March 19 coronavirus news

Aerial View of Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on March 1.

Former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort has closed its dining room and suspended beach club services to guests due to a Covid 19 outbreak among “some” staff, according to an email sent to members Friday afternoon and shared with CNN.

The email says the closure is out of “an abundance of caution.”

Banquet and event services remain open, the email says, adding: “We have already undertaken all appropriate response measures in accordance with CDC guidance, including activating a thorough sanitization and cleaning of any affected areas and all club facilities, and we will continue our heightened environmental cleaning regimen.”

News of the closure was first reported by Associated Press.

The North Dakota Department of Public Health said Friday that the Covid-19 vaccine will be available to the general public starting March 29.

The department encouraged people who are in the earlier categories of eligibility not to put off getting an appointment to get one.

“As the state prepares to make the vaccine available to the general public, it’s important for people included in Phases 1A, 1B or 1C to be vaccinated now, as they are at highest risk for severe COVID-19 or being exposed to COVID-19,” said Molly Howell, the department’s immunization director. 

As of Friday, 27% of North Dakotans had at least one dose of the vaccine, and 16% have been fully vaccinated, according to the state.

A member of the Georgia National guard helps manage traffic at a COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the Delta Flight Museum, Monday, February 22, in Atlanta. The state has four sites located around Georgia.

More than 3 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Georgia, according to the state’s health department.

In a news release, the Georgia Department of Public Health said that one million residents over the age of 65, which is 72% of the population in that age range, have received at least one dose. The dashboard showed that over 1.1 million people have received both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.  

The state also said that they have administered one million doses over the past 19 days. 

Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson announced on Friday that they signed deals with the Brazilian health ministry to provide a total of 138 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the country.

Pfizer will deliver 100 million doses by the end of September, according to a press release from the company. On Monday, the health ministry said they expect to receive 13.5 million Pfizer doses in the second quarter of 2021 and 86.5 million in the third.

Brazil’s health agency Anvisa has not yet approved emergency authorization for Johnson & Johnson, though the health ministry already said it expects to receive 16.9 million doses from the company by the end of August and another 21.1 million by the end of November.

Johnson & Johnson did not specify their timeline for delivering the 38 million doses in their press release announcing the agreement.

Brazil has so far approved three vaccines for emergency use during the pandemic, those by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac.

The vaccine announcement comes as Brazil continues to report record daily numbers. Just on Wednesday, the country saw its largest daily jump in cases since the start of the pandemic — 90,303 new cases.

President Biden thanked staff at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today for their role in combatting the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We can build all the walls and we can get the most powerful armies in the world — we cannot stop, we cannot stop these viruses, other than be aware where they are and move quickly on them when we find them,” he added.

“I just want you to have some confidence that it’s not only the vice president, I, and the whole team, the whole Covid team writ large, committed, but the American people have moved. The American people have moved, this is a bipartisan effort now.” 

The President went on to tout his Covid-19 relief bill and the support he said the plan has garnered from the public across the country. No Republicans ultimately supported the administration’s Covid relief bill in the House or Senate, forcing Democrats to pass the legislation through reconciliation with a simple majority.

“Well, we didn’t get any help in the Senate or the House, but there’s 55% of a Republicans in America supporting it, you have 90-something% of the Democrats, 80-something—the point is, the public is thankful to you, because it’s about science, that’s what they understand they understand,” Biden said.

In closing, Biden told the CDC staff, “You’ve changed things, you’ve change them in a way that are going to make everybody healthier in this country. And when we have a crisis, you’re prepared to meet it. Because you speak truth and science to power.”

After Biden’s remarks, Vice President Kamala Harris took the opportunity to laud Biden for his commitment to science that driven his administration’s response to the pandemic, telling CDC staff, “everyone here knows, before the President was President, he was dedicated to science.” 

“The President takes calls with leaders around the world, we talk with people around the world, and they have named their Centers of Disease Control after this Center of Disease Control,” Harris said, adding the American CDC serves as a template for other nations. 

