“The COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to keep children safe. The strongest protection against COVID-19, including the Delta variant, is to get vaccinated,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “I encourage parents everywhere to talk with their pediatrician, school nurse, or other trusted healthcare provider about any questions they may have and to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.” 

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), nearly all Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries are eligible to receive coverage of COVID-19 vaccines and their administration without cost-sharing. Beneficiaries with Medicare pay nothing for COVID-19 vaccines or their administration, and there is no applicable copayment, coinsurance, or deductible. COVID-19 vaccines and their administration will also be covered without cost-sharing for eligible consumers of most issuers of health insurance in the commercial market. People can visit vaccines.gov (English) or vacunas.gov (Spanish) to search for nearby locations to receive a vaccine.

Additionally, under the terms of the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program Provider Agreement, health care providers and other entities administering COVID-19 vaccines must agree not to deny anyone a COVID-19 vaccination based on their health coverage status, and must also agree to administer COVID-19 vaccines at no out-of-pocket cost to recipients. More information regarding the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program Provider Requirements and how the COVID-19 vaccine is provided through that program at no cost to recipients is available at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/vaccination-provider-support.html  and through the CMS COVID-19 Provider Toolkit.

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The county’s case rate once again increased over the past 24 hours. On Monday, the case rate was 16.9, it has now gone up to 17.4.

The county is reporting a positivity rate of 9.3%.

There were no additional COVID-19 deaths reported across Riverside County. The county has a total to 4,667 COVID deaths.

There were also 113 recoveries reported over the past 24 hours. There are a total of 300,500 recoveries in the county.

There were 52 additional COVID-related hospitalizations over the past 24 hours. With today’s additions, the county now has 340 hospitalizations.

There were also 1 additional people admitted into the ICU. The total number of patients has grown to 74. Riverside County reached 50% of full vaccination among its eligible residents.

According to the county, 1,052,430 residents are full vaccinated.

A total of 1,217,295 residents, or 57.9%, are either partially or fully vaccinated.

COVID vaccine clinics are open across Riverside County for all residents 16 and older. You can schedule an appointment at: https://www.rivcoph.org/COVID-19-Vaccine.

Seniors who need assistance can dial 2-1-1. Those who register must show proof of age/employment at the time of appointment. Residents under 18 must have a parent or guardian with them when arriving to their vaccine appointment.

Cases in Coachella Valley Cities and Communities (As of 07/28/21)

Valley cases are updated every Wednesday

· Bermuda Dunes Confirmed Cases: 683 Deaths: 10 Recovered: 660

· Cabazon Confirmed Cases: 332 Deaths: 7 Recovered: 322

· Cathedral City Confirmed Cases: 7,270 Deaths: 113 Recoveries: 7,083

· Coachella Confirmed Cases: 8,009 Deaths: 97 Recovered: 7,884

· Desert Edge Confirmed Cases: 353 Deaths: 16 Recovered: 331

· Desert Hot Springs Confirmed Cases: 4,345 Deaths: 74 Recovered: 4,221

· Desert Palms Confirmed Cases: 268 Deaths: 25 Recovered: 240

· Garnet Confirmed Cases: 906 Deaths: 20 Recovered: 877

· Indian Wells Confirmed Cases: 206 Deaths: 6 Recovered: 194

· Indio Confirmed Cases: 12,573 Deaths: 227 Recoveries: 12,229

· La Quinta Confirmed Cases: 3,553 Deaths: 59 Recovered: 3,446

· Mecca Confirmed Cases: 1,138 Deaths: 19 Recovered: 1,115

· North Shore Confirmed Cases: 361 Deaths: 1 Recovered: 360

· Oasis Confirmed Cases: 897 Deaths: 8 Recovered: 886

· Palm Desert Confirmed Cases: 4,093 Deaths: 119 Recovered: 3,908

· Palm Springs Confirmed Cases: 3,912 Deaths: 129 Recovered: 3,693

· Rancho Mirage Confirmed Cases: 1,142 Deaths: 50 Recovered: 1,068

· Sky Valley Confirmed Cases: 227 Deaths: 5 Recovered: 222

· Thermal Confirmed Cases: 477 Deaths: 9 Recovered: 466

· Thousand Palms Confirmed Cases: 1,073 Deaths: 9 Recovered: 1,056

· County Jails There are 948 cases in the County’s jails, with 1 death, and 939 recoveries.·

· State Jails There are 5,480 cases in the County’s jails, with 1 death, and 5,467 recoveries.

