U.S. health officials on Friday unveiled new guidelines for reopening schools, saying schools can reopen safely by adhering to five key mitigation strategies.
The new guideline emphasizes ‘consistent and correct’ use of masks, social distance, hand washing, cleaning and maintenance of facilities, and contact detection in combination with isolation and quarantine. The guidelines do not require school staff to have access to vaccinations to return for personal tuition and cite selection tests as an “additional layer of mitigation.”
“CDC does not order schools to reopen,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said in a call on Friday. “These recommendations give schools a long card.”
The guidance also provides, for the first time, an outline of which teaching models, such as personal or hybrid, schools should implement based on the transfer level in their community. Biden said he intends to keep most public schools open in his office within his first hundred days. He’s on day 23.
On Thursday, some students returned to classrooms in the country’s third largest school district after a dispute between Chicago Public Schools and the teachers’ union. And in San Francisco, the city filed a lawsuit to reopen its school district to classrooms. The number of suicidal children in the city has reached a record high, and health experts say it is clear that holding public schools is catalyzing a mental crisis among school-going children. ‘
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In the headings:
► The United States on Thursday night reported dozens more cases of coronavirus variants, showing a further range of viruses that could spread more easily, evade some treatments and immunities, or both. Well-known cases in the US have more than doubled since 31 January and increased fivefold since 22 January.
► President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he will complete an agreement for the purchase of an additional dose of 200 million coronavirus vaccines, which is in line with an agreement he set out two weeks ago. “We have now purchased enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate all Americans,” Biden said during a visit to the National Institutes of Health.
► After the distribution of vaccines is largely limited to hospitals, health systems and local health departments, COVID-19 vaccines are ready to expand on Friday at major pharmacies, including the country’s two largest chains, CVS and Walgreens.
►Los Angeles is temporarily closing five mass vaccination rooms, including Dodger Stadium, due to a lack of supply. Smaller mobile vaccination clinics will remain open, but the mass vaccination sites will have to remain open until the city gets more stock, possibly Tuesday or Wednesday. Mayor Eric Garcetti said Los Angeles used about 13,000 doses on a typical day, but received only 16,000 this week.
► Wearing a mask will be necessary for a few months, even if vaccinations start, said dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Once 75-80% of the population is vaccinated, the country can ‘retreat a bit after strict public health measures,’ ‘he added.
►The New York Times reported on Friday that the US Food and Drug Administration has agreed to increase Moderna’s dose of his COVID-19 vaccine in each vial from 10 to 14. The Times reports that the change, which could give a boost. the country’s vaccine supply by 20%, could take effect before the end of April.
The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday that all hypotheses about the origin of the coronavirus were still being investigated and analyzed after a team of WHO researchers said earlier this week that the theory that the virus had leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan, no longer pursued. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the team’s summary report would be released next week.
► People who are fully vaccinated and who meet certain criteria no longer need to remain in quarantine after exposure to someone with COVID-19, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
► The Government of Montana, Greg Gianforte, lifted the state mask mandate on Friday. The Republican governor promised to do so after taking office in January and signing a law to protect businesses from lawsuits by customers and employees related to the virus’ order. Some communities in the state will keep their mask rules in place. Meanwhile, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Thursday in Nevada that he would gradually end a month-long “halt” on economic activity to delay the deadly revival of the virus during the holidays.
►The Australian Open will be allowed to continue for at least five days, but without crowds after the Victoria state government imposed a lockout on Saturday in response to a COVID-19 outbreak at a quarantine hotel.
📈 Today’s numbers: According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there are more than 27.4 million cases of coronavirus and 479,400 deaths in the US. The global total: more than 108.0 million cases and 2.37 million deaths. According to the CDC, more than 69 million doses of vaccines have been distributed and approximately 48.4 million have been administered.
📘 What we read: How many COVID-19 vaccines have been sent to your state and how many people have had a chance so far? Check the USA TODAY vaccine tracker.
