and up against new hurdles, it’s not enough.
“What people may not know is that Meals on Wheels is a public-private partnership, so the federal government provides approximately 40% of the seed funding — but we need individuals, we need corporations and foundations to step up to the plate to help fill that gap,” Hollander said. “Quite frankly, the funding has never been adequate to meet the growing demand, the increase in the senior population, not to mention inflation and, most recently, the cost of food and gasoline. Being that we do deliver the price of gas really does impact our operations.”
Hollander noted that Congress stepped up in the short term and delivered emergency funding to ensure seniors were not left behind during the pandemic, but said “the last amount of funding we got was a year ago in March 2021.”
“Congress finally passed the appropriations bills for 2022 and we were expecting, given the huge surge in need and more meals being served to more seniors, that both the House and Senate would approve a large increase in spending,” she explained. “However, Congress only approved a 1.5% increase — which is completely inadequate and we’re very concerned about a services cliff nationwide.”
As of 2022, eight out of 10 of the organization’s more than 5,000 local programs serve more home-delivered meals than they did prior to March 2020, Meals on Wheels reported in a recent fact sheet.
“The pandemic, I think, really created a lot of hardships for seniors and threw a whole new pipeline of older adults into homebound status,” Hollander said. “Our programs at the local level have been stepping up building capacity on a regular basis, not really knowing where the funding is coming from, but wanting to be sure that no senior is left behind.”
Logistics amid pandemic, inflation, rising fuel costs and disruptions in food supply
Holly Hagler’s program in Orange County served 10,000 people a year prior to the pandemic — 90% of whom live below the senior poverty level — with a million home delivered meals and hot lunches for group settings in senior centers annually.
“We went from serving about 5,000 hot meals per week to serving 30,000 frozen meals, a week,” Hagler told GMA of the surge when the program converted to grab-and-go. “It’s a 600% increase so the cost of it all has just been huge. We were spending about $3 million annually on just the raw food costs and on packaging supplies for the food. And as a combination of both the increase in volume and inflation, we’re serving more than 5 million meals annually. For us, a 10% increase in food costs equals, an average impact of $400,000 or more a year. That equates to about 75,000 fewer meals that we can serve.”
“Older adults have been hit the hardest by COVID and now they are really getting hit extra hard,” she said, adding that “a lot of them can’t afford to come to the senior center everyday anymore to get a hot meal because they’re living on fixed income with health care costs, gasoline and food prices, and they’re concerned.”
She said her program’s fleet of trucks that hit the road daily have been slammed by the soaring gas prices in just the past few months.
“Our gasoline bill in January was $9,500 and now we’re expecting it to be $12,500 this month, maybe pushing $13,000,” Hagler said. “For us that annual impact is 9,000 meals. So everything boils down to how many fewer meals can we serve because of these rising prices.”
San Antonio Meals on Wheels CEO Vinsen Faris, who has been involved with the organization since 1988, told GMA that “optimism was growing coming into the spring after the very, very tough two years we’ve had. However, with rising gas prices suddenly everything is getting turned on its head again.”
“When you have an organization like this that relies on so many volunteers — to deliver meals using their own vehicles and their own fuel to see those prices going up at the pumps — we started hearing from volunteers and they’re concerned,” he said. “I had a lady this week in a Prius of all things, when I was greeting her in the pickup line and she said ‘I just don’t know about these prices.’ So it’s been tough. Now with the fuel costs rising we’re going to see additional cost pressure on the food products themselves, plus our cost of fuel here just in the delivery of meals that we undertake.”
Another large hurdle currently facing Hagler’s program is that “people working from home that volunteered have returned to the office.”
“A lot of cities stepped up huge in our area and put their recreation staff in vehicles delivering the meals that we provide. But they’re opening back up and called back into regular jobs, so we’re really at a critical point here because of inflation and challenges with staffing — I’ve never seen turnover like this in my entire career of 35 plus years.”
Another critical challenge Faris has faced in San Antonio amid the pandemic “has been the wonkiness of the food supply chain.”
“That has impacted the food products that we could get in here to prepare because sometimes it was just, ‘surprise that’s not coming in’ and we’re not going to get it,” he said. “The biggest problem has been the cost increase. Since the start of the pandemic our actual meal cost of increased about 20%,” he said of their program that operates its own kitchen and is in the process of completing a new 44,000 square foot facility slated to open in October. “We’re producing 50,000 meals a week — so it’s really high volume but the cost has put a strain on it.”
Bigger than food deliveries
One silver lining Faris has found from all of this is the spotlight the pandemic has put on isolation and the need to look out for seniors.
