Before we get started on this week's huge news, I want to say thank you to those that have signed up to receive this newsletter. Also, tell a local Prince George's County resident about what is happening over here.
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Note: This information is not meant to offend you, but is here to inform those who need it.
This week, the Federal Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines for 5 to 12-year-olds. Here is what we know so far about vaccines.
Children are required to get two doses. Each dose is 10 micrograms, and they are to be given three weeks apart.
Some nations have opted to get children one dose instead of two. The United States has decided that children need two.
If you want to know more about the clinical trials of these particular vaccines, you can read the first half of the article from John's Hopkins University. *Please read the whole article for context.*
Note: Here is a video about how vaccines work.
Where can children in Prince George's County get vaccinated? Prince George's County Health Department has said that they will have mobile vaccine clinics at high schools and elementary schools. You can find all vaccine information here.
Here is a map of where all vaccine clinics are located.
Prince George's County mobile vaccination calendar.
Prince George's County's Public School mobile vaccination schedule.
PGCPS's vaccination schedule starts Nov. 8. However, parents and guardians are able to take their children to any available Prince George's County institution to get their children vaccinated. Note: According to the government website: "Individuals younger than 18-years-old receiving vaccinations must have a parent or legal guardian complete the appropriate consent form and bring it to the clinic."
Parents must complete these two forms. Click here and here.
Raw numbers of hospitalizations or deaths among those who are vaccinated are not a good indicator of whether vaccines are effective. If the large majority of a population is vaccinated, it's not surprising if most deaths are among the vaccinated. But social media posts misuse data from the U.K. to suggest the COVID-19 vaccines don't work.
It was really a no-brainer for me to get vaccinated. I do not want to continue wearing masks, I’m too cute! How can I meet my future bae in Trader Joe’s if half of my face is covered? I do love the increased sanitizing practices that Covid has implemented. People were really out here not washing their hands or covering their mouths when sneezing or coughing. Ewww. I side-eye all those people, don’t be like them. Jokes aside, I got vaccinated because I not only wanted to protect myself from Covid-19, I wanted to protect my parents. More specifically, my mother who successfully had a double lung transplant in May. My mom, before the transplant was severely autoimmune compromised and she still is. If I wanted to provide support to my parents and see my parents, I knew I had to get vaccinated. I could not travel from New York, which was the epicenter of Covid at one point to Baltimore to see my parents and not be vaccinated. Traveling and being around my loved ones are the things I like to do and to do them safely, I had to roll up my sleeves and get vaccinated. And I don’t like needles. I have multiple tattoos and I still don’t like needles. But if I want to live my life as freely as I can during a pandemic and if I want to see my parents and travel, I had to get vaccinated. I was just at the Fat Joe and Ja Rule Verzuz at MSG (I am team Ja Rule!) and to enter Madison Square Garden, I had to show my vaccine card. I proudly showed them my vaccine card via NY’s Excelsior Pass. Life is different right now but to do the things that resemble life pre-covid and to be around my loved ones, I choose to get vaccinated. It’s the right thing to do and it’s our way out of the pandemic. And if I still have to wear a mask, let me make sure my eyebrows and lashes are popping. For more information about the vaccine, visit https://nbcit.org/inform-unite-heal/. Let’s do our part to stay safe, healthy, and fly. Originally published on theflygirlguide.com.
There have been a number of fights in high schools. Anthony Tilghman, Prince George's County education advocate, held a virtual conversation on solutions that could be used to help community members. Tracee Ford, director of quality development at Community Mediation, and Fasia Hardy, education program director at Community Mediation, discussed tools administrators and parents could use to intervene in children's lives. Here is the Facebook conversation.
All university offices have resumed in-person operations. Students, faculty & staff must be fully vaccinated or have an approved exemption to return to campus in the fall.
The virtual reality cyberspace provides immersive and interactive training experiences that not only reinforce de-escalation techniques in crisis scenarios but can also flip the role and put officers in the shoes of a person in crisis who may be living with mental health challenges such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer's, according to the department's Facebook post.
University of Maryland faculty members are seeking to bridge the digital divide — the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not — in a partnership with Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission that explores implementing free WiFi in a Prince George’s County park.
If the project is successful, it would be the first in Maryland to bring WiFi to a green space, according to Naomi Sachs, an assistant professor in the university’s plant science and landscape architecture department.
Patients aren't expected to take on addiction by themselves, so it makes sense that the center isn't taking on addiction treatment by itself, either, South said.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Like many companies in trouble before it, Facebook is changing its name and logo. Facebook Inc. is now called Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, to reflect what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday is its commitment to developing the new surround-yourself technology known as the “ metaverse .” But the social network itself will still be called Facebook.
Can rebranding the company herald a fresh start? Experts, as you might guess, are skeptical.
"The list includes the names of 45 current and former Prince George’s County Police Department officers, plus 12 officers from other agencies in the county. The officers could have been called to testify in cases under investigation or that have been appealed.
“We have a duty and obligation to not only assess the credibility of each and every witness on behalf of the state, but also [to] ensure that the pursuit of justice includes the bold and necessary reforms our justice system calls for,” State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said in a statement. “This is what our residents expect and deserve – a better and more fair system in Prince George’s County.”
Prince George's County police did not immediately issue comments in response to inquiries Friday morning."
At dismissal time at Kenilworth Elementary school in Bowie Monday, parents were not pleased to hear their children’s 57-year-old school is one of only two in the state to rate poor for how the building is maintained.
“Poor isn’t good at all,” said one dad. Another adding, ”I’d like them to do better of course.”
Parents for the most part haven’t been allowed in school buildings to see for themselves because of the pandemic but state inspectors from the state’s watchdog commission on school construction visited 42 Prince George’s County schools as part of an annual maintenance assessment.
The results were presented to the County School Board’s budget committee recently by the Interagency Commission on School Construction.
Voters in Greenbelt, Maryland, approved Tuesday for the city council to form a 21-member commission to assess reparations for Black and Native American residents.
The resolution, first introduced by Mayor Colin Byrd earlier this year, received approval by a vote of 1,522 to 910.
Byrd said Thursday he understands some people did not support the measure, but some voters who cast ballots for city council candidates refused to vote on the reparations referendum. According to city election results, which included mail-in and early voting, approximately 13,819 votes were cast.
“There was definitely a mix of opinion on both sides,” he said. “I’m grateful that it passed. I’m excited about what’s to come and looking forward to the conversation that unfolds.”
Officials in neighboring College Park are exploring reparations for the city to possibly provide money for Lakeland, a Black neighborhood destroyed by urban renewal.
The Prince George's County Democratic Central Committee overwhelmingly chose Faye Martin Howell on Thursday to fill the vacancy of former Del. Erek Barron, who left to become Maryland's first Black U.S. attorney for the state.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include results from an initial mail-in ballot canvass in Annapolis on Wednesday. More than a dozen Maryland municipalities will hold elections this month, and elections on Tuesday produced a few upsets across the state. Bel Air Mayor Amy Chmielewski appears to have lost her reelection bid, and a …
Lawmakers from Chesapeake Bay states are looking to attach a climate-related provision to the must-pass annual defense bill. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, (D-Va.), introduced Thursday legislation that would allow the Defense Department to use several sources of federal funds to undertake stormwater management projects at military bases. The plan also has been backed by House …