“You all are a model for the world around what can be done based on a pursuit of that which will uplift and improve human condition in life.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson received the first dose of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on Friday.

“I’ve just received my first Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine dose. Thank you to all of the incredible scientists, NHS staff and volunteers who helped make this happen,” he tweeted.

“Getting the jab is the best thing we can do to get back to the lives we miss so much. Let’s get the jab done,” Johnson added.

He urged people to get a vaccine, telling reporters after receiving his first shot that it is the “best thing” for all. 

“I literally did not feel a thing, it was very good, very quick. I cannot recommend it too highly,” Johnson said.

“Everybody, when you do get your notification to go for a jab, please go and get it. It is the best thing for you, the best thing for your family, and for everybody else,” he added.

Johnson was seen leaving Gassiot House Outpatient Centre at London’s St Thomas’ Hospital on Friday evening after receiving his first dose.

Johnson was previously admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in April 2020 for coronavirus and remained in intensive care for three nights. The prime minister later released a statement thanking National Health Service staff who cared for him.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she herself “would get vaccinated with AstraZeneca” when called to get the vaccine, adding that the government’s motto to tackle the coronavirus pandemic is “vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.”

The chancellor’s remarks come as Germany recommences its rollout of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on Friday, a day after the European Medicines Agency [EMA] reaffirmed that the vaccine is both “safe and effective” in preventing coronavirus and “not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events, or blood clots.” 

Speaking during news conference following Berlin’s vaccination summit, Merkel said the government was right to impose a temporary suspension on the rollout of the vaccine in order to guarantee its safety.

New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that relaxes recommendations for distancing from 3 feet to 6 feet for many kids relies heavily on schools using other measures, including universal masking and contact tracing, the agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Friday.

The CDC announced the new guidance earlier Friday and Walensky outlined it at a White House coronavirus briefing. 

“Today, CDC is pleased to update our recommendations for physical distancing between students and classrooms in our K- 12 operational strategy,” Walensky said. In elementary schools, CDC recommends students remain at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where everyone is wearing a mask.

But this only works if schools are taking other steps, too, she said.

“These include universal and correct use of masks, physical distancing, hand washing and respiratory etiquette, cleaning to maintain healthy facilities and diagnostic testing with rapid and efficient contact tracing in combination with isolation in quarantine and in collaboration with local health departments,” Walensky said.

Three studies done in Utah, Missouri and Florida helped inform the changed guidance, she said. A study done by Florida health officials and the CDC found that resuming school in person did not increase infection rates.

“Importantly, this study also found that Covid-19 rates were higher among students in school districts that did not have mandatory mask use policies in place,” Walensky said.

One of the new coronavirus variants that’s rapidly spreading in the US is both more contagious and likely more deadly as well, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday.

The spread of the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the UK means vaccination is more important than ever, as are measures such as mask use and social distancing, Fauci said during a White House briefing.

It was first spotted in Colorado at the end of December, said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “Since then it has been detected in 50 jurisdictions in the United States, and likely accounts now for about 20 to 30% of the infections in this country. And that number is growing.”

“In a couple of UK studies, this one looking at over 54,000 matched pairs of participants in the UK in which one person was infected with the B.1.1.7 and another one with the previously circulating variant, there was a 64% increased risk of death for those with the B.1.1.7,” Fauci told the briefing. He showed a second study that indicated a 61% higher risk of death with B.1.1.7.

But vaccines appear to protect well against B.1.1.7 and treatments such as monoclonal antibodies also appear to work against this particular variant, Fauci noted.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN Friday that teachers’ unions have been “very respectful” of the CDC’s commitment to following science in rolling out new distancing guidance at schools.

Earlier today she announced that low levels of in-school coronavirus transmission in three states helped persuade the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lower its distancing guidelines for many schools from 6 feet to 3 feet. 

In a statement, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, expressed concern over the new guidance, writing, “We are concerned that the CDC has changed one of the basic rules for how to ensure school safety without demonstrating certainty that the change is justified by the science and can be implemented in a manner that does not detract from the larger long-term needs of students.”

White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients outlined today some key updates from the administration’s efforts to vaccinate Americans.

