Category: Corona Virus

Some people that attended the Lamonts' holiday gathering earlier this month tested positive for Covid-19, according to the governor's director of communications, Max Reiss.

Reiss said the event was held at their private residence in Greenwich on Dec. 11.

All guests had to provide proof of full vaccination and present a negative Covid-19 test result before attending, according to Reiss.

A week after the gathering, the Lamonts were notified that a "small number" of guests had tested positive for coronavirus.

Reiss said the governor and first lady test regularly and have tested negative in each instance since the event.

In a statement, Reiss told NBC Connecticut that the governor has had a full slate of public events, including some large gatherings before, during and after their holiday gathering. This includes several events with hundreds of people in attendance, he said.

Lamont continues to urge everyone to get vaccinated and get their booster shots.

Reiss said the governor has more confidence in events he attends where he knows the vast majority of attendees are people who are vaccinated.

The governor recently rolled out the digital health record, or passport, for residents to have additional peace of mind, Reiss said.

A digital vaccine passport app was live Wednesday ahead of its expected official launch next week.

Original post:

Guests at Lamont Family Holiday Gathering Test Positive For Covid-19 - NBC Connecticut

Since Broadway returned following an 18-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, vaccination against Covid-19 has been required for eligible audiences, crews, performers and other staff.

The safety measure, among others such as mask wearing, is aimed at keeping the curtains raised as the US enters yet another Christmas marred by a rise in Covid-19 and shutdowns.

Broadway provides about 97,000 jobs in New York City, adding about $14.7 billion to the city's economy in the 2018-2019 season, according to the Broadway League.

Here's a look at the 12 Broadway shows that canceled performances due to Covid-19 outbreaks within their companies:

'The Lion King'

All matinee and evening performances for the "The Lion King" have been canceled from December 21 through December 26 after breakthrough Covid-19 cases were detected within the company at The Minskoff Theatre.

The production added that wellness and safety is its top priority, and the show will return December 27.

'Aladdin'

"Aladdin the Musical" announced that it canceled all performances from December 21 through December 24 after breakthrough cases of Covid-19 were detected through the production's "continued rigorous testing protocols," the show said in a Tweet.

It's expected to return on December 26.

In October, "Aladdin" on Broadway canceled multiple performances after Covid-19 cases were detected within the theater company, marking the first-known cancellations due to Covid-19 since Broadway theaters began reopening in September.

'Hamilton'

"We apologize for the disappointment and for any inconvenience this may cause," the show said.

Hamilton was one of the first Broadway shows to reopen in September following the pandemic shutdown.

'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'

The performances of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" were canceled from December 21 through December 27.

"We will enchant you another time," the show said. It's expected to return December 28.

'American Utopia'

A performance of David Byrne's "American Utopia" was canceled Wednesday evening due to breakthrough Covid-19 cases within the company, and the show said it's expected to return Thursday at 5 p.m.

'Dear Evan Hansen'

"The health, safety, and wellbeing of our cast, crew, and audience(s) remain our top priority," the production wrote.

It's slated for a December 27 return

'Hadestown'

At the Walter Kerr Theatre, "Hadestown" canceled shows scheduled from December 20 through December due to breakthrough cases of Covid-19.

Performances are expected to resume on December 28.

'Six'

"Six" on Broadway also canceled its shows through December 28 due to breakthrough cases of Covid-19, with a return scheduled on December 29.

'Skeleton Crew'

The Manhattan Theatre Club, which produces "Skeleton Crew," said in a Tweet that some company members tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the delay of the show's preview performances.

The premiere of Dominique Morisseau's play returns December 27, the production said in a tweet. The production's opening night has been moved to January 19.

"The health and safety of our artists, staff, and patrons is our utmost priority and MTC will continue to follow the strictest safety protocols," the production said in a tweet.

'Tina'

Performances were expected to resume December 25, according to a message on Twitter.

"We apologize for the inconvenience this causes ticket holders, but the safety of our audiences, the cast and crew remains our top priority," the production wrote.

'Waitress'

'Come From Away'

The performances of "Come From Away" that were scheduled on December 22 through Christmas Day were also canceled "due to the detection of breakthrough COVID-19 cases within the company." They are planned to resume December 26.

