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Michigan is “making progress” in combatting its Covid-19 outbreak, which peaked in November, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Tuesday.
“The cases are beginning to decrease,” she said at a news briefing. “This dip in cases correlates with the days that the (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’) targeted and temporary safety protocols have been in place.”
With a positivity rate of 12.3%, Covid-19 is still a serious threat in the state, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive. But cases have been “trending down” for the past 22 days, she said, adding that her office is “cautiously optimistic.”
To date, the coronavirus has infected more than 478,300 people and killed almost 11,500 in Michigan, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have scheduled meetings for this weekend to discuss Moderna’s candidate coronavirus vaccine and the next phases of vaccine distribution.
On Thursday, vaccine advisers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet to discuss Moderna’s application for emergency use authorization. The application could be granted as soon as Friday.
If the Moderna vaccine receives authorization, on Saturday the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet to discuss the candidate vaccine, and whether to recommend that the CDC allows distribution. If that recommendation is accepted, the vaccine could begin delivery starting next Monday.
On Sunday, ACIP has a second meeting, to discuss the next phases of vaccine distribution.
Oregon reported 54 new coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday – the highest daily number of deaths so far, according to the state’s health authority.
The state agency says the death toll is rising following a similar surge of coronavirus cases in November. The previous fatality record was 36, set last week.
Oregon reported 1,214 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.
After a 90-minute meeting, both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy expressed optimism that they were nearing the end of long negotiations for a Covid stimulus bill.
“I think we’ve built a lot of trust. I think we’re moving in the right direction. I think there’s a possibility of getting it done finalizing it out if it’s possible,” he added. When asked if the deal is less than $1 trillion, he replied, “Let us work it all out.”
McConnell echoed his sentiment, saying “significant progress” had been made, but that he wasn’t going to reveal the details of the bill.
“I’m optimistic that we are going to be able to complete an understanding sometime soon,” he said. “Everybody wants to get a final agreement as soon as possible.”
Panama authorized the emergency use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, according to a statement from the country’s Health Ministry.
The vaccine will be rolled out in four phases:
A barcode system will be implemented to keep track of who received a vaccine, and when and where it was administered, according to the Health Ministry.
Panama expects to receive its first lot of vaccines by the first trimester of 2021, the statement added. Restrictions to curb the spread of the virus remain in place.
Transparency is key to changing skepticism toward the coronavirus vaccine among the American public, actor and activist Sean Penn said on Tuesday.
“I think transparency is a really important thing, and I think it’s a two-way street,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I do understand people having concerns about this, but what those people also have to have communicated to them is they have to look at their lifestyle and what people they’re going to come in contact with.”
“Are you being diligent with masking and distancing and hand washing? What kind of job do you have that puts you in touch with whom?” he asked. “I have personally very little tolerance with those who don’t exercise that common sense courtesy of public health to others.”
Penn added that he does not have any hesitation about getting inoculated, but that skepticism deserves some respectful conversation.
Penn’s non-profit CORE has launched testing sites across the country, and is now looking ahead to supporting vaccine distribution efforts in the future.
The first vaccine approved for emergency use was administered in the United States for the first time on Monday.
Watch the interview:
The day after California began its Covid-19 vaccination rollout, the state activated its “mass fatality” program, including the purchase of 5,000 body bags.
In a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the activation of the program, which coordinates mutual aid activity between state and local agencies in a crisis, is in direct response to the surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
A total of 60 refrigerated storage units, each more than 50 feet long, will be used throughout the state for emergency overflow for coroners and morgues.
Newsom said the program addresses what he called “sobering realities” in the state’s battle against the pandemic.
Rising infections: On Tuesday, California reported its fifth consecutive day of more than 30,000 new infections.
The state’s death toll stands at 21,188. Nationally, the death toll for the pandemic surpassed 300,000 on Monday as health officials warn of no immediate sign of abating.
Los Angeles County reported fewer than 100 intensive care unit beds remaining on Monday, an alarming new low as hospitals in the nation’s most populous county see a record number of patients with coronavirus infections that officials warn could soon overwhelm capacity.
