USA TODAY is retaining monitor of the information surrounding COVID-19 as a pair of vaccines be part of the U.S. struggle in opposition to a virus that has killed greater than 320,000 People because the first reported fatality in February. Hold refreshing this web page for the newest updates on vaccine distribution, together with who’s getting the photographs and the place, in addition to different COVID-19 information from throughout the USA TODAY Community. Join our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates on to your inbox, join our Facebook group or scroll by means of our in-depth answers to reader questions for the whole lot that you must know in regards to the coronavirus.
Within the headlines:
►Pfizer and BioNTech introduced a second settlement with the U.S. authorities to provide an extra 100 million doses of the businesses’ vaccine. This settlement brings the overall variety of doses to be delivered to the U.S. by July 31 to 200 million.
►President Donald Trump denounced a sweeping COVID-19 reduction package deal he had been anticipated to signal, asking Congress to increase the “ridiculously low” $600 to $2,000. It was not instantly clear whether or not he would veto the bipartisan deal.
►California is getting ready to surpassing 2 million confirmed circumstances of the coronavirus. With 1.95 million infections, recording a half-million in simply two weeks, state officers stated the state might see 100,000 hospitalizations in January. As of Tuesday, the state has a 1.4% ICU capability and 22,900 deaths.
►Arkansas will construct two amenities that may present over 100 extra hospital beds in case the state runs out of capability within the close to future, Gov. Asa Hutchinson introduced Tuesday. “Now we have to be prepared for no matter is available in January,” the governor stated of a doable spike following the Christmas vacation.
►Lengthy-term care amenities are getting ready to distribute the primary doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to its residents as early as subsequent week as a part of a partnership between the CDC and CVS Well being, Hawaii Public Radio reported. CVS Well being began vaccinating long-term care facility staff and residents on Monday in 12 states. The pharmacy plans to increase its plan to 36 extra states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
📈 As we speak’s numbers: The U.S. has greater than 18.2 million confirmed coronavirus circumstances and 322,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. It was solely eight days in the past the nation reached 300,000 COVID fatalities. The worldwide totals: Greater than 77.9 million circumstances and 1.71 million deaths.
Here is a better have a look at right now’s high tales:
NJ Veterans properties barred employees from carrying masks early in outbreak
Managers at New Jersey’s veterans properties not solely barred staff from carrying protecting masks in the course of the first weeks of the outbreak, they devised a sequence of penalties with the assistance of Gov. Phil Murphy’s workplace in opposition to nurses who wore the properties’ masks with out permission. Greater than 190 residents have died from COVID-19 within the state’s veterans properties. Emails obtained by The File and NorthJersey.com, a part of the USA TODAY Community, present that at least one employee needed to return dwelling as a result of administration would not let him put on a masks — despite the fact that he had a health care provider’s notice saying he suffered from bronchial asthma.
“If they’d finished simply the naked minimal, they may have saved lives,” stated Tony Agosto, CEO of Virgo Medical Providers. “They may have stopped plenty of this.”
– Scott Fallon, NorthJersey.com
For a lot of, the stimulus test will not ever be within the mail – or checking account
Congress has handed a COVID-19 reduction invoice that would present a second spherical of stimulus checks to tens of millions of People as quickly as subsequent week. However the truly rich won’t get richer off these checks. People incomes as much as $75,000, and {couples} making lower than $150,000 will obtain the complete quantity – at present $600 however President Donald Trump is pushing for extra. The plan requires the test to drop by $5 for each $100 of revenue above these revenue thresholds. It would section out utterly at $87,000 for people and $174,000 for {couples}.
Many college students additionally do not qualify, and neither do immigrants who don’t have a Social Safety quantity. Some aged and disabled folks gained’t get a test both.
– Jessica Menton
COVID-19 is not stopping vacation journey to Mexico
For lots of of hundreds of Mexican People, the annual pilgrimage to Mexico in December to visit parents and family is a sacred ritual that even a world COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. border restrictions to stem the unfold of the virus have been unable to cease.
Many “paisanos” have already traveled or are finalizing plans to make their journey dwelling, altering vacation plans and taking new precautions, regardless of pleas from U.S. and Mexican officers that they keep dwelling this yr. Underneath present border restrictions, U.S. residents and authorized everlasting residents are free to journey by means of land ports of entry.
Final month, greater than 5 million People defied related authorities suggestions to remain dwelling and traveled by means of U.S. airports the week of Thanksgiving, a vacation rooted within the custom of sharing a meal with household and associates. Well being officers blame that journey improve for the December surge in coronavirus circumstances. For the intensive Mexican diaspora within the U.S., the draw of spending Christmas in Mexico is equally sturdy.
– Rafael Carranza and Lauren Villagran, Arizona Republic
Here is when shops, grocers shall be open on Christmas Eve
Most shops this vacation season shall be open related hours in comparison with Christmas Eve 2019 with the vast majority of main retailers closing by 6 p.m. with some exceptions. Finest Purchase shops shut at 7 p.m. and Goal shops shut at 8 p.m., two hours sooner than final yr.
However amid the coronavirus pandemic, the longest strains is perhaps outdoors shops both in parking heaps for curbside pickup or in entrance of shops as many are limiting the variety of buyers inside. Similar-day supply is anticipated to even be a extra well-liked possibility in 2020 with transport delays between winter climate and vaccine shipments.
To assist plan your last-minute buying, here are Christmas Eve store hours for department stores, discount retailers and grocers.
– Kelly Tyko
COVID-19 reaches Antarctica, has now contaminated each continent
For months, the lots of of scientists and researchers who stay in Antarctica have inhabited the one continent on this planet with out a reported case of COVID-19. But now the virus has reached even there.
Three dozen folks at a Chilean base have examined constructive, the nation’s military introduced Monday. On Tuesday, a regional well being minister in Chile stated there are 21 infections involving folks aboard the Chilean navy’s Sargento Aldea provide vessel. Passengers on that ship, which sailed to Chile from the Antarctic Peninsula, examined constructive for COVID-19, the Chilean Antarctic Institute knowledgeable The Council of Managers of Nationwide Antarctic Applications on Friday, in accordance with a press release emailed to USA TODAY.
One other case has been reported at an Antarctic village the place that ship docked, in accordance with regional well being secretary Eduardo Castillo. No different nation with a presence in Antarctica has but publicly reported circumstances.
– Joel Shannon
Contributing: The Related Press
