Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today - The New York Times

Hospitals and nursing homes are using both carrots and sticks to get employees inoculated.

This is the Coronavirus Briefing, an informed guide to the pandemic. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.

Americans are dying in greater numbers, reaching levels last seen 75 years ago, and not just because of the virus.
A W.H.O. team has landed in China to investigate the virus, but it’s already meeting obstacles.
Joe Biden is expected to outline plans for big spending on vaccines and stimulus tonight.
Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and vaccines in development.

Fighting vaccine resistance with gift cards

One reason that the start to the U.S. vaccination campaign has been so sluggish is that health care workers — among the first to be eligible — have proved more reluctant to get the inoculation than expected.

Some are concerned with the newness of the vaccines. Others are worried about potential side effects. And the failure to get the virus under control has eroded their trust in the groups now urging them to take the shot: the federal government, politicians and their employers.

But hospitals and nursing homes have been scarred by many thousands of Covid-19 deaths and are desperate to have their employees inoculated. And they’re coming up with carrot-and-stick strategies that other organizations may mimic to handle vaccinations among reluctant employees.

My colleagues Rebecca Robbins, Sabrina Tavernise and Sharon Otterman found that some employers are offering rewards like cash bonuses, paid time off and even Waffle House gift cards for those who get inoculated, while in at least a few cases saying they will fire those who refuse.

Critics point out that many people in health care are low-paid workers who have historically been mistreated, and say it’s unethical to strong-arm them into taking the vaccines — especially when there hasn’t been enough time to gather long-term safety data.

At the moment, the U.S. government is not requiring individual coronavirus vaccinations, but it has a long history of allowing such mandates. Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance that allowed employers to require workers to get a Covid vaccine, but the guidelines also highlighted thorny legal questions that could emerge.

Nevertheless, airlines, workplaces and sports stadiums may soon require people to show their coronavirus vaccination status before they can enter. Today, a coalition of technology companies, health organizations and nonprofits — including Microsoft, Oracle and the Mayo Clinic — said that they were developing technology standards that would allow people to show their immunization records on their smartphones.

Dr. Brad Perkins is the chief medical officer at the Commons Project Foundation, a nonprofit in Geneva that is participating in the effort. “For some period of time,” he said, “most all of us are going to have to demonstrate either negative Covid-19 testing or an up-to-date vaccination status to go about the normal routines of our lives.”

Biden’s “rescue” proposal

The resurgent pandemic continues to hobble the U.S. economy. The Labor Department on Thursday reported that 1.15 million Americans filed new unemployment claims in the first week of the year, a 25 percent increase from the previous week.

Tonight around 7 p.m. Eastern, President-elect Joe Biden plans to outline his administration’s proposal to handle both the pandemic and the economy, involving $1.9 trillion in government spending. (We’ll carry Mr. Biden’s speech live in our transition briefing.)

The sprawling package includes more than $400 billion to combat the pandemic directly, including accelerating vaccine deployment and safely reopening most schools within 100 days of passage. But the proposal will most likely also cover the economy, health care, education, climate change and other domestic priorities.

The package is expected to include $1,400 payments to individuals along with $350 billion to help state and local governments. Mr. Biden is also expected to call for more help for renters.

The Biden “rescue” proposal, which would be financed entirely through increased federal borrowing, will also provide emergency paid leave to 106 million Americans, regardless of the size of their employer, and it would extend tax credits to many families to offset up to $8,000 in annual child care costs. The president-elect will also propose extending expanded unemployment benefits through the end of September, and will call on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Resurgences

Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. are reaching levels never before seen, largely fueled by relentless surges in California and Arizona.
The World Health Organization’s top official in Europe said that 25 of the European region’s 53 nations had detected infections with new virus variants, and he called for tighter public health controls to slow their transmission.
Lebanon began its strictest lockdown since the start of the pandemic, imposing a 24-hour curfew, shuttering nearly all businesses and restricting grocery stores to delivery only.
Flint, Mich., is reeling from a series of public health blows, from lead-tainted water to Legionnaire’s disease — and now, a surge of the coronavirus.

Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.

What else we’re following

Representative Adriano Espaillat, Democrat of New York, is the latest member of Congress to test positive for the virus after the Capitol siege.
France said it planned to test up to a million schoolchildren and teachers every month for the coronavirus amid growing concern over the spread of the variant that was first detected in Britain.
A new study found that people who have had Covid-19 have a similar level of protection against the virus as those who have received a vaccine, at least for five months.
In New Jersey, smoking is considered a medical condition that makes you eligible to get a vaccine in the state, a group that includes about two million people, NJ.com reports.
Cloth masks, particularly homemade ones, were supposed to be a temporary solution until the U.S. could ramp up its P.P.E. supply. Why, The Atlantic asks, are Americans still wearing them?
Taking a cue from the battered restaurant industry, the Girl Scouts said that they would offer contactless delivery of their cookies through Grubhub.

What you’re doing

I am spending more time pulling out invasive Oriental Bittersweet by the roots. I used to be able to just enjoy and photograph the woods around me, but the post-holiday surge has me needing work that is physical and points to a better future.

— Jane E. Herbert, Westbrook, Maine

Let us know how you’re dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com.

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Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today - The New York Times
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