Archives for March 2021

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Roughly 4 in 10 Americans say they’re still feeling the financial impact of the loss of a job or income within their household as the economic recovery remains uneven one year into the coronavirus pandemic.

The new poll was conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The financial outcome often depended on the type of job a person had and their income level before the pandemic.

The pandemic has particularly hurt Black and Latino households, as well as young Americans, who are now going through their second major economic crisis of their adult lives.

The poll shows about half of Americans say they have experienced at least one form of household income loss during the pandemic, including 25% who have experienced a household layoff and 31% who say someone in the household was scheduled for fewer hours. Overall, 44% say their household experienced income loss from the pandemic that is still having an impact on their finances.

Thirty-eight percent of Hispanics and 29% of Black Americans have experienced a layoff in their household at some point during the past year, compared with 21% of white Americans.

Overall, about a quarter of Americans say they’ve been unable to pay one or more bills in the last month.

Some 745,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits the week of Feb. 22, according to the Labor Department. Nearly 18 million Americans remain on the unemployment rolls.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— AP-NORC poll: Many in US still face COVID-19 financial loss

— Russia to make Sputnik V vaccine in Italy, produce 10M doses in year

— CDC advice for U.S. residents: Fully vaccinated people can gather without masks

— Dutch prime minister extends country’s pandemic lockdown

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— Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

MINNEAPOLIS — Gov. Tim Walz announced Minnesota is expanding eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine after reaching its goal of inoculating at least 70% of people 65 and older.

The state will expand eligibility to the next two phases of Minnesotans. Walz says it includes people with underlying health conditions and those at a risk of workplace exposure, including about 45,000 people who work at food processing plants.

The next two phases include about 1.8 million individuals who can get their shots starting Wednesday.

They include Minnesotans with specific underlying health conditions such as sickle cell disease, Down syndrome, those in cancer treatment or immunocompromised from organ transplant and those who have oxygen-dependent chronic lung and heart conditions.

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BUCHAREST, Romania — Health authorities in Romania announced the country’s first recorded cases of the Brazil coronavirus variant in Bucharest.

Authorities say the new variant, which scientists believe is more contagious, was detected in two men ages 38 and 57, who were symptomatic and have pre-existing medical conditions. One, authorities say, had no travel history.

The arrival of the Brazil variant, also known as the P.1 variant, comes days after the South African variant was first detected in the country and infections begin to sharply rise. Nearly 5,000 COVID-19 infections were recorded Tuesday, about double the average number of daily infections recorded last month.

The growing number of infections prompted authorities to impose on Monday new restrictions in the capital Bucharest, while the western city of Timisoara entered quarantine at the same time.

More than 835,000 people in the country of 19 million — which administered more than 1.8 million vaccinations — have tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 21,000 people have died.

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MILAN — Russia has signed a deal to produce 10 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Italy this year.

The deal was announced Tuesday by the Italian-Russian chamber of commerce. It was signed by Adienne Srl, the Italian subsidiary of a Swiss-based pharmaceutical company, with the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The Italian-Russian chamber of commerce says Russian authorities are working on 20 similar collaborations across Europe and Sputnik V has been registered in 45 nations worldwide.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund that bankrolled the vaccine and markets it abroad has said the production of Sputnik V will span several countries, including India, South Korea, Brazil, China, Turkey, Iran, as well as Belarus and Kazakhstan. Some manufacturers abroad have produced trial batches of the Russian vaccine, but there are few indications they have so far produced any large amounts of the shot.

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnia has reported a huge rise in daily new infections with the coronavirus amid warnings that hospitals in the Balkan country are rapidly filling up.

Authorities on Tuesday reported 1,251 new infections in the past 24 hours, compared to 400 new cases reported on Monday and similar numbers over the weekend.

The surge has prompted authorities in the capital Sarajevo to announce the closure of all bars, restaurants and non-essential shops for the upcoming weekend. Dozens of owners of small businesses have protested the measure, demanding compensation.

Vaccination in Bosnia has been slow after shots through international COVAX program has been stalled. Bosnia has received 10,000 doses of Astra-Zeneca vaccines from Serbia, while the country’s Serb-dominated region has acquired Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines.

Bosnia confirmed another 48 deaths, raising the total to more than 5,000 coronavirus deaths in the country of 3.5 million.

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BUDAPEST — Hungary set records Tuesday for the number of COVID-19 patients being treated in Hungarian hospitals amid a powerful surge in cases.

Nearly 350 people in Hungary were hospitalized with the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of hospitalizations on Tuesday to 8,270, breaking the previous record of 8,045 set on Dec. 8. The number of patients on ventilators also set a new record with 833. Health care experts say it could soon reach the threshold of 1,000, the maximum number of critical patients the country’s health system can handle.

The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Hungary increased by 158 to more than 16,000, the most in a single day since before Christmas.

A new round of lockdown measures went into effect in Hungary on Monday requiring most shops to close for two weeks. Kindergartens and primary schools are closed until April 7.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg threatened to impose new nationwide coronavirus restrictions, including closing amusement parks and gyms and banning the sale of alcohol if an increase in new cases is not brought down.

“We still have a steep hill ahead of us,” says Solberg, calling “for one last effort. That we together go up this hill and hope that that this time we finally manage to reach the top.”

In an address to parliament, she urged citizens to stay home for the Easter break in early April.

She vowed Norway, which has had 74,940 cases and 632 coronvirus deaths, “will crack down on local outbreaks even faster. She said a year ago the Scandinavian country “introduced the most intrusive measures in peacetime.”

“If we succeed (now), there will be no need for new national measures. If we fail, we must tighten quickly,” she said.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand has opened its first large vaccination clinic as it scales up efforts to protect people from the coronavirus.

The clinic in south Auckland will initially target household members of border workers. New Zealand has stamped out community spread of the virus and considers border workers and their families the most vulnerable to catching the disease from infectious travelers.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield sai initially about 150 people a day will get vaccinated at the clinic, although the numbers will be rapidly increased. Health officials plan to open two more clinics in Auckland over the next few weeks.

“It doesn’t hurt, and it is important for everybody to get it,” said Denise Fogasavaii, the sister of an Air New Zealand employee who has already been vaccinated.

New Zealand plans to use the Pfizer vaccine for all inoculations and hopes to complete its vaccination program this year.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico is clearing the way for schools to reopen next month as vaccine eligibility is expanding to include shots for all teachers and other educators.

State education officials announced Monday that five-day a week in-class programs would be open to those who want them. Districts also will be required to provide virtual learning options for students who opt out.

As part of the vaccination effort, the state plans to get teachers their first shots by the end of March.

The state is making the move as part of a directive by the Biden administration. State officials have acknowledged that meeting the goal depends on the federal government increasing vaccine shipments.

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CHEYANNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon says the state will join a handful of others that have lifted mask-wearing mandates to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The changes take effect March 16.

Also being lifted are requirements for bars, restaurants, theaters and gyms, where employees must wear masks and customers not seated in small groups have to keep 6 feet apart.

Gordon cites Wyoming’s declining number of COVID-19 cases and its success in distributing vaccines as reasons to lift the restrictions.

The statewide order in place since December was set to expire next week. States including Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota and Texas also have lifted mask mandates.

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HELSINKI — Estonia’s government has decided on further coronavirus restrictions due to a rapid rise in cases, especially the variant first detected in Britain, and the Baltic country will enter a lockdown Thursday.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas unveiled the new measures in an interview with the Estonian public broadcaster ERR saying “the situation with COVID-19 in Estonia is extremely critical.”

Kallas said Estonia’s pandemic situation needs to be addressed quickly to avoid further escalation and hence “we have decided to lock the country in as much as possible.”

With exception of grocery and other essential stores such as pharmacies, all stores and restaurants throughout Estonia are required to remain closed and all indoor sport activities cease as of Thursday. Restaurants will, however, be able to serve food for take-away and drive-in customers.

Kallas said the new restrictions would be in place for a minimum of one month.

The nation of 1.3 million has seen a rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases n the past few weeks. The country on Monday reported 1,181 new confirmed cases putting total tally to over 76,183 cases with 667 deaths.

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HONOLULU — Hawaii has detected a new COVID-19 variant in the islands, one that first emerged in South Africa.

The state Department of Health said Monday the virus, which has technical name B.1.351 was found in an Oahu resident with no travel history.

Some tests suggest the variant may be less susceptible to antibody drugs or antibody-rich blood from COVID-19 survivors.

Acting State Epidemiologist Sarah Kemble said in a statement that a study conducted in South Africa, where the variant was predominant, showed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was effective in preventing serious disease requiring hospitalization and in preventing death.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that as of Sunday, 81 cases of the South African variant have been detected in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

Hawaii has already detected eight cases of the U.K. or B.1.1.7 variant, including two more announced Monday in an Oahu resident who traveled to the U.S. mainland and a household contact of that person.

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HARTFORD, Conn. — The first Connecticut resident to be diagnosed with COVID-19 says he is still coping with health problems one year later, but the experience has brought a new optimism to his life.

Chris Tillett, a former Wilton, Connecticut, resident, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 8, 2020, and spent three weeks at Danbury Hospital, including 10 days in a coma and on a ventilator. Doctors used experimental treatments, including anti-malaria and anti-HIV drugs, in efforts to save his life.

Tillett, who was 45 at the time, a husband and father of 4-month-old twin boys, got sick after returning from a conference in California.

“This has been a tough year,” Tillett, who now lives in Virginia, told WVIT-TV. “I’m enjoying little aspects of life. Even when things go bad, I just choose to laugh at it now instead of letting it get me angry and upset.”

Tillett told Connecticut Public Radio he continues to experience muscle pain, stiffness and swelling in his legs. He also had to begin taking blood pressure medication and red spots still cover his feet.

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GENEVA — A senior World Health Organization official says “vaccine passports” for COVID-19 should not be used for international travel because of numerous concerns, including ethical considerations that coronavirus vaccines are not easily available globally.

At a press briefing on Monday, WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said there are “real practical and ethical considerations” for countries considering using vaccine certification as a condition for travel, adding the U.N. health agency advises against it for now.

“Vaccination is just not available enough around the world and is not available certainly on an equitable basis,” Ryan said. WHO has previously noted that it’s still unknown how long immunity lasts from the numerous licensed COVID-19 vaccines and that data are still being collected.

Ryan also noted the strategy might be unfair to people who cannot be vaccinated for certain reasons and that requiring vaccine passports might allow “inequity and unfairness (to) be further branded into the system.”

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GENEVA — One of the Oxford University scientists who helped develop AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine disputed that simply making intellectual property rights freely available would significantly widen access to vaccines.

Agencies, including the World Health Organization, have called for pharmaceuticals to waive patent rights.

At a press briefing on Monday, Sarah Gilbert of Oxford University said freely available IP rights would not get the world “anywhere close to solving this problem” of limited vaccines, saying that “it’s not just the rights to the technology that’s needed.” Gilbert said other essential technical goods were needed, including cell banks and testing reagents.

Last year, WHO began a patent pool that asked companies to share their COVID-19 technology and know how for vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. Not a single company has yet joined and Gilbert said she had never heard of the initiative, despite Oxford University’s pledge to make its vaccine available to countries globally.

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MILAN — Italy surpassed 100,000 dead in the pandemic, a year after it became the first country in Europe to go on lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The Italian Health Ministry on Monday said 318 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 100,103, the second highest in Europe after Britain.

Italy recorded its first virus death on Feb. 21, 2020, when 78-year-old retired roofer Antonio Trevisan from a winemaking town west of Venice who had been hospitalized with heart issues died.

Italy’s total virus cases surpassed 3 million last week, with a new surge powered by the highly contagious variant that was first identified in Britain.

Nearly 14,000 new positives were recorded Monday as the number of people in ICUs rose to 2,700 — 95 more than a day earlier. Italy imposed a draconian nationwide lockdown last March 9, which continued for seven weeks and included a shutdown of all non-essential manufacturing.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver his first primetime address to speak to the nation on Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden would note the sacrifices and losses suffered by Americans during the last 12 months. More than 525,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus.

It was March 11, 2020 when the pandemic hit home for many Americans and lockdowns began. That was the night the NBA suspended play, actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson announced they had tested positive and then-President Donald Trump addressed the nation.

The anniversary comes as the administration has bolstered vaccine supply, and some states have begun reopening even as worries remain about virus variants.

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CHIARI, Italy (AP) — The 160-bed hospital in the Po River Valley town of Chiari has no more room for patients stricken with the highly contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain that has put hospitals in Italy’s northern Brescia province on high alert.

That history was repeating itself one year after Lombardy became the epicenter of Italy’s pandemic was a sickening realization for Dr. Gabriele Zanolini, who runs the COVID-19 ward in the M. Mellini Hospital in the once-walled city that maintains its medieval circular street pattern.

“You know that there are patients in the emergency room, and you don’t know where to put them,” Zanolini told The Associated Press.

“This for me is anguish, not to be able to respond to people who need to be treated. The most difficult moment is to find ourselves again in a state of emergency, after so much time.”

The U.K. variant surge has filled 90% of hospital beds in Brescia province, bordering both Veneto and Emilia-Romagna regions, as Italy crossed the grim threshold of 100,000 pandemic dead on Monday and marks the one-year anniversary Wednesday of Italy’s draconian lockdown, the first in the West.

While Zanolini was able to offer a safety valve to hard-hit Bergamo during last spring’s deadly surge, and to Milan and Varese in the fall, now he must ask hospitals elsewhere in the region to take virus patients he himself cannot admit.

New measures are again being considered in Rome to tamp down the increase in new cases attributed to virus variants, including also those identified in South Africa and Brazil. With the U.K. variant prevalent in Italy and racing from school age children and adolescents through families, Lombardy has again put all schools on distance learning, as have several regions in the south where the health care system is more fragile.

In this surge, patients in the Chiari hospital COVID-19 ward are increasingly family members — husbands and wives, fathers and sons — Zanolini said. And unlike previous spikes, the average age has dropped, with many of the virus patients needing breathing aid between 45 and 55 years of age. “We have seen, however, that they respond well to treatment,” Zanolini said of the younger patients, noting that mortality remains high among the elderly.

Despite months of renewed restrictions starting in October, Italy’s death toll remains stubbornly high — several hundred a day. It topped 100,000 this week, the second-highest in Europe after Britain.

Italy’s new premier, Mario Draghi, is focusing on vaccines to help the country emerge from pandemic, pledging in a video message this week to intensify the campaign significantly in the coming weeks.

“Everyone must do his part to contain this spread of this virus,” Draghi said Tuesday. “But above all, the government must to its part. Rather, it must try to do more every day. The pandemic is not yet defeated.”

The vaccine is the only way out, Zanolini concurs. He sees all around him that people have grown weary of the restrictions, and are getting relaxed — too relaxed — with gatherings, distancing and masks.

“We are worried because we don’t see an end. It seems like the tunnel is still very long,” Zanolini said. “We find ourselves hit by another wave, and we are very tired.”

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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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NEW YORK (AP) — Putting out music in a pandemic, without the ability to connect directly with fans through touring, felt sort of like a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it.

Experiencing music in 2020 became a solo experience, for good and for bad, and music that was able to transcend the physical bubbles we all put around ourselves felt rare and special. In some ways, the Grammy nominees represented that difference with albums and music meant for self-exploration or dancing like no one was watching. And sometimes the omissions speak volumes.

Associated Press Music Writers Mesfin Fekadu and Kristin M. Hall dissect the best of an extremely unpredictable year in music.

The Grammys will air on March 14.

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ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “Chilombo,” Jhené Aiko; “Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition),” Black Pumas; “Everyday Life,” Coldplay; “Djesse Vol. 3,” Jacob Collier; “Women In Music Pt. III,” HAIM; “Future Nostalgia,” Dua Lipa; “Hollywood’s Bleeding,” Post Malone; “folklore,” Taylor Swift.

FEKADU: Congratulations Taylor Swift, you will make history and become the first female artist to have three albums win album of the year at the Grammy Awards. Though “folklore” is the best of this bunch in my opinion — with Jhené Aiko a close second — the issue here is that the Recording Academy has designed a swift win for Tay Tay. The Grammys didn’t nominate Swift’s last two albums for this honor, and they are making up for it this year with easy competition. While Dua Lipa and Post Malone had multiple hits, that won’t be enough for them to win this. No shade, and as much as I love HAIM, Black Pumas and Jhené, do you really think they have a chance of winning here? No. And who even remembered that Coldplay dropped an album? There’s a small chance that the uber talented Jacob Collier — if you don’t know him LOOK HIM UP! — could win, but it’s not likely. If the academy wanted to really challenge Swift and “folklore,” they would have nominated critically acclaimed albums from Fiona Apple, Brittany Howard, Tame Impala or even The Weeknd — acts who have a real shot at winning.

HALL: I’m sending you a virtual fist-bump, Mesfin. When I look at this list, I think more about the albums I loved that weren’t nominated. While Swift’s introspective pandemic album definitely deserves to be in this category, “folklore” feels like a safe, obvious choice for voters. We’ve seen artists (cough cough, Fiona, cough cough, Run the Jewels) take great creative leaps and bounds and yet we’re served up a pre-packaged win. That being said, there are sometimes under-the-radar wins in this category, so I think HAIM’s complex and intriguing album has a chance (however slight) to win.

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RECORD OF THE YEAR: “Black Parade,” Beyoncé; “Colors,” Black Pumas; “Rockstar,” DaBaby and Roddy Ricch; “Say So,” Doja Cat; “Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish; “Don’t Start Now,” Dua Lipa; “Circles,” Post Malone; “Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé.

HALL: Three words, “Classy, bougie, ratchet,” propelled Megan Thee Stallion to viral fame with an insanely catchy song while her fellow Houston native added fire to the remix. Rap songs don’t often win in these top categories and with Beyoncé and DaBaby also competing for votes, I predict one of the most popular songs of the year probably isn’t going to win here. Dua Lipa put the dance club in our bedrooms this year with “Don’t Start Now” and she’ll walk away a winner.

FEKADU: That’s a smart choice, Kristin! Normally I would think Dua Lipa — who is this decade’s Katy Perry (no Grammy wins) — wouldn’t have a chance here. But then I remembered that Dua won best new artist over H.E.R. and Luke Combs, and also picked up best dance recording that year, which proves voters really like her. Still, “Don’t Start Now” won’t win now. My mind tells me Beyoncé will win her first record of the year honor, but my body says Billie will win her second.

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SONG OF THE YEAR (songwriter’s award): “Black Parade,” Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Derek Dixie, Denisia Andrews, Stephen Bray, Brittany Coney, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk and Rickie “Caso” Tice; “The Box,” Roddy Ricch, Samuel Gloade, Larrance Dopson, Adarius Moragne, Eric Sloan and Khirye Anthony Tyler; “cardigan,” Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner; “Circles,” Post Malone, Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk and Billy Walsh; “Don’t Start Now,” Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Ian Kirkpatrick and Emily Warren; “Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish and Finneas; “I Can’t Breathe,” H.E.R., Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas; “If the World Was Ending,” Julia Michaels and JP Saxe.

FEKADU: Just rename this award “The Eilish Family Prize.”

HALL: I am not really feeling a Grammys 2020 redux this year. And where is “Blinding Lights”? Nevertheless, “Black Parade” is a well-crafted cinematic celebration that evokes the history of Black music. Even without releasing an album last year, Beyoncé is still dominating the Grammys and I think she has a resonating and timely message.

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BEST NEW ARTIST: Ingrid Andress; Phoebe Bridgers; Chika; Noah Cyrus; D Smoke; Doja Cat; Kaytranada; Megan Thee Stallion.

HALL: While the records from Andress and Bridgers were an emotional salve during a tough year, Megan’s momentum is unstoppable. She built up to her debut full-length record, “Good News,” with back-to-back hits and huge collaborations on songs like “Hot Girl Summer” with Nicki Minaj and backing up Cardi B on “WAP.” She’s also used her platform in the past year to speak about violence against Black women. This stallion has already won the race.

FEKADU: Let’s not forget she got shot in the foot and didn’t deserve that! So there will be extra sympathy votes for the rap princess, who deserves this honor more than any other artist.

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BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE: “Yummy,” Justin Bieber; “Say So,” Doja Cat; “Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish; “Don’t Start Now,” Dua Lipa; “Watermelon Sugar,” Harry Styles; “cardigan,” Taylor Swift.

FEKADU: Let’s start with who won’t win here: sorry Biebs, Tay and Doja. I’m split between Billie, Dua and Harry, but I’m going with “Watermelon Sugar” for two sweet reasons: The song was irresistible and the win will make up for Harry’s snubs in the big three categories.

HALL: I appreciated the subtle (go Google it) sexiness that Styles plays with on “Watermelon Sugar,” for sure. T-Swift has been nominated in this category multiple times without a win, which is a bit surprising, but I think voters are going to be drawn to the whisper queen Eilish.

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BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE: “Shameika,” Fiona Apple; “Not,” Big Thief; “Kyoto,” Phoebe Bridgers; “The Steps,” HAIM; “Stay High,” Brittany Howard; “Daylight,” Grace Potter.

HALL: I don’t want to date myself, but seeing all these female rock artist names together makes me long for the late ‘90s Lilith Fair concerts where I felt among a likeminded community. Fiona Apple’s return after several long years was personal and unconventional, intimate and experimental, and her exploration in “Shameika” of feeling recognized, even in a small way, by another young girl just zeroed in on all my millennial feelings.

FEKADU: The apple of my eye (and this award): Fiona and “Shameika.”

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BEST R&B SONG: “Better Than I Imagined,” Robert Glasper, H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello; “Black Parade,” Beyoncé; “Collide,” Tiana Major9 and EARTHGANG; “Do It,” Chloe x Halle; “Slow Down,” Skip Marley and H.E.R.

FEKADU: As a card-carrying member of the Beehive — with platinum status — I’m marching in Beyoncé’s “Black Parade.”

HALL: I, too, stan the Queen, but I have fallen in love with “Slow Down” featuring these two young stars. The mixture of their distinct voices and the blending reggae and R&B on a sweet love song is just beautiful. Grammy voters have already crowned H.E.R as the genre’s next big star who has been collaborating all over the place, while Marley, the grandson of reggae legend Bob Marley, has shown the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

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BEST RAP SONG: “The Bigger Picture,” Lil Baby; “The Box,” Roddy Ricch; “Laugh Now Cry Later,” Drake and Lil Durk; “Rockstar,” DaBaby and Roddy Ricch; “Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé.

HALL: Megan and Beyoncé will not be denied.

FEKADU: I don’t want no smoke with B, but there’s another rap hit that dominated the year more than “Savage,” and that’s “The Box.” The Grammys love Roddy — he was a newbie and won his first Grammy last year — and “The Box” is also nominated for song of the year and “Savage” isn’t. Plus, “The Box” offers one of the best lines, especially necessary during the pandemic era: “Don’t wear no shoes in my house!”

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BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE: “All Night,” Brothers Osborne; “10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber; “Ocean,” Lady A; “Sugar Coat,” Little Big Town; “Some People Do,” Old Dominion.

FEKADU: Dan + Shay have won this honor the last two years, and their Bieber-assisted track was a huge pop hit, but I don’t think “10,000 Hours” will win here. This year marks Brothers Osborne’s sixth nod in this category, but they’ll fall short to Old Dominion’s “Some People Do,” a touching tune that’s also nominated for best country song.

HALL: With big hit after hit, I would bet $10,000 on Dan + Shay wining the trifecta in this category. Shay Mooney’s vocals are among the best in the genre, while Dan Smyers is a studio whiz. Welcome to Bieber country.

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s leaders Monday celebrated the country’s 5 millionth coronavirus vaccination on the same day the government began vaccinating Palestinian laborers who work in the country. The time lag has drawn international criticism and highlighted global disparities.

There was no indication the two events were coordinated, but their split-screen quality offered a stark contrast between Israel’s world-leading vaccination blitz and the plight of 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Progress in places like Israel, the United States and Britain has heightened concerns among human rights advocates of driving a wider gap between wealthy countries and those that can’t afford pricey vaccination programs.

Until Monday, the Palestinian Authority, which administers autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had received enough doses for only 6,000 people.

Israel has inoculated more than half its population of 9.3 million and pushed ahead Monday with the reopening of more of its economy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing re-election this month, promised to vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of April, which he said would mean “we are out of the corona crisis.”

He appeared at a press conference in Tel Aviv with Janet Lavi-Azulay, an Israeli woman who became the 5 millionth person in Israel to be vaccinated. In all, Israel has vaccinated roughly 80% of its adult population, giving decision makers enough confidence to begin reopening stores, restaurants, health clubs and music clubs in recent days. Many of these amenities are available only to those who can prove they have been vaccinated or have recovered from the virus.

About 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast, Anwar Muhammad Awarin got his jab and showed a text on his cell phone certifying the inoculation. For him and other Palestinian workers, it was less about celebrating and more about survival.

“I got the vaccine so I can work,” said Awarin, who received his inoculation at the Meitar checkpoint in the West Bank. “If you don’t get the vaccine, you don’t get the permit. So, I got the permit and my health as well.”

He was one of some 6,000 Palestinian laborers who received their first doses of the Moderna vaccine from paramedics from the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom.

The vaccination drive orchestrated by COGAT, Israel’s military agency coordinating government operations in the West Bank, was postponed by one day. More vaccination sites for Palestinian workers were expected to open this week.

About 100,000 Palestinian laborers from the West Bank work in Israel and its settlements, which are widely seen internationally as illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, the head of COGAT, said in a statement in Arabic that Israelis and Palestinians “live in the same epidemiological space” and that it was a shared interest to vaccinate Palestinians.

Israel has won international plaudits for moving quickly to vaccinate its population. But it has come under criticism from U.N. officials, human rights groups and medical experts for not sharing more of its stockpile with the Palestinians.

Human rights groups and many Palestinians say that as an occupying power, Israel is responsible for providing vaccines to the Palestinians. Israel says that under interim peace accords reached in the 1990s, it does not have any such obligation.

Israeli officials have said the priority is vaccinating Israel’s own population first, while the Palestinian Authority has said it will obtain its own vaccines through the World Health Organization and other sources. Israel has vaccinated its own Arab population.

To date, the PA has acquired enough vaccine doses for only 6,000 people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are home to nearly 5 million Palestinians. It received 2,000 doses from Israel and acquired another 10,000 doses of a Russian-made vaccine. Each person is given in two doses to be fully vaccinated.

Israel has administered over 8.7 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to its population of 9.3 million. Over 3.7 million Israelis — more than 40% — have received both of the doses required for maximum immunity.

Netanyahu also announced plans to share surplus vaccines with far-flung allies in Africa, Europe and Latin America, but the decision has been frozen by legal questions. Last Thursday, Netanyahu met with leaders of Denmark and Austria and said the three nations would join forces in the fight against COVID-19 with an investment in research and roll-out of vaccines.

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Associated Press writer Alon Bernstein contributed from Meitar crossing.

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