Data from Los Angeles County Health Services, which operates 26 health centers and four acute care hospitals in the county, reported just 95 beds remaining on Monday, rising slightly on Tuesday to 115.
Health officials reported 4,403 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the county, about 21% of whom were being treated in intensive care. Hospitalizations in the county have increased four-fold since Nov. 16, rising from 1,049 to more than 4,400 today.
The number of remaining beds available for Los Angeles County’s 10 million residents reached critical lows as the county reported 86 new deaths Tuesday, the highest number since the summer, when the region last saw a surge in new cases and prompted a new round of restrictions.
Overall ICU bed capacity for the Southern California region has also plunged to just 1.7% as the state continued to report more than 30,000 new cases of the coronavirus for a fifth consecutive day.
The L.A. County Department of Health Services “has worked very hard to address the capacity issues by bringing in new staff, canceling procedures and shifting nurses from outpatient areas the hospitals,” a county spokesperson told CNN. “In addition, DHS has transitioned additional space to care for COVID-19 patients.”
Neighboring counties like Riverside and Ventura County are also reporting their current ICU bed capacity at 0% or 1%.
According to Gov. Gavin Newsom, the number of ICU patients has doubled in the state and is putting a strain on the health care system.
The ICU bed capacity in the San Joaquin Valley is also hovering at a dangerously low 1.6%, according to the California Department of Public Health.
To date, California has reported a total of 1,617,370 confirmed cases of the virus and 21,188 deaths.
Note: These numbers were released by the California Department of Public Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine appears to be “very promising,” Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory group, said Tuesday.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is set to meet Thursday to review Moderna’s vaccine for emergency use authorization.
Offit said it’s heartening to see that the new mRNA technology works in both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, which use different formulations and slightly different dosing schedules.
He said that in terms of safety and protection, both vaccines appear to be “roughly indistinguishable.”
Even after emergency use authorization, there will be questions left to answer about both vaccines.
In fact, Moderna filed extra data with the FDA Tuesday that it says indicates its vaccine does prevent infection.
Offit noted that studies are planned for next year to address that question.
The United States reported 112,816 Covid-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).
This is the fourteenth consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 hospitalizations.
According to CTP data, these are the days with the highest hospitalization numbers:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will award almost $227 million in aid to all 50 states and 64 jurisdictions to help respond to the huge Covid-19 vaccination effort, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The CDC will allocate $140 million for vaccine preparedness and almost $87 million for tracking and testing, HHS said.
“States and other public health jurisdictions are vital partners in the Covid-19 response and especially in the plans for distributing safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.
This latest funding is in addition to $200 million provided in September from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, for critical infrastructure support and Covid-19 distribution, HHS said.
The CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging and Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement will also “provide critical support” through the Paycheck Protection and Health Care Enhancement Act, HHS said.
HHS said the efforts will focus on three areas: “Increasing the use of advanced molecular detection technologies, such as whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2; strengthening public health laboratory preparedness; and ensuring safe travel through optimized data sharing and communication with international travelers.”
“These are critical investments at a critical time in the Covid-19 pandemic,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a statement.
But even including the $200 million allocated in September, this latest round of investment doesn’t even come close to what’s needed, James Blumenstock, the senior vice president for pandemic response and recovery at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), told reporters back in October.
“As it stands now, we do not have any capability to fund the imminent implementation of the plan,” Blumenstock said at the time.
ASTHO has asked Congress for $8.4 billion to help with state’s Covid-19 vaccine distribution and administration efforts.
Just over half of all planned doses of coronavirus vaccines have been bought up by high-income countries such as the US, Japan and Australia, which means as much as a quarter of the world’s population will be unable to get vaccinated until 2022, researchers reported Tuesday.
These rich countries have pre-ordered close to 7.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, enough to vaccinate 3.76 billion people, Anthony So of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues found.
“Just over half (51%) of these doses will go to high income countries, which represent 14% of the world’s population,” they wrote in their report, published in the BMJ.
