First Edition: Dec. 21, 2020
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
Many US Health Experts Underestimated The Coronavirus … Until It Was Too Late
A year ago, while many Americans were finishing their holiday shopping and finalizing travel plans, doctors in Wuhan, China, were battling a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia with no known cause. Chinese doctors began to fear they were witnessing the return of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a coronavirus that emerged in China in late 2002 and spread to 8,000 people worldwide, killing almost 800. The disease never gained a foothold in the U.S. and disappeared by 2004. (Szabo, 12/21)
KHN:
With Few Takers For COVID Vaccine, DC Hospital CEO Takes ‘One For The Team’
Administrators at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., were thrilled to be among the city’s first hospitals to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but they knew it could be a tough sell to get staffers to take the shot. They were right. The hospital, located on the campus of one the nation’s oldest historically Black colleges, received 725 doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech on Dec. 14 and expects 1,000 more vaccine doses this week to immunize its workers. (Galewitz, 12/21)
KHN:
Montana’s Mask Mandate In Doubt With Incoming Governor
Incoming Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signaled he won’t continue a statewide mask mandate in place since July, though he said he plans to wear a mask himself and get vaccinated against COVID-19.If Gianforte, a Republican, reverses outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s mask order, Montana will be just the second state after Mississippi to lift its mandate. Thirty-eight states now have statewide mandates. (Volz, 12/21)
KHN:
‘Nine Months Into It, The Adrenaline Is Gone And It’s Just Exhausting’
In March, during the first week of the San Francisco Bay Area’s first-in-the-nation stay-at-home order, KHN spoke with emergency department physicians working on the front lines of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, these doctors reported dire shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies. Health officials had no idea how widespread the virus was, and some experts warned hospitals would be overwhelmed by critically ill patients. In the end, due to both the early sweeping shutdown order and a state-sponsored effort to bolster the supply chain, Bay Area hospitals were able to avert that catastrophe. (Barry-Jester, 12/21)
Stat:
FDA Grants Authorization To Moderna's Covid-19 Vaccine
And now there are two. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna, the second such vaccine to be cleared in the United States. Inoculations should begin within days, as was the case following last week’s authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. (Herper, 12/18)
Stat:
CDC Advisory Panel Recommends Use Of Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine
An expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously on Saturday to recommend use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. When CDC Director Robert Redfield signs off on the recommendation — as he is expected to do before the weekend is out — Operation Warp Speed will be able to begin shipping doses of a second vaccine to administration sites across the country. (Branswell, 12/19)
NBC News:
First Shipments Of Moderna Vaccine Roll Out, A New Weapon In U.S. Covid-19 Response
Distribution for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine began on Sunday, just two days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized it for emergency use. Moderna’s vaccine distribution means the U.S. now has two vaccines in its arsenal to fight the pandemic that has infected more than 17.7 million Americans and claimed more than 317,000 lives. (Kesslen, 12/20)
Fox Business:
FedEx Begins Shipping Second COVID-19 Vaccine, With First Moderna Shots Expected Monday
FedEx began shipping the second coronavirus vaccine candidate to earn emergency authorization in the U.S. after Moderna, a Massachusetts-based biotech company, received the authorization for its vaccine candidate from an FDA advisory panel on Thursday. Employees at a factory in the Memphis area and a facility in Olive Branch, Mississippi were boxing up the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health. (Fordham, 12/20)
CBS News:
First Shipments Of Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine Begin Distribution In The U.S.
