Category: Covid-19

Good morning, Mission, and welcome to Virus Village, your (somewhat regular) Covid-19 data dump.

With a long way to go, hospitalizations, positivity rates and recorded infections continue trending downward while recent R Number models show San Francisco well below 1.

Through most of 2020 and into 2021, lockdowns, masking and other public health non-pharmaceutical interventions were predicated upon protecting hospitals from getting overwhelmed. Has the experience of the past two years changed matters? It does not appear so. Wealthier hospitals with the capacity to take patients from safety net and rural hospitals crushed by Covidarent incentivizedto do so. It makes more sense for them to keep more lucrative elective surgeries and other procedures going.

In San Francisco, we are lucky to have UCSF, one of the best hospitals in the country with a core of outstanding doctors and healthcare workers which treats most local covid patients. It seems very likely that the relatively low number of covid-related deaths in SF is due in part to the outstanding work of UCSF, which has also generously lent its expertise to San Franciscos Department of Public Health.

Yet we know next to nothing about how UCSF operates, even less about the Citys for-profit hospitals, and much less what has learned over the past two years and what changes need to be made. Unfortunately, instead of leading a community-wide discussion on our hospitals, one of the countrys (worlds?) leading hospitalists regularly tweets about individual risk-taking.

In any case, Indivdual risk evaluations like these can be problematic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a new report on 2 dose and 3 dose effectiveness of mRNA vaccines. Perhaps this report was prompted by criticism that the agency has withheld critical data on boosters, hospitalizations and, until recently, wastewater analyses. As the article points out, timely data on hospitalizations by age and race would help . . . identify and help the populations at highest risk.

Update on the Fourth Shot. Some say it wont be necessary. The UK is now offering a fourth shot to those over 75 and those who are immunocompromised. What will happen in the U.S. this fall when Big Pharma has a new vaccine ready?

Multiple vaccine doses and annual boosters are not uncommon.

Heres a critical review of the Biden Administrations first year in response to the virus. It reminds me of the title of the Joan Didion book, The Year of Magical Thinking.

Scroll down for todays covid numbers.

As of Feb. 20, DPH reports 782,785 residents have been vaccinated, more than89 percent of all San Francisco residents have received one dose, and over 83 percenthave received two. For residents 5 and older, DPH reports the figures rise above 90 percent and above 87 percent while for those 65 and older over 90 percent have received two doses. SFDPH reports that as of Feb. 20, approximately 467,833 SF residents (65 percent of all residents, 82 percent of residents 65 and older) have received a COVID-19 booster dose.

For information on where to get vaccinated in and around the Mission, visit ourVaccination Page.

On Feb. 17, DPH reports there were 138 covid hospitalizations,or about15.7 covid hospitalizations per 100,000 residents (based on an 874,000 population). ICU patients have dropped to their lowest level since Jan. 8. Today, the California Department of Public Health reports 133 covid patients in SF hospitals and 26 ICU patients. Much like the CDC, DPH does not make public information as to vaxxed and unvaxxed hospitalizations nor any demographic data whatsoever making it impossible for the public to know the degree to which populations and neighborhoods have been affected.

The latest report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services shows Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital with 25 covid patients and 6 ICU beds available, while across the Mission, CPMC had 20 covid patients and 2 ICU beds available. Of 225 reported covid patients,96 were at either SFGH or UCSF, with at least 67 ICU beds available among reporting hospitals (which does not include the Veterans Administration). The California DPH currently reports 79 ICU beds available in San Francisco. Note: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a scathing report for sustained public health crisis failures at HHS. The failures cited include collecting and analyzing data to inform decisionmaking.

Omicron revived SFs normal pandemic pattern, hitting the lower socioeconomic sectors of the City the hardest. Between Dec. 18 and Feb. 16, DPH recorded 4406 new infections among Mission residents or 750 new infections per 10,000 residents. Bayview Hunters Point had the highest number of recorded new infections (4621) with a rate of 1219 new infections per 10,000 residents. Of 38 neighborhoods, 14 had rates above 700 per 10,000 residents, 13 in the east and southeast sectors of the City. Seacliff had the lowest rate with 383 new infections per 10,000 residents and Lakeshore, the only neighborhood in the City with a vaccination rate below 50 percent, had the second-lowest rate at 433 new infections per 10,000 residents.

