Category Archives: Corona Virus

In Italy, it is now obligatory for people aged 50 or over to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Greece is pondering a similar move. In France, which has seen record numbers of positive cases, President Emmanuel Macron has also announced that he wants to piss off the unvaccinated, while Austria is contemplating a law to make the vaccine mandatory for all its citizens. By contrast, in the UK, Boris Johnson has confined himself to accusing anti-vaxxers of talking mumbo-jumbo.

But is that enough? Should the UK take a harder line on those who refuse to be vaccinated? After all, this is a virus that threatens to overwhelm the NHS. As doctors continue to point out, hospital beds are now filling up with more and more seriously ill Covid patients, many of whom are unvaccinated. So, should vaccines against Covid be made mandatory, not just in certain workplace settings but for all individuals?

What is the case for making Covid vaccines mandatory?

Most British scientists believe that increasing numbers of vaccinated people will give a major boost to efforts to limit hospitalisations from serious Covid complications. However, many question the wisdom of doing this by making vaccination mandatory. The issue is summed up by vaccine expert Peter English.

Unvaccinated people are very much more likely to become ill and consume disproportionate healthcare resources. A single case of Covid-19 requiring admission to an ICU can block a bed that could be used for many critical operations, he told the Observer. However, the backlash that could occur as a result of compulsory vaccination which is not part of our culture, unlike in Italy might mean even fewer people coming forward for vaccination, so it is not something that I would recommend.

What vaccines are mandatory in the UK?

The answer to this is straightforward, said child health expert, Professor Helen Bedford of University College London. We dont mandate any vaccine in the UK. We recommend that people have certain vaccines and advise parents to have their children vaccinated against particular diseases but we do not enforce that in law. In fact, the only vaccine we have ever mandated in Britain was smallpox and the legislation enforcing its use was repealed in the 1940s.

Other countries have more of a tradition for mandatory vaccinations, however. For example, Italy now has a total of 10 vaccines that are mandatory.

What has been the impact of the Omicron variant, which is easier to catch but is thought to be less likely to cause serious illness?

This is a key question, said psychologist Marie Juanchich of Essex University. I believe Omicron is changing things. People feel a bit safer with it. It may spread really rapidly but its severity is perceived to be lower. People are much more concerned about the severity of an illness and less concerned about the infectiousness of the virus that causes it.

This point is backed by psychologist Simon Williams, at Swansea University. There is now a widespread perception that Omicron is milder and I think a lot of people have taken that to mean they dont have to worry about it and are not adjusting their behaviour., he said.

A particular problem was the take-up of the booster vaccine last month, which was helped by the publics wish not to disrupt the festive season with the virus. The fact that this risk has passed might have removed some of the drive to take up the vaccine, Williams added. One of the things we have come across is a factor we call variant fatigue, which translates as people saying: Oh, here we go again, a new variant. This is what viruses do; we just need to get on with our lives. Thats not great from a public health perspective.

So how should we improve Covid-19 vaccination rates?

An important issue is to differentiate between a diehard anti-vaxxer and someone who has nagging doubts about getting a vaccine, said Bedford. If you lump them together, you will miss the chance to persuade those who have genuine concerns but who could change their minds and get vaccinated.

We need to get to the people in this latter category although that takes time and resources. Some GPs have been ringing up all their unvaccinated patients to have a chat and that has proven to be effective. However, it is hard work. Nor does it have to be a doctor, it might be a religious leader or community leader.

Certainly, from my own experience, I find that if you actually sit down with a doubter, listen to what their concern is, and respond appropriately, very often, you can encourage them to be vaccinated. Certainly, I dont think we should be thinking about mandating or making a vaccine compulsory.

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Coronavirus: should the UK make vaccination mandatory? - The Guardian

The number of hospitalized young children infected with the coronavirus rose precipitously last week to the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released on Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The increase was observed in children who were 4 and younger, who are not eligible for vaccination, and the data included children who were admitted to hospitals for reasons other than Covid.

The rise may be partly explained by the surge of Omicron cases, which affects all populations, and the spread of other respiratory infections.

But the data do not show a similar steep rise in coronavirus infections among hospitalized children of other ages, and federal health officials were considering the possibility that Omicron may not be as mild in young children as it is older children.

Children infected with the variant are still at much less risk of becoming severely ill compared with adults, and even young children seem less likely to need ventilators than those admitted during previous surges, doctors said.

We have not yet seen a signal that there is any increased severity in this age demographic, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C.s director, told reporters at a news briefing on Friday.

More than four in 100,000 children ages 4 and younger admitted to hospitals were infected with the coronavirus as of Jan. 1 double the rate reported a month ago and about three times the rate this time last year.

