Tag: COVID pandemic

‘There’s Going to Be Pain’: Restaurant Chains Are Falling Like Dominoes as Inflation Under Biden-Harris Takes Its Toll

Daily Caller News Foundation
Red Lobster

Restaurant chains and operators are slated to have their most bankruptcies in decades apart from 2020, a Wall Street Journal analysis of Chapter 11 filings found Monday.

The bankruptcies seen this year are rivaling those seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when restrictions and other pandemic-related disruptions caused the industry’s sales to fall $240 billion, according to the WSJ. The surge in bankruptcies comes as prices have increased over 20% since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, raising operational expenses for restaurants and making customers less inclined to eat out.

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Study: After COVID Pandemic, Only 40 Percent of Americans Now Say They Trust Doctors

Virginia Star Staff

A stunning 50-state survey of U.S. adults has found that trust in physicians and hospitals collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, going from from 71.5 percent in April 2020 to 40.1 percent in January 2024.

Roy H. Perlis, MD, MS, Katherine Ognyanova PhD, and Ata Uslu, MS, researchers from the Center for Quantitative Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Rutgers University, and Northeastern University, surveyed 443 455 individuals in every sociodemographic group aged 18 years or older residing in the US.

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Antidepressant Prescriptions for Youth Surged During COVID Pandemic

Virginia Star Staff
Therapist Session

A new study shows that the prescription of antidepressants for youth skyrocketed during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, rising by a staggering 65.3%.

As reported by Axios, the research from Pediatrics shows that the spike in such prescriptions may have been caused by a number of factors, including a shortage in mental health workers in schools and the shift towards remote forms of medical treatment such as “telehealth” and remote prescribing, which only contributed to a sense of isolation and depression brought on by the nationwide lockdowns.

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‘Serious Problems’: Global Plague of Recessions Could Infect U.S., Experts Say

Virginia Star Staff
Office Meeting

The recessions currently plaguing several major countries around the world could be what drags the U.S. into an economic downturn of its own, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Germany announced on Monday that it fell into a technical recession in the fourth quarter of 2023, after reporting its second month in a row of negative growth, following several other top nations experiencing economic difficulties. While the U.S. has managed to avoid a recession due to its size and diverse industries, foreign economic malaise may drag the U.S. economy down through changes to trade and global inflation that would lead to a loss for American businesses, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: After Telework Surge, Federal Buildings Remain Largely Empty

RealClearWire
Empty Office

More than two years after the Biden administration called on all federal agencies to create plans to bring employees who teleworked during the COVID pandemic back to the office, the vast majority of Washington, D.C.’s federal buildings are still sprawling expanses of empty, echoing hallways and offices. 

In fact, 17 of 24 federal agencies use an estimated 25% or less of their headquarters’ office capacity, according to an updated survey by the General Accounting Office, a government agency that provides auditing and investigative services for Congress. 

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Analysis: Consumer Prices Up 6.1 Percent Since April 2021 a Personal Income Falls Behind

Virginia Star Staff

by Robert Romano   The U.S. economy has been on a rollercoaster ever since the COVID pandemic of 2020, first with high unemployment and near deflationary levels as the global economy was locked down, followed by a deluge of government spending, borrowing and printing almost $7 trillion, followed by inflation…

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Study: Many Hospitals Profited During COVID Pandemic

Virginia Star Staff

A new study reveals that nearly 75 percent of all U.S. hospitals were able to post positive operating income at the height of the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, primarily due to relief funds provided by the government.

As Axios reports, the analysis by JAMA Health Forum shows that the average hospital’s operating margins – the difference between revenue and expenses – hit an all-time high in 2020 and 2021, the first two years of the pandemic. Many hospitals continue to post improving operating margins even after 2022 despite the rising inflation, which some have attributed to the massive profits in the first two years of COVID.

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Interior Department Included Wuhan Lab Funder on Early COVID Pandemic Research Team

Just the News
Wuhan Institute of Virology

Officials at the U.S. nonprofit that passed taxpayer money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – whose coronavirus bat research is now suspected by the FBI to be the source of the pandemic – helped the Interior Department research possible transmission of COVID-19 between humans and North American bats, according to newly released government memos.

Lightly redacted documents provided to government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show the “fingerprints” of the EcoHealth Alliance “at key points” of the resulting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paper in June 2020, the group said Wednesday. 

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Union Boss Randi Weingarten Ripped for Denying She Pushed Biden Administration to Keep Schools Closed

Susan Berry, PhD

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten is drawing fire from many sides for her denial before a congressional subcommittee that she pressed the Biden administration to keep government schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as U.S. private and religious schools, and public schools in Europe, reopened. CNN contributor and Kentucky parent Scott Jennings confronted Weingarten Thursday night for pushing the Biden administration to keep schools closed during the COVID crisis but claiming to the House COVID subcommittee she had always wanted to reopen schools.

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Documents: Teachers’ Union Played Significant Role in CDC’s Halting of Full School Reopening

Susan Berry, PhD

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its president Randi Weingarten had significant input into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) pandemic school reopening guidelines than was known in 2021, according to documents obtained by Americans for Public Trust (APT).

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Teachers’ Union Boss Randi Weingarten’s Rant About Student Loan Forgiveness at SCOTUS Draws Fire

Susan Berry, PhD

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who was unhinged as she ranted and raved on the steps of the Supreme Court over the prospect that Joe Biden’s student loan handout could be declared unconstitutional, is drawing rebukes for being the height of hypocrisy.

Weingarten, joined by other far-left proponents of student debt relief, screamed on the steps of the Supreme Court Tuesday as oral arguments were heard in challenges to Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loan payments, claiming the move is essential to “make good with the students of America.”

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Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson Reignites Effort to Protect America’s Sovereignty Against World Health Organization’s Pandemic Treaty

Susan Berry, PhD

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) reintroduced legislation Wednesday that seeks to protect the sovereignty of the United States against the World Health Organization’s (WHO) attempt to push through a pandemic treaty onto its member states.

Johnson led other Republican senators as he reintroduced the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act.

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