3 things to know:
Vaccination pace improves; weather may change that
Uptick in active cases but trends still good
Overall pandemic metrics look encouraging
After falling then flattening following a late January surge, Minnesotas COVID-19 vaccination counts ended the workweek on a rebound as overall pandemic trends remain encouraging.
Here are Minnesotas current COVID-19 statistics:
6,412 deaths (eight new)
477,287 positive cases (1,001 new), 463,454 off isolation (97 percent)
7.1 million tests, 3.4 million Minnesotans tested (about 59 percent of the population)
13.1 percent of Minnesotans vaccinated with at least one dose
The state Health Department on Friday reported about 40,000 new vaccinations, a significant jump that helped push the seven-day average to levels seen in early February. Officials noted that Minnesotas now put more than 1 million doses into arms.
About 13.1 percent of Minnesotans had received at least one dose as of Wednesday, with about 5.2 percent completely vaccinated. Roughly 39 percent of Minnesotans 65 and older have received at least one shot.
State public health leaders have emphasized over the past weeks that the relatively low flow of vaccine supplies from the federal government is the main problem holding back the pace of vaccinations.
Despite Fridays rebounding vaccination numbers, the Health Department this week warned the cold snap gripping the nation will delay vaccine shipments to Minnesota, potentially depressing vaccination counts in the short-term.
The department said about half of the 85,000 or so doses expected this week will not arrive in time as expected. The state has already postponed appointments at two community vaccination sites set for Thursday and Friday.
While Fridays vaccination numbers were positive, Minnesota at the current pace would only be able to vaccinate about 80 percent of adults by sometime in September. Getting it done by summer would require the state to administer 40,000 to 50,000 shots per day, or more.
Minnesotas currently ranked 20th among states in doses administered per 100,000 people, according to data collected by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vaccination questions aside, Minnesotas COVID-19 numbers show the state on a steady, positive path, with key pandemic metrics continuing to improve. Known, active cases ticked above 7,000, but the overall trend is solid, hovering around late September levels.
The seven-day hospital admissions trend for people with COVID-19 has also receded to September levels.
There were 282 people with COVID-19 in Minnesota hospitals as of Thursday. It was a second consecutive day of hospitalizations below 300, the first time thats happened since the fall; 59 people needed intensive care.
Eight reported deaths on Friday raised Minnesotas toll to 6,412. Among those whove died, about 63 percent had been living in long-term care or assisted living facilities; most had underlying health problems.
The seven-day rolling average for deaths is down to seven deaths per day, the lowest since September.
The states recorded 477,287 total confirmed or probable cases so far in the pandemic, including 1,001 reported Friday. About 97 percent of Minnesotans known to be infected with COVID-19 in the pandemic have recovered to the point they no longer need to be isolated.
The trends offer reasons to feel encouraged, enough so that Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday proclaimed were on our way to ending the pandemic as he OKd reopening secondary schools, starting Monday. Were beating this thing.
State health officials continue to monitor new virus strains circulating in the United States, which may be more contagious. Walz and other officials have warned that they could lead to an increase in cases.
Kris Ehresmann, the states infectious disease director, reaffirmed those concerns on Tuesday, noting that Minnesotas now confirmed 40 cases of the U.K. strain here. We want to make sure were not giving a foothold to these variants.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told MPR News on Thursday that the variants are very concerning and its unclear whether they evade immunity from vaccination or natural protection.
People in their 20s still make up the age bracket with the states largest number of confirmed cases more than 90,000 since the pandemic began, including more than 47,000 among people ages 20 to 24.
The number of high school-age youth confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 37,000 total cases among those ages 15 to 19 since the pandemic began.
Although less likely to feel the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts worry youth and young adults will spread it unknowingly to older relatives and members of other vulnerable populations.
People can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they dont have symptoms.
Regionally, most parts of Minnesota are down significantly from the late November, early December spike as well as a January blip.
There has been an uptick in cases in northwestern Minnesota recently, though its unclear why just yet.
In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 has hit communities of color disproportionately hard in both cases and deaths. Thats been especially true for Minnesotans of Hispanic descent for much of the pandemic.
Even as new case counts continue to fall from their late November, early December peaks, the data shows Latino people continue to be hit hard.
Distrust of the government, together with deeply rooted health and economic disparities, have hampered efforts to boost testing among communities of color, officials say, especially among unauthorized immigrants who fear their personal information may be used to deport them.
