FS-ISAC Coronavirus Update, March 10, 2021

Headlines

• White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Covid-19 cases may level off again at very high volume, even as the nation rapidly administers three vaccines, with the decline in cases seen since early January now appearing to be “going down a little more slowly,” meaning the US might “plateau again at an unacceptably high level.”
• Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urged business leaders Tuesday to continue key public health measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, saying that “Now is certainly not the time to relax restrictions on these measures,” and warning that “March and April are going to be pivotal times,” encouraging companies to provide employees with face masks and also address vaccine hesitancy in the workplace.
• Cases of Covid-19 in children have declined for the seventh consecutive week, with at least 63,562 cases being reported last week, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a “much smaller drop” than the previous six weeks and about 13.2% of all Covid cases, with at least 3,231,836 children having tested positive since the onset of the pandemic.
• Current data suggests that women who are pregnant should feel comfortable receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, according to Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, vaccine safety lead with the Covid-19 Response Team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying “The data we have so far are reassuring,” and adding “We do not see any signs of a safety problem in pregnant women - both with respect to the pregnant women individually and with respect to the developing fetus.”
• White House press secretary Jen Psaki outlined another increase in vaccine doses being shipped to states, tribes, and territories Tuesday, saying that the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine supply will be 15.8 million doses this week, up from 15.2 million doses announced last week, with 2.7 million first doses being shipped directly to pharmacies.
• About 93.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the US, according to data published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 76% of the 123,232,775 doses delivered and around 1.6 million more since yesterday, for a seven-day average of nearly 2.2 million doses per day.
• As of Tuesday, 47 states plus DC are now allowing teachers and school staff to receive Covid-19 vaccines, and by next Monday, teachers will be eligible in all 50 states.
• Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration found that from mid-December through mid-January, among the more than 13 million vaccine doses that were administered, almost 6,994 adverse events were reported - about 79% in women, even though only about 61% of Covid-19 vaccine doses at the time were given to women, with most of the symptoms reported being headache, fatigue and dizziness.
• Once the Covid-19 pandemic is over in the US, the country will have a large number of people disabled from the virus who need help, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said on Tuesday, adding while speaking to a Senate committee hearing on Covid-19 response that he found it frustrating that the focus on mortality rates and push for herd immunity did not take into account the chronic effects of Covid-19 in some who were infected.
• Mailing rapid antigen tests to US residents to encourage frequent, widespread Covid-19 testing is a cost-effective way to prevent millions of infections and thousands of deaths, according to a study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, with researchers finding that over a period of 60 days, if just half of the population tested themselves weekly and half of those who tested positive self-isolated for an appropriate period of time, the practice could help prevent about 2.8 million infections and 16,000 deaths.
• New research reported in a preliminary national study from the group Policy Analysis for California Education found that as of late fall, second graders were 26 percent behind where they would have been, absent the pandemic, in their ability to read aloud accurately and quickly, with third graders 33 percent behind.
• The US House is expected to pass the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill on Wednesday and then send to President Joe Biden to be signed, after passing a procedural motion Tuesday evening that allows for the final vote.
• White House press secretary Jen Psaki gave an update on when Americans should expect another stimulus payment, saying Tuesday that “As the President said last week, once the rescue plan is signed, we’ll be able to start getting payments out this month,” and adding that “Treasury and IRS are working tirelessly to make that happen.”
• The number of Americans who think there will be a return to normal within the next six months or sooner is increasing, according to a new poll conducted March 5 to 8 by Axios-Ipsos released Tuesday, with 40% of respondents now thinking that’s the case, compared with 26% in late January, and the number who think it will take a year or more to return to normal is decreasing, now 17% compared with 30% in late January. 
• The last five days are the busiest air travel has been over such a stretch since the holidays, with the Transportation Security Administration reporting today it screened 1.1 million people at airports on Monday, meaning 5.6 million people have traveled by air over the last five days.
• Cybercriminals are flooding potential victims with scams using the pending coronavirus relief plan as bait, according to a report by researchers at cybersecurity firm Proofpoint, with researchers discovering a campaign of thousands of emails last week that sought to trick Americans into filling out a phony form to “apply” for American Rescue Plan checks from the Internal Revenue Service.

