COVID-19 updates: Anti-vaccine protesters halt vaccinations at Dodger Stadium

Demonstrators carrying anti-mask and anti-vaccine signs blocked the entrance.

ByMorgan Winsor, Erin Schumaker, Emily Shapiro, Ivan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, and Julia Jacobo
Last Updated: January 29, 2021, 3:38 AM EST

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Jan 28, 2021, 7:31 PM EST

Tampa to require face coverings for outdoor Super Bowl-related activities

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor signed an executive order Thursday requiring the use of face coverings at outdoor Super Bowl-related activities to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the Florida city.

The order targets sites where large crowds of people are likely to congregate around the Super Bowl this weekend, with limited ability to remain socially distant from each other. They include "Event Zones" in areas of downtown Tampa and surrounding Raymond James Stadium, as well as "Entertainment Districts," including Ybor City Historic District, the South Howard Commercial Overlay District, the Central Business District and the Channel District.

Raymond James Stadium, the site of NFL football Super Bowl LV, is shown Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 7.
Chris O'Meara/AP

Those exempt from the order include children under the age of 5, someone communicating with a hearing-impaired individual and people with existing health conditions who would be impaired by a mask.

The Super Bowl will be held on Feb. 7 between the Kansas City Chiefs and hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The mask mandate is in effect now through Feb. 13. Those who violate it could be subject to a $500 fine.

The NFL had previously announced that masks will be required in the stadium unless eating or drinking.

Under a previous order still in effect, masks are required in Tampa at indoor locations outside the home when social distancing cannot be maintained.

ABC News' Will McDuffie contributed to this report

Jan 28, 2021, 4:15 PM EST

California reports 2nd-deadliest day of pandemic

California had its second-deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, with 737 additional fatalities from COVID-19.

The deadliest day was Jan. 21 when 764 deaths from the disease were recorded, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang of Emergency Ambulance Service, pushes a gurney into an emergency room to drop off a COVID-19 patient in Placentia, California, on Jan. 8, 2021.
Jae C. Hong/AP

This comes as the daily number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped considerably in the Golden State.

California's seven-day positivity rate for COVID-19 tests currently stands at 7.9%.

ABC News’ Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.

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.

PHOTO: 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.
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.

Related Topics