Protecting health and care workers means decent working conditions, occupational health and safety, promoting IPC practices and so much more.
Episode 1 showcased experts from governments, labour unions, academia, CSOs and international organizations who shared lessons learnt on fair and safe working conditions, mental health, work organization, gender transformative action and other key issues.
COVID-19 has underscored the urgent need to invest in health and care workers readiness, education and employment. A critical objective of the International Year of Health and Care Workers is to mobilize commitments from Member States, Internationalrn Financing Institutions, bilateral and philanthropic partners to protect and invest in health and care workers to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs and COVID-19 recovery.
Episode 2 showcased experts from governments, international financing institutions, academia, and international organizations who shared lessons learnt and strategies on capitalizing on health workforce investments for shared dividends in health, jobs,rn economic opportunity and equity.
TOKYO Long before the Covid-19 pandemic overwhelmed Olympic planners with the monumental task of preventing a superspreader event, another worst-case scenario loomed over the Tokyo Games.
An earthquake.
Japan knows the risks well: Earthquakes, past and future, rarely stray far from the thoughts of Japanese. Entire government departments are dedicated to earthquake preparedness, schoolchildren and office workers are routinely put through practice drills, and architects and builders design skyscrapers meant to sway but not crumble.
Being ready is an everyday exercise because the inevitable is coming any day. The several earthquakes that are felt in central Tokyo every month, most barely noticed, are nudging reminders. In February, a large quake shook eastern Japan, reminding the country of the 10th anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 19,000 people and triggered a nuclear meltdown in 2011.
The only certainty is that another big one is coming. But when? And what if it hits during the Olympics, or the Paralympics that follow?
No place appreciates the not-if-but-when dynamic more than Tokyo. Even without foreign spectators, there will be thousands of overseas athletes, coaches, staff members and media members concentrated in one of the worlds largest and densest capital cities as the world watches what is designed to be a celebration of athletics and Japanese culture.
That poses a challenge to the organizers of Tokyo 2020, who even before the coronavirus pandemic were preparing for what is likely to be the hottest Olympics in history.
Local governments, schools, companies and the countrys military prepare constantly for the threat of an earthquake, not to mention a tsunami or a typhoon. But Olympic visitors to the megalopolis many who have never felt a quake, much less know what to do in a serious one could introduce chaos and panic into even the most well-planned disaster response.
Japanese people tend to have a base layer of knowledge when it comes to disasters, said Robin Takashi Lewis, a disaster specialist who worked with nonprofit groups during the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. But things become 10 times more complicated when you add factors like language, lack of cultural understanding and the other vulnerabilities that people have as visitors.
All new buildings in Japan, including the Olympic venues, are subject to rigorous earthquake proof standards. New construction must be able to withstand an earthquake that measures 6.0 or more in degree of shaking on Japans seismic scale.
In Tokyo, Akinori Fukao, chief of earthquake resistance in the urban buildings division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, said the government had worked with building owners to reinforce older structures, particularly along the citys main roads where planners were concerned about debris that might clog thoroughfares used by emergency vehicles.
Many of the Olympic venues are built on landfill in Tokyo Bay, although officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism say they have protected against soil liquefaction in which soil loses strength and stiffness in the event of a severe earthquake.
But several venues, including the aquatics center, have been built on land that sits below sea level, making them vulnerable to an earthquake-triggered tsunami, as occurred in 2011.
Tokyo Bays shape, with a curved, narrow inlet that opens to a broad, expansive bay, is not conducive to major tsunamis, experts said. But not all venues are there. For example, the surfing site is along an unprotected stretch of Japans east coast.
A wild card is the number of temporary venues being built solely for the Olympics, including large bleachers. Government engineers insist that even they will adhere to Japans strict building codes, with extra reinforcements to handle earthquakes.
If there were an earthquake that measured 4 or higher on Japans seismic scale out of a possible 7 the land ministry or Olympic organizing committee would most likely call for a temporary suspension of the Games so that the agencys 12,000-plus engineers could check buildings for structural integrity.
