Goodbye, 2020 - 12/30/2020

Today on our final news show of the year for Quick News Daily, we discuss a wide variety of stories. We talk about a ceiling fan recall, the new COVID variant being detected in the U.S., and why disinfecting surfaces might not be that necessary to fight COVID. Additionally, I discuss the Nashville bombing suspect and the slow vaccine distribution process here in America.

Check your ceiling fans if you bought any of the Hampton Bay 54-inch Mara Indoor/Outdoor fans between April and October of this year. The defective products were found in these four finishes:

matte white (UPC No. 082392519186)
  
matte black (UPC No. 082392519193)
  
black (UPC No. 082392599195)
  
polished nickel UPC No. 082392599188)

If you have one of these defective fans, Contact King of Fans for a replacement at (866) 433-1291, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, or by email at [email protected].

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Find where to listen to Quick News: https://www.rebrand.ly/QuickNews 

Sources:

⦁ https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/29/politics/vaccine-rollout-behind-schedule/index.html
⦁ https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article248144590.html
⦁ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/home-depot-fan-recall-blades-spin-off/
⦁ https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/29/951269665/first-u-s-case-of-u-k-covid-19-variant-found-in-colorado
⦁ https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/28/stimulus-check-trump-money/
⦁ https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/28/948936133/still-disinfecting-surfaces-it-might-not-be-worth-it
⦁ Defective Fan Tutorial
⦁ https://www.npr.org/transcripts/950360046

Transcript:

OPEN

Today is Wednesday, December 30th, and actually, this might be the final news show of this year, our first year of this show. What an up and down 8 months it's been. Well, I'll try to close it out strong with today's show. We've got everything from updates on the Nashville bombing suspect, ceiling fans, the mutated COVID virus from the UK showing up in America, and a couple of other things (if we're lucky). Let's get caught up right away. 

CEILING FANS

I want to start with a story that might be affecting you right now without you even knowing it. In fact, I'm going to ask you to check your ceiling fans if you've installed any between the months of March and October. Why am I asking you to do this? Well, there has been a recall issued for 190,000 ceiling fans sold by Home Depot because the blades could spin off while in use.  

The type of fan is the Hampton Bay 54-inch Mara Indoor/Outdoor fan, and they were sold in stores and online from April through October of this year for about $150. About 182,000 of the fans were sold in the U.S. and another 8,800 were sold in Canada.

King of Fans, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based distributor of the product — sold exclusively by Home Depot — said it had received 47 reports of the product's fan blades detaching. At least two consumers got hit by a blade. In addition, four instances of property damage were also reported.

King of Fans says to stop using the fans immediately, and to check them for signs of defects. If you have one of these fans, inspect it right away. If you notice "blade movement or uneven gaps between the blades and fan body" during your inspection, you should contact King of Fans for a free replacement.

The trouble does not impact all of the Mara 54-inch fans, according to the company. They've offered a link to a YouTube video showing consumers how to determine if a fan is defective and needs to be replaced. That link is in the show notes/description so you can watch and know what you're looking for. 

If your fan does have this defect, you can contact King of Fans for a replacement. I have their phone number and email in the show notes/description as well. 

I have to take a swing at our British and French listeners: maybe you've been tuning out if you're from there because if you just heard "king" and "possible beheading", you probably just thought I was talking about history. 

COVID VARIANT

Well, it was inevitable: the first confirmed case of the new UK-version of the coronavirus has been found in the US in Colorado. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said that the man who tested positive is in his 20s, has not been traveling, and is currently isolating.

"The individual has no close contacts identified so far, but public health officials are working to identify other potential cases and contacts through thorough contact tracing interviews," the governor said in his statement. 

This new virus variant was also found in France for the first time just a couple of days ago as well. 

I didn't hear about this, but last week, the CDC announced that anyone coming to the U.S. from the U.K. must receive a negative coronavirus test result before beginning the trip. But, again, I'm not sure how effective these roadblocks are because we're just checking people from the UK. People could go from the UK, through another country, and then come here. Maybe it's "if you've been in the UK in the last X days, you have to test negative". At the same time, at least we're doing something to slow it down. 

COVID TRANSMISSION

Sticking with slowing the transmission of COVID, there's new data that shows that it might be overkill to be disinfecting surfaces. Emanuel Goldman, a microbiologist at Rutgers University, said that "in hospitals, surfaces have been tested near COVID-19 patients, and no infectious virus can be identified".

However, they do find viral RNA, which is like "the corpse of the virus", according to Goldman. That's what's left over after the virus dies. He also said that "they don't find infectious virus, and that's because the virus is very fragile in the environment — it decays very quickly". 

Scientists have found out that the early surface studies were done in pristine lab conditions using much larger amounts of the virus than would be found in a real-life scenario.

