The omicron variant of Covid-19 was discovered less than three months ago, but it rocketed case numbers to record highs. Yet almost as rapidly as they rose, new infections plummeted in countries like the United Kingdom, South Africa, and now the United States.
Omicron caused some of the pandemics tallest, sharpest spikes in Covid-19 infections as it overtook previous variants like delta, but several waves triggered by earlier variants followed a remarkably similar pattern. Almost as steeply as cases rose, they fell.
Why did this happen? Why didnt omicron cases rise and fall slowly or level out at a high or moderate level?
I think you may get different answers from different experts, said Eleanor Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University, in an email. This isnt just a curiosity: Researchers are trying to tease out the reasons in the hope of flattening peaks in the future.
Understanding why cases are rising and falling is crucial for figuring out what kinds of public health strategies are working. Its also important for anticipating what comes next and how to deploy resources like medical workers, hospital beds, vaccines, and treatments.
The Covid-19 spikes were seeing are not just an intrinsic fact of nature. Theyre partly a consequence of how we respond or dont to changes in the virus and in our society. And as steep spikes are eventually replaced by shallower slopes, they will also reveal when the acute Covid-19 pandemic has ebbed and given way to an endemic disease.
The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, appeared at just the right time to cause a huge infection spike. It took root in the Northern Hemisphere as holiday travel picked up and cooler temperatures pushed people indoors, helping it travel long distances and spread locally through person-to-person contact.
Omicron also had the right mix of traits to catch fire. The omicron variant contains mutations that allow it to better evade immune protection while spreading faster than any prior known variant. Even people vaccinated against Covid-19 began getting infected in large numbers as protection from their initial doses started to waver, though most experienced mild symptoms. All these factors together led to lots of infections happening very quickly.
It has infected everybody that could be infected out and about and that means automatically it will run out of people to infect and start coming down as fast as it went up, said Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
While omicron has been the most extreme example of this phenomenon, earlier variants also caused sharp spikes and declines. South Africa, for instance, saw distinct peaks associated with different variants. Most of these peculiar stalagmites in South Africa were symmetrical except for the delta wave last summer, which saw a brief resurgence on its way down.
[T]he shape of a spike then decline is what we generally expect in a single population, said Justin Lessler, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, in an email.
A key variable is the basic reproductive number of the virus, or R0, which is the average number of people that one infected individual tends to infect. If that number is above one, the epidemic grows exponentially; if it is below one, it declines exponentially, Lessler said.
As more people get infected with a coronavirus variant, there are fewer people left to infect. When the basic reproductive number falls below one, new infections reach their peak and then decline. To plateau, the rate of new infections has to stabilize somewhere near one, but that would require an unusual set of conditions, according to Lessler.
The idea that disease outbreaks are generally symmetrical is an old one. William Farr observed in the 1840s that smallpox epidemics followed a mathematical pattern, though his formula, known as Farrs law, resulted in a bell-shaped curve. But diseases rarely follow such neat curves.
That has been generally discredited as a law since it doesnt allow for things like changes in susceptibility due to different levels of immunity/immune waning, movement in and out of populations, and changes to risk and exposure behaviors, said Murray.
Thats been evident during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some countries like South Korea saw more gentle hills as different variants took root, while others like Brazil experienced asymmetrical, jagged peaks throughout the pandemic. Some of that is due to delays in identifying and reporting cases. In some places, variants like delta and omicron overlapped. At the country level, case curves can change shape as the pandemic spreads over time from urban to rural areas or can peak at different times depending on the region.
Then one has to account for public health interventions. Vaccines offer significant immune protection (and recovery from Covid-19 can be protective too). Measures like wearing face masks, limiting public gatherings, more rigorous testing, and boosting vaccination efforts also assist in flattening the curve and help waves to crest. People also change their behavior in response to rising infections. In the US, surges in vaccination and testing followed spikes in cases.
That increase in testing and implementation of public health interventions helps us not only reduce transmission, but also more accurately and timely identify dips in cases, said Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist at George Mason University, in an email. These are also good examples of how effective the vaccines have been and our ability to rapidly respond to spikes and novel variants.
