The Latest: California surpasses 40,000 coronavirus deaths | Business & Finance

In just five weeks, the state reached 30,000 and needed only 20 days to get to 40,000.

New York leads the U.S. with more than 43,000 confirmed deaths, followed by California, Texas at 36,000 and Florida at 26,000.

AP analysis: Racial disparity in US vaccination drive. New Mexico tribe sues US over hospital closure amid pandemic. WHO team visits second Wuhan hospital in virus investigation. CDC orders say travelers must wear masks on public transportation. Germany expects 5M vaccine doses in next 3 weeks. COVID-19 vaccine news welcomed in South Africa. Vaccine rollout faces challenges in France’s poorest region.

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

RENO, Nevada — Nevada’s governor and attorney general are denouncing resolutions approved by five rural counties that attempt to defy state restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus statewide.

Gov. Steve Sisolak and Attorney General Aaron Ford say the resolutions passed by Lyon, White Pine, Eureka and Elko Counties have no force of law and cannot override the governor’s emergency directives.

They say the directives have been issued under state law and upheld in courts several times. The two Democrats say everyone is tired of the pandemic, but every day Nevadans die due to COVID-19 in rural counties and urban areas.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico Indigenous tribe is suing the U.S. government, claiming federal health officials have violated the law by ending emergency and in-patient medical care at a hospital on tribal lands.

Acoma Pueblo Gov. Brian Vallo says the tribe’s pleas have fallen on deaf ears and the lack of emergency health care services couldn’t have come at a worse time as coronavirus continues to take a toll on his community. Like other Native American communities across the U.S., the pueblo of about 3,000 people has been hit hard by the pandemic.

Acoma is asking a federal judge to overturn a decision by the Indian Health Service to shutter the facility. The agency argues it hasn’t violated the law. It says here aren’t enough health care workers to provide inpatient and emergency department services at the hospital, which serves Acoma and other neighboring tribal communities.

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot says Chicago Public Schools plans to proceed with the reopening of elementary and middle schools on Monday despite the failure to reach an agreement with the teachers union.

School officials and the Chicago Teachers Union have been locked in negotiations for days to reopen schools closed in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The teachers union has opposed the school district’s plan over concerns for the health of its members. Lightfoot said late Friday that the two sides have agreed on several issues. The union rejected Lightfoot’s contentions, saying in a tweet that the mayor “wrecked it all” in the final hours.

The union wants a phased-in return with voluntary vaccination, testing for students and staff and accommodations for teachers whose household members are at higher risk of the coronavirus.

In-person classes were canceled this week for about 3,200 pre-K and special education students when teachers refused to work in classrooms. Officials say they expect those students to return to class on Monday.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A racial gap has opened up in the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination drive, with Black Americans in many places lagging behind whites in receiving shots.

That’s according to an Associated Press analysis. An early look at the 17 states and two cities that have released racial breakdowns finds Black people are getting inoculated at levels below their share of the general population.

In North Carolina, Black people make up 22% of the population and 26% of the health care workforce but only 11% of the vaccine recipients so far. White people, a category in which the state includes both Hispanic and non-Hispanic whites, are 68% of the population and 82% of those vaccinated.

Among the reasons given: deep mistrust of the medical establishment among Black Americans because of a history of discriminatory treatment. The gap is deeply troubling to some, given the coronavirus has taken a disproportionate toll in severe sickness and death on Black people in the U.S.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s neighbors have started restricting international travel amid concern about the spread of a new coronavirus variant that experts say may be more contagious.

Guyana’s government closed its border with South America’s largest country on Friday, two days after Colombia halted passenger flights to and from Brazil. Both nations cited the new variant as their reason. Argentina’s government decided to cut in half the number of flights to Brazil starting Feb. 1, according to a Jan. 27 report in state news agency Telam.

Peru on Jan. 26 banned air traffic from Brazil. The governor of Peru’s Loreto department bordering Brazil called on the government to shut down land crossings, too.

ATLANTA — The CDC has issued an order requiring travelers to wear a mask on public transportation in the U.S., echoing an executive order by President Joe Biden shortly after he took office.

The CDC order takes effect Monday. It states passengers on airplanes, trains, buses, subways, ships, ferries, taxis and ride-shares must wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth while getting on such vehicles, during the ride and while getting off.

Additionally, people must wear masks on the premises of transportation hubs such as airports, train and subway stations, bus and ferry terminals, seaports and ports of entry. Masks must stay on while people await, board, travel and disembark public transportation.

Biden’s executive order issued Jan. 21 already mandated masks on certain modes of public transportation such as commercial aircraft, trains and ferries. The president also mandated masks on federal property.

The CDC order prompts drivers, conductors and crew members to only transport people who are wearing masks.

WUHAN, China — Members of a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic have visited another Wuhan hospital that treated early coronavirus patients.

