"The Talk UK," Osbourne's new talk show, tweeted a video on Thursday in which she tearfully shared the news that Ozzy Osbourne had tested positive.
"But I spoke to him and he's okay," Osbourne said. "I am very worried about Ozzy right now."
She said her rocker husband, 73, had gone two years not contracting the virus "and it's just Ozzy's luck he would get it now."
He has as had a number of health issues since 2019, including a severe infection and a fall.
Sharon Osbourne said she was planning to fly home from the UK to be with her husband and expected to return to the show next week.
"We're gonna get him a negative test by next week," she said.
It is a sign that political life in Washington is getting back to something like normal. It is the return of nerd prom.
On Saturday the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) will host its annual dinner for the first time since 2019 after a coronavirus-enforced hiatus, and Joe Biden will become the first US president to address the gala since Barack Obama in 2016 following a boycott by Donald Trump, who made little secret of his contempt of the media.
Capacity for the dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel is more than 2,600 and it is fully booked but the specter of Covid-19 has not entirely lifted. After the Gridiron Club dinner earlier this month, some attendees, including cabinet secretaries and members of Congress, tested positive for coronavirus amid a surge of cases in the nations capital.
Although guests on Saturday are required to provide proof of vaccination and same day negative test, Biden, 79, will not be there for the eating portion of the dinner and his top adviser on the coronavirus, Anthony Fauci, 81, decided not to attend because of my individual assessment of my personal risk.
Sally Quinn, 80, an author, journalist and socialite, is also staying away. I cant imagine going into a room with 2,600 people in this day of Covid, she said. Covid is not over, as we learned from the Gridiron, and its only gotten worse in Washington since then, so its just got to be a super spreader. Its not worth dying for, thats for sure.
The occasion allows the 106-year-old White House Correspondents Association to present reporting awards, honor freedom of speech and raise money for scholarships. But the flashy dinner has become a subject of morbid fascination for its earnest schmoozing and perceived narcissism.
Quinn, widow of Ben Bradlee, former editor of the Washington Post, recalled: It was this journalistic event and then it got way out of hand, all about celebrities and being seen and the comedy. It seemed to lose its point and, toward the end of the Obama administration, it became grotesque. It was ridiculous and embarrassing.
Among the celebrities present in 2011 was Trump. He was mercilessly lampooned by Obama, who even displayed a pastiche of what the White House would look like if as then seemed unimaginable the reality TV star became president one day.
Journalist Steve Clemons, who sitting at the next table and watching Trumps reactions, recalled: He was not laughing at all. He was as grim and as stern looking as could be. It is rumored and he has said it that his decision to run for president happened on that night when Barack Obama mocked him.
In 2018, comedian Michelle Wolfs after-dinner routine savaged Trump administration officials sitting just feet away and was condemned by some for going too far. Some observers hope that the break and return of the sitting president offer a chance to lower the temperature.
Clemons, editor-at-large of Semafor, a new media company, said: The tension that began to grow between the president, whoever the entertainment was, and all of this drama became a little bit too unglued and unmoored from the fundamental celebration of what journalism is supposed to be.
He added: The president is supposed to be there to essentially embrace the fact that we are holding him to account. Its supposed to be light hearted. A lot of people misread this as chumminess and there certainly is chumminess on the evening but it doesnt mean that youre not teaching people about critical thinking and objective distance reporting in journalism.
When Obama attended the dinners, the audience was often treated to spoof videos that co-starred Biden, who was then vice-president and seemed to relish a comic turn with his beloved cars and sunglasses.
Clemons, who has been attending the event since the 1990s, observed: They were like Veep episodes that they were creating. Joe Biden really loves this dinner. Even if he hated the press corps, he would still do this dinner.
Biden will be expected to make fun of political rivals and deliver topical one-liners. Finding humor in a pandemic that has killed nearly a million Americans, or in the Vladimir Putins brutal invasion of Ukraine, could be dangerous territory.
