Health News

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Jordan Spieth returns to competition after four weeks off following the Masters. That wasn’t the plan.

COVID-19 wasn’t part of the plan, either.

Spieth revealed Tuesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus the second week after the Masters, which is what kept him from playing the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook two weeks ago.

“I’ve only played a couple rounds and so I’m looking to maybe knock a little rust off that I didn’t think would necessarily be here,” Spieth said.

Spieth said no around him tested positive. It was Tuesday of the Zurich Classic (April 20) when he started to feel symptoms. He said it was bad for a day-and-a-half, “and then it was just kind of annoying for the next five days.”

He said the last week-and-a-half it’s as if nothing happened.

“Just kind of set me back a little,” he said. “I guess if there’s ever a good time during the season, it worked out OK. But I was planning on continuing to play. I wasn’t planning on taking a month off in the spring. So at this point, it’s get back to playing golf and try and get in the same rhythm I was in and just kind of being patient with it.”

He was in rhythm, all right. After going without a win for nearly four years, Spieth ran off four top 10s in six events before winning the Texas Open. He then tied for third in the Masters.

And now he’ll be playing plenty. The AT&T Byron Nelson is the first of four in a row for Spieth, and five out of six through the U.S. Open.

MASTERS DINNER

It sounds as though Hideki Matsuyama is going to decide on what to serve at the Masters Club dinner next April a lot sooner than Dustin Johnson did.

The Masters champions can count on some variety of sushi.

“Sushi does come to mind,” Matsuyama said Tuesday. “I’m a little worried. I don’t know if everyone will really like sushi or not, but I’m going to check with some people and get their advice and what they think.”

For those who don’t like sushi, Matsuyama mentioned that Japan has some of the best beef in the world.

“So I’m thinking about that and looking forward to it next year,” he said.

Matsuyama is playing the AT&T Byron Nelson this year, his first tournament since winning the Masters. His celebration was unlike any other Masters champion: He quarantined for two weeks upon arriving home.

That led to something he rarely does. Matsuyama had plenty of time on his hands to read.

“I was able to probably read every news article and newspaper and magazine and TV. And seeing how the Masters win was portrayed in Japan was great, really unforgettable, and that really stands out for my trip back to Japan,” he said.

He said it was the most he had ever read about himself.

“A bit embarrassing,” he said. “I’m not used to all that attention, but grateful that people took notice.”

LOVE HURTS

The plan for Davis Love III was to play his way into shape for the PGA Championship and have his right hip replaced at the end of the month.

The first part of the equation became a problem.

Love was at the Insperity Invitational on the PGA Tour Champions and the pain became too much as he limped to a tie for 38th in a 36-hole event cut short by rain. He withdrew from the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, where Love will be Presidents Cup captain next year, and pulled out of the PGA Championship.

“He just got wobbly out there, and he knew he couldn’t walk,” said his manager, Jimmy Johnston.

Love is headed to Birmingham, Alabama, for surgery on his right hip. His left hip was replaced in 2017. Johnston said the 57-year-old Love is expected to take two-and-a-half months to recover and hopes to return in time for the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 12-15. Love won the Wyndham Championship in 2015 at age 51.

BRITISH HOPES

The British Open returns to Royal St. George’s on the east side of England, and the R&A is holding out hope for what Martin Slumbers described as a “significant number of fans” in a reduced capacity model.

Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, posted an update Tuesday that noted increased optimism, along with caution, for the only major that was canceled last year. The Open is scheduled for July 15-18.

“Our absolute priority is to ensure we can stage The Open safely for all involved,” Slumber said.

Slumbers said the British government still has to decide on testing, vaccine certification and social distancing, all of which will influence what kind of crowd Royal St. George’s can accommodate. In the meantime, he said the R&A is contacting those with tickets — refund information for those who can’t make it, a request for patience for those hopeful of coming.

“Our end goal remains to stage a fantastic Open at Royal St. George’s and give our fans and players something to be genuinely thrilled about this summer,” he said.

KERR TO OLYMPIC CLUB

Cristie Kerr has received a special exemption to the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club, a year before the championship returns to the site of Kerr’s first major. She won at Pine Needles in 2007, and later added an LPGA Championship.

