Subscribe!
Your Coronavirus Update – Today, Feb. 11, 2021
Photo: France is closing its borders from all access points as their cases have upticked and identified as variants
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
More Than Half Of Mass. Corrections Workers – about 3,000 – Have Refused the COVID Vaccine. The workers are part of the more than 5,400 correctional personnel and contracted healthcare staff employed across the state prison system.”
In Massachusetts, “People 75 and older who don’t live in Framingham will be excluded from getting a vaccination against COVID-19 during this Saturday’s clinic at Joseph Keefe Technical High School
Canada to require negative test at border.
RI has produced a large poster size “flyer” which all residents should receive in the mail.
Prof. David M. Gitlitz, a nationally and internationally renowned scholar of Hispanic and Jewish culture, died of COVID-19 at his home in Oaxaca, Mexico at 78. He has been a provost at the University of RI.
Pawtucket votes to return to in-person learning. The plan now calls for bringing back elementary students March 1, middle school students (grades 7 and 8) March 15 and returning high school students on a hybrid schedule March 29.
The National Guard will help to set up the Springfield, MA vaccination site.
Northeastern University is trying to remind its students about that long-ago time when they learned in-person, and is urging them to come back to the class this spring.”
Dorchester, MA will hold a one day vaccination clinic for veterans over 65,
“Cape (Cod) seniors who tried to use a new state hotline Tuesday to sign up for two regional COVID-19 vaccination clinics being held this week found themselves outgunned by vaccine seekers who used their computers to book appointments.”
The town of Portsmouth has reached an agreement with Raytheon Technologies to have its COVID vaccine distribution site on the campus of the defense company off West Main Road.
Dartmouth Mass will open a Mass Vaccination Site on Feb. 24th at the Circuit City location – to do 500 doses/day, increasing to 2,000/day.
Natick Mall will open a Mass Vaccination site on Feb 22nd – to do up to 3,000/day, starting at 500/day.
Cranston Library will help seniors complete emails and sign up for vaccinations every Tuesday and Thursday – sign up, here for the assistance appt (no vaccines given out) – https://www.eventkeeper.com/code/ekform.cfm?curOrg=CRANSTON&curID=492119
RI will launch a Task Force to see what learning loss has happened among Rhode Island students. They will issue recommendations next month.
In Boston, “As part of efforts to ensure every coronavirus vaccine dose is used, hospitals are drafting end-of-day wait lists, offering the vaccine to patients sitting in their hospitals, and providing leftover doses to qualifying family members of staff.
Business Violations in RI:
| Bottom Line Bar & Grill | 415 Palmer Ave., Warwick | Citation Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 2/9/2021 |
| La Colombiana Bar & Grill | 477 Dexter St., Central Falls | Citation Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 2/9/2021 |
| Bankers Mortgage Corporation | 1609 Warwick Ave., Warwick | Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 |
| Bristol Sports Club | 417 Wood St., Bristol | Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 |
| China Inn | 2788 Post Rd., Warwick | Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 |
| East Bay Food Mart | 244 Taunton Ave., East Providence | Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 |
| The Road Runners Gas Station | 2862 Hartford Ave., Johnston | Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 |
| Famous Pizza | 92 Hartford Pike, Scituate | Compliance Order | 2/2/2021 |
| Domino’s Pizza | 140 Point Judith Rd., Narragansett | Notice of Compliance with CO Compliance Order | 2/9/2021 2/2/2021 |
| Cuisine Delmar | 445 Lonsdale Ave., Pawtucket | Compliance Order | 2/2/2021 |
| Bonao Hair Salon | 67 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence | Compliance Order | 1/29/2021 |
| Cornerstone Barber | 290 Wood St., Bristol | Notice of Compliance with ICO Immediate Compliance Order | 1/29/2021 1/25/2021 |
RI Cases by City over last 7 days:
RI Data – Feb. 10
Deaths: 12 – Tests – 15,488 – Positives – 430 – % positive – 2.8%
Hospitalized – 238 – In ICU – 42 – Ventilated – 22
Deaths in hospital – 1 – New Admissions – 20 – New Discharges – 29
First vaccines: 89,794 Total fully vaccinated – 2 shots: 38,063
Today’s Data – Feb. 9
Deaths: 13 – Tests – 11,154 – Positives – 305 – % positive – 2.7%
Hospitalized – 242 – In ICU – 44 – Ventilated – 20
Deaths in hospital – 6 – New Admissions – 23 – New Discharges – 22
First vaccines: 88,234 – Total fully vaccinated – 2 shots: 36,974
Media Press event with incoming Governor McKee & Transition Team
National vaccine coordinator:
Cases beginning to fall all around the country.
If we stick to the rate we are working on now, nationally, it will take about 9 months to vaccinate 75% of population, which is herd immunity.
Johnson & Johnson should be approved by end of February, which will help with supply chain. There may be 2 more – Astra Zeneca and Novavax.