The dinner also typically features a roast of the president by an entertainer. This year South African Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Centrals Daily Show, will face one of the toughest audiences for any comedian: a mix of Democrats, Republicans, liberal and conservative journalists and celebrities who will not necessarily all laugh at the same jokes.
Quinn added: Its very tricky because a lot of them have bombed or theyve got too mean or theyve just not been funny. I would suspect Trevor Noah will be pretty good, but theres no predicting because even really good people just bomb sometimes if their jokes arent good.
Also, I would think that the tone of this is going to be not as much hilarity since there is the war in Ukraine, Covid, inflation, fires are raging in New Mexico and the world is going to hell. The eat, drink and be merry idea is a little off key.
She is not the only one avoiding the dinner for one reason or another. Asked whether it is safe for Biden to attend, David Axelrod, a former chief strategist for Obama, told the New York Times: Well, there is a question of whether its EVER appropriate to engage in an exercise in gaudy, celebrity-drenched self-adulation, but thats a separate question.
Published on April 29, 2022
The city is offering a NO-COST COVID-19 Testing and Treatment Site for uninsured people by appointment only. This drive-thru site provides testing, examination and treatment services. If you are having symptoms of COVID-19, call the State of Texas infusion hotline at 1-800-742-5990 to register for an appointment or call 311 option 8 for information and resources related to COVID-19.
The Test and Treat Center offers rapid testing to uninsured symptomatic patients. Upon receiving a positive result, an onsite health care provider will determine the appropriate treatment plan. Then, depending on a patients pertinent medical history, the medical provider has the option to prescribe the monoclonal antibody infusion or an oral antiviral, which will be administered onsite. The prescription for the oral antiviral will be filled at the HEB of the patients choice at no cost.
For a full list of testing sites available please visit https://covid19.sanantonio.gov/What-YOU-Can-Do/Testing#TestingLocation
COVID-19 cases in Jackson County and the state are trending up after bottoming out in March following a winter surge.
Case counts are still far below pandemic highs seen during the omicron variant-fueled surge this winter, or the delta variant-fueled surge in the summer and fall of 2021.
The rise in cases was enough for Jackson County Public Health to issue a warning earlier this week, especially as flu cases are rising locally as well. Although COVID-19 and the flu have many overlapping symptoms, public health officials urged people to get tested because treatment is different for the two viral illnesses.
The Oregon Health Authority reported 191 COVID-19 cases in Jackson County during the past week, for a daily average of 27 cases. Numbers were up from 126 cases the previous week, which equaled a daily average of 18 cases.
OHA reported the COVID-19-related deaths of two Jackson County residents in the past week, a number unchanged from the previous week.
For Josephine County, OHA reported 70 COVID-19 cases for the past week, for a daily average of 10 cases. The previous weeks count was 35 cases, or an average of five daily.
OHA reported no COVID-19-related deaths of Josephine County residents during the past week, compared to one death the previous week.
Statewide, OHA reported 7,012 cases for the past week, for a daily average of 1,002 cases. The previous week, Oregon logged 4,818 cases, averaging 688 daily.
The states COVID-19-related death toll was 25 during the past week, down from 35 the previous week, according to OHA data.
On Monday, 13 patients in Jackson and Josephine county hospitals had the virus. That number inched up to 14 COVID-19-positive patients Friday, according to state hospitalization data.
Across Oregon, 144 hospital patients had the virus Monday, with the count rising to 153 Friday.
Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or valdous@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.
Moderna says its vaccine appears to be about 51 percent effective for children ages 6 months to less than 2 years, and 37 percent effective for those ages 2 to less than 6 years. Ole Spata/dpa picture alliance via Getty Images hide caption
Moderna says its vaccine appears to be about 51 percent effective for children ages 6 months to less than 2 years, and 37 percent effective for those ages 2 to less than 6 years.
