A Santa Claus in Germany wears a surgical mask in December 2020. If you're planning to take the kids to see Santa this year, experts say it's safest to keep everyone's masks on. Caroline Seidel/picture alliance via Getty Images hide caption
A Santa Claus in Germany wears a surgical mask in December 2020. If you're planning to take the kids to see Santa this year, experts say it's safest to keep everyone's masks on.
Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here.
My kids are so over seeing Santa Claus through Zoom. Can I bring them to the mall this year for the real deal?
Unfortunately, sitting on Santa's lap is almost a comical example of what NOT to do during the pandemic, says Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University.
"All it takes is one person to be very infectious," he says.
The recipe for disaster can go something like this, he says: An unknowingly infected kid whispers his holiday wish list to Santa, along with COVID aerosols. Santa whose mask doesn't fit well, due to the beard gets an asymptomatic case and continues launching kid after kid off his lap, potentially passing the virus onto them. Then, all those kids too young to be vaccinated or wear a well-fitting mask go home to people congregating for the holidays.
Fortunately, there are some simple precautions that could make an in-person visit possible. Make sure everyone going is vaccinated if possible and wearing good-quality masks, says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine.
Consider the virus numbers in your area. Keep your visit short and sweet. And investigate the specific protocols at your mall. Some places require Santa and other staff working the photo booth, including photographers and other holiday characters, to be vaccinated. Most malls allow kids to take a physically distanced picture instead of sitting on Santa's lap. Some malls require everyone to wear masks. And some require parents to reserve a spot for their kid's photo op in advance to help avoid over-crowding in the photo area.
You might be tempted to have Santa and your kid remove their masks for the photo but experts say it's safest to keep them on. "In general, a few seconds in most circumstances will not be enough to transmit," Karan says "but with SARS-CoV-2, we are constantly surprised."
As for Weatherhead, she says she has decided this year to take her children a 6-year-old who is vaccinated, and a 4-year-old to meet Santa in person. Last year, the kids could only view Santa from afar at an outdoor drive-by parade.
At her housing community where the Santa event takes place, Weatherhead says there are protocols about physical distancing. There is a limited number of people who can be in the photo area at any given time. Also, in Houston, where she lives, "the COVID case numbers are low now, so it's safer for us."
But her kids, she adds, will not be sitting on Santa's lap.
As for other traditions, such as mistletoe? Don't even think about hanging it at a gathering involving anyone other than immediate family, she says.
I'm boosted, but not everyone in my extended family has been vaccinated. Is it safe to attend the annual family holiday gathering?
Unfortunately, a booster shot is not a free pass for risky behavior, says Weatherhead. In fact, she says, emerging evidence suggests three jabs is now what's needed to better protect against omicron, compared to two jabs for the original strain.
Socializing indoors with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people is a higher risk activity, she says. The question comes down to how much risk you're willing to accept.
"You need to make sure you feel safe and are in an environment that is right for you," she adds.
There are ways to make the gathering a bit safer. You can move the party outdoors. Require guests to take a rapid COVID test before coming to the party. Wear masks when they're not eating or drinking. And increase ventilation by opening up windows and doors or set up portable air cleaners inside the home if you live in a cold climate.
But Weatherhead warns that these measures won't necessarily make the party "risk-free"
That likely means that anyone at high risk of COVID-19 will want to avoid being indoors with unvaccinated folks, says Karan. If you're boosted and not at high risk, he adds, your chances of getting a severe case of COVID is unlikely though it's too early to say how boosters impact long COVID, the lingering symptoms that can persist months after a coronavirus infection.
In any case, your best bet is to bring the topic up with the party host and your family members ahead of time, says Weatherhead, and discuss a plan to mitigate risk at the gathering.
"I recommend erring on the side of communication, being up front and having honest conversations about keeping everyone safe so it's fun for everyone and people feel respected and comfortable," she says.
Just be prepared to make alternate plans if not everyone in the family wants to comply.
Are the side effects from the booster different from the side effects from the first two jabs? And do they last longer? I got boosted six weeks ago, and my arm still hurts. Should I be concerned?
No new side effects have been noted in people getting boosters.
"They're the same side effects that were identified previously, mild side effects that usually last 1 to 2 days," Weatherhead says.
Those include pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, chills, fatigue, headache and fever and, in the case of Moderna, a rash on the arm 5 to 9 days later.
If you had one of the very, very rare severe or allergic reactions to your first jabs, for example, anaphylaxis, you'll want to talk to your doctor before getting boosted, she says. The doctor may recommend a different type of booster shot and a longer monitoring period right after you get jabbed.
And if your arm hurts for months? That's extremely unusual, Karan says.
"There's no robust evidence to show that boosters would give you long-lasting side effects," he says. "But there will be anomalies it's possible to have a longer inflammatory reaction [in the arm where you got the shot]. I've never seen it, but I won't say it's impossible."
It's so rare, though, that it's not something for the general public to worry about. And it's more likely that it's unrelated to the booster, Karan adds. "You could trip over your shoelace the day after your booster," but that doesn't mean the booster caused you to trip.
You can report anything you believe could be an adverse effect to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a program co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, says Weatherhead. The system helps monitor the safety of newly licensed vaccines.
Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She has written about COVID-19 for many publications, including The New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Medscape and The Washington Post. More at sheilaeldred.pressfolios.com. On Twitter: @milepostmedia.
The N.F.L. on Friday postponed three games that were slated for this weekend, the latest juggling of sports schedules as scores of college and professional athletes and coaches have tested positive for the coronavirus in the pandemics latest surge.
With the Washington Football Team and Cleveland Browns possibly having to start quarterbacks signed from their practice squad and the Los Angeles Rams having shut down their facilities because of outbreaks, games involving those teams were delayed two days.
Cleveland will now play the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday instead of Saturday, and Washington will play the Philadelphia Eagles while the Seattle Seahawks will play the Rams on Tuesday instead of Sunday.