By contrast, the rate of hospitalized 5- to 11-year-olds with Covid was 0.6 per 100,000, roughly the same figure reported over past many months.

Dr. Walensky noted that only 16 percent of children from 5 to 11 had been fully vaccinated, and she urged everyone who was eligible for vaccines and boosters to receive them as soon as possible.

Sadly, we are seeing the rates of hospitalizations increasing for children 0 to 4, who are not yet currently eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, she said. Its critically important that we surround them with people who are vaccinated to provide them protection.

The rise has been noticeable at a number of regional medical centers. The hospitalizations of young children now are blowing away our previous Delta wave at the end of the summer, early fall, which had been our highest prior to that, said Dr. Danielle Zerr, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at Seattle Childrens Hospital.

Experts are typically cautious about interpreting an increase in pediatric hospitalizations as a sign that a variant is particularly severe in children relative to adults. There were similar fears about the Delta and Beta variants, but the rise in pediatric hospitalizations then turned out to be more a consequence of the contagiousness of the variants.

This time, too, at least part of the increase in cases is a reflection of Omicrons surge across all age groups. The nation is now recording roughly 600,000 cases on average per day, about one in five of them in children.

The more kids that get infected, the more youre going to have kids who are going to be sick enough to be hospitalized, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the committee on infectious diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics and a physician at Stanford University.

Jan. 9, 2022, 3:48 p.m. ET

At Seattle Childrens Hospital, for example, about 21 percent of children are testing positive for the coronavirus, compared with the average of about 1 percent and a high during the Delta wave of about 3 percent.

That is just a game changer, Dr. Zerr said of the more recent figures.

Doctors may be quicker to admit a young child than an adult with similar symptoms, and that may account for some of the rising rates in young children. But some experts said the increase this time might be too steep to be explained only by the usual factors.

One alternative hypothesis for the rise may be that young children are particularly vulnerable to infections in the upper airway exactly where Omicron is thought to be more concentrated in comparison with other variants.

Theyre smaller, their airways are smaller, Dr. Kristin Oliver, a pediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said of young children.

It does seem reasonable in a disease that if it looks like its affecting the upper airway more, that they would be more impacted, she added. They are more at risk for that for longer, prolonged cases, as well as the hospitalization that can come along with a more severe case.

That may explain why more hospitalized children aged 4 and younger have tested positive for the coronavirus throughout the pandemic than those 5 and older. Its also why young children are more vulnerable to other pathogens, like respiratory syncytial virus, and to having the seal-like cough associated with croup.

For parents of young children, the numbers add another layer of worry as they wait for vaccines to become available.

Alicia Henriquez, a public-school teacher in Chicago, has three children, two of them younger than 5. Her younger children Maxi, 4 and Sofia, 2 are both infected with the coronavirus, but Maxi has no symptoms at all, and Sofia has only a cough.

Still, Ms. Henriquez said she was monitoring their symptoms carefully. You dont know if your child is going to end up in the hospital or not, so I think you still have to be careful, she said.

The C.D.C.s new data were collected by Covid-Net, the agencys hospitalization surveillance network, which includes 14 sites and covers about 10 percent of the U.S. population. The rates are likely to be underestimates because of the lack of availability of tests, according to the agency.

Many children who become severely ill have other conditions or have weak immune systems. Those kids are definitely at high risk right now, Dr. Maldonado said. Were seeing more of them now than we were before.

Dr. Julie Binder, a gastroenterologist in Philadelphia, has two daughters under 5. Her older daughter, Annie, 4, has an undiagnosed medical condition that results in some very bizarre reactions to viruses, Dr. Binder said. After a viral infection landed Annie in the hospital two years ago, she had complications for months.

Dr. Binder and her husband have been adamant about maintaining as normal a life for Annie as possible, even during the pandemic. But they have kept her home from day care the past couple of weeks to shield her from the post-holiday spike in infections.

Hearing this information, Im certainly glad that I did, Dr. Binder said of the data released on Friday. I would have felt much more comfortable through this wave right now if she had been vaccinated.

A coronavirus vaccine is not yet available in the United States to children under 5, and is unlikely to be for a few more months. But many older children are also still unvaccinated.

Fewer than 25 percent of children from 5 to 11, and just over 60 percent of adolescents from 12 to 17, have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

If youre really worried about your child getting sick, you should be vaccinating your child, Dr. Maldonado said. Its the easiest thing we can do right now to keep our kids healthy.

As of Oct. 31, about one in three children hospitalized with Covid was obese. Still, about half had no other known medical conditions, according to data collected by the C.D.C.

