Tuesday, December 22 top news briefs

It is Tuesday, December 22. Here are today’s top news briefs.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was filmed receiving the recently-approved Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the agency worked with Moderna to develop the vaccine, so it was a full circle to see Fauci being inoculated with it. He said it was very meaningful to him.

Lyft announced that it will provide 60 million rides to and from vaccination sites for communities with the majority of people having low income, without health insurance, or being at risk. Lyft said it partnered with several businesses and organizations to make this happen. Lyft’s co-founder said “making sure people can get to vaccination sites when they need to is mission critical to beating this virus.”

Taiwan reported one new local Covid-19 case today, which is the first case on the island since April 12. That’s 253 days without a new case. The Guardian said the infected person was a woman in her 30’s who was a close contact with a New Zealand pilot in his 60’s who worked for a Taiwanese airline. The woman is being quarantined. A Taiwanese government official said the pilot was not truthful with his declarations of his contacts and activities. The pilot faces a fine equivalent of $11,300 USD. Axios said because Taiwan has controlled the spread of the virus, its economy has grown while much of the world is facing economic slumps.

In the U.S., on Monday there were 1,963 new deaths and over 200,000 new cases of Covid-19. There have already been over 300,000 total deaths this year alone from Covid-19.

Fox News reported that 2020 is the deadliest year in U.S. history with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time and that it’s mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The final data won’t be ready until a few months later, but Fox said preliminary numbers show that we may have 3.2 million deaths in 2020, which is 400,000 more deaths compared with 2019. It is a 15% increase and the last time there was an increase this size in the U.S. was in 1918. In that year, many Americans died in World War I and from the flu pandemic.

73 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were accused of cheating on a calculus exam in May, which was conducted online and remotely because of coronavirus. All but one were freshmen, or plebes. A school spokesperson said instructors noticed irregularities in answers and accused the cadets of cheating, and would hold them accountable for breaking the school code. West Point trains cadets to become Army officers.

A man in Keego Harbor, Michigan is accused of licking a mail-in ballot on Election Day in front of a city clerk and saying, “Here’s some COVID for you” when handing it to her. The man’s name is Peter Trzos and he was charged with a felony with a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison. WXYZ News explained that on Election Day at the city hall, Trzos told the clerk, Tammy Neeb, that he did not trust that she would process the ballot. The envelope was unsealed. Trzos’ attorney said Neeb told Trzos he had to remove his mask and lick the envelope. Neeb’s attorney said Trzos then made a deliberate facial/mouth motion of building up salvia in his mouth and vigorously licked the ballot and joked about giving her the coronavirus. Keego Harbor Police charged Trzos with a felony charge of “falsely claiming to expose someone to a harmful biological substance.” The police chief said the charge may seem like an overreach, but they believe it is appropriate in this circumstance due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. He compared it with someone yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theater. He said the ballot was processed and voted by poll workers using extra PPE and precautions while handing it.

That’s all the top news briefs for today. Check out our other videos on “The Daily Moth.” See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.axios.com/fauci-azar-moderna-vaccine-pfizer-covid-coronavirus-f584bc92-7548-4819-8a9d-4fc49f28f8d0.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/12/22/vaccine-rides-lyft-offer-free-rides-low-income-riders/4005338001/

https://www.axios.com/taiwan-first-local-covid-19-case-8-months-9d160995-0ac2-4f01-902b-9f665edc0f17.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

https://www.foxnews.com/health/us-deaths-in-2020-top-3-million-by-far-most-ever-counted

https://6abc.com/west-point-cheating-us-military-academy-cadets-exam/8971667/

https://www.wxyz.com/news/keego-harbor-man-faces-jail-time-for-what-he-says-was-a-joke-made-toward-an-election-clerk