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 350,000 Americans since the first reported fatality in February. Keep updating this page to get the latest updates on the coronavirus, including who is receiving Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as other important news from across the USA TODAY Network. 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:
► Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of stricter restrictions as a variant of the virus spreads out of control in Britain. Johnson, however, insisted that schools are safe, despite teacher unions asking schools to adopt remote education. Most of England has already closed gyms and stores that don’t sell essentials.
►The numbers are for December and are terrible. New infections increased more than 40% compared to November – and November had more than twice as many cases as the previous month. The death toll in December also set a record. More details below.
► Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Monday that he would accelerate approval of the vaccine and strengthen border controls to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and promised to consider declaring the state of emergency.
► Statistics on poverty and hunger in rural America have been available for years, and many rural schools have taken steps to fight hunger with government and local programs. But some teachers say these statistics have taken on new meaning since the pandemic began.
► Funeral homes in Southern California say they are rejecting bereaved families because they run out of space and bodies pile up. An undertaker is on average six times larger than normal, or about 30 removals of bodies per day. The head of the California Association of Funeral Directors says the morgues are being “flooded”.
► The launch of the vaccine in the United States is still increasing and just over 4 million people received the first dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
► Texas broke a new record for hospitalizations for COVID-19 on Sunday as an increase continued to overwhelm the state’s medical resources after travel and holiday meetings.
► President-elect Joe Biden will not have a traditional inauguration parade on Pennsylvania Avenue after taking the oath of office, but will have a presidential escort to the White House.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 20 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 351,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: Over 85 million cases and 1.8 million deaths.
Inflatable suit linked to outbreak at California hospital
A costume worn by a staff member at a California hospital’s Christmas party may have been a “contributing factor” to the infection of 44 staff members. Medical Center spokeswoman Kaiser Permanente San Jose, Irene Chavez, told the New York Times that the suit was kept inflated by a small fan. Air-powered suits were banned, she said.
“Any exposure, if it occurred, would be completely innocent and accidental, since the individual had no Covid symptoms and just sought to lift the spirits of those around him during a very stressful period,” Chavez said in a statement.
December broke records of COVID deaths, cases
COVID-19 was disastrous in December, when an American died of coronavirus every 35 seconds. The United States reported 6,360,221 new cases – breaking the November record by 1.9 million. And November had more than twice as many cases as any previous month of the pandemic, shows a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
The United States recorded 77,572 deaths in December, more than 16,800 deaths above the previous monthly record set in April. Weekly deaths peaked in December in 30 states.
Winter holidays also brought changes in who takes the test, how many test locations are open, and how quickly laboratories and governments report data. This means that some December numbers will be tabulated in January.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, warned last week that January is likely to be worse than December.
– Mike Stucka
Fauci: 100 million vaccinations possible in the first 100 days of Biden
President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to administer 100 million injections of the vaccine in his first 100 days in office is viable, says Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist.
Fauci, appearing on ABC’s “This Week” program, also rejected President Donald Trump’s claim on Twitter that the deaths and cases of coronaviruses in the United States were greatly exaggerated.
“All you need to do … is to enter the trenches, enter the hospitals, enter the intensive care units and see what is going on. These are real numbers, real people and real deaths, “said Fauci on NBC’s” Meet the Press “program.
Pregnant women face professional and counter issues with the COVID-19 vaccine
Although there is little data on how pregnant and lactating mothers will respond to the COVID-19 vaccine, professional organizations and individual doctors say the benefits are likely to outweigh the risks.
According to a study conducted in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, pregnant women are significantly more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit, to end up on a respirator and to die of COVID-19. than women of the same age and health who are not pregnant.
So far, none of the major vaccine clinical trials have included pregnant or nursing mothers, which is “incredibly disappointing,” said Dr. Geeta Krishna Swamy, an obstetrician / gynecologist at Duke Medical Center, who helped write the vaccine guidelines for American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Read more here.
– Karen Weintraub
Why aren’t all college athletes with COVID-19 taking MRI scans?
Florida basketball player Keyontae Johnson’s sudden collapse this month deepened Adama Washington’s belief in what saved her daughter from the same fate – if not death.
Demi Washington, a sophomore basketball player at Vanderbilt, announced on Twitter on December 7 that she would miss the rest of the season. She revealed that she had been diagnosed with myocarditis, a potentially fatal heart inflammation that has been linked to COVID-19. It was detected by a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan after three other tests had not found any abnormalities, according to Adama Washington.
However, the cardiac MRI scan she said may have saved her daughter is not mandatory at most university conferences, with Big Ten and Big 12 being the only Power Five conferences that require the test to be administered to athletes with positive test for COVID-19.
“There is this belief that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is the gold standard for diagnosing myocarditis, and that belief is based on the fact that it is the best tool we have to look for cardiac injury,” said Dr. Aaron Baggish, director Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center. “But it is not a perfect tool.” Read more here.
– Josh Peter
Pope Francis: ‘We don’t know what 2021 has in store for us’
Pope Francis said he was very sad because some people during the COVID-19 pandemic holiday blockades managed to escape on vacation while so many are suffering from economic or sick problems.
During Sunday’s midday prayer at the Vatican, Francis said that “we don’t know what 2021 has in store”. But, he added, “what each of us and all of us together can do is to commit ourselves a little more to the care of others” and the environment, “our common home”.
During the pandemic, the pontiff emphasized care for the most needy and compliance with anti-contagion measures.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: COVID cases peaked in December; California, Texas fouls: updates