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Coronavirus Update

The coronavirus pandemic rages on, with cases of the disease at an all time high. On Friday, January 8, the U.S. reported 283,204 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 21,862,773 cases. This is compounded by the fact that a new, highly contagious strain of the coronavirus from the U.K. has been detected in several states in the U.S., raising concerns that it will spread throughout our country. Fortunately, the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines that are currently being slowly distributed have been shown to be effective on the new strain. The bigger issue is the slowness of the distribution of the vaccines; experts are warning that herd immunity could now take almost 3 years instead of one. President-elect Biden, though, intends to release available vaccines quickly once he is inaugurated on January 20.

Record Number of Deaths Reported

Data provided by Johns Hopkins University has shown that the U.S. has now had a single day during which more than 4,000 COVID-19 deaths were reported, the most deaths ever reported in one day from the illness. California and Texas are both experiencing high levels of hospitalizations; Los Angeles County had reports of ambulance crews waiting outside hospitals for hours, and Texas for the 5th day in a row experienced high hospitalization numbers.

white figures of people with a shot in front of them with the word "herd immunity" on the shot — *Because the vaccine has not been utilized as much as it was expected to be, herd immunity can take almost 3 years to go into effect.*

U.S. Could Take 3 Years To Reach Herd Immunity

The coronavirus vaccine is not being administered as quickly as it was projected to be. More than 22 million doses have been distributed, and only 6.7 million people have received their first dose of a vaccine. Federal officials had projected that 20 million people were going to receive their first dose by the beginning of the year; at this current rate, it could take almost 3 years to reach herd immunity.

President-elect Biden has announced that he plans to release all available doses when he gets into office. The goal is to allow more people access to a first dose. “The President-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccine while continuing to ensure the Americans who need it most get it as soon as possible. He supports releasing available doses immediately, and believes the government should stop holding back vaccine supply so we can get more shots in Americans’ arms now,” said TJ Ducklo, a spokesman for Biden’s transition team.

Giving the first dose to everyone instead of holding back available supplies for second doses could help reduce the number of new cases. However, releasing all available vaccines could be an issue. Vaccine manufacturing has not ramped up enough to be able to provide a large number of vaccines, which would limit availability of second doses.

President-Elect Biden Calls For Increased Stimulus Amount

The IRS is currently sending out $600 payments to Americans, but Biden has said he believes that more should be provided. On Friday, January 8, Biden called for increasing the most recent stimulus payments to $2,000, which he suggested should be part of the next coronavirus stimulus bill.

“We need more direct relief flowing to families and small businesses, including finishing the job and getting people $2,000 in relief,” Biden said in Delaware. “$600 is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table and keeping the lights on.”

However, one Democrat is not in support of the idea. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said that he would only support sending the money to those who really need it. “If they can direct money and they say, ‘This will help stimulate the economy,’ hell yeah I’m for it,” Manchin told the newspaper. “But basically right now, you better get them vaccinated.”

New U.K. Covid-19 Strain In Several States

A new strain of the virus found in the U.K. has been identified in the U.S. The CDC has identified at least 52 cases of the B.1.1.7 mutation in the U.S. in the following states:

California
Florida
New York
Colorado
Georgia

Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Texas also announced cases of the new strain on Thursday, January 7. Governors worry that the new strain could lead to another shutdown because of the virulence of the strain. Fortunately, the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to be effective against the new variants identified in the U.K. and South Africa.

No New U.S. Variants

viruses in different shades of red. — *There have been new variants of the coronavirus from the U.K. and South Africa that reached America, but no findings of a new U.S. variant.*

The White House coronavirus task force has suggested that there could be a new variant of the virus that evolved in the U.S. and is spreading. This new strain, which is different from the U.K. variant, is spreading in communities and may be 50% more transmissible than the current strain, according to the task force. However, the CDC has said that it has not seen the spreading of a highly contagious new U.S. variant.

“It is highly likely there are many variants evolving simultaneously across the globe,” Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the CDC, said in an email to CNBC. He added that there’s a “strong possibility” there are variants in the U.S., but it could be weeks or months before officials identify a particular variant that is “fueling the surge in the United States similar to the surge in the United Kingdom.”

“Researchers have been monitoring U.S. strains since the pandemic began, including 5,700 samples collected in November and December,” he said. “To date, neither researchers nor analysts at CDC have seen the emergence of a particular variant in the United States as has been seen with the emergence of B.1.1.7 in the United Kingdom or B.1.351 in South Africa.”

