The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of July 28, 2021, there have been 3,110,060 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 166,493 total cases and 2,939 deaths.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 87-year old male from Webster County, an 87-year old female from Fayette County, and a 54-year old male from Logan County.
We mourn the loss of these West Virginians and send our deepest sympathies to their loved ones, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. I urge you to schedule your COVID vaccine today.
CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,536), Berkeley (13,029), Boone (2,201), Braxton (1,047), Brooke (2,269), Cabell (9,049), Calhoun (403), Clay (544), Doddridge (653), Fayette (3,629), Gilmer (893), Grant (1,320), Greenbrier (2,921), Hampshire (1,939), Hancock (2,870), Hardy (1,591), Harrison (6,321), Jackson (2,293), Jefferson (4,855), Kanawha (15,663), Lewis (1,346), Lincoln (1,615), Logan (3,332), Marion (4,745), Marshall (3,590), Mason (2,123), McDowell (1,661), Mercer (5,273), Mineral (3,010), Mingo (2,808), Monongalia (9,493), Monroe (1,238), Morgan (1,267), Nicholas (1,951), Ohio (4,368), Pendleton (726), Pleasants (963), Pocahontas (689), Preston (2,975), Putnam (5,445), Raleigh (7,163), Randolph (2,884), Ritchie (772), Roane (671), Summers (870), Taylor (1,322), Tucker (550), Tyler (759), Upshur (2,021), Wayne (3,223), Webster (593), Wetzel (1,417), Wirt (469), Wood (8,033), Wyoming (2,102).
Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Doddridge, Jefferson, Lincoln, Putnam, Ritchie, Tyler/Wetzel and Wayne counties.
Barbour County
9:00 AM 11:00 AM, Barbour County Health Department, 109 Wabash Avenue, Philippi, WV
Berkeley County
10:00 AM 5:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV
10:00 AM 4:00 PM, Berkeley County Sheriffs Office Parking Lot, 510 South Raleigh Street, Martinsburg, WV
Doddridge County
Jefferson County
10:00 AM 6:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV
Lincoln County
Putnam County
Ritchie County
1:00 PM 4:00 PM, Ritchie Regional, 138 S Penn Avenue, Harrisville, WV
Tyler/Wetzel Counties
Wayne County
10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova Avenue, Wayne, WV
Overview
This Process Guide lays out a sequenced set of analytics and actions to support reorienting budgetary arrangements to facilitate the ability of national governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine services to their populations.This Process Guide discusses the critical issue of identifyingwhat needs to be financedboth in the immediate and medium termsto respond to the COVID-19 crisis and to lay the critical foundations for health and related systems that can be better prepared for and adaptive to emerging threats. Next is consideredhow countries can use fiscal instrumentsto enable sustainable financing and budgets to support effective implementation of COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccine services. Finally, the Guide discusseshow to monitorthe use of resourcesto ensure transparency and accountability. The Process Guide lays out concrete steps that can be taken and adapted at country level to assess financing capacities, needs, and processes to deliver COVID-19 therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine services, while also reorienting financing arrangements to better meet both health security- and UHC-related objectives in the longer run.
This Process Guide was jointly developed under the auspices of the ACT-A Health Systems Connector by WHO, World Bank, the Global Financing Facility, and P4H partnership.
Medical staff members check on a patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston last November. Doctors are now investigating whether people with lingering cognitive symptoms may be at risk for dementia. Go Nakamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Medical staff members check on a patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston last November. Doctors are now investigating whether people with lingering cognitive symptoms may be at risk for dementia.
Before she got COVID-19, Cassandra Hernandez, 38, was in great shape both physically and mentally.
"I'm a nurse," she says. "I work with surgeons and my memory was sharp."
Then, in June 2020, COVID-19 struck Hernandez and several others in her unit at a large hospital in San Antonio.
"I went home after working a 12-hour shift and sat down to eat a pint of ice cream with my husband and I couldn't taste it," she says.
The loss of taste and smell can be an early sign that COVID-19 is affecting a brain area that helps us sense odors.
Hernandez would go on to spend two weeks in the hospital and months at home disabled by symptoms including tremors, extreme fatigue and problems with memory and thinking.
"I would literally fall asleep if I was having a conversation or doing anything that involved my brain," she says.
Now, researchers at UT Health San Antonio are studying patients like Hernandez, trying to understand why their cognitive problems persist and whether their brains have been changed in ways that elevate the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
The San Antonio researchers are among the teams of scientists from around the world who will present their findings on how COVID-19 affects the brain at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference, which begins Monday in Denver.
What scientists have found so far is concerning.
For example, PET scans taken before and after a person develops COVID-19 suggest that the infection can cause changes that overlap those seen in Alzheimer's. And genetic studies are finding that some of the same genes that increase a person's risk for getting severe COVID-19 also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's diagnoses also appear to be more common in patients in their 60s and 70s who have had severe COVID-19, says Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin, a professor of neurology at UT Health San Antonio. "It's downright scary," he says.
And de Erausquin and his colleagues have noticed that mental problems seem to be more common in COVID-19 patients who lose their sense of smell, perhaps because the disease has affected a brain area called the olfactory bulb.
"Persistent lack of smell, it's associated with brain changes not just in the olfactory bulb but those places that are connected one way or another to the smell sense," he says.
Those places include areas involved in memory, thinking, planning and mood.
COVID-19's effects on the brain also seem to vary with age, de Erausquin says. People in their 30s seem more likely to develop anxiety and depression.
"In older people, people over 60, the foremost manifestation is forgetfulness," he says. "These folks tend to forget where they placed things, they tend to forget names, they tend to forget phone numbers. They also have trouble with language; they begin forgetting words."
The symptoms are similar to those of early Alzheimer's, and doctors sometimes describe these patients as having an Alzheimer's-like syndrome that can persist for many months.
"Those people look really bad right now," de Erausquin says. "And the expectation is that it may behave as Alzheimer's behaves, in a progressive fashion. But the true answer is we don't know."
Another scientist who will present research at the Alzheimer's conference is Dr. Sudha Seshadri, founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio.
The possibility that COVID-19 might increase the risk of Alzheimer's is alarming, Seshadri says. "Even if the effect is small, it's something we're going to have to factor in because the population is quite large," she says.
In the U.S. alone, millions of people have developed persistent cognitive or mood problems after getting COVID-19. It may take a decade to know whether these people are more likely than uninfected people to develop Alzheimer's in their 60s and 70s, Seshadri says.
Studies of people who have had COVID-19 may help scientists understand the role infections play in Alzheimer's and other brain diseases. Previous research has suggested that exposure to certain viruses, including herpes, can trigger an immune response in the brain that may set the stage for Alzheimer's.
