The United States reported 125,220 current Covid-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday, setting a new record high since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project (CTP).
This is the 29th consecutive day that the US has remained above 100,000 current hospitalizations.
According to CTP data, the highest hospitalization numbers are:
Jianghan Road in Wuhan throngs with shoppers and strollers bundled up against the late December freeze. Bells ring out on the hour from the landmark Hankou Customs House where the road terminates near the wide banks of the Yangtze River.
Restaurants along the city’s main pedestrian thoroughfare are packed, even on an icy weekday night, and resound with loud conversation.
The bustle, bright lights, and din of the street appear to show a city back to some normality one year on from 31 December 2019, the day that health authorities in the city reported an unknown pneumonia outbreak to World Health Organization (WHO) colleagues in Beijing.
But under the surface, a struggle continues between residents of the city that were the first to feel the pain of the coronavirus pandemic and authorities over how to remember the initial response to the crisis.
“In the coming days I think people will have a bit of fear,” said 22-year old Zhou Xiangning, a Wuhan resident who caught the virus in mid-January. “Not a fear of the virus returning, but fear from the memories of that time,” he said over a steaming bamboo tray of soup filled with thin-skinned dumplings.
Wuhan and its roughly 11 million residents were abruptly locked down on 23 January after weeks of being told that the virus was controllable, preventable, and not contagious. The aim was to limit greater spread of the disease that has since become known as Covid-19, and that has spread around the world and killed almost 2 million people.
In Wuhan, many people are still guarded about what they can and cannot say about what happened a year ago and the lessons they learned.
In April, after 76 days, Wuhan emerged from lockdown. Aided by thousands of local volunteers who delivered and distributed scarce PPE and food supplies and drove ill people to hospitals; by doctors and nurses working until collapse or until the virus overtook them; by workers who built temporary hospitals in a matter of days to relieve inundated facilities, Wuhan made it through.
The memory the Chinese Communist Party wants people to keep, though, is of the larger national effort to control the outbreak. The inrush of medical staff and People’s Liberation Army soldiers from provinces across China and the emergency response from the central government after 23 January get key billing.
A three-month exhibition showcasing China’s coronavirus response, nearing its end in Wuhan, captures all this and more. It paints a China triumphant over the virus, with inconvenient narratives left out.
But there is no mention of Dr. Li Wenliang, the ophthalmologist hailed as a whistleblower after being reprimanded by police for warning colleagues about a “Sars-like illness” on 30 December last year, and who later died from Covid. Anything gaining traction on Chinese social media not supporting the correct collective memory is swiftly censored.
What still irks some Wuhan residents is the downplaying of the seriousness of the virus in the weeks before the lockdown when people such as Li were trying to sound the warning.
One of those was Zhang Hai, who lost his 76-year old father on 1 February. Zhang believes the death could have been prevented if it was known the virus was contagious in mid-January before he decided to return to Wuhan from Shenzhen after his father broke a leg.
“I won’t rest until [Wuhan officials] are held accountable,” Zhang said. He has drafted a letter to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, calling for local officials to be held accountable for the period from 31 December to the 23 January lockdown, but his efforts, along with those of several other families, to sue the local government have so far come to nothing.
“They want to sell a story that they effectively controlled the virus here, but they also try to wipe out the cause,” Zhang said. “The cause is concealing and covering up the information early on, but they seem to only focus on the results afterward. That does nothing to wipe the pain out of the hearts of those who lost family members.”
Han, still grieving from the loss of her father to the virus in February, does not want her full name used out of fear of retribution by authorities. She also wants the mistakes from that period exposed to a proper investigation.
Her father became infected a few days before the lockdown but was not given a test for Covid, so he was not counted in the death toll. Han said authorities could have done more to warn residents.
Zhang and Han said they hoped the forthcoming investigation by the WHO into the virus outbreak would also take into account the actions by the local government during the first three weeks of January 2020.
WHO officials have said the investigation, which will commence after the team arrives in January 2021 and undergoes a 14-day quarantine, will focus strictly on determining possible zoonotic sources of the virus.
The starting point for the WHO team is expected to be the South China Seafood Market, where a large number of virus samples were detected after it was closed and sanitized on 1 January 2020.
There appears to be little to look at now. Wet snow mixed with a biting wind swirls around the shuttered market. An 8ft-high wall covered in placid scenes of misty mountain tops blocks any view inside the now soundless building.
Han hopes that one day the world will know what happened at the start of the outbreak. “Before the pandemic, I had faith in the government, but after this, it feels like telling the truth is so difficult,” she said. “I hope more people can speak up and tell the truth without fearing someone will come after them.”
As we get closer to New Year’s Eve, police departments, including Houston, are warning about celebratory gunfire.
HPD Chief Art Acevedo wrote that his department will be deploying teams to arrest anyone who engages in celebratory gunfire.
