May 16, 2022
OSWEGO COUNTY - The Oswego County Health Department continues to hold vaccination clinics each Tuesday and on the second Wednesday of each month.
Vaccine clinics will be held each Tuesday afternoon from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic in Oswego. Clinics will be held at the same location the second Wednesday of each month, from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m., starting May 11.
Tuesday clinics, which are by appointment only, offer general childhood and adult immunizations, including eligible COVID-19 vaccines. Wednesday clinics are dedicated to COVID-19 vaccines for eligible individuals.
COVID-19 vaccines are also available at medical provider offices and local pharmacies. Anyone seeking general immunization information, or a COVID-19 vaccine, can contact the Oswego County Health Department at 315-349-3547.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and New York State Department of Health (DOH) recommend individuals remain up to date on COVID-19 vaccines, which now include second booster doses for certain individuals.
Second booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for individuals aged 50 and older and individuals aged 12 and older who have certain immunocompromised conditions. Anyone receiving their second booster dose must be at least four months removed from their first booster shot.
Anyone aged 18 or older who received the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine as both primary shot and booster dose is also eligible for a second booster dose with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, regardless of health status, four months after their first booster dose was administered.
All second booster doses must be Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines at this time. For more information about booster doses, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html.
To view a list of upcoming clinics, visit health.oswegocounty.com/vaccines. The following upcoming clinics are scheduled:
Anyone needing assistance to make an appointment can contact the countys COVID-19 Hotline Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 315-349-3330. Seniors aged 60 and over who need help making an appointment can also contact the Office for the Aging at 315-349-3484.
At-home COVID-19 test kits will be distributed to individuals who are vaccinated at upcoming clinics while supplies last.
Face masks are required at all health care settings regulated by the state Department of Health, including the Oswego County Health Department and any vaccination site.
For more information, go to the Oswego County Health Departments COVID-19 page at health.oswegocounty.com/COVID-19 or call the COVID-19 hotline at 315-349-3330.
Residents should contact their medical providers directly for personal medical advice related to COVID-19 vaccinations, booster shots or treatments.
Under New York State Public Health Law, the Oswego County Health Department is the local public health authority regarding the COVID-19 pandemic response within the County of Oswego. The Oswego County Health Department works closely with New York State Department of Health regarding COVID-19 monitoring, response and reporting.
Researchers find that mRNA vaccines fare better against COVID-19 variants of concern. Credit: Carlos Reusser Monsalvez
A comparison of four COVID-19 vaccinations shows that messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna perform better against the World Health Organization (WHO)s variants of concern (VOCs) than viral vector vaccines AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Janssen. Although they all effectively prevent severe disease by VOCs, the research, publishingtoday (May 17th, 2022) in the open access journal PLOS Medicine, suggests that people receiving a viral vector vaccine are more vulnerable to infection by new variants.
By March 2022, COVID-19 had caused over 450 million confirmed infections and six million reported deaths. The first vaccines approved in the US and Europe that protect against serious infection are Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which deliver genetic code, known as mRNA, to the bodies cells, whereas Oxford/AstraZeneca and J&J/Janssen are viral vector vaccines that use a modified version of a different virus a vector to deliver instructions to our cells. Three vaccines are delivered as two separate injections a few weeks apart, and J&J/Janssen as a single dose.
Marit J. van Gils at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues, took blood samples from 165 healthcare workers, three and four weeks after first and second vaccination respectively, and for J&J/Janssen at four to five and eight weeks after vaccination. Samples were collected before, and four weeks after a Pfizer-BioNTech booster.
Four weeks after the initial two doses, antibody responses to the original SARS-CoV-2 viral strain were highest in recipients of Moderna, followed closely by Pfizer-BioNTech, and were substantially lower in those who received viral vector vaccines. Tested against the VOCs Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron neutralizing antibodies were higher in the mRNA vaccine recipients compared to those who had viral vector vaccines. The ability to neutralize VOCs was reduced in all vaccine groups, with the greatest reduction against Omicron. The Pfizer-BioNTech booster increased antibody responses in all groups with substantial improvement against VOCs, including Omicron.
