Category: Corona Virus

All Jonah Simons said he wanted was a coronavirus cure to save the world.

This holiday season, the 10-year-old Florida boy is back with a different request for Santa.

"Dear Santa, it's me Jonah. Do you remember me? I was the one who asked for a covid cure," he wrote in a letter addressed to the North Pole and shared with CNN. "btw, ty so much for the vaccine! You helped save lives. This year, can I please have a Santa costume to spread your joy around the world?"

His mother, Doe Simons, says Jonah composes his Santa letters himself, without help from his parents.

With a relentless virus and threats of the Omicron variant still plaguing a weary nation, Jonah has big plans for the Santa suit.

"I want to wear it and go around the neighborhood and spread Santa's joy, ask people what they want for Christmas," the fifth-grader told CNN.

Jonah's mother says she's not positive whether her son still believes in Santa Claus.

"But Jonah has experienced Santa-like moments. For example, last year he sent his Xmas wish out into the universe and it came true to a certain extent," she says.

"I think writing that letter, even if he didn't believe in Santa, for him was the ability to exert some control over the problem (of the pandemic). It was his way to communicate his feelings and express what he wished would happen."

Helping others is nothing new for Jonah

Jonah has been spreading joy in his community of Parkland for years.

Growing up in Parkland, where a 2018 massacre left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has had an effect on Jonah and other local children, his mother says.

"What happened here had a lot of impact on children here. He was in middle school, and his school was on lockdown that day," she says. "I think that like Jonah, you're getting kids here who are civic minded and want to make a difference ... When he sees the impact his help has on others, he wants to do more to help."

Jonah turned 10 in July, and in lieu of gifts he asked his family and friends to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His birthday effort raised $1,000 in donations from family and friends all over -- even his favorite employees at the local Publix store, his mother says.

"It was so long, I got bullied for it," he says. "Some people called me a girl."

Jonah's good deeds are not limited to birthdays. He works to help his community all year, including donating and sorting food for the homeless with the organization Feeding South Florida, and packing holiday gifts for children.

Doe Simons says her son's charity begins close to home with his grandparents, who are in their 90s and live nearby. Jonah takes out their garbage every week, holds car doors open for them and helps them with their walkers up the elevator, she says.

He's a would-be doctor whose medicine is love

Jonah has long found ways to spread happiness. At age 3 he started dressing up as a doctor to visit loved ones who were ill.

"Ever since he was a little kid, he always wanted a doctors' outfit," says his father, Joe Simons. "He would dress as a doctor because his medicine was love. He would visit family members at the hospital, check their vitals, talk to the nurses and prescribe a special medicine for them: love."

At the start of the pandemic, Jonah asked his parents to buy him a "pandemic suit" with the personal protective equipment that health care workers wear at the hospital. He told them he wanted one in case he needed to visit relatives at the hospital and prescribe his love medicine.

Jonah hasn't needed to do that yet, so he mostly wears the outfit at home when he's treating his stuffed bear.

"His bear is very well taken care of," his mother says.

Jonah has big plans for his 11th birthday

"She really turned him on to being a public servant," Doe Simons says.

Jonah wants to be a lot of things when he grows up. Most days he tells people he wants to be a doctor, a lawyer or a police officer. But he thinks he can make a bigger difference as the leader of the free world.

"My best goal is to be a president," he says. "That way, I can make changes to a lot of things and make decisions that help other people."

Until then, he'll continue helping people in his community.

Jonah already has big plans for his 11th birthday next July. He's hoping that Covid-19 will be a thing of the past by then, so he can go to sleepaway camp without a mask.

He's also signed up to be an ambassador for the homeless. And once again he plans to use his birthday to raise money for charity. Maybe he'll even wear his Santa suit.

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This 10-year-old boy asked Santa last year for a cure for Covid-19. This year he has a new request - CNN

Good evening. Im Karen Kaplan, and its Friday, Dec. 17. Heres the latest on whats happening with the coronavirus in California and beyond.

Lets be real: Almost everything we hear about the Omicron variant sounds scary. It seemed to come out of nowhere just a few weeks ago and already accounts for well over half of coronavirus cases in London. In South Africa, it reduced the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to just 33%. In California, its infecting people who are not only fully vaccinated but got their booster shots too.

Even its name sounds a little too much like ominous.

But many scientists who are looking at the early Omicron data are feeling a little ... well ... hopeful.

Is this the end of the pandemic? asked one of them, University of Johannesburg coronavirus analyst Pieter Streicher.

Why does he think thats even a possibility? It boils down to two apparent attributes of the Omicron variant: It spreads like wildfire, and its less likely to make people severely ill.

As my colleague Melissa Healy explains, a strain that is both highly transmissible and much less virulent is exactly the type that becomes an endemic nuisance virus. It never goes away, but it doesnt do that much damage.

Four other coronaviruses ones that cause the common cold have already achieved this status. They make their hosts sick enough to cough or sneeze out infectious particles but not so sick they stay home and miss the chance to spread those germs to others. Each infection leaves some immunity in its wake, but most people remain susceptible most of the time. The virus and humanity reach a stalemate.

Thats what we all hope, said Dr. Stanley Perlman, a University of Iowa virologist who has studied coronaviruses for decades.

The preliminary findings about Omicron are based on population studies from South Africa and experiments conducted in labs. Observations from countries around the world back them up, but it will be another week or so before theres enough hard data to be convincing.

Sandile Cele, a researcher at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, studies the Omicron variant.

(Jerome Delay / Associated Press)

Thus far, COVID-19 death rates across South Africa have dropped considerably despite the Omicron wave. If that continues to be the case for the next two or three weeks and there is no massive surge in hospitalizations, it may well mark turning point in [the] pandemic, according to Dr. Shabir Madhi, an infectious-disease expert at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Some scientists insist that kind of thinking is premature. Omicrons behavior in the U.S. may be different than its behavior in South Africa, since the population there is much younger, among other differences.

Plus, Omicrons propensity to spread may negate its lighter touch: If the variant is half as likely to make people severely ill but twice as transmissible, itll be a wash.

And then theres the ever-present possibility that a new mutation will come along and change the game again. The coronavirus could become easier to contain or it could make things worse.

William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvards School of Public Health, is among those who arent ready to breathe a sigh of relief.

Only a fool would bet against Mother Nature, he said.

California cases and deaths as of 4:28 p.m. Friday:

Track Californias coronavirus spread and vaccination efforts including the latest numbers and how they break down with our graphics.

Someday, the pandemic will be over. But for many of those who lost loved ones, life will never return to normal. Its not just the emotional toll of knowing that parents, spouses or other cherished people are gone for good. Its the way their absence affects the trajectory of their lives.

