Thursday, December 17 top news briefs

Here are today’s top news briefs.

Winter Storm Gail has brought copious amounts of snow to northeastern U.S. states and sadly at least four people died. Over 70,000 homes and businesses were without power. The Weather Channel reported that there was a pileup of about 30 to 60 vehicles on an interstate in Pennsylvania on Wednesday afternoon. Two people died in the crashes. In another part of Pennsylvania, a 63-year-old man was struck and killed by a plow truck as he walked with a snow blower. In Kansas, a 41-year-old man was killed after his car veered and crashed head-on into a SUV. A Spirit Airlines flight slid off a taxiway in Baltimore this early morning after landing. The plane ended up on grass and fortunately none of the 111 people were injured.

In China, a lunar probe that collected moon rocks successfully returned and landed in northern China. The probe is named Chang’e-5 and it is the first time that China has achieved this type of mission. China hopes to eventually build a research base on the moon.

On Wednesday, there were more than 3,600 new deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. There were more than 230,000 new coronavirus cases in one day alone. Over 113,000 Americans are hospitalized because of the virus. We’re seeing things become worse, but there’s hope with the vaccination rollouts. Health officials said the numbers are bad because many Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday and with the December holiday season, things won’t improve, especially as more people gather indoors because of the cold weather. The conditions make it easy for the virus to spread.

Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that the U.S. could develop herd immunity in the middle of 2021. He said it depends on the efficiency of the vaccination rollout. He said by fall 2021, we should see low levels of infection and start to feel normal again, but mask wearing and event cancellations may continue into 2022. Fauci encouraged Americans to be “public” when they get vaccinated (post on social media or share with your family and friends) so more people can feel confident and comfortable with the idea of getting a vaccine.

Hospital workers said they discovered that vials of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, which is supposed to have five doses’ worth of liquid in it, had enough left over for one or two extra doses. The FDA said they thought it was acceptable to use the leftover doses for additional vaccinations, but advised against pooling doses from multiple vials. The FDA said they are now consulting with Pfizer to determine the best path forward.

CBS News reported that a health care worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction that required hospitalization ten minutes after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. She was a middle-aged woman with no history of allergies. She had an increased heartbeat, shortness of breath, skin rash, and redness. She was given epinephrine and is in stable condition. The woman was still happy to get the vaccine and encouraged others to get it. There was a second health care worker at the same hospital that had a less-serious allergic reaction. He was a male and had eye puffiness, lightheadedness, and a scratchy throat, but felt normal after an hour. The allergic reactions were shared with the CDC.

French president Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus and will be self-isolating for a week. He recently attended events with several European leaders, so a number of them are taking precautions such as self isolation and cancelling trips.

That’s all the top news briefs for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://weather.com/news/news/2020-12-17-winter-storm-gail-impacts-pileup-schools-closed-flights-canceled

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1210182.shtml

https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1339278244260941825

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/17/947417443/u-s-surpasses-3-600-coronavirus-deaths-breaks-prior-hospitalization-record

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fauci-predicts-herd-immunity-u-s-late-spring-or-early-n1251151

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/health/Covid-Pfizer-vaccine-extra-doses.html?referringSource=articleShare

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alaska-covid-vaccine-allergic-reaction-health-care-worker/