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A Surge in Hospitalized Young Children Infected With the Coronavirus - The New York Times

We asked readers who are immunocompromised, along with their family members, to share their pandemic experience and their outlook for the year ahead. Their responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

I feel like Im required to be my own epidemiologist. Theres not enough known about Covid and people on B-cell inhibitors. Im trying to give myself the grace to be imperfect in figuring this out, and to give other people space to do their own risk calculations. But its not always easy. You dont want to always be arguing for your right to not be killed by other peoples decisions. I assume Ill wear a mask for the rest of my life. It actually feels empowering to admit to being immunocompromised although it also feels like its taken two years for people to be able to have some understanding of what that means. Adria Quiones, New York, N.Y.

I have been on immunosuppressants for nine years as a result of a bone-marrow transplant. I feel left behind by friends who are moving on with their lives, free to socialize in their vaccinated bubbles, and who fear being near me since they do not want to risk infecting me. I fear I will lose my identity and individuality and continue to shrink into anonymity. Risk-free options do not exist for me, and I do not see them coming anytime soon. Shari Kurita, Oakland, Calif.

I have serious lung disease and until vaccination was locked away in my house like Rapunzel. The pandemic cost me my relationship, social life and livelihood. Since being vaxxed, Ive been able to get out and about, see friends and family, even attend a few concerts. I flew to New York over Thanksgiving without ill effects. Ive figured out ways to teach private music lessons safely. Now, with Omicron spreading so fast, Im back in lockdown. Ill be wearing a mask in public spaces for the rest of my life. I doubt Ill have the same parade of private students through my living room again. T.P., Los Angeles

How do you describe the feeling of suddenly being trapped? It feels worse when I realize theres nothing holding you back except the selfishness of others. I could go to the movie theater when cases are low, but if just one jerk comes in and refuses to wear their mask, I could potentially end up in the hospital. I could go on dates and be careful, but if my date is careless, I could bring it home to my also-immunocompromised mom. It was a relief for me when things got worse and Governor Newsom reimposed the mask mandate because at least Im safer when Im out at a store. Daniella Gruber, Orange County, Calif.

Having cancer in a pandemic has, at least for now, turned me into a wary misanthrope. Neighbors I used to greet cheerily on the elevator, or acquaintances I see on rare trips to the grocery, are sometimes unmasked even indoors when signs are posted. They really dont care if I die is a recurrent thought, and I fear Ill never return fully to my openhearted self. Ann Bancroft, Coronado, Calif.

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Coronavirus Briefing: A Pandemic of the Forgotten - The New York Times

As omicron spreads, filling hospital beds and flooding emergency rooms and urgent cares with anxious patients, the employee hotline at Lehigh Valley Health Network has been ringing nonstop: Doctors, nurses, and other workers are calling out sick because of COVID-19. One day last week, the line was averaging more than one call a minute and some of the people who would usually be taking the calls were out sick, too.

In the last week, the unprecedented number of infections has sidelined teachers, bus drivers, trash collectors, and others in significant numbers, in some cases disrupting services and schools. The omicron variant is more transmissible and can evade vaccine protection; as health-care workers also catch the fast-spreading virus, it has added a new challenge for hospitals already strained by the worsening surge.

This particular wave has been intensified and has been magnified by the superimposed staffing crisis, said Timothy Friel, the chair of the department of medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network. That has just made it even tougher.

Geisinger Health, which operates nine hospitals in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, had more than 10% of its staff in quarantine or isolation. About 270 Penn State Health employees a larger than usual number, but just over 1% of its staff were out of work Thursday.

Right now it seems like everybody knows many people who are infected, said Gerald Maloney, chief medical officer for health services at Geisinger. The number of people sick is crazy.

Some hospital leaders said their contact-tracing efforts showed workers generally catch the virus while out in the community, like everybody else, rather than at work.

READ MORE: Pa. nurses after 22 months of COVID-19 and a new surge: It is so defeating

Last month, several Pennsylvania hospitals, mainly in the western and central parts of the state, were already at capacity.

Since, the number of new infections has skyrocketed and the crisis has worsened hospitalizations, mainly of unvaccinated people, have increased from about 4,700 to more than 6,400 statewide just since Christmas causing even facilities in the Philadelphia region to cancel elective surgeries or tighten visitation policies.

Every day feels like a crisis, Friel said. The challenge is not knowing where the crisis is going to be what practice, what locations are going to have the most employees out sick.

In Pennsylvania, nearly a quarter of all COVID-19 tests are coming back positive, up from 15% last week. New Jersey officials said hospitals were preparing to see up to 30% of staff out because of COVID-19 exposure based on the states positivity rate.

Other places were reporting even higher numbers: Philadelphia, for example, had a nearly 40% positivity this week. And officials believe the number of cases is being undercounted because many people are testing at home or unable to find tests.

