WCBI NEWS AT TEN- DECEMBER 11, 2020

WCB NEWS AT TEN- DECEMBER 11, 2020

The fda gave emergency use authorization to pfizer's coroanavirus vaccine, the first vaccine in the u-s to be approved in the battle against the pandemic.

The major step authorizes the shipping of nearly three million, freezing-cold vials of pfizer's vaccine to more than 600 american sites.

The vaccine comes after more than 294 thousand people nationwide have died from covid-19.

That's more american deaths than in all of world war two.

Cbs news correspondent chris martinez has more from los angeles.

The f-d-a has approved pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use.

Cbs news has learned the f-d-a has approved pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use.

The drug maker is sending the first doses to hospitals and pharmacies around the country.

The shipments contain enough vaccines to immunize roughly 3-million people.

U-p-s says it has already started shipping vaccine kits with supplies like syringes.

The next step is transporting the vaccine itself ... and making sure it stays at the required extreme cold temperature until it's delivered to hospitals.

''other times, you know, we've had freezers or refrigerators that don't work.

We can replace the drug.

In this case, we can't."

With the nation fighting another covid-19 wave, president-elect joe biden expressed optimism.

''we'll have a national coordinated strategy that will beat this virus.

As tough as things are now, i firmly believe better days are ahead.'' this week, daily coronavirus deaths topped 3- thousand in the u-s for the first time since the pandemic began.

"as physicians, we've been trained to help people.

And it's really hard to feel helpless."

From the west coast to the east, cities and states are imposing tough new restrictions.

Starting monday, indoor dining will be banned again in new york city...another hit to struggling restaurants.

New york ''we said that we would watch it if the hospital rate did not stabilize we would close indoor dining.

It is not.'' while in lansing, michigan, parents, students and coaches demanded high school sports re-start across the state.

Chris martinez/cbs news/los angeles.

Restrictions are being implemented in mississippi hospitals, as covid-19 cases rise and more people receive treatment.

The state department of health is reporting two thousand 327 new cases today and 41 deaths.

11 of those occurred in the wcbi viewing area.

One thousand 286 people are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected covid symptoms. 301 of those patients are in i.c.u.

Msdh's website shows only 99 available i.c.u.

Beds in the entire state.

In our area, lee county has the most new cases with 73.

Union county has 66, lowndes has 53, oktibbeha has 47, pontotoc has 28, and winston has 24.

The health department announced today that all elective surgeries that require hospitalization will be delayed, beginning on tuesday.

No more visitors on the covid floor at och regional hospital - at least for now.

The hospital announced over social media that effective immediately, patients admitted for covid will not be allowed to have visitors.

The exceptions to policy are necessary clergy visits or end of life visitation.

The hospital revised visitation in mid october, limiting visitors for most patients to one person with the exception of labor and delivery and pediatrics.

Och has a complete visitor policy posted on their website.

First look stinger we're expecting a couple of chances for rain this weekend, but there will still be plenty of dry weather too.

One round of showers will move through before sunrise saturday, and another will move in sunday night.

Cooler and drier weather returns next week.

Friday night: overcast skies will continue tonight with a few showers possible after 10pm.

Rain will become more steady after midnight and persist through early saturday the state health officer says many hospitalizations are on the way.

That's why he's issuing a new order to try and manage the dwindling capacity.

Dr. thomas dobbs referenced in a tweet that 9.8 percent of covid cases end up in the hospital.

With the high case numbers each day---they know that will mean more patients coming into already full hospitals.

Courtney ann jackson explains.

This order from dr. thomas dobbs doesn't come as a surprise to doctors who say they knew it was the likely next step.

"it is hard and we hate to put these things off because a lot of these elective procedures are necessary.

Medically necessary procedures.

Just because their elective does not mean it's not needed.

But anyway, we do know that earlier in the year it worked.

When we did this earlier in the year when dr. dobbs implement a desk, capacity was immediately freed up."

The order applies to elective procedures that require overnight hospitalization.

It's not just an issue of whether there are physical beds available.

Even where there are- there's not enough staff to care for more patients.

"dr. dobbs has been clear to the physicians over the past year but it would likely happen again if things keep going the same direction.

You've got to make capacity.

We can't leave people outside the building.

We've got to find a way to take care of all the sick people and this is a logical next step."

And that domino effect comes into play for ems. pafford has been adjusting it's protocol as they feel the impact of hospitals filling up.

"we've taken some of our older decommission stretchers and we placed them in the hospital.

We move those patients to those cots waiting.

