Authorities announced on Thursday that two people in South Carolina had been diagnosed with a more infectious coronavirus strain detected for the first time in South Africa. It is the first time that the variant has been reported in the U.S.
Also on Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that concluded that the state may have underestimated COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by up to 50%. New York experienced the first major coronavirus outbreak last spring, and nursing homes were hit particularly hard.
More than 430,000 people have died and more than 25.7 million cases have been reported in the United States since the pandemic began, according to NBC News.
Here are the latest coronavirus updates from the United States and elsewhere:
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine offers strong protection against COVID-19, was less effective against a new variant
Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one injection. It is not as strong as some two-shot rivals, but it is still potentially useful for a world that urgently needs more doses.
The results released on Friday show that the single-dose vaccine was 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe illnesses and far more protective against more severe symptoms.
The vaccine worked better in the US compared to South Africa, where it faced a more resistant mutant virus. The company says it will file an emergency use order soon in the US and then abroad.
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‘COVID Tongue’ could be another symptom of viruses, suggests a British researcher
There may be another addition to the growing list of possible strange symptoms of the new coronavirus: “COVID language”.
A British researcher who is helping to track COVID-19’s warning signs is reporting more cases of infected people complaining of tongue discoloration, swelling and other mouth problems, reports NBC News.
“I see an increasing number of Covid tongues and strange mouth ulcers. If you have a strange symptom or even just a headache and fatigue, stay home! ”Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, tweeted this month.
He believes that more than a third of patients with COVID-19, 35 percent, have non-classic symptoms of the disease in the first three days, so it is important to draw attention to skin rashes, covered toes and other warning signs that “go ignored,” He wrote.
Spector did not respond to a request for comment, but other researchers also reported symptoms of tongue and mouth related to the new coronavirus.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com
NJ Hospital gave early COVID vaccines to donors and relatives of executives: report
Some of the first people to get the COVID-19 vaccination at a New Jersey medical center were relatives of senior hospital executives and some of its administrators and donors, according to a published report.
The injections were administered by Hunterdon Medical Center in December and early January, at a time when only frontline health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities were eligible, reports NBC New York.
A record of vaccine recipients, obtained by New Jersey 101.5 FM, indicated that the vaccines went to two longtime donors to the hospital and at least seven spouses and two adult children of medical directors, administrators or health care executives. The radio station said it received the registration by a whistleblower, which it did not identify.
Some of the recipients were in their 20s, an age group that would probably not qualify for the vaccine for many months.
A hospital spokesman said donors and board members had no preference over eligible employees or at-risk individuals who were available, but who received the vaccine when eligible recipients could not be located, rather than doses of the vaccine going To the garbage.
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