So both the shape and the size of an infection spike can be altered with public health tactics. Over time, as immunity builds up in the population, experts expect to stop seeing tall, sharp spikes in Covid-19 cases. The virus probably wont go away entirely, but case counts could form seasonal waves as new variants arise, immunity wanes, and exposure opportunities increase, according to Mokdad.
Covid-19 cases spurred by omicron appear to have peaked already in the US, but the health care system is still facing a stressful time ahead.
When an outbreak peaks in a given community, 50 percent of the infections have occurred and now another 50 will happen as we come down, Mokdad said. So we still have a couple of weeks ahead of us that are dangerous in the United States. ... A small fraction of them are going to the hospitals, but a small fraction of a huge number is a lot.
If public health measures like masking and social distancing are relaxed too soon, cases can bounce back up on their way down. The UK, for instance, reopened schools and relaxed Covid-19 rules before the omicron wave flattened out. Then infections stopped dropping.
The same thing could happen to other countries. That sharp decline will slow down at one point, then it goes back [down] sharply again, Mokdad said. Thats what we are noticing globally.
Even after the omicron wave recedes, the US will still have to contend with people who remain unvaccinated against Covid-19, both inside the country and around the world. And the virus is always changing: Omicron now has a subvariant called BA.2 that is gaining some ground, though its not yet clear what it means for the pandemic overall.
The more the virus spreads, the more likely it is to mutate in dangerous ways. As the current variants have shown, they can quickly spread around the world, regardless of where they originate.
The recurring spikes of Covid-19 cases, fueled in part by variants, should inspire us to redouble our efforts at controlling the disease, especially with vaccines. Were still struggling to avoid these peaks as vigilant infection prevention efforts and global vaccine equity have been a challenge, said Popescu.
A more robust global vaccination effort, coupled with better disease surveillance to catch variants before they spell trouble, could prevent the next wave and finally start to bring the pandemic under control.
The vaccine sceptic and anti-lockdown campaigner Laurence Fox has said he has coronavirus.
The actor, who finished sixth in last years London mayoral elections, tweeted a picture on Sunday of a positive lateral flow test.
Above it, he wrote: In other news, felt shivery and crap yesterday. Turns out I have been visited by Lord Covid at last and have the Omnicold (if the LFT is to be believed!) On the #Ivermectin, saline nasal rinse, quercetin, paracetamol and ibruprofen. More man flu than Wu-flu at the moment.
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic treatment used mainly on animals but which is approved in different doses to treat some parasitic worms in humans. It has not been proved to be effective at preventing or treating Covid, but has been promoted by vaccine-sceptic public figures such as the comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan, who said he used the drug to treat himself when he became sick with Covid, and the Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Foxs tweet came four days after he posted a picture of himself wearing a T-shirt with a slogan saying, No vaccine needed, I have an immune system. In another tweet posted on Sunday, he said he was on day two of the virus.
After a number of people commented in response to Foxs tweet asking where he had got the ivermectin and why he was taking it, he responded by saying: Not only do you only have to sign a form saying you feel well to get into Mexico, but you can also buy drugs like Ivermectin over the counter that the vaccinaholics dont want you to get hold of here. Im so happy to be joining the natural immunity club. Going to have a nap.
Launching his mayoral campaign last year, Fox said he would not get the Covid jab until after 2023, by which time he claimed all the tests needed to convince him of its safety would be completed.
He has also cast doubt on the UKs death toll from the pandemic, claiming that some doctors were seeking to add non-Covid deaths including that of his mother in 2020 to the official tally to support the governments fear-based narrative.
And Fox has questioned the scientific basis of long Covid, which the Office for National Statistics estimates is affecting 1.3 million people, or 2% of the population, in the UK, based on people self-reporting symptoms that last more than a month after a Covid infection.
OREM, Utah Federal officials worried that more than 174,000 coronavirus patient test results from an Orem lab used by TestUtah were potentially wrong but none of the people who were tested early in the pandemic were told, documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune show.