DPH reports on Feb. 13, the 7-day average of daily new infections recorded in the City dropped to 256 or approximately 29.2 new infections per day per 100,000 residents (based on an 874,000 population). According to DPH, the 7-day average infection rate among vaccinated residents was 26.1 per 100,000 fully vaccinated residents and 62.8 per 100,000 unvaccinated residents. It is unclear whether fully vaccinated includes boosters or the infection rate among those vaccinated with 2 doses.

As of Feb. 16., DPH reports Asians had 1,272 newly recorded infections in Februrary or28.5 percentof the months total so far; Whites had 1,041 or 23.3 percent; Latinxs had 736 or 16.5 percent; Blacks had 271 or 6.1 percent; Multi-racials had 62 or 1.4 percent; Pacific Islanders had 31 or .7 percent; and Native Americans had 8 newly recorded infections or .2 percent of the Februrary total so far.

As of Feb. 16, DPH reports that so far in Februrary San Franciscos Latinx residents have had a positivity rate of 7.7 percent, ; Multi-racials 7.7 percent; Blacks 7.4 percent; Asians 6.5 percent; Native American 6.2 percent; Pacific Islanders 6.1 percent; and White San Franciscans have had a February positivity rate so far of 4.9 percent.

Another covid-related death has been recorded in Februrary. There have been 69 covid-related deaths since the beginning of the year. Probably most are related to omicron. DPH wont say how many were vaxxed and how many unvaxxed. Nor does it provide information on the race/ethnicity or socio-economic status of those who have recently died. Note: According to DPH, the highest monthly SF covid-related death total was 165, recorded in January 2021. According to DPH COVID-19 deaths are suspected to be associated with COVID-19. This means COVID-19 is listed as a cause of death or significant condition on the death certificate. Using a phrase like suspected to be associated with indicates the difficulty in determining a covid death. The ambiguity is heightened when currently it is unknown whether or not 34.5 percent of the deaths had one or more underlying conditions. As of Feb. 16, DPH continues to report only 21 of the 762 deaths are known to have had no underlying conditions, or comorbidities.

Covid R Estimation has not updated its San Francisco R Number since Feb. 8. It is still at 1.07. I will try to find out why the delay. On Feb. 19, it estimates the California R Number at a remarkably low .39. The ensemble lowered its average San Francisco R Number to .67 and slightly raised its average California R Number to .57. All ensemble models currrently reporting estimate the SF R Number well below 1.

As of Feb. 16, DPH reports San Franciscans aged 0-4 had 192 newly recorded infections or 4.3 percent of the Februrary total so far; 5-11 had 300 or 6.7 perecnt, 12-17 had 184 or 4.1 percent, 18-20 had 110 or 2.5 percent, 21-24 had 276 or 6.2 percent, 25-29 had 501 or 11.2 percent, 30-39 had 979 or 22 percent, 40-49 had 605 or 13.6 percent, 50-59 had 507 or 11.4 percent, 60-69 had 424 or 9.5 percent, 70-79 had 207 or 4.6 percent, and those San Franciscans 80+ had 170 newly recorded infections or 3.8 percent of the Februrary total so far.

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Covid-19 Tracker: The long way down - Mission Local

COVID-19 has sent nearly 900,000 Americans to the hospital in the past two years. A new study shows that the ZIP codes they came from had a lot to do with how sick they were when they got to the hospital, and how much care they needed once they were there.

But those differences disappeared by the time their stays were donewhether they left the hospital alive or dead.

The new findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, show the importance of social and economic inequality in the way the pandemic is playing outincluding how early in their illness people seek or get access to care.

Even after the researchers took into account the underlying health of each person they studied, the social vulnerability index, or SVI, of their home ZIP code still made a difference. SVI combines multiple factors to create a score based on such things as a local areas average income, education level and household density to the percentage of households led by single parents or where English is not the primary language.