Initial shipments of the second coronavirus vaccine authorized in the U.S. left a distribution center Sunday, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control. The trucks left the factory in the Memphis area with the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health. The much-needed shots are expected to be given starting Monday, just three days after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized their emergency rollout. (12/20)
Seattle Times:
Gov. Jay Inslee Announces Western States’ Approval Of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine
The Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup has authorized use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Sunday. The vaccine won emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday and the first shipments are expected to arrive in Washington this week. Moderna’s vaccine is the second to gain approval from the FDA and the work group comprised of vaccine experts from Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. (Rietmulder, 12/20)
USA Today:
COVID-19 Vaccine: Police, Firefighters, Teachers Will Be Next In Line
Police, firefighters, teachers and grocery workers will be among those next in line for a COVID-19 vaccine, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel decided Sunday. The committee voted 13-1 to recommend that Phase 1b include people 75 and older and front-line essential workers. Phase 1c will include people 65 to 74 and people 16 to 64 who have high-risk medical conditions, along with other essential workers. (Weise, 12/20)
NPR:
Older People, Some Essential Workers Should Get Vaccines Next, CDC Panel Says
The group's recommendation may not align with public expectations, warned Molly Howell, immunization program manager for the North Dakota Department of Health. "We will need some very clear communication and talking points as to why frontline essential workers, who may be younger and healthier, are being vaccinated over [people ages 65 to 74] and those with multiple underlying health conditions," she said during the meeting, citing a recent poll showing public support for prioritizing seniors and immunocompromised individuals. (Huang, 12/20)
AP:
Panel: People Over 75, Essential Workers Next For Vaccines
A federal advisory panel recommended Sunday that people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers should be next in line for COVID-19 shots, while a second vaccine began rolling out to hospitals as the nation works to get the coronavirus pandemic under control. The two developments came amid a vaccination program that began only in the last week and has given initial shots to about 556,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech already is being distributed, and regulators last week gave approval to the one from Moderna Inc. that began shipping Sunday. (Hanna and Stobbe, 12/20)
The Washington Post:
Front-Line Essential Workers And Adults 75 And Over Should Be Next To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine, A CDC Advisory Group Says
Grocery store employees, teachers, emergency workers and other people on the front lines of America’s workforce should be next to get the coronavirus vaccine, along with adults ages 75 and older, a federal advisory panel said Sunday. ... An estimated 30 million front-line essential workers are laboring in meat plants, grocery stores, prisons, public transit and other key areas, and cannot work remotely. They are a priority, because they play a critical role in keeping society functioning, and they live or work in high-risk, high-transmission communities. (Sun and Stanley-Becker, 12/20)
The New York Times:
CDC Panel Says Frontline Workers And People Over 74 Should Get Vaccine Next
The panel of doctors and public health experts had previously indicated it would recommend a much broader group of Americans defined as essential workers — about 90 million people with jobs designated by a division of the Department of Homeland Security as critical to keeping society functioning — as the next priority population, and that older people who live independently should come later. But in hours of discussion on Sunday, conducted remotely, the committee members concluded that given the limited initial supply of vaccine and the higher Covid-19 death rate among older Americans, it made more sense to allow the oldest among them to go next, along with workers whose jobs put them “at substantially higher risk of exposure” to the virus. (Goodnough and Hoffman, 12/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Supermarkets In L.A. County See Unprecedented Coronavirus Infection Rates
Supermarkets have been hit hard by the unprecedented explosion of the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, further straining an essential service that needs to remain open despite the new stay-at-home order. L.A. County is investigating ongoing coronavirus outbreaks at 490 businesses, compared with 173 a month ago, according to county data. The increase in outbreaks drives home officials’ warnings that the only way to stay safe is to stay home, even as many businesses remain open. (Karlamangla, 12/20)
The Washington Post:
Early Access To The Coronavirus Vaccine Sparks Lobbying From Companies And Unions
What is clear is that there won’t be enough doses to go around for months. Local officials in each state will have to make tough choices about which essential workers get their shots first. “It almost feels like a wrestling match out there, where many interests want to make it clear that the people they represent have a lot of essential workers,” said Jonathan Slotkin, chief medical officer of Contigo Health, which leads partnerships between large national employers and hospital systems. Companies are displaying a “voracious appetite” for vaccines for their workforces, he said. (Rowland, Stanley-Becker, Bogage, Bhattarai and Reiley, 12/20)
The Washington Post:
Nursing Homes Face Daunting Task Of Getting Consent Before They Give Coronavirus Vaccines
More than 3 million elderly and infirm residents of nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities may face delays in getting coronavirus vaccines as the facilities confront the difficult task of obtaining consent, which consumer advocates, operators and some health officials say should have been simplified and started earlier by the federal government. Obtaining consent presents one of the toughest hurdles as officials mobilize to inoculate residents of these facilities, many of whom have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. (Nirappil and Abutaleb, 12/20)
NPR:
Warp Speed Official: 7.9 Million Doses Of Vaccine Ready For Distribution Next Week
