CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX has delayed Starship serial number 11’s (SN11) high-altitude launch debut from Friday to Monday to best ensure that the company can “land & fully recover” the 50-meter-tall steel rocket.
First and foremost, the weekend will allow SpaceX times time for “additional checkouts” and scour Starship SN11 and the data it’s produced during testing for any red flags or minor issues. While plans for a same-day static fire and launch didn’t pan out on Friday, March 26th, SpaceX did manage the first half, firing up just one of Starship’s three Raptors to verify the health of the replacement engine after a Thursday Raptor swap. The test marked the first time SpaceX has intentionally fired up just one of the Raptors installed on a three-engine Starship prototype, so the delay will provide extra time to ensure that all three are still looking good.
Standing down SN11 until probably Monday. Additional checkouts are needed. Doing our best to land & fully recover.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2021
Possible Starship flight tomorrow afternoon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2021
The weather in Boca Chica, Texas has also taken a turn for the worse in the last few days, so the extra few days will also (hopefully) allow time for wind, visibility, and precipitation conditions to improve. According to Musk, Starship SN11 is now scheduled to fly as early as Monday “afternoon” and, as usual, SpaceX will offer live coverage of the fourth high-altitude launch and landing attempt beginning a few minutes before liftoff.
With a little luck, the Starship prototype will be able to continue a trend of iterative improvement and one-up Starship SN10 with a slightly softer landing and no explosion minutes after touchdown. Stay tuned for updates both here and on SpaceX’s social media platforms to catch the official webcast.
SpaceX’s fourth high-altitude Starship launch rescheduled on Monday
An arbiter has ruled that Nationals right-hander Erick Fedde does not have a fourth minor league option season, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). That means that Fedde, a former first-round pick, is now out of minor league options and thus cannot be sent to Triple-A without first being exposed to waivers.
As MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman outlined in February 2020, the Nationals were granted a fourth option over Fedde for the 2020 season because the league’s rules stipulate that such an option be granted when a player has exhausted all three minor league options despite not completing five “full” seasons (between the Majors and Minors combined).
A “full” season, under those terms, entails 90 or more days on an active roster, be it a big league or minor league roster. Time on the injured list does not count toward that definition. As such, Fedde’s 2015 season — what would’ve been his first “full” season after being drafted 18th overall in 2014 — did not count because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery for much of the year and did not accrue the requisite 90 days. Heading into the 2020 season, he’d played four “full” seasons but expended all of his options. A fourth option was granted to the Nats.
The Nationals didn’t use that option last year on Fedde, keeping him at the MLB level all season. The confusion surrounding Fedde, and others, was whether last year’s shortened schedule constituted a “full” season. It was fewer than 90 days in length, but service time and salary were prorated, so it could be argued that time on the roster for the purposes of determining minor league option eligibility should be treated similarly. Fedde and agent Scott Boras likely appealed that because he spent the 2020 season on the roster for the maximum time possible (67 days), he now has five “full” seasons under his belt, voiding the fourth option.
It’s a notable development for the Nationals’ pitching staff. Fedde had previously looked to be a potential odd man out behind fellow righties Joe Ross, the likely fifth starter, and Austin Voth, who’ll likely open the year in the ’pen. Both Ross and Voth had a leg up in the competition by virtue of the fact that they were out of minor league options, but Fedde is now in a similar position and thus much more likely to make the Opening Day roster.
There’s room for the Nats to carry all three hurlers, but the sudden lack of an option for Fedde would deprive them of some bullpen flexibility. Brad Hand, Tanner Rainey and Daniel Hudson obviously aren’t going anywhere at the back of the ’pen, and Wander Suero seems to be on solid ground as well. Voth is quite likely penciled into a long relief spot because of his own lack of options. Adding Fedde to that mix could make it tougher for a non-roster hopeful like Javy Guerra, Luis Avilan or T.J. McFarland to crack the roster. It’s also not great news for 40-man relievers like Kyle Finnegan and Ryne Harper, each of whom does have minor league options remaining.
Earlier this spring it came to light that several players were awaiting word on whether they do or do not have a fourth minor league option. The Cardinals’ Justin Williams, the Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay and the Angels’ Jaime Barria were among the many players who are currently in this state of limbo. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweeted earlier this afternoon that some from that group have been informed that they are indeed out of options, so it seems Fedde is the first known player among that bunch.
The final opinion polls over the weekend point to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party finishing comfortably on top, but also show potential key allies without the necessary public support to make forming a new government straightforward. Like the previous three contests, this one is seen primarily as a nationwide referendum on the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister.
