COVOD-19
Most populous Texas county defies governor with mask mandate
Texas’ most populous county on Thursday joined the legal battle by local officials seeking to override Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates and institute protections against COVID-19 as hospitals around the state continue to swell with patients sickened by the virus.
Harris County, where Houston is located, first filed a lawsuit against Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates by any state, county or local government entity. A few hours later on Thursday, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced the county health authority had issued an order requiring that people must wear masks when inside any public school, non-religious private school or licensed child care center in the county.
“Vaccination remains the primary way to protect our community from COVID-19. However, children 12 and under remain ineligible for the vaccine. At this point, public health interventions like masking, contact tracing and notifications in schools remain their only protection against this virus,” said Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which has 4.7 million residents and is the third most populous U.S. county.
Bexar, Dallas and Fort Bend counties along with San Antonio have also sued Abbot t and have been granted temporary restraining orders that for now let them put mask mandates in place in their communities.
The dispute over mask mandates in Texas comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to rise, increasing to 10,791 on Thursday, the most since Feb. 2. In the past month, hospitalizations have increased by 343%. State health officials reported 120 deaths on Thursday, the most since March 1.
“The current wave of the Delta variant presents a real and imminent threat to our most vulnerable populations, and local officials need to be able to respond to this crisis. The governor’s executive order acknowledges this crisis, and then bans any meaningful action to address it,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said in a statement.
Abbott said Wednesday the Texas Disaster Act gives him the power to guide the state through emergencies and “the path forward relies on personal responsibility—not government mandates.”
“Any school district, public university, or local government official that decides to defy the order will be taken to court,” Abbott said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has already asked a state appeals court in Dallas to stay a temporary restraining order granted to Dallas County on Tuesday that is allowing the county to require that masks be worn inside schools, county buildings and businesses.
The lawsuits filed against Abbott’s executive order were expected to end up before the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court, which has often ruled in favor of Abbott and Paxton.
In addition to the lawsuits, various school districts around the state have also defied Abbott’s executive order and have mandated that students, faculty and staff wear masks as a new school year resumes this month. School districts in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, La Joya, San Antonio and Spring have put in place mask mandates.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Brownsville school district board of trustees approved a mask mandate for its campuses in South Texas. The board announced it also planned to sue Abbott over his executive order.
The superintendent of Houston’s school district, the state’s largest, planned to ask his school board to approve a mask mandate during a Thursday evening meeting.
Officials from hospitals around the state say their facilities are overrun with COVID-19 patients and many don’t have enough nurses and other personnel to adequately staff intensive care unit or ICU beds.
In Corpus Christi in South Texas, officials on Thursday began using an ambulance bus, which can care for up to 21 patients, as a temporary emergency room to relieve the “current strain on our health care system,” said Mayor Paulette Guajardo.
Dr. Rohith Saravanan, chief medical officer at Odessa Regional Medical Center in West Texas, said Thursday the surge of COVID-19 cases has many medical personnel at his hospital feeling defeated as they thought they were winning the battle against the virus, feeling angry that people are not using the tools — vaccines and masks — that are available to beat the virus and feeling depressed because younger individuals are now getting sick.
“Nobody wants to go through this again. The hospitals do not want this surge, do not want to take care of these many COVID patients. We are here for you if you need us. But we’re hoping that you’ll do your part to make sure this does not get to where it’s projected to get to,” Saravanan said.
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COVOD-19
COVID-19 Impact: Enugu Govt., Traditional Rulers Partners With AUDA-NEPAD To Empower 2,000 Farmers
Rebuilding the nation from the debilitating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is paramount as the Enugu State Government in partnership with the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development, AUDA-NEPAD seeks to empower smallholder farmers in the state to boost food production to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The administration of #Governor Ifeanyi #Ugwuanyi of #Enugu State has taken measures in furtherance of its efforts to cushion the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people and the economy of the state.