The N.F.L. postponements generated the greatest attention yet were far from the only disruptions caused by spikes in virus cases. Three ranked mens college basketball teams, U.C.L.A., Seton Hall and Ohio State, were among more than a dozen mens and womens programs that shut down temporarily.
After Seton Hall canceled Saturdays mens basketball game at Madison Square Garden against Iona because of a coronavirus outbreak, Iona Coach Rick Pitino took to Twitter to let anyone out there know perhaps five guys from Rucker Park that there was a 3 p.m. slot available to play at the worlds most famous arena. (There were no takers.)
In the N.H.L., the Calgary Flames have had four games canceled this week because Coach Darryl Sutter and 16 other team members were placed in Covid-19 protocols. And in the N.B.A., teams like the Nets and Los Angeles Lakers have been playing with skeleton rosters because of virus outbreaks.
If the heavily-vaccinated American sports world thought it was skating toward a return to normalcy, that notion has been upended in recent days by events that seemed like relics of the pandemics more tumultuous and distant times: canceled or postponed games, shuttered facilities, and players and coaches testing positive for the virus.
When the coronavirus intruded before the Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was pulled from a 2020 World Series game because of a positive test it was often before vaccines had become available, which was around this time last year.
But cases have snowballed nationwide this week with an average 120,000 new cases reported per day, a 31 percent spike from two weeks ago, according to The New York Times database. Surges in heavily vaccinated places like New York City, where cases with the Omicron variant are doubling almost daily, have prompted public health officials to urge vaccinated people to get booster shots.
Whats happening in sports is a mirror of whats happening in society, said John Swartzberg, an infectious disease and vaccinology professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
While scientists are trying to assess the severity of the Omicron variant, Swartzberg said it seems unlikely that cases will have eased within a month.
Professional and college basketball as well as professional hockey at least have time on their side, with months remaining to account for any disruptions. Football, though, is entering the final stretch of its season. The N.F.L. playoffs are set to begin next month and there is little wiggle room in its weekend games. There is only one open weekend between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, which is scheduled for Feb. 13 in Los Angeles.
College footballs four-team playoff begins in two weeks, sandwiched by the meat of the bowl season. Its championship game is scheduled for Jan. 10, the day after the regular season ends in the N.F.L.
Of course, were aware of whats happening and were monitoring the situation, said Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, who added that no changes have been made to bowl itineraries or fan guidelines. As it stands, the four playoff teams Cincinnati and Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, and Michigan and Georgia in the Orange Bowl are scheduled to arrive at their sites five days before the Dec. 31 games. Interviews with the media on Dec. 29 are still scheduled to be in person.
Last year, 19 bowl games were canceled, media interviews were done remotely and teams often arrived in town the night before the games.
David Eads, the executive director of the Tournament of Roses, said the Rose Bowl which was moved to Arlington, Texas, last year because fans were not permitted to attend the game has not curtailed any activities surrounding the game that on New Years Day will pit Ohio State against Utah.
Among the Rose Bowl rituals are visits to Disneyland and a prime rib dinner at Lawrys Restaurant in Beverly Hills. Utah, which is playing in its first Rose Bowl, has already sold more than 30,000 tickets and the bowl, which holds 92,000 fans, had been expected to sell out.
Eads said that the Rose Bowl stadium, answering to the Pasadena Department of Health, will require all fans to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result within 72 hours of the game. All fans will be required to wear masks unless they are actively eating or drinking, he said.
The College Football Playoff is holding its championship game in Indianapolis, where the N.C.A.A.s annual convention, which draws thousands of college athletics administrators from all divisions, is scheduled a week later. The N.C.A.A. said it did not yet have any new restrictions and would take its cues from local health officials.
That would be a terrible mistake, Swartzberg said of holding the convention as planned. Looking at the trajectory, its hard to believe well be out of this Delta surge and the Omicron surge by then.
What is sobering for sports leagues about the latest disruptions is that the vast majority of athletes are vaccinated around 95 percent in the N.F.L. and N.B.A. More than 130 players were placed on N.F.L. teams reserve/Covid-19 lists, including at least 10 from the Rams, Browns and Washington. Alan Sills, the chief medical officer of the N.F.L., said on Wednesday that two-thirds of N.F.L. players diagnosed as positive are asymptomatic, and most of the rest have mild symptoms.
Teams have incentivized getting vaccinated by eliminating restrictions for athletes who have received their shots. But leagues have done little to spur athletes to get booster shots, which have shown that they help increase resistance to the most recent variants.
We have better tools now in December 2021 than to shut anything down completely, said Amesh Adjala, an infectious disease physician at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He noted that vaccinated hospital staff where he works are tested less frequently than most professional athletes, and what policies to adopt are as much a sports management question as they are a health and safety one.
It depends on the risk tolerance of players, owners and fans, Adjala said.
At the University of Alabama, what is happening around the country is being watched carefully. The mens basketball team stays in its facility, the womens basketball team is limited to its facility and the football team is in its own building. Really, were kind of in our own little cocoon over here, mens basketball coach Nate Oats said in a video news conference on Friday.
Ill say this, he added. It seems that throughout this thing that certain programs do everything they can and they still get hit with some Covid.
A lot of people are going to contract the new omicron variant in the coming weeks. Some of them will feel sick and, as has always been the case, those people should isolate themselves. Others may be identified through regimented testing for work, school, or travel, and have no symptoms at all.
Right now, all of those people who test positive for Covid-19 symptomatic or not, vaccinated or not are urged to isolate themselves for 10 full days. Some public health experts are asking: Does that still make sense?
The forthcoming omicron wave wont be the same as the ones that preceded it. More than 60 percent of Americas population is vaccinated, and the coronavirus itself is also different: The early evidence suggests with the omicron variant, people might recover and clear the virus from their bodies faster, especially if theyre vaccinated, and they may therefore be contagious for a shorter period of time.
The CDC guidance for when and how long fully vaccinated Americans should isolate was last updated in October. It still recommends that if a person, vaccinated or not, tests positive for Covid-19, they should isolate for 10 days, staying home, keeping away from anybody else who lives in their house, using a different bathroom, and wearing a mask as much as possible. (For vaccinated people who think they may have been exposed to Covid but arent sure, the guidance is not to isolate but to get tested after several days.)
