Monthly Archives: February 2021

Honeywell CEO explains how a walk led to a mass Covid vaccination site in North Carolina

The idea for the three-day mass vaccination event held this past weekend at Bank of America Stadium was hatched on a walk among friends, according toHoneywell InternationalCEO Darius Adamczyk.

It just so happened Adamcyzk was joined by Carolina Panthers PresidentTom Glickand Atrium Health CEOGene Wood on the stroll. "In the Covid era, one of the social things you can still kind of do is go for walks outside with some of your friends, Adamcyzk said on "Squawk Box," explaining the men live in the same neighborhood.

They were discussing the slower-than-expected start to Covid vaccinations in the U.S. when they realized their respective organizations might be able to do something about it, Adamcyzk recalled. "We said, 'You know, maybe we could help here. Maybe we could partner as a team.'"

More than 20,000 people were ultimately vaccinated from Friday to Sunday at the football stadium, he said. "We did this in the course of three days Friday, Saturday, Sunday," Adamcyzk added. "Twelve hours a day, 20,000 people. Think about if we could do that, set up 50 or 100 of these kinds of sites across the country."

Kevin Stankiewicz

Tedros Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, raised the alarm on how weak cooperation between countries could hinder the global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a post published by the Foreign Policy magazine, Tedros wrote: "Despite the growing number of vaccine options, current manufacturing capacity meets only a fraction of global need. Vaccines are the best chance of bringing this pandemic under controlunless leaders succumb to vaccine nationalism."

"International collaboration among scientists was critical to vaccine development, but now weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving worldwide vaccination at the scale needed to end the pandemic," he added.

Several countries, including the U.S., have been struggling to roll out the different Covid-19 vaccines amid amid limited supplies and logistical issues.

Fred Imbert

A medical worker prepares a syringe during vaccination with the Gam-COVID-Vak (Sputnik V) vaccine against COVID-19 at Sochi's City Hospital No 4.

Dmitry Feoktistov | TASS | Getty Images

Mexico is nearing approval for the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V after the results of an advanced study were published early in The Lancet, Mexican officials said, according to a report by Associated Press.

The Mexican government's pandemic spokesperson, Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said the health ministry signed a contract Monday to receive 400,000 doses of Sputnik V this month, according to the report.

Once the Russian vaccine is approved, it will be the third to receive emergency approval in Mexico after prior emergency approvals of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, the Associated Press reported.

A dozen countries have already approved Sputnik V for use.

Rich Mendez

National Football League fans convene in downtown Tampa ahead of Super Bowl LV during the COVID-19 pandemic on January 30, 2021 in Tampa, Florida.

Octavio Jones | Getty Images

No NFL players tested positive for the coronavirus in the league's latest round of testing leading up to Super Bowl LV set for Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Reuters reported.

In total, 2,567 tests were administered to 152 players and 278 team personnel in the latest round of tests, according to the report. The League releases results weekly and tests frequently, especially when there are doubts about safety.

According to the NFL Network, two players on the Kansas City Chiefs, receiver Demarcus Robinson and center Daniel Kilgore, were put on the reserve list after having close contact with a barber that recently tested positive for the coronavirus. Both players were masked during the interaction, the League said, according to the report.

Rich Mendez

The United States will begin shipping Covid-19 vaccine doses directly to retail drugstores on Feb. 11 as it looks to expand access to the life-saving shots nationwide, the Biden administration's Covid-19 response team said.

The federal program, which is separate from its partnership with CVS and Walgreens to vaccinate long-term care residents, will start with 6,500 stores nationwide, White House Covid response coordinator Jeff Zients said at a press briefing.

The U.S. is also increasing its weekly shipments of vaccine doses to states by 5%, he said. That means the federal government will now send a minimum of 10.5 million doses per week for the next three weeks across the U.S.

The administration has allocated 1 million doses to pharmacies in addition to the 10.5 million it has set aside for states, tribes and U.S. territories beginning next week, Zients said.

Noah Higgins-Dunn

The United States appears to be turning a corner on the Covid-19 pandemic as cases and hospitalizations rapidly fall across the country, but that progress could be thwarted by more contagious strains that have quickly taken hold in other parts of the world.

