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» Puerto Rico lifts curfew, opens up to vaccinated visitors; lottery, cash incentives for vaccinations get federal OK: Live COVID-19 updates - msnNOW
Puerto Rico lifts curfew, opens up to vaccinated visitors; lottery, cash incentives for vaccinations get federal OK: Live COVID-19 updates - msnNOW
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One more encouraging sign about the pandemic for Americans: Puerto Rico, a popular travel destination that was the first U.S. state or territory to go into lockdown, has lifted its nightly curfew.
Morderna says vaccine 100% effective in kids 12 to 15 after second dose
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The island has seen a 58% decline in new infections over the last two weeks after enduring a dramatic spike in April. Besides ending the nightly curfew after more than a year, Puerto Rico will now allow admittance to vaccinated visitors without a negative coronavirus test result. Business capacity will also increase to 50%.
Unvaccinated visitors to the U.S. commonwealth, where tourism is rising amid pent-up demand for travel, will still be required to present a negative coronavirus test or promise to offer a test result within 48 hours. Those who don't comply could face a $300 fine.
Puerto Rico had been under some form of nightly curfew – at least from midnight until 5 a.m. – since March 15, 2020, when its first coronavirus case was reported. But daily cases have plummeted from a weekly average of more than 1,000 at the height of the April surge to about 150.
According to CDC data, 40% of Puerto Rican adults are fully vaccinated and 56% have received at least one dose.
►School districts from California to Michigan are offering free prom tickets and deploying mobile vaccination teams to inoculate students 12 and older so everyone can return to classrooms in the fall. Officials are concerned that once school lets out, it will be tough to get enough teens vaccinated.
►Stephen Colbert’s late-night show will return on June 14 to episodes with a full studio audience, CBS said. Audience members must provide proof of vaccination to attend shows at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater.
►Vermont is expected to reach 80% of eligible residents vaccinated within 10 days, then the remaining pandemic-related restrictions will be dropped, state officials said Tuesday. Vermont is a leader in vaccinations; the nationwide goal is 70% by July 4.
►San Diego County and private businesses have donated 10,000 coronavirus vaccines for workers at U.S.-owned border assembly plants in Tijuana, Mexican officials said.
📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 33.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 590,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 167.4 million cases and 3.47 million deaths. More than 359 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and more than 287.7 million administered, according to the CDC. More than 131 million Americans have been fully vaccinated – 39.5% of the population.
📘 What we're reading: People with compromised immune systems face potential threat from people not vaccinated for COVID-19. Read more here.
Feds give thumbs-up to lottery, cash incentives for vaccinations
Those monetary incentives some states are using to encourage residents to get the COVID vaccine -- the source of much attention, some criticism and at times mockery -- are perfectly fine with the federal government.
The Treasury Department on Tuesday updated its guidance for how states and local governments can spend billions of dollars in aid included in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that passed in March. Lotteries, cash payments or other incentive programs are allowed as long as they are “reasonably expected” to increase vaccinations and the costs are “reasonably proportional” to the expected public health benefit.
“We encourage states to use their creativity to draw attention to vaccines and get their states and the country back to normal as quickly as possible,” said Andy Slavitt, the White House senior advisor on COVID-19 response.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine made national news when he announced the state would give away five $1 million prizes and five college scholarships to eligible state residents who got vaccinated. Since Vax-a-Million was unveiled, Ohio's vaccination rate among those ages 20 to 49 has increased by 55%, and New York, Maryland and Oregon have come up with similar programs.
Company CEO Michael Bayley revealed on a Facebook post Tuesday that the CDC had granted approval for a simulated voyage with volunteer passengers. Vaccine requirements are not mandatory for test sailings per the CDC's Framework for Conditional Sailing Order.
"Onwards and upwards team!'' Bayley wrote in his posting.
-- Morgan Hines
Senses of taste and smell taking a hit with COVID
Of more than 33 million Americans who have tested positive for the coronavirus, about 85% suffered olfactory system infection, according to Dr. Todd Loehrl, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin. The infection of those nose and sensory structures that support smelling, which also affects people's sense of taste, is what causes the loss or change in smell and taste.
"Some people come in and say their taste or smell is not as sensitive and robust as it once was, all the way down to patients saying they don't get anything," Loehrl said. "It affects people differently."
– Jordyn Noennig, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Baby bust in California: 'The pandemic is freaking people out'
The pandemic, affordable IUDs and increasing costs of living have more California adults opting for contraceptives over starting a new family. As a result, California is expected to see 50,000 fewer births in 2021, according to the Los Angeles Times.
IUDs – intrauterine devices – continue to grow as a popular form of contraception, especially after the Affordable Care Act made the option free for most patients. The long-lasting contraceptive that prevents pregnancy for up to 12 years appeals to women because it's a one-time procedure that is more accessible than some birth controls that are restricted by regulations and some insurances. Job losses and other issues related to the pandemic made many people rethink family plans.