The Women’s Open is June 3-6 in San Francisco.

The 43-year-old Kerr is the second past champion to receive a Women’s Open exemption. The USGA previously awarded one to Paula Creamer, who won in 2010 at Oakmont. Kerr will be making her 24th consecutive start. Her last top 10 was at CordeValle in 2016.

“Winning the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles was a career- and life-changing moment,” Kerr said.

To return to North Carolina next year, Kerr would have to win an LPGA Tour event or finish among the top 30 in the Race to CME Globe standings or be in the top 75 in the women’s world ranking. There are other cutoffs for the Race to CME Globe and women’s world ranking in the month ahead of the Women’s Open.

DIVOTS

KPS Capital Partners acquired TaylorMade in 2017. It announced it has sold the company to South Korean private equity firm Centroid Investment Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed, though it was believed to be $1.7 billion. … Rory McIlroy moved to No. 6 in career earnings on the PGA Tour at just over $56.3 million. … Martin Kaymer, Robert MacIntyre and Danny Willett are among 12 players who will compete in the British Masters at The Belfry before flying over for the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. … Alex Cejka was the seventh PGA Tour Champions rookie to win in the 2020-21 season.

STAT OF THE WEEK

The Wells Fargo Championship marked the 10th time Rory McIlroy has come from behind in the final round to win, the most of any player on the PGA Tour since 2010.

FINAL WORD

“If I’m a guy who’s on my way to make history, like a Dustin (Johnson) or a few other top guys, I want to go after records, not a dollar.” — Webb Simpson.

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More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman who stabbed her estranged husband’s girlfriend to death was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder.

A Marion County jury deliberated for less than an hour before convicting Michelle Boat in the May 18, 2020, death of 46-year-old Tracy Mondabough, who was stabbed as she sat in her truck in Pella, The Ottumwa Courier reported.

Boat acknowledged on Monday that she killed Mondabough, of Ottumwa. Her lawyer, Trevor Anderson, argued during the trial that the killing wasn’t premediated and that jurors should convict Boat of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Andersen said Boat snapped after the sudden breakup of her 20-year marriage and amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, which left her jobless and with only $6 at the time of the killing. Boat reacted when she saw her husband, Nicholas Boat, kiss Mondabough that day, he said.

“I don’t want you to sympathize with Mrs. Boat,” Andersen said. “I don’t want you to give her mercy. She doesn’t deserve it. She killed someone seat-belted in her truck, with no weapon — killed her and left her for dead, drove off. That is not asking for sympathy when I ask you to consider why.”

Jared Harmon, an assistant Marion County prosecutor, said during closing arguments that evidence showed Boat had planned the killing, including warning texts she had sent Mondabough. She also gathered everything she needed, such as the knife, gloves and binoculars, while waiting for an opportunity to kill the victim, he said.

“Michelle Boat didn’t act because of some sudden, irresistible provocation,” Harmon said. “She was the provocation.”

The first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

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TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s largest province said Tuesday it will stop giving out first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine due to concerns over its link to rare blood clots.

Ontario’s chief medical officer for health, Dr. David Williams, said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution because of increased instances of the rare blood clotting disorder linked to the shot.

AstraZeneca is restricted in some European countries because of a potential link to extremely rare blood clots.

“Over the last few days there have been increased reports,” Williams said. “We are reviewing the data to consider options for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for second doses and more broadly.”

In Canada, at least 12 cases have been confirmed out of more than 2 million doses given, and three women have died.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both received a AstraZeneca first dose in recent weeks. Williams said people who got the first dose of AstraZeneca “absolutely did the right thing.”

Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network, does not believe Canada should be using AstraZeneca any longer now that Canada has large supplies of other vaccines.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Morris said experts don’t know yet what to do about people who got only the first dose. Health officials are awaiting results of a clinical trial in the United Kingdom looking at giving a different vaccine for the second dose. That would allow people who got AstraZeneca first to be given Pfizer or Moderna for their second dose.

Alberta is also no longer administrating first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but only because of a lack of supply.

