On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made an announcement that many Americans have been looking forward to since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: people who are fully vaccinated no longer have to wear a mask outside, and even indoors, in the majority of settings. 

But for parents of small children for whom there is no approved vaccination, the announcement brought on more questions than a sense of overwhelming relief. While the Pfizer vaccine was recently approved for children ages 12 to 15, vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11 won’t be available until late this year, according to The New York Times. And for babies 6 months and older, toddlers, and preschoolers, not until early 2022, per the same report. 

As a mother to two children, ages 6 and 2, my immediate thought after learning I could put my mask in my pocket was: Well, what about my kids? Since my sons cannot get vaccinated yet, they still fall under previous mask guidelines. How will they feel seeing their parents walk around outside, or even indoors, without a mask while they wear theirs?

“This has been so detrimental to the primary caregivers,” Moraya Seeger DeGeare, MA, LMFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist and an anti-racism consultant, tells Refinery29. “The anxiety that I have heard from parents is something that, as a therapist, I have never experienced. And the self-doubt.”

While the decision will ultimately rest with parents, co-parents, and caregivers, there are some factors those with unvaccinated children should consider when deciding how to move forward in a safe and healthy way. 

If you’re co-parenting, both parents should get on the same page.

“The biggest thing that we’re teaching our kids right now is that we have values for our family and the rest of the world might have different values,” DeGeare says. “So it’s important for parents to be on the same page because this is already so confusing for kids.”

DeGeare says that not only is it important for parents to present a united front to their children as guidelines evolve and things change in the era of COVID, but in general, it allows kids to better find their footing in social settings where their parents may not be around to help guide them. 

“They can make a voice in those nuanced situations because there are going to be moments — even though we feel like we’re around our kids all the time right now — as the world opens up more that they’re actually going to need to actively, in the moment know what to do,” DeGeare says. 

As a family, discuss your boundaries and personal feelings about specific situations. Once you have established what works for you as a family to stay safe, specific scenarios will likely be easier to navigate. 

Familiarize yourself with the facts and talk to your kids.

You don’t have to tell your kids all the nitty-gritty numbers, but let them know: because you’re vaccinated, it’s very unlikely that you’ll contract COVID-19, and even unlikelier that you’d pass it on to them — so it’s safe for you to be in CDC-approved situations without a mask on, even though they’re not yet vaccinated. “Transmission is so low and the risk of children contracting and getting severe disease so low, that donning the mask would make a minimal difference [when trying to keep COVID-19 from coming into your home],” Dr. Chelsea D. Johnson, MD, FAAP, Associate Lead of Pediatrics at K Health, tells Refinery29. 

“If unmasked, however, there still remains the chance, albeit small, that [kids] can transmit the disease to another,” Dr. David Shafran MD, Head of Pediatrics at K Health says. That’s why, according to The New York Times, those with immunocompromised or high-risk children should consult with a medical professional in case they need to modify wearing masks or spending time indoors.

DeGeare says communication is key. While the CDC has advised fully vaccinated people that it is safe to not wear a mask outside and indoors in most settings, parents like myself are unsure how their unvaccinated children will react to their parents suddenly shedding their masks. This abrupt change could be confusing, especially to younger children who have adapted to wearing masks outside and in social settings, and perhaps even frightening. 

It’s also important for you to emphasize that they should keep wearing their masks. “Explain, not in a way that is going to create panic, that ‘You’re not vaccinated. You do not have this layer of protection. And as much as maybe we haven’t seen as many kids get sick, it’s really important to keep you safe,'” DeGeare suggests. 

She also says that it may be helpful to be willing to slip on your mask when not strictly necessary if you feel like it would be beneficial for your kids. “If it’s important for your kid to be wearing a mask and they’re having an issue, then why not just put your mask back on?” she asks. “Words are great, but we have to do so much modeling for our kids. So if there’s tension there, then we as adults can just put our masks back on.”

You don’t have to make a drastic change right now. 

Like many Americans, parents feel a sense of urgency in returning to “normal” as quickly as possible, especially given the near-constant discussions surrounding the trauma, anxiety, and other mental health ramifications the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our children. 

But DeGeare says that there is no rush — if you don’t want to make a change to the safety precautions you have had in place for your family right this minute: don’t. 

“The first thing to remember is there’s actually no urgency,” she explains. “We do not have to make these abrupt changes for our kids because that actually can be a little bit more confusing.” So if you’re feeling confused or anxious around the new guidelines and are unsure of what to do, DeGeare suggests simply taking a beat and continuing to rely on your current safety precautions as guidelines continue to evolve and things become more clear.