Some experts argue its time to consider shortening the isolation window after a positive test or even changing the guidance to rely more on test results and less on timing.
The stakes are high. A 10-day quarantine for a child in school or somebody with a job that cant be done remotely can be a major inconvenience. The CDC is already relaxing its guidance for schoolchildren, saying those who have been exposed to somebody with Covid-19 can continue to attend classes as long as they continue to test negative. But some of these experts are urging a broader reassessment of similar recommendations for people who contract the virus.
The length of quarantine windows could also determine whether or not US hospitals have the staff to handle the surge of Covid-19 patients expected as omicron sweeps across the country in the coming weeks and months.
The preliminary data out of South Africa indicates that people who are hospitalized with omicron are staying in the hospital for a shorter period of time. That may mean the virus is now clearing the body more quickly, said Monica Gandhi, an infectious-diseases researcher at the University of California San Francisco.
Its too soon to be certain about that. But if this pattern does hold up, that would be a reason to reevaluate the recommendations.
We have to keep on reevaluating if isolation can be shortened, Gandhi said, as we transition to a society where there will be a lot of omicron exposure, given how infectious it is, but hopefully continued protection against severe disease due to cellular immunity.
Rapid tests should, in theory, also make it easier to revise the isolation protocols. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the evidence suggests vaccinated people with a breakthrough infection are contagious for less than the current 10-day isolation window. He would like to change the protocols so that vaccinated people who test positive continue to take rapid at-home tests.
Once they test negative, as long as they feel healthy, he said, they shouldnt need to isolate.
One thing we could do today is to start saying, Use those home tests when you have a breakthrough, he sad. When youre negative and you feel good, go back to your life.
Rapid at-home tests could then serve as a kind of contagiousness test, replacing a strict time-based guideline to let people know when to start and stop isolating. Even small adjustments could help: As Adalja put it to me, being able to return to normal life after nine days instead of 10 can make a real difference.
Other experts agree that it could make sense to reduce isolation periods for fully vaccinated people who arent experiencing symptoms. But it takes time to get the sturdiest empirical foundation for these policy changes.
We will not have the evidence base on which to assess the impact of changes in these protocols for week or months and omicron will be on us before that, Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, said.
So we are working with imperfect information at a critical point in the pandemic: Its imperative to constrain spread as much as possible, but theres also a risk in asking health care workers to quarantine for too long when hospitals are expecting a swell of Covid-19 patients.
We dont know how many people have been strictly following the CDCs guidance after they test positive. But hospitals do with their staffs.
Right now, hospitals are typically asking their staff members who test positive to quarantine for the full 10 days and they are already seeing positive tests skyrocket, even with omicron still accounting for only a fraction of US cases, according to the available data.
Houston Methodist Hospital saw the number of positive tests among its staff members grow from 46 the week of December 6 to 200 the following week.
We must follow the CDC and OSHA guidelines, which require the 10 days of quarantine, Stefanie Asin, a spokesperson for Houston Methodist, said in an email. If they change the guidelines, we will follow suit with our own policies.
This is another way the omicron variant could push the health system into crisis.
Even if the variant does tend to cause milder illness on average, as some early indications suggest, a certain percentage of infected people, especially unvaccinated people, is going to end up getting really sick. The bigger the denominator (infected people) gets, the bigger the numerator (hospitalized patients) will too. The more hospitalizations we see, the more deaths will be added to the 800,000 American lives lost so far and the higher the risk that there will not be beds or nurses for people who come to a hospital with non-Covid medical emergencies.
The crunch will be even more acute if a wave of sick patients hits hospitals where doctors, nurses, and staff are sidelined for days with mild or asymptomatic cases. Omicron appears adept at evading immunity from vaccines and causing mild or asymptomatic breakthrough infections for some people, though the vaccines still provide strong protection against severe illness. But that change in the virus could lead to a lot of nurses and doctors testing positive and being required to quarantine, even if they dont have symptoms or if they feel better quickly.
As hospitals have said throughout the pandemic, staffing is as much of a constraint on their ability to deliver care as physical beds or supplies. Before omicron hit, nearly 99 percent of rural hospitals already said in a recent survey that they were experiencing a staffing shortage; 96 percent said they are having trouble finding nurses specifically. These hospitals tend to be in communities with lower vaccination rates, where the need for care is expected to explode as omicron takes over.
Even though the CDC recommendations are thus far unchanged, isolation protocols in some industries are already starting to change ahead of the omicron wave.
The NFL announced this week, after a rash of positive tests that put several of the coming weekends games in jeopardy, that it would relax its isolation policies for vaccinated players who test positive. Instead of requiring them to return two separate negative tests taken 24 hours apart, those players no longer need to wait a full day between tests. Any two negative tests are sufficient to allow a player to return to practice and games. (At the same time, the league is also reinstating mask requirements and is putting restrictions on what players and coaches can do outside team facilities, steps not widely seen outside of the NFL.)
This kind of transition is necessary, Adalja argued. We are moving from a reality in which Covid-19 is a world-altering public health emergency to one in which it is one of many viruses circulating and infecting people all the time. In the first scenario, blanket one-size-fits-all guidelines had value.
But as we move into the second, individual cases should be treated individually, he said. A vaccinated person with no symptoms is not the same as somebody who isnt vaccinated and feeling sick. There should be a protocol that allows the former to return to life as soon as possible, while giving the latter a way to know when they can do the same.
Theres one big hurdle: Ending quarantines based on test results depends on tests being available and on people being willing to take them. Some people might not because testing every day at current rates could get expensive. The Biden White House sought to ease the cost burden for tests with its plan to have people submit their receipts to their insurer for reimbursement, but that could prove too cumbersome for many people to follow through.
In the years to come, as the coronavirus continues to circulate without, it is hoped, causing massive waves of hospitalization and death, this guidance will be less necessary; the CDC will offer its recommendations and people will decide whether to heed them.
