CHICAGO COVID-19 is putting a wrinkle in New Years Eve plans, but the show will still go on in the city.
As the city prepares to celebrate yet another New Year during a pandemic, the more things have changed the more they are actually staying the same.
People are going to do what they want to do, theres a gradation of safety, Pritzker said.
Chicago is planning the biggest fireworks celebration in the citys history along the Chicago River and at Navy Pier. Various downtown bridges will host launch spots.
While some are excited to celebrate in style, others say not so fast.
I think typically Id go out and do something with other people more but this year were not doing that. We just think its a little big safer to be at home, its good to be with family still, Evanston resident Annalise Vernon said.
In a press release Monday, the city is both encouraging people to stay home and go out. Large hotel parties are already sold out. Many restaurants, especially with views of the fireworks, are booked.
While masks will be mandatory, vaccines will not be due to the citys rule going into effect on Jan. 3.
Last week saw the biggest spike in state COVID-19 cases yet.
If residents want to attend the parties at Navy Pier, you will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within the past 72 hours.
Im not sure this is a question for the Moneyist, but here goes. Im 34, I live alone, and I have not gotten vaccinated. Heres my issue: I have a fake vaccine card that I only very occasionally flash to get into bars and restaurants. I choose restaurants that I know are not crowded, and I am in the age group that has only relatively mild symptoms from COVID-19.
I have a friend who had bad side effects from the vaccine elevated heart rate and it put me off getting one. I have a never say never approach. I dont go out that much, but I will obviously be meeting friends and family over Christmas. My family knows Im not vaccinated. They have made their decision about whether they want to see me, and they have no problem with that.
My family knows Im not vaccinated. They made their decision about whether they want to see me, and they have no problem with that. I just want to get through 2022 with as little hassle as possible.
Im fed up with the coronavirus, Im fed up with the government telling me what to do, and Im fed up with omicron. My best friend told me she didnt want to see me if I was going to use a fake vaccine card. She is vaccinated. But she wont even see me outside, and she has other friends who are not vaccinated whom she has met for walks in the park, and drinks and stuff.
I want to get through 2022 with as little hassle as possible, and the pandemic has made my anxiety 10 times worse. I barely use the card, only when I really need it. Is that really so bad? The way she went on, you would swear I had robbed a bank, or worse. I said cutting me off was not the answer to a problem, and not a way to treat our friendship.
Another Christmas Canceled
Were all fed up.
Rather than think about how your friend is treating you, think about how you are treating people who dont know you are unvaccinated. They are gathering in a place that requires vaccine cards and, as such, where they have reduced the risk of contracting coronavirus. By entering under false pretenses, you have chosen to violate their trust.
We can only get through this if we wear masks, socially distance and get vaccinated. People have a choice to either get vaccinated or not. Choosing the latter and then using a fake vaccine card is not the answer to your anxiety, dealing with a public-health crisis responsibly, or handling a friendship.You are rolling the dice for yourself, but worse you are also rolling the dice for other people.
As for the vaccine side effects: A miniscule percentage of people have serious adverse events. The vast majority of people experience tiredness, a sore arm, headache, and/or muscle pain. Read this data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you think those potential side effects are an inconvenience, try spending two weeks in bed with COVID-19, losing your taste and smell, or being the reason a beloved older relative ends up on a ventilator.
You want people to respect your decision not to get vaccinated, but you are not giving others that same respect: You are not giving them all the information they need to make an informed decision.
Now for the legal and financial part: Using a fake vaccine card is a federal crime. The cards carry two federal seals: one from the CDC and the other from the Department of Health and Human Services. Forging vaccine cards, a crime that has been on the rise since President Bidens vaccine mandate, could result in prison time. You may not get sent to prison, but you could lose your job.
Fake vaccine cards capitalize on peoples fear about science, and anger about the pandemic and the governments response. The typical cost of a fake vaccine card with the CDC logo was $100 on Sept. 2. The day after Bidens Sept. 9 announcement that he would mandate vaccines for federal workers, the price doubled to $200, according to Check Point Software Technologies.
The coronavirus is exploiting the lack of herd immunity and pockets of unvaccinated people to find ways to mutate and spread. The phony vaccine card manufacturers are exploiting the fears and resentments of unvaccinated Americans who want to cheat and/or game the public healthcare system, and vulnerable people most at risk. And you are exploiting the trust of people you encounter in public spaces.
