On Friday, the White House announced plans to invest $ 1.7 billion in genetic sequencing – the process of mapping the genetic code for the virus – to help countries discover and limit the spread of COVID-19 variants.
The funding comes from President Joe Biden Nearly $ 2 trillion in relief package It will be used to collect COVID samples, sequencing the virus and sharing data, according to the White House Fact Sheet. The first portion of the funding will be allocated in early May through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The money will be used to collect COVID samples, sequence the virus and share subsequent data, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.
Until recently, only a fraction of the samples had been sequenced in the United States, but the Biden administration invested $ 200 million in sequencing, quadrupling the test rate in mid-February.
The investment also includes $ 400 million to create six “Centers of Excellence in Genomic Epidemiology,” a partnership between state health departments and academic research and development institutions, and $ 300 million to create a national bioinformatics system for sharing and analyzing sequence data. Management will allocate the first portion of the funding in early May, with a second tranche expected to be invested over the next several years.
– Courtney Subramanian
Also in the news:
The governor said Friday that the coronavirus vaccination campaign in West Virginia is slowing as fewer people apply to get injections. The state’s rate of vaccine supply management is around 85%, down from higher numbers early in the year when the state temporarily led the nation in the most people who get vaccinated.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Pfizer will double the amount of vaccines to Canada over the next month and announced that the Red Cross is ready to deploy to Ontario to help with vaccinations, amid a record wave of coronavirus infections fueled by the variants.
The growing number of vacant appointments and the decrease in nursing home workers are early signs that vaccine frequency is becoming a problem in Pennsylvania, prompting state officials to sound the alarm Friday and urge residents to get their COVID-19 shots as quickly as possible.
American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Communities Get over $ 4 billion From Biden coronavirus relief legislation, the White House said Friday. The money will help address a range of issues, including vaccinating more people, improving testing and contact tracing, and compensating tribal health systems for revenue lost during the coronavirus lockdown.
► There are now 77 cases in the United Kingdom of the new Corona virus variant that was discovered in India, the first of which dates back to February, Watchman mentioned. This comes as India recorded 217,353 new cases on Friday, the highest number of cases in a single day, according to the report. Hindustan Times.
On Friday, the White House announced a new mass vaccination site in Bismere, Alabama, which has the capacity to administer 7,000 shots per week. By next week, there will be a total of 37 such sites in 26 states.
Johnson & Johnson asked Moderna and Pfizer to join a study on the risk of blood clots, but competitors declined, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Wall Street Journal reports that J&J has also requested AstraZeneca, which was interested in doing a joint study.
Travelers visiting Maui, the second most popular Hawaiian vacation destination after Oahu, will have to take The second COVID-19 test to bypass the mandatory state quarantine.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 31.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 564,000 deaths, According to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: More than 139 million cases, 2.98 million deaths. More than 255.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the United States and 198.3 million vaccine doses. According to the CDC.
📘 What we read: Siblings are fighting. Couples are at odds. How to repair relationships damaged by the Coronavirus.
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The United States reports that 30% of adults are fully vaccinated
The United States reports 30% of adults have received a full vaccine, and nearly 50% of the adult population in the United States has received at least one vaccine dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But we are still far from herd immunity. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the number could be as high as 85%.
Meanwhile, people will likely need a third dose of Pfizer / BioNTech within 12 months of a full vaccination, Pfizer CEO Albert Burla told CNBC Thursday. Annual doses may also be required, Burla said.
Additionally, Fauci said this week that people may need to get booster shots of the COVID vaccines within a year, during an interview with Medhi Hasan of MSNBC. Fauci said recent data indicate that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines provide protection for at least six months.
Florida mayors say the governor’s orders have exacerbated the spring vacation and the further spread of the Coronavirus
The deans of some of Florida’s most popular spring break destinations say they are He had little power to stop the revelers From the gatherings in their cities last month, and the spread of the Corona virus.
In the four weeks between March 13 and Tuesday, infections in Florida’s spring break hotspots increased more than anywhere else in the state, according to an analysis from the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Local officials said DeSantis shares the blame for it because it has removed the ability of cities and counties to enforce anti-coronavirus rules. On March 10, he ordered local governments to scrap fines on companies that violate disease-fighting measures, and asked state lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow him to revoke local masks’ mandates.
– Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post
COVID-19 infection after vaccination is rare but breakthroughs can occur.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that of the more than 75 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated, only 5,800 have contracted COVID-19 infection after the vaccine – or so-called. Breakthrough infections.
So far, just over 40% of SIDS have been in people 60 or older and 65% in females, said Christine Nordlund of CDC Public Affairs.
Approximately 30% of those infected with this infection have no symptoms at all. But 7% were hospitalized, she said, and only 1% died.
Karen Weintraub, USA Today
Stimulus checks of $ 1,400 helped boost retail sales in March by 9.8%
After being newly vaccinated and armed with $ 1,400 stimulus checks, Americans spent a spending spree last month. Retail It rose by a seasonally adjusted 9.8% in March After falling nearly 3% the previous month, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The increase was larger than the 5.5% increase that Wall Street analysts had forecast, and the largest since May of last year, when stores reopened after being closed at the start of the pandemic.
This is the latest sign that the economy is improving. Last month, 916,000 jobs were added, the most since August.
– News agency
Some health experts are concerned that the Johnson & Johnson stoppage could cause “ serious harm ” to the public’s perception of COVID-19 vaccines.
The US government-recommended temporary pause of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine due to a rare side effect will remain at least another week, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee decided on Wednesday it needed time to evaluate more data.
With more than 3.7 million injections of Johnson & Johnson injections in the two and a half weeks before the April 13 stoppage, additional information on this rare blood clotting case is expected. But some health experts fear that prolonging the downtime could do more harm than good.
“When you have a long downtime that doesn’t resolve quickly, it triggers anxiety and fear on the part of people who are already reluctant to receive the vaccine,” said Dr. Arthur Kaplan, professor of biomedical ethics at New York University School of Medicine in New York City.
Health experts Not only are people concerned that they will become more hesitant about getting a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but they fear that people will avoid the COVID-19 vaccines altogether. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines approved for use in the US are a different technology from J&J and one from AstraZeneca, which has also been associated with similar blood clots in Europe.
Adriana Rodriguez
The Florida Commissioner of Education is asking schools to make masks optional for the 2021-22 school year
Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran He issued a speech Wednesday Require school districts to amend mask policies for the 2021-22 school year to make masks optional.
Corcoran said the Department of Education reviewed data from across the state and found no correlation between sweeping mask mandates and the presence of COVID-19 in schools.
“The data show us that face-covering policies in regions do not affect the spread of the virus,” Corcoran wrote, calling for more “surgical – not comprehensive” policies.
Corcoran said families should have the option to determine if their child wears a face covering. He added that students with disabilities and those learning English were particularly hindered by the “one size fits all” mask policies and some families may have chosen to withdraw their children from school because of this mandate.
His letter concludes with a request that “the provinces that are currently implementing the mandatory face-covering policy (in order to) review their policy to be voluntary for the school year 22-2021”.
– Ryan McKinnon, Sarasota Herald Tribune
Contribution: The Associated Press
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