A8 Monday, December 7, 2020 — DAILY REPUBLIC
Senator: Trump, McConnell likely to back Covid-19 $908B relief bill Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will come “on board” with a $908 billion package to provide pandemic relief, according to a member of a bipartisan group that’s seeking legislation before the end of the year. “President Trump has indicated that he would sign a $908 billion package – there’s only one $908 billion package out there and it’s ours,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “The pain of the American people is driving this and I’m optimistic that both of those leaders will come on board.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer have endorsed using the bipartisan proposal as the basis for negotiations. A bipartisan group of 10 senators that’s been holding talks for the last two weeks will have another call on Sunday, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat involved in the talks, said negotiators “have a lot of work to do and just a few days to do it.” “This is our last chance before Christmas and the end of the year to bring relief to families across America in the midst of a public health crisis,” Durbin said on ABC News. “We’ve got a few remaining issues. I think we can work them out.” House and Senate negotiators said there is a sense of urgency to get something passed. “There is absolutely no option for
Biden From Page One Kamala Harris, who had won a Senate seat. The son of Mexican immigrants, he was the first member of his family to attend college, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University and earning a law degree from Stanford Law School. Elected to a two-year term in the state Assembly and then to the House in 1992, he rose through the ranks to become the highest-ranking Latino in Congress at the time. If confirmed, Becerra will take the helm of a sprawling federal agency that spends more than $1.4 trillion annually and is responsible for the health coverage of more than 100 million Americans, mostly through the mammoth government Medicare and Medicaid plans. The health secretary also oversees the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two of the agencies at the forefront of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
failure on this,” Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, part of the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House, said on “Fox on the Hill.” “We don’t have a choice now, it’s one of those things that has to be done,” Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” A final version of the proposed legislation could come early this week, Cassidy said. A key sticking point is whether to provide liability protection to businesses whose workers fall ill to the coronavirus. Critics have said some companies, like meatpacking plants, shouldn’t be protected if there are indications they didn’t take adequate precautions. Cassidy said small companies could be driven out of business just from the cost of the gathering and exchanging evidence. “There has to be some liability protection,” Cassidy said, citing what he described as ambiguity about the need for mask-wearing from health experts early in the pandemic. He said the bill extends unemployment benefits and lengthens a moratorium on evictions with aid given to landlords, but there’s no plan to include another $1,200 stimulus check to help the economy. “This is not a stimulus bill but a relief bill,” Cassidy said. “There may be a stimulus check, but that would be part of a different piece of legislation.” Durbin said the last round of $1,200 checks cost $300 billion, so it couldn’t be included when the mandate was to limit the total proposal to $900 billion. Both agencies, though once considered international models, have been widely criticized for their response. They have also suffered serious blows to their credibility as Trump and his allies have pressured agencies leaders to change guidance to fit the White House political agenda. One of the new health secretary’s main jobs will be rebuilding public trust in these agencies, a goal that Biden has indicated will be a top priority for his administration. Becerra will also likely be called upon to reverse the Trump administration yearslong campaign to weaken insurance rules and other protections enacted through the 2010 health care law. Trump and his lieutenants – including current Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Seema Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – failed to repeal the health care law. But the administration issued rules to allow broader sale of health insurance plans that don’t cover basic benefits and can turn away people with preexisting medical conditions.
California Lottery | Sunday Fantasy 5 Numbers picked
4, 19, 22, 23, 32
Match all five for top prize. Match at least three for other prizes.
Daily 4 Numbers picked
Daily Derby 4, 6, 7, 2
Match four in order for top prize; combinations for other prizes.
Daily 3 Afternoon numbers picked 4, 1, 5 Night numbers picked 4, 3, 9 Match three in order for top prize; combinations for other prizes.
1st place 2nd place 3rd place Race time
1, Gold Rush 4, Big Ben 8, Gorgeous George 1:46.84
Match winners and time for top prize. Match either for other prizes.