The findings could help policymakers target less-privileged areas with more services to prevent and respond to COVID-19 cases; SVI has already been used by the state of Michigan and other states to prioritize COVID vaccination outreach.

The study also shows the role of hospitals in equalizing outcomes for people from unequal backgrounds.

The research team behind the study, from the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado, used data from more than 2,300 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in 38 hospitals across Michigan from March to December 2020.

People who lived in the most underprivileged ZIP codes were more likely to have severe symptoms such as low blood oxygen levels when admitted, and to need support for failing lungs and other organs through technologies such as ventilators and dialysis once they were in a hospital bed.

But they were no more likely to die than those from more-privileged areas, and no less likely to go back to their own homes instead of a nursing home.

Outcomes at hospital discharge appear equitable for these patients, but the question is, What leads to the initial disparities in seriousness of illness that they arrive with?' said Renuka Tipirneni, lead author of the new study and an assistant professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine, U-Ms academic medical center.

Are people not getting access to testing or treatment early in their illness? Are there other individual patient-level social risks such as ongoing difficulties with transportation, housing or sick leave at work? Did they delay seeking care because of lack of access?

Tipirneni and colleagues, including Vineet Chopra, the Robert W. Schrier Chair of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, used data from a statewide database called Mi-COVID19 Initiative. Funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan through its Collaborative Quality Initiative effort, it pools anonymous data on people hospitalized with COVID-19.

The study follows up on work that Tipirneni and colleagues published just over a year ago, showing SVI at the county level had much to do with COVID-19 case rates and death rates. But the new analysis of individual patient data and ZIP code-level SVI is much more indicative of the hyper-local conditions that can shape a persons access to and use of care.

Once theyre getting that care, there are equal outcomes, which is encouraging, said Tipirneni. This analysis zooms in on individual patients, and zooms out on whats influencing their outcomes in their neighborhood.

She notes that more disadvantaged (higher SVI) areas are found across the state and nation, from very rural areas to the centers of cities. In fact, anyone can use this CDC tool to find the SVI of any ZIP codethe numbers range from 0 (lowest level of social vulnerability) to 1 (highest level).

In the new study, the researchers divided SVI into four quartiles, and looked at differences in percentages of patients who experienced each type of severe symptom, treatment option and outcome by quartile. Differences of several percentage points emerged for most measures, even after factoring out individual patients underlying health status.

One of the things that policymakers, public health authorities and health systems might want to focus on as a result of the new study is how they make information available to people about when and how they should seek care for worsening COVID-19 symptoms, and when to prioritize seeking that care over anything else, the researchers say.

Making information available in multiple languages, and ensuring that outpatient treatment and transportation to appointments are available during the times people need it no matter what their schedule, are two specific things that could make a difference, they say.

High, or worse, SVI has also been shown to correlate with low COVID-19 vaccination rates, so once data from 2021 are available through Mi-COVID19, the team will look at how care and outcomes for people with severe COVID-19 changed once vaccines were available.

The team is also using the Social Determinants of Health Database created by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to explore how other factors not included in the standard SVI measure interact with COVID-19 risks and outcomes.

In addition to Tipirneni and Chopra, the studys authors are Monita Karmakar, Megan OMalley and Hallie Prescott. Tipirneni and Prescott are current members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, to which Chopra also belonged while at U-M before becoming chair of medicine at the University of Colorado.

Several CQIs were involved in data collection and analysis, including the Michigan Hospital Medicine Safety Collaborative, Michigan Value Collaborative, Michigan Arthroplasty Registry Collaborative Quality Initiative and Michigan Social Health Interventions to Eliminate Disparities

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ZIP codes matter when it comes to severe COVID-19 - University of Michigan News

While we're seeing far fewer people in the hospitals, there are still too many unknowns.

CLEVELAND Right now, Cleveland Clinic has 132 patients hospitalized for COVID.

It's a far cry from the packed ICUs and ER overflow of December and part of January. They're still busy, just in a different way.