The last twelve months have been arguably the most eventful of Netanyahu’s 15 years as Israel’s leader. Back in the summer, he looked to be on the cusp of annexing large chunks of the occupied West Bank, after appearing to get the green light from President Donald Trump and his “Peace to Prosperity” proposal. Those plans were suddenly shelved in exchange for an eye-catching normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates, quickly followed by similar agreements, known as the Abraham Accords, with three other Arab states.
On the coronavirus pandemic, Netanyahu, like many leaders, struggled to balance public health with economic imperatives, though by making what seems a winning bet on vaccination procurement, Israel’s position looks stronger than most in terms of its emergence from the pandemic.
On the other side of the ledger, his trial on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges is now formally underway. He submitted his not guilty plea last month and continues to insist it is all a media-led witch-hunt fueled by the inability of the left to beat him at the polls.
This time around, the Prime Minister faces a particularly wide array of opponents, and opinion polls suggest as many as thirteen parties could cross the electoral threshold and secure representation in the 120-seat Knesset.
Centrist Yair Lapid, who once served as Netanyahu’s finance minister and was a leading TV news anchor before entering politics with his Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party in 2012, is on track to finish a clear second, according to all polls.
Two other key figures in this election are former defense minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the Yamina party, and Gideon Saar, leader of New Hope. Both are right wingers, seen as ideologically in tune with Netanyahu, but with one clear distinction between them. Saar, like Lapid, has ruled out joining the Likud leader in any government after the election; Bennett has been more circumspect about what he would do, making him this election’s potential kingmaker.
Israeli governments are always coalition arrangements, and so smaller parties can have a decisive impact. Netanyahu will be looking for strong performances from the two main religious parties representing the ultra-Orthodox communities — both say they will remain allied with Likud after the election. In addition, the Israeli leader can feel confident he has the support of the far-Right Religious Zionism party. Polls suggest this grouping — which includes followers of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose own political party was banned from the Knesset in the 1980s for being racist — is on track to cross the electoral threshold and win four or even five seats.
The election was triggered in December when parliament failed to agree a budget, ending a seven-month power sharing arrangement between Netanyahu and his main rival in the three previous elections, Benny Gantz. The former army chief emerged from the unity agreement, struck during the first wave of rising coronavirus infections, bitterly disillusioned about his decision to join the government.
“I never believed Netanyahu, but I was willing to cooperate with him for the good of the country,” Gantz said after the government’s collapse, adding later, “I shook the hand of a serial promise-breaker. I shook his hand, because the State of Israel was at war [with the coronavirus], and I am, above all, a soldier. I was wrong.”
Opinion polls suggest Gantz will pay a heavy political price on Tuesday with his Blue and White party only just on track to scrape back into parliament. If it does cross the threshold, Blue and White will be natural allies of Lapid in an anti-Netanyahu bloc, as would the parties of the center-left and left, Labor and Meretz, assuming they too win enough support. Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu — with its base in the Russian émigré community and a campaign focused on a strong secular platform opposed to Shabbat restrictions on shopping and public transport — is also firmly opposed to keeping the Prime Minister in office.
One of the more striking aspects of this election campaign has been Netanyahu’s attempts to win support among Israel’s Arab voters. In previous campaigns, he has been accused of trying to suppress their vote; on election day in 2015, he even made a video claiming Arab voters were “moving to the polling stations in droves” — in order to motivate his Likud base to get out and vote. This time, by contrast, he has produced campaign material featuring voters declaring in Arabic their support for “Abu Yair,” the father of Yair, hailing his coronavirus vaccine achievements. Privately, lawmakers from Arab parties admit the campaign has been effective.
The Joint List, an alliance of three mainly Arab parties committed to ousting Netanyahu, looks set to win in the region of eight seats. The United Arab List, which split from the Joint List in February, will hope to cross the electoral threshold with four seats. Its leader Mansour Abbas has taken a maverick stance in this campaign, hinting that he could offer the Prime Minister some form of support in coalition talks in return for financial commitments that would benefit the country’s 20% Arab minority.
Voting closes at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET). TV networks publish projected results based on exit polls almost immediately, but it will likely be several days before final results are known. Given that several parties have been polling close to the electoral threshold, it is quite possible that some of them may fail to secure any seats after all the votes are counted, which in turn could have a major impact on the possibilities that exist for the main parties as they look to build a coalition of at least 61 seats.
And if the election doesn’t yield a viable coalition, Israelis could be trudging back to the polls by year’s end.