In fact, Dr. Kevin Fennelly went so far as to say that there's no scientific data to justify this cleaning. Dr. Fennelly is a respiratory infection specialist with the National Institutes of Health.

As you can imagine, spraying disinfectant is not only unproductive, it's potentially dangerous, according to Delphine Farmer, an atmospheric chemist at Colorado State University. Heavy use of disinfectants like bleach and hydrogen peroxide can "produce toxic molecules that then we breathe," she warns.

So what should we be doing with this information? These experts suggest that when you're out in public, be aware of surfaces you touch, and wash your hands often. They say it's much more effective to wash your hands thoroughly than try to clean everything you touch. Obviously, I'm not going to go out and just start feeling up hard surfaces, but that's comforting to know we don't really have to worry about that part of it. 

NASHVILLE BOMBING SUSPECT

Mention parked right against building, played different recording when cops got close, waited until cops left --> makes no sense (Fox News' theory)

According to sources familiar with the investigation into the bombing suspect, he was interested in various conspiracy theories.These theories include ones involving "lizard people", which is just as crazy as it sounds. This is a belief that shape-shifting reptilian creatures appear in human form and are bent on world domination.

In addition, the suspect is believed to have spent time hunting for alien life forms in a nearby state park, sources said. Oh, so he was living the dream? Just kidding...

The investigators have found some writings that are believed to be associated with the bomber. These writings apparently contain ramblings about assorted conspiracy theories. 

Multiple law enforcement sources also told ABC News earlier this week that investigators looked at whether Warner had paranoia about 5G cellular technology. I'm sort of skeptical about this one. If he really was an IT guy, he would understand 5G more than most people. At the same time, if you're out there believing in Lizard people, he probably wasn't thinking very logically. 

Anyone who knew the suspect and hasn't yet spoken with investigators is asked to call 800-CALL-FBI.

But here's the craziest part of the entire story: Petula Clark said she was in "shock and disbelief" at use of her song "Downtown" leading up to the explosion. Holy crap, Petula Clark is still alive? That's the most shocking part of this whole thing!

VACCINE BEHIND SCHEDULE

Let's close out our 2020 shows by going back and talking about some more COVID news. I hope you're sitting down for what I'm about to tell you: the Trump Administration is botching the delivery of the COVID vaccines. 

The federal government's Operation Warp Speed had promised that 20 million doses would be administered before January 1. However, the latest data from the CDC shows that just over 11 million doses have been distributed, and only 2.1 million have actually been administered to people. 

Now, the Trump administration is coming up with some logical-sounding excuses, but they're still excuses. Senior officials told CNN that the vaccine distribution is on track and they blame the gap on a lag in reporting data. 

The CDC's dashboard, which is currently being updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, says that a large difference between the number of doses distributed and the number administered is expected at this point in the Covid vaccination program. 

Unfortunately for them, and us, Dr. Fauci called BS on the notion that distribution of the vaccine is on track. He told CNN's Jim Sciutto on Tuesday morning that the US is "certainly not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of December. Even if you undercount, 2 million as an undercount, how much undercount could it be. So we are below where we want to be." 

Yesterday, Biden called out Trump and Operation Warp Speed. He said, "As I have long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should. If it continues moving as it is now, it will take years, not months to vaccinate the American people."

Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said there were major reasons for issues around distribution: vaccine supply, inadequate infrastructure and communication. 

On vaccine supply, Benjamin said, the US does not have what it needs to vaccinate the roughly 330 million people who will need it. Current numbers show the US has about 11.4 million doses on hand, and administration officials have said to expect 20 million doses on hand by early January. This is significantly lower than had originally been promised by the administration, which was touting 100 million doses by the start of the year. 

"This is going to be the greatest operational challenge we've faced as a nation, but we're gonna get it done," Biden said.

Biden has set a goal of administering 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office, and on Tuesday, he unveiled the first concrete steps he'd take to help make that a reality, including a more nationwide approach to the vaccine process than the Trump administration.

Biden said his administration would help set up mass vaccination sites and send mobile units into communities that are hard to reach. The President-elect said he would use the Defense Production Act to ramp up vaccine production.

Another important thing that his administration would do is launch a public education campaign to promote the safety of vaccines, particularly among Black, Latino and Native American communities, which have expressed hesitancy about the vaccine.

As for Benjamin's thoughts on what to do, he said "this requires leadership and coordination at the federal level. The targeted use of the Defense Production Act to address production roadblocks and regulatory barriers. A stronger federal, state and local partnership is also needed for coordination. The Biden administration can address this by providing the leadership, strengthening the delivery infrastructure and enhanced communication."

All I can say is thank goodness we're just several weeks out from Inauguration Day, because Trump and his cronies have all messed everything up at every turn. In fact, that's actually kind of impressive to be so wrong so many times.