Before the pandemic, when Japan expected to welcome hundreds of thousands of overseas visitors, a major concern was communicating earthquake protocols to officials, athletes and media members who might not react as calmly as the average Japanese. Imagine a stampede for the exits at any of the stadiums. While fans will be limited to Japanese people, and arenas will be at half-capacity, there will be tens of thousands of foreign athletes, coaches, officials and media members in attendance.
If it was only for Japanese people we can say an earthquake has occurred, said Kazuki Matsumoto, an official at the land ministry, describing a common disaster announcement. But maybe for foreigners we have to announce, An earthquake occurred, but its OK, and please dont panic.
Several parks and office buildings around Tokyo have been designated as evacuation outposts for those who might not be able to get into their hotels. But its not clear how visitors will know where to go.
Summer Olympics Essentials
With events across several regions the marathon in Sapporo, baseball in Fukushima and surfing in Chiba organizers will have to consider how to get visitors out of the country quickly in an emergency. Are people registering with their embassies when they arrive? Lewis said. Is there a system for tracking where people are staying?
The land ministry has developed an earthquake preparedness and response app in 14 languages, and plans to put information posters in airports, train stations and hotels encouraging visitors to download it. But the risk messaging for the Olympics is more focused now on the coronavirus than earthquakes or other natural disasters.
Japan typically measures quakes using the Japan Meteorological Agency Seismic Intensity Scale, from 0 to 7. A 1 means that some people in a quiet room can feel it; a 3 is when most people inside can feel the swaying; a 5 is when dishes may fall from shelves and furniture may topple.
On average over the past five years, central Tokyo has had about 60 felt earthquakes (1 or higher on the intensity scale) every year, according to Naoshi Hirata, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and chairman of the earthquake research committee at the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion. Only one of the 60 quakes over the last year reached an intensity rating of at least 4. An earthquake in February this year registered around 4 in Tokyo and 6 in Fukushima.
So its very likely to feel an earthquake during the Olympic Games, Hirata said. But not necessarily a very devastating earthquake.
The challenges for Olympic organizers are matters of magnitude. The big one is unlikely, but small quakes are likely. What if an arena filled with mostly foreign officials and news media members starts to shake? What if athletes in the Olympic Village are shaken awake in their sleep? And what if it really is the big one?
Historically, major, damaging earthquakes hit the greater Tokyo area about once a generation, Hirata said. Using the Richter scale familiar to Americans, the earthquake research committee places a 70 percent chance of a magnitude 7 or above earthquake in Tokyo in the next 30 years.
The last was in 1988, 33 years ago, but Hirata cautions that earthquakes are not regular events; Tokyo is not necessarily overdue. The next big one is just as likely to strike tomorrow as it was on the same date in 1988, he said.
The chance of a very large earthquake in the period of the Olympic Games is very small as compared to the chance that Japanese people will be hit by such an earthquake in their lifetime, Hirata said. Of course, there is still a chance because we have been hit many times here, and we should prepare for such a large earthquake.
Other Japanese scientists are more alarmist about the timing. Hiroki Kamata, professor emeritus of geoscience at Kyoto University, pointed out that a large earthquake struck the area now known as Tokyo in 878, nine years after the major Jogan earthquake and tsunami, which is often compared to the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake.
We cannot say a quake will occur on a certain day in a certain month, Kamata said. But we can calculate and say that such and such stresses are caused in the ground, and an earthquake will possibly hit a certain area around such and such time.
There is a history of Olympic-timed quakes in Japan. Just days before the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, The New York Times nonchalantly reported that a quake rattled dishes.
After the major Kobe earthquake in 1995, which killed more than 6,000 people, some questioned whether it would hinder preparations for the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano. German Olympic officials wanted assurances that they would be safe.
On the opening day, a 6.6 earthquake was felt in Tokyo, but not at the Olympics, about 100 miles away.
But midway through those Winter Games, a magnitude-5 earthquake occurred near Nagano. The 10 seconds of shaking did not affect the competition, but rattled beds, shook the press center and caused nearby high-speed trains to stop. (The German skier Markus Eberle kept his balance with no difficulty after the slight tremor, but he fell farther down the hill, The Times reported from the mens slalom.)