CNN's Sahar Akbarzai, Laura Ly, Kelly McCleary, Alison Kosik and Aparnaa Seshadri.

Read more here:

A dozen Broadway shows have been canceled as cast or crew test positive for Covid-19 - CNN

ST. PETERSBURG Last week I was exposed to COVID-19.

I had a group of friends over for dinner before everyone left for the holidays. Everyone was fully vaccinated and symptom-free, so we thought we were in the clear.

The next morning, one guest tested positive.

As the highly contagious omicron variant spreads across the state, its a situation that Floridians will face over the holiday season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines an exposure as being within 6 feet of an infected individual for more than 15 minutes.

So sitting next to an infected dinner guest for hours, as I did, definitely counts as an exposure.

Here are some steps that you can take to avoid exposure and what you can do if youve been exposed.

The good news, according to public health experts, is that you can still see friends and family this holiday season while minimizing your risk of exposure. Some precautions may be inconvenient, but far less so than the steps youll have to take after you learn youve been exposed.

I took some steps to avoid exposure, but experts I spoke to said I could have done better. Everyone at dinner was fully vaccinated and symptom-free, and we left the windows open to increase airflow indoors. I had recently received my booster shot, which experts say offers the best protection against omicron.

But being indoors was itself a problem, said Dr. Nishant Anand, executive vice president and chief medical officer for BayCare Health System.

If you think of it on a sliding scale, the riskiest thing is to be indoors without a mask, he said. It does help whenever there are windows open and fans blowing to cycle the air out.

He added: Especially with the weather as nice as it is, I think its a much better idea for people to gather outside whenever they can.

Our dinner was Sunday, Dec. 19. One guest, who was from out of town, tested negative for the coronavirus the day before our dinner. But he was the one who ended up positive less than 48 hours later.

Going from negative to fully symptomatic in just two days would have seemed impossible with the previous variants, but its going to be a regular occurrence with omicron, said Cline Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at the New York University School of Medicine.

The original variants had an incubation period of something like four to five days, Gounder said. With omicron its two to three days.

That means people have to get tested more frequently in order to catch an infection, she said. With omicron, youre probably looking at testing at least daily, particularly in high-risk settings.

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Experts suggested taking a rapid antigen test every morning if youre planning on being in close contact with people outside your immediate household.

Even with all those precautions, its inevitable that Floridians will be exposed to someone who contracts COVID-19. Heres what experts say you should do next:

The first thing to do, obviously, is contact tracing, said University of South Florida immunologist Michael Teng. People need to know that theyve been exposed so they can get tested and start monitoring for symptoms.

That means you have to contact those you were in close contact with and let them know you were exposed to COVID-19, whether youre experiencing symptoms and when you got tested.

Dont rely on the governments contact tracing. The Tampa Bay Times reported in October on the problems with the states contact tracing program, which spent millions telling infected people to call and warn those they were in contact with.

Teng suggests checking temperature regularly and using a fingertip oximeter to measure blood oxygen saturation. A change in temperature or oxygen saturation can often indicate an infection before youd see the results of an at-home antigen test, Teng said.

Letting others know that theyve been exposed is especially important at this time of year, when more people may be traveling to visit friends and family. Its incredibly easy to spread this variant, the immunologist said, so you need to know if youre at risk of infection.

If youve had an infected individual in your home, Anand said, its essential to wipe down surfaces with an antiviral cleaning agent. And you need to go back to washing your hands frequently, in case youve been slacking on that.

Household products like Lysol, Clorox, and a diluted solution of bleach work well for killing any virus particles left behind, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

We know that most infections come from airborne particles, Teng said. The best way to avoid contact with virus (particles) that you pick up from surfaces is still to wash your hands and avoid touching your face.

Once youre exposed, experts said, the most important thing is to make sure you dont spread the virus to others.

The CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals should isolate for 10 days after an exposure, but that time period soon may be reduced. After that period of isolation, if youre symptom-free and test negative, you should be in the clear.

During isolation, assume that youre infected and can spread the virus to others. It takes time for symptoms and tests to emerge as positive, Gounder said. But you still can spread the virus to others before you feel ill or test positive.

If you need to go out and get food or run to the drugstore, thats fine, she said. But keep it to essential activities, not going out to the bar on Friday with my friends.

And when you do go out, its essential to wear a mask to curb the potential that you might spread the virus to others. You need to wear a higher-grade mask, at bare minimum a surgical mask, Gounder said. N95 or KN95 type masks are the gold standard, especially for omicron, because cloth masks just dont cut it, she said.

Dont let the prospect of a positive result keep you from getting tested. Even the best COVID tests have some degree of uncertainty, but not testing means your uncertainty level is 100 percent, said Teng.

Dont be embarrassed to tell others if you do test positive, and remember to be kind to someone who tells you that they might have been exposed. If someone tested positive and told you, Teng said, it means they care about you.

That should be your takeaway, not that they brought COVID into your house, he said. They didnt know they were infected and now they do. By telling you, theyre trying to protect you.

Editors note: Ian Hodgson covers the COVID-19 pandemic for the Times. His last negative antigen test was on Dec. 23 and he is waiting for the results of a PCR test. He remains symptom-free.

The Florida Department of Health has tips for dealing with an exposure at: floridahealthcovid19.gov/exposure/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers tips for staying safe during the holidays: bit.ly/3FsQa24

The Food and Drug Administrations frequently asked COVID-19 questions: bit.ly/3JgX1Os

The COVID-19 vaccine for ages 5 and up and booster shots for eligible recipients are being administered at doctors offices, clinics, pharmacies, grocery stores and public vaccination sites. Many allow appointments to be booked online. Heres how to find a site near you:

Find a site: Visit vaccines.gov to find vaccination sites in your zip code.

More help: Call the National COVID-19 Vaccination Assistance Hotline.

Phone: 800-232-0233. Help is available in English, Spanish and other languages.

TTY: 888-720-7489

Disability Information and Access Line: Call 888-677-1199 or email DIAL@n4a.org.

KIDS AND VACCINES: Got questions about vaccinating your kid? Here are some answers.

BOOSTER SHOTS: Confused about which COVID booster to get? This guide will help.

BOOSTER QUESTIONS: Are there side effects? Why do I need it? Heres the answers to your questions.

PROTECTING SENIORS: Heres how seniors can stay safe from the virus.

COVID AND THE FLU: Get a flu shot and the COVID vaccine to avoid a twindemic.

GET THE DAYSTARTER MORNING UPDATE: Sign up to receive the most up-to-date information.

A TRIBUTE TO FLORIDIANS TAKEN BY THE CORONAVIRUS: They were parents and retirees, police officers and doctors, imperfect but loved deeply.

HAVE A TIP?: Send us confidential news tips.

Were working hard to bring you the latest news on the coronavirus in Florida. This effort takes a lot of resources to gather and update. If you havent already subscribed, please consider buying a print or digital subscription.

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I got exposed to COVID. Heres what I learned to do next. - Tampa Bay Times

The Sundance Film Festival on Thursday outlined details about the events vaccine verification and testing hubs, locations that are keys to the events overall protocols designed to guard against the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Park City officials earlier described plans for the hubs, but lease agreements between City Hall and Sundance had not been finalized. Each of the locations is on municipal land.

The locations and hours will be:

the building that once housed a Maverick gas station and convenience store at 1635 Bonanza Drive, just off the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard. The hours will run from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. from Jan. 17 until Jan. 30.

Miners Hospital at City Park. The hours will run from 2 p.m. until 11 p.m. from Jan. 20 until Jan. 25 and from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. from Jan. 26 until Jan. 30.

the Galleria parking lot on the Swede Alley side of the building, close to the Old Town transit center. The hours will run from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Jan. 17 until Jan. 30.

The locations will provide complimentary testing for festival-goers and the public.

Organizers said wristbands, which will be required to enter official festival venues, will be issued at the hubs. Wristbands will be distributed once someone shows proof of vaccination status.

Readers around Park City and Summit County make the Park Record's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.

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Sundance outlines Park City coronavirus vaccine verification and testing hub locations - The Park Record

In 2020, COVID-19 joined what had been a fairly stable list of leading causes of death in the United States, coming in at No. 3 behind heart disease and cancer. The pandemic also contributed heavily to a dip in projected lifespan compared to 2019.

