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Your Coronavirus Update – Today, Dec. 15, 2020
Photo: Dr. Christian Arbelaez, 1st person to receive the vaccine, at Rhode Island Hospital – Dr. Arbelaez is an emergency room physician. RIHospital, Twitter
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
Mayors in some of Massachusetts’ biggest cities — including Boston, Somerville, and Newton — have agreed to implement restrictions and will close indoor gyms, museums, and movie theaters, among other measures.
Scituate and Newport schools will go virtual
Southcoast Hospitals group set to receive almost 2,000 vaccine doses – what their process is:
With Pawtucket schools closed, speed cameras will not be in effect until schools are back in session, and law enforcement is reminding people to drive safely.
Boston Medical Center received 1,950 doses of Pfizer’s COVID19 vaccine
The Connecticut National Guard delivered 102,280 COVID-19 antigen tests to 212 locations throughout the state this week. The deliveries added to an ongoing effort to maximize testing availability and efficiency for people living in congregate settings. “Due to the increased surge in cases in nursing homes across the state, the Department of Public Health wanted to get the antigen tests out to these locations to provide a second source of testing.
MBTA trains in and out of Rhode Island will cut their runs in half due to MBTA staff absences. Check schedules..
Seven Ponaganset students and two staff members in middle and high school tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Michael Barnes said in an email to Foster-Glocester families on Saturday. Both Ponaganset Middle and Sr. High School will go to distance learning 12/21-22; then virtual from 1/4-8.
Connecticut’s rate of COVID19 is 67.3 new cases per 100,000 residents; RI’s is 115 and they are issuing cautious to residents who travel to RI.
State Sen. Gordon Rogers, R-Foster, is recovering from COVID-19
Boston Children’s Museum will close until Jan. 7th
WPRO is reporting that $225,000/yr is salary for full time field hospital nurses. $4,600 a week – plus agency fee is being paid.
R.I. Hospitals authorized to begin vaccinating frontline workers. Initial shipments from vaccine manufacturers directly to hospitals will be arriving on Monday and Tuesday. Vaccine is first going to five hospitals: Kent Hospital, Newport Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital (and Hasbro Children’s Hospital), Women & Infants Hospital, and The Miriam Hospital. Approximately 1,000 first doses are going to each facility. Tuesday will be Lifespan’s Miriam Hospital and Care New England’s Kent and Women & Infants Hospitals. The remainder of RI hospitals will receive the vaccine by the end of this week.
Rhode Island hospitals have been given authorization to vaccinate frontline workers who are 16 years of age and older who do not have a history of anaphylactic reaction to any of the components of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Medical recommendations on the virus for pregnant and breastfeeding women in high-risk groups: “should be offered the vaccine and may choose to be vaccinated. A discussion with her health care provider can help her make an informed decision”.
5,000 doses of vaccine arrive at Women & Infants this morning – distribution to other hospitals will take place today.
The Rhode Island COVID-19 Vaccine Subcommittee will continue to work to solidify Rhode Island’s COVID-19 vaccination schedule. People in higher-risk settings and professions, such as nursing home workers and residents and first responders, will be prioritized.
Two doses will be needed for someone to be fully immunized. Second doses will start arriving in Rhode Island in roughly three weeks.
Rhode Island expects to receive approximately 10,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine.
Approximately 19,000 doses of Moderna vaccine the first week it is available – which could be as early as next week.
There are reports yesterday that Nursing Homes & Long Term Care Facilities would not be getting the vaccine until after Christmas, a delay not expected by nursing homes. Reason given was consent forms that have to be completed for CVS, Walgreens and other medical groups to give the shots. Some homes may receive the vaccine starting Monday. (developing story)
CVS will be delivering vaccines at 93 RI facilities, with 45 of them being skilled nursing homes, hopefully starting next week when shipments are received.
RIDE has announced that RI’s public schools will reopen on a staggered schedule from January 7th through 15th. School districts can move to distance learning Dec. 21st through 23rd if needed.
Nursing Home visitation has ended in New Bedford, for the time being, due to COVID, as well as group activities and communal dining.
Lt. Russell Freeman, a veteran correctional officer at the Adult Correctional Institutions facility for women has died from COVID-19. Freeman leaves behind his wife, Lisa Favino-Freeman, also a correctional officer, and three children.
Lt. Governor asks that all CARES funding be completed by December 30th: With the December 30, 2020 CARES Act deadline looming, Lt. Governor Dan McKee today proposed a plan to ensure all CARES Act dollars budgeted for small business relief are transparently and equitably distributed into the small business community before the funds expire. In a letter to the Governor’s senior staff, the Lt. Governor recommended that the state be prepared to transfer any available small business funds (i.e. Restore RI, RI on Pause, Back to Work RI Job Training, Take it Outside, Rhode Island Hotel, Arts & Tourism Grants, Business Adaptation Grants) on the date of expiration back into the Restore RI grant program. He added that remaining dollars should be automatically distributed to small businesses in the Restore RI program for an additional round of funding without the need for another application. The Lt. Governor also requested that the state briefly reopen the Restore RI application period to allow more struggling small businesses access these critical funds.