"All of those elective surgery patients that need to come in and have patiently waited for weeks to come in as they were delayed through the month of December and most of January," explained Chief Safety, Quality and Experience Officer Dr. Leslie Jurecko.

Infectious Disease Chair Dr. Steven Gordon agrees that the virus is trending in the right direction and says at this point, the amount of precautions people take will most likely be related to their personal comfort level as mandates expire. But he says it's too soon to know exactly what COVID will look like in our daily lives for the long-term.

"What we don't know, or at least what I don't know, is whether this is going to settle as a seasonal respiratory virus like the other coronaviruses. You know we're just going to have to wait and see," Gordon said.

California is the first state that will be treating COVID as "endemic," meaning it will likely be part of our long-term reality. More of a big picture approach he anticipates the CDC will also begin to take.

"In pivoting to preparedness for the next surge, or next respiratory pandemic as opposed to predicting the modeling," Dr. Gordon said.

So is COVID going away? No, but now the focus is on how to handle it moving forward.

And as those cases continue to trend down, the Clinic urges us to remember that health care workers haven't slowed down.

So, they're asking people who visit to agree to a form outlining appropriate behavior in the hospital, including being kind to employees.

"So, it feels better, but we still have stressed teams and we understand that our community is under a lot of stress, not only from the virus, but from everything else going on," Jurecko said.

Cleveland Clinic anticipates guests will be required to mask up for the foreseeable future, but they have expanded the number of visitors permitted for a patient to two now that the omicron surge is over in Northeast Ohio.

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Too soon to call COVID-19 an endemic, according to Cleveland Clinic - WKYC.com

Related Practices & Jurisdictions

Monday, February 21, 2022

On April 4, 2022, a merits panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on a petition seeking to force OSHA to issue a permanent standard for healthcare occupational exposure to COVID-19 and to reinstate the Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard on Occupational Exposure (Healthcare ETS) to COVID-19 pending the permanent standard. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals referral of this matter to a merits panel was initiated by the Courts own motion.

On December 27, 2021, OSHAannouncedthe withdrawal of the Healthcare ETS and confirmed its intent to issue a permanent infectious disease standard. Less than two weeks later, on January 5, 2022, National Nurses United and several other labor unions filed an Emergency Petition for a Writ of Mandamus and Request for Expedited Briefing and Disposition with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.In re: National Nurses United, et al., No. 22-1002 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 5, 2022).

The unions argue that OSHA has failed to adequately protect nurses and other healthcare workers from COVID-19. OSHA filed its opposition to the petition on January 21, 2022, arguing, among other things, that OSHA was unable to finalize a permanent healthcare standard because it focused the agencys resources on its COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (which was alsowithdrawn). OSHA indicated it expects to complete rulemaking for a permanent healthcare standard within six-to-nine months.

The Healthcare ETS applied in settings where COVID-19 patients are treated, and it required healthcare employers with more than 10 employees to develop and implement written COVID-19 plans that included the following elements:

Assigning a designated safety coordinator;

Patient screening and management;

Policies and procedures to comply with CDC guidelines;

Facemask and PPE requirements;

Protections while using aerosol-generating procedures on persons with suspected or confirmed COVID-19;

Physical distancing;

Solid barriers at employee work stations;

Cleaning and disinfection protocols;

HVAC system requirements;

Health screening and medical management requirements;

Paid leave for vaccinations, vaccination recovery, and medical removal from work due to COVID-19 infection or certain COVID-19 exposures;

Employee training;

Anti-retaliation protections;

Employee COVID-19 logs; and

Reporting work-related COVID-19 fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations.

OSHA has indicated its forthcoming permanent infectious disease standard will cover all industries and address airborne, droplet, and non-bloodborne contact diseases.

While OSHA has indicated it may use the now-withdrawn Healthcare ETS to support citations against healthcare employers under the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, only the COVID-19 log and reporting provisions formally remain in effect.