At the time the report was written, the US accounted for one-fifth of all global Covid-19 cases but had reserved 800 million doses of vaccine. Japan, Australia, and accounted for fewer than 1% of cases but had options on 1 billion doses.
The researchers projected that the 13 major vaccine manufacturers working on coronavirus vaccines had the potential capacity for close to 6 billion courses of vaccine by the end of 2021.
“High income countries have reserved just over half of these vaccine doses from 13 leading vaccine manufacturers. Low and middle income countries have the remainder, despite these countries comprising more than 85% of the world’s population,” they wrote.
There’s one effort that is trying to get around this – COVAX, coordinated by the World Health Organization, global vaccines initiative Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The group is trying to build manufacturing capacity for 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine.
“The COVAX Facility could play a key role in ensuring access to Covid-19 vaccines. However, its target of two billion doses by the end of 2021 is still short on premarket vaccine commitments and financing to deliver on this goal,” So’s team noted.
As the first Covid-19 vaccinations are being administered across the country this week, Black Americans remain among the groups that have the least confidence in the vaccine, according to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The findings come as the nation’s top health leaders urge Black people to trust the vaccine, by hosting live events where Black health professionals are among the first to receive and administer it.
The Kaiser study found that 35% of Black Americans would probably or definitely not get the vaccine if it was determined to be safe by scientists and widely available for free.
Of the Black Americans who are hesitant to get the vaccine, the majority, or 71%, said they were concerned about possible side effects, half were worried they would get Covid-19 from taking the vaccine and 48% said they have a general distrust in vaccines.
Other studies have noted that Black and Latino people cite distrust in the federal government and the nation’s history of racism in medical research as key reasons for their hesitancy.
Sandra Lindsay, a Black critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was one of the first Americans to receive the vaccine on Monday. It was delivered by Dr. Michelle Chester, the corporate director of employee health services at Northwell Health, who is also Black.
Lindsay told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she felt fine after taking the vaccine. Lindsay said the shot felt no different than the influenza vaccine she gets annually.
Nearly 40% of reported Covid-19 cases have been Black and Latino people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many people of color are concerned the vaccine developers haven’t take into account the needs of their ethnic group, the Kaiser study shows.
It found that 48% of Black adults said they were not confident the needs of Black people were considered and 36% of Latino adults said the same about the needs of Latino people.
However, people of color overwhelmingly, or 85%, said they would trust vaccine information from their personal doctor or health care provider at least a fair amount, according to the study.
Black doctors have been at the forefront of efforts to build trust around the vaccine with Black people.
Dr. Yves Duroseau, chair of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, was also among the first to receive the vaccine this week. Duroseau told CNN’s Poppy Harlow that he hoped to influence communities that have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19.
“With the rollout of the vaccination there has been, quite frankly, message that we have to be ethical about this, we have to be fair, we have to protect the vulnerable,” Duroseau said.
Ernest Grant, the president of the American Nurses Association, participated in a vaccine trial this fall to combat fears in the Black community with taking the vaccine.
“At some point there’s always that potential that it (Covid-19) could happen to you and if I know there is a cure that could potentially save me from that, I think I would go for the cure,” Grant told CNN last month.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently acknowledged Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black woman and one of the lead scientists who helped develop the vaccine, with hopes that it would convince Black people to trust the process.
“So, the first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you’re going to be taking was developed by an African American woman,” Fauci said at a National Urban League event earlier this month. “And that is just a fact.”
An Indian Health Service worker in Arizona was the first person to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on the Navajo Nation. Ronald Begay was administered the shot on Monday at the Chinle Comprehensive Health care Facility.
“Just because this vaccine is here doesn’t mean to stop or put our masks away,” Begay said during a virtual town hall for Navajo residents Tuesday. “People should ask themselves what their priorities are.”
The Navajo Nation has put some of the most stringent rules in the country in place to deal with the virus, including a 24/7 stay-at-home lockdown for the entire reservation until Dec. 28, with exceptions only for emergencies and essential services.