Life expectancy at birth in 2020 was 77 years overall in the United States, down nearly two years from the projection for those born in 2019, according to data released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Females are expected to live 5.7 years longer than males, at 79.9 years vs. 74.2 years. Both those numbers dropped compared to 2019 predictions.

The age-adjusted death rate for the whole population rose from 715.2 per 100,000 in 2019 to 835.4 in 2020. Increases in the age-adjusted death rate for ethnic and racial groups varied from just over 12% for non-Hispanic white females to a nearly 48% jump for Hispanic males.

Overall, age-adjusted death rates rose the most for Hispanics, followed by non-Hispanic Blacks, whose rates were double those of non-Hispanic whites. An age-adjusted death rate weights age-specific rates for each group by the proportion of each group in the population. The new report notes that the age-specific death rate increased in each age group 15 and older between 2019 and 2020.

Unintentional injuries, stroke, chronic respiratory disease, Alzheimers, diabetes, influenza/pneumonia and kidney disease rounded out the top 10 list of leading causes of death in the U.S. in 2020.

Overall, the report said, 3,383,729 resident deaths were recorded in the United States in 2020, up 528,891 compared to 2019.

The 16.8% increase in the age-adjusted death rate for the total population was the biggest single-year increase since the data collection began, and the decrease in life expectancy was the largest single-year decrease in more than 75 years.

As of Dec. 20, 2021, 804,046 deaths had been attributed to COVID-19 on death certificates. In 90% of cases, CDC reported, COVID-19 was listed as the underlying cause of death, while the others listed it as a contributing cause of death. The report said the largest number of COVID-19 deaths reported in a single week came in early January of 2021, when 25,984 deaths were attributed to the pandemic.

COVID-19 changed a trajectory that had been trending toward longer life. A year ago, the final data on 2019 deaths compared to 2018 showed that life expectancy had increased for the second year in a row, despite an increase in deaths from drug overdoses and an all-time high of over 2.85 million deaths in the U.S., that earlier report said.

The CDC said that drug overdose deaths make up more than a third of all accidental deaths in the country and had increased in 2019, after they declined in 2018 for the first time in 28 years.

2020 brought other death-related challenges, as well. In July, the CDC reported that drug overdose deaths were up 30% compared to the previous year. And in October the agency reported that 2020 brought the largest one-year increase in the U.S. homicide rate.

Provisional data found that in 2020, the homicide rate in the United States was 7.8 per 100,000, compared to 6.0 the year before and the highest rate since 1995, but significantly lower than the early 1980s, which topped 10 homicides per 100,000.

The new report said 19,582 children younger than age 1 died in 2020, which was 1,339 fewer than in 2019.

Among infants, the leading causes of death were the same as in 2019: congenital malformations, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, unintentional injuries, maternal complications, cord and placental complications, bacterial sepsis, respiratory distress, diseases of the circulatory system and neonatal hemorrhage.

There was a statistically significant increase in sudden infant death syndrome, from 33.3 to 38.4 per 100,000 live births in 2019 compared to 2020. Low birth weight was the only category where deaths among infants decreased meaningfully, from 91.9 to 86.9 per 100,000.

The CDC has an interactive web dashboard where the leading causes of death are regularly updated.

Continue reading here:

What is the life expectancy in the U.S.? Did COVID cause it to drop? - Deseret News

President Biden said that he would set up new federal coronavirus testing sites nationwide to mitigate the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The first of those sites will open in New York City before Christmas.

The move comes after New York City officials announced that they would open an additional 23 coronavirus testing sites by the end of the week to try to meet a soaring demand as people race to learn their status before holiday travel and indoor gatherings.

Testing helps us on so many levels, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Monday. It helps to make sure that each person knows where they stand. On the very personal level, when you get tested, you know whats going on, you know what to do.

By the end of this week, New Yorkers will have 112 city-run sites, which are spread out among all five boroughs and have been opened in various settings, including health care facilities, schools, libraries and community centers.

The city estimates that more than 130,000 people are being tested at the citys sites every day, which is double the number three weeks ago. New Yorkers also have access to hundreds of private testing sites across the city.

Heres how to be tested for Covid-19 in New York.

Essentially everyone, including people who do not live in New York, regardless of whether they have Covid-19 symptoms. But certain sites have minimum age requirements, which are listed on the citys coronavirus portal.