The coronavirus is exploiting the pockets of unvaccinated people to mutate and survive. The phony vaccine card manufacturers are exploiting the fears and resentments of unvaccinated Americans.
Over 800,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. Thats higher than the estimated U.S. death toll from the 1918 influenza. Vaccinations have been shown to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, and early research suggests the omicron variant can evade immunity from two vaccine doses or past infection, highlighting the importance of a booster dose.
The person you infect may not come down with a serious illness, but what about their friends brothers grandmother or next-door neighbor? I believe vaccinated people should respect the decision of those who decide not to get vaccinated. But the problem here is you are not giving people that same courtesy: You are not giving them all the information they need to make an informed decision.
Your more vulnerable and elderly family members appear to have given you a green light for the holiday parties. By virtue that you are a daughter or granddaughter, you have goodwill and emotional leverage in that relationship. Forcing your family to choose between you and a vaccine puts you at an unfair advantage. If you dont want to get vaccinated, dont do it. But why put other people at risk?
If you dont want to get vaccinated, thats your right. We all have to make that decision for ourselves. So take your chances, and stay home. By visiting family and going to bars and restaurants, you are giving the virus a pathway to spread. At least be honest with yourself about that. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Your broken friendship should be the least of your and our worries.
You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell onTwitter.
Check outthe Moneyist private Facebookgroup, where we look for answers to lifes thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.
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More from Quentin Fottrell:
I live with my girlfriend, 59, who owns several homes and has saved $3 million. I pay utilities and cable, and do lots of repairs. Is that enough?Until now, Ive been waiting tables: Im 32, and just started a new job in a factory. I have a 401(k) and an emergency fund. What can I do to retire at 55?He is the most computer-illiterate person I know: I was my husbands research analyst, caregiver, cook and housekeeper. Now he wants a divorce after 38 years.My daughter, 29, will inherit a substantial sum from her late grandfather. But my husband maintains a tight grip on her trust.
New York City, home to the nations largest school system, will eliminate its current policy of quarantining entire classrooms exposed to Covid, and will instead use a ramped-up testing program to allow asymptomatic students who test negative for the coronavirus to remain in school.
The new policy, which Mayor Bill de Blasio referred to as Stay Safe, and Stay Open, will take effect on Jan. 3, when the nearly one million students who attend the citys public schools are scheduled to return from holiday break.
Mr. de Blasio, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who takes office on Sunday, appeared together at a news conference on Tuesday to present a united front against school closures, despite an enormous surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant that has only worsened in the days since city schools closed for winter break last week.
Your children are safer in school, the numbers speak for themselves, Mr. Adams said.
Instead of delaying the start of in-person school and pivoting to remote learning, as some other school districts across the state and country are doing, the city will aim to detect more infections while mitigating disruptions. Ms. Hochul thanked educators for their work during school closures, but called remote learning a failed experiment that was extremely difficult for many students and had caused major disruptions.
Hundreds of classrooms either entirely closed or partially closed last week. The citys previous policy was to quarantine unvaccinated close contacts of infected students for 10 days. Many elementary school children in particular have not been vaccinated, even though they are eligible.
Now, instead of sending classes of unvaccinated students home to learn online when one or more students test positive, the students will be given rapid at-home tests. If they are asymptomatic and test negative, they can return the day after their first negative test. Students will then be given a second at-home test within seven days of their exposure.
But that does not mean that the new semester will be without disruption. New York will still close entire schools when there is evidence of major in-school spread.
Schools remain among the safest settings in our communities, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the citys health commissioner, said on Tuesday.
He said that even if virus rates continued to rise across the city and in schools, we estimate that in schools about 98 percent of close contacts do not end up developing Covid-19.
Ms. Hochul said Monday that she would send two million rapid at-home tests to New York City schools in the coming days.
Dr. Michael Mina, a former Harvard University epidemiologist, has been a forceful advocate of using testing to keep classrooms open and children in school.
But Dr. Mina, who is now the chief science officer for eMed, which distributes at-home tests, said that testing children twice a week in classrooms where an infection was detected would simply not do enough to dramatically reduce transmission. Instead, he said, those who have been exposed should be tested every day.
By testing just twice, youre very likely to miss when someone becomes infectious and potentially becomes a superspreader, he said. This virus goes from zero to a 100 easily in a day or maybe two days.
Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell. The Nassau County chief of detectives will becomeNew York Citys first female police commissioner, taking over the nations largest police force amid a crisis of trust in American policing and a troubling rise in violence.
Commissioner of Correction Department: Louis Molina. The former N.Y.P.D. officerwho currently oversees a public safety department in Las Vegas will be tasked with leading the citys embattled Correction Departmentand restoring order at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.
Chief Counsel: Brendan McGuire. After a stint as a partner in a law firms white-collar practice, the former federal prosecutor will return to the public sector to advise the mayor on legal mattersinvolving City Hall, the executive staff and administrative matters.
Deputies. Lorraine Grillo will be the top deputy mayor, Meera Joshi will be deputy mayor for operations, Maria Torres-Springer deputy mayor for economic development, Anne Williams-Isom deputy mayor for health and human services and Sheena Wright deputy mayor for strategic operations.
Seventeen of the citys roughly 1,600 schools closed temporarily during the fall semester, with more than half of the closures taking place during its final two weeks.
Mr. de Blasio has faced criticism for subjecting only a small percentage of consenting students in schools to random surveillance testing about 10 percent in each school each week. The city aims to ramp up random testing to include 20 percent of students in each school weekly.
In another shift, the city will now test both vaccinated and unvaccinated students, whereas for months it only tested unvaccinated students. Omicron is extremely contagious, even among vaccinated people.
But theres a catch: Only students whose parents have allowed them to be tested are eligible, meaning many children are not involved in the effort. City officials plan to encourage more parents to opt their children into the random testing pool.
City and state officials have also emphasized in recent days that many more eligible young children in particular need to get vaccinated to keep schools safe amid Omicron. The city sent vaccine trucks to schools when the shots were first authorized for young children this fall, but now its significantly easier for parents to find appointments for first or second doses.
Joseph Goldstein contributed reporting.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to plague the NFL. More than 400 players have tested positive in December alone, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, compared to 262 player positives all of last year (from the start of the regular season through the Super Bowl).
Many high-profile players have missed games this season after testing positive for the virus, and more players will undoubtedly miss time during the final two weeks of the 2021 regular season.
The Saints were crushed by the virus ahead of their "Monday Night Football" showdown with the Dolphins. It showed as the Saints fell 20-3 with rookie QB Ian Book making his NFL debut. New Orleans was down its top two quarterbacks due to COVID. The Saints were also without four defensive starters with linebackers Kaden Elliss,Demario Davisand Kwon Alexander -- as well as strong safetyMalcolm Jenkins-- all on reserve/COVID.
Here's an updated look at each team's current COVID-19 situation as we head into Week 17, specifically which players are on COVID reserve:
(NOTE: This list does not include players on practice squad or injured reserve.)
A medical worker administers a coronavirus test at a new testing site at the Times Square subway station in New York City on Monday. Scott Heins/Getty Images hide caption
A medical worker administers a coronavirus test at a new testing site at the Times Square subway station in New York City on Monday.
People who test positive for the coronavirus need to isolate themselves for only five days if they don't show symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. This cuts in half the earlier recommendation of 10 days of isolation.
Data shows that the majority of coronavirus transmission "occurs early in the course of illness," the CDC explained generally in the one or two days before symptoms begin and two or three days after.
"Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others," the CDC said in a statement.
The CDC has also updated its recommended quarantine period for people exposed to the virus. It says unvaccinated people should quarantine for five days, followed by five days of "strict mask use." Exposed people who are more than six months past their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or two months out from a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, should also quarantine for five days.
People who have gotten their booster shot don't need to quarantine after exposure but should wear a mask for the next 10 days.
Alejandro Brown receives a COVID-19 vaccine from a health care worker at a drive-through site in Miami on Dec. 16. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Alejandro Brown receives a COVID-19 vaccine from a health care worker at a drive-through site in Miami on Dec. 16.
"The Omicron variant is spreading quickly and has the potential to impact all facets of our society," said the CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in a statement. "CDC's updated recommendations for isolation and quarantine balance what we know about the spread of the virus and the protection provided by vaccination and booster doses. These updates ensure people can safely continue their daily lives."
Dr. Megan Ranney, the associate dean at Brown University's School of Public Health, tweeted Monday that a major reason the federal government altered isolation requirements is due to the economic strain of a full quarantine.
