Democratic lawmakers are asking federal health officials to address racial disparities in access to vaccines across the country in a letter sent to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Norris Cochran IV
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:
– Democratic lawmakers are asking federal health officials to address racial disparities in access to vaccines across the country in a letter sent to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Norris Cochran IV. Data from some states showed that non-white Americans who are eligible to receive the vaccine are not receiving it in proportion to their share of the population. In the letter, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, all from Massachusetts, say the agency should work with states, municipalities and private laboratories to collect and publish demographic data about vaccine recipients. Without this information, lawmakers and health professionals cannot effectively identify vaccine disparities in the most affected communities, lawmakers say.
– New York may have underestimated COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents by up to 50%, the state attorney general said in a report. Attorney General Letitia James has been examining discrepancies for months between the number of deaths reported by the state Department of Health and the number of deaths reported by the homes themselves. His investigators analyzed a sample of 62 of the state’s nearly 600 nursing homes. They reported 1,914 deaths of COVID-19 residents, while the state Department of Health recorded only 1,229 deaths in these same facilities. If that same pattern exists across the state, James’ report said, it would mean that the state is underreporting deaths by almost 56%.
– State lawmakers across the United States are taking action to restrict the authority of governors and top health officials to impose emergency restrictions, such as mask rules and company closures. Many lawmakers are resentful of how governors have issued comprehensive executive orders. They are retreating in states like Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Some governors say they need the authority to act quickly and decisively against the rapidly changing threat.
THE NUMBERS: According to data until January 27 from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day continuous average for new daily cases in the U.S. has not increased in the past two weeks, from 244,872.7 on January 13 to 162,067.1 on 27 January The seven-day moving average for new daily deaths in the United States has not increased in the past two weeks, from 3,356.9 on January 13 to 3,287.3 on January 27.
QUOTE: “We thought, ‘Well, OK, it’s like men’s shirts, right? I’ll just have another place to do it. ‘It just isn’t that easy. ”Dr. Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, vaccine consultant to the United States government, on the slow and steady process of increasing vaccine production.
ICYMI: A new variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa was found in the United States for the first time. South Carolina officials say two of these cases have been diagnosed in the state. Viruses mutate constantly and many variants of the coronavirus are circulating around the world, but scientists are mainly concerned with three that seem to spread more easily. Other variants reported for the first time in the UK and Brazil have already been confirmed in the USA. Researchers predicted that it was only a matter of time before the variant identified in South Africa also reached the United States.
ON THE HORIZON: In the largest city in North Carolina, Magena Morris, Tyler Bone and Nic White are on a mission to help the homeless, a population that grew during the pandemic and the economic crisis. Once a month, they bring shelves full of clothes to Charlotte’s largest homeless camp and invite residents to buy their free store. The idea behind the shelves is to give residents of the “city of shacks” the feeling of visiting a regular store and save them from having to search through piles of second-hand clothes. Through donations collected from dropboxes and online, they are providing not only clothing, but much-needed products, from batteries to books.
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