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Jesus Reyes | Contributed

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Here’s what’s happening with the pandemic in the U.S.:

THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

— The campaign to vanquish the coronavirus is picking up speed. Britain has begun dispensing the second vaccine in its arsenal. And India, the world’s second-most populous country, has authorized its first shots. In the U.S., meanwhile, government officials say that the pace of vaccinations has accelerated markedly after a disappointingly slow start. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said over the weekend that 1.5 million shots were dispensed over 72 hours, bringing the running total to about 4 million.

— As states brace for a coronavirus surge following holiday gatherings, one surprising place stands out as a potential super-spreader — the statehouses where lawmakers will help shape the response to the pandemic. Many legislatures will start the year meeting remotely, but numerous Republican-controlled statehouses are planning to hold their sessions at least partially in-person without requiring or enforcing mask-wearing. Public health officials say those decisions endanger the safety of other lawmakers, staffers, lobbyists, the public and journalists. Associated Press data shows more than 230 state lawmakers across the country have contracted COVID-19 and at least seven have died.

— New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city will set up 250 city-run COVID-19 vaccination sites this month in a push to administer 1 million vaccine doses by the end of January. Just over 100,000 people have been vaccinated in the city since the inoculations began on Dec. 14. But de Blasio said Monday that immunizations will speed up now that people see that the two vaccines that have been approved for emergency use in the U.S. are safe. De Blasio said he is pushing for the shots to be available to essential workers including police officers, firefighters and teachers.

THE NUMBERS: The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths in the U.S. rose over the past two weeks from 2,625 on December 20 to 2,637.4 on January 3, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

DEATH TOLL: The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the U.S. stands at 351,590.

QUOTABLE: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said the recent marked increase in vaccinations shows “ some little glimmer of hope ” in the fight against the coronavirus.

ICYMI: Thousands of minority-owned small businesses were at the end of the line in the government’s coronavirus relief program as many struggled to find banks to accept their applications. Or, they were disadvantaged by the program’s terms. Data from the Paycheck Protection Program analyzed by The Associated Press show many minority owners desperate for a loan didn’t receive one until the PPP’s last weeks. Meanwhile, many more companies owned by whites were able to get loans. The program helped many businesses survive the first months of the virus outbreak. But it struggled to meet its promise of aiding communities that historically haven’t gotten needed help.

ON THE HORIZON: For Dr. David Tom Cooke, participating in the clinical trial for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was one step in his efforts to allay concerns about the vaccine’s safety in the Black community. Cooke, who is Black, is the head of general thoracic surgery at UC Davis Health and just one of many health care providers and community leaders who personally understand many Black Americans’ skepticism toward the medical profession. He’s now sharing details about his experience in an effort to build trust. Black Americans have been hit harder by the coronavirus than others but are more likely to distrust the vaccine because of a history of poor health outcomes and abusive medical research.

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POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The first COVID-19 vaccinations are underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus has killed more than 110,000 people, even as the nation struggles to contain a surge so alarming it has spurred California to dispense thousands of body bags and line up refrigerated morgue trucks.

With the rollout of shots picking up speed Wednesday, lawmakers in Washington closed in on a long-stalled $900 billion coronavirus relief package that would send direct payments of around $600 to most Americans. Meanwhile, the U.S. appeared to be days away from adding a second vaccine to its arsenal.

At the same time, a major snowstorm pushing its way into the Northeast raised concern it could disrupt distribution of the first vaccine.