"If one understands how the immune response to this virus is accelerating [Alzheimer's] disease, we may learn about the impact of other viruses," Seshadri says.
Meanwhile, people like Cassandra Hernandez, the nurse, are simply trying to get better. More than a year after getting sick, she says, her brain is still foggy.
"We were at dinner and I forgot how to use a fork," she says. "It was embarrassing."
Even so, Hernandez says she's improving slowly.
"Before this I was working on my master's," she says. "Now I can do basic math, addition and subtraction, I can read at a fifth-grade level. I'm still working hard every day."
Hernandez has been working with Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UT Health and director of the COVID-19 recovery clinic.
Verduzco-Gutierrez says her practice used to revolve around people recovering from strokes and traumatic brain injuries. Now she spends some days seeing only patients recovering from COVID-19.
The most common complaint is fatigue, Verduzco-Gutierrez says. But these patients also frequently experience migraine headaches, forgetfulness, dizziness and balance issues, she says.
Some of these patients may never recover fully, Verduzco-Gutierrez says. But she's hopeful for Hernandez.
"She's made so much improvement and I would love for her to go back to nursing," Verduzco-Gutierrez says. "But again, we don't know what happens with this disease."
2:45 PM ET
Turron DavenportESPN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans opened up training camp on Wednesday with a 90% COVID-19 vaccination rate, according to GM Jon Robinson. It's unclear whether those are all fully vaccinated players or players with at least one shot, but one player in the process of getting vaccinated is Ryan Tannehill.
The quarterback spoke to the media after practice and said he's getting vaccinated only because of the NFL's severe protocols for the unvaccinated.
"I am currently in the process right now," Tannehill said. "The NFL has made it clear what they want to happen. If you don't fall in line, they're going to try and make your life miserable because of the protocol.
"I wouldn't have gotten the vaccine without the protocols that they are enforcing on us. I think it's a personal decision for each of us. They are trying to force our hands and ultimately have forced a lot of hands by the protocols. It is what it is."
Tannehill said he loves the game and his team, so he wanted to get vaccinated to help build chemistry with his teammates in the locker room and cafeteria as well as on the field. According to Tannehill, the Titans brought doctors and other medical authorities to help educate the players about vaccines.
Despite that educational experience, Tannehill is still not fully comfortable with COVID-19 vaccines. He declined to explain why.
Tannehill wore a mask during the team stretch period to start practice but was not required to wear the mask during practice. Robinson said it is part of new protocols that were instituted Tuesday night. Robinson also explained the four categories of players who have been vaccinated.
"There's a group that is fully vaccinated that has had either the single shot or two shots and has waited for the 14-day acclimation period," he said before practice. "The next category of players is one that has been vaccinated, but they are waiting to clear the 14-day period before they are fully vaccinated. There's a third category where they are in between shots. Then there's a fourth category where they haven't been vaccinated."
The Titans are encouraging the players to do more research and become more familiar with the vaccination process.
Added coach Mike Vrabel, "We are focused on making sure that we continue to educate our players to let them make the best decision for them and hopefully this football team. It is a personal decision and, hopefully, one that they can come to that will help them and that will help this team."
Vrabel said he expects the number of vaccinated players to continue to increase but maintains that protocols won't change as the percentage increases. While some teams have utilized a band to identify unvaccinated players, Vrabel said the Titans aren't utilizing such identifiers.
The entire Titans coaching staff is fully vaccinated, according to Vrabel. However, the team did place defensive back Chris Jones on the reserve/COVID-19 list before Wednesday's practice.
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - Tempers flared in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday after its chief physician urged lawmakers to resume wearing masks to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, with the top Democrat labeling Republican opposition as "moronic."
A high-ranking aide to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped short of confirming a report based on garbled audio that Pelosi called her Republican counterpart "such a moron" because of his opposition to the new directive.
"The Speaker believes that saying a mask requirement is 'not a decision based on science' is moronic," Drew Hammill, deputy chief of staff for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a tweet.
Hammill was referring to a tweet by McCarthy in which he said, "Make no mistake - The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state."
The high-level spat came as COVID-19 cases in recent days have been rising, along with deaths, across the United States.
Since early in the pandemic, mask-wearing and vaccinations have been U.S. political flashpoints, with Republicans, encouraged by former President Donald Trump, resisting and Democrats urging compliance with medical advice.
Many Republicans have complained that such government edicts infringe on individual liberties.
Late on Tuesday, Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician for Congress, required the use of masks indoors where people are congregating. It followed a similar move by the White House after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new mask recommendations to stem the spread of the new variant.
"Mask and vaccine mandates: Bullying, Controlling, Unconstitutional, Threats to Liberty!" Republican Representative Jody Hice of Georgia tweeted on Wednesday morning.
People wear masks against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), following the CDC recommendation that fully vaccinated Americans wear masks as the highly transmissible Delta variant has led to a surge in infections, as they enter the Disney Store in Times Square in New York City, New York, U.S., July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Some 57.6% of Americans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, with the lowest rates across the heavily Republican U.S. Southeast. Four of the five U.S. states with the lowest vaccination rates have Republican governors: Mississippi, Idaho, Wyoming and Alaska, according to a Reuters COVID tracker. The governor of the fifth state, Louisiana, is a Democrat.
The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, is rolling out a campaign ad in his home state of Kentucky to counter what he called "bad advice" prompting some Americans to opt not to get vaccinated.
"For the Congress, representing a collection of individuals traveling weekly from various risk areas (both high and low rates of disease transmission), all individuals should wear a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask ... when they are in an interior space," Dr. Monahan said in a memo late Tuesday.
The rule applies to all House of Representatives office buildings, in the hall of the House and in committee meetings, he said.
Even before the recommendation, many congressional Democrats had resumed wearing masks in the Capitol this week.
At her weekly news conference, Pelosi attempted to cool passions somewhat by refusing to comment directly on whether McCarthy's position was "moronic." Instead, in response to a reporter's question, Pelosi said, "To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think is not wise."
Throughout the pandemic, the 100-member Senate and the 435-member House have taken different precautions to contain COVID-19 infections in the sprawling Capitol.
Monahan's latest directive did not require renewed mask-wearing on the Senate side of the Capitol - a decision that did not escape McCarthy.
"If she (Pelosi) knows so much about science explain to me where the science changes in the Rotunda," McCarthy said of the massive room that separates the House and Senate.
Reporting by Susan Cornwell, David Morgan and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The month of July has seen Covid-19 cases in the United States increase at the fastest pace since last winter, marking the start of the latest wave of infections to afflict the nation. A new STAT analysis of Covid-19 case data reveals this new wave is already outpacing the spring and summer waves of 2020.
