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COVID-19 News from Around the Web

Panel: People over 75, essential workers next for vaccines
AP - December 21, 2020
A federal advisory panel recommended Sunday that people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers should be next in line for COVID-19 shots, while a second vaccine began rolling out to hospitals as the nation works to get the coronavirus pandemic under control. The two developments came amid a vaccination program that began only in the last week and has given initial shots to about 556,000 Americans, according to the CDC.
CDC advisory panel unanimously recommends use of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine
STAT - December 21, 2020
An expert panel that advises the CDC voted unanimously on Saturday to recommend use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. When CDC Director Robert Redfield signs off on the recommendation — as he is expected to do before the weekend is out — Operation Warp Speed will be able to begin shipping doses of a second vaccine to administration sites across the country. … The ACIP, as the group is known, voted 11 to 0 to support use of the vaccine in people 18 years old and up.
U.S. Congress reaches deal on COVID-19 aid package, plans votes for Monday
Reuters - December 21, 2020
U.S. congressional leaders said on Sunday they had reached agreement on a $900 billion package to provide the first new aid in months to an economy hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, with votes likely on Monday. … The package would be the second-largest economic stimulus in U.S. history, following a $2.3 trillion aid bill passed in March.
More EU nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant
AP - December 21, 2020
A growing list of European Union nations barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.
As COVID-19 Cases Soar, Overwhelmed California Hospitals Worry About Rationing Care
NPR - December 21, 2020
California hospitals are stretched to their limits as intensive care units fill up and COVID-19 cases continue to soar, leaving some facilities facing the prospect of not being able to provide critical care for everyone who needs it. On Friday, the nation's most populous state recorded 43,608 new cases, while almost 17,400 people are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, according to the California DPH. Over 3,500 of those cases are being treated in intensive care units, putting immense strain on hospitals.
Hospitals Are Still Short on Masks and Other Protective Gear
The New York Times - December 21, 2020
As Americans celebrate the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine, many of the doctors and nurses first in line for inoculation say a victory lap is premature. They fear that the optimism stirred by the vaccine will overshadow a crisis that has drawn scant public attention in recent months: the alarming shortage of personal protective equipment, or P.P.E., that has led frontline medical workers to ration their use of the disposable gloves, gowns and N95 respirator masks that reduce the spread of infection.
Millions Of People Flying Despite Public Health Pleas To Stay Put
NPR - December 21, 2020
More than 2 million people have passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports over the last two days, according to statistics provided by the TSA. This is despite official guidance to stay home for the holidays as the coronavirus pandemic rages and the nation's death toll continues to rise. On both Friday and Saturday, about 1.07 million travelers passed through TSA checkpoints, the agency reported. That's down nearly 60% from last year, but still much higher than the typical checkpoint statistics since the pandemic began.
COVID-19 Is Far More Lethal, Damaging Than Flu, Data Shows
HealthDay - December 21, 2020
Researchers analyzed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data on more than 3,600 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between Feb. 1 and June 17 of this year, and more than 12,600 hospitalized with the flu between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2019. The average age of patients in both groups was 69. The death rate among COVID-19 patients was 18.5%, while it was 5.3% for those with the flu. Those with COVID were nearly five times more likely to die than flu patients, according to the study published online Dec. 15 in the BMJ.
As Social Media Use Rises, So Does Belief in COVID Misinformation
HealthDay - December 21, 2020
A new study found that the more a person turned to social media as their main source of news, the more likely that person was to believe misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. Levels of worry about the coronavirus amplified people's belief in that misinformation.
More Americans — Of All Political Persuasions — Are Donning Masks
Kaiser Health News - December 21, 2020
The poll found 73% of people said they wear a mask every time they leave home, an increase of 21 percentage points since May due to greater compliance among all partisan and age groups. … While 87% of Democrats said they always wear a mask out of the house, 71% of independents and 55% of Republicans said the same. … Seven in 10 adults said they are prepared to adhere to physical distancing guidelines for another half-year or more until vaccines are widely available.
Biden To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Monday
NPR - December 21, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden will both publicly receive their first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Delaware on Monday, as the death toll from the disease nears 320,000 in the US.