Biden just canceled $1 billion in student loan debt. Are you eligible?

The New York Times

U.S. Rushes to Expand Vaccine Eligibility in a ‘Race Against Time’

CHICAGO — Officials in at least 18 states have committed in recent days to opening coronavirus vaccine appointments to all adults in March or April, part of a fast-moving expansion as states race to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of universal eligibility by May 1. In Ohio, all adults will be allowed to seek shots starting March 29. In Connecticut, April 5. In Alaska and Mississippi, all adults are already able to book appointments. And Thursday, officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Maryland and Missouri said that all adults would be allowed in April to sign up for a shot, while Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah said universal eligibility would begin there next week. But even as the pace of vaccinations has accelerated to about 2.5 million shots each day nationwide, the country finds itself at a precarious point in the pandemic. Cases, deaths and hospitalizations have all fallen sharply from January peaks, yet infection levels have plateaued this month, at about 55,000 new cases a day. While governors relax restrictions on businesses like bars, indoor gyms and casinos, highly infectious variants are spreading and some states, especially on the East Coast, have struggled for weeks to make any progress in reducing cases. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times “I think it is a race against time,” said Dr. Stephen J. Thomas, SUNY Upstate Medical University’s chief of infectious disease. “Every single person that we can get vaccinated or every single person that we can get a mask on is one less opportunity that a variant has.” As parts of the country continue to see progress, many Americans are booking spring break trips, dining in newly reopened restaurants and replanning summer weddings that were abruptly canceled in 2020. All the while, the path ahead — and public guidance about how people should behave in this moment — seems uncertain, even contradictory. Although deaths have dropped considerably in New York, progress in reducing cases has stalled. The state has more recent cases per capita than everywhere except New Jersey, and the New York City metro area has the country’s second-highest rate of new infections, behind only Idaho Falls, Idaho. “People will be reckless; I don’t know how else to say it,” said Carol Greenberg, a pet care worker in Jersey City, New Jersey, who said she worried that people were starting to act in ways that did not accurately reflect the number of new virus cases in that state, where more than 26,000 new infections have been reported in the past week. Greenberg, 61, has been fully vaccinated, but her adult children have not, and she said she wondered whether all the reopening announcements of late were wise. In recent days, Gov. Phil Murphy urged a return to in-person instruction at New Jersey schools and announced a loosening of restrictions at restaurants, bars, salons and other businesses. No vaccine has yet been authorized for use in people under 16, though trials are underway to see if they are safe and effective in children. Public health researchers said they viewed the current moment in the pandemic as a sprint between vaccinations and newly confirmed cases of the virus, particularly infections that are spreading because of variants that can be more contagious. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, warned Friday “that it’s really quite risky to declare victory before you have the level of infection in the community to a much, much lower level than 53,000 cases per day.” “So it is unfortunate, but not surprising, to me that you are seeing increases in number of cases per day in areas — cities, states or regions — even though vaccines are being distributed at a pretty good clip of 2 to 3 million per day,” Fauci said. In Chicago, where students in the nation’s third-largest public school system have returned…