Tuesday, December 1st, 2020
Hospitals’ Warning, Iran-Israel Tensions & Word of the Year
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Ritual.com/NEWSWORTHY and CastleGrade (listen for how to get a discount)
Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want to read the latest happenings...
Moderna Requests Vaccine Authorization
The drugmaker Moderna became the second company to request emergency authorization for its vaccine candidate. Moderna says final data from vaccine trials show the vaccine was 94% effective and it didn’t show any serious side effects. The company also says the vaccine was equally effective across all ages, races, ethnicities, and genders. The FDA says an advisory committee is going to consider Moderna’s request on December 17th. That’s a month after it will consider the Pfizer vaccine and authorization could some soon after.
Read More: USA Today, NY Times, WaPo, Reuters, Moderna
Who Gets Vaccine First
The CDC has a panel of vaccine experts voting today on who will get the vaccines first. The committee will come up with a recommendation and the CDC usually follows it and writes up its own official policy. Then, the ultimate decision comes down to each state. Governors have until the end of this week to let the federal government know exactly where they want their initial doses sent. We should know the exact details by the end of this week.
Read More: WSJ, CBS News, Stat, CDC
Hospitals Brace for Surge
There are new warnings about hospitals getting overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. The COVID Tracking Project says there are more than 96,000 in American hospitals now. Yesterday, the Association of American Medical Colleges called on the nation’s health systems, medical schools, and teaching hospitals to get crisis standards ready. This means healthcare workers need to know how to ration supplies and short patients. It might be necessary to deal with shortages of healthcare workers, hospital beds, or supplies.
Read More: The Hill, NY Times, WaPo, Johns Hopkins, COVID Tracking
Dr. Atlas Resigns
A controversial member of the White House coronavirus task force resigned. FOX News got hold of Dr. Scott Atlas’ resignation letter. Atlas says he worked hard to save lives and help Americans through the pandemic, but many other health officials, including some of his fellow task force members, have criticized his input on some issues. Atlas was hired as a special government employee, so his term was set to expire next week anyway. In his resignation letter, Atlas said he wished “all the best” to the incoming administration.
Read More: CNN, FOX News, NPR, NBC News
Iran Nuclear Scientist Death Backlash
There is fresh backlash in Iran over the death of a top nuclear scientist. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was the founder of Iran’s military nuclear program. He was assassinated Friday and buried yesterday with full honors. Iran is blaming Israel for the killing. However, Israel hasn’t taken responsibility or responded to the allegations. Still, Iranian leaders are promising a “definite punishment.” Meanwhile, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his team are headed to the Middle East this week in hopes of ending tensions between Qatar and other Arab states.
Read More: AP, WSJ, USA Today, WaPo, Axios, Reuters
White House Christmas Decorations
First Lady Melania Trump unveiled this year’s White House Christmas decorations. This year, the theme is “America the Beautiful.” The display includes rows of Christmas trees decorated with mostly red and gold and silver ornaments and white lights. There are also symbolic decorations. For example, one tree celebrates the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. There’s also a snow-covered hospital on display, as well as ornaments of a garbage truck, a nurse’s hat, and a lab coat. That’s in tribute to essential workers.
Read More: NY Times, FOX News, FLOTUS
FDA Considering App-Based Therapies
Top medical experts in the U.S. are now working to make mental health apps more widely available. The FDA has reportedly sped up its evaluation process, swiftly approving more apps and software than usual in just a few months. Some of them require a prescription and can be pricey. However, all of them have been researched extensively in clinical trials and insurance may help cover the price since they have FDA approval. In September, the FDA set up a new division: the Digital Health Center of Excellence to speed up digital therapy.
Read More: Business Insider, 9to5 Mac
49ers Relocate Home Games
The San Francisco 49ers are relocating to Arizona for now. That’s because they can’t practice or play at home in Santa Clara, California because the local government has temporarily banned all contact sports due to COVID-19. For the next three weeks, the San Francisco 49ers will host their home games at the Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale, Arizona. They’ll also practice there. It’s not clear how long it will last, but for now, the local ban on contact sports is set to last three weeks.
Read More: AP, ESPN, NFL, WaPo
NFL Postpones Ravens Game Again
The Baltimore Ravens are running into issues amid its COVID-19 outbreak. Their upcoming game against the Pittsburgh Steelers has been postponed three times. It was originally supposed to happen on Thanksgiving, but too many players had COVID-19 or had been exposed. So the game was bumped to Sunday, then today, and now it’s scheduled for tomorrow. Out of all the teams in the NFL, only the Seattle Seahawks have not had even one positive COVID-19 case this season.
Read More: USA Today, SI, ESPN
Dictionary Companies’ Words of the Year
Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com have each picked their 2020 word of the year. They both went with “pandemic.” On the day the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, Merriam-Webster says it saw a 115,000% increase in searches for the word. Dictionary.com saw a 13,000% spike too. The companies say “pandemic” is probably how we’ll refer to this period in history in the future. Other words that made it into the top 10 this year were “defund,” “coronavirus,” “quarantine,” and “asymptomatic.”
Read More: AP, ABC News, CNN, Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com
Giving Tuesday
Today is Giving Tuesday. That’s a day when people are encouraged to donate some of their time, talents, or money to a good cause. Charities say it’s needed now more than ever. That’s because the pandemic has put a serious financial strain on millions of people and nonprofit organizations. One expert who works with donors says if you have the means, consider donating to a charity that helps people with their basic needs like health, food, and housing. Arts groups are also struggling now since they’ve lost their audiences and funding.
Read More: GivingTuesday.org, Vox, CNN, WaPo, Charity Navigator
Trivia Tuesday
Q: What was Marilyn Monroe’s real name?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories Quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Trivia Tuesday Answer
Q: What is a group of turkeys called?
A: A rafter
Read More: Wild Turkey Federation, The Spruce, Reference.com