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In the headings:
► President-elect Joe Biden will share more details on Friday afternoon about his $ 1.9 billion spending package aimed at speeding up the spread of coronavirus vaccines and causing economic relief from the pandemic. The package proposal involves investing $ 20 billion in a national vaccination program, $ 1,400 stimulus tests and expanding unemployment insurance supplements to $ 400 a week. More here.
► As of Friday, the United Kingdom bans arrivals from South America following evidence of a new variant of the coronavirus in Brazil.
► The coronavirus pandemic will lower the life expectancy of Americans at birth by more than a year, according to a study by the University of Southern California and Princeton University published on Thursday. The expectation is that the life expectancy for black and Latino population will decrease 30% to 40% more than the white population.
► Disneyland has announced that it will end its annual passport program on Thursday, at the same time offering a refund to pass holders from 2020 after COVID-19 visitors closed most of the year outside the theme park.
► Texas has distributed more than 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, government Greg Abbott announced Thursday as the state increases mass vaccination efforts while hospitals struggle with record numbers of patients.
► A false rumor that extra vaccine doses were available fed people on the sidewalks and cars that filled the roads in New York City. And more than 100 people went to the Bay Area sites, although they do not qualify for the vaccines, after a bug with the California vaccination portal, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
► A study in Nevada released on Wednesday says that about one-third of the state’s residents are unlikely to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
📈 Today’s numbers: According to Johns Hopkins University data, the U.S. has more than 23.3 million cases of coronavirus and more than 388,500 deaths. The global total: More than 93 million cases and 1.99 million deaths.
📘 What we read: U.S. health officials are urging Americans to ask their doctors about monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 treatment. But is it too little, too late? Read more here.
CDC model projects nearly half a million COVID-19 deaths by February
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that the country will soon reach a bad milestone if it continues to record COVID-19 daily deaths than at any point during the pandemic.
The agency’s weekly ensemble forecast predicts that 16,200 to 29,600 new COVID-19 deaths are likely to be reported in the week ended February 6, reaching up to 477,000 total deaths by that date.
The ensemble forecast consists of 39 different models from across the country that are combined into a total forecast to predict COVID-19 deaths over the next four weeks.
NIH maintains guidelines for use of parasite pill during treatment with COVID-19
The National Institutes of Health announced on Thursday that it was reviewing its warning against taking ivermectin, a pill for treating parasites, which is commonly found in heartworm medicines, as a coronary or human coronavirus prevention.
Ivermectin did the social and mainstream media round in April after being mentioned in studies, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned against using it. A panel at the NIH is reviewing the warnings and says there is insufficient data to recommend for or against the use of ivermectin for coronavirus treatment.
But do not buy heartworm medication for dogs yet – ivermectin, according to the panel, has not been approved by the FDA for the treatment of any viral infection. Although the drugs are currently being studied as a possible treatment for COVID-19, the panel said they “could not draw definitive conclusions about the clinical efficacy or safety of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19.”
Elected President Joe Biden’s COVID plan calls for 100 million shots in the first 100 days
Elected President Joe Biden wants Americans to receive 100 million COVID-19 vaccine shots during the first 100 days of his administration, a lofty goal to stop a slow onset of the country’s vaccine explosion.
Biden gave little detail on how his government would reach the ambitious timeline during a speech on Thursday night on its proposed $ 1.9 billion economic recovery package. He plans to share more information about his vaccine plan on Friday.
“This will be one of the most challenging operational efforts we have ever undertaken as a nation,” Biden said. “We will have to move heaven and earth to get more people vaccinated, to create more places to be vaccinated, to mobilize more medical teams to shoot people in the arms.”
Biden is proposing $ 20 billion for a national vaccination program with states, local government and tribes and will include community vaccination centers and mobile vaccination units to reach remote areas.
– Ken Alltucker
Researchers discover new variants of the American COVID-19 virus
Research teams at two universities announced Thursday that they have found a new variant of COVID-19.
A research team from the University of Southern Illinois has discovered a new variant of the COVID-19 virus that is specific to and dominant in the US, addressing the growing list of mutations such as those discovered in the UK and South Africa , added. a statement.
“It’s here. We found it,” Keith Gagnon, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at SIU, said, “it’s definitely homemade and widespread, and we’re the first to feature it.”
It can be more easily transmitted than other variants, and its impact on vaccines is uncertain, the university said.
Scientists from Ohio State University have also discovered a new variant of SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The new variant has a mutation that is identical to the strain in the United Kingdom, but it probably originated in a virus strain that already exists in the United States.
Contributing Contributions: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared in the US TODAY: COVID: Biden Help Plan $ 1400 checks; Disney terminates passport updates