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Your Coronavirus Update – Today, Dec. 22, 2020
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
Gov. Raimondo will hold her press conference/update TODAY at 1pm
Providence Representative Anastasia Williams says she will not take the vaccine because it is a marketing campaign.
Raimondo says all of $1.2B in federal funding has been spent, and there is none left or none left that is not committed.
The Mansion nursing home in RI reports 100% positive tests in their residents yet none were symptomatic.
Newport Polar Plungers event have been canceled, some beaches have been “closed”.
Knightsville Manor in Knightsville area of Cranston have had 3 cases in the past month. There are approximately 100 units in the high-rise.
Providence VA Medical Center also began their vaccine distribution.
Attention Small Businesses in Cranston! The Department of Community Development and Economic Development announce funding availability for income eligible small businesses in Cranston to help pay for PPE. This GRANT program will provide up to $1,000 in reimbursement for PPE purchased. Business owners can apply here under Small Business PPE Grant Program or by calling Marcia Lopresti at 401-780-3168 in the City Economic Development Office.
RI Data – Dec. 21, 2020
Deaths: 45 (23 on Sunday; 22 cumulative Fri/Sat) – Percent positive: 5.8%
(Most data points published without updates since Fri)
1st Vaccinations: 4,827
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
President-elect Biden and Mrs. Biden received their vaccines on Monday.
New Moderna vaccine is already being distributed to front line workers. Group 1A people are beginning to be vaccinated – nursing home residents, front line workers. Group 1B will follow next. Moderna is easier because of the lack of need for deep freeze storage.
Biden recognized the Trump administration and Operation Warp Speed for development of a vaccine in less than a year.
Dr. Fauci will get his vaccination today. He will turn 80 on Christmas Eve.
Medical experts are warning people to be cautious on Christmas. With ICUs near or over capacity, a surge on top of a surge would be disastrous. Rationing of care involves treating those with the best odds of survival.
Georgia megachurch pastor Jentezen Franklin tests positive for COVID-19
California Gov. Newsom and his family are in a 10-day quarantine, for the second time, after a staff member tested positive.
At-home COVID19 tests are becoming available for delivery, with several Massachusetts communities getting PurLab kits delivered by delivery company, GoPuff.
Amazon closes New Jersey delivery facility due to COVID19 cases.
HUD moratorium on evictions and foreclosures extended through February.
A study in Spain shows that 80% of those hospitalized with COVID were Vitamin D deficient.
France and the UK are working on a plan to reopen their borders so supplies could flow.
In China, with depression and anxiety rising during the pandemic, Chinese officials are scrambling to offset the country’s lack of therapists by creating hotlines, online seminars and counseling centers. Mental health issues have long carried a stigma in China.
China has begun work on a facility to manufacture its first COVID-19 vaccine candidate that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
The US investigative team that is going to China to trace the origins of the virus must quarantine for 2 weeks when they first arrive before beginning any work.
South Korea’s capital, Seoul, and surrounding areas banned gatherings of more than four people over the Christmas and New Year holidays
National Update on Vaccines
Trial beginning with Moderna on adolescent population – and lower dose effectiveness.
Pfizer – another 100 Million doses in 2nd half of 2021
Johnson & Johnson – trial underway – 43,000 people participating –
Emergent – working with them for maximum dosages in February
Astra-Zeneca – phase 3 recruiting 30,000 – running in US – other trials in UK and Brazil
UK situation with variance of virus: There is no hard evidence that it is more transmissible, as is being said – but it is being found more in the population – we might be seeing it more as we weren’t looking for it at the time. What’s clear is it is not more virulent and it does seem to respond to the vaccine. There is also thought that the virus “mutation” may be less virulent than the original, as the mission of viruses is to replicate and infect, and it is limited in doing that if it kills those it infects.
Travelers to New York from England (Delta, British Airwave) need to test negative before flying. Italy closes its air travel borders to UK.
NIH will be studying Moderna and Pfizer vaccine in the “highly allergic” to improve capacity to predict and manage.
Gen. Perna gave an update on vaccine delivery– 2.1M Pfizer – 7.9M combined Pfizer and Moderna – 5.9 million Moderna and 2.1 Pfizer – over 4,000 locations in the first 2 days of this week. Repetitive orders will be done Wed and Thurs – if needed and required, we will deliver on Christmas. Cadence of shipments on repetitive basis will begin. TY to industry for Herculean efforts. Pfizer, Moderna, McKesson, FedEx and UPS. 20Million doses allocated to states by end of year. States will order on their own after that with sufficient supplies. We continue to learn every day. Coordination, scheduling, address specification, receipt preparedness, all important. Big lesson learned is we want to make sure the states have microplans all set for receipt of vaccines.
The CDC has set up a new web area with resources on COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Learn how conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, play, and worship affect who’s more likely to get COVID-19. Use interactive data and peer-reviewed literature to explore how COVID-19 shows up among racial and ethnic minority groups: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/racial-ethnic-disparities/index.html?ACSTrackingID=USCDC_2067-DM45255&ACSTrackingLabel=Winter%20Holidays%20%7C%20COVID-19&deliveryName=USCDC_2067-DM45255
The federal package to help Americans is $900 billion, 6,000 pages – includes a $300 boost to the federal unemployment insurance benefit, extending eviction moratoriums for renters by a month, and a $600 direct payment to most Americans; $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and provide an extension of eviction moratoriums by one month through Jan. 31; an extension of the small business Paycheck Protection Program, which expanded eligibility to local newspapers, broadcasters and nonprofits. It will direct another $20 billion to small business grants and $15 billion to live event venues. The measure increased funding for vaccine distribution and coronavirus testing. It also provided $13 billion in increased benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.