Thread by @Laurie_Garrett

Jeff Zients and the @WhiteHouse #COVID19 team presented a status report this morning. First, from @CDCDirector Walensky, good news that the holiday surge in new cases, hospitalizations & even deaths appears to be over in USA -- but case levels remain very high.
MORE

2/ The racial distribution of #COVID19 deaths in America is terribly unequal, with African Americans FAR more likely to suffer fatal disease if infected with the virus. The @WhiteHouse named addressing these disparities as its top priority.
MORE

3/ Getting vaccines out the door, and into people's arms remains an enormously challenging feat. Delivery of #COVID19 #vaccines to states is only half the problem: getting them administered is proving to be the tougher part, says @ASlavitt .
MORE

4/ @POTUS @JoeBiden promised 1M doses of #COVID19 #vaccine would be administered daily, for 100 days. Since his #Inauguration USA has averaged 1,169,286/day, but that has worsened over the last 3 days, yesterday only reaching 806,751.
MORE

5/ On the treatment side Tony #Fauci said only one drug, dexamethasone, makes a big difference in severe illness, and several may be helpful if given in early stages of #COVID19 illness -- ideally, on an outpatient basis. (We need better drugs.)
MORE

6/ The mutant #SARSCoV2 variants are a genuine concern, #Fauci said @WhiteHouse briefing. Both @moderna_tx & #Pfizer are working on changes to their #vaccines and it's possible treatment with monoclonal antibodies (like the #Regeneron that #Trump took) will need adjusting, too.

Finally, there are more #COVID19 #vaccines likely to come to the @US_FDA for approval in the next 6-8 weeks, and one (from J&J) has been tested in South Africa where a key variant is in circulation. Hopefully, it protects against the mutant.