Nearly all air travelers will need to present a negative coronavirus test to enter the United States under expanded test testing requirements announced on Tuesday.
Under the rules taking effect Jan. 26, nearly all travelers including U.S. citizens must show a negative test within three days of departure or documentation of recovery from COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Cuomo Expands Vaccine to Age 65 and Over
Gov. Andrew Cuomo expanded the vaccine eligibility requirements in New York to include anyone over the age of 65.
Cuomo said Tuesday the state is following new federal guidance issued by the CDC. On Monday, people aged 75 and up and a much longer list of workers, including transit employees, grocery clerks, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and others became eligible to get the vaccine.
Cuomo says it will take six months to vaccinate 7 million New Yorkers, less than half of the state’s 19 million residents, if the state keeps receiving only 300,000 vaccine doses a week.
He added he wants to open rapid testing sites in New York City and eventually other city centers throughout the state.
Outbreaks Spread Across North China
Despite enacting stringent lockdown measures, Chinese authorities are struggling to contain CCP virus outbreaks throughout northern China.
Hebei Province is the hardest-hit, with two cities, Shijiazhuang and Xingtai, seeing the biggest surges in new infections.
Authorities have publicized little information despite imposing restrictions on people’s movements and requiring mass testing for the CCP virus.
The central government has thus far reported dozens of new cases each day. But government directives suggest the outbreak is more severe than authorities let on.
Trump Administration Directs States to Release All COVID-19 Vaccine Doses
President Donald Trump’s administration is asking states to release all COVID-19 vaccine doses, instead of holding some back. Officials had implemented a strategy of keeping doses in reserve to guard against potential manufacturing issues.
“We’ve had so much success with quality and predictable manufacturing, and almost flawless distribution of the vaccine, but we have seen now that the administration in the states has been too narrowly focused,” Health Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Both of the authorized vaccines require two doses spaced several weeks apart.
Third Democratic Lawmaker Tests Positive for CCP Virus
A Democratic congressman from Illinois who was forced to go into lockdown during last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol has tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider issued a statement Tuesday saying he was “forced to spend several hours” confined with other lawmakers and is criticizing Republican members of Congress who didn’t wear a mask during the lockdown.
At least two other Democrats, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, announced positive tests.
Arizona Hospitalizations Hit New High
People hospitalized with the CCP virus in Arizona reached another new high as the state ramps up its vaccine efforts.
The Arizona Department of Health Services reported Monday that a record 4,997 people were hospitalized because of the virus. Among them, more than 1,100 were in intensive care units. Those numbers are significantly above what the state now considered a hotspot experienced during its last surge in July.
Health officials say there are nearly 9,000 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and six additional deaths. This now brings Arizona’s CCP virus totals to 627,541 cases and 10,147 deaths.
New CCP Virus Strain Found in Indiana
Indiana state health officials say a more contagious variant of the CCP virus that was first identified in the U.K. late last year has been found in the state.
The Indiana State Department of Health said the variant was identified through testing by the state agency’s laboratory and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Monday’s announcement included no additional information on its discovery in the state.
State Health Commissioner Kris Box said in a statement the variant “does not cause more severe infections, but it is much more easily spread.”
Bureau of Prisons Delivers CCP Virus Vaccine
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) said in a statement Monday that vaccine doses have now been delivered to 68 facilities across the United States.
As of Jan. 11, there are 5,530 federal inmates and 2,013 BOP staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 nationwide, according to a BOP tracker. To date, there have been 188 federal inmate deaths and 3 BOP staff member deaths attributed to COVID-19.
BOP said in late December that it would begin giving vaccinations to inmates, reversing a previously reported order that reserved doses for staff members. A Jan. 4 vaccination guidance document (pdf) notes that, in context of limited vaccine supply, staff have priority for receiving shots, with those who have potential close contact with those infected being first in line.
