Category Archives: Covid-19

MEXICO CITY, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Mexico on Tuesday allowed a cruise ship to dock and disembark tourists in spite of an outbreak of COVID-19 on board, as the government vowed to keep the country open to cruise vessels provided sanitary precautions are met.

The ship, Ms Zuiderdam, with some 2,000 passengers and crew, docked in the port of Guaymas in the northern state of state of Sonora, state and federal authorities said.

In a statement, the Mexican government said it would accept cruise ships that sought permission to dock as long as World Health Organization international regulations are followed.

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People infected with COVID-19 on cruise ships who need medical attention will receive it, and milder or asymptomatic cases will be isolated from others on board, it added.

Holland America Line, which operates the Zuiderdam, said in a statement that a small number of fully vaccinated crew and passengers on Zuiderdam had tested positive for COVID-19.

All showed mild or no symptoms and are in isolation, while their close contacts have been quarantined, it added.

Zuiderdam is on a 10-day cruise and would return to San Diego as scheduled on Jan. 2, the statement said.

Sonora health minister Jose Luis Alomia told a news conference 30 people had tested COVID-19 positive on the Zuiderdam - 28 crew and two passengers - and were in isolation.

Around 400 people had disembarked from the vessel during the morning after proceeding through sanitary filters set up to identify suspected cases of infection, Alomia said.

The minister said there were some 1,200 passengers and almost 800 crew on board the Zuiderdam.

The government of Mexico, whose economy relies substantially on visitors from abroad for foreign exchange income, has been determined to keep the country open during the pandemic, imposing relatively few restrictions on tourism.

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Reporting by Dave Graham;Editing by Sandra Maler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Cruise ship with COVID-19 outbreak docks in northern Mexico - Reuters

Multiple student-athletes from Princeton High School tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a track meet at the Toms River Bubble on Dec. 20.

The meet at the Toms River Bubble, an indoor athletic complex, was attended by the high schools sprint and throw group.

This meet involved far more teams and athletes than advertised, and unfortunately we received reports today of multiple positive COVID-19 cases from athletes on our team who attended that meet, head high school track and field coach Ben Samara wrote to track parents in an email on Christmas Eve.

While it is, of course, not a certainty that the positive cases resulted from this meet, we are taking this news very seriously. As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, the sprint group will be shutting down over winter break, Samara wrote.

The sprint group will begin normal practice again when school is back in session on Jan. 3. In the email, Samara encouraged students who attended the meet to get tested for COVID over the break. The distance runners group did not attend the meet and will continue normal activities over break, but with masks in place as a precaution. Distance runners are still slated to compete in the CVD Relays on Jan. 2.

Moving forward, we will be reaching out to meet directors to confirm the number of teams, athletes, and spectators anticipated at each meet, Samara wrote, adding that school officials will determine whether or not the track team participates on a case-by-case basis.

We will also disclose this information to athletes and families so you can make an informed decision about whether or not you want your child to attend each meet, Samara wrote. It is our promise to do everything in our power to not put our athletes and your children in a compromising position.

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Multiple student COVID-19 cases in Princeton possibly linked to indoor track meet in Toms River Princeton, NJ local news % - Planet Princeton

New York City, home to the nations largest school system, will eliminate its current policy of quarantining entire classrooms exposed to Covid, and will instead use a ramped-up testing program to allow students who test negative for the coronavirus and do not have symptoms to remain in school.

The new policy, which Mayor Bill de Blasio referred to as Stay Safe and Stay Open during his announcement on Tuesday, will take effect on Jan. 3, when the nearly one million students who attend the citys public schools are scheduled to return from holiday break. More than 27,000 new virus cases were reported in New York City on Tuesday, and more than 2,300 people were hospitalized with Covid-19, according to the states most recent count.

Mr. de Blasio, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who takes office on Saturday, appeared together at a news conference to present a united front against school closures, despite an enormous surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant that has only worsened in the days since city schools closed for winter break last week.

Your children are safer in school, the numbers speak for themselves, Mr. Adams said.

Instead of delaying the start of in-person school and pivoting to remote learning, the city will double the amount of random surveillance testing it conducts, in hopes of detecting more infections while mitigating disruptions.

Ms. Hochul on Tuesday called remote learning a failed experiment, while lauding the very best efforts of incredibly hardworking, passionate teachers who did their very best with remote teaching and the parents who were just pulling their hair out at kitchen tables, trying to make sure that it worked successfully.