With a second COVID-19 vaccine now authorized for emergency use, the top military official with Operation Warp Speed says a combined 7.9 million doses of vaccine are ready to be distributed next week. U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of the federal vaccine effort, briefed reporters on Saturday, less than a day after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine developed by the biotech company Moderna. Perna said efforts to distribute the Moderna vaccine were already underway, with the first doses scheduled to arrive at sites across the U.S. on Monday. (Slotkin, 12/19)
Politico:
Warp Speed Official Takes Blame For Overcount Of Covid Shot Allocations
The chief operating officer of the government’s vaccine accelerator on Saturday took responsibility for overstating the number of Pfizer coronavirus shots that states would have available to them. Operation Warp Speed originally estimated up to 7.3 million doses could be available in the second week of vaccine distribution. Instead, about 4.3 million shots are ready — a discrepancy that has left governors scrambling to revise their vaccination plans. (Roubein, 12/19)
AP:
General Sorry For 'Miscommunication' Over Vaccine Shipments
The Army general in charge of getting COVID-19 vaccines across the United States apologized on Saturday for “miscommunication” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution. “I failed. I’m adjusting. I am fixing and we will move forward from there,” Gen. Gustave Perna told reporters in a telephone briefing. (White and Colvin, 12/19)
The Hill:
FDA Investigating Allergic Reactions To Pfizer Vaccine Reported In Multiple States
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating allergic reactions to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine that were reported in multiple states after it began to be administered this week. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told reporters late Friday that the reactions had been reported in more than one state besides Alaska and that the FDA is probing five reactions. (Axelrod, 12/19)
The Atlantic:
What The COVID-19 Vaccine’s Side Effects Feel Like
For a fraction of people, getting these first COVID-19 vaccines could be unpleasant—more than the usual unpleasantness of getting a shot. They might make you feel sick for a day or two, even though they contain no whole viruses to actually infect you. Both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are quite “reactogenic”—meaning they stimulate a strong immune response that can cause temporary but uncomfortable sore arms, fevers, chills, and headaches. In other words, getting them might suck a little, but it’s nowhere near as bad as COVID-19 itself. (Zhang, 12/18)
NPR:
Biden To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Monday
President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden will both publicly receive their first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Delaware on Monday, as the death toll from the disease nears 320,000 in the United States. The president-elect has set a goal of distributing 100 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days of his administration. (Sprunt, 12/21)
AP:
Biden To Receive COVID Vaccine As Trump Remains On Sidelines
“I don’t want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take,” Biden has said of his decision. Biden and his wife, Jill, will also thank health care workers at the facility where they receive the shots, his incoming press secretary has said. (Colvin, 12/21)
The Hill:
Congress Clinches Sweeping Deal On Coronavirus Relief, Government Funding
Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a mammoth deal to fund the government and provide long-sought coronavirus relief as lawmakers race to wrap up their work for the year. The deal will tie a $1.4 trillion bill to fund the government until Oct. 1 to roughly $900 billion in coronavirus aid. In order to give Congress time to process and pass the agreement, the House and Senate passed a one-day stopgap bill on Sunday. (Carney, 12/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Congress Reaches Final Agreement On Pandemic Relief
“This agreement is far from perfect, but it will deliver emergency relief to a nation in the throes of a genuine emergency,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said on the Senate floor. The legislation is set to add $300 to weekly unemployment payments for 11 weeks and extend two other unemployment programs until they begin phasing out in mid-March and end in early April. Those two programs expand the pool of people eligible for unemployment benefits and extend their duration. (Duehren and Peterson, 12/21)
The New York Times:
The Stimulus Deal: What’s In It For You
Individual adults making up to $75,000 a year would receive a $600 payment, and a couple earning up to $150,000 a year would get twice that amount. If they have dependent children, they would also get $600 for each child. The first payments early this year began arriving via direct deposit about two weeks after legislation passed. It took some people months, however, to receive the money. (Bernard and Lieber, 12/20)
AP:
Highlights Of $900 Billion COVID-19 Relief, Wrapup Bills
[The bill] increases food stamp benefits by 15% and provides funding to food banks, Meals on Wheels and other food aid. [It also] provides $10 billion to the Child Care Development Block Grant to help families with child care costs and help providers cover increased operating costs. (12/21)
The Hill:
Surprise Medical Bill Prevention Included In Year-End Legislative Package
Bipartisan legislation to protect patients from getting massive “surprise” medical bills is included in a year-end package deal reached Sunday, clearing the way for the measure to pass Congress after almost two years of negotiations. The legislation will protect patients from getting medical bills for thousands of dollars in common situations like going to the emergency room and getting care from a doctor who happened to not be covered by the patient’s insurance plan. (Sullivan, 12/20)
Modern Healthcare:
Congress To Ban Surprise Bills, Include Provider Grant Fix In Year-End Deal
The agreement breaks paralysis that has gripped Washington for years on the issue of banning balance billing, or when consumers receive large bills for out-of-network care provided in emergency situations or at an in-network facility. A broad bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that had squabbled over details involving how insurers and providers should work out payment ultimately united on Dec. 11 for a final push to get a fix across the finish line.
