COVID-19 updates: Anti-vaccine protesters halt vaccinations at Dodger Stadium
Demonstrators carrying anti-mask and anti-vaccine signs blocked the entrance.
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:
- Anti-vaccine protesters halt vaccinations at Dodger Stadium
- South African variant found in Maryland
- US surpasses 90,000 deaths in January
- Brazil variant detected in California
- 'We should be treating every infection as if it's a variant,' CDC director says
- COVID-19 vaccinations won't be required for Tokyo Olympics, organizers say
1st active FDNY firefighter dies from COVID-19
The New York City Fire Department announced Sunday that 61-year-old Joseph Ferrugia is its first active firefighter to have died of COVID-19.
He is the 13th member of the FDNY to die of coronavirus.
“This horrific illness has taken far too many lives, and now it has killed a man who bravely served New Yorkers for three decades," Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said in a statement Sunday. "He ran toward danger his entire career, searching for those trapped by flames and doing all he could to save them. Our entire Department mourns his loss.”
Ferrugia joined FDNY in 1990 and was a World Trade Center first responder, the department said.
FDNY said he is survived by his three adult children and three siblings.
Chicago pushes back return to in-person classes following impasse with union
Chicago Public Schools pushed back the return of in-person classes for kindergarten through eighth-grade students by one day as negotiations continue between the city and the Chicago Teachers Union.
While the district and union leadership agree on some items of contention in principle, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a press conference Sunday that the union has refused to put those agreements in writing and instead has added more items to the negotiating table that are not related to the public safety issues associated to reopening some classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just minutes before Lightfoot was expected to appear in a presser Sunday, CTU sent a series of tweets that hinted there was not going to be a deal just yet.
The mayor said she still expects CPS teachers to show up to their classrooms despite the dispute. Last week she said that if they do not, she would be forced to take further action, but did not specify what that action would be.
Nearly 50M COVID vaccine doses distributed: CDC
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest update Sunday on the country's coronavirus vaccine rollout.
There have been close to 50 million doses distributed around the country, according to the agency's online tracker. Of those doses, 31 million, roughly 62%, have been administered, according to the CDC.
About 25 million people have received their first dose and 5.6 million have received two doses, the CDC said.
Florida city holds Mardi Gras parade despite rise in cases
A city on Florida’s panhandle put on its Mardi Gras parade as planned, despite its high positivity rate.
Prior to the parade on Saturday, Milton Mayor Heather Lindsay advised residents to take their temperature before attending the event and for everyone who attends the party after the parade and participates in the kid’s zone to wear a mask.
"I would love to focus only on the fun and pageantry of it all because I love Mardi Gras, but we must accept life on life's terms," Lindsay wrote. "Presently we are in the midst of a widespread outbreak of a virus that is not just the flu."
The city currently has a positivity rate of 18%, "well above" the state average of 6.62%, Lindsay wrote. Households affected in Milton reduced from a high of 102 to 90 this week, but the local positivity rate has been as high as 28% and "never lower" than 16%, she added. The population in Milton is about 10,000.
It is unclear how many people attended the event.
White House reaches agreements to buy more COVID-19 vaccines by summer
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said it has secured commitments from manufacturers to buy another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to arrive this summer -- 100 million from Pfizer and 100 million from Moderna.
This raises the total to 600 million and ensures the U.S. will eventually have two shots for nearly every American.
"We expect these vaccines to be available in production over the course of the summer," a Biden official said Tuesday.
Buying more doses had always been an option for the U.S. government as part of the prior contracts.
"We will increase overall weekly vaccination distributions of states, tribes and territories from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses starting next week," Biden said Tuesday.
The president also vowed to increase "transparency with states, cities and tribes and local partners when it comes to the vaccine supply."
"From this week forward," he said, "states, tribes and territories will now always have a reliable, three-week forecast with the supply they're going to get."
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
