Your Coronavirus Update – Today, Dec. 28, 2020

Photo: RI Dept. of Corrections – Maximum Security – where vaccinations were done – on Sunday – of high-risk inmates and last week on COs (correctional officers) and staff. This group was prioritized as 1.2, prior to nursing homes, which are set to begin today, prioritized as 1.1.

Phase 1 Vaccination Priority groups in RI:

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

Vaccinations: 1,500 first doses will be administered in five Rhode Island nursing homes today. By the end of the week, residents and staff at 17 nursing homes are scheduled to be vaccinated. Berkshire Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Providence, and Oak Hill Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, in Pawtucket, two of the hardest hit facilities, will hold vaccination clinics Monday, and facilities in hard hit Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls will get vaccinated in the first week. It is expected that all facilities will be completed in 3 weeks. 2nd round of the 2-shot vaccine will come a few weeks later.

RI Senate will stay meeting at RI College room. RI Senate Majority Leader McCaffrey said that the state has arranged for use of the RI College auditoriumto meet for a few months. How citizen participation will happen on proposed bills for 2021 remains to be worked out.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has awarded the Rhode Island Department of Health more than $3 million to help with expenses that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.

Head of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee has been hospitalized twice with COVID19 – now his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and mother-in-law test positive. Tom Mountain attended a Hanukkah party in DC, but is not sure where he was exposed.

Eli’s Kitchen in Bristol will close.

The Graduate Providence – formerly The Biltmore – has closed indefinitely.

New Licensing requirements for RI assisted living residences were adopted 12/23/20: This new section will require COVID-19 testing of all personnel and residents of assisted living residences in Rhode Island at least once every fourteen (14) days.

In Rhode Island, 76 percent of assisted living residences have experienced COVID-19 infections.

75 percent of all Rhode Island COVID-19 deaths have occurred in a long-term care congregate setting.

RI Data – no data has been available since Friday – expected update will be Monday at noon

Next Governor’s update Jan 7, 2021

RI Cases by community – 12/23/2020

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

A CDC advisory committee has recommended phased rollout go to these groups first:

Phase 1a: Front-line health care workers and people in long-term-care facilities.

Phase 1b: People 75 and older and front-line essential workers:

– First responders such as firefighters, police

– Teachers, support staff, day care workers

– Food and agriculture workers

– Manufacturing workers

– Correction workers

– U.S. Postal Service workers

– Public transit workers

– Grocery store workers

Phase 1c: People 65-74; 16-64 who have high-risk medical conditions; other essential workers. The medical conditions listed are:

– Obesity

– Type 2 diabetes

– COPD

– Heart condition

– Chronic kidney disease

– Immunocompromised state from solid organ transplant

– Sickle cell disease

– Pregnancy

– Smoker (current or past) Workers in this category include:

– Public health workers

– Transportation and logistics

– Food service workers

– Construction workers

– Finance workers

– IT & communications workers

– Energy workers

– Media workers

– Legal workers

– Public safety engineers

– Water and wastewater workers

As of Sunday, 1 in every 1,000 Americans has died of COVID

Astra-Zeneca vaccine may be approved in the UK this week and submitted to US

Dr. Fauci is saying that the worst time is yet to come.

The EU has begun a marketing campaign to promote the vaccine – “Believe in Science”

Some New York hospital staff have jumped the line in a variety of ways to get the vaccinations first.

Sweden, Japan, Spain all have variants of virus identified in their countries.

Israel has significantly locked down, waiting for vaccine, hopeful they can open up again – in March.

New Zealand credits their success to break the chain of transmission to a tough and complete effort. 2nd lockdown to close borders worked. Country is open again, but hit to tourism is massive – borders still closed. Orders placed for 3X number of vaccines than they need. They will then offer them, free, to neighboring countries.

France’s vaccine has now arrived.

Hospital physicians say the best and most reliable drug for the illness is cheap, familiar, and has all the glamour of aspirin. It’s dexamethasone, the steroid workhorse that’s been around longer than most of the doctors who prescribe it. More, here: https://bit.ly/2L0lJJe

“MAb squads” are popping up at U.S. hospitals to encourage the use of monoclonal antibodies for patients with serious cases. (Reuters)

In LA, a person is dying every 10 minutes from coronavirus.

Another new COVID-19 variant seems to have developed, this one in Nigeria

Ireland confirmed on Friday the presence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant whose presence in the United Kingdom has brought travel bans from a number of countries.

Nationally, efforts to restore full individual tax breaks for restaurant business meals are being looked at.

Mexico City registered 2,664 more deaths than usual earlier this month as authorities fought to contain the spread of COVID-19 that has strained hospitals and forced the city into a semi-lockdown

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis became the first person in the country to be given a vaccine against the new coronavirus on Sunday,

ParCare, a well-known network of six clinics that serves Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and upstate Orange County, openly bragged that it had 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine and are promoting which among the community is receiving the first shots – in direct violation of New York state rules – criminal charges may be brought.

At a New York hospital, doctors and medical personnel have been reported to be aggressively “cutting the line” to receive the vaccines first.

Businesses are able to use this year’s losses to offset their profits in past and future years. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES act, companies can “carry back” net operating losses to as far back as 2013. This supersedes the tax law enacted in late 2017, which, starting in 2018 ended companies’ ability to carry back their losses. Under the CARES act, companies can carry back net operating losses for 2018, 2019 and 2020 for as much as five years. The law does not apply for tax years after 2020; the 2017 tax law applies. Companies need to amend 2018 and 2019 returns to take advantage of the break. The CARES act also gives owners more flexibility in carrying losses for 2018, 2019 and 2020 forward to future years. Businesses can carry these losses forward indefinitely. This supersedes a limit of 20 years under the 2017 tax law. The CARES act also allows businesses to carry 100% of losses for 2018 through 2020. The 2017 law allows businesses to carry forward or backward only 80% of net operating losses. More information is available at the IRS website, www.irs.gov.

Self-care for those feeling thrown off by the pandemic, unemployment or another crisis include meditating, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. But if serious issues arise or persist, see a therapist or financial planner. Psychology Today maintains a nationwide database of therapists and teletherapy providers at psychologytoday.com/us/therapists.

Because many movie distributors opted to reschedule their blockbusters to 2021, next year will see a glut of big-budget films

A 101-year-old woman in a nursing home in eastern Germany became the country’s first recipient of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine on Saturday

Duke women call it quits on basketball season because of Covid