Nursing home residents in Florida began receiving shots Wednesday, after nearly 2,000 such vaccinations were administered in West Virginia on Tuesday. Thousands more are scheduled there in the coming days. Other states are expected to follow soon.

The elderly and infirm in long-term care have been among the most vulnerable to the virus and, together with health workers, are first in line to get the limited, initial supplies of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. Nursing home residents and workers account for more than one-third of the nation’s 300,000 or so confirmed deaths from COVID-19.

In Florida, the longtime retirement haven whose 141,000 nursing home residents are the second most of any state behind California, eagerness to get the vaccine was mixed with some anxiety.

“I hope it will help me from getting COVID,” said 88-year-old retired schoolteacher Vera Leip, a resident of John Knox Village near Fort Lauderdale. “I don’t know anything about it, but I would prefer not to have it.”

The home is not requiring its employees to get the vaccine, and only 80 of the 200 staffers in the skilled nursing facility volunteered for the first wave, said Mark Rayner, its director of health services. He said many of those declining the shot are African-American and don’t trust it, given the nation’s history of medical experimentation on Black people.

“They are frightened,” he said. “There is that culture line even as much as we educate them.”

West Virginia, with one of the oldest and unhealthiest populations in America, is working with small and local pharmacies to reach nursing homes across the heavily rural state, leapfrogging states that are relying on a partnership with the CVS and Walgreens drugstore chains to kick in any day now.

Marty Wright, head of the West Virginia Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes and assisted living communities, said the state’s pharmacies expect to get 7,000 doses into arms by the end of the week.

The developments come as as the crisis grows increasingly dire by many measures.

The U.S. recorded over 3,000 deaths on Tuesday for the third time in less than a week, easily eclipsing the peaks seen last spring. New cases are running at over 212,000 a day on average. And the number of Americans in the hospital with COVID-19 hit another all-time high Tuesday of about 113,000.

California is distributing 5,000 body bags mostly to the hard-hit Los Angeles and San Diego areas and has 60 refrigerated trailers standing by as makeshift morgues. The state is averaging 163 virus deaths per day, up from 63 just two weeks ago.

Many California hospitals are running out of space in intensive care wards, as the state records an average of about 32,500 new virus cases a day. That is up from about 14,000 a day at the start of the month.

“Our hospitals are under siege and our models show no end in sight,” said Los Angeles County Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly.

In Fresno County, officials said just a few ICU beds remained available and were filling rapidly. To keep up, the county’s hospital system has contracted with a Virginia company to supply doctors, nurses and others to staff a temporary 50-bed facility that will start receiving patients by the end of the week.

In Orange County, health officials planned to send large tents to four hospitals to help accommodate patients.

Bruce Barton, EMS director for Riverside County, said a couple of hospitals hit capacity in the past week and local officials had to step in to take some bodies.

Hospitals are also under pressure in Arizona, where a record 92% of beds are filled, nearly half of them with people with COVID-19.

“That’s a staggering statistic when you think about the things that can afflict people,” said Dr. Joshua LaBaer, executive director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute. “And it certainly means that hospitals at this point are having to make decisions about keeping people out of the hospital to keep beds available for the COVID patients.”

In the nation’s capital, congressional leaders said they hoped to seal a deal as early as Wednesday on a package that would extend aid to individuals and businesses and help ship vaccines to millions. It would include enhanced federal unemployment benefits and another round of stimulus checks.

On Thursday, a government advisory panel will consider whether to endorse emergency use of a second vaccine, made by Moderna.

Meanwhile, officials supervising distribution of the first vaccine said they didn’t expect the winter storm to disrupt distribution.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the government is tracking the vaccine shipments precisely, has staffers in place to receive them and believes the companies transporting them — FedEx and UPS — have the expertise to navigate the storm.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds more hospitals around the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots to their workers in a rapid expansion of the U.S. vaccination drive Tuesday, while a second vaccine moved to the cusp of government authorization.

A day after the rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus shots, the Food and Drug Administration said its preliminary analysis confirmed the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. A panel of outside experts is expected to recommend the formula on Thursday, with the FDA’s green light coming soon thereafter.

