Medical Testing

Measles concerns may delay Afghan resettlement by weeks The Biden administration announced that it would halt flights for Afghan evacuees at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after four individuals tested positive following their arrival. Erin Banco POLITICO

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending Afghan evacuees housed at U.S. military bases overseas be tested and vaccinated for measles — a process that could delay efforts to resettle as many as 12,000 by several weeks, according to three senior administration officials.

President Biden’s new coronavirus vaccine mandates will have sweeping ramifications for businesses, schools and the political discourse in the United States. But for many scientists, the question is a simpler one: Will these measures turn back a surging pandemic?

The answer: Yes, in the longer term.

It has become clear that the nation cannot hope to end the pandemic with some 37 percent of Americans not having received a single dose of Covid vaccine, several experts said in interviews. Cases and hospitalizations are only expected to rise as Americans move indoors in homes, schools and offices in the cooling weather.

The administration’s new plan should stem the flood of infections and return the country to some semblance of normalcy over the longer term, the researchers said.

“It’s going to fundamentally shift the arc of the current surge,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s exactly what’s needed at this moment.”