Zoom announced that it will raise the call limit to 40 minutes, which will allow unlimited call times on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
“COVID-19 has changed the way we live, work and celebrate 2021 and, like the rest of this year, the holidays don’t look the same,” the video conferencing service said in a statement. “Whether it’s meeting on the last day of Hanukkah, celebrating Christmas, ringing the new year or marking the last days of Kwanzaa, those who connect with friends and family will not be reduced.”
The announcement comes as the United States sees an increase in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and experts believe the upcoming holiday meetings will lead to a further increase in cases. The CDC has advised Americans to avoid unnecessary travel and celebrate the holidays only with members of their nearby homes.
Trump threw a wrench against Covid’s relief. What could happen next?
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump released a key key to the massive coronavirus spending and relief law at the end of the year, leaving the country on the brink of the threat of a government shutdown and the expiration of protections. of the Covid-19 during the holiday season.
Trump said in a video posted on his Twitter account that the bill passed Monday contained too many non-pandemic-related provisions and complained that direct payments to Americans were too low.
But if Trump doesn’t sign the bill, he’ll likely delay Americans in gaining control, shut down the government, and allow some other coronavirus relief programs to expire.
No one really knows how things will turn out.
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The United States reaches the milestone: one million people have obtained the first dose of Covid vaccine
More than a million people in the United States have received an initial dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, a milestone reached 10 days after the first administration of the vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.
The first vaccines approved in the country were developed separately by the companies Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and went to health workers and people living in long-term care centers. On Sunday, a CDC advisory committee recommended that people 75 years of age or older and essential front-line workers be the next to receive the vaccine.
The growing number of vaccines comes as the Trump administration said it would buy an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, ensuring that all Americans who want to be vaccinated can arrive by June. This adds to the 100 million doses already purchased by the U.S. government.
“There is currently a limited supply of Covid-19 vaccine in the U.S., but supply will increase in the coming weeks and months,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement. “The goal is for everyone to be easily vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as there are enough quantities available.”
“Covid conga line”: New York Republicans criticized for masquerade holiday dance party
A group of Republicans in New York City came under fire after a viral video showed maskless partygoers dancing on a conga line at a holiday party in Queens.
A la video which spread widely on social media, nearly a dozen partygoers (none of whom wore a mask) are shown dancing and singing in the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing,” while a man appeared to hold a flag in support of President Donald Trump.
You can see more than 40 people dancing on the floor or sitting at a table near the dining room.
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The North Carolina couple dies of Covid-19 the same day
Just a week and a half before Christmas, a 61-year-old North Carolina couple married to Covid-19 died.
Sherwood Lee Pope, 82, a retired maintenance worker, and Doris Knox Pope, 78, a retired upholsterer, from Coats, North Carolina, died Dec. 14 after being hospitalized for more than a year. week at Rex University Hospital in North Carolina. The couple died side by side holding hands, according to an obituary.
Shelton Pope, one of the couple’s three children, told WRAL, a subsidiary of NBC News, that his parents began to feel unwell the weekend after Thanksgiving. Sherwood and Doris had underlying health conditions, the family reported to WRAL, making them high-risk cases after contracting the virus.
The couple were originally in separate hospital rooms, but when they both took a turn for the worse, the hospital staff moved them to the same room, the family said.
“They agreed to put them in the same room so they would be next to each other so they could hold hands and just be with each other,” Shelton Pope told WRAL . “They held hands when they left this world and went to the pearly doors. He left shortly before she did. “
North Carolina has reported more than 492,000 cases and more than 6,400 deaths from Covid-19, according to an NBC News count.
The first vaccines were given to EMS workers in New York
New York City emergency medical service workers began lining up Wednesday for vaccines against Covid-19, a major company for a department that had seen thousands of members infected with the coronavirus. since March.
The vaccines produced by the Modern Biotechnology Company were being distributed at the EMS training headquarters and the FDNY Fire Training Academy, both in Queens, and at the FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn.
“Today has been a long-awaited time for EMTs, paramedics and fire inspectors who have bravely responded to more than a million emergency medical calls this year, across New York City,” Oren said. Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507 in Queens, said in a statement.
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics will be vaccinated over the next few days, officials said, and the FDNY plans to vaccinate 450 people a day at each site. Firefighters will be vaccinated starting next week.
The FDNY is the largest municipal fire department in the United States, with 4,400 EMS and 11,000 firefighters. The launch comes when the FDNY announced the deaths of Evelyn Ford, a 27-year-old EMS veteran of Covid-19 and the twelfth member of the agency who died after contracting the virus.