At hospitals, staffing was already a challenge, said Donald Yealy, chief medical officer at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Now you add on this short-term threat.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday announced the Department of Health and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency would set up overflow sites and send medical staff, a signal of how critical the situation has become.

The regional sites will not open until February, however, and it was unclear when support staff would arrive. A spokesperson for the governor said the administration had not yet identified where the sites would open or which staffing agencies they would use. The office did not answer other questions about the plan. A few hospitals said they were waiting to learn more.

READ MORE: Why is it so hard to find a COVID-19 test? Sites are short-staffed, and rapid supply is low.

In York and Scranton, Department of Defense medics sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived at two hospitals this week and are set to stay 30 days. New Jersey has also requested FEMA help, while the state National Guard will assist long-term care facilities, officials said.

The virus-related absences mean some are now having to move workers to different jobs or ask employees to pick up extra work. It also contributes to longer waits and backlogs, already a problem due to the high volume of patients and existing staffing shortages.

Geisinger has been recruiting staff to do additional jobs for extra pay, Maloney said for example, a pathologist whose workload is lighter than normal because the hospital has postponed many surgeries could pick up shifts giving vaccinations.

WellSpan Healths York Hospital has opened nearly 200 extra beds and converted spaces into patient wards and was so short on staff that it received the military medics from FEMA.

Theyre expecting those numbers to keep rising, which could put the hospitals ability to deliver care in jeopardy, CEO Roxanna Gapstur said Thursday.

No hospital is yet at a point where administrators say they are unable to provide acute care. But existing fatigue and burnout are compounding for employees at work.

I dont want anyone to think we are compromising on care, said Deborah Addo, Penn State Healths executive vice president and chief operating officer. But it might mean we are compromising on the livelihood of a caregiver.

As the United States continues to see a sharp, steady climb in the numbers of people infected and hospitalized, hospital rates in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were higher than the national average, according to federal data analyzed by the New York Times.

New Jersey had more than 5,600 people hospitalized on Friday, the highest number since the states spring 2020 peak. Pennsylvania had more than 6,400, its average number of daily hospitalizations climbing toward the winter 2020 peak.

ICU beds have steadily filled over the last few weeks. On Friday, the percentage of available beds ranged from 14% in northwest Pennsylvania to just under 10% in the northeast.

Hospitals in Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties still had capacity this week.

But the strain was intensifying in Philadelphia and Delaware County. Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said the citys hospitals were extremely stressed on Tuesday, and the city on Thursday reported 1,162 COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

READ MORE: About 90% of COVID-19 patients in some of Pa.s hardest-hit hospitals are unvaccinated

We are getting close to the kind of dire situation we all dread in which treatable conditions can be fatal, she said, because our hospitals simply dont have room.

Delaware County medical adviser Lisa OMahony said medical reserve corps workers are being called in to fill staffing gaps, while all of the countys six hospitals were at capacity.

Some of the Pennsylvania hospitals that were overwhelmed a few weeks ago with COVID-19 patients say they are doing even worse now, and they expect it to get tougher before the surge abates. Geisinger was above capacity systemwide, and all UPMC facilities were at or near capacity.

If the situation worsens at Guthrie, it may have to designate one hospital for COVID-19 patients and others for non-virus-related care, said Michael Scalzone, chief quality officer.

South Jerseys hospitals are fuller than in April 2020, and more children are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in New Jersey than at any point during the pandemic, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said.

Exhausted hospital workers are hoping models predicting that the omicron surge could soon peak New Jersey officials said that could be as soon as Jan. 14 for hospitalizations prove accurate.

One hope that we cling to is [given] how quickly omicron has driven up numbers, we will see a rapid decline, said Friel, of Lehigh Valley Health. We keep telling each other, One more week, two more weeks, we can keep doing it.

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COVID-19 surge has overwhelmed some Pa. hospitals and now their workers are getting sick, too - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Sex and the City always existed in a fantasy version of New York City, but in its HBO Max sequel, And Just Like That, theres a different sort of illusion at work. In the opening scene, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) are waiting for a table at a very crowded, very indoor restaurant.

Remember when we legally had to stand six feet apart from one another? Carrie quips.

And just like that Covid is over. At least it is in this shows Manhattan, as well as in a cohort of other series that try, wishfully, to press the epidemiological fast-forward button.

In the real world, the Omicron variant may be driving case counts into the stratosphere, but on TV, the pandemic is playing dead. In the Season 11 premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry Davids HBO comedy of ill manners, chaos breaks out during a party (specifically, a premature funeral) at Albert Brookss house when Larry finds a closet stuffed with Purell, toilet paper and KN95 masks, exposing the Lost in America director as having been a Covid hoarder.