Moderna announced Thursday that the company has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a low-dose version of its COVID-19 vaccine as the first vaccine for children younger than age 5.
In a study involving about 6,700 children, the company said two-doses of the vaccine administered 28 days apart to children ages 6 months to less than 6 years triggered levels of antibodies equivalent to what has protected older children and adults.
"We are proud to share that we have submitted for authorization for our COVID-19 vaccine for young children," said Stphane Bancel, Moderna's chief executive officer, in a statement. "We believe [the vaccine] will be able to safely protect these children against SARS-CoV-2, which is so important in our continued fight against COVID-19, and will be especially welcomed by parents and caregivers."
The vaccine appears to be about 51 percent effective for children ages 6 months to less than 2 years, and 37 percent effective for those ages 2 to less than 6 years, the company says.
"That means that you're going to reduce your chances of getting disease by about a half. That's very important for these kids," Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna's chief medical officer, told NPR in an interview.
While that level of effectiveness is lower than many had hoped, it's not surprising given the study was conducted when omicron was the dominant variant, company officials and others say. Omicron can evade immunity better than previous variants, resulting in more "breakthrough" infections among vaccinated older children and adults.
But "the levels of antibodies that we see clearly shows that we should have very good protection against severe disease and hospitalization, which obviously is what counts most," Burton said.
The FDA will probably convene a committee of outside advisers to consider the request. The FDA is also awaiting data from Pfizer and BioNTech about the effectiveness of three doses of a low-dose version of their vaccine in children younger than age 5. Two doses proved ineffective, disappointing parents of young children eager to vaccinate their children.
While officials had hoped to make a vaccine available for this age group by the end of April, the FDA is now expecting to consider it in June once all the data have been submitted, according to an official familiar with the issue who is not authorized to speak publicly.
The possibility of a delay has angered many parents of young children, who are frustrated and anxious that they haven't been able to vaccinate their children even as mask requirements have been dropped and infections are creeping up.
Some lawmakers have urged the FDA to act more quickly.
But it remains to be seen how much demand there will be for the vaccine. Only about a third of parents of children ages 5 to 11 have vaccinated their children even though they've been eligible for months.
"We have very reassuring data. This is an unmet need here for these young children. They have no other opportunity for protection right now. So I would be hopeful that the FDA will take the data, do their normal very thorough but excellent review, and approve this as soon as possible," Burton said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many independent infectious disease specialists have been urging more parents to vaccinate and boost their children. Even though the omicron surge has receded, and children are less likely to get severely ill, the virus can still pose a serious health risk, they say.
The places to go and the things to see arehallmarks inevery community, bringing people together to learn, to play, to watch, to create.
Two years ago, all of that came to a stand-still, and the institutions that provide those opportunities have pivoted, adjusted and evolved since.
This is true for places that thrive on up-close and personalopportunities, like Science Museum Oklahoma and the wide-open (indoor and outdoor)spaces at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Even the Oklahoma City Zoo had its own hurdles in caring for species vulnerable to the virus.
And then there are places thatopened in the midst of the pandemic that had to balance successful openings against health guidelines, like OKC'sFirst Americans Museum.
As Oklahomans and the folks that run community institutions like these look back on two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are taking lessons with them into the future.
"It's just been a ... huge joy as an institution to see how our staff could step up and be creative and produce innovative programming that we've never had the opportunity to do before," Science Museum Oklahoma President and CEO Sherry Marshall said.
When Oklahoma businesseswere shuttered in March2020, some moved to work remotely andmany people lost jobs, while others continued work that was deemed essential.
For the Oklahoma City Zoo, animal caretakers fell under the latter category.
The weeks that followed were exhausting as the zoo created an A-B schedule, said Dr. Jennifer D'Agostino, the zoo's director of veterinary services. This meant fewer people would be working together and fewerpeople would be required to quarantine if someone got sick but their shifts increased from eight hours to 10.
