As of 7:15 am on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard reports the following information. 

 Global Cases -109,659,317    Global Deaths – 2,423,307

U.S. Cases – 27,762,686     U.S. Deaths – 488,3522

The Huffington Post reports a new bill now in Congress would make it easier for the U.S. to spot new COVID-19 mutations.