“As Chair of Rhode Island’s Small Business Advocacy Council, I want to ensure that all CARES Act funds allocated to help small businesses are spent before the deadline for their intended purpose: To help small businesses. Having to forfeit the funds would be unacceptable at a time of such great need,” said Lt. Governor Dan McKee. “By redistributing all remaining small business relief funds proportionally through Restore RI to small businesses that have already qualified, we could dispense the funds quickly and equitably and allow them to be spent in the most impactful way for Rhode Island families.”
To identify the exact amount of remaining funds, the Lt. Governor requested an updated accounting of how much of the state’s CARES Act money has not been distributed as of December 14, 2020. As part of this request, the Lt. Governor noted that the data provided through the state’s Transparency Portal only shows certain actual expenditures up to October 30, 2020 and Office of Management and Budget reports to the General Assembly show anticipated expenditures at a high level rather than real-time actual spend figures.
The Lt. Governor also reiterated his request to allow restaurants, bars, caterers and food trucks to recalculate their RI on Pause Grants based on gross receipts which is currently permitted for all other eligible businesses included in this program.
Today’s Data: Dec. 14, 2020
Deaths: 20 (46 since Friday)
Tests: 7,648 – Positives: 552 – Percent Positive: 7.2% – Positives since Friday 3,252
Hospitalized: 433 – ICU: 47 – On ventilators: 31 – Deaths in-hospital: 9
New admissions: 48 – New discharges: 46
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
Over 16 million people are now infected with COVID19 in the US – over 300,000 have died. A national average of 37% of the nation’s known deaths from the virus have been in nursing homes. Some states are double that.
1100 nursing homes in US can expect to be receiving vaccinations starting next week.
Reports are that CVS & Walgreens will not begin in RI until after Christmas – the RI Association of Nursing Homes said “they are ready to go” now.
Vaccine:
145 sites will be receiving vaccine on Monday – 425 on Tuesday – 66 on Wednesday
40 million doses will be delivered by the end of December.
Shipping competitors are working together with UPS will cover the East Coast; FedEx covering the West Coast
Real-time tracking follows every shipment, complete with temperature reads and location via a Bluetooth device.
CDC recommends 2nd shot would be approx. 21 days after the first.
Nearly 14% of office space in Midtown Manhattan is vacant
Some reports are that as high as 39% of people say they will not get the vaccine.
Australia has lifted all restrictions, declaring itself COVID-free
Carol Sutton, of New Orleans, 76, known for her role in Steel Magnolias, has died of COVID19.
Canada began vaccinations on Monday, with the first person being a worker at a longterm care home. Front-line workers are first to receive the vaccine. Ontario received 6,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. In Quebec, residents of two long-term care homes will be the first. Canada’s has an initial 30,000 doses of the vaccine.
California is pleading with its residents as hospitals approach no occupancy at ICUs, county after county.
Some of Florida’s top hospitals, including those expected to get the first shipments of vaccines to prevent COVID-19, won’t require medical and support staff to get the shots even though they require inoculations against the far-less-deadly flu virus.
Bristol County, MA hospitals receive their doses today – starting with Charlton Memorial Hospital, and out to other Southcoast hospitals.
75 infected with COVID-19 after Santa visits nursing home in Belgium
Many millennials are moving to Naples, Florida from other states if they are able to work remotely. Naples has no state tax, and other taxes are lower.
Companies that have moved to Texas from California and other states due to coronavirus issues are Oracle, HP Tesla, Schwab and Toyota
British scientists have found that Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir could be highly effective against COVID-19, raising questions about previous studies that found it had no impact on death rates from the disease.
CDC has recommended Florida take tighter restrictions now to control the virus spread. Gov. DeSantis has refused any further business cutbacks or a mandatory mask order.
Thursday, Moderna will come up for approval.
London Mayor taped a message to Londoners that if the UK goes to Tier 3 of lockdown, the “state” needs to reimburse businesses and people or the city may not be able to recover.
CDC is now considering recommending Pfizer vaccine for ages 16 and up
Charlie Pride has died at 86 of COVID19.
A fitness regimen will help to stave off stress and chronic disease flares while people are more sedentary at home, with gyms closed or winter weather keeping people inside.
The iconic Cliff House in San Francisco will close on 12/31.
Glaxo Smith Kline and Sanofi said their vaccines won’t be ready until late in 2021, as they need more development for their use in older people.
US National Guard celebrating its 384th year noted that 20,000 guard have been deployed across US – in 26 states and territories they will be helping with distribution, warehousing and in some cases, giving the vaccine.
Germany to go back into lockdown over Christmas
New Zealand lifts all Covid restrictions, declaring the nation virus-free