"Our economy is going to shut down if everyone has to isolate for 10 days. Luckily the science backs up the move, at least partially," she tweeted. "On the one hand: I'm all for following the science for the vaccinated & asymptomatic. No reason to keep people home unnecessarily."
Kudos, she said, to the CDC "for recognizing that our knowledge has changed - and the virus has changed" especially for the vaccinated.
Ranney said what would make this decision even safer would be to require a rapid test before ending isolation.
The CDC doesn't currently require this step and rapid, at-home COVID tests have been hard to come by during the omicron surge.
The Biden administration, which has come under pressure for not increasing widespread availability of at-home tests, last week rolled out a plan to set up federal testing across the country. The government will also buy a half-billion at-home COVID test kits and mail them out. But deliveries won't start until January.
The new guidance comes days after the CDC loosened rules for how long health care workers should isolate after infection with the coronavirus, from 10 days to seven days. If there were staffing shortages, that isolation time could be further reduced.
The next day, New York officials followed suit, reducing to five the number of days for health care workers to isolate after a positive coronavirus test. On NPR's Morning Edition on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci praised the move.
Five days of quarantine should be enough for health care workers, Fauci said, adding: "That's going to be under consideration of whether or not we want to diminish it" for the general public.
In the U.S. as of Monday, 242 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 205 million are fully vaccinated and 66 million have received a booster, according to the CDC's COVID Data Tracker.
The virus that causes COVID-19 can spread to a patients heart and brain days after infection and survive for months in organs, according to a new study that may shed light on the so-called long COVID.
Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health in Maryland studied tissues taken from 44 people who had died after contracting the illness during the first year of the pandemic in the US, Bloomberg News reported.
They discovered SARS-CoV-2 RNA in various parts of the body including the heart and brain for as long as 230 days after the onset of symptoms, according to the news outlet.
The delayed viral clearance was cited as a possible contributor to long-haul COVID, also called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, which is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a range of long-lasting symptoms among patients.
The study is under review by independent scientists for publication in the journal Nature.
This is remarkably important work, Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, told Bloomberg.
For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long COVID seems to affect so many organ systems, said Al-Aly, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of the illness.
This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long COVID can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease, he added.
Scientists have cited evidence both for and against the likelihood that the deadly bug infects cells outside the lungs and respiratory tract, Bloomberg noted.
Our results collectively show that while the highest burden of SARS-CoV-2 is in the airways and lung, the virus can disseminate early during infection and infect cells throughout the entire body, including widely throughout the brain, said the team, led by Daniel Chertow, who runs the NIHs emerging pathogens section.
Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, told Bloomberg that the research provides a warning about being blas about mass infection in children and adults.
MacIntyre, who was not involved in the study, told the outlet: We dont yet know what burden of chronic illness will result in years to come.
Will we see young-onset cardiac failure in survivors, or early onset dementia? These are unanswered questions which call for a precautionary public health approach to mitigation of the spread of this virus, she added.
The NIH scientists suggested that infection of the pulmonary system may cause an early viremic phase, in which the coronavirus is present in the bloodstream throughout the body.
MacIntyre told Bloomberg that the findings also support previous research that shows that the virus directly kills heart muscle cells and that surviving patients suffer cognitive deficits.
The virus was detected in the brains of all six patients who died over a month after they developed symptoms, as well as in most areas studied in the brains of five others, including one who died 230 days after the onset of symptoms, the outlet said.
Al-Aly said the focus on multiple brain areas is particularly helpful.
It can help us understand the neurocognitive decline or brain fog and other neuropsychiatric manifestations of long Covid, he told Bloomberg.
We need to start thinking of SARS-CoV-2 as a systemic virus that may clear in some people, but in others may persist for weeks or months and produce long Covid a multifaceted systemic disorder, he added.
The seemingly more transmissible Omicron variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus has raised questions as ... [+] to whether standard face coverings are enough or if N-95 face masks should be worn. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The Covid-19 coronavirus seems to have upped its game with the Omicron variant. Does that mean that you need to up your face mask game as well? Will wearing traditional face masks be enough? Or do you now need to upgrade to N95 ones?
These are some of the questions that you may be facing with the spread of the seemingly more transmissible Omicron variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). I covered for Forbes such questions back in January after the Alpha variant had emerged. But that was several Greek letters ago.
