Category: Corona Virus

(WXYZ) We're approaching the second anniversary of the first COVID-19 cases in Michigan, and the fourth wave, driven by the omicron variant, is beginning to wane.

The 7-day case average in Michigan sits at more than 13,000 cases a day. It's still a lot, but it's down from more than 20,000 cases a day in early January.

With that in mind, is it time to treat COVID-19 like the flu? Health experts say no, but it could be that way soon.

Andrew Cox, the Macomb County Health Officer, attributes the drop in cases to vaccinations and omicron running its course, leaving fewer people to infect. Despite that, it's not time to treat COVID-19 like the flu because hospitalizations are still a problem.

"We still have a high number of people that are hospitalized in the hospitals, and we're not quite there yet," Cox said.

Dr. Teena Chopra also agrees that COVID-19 will shift toward being an endemic like the flu. But for now, the omicron community transmission and societal burden are still too high.

"We are at 30% at this point. If we come to 5%, we can live with the virus. The numbers that will not overwhelm the healthcare system," Chopra said.

So what will it look like when we reach the point of treating COVID like the flu? There will still be outbreaks that require public health efforts to control, like in December when the CDC sent a team to Ann Arbor to investigate a flu outbreak at the University of Michigan. Or, Michigan's 2019 measles outbreak centered in Oakland County.

"That will look like that. We will have to intervene through public health, through infection control measures," Chopra said.

Stepping in to work with facilities, schools or communities where hotspots develop will be important. It will require constant surveillance. But before we can get there, we have another major push ahead. Vaccinating younger kids.

We need to vaccinate our youngest children and get boosters to American's of all ages.

We also need to support efforts of global vaccination. We have seen how variants develop overseas and come to the U.s.

When we start treating COVID-19 like the flu we need to limit the virus's ability to mutate if we want to keep it that way.

Additional Coronavirus information and resources:

View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.

See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.

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Is it time to treat COVID-19 like the flu? Doctors say not yet - WXYZ

Under the earlier stimulus law, known as the Cares Act, Congress set aside $25 million. The initial start-up investment allowed Miller to hire staff, bulk up on technical capabilities, and set about scrutinizing early-pandemic initiatives, including the Main Street Lending Program, an effort by the Federal Reserve to sustain cash-starved small- and medium-size businesses as well as nonprofits.

Aides to the watchdog say they now have opened more than two dozen cases, as they keep guard over a total of $22.5 billion in outstanding loans and other stimulus assistance. Their efforts helped lead to an enforcement effort announced last week, after a woman in Oklahoma pleaded guilty to federal charges of fraud. But the special inspector general said that its initial $25 million allocation still is not enough money to sustain its current level of operations, especially since it has a five-year mandate for oversight.

Without another infusion of funds, the office could run out of cash by July 2022, Miller wrote in a series of letters to lawmakers, one of which was obtained by The Washington Post late Thursday. Even before that deadline, he wrote, the office may have to wind down some of its operations under federal law as soon as March. And already, Miller froze planned hiring and halted expansions pending a resolution on Capitol Hill.

The covid-19 pandemic is not over, and Congresss unprecedented investment in the American economy has been prey to unprecedented levels of crime and fraud, Miller wrote, later adding: Without such funding, for the first time in history, an inspector general office will close prematurely for want of funding.

The letters underscore the vast and expensive task facing the US government as it tries to keep watch over roughly $6 trillion in federal stimulus approved since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The money helped revive an economy in the throes of a deep recession, yet it also has tempted criminals and fraudsters, putting unprecedented pressure on federal watchdogs to ensure the quickly disbursed sums land in the hands of those who need it most.

The task has fallen to a slew of committees on Capitol Hill, a wide array of inspectors general scattered across government, and other oversight agencies, including the Government Accountability Office.

At times, though, some of the efforts have generated controversy. Last spring, the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, in particular, tangled with the Justice Department over the scope of its jurisdiction. Top Biden administration officials ultimately determined that Miller, who was appointed during the Trump administration, only had purview over a small slice of the Cares Act and not the broader tranche of funds allotted to the Treasury Department.

The oversight office criticized the decision at the time, arguing the limitations threatened to diminish the oversight over government funds in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Months later, the special inspector general for pandemic recovery said in a separate letter to Congress that the decision forced it to terminate and transfer multiple audits and investigations.

The funding debacle arrives amid an already pitched congressional battle over the future of federal spending, just weeks before an existing agreement is set to expire. Democrats and Republicans have less than a month to broker a new deal, otherwise the government is set to shut down after Feb. 18.

In recent months, lawmakers have pushed the country nearly to the brink, narrowly avoiding a shutdown by adopting short-term measures that mostly sustain existing federal programs at their current levels. This time, though, top House and Senate appropriators are hoping to strike a deal that could fund Washington operations until the end of the fiscal year, which concludes in September. The two sides have insisted in recent weeks they are making progress toward such a resolution, which could open the door for a series of domestic spending increases previously proposed by President Biden.

As part of his 2022 fiscal year blueprint, Biden proposed to augment the funding for the special inspector general for pandemic recovery, providing it with another $25 million. This funding is critical in ensuring that SIGPRs audit and investigative services have the necessary resources to protect the integrity of CARES Act funds, the presidents budget proposal specified at the time.

Senate Democrats soon after pursued a $10 million appropriation of their own, though the politically deadlocked chamber failed to move any of its spending bills. Instead, lawmakers enacted a series of short-term stopgaps, which ultimately meant that the office never actually received any additional money.

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A federal watchdog for coronavirus aid warns Congress it is nearly out of money - The Boston Globe

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the President and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, joined SiriusXM Doctor Radio's "Doctor Radio Reports" and spoke with host Dr. Marc Siegel about the idea of an Omicron-specific booster and next-generation vaccines, responds to personal attacks and says how they're distracting from important questions. He also opened up about how villainizing him and other scientists endangers lives, and goes on to clarify his position about the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

"We always have to keep an open mind on this Marc, as always, but if you talk to the real card carrying molecular virologists and molecular viral genesists they feel that the evidence and the circumstances weigh very, very strongly that this is a natural occurrence in the sense of jumping from an animal species, a bat, maybe to an intermediate host, to a human. Very similar to what was proven to be the case with SARS CoV1, as well as with MARS, with the bat to the camel, to the human. Again but you always have to keep an open mind that it could have been something that had been put into a lab to be studied and perhaps leaked out. But most, if not all, of the real card carrying virologists feel that it was a naturally occurring out of the environment from an animal to a human," said Dr. Fauci.

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"As you know, Pfizer has already initiated studies that are multi-tiered. There's one that takes people who've been fully vaccinated with the standard mRNA and boosting them with either the standard mRNA or an Omicron specific boost. In another set of studies, they're gonna use Omicron as the primary vaccination and those who've not been vaccinated to see what the relative capability of Omicron boost versus standard boost to enhance the response. That's what's going on with Omicron specific boost. Your first question about where do we go now with different platforms? There's a big effort, and I'm gonna be talking about this tomorrow at the White House press conference is the efforts that we're putting in to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine, which is gonna be multiphasic. It's not gonna be trying to get a vaccine against all the coronaviruses all at once, but start with a vaccine that covers all the different variants of SARS CoV2. And then get a pan-sarbecovirus which includes SARS CoV1 and SARS CoV2..a lot of activity that's going on in that regard," he said.

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"It's unfortunate Marc, as you well know, you've known me for decades. The only thing that I care about, that I've devoted my entire professional career, including the almost 40 years that I've been director of NIAID is to get the basic and clinical science to work for the safety and the health of the American public. And since the United States is a leader in the world, indirectly, we do it for the rest of the world. It is very unfortunate the distraction of those who would politicize me by saying things that just don't make any sense, Marc because the only thing I talk about out is things like getting vaccinated, getting boosted, wearing a mask, getting us to do the research, to be able to get interventions. And for that, by some people I've been villainized. I don't quite get that, except that that's the hard knocks of being in a situation that's become politicized. It's so unfortunate that in our era now, where we're all trying to fight against a common enemy, which is the virus, that some people use that for political purposes. And that's really unfortunate because that does nothing, but endanger the lives of our citizens," he said.

RELATED: Never Say These Words to a Doctor

"Well, it's unfortunate. Of course it doesn't feel good, Marc. It doesn't make any sense. It's purely political. And then I feel worse about, I feel less worried about the attacks on me than I feel about the politicization of a pure public health issue. We should not be doing that. We should be all pulling together to end this pandemic rather than making it ad hominems, which are really preposterous. I mean, you've seen them, those at the hearings and other places where instead of asking questions that are important questions about where we're going with the outbreak, it becomes pure ad hominem, which of course doesn't feel good, but it doesn't make any sense either" he said.

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Follow the public health fundamentals and help end this pandemic, no matter where you liveget vaccinated or boosted ASAP; if you live in an area with low vaccination rates, wear an N95 face mask, don't travel, social distance, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people you're not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, and to protect your life and the lives of others, don't visit any of these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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Dr. Fauci Opens Up About Origins Of COVID Virus Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) When the coronavirus began spreading around the world, the remote Pacific archipelago of Kiribati closed its borders, ensuring the disease didnt reach its shores for nearly two full years.

Kiribati finally began reopening this month, allowing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to charter a plane to bring home 54 of the island nations citizens. Many of those aboard were missionaries who had left Kiribati before the border closure to spread the faith abroad for what is commonly known as the Mormon church.

Officials tested each returning passenger three times in nearby Fiji, required that they be vaccinated, and put them in quarantine with additional testing when they arrived home.

It wasnt enough.

More than half the passengers tested positive for the virus, which has now slipped out into the community and prompted the government to declare a state of disaster. An initial 36 positive cases from the flight had ballooned to 181 cases by Friday.

Kiribati and several other small Pacific nations were among the last places on the planet to have avoided any virus outbreaks, thanks to their remote locations and strict border controls. But their defenses appear no match against the highly contagious omicron variant.

Generally speaking, its inevitable. It will get to every corner of the world, said Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Its a matter of buying enough time to prepare and getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

Only 33% of Kiribatis 113,000 people are fully vaccinated, while 59% have had at least one dose, according to the online scientific publication Our World in Data. And like many other Pacific nations, Kiribati offers only basic health services.

Dr. Api Talemaitoga, who chairs a network of Indigenous Pacific Island doctors in New Zealand, said Kiribati had only a couple of intensive care beds in the entire nation, and in the past relied on sending its sickest patients to Fiji or New Zealand for treatment.

He said that given the limitations of Kiribatis health system, his first reaction when he heard about the outbreak was, Oh, my lord.

Kiribati has now opened multiple quarantine sites, declared a curfew and imposed lockdowns. President Taneti Maamau said on social media that the government is using all its resources to manage the situation, and urged people to get vaccinated.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in the U.S. state of Utah, has a strong presence in many Pacific nations, including Kiribati, where its 20,000 members make it the third-largest Christian denomination. The church has about 53,000 missionaries serving full time around the world, working to convert people.

The pandemic has presented challenges for their missionary work, which is considered a rite of passage for men as young as 18 and women as young as 19.

As the pandemic ebbed and flowed, the church responded. Itrecalled about 26,000 missionaries who were serving overseasin June 2020, reassigning them to proselytize online from home before sending some back out into the field five months later.

When COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in many countries in April 2021, church officialsencouraged all missionaries to get inoculated and required it of those serving outside their home countries.

Church spokesperson Sam Penrod said the returning missionaries remained in quarantine, were cooperating with local health authorities and would be released from their service upon completion of their quarantine.

With Kiribatis borders being closed since the onset of the pandemic, many of these individuals have continued as missionaries well beyond their 18 to 24 months of anticipated service, with some serving as long as 44 months, he said.

Before this months outbreak, Kiribati had reported just two virus cases: crew members on an incoming cargo ship that ultimately wasnt permitted to dock.

But the Kiribati charter flight wasnt the first time missionaries returning home to a Pacific island nation tested positive for COVID-19.

In October, a missionary returning to Tonga from service in Africa wasreported as the countrys first and so far only positive case after flying home via New Zealand. Like those returning to Kiribati, he also was vaccinated and quarantined.

Tonga is desperately trying to prevent any outbreaks as it recovers from adevastating volcanic eruptionandtsunamiearlier this month. The nation of 105,000 has been receiving aid from around the world but has requested that crews from incoming military ships and planes drop their supplies andleave without having any contactwith those on the ground.

Theyve got enough on their hands without compounding it with the spread of COVID, said Petousis-Harris, the vaccine expert. Anything they can do to keep it out is going to be important. COVID would be just compounding that disaster.

In the long term, however, it is going to be impossible to stop the virus from entering Tonga or any other community, Petousis-Harris said.

Nearby Samoa, with a population of 205,000, is also trying to prevent its first outbreak. It imposed a lockdown through until Friday evening after 15 passengers on an incoming flight from Australia last week tested positive.

By Thursday, that number had grown to 27, including five front-line nurses who had treated the passengers. Officials said all those infected had been isolated and there was no community outbreak so far.