It’s also perfectly OK to not know what to do. 

If you feel adrift among these new guidelines: you’re not alone. The best you can do, according to DeGeare, is trust your instincts, consult the experts and recommendations from health officials, and continue to discuss you and your family’s comfort level regarding everyone’s overall health, risk factors, and specific social situations. 

“I like to remind parents that no one really has all the answers here. If anything, we need a government that’s just a whole bunch of moms. The CDC guidelines show that parents aren’t really a priority here, and no one is actively thinking about the stress of parents,” DeGeare says.

“But before this pandemic, you were a great parent and you probably had doubts then,” she continues. “So remind yourself that you’re doing the same now.”

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There are bad dreams, there are full-on nightmares, and then there’s what unfolded on Friday night in a ballroom in The Villages, a retirement community in Florida: a rally hosted by right-wing provocateurs Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The two joined forces to launch what they’re calling a series of America First rallies, because why make America great again when you can just make it 2016 again? And while The Villages is not in Gaetz’s district, or in Greene’s state, these two hope to win over former President Donald Trump loyalists in their ongoing battle for control of the Republican Party. 

“I just got to check something: I just want to make sure I’m in the right place,” Greene yelled at the mostly unmasked voters. “Tell me who is your president?” 

“Donald Trump!” the crowd yelled back.

“That’s my president, too,” Greene responded, to the delight of those in attendance. 

Last year, 60% of voters living in The Villages voted for Trump, making the location a prime spot for Greene and Gaetz’s Make America 2016 Again kickoff rally. Among the cringe-worthy pair’s targets was Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who has been firmly anti-Trump while the majority of her party grovels in front of the twice-impeached former president and reality-television host. House Republicans are set to vote on removing Cheney, who is the number-three Republican in the House, from her leadership role as early as Wednesday in response to her voting to impeach Trump and denouncing the party’s decision to perpetuate the “Big Lie” — that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump. (Hint: It wasn’t.) 

“If Liz Cheney could even find Wyoming on a map and went there, she would find a lot of very angry cowboys are not happy,” Gaetz said during the rally. “She’s sort of for every war: War in Syria — for it. War against Trump and his supporters — for it. War against the Republican conference; war against her own voters.”

The audacity of conflating a civil war in Syria that, to date, has resulted in the deaths of at least 380,000 civilians to the decision to hold a president responsible for inciting a violent coup aside, Gaetz and Greene appearing onstage together is arguably one of the more disturbing recent GOP moments. Greene, who subscribes to “save the children” QAnon conspiracy theories, apparently finds no fault in rubbing shoulders with a man currently under federal investigation for trafficking underage girls across state lines. Nor does Greene seem to mind the corroborated reports that Gaetz showed other people in Congress naked pictures and videos of women he claims to have slept with.

Then again, Gaetz has previously claimed to be “proud” to be in Greene’s corner, despite her having said she believes the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a hoax, the mass shooting in Parkland was staged, and that the California wildfires were started by Jewish space lasers. 

“Marjorie Taylor Greene and I work in Washington, but we are not of Washington, and I must honestly tell you the leaders of both parties in Washington, D.C., don’t work for America first,” Gaetz said during the rally.

And while Gaetz and Greene standing side-by-side on stage, pontificating on the importance of moving the Republican Party to a Trump-first agenda, is truly the stuff of nightmares, the only thing scarier than Gaetz-Greene rallies is the idea that they will be successful in bringing more people to their side: The Villages is just their first stop. If the GOP remains full of Trump-like politicians: happy to disregard science, and willing to uphold white supremacy.

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On Sunday, while the majority of Americans were observing Mother’s Day, a gunman walked into a birthday party at a mobile home park in Colorado Springs, CO, and shot and killed six people, including his girlfriend, before shooting and killing himself. “I thought it was a thunderstorm,” neighbor Yenifer Reyes told a reporter from The Denver Post. “Then I started hearing sirens.” 

Authorities believe the gunman was victim Sandra Ibarra’s boyfriend, though they are still investigating a possible motive. The shooter also shot and killed Ibarra’s brother, Jose; Joana Cruz, 53; Melvin Perez, 30; Jose Gutierrez, 21; and Mayra Perez, 32. There were children at the party, but they were inside a mobile home when the shooting started. Reyes told the Post she saw police bring the children out of the trailer and put them into at least one patrol car. “They were crying hysterically,” she told reporters. 

Freddy Marquez, who had attended the party but left early because his wife had to get up early for work the next day, told the Post family and friends had gathered to celebrate his wife, brother-in-law’s, and mother-in-law’s birthdays. When Marquez’s wife woke up at 4 a.m. the next day to go to work, she learned about the shooting — she had lost her mother and two brothers. 