Last week, Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm acknowledged the need to ensure that vaccination opportunities be spread equitably.
Malcolm said the state will release data soon regarding vaccinations, race and ethnicity. Officials say theyre trying to improve the quality of data. Per state law, it's been shared voluntarily, and so may be inconsistent.
Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health's cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at theHealth Department website.
The city of Minneapolis has lifted its ban on bar counter seating just in time for the weekend.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the decision was based on public health data, showing a decrease in COVID-19 cases in the city.
Bars in the city must still require reservations, social distancing and no more than two customers can be seated together at a bar counter.
Establishments also have to lower music volume to keep patrons from talking loudly and sitting too close together.
Last week, citing vaccine progress in the state, Gov. Tim Walz loosened some pandemic-related regulations that allow bars to be open one hour longer, until 11 p.m.
Nina Moini | MPR News
COVID drives home schooling surge as public school enrollment drops: The COVID-19 crisis is driving dramatic changes in Minnesota public school enrollments, including a drop of some 17,000 students in the past year, with families delaying kindergarten and choosing options outside the public system, the state Education Department says.
Collaboration between White Earth Nation, Mahnomen Co. leads to one of highest vaccination rates in MN: Since Minnesota began distributing coronavirus vaccines late last year, Mahnomen County in northwestern Minnesota has consistently led the pack.
Michael Osterholm on how new COVID variants could change the pandemic's trajectory: As vaccinations continue, new variants of the virus are spreading. Scientists worry that the vaccine could be less effective against these mutations and that infection rates might rise again if one of these variants becomes the dominant strain.
New vaccine tool will tell Minnesotans when they can get COVID-19 shots: The tool will alert Minnesotans of their eligibility, connect them to resources to schedule an appointment and provide information on nearby vaccination opportunities. Minnesotans will still have to make their own appointment to get a shot through a vaccine provider.
You make MPR News possible. Individual donations are behind the clarity in coverage from our reporters across the state, stories that connect us, and conversations that provide perspectives. Help ensure MPR remains a resource that brings Minnesotans together.
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Pfizer did not confirm the authenticity of the study document. Its lead authors are Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health for Israels health ministry, and Eric Haas, a ministry researcher. In addition, the study was carried out by a team of eight Pfizer researchers, including epidemiologists Farid Khan and John McLaughlin and the companys global medical lead for covid vaccines, David Swerdlow, an infectious disease expert previously with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The research represents the first joint report by the health ministry and Pfizer since they reached an agreement earlier this year for Israel to share vaccination data in return for a steady supply of doses.
The cooperation is part of a wider effort by Pfizer to track how its vaccine, named Comirnaty, works in large populations. The company told MIT Technology Review earlier this week that it is studying the vaccines real-world effectiveness at several locations worldwide, including Israel, and particularly looking at real-world data from Israel to understand any potential impact of the vaccine to protect against covid-19 arising from emerging variants. Pfizers vaccine, like one from Moderna, another mRNA vaccine authorized for use in the US and Europe, uses two injections of messenger RNA carrying information about the virus to train peoples immune system to recognize and combat the infection.
The new findings are broadly consistent with separate announcements in recent days from two of Israels large health organizations, Maccabi Healthcare Services and Clalit Health Services, which together care for 80% of Israelis.
On February 14, Ran Balicer, chief of innovation and research at Clalit, the largest Israeli HMO, said that evidence collected on 1.2 million members shows unequivocally that Pfizers coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in the real world a week after the second dose.
Other analyses suggest that serious infections and deaths have fallen among older Israelis, who got the vaccine first, but not among those younger than 44 who have not been vaccinated.
The Israeli report describes observations made during three weeks in January and February when researchers were able to compare health records of unvaccinated people and people who had gotten their second shot more than a week before. They then compared the groups for five covid-19 outcomes: infection, symptoms, hospitalizations, critical hospitalization, and death. The unpublished study says the vaccine was around 93% effective in preventing symptomatic covid-19. Pfizer and its partner, the German biotechnology firm BioNTech, had found 95% effectiveness in their clinical trials carried out in 2020. The country-wide study was also able to show that hospitalizations and deaths dropped by similar amounts in the vaccinated group.