While the incursion of the virus into the Pacific has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions, there were signs that not all traditional aspects of island life would be lost for long.

Government has decided to allow fishing, Kiribati declared on Thursday while listing certain restrictions on times and places. Only four people will be allowed to be on a boat or part of a group fishing near shore.

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COVID-19 hits one of the planets last uninfected places - WSAV-TV

That some patients had reactivated Epstein-Barr virus also made sense, Dr. Nath said, because other diseases have reawakened that virus, and its reactivation has been linked to conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, which some cases of long Covid resemble, and multiple sclerosis. Dr. Deeks said it might be possible to give antivirals or immunotherapy to patients with reactivated Epstein-Barr virus.

There were other intriguing findings that experts said needed more substantiation. One was a suggestion that because people with lingering respiratory problems had low levels of the stress hormone cortisol, they might benefit from cortisol replacement therapy, which Dr. Heath said some doctors were already trying.

In another finding that he said might provide a way to document that patients neurological symptoms resulted from long Covid, the blood of people with lingering neurological issues contained elevated levels of proteins associated with disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep/wake cycles.

One patient in the studys primary group was John Gillotte, 40, a software engineer who contracted the coronavirus in March 2020. He was on a ventilator for about six days, after which he experienced delirium in the hospital when he closed his eyes.

I saw the devil, who was like 50 feet tall, screaming at me, throwing limbs that he dismembered off of other people, recalled Mr. Gillotte, who later had an image of the demon tattooed on his right arm, with depictions of hell below and heaven above to symbolize his progress from illness to recovery.

Mr. Gillotte, who moved from Seattle to Manhattan last year, said that for several months after his infection, he had experienced muscle weakness, lack of stamina, brain fog that impaired his concentration at work, an altered sense of smell and the perception that most food tasted like ashes.

He said that before Covid, he had a spontaneous ability to visualize specific colors with certain foods pink when he sprinkled pepper, blue with a type of liquor but now, he is dismayed to have lost those automatic connections.

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New Research Hints at 4 Factors That May Increase Chances of Long Covid - The New York Times

A pair of Elton John concerts at the American Airlines Center in Dallas have been postponed because the singer recently tested positive for the coronavirus, the venue said on Tuesday.

The announcement came just hours before the planned start of a performance, which was to begin at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. The second concert had been scheduled for Wednesday.

Elton is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is experiencing only mild symptoms, the American Airlines Center said in a brief statement on its website.

The shows are part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. The American Airlines Center did not give new dates for the concerts.

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Elton John Shows Postponed After He Tests Positive for Coronavirus - The New York Times

A new study suggests that getting infected by the novel coronavirus before or after COVID-19 vaccination can create so-called super immunity from COVID-19 although experts dont want you trying to deliberately catch the coronavirus.

The news: Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University found that getting a vaccine shot after recovering from coronavirus provides protection similar to getting COVID-19 after vaccination, which has been noted to create super immunity.

Flashback: The Oregon Health & Science University previously published a study for the Journal of the American Medical Association that found breakthrough infections from the delta variant created a robust immune response against the delta variant or super immunity.

Why it matters: People who have this so-called super immunity are better protected from COVID-19 infection and severe symptoms, the researchers said.

What theyre saying: These results, together with our previous work, point to a time when SARS-CoV-2 may become a mostly mild endemic infection like a seasonal respiratory tract infection, instead of a worldwide pandemic, said study co-author Marcel Curlin, per The Oregonian.

Yes, but: Senior co-author Fikadu Tafesse told The Oregonian this is not a reason for people to intentionally catch COVID-19, saying there are long-term consequences to a COVID-19 infection that arent worth it.

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COVID infection before or after vaccination creates super immunity - Deseret News

The state Department of Health reported three more COVID-19 deaths in Washington County Wednesday, raising the total number of people who have died from coronavirus to 572.

Record-high case counts, fueled by the omicron variant, are starting to come down, according to Keara Klinepeter, Pennsylvanias acting secretary of health.

Although we are seeing a slight decrease in the seven-day moving average of COVID-19 cases, it is much too early to let down our guard, Klinepeter said in a statement Tuesday. What we have seen during previous surges is that hospitalizations remain high for a couple of weeks after case counts start to decline. That means that our frontline healthcare workers need our continued support and a commitment to get vaccinated, get boosted, wear masks in public indoor spaces regardless of vaccination status and get tested when appropriate.

On Wednesday, there were 242 additional COVID cases reported in the county, bringing the total number of cases to 47,006.

