USA TODAY is following the news around COVID-19 when a pair of vaccines joins the U.S. fight against a virus that has killed more than 325,000 Americans since the first reported fatality in February. Keep updating this page to get the latest updates on vaccine distribution, including who is getting the vaccines and where, as well as other USA TODAY COVID-19 news. Subscribe to our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates right in your inbox, join our Facebook group or scroll our detailed answers to readers’ questions for everything you need to know about coronavirus.
In the headlines:
►The US Army is again tracking Santa Claus, albeit with some modifications because of the pandemic. North America’s Aerospace Defense Command’s Santa Claus tracking operations center generally has about 1,500 volunteers taking calls from around the world, but this year they have declined. This year, Santa Claus is wearing a mask, according to the tracker.
► Republicans blocked an effort on Thursday to increase direct payments to Americans from $ 600 to $ 2,000 in the latest stimulus package. Democrats said they would try to push the increase after President Donald Trump said this week that he wanted bigger direct checks sent.
►The federal government is close to delivering 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine during December, as promised, but states are taking longer than expected to place these doses in people’s arms. Here’s what the authorities are saying about immunizations.
►The United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention will have 378,000 to 419,000 deaths from coronavirus in the United States by January 16, according to a projection published on Wednesday.
►The Transport Safety Administration said it examined a pandemic record of 1,191,123 people at airports across the country on Wednesday. Although Wednesday’s total still fell 38% compared to the same day of the week last year, which was Christmas Day, it was the fourth day during the Christmas holiday rush that the number of travelers reached 1 million .
► California became the first state to exceed 2 million cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, a dismal marker reached only by seven countries.
►A black doctor who said she received racist treatment while hospitalized with COVID-19 died, her son told the New York Times. Dr. Susan Moore said that her white doctor in Indiana “made me feel like I was a drug addict” and did not take her pain complaints seriously. Her son told the Times that, although she finally received care that “adequately treated” her pain, the case shows, as Moore said, “how black people are killed when you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for you.” themselves. “
►Louisiana Rep.-elect Luke Letlow was transferred to the intensive care unit at Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport to continue treatment for COVID-19, his spokesman told the USA TODAY Network on Wednesday.
►Colorado started vaccinating workers inside its prisons while COVID-19 continues to spread on the premises. Annie Skinner, a spokeswoman for the prison department, said frontline health workers in prisons were the focus of vaccination efforts, but other workers received injections to prevent missed doses. Defenders of criminal justice have been pushing for prisons to be prioritized in vaccination efforts because outbreaks have been rampant in facilities in the United States
►In Oregon, a person who was sick went to work and then tested positive for COVID-19. This led to two separate outbreaks, one of which killed at least 7 people and the other forced 300 to be quarantined, the Oregonian said.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 18.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 329,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: More than 79 million cases and 1.7 million deaths.
📚 What we are reading: A new variant of the coronavirus, with 17 mutations compared to its most recent ancestor, is spreading rapidly in the UK. See what scientists know.
Here is a more detailed look at today’s top stories:
Government program used to pay for COVID-19 vaccine injuries is rarely on the side of consumers
In March, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared that all complaints of injuries caused by the COVID-19 vaccines would be dealt with through a program administered by his agency.
Since the vaccine is for a virus that occurs once in a century and has not been approved for routine use, anyone seeking compensation for a serious side effect will be referred to a little-known federal program that rarely sides with consumers.
That program, the Countermeasure Injury Compensation Program, has rejected 90% of claims for compensation for vaccine injuries over the past decade.
In contrast, the federal government’s “vaccine court”, which handles complaints involving mostly routine childhood vaccines, paid about 70% of complaints from 2006 to 2018.
As the COVID-19 vaccines are being sent to millions of Americans, some lawyers and consumer advocates question whether people will receive a fair review in the rare cases of alleged harm.
– Ken Alltucker
COVID-19 antibodies can protect from the virus for 6 months or more, according to studies
Evidence from two new studies suggests that antibodies obtained with COVID-19 may provide protection against future infections.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute in the United States found that people with naturally infected antibodies were less likely to test positive again for up to six months or more, according to one of the studies published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The survey looked at 12,500 health professionals at Oxford University hospitals in the UK
The second study, still under peer review, involved more than 3 million people who had been tested for antibodies in two private laboratories in the United States. Only 0.03% of those who initially had antibodies subsequently tested positive for coronavirus, compared with 3% of those who did not have these antibodies.
The findings “are not a surprise,” said Joshua Wolf, an infectious disease specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, who is not affiliated with the study. “But it’s really comforting because it tells people that immunity to the virus is common.”
– Adrianna Rodriguez
40 million Americans may be left homeless while the federal eviction moratorium expires in January
Millions of Americans are about to be evicted with the federal eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of January, unleashing what defenders say could be a housing catastrophe of historic proportions: without federal intervention, they fear, up to 40 million people they can be displaced in the midst of a continuous pandemic and even worse.
“We are potentially facing the worst housing crisis and homelessness in our country’s history,” said Diane Yentel, CEO and President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition in Washington, DC
The CDC-approved eviction moratorium was originally set to end on December 3 and is expected to be extended through January by Congress under a $ 900 billion COVID-19 relief package that also includes the $ 25 billion offer of relief assistance. emergency rental.
But critics say the order’s vague text led to inconsistent implementation and allowed determined owners to find loopholes. In addition, tenants are often unaware of the order and, without legal representation, many are not equipped to proceed in court. Read more here.
– Marc Ramirez, Sarah Taddeo and Tiffany Cusaac-Smith
How to persuade someone to get the COVID-19 vaccine
Vaccines are coming. Now, how many Americans will actually receive them?
USA TODAY spoke to psychology experts for advice on what you can do to encourage your family, friends and community members to get the vaccine. Here are some tips:
-
Do not judge people: Shame is not as effective at changing behavior as some might think.
-
Don’t ignore people’s concerns: Reasonable skeptics won’t trust the vaccine just because someone says yes. If someone is skeptical of Big Pharma, for example, don’t ignore it.
-
Is this person hesitant to vaccinate or is he a radical antivaxxer? Asking questions will help you understand whether people are persuadable and what can persuade them.
-
Model the behavior you want to see: Telling people that you plan to get the vaccine and posting a photo on social media when you do is far more powerful than anything else you share.
Read more of his recommendations here.
– Alia E. Dastagir
Christmas Eve is Dr. Fauci’s 80th birthday. See how he is celebrating during the pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci will celebrate his 80th birthday on Thursday, Christmas Eve.
However, similar to Thanksgiving Day celebrations, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist will spend his birthday and vacation reconnecting with his family because of Zoom.
Fauci has three adult daughters, all of whom live in different parts of the country.
“The Christmas holiday is a special holiday for us because Christmas Eve is my birthday. And Christmas day is Christmas day. And they won’t be coming home … this is painful, ”he told The Washington Post. “But this is just one of the things you will have to accept as we go through this unprecedented challenging time.”
– Adrianna Rodriguez
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: COVID news: CDC projects up to 420,000 deaths by mid-January; California