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Ryan w miller
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COVID-19 relief deal: $ 300 extra in unemployment assistance
Congress is rushing to pass COVID-19 relief bill. Here’s what’s in the package and what it means to you.
USA TODAY
USA TODAY is following news about COVID-19 as vaccines begin to roll out across the country. This week alone, the United States marked the important milestone of more than 17 million cases and 300,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Continue to refresh this page for the latest updates on vaccine distribution, including who gets vaccines and where, as well as other information on COVID-19 through the USA TODAY Network. Subscribe to our Coronavirus watch bulletin for updates directly to your inbox, join our facebook group or browse our detailed answers to reader questions for everything you need to know about the coronavirus.
In the headlines:
► Vice President Mike Pence will “publicly” receive a COVID-19 vaccine Friday morning at the White House. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday evening he would take the COVID-19 vaccine “in the next few days,” urging Americans to get the vaccine as soon as it becomes available to the public.
► California on Thursday reported an ICU bed availability of 3%. Hospitals in Southern California are the hardest hit, as intensive care capacity has fallen to 0%, state data shows.
► The two healthcare workers in Alaska who had side effects just 10 minutes after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine were released Thursday from Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, according to the Anchorage Daily News. One worker suffered anaphylaxis and was hospitalized for two nights, while the second had a mild reaction and was released after about an hour.
► Benny Napoleon, the sheriff of Michigan’s largest county and former Detroit police chief, died Thursday after spending weeks in hospital with COVID-19, his family said. He was 65 years old.
► Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in a press briefing On Thursday, he announced that he and his wife were in quarantine after their 9-year-old daughter, Maya, tested positive for COVID-19. Garcetti and his wife have tested negative, he said.
► French President Emmanuel Macron, who said Thursday he tested positive for COVID-19, suffers from fever, cough and fatigue, officials said on Friday.
► As Oregon approaches 100,000 cases of the coronavirus, Governor Kate Brown extended her declaration of a state of emergency on Thursday until March 3, 2021. The previous order was due to expire in early January.
► Coach Kelvin Sampson revealed Thursday that all 15 players on the University of Houston basketball team tested positive for the coronavirus at some point this year, ABC13 Houston reported. Only six players have been allowed to train this week, the station reported.
📈 The numbers of the day: The United States has 17.2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 310,700 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: over 75 million cases and 1.66 million deaths.
Here’s a look at some of today’s top stories:
Moderna vaccine set to become second FDA cleared
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee has approved the country’s second COVID-19 vaccine. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn could officially clear the vaccine as early as Friday, and delivery could begin nationwide by Monday.
The Independent Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biologics voted 20-0 with abstention in favor of mRNA-1273, a vaccine made in collaboration with the US government by Moderna, a Cambridge-based biotechnology company, in Massachusetts.
“There is no doubt in my mind – it seems the benefits outweigh the risks of what I saw,” said Dr. Steven Pergam, committee member and infectious disease and vaccine specialist. at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, expressing the group’s consensus.
Unlike the vaccine that the FDA cleared last week, made by Pfizer and its German collaborator BioNTech, Moderna’s vaccine will be approved for use only in adults. Moderna recently extended her research essay to include teenagers, but they weren’t recruited long enough to draw any conclusions.
– Karen Weintraub
Restaurants face grim winter during COVID-19
Restaurants across the country have struggled for months to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic, facing layoffs and pay cuts and investing in personal protective equipment and outdoor dining infrastructure.
Now there’s another problem: The onset of winter weather portends even darker months for the restaurant industry as restaurants struggle to balance safety measures for their customers and staff. and their results.
“We need to prepare for an even worse time for the restaurant industry,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance.
Restaurant sales were around $ 65 billion in the months leading up to the pandemic, but fell to $ 30 billion in April, according to Census Bureau data. They peaked in September at $ 55.7 billion, but fell in October and November.
– Ryan W. Miller, Grace Hauck and Kelly Tyko
Supreme Court denies religious challenge to Kentucky’s COVID limits
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Kentucky can force parish and public schools to temporarily close due to the coronavirus pandemic, but only because those restrictions are expected to expire early next year.
Governor Andrew Beshear ordered the closure of all public and private K-12 schools for in-person instruction from November 23, limiting them to distance or virtual learning. The ordinance allowed elementary schools outside the hard-hit areas to reopen on December 7, but kept middle and high schools closed until January 4.
Because schools start the holidays on Friday, judges did not insist that religious schools be allowed to open now. Instead, they denied a challenge by the state’s Republican attorney general and a religious school that argued that the closures violated the Constitution’s promise of freedom of religion.
“We reject the request without prejudice to applicants or other parties seeking a new preliminary injunction if the governor issues a school closure order that applies in the new year,” the court said in an unsigned order .
– Richard Wolf
Contribute: The Associated Press
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