December 9 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Wednesday said that for America to start flattening the Covid-19 curve and follow the pattern of Europe, everyone needs to admit and own the problem.

In some parts of the country, there is almost denial, Fauci said – people thinking that the pandemic isn’t a big deal, that it’s fake news, or that it’s a hoax.

“It’s not. It’s real. The numbers are absolutely real,” Fauci said, pointing out that there are record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

“We have a serious issue,” he said, coming out of the Thanksgiving holiday and leading up to the Christmas and Hanukkah season.

There have been at least 15,186,244 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 286,461 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

So far today, Johns Hopkins has reported 21,085 new cases and 212 reported deaths.

New York City is reporting 196 hospital admissions, “right up on” the city set threshold of 200, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday. 

“We got to keep fighting back to get and stay under that threshold, it is so important,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The new indicator, hospital admissions per 100,000 people on a 7-day average, is 2.34, the mayor said. 

“That is still too high,” he said, reminding the city wants to be under 2.

The city is reporting 2,738 Covid-19 cases on a 7-day average, which now includes probable cases. “Way too high,” de Blasio said.

The percent positivity of New York City residents on a 7-day rolling average is 4.81%, and while that’s under the 5% threshold “we got to work hard to keep pushing that number down,” he said. 

The Department of Defense is expected to receive “just under 44,000 doses” of the Pfizer vaccine early next week, according to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery.

“In the coming days we expect the department to receive its first allotment of the vaccine,” McCaffery said.

He confirmed the prioritization plan for Defense Department personnel, saying that the prioritization was based off CDC guidance and the Pentagon’s task force recommendations.

The vaccine “is voluntary for everyone” Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, the Defense Health Agency director said, due to it having only received emergency use authorization.

Where is it being sent: Over a dozen military installations in the US, Europe and Asia were selected to receive the vaccine.

Place said those locations were chosen due their having cold storage capability, significant medical staff, and large populations.

Remember: The US FDA has not yet approved a coronavirus vaccine. The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is set to meet tomorrow to discuss Pfizer’s application for an emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine.

With nine days left until the spending deadline, lawmakers are negotiating another Covid-19 stimulus bill.

A summary of what is included in the proposals, obtained by CNN, shows what the bipartisan group is working on. But, these summaries do not include a detailed explanation of how the group is planning to distribute $160 billion in state and local aid or how it will handle liability provisions. 

Here is some of what is included in the bill (Remember: This list isn’t exhaustive, but a sampling of what the bill includes):

On unemployment

On small businesses

On transportation 

On health care

On Education

Other programs:

What's missing from this proposal Details on what the plan is exactly for state and local funding and liability. Under the liability section it says “ agreement in principle as the basis for good faith negotiations.”

US equities opened higher on Wednesday on investor hopes that Congress will pass another round of government stimulus before the holidays is boosting the market. 

At the same time, investors are concerned about the worsening spread of Covid-19 that could lead to another shutdown of businesses given various states have already tightened restrictions.

Here's where things opened: 

If the S&P and the Nasdaq finish in the green, they will reach fresh record highs.

Paul Ostrowski — who serves as the deputy chief of supply, production and distribution for Operation Warp Speed — said on Wednesday that within 24 hours of emergency use authorization, “we will begin moving the vaccines.”

As for how quickly they will get to the jurisdictions and people will begin getting vaccinated, Ostrowski said that the intent is to get the trucks moving within 24 hours and “then overnight, basically overnight, within 48 hours the vaccines have arrived at the locations that they’ve been designated by the jurisdictions, and the administration of the vaccine can occur immediately afterward.”

Remember: There has not been a vaccine approved in the US yet, but the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is set to meet tomorrow to discuss Pfizer’s application for an emergency use authorization for its coronavirus vaccine.

We've entered the part of the negotiations over stimulus relief to the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout where everyone is putting their ideas on the table. That's productive, but with just nine days to go until the next spending deadline, there's not much time left for it.

There are a lot of proposals and none of them are ready to be voted on: The White House is officially back in the game on stimulus talks for the first time since the election. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is suggesting his own path forward, and the bipartisan group is still trying to solve for the problem of liability insurance that has confounded negotiators for months.

The bottom line: The White House offer is dead on arrival by Democrats. All eyes on the bipartisan group and whether they can close their deal. The sticking point? Money for state and local governments and liability protections.

Key things to watch today: We are waiting on the bipartisan group to release a series of summaries on their proposal. Why? Because putting it down on paper means the negotiations are serious.

The summaries are not expected to include liability and state and local aide, but will be a snapshot of how they plan to structure other programs including the small business loan Paycheck Protection Program, education funding, transportation funding, opioid funding, unemployment extenders and the student loan payment freeze.

A word of warning that the group involves a lot of players. Therefore any announcements on when these will be rolled out should be taken with caution as there are just a lot of members who have to agree before anything is seen publicly.

More on the bipartisan group: While the group does include Republicans and Democrats and it's grown to include members like Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been helping on the liability piece, the Republicans in the bipartisan group don't represent the views of the GOP conference at large on some of these issues. What might work for Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah, or Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins may not work for Wyoming GOP Sen. John Barrasso.

Even if the group irons out a final proposal and has bill text, it's not the end of the agreement. There was some pushback in GOP lunch Tuesday over the path the bipartisan group is taking, according to aides. And, there is a recognition that leadership will eventually have to get involved in it. McConnell isn't one to bring bills to the floor that only have a handful of Republican votes. He's going to have to get broader buy-in from the conference.

Here's more about where stimulus negotiations stand here.

The company excluded people with a history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines from their SARS-COV-2 RNA vaccine trial, according to Pfizer data released by the US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday.

Participants with a “history of severe adverse reaction associated with a vaccine and/or severe allergic reaction (eg, anaphylaxis) to any component of the study intervention(s)” were not included in the pool of 44,000 trial volunteers.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration's evaluation of the Pfizer data, there was a slight increase in events that may be considered allergic reactions in the vaccine group. The FDA’s independent analysis said “A slight numerical imbalance of adverse events potentially representing allergic reactions, with more participants reporting hypersensitivity-related adverse events in the vaccine group (137 [0.63%]) compared with the placebo group (111 [0.51%])”

Some background: The UK issued new guidance on Wednesday, now advising that people with a “significant history of allergic reactions” not receive the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine after two health workers who received the vaccine suffered allergic reactions.  

British health authorities are conducting an investigation into the two incidents. In a statement, Pfizer said “As a precautionary measure, the MHRA has issued temporary guidance to the NHS while it conducts an investigation in order to fully understand each case and its causes. Pfizer and BioNTech are supporting the MHRA in the investigation.” 

Both staff members reportedly had a significant history of allergic reactions and carried adrenaline autoinjectors, according to PA Media. Thousands overall are believed to have been vaccinated in the UK on Tuesday.

The FDA's vaccine advisory group is meeting on Thursday to discuss a possible emergency use authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the US.