On the web: www.calottery.com
Trump: Giuliani tests positive for virus Tribune Content Agency Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for coronavirus, President Donald Trump stated Sunday. “@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus,” Trump tweeted, using a bigoted term for coronavirus. “Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Giuliani, 76, did not answer a message requesting comment. It was not immediately known whether he had shown virus symptoms or what his plans for a possible quarantine were. Giuliani told Bloomberg TV in October he’d been taking hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug Trump has been promoting as a treatment for Covid-19. Sunday’s news punctuated a rough stretch for the president’s personal lawyer. Since Joe Biden was widely declared president-elect after the Nov. 3 election, Giuliani has been spearheading Trump’s desperate, unsuccessful effort to overturn the results in court. Last week, he trav-
Vaccine From Page One Moderna options, the CDC spokesperson said. T hat ’s be c au se vaccine supplies will be extremely limited during initial rollouts. “A 35-year-old who works at a bank will not be recommended to get a vaccine right now,” the CDC spokesperson said. “But if you are a 35-year-old nurse practitioner, you are going to be recommended to be vaccinated and you probably won’t necessarily have a choice.” The agency announced Tuesday that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be first in line to get the vaccine; next, essential workers such as teachers, firefighters and corrections officers; then, adults with highrisk medical conditions and those over 65. Only after these groups get their shots will vaccine supplies be ready for the general population sometime in spring, officials say. And by that point, there will likely be more than two authorized vaccines on the market. AstraZeneca and partner University of Oxford, and the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson both have vaccine candidates in phase 3 clinical trials, the last step before submitting data to the FDA for review. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services gave millions to billions in funds to those four companies – Pfizer/ BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen – along with biotechnology company Novavaxand Sanofi and partner GlaxoSmithKline. “We are going to push allocations as vaccines become available. So, it’s not a one and done; it’s an initial push and then a continuous cadenced flow of vaccine,” Perna said during a media briefing Wednesday. This means there could be anywhere from four to six vaccines authorized by the FDA when it’s time for the general public to get vaccinated. It’s also possible certain vaccines will be suggested for specific groups of people, such as children or people with underlying medical conditions, if clinical trial data show
Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images/TNS file (2019)
Rudy Giuliani speaks outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Sept. 24, 2019. eled to Georgia and Michigan, where he met indoors with state lawmakers. He reportedly shunned a mask during the meetings. Following a Nov. 25 meeting with Republicans in Pennsylvania, two state senators said they tested positive for coronavirus, according to The Wall Street Journal. Giuliani didn’t use a mask at that meeting, either. That was just the latest known example of the ex-mayor being in close proximity to confirmed coronavirus cases. After he joined debate preparation for Trump in September, fellow participant Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, tested positive for coronavirus. While Trump was released after a weekend of top-of-the-line Covid care at Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center, Christie was hospitalized for a week, illustrating the wideranging possible effects the virus can have on older people. G iu l i a n i ’s son Andrew, a Trump aide, had a positive test result in November. The White House has come under strong criticism for ignoring safety protocols during the outbreak. Trump’s own coronavirus diagnosis followed a Sept. 29 White House ceremony for his Supreme Court appointee Amy Coney Barrett, where guests were seen with their faces uncovered and sitting in close quarters. A number of other high-profile politicos tested positive following the event. Even as the outbreak continues on a nasty
surge through the holidays, the White House and State Department are reportedly planning indoor gatherings over the coming weeks. Throughout the pandemic, Giuliani has echoed Trump’s criticism of lockdown measures such as business closures and travel restrictions. “Democrats want to paralyze us, I think, in part, because they want a bad economy,” Giuliani said in October. The recent effort to overturn the election has led to a series of embarrassing moments for the former mayor of New York City, including a bizarre press conference outside a landscaping business in Philadelphiaand another appearance, in Washington, D.C., in which hair dye appeared to drip down his face. He was also mocked after a sound resembling flatulence was heard as he spoke at an election hearing in Michigan last Wednesday. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office reacted to Giuliani’s diagnosis as a cautionary tale. “Rudy is seeing firsthand how dangerous his rhetoric and denialism is,” spokesman Bill Neidhardt said in a statement. “Wear a mask, socially distance and for good measure, don’t be a vile racist.”
