Category: Corona Virus

More than 250 coronavirus outbreaks have been reported at schools across Illinois, with several involving more than a dozen cases at educational institutions, according to statewide data.

The latest figures from the Illinois Department of Public Health show 257 outbreaks are active at Illinois schools as of Friday, including 31 in Cook County alone.

Ogle, Winnebago, Knox, LaSalle, McLean, Peoria, Mason, Sangamon, St. Clair, Will, DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Cook counties all had increases in school outbreaks over the past seven days, according to the data.

The following Illinois schools are reporting outbreaks of more than 16 cases: East St. Louis Senior High School in St. Clair County, Bunker Hill Schools and Staunton Community USD #6 in Macoupin County, Carlyle School in Clinton County, Okawville Grade School in Washington County and Field School in Cook County.

Though some schools offer case trackers of their own, IDPHreleases data each weekshowing COVID outbreaks from the previous 30 days at schools across the state.

According to the health department, outbreak information is reported once an investigation is considered complete. An outbreak is defined as "those that have been identified by the local health department to have two or more COVID-19 cases who may have a shared exposure on school grounds and are from different households."

Here is a full list of school outbreaks reported by state officials.

DeKalb County 5 outbreaks

Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School (5-10 cases)

Little John Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Sycamore Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Sycamore Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Sycamore Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Ogle County 10 outbreaks

Highland Elementary School (5-10 cases)

Highland Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Highland Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Mary Morgan Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Meridian Junior High School (Less than 5 cases)

Oregon Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Reagan Middle School (5-10 cases)

Stillman Valley High School (Less than 5 cases)

Stillman Valley High School (Less than 5 cases)

Stillman Valley High School (5-10 cases)

Winnebago County 2 outbreaks

Durand/Pecatonia Co-Op (5-10 cases)

Hononegah High School (5-10 cases)

Henry County 3 outbreaks

Cambridge Elementary School (5-10 cases)

Central Junior High School (Less than 5 cases)

Geneseo High School (Less than 5 cases)

Knox County 5 outbreaks

Abingdon Avon Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Galesburg High School (5-10 cases)

Hedding Grade School (5-10 cases)

Knoxville High School (Less than 5 cases)

Steele Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

LaSalle County 7 outbreaks

LaSalle Peru High School (Less than 5 cases)

Leland CUSD 1 (16+ cases)

Lincoln Junior High School (5-10 cases)

Northlawn Junior High (5-10 cases)

Northville Elementary (5-10 cases)

Seneca Grade School (Less than 5 cases)

St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School (Less than 5 cases)

Livingston County 3 outbreaks

Chatsworth School (5-10 cases)

Prairie Central East (5-10 cases)

Saunemin Grade School (5-10 cases)

McLean County 5 outbreaks

Benjamin Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Bloomington Junior High School (Less than 5 cases)

Hudson Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Ridgeview Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Trinity Lutheran School(Less than 5 cases)

Mercer County 3 outbreaks

Mercer County High School (5-10 cases)

Mercer County High School (5-10 cases)

Mercer County High School (5-10 cases)

Peoria County 2 outbreak

St. Jude Catholic School (Less than 5 cases)

St. Philomena School (Less than 5 cases)

Rock Island 3 outbreaks

Andalusia Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Bicentennial Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Rock Island High School (Less than 5 cases)

Greene County 1 outbreak

North Greene Elementary School (5-10 cases)

Logan County 1 outbreak

Northwest Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Macoupin County 7 outbreaks

Ben-Gil Elementary School (Less than 5 cases)

Bunker Hill Schools (16+ cases)

Carlinville High School CUSD #1 (Less than 5 cases)

Gillespie CUSD #7 (Less than 5 cases)

Mount Olive School (Less than 5 cases)

North Macoupin Schools (11-16 cases)

Staunton Community USD #6 (16+ cases)

Mason County 2 outbreaks

Havana High School (Less than 5 cases)

Midwest Central CUSD #191 (11-16 cases)

Sangamon County 18 outbreaks

Auburn School Pre-K (Less than 5 cases)

Ball Charter School (5-10 cases)

Chatham High School (Less than 5 cases)

Iles School (Less than 5 cases)

Jefferson Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Lamphier High School (Less than 5 cases)

Pleasant Plains Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Pleasant Plains Middle School (5-10 cases)

Pleasant Plains Middle School (5-10 cases)

Pleasant Plains Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Pleasant Plains Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Scott County 1 outbreak

Winchester Grade School (5-10 cases)

Clinton County 1 outbreak

Carlyle School (16+ cases)

Madison County 9 outbreaks

Alton Middle School (Less than 5 cases)

Central Elementary (Less than 5 cases)

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Coronavirus by the Numbers: More Than 250 COVID Outbreaks Reported in Illinois Schools - NBC Chicago

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 230.6 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.72 million. More than 6.03 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

More than half of Australia's adult population are now fully vaccincated against COVID-19, in a milestone towards the easing of restrictions.