The researchers caution that their AstraZeneca group was significantly older, because of safety concerns for the vaccine in younger age groups. As immune responses tend to weaken with age, this could affect the results. This group was also smaller because the Dutch government halted use for a period.
van Gils concludes, Four COVID-19 vaccines induce substantially different antibody responses.
Reference: Antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants induced by four different SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in health care workers in the Netherlands: A prospective cohort study by van Gils MJ, Lavell A, van der Straten K, Appelman B, Bontjer I, Poniman M, et al., 17 May 2022, PLOS Medicine.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003991
Funding: This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) ZonMw (Vici grant no. 91818627 to R.W.S., S3 study, grant agreement no. 10430022010023 to M.K.B.; RECoVERED, grant agreement no. 10150062010002 to M.D.d.J.), by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (grant no. INV002022 and INV008818 to R.W.S. and INV-024617 to M.J.v.G.), by Amsterdam UMC through the AMC Fellowship (to M.J.v.G.) and the Corona Research Fund (to M.K.B.), and by the European Unions Horizon 2020 program (RECoVER, grant no. 101003589 to M.D.d.J). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
North Korea officially claimed zero COVID-19 cases until last Thursday. Now, Pyongyang says 1.2 million people have feverish, COVID-like symptoms, 50 people have died and the entire country is under lockdown.
Why it matters: North Korea has a 0% vaccination rate and meager health facilities, and it was already struggling to feed its population. Leader Kim Jong-un has called the outbreak the "greatest turmoil" since North Korea's founding, but he has yet to accept foreign assistance.
Driving the news: At an emergency Politburo meeting on Sunday, Kim scolded officials for the irresponsible execution of the quarantine policy and blamed them for shortages of medicines, according to state media. He has started wearing a mask in public.
Between the lines: "I think theres probably an effort here to get on top of the narrative and to show Kim is addressing this head-on, while also pushing blame down the chain to the lower levels," says Jenny Town, director of the Stimson Centers 38 North program.
How it happened: North Korea responded to the pandemic as it did to Ebola, MERS and SARS: "They sealed their borders and waited for the pandemic to die off," says Kee Park, a neurosurgeon and lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
Now that the Omicron variant has "breached their defenses" and spread throughout much of the country, North Korea is ill-equipped to deal with it, Park says.
"I shudder to think about a prolonged lockdown in North Korea, the human cost of that. The country's already food insecure. And what it means is we have to give them assistance immediately," says Park.
Yes, but: Accepting international aid is always politically sensitive for North Korea, and officials could worry letting in people and supplies will also bring more cases, the Stimson Centers Town says.
But the very public pronouncements about the severity of the situation could be a step toward accepting aid, the humanitarian source says, adding that the UN will likely be the key player in any such effort.
What to watch: If North Korea does accept help from South Korea and the U.S., even indirectly through the UN, it would be interesting to see if this humanitarian effort would open up space for diplomacy on the nuclear issue, Cha adds.
By Jondi Gumz
Denmark is the first country to suspend its Covid vaccination program, with the health authority citing the arrival of spring, and more people have had either Covid or a vaccine 89% over the age of 12 are fully vaccinated, and 76% of adults have a booster shot.
The India Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling supporting vaccine choice, saying that bodily integrity is protected under Article 21 (Right to Life) of the constitution and no individual can be forced to be vaccinated.
In the U.S., Dr. Vinay Prasad, who has a masters in public health, suggests vaccine choice be available to parents of children under 5 for which the Food and Drug Administration has not authorized a Covid vaccine. Moderna submitted trial results and applied for emergency use authorization, and Pfizer is awaiting trial results, but Prasad tweets, Why have FDA? Let the marketplace decide.
The highly contagious but less deadly BA.2 Omicron subvariant now dominates, a change from the initially deadly coronavirus.
Cases are up, and there is an uptick in hospitalizations in California, and locally, but public health officers say its hard to predict a peak and how dangerous this variant is, given that some people have natural immunity.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates almost 60 percent of the populace including 76% percent of children have had Omicron or another coronavirus variant.
