Monday morning news - July 26, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Federal government reconsidering mask guidance as COVID-19 surges » The federal government is reconsidering its guidance on mask wearing as COVID-19 cases continue to soar.

That according to President Biden’s top medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He told CNN’s State of the Union that half the country is not yet fully vaccinated.

FAUCI: That’s a problem. Particularly when you have a variant like delta, which has this extraordinary characteristic of being able to spread very efficiently.

New U.S. daily infections are up fivefold from late June, now around 60,000 new cases a day. That’s a level not seen since April.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have more than doubled over that span. The good news remains that so far the number of daily deaths from the virus has not significantly increased.

At the moment, the CDC still advises that fully vaccinated people generally don’t need to wear a mask. That guidance could change. And some local governments are already once again requiring face coverings in public.

But Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialist Dr. Amesh Adalja said it will be very difficult to get the public to comply with a return to stricter mask guidance or mandates.

ADALJA: Not many people are going to wear it, and it’s not going to be something that has a major impact because it’s the unvaccinated individuals, people who haven’t gotten vaccinated, unlikely to wear a mask, who are spreading this and it’s going to be in certain areas where mask use isn’t very common to begin with.

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the Pfizer vaccine to be 88 percent effective in preventing illness from the delta variant. And it’s even more effective at preventing severe illness or death.

Officials say almost all Americans now hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

DHS cancels 31 miles of border wall in Texas » The Department of Homeland Security has officially cancelled contracts for more than 30 miles of border wall construction in Texas.

When former President Trump left office, about $2 billion of unspent cash was allocated for border wall construction. Much of that money was under contract.

President Biden suspended construction of the border wall when he took office. And his administration has not requested any additional funds for border barriers in the 2022 budget.

But National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said that doesn’t mean taxpayers are off the hook.

JUDD: To avoid litigation, the Biden administration is in fact paying these contracting companies the money they were scheduled to make, but they’re just not doing any work for it.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that work never started on the now-cancelled 31 miles of border wall. It said the federal government had not yet acquired the necessary land to build the barriers.

Fire crews make limited progress against Oregon’s Bootleg fire » Fire crews in southern Oregon have managed to more than halfway surround the Bootleg fire, the largest of nearly 100 wildfires burning in the West.

Well over 2,000 crew members are working to corral the blaze in the heat and wind. The sprawling fire is now spreading more slowly. That’s progress. But it has already taken an enormous toll, and it’s not done yet. Marcus Kauffman is a spokesman for Oregon’s Department of Forestry.

KAUFFMAN: Unfortunately, the fire has destroyed 67 single residences - 67 homes - and 117 minor structures. So those are outbuildings, garages, sheds, clubhouses.

Fire behavior analyst Jim Hanson said “This fire is resistant to stopping at dozer lines.” He said with extreme weather and all the dry tinder fueling the blaze, firefighters are having to constantly reevaluate their control lines and look to their backup plans.

Meantime, flames racing through rugged terrain in Northern California destroyed multiple homes over the weekend. The Dixie fire, which started July 14, has now leveled more than a dozen houses and other structures.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for four northern counties.

More than 85 large wildfires are burning around the country, mostly in Western states.

One victim of South Fla. condo collapse remains missing » One victim of the condo building collapse in Surfside, Florida remains missing.

Officials haven’t named that person, but the family of 54-year-old Estelle Hedaya told CNN that she is the final victim.

The Miami-Dade Police Department took command of the search effort after firefighters on Friday declared an end to their search. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky told reporters…

COMINSKY: What we just encountered these past 30 days, this represents what we are and who we are as a fire service and obviously as a taskforce.

Officials will analyze forensic evidence from the site of the collapse, but they say there are no bodies left to be found.

Search teams identified 97 people who lost their lives when the 12-story Champlain Tower crumbled on June 24th.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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