Cuomo assistant admits’ we ‘froze’ over deaths in nursing homes, the report reads
Democratic lawmakers in New York are facing increasing pressure to curb the emergency forces of Governor Andrew Cuomo, after the speech was reported by his top assistant, raising new questions about whether the state is directly concerned about the COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes.
In a call between top members of Cuomo’s administration and some legislative Democrats, reports The New York Post, Gov. Melissa DeRosa’s secretary suggested that the Cuomo government ‘froze’ over the COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes because the At the same time, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice issued a separate request for information on nursing homes.
DeRosa, who answered questions about why it took the Cuomo administration more than six months to respond to requests from lawmakers for information on the state’s handling of the virus in hospitals and nursing homes, apologized to Democratic lawmakers for doing so. put in a difficult position, reports the Post.
– Jon Campbell and Joseph Spector, New York State Team
Reports: Officials consider using fan for Trump during COVID-19 term
Former President Donald Trump’s condition has become so worrying after testing positive for COVID-19 that officials have spoken out to put him on a fan, the New York Times and CNN reported Thursday.
Trump was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October, and the White House and his doctors regularly sent mixed signals about his condition.
According to the Times, Trump’s oxygen levels in the blood dropped in the 80s, and a case of COVID-19 is considered serious if oxygen levels are in the low 90s. The Times also reported that Trump had lung infiltrates, meaning his lungs were inflamed and contained a substance such as fluid or bacteria.
Vaccine blast in Chicago is a microcosm of racial differences nationwide
Ethel Walton, a nurse and president of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Nurses Association, lives in a black-southern neighborhood in a zip code where only 4% of residents received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. 120 people died. The rate of COVID-19 deaths in the zip code is three to four times higher than several neighborhoods on the north side. The vaccination rates in the white neighborhoods are six times higher.
“This is a stressful situation because no one wants to hear that they (people) are dying in large numbers from COVID,” she said. “It’s unfair that the immunization was done again … just not equal at all.”
A U.S. TODAY analysis of data from Chicago and the U.S. Census Bureau found that the vaccination rate in Chicago’s majority black or Latino zip codes averaged 5%. The majority-white zip codes averaged 13%. Four of the city’s majority white postcodes exceeded the initial vaccination of 20%, while the highest percentage for any black or Latino area was 12%.
Chicago is not alone. The data shows similar trends in Washington, DC, and Austin, Texas, two other places that reported vaccination rates at the neighborhood level. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also show gaping differences at the national level, and a recent study of the small number of states reporting race and ethnicity for vaccine recipients showed a wide pattern of inequality. Read more.
– Nada Hassanein, Grace Hauck, Jayme Fraser and Aleszu Bajak
Attacks on Asian Americans Emphasize Increase in Hate Incidents Amid COVID-19
A series of violent crimes against Asians and Asian Americans have urged activists and experts to warn that racist rhetoric about the coronavirus pandemic could fuel an increase in hate incidents.
Police in Oakland, California, announced this week that they have arrested a suspect in connection with a brutal attack on a 91-year-old man in Chinatown who was caught on camera. In less than a week, a Thai man was attacked and killed in San Francisco, a Vietnamese woman in San Jose was assaulted and robbed of $ 1,000. A Filipino man was attacked with a box in the New York subway.
It is unclear whether the crimes were racially motivated, but advocates who insist that more needs to be done to address violence against Asian Americans say that racist crimes against the community are historically underreported for various reasons.
Stop AAPI Hate, which includes a self-report tool for harassment, discrimination and violent attacks, recorded 2,808 incidents of anti-Asian discrimination across the US from its inception on March 19 to December 31, 2020. Another organization, Asian Americans promoting justice has recorded more than 3,000 hate incidents in their self-reporting system since the end of April 2020 – by far the highest number in the history of the four years. Read more.
– N’dea Yancey-Bragg
Contributing Contributions: Mike St The Associated Press
This article originally appeared in the US TODAY: COVID news: CDC school leadership; American variant cases; Trump fan