The Omicron variant has essentially said hold me beer to all other predecessors including the Delta variant when it comes to spreading faster and more readily. Its not yet clear whether the Omicron variant is equally or less likely to cause severe Covid-19 compared to previous versions of the virus. Nevertheless, anecdotal reports seem to suggest that people are getting infected even when supposedly diligently wearing face masks.
Of course, wearing face masks is as broad and vague as wearing underwear or maybe even wearing clothes. When someone tells you that he or she got frost bite despite wearing clothes, it is helpful to clarify whether wearing clothes meant wearing more than a thong. Similarly, when someone tells you that he or she caught the SARS-CoV-2 despite wearing a face mask, you want to know what kind of face mask and how it was being worn.
Face coverings have come in many different types, forms, and sizes. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto ... [+] via Getty Images)
As youve probably noticed, face coverings have been coming in all kinds of sizes, shapes, and types. And not everyone has been wearing such face coverings properly, which in turn can affect their effectiveness. For example, wearing a face covering yet allowing your nose to stick out would be a bit like wearing underwear while allowing your, well, use your imagination. So without more extensive studies, its difficult to tell how effective different face masks may be against the Omicron variant.
Moreover, increased transmissibility doesnt necessarily mean that the Omicron variant can get through face masks more easily. A lot of different things can increase the transmissibility of a respiratory virus. For example, an infected person may on average be shedding more of the virus or shedding for longer periods of time. The virus may survive for greater durations in the air or on surfaces. The virus could more readily get into your cells or get past your bodys defenses and into your cells. Without enough proper studies, its still way too early to tell how different the Omicron variant may be from its predecessors.
Nevertheless, an N95 face mask should still give you good protection against the Omicron variant. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) bestows the N95 label on face masks that can filter out at least 95% of all airborne particles, regardless of their size. So, yes, a N95 respirator would provide you much better protection than a face covering that doesnt meet N95 standards.
Of course, you should verify that a face mask is indeed N95 certified. News flash. People and businesses may do something thats called lying, which in this case doesnt refer to their positioning on a couch. Therefore, always check the official list of NIOSH-approved N95 face masks to makes sure that a so-called N95 face mask has indeed been tested and certified as such.
N95-certification would be preferable to KN95 certification. The latter is a China standard, which uses testing approaches that may not be as stringent as NIOSHs procedures. Just because a face mask has KN95 certification doesnt necessarily mean that it would meet NIOSH N95 requirements. Nevertheless, KN95 certification is still better than no certification. And either a N95-cerified or a KN95-certified face mask would provide you with much better protection than a standard face covering.
Again just because a mask and its packaging says N95 or KN95, doesnt mean that it has officially earned such certifications as this CBC News segment showed:
This doesnt mean that standard face coverings would be completely useless against the Omicron variant. While the virus may be small enough to make it though the pores of standard face coverings, such coverings could still at least reduce the amount of virus that may make it through to your nose and mouth. Viruses can be like platypuses in your bathtub. A few may not cause much trouble. However, at some point, the more there are, the more trouble they can cause. Whether you get infected and how severe the resulting infection may be can depend on how much virus gets into your body in the first place.
Moreover, its not all about you. Like wearing clothes and not peeing in the swimming pool, wearing face masks is about protecting each other. When you are infected with the virus, nearly any type of face covering can block at least some of the virus coming out of your nose and mouth. Thus, you are doing everyone a public service by wearing a face covering. Naturally, this depends on how much of your nose and mouth are covered, how porous the material may be, and how many layers are involved. Two layers would be better than one layer of the same material. Three layers would be better than two layers. And in theory, 2,523 layers would be better than three layers, although breathing would probably be an issue with the former.
So on the face of it, or the face of you, some type of face covering is better than no face covering. But remember wearing a standard face covering is more about protecting others from you than protecting yourself from others and demonstrating that you actually care about other people. It may offer you some protection but make sure you layer on other types of precautions such as social distancing and being fully vaccinated plus boosted.
If you do have a choice, opt for a N95-certified face mask or the equivalent. Wearing such a mask will be especially important when you cannot combine at least two other Covid-19 precautions at all times. For example, wear a N95 face mask if you cant maintain social distancing and are not sure whether everyone around you is fully vaccinated and boosted, such as on an airplane. And make sure that your N95 face mask fits against your face snugly, creating an air seal. Otherwise, like wearing underwear that doesnt fit, an ill-fitting N95 face mask could end up letting in or out things that no one wants to see.