Thats already how we handle flu and other seasonal illnesses, and its likely it will eventually be true of Covid-19 too. Precision medicine is when we craft recommendations based on individual characteristics, Adalja said. As this becomes more endemic and managed by individual physicians, you will see naturally a move toward precision medicine.
For individuals, that transition may happen over years. But for hospitals anticipating an imminent surge of omicron patients, considering a new policy for isolation is urgent. Theyll need all hands on deck to care for their patients.
More than half, 55%, say the risk of coronavirus remains high enough that they think it is still necessary to take extra precautions in their everyday lives. Thirty-eight percent anticipate they'll continue taking these extra precautions going forward, with just 17% believing they'll eventually feel safe enough to return to their pre-pandemic habits. Another 45% say they already feel safe enough to carry out everyday life largely the way it was before the pandemic, up from 36% in a survey conducted in August and early September.
This divide in Americans' approaches to Covid mirrors a broader rift in views of how the nation should be handling the pandemic, the poll finds. Those still taking precautions also largely favor mitigation policies put in place by the government or other institutions: 72% believe the government has a role to play in limiting the spread of Covid-19, 70% consider vaccination requirements an acceptable way of raising vaccination rates and 74% favor mask requirements in public indoor spaces.
Among the smaller share who've returned to their pre-pandemic normal, 66% consider vaccination requirements an infringement on personal rights, 82% believe mask-wearing should be optional and 65% believe that the government cannot effectively limit the spread of the virus.
The dwindling minority who remain unvaccinated are the least likely to say they're factoring the pandemic into their lives in other ways. Two-thirds of unvaccinated adults say that they're not currently taking any precautions against coronavirus, compared with 39% of those who've been vaccinated.
The results come amid widespread but ebbing concerns about the virus. A 62% majority of Americans still say they're at least somewhat worried about the coronavirus pandemic in their communities -- 22% say they're very worried, down from 41% in a poll taken in August and early September. Roughly 62% of Americans say the pandemic was a factor for them in making holiday plans this year, but only 30% call it a major factor. Even among those who say they're currently taking Covid precautions, fewer than half say that the pandemic was a major factor in their plans.
Overall, a 55% majority of Americans say they believe the government can take effective action to limit the spread of coronavirus, while 44% say the government cannot effectively limit the spread of coronavirus. About 4 in 10 say the US government is doing the right amount to control the spread of coronavirus in the country, standing in contrast to wide majorities who say they want further government action on some economic issues and violent crime. A quarter say the government is doing too much, and another 34% that it's doing too little.
President Joe Biden currently holds a 54% approval rating for his handling of the pandemic, higher than his overall approval rating and well above his numbers on other issues including the economy. About half of Americans, 49%, say they're somewhat or very confident that Biden will make the right decisions about handling new variants of the coronavirus, with a similar 51% expressing confidence in their states' governments. More have confidence in the people living in their communities (58%) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (68%) to handle variants, while fewer have confidence in Congress (35%). Just 31% of Americans say they're very confident in the CDC, with even fewer expressing high confidence in any of the other people or institutions listed. Only 21% are very confident in Biden, 14% in their states' governments, 11% in their communities and just 6% in Congress.
Slightly more than half of the public, 54%, says that requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination for everyday activities outside of the home is an acceptable way to increase the vaccination rate, rather than an unacceptable infringement on personal rights. In September, a similar 51% found such mandates acceptable.
A larger majority of the public favors the efforts by the federal government to impose new workplace vaccine rules that include an alternate testing option. Six in 10 say they'd support mandating businesses with 100 or more employees to require their workers either to be vaccinated against coronavirus or to get tested for the virus at least once a week.
Half of those interviewed in the survey were asked how effective Covid-19 vaccines are generally, while the other half were asked how effective they are against severe disease and hospitalization, and the poll suggests little difference in perceptions of the vaccines' effectiveness either way. An 80% majority of Americans say that based on what they've heard, read and seen, the vaccines in use in the US are somewhat or very effective, with a similar 76% saying they believe them to be effective against severe disease and hospitalization, specifically.
An 82% majority of all those surveyed believe that the shots are safe. Only 34% of unvaccinated adults say they consider the vaccines even somewhat safe and an average of just 31% in the combined results of the two questions on effectiveness think they're even somewhat effective, reflecting the challenging level of resistance among remaining holdouts. By contrast, 95% of those who've been vaccinated think the vaccines are safe and 91% see them as effective.
Americans are roughly split on their preferences for mask requirements in public, indoor spaces like stores, workplaces, movie theaters and restaurants. About half, 49%, say everyone should be required to wear a mask in these settings, while 51% say people should be able to choose whether they wear masks.
Polling, however, has consistently found divides along partisan lines. In the CNN poll, three-quarters of Democrats believe the government can take effective action against the pandemic, compared with only one-third of Republicans who say the same. An 82% majority of Democrats, compared with 48% of independents and 26% of Republicans, say they consider vaccine mandates acceptable.
There are also divides within each party, the CNN survey finds. Democrats 45 and older are 10 percentage points likelier than younger Democrats to say that mandates for everyday activities are an acceptable way to increase vaccination rates, with a similar 11-point split between younger and older independents. Republicans 45 and older are 13 points likelier than younger Republicans to say the same. On the GOP side, self-described moderate or liberal Republicans are 31 points likelier to find mandates acceptable than are conservative members of the party.
Those who have been vaccinated and not yet boosted seem less than eager to get an additional boost. About a third of adults say they haven't even tried to schedule booster shots, while 6% report having appointments to get them and another 4% have tried but have been unable to schedule them.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Florida's coronavirus situation worsened dramatically in one week with cases and the first-time positivity rate more than doubling, hospitalizations up about 10% though fatalities' increase was less than one week ago, according to data released by the State Department of Health on Friday.
Case rose 28,841 in one week to 3,739,348, including 8,785 new ones posted Friday, which is the most since 10,122 Sept. 21. This contrasts with 12,984 last week, which is a little more than 2,000 from the past week. Florida's deaths increased by 194 one week to 62,220 after 325 and two weeks ago 153, which is the lowest since early in the pandemic last year.