In 2018, Sapporo withdrew its bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics after a deadly earthquake hit the area, refocusing priorities.
This year, the Tokyo Games are being promoted as a way to help revitalize Fukushima, the area devastated by a nuclear meltdown after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Visitors may take comfort in the fact that Japans preparation for emergencies is extensive, with multiple agencies holding annual drills that amount to elaborate dress rehearsals for disaster.
At a typical drill in the fall of 2019 in Tama, a Tokyo suburb, 500 emergency responders, medical professionals, members of the self-defense forces and volunteers staged an hourlong simulation in muggy heat on a large set in the park. Multiple structures made from plywood had been made to look like they had just been hit by a massive earthquake.
Some buildings had subsided into mud, while others were painted with multiple large cracks. Helicopters hovered, lowering rescue workers in harnesses to pluck victims from a rooftop. A drone circled the damage. Fire engines, army trucks, ambulances and police officers on motorcycles sped in with crews to hose down flames or extract people trapped in rubble. Trained dogs sniffed for victims and explosives.
Elsewhere, doctors, nurses and even dentists practiced treating college student volunteers who had been given prosthetic wounds or were instructed to act as if they had broken bones. Sewage workers demonstrated how they could erect a makeshift toilet over a manhole in less than five minutes.
Japan has a lot of earthquakes and typhoons and there are a lot of risks and disasters, said Yoshiaki Satou, former director of disaster prevention planning and emergency services at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which oversaw the Tama drill. And we dont know when they will come. We just know these disasters will definitely occur at some time.
We are working, he said, to prepare for anything to be OK.
Makiko Inoue and Kantaro Suzuki contributed reporting.
For Dr. Andrew Wu, summertime normally means hell see more kids with sunburns, insect bites, poison ivy, stomach viruses and dehydration all related to being outside.
But this summer, the pediatrician affiliated with Virginia Hospital Center said he and his colleagues are seeing an uncharacteristic number of respiratory viral illnesses unrelated to COVID-19. Specifically, doctors are seeing a sharp uptick in the number of cases of the common cold, croup and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, he said.
The trend is playing out elsewhere, particularly in the South and Southwest, as COVID-19 cases recede, the Washington Post recently reported. In Arlington, where nearly 61% of adults are fully vaccinated, the seven-day average of net coronavirus cases is zero, according to the Virginia Dept. of Health.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory alerting clinicians and caregivers and encouraging broader testing for RSV, which causes cold-like symptoms but can lead to bronchial infections and pneumonia in children younger than one.
These illnesses typically peak in the fall and winter when children return inside and to school, Wu said. Last year and into this spring, however, many pediatricians saw few cases of the flu, RSV and the common cold. While this summer surge is likely a side effect of the pandemic, he says families ought not to worry provided their kids are vaccinated against the more serious, and potentially lethal, bacterial and viral illnesses.
Fitting the trend this past year and a half, during which nothing has been typical, respiratory virus season seems to have come out of hibernation about six months late, he said. I suspect that the current out-of-season increase stems largely from two factors: Many virus-naive children coming out of isolation and rejoining the larger world in daycares and preschools, and the general loosening of social restrictions by public health officials.
So, what should parents do to protect their children?
Wu, a parent himself, said he empathizes with parents who are worried about sending their children back to preschool and daycare, knowing that their child will likely develop a few respiratory illnesses in the first couple of months.
But he encouraged parents to send their kids to daycare or preschool anyway and not just for the benefits of quickening development, increasing socialization and improving emotional skills.
I tend to think of introduction to childcare the same way we approach food allergies. Namely, early introduction is better than late introduction, but not too early, he said. While no one wishes illness on a child, these illnesses tend to be minor and provide opportunity for a childs immune system to do what it was designed to do: fight infection.
Extending the analogy, Wu said the longer that parents voluntarily withhold potentially allergenic foods from their young children, such as peanuts, the more likely the child is to develop an allergy to that particular food.
A childs immune system could become dysregulated if not provided enough opportunities to fight infection, and could respond by developing moderate to severe allergies or autoimmune conditions, he said.