“It’s just crazy, it’s not what we expected on Mother’s Day,” Marquez told reporters. “I’m at a loss for words.” 

“The tragic shooting in Colorado Springs is devastating, as many of us are spending the day celebrating the women in our lives who made us the people we are today,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Multiple lives were taken by this terrible act of violence. Families torn apart, and at a birthday [party] no less. My deepest condolences and prayers are with the victims, their families, and everyone else impacted by this tragedy.”

The shooting is the deadliest in the state since a gunman opened fire in a supermarket in Boulder in March, killing 10 people. Colorado had the sixth-highest rate of public mass killings out of the 50 states in a database compiled in March by USA Today, Northeastern University, and the Associated Press.

But Colorado is not the only state to have experienced a mass shooting in recent days. According to CNN, there were nine mass shootings in the U.S. over the weekend. On Saturday night, a gunman opened fire at a Hyatt Regency Hotel in Phoenix, AZ, killing one person and injuring at least seven others. Three people were shot and killed, and another was injured, during a shooting at a townhome outside of Baltimore, MD, on Saturday morning. At least three people were killed and nine others injured in three different shootings in California — one in Los Angeles late Sunday night that left one person dead and five others injured; one outside a nightclub in Citrus Heights that left four people injured; and one in Compton that left two people dead, both believed to be between 15 and 20 years old.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 194 mass shootings in the U.S. this year as of May 10. A reported 15,300 people have died as a result of gun violence in the first five months of 2021. Every day, 106 people are shot and killed in the U.S. Advocates are now calling for action after a weekend of unprecedented violence, and a year of shootings that have devastated the entire country.

“This weekend there were shootings in Times Square (three shot, including a 4-year-old toy shopping), in a Miami mall (three wounded), in a Baltimore neighborhood (three killed), at a Colorado Springs birthday party (six killed), in Chicago communities (18 shot, five killed),” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence, tweeted.

“Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States,” Everytown for Gun Safety tweeted on Sunday. “Our kids don’t have to die like this. Text CHECKS to 644-33 to tell your senators to take action on background checks.”

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On Monday, popular YouTubers Nikki and Dan Phillippi shared some heartbreaking news: they made the decision to euthanize their 9-year-old bull terrier, Bowser. But Bowser was not sick, or in pain, or suffering from an incurable disease. No, the vloggers chose to end the life of their dog because he bit the couple’s 1-year-old son, Logan, after the toddler tried to take some of the dog’s food.

“I feel awkward, just like opening this video,” Nikki says, clearing her throat while sitting next to her teary-eyed husband. “I don’t even… there is no cheery way to open this video, so… we’re here today to share with you what’s been going on in our life.” Nikki then proceeds to share that they put the dog “to sleep” on Friday, and that while the dog was “our dog” it was really her husband’s dog, and that she hesitated to even share their decision due to the possible reaction of the couple’s fans. “People aren’t going to get it, people are going to be upset,” Nikki said. “And Dan’s response was, ‘Nobody is going to be as upset as I am upset, or as upset as I am.'” 

Dan then jumped in to describe what happened. “For many many years, for most of his life, he was an extremely dangerous animal outside the walls of my house,” he said. “He was definitely an outside animal that I had to keep inside.” The couple claims that Bowser was attacked as a puppy and, as a result, became aggressive. “We could have put Bowser down a really, really long time ago, and several times, and have just been putting the day off,” Dan said in the video. “He has seriously injured a couple different dogs.” 

But the breaking point for the couple was when the dog bit their son. The couple shared that their son had previously hurt the dog’s ear, and after another incident, the dog bit the child in the face. Dan admitted that “it wasn’t bad” and that their son was healing with “a little mark on his face” — the couple even said that the “incident” was a moment when the child stole food from the dog and the dog reacted defensively — but the damage was done. 

Both Nikki and Dan also claimed that the Humane Society told them they could not re-home the dog and that euthanasia was the only option. They then decided to use a euthanasia service to have the dog put down at home, but not before the couple did a “goodbye photoshoot” with the dog. And yes, the dog posed next to the couple’s 1-year-old son. Nikki shared the photos on her Instagram, which has since gone private.

Reaction to the couple’s decision was swift and unmerciful. “Add this to spreading deadly misinformation, alt-right conspiracies, being anti-mask, anti-vaxx, anti-abortion, anti-BLM, (let’s just say it, racist) bigot,” Meghan Rienks, another popular YouTuber, tweeted. “How sick do you have to be to take a photoshoot with your ‘dangerously aggressive’ dog knowing you’re about to end his life? Your dog is so aggressive but had no issues putting the baby next to it for a cure [sic] lil pre-murder photoshoot?” another popular YouTuber by the name of Tea Spill tweeted.