The number of Oregonians known to be infected with COVID-19 climbed by 25% this past week even though the overall number of tests administered dropped 15%, reflecting the omicron variants tightening grip on the state.
While omicron has been surging nationwide in the past few weeks, Oregon clearly is now following suit, albeit at a slower pace. Across the U.S., new infections rose by 61% week to week, while testing declined by 24%.
In Oregon, new known infections grew from about 5,600 for the week ending Dec. 19 to nearly 7,000 cases for the week ending Sunday. The latest number almost certainly is an undercount because some counties didnt report their case numbers from the long Christmas weekend. On top of that, the state cant track the results of the increasing number of people who used store-bought home tests to self-check for the virus in advance of holiday travel and gatherings.
The percentage of Oregonians testing positive for COVID-19 known as the positivity rate rose to 9%, up from 5% a week ago.
With most omicron infections thought to be milder than those caused by delta and many occurring in fully vaccinated people, experts say what matters most are the numbers of people experiencing severe disease and the potential for death. On that front, the outlook worsened slightly, with the number of hospitalized patients rising 42 patients since Thursday to 381 patients on Monday.
The latest forecast from Oregon Health & Science University last week predicts omicron peaking in the state with more than 1,200 hospitalized patients by early February, slightly above the pandemic record set Sept. 1. But hospitalized patients might reach 1,700 if Oregonians dont embrace COVID-19 safety precautions, according to the forecast.
The Oregon Health Authoritys deputy state epidemiologist, Tom Jeanne, said the latest numbers are a stark reminder that the fight against COVID-19 and its variants isnt over, but that residents can make a difference by getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing masks and physically distancing.
The COVID-19 data OHA is reporting today show us that what weve been warning Oregonians about the last several weeks is coming to pass: Omicron is poised to become the states dominant variant and will likely drive a new surge in cases, hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths, Jeanne said, in a written statement.
The federal government believes omicron is already dominating. As of Dec. 18, the CDC estimated omicron was responsible for 93% of COVID-19 cases in the four-state region of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska. But Oregon officials have few hard numbers so far. As of Dec. 21, the Oregon Health Authority said it is aware of only 13 COVID-19 samples in the state that have been confirmed as omicron.
Latest case counts: The state on Monday reported 3,585 new known infections and 25 newly reported deaths for the four-day period Thursday through Sunday.
Where the new cases are by county: Baker (9), Benton (105), Clackamas (428), Clatsop (10), Columbia (30), Coos (26), Crook (6), Curry (1), Deschutes (324), Douglas (52), Grant (5), Harney (8), Hood River (13), Jackson (169), Jefferson (25), Josephine (104), Klamath (18), Lane (256), Lincoln (32), Linn (155), Malheur (9), Marion (97), Morrow (7), Multnomah (1,032), Polk (23), Tillamook (12), Umatilla (37), Union (20), Wasco (10), Washington (540) and Yamhill (22).
Deaths: Those who died ranged in age from 44 to 95:
A 91-year-old woman from Deschutes County died Aug. 18 at her home.
A 44-year-old woman from Clackamas County tested positive Nov. 20 and died Nov. 22 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.
A 55-year-old man from Yamhill County tested positive Nov. 9 and died Nov. 27 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
A 69-year-old man from Umatilla County tested positive Oct. 5 and died Nov. 1 at Providence Portland Medical Center.
A 90-year-old woman from Clackamas County tested positive Oct. 16 and died Nov. 11 at her home
An 80-year-old woman from Yamhill County tested positive Oct. 21 and died Nov. 7 at her home.
A 48-year-old man from Deschutes County tested positive Oct. 25 and died Nov. 4 at St. Charles Bend.
A 95-year-old man from Deschutes Count tested positive Oct. 25 and died Nov. 4 at his home.
A 78-year-old woman from Clackamas County tested positive Nov. 2 and died Nov. 10 at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center.
A 79-year-old man from Linn County tested positive Nov. 5 and died Nov. 12 at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital
A 74-year-old woman from Linn County tested positive Nov. 10 and died Nov. 10 at her home
A 51-year-old man from Clackamas County tested positive Nov. 1 and died Nov. 11 at Providence Portland Medical Center
A 64-year-old woman from Marion County tested positive Nov. 10 and died Nov. 10 at her home.
