FEMA on Tuesday opened its first COVID-19 mass vaccination sites, which were set up in Los Angeles and Oakland as part of the Biden administration’s effort to get gunshots faster and reach minority communities severely affected by the outbreak.
Meanwhile, the snowy and icy weather in much of the United States forced the cancellation of some vaccination events and threatened to disrupt the delivery of vaccines over the next few days. The Houston public health agency lost power and had to fight to give thousands of shots before they were damaged.
Developments occurred as vaccination increased. The United States administers an average of about 1.67 million daily doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, deaths have fallen sharply in the last six weeks and new cases have plummeted.
Nearly 39.7 million Americans, or about 12 percent of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of vaccine and 15 million have received both vaccines, the CDC said.
Deaths are running at about 2,400 a day on average, more than 900 below their mid-January high. And the average number of new cases a day has dropped to about 85,000, the lowest in 3 and a half months. That dropped from a high of nearly a quarter of a million a day in early January. The overall death toll in the U.S. is about 490,000.
In the early hours of the morning in Los Angeles, several dozen cars were already lined up with people sitting reading newspapers and spending time, half an hour before 9 a.m. opening the country’s first mass vaccination site, with the assistance from the Federal Emergency Management. Agency.
Camouflage troops were stationed around the large California State University parking lot in Los Angeles, where about 40 white tents were erected and dozens of orange cones were placed to guide traffic.
The site, established in the Latin East region of Los Angeles, as part of an effort to reach communities that have disproportionately suffered from coronavirus, aims to vaccinate up to 6,000 people a day. Another such site opened at the Oakland Coliseum, near working-class black and Latino neighborhoods.
Tough California has surpassed New York State by the highest death toll in the country, with more than 47,000.
The Los Angeles vaccination site is “close to a community that has been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “The effort here is to address this issue directly.”
The Biden administration intends to establish 100 nationally assisted vaccination sites nationwide in cooperation with state authorities.
Elsewhere in the country, the coronavirus posed a major obstacle to New Orleans Mardi Gras. Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, where the most mischievous and bewildered party usually takes place, was blocked with police barricades and the bars were ordered to be closed.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around it,” said New Orleans attorney Dave Lanser, who wore a luminescent green cloak and a black mask with a curved beak, as he looked up and down an almost empty Bourbon Street.
“I don’t think there’s a way to do it safely this year,” he said. “Therefore, I support the cancellation of the parades, the closing of the bars, all this. It’s just a reality. ”
Mardi Gras crowds last year were blamed for a severe outbreak of COVID-19 in Louisiana.
Snow, ice, and intense cold forced vaccinations to be canceled in places like Memphis, Tennessee, and Missouri.
Harris County, Houston, was quick to dispense more than 8,000 doses of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine after a public health center lost electricity early Monday and its backup generator also failed. said the authorities. The shots were distributed to three hospitals, Rice University and the county jail.
“It feels amazing. I’m very grateful, “said Harry Golen, a 19-year-old sophomore who waited nearly four hours with his friends, much of the cold, and was one of the last people to be shot. otherwise it would not be You did not reach the students until March or April.
More than 400,000 additional doses of vaccine planned in Texas will now not arrive until at least Wednesday, officials said.
The Biden administration said the severe weather is expected to disrupt shipments of a FedEx facility in Memphis and a UPS facility in Louisville, Kentucky. Both serve as vaccine delivery centers for several states.
The administration is increasing the amount of vaccine sent to states to 13.5 million doses per week, 57% more than Biden took office nearly a month ago, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced .
Psaki also said the administration doubles the amount of vaccine sent to U.S. pharmacies as part of a program to improve access to neighborhoods to 2 million doses a week.
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Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.