January 28, 2021 • No Comments • National News

Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER, EMILY SHAPIRO and IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 100.7 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Jan 28, 9:36 am
847,000 US workers filed for unemployment insurance last week

Two pieces of economic data released Thursday highlight the pain of the U.S. economy as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

Some 847,000 people nationwide lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s a decrease of 67,000 compared to the previous week’s figure.

In addition, the Department of Labor said more than 18 million people were still claiming some form of unemployment benefits through all U.S. government programs as of the week ending Jan. 9. For the comparable week last year, that number was approximately two million.

While the weekly unemployment filings figure has dropped off significantly since peaking at some 6.9 million in a single week last spring, they still remain at historically high levels.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 4% annualized rate last quarter — a significant slowdown compared to the previous quarter, which saw an increase of 33.4% on an annualized basis. The third quarter’s huge spike, however, reflected businesses reopening after mass shutdowns.

Jan 28, 9:20 am
Americans can expect to see ‘escalation’ of vaccine availability, Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden and the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said Americans can expect to see more COVID-19 vaccine doses available throughout the country in the coming weeks.

“As we get into February, March and April, we’re going to see an escalation of availability of doses that we may have not had a week or two or three ago,” Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Thursday on Good Morning America.

Although COVID-19 data is starting to show some promising trends, Fauci said the U.S. outbreak is “still a very serious situation.”

“If you look throughout the country, the dynamics of the outbreak are a little bit unstable,” he noted, “even though for the most part we’re seeing general trends, seven-day trends of cases going down and ultimately, hopefully, hospitalizations and deaths.”

When asked about reopening schools safely, Fauci said COVID-19 transmission rates in schools actually appear to be less than in communities when the schools have the resources and protection they need.

“So if you have a situation where you have dynamics of a viral spread in a community, it’s less likely that the children who are in the school — if we do things right, it’s less likely that they’re going to get infected,” he said. “Obviously we want to get the teachers vaccinated, we want to make sure they have the resources to do it correctly. But when you look at the history of how this virus is moving in schools, it seems to be less spreading there than it is in the community.”

Fauci also expressed concern over the new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in South Africa and has since spread to dozens of other nations, including the United States.

“The one in South Africa, George, troubles me,” he said, explaining that lab experiments show the neutralizing antibodies induced by existing COVID-19 vaccines are “diminished by multifold” when tested against the South Africa variant, called 501Y.V2.

“It’s still within the range of what you would predict to be protective,” he added, “but I take no great comfort in that.”

However, scientists are already working on vaccines that will specifically target the South Africa strain, according to Fauci.

“May not be necessary,” he said, “but if it is we’ll already be on the road to be able to give people a boost that directs against the South African isolate.”

Jan 28, 8:13 am
COVID-19 vaccinations won’t be a prerequisite at Tokyo Olympics, organizers say

Being vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be a requirement to compete in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, organizers said Thursday.

The 2020 Summer Olympics were supposed to kick off in the Japanese capital last year on July 24. But in late March, amid mounting calls to delay or cancel the upcoming Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japan’s prime minister announced that the event would be held a year later due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Games are now scheduled to open in Tokyo this summer on July 23, but doubt has surfaced as Japan — and much of the world — grapples with a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. Moreover, Japan is not expected to begin administering its first round of COVID-19 vaccinations until the end of February.

During a press briefing Thursday following a call with the IOC’s president, organizers were asked how Japan will safely host the Olympics as scheduled when the country’s mass vaccination campaign is not expected to inoculate most of the population by that date.

“Since last year, we have been having thorough debates and discussions on that topic. We do not consider the vaccine as a prerequisite,” Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, told reporters. “Of course, it’s desirable to have as many people as possible vaccinated, and that would bring about positive benefit. But even if vaccination is not done, we will be able to hold the Games.”

Muto added that COVID-19 vaccinations would be administered to athletes but it wouldn’t be an obligation.

As for vaccinating staff and volunteers, Muto said that decision will be made at the national government level.

Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, said they are still considering holding the Games without spectators.

“One option among many would be to hold the games without spectators,” he told reporters. “We don’t want to do this but we must take this scenario into consideration.”

With less than six months left until the opening day, a recent poll by Japanese news agency Kyodo found that around 80% of people in Japan believe the Tokyo Olympics should not be held this summer. When asked by ABC News about that opinion, Mori said: “There is a balance. On one hand there is criticism, the other hand is support.”