California Department of Public Health State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan receives the Johnson & Johnson Janssen one-dose vaccine during a press conference at the Oakland Coliseum vaccination site in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 11, 2021. Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images
US COVID-19 cases were falling for months, though they have plateaued somewhat in recent weeks.
Ex-FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS that with millions vaccinated, another surge is unlikely.
However, he cautioned against reopening too quickly, especially with more transmissible variants.
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As more Americans develop immunity against the coronavirus, it’s unlikely the country will experience another surge in cases, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said during an interview that aired Sunday.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS’s Face the Nation that as the vaccination rate goes up, coupled with the millions of Americans who may have natural immunity after becoming infected, it’s unlikely the US will endure another significant rise in cases.
“We’re talking about some form of protective immunity in about 55% of the population,” Gottlieb said. “There’s enough of a backstop here that I don’t think you’re going to see a fourth surge.”
However, Gottlieb added that it’s likely US case numbers will stay plateaued for a while before they start trending down again, citing two reasons: the more contagious coronavirus strain first discovered in the United Kingdom that is now more prevalent, as well as “because we’re pulling back too quickly with respect to taking off our masks and lifting the mitigation.”
More than 81.4 million Americans, or a quarter of the country, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 44.1 million fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention.
“If you look at in Europe, where they’re having a true fourth wave, they’ve only vaccinated one in- one in nine adults. Here in the US, we’ve vaccinated one in three. In the U.K., which is seeing consistent declines, they’ve vaccinated one in two. So the vaccination is going to be a backstop, and we’re continuing to vaccinate about three million people a day right now,” Gottlieb said.
Close to 30 million Americans have been infected by the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Gottlieb said if a variant that is able to pierce through immunity spreads, it could change the US trajectory.
Other experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have also previously cautioned against drastically lifting coronavirus restrictions, saying while cases are going down, the plateau is not low enough.
“I don’t know why they’re doing it, but from a public-health standpoint it’s certainly ill-advised,” Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, told CNN earlier this month after some states lifted mask mandates.
“Just pulling back on all of the public-health guidelines that we know work – and if you take a look at the curve, we know it works – it’s just inexplicable why you would want to pull back now.”
The Sixers’ first three wins after the All-Star break were all decided well before the final minutes.
Tuesday night’s 99-96 victory over the Knicks was a different story. The Sixers came back from down nine entering the final period to earn their sixth straight win overall and improve to 28-12.
RJ Barrett misfired on a short jumper that could’ve tied the game with approximately 20 seconds remaining. Furkan Korkmaz was then intentionally fouled and made one of two free throws. Immanuel Quickley missed another potential game-tying shot on the ensuing possession, and the Sixers sealed the deal from there.
“The game was physical — a lot of grabbing, a lot of fouls both ways,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said. “Too much frustration, in my opinion. It was a good test for us, because these are how some of the playoff games will be. Not all of them, but you’ll have a few like this, and you have to find a way to win. To win this game tonight without Joel (Embiid) on the floor and things are not going your way early was a big statement by this team.”
Tobias Harris and Seth Curry were the Sixers’ leading scorers with 30 and 20 points, respectively. Ben Simmons had 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, while Julius Randle led the Knicks with 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.
The Sixers will try to extend their streak to seven Wednesday night when they play the Bucks. Here are three observations on their gritty win over New York:
Throwback night
The same starters the Sixers used in Sunday night’s 35-point win over the Spurs had trouble scoring in their first stint.
Danny Green, after scoring 11 of the Sixers’ first 15 points against San Antonio, missed his first five shots. The Sixers as a team started 2 for 11. New York played physical, high-effort defense, putting constant pressure far from the hoop on Green, Curry and Harris and making it difficult for the Sixers to establish a rhythm.
Both the Sixers and Knicks shot 40.9 percent from the floor in the first period, a byproduct of good defensive focus and wayward outside shooting. As Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey observed on Twitter, it felt like the game was taking place in a different century.
The 90s are excited about this game
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) March 17, 2021
Green eventually made a shot and picked up four steals and a block, though his night didn’t improve much offensively. A 1-for-10 shooting performance from a starter is certainly harder to overcome with Embiid (who turned 27 years old Tuesday) sidelined by a left knee bone bruise. Korkmaz closed the game over Green.
Not for the first time this season, the Sixers’ turnovers were costly, spurring New York’s transition offense. The Knicks, meanwhile, prevented the Sixers from having many easy fast-break chances as the game was mostly played on their terms.
All told, the Sixers’ 12 turnovers led to 22 Knicks points. The Sixers took excellent care of the ball down the stretch, not turning the ball over once in the fourth quarter.