There are many metrics that governments, scientists, and media outlets have used to try and reckon with the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the most popular ways of visualizing Covid data has been to track the weekly average of new cases. This is pictured below.
The number represented by the line could be thought of as the velocity of cases in the U.S. It tells us how fast case counts are increasing or decreasing and does a good job of showing us the magnitude of each wave of cases.
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The chart, however, fails to show the rate of acceleration of cases. This is the rate at which the number of new cases is speeding up or slowing down.
As an analogy, a cars velocity tells you how fast the car is going. Its acceleration tells you how quickly that car is speeding up.
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Using Covid-19 case data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and Our World in Data, combined with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STAT was able to calculate the rate of weekly case acceleration, pictured below.
In this chart, we see how quickly the weekly average of new cases is changing. When the values are positive, new case counts are increasing, and when the values are negative, new case counts are falling. Highlighted in red, we can see each previous waves intensity and duration.
Looking at the data this way is useful because the rate at which cases increase is a reasonable indicator of how intense that wave might be and how long it might last. For example, case acceleration in the U.S. reached a peak in November 2020, closer to the start of the nations deadly winter wave than to when cases reached their zenith in January of 2021.
This view of the data reveals that the United States is currently in the midst of a fifth wave of cases and that this new wave is growing faster than the first and second waves from spring and summer of 2020.
STAT also calculated case acceleration rates for each state and major territory in the U.S., revealing where cases are increasing the fastest.
In the last two weeks, new case counts in Louisiana accelerated the fastest in the nation at an average rate of 444 cases per week per day (2.38 cases per 100,000 people per week per day). Only 36% of the states residents are vaccinated, making it among the least vaccinated in the country.
By looking at the states case acceleration rate, we can see that cases in Louisiana are currently increasing faster than they did at the start of last winters wave.
Likewise, in the state of Florida, the case acceleration rate has outpaced that states 2020 summer wave.
In Florida, about 48% of residents are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Cases are increasing in nearly every region of the country, but they are not increasing at the same rate everywhere. Vaccination rates likely help explain these variations.
The five states where cases are accelerating the fastest all have vaccination rates below the national average. But consider the state of Massachusetts, where about 63% of the population is fully vaccinated.
The New York Times Covid Dashboard reports the state has an alarming 351% increase in cases over the last 14 days, the highest such percentage change in the nation. Looking at Massachusetts case acceleration paints a different picture.
While cases in Massachusetts are increasing, the rate at which case reports are accelerating is much lower than it has been for any of the states previous waves, and is below the national average for case acceleration.
Heres what you need to know:Video
transcript
transcript
We will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point for a few reasons: The more transmissible Delta variant is spreading both here and around the world, driven by the Delta variant cases are rising here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appear likely to continue in the weeks ahead. The C.D.C. just advised Americans against travel to the United Kingdom this past Monday given the surge in cases. They will evaluate and make recommendations based on health data. But I dont have a timeline to predict for you because its all about what success we have at getting more people vaccinated, getting more vaccines out to the world and fighting the virus.
The Biden administration will continue to restrict the entry of Europeans and others into the United States, citing concerns that infected travelers may contribute to further spread of the contagious Delta variant across the country, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Monday afternoon.
Concern about the variant had convinced officials not to lift the current travel restrictions on foreigners, Ms. Psaki said, some of which had been in place since the beginning of the pandemic. Vaccines remain effective against the worst outcomes of Covid-19, including from the Delta variant.
The more transmissible Delta variant is spreading both here and around the world, she told reporters, adding that cases are rising in the United States, particularly among the unvaccinated.
The decision is a blow to the travel industry, which hoped that a lifting of the travel bans could increase tourism for the remaining summer months, helping hotels, airlines and other businesses that have been struggling.
But Ms. Psaki said that it was unclear when the United States would remove the bans completely.
I dont have a timeline to predict for you because its all about what success we have at getting more people vaccinated, getting more vaccines out to the world and fighting the virus, she said.
The United States began restricting travel from foreigners in January 2020, when former President Donald J. Trump restricted some travel from China in the hopes of preventing the spread of the virus. That effort largely failed.
But health officials pressed the Trump administration to expand travel bans to much of Europe during the first surge of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, and more countries have been added to the ban as the original virus and several variants have spread rapidly from country to country.
The Trump administration also used a public health authority known as Title 42 to effectively shut down the southern border to entry, citing worries that immigrants crossing on foot could bring the virus into the country. The Biden administration stopped enforcing the rule for unaccompanied children crossing the border alone and for some families.
But Ms. Psaki said that the Title 42 restrictions, like the other travel bans, would remain for the time being.
We have never conveyed or announced a timeline for Title 42, she said. So nothing has changed in that regard, it remains in place, and it will remain in place as long as that is the guidance from our health and medical experts.
WASHINGTON The Department of Veterans Affairs will require 115,000 of its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two months, making it the first federal agency to mandate that employees be inoculated, government officials said on Monday.
The move comes as concern is growing that the substantial portion of the population that has not been vaccinated is contributing to the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. While it was a sharp departure from the Biden administrations reluctance to embrace mandates, it was part of a broader shift in which New York City, many hospital chains and some private employers are deciding that the time has come to make being vaccinated a requirement.
I am doing this because its the best way to keep our veterans safe, full stop, Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, said in a telephone interview on Monday. The department is one of the largest federal employers and is the biggest integrated health care system in the country.
The mandate will apply to workers who are the most patient-facing, Mr. McDonough said, including doctors, dentists, registered nurses, physician assistant and some specialists. Beginning on Wednesday, those health care workers will have eight weeks to get fully vaccinated or face penalties including possible removal, he said.
transcript
transcript
On Sept. 13, the entire city workforce will be mandated under the Covid safety mandate to either get vaccinated, which is far preferable, or get tested once a week. September is the pivot point of the recovery. September is when many employers are bringing back a lot of their employees. September is when school starts full strength. September is when people come back from the summer. September is when it will all happen. And so on Sept. 13, which is the first full day of school, every single city employee will be expected to be either vaccinated or be tested weekly. This means everybody. This means, obviously, everyone who works in our schools, our educators and staffs staff it means the N.Y.P.D., the F.D.N.Y., it means all city agencies. It means people who work in offices and people work on the front line, everyone. So were going to keep climbing this ladder and adding additional measures as needed mandates and strong measures whenever needed to fight the Delta variant. No. 1 way to fight it is get vaccinated. Were proving it. This is the reason life is as good as it is in New York City, right now, because were above the national average in vaccinations. But we need to do more. We have to take seriously, if someones unvaccinated, unfortunately, they pose a threat to themselves, but they also have a greater chance of spreading the disease.