“Please do not risk seriously wounding or killing someone by engaging in this reckless behavior,” Acevedo said.
But Acevedo wasn’t the only one trying to spread the word early about the dangers of celebratory gunfire.
The Dallas Police Department said committing the offense could mean a fine of up to $4,000 and a year in jail. In some cases, the charge of deadly conduct means up to a $10,000 fine and possible jail time from two to 10 years.
You’re asked to call 911 if you see something.
Sadly, the urgent warning isn’t often heeded.
In January 2020, a 61-year-old woman celebrating the new year with her family was shot and killed by celebratory gunfire as she stood in the driveway.
Just three years earlier, state representative, Armando “Mando” Martinez of Hidalgo County was injured by celebratory gunfire.
According to the City of Houston, there is no Texas law that specifically addresses celebratory gunfire. The state has laws addressing deadly conduct and reckless discharge.
After the shooting, Martinez filed House Bill 86, which would have criminalized celebratory gunfire. HB 86 would have made it a Class A misdemeanor “to discharge a weapon without an intended target and would have made it a first-degree felony if the gunfire resulted in serious bodily injury or death.”
The bill was successfully voted out of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. It died when it didn’t pass out of House Calendars.
The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for nearly all of Southeast Texas beginning at 6:00 p.m. this evening through 3:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
A strong system of thunderstorms will bring heavy rainfall across Harris County and the surrounding region beginning today and continuing through Thursday. Widespread rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches, with isolated areas of 4+ inches, are likely. Street flooding is likely in urban and low-lying areas.
There is a low probability some of the stronger storms could bring high winds, hail, or tornadoes.
Residents should closely monitor local forecasts for updates over the next 24 hours.
If possible, stay home and off the roadways. If you must go out, never drive into high water, and use extreme caution at underpasses and low-lying areas where water accumulates. Motorists should be extra cautious at night when high water can be difficult to see.
Always remember to Turn Around, Don’t Drown! DO NOT DRIVE through high water and NEVER DRIVE AROUND BARRICADES!
Where you can learn more:
The second round of stimulus checks is hitting bank accounts now.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted that the Treasury Department has delivered a payment file to the Federal Reservice and that “payments may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as (Monday night) and will continue into next week.”
Mailing for paper checks will start today (Wednesday, Dec. 30).
The IRS tool for checking the status of your payment – http://IRS.gov/GetMyPayment – will go live later this week.
Officially known as “Economic Impact Payments,” the stimulus will provide up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples and up to $600 for each qualifying child. Generally, the direct payments will go to those with 2019 adjusted gross income of up to $75,000 for individuals and up to $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns. Payments are reduced for people earning more than those amounts.
The payments come after months of negotiations over direct payments and an overall stimulus package. President Trump has called for $2,000 payments – something approved by the House – but not by the Senate. In the event the Senate approves the higher amount, Mnuchin said the additional funds will go out “as quickly as possible.”
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The House on Monday voted to override President Trump’s veto of a $740.5 billion defense policy bill, sending the bill to the Senate and putting it on track to be the first legislation to become law over Mr. Trump’s objections.
Mr. Trump had rejected the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act over provisions that remove base names honoring Confederate officers and set troop levels abroad, as well as the legislation’s lack of language revoking internet platforms’ broad immunity for the content they publish from users on their sites.
The override vote, which required a two-thirds supermajority, was 322 to 87, with a majority of Republicans joining most Democrats in breaking with the president. The GOP-controlled Senate is expected to consider the bill as soon as Wednesday.
Mr. Trump reacted to the defense bill vote on Twitter Tuesday morning, saying: “Weak and tired Republican ‘leadership’ will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass.” He added: “Negotiate a better Bill, or get better leaders, NOW! Senate should not approve NDAA until fixed!!!”
The annual defense bill sets pay rates for troops and authorize funds for military construction projects, aircraft, ships, nuclear weapons, and other national-security programs.
In a flurry of last-minute legislation, the House also approved sending $2,000 stimulus checks to many Americans, a day after Mr. Trump signed a Covid-19 aid bill into law but said that the $600 payments in that package were too small.
The House passed the stimulus-checks bill 275 to 134, with 44 Republicans joining almost all Democrats in support, exceeding the two-thirds required under fast-track procedures. The legislation increases the amount of the checks to $2,000, up from $600 per adult and per child for individuals with adjusted gross incomes under $75,000. A family of four that qualifies for the payments would get $8,000 under the proposal.
The bigger payments, driven by an unusual coalition of Democratic leaders and the Republican president, now head to the Senate where its fate is uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) hasn’t commented on whether he will take up the bill. He is expected to speak on the Senate floor on Tuesday, and senators are expected to return to Washington later this week to vote on overriding the NDAA veto.