Because again, the hospitals don't have the capacity or the beds to put them in either.

We have to supply the beds for them.

And then that frees that ambulance, that actual cotton ambulance and that crew to be able to respond to an emergency."

But it's been more complex than just assigning staff to the hospitals to wait with patients till they're admitted.

"we're flying people to corpus christi texas, to birmingham alabama, i mean there's no beds.

This is not just a unique situation for the jackson metroplex.

It's all over."

New at 10 stinger goes here unique situation for the jackson metroplex.

It's all over."

New at 10 stinger goes here police are looking for a person of interest in relation to a shooting in macon yesterday.

Macon assistant police chief douglass triplett says shedrick shankling is wanted in connection to the shooting that injured two people thursday morning.

Police say jonathan turner and jamelia joiner were inside of a home on north turner road when several shots were fired from outside the house.

One of the bullets struck turner in the lower right side.

Turner was air- lifted to a hospital in jackson.

His condition is unknown at this time.

If you have any information on where shankling might be, call the macon police department.

Breaking news this evening, lowndes county coroner greg merchant says one person is dead after a head on collision on hwy 50 earlier this afternoon.

The accident happened near honeysuckle lane.

A motorcycle collided with an suv.

The vehicles were traveling in opposite directions.

We're going to have more information on this as it becomes available.

Stinger wx open we're expecting a couple of chances for rain this weekend, but there will still be plenty of dry weather too.

One round of showers will move through before sunrise saturday, and another will move in sunday night.

Cooler and drier weather returns next week.

Friday night: overcast skies will continue tonight with a few showers possible after 10pm.

Rain will become more steady after midnight and persist through early saturday morning.

We're not expecting severe weather, but rain could be a bit heavier at times.

Temperatures will hold steady in the mid 50s with breezy southeasterly winds.

Saturday: most of the rain will be done by 8am saturday, but some lighter showers are possible through the morning.

We're expecting the afternoon and evening to be dry and we could even see a little sun after lunch.

Highs will be in the mid 60s with southerly winds becoming northwesterly through the day.

Sunday: most of sunday will be dry and mostly cloudy.

Another round of rain will move in by 6pm sunday and continue into the overnight.

Temperatures will be a bit cooler with morning lows in the 30s and highs in the mid 50s.

Again, no severe weather is expected.

Rain totals from saturday and sunday could approach 1 inch.

Monday-friday: cooler air will continue for all of next week with highs in the 40s and 50s and lows in the 20s and 30s.

We'll start the week off with a few clouds on monday and remain partly cloudy for the rest of the week.

Aside from a shower or two tuesday night and wednesday, most of next week will be dry.

To get the latest forecast anytime, download the wcbi news app or visit our website at wcbi.com/weather.

You can also get the latest weather updates on facebook, twitter, and stinger the recent stinger the recent pandemic has been linked to weight gain among adolescents.

More on this story after the break.

Cash 3 lottery gfx goes here stinger we are just two weeks away from christmas.

As time winds we are just two weeks away from christmas.

As time winds down, folks are heading to the nearest ups store to get those gifts in the mail.

Our stephanie poole speaks with store workers about the holiday rush.

She has more on the story.

Package after package lines the shelves at the ups store in starkville.

Store owner david buchanan says more customers is normal during the holiday season.

Due to the pandemic, more folks are sending gifts through the mail.

" instead of everybody going to visit grandma through the holidays, they're shipping everything to grandma.they're not going summer vacation, they're shipping to people they've would've gone to visit."

Buchanan says his store is stocked with supplies.

"whether it's packing, shipping, selling them whatever it is they need.

Office supplies, bubble wrap, faxing, printing, and mailing.

Anything you can imagine a business might need or any individual might need."

Nearly 300 customers visit the ups store each day.

Some are picking up presents from loved ones... "we were able to come in and get our packages and had no problem.

We had five, so it was no problem.

It was very quick."

Others are sending gifts to relatives in other states... " i'm sending some cheese to my sister in georgia.

I'm sure she'll love it.

" butt sots " we have all sorts of people.

People that are in a hurry to get in and out, we have people that in a hurry to get in and out.

We have a-lot of regulars that come in also."

In just one hour, over 50 packages are processed and ready for their destination.

"all the shipments that we have back here that are ready to picked up by ups brown trucks are just from this morning.

By the end of the day, we'll probably have doubled and triple of this amount."

Butt sots " they just put a sticker on it, scan it, give me a receipt and i'm ready to go.

It was really convenient and very fast."

So, a few words of advice?