Janelly, Melanie, Leanna and Sergio Ayala all of them 10 or younger are in this unfortunate category. Their father, 37-year-old Sergio Ayala, died of COVID-19 in January. In addition to being a doting parent, he was a breadwinner with a good job as a field supervisor at his brother-in-laws pest control company. He was also taking steps to become a barber and own his own business.

Once that dream was fulfilled, he had planned to start college savings funds for all four of his children. His partner, Lizeth Sanchez, was going to go back to school and study sociology. Instead, she will stick with her job at a medical device manufacturing company. She worries that shell only be able to send one of their children to college.

The family Sergio Ayala left behind is hardly alone, my colleague Alejandra Reyes-Velarde reports. In California, COVID-19s victims include a disproportionate share of younger Latinos people whose families relied on them for financial support.

There are a variety of reasons why COVID-19 has been particularly unkind to this demographic. To name a few: Theyre more likely to work in essential jobs that increase their exposure to the coronavirus; they have higher rates of conditions like obesity and hypertension that are associated with severe COVID-19; and they are more likely to live in crowded and multigenerational homes, increasing the risk that if one family member catches the coronavirus, others will too.

When you add it all up, Latinos in California have lost roughly 370,000 years of potential life due to COVID-19, according to UCLA biostatistics researcher Jay Xu.

A month after his death, Sergio Ayalas corner cubicle was cluttered with his belongings at PestCal Exterminators.

(Nick Agro / For The Times)

Some of those years would have been spent making families more financially secure and creating opportunities for upward mobility. Instead, those left behind will be struggling just to stay where they are and hoping they dont fall further behind.

Prior to the pandemic, about 38% of Latinos in California were in the middle class, and more than half were in the lowest income bracket, according to a report from the California Latino Economic Institute. Thanks to the pandemic, many of those in the first category have slipped into the second.

A survey by the Pew Research Center found that, a year into the pandemic, 44% of Americans said either they or someone in their household had lost a job or taken a pay cut because of the pandemic. Among Latinos, that figure was about 60%.

When Latinos struggle, the whole state struggles.

If Latinos are left behind, thats going to have a significant impact on Californias overall economy, said Mindy Romero, a political sociologist at USC. You cant leave behind your most populous community.

Sanchez will do the best she can for her children, without Ayalas help. But deaths like his have the potential to widen the class divide in the decades to come.

See the latest on Californias vaccination progress with our tracker.

Winter is coming.

That Game of Thrones warning also applies to the real world, where the rapidly spreading Omicron variant and the destructive Delta variant are threatening to overwhelm hospitals in the coming weeks.

Californias COVID-19 forecasting models show that a winter surge could be worse than this summers Delta wave, which stretched hospitals to their limits in much of the state.

We will, in fact, see a pretty significant surge in our cases, said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

Thats already happening in Riverside County, which hasnt had a break since patients sickened by Delta began filling hospitals months ago. Its been so bad that patients have had to wait up to five hours just to be transferred from an ambulance gurney to a bed in the ER, said Bruce Barton, director of emergency management there.

Colder weather and holiday gatherings could make the situation even worse. And if patients go to hospitals, theyre likely to find them short-staffed because exhausted employees have left the industry.

The combination of Delta and Omicron is a perfect storm for overwhelming our hospital system that is already strained, said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, a deputy health officer for Orange County.

The problem isnt limited to California. Omicron cases in the U.S. are doubling about every two days, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says there could be more than 1 million new coronavirus cases next week; around Halloween, there were 500,000 in a week.

President Biden didnt mince words when he described the threat on Thursday: For [the] unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death, he said. That was followed by the usual pitch to protect yourself and others by getting vaccinated and boosted.

Infections are also spiraling in the United Kingdom, hitting record highs. That prompted France to tighten entry rules for travelers from the U.K. In addition, Greece and Italy tightened entry requirements for all visitors this week while Portugal extended stricter border controls that were already in effect.

In the Netherlands, where a partial lockdown has been in place since November, the government ordered elementary schools to begin Christmas break a week early in hopes of heading off an Omicron surge. Dutch leaders also followed Britains lead by accelerating their booster shot campaign.

Back in the U.S., the CDC is easing up on schools by backing test-to-stay policies that let students remain in classrooms after theyve been exposed to an infected person but only if the exposed students are asymptomatic and test negative for a coronavirus infection. The CDC says the change will minimize disruptions for students without putting them at increased risk.

Previously, the guidance was for students to quarantine at home for 10 days if they came in close contact with an infected person. As of Friday, both policies are considered viable options. (Some schools may want to continue with quarantines because the monitoring needed for test-to-stay can be costly.)

The CDC said its decision was influenced by the experience of school districts in Chicago and L.A. County, which kept case rates in check when they implemented test-to-stay policies. L.A. Unified was not one of them more than 2,000 LAUSD students enter quarantine in a typical week but the nations second-largest school district was already planning to shift to a policy like the one endorsed by the CDC.

The CDC also made a change to its COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, saying Americans would be better off with either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots than with the one from Johnson & Johnson. The updated advice was based on a reassessment of the risk of developing rare but serious blood clots after getting the J&J shot, as well as a recognition that the other vaccines have proved more effective.

Until now, all three vaccines were treated as if they were equally good. The fact that the J&J offering came in a single dose was expected to be an advantage, since it offered a simpler path to full immunization. But it hasnt proven nearly as popular as its two-dose counterparts: Of the more than 200 million Americans who are fully vaccinated, only about 16 million got the J&J shot.

Although its not preferred, the J&J vaccine will remain an option for Americans who arent comfortable with the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

And speaking of the Pfizer vaccine, a very-low-dose version being tested in 2- to 4-year-olds did not prompt a strong enough immune response after two shots, the company said. The company will now test three doses to see if protection improves.

The dosage being tried is one-tenth the adult dose, and Pfizer said it had no plans right now to increase it. The two-dose version for 5- to 11-year-olds is one-third the adult dose.

Its not clear how long this setback may delay a COVID-19 vaccine for the youngest children. If the three-dose series is shown to work in a clinical trial, Pfizer and BioNTech said theyd seek emergency use authorization sometime before the end of June 2022.

Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are loaded for shipping at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage, Mich., on Dec. 13, 2020.

(Morry Gash / Associated Press)

This picture was taken just over a year ago as the biggest immunization drive in American history got underway. Its from a Pfizer manufacturing plant in Michigan, and the green forklift speeding by is moving boxes of COVID-19 vaccine.

After losing 300,000 Americans in less than a year, health officials were thrilled to see injections going into arms. It seemed like nothing short of a miracle that the shots along with similar ones produced by Moderna were developed in a matter of months and were at least 94% effective in clinical trials.

A year later, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 stands above 800,000 despite the widespread availability of multiple vaccines. People who are fully vaccinated are 14 times less likely to die of the disease than people who are unvaccinated, according to the CDC. But numbers like that have a hard time breaking through the wall of misinformation that has scared millions of people away.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said he and other experts underestimated how the spread of misinformation could hobble the astounding achievement of the vaccines.

