US: Over 23.8M Cases - 398K Dead - 14.1M Recovered
Worldwide: Over 93M Cases - 2M Dead - 67M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 260  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 200
*Red indicates change in total deaths

CDC: New Variant More Contagious - Not More Severe
U.K. Covid-19 Variant Likely to Become Dominant U.S. Strain in March, CDC Says

Public-health agency warns highly contagious variant could predominate domestically without increased masking, social distancing

A highly transmissible coronavirus variant that was first identified in the U.K. is spreading rapidly in the U.S. and likely to become the dominant strain circulating domestically in March without measures to slow it, federal health authorities said.

Health officials called Friday for increasing mitigation efforts, like wearing masks and social distancing, to curb the spread of the more contagious variant.

The “B.1.1.7” variant had infected at least 76 people in 12 states as of Jan. 13 and threatens to worsen the pandemic in the U.S. in coming months as daily cases and hospitalizations are already at record levels, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report modeling the potential impact of the variant.

While the new variant doesn’t appear to cause more severe illness, it is more contagious than the currently dominating strain of the coronavirus, the CDC said.

That means it could lead to more hospitalizations and deaths by infecting more people overall, the agency said, exacerbating pressures on health-care systems that are already at or near capacity. wsj.com

CDC JUST Told Health Departments Do Whatever it Takes To Prevent New Variant Transmission
Fear over COVID-19 variant grows as L.A. County mulls closing malls, gyms

Los Angeles County and the rest of the nation are in a race against time to vaccinate as many people as possible against the coronavirus before a variant thought to be even more contagious takes hold.

Settings that could be scrutinized further include outdoor gyms, which have been allowed to open at 50% capacity, and indoor malls and retail, which are supposed to be open at only 20% capacity, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday night. It has yet to be officially found in L.A. County, has already been identified in San Diego and San Bernardino counties.

Ferrer said the CDC is urging public health officials nationwide to do whatever it takes to prevent transmission “so that that variant doesn’t get hold as being the most dominant form of the virus that circulates for as long as possible.”

“What we’re really trying to do here is really sort of create the opportunity for us to actually get as many people vaccinated as possible before that variant gets hold,” Ferrer said. “That means we have to go back to the drawing board and look at everything we’re doing, and really assess how, in a very short period of time, can we get more control over the surge, more ability to actually slow rates of transmission?” latimes.com

*Editor's Note: Expect Closures & More Stringent Curfews This Weekend - More Than Ever Before - The Nation is Facing Being Shut Down Completely!

California: Stay-at-home orders have been extended in much of the state

Counties in Southern California, the Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley remain under the order

The mask order and a limited curfew remain.
A curfew is still in place for most counties.

Nonessential activity outside the home is prohibited from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. There is a statewide mask mandate.

Pushing Incentives to Get Workers Vaccinated?
Instacart Offers $25 to Drivers to Get Vaccines

Joining Dollar General and Trader Joe's in compensating employees for vaccines

San Francisco-based Instacart has nearly doubled its mostly gig workforce to about 500,000 to meet a surge in demand for online grocery shopping since the pandemic erupted in the U.S. last spring.

Grocery chain Trader Joe's, which has more than 50,000 employees, said Thursday it will give employees two hours of pay per dose for getting the vaccine.

Dollar General said Wednesday it will give employees the equivalent of four hours of pay if they get the vaccine. It employs 157,000 people.

CDC says grocery workers — which would include Instacart and Dollar General's employees — should be in the second group to receive shots after health care workers and nursing home residents.

Some states have already opened eligibility to the second group, which also includes firefighters, police, teachers, corrections workers, postal employees and people 75 and older. There are around 50 million people in that group.

However, most companies are reluctant to impose such mandates, said Sharon Perley Masling, a partner at the law firm Morgan Lewis who has been advising clients on workplace issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency nature of the vaccine's FDA approval makes it impractical for many companies to require it, given that the shots are not available to most of the population, she said.

Still, Masling said the companies she works with are taking various steps to strongly encourage their workers to get vaccinated, including internal public relations campaigns showing top executives who are eligible getting the shots. Other incentives include free child care, paid time off and freebies like pizza delivery and other gifts, she said.

Target Corp. also plans no incentives, but said it will make the vaccine free and accessible to its 350,000 employees. Target said 1,700 of its stores have a CVS pharmacy on site that will offer the vaccine to staff when it's available.

Albertsons, a grocery chain with 2,250 U.S. stores and 300,000 employees, also isn't doling out financial incentives. startribune.com

Hitting the $2k Direct Payments & Funding National Vaccine Program
'We Cannot Afford Inaction': Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Plan
President-elect Joe Biden outlined his plans for economic relief from the coronavirus crisis on Thursday evening, citing the need for a more robust vaccination plan as well as for additional direct payments to American families to help recover the U.S. economy. His plan, called the American Rescue Plan, is expected to cost $1.9 trillion.