New Yorks new schools policy is the latest example of how the country is trying to respond to the Omicron variant without implementing disruptive and unpopular large-scale shutdowns. Officials are walking a tightrope as cases increase at an alarming rate: On Tuesday, the United States record for daily coronavirus cases was broken, with the seven-day average topping 267,000.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday shortened the amount of time that people who test positive need to isolate from 10 days to five, as long as they are asymptomatic and wear high-quality masks while around others.

Many school districts have sought to limit disruption and prevent outbreaks by increasing testing. That model, known as test to stay, was endorsed by the C.D.C. earlier this month. States including Illinois, Kansas, California and Massachusetts have test-to-stay strategies, and the United Kingdom loosened quarantine rules for exposed students earlier this year.

In the Granite School District near Salt Lake City, a significantly smaller school district than New Yorks made up of 90 schools and 63,000 students, the test-to-stay program has worked well, according to the districts spokesman, Ben Horsley, and is now being adopted in Utah statewide.

Youd be in a situation, you might have 1,800 students in a high school and all 1,800 would be dismissed once the case count reached a certain threshold, Mr. Horsley said. As you can imagine, sending everybody home when only 10 to 12 other kids might be sick seemed pretty ridiculous.

In New York City, hundreds of classrooms were either entirely closed or partially closed last week because of Covid exposures. The citys previous policy was to quarantine unvaccinated close contacts of infected students for 10 days. Many elementary school children in particular have not been vaccinated, even though they are eligible, and fewer than half of all city children aged 5 to 17 are fully vaccinated.

City officials are expecting Omicron to continue surging in New York over the next few weeks, which will certainly be felt in classrooms. To avoid frequent closures and disruption, the city will provide students with rapid at-home tests to take if someone in their classroom tests positive.

If the students are not showing symptoms and test negative, they will be allowed to return the next day. They will then be given a second at-home test within five days of their exposure. Students or parents will self-report test results to schools.

Students will also receive rapid tests if their classmates or teachers are displaying symptoms. Those who test positive will have to quarantine for 10 days.

New York still plans to close entire schools when there is evidence of major in-school spread.

Schools remain among the safest settings in our communities, Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the citys health commissioner, said on Tuesday.

He said that even if virus rates continued to rise, we estimate that in schools about 98 percent of close contacts do not end up developing Covid-19.

Ms. Hochul said Monday that she would send one million rapid at-home test kits, each containing two tests, to New York City schools, and those are set to arrive this week. In all, the city expects to have roughly six million rapid tests on hand by the time school starts.

Dr. Michael Mina, a former Harvard University epidemiologist, is a leading expert on rapid tests and has been a forceful advocate of using testing to keep classrooms open.

But Dr. Mina, who is now the chief science officer for eMed, which distributes at-home tests, said that testing children twice a week in classrooms where an infection was detected would simply not do enough to dramatically reduce transmission. Instead, he said, those who have been exposed should be tested every day.

By testing just twice, youre very likely to miss when someone becomes infectious and potentially becomes a superspreader, he said. This virus goes from zero to a hundred easily in a day or maybe two days.

He considered what would happen if a child tests positive on Monday after having exposed his classmates that day at school. They get exposed on Monday, test on Tuesday or Wednesday, and then they dont test on Friday, but they could be an absolute superspreader on Friday, Dr. Mina said.

Brad Lander, the incoming city comptroller, recently called on the mayor to make rapid tests available to all students and staff before Jan. 3, to help prevent a major outbreak. Mr. de Blasio said Tuesday his team had decided that plan was not feasible, but the city is still encouraging students and staff to try to get tested this weekend.

That could prove difficult for many families, because of the extremely long lines at many testing sites across the city as demand has surged.

The citys teachers union is not yet fully on board with the reopening plan.

We are moving closer to a safe reopening of school next week. But we are not there yet, Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said.

Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University, said the city should prioritize getting more young children vaccinated. But the testing plan, she said, is a sound approach moving forward.

Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell. The Nassau County chief of detectives will becomeNew York Citys first female police commissioner, taking over the nations largest police force amid a crisis of trust in American policing and a troubling rise in violence.

Commissioner of Correction Department: Louis Molina. The former N.Y.P.D. officerwho currently oversees a public safety department in Las Vegas will be tasked with leading the citys embattled Correction Departmentand restoring order at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.

