January 12 coronavirus news

States need more money, and they need it quickly, to help speed the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, the Infectious Diseases Society of America said Tuesday.

Changes in vaccine policy announced by the federal government earlier Tuesday will help, the group said. Operation Warp Speed said it would stop holding back half of the vaccine supply to ensure people get second doses. US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also urged states to start vaccinating everyone 65 and older, as well as people with underlying conditions. He also said states should start setting up mass vaccination sites and move out of hospitals alone.

Those announcements are an “important step,” IDSA said, but not enough. A new bill signed by President Trump late last month will get $8 billion to states for vaccine distribution – months after states asked for it.

“As vaccination across our country is accelerated, timely and adequate supply chains will be critical to evidence-based dosing. Federal authorities must be prepared to strengthen support for the manufacture of new doses to ensure the vaccine can be provided in accordance with emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Transparency and advance notice of vaccine supplies will be critical to planning,” she added.

And clear communication is key to making sure people understand and accept vaccine policies, she said.

California is seeing a glimmer of guarded optimism in what Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly called the “biggest sign that things are beginning to flatten or improve.”

Hospital admissions over the past two days are down by about 1,000 to approximately 2,500 patients being checked in. Before that around 3,500 patients were admitted each day.

Though Ghaly said he wouldn’t “declare victory in any way,” he is pleased to see less impact at the moment, especially for the hospital systems that have been overwhelmed by the tsunami of Covid-19 patients.

California’s health officials are revamping vaccine rollout plans, and will issue new guidance within 24 hours, Ghaly announced today. The state’s vaccine advisory group is working on recommendations today to align with new federal guidance. Ghaly said the revised guidelines will be applied statewide, not county by county.

To date, California has received nearly three million Covid-19 vaccine doses, though only about 25% have been administered. According to Ghaly’s estimate, fewer than 100,000 health care workers have received both needed doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Mass vaccination sites are being set up at a number of sites, including Disneyland, and more are expected to be announced this week, as providers are pressed to ensure that all doses are administered.

“By all means, don’t waste vaccine,” Ghaly urged.

A new variant of coronavirus first discovered in the UK – known as  B.1.1.7 or VOC 202012/01 – has been found in at least 50 countries, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to the World Health Organization.

Experts say that while the variant appears to be more transmissible than other strains, there is no evidence it’s deadlier or causes more severe disease.

“Since first detected on 14 December 2020, VOC 202012/01 has been detected in 50 countries, territories and areas across five of the six WHO regions to date. In England, the variant has been detected in all regions and almost all local authorities,” WHO said in its weekly report on the pandemic.

This is a separate variant from one first identified in South Africa, which has been detected in 20 countries, WHO said.

“It is well known that viruses constantly change through mutation, and so the emergence of new variants is an expected occurrence. Many mutations have no impact on the virus itself while some could be detrimental to the virus and few may result in an advantage to the virus,” WHO said.

In the United States, the variant has been detected in at least 11 states including hotspots like New York, California and Florida.

More scientists in more countries need to be collecting and sequencing samples of coronavirus to help the world keep an eye out for dangerous new mutations, World Health Organization scientists said Tuesday. 

“Our collective goal is to get ahead of the game and have a global mechanism to quickly identify and study variants of concern and understand their implications for disease control efforts,” said Dr. Ana Maria Henao Restrepo, head of WHO’s Research and Development Blueprint. 

“So far an astounding 350,000 sequences have been publicly shared, but most come from just a handful of countries. Improving the geographic coverage of sequencing is critical for the world to have eyes and ears on changes to the virus,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on Covid-19.

WHO sponsored a virtual meeting of 1,750 experts Tuesday, and said helping increase the global capacity for running genetic sequences of viruses is a priority. 

Some background: New variants have been spotted in Britain and South Africa that appear to be more easily transmitted, although the pattern of mutations in each do not appear to make the virus otherwise more dangerous.

But scientists note that the more people become infected with coronavirus, the more opportunities it will have to change into new forms, and some of them may end up causing more severe disease.

Georgia is making “significant progress” in administering the Covid-19 vaccine, according to Gov. Brian Kemp. 

He said that he “knew there was going to be logistical challenges” to meet the demands for the vaccine rollout, and said they are planning large-scale vaccine distribution sites to help. 

