FS-ISAC Coronavirus Update, Jan. 28, 2021

Headlines

• New Covid-19 cases continue to trend downward, with 16% fewer cases reported this week than last, but 95% of the US population lives in a county that the federal government considers to be a “sustained hotspot," according to a report released today by the interagency White House Covid-19 Team
• Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, warned that the next six to 14 weeks will bring “something that we haven't even come close to experiencing yet,” warning that he is worried about the variants circulating in the US.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Thursday that the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa is troubling to him and that work is already being done on a booster vaccine dose that is directly aimed at the variant.
• More preliminary results in the lab suggest the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will be effective against new, more contagious coronavirus strains first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom, and while, as in previous studies, antibodies were slightly less effective against the virus with three key mutations in the variant identified in South Africa, the companies said that “the small differences in viral neutralization observed in these studies are unlikely to lead to a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccine.”
• A Phase 3 trial of biotechnology company Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine conducted in the United Kingdom shows it has an efficacy of 89.3%, the company announced on Thursday, with a protection of 95.6% against the original novel coronavirus and 85.6% against the variant first identified in the United Kingdom, but a Phase 2b study conducted in South Africa, where another variant was first identified, showed only a 60% efficacy.
• Germany's vaccine commission has recommended that the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford should not be given to people over 65 years old, the German Interior Ministry said Thursday in a statement, citing a study by the Standing Committee on Vaccination at Germany’s Robert Koch Institute that found there is insufficient data on the effectiveness of the vaccine for this age group.
• More than 26 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the US, according to data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with an average of about 1.2 million doses administered each day since President Biden took office.
• The Pentagon has received a request from Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance to President Biden’s efforts to boost Covid-19 vaccinations across the country in the first 100 days of the new administration, according to two defense officials, with both departments said to be in intensive discussions on how the military can help, including the possibility of sending up to 10,000 troops to vaccination mega-hubs, an effort that could involve using both active duty and National Guard forces.
• Covid-19 outbreaks on college and university campuses can lead to subsequent outbreaks in the surrounding community and other high-risk places, such as nursing homes and prisons, according to a new report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Health experts are working to understand more about the condition called “long Covid” among patients who are still experiencing lingering symptoms even months after infection, with doctors reporting the severity of Covid-19 illness may have little impact on whether patients experience the potentially month long set of symptoms that can include persistent, severe fatigue, headaches and brain fog, which is defined as mild subjective cognitive and cognitive impairment.
• Thirty European countries have reported “a significant decrease in 14-day cumulative incidents” of new coronavirus cases but it still “too early” to consider easing restrictions, the World Health Organization’s Regional Director Hans Kluge said today, adding that at least 25 European countries are currently facing partial or nationwide lockdown measures and these appear to be having an impact.
• The German government expects the country to face shortages in its supply of coronavirus shots for at least another 10 weeks, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Thursday amid a backlash over the pace of the country’s vaccine rollout program.
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has indicated that England's lockdown restrictions will remain in place until at least early March, and in a statement to lawmakers at the UK House of Commons on Wednesday, said officials "do not yet have enough data to know exactly how soon it will be safe to reopen our society and economy," but expressed hope that schools could reopen from March 8, so long as his government meets its target of vaccinating everyone in the top four priority groups by mid-February.
• Europe's fight to secure COVID-19 vaccine supplies intensified on Thursday when the European Union warned drug companies such as AstraZeneca that it would use all legal means or even block exports unless they agreed to deliver shots as promised.
• US gross domestic product increased 4.0% in the fourth quarter, slightly below the 4.3% expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones, as activity seemed to slow as the year came to a close due to a lower anticipated rollout of Covid-19 vaccines combined with a continued rise in cases and restrictions on activity across the country.
• First-time filers for unemployment benefits in the US totaled 847,000 last week, less than the 875,000 first-time claims expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats will start the process next week to approve another coronavirus relief bill - with or without Republican support, and the chamber plans to pass a budget resolution, a step toward using reconciliation.
• Legislators from Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana and Pennsylvania are moving to curb the authority of governors to impose emergency restrictions such as mask rules and business shutdowns.
• The World Health Organization's investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic must not be politicized, a Chinese official said Thursday, after the team of the agency’s experts were released from quarantine in Wuhan, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasizing the purpose of the investigation "is to promote the understanding of the virus, its animal hosts and transmission routes, so that we can better prevent possible risks and respond to similar public health crises in the future."

Vaccines – US

1. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control reported today that 26,193,682 total doses have been administered across the US - about 54% of the 48,386,275 doses distributed, with nearly 21.7 million people now having received at least one dose of the vaccine and about 4.3 million fully vaccinated.
2. The US Health and Human Services Department said Thursday it has amended the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act to legally expand the number of people who are able to vaccinate people, and now any person who is licensed or certified to administer vaccines in one state can vaccinate people in another state, and retired doctors and nurses whose license expired in the past five years are also eligible, as long as that license was in good standing before it became inactive.
3. Members of the Biden administration’s Covid-19 team were expected to hold a call with top officials representing major vaccine distributors today, with a discussion that is expected to be a forum where distributors can pose any questions they might have on the White House’s vision for distributing vaccines across the country as efficiently as possible.
4. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Thursday they have pulled vaccine from their statewide allocation specifically for vaccinating K-12 staff, allocating around 55,000 vaccines to schools every week.
5. Washington’s Department of Health says only people who live or work in the state will be allowed to use one of their mass vaccination sites, saying the
6. policy exists “given the limited supply of vaccine that is available at this time and our state’s commitment to equitable and fair access to vaccine.”
7. A New York City health network changed its guidelines at a vaccination center in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood after it was found to have been providing the scarce doses to suburbanites while local residents struggled to get appointments.
8. Georgia’s Department of Health has suspended a rural medical center from the state's vaccination program for six months after the facility administered vaccines to staff of the local school district that were outside the Phase 1A+ category of eligible people.
9. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was sent a letter by a consortium of public defenders demanding inmates being inoculated, and calling the state’s failure to do so thus far an example of "arbitrary and irrational disregard for people simply because they are incarcerated."
10. The Pentagon has decided to offer vaccines to detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, possibly starting next week, according to a prosecutor in the case against five prisoners accused of conspiring in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

