VIRUS Currently: Nursing houses start off shots Congress nears deal

Here is what is actually occurring Wednesday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:

A few Things TO KNOW Now

— The first COVID-19 vaccinations are underway at U.S. nursing households, wherever the coronavirus has killed more than 110,000 people today — about a third of American fatalities from the sickness.

— Major congressional leaders are finding nearer to an agreement on a extensive-delayed COVID-19 aid package deal, hoping to seal a deal as early as Wednesday that would lengthen help to folks and firms and assistance ship vaccines to thousands and thousands.

— Dozens of children who attended a Christmas tree-lights function in Georgia may have been exposed to COVID-19 after a pair performing as Santa and Mrs. Claus examined positive for the virus, officials reported.

THE Quantities: The seven-working day rolling positivity rate for screening in the U.S. rose about the previous two months from 10.1% on Dec. 1 to 11.1% on Tuesday, in accordance to facts through from Johns Hopkins College.

Dying TOLL: Fatalities in the U.S. stand at 304,000, or about the inhabitants of Cincinnati.

QUOTABLE: “Our topic today should to be, ‘If it’s not 1 point, it is an additional.” — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, speaking for the duration of a news convention on a key snowstorm that was unfolding as supply vehicles distribute COVID-19 vaccine throughout the state.

ICYMI: A pandemic atlas: How COVID-19 took in excess of the planet in 2020.

ON THE HORIZON: On Thursday, a federal government advisory panel will take into consideration regardless of whether to endorse crisis use of a second vaccine, this just one built by Moderna.