Category Archives: Corona Virus

The presence of wildfire smoke last year during the pandemic may have been responsible for at least 19,000 additional coronavirus cases on the West Coast, and 700 subsequent deaths, a new study shows.

The study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, offers the most detailed accounting yet of how the devastating 2020 wildfire season is believed to have amplified the coronavirus outbreak.

It traces increases in infections to periods of smoke in more than 50 counties in California, Oregon and Washington.

Some of the biggest smoke-related spikes were in the Sierra foothills and Central Valley, according to the study, but parts of the Bay Area also saw jumps. In Sonoma County, 13.1% of the cases from March to December last year were linked to smoke, or 1,754. This compares to 17.3% of the cases in Butte County, which had the largest percentage of smoke-associated cases of any California county.

Calaveras County fared the worst in terms of per-capita deaths. More than half of the countys 22 coronavirus fatalities were tied to smoke. The highest number of overall COVID-19 deaths associated with smoke were in Fresno and Alameda counties, with 131 and 110 people dying, respectively.

While a correlation between wildfire smoke and COVID-19 doesnt prove causation, the studys authors say the tie is no coincidence. Plenty of research since the start of the pandemic has suggested that exposure to smokes primary unhealthy component PM 2.5, which refers to particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers in size or smaller, compromises peoples immunity and increases susceptibility to COVID-19. Scientists also hypothesize that the virus may be spread by the particles.

The new findings come as the delta variant fuels yet another surge of coronavirus infections across the country while fire season is again in high gear in the West. Parts of California are already blanketed in smoke, with bad air recently reported as far away as New York and North Carolina.

Its a horrible combination, said Francesca Dominici, one of the authors of the study and a biostatistician at Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Together, the wildfires and COVID-19 make us even sicker.

The new research is based on statistical modeling done by Dominici and her colleagues at Harvard University and Californias Environmental Systems Research Institute in San Bernardino County.

The teams models crunched coronavirus numbers in 92 counties during non-smoky periods from March 15 to Dec. 16 and how these numbers changed when wildfire smoke brought particulate pollution. The area the researchers examined covered 95% of the population in California, Oregon and Washington. They excluded areas that did not have sufficient data for modeling.

The models took into consideration lag times between viral exposure and testing, and they adjusted for several variables, including changes in weather and population.

Areas with the most coronavirus cases and deaths linked to smoke last year were often those closest to the fires.

The researchers found that across the counties a daily increase in PM 2.5 concentrations of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air in smoke over 28 days correlated with an average 11.7% increase in coronavirus cases and 8.4% increase in COVID-19 deaths. The 24-hour concentration of PM 2.5 is generally considered unhealthy for some people when it gets above 35 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

In California, Sutter County followed Butte County in tallying the largest percentage of smoke-related coronavirus cases: 16.2% of all infections. Both are north of Sacramento, where bad air from several Sierra fires collected. In Mendocino County, where Californias largest fire in history burned, the August Complex fires, 14.6% of cases were associated with smoke.

Sacramento County, meanwhile, counted the most overall coronavirus cases tied to wildfires in the state: 4,639.

Beyond proximity to fires, the researchers said that the same factors resulting in some areas having more coronavirus cases than others racial makeup, pre-existing medical conditions and access to health care, for example explain why certain areas may be more vulnerable to smoke.

In some counties, including San Francisco, the number of coronavirus cases tied to smoke was actually less than what it would have been without a smoky fire season, according to the study. The researchers presumed that residents in these areas took extra precautions because of the wildfires, such as staying indoors as much as possible, buying air filters and wearing masks while outside. This could have boosted their level of protection to the virus.

The 2020 fire season went down as one of the nations worst, with a record 4.1 million acres burned in California. Many remember the eerie orange sky that emerged over the Bay Area because of wildfire smoke last September.

John Balmes, a professor of medicine at UCSF who was not affiliated with the new paper, said the research both helps validate the connection between wildfires and COVID-19 and underscores the need to do something about it.

This study is just one more set of evidence that we have to be doubling down on our efforts to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk, he said.

In the meantime, Balmes and the studys authors advise people to avoid exposure to smoke as best they can.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander

Originally posted here:

Wildfire smoke linked to thousands of coronavirus cases on West Coast - San Francisco Chronicle

As the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus rips through the unvaccinated population in the United States, Florida is heading toward its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

The state is still about one month away from its peak, according to an epidemiologist who has been tracking the viruss reach there.

Short term and long term, the cases are going to explode, Edwin Michael, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, said in an interview on Monday. We are predicting that the cases will be peaking the first week of September.