The seven-day average of daily new cases in the U.S. is down 41% from its peak last month and the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 is down 29% from the peak.

But epidemiologists warn that the U.S. is at a dangerous point in the pandemic. They expressed concern that the declining numbers could lull the country into a sense of complacency when more caution than ever is needed. And while the numbers are off their peaks, the level of infection remains so high in most of the country that the loosening of restrictions as well as the spread of more contagious variants could still undo the country's progress, they say.

"There seems to be already a tendency, including in my own community, to start opening things up again, letting the bar stay open later and that sort of thing," Dr. Bill Schaffner, an epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University, said in a phone interview. "I'm worried about that because I thought we'd learned that lesson. As soon as you do that, cases start to go up again."

Will Feuer

Democrats will push forward on passing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill without any Republican support.

Congress is set to take the first votes Tuesday toward passing a budget resolution, which allows lawmakers to use the reconciliation process. Through it, Democrats could pass an aid package with a simple majority vote in the Senate.

The party hopes to pass the budget resolution this week. It instructs committees to draft policies including $1,400 direct payments, a $400 per week unemployment benefit through September, state and local government relief and rental and mortgage assistance.

In announcing the Senate would move ahead with the budget measure, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said "time is a luxury our country does not have." He said he still hoped Republicans would join Democrats in passing a bill, a day after 10 GOP senators met with President Joe Biden about relief efforts.

Those Republicans put forward an aid proposal about a third of the size of the Democrats' plan.

Jacob Pramuk

99-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore at his home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, April 16, 2020, after he achieved his goal of 100 laps of his garden - raising more than 12 million pounds for the NHS.

Joe Giddens | PA Images | Getty Images

Capt. Sir Tom Moore, who became a universally loved hero for his fundraising efforts during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, has died, his family said in a statement.

The 100-year-old recently suffered from pneumonia and was diagnosed with Covid-19 last week, his family said. The World War II veteran raised $53 million for the U.K.'s National Health Service by walking laps in his garden last year, according to Reuters.

"The care our father received from the NHS and carers over the last few weeks and years of his life has been extraordinary," his family said in a statement. "They have been unfalteringly professional, kind and compassionate and have given us many more years with him than we ever would have imagined."

Rich Mendez

Former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang stands with his family at an event announcing his candidacy for New York City Mayor in upper Manhattan in New York City, January 14, 2021.

Mike Segar | Reuters

Andrew Yang, the former Democratic presidential candidate who is now running for New York City mayor, said he's tested positive for Covid-19 and is in quarantine.

"I am experiencing mild symptoms, but am otherwise feeling well and in good spirits," Yang said in a statement. Yang said he tested negative for the virus over the weekend but then tested positive Tuesday through a rapid test.

Yang said that his campaign team, who are subject to weekly testing if they attend in-person activities, have started tracing all of his close contacts. He will continue to attend virtual campaign events.

Noah Higgins-Dunn

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6% effective in preventing the spread of Covid-19, according to a peer-reviewed phase 3 clinical trial published in The Lancet international medical journal, according to a report by Reuters.

"The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticized for unseemly haste, corner-cutting, and an absence of transparency," Professor Ian Jones of the University of Reading and Professor Polly Roy, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine told The Lancet.

"But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated," said the scientists, who were not involved in the study, according to Reuters. "Another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19."

Terri Cullen

UPS CEO Carol Tome stands with workers

Source: UPS

UPS reported better-than-expected revenue and profits over the busy holiday season, reflecting a boom in online shopping amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Shares of the company rose roughly 4% following its earnings report.

Revenue for the Atlanta-based logistics and delivery company rose 21% to $24.9 billion during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. Its domestic package division saw a 17.4% increase in year-over-year revenue as its network filled to the brink with deliveries from online retailers.

"Looking at the fourth quarter, our results were strong and considerably better than we expected," CEO Carol Tome said on the company's earnings call following the report. "This is the highest quarterly operating profit in the company's history, with record profit produced in each segment."