Because Israel tests people fairly comprehensively, the researchers were also able to estimate that the vaccine was 89.4% effective in preventing any detectable infection at all, including asymptomatic infections.
That finding, which is new, suggests that the vaccine could strongly suppress transmission of the virus between people and could help bring the outbreak to an end, a possibility Pfizer and the Israeli researchers say they are closely watching. Israel provides a unique opportunity to observe the nation-wide impact of an increasing prevalence of immunity on Sars-Cov-2 transmission, the authors wrote. Eric Topol, a doctor at Scripps Research in California, who reviewed the document, says that the blocking of infections here speaks to the vaccines impact on asymptomatic transmission, which weve been unsure about.
New evidence from China is affirming what epidemiologists have long suspected: The coronavirus likely began spreading unnoticed around the Wuhan area in November 2019, before it exploded in multiple different locations throughout the city in December.
Chinese authorities have identified 174 confirmed Covid-19 cases around the city from December 2019, said World Health Organization researchers, enough to suggest there were many more mild, asymptomatic or otherwise undetected cases than previously thought.
Many of the 174 cases had no known connection to the market that was initially considered the source of the outbreak, according to information gathered by WHO investigators during the four-week mission to China to examine the origins of the virus. Chinese authorities declined to give the WHO team raw data on these cases and potential earlier ones, team members said.
In examining 13 genetic sequences of the virus from December, Chinese authorities found similar sequences among those linked to the market, but slight differences in those of people without any link to it, according to the WHO investigators. The two sets likely began to diverge between mid-November and early December, but could possibly indicate infections as far back as September, said Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist on the WHO team.
This, and other evidence, suggest the coronavirus might have jumped to humans sometime during or shortly before the second half of November, she said, sickening too few people to attract attention until it led to an explosive outbreak in Wuhan. By December, the virus was spreading much more widely, both among people who had a link to the market, as well as others with no tie.
Another 16 businesses have been cited in Michigan for COVID-19 safety violations in the workplace.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration has now cited 103 businesses for COVID-19 violations since the pandemic began. The fines can range up to $7,000 per citation; 15 of the 16 businesses recently cited were also fined.
Violations include keeping an employee working who was suspected of having COVID-19, not telling the health department when there were known positive COVID-19 cases in the workplace, not requiring masks, not training employees, not screening employees and more.
Employers and employees with questions about COVID-19 workplace policies can call the MIOSHA hotline at 855-723-3219. To file a complaint against a workplace, go to Michigan.gov/MIOSHAcomplaint.
Businesses have 15 days to contest the penalties. MIOSHA cuts the penalties in half for businesses that agree not to appeal and show theyve fixed the problems.
MIOSHA isnt the only state agency going after businesses ignoring COVID-19 precautions. The Michigan Liquor Control Commission, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services have also punished violators.
Heres the list of businesses to be cited by MIOSHA in the last batch of penalties. Click on the business name to read the full citation document.
Belle Tire
Location: Woodhaven
Fine: $4,000
Reasons: Not removing an employee from the workplace suspected of having COVID-19, no physical barriers installed and inadequately training employees on safeguards related to COVID-19. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint.
Adrian Urgent Care
Location: Adrian
Fine: $0
Reasons: Not maintaining daily health screenings for all visitors that enter the workplace. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint.
Bloxsom Roofing and Siding Company
Location: Traverse City
Fine: $7,200, but only $2,800 for COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Not developing a preparedness and response plan, no documentation of daily health screenings, no disinfectant, no COVID-19 safety coordinator and no face coverings worn on site. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Bush Brothers Asphalt Paving Inc.
Location: Farmington Hills
Fine: $400
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Dana Incorporated
Location: St. Clair
Fine: $4,000
Reasons: Failure to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained, not contacting the local health department when three known positive COVID-19 cases were detected at the workplace and not maintaining a record of employee COVID-19 training or daily health screenings. The inspection was initiated as part of the MIOSHA COVID-19 Retail State Emphasis Program.
Multi-Shores Development LLC
Location: Traverse City
Fine: $8,100, but only $1,000 for COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness and response plan and no face coverings. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Allied Gutter Co.
Location: Romulus
Fine: $3,700
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Complete Maintenance and Cabinetry Inc.
Location: Algonac
Fine: $5,360, but only $2,800 for COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness and response plan, failing to train employees on COVID-19 control strategies, lack of social distancing and lack of face coverings when workers could not consistently maintain 6 feet of social distancing. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Spartan Precision Machining Inc.