The new cases in the state over one week were 29,568, one week after 13,530, two weeks after 10,892 and three weeks after 9,663, the lowest since the state week to weekly reports, which is different than the increase because of revisions.
The CDC or state doon't break down cases by the variant, including omicron, the highly contagious strain that apparently isn't as severe andwas reported less than one month ago in South Africa or delta, which has been the dominant strain since the summer. State data isn't broken down by break-through cases (those vaccinated) or reinfections.
The 1,584 hospitalizations are 201 more than one week ago and 356 more than a record-low Nov. 29. The hospitalizations are a fraction of record 17,295 on Aug. 19. Last year the lowest was 2,031 on Oct. 17.
The first-time positivity rate surged to 5.4% compared with 2.6% the week earlier, 2.5% previously and back-to-back all-time lows of 2.4% earlier. The last time it was above the 5% target rate was 6.6 on Sept. 24.
The state reported 12.0% of youths 5-11 have been vaccinated, up from 11% the week earlier. The state listed vaccination data for those 5-11 is 208,421 compared with 185,556 one week earlier. Nearly six of seven adults (85.0%) have at least one vaccination shot, a rise of 0.5 percentage one week ago, and those 12 and older at 83.1%.
Cases
On Nov. 30 the 9,792 increase the lowest since the state went to weekly reports on June 4.
In the past week, new cases have risen from 1,976 Monday to 3,067 Tuesday to 4,127 Wednesday to 6,846 Thursday.
The seven-day moving average is 4,225, the most since 4,404 Oct. 4. On Nov. 24, it was 1,224 with the previous fewest 1,1191 June 9, 2020.
On Nov. 30 the 9,792 increase the lowest since the state went to weekly reports on June 4.
Increased cases this past week are 18.9% of a record 152,760 14 weeks ago.
In the past few weeks all South Florida counties were below the target 5% rate. Now it's only Okeechobee at 2.1% (3.3% last week), Indian River at 3.4% (3.2%). St. Lucie at 3.5% (2.3% last week). Others are Palm Beach County 6.5% (2.6% last week), Broward 6.9% (2.6% last week), Miami-Dade 7.0% (1.8%), with the later having the most deaths in the state at 9,208 in a report posted this week by the CDC.
The 20-29 group has the most new cases at 6,976 one week after 2,133 and the highest positivity rate at 9.0. The 30-39 age group is 6,367, plus a 7.3% rate, and was the most last week with 2,223. The 5-11 group has 1,500 new cases with a 4.5% first-time positivity rate. In the 12-19 age group there are 2,356 new cases and only 58% fully vaccinated (the youngest age recently to get the shots). Cases for those under 5 are 673. Conversely, the positivity rate is 2.4% for those 65 and older with 90% fully vaccinated.
The daily cases record is 27,696 reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 26.
On Sept. 1 the new cases were 21,520, the last time it was above 21,000.
On Nov. 7, there were 271 cases, the lowest since 176 March 23, 2020.
The CDC lists the seven-day moving average record2`1,644 on Aug. 16.
Cases weekly reached 109,816 (`15,688 daily)on Jan. 10 until the spike.
Deaths
Two weeks ago the 153 rise was the lowest since it rose from 63 in one week to 208 in the weekend ending April 2,020, less than one month after the first fatality. It rose 172 to 37,985 in the weekend ending July 8.
Six weeks ago, Florida became the third state to pass 60,000 residents' deaths from coronavirus. Florida is behind California and Texas, each with more than 70,000, but ahead of New York in third place. Florida is among three states with at least 3 million cases, also ahead of California and Texas.
The state passed 50,000 deaths on Aug. 31.
Deaths can take several days or even weeks to be reported to the state so the figures will fluctuate.
The state set a record for most deaths in one day: 425 on Aug. 27. Until the recent spike, the record was 242 on Aug. 4, 2020.
The record increase was 276 on Aug. 11 when the state was giving daily reports.
The highest seven-day moving average is 402 daily (2,814 weekly)on Sept. 1.Until the spike, the record was 227 (1,589 weekly) only Aug. 5, 2020.
Last year the highest weekly seven-day increase was 1,589 (227 daily) on Aug. 5, 2020, according to the CDC. The first-time daily positivity rate last year was 9.04%. Earlier this year it was less than 5%.
Until Friday's report12 weeks ago, deaths had surpassed 2,000 four weeks in a row: 2,340 after 2,468, 2,448, 2,345. Last week's increase was 363 and the previous week 644.
The state listed 39 deaths occurred in the past week with 36 the previous week and 433 12 weeks ago. In newly reported deaths, children under 16 years old remained at 31 since the pandemic, with no changes also for those 16-29 for a total of 433.
The CDC is now only reflecting the date of occurrence for cases and deaths rather than when reported to the Florida Department of Health. It can take several days or even weeks for the state to receive a report of a death. The CDC twice a week had been revising the previous cumulative totals as more data are reported. It was back adjusted Friday.
The state has never listed increases on its since disbanded website and reports as media outlets, including WPTV, did the math each day.
Positivity rate
The weekly first-time infection positivity rate is one-tenth of a record 20.5% during the summer.The lowest daily rate this year was 3.03% on May 25 when the state was reporting this data. In the week of May 17-30, 2020, before testing ramped up, it was below 3.0% for eight days, including 0.62% one day for an average of 2.82%. It has been under the 5.0% state target rate seven weeks in a row.
The first-time daily positivity rate reached 7.8% this summer. The daily record was 23.38% on Dec. 28.
County data
Palm Beach County:Cases: 231,638 residents (2,445 new, 942 past week). First-time positivity average in past week: 6.5%.
St. Lucie County: Cases: 48,485 residents (191 new, 131 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 3.5%
Martin County:Cases: 20,602 residents (106 new, 83 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 3.8%
Indian River County: Cases: 22,470 residents (81 new, 76 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 3.4%
Okeechobee County: 7,443 residents (8 new, 18 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 2.1%.