The legislation attempts to protect patients from surprise medical bills in emergencies and non-emergency situations where patients can't choose an in-network provider, according to a draft outline of the bill. Patients would only be required to pay their in-network cost-sharing amount. (Cohrs, 12/20)
PBS NewsHour:
Pelosi, McConnell Get COVID-19 Vaccine, Urge Others To Do So
The legislative branch of government is rapidly moving to receive the coronavirus vaccine, with both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell getting the shot on Friday and the top Capitol doctor urging all members of Congress to join them. Both Pelosi and McConnell tweeted photos of themselves receiving the vaccine from the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian P. Monahan. Monahan informed lawmakers Thursday evening that they are all eligible for the shots under government continuity guidelines and asked members of the House and Senate to make appointments with his office to be vaccinated. (12/18)
The Washington Post:
Pelosi, McConnell Receive Coronavirus Vaccine From The Capitol's Top Doctor
Throughout the day Friday at the Capitol, other members of leadership and rank-and-file lawmakers also received the vaccine. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third-ranking Republican in leadership, and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat, were vaccinated. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), a doctor, volunteered to get the shot and afterward encouraged his constituents to do the same when it becomes more widely available. (Kane, Wagner and Itkowitz, 12/18)
The New York Times:
The Coronavirus Is Mutating. What Does That Mean For Us?
Scientists are worried about these variants but not surprised by them. Researchers have recorded thousands of tiny modifications in the genetic material of the coronavirus as it has hopscotched across the world. Some variants become more common in a population simply by luck, not because the changes somehow supercharge the virus. But as it becomes more difficult for the pathogen to survive — because of vaccinations and growing immunity in human populations — researchers also expect the virus to gain useful mutations enabling it to spread more easily or to escape detection by the immune system. (Mandavilli, 12/20)
Politico:
Testing Czar Says Covid-19 Variant No 'Reason For Alarm'
Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration’s coronavirus testing czar, said the Department of Health and Human Services will continue to watch a variant strain of coronavirus that’s been reported in Britain in recent weeks. “Viruses mutate,” Giroir said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “We've seen almost 4,000 different mutations among this virus. There is no indication that the mutation right now that they're talking about is overcoming England.” (Bice, 12/20)
The Hill:
Surgeon General Nominee Says More Contagious Viral Strain In UK Does Not Appear To Be Deadlier
Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, whom President-elect Joe Biden has nominated to return to the position, said Sunday that a new, more contagious coronavirus strain reported in the U.K. does not appear to be any deadlier. “This news from the U.K. appears to be about a new strain of the virus that’s more transmissible, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen prior to this,” Murthy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “While it seems to be more transmissible, we do not have evidence yet that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it.” (Budryk, 12/20)
AP:
Are New Coronavirus Strains Cause For Concern?
Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, but virus experts say it’s unclear if that’s the case or whether they pose any concern for vaccines or cause more severe disease. Viruses naturally evolve as they move through the population, some more than others. It’s one reason we need a fresh flu shot each year. New variants, or strains, of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been seen almost since it was first detected in China nearly a year ago. (Marchione, 12/21)
The New York Times:
Hospitals Are Still Facing Shortages Of Masks And Other Protective Gear
As Americans celebrate the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine, many of the doctors and nurses first in line for inoculation say a victory lap is premature. They fear that the optimism stirred by the vaccine will overshadow a crisis that has drawn scant public attention in recent months: the alarming shortage of personal protective equipment, or P.P.E., that has led frontline medical workers to ration their use of the disposable gloves, gowns and N95 respirator masks that reduce the spread of infection. (Jacobs, 12/20)
Bloomberg:
Hospital Laundry Workers Say Every Day At Work Risks Covid Infection
Workers at a leading commercial laundry firm that cleans sheets for some of New York City’s biggest hospitals say every day on the job places them at greater risk of Covid-19 infection. Industry CEOs from all over the U.S. voiced concern earlier this month about potential outbreaks, too. As a critical component of a healthcare system buckling under the strain of a nationwide surge, commercial laundry companies have become essential in the fight against the pandemic. But their employees’ unions contend that while some operators have taken adequate measures to protect workers, others have not. (Davalos, 12/21)
Stat:
Pandemic-Induced Demoralization Is Sapping Clinicians' Spirits