Location: Wixom
Fine: $2,800
Reasons: Not developing and implementing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan, not conducting daily entry self-screen protocols, not requiring face coverings to be worn when employees cannot consistently maintain 6 feet of separation and not providing training to employees on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. This inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint.
J&N Electric Inc.
Location: Ishpeming
Fine: $2,000, but only $400 for COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Not developing a preparedness and response plan, no documentation of daily health screenings, not providing COVID-19 training and no face coverings worn on site. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Royal Roofing
Location: Lake Orion
Fine: $8,400, but only $3,000 from COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Lack of a face coverings when workers could not consistently maintain 6 feet of social distance from other employees. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Fusco Construction LLC
Location: Dundee
Fine: $4,100, but only $1,000 from COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness plan, no face coverings, no hand sanitizer or washing facilities, not performing daily health screening of employees and no COVID-19 safety coordinator. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
Custom Electric LLC
Location: Wixom
Fine: $2,800
Reasons: Failure to train employees on COVID-19, failure to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire, failure to require face coverings and failure to maintain social distancing. The inspection was initiated in response to a reinspection assignment.
Stork Construction LLC
Location: Bingham
Fine: $1,000, but only $500 from COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness and response plan, failing to train employees on COVID- 19 control strategies, lack of social distancing and lack of face coverings when workers could not consistently maintain 6 feet of social distancing. The inspection was initiated as a planned-program inspection.
ACME Wire and Iron Works
Location: Detroit
Fine: $4,400, but only $400 from COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Failing to conduct the daily health screening and not ensuring face coverings were used. The inspection was initiated in response to a programmed assignment.
AMB Construction LLC
Location: Mount Clemens
Fine: $2,900, but only $2,100 from COVID-19 violations
Reasons: Lack of a preparedness and response plan, failing to train employees on COVID-19 control strategies, lack of social distancing and lack of face coverings when workers could not consistently maintain 6 feet of social distancing. The inspection was initiated as a planned-programmed inspection.
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CODOGNO, Italy (Reuters) - A year ago, Laura Ricevuti and Annalisa Malara, both doctors at Codogno hospital in Italy, had a hunch that something was different about a patient in the intensive care ward.
Their decision to take matters into their own hands wound up triggering a national emergency - they had identified the first case of COVID-19 in the area that would become Europes first lockdown zone.
A previously healthy 38-year-old man, now known as Mattia, his first name, or patient one, had gone to the hospital with a high fever, cough and shortness of breath on Feb. 18, 2020. He refused to be admitted so was given antibiotics and went home.
He returned that evening in worse shape and was put on oxygen. Two days later, Mattias wife told doctors that a few weeks earlier he had gone to dinner with a colleague who had been in China.
But Mattia did not fit national criteria for mandatory coronavirus testing because he had not been in China personally.
I had to explain many times why I wanted to perform it (a COVID swab) anyway, said Malara, 39.
Doctor Malara and myself decided to break protocol, Ricevuti recalled. They performed the nasal swab and sent it to a lab in Milan.
At 9:30 p.m. the phone rang. The test was positive.
We couldnt believe it. We thought this was a far away problem that had to do with China, but it was already here with us, and not just from that February 20th but probably from much earlier, Ricevuti, 44, said.
In the days that followed, Codogno, a town of 15,000 residents, became the capital of the first red zone in Europe to be locked down.
In the beginning I hoped - we all hoped - that the virus would be limited to a few people, said Malara. But after a few hours a lot of people came to the emergency room with the same symptoms and after a few days it was clear that it had spread into the population.
Since then 95,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Italy, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.
Both women are still treating COVID-19 patients.
This is our mission. We cannot really retreat, Ricevuti said. Day-by-day we go forward, facing the difficulties and the changes that life presents us ... you need a lot of physical and mental strength.
Additional reporting by Emily Roe, Eleanor Biles and Philip Pullella in Rome; Writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by Janet Lawrence
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) On Friday, 10 On Your Side met with Gov. Ralph Northam while he was at Fort Monroe in Hampton.
10 On Your Sides Andy Fox asked Northam some of the pressing questions, including why it took so long to launch a statewide vaccination registration system, and why some health districts still dont have directors during a pandemic.