More here:

Coronavirus Today: The (potential) upside of Omicron - The San Diego Union-Tribune

The latest:

Large parts of Canada are starting to hunker down, with new restrictions and lockdowns coming into effect as anotherwave of COVID-19 fuelled by the Omicron variant saw thousands of new cases across the country over the weekend.

Quebec and Nova Scotia set new records for their daily case counts on Sunday while Ontario reported4,177additional infections,800 more than the previous day.

Other parts of the country were also experiencing a surge in new cases unseen since before the summer as the Omicron variant, identified by the World Health Organization as a potential concern only last month, became increasingly entrenched in Canada.

And while hospitalizations have remained steady in Ontario and some other parts of the country, a recent spike in the number of severe cases in Quebec has added to concerns the rest of the country could soon follow.

In response to the growing wave, several provinces have started to re-impose tighter public health restrictionsonly days before the start of the holiday season, many of which apply to both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

In Ontario, new limits on indoor gatherings came into effect Sunday as the provincial government struggled to get escalating case counts under control while similar restrictions were set to come down in British Columbia and Quebec on Monday.

Similar restrictions were set to come down in British Columbia and Quebec on Monday.

Quebec reported 3,846 new cases on Sunday, setting an all-time high for the province's daily tally for the second time in three days, while the number of hospitalizations and people in intensive care because of COVID-19 continued to increase.

Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, head of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Table, had warned Thursday that while hospitalizations in his province had remained fairly steady, he expected a spike in two to three weeks.

"It does cause serious disease," Brown said in discussing the science table's latest modelling. "Hospital rates have risen in South Africa where it first took hold. It's not just a case of the sniffles."

A Quebec government health-care research institute also said Thursday that it expects more than 700 non-ICU hospitalizations in the province, and more than 160 people in intensive care, within two to three weeks.

However, the institute said it was less confident than usual in its projections because its data on the Omicron variant was based on a single study conducted in South Africa, which has a significantly lower vaccination rate than Quebec.

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia, which imposed new restrictions starting Friday, also reported a new daily record of new infections on Sunday with 476 cases while New Brunswick said it had 108 new cases and Newfoundland and Labrador reported 61 cases.

N.L.'schief medical officer of health, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, said there were 127 active reported cases of COVID-19 in the province, though nobody is in hospital due to the virus.

Education Minister Tom Osborne nonetheless said schools would close for the holiday break beginning Tuesday rather than Thursday and students are to prepare for possible online learning when classes resume on Jan. 4.

N.L. Premier Andrew Furey said everyone has seen the spread of Omicron in other parts of the country and wants to avoid the same situation in his province.

"The spectre of a surge is on our doorstep and we need to address it now before we suffer the same fate. I know it couldn't come at a worse time," he said.

The sudden onset of a fifth wave of COVID-19 has pushed testing capacities in many parts of the country to the limit, with long waits for tests and public health officials warning people with symptoms to self-isolate even if they haven't been tested.

Michelle Hoad, chief executive officer of the Medical Laboratory Professionals' Association of Ontario, said a pre-existing shortage of technicians combined with the sudden explosion of new cases and tests due to Omicron has pushed already overtaxed labs to the limit.

"The sudden surge in testing now is showing all the cracks in our system," Hoad said.

"And it is not just a problem in Ontario, it's across the entire country. So this shortage of medical lab technologist is a problem in every single province and territory."

The fifth wave has also sparked a rush for booster shots as the Omicron variant has caused a surge of infections among both vaccinated and unvaccinated Canadians.

Ontario's science advisers have said two doses of COVID-19 vaccine are only 35 per cent effective against the variant three months after being administered, while a third dose bumps efficacy up to 75 per cent.

The province on Monday will open booster eligibility to all residents aged 18 or over who received their second dose at least three months ago. Other provinces are also expanding their booster campaigns to protect against Omicron.

As of Sunday, more than274.5million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.3 million.

In Europe, tens of thousands of Vienna residents turned out Sunday night to participate in a "sea of lights" commemoration for the more than 13,000 Austrians who have died in the coronavirus pandemic.

In Asia, Sri Lanka will require the showing of a COVID-19 vaccination certificate compulsory for entry to public places starting from Jan. 1, in a renewed attempt to prevent another spike in infections.

In Africa,South Africa will donate just over twomillion doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to other African countries to boost the continent's COVID-19 vaccine drive, the government said.

In the Americas,Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro had a "direct and relevant" role in spreading disinformation about the country's electoral process during live streams on social media, a federal police document reviewed by Reuters said.

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Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Sunday - CBC News

Covid-19s accelerating spread has hampered operations and slowed sales at some companies in a matter of days, but many say they hope precautions adopted during previous surges will help them motor through this one.

Restaurants were among businesses most immediately hit.

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Covid-19s Omicron Variant Starts to Take Toll on Businesses - The Wall Street Journal

DETROIT (AP) The city of Detroit is approaching the one-year anniversary of its rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines as officials continue to urge residents to get vaccinated or receive booster shots.

The city says more than 424,000 doses have been administered to residents 5 and older since frontline medical worker and first responders began receiving vaccines on Dec. 23, 2020.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, more than 2,600 Detroit residents have died from the disease. But the citys vaccination rate of 44%, which includes children 5 and older, still is far below Michigans overall rate.

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.

Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.

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Detroit struggles with COVID-19 vaccination rate after year - WXYZ

Omicron has become a global threat to public health thanks to a particularly dangerous set of mutations, but where did it come from?

By Michael Le Page

A technician at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa

New York Times / Redux / eyevine

We dont know for sure where or how the omicron variant of the coronavirus acquired such an extensive and dangerous set of mutations before beginning to spread like wildfire around the world, and we may never know. It most likely evolved in a single immunocompromised individual, possibly someone who is HIV positive living somewhere in southern Africa who wasnt receiving effective treatment, but there is no direct evidence for this.

How did we discover the omicron variant?

Researchers in South Africa noticed a small increase in cases in Gauteng province and decided to genetically sequence more samples. They found a variant with a lot of worrying mutations and alerted the world on 25 November. Researchers elsewhere noticed this variant around the same time from sequences uploaded to public databases.

Whats different about it?

Omicron has around 50 mutations compared to the original virus discovered in Wuhan, China, with 30 in the outer spike protein alone. That matters because the spike protein is the target of our antibodies. The extensive changes in omicronsspike protein greatly reduce the effectiveness of the antibodies people have from vaccination or from infection with other variants.

How did it acquire so many mutations?

There are two main hypotheses. The first is that it evolved in a person with a compromised immune system. Normally all viruses are killed when our immune response kicks in fully, but if a persons immune system is weak some viruses can keep replicating in their body and evolve over several months to become much better at evading antibodies.

