Teachers push back, churches in court, National Guard: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Montgomery: The state is getting roughly half as much COVID-19 vaccine as it was expecting based on federal plans announced last year, officials said Friday, meaning it would take more than two years to vaccinate the adult population without improvement. The state has 800 approved vaccination sites and is trying to deliver shots as quickly as it can, but supply issues have been the biggest hindrance to state vaccination efforts, said Dr. Scott Harris, head of the Alabama Department of Public Health. “Every state had the idea that they were going to get much more vaccine than they ultimately got,” he said. “I assume this is related to optimistic projections and the inability of manufacturers to keep up that. … There just wasn’t enough vaccine to go around.” Alabama health officials were expecting to get more th
N.J.’s 6 COVID vaccine megasites will all be open Friday. Here’s how to get an appointment.
Updated Jan 22, 2021;
Posted Jan 21, 2021
Health care workers prepare to give COVID-19 vaccinations at the Morris County vaccination site. COVID-19 vaccinations begin Friday, Jan. 8 at one of six planned mega-sites in New Jersey. Gov. Phil Murphy toured the opening of the site at Rockaway Townsquare mall.Sarah Blesener for the New York
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New Jersey’s six coronavirus vaccine mega sites will all be open on Friday, state officials told NJ Advance Media.
The Atlantic City Convention Center and Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment Complex will both be open Friday, but neither is currently taking appointments as they are both booked. More appointment times will be added, the sites said.
Coronavirus update: Emergency orders planned for more PPE, CDC predicts 100,000 more deaths in 30 days
A national plan for school reopenings is in the works 01/21/2021
Total U.S. confirmed cases: 24,475,210 (24,273,831)
Total U.S. deaths: 407,111 (402,400)
Total global cases: 97,116,661 (96,396,565)
Total global deaths: 2,080,009 (2,063,594)
Biden plans extensive use of Defense Production Act
The incoming Biden administration says it has found an acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) nearly a year into the pandemic. Officials say the president is likely to make extensive use of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to alleviate that issue.
Biden today issued executive orders and directed government agencies to use wartime powers to require U.S. companies to produce more N95 masks, swabs, and other equipment to fight the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
COVID vaccine appointments are hotter than Springsteen tickets | Opinion
Updated Jan 20, 2021;
Posted Jan 20, 2021
Sharon Waters of Bloomfield says the main difference between getting into a vaccination site versus a Springsteen concert is she can’t try to scalp a ticket in the parking lot. Waters has been trying to get a vaccine shot for soon-to-be-90-years-old father John Waters.
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By Sharon Waters
With shows and concerts canceled, the hottest ticket now is an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine. As I hit refresh again and again on vaccination scheduling webpages, I can’t help comparing my fruitless search to my past efforts to snag Springsteen tickets. Both hunts require strategy, stamina and endless hope.
Modern Healthcare Illustration / Getty Images
Hospital merger and acquisition activity rebounded in the fourth quarter, but annual deal volume still hit an 11-year low, according to a new report.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused many health systems to pause or abandon their merger and acquisition plans, resulting in only 79 announced deals in 2020, Ponder & Co. found. That was down 25 percent from the trailing 10-year average and the lowest annual tally since 2009.
But the 28 announced deals in the fourth quarter signaled that hospital executives are more comfortable with the virtual due diligence process and that finances have stabilized, said Eb LeMaster, managing director at the health care advisory firm.