The European Medicines Agency hopes to decide in early October whether to endorse a third booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Viet Nam has pushed backed the reopening of the resort island of Phu Quoc to foreign visitors until November. It comes as insufficient vaccine supplies mean they failed to hit targets to vaccinating locals.

South Korea has recorded its highest ever number of confirmed daily COVID-19 cases - 2,434.

Novavax and its partner, the Serum Institute of India, have applied to the World Health Organization for emergency use listing of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine.

Yemen has received its third batch of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme.

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

Image: Our World in Data

A World Health Organization panel has recommended the use of Regeneron and Roche's COVID-19 antibody cocktail for patients at high risk of hospitalization and those severely ill with no natural antibodies.

The treatment has already been granted US emergency use authorization. It's currently under review in Europe, while Britain approved it last month.

While acknowledging costs associated with the treatment, the WHO panel said that given the recorded benefits of the therapy, "the recommendations should provide a stimulus to engage all possible mechanisms to improve global access to the intervention and associated testing".

In a separate statement, the WHO called on Regeneron to lower prices and distribute the treatment equitably worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The agency also urged the firms to transfer tech to help make biosimilars.

Each of our Top 50 social enterprise last mile responders and multi-stakeholder initiatives is working across four priority areas of need: Prevention and protection; COVID-19 treatment and relief; inclusive vaccine access; and securing livelihoods. The list was curated jointly with regional hosts Catalyst 2030s NASE and Aavishkaar Group. Their profiles can be found on http://www.wef.ch/lastmiletop50india.

Top Last Mile Partnership Initiatives to collaborate with:

Sweden is considering giving a third booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines to more of its population over concerns about waning protection from two shots.

Sweden has vaccinated 83% of the population aged over 16 with one dose and 76% with two doses. The country's public health agency recently identified some 40,000 people in need of a third dose, but said on Thursday more could soon be eligible.

"There are signals from abroad that indicate the protection from the vaccination is fading after some time, especially in those who are older," Public Health Agency official Sara Byfors told a news conference. "It is important to meet that with a third dose."

Written by

Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content

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

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 24 September - World Economic Forum

In total, Pennsylvania recorded 33,421 cases during the week, 9,117 of which were in children, and 7,944 of those were in school age children. There are 12.8 million people in the state, 2.8 million of which are children and 18-year-olds, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Morning Call analysis. There are 2.11 million children age 5 through 18.

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MAP: Pennsylvania counties where coronavirus impacts children the most - The Morning Call

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Need a COVID-19 vaccine? Heres where you can go Sunday in Austin-Travis County - KXAN.com

A stack of COVID-19 vaccination record cards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They provide proof that you've had your shot but aren't exactly wallet size at 4 by 3 inches. Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle (Pa.) via Getty Images) hide caption

A stack of COVID-19 vaccination record cards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They provide proof that you've had your shot but aren't exactly wallet size at 4 by 3 inches.

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.

I'm hearing of more and more activities that will require proof of vaccination: eating out, going to a concert, flying internationally and likely at some point domestically in the U.S. Do I really need to carry around that awkwardly sized paper proof-of-vaccine card?

That flimsy 4-by-3-inch piece of paper is currently the best proof we have of vaccination, says Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that's problematic.

"At the moment, you should carry the original vaccination card," says Frieden, who is now the CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit that focuses on public health. "That's not a good thing because a) you could lose it and b) if you're immunocompromised, you're essentially telling people that because you got a third dose, so it's revealing health information." And then, he adds, there's the possibility that unvaccinated people will just get fake cards. (Indeed, NPR reported on sales of blank cards on Amazon.com, even though using one is a crime.)

Frieden and others are advocating for national guidelines for a more secure, accurate and flexible system to prove you're vaccinated.

"The frank truth is, mandates and vaccine passports have become a political third rail, and the administration is understandably reluctant to take action in this area," he says. "But the result is that mandates will be harder to enforce and less secure."

So if you don't want to tote your paper card everywhere, what are the options? Depending on where you live, you might be able to go digital at least, if you stay close to home.

New York, for example, uses an app called Excelsior Pass.

But when Frieden pulled up his Excelsior Pass recently, he noticed it had just expired, six months after his second dose. To extend it, he had to download an upgrade to the app. Also, downloading information on the spot can pose security and privacy issues, just like a credit card, "where some Big Brother knows about the customer, the shopkeeper and the transaction," points out Ramesh Raskar, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab associate professor not to mention hassles. Many users complain the app gets stuck on a blank blue screen.

And there is no guarantee that other states will be able or willing to use the app from your home state. Most current credential systems can only be verified by the apps in the state by which they're issued. So unless you happen to be traveling to a state that uses the same one, it probably won't get you far.

"A lot has to happen for everything to go right," Raskar says.

This includes your phone not dying as you're waiting in line.

"Technical issues such as a dead or lost phone are always concerns," says Henry Wu, director of Emory TravelWell Center and an associate professor of infectious diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine. And that's not the only potential digital flaw. "Even if you are enrolled in one of the digital vaccine certificate or passport systems, I would still always carry the original card during travel since no [digital] vaccine passport system is universally recognized," he says.

Some states, such as Hawaii, have apps designated for visitors to show proof of vaccination more easily while they're in the state, but others have banned vaccination verification apps altogether, considering them government overreach. Alabama's governor, for example, signed legislation in May that bans the use of digital vaccine credentials. Here's a state-by-state rundown of digital options compiled by PC Magazine.

An easier, cheaper and more secure electronic option would be for states to send residents a QR code that links to their vaccine status, says Raskar, who is also the founder of PathCheck Foundation, which creates software for vaccine credentials and exposure notifications apps. Israel, India, Brazil and China all use QR-based systems. QR codes use encrypted signatures, or electronic fingerprints, so they can't be copied and used for other names (although if someone stole your driver's license as well, they could presumably use your QR code).

You can store a QR code where you wish: literally on a piece of paper, as a photo on your phone, even within a fancy app.

However, that QR code technology can so far only be used within the city, state or country issuing it. Now that the U.S. has said it will allow vaccinated people from other countries to fly in, that proof will likely have to be in hard copy format for the time being. Check with your airline before traveling: Some accept apps that store a copy of your vaccine card.

"I do see a complicated challenge ahead of us, with documents from around the world to verify, and no current national digital vaccine passport standard that could help facilitate the process before travelers depart," Emory's Wu says. "I'm not sure we have even decided which vaccines we will accept as of yet." (And that's been a point of controversy elsewhere: The European Union, which does recognize a digital vaccine passport, only accepts certain vaccines.)

There's another possibility for Americans traveling abroad. If you have an International Certificate for Vaccination and Prophylaxis (ICVP, or "yellow card," a World Health Organization travel document), Wu suggests asking your vaccination provider to add your COVID-19 shots. "When traveling overseas you might encounter officials who are not familiar with our documents, so being able to prove your status in multiple ways can be very helpful," he says.

The bottom line: Don't lose that card (though, if you do, rest assured that your state retains the official record). Getting a replacement might not be easy, depending on the state. Also, instead of laminating it, consider a plastic sleeve vaccine holder: That way, it'll be easier to update if you get another shot.

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

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Is There An App That'll Let You Prove That You've Had A COVID Vaccine? : Goats and Soda - NPR

As some players and teams around the league grapple with coronavirus vaccines and city legislation that could affect play, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be better able to manage their end.

General manager Sam Presti said on Friday that every player on the team is vaccinated.

Last season, the Thunder remained relatively healthy in regards to COVID-19. A couple of games were postponed due to outbreaks on opposing teams, but none due to OKC cases or outbreaks.

Presti said he recognizes there will be continued difficulties around the league with COVID-19 and its delta variant.

The disruptions in my opinion are going to come by way of the fact that the NBA isnt testing players or staff members, he said. Organizationally, were going to be surveillance testing our staff. Were not going to be doing it every day, but we are going to be testing basketball staff so we try to avoid some outbreaks.

The Thunder will require fans entering Paycom Center to either be vaccinated or show proof of a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of the game.

The Athletics Shams Charania reported 90% of NBA players are fully vaccinated and the percentage has risen as training camp approached.

While the NBA does not mandate vaccines for players, some cities requirements would prevent unvaccinated athletes from playing. For instance, the San Francisco Department of Public Health ordered that anyone aged 12 and older must be vaccinated to attend large indoor gatherings.