Arlington County Public Health Department spokeswoman Jessica Baxter said its not surprising to see a rise in the common cold, with masks coming off and gatherings and travel increasing the spread of germs.
She also advised making sure kids and adults are up to date on recommended vaccines, and taking other basic preventative measures.
We encourage Arlington residents to practice healthy habits that prevent the spread of all diseases such as washing your hands often, staying away from others when sick, and covering coughs and sneezes, she said.
A natural gas flare on an oil well pad burns as the sun sets outside Watford City, North Dakota January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen
June 30 (Reuters) - Who of the traditional bulls predicted a rally that saw oil prices doubling in the last eight months? The short answer is no one.
Of more than 50 analysts polled by Reuters last October when Brent was hovering near $35 per barrel amid a second large wave of global lockdowns to slow the coronavirus pandemic, almost none dared to predict prices would approach $60.
U.S. bank Goldman Sachs saw second-quarter average prices hitting $57.50 a barrel and much smaller Houston-based consultancy Stratas Advisors had the boldest bet at $60.
As prices have exceeded $75 per barrel this June, the most accurate forecasters predict a further rally fuelled by recovering demand and tight OPEC supply albeit at a more modest pace.
Overall, the 44 analysts polled by Reuters this month forecast benchmark Brent prices to average about $67.48 a barrel this year, up from the $64.79 consensus in May.
Oil demand was seen growing by 5-7 million barrels per day (bpd) this year.
"The upward range of oil will be limited by the ability of OPEC to bring back supply to address unexpected upward movements in demand and prices," John Paisie, Stratas Advisors president, told Reuters.
Paisie predicts Brent will average around $75 a barrel in the third quarter and $78.50 in 2022, adding: "One reason that we think that increase in oil prices will be more moderate is the strength of the U.S. dollar."
A firmer greenback makes oil priced in dollars more expensive in other currencies, potentially weighing on demand.
Goldman Sachs was more bullish, seeing Brent averaging $80 a barrel in the third quarter "with potential spikes well above", with the global market facing "its deepest deficits since last summer." read more
Most analysts expect the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, or OPEC+, to gradually unwind record output cuts this year, with discussions over easing likely to start in August. read more
Oil's rally could also face headwinds from a potential U.S-Iran deal that could boost global supplies and a spike in COVID-19 cases, which could undermine demand recovery, participants said.
Analysts saw Iran potentially adding about 1-2 million bpd of output into the global market over the next six months or so.
"The main question is whether Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers are ready to accommodate Iranian volumes while maintaining a tight control on their cumulative supply under the OPEC+ deal," said Intesa Sanpaolo analyst Daniela Corsini.
Reporting by Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Arpan Varghese, Noah Browning and Louise Heavens
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
European governments struggled in the pandemic, facing criticism for high death rates and the slow pace of vaccination. Yet as the crisis recedes, it leaves surprising political fallout: weakened antiestablishment forces and a strengthened center.
Far-right parties in France and Germany that were once highly popular have scored badly in recent ballots and weakened in opinion polls. Support for populist opposition parties in Italy is stagnating, and their ideological allies in governments across Central Europe have either seen their ratings fall or are threatened by a strengthening opposition.
One theory is that the pandemic temporarily eclipsed these parties rallying issuesmigration, crime, Islamand not just because of a change in perception. Statistics show that many types of crime, as well as immigration in general, dropped sharply during the months of lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Another possibility, experts say, is that antiestablishment forces failed to form a coherent response to the health crisis and a plausible alternative to science-driven pandemic-management measures.
Populists across the board did try to leverage popular anger against official restrictions, often backing anti-mask and antivaccination protests, but such movements have only appealed to a tiny fraction of the electorate in Europe, said Manfred Gllner, founder of the German Forsa opinion polling group.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 181.4 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 3.92 million. More than 2.96 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.
Perth and Brisbane have joined Sydney and Darwin in introducing lockdowns in an Australia-wide effort to tackle an outbreak of COVID-19 cases.