Relying on Harris
With the Sixers’ offense struggling late in the second quarter and the team frustrated by the officiating, Harris made two important threes and Simmons drove in for an and-one layup to tie the game.
The Knicks weren’t discouraged by that brief swing in momentum, though, scoring seven straight points and building an eight-point halftime lead. Simmons, Harris and Dwight Howard posted 34 of the Sixers’ 48 first-half points. Their teammates shot just 4 for 21 from the floor.
Curry started rolling early in the third quarter, converting a four-point play, two catch-and-shoot threes and a runner. He also made a key go-ahead three in the fourth.
As for Harris, he’s demonstrated a knack this season for coming through when the Sixers are desperate for a hoop. After a quiet stretch, he produced two key buckets late in the fourth. He yelled out, “I’m an All-Star” following his basket to put the Sixers up four.
“That’s just re-affirming that to myself,” Harris said. “I know the fans know that, but re-affirming that to them and to myself, especially making those big plays. I try to just find motivation in different areas. That’s one of them, and then on top of that I think just the challenge of having Joel out. It’s a new challenge that’s presented for us as a team and I want to embrace that challenge, because I know how good of a team we are with him, and I know how good of a team we are even without having him.
“Obviously, we need him, but at the same time I embrace all those challenges. What anybody has to say, it doesn’t really affect myself because I know when I look everyone in that locker room in the eye before the game, we’re ready to go out there and win.”
They didn’t always match up because neither team minded switching, but the Harris vs. Randle matchup was a fun one to watch. Both players have developed into leaders their teams can lean on, with Randle’s passing and Harris’ ability to fight through contact to reach his preferred spots qualities that jumped out Tuesday.
Rivers also wanted to be sure Harris’ defense wasn’t overlooked.
“Defensively tonight, Tobias was phenomenal,” he said. “He was as good as I’ve ever seen him. Got a ton of deflections, got his hands in there on Randle. I thought that was the key to the game — Tobias Harris’ defense. He allowed us to guard Randle 1-on-1, for the most part. That’s hard to do, because Randle is a heck of a player. I thought that was the key to the game.”
Howard plays a big role
Howard had a tip-in late in the first quarter and a put-back slam early in the second.
Outside of his screening, rolling and offensive rebounding, there wasn’t much else working for the Sixers’ second unit in the first half. Former Sixer and current Knick Alec Burks, who scored 19 points, possibly would’ve been a useful player for Rivers to call upon. On the other end of the floor, Howard and the Sixers were content to let Taj Gibson attempt open three-pointers, and he missed his first two.
That strategy was sound against a 30 percent three-point shooter but it will be interesting to see what the Sixers do without Embiid when they face a legitimate stretch five. In theory, that might be the right time to try more of Simmons at center, although Howard’s energy and production have generally been beyond reproach in recent games. He recorded 11 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks against the Knicks.
Howard played 28 minutes Tuesday, while Tony Bradley played 17. Perhaps Rivers didn’t want to dent Bradley’s confidence or overtax his 35-year-old center, but the split could arguably have been even further in Howard’s direction, especially given that Bradley didn’t have a good night. Perhaps having Howard play substantially more than Bradley but continue to start games on the bench might be Rivers’ approach moving forward.
Howard has clearly loved playing in front of fans the last two games at Wells Fargo Center. After his fourth-quarter rejection on Randle, it was hard to believe that only 3,000 or so fans were in the building.
Why does Rivers think Howard has ramped up his level of play after the All-Star level break?
“Probably the drinks he had in Puerto Rico or wherever he went for the break,” Rivers joked. “He was able to relax. … I think it’s just who he is, No. 1. I think the fans help. He loves an audience. But he’s so important to us. I thought he stabilized us in the first half and came in and made some plays. I thought the Knicks were having their way with us in the physicality department, and then we threw in Dwight and all that changed. That’s what he does for your team.”
FoxNews.com automotive editor Gary Gastelu breaks down GM’s Super Cruise feature and the company’s plans for more electric vehicles.
General Motors is extending the downtime at three North American factories that began in February through at least mid-April as it prioritizes the production of its full-size pickups and SUVs during the ongoing semiconductor shortage affecting the automotive industry.
The facilities include the Fairfax, Kan, assembly plant that builds the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4 and two facilities in Canada and Mexico that produce the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Trax and GMC Terrain SUVs.
The automaker will also pause production in April and May at its Gravatai, Brazil, factory, which builds vehicles for the local market.
GM said that it hasn’t yet needed to reduce output at any of the plants that build its highly profitable and in-demand trucks and that the possibility of extended production cuts was factored into its outlook for 2021 discussed on February’s earnings call.