If the couple shared the family news in hopes of garnering sympathy, they definitely miscalculated the reaction of their audience. 

FYI all dogs deserve the chance to be rehabbed for behavior issues…Rehomed or dropped at a rescue or trainer who helps dogs w bite or behavioral issues for fucks sake. Never put down bc UR embarrassed about being a bad dog owner.

— Kelsey Darragh (@kelseydarragh) May 6, 2021

How sick do you have to be to take a ✨photoshoot✨ with your “dangerously aggressive” dog knowing you’re about to end his life? Your dog is so aggressive but had no issues putting the baby next to it for a cure lil pre-murder photoshoot? pic.twitter.com/2jX9FfJywZ

— ᵗᵉᵃSpill (@TeaSpillYT) May 6, 2021

I have a very temperamental dog. He bites people when he feels nervous, unsafe or if you try to touch him when he doesn’t want to be… I know these things because im his OWNER. Therefore I make sure he’s not in situations where he will react… I don’t kill him!

— Jaclyn Hill (@Jaclynhill) May 6, 2021

Of course, they’re not the first Vloggers to share some personal information to the shock and horror of many. YouTubers Myka and James Stauffer infamously shared their decision to essentially “re-home” their adopted child, Huxley.

The moral of the story? For someone so *on* the internet, it should have been easy to assume that if you kill your dog, people are going to have feelings about it. In other words (and perhaps in a way this Very Online Couple can understand) like the Netflix documentary Don’t F*ck With Cats made very clear: Don’t F*ck With Pets.

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Caitlyn Jenner has had a busy couple of weeks. On April 23, Jenner announced she’s running for governor of California, hoping to unseat current Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last Saturday, she said to TMZ that she believes trans girls shouldn’t be allowed to participate in girls’ sports. And just last night, Jenner appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to do the difficult work that is required of this country’s politicians during this time: lament the horrors that unhoused people impose on the white, rich, and powerful. 

“My friends are leaving California,” Jenner told Hannity while *checks notes* sitting inside her Malibu airplane hangar. “The guy right across, he was packing up his hangar and I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I’m moving to Sedona, Arizona. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t walk down the streets and see the homeless.'”

Jenner’s comments — coming from an out-of-touch, rich white woman who has never experienced being unhoused in her life — immediately drew outrage. After all, Jenner’s estimated net worth is an egregious $100 million. She lives in a $3.5-million ranch-style home in Malibu, CA. She owns a number of expensive vehicles, including multiple Porsches and an Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. So it’s safe to say that her taking offense with Los Angeles’ large population of unhoused people doesn’t exactly bode well for her bid to become governor of California.

But it’s not just Jenner’s ignorance when it comes to unhoused people that is the problem — it’s her lack of understanding that her own community, the trans community, is also plagued by this issue. Recent data shows that a reported 63% of trans adults and 80% of gender non-conforming adults are unhoused, according to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. One 2015 survey examining the experiences of over 27,000 trans people across the country found that one in 10 surveyed experienced violence at the hands of a family member once they came out, and 8% were kicked out of their home because they were transgender. The same survey found that 30% of respondents who had a job had been either fired, denied a promotion, or experienced mistreatment or harassment in the workplace as a result of their gender identity. And the unemployment rate among respondents was three times that of the total U.S. population, while nearly one-third were living in poverty. 

Shelters that provide clothing, food, and housing to those experiencing housing insecurity often double as another source of potential danger for trans and gender non-conforming people. Of respondents who had experienced being unhoused over the past year, 70% said they were mistreated in a shelter because they’re transgender, and 26% said they avoid shelters altogether for fear they’ll be harassed or assaulted. 

But just like Jenner has no clue what it’s like not to have access to housing or shelter, she doesn’t seem to know much about the many other struggles facing transgender people. Shortly after she shared her gubernatorial aspirations with the world, Jenner supported Republican-led efforts to ban trans students from joining school sports teams that align with their gender identity. “This is a question of fairness,” Jenner told a reporter. “That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.” 

If Jenner truly cared about the problems of trans people who don’t live in Malibu mansions or fly on private planes, she would know that 43% of trans youth have been bullied on school grounds, and that 60% of trans and non-binary youth have seriously considered suicide. She would also know that studies have shown participation in school sports can lead to greater wellbeing, a reduction in anxiety, increased self-esteem, and improved overall mental health. 

