Portside

The planned closing of Mercy Hospital underscores the dramatic loss of maternity services in Chicago over the past year — reflecting the failure of local government agencies to adequately fund critical services in vulnerable communities.

Japanese media reported 100 cases of COVID-19 among U.S. military personnel following “reports of troops taking part in parties in downtown areas and beaches around July 4 to celebrate Independence Day.”

Students tend to measure fair compensation on two scales. How many years of training and/or dollars of tuition did a worker have to invest to become “qualified” for the job? And how important is that worker’s labor to the rest of society?

If you’re old, poor, and African American or Hispanic-Latinx, your chances of infection are especially high and odds of survival significantly lower. The economic downturn could drive the number of homeless to 800,000, an increase of 40% to 45%.

Lack of water access could make living through the pandemic deadlier, given that many will not be able to bathe, wash clothing, and disinfect surfaces as often as needed to avoid infection.

Only in the U.S.A. does a large section of the population think owning an assault weapon is a sacred right, but wearing a mask in a pandemic is a restriction on liberty.

Reports of reinfection instead may be cases of drawn-out illness. A decline in antibodies is normal after a few weeks, and people are protected from the coronavirus in other ways.

Despite serious public-health concerns, many college campuses are slated to reopen for in-person instruction this fall. Students will get infected, and universities will rebuke them for it; campuses will close, and students will be blamed for it.