Authorities announced Thursday two people in South Carolina have been diagnosed with a more infectious strain of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa. It’s the first time the variant has been reported in the U.S.
Also Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found the state may have undercounted COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents by as much as 50%. New York experienced the first major outbreak of the coronavirus last spring, and nursing homes were hit especially hard.
More than 430,000 people have died and more than 25.7 million cases have been reported in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, according to NBC News.
Here are the latest coronavirus updates from the U.S. and elsewhere:
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID Vaccine Provides Strong Protection Against COVID-19, Was Less Effective Against New Variant
Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot. It’s not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.
Results released Friday show the single-shot vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness, and much more protective against the most serious symptoms.
The vaccine worked better in the U.S. compared to South Africa, where it was up against a tougher, mutated virus.. The company says it will file an application for emergency use soon in the U.S., and then abroad.
Read the full story here.
‘COVID Tongue’ May Be Another Virus Symptom, British Researcher Suggests
There may be another addition to the growing list of strange possible symptoms of the new coronavirus: “COVID tongue.”
A British researcher who is helping to track COVID-19 warning signs is reporting more cases of infected people complaining of tongue discoloration, enlargement and other mouth problems, NBC News reports.
“Seeing increasing numbers of Covid tongues and strange mouth ulcers. If you have a strange symptom or even just headache and fatigue stay at home!” Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, tweeted this month.
He believes more than a third of COVID-19 patients, 35 percent, have non-classic symptoms of the disease in the first three days, so it’s important to draw attention to skin rashes, Covid toes and other warning signs that “go ignored,” he wrote.
Spector did not reply to a request for comment, but other researchers have also reported tongue and mouth symptoms linked with the new coronavirus.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com
NJ Hospital Gave Early COVID Vaccines to Donors, Executives’ Relatives: Report
Some of the first people to get COVID-19 vaccinations at a New Jersey medical center were the relatives of top hospital executives and some of its trustees and donors, according to a published report.
The shots were administered by Hunterdon Medical Center in December and early January, at a time when only front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities were eligible, NBC New York reports.
A registry of vaccine recipients, obtained by New Jersey 101.5 FM, indicated that shots had gone to two longtime donors to the hospital and at least seven spouses and two adult children of medical directors, administrators or executives at the health care network. The radio station said it was given the registry by a whistleblower, who it did not identify.
Some of the recipients were in their 20s, an age group unlikely to qualify for the vaccine for many months.
A hospital spokesperson said donors and board members weren’t given preference over eligible staff or at-risk individuals who were available, but that they received the vaccine when eligible recipients couldn’t be located rather than have the vaccine doses go to waste.
Read the full story here