Testing at Timpanogos Regional Hospital may have produced accurateresults.Or its lab may have produced false negatives or false positives, according to documents and interviews with people familiar with the matter.
State health officials knew for months that federal regulators were questioning whether the hospitals lab was following requirements designed to ensure tests are processed accurately, according to interviews and documents. Public officials knew as early as May 2020 about problems at the lab, which did not suspend COVID-19 testing until Aug. 23, 2020.
In the hospitals plan for correcting deficiencies, submitted to regulators the day after it halted its processing of coronavirus tests, it acknowledged:
Once it was determined that verification and validation had not been properly performed, Timpanogos Lab suspended the processing of COVID-19 specimens on the non-validated and non-verified instruments.
Read the full report on The Salt Lake Tribune's website.
The Utah Department of Health sent the following statement to FOX 13 News:
The UDOH was not a party to the CLIA audit. However, our contract with Nomi Health requires that Nomi Health ensure any concerns raised in the audit are resolved. The final audit results from CLIA did not include a requirement or recommendation that any entity notify any patients of potential issues with their test results.
Researchers from Oxford, Sheffield, Cardiff and Manchester have identified abnormalities in the lungs of long COVID patients who are experiencing breathlessness. These abnormalities can't be detected with routine tests, the researchers have said.The study uses hyperpolarized xenon MRI scans to find possible lung damage in long COVID patients who have not been hospitalised with COVID-19 but who continue to experience breathlessness. The research paper is available in medRxiv, pre-print server.The study, known as EXPLAIN, had 36 participants in its pilot stage in three broad groups: the first group is patients diagnosed with long COVID, who have been seen in long COVID clinics and who have normal CT (computerized tomography) scans; the second group is people who have been in hospital with COVID-19 and discharged more than three months previously, who have normal or nearly normal CT scans and who are not experiencing long COVID, and the third group is an age- and gender-matched control group who do not have long COVID symptoms and who have not been hospitalised with COVID-19.
In this study patients are required to lie in the MRI scanner and breathe in a litre of the inert gas xenon. Xenon behaves in a very similar way like oxygen, which helps radiologists to observe how the gas moves from the lungs into the bloodstream.
The result obtained from the pilot study shows significantly impaired gas transfer from the lungs to the bloodstream in long COVID patients.
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Sadly, we are seeing the rates of hospitalizations increasing for children 0 to 4, children who are not yet currently eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters this month. She said the high rate of transmission of the Omicron variant was likely to blame.
The F.D.A. and C.D.C. are both expected to convene committees of outside vaccine advisers before a decision on whether to clear the shots. That will give independent experts a chance to discuss the data the companies have gathered. Most senior federal health officials are strongly behind the strategy, two officials said, but they want the outside experts to weigh in.
Kathrin Jansen, Pfizers head of vaccine research, said in December that the company would seek F.D.A. clearance for three doses for young children, a strategy that she said would allow for a consistent three-dose vaccine approach for all ages. The company switched its plan because the F.D.A. was pressing for more urgent action, two people said. If authorized, young children will receive their second dose three weeks after the first, and a third dose two months after that.
The C.D.C. now considers three doses of the vaccine to be an up-to-date regimen for those eligible for extra shots, including those 12 and up. Regulators have authorized booster doses given five months after second injections. Children as young as 5 who have weakened immune systems are also eligible for extra shots.
The deliberations in the coming weeks could affect how quickly parents get their youngest children vaccinated. The pace of vaccination for Americas 28 million children between 5 and 11 remains even lower than health experts had feared. Roughly 30 percent of children in that age group have received at least one dose, according to C.D.C. data.
The reasons more young children have not gotten shots vary. Some parents are put off by misinformation about the vaccine; others do not believe the virus is enough of a threat to vaccinate their children. Some simply have not yet found the time to take their children in for shots, health officials report.
The C.D.C. released research in late December that showed very few reports of serious problems among children 5 to 11 who had received Pfizer-BioNTech shots. Another study of hundreds of pediatric hospitalizations in six cities last summer, released by the agency, found that nearly all of the children who became seriously ill had not been fully vaccinated.
