(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
President Biden meets with Republican senators on COVID-19 relief plan
A group of Republican senators met with President Biden in the Oval Office Monday for nearly two hours, with the chief topic of discussion said to be the president’s COVID-19 relief plan and a GOP counter-proposal. Following the meeting, Senator Susan Collins of Maine told reporters the meeting was “productive” and “cordial” but didn’t say whether any specific progress toward a compromise had been made on a COVID-19 relief deal.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki in a written statement Monday night echoed Sen. Collins’ description of the meeting, calling it “a substantive and productive discussion” and saying they “shared a desire to get help to the American people.” Psaki also declared that while “there were areas of agreement,” President Biden “noted many areas which the Republican senators’ proposal does not address,” and reiterated that Biden “will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment.”
The White House is proposing a $1.9 trillion plan, with Republicans countering with a $619 billion proposal – about a third of the cost of the Biden administration’s relief plan.
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: 103,500,950
Global deaths: 2,240,771. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 443,613.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Total patients recovered globally: 57,457,138
Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 26,322,365 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 443,613. New York State has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 43,805.
U.S. total people tested: 306,049,697
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,342,647 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks second in the world after England, which has 3,358,064 cases. Texas is third, with 2,412,627 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.
COVID-19 hospitalizations fall more than 10% as total US deaths approaches 450,000
The number of Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 continues to trend downward, according to the Covid Tracking Project, which on Monday reported 93,536 people currently hospitalized with the virus. “Compared to last week, the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 is down by 10% or more in 38 states,” according to the Project. Eleven states are reporting the same number of hospitalizations, while Idaho and Vermont report increasing numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
At the same time, the U.S. is fast approaching yet another grim milestone. With 1,881 deaths reported by Johns Hopkins University on Monday and 443,613 total cases reported as of Tuesday morning, the United States is days away from 450,000 total COVID-19 deaths since the first case was reported in the U.S. just over one year ago. At the current rate of fatalities, the U.S. could see 450,000 total deaths before the end of the week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent forecast is for a total of 479,000 to 514,000 reported COVID-19 deaths by the week ending February 20.
The CDC reports as of Tuesday morning, 49,936,450 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed in the U.S. Of that number, 32,222,402 doses have been administered, with 26,023,153 people receiving one or more doses and 5,927,847 reported having received two doses. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, which are the two most prevalent in the U.S., each requires two doses to be effective.
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