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Jenner does know these facts (after all, Google is a thing) and simply doesn’t mind sacrificing children on the altar of partisan politics. It’s clear now, more than ever, that she is making an appeal to conservative Californians — rich, white ones at that — in her effort to gain political power. Unhoused trans kids be damned.

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Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is best known for stoking fear among white conservatives and calling it “news.” And while Carlson appears to have suffered from amnesia that precludes him from uttering his former buddy-buddy Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) name on air, Carlson’s latest target has been a favorite of his over the past year: people who wear masks because they’re considerate and trust science and medical professionals. More specifically, the conservative talking head is taking issue with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. 

“Just today, Kamala Harris and her husband made a point of kissing each other in front of photographers while wearing masks. They did that despite the fact that they are married, that they live together, that they were standing outside at the time, and despite the fact that both have been vaccinated,” Carson said on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight on Wednesday. “Now a number of crude jokes come to mind but for once we are going to pass on that. What exactly are we watching here? We are watching the crudest kind of propaganda designed by the cynical for the benefit of a population they consider stupid and weak and malleable.”

In the *very* short clip Carlson shared, Harris and Emhoff are seen walking a long distance away from photographers, likely unaware of them, in a group of guards and other people, before they briefly peck with their masks on. A conspiracy!

Tucked is mad at the Veep for kissing her husband

pic.twitter.com/StjWfL5nNU

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) May 6, 2021

But the fact that Carlson has — once again — denounced people wearing masks is hardly surprising. On April 26, Carlson encouraged his audience to harass parents who put masks on their children when they’re out in public, likening the act to child abuse. 

“Your response when you see children wearing masks as they play should be no different from your response to seeing someone beat a kid in Walmart,” Carlson said. “What you’re looking at is abuse. It’s child abuse. And you are morally obligated to attempt to prevent it.” Carlson has also equated wearing a mask outside to “exposing oneself in public,” and has attacked COVID-19 vaccines by regurgitating unproven, inaccurate misinformation about vaccine safety. 

It’s also unsurprising that Carlson decided to attack Vice President Harris and her husband. Carlson has repeatedly mispronounced the vice president’s name on purpose and has often refused to apologize on air when corrected. He has called Harris a “fraud” and “transparently one-dimensional,” and given his fanatic dedication to espousing white supremacist ideological viewpoints and themes, often directs his mediocre white man ire at Black women and other people of color. 

Carlson — whose own employer admits is not a credible source of news, and during a defamation lawsuit case, argued that “any reasonable viewer ‘arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism’ about the statements he makes” — is good at two things: stoking fear and tying bow ties. That he chose to take a routine moment between a husband and wife and twist it into some Democratic-led conspiracy theory to dumb down the masses is par for Tuck Tuck’s course. But a two-second masked kiss between partners is not a red alarm cause for concern.

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While no one (grounded in reality) would hold it against you in assuming there are very few “good guys” in the White House at any one time, there’s at least one Good Boy (in training) hanging out in the nation’s most powerful office — and he’s preparing for some company. Major Biden, the younger of President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s two German Shepherds, is preparing to undergo some special training before he’s introduced to the newest member of the Biden family: the first feline. 

“She’s waiting in the wing,” Dr. Biden told NBC’s TODAY show co-anchor Craig Melvin of the family’s latest four-legged friend, an incoming cat sibling. Meanwhile, Major has already started his feline-friendly training. “They took him into a shelter with cats,” Dr. Biden explained. “He did fine.” 

Major, a 3-year-old rescue dog adopted by the Biden family in November 2018 from a Delaware animal shelter, has had a somewhat difficult time adjusting to life in the White House. In early March, Major “nipped” a secret service agent. Luckily, no skin was broken, a secret service agent said at the time, and the incident was described as “extremely minor.” 

“Champ and Major, the president and first lady’s dogs, members of the family, are still getting acclimated and accustomed to their surroundings and new people,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press conference on March 9. “And on Monday, the first family’s younger dog, Major, was surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual, which was handled by the White House medical unit with no further treatment needed. It had been previously planned already for the dogs to be cared for by family friends in Delaware during Dr. Biden’s travels to military bases this week — she has a three-day trip this week — and the dogs will return to the White House soon.”

Then, later in the same month, Major bit a National Park Service employee while on the South Lawn of the White House. The employee required medical treatment from the White House medical unit, according to CNN reporting, “out of an abundance of caution.” But to Major Biden’s credit, this is all new to him, he’s just trying to see what’s what, and that guy probably had it coming?

