Vaccine freezer, Christmas cheer, Iditarod trail switch: News from around our 50 states
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December 23, 2020, 9:03 PM·43 min read
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Alabama
Opelika: At East Alabama Medical Center, located about 60 miles northeast of Montgomery, nurses and doctors who have spent months caring for the ill, are doing what they can to get through the holiday season, which many fear will only spread the disease and add to the U.S. death toll that has surpassed 300,000. That means staff members can hang decorations on patients’ doors in the ICU but cannot attend after-work Christmas parties. A cheerful Santa doll stands atop the desk at a nursing station, but big gatherings with relatives are out. A nurse for five years, Nurse Carla Fallin said Christmas just doesn’t feel right this year. She and her husband did not take their two young sons to local Christmas events that drew hundreds of people, many without masks. The decorations in the ICU help lighten the mental load a lit
Vermont utility regulator reinstates disconnection ban
December 23, 2020 GMT
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Vermont utility regulators have reinstated a pandemic-inspired moratorium on the disconnection of electricity, natural gas and landline phone services because customers have not paid their bills.
In an order dated Tuesday, the Public Utilities Commission said the moratorium will last through March 31.
On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Scott thanked the Public Service Department for its efforts to get the moratorium reinstated.
“As we head into winter while still facing a global pandemic and its economic impacts, we all need to look out for our neighbors and ensure we protect the most vulnerable,” Scott said in a statement.