States ramp up for biggest vaccination effort in US history

With a COVID-19 vaccine drawing closer, public health officials across the country are gearing up for the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history — a monumental undertaking that must distribute hundreds of millions of doses, prioritize who’s first in line and ensure that people who get the initial shot return for the necessary second one.

The push could begin as early as next month, when federal officials say the first vaccine may be authorized for emergency use and immediately deployed to high-risk groups, such as health care workers.

“The cavalry is coming,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America." He said he hopes shots will be available to all Americans in April, May and June.

Pfizer also boosted hopes this week, saying early data suggests its vaccine is 90% effective. But the good news came in one of the grimmest weeks of the pandemic so far. Deaths, hospitalizations and new infections are surging across the U.S. — and turning up the pressure to get the vaccine effort right.

In Philadelphia, the health department is counting how many health care workers and others would be among the first in line. In Louisiana, officials are planning a remote exercise this week to play out different scenarios exploring how the process might unfold.

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Virus surge: Schools abandon classes, states retreat

School systems in Detroit, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and suburban Minneapolis are giving up on in-person classes, and some governors are reimposing restrictions on bars and restaurants or getting more serious about masks, as the coast-to-coast resurgence of the coronavirus sends deaths, hospitalizations and new infections soaring.

The crisis deepened at hospitals, with the situation so bad in North Dakota that the governor this week said nurses who test positive but have no symptoms can still work. Idaho clinics struggled to handle the deluge of phone calls from patients. And one of Utah's biggest hospital systems is bringing in nearly 200 traveling nurses, some of them from New York City.

The virus is blamed for more than 240,000 deaths and over 10.4 million confirmed infections in the U.S., with the country facing what health experts say will be a dark winter because of disregard for mask-wearing and other precautions, the onset of cold weather and crowded holiday gatherings.

“It should frighten all of us,” Dr. David Peterman, CEO of Idaho's Primary Health Medical Group, said of the virus numbers. “It’s easy to look at TV, and say, ‘I’m not in the intensive care unit, my grandmother’s not in the intensive care unit.’ But if I say to you your doctor cannot treat your child with an ear infection because I cannot answer your phone call, or your doctor is on quarantine, or our clinics are full with people with coronavirus?”

Deaths per day in the U.S. have soared more than 40 percent over the past two weeks, from an average of about 790 to more than 1,100 as of Wednesday, the highest level in three months.

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Trump, stewing over election loss, silent as virus surges

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has publicly disengaged from the battle against the coronavirus at a moment when the disease is tearing across the United States at an alarming pace.

Trump, fresh off his reelection loss to President-elect Joe Biden, remains angry that an announcement about progress in developing a vaccine for the disease came after Election Day. And aides say the president has shown little interest in the growing crisis even as new confirmed cases are skyrocketing and hospitals intensive care units in parts of the country are nearing capacity.

Public health experts worry that Trump’s refusal to take aggressive action on the pandemic or to coordinate with the Biden team during the final two months of his presidency will only worsen the effects of the virus and hinder the nation’s ability to swiftly distribute a vaccine next year.

The White House coronavirus task force held its first post-election meeting Monday. Officials discussed the rising case numbers, the promise of a vaccine in development by Pfizer, and recognized the service of Navy Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, a member of the task force who retired Monday.

But Trump, who does not take part in the task force meetings, remains preoccupied with last week’s election results. He has yet to weigh in on the recent spike in virus cases that has state and local officials scrambling, and hospitals concerned about their ability to treat those stricken.

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Georgia counties prepare for hand tally of presidential race

ATLANTA (AP) — As Georgia counties prepare for a hand tally of the presidential race, the state's top elections official plans to quarantine after his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Thursday.

The count stems from an audit required by a new state law, not because there are any questions about the integrity of the election in Georgia or the results. Democrat Joe Biden leads Republican President Donald Trump by 14,000 votes. There are no examples of similar recounts that have overturned leads of that magnitude.

“The point of the audit is to show the machines counted the ballots fairly,” said Gabriel Sterling, who oversaw the implementation of the state's new voting system for the secretary of state's office.

County election officials must begin the hand tally by 9 a.m. Friday and complete it by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, state officials said. The state certification deadline is Nov. 20.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s wife, Tricia, tested positive on Thursday, the deputy secretary of state, Jordan Fuchs, told The Associated Press. Brad Raffensperger was going to get tested and plans to self-quarantine as a precaution even if his test is negative, Fuchs said, adding that the secretary's quarantine will not affect the audit.

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Prosecutor reads racist messages by Ahmaud Arbery's killer

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery had previously used racial slurs in a text message and on social media, a prosecutor said Thursday as a judge weighed whether to grant bond for the defendant and his father.

Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, have been jailed since their arrests in May, more than two months after Arbery was slain. The McMichaels, who are white, chased and fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man after they spotted him running in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick.

