Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Personal touch, word of mouth: How U.S. rural communities succeed getting COVID-19 shots into arms

When Juan Carlos Guerra got the call on Jan. 12 that his county would receive 300 COVID-19 vaccine doses the following day, he went straight to work. Guerra, the top elected official in rural Jim Hogg County, Texas, got together with local school superintendent Susana Garza, who was helping him lead vaccination planning. They called hundreds of vaccine-eligible residents to schedule appointments, in stark contrast to big cities, where locals report struggling through maddening online registration processes. Biden says action on COVID-19 stimulus needed 'now'

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that Congress needs to take immediate action on his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal, adding that most economists believe additional economic stimulus is needed. "We have to act now," Biden told reporters at the White House. "There is an overwhelming consensus among economists ... that this is a unique moment and the cost of inaction is high." 'Bomb-making manuals' found in home of Proud Boy who stormed Capitol, prosecutors say

U.S. law enforcement agents found bomb-making instructions inside the home of a member of the extremist group the Proud Boys, who was charged with participating in the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, prosecutors said in a court filing on Friday. Dominic Pezzola, 43, had "weapons- and bomb-making manuals" on a thumb drive device found within his home near Rochester, New York, prosecutors said in a brief arguing he should be jailed pending trial. Factbox: With strokes of pen, Biden overturns Trump policies and fights COVID-19

In his first days in office, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a wave of executive orders and proclamations aimed at dismantling some of former President Donald Trump's agenda and bolstering the nation’s COVID-19 response. Biden also ordered the establishment a variety of environmental protections and changes to immigration policy. U.S. agencies in talks to finalize Biden transportation mask mandate

U.S. agencies have been in talks this week to finalize a planned Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order to implement a federal mask mandate in interstate transportation that could be issued as soon as late Friday. On Jan. 21, President Joe Biden issued an order directing agencies to "immediately take action" to require masks on or in airports, commercial aircraft, trains, public maritime vessels, including ferries, intercity bus services and all public transportation. U.S. Labor Department issues COVID-19 workplace safety guidance

The U.S. Labor Department on Friday issued guidance for safe workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could allow sick employees to stay at home without fear of losing their jobs. This followed a request by President Joe Biden last week for the department to consider clarifying that workers have a federally guaranteed right to decline employment that would jeopardize their health and still qualify for unemployment insurance if they do so. Restaurant dining to resume in New York City on Valentine's Day

New York City's famed restaurant scene will re-open for indoor dining on Valentine's Day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday, the latest announcement by a U.S. state to ease public health restrictions as a deadly surge of COVID-19 begins to abate. The flattening of hospitalization rates has led several states to loosen public health restrictions, even as officials caution that cases could surge again, and highly contagious strains of the virus from other countries appear in the United States. New York City to ban natural gas hookups in new buildings by 2030: mayor

New York City this week said it will join a growing list of U.S. cities banning natural gas hookups in new buildings. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday as part of his State of the City address that New York will "ban new fossil fuel connections in new construction by at least 2030." At Oklahoma COVID ward, staff fight to prevent lonely deaths

The patient alarms ping constantly in the COVID-19 ward at a hospital in Oklahoma City, signaling to pulmonologist Dr. Syed Naqvi and the rest of the ICU team that yet another person needs help. The sheer volume is exhausting, Naqvi said, but the emotional toll is even more draining, given that each time he puts a patient on a ventilator he knows there is little chance that person will recover. U.S. airlines, unions oppose requiring COVID-19 tests for domestic flights

A coalition of groups representing the airline, travel and aerospace industries and union groups on Friday urged President Joe Biden not to impose new COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers on domestic U.S. flights. The letter to the White House said requiring tests before domestic air travel "is unwarranted" and argued it would "disproportionately prevent low-income travelers and rural Americans in small communities from travel." The letter was from the International Air Transport Association, Airlines for America, U.S. Travel Association, Aerospace Industries Association, aviation union groups and others.

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