Pfizer and Moderna are sending more than enough doses to vaccinate every Canadian with two doses eventually.

Trudeau said almost 50% of eligible adults in Canada have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine. Most of that is Pfizer and Moderna.

Trudeau said by the summer, Canada will have enough vaccines so that every eligible resident will have gotten their first dose and by September it will have enough doses for everyone to be fully vaccinated.

“A one-dose summer sets us up for a two-dose fall when we’ll be able to talk about going back to school, back to work, and back to more normality,” Trudeau said.

Canada has lagged in vaccinating its population because it lacks the ability to manufacture the vaccines and like many countries has had to rely on the global supply chain for the shots. Trudeau’s government bet on seven different vaccines manufactured elsewhere and secured advance purchase agreements — enough to get 10 doses for each Canadian.

But initial supply chain difficulties forced Canada to extend the time between the first shot and the second by up to four months so that everyone can be protected faster with the initial dose. The hope is to get all adults at least one shot by the end of June. About 3% of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated.

Regulators have approved the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for use in Canada.

But plans to distribute the first 300,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are on hold after Health Canada learned part of them were manufactured at a Maryland facility where U.S. officials uncovered manufacturing violations.

The U.S. has suggested it will share more AstraZeneca doses with Canada after loaning 1.5 million doses but it is not clear when that will happen.

Canada started getting Pfizer vaccines from the United States only this month. Despite Canada’s tightly woven commercial ties with the U.S., it has been getting Pfizer’s vaccines from Belgium until now because U.S. authorities had kept supplies made in the U.S. for domestic use.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store than Pfizer or Moderna, is critical to global immunization campaigns. It is a pillar of the U.N.-backed program known as COVAX that aims to get vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries.

Toronto, Canada’s largest city, has been on lockdown for six months. A third wave of infections fueled by coronavirus variants has started to recede.

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MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Parents, schools and vaccine clinics rushed to begin inoculating younger adolescents Tuesday after U.S. regulators endorsed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 12, a decision seen as a breakthrough in allowing classroom instruction to resume safely around the country.

A handful of cities started offering shots to children ages 12 to 15 less than a day after the Food and Drug Administration gave the vaccine emergency use authorization for that age group. Most communities were waiting for a federal advisory committee that meets Wednesday to sign off on the move, while anxious families called clinics and pharmacies to ask about the soonest appointments.

In Atlanta, 12-year-old Jane Ellen Norman got her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday morning. The girl said she looked forward to having “a little bit more freedom.”

Her mother, English Norman, said she also booked an appointment for her 14-year-old son immediately after learning that the FDA on Monday had declared the vaccine safe for the nearly 17 million 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S. Now, the entire family – including Norman’s husband, a physician, and their 17-year-old son – has begun the vaccination process.

“We’re five for five,” the 52-year-old artist said.

Most COVID-19 vaccines worldwide have been authorized for adults. Pfizer’s vaccine is being used in multiple countries for teens as young as 16, and Canada recently became the first to expand use to children 12 and up. Parents, school administrators and public health officials elsewhere have eagerly awaited approval for the shot to be made available to more young people.

The official sign-off on the vaccine’s use in the 12-15 age group will not occur until at least Wednesday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee meets. Local governments that began offering shots right away viewed the FDA decision on Monday as enough of a green light to start the process.

“Under all relevant legal authority, once the FDA gives approval, a prescriber is permitted to prescribe the vaccine,” Kelly Cofrancisco, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County, said as shots for residents 12 and up started Tuesday.

In the Kansas City area, Children’s Mercy Hospital has run vaccine clinics for 16- to 21-year-olds since last month and plans to expand them to cover the younger ages soon. Dr. Ryan McDonough, a pediatrician who oversees the COVID-19 vaccine clinics, said he has been deluged with calls from patients and texts from friends and relatives wanting to sign up their kids.

“It is about getting back to normal,” McDonough said. “It is about getting their kid in school five days a week. It is about going to see grandma and grandpa. It is about getting back to sports. It is all about normalcy, and people just want to get back to pre-pandemic life.”