Mori noted that the IOC’s president has “strongly backed up our efforts” to hold the Tokyo Olympics as planned.

“Nowhere did we hear objections or doubt,” he told reporters. “Everyone wants to successful hold the games.”

Jan 28, 6:32 am
UK prime minister hints that England’s lockdown won’t end before March 8

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has indicated that England’s lockdown restrictions will remain in place until at least early March.

In a statement to lawmakers at the U.K. House of Commons on Wednesday, Johnson said officials “do not yet have enough data to know exactly how soon it will be safe to reopen our society and economy.” But he 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.

The prime minister also announced new restrictions for travelers arriving in England from countries deemed to be high-risk. He said the United Kingdom remains in a “perilous situation” with more than 37,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 — almost double the amount during the previous peak in April.

During a press conference later Wednesday, Johnson told reporters that March 8 was the “earliest” date by which the government could “responsibly” allow schoolchildren to return to classrooms.

The comments come after the U.K. became the fifth country in the world to record more than 100,000 deaths from COVID-19.

England entered its third national lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic on Jan. 5.

Although Johnson is the prime minister of the U.K., his administration is only responsible for COVID-19 restrictions in England because public health legislation is devolved to national governments within the U.K., meaning that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own coronavirus-related policies.

Jan 28, 6:06 am
Alabama detects first cases of UK variant

A new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom has been detected in Alabama for the first time.

The Alabama Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that two cases of the variant were confirmed in Montgomery County residents and a third in a Jefferson County resident. Two of the patients are children under the age of 19.

“These are the first reported cases in Alabama of the variant which was first detected in the United Kingdom in late 2020,” the department said in a statement. “This variant is associated with increased person-to-person transmission of COVID-19. ADPH is closely monitoring the emergence of this variant which has been detected in at least 24 other states.”

The so-called B117 variant, which is believed to have emerged in England in September, has been detected in more than two dozen U.S. states.

Jan 28, 5:29 am
CDC projects up to 514K virus deaths in US by Feb. 20

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects that the country will have recorded up to 514,000 COVID-19 deaths by Feb. 20.

The CDC on Wednesday published its latest national ensemble forecast, which predicts that the country’s COVID-19 death rate will likely decrease over the next four weeks and that 13,500 to 25,000 new fatalities from the disease will likely be reported in the week ending Feb. 20. A total of 479,000 to 514,000 COVID-19 deaths are projected to be reported nationwide by this date.

Last week’s national ensemble forecast predicted there would be a total of 465,000 to 508,000 COVID-19 deaths reported nationwide by Feb. 13.

Jan 28, 5:18 am
US has detected 315 cases of UK variant so far, CDC data shows

The United States has detected at least 315 confirmed cases of the highly contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that first emerged in the United Kingdom, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

California and Florida are tied at 92 cases each for the U.S. state with the most confirmed cases of the so-called B117 variant, according to CDC data.

The variant was first identified in England in September and has since spread to dozens of other countries around the world.

Jan 28, 4:06 am
WHO team completes quarantine for pandemic probe in Wuhan, China

A World Health Organization team emerged from their 14-day quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday to begin field work in their investigation of the origins of the virus that cause the COVID-19 pandemic.

China’s COVID-19 regulations required all members of the team to complete 14 days of quarantine upon their arrival. They have been taking part in virtual meetings during the quarantine period.

The researchers were seen leaving their hotel and boarding a bus on Thursday afternoon.

Jan 28, 3:49 am
US reports over 152,000 new cases

There were 152,478 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Wednesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Wednesday’s case count is far less than the country’s all-time high of 300,282 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.

An additional 3,943 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Wednesday, down from a peak of 4,466 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.

COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend.

A total of 25,598,062 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 429,195 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.

The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before topping 300,000 on Jan. 2.

So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use — one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 27, 2021 • No Comments • National News

Amanda RhoneyBy NICOLE PELLETIERE, GMA

(GREENSBORO, N.C.) — A health care worker who lost everything in a fire is now thanking her hospital colleagues for helping her family during these hard times.

Amanda Rhoney, a nursing assistant and secretary in Wesley Long Hospital’s emergency department in Greensboro, North Carolina, was working the evening of Jan. 24 when her 10-year-old daughter Gentry called her with devastating news.