Chief Counsel: Brendan McGuire. After a stint as a partner in a law firms white-collar practice, the former federal prosecutor will return to the public sector to advise the mayor on legal mattersinvolving City Hall, the executive staff and administrative matters.

Deputies. Lorraine Grillo will be the top deputy mayor, Meera Joshi will be deputy mayor for operations, Maria Torres-Springer deputy mayor for economic development, Anne Williams-Isom deputy mayor for health and human services and Sheena Wright deputy mayor for strategic operations.

The number of staff members assigned to the citys virus-tracing system for schools will be doubled, officials said Tuesday. The system, known as the situation room, was completely overwhelmed with cases during the last week of school before break, with some positive cases never reported to parents or reported days late.

After months of relatively little disruption, more than 400 classrooms were fully closed at the end of last week because of positive cases. Seventeen of the citys roughly 1,600 schools closed temporarily during the fall semester, with more than half of the closures taking place during its final two weeks.

The school system has been conducting surveillance P.C.R. testing of random groups of students, aimed at catching positive cases before they turn into outbreaks.

But following intense criticism that the city was conducting far too few tests, it plans to ramp up testing from 10 percent of consenting students in each school each week to 20 percent.

In another shift, the city will now test both vaccinated and unvaccinated students under its surveillance program, whereas for months it only tested unvaccinated students. Omicron is extremely contagious, even among vaccinated people.

There is a catch: Only students whose parents have allowed them to be tested are eligible.

Mr. de Blasio said Tuesday that about 330,000 students had consented to testing, about a third of the total school population. He expects that number to increase significantly now that vaccinated children are eligible.

City officials plan to encourage more parents to opt their children into the testing pool, but have rejected calls to require parents to opt out of random testing for their children, rather than actively consent to it.

Children in prekindergarten programs are not eligible for random testing, which has frustrated parents of those students, who are not yet eligible for vaccines.

The mayor said the city never had a problem getting the number of kids and adults tested we needed to.

That contradicts the experience of some parents, who have said in interviews that their children were tested nearly every week even if they were vaccinated because so few students in a given school had consented to testing.

And while the city has recently begun to offer testing to staff members, all of whom must be vaccinated, many educators have said there are not enough tests for everyone who wants one.

City and state officials have also emphasized in recent days that many more eligible young children in particular need to get vaccinated to keep schools safe amid Omicron. The city sent vaccination trucks to schools when the shots were first authorized for young children this fall.

But now that its clear that the new variant is driving breakthrough cases, some parents of vaccinated students said they were concerned about the new semester and that people returning from holiday gatherings would spread the virus.

Im just worried because of everyones holiday plans, said Rafael Lena, the parent of a fourth grader in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens. Im worried that theyre basically leaving it up to us to determine are we sick or not. Were just trying to navigate all of this.

Joseph Goldstein, Dana Rubinstein and Stephanie Saul contributed reporting.

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NYC Schools Will Reopen with More Covid-19 Testing to Limit Closures - The New York Times

After a roller coaster year, the COVID-19 pandemic is still taking a massive toll on Maine and the path it will take from here is uncertain.

The first half of this year was marked by hope from the emerging COVID-19 vaccines. High cases last winter slowed to a relative crawl by the summer, when Maine wound down the last remaining business restrictions. The more contagious delta variant then dominated cases, fueling a surge that has persisted since the late summer. Maine is entering the new year with near record case and hospitalization levelsas the new omicron variant takes hold.

The Bangor Daily News talked to three experts to get a sense of what next year may bring. While they expressed hope about vaccines that could further dampen the virus spread, they saw continued risk among unvaccinated people that could stress the states response.

Here is what Mainers can expect from the pandemic next year.

As the virus grew more contagious, Maine saw an increasing amount of breakthrough cases in vaccinated people over the course of 2021. Omicron is likely to lead to far more, though the emerging consensusis that cases being caused by the new variant are more mild. The vaccines are still widely successful at preventing serious illness and deaths.

That is why each health expert who spoke with the BDN agreed they were game changers for the course of the pandemic and will continue to be so going forward. The advent of more drugsthat can treat severe COVID-19 symptoms is another bright spot.

The importance of vaccines was driven home when the delta variant became prominent in Maine, pushing cases up and largely unvaccinated people into hospitals, said Charles Pattavina, an emergency room doctor at St. Josephs Hospital in Bangor. The effect from vaccination is evident in the differences between case rates in Cumberland County Maines most vaccinated ones and its more rural regions.