You know during the pandemic. The one that is definitely over.

For nearly two years now, representing (or avoiding) Covid on TV has been a choice among bad options. Most shows ignored it altogether. A few, like Social Distance on Netflix, made the pandemic a direct subject, earnestly if clunkily.

But maybe most awkward have been the series that acknowledged Covid existed but declared or implied it was over long before Covid decided it was over. NBCs time-skipping This Is Us played the pandemics greatest hits throughout Season 5 quarantine, video calls, pandemic unemployment but this weeks Season 6 premiere suggests that the show has moved on. Season 2 of HBO Maxs Love Life, a story that spans several years, includes one pandemic episode, then begins the next in a version of 2021 where an audience is sitting unmasked in New Yorks La MaMa theater.

Some prime-time series about doctors, police and other emergency workers made fitful efforts to depict Covid, but their mask discipline sagged over time. Greys Anatomy, for instance, brought the pandemic full-on to Seattle Grace hospital in fall 2020. By fall 2021, it opened with the disclaimer that it now portrays a fictional, post-pandemic world which represents our hopes for the future.

These are all understandable choices, and maybe the only creatively practical ones. But they make for some potent cognitive dissonance. When I watched a post-pandemic Greys episode recently on Hulu, it opened with a pre-roll ad urging me to get a booster shot.

For programs that simply try to show how people live daily life, the pandemics challenges are both subtler and more pervasive than those presented by past catastrophes. After 9/11, there was no need for homeland-security alerts to impinge on Friends, and the subsequent fixation on terrorism was even a natural driver of plot for action thrillers.

The pandemic, on the other hand, quelled action. Covid touched every aspect of mundane life. Masks limited facial expression. Real-life distancing practices meant that the basic engine of sitcoms people in a room or a bar or an office, talking was now fraught with angst.

Very occasionally, series have managed to capture this reality, as in the second and final season of HBOs naturalistic comedy Betty, whose young characters skateboarded through pandemic-era New York in various states of matter-of-fact maskedness.

The remake of Scenes From a Marriage split the difference oddly, opening with the fourth-wall-breaking image of the cast and crew working under Covid protocols, then letting its domestic dissolution play out sans masks.

More often, TV has breezed past the situation, or wished it away. As long as a year ago, series were declaring early victory over Covid. NBCs Mr. Mayor, which premiered last January, starred Ted Danson as the mayor of Los Angeles, a job in which managing public health is not a small detail. The pilot yada-yadas the pandemic away by having him mention that Dolly Parton bought everyone the vaccine. (A later episode does involve a lice outbreak.)

To its credit, a series like And Just Like That is at least trying to acknowledge the pandemic, rather than shunt it offscreen. It just does so in the past tense.

The Peloton on which Mr. Big (Chris Noth) takes his fateful last ride was a habit many other shut-ins of a certain income acquired during lockdown, which was also when he and Carrie began their evening ritual of listening to vinyl LPs. Anthony (Mario Cantone) runs a bakery, the offshoot of one more Covid-acquired sourdough hobby. And when Carrie calls Miranda out for her drinking in a recent episode, Miranda shoots back: I am drinking too much. Yes. We all were in the pandemic, and I guess I just kept going. Make mine a double.

Theres a note of wistful, wishful thinking in all this retconning of reality would that we could write a time jump into our own scripts! But theres also the simple matter of timing. TV generally works on a faster schedule than movies or books, but its not instantaneous (and shooting during Covid tends to take longer).

So TV creators suddenly conscripted, like educators and restaurant managers, into making public-health decisions they never expected to be part of the job description have been left to guess at Covids future like a hapless pop culture C.D.C.

In some cases, whats onscreen now is a time capsule from the heady early days of vaccine optimism. The post-Covid Curb season wrapped production a few mutations ago, in May, when the virus seemed to be fizzling into oblivion. (The executive producer Jeff Schaffer told The Hollywood Reporter that the season takes place Right now, if everyone had the brains to get vaccinated.) A comfy chic challenge in the newest Project Runway season, produced in spring, had contestants adapt those awful couch clothes that weve all been living in for over a year, presumably for a post-Covid future.

South Park, which released a two-movie Post Covid special on Paramount+ in November and December, has one of the quickest turnaround times in TV the first installment was released just as Omicron was discovered and the second worked in a reference to the variant. But it put the post in its Post Covid premise by using time travel and alternate reality to depict a future in which humanity had well, almost beaten the virus. (Maybe the most far-fetched twist is its resolution, in which, with the seriess frustrating both-sidesing, vaxxers and antivaxxers shower each other with apologies for getting so worked up during the plague years.)