The guidelines say that, after offering vaccinations to all employees, institutions should proceed with offering the vaccine to inmates, with top priority given to those assigned as health service unit workers, followed by inmates over 65 and at higher risk of suffering severe illness from COVID-19.
Disneyland Parking Lot Soon to Turn Into Mass Vaccination Site
The parking lot of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, will soon serve as the first Super Point-of-Dispensing (POD) site for COVID-19 vaccines in Orange County, officials said Monday.
Orange County said that the resort, which has been mainly shuttered since the onset of the CCP virus pandemic in March, will likely become operational later this week.
It’s one of five sites to be set up to vaccinate thousands of people daily, county officials said.
The state will vastly expand its effort with new mass vaccination sites at parking lots for Los Angeles County’s Dodger Stadium, Petco Park in San Diego, and the CalExpo fairgrounds in Sacramento.
Gorillas in San Diego Test Positive for COVID-19
Several gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have tested positive for the CCP virus in what is believed to be the first cases among such primates in captivity.
Lisa Peterson, the park’s executive director, told The Associated Press on Monday that eight gorillas at the park are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing.
It appears the infection came from a member of the park’s wildlife care team that also tested positive for the virus but has been asymptomatic. Veterinarians are closely monitoring the gorillas who are all together in their habitat at the park, north of San Diego.
Ontario Preparing New Lockdown Measures
A central Canadian province that borders with the United States is set to invoke new CCP virus lockdown measures as it tries to get control over a surging COVID-19 pandemic.
Ontario is considering further reducing in-person gathering limits, cutting the opening hours for essential stores like groceries and pharmacies, and restricting construction and manufacturing to essential business only.
Merkel Says Lockdown Extension Possible: Report
Chancellor Angela Merkel has told lawmakers in her conservative party that she expects a lockdown in Germany to curb the spread of the CCP virus to last until the start of April, top-selling Bild daily cited participants at the meeting as saying.
Three participants of the meeting told Reuters that Merkel had not explicitly spoken of an extension of the lockdown until April and that she had not warned of a tenfold increase in infection numbers in Germany.
“Merkel said the coming eight to ten weeks would be very hard if the British variant spreads to Germany,” one of the people said, adding the chancellor had referred to a tenfold surge in infection numbers in Ireland due to the new variant.
Germany had tightened a national lockdown last week and extended it until the end of January amid fears that the more transmissible variant of the virus first discovered in Britain may put additional strain on struggling hospitals.
Indonesia to Launch Vaccination Drive
Indonesia starts a mass CCP virus vaccination campaign on Wednesday, with President Joko Widodo to receive the first shot of an ambitious drive launched amid record deaths from one of Asia’s most stubborn epidemics.
The vaunted immunization campaign aims to inoculate 181.5 million people, the first of whom will receive the CoronaVac vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, which Indonesia authorized for emergency use on Monday, with an efficacy rate of 65.3 percent. The president, who is known as Jokowi, will be given the shot on Wednesday morning, his office said.
Minster of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin told parliament on Tuesday that nearly 1.5 million medical workers would be inoculated by February, followed by public servants and the general population within 15 months.
Indonesia on Tuesday reported a daily record 302 CCP virus deaths, taking fatalities to 24,645. Its infections are at their peak, averaging more than 9,000 a day, with 846,765 total cases.
Over 40 Percent of Alaska Inmates Have Contracted CCP Virus
Data from the Alaska Department of Corrections show that more than 40 percent of the people incarcerated in Alaska have been infected with the CCP virus.
Alaska Public Media reported that case counts have exceeded 100 inmates in at least six Alaska prisons. Corrections department facilities Director Jeremy Hough says the state’s inmate testing program has conducted an average of four tests per person since the pandemic began.
ACLU of Alaska Advocacy Director Michael Garvey says prison officials haven’t done enough to contain the disease spread, which is compounded by long-running overcrowding.
Lorenz Duchamps, Zachary Stieber, Tom Ozimek, Isabel van Brugen, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.