A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 102.5 million people worldwide and killed over 2.2 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Jan 28, 2021, 1:52 PM EST
US allows retired doctors, nurses to administer COVID-19 vaccine
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has amended rules on who can administer COVID-19 vaccines to address potential shortages.
Austin Anglin, 67, a resident of The Open Hearth mens shelter, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine from a Mobile Vaccination Clinic run by Hartford HealthCare in Hartford, Conn. on Jan. 22, 2021.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Any retired nurse or doctor whose license expired in the past five years can now be brought back to give the shot, and anyone licensed or certified to give a COVID-19 vaccine in their state can do so in other states.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Jan 28, 2021, 1:17 PM EST
US has 'good shot' to get all kids in school by fall, says Biden's surgeon general pick
U.S. President Joe Biden's nominee to become surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, told The Washington Post Live that he thinks the United States has a "good shot" to get all kids in school by the fall.
Students sit with their laptop computers at St. Joseph Catholic School in La Puente, Calif., Nov. 16, 2020, where pre-kindergarten to Second Grade students in need of special services returned to the classroom today for in-person instruction.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images, FILES
A view of students at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 on Jan. 13, 2021, in New York City.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Murthy, a physician who served as U.S. surgeon general from 2014 to 2017, said the nation must takes these steps: vaccinate staff; ensure schools have the resources to take precautionary measures including PPE and tests; and lower "background rates of infection," which he defines as rates of transmission in the community.
Teacher Lisa Egan is vaccinated with the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at a clinic organized by New York City's Department of Health, Jan. 11, 2021. "I feel so great, so lucky," she said. "I've been teaching remotely. I'm hoping now I can go back to the classroom."
Mark Lennihan/AP
"When those rates are really high, it makes it harder to prevent infection from getting into the school," Murthy said. "So we've got to get that background infection rate down, and we've got to vaccinate teachers and other educators and staff in schools. As well as, when we do have the opportunity to vaccinate kids when the trial data comes through and shows that it is safe and effective, that we've got to start vaccinating children, too."
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Jan 28, 2021, 11:50 AM EST
South Africa variant found in US for 1st time
The United States’ first known cases of the South Africa variant of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in two people in South Carolina, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
"There is no known travel history and no connection between these two cases," the department said in a statement Thursday.
Both cases are among adults, one who is from the Lowcountry region and another who is from the Pee Dee region, according to the department.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's aware of the cases and it "recommends that people avoid travel at this time."
The so-called B1351 variant, first identified in South Africa, has been detected in more than 30 countries, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
"Experts agree that existing vaccines work to protect us from this variant, even if we don’t know precisely how effective they are," the department said. "At this time, there’s no evidence to suggest that the B.1.351 variant causes more severe illness."
Samples awaiting testing for COVID-19.
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
During an interview Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden and the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said the South Africa variant "troubles" him.
Fauci said lab experiments show the neutralizing antibodies induced by existing COVID-19 vaccines are "diminished by multifold" when tested against the B1351 variant
"It's still within the range of what you would predict to be protective," he said, "but I take no great comfort in that."
However, scientists are already working on vaccines that will specifically target the South Africa variant, according to Fauci.
"May not be necessary," he said, "but if it is we'll already be on the road to be able to give people a boost that directs against the South African isolate."
Jan 28, 2021, 11:40 AM EST
US daily case average sees steep drop in last 2 weeks
In the span of two weeks, the United States' seven-day average of daily COVID-19 cases has declined by 34% -- the steepest non-holiday-related drop in cases the country has seen since the summer, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the U.S. outbreak.
California appears to have seen the most drastic drop of any U.S. state, as its seven-day average of daily cases has been nearly slashed in half over the last two weeks.
Pedestrians walk by a sign advertising patio dining at 2nd Floor Huntington Beach on Main Street, Jan, 26, 2021. The stay at home order has been lifted by California PublicHealth for all regions statewide.
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times / Polaris
Despite continued positive signs in case and hospitalization trends, daily death numbers are still incredibly high.
Another 3,943 fatalities from COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University -- that is approximately one death recorded every 22 seconds.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