Indonesia's government will wait until a significant fall in COVID-19 cases before re-opening Bali to foreign tourists, the country's tourism minister said in an interview yesterday.
It comes as the Red Cross warns that Indonesia's COVID-19 surge is on the brink of 'catastrophe'.
Health officials in Los Angeles county have recommended everyone wear masks indoors - regardless of vaccination status - because of the increased prevalence of the Delta variant.
Vietnam has approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. It's the 5th vaccine to be given such approval in the country.
The United States said yesterday it will donate 1 million shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to Paraguay.
Spanish authorities have tightened rules for British tourists, with a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination now required for entry. They'd been allowed in freely for more than a month.
Chilean President Sebastin Piera has announced a $2 billion boost to health spending to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people in selected countries.
Image: Our World in Data
A new study has shown that mixed two-dose schedules of the Pfizer/BioNtech and Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs produced high concentrations of antibodies.
The Oxford University study found that the mixed schedule was effective in any combination - i.e. AstraZeneca first, followed by Pfizer or vice versa. However, Reuters reports that a Pfizer shot given four weeks after an AstraZeneca shot produced better immune responses than another dose of AstraZeneca.
Professor Matthew Snape, who led the trial, said the findings could give flexibility to vaccine rollouts where supplies are uncertain. However, it wasn't large enough to recommend a broader shift anyway from current clinically-approved approaches.
"It's certainly encouraging that these antibody and T-cell responses look good with the mixed schedules," he told reporters.
"But I think your default has to stay, unless there's a very good reason otherwise, to what is proven to work," he added referring to the same-shot vaccine schedules assessed in clinical trials.
In another Oxford University study, researchers found that a third shot of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine produces a strong immune response. However, scientists behind the research added that there was no evidence that such shots were needed, especially in light of global vaccine shortages.
The study found that a third dose increased antibody and T-cell immune responses, while the second dose could be delayed by up to 45 weeks and still lead to an enhanced immune response.
Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that evidence that the vaccine protects against current variants for a sustained period of time meant that such a booster may not be needed.
"We do have to be in a position where we could boost if it turned out that was necessary ... (but) we don't have any evidence that that is required," he told reporters.
3. High-grade masks offer much better COVID-19 protection
Research from Cambridge University Hospital's NHS Foundation Trust has shown that the quality of face masks given to healthcare workers can make a massive difference to their risk of getting infected with COVID-19.
Wearing a high-grade mask - known as an FFP3 - can provide up to 100% protection. But, standard-issue surgical masks carry with them a much greater risk of catching COVID-19.
The results have been published in a pre-print paper and are not yet peer-reviewed, however.
As part of work identifying promising technology use cases to combat COVID, The Boston Consulting Group recently used contextual AI to analyze more than 150 million English language media articles from 30 countries published between December 2019 to May 2020.
The result is a compendium of hundreds of technology use cases. It more than triples the number of solutions, providing better visibility into the diverse uses of technology for the COVID-19 response.
To see a full list of 200+ exciting technology use cases during COVID please follow this link.
Written by
Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Rapid antigen tests are the least expensive (about $12 per test) and are available in retail stores and online. (They typically arent covered by insurance.) The BinaxNOW test, made by Abbott, contains two rapid antigen tests per box and costs around $24. To take the test, just swirl the swab in both nostrils and place in a special card. After 15 minutes, the result reads much like a pregnancy test: two pink lines indicate youre positive for Covid-19. The QuickVue At-Home test, from Quidel, is similarly priced. After swabbing your nose, dip the swab in a solution in a test tube, and then in a test strip. Youll get results in about 10 minutes.
June 29, 2021, 9:09 a.m. ET
The rapid antigen tests are less reliable for finding Covid-19 in people with low viral loads compared to the gold standard P.C.R. tests youd get from a health care provider. One study found that a rapid home antigen test had a 64 percent chance of correctly spotting the virus in people with symptoms who had tested positive on a P.C.R. test. (The test caught only about 36 percent of those who had the virus but didnt have symptoms.)
