Here’s what’s happening on Sunday with the US pandemic:
– Public health officials have been complaining for months that they don’t have enough support or money to get COVID-19 vaccines to arms quickly. Now, the slower-than-expected start of the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history is proving they are right. While working to step up action, US state and local public health departments cite a variety of obstacles, most notably the federal government’s lack of leadership. Many employees fear they are wasting precious time at the height of the pandemic, and delays can cost lives.
– House lawmakers may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 while they took shelter in an undisclosed location during the Capitol siege by a violent crowd loyal to President Donald Trump. The Capitol’s assistant physician notified all lawmakers on Sunday of exposure to the virus and asked to be tested. The infected individual was not identified.
– In a growing consensus, religious leaders at the forefront of the anti-abortion movement in the United States, followers are being told that the main vaccines available to combat COVID-19 are acceptable to take, given their remote and indirect connection to cell lines derived from aborted fetuses.
THE NUMBERS: According to data up to January 9 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 2,243.3 on December 26 to 3,174 on January 9.
DEATH FOOL: The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the U.S. is 372,522.
QUOTE: “Asking God for help and then refusing the vaccine makes no more sense than calling 911 when your house is on fire, but refusing entry to the fire department. There is no legitimate faith-based reason for refusing to get the vaccine. ”- Pastor of the Baptist Southern mega-church, Robert Jeffress, who called vaccines a “gift from God”.
ICYMI: Ten months after the onset of the viral outbreak in America, low-income workers are still impacted by job losses. Layoffs remain strongly concentrated in the industries that have suffered the most, because they involve the kind of face-to-face contact that is now almost impossible: restaurants, bars and hotels, theaters, sports stadiums and concert halls. With the virus transforming consumer spending habits, economists believe that some of these jobs in the service sector will not return, even after the economy has regained its balance.
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Find full AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.