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.
US averaging 2,613 deaths per day
The U.S. is now averaging 2,613 new coronavirus-related deaths per day -- more than triple the seven-day average from two months ago, according to ABC News’ analysis of data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.
So far this month, 49,752 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
In the last seven days, there have been approximately 18,000 deaths recorded -- equaling approximately 108 American deaths reported every hour.
In the week ending Dec. 19, 16 states hit a record number of new deaths: Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.