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A28    u.s. news
                Diahuebs 31 December 2020

                       Colorado Guardsman has 1st reported US case of virus variant


                                                                                    immediately returned.               oped nations, so the finding in Col-
                                                                                                                        orado  probably  means  it  is  already
                                                                                    The  alarming  new  version  was  first  spreading in other parts of the coun-
                                                                                    identified in Britain, where infections  try and it is too late for travel bans.
                                                                                    are soaring and hospitalizations have
                                                                                    climbed to the highest levels on re-  “We’re behind in finding it. Colorado
                                                                                    cord. It has also been found in several  is likely one of many places it’s land-
                                                                                    other countries.                    ed here,” Topol said. “It’s all over the
                                                                                                                        place. How can you ban travel from
                                                                                    Scientists  in  Britain  have  found  no  everywhere?”
                                                                                    evidence  that  it  is  more  lethal  or
                                                                                    causes more severe illness, and they  Colorado  public  health  officials  are
                                                                                    believe  the  vaccines  now  being  dis-  conducting  contact  tracing  to  deter-
                                                                                    pensed will be effective against it.  mine its spread, and Gov. Jared Polis
                                                                                                                        said  infections  are  being  monitored
                                                                                    Nevertheless,  the  discovery  over-  closely.
                                                                                    seas led the U.S. Centers for Disease
                                                                                    Control and Prevention to issue rules  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
                                                                                    on Christmas Day requiring travelers  reported the weekend before Christ-
                                                                                    arriving from Britain to show proof  mas that the variant was moving rap-
                                                                                    of a negative COVID-19 test.        idly  through  London  and  southeast
                                                                                                                        England. The region was placed un-
            (AP)  —  The  first  person  in  the  ing home in the small town of Simla,  The variant is probably still rare in the  der  strict  lockdown  measures,  and
            U.S. known to be infected with a  in a mostly rural area about 90 miles  U.S., but the Colorado patient's lack  dozens  of  countries  banned  flights
            new and apparently more conta-      outside Denver, said Dr. Rachel Her-  of travel history means it is spreading,  from  Britain.  France  also  briefly
            gious  variant  of  the  coronavirus  lihy, state epidemiologist. They were  perhaps seeded by visitors from Brit-  barred trucks from Britain before al-
            was  identified  Wednesday  as  a  among  six  Guard  members  sent  to  ain in November or December, said  lowing  them  back  in,  provided  the
            Colorado  National  Guardsman  the home.                                scientist Trevor Bedford, who studies  drivers got tested for the virus.
            who had been sent to help out at                                        the spread of COVID-19 at the Fred
            a  nursing  home  struggling  with  A state laboratory began looking for  Hutchinson Cancer Research Center  Japan  announced  a  ban  Monday  on
            an outbreak. And health officials  signs  of  the  variant  after  its  spread  in Seattle.                 all  nonresident  foreigners  as  a  pre-
            said a second Guard member may  was  announced  in  England  earlier                                        caution.
            have it, too.                       this  month,  Herlihy  said.  Staff  and  “Now I’m worried there will be an-
                                                residents  at  the  nursing  home  who  other spring wave due to the variant,”  New versions of the virus have been
            The  cases  have  triggered  a  host  of  tested positive for the coronavirus are  Bedford said. “It’s a race with the vac-  seen almost since it was first detected
            questions about how the mutant ver-  having their samples screened for the  cine, but now the virus has just got-  in China a year ago. It is common for
            sion circulating in England arrived in  variant, and so far no evidence of it  ten a little bit faster.”    viruses to undergo minor changes as
            the U.S. and whether it is too late to  has been found, she said.                                           they  reproduce  and  move  through
            stop it now, with top experts saying  The  confirmed  case  is  in  a  Colora-  “The virus is becoming more fit and  a population. The fear is that muta-
            it is probably already spreading else-  do man in his 20s who hadn’t been  we’re like a deer in the headlights,”  tions will become significant enough
            where in the country. The discovery  traveling, officials said. He has mild  warned  Dr.  Eric  Topol,  head  of  to defeat the vaccines.
            has also added urgency to the nation’s  symptoms  and  is  isolating  at  his  Scripps Research Translational Insti-
            vaccination drive.                  home near Denver, while the person  tute,                               South  Africa  has  also  discovered  a
                                                with the suspected case is isolating at                                 highly  contagious  COVID-19  vari-
            The  two  Guard  members  had  been  a Colorado hotel, Herlihy said.    He noted that the U.S. does far less  ant that is driving the country’s lat-
            dispatched  on  Dec.  23  to  work  at                                  genetic  sequencing  of  virus  samples  est spike of cases, hospitalizations and
            the  Good  Samaritan  Society  nurs-  A call to the nursing home was not  to discover variants than other devel-  deaths.

                          Vaccine delivered to prison where feds carry out executions


            (AP)  —  The  Bureau  of  Prisons  has  started  number of cases at the prison has increased expo-  The Bureau of Prisons had initially planned to re-
            vaccinating staff members and some inmates  nentially in recent weeks; when the last execution  serve doses of the coronavirus vaccine only for its
            at the federal prison complex where the Jus-    was carried out earlier this month, 133 inmates at  staff members, but said last week that some high-
            tice  Department  carries  out  federal  execu-  the facility had the virus.                    risk inmates had also been vaccinated. But so far,
            tions, as officials work to contain a coronavi-                                                 the agency has not said how many inmates have
            rus outbreak at the facility.                   Two men who are scheduled to be executed by the  been vaccinated or how it selects those to receive
                                                            federal  government  next  month,  Cory  Johnson  the vaccine.
            Doses  of  the  coronavirus  vaccine  had  been  de-  and Dustin John Higgs, are among the inmates at
            livered to 19 prisons, including the Federal Cor-  Terre Haute who have tested positive for the virus.  A spokesman for the bureau said roughly half of
            rectional  Complex  in  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  by  The Justice Department said in a court filing this  the  staff  at  each  of  the  facilities  has  received  the
            Wednesday,  a  Bureau  of  Prisons  spokesman  told  week that both had been “medically cleared from  vaccine and that remaining doses “were, and will
            The Associated Press. They include some prisons  isolation” but were still exhibiting symptoms of the  be, provided to inmates based on priority of need,”
            that have been hit the hardest during the pandemic.  virus.                                     in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for
            Nearly 7,100 federal inmates and more than 1,600                                                Disease Control and Prevention.
            Bureau of Prisons staff members across the coun-  Attorneys for both of the men have asked federal  Additional  doses  will  be  given  to  other  inmates
            try had active, positive test results for COVID-19  courts to step in and halt the executions. The gov-  when they become available, the agency said.
            on Wednesday, including 406 inmates at the fed-  ernment has opposed those requests. Another ex-
            eral penitentiary in Terre Haute. Since March, 179  ecution, for Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on
            federal inmates across the country have died after  federal death row, had been scheduled for the same
            contracting the virus.                          week, but a federal judge vacated an order from the
                                                            director of the Bureau of Prisons, saying the Justice
            The agency has struggled for months to combat the  Department  had  unlawfully  rescheduled  the  ex-
            exploding number of coronavirus cases in federal  ecution  after  Montgomery’s  attorneys  contracted
            prisons across the U.S. Federal statistics show there  coronavirus visiting their client and asked him to
            are  currently  more  inmates  with  positive  COV-  extend the amount of time to file a clemency peti-
            ID-19 test results at the Terre Haute penitentiary  tion.
            than at any other federal prison in the country. The
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