FS-ISAC Coronavirus Update, Jan. 26, 2021

Headlines

• On Tuesday afternoon, more than 100 million people across the world have now been infected by Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, a milestone that comes as new, more contagious virus mutations circulate and send infection rates surging, with the US accounting for a quarter of all confirmed cases.
• The US is seeing improvements in both cases and hospitalizations, and in the last two weeks the seven-day average of infections has declined by 33.1%, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, with the number of people in hospitals the lowest since December 14 and 45 states seeing their weekly average drop by at least 10%.
• More people in the US were reported to have died from Covid-19 during the month of January 2021 than any other month during the pandemic according to Johns Hopkins University, with 77,698 people losing their lives so far, surpassing the December 2020 total of 77,486 deaths.
• The influential model from The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that is now forecasting 569,000 Americans will die from Covid-19 by May 1 does not take into account new variants of the virus that are potentially more contagious, Dr. Christopher Murray, the scientist leading the modeling team, said Monday.
• People are more likely to contract Covid-19 through everyday activities now that virus variants are circulating in the US, Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician, said Monday, warning that “We've seen what happens in other countries that have actually had coronavirus under relatively good control, then these variants took over and they had explosive spread of the virus, and then overwhelmed hospitals.”
• Virginia Tech researchers reported today that wearing two masks can increase mask efficacy from 50% to 75%, and wearing three masks can increase efficacy to 90%.
• Interim results from an ongoing trial show that Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail prevented Covid-19 among people at high risk of infection, the company said Tuesday, with findings of people who received the treatment showing that infections – all asymptomatic – were lower and lasted no more than one week, eliminated high viral lows, and there were no deaths or hospitalizations reported.
• More than 23.5 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 53% of the 44,394,075 doses distributed.
• President Biden Tuesday said the White House has ordered a 50% increase in purchased vaccines from makers Moderna and Pfizer, with 200 million extra doses to be delivered by the end of summer – enough to vaccinate the entire US population, and there will be an increase in deliveries to states from 8.6 million doses to 10 million doses a week starting next week.
• Companies helping to distribute vaccines said logistical problems associated with last-mile delivery have hampered the pace of vaccine rollouts, with Dorothea von Boxberg, member of the executive board and chief commercial officer at Lufthansa Cargo, explaining that “You don’t only need the vaccine, but you also have to have the patient, the doctor, additional material like syringes,” and adding “So, it is a big, big logistical effort to get everything in place, and also keeping the cold chain at the same time for the vaccines.”
• Johnson & Johnson’s chief executive officer and chair of board of directors Alex Gorsky told investors today on the company earning’s call that they expect to share further details on their vaccine study results by early next week, and are “hopeful” that the efficacy and safety data from the earlier trials is a “good precursor” to the kind of data in the larger population in its Phase 3 trial.
• Vaccine maker AstraZeneca has confirmed that a representative of the company will speak Wednesday at an emergency meeting of advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday it’s important to give the second dose of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine on time, but added that he didn’t think “giving it a week later or two is a very big issue,” adding that their study showed a “pre-defined window” of 19 to 42 days after the first dose, and that because vials are now able to yield six doses, the US’ contracted 200 million doses can be fulfilled two months earlier than expected.
• Germany’s Health Ministry has denied widely criticized and thinly sourced reports in local news outlets that AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is barely effective in protecting older people, stressing that the data was still being reviewed as European Union regulators consider approving the vaccine.
• Dr. Martin Cetron, director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said today that US officials are actively looking at whether to add Covid testing or other measures to domestic travel to curb the spread of the virus.
• With the right mitigation strategies, it’s possible to open K-12 schools for in-person learning with minimal Covid-19 transmission, according to a study published Tuesday by researchers from Wisconsin and California in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
• The United Kingdom reported Tuesday that more than 100,000 people have now died from coronavirus, becoming the fifth country in the world to report that many fatalities from the pandemic, following the US, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• France’s daily number of new coronavirus infections stayed above 20,000 on average for the fourth straight day on Tuesday while hospitalizations reached an eight-week high of 27,041, increasing fears of a third national lockdown.
• Belgium officials said Tuesday that preliminary estimates indicate the variant first identified in the United Kingdom now accounts for between 10 to 20% of the country’s new infections.
• Germany is considering drastically reducing travel into the country, hoping to prevent more virulent strains from invading the country, with Chancellor Angela Merkel telling government lawmakers that she didn’t want a complete travel ban, but argued that there should be no tourism, with measure under consideration said to include closing borders with regions where the new variants were more prevalent and cutting the number of flights to almost zero.
• The International Monetary Fund is worried about the risk of new Covid variants to the economic recovery, but it has become more upbeat about the global economy as coronavirus vaccinations are administered across the world, and in its latest World Economic Outlook now expects the global economy to grow 5.5% this year - a 0.3 percentage point increase from October’s forecast, and the US is also set to grow more than expected this year.
• Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, said today the Biden White House could be open to adjusting eligibility levels for the next round of coronavirus stimulus checks to make sure the funds only go to families who need them.