By MATTHEW PERRONE
WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. health regulators on Monday granted full approval to Modernas COVID-19 vaccine, a shot thats already been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago.
The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Modernas shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines.
The decision was bolstered by real-world evidence from the more than 200 million doses administered in the U.S. since the FDA cleared the shot in December 2020. The FDA granted full approval of Pfizers vaccine last August.
Public health advocates initially hoped the regulatory distinction would boost public confidence in the shots. But there was no discernable bump in vaccinations after the Pfizer approval, which was heavily promoted by President Joe Biden and other federal officials. Still, regulators said Monday they hoped the extra endorsement would encourage more people to get vaccinated.
More than 211 million Americans, or 63% of the total population, are fully vaccinated. About 86 million people have gotten a booster dose. Vaccinations peaked last spring at more than 3 million per day, and now average less than 750,000 per day. The pace of vaccinations briefly spiked following news of the omicron variant in December but has since slowed again.
The FDA reviewed months of additional follow-up data submitted by Moderna to confirm the vaccines effectiveness against COVID-19. The FDA also analyzed and kept watch for serious side effects that have proved to be very rare. The vaccine includes a warning about a rare type of heart inflammation that mostly occurs in young men following the second dose. Most cases are mild and resolve quickly.
Additionally, FDA reviewed the companys manufacturing process and facilities.
The public can be assured that this vaccine was approved in keeping with the FDAs rigorous scientific standards, said Dr. Peter Marks, FDAs top vaccine regulator, in a statement.
With full approval, Moderna will now market the vaccine under the brand name, Spikevax. It is the first FDA-approved product for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company.
In the U.S., Moderna is used only by adults, for initial vaccination and as a half-dose booster. The company said last fall that FDA had delayed deciding whether to clear the shots for 12- to 17-year-olds as it examined the heart inflammation risk.
Johnson & Johnson has not yet applied for full approval of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Also Monday, Novavax Inc. formally requested FDA authorization of a different type of COVID-19 vaccine, in hopes of becoming the fourth U.S. option.
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AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Pandemic response generates thousands of tons of COVID waste 3:55 a.m.
By Bloomberg News
The response to the pandemic has produced tens of thousands of tons of extra medical waste, challenging disposal systems and threatening human health and the environment, according to a World Health Organization report.
To get a sense of the scope of the problem, the WHO examined the fate of 87,000 metric tons of personal protective equipment, such as rubber gloves and masks, that were shipped around the world through a United Nations emergency initiative between March 2020 and November 2021. Most of that equipment ended up as waste, the UN agency said.
The initiative also shipped 140 million testing kits, generating 2,600 tons of non-infectious waste that was mostly plastic, and 731,000 liters of chemical waste. The billions of vaccine doses that have been administered globally have produced 144,000 tons of additional waste in the form of syringes, needles, and safety boxes, the WHO said.
The overall issue is likely to be much worse, because the WHO estimates dont take products into account that were procured outside its emergency initiative, nor littering by the public of disposable masks.
About a third of healthcare facilities arent equipped to deal with existing waste loads, the WHO said. Overwhelmed waste systems, especially in lower-income nations, mean that health-care workers face the risk of needle injuries and burns, as well as exposure to pathogenic microorganisms, the WHO said. People residing near poorly managed landfills and waste disposal sites are at risk of contaminated air and poor water quality.
With new Omicron variant youre more likely to catch COVID again 1:35 a.m.
By Bloomberg News
New studies are emerging that suggest the latest version of the highly-infectious omicron variant is transmitting even faster than the original, and mild cases of the first may not offer much protection against future infections.
The findings cast doubt on hopes that the wave of omicron thats sweeping the world may help hasten the end of the pandemic. Calls for governments to treat Covid-19 as endemic like influenza are rising globally as people grow tired of pandemic restrictions, vaccines become more accessible and deaths remain relatively low.
All-out effort to keep Biden COVID-free; no normal yet 12:33 a.m.
By The Associated Press
When President Joe Biden met with U.S. governors at the White House on Monday, he was the only one given a glass of water lest anyone else remove their mask to take a drink.