 Here’s a breakdown of the figures:

The Biden administration officially hit 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered Friday under their watch, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients announced.

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 115,730,008 total vaccine doses have been administered to date — 75,495,716 Americans have received at least one dose, while 40,981,464 have been fully vaccinated.

White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients

The US will loan a portion of its releasable AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to Mexico and Canada, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients officially announced on Friday.

The US will be loaning around 4 million doses to the two countries as the US waits for official usage approval of the vaccine in the US, Zients said. CNN has previously reported Mexico will be receiving approximately 2.5 million doses, with 1.5 million going to Canada.

He continued, “So balancing the need to let the approval process of the AstraZeneca vaccine take place here in the US, with the importance of helping to stop the spread in other countries, we will loan a portion of our releasable AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and Canada.”

The loan, Zients said, will allow US neighbors “to meet a critical vaccination need in their countries, providing more protection immediately across the North American continent.”

Zients clarified that those doses will not be taken from Americans since this vaccine is still not authorized for emergency use in the US. 

“No American will be without a vaccine because of this action,” he said of the move. 

Zients was pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to clarify how the loan process would work. He suggested it would follow “the structure of a loan” and the doses would be returned through AstraZeneca later in 2021.

“The structure of a loan, that’s what makes most sense. And given what we’re balancing here, which is helping our global partners while they have a critical need, and we await the results of the clinical trials here in the US and FDA action on AstraZeneca in the next several weeks,” Zients said.

He continued, “So this arrangement helps Canada and Mexico, in the moment, meet that critical need while ensuring that they return those doses through the company — through AstraZeneca — later in the year.”

A medical worker prepares an AstraZeneca vaccine in Turin, Italy, on March 19.

Current available data does not indicate that recent reported blood clots following the administration of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine are connected to the vaccine, the World Health Organization’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety said Friday.

The committee concluded that data “do not suggest any overall increase in clotting conditions such as deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism following administration of Covid-19 vaccines.”

The committee noted that people naturally develop blood clots, and Covid-19 infection can also cause them. It said observed rates of these events have actually been lower than expected. Just because someone suffers a blood clot and was also recently vaccinated does not mean the vaccine caused the clot, the committee said.

The committee says it will continue to review vaccination data and update guidance as necessary. It said health authorities should continue to keep careful watch.

President Biden said on Friday that his administration may be able to double its previous goal of getting 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses into the arms of Americans by his 100th day in office, a day after he announced that his administration had reached the 100 million goal less than 60 days since being sworn in.

The US seven-day average crossed the 2.5 million mark yesterday, which would get the country to more than 205 million Covid-19 vaccine doses by day 100 of Biden’s presidency.

Finland has suspended use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for at least one week, a spokesperson for the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare told CNN Friday, despite assertions from the European Union’s medicines regulator that the vaccine is safe. 

According to the spokesperson, administration of the vaccine — developed by AstraZeneca in conjunction with the University of Oxford — will be paused in order to allow for further investigations to be carried out into potential side effects of the vaccine.

The decision comes just a day after the European Medicines Agency [EMA] announced its conclusion on an emergency investigation into the risks associated with the vaccine, recommending Thursday that the vaccine is “safe and effective” in preventing coronavirus and “not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events, or blood clots.” 

Following a series of temporary suspensions across Europe, several countries have now announced plans to resume AstraZeneca vaccinations in light of the EMA’s conclusion, including France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

First grade students practice social distancing at the Green Mountain School in Woodland, Washington, on February 18.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating its physical distancing guidelines for children in schools from six feet to three feet.

The CDC has previously said schools should try to maintain at least six feet of distance between children, but in light of new data, the agency is now recommending students generally maintain at least three feet of distance.

On Friday, the agency is releasing three new studies it says support distancing of three feet between students, so long as everyone is wearing a mask and other prevention measures are in place.

Another study recently published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found there was no difference in Covid-19 rates between Massachusetts schools that mandated three feet of physical distance compared to six feet, as long as everyone wore masks.