"Everybody pulled together and did a great job, but it certainly was tiring,"D'Agostino said. "And that's something that wasn't sustainable long term."
Meanwhile, each institution began preparing to reopen safely when the time came.
Science Museum Oklahoma was already in the process of updating its air handling systems, which was a big step towardfeeling comfortable bringing people back in the building, Marshall said. Upgrades included an increase in fresh air circulation and needlepoint by polar ionization systems, she said.
The museum also added additional cleaning schedules, ordered hand sanitizer by the 55-gallon bucket,placed sanitization stations throughout the building and put up barriers at the ticket booth and the cafe.
Both the sanitizing wipe stations and the plastic barriers were designed and built in-house by the museums exhibit shop team, Marshall said.
"Alot of these protections that were put in place because of the pandemic are really smart, and we'll continue them in the future," she said."Because when you do deal with nearly 600,000 people every year, that's a lot of exposure."
Cowboy museum director Natalie Shirley said the museum reopened in mid-May 2020. With more than 200,000 square feet including gallery space and the outdoor Liichokoshkomo area for kids to learn and play Shirley said it was easy for visitors tosocial distance.
The museum received recognitionfrom the American Alliance of Museums for its COVID-19 safety messaging, playfully called "The Cowboy Way."
Signs posted at the museum reminded guests that wearing masks, giving each other space and cleaning up when possible were things every good cowboy would do. This creative take on safety protocolsmade it easy to communicate the serious topic to guests, Shirley said.
"We got very little pushback, because it was just clever and fun," Shirley said.
While the cowboy museum was figuring out how to safely reopen, the First Americans Museum was still being completed. Whether it was working around supply chain issues, ensuring construction workers stayed healthy or conducting hiring interviews over Zoom, museum deputy director Shoshana Wasserman said it was a trying time.
At each stage of the pandemic, as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local guidelines updated, Wasserman said museum leaders concocted new opening plans.
"The plan itself had to be redone, re-conceptualized so many different times, all the way up to about a week out of the event. ... We didn't even know what our capacities were within our building because we hadn't operated in our building yet," Wasserman said.
And as national and local health guidelines have evolved during the last two years, so have the guidelines and knowledge around animal vulnerability to COVID-19.
Zoos were initially most worried about primates because they are close relatives to humans, D'Agostino said. Caretaking staff began using gloves and wearing masks when working with those animals, but eventually that extended to cats, as well.
To date, no OKC Zoo animals have tested positive for the virus, D'Agostino said.
The zoo vaccinated 40 animals in October with the animal approved COVID-19 vaccine, includingall of its primates, cats, river otters and ferrets.
Caretakers still use masks and gloves with the vulnerable animals, D'Agostinoadded.
As of March, masks were still encouraged at the First Americans Museum, Science Museum Oklahoma and in indoor zoo habitats andbuildings.
As the world shifted online, everyone had to adapt. It was important to keep the community feeling connected, and that took different forms for each institution.
For the cowboy museum, that meant "handing" itsTwitter over to head of security Tim Tiller, who became known worldwide for his tweets as "Cowboy Tim" using #HashtagTheCowboy.
The museum's Twitter following went from less than 10,000 before the pandemic to its current number of more than 280,000. Twitter users can still see daily tweets with the tell-tale cowboy coffee mug that are signed "Thanks, Tim," highlightingpaintings and other artifacts from across the museum.
Many parents, teachers and students also were navigating online school for the first time in the early stages of the pandemic,and the demand for online educational resources soared.
Science Museum Oklahoma filled this need through "SMO At Home," a collection of science activities and experiments with common household items.
"Schools are continuing to use these videos as resources in their in their science classrooms," Marshall said."It's one of those things where we always wanted to do it, but never really had the time or the resources."
The cowboy museum's annual "Prix de West Invitation Art Exhibition & Sale" became "Purely Proxy Prix de West" and was held in September 2020. The sale is the museum's largest fundraiser, Shirley said.
