(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
President Biden to mandate $15/hour federal contract wage today
Though President Biden was unable to get his $15 federal minimum wage provision included in his COVID-19 relief package, he’s making good on that campaign promise for federal contract workers. The president today will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay a $15 minimum wage to hundreds of thousands of workers on new federal contracts by March 30, 2022, and on existing federal contracts when they come up for annual review. Currently, the minimum wage for federal contract workers is $10.95. The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour and has remained at that level since July 2009.
Questions, fallout continues from police shootings in North Carolina, Virginia
Elizabeth City, North Carolina is in a state of emergency after the fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown last week while police were serving an arrest warrant as he sat in his vehicle. Brown, who’s Black, was shot, police say, while attempting to drive away. Brown family members say they were allowed to view just a 20-second snippet of body cam footage from the police shooting that left Brown dead, footage they said showed multiple sheriff’s deputies, some armed with high-caliber rifles, firing multiple rounds into Brown’s car from behind while his hands gripped the steering wheel. Seven deputies are on paid administrative leave after the shooting, which has led to protests, with relatives saying that Brown was shot in the back.
Meanwhile, the family of a Black man who was shot by a Spotsylvania County, Virginia deputy after apparently mistaking a cordless phone for a gun is calling on authorities to release more information. Isaiah Brown remains hospitalized after being shot 10 times. Brown’s mother, Jennifer Brown, says her son was on the phone with 911 at the time of the shooting and is calling for all of the audio from that call to be released. The deputy who shot Brown remains on administrative leave as the investigation into the shooting continues.
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections, deaths and vaccinations.
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 147,961,579
Global deaths: 3,123,249. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 572,696.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Total patients recovered globally: 85,671,318
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 32,125,549 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 572,696. California has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 61,500.
U.S. total people tested: 428,582,253
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,734,562 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks third in the world after England, which has 3,850,494 cases, and Maharashtra, India, which leads the world with 4,343,727 reported cases. Texas is second in the U.S., with 2,878,513 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.
Latest reported COVID-19 vaccination numbers in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 290,692,005 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. Of those, 230,768,454 doses have been administered, with 140,969,663 people receiving at least one dose and 95,888,088 people fully vaccinated, representing 42.5% and 28.9% of the total U.S. population, respectively. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines each require two doses to be effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a single dose to be effective.
President Biden to address pandemic today in national remarks; US caseload declines again
A day before addressing a joint session of Congress, President Biden today will deliver remarks on the COVID-19 pandemic, on the first anniversary of U.S. coronavirus cases hitting one million. At the time, that constituted around one third of all confirmed cases in the world; the U.S. currently accounts for just under 22% of reported global cases. The president is also expected to announce new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines about mask wearing.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the average number of new cases in the U.S. dropped to under 60,000 for the first time in since March 25, with states reporting a nearly 17% average decline just in the last seven days. Only five states are now reporting an increase of over 10% in their respective number of new cases, as compared to 23 states, 10 days ago. The largest increases are still being seen in the Midwest and Northwest, with Michigan continuing to lead the nation in new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven-days, through cases there also are trending downward.
The White House also revealed that the U.S. will share 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine with other countries after the Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine. A White House official said 10 million doses could go out soon, with another 50 million distributed between May and June. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not yet FDA approved, though it has been widely distributed and administered in the U.K. and Europe since December.
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