March 30 coronavirus news

Counties with the highest levels of vaccine coverage are those that already had the lowest levels of Covid-19 community transmission, an indication that vaccines are not always getting to where they are most needed, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

Vaccination rates in counties that have had the worst Covid-19 case and death rates, lag behind counties that have had the lowest case and death rates by about one percentage point, on average. 

The analysis also found that the average rate of vaccination is lower in counties with certain underserved and high-risk populations that have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19, including some racial and ethnic groups, those with high-risk medical conditions and those with high social vulnerability.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, counties that voted for President Biden have higher coverage than those that voted for Trump, consistent with evidence of vaccine hesitancy among Republican voters. Urban counties also have lower vaccination coverage than non-metro counties.

However, average vaccine coverage is higher in counties with large shares of residents age 65 or older. 

More on the analysis: the Kaiser Family Foundation used county-level vaccination coverage first published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week. Vaccination rates represent the share of total county population that has been fully vaccinated. About three-quarters of US counties were included in the analysis. 

Overall, about 16% of all US residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from the CDC. 

All states nationwide have now announced when they plan to open up coronavirus vaccinations to everyone eligible under the vaccines’ US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations — if they haven’t done so already. 

Arkansas is the most recent state to announce plans to expand vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older, starting on Tuesday.

A dozen other states already also have expanded coronavirus vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older: Alaska opened up vaccinations to anyone 16 and older on March 9, Mississippi on March 16, West Virginia expanded on March 22, Utah on March 24, Georgia on March 25, and Arizona opened vaccination to anyone over 16 who can get to state-run sites in three counties as of March 24. 

Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, North Dakota, Louisiana and Kansas expanded to anyone 16 and older on March 29. Several states that already announced plans to open up vaccine eligibility by early May have changed their timelines to open up in late March or early April. 

Below is the timeline for when those and other states have said they will open vaccination eligibility to the general public:

For all states currently vaccinating anyone 16 and older, people ages 16 or 17 can only receive a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as it is the only option authorized for use in that population so far. The vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are authorized for use in adults 18 and older.

Everyone 16 and older in Wisconsin will be eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine starting on Monday, Gov. Tony Evers announced today.

“The best news is that our supply continues to be steady,” Evers said. “We’re confident in our vaccine providers and we are confident in Wisconsin.”

More than one million Wisconsin residents have now completed their vaccine series, according to Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk for the Department of Health Services. Wisconsin has administered at least 2,753,146 doses as of today, and 75% of people age 65 and older have received at least one shot.

Note: These numbers were released by the state’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

President Biden signed the PPP Extension Act of 2021 into law on Tuesday, sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

Biden, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and small business administrator Isabella Guzman, praised the bipartisan nature of extending the Paycheck Protection Program, which will keep thousands of small businesses open according to the President.

The law extends the application deadline, originally set to expire on March 31, to May 31, and provides an additional 30-day period for the Small Business Administration to process applications that are still pending.

Biden also spoke about the inequity that small businesses faced during the first round of the PPP, saying many Hispanic and Black small businesses didn’t receive PPP funding.

“We’re pushing lenders to raise the game and provide more help to many small businesses, you know, particularly, Hispanic, as well as African American small businesses are just out of business because they got bypassed the first time around,” Biden said.

A patient infected with the Covid-19 is carryed by a stretcher bearer in an intensive care unit of the Hopital Delafontaine in the Saint-Denis surburb of Paris, on March 29.

For the first time since April last year, more than 5,000 Covid-19 patients are in intensive care units in France.

According to French health agency data released Tuesday, there are at least 5,072 Covid-19 patients being treated in ICUs, an increase of 98 patients since Monday.

In the Paris region alone, there are currently 1,521 patients in ICUs, an increase of 43 people in 24 hours

There are currently 28,510 Covid-19 patients in hospital countrywide. 

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson plans to lift the state’s mask mandate on Wednesday, according to his office.

The governor first issued a mask mandate for the state in July, requiring masks be worn in all indoor areas.