Noah Higgins-Dunn

Flor Rodriguez (L), 72, of Nevada, receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination from Southern Nevada Health District nurse Daliah Rubio at Jerome Mack Middle School on January 29, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller | Getty Images

Pfizer plans to deliver 200 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the U.S. by May, earlier than its initial forecast of July, according to slides published by the company.

The company, also said it can potentially deliver 2 billion doses globally by the end of this year now that health-care providers can extract an additional sixth dose of the vaccine from the vials.

Pfizer, like other Covid vaccine makers, has been struggling to meet the demand for shots that hopefully will help bring an end to the pandemic. It recently enlisted the help of French drugmakerSanofito help produce 100 million doses of its vaccine.

In the slides published, Pfizer also said patients will "likely need to boost regularly to maintain immune response and to counter emerging variant strains."

Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Concerns that coronavirus mutations could render available vaccines less effective were justified after the mutation "of most concern" occurred spontaneously in the U.K. variant, Reuters reports, citing a professor of outbreak medicine who is part of a panel that advises the British government.

The U.K. variant's mutation, known as E484K, has also been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants, according to Reuters. Studies have found that vaccines and antibody therapy are less effective against the South African variant.

Initially, early studies showed that vaccines worked just as well against the U.K. variant, called B.1.1.7, prior to the E484K mutation, the wire service reported.

"The mutation of most concern, which we call E484K, has also occurred spontaneously in the new Kent strain in parts of the country too," Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told BBC radio.

Terri Cullen

BP reported its first full-year loss in a decade while Exxon Mobilposted its fourth-straight quarter of losses as business restrictions imposed for the ongoing pandemic drove oil and gas prices lower.

BP's fourth-quarter profit of $115million missed analyst expectations of $285.5 million and the U.K.-based oil and gas company warned the pandemic would continue to impact its performance, CNBC's Sam Meredith reports.

Exxon's fourth-quarter loss was $20.1 billion on revenue of $46.54 billion. The company earned 3 cents a share, excluding items, which was ahead of the 1 cent profit expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv, but revenue fell short of the Street consensus for $48.76 billion, CNBC's Pippa Stevens reported.

Melodie Warner

A Sun Tran employee offers free masks to passengers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the downtown bus station in Tucson, Arizona, U.S., June 20, 2020.

Cheney Orr | Reuters

The Biden administration's mask mandate for transportation took effect just before midnight Tuesday, requiring travelers on planes, trains, ferries and other modes of transportation to wear a face covering.

U.S. airlines have required travelers to wear masks on board since last spring, but workers have urged federal mask requirements to give more weight to the rule. The Trump administration recommended masks but stopped short of mandating them. Airlines have banned more than 2,000 people for refusing to wear masks on board.

"We recently got good news when President Biden signed an executive order mandating face masks across interstate travel, including airports and aircraft," Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told employees on Monday. "This adds a layer of protection for our people who have been integral in enforcing our mask policy. To date, we've banned approximately 950 people for failing to comply with the mask requirement."

The Transportation Security Administration, one of the agencies that will enforce the rule, says travelers who fail to comply could face civil penalties.

Leslie Josephs

Global corporate travel spending fell by more than 50% last year to $694 billion as the coronavirus pandemic ended a decade of growth, a trade group estimates. It could take until 2025 to recover.

Business travel spending will likely increase by 21% this year, most of it at the end of the year as more people are vaccinated, estimates the Global Business Travel Association, whose members include airlines, hotel chains, travel agents and others.

While the group expects travel spending to grow, it will be at a slow pace. After China, the U.S. is the second-biggest corporate travel market. It was hard hit by the pandemic, with travel spending falling an estimated 61% to $121.7 billion last year. "A coordinated vaccination campaign across the US and North America will of course be paramount to ensuring a rapid return to pre-pandemic economic activity," the GBTA said in its forecast.

Leslie Josephs

Empty vials of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are seen at a first come first serve drive-thru vaccination site operated by the Lake County Health Department on January 28, 2021 in Groveland, Florida.

Paul Hennessy | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Pfizer expects to sell about $15 billion in Covid-19 vaccine doses this year.

The company, which is making its vaccine with German partner BioNTech, also forecast total revenue between $59.4 and $61.4 billion this year.

