MOSS BLUFF, La. — A former state lawmaker and his wife died from COVID-19 on the same day.
The family’s obituary says Vic and Terry Bass Stelly died within hours of each other on Saturday from complications brought on by the coronavirus. A memorial ceremony will be held Thursday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles.
Daughter Toni Stelly Hebert wrote on Facebook that after 60 years together, her parents could not be without each other.
“You don’t see marriages like that too often anymore,” state Sen. Ronnie Johns, a Republican from Sulphur, told The Advocate. “At first it shocked me that they both died the same day, but as I looked back at how they lived their lives and how they felt about each other, it doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Vic Stelly served 16 years in the state House and later was a member of Louisiana’s higher education policy board. He was 79. Terry Bass Stelly was 80.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— 91-year-old Margaret Keenan, gets 2nd shot after 1st Brit to get vaccine
— Alabama cases surge, ICUs 91% full last week
— Belarus, Argentina start vaccinations with Russian shots
— Hospitalizations in England exceed peak in spring
— Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City fire department says a firefighter, whose nephew became the first department employee to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, died of the virus after being infected while responding to a call.
Fire Chief Richard Kelley, fighting back tears, said Monday that Maj. Andy Davis died Christmas Eve, declining to elaborate on details of when or how Davis was infected.
Deputy Chief Mike Walker said Davis’ nephew, firefighter A.J. Davis, was the first fire department employee to receive the vaccine on Saturday.
“We just thought it was the fitting thing to do in light of the passing of Andy,” Walker said. “So, we reached out to him and he was willing to step up and be the first one.”
Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson said a second department employee, 45-year-old Robert Saudia, died Monday after suffering from COVID-19, but Saudia’s cause of death has not been determined.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Beleaguered leaders in the region of South Carolina hardest hit by the coronavirus rebuked residents who plan to party in large crowds for New Year’s Eve with hospitals already reaching the breaking point.
In the Upstate area of the state, COVID-19 infection rates continue to outpace every other part of South Carolina. But some event organizers are still selling tickets to New Year’s Eve celebrations. Greenville officials said Tuesday they had received multiple complaints from residents about the planned festivities, adding that city has denied several requests for special permits to hold large events.
“It’s horribly unfair and irresponsible to the men and women in the health care community, the nurses and doctors who are fighting this on the front lines,” Greenville Mayor Knox White told reporters.
Greenville law enforcement officials say they will be patrolling downtown on New Year’s Eve to ensure people and businesses are complying with state regulations.
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WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden is criticizing the Trump administration for the pace of distributing COVID-19 vaccines, saying it is “falling far behind.”
Biden says “it’s gonna take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people” at the current pace.
He is vowing to ramp up the current speed of vaccinations five to six times to 1 million shots a day, but acknowledges it “will still take months to have the majority of Americans vaccinated.”
The president-elect, who takes office Jan. 20, says he has directed his team to prepare a “much more aggressive effort to get things back on track.”
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico officials have fined two Albuquerque churches for violating the state’s public health orders aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 after both venues held large gatherings for Christmas.
The New Mexico Department of Health fined Legacy Church and Calvary Church $5,000 each on Monday after photos and video showed both churches violated orders limiting occupancy, mandating masks and practicing social distancing.
Tripp Stelnicki, a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the leaders and congregation at the two churches violated state regulations.
Legacy Church officials accused the state of trampling on their constitutional rights. Calvary Church’s pastor said they urged people to follow guidelines, blocked every other row to practice social distancing, provided outdoor seating and gave masks to guests who were not wearing one.
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PARIS — The French Health Minister says authorities are planning to extend the country’s night curfew in regions where the coronavirus is circulating more, in eastern France near the border with Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Health Minister Olivier Veran says the extended curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. will start on Jan. 2 “where it’s needed,” he says. Veran ruled out any national or local lockdown in the coming days.
In other regions, the curfew in place since mid-December will be maintained from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Restaurants and bars will remain closed at least until Jan. 20.
So far, France’s vaccination campaign has been limited to a few dozen people since Sunday, compared with at least 18,000 people in neighboring Germany.
Veran says France has the same number of vaccine doses as Germany in proportion to its population and will get the “same results.” But he acknowledged the approach to vaccine first people in nursing homes and get written consent from them or their family slowed down the process.
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A South Dakota lawmaker says she will participate in the upcoming legislative session remotely until she receives a coronavirus vaccine.
Rep. Linda Duba, a Sioux Falls Democrat, informed legislative leadership she’ll stay away from the Capitol building out of concern for her health, the Argus Leader reported. The 64-year-old lawmaker says she wouldn’t attend meetings in-person until she receives two doses of a vaccine.
South Dakota’s Legislature is set to convene in Pierre on Jan. 12 for a two-month session. Rules and protocols for the session have not been set but may allow lawmakers to participate remotely due to the pandemic.
Duba told legislative leaders in an email she believes proposed rules in the Capitol are not in line with CDC guidelines on indoor gatherings.
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CONCORD, N.H. — Up to 400 New Hampshire lawmakers are expected to attend an upcoming legislative session modeled on a drive-in movie theater.
The House released plans Tuesday for what acting Speaker Sherm Packard calls “the most risk-mitigated session of the House yet during this pandemic.”
Lawmakers will park in front of a large screen at the University of New Hampshire in Durham and will remain in their cars for the duration of the session on Jan. 6.