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Presti: Every Thunder player has received the coronavirus vaccination - OKC Thunder Wire

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) Early in the pandemic, Dr. Nehemiah Thrash diagnosed Riverside Healths first COVID-19 patient. The elderly woman did not survive.

Eighteen months later, Thrash, a hospitalist at Riverside Doctors Hospital Williamsburg says the novel coronavirus is writing its own rules.

Its been a drastic change in every way that we see, said Thrash. This past week I had an 84-year-old patient who came in just because he felt weak ended up having the coronavirus but because he was vaccinated he went home in 36 hours. But I have patients in their 50s who have been in my hospital for over a month now and on a ventilator for 20 days.

Doctors around the country say most patients who are hospitalized are battling the delta variant and they are unvaccinated.

Thrash says half of his patients are COVID-19 cases and todays patients are younger and sicker than the patients of 2020.

Those patients [patients of the past] kind of reminded me of my parents or grandparents Now we are seeing patients in the 40s and 50s. Im seeing my peers in front of me, Thrash said.

Thrash added the nation is seeing in real-time the making of modern medicine.

Theres conflict over when booster shots should be administered, which segment of the population should be vaccinated, and whether, for example, someone who received the Pfizer doses should get Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster doses, he said.

Thrash says the mixed messaging will cause some confusion but the public health community must effectively spread the word that the vaccine is safe and effective.

In Virginia, 62.1% of the white population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine but in the Black community, the rate is 58.4%.

This is not just the community this is my family these are my friends these are even some of my colleagues to them I would just say lets keep talking, Thrash said.

And for those who think the vaccine will make them sick?

I have treated more complications from Tylenol or acetaminophen than I have for this vaccine so lets continue the conversation, said Thrash.

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Riverside Williamsburg doctor says the coronavirus is writing its own rules - WAVY.com

Alaska, once a leader in vaccinating its citizens, is now in the throes of its worst coronavirus surge of the pandemic, as the Delta variant rips through the state, swamping hospitals with patients.

As of Tuesday, the state was averaging 117 new cases a day for every 100,000 people, more than any other in the nation, according to recent data trends collected by The New York Times. That figure has shot up by 42 percent in the last two weeks, and by more than twentyfold since early July.

On Wednesday, the state said it had activated crisis standards of care, giving hospitals legal protections for triage decisions that force them to give some patients substandard care. The state also announced an $87 million contract to bring in hundreds of temporary health care workers.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, said that while hospitals were strained, he did not see a need to implement restrictions aimed at curbing transmission. Still, he encouraged people who had not yet received a vaccination to seriously consider it.

We have the tools available to us for individuals to be able to take care of themselves, Mr. Dunleavy said. While the state led the nation in vaccinations early in the year, it has been lagging in recent months, with under half of its population fully vaccinated, compared with 55 percent nationally, according to federal data.

Jared Kosin, the head of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, called the surge crippling in an interview on Tuesday. He added that hospitals were full, and health care workers were emotionally depleted. Patients are being kept waiting for care in their cars outside overwhelmed emergency rooms.

There is growing anxiety in outlying communities that depend on transferring seriously ill patients to hospitals in Anchorage, Mr. Kosin said. Transfers are getting harder to arrange and are often delayed, he said.

We are all wondering where this goes, and whether that transfer will be available, even tomorrow, Mr. Kosin said.

Critically ill people in rural areas, where many Alaska Natives reside, often have to be taken by plane to a hospital that can provide the treatment they need, said Dr. Philippe Amstislavski, an associate professor of public health at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Unlike in the lower 48, you dont have that ability to move people quickly, because of the distances and remoteness, said Dr. Amstislavski, who was formerly the public health manager for the Interior Region of Alaska, focusing on rural and predominantly Alaska Native communities.

UnderstandVaccine and Mask Mandates in the U.S.

Mr. Kosin said that if hospitalizations rise much further, hospitals and clinics around the state could be forced to apply crisis standards of care and more extreme triage decisions. That is the worst-case scenario we could be heading to, he said.

Alaska Natives, who have historically suffered from health disparities in the state, are disproportionately struggling during the latest virus wave, Dr. Amstislavski said.

Dr. Anne Zink, Alaskas chief medical officer, said several factors may be contributing to the surge, including summer tourists bringing in and spreading the virus.

Were hoping that as the snow falls and we have less people visiting, those numbers will settle down, Dr. Zink said in an interview Tuesday night.

On the other hand, she noted that cooling weather drives residents indoors, where the virus spreads more readily.

