Here is what happens on Sunday with the pandemic in the USA:
– Public health officials have been complaining for months that they do not have enough support or money to quickly take COVID-19 vaccines into their arms. Now, the slower-than-expected start to the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history proves them right. As they work, the US state and local public health departments cite a number of obstacles, most notably the lack of leadership from the federal government. Many officials worry that they are wasting precious time at the height of the pandemic, and delays could cost lives.
– It is possible that the parliamentarians in the house were exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 while sheltering in an undisclosed location during the Capitol siege by a violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump. The Chapter’s doctor notified all lawmakers on Sunday about the exposure to the virus and urged them to be tested. The infected individual was not named.
– In a growing consensus, religious leaders at the helm of the anti-abortion movement In the United States, I tell followers that the top vaccines available to fight COVID-19 are acceptable, given their remote and indirect connection to cell lines derived from aborted fetuses.
FIGURES: According to data as of Jan. 9 from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day continuous average of new daily deaths in the U.S. has risen in the past two weeks from 2,243.3 on Dec. 26 to 3,174 on Jan. 9.
The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the United States is 372,522.
QUOTABLE: “Asking God for help, but then refusing the vaccine, makes no more sense than calling 911 when your home is on fire, but refusing to allow firefighters to enter. There is no legitimate faith-based reason for refusing the vaccine. – The pastor of the Southern Baptist Mega-Church, Robert Jeffress, who called the vaccines a “gift from God.”
ICYMI: Ten months after America’s viral outbreak, low-income workers continue to bear the brunt of job losses. Layoffs remain highly concentrated in the industries that have suffered the most, as they involve the kind of face-to-face contact that is almost impossible: restaurants, bars and hotels, theaters, sports arenas and concert halls. With the transformation of the virus from consumer spending habits, economists believe that some of these jobs will not return even after the economy has regained its position.
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Find full AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.