No guidelines yet for people vaccinated
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday delayed a release of coronavirus guidelines designed to ease restrictions for fully vaccinated Americans.
The agency’s guidelines were expected to align with comments made this week by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who suggested “small gatherings” indoors among vaccinated people were probably safe.
“The relative risk is so low that you would not have to wear a mask, that you could have a good social gathering within the home,” Fauci said at a White House task force briefing Monday.
The guidelines also were expected to advise on travel scenarios for immunized people. Politico, citing two senior administration officials with knowledge of the situation, said the guidelines were to be released Thursday but were delayed because they were still being finalized. The CDC did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
The news comes as the pace of vaccinations grows to more than 2 million Americans per day. President Joe Biden said this week there will be enough vaccine for every adult in the U.S. by late May. Some health experts say the U.S. could reach that milestone by mid-April.
The latest numbers
The U.S. has more than 28.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 518,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 115.3 million cases and 2.56 million deaths.
More than 107 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and about 80 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
Arizona governor orders all schools to open classrooms
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered all schools must return to in-person learning this month, saying “students need to be back in the classroom.”
Ducey, a Republican, issued an executive order Wednesday that calls for all schools to reopen in-person learning by March 15, or after spring break. The move comes about a year after schools initially closed in-person classes to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Some states have similar plans to welcome back students, including California, Michigan and North Carolina.
President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package being debated in the Senate, has about $130 billion included for schools to give them the resources to reopen safely amid the pandemic. Many states are now vaccinating teachers in an effort to get them back into classrooms as soon as possible.
Other top headlines
• Health officials in Hillsborough County, Florida, have determined that official events around Super Bowl 55 resulted in 57 total COVID-19 cases. Thousands of fans traveled to Tampa to attend the game and surrounding events.
• New York, one of the first states in the U.S. to implement travel restrictions on domestic visitors last spring, took another step toward relaxing its COVID-19 policies Wednesday by lifting the quarantine and testing restrictions on people who have been vaccinated within 90 days of their second inoculation.
• An outbreak of COVID-19 at the Vermont state prison in Newport has grown to 100 inmates and eight staff members, the commissioner of the Department of Corrections said.