Your Coronavirus Update – Today, Feb. 25, 2021

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

Lt. Gov. Dan McKee will lead the coronavirus update today at 1pm

The City of Cranston has expanded sign-ups for the municipal COVID-19 vaccination facility from 75 and older to 70 and older. The City will continue to book appointments based on age with the oldestresidents receiving priority. Residents 70 and older can sign-up at CranstonVaccine.com to be on the list. Volunteers and Senior Services personnel will continue to call and book appointments taking place at Cranston’s Department of Senior Services. 

RI’s addition of 80 deaths from weeks, and months ago puts RI 3^rd from the top in death ratios in the country – with little explanation as to why the data has been inaccurately reported for so long, providing a “rosier” picture than reality over the past 2-3 months. Most of the deaths were among those individuals over 80.

Massachusetts legislature will take testimony today at 11am about the decision to prioritize mass vaccination sites over community run and hospital clinics – as well as the crashing technology.

The state House can legally proceed with in-person sessions this week in MA without providing remote access to medically vulnerable lawmakers, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Connecticut’s chief medical examiner, told legislators Tuesday that they have “identified many deaths” that should have been certified as COVID-19-related but were not, including nursing home and assisted living residents who have died during the pandemic.

4 new CVS stores in RI/MA will open for vaccines – Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence, and Bristol Co., MA

Cranston has lowered age to 70 now at their municipal site. (cranstonvaccinate.com)

Some large Massachusetts companies are looking to vaccinate their own employees.

The New Hampshire General Assembly met indoors for the first time since September.

School bus drivers in MA are concerned about vaccine eligibility – the state said they are included in Phase 2, Group 3. Distance regulations are also changing, depending upon virus concentration in the community.

Villanova HS football team is opting out – choosing to focus all their energies on back-to-school

In Hartford, most students in the city will return to school five days a week beginning March 1 as COVID-19 cases continue to decline.

Maine Seacoast Mission is providing COVID-19 vaccination clinics on the state’s islands starting this week with medical and support staff arriving on the group’s 74-foot boat, Sunbeam.

Massachusetts has a 65% drop since the peak of hospitalization of COVID-19 cases.

The Boston Calling music festival has been canceled for a second year in a row

At Beth Israel Hospital in Plymouth, doctors are using fully vaccinated volunteer medical personnel to sit with and comfort isolated COVID-19 patients, who are alone in their rooms.

The MBTA announced a spring schedule Monday that calls for fewer commuter trains during the morning and evening peak times and more trains during the middle of the day.

The Mayor of Brockton is speaking out at the ceasing of vaccines being given to municipalities for distribution.

Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeff Riley on Tuesday called for elementary school students to return to in-person learning five days a week in April

RI’s next two mass vaccination sites will be in the northern RI and southern RI areas.

Vaccinations in RI will be for those younger than 65 approximately mid-March.

Kent Hospital can now have visitors under specific situations – refer to their site for details.

In Connecticut everyone under 55 will start vaccinations next week – moving the whole state to an aged-based system.

From the RI Dept. of Health:

Moderna shipment

• Rhode Island received today the shipment of roughly 12,400 doses of Moderna vaccine that had been scheduled to arrive yesterday. Because we have received this vaccine, no other changes to the clinic schedule for this week are foreseen at this time. (The delay in this shipment had caused the rescheduling of appointments originally scheduled for today at clinics at the Cranston Senior Center, at the Swift Community Center, which is located in East Greenwich, and at the West Warwick Civic Center.)

Data updates 

• On our first day of eligibility for people 65 and older yesterday, 17,081 appointments were made for the Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Sockanosset Cross Road. An additional 2,412 appointments were made available this morning. More than 30,000 appointments have been made for the two sites since Rhode Island moved to age-based vaccinating last week. This is all in addition to the vaccinating being done by pharmacies and by cities and towns.
• Rhode Island’s administration rate has increased by 110% in the last seven days, compared to January. Rhode Island is now administering roughly 5,700 doses per day. Last week, we administered more than 31,000 first doses (which is almost double our previous high) and more than 42,000 total doses.
• Older adults are representing a larger portion of our people vaccinated. Of the doses administered in February, 48% were to people 65 and older, up from 21% in previous months. While older adults in congregate settings have been getting vaccinated since late December, this increase reflects our shift to an age-based model. 
• At last week’s press conference, Dr. Alexander-Scott talked about our decrease in hospitalizations between January and February. Since then, our hospitalization numbers have continued to improve. We have now seen a 71% decrease in our daily hospital admissions between January and February. This compares to the national average of 42%.
• 50 COVID-19 vaccination appointments at the two State-run vaccination sites have been cancelled to date because these people were not eligible, based on the age or employment information they entered. When people register, they are required to attest that they are eligible to be vaccinated. These people are being contacted directly.