Questions about whether racism played a role in the killing sharpened during a previous hearing when an investigator testified that a third defendant, who took cellphone video of the shooting, told authorities he heard Travis McMichael, 34, utter a racial slur after he blasted Arbery three times with a shotgun.

In the courtroom Thursday, Zachary Langford — a friend of Travis McMichael's since boyhood — testified his friend was a jokester who got along with everyone and had at least one Black friend.

Then prosecutor Jesse Evans asked Langford about a text message Travis McMichael had sent him last year that used a slur for Black people when referring to a “crackhead ... with gold teeth."

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A few cracks but no big GOP break with Trump on Biden's win

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most powerful Republicans in Washington stood firmly behind President Donald Trump and his unsupported claims of voter fraud on Thursday, but new cracks emerged among GOP leaders elsewhere who believe it's time for the administration to treat Democrat Joe Biden like the president-elect he is.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed Trump's reelection, became the latest Republican official to say what Trump and his allies refuse to accept. The GOP governor acknowledged that Biden's lead is getting "bigger and bigger by the day” and Trump’s legal options are dissipating.

“Joe Biden is the president-elect, and I think like most Americans, we suspect he’ll be taking the oath of office in January,” Sununu told reporters, insisting there was no legal fraud in his state, which Biden easily carried.

That's a departure from the overwhelming majority of Republican officials who still refuse to publicly accept Biden's victory. The resistance is complicating Biden's effort to lead a smooth transition to the January inauguration, keeping him from the funding and agency resources typically afforded to an incoming administration.

Worried about the national security implications of those hurdles, some Republicans are beginning to say that Biden should at least have access to intelligence briefings so he has the most complete information about threats facing the country when he takes office.

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Justice Dept.: 'Poor judgment' used in Epstein plea deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Justice Department report has found former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta exercised “poor judgment” in handling an investigation into wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was a top federal prosecutor in Florida. But it also says that he did not engage in professional misconduct.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press, is a culmination of an investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility into Acosta’s handling of a secret plea deal with Epstein, who had been accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls.

Though the report faulted Acosta for his judgment, it concluded that his actions in arranging the deal did not constitute misconduct, and that none of the prosecutors involved committed misconduct in their interactions with the victims. The conclusions are likely to disappoint the victims, who have long hoped the internal investigation would hold Justice Department officials accountable for actions they say allowed Epstein to escape justice.

In a statement, Acosta expressed vindication at the report's conclusion that he had not committed misconduct, saying it “fully debunks” allegations that he had cut a sweetheart deal for Epstein. He said the report confirmed that his decision to open an investigation into Epstein had resulted in a jail sentence and a sex offender registration for the financier.

“OPR’s report and public records document that without federal involvement, Epstein would have walked free,” Acosta said in the statement.

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McEnany wears 2 hats as WH press secretary, campaign adviser

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House press secretary who refers questions to the White House?

Kayleigh McEnany is wearing two hats, one as a Trump 2020 campaign adviser and the other as the White House press secretary, charged with articulating the administration’s policies and positions to the press and the public.

The dual role raises questions about the appropriateness of taking on both tasks while drawing a taxpayer-financed salary of $183,000 a year.

And it has created some odd moments. On Thursday morning, McEnany appeared on Fox News as a campaign adviser and punted when asked if President Donald Trump should be providing President-elect Joe Biden access to the President's Daily Briefing on top intelligence matters.

“Well, I haven’t spoken to the president about that, so that would be a question more for the White House,” she said.

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Vatican calling: Pope congratulates Joe Biden on election

It’s not exactly divine intervention, but even the pope considers the U.S. presidential race over.

President-elect Joe Biden, a lifelong Roman Catholic, spoke to Pope Francis on Thursday, despite President Donald Trump refusing to concede. Trump claims — without evidence — that the election was stolen from him through massive but unspecified acts of fraud.

Biden’s transition team said in a statement that the president-elect thanked Francis for “extending blessings and congratulations and noted his appreciation.” He also saluted the pontiff’s “leadership in promoting peace, reconciliation, and the common bonds of humanity around the world.”

Biden said he hopes to work with Francis on issues such as climate change, poverty and immigration.

News of the call came even as some Catholic bishops in the U.S. decline to acknowledge Biden’s victory and argue that the faithful should not back him because of his support for abortion rights.

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75-foot spruce to be NYC's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree

ONEONTA, N.Y. (AP) — The 75-foot (23-meter) Norway spruce that will anchor New York City's holiday festivities as the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was cut down in upstate New York on Thursday and will soon be headed to Manhattan.

The tree was donated by Al Dick of Daddy Al's General Store in Oneonta, developer Tishman Speyer said in a release. It will be trucked to New York City and erected at Rockefeller Center on Saturday.

Details about the tree-lighting ceremony will be released in the coming days, the developers said.

“This year, we just feel the tree is vital,” Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer said, alluding to the coronavirus pandemic that has forced the cancellation of other holiday traditions like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Speyer said the company is ”particularly proud to continue the joyous tradition this year."