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GM didn’t say how much volume it expects to lose during the closures, but AutoForecast Solutions estimates the number is 216,000 vehicles. GM said it will aim to make up for any losses in the second half of 2021 if chip supplies allow.
With just over 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter on Sunday, Giannis Antetokounmpo was high-skipping down the court, a massive grin etched across his face. He had just thrown down a thunderous slam to put the Milwaukee Bucks up by three over the Los Angeles Clippers, and send what limited fans were inside Fiserv Forum into euphoria.
A Kawhi Leonard miss and two Khris Middleton free throws later, the Bucks had secured a 105-100 victory to extend their winning streak to five straight games. The season hasn’t quite gone to plan for the Bucks, but things are starting to look up for the title hopefuls. Jrue Holiday is back in the lineup after a 10-game absence, and after Sunday’s win they’ve moved to within a game of the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
“We gotta keep working,” Giannis said after the win. “We have a long way to go. We gotta keep playing good basketball, keep making the right decisions, creating good habits and hope that everything will work out in the end.”
But while Giannis wasn’t ready to claim that the team has turned a corner, his performance was yet another reminder that even if the Bucks haven’t been their usual dominant selves this regular season, they’re capable of beating anyone in the league when he plays his best basketball.
His final line reads like a video game: 36 points on 15-of-27 from the field, 14 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. But the way he completely took over the fourth quarter and guided the Bucks home was the most impressive aspect of Giannis’ afternoon. There was an incredible amount of talent on the in the game, but he made it crystal clear that he was the best player on the floor.
Giannis played the entire fourth quarter, and put up 17 of the Bucks’ final 22 points. In fact, he nearly matched the Clippers’ total for the quarter (19 points) by himself. But he wasn’t just doing it on offense. He also had a number of key defensive plays, including one of the best blocks of the season on Ivica Zubac.
Over his last 10 games, Giannis is averaging 33.5 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 6.6 assists, while shooting 55.2 percent from the field. He’s even seemingly solved his free throw troubles, and is shooting 75 percent from the stripe during this stretch. The Bucks’ slow start to the season overshadowed what he was doing on an individual level, but on Sunday he made sure he couldn’t be ignored.
COVID-19 variants are surging in America and scientists are learning the vaccine may not work as well against them.
USA TODAY
COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates are falling nationwide, but experts talk in dire terms about what will happen if variants of the virusare allowed to surge this spring.
“I’m very worried we’re letting our foot off the brakes,” said Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The U.S. saw a spike in cases last spring, mainly in the Northeast, last summer in the South, and November through January pretty much everywhere. As the nation’s death toll from COVID-19 approaches half a million people, public health experts said they dread the possibility of a fourth wave.
“We are done with it, but it is not done with us,” added Dr. Luciana Borio, former acting chief scientist of the Food and Drug Administration.
Three state legislatures lifted mask mandates in recent days, and New York and Massachusetts eased restrictions on restaurant seating in time for Valentine’s Day.
“It’s like we’re trying our best to help the virus rather than stopping it,” said Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist and research associate professor at the Rockefeller University in New York City.
More contagious variants of the virus have raced across Europe, South Africa and Latin America. They have all arrived in the U.S., and one first identified in the United Kingdom is likely to be dominant here by the end of next month, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said that if the infectiousness and case fatality rate for the variant known as B.1.1.7, turns out to be the same in the U.S. as it is in the U.K., “I worry we could reach a staggering death toll by the summer and fall.”
Double-masking: Protect yourself from COVID-19 variants
Another variant, which originated in Southern California, has been spreading rapidly across the U.S., according to a study, although it’s not clear whether it’s more contagious or more dangerous. Many more may be here, too, according to one early review, though again, the significance of all these variants isn’t clear.
The two vaccines available, one by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other by Moderna, appear to be effective against these variants, said Hatziioannou, who published a study on the subject.
But these variants are likely to make targeted drugs such as monoclonal antibodies less effective. They will continue to change and eventually will evade vaccines and diagnostic tests if they keep spreading, she said.
Now is the time, she and others said, to double-down on precautions, to avoid a deadly fourth wave and finally bring the virus under control.
“The best way to mitigate the threat of the strains is to control the virus,” Borio said. And the best way to control the virus is through the public health tools we have,” like mask-wearing, hand-washing, avoiding crowds, and vaccination.
Next few months a ‘very murky picture‘
It’s difficult to predict what the virus will do over the next few months, said Samuel Scarpino, who conducts infectious disease forecasting at Northeastern University in Boston.
