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States drew up plans Thursday to determine who will go to the front lines when the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine become available later this month, as deaths in the United States from the outbreak eclipsed 3,100 in one single day, erasing the record set last spring.
With initial vaccine supplies limited, governors and other state officials weigh both health and economic concerns in deciding the order in which vaccines will be administered.
States face a deadline Friday to submit requests for doses of the Pfizer vaccine and specify where they should be shipped, and many appear to be following the non-binding guidelines adopted this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to put workers in health and nursing home patients. first.
But they are also faced with a multitude of decisions concerning other categories of residents – some specific to their states; some are vital to their savings.
Colorado’s draft plan, which is under review, puts ski resort workers who share nearby neighborhoods in phase two of vaccine distribution, in recognition of the $ 6 billion industry’s vital role in the state economy.
In Nevada, where authorities have stressed the importance of bringing tourists back to the Las Vegas Strip, authorities initially placed nursing home patients in the third phase, behind police, teachers, airport operators. and traders. But they said on Wednesday they would revise that plan to comply with CDC guidelines.
In Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson said workers in health care and long-term care facilities were the top priority, but the state was still in the process of determining who would be included in the next phase. A draft vaccination plan submitted to the CDC in October listed poultry workers as well as other essential workers such as teachers, law enforcement and correctional workers in the so-called 1B category.
Poultry is an important part of Arkansas’ economy, and nearly 6,000 poultry workers have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to the state’s health department.
“We know these workers have been hit the hardest by major epidemics not only in our state, but in other states as well,” said Dr Jose Romero, state health secretary and chair of the Advisory Committee. of the CDC on Immunization Practices.
Plans for the vaccine are being rolled out as the growing pandemic takes over U.S. hospitals and leaves nurses and other medical workers outnumbered and exhausted. Nationwide, the coronavirus is responsible for more than 275,000 deaths and 14 million confirmed infections.
The United States recorded 3,157 deaths on Wednesday alone, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. That’s more than the number killed on 9/11 and shattered the old mark of 2,603, set on April 15, when the New York metro area was the epicenter of the US outbreak.
The number of Americans in hospital with the coronavirus also hit an all-time high on Wednesday at more than 100,000, according to the COVID Tracking Project. This figure has more than doubled in the past month. And new cases per day started to surpass 200,000, according to the Johns Hopkins tally.
The top three benchmarks showed a country sinking deeper into crisis, with perhaps the worst yet to come – in part because of the delayed effects of Thanksgiving, when millions of Americans ignored the warnings stay home and celebrate only with family members.
Keeping health care workers on their feet is essential to deal with the crisis. And patients in nursing homes have been shown to be very vulnerable to the virus. Patients and staff in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for 39% of deaths from COVID-19 in the country.
As authorities set their priority lists for the vaccine, firefighters have called on the governor of Minnesota to place himself in the first group. The Illinois plan places healthcare workers the highest priority, but also calls for first responders to be part of the first group to get vaccinated. Other states wonder where to place prisoners in the pecking order.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has said he wants teachers to be given priority so schools can stay open. Two California lawmakers have also called for it, saying distance learning is detrimental to student education.
“The children of our state cannot afford to wait,” wrote Republican Assembly Jordan Cunningham and Democratic Assembly Patrick O’Donnell. “It’s too important to be overlooked or brushed aside.”
Texas places hospital staff, nursing home workers, and paramedics at the top of the list, followed by ambulatory medical workers, pharmacists, funeral home workers, and school nurses. The nursing home patients did not make the cut for the first phase.
Likewise, Utah officials said Thursday that frontline health workers will have top priority, with the five hospitals treating the most COVID-19 patients receiving the first doses. State health officials said additional doses would likely be available in February and March for more hospital workers, and essential workers – including police, firefighters and teachers – will also be given priority.
Advocates have strongly expressed frustration with the way some states are putting medical workers ahead of nursing home residents.
“It would be unacceptable not to give top priority to protecting the population most sensitive or vulnerable to the virus,” said John Sauer, director of LeadingAge in Wisconsin, a group representing long-term care facilities for purpose. non-profit.
He added, “I can’t think of a grosser form of ageism than this. The population most vulnerable to succumbing to this virus will it not be a priority? I mean, it just means we don’t value the lives of people in long term care.
Iowa, which plans to receive 172,000 doses over the next month, will first make them available to healthcare workers, residents, and nursing home staff, while an advisory board will recommend who comes then to “minimize inequalities in health based on poverty and geography” and other factors, said Kelly Garcia, director of state social services.
For example, inmates and residents of public institutions for the disabled are not in the first round, but will be put before others, she said.
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Foley reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press editors Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Geoff Mulvihill in Davenport, Iowa; Jim Anderson in Denver; Bob Christie in Phoenix; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Sophia Eppolito in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Tammy Webber in Fenton, Michigan, contributed to this story.
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