Here is what is happening on Tuesday with the pandemic in the USA:
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
January is starting as a dark month around the world, as the coronavirus resurfaces and transforms from Britain to Japan and California. It is filling up hospitals again and closing livelihoods while governments impose new blocks to keep people apart.
Mexico City hospitals maintain more patients with viruses than they have ever had. Germany has recorded one of its highest daily death rates to date. Even the virus’s success story Thailand is battling an unexpected wave of infections. Doctors are facing or preparing for an increasing number of patients with COVID-19 after the holidays. And more and more countries are reporting cases of a new, more contagious variant of the virus that has already spread across Britain.
– Distribution problems and logistical challenges delayed the initial launch of the coronavirus vaccine in California. Governor Gavin Newsom said the pace “is not good enough”. Only about 1% of California’s 40 million residents have been vaccinated. About 454,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered – just a quarter of the 1.3 million doses the state has received. The death toll in the state on Monday reached 26,500 and confirmed cases have approached 2.4 million since the pandemic began. California hospitals are inundated with more than 22,000 patients with COVID-19.
– Rhode Island emerged as an astonishing COVID-19 hot spot last month, briefly presenting the highest rate of new cases in the country. The nation’s smallest state has not experienced the death toll seen in more populous states. But experts say the Rhode Island experience offers lessons for other states that struggle with the same factors, including high population density, an aging population and many nursing homes, as well as poverty and an economy that depends on low-income workers who do not. they can work from home.
THE NUMBERS: According to data until January 4 from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day continuous average for new daily deaths in the United States has increased in the last two weeks from 2,655.3 on December 21 to 2,664.9 on January 4 .
DEATH FOOL: The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the USA is 353,628.
QUOTE: “We are in a race to prevent infections, reduce cases, protect health systems and save lives by launching two highly effective and safe vaccines for high-risk populations. This is not easy. These are the difficult miles. ”- Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
ICYMI: If you have had the coronavirus, you may be able to get it again, but these cases seem to be rare. Some reinfections have been confirmed, but two new studies suggest that this would be unusual for at least several months or perhaps longer. In a study of people in the United States, only 0.3% of infected people tested positive for the virus in the coming months. A similarly low rate of reinfections was found in a study of healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom. The findings bode well for today’s COVID-19 vaccines, which trigger the type of immune response that studies consider protective.
ON THE HORIZON: Dozens of residents in a poor neighborhood in Miami remain fed thanks to the efforts of a woman whose generous actions have generated widespread donations. Since August, Sherina Jones has been feeding the hungry through free community refrigerators. When word got out that one of the refrigerators was stolen just before Thanksgiving, donations started to arrive. Residents of a neighborhood where people can barely pay rent have come forward to give a little something that turned out to be a lot. A former classmate from Jones bought two refrigerators and a local pastor donated another. Other people contributed enough money that Jones could give Christmas presents to 400 families.
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Find full AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic