Low-income children wait months for USDA food aid to replace school meals 'It should be a four-alarm fire,' says one expert, given the high hunger rates among families. Helena Bottemiller Evich POLITICO

Millions of low-income schoolchildren have gone almost an entire semester without receiving federal payments to help their families buy groceries months after Congress authorized the aid — even as child hunger reaches record highs in the U.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/19/world/covid-19-coronavirus#boris-johnson-orders-a-severe-lockdown-saying-a-more-infectious-variant-of-the-virus-is-ripping-through-britain

LONDON — Alarmed by what he called a faster-spreading variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson abruptly reversed course on Saturday and imposed a wholesale lockdown on London and most of England’s southeast.

The decision, which Mr. Johnson announced after an emergency meeting of his cabinet, came after the government got new evidence of a variant first detected several weeks ago in Kent, southeast of London, which the prime minister asserted was 70 percent more transmissible than previous versions. Cabinet ministers were told that in London, cases had nearly doubled in the last week, with the new variant accounting for 60 percent of those.

Federal agency says employers can require workers to get COVID-19 A key federal agency said this week that employers can legally require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and prevent them from entering their workplaces if they refuse. Tal Axelrod TheHill

A key federal agency said this week that employers can legally require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and prevent them from entering their workplaces if they refuse. 

Newly Released COVID-19 Data Show Most U.S. Cities Are 'Sustained Hotspots' A comprehensive dataset gives the American public the same view of the status of the pandemic that federal officials have but previously held back. The outlook is bleak. NPR.org

The Trump administration on Friday made public a trove of federal data on the pandemic that reveals a country awash in red alerts.

The Latest: 2nd reported severe reaction to COVID-19 vaccine FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A second healthcare worker has experienced a severe reaction after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, officials said Friday. Both cases were in Alaska. In the latest,... AP NEWS

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A second healthcare worker has experienced a severe reaction after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, officials said Friday.

Both cases were in Alaska.

Pfizer decision on vaccine temperature sensors forced scramble - STAT Hospitals and the U.S. government scrambled to figure out how they would monitor the temperature of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. Olivia Goldhill STAT

A last-minute snafu this fall threatened to disrupt the smooth rollout of the first Covid-19 vaccine approved in the United States, according to industry officials.