To press the issue, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) said Monday that he will delay the vote to override the defense bill veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing the $2,000 payments. Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) joined him. The senators can’t delay the vote forever but they can slow down the process, pushing it to the New Year’s holiday.
Responding to Mr. Sanders’ efforts, Mr. Trump tweeted in the early hours Tuesday: “Give the people $2000, not $600. They have suffered enough!”
Many Republican senators have opposed increasing the checks, which are expected to add several hundred billion dollars to the cost of the $900 billion aid package Mr. Trump signed into law Sunday. But after the House vote, several GOP senators said they would back the larger checks, including Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia, who face runoff elections next month, and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) plans to ask for unanimous consent to bring the bill to the floor Wednesday, which means it won’t pass if a Republican object.
“Leader McConnell ought to make sure Senate Republicans do not stand in the way of helping to meet the needs of American workers and families who are crying out for help,” Mr. Schumer said. President-elect Joe Biden supports the increased payments.
Republicans opposed to increasing the number of direct payments have pointed to the cost of such a bill and said Congress should focus on ways to fully reopen business to increase demand for jobs.
“What we know is that much of this extra $1,400 will go to pay down credit-card debt, or savings, or make new purchases online at Walmart, Best Buy, or Amazon,” said Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady, who voted against the bill. “We can do better to help people get back to work and truly help this recovery.”
The two bills made for strange bedfellows on a rare session in the House in between Christmas and the New Year’s holiday. In a matter of hours, many lawmakers from both parties backed the demand by the president to increase the stimulus checks and then also objected to his veto on defense legislation. Others did the opposite.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R., Ohio) voted to sustain Mr. Trump’s NDAA veto, saying it “unduly burdened” the commander in chief’s ability to redeploy troops. But he voted against the $2,000 checks.
The votes marked the latest twists in a dramatic end to the year. In the face of a looming government shutdown, Mr. Trump signed the pandemic-aid and omnibus spending bill Sunday night, ending a showdown with Congress. In signing the bill, the president said he wanted bigger stimulus checks but also an investigation into alleged voter fraud and the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which relates to the regulation of online speech.
GOP Senate leaders haven’t commented on any plans to address his concerns.
Mr. Trump’s decision to end the standoff came after extensive lobbying from Republican lawmakers and advisers, said people familiar with the conversations.
Mr. Trump made the final decision Sunday during a phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), said a person with knowledge of the talks. But it came after days of consultation with aides and allies, among them former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Allies argued that blocking the bill could hurt Republicans running in a Georgia special election on Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate. They also urged Mr. Trump to consider his political legacy and encouraged him to sign the bill while still pressing Congress to do more.
Another person familiar with the talks said Mr. Trump was told by his advisers and those working on the Georgia race that a veto “could sink” the Republican incumbents, Sens. Perdue and Loeffler.
When Mr. Trump vetoed the NDAA earlier this month, he objected to the provision that would create a commission to rename military installations, monuments, and paraphernalia honoring Confederate commanders.
He also objected to provisions that required the administration to submit to Congress a comprehensive assessment of a planned Afghanistan withdrawal before it can use funds to pull those troops. The Trump administration has said it would cut troop levels in Afghanistan by half to roughly 2,500, by Jan. 15. Another provision prevents the withdrawal of troops from Germany until 120 days after the secretary of defense formally assesses the move for Congress, a timeline that would delay any withdrawal until after Mr. Biden takes office.
This year’s NDAA also limits how much money can be used on emergency military construction—an authority Mr. Trump used to repurpose funds for the border wall—and requires companies in the U.S. to register their true owners, a significant update to U.S. anti-money-laundering rules.
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Novavax on Monday announced it is beginning a phase three trial of its coronavirus vaccine, becoming the fifth company to enter a late-stage trial in the United States.
While two other coronavirus vaccines, from Pfizer and Moderna, have already been authorized in the U.S., the addition of more options would make more doses available and speed the vaccination campaign.
The Novavax vaccine, which uses a more traditional vaccine technology than Pfizer and Moderna, also has the advantage of not requiring ultra-cold storage, making it easier to distribute.
Novavax, with backing from the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, is enrolling up to 30,000 volunteers at 115 sites across the U.S. and Mexico in the clinical trial.
A trial has already begun in the United Kingdom. Novavax had intended to begin its U.S. trial earlier but delayed the start because of manufacturing problems.
“The launch of this study—the fifth investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate to be tested in a Phase 3 trial in the United States—demonstrates our resolve to end the pandemic through the development of multiple safe and effective vaccines,” said Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert.
Surging virus cases across the country can actually help speed up the trial, given that cases of the virus in the group receiving the placebo will accrue faster.
“Trial sites were selected in locations where transmission rates are currently high, to accelerate the accumulation of positive cases that could show efficacy,” Novavax said in a press release.
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