The president was seated more than 10 feet from everyone, including Vice President Kamala Harris and members of his Cabinet.
A White House staffer who was wearing a surgical mask when Biden entered the room was quickly handed an N95 version.
Fever? Sore throat? They just check no. 12:27 a.m.
By The New York Times
Every morning, Ashley, a mother of two on Long Island in New York, has to navigate an ethical minefield: Her childrens schools send out a health questionnaire for COVID-19.
The daily attestation, as it is known, asks people to volunteer information about their health: Fever of 100 or above? Sore Throat? In the past 14 days, have you knowingly been in close contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19?
Answer in the negative, and entry is granted. Answer in a way that suggests you or a family member may be sick, and youre banned. And herein lies the problem: The forms are on the honor system.
Pfizer expected to ask FDA to authorize vaccine for children under 5 10:28 p.m.
By The New York Times
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech are expected as soon as Tuesday to ask the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a coronavirus vaccine for children ages 6 months to 4 years old as a two-dose regimen while they continue to research how well three doses work.
Federal regulators are eager to review the data in hopes of authorizing shots for young children on an emergency basis as early as the end of February, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions. If Pfizer waited for data on a three-dose regimen, the data would not be submitted until late March and the vaccine might not be authorized for that age group until late spring, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.
Coronavirus sidelines dockworkers, adding to supply backlog 8:58 p.m.
By The New York Times
More longshoremen on the West Coast contracted the coronavirus in the past month than in all of last year, putting additional pressure on backed-up ports struggling to keep up with the flow of imports, according to the Pacific Maritime Association.
At least 1,850 longshoremen had the coronavirus in January, surpassing the 1,624 cases recorded in all of 2021, the maritime group said.
Its a heavy impact, said James McKenna, president of the group, which negotiates labor agreements for 70 companies at 29 West Coast ports.
The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which account for around 40% of U.S. imports, were particularly hard hit. The cases there accounted for about 80% of the 1,850 infections reported as of Thursday, McKenna said Friday.
The startling high number comes as 90 container ships off the San Pedro Bay coast, a record number, were waiting to come into port in Los Angeles and Long Beach, as of Friday. The dockworker absences are helping exacerbate a monthslong bottleneck. Before the pandemic, you wouldnt have any ships waiting; theyd come in and come out, McKenna said.
Other cities balk at following Bostons proof-of-vaccination mandate 6:27 p.m.
By Anissa Gardizy, Globe Staff
When Mayor Michelle Wu announced in December that she would put in place a proof-of-vaccination mandate for Boston restaurants, gyms, and entertainment venues, officials from several other Massachusetts cities stood with her in a show of support.
Im so grateful to have regional mayors and municipal health officials here, city councilors, state representatives, Wu said during a City Hall event, because fighting this pandemic will require shared action and partnership.
But her call for unity has produced mixed results.
Could the new subvariant, BA. 2., slow our exit from the Omicron surge? 5:40 p.m.
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
While the Omicron surge appears to be waning in some regions of the United States, some experts are cautioning that progress against the coronavirus could be hindered by the arrival of a highly contagious new Omicron subvariant, BA.2.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former director of the US Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that pandemic numbers were coming down, and coming down quite sharply in parts of the Northeast, Florida, the mid-Atlantic, but said you might see, as this new strain starts to pick up, you might see that we start to slow down in that decline.
Gottlieb said on CBS-TVs Face the Nation that the decline will happen nonetheless and he didnt expect a huge wave of infection.
Mass. reports 12,127 coronavirus cases; 83 deaths reported on Friday 5:30 p.m.
By Globe Staff
In its first COVID-19 data report since Friday, Massachusetts on Monday reported 12,127 new confirmed coronavirus cases and said 36,849 vaccinations, including booster shots, had been administered. The Department of Public Health also said 83 new confirmed deaths were reported on Friday.
The state also reported that 2,202 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19. The seven-day percent positivity was 7.43 percent.
Mandate to vaccinate New Orleans schoolchildren kicking in 4:05 p.m.