“All I could hear on the other line was her screaming that the house was on fire,” Rhoney told “Good Morning America.” “She kept saying, ‘He’s trapped in there.’ … She was talking about one of the dogs that my husband was trying to get out. My mind went to the worst possible place thinking that my husband was trapped.”

Rhoney said her husband Michael, a military veteran, was making dinner on the grill for himself, Gentry and son Mychal, 6, when the propane tank apparently caught fire, engulfing their home in flames.

No one was injured in the fire, though one of the family’s two dogs did lose consciousness from smoke inhalation. The husky recovered after Thomasville Fire and Rescue administered oxygen to the pup, Rhoney said.

“This lucky pup will live to see another day thanks to the quick work of our firefighters during a structure fire tonight,” the fire department wrote in a Facebook post about Rhoney’s dog.

Rhoney said everything was lost in the blaze including household items, school supplies and clothing. She and her family are now staying at a hotel.

Rhoney posted an update for her concerned colleagues in a private Facebook group and Joy Ingram, an emergency medical technician, stepped in.

Ingram, who’s worked with Rhoney for roughly a decade, told “GMA” that she was on the same shift with Rhoney when the call came in about the house fire.

“In the middle of a pandemic this girl has been working so hard and she actually had COVID and recovered from that. … Then [to] have her house completely destroyed, my heart went out,” Ingram said. “Everybody’s hearts went out.”

Ingram started collecting donations via GoFundMe, and also asked for people to drop clothing or household items at the hospital’s emergency department.

“They’re starting from scratch,” Ingram said. “Amanda will give you the shirt off of her back. She will do anything for you within her means and if she can’t do it, she will find someone that can. She herself has a giving heart and as a coworker she’s just phenomenal.”

Rhoney said the generosity from her hospital family and the community has been positively overwhelming.

“It’s definitely made it a whole lot easier to process,” she added. “Just a huge thank you to everyone who donated and who called to check on us.”

The Rhoneys also expect to receive help from Off-Road Outreach — an organization created to assist displaced veterans like Michael Rhoney and his family.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 27, 2021 • No Comments • National News

Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER, EMILY SHAPIRO and IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 100.2 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:

Jan 27, 9:53 am
Monoclonal antibody treatments show promising results

American biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced Wednesday that its cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies held up in laboratory experiments against new variants of the novel coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic versions of our natural antibody defense to infection. They are being studied as a way to both treat and prevent COVID-19 infection, with promising results. But unlike vaccines, which are thought to offer broader protection, some scientists have been worried that this type of therapy would be less effective against newly emerging variants of the virus.

Wednesday’s announcement is good news for Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment, REGEN-COV, though the data is still preliminary and currently under peer review.


Regeneron scientists as well as researchers at Columbia University in New York City have each independently confirmed that the casirivimab and imdevimab antibody cocktail successfully neutralized both the U.K. and South Africa variants when tested against them, according to a company press release.

REGEN-COV has not yet been tested against another variant that was first identified in Brazil. However, Regeneron said the two-antibody cocktail “is expected to remain similarly potent” based on some resemblance which the Brazil variant bears to the South Africa strain. The company said it is pursuing further confirmatory research.

It’s the latest piece of promising news about the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies as treatment for COVID-19. On Tuesday, American pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company announced that a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, was found to be effective in COVID-19 patients at high risk of severe infection, reducing the risk of hospitalization and death by 70%, according to the results of a final-stage trial.

That same day, Regeneron announced its antibody cocktail had shown positive initial results in prophylactic use — that is, helping ward off COVID-19 in those who may have been exposed to the virus. Regeneron’s chief scientific officer, Dr. George Yancopoulos, said he hopes the drug “may be able to help break this chain” of active infection and transmission.

Last Thursday, Eli Lilly released data showing bamlanivimab may help prevent disease and stop outbreaks among residents and staff of long-term care facilities.

Jan 27, 7:39 am
January becomes deadliest month for COVID-19 in US

January is now the deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic for the United States.

So far this month, 79,261 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the U.S., surpassing December’s record 77,124 deaths, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

December still holds the record for the highest number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases.

Jan 27, 7:21 am
Auschwitz survivors mark 76th anniversary online amid pandemic

The official commemoration of the 76th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation will be held online Wednesday due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial, which is located on the site of the Nazi concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, is closed for visitors until at least Jan. 31 under COVID-19 restrictions set by the Polish government.