US Outbreak

1. The seven-day average for new daily coronavirus cases in the US has dropped below 58,000 for the first time since mid-October.
2. Detailed data released this week by the US Department of Health and Human Services illustrates just how much the nation's hospitals have recovered from the pandemic’s third wave, with the share of COVID-19 patients making up a smaller share of hospital admissions around the country, most notably in the West and South, regions hit hard by the disease through the holidays.
3. North Carolina reported less than 1,000 new cases for the first time since last September on Tuesday, and the state's positivity rate has stayed around 5%.
4. Hundreds of thousands of people are descending upon Daytona Beach, Florida this week for the city's annual Bike Week motorcycle rally - despite limits on indoor capacity and parking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked today about a concept being floated by the private sector, a “vaccine passport” that would allow Americans to demonstrate that they have been vaccinated ahead of traveling, responding that the effort will be driven outside of government as the administration’s focus is currently on vaccinating.

US Restrictions & Schools

1. As the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked to prepare guidance for people who are fully vaccinated, the possibility of changing travel recommendations was discussed but there was never a lot of momentum behind adjusting it right now, two federal health officials familiar with the discussion said Tuesday.
2. Maryland is removing all capacity restrictions on restaurants and other businesses at 5PM on Friday, citing "significant improvements in health metrics," Governor Larry Hogan announced Tuesday, and although physical distancing will still be required, capacity limits will be lifted on all indoor and outdoor dining establishments, retail businesses, religious buildings, fitness centers, personal service locations, such as hair and nail salons, and indoor recreation centers, such as casinos, bingo halls, bowling alleys, and skating rinks, with large venues, such as for conferences, weddings, or concerts, able to expand their indoor and outdoor capacity to 50%.
3. Maryland is lifting its quarantine requirements and other restrictions for out-of-state travelers beginning at 5PM ET Friday, Governor Larry Hogan said Tuesday.
4. New Mexico announced Monday night all schools are expected to reopen for in-person learning by April 5.
5. Chicago has added two states and the District of Columbia to its emergency travel order, the city's health department website shows, and according to the latest information posted Texas, Nebraska and Washington, DC, were added to the Orange list that includes states averaging 15 cases per 100,000 residents.
6. Austin’s chief medical officer Dr. Mark Escott announced Tuesday that health rules and required masks will remain in the city through at least April 15, despite Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifting the statewide mandate.
7. San Antonio’s public relations manager Michelle Vigil said on Tuesday the city is "currently operating at a 25% occupancy and will require masks for anybody entering our facilities."

Economy and Business

1. Roughly 4 in 10 Americans say they're still feeling the financial impact of the loss of a job or income within their households as the economic recovery remains at best uneven one year into the pandemic, with a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research providing further evidence that the outbreak has been devastating for some while leaving others virtually unscathed or even in better shape, at least when it comes to their finances.
2. Around 90% of American households will be eligible for the third round of stimulus payments, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
3. As part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the government would pay for former employees to maintain health coverage from their old job through COBRA, or the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
4. Some couples who both claimed unemployment insurance income in 2020 will get a tax break from the next Covid bill, and for married couples who file jointly, earned less than $150,000 in combined adjusted gross income, and both collected unemployment insurance benefits in 2020, the amount that won’t be taxed is doubled – meaning the first $20,400 of unemployment income is tax free.
5. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the money allotted for state and local governments in the latest US stimulus package will be distributed quickly after the measure is signed into law.
6. Data center real estate is set to surge as the pandemic forces people to search for more power to fuel their online work lives, according to a new report from commercial real estate company CBRE.
7. The airline industry is pushing back against new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that fully vaccinated people should still avoid travel, and in a new statement, Airlines For America insists being on board a plane poses a low risk of infection because of heavily filtered air and federally mandated mask wearing, adding "We remain confident that this layered approach significantly reduces risk."
8. For the first time since November 2019, Boeing’s monthly aircraft sales outpaced canceled orders, with the aerospace giant selling 82 aircraft with just 51 orders scrapped in February.
9. Dick’s Sporting Goods topped Wall Street’s estimates for fourth-quarter earnings, but warned the pace of its sales growth may slow in the year ahead, with the company estimating that its same-store sales could decline as much as 2% or grow by as much as 2% in the year ahead, a significant drop from same-store sales growth of nearly 10% in fiscal 2020.
10. A report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects global GDP growth to reach 5.5 percent this year and 4 percent next year, with global output reaching pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021.