“We’ve actually increased the number of clients that we were serving pre pandemic by almost 80% and it’s that public support that has allowed us to do that,” he said of the now 4,500 meals served daily compared to 2,500 before the pandemic. “We are just now getting back to pre-pandemic levels of volunteers … we have more meals delivered here in San Antonio, Texas, by individual volunteers than we have ever had in our 40 plus year history.”
“With older adults it’s not just income, it’s isolation, which is probably the single greatest risk factor they have because they’re not connected to resources. It is lack of capacity, whether it’s their mobility, declining cognitive capacity or just losing interest in cooking,” Hagler explained. “We really need people to stand up for seniors.”
Faris echoed a similar sentiment adding that “the more we can shine the light on our older adults who are having challenges — I believe that the public is going to respond and do the right thing.”
“We have to pay it back, these are the people who made it possible for all of us to be here today. They were our teachers in school, they were our firemen. Whoever they were, doing whatever in the community, they made it all possible for us, so we need to be taking care of them,” he said.
How Americans can take action
Hollander said there are three main ways to support The Meals on Wheels America organization.
First, donations to a local program. “A little goes a long way. This is when individuals can truly be heroes too,” she said.
Second, offer to volunteer. “It doesn’t mean that you need to be delivering meals, it can be skilled volunteering. Making phone calls or writing cards to let seniors know that someone’s thinking of them. That made a big difference during the pandemic.”
Third, advocate. “Particularly with federal funding not keeping pace with need and the gap growing further between those in need and not being served it’s very important for people to step up and advocate for more funding for this critically important 50-year proven program.”
Hollander, who has been in her role for more than nine years shared what she calls “the best fact that says it all: we can provide a senior with Meals on Wheels for an entire year for the same cost as being in the hospital for one day or a nursing home for 10.”
As has been their tradition, The Razzie Awards announced their picks for the worst film of 2021 on Saturday — a night before the Oscars — and Netflix’s filmed version of the Princess Diana Broadway musical, Diana, won the most Razzies, taking home five trophies, including worst picture, actress, supporting actress, director and screenplay. Warner Bros.’ Space Jam revival received the second highest number of Razzies — three — with star LeBron James walking off with worst actor dishonors. Space Jam: A New Legacy also won for worst screen couple and remake, rip-off or sequel. Will Smith, who’s won four Razzies over the course of his career, got its Redeeemer Award for his role in King Richard — though this was bestowed before his Oscars outburst. See the full list here…
The Goldbergs‘ Wendi McLendon-Covey has closed a new deal to return to the popular ABC sitcom, according to Deadline. The network hasn’t officially renewed the series, but with her signing, a pickup seems likely. McLendon-Covey has emerged as the lead of The Goldbergs after the comedy lost two core cast members — George Segal, who died last spring, and Jeff Garlin, who exited in December following multiple misconduct allegations and HR investigations…
Deadline reports Spider-Man: No Way Home reached a rare domestic box office milestone on Sunday, becoming one of only three movies in Hollywood history to reach $800M, after 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, with $936.6M and $858.3 million, respectively. Additionally, the film — starring Tom Holland, Zendaya and Benedict Cumberbatch — sold over 2.1 million units in the U.S. during its first week of digital release, according to the outlet. No Way Home, which debuted on digital platforms 88 days after its theatrical release for $19.99, has grabbed close to $42 million…
(NEW YORK) — Political polarization in the U.S. was evident and intensifying long before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, two years ago.
Americans were already deeply divided about a multitude of issues, with differing opinions concerning healthcare, immigration, voting rights, gun reform and climate change, often leaving little room for collaboration across the aisle.
Polling shows that the emergence of the novel coronavirus in 2020 exacerbated the rift, pushing Americans further apart on key pandemic response efforts.
Surveys from Pew Research Center, last year, found that in the early months of the pandemic, about 6 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents believed the virus was a major threat to the health of the U.S. population, compared to only a third of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents. That 26-point gap would ultimately grow to approximately 40 points by the fall, researchers found.
Over the last two years, few issues have been more divisive than the pandemic and related policies — from the raging debate over mask use, to the ongoing push to get Americans vaccinated.
Among all factors in the prevention of severe COVID-19 and death, vaccination has been key, experts say.
Unvaccinated Americans are several times more likely to be hospitalized and die and those living in rural areas, as well as conservatives and Republicans, were among the most hesitant to be vaccinated, according to a September 2021 ABC News/Washington Post poll. For unvaccinated Americans, the decision to not wear a mask or follow other restrictions, ultimately caused increased transmission, which in turn, resulted in more severe outcomes, experts suggest.
The end result is a gulf in COVID-19 death rates between red and blue states, one that is particularly amplified when examining the most and least vaccinated states.
“In the United States, COVID-19 has become a political issue, and people’s political beliefs strongly influence their behavior,” David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News. “Political divides in our thinking about COVID are much stronger than in many other countries.”
