February 2 coronavirus news

Several Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Joe Biden to increase the supply and availability of higher quality masks, and to encourage the education of the public on which masks are most effective.

In a letter published Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Ro Khanna of California urged Biden to “consider invoking the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of higher quality masks, including N95 or other medical grade masks.” 

The letter recommends the use of the United States Postal Service to distribute the highest quality medical-grade masks and the creation of pick-up locations in local communities.

The lawmakers also ask Biden to direct the CDC and FDA to “provide the public with clear, actionable, and specific information on how to discern which masks are most effective and where they can get them, as well as how to utilize existing options.”

With multiple new coronavirus strains spreading across the country, Americans need to get vaccinated as quickly as possible to stop more mutations from emerging, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

Speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer later Monday, Fauci said even if someone has had coronavirus, there's a "very high rate" of being reinfected with the new variants if they become dominant.

"If it becomes dominant, the experience of our colleagues in South Africa indicate that even if you've been infected with the original virus that there is a very high rate of reinfection to the point where previous infection does not seem to protect you against reinfection," Fauci said on CNN.

He emphasized the importance of getting vaccinated to prevent severe and potentially fatal illness that may require hospitalization.

"Even though there is a diminished protection against the variants, there's enough protection to prevent you from getting serious disease, including hospitalization and deaths," Fauci said. "So, vaccination is critical."

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Democrats on Capitol Hill are willing to allow President Joe Biden the opportunity to attempt to garner Republican support for his broad Covid-19 relief package -- but they aren't willing to wait long, or to shrink the size of the package as GOP leaders are suggesting.  

The universal urgency felt by congressional Democrats was demonstrated by the decision to immediately introduce budget resolutions that begin the process of passing the relief package through reconciliation.

That process could take up to a month, which would give Republicans the chance to come to the table -- but also leaves open the option to get the job done without them. For Democrats, the timeline is the priority, not getting Republicans to support the plan. 

More than 443,000 people in the United States have died of Covid-19 since the pandemic began about a year ago. About 22% of those deaths -- more than 95,000 -- were reported in January, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

December was the second deadliest month with more than 77,000 reported deaths, followed by April with nearly 61,000 reported deaths. 

More than half of all Covid-19 deaths were reported in those three months: January 2021, December 2020 and April 2020. 

The seven-day average of new cases has dropped nearly every day since reaching a peak on Jan. 8, but reported deaths remain high. In January, there were more than 3,000 deaths reported each day, on average. 

There's no evidence that animals are playing a significant role in the spread of coronavirus to humans, but precautions can help keep people and their pets safe, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said Monday.

Evidence suggests that Covid-19 likely originated in animals before becoming widespread among humans.

"As of the middle of January, we're aware of 187 animals from 22 countries with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection," Behravesh said, noting those numbers do not include mink on mink farms. She added that no animal deaths have yet been linked to the virus.

The CDC is closely tracking research on coronavirus infections in animals and has categorized some animals based off their risk of infection. Animals that are highly susceptible to the virus include cats, hamsters, non-human primates, rabbits, mink and deer, Behravesh said.

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If she'd waited to get vaccinated until it was her "tier's" turn, Isabela Medina wouldn't have gotten the Covid-19 vaccine until late summer.

She wasn't willing to wait.

Medina, a healthy 25-year-old, moved across the country to live with her parents on the East Coast after her work in the film industry dried up. Anxious to return to work safely, Medina decided in mid-January to go "vaccine dumpster diving."

Though a dumpster, this was not. Rather than dig through a hospital's garbage for vials, Medina staked out a grocery store pharmacy. She wanted to score a leftover vaccine.

She and a friend arrived in the early afternoon, prepared to wait. A line formed behind them. Hours later, when the day's appointments were done, pharmacy staff offered up eight leftover vaccines. Medina and her friend gleefully claimed two of them.

Medina is what has been described by many on the internet as a "vaccine hunter," or someone who stalks a pharmacy or vaccination site for leftovers.

These vaccine seekers, spurred by reports of doses being dumped and feeling antsy for the country's vaccine rollout to pick up the pace, say they want to prevent waste -- by getting their shot early.

They see it as a win-win: They get vaccinated and a precious dose of the Covid-19 vaccine doesn't end up in the trash. But their gain is also a symptom of a lack of coordination in the US vaccination plan -- the initial rollout was much slower than expected, delaying President Joe Biden's plan for "100 million vaccinations in 100 days."

The lucky -- and privileged -- few who get vaccinated early assure what they're doing isn't wrong, although it certainly feels unfair to those who don't have the time or resources to "hunt" for their own.

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