January 19 coronavirus news

Colombia’s Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, who tested positive for Covid-19 on January 12, is in the ICU, sedated and on ventilator support, according to a statement from the country’s presidency released on Tuesday.

Holmes Trujillo has been diagnosed with “viral pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2,” the statement said.

The Ministry of Defense first announced on January 12 that Holmes Trujillo had tested positive for the virus, saying he would continue with his duties virtually. However, a day later the minister was taken to the hospital, where he has remained since Wednesday.

On Monday, General Commander of the Military Forces Luis Fernando Navarro Jimenez was appointed acting defense minister until Holmes Trujillo is able to resume his duties.

A new study suggests someone might be able to get infected with one of the new variants of the coronavirus even if they've had Covid-19 before or have been vaccinated.

The variant was first spotted in South Africa in October and has now been found in more than a dozen countries.

"I think we should be alarmed," said Penny Moore, associate professor at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa and the senior author of the study.

Montefiore added that this is the first study that gives him serious doubt about whether prior infection or a vaccine will protect against a new coronavirus variant.

"This is the first time I've been concerned about a variant partially evading the immune response and partially evading the vaccine," he said.

Both experts emphasized that people should still get the vaccine. It's extremely effective against other forms of the virus and they think it likely will still give some level of protection against the new variant as well.

The study was posted on a pre-print server and has not been peer-reviewed and published in a medical journal.

This is one of the first reports to look at the variant's effect on antibody potency. Labs around the world are furiously studying the issue and expect to report results within the next few weeks.

Read the full story:

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Variant might partially evade protection from vaccines or prior infection, early research suggests

Amid an increased demand for coronavirus vaccines nationwide, San Francisco's Department of Public Health announced their vaccine supply will be exhausted by Thursday if they don't immediately receive an additional allotment.

To date, San Francisco's Department of Public Health (DPH) has received 31,655 doses of the vaccine. A total of 28,501 San Franciscans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 6,347 have received their second shot, according to county health data. 

"We received a fraction of the doses we requested from the state," Public Health Director Grant Colfax said. "DPH's allocation arriving from the state this week is only 1,775 doses."

The entire health system in San Francisco, which encompasses the county's health department and other private providers, have received a combined total of 102,000 vaccines to be used for both first and second doses.

Health officials warn this is not nearly enough doses to vaccinate the approximate 210,000 people designated in the state's phase 1a tier, where primarily healthcare workers and non-hospital care workers are being immunized. San Franciscans aged 65 and older are also being vaccinated in this tier.

An American Sign Language interpreter for Covid-19 briefings in Hawaii has died of the novel coronavirus.

Patty Sakal’s death was noted Tuesday by Gov. David Ige and state Senate President Ron Kouchi during a coronavirus news conference. “She certainly had wonderful expressions and emotions and a great passion for her job,” Kouchi said.

Sakal found out she had the virus when trying to return from a trip to California to visit one of her daughters, according to her sister Lorna Mouton Riff in an interview with CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now. She was 62 years old.

Sakal was born to deaf parents, her sister told Hawaii News Now, and was the vice president of a non-profit organization that provides services to the hearing-impaired community in Honolulu.

In a profile issued by the state Department of Health last May, Sakal said, “Doing this allows me to honor and carry the rich Deaf heritage of ASL and Deaf culture given to me by my parents.”

Seven Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the small city of Coari in Brazil’s Amazon region died early Tuesday after the local hospital ran out of oxygen, according to a statement on Facebook from the Coari municipal government.

As Covid-19 cases skyrocket in Brazil, oxygen shortages have forced a virtual collapse of health services over the past week in the wider Amazonas state. Premature babies have had to be evacuated from the state's capital city Manaus, and local news have quoted nurses saying that patients died of asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen.

According to Coari City Hall, 40 cylinders of oxygen were due to arrive from Manaus on Monday, but the delivery arrived too late.

The Amazonas Health Secretariat said delays in the supply chain caused the shipment to be redirected to Tef, the nearest city with an airport equipped to support nighttime landings.

It was ultimately sent on to Coari by boat, nearly a day later than expected, according to Coari City Hall.

Read more about the situation in Amazonas:

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Brazilian officials were warned six days in advance of a looming oxygen crisis in Manaus

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster told reporters on Tuesday that the state will "have to move quicker" to vaccinate people.

Due to a misunderstanding, some South Carolina hospitals had been setting aside doses for follow-up injections, ultimately only administering "about half" of the doses they should have been giving, he said at press conference in North Charleston.

"When you get that shipment in, use it as soon as possible. Don't delay," he added.

Vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have scheduled an emergency meeting for next week to discuss coronavirus vaccines.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) plans a meeting for Wednesday, January 27, to discuss progress in administering vaccine doses, safety of the vaccines, testing of the vaccines in children and studies on the effectiveness of the vaccine.

There is also a time slot for a Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer to present, but the name of the manufacturer is to be determined. Johnson & Johnson is expected to report on Phase 3 clinical trials for its experimental coronavirus vaccine by the end of the month.

ACIP members are not expected to vote during the one-day meeting, a CDC spokeswoman said.

States across the country say they're running low on coronavirus vaccine supply, with many officials insisting the vaccine delivery numbers reported by the Trump administration don't align with what they are seeing on the ground.

From New York to Tennessee to West Virginia, officials are clamoring for more doses of coronavirus vaccine. And officials in those states said that federal tallies suggesting they have thousands of doses sitting on the shelves don't accurately reflect the supply of vaccine on hand.

The confusion around vaccine supply -- and the gap between what officials said is happening locally and the numbers the Trump administration is reporting -- presents an immediate challenge for the incoming Biden administration.

A source close to the Biden transition team said there is enormous concern among the incoming administration about the accuracy of the numbers that have been released by the federal government. It was only within the last few days that the transition team was given access to Tiberius, the system that shows states how many doses are available to them and allows states to determine delivery locations.

Until then, the team was working solely off numbers they received from manufacturers, unable to cross check and confirm, the source told CNN on Tuesday.

All of this means the Biden team still isn't sure what it will be confronted with when President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Wednesday. Despite frustration, the source said Biden's team has been hesitant to broadcast just how they were left in the dark out of concern that the Trump administration would stop cooperating altogether.

Read the story here.

Top Vermont officials will quarantine and be tested "out of an abundance of caution," after a contractor who provided services at state coronavirus briefings tested positive for Covid-19.

Governor Phil Scott and Health Department Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine are among the officials who could have been exposed at the Jan 15 and Jan 19 briefings, according to a release from Scott's office, which reads:

According to the release, state contact tracers have started their investigation and will provide guidance to all those who are identified as close contacts. The Governor’s Office has reached out to those in attendance at the briefings.

Scott will continue working remotely “until further notice,” the release said.