*** REGIONAL NEWS FROM TUESDAY ***

NVN: Mayor Foster’s State of the City: Yelm Staying Resilient Through Pandemic – “would not comment yet on whether he plans to run for another term, though he urged people to consider running for either mayor or council, or to attend a city council meeting.”

The Olympian: Seating options abound as Olympia restaurants adapt to new state COVID-19 guidelines [Ed. note: includes Pizzeria LaGitana locations in Olympia and Yelm,]

The Olympian: Thurston County’s case rate was 200.8 cases per 100,000 people from Jan. 17-30. If that rate is sustained, high schoolers may be able to return to school.

Tacoma’s News-Tribune: Phone scammers targeting health care providers, Attorney General’s Office warns

JOLT News: Nisqually Indian Tribe’s grants support some 200 local organizations – includes several in Yelm

Tacoma’s News-Tribune: Here’s what you need to know about noise on JBLM this week

The Chronicle [Centralia]: Rep. Ed Orcutt Sponsors Bill to Designate Washington a ‘Purple Heart State

Yelm High School: SPSCC will be hosing a Virtual Open House February 23 through February 26, 2021.

Yelm Community Schools: Superintendent’s Corner: A Step in the Right Direction for Learning

JOLT News: Thurston County Commissioners approve Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan – “the most significant inter-governmental agreement in the county in memory”

McClatchey News: Inslee praises bold thinking in $33 billion proposal to breach 4 Snake River dams

*** CORONAVIRUS NEWS FROM TUESDAY ***

+ McClatchey News: Families can soon apply for funds to cover COVID funeral costs, Democratic lawmakers say

+ American Red Cross: COVID-19: Almost a Year Later, Steps to Help Cope

+ Mercola: COVID-19 mRNA Shots Are Legally Not Vaccines – COVID-19 “vaccines” do not impart immunity or inhibit transmissibility of the disease. They only are designed to lessen your infection symptoms if or when you get infected. As such, these products do not meet the legal or medical definition of a vaccine. Click here for the Center for Disease Control website’s quote.

+ CBS Boston: COVID Vaccine Questions Answered: Can You Still Catch Virus After First Dose? “The short answer is yes, but not as often or as easily as before that first dose.”

+ Popular Science: Can you spread COVID-19 after vaccination? Here’s what we know. “It would not be so far-fetched to have a vaccine that protects you from developing the worst COVID disease, but you could be infected and you could be spreading it [without] getting really sick,” says Jeffrey Bethony, a professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

+ Wall St. Journal via FOX Business: Can you still spread COVID-19 after you get vaccinated? Scientists don’t know yet — and the uncertainty has big implications during the rollout of the vaccines. “Everyone needs to keep wearing masks and we all need to do our part in reducing the transmission so it’s not going to be as difficult to control,” says Marion Pepper, an immunologist and associate professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.

“Most vaccines prevent disease as opposed to preventing infection,” says Anna Durbin, a professor of international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who is working on the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine trial and previously worked on the Pfizer vaccine trial.

+ Men’s Health: Can You Still Spread the Coronavirus Once You’re Vaccinated? Here’s what we know—and what we don’t. “There is a theoretical risk that you could pass the virus on to others despite being vaccinated,” says Kirsten Hokeness, Ph.D., director of Bryant University’s new Center for Health and Behavioral Sciences.