By The Associated Press
As school systems across the US struggle to keep classrooms open amid the pandemic, New Orleans is set to become the nations first major district to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5 and up, though state regulations will allow parents to opt out easily.
Ahead of Tuesdays deadline, many schools in the city have been holding vaccination events, including one at KIPP Believe school.
One by one, dozens of children presented their signed permission slips, pushed up the sleeves of their pale yellow school uniform shirts and often wincing, but rarely with tears received a shot. Then they got candy.
New poll finds 70 percent of respondents say its time to accept COVID is here to stay and get on with our lives 3:19 p.m.
By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff
Nearly two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a large majority of Americans surveyed in a new poll said they agree that its time to accept that the virus is here to stay and we just need to get on with our lives though the results reflected a sharp partisan divide.
Seventy percent of people surveyed in the University of Monmouth poll released Monday said its time to accept the virus is part of life, though Republicans and Democrats differed starkly in their response. Eighty-nine percent of respondents who identified as Republicans agreed with the statement, while 47 percent of those who identified as Democrats agreed.
COVID-stricken Trudeau slams truckers protest behavior 3:09 p.m.
By Bloomberg News
Justin Trudeau denounced abusive behavior and racist imagery at a protest against vaccine mandates that saw lines of big-rig trucks blockade the downtown core of Canadas capital.
The Liberal prime minister, speaking Monday from an Ottawa-area cottage where he is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, also used weekend antics by members of the protest convoy to criticize his Conservative political opponents.
Over the past few days, Canadians were shocked and -- frankly -- disgusted by the behavior displayed by some people protesting in our nations capital, Trudeau said at a virtual news conference.
UK plans to scrap mandatory COVID vaccines for health workers 2:30 p.m.
By Bloomberg News
Mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19 for frontline National Health Service and social care workers in England are set to be scrapped, the UK government announced, after warnings the measure would fuel chronic staff shortages.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament on Monday a two-week consultation would be launched on reversing the controversial policy, after the intrinsically less severe Omicron variant eclipsed the predecessor delta strain, changing the balance of risks.
While vaccination remains our very best line of defense against COVID-19, I believe it is no longer proportionate to require vaccination as condition of deployment through statute, Javid told lawmakers.
Europes economy shows resilience to a surge in coronavirus infections 1:09 p.m.
By The New York Times
The eurozones economy proved its ability to withstand the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and persistent supply chain disruptions late last year, despite a split in the region that saw faster growth in France, Spain and Italy than in Europes traditional economic engine, Germany.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, grew 0.3 percent in the final quarter of 2021 compared with the previous three-month period, Eurostat, Europes statistics agency, reported Monday. That is a slower pace than in previous quarters of 2021, but proof that the continents economy was learning to handle the pandemic.
The fact that GDP still continued to grow is a sign of strength for the economy, Bert Colijn, an economist with ING, said in a research note.
Moderna announces full US approval for its COVID-19 vaccine 12:30 p.m.
By The Associated Press
Moderna announced Monday that US health regulators granted full approval to its COVID-19 vaccine, a shot thats been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago.
The action by the Food and Drug Administration means the agency has completed the same rigorous, time-consuming review of Modernas shot as dozens of other long-established vaccines.
The decision was bolstered by real-world evidence from the more than 200 million doses administered in the US since the FDA cleared the shot in December 2020. The FDA granted full approval of Pfizers vaccine last August.
New England lags behind as employees flee COVID-facing jobs 11:43 a.m.
By The Washington Post
The network of hospitals, prestigious universities and prep schools that has propelled New Englands regional economic growth for decades is dragging the recovery in its labor market and fueling historically high unemployment.
After decades sustaining a jobless rate below that of the country as a whole, New England now stands above the US average. Its rate was 5 percent in November, the most recent month for which historical comparisons can be made, against 4.2 percent for the national figure.
Roughly a third of the decline in payrolls in Massachusetts -- the regions economic engine -- and Rhode Island is accounted for by slumps in the health and education services industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the US as a whole, that ratio is just 20 percent.
Canadian prime minister tests positive for COVID-19 11:03 a.m.