Dr. Michael models predictions of the coronavirus statewide and in each Florida county, and his teams work is used by officials and hospitals to support plans and responses to the pandemic.

Our simulations show that if we dont slow the hospitalizations, if we dont prevent the wave of coming infections, we might exceed Floridas bed capacity in early September, he said.

In the last week, hospitals around the state are reporting an average of 1,525 adult hospitalizations and 35 pediatric hospitalizations a day, and cases have risen to levels not seen since January.

We need a two-pronged approach, Dr. Michael said. Get as many people vaccinated as possible, especially the pediatric population. But to prevent the coming waves, we need to couple it with social-distancing measures and face-mask mandates.

He lamented that it was too late for vaccinations which take five weeks from the first dose to full protection to prevent the coming peak, and he insisted that the only way to have a quick impact on the Labor Day wave was to have the extra protective measures.

The next four weeks are going to be so crucial, he said. Schools and universities are reopening in Florida. This is going to be a dangerous period coming.

The pace of vaccination has plunged since April. That, coupled with a collapse in people taking precautions, allowed Delta to flourish. Barely 5 percent are practicing social measures, he said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has opposed mask mandates and vaccine requirements and has restricted local officials ability to put steps in place that, scientists say, would stem the rising tide of cases.

On Friday, Mr. DeSantis barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes begin next week, leaving it to parents to decide whether their children wear masks in school.

In Florida, there will be no lockdowns, Mr. DeSantis said. There will be no school closures. There will be no restrictions and no mandates.

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Florida Faces its Worst Coronavirus Wave Yet - The New York Times

BEIJING (AP) Chinas worst coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic a year and a half ago escalated Wednesday with dozens more cases around the country, the sealing-off of one city and the punishment of its local leaders.

Since that initial outbreak was tamed last year, Chinas people had lived virtually free of the virus, with extremely strict border controls and local distancing and quarantine measures stamping out scattered, small flareups when they occurred.

Now, the country is on high alert as an outbreak of cases connected to the international airport in the eastern city of Nanjing touched at least 17 provinces. China reported 71 new cases of COVID-19 from local transmission Wednesday, more than half of them in coastal Jiangsu province, of which Nanjing is the capital.

In Wuhan, the central city where the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in late 2019, mass testing has shown some of its newly reported cases have a high degree of similarity to cases discovered in Jiangsu province. Those cases have been identified as being caused by the highly transmissible delta variant that first was identified in India.

Meanwhile, another COVID-19 hotspot was emerging in the city of Zhangjiajie, near a scenic area in Hunan province famous for sandstone cliffs, caves, forests and waterfalls that inspired the on-screen landscape in the Avatar films.

The city, with a population of about 1.5 million, ordered residential communities sealed Sunday, preventing people from leaving their homes. In a subsequent order on Tuesday, officials said no one, whether tourist or resident, could leave the city.

The city governments Communist Party disciplinary committee on Wednesday issued a list of local officials who had a negative impact on pandemic prevention and control work who would be punished.

The city itself has only recorded 19 cases since last week, three of which were people with no symptoms, which are counted separately. However, individual cases linked to Zhangjiajies outbreak have spread to at least five provinces, according to the Shanghai government-owned newspaper the Paper.

Far higher numbers were reported in Yangzhou, a city next to Nanjing, which has recorded 126 cases as of Tuesday.

After announcing last week that they were suspending issuance of passports for travelers except for those with an urgent need, officials at the National Immigration Administration reiterated the message again on Wednesday at a press briefing.

As of Tuesday, China has given more than 1.71 billion vaccine doses to its population of 1.4 billion. Its not clear how many of those are first or both doses, but at least 40% of the population is fully protected, according to earlier announcements.

Chinese companies have not publicly shared real-world data on how effective their vaccines are against the delta variant, though officials have said the vaccines prevent severe disease and hospitalization.

In addition to the 71 cases of local transmission, 25 travelers from overseas have COVID-19 and have entered quarantine, making the total for Wednesday 96 new cases. The National Health Commission also said 15 people tested positive for the virus but have no symptoms.

China has reported 4,636 deaths and 93,289 cases of COVID-19 overall, most of them from the original outbreak in Wuhan that peaked early last year.

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China seals city as its worst virus outbreak in a year grows - Associated Press

Find an updated count of COVID-19 cases in California and by county on our tracker here.

Run to Feed the Hungry returns after being held virtually last year

Fauci says not enough Americans vaccinated to 'crush the outbreak'

What to know about the delta variant

More than 110 million COVID-19 vaccines sent abroad to over 60 countries

COVID-19 By The Numbers

5:50 p.m.: Run to Feed the Hungry returns after being held virtually last year

A Sacramento Thanksgiving tradition is set to return this year. Organizers say Run to Feed the Hungry is coming back after being held virtually last year because of COVID restrictions.

