1-02-21 Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is pressured by Trump on a phone call to “find” him enough votes to overturn the results of the general election in the state.
1-03-21 The Capital Region has one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the State.
1-04-21 New, more contagious UK COVID strain (B.1.1.7 variant) is detected in Saratoga Springs.
1-04-21 Paramedics in Southern California are being told to conserve oxygen and not to bring patients to the hospital who have little chance of survival as hospitals have reached crisis levels.
1-06-21 On Dec. 18, South Africa announced the detection of a new variant “501Y.V2. This variant increases the transmissibility of the virus and appears to obviate some of our medical countermeasures, particularly the antibody drugs.
1-06-21 Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff beat incumbent republicans in run-off Senate elections in Georgia, which will result in Chuck Schumer being named Senate Majority Leader.
1-06-21 Militiamen and other far-right Trump supporters in Atlanta surround the state’s Capitol building in search of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger because they were angry about the November election and Raffensperger's refusal to overturn results. Police escort him out of the building for his safety.
1-07-21 At approximately 3:33am, Congress certifies enough electoral votes to surpass the 270 that guaranteed Joe Biden would be our 46th president.
1-07-21 In a new record high, more than 4,000 people die of Coronavirus in the United States in one day.
1-11-21 Phase 1B eligibility begins in New York State: People over the age of 75 (1.4 million), Teachers and other education workers (870,000), First responders like police officers and firefighters (207,000), Public safety workers (100,000), Public transit workers (100,000)
1-12-21 Citing Trump’s role in inciting “a massive violent invasion of the United States Capitol” on Jan. 6, the U.S. House of Representatives approves a non-binding resolution that calls on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove President Trump from office.
1-13-21 U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Trump (for a second time).
1-14-21 Four members of Congress so far test positive for COVID-19 following the January 6 lockdown at the Capitol where some Republicans refused to wear masks while sheltering in crowded windowless rooms.
1-16-21 President-elect Biden announced he will use the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Guard to build clinics to distribute the coronavirus vaccine, and that he will make sure doses are available at local pharmacies. He promised to invoke the Defense Production Act to guarantee there are enough supplies of vials, syringes, needles, and so on, to move the vaccine and get it into people’s arms.
1-19-21 U.S. COVID-19 death toll tops 400,000.
1-20-21 President Biden and Vice President Harris inaugurated.
1-21-21 Dr. Fauci speaks at length in a White House press conference. "One of the new things with this administration - if you don't know the answer, don't guess. Just say you don't know the answer."
1-21-21 Last week, scientists in Brazil detected a new genetic variant of the coronavirus that has been circulating in Manaus since at least December. Called P.1, the variant has a set of about 20 mutations, including three mutations that could make the virus more infectious and could possibly decrease the efficacy of vaccines against the variant.
1-25-21 President Biden imposes travel restrictions to prevent most non-U.S. citizens from entry if they have recently been in South Africa. He also reinstates broader restrictions that were rescinded by President Donald Trump days before his term ended. The broader restrictions affect non-U.S. citizens traveling from the United Kingdom, Ireland and much of Europe as well as travelers from Brazil.
1-27-21 The US Department of Homeland Security declares a nationwide terrorism alert Wednesday, citing the potential threat from domestic anti-government extremists opposed to Joe Biden as president.
1-28-21 First two cases of the South Africa COVID strain detected in the U.S. in North Carolina.
1-28-21 The study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), which has not yet been peer-reviewed, showed a less than two-fold reduction in antibody titer levels, indicating the vaccine would likely be effective in neutralizing a virus with the so-called E484K and N501Y mutations found in the South African variant.