The variants make estimates more difficult, he said, as do the rising rate of vaccination, the relaxation of some COVID-19 public health measures, the lack of demographic information on who’s getting vaccinated and the limited genetic surveillance, which makes it harder to know exactly what the variants are doing.
“All those meet together to make it a very murky picture over the next few months,” he said.
Under the Biden administration, officials are increasing gene sequencing of virus samples tenfold, hoping to better track the variants.
In the short term, this awareness is likely to increase anxiety, prompting endless discussions about increases in variants and worries about what effect the changes might have.
More extensive sequencing should give the United States a better sense of where the variants are, how fast they spread and what to do about them, said Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Viruses mutate as they reproduce within a person. Some mutations do nothing for the virus, and others lead to its demise.
A few improve the virus’s ability to reproduce and get rapidly passed through a population.
“This is what viruses do,” said Gronvall, an immunologist.
Public health officials predicted that but haven’t been able to convince leaders or the public to change the trajectory of the pandemic. “It is so disappointing because it didn’t have to be this way,” she said.
She and others said that if people give the virus an opportunity, it will take it.
Double-down on stopping spread
Legislatures in North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin rolled back mask requirements. (Wisconsin’s governor reinstated them, but the legislature promised to remove them again when it meets next week.)
Gawande said people should wear medical-grade masks instead of often-ill-fitting homemade ones, and he criticized decisions by state legislators to lift requirements.
“The mask mandate is the last thing you remove, not the first when your hospitalizations go down,” he said.
Other states eased restrictions.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Hatziioannou said about allowing restaurants to open for Valentine’s Day. COVID-19 cases spiked after every major holiday over the past year. Why would Valentine’s Day be any different, she asked.
Lifting the restrictions sends the signal that if it’s OK to eat at a restaurant, it must be OK to eat at grandma’s house, she said, but neither is safe.
Slightly easing regulations – allowing restaurants to be 40% full instead of 25% – won’t change the nation’s quality of life, Scarpino said.
A fourth wave would be far less likely, he said, if people get vaccinated when they become eligible and carefully follow public health measures such as mask-wearing and avoiding crowds.
What are all the new COVID-19 variants and how dangerous are they? Here’s everything you need to know.
“Then,” he said, “we can imagine a scenario in which this is all behind us.”
There’s a chance to end the outbreak in the U.S., Scarpino said, if people double-down.
If restrictions are lifted too early, the virus will bounce back. Vaccines offer a way out of that scenario but only if people take them and can get them in time to prevent a fourth wave.
Thomas Balcezak, chief medical officer of Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, views the virus like a forest fire and every tree/person as potential fuel for the flames. “Every time you vaccinate someone, you remove that potential fuel,” he said. “If you vaccinate enough people, you can create a fire break, where there just isn’t any more fuel for that fire.”
The faster the population is vaccinated, “the faster we can reduce the possibility of new strains emerging,” he said. “This has been a marathon, and now it’s kind of a race to the finish.”
Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, said coping with the variants could be the last major challenge of the pandemic.
“If we get through this intact, we’re looking good, unless a new freak of nature comes up,” he said. “We’ve got this if we can get through this potential onslaught. But (the virus) needs to be fully respected.”
Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.
Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.
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The 18th hole at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was twice a fork in the road for Daniel Berger this week. On Saturday afternoon, he made double bogey after hitting his ball out of bounds. On Sunday, he eagled it for a walk-off two-stroke win over Maverick McNealy. A four-stroke swing that changed the entire tournament.
Berger’s double on Saturday in Round 3 meant that Berger was no longer in the final group for the finale. This was maybe a good thing for him considering Jordan Spieth was in the final group, and that dynamic has not always ended well for Berger. He lost to Spieth in a playoff at the 2017 Travelers Championship and somehow found himself two down after Spieth played pretty mediocre golf on Saturday at Pebble.
Berger played ahead of his former Presidents Cup mate on Sunday and put two 3s on the card in the first three holes. He went out in 33, and it became clear that he was among the two or three golfers who truly had a grip on the golf tournament. After a near hole-out on the 15th left him rolling around in the sand, the stage was set for a crazy ending, and Berger delivered albeit in a much different way than on Saturday.
At 16 under through 71 holes, Berger nuked a drive on No. 18. With Patrick Cantlay and Nate Lashley nipping at his heels along with McNealy in the house at 16 under, he hit a lusty 3-wood to set up two putts for the win. He only needed one of them for the 65 and win.
“That was the best putt I’ve ever hit in my life,” said Berger, who also noted that the 3-wood into 18 was the best he’s ever hit.