“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the commemoration will exceptionally not be held at the Memorial, but in the virtual space,” Auschwitz Memorial spokesperson Pawel Sawicki said in a statement Tuesday evening. “The main theme of the 76th anniversary of the liberation will be the fate of children in Auschwitz.”


The online events will include testimony from survivors as well as a guided virtual tour of the Auschwitz Memorial, “aimed at enhancing the educational value for visitors from around the globe,” according to Sawicki.

Auschwitz, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, was a complex of over 40 concentration and death camps run by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland amid the Holocaust during World War II. It was the largest of the Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers. More than 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives there, mainly Jews, according to information on the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum’s website.

In January 1945, as Soviet Russia advanced deeper into Nazi-occupied Poland toward the end of the war, Nazi officers organized a forced evacuation of the Auschwitz prisoners. Almost 9,000 prisoners, most of whom were sick or suffering from exhaustion, were deemed unfit to join the death march to Germany. The Nazis intended to kill them all as part of attempts to destroy the evidence of their crimes at Auschwitz, but only managed to murder about 700 Jewish prisoners between the departure of the final evacuation column and the arrival of Soviet forces.

Soviet troops entered Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945, a day now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and liberated more than 7,000 survivors, according to the museum’s website.

Jan 27, 5:39 am
Gambia vows to name and shame those flouting COVID-19 rules

Forty people in Gambia who tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week have refused to self-isolate or have escaped treatment centers, according to the country’s health ministry, which vowed to reveal the identities of those flouting public health regulations.

Officials are also aware of a “large number of travelers who recently arrived” in the small West African nation from countries considered COVID-19 hotspots and “have refused to abide to official protocols and/or report to the health authorities for the mandatory test upon arrival,” said Modou Njai, director of health promotion and education at Gambia’s Ministry of Health.

“The Ministry continues to treat these matters with utmost and grave concern and thus, the Ministry is hereby giving an order and ultimatum to all those concerned, that they are required to report themselves to the health authorities with immediate effect and failure of which will lead to serious consequences, including the publication of names and identifying information of all those at large,” Njai said in a statement Tuesday.

“The Ministry would like to stress that this serious and ruthless misconduct will no longer be condoned under any circumstances,” he added. “Anyone found not willing to cooperate with COVID-19 regulations will have their names and identifying information published on the media and thereafter, drastic measures will be taken against anyone that is non-compliant.”

Gambia, home to some 2.3 million people, has confirmed 4,008 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 128 deaths, according to the latest data from the health ministry.

Jan 27, 4:06 am
US reports over 142,000 new cases

There were 142,511 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Tuesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Tuesday’s case count is far less than the country’s all-time high of 298,031 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.

An additional 3,990 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Tuesday, down from a peak of 4,462 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.

COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend.

A total of 25,443,700 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 425,216 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.

The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before nearing 300,000 on Jan. 2.

So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use — one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 26, 2021 • No Comments • National News

Grafton Police DepartmentBy IVAN PEREIERA, SASHA PEZENIK, and ALEXANDER MALLIN, ABC News

(GRAFTON, Wis.) — A Wisconsin pharmacist pleaded guilty to two federal charges Tuesday and admitted that he tampered with over 500 doses of a coronavirus vaccine, the Department of Justice announced.

Steven Brandenburg, 46, of Grafton, Wisconsin, faces up to 20 years in person on two counts of attempting to tamper with consumer products with reckless disregard for the risk that another person will be placed in danger of death or bodily injury, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Brandenburg admitted to removing 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from cold storage at Advocate Aurora Health Hospital on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, leaving them out to spoil overnight, according to federal prosecutors. The suspect said he was skeptical of vaccines in general and the Moderna vaccine specifically, according to the plea agreement.

“Tampering with vaccine doses in the midst of a global health crisis calls for a strong response, as reflected by the serious charges the United States has brought today,” acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division said in a statement.

Brandenburg’s attorney declined to comment about the deal.

“The FDA has ensured that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine meets the agency’s rigorous standards for quality, safety, and efficacy,” FDA Assistant Commissioner for Criminal Investigations Catherine A. Hermsen said in a statement.

About 57 doses from the tampered vials were distributed to patients, according to federal prosecutors.