Rather than being a one-day event, the gallery was opened up to small, in-person and virtual tours over a few weeks. People appreciated this so much that the museum continued that in 2021 and will in the future, Shirley said.
"They actually get time to spend with the paintings, and they loved it," she said.
OKC Zoo CEO Dwight Lawson said it was inspiring to see how his stafffound creative solutions, like a drive-thru zoo plan that was put together in 2020 before the zoo found out it could open soon.
But the plan came in handy when the zoo decked the grounds with lights at Christmas and could offer the drive-thru option, Lawson said.
The zoo, as an outdoor venue, has been one people felt safer to return to and has "bounced back strong," Lawson said
Opening in the midst of the pandemic taught the First Americans Museum staff to always beprepared for multiple possible outcomes, Wasserman said.
"The one thing you can count on is that you will create a plan, and it will have to change many times," she said.
But, Wasserman added, this is nothing new for those that have been involved with the museum project for long. More than two decades of planning led up to the museum's September 2021 opening.
It's also nothing new for tribal members"to be challenged and to persevere," Wasserman said.In fact, it's what the museum is about: how tribal nations have overcome what's been thrown at them and persist to this day.
"Our histories have been so tragic and triumphant," Wasserman said. "We have often had to respond to different federal policy, being moved and uprooted from original homelands to displaced. So I think we have a long history and there's some hereditary memory thatcarried from generation to generation ofbeing responsive to change."
Optum Rx Donates COVID-19 Test Kits to Increase Access to Free Testing Among Underserved Communities in Chicago UnitedHealth Group
The Biden Administration is sounding the alarm for the urgent need for Congress to provide funding for the nations COVID-19 response and is underscoring the severe consequences of their inaction: Fewer vaccines, treatments, and tests for the American people, and fewer shots in arms around the world.
Over the past 15 months, the Biden Administration has used the resources Congress provided to mobilize a comprehensive COVID-19 response. As a result, the United States has made tremendous progress in our fight against the virussaving over 2 million American lives, safely reopening our schools, creating jobs at a record pace, returning to more normal routines, and averting $900 billion in health care costs.
In March, the President laid out a comprehensive National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan to keep America moving forward safely, by ensuring that lifesaving tools like vaccines and treatments remain free and widely available to Americans, by preparing for potential surges and new variants, and by getting more shots in arms around the world. Executing this plan remains essential to sustaining the progress we have made and saving more lives. There has been an uptick in cases in parts of the country and, while cases will continue to fluctuate, this virus has proven itself to be unpredictable. Without funding, the United States will be unprepared for whatever comes next.
COVID-19 isnt waiting on Congress to negotiate. Other countries will not wait. Time is of the essence. Congress must act urgently to help save more American lives and ensure we remain prepared.
Congressional inaction on additional COVID-19 response funding means:
Fewer Vaccines for Americans:
Fewer Treatments for Americans:
Fewer Tests for Americans:
Fewer Shots in Arms Around the World:
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CNN
The United States is certainly, right now, in this country, out of the pandemic phase, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on PBSs NewsHour on Tuesday.
Namely, we dont have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now. So if youre saying, are we out of the pandemic phase in this country? We are, he said.
On Wednesday, Fauci told CNN that his comments had been mischaracterized by some to mean that the pandemic is over, which is not what I said.
Were not over the pandemic. Dont let anybody get the misinterpretation that the pandemic is over, but what we are in is a different phase of the pandemic, he said. A phase thats a transition phase, hopefully headed toward more of a control where you can actually get back to some form of normality without total disruption of society, economically, socially, school-wise, etc.
Fauci noted that, in fact, Covid-19 cases are trending up again, though its not anywhere near the rise we saw over the winter with the Omicron wave.
So what we need to do is continue to be vigilant, to follow the CDC guidelines, to do the kinds of things that protect you: Get vaccinated, if youre not vaccinated; get boosted if youre eligible for a boost. If you do get infected, be aware that there is availability of antivirals.