California Parents United and Moms on the Ground announced a parents rights initiative and candidate forum 6-8 p.m. May 19, at a Salinas ranch, 484 Corral de Tierra Road. Tickets are $100 at www.californiaparentsunited.org. Mama Bears Radio Show on KSCO is a co-sponsor.
New signs of normal: Cabrillo College in Aptos brings back in-person graduation Friday, May 20, seating at 2 p.m., ceremony at 4 p.m. at the football stadium on campus. In-person graduation ceremonies June 2 for Aptos Junior High, 11 a.m., and Aptos High, 4 p.m. both at Cabrillos football stadium.
The Aptos Chamber bringing back the Worlds Shortest Parade at 10 a.m. July 4. The theme is team spirit. The chamber also is seeking vendors for the party in the Aptos Village Park, which will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with music, craft booths, and food.
The Felton Remembers parade returns at 10 a.m. May 28 followed by the Covered Bridge Festival. Starting June 16, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk brings back live music Thursdays on the Colonnade with Friday night movies starting June 17.
The city of Scotts Valley is seeking help to host its Independence Day parade a day early, Sunday, July 3, with a fireworks celebration that night.
Proposed Laws
California lawmakers face a May 27 deadline to pass legislation; 10 bills deal with Covid-19.
Four were pulled Assembly Bill 1993, to require all employees and independent contractors, public and private, to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to keep their job and Senate Bill 871, to require children 0-17 to get a Covid vaccine to attend school or day care.
Also pulled: SB 1464, to require law enforcement officers to enforce public health orders, and cut funding if they do not and shift those funds to public health, SB 1390 to prohibit a social media platform from amplifying misinformation or disinformation and SB 920, to authorize a medical board to inspect a doctors office and records without patient consent.
Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids, headed by Amy Bohn in Newbury Park, which has filed six lawsuits against vaccine mandates, is watching to see if these measures come back in a budget trailer bill in May which avoids public hearings. The group is tracking other Covid-19 bills. They include:
To track these bills, see https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
With SB 871 pulled by the author, Gov. Newsom is delaying plans to mandate Covid vaccine for school children until July 2023.
Hospitalizations from Omicron had peaked in January, then plummeted and have been rising.
The state Department of Public Health reports test positivity, 23% in January, has ticked up from 1.7% to 4.4% and hospitalizations 20,000 in January dropped to 950 before rising to 1,300.
Santa Cruz County reports 1,379 active cases, with five hospitalizations, one in intensive care. One Covid death was reported in the past two weeks, bringing the total to 262. That person was 85 or older, with other medical conditions.
In April, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board adopted new workplace rules.
Unvaccinated and vaccinated workers must be treated the same; no mask mandate for those unvaccinated. Requirements to disinfect surfaces were removed. Requirements for partitions and physical distancing were replaced by requirements for better ventilation. Employees testing positive can return to work masked five days later.
Omicron has a shorter incubation period then the early coronavirus variants.
Airline Mask Mandate Lifted
Starting May 16, the European Union will no longer require masks at airports and on airplanes. Passengers coughing or sneezing should consider wearing a mask to safeguard others, officials said.
Airline masks became optional in the U.S. after a federal judge in Florida on April 18 voided the mask mandate ordered by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for airlines, trains and buses on Feb. 3, 2021.
The Justice Department appealed at the CDCs request but the agency did not ask for a stay, which would have reinstated the mandate.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled in favor of Health Freedom Defense Fund and airline travelers Ana Carolina Daza and Sarah Pope, who claimed the CDC failed to provide a 30-day comment public period required for new regulations.
Mizzell provided a 59-page explanation, based on the Public Health Services Act of 1944, which specifies sanitation as a measure that could be necessary to prevent disease from spreading, but has no definition of sanitation.
Wearing a mask cleans nothing, the judge wrote. At most it traps virus droplets. But it neither sanitizes the person wearing the mask nor sanitizes the conveyance.
The government interprets sanitation to mean applying of measures for preserving and promoting public health. The judge disagreed, writing that historically, public health has been regulated at the state level, and the 1944 law has no clear language that Congress intended the CDC to take over.