And finally, the question that many Americans are also wondering: When can the masks come off?
There are 10 healthdistricts in Virginiawhere the director isforcedto dodouble duty and manage multiple departments.That includes Dr.Demetria Lindsay,who isdistrict health director for Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
There are nine other directors just like Lindsay. Hampton and Newport News share a district health director, as do Portsmouth and the Western Tidewater Health District, which covers 1,500 square miles.
This pandemicis the likes we have never seen in decades,so we have been stretched thin, the governor said when 10 On Your Side inquired about the shortage of directors.
Some critics argue everything appears thin,from vaccinations to leadership at the top of some health districts.
We asked thegovernor why,during the worst global health crisis of our lifetime, do we have so many health districts without their own director? Does it look like we are not prepared?
Well,wevemade a lot ofmodifications. Wearein a very good place now compared to a year ago. We still have alot of work to do, Northam acknowledged.
And why donthealth districts,especially larger urbanones, havetheir own leadership?
The governor did not give a why when asked by 10 On Your Side.
10 On Your Side also pressed Northamabout therocky start to the statewide pre-registration vaccination website that crashed the morning it was launched. People in droves complained to WAVY.com.
As the site crashed, those residents also couldnt get their answers because Virginialaunched a help hotlinethe day after they launched the pre-registrationsite.
What about those issues?
We have had over300,000who havesuccessfully enrolled,and wehave transferred information from those who haveenrolledpreviouslythroughthehealthdepartmentinto the new system, Northam said.
So, is therelight at the end of the long, dark COVID-19 tunnel?
We havebeen at this a year. Numbersshowwe are moving in the right direction.Our positivity rates are going down, our number of vaccinations are going up, he said.
What about thisquestion: When does he think the masks can comeoff?
Hopefully, byearlyor mid-summer, we willhave folksvaccinatedand getto the herd immunity that we need to put COVID-19 in the rear-view mirror, he said.
But when will we be able to not wear masks anymore?
As theGovernor walkedaway to the next meeting, he declined to say.
Ill call you and let you know, Andy.In themeantime,keep it on.he told Andy Fox.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS The Routt County Board of Health decided Friday to take steps to ease restrictions, with a possible move to level yellow on the states COVID-19 2.0 dial, a decision ultimately requiring approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The county will decide at its next meeting Wednesday whether or not to submit a letter to the state requesting the change to level yellow.
Taking this first step on amending our local public order is rational and reasonable, Routt County Commissioner Tim Corrigan said. Being cautious is the right thing to do.
The board also implemented a revised local public health order, which requires that personal gatherings follow the states level orange restrictions, permitted for no more than two households and 10 people.
In addition, office-based businesses can move to 25%. The local public health order is in effect until the end of March.
The decision comes after Routt Countys COVID-19 cases have fallen since its spike earlier this year, with 56 positive cases in the past seven days, representing a 5.21 positivity rate.
Dr. Fritha Morrison, Routt County epidemiologist, said she is hopeful cases continue to decline but believes the county should be a bit cautious after this weeks Blues Break, when people may have traveled or gathered in large groups.
I think all of us on the team are hopeful, and I think weve gotten through our worst month of January, said Dr. Brian Harrington, Routt County Public Health chief medical officer. I think that were on a permanent downward trend of cases, but there is always a possibility that we could have another spike.
Harrington and Routt County Public Health Director Roberta Smith both said the county could be underestimating about 20 positive cases due to a decline in testing.
The majority of people who get tested have symptoms, so if our tests are going down that probably means we have fewer people with symptoms, Harrington added.
Routt County has also vaccinated 73% of residents older than 70, which Brooke Maxwell, public health nurse, said means the county can likely move into vaccinating those between 65 and 69 soon. UCHealth is already vaccinating some teachers and those in that age group.
The county is at 17% overall for vaccinated residents, which Maxwell called pretty encouraging.
Due to the storms and cold fronts in other parts of the U.S., the county didnt receive any vaccines this week and likely wont next week either. However, Harrington said the county could see an increase in doses shipped later on, which he said could even things out in the long term.
Gov. Jared Polis announced that the next priority group, which includes essential workers, will start sometime in March. Smith said the county is hoping to receive more direction from the state on how essential workers are classified, but the county is currently working with Steamboat Springs City Council to identify restaurant workers and others working in high-risk environments.