But dont be dissuaded by those numbers. The affordable rapid antigen tests provide a reliable quick check to identify people with infectious levels of virus. For example, lets say you want to invite friends into your home who are unvaccinated or who have an unvaccinated child. Before hosting an indoor gathering, you can reduce the risk of asymptomatic spread and infection by 90 percent or more if all guests use a rapid antigen test within an hour before the event, said Dr. Mina.
Rapid testing can also be used as an added layer of protection before spending time with people who are at high risk of complications from Covid-19, such as those with immune problems or undergoing cancer treatments. Neeraj Sood, a professor and vice dean for research at the University of Southern California and director of the COVID Initiative at the U.S.C. Schaeffer Center, said that even though hes vaccinated, he would use rapid testing to take extra precautions around such people.
If I was going to hang out in an enclosed space with a friend whos getting chemotherapy and hasnt gotten the vaccine, then I would do two tests, Dr. Sood said. He would take one rapid antigen test three or four days before visiting the friend, and another test the same day of the visit. If both are negative, Im very confident I dont have Covid, and Im not going to transmit it to my friend, he said.
Rapid testing could also be used to make a small family indoor gathering or a childs birthday party that included a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people safer. If you put that extra layer in of home testing, I think youre all making each other more safe, said Irene Peterson, a professor of epidemiology and health informatics at University College London. Or you could decide not to have the party.
If you want more certainty than a rapid antigen test can provide, you can consider a more costly rapid home molecular test. These tests work by detecting the viruss actual genetic material (RNA) and amplifying it to determine if youre infected. A home rapid molecular test works nearly as well as the P.C.R. tests given at testing centers that are processed by a laboratory, but they are also more expensive than the home antigen tests. Lucira makes a highly-accurate molecular test for $55 that uses nasal swabs and a battery-powered processing unit that provides results within 30 minutes.
FILE PHOTO: An empty street is seen as Netherlands has gone into lockdown as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Amsterdam, Netherlands December 15 2020, REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands will offer COVID-19 vaccinations to all children aged 12 to 17 in an effort to prevent a wave of infections due to new coronavirus mutations in the coming months.
The Dutch health council on Tuesday said children as young as 12 should be offered the Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine, the injection which was authorised for use on children from the age of 12 by the European Commission in May.
Taking everything into account we advise to offer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to all 12-to-17-year olds who want one, the council said.
A vaccination can help protect children against rare cases in which a coronavirus infection makes them seriously ill, the health council said.
Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge last week already said he would prefer to have teenagers vaccinated, to prevent new, possibly more contagious mutations of the virus to cause a wave of cases in the fall.
By offering vaccinations to children, the Netherlands would follow similar moves by the United States, Canada, France, Germany and other European countries who have already started injecting teenagers.
A total of around 15.3 million coronavirus vaccinations have been given in the Netherlands, with the country of 17.5 million en route to have offered at least one injection to all adults who want one by mid-July.
With the vaccinations gathering speed, coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have dropped to their lowest levels in nine months in recent weeks, following a huge wave of cases in the first four months of 2021.
Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
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.
Do vaccinated people still need to wear masks? If so, when?
Don't toss your masks out just yet! As the more transmissible Delta variant takes hold, and some countries are reinstating precautions, even vaccinated people may want to mask up in certain situations.
"People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves," Dr. Mariangela Simao, World Health Organization assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, told reporters on June 25. "Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission. People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene ... the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you're vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing."
"WHO is recommending wearing masks even if vaccinated because breakthrough infections will happen with any of the vaccines and if spread into a highly unvaccinated community (because the majority of the world has not been vaccinated) there could be widespread disease that occurs and new outbreaks developing," says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "This is true for any variant, but because the Delta variant is highly transmissible it will more readily spread throughout communities."
The Los Angeles County health department is also recommending masking up indoors due to the Delta variant.
But not all public health agencies are as cautious. In the U.S., CDC guidelines no longer require you to wear a mask in most settings if you're fully vaccinated (that means two weeks after the final dose), and most states have lifted restrictions as well. (Transportation hubs and medical facilities still require everyone to mask up as do some businesses.)
So with the WHO urging vaccinated people to mask up and the CDC saying it's up to you, confusion is understandable. Essentially it means that most vaccinated Americans have a choice to make.