Faucis comments on PBS drew attention on the same day the Biden administration announced that he would not be attending the annual White House Correspondents Dinner after considering his individual risk.
Each of us, in our own personal way, has to make an assessment of what risk youre willing to accept about getting infected, Fauci told CNN. In general, the risk is low, but I made a personal assessment. Im 81 years old, and if I get infected, I have a much higher risk.
Covid-19 cases in the US have tumbled dramatically over the past couple of months as the Omicron wave receded.
But daily cases are still two times higher than they were for most of last summer.
New cases are ticking back up in most states, and hospitalizations have started to rise over the past week.
Fewer people are dying of Covid-19 now than during most of the pandemic, but with more than 400 deaths a day, the past two months of Covid-19 have been more deadly than most recent flu seasons.
Fauci said that although the coronavirus wont be eradicated, the level of virus in society could be kept very low if people are intermittently vaccinated, possibly every year.
Currently, local health officials on the ground across the US are still working to get more people fully vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19.
According to Fauci, the Covid-19 situation in the United States also doesnt necessarily reflect whats happening in the rest of the world.
Pandemic means a widespread, throughout the world infection that spreads rapidly among people, Fauci said. So if you look at the global situation, there is no doubt this pandemic is still ongoing.
The European Commission said Wednesday that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over and that vigilance and preparedness remain essential as it published a set of proposals to help European countries manage the current phase and prepare for the next one.
The commission called on the 27 countries in the European Union to strengthen their surveillance, healthcare systems, and overall pandemic preparedness as well as step up vaccination and boosting and continue targeted testing and sequencing to accurately estimate variant circulation and detect new variants.
European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said Wednesday that between 60% and 80% of the US population is estimated to have had Covid-19.
How we prepare today for the next phase will determine the cause of the pandemic in the coming months and years, she said.
In the US, shifting out of the pandemic is not language that Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, has heard in conversations within local health departments, she said Wednesday.
But there has been a subtle shift on the ground with local health officials now returning some focus to non-Covid areas such as maternal health, childhood immunizations, tuberculosis and HIV.
I think there are subtle shifts being made at the local level health departments to normalize the pandemic response in a way that allows them to get back to the core work of their public health departments, Freeman said. But those words that were used about the pandemic ending are not well-circulated in the public health area right now.
Talk show host Tamron Hall is entering May sweeps with a COVID-19 diagnosis.
I wanted to share the news with you that I have tested positive for COVID-19, Hall informed her Tamron Hall Show staffers Tuesday in an email obtained by Page Six.
I am following CDC guidelines, staying home and taking every precaution to ensure everyones safety, she wrote.
Just days before, Hall, 51, was posting Instagram videos with Elmo and Cookie Monster to celebrate her son Moses 3rd birthday. The family also welcomed a new dog, Exodus, whom they gifted the toddler for his b-day.
But, not to worry.
Thankfully, Moses and my entire family have all tested negative, Hall continued in her email.
I am devastated to say the least, but I know we will get through this, she wrote.
Hall was expected to co-host City Harvests 2022 gala with Benjamin Bratt earlier this week but was forced to pull out after the diagnosis. She has also been taping her Emmy Award-winning talk show from home all week.
The staff has been rushing wardrobe and equipment from the studio at ABC to her home, an insider tells us.
Full House alum Dave Coulier was booked to sit down with Hall in the studio for his first daytime interview since posting his sobriety photo in March. The interview has now been moved to Skype, were told.
The show also booked Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke for her first interview since announcing her divorce from Mrs. Doubtfire star Matthew Lawrence in February, and were told a big Mothers Day show was in the works as well.
Theyre scrambling to save their big Mothers Day show. Tamrons showing no symptoms, and they hope shell be back in person for the Mothers Day show, the source shares. They are moving mountains to make it happen.