The race's return wasn't officially declared until today, but somehow word leaked out to eager runners.

"We actually launched registration at midnight and people are already registering before we even announced it this morning," said Melanie Flood with Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services.

The nonprofit puts the race on as a fundraiser generating nearly a million dollars. Thousands of people participate, running and walking in either a 5K or 10K through the streets of East Sacramento.

Flood says the decision to bring the run back aligns with CDC guidelines.

"In the worst case scenario, if we had to cancel the race and we weren't allowed to have an event such as this, we would still hold it virtually like we did last year, she said.

Registration will stay open through race day - November 25th.

10:15 a.m.: Fauci says not enough Americans vaccinated to 'crush the outbreak'

The nations top infectious disease expert is warning that more pain and suffering is ahead as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated, according to the Associated Press.

Dr. Anthony Fauci also said on ABCs This Week that he doesnt foresee additional U.S. lockdowns because he believes enough people are vaccinated to avoid a recurrence of last winter.

However, he said theres not nearly enough people who are inoculated to crush the outbreak. Currently, 58% of Americans 12 years and older are fully vaccinated.

The silver lining is that U.S. vaccinations are up 56% in the last two weeks, according to the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins said recently on CNN.

10:05 a.m.: What to know about the delta variant

The delta variant is more contagious than its predecessors, but research has shown that COVID-19 vaccines still provide strong protection against it.

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited the variant's surge in advising that vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in areas with high transmission.

The change is based on new research suggesting vaccinated people who get infected can spread it to others, even if the vaccinated don't get seriously ill. The more vaccinated people there are, the more it helps protect the unvaccinated, including children not yet eligible for the shots.

Some breakthrough cases were always expected, and a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found such cases remain rare.

9:35 a.m.: More than 110 million COVID-19 vaccines sent abroad to over 60 countries

The White House says the U.S. has donated and shipped more than 110 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to more than 60 countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Zambia.

According to the Associated Press, Biden has promised the U.S. will be the arsenal of vaccines for the world. The 110 million doses given largely through a vaccine program known as COVAX represents a fraction of whats really needed globally.

The White House says the U.S. will begin shipping at the half a billion Pfizer doses its pledged to 100 low-income countries in August. President Joe Biden was expected later Tuesday to discuss the U.S. strategy for slowing the spread of coronavirus abroad.

5:11 p.m.: Bay Area health officials reinstate indoor mask mandate

Health officials in San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties have announced that they are reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor settings as COVID-19 infections surge. Monday's order applies to everyone, regardless of vaccination status, and starts on Tuesday.

California last week recommended that people wear masks indoors, but stopped short of issuing a mandate, following guidance from the U.S Centers for Disease Control.

Three other California counties have already adopted mandates as COVID rates rise because of the highly contagious delta variant.

11:04 a.m.: While vaccinated people can contract delta COVID-19 variant, vaccines still best defense

The delta variant has changed Californias COVID-19 landscape in a big way. New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that even fully immunized people can contract the virus and even pass it to others.

Still, vaccines are seen as the best chance at reducing viral transmission. Getting immunized does protect you from getting very ill or dying from COVID-19. The vaccine also mostly prevents symptomatic cases from the original alpha variant, though, its slightly different with the delta variant.

There definitely can be transmission from symptomatic breakthroughs, said UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi. She explains that the delta variant can do this because its much more contagious and can transmit higher quantities of the virus, even to fully vaccinated people.

The trick is we need to get transmission down, Gandhi said. We need to get more people vaccinated so that theres not even a virus around for all of us to see to get mild breakthroughs. And thats really what were doing right now with resuming masking inside, and also importantly, getting our vaccination rates as high as we can.

Several California counties are requiring everyone to wear a mask in indoor public settings, though state and federal officials say its only recommended, not required, for fully immunized people.

However, Gandhi says strong mask policies are needed to combat this variant. She also stresses that people should refrain from gathering indoors and unmasked with friends who arent vaccinated.

We are acting like vaccines arent working, and thats what people seem to be hearing. These vaccines are working, Gandhi said. They are profoundly effective at preventing severe disease and death.

While many counties are seeing increases in hospitalizations, its far from the surge that California saw during the winter. Gandhi said public health departments will have to work hard to explain that more vaccinated people means theres less virus in circulation, leading to fewer deaths among those who cant get their shots.

10:06 a.m.: Evictions expected to spike due to national eviction moratorium ending

Housing courts around the country are ramping up work following the end of the federal eviction moratorium, according to the Associated Press.