The Navy’s top admiral encouraged sailors to get the coronavirus vaccine Tuesday, while adding that he plans to receive it “shortly.”
Because the vaccine has only received emergency use authorization, receiving it is still voluntary for military personnel.
“I will receive the vaccine shortly after it is made available to senior DoD leadership,” Gilday added.
One of the reasons senior leaders were prioritized by the Defense Department in terms of receiving the vaccine was in order to convince military personnel that it was safe and effective.
A 107-year-old Minnesota woman has beaten Covid-19.
Tillie Dybing was diagnosed with Covid-19 this fall, according to officials at the Ecumen Detroit Lakes community home, where she has lived since 2015.
She told CNN affiliate KARE that when she was diagnosed, she had no symptoms, other than being tired. She recently returned to her apartment at the facility after spending a few weeks away from the general population, Ecumen officials tell CNN.
Dybing told KARE that her parents got sick during the 1918 flu pandemic just before she was five and she remembers it well. Dybing said she is also a cancer survivor, having beaten uterine cancer at the age of 95, KARE reported.
Ecumen said they are happy Dybing has recovered and thanked her family for trusting them with her care.
“We continue to be so grateful to see that smile and hear her infectious laugh each day,” Ecumen Detroit Lakes posted on their its Facebook page. “She is such a blessing to our community!”
Florida is trying to determine what additional shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine will be delivered this month, said Gov. Ron DeSantis, since shipments for the next two weeks are “on hold right now.”
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, the governor said he didn’t know if Florida would be receiving shipments or not, saying that the root of the delay is “a production issue with Pfizer.” He added that it “has nothing to do with the federal government, or nothing to do specifically with Florida.”
DeSantis said the state sent vaccines to five select hospitals so that mistakes wouldn’t be exacerbated and to “get everything on target the first time.” The governor said hospitals beyond those initial five will start vaccinating their staff this week “without a problem.”
The governor said he expects Covid-19 mortality will “crater” as vaccines start being administered to those most at risk for Covid-19.
DeSantis went on to urge the state to focus on efforts mitigating the risk to more “vulnerable people,” but said imposing mandates is not an option for him.
Watch here:
Pennsylvania reported 270 additional fatalities from Covid-19 on Tuesday, the state’s highest death count since the pandemic began, according to state health officials.
The Department of Health also reported 9,556 additional infections Tuesday. At least 6,026 Pennsylvanians are currently hospitalized with the disease, with 1,249 of those cases requiring intensive care.
The deaths come as Pennsylvania has begun to administer the first shipments of Covid-19 vaccinations throughout the state, an effort that Gov. Tom Wolf said would proceed despite expectations of severe winter weather in the region.
More on the vaccine: Wolf said the state is expecting some 97,000 doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine this week, in addition to over 13,000 doses earmarked specifically for Philadelphia. Those doses will be shipped as they become available from the manufacturer, and may be traversing snowy roads this week as the region could see up to two feet of snow.
Wolf urged Pennsylvanians to stay off the roads during the expected winter storm.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the state received 98,475 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, and more shipments will arrive in the new year.
The state expects to receive 123,000 doses from Pfizer and 201,900 from Moderna next week, the governor said. However, DeWine cautioned during a news conference Tuesday that supplies of the vaccine were limited.
“These vaccinations will take place, one way or another,” DeWine said in response to questions on congressional funding. “There will be nothing to slow these vaccinations down.”
What the numbers look like: Ohio announced 8,755 new Covid-19 cases and 103 deaths on Tuesday. There were 614 new hospitalizations due to the virus, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Hospitalizations have increased steeply since the start of the pandemic, the governor said. Ohio has the nation’s fifth-highest case rate for the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
DeWine said the state had sent additional guidance to local health departments on Tuesday about whom to prioritize for vaccinations, such as group home residents and staff.
Vice President Mike Pence is likely to receive the coronavirus vaccine by Friday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.
It’s unclear if he will receive it before President Trump.
Tentative plans are being made for Pence to receive it on camera.