Since the pandemic began, the House has met indoors at university arena and outside on an athletic field. House Speaker Dick Hinch, R-Merrimack, died of COVID-19 on Dec. 9, a week after being sworn in during the outdoor gathering.
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DES MOINES, Iowa — Coronavirus vaccinations began this week in Iowa’s nursing homes.
Officials say although it will take weeks to complete, the vaccination drive gives hope to the isolated residents that they can resume contact with their families.
Three pharmacy companies signed contracts with the government to go into nursing homes and give the vaccines to residents and staff. They began Monday. In Iowa, there are about 31,000 residents and 37,000 staff members in 445 nursing homes and 258 assisted living facilities, said Brent Willett, CEO of the Iowa Health Care Association, a trade group those communities.
It will take several weeks to administer the first dose and it must be followed with a second booster, so the homes won’t be reopened to visitors immediately.
Iowa nursing home residents make up about 1.5% of the state’s population but about 2.5% of all coronavirus cases and 30% of deaths. Current public health data shows 1,138 deaths in nursing homes out of the state’s total 3,812 confirmed deaths.
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LONDON — Some people in Britain have received their second and final dose of coronavirus vaccine as the country’s immunization program rolls on.
Margaret Keenan, 91, who became the first person in the U.K. to get a vaccine on Dec. 8, had the follow-up injection Tuesday at a hospital in the central England city of Coventry.
Hospital chief executive Andy Hardy says: “We were delighted to welcome Margaret Keenan back to Coventry’s University Hospital today to safely receive the second dose of the vaccination after she became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 (vaccine) following its clinical approval.”
The vaccine developed by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech is given in two doses three weeks apart. Its developers say it conferred 95% immunity in clinical trials.
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama, long one of the unhealthiest and most impoverished states in America, has emerged as an alarming coronavirus hot spots.
Its hospitals are in crisis in a region with high rates of obesity, high blood pressure and other conditions that can make COVID-19 even more dangerous. Access to health care was limited even before the outbreak. And public resistance to masks and other precautions is stubborn.
While ICUs nationwide were at 78% capacity during the week of Dec. 18-24, Alabama’s were 91% full, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. On Monday, there were 2,800 people in Alabama hospitals with COVID-19, the highest total since the start of the pandemic.
The virus has killed more than 4,700 people in Alabama. Tennessee and California have been hit especially hard in recent weeks. The U.S. leads the world with more than 335,000 confirmed deaths.
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ROME — Italy added 659 deaths to its official coronavirus toll ahead of another few days of full lockdown for the New Year’s holiday.
Another 11,212 people tested positive, according to health ministry data released Tuesday.
Italy has been under a modified nationwide lockdown since before Christmas in a bid to stave off a new surge in infections as a result of holiday gatherings. Shops are having a few days of reprieve to reopen for business but will close again by the end of the week.
Amid the closures, Italy is proceeding with its vaccination effort. On Tuesday, officials sent messages of solidarity to the first Italian to get the vaccine, a Rome nurse at the capital’s main infectious disease hospital, after her social media accounts were inundated with insults from vaccine skeptics.
Italy has Europe’s highest official death toll at 73,029 and more than 2 million confirmed infections.
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Dr. Ashish Jha, an expert on the coronavirus pandemic, says he’s frustrated by the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines.
Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, in a series of Twitter posts on Monday blamed the federal government for neglecting to work with states on the final steps of getting vaccines to citizens.
“Did we not know that vaccines were coming? Is vaccine administration a surprise?” he wrote.
The amount of vaccine doses shipped to states has been lower than initially expected.
He adds there “appears to be no investment or plan in the last mile. No effort from Feds to help states launch a real vaccination infrastructure.”
Jha says the coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress and signed into law Sunday by President Donald Trump, which includes $69 billion for vaccine distribution, gives him hope.
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LONDON — Ireland has administered its first doses of coronavirus vaccine.
National broadcaster RTE says 79-year-old Annie Lynch was the first person to be vaccinated, getting a jab at St. James’s Hospital in Dublin.
Lynch says. “like everyone else, I have been waiting for the vaccine and I really feel like there is a bit of hope there now.”
Ireland received a shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the weekend as part of its rollout to the 27 nations of the European Union.
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MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore says she has tested positive for the coronavirus and is in isolation.
A statement from the 69-year-old Milwaukee Democrat says she is “following guidance from my doctor” and is “thankful to be feeling well.”
The statement didn’t say when she learned she had contracted the virus or where she might have gotten it.
The Journal Sentinel reports Moore announced nearly two years ago she had been diagnosed with small-cell lymphocytic lymphoma.
Also, clinicians had to discard about 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine after vials were kept unrefrigerated for too long at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton.
Advocate Aurora Health officials say someone removed 50 vials from a refrigerator to access other items and failed to put them back overnight Friday. Each vial contained 10 doses of vaccine.
The Journal Sentinel reports an internal investigation found the failure was an “unintended human error.”
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates has detected the country’s first known cases of the new fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus.
The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority reported Tuesday it found “a limited number of cases received from abroad,” without specifying how many or where the travelers had been.
Neighboring Gulf countries halted international commercial flights because of concerns about the virus strain found in the United Kingdom. The UAE, with its large population of British expats, has remained open to tourists. Those arriving from the U.K. are required to get tested for the virus upon arrival in Dubai.
The federation of seven sheikhdoms has an economy that draws heavily on tourism, aviation and hospitality industries.
On Tuesday, the health ministry recorded more than 1,500 infections, the highest single-day total in months.