A 93-year-old woman from Josephine County tested positive Dec. 13 and died Dec. 23 at her home.
A 65-year-old man from Jackson County died May 11 at his home.
A 92-year-old man from Jackson County tested positive Dec. 22 and died Dec. 24 at Providence Medford Medical Center.
A 47-year-old man from Jackson County tested positive Dec. 13 and died Dec. 22 at Providence Medford Medical Center.
An 80-year-old man from Jackson County who tested positive Dec. 9 and died Dec. 22 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.
A 62-year-old woman from Douglas County tested positive Dec. 16 and died Dec. 23 at Mercy Medical Center.
A 68-year-old woman from Douglas County tested positive Dec. 8 and died Dec. 18.
A 69-year-old man from Douglas County tested positive Nov. 7 and died Dec. 22 at Mercy Medical Center.
A 95-year-old woman from Washington County tested positive Nov. 28 and died Dec. 19 at her home.
An 82-year-old woman from Lane County tested positive Dec. 6 and died Dec. 22 at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.
An 88-year-old woman from Klamath County tested positive Dec. 13 and died Dec. 23 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
A 49-year-old man from Klamath County tested positive Nov. 24 and died Dec. 21 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.
Hospitalizations: 381 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized Monday, 23 more than Sunday. That number includes 94 in intensive care units, two more than Sunday.
Vaccines: The state reported 6,259 people receiving first shots since Thursday.
Since it began: Oregon has reported 414,190 confirmed or presumed infections and 5,623 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 6,679,032 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 2,759,458 people and partially vaccinating 279,738 people.
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
Have No Fear, she tapped out on the computer.
I am not going to say the fear is gone. I am not going to say I will live my life without caution, said Mazza. But I have to let some of that go. I want to be more present for my kids. I want my kids to have normalcy.
Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus are seen in a decorated truck in Marietta Square. (BRANDEN CAMP FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)
Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus are seen in a decorated truck in Marietta Square. (BRANDEN CAMP FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)
Dr. Lateefah Watford, a psychiatrist in the Behavioral Health Department at Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, said the pandemic has forced changes to every aspect of our life from how and where we work to who cares for our children to how we worship or spend time with loved ones. Society has adapted with Zoom calls, working from home, gathering outside, wearing masks. All that change means people have become more flexible and can respond better going forward.
Watford and other experts agree, we can no longer expect life to return to pre-COVID normal.
I think for me as a psychiatrist and a person, as a parent and wife, I have to step back and say this is where we are, and I can only say whats going on right now. Whats normal before is never going to be normal again and thats OK, said Watford. To accept that, and not think this time its going to be over and going away, its just not. And truly acknowledging that will help us move forward.
Case in point: Watford has planned a trip to the Dominican Republic early next year. She realizes the pandemic has created a checklist of required documents and has made traveling more complicated. Vaccinated, she is prepared to get tested before and after the trip. Shell monitor her destination and airline for any special requirements.
Im planning the trip the best way I can, she said of her lengthy preparations. But it no longer throws me off.
Experts say the same coping tips recommended during challenging times are still valid but maybe more important than ever during a pandemic. Watford said its important people take time to care for themselves to help reduce stress and avoid burnout. That means, she said, making a commitment every day to carve out something you enjoy doing such as exercising, reading, cooking. Mindfulness can also be helpful. And many experts point to a practice of gratitude and focusing on what we have and what we can do, not what we dont.
Keeping social connections are also important.
Dr. Lateefah Watford, a psychiatrist in the Behavioral Health Department at Kaiser Permanente of Georgia,. Contributed
Credit: Kasier
Dr. Lateefah Watford, a psychiatrist in the Behavioral Health Department at Kaiser Permanente of Georgia,. Contributed
Credit: Kasier
Credit: Kasier
Meanwhile, even as people try to move forward and accept the reality of the lasting pandemic, the toll of the past several months has been grueling, even traumatic. Loved ones have died. More than 26,000 people have died in Georgia alone. Many people who caught the virus are dealing with a constellation of long-haul symptoms. Many kids have returned to school but are still reeling from pandemic-induced isolation and academic gaps.
Im encouraging my patients to give themselves grace, Watford said. No one says lets have a pandemic that will kill millions of people and destroy everything we thought as normal. To think you were not affected is ridiculous. Allow yourself to acknowledge how the pandemic has truly impacted you and allow yourself time to heal.
