
(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
House delivers article of impeachment to Senate
Democrats on Monday delivered the article of impeachment against former President Trump to the Senate for the start of his historic trial. The impeachment managers, led by Rep. Jaime Raskin of Maryland and appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, silently walked the article across the Capitol from the House to the Senate at around 7:00 p.m. ET, where senators awaited their arrival. The House has already impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection” against the United States government because of his alleged role in the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, which resulted in five deaths.
If Trump is convicted in the Senate, which will not happen without Republican support, they can also vote to disqualify him from ever again holding public office. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont will preside over the impeachment trial in his role as Senate president pro tem. Though the Constitution specifies the chief justice of the Supreme Court shall preside over the impeachment trial of a president, that requirement no longer applies because Trump no longer president. The trial will begin the week of February 8. Trump is the only U.S. president to be impeached twice.
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections and deaths.
Latest reported numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 99,801,418
Global deaths: 2,142,526. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 421,239.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Total patients recovered globally: 55,164,329
Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 25,298,406 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 421,239. New York State has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 42,544.
U.S. total people tested: 293,694,286
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,213,222 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks first in the world. England is second in the world, with 3,207,381 cases. Texas is third, with 2,269,424 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.
World could surpass 100 million COVID-19 cases today
Before the day is over, the world could mark more than 100 million total COVID-19 cases since the first case was reported on December 31, 2019 in Wuhan, China. As of Tuesday morning, Johns Hopkins University reported 99,801,418 total reported cases, compared to Monday morning’s 99,268,840. Given that difference of 232,578 reported new cases in 24 hours, and accepting that the infection rate remains the same, the world will surpass the 100 million case threshold today. The world reported one million total cases on April 2, 2020, and 10 million cases by June 28. By October 19, the globe had surpassed 40 million cases – meaning that while it took about ten months to reach 40 million reported cases worldwide, there have been one-and-a-half times that number reported in just the three months since.
In the U.S., there were at least 25,298,406 COVID-19 cases reported as of Tuesday morning, with 421,239 deaths. The U.S. remains the nation with the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths, with 25.3% and 19.6%, respectively, of global totals. President Biden said Monday that the U.S. “is going to see somewhere between a total of 600,000 and 660,000 deaths before we begin to turn the corner in a major way.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently predicting between 465,000 to 508,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by the week ending February 13.
Fauci speculates US could achieve COVID-19 herd immunity by fall as vaccinations continue
Speaking to ABC News Live, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who’s leading the White House response to the COVID-19 pandemic, says he thinks herd immunity could be achieved in the U.S. by fall. Fauci said that he believes a coronavirus vaccine will be available to everyone beginning in April, but it won’t be until the fall that everyone who wants to receive the immunization will have done so. Herd immunity is achieved when a large enough segment of a population has become immune from a disease to make its spread less likely, thereby protecting non-immune and more vulnerable members of the population from infection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 41,418,325 total COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed in the U.S., out of which 22,734,243 have been administered as of Monday. Of those, about 17% have received their second dose, with the rest having so far received the first dose only. Both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, which are the two most widely available in the U.S., require two doses administered 28 days and 21 days apart, respectively, to be effective.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Monday that beginning Wednesday, the Biden administration will hold regular “science-led briefings featuring our public health officials and members of our COVID-19 response team.” Also Monday, it was revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will begin setting up federally administered vaccination centers to speed the national vaccination effort, which at present has been left largely to states and private agencies to coordinate.
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