Reinstatement of the Healthcare ETS would have a significant impact on covered employers, particularly as COVID-19 cases appear to be dropping throughout the country and more jurisdictions are loosening restrictions.

Jackson Lewis P.C. 2022National Law Review, Volume XII, Number 52

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Impending Argument for Reinstating COVID-19 Healthcare ETS - The National Law Review

As confirmed cases of COVID-19 track downward at Rowan, in New Jersey and across the nation, we are implementing some University-wide changes in our approach to testing and contact tracing.

TestingAs of Monday, Feb. 21, Hollybush Mansion will no longer be a site for symptomatic COVID-19 testing. Any student exhibiting symptoms of the virus should contact the Wellness Center at 856-256-4333 to arrange testing.

Through May 5, asymptomatic testing will continue every Wednesday and Thursday for any student or employee who is unvaccinated or any student or employee wishing to undergo testing. Testing will be from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. each Wednesday and Thursday in the Owls Nest in the Chamberlain Student Center.

Contact tracingRather than conducting contact tracing investigations on each positive case among our University community, the Wellness Center will instead rely upon any Rowan student or employee who tests positive to personally notify their contacts. The Wellness Center will provide those individuals who test positive with information about informing their circle of contacts. The Universitys contact tracing group will no longer conduct active contract tracing investigations.

Remaining in effectAs we continue to evaluate a number of factors and monitor our cases, the Universitys masking protocols and daily screening will remain in place at this time.

Finally, anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will still need to report their positive test to the University. Both students and employees must report here. Reporting is necessary as Rowan continues to update our website and submit weekly state reports.

Staying healthyAs always, the best way to protect yourself against serious illness is to get the COVID-19 vaccine and the booster shot. Click here for vaccination information.

Moving forwardRowans wellness team meets several times each week to review the Universitys positive case numbers, evaluate statewide and national trends, and consider changes to our pandemic protocols. As we continue throughout the semester, we will communicate any future changes to the University community.

A healthy Rowan is a thriving Rowan. Please continue to take every precaution to keep yourselves and our community healthy and safe this spring.

Contact Information:Scott WoodsideDirector of the Wellness Center856-256-4333woodside@rowan.edu

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Changes in COVID-19 testing and contact tracing | Rowan Today | Rowan University - Rowan Today

Fear-based messaging is often persuasive, but it has not been an effective way to promote COVID-19 vaccines or social distancing, Fast Company reported Feb. 20.

Fear appeals must first describe danger and then explain how to mitigate it. Both parts need to be effective for the appeal to work, according to the report.

If people don't believe the danger poses a significant threat, they often see no need to pay attention to potential solutions. The ideas that COVID-19 is a hoax or only as serious as a common cold circulated widely during the early phase of the pandemic and are still proliferating on social media, which undermines Americans' ability to respond to fear-based messaging.

Additionally, people must believe potential solutions are attainable and effective. Online misinformation has influenced many Americans to the point they believe social distancing and vaccines are not proven ways to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Fear appeals have further been thwarted by the frequency of changes in the CDC's guidance, as people are more likely to act when problems and solutions are straightforwardly laid out. Fear appeals have also been hampered by rampant online misinformation claiming the government has nefarious intentions for promoting vaccines, according to the report.

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The problem with fear-based COVID-19 messaging - Becker's Hospital Review

Peoples relationship with their job is complicated.

COVID-19 has likely permanently changed attitudes toward their jobs, with people seeking out a change of hours, career and benefits. Some individuals may have become accustomed to a greater degree of work flexibility, including working from home, while others may now prefer a greater degree of work-life balance, a new paper concludes.

The pandemic was a catalyst, according to the paper, distributed Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Cambridge, Mass. nonprofit research organization. The paper was written by economist R. Jason Faberman at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Ayegl ahin and Andreas I. Mueller, both from the Department of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin.

Workers with high social proximity the degree of interpersonal contact and ability to work from home show a willingness to work fewer hours.

Workers with high social proximity show a willingness to work fewer hours, echoing previous research and highlighting the gap between people who are able to work from home without exposure to COVID-19. Social proximity, for these purposes, is defined by the degree of interpersonal contact and the ability to work from home for a persons current or most recent job.