Brandenburg was arrested on New Year’s Eve. He was released conditionally to his home four days later after Wisconsin prosecutors said they needed more time for test results from Moderna to determine the exact damage the pharmacist caused when he tampered with the 57 vials, each of which contained about 100 doses.

Last week, Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said tests were still ongoing, but “the best evidence at this point is that the vaccine remains viable.”

Brandenburg’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 26, 2021 • No Comments • National News

narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER and IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 99.7 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

Jan 26, 9:43 am
Europe’s longest land border closes over new variant

Europe’s longest land border, spanning more than 1,000 miles, has closed for the first time since World War II.

Sweden’s temporary ban on entry from neighboring Norway went into effect Monday and will last until at least Feb. 14. The Swedish government has also extended an entry ban from the United Kingdom and Denmark until the same date.


The move comes amid concerns over a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first identified in the U.K. and has since spread to Norway’s capital and the surrounding area.

On Saturday, shortly before Sweden announced the new travel ban, the Norwegian government imposed strict new lockdown measures for Oslo and nine neighboring municipalities due to an outbreak of the variant.

Jan 26, 9:07 am
South Africa tells rich countries to stop hoarding COVID-19 vaccines

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has accused wealthy countries of hoarding excess doses of COVID-19 vaccines that they had ordered but did not immediately need.

He said rich countries had “acquired large doses of vaccines” — some “up to four times what their population needs” — “to the exclusion of other countries.”

“We need those who have hoarded the vaccines to release the vaccines so that other countries can have them,” Ramaphosa told a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum on Tuesday. “We are all not safe if some countries are vaccinating their people and other countries are not.”

Ramaphosa’s comments come as African nations grapple with a rising number of COVID-19 infections. South Africa accounts for nearly half of the continent’s confirmed cases and deaths from the disease, according to the latest data from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ramaphosa chairs the African Union, which secured a provisional 270 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from manufacturers last week for its 55 member states across the continent. Ramaphosa said those doses will supplement the 600 million to be acquired from the COVAX Facility, a global initiative co-led by the World Health Organization to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries regardless of income.

Jan 26, 8:31 am
Biden is a ‘game-changer’ for COVID-19 response, New Jersey governor says

Having Joe Biden in the Oval Office versus Donald Trump is a “complete game-changer” for the country’s COVID-19 response, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said.

“Two ways: obsession with this, knowing that public health creates economic health, and a consistent national strategy as opposed to a patchwork quilt. It’s a complete game-changer over the past six days,” Murphy, a Democrat, told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Tuesday on Good Morning America.

Murphy said his state, like many others, desperately needs more doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

“We need more doses,” he said. “The Biden administration knows that, they’ve entered into what I think is an empty cupboard and they’re frantically, I know, obsessed with building that supply back.”

New Jersey has confirmed more than 666,000 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including at least 20,972 deaths. The Garden State has administered 551,209 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Tuesday morning, according to real-time data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delivered almost double the amount of vaccine doses to New Jersey than have been administered there. Murphy said part of the issue is that a federally-run long-term care channel is putting aside doses in advance of visits to nursing homes and other care facilities.

“So it looks like they’re not getting used. Those are actually earmarked for distribution over the next week or two,” he said. “And then on the state side, … we’re not throwing any doses away, I promise you that. … We are putting as many shots in the arms as possible.”

In order for New Jersey to meet the goal of vaccinating 70% of its population within six months, Murphy said the state needs two or three times the weekly dosage of COVID-19 vaccines that they’re currently getting.

“I’m confident we’ll get there,” he said. “It’s not going to be as early as we had hoped, but I’m confident we’re going to get there and I think by the time we turn to the summer, we’re in a whole different place.”

Biden aims to reopen all elementary schools and bring students for in-person learning within the first 100 days of his presidency, but Murphy said New Jersey will likely have to do a mix of remote and in-person learning.

“I’m not sure we can do it all in, fully in-person,” he said. “I think the game-changer will be whether or not we can get the vaccinations for our educators.”

Jan 26, 4:32 am
US reports over 147,000 new cases

There were 147,254 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Monday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Monday’s case count is far less than the country’s all-time high of 298,031 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.

An additional 1,758 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Monday, down from a peak of 4,462 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.

COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend.

A total of 25,297,072 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 421,129 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.

The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before nearing 300,000 on Jan. 2.

So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use — one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.