Today’s In Crisis headlines

(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:

President Biden signs COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law
President Biden on Thursday signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in to law during an event at the White House.  The new law is intended to help identify, report, investigate and prosecute attacks against the Asian community, which have risen sharply during the pandemic.  The president thanked members of both parties for passing the bill in a rare show of bipartisanship but insisted even that is not enough, declaring, “Hate can be given no safe harbor in America. I mean it. No safe harbor. It can’t be dismissed.”  Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and person of Asian descent to hold the office, opened the signing ceremony by thanking lawmakers for their work. 

Capitol security spending bill squeaks by in the House
By a one-vote margin, the House on Thursday passed a $1.9 billion spending bill to boost security at the Capitol building.  The bill includes funding to make upgrades to the Capitol grounds, like retractable fencing, as well as to reimburse the National Guard for costs incurred during the January 6th insurrection.  Some progressive Democrats voted against the bill or simply voted “present,” citing its increased funding for police budgets.  All Republicans voted against the measure.  The vote comes as the Senate is preparing to consider whether to approve the creation of a bipartisan congressional commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol attack, a measure the House passed this week.

COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections, deaths and vaccinations.

Latest reported COVID-19 numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 165,594,437
Global deaths: 3,432,022.  The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 588,546.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192

Latest reported COVID-19 numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 33,057,386 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.  This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 588,546.  California has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 62,817.
U.S. total people tested: 456,111,622

The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,774,494 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million.  This ranks third in the world after England, which has 3,890,081 cases, and Maharashtra, India, which leads the world with 5,497,448 reported cases.  Texas is second in the U.S., with 2,938,307 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.

Latest reported COVID-19 vaccination numbers in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 351,955,515 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S.  Of those, 279,397,250 doses have been administered, with 160,177,820 people receiving at least one dose and 126,605,166 people fully vaccinated, representing 48.2% and 38.1% of the total U.S. population, respectively. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines each require two doses to be effective.  The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a single dose to be effective.

US COVID-19 weekly case average falls to one-year low; vaccination rates still declining
For the first time in nearly a year, the U.S. seven-day COVID-19 daily case average has fallen to below 30,000.  This marks the country’s lowest daily case average since June 20, 2020.  That’s a decline of nearly 86% since January, when the U.S. was still recording an average of nearly 210,000 new cases a day.  Daily cases are down nationally by 18.4% in the last seven days, and state case rates have also fallen dramatically in recent weeks.  Only six states — Delaware, Colorado, Alabama, Maine, West Virginia, and Minnesota — are averaging over 100 cases per 100,000 residents. 

Although the U.S. daily death average has ticked up again slightly to 567 deaths, the daily average remains 6.2% lower than last week.  The seven-day average of patients currently hospitalized with the virus nationwide remains around 27,000, down by approximately 14.8% in the last week.

The nation’s decreasing daily case average comes as vaccination rates continue to see significant declines. The U.S. is now averaging just over 1.8 million vaccine doses administered per day, its lowest point since February.  That’s prompting states to enact creative incentives to encourage vaccinations.  New York’s ‘Vax and Scratch’ program gives a free scratch-off lottery ticket with every immunization.  Los Angeles County is entering vaccination recipients into a sweepstakes for free LA Lakers basketball season tickets, while Minnesota sports teams will offer free vaccinations at home games.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.