The states Canadian neighbors to the east, Yukon and British Columbia, have not suffered such severe outbreaks, Dr. Amstislavski said, possibly because of that countrys stricter travel restrictions and less strained health care system.

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Coronavirus Surges in Alaska, Swamping the State's Hospitals - The New York Times

Two more Mainers have died as health officials on Thursday reported another 716coronavirus cases across the state.

Thursdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 85,872,according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 85,156 on Wednesday.

Of those, 61,463have been confirmed positive, while 24,409were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

A man and a woman in their 40s and 50s from Hancock and Penobscot counties have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,009.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 6,449. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. Thats up from 6.353 on Wednesday.

The new case rate statewide Thursday was 5.35 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 641.60.

Maines seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 467.4, up from 458.4 the day before, up from 455.6 a week ago and up from 162.3 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men.

So far, 2,441 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 221 are currently hospitalized, with 83 in critical care and 37 on a ventilator. Overall, 47 out of 341 critical care beds and 190 out of 295 ventilators are available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Thursday was 18.24 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (9,387), Aroostook (3,034), Cumberland (19,712), Franklin (1,748), Hancock (2,049), Kennebec (7,979), Knox (1,527), Lincoln (1,486), Oxford (4,209), Penobscot (9,717), Piscataquis (1,011), Sagadahoc (1,680), Somerset (3,235), Waldo (1,953), Washington (1,264) and York (15,880) counties. Information about where an additional case was reported wasnt immediately available.

An additional 733 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Thursday, 865,783 Mainers are fully vaccinated, or about 73.1 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Thursday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 42,547,004people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 681,222deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

More articles from the BDN

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2 more Mainers have died and another 716 coronavirus cases reported across the state - Bangor Daily News

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Did you receive an unexpected bill for your most recent coronavirus (COVID-19) test? Youre not the only one.

In the majority of cases, insurance companies are federally mandated to cover all costs associated with coronavirus testing.

However, there are some exceptions to the rules that could result in Americans paying hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of dollars for routine coronavirus tests.

Under the federal guidance, insurance companies are required to cover all associated costs of medically-necessary coronavirus testing, even if a patient is asymptomatic and has had no known exposure to the virus.

This guidance makes clear that private group health plans and issuers generally cannot use medical screening criteria to deny coverage for COVID-19 diagnostic tests for individuals with health coverage who are asymptomatic, and who have no known or suspected exposure to COVID-19. Such testing must be covered without cost sharing, prior authorization, or other medical management requirements imposed by the plan or issuer, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Even if an individual is asymptomatic and has had no known exposure to virus, the test will be deemed medically-necessary following an individualized clinical assessment.

For example, covered individuals wanting to ensure they are COVID-19 negative prior to visiting a family member would be able to be tested without paying cost-sharing, the CMS says.

The guidance also states that insurers must cover all medically-necessary point-of-care coronavirus tests and tests taken at state or locally administered testing sites.

However, the guidance clearly states that insurance companies are not required to cover all costs for coronavirus tests related to public health surveillance programs or return-to-work requirements.

Plans and issuers are not required to provide coverage of testing such as for public health surveillance or employment purposes. But there is also no prohibition or limitation on plans and issuers providing coverage for such tests. Plans and issuers are encouraged to ensure communications about the circumstances in which testing is covered are clear, according to the guidance.

With many Americans now returning to the office, and weekly coronavirus testing set to be required for unvaccinated workers in the majority of work settings, millions of unvaccinated residents could be forced to pay out-of-pocket for the coronavirus tests theyll need in order to keep their job.

Such limits mean some patients with health coverage may nonetheless receive bills for COVID-19 diagnostic testing and related services, and those bills often can be widely different from patient to patient, according to a recent study from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.

The study conducted an analysis of the costs of coronavirus tests across the country, finding that prices ranged drastically from as low as $20 to as high as $1,419 for a single diagnostic test.

Nearly half, 47%, of tests ranged between $100 and $199, but one in five, 20%, were priced at $300 or more, according to the study.

Those costs could start to pile up for unvaccinated workers who require weekly screenings if their insurance company elects not to cover the costs of the tests.

A New York Times report found that insurance companies have generally been willing to cover the costs of these employer-mandated tests, but that could soon change.

If they are starting to see a significant number of people who have these tests submitted every week, or twice a week, under federal law they would be within their authority to say, this looks like routine workplace testing, and not cover it, Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown Universitys Center on Health Insurance Reforms, told the Times.

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Heres why your next coronavirus test might not be covered by insurance - SILive.com