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Covid infections and hospitalizations have dropped sharply in most areas from early January peaks, signaling a likely decline in deaths in the coming days. But progress could stall with the spread of new virus variants, the easing of restrictions and the possible impact of Super Bowl gatherings.
With Latino and Black communities hardest hit by coronavirus infections and deaths also having less access to vaccines in many areas, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the New York City borough with the highest poverty rate, opened today as a mass vaccination site.
The death rate for Latinos in Los Angeles is almost triple that of white residents. Also: a fraud doctor sentenced, Google pays for discrimination, heatwave deaths spike in Arizona, scientists find sea lion cancer culprit, and more.
A new single-dose coronavirus vaccine will soon be in front of the Food and Drug Administration, and could get emergency authorization in February. The news comes as models show U.S. Covid-19 deaths reaching about 500,000 by Feb. 20.
Travel bans cover non-U.S. travelers from countries including South Africa and Brazil. Also: vaccine chasers, a clemency "kick in the teeth," costly chemicals, and more.
U.S. deaths from the coronavirus are about to pass the nation's toll from World War II, which claimed 418,500 American lives. Nearly one of every 800 Americans has died in the pandemic. President Biden has issued a series of directives to ramp up federal efforts to control the virus.
The U.S. Covid death toll surges past 400,000. Also: vaccination pays, driverless cars get a green light, smoke is in the air, and more in today's Warning Wire.
Officials in Los Angeles County estimate that the coronavirus has infected one in three residents. That works out to more than 3 million people in the county of 10 million, where Covid-19 has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Disneyland and Dodger Stadium are appointed new vaccination stations in California, while the rollout is stalled in New York and bungled at major hospitals all over. Also: the riot gets infectious, big job losses for women, and SCOTUS weighs climate change.
The CDC projects there could be 405,000 to 438,000 U.S. deaths by the end of the month. If that proves correct, about 40,000 to 73,000 more people will lose their lives to Covid in the next three weeks.
In the U.S., a record 77,572 people died from the coronavirus in December, with a death now occurring about every 33 seconds. The cumulative death toll for the country now exceeds 354,000. About 21 million people—one out of 16 in the U.S.—have tested positive.
California has recorded more new infections than many entire countries--including Britain, Germany and India--in the last couple of days. Capacity in hospital intensive care units in Southern California dropped to zero percent.
The first coronavirus vaccinations were administered in the United States Monday, the same day that the number of people in the U.S. who have died from Covid-19 passed 300,000.
On Wednesday, more people in the U.S. died of the coronavirus than were killed in the 9/11 attacks. But hope is on the way, as some health care workers and nursing home residents could be rolling up their sleeves by early next week.
Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old woman from Coventry, England, received the first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial on Tuesday morning. Keenan said she was looking forward to seeing friends and family in the new year, after spending most of this year alone.