Leigh Dempsey, a certified professional dog trainer and owner of the dog shelter Major was adopted from, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that most dogs who enter a new home experience three days of high stress and need to sleep and relax, then it takes another three weeks before they begin to acclimate and trust their environment and an additional three months before they show their true personality. 

“It’s important to think about Major being well within those first three months — I think maybe only two months he’s been in the White House — so he’s right smack dab in the middle of that acclimation phase,” she said. “So that’s a big component to consider.”

As for how long it will take for Major to get used to the newest four-legged member of the family, that remains to be seen. One thing is for certain, though: There’s no denying that despite a few “incidents,” Major is and always has been a Good Boy. 

“He’s such a sweet, lovable dog,” Dr. Biden said. “He really is.”

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Stone Foltz, 20, did what countless students have done many times throughout their collegiate career: attended a fraternity party in the hopes that he would soon become a member, accepted by his fraternity brothers, or “bigs.” But three days later, on March 7, Foltz died in a nearby hospital. The cause? A fatal level of alcohol consumed during a hazing incident.

Now, eight current and former students of Bowling Green State University and members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity have been charged with various felony and misdemeanor crimes, including felony involuntary manslaughter, misdemeanor hazing, tampering with evidence, and reckless homicide, according to a report from CBS News. 

“Bowling Green State University is appreciative of the hard work and diligence done by the prosecutor and a grand jury to seek justice and hold those accountable in the tragic death of student Stone Foltz,” the school said in a statement.

According to Wood County prosecuting attorney Paul Dobson, who spoke during a press conference on Thursday, Foltz attended an off-campus fraternity party on March 4. The party was meant to be part of a “process to initiate new members who would be introduced to their fraternity big brothers.” It was there that the new members, most of whom were underage, according to CBS, were given a bottle of alcohol and told they must consume all of it — approximately 750 milliliters. Dobson says Foltz drank nearly all of the bottle, then was taken home by several fraternity members, including his assigned “big,” Jacob Krinn. 

The members left Foltz alone until his roommate found him. His roommate called first responders and started to perform CPR prior to their arrival. Foltz was transported to the nearest hospital, where he died three days later. 

“Obviously, I want this to be the only and last time that this type of case is prosecuted in Wood County,” Dobson said during Thursday’s press conference. “And please, God, let it be the last time that it’s prosecuted in the United States.”

The latest tragic hazing incident is far from the first to occur on college campuses across the country. According to a 2008 national study, 73% of students involved or hoping to be involved in fraternities and sororities “experienced behaviors meeting the definition of hazing in order to join or maintain membership.” The most common type of hazing, according to the same study, is participating in drinking games or binge drinking. 

Krinn, who took Foltz home and left him alone, is the only student or former student to be charged with first-degree manslaughter as he was “more directly involved in the incident.” He is also charged with felony assault. If found guilty, Krinn faces upwards of 19 years in prison for both crimes. The seven additional defendants face a slew of charges, ranging from third-degree felony manslaughter to obstructing justice, all of which carry a maximum of three years in prison. Currently, none of the eight defendants have been detained but have, instead, received a summons to appear in court on May 19. 

“We are living every parent’s worst nightmare and will not be at peace until fraternity hazing is seen for what it truly is — abuse,” Foltz’s family said in a statement to CBS Ohio affiliate WTOL. “It’s unacceptable, and in Stone’s case, it was fatal. How many injuries and deaths will it take for people in positions of power to do the right thing?”

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Long gone are the days when a part-time Blockbuster employee sick with power was tasked with hounding delinquent movie renters who, for one reason or another, just couldn’t bring themselves to return that VHS on time. Who among us didn’t pay a late fee for keeping the 1998 masterpiece Armageddon an extra week or two?! The ending! The ending alone!

The consequences of failing to return a rented movie, however, are anything but in the past for one Texas woman. When Caron McBride tried to change her name after getting married, she was notified of an “issue” she had in Cleveland County, OK: felony charges for not returning Sabrina the Teenage Witch to a movie rental store in the town of Norman in 1999.

“They told me that I had an issue in Oklahoma and this was the reference number for me to call this number and I did. Meanwhile, I’m a wanted felon,” McBride told CBS Dallas/Fort Worth. “I thought I was gonna have a heart attack.” 

McBride was charged for felony embezzlement of rented property in March 2000, according to the local news channel. She had been unaware of the charges, however, or that the movie had even been rented in her name. She thinks her at-the-time roommate must have rented the movie and failed to return it, but didn’t even mention it. 

“He had two kids, daughters that were 8, 10, or 11 years old, and I’m thinking he went and got it and didn’t take it back or something,” McBride said. “I have never watched that show in my entire life. Just not my cup of tea.” (Not sure what our Lord and Savior Melissa Joan Hart did to deserve that, but I digress.) 