The Iowa-based grocery store chain Hy-Vee, which has 278 stores in eight Midwestern states, was looking to begin offering the vaccine to younger adolescents as soon as Thursday. Interest has been strong among parents, who deluged stores with calls and emails after the FDA signed off on the vaccine, Hy-Vee spokesperson Christina Gayman said.

“Some people tried to go ahead and go online and make an appointment,” she said. “But we at this time have let those individuals know, ’Hey, we cannot vaccinate that age group just yet.’”

Chicago, meanwhile, said it was ready to begin vaccinating people between 12 and 15 but would wait until Thursday to start administering shots. The city’s public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, noted that the communities with the lowest vaccination rates continue to have the highest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases and rates of hospitalization and death — even in teens and young adults.

“Help us increase vaccine uptake and get past COVID by bringing your whole family to get vaccinated together,” Arwady urged in a news release.

Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Goluszka was ready. For more than a year, she and her friends have celebrated birthdays and holidays at a distance. The teenagers left gifts outside each other’s homes as a replacement for the parties they planned and then canceled as the pandemic wore on. Elizabeth said she also missed dance competitions and chatting with friends over lunch at Batavia High School in Chicago’s western suburbs.

“I’m just so looking forward to getting back to a sort of normal high school experience, like having the homecoming dance and being able to have lunch with friends,” she said.

Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez said her son, Nicolas, had hoped to be part of the clinical trials for the Pfizer but they were no longer signing up participants by the boy’s 12th birthday. The family relocated this summer to San Antonio when Verduzco-Gutierrez accepted a new job and it’s been difficult for Nicolas to make friends or explore much.

Attending classes in person helped, but there’s not much time to socialize at school. Masks and social distancing don’t make it any easier either, he said, and he’s looking forward to getting vaccinated.

“It will be really nice to be able to say, ‘Hey, want to go get ice cream or something?’” Nicolas said.

The regulators’ decision was good news to education officials in Massachusetts, where all high schools must resume in-person classes five days a week by Monday. Two-thirds already are doing so.

“I think it is a great opportunity, obviously, to create even more safety in our schools for our students and our staff and getting closer to herd immunity,” said Russell Johnston, senior associate commissioner at the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “I think it is really important.”

But not everyone is eager. Polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that just 3 in 10 parents of children ages 12 to 15 say they would get their child vaccinated as soon as possible. One-quarter said they would wait a while to see how the vaccine is working.

Indianapolis parent Inna Ekhaus said it was a “no-brainer” for her and her husband to get vaccinated to curb the spread of COVID-19 and to protect themselves. But after doing a risk-benefit analysis, she does not plan to take the couple’s two sons, ages 13 and 10, to get inoculated.

Ekhaus said her boys, who are otherwise healthy, got COVID-19 in October and reported only minor symptoms.

“For the kids, I don’t think the due diligence has been done to show the long-term effects, and children’s bodies are still developing,” said the 38-year-old tech worker.

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Foody and Tareen reported from Chicago. Associated Press Writer Angie Wang in Atlanta also contributed to this report.

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SALEM, Ore. — Oregon lawmakers have passed a bill to give tenants who are struggling with financial hardships due to the pandemic more time to pay past-due rent.

Currently tenants have until July, but the legislation will extend the deadline to next Feb. 28. The bill already passed the Senate and now goes to the governor.

The measure protects renters from the long-term impact of not making payments on time by barring such information from being reported to consumer credit agencies or being used in consideration of future rental applications. The measure also bars landlords from screening out applicants based on pandemic-era evictions.

In March, more than 17% of Oregon renters in a U.S. Census survey reported being behind on rent payments.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— A jumbo pop-up hospital treating COVID-19 patients in hard-hit Mumbai has more than 2,000 beds, most of them full

— WHO official strongly denies making false statements to Italian prosecutors about U.N. report into Italy’s virus response

— Argentina’s doctors adapt, more learn intensive-care techniques as COVID-19 puts younger patients in hospitals

— Mexico says Russia is having production problems with its Sputnik V vaccine; Russia denies the report.

