Coronavirus Watch: 500,000 deaths, but it 'doesn't really hit you until it hits home'

"It doesn't really hit you until it hits home. And it definitely hit home."

That's what the son of 78-year-old Etelvina Dominguez said as he visited his mother before she passed away due to COVID-19.

As the U.S. approaches another tragic threshold of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, millions of family members – like those of Dominguez, a mother of eight – have been faced with grief, sorrow, and goodbyes that came too soon. 

It's Monday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the news to know today, as of 2:30 p.m. EST.

• While Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said Americans could see some degree of "normality" in late 2021, Marty Makary, a teacher at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, points to dropping case counts and vaccine rollout as reasons why the pandemic could be "mostly gone" by April.
• President Joe Biden announced several revisions Monday to the Paycheck Protection Program that could allow more money to be directed at small businesses that need it most.
• Language and cultural barriers have made it difficult for many non-English speaking communities to get a COVID-19 vaccine. 
• The pandemic has pushed some with eating disorders to finally get help.

Vaccine tracker: Stay up-to-date on how many people have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine in your state and around the country.

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– Jay Cannon, Paste BN Network and Wires Editor, @JayTCannon on Twitter