Is there any evidence this is what happened?

There is no direct evidence, but this process of the coronavirus accumulating mutations has been observed happening in an individual with HIV who wasnt responding to covid-19 treatment. The researchers who discovered omicron have called for efforts to tackle HIV to be stepped up.

Whats the other main idea?

That the virus infected animals of some kind, acquired lots of mutations as it spread among them and then jumped back to people a phenomenon known as reverse zoonosis.

What evidence is there for omicron evolving in animals?

Some of the mutations in the spike proteins are the same as those seen in SARS-Cov-2 viruses that have adapted to spreading in rodents, and specifically mice. But this could just be a coincidence.

Could this have happened in mice in a lab?

Most of the 7 billion people in the world have rodents living near their homes, if not inside them, so there have been countless opportunities for this to happen with mice or rats. Very few labs are doing experiments that involve infecting mice with SARS-Cov-2, and none of them are in southern Africa. In other words, the lab mice idea cant be ruled out but seems highly unlikely.

Are there any other possibilities?

Omicron could have evolved gradually as it spread from person to person in one of the many parts of the world where little or no sequencing is done. But given how infectious it is, its hard to explain why none of its ancestors spread widely enough to reach countries that do more sequencing. Another possibility is that the drug molnupiravir, which works by inducing so many mutations it kills viruses, could have played a part, but there is no evidence to support this speculation.

Where did omicron arise?

The earliest confirmed omicron cases to date were in South Africa and Botswana in the first half of November. However, it is estimated that omicron first started spreading in people in early October. We dont know where that happened. That said, the fact that the first omicron wave is in South Africa does suggest an origin somewhere in the region.

I read that omicron was detected elsewhere before South Africa reported it?

Several countries including the US and the Netherlands have now reported omicron cases from mid November, but these dont predate the earliest southern African cases and are almost all associated with travel from the region. There was a report of omicron being found in Nigeria in October, but this was later said to be a mistake.

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How did the omicron coronavirus variant evolve to be so dangerous? - New Scientist

A Santa Claus in Germany wears a surgical mask in December 2020. If you're planning to take the kids to see Santa this year, experts say it's safest to keep everyone's masks on. Caroline Seidel/picture alliance via Getty Images hide caption

A Santa Claus in Germany wears a surgical mask in December 2020. If you're planning to take the kids to see Santa this year, experts say it's safest to keep everyone's masks on.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here.

My kids are so over seeing Santa Claus through Zoom. Can I bring them to the mall this year for the real deal?

Unfortunately, sitting on Santa's lap is almost a comical example of what NOT to do during the pandemic, says Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University.

"All it takes is one person to be very infectious," he says.

The recipe for disaster can go something like this, he says: An unknowingly infected kid whispers his holiday wish list to Santa, along with COVID aerosols. Santa whose mask doesn't fit well, due to the beard gets an asymptomatic case and continues launching kid after kid off his lap, potentially passing the virus onto them. Then, all those kids too young to be vaccinated or wear a well-fitting mask go home to people congregating for the holidays.

Fortunately, there are some simple precautions that could make an in-person visit possible. Make sure everyone going is vaccinated if possible and wearing good-quality masks, says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine.

Consider the virus numbers in your area. Keep your visit short and sweet. And investigate the specific protocols at your mall. Some places require Santa and other staff working the photo booth, including photographers and other holiday characters, to be vaccinated. Most malls allow kids to take a physically distanced picture instead of sitting on Santa's lap. Some malls require everyone to wear masks. And some require parents to reserve a spot for their kid's photo op in advance to help avoid over-crowding in the photo area.

You might be tempted to have Santa and your kid remove their masks for the photo but experts say it's safest to keep them on. "In general, a few seconds in most circumstances will not be enough to transmit," Karan says "but with SARS-CoV-2, we are constantly surprised."

As for Weatherhead, she says she has decided this year to take her children a 6-year-old who is vaccinated, and a 4-year-old to meet Santa in person. Last year, the kids could only view Santa from afar at an outdoor drive-by parade.

At her housing community where the Santa event takes place, Weatherhead says there are protocols about physical distancing. There is a limited number of people who can be in the photo area at any given time. Also, in Houston, where she lives, "the COVID case numbers are low now, so it's safer for us."

But her kids, she adds, will not be sitting on Santa's lap.

As for other traditions, such as mistletoe? Don't even think about hanging it at a gathering involving anyone other than immediate family, she says.

I'm boosted, but not everyone in my extended family has been vaccinated. Is it safe to attend the annual family holiday gathering?

Unfortunately, a booster shot is not a free pass for risky behavior, says Weatherhead. In fact, she says, emerging evidence suggests three jabs is now what's needed to better protect against omicron, compared to two jabs for the original strain.

Socializing indoors with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people is a higher risk activity, she says. The question comes down to how much risk you're willing to accept.

"You need to make sure you feel safe and are in an environment that is right for you," she adds.

There are ways to make the gathering a bit safer. You can move the party outdoors. Require guests to take a rapid COVID test before coming to the party. Wear masks when they're not eating or drinking. And increase ventilation by opening up windows and doors or set up portable air cleaners inside the home if you live in a cold climate.

But Weatherhead warns that these measures won't necessarily make the party "risk-free"

That likely means that anyone at high risk of COVID-19 will want to avoid being indoors with unvaccinated folks, says Karan. If you're boosted and not at high risk, he adds, your chances of getting a severe case of COVID is unlikely though it's too early to say how boosters impact long COVID, the lingering symptoms that can persist months after a coronavirus infection.

In any case, your best bet is to bring the topic up with the party host and your family members ahead of time, says Weatherhead, and discuss a plan to mitigate risk at the gathering.

"I recommend erring on the side of communication, being up front and having honest conversations about keeping everyone safe so it's fun for everyone and people feel respected and comfortable," she says.

Just be prepared to make alternate plans if not everyone in the family wants to comply.

Are the side effects from the booster different from the side effects from the first two jabs? And do they last longer? I got boosted six weeks ago, and my arm still hurts. Should I be concerned?

No new side effects have been noted in people getting boosters.

"They're the same side effects that were identified previously, mild side effects that usually last 1 to 2 days," Weatherhead says.

Those include pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, chills, fatigue, headache and fever and, in the case of Moderna, a rash on the arm 5 to 9 days later.

If you had one of the very, very rare severe or allergic reactions to your first jabs, for example, anaphylaxis, you'll want to talk to your doctor before getting boosted, she says. The doctor may recommend a different type of booster shot and a longer monitoring period right after you get jabbed.

And if your arm hurts for months? That's extremely unusual, Karan says.

"There's no robust evidence to show that boosters would give you long-lasting side effects," he says. "But there will be anomalies it's possible to have a longer inflammatory reaction [in the arm where you got the shot]. I've never seen it, but I won't say it's impossible."

