Coronavirus updates: Herd immunity by fall 'ambitious,' says surgeon general nominee
In 44 states, the seven-day average of new cases dropped over 10%.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 98.7 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 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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California reports highest daily death toll
California reported its highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic with another 764 lives lost.
The state reported 23,024 new cases on Friday.
Severe allergic reactions rare but possible with Moderna vaccine
A CDC report released Friday indicates that the risk of severe allergic reactions with Moderna's vaccine is low. Severe, life threatening allergic reactions were seen in 2.5 cases per million people receiving the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the report said.
Of the 4,041,396 first doses given as of Jan. 10, there were 1,266 (0.03%) reports of "adverse events," the report said. Among those, 108 "adverse events" were considered as possible cases of severe allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis. Ten cases were determined to be anaphylaxis (a rate of 2.5 anaphylaxis cases per 1 million doses) including nine people with a documented history of allergies or allergic reactions, the report said.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
UK variant may be associated with higher mortality, Boris Johnson says
More people are testing positive for the United Kingdom’s variant of the coronavirus, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday “there is some evidence that the new variant may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.”
U.K. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty stressed that the data is uncertain and there is a chance the new variant is increasing infections and mortality.
The U.K. has seen record daily death tolls several times this week.
There were 1,401 deaths in the last 24 hours.
ABC News’ Kirit Radia, Sony Salzman and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
New York running out of vaccines today but more on the way: Cuomo
New York state has used 97% of its allocated vaccine doses so far (for weeks 1 through 5) and will run out of doses by the end of the day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
Week 6 doses are currently being delivered, the governor said.
New York’s positivity rate has fallen to 5.65%, Cuomo said. Hospitalizations are also on the decline.
ABC News’ Rachel Katz contributed to this report.
Chicago Public Schools delays return for in-person teachers following union vote
Chicago Public Schools announced Sunday they will postpone the in-person start for kindergarten through eighth grade teachers after the Chicago Teachers Union announced voted over the weekend to continue remote work.
Teachers were scheduled to report to in-person learning on Monday, but that was pushed back to Wednesday, according to CPS. "While we agree with our labor partners on many aspects of a smooth expansion of in-person learning, our discussions are ongoing. To ensure we reach a resolution without a disruption to student learning, we’ve agreed to push back the return of K-8 teachers, staff to Wed, 1/27," CPS said in a statement.
Kindergarten through eighth grade are slated to return to in-person learning on Feb. 1. Pre-K and special education students have been going to in-person classes since the beginning of the month.
In a statement, the union said that there was concern among members regarding the rise in COVID-19 cases and the small number of students who have opted to return to in-person learning.
Chicago Public Schools said 37% of parents surveyed intend for their kids to return, according to ABC station WLS. The union noted that the number of eligible students who can currently return to in-person is also low.
"But the fact of the matter remains this: 19% of students have returned. The district doesn’t need anywhere near all of our membership to return to meet that need," CTU said in a statement.
Some parents who wished to have their children return to class in person took up their pleas directly to the union this weekend.
"Parents should not be vilified or bullied for needing a choice to return to in-person learning," Sarah Sachen told WLS.