Still, its striking that TV, whose strength is the ability to stay on top of the moment, has generally worked so hard to avoid the biggest thing to happen to its collective audience in the past two years. You could easily imagine face masks becoming a staple, even a clich, of period dramas some day a visual shorthand for the turbulent days of 2020 the way a shot of the corner of Haight and Ashbury says the 60s even as future rerun-watchers puzzle at why theyre nowhere to be found in the TV of our own time.

Maybe its only fitting that TV producers should muddle through this garbage storm like everyone else, unsure what the rules will be by airtime, wishing they knew where the pandemic fell on the spectrum between temporary emergency and permanent way of life. And Im sure plenty of viewers would rather be reminded of anything else.

But youre reminded anyway, if only by the twinge of uncanniness from seeing TV characters act as if the pandemic were history, even as youre still trying to get your hands on rapid antigen tests. I bet Albert Brooks has a ton of them.

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How TV Shows Are Moving Past the Coronavirus Pandemic - The New York Times

by: Caroline Bleakley, Nexstar Media Wire

A man swabs his nose at a COVID-19 testing on the Martin Luther King Jr. medical campus Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revised its guidelines on coronavirus, raising questions about who should quarantine or isolate and for how long.

Last week, the CDC shortened its COVID-19 isolation and quarantine recommendations and clarified that the guidance applies to kids as well as adults.

Isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus were cut from 10 to five days and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.

There is a difference between quarantine and isolation. You should quarantine if you come into contact with someone who has coronavirus and you think you have it. You should isolate if you confirm you have coronavirus even if you dont have symptoms.

If you come into close contact with someone with COVID-19, you should quarantine if:

If you come into close contact with someone with COVID-19, you do not need to quarantine if:

The CDC suggests a person quarantine for five days following their last contact with an infected person. Your day of exposure is day 0. Stay home and away from other people. If you are around people at home, wear a well-fitting mask. You should watch for a fever, shortness of breath, or other COVID-19 symptoms. If symptoms develop, get tested immediately and isolate until you receive the results.

If you test positive, the CDC suggests you follow guidelines for isolation. If you do not develop symptoms after five days and you receive a negative test, you can leave your home, but you should continue to wear a mask until it has been 10 days since the exposure.

People in isolation should stay home in a specified sick room to be separated from others and wear a well-fitting mask if they must be around others in the home. You should isolate a full five days. Day 0 is the first day of symptoms or the date of the positive test for a person with no symptoms. You can end isolation after a full five days if you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication and other symptoms have improved. However, you should wear a mask for an additional five days while in public.

You can find more detailed information on the CDC website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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COVID-19: When to quarantine or isolate? Whats the difference? - fox4kc.com

There appears to be yet another layer to America's coronavirus testing chaos: People may not test positive on rapid nasal tests until after they're infectious, which would make the tests an unreliable measure of whether it's safe to gather.

The big picture: Rapid tests have been hailed as a way to weather the Omicron surge without mass disruption to everyday life. But they've been in short supply for weeks, and now new research along with loads of anecdotal evidence suggests there may be significant limitations to their usefulness with this variant.

Driving the news: A small preprint study released Wednesday found that, among a case study of 30 people who took nasal rapid antigen tests and saliva PCR tests at the same time, four of them transmitted the virus following a false negative rapid antigen test.

State of play: The study builds on emerging evidence that saliva swabs may be better for detecting Omicron than nasal swabs.

Our thought bubble: Almost everyone I talk to professionally or personally knows someone who tested negative on a rapid antigen test but positive on a PCR test (the gold standard), or who tested negative on rapid tests while symptomatic for days before getting a positive test, or who attended a gathering where someone had a negative rapid test ahead of time but went on to infect others with COVID.

What they're saying: "We have seen far too many people who are clinically ill who are in their third and fourth day of negative antigen tests but test positive by PCR," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

The bottom line: If you can get ahold of a rapid test, and you test negative on it, that may still not mean it's safe to visit your elderly grandparents or that you can go to work without worrying about spreading the virus.

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Rapid nasal COVID tests feared to be returning false negatives - Axios

On Thursday, the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA)published three opinion articles by six former advisers to the Biden administration. They were part of the transition team about a year ago when President Biden took office and include people likeLuciana Borio, a former acting chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration and oncologist, and former adviser in the Obama administrationEzekiel Emanuel, who is a medical ethicist andprofessorat theUniversity of Pennsylvania.

Each opinion article addresses a different aspect of a national strategy:a new normal life with COVID-19, testing and mitigation, andvaccines and therapeutics.In the first piece outlining a new normal, the authors write, In delineating a national strategy, humility is essential. The precise duration of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 from vaccination or prior infection is unknown.

