On the same day it hosted Super Bowl LV, Florida on Sunday became the first state to report 200 cases of coronavirus variants, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
The concerning news comes as public health officials across the nation are bracing for a possible surge in coronavirus infections for those who may have failed to take heed of warnings not to gather for Super Bowl parties.
The game itself was played before 22,000 masked fans, many of them vaccinated health care workers, at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium, but videos on social media after the game showed revelers in Tampa, many maskless and ignoring social distancing guidance, celebrating in the streets.
In the headlines:
► Canada won’t be getting any Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines next week and 50% fewer than expected over the next month, officials said Tuesday, prompting the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, to ask U.S. President Joe Biden to share a million doses from Pfizer’s Michigan plant.
► Florida’s surgeon general urged the federal government Wednesday to increase allotments of coronavirus vaccine to states like his where large concentrations of seniors face the greatest risk of illness and death from COVID-19.
► India began supplying coronavirus vaccines to its neighboring countries on Wednesday. India’s Foreign Ministry said the country would send 150,000 shots of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine to Bhutan and 100,000 shots to the Maldives.