— Volunteers at Hindu temples, Muslim groups and Sikh relief organizations in US mobilize to support India during its virus surge

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

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has issued an executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of wearing masks in public schools.

In his announcement Tuesday, the governor cited the widespread access to coronavirus vaccines for adults across the state.

McMaster’s statement says that “it goes against all logic to continue to force our children — especially our youngest children — to wear masks against their parents’ wishes.”

The order also bars state and local government agencies from requiring people to show proof of vaccination in order to receive government services or access public buildings and facilities.

The governor’s order also limits local governments from issuing mask ordinances based on his prior emergency declarations related to the pandemic. Those governments will have to find justification for such mask rules within their own ordinances.

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SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s government has set vaccination targets that officials hope will lead to the reopening of the state’s economy.

Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday most statewide pandemic restrictions will be lifted when 70% of Oregon’s residents 16 and older get the first coronavirus vaccine dose. In addition, individual counties can move into the “lower risk” category for restrictions once 65% of the area’s eligible population is vaccinated.

Currently, 35% of Oregon’s people are fully vaccinated.

Brown cautions that Oregon may continue to require the use of masks and physical distancing.

Just last month, the governor put 15 Oregon counties into the “extreme risk” category that bans indoor dining and significantly reduces gym and indoor entertainment capacities due to increasing COVID-19 cases.

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HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut education and health officials are working to organize clinics that will give children between 12 and 15 years of age access to Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as soon as the federal government gives final approval for that age group.

The Department of Education said Tuesday that clinics have already been held at schools in more than 30 districts for youngers 16 to 18 year old.

Clinics are now being planned that could be expanded to vaccinate younger students. But the department says some local districts may opt instead for bus trips to mass vaccination sites or work with local providers to schedule vaccinations.

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MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont says it is ready to begin providing the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to adolescents between the ages of 12 to 15 within days of its use being authorized by the federal government,.

Vermont’s state health commission said Tuesday that vaccinations could begin being administered to adolescents soon after approval, which is widely expected to come Wednesday.

Vaccination clinics are being planned for more than 40 schools, and adolescents will be able to get the vaccine at any location that offers the Pfizer vaccine. There are about 27,000 Vermonters in the 12-15 age group.

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TORONTO — Canada’s largest province says it will stop giving out first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to concerns over blood clots.

Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams says the decision has been made out of an abundance of caution because of increased instances of a rare blood clotting disorder linked to the shot.

AstraZeneca is restricted in some European countries because of a potential link to extremely rare blood clots. In Canada, at least 12 cases have been confirmed out of more than two million doses given and three women have died.

Ontario says it has 49,280 doses of the shot remaining in the province out of over 707,000 received. Health officials are awaiting results of a clinical trial in the United Kingdom looking at giving a different vaccine for the second dose. That would allow people who got AstraZeneca first to be given Pfizer or Moderna for their second dose.

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LAS VEGAS — Health officials in Nevada have said Clark County might not be vaccinating people fast enough to reach the state’s goal to remove capacity limits and social distancing requirements next month.

Southern Nevada Health District Chief Health Officer Dr. Fermin Leguen said about 50% of eligible residents 16 and older, or about 919,000 people, had received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines as of Friday.

Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak set a state goal to reduce restrictions by June 1. But Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, set a threshold to vaccinate 60% of its population, or more than a million people, before fully reopening.

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PHOENIX — Arizona health officials announced Tuesday the the seven state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites are poised to begin offering shots to children ages 12 to 15 starting Thursday.

The Department of Health Services made its announcement a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave emergency-use authorization for the administration of Pfizer’s vaccine to the 12 to 15 age group.

A federal advisory committee and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to follow suit on Wednesday. Arizona has state-run vaccination sites in metro Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and Flagstaff.

Arizona on Tuesday reported 683 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 19 more deaths.

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PARIS — French Health Minister Olivier Veran, a neurologist, has administrated vaccine shots to several people himself in the Paris’ southern suburb of Montrouge, as France seeks to speed up its COVID-19 vaccination program.

On Tuesday, authorities allowed all people over 18 to get access to vaccines if some appointments remain available for the following day. All people over 50 and those with specific health issues can book in advance.