“There’s a surge in calls. We need more backup,” read the text I got last week from my colleague Mona Masood, a psychiatrist and co-founder of the Physician Support Line, a peer-to-peer hotline that she, I, and others developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. With 700 volunteer psychiatrists staffing the hotline, my first thought was, “How is that possible?” My second thought was “Ah, yes. We are still demoralized.” (Song, 12/19)
Modern Healthcare:
COVID-19 Stretches Rural Health Safety Net
About 40% of adult hospitalizations at rural hospitals were COVID-19 related as of Nov. 27, up from a median of 28% in late July, Chartis Center for Rural Health's analysis of HHS data shows. The share of COVID-related hospitalizations at urban hospitals increased from 14% to 23% over that span. Rural hospitals typically lack the capacity, equipment and staffing to best manage acute cases. There is one ICU bed for every 9,500 Americans who live in rural communities, where intensive care beds are hard to come by. Nearly two-thirds of rural hospitals don't have any ICU beds, Chartis data show. (Kacik, 12/18)
AP:
Hospital Staffs Stretched Thin During California Virus Surge
Medical staffing is stretched increasingly thin as California hospitals scramble to find beds for patients amid an explosion of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm the state’s emergency care system. As of Sunday, more than 16,840 people were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached in July — and a state model that uses current data to forecast future trends shows the number could reach 75,000 by mid-January. (Weber, 12/20)
Bloomberg:
States, Hospitals Told To Make Rationing Plans As Covid Surges
States and hospitals need to be in crisis mode, ready to make “agonizing decisions about how resources are used” as Covid-19 infections surge nationwide, several major groups representing doctors and nurses said Friday. The U.S. has “reached a point in the crisis at which critical decisions must be made in order to do the most good possible for the largest number of people with limited resources,” nine organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association and the National Academy of Medicine, warned in a statement Friday. Many intensive care units are already over capacity and more will be in the coming weeks, the statement said. (Edney, 12/18)
The Washington Post:
As Covid Cases Spike In Tennessee, Health Department Warns Christmas Surge ‘Will Completely Break Our Hospitals’
As Tennessee leads the U.S. in coronavirus cases per capita following a post-Thanksgiving spike, the state’s health commissioner warned on Sunday that the hospital system will crumble if residents don’t slow the spread of the virus by staying home, wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings. “If we have another surge over Christmas, it will break our hospitals,” Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said at a news conference, according to the Tennessean. (Peiser, 12/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Hospitals Retreat From Early Covid Treatment And Return To Basics
Doctors are treating a new flood of critically ill coronavirus patients with treatments from before the pandemic, to keep more patients alive and send them home sooner. Last spring, with less known about the disease, doctors often pre-emptively put patients on ventilators or gave powerful sedatives largely abandoned in recent years. The aim was to save the seriously ill and protect hospital staff from Covid-19.Now hospital treatment for the most critically ill looks more like it did before the pandemic. (Evans, 12/20)
Stat:
Shaped By War And Hardship, ER Doctor Chronicles Covid-19
As a Marine combat medic in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province, Cleavon Gilman saw bodies torn apart by IEDs. He heard agonizing screams, saw burned flesh and penetrating trauma... He still has PTSD, though he returned from the war 16 years ago. Even so, that experience did not prepare him for the coronavirus. (McFarling, 12/21)
Stat:
Documents: Sacklers Withdrew Cash From Purdue After Lawsuit Fears Raised
In recent weeks, different members of the Sackler family that controls Purdue Pharma maintained they did not foresee the massive amount of lawsuits that would blame their company for its role in the opioid crisis. And for this reason, they have argued that the billions of dollars withdrawn from Purdue over the past decade were not fraudulent distributions to hide money. (Silverman, 12/20)
Stateline:
COVID-19 Eased Drug Treatment Rules And That Saved Lives
Since March, some patients have been allowed to take the life-saving medication methadone at home instead of risking COVID-19 exposure by visiting a crowded clinic every day. Buprenorphine patients have had their prescriptions renewed by phone instead of visiting their doctors every week or month. And addiction counseling and crisis support has become available over the phone. Now, physicians and addiction experts are advocating for extending the emergency federal and state rules they say have saved thousands of lives by dramatically expanding access to addiction treatment. (Vestal, 12/18)
Reuters:
Amazon Shuts New Jersey Facility On Virus Spike Among Workers
Amazon.com Inc said on Sunday it had closed one of its warehouses in New Jersey out of caution till Dec. 26, after seeing an increase in asymptomatic positive cases amongst workers. “Through our in-house COVID-19 testing program, we detected an increase in the number of asymptomatic positive cases at our PNE5 facility in northern New Jersey and have proactively closed the site until December 26th out of an abundance of caution,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters. (12/20)