The rental store, Movie Place, went out of business in 2008 (thanks, Netflix), so whoever is in possession of the 1996 coming-of-age movie can certainly keep it now. But McBride says that over the past two decades, she thinks she may have been terminated from various jobs due to the felony charges showing up on background checks. 

The Cleveland County District Attorney reportedly dropped the charges once McBride’s story aired on local television. Her record, however, still reflects the charges, and the DA said that McBride would have to get her case expunged in order to clear her record entirely. Refinery29 reached out to Cleveland County DA Greg Mashburn for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication. 

Sure, Netflix might be the ruthless streaming service that had the audacity to put movie rental shops like Blockbuster and Movie Place out of business, only to promote a documentary about it. But would Netflix hold a 20-year grudge against an absent-minded customer to the tune of federal charges? Honestly, probably. Did you see that Blockbuster documentary? Talk about cold-blooded.

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Having never lived through a global pandemic before, there’s really no activity we haven’t tried to pass the time in quarantine. From learning how to bake sourdough bread to constantly doomscrolling to rocking back and forth in the fetal position while in the shower, I, personally, was fairly open-minded when considering any number of ways to cope with the trauma of the last year. But what turned out to be the most helpful coping mechanism was the subtle art of fake home shopping: the truly satisfying act of imaginary online shopping for your imaginary home, that actually exists, but most certainly will not be owned by you. 

Turns out, I’m far from the only person who spent the last year shopping for homes they’ll never purchase in distant towns they’ll never visit. Surety First surveyed over 1,000 Americans and found that not only do 55% of respondents spend at least 1 to 4 hours a day browsing Zillow, a popular real estate marketplace company, but over 49% said they’d rather browse Zillow than have sex. Who needs foreplay when you can put a downpayment on a gorgeous three-bedroom in a state you’ve never been to, amiright?

The survey also found that, of those who participated, 58% said they’ve missed an important deadline at least once as a result of their Zillow browsing habits, and 41% said their habit has caused problems in either their work or personal life. And 56% even said they have canceled plans with a friend to browse Zillow instead. Canceling plans? In this economy? Nature is truly healing. 

After spending over a year sheltering-in-place, working from home (if you’re lucky enough to still have a job), and wearing a mask and social distancing when you’re in public, it is hardly surprising to find out that many people have spent their time daydreaming about a probably outrageously overpriced home. A few days inside the same four walls and you’re bound to hope for a house that’s bigger, better, and filled with more stuff (or at least a working washer, dryer, and dishwasher). And when you graduated during a recession and owe the majority of the nation’s $1.5 trillion student debt price tag (hi, millennials!), taking a virtual tour of a five-bedroom townhouse in Allentown, Pennsylvania may be the closest you get to ever becoming a homeowner (hi, me!). 

And sure, orgasms are great, but is there truly anything more satisfying than finding a good deal on a house in Laramie, Wyoming, a place you definitely (read: never) have heard of before? After all, an aversion to sex was a common reaction to a public health crisis as life-changing as COVID-19: one 2020 online survey of over 950 people found that 22% of participants reported a decrease in sexual desire and 41% experienced a decrease in the frequency of having sex.

So I say, whether it’s baking the perfect loaf or finding new and exciting ways to scream into the void or spending hours upon hours searching ranch-style homes for sale in Marble Falls, Texas, lean all the way into whatever odd-yet-strangely-comforting coping mechanism you’ve acquired over the past year. Thigh guy and hot girl summer are just on the horizon — there will be plenty of time to stretch our slutty legs and get weird post-vaccination. For now, leave us with our perfectly priced-per-square-foot homes in peace.

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On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced that Americans have received more than 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations since he took office — double his initial goal of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days as president. As of Sunday, more than half of all Americans have had at least one vaccination shot, and by Thursday, 80% of all Americans over 65 years of age will have had at least one dose of the vaccine. 

“This is an American achievement,” President Biden said during his public remarks on the state of vaccinations and his administration’s ongoing COVID-19 response. “A powerful demonstration of unity and resolve — what unity will do for us; and a reminder of what we can accomplish when we pull together as one people to a common goal.”

Still, the lingering question remains: do we have herd immunity yet? To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still advises people who are vaccinated to wear masks and maintain social distancing measures when in public or around people who are not also fully vaccinated. And per the CDC, restrictions should remain until the “vast majority of people” are fully vaccinated. 

But, considering how much of the population has been vaccinated, many are wondering why that is still the case. Initially, epidemiology experts, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), believed that between 60 and 70% of Americans would need to be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity. Now, that number is closer to 85%.

