FS-ISAC Coronavirus Update, Feb. 1, 2021

Headlines

• The US surpassed 26 million total cases on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University, but for the first time since December 1 fewer than 100,000 Americans were hospitalized for Covid-19 Sunday - with 95,013 patients admitted for the virus, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.
• The seven-day average of new US cases is still about the same as it was December 1, and even worse, the average number of daily deaths is more than double what it was then.
• More than 31 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the US, according to data published Sunday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sunday, about 62.3% of the 49,933,250 doses distributed.
• The US’ vaccine distribution plans face another obstacle as a winter storm is forecast to dump one to two feet of snow from Pennsylvania into New England through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
• BioNTech will deliver 75 million extra doses of its vaccine to the European Union, according to a statement from the German drugmaker on Monday, and drugmaker AstraZeneca will deliver additional doses of its vaccine to the European Union and increase its manufacturing capacity on the continent, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.
• South Korea's Seegene Inc said on Monday it developed the world's first COVID-19 diagnostic test that is capable of identifying multiple mutant variants of the virus in a single reaction.
• A new study of two independent US schools supports the argument that children don't spread coronavirus in school when proper precautions are taken, with just 9% of students - out of 3,500 students studied - who brought new Covid-19 infections to school ended up infecting others, researchers found.
• The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that Transportation Security Administration workers now have the authority to enforce President Joe Biden's transportation mask mandate "at TSA screening checkpoints and throughout the commercial and public transportation system."
• President Joe Biden will meet Monday afternoon with 10 Republican senators who have drawn up a smaller counter-proposal to his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 rescue plan in the most critical test yet of his core promise to forge unity over bitter partisan lines.
• A team of World Health Organization investigators in China researching the origins of the coronavirus now have months of Chinese influenza data which might contain vital clues as to the early spread of the virus, and on Sunday, the team visited the now disinfected and shuttered Huanan seafood wet market in the city of Wuhan, where an initial cluster of pneumonia-like illnesses were noticed by doctors in mid-December 2019.
• Tom Moore, the World War II veteran who raised millions for a British charity supporting the United Kingdom’s National Health Service by walking laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, has been hospitalized with Covid-19 and pneumonia, but his daughter said Sunday he was not in intensive care.

Vaccines – US

1. Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of American biotechnolgy company Moderna, said he's hopeful that vaccines can help the US population achieve herd immunity against the novel coronavirus by mid-year.
2. Johnson & Johnson would have fewer than 10 million vaccine doses available if the US Food and Drug Administration authorizes it for emergency use in the coming weeks, a federal health official said Monday, but that number would ramp up to 20 or 30 million doses by April.
3. Just over 25 million people have now received at least one dose of the vaccine and about 5.6 million people have been fully vaccinated, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows as of Sunday.
4. As the number of Americans ready for their second vaccine shot grows, some are falling through the cracks of an increasingly complex web of providers and appointment systems, and while many people are getting their required second doses, the process is taking a toll on some of the most vulnerable - older adults who in many cases rely on family members or friends to navigate complex sign-up systems and inconvenient locations.
5. Los Angeles authorities said that motorists in line at one of the country’s largest vaccination sites were briefly halted on Saturday afternoon as demonstrators descended on Dodger Stadium.

US Outbreak

1. The US reported 110,470 new cases and 1,789 virus-related deaths Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases.
2. At least 95,245 people died from Covid-19 in January, surpassing December's total of 77,486 deaths and becoming the deadliest month of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.
3. Amid a sometimes chaotic rollout of vaccines across the US, health experts say a glimmer of good news has emerged, with recent reports of cases in nursing homes having declined for the past four weeks, according to federal data.
4. California’s reported fewer new cases and fatalities than its 14-day rolling averages this weekend, according to the health department’s website, with the state’s 14-day positivity rate dropping to 7.4%, a two-month low, while the number of patients hospitalized have fallen to a one-month low.
5. Michigan’s Motherhouse campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Adrian reported Sunday that nine nuns living there have now lost their lives to Covid-19 following an outbreak that began in late December that saw 48 of the campus' 217 residents test positive, with 13 active cases remaining and 26 people recovering.
6. US Pentagon officials said Sunday that an earlier plan to give Guantanamo Bay detainees the vaccine has been paused as of Saturday, as they “review force protection protocols."
7. A plan to reopen Chicago schools remained in limbo as last-minute negotiations about coronavirus safety measures with the teachers union stalled Sunday, amplifying the possibility of a strike or lockout.

Business

• Republican senators proposed a roughly $600 billion Covid-19 relief package Sunday, a counterproposal to President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion plan, and which includes:
• A total of $160 billion for vaccine development and distribution, testing and tracing, and treatment and supplies, including the production and deployment of personal protective equipment.
• A new round of direct payments for "families who need assistance the most," an extension of enhanced federal unemployment benefits at the current level and $4 billion to bolster behavioral health and substance abuse.
• Payments starting at $1,000 - an amount lower than the $1,400 Biden's plan provides for - that would decrease depending on an individual's income level.

1. President Joe Biden is open to some negotiation on his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, a senior administration official said, but the $600 billion counterproposal announced by some Republican senators Sunday is "not going to scratch the itch."