The drive to get Americans vaccinated accelerated on Monday when the most populous state and largest city in the United States announced that they would require their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, or face frequent tests.
All municipal employees in New York City, including police officers and teachers, and all state employees and on-site public and private health care workers in California will have to be vaccinated or face at least weekly testing.
The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday also became the first federal agency to mandate that some of its employees get inoculated.
The mandates are the most dramatic response yet to the lagging pace of vaccinations around the country in the face of the highly contagious Delta variant, which is tearing through communities with low rates of vaccination and creating what federal health officials have called a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
Vaccines remain effective against the worst outcomes of Covid-19, including from the Delta variant, but only 49 percent of people in the United States are fully vaccinated, according to federal data.
Misinformation and skepticism have dogged the vaccine rollout, too, and in recent weeks new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations have risen, with a fourfold increase in new cases per day over the last month.
But both indicators, as well as new deaths, remain well below their winter peaks. Cities, private employers and other institutions have been grappling with whether to require vaccines to help get more people vaccinated.
Nearly 60 major medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association, signed a joint statement on Monday calling for the mandatory vaccination of health care workers that described inoculation as the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers.
Hospitals and health care systems like NewYork-Presbyterian and Trinity Health have already announced vaccine mandates, in some cases touching off union protests. The National Football League recently announced it could penalize teams with players who do not get vaccinated. Delta Air Lines will require new employees to be vaccinated, but not its current workers. And last week a federal judge ruled that Indiana University could require vaccinations for students and staff members.
New York City will require its roughly 340,000 municipal workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by the time schools reopen in mid-September or face weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Enforcing the testing requirement there could be complicated, since the more than two dozen unions that represent municipal employees could take issue with the rule.
Mr. de Blasio said the new measures were first steps and that more would follow, and he reiterated a call to private employers to set vaccine mandates for their workers.
Right now we are leading by example, the mayor said. A lot of times, thats what private sector employers say thats what they need.
In California, where 75 percent of the eligible population has received at least one vaccine dose, the new requirement will apply to roughly 246,000 state employees and many more health care workers in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
Everyone that can get vaccinated should, Mr. Newsom said on Twitter.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York avoided supporting a statewide measure like Mr. Newsoms and argued most public-facing employees are municipal, not state workers, suggesting mandates were more of a question for localities.
Mr. Newsom blamed misinformation for the pandemics persistence, slamming in particular Republican members of Congress and Fox News pundits who have questioned vaccines.
We are exhausted respectfully, exhausted by the ideological prism that too many Americans are living under, he said. We are exhausted by the right-wing echo chamber that has been perpetuating misinformation around the vaccine and its efficacy and safety.
On Monday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said vaccine mandates are meant to keep Americans safe, but she distanced the federal governments vaccination efforts from such requirements, reinforcing comments she made last week that mandates were decisions best left to private sector companies, institutions and local communities.
We are not going to judge our success here by whether we score political points, she said on Monday. We are going to judge it by whether we are able to save more lives, and if the health and medical experts suggest thats the right way to go then we will support that.
Eliza Shapiro contributed reporting.
As coronavirus infections rise in the United States, concern is mounting among officials and health experts that a surge of cases could devastate unvaccinated populations and push some communities back into the types of lockdowns imposed at the peaks of the pandemic.
Although case numbers are still a fraction of what they were in the worst months, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, told CNN on Sunday that the country was going in the wrong direction. And it is not just Dr. Fauci. Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama, a Republican, told reporters last week that unvaccinated Americans are letting us down.
On Monday, U.S. officials matched the growing concern with steps aimed at controlling travel to and from the United States to stem the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
The Biden administration said it would continue to restrict the entry of Europeans and others into the country, citing concerns that infected travelers could contribute to Deltas spread. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to avoid traveling to Spain and Portugal, saying that as cases rise in both countries, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants.
Spain and Portugal reopened their borders to American tourists in June. But over the past two weeks, there has been a 74 percent increase in new cases in Spain and an 18 percent rise in Portugal, according to New York Times data.
Last week, the C.D.C. put out a similar Level 4 travel notice the highest warning it issues for Britain. Almost all Covid restrictions have been lifted in England, and case numbers have been high.
Restrictions on travel from Europe and other parts of the world to the United States will remain in place, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Monday afternoon, adding that she had no information on when the travel bans would be lifted.
I dont have a timeline to predict for you, because its all about what success we have at getting more people vaccinated, getting more vaccines out to the world and fighting the virus, she said.
The U.S. government began restricting travel from foreigners in January 2020, when President Donald J. Trump blocked some travel from China in the hopes of preventing the spread of the virus. That effort largely failed. But health officials pressed the Trump administration to expand travel bans to much of Europe during the first surge of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, and more countries have been added to the ban as the virus and variants have spread.
Controlling travel in and out of the country is proving to be less daunting for U.S. officials than other problems in the pandemic. Misinformation continues to undermine efforts to persuade people that the vaccines are safe, with wildly inaccurate claims of the health risks thriving in some corners of the internet.
In Louisiana, where the vaccination rate is just over 45 percent, according to New York Times data among the lowest in the United States public health workers are going door-to-door to counter the claims. As mass vaccination sites have closed, health workers are trying to persuade people who are hesitant, and people who outright refuse, to get the shots.
Some jurisdictions are adopting more aggressive tactics, such as insisting that employees be vaccinated. U.S. officials said on Monday that the Department of Veterans Affairs would require 115,000 of its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two months, making it the first federal agency to issue such a mandate.
In New York City, all municipal employees, including police officers and teachers, will have to be vaccinated or face at least weekly testing. Similar rules will apply to state employees and on-site public and private health care workers in California.
Such steps could become more prevalent if the virus continues to spread through unvaccinated populations. Dr. Joseph Kanter, the top health official in Louisiana, lamented that his state had become the leading edge of the Delta surge, adding: We lost all the progress we had made.
California will require all state employees and on-site public and private health care workers to be vaccinated or face at least weekly testing, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday.
This is a requirement, to prove youve been vaccinated and if you have not, you will be tested, Mr. Newsom said.
The California move came a few hours after Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City announced a similar vaccine mandate for all municipal workers, to take effect by the time schools reopen in mid-September. Last week, Mr. de Blasio announced a vaccine requirement for public health care workers part of an effort to speed up vaccinations as the city faces a third wave of coronavirus cases driven by the spread of the Delta variant.
transcript
transcript
246,000 Californians are state employees, 246,000 Californians should be vaccinated. And if theyre not vaccinated, and cannot verify that theyve been vaccinated, we are requiring that they get tested. California is committed to vaccination verification and/or testing on a weekly basis. Were not stopping just with state employees today. Were also announcing partnerships that include those like Kaiser private sector, now stepping up, organizations representing physicians and dentists, dialysis clinics, stepping up. Private-sector clinics are committing to the same. And we hope this example of public and private leadership as it relates to vaccine verifications, vaccine mandates and/or mandated testing one to two times a week with also commensurate P.P.P., or rather P.P.E., obligations as it relates to protective gear N95 respirator masks as an example will lead to others to replicate this example, in the private sector.
