Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International airport expects nearly a 50% decline in holiday travel
From CNN’s Devon M. Sayer
Travelers walk through terminal A at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on April 20, in Atlanta, Georgia. Rob Carr/Getty Images
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the busiest airport in the world, is expecting nearly half as many holiday travelers compared to last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the airport said.
The airport is projecting that 2.1 million passengers will travel during the holiday period from Dec. 17 through Jan. 3. This would be a decline of 47% from a year ago, Jennifer Ogunsola a spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson told CNN based on projections.
Sunday, Dec. 27, is projected to be the busiest travel day with more than 156,000 passengers.
Concourses A and B are expected to be the most active. Both concourses are projected to serve more than 500,000 passengers each during the holiday period.
1:41 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Fauci: "We will crush this outbreak that has terrorized us for the last 11 months"
From CNN's Andrea Diaz
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington DC, December 18. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
During a virtual event with the Duke Science and Society on Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that thanks to science "we will crush" the Covid-19 outbreak.
"Biomedical research and science have given us something that just a decade ago would have seemed unimaginable, to be able to have a new virus that we had never had experience before being thrust upon us and throw us into one of the most extraordinary destructive pandemics in over 100 years," Fauci said.
He continued:
"Just over the past few days, science has allowed us to have a vaccine that when we distribute it to people throughout the country, and hopefully throughout the world, we will crush this outbreak that has really terrorized us for the last 11 months, not only here in the United States, but worldwide, it's damaged severely, the economy and lead to people suffering things, not necessarily directly related to being ill themselves, but all the secondary consequences that go with the effects of a global pandemic such as this."
1:34 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Migrants and refugees are suffering from mental health issues during pandemic, WHO says
From CNN's Virginia Langmaid
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus talks during a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 11. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
More than half of refugees and migrants surveyed reported increased “depression, anxiety, and loneliness” caused by Covid-19, according to a survey from the World Health Organization that was put out on Friday.
In addition, one in five refugees and migrants surveyed reported increased drug and alcohol use.
The survey, compiled in a report titled Apart Together, was conducted by the WHO and a research consortium led by Ghent University and the University of Copenhagen. The survey accessed 30,000 migrants and refugees in almost every WHO member state.
Refugees and migrants reported high compliance rates with some measures of virus prevention, like hand washing and wearing face coverings. However, nearly 20% said they were unable to comply with stay-at-home measures, and more than 15% were unable to avoid public transport.
Twelve percent of those surveyed reported current symptoms they believed to be linked to Covid-19. Of those who reported being unable to access medical care if they had symptoms, 35% said they lacked the money to seek health care and 22% said they feared deportation if they accessed medical care.
“Access to care must not be linked to legal status,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing discussing the report’s findings. “We call on all countries to remove financial and other barriers to care for migrants as part of their journey towards universal health coverage. Health for all means all – including migrants.”
1:27 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Joe and Jill Biden will receive Pfizer vaccine on Monday
From CNN’s Sarah Mucha
President-elect Joe Biden, and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, depart the Queen Theater after introducing key foreign policy and national security nominees and appointments on November 24, in Wilmington, Delaware. Mark Makela/Getty Images
President-elect Joe Biden and incoming first lady Jill Biden will receive their first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Monday.
"On Monday, President Elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will receive the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Delaware," transition spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on a briefing call Friday.
They do not have details on where exactly that will take place yet.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and incoming second gentleman Doug Emhoff will receive their vaccines the following week, Psaki said.
12:48 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Nancy Pelosi receives Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN's Kristin Wilson
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi receives the Pfizer-BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, on Friday, December 18. Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg/Getty Images
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been vaccinated by the Capitol Attending Physician Dr. Brian Monahan, Pelosi's spokesperson Drew Hammill confirmed to CNN.
Earlier today, Vice President Mike Pence, second lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams received the first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
CNN reported last night that all members of Congress will be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, according to a memo from the Capitol attending physician and a statement from Pelosi.
12:38 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
New York hospitals are in "crisis management" and have added capacity, governor says
From CNN's Laura Ly
Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers remarks on the inequities in the Trump administration's vaccine distribution plan at Riverside Church in New York, on November 15. Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that the state’s hospitals are in “crisis management” mode and capacity has been added at facilities across the state.