Vaccines – US

1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today that nearly 20 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and nearly 3.5 million people have been fully vaccinated.
2. President Biden’s Covid coordinator Jeff Zients informed governors on a call this afternoon that vaccine allocations for states would increase by around 16% starting next week.
3. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said today that the Biden administration has already invoked the Defense Production Act to help boost vaccine supply and did so within 24 hours of an executive order Biden signed last week, with efforts to ramp up production already underway, and that the White House now has a better sense of the country’s current vaccine stockpile.
4. Federal officials are working to get more supplies of the special syringes needed to obtain extra doses out of vials of Pfizer’s vaccine, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
5. Black and Latino Americans are receiving the vaccine at significantly lower rates than White Americans - a disparity that health advocates blame on the federal government and hospitals not prioritizing equitable access.
6. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said today it has delivered the first round of 17,189 vaccinations to 99 of the 110 facilities across the country to staff and inmates.
7. CVS pharmacies, who are partnering with the federal government to vaccinate residents and staff in long-term care facilities, will begin offering on-site vaccinations in 11 states in February, Dr. David Fairchild, associate chief medical officer at CVS Health, said on Monday.
8. Experts are urging Biden administration officials to better understand the source behind vaccine skepticism across different Latino communities to improve vaccine rollout strategies nationwide, with surveys finding an "element of fear and mistrust" about the vaccine, but such fears manifest differently across different Latino subgroups, according to researchers Gabriel Sanchez and Juan Peña in a Brookings Institution analysis published Monday.
9. As of last week, Alaska had administered more shots per capita than any state in the nation, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, with Missouri ranking last of the 50 states in vaccinations.
10. West Virginia is second in the nation in terms of vaccines administered per capita and share of distributed doses that have been administered – with more than 9% now having received their first shot, according to CDC data, and has often led the nation in these metrics.
11. North Carolina has doled out 95% of its allotted vaccines, with demand now on the verge of eclipsing scheduled supply, officials said Tuesday, but a new shipment of 120,000 doses is expected to arrive in the Tar Heel State on Wednesday and officials are lobbying for a boost.
12. Washington state topped 500,000 total vaccine doses on Monday, and state officials said they are on their way to meeting the larger goal of vaccinating an average of 45,000 people per day.
13. California is changing its vaccine delivery system to give the state more control over who gets doses amid growing frustration over a slow rollout that has forced people to wait hours, and months, for their shots, and under the new system, state officials will work with third party administrators to allocate vaccines directly to providers, including county public health systems, pharmacies, health systems, public hospitals, community health centers, pharmacies and pop-up sites.
14. Minnesota can start signing up Tuesday for a vaccine lottery after a first-come-first-served inoculation website crashed amid overwhelming demand, with less than 5% of the state's population having received a shot as of Sunday.
15. Maryland announced plans Tuesday for six new mass vaccination centers staffed by the National Guard as residents have struggled to find open appointment slots, and officials said they will distribute vaccines to more pharmacies, including some Safeway and Rite Aid stores.
16. Boston Health and Human Services today announced they are changing the vaccine prioritization to allow people 75 and older to be eligible to receive the vaccine starting next week.
17. New York City has administered over 650,000 doses but only has 7,710 doses on hand, and 72,409 second doses yet to be scheduled, Mayor Bill de Blasio said today, adding “We have almost no supply to allow us to create new opportunities for people, new appointments for people."
18. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said his state needs 2 or 3 times more doses of vaccine to keep up with a plan to vaccinate 70% of the population within six months, adding that though the state has built a network of some 270 distribution sites, including 6 so-called "megasites," there was insufficient supply to meet demand.
19. California will launch a new online portal, called My Turn, where residents can make vaccine appointments and check their eligibility status.
20. Philadelphia has terminated its partnership with Philly Fighting COVID, a group that ran the city’s biggest vaccination site, after discovering the organization had changed its corporate status from nonprofit to for-profit, abruptly stopping offering testing, and updated the privacy policy on its vaccination sign up website in a way that could allow for the sale of user data.