As the country is gradually reopening, the French government expect 20 million people, or 38% of the adult population, will have received at least one dose at mid-May. At the current speed, between 2.5 million and 3 million people are vaccinated every week.

Terrasses of cafes and restaurants, museums and non essential shops are set to reopen on May 19.

Numbers of daily infections have started decreasing in recent weeks. Over 4,700 COVID-19 patients were still in intensive care units on Tuesday.

France has reported almost 107,000 virus-related deaths.

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BANGKOK — Buddhist monks in Thailand held a national prayer event Tuesday evening to boost the nation’s morale as the country struggles to curb a surge of COVID-19 cases.

The government’s National Office of Buddhism ordered all temples nationwide to hold the prayer event, and issued a handbook with several pages of ceremonial chants used to banish danger and disease during Buddha’s era. The office said it was taking action because the country’s third wave of the coronavirus was affecting the minds and bodies of monks and other Buddhists,

Thailand’s Supreme Patriarch, Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong — head of the country’s Buddhist clergy — led a prayer session lasting about an hour from his temple in the Thai capital Bangkok, which was broadcast live by the government’s television station. The words to the chants were shown onscreen for viewers who want to pray along from home.

Thai health authorities earlier Tuesday announced 1,919 new confirmed cases of the disease, bringing the total to 86,924 since January last year. They also announced 31 new deaths, bringing the total fatalities to 452.

The third wave of the coronavirus, which is deemed to have begun on April 1, has accounted for 58,061 of Thailand’s total cases, and 358 of its total deaths.

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LONG BEACH, Calif. — The city of Long Beach, California, is offering tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific as an incentive to overcome resistance to COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is one of the Los Angeles region’s major attractions, drawing about 1.7 million visitors annually.

Long Beach will give two aquarium tickets to anyone receiving their first dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at any city-run vaccination site, the city said Tuesday. The offer runs through May 15.

“While we have made tremendous strides in vaccinating 60% of eligible Long Beach residents and 96% of our seniors, we know that vaccine hesitancy for some is real,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement. “We are going to do everything we can to encourage folks to get vaccinated, and that includes incentives.”

City Health and Human Services Director Kelly Colopy said the recent slowdown in vaccinations in California includes Long Beach.

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NEW YORK — Vaccination rates for retirement-age Americans have been lowest in states in the South, according to a new government study.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers sought to figure out if places with lower vaccination rates for that age group had anything in common. They found lower vaccination rates in counties where fewer older adults have a computer or Internet access, and in counties where more people 65 and live alone or in poverty.

The CDC released the report Tuesday. CDC researchers looked at vaccination data from mid-December, when coronavirus vaccine first became available, through April 10.

The researchers found that, overall, 79% of people age 65 and older had received at least one dose of vaccine. But vaccination rates were more than 99% of seniors in New Hampshire, and as low as 69% in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia.

The percentage of people age 65 to 74 who were vaccinated was higher than the percentage of people 75 and older who got a shot. Also, vaccinations were a bit more common in men than in women.

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OTTAWA, Ontario — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says almost 50% of eligible adults in Canada have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

Trudeau says by the summer, Canada will have enough vaccines so that every eligible resident will have gotten their first dose, and by September, it will have enough doses for everyone to be fully vaccinated.

He says we can have a better, “one-dose” summer, as long as restrictions remain in place for case numbers to go down and more than 75% of Canadians get their first dose. He says a one-dose summer sets us up for a “two-dose fall,” when Canadians will be able to talk about going back to school, back to work, and back to more normality.

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OMAHA, Neb. — The pace of coronavirus vaccinations in Nebraska has slowed significantly over the past month.

The state said 49,016 vaccine doses were administered in Nebraska last week. That continues the steady decline seen in recent weeks when roughly 70,000 and 93,000 doses were administered. The latest weekly total of vaccine doses is less than one-quarter of the mid-April peak of 211,057 doses in a single week.

Health officials said 49.9% of the state’s population over the age of 16 has now been vaccinated and 1.55 million doses have been administered statewide since December. But demand for the shots has weakened across the state.

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