Moderna & Pfizer are working 24/7 on producing more vaccine
By April/May we will all see a lot more vaccine, if not a surplus.
Dr. Jha – spoke to the UK variant being of special concern – every 9 days the virus is doubling – no reason to think it is not here in RI. What is happening is a very aggressive, very fast spike that crushes the healthcare system – expectation is that will happen here in the 2nd half of March. Need to get as many vulnerable people vaccinated as possible. Not enough vaccines. By May we will have way more vaccine than people. By June & July we’ll have lots and lots of vaccines. Immediate problem: need to vaccinate as many as possible in the next four weeks. After this, a terrific summer, etc. ahead of us. Need to push ahead on more vaccine and vaccinations or we will have a lot of problems here. The vaccine WILL work for the variants. Get your infection rates down as fast as possible – change your mask protocols for a higher grade – more and more testing – vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.
Dr. Scott – CDC and FDA is not supporting giving out 2nd shots now but prefer to hold them behind. Focus is on 75 and older. Efficacy of vaccine is less understood. When you get 2 shots it is more effective. So we want to be sure they get the 2nd shot. Immunology-wise, do we worsen the risk of variants if there are people who only get one shot.
Mayor Polisena – want to focus on the school teachers – many have co-morbidity issues and they are concerned. Of course they want to get back to school as soon as they can. Our firefighters are ready to go as well – it’s a supply and demand issue and our cities and towns are ready to go, too – we need the vaccine.
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
About 20,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated with no “red flags”, announced Dr. Fauci.
White House 100 day program to open schools is now severely scaled back to more than 50% of schools open at least 1 day a week in-person.
New guidance might come soon for people who have been fully vaccinated for COVID
After the COVID-19-related death of a teacher, the Washington Teachers’ Union is demanding changes at DC Public Schools
In Indiana, COVID-19 vaccines will expand to ages 60 to 65 as they continue to delay the timeline for teachers and other essential workers.
Uber and Walgreens announced they will join forces to offer communities of color free rides to vaccination sites.
FedEx Express pilots union has requested that the state prioritize commercial pilots for COVID-19 vaccinations, saying it will help keep vaccine distribution running smoothly.
The New York Mets’ home, Citi Field, became the latest site to offer COVID-19 vaccinations, following in the steps of Yankee Stadium, but vaccine is still in short supply, so only a few hundred shots are being done per day.
Detroit is using drive-thru mass vaccination sites to reach seniors.
For those who may have traveled to Florida to receive their first vaccine they will have to return their for their second vaccine.
60 Black members of the National Academy of Medicine, the premier health science organization in the United States. Together we are scientists, doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and public health experts. We feel compelled to make the case that all Black Americans should get vaccinated to protect themselves from a pandemic that has disproportionately killed them at a rate 1.5 times as high as white Americans in cases in which race is known.
Vietnam is distributing free over 100K DONY Garment anti-bacterial masks. The company will be doing this in several countries in the area.
The new variant, B.1.1.7, has now been found in 75 countries and is spreading locally in Brazil, Canada, China, the US and most of Europe. Up to 70 per cent more transmissible than other coronavirus variants, B.1.1.7 is now responsible for the majority of new cases in England.
World Health Organization investigators said Tuesday that they would no longer pursue research into whether the coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Researchers from Case Western University studied electronic health record data from 61.9 million American adults and found the risk for contracting COVID- 19 is twice as high for people with dementia than for those without it,
President Joe Biden’s effort to create 100 mass vaccination sites nationwide in 100 days is well underway as California and Maryland announced new openings of several such sites last week.
In South Korea, officials said they will be giving cats and dogs free tests if they come in contact with infected humans and are symptomatic. The animals will have to quarantine for 14 days if they test positive.
World’s 2nd oldest person, a 115 year old nun, survives COVID-19
Colleges around the U.S. have been canceling spring break to discourage students from traveling.
The West Virginia Department of Education is looking for organizations to help feed children and provide supervised activities during the summer.
Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not have guidelines on double-masking, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, says it “just makes common sense” that two masks may be more likely to protect against COVID-19.
Disney California Adventure Park is getting a breather in March. The park is set for a limited reopening in mid-March for a “limited-time ticketed experience” of outdoor dining,
California is not receiving nearly enough COVID19 vaccine to meet demand, and that won’t change in the near term, Gov Gavin Newsom conceded Monday, so counties increasingly are using their limited supplies to focus on people who need second shots.
DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg is quarantining for the next 14 days after a member of his security detail tested positive for Covid-19.
Wall Street Journal article last w/e noted China’s economy was the ONLY one to grow last year. Stocks up 41%.
The “wet market bat” myth is a lie. NOBODY eats bats. There’s no meat on them. “Wet” markets are mostly seafood. (I’ve visited many-Bangkok has a giant one st Chatuchak Market).