Housing advocates fear that the recent end of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moratorium will result in millions of people being evicted. Most expect the wave of evictions to build slowly over the coming weeks and months as the bureaucracy of removing people from their homes restarts Monday.

The Biden administration announced Thursday it would allow a nationwide ban to expire. It argued that its hands were tied after the Supreme Court signaled the measure needed to come to an end.

California has its own eviction moratorium that is in place through the end of September.

9:43 a.m.: US employers ramp up vaccination pressure on white-collar employees

Employers across the U.S. are increasingly losing patience with unvaccinated workers.

According to the Associated Press, a growing number of businesses are requiring their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, alarmed by the rise of the more contagious delta variant.

Some employers getting tougher with vaccination requirements:

Some hospitals, universities, restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues have also started requiring vaccines.

In contrast, major companies that rely on lower-income blue-collar workers food manufacturers, warehouses, supermarkets, and other store chains are shying away from vaccine mandates for fear of driving away employees and worsening the labor shortages such businesses are facing.

10:51 a.m.: Tokyos COVID-19 infections top 4,000 for the first time

Tokyo is seeing new records every day in new cases of COVID-19. For the first time, Japans capital has exceeded 4,000 coronavirus casesa record high and nearly four times as many cases were reported just a week ago.

In the past day, 21 Olympic games-related personnel have tested positive, none of which were athletes.

On Friday, extended a state of emergency to areas around Tokyo and Osaka to tackle the COVID-19 surge.

Read more here.

Find older coronavirus updates on our previous blog page here.

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California Coronavirus Updates: Run to Feed The Hungry Returns After Being Held Virtually Last Year - Capital Public Radio News

A male deer trots through the underbrush. New research has found that more than 30 percent of blood samples from White-tailed deer in several US states contained antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Credit: Whwthunts via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Since making the leap to people, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has wrought havoc on human populations. Now the virus appears to be surging among some wild animals as well. A new US government study of white-tailed deer reported that many had been infected, raising the potential that even if the virus is eventually controlled or even eradicated in humans, another common animal could provide it a reservoir and spawn future outbreaks.

The US Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service tested 481 samples collected between January 2020 and March 2021 from deer in Illinois, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania and found that 33 percent tested positive for antibodies to the COVID-19 virus. While many animals appeared to have been infectedmore than 60 percent of samples in Michigan tested positive, for examplethe agency said there were no reports of deer appearing clinically ill.

Researchers want to know how the deer got infected in the first place. Linda Saif, a virologist at The Ohio State Universitytold Nature that a critical question is how the virus spread to deer and if it will spread from infected deer to other wildlife or to domestic livestock such as cattle. The animal and plant health service said the deer could have been exposed to the virus by people, other deer, other animals, or the environment.

Laboratory experiments have shown that deeralong with several other animals, including cats, nonhuman primates and deer miceare susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. For the most part infected animals dont get very sick.

Researchers want to know which species are susceptible to the virus in part to better understand the potential for spillbackor the reverse of the natural spillover from animals to people that many scientists believe caused the pandemic. With spillback, infected people could spread the disease to other species and create a new reservoir for the virus. Transmission among animals could also lead to new variants. In experiments, researchers have shown that the virus begins to mutate quickly after spreading among just a handful of animals.

While its not known whether deer can spread the virus to peoplethe government researchers believe the risk is lowthere have already been documented cases of farmed minks spreading the disease to workers. Hundreds of people in the Netherlands were infected with mink-related variant viruses last year.

White-tailed deer are common in North America.

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White-tailed deer are getting coronavirus infections: How big of a problem is that? - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

While the concern used to be creating a Covid vaccine, the greatest issue now is getting people to ... [+] take it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) COVID Data Tracker, more than 80% of new coronavirus cases in the United States are caused by the B.1.617.2 variant. More commonly known as Delta, this mutation of the coronavirus is more contagious than previous coronavirus strains.

Medical experts agree that getting vaccinated is important to be at least partially protected from the Delta variant. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who is the director of the CDC, stated that this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. With infections rising and vaccination rates slowing down, employers (including the federal government) have been looking for ways to convince their workers to get the coronavirus vaccine.

On July 29, 2021, President Biden announced additional efforts to get more people vaccinated. His announcement represents a strategic shift in how the White House (and many employers) may take with workers who still havent gotten vaccinated against the coronavirus.

In this article, Ill discuss what these changes are and how they fit into an overall trend concerning vaccination efforts. Ill also explain the underlying legal reasoning that supports these changes as well as real-world considerations that employers must confront when trying to get their workforce vaccinated.