The CDC did not allow public comment although the Administrative Procedures Act requires agencies provide a 30-day comment period on new rules.
The CDC did not explain mask exemptions for people eating, drinking or taking medication or for children under age 2. By not explaining, the CDC action was arbitrary and capricious, the judge ruled.
After ordering masks, the CDC did not conduct a study to generate scientific evidence that wearing cloth masks slows spread on an airplane.
The CDCs Covid-19 map shows most counties green for low transmission. New York State, Vermont and Connecticut all have high transmission. Santa Cruz County and neighboring Santa Clara County are medium.
Santa Cruz County, which updates its dashboard on Monday and Thursday, reports 1,379 active cases, on the rise but down from the peak of 10,000.
Omicron Less Deadly
The Omicron variants are less deadly than the Delta variant, which raged in 2021.
Santa Cruz County reported 37 Covid deaths after Omicron, compared to 225 as of Dec. 15, before Omicron.
One statistic is similar: 79% to 81% of those who died had pre-existing conditions.
Why do people fear Omnicron?
They may have a pre-existing condition (diabetes, obesity, asthma, high blood pressure).
Half of Americans do, so they are at higher risk for severe Covid illness.
So are people 85 and older.
California reports 83.3% of residents age 5 and up have had at least one shot.
On the CDC Covid tracker, Santa Cruz County reports 90.8% of residents age 5 and up have at least one shot and 82.9% fully vaccinated.
Pajaro Valley Schools
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District reports 92 active student cases and 19 staff cases in May. Aptos High has 18 student cases and 2 staff cases. Aptos Junior High has 10 student cases and one staff case. Valencia Elementary has 8 student cases and 1 staff cases. Rio del Mar Elementary has 6 student cases and zero staff cases. Mar Vista Elementary has 1 student case and 1 staff case.
The state guidance to schools and childcares as of March 11. Masks are not required but strongly recommended.
Santa Cruz County Office of Education, with Inspire Diagnostics, has provided 472,100 tests.
Cases in local schools peaked at 4,407 on Jan. 27, dropped to 44 on April 1, then rose to 455 on May 11. The 14-day positivity rate, 12.25% on January, dropped to .79%, then rose to 3.16%.
Fully vaccinated means having two shots (Pfizer or Moderna) or one Johnson & Johnson shot. All were developed for the initial Wuhan Covid-19 strain.
For Omicron, a booster shot is needed after the Pfizer vaccine, because protection against hospitalization wanes after three months, a Kaiser Permanente study of 11,000 hospital admissions and emergency room visits found.
Vaccine Database
In a 2022 report in the Journal of American Medical Association online, Dr. Matthew Oster of the CDC reported the governments VAERS database received 1,991 reports of myocarditis after one dose of mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine and 1,626 met the CDCs definition for probable or confirmed myocarditis.
Osters conclusion: The risk of myocarditis after receiving mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines was increased across multiple age and sex strata and was highest after the second vaccination dose in adolescent males and young men. This risk should be considered.
The 2022 NFL Scouting Combine changed its COVID-19 policies after agents representing more than 150 draft prospects began organizing a boycott of testing, workouts and interviews at the event in response to the leagues bubble restrictions, according to a memo obtained by The Athletic.
The changes allowed players to leave the bubble during free time or have approved medical personnel, athletic trainers and massage therapists join them in secure areas.
Public health officials say the scientific consensus is that Covid vaccines are safe, but some are skeptical about relying on science from drug-makers, which saw profits rise in 2021. They point to the U.S. government database, https://vaers.hhs.gov/, where health care providers are to report adverse events after a vaccine.
The reporting site was created after Congress passed a law in 1986 protecting vaccine manufacturers from civil personal injury lawsuits and wrongful death lawsuits resulting from vaccine injuries.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, a 2005 law allowing him to provide legal protection to companies making or distributing critical medical supplies such as vaccines unless theres willful misconduct by the company. This protection lasts until 2024.
Renz Law, representing military whistleblowers, sued the federal government to lift the vaccine mandate for military personnel and appeals for passage of legislation repealing immunity for vaccine manufacturers.
If vaccines are truly safe and effective no one should oppose this, the lawsuit reads.
After mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were mandated for the military in 2021, cases of heart attack, pulmonary embolism, cancers, and myocarditis spiked dramatically, according to the Defense Military Epidemiological Database queries by the whistleblowers.
The Department of Defenses response was that a glitch in the database affected the data from 2016-2020.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart, which can lead to clots, a stroke or heart attack.
Dr. Pamela Popper, whose group supported the lawsuit, posts updates at https://makeamericansfreeagain.com/
Testing
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education offers drive-though testing for students, staff and families at:
Cabrillo College, Aptos, Parking Lot K, Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Santa Cruz County Office of Education, 399 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
See: https://tinyurl.com/get-tested-santa-cruz.
Booster shots: https://myturn.ca.gov/
Vaccine providers: www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirusvaccine.
Local information: www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus or (831) 454-4242 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Total COVID cases: 1,379
COVID Deaths: 262As of May 12
Age85 and older: 113 75-84: 61 65-74: 46 60-64: 15 55-59: 4 45-54: 10 35-44: 8 25-34: 5
Underlying ConditionsYes: 212 No: 50
RaceWhite 150 Latinx 89 Asian 16 Black 3 Amer Indian 1 Hawaiian 1 Another 2
GenderMen: 135 Women: 127
LocationAt facility for aged: 116 Not at a facility: 146
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A virus that shows no signs of disappearing, variants that are adept at dodging the bodys defenses, and waves of infections two, maybe three times a year this may be the future of Covid-19, some scientists now fear.
The central problem is that the coronavirus has become more adept at reinfecting people. Already, those infected with the first Omicron variant are reporting second infections with the newer versions of the variant BA.2 or BA2.12.1 in the United States, or BA.4 and BA.5 in South Africa.
Those people may go on to have third or fourth infections, even within this year, researchers said in interviews. And some small fraction may have symptoms that persist for months or years, a condition known as long Covid.
It seems likely to me that thats going to sort of be a long-term pattern, said Juliet Pulliam, an epidemiologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
The virus is going to keep evolving, she added. And there are probably going to be a lot of people getting many, many reinfections throughout their lives.
Its difficult to quantify how frequently people are reinfected, in part because many infections are now going unreported. Dr. Pulliam and her colleagues have collected enough data in South Africa to say that the rate is higher with Omicron than seen with previous variants.
This is not how it was supposed to be. Earlier in the pandemic, experts thought that immunity from vaccination or previous infection would forestall most reinfections.
The Omicron variant dashed those hopes. Unlike previous variants, Omicron and its many descendants seem to have evolved to partially dodge immunity. That leaves everyone even those who have been vaccinated multiple times vulnerable to multiple infections.
If we manage it the way that we manage it now, then most people will get infected with it at least a couple of times a year, said Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. I would be very surprised if thats not how its going to play out.
The new variants have not altered the fundamental usefulness of the Covid vaccines. Most people who have received three or even just two doses will not become sick enough to need medical care if they test positive for the coronavirus. And a booster dose, like a previous bout with the virus, does seem to decrease the chance of reinfection but not by much.
At the pandemics outset, many experts based their expectations of the coronavirus on influenza, the viral foe most familiar to them. They predicted that, as with the flu, there might be one big outbreak each year, most likely in the fall. The way to minimize its spread would be to vaccinate people before its arrival.
Instead, the coronavirus is behaving more like four of its closely related cousins, which circulate and cause colds year round. While studying common-cold coronaviruses, we saw people with multiple infections within the space of a year, said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University in New York.
If reinfection turns out to be the norm, the coronavirus is not going to simply be this wintertime once-a-year thing, he said, and its not going to be a mild nuisance in terms of the amount of morbidity and mortality it causes.
Reinfections with earlier variants, including Delta, did occur but were relatively infrequent. But in September, the pace of reinfections in South Africa seemed to pick up and was markedly high by November, when the Omicron variant was identified, Dr. Pulliam said.
Reinfections in South Africa, as in the United States, may seem even more noticeable because so many have been immunized or infected at least once by now.
The perception magnifies whats actually going on biologically, Dr. Pulliam said. Its just that there are more people who are eligible for reinfection.