Coronavirus Update: Week 7

The coronavirus crisis continued in our country this week, but the focus of many people’s attention was the battle over when to reopen states and businesses. The federal stay-at-home order expired at the end of April, and reopening decisions are now in the hands of each state’s governor. This has caused friction between some state’s governors and local officials. Battles also continued between Trump and the CDC this week, as the number of cases of the illness continued to rise. New research was also revealed this week which shows that the virus can linger in the air longer than previously thought. The virus has also been linked to a life-threatening inflammatory syndrome in children.

Multiple Models

As of May 14, the number of deaths from the coronavirus has reached 85,388. There are currently multiple models projecting how quickly the number of cases and deaths will continue to rise. The government model predicts that the number of deaths will top 130,000 by August, but they are still hopeful that the number of infections will begin to go down. Another model provided by healthdata.org, on the other hand, predicts that the rate of infection and death will drop everyday for the next couple of months.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Blocks Governor’s Extension

The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Governor Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order this week. The governor had extended the stay-at-home order until May 26, but the court ruled the order “unlawful” and “unenforceable.”

The lawsuit was filed by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature against Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm and other health officials, who had recently extended the state’s “Safer-at-Home” emergency order. Even though the state had extended their stay-at-home order, they also loosened some restrictions on certain businesses, including golf courses, public libraries and arts and crafts stores.

Some Pennsylvania Counties Beginning To Mutiny Against Governor’s Orders

people in a crowd with signs with one in particular that says "no!" — *Many counties in PA have created a mutiny against the governor to move to the yellow phase and open up businesses.*

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf presented a plan for reopening his state on a county-by-county basis, and some central Pennsylvanian elected officials were not happy that they weren’t in the “yellow phase” of cautious reopening. On Governor Wolf’s color-coded map, those counties that remain in the “red phase” are not to reopen until June 4.

On Friday, May 8th, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday announced that his office “will not prosecute any criminal citations for alleged violations of the [Governor and Secretary’s] orders and regulations… concerning the operation of non-life-sustaining businesses.”

Lancaster County sent a letter to the governor asking to be moved into the yellow phase, which allows for the opening of businesses. Lebanon County took things a step further, telling Governor Wolf that they will enter the yellow phase and begin opening businesses on May 15 with or without his approval. Other counties have also expressed their disapproval of the Governor’s plans and have requested that Wolf move them to the yellow phase, citing a decrease in the number of infections in their areas.

NYC Mayor Says They Need Federal Stimulus

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has made it clear that the city will need a federal stimulus in order to get back on its feet. “Think where this is going,” he said during an interview on CNN. “If our federal government doesn’t step in and fill that gap and help cities and states back on their feet there won’t be a recovery.”

The mayor does not plan on reopening the city without extreme caution. “We’re taking a very conservative approach here in New York. We’re the epicenter,” de Blasio said. “We are not going to reopen anything until we prove by real data that we’ve made enough progress to do it safely, and then we’re going to do it in small, careful steps and smart steps.”

$Caucasian boy with a mask on writing on the blackboard.$ Trump Pushes To Reopen Schools

On Wednesday, May 13, President Trump pushed to reopen the country’s schools, despite Dr. Anthony S. Fauci’s testimony urging that schools stay closed through the fall. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked about the risk/benefit ratio of sending kids back to school versus having them miss out on education. Fauci said, “It’s obviously very difficult … [there are] unintended consequences of trying to do something that broadly is important for the public health and [there is a] risk of having a return or a resurgence of an outbreak and…unintended deleterious consequences of having children at a school.” He continued, “I don’t have a good explanation or solution for the problem of what happens when you close schools and it triggers a cascade of events.”

Trump reacted, stating “He wants to play all sides of the equation. I was surprised by this answer actually because you know, it’s just to me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to school.” He then continued to say “we will reopen the country. People want it open. The schools are going to be open.”

Coronavirus Could Remain In Air For Longer than Thought

A new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Pennsylvania found that talking loudly for one minute in a confined space could produce about 1,000 speech droplets containing Covid-19 particles. They further found that the droplets could remain in the air for more than 8 minutes, which is enough time for someone to inhale them and get infected with the virus.

Study Suggests Rare Illness Affecting Children Is Related To Covid-19

There has been a rise in cases of a life-threatening inflammatory syndrome that is affecting children. The condition is called pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome and it appears to be connected to the coronavirus. It has been seen in at least 100 children, mainly in NY.

“This multi-system inflammatory syndrome is not directly caused by the virus,” Burns told CNN. “The leading hypothesis is that it is due to the immune response of the patient.”

This syndrome is dangerous because it can cause poor functioning in organs such as the heart or kidneys. Symptoms to look for include fever, inflammation, red eyes, a bright red tongue, and cracked lips.