They continue, It is imperative for public health, economic, and social functioning that US leaders establish and communicate specific goals for COVID-19 management, benchmarks for the imposition or relaxation of public health restrictions, investments and reforms needed to prepare for future SARS-CoV-2 variants and other novel viruses, and clear strategies to accomplish all of this.

The experts write that the goal for a new normal is not eradication of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, or what other countries are calling "zero COVID." They call for the recognition that this coronavirus is one of many types of viruses that circulate regularly in our population, saying we should focus instead on the aggregate risk of all respiratory virus infections.

Our country is in a historic fight against the coronavirus. Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

In theJAMApiece about testing, surveillance and mitigation strategies,the experts call for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to "collect and disseminate accurate real-time, population-based incidence data on COVID-19 and all viral respiratory illnesses.They say the U.S. needs a comprehensive testing and reporting system and needs to be linked to sociodemographic, vaccination, and clinical outcomes data.The authors also point out the need forlow-costtesting, such as rapid at-home antigen tests. The Biden administration does have plans to distribute 500millionof these, but experts question whether it will be enough and whether the process for getting the tests will be clear and equitable.

Regarding surveillance, the experts highlight the need for environmental surveillance with wastewater and air sampling. They also call for more genomic surveillance tomonitor fornew variants. The US needs to establish a real-time, opt-out digital surveillance system to monitor all vaccinated individuals for the frequency and severity of adverse effects, postvaccination infections, and waning immunity, write the authors. Two years into the pandemic, the US is still heavily reliant on data from Israel and the UK for assessing the effectiveness and durability of COVID-19 vaccines and rate of vaccine breakthrough infections.

The former advisers think that updated vaccines will eventually be necessary, but they also say that the government will need to do more for the developmentand efficient deployment of them. Achieving 90% population vaccination coverage will require mandates write the authors. Few countries have ever achieved such levels of coverage of any vaccine without vaccination requirements.

TheseJAMAopinion articles were shown to White House officials before they were published, and the authors say that they wrote them partly because discussions with them had not led anywhere, according to The New York Times.Borio says, according to the Times,From amacroperspective, it feels like we are always fighting yesterdays crisis and not necessarily thinking what needs to be done today to prepare us for what comes next.

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Health experts want to focus on 'new normal' with the coronavirus | TheHill - The Hill

The latest:

Canada's chief public health officer is urging those who haveyet to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to take that step as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to strain health-care systems across the country.

"Currently, we still need millions more Canadians to increase their protection with #COVID19 vaccines, including almost 7 million eligible people who need a 1st or 2nd dose," Dr. Theresa Tam tweeted on Saturday.

Tam also urged those who havehad both shots to book a booster dose if they're eligible, citing "accumulating evidence" that a third shot provides protection against severe illness from Omicron.

"This may feel like a double marathon we didn't sign up for, but we can draw strength knowing the ground we've covered so far to stay on track and work together to get where we need to go," Tam said.

Her comments come as provinces struggle with Omicron-driven surges.

In Ontario, the number of people hospitalized continued its upward trend, reaching a new pandemic high of 2,594on Saturday.

Health officials reported13,362new lab-confirmedcases, although the actual dailycount is likely much higher given that the province hasreduced access to PCR testingfor most people.

The province also reported31 additional deaths related to COVID-19 on Saturday.

A total of 385 people were undergoing treatment for the illnessin intensivecare units, up by 47 from the previous day.

New Brunswick also saw a record forhospitalizations, with that figure reaching 80 on Saturday, up 11 from the day before.

InQuebec,thenumber ofCOVID-19-related hospitalizations rose by 163 for a total of2,296 on Saturday. Health officials reported 245 patients in intensive care, an increase of 16 from Friday.

The province also reported44 more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus on Saturday, the highest daily death toll in nearly a year.

With lab-based testing capacity deeply strained and increasingly restricted,experts say true case counts are likely far higher than reported. Hospitalization data at the regional level is also evolving, with several provinces saying they will reportfiguresthat separatethe number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 from those in hospital for another medical issue who alsotest positive for COVID-19.

For more information on what is happening in your community including details on outbreaks, testing capacity and local restrictions click through to the regional coverage below.

You can also read more from thePublic Health Agency of Canada, whichprovides a detailed look at every regionincludingseven-day averagetest positivity ratesin itsdaily epidemiological updates.

In British Columbia,officials announcedchildren will return to in-class learning on Monday, despite a surge in transmission caused by Omicron.Education Minister Jennifer Whitesidesaid there will be enhanced safety measures in place and schools will have access to three-layered masks, despite calls from the B.C. Teachers Federation to distribute N95s instead.