Greene County recorded 38 new cases, and has now has seen a total of 7,632 COVID cases. There was one more COVID death reported, raising the total to 92.

In Fayette County, a total of 27,924 COVID cases have been recorded. The county added 118 new cases. An additional COVID death raises the death toll to 575.

Statewide, as of Jan. 24, the daily average number of cases was 15,294, the DOH reported in its weekly briefing.

In Pennsylvania, the number of COVID-19 deaths is 39,932, with the total number of cases reaching 2,605,439.

The number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 Monday was 12.8% lower than Jan. 17.

The percent of available adult and pediatric ICU beds in the state rose to 16.1% and 14.2%, respectively.

Approximately 27.8% of all staffed adult ICU beds are COVID-19 patients, and 31.3% of all ventilators statewide are in use, according to the DOH.

Additionally, the DOH noted the first state-directed healthcare strike team is now deployed and more are on the way to help with the healthcare staffing shortage amid the pandemic.

Despite the slight decrease in cases, staffing resources are in high-demand from Pennsylvania hospitals and health systems, whose frontline healthcare workers are exhausted and in need of support while they continue to see record numbers, Klinepeter said.

Meanwhile, the DOH is advising residents to avoid seeking COVID-19 tests at hospitals, and instead use a COVID testing site.

According to the CDC, as of Monday, 75.3% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated.

There was a 38.5% increase in vaccines administered from the previous week, the DOH reported.

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Three new COVID-19 deaths reported in Washington County - Observer-Reporter

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 355 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.6 million. More than 9.93 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Japan's daily count of new COVID-19 infections surpassed 60,000 for the first time on Tuesday, broadcaster FNN said. The government is poised to expand infection control measures to try to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.

Russia reported a record number of COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours on Tuesday as the Omicron variant of the virus spread across the country, the government coronavirus task force said. New daily cases jumped to 67,809, from 65,109 a day earlier. The task force also reported 681 deaths.

South Korea's daily count of new coronavirus cases topped 8,000 for the first time on Tuesday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant spreads rapidly despite the recent extension of strict social distancing rules to slow infection.

Singapore had record low international arrivals in 2021, but saw signs of recovery after introducing a quarantine waiver system for vaccinated visitors and offering cash vouchers, its tourism authority said on Tuesday.

The Dutch government is expected to announce on Tuesday it will allow restaurants, bars and theatres to re-open despite record numbers of coronavirus infections. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Ernst Kuipers are expected to announce the new rules at a news conference at 7pm.

An Israeli government advisory panel has recommended offering a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to all adults, on condition that at least five months have passed since they received the third or recovered from the illness, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The Czech Republic recorded 30,350 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the highest daily tally since the pandemic started in the country of 10.7 million, as the Omicron variant of coronavirus spreads, health ministry data showed on Tuesday.

Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.

Image: Our World in Data

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday warned against assuming Omicron variant would herald the end of COVID-19's acutest phase, exhorting nations to stay focused to beat the pandemic.

"Its dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant and that we are in the endgame," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a WHO executive board meeting of the two-year pandemic that has killed nearly 6 million people.

"On the contrary, globally the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge."

Though Omicron has sent total cases soaring to nearly 350 million, its less lethal impact and the increasing prevalence of vaccines has led to optimism in some parts that the worst of the pandemic may have passed.

Tedros, the WHO's first African head who is running unopposed for a second term, urged discipline and unity in combatting the coronavirus.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is now entering its third year and we are at a critical juncture," he told a news conference earlier. "We must work together to bring the acute phase of this pandemic to an end. We cannot let it continue to drag on, lurching between panic and neglect."

In 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was launched at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, with an initial pledge of $750 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The aim of Gavi is to make vaccines more accessible and affordable for all - wherever people live in the world.

Along with saving an estimated 10 million lives worldwide in less than 20 years,through the vaccination of nearly 700 million children, - Gavi has most recently ensured a life-saving vaccine for Ebola.

At Davos 2016, we announced Gavi's partnership with Merck to make the life-saving Ebola vaccine a reality.

The Ebola vaccine is the result of years of energy and commitment from Merck; the generosity of Canadas federal government; leadership by WHO; strong support to test the vaccine from both NGOs such as MSF and the countries affected by the West Africa outbreak; and the rapid response and dedication of the DRC Minister of Health. Without these efforts, it is unlikely this vaccine would be available for several years, if at all.

