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Coronavirus Watch: Potential delay in stimulus checks

Rachel Aretakis   | Paste BN

We told you Tuesday that stimulus checks could be coming as soon as next week. But there may be a holdup. 

Tuesday night, President Trump said he wasn't happy with the stimulus package and the $600 checks. Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for a Christmas Eve vote on a proposal to raise the amount of direct payments to $2,000. 

So, what does this mean? Congress has enough votes to override a potential veto, though Trump stopped short of actually saying he would veto the bill. Regardless, any delay in the signing or a veto would delay Americans getting their checks. We're tracking the latest developments here.

It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's what you need to know, as of noon ET:

  • Another 3,401 U.S. deaths were recorded Wednesday, the second highest total on record, according to Johns Hopkins University data. It's the fifth time the death toll has surpassed 3,000 in one day, and all five times were this month. 
  • Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the U.S. with an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine under a second agreement.
  • But don't expect vaccines to become widely available until late spring or early summer – assuming no production problems and the authorization of two additional vaccines by some time in February – a dozen experts interviewed by Paste BN warn.
  • California is on the brink of surpassing 2 million confirmed cases and it could see 100,000 hospitalizations in January. As of Tuesday, the state has a 1.4% ICU capacity and 22,900 deaths.
  • Meanwhile, Arkansas plans to build two facilities that will provide over 100 additional hospital beds in case the state runs out of capacity in the near future, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday. 

Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 18.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 323,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. It was only eight days ago the country reached 300,000 COVID fatalities. The global totals: More than 78.2 million cases and 1.7 million deaths. 

As always, thanks for subscribing. We appreciate you trusting us with this important information. 

– Rachel Aretakis, breaking news editor, @raretakis

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