It's so rare, though, that it's not something for the general public to worry about. And it's more likely that it's unrelated to the booster, Karan adds. "You could trip over your shoelace the day after your booster," but that doesn't mean the booster caused you to trip.

You can report anything you believe could be an adverse effect to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a program co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, says Weatherhead. The system helps monitor the safety of newly licensed vaccines.

Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She has written about COVID-19 for many publications, including The New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Medscape and The Washington Post. More at sheilaeldred.pressfolios.com. On Twitter: @milepostmedia.

Read more from the original source:

Coronavirus FAQ: Is it OK for the kids to take a pic with Santa? - NPR

A lot of people are going to contract the new omicron variant in the coming weeks. Some of them will feel sick and, as has always been the case, those people should isolate themselves. Others may be identified through regimented testing for work, school, or travel, and have no symptoms at all.

Right now, all of those people who test positive for Covid-19 symptomatic or not, vaccinated or not are urged to isolate themselves for 10 full days. Some public health experts are asking: Does that still make sense?

The forthcoming omicron wave wont be the same as the ones that preceded it. More than 60 percent of Americas population is vaccinated, and the coronavirus itself is also different: The early evidence suggests with the omicron variant, people might recover and clear the virus from their bodies faster, especially if theyre vaccinated, and they may therefore be contagious for a shorter period of time.

The CDC guidance for when and how long fully vaccinated Americans should isolate was last updated in October. It still recommends that if a person, vaccinated or not, tests positive for Covid-19, they should isolate for 10 days, staying home, keeping away from anybody else who lives in their house, using a different bathroom, and wearing a mask as much as possible. (For vaccinated people who think they may have been exposed to Covid but arent sure, the guidance is not to isolate but to get tested after several days.)

Some experts argue its time to consider shortening the isolation window after a positive test or even changing the guidance to rely more on test results and less on timing.

The stakes are high. A 10-day quarantine for a child in school or somebody with a job that cant be done remotely can be a major inconvenience. The CDC is already relaxing its guidance for schoolchildren, saying those who have been exposed to somebody with Covid-19 can continue to attend classes as long as they continue to test negative. But some of these experts are urging a broader reassessment of similar recommendations for people who contract the virus.

The length of quarantine windows could also determine whether or not US hospitals have the staff to handle the surge of Covid-19 patients expected as omicron sweeps across the country in the coming weeks and months.

The preliminary data out of South Africa indicates that people who are hospitalized with omicron are staying in the hospital for a shorter period of time. That may mean the virus is now clearing the body more quickly, said Monica Gandhi, an infectious-diseases researcher at the University of California San Francisco.

Its too soon to be certain about that. But if this pattern does hold up, that would be a reason to reevaluate the recommendations.

We have to keep on reevaluating if isolation can be shortened, Gandhi said, as we transition to a society where there will be a lot of omicron exposure, given how infectious it is, but hopefully continued protection against severe disease due to cellular immunity.

Rapid tests should, in theory, also make it easier to revise the isolation protocols. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the evidence suggests vaccinated people with a breakthrough infection are contagious for less than the current 10-day isolation window. He would like to change the protocols so that vaccinated people who test positive continue to take rapid at-home tests.

Once they test negative, as long as they feel healthy, he said, they shouldnt need to isolate.

One thing we could do today is to start saying, Use those home tests when you have a breakthrough, he sad. When youre negative and you feel good, go back to your life.

Rapid at-home tests could then serve as a kind of contagiousness test, replacing a strict time-based guideline to let people know when to start and stop isolating. Even small adjustments could help: As Adalja put it to me, being able to return to normal life after nine days instead of 10 can make a real difference.

Other experts agree that it could make sense to reduce isolation periods for fully vaccinated people who arent experiencing symptoms. But it takes time to get the sturdiest empirical foundation for these policy changes.

We will not have the evidence base on which to assess the impact of changes in these protocols for week or months and omicron will be on us before that, Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, said.

So we are working with imperfect information at a critical point in the pandemic: Its imperative to constrain spread as much as possible, but theres also a risk in asking health care workers to quarantine for too long when hospitals are expecting a swell of Covid-19 patients.

We dont know how many people have been strictly following the CDCs guidance after they test positive. But hospitals do with their staffs.

Right now, hospitals are typically asking their staff members who test positive to quarantine for the full 10 days and they are already seeing positive tests skyrocket, even with omicron still accounting for only a fraction of US cases, according to the available data.

Houston Methodist Hospital saw the number of positive tests among its staff members grow from 46 the week of December 6 to 200 the following week.

We must follow the CDC and OSHA guidelines, which require the 10 days of quarantine, Stefanie Asin, a spokesperson for Houston Methodist, said in an email. If they change the guidelines, we will follow suit with our own policies.

This is another way the omicron variant could push the health system into crisis.

Even if the variant does tend to cause milder illness on average, as some early indications suggest, a certain percentage of infected people, especially unvaccinated people, is going to end up getting really sick. The bigger the denominator (infected people) gets, the bigger the numerator (hospitalized patients) will too. The more hospitalizations we see, the more deaths will be added to the 800,000 American lives lost so far and the higher the risk that there will not be beds or nurses for people who come to a hospital with non-Covid medical emergencies.

The crunch will be even more acute if a wave of sick patients hits hospitals where doctors, nurses, and staff are sidelined for days with mild or asymptomatic cases. Omicron appears adept at evading immunity from vaccines and causing mild or asymptomatic breakthrough infections for some people, though the vaccines still provide strong protection against severe illness. But that change in the virus could lead to a lot of nurses and doctors testing positive and being required to quarantine, even if they dont have symptoms or if they feel better quickly.

As hospitals have said throughout the pandemic, staffing is as much of a constraint on their ability to deliver care as physical beds or supplies. Before omicron hit, nearly 99 percent of rural hospitals already said in a recent survey that they were experiencing a staffing shortage; 96 percent said they are having trouble finding nurses specifically. These hospitals tend to be in communities with lower vaccination rates, where the need for care is expected to explode as omicron takes over.

Even though the CDC recommendations are thus far unchanged, isolation protocols in some industries are already starting to change ahead of the omicron wave.

The NFL announced this week, after a rash of positive tests that put several of the coming weekends games in jeopardy, that it would relax its isolation policies for vaccinated players who test positive. Instead of requiring them to return two separate negative tests taken 24 hours apart, those players no longer need to wait a full day between tests. Any two negative tests are sufficient to allow a player to return to practice and games. (At the same time, the league is also reinstating mask requirements and is putting restrictions on what players and coaches can do outside team facilities, steps not widely seen outside of the NFL.)

This kind of transition is necessary, Adalja argued. We are moving from a reality in which Covid-19 is a world-altering public health emergency to one in which it is one of many viruses circulating and infecting people all the time. In the first scenario, blanket one-size-fits-all guidelines had value.

