The Latest: AP: Federal executions likely superspreader

WASHINGTON — The executions at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency likely acted as a superspreader event.

That’s according to records reviewed by The Associated Press. It was something health experts had warned could happen when the Justice Department insisted on resuming executions during a pandemic.

Of the 47 people on death row, 33 tested positive for the coronavirus between Dec. 16-20. Guards were ill. Traveling prisons staff on the execution team caught the virus. So did media witnesses, who may have unknowingly infected others when they returned home because they were never told about the spreading cases.

Records obtained by The Associated Press show employees at the Indiana prison complex where the 13 executions were carried out over six months had contact with inmates and other people infected with the coronavirus. However, they refused testing, declined to participate in contact tracing and were still permitted to return to their work assignments.

The Bureau of Prisons has repeatedly refused to say how many people tested positive for the coronavirus after the last three federal executions last month.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

AP analysis: Federal executions likely a COVID-19 superspreader. California adding more mass vaccination clinics. China gives broader approval for the domestic-made Sinovac coronavirus vaccine. Supreme Court: California can’t enforce indoor church service ban, but can limit capacity at 25%. Hawaii officials urge against Super Bowl parties after Britain variant detected on Oahu.

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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

NEW DELHI -- Some poorer countries are getting tired of waiting to get vaccines through a United Nations program, so they are striking out on their own.

Countries including Honduras, Serbia and Mexico have cut their own private deals. Experts are increasingly concerned that these go-it-alone efforts could undermine a United Nations-backed program to get COVID-19 shots to the neediest people worldwide.

In past disease outbreaks, less wealthy countries generally waited for vaccines to be delivered by the U.N. and others. Many are now taking matters into their own hands. Those deals could leave fewer vaccines for the program known as COVAX.

However, COVAX’s stated goal is to vaccinate less than 30% of people in poor countries, meaning that governments must seek other sources to obtain enough shots to achieve herd immunity.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — China has given broader approval for the domestic-made Sinovac coronavirus vaccine.

The decision on the Sinovac vaccine was announced Saturday. It expands who can receive the vaccine beyond the high-risk and priority groups already allowed under an emergency clearance.

The Sinovac vaccine has already been sold to at least 10 other countries and is being administered to people in at least five other countries.

In China, the shot was given emergency approval last July, allowing groups such as medical workers and employees of state-owned firms to receive it. The conditional approval means the vaccine now can be given to the general public.

It is the second locally made vaccine to be given conditional approval. Beijing authorized the state-owned Sinopharm vaccine in December.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California is adding more mass vaccination clinics amid short supplies.

Santa Clara County and the San Francisco 49ers will open the state’s largest vaccination site next week at Levi’s Stadium. It can handle up to 15,000 shots a day.

The Pentagon announced troops will start arriving in a little over a week to run a new site that opens Feb. 16 at California State University, Los Angeles. Other federal employees will head to a second 6,000-shots-a-day site at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.

Los Angeles County says it will limit new vaccinations to ensure people can get their second doses. The state is reporting about 14,500 new cases daily, down by nearly half from two weeks ago.

Other mass vaccination centers include Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Petco Park in San Diego, Disneyland in Orange County, Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and Cal Expo state fairgrounds in Sacramento.

Kaiser Permanente opened two mass vaccination centers under an agreement with the state, one at Moscone Center in San Francisco and the other at Cal Poly Pomona. Each has the capacity to administer up to 10,000 doses a day.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan health officials say more than half of the health workers and frontline military and police officers have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Sri Lanka last week began inoculating it’s frontline health workers, military troops and police officers amid warnings the sector faces a collapse with a number of health staff infected with the new coronavirus.

The ministry had planned to first vaccinate 150,000 health workers and selected 115,000 military and police personnel.

By Saturday, 156,310 had been given with COVISHIELD vaccine. India had donated 500,000 does of the AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as COVISHIELD, which is the only vaccine approved by the regulatory body in Sri Lanka.

Health ministry says Sri Lanka has ordered 18 millions doses the vaccine and had asked to allocate 2 million doses from Pfizer. Also, China has promised to provide 300,000 shots of Sinopharm vaccine this month.

Sri Lanka has had a fresh outbreak of the disease since October, when two clusters — one centered on a garment factory and other on the fish market — emerged in the capital Colombo and its suburbs.

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HONOLULU — Hawaii officials are urging the public to avoid Super Bowl parties this weekend while announcing that a possibly more transmissible variant of COVID-19 has been detected on Oahu.

One individual with no travel history has been confirmed to have the variant that first emerged in England. One close contact of this person also tested positive for COVID-19. The same variant has already been detected in more than 30 U.S. states.

Hawaii’s governor says the way to avoid spreading the coronavirus remains the same: wear a mask, keep your distance, stay home when sick and wash your hands.

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DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds says she'll end most restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus in Iowa.

Reynolds issued a proclamation that removes a mask requirement for those spending 15 minutes or more in an indoor area within 6 feet of people not in their household. She also ended mask requirements for those in state buildings and some businesses, such as barber shops.

The governor’s new order, which takes effect Sunday, also ends limits on the number of customers in a business or a requirement they stay socially distant.

Reynolds issued the earlier restrictions in November when hospitals were struggling to care for a surge of coronavirus patients. Those numbers have dropped, though the state typically reports dozens of deaths each day.

On Friday, the state reported another 34 deaths, bringing the total to 5,067 confirmed deaths from the virus.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and his wife have donated plasma to help patients who have COVID-19 recover more quickly.

McMaster and the first lady contracted the coronavirus in December and doctors encourage people who recover to donate blood. The plasma is then transfused into the bodies of current hospitalized COVID-19 patients to lessen their symptoms and hopefully help them recover faster.