Broward County: Cases: 367,706 residents (4,770 new, 1,524 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 6.9%.
Miami-Dade County: 695,385 residents (11,689 new, 2,771 past week). First-daily positivity in past week: 7.0%.
Nationwide
On June 4, Florida switched to weekly reports from daily -- the first state in the nation reporting any data every seven days. In addition, the state's dashboard was removed, as well as current hospitalization data. Michigan and Ohio, which are in the top 10 for most deaths, report fatalities only a few days per week.
According to data received by the CDC Thursday, U.S. deaths rose 1,089 and cases were up 156,415 with Florida accounting for 5.6%. On Monday, it hit 193,544, the most since 212,116 Jan. 16.
The state, which is the third most-populous with 16.5% of the population, is third in the nation, behind California with 74,996, including 117 in the past day reported, and Texas with 73,756, including a daily increase of 98 and ahead of New York with 58,465, with a rise of 53 Friday.
Florida is third in cases behind California with 4,909,188, a rise of 7,293 and Texas with 4,397,558 including 5,991 Friday. New York reported a record 21,017 cases for a total of 2,895,808, surpassing the mark of 19,578 on Jan. 8.
The overall first-time positivity rate is 20.3%, with no change.
The state reports don't include nonresidents' deaths and cases.
The weekly reports also don't list deaths for each county though it is now available by the CDC but include other data:
In other data, the state reported there are 31 deaths under 16 (no change) and 505,801 cases (502,798 previous week). At the other extreme, for 65 and older there are 46,390 deaths (46,272 previous week), which is 74.6% of total and 480,808 cases (480,808 previous week), which is 12.9% of total.
The state's mortality rate (cases vs. deaths) was 1.7% (no change) including 9.6% for 65 and older but less than 1% in younger ages except 2.5% for 60-64. It is 1.6% in the United States and 2.0% worldwide.
In deaths per million, Florida is 2,896 (ninth in nation), U.S. 2,496, world 687.6. Mississippi is first at 3,479, Alabama second at 3,333, New Jersey third at 3,228. New York, which had been second for most of the pandemic behind New Jersey, is now sixth at 3,033.
Here are the deaths in the past week, according to the CDC: Pennsylvania 824, Ohio 583, Arizona 490, California 447, Texas 431, Michigan 395.
Florida's deaths are 7.8% of the total in the U.S. total and 7.4% of the cases. The state comprises 6.6% of the U.S. population.
Since the first two cases were announced on March 1, 2020, Florida's total has surged to 17.4% of the state's 21.48 million population, 15th in cases per million behind No. 1 North Dakota. In cases per 100,000 for seven days, Florida is 38th at 137.7 (one week after 63.1 at 47th) with Rhode Island No. 1 at 1,332.7, New Hampshire No. 2 at 630.4, Wisconsin No. 3 at 548.9, Connecticut No. 4 at 504.3, Massachusetts No. 5 at 500.2, according to the CDC.
Here are the cases in the path week: Pennsylvania 58,566, Illinois 56,078, Ohio 52,422, New York (not city) 51,377, Michigan 45,518, California 44,143.. Florida's 29,577 is 12th.
The CDC has directed states to generally count one case per person unless the virus was contracted again more than 90 days. Florida doesn't report re-infections.
Florida is third in total tests at 44,926,197 with California No. 1 at 98,907,364. Some people have taken more than one test.
In one week, there were 492,684 tests, which is 70,383 daily. Last week it was 467,283. On Dec. 23 there were a record 150,587 tests in one day.
Hospitalizations
Of the 257 Florida hospitals reporting, 2.6% are occupied with COVID-19 patients and 79.6% (47,046) with all patients of the 59,105 total beds. The day before 256 hospitals reported data.
The record low was 1,228 on Nov. 29.
Florida is 15th in U.S. with covid hospitalizations with Pennsylvania first with 5,169 (17.08%), Ohio second with 5,155 (16.58%), Michigan third with 4,459 (19.98%), New York fourth with 4,296 (8.97%), California fifth with 3,969 (6.1%), Illinois sixth with 3,686 (12.12%), Texas seventh with 3,511 (5.31%).
The U.S. coronavirus occupancy is 68,900 at 8.99% compared with 54,147one week ago.
Vaccinations
In state vaccination data from the CDC, 85.0% of Florida's population 18 and older has had at least one dose (14,662,238) and 73.2% fully vaccinated (12,622,720. President Joe Biden had set a nationwide goal of 70% vaccinated by July 4 with at least one dose by adults and the current figure is 84.8%. Totally vaccinated is 72.3%.
In addition, the CDC is now capping percentages at 95%.
Forty-three states achieving the 70% standard are New Hampshire (95.0%), Massachusetts (95.0%), Connecticut (95.0%), Pennsylvania (95.0%), Hawaii (95.0%), Vermont (95.0%), Rhode Island (95.0%), West Virginia (95.0%), New Jersey (94.9%), Maine (94.6%), California (94.2%), New York (94.1%), New Mexico (91.1%), Maryland (90.7%), Virginia (89.0%), Delaware (87.6%), Washington (86.2%), North Carolina (87.3%), Florida (85.0%), Colorado (84.3%), South Dakota (83.9%), Oregon (83.5%), Minnesota (82.0%), Illinois (81.9%), Utah (81.6%), Kansas (81.5%), Nevada (81.1%), Oklahoma (78.8%), Texas (78.7%), Nebraska (78.3%), Wisconsin (78.2%), Arizona (77.3), Alaska (76.4%), Iowa (75.9%), North Dakota (74.1%), Arkansas (73.6%), Kentucky (73.3%), South Carolina (73.2%), Michigan (73.1%), Missouri (72.7%), Georgia (72.4%), Montana (71.8), Ohio (70.4%).
West Virginia jumped significantly from three weeks being listed at 64.6%.
The three worst percentages: Wyoming 66.5%, Mississippi at 66.9%, Indiana at 68.4%.
Also reaching the benchmark are Guam (95.0%), Republic of Pau (95.0%), District of Columbia (95.0%), Puerto Rico (95.0), American Samoa (95.0%), Northern Mariana Islands (93.9%).
