Goodbye 2022 and Welcome 2023

 

WRAPUP 4-Xi says COVID control is entering new phase as cases surge after reopening

Martin Quin Pollard and Eduardo Baptista

Fri, December 30, 2022 at 5:11 PM AKST

In this article:

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  Coronavirus
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  Xi Jinping

  General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

(Recasts with President Xi Jinping's comment)

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China overcame unprecedented difficulties in COVID battle: Xi

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Still a time of struggle for controlling COVID: Xi

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In Wuhan, surge in new cases shows signs of easing

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Shanghai has 10 million infections, health official says

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End of zero-COVID curbs prompts global concern

By Martin Quin Pollard and Eduardo Baptista

WUHAN/BEIJING, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Saturday for more effort and unity as the country enters a "new phase" in its approach to combating the pandemic, in his first comments to the public on COVID-19 since his government changed course three weeks ago and relaxed its rigorous policy of lockdowns and mass testing.

China's abrupt switch earlier this month from the "zero-COVID" policy that it had maintained for nearly three years has led to infections sweeping across the country unchecked. It has also caused a further drop in economic activity and international concern, with Britain and France becoming the latest countries to impose curbs on travellers from China.

The switch by China followed unprecedented protests over the policy championed by Xi, marking the strongest show of public defiance in his decade-old presidency and coinciding with grim growth figures for the country's $17 trillion economy.

In a televised speech to mark the New Year, Xi said China had overcome unprecedented difficulties and challenges in the battle against COVID, and that its policies were "optimised" when the situation and time so required.

"Since the outbreak of the epidemic ... the majority of cadres and masses, especially medical personnel, grassroots workers braved hardships and courageously persevered," Xi said.

"At present, the epidemic prevention and control is entering a new phase, it is still a time of struggle, everyone is persevering and working hard, and the dawn is ahead. Let's work harder, persistence means victory, and unity means victory."

 

Red states that banned abortion consider expanding Medicaid for mothers

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, (c) 2022, The Washington Post

Fri, December 30, 2022 at 11:33 AM AKST

Makayla Robinson is seven months pregnant, unemployed, living at a Dallas maternity home and relying on health care from Medicaid that could end next spring.

In Texas, Medicaid covers new mothers for two months after they give birth. For now, Robinson, 22, and others have extended coverage because of the federal pandemic public health emergency that the Biden administration has thus far approved through April.

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Robinson worried what would happen after that.

"I wouldn't be able to go to the doctor," she said. " … I'm having financial problems. The Medicaid really helped."

The limits on Robinson's Medicaid coverage after the emergency insurance lapses hinge on Texas's long-standing rejection of the Affordable Care Act, which included provisions for expanded Medicaid. And it has set up an uncomfortable dynamic: While Texas and nearly a dozen other red states have resisted expanding Medicaid for those who are pregnant, many of them have also restricted access to abortion, leading to more new mothers needing coverage.

Now Republican lawmakers in Texas, Mississippi, Wyoming and other red states face a choice: focus exclusively on further restricting abortion, or join antiabortion groups and Democrats lobbying to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage.

"There's a discussion among Republicans and those who are anti-choice about what should we be doing to support mothers?" said Usha Ranji, associate director for women's health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Some national antiabortion groups that support postpartum Medicaid expansion have proposed other legislation to expand funding for those who are pregnant, in the wake of new state curbs on abortion after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision erased the protections of Roe v. Wade.

"On our side, there is an awareness and a very strong move after Roe's overturn toward caring for women," said Steve Aden, general counsel and chief legal officer for Washington-based Americans United for Life. "I think the whole movement is looking for ways to implement policy on the state level to support the increasing number of women who will have children."