COVID-19 news: Deaths pass 90,000; vaccine efforts show early promise

More than 90,000 Americans have now died in the COVID-19 pandemic.

In today’s pandemic news:

• A defense contractor's report purporting to show evidence that China manufactured the virus responsible for the pandemic—a favored Trump conspiracy theory—is being slammed for being filled with false claims and conjectures. Reputable scientists studying the genetic makeup of the virus remain quite sure it is natural in origin, likely originating in bats before crossing to an unknown animal host, then to humans.

• Progress appears to be happening in the effort to develop a vaccine for COVID-19—but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be available anytime soon. Or will work when tested in full-scale trials. One promising vaccine path: antibodies from llamas.

• Chronic health conditions in some American counties are likely to lead to worse outcomes if the virus spreads to those counties. Most at risk are the southern states, where racism and widespread neglect of public health systems have combined to cause widespread chronic ailments.

• An anonymous CDC official pushed back after Donald Trump trade adviser bashed the agency during a Sunday show appearance. "We are giving them science and they don't seem to want it." Peter Navarro's Sunday performance was filled with other deflections as well.

• Also on the Sunday shows, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed for quick action in the Senate on the next round of pandemic relief funding. "People are hungry across America. Hunger doesn't take a pause."

• Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell continues to urge Congress and the White House to "think big" on coronavirus relief measures, identifying as a top priority the need to "keep families solvent so that when this comes, we come out the other end of this, we're in a position to have a strong recovery."

• A new oversight committee formed to oversee CARES Act funding says the Treasury Department is still holding on to $500 billion Congress appropriated to stabilize the economy. One problem is that the administration keeps altering rules around the still-unfinished Main Street Lending Program.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attempted to insult China's pandemic response in a strange and unintentionally awkward morning tweet.

• Workers at a Minnesota meatpacking plant are warning that the plant is "going to kill people" if proper pandemic precautions are not taken.

• Trump lashed out at whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright after Bright described myriad Trump administration failures in a 60 Minutes interview.

• An Alaska Republican half-apologized for comparing stickers to be worn by state lawmakers to mark that they have been medically cleared to enter the building to the Holocaust.

• A postal worker has been cheering 2020 graduates on his route with gifts and letters after the pandemic closures of their schools and cancellation of graduation ceremonies.

from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/3g3I5Vx