He is expected to make that announcement as well as provide an update on vaccine eligibility.

Arkansas is the only state that has not yet shared when it plans to open up vaccines for people 16 and older.

President Biden has directed all states to open up vaccine eligibility for all adults by May 1.

Universal Studios Hollywood announced Tuesday that it will reopen and resume operations beginning on April 16. 

Most rides will be running at that time, with others opening at a later date due to compliance of government restrictions, according to a news release.   

“It has been a very challenging year and we are overjoyed to have arrived at this moment,” Irwin said. 

The company will continue to work with local health and government officials on health and safety procedures including controlled capacity, physical distancing and required face coverings.  

Only California residents may visit the theme park at this time, the company said. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a Covid-19 briefing at the Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Ontario, on December 18, 2020.

Canada continues to see rising new daily cases and hospitalizations of coronavirus as officials warn the variants are spreading rapidly, and are a threat to younger Canadians. 

Trudeau announced that Pfizer has once again agreed to move up its deliveries of vaccines to Canada. But even with four approved vaccines, public health officials say it will do little to mitigate the burden in hospitals during this third wave of the pandemic.  

“The ongoing increase in infection rates is now playing out in our hospitals with rising trends in severe and critical illnesses, placing renewed strain on the health system,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s top doctor, said speaking alongside Trudeau.

Tam declared Canada was going through a “third resurgence” of the pandemic but added that with the majority of the elderly population vaccinated, those 80 years of age and over were not so far being affected by the uptick in hospitalizations. 

Tam also said there has been a 64% increase in new variant cases detected in Canada in the last week alone. She said the vast majority are the B.1.1.7 variant, first detected in the UK, and described the current variant spread reported as the “tip of the iceberg.”

The province of British Colombia imposed a “circuit-breaker” lockdown this week, closing indoor dining, requiring more masks in schools and prohibiting fitness indoors. 

And in Ontario, hospital officials say they are ramping up to provide critical care for younger patients who doctors say are now more vulnerable to the virus. 

In a report released Monday, Ontario’s scientific advisory panel released data suggesting the new variant cases are responsible for a doubling of intensive care unit admissions over the last several weeks. 

“COVID-19 patients in ICUs who are younger than 60 years is about 50% higher now than it was prior to the start of the province-wide lockdown,” the report states. 

The scientific advisory panel provides guidance and research so the government can update its recommendations amid the pandemic. 

Many parts of Ontario, including Canada’s largest city Toronto, have already been in some form of lockdown for more than four months.

The governments of the United States, Australia, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom jointly expressed concern about the World Health Organization (WHO) study into the origins of Covid-19 in China and called for independent and fully transparent evaluations with access to all relevant data in the future.

“The mission of the WHO is critical to advancing global health and health security, and we fully support its experts and staff and recognize their tireless work to bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, including understanding how the pandemic started and spread. With such an important mandate, it is equally essential that we voice our shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples,” the statement continued.

“We note the findings and recommendations, including the need for further studies of animals to find the means of introduction into humans, and urge momentum for expert-driven phase 2 studies,” the statement said.

“Going forward, there must now be a renewed commitment by WHO and all Member States to access, transparency, and timeliness.”

The statement noted that in a “serious outbreak of an unknown pathogen with pandemic potential, a rapid, independent, expert-led, and unimpeded evaluation of the origins is critical to better prepare.” 

The statement from the governments underscored “the need for a robust, comprehensive, and expert-led mechanism for expeditiously investigating outbreaks of unknown origin that is conducted with full and open collaboration among all stakeholders and in accordance with the principles of transparency, respect for privacy, and scientific and research integrity.”

Peter Ben Embarek attends a press conference to wrap up a visit by an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the city of Wuhan, in China's Hubei province on February 9, 2021.

World Health Organization scientist Peter Ben Embarek said his colleagues and he are proud of the new WHO report on the possible origins of the novel coronavirus – and that they stand by their report.

“The report is something that all the scientists on the team can stand behind and have supported,” he added.