They "need to make the decision that's best for them and their family at this point," says Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. "It's this in-between time in the pandemic, when there's no one-size-fits-all answer. Everybody has different values and risk tolerances. If you're vaccinated, you can choose in terms of whether to wear a mask or not."
That choice may depend on extenuating circumstances, including whether you live with unvaccinated kids or immunocompromised people, the rate of community transmission in your area, and the rate of vaccination in your area.
For many people, it will mean masking up in certain situations.
"If you are vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorized in the U.S., you are well-protected from COVID-19," Wen says. "This protection is not 100%, and especially with the rise of the more contagious Delta variant, some who are inoculated may choose to wear masks in indoor, crowded settings when they are around others who are not known to be vaccinated. ...People need to decide the level of risk that they are comfortable with."
For Wen, that means that she and her husband continue to wear masks in places where they're not sure everyone is vaccinated, such as the grocery store and church, since their children aren't old enough to be vaccinated. Playdates happen outside, she says. They live in Baltimore, where the test positivity rate currently qualifies as low .
Dr. Jill Weatherhead, who also has children too young to be vaccinated, employs similar caution.
"Even though we've had a decrease in cases and especially hospitalizations there's still ongoing transmission in the environment so there is still a risk," she says. "We're certainly not through the pandemic at this point. We're improving, but there's still ongoing community transmission in much of the country. Particularly with the increase of the Delta variant, there are going to be breakthroughs even if you're vaccinated. Unvaccinated people are certainly at the highest risk, but there still can be breakthrough infections as Delta gains increase in prevalence."
If you do choose to wear a mask, there's probably no need to worry that others will take it as a sign you're unvaccinated: "I actually think that the people wearing masks now tend to be the vaccinated and people understand that," Wen says. And since some people, such as kids under 12, can't be vaccinated at this time, mask-wearing could be a sign that people are trying to protect the unvaccinated, she says.
Even when the current pandemic threat fades, you may want to stash your masks somewhere handy. Weatherhead and Wen hope that it will become more socially acceptable to wear masks in the U.S. to ward off the flu and other viruses.
"It might be something people will choose to want to wear, though not required," Weatherhead says. "Culturally we have never worn masks before here. In other countries it's more common, but it's never been something we've done here. There's probably been a little shift where people feel more comfortable wearing masks in public to protect themselves" or others, she notes, if you have to go out in public while under the weather. (Of course, she adds, "if we've learned one thing from the pandemic it's that when you're sick, you shouldn't be in public!")
If you're looking forward to giving up a pandemic precautionary routine, make it the hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes: There shouldn't be a need to wipe everything down going forward, Weatherhead says. Washing your hands with soap and water, however? "That's always appropriate."
Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She's written about COVID-19 for many publications, including Medscape, Kaiser Health News, Science News for Students and The Washington Post. More at sheilaeldred.pressfolios.com. On Twitter: @milepostmedia.
A woman receives a dose of the Covid vaccine at a centre in Kukshet Gaon Municipal School No 12 in Sarsole, Navi Mumbai. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
A sero survey conducted on a paediatric population of 2,176 in Mumbai has found that 51.18 per cent of children have been exposed toCovid-19, with most remaining asymptomatic. This indicates that the severity of the infection continues to remain low among children.
Kasturba Hospital and Nair Hospital in Mumbai collected samples from the 2,176 children, who were medically examined for other illnesses in public and private laboratories.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation undertook the survey from April 1 to June 15 with the help of the hospitals.
Delhi school teachers to get help to process grief as they return to teaching from Covid frontline work
With Delhi government schools set to begin reconnecting with their students from Monday (June 28), teachers are parallelly being prepared to overcome grief from traumatic experiences they might have gone through due to theCovid-19pandemicin the last few months.
Teaching-learning activities in these schools have been at a halt since April when an early summer vacation had been declared. With the second wave of Covid taking over the city, government school teachers had almost entirely been diverted to related dutiesat vaccination centres, airports, ration distribution centres, dispensaries, oxygen centres and so on.