Pfizer, like other Covid vaccine makers, has been struggling to meet the demand for shots that will help bring an end to the pandemic. Pfizer has said it expects to deliver 200 million doses of its two-shot vaccine to the U.S. by July 31. It recently enlisted the help of French drugmaker Sanofi to help produce doses.

Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Link:

Covid live updates: U.S. cases and hospitalizations drop; Mexico close to approving Russian vaccine - CNBC

The global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 103.4 million on Tuesday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll rose above 2.24 million. The U.S. has the highest case tally in the world at 26.3 million and the highest death toll at 443,365, or about a fifth of the global total. The U.S. added at least 139,293 new cases on Monday, according to a New York Times tracker , and counted at least 1,990 deaths. Case numbers have been declining, however. The U.S. averaged 146,409 new cases a day in the past week, down 29% from the average two weeks ago. Hospitalizations have also been falling, according to the COVID Tracking Project. There were 93,536 COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals on Monday, down from 95,013 a day earlier and the lowest level since Nov. 29. The CDC's vaccine tracker is showing that as of 6.00 a.m. ET Monday, 32.2 million doses had been administered so far, which is more than the confirmed case tally. So far, 49.9 million doses have been delivered to states.Brazil has the second highest death toll at 225,099 and is third by cases at 9.2 million. India is second worldwide in cases with 10.8 million, and now fourth in deaths at 154,486, after being surpassed by Mexico late last week. Mexico has the third highest death toll at 159,100 and 13th highest case tally at 1.9 million. The U.K. has 3.8 million cases and 106,774 deaths, the highest in Europe and fifth highest in the world.

See the rest here:

Coronavirus tally: Global cases of COVID-19 top 103.4 million and U.S. vaccinations top case tally - MarketWatch

Here's the latest COVID-19 case, death and hospitalization data from the state.

ATLANTA We're breaking down the trends and relaying information from across the state of Georgia as it comes in, bringing perspective to the data and context to the trends.

Visit the 11Alive coronavirus page for comprehensive coverage, find out what you need to know about Georgia specifically, learn more about the symptoms, and keep tabs on the cases around the world.

State and federal officials with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are continually monitoring the spread of the virus. They are also working hand-in-hand with the World Health Organization to track the spread around the world and to stop it.

Appling 1704 50

Atkinson 741 14

Baldwin 3507 91

Bartow 9088 155

Ben Hill 1429 50

Bleckley 753 32

Brantley 804 22

Bulloch 4621 46

Carroll 6503 112

Catoosa 4530 50

Charlton 976 15

Chatham 16638 296

Chattahoochee 2444 3

Chattooga 1962 53

Cherokee 18159 201

Clarke 11194 92

Clayton 18020 299

Coffee 3989 102

Colquitt 3055 56

Columbia 9749 119

Coweta 7196 112

Crawford 468 10

DeKalb 47298 619

Decatur 1986 47

Dougherty 4994 243

Douglas 9720 129

Effingham 3147 46

Emanuel 1636 51

Fayette 5202 103

Forsyth 14391 110

Franklin 2133 29

Fulton 68705 904

Gwinnett 74367 726

Habersham 4357 119

Haralson 1503 28

Henry 15565 201

Houston 8777 145

Jackson 7467 99

Jeff Davis 1164 33

Jefferson 1444 47

Laurens 3420 127

Liberty 2435 40

Lowndes 6925 115

Lumpkin 2528 43

Madison 2360 28

McDuffie 1460 31

McIntosh 543 10

Meriwether 1280 31

Mitchell 1413 68

Montgomery 670 19

Muscogee 11830 258

Newton 6310 155

Oglethorpe 1038 16

Paulding 8745 131

Pickens 2127 40

Randolph 423 30

Richmond 17142 296

Rockdale 4949 102

Seminole 677 14

Spalding 3324 108

Stephens 2711 66

Taliaferro 91 0

Tattnall 1651 32

Treutlen 576 19

Walton 6751 156

Washington 1493 39

Whitfield 13508 168

Wilkinson 661 21

The rest is here:

Coronavirus in Georgia | Another above-average day for deaths - 11Alive.com WXIA

Facts, not fear: We're tracking the latest numbers from the coronavirus pandemic in San Antonio and across Texas.