You can find a list of city-operated and privately run testing locations on the citys portal. You can also text COVID TEST to 855-48.

Each site is supposed to specify what tests are available and when results can be expected. The portal also lists if an appointment is needed to visit a particular location and whether there are other requirements such as a screening to see if you were recently exposed to the virus or a doctors order for a test.

The hours for each site are also listed. The N.Y.C. Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health locations and saliva self-testing sites will stop testing at 2 p.m. on Friday. All mobile testing sites will be closed Christmas Day.

While city-run sites are without cost, some private testers charge a fee. Poor weather may also force some locations to close. City officials encourage people to call a testing site before going.

Dec. 21, 2021, 8:38 p.m. ET

The New York State Health Department is in charge of regulating all private testing sites, including sites in New York City.

But certain testing sites have recently come under increased scrutiny. The New York attorney general Letitia James on Monday issued a warning to LabQ Diagnostics, a Brooklyn-based laboratory with testing sites across the city, over false advertising. The companys website advertises test results within 48 hours, but some people have reported waiting more than 96 hours.

Many New Yorkers have seen lines at testing sites snake around blocks, and the wait can sometimes exceed two hours.

The wait time at the N.Y.C. Health + Hospitals locations can be tracked using this dashboard. For example, the site lists test locations with no reported wait time as well as sites that have wait times of more than two hours. Workers aim to update the expected wait times every two hours.

New Yorkers with certain underlying health conditions or who are over 65 can schedule an in-home appointment by calling 929-298-9400, seven days a week, between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

At-home tests can also be ordered online, through one of five different vendors: Hims & Hers, Pixel by LabCorp, QuestDirect by QuestDiagnostics, Vault Health or Zeel. The cost of the tests largely depends on what insurance carriers cover. In some cases, a screening to check if you were recently exposed to the virus must be completed before an order can be placed.

Testing kits have become hard to find in pharmacies and other stores, and some retailers are charging higher prices. The attorney generals office on Tuesday condemned price gouging and asked people to report it.

You should quarantine for 10 days and contact your medical provider or call the city at 1-212-COVID-19. The New York City Test & Trace Corps offers help to those who test positive, such as a hotel room in which to quarantine, food or medical support like medicine and mental health care.

Those infected should try to determine when they might have been exposed and reach out to people they interacted with and had close contact with during that time period. The state health department recommends reaching out to people you were in close contact with starting two days before your symptoms appeared or if you are asymptomatic, two days before taking your test.

They may hear from a contact tracer who will help notify people who might have been in contact with them and connect people with resources.

Read more:

How to Find a Coronavirus Test in New York City - The New York Times

The White House says President Biden will deliver a speech Tuesday to announce a plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid COVID-19 tests beginning next month, as the administration ramps up attempts to deal with the spread of the omicron variant. The administration says it will set up a website for Americans who want to request a test to be delivered to their homes for free. This would be the second public-facing pandemic-specific website from the Biden administration, which previously built a site to direct people to vaccine providers.

The presidents so-called winter plan will also send 1,000 medical military members including doctors, nurses, and other personnel to hospitals overwhelmed with COVID patients and will set up more free federal testing sites. And the administration says it will deploy hundreds of federal vaccinators across 12 states, Tribes, and territories to help enable thousands of additional appointments over the next few weeks.

The actions come as the number of new coronavirus cases has exploded due in large part to omicron, a highly infectious variant of the virus; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), omicron is now the dominant strain of the virus in the US. Its unclear if theyll be sufficient to make a dent in the virus spread the strain moves so quickly that waiting until next month to start sending out tests likely wont blunt the initial surge.

Biden also plans to invoke the Defense Production Act to increase the pace of coronavirus test production, and the White House says the Strategic National Stockpile has hundreds of millions of N-95 masks, more than 100,000 ventilators, and other personal protective equipment ready to ship out if and when states need them.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Bidens planned speech was not about another lockdown but rather being directly clear with the American people about the benefits of being vaccinated, the steps were going to take to increase access, increase testing, and the risks posed to unvaccinated individuals.

The administration plans to have new federal testing sites set up before Christmas in New York City.

Read this article:

Biden plan will send out 500 million coronavirus tests to try to tackle the omicron surge - The Verge

COVID-19: What to do next if you test positive

If you test positive for COVID-19, here are the steps you need to take to get better and help stop the spread.