“Our goal is to make sure that we’re getting every dose that we have in an arm. We’ve made great progress since Friday, but we have to make more progress this week,” Kemp said at a news conference with Kathleen Toomey, the state's public health director.

“Over the last week the number of vaccines administered in Georgia has increased by 102,183, which is a 97% increase,” Kemp said, stressing that with Operation Warp Speed they expect to be able to vaccinate all residents in Georgia nursing homes by the end of this month. 

Kemp said he is “encouraged by the obvious demand for the vaccine,” but said he knows it is impossible to vaccinate everyone immediately. 

“Yes the phone lines will be busy, yes the websites will certainly crash. There is simply, vastly more Georgian’s that want the vaccine than can get it today. This is no doubt frustrating,” Kemp said.       

Kemp is asking residents to be patient as the state works to get as many people vaccinated as possible when the supply becomes available from the federal government.  

Air travelers to the US will have to show a negative coronavirus test before they may board a flight, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The new order takes effect Jan. 26. 

The CDC expressed concern about new variants of the virus that appear to be more transmissible, although dozens of such cases have already been found across the US.

“Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to emerge in countries around the world, and there is evidence of increased transmissibility of some of these variants. With the US already in surge status, the testing requirement for air passengers will help slow the spread of the virus as we work to vaccinate the American public,” the CDC said in a statement.

The CDC said the airlines must confirm the negative test and if a passenger doesn't take one, the airline should not let them board.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in the statement that while testing does not eliminate all risk "when combined with a period of staying at home and everyday precautions like wearing masks and social distancing, it can make travel safer, healthier, and more responsible by reducing spread on planes, in airports, and at destinations."

More than 9 million people have received the first dose of their coronavirus vaccine and more than 27 million doses have been distributed, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

The CDC’s regular report on vaccine distribution and administration shows 27,696,150 vaccine doses have gone to states and territories and 9,327,128 doses have gone into people’s arms. That means one-third of vaccines that have been delivered have been given to people.

The CDC said 951,774 residents of long-term care facilities have been vaccinated, with nearly 4.4 million doses sent out to the facilities – which were designated to be the first sites covered under vaccine rollout.

Officials of Operation Warp Speed defended the slow rollout of vaccines on Tuesday, saying states were sticking too rigidly to guidance designating health care workers and nursing home residents to be vaccinated first. They said the rollout would speed up soon and asked states to open up vaccination to everyone 65 and older and to younger people with chronic conditions.

Close to 2.3 million children in the US have tested positive for Covid-19 as of Jan. 7, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Children represent 12.5% of all cases in the US, a rate of 3,055 cases per 100,000 children in the population, the academy said. 

The group said 171,000 new cases have been identified through testing in children just last week alone. 

The weekly report is based on data collected by the AAP and the Children's Hospital Association from 49 states, New York City, Puerto Rico and Guam. In most states, the definition of "child" age range was 0-19.

Only 10 states provided information on testing. In those states, children made up between 6%-17.8% of total state tests, and between 7.1%-25.9% of children tested positive for Covid-19. 

The good news is that data also reflects what public health experts have been saying for some time. Children are less likely than adults to be hospitalized for Covid-19 and die from the illness. Based on the information provided by 24 states and New York City, children represented 1.2%-2.8% of total reported hospitalizations for Covid-19. Only 0.2%-3.1% of all cases of Covid-19 in children required hospitalization. 

Among the 42 states providing data on Covid-19 mortality, 13 states reported zero deaths in children related to the virus. States that did report deaths saw no more than 0.2% of deaths in children among all confirmed cases of Covid-19. 

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to sign an order today or tomorrow requiring all international airline passengers to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test before boarding flights to the US, a federal health official tells CNN.

The order will go into effect two weeks after it’s signed by the CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield. The new requirement was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The rule is expected to be similar to one put in place last month for passengers from the UK to the US, which requires that passengers have a negative test within three days of boarding their flight.

For the UK requirement that went through last month, airlines can be subject to criminal penalties if they fail to comply, and passengers can be subject to criminal penalties if they willfully give false or misleading information. 

An airline industry group has expressed support for the new measure. 

“[We are] writing to express our support for a [CDC] proposal to control the spread of COVID-19, including variants of the virus, by implementing a global program to require testing for travelers to the United States,” the industry group Airlines for America wrote to Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 4.