AP:
US Airport Traffic Rising Despite Holiday Travel Warnings
More than 1 million people have passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints in each of the past two days in a sign that public health pleas to avoid holiday travel are being ignored, despite an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases. It marks the first time U.S. airports have screened more than 1 million passengers since Nov. 29. That came at the end of a Thanksgiving weekend that saw far more travel around the country than had been hoped as the weather turned colder and COVID-19 cases were already spiking again. (Liedtke, 12/20)
The Hill:
20 Percent Of US Prisoners Infected With COVID-19: Research
Roughly 20 percent of all state and federal prison inmates in the U.S. have or previously contracted COVID-19, an investigation from The Associated Press and the Marshall Project found. More than 275,000 inmates serving sentences for various offenses across the country have contracted the virus since the beginning of 2020, the investigation found, and more than 17,000 have died as a result of the virus and lack of access to basic medical care. (Bowden, 12/20)
The Hill:
Lawsuit Claims St Louis County Inmate Died Of Survivable Leukemia After Being Denied Medical Care
The mother of a man who died of leukemia last year while imprisoned in a St. Louis County jail filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit last week, according to multiple reports. Lamar Catchings was found dead in his jail cell in March 2019, the St. Louis Dispatch reported. He had been in custody at the St. Louis County Justice Center since April 2018. (Pitofsky, 12/20)
Politico:
Low-Income Children Wait Months For USDA Food Aid To Replace School Meals
Millions of low-income schoolchildren have gone almost an entire semester without receiving federal payments to help their families buy groceries months after Congress authorized the aid — even as child hunger reaches record highs in the U.S. Congress first established the payments in March to replace the free or subsidized meals that students are missing while schools are closed or virtual during the pandemic. But lawmakers waited until the program was set to expire Oct. 1 to extend the aid for the current school year. The USDA then took several weeks to write guidelines for states to hand out the money. (Bottemiller Evich, 12/20)
AP:
More EU Nations Ban Travel From UK, Fearing Virus Variant
A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant. (Grieshaber and Hui, 12/20)
Bloomberg:
U.S. Ban On U.K. Flights Isn’t Needed, Virus Team Member Says
The U.S. doesn’t need to suspend flights from the U.K. based on a coronavirus mutation that helped prompt an emergency lockdown for London, a member of the White House virus task force said. “I really don’t believe we need to do that yet,” Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Giroir and Vivek Murthy, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for surgeon general, both expressed confidence that vaccines developed to fight Covid-19, two of which are already approved for use in the U.S., will be effective against the mutated form of the virus. (Wade and Pickert, 12/20)
BBC News:
Covid: EU To Discuss Response To Variant As Travel Bans On UK Expand
European Union officials will discuss later a co-ordinated response to a new, more infectious coronavirus variant in the UK, which has led many countries to impose travel bans. Germany, France and Italy are among those to suspend flights from the UK. Outbound train services through the Channel Tunnel have also been halted. Canada is also blocking UK flights. Health officials say the new variant is up to 70% more transmissible, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. (12/21)
AP:
EU Regulator Meets To Discuss Approval Of COVID-19 Vaccine
The European Medicines Agency is meeting Monday to consider approving a coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer that would be the first to be authorized for use in the European Union. The closed-doors meeting comes weeks after the shot was granted permission under emergency provisions by regulators in Britain and the United States. (12/20)
Bloomberg:
In Vaccine Drive, EU Turns To Super-Freezers, Church Leaders
Refrigerated cargo trucks carrying hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses are set to roll out of Pfizer Inc.’s factory in Puurs -- 15 miles south of Antwerp -- in the coming days, marking the start of an unprecedented effort to deliver the shot to 27 countries at the same time. From Malta to Finland, the EU is about to embark on an immunization campaign aimed at halting a pathogen that’s ravaged the continent this year. Trailing the U.K. and U.S., the bloc is feeling the heat, especially because the first vaccine was pioneered in Germany. A decision to clear the shot developed by BioNTech SE and Pfizer is due shortly, and the first Europeans will likely be immunized on Dec. 27. (Paton, 12/21)
Stat:
World Health Organization Says Its Covid-19 Vaccine Program Has Secured 2 Billion Doses
After months of effort, a World Health Organization program has reached an agreement to obtain nearly 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines and expects to begin distribution in the first quarter of 2021, which means shots can start reaching dozens of low and middle-income countries that must rely on patronage for supplies. (Silverman, 12/18)