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More Than 600 Nursing Homes Have Completed COVID-19 Vaccinations

Gene J. Puskar
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AP

Pittsburgh city officials have taken up legislation to strengthen a coronavirus eviction moratorium currently in place.

Under a bill introduced in City Council Tuesday morning, Ariel Worthy reports landlords would not be able to refuse to renew a lease if a tenant has struggled to pay rent. The legislation protects people who are facing hardships due to the COVID pandemic -- including renters with month-to-month leases, who have less protection than tenants with long-term leases.

Landlords who violate the ordinance could face a fine of up to $10,000. Still, the bill says leases can be terminated if there is criminal activity or “an imminent threat to the health or safety of other residents."

Most councilors support the bill, and they'll discuss it Wednesday morning. The protections expire when the city lifts its coronavirus emergency declaration.

Credit Saul Loeb / AFP Via Getty Images
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AFP Via Getty Images
President Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff hold a moment of silence and candlelight ceremony in honor of those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus.

President Biden and Vice President Harris acknowledged a grim milestone Monday: the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans from COVID-19.

Biden and Harris, along with first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, emerged from the White House at sundown. They stood at the foot of the South Portico, covered in 500 candles honoring the dead, and listened to a Marine Corps band play "Amazing Grace" as they held a moment of silence, reports NPR's Scott Detrow.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf says residents and staff at more than 600 nursing homes have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations. 
Wolf says more than 315,000  doses of vaccine have been administered at Pennsylvania long-term care facilities through the partnership with pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens.

“That’s why this milestone is such an important one. The federal pharmacy partnership is saving lives, protecting residents, protecting staff, and giving families piece of mind that their loved ones are safe,” Wolf said.

Vaccine allocations for nursing homes are separate from those accessible to others. More than 12,000 nursing home residents in Pennsylvania have died from COVID-19 —  more than half of all deaths from the virus in the commonwealth.

Last week the winter storm as well as a miscommunication between the Pennsylvania Health Department and providers led to a massive delay in vaccine shipments.

But, Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam says this week the commonwealth will get more than 400 thousand vaccines total, far exceeding previous weeks.

LATEST NUMBERS

Allegheny County: 

  • 274 new cases
  • 1 new death

Pennsylvania:

  • 2,830 new cases
  • 97 new deaths
  • 1,963 patients hospitalized
  • 418 patients in ICU
  • 2,034,123 vaccine doses administered