The facility was one of the city’s first to deal with patients suffering from a then-unknown virus and is a key part of the epidemiological history of the disease. The team’s first face-to-face meetings with Chinese scientists took place on Friday, before the experts visited another early site of the outbreak, the Hubei Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital.

WHO says all hypotheses are on the table as the team visits hospitals, markets and labs. It’s a politically charged mission as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged early missteps.

BERLIN — Germany says drugmakers will deliver at least 5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to the country in the next three weeks.

The Health Ministry says on Twitter that Germany has already received 3.5 million doses in the past five weeks and administered 2.2 million shots.

Health Minister Jens Spahn says the new figures for deliveries from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca were “good news after a difficult start.” Germany has given the first shot to about 2.2% of its 83 million population. Nearly half a million people had received both shots by Saturday. It’s recommended the second shot be given 21 to 28 days after the first.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has summoned the governors of Germany’s 16 states, which are responsible for organizing the vaccine drive, to discuss the slow rollout on Monday.

In her weekly video address Saturday, she acknowledged families have had a particular burden in the current lockdown but indicated it’s still too early for Germany to reopen schools and daycare centers.

BOSTON — A Massachusetts congressman who has received both doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has tested positive for the virus.

The office of U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch says the lawmaker had a negative test result before attending President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The office says Lynch’s positive test result came after a staff member in his Boston office tested positive earlier this week.

A statement says Lynch isn’t displaying any symptoms of COVID-19. Lynch will self-quarantine and vote by proxy in Congress in the coming week.

Lynch is the second member of the state’s congressional delegation to test positive in as many days. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan announced she had tested positive after repeatedly testing negative.

PHOENIX — Arizona has surpassed 13,000 deaths related to COVID-19, just a week after rising above the 12,000 mark.

The Department of Health Services on Friday reported 203 additional deaths. The state also reported 5,028 additional confirmed coronavirus cases, increasing the state’s totals to 748,260 cases and 13,022 deaths.

The COVID-19 related hospitalizations and the state’s seven-day rolling averages of new known daily cases and daily deaths have slowed recently. But hospital officials this week urged Arizonans against becoming complacent about mask wearing and social distancing.

Also, a new coronavirus variant first identified in England has been found in Arizona. The state’s Department of Health Services reported Friday the U.K. strain was confirmed in COVID-19 tests from three people.

FORT LAUNDERDALE, Fla. — The predominantly Black farming communities on the shore of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee will get a coronavirus vaccine station.

That announcement Friday came after a public outcry over a decision to give the Publix supermarket chain sole local distribution rights, a move that left lower-income families isolated and facing drives of 25 miles to reach the nearest store.

State Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz told The Associated Press the state will set up a vaccine station in Belle Glade to serve it and its neighboring towns of Pahokee and South Bay. The station will get 5,000 doses, which is about how many people 65 and older live in the area.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Most North Carolina prisoners can get five days knocked off their sentences if they receive coronavirus vaccinations.

State prison officials said Friday that the package of incentives such as extra visitations and a free 10-minute phone call is aimed at motivating inmates to obtain the two necessary doses.

Commissioner of Prisons Todd Ishee says about 21,000 of the 29,000 offenders behind bars are eligible for sentence reductions. Those who aren’t would receive $5 prison canteen credits for undergoing vaccination.

Vaccinations are voluntary for prisoners and staff. Officials say 850 inmates have received their first dose so far and about 2,800 prison workers have done so.

About 530 prisoners have active COVID-19 cases, and eight are hospitalized. Forty-two prisoners have suffered COVID-related deaths.

SEATTLE — The schools chief in Washington state is pushing for teachers to get vaccinated for the coronavirus when it’s their turn but also insisting they get back to classrooms immediately, shot or not.

“The bottom line is a vaccine is a tremendous safety net but it is never the thing that is going to create the perfect scenario,” said Chris Reykdal, the state’s superintendent of public instruction.

Reykdal on Friday announced a partnership with Kaiser Permanente to offer vaccinations to the state’s 143,000 public school employees and 12,000 private school employees.

The health care company and medical provider is pledging to open its doors to all educators and school employees in the state when they become individually eligible under the state’s vaccine rollout.

Currently, that includes people who are at least 65 — or 50 and older in a multigenerational household.

The latest announcement is in line with Gov. Jay Inslee’s decision not to put teachers ahead of the general population as an entire workforce category.

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says the state will expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to people ages 65 to 69 and school personnel on Feb. 8.

The announcement came Friday as the state updated its distribution plan to include these groups in “Phase 1b 2.” In addition to preschool through 12th grade teachers, childcare providers, bus drivers, safety workers and paraprofessionals will be eligible to receive the vaccine.

State officials say there are 408,000 people in this group, and the goal is to vaccinate 55% of them by March 5.

Adults 65 to 69 can schedule appointments through providers, and educators will get vaccines through their employers.