The occupations with the highest effective social proximity include healthcare professionals, food-preparation workers, people working in production, construction, transportation, and personal-care services, they said. The jobs with the lowest effective social proximity include managers, technical professionals, and legal professionals.

A recent report by management consulting company McKinsey on the future of work also found that the pandemic most severely disturbed arenas with the highest overall physical proximity scores: medical care, personal care, on-site customer service, and leisure and travel. Looking ahead, those areas are also likely to be more unsettled, as workplaces continue to adapt to this new normal, it added.

Considering only remote work that can be done without a loss of productivity, we find that about 20% to 25% of the workforces in advanced economies could work from home between three and five days a week, McKinsey said. This represents four to five times more remote work than before the pandemic and could prompt a large change in the geography of work.

But remote work is always good for companies. We found that some work that technically can be done remotely is best done in person, McKinsey added. Negotiations, critical business decisions, brainstorming sessions, providing sensitive feedback, and onboarding new employees are examples of activities that may lose some effectiveness when done remotely.

The labor force participation rate held steady at 62.2% in January, and the employment-population ratio was little changed at 59.7%, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both of those measures were up over the past year, but remain below their February 2020 levels (63.4% and 61.2%, respectively, it said.

Pressures have intensified in recent months for people to work more hours and/or for better wages with inflation, especially with inflation reaching a 40-year high.

But pressures have intensified in recent months for people to work more hours and/or for better wages with inflation now at a 40-year high, the winding down of pandemic-related stimulus programs, credit-card debt and interest rates on the increase, and the toll that two years of an uncertain and unsteady work environment has taken on peoples savings.

Still, the COVID-19 pandemic had had a significant effect on the number of hours that people wished to work, Faberman, ahin and Mueller wrote. The labor market is tighter than suggested by the unemployment rate and the adverse labor supply effect of the pandemic is more pronounced than implied by the labor force participation rate, they said.

Child-care needs play only one part. Our evidence does not support the notion that the contraction in labor supply is driven mostly by women responding to child-care demands, the researchers added. Instead, the drop in desired hours is pervasive across most demographic groups, with somewhat larger declines among those with less than a college degree.

The decline is also concentrated among what we refer to as the intensive margin of labor force participation. This margin represents individuals who prefer to work infrequently, and when they do, they generally prefer part-time work hours, they said, adding, This decline contributed to the rapid tightening of the labor market following the onset of the pandemic.

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Why have so many people soured on work? COVID-19 unleashed a hidden well of employee dissatisfaction - MarketWatch

UVA Health has joined a nationwide study evaluating two repurposed medications in the search for effective, safe treatments for mild to moderate COVID-19. Repurposed medications are already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of other diseases or conditions.

ACTIV-6, The Randomized Trial to Evaluate Efficacy of Repurposed Medications, is a nationwide, double-blind study expected to enroll nearly 15,000 participants from across the U.S. A double-blind study meansthat both study participants and researchers do not know which medication participants are receiving as part of the trial.

Residents from throughout Virginia and across the U.S. can get more information on how to participate in the trial by visitingactiv6study.orgor calling833-385-1880.Volunteers in the trial can participate from home.

Thestudy is now testing these repurposed medications:

While we have some great new drugs for COVID-19 in outpatients, like Paxlovid and sotrovimab, supplies are limited and its still important to find potential new treatments, said Dr. Patrick E.H. Jackson, principal investigator for the clinical trial at UVA Health. Because thedrugs were studyingare cheap and widely available, they could have a huge global impact if we find theyre effective for COVID treatment.

Eligibility and Trial Participation

To be eligible, participants must be 30 years old or older, have had a positive COVID-19 test within the past 10 days, and have at least two symptoms of the illness for seven days or less. Symptoms include fatigue, difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches, chills, headache, sore throat, nasal symptoms, and/or new loss of sense of taste or smell.

Participation involves taking the medication and keeping track of symptoms over 90 days through online surveys. Medications are shipped at no cost to participants.

