Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today - The New York Times

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Nursing home residents and staff are beginning to receive the vaccine.

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The New York Times

• The U.S. and Pfizer are negotiating a deal for more vaccine doses next year.

• Congressional leaders are closing in on a stimulus deal to inject as much as $900 billion into the economy.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in quarantine after coming in contact with a person who tested positive for the coronavirus.

• Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and vaccines in development.

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The vaccine reaches nursing homes

The U.S. is moving to the next phase of its mass vaccination campaign as nursing home residents and staff are beginning to receive their shots.

A federal program through CVS and Walgreens is scheduled to roll out to thousands of nursing homes across the country on Monday, but long-term care facilities in some states are getting a head start and giving out their first doses this week.

It’s a watershed moment for nursing homes, which endured some of the worst carnage of the pandemic. At least 106,000 residents and staff members have died from the coronavirus, accounting for 38 percent of the country’s Covid-19 deaths.

Experts say that nursing homes will be the most challenging front in the campaign to vaccinate Americans because facilities are short-staffed and shift work complicates the effort. CVS and Walgreens employees have the capacity to visit each location only two or three times.

But the stickiest issue is perhaps consent. There’s no federal requirement for people to give consent before being vaccinated, but it’s standard practice. Many residents, like those with dementia, aren’t capable of giving it on their own, which is creating confusion about how to proceed and has delayed the rollout in some states. The pharmacies also need prior consent in order to know how many doses, which must be kept very cold, to bring with them.

Some residents and staff members are balking at getting a vaccine, setting off heated debates in nursing homes about whether to line up for a shot. Skepticism is particularly high among certified nursing assistants who work in long-term care facilities. Although some older people fear the vaccine’s side effects or worry it’s not safe, officials are optimistic that most residents will agree to be vaccinated. One recent survey of 275 nursing homes found that about 80 percent of respondents said they were definitely willing to receive the vaccine.

Harriet Krakowsky, a nursing home resident in New York City, needs no convincing. She told The Associated Press that she lost friends to the virus and had yet to meet two great-grandchildren who were born this year.

“For the first time in six or seven months,” she said, “there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

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A winter storm disrupts the pandemic response

A fast-moving winter storm is barreling through the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, with forecasters predicting as much as two feet of snow in some areas. For those living in cities including New York City and Philadelphia, it could be one of the biggest snowstorms in years.

The nor’easter is also threatening to delay vaccine distribution and may bring accident victims to the doors of hospitals already strained by the outbreak. Some states and several major cities were temporarily shutting down Covid-19 testing facilities, including in Baltimore and Boston and across Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Nursing homes from Philadelphia to Albany said they, too, were preparing for the storm, but called it a routine disruption. The Teresian House Center for the Elderly in Albany, which has dealt with coronavirus outbreaks since the spring, was preparing for up to 10 inches of snow. A spokesman, Paul Larrabee, told The Times, “In light of what we’ve gone through in the last 10 months, our emergency and crisis preparedness is probably as well calibrated as any time in our history.”

But no matter how bad things get, there will be no snow days in New York City — schools will still remain open for virtual learning. Philadelphia, Denver, Omaha and many other cities have made similar decisions about taking time off for inclement weather. The pandemic may even end snow days for good.

The thought of losing snow days, maybe forever, sharply divided the Briefings team. My colleagues on the Coronavirus Schools Briefing, Amelia Nierenberg (pro-slushy snowballs) and Adam Pasick (a snow day Grinch) defended their views in today’s newsletter.

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Resurgences

• The number of severe Covid-19 cases in the blockaded Gaza Strip sharply increased over the past several days, raising concerns that hospitals could face overwhelming circumstances in the coming weeks.

• In Sweden, which has eschewed strict virus restrictions, calls for a lockdown are rising, as are infections.

• Germany entered a nationwide lockdown that closed schools and nonessential businesses through at least Jan. 10, as the country battles a record numbers of new infections and fatalities.

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain would stand by a plan to ease restrictions on Christmas gatherings between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27, despite rising coronavirus cases.

Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.

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What else we’re following

• A health care worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction after receiving Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine yesterday and remained hospitalized this morning under observation.

• The pandemic has left more military families seeking food assistance.

• New Mexico has begun distributing one-time payments of $1,200 each to about 130,000 unemployed residents to help ease persistent economic hardship.

• Two Trump appointees at the C.D.C. went public with what they saw at the public health agency: political interference, suppression of science and the muzzling of expertise.

• A C.D.C. division is working to develop standards to measure the effectiveness of masks — and products that meet them will be able to carry labels saying so.

• How full are hospital I.C.U.s near you? Take a look at our map to find out.

• A new BBC sitcom about life during the pandemic, “Pandemonium,” will test whether audiences are ready to laugh about Covid-19.

• Did you get a vaccine or are you planning to? The New York Times would like to hear from you.

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What you’re doing

I practice and teach acupressure for a living, so I’ve been pretty much out of work since March. I have lots of Zoom meetings and visits, but I really miss touching people. I also live alone. I visit with my daughter and my son-in-law (my “pod”) with a mask on and maintaining six feet of distance. I also really miss being touched. I’m getting a cat.

— Deborah Valentine Smith, New Paltz, N.Y.

Let us know how you’re dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Sign up here to get the briefing by email.

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Carole Landry contributed to today’s newsletter.

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com.

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