We are hopeful when there is more supply, we can operationalize some large clinics in Routt County, Smith added.
To reach Alison Berg, call 970-871-4229 or email aberg@SteamboatPilot.com.
Dr. Nirav Shah said that when Northern Light Health staff reviewed their scheduled appointments, they found many openings
BANGOR, Maine Northern Light Health and the Maine CDC are urging eligible Mainers to fill open appointment slots for the COVID-19 vaccine at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah made the announcement Thursday during a coronavirus briefing. He said that when Northern Light Health staff reviewed their scheduled appointments, they found many openings.
The appointments are only for people eligible under the state's phased approach: currently, that includes Mainers age 70 and older, and those in Phase 1A.
Northern Light said they also have appointments at clinics in Palmyra, Presque Isle, and "a limited number" of appointments in Blue Hill.
Wednesday, Northern Light Health's senior physician executive, Dr. Jim Jarvis, announced that staff are vaccinating hundreds of people per hour, and could do 5,000 shots per day if they had enough doses.
Jarvis announced that staff at the Cross Insurance Center had opened another section of the concourse, allowing them to give more shots.
"There have been several times over the past week where we have approached that 440 patients being vaccinated in an hour, and that's what we would do to reach that 5,000 mark," Jarvis said. "It is quite common for us to be vaccinating over 200 people an hour in the facility right now as things stand, and that puts us at about that 2,000 to 3,000 per day mark. And like I said, we have reached 400 an hour. So we know we can hit that 5,000 mark if we had to."
Maine is getting 3,510 more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government in next week's shipment, Shah also announced Thursday.
On Saturday, the state is absorbing another 3,900 doses that had been sitting in a CVS warehouse that had not been assigned yet, Shah added. The state will take those unused CVS doses and re-deploy them to other sites that are able to vaccinate eligible people age 70 and older.
"This is just consistent with our overall approach to maximize the immediate use of every dose that is allocated to Maine," Shah said.
Maine DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said the federal government is doubling the supply it gives to retail pharmacies, such as Walmart and Sam's Club. Those doses are on top of what the Maine CDC gets directly from the feds, but Lambrew said they have not given Maine a specific number yet.
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The winter storm has halted Texas urgent and critical COVID-19 vaccination efforts delaying the delivery of hundreds of thousands of doses that were scheduled to arrive and preventing what might have been 1 million injections by hundreds of providers this week, state health officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and shipping companies postponed last Fridays shipments, which included 407,000 first doses and 333,000 second doses to Texas in anticipation of the bad weather, said Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The National Weather Service encourages people to close blinds and curtains, gather in one room if possible and close doors to others, and stuff towels in the cracks under the doors. Wear loose-fitting layers of warm, lightweight clothing. Eating snacks and staying hydrated will help to warm the body up. Stay off the road unless an emergency requires you to travel; conditions in many parts of the state are treacherous because of the snow and ice. Some cities are providing warming centers and transportation as needed find local resources here. If you have power, conserve it for those who dont. Reduce your electricity usage by turning the thermostat to below 68 degrees, unplugging lights and appliances, and avoiding use of large appliances like ovens and washing machines. If you have resources or are able to offer financial donations, find nonprofits who are helping people here.
We do not know. State and city officials are urging patience and telling Texans who have running water to boil it. Take whatever measures you need to prepare for several days without water. Officials in Austin, for example, said Feb. 19 that restoring water services would likely be a multiday process for the whole city. We have some resources here, but your best bet to find free water is to check your local media.
Sign up for news updates from us by texting hello to 512-967-6919 or visiting this page.
When the states electrical grid operator began implementing rolling outages at 1:25 a.m. CT on Feb. 15, these were intended to be a temporary measure to deal with an extreme winter event. Instead, some Texans are going without power for much longer, facing days without electricity instead of the originally planned 45 minutes at a timeThe electricity grid was designed to be in high demand during the summer, when Texans crank their air conditioning at home. But some of the energy sources that power the grid during the summer are offline during the winter. So when Texans stayed home during the storm on Sunday and demanded record amounts of electricity, the states power grid could not keep up.
Yes, Texas has its own power grid run by an agency called ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The history is long, but the short version is: Texas has its own grid to avoid dealing with federal regulations. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with overseeing interstate electricity sales. But Texas utilities do not cross state lines. ERCOT was formed in 1970, in the wake of a major blackout in the Northeast in November 1965, and it was tasked with managing grid reliability in accordance with national standards.Note that Texas is not all on this same power grid. El Paso is on another grid, as is the upper Panhandle and a chunk of East Texas.