“When you get below 90% of the population vaccinated with measles, you start seeing the breakthrough against the herd immunity — people starting to get infected like we saw in the upper New York State and in New York City with the Orthodox Jewish group when we had a measles outbreak,” Fauci told CNN’s Dana Bash back in March. “So I made a calculation that COVID-19/SARS CoV-2 is not as nearly as transmissible as measles — measles is the most transmissible infection you can imagine. So I would imagine that you would need something a little bit less than the 90%. That’s where I got to the 85. But I think we all have to be honest and humble: nobody really knows for sure, but I think 70 to 85% for herd immunity for COVID-19 is a reasonable estimate, and in fact, most of my epidemiology colleagues agree with me.”

While vaccine hesitancy among certain Americans lingers, the current vaccination rate indicates that 70% of Americans will be vaccinated by the first of November. When — and if — that does happen, enough people will have been exposed to the virus, via either transmission or inoculation, that it will no longer be able to spread easily among the population.

Of course, there’s no way to know what the “new normal” will look like once the country reaches herd immunity, and it will rely, according to Fauci, on children being vaccinated as well. “We don’t really know what that magical point of herd immunity is, but we do know that if we get the overwhelming population vaccinated, we’re going to be in good shape,” Fauci said during a March Senate hearing. “We ultimately would like to get and have to get children into that mix.”

In an attempt to combat vaccine hesitancy and promote public trust in science and medicine, President Biden announced available tax credits to employers who give their workers paid leave to obtain the vaccine. Currently, around 3 million Americans are getting vaccinated every day, and 80% of K-12 teachers and school staff have been vaccinated. 

Still, the threat is far from over. India just set a world record for the most COVID-19 cases in a single day — over 312,000. And in the United States, there are over 70,000 new cases recorded every day. If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that in the end, we’re only as safe as the people we are willing to protect.

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There’s no shortage of dating app matches gone awry. A woman you find attractive shares that, yes, she actually likes “Live, Laugh, Love” wall art. A sweet guy finally shares a picture of himself and you notice a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag hanging in the background. And, if you’re one Bumble user, your potential date brags about breaking into the U.S. Capitol. You know, just your typical online-dating horror story.

Believe it or not, that’s exactly what Robert Chapman told his potential love interest when he attempted to persuade them that he was worth their time and a possible dinner date. A week after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, Chapman sent the following message via the popular dating app Bumble: “I did storm the Capitol. I made it all the way to Statuary Hall.” 

Like many romantic gambles, Chapman’s wildly bizarre humblebrag did not pan out. “We’re not a match,” his potential date wrote back. They then contacted the police and shared screenshot images of the braggadocio’s pick-up game.

Then, on Thursday, as a result of the Bumble user’s tip, Chapman was arrested by the FBI and charged with “trespassing at the U.S. Capitol and disrupting official government operations,” according to The Washington Post. 

But bragging about taking part in a coup attempt on Bumble wasn’t the only bad decision Chapman had made — he also bragged about his involvement in the insurrection on Facebook, even posting from inside the Capitol building, and went so far as to change his profile picture to that of an “insurrection selfie,” per the same Washington Post report.

After the tip, law enforcement reviewed body camera and security camera footage taken on Jan. 6 and located video of Chapman, wearing a bandana across his forehead as he joined rioters inside the Capitol building. Chapman was also photographed with other insurrectionists inside Statuary Hall, which was then posted on Facebook by a woman who captioned the photo: “My Dear friend and Brostar Robert made it in the Capitol building at the protest yesterday. Wooo Hooooooooo!!!!”

Chapman is hardly the first person to brag about their involvement in a deadly insurrection in an attempt to secure a date, only to be issued a court date instead. Some women have reportedly started changing their political affiliation to “conservative” in an attempt to catfish insurrectionists, many of whom happily shared their participation in the violent Jan. 6 event.

“I know a friend who changed her preferences on Bumble to Conservative,” one woman shared in a now-viral tweet. “She’s matching with MAGA bros and they’re bragging and sending her pics and videos of them in the Capitol. She’s sending them to the FBI.” “Well played,” John Sipher, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), tweeted back. Shortly after the coup attempt, Bumble, Tinder, and Match started banning users who uploaded pictures of the riot to their profiles.

So far, 427 people have been arrested for their involvement in what the CIA has deemed “the most documented crime in U.S. history.” Given how quickly MAGA supporters are falling over themselves to tout their involvement in a federal crime, that number is sure to climb. We bet Chapman wishes he had just used the pick-up line, “From 0 to America, how free are you tonight?”

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