"The pandemic freaked people out,” Ponta Abadi, a reproductive health expert, told the newspaper. “It caused a lot of people to lose their jobs and affected whether they wanted to have kids.”
Canceling Tokyo Olympics would cost $1.7B. Holding the games could cost more.
Canceling the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics would cost Japan $1.7 billion, but proceeding with the games and then declaring another coronavirus state of emergency would be even more costly, Japan's Kyodo News Service reported Tuesday. The Japanese government, the International Olympic Committee and athletes around the world are hoping the games can take place. The U.S. consistently fields one of the largest and most successful teams. But the U.S. on Monday advised its citizens not to visit Japan because of the COVID-19 crisis, raising its travel alert to the highest level of 4.
Tokyo is one of several areas of the country under a state of emergency because of a surge in infections. The status is due to expire Monday, but officials are considering an extension of at least two weeks. Nearly 60% of respondents in a Kyodo News survey in mid-May said the games should be canceled.
Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at the Nomura Research Institute, told Kyodo that a post-games spike in cases and hospitalizations could bring more economic hardship to the region.
"Even if the games are canceled, the economic loss will be smaller than (another) a state of emergency," Kiuchi said.
Half of adult Americans fully vaccinated
The vaccination rate for U.S. adults will surpass 50% Tuesday, according to the White House. Vaccination rates still vary by state, however, and officials have stressed that the coronavirus will continue to spread in communities with lower levels of vaccinations. At least 25 states have fully vaccinated at least half of their adult residents, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Joe Biden has set of goal of getting at least one shot into the arm of 70% percent of adults by July 4th. More than 61% of adults have now had at least one shot.
– Maureen Groppe
Moderna says its vaccine is 100% effective in kids ages 12-17
Moderna announced Tuesday that its vaccine was 93% effective after the first dose in children 12 to 17, and 100% effective two weeks after the second dose.
The company's clinical trial, which involved more than 3,700 adolescents, also identified no serious safety concerns, data from Moderna said. The firm plans to apply in the coming weeks for emergency use authorization for its vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration to allow children as young as 12 to receive it.
Currently, the only COVID vaccine authorized for kids as young as 12 is the one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, which got the OK in early May. Moderna previously faced issues enrolling enough teens into the trial. But depending on when the FDA application is made and how quickly it is processed, the vaccine could offer families more choices for immunizing children over the summer vacation and before the 2021-22 school year.
– Elizabeth Weise and Karen Weintraub
Suicides dropped at height of pandemic
Deaths by suicide fell 9% at the height of the pandemic shutdown compared with previous years, a surprise given increases in reported levels of stress, anxiety and depression. There were more than 2,400 fewer deaths by suicide from March to August 2020 than normally would have been expected, said Dr. Jeremy Samuel Faust, an emergency physician in the Division of Health Policy and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
Thomas Joiner, a professor of psychology at Florida State University and an expert on suicide, said the expanded availability of mental health services via telehealth, such as counseling calls by phone or computer, may have been part of the reason for the decline.
"Access went up and telehealth was a better platform than many of us anticipated," he said.
But inoculations in the U.K. remain some of the highest in the world, because of a nationalized vaccine campaign. According to the BBC, 70% of adults in the country have had a first vaccine dose. British health officials said Sunday that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines offer effective protection against the India variant.
"If vaccination reduces the likelihood of transmission for this variant, increasing regional vaccination in areas where it is prevalent could dampen growth in infections, although it takes several weeks for vaccines to provide protection," the study says.
Travel bans put staffing crunch on summer camps
American summer camps are up against the same staffing crunch plaguing other employers seeking lower-wage workers, but with a lingering pandemic twist. Many camps rely on foreign workers who come on temporary, cultural-exchange visas. Because of processing holdups and a COVID-19-related travel ban on certain countries, those workers aren't coming. The staffing woes are complicating what would otherwise be a booming year for summer camps. With the pandemic on the wane in the U.S., families are eager for their children to have in-person opportunities again – and many have the money to do it, after a year of saving on activities.
"We’re going to see more camps that can’t open or have to cut capacity," said Scott Brody, the director of two summer camps in New Hampshire. Read more here.
– Erin Richards
Colin Sweeney, 12, gets a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as his mother Nicole pats his shoulder at the First Baptist Church of Pasadena, Friday, May 14, 2021, in Pasadena, Calif.