State and local officials, businesses and residents across the country are grappling with whether vaccines should be mandated. The city of San Francisco, several Bay Area counties, the University of California and various hospital systems around the country have recently announced similar mandates.
The new requirement will apply to roughly 246,000 state employees and many more health care workers in the state, Mr. Newsom said. State departments will be expected to begin verifying the vaccination status of all state employees by Aug. 2, while the verification program for health care workers will go into effect on Aug. 9 and by no later than Aug. 23.
More than 64 percent of California residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to federal data, but the speed of inoculations has slowed. The number of virus cases in California has risen to more than 6,300 on average per day, more than double the daily average two weeks ago.
A group of nearly 60 major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association, called on Monday for mandatory vaccination of health care workers. As the highly contagious Delta variant drives a new surge of coronavirus cases, vaccination is an ethical obligation for health care workers, the groups said in a joint statement.
The statement said that all health care and long-term care employers should require their workers to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. This is the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers to put patients as well as residents of long-term care facilities first and take all steps necessary to ensure their health and well-being, the statement said.
The document was signed by a wide array of professional associations, including those representing doctors, nurses, pharmacists and infectious disease experts. It said that exceptions could be made for the small subset of employees who are unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons.
In recent weeks, more hospitals and health care systems have announced that they would begin employees to be vaccinated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said that the mandates are legal, and many hospitals already require employees to get flu shots.
Health care organizations rarely agree on anything, but this is one thing where they are speaking with one voice and unanimity, said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, who organized the joint statement. I think that attests to the wide recognition that this is the right thing to do for this country.
Although many health care workers have been eligible for vaccination since December, when the first shots were authorized, a significant number remain unvaccinated.
In New York, for instance, roughly 1 in 4 hospital workers have not yet been vaccinated, according to state data. Nationwide, just 58.7 percent of nursing home employees have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some health care workers have pushed back against vaccine requirements. A small group of employees sued Houston Methodist Hospital over its mandate. The suit was dismissed last month, and more than 150 workers at the hospital were fired or resigned over their refusal to be vaccinated.
Some employers have been reluctant to require the vaccines, which currently have an emergency use authorization, until they receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. That approval is expected, but could be months away.
But the joint statement noted that the Covid-19 vaccines have a good track record so far. We know the vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing severe illness and death from Covid-19, Dr. Susan R. Bailey, the immediate past president of the A.M.A., said in a statement.
At the urging of federal regulators, two coronavirus vaccine makers are expanding the size of their clinical trials for children ages 5 to 11 a precautionary measure designed to detect rare side effects including heart inflammation problems that turned up in vaccinated people younger than 30.
President Biden promised at a meeting in Ohio last week that emergency clearance for pediatric vaccines would come soon, but the White House has not been specific on the timeline. It was unclear whether expanding the studies will affect when vaccines could be authorized for children.
The Food and Drug Administration has indicated to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that the size and scope of their pediatric studies, as initially envisioned, were inadequate to detect rare side effects. Those include myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart, multiple people familiar with the trials said.
Questions about vaccinating children including those under 12 are of huge interest to parents and teachers. Regulators will be required to balance potential side effects of coronavirus vaccination against the risks of Covid-19.
Members of a C.D.C. advisory committee have said that the benefits of shots for people older than 12 greatly outweigh the risks, including of heart problems.
The F.D.A. has asked the companies to include 3,000 children in the 5-to-11-year-old group, the group for whom results were expected first, according to people familiar with the situation. One of the people, granted anonymity to speak freely, described that figure as double the original number of study participants.
A spokesman for Moderna, Ray Jordan, confirmed that the company intends to expand its trial to enroll a larger safety database which increases the likelihood of detecting rarer events and expects to seek emergency authorization late this year or early next year.
The Moderna trial began recruiting patients in March with the aim of enrolling 6,795 participants younger than 12. The participants were to be split equally into three age brackets, including a 6 to 11 year old group, of 2,265 participants each. Mr. Jordan said the company is actively discussing a proposal with the F.D.A. to expand the trial.
Pfizer is on a faster timetable than Moderna, and may be able to meet the F.D.A.s expectations on a bigger trial size and still file a request to expand emergency authorization of its vaccine by the end of September. Reviewing all the safety and efficacy data will likely take regulators at least a few weeks.
Pfizer has previously said it expects to have results for the 5-to-11-year-old group in September, with results for children aged 2 to 5 shortly after that. Results for the youngest children 6 months to 2 years old are expected in October or November. A spokeswoman said Monday that the company had no updates on its timetable.
In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data showing that the two vaccines may have caused myocarditis and pericarditis in more than 1,200 Americans, including about 500 who were younger than 30. The symptoms typically appeared within two weeks and were more common in young men and boys.
The rate was low: Fewer than 13 cases per one million second doses administered. Most cases were mild and quickly cleared up, the researchers said.
Dr. Paul A. Offit, an infectious disease specialist who previously served on the C.D.C.s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, noted that infection with the coronavirus also carries a risk and delays in authorizing vaccines because of expanded trials might also put children at risk. Theres always a human price to pay for knowledge, he said.
The F.D.A. authorized the Pfizer vaccine on an emergency basis for children ages 12 to 15 in April; the Moderna vaccine has been cleared only for people 18 and older. The agency attached a warning about potential heart problems to the fact sheets of the vaccines in June.
Many public health experts argue that, with so much attention focused on hospitalizations and deaths among older Americans infected with the coronavirus, the risk for children has been overlooked.
More than four million American children and adolescents have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported last week. Of those, at least 346 have died.
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Thirty-one years ago, after its passage, many Americans have never lived in a world without the A.D.A. Generations have grown up not knowing a time before it existed, but many of us can still recall in America, where a person with a disability was denied service in restaurants and grocery stores, and could be, where a person using a wheelchair couldnt ride in a train or take a bus to work or to school, or an employer could refuse to hire you because of a disability an America that wasnt built for all Americans. Then we passed the A.D.A., and made a commitment to build a nation for all of us, all of us. For more than 60 million Americans living with disabilities, the A.D.A. is so much more than a law. Its a source of opportunity, participation, independent living and respect and dignity, the bulwark against discrimination and a path to independence. Im proud to announce a new effort, the first of its kind, to help Americans grappling with long-term effects of Covid-19 that doctors call long Covid. Many Americans who seemingly recover from the virus still face lingering challenges like breathing problems, brain fog, chronic pain and fatigue. These conditions can sometimes can sometimes rise to the level of a disability. So were bringing agencies together to make sure Americans with long Covid who have a disability have access to the rights and resources that are due under the disability law.