"come on time.

We're going to make sure they feel welcomed and that they get served quickly and efficiently and that they know their packages will be delivered on time."

Buchanan urges folks to get their shipments in as soon as possible.

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He also encourages customers to wear a mask in the store.

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The bulldogs return to the hardwood saturday... next in sports ben howland on his teams' progress spx open ???take spx monitor???

One one month ago... mississippi state safety marcus murphy announced he was opting out of the rest of the season... he announced his next step this afternoon the junior will not be returning to the bulldogs next season..

He took to twitter to announce he's declaring for the 2021 nfl draft..the west point native had had 34 tackles with 22 assists, a tackle for loss and pass breakup in six games this season ???

Take spx gfx???

Mississippi state men's basketball returns to the hardwood this weekend for a little holiday hoopsgiving in atlanta... at least... that's what they're calling it..

Ben howland's crew will be taking on dayton..

This year's dayton team isn't exactly the same as last year's that would've likely been a number one seed in the ncaa tournament..

Since then obi toppin was drafted by the knicks..

The flyers are 2-1 on the year... the bulldogs have won three straight and are coming off a convincing win over jackson state... ben howland says his team has gotten better the past few game howland says: we didn't play good defense against clemson or liberty whop are very good teams but our defense was a lot to be desired in those.

It definitely hurt us to not have iverson but we're better defensively now.

They understand if we don't play defense we won't be anybody very good.

Tipoff is at 2 on espnu saturday ???

Take spx gfx???

Losing is something that the mississippi state women's basketball team isn't used to doing however, that was the boat the bulldogs found themselves in last weekend... falling to usf 67-63 in overtime since then the dawgs dropping in the latest ap women's basketball poll from number-six to number 12... msu head coach nikki mccray- penson saying the loss has allowed her team to refocus and continue to improve 00-05 nmp: "we've broken down that game.

I mean, we've dissected it offensively, defensively in things that we did wrong and in things that we did well.

It's been a lot of teaching.

It's been a lot of back to the basics.

I think a loss like that really shows you some areas that you gotta continue to get better at."

It didn't look like ole miss was the last power 5 men's team to tip off last night... they rolled past jackson state 80- 45... a big reason for the win..

Devontae shuler... he had 23 points... was 9 for 10 from the field and was a plus 38 in only 23 minutes of action... it also helped that his team forced 26 turnovers in the matchup... covid-19 aside... this has been a different year for the rebels star and he is more than ready for his new role this season..

00-05 :15-:20 shuler says: i honestly never been the main leader ive always had people ahead of me like breein or td.

I use their experience to bring to the table to lead us to march madness davis says: for a senior when you're anxious to get to games and have been to a lot of big games and the pause gets to be long.

He gave us a lot of confidence he was great guarding the ball and was a disruption on the top and the guys behind him played well.

They'll take on unc wilmington saturday at 4 the ole miss women's basketball team will be in action saturday at 1 looking to remain undefeated on the season... coach yo's team is coming off a commanding 104-48 win over alcorn state... it was the first time the rebels scored over 100 since 2015... six players were in double figures in the matchup... you can watch that one on sec network plus... friday night high school hoops in starkville.....yello w jackets taking on columbus 1st quarter....senior eric green crossover left....drive and the finish....jackets up 2-0 early falcons answer....j-j williams baseline drive and dish to jordan beard for the and 1!!

Starkville ball again...green drive and the beautiful dime to ma-hki myles with the finsih....starkville up 2 falcons strike back....blake burnett with the iso and the size up...pulls the 3 ball and hits it!!!

Falcons lead by one but starkville goes away with this one...final score starkville 52 columbus 43 senior night in starkville...the girls in action as well 2nd half....starkville ball....givens gets the steal hits the break and passes to d-j jackson who does the rest....lady falcons up 31-20 falcons ball....jackson witht the rock....attacks the rack and makes the layup extending their lead yellow jackets fighting back....amaya ford takes 2 dribbles and hits the j then in the 4th quarter....jackets down 6....jada od'neal hits the 3 ball on the wing making it a 3 point game but the lady falcons pull away at the end...winning 49-40 over in caledonia, an exciting day for one volleyball star senior outside hitter zoe hansen making the big decision to sign with the mississippi university for women and continue her volleyball career in her final season at caledonia, hansen finishes with 59 aces, 91 kills and 10 blocks hansen also helped lead caledonia to a 2nd round appearance in the mhsaa 4a state playoffs still to come..

Chief meteorologist keith gibson returns with tonights last look.

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