In the Prairies, the Saskatchewan government is decliningto limit gatherings despite a warning from the chief medical health officer; more than 900 health-care workers in Manitoba tested positive over the holidays, according to the provincial health organization; andprojections from Alberta Health Services'early warning system suggestthe current wavecould,within a couple of weeks, sendmore people to hospital than at any point in the pandemic.

In the Atlantic provinces, visitor restrictions have been expanded to in-patients and long-term care residents at several hospitals in Nova Scotia's northern zone, as the province continues to report high daily COVID-19 case counts. The new restrictions in N.S. comeas Prince Edward Island announcedanoutbreak at acare facility inMiscouchethat has so far affected three staff and eight residents.Meanwhile,labour groups inNewfoundland and Labrador are demanding 10 days of mandatory paid sick leave for workersas thousands across the province are sick with COVID-19 or self-isolating.

In the North,there's a mixture of relief, resignation and disappointment from students, parents and teachersas schools across theNorthwest Territoriesreturn to online learning this week.

As of Saturday,more than 303.5million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracking tool. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.4 million.

In Europe,U.K. government advisers have recommended against giving a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and people over 80 because data shows that a third shot offers lasting protection against admission to the hospital.

In the Americas, Mexico set a new record for daily caseson Saturday with 30,671, according to official data. Mexico has confirmed more than 4.1 million cases since the start of the pandemic and has the world's fifth highest confirmed death toll at more than 300,000.

In theAsia-Pacific region, the United States has agreed toimpose stricter COVID-19 measures at its military bases inJapan, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday, amid concerns that outbreaks at bases have fuelled infection inlocal communities. Japan reintroduced coronavirus restrictions in three regionsthat host U.S. military bases, the first such emergency controls since September.

In Africa,the African Cup of Nations the continent's top soccer tournament will finally open in Cameroon on Sunday after a three-year delay, with only fully vaccinated fans and those with proof of a negative test allowed to attend.

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Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Jan. 8 - CBC News

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy provided Albany Countys latest update Sunday on county-wide progress pertaining to vaccinations and controlling the spread of the Coronavirus. As of yesterday, 79.4% of all Albany County residents have received at least the first dose of the vaccine, and 72% have been fully vaccinated.

County Executive McCoy announced that the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Albany County is now at 48,226 to date, with 1,448 new positive cases identified since yesterday. The countys seven-day average of new daily positive cases is now up to just over 868. Albany Countys most recent seven-day average of cases per 100,000 is up to nearly 212 and the Capital Regions average of cases per 100,000 is now up to approximately 220.

There are now 6,644 active cases in Albany County, up from 5,771 yesterday. The number of individuals under quarantine increased to 7,192 from 6,386. So far, 41,582 of those who tested positive have now recovered, an increase of 555 additional recoveries.

County Executive McCoy reported that there were 19 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and there are now 116 county residents currently hospitalized with the Coronavirus. Fourteenof those hospital patients are in ICUs, up from 13 yesterday. There are no new COVID deaths to report and the death toll for Albany County stands at 476 since the outbreak began.

We knew we would see increased positive cases after holiday gatherings and that is what is happening now with another record high today of over 1,400 new cases, said County Executive McCoy. I hope that people have listened to what we have said about getting vaccinated and getting tested if they show signs or symptoms of the virus. There are many places to get a vaccination and local mass testing sites at Crossgates Mall and SUNY Albany to be tested. Please do the right thing to stop the spread and protect yourself, your loved ones and our community.

County Executive McCoy continues to encourage Albany County residents to report the results of positive at-home COVID tests on the county website, using its online at-home test reporting form.

Residents can receive free Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines (including booster shots) Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. 3 p.m., each week at the Albany County Department of Health, 175 Green Street. Aside from Wednesdays, appointments are now required, which can be madeon the Albany County Department of Healths website. Anyone eligible to receive a COVID vaccine booster dose and would like to receive one from the Albany County Department of Health will be required to provide their vaccination card or the Excelsior Pass Plus in order to view the formula type, lot number and date of the inoculation.

Residents who want a shot from a state-run facility should use thestates website at the link hereor call the state vaccine hotline at 1-833-697-4829. For general information on the vaccine, residents can also dial the United Way of the Greater Capital Regions 2-1-1 hotline or the Albany County Department of Health at (518) 447-4580.

COVID-19 testing sites are still in operation across the Capital Region and New York State as a whole. Help finding a testing site near you can be found on New York States website, and in Albany County on their interactive online map.

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Another record-high daily COVID-19 case increase reported in Albany County, January 9 - NEWS10 ABC