The CDC is now listing percentages for those 5 and older: one shot 15,759,209 (77.5%) and fully vaccinated 13,471,006 (66.2%) in Florida
For those 12 and older in Florida, 83.1% had at least one dose (15,540,082) and the complete series is 71.4% (13,349,805).
For the total population, the percentage is 73.4% (15,766,979) and the complete series is 62.4% (13,472,644).
The state considers fully vaccinated two doses for Pfizer and Moderna and one for Johnson & Johnson.
In boosters, 26.4% of adults in Florida (3,366,315) and 31.3% in the United States (58,063,905) have been vaccinated.
NEW YORK (AP) U.S. officials intensified calls Friday for unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated in the face of the new omicron variant that contributed to a record number of infections in New York and threatened to wipe out a second holiday season in Europe.
Though the calendar is about to change, Friday had a distinctly 2020 feel: NFL games were postponed because of COVID-19 infections. The Rockettes Christmas show was canceled for the season. European governments imposed a spate of restrictions that ground travel to a halt and saw travelers lying low.
Much remains unknown about omicron, but officials warn that it appears more transmissible than the delta variant, which has already put pressure on hospitals worldwide. The uncertainty alone was enough for many people to change their plans.
In the United States, President Joe Bidens administration resisted tightening any restrictions, but also sketched out dire scenarios for the unvaccinated in a plea for hesitant Americans to get the shot.
For the unvaccinated, youre looking at a winter of severe illness and death, for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said Friday, echoing the presidents own comments earlier this week.
The new variant is already in full force in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, with new cases hitting a one-day record of more than 8,300 on Thursday. But new hospitalizations and deaths so far are well below their spring 2020 peak and even where they were this time last year, city data shows.
The coronavirus also interrupted sports in the U.S. again. The NFL announced Friday that three games would be pushed from the weekend to next week because of outbreaks. The league has not specified whether the cases came from the omicron variant.
The Radio City Rockettes called off four performances scheduled for Friday because of breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the production, and plans for upcoming shows were still being assessed. The popular holiday program generally has four shows per day in December at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan.
Dr. Stanley Weiss, a Rutgers University epidemiology professor, said officials need to react faster, citing a willingness to redefine fully vaccinated to include booster shots, for example.
Everyone wants us to be through with this pandemic, but in order to get us through it, we cant ignore the realities of whats going on and what is needed, Weiss said.
Denmark decided to close theaters, concert halls, amusement parks and museums in response to virus cases. In Spain, friends and classmates canceled traditional year-end dinners.
Scotland and Wales on Friday pledged millions of pounds for businesses hurt in Britains latest infection surge, a move that heaped pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government to do the same in England.
Treasury chief Rishi Sunak held talks with business representatives who have demanded more support, decrying a lockdown by stealth in which government officials recommend people cut back on socializing as much as possible without officially imposing the strict rules of past shutdowns.
Britain reported record numbers of infections three days in a row this week, the latest on Friday with more than 93,000 cases tallied.
Businesses ranging from vacation providers to pubs and theaters saw a wave of cancellations as customers decided to skip merrymaking for now rather than risk being infected and missing family celebrations later.
Even Britains Christmas pantos beloved and raucous holiday performances are under threat. The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry in western England had to refund 180,000 pounds ($240,000) in ticket sales after customers decided not to go to shows. It was also forced to cancel 12 performances of Beauty and the Beast because half the cast tested positive.
Theres been a real dent of confidence, Executive Director Joanna Reid told the BBC.
Scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said Friday that financial assistance for business must come from the central government because it has the borrowing power to finance the scale of aid that is needed.
Business is already bleeding, every 24 hours counts, Sturgeon said during a briefing in Edinburgh, Scotlands capital. There is no time to waste.
The already beleaguered travel and tourism industry is being particularly hammered.
Eurostar, which operates trains across the English Channel, sold out of tickets to France on Friday before new rules restricting travel to and from Britain took effect. Long lines snaked around the parking lot at the Eurotunnel, which runs the tunnel that drivers use to cross the water.
Ryanair originally expected to carry about 11 million passengers in December, but that figure dropped to 10 million, chief executive Michael OLeary told the Guardian. Europes biggest airline will also cut about 10% of its capacity in January.
Amanda Wheelock, 29, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, canceled a trip to France with her partner as cases spiked there. Even though the surge isnt necessarily due to omicron, the uncertainty about the new variant, and a new requirement that all U.S. travelers have to test negative before flying back to the U.S., made her worry that the trip would be more stressful than fun.
Instead, shes traveling to the Anchorage, Alaska, area to see friends.
A vacation with a lot of stress is probably not a great vacation, said Wheelock, who is from Arvada, Colorado.
The Advantage Travel Group, which represents about 350 U.K. travel agents, said business fell by 40% in mid-December from a month earlier. Those numbers, including flights, cruise bookings and package holidays, add to the travel industrys existing slump, which had already seen business fall by two-thirds since the pandemic began, CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said.
Our members are dealing with customers who are really nervous about traveling now, she said Theyre really nervous about bookings for the New Year because they fear that theres a risk that the government will make more knee-jerk reactions.
Many in the travel and hospitality trades hoped they had put the worst behind them, nearly two years into a pandemic that has devastated those industries. They saw this holiday season as a chance to claw back some of what was lost until omicron cast a pall reminiscent of the early days of the crisis.
Richard Stevens estimates he has lost out on 4,000 pounds ($5,300) worth of bookings at his rental ski chalet in the French Alps after the new, stricter travel rules for people coming from Britain were announced.
He lost his first reservation when a guest called to say that the restrictions wont allow anybody to come to France without a compelling reason, Stevens said. And the compelling reason doesnt include going on holiday.
Celebrity chef Michel Roux and other restaurateurs have invested heavily to remake their venues to address safety concerns and hoped to reap some of the benefits.
To return to a state of huge uncertainty for a second consecutive Christmas is like a kick in the stomach, said Roux, who has a destination restaurant in London.