By The Associated Press
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he has tested positive for COVID-19, but is ``feeling fine and will continue working remotely. The announcement came in a tweet in which he urged everyone to ``please get vaccinated and get boosted.
Trudeau said on Thursday that he was going into isolation for five days after finding out the previous evening he had been in contact with someone who tested positive. He told The Canadian Press on Friday that person was one of his three children. Trudeau previously isolated at home in the early months of the pandemic after his wife tested positive.
Canada has one of the worlds highest rates of vaccination against the coronavirus shots which are primarily designed to keep those who become infected from falling seriously ill. The announcement followed a weekend of protests in Canadas capital, Ottawa, against vaccine mandates, masks and lockdowns. Some demonstrators travelled in truck convoys and parked on the streets around Parliament Hill, blocking traffic.
Spotify shares advance after addressing controversy over Joe Rogan 10:16 a.m.
By Bloomberg News
Spotify Technology climbed after the streaming service said it would would add a content advisory to podcasts that address COVID-19, seeking to quash an uproar over Joe Rogans program. Facing mounting pressure from users and musicians over the accuracy of virus information being spread by the platforms most popular podcaster, Spotify published its existing rules governing content. Rogan, meanwhile, pledged that he would present more balanced, better-researched programming on the coronavirus.
The shares rose 5.8 percent at 9:41 a.m. Monday in New York. That chipped away at the 12 percent decline that Spotify registered last week, wiping out almost $4 billion from the companys market value. Rock icon Neil Young had pulled his music from the service to protest Rogan, who has hosted several outspoken skeptics of COVID-19 vaccines. Joni Mitchell followed Youngs lead as did other musicians.
Spotify created rules governing acceptable content on its service years ago and built a hub with coronavirus information early in the pandemic, but hadnt made them public until Sunday. Rogan thanked his listeners and Spotify and apologized for the controversy. If Ive p----ed you off, Im sorry, he said in an Instagram video over the weekend. He said he would try harder to get people with differing opinions on right afterward and do my best to make sure I have researched these topics.
Potential scammers imitate free COVID test websites 10:09 a.m.
By Bloomberg News
As a new government website went live in January to offer free COVID-19 test kits, a rash of new domain names were registered. Some had remarkably similar URLs, or were nearly the same but slightly misspelled.
Cybersecurity experts said the goal was likely the same for all of them: bogus domain names that can be used for phishing attacks and other scams.
Suspected fraudsters have registered more than 600 suspicious domain registrations since Jan. 15, around the time Biden administration announced details about a program in which the US Postal Service would deliver COVID-19 tests to Americans homes, email security firm Proofpoint Inc. told Bloomberg News. The look-alike URLs are often meant to trick COVID-weary Americans into thinking they are signing up for a free nasal swab, when in fact they might be handing personal data over to a cybercrime syndicate, cybersecurity experts said.
UK partygate report criticizes failures of leadership 9:54 a.m.
By Bloomberg News
A major report into allegations of rule-breaking gatherings in Downing Street has found failures of leadership and judgment at the top of Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government.
At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time, senior civil servant Sue Gray said in her long-awaited report, released on Monday. While a parallel police investigation means Gray was asked to exclude her conclusions on the most damaging allegations against Johnson and his team, the release of her report still represents a moment of political peril for the prime minister. Hes due to speak in the House of Commons later on Monday to address the findings and will later also talk to Tory MPs.
Johnson is trying to draw a line under the steady drip-drip of allegations, dubbed Partygate by the UK media. Theyve undermined his leadership in recent months, leading some lawmakers within his own ruling Conservatives to talk openly about toppling the prime minister and causing his party to plunge in the polls. Gray since December has been investigating reports of more than a dozen apparently rule-breaking events at Johnsons office and in other government departments in 2020 and 2021, at a time when gatherings were banned as part of restrictions to tackle COVID-19. She was preparing to release her report last week before Londons Metropolitan Police said they were opening their own investigation into the most serious allegations. The police on Friday issued a statement saying theyd asked Gray to only make minimal reference to the events theyre investigating.