Consequently, the Enugu State office of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development (AUDA-NEPAD), yesterday, held an interactive meeting with stakeholders in the state (Traditional Rulers of autonomous communities and Presidents General of town unions) on the agency’s agricultural project aimed at empowering smallholder farmers and boosting food production to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing the stakeholders, the Enugu State Commissioner for Special Duties and State Co-ordinator/Focal Person in charge of AUDA/NEPAD, Enugu Office, Hon. Mrs. Mabel Agbo disclosed that AUDA-NEPAD Continental Office in collaboration with some International Agencies took bold measures to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on the citizens by initiating the project, entitled “Innovative Strengthening of Smallholder Farmers Capabilities Towards Productive Land Restoration Amid COVID-19 in Nigeria”.
Mrs. Agbo said that “this project as the title connotes is aimed at empowering smallholder farmers in our different communities in all agriculture value chains and segments (crops and livestock) to boost their capacity for food production, especially in the aftermath of the devastating impact of COVID-19 on our economy”.
She stressed that “to reduce the negative impact of this pandemic, we must step up efforts to enhance the capacity of our farmers to provide food for the wellbeing of our citizens”.
Revealing that the African Union (AU) has set the ball rolling by providing the required money for the realization of the agricultural project, the AUDA-NEPAD State Coordinator pointed out that “our goal-oriented Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, was equally not found wanting as he readily approved the provision of the counterpart fund required for this project”.
Mrs. Agbo, therefore, urged the Traditional Rulers of the autonomous communities in Enugu State and the Presidents General of Town Unions to ensure that lands are made available for use by the potential farmers, who she said are eager to embrace the challenges of cluster farming but do not have the requisite land space for the agricultural project in their various communities.
“As the custodians of your ancestral lands, we expect you to help by disentangling those cultivable lands under your jurisdiction that are not presently in use.
“We are also aware that in some communities, the Green Lands earlier earmarked/acquired by the government for agriculture have been encroached by land grabbers.
“We enjoin you to help us identify these lands and take necessary steps to free them for use in this project”.
Also speaking, the representative of the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Afam Ngene, described the project as laudable, commending the AUDA-NEPAD for the initiative.
The Commissioner equally lauded Gov. Ugwuanyi for ensuring that the programme reaches all the nooks and crannies of Enugu State, for full actualization of the objectives in the interest of the farmers in particular and the state in general.
He hinted that the project has a ten years duration that will outlive the present administration both at the state and federal levels.
In their separate contributions, the Deputy Chairman of Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Igwe Barr. R.S.N. Eze; Igwe P.U. Agbo; Igwe Engr. Okey Ogbodo; Igwe Greg Ugwu; Igwe H.I. Eze; the Coordinating Chairman of Presidents General (PGs) in Enugu State, Barr. Paulinus Eze, and other PGs, thanked Gov. Ugwuanyi for attracting the international project to the state and promised to consult widely with their communities for the realization of the all-important programme.
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The National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) revealed in a Twitter update that passenger flights from Nigeria and 11 other African countries will resume from Saturday, January 29.
Other affected countries are Ethiopia, Tanzania, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, and the Republic of Congo.
It added that entry procedures have been updated for flights originating from Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Travel restrictions were put in place by the Arab country in December last year, over the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“From January 29, entry into the UAE for arrivals from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, the Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe is allowed again.”
“Passengers arriving from the three countries must have a negative COVID-19 test which was obtained within 48 hours of departure from approved labs in their respective countries,” the tweet read.
The UAE authority also said the passengers must undergo a Rapid PCR test at the airports of departure.
On arrival in the UAE, they will be subjected to another PCR test
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As of the 25th of this month, over 14 million eligible persons in Nigeria have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the country while over 5 million eligible Nigerians had been fully vaccinated.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, stated this in Abuja during a media briefing on the Progress of COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
He also identified the Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Ogun, and Kwara states as the top 5 performing states on COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
Dr. Shuaib however advocated State Governors support especially those on low performance to be charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the populace within their constituencies was duly vaccinated.
He said Nigeria has not recorded any death arising from Covid Vaccine since the commencement of the exercise in March last year.
Dr. Shuaib also said childhood immunization and other Primary Health Care services will be integrated into the mass COVID-19 campaign.
He said alongside the COVID-19 vaccines, childhood vaccines would also be available at COVID-19 vaccination sites to prevent any neglect in other health care services or even have outbreaks of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases at hand.
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