Americans suffering from long Covid a term referring to new or ongoing health problems from a coronavirus infection that occurred weeks or months ago will have access to the benefits and protection provided under federal disability law, President Biden said on Monday.
Speaking in the Rose Garden to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Mr. Biden listed some of the lingering effects that have been seen in coronavirus survivors, including breathing problems, brain fog, chronic pain or fatigue, and noted that the effects sometimes rise to the level of a disability.
We are bringing agencies together to make sure Americans with long Covid, who have a disability, have access to the rights and resources that are due under the disability law, Mr. Biden said, noting that they would include special accommodations and services in the workplace, in schools and in the health care system.
In some cases, the health effects of Covid-19 can persist for months after initially causing only mild symptoms. A study published in April found that a coronavirus infection also appears to increase the risk of death and chronic medical conditions afterward, even in people who were never sick enough with the virus to be hospitalized.
The research, based on records of patients in the Department of Veterans Affairs health system, also found that non-hospitalized Covid survivors had a 20 percent greater chance of needing outpatient medical care in the six months following infection than did people who had not contracted the coronavirus.
People stand in the International Arrivals area at Heathrow Airport in London on Jan. 26. The British government said that starting Monday, fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and much of Europe will be able to enter England without the need for quarantining. Matt Dunham/AP hide caption
People stand in the International Arrivals area at Heathrow Airport in London on Jan. 26. The British government said that starting Monday, fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and much of Europe will be able to enter England without the need for quarantining.
LONDON Fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and much of Europe will be able to enter England and Scotland without quarantining starting next week, U.K. officials said Wednesday a move welcomed by Britain's ailing travel industry.
The British government said people who have received both doses of a vaccine approved by the FDA in the U.S. or the European Medicines Agency, which regulates drugs for the European Union and several other countries, will be able to take pre- and post-arrival coronavirus tests instead of self-isolating for 10 days after entering England.
The rule change takes effect at 4 a.m. U.K. time (0300 GMT) on Monday.
The Scottish government, which sets its own health policy, made the same decision. Wales and Northern Ireland haven't announced what they plan to do.
Only people who have been vaccinated in Britain can currently skip 10 days of quarantine when arriving from most of Europe or North America.
There is one exception to the rule change: France, which the U.K. has dubbed a higher risk because of the presence of the beta variant of the coronavirus. Visitors from France will continue to face quarantine.
Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid speaks to reporters during a visit to a pop-up vaccination site in London on Wednesday. Dominic Lipinski/AP hide caption
Britain's Health Secretary Sajid Javid speaks to reporters during a visit to a pop-up vaccination site in London on Wednesday.
Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye said the government had made the "right decision." British Airways also welcomed the moved, but urged the government to go farther and ease restrictions on visitors from more countries.
Claire Walker, co-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the announcement was "welcome news."
"The long-term recovery of our entire economy also depends on reopening the U.K. to the two-way flows of people and trade," she said.
The change hasn't been universally reciprocated. Some European countries, including Italy, require British visitors to quarantine on arrival. The U.S. this week announced it is keeping a ban on most international visitors, and has advised Americans against travel to the U.K., citing a surge in infections driven by the more contagious delta variant of the virus.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss urged the U.S. to end its travel ban and for the U.K. to go farther in opening up international travel. Weiss said "a continued overly cautious approach towards international travel will further impact economic recovery and the 500,000 U.K. jobs that are at stake."
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he expected the U.S. to ease its travel restrictions.
"We can only set the rules at our end," he said.
"We can't change that on the other side, but we do expect that in time they will release that executive order, which was actually signed by the previous president, and bans inward travel."
Employers' emerging vaccine policies take many forms, including those requiring shots for being on site, and those that provide alternatives such as strict testing and masking rules.
Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and former Baltimore health commissioner said she is for such requirements, in part because they could boost vaccination levels to a point where virus levels can be tamped down.
"I think the federal government is signaling now: 'Hey, vaccine mandates are a good idea.' ... It gives cover to these businesses that have long wanted to do this," Wen said Thursday.
"Why in the world would we just stand by and not take action right now?" Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, told CNN "None of us wants to turn back and experience" any more consequences of rising cases, like the banning of indoor dining, he said.
The US averaged more than 63,600 new daily cases over the last week -- an average that's generally risen since the country hit a 2021 low of 11,299 daily on June 22, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
As of Wednesday, cases rose in all but one state in the past seven days compared to the week before, and cases rose at least 50% in 36 states in that time, according to Johns Hopkins.
'We've hit a wall' on vaccinations, expert says
The culprit is an insufficient rate of vaccinations, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the US Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee.
"We've hit a wall," Offit told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. "We've gotten to the point where you have to compel people to do the right thing."
The rate of people getting their first Covid-19 vaccine shot has risen in recent days. An average of 382,106 people initiated vaccination each day over the last week -- a 35% increase over last week's pace, and the highest average in the three weeks, CDC data shows.
"There was a time we were giving 3 million doses a day. If we'd stayed that course, we could be at roughly 80% population immunity," Offit said.
Wednesday's Washington Nationals MLB game against the Philadelphia Phillies was postponed after 12 members of the Nationals -- four players and eight staff members -- tested positive for Covid-19.
The climbing case numbers have pushed some areas to return to mask requirements:
The mayor of Atlanta issued an executive order Wednesday requiring masks in all indoor public places.
In Kansas, state employees and visitors will be required to wear masks indoors starting Monday.
The Pentagon implemented an indoor mask requirement regardless of vaccination status.
But other leaders are pushing back against the return to pre-vaccine precautions.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted Wednesday that he will not issue any mask mandates or lockdowns in the state.
Georgia is one of the 35 states where new cases in the past week were more than 50% higher than the week prior. Currently 38.5% of the state's population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Health experts have said the changes in recommendations, like those made to mask guidance, are the result of under vaccination and the Delta variant changing the landscape of the pandemic.
Experts advocate for vaccine mandates as hesitancy grows
Despite education efforts, increased accessibility and financial incentives in many places, vaccination rates have slowed -- a worrying trend for health experts who say vaccination is the best hope to end the pandemic.
About 46% of Republicans who most trust far-right news said they will refuse to get vaccinated, up from 31% who said the same in March, the survey found. However, 77% of Republicans who most trust mainstream news outlets and 64% of Republicans who most trust Fox News are "vaccine accepters," according to the survey data.