No. The lost wind power makes up only a fraction of the reduction in power-generating capacity that has brought outages to millions of Texans. An official with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said on February 16 that 16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, mostly wind generation, were offline. Nearly double that, 30 gigawatts, had been lost from thermal sources, which includes gas, coal and nuclear energy.Texas is a gas state, said Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Gas is failing in the most spectacular fashion right now.
It remains unclear when providers might receive those deliveries, officials said, given the wide swath of Texas that is dealing with historic snow and ice accumulations, impassable roads, power outages, cell phone outages or no access to clean water.
We're not expecting shipments for this week to arrive until tomorrow at the earliest, and deliveries will be subject to local conditions, Van Deusen said Tuesday. No one wants to put vaccine at risk by attempting to deliver it in dangerous conditions.
Before the storm arrived, Texas was on track to administer 1 million doses per week and had fully vaccinated more than 1 million Texans with both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna two-dose regimen by the weekend, according to DSHS numbers.
The winter weather in Texas is expected to intensify this week before warming over the weekend. Temperatures over much of the state remained below freezing on Tuesday, and more ice and snow were expected through Thursday morning.
Public health officials in Dallas, Houston, Austin and other cities postponed planned vaccination events or individual appointments until at least the end of the week, saying the injections would restart once travel conditions were less dangerous. Officials in Hays County were focusing on second doses rescheduled for the end of the week at a local high school and pushing first doses to next week.
Local providers have postponed vaccine clinics because it is not safe for people to be out across much of Texas. Vaccination will resume as soon as conditions permit, Van Deusen said. I haven't heard of any public sites being open, but I guess there could be some isolated places where that's possible.
Reasons for closure ranged from lack of supply to utility issues, according to state and local health officials. That includes 85 large vaccination hubs and several hundred smaller providers across the state.
Mobile vaccination units being run by the Texas Department of Emergency Management to reach vulnerable populations in underserved areas were still operating in some places, but that others had to reschedule because of inclement weather conditions, said TDEM spokesperson Seth Christensen.
One potential threat to supply already in Texas is the inability of the power grid to keep up with demand, which has resulted in rolling blackouts and outages across the state. Health officials have not reported any doses wasted so far, but those numbers will continue to come in throughout the week and offer a clearer picture of the effects on vaccine storage in the coming days, Van Deusen said.
Hospitals and health departments generally have backup power, but small providers may not, Van Deusen said.
If they cant store vaccine under the appropriate conditions, were asking them to transfer or administer it, he said.
The Pfizer vaccine can be stored under regular refrigeration (up to 47 degrees F) for up to five days before it needs ultra-cold storage; Moderna for 30 days.
Hospitals are required to have generators with enough fuel reserves to power the entire hospital for 96 hours, according to National Fire Protection Association standards. State health health officials are directing them to closely monitor vaccine supplies, and if a power outage means the vaccine cant be stored properly, the vaccine may be transferred to another facility or administered to "any willing person to ensure that it is not wasted," according to an update sent to hospitals from the Texas Hospital Association. That authorization is in effect until Thursday, when health officials will re-evaluate that protocol, the update said.
Hospitals are already dealing with severe staffing shortages and water supply issues in some areas, and have partnered with restaurants to help address food shortages at those facilities, THA officials said.
When the power went out at a Harris County facility storing 8,500 vaccines early Monday, officials sent most doses to local hospitals, universities, a local jail and other facilities capable of storing and administering them to keep them from being wasted, said Rafael Lemaitre, spokesperson for County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
The doses not allocated to the other facilities were put back into storage after manufacturers told them they could be saved, he said.
Nothing was wasted, nothing was thrown away, he said.
Most of the doses were administered Monday morning at the various sites, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.
Lemaitre said local hospitals are on the critical circuits run by CenterPoint Energy in Harris County and are safeguarded against rolling blackouts. They also have backup generators in the event of a weather-induced outage.
They know where the critical infrastructure is, he said. We have not heard any other indications that there is a threat of spoilage or a lack of refrigeration anywhere else. But were still in this, were expecting more severe weather tonight, so were monitoring it closely.