Cinemagic Theaters Closing All Its Cinemas In NH, Maine, Mass.

RI now measured with the 3^rd highest death rate in the US.

By RI Community:

Community — Cases Last 7 Days — Cases Last 7 Days/100K People — Cumulative Cases

RI Data: Feb. 24, 2021

Deaths: 11

Tests – 16,384 – Positives – 375 – Percent positive – 2.3%

Hospitalized – 168 – In ICU – 32 – Ventilated – 16

Deaths in hospital – 0 – New Admissions – 13

New Discharges – 17 – First vaccines: 153,637 – Total fully vaccinated – 2 shots, 64,070

RI Data: Feb. 23, 2021

Deaths: 10

Tests – 10,197 – Positives – 292 – Percent positive – 2.9%

Hospitalized – 186 (not updated) – In ICU – 27 (not updated) – Ventilated – 18 (not updated)

Deaths in hospital – 2 (not updated) – New Admissions – 31 (not updated)

New Discharges – 22 (not updated)

First vaccines: 147,564 Total fully vaccinated – 2 shots: 62,699

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NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Dr. Fauci is now saying that Americans who have gotten both shots still have “things they cannot do in society” – they should avoid dining inside restaurants, theaters, places where people congregate, because we don’t know how much protection the shots provide. This is the latest statement he has made – including one recently saying we will need to wear masks in 2022.

The Innova rapid at-home coronavirus test is still waiting for approval.

United States, Canada and Mexico agreed to keep their land borders shut down through at least March 21.

Johnson & Johnson will ship individual dose vaccines as soon as approval process is completed – this will mean 10s of thousands of doses in RI, alone. There is talk about it being less effective, but still keeping people out of hospitals.

6 million shots were delayed from the federal government to the states due to weather – the country should be caught up by next week

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said political divisiveness contributed significantly to the “stunning” U.S. COVID-19 death toll

Thailand to start first coronavirus vaccinations this week

In New Jersey, fans will be allowed to attend sports and entertainment events at the state’s largest facilities in limited numbers starting next week

An estimated 50% of Los Angeles County residents have been infected with the virus

Plans are to distribute more than 25 million masks to over 1,300 community health centers and 60,000 food pantries and soup kitchens in an effort to reach underserved communities

Dr. Anthony Fauci says a new, eased guidance for people who have been vaccinated should be coming soon from the CDC

Famed soul singer Gladys Knight and her husband, William “Billy” McDowell, who live in the Asheville area, recently received their COVID- 19 vaccinations at Haywood Regional Medical Center and encouraged other folks to do the same at a vaccine drive.

Oklahoma opened its second phase of vaccinations Monday, providing inoculations to public school teachers and staff and to adults of any age with illnesses that make them more susceptible to the coronavirus.

Four federal mass vaccination sites are coming to Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville

Churches and places of worship will be considered critical in reaching out to vaccine resistent groups.

Carnival Cruises are postponing to the end of May.

Goldman-Sachs CEO told their employees the goal is to return to in-person working.

The state of Virginia is re-prioritizing Blacks and Latinos over seniors for the vaccine, causing conflict with senior advocates.

The U.S. government is launching a nationwide initiative to study COVID-19 patients who suffer from residual symptoms months after recovery, commonly known as “COVID long-haulers”.

A benefit of the pandemic for older Americans has been the opportunity built out of necessity to learn more about the internet and technology. Activities such as online shopping has been shown to ease loneliness, as well as browsing the internet.

The vaccine is showing better results at keeping the variant viruses at bay, as they continue to sweep across the US.

CVS Health has added Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to the list of states where select CVS Pharmacy locations will offer COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible populations through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. This follows the successful February 12 rollout in 11 states: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.