President Bidens Coronavirus Vaccine Announcement

When it comes to federal employees and onsite contractors, President Bidens announcement to unvaccinated federal workers was effectively this:

This plan isnt revolutionary, as its similar to what New York is doing. But while neither reaches the level of a vaccine mandate, theyre getting close.

However, the Biden administration has imposed a coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal workers, but its been limited to health workers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Biden also indicated that his administration would encourage private employers to employ this model for encouraging workers to get vaccinated.

The July 29 announcement represents a significant shift in how the federal government (and many employers) will approach getting their workers vaccinated.

How the Drive to Vaccinate Americans Against the Coronavirus Has Changed

Currently, there are three coronavirus vaccines authorized for use in the United States:

All three of these have received emergency use authorizations (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ill discuss the significance of that fact later in this article.

When these vaccines were first introduced, there werent enough to go around, at least with respect to the Modern and Pfizer-BioNTech versions. But as more people became vaccinated and production of the vaccines ramped up (and the Johnson & Johnson version also gained its EUA), it became evident that some additional means of persuasion would be needed to convince hesitant individuals to get their coronavirus vaccine.

So out came the carrots. Some states ran a variety of incentive programs, including those that offered guns, a $1 million lottery or college scholarships.

Employers also offered incentives to their employees. Benefits ranged from paid time off to $200 in extra pay to $125 in gift cards. Although depending on how these employer-incentive programs worked, employers needed to be careful not to violate federal anti-discrimination laws.

But as the Delta variant continues to spread, its become clear that carrots havent been enough to get a sufficient number of people vaccinated. So now the sticks have come out, with the most notable being President Bidens July 29 announcement concerning federal workers.

If this current plan doesnt work, a hypothetical vaccine mandate would be the next option. However, the Biden administration has so far made clear that there will be no nationwide federal coronavirus vaccine mandate.

Youll notice that theres been a progression in how vaccination efforts can occur. They start with no real effort needed, as demand easily exceeds the vaccine supply.

Then things flip, with more doses available than people who want them. Employers and the government start with rewards, but if they dont produce the required results, a more aggressive approach is used.

It can begin with a get vaccinated or wear a mask, socially distance and get tested often approach. And if that still doesnt work, the ultimate option is possible: get vaccinated or youre fired.

Can employers do that? In many cases, yes. But there are two major legal exemptions. If someone has a medical or religious reason for not getting vaccinated, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 may allow them to forego an employers vaccination requirement.

But theres another potential exception that could limit an employers ability to impose a vaccine mandate. Its the fact that none of the three available vaccines in the United States have been approved by the FDA. Instead, theyre being administered pursuant to the Emergency Use Authorizations I mentioned earlier in this article.

Forcing Employees to Take a Vaccine Thats Subject to an Emergency Use Authorization

The law concerning employers mandating the vaccinations of their employees is pretty clear. But the law largely revolves around vaccines that have been fully approved by the FDA.

While its expected that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will get full FDA approval, its unclear as to when. However, some medical experts believe it could arrive over the next few months. As for the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine, theres been no application filed with the FDA to obtain full approval.

But why does any of this matter? It matters because when the FDA granted EUA for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, it came with the condition that the vaccines fact sheets would include language that gave the individuals the option to accept or refuse the vaccine.

Does this language mean private and public entities, such as private and government employers, cant impose a vaccine mandate on their workers? According to the Office of Legal Counsel (which is part of the Department of Justice), the answer to that question is no.

In a July 6, 2021 legal opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) concluded that private and public entities, such as employers, could impose the vaccine mandate on their workforce even if the vaccine only had an EUA. The OLC reached this conclusion for several reasons, including:

Whether this legal opinion could survive judicial scrutiny remains to be seen, although its relying on fairly well-established legal principles and case law. Assuming its conclusions are upheld by a federal judge, there are still real-world considerations employers must face.

Practical Factors that Employers Must Consider

With the law likely on their side, why dont more employers require their employees to get the coronavirus vaccine? There are a plethora of reasons.

First, what happens if the employee gets sick from the vaccine? The employer could potentially be at risk of getting sued by the employee. This is another reason why the FDAs full approval of the coronavirus vaccines is important. It would be more difficult for the employee to successfully sue his or her employer for injuries from an FDA-approved vaccine compared to a vaccine thats only been authorized for emergency use.

Second, most employers would have difficulty enforcing the mandate. It might require intrusive inquiries into the employees medical history that could invoke other legal protections of the employee. Or perhaps the employer would just take the employees word with no process of verifying the employees vaccination status.

Third, there are collective bargaining considerations that might restrict the employers ability to impose or enforce a vaccine mandate on unionized workers.

