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 329,000 Americans since the first reported fatality in February. Keep updating this page to get the latest updates on vaccine distribution, including who is receiving the vaccines and where, as well as other COVID-19 news from 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:
► Pope Francis made an appeal on Christmas Day, asking for “vaccines for everyone, especially for the most vulnerable and needy”, who should be the first in line. Francis made impromptu comments during his traditional blessing “Urbi et Orbi”.
►Italy entered a holiday block until January 6 with the aim of limiting meetings. Around the world, holiday celebrations have been reduced or canceled.
►The influential COVID-19 model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation this week warned that states are not imposing mandates of social detachment strong enough, given the scale of the current spread of the virus in the U.S. Without action, daily deaths could reach 5,000 in mid-February, a Wednesday of briefing projects.
► 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 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 .
►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.
📈 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.
Here is a more detailed look at today’s top stories:
The US must require negative COVID-19 test for airline passengers traveling from the UK
The United States will require passengers traveling from the United Kingdom to have a negative coronavirus test 72 hours before departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday.
The shift comes at a time when an increasing number of countries are banning British travelers amid the rapid spread of a new coronavirus variant in London and elsewhere.
Earlier this week, Canada and dozens of other counties announced new restrictions on UK travelers after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the coronavirus variant could be 70% more transmissible and is leading to an alarming spread of infections in London and the surrounding area.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said that, although preliminary analysis in the UK suggests that the new variant is “significantly more transmissible”, there is no indication that infections are more serious. Experts warned, however, that even if the variant is no longer lethal, it will likely lead to an increase in infections, hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus.
The order, which President Donald Trump is expected to sign on Friday, will take effect on December 28, according to the CDC.
How will you be informed when it is your turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine? It’s complicated.
As COVID-19 vaccines are distributed to limited groups of people in the United States, how people find out they are eligible to receive their vaccines will not be as clear as long as supplies remain limited, according to policy and public health experts and health plans. state vaccinations.
Vaccine distribution has largely been left to the states, and people may not know when they will be eligible to receive the vaccine. And they may have to be proactive to find out where they can get one and to prove that they meet the criteria to be next in line.
“I think it will be a bit obscure,” said Katie Greene, a visiting political associate at the Duke-Margolis Health Policy Center.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if thousands of people were left out because of the information gap,” added Tinglong Dai, a professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School who studies operations management and business analysis in healthcare.
COVID-19 antibodies can protect from the virus for up to six 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
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: COVID news: Pope, vaccines, Italy Christmas lockdown, UK travelers