This touches off an impressive 12-month run for Berger, who has nine top 10s in his last 19 events dating back to last year’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am. That includes two wins — one at Colonial in the first PGA Tour event back from a three-month break and this one.
It’s big in any year but even more so for Berger as he missed the Masters in November and is trying to qualify for the first Ryder Cup of his terrific career. One famous hole made such a huge difference in how things ended on Saturday, just as it did on Sunday. For Berger, the order things happened mattered very much, and it resulted in the fourth PGA Tour win of his career. Grade: A+
Maverick McNealy (2nd): The former Stanford superstar clearly learned from another Stanford superstar. He needed eagle on No. 18 to have a chance, and he hit a missile on his second shot before club twirling the shaft off his iron. A sight to behold. He gets an “A” for the week but an “A+” on the twirl alone. Grade: A+
Patrick Cantlay (T3): Cantlay felt like the problem for the leaders for much of the weekend, but it never really materialized for the former No. 1 amateur in the world. After a 62 on Thursday, he stalled out on Friday at Spyglass Hill in Round 2, and that probably cost him a frontrunning spot come Sunday. However, every time I watch him I’m more impressed. He makes scoring look so easy, even when I know it’s not. The numbers don’t say it, but he really seems like a top-5 player in the world right now. Grade: A-
Jordan Spieth (T3): The four-time major champ ran out of magic late on Sunday as his driver left him and he gave himself no scoring opportunities. Still, I leave this week even more encouraged than I left last week because he contended this week without making any putts at all. (Spieth lost strokes to the field with his putter.) What he did this week is sustainable and reminiscent of what we used to get every week from Spieth. Average to above average with the driver, tremendous with his irons, and if he makes putts, he wins. That’s the formula, and it’s the one Spieth used this week to stay in the mix through about 70 holes. Grade: A
Nate Lashley (T5): Boy, the ending was tough. He played so well for 69 holes, and then he four-putted from 12 feet on the 16th hole to give Berger a clear path to victory. A lot to take away for Lashley, who went to battle against Cantlay, Berger and Spieth, but that 7 on No. 16 is going to linger. Grade: B-
MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) –State health officials say fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the latest batch of test results. According to the Department of Health Services (DHS), 934 people had their test results come back positive for the virus on Saturday. That’s the second time this month the state has confirmed fewer than 1,000 new cases within a 24-hour period. On February 1, only 750 new cases were confirmed.
The 934 new positive results were part of a total of 4,438 test results. The other 3,504 results were negative. New cases were confirmed in all Wisconsin counties except for Adams, Bayfield, Crawford, Forest, Langlade, Marquette, Richland, Rusk and Taylor counties. The state revised case numbers in Langlade County, and revised death numbers in Barron and Kenosha counties.
Saturday’s positive test results accounted for 21.05% of the total number of test results. The number of new cases is fewer cases than the average of 1,107 over the past week, and the positivity rate is also below the 7-day average, which is 22.53% by our calculations. If you count the results of every test — including people who’ve been tested multiple times — the state says the average positivity rate held steady at 4.7% Friday, after dropping to that percentage Thursday, based on preliminary numbers.
The low amount of positive test results comes as health officials ramp up COVID-19 vaccine administrations.
The state set a new record for completed COVID-19 vaccinations for a fourth day in a row, with 14,443 people getting their second and final shot. The Department of Health Services says 158,053 people have now finished the vaccination series. A total of 740,526 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, which is 49,828 more since Friday. These numbers are preliminary as vaccinators’ reports continue coming in.
Friday marked one year since state health officials reported the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Wisconsin. Since then, a total of 549,155 people tested positive for the virus, and another 2,531,066 have tested negative.
Out of those positive cases, 527,575 people, or 96.1%, are considered recovered, while another 15,369 people, or 2.8%, are considered active cases.
According to the DHS, another 32 people died due to COVID-19 complications within the past 24 hours, bringing the state’s death toll to 6,052. The state crossed the 6,000 cumulative death mark on Friday. The death rate in Wisconsin continues to hold at 1.1%.
Wisconsin is averaging 23 deaths per day from the virus over the past week. That average held steady from Friday and was also at 23 on Wednesday. 23 is the lowest 7-day death average since late October.
County-by-county case and death numbers are listed later in this article.
VACCINATIONS
Action 2 News has put together a guide of vaccination clinics and health agencies distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to people age 65 and older. CLICK HERE for locations and phone numbers and websites to register.