New Variants

1. Alabama’s Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that the state’s first cases of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom were confirmed in two Montgomery County residents and a third in a Jefferson County resident, with two of the patients children under the age of 19.
2. Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Biden’s pick for US surgeon general, said Thursday that he is deeply concerned by the emergence of new variants in the US, warning “We're in a race against the variants right now,” and explaining “The faster we're able to reduce overall rates of infection by taking the public health measures, like masking, distancing, the faster we're able to vaccinate people, the sooner we'll be able to turn this pandemic around.”
3. The World Health Organization said in a statement new variants that are highly contagious are “fueling Africa’s second wave,” and the variant first identified in South Africa “is predominant and powering record case numbers in South Africa and the sub-region,” with the continent recording 50% more infections between December 29 and Monday than in the previous 4-week period, and deaths also on the rise, roughly doubling over that same period.
4. Vietnam reported 82 infections on Thursday, the first cases of local transmission in nearly two months, and the government said that some may be connected to the new variant that has been spreading rapidly in Britain.
5. Brazil researchers said they have discovered patients infected with two different strains simultaneously, reflecting concerns about the growing number of variants in the country.
6. The variant first discovered in England, which is said to have a higher rate of transmission, has been found in 10% of the cases in France, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Thursday.
7. Denmark’s infectious diseases institute, the Statens Serum Institut, has assessed that new mutations are spreading in the country, “even with the restrictions” currently in place.
8. United Kingdom Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said today they are adding the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda to the travel ban list starting Friday to help stop the spread of the South African variant.
9. Colombia will suspend passenger flights to and from Brazil starting on Friday for a preliminary period of 30 days to contain the spread of the new variant first spotted in Brazil, Health Minister Fernando Ruiz announced Wednesday.

US Outbreak

1. The United States reported 152,478 new infections and 3,943 virus-related deaths on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
2. In the span of two weeks, the national seven-day average of daily cases has declined by 34% - the steepest non-holiday-related drop in cases the US has seen since the summer, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
3. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest ensemble forecast published today now projects there will be 479,000 to 514,000 deaths in the US by February 20, updated from the January 20 projection of up to 487,0000 by February 13.
4. California’s number of daily cases have dropped significantly – 16,696 on Thursday and nearly slashed in half over the last two weeks, and the seven-day positivity rate now stands at 7.9%, but the state still reported its second deadliest day of the pandemic Thursday.
5. Florida number of daily fatalities exceeded 200 for the third time in a week Thursday, while new cases and hospitalizations continued to fall.
6. The New York State Department of Health undercounted Covid-19 deaths among nursing home residents by approximately 50%, a new report released by the state's Attorney General Letitia James today says, which detailed discrepancies of as many as 29 deaths in a single facility underreported to the public.
7. Federal prisons in North Carolina and Michigan struggled to contain outbreaks as staffing shortages and insufficient quarantine space compromised the response, an internal Justice Department review found.

Business Related

1. The Department of Labor said Thursday that more than 18 million people were still claiming some form of unemployment benefits through all US government programs as of the week ending January 9, a number that was approximately 2 million to the same comparable week last year.
2. US airline executives expressed disdain about the idea of passengers being required to pass a coronavirus test before boarding domestic flights -- which the CDC is considering – calling the notion "wholly impractical'' and "a real goat rodeo.''
3. As many as 10,000 US storefronts could disappear by the end of 2021, as consumers increasingly favor the convenience and safety of shopping online during the pandemic, according to a forecast from Coresight Research, a number that would mark a 14% jump in retail industry closures from last year, when a record number of major vendors closed more than 8,700 stores.
4. California lawmakers voted to extend the state's eviction moratorium through June 30 as the ongoing pandemic continues to create economic uncertainty for millions of renters, and under the proposed legislation, $2.6 billion in federal funds would be used as rental subsidies and would reimburse landlords 80% of unpaid back rent that occurred between April 2020 and March 2021 if the landlords agree to forgive the remaining 20%.
5. American Airlines posted a fourth-quarter loss of $2.2 billion as revenue tumbled more than 64% to $4.03 billion, and the airline also said it expects first-quarter capacity to be down 45% from 2019 with revenue 60% to 65% lower than the year-ago quarter.
6. Southwest Airlines reported its first annual loss since 1972 and said it would remain conservative with capacity through March, citing weak demand, as the company forecast January revenue will be down 65% to 70% compared with 2019, slightly better than a decline of as much as 75% which it previously forecast after cancellations stabilized, and the Dallas-based airline said February revenue will likely fall 65% to 75% compared with a year ago.
7. Lowe’s plans to hire 50,000 workers in the US ahead of the spring season when Americans stuck at home are likely to turn to remodeling, and the company said it would pay frontline workers around $80 million in additional discretionary bonuses, which would result in a total of almost $1.3 billion in Covid-19 financial commitment to its employees and communities.