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| Is it OK for states to offer cash incentives to encourage residents to get vaccinated? |
| According to the federal government, yes. |
| The Treasury Department has updated its guidance for how states and local governments can spend billions of dollars in aid included in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that passed in March. |
| Lotteries, cash payments or other incentive programs are allowed as long as they are "reasonably expected" to increase vaccinations and the costs are "reasonably proportional" to the expected public health benefit. Read more here. |
| It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the USA TODAY Network. Here's more news you need to know: |
| • | A majority of people infected by COVID-19 still have antibodies against the virus 10 months later, according to a study by Labcorp, a life sciences company that specializes in diagnostics and drug development. Labcorp took samples from 39,086 patients, making it the largest real-world study since the start of the pandemic. | | • | William Shakespeare, the elderly Englishman who made news around the world as the first man to receive an authorized COVID-19 vaccination, has died of a stroke unrelated to the virus or the vaccine, authorities in Britain said. | | • | Baltimore City Schools won't require tens of thousands of students failing classes amid challenges posed by the pandemic to repeat a grade in the fall. Chief Academic Officer Joan Dabrowski says students will get customized instruction plans. | |
| Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 33 million COVID-19 cases and 590,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 167 million cases and more than 3.4 million deaths. Nearly 50% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and more than 39% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. |
| Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines. |
| – Grace Hauck, USA TODAY breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck |
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