United States Passes 20 Million Covid-19 Cases As Deaths Remain Near Record High

Author : apu240
Publish Date : 2021-01-04 19:48:44


United States Passes 20 Million Covid-19 Cases As Deaths Remain Near Record High

 

The milestone comes just two days after the pandemic's deadliest day in the country, with 3,744 reported deaths reported Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that a new variant of the coronavirus, which originated in the United Kingdom and some scientists fear is even more contagious, was detected in San Diego County, and the new strain has since been detected in Colorado and Florida as well.

KEY BACKGROUND
The first known coronavirus case in the U.S. was identified on January 20, 2020 in Washington state. After approving the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines at an unprecedented speed, the nation kicked off its vaccination efforts in December, but officials on Wednesday warned that vaccine distribution has already been slower than expected. As of Friday, just 2.8 million people have been administered the vaccine, out of 12.4 million doses that have been distributed. "We agree that that number is lower than what we hoped for,” said Moncef Slaoui, a scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership set up to produce and deliver 300 million Covid-19 vaccine doses. “We know that it should be better, and we’re working hard to make it better.”

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
In an effort to accelerate distribution, President-elect Joe Biden has said he will invoke the Defense Production Act once he takes office to enforce the manufacturing of items necessary to produce Covid-19 vaccines.

SURPRISING FACT
More than 7 million people have been screened at airport checkpoints over the past week, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration. Though that's roughly half the number of passengers screened on a weekly basis before the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended Americans avoid travel during the holidays to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

As societies around the world grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, service robots have emerged as a powerful tool in fighting the virus and addressing social needs. Sterilizing robots using ultraviolet light are disinfecting hospitals and airplanes, delivery robots are carrying out contactless deliveries, and avatar robots are even standing in for university students at graduation. Japan has long been a leading manufacturer of both industrial and service robots, and the pandemic is accelerating development of robots as a service (RaaS) that can both extend human abilities and relieve people of work that is exhausting and repetitive.

Robots to cure loneliness
Avatar robots, sometimes known as telepresence robots, are an emerging field of service robots that allow users to remotely operate interactive machines and project their presence into a distant location. Ory Laboratories, a robotics startup in Tokyo, is building avatar robots that can benefit not only those working from home during the pandemic, but people with chronic health conditions that prevent them from leaving their home or care facility. OriHime Biz is a desktop communications robot that works via smartphone, tablet or PC. About 20 cm tall and equipped with a camera, microphone and speaker, OriHime has a sleek, streamlined design and can move its head and arms. Children with physical impairments have used OriHime to virtually attend class. In one instance, a teacher suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) used it to attend his students’ graduation ceremony.

COO of Ory Laboratories Yuki Aki
COO of Ory Laboratories Yuki Aki says her startup is dedicated to fighting loneliness. JAPAN BRANDVOICE
“Since the pandemic, OriHime has been increasingly used for social distancing applications such as users who want to attend conferences in avatar form,” says Yuki Aki, COO and cofounder of Ory Laboratories. “It has also been used to greet COVID-19 patients recuperating in a hotel in Kanagawa Prefecture.”

Yuki’s background drives her passion for avatar robotics. As a student, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was unable to attend school, an experience that made her very lonely. It was through the Japan Science & Engineering Challenge (JSEC), a competition for young science enthusiasts where she won a prize, that Yuki met fellow prizewinner Yoshifuji Kentaro, now CEO of Ory. He told her about his idea to extend human abilities through robots, and after developing a prototype as college students, they set up Ory Laboratories in 2012.

“I wanted to solve the problem of solitude,” says Yuki. “The tool to accomplish that mission turned out to be a robot, but it could also be something completely different.”

 

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