Among Democrats, 85% are vaccine accepters, up from 73% in March, and 71% of independents are vaccine accepters, up from 58% in March, according to the survey data.
One motivator that might help overcome the hesitancy, some officials and experts have suggested, is vaccine mandates. And many places have begun implementing them.
The Baylor Scott & White Health system in Texas announced Wednesday all 49,000-plus employees, volunteers, vendors and students will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by October.
"The Delta variant is the most contagious and dangerous strain we have seen to date, leading to exponentially increasing rates of severe illness and hospitalization. The overwhelming majority of these cases are among the unvaccinated," the company said in a statement.
CNN's Alexis Benveniste, Clare Duffy, Kevin Liptak, Kay Jones, Dave Alsup, Raja Razek, Barbara Starr, Deidre McPhillips, Taylor Romine, Alison Kosik and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
A prominent Chicago infectious diseases expert is warning that "lots of people" will contract COVID-19 at Lollapalooza this weekend - but Mayor Lori Lightfoot dismissed that warning as coming from "critics on the sidelines."
Meanwhile, more than 160 people have died and nearly 650 have been hospitalized in Illinois due to COVID-19 in "breakthrough" cases after they were fully vaccinated, according to state health officials.
And in which areas is the CDC recommending people wear masks indoors? The agency points to its COVID-19 data tracker showing levels of community transmission, along with other data, for each county in the U.S.
Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic across Illinois today:
Multiple counties in the Chicago area and across Illinois are seeing "substantial" or "high" community transmission of COVID-19, placing them in the categories in which fully vaccinated people should resume wearing a mask indoors, federal health officials say.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Tuesday to recommend that fully vaccinated people should wear masks in indoor settings again in areas of the U.S. that are seeing substantial or high transmission of COVID-19.
The new guidance marked a reversal from earlier recommendations that said fully vaccinated people could remove masks in most settings.
According to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker, amapshowing levels of community transmission for each county in the U.S., at least eight counties in the Chicago area are seeing "substantial" community transmission as of Thursday.
Those counties include: Will, DuPage, McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, DeKalb, LaSalle and Grundy.
Many of the Illinois' southern and central counties also fall into either substantial, labeled in orange, or high transmission, labeled in red. Some central and northern counties are seeing moderate transmission, labeled in yellow, while just two are colored blue for low transmission.
Read more here.
In which areas is the CDC recommending people wear masks indoors? The agency points to its COVID-19 data tracker showing levels of community transmission, along with other data, for each county in the U.S.
You can find that map here.
The agency uses atwo measuresto group U.S. counties into four levels of community transmission: the number of new cases per 100,000 residents and the percent of COVID-19 tests that are positive over the past week.
If a county has reported 50 to 100 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period or has a positivity rate of 8% to 10%, it falls into the "substantial transmission" tier, while those reporting 100 cases or more per 100,000 or have a positivity rate of at least 10% are labeled as "high transmission." Those are the two groups for which the CDC recommends mask-wearing.
Read more here.
More than 160 people have died and nearly 650 have been hospitalized in Illinois due to COVID-19 in "breakthrough" cases after they were fully vaccinated, according to state health officials.
According to data updated Wednesday by the Illinois Department of Public Health, 169 people in Illinois have died due to COVID-19 or complications after being fully vaccinated. That figure equates to 2.44% of COVID-19 deaths in the state since Jan. 1, officials said.
At least 644 fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized in Illinois, IDPH said. The state only reports breakthrough infections among those who have been hospitalized or died, following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH said.
Those totals mean 10 more fully vaccinated individuals have died and 51 more have been hospitalized in the past week since the state last updated its reported numbers.
The state does not publicize the number of residents who tested positive after being fully vaccinated but did not die or require hospitalization in order to "help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance," IDPH's website reads.
Read more here.
Masks will once again be required at Illinois driver services facilities and Secretary of State offices, as well as the State Capitol building, beginning next week, Secretary of State Jesse White announced.
Beginning Monday, Aug. 2, all employees and customers must wear masks inside these buildings.
White said the switch is being made amid a recent increase in COVID-19 cases and in an effort to keep Illinois driver services facilities and Secretary of State offices open "to reduce the heavy customer volume caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year."
Read more here.
Health officials in suburban Cook County have changed their guidance on masking in schools following new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, which stated that fully vaccinated people should begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high transmission.
"As COVID-19 case counts continue to surge, based largely on the highly contagious Delta variant, the Cook County Department of Public Health(CCDPH) along with the Illinois Department of Public Health, strongly endorses the new CDC guidance calling for universal masking in all schools, K-12 and is revising its School Masking Guidance," the Cook County Health Department said in a statement.
The county noted the "expectation is that schools will follow the CDC masking guidance."
Read more here.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is "fully adopting"the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated masking guidance, the state's health department said Tuesday, recommending that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with substantial and high transmission.
IDPH also will follow the CDC's new recommendations for masking indoors at K-12 schools, recommending it be done universally among teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.
"While data continues to show the effectiveness of the three COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the U.S., including against the Delta variant, we are still seeing the virus rapidly spread among the unvaccinated," said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike in a statement, noting that COVID cases and hospitalizations continue to increase, especially among those who are unvaccinated against the virus.
Chicago updated its travel advisory Tuesday, adding nine additional states to the list recommending that anyone entering the city from those areas test negative for COVID-19 or quarantine upon arrival.
The city added nine states - for a total of 14 states and one territory - back to the advisory, which is updated each week.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming were all added Tuesday, the Chicago Department of Public Health said.
They join Florida, Louisiana and Nevada, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, which were added last week, plus Missouri and Arkansas which were added two weeks prior and all remain on the list.
Recent increases in COVID metrics pushed those newly added states over the threshold of 15 cases per day per 100,000 people to get onto the "orange" list. Any below that mark are on the "yellow" list, with public health officials still warning against non-essential travel.
Read more here.
Chicago could reinstate its mask requirement and other additional COVID-19 safety precautions if the city continues to see a rise in case numbers, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has revealed.
In a conversation with the New York Times published Monday, Lightfoot said, "We're not there yet" when it comes to making such a move, but noted Chicago has reported an uptick in daily case numbers and a slight increase in hospitalizations.
"...We are working very hard to make sure that our daily case rate is below 200," the mayor explained. "If we start to see consistently going over that, we're not only going to look at a mask mandate, we're going to look at other tools we've been compelled to use."
At an unrelated event later Monday, Lightfoot expanded on that when asked about a mask mandate potentially returning.
"We are not in a danger area based upon the metrics that we follow," she said. "But I do think it's smart for people to wear masks. When you're in a group, you don't know who's vaccinated or not."
