Vaccine eligibility expands | Morning Newsletter
And, what the pandemic did to intimacy.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
Good morning from The Inquirer newsroom.
First: More people in the Philly area can get vaccinated soon.
Then: Philadelphians can endure anything — even changes to a key survival tactic, intimacy.
And: Remembering a “fearless, fearsome and feared” giant of the Philadelphia legal world.
— Ashley Hoffman (@_ashleyhoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
Eligibility keeps expanding in Pa. and N.J.
Vaccines will be open to all N.J. residents 16 and older this month, and Philly moved into the next phase of vaccine eligibility this week.
For the city, that’s significant. For months, thousands of UPS workers at the airport and Oregon Avenue facilities have done crucial work: delivering and shipping vaccines even as they weren’t eligible to get shots of their own.
Reporters Allison Steele, Aubrey Whelan, and Jason Laughlin bring you everything we know so far, from how this next round of workers will get the shots to when the expansions will arrive.
After the pandemic hit, the way people sought a sexual connection was never the same.
Social distancing didn’t spoil the mood for everyone. As isolation became the norm, people racked up Zoom dates, exploring different shapes of connection and virtual intimacy. Some have been getting creative in the way they use texting, voice messaging and apps.
But that “in the mood” feeling can rise and fall with emotional intensity, and experts say fluctuating sex drives are normal. Above all, empathy and patience seem to be the best way to approach having a sex life during the pandemic.
Read on for Bethany Ao’s story to hear from experts and learn about how people in the region have gotten closer during the pandemic.
Am I eligible to get vaccinated? Know the requirements for Philly, Pa., and New Jersey.
Where can I get a COVID-19 vaccine in the Philly area? Use our lookup tool.
Here’s how to prepare for your vaccine appointment.
Is drinking alcohol after getting your COVID-19 vaccine a bad idea?
Can you go on vacation yet? This is how to know what’s safe.
What you need to know today
Richard A. Sprague, a towering figure in Philadelphia’s legal community has died. This is how the relentless prosecutor filled a courtroom with a deeply felt presence that could “both create and destroy.”
Val Arkoosh, the chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners who led her county’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, joined the Pennsylvania race for U.S. Senate.
Police are investigating a Chinatown assault that Asian American community leaders say adds to the “climate of fear.”
To honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., officials call for better funding for Pa. schools.
Philly’s latest rental assistance program is now open for tenants and landlords and includes funds for utilities for the first time.
SEPTA’s Somerset El station reopens in Kensington.
And some people are wearing high-tech glasses that measure eye movement to get a clear picture of how new SEPTA signs work.
There’s work we all can do to prevent hate from spreading and to end violence so that it is safer to gather, columnist Elizabeth Wellington writes.
How can you get unwanted firearms out of your house? We have options to consider.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
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That’s interesting
🍹 Bok Bar’s full 2021 season of restaurant pop-ups and food events opens soon.
📚 More students are majoring in political science and running for public office. National politics and social justice issues have played an influential role.
🎶 A Penn researcher reviewed pro-vaccine messages with a dose of fun. So how effective are rapper Darryl DMC McDaniels, Dolly Parton, and Elton John at explaining the science? Check out the experiment (and all of the videos).
Opinions
“It is only fitting that in the aftermath of the pandemic, Philadelphia could revolutionize evictions,” — The Inquirer Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom, writes that Philly is on the verge of upending evictions as we know them.
Police departments need clear policies and standards that hold officers accountable, former Philly mayor Michael Nutter and George Mason University professor Cynthia Lum write.
Re-declare a Kensington-wide state of emergency, entrepreneur Leo Voloshin writes, and nine other things the Kenney administration must do in the neighborhood.
What we’re reading
It might be hard to imagine a future when electronic devices could grow from buildings, just like an apple tree, but this Fast Company story does.
People keep drawing the parallel of the “Great Reopening” to the Roaring ’20s. Wired has the story on what that means for a ”hot start-up” summer in Silicon Valley.
Most traditional schools don’t offer kosher-certified meals. Enter a South Jersey program handing out thousands of free kosher meals for kids each week, including turkey, pastrami, plenty of chocolate milk, healthy fruits, biscotti and macaroons. It started last May, born out of a need during the pandemic to support Jewish families with nutritious meals for their kids. Get the details on the kosher school meals program.