Fourth, there are racial disparities in those who have received the coronavirus vaccine. If punishments for not being vaccinated were to disproportionately impact employees of a certain race, this could result in unlawful racial discrimination based on disparate impact.

Fifth, the coronavirus and its vaccines are politically charged issues. By imposing a vaccine mandate, employers potentially enter this political fray.

If they havent already done so, its likely some employers will soon require their workers to get vaccinated. But other employers may take the option approach thats similar to what President Bidden announced on July 29.

Why might some employers choose the option approach as opposed to insisting their employees get vaccinated? There are two major reasons.

By allowing employees to choose between getting a vaccine or something else (like wearing a mask, socially distancing at work and/or getting tested regularly), it becomes harder for the employee to claim their religious or medical rights are being violated.

Another advantage of the option approach is that it makes it easier for employers to get their employees back to the office. Employers with remote workers due to the coronavirus are well aware of the challenges they face in getting the workers back into the office. The last thing employers want to do is give workers more reason to stay home.

Providing an option appeases the remote workers who want to avoid having to get the coronavirus vaccine. But it also works for workers who might have concerns about their safety when returning to the office that has no vaccine requirement or alternative precautions in place.

Bottom Line

Employers face a delicate balance in trying to keep their workers safe, complying with the law and staying out of the political spotlight. As more incentives are offered for vaccination, alongside rising case numbers from the Delta variant, when our pandemic society will come to an endif at allremains to be seen.

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Will There Be A Coronavirus Vaccine Mandate For Most Workers? - Forbes

SYDNEY, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Australia's New South Wales reported one of the country's youngest deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, as daily infections lingered near a 16-month high despite the lockdown of 5 million people in Sydney entering its sixth week.

The unnamed man in his 20s, who had no underlying health issues and was unvaccinated, died at his home in the city, authorities said. He deteriorated rapidly after earlier complaining of just mild symptoms, they added.

The man was ineligible for a Pfizer (PFE.N) vaccine, as Australia limits that type for people over 40 amid tight supplies, while Canberra has only recently told people to take the AstraZeneca vaccine as cases swell, having previously limited it to people over 60.

The death highlights the risk facing Australia's largest city, which is struggling to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant when fewer than 20% of Sydney's residents are vaccinated.

Last year, the neighbouring state of Victoria said an unnamed man also in his 20s had died from COVID-19, though a coroner is still investigating the exact cause of death.

It was unclear if the Sydney man had the Delta coronavirus variant but most of the latest cases in New South Wales have been that type. Early data are showing Delta is more contagious and likely causes more severe effects than earlier coronavirus variants, though other experts cautioned more findings are needed. read more

The young man was one of two COVID-19 deaths reported in New South Wales in the past 24 hours. New South Wales also recorded 233 new cases, near a 16-month high reported last week, and State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said case numbers would likely grow.

"I'm not going to rule out case numbers wont get worse, I actually think they will get worse, Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney, the New South Wales capital.

"If you look at the number of people infectious in the community, it indicates that perhaps we havent reached our peak."

At least 68 of the 233 new cases were not in isolation for their entire infectious period.

INTENSE PRESSURE

Berejiklian is under intense pressure to ease the movement restrictions that threaten to drive Australia into its second recession in as many years. However, she has said at least 50% of the state's population would need to be vaccinated for the curbs to ease at the end of August. read more

Still, many remain wary of taking the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine, the most plentiful of two vaccines approved in the country, because of a rare blood clotting issue.

Additionally, government modelling released on Tuesday showed at least 70% of the state's population would need to be inoculated to slow the spread.

The modelling also indicated Australia should intensify vaccinations of younger people, who tend to spread the virus more frequently but are unable to secure a Pfizer vaccine.

Authorities have warned people not to wait for an increase in Pfizer supplies expected next month as case numbers prove difficult to curtail and sewage tests are indicating the coronavirus may have spread north.

New South Wales has taken aggressive countermeasures to stop the coronavirus's spread, including sealing off high-risk suburbs and asking the military to help police enforce lockdown rules. read more

A total of 17 people have died in Sydney during the current outbreak that began on June 16. During that time, the surge has pushed the total cases in New South Wales to more than 4,000.

Nationally, Australia has recorded 927 deaths since the pandemic's start, with just over 35,000 cases out of about 25 million people.

Queensland on Wednesday reported 16 locally acquired cases, the same as the day earlier, prompting authorities to declare it the state's worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic and warn that a lockdown in the capital Brisbane might be extended beyond Sunday.

"If we don't do something really, really, really special in Queensland, we'll be extending the lockdown," Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young told reporters in Brisbane.

The states of Victoria and Western Australia also reported one new COVID-19 infection each.

