New York health provider may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine
The vaccine was then given to members of the public not yet eligible.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 80.2 million people worldwide and killed over 1.7 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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Dr. Birx says she plans to retire
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said she’s planning to retire but is available to help President-elect Joe Biden’s administration with the pandemic, The Associated Press reported.
2020 marks deadliest year in US history: AP
This year has become the deadliest year in U.S. history, with overall deaths expected to climb above 3 million for the first time, The Associated Press reported.
So far 320,864 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Pregnant women in 3rd trimester unlikely to pass virus to newborns
Pregnant women with COVID-19 during the third trimester are unlikely to pass the infection to their newborns, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
The study followed 127 pregnant women, and among the 64 women in their third trimester who tested positive for COVID-19, no newborns tested positive.
ABC News’ Adjoa Smalls-Mantey and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
New York hospitals to test for UK variant
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is instructing hospitals across the state to test specifically for the variant of the coronavirus discovered in the United Kingdom.
“If we find the variant, we want to know where it is immediately,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said he does not support a travel ban from the U.K. into the U.S., but does believe the U.S. should follow New York state’s lead in requiring flights originating in the U.K. to have passengers test negative.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” Tuesday that “the possibility and maybe the likelihood of requiring the testing of individuals before they board a plane to the United States -- that is under active discussion.”
Fauci added, “you really need to assume” that the variant is already in the U.S.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
South Carolina’s governor tests positive
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing “mild symptoms with a cough and slight fatigue,” his office said.
His wife, Peggy McMaster, tested positive last week and does not have symptoms.
"There is no way to pinpoint precisely when or how Governor McMaster or the First Lady contracted the virus,” the governor’s office said, citing state physicians.
“The governor quarantined himself when he knew he was in close contact with the virus and sent Governor’s Residence staff home to quarantine and get tested to ensure their health and safety,” his office said. “Because the governor followed the guidelines and recommendations as a ‘close contact,’ SCDHEC [the state’s health department] has determined there are no ‘close contacts’ to the governor."
The governor is isolating at home and will receive monoclonal antibody treatment on Tuesday, his office said.