The Omicron variant was different enough from Delta, and Delta from earlier versions of the virus, that some reinfections were to be expected. But now, Omicron seems to be evolving new forms that penetrate immune defenses with relatively few changes to its genetic code.
This is actually for me a bit of a surprise, said Alex Sigal, a virologist at the Africa Health Research Institute. I thought well need a kind of brand-new variant to escape from this one. But in fact, it seems like you dont.
An infection with Omicron produces a weaker immune response, which seems to wane quickly, compared with infections with previous variants. Although the newer versions of the variant are closely related, they vary enough from an immune perspective that infection with one doesnt leave much protection against the others and certainly not after three or four months.
Still, the good news is that most people who are reinfected with new versions of Omicron will not become seriously ill. At least at the moment, the virus has not hit upon a way to fully sidestep the immune system.
Thats probably as good as it gets for now, Dr. Sigal said. The big danger might come when the variant will be completely different.
Each infection may bring with it the possibility of long Covid, the constellation of symptoms that can persist for months or years. Its too early to know how often an Omicron infection leads to long Covid, especially in vaccinated people.
To keep up with the evolving virus, other experts said, the Covid vaccines should be updated more quickly, even more quickly than flu vaccines are each year. Even an imperfect match to a new form of the coronavirus will still broaden immunity and offer some protection, they said.
Every single time we think were through this, every single time we think we have the upper hand, the virus pulls a trick on us, Dr. Andersen said. The way to get it under control is not, Lets all get infected a few times a year and then hope for the best.
The numbers remain low especially compared to the winter but child coronavirus cases increased last week.
The state reported 103 new coronavirus cases involving 5- to 17-year-olds.
The previous week, this number was 44.
However, at late Januarys peak of the omicron variant outbreak, weekly cases involving school-age children reached nearly 3,000. In late September, during the delta variant outbreak, child cases crested at about 1,500 per week.
Current numbers are mixed in the states three largest school districts:
Idahos overall coronavirus cases also crept upward last week.
The state counted 1,049 new cases last week, up from 806 the preceding week.
Again, this is a modest increase; weekly cases peaked at close to 20,000 during Januarys omicron surge.
Another key metric is heading in the wrong direction. For the week ending May 7, 5% of coronavirus tests came back positive, up from 3.2%. The 5% number is a tipping point; a rate above that threshold suggests an outbreak is out of control.
Hospitalizations remain stable, however.
On Wednesday, the state reported 44 COVID-19 hospitalizations and eight ICU admissions, consistent with recent numbers. No pediatric patients were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 30 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on KIVI 6 On Your Side; "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television; and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevinRichert. He can be reached at [emailprotected]
DETROIT (WXYZ) As of Monday, travelers are not required to wear masks on planes if they are traveling within the European Union.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced the change last week.
The EASAs executive director Patrick Ky said, we are finally reaching a stage in the pandemic where we can start to relax the health safety measures.
The group still encouraged passengers who are at higher risk of infection to continue wearing FFP2 masks and to social distance when possible.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control also encouraged everyone to keep their hands clean as a way to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.
Several EU countries are still keeping airplane mask rules in place, including Austria, Germany Greece, Italy and Spain.
The two agencies also advised airlines that they should keep passengers contact information, in case a new variant emerges and they need to do contact tracing.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
May 16, 2022 9:30 1 min read
According to the Health Ministrys latest epidemiological report, Brazil recorded 1,104 Covid deaths occurring in April the lowest for a single month since March 2020. The data refers to deaths by real date, as health units often report cases with some delay especially during weekends and holidays, when staff numbers are reduced.
Since the Covid vaccine rollout began in Brazil, in January 2021, almost 89 percent of the population over 5 (those who are eligible for immunization) have taken at least one vaccine dose. More than 82 percent have completed their first vaccination cycle, and 55 percent have taken at least one booster shot.
However, the seven-day average of new daily cases has risen 20 percent over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, the rolling average of new deaths has topped the 100 mark for the past two days. Numbers are far lower than past coronavirus peaks, but the possibility of new variants surging continues to concern experts.
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