Alyza Berman, an Atlanta psychotherapist, said while people still worry about COVID-19 affecting their physical health, It seems like a majority of are more worried about their mental health; how they were affected by quarantine and being isolated. People have to live with this anxiety and uncertainty of the new year but what I hear from every client and every staff member is, I hope we dont shut down ever again.
Mazza said almost a year of online school was traumatic for her children. They are struggling to make up ground academically.
Her 9-year-old daughter, she said, had a love for her school before the pandemic and everything shut down. Now that shes back in school, the love has not yet come back. Shes still recovering.
Nilah Mazza and her four children in a recent photo. Contributed
Credit: courte
Nilah Mazza and her four children in a recent photo. Contributed
Credit: courte
Credit: courte
Mazza has moments of worry especially after the latest variant emerged. But if anything, she is more nonchalant about COVID-19. She and her children caught the coronavirus in April. They have not gotten vaccinated yet. I am not saying not ever, just not now. I am watching this very closely, she said.
Berman said many people have felt a profound sense of loss and have moved through the five stages of grief as they come to terms with the pandemic. At first when the pandemic first hit we were in denial, and then anger, bargaining and depression to now, we have some level of acceptance, she said.
Xavier Ashe, left, looks at a decorated holiday tree with his daughter Emily Ashe, 10, at Marietta Square. (BRANDEN CAMP FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)
Xavier Ashe, left, looks at a decorated holiday tree with his daughter Emily Ashe, 10, at Marietta Square. (BRANDEN CAMP FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)
As a mother to four children, all of whom have chronic health conditions, Leah Ashe of Acworth said she feels like she and her family might have been better prepared than most for coping with the stress and worry of the pandemic.
Even before the first coronavirus cases emerged, Ashe said she and her husband were conscientious about keeping their children safe and already living with the daily worry of hospitalization and severe illness.
When the pandemic first hit, Ashe said the family turned to game nights and invested in bikes and electric scooters for the kids, and they enjoyed outside activities in the community. Ashe said priorities shifted, and the family spent less time cleaning, more time doing fun things together as a family.
Once she and her husband got vaccinated this past spring, they felt more comfortable going out, resuming date nights. They went on evening strolls and ordered take-out and set up a folding table for romantic picnics outside, including once by a lake in Acworth.
The pandemic has definitely made me realize that its the relationships that are the most important thing, she said. And its really put things in perspective. I know it sounds very cheesy but its definitely very true.
Aint Too Proud, a jukebox musical about the Temptations that opened on Broadway in early 2019, will close on Jan. 16, the shows producers said on Tuesday.
The musical is the fourth Broadway show to announce a closing in the last eight days, as the spike in coronavirus cases from the Omicron variant has exacerbated the financial woes of an already pandemic-damaged theater industry.
Last week, the musicals Jagged Little Pill and Waitress, as well as the play Thoughts of a Colored Man announced that they had closed without so much as a farewell performance all were already on hiatus because of coronavirus cases among cast or crew.
The Broadway production of Aint Too Proud, about the powerhouse Motown group, has not run since Dec. 15, citing coronavirus cases. It is planning to resume on Tuesday, Dec. 28, and hoping to run for three more weeks before closing for good.
The musical also has a touring production that had to postpone shows at the Kennedy Center in Washington because of coronavirus cases; it is scheduled to have its delayed start on Tuesday night, as well.
Aint Too Proud had a yearlong prepandemic run, opening in March 2019 to a positive review in The New York Times, where the critic Ben Brantley wrote, While honoring all the expected biomusical clichs, which include rolling out its subjects greatest hits in brisk and sometimes too fragmented succession, this production refreshingly emphasizes the improbable triumph of rough, combustible parts assembled into glistening smoothness.
After the lengthy Broadway shutdown, Aint Too Proud resumed performances on Oct. 16; because the Broadway League is no longer releasing box office grosses for individual productions, it is not clear how the show has been doing over the last two months. The production received a $10 million Shuttered Venue Operators Grant as pandemic emergency assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The musical won a Tony Award for its choreography by Sergio Trujillo; it features a book by Dominique Morisseau and direction by Des McAnuff, and the lead producers are Ira Pittelman and Tom Hulce. The show was capitalized for $16.75 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; it successfully recouped that investment, according to a spokesman.