SAN ANTONIO We're tracking the latest numbers from the coronavirus pandemic in San Antonio and across Texas. Here are the latest numbers reported by Bexar and surrounding counties:

More county case information is available through theTexas Department of Health Services COVID-19 dashboard.

How Bexar County is trending

We've tracked how many coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Bexar County from the time officials began reporting cases in March 2020. The graphic below shows the number of cases since June and charts those daily case numbers along a 7-day moving average to provide a more accurate picture of the overall coronavirus case curve in our area and the direction we're trending amid the pandemic.

On Tuesday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported an additional 1,260 new coronavirus cases in Bexar County. In all, 176,790 Bexar County residents have been diagnosed with the virus, more than 8 percent of the county's population. The county's 7-day moving average rose to 1,510.

Nirenberg also reported 15 new coronavirus-related deaths, raising the county's death toll to 2,167 since the pandemic began.

The number of patients in Bexar County hospitals rose slightly for a second day Tuesday. Five more coronavirus hospitalizations were reported on Tuesday in comparison to Monday, bringing the day's concurrent total to 1,176. 138 patients were admitted in the past day.

399 patients are in intensive care, while 232 patients are on ventilators.

This week's local positivity rate dropped to 11.4 percent, a decrease of 4.5 percentage points over the last week. The county's risk level remains at a severe level.

Coronavirus in Texas

The total number of novel coronavirus cases in the state since the pandemic began grew by 23,047 on Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That total includes 18,951 new confirmed cases, 3,133 new probable cases, and a backlog of 963. More details can be found on this page.

Monday's figures bring the total number of Texans diagnosed with COVID-19 to more than 2.41 million.

Meanwhile, state health authorities reported another 331 deaths from coronavirus complications in Texas. In all, 36,870 Texans have died from COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 patients receiving treatment for their symptoms throughout Texas decreased on Tuesday by 72. The concurrent total stands at 11,002.

The state estimates that about 1.993 million Texans have recovered, while 367,152 Texans remain ill with COVID-19.

The latest update from the Texas Education Agency showed that there have been at least 146,963 cumulative cases among staff and students across the state through January 24. That number comprises 93,542 positive student cases and 53,421 staff cases. More information can be found here.

The TEA releases new data on school cases on Fridays.

Latest Coronavirus Headlines

Coronavirus symptoms

The symptoms of coronavirus can be similar to the flu or a bad cold. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Most healthy people will have mild symptoms. A study of more than 72,000 patients by the Centers for Disease Control in China showed 80 percent of the cases there were mild.

But infections can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, according to the World Health Organization. Older people with underlying health conditions are most at risk.

Experts determined there was consistent evidence these conditions increase a person's risk, regardless of age:

The CDC believes symptoms may appear anywhere from two to 14 days after being exposed.

Human coronaviruses are usually spread...

Help stop the spread of coronavirus

Find a Testing Location

City officials recommend getting a COVID-19 test if you experience fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.

San Antonio operates several no-cost testing locations, including two walk-up locations open Monday-Sunday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.:

Cuellar Community Center5626 San Fernando St.San Antonio, TX 78237

Ramirez Community Center1011 Gillette Blvd.San Antonio, TX 78224

Additionally, Freeman Coliseum offers drive-through no-cost testing from Monday through Sunday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. An appointment is required and can be made either onlineor by calling (833) 213-0643.

Here's a Testing Sites Locatorto help you find the testing location closest to you in San Antonio.

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Coronavirus Tracker: 97 new COVID-19 deaths reported in the last week in Bexar County - KENS5.com

A mutation that could allow Covid-19 to escape antibody protection has now been found in samples of a rapidly spreading strain in the UK, according to a report Monday by Public Health England.

The mutation, called E484K, was already part of the genetic signature of variants linked to South Africa and Brazil.

According to the PHE report, the mutation has been newly detected in at least 11 samples of the UK's B.1.1.7 strain. It also appears some of these samples may have acquired this mutation independently, instead of spreading from a single case.

