New strain in US; Biden to invoke Defense Production Act
USA TODAY is maintaining observe of the information surrounding COVID-19 as a pair of vaccines be a part of the U.S. combat in opposition to a virus that has killed almost 390,000 Americans because the first reported fatality in February. Keep refreshing this web page for the most recent updates surrounding the coronavirus, together with who’s getting the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, in addition to different prime information from throughout the USA TODAY Network. Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates straight to your inbox, join our Facebook group or scroll through our in-depth answers to reader questions for every thing you want to know concerning the coronavirus.
In the headlines:
► The world reached 2 million deaths from the coronavirus on Friday, in accordance to Johns Hopkins University knowledge.
► President-elect Joe Biden is scheduled to share extra particulars Friday afternoon on his $1.9 trillion spending package that goals to pace distribution of the coronavirus vaccines and supply financial reduction brought on by the pandemic. The package deal proposal consists of investing $20 billion in a nationwide vaccination program, $1,400 stimulus checks and increasing unemployment insurance coverage dietary supplements to $400 per week. More here.
► Starting Friday, the United Kingdom is banning arrivals from South America following proof of a brand new variant of the coronavirus in Brazil.
► The coronavirus pandemic is projected to decrease Americans’ life expectancy at delivery by over a 12 months, in accordance to a study out of University of Southern California and Princeton University printed Thursday. Life expectancy for Black and Latino populations is anticipated to scale back 30% to 40% greater than white populations.
► Disneyland introduced it would end its Annual Passports program on Thursday, on the identical time providing refunds to 2020 move holders after COVID-19 saved guests locked out of the theme park for almost all of the 12 months.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has greater than 23.4 million confirmed coronavirus circumstances and greater than 390,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The international totals: More than 93.5 million circumstances and a pair of million deaths.
Biden to invoke Defense Production Act for COVID-19 vaccine
President-elect Joe Biden will use the Defense Production Act to broaden the manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination provides as a part of a wide-ranging plan to ship on his pledge to vaccinate 100 million individuals in his first 100 days.
Biden’s first and maybe largest problem in getting there will probably be addressing vaccine shortages in well being programs throughout America. He’s lengthy advocated for the usage of the Defense Production Act, which supplies the federal government authority to direct personal firms to meet nationwide protection wants.
President Donald Trump had invoked the Defense Production Act to deal with numerous features of the COVID-19 public well being disaster.
His plan additionally consists of proposals to create federally funded group vaccination facilities, make the vaccination out there in pharmacies and launch cellular clinics to get the shot to underserved communities. And he’ll broaden the well being care workforce so there are extra individuals certified to ship the vaccine to Americans.
— Ken Alltucker
UK variant might turn into predominant strain in the US by March, CDC warns
The extremely transmissible variant of the coronavirus wreaking havoc in the United Kingdom might turn into predominant in the United States by March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned.
A mannequin published Friday in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report confirmed the variant, B.1.1.7 spreading quickly and threatening to strain well being care assets. It might additionally improve the inhabitants immunity wanted to management the pandemic.
About 76 circumstances of the brand new variant had been detected in 10 states as of Jan. 13, the CDC mentioned, with Illinois saying its first case Friday in Chicago.
The CDC says it’s collaborating with different federal companies to coordinate and improve genomic surveillance to higher perceive native epidemiology in the face of the new variant. The company additionally underscored the significance of public well being methods to scale back transmission, which can purchase “critical time to increase vaccination coverage.”
The world reaches 2 million deaths from the coronavirus
The international dying toll from COVID-19 topped 2 million on Friday as vaccines developed at breakneck pace are being rolled out around the globe in an all-out marketing campaign to vanquish the menace.
The milestone was reached simply over a 12 months after the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan. It took eight months to hit 1 million lifeless. It took lower than 4 months after that to attain the following million.
While the depend is predicated on figures provided by authorities companies around the globe, the actual toll is believed to be considerably increased, in half due to insufficient testing and the various fatalities that had been inaccurately attributed to different causes, particularly early in the outbreak.
“Behind this terrible number are names and faces — the smile that will now only be a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” mentioned U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He mentioned the toll “has been made worse by the absence of a global coordinated effort.”
“Science has succeeded, but solidarity has failed,” he mentioned.
7,000 US, Canada flights have had COVID exposures
A USA TODAY analysis of information from Canadian public well being authorities present a close to day by day incidence of flights the place a passenger might have been contaminated whereas flying.
From the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March via early January, the Public Health Agency of Canada has recognized potential publicity on greater than 1,600 worldwide flights and greater than 1,400 flights inside Canada, for a complete of greater than 3,000 flights, together with almost 200 in the previous two weeks alone.
Canada posts public COVID-19 exposure alerts online for flights, trains and cruise ships all through the pandemic. Flights are listed as quickly as authorities obtain phrase of a optimistic take a look at of a latest traveler, no matter the place and once they may need been contaminated, elements which can be laborious to pinpoint in most COVID-19 circumstances.
The CDC has revealed little info on the scope of COVID publicity on flights besides to launch, when requested, the variety of affected flights. The newest tally: greater than 4,000 flights inside and into the United States.
– Dawn Gilbertson
CDC mannequin tasks shut to half one million COVID-19 deaths by February
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts the nation will probably be hitting a grim milestone quickly because it continues to file essentially the most day by day COVID-19 deaths than at any level in the course of the pandemic.
The agency’s weekly ensemble forecast predicts that 16,200 to 29,600 new COVID-19 deaths will probably be reported in the week ending Feb. 6, reaching up to 477,000 whole deaths by this date.
The ensemble forecast is made up of 39 completely different fashions from throughout the nation that’s mixed into an combination forecast to predict COVID-19 deaths over the following 4 weeks.
Contributing: The Associated Press
