Zelensky Pleads for More U.S. Help as Biden Pledges $800 Million More in Military Aid

The U.S. will provide $800 million in new military aid to Ukraine, totaling over $1 billion so far to help them fight back against Russia. This comes after Ukrainian President Zelensky made an impassioned plea to Congress for more help including a no-fly zone. It still doesn’t seem that the U.S. or European allies are ready to take that step, hoping to avoid a wider conflict. Julia Manchester, national political reporter at The Hill, joins us for more.

Next, more than a third of the CDC’s wastewater samples across the U.S. are showing rising Covid trends the first two weeks of March. Sewer samples can often spot increasing virus levels before official tests results. It’s unclear if this points to an upcoming wave, but we currently have 98% of the U.S. population that is in places with a low community level rating. Drew Armstrong, senior editor for healthcare at Bloomberg News, joins us for what the wastewater is signaling.

Finally, the Covid pill made by Merck has been prescribed heavily despite some concerns. Regulators and doctors think that the Merck pill should be one of the last options in treating Covid because concerns that it could cause birth defects and cause more variants to form. But with Pfizer’s pill in limited supply, many doctors have turned to molnupiravir. Jared Hopkins, pharma reporter at the WSJ, joins us for what to know about the Merck Covid antiviral.

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