Reporting Byron Kaye, Paulina Duran and Renju Jose in Sydney and Colin Packham in Canberra; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Christian Schmollinger

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Man in his 20s becomes one of Australia's youngest COVID-19 deaths - Reuters

Another 126coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Wednesday.

Wednesdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 70,844,according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 70,718 on Tuesday.

Of those, 51,651have been confirmed positive, while 19,193were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 1,170. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. Thats up from 1,091 on Tuesday.

The new case rate statewide Wednesday was 0.94 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 529.32.

Maines seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 103, up from 93.1 a day ago, up from 66.9 a week ago and up from 22 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 900.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men.

So far, 2,159Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information about those who are currently hospitalized wasnt immediately available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Wednesday was 16.13 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (8,521), Aroostook (1,999), Cumberland (17,626), Franklin (1,422), Hancock (1,431), Kennebec (6,767), Knox (1,203), Lincoln (1,129), Oxford (3,706), Penobscot (6,561), Piscataquis (613), Sagadahoc (1,490), Somerset (2,355), Waldo (1,170), Washington (965) and York (13,886) counties.

An additional 723 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Wednesday, 769,763 Mainers have received a first dose of the vaccine, while 817,929 have received a final dose.

As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 35,242,078people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 614,317deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the number of cases reported in the past 14 days.

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126 more coronavirus cases have been reported across Maine - Bangor Daily News

A little over two months ago about 4,000 people were dying every day from Covid-19 in India. Yet, on a recent Friday, a rooftop bar in New Delhi was once again packed with crowds of young adults mingling without masks.

Among the hundreds at the Summer House Cafe, a popular nightspot in Indias capital city, was Srishtii Guptaa, a 29-year-old graduate student who said she lost several family members to Covid-19 in April and May.

Life goes on, said Ms. Guptaa, who resumed her busy social life as soon as lockdown restrictions were lifted. Nothing stops me from partying.

For some Indians, life has already returned to normal after a devastating spring surge. In New Delhi and other cities across the country, shoppers are once again crowding stores, diners are squeezing into restaurants, and bars are hosting crowds of revelers. Many have already abandoned safety precautions such as social distancing and wearing a mask.

Coronavirus infections have steadily fallendespite a sluggish vaccination rolloutafter hitting a peak of more than 400,000 cases a day in early May. For weeks, daily confirmed cases have plateaued around 40,000. Only about 7% of the countrys more than 1.3 billion people have received both shots of a Covid-19 vaccine.

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As Covid-19 Recedes in India, Bars Are Full and Masks Are Optional - The Wall Street Journal

People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the country, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. who have so far not gotten a vaccine. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption

People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the country, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. who have so far not gotten a vaccine.

In many ways, American life is returning to normalcy: Masks are no longer required in many locations, schools and universities are slated to re-open, and the days of social distancing begin to fade as concerts and sporting events bring spectators back.

In the U.S., we're now averaging 154 deaths a day from COVID-19 a tiny fraction compared to the pandemic's peak -- and there are still some safety measures and restrictions in place. Late pandemic American life hasn't quite returned to the status quo, but it feels much closer to normal than it did six months ago.

But while we may long for authorities to give an all-clear and say the pandemic is history, the crisis isn't over, in the U.S. or abroad.

The question of when the crisis will actually be over is a layered one with different answers from a local, national and global perspective.

The U.S. declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020.

After many months in which the U.S. led the world in coronavirus cases, the virus is now under much better control, due to wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

That federal emergency status is still in effect it has been renewed several times, most recently in April. It can be extended by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for as long as the emergency is deemed to exist.

Healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the "Hometown Heroes" ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday. Newsday LLC/Newsday via Getty Images hide caption

Healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the "Hometown Heroes" ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday.

It's not clear whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue any sort of all-clear. The CDC did not respond to NPR on the matter.

Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, hopes that the CDC will eventually give Americans that go-ahead sign. He previously served in numerous roles over nearly 20 years at the CDC.

When the time comes, Mokdad tells NPR, "It's very important for our own CDC ... to say 'We're out of danger right now. We should move on with our lives.' "

He says there aren't set-in-stone metrics to determine when a pandemic is over, because the situation is dynamic and changing so fast. And the virus itself is evolving, too.

"When you look at the genetic makeup and sequencing of the virus ... and how it has been changing, there's still a lot of room for it to mutate. It's not at the end of the mutation cycle that it can do. So that virus could still carry a lot of surprises," he says.