Patients are given the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Saturday, March 13, 2021, on the first day of operations at a mass vaccination site at the Lumen Field Events Center in Seattle, which adjoins the field where the NFL football Seattle Seahawks and the MLS soccer Seattle Sounders play their games. The site, which is the largest civilian-run vaccination site in the country, will operate only a few days a week until city and county officials can get more doses of the vaccine.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, left, greets a worker at a volunteer check-in station, Saturday, March 13, 2021, on the first day of operations at a mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the Lumen Field Events Center in Seattle, which adjoins the field where the NFL football Seattle Seahawks and the MLS soccer Seattle Sounders play their games. The site, which is the largest civilian-run vaccination site in the country, will operate only a few days a week until city and county officials can get more doses of the vaccine.
The first box containing the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine heads down the conveyor to an awaiting transport truck at the McKesson facility in Shepherdsville, Ky., Monday, March 1, 2021.
April Israel, RN, administers a shot to Don Robinson, 105, as he receives his second round of vaccinations for COVID-19 at Norton Audubon Hospital on Feb. 12, 2021. Robinson was 3 years old when the Spanish Flu killed 675,000 people in the US.
Edith Kelly gets her COVID vaccine as a worker writes her observation time on her windshield on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, at the STARS Complex in Fort Myers.
Ruben Tapia receives a COVID vaccine at the Gila River Indian Community vaccination event at Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park on Feb. 20, 2021.
Meg Potter/The Republic
UCHealth pharmacy technicians work to prepare doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination event in the parking lot of Coors Field on February 20, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. UCHealth plans to administer 10,000 second doses to seniors over 70 during the drive-up event this weekend.
People wait in line at a 24-hour, walk-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Feb. 19, 2021.
Traffic cones line around the empty parking lot of Dodger Stadium, a mass COVID-19 vaccination in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. California has closed some vaccination centers and delayed appointments following winter storms elsewhere in the country that hampered the shipment of doses.
People wait in line to get their COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site set up in a park in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.
Susan Geubtner, a nurse with Montana Veterans Affairs, gives a COVID-19 vaccination to Robert Harris a veteran of the U.S. Air Force on Feb. 9, 2021during a vaccination clinic for veterans in Great Falls, Mont.
Several hundred people wait through a snow storm for COVID-19 vaccines at the Westchester County Center in White Plains Feb. 7, 2021. The line stretched around the building and at times took people 2 1/2 hours to receive their vaccine.
Maximo Michua, 74, holds his sleeve as Kathryne Acuna (R), Director of Ambulatory Clinical Services at Kaiser Permanente, administers his Covid-19 vaccine on the opening day of a large-scale Covid-19 vaccination site at a parking structure at Cal Poly Pomona University in Pomona, California on February 5, 2021.
Kansas Air National Guard Maj. Cortney Neblett, left, gives a COVID-19 vaccine shot to Master Sgt. Thomas Lafountain, right, during a clinic for Kansas National Guard personnel, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, at Air National Guard's base south of Topeka, Kan. The Kansas National Guard received 1,100 doses from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Jim Dixon pulls out his COVID-19 vaccination record card at Germantown Baptist Church in Germantown, Tenn., on Feb. 4, 2021.
People arrive for COVID-19 vaccination at a drive through setup at Coors Field baseball stadium on January 30, 2021, in Denver, Colorado.
Security guard Andrea Rapini sits at a COVID-19 vaccination site that closed after running out of the vaccine in John Prince Park in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., on Jan. 27. Gov. Ron DeSantis turned vaccine distribution over to Publix pharmacies in the area.
John Bernard receives his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Adrienne Bond during a vaccine clinic at the Vanderburgh County Health Department in Evansville, Ind., Jan. 26, 2021. He brought his 101-year-old mother, Evelyn Bernard, to the clinic too so they could both get vaccinated.
Palm Desert resident Luther Wood, 82, celebrates his Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination at Eisenhower Health's clinic for patients age 75 and older on Jan. 26 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Century Village residents wait before appointments are handed out for the COVID-19 vaccine in West Palm Beach, Florida on Jan. 11, 2021. The community will receive 3,000 doses to use starting on Wednesday.
Karen MacDonald, a nurse at Gates Middle School in Scituate, Mass. lays out her syringes while getting ready to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to first responders on Jan. 11, 2021.
A line of Duval County residents snakes around the campus of the Mandarin Senior Center on Hartley Road on Jan. 11, 2021, as people wait for COVID-19 vaccine injections at one of the two City of Jacksonville vaccine sites which opened Monday.
Medical professionals from Oregon Health & Science University load syringes with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-thru vaccination clinic in Portland, Ore., Jan. 10, 2021. The clinic is a partnership between the Service Employees International Union and Oregon Health & Science University, aiming to vaccinate Oregon's 32,000 home health care workers and their patients.
Nurses have COVID-19 vaccines drawn and ready to administer as people pull into a bay at the former State Farm building in Murfreesboro, Tenn. to receive their first dose on Jan. 4, 2021.
