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Major employers including Hyatt, Target, Starbucks, and CVS are keeping mask requirements in Texas despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to lift safety restrictions next week. (Wall Street Journal)
Following criticism of this plan, Abbott blamed infections in Texas on recently paroled migrants. (Forbes)
A new pilot program involving more than a dozen insurance companies aims to vaccinate 2 million of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors by assisting them with transportation and registration and addressing vaccine hesitancy. (NPR)
Minnesota officials report 14 cases of “vaccine breakthrough.” (WCCO)
As of Thursday at 8:00 a.m. EST, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. stood at 28,761,702 cases and 518,459 deaths — up 41,842 and 1,843, respectively, from the same time Wednesday.
Brazil is still seeing record-breaking COVID-19 deaths, and now it has its own regional variant of SARS-CoV-2 to worry about. (New York Times)
Italy’s elderly continue to suffer a year into the pandemic. (Washington Post)
Pharmaceutical companies are lobbying for sanctions on countries infringing on their intellectual property rights for COVID vaccines. (The Intercept)
The vast majority of COVID deaths have been in countries where more than half of all adults are overweight. (Financial Times)
Scientists say they have a more efficient way to test for SARS-CoV-2 in a community’s wastewater, according to a paper in the mSystems journal.
Teachers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts become eligible for vaccination next week. (Philadelphia Inquirer, NBC Boston)
People waited for hours at New York’s large Javits Center vaccination site on Tuesday, apparently due to staffing problems. (Gothamist)
San Diego Zoo’s orangutans and bonobos have received a coronavirus vaccine made specially for animals. (National Geographic)
In other news:
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