The Foo Fighters reopened Madison Square Garden last month in New York City. The concert, with all attendees vaccinated, was the first in a New York arena to be held at full capacity since March 2020. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF hide caption

The Foo Fighters reopened Madison Square Garden last month in New York City. The concert, with all attendees vaccinated, was the first in a New York arena to be held at full capacity since March 2020.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11 last year the same day that life began to change dramatically in much of the U.S.

So when the virus eventually is under control, will WHO declare the pandemic over?

Basically, yes.

When the worldwide spread of COVID-19 stops, it will no longer be considered a pandemic. "In general, if the worldwide spread of a disease is brought under control to a localized area, we can say that it is no longer a pandemic but instead, an epidemic," WHO tells NPR.

But it emphasized that the characterization of the outbreak as a pandemic has no formal meaning under international law.

What does have a formal meaning is a "public health emergency of international concern" a status assigned to COVID-19 at the end of January 2020. That's the highest level of health alarm under international law.

WHO convenes an international committee every three months to determine if an outbreak should still be considered such a global health emergency. When it's over, WHO says it's over. That's what it did last summer regarding an Ebola outbreak in Africa.

But it will most likely be a while before that happens.

As WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus frequently states: none of us will be safe until everyone is safe.

The Delta variant has spread just as fast through the U.S. as epidemiologists feared it would. It now accounts for more than half the cases in the U.S., and far more than that in certain states.

Lynn Goldman, an epidemiologist and dean of the school of public health at George Washington University, says the U.S. has certain things working for it, and some against it.

The good news is we've shown the ability to lower rates of transmission and deaths from the virus. And of course, Americans have widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The bad news is there's resistance to the two main ways to prevent transmission getting vaccinated and wearing a mask.

"And unfortunately, those two attributes tend to coincide within the same people and within the same population subgroups," Goldman says. In other words, many of the same people who don't want to get a vaccine also don't want to wear a mask.

Graduates participated in a USC commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May. Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag hide caption

Graduates participated in a USC commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May.

As a result, Goldman says, we're likely to see continued transmission of the virus in the U.S., concentrated in the areas with lowest rates of vaccination.

The current vaccines are highly effective against COVID-19, including the Delta variant. That means vastly different outcomes for those who are vaccinated and those who aren't. Last month, for example, 92 people died of COVID-19 in the state of Maryland. All of them were unvaccinated.

The most precise indicators of progress or problems are very local.

National and even state-level metrics for infection or vaccination rates can be misleading, Mokdad says. A state's overall vaccination rate can disguise much lower numbers in certain pockets that remain highly vulnerable to outbreaks.

Low vaccination rates make it easier for fast-spreading variants to take hold.

While there are many ways to track progress (or not) in controlling the virus, Mokdad says one especially useful metric is hospitalizations.

"There is no way to make a mistake or underreport hospitalization for COVID-19, because everybody who goes to a hospital right now is being tested for COVID-19," says Mokdad.

That's in contrast to cases, which can go uncounted due to a lack of testing, and the number of deaths, which can spike weeks behind other indicators when an outbreak hits.

Accompanied by his family, a student gets vaccinated at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday in Winnetka, Calif. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

Accompanied by his family, a student gets vaccinated at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday in Winnetka, Calif.

Even though U.S. cases are much improved from the peak, unvaccinated people will continue to die from COVID-19 until we successfully control transmission.

Experts say the next big challenge will come this winter. Another wave is expected as people move inside during colder months. There will likely be some outbreaks as students go back to school children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccines.

How dangerous the virus continues to be will depend on vaccination levels of the population and the lethality of the variant circulating when winter comes. How quickly a state or local government is willing to go back into restrictive measures like wearing masks indoors will play a role, too.

"For the short term, it will be seasonal, like what we see with the flu, simply because we don't have enough vaccine to vaccinate everybody in the world," Mokdad says.

If we do the right things like increasing production of the vaccine, he says, it's possible we eventually won't have to worry about COVID-19 anymore.

Goldman sees two possible scenarios for the U.S. in the near future.

One is that the virus evolves to more readily evade the vaccines that have been administered.

If that happens, she says, "then we'll have to go into a whole other round of re-vaccinating everybody." Drugmakers are already working on booster shots in case they become necessary.

On the other hand, that might not happen, and the current vaccines will continue to be highly effective.

In that case, Goldman believes that within the next several months "we'll see near elimination of the pandemic, certainly in the United States and Europe, other wealthy countries, Japan, Taiwan," while efforts will continue to immunize people in the rest of the world.

It's very likely, Goldman says, that even when we can say the pandemic is over, transmission will continue in parts of the country that have low rates of vaccination.

But one thing is clear. No matter what happens, the effects of the pandemic including long COVID, mental health issues, and economic fallout won't end when the official emergency does.

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How We'll Know When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over - NPR