COVID news: US tops 4K daily deaths for second time; Texas ...

The state on Tuesday lifted the order in the Sacramento region – a rare turn of good news as the state pushes through what Gov. Gavin Newsom called its “most intense surge” of the coronavirus.► Scientists have identified a mutation that may decrease the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson trial is fully enrolled and waiting to meet two milestones: for half of its participants to be eight weeks past their second shot, to ensure safety; and for enough people in the trial – both those who received the active vaccine and those who got a placebo – to contract COVID-19 so the vaccine’s effectiveness can be determined.The AstraZeneca-Oxford trial is nearly fully enrolled and will be ready early in March to request FDA authorization, Slaoui said. A sixth government-supported vaccine, made by Sanofi and GSH, remains further behind.– Karen WeintraubSARS-CoV-2 “could join the ranks of mild, cold-causing … human coronaviruses in the long run,” according to a model developed by Emory University and Penn State University scientists.The model, published Jan. 12 in the peer-reviewed journal Science, compares the deadly virus to four common cold coronaviruses plus the SARS and MERS viruses, which surfaced in 2003 and 2012, respectively.Researchers determined from the model that if the coronavirus continues to circulate in the general population and most people are exposed to it from childhood, it could be added to the list of common colds.Study authors concede the model makes some assumptions about the coronavirus and common colds that is not known yet, but a the take-home message is “the critical need for broad-scale vaccination may wane in the near term,” said Ottar Bjornstad, study author distinguished professor of entomology at Penn State University.Facing a slower-than-hoped coronavirus vaccine rollout, officials around the nation shifted gears Tuesday to accelerate the delivery of shots to more people.