ProblemSolved, USA TODAY

As COVID-19 cases surge, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus, Americanswonderhow to approach the holidays and safely travel and gather with friends and family.

The pace of new cases in the USA is up 41% compared with a month ago, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data. For much of December, cases hovered around 120,000 but have jumped to more than130,000 aday.

As of Saturday, the omicron variant accounted for 73.2% of new COVID-19 infections in the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.The week ending Dec. 11, it accounted for 12.6% of new cases.

Get COVID-19 updates right to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletter, Coronavirus Watch, here

Health experts said COVID-19 vaccines are less effective against the new strain, which may lead to more breakthrough infections. Boosters provide more protection against omicron, but the CDC reportedonly 30% of the eligible population has received their booster.

Here are answers to some common questions:

Though the easy answer is to stay home, it's important to recognize how challenging the past year has been on families and the need to see loved ones around the holidays, saidAkhil Bindra, a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

"Being conscientious of that, there is a safe way to do it, but there's always some risk," Bindra said.

The best way to protect loved ones from severe disease is to get vaccinated and boosted, he said. Getting tested for the virus before you gather inside is a good idea, even if you don't have symptoms,he said.

Wearing a mask indoors will add another layer of protection, he said,acknowledging it may not be realistic to expect of all families.

Tuesday,presidential health adviserAnthony Fauci said vaccinated Americans don't need to cancel their plans."If you dont have the availability of the test and you are fully vaccinated and boosted, you should feel comfortable having a holiday meal or gathering with family members who are also vaccinated and boosted," he said onNBC's "Today."

The CDC defines close contact as being within 6 feet of someone withCOVID-19 for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.

The agency urges unvaccinated people quarantine if theyvehad close contact with someone with COVID-19, which entails:

The CDC recommends consulting your local health departments website for more information on quarantine. In some states, unvaccinated individuals can shorten their quarantine to 10 days without testing if they dont develop symptoms or seven days upon receiving a negative test result.

Misinformation about COVID-19 is spreading: Experts explain why and how to spot false claims.

COVID-19winter: Stressed hospitals, weary nurses brace for another surge

What 'super immunity' looks like: Full vaccination against COVID-19 and a breakthrough infection

People who are fully vaccinated do NOT need to quarantine after contact with someone who had COVID-19 unless they develop symptoms, the CDC said. They should still get tested five to sevendays after their exposure and wear a mask in indoor public settings for 14 days after exposure or until they get a negative test result.

A person infected with COVID-19 may be contagious 48 hours before symptoms start, health experts said. Early studies have shown people may be most likely to unknowingly spread the virus to others during that initial two-day period.

The CDC recommendspeople get tested five to sevendays after exposure and wear a mask in indoor public settings for 14 days after exposure or until they get a negative test result.

Omicron's spread: What it could mean for holiday plans

Asymptomatic COVID-19: More than 40% of people with COVID-19 never show symptoms, study finds

When COVID-19 cancels vacation: How to get a refund for your Airbnb or Vrbo rental

Regardless of vaccination status, health experts said, Americans should not travel to see family or friends if theyve tested positive for the coronavirus. Unfortunately, that may mean canceling holiday plans.

According to the CDC, people who test positive for the coronavirus andexperience symptoms should:

The CDC said a person infected with COVID-19 should isolate from people for 10 full days, counting Day 1 as the first full dayafter symptoms developed. After isolation, health experts said, its not always necessary to retest.

A positive test doesnt necessarily mean you have to wait another 10 days because we know that these tests can stay positive for a while, said Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Network, a nonprofit forallergy, asthma and immune conditions. After 10 days, its very unlikely youll be contagious.

She recommended rest, hydrating with lots of fluids andover-the-counter pain medication to alleviate symptoms during the isolation period.

Even if youre asymptomatic, health experts said, its important to isolate after testing positive for the coronavirus.

If you test positive for the coronavirus and never develop symptoms, the CDC said, Day 0 is the day of your positive viral test and Day 1 is the first full day after your positive test.

If you develop symptoms before the 10-day isolation period is over, the agency said, your period must start over with Day 0 being the first day of symptoms and Day 1 the first full day after symptoms develop.