The studyis part of the National Institutes of Health-funded Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines effort led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

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UVA Health Joins National Trial Testing Medications for Mild to Moderate COVID-19 - University of Virginia

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. Helix Diagnostics will be offering COVID-19 testing at a new site in Waterford Township.

The new site will be located at 3625 Highland Road and is replacing the testing site formerly located at 6620 Highland Road.

Starting Feb. 23, 2022, the public will have access to COVID-19 PCR testing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 pm and Saturday 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m.

Those interested in testing can make appointments at http://www.solvhealth.com, walk-ins are welcomed as well. Medical insurance will be accepted for those who have been exposed to COVID-19 or are exhibiting symptoms. Patients in need of testing for travel purposes will need to pay $100 via cash or credit card.

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New COVID-19 testing site coming to Waterford Township - Fox17

City, provincial and federal law enforcement officers begananunprecedented operation Friday morning to remove demonstrators, their trucks and cars, that have been blockading the streets. On Friday, more than 100 people were arrested and 21 vehicles were towed.

Another 38 vehicles have been towed since Friday, police say.

Wellington Street in front of Parliament has been cleared. Police say they will continue restoring the streets to normal order over the coming days.

"One protester launched a gas canister and was arrested," Ottawa police said in a tweet.

Police said their response would have public and officer safety in mind.

"We were slow and methodical, yet you were assaultive and aggressive with officers and the horses. Based on your behavior, we are responding by including helmets and batons for our safety," police said.

Earlier Saturday morning, police warned protesters to leave. More than 100 checkpoints remain to keep more protesters from entering the city.

Parliament was under a "hold and secure" order similar to a lockdown.

Demonstrators have been blockading Ottawa streets since January 29; despite threats of legal consequences, many showed no signs of backing down. Law enforcement officers began an unprecedented operation Friday morning to remove protesters and their vehicles.

On Saturday, Legislators resumed emergency debate on the Emergencies Act, which had been interrupted Friday, House Speaker Anthony Rota said in a statement.

The points of contention have become more delicate in recent days as some protesters placed young children between them and police. CNN has observed those children on the protest site in the last several days.

DC prepares for potential similar protests

And Trudeau has pointed out that some people in the US, as well as elsewhere, are funneling funding to the protesters.

"We see that roughly half of the funding that is flowing to the barricaders here is coming from the United States. The goal of all measures, including financial measures in the Emergencies Act, is to deal with the current threat only, and to get the situation fully under control."

Meanwhile, officials in US are concerned that similar unrest may arise in Washington, DC, as President Joe Biden prepares for the State of the Union address on March 1.

Organizers face charges

Several people arrested earlier this week have been charged in the protests, which have evolved from opposition to a trucker vaccine mandate to encompassing a disdain for all Covid-19 safety measures.

Patrick James King, 44, of Red Deer, Alberta, was arrested Friday, according to Ottawa Police.

King is charged by the Criminal Investigations Section with mischief, counseling to commit the offense of mischief, counseling to commit the offense of disobeying court order, and counseling to commit the offense of obstructing police.

He was set to appear in court Saturday.

On Friday, Ottawa police confirmed the arrests of organizers Tamara Lich, 49, and Christopher John Barber, 46.

Lich was charged with counseling to commit the offense of mischief and Barber has been charged with counseling to commit the offense of mischief, counseling to commit the offense of disobeying a court order, and counseling to commit the offense of obstructing police.

Barber had a contested bail hearing Friday, attorney Diane Magas said in an email to CNN. He was released on the condition that he leave Ottawa and a bond, she added. Lich is scheduled to appear in court Saturday morning for her arraignment.

CNN's Paula Newton reported from Ottawa. This story was written by Aya Elamroussi and Jay Croft in Atlanta. Paradise Afshar, Travis Caldwell, Raja Razek, Chris Boyette, Amir Vera, Chuck Johnston and Jenn Selva contributed to this report.

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Police arrest 47 of the remaining Covid-19 protesters in Ottawa - CNN