The package includes $1,400 direct stimulus checks, which would supplement the $600 checks Congress passed late last year. Biden also proposes an additional $160 billion for a national vaccine program, including $20 billion for distribution, and an additional $50 billion for expanded testing.

The plan also calls on Congress to invest $170 billion in K-12 schools and higher education, including $130 billion for schools to safely reopen. npr.org

Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce join COVID-19 vaccination records system project

Tech giants are among the companies participating in the initiative, which seeks to create a "health wallet app"

As mass COVID-19 vaccination programs kick off in some countries around the world, a group of leading organizations including Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce have come up with a new way of keeping track of those who have been given the jab, which could let work, play and travel resume as soon as possible. 

Brought together in a new project called the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI), the organizations have pitched a technology that would allow people who have been inoculated to keep and access a record of their immunization history in a digital "Health Wallet" app on their phones. Those without a smartphone would receive a paper version of the record containing a QR code to scan in order to access their credentials. zdnet.com

President-Elect Biden Calls for Paid Leave During Pandemic
The American Rescue Plan comprises paid leave, an increased minimum wage, an extension of unemployment compensation, more support for small businesses and relief to those who need help. shrm.org

Why Fashion Brands Were Silent After the US Capitol Storming
Even as consumers expect their favourite brands to align with their values and take a stand on socio-political issues, there was little for fashion companies to gain in wading into America’s latest crisis.

Almost immediately, many paused their marketing activities for fear of appearing next to coverage or commentary on what President-elect Joe Biden gravely called “insurrection.” But few major brands rushed to make big consumer-facing statements. businessoffashion.com

Hey CVS & Walgreens - What's Happening?
Calif. Fails Miserably at Vaccinating Long-Term Care Facility Residents - Hit Only 5%
And while the vaccines became available in the U.S. in mid-December, only 3% of California facilities in the program had been scheduled for their first visit from a vaccination team as of Sunday, the data show.

The Reason: It wasn’t until Monday that state health officials, who set the priorities for the vaccine program, authorized the pharmacies to start vaccinating at assisted living facilities, according to a statement sent to The Times by CVS.

The state’s first priority was skilled nursing facilities, where the pharmacies started vaccinating on Dec. 28, according to CVS and the CDC.

But even at the 855 California skilled nursing facilities in the program, only 26% of residents had been vaccinated as of Sunday, according to the data.

The numbers are more encouraging in L.A. County, where public health officials opted to control vaccination in skilled nursing facilities themselves. Sixty-six percent of residents had been vaccinated as of last week, county officials said, and they hope to complete the process by next week.

Assisted living facilities in L.A. County, however, are still assigned to CVS and Walgreens. As of Sunday, almost none had begun receiving the vaccine, the data show. latimes.com

Unleash the Nations Retailers Please - Let's Just Get Them in Arms
Some big US pharmacies will not check ID before administering COVID-19 vaccines
Many U.S. pharmacies, including those inside Kroger Co supermarkets and the drugstore chain of CVS Health Corp, say they will not be checking IDs before administering COVID-19 vaccines, leaving the door open to those who do not meet states’ guidelines to jump the line.

While the United States has distributed more than 30 million vaccine doses, a little over 11 million had been administered as of Thursday, a lag that prompted U.S. health secretary Alex Azar to call on states to begin vaccinating the vulnerable older population and those with certain chronic health conditions to get more vaccines into arms

U.S. retailers face a choice of strictly enforcing state eligibility rules with on-site identity checks, or rely on an honor system that could allow people to ignore those guidelines but also get more people inoculated.

Twenty-two states have moved toward using age as the main criteria for prioritizing inoculations, with four more set to follow next week. Others are adhering to strict guidelines meant to assure that scarce coronavirus vaccine supplies went first to healthcare workers, nursing home residents and first responders.

“We are not planning to ask for ID to receive a COVID-19 vaccination,” a CVS Health spokesman said. “These vaccinations will be appointment-only in our stores and patients will have already gone through an eligibility screening when they register for an appointment on our website, through our app or via a 1-800 number.”

"Identification will not be required to receive the vaccine,” a Kroger spokeswoman said.

Walgreens Boots Alliance said it would follow state and local guidance on how to verify eligibility.

Hy-Vee, said it has included its own warning on its website that ID may - or may not - be asked for prior to the shot being given.

Stop & Shop Supermarket said it would check IDs or pay stubs if instructed to do so by individual states.

Publix Super Markets said people would need to provide “proof of insurance and/or their driver’s license or social security card.”

In Washington D.C., which relies on pharmacy chains Safeway and Giant Food to administer vaccines, it is unclear who verifies people’s healthcare worker status.

Giant Food said it was just checking the photo ID and insurance card of anyone who secured an appointment through the district’s website.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University’s medical school, said: “The more vaccines you have, the less you have to worry about prioritization.  We know it’s not going to be perfect, but who cares, we need to get them into the arms.”

Schaffner said the solution was to increase vaccine availability and hire more vaccinators. reuters.com