But as we move into the second, individual cases should be treated individually, he said. A vaccinated person with no symptoms is not the same as somebody who isnt vaccinated and feeling sick. There should be a protocol that allows the former to return to life as soon as possible, while giving the latter a way to know when they can do the same.

Theres one big hurdle: Ending quarantines based on test results depends on tests being available and on people being willing to take them. Some people might not because testing every day at current rates could get expensive. The Biden White House sought to ease the cost burden for tests with its plan to have people submit their receipts to their insurer for reimbursement, but that could prove too cumbersome for many people to follow through.

In the years to come, as the coronavirus continues to circulate without, it is hoped, causing massive waves of hospitalization and death, this guidance will be less necessary; the CDC will offer its recommendations and people will decide whether to heed them.

Thats already how we handle flu and other seasonal illnesses, and its likely it will eventually be true of Covid-19 too. Precision medicine is when we craft recommendations based on individual characteristics, Adalja said. As this becomes more endemic and managed by individual physicians, you will see naturally a move toward precision medicine.

For individuals, that transition may happen over years. But for hospitals anticipating an imminent surge of omicron patients, considering a new policy for isolation is urgent. Theyll need all hands on deck to care for their patients.

Original post:

The omicron variant should prompt a rethinking of our Covid quarantine protocols - Vox.com

The N.F.L. on Friday postponed three games that were slated for this weekend, the latest juggling of sports schedules as scores of college and professional athletes and coaches have tested positive for the coronavirus in the pandemics latest surge.

With the Washington Football Team and Cleveland Browns possibly having to start quarterbacks signed from their practice squad and the Los Angeles Rams having shut down their facilities because of outbreaks, games involving those teams were delayed two days.

Cleveland will now play the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday instead of Saturday, and Washington will play the Philadelphia Eagles while the Seattle Seahawks will play the Rams on Tuesday instead of Sunday.

The N.F.L. postponements generated the greatest attention yet were far from the only disruptions caused by spikes in virus cases. Three ranked mens college basketball teams, U.C.L.A., Seton Hall and Ohio State, were among more than a dozen mens and womens programs that shut down temporarily.

After Seton Hall canceled Saturdays mens basketball game at Madison Square Garden against Iona because of a coronavirus outbreak, Iona Coach Rick Pitino took to Twitter to let anyone out there know perhaps five guys from Rucker Park that there was a 3 p.m. slot available to play at the worlds most famous arena. (There were no takers.)

In the N.H.L., the Calgary Flames have had four games canceled this week because Coach Darryl Sutter and 16 other team members were placed in Covid-19 protocols. And in the N.B.A., teams like the Nets and Los Angeles Lakers have been playing with skeleton rosters because of virus outbreaks.

If the heavily-vaccinated American sports world thought it was skating toward a return to normalcy, that notion has been upended in recent days by events that seemed like relics of the pandemics more tumultuous and distant times: canceled or postponed games, shuttered facilities, and players and coaches testing positive for the virus.

When the coronavirus intruded before the Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was pulled from a 2020 World Series game because of a positive test it was often before vaccines had become available, which was around this time last year.

But cases have snowballed nationwide this week with an average 120,000 new cases reported per day, a 31 percent spike from two weeks ago, according to The New York Times database. Surges in heavily vaccinated places like New York City, where cases with the Omicron variant are doubling almost daily, have prompted public health officials to urge vaccinated people to get booster shots.

Whats happening in sports is a mirror of whats happening in society, said John Swartzberg, an infectious disease and vaccinology professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.

While scientists are trying to assess the severity of the Omicron variant, Swartzberg said it seems unlikely that cases will have eased within a month.

Professional and college basketball as well as professional hockey at least have time on their side, with months remaining to account for any disruptions. Football, though, is entering the final stretch of its season. The N.F.L. playoffs are set to begin next month and there is little wiggle room in its weekend games. There is only one open weekend between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, which is scheduled for Feb. 13 in Los Angeles.

College footballs four-team playoff begins in two weeks, sandwiched by the meat of the bowl season. Its championship game is scheduled for Jan. 10, the day after the regular season ends in the N.F.L.

Of course, were aware of whats happening and were monitoring the situation, said Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, who added that no changes have been made to bowl itineraries or fan guidelines. As it stands, the four playoff teams Cincinnati and Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, and Michigan and Georgia in the Orange Bowl are scheduled to arrive at their sites five days before the Dec. 31 games. Interviews with the media on Dec. 29 are still scheduled to be in person.

Last year, 19 bowl games were canceled, media interviews were done remotely and teams often arrived in town the night before the games.

David Eads, the executive director of the Tournament of Roses, said the Rose Bowl which was moved to Arlington, Texas, last year because fans were not permitted to attend the game has not curtailed any activities surrounding the game that on New Years Day will pit Ohio State against Utah.

Among the Rose Bowl rituals are visits to Disneyland and a prime rib dinner at Lawrys Restaurant in Beverly Hills. Utah, which is playing in its first Rose Bowl, has already sold more than 30,000 tickets and the bowl, which holds 92,000 fans, had been expected to sell out.

Eads said that the Rose Bowl stadium, answering to the Pasadena Department of Health, will require all fans to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result within 72 hours of the game. All fans will be required to wear masks unless they are actively eating or drinking, he said.

The College Football Playoff is holding its championship game in Indianapolis, where the N.C.A.A.s annual convention, which draws thousands of college athletics administrators from all divisions, is scheduled a week later. The N.C.A.A. said it did not yet have any new restrictions and would take its cues from local health officials.

That would be a terrible mistake, Swartzberg said of holding the convention as planned. Looking at the trajectory, its hard to believe well be out of this Delta surge and the Omicron surge by then.

What is sobering for sports leagues about the latest disruptions is that the vast majority of athletes are vaccinated around 95 percent in the N.F.L. and N.B.A. More than 130 players were placed on N.F.L. teams reserve/Covid-19 lists, including at least 10 from the Rams, Browns and Washington. Alan Sills, the chief medical officer of the N.F.L., said on Wednesday that two-thirds of N.F.L. players diagnosed as positive are asymptomatic, and most of the rest have mild symptoms.

Teams have incentivized getting vaccinated by eliminating restrictions for athletes who have received their shots. But leagues have done little to spur athletes to get booster shots, which have shown that they help increase resistance to the most recent variants.

We have better tools now in December 2021 than to shut anything down completely, said Amesh Adjala, an infectious disease physician at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He noted that vaccinated hospital staff where he works are tested less frequently than most professional athletes, and what policies to adopt are as much a sports management question as they are a health and safety one.

It depends on the risk tolerance of players, owners and fans, Adjala said.