HHS chief sees vaccine for all Americans by 2nd quarter Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — All Americans who want to get a Covid-19 vaccine should be able to do so by the second quarter of next year, Health and Human Services Alex Azar said. With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to decide as early as Thursday on emergency authorization for a shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, Azar and Moncef Slaoui, the head of the government’s program to accelerate a vaccine, expressed confidence that the FDA would clear the way. “I’ve not heard of any red flags, but I’ll have to leave that to the career scientists at the FDA who were digging through all the data,” Azar said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Based on the data that I know, I expect the FDA to make a positive decision,” Slaoui, who heads the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Plans to roll out vaccines against the coronavirus linked to more than 280,000 deaths in the U.S. are gaining urgency as cases reach new highs nationwide, straining hospital care and the economy particularly in urban hot spots. Asked about news reports that the White House and State Department are planing large year-end holiday one vaccine works better for one demographic over another. But at this point, the CDC spokesperson said, there is not enough data to determine if a particular candidate should be targeted toward certain groups. “There will be more complexities as more vaccines come out, and we (will) look at the clinical trial data as well as what’s actually in use and look at vaccine effectiveness data to see if recommendations need to change,” the CDC spokesperson told McClatchy News. So while it’s undetermined if individuals will be able to decide which vaccine they get, that decision will likely not be up to them. Instead, it could be based on their state’s capacity to store the vaccines, the CDCspokesperson said. Pfizer’s vaccine is considered “ultra cold.” It needs to be kept at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, which requires special freezers that not all hospitals or health care systems have readily available or can afford. On the other hand, Moderna’s vaccine
parties, Azar says the same health recommendations apply to them as in any other setting. “Our advice remains the same in any context, which is wash your hands, watch your distance, wear face coverings when you can’t watch your distance and be careful of those indoor settings,” he said. “The best thing is distance and so certainly limiting the number of people at gatherings also can be important.” Slaoui said his group plans to have its first meeting with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team this week. “And I feel confident that once we will explain it, everything in detail, I hope the new transition teams will understand that things are well planned,” said Slaoui, a former head of GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s vaccines division. While the most at-risk people in line for early vaccination may see an impact in January and February, “for our lives to start getting back to normal, we’re talking about April or May,” Slaoui said. He defended the proposed immunization schedule for the first 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which requires two shots three or four weeks apart. If all of the doses were used up to give 40 million people an initial shot, that would create the risk of shortfalls for the required second shot, Slaoui said.
needs to be kept at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, closer to a typical household freezer. “So, states will probably have leeway in terms of using different products in different places, but those vaccines will both be in use, and states will get allocations of both of those vaccines,” the CDCspokesperson said. Mary Mayhew, CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, said the federal government requested that each state select no more than five hospitals that have cold storage capacity to serve as testing sites “to evaluate the logistics of distribution,” according to a Dec. 2 interview conducted by Miami Herald reporter Mary Ellen Klas. “This is fluid. Our understanding is the federal government wants to quickly evaluate the initial distribution and the efforts by those hospitals and learn from that and make any changes that need to occur, then quickly get doses to those that have cold storage,” Mayhew told the Herald. “By virtue of the cold storage requirements, it
makes it challenging for any hospital that does not have that but, ideally, we’re talking a matter of days before the Moderna vaccine will be simultaneously distributed with the Pfizer vaccine,” she added. Because the super cold storage is “not the requirement for the Moderna vaccine,” Mayhew said she expects it to be distributed to hospitals without that storage capacity. Federal officials have said that it’s up to state governors to decide where their shipment of vaccines go – and to whom. “We’ve asked the states in total jurisdictions to have their micro plans (ready) by the end of the week. . . . This way we can ensure that we understand all the places where they want the vaccine delivered and at what quantities,” Perna said during the Dec. 2 media briefing. However, states are in various stages of the planning and preparation process for distribution of vaccines. Any drafts submitted to federal authorities now will likely change as more information becomes available.