A health-care worker reacts as she receives the COVID-19 vaccine at Lake-Sumter State College in Leesburg, Fla., on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. Long lines of cars were at the site as the Lake County vaccines are currently being given to people who are 65 years and older and front line workers.
Friends Terri Kado,66, right and Patty Tubbs,68, from Fort Myers Beach wait in line for the the COVID-19 vaccine in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2020 at Lakes Park Regional Library in Fort Myers, Fla. The two were having a pleasant experience and were watching the moon as it moved through the sky. To them the vaccine brings a peace of mind and a positive start to the New Year. They got in line at 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
Jessica Miles, left, of CVS, gives resident Wanda Kilgore a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Linley Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Anderson, S.C., Dec. 29, 2020. The first dose of the vaccine was administered to 51 residents and 32 staff, with the second dose planned for Jan. 26, 2021.
Winona McCain, 71, a resident at Patewood Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Greenville, S.C., raises her fist after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Jamie, a pharmacist with CVS on Dec. 28, 2020.
Pharmacists prepare doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Life Care Center of Kirkland on Dec. 28, 2020 in Kirkland, Wash. The Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home, was an early epicenter for coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S.
Dr. Cletus Oppong, who specializes in occupational medicine, is the first to receive the first round of the Moderna vaccine by Clinical Pharmacist Erin Conkright on Dec. 24, 2020, at the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital in Owensboro, Ky. "It's an exciting day," said Oppong.
Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District personnel administer COVID-19 vaccinations to colleagues during a test drive-thru event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Corpus Christi, Texas on Dec. 23, 2020.
Command Sgt. Maj. John Raines of the Mississippi National Guard, looks away as he receives a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in his arm, by a fellow guard member, Dec. 23, 2020, in Flowood, Miss. One hundred doses of the vaccine were administered to both Mississippi Air and Army National Guard service members who serve as first responders and currently assist with the administering of the COVID-19 test at Mississippi Department of Health drive through community testing sites across the state.
The CVS Health team arrives with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Sivercrest Health and Rehabilitation Center in Crestview, Fla. on Dec. 21, 2020. This was one of the first administrations of the vaccine in the state.
Dr. Theresa Maresca from the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB), lets a collegue write on her arm For the Love of Native People over the spot where she received a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, at the SIHB, on Dec. 21, 2020 in Seattle, Wash. The Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) received 500 doses of the FDA-approved Moderna COVID-19 vaccine today.
Long-term care patient Carlos Alegre receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from licensed vocational nurse Virgie Vivar at Birch Patrick Skilled Nursing Facility at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center on Dec. 21, 2020 in Chula Vista, Calif. 72-year-old Alegre is the first patient to receive the vaccine in San Diego County. Long-term care patients and frontline workers are among those in the CDCÕs highest priority group for vaccination.
Hartford HealthCare employee Wilfredo Rivera reacts after receiving the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19 as Hartford HealthCare Nurse Laura Bailey, right, looks on at Hartford Hospital, Dec. 21, 2020, in Hartford, Conn. Hartford HealthCare was the first in the state to administer the Moderna vaccine.
Marie Branham, right, resident services director at Atria Springdale assisted living community, receives the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from CVS pharmacist Shereen Keshta at the facility in Louisville, Ky. on Dec. 21, 2020.
Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss. on Dec. 20, 2020. While shipments of the vaccine are rolling out to many health care workers and nursing homes across the country, it could be months before itÕs available for the general public.
Chief Nursing Officer Robin L. Steaban, left, who administered the vaccine, stands with nurse practitioner Lisa Flemmons, Dr. Todd Rice, nurse Cody Hamilton and respiratory therapist Sophie Whitaker after they received a COVID-19 vaccine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 17, 2020.
Nurse practitioner Franklin Grauzer receives a high-five from his daughter, Emerson, 5, after he received a COVID-19 vaccine at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 17, 2020.
Tim King, a citizen of the Cherokee nation and a Cherokee language speaker, receives ther COVID-19 vaccine at the Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center Dec. 17, 2020, in Tahlequah, Okla. On his left arm is a tattoo of a dreamcatcher with the word Cherokee.
Dr. Julie Kennerly-Shah draws out a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as its distributed to healthcare workers on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020 at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center East in Columbus, Ohio. Vaccine shipments began arriving in Ohio on Monday and frontline health care workers have been the first to receive the vaccine.
Allison Wynes, a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) nurse practitioner, records a video for her friends announcing she had received one of first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the hospital, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, on the 12th floor of the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa.
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in New York.
Courtney Schneider, 40, of Grand Rapids and her son, Elliot Schneider, 8, of Grand Rapids wave flags at the FedEx plane carrying the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Dec. 13, 2020.
Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Dec. 13, 2020.
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