At times when it’s not possible to accommodate masks, such as when eating, the CDC said six feet of distance should be maintained. 

The agency recommends keeping student and teachers in distinct groups, or cohorts, throughout the day and maintaining six feet of distance between those groups, when possible. In middle schools and high schools where community transmission is high, CDC advises students to stay six feet apart, if cohorting is not possible. 

The CDC also recommends six feet of distance in common areas, like lobbies and auditoriums, and during activities like singing, shouting, band or sport practices. They say it’s better to move those kinds of activities, where increased exhalation occurs, outdoors or to well-ventilated spaces. 

In classrooms, the CDC says layout changes, like removing nonessential furniture and facing desks in the same direction, can help maximize distance between students. On school buses, the agency recommends seating students one child per row, skipping rows and opening windows to increase ventilation. 

What about adults? When it comes to adults, including teachers and staff, the agency says it’s better to stick to six feet of distance, both with other adults and with children.

The CDC says screening testing can provide additional protection for sports and in schools that use less than six feet of distancing between students in classrooms. 

Citizens wait in line for a Covid-19 vaccination in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 18.

The Danish National Board of Health announced Friday it will give an update on the pause to the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country next week, while a wide range of Danish experts in blood clots, immune diseases, hormonal diseases and the like will further analyze it.

The Director of the National Board of Health, Søren Brostrøm, shared the same views of the Danish Medicines Agency and insisted that Denmark would continue its suspension based on a “precautionary principle”, despite “kind of” agreeing with the EMA assessment.

“It is important for me to say that we do not dismiss the AstraZeneca vaccine,” said Brostrøm.

According to Brostrøm, the doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine already delivered will be stored at hospital pharmacies, where they can then be used later if approved.

Brostrøm went on to add that it was the very unusual cases of possible side effects that caused the National Board of Health to react.

 “It was different blood clots that we saw. These were unusual conditions in younger and healthy people”, Brostrøm said, adding later they were a “very rare condition.” 

The Director of the National Board of Health is adamant that the latest decision by the Danish health authorities give the country more leeway to make further decisions to be on the “safe side”.

“It may be that we resume AstraZeneca without worries. We may resume it with some changes to audiences or precautions. It could be that we extend the break, and it could theoretically also be that we say we will not continue to use it at all”, Brostrøm said.

The US Chamber of Commerce applauded the Biden administration’s efforts to end the pandemic by accelerating the rollout of vaccines.

Bradley added that the Chamber of Commerce is pleased with the White House’s efforts to reform the immigration system and rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure.

“The president’s focus on infrastructure is right on target. Our economy is being held back by a deteriorating infrastructure system. That has been laid bare by the pandemic,” he said, pointing to the need for broadband. 

However, the Chamber of Commerce expressed worry about how to pay for Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure program. The White House is laying the groundwork for the first major business tax hike since 1993.  

 “Coming out of the pandemic, raising taxes – especially to the degree the Biden administration is proposing – would hobble any economic recovery,” Bradley said. “If you add [tax hikes] to an infrastructure bill, all you’ve done is defeat the infrastructure bill.”

People queue to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in Rome, Italy, on March 19.

Italy hopes to pick up pace in vaccinating its population after the country’s temporary pause in administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Italian Health Institute said on Friday. 

“We were vaccinating about 200,000 people in Italy per day, and so this has been a setback,” Giovanni Rezza, director general of Prevention at Italy’s Ministry of Health, said.

Italy, like many other European countries, decided to take a cautious approach in regards to the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine — after it raised some concerns— which has been promptly reviewed.

“The benefits of the vaccine AstraZeneca far outweigh the risks, and the vaccine is safe and efficient for any age group. It is not associated with an increase of thromboembolic risks neither are there problems related to any batches,” the director of Italy’s medicines regulator, AIFA, Nicola Magrini, said on Friday – revoking the ban on its use.

Magrini went on to add that there is no need to take blood-thinners, which have been described on several reports as potential medication that could help prevent cases of blood-clouting.

Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi is expected to make further updates at 12.30 p.m. ET.