Read more about the Vaccine Alliance, and how you can contribute to the improvement of access to vaccines globally - in our Impact Story.

The Omicron variant can survive longer than earlier versions of the coronavirus on plastic surfaces and human skin, Japanese researchers found in laboratory tests.

Its high "environmental stability" - its ability to remain infectious - might have helped Omicron replace Delta as the dominant variant and spread rapidly, they said.

On plastic surfaces, average survival times of the original strain and the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants were 56 hours, 191.3 hours, 156.6 hours, 59.3 hours, and 114.0 hours, respectively.

That compared to 193.5 hours for Omicron, the researchers reported on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. On skin samples from cadavers, average virus survival times were 8.6 hours for the original version, 19.6 hours for Alpha, 19.1 hours for Beta, 11.0 hours Gamma, 16.8 hours for Delta and 21.1 hours for Omicron.

On skin, all of the variants were completely inactivated by 15 seconds of exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. "Therefore," the researchers conclude, "it is highly recommended that current infection control (hand hygiene) practices use disinfectants... as proposed by the World Health Organization."

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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COVID-19: Top news stories about the pandemic on 25 January | World Economic Forum - World Economic Forum

Subway passengers wearing masks in Lower Manhattan in December.Credit...Gabby Jones for The New York Times

Read the latest on the ruling on a New York State mask policy.

A New York State judge ruled on Monday that the states mask mandate had been enacted unlawfully and is now void, according to court documents.

Gov. Kathy Hochul had renewed a rule requiring masks or proof of vaccination at all indoor public places throughout the state in December, amid a winter virus surge, and said it would last a month. The state Health Department then extended the mandate an additional two weeks, to expire on Feb. 1.

In his six-page decision, State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Rademaker wrote that Ms. Hochul and state health officials lacked the authority to enact the mask mandate without the approval of state lawmakers, and that it violated the state constitution. Regardless of the well aimed intentions of state officials, such authority is entrusted solely to the State Legislature, Justice Rademaker wrote.

The office of the state attorney general, Letitia James, filed a notice of intent to appeal the ruling on Monday night. Emily DeSantis, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department, said the department had informed its schools that, as the legal issues are resolved, schools must continue to follow the mask rule.

While the ruling overturns the statewide mandate for masks in schools and public places, it does not reverse local mandates. City Hall officials, for example, said that the decision had no immediate impact on New York Citys schools since the citys education department had its own masking policies in place before the states mandate.

Ms. Hochul said in a statement on Monday that her office strongly disagreed with the ruling and would be pursuing every option to reverse this immediately.

My responsibility as governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis, and these measures help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and save lives, she said.

The Omicron surge has been receding in New York, but it is not over. An average of about 20,000 people in the state are now testing positive for the coronavirus each day, down sharply from the surges peak of 90,000 people who tested positive on Jan. 7. The positivity rate has also fallen, by half, from more than 22 percent to 10 percent.

But New Yorks daily case numbers remain far higher than at the start of the surge in early December, and hospitals are still straining to treat about 10,000 Covid patients statewide. Hospitalizations have begun declining but remain higher than at any point since May 2020. More than 130 people each day have been dying of the virus statewide.

Justice Rademaker, who has run on the Conservative Party line, was elected to the Supreme Court in Nassau County in 2019. The Supreme Court in New York is the highest trial court in the state, but not the court of last resort; the Court of Appeal is the highest court.

Following his ruling, some schools districts on Long Island began telling parents that masks were optional as of Tuesday morning.

While it is certain this decision will face legal challenges, until otherwise litigated, mask wearing will be optional for students and staff in the Massapequa Schools beginning Tuesday, the Massapequa school district posted on its website.

The Lindenhurst school district issued a similar message on Monday night, saying that it would work in accordance with the judges decision.

Until otherwise directed, the wearing of masks will be optional for all students and staff members, the district posted on Facebook. We are also aware that this decision will undoubtedly result in an appeal from the state, which could result in the restoration of the mask mandate until the court issues further ruling.

The ruling was applauded by some New York Republicans, including Representative Elise Stefanik, who said in a statement that it was a win for small businesses, parents, students, and the freedom of all New Yorkers.

Governor Hochuls authoritarian mandates were crushing New York small businesses that already have faced unprecedented challenges throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Stefanik said. By forcing masks on the children in our schools, these mandates have impeded the development of our next generation.

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Covid News: China Lifts Lockdown on the Residents of Xian - The New York Times