INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  12-21 COVID-19 Update

    Posted 12-21-2020 20:28
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    Good evening,

    Please find today's COVID-19 Update for December 21st below and attached. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

    Thank you,

    Jeff Cohen



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    INFORMS Member: Tinglong Dai & Chris Tang

    INFORMS Member: Opher Baron

     

    Federal Policy Update                       

    • Earlier this afternoon, the House of Representatives published the official text of an omnibus spending package, which included the highly-anticipated coronavirus relief package. The package included measures for a supplementary $300 weekly unemployment benefit, $600 direct checks to be sent to individuals, $284 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, $25 billion in rental assistance, $20 billion for vaccine purchasing, $20 billion for coronavirus testing, and more.
    • The Departments of Transportation, Health & Human Services, and Homeland Security published new joint guidance on travel, urging that airlines provide "pre-departure and post-arrival" COVID-19 testing for passengers.
    • President-elect Joe Biden announced that he has received the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. National Institutes for Allergy & Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci is scheduled to receive the vaccine tomorrow.
    • The National Institutes of Health announced that they're planning to launch a clinical trial studying allergic reactions related to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine candidate, in an effort to "predict and manage" these side effects.
    • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing a formal recommendation that order adults and frontline essential workers be the next in line to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

      

    State Update                                                                     

    • CVS Health announced that they would begin administering coronavirus vaccinations this week in the following states: Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont.
    • California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) cautioned that the state could see over 90,000 residents hospitalized due to COVID-19 by mid-January next year.
    • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) has requested the three airlines that fly into New York directly from the U.K. to add the state of New York to the list of 120 countries that are requiring pre-boarding COVID tests.
    • City officials in New York City announced that the city would offer health screenings for all students in communities that were hardest-hit by the coronavirus.

     

     Global Response

    • Over the weekend, British health officials warned that they had discovered a new, more transmissible strain of COVID-19 spreading throughout the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has emphasized that experts are unclear as to whether the new strain is more dangerous than the original, but has maintained that more areas would go into lockdown to prevent the spread.
    • The European Medicines Agency officially authorized approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine candidate over the weekend.
    • 27 countries around the world announced that they would ban travel from the United Kingdom to prevent the introduction of the newly detected strain of coronavirus. This includes Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Russia, and others.
    • The Chinese government announced that they're aiming to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year.
    • The European Commission announced that they have granted conditional marketing authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
    • The Chilean government is going to receive their first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week.
    • Ecuadorian President Leniín Moreno announced a 30-day state of emergency and 15-day nationwide curfew, which would shut down all bars and clubs and also implement a 30% capacity restriction on hotels and restaurants.
    • Luxembourg is planning to enter a fuller lockdown from December 26th to January 10th, with all nonessential stores to close and the curfew to be moved from 11 PM to 9 PM.
    • The capital city of Seoul, South Korea is banning all public gatherings of more than five people.

     

    Economic Update 

    • U.S. stocks were volatile today, with the three indices closing with mixed results. The Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.10% and the S&P 500 by 0.39%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.12%.

      

    Latest Impact Data

    • In the United States: Over 18,423,800 cases and 326,309 deaths in 50 states, 4 territories, and Washington, D.C.
    • Worldwide: Over 77,633,704 cases and 1,707,482 deaths in at least 204 countries and territories.

     

    In the News               

     

     



    ------------------------------
    Jeffrey M. Cohen, MBA
    Director, Public Affairs & Marketing
    INFORMS
    jeff.cohen@informs.org
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    12-21 Update.pdf   185 KB 1 version