After months of serving as a model in the fight against COVID-19, California has seen infections run out of control for weeks
Here is what is happening on Friday with the pandemic in the USA:
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
– After months of serving as a model in the fight against COVID-19, California has seen infections run out of control for weeks. It now has the worst coronavirus diagnosis rate in the United States. Experts say a variety of factors have combined to eliminate California’s previous efforts, which for much of the year contained the peaks and kept the virus at manageable levels. Tight accommodation, travel and Thanksgiving meetings contributed to the spread, along with public fatigue amid regulations that closed many schools and businesses and encouraged – or demanded – an isolated lifestyle.
– Health officials say they found evidence in a Florida man of the latest case in the United States of the new, seemingly more contagious variant of the coronavirus, first seen in England. The Florida Department of Health tweeted a statement late on Thursday that the variant was detected in a man in his 20s with no recent travel history. It comes after recent reports of confirmed cases elsewhere, in Colorado and California. The cases raised doubts about how the variant COVID-19 circulating in England arrived in the United States, where experts say it is probably already spreading.
– Ten months of quarantine and working at home because of the pandemic, the lives of domestic animals and the relationship with humans have changed in many cases. For many dogs, pandemic life is life as it should be: humans 24 hours a day, seven days a week, outings and treats on demand and sneaking into bed at night. Cats are more affectionate than ever, some even needing attention. Long-term impacts are not known.
THE NUMBERS: The seven-day continuous average for new daily deaths in the U.S. has decreased in the past two weeks from 2,646 on December 17 to 2,387.7 on December 31, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
DEATH FOOL: The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the U.S. is more than 346,000.
QUOTE: “I think January will be worse at this point than we think,” said Dr. Don Williamson, head of the Alabama Hospital Association, after attending Christmas events online that showed many people without a mask. “We will certainly pick up the whirlwind of new cases because of our reluctance to simply do simple things.”
ICYMI: Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine by removing them from the refrigerator for two nights. The Grafton Police Department said the former Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of danger, tampering with a prescription drug and criminal property damage. Lawyer Aurora Health Care, director of medical group Jeff Bahr, says the pharmacist deliberately removed 57 vials containing hundreds of doses of the Modern vaccine from refrigeration overnight on December 24, returned them and then left them out again on the evening of December 25th.
AT THE HORIZON: Congress is ending a chaotic session with a rare rejection of President Donald Trump by Republicans. Republican Party senators are ignoring the outgoing president’s requirement to increase COVID-19’s $ 600 aid checks to $ 2,000. They are about to overturn their veto on a major defense bill. Trump’s ally, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Congress could try again to approve major aid checks for COVID-19 after the new session opened on Sunday. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says Congress has provided enough aid for the pandemic so far. The stalemate is likely to drag on until the weekend.
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Find full AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic