Authorities on Thursday announced that two people in South Carolina had been diagnosed with a more contagious strain of the coronavirus that was first detected in South Africa. This is the first time the variant has been reported in the US
On Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report finding that the state could have underestimated COVID-19’s deaths of nursing home residents by as much as 50%. New York experienced the first major outbreak of the coronavirus last year, and nursing homes in particular were hit hard.
More than 430,000 people have been killed and more than 25.7 million cases have been reported in the US since the start of the pandemic, according to NBC News.
Here are the latest coronavirus updates from the United States and elsewhere:
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine provides strong protection against COVID-19, was less effective against new variants
Johnson & Johnson says the vaccine appears to be protected against COVID-19 with just one shot. It is not as strong as some two-stroke competitors, yet useful for a world that needs more doses.
The results released on Friday show that the single-vaccine vaccine was 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe illness and much more protective against the most severe symptoms.
The vaccine worked better in the US compared to South Africa, where it faced a more severe, mutated virus. The company says it will soon submit an application for emergency use in the US and thereafter abroad.
Read the full story here.
‘COVID Tongue’ could be another virus symptom, suggests British researcher
There may be another addition to the growing list of strange possible symptoms of the new coronavirus: ‘COVID tongue’.
A British researcher who helps detect COVID-19 warning signs reports more cases of infected people complaining of tongue discoloration, enlargement and other oral problems, reports NBC News.
‘See an increasing number of Covid tongues and strange mouth sores. If you have a strange symptom or even just have headaches and fatigue, stay home! ‘Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, tweeted this month.
He believes that more than a third of COVID-19 patients, 35 percent, have non-classic symptoms of the disease in the first three days, so it is important to pay attention to skin rashes, Covid toes and other warning signs which is ‘ignored,’ he wrote.
Spector did not respond to a request for comment, but other researchers also reported tongue and mouth symptoms associated with the new coronavirus.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com
NJ Hospital gives early COVID vaccines to donors, relatives of drivers: report
Among the first people to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at a New Jersey medical center were the relatives of top managers in the hospital and some of its trustees and donors, according to a published report.
The shots were fired by Hunterdon Medical Center in December and early January, at a time when only frontline health workers and residents of long-term care facilities are eligible, NBC New York reports.
A registry of vaccine recipients, obtained by New Jersey 101.5 FM, indicated that shots were fired after two years of hospital donors and at least seven spouses and two adult children of medical directors, administrators or managers of the health care network. The radio station said it was a whistleblower who did not identify the register.
Some recipients were in their twenties, an age group that would probably not qualify for the vaccine for many months.
A hospital spokesman said donors and board members did not enjoy preference over eligible persons or persons at risk, but that they did receive the vaccine when the recipients were ineligible, rather than that those doses of that vaccine go to waste.
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