US Outbreak

1. The US reported 147,254 new coronavirus infections and 1,758 virus-related fatalities on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
2. The Covid Tracking Project shows there are 108,957 people currently hospitalized in the US with COVID-19 Tuesday, which is almost 30,000 fewer cases than a couple of weeks ago.
3. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington forecast released Sunday predicts a third wave of infection late this year unless people get more eager about the vaccine, but the model also sees cases and deaths tapering off starting in March and April.
4. California on Tuesday reported 17,028 new cases, with daily infections and deaths both well below the 14-day average, the 14-day test positivity rate has dropped to 9% - a 33% decrease since the state reported its highest percentage earlier this month, and in the past two weeks, hospitalizations have decreased over 20%.
5. Virginia, Maryland and D.C. reported the most deaths in the greater Washington region Tuesday - breaking a record set two weeks earlier, with each jurisdiction having a death toll that was well above its rolling seven-day average, and Virginia setting a daily record when excluding state reporting anomalies.
6. New York City added 4,844 new confirmed and probable cases, marking a 8.4% positivity - both on a seven-day rolling average, and officials said that 230 patients admitted to hospitals for suspected Covid-19 - a 5.14 per 100,000 person hospitalization rate.

US Restrictions & Schools

1. Oklahomans would be required to wear masks in public and face up to $1,000 fines for failing to do so under a bill filed by state Representative Jason Lowe, with the "COVID-19 Save Lives Response Act" proposal also prohibiting nonessential gatherings of more than 10 people and encouraging all businesses to reduce in-person attendance, with places of worship and essential businesses exempt.
2. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said today he will consider easing restrictions if data continue to improve, but didn’t say what measures may be loosened.
3. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced the city will return to "Phase Three, Step One" next Monday, after reopening was temporarily paused in December, with indoor recreational and athletic facilities and venues, indoor event spaces, arcades, indoor fitness centers and health clubs, movie theaters, museums, aquariums, sightseeing tours, indoor historic sites and spaces able to reopen at 25% capacity, and gatherings limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
4. Schools operating in person have seen scant transmission of the coronavirus, particularly when masks and distancing are employed, but some indoor athletics have led to infections and should be curtailed if schools want to operate safely, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded in papers published Tuesday.
5. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today that he wants every kid to be back in school by March 1, and said his goal is to have anyone who works at a school receive their first dose of the vaccine in the month of February at the very least, with school employees in Cincinnati to start receiving their vaccine next week.
6. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told police Sunday night that he used pepper spray on a man who had been harassing him about Covid-19 mask policies outside of a restaurant.

Business Related

1. Airlines UK, the trade body representing airlines such as British Airways and Virgin, responded to speculation about further restrictions being put in place for international arrivals into the United Kingdom by saying there were already “some of the highest levels of restrictions in the world” and “further measures would be catastrophic,” and in a joint statement with the Airport Operators Association warned the measures “will impact vital freight and PPE supplies and jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs and the many businesses that depend on aviation.”
2. Hyatt Hotels became the latest hotel chain to offer free Covid testing at its resorts in Latin America, an effort to hold onto bookings as the US issues new testing requirements, with Spanish hotel chain Melia also offering complementary tests at 10 resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, and Marriott and Hilton saying several of their hotels in the region and the Caribbean are offering onsite tests or helping travelers access them.
3. Pizza chain Cici’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced its sale to D&G Investors, its primary lender, as while the pandemic has lifted delivery sales for Papa John’s, Domino’s Pizza and Yum Brands’ Pizza Hut, buffet-style restaurants like Cici’s have seen their sales plunge.