Though politicization of the virus likely played a significant role in the differing death rates, due to varying approaches to restrictions and vaccination efforts, experts say, a myriad of other issues also contributed, including access to adequate healthcare, and the disproportionate impact of the virus on communities of color.
Vaccination rates and receptivity to mitigation measures have also been influenced by factors including misinformation.
Cumulative death rates in red states 30% higher
It has been nearly a year since the COVID-19 vaccines became available to every American adult last April, after initially being offered to health workers and older populations, when supplies were still limited.
However, vaccination rates differ markedly between states that voted for former President Donald Trump, compared to those that voted for President Joe Biden, paralleling the partisan lines that have divided the country.
Data sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the 10 states with the highest vaccination rates all voted for Biden in 2020, while nine of the 10 states with the lowest vaccination rates voted for Trump. The lone exception was Georgia, which narrowly went for Biden by less than a quarter of a percentage point.
Further, cumulative death data from the C.D.C., from over the last 10 months, illustrates the implications of political polarization of the COVID-19 vaccines.
An ABC News analysis of federal data found that on average, the death rates in states that voted for Trump were more than 38% higher than in states that voted for Biden, post widespread vaccine availability.
In addition, in the 10 states with the lowest percentage of full vaccinations, death rates were almost twice as high as that of states with the highest vaccination rates, the analysis found.
Over the span of the last 10 months, in the 10 states with the lowest vaccination rates, where between 50 and 54.5% of the total population had been fully vaccinated, there was an average of 153 COVID-19-related deaths per 100,000 residents.
In contrast, during the same time period, the 10 states and jurisdictions with the highest vaccination rates, which all voted for Biden, there was an average of about 82.2 related deaths per 100,000 residents. In all 10 states, about 75% of residents had been fully vaccinated.
Vaccination and mitigation ‘have become heavily partisan’
“There are a few reasons why we’re seeing such differences in death and vaccination rates. The obvious one is that both vaccinations and other forms of COVID-19 mitigation have become heavily partisan,” Seth Masket, a professor of political science and director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, told ABC News.
According to experts, political polarization has led to different responses and attitudes with respect to the pandemic.
While in the early months of the pandemic, many Democratic governors strongly promoted stay-at-home orders, masking initiatives and other mitigation measures, Trump, and some Republican governors, sought to deemphasize the seriousness of the threat of the virus, prioritizing instead the economy and the value of independence, Dowdy argued.
“It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear,” Trump said in late February 2020. “The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.”
Trump later admitted to veteran journalist Bob Woodward that he had indeed tried to downplay the severity of the virus because he did not want to create panic.
“From early in the pandemic, following the rhetoric of then-President Trump, Republicans have consistently not been as concerned about the dangers of COVID-19, and they have been more skeptical of medical advice about preventing its spread,” Masket said. “Democratic leaders have consistently expressed more concern about the disease and Democratic voters have largely followed suit.”
Last fall, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that the increase in infections caused by the delta variant surge resulted in a jump in perceived risk of catching the virus, from 29% in late June to 47% in September. However, only 39% expressed worries about the consequences of infection.
Political partisanship influenced pandemic-related health decisions, beliefs and behavior, including “one’s attitude towards public health measures — like masking — became a signifier of political and cultural identity,” Adrian Bardon, a professor of philosophy at Wake Forest University explained.
While most states imposed restrictions on gatherings and businesses, issuing stay-at-home orders and masking mandates, in an effort to curb the spread of infections, a number of states moved to ease restrictions and masking requirements soon after the first wave abated in 2020.
Eleven states — all of which are led by Republican governors — never issued a statewide masking mandate.
These restrictions, along with the masks and vaccine mandates, had made a significant difference in protecting people from infections, Peter Jacobson, professor emeritus of health law and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, told ABC News.
“In easing these restrictions earlier, more people were going to be exposed,” Jacobson said. “The blue states took this entire outbreak more seriously… You can’t underestimate the messages that were being sent to the public.”
Tens of millions of Americans remain unvaccinated
A November 2021 study published in the National Institute of Medicine’s National Library of Medicine, found that “politicization has undoubtedly contributed to hesitancy toward uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The red and blue gap in COVID-19 vaccination totals was preceded and predicted by a red and blue gap in belief in the seriousness of the incipient pandemic, Bardon said.
Since the introduction of the vaccine drive, over 250 million Americans have received a shot — representing about 76.8% of the total population, according to federal data. However, despite concerted efforts to convince those most hesitant, 57 million eligible Americans over the age of five remain completely unvaccinated.
Despite the fact that the former President Trump created Operation Warp Speed, which developed COVID-19 vaccines at a record pace, and endorsed the use of the vaccine, alongside Republican allies like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a large swath of Americans have still refused the shots.