This could mean a variant already known to be more transmissible also risks becoming somewhat resistant to the immune protection offered by vaccines, or more likely to cause reinfection among people who were previously infected, experts say.

"This doesn't appear to be great news for vaccine efficacy," said Joseph Fauver, associate research scientist in epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.

He added the new finding is also something to keep monitoring in the US, where efforts to look for variants through genetic sequencing have lagged behind the UK. The fact that we've only seen this in the UK "may be a result of their robust genomic surveillance program," Fauver said.

Experts say it's too early to predict whether this development will greatly impact the trajectory of Covid-19 in the UK and around the world.

However, there is some research suggesting that E484K may be a key culprit behind why certain vaccines appear less effective in South Africa.

Novavax recently announced its vaccine was 89% effective in its Phase 3 UK trial, but only appeared 60% effective in a separate Phase 2b study conducted in South Africa. Similarly, in Johnson & Johnson's Phase 3 trial, efficacy differed by country: 72% in the US versus 57% in South Africa. In both trials, 90 to 95% of cases in South Africa were linked to the B.1.351 variant, which contains the E484K mutation.

But much of the early evidence on this so-called "escape mutant" comes from research in the lab, showing that antibodies appear less able to bind spike proteins arising from the mutation.

The latest example comes from a new study finding that antibodies from vaccinated people were less effective at neutralizing a synthetic virus resembling those in the PHE report -- meaning, they contained pivotal mutations from B.1.1.7, plus E484K.

Adding the E484K mutation appeared to raise the bar for the level of antibodies needed to prevent the lab-made virus from infecting cells, when compared to B.1.1.7 mutations on their own.

The study sampled blood from 23 people who had received a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine three weeks prior, with a median age of 82. The study was not able to demonstrate how this impacted people's actual likelihood of becoming infected with virus variants.

Citing the genomics database GISAID, the study also tallied a slightly higher total of cases than the PHE report: two unrelated cases in Wales and a cluster of more than a dozen in England, appearing as early as the first half of December 2020.

Paul Bieniasz, a virologist at the Rockefeller University, noted that the E484K mutation has "appeared sporadically" in multiple samples for months, but until recently it didn't appear to offer the virus an advantage in populations with no preexisting immunity.

But it's a different story in places like South Africa, where many people had been previously infected. On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci noted "a very high rate of reinfection to the point where previous infection does not seem to protect you," citing the work of colleagues in South Africa.

The B.1.1.7 strain first spotted in the UK has now been found in at least 70 countries worldwide, including about 470 known cases in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts say that aggressive testing, adhering to Covid-19 guidelines and rapidly rolling out vaccines are more important than ever in light of these spreading variants.

"We need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we possibly can," Fauci previously said. "Even though there is a diminished protection against the variants, there's enough protection to prevent you from getting serious disease, including hospitalization and deaths."

CNN's Nina Avramova contributed to this report.

Excerpt from:

Coronavirus strain in UK picks up mutation that could impact vaccines, experts say - KMOV.com

A coronavirus variant from Brazil has been detected in a sample from the Bay Area, underscoring the urgency of ramping up inoculation efforts as researchers try to learn whether it, as well as others circulating in California, could undermine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

Researchers at Stanfords Clinical Virology Laboratory screened nearly 1,000 specimens during the last two weeks and found one case of the Brazilian variant, P.2, said Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, the laboratorys medical director. They reported the finding to public health authorities on Jan. 25.

The researchers also identified four cases of a variant from the U.K., B.1.1.7, that appears to spread more easily, may be more virulent and is already known to be circulating in California, Pinsky said. And they found that about 29% of the specimens had the L452R mutation, a feature of ahomegrown variant that has been increasingly detected across the stateand may have helped drive the most recent case surge.

Its definitely possible that they already contributed to the humongous surge weve seen over the last six weeks or so, said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, an infectious diseases expert at USC. And it could get even worse if these strains are indeed fitter than previous strains and people lower their guard and we are not very logistically efficient in delivering vaccines.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

More:

Coronavirus variant from Brazil found in Bay Area, other U.S. cities - KTLA