The 73-year-old governor spent nearly two hours donating his plasma. Officials say it could help up to four COVID-19 patients. Red Cross officials say demand for the plasma has increased 250% since October.

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CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union says Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school district officials have walked away from negotiations about coronavirus safety protocols.

The CTU news release Friday came hours after Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said they have made their “last, best and final offer.” The union’s statement says that offer is woefully inadequate, pointing out it calls for in-person classes be paused only if there are coronavirus outbreaks in 50% of the city’s public schools.

It is not clear what these developments will mean on Monday, when classes are scheduled to resume.

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TOPEKA, Kan — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says she and her husband had fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits filed with the state in their names.

The Democratic governor’s disclosure came amid an increasingly intense focus by the Republican-controlled Legislature on bogus unemployment claims and ongoing criticism of the state Department of Labor’s operations. The department has seen spikes in claims from jobless workers and bogus ones during the COVID-19 pandemic, including since late November.

Kelly says she and first gentleman Ted Daughety received Department of Labor notices “months ago” about obtaining unemployment benefits. The governor’s office said the notices came in early fall and Kelly quickly went to the department’s website and reported the fraud.

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TAMPA, Fla. — The NFL is telling the federal government it will make the remaining of the league’s 30 stadiums available for COVID-19 vaccination sites.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the offer to President Joe Biden in a letter obtained by The Associated Press. There are already seven NFL stadiums serving as vaccine sites in Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Houston, Miami and New England. Goodell says stadiums can be prepared quickly because they were used as virus testing centers and election sites.

Goodell says the offer on vaccination sites was made in conjunction with the NFL inviting 7,500 vaccinated health care workers to attend the Super Bowl for free Sunday when Tampa Bay hosts Kansas City.

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NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans bars will be shut down, even for takeout service, throughout next week’s Mardi Gras weekend.

That’s usually among the busiest times of the year, but Mayor LaToya Cantrell says it is an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Many bars already were closed to indoor service. Cantrell’s announcement Friday means they can’t sell drinks to go -- a popular option year-round and especially during Mardi Gras. The city is also expanding the closure order to include bars with “conditional” food permits that allowed them to operate as restaurants during various pandemic shutdowns.

The bar shutdown begins next Friday and runs through Feb. 16. Cantrell and other city officials say businesses violating the rules face on-the-spot shutdowns and loss of licenses.

“If by chance you have an aversion to wearing a mask, stay where you’re at,” says City Council member Jay Banks, who knows people who have died from COVID-19. “If your expectation is the Mardi Gras of the past, don’t waste your money.”

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MADRID — Spain has reported its first case of the Brazilian variant in a passenger arriving at the Madrid airport.

The Madrid regional health department says the 44-year-old man arrived from Brazil on Jan. 29 and had a negative PCR document but tested positive in an antibody test at the airport. He was taken to a city hospital, which later confirmed the variant.

Spain this week began tightening restrictions on flights from Brazil and South Africa owing to variants detected in those countries. It already has similar restrictions with Britain.

The 14-day average infection rate per 100,000 population continued to ease, dropping to 750 on Friday from 783 on Thursday. ICU bed occupancy by coronavirus patients remains at 44%.

On Friday, Spain reported 28,565 new coronavirus cases, resuming a downward trend. Spain has registered 2.9 million cases and a confirmed death toll of 61,386.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says the Pentagon will deploy troops to assist Americans getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

Coronavirus senior adviser Andy Slavitt announced Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved a request for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It means about 1,000 active duty military personnel will deploy to help state vaccination centers.

President Joe Biden has called for setting up 100 mass vaccination centers around the country within a month. Two are opening in California, and Slavitt says military personnel will arrive at those centers in a little over a week.

Slavitt says the military will help administer thousands of shots a day. Currently about 6.9 million Americans have received the full two-dose regimen required to get maximum protection from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

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NEW YORK -- Yankee Stadium is open as a COVID-19 vaccination site and attracting lines of people from surrounding neighborhoods in the Bronx.

The megasite is being restricted to Bronx residents to boost vaccination rates in the city borough that has the highest percentage of positive coronavirus test results. The New York Yankees’ home opened for appointments for qualified residents early Friday under damp skies.

The site run jointly by the city and state expects to handle 15,000 people during its first week. It will be open seven days a week.

New York state leads the country with more than 44,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says President Joe Biden is using the Defense Production Act to help bolster vaccine production, at-home coronavirus testing kits and surgical gloves.

Tim Manning, the White House’s COVID-19 supply coordinator, says the administration will help Pfizer clear a bottleneck around capabilities with vaccine production by giving the drugmaker first priority to needed supplies.

Manning says the U.S. is also investing in six manufacturers to develop at-home and point-of-care tests for the coronavirus, with the goal of producing 60 million tests by the end of the summer.

Manning says, “The country is well behind where we need to be in testing,” and the new contracts will help boost supply.

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LONDON — The developers of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine say the shot appears to work against the variant detected in Britain late last year.

It’s similar to previously reported results by other vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer and Moderna.

Andrew Pollard of Oxford University, which helped develop the AstraZeneca vaccine, says the shot also appears to reduce the amount of virus in people infected with COVID-19. That could potentially slow the disease’s spread. The research hasn’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Sarah Gilbert of Oxford says it should be straightforward to tweak their vaccine to account for the variant detected in the U.K. She says vaccine manufacturers could quickly insert a new gene sequence from the variant into the virus needed to make the vaccine. Gilbert adds scientists are already in talks with regulatory agencies about how they might quickly authorize any new vaccine. It’s a similar process for seasonal flu vaccines.

Also, researchers are studying the potential effectiveness of the vaccine against a variant that arose in South Africa.

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