FS-ISAC Coronavirus Update, Jan. 25, 2021

Headlines

• The US surpassed 25,000,000 total infections on Sunday and reported 130,485 new cases, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University, with the daily numbers being the lowest daily case count the country has recorded in a month.
• At least 195 cases of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom have now been identified across 22 US states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday, with California reporting 72 infections, Florida has 50, and New York is reporting 22.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US, said Monday he believes the new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom is also more virulent.
• "Modest delays” between first and second doses of vaccine are not expected to decrease protection against the virus, the US Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday, updating previous guidance that warned changes to schedules without appropriate data could put public health at risk.
• Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced Monday it is discontinuing development of its two vaccine candidates, after early studies showed immune responses were inferior to natural infection and other vaccines.
• The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Sunday that the federal government doesn’t know how much vaccine there is available to the country, adding yet another complication to the new administration’s efforts to mitigate the crisis.
• US President Joe Biden on Monday will reinstate the Covid travel restrictions on non-US citizens who have been in Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, and will extend the restrictions to travelers who have recently been to South Africa.
• British Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday “There is early evidence that the lockdown is starting to bring cases down.  But we're a long, long, long way from that from being low enough because the case rate was incredibly high and you can see the pressure on the National Health Service.  You can see it every day.”
• France’s average number of new infections has been gradually increasing from 18,000 per day to more than 20,000, and the head of the scientific council advising the government said Sunday the country would “probably need a new lockdown” and that there is an “emergency” in the country.
• Russia confirmed 19,290 new cases on Sunday, the country's lowest daily case count since the start of November, according to the country's coronavirus response headquarters.
• A bipartisan group of US lawmakers met virtually with Biden administration officials Sunday to push forward plans for vaccine distribution and another massive stimulus.

Vaccines – US

1. The influential model at the University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation projects that by May 1, “42,800 lives will be saved by the projected vaccine rollout,”  and expects 157 million people to be vaccinated by that time which translates to 36% of the country being immunized, assuming the vaccines are at least 50% effective.
2. CVS, a partner in the US' federal program to vaccinate residents and staff of long-term care facilities, says it has completed the first round doses in all participating skilled nursing facilities as of Monday, administering 1,039,365 doses in 7,822 skilled nursing facilities.
3. The US government has started to give healthcare providers new syringe kits to extract six shots from each Pfizer vaccine vial, but syringe maker Becton Dickinson does not have the capacity to boost production of the specialty syringes needed to squeeze more doses from the vials in the coming weeks.
4. New York City is postponing the opening of vaccine mega sites at Yankees Stadium and Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, because there isn't enough supply of doses, and Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said Monday that the city “does not have enough doses” of vaccine to “be able to meet the demand we know exists among New Yorkers.”
5. New York state is deploying vaccination kits to four additional New York City public housing sites and eight more churches to try and “strengthen fairness and equity in the vaccine distribution process,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.
6. Google will make some of its own facilities available to open new vaccination sites in the US, and the company said it has partnered with health clinic chain One Medical and public health authorities to open sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kirkland, Washington, and New York City.
7. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain appeared Sunday defended statements by the White House that there was no plan in place for vaccine distribution when the Biden administration walked in the door, saying that outside of nursing homes and hospitals, a plan for “the community as a whole did not really exist.” 
8. Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Joe Biden’s nominee for US surgeon general, said Sunday that the goal of 100 million doses in the President’s first 100 days in office is “a floor; it’s not a ceiling,” and that the success of vaccine distribution also has to be measured by its equitability.
9. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that it’s “not the case” that President Joe Biden has deliberately set expectations low by saying that he has a goal of giving 100 million vaccine doses his first 100 days in office.
10. Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, reacted to images of long lines of senior citizens waiting to get vaccines, saying Sunday that it’s "not America, that’s not the way we treat those we consider vulnerable, in need of this vaccine most, that is not America at its best.”

New Variants - US

1. Washington state’s Department of Health reported its first two cases over the weekend in residents for the variant first detected in the United Kingdom.
2. Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services announced three new cases of the more transmissible United Kingdom variant on Sunday, bringing the state's total variant cases to six, and the agency ordered the University of Michigan to halt athletics after a number of the new infections were connected to the program.
3. Scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection said this weekend they are speaking with United Kingdom health officials to learn more about British data that suggests the new variant could be more deadly.
4. The new variant that originated in South Africa is likely to be in the US already but just not being detected yet, Scott Gottlieb, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said on Sunday.

US Outbreak

1. The University of Washington’s model is projecting 569,000 Americans will have died from Covid-19 by May 1, a slight increase since its last update, which projected 567,000 deaths by the same date.
2. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said Monday that he didn’t think that the vaccine was responsible for the plateau of cases yet.
3. Infectious disease expert Dr. Celine Gounder, a former member of President Joe Biden’s transition Covid-19 advisory board, said Sunday that "We're looking at probably middle of the summer, end of the summer before the average, healthy, young American has access to vaccination.”
4. California added a total of 24,111 new cases on Sunday, the number of reported hospitalizations decreased slightly by 3.5%, and intensive care unit hospitalizations were down by 2.2%, according to data collected from hospitals across the state.
5. North Carolina reported 109 new deaths on Sunday, the fourth consecutive day of more than 100 fatalities, and the longest consecutive stretch of fatalities that high.
6. New York state’s positivity rate fell to 5.09% on Sunday, with 12,720 new reported cases, and total Covid-19 hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and intubations were are all down from Saturday’s numbers.
7. District of Colombia Capitol Police said Sunday that more than three dozen officers have tested positive since the riot on January 6.
8. California's Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to lift regional stay-at-home orders in the state Monday, allowing for gyms and restaurants to have limited outdoor activity according to a letter from the California Restaurant Association to its members, which said it had been notified of the plan Sunday evening by the governor's office.
9. Chicago Public Schools on Sunday delayed elementary school teachers’ scheduled return to school this week by two days to Wednesday, after the teachers’ union voted to only work remotely, citing safety concerns.

Business

1. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, the incoming chairman of the Senate budget committee, said Sunday morning that Democrats will use budget reconciliation “as soon as we possibly can” to pass a Covid-19 relief package by 51 votes, rather than 60.
2. House Democrats are working on drafting legislation proposed by President Joe Biden that would direct the IRS to send recurring monthly payments to American families to expand the child tax credit, a source familiar with a draft proposal said Saturday.