At the University of Alabama, what is happening around the country is being watched carefully. The mens basketball team stays in its facility, the womens basketball team is limited to its facility and the football team is in its own building. Really, were kind of in our own little cocoon over here, mens basketball coach Nate Oats said in a video news conference on Friday.

Ill say this, he added. It seems that throughout this thing that certain programs do everything they can and they still get hit with some Covid.

More:

N.F.L. and Other Sports Schedules in Flux Amid New Covid Surge - The New York Times

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Florida's coronavirus situation worsened dramatically in one week with cases and the first-time positivity rate more than doubling, hospitalizations up about 10% though fatalities' increase was less than one week ago, according to data released by the State Department of Health on Friday.

Case rose 28,841 in one week to 3,739,348, including 8,785 new ones posted Friday, which is the most since 10,122 Sept. 21. This contrasts with 12,984 last week, which is a little more than 2,000 from the past week. Florida's deaths increased by 194 one week to 62,220 after 325 and two weeks ago 153, which is the lowest since early in the pandemic last year.

The new cases in the state over one week were 29,568, one week after 13,530, two weeks after 10,892 and three weeks after 9,663, the lowest since the state week to weekly reports, which is different than the increase because of revisions.

The CDC or state doon't break down cases by the variant, including omicron, the highly contagious strain that apparently isn't as severe andwas reported less than one month ago in South Africa or delta, which has been the dominant strain since the summer. State data isn't broken down by break-through cases (those vaccinated) or reinfections.

The 1,584 hospitalizations are 201 more than one week ago and 356 more than a record-low Nov. 29. The hospitalizations are a fraction of record 17,295 on Aug. 19. Last year the lowest was 2,031 on Oct. 17.

The first-time positivity rate surged to 5.4% compared with 2.6% the week earlier, 2.5% previously and back-to-back all-time lows of 2.4% earlier. The last time it was above the 5% target rate was 6.6 on Sept. 24.

The state reported 12.0% of youths 5-11 have been vaccinated, up from 11% the week earlier. The state listed vaccination data for those 5-11 is 208,421 compared with 185,556 one week earlier. Nearly six of seven adults (85.0%) have at least one vaccination shot, a rise of 0.5 percentage one week ago, and those 12 and older at 83.1%.

Cases

On Nov. 30 the 9,792 increase the lowest since the state went to weekly reports on June 4.

In the past week, new cases have risen from 1,976 Monday to 3,067 Tuesday to 4,127 Wednesday to 6,846 Thursday.

The seven-day moving average is 4,225, the most since 4,404 Oct. 4. On Nov. 24, it was 1,224 with the previous fewest 1,1191 June 9, 2020.

On Nov. 30 the 9,792 increase the lowest since the state went to weekly reports on June 4.

Increased cases this past week are 18.9% of a record 152,760 14 weeks ago.

In the past few weeks all South Florida counties were below the target 5% rate. Now it's only Okeechobee at 2.1% (3.3% last week), Indian River at 3.4% (3.2%). St. Lucie at 3.5% (2.3% last week). Others are Palm Beach County 6.5% (2.6% last week), Broward 6.9% (2.6% last week), Miami-Dade 7.0% (1.8%), with the later having the most deaths in the state at 9,208 in a report posted this week by the CDC.

The 20-29 group has the most new cases at 6,976 one week after 2,133 and the highest positivity rate at 9.0. The 30-39 age group is 6,367, plus a 7.3% rate, and was the most last week with 2,223. The 5-11 group has 1,500 new cases with a 4.5% first-time positivity rate. In the 12-19 age group there are 2,356 new cases and only 58% fully vaccinated (the youngest age recently to get the shots). Cases for those under 5 are 673. Conversely, the positivity rate is 2.4% for those 65 and older with 90% fully vaccinated.

The daily cases record is 27,696 reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 26.

On Sept. 1 the new cases were 21,520, the last time it was above 21,000.

On Nov. 7, there were 271 cases, the lowest since 176 March 23, 2020.

The CDC lists the seven-day moving average record2`1,644 on Aug. 16.

Cases weekly reached 109,816 (`15,688 daily)on Jan. 10 until the spike.

Deaths

Two weeks ago the 153 rise was the lowest since it rose from 63 in one week to 208 in the weekend ending April 2,020, less than one month after the first fatality. It rose 172 to 37,985 in the weekend ending July 8.

Six weeks ago, Florida became the third state to pass 60,000 residents' deaths from coronavirus. Florida is behind California and Texas, each with more than 70,000, but ahead of New York in third place. Florida is among three states with at least 3 million cases, also ahead of California and Texas.

The state passed 50,000 deaths on Aug. 31.

Deaths can take several days or even weeks to be reported to the state so the figures will fluctuate.

The state set a record for most deaths in one day: 425 on Aug. 27. Until the recent spike, the record was 242 on Aug. 4, 2020.

The record increase was 276 on Aug. 11 when the state was giving daily reports.

The highest seven-day moving average is 402 daily (2,814 weekly)on Sept. 1.Until the spike, the record was 227 (1,589 weekly) only Aug. 5, 2020.

Last year the highest weekly seven-day increase was 1,589 (227 daily) on Aug. 5, 2020, according to the CDC. The first-time daily positivity rate last year was 9.04%. Earlier this year it was less than 5%.

Until Friday's report12 weeks ago, deaths had surpassed 2,000 four weeks in a row: 2,340 after 2,468, 2,448, 2,345. Last week's increase was 363 and the previous week 644.

The state listed 39 deaths occurred in the past week with 36 the previous week and 433 12 weeks ago. In newly reported deaths, children under 16 years old remained at 31 since the pandemic, with no changes also for those 16-29 for a total of 433.

The CDC is now only reflecting the date of occurrence for cases and deaths rather than when reported to the Florida Department of Health. It can take several days or even weeks for the state to receive a report of a death. The CDC twice a week had been revising the previous cumulative totals as more data are reported. It was back adjusted Friday.

The state has never listed increases on its since disbanded website and reports as media outlets, including WPTV, did the math each day.

Positivity rate

The weekly first-time infection positivity rate is one-tenth of a record 20.5% during the summer.The lowest daily rate this year was 3.03% on May 25 when the state was reporting this data. In the week of May 17-30, 2020, before testing ramped up, it was below 3.0% for eight days, including 0.62% one day for an average of 2.82%. It has been under the 5.0% state target rate seven weeks in a row.

The first-time daily positivity rate reached 7.8% this summer. The daily record was 23.38% on Dec. 28.

County data

Palm Beach County:Cases: 231,638 residents (2,445 new, 942 past week). First-time positivity average in past week: 6.5%.

St. Lucie County: Cases: 48,485 residents (191 new, 131 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 3.5%

Martin County:Cases: 20,602 residents (106 new, 83 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 3.8%

Indian River County: Cases: 22,470 residents (81 new, 76 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 3.4%

Okeechobee County: 7,443 residents (8 new, 18 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 2.1%.

