Short Wave - CDC’s Do’s and Don’ts For Fully Vaccinated People

The CDC released new guidance Monday, allowing people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to resume some pre-pandemic activities, including gathering indoors with other vaccinated people without wearing masks. Health correspondent Allison Aubrey walks us through the new recommendations and what precautions fully vaccinated people still need to take.

Read the CDC's guidance.

Email the show your questions and concerns about the coronavirus at shortwave@npr.org. We might cover it in our ongoing coverage of the pandemic.

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Consider This from NPR - George Floyd Case: Trial Of Former Police Officer Derek Chauvin Underway

Jury selection in the highly anticipated trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin began Tuesday after being delayed amid an effort to gain clarity on the potential of a third-degree murder charge. Chauvin faces charges in the killing of George Floyd last Memorial Day.

Jamiles Lartey, who reports on criminal justice and policing for The Marshall Project, explains the delay.

NPR's Leila Fadel and Adrian Florido have been covering the trial in Minneapolis.

Benjamin Crump, the attorney representing the family of George Floyd, argues that civil suits could deter police violence — even if settlements aren't accompanied by a criminal conviction.

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Consider This from NPR - COVID-19 Relief And Cash Payments Near; CDC Says Vaccinated Can Gather Without Masks

Over the weekend, the Senate approved a version of President Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, setting up a vote in the House that could send the package to Biden's desk as early as Tuesday.

The package contains direct cash payments for many Americans, extended unemployment benefits, billions of dollars for vaccine distribution and a significant change to the child tax credit that could lift millions of American children out of poverty. Indi Dutta-Gupta of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality explains how the credit would work.

And there's new guidance for Americans who've been fully vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say vaccinated people can feel safe enjoying a few pre-pandemic freedoms. NPR's Allison Aubrey has details. Here's more information on the new CDC recommendations.

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Short Wave - Millions Of U.S. Homes Face An Expensive Flooding Threat

More than 4 million U.S. homes face substantial risk of expensive flood damage, according to new research. On top of that, NPR climate reporter Rebecca Hersher found that communities where flood insurance is already unaffordable face potentially catastrophic damage — including to mental and physical health.

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Consider This from NPR - BONUS: ‘It’s OK That We’re Alive’

What do you do after you've survived a mass shooting? In this episode of NPR's Embedded podcast, we hear the staff at the Capital Gazette newspaper return to work after losing five of their colleagues.

Trauma reveals itself in unexpected ways, coworkers struggle to figure out how they fit together as a team, and the staff grapples with the question: Is the newspaper that existed before the shooting the same one that exists after?

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Consider This from NPR - Colombia Welcomes Venezuelan Refugees With Open Arms: Will The U.S. Do The Same?

Colombian President Iván Duque won praise from the United Nations, Pope Francis and the Biden administration with his recent announcement that Colombia would welcome Venezuelan refugees with open arms — providing protected status, work permits and legal residency for up to 10 years.

President Duque tells NPR why he's hopeful the move will spur the U.S. toward more aggressive support of Venezuelan migrants, some of whom are currently protected by a deferred deportation order signed by President Trump on his final day in office.

Reporter John Otis explains what Colombia's new policy means to Venezuelans already living there.

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Short Wave - Is The Sperm Race A Fairy Tale?

A lot of us were taught that conception happens with a survivor-style sperm race — the fastest and strongest sperm fight to make it to the egg first. In this Back To School episode, we revisit this misleading narrative and learn just how active the egg and reproductive tract are in this process.

You can find Ariela @arielazebede, Lisa @CampoEngelstein, and Kristin @kristin_hook on Twitter. Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Editorial Note - The introduction of this episode has been updated to reflect anthropologist Emily Martin's crucial role in first making this issue widely known.

REFERENCES:
The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles, Emily Martin (1991)
Revisiting "The fertilization fairytale:" an analysis of gendered language used to describe fertilization in science textbooks from middle school to medical school, Lisa Campo-Engelstein & Nadia Johnson (2014)
Misconceptions about Conception and Other Fallacies: Historical Bias in Reproductive Biology, Virginia Hayssen (2020)

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Consider This from NPR - Pandemic Inflection Point: Drop In Cases Stalls, States Loosen Public Health Measures

In the U.S., the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is improving every day, but hundreds of millions of people are still vulnerable. And now, with some states relaxing or eliminating public health measures altogether, many people live in places where the virus will be freer to spread unchecked.

KUT reporter Ashley Lopez reports on how business owners and employees are reacting to the rollback of COVID-19 restrictions in Texas.

And Rochelle Walensky, the new director for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, tells NPR this could be a turning point in the pandemic — as more states face crucial decisions about whether to relax public health measures. Here's more from Walensky's interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro.

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