Monday, December 21 top news briefs

It is Monday, December 21. Hope your weekend was good. Here are four top news briefs.

In the U.K., there are reports of a new strain of the coronavirus that spreads more easily and quickly. Reports say it is 70% more transmissible. U.K. government officials have imposed very strict restrictions on businesses and people’s movements in London and southeast England. Several countries around the world have imposed travel bans against Britain. The U.S. has not imposed a ban on the U.K. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the federal government needs to take action because he believes the new virus strain is already coming in through planes to the JFK airport. AP News explained that medical experts said the new strain doesn’t appear to be more deadly, just that it spreads faster. It is normal for viruses to evolve. U.S. officials said they believe the vaccinations recently approved for Covid-19 prevention will be effective against the new strain.

Over the first five days of the Pfizer vaccine rollout, 128,000 shots have been administered to health care workers and nursing homes. In the past three days, the FDA and CDC gave the green light to the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccines are being distributed all over the U.S. Now, who should be the next in line to get the vaccine after healthcare workers and nursing home residents? A CDC advisory panel recommended the next group to be those 75 years of age and older and frontline essential workers such as first responders, teachers, and grocery store employees. A panelist said it was her goal to balance saving lives and keeping our infrastructure in place.

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) tweeted this morning that the statue of Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol was removed. He showed four images of workers using a temporary crane and chains to lift off the statue. The statue represented Virginia for the past 111 years in the Capitol.

Now it will be replaced with civil rights leader Barbara Rose Johns, who as a high school student in 1951, walked out of classes to protest unequal school resources in segregated facilities such as dealing with leaky ceilings or very cold weather. Her actions led the local chapter of the NAACP to become involved and a lawsuit became a part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 that said school segregation was unconstitutional. Gov. Northam said the statue removal and replacement was “an important step forward — it is past time we tell our story with images of perseverance, diversity, and inclusion.”

A volcano named Kilauea on Hawaii’s Big Island has a new eruption. A video from the U.S. Geological Survey showed an erupting lava flow from a fissure that resembled a broken fire hydrant. There was a lava flow that snaked around the crater of the volcano. Residents near the volcano were warned about ash falling on them. In 2018, lava flows from Kilauea were seen moving into residential streets and neighborhoods. Will it happen again? We don’t know. Kilauea is the most active of Hawaii’s five volcanoes. Officials have elevated alert levels and said the situation is rapidly evolving.

That’s all the top news briefs for today. Check out our political news briefs and Deaf News videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://apnews.com/article/new-coronavirus-strain-england-explainer-74ea2d47820b8dcac02f95ad9440f533

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/20/world/covid-19-coronavirus

https://www.axios.com/uk-crisis-coronavirus-variant-brexit-542a3a94-21e4-4ac7-b00e-87a96e5db2ee.html

https://www.foxnews.com/health/fda-approves-modernas-covid-19-vaccine

https://twitter.com/GovernorVA/status/1341012240259031040

https://wjla.com/news/local/robert-e-lee-statue-removed-us-capitol-barbara-rose-johns-replace

https://abcnews.go.com/US/kilauea-volcano-erupts-hawaiis-big-island/story?id=74838670

https://twitter.com/USGSVolcanoes