Tim Fitzsimons
9h ago / 1: 09 PM UTC
Fauci predicts Moderna shots to start ‘within a few days’
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday predicted that injections of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine will begin “very soon — literally within a few days.”
Moderna’s shot on Thursday became the second vaccine to receive a recommendation of authorization from a panel of advisers to the FDA.
Fauci reiterated his earlier prediction that Covid-19 vaccines could be widely available to the public by spring 2021, describing the possible date range as between February and April.
“It really is going to depend on how effectively and successfully we roll out the higher priorities, because as you know, the advisory committee on immunization practices at the CDC has put together a priority list — once you get through the priority list, then you could say its sort of open season for anyone who’s not necessarily on a priority list, like the normal man or woman on the street who has no underlying condition,” Fauci said.
Fauci, who is the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, added that Moderna’s vaccine is also expected to prevent asymptomatic infection.
“If you also even prevent a person from actually getting infected,” Fauci explained, “that would mean you are prevented from passing the infection on to someone else, and that kind of interferes with the chain of transmission.”
Joe Murphy
10h ago / 1: 02 PM UTC
December now the second-deadliest month of the pandemic
With close to 43,000 reported Covid-19 deaths, December has become the second-deadliest month of the pandemic in the U.S., according to NBC News’ count.
April was the deadliest month, with 58,960 people killed.
December’s toll was driven by death counts in Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania and California. More than 3,000 people were reported dead Thursday, the fourth day of the month with 3,000-plus deaths.
More than 3.7 million people have been infected with Covid-19 this month, the second-most of any month.
Thursday, these states set single-day records:
- Arkansas, 3,039 cases
- Maine, 590 cases
- North Carolina, 101 dead
- Tennessee, 177 dead
- Utah, 30 dead
- West Virginia, 1,636 cases
Safia Samee Ali
10h ago / 12: 21 PM UTC
Homeless and doubled up, families living with other households may fall into aid blind spot
To avoid staying at a homeless shelter, Kristie Filippello and her three children have been sleeping on the floor of a relative’s one-bedroom apartment for nearly two months.
Filippello, 32, left her home after the pandemic caused her housecleaning business to go under and the financial stress of unpaid bills led to abuse from her boyfriend of two years with whom she lived.
With nowhere to go, she and her kids, 6,8 and 11, spent two months at a homeless shelter in Florida before moving to Cincinnati to stay with relatives after getting relocation money from a domestic violence victim’s compensation fund in October.
Homelessness is poised to surge in the coming weeks and months as Americans face continued economic turbulence and a pandemic-inspired eviction moratorium expires later this month. But vital housing assistance may not be fully available to families that don’t meet the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of “homeless,” including those who, like Filippello, have had to double up with other households.
Doubling up is when an individual or family lives with another household temporarily or shuffles indefinitely between homes often because of economic need. People who are doubled up are not considered homeless by HUD, and not allotted certain assistance such as rapid rehousing, housing experts said.
The Associated Press
11h ago / 11: 23 AM UTC
Paul McCartney, 78, wants to get Covid vaccine
LONDON — Paul McCartney says he’s keen to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
In an interview Friday with the BBC, the ex-Beatle also downplayed the likelihood he’d go on tour next year to support his latest album released this week, “McCartney III,” saying it depends on how successful virus countermeasures are.
When asked if he would get a coronavirus vaccine, the 78-year-old McCartney said, “Yeah, I will yeah. And I’d like to encourage people to get it too, because with this it’s much more serious, and yeah, if I’m allowed to get it, I will.”
He said he’d love to play at Britain’s Glastonbury music festival in 2021, though he was skeptical organizers could stage it, noting that it would likely involve 100,000 people closely packed together, with no masks. “You know, talk about a superspreader,” he said.
The Associated Press
11h ago / 11: 19 AM UTC
Supreme Court justices being provided vaccine doses
WASHINGTON — The justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are being provided with doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
That is according to a letter by Capitol Physician Brian Monahan, which says the court, along with Congress and executive branch agencies are being given a limited supply of doses “for continuity of government operations.”
The doses are being provided under a directive by President Donald Trump that established continuity of government as a reason for vaccine prioritization. The Supreme Court and the other branches of government are supposed to be treated “in parallel.”
Reuters
12h ago / 10: 45 AM UTC
Spain’s Supreme Court orders probe into nursing home Covid-19 deaths
MADRID — Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday ordered an investigation into the deaths of elderly people in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of protective gear for health workers.
Magistrates were asked to find out if deaths at nursing homes “were associated with political, administrative or management decisions and whether those decisions are criminally reproachable.”
Spain has been one of the countries in Europe hardest-hit by the pandemic, both in terms of disease and the economic impact. A total of 48,777 people have died from the coronavirus, with the toll climbing by 181 over the last 24 hours.
More than 20,000 people died of Covid-19 or suspected Covid-19 in nursing homes in Spain during the first coronavirus wave, according to preliminary official data reported by El Pais newspaper and broadcaster RTVE.
The Supreme Court also asked the lower courts to look into the possible misuse of public funds to purchase flawed or fraudulent equipment to fight the pandemic.
However, it rejected about 50 cases that specifically targeted the government for its management of the pandemic, arguing that the complaints were not detailed enough to charge any high-ranking officials.
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