HOSPITALIZATIONS
90 people were hospitalized for serious COVID-19 symptoms in the past 24-hour period, according to the DHS. The state is averaging 83 hospitalizations per day for the disease. In the past 12 months, 24,824 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized for treatment, or 4.5% of all known cases.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) reports as of Saturday, there were 570 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state, 13 fewer than Friday. Out of those patients, 151 are in intensive care, which is eight fewer patients than Friday. Daily changes in hospitalizations take new admissions, discharges and deaths into account.
Fox Valley hospitals region were caring for 33 COVID-19 patients, 10 fewer than Friday. Six of the patients are in ICU, two fewer than Friday.
Northeast region hospitals were treating 49 COVID-19 patients, four fewer than Friday. 14 patients are in the ICU, which held steady from Friday.
HOSPITAL READINESS
In terms of hospital readiness, The WHA reported 271 ICU beds (18.48%) and 2,329 (20.84%) of all medical beds (ICU, intermediate care, medical surgical and negative flow isolation) were open in the state’s 134 hospitals.
The Fox Valley’s 13 hospitals reported 8 open ICU beds (7.69%) among them. The hospitals had a total 109 unoccupied medical beds (12.77%) for the eight counties they serve.
The Northeast region’s 10 hospitals had 43 ICU beds (20.77%) and 281 of all medical beds (29.39%) open for patients in seven counties.
These beds are for all patients, not just COVID-19. We use the terms “open” or “unoccupied” instead of “available” because whether a bed can be filled depends on hospitals having the staff for a patient in that bed, including doctors, nurses and food services.
There were no hospital overflow patients at the state’s alternate care facility near the State Fairgrounds on Saturday.
In addition, the DHS says Friday was the last day the Bamlanivimab Infusion Clinic was open. The clinic had opened on December 22, and referrals to the clinic were from southeast Wisconsin health systems. According to the state, those same health care systems now have the capacity to care for those patients.
A vaccine doesn’t mean the #COVID19 virus isn’t still out there! If you have symptoms or have been exposed to someone with the virus, get tested. And remember, it’s vaccine AND mask, not vaccine OR mask! So let’s all do our part to #StopTheSpread Get info https://t.co/Azlk4PhBcW pic.twitter.com/LmrIQ8frtn
— WIDeptHealthServices (@DHSWI) February 6, 2021
SATURDAY’S COUNTY CASE NUMBERS (Counties with new cases or deaths are indicated in bold) *
* Cases and deaths are from the daily DHS COVID-19 reports, which may differ from local health department numbers. The DHS reports cases from all health departments within a county’s boundaries, including tribal, municipal and county health departments; county websites may not. Also, public health departments update their data at various times, whereas the DHS freezes the numbers it receives by the same time every day to compile the afternoon report.
The DHS reports deaths attributed to COVID-19 or in which COVID-19 contributed to their death. Most of the people severely affected by the coronavirus have underlying illnesses or conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or obesity, which raises a person’s risk of dying from COVID-19. They would’ve lived longer if not for their infection. The state may revise case and death numbers after further review, such as the victim’s residence, duplicated records, or a correction in lab results. Details can be found on the DHS website and Frequently Asked Questions.
**The state of Michigan does not update numbers on Sundays. Monday’s numbers include updates since Saturday’s reporting deadline.
COVID-19 Tracing App
Wisconsin’s COVID-19 tracing app, “Wisconsin Exposure Notification,” is available for iOS and Android smartphones. No download is required for iPhones. The Android app is available on Google Play. When two phones with the app (and presumably their owners) are close enough, for long enough, they’ll anonymously share a random string of numbers via Bluetooth. If someone tests positive for the coronavirus, they’ll receive a code to type into the app. If your phones “pinged” each other in the last 14 days, you’ll receive a push notification that you are at risk of exposure. The app doesn’t collect personal information or location information, so you won’t know from whom or where, but you will be told what day the exposure might have occurred so that you can quarantine for the appropriate amount of time.
Symptoms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified these as possible symptoms of COVID-19:
Fever of 100.4 or higher
Cough
Shortness of breath
Chills
Repeated shaking with chills
Muscle pain
Headache
Sore throat
New loss of taste or smell
Prevention
The coronavirus is a new, or “novel,” virus. Nobody has a natural immunity to it.
Children and teens seem to recover best from the virus. Older people and those with underlying health conditions (heart disease, diabetes, lung disease) are considered at high risk, according to the CDC. Precautions are also needed around people with developing or weakened immune systems.
To help prevent the spread of the virus:
Stay at least six feet away from other people
Avoid close contact with people who are or appear sick
Stay at home as much as possible
Cancel events and avoid groups, gatherings, play dates and nonessential appointments
