Contributed

The county has confirmed that mosquitoes collected from the unincorporated area of Nuevo tested positive for West Nile virus. The Riverside County Department of Environmental Health received confirmation July 30th from the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control testing lab that mosquitoes collected in the Nuevo location tested positive. The samples were collected on July 21st from the Reservoir Avenue and Orange Street area, near Mystic Field.

People across the nation are feeling the impact of the novel coronavirus that is infecting tens of thousands of Americans and wreaking havoc upon our economy. Many of those who have lost their jobs during this public health crisis rely on one or more prescription drugs to stay healthy or alive. But they will soon run out of money to pay for them.

I am not the first one to say this, and it is less prophetic than just observably true: Donald Trump is consistently putting his calculus of how he can win reelection over any commitment to protect the nation’s public health. The president clearly has no coherent strategy for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the recent surge across the country, and it’s clear that the health and lives of the people of the United States matter much less to him than his own political fortunes.

It’s a term that we’ve been hearing a lot as the country participates in a critical social dialogue around racism and justice. We need to unlearn so much of what we have learned culturally. This is especially true for our medical professionals. Health sciences are rooted in concepts that go back centuries, and some of those concepts were crafted with a racist lens.

Drivers planning to use Route 60 through Riverside County’s Badlands should make other plans or allow extra travel time the weekend of August 7-10. A full closure of the westbound lanes will take place between Gilman Springs Road and the Interstate 10/Route 60 Interchange in Beaumont from Friday, August 7 at 9 p.m. to Monday, August 10 at 6 a.m.