The Moderna vaccine uses the same technology as Pfizer-BioNTech’s and showed similarly strong protection against COVID-19 but is easier to handle because it does not need to be kept in the deep freeze at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius).

Another weapon against the outbreak can’t come soon enough: The number of dead in the U.S. passed a staggering 300,000 on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University, with about 2,400 people now dying per day on average.

The devastating toll is only expected to grow in the coming weeks, fueled by travel over Christmas and New Year’s, family gatherings and lax adherence to mask-wearing and other precautions.

Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites.

The first 3 million shots are being strictly rationed to front-line health workers and nursing home patients, with hundreds of millions more shots needed over the coming months to protect most Americans.

The rollout provided a measure of encouragement to exhausted doctors, nurses and other hospital staffers around the country.

Maritza Beniquez has had a front-row seat to the devastation the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought on communities of color in New Jersey, so she jumped at the chance to take the vaccine that is being hailed as a turning point in the long and grueling battle against the virus.

The 56-year-old emergency room nurse at Newark’s University Hospital became the first person in New Jersey to receive the vaccine on Tuesday. All recipients will get a second shot a few weeks later.

“I’m happy that in another month and a half I won’t have to be afraid to go into a room anymore. I won’t have to be afraid to perform chest compressions or be present when they’re intubating a patient,” Beniquez said. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore, and I don’t want to have that risk of taking it home to my own family and my own friends.”

Widespread acceptance of the vaccine is critical to eventually protecting enough of the U.S. population to defeat the outbreak. But just half of Americans say they want to get vaccinated, while about a quarter don’t and the rest are unsure, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Health Research.

In Manchester, New Hampshire, intensive care unit nurse Heidi Kukla said she volunteered to get the shot first to help dispel fears about the vaccine’s long-term effects and the speed with which it was developed.

“I know a lot of people have reservations about getting the vaccine,” she said after getting vaccinated at Elliot Hospital. “But I can assure you that there is absolutely nothing worse than being a patient on a ventilator in an ICU anywhere in this country right now with COVID.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, urged elected officials to “step up” and get vaccinated.

“We really need to get the country vaccinated,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do for yourself, for your family and for the country.”

The federal government is planning hundreds more shipments through the weekend.

Shots for nursing home residents won’t start in most states until next week, when some 1,100 facilities are set to begin vaccinations. Government officials project that 20 million Americans will be able to get their first shots by the end of December, and 30 million more in January.

That projection assumes swift authorization of the Moderna vaccine, which also requires two shots for full protection. The U.S. government has purchased 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and orders for 200 million doses of the Moderna serum. Assuming no manufacturing or distribution delays, that would be enough to vaccinate 150 million Americans by mid-2021.

Elsewhere around the world, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being given in Britain and Canada. And European Union regulators moved up a meeting to assess the vaccine to Dec. 21, more than a week earlier than planned, under pressure from Germany and other countries on the continent.

In scrutinizing early results of a 30,000-person study, the FDA found that Moderna’s vaccine worked just about the same as Pfizer-BioNTech’s.

The Moderna vaccine was more than 94% effective overall at preventing COVID-19 illness, and 86% effective in people 65 and older. The FDA uncovered no major safety problems. Side effects can include fever, fatigue and aches as the vaccine revs up the immune system.

Even such a large study can’t detect very rare problems. But the FDA looked carefully for signs of allergic reactions after Britain last week reported some possible reactions among people with a history of severe allergies who received the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.

The FDA found no serious allergic reactions in the Moderna study. About 1.5% of vaccine recipients and 1.1% who got dummy shots reported possible smaller, “hypersensitivity” reactions.

Both Moderna’s and Pfizer-BioNTech’s shots are so-called mRNA vaccines. They aren’t made with the coronavirus itself, meaning there is no chance anyone could catch it from the shots. Instead, the vaccine contains a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus.

Associated Press writers Tamara Lush, Holly Ramer and Candice Choi contributed to this report. Porter reported from Newark, New Jersey.

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