Even if symptoms never develop, the CDC recommended followingthe same rules of isolation as someone who does have symptoms, including avoiding contact with other household members, using separate facilities, not sharing personal items and wearing a mask.

Biden warns of illness and death as omicron surges

Warning the omicron variant of the coronavirus "is here," President Joe Biden predicts a "winter of severe illness and death" for those who are still unvaccinated and implores Americans anew to get their shots and boosters. (Dec. 16)

AP

If youre not feeling sick and have yet to test positive for the coronavirus, health experts urged unvaccinated Americans to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Those who tested positive for the coronavirus and are unvaccinated should follow the same isolation rules as people who are fully vaccinated and infected.

People who are unvaccinated are more at risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death, Parikh said, which means they should be extra vigilant of symptoms that may require emergency care.

Regardless of vaccination status, people who are at high risk for severe disease, such asthose over 65, are immunocompromised or have underlying medical conditions, should call their doctor for early treatment options.

You should strongly consider monoclonal antibody infusion preferably two to three days after (testing positive), Parikh said. It will lessen your chances of needing to be admitted in the hospital or dying of COVID-19.

Bindra,with the Cleveland Clinic, said themajority of cases at his hospital are unvaccinated people, highlighting the need to get vaccinated. "It's still not too late," he said.

The omicron surge has helped fueltherise in cases, he said. According to the CDC, omicron canspread among the vaccinated and people who are asymptomatic.Bindra said among the small number of vaccinated cases at his hospital, most are older or immunocompromised patients.

Though more research is needed on the signs and symptoms of omicron compared with other variants, Bindra said it's important to remember that delta is still circulating, which can accountfor manylonger-term andintensive care unit hospitalizations.

The CDC saidpeople who have COVID-19 should not get vaccinated right away. If you are asymptomatic, wait until you meet the criteria for leaving isolation to get a shot. If you aresymptomatic, wait until you have recovered and meet the criteria to leave isolation, the CDC said.

Yes. Omicron is a variant of the coronavirus, similar to delta. They both occurred when genetic mutations occurred to the virus.

"I think the longer the virus can exist which is now, existing for about two years (there's a)higher chance of it continuing to mutate. So I don't think any of us expect that this one will count asthe last mutation," Bindra said.

Contributing: Mike Stucka and Ryan Miller

Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

View original post here:

Vaccinated and test positive? What to know about omicron, COVID for this holiday season. - USA TODAY

Its likely that the symptoms of Omicron will resemble Deltas more than they differ.

Theres probably a huge amount of overlap between Omicron and the prior variants, because they are essentially doing the same thing, said Dr. Otto O. Yang, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. If there are differences, theyre probably fairly subtle.

One possible difference is that Omicron may be less likely than earlier variants to cause a loss of taste and smell. Research suggests that 48 percent of patients with the original SARS-CoV-2 strain reported loss of smell and 41 percent reported loss of taste, but an analysis of a small Omicron outbreak among vaccinated people in the Netherlands found that only 23 percent of patients reported loss of taste, and only 12 percent reported loss of smell. Its unclear, though, whether these differences are because of Omicron or some other factor, like vaccination status.

Indeed, many Covid-19 symptoms vary depending on a persons vaccine status. Maya N. Clark-Cutaia, an assistant professor at the New York University Meyers College of Nursing who has been following up with Covid-19 patients throughout the pandemic, said that vaccinated patients with Delta or the original coronavirus tend to present with headache, congestion, sinus pressure and sinus pain, while unvaccinated patients are more likely to have shortness of breath and cough, along with flulike symptoms.

Dec. 21, 2021, 8:38 p.m. ET

With Omicron, Dr. Clark-Cutaia said patients shes talked to in Pennsylvania are presenting with similar symptoms to Delta. Vaccinated Omicron patients complain of headaches, body aches and fever like a really bad cold, she said. Unvaccinated people have the same shortness of breath, cough and flulike symptoms she saw among unvaccinated people with Delta and the original coronavirus.

One other difference between Omicron and other variants is that Omicron seems to have a shorter incubation time after a person is exposed, it takes as few as three days for them to develop symptoms, become contagious and test positive compared with four to six days with Delta and the original coronavirus, said Dr. Waleed Javaid, the director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York City. That could be because the variants mutations help it attach to and go inside cells, he added.

