What you need to know about coronavirus on Tuesday, December 22nd

by

The Biden vaccination came a week after the first doses of the shot were injected into U.S. health care workers and the same day a second vaccine, developed by Moderna, was given to Americans.

“We’re still in the middle of the situation,” said the president-elect, who urged Americans to listen to public health experts and wear masks and social distance and not travel unless absolutely necessary during the holiday season. “If you don’t have to travel, don’t travel.”

Meanwhile, countries around the world are imposing bans on travel to the UK to curb the transmission of a variant of the coronavirus that health authorities believe can spread more quickly than others. The U.S. government is considering requiring all passengers in Britain to submit evidence of a negative Covid-19 test as a condition of entry, two Trump administration officials told CNN.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that the UK coronavirus variant is probably already in the United States, but “is not yet prevalent.”
Regardless of the variant, the United States has not been able to limit the spread of Covid-19. Monday’s winter solstice marked the darkest day of the year in more ways than one: the United States reported 191,000 new cases of Covid-19, 1,700 new deaths and 115,000 record hospitalizations.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.

P: Will vaccines work against the new variant?

A: Both the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and the Modern vaccine have shown efficacy rates of around 95% in clinical trials. But many are wondering if vaccines would work with variants of the virus, such as one that is spreading in the UK.

“So far, I don’t think there has been any variant that was resistant to the vaccine,” said Moncef Slaoui, scientific advisor to Operation Warp Speed. “We can’t rule it out, but it’s not there now.” He said critical aspects of the virus, such as the spike protein involved in a vaccine, are very specific to the new coronavirus and are unlikely to mutate much.

Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna say they are currently testing their vaccines to see if they work against the new mutated version of the virus. BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said he has “scientific confidence” that the current Pfizer / BioNTech could work against the new variant, but full data will be available in two weeks.
This is what you need to know more about the variant.

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY

Congress approves Covid’s long-awaited $ 900 billion bailout package

Congress voted Monday evening to approve a $ 900 billion comprehensive Covid aid package that promises to speed up the distribution of vaccines and provide much-needed help to small businesses affected by the pandemic, to Americans who have lost their jobs during the economic upheaval and health care workers at the forefront of the crisis.

It will include direct payments of up to $ 600 per adult, improved unemployment benefits of $ 300 per week, approximately $ 284 billion in checks from the Check Protection Program, $ 25 billion in rental assistance, an extension of the moratorium on eviction and $ 82 billion for schools and universities.

The White House has said President Donald Trump will sign the legislation once it reaches his desk.

The hunt for “disease X”

Showing initial symptoms of hemorrhagic fever, the patient sits quietly in bed and disputes two desperate young children to escape from a cell-like hospital room in Ingende, a remote town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congo (DRC). They are waiting for the results of a test for Ebola.

But the question behind everyone’s mind is: What if this woman doesn’t have Ebola? What if, on the other hand, she is the zero patient of “disease X,” the first known infection of a new pathogen that could sweep the world as fast as Covid-19, but which has a 50% mortality rate in 90% of Ebola?

This is not a science fiction thing. It is a scientific fear, based on scientific facts. Humanity is facing an unknown number of new and life-threatening viruses coming out of Africa’s rainforests, according to Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, who helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976 and, since since then, it has been at the forefront of new pathogen research.

“We’re now in a world where new pathogens will come out,” he told Sam Kiley of CNN. “And that’s what poses a threat to humanity.”

Trucks pile up on the UK’s border with France amid a travel ban

Hundreds of trucks piled up on the border with the UK when a French travel ban caused by a rapidly expanding coronavirus entered a second day.

The junction between the English port of Dover and the French city of Calais is one of Europe’s main trade arteries and its closure, just days before Christmas and the end of the Brexit transition period, is causing growing concern about the food and medicine shortages in the UK.

European truck drivers told CNN they did not know when they could return home and feared they would have to spend Christmas in their cabins. The UK government said it provided food, drink and toilets to drivers.

ON OUR RADAR

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Francis Collins and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar will be vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday.
  • The State Department returns to the Phase 1 Covid-19 guidelines, which include limiting travel to mission-critical travel, according to a department-wide note reviewed by CNN.
  • Four cases of the UK’s Covid-19 variant have been detected in Australia, the country’s medical director, Paul Kelly, said on Monday.
  • Vaccination against Covid-19 is morally acceptable, according to the Vatican, after some anti-abortion groups raised concerns about how the vaccines were made.
  • Taiwan, home to one of the most successful pandemic responses in the world, has recorded its first case of locally transmitted coronavirus since April.
  • South Korea is slashing Christmas meetings during the holiday season by declaring a “special quarantine period.”
  • Eight medical associations of doctors and nurses in Japan declared a “medical emergency” on Monday, as Covid-19 cases exceeded 200,000.

SUPERIOR ADVICE

Imagine spending two weeks in strict quarantine, without permission to go anywhere beyond a small hotel room, even to eat or exercise. Now, imagine doing all this, with kids.

Three parents told CNN Travel how they turned forced quarantine time into opportunities to connect with their children in exceptional circumstances and managed to survive without losing their sanity.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“The body needs this stimulation biologically, biochemically and bioelectrically. So we have to get it from somewhere. And we may not receive it from our friends or family as much as we normally would. So we have to do something like exercise to compensate. “ – Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute

It seems like almost everyone in the world experiences less touch. There are fewer hugs, fewer handshakes. Even people living with other people during the pandemic report very little physical commitment. Researchers know that touch can have important biochemical benefits for health and well-being. Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to Field about what these touchless months are doing to our bodies and how we can regain some of the benefits of touch in the Covid-19 era. Listen now.

.Source

Leave a Comment