Jorge Riera, who manages a traditional Spanish diner in central Madrid, said it doesnt matter that authorities have not imposed specific restrictions and, at most, have only issued recommendations.
Most of our customers prioritize the well-being of their relatives over going out for a fun night with colleagues, Riera said.
In the past week alone, cancellations rolled in for about half of the booked space, sometimes on the same day of the event, the manager said.
People are once again afraid of the virus, he said.
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Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan and Danica Kirka in London; Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington, Mae Anderson in New York, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
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Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
A look at some of the top headlines trending online today around the world including the latest on the Omicron variant and other coronavirus updates, President Biden and much more.
Biden signs debt ceiling increase, preventing first-ever U.S. default (CNBC)
Biden concedes BBB bill wont get passed this year (Politico)
Student loan payments set to resume for millions, while child tax credit extension stalls in Senate (Yahoo)
FDA allows for abortion pills to be sent by mail (CBS)
Judge rejects Purdue Pharmas sweeping opioid settlement (AP)
Biden says unvaccinated face winter of severe illness and death, encourages Americans to get booster (Washington Post)
CDC recommends Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over Johnson & Johnson due to rare blood clotting issue (Fox)
A Covid-19 viral blizzard is about to hit the US, expert says (CNN)
COVID-19 fears dash hopes for the holiday season again (AP)
Full vaccination against COVID-19 and a breakthrough infection builds super immunity, study finds (USA Today)
NFLs new COVID-19 rules include changes to return-to-play protocols, return of intensive restrictions (ESPN)
Spacecraft discovers hidden water in Mars Grand Canyon (CNET)
Peloton scrubs viral ads starring Chris Noth after the Mr. Big actor is accused of sexual assault (The Verge)
Flu vaccines dont match the main circulating flu virus strain, researchers find (CNN)
Betty Whites 100th Birthday Celebration Is Coming to Theaters (Variety)
Country
United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe
This year, health experts around the world revised their views about how the coronavirus spreads. Aerosol scientists, virologists and other researchers had determined in 2020 that the virus spreads through the air, but it took until 2021 for prominent public health agencies to acknowledge the fact. The admission could have wide-ranging consequences for everything from public health recommendations and building codes to marching band practices (SN: 8/14/21, p. 24).
For decades, doctors and many researchers have thought that respiratory viruses such as cold and flu viruses spread mainly by people touching surfaces contaminated by mucus droplets and then touching their faces. Thats why, in the early days of the pandemic, disinfectant wipes flew off store shelves.
Surface-to-face transfer is still a probable route of infection for some cold-causing viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. But it turns out that the coronavirus spreads mainly through fine aerosol particles that may hang in the air for hours, particularly indoors.
People spread such aerosols when coughing or sneezing, but also when talking, singing, shouting and even quietly breathing, allowing infected people to spread the disease even before they know theyre sick. Some evidence suggests that the coronavirus may be evolving to spread more easily through the air (SN: 9/25/21, p. 6).
It took collecting reams of data and more than 200 scientists pushing the World Health Organization and other public health agencies to acknowledge airborne spread of the coronavirus. In April 2021, both the WHO and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their recommendations to note that airborne spread is a major route of infection (SN Online: 5/18/21).
That recognition was vital to public understanding of why wearing well-fitting masks is necessary in public indoor places (SN: 3/13/21, p. 14; SN Online: 7/27/21). Masking, social distancing and other measures to guard against the coronavirus are also credited with nearly wiping out flu last winter (SN Online: 2/2/21). Experts fear a resurgence of cold and flu this winter if those measures arent continued (SN Online: 8/12/21).
Knowledge that COVID-19 is an airborne disease has led to such measures as rearranging seating in orchestras (SN Online: 6/23/21) and updating recommendations for proper ventilation and filtration in buildings. Some scientists and activists have also suggested that the safety of indoor air should be regulated to reduce the spread of diseases, much like safety standards for food and drinking water.
The state on Wednesday reported 907 new known cases of COVID-19 as it passed another threshold in the fight against the disease: More than 3 million Oregonians have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, officials said.
Thats 70% of the population at least partially inoculated since the state began administering the first shots one year ago. But state officials noted that much more work needs to be done, with about 64% of residents fully vaccinated and 21% vaccinated with a booster or extra dose.
Boosters are now more important than ever, with data showing two shots of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are 33% effective against infection from the fast-spreading omicron variant, compared to about 80% against delta. But epidemiologists believe boosters dramatically increase the bodys defenses against omicron.
Health experts also were urging parents to vaccinate their young children, ages 5 to 11, who became eligible for shots about six weeks ago. Only 27% of kids in this age group have received at least one dose.
I am a huge proponent of vaccinations for kids and adults, said Dr. Katie Sharff, Infectious Disease Specialist with Kaiser Permanente, in a written statement. Recent studies have demonstrated that children who receive the pediatric-size vaccine are much less likely to have symptomatic infection or become seriously ill with COVID-19.
Where the new cases are by county: Baker (3), Benton (8), Clackamas (63), Clatsop (25), Columbia (5), Coos (23), Crook (12), Curry (7), Deschutes (39), Douglas (51), Gilliam (3), Grant (12), Harney (3), Hood River (5), Jackson (63), Jefferson (5), Josephine (36), Klamath (18), Lake (2), Lane (68), Lincoln (8), Linn (45), Malheur (4), Marion (90), Morrow (3), Multnomah (128), Polk (28), Tillamook (13), Umatilla (16), Union (2), Wasco (2), Washington (87) and Yamhill (30).
Deaths: The state reported 39 new COVID-19 deaths, but no information about ages or locations of those who died. The state said itll release that information later.
Hospitalizations: 380 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized, two fewer than Tuesday. That number includes 94 people in intensive care units, three fewer than the previous day.
Vaccines: The state reported 3,851 people receiving first shots since Tuesday.
Since it began: Oregon has reported 403,329 confirmed or presumed infections and 5,508 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 6,446,469 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 2,731,603 people and partially vaccinating 270,999 people.
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