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What Are the Symptoms of Omicron, the New Covid Variant? - The New York Times

WASHINGTON President Biden was in close contact with a White House official who later tested positive for the coronavirus, the administration said on Monday.

The president spent about 30 minutes near the official aboard Air Force One on a trip from South Carolina to Pennsylvania on Friday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. The official, who was vaccinated and had received a booster shot, began experiencing symptoms two days later and tested positive on Monday morning.

The president is tested on a regular basis. As part of that regular testing, the president received an antigen test Sunday, and tested negative, Ms. Psaki said. This morning, after being notified of the staffers positive test, the president received a P.C.R. test and tested negative.

The news came as administration officials acknowledged that as the highly contagious Omicron variant has surged, a cluster of cases have been reported in and around the White House, including at the National Security Council, the State Department, Treasury and other agencies. Mr. Biden, who is 79, will deliver a speech on Tuesday that his advisers say is meant to emphasize that fully vaccinated people will face far fewer health risks from the virus and its variants than the unvaccinated.

This is not a speech about locking the country down, Ms. Psaki told reporters on Monday. This is a speech outlining and being direct and clear with the American people about the benefits of being vaccinated, the steps were going to take to increase access and to increase testing, and the risks posed to unvaccinated individuals.

In her statement about Mr. Bidens exposure to the virus, Ms. Psaki added that he would be tested again on Wednesday, and that as a fully vaccinated person, he was not required to quarantine after exposure. According to guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fully vaccinated people who have had close contact with someone who has Covid should be tested five to seven days from the date of exposure and wear a mask in public indoor settings for two weeks or until they receive a negative test result.

Researchers still do not know how likely Omicron is to cause severe illness in most people, but its speed has stunned public health experts. With Omicron already the dominant form of the coronavirus in the United States, White House officials have tried to emphasize that breakthrough cases among the fully vaccinated and boosted will most likely be mild compared with infections the unvaccinated may face; but given the variants contagiousness, those cases could become more common.

Officials have also said that there is no reason to treat this wave like the devastating one the United States faced in spring 2020, but the virus is interfering with day-to-day functions in the administration. At least one person a journalist who traveled with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to Southeast Asia last week tested positive, causing Mr. Blinken to cut short his trip. Another White House official, who attended a Christmas party with journalists on Tuesday, later tested positive. The administration has not disclosed the scope of infections in the White House and at various agencies.

I would just note that we do expect there to be breakthrough cases, as there are as there will be across government, Ms. Psaki said on Monday when asked to describe infections in the administration.

Some federal agencies are planning to require employees to return to the office. A memo sent to Commerce Department employees on Friday from Don Graves, the deputy secretary, outlined a plan to start a staggered approach to return beginning in January. Ms. Psaki said on Monday that everyone who worked in the administration was encouraged to receive a booster shot and that 99 percent of the White House staff had received one.

Dec. 21, 2021, 8:38 p.m. ET

Still, a memo sent to the staff on Monday afternoon provided a link to schedule a Pfizer dose and a plea: The best way to protect yourself and others is by being fully vaccinated and receiving a booster as soon as you are eligible. Both memos were obtained by The New York Times.

In his speech on Tuesday, Mr. Biden is expected to encourage the public to receive a booster shot as soon as they are eligible.

President Donald J. Trump, who for years falsely claimed that vaccines were dangerous and pointedly declined to be seen receiving his coronavirus vaccine while he was in office, told the former Fox News host Bill OReilly on Sunday that he had received a booster.

Their audience, at a speaking tour stop in Houston, began to boo, according to a video distributed by one of Mr. OReillys social media accounts.

Dont, dont, dont, dont, Mr. Trump said, waving his arm to dismiss the naysayers and downplaying the reaction.

Mr. Bidens advisers have pointed out that they have taken extra precautions to keep him safe from exposure, including protocol that requires day-of testing if an official is to meet with him. Officials who see the president every day are therefore tested every day, an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal planning.

Mr. Trump, on the other hand, eschewed most precautions while he was in office.

Azi Paybarah and Lauren McCarthy contributed reporting.

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Biden Was in Close Contact With Official Who Tested Positive for Covid - The New York Times