"We know that the risk to the unvaccinated is extremely high, not only for them getting sick, but also transmitting. So I think everybody's got to make their decisions about what makes the most sense for them," Lightfoot continued. "But if we see a surge anything like we've seen in the past couple cycles, then everything's on the table, but right now, I feel confident with the measures that are in place. But everything is subject to change."
Read more here.
A prominent Chicago infectious diseases expert is warning that "lots of people" will contract COVID-19 at Lollapalooza this weekend - but Mayor Lori Lightfoot dismissed that warning as coming from "critics on the sidelines."
Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director for infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medical Center, says that the event is a spreader event, and that she fears individuals who become infected with COVID, vaccinated or not, could start wildfires of infection across the United States.
I think a lot of people are going to get COVID at Lollapalooza, she said. The real problem is not so much that a bunch of young people who come into Chicago getting COVID at this event. The real problem is them taking it back to places that have very low vaccination rates"
Lolla has let us down with respect to how vigorously theyre restricting people based on the things that they sort of initially told us (about how) were going to be really strict and now its like theyve lightened up quite considerably on checking vaccines and negative tests, she said.
Lightfoot disagreed with Landons assessment of the situation, calling the physician a critic standing on the sideline and saying that she trusts the medical team put together by the city and festival organizers.
God bless the critics standing on the sidelines, but I feel confident that the Lolla folks have a good, solid plan in place, and were obviously going to hold them accountable to make sure that the plan is enforced, she said.
Landon, who has appeared at events with Lightfoot during the COVID pandemic, says that she hasnt spoken to city or state officials in weeks, and says that small changes to Lollapalooza could have made it safer, even amid the COVID pandemic.
Read more here.
As questions linger about whetherLollapalooza should return this summer following a rise in COVID-19 cases,the music festival - Chicago's largest - has extended the window in which concert-goes can undergo a COVID test.
As announced earlier this year, event organizers said a full COVID-19 vaccination or negative test results within 24 hours before attending the festival would be required for admission. But according to the Lollapalooza website, as of Monday, event attendees had to receive a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of attending the event, not 24. However, it's unclear when exactly the testing window expanded.
Voicing concerns about the event taking place amid a surge in cases,Dr. Emily Landon, widely regarded as one of Chicago's top coronavirus experts, said the 72-hour parameter is too lenient, and that the city is risking a massive spike in cases by allowing the event to move forward as planned.
Read more here.
Revealing city and state officials haven't asked for her advice in recent weeks, Dr. Emily Landon, widely regarded as one of Chicago's top coronavirus experts, bluntly stated Lollapalooza - the city's largest music festival - should likely be canceled, citing a rise in COVID-19 cases fueled by the Delta variant.
In an interview Monday, Landon, the executive medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medicine, acknowledged canceling the event, set to take place this weekend, is unlikely.
"And remember how much people are motivated by money," she said. "It really is all about money. People in many cases will throw you, your health, your family's health, grandmother's health under the bus in order to make a few more dollars."
Read more here.
Lollapalooza is set to take place this weekend in Chicago, and even with the precautions put in place by concert organizers and city health officials, a prominent disease specialist has a very simple message for those attending: Assume that you have been exposed to coronavirus.
With recent increases in cases, mostly driven by the more-contagious delta variant, Dr. Emily Landon, executive medical director for infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago, says that festival-goers must assume that they have come into contact with someone infected with coronavirus, whether or not they themselves are vaccinated.
She said there are steps attendees should take in the days after Lollapalooza to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
Read more here.
Three winners were chosen Monday during the third $100,000 drawing ofIllinois' COVID vaccine lottery.
The winners, located in Bolingbrook, Champaign County and Vernon Hills, will be notified by the Illinois Department of Public Health by phone or email starting Monday afternoon. Each will be awarded a $100,000 cash prize.
"Illinoisans from those cities and counties should keep their phones on and check their emails regularly to find out if theyve won," IDPH said in a statement.
Health officials will call from 312-814-3524 and/or email fromDPH.communications@illinois.gov.
Read more here.
About 83 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been fueled by the delta variant, and as the surge continues, the number of associated cases is expected to rise even higher in the coming weeks, according to health officials.
Approximately one month ago, on June 19, thedelta variantaccounted for just over 30 percent of new cases. On July 3, it crossed the 50 percent threshold to become the dominant variant in the U.S. Public health experts nationwide have focused their efforts on encouraging vaccinations as most of those who've contracted the variant haven't been vaccinated.
Studies have shown that theCOVID-19 vaccinesare effective against multiple variants, including the delta variant. However, when it comes to symptoms, there appear to be key differences.
Here's what you need to know.
Illinois health officials on Friday reported 7,983 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, along with 47 additional deaths and more than 139,000 new vaccine doses administered.
In all, 1,407,929 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state since the pandemic began. The additional deaths reported this week bring the state to 23,401 confirmed COVID fatalities.
The state has administered 241,150 tests since last Friday, officials said, bringing the total to more than 26 million tests conducted during the pandemic.
The states seven-day positivity rate on all tests rose to 3.3% from 1.9% the week before and 1.5% two weeks prior - meaning the positivity rate has more than doubled in the past two weeks. The rolling average seven-day positivity rate on individuals tested rose to 3.5%, up from 1.7% then 2.3% in the past two weeks, officials said.
Over the past seven days, a total of 139,495 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered to Illinois residents. That brings the states average to 19,928 daily vaccination doses over the last week, down from the figures reported last Friday, per IDPH data.
State officials say Illinois this week crossed the threshold of 13 million vaccine doses administered since vaccinations began in December. More than 58% of adult residents in the state are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 73% receiving at least one dose.
As of midnight, 670 patients are currently hospitalized due to COVID in the state. Of those patients, 135 are in intensive care units, and 44 are on ventilators. All three metrics are a reported increase since last Friday.
Students and teachers will be required to wear face coverings and social distance while indoors this upcoming academic year, Chicago Public Schools announced Thursday.
Based on a letter sent to CPS families, students and staff will have to wear a mask regardless of COVID vaccination status while indoors, except when eating and drinking.
Face coverings will be able to be removed during recess and outdoor sports, the letter noted.
CPS will also require students remain three feet apart "whenever possible" and will use enhanced safety protocols, such as air purifiers, hand sanitizer and disinfecting.
Read more here.
Public health officials are sounding alarm bells throughout the United States, as the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus has led to a massive surge in cases in recent weeks.
What exactly is the delta variant? What makes it different from previous strains of the COVID-19 virus? Do vaccines protect you against it?
Here's an exhaustive list of what we know so far about the variant itself and what is being seen in Chicago and Illinois.