Broward County: Cases: 367,706 residents (4,770 new, 1,524 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 6.9%.

Miami-Dade County: 695,385 residents (11,689 new, 2,771 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 7.0%.

Nationwide

On June 4, Florida switched to weekly reports from daily -- the first state in the nation reporting any data every seven days. In addition, the state's dashboard was removed, as well as current hospitalization data. Michigan and Ohio, which are in the top 10 for most deaths, report fatalities only a few days per week.

According to data received by the CDC Thursday, U.S. deaths rose 1,089 and cases were up 156,415 with Florida accounting for 5.6%. On Monday, it hit 193,544, the most since 212,116 Jan. 16.

The state, which is the third most-populous with 16.5% of the population, is third in the nation, behind California with 74,996, including 117 in the past day reported, and Texas with 73,756, including a daily increase of 98 and ahead of New York with 58,465, with a rise of 53 Friday.

Florida is third in cases behind California with 4,909,188, a rise of 7,293 and Texas with 4,397,558 including 5,991 Friday. New York reported a record 21,017 cases for a total of 2,895,808, surpassing the mark of 19,578 on Jan. 8.

The overall first-time positivity rate is 20.3%, with no change.

The state reports don't include nonresidents' deaths and cases.

The weekly reports also don't list deaths for each county though it is now available by the CDC but include other data:

In other data, the state reported there are 31 deaths under 16 (no change) and 505,801 cases (502,798 previous week). At the other extreme, for 65 and older there are 46,390 deaths (46,272 previous week), which is 74.6% of total and 480,808 cases (480,808 previous week), which is 12.9% of total.

The state's mortality rate (cases vs. deaths) was 1.7% (no change) including 9.6% for 65 and older but less than 1% in younger ages except 2.5% for 60-64. It is 1.6% in the United States and 2.0% worldwide.

In deaths per million, Florida is 2,896 (ninth in nation), U.S. 2,496, world 687.6. Mississippi is first at 3,479, Alabama second at 3,333, New Jersey third at 3,228. New York, which had been second for most of the pandemic behind New Jersey, is now sixth at 3,033.

Here are the deaths in the past week, according to the CDC: Pennsylvania 824, Ohio 583, Arizona 490, California 447, Texas 431, Michigan 395.

Florida's deaths are 7.8% of the total in the U.S. total and 7.4% of the cases. The state comprises 6.6% of the U.S. population.

Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, 2020, Florida's total has surged to 17.4% of the state's 21.48 million population, 15th in cases per million behind No. 1 North Dakota. In cases per 100,000 for seven days, Florida is 38th at 137.7 (one week after 63.1 at 47th) with Rhode Island No. 1 at 1,332.7, New Hampshire No. 2 at 630.4, Wisconsin No. 3 at 548.9, Connecticut No. 4 at 504.3, Massachusetts No. 5 at 500.2, according to the CDC.

Here are the cases in the path week: Pennsylvania 58,566, Illinois 56,078, Ohio 52,422, New York (not city) 51,377, Michigan 45,518, California 44,143.. Florida's 29,577 is 12th.

The CDC has directed states to generally count one case per person unless the virus was contracted again more than 90 days. Florida doesn't report re-infections.

Florida is third in total tests at 44,926,197 with California No. 1 at 98,907,364. Some people have taken more than one test.

In one week, there were 492,684 tests, which is 70,383 daily. Last week it was 467,283. On Dec. 23 there were a record 150,587 tests in one day.

Hospitalizations

Of the 257 Florida hospitals reporting, 2.6% are occupied with COVID-19 patients and 79.6% (47,046) with all patients of the 59,105 total beds. The day before 256 hospitals reported data.

The record low was 1,228 on Nov. 29.

Florida is 15th in U.S. with covid hospitalizations with Pennsylvania first with 5,169 (17.08%), Ohio second with 5,155 (16.58%), Michigan third with 4,459 (19.98%), New York fourth with 4,296 (8.97%), California fifth with 3,969 (6.1%), Illinois sixth with 3,686 (12.12%), Texas seventh with 3,511 (5.31%).

The U.S. coronavirus occupancy is 68,900 at 8.99% compared with 54,147one week ago.

Vaccinations

In state vaccination data from the CDC, 85.0% of Florida's population 18 and older has had at least one dose (14,662,238) and 73.2% fully vaccinated (12,622,720. President Joe Biden had set a nationwide goal of 70% vaccinated by July 4 with at least one dose by adults and the current figure is 84.8%. Totally vaccinated is 72.3%.

In addition, the CDC is now capping percentages at 95%.

Forty-three states achieving the 70% standard are New Hampshire (95.0%), Massachusetts (95.0%), Connecticut (95.0%), Pennsylvania (95.0%), Hawaii (95.0%), Vermont (95.0%), Rhode Island (95.0%), West Virginia (95.0%), New Jersey (94.9%), Maine (94.6%), California (94.2%), New York (94.1%), New Mexico (91.1%), Maryland (90.7%), Virginia (89.0%), Delaware (87.6%), Washington (86.2%), North Carolina (87.3%), Florida (85.0%), Colorado (84.3%), South Dakota (83.9%), Oregon (83.5%), Minnesota (82.0%), Illinois (81.9%), Utah (81.6%), Kansas (81.5%), Nevada (81.1%), Oklahoma (78.8%), Texas (78.7%), Nebraska (78.3%), Wisconsin (78.2%), Arizona (77.3), Alaska (76.4%), Iowa (75.9%), North Dakota (74.1%), Arkansas (73.6%), Kentucky (73.3%), South Carolina (73.2%), Michigan (73.1%), Missouri (72.7%), Georgia (72.4%), Montana (71.8), Ohio (70.4%).

West Virginia jumped significantly from three weeks being listed at 64.6%.

The three worst percentages: Wyoming 66.5%, Mississippi at 66.9%, Indiana at 68.4%.

Also reaching the benchmark are Guam (95.0%), Republic of Pau (95.0%), District of Columbia (95.0%), Puerto Rico (95.0), American Samoa (95.0%), Northern Mariana Islands (93.9%).

The CDC is now listing percentages for those 5 and older: one shot 15,759,209 (77.5%) and fully vaccinated 13,471,006 (66.2%) in Florida

For those 12 and older in Florida, 83.1% had at least one dose (15,540,082) and the complete series is 71.4% (13,349,805).

For the total population, the percentage is 73.4% (15,766,979) and the complete series is 62.4% (13,472,644).

The state considers fully vaccinated two doses for Pfizer and Moderna and one for Johnson & Johnson.

In boosters, 26.4% of adults in Florida (3,366,315) and 31.3% in the United States (58,063,905) have been vaccinated.

Read the original here:

Florida's coronavirus cases more than double in past week to 28,841; deaths' increase 194 after 325 - WPTV.com