-Local election news:
Former sustainability manager of the City of Columbia, Barbara Buffaloe, announces run for mayor.
Local attorney Kayla Jackson-Williams announces candidacy for associate circuit judge for division 10; if elected she would be Boone county's first black judge.
State representative Martha Stevens will not seek reelection in 2022.
-Tessa Weinberg of the Missouri Independent reports: Missouri earmarked $3 million from federal COVID stimulus funds to a training program to certify home health care aides. However, in the midst of a nurse shortage, the state of Missouri has not implemented the program. Instead, they have diverted these funds to other COVID-19 needs and ignored public questions.
-COVID susceptibility and age: Emily Oster's March article in The Atlantic magazine claimed that "Your unvaccinated child is like your vaccinated grandparent." Critics noted the article downplayed the risks to children and their subsequent retransmission. Oster later issued a response on her website standing by her statement yet apologizing for the headline's lack of nuance. However, 7 months later, data shows that unvaccinated children under 12 appear to be at less risk than vaccinated people in their 30s and 40s. While subsequent data demonstrates the risk of COVID to children without preexisting conditions are so small they are hard to quantify, data shows vaccines are still a powerful form of risk reduction for adults.
Oster's article: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/go-ahead-plan-family-vacation-your-unvaccinated-kids/618313/
Leonhardt's article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/briefing/covid-age-risk-infection-vaccine.html