Overcoming significant challenges, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities enacted a swift, innovative, inclusive, and community-driven approach to rolling out the COVID-19 vaccination, and theres a lot to be learned from their methods. A perspective penned by two University of New Mexico faculty members and recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine explains the effectiveness of Indigenous communities response.
In the vaccination process weve seen what happens when communities are empowered to lead and exert their own perspectives in terms of how they respond to crisis, explained Raymond Foxworth, visiting scholar in the UNM Department of Political Science. Weve seen some great things in terms of vaccination programs in Indigenous communities.
Foxworth teamed up with Gabriel Sanchez (political science faculty and director of the UNM Center for Social Policy) and co-authors from the University of North Dakota, Yale University, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Miami to write the perspective. Foxworth and Sanchez hope their collective scholarship can help Native communities sustain their high vaccination rates during the continued and collective battle against COVID-19.
Thereality is Native communities continued to be resilient, practice their customs and traditions, and see the value of community. Those are great assets that theyve been able to leverage in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Raymond Foxworth, UNM visiting scholar
According to the CDC, COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on some racial and ethnic minorities, including AI/AN communities. Health disparities are leading to higher rates of COVID-19 related hospitalization and death among Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and AI/AN, making it even more important that these communities be prioritized for vaccination. Foxworth lamented that, unfortunately, ignoring health inequities is par for the course when it comes to how Native communities have been historically treated.
The history of colonization has conditioned a response from Native communities and that response has always been about community survival, survival of Indigenous languages, world views sovereignty and land rights, Foxworth reflected.
The COVID-19 pandemic, Foxworth explained, is another iteration of that process of colonialism, another attempt at making make Native communities vulnerable in a systemic and institutional way, through policy and neglect. Much like many states and communities, Indigenous communities received little to no coordinated support from the Federal government at the onset of the pandemic, further deepening this historic divide.
Raymond Foxworth, visiting scholar in the UNM Department of Political Science
But the reality is Native communities continued to be resilient, practice their customs and traditions, and see the value of community, he said. Those are great assets that theyve been able to leverage in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With limited response from the Federal government, especially during the first months of the pandemic, Native communities acted quickly on their own shutting down borders and limiting access to their sovereign lands. They were early adopters of mask wearing and kept mandates in place longer than neighboring non-Native communities. They enacted strict practices and were innovative in thinking about policy response and ways to keep their communities safe.
Then vaccines became available, and by September 2021, vaccination rates among non-Hispanic AI/ANs were about 14 percent higher than rates among non-Hispanic White persons for first-dose vaccination and 8 percent higher for full vaccination.
Higher-than-average vaccination rates in AI/AN populations have been corroborated by state and county data.
What we saw in Native communities in terms of the push for vaccinations was a networked response by various kinds of institutions in communities including health centers, non-profits, and other community-based organizations, Foxworth said. It was a vibrant ecosystem of response, which has always existed in Native communities, from my perspective.
COVID-19 messaging focused on protecting elders, knowledge-holders, and Native linguists was particularly effective. It struck a deep chord in the communities who are built on the importance of caring for and protecting their history passed from generation to generation.
Losing elders, Native language speakers and those holding valuable cultural knowledge was a huge blow. Historically theres been a targeted policy effort to suppress Indigenous knowledge systems, Foxworth explained. And Native communities understood that if we dont take steps to protect elders and perpetuate our knowledge systems, then were going to experience even greater losses from this pandemic.
Indigenous societies consistently value one another and their most vulnerable. Its a perspective and historical pattern that has certainly benefitted them and brought a sturdy foundation during the chaotic COVID-19 pandemic.
Most Native communities always have had structures and practices to keep each other safe and to help one another. So, to me its not surprising that wed see this kind of response from Indian Country because it has been the innate fabric of Indigenous communities and societies. In this context we see it in full display in terms of the level care and compassion taking place in communities while mobilizing those traditional values, Foxworth concluded.
There is not yet enough data to understand if similar trends will be present in booster vaccine messaging. But Foxworth says when he and other researchers are eagerly awaiting those numbers.