“The irony of course, is that the Trump administration was responsible for fighting for this pandemic funding, in fast-tracking the vaccine process that has really saved a lot of lives,” Jacobson said.
However, while Trump and some of his allies have encouraged vaccination, many still decried mandates.
According to polling from KFF, as of February 2022, just 56% of Republicans are vaccinated, as compared to 70% of Independents, and 92% of Democrats. In addition, a third of Republicans reported that they definitely would not get vaccinated.
Experts have stressed repeatedly that the global and domestic vaccination drive ultimately saved the lives of millions of people.
In the absence of a vaccination program, an analysis from the Commonwealth Fund found that there would have been approximately 1.1 million additional COVID-19 deaths and more than 10.3 million additional COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. by November 2021.
Federal data also shows that in January, unvaccinated adults were nine times more likely to die of COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals, and six times more likely to require hospitalization.
Additionally, unvaccinated adults were about 21 times more likely to die of COVID-19 in January, and 12 times more likely to require hospitalization, compared to fully vaccinated and boosted adults.
Access and disparities also a persistent issue
Experts stress the importance of other factors at play, besides politics, to also explain the higher COVID-19 death toll in red states as compared to blue states.
“Democrats and Republicans tend to live in different kinds of areas. Republicans are more likely to live in more sparsely populated areas, where diseases may not spread as easily, but health facilities also tend to be farther away,” Masket said.
Lack of access to transportation, proper to pharmacies, all have major consequences for public health, Jacobson added.
“All relevant problems begin with access: access to treatment, access to pharmaceuticals. These issues were exacerbated in the pandemic,” Jacobson said. “People in some communities don’t even have transportation to [healthcare] facilities.”
According to ABC News’ analysis last summer of pharmacy locations across the country, there are 150 counties where there is no pharmacy, and nearly 4.8 million people live in a county where there’s only one pharmacy for every 10,000 residents or more.
Based on Census data, there are far fewer pharmacies per person — especially chain pharmacies — in rural parts of the country compared to urban areas.
In addition, the inequities, with respect to access, underscore the racial gap prevalent throughout the country, in both rural and urban areas, with more pharmacies in whiter and wealthier neighborhoods per person than in poorer, predominantly nonwhite neighborhoods.
Persisting disparities throughout the pandemic have also resulted in a higher likelihood of death from COVID-19 for Black and brown Americans.
According to federal data, adjusted for age and population, the likelihood of death because of COVID-19, for Black, Asian, Latino and Native American people is about one to two times higher, compared to White Americans.
Although some minority communities initially lagged behind in the nation’s vaccination efforts, the rates of Black and Brown Americans have significantly caught up proportionally to their respective populations.
However, Black and brown Americans are still behind in the national booster drive, with only 40.3% of eligible Hispanic/Latino Americans boosted, and 43.6% of eligible Black Americans boosted.
Comparatively, about 54.4% of White Americans have received their booster, while Asian Americans lead every race/ethnicity group, with 60% of the eligible population boosted.
Misinformation and distrust of science and government exacerbated by the pandemic
The pandemic has exacerbated an already deteriorating public trust in the scientific community, experts say.
“Science has unfortunately, always been politicized in the United States,” Dowdy said. “Many view scientists as being alarmist rather than rational. When scientists in the U.S. push for things like COVID-19 vaccination, this has also become a political — rather than objective — statement.”
In addition, confusion over inconsistent and shifting messages from the federal government further eroded trust in the management of the pandemic by health agencies, intensifying the divide.
“It’s concerning that the pandemic seemed to deepen the pre-existing gaps in confidence between Republicans and Democrats in our national health agencies,” said Thomas Wood, assistant professor of political science at The Ohio State University.
The C.D.C. has repeatedly defended itself against accusations of flip-flopping, as they updated their public health guidelines, throughout the pandemic.
The reality has been that the science behind COVID-19 is not black and white, but more often, gray, C.D.C. Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” earlier this month.
“Since my getting here what I said is, ‘we’re gonna lead with the science.’ The implication was that science was black and white, and in fact, in an ever-evolving virus, and a two-year-long pandemic, the science isn’t always black and white. It’s — it’s oftentimes shades of gray,” Walensky said.
Further, the barrage of misinformation, particularly in the first few months of the pandemic, and of denialism, added Jacobson, played a big role in abetting this lack of trust in science, as well as in government, in public institutions, and ultimately costs lives.
“A clear problem was people’s unwillingness to take precautions — the feeling that COVID-19 doesn’t exist,” Jacobson said.
A key question for officials to address will be how to repair the damage that has been done to public health, to the sciences, given the politicization of the pandemic, Jacobson explained.
The long-term implications for public health are, if not dire, certainly troublesome, he added.
“We are not going to be prepared for [the next pandemic], because the public isn’t prepared,” Jacobson concluded.