Cuomo said the state’s department of health mandated that 25% additional capacity be added and advised that hospitals should cancel elective surgeries if there are capacity issues.
Accordingly, about 31,000 hospital beds have been added in New York’s “downstate” region, Cuomo said.
The New York Department of Health has also mandated that hospitals notify state officials if they are three weeks away from reaching 85% maximum capacity. If such a threshold is reached, the state would move to shutdown the economy in that area, Cuomo said.
However, no hospital in the state has given the health department any such notice, which Cuomo said was “good news.”
“I believe hospitals are going to be able to manage this. We learned a lot in the spring,” Cuomo said.
Additionally, New York reported a statewide positivity rate of 5.09% on Friday, and Covid-19 hospitalizations, ICU patients, and intubation numbers across the state are all down, Cuomo said.
12:33 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Prime minister urges Canadians not to give up as Covid-19 cases climb
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau, left, and Major General Dany Fortin, vice president of logistics and operations at Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), depart following a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Thursday, December 10. David Kawai/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging Canadians to take Covid-19 “very seriously, as numbers continue to head in the wrong direction."
He added, “Our fight against this virus is not over, even as we're preparing to say goodbye and good riddance to 2020.”
Speaking during a Friday news conference, Trudeau said, “Canadians are pretty good at making it through long tough winters, and this is going to be a longer and tougher one than we're even used to.”
Frontline workers in Canada started to receive vaccinations earlier this week.
“Getting a vaccine, in a week or a month, won’t do you any good if you catch Covid-19 today,” he added.
Speaking in French, Trudeau asked Canadians across the country to stay inside, wear masks and continue to social distance through the holiday season.
“Christmas will not be the same way this year, but it's still going to be an opportunity for us to be with a close one, physically or virtually," Trudeau said.
“Just like through this spring, summer, and fall, we will continue to be there for you. We will have your back, every step of the way,” Trudeau promised. “We will do as a government, whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to keep you safe and supported. We're coming into the final miles of this crisis, and we can't give up now.”
11:36 a.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Some US lawmakers begin to get vaccinated
From CNN's Kristin Wilson
Some House members are already starting to get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
CNN reported last night that all members of Congress will be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, according to a memo from the Capitol attending physician and a press release from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer is set to get his vaccine this afternoon.
His communications director tweeted: "Voting schedule permitting, @RepDonBeyer will get a coronavirus vaccine via the Office of the Attending Physician this afternoon."
Earlier today, Vice President Mike Pence, second lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams received the first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
1:04 p.m. ET, December 18, 2020
Technology used to make Covid-19 vaccine could change how we fight diseases, Moderna chairman says
From CNN's Elise Hammond
Noubar Afeyan speaks at the 2019 Aurora Forum on October 16, 2019 in Yerevan, Armenia. Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Aurora Humanitarian Initiative
Noubar Afeyan, the co-founder and chairman of drug maker Moderna, says that the technology used to make the company's Covid-19 vaccine could change the way scientists think about therapeutics and vaccines for other diseases in the future.
"We have in fact demonstrated in many different disease therapeutic areas and vaccines that this kind of technology could, in fact, create a whole new portion of the medical repertoire we have to fight disease," Afeyan told CNN on Friday.
Moderna is one of the companies to pioneer mRNA technology its vaccine is based on. Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine also uses this approach.
How it works: Messenger RNA is a single strand of the genetic code that cells can "read" and use to make a protein. In the case of this vaccine, the mRNA instructs cells in the body to make the particular piece of the virus's spike protein. Then the immune system sees it, recognizes it as foreign and is prepared to attack when actual infection occurs.
"We wanted to do the work to enable such a molecule to become a medicine," Afeyan said. "The difference is if you're dealing with an information molecule, a code molecule, by changing the code you ought to be able to make any therapeutic or vaccine you want, that was the dream."
He says this technology will change people's perception of how long it should take to make a vaccine, adding that the "Covid-19 vaccine example will forge a new path."
"Perhaps not to always be able to go from zero to a vaccine in less than a year, but certainly the five to ten years it used to take was somewhat predicated on older technology and also, I'll say, the assumption that it has to take that long, which we no longer have to make," he said.
Some context: The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met to discuss Moderna's vaccine on Thursday, and is expected to authorize it for emergency use in the coming days. Once it does, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says the federal government has nearly 5.9 million doses ready to be shipped.