The arrival of omicron could make things worse, Pattavina worried, with the effects likely to be felt by January. While cases generally appear to be mild, the transmissibilityof omicron could increase cases so much that hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, he said.

State officials are not interested in bringing back restrictions that marked the first year and a half of the pandemic, such as masking requirements, indoor business capacity limits and others. They have said that the best way to end the pandemic is through encouraging vaccinations.

Mills pushed that message hardest through her controversial mandate for health care employees, though she has not said much about a wider private-sector requirement from President Joe Biden for employers with over 100 employees that will take effect for now after ping-ponging through the courts.

Any further increase in cases could spark debate in health circles about whether the state should do more as communities including Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York City put in place pandemic mitigation efforts. Last week, the Maine Medical Association put the onus on businesses, recommending they require masks indoors for both customers and employees.

The association had discussed whether to push Mills to reinstate a mask requirement, said Dr. Lani Graham, who sits on the associations public health committee and is a former director of Maines public health agency. While there were concerns about whether the backlash against such a provision would do more harm than good, there are still splits on that issue.

When you look at other public health interventions, it is only when we are quite aggressive with requirements that we are successful, she said.

The regular record-setting case numbers reported by the Maine CDC are dispiriting, but they are quickly becoming a less-useful metric as the surge continues due to sustained community spread in all 16 counties, lagging testingand the states struggle to processall the tests they are getting in a timely manner.

Hospitalizations will increasingly become a better indicator of whether people are experiencing more drastic cases. Graham said while much about omicron is uncertain, it will quickly be apparent in how many people need a high level of care, regardless of their vaccination status.

We are now coming into a time when people who are vaccinated with boosters may not be protected, she said.

Hospitals have been near capacity in recent weeksbefore COVID-19 inpatients dipped around Christmas, but any sustained stress on hospitals will continue to reverberate through the rest of a health care system that is suffering from a worker shortage at all levels. Continued serious case levels will continue to make it hard to find solutions.

Hospitals never had that volume of capacity, and you cant just ramp it up suddenly, said Patty Hamilton, Bangors public health director.

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3 experts say what the COVID-19 pandemic will look like in Maine in 2022 - Bangor Daily News

TORONTO The NBA has responded to surging COVID-19 cases by keeping games on the schedule and playing in front of fans even while scrambling to fill rosters with able bodies.

But with more than 100 players and coaches entering the leagues coronavirus protocols in December alone, games have resembled preseason or summer league events. Teams are filling holes in their rosters with players who were either in the NBA G League or out of the NBA altogether.

On Monday night, former Sixer Greg Monroe made history by becoming the 541st player used in the league this season. He set the NBA record when he checked in for the Minnesota Timberwolves during their victory over the Boston Celtics.

Monroe last played in the NBA in April 2019 as a Sixer before signing a 10-day replacement contract with the Timberwolves on Monday.

READ MORE: Joel Embiids journey to the NBA and his latest Sixers record are unbelievable even to him

Sixers guard Tyler Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas, and Boston Celtics guard Joe Johnson are among the notable players picked up under similar circumstances. But in a lot of instances, the replacement players were out of the NBA for a reason. Many either werent good enough or were past their prime.

With that, the leagues talent level has been a little watered down. Not only are replacement players contributing, end-of-the bench and two-way players are finding spots in the rotation.

That and the uncertainty of who is available to play on any given night amid protocols creates preparation and motivation problems.

A prime example was the Sixers 114-109 victory against the Toronto Raptors, or The Replacement Raptors, Tuesday night. This was Torontos second game after being sidelined for eight days because of a COVID outbreak.

On Sunday, the Raptors or better yet, the eight players dressed in Raptors uniforms were throttled, 144-99, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. That was Torontos second-worst loss in franchise history. None of that was surprising, with the eight players meeting for the first time for on-court instructions as a group 75 minutes before the game.

Chris Boucher, Yuta Watanabe, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Dalano Banton were Torontos four regular players. But none of them are regular starters when the Raptors are at full strength.

READ MORE: The NFL and NBA are doing the right thing. The rest of us need to accept that well always live with COVID-19. | David Murphy

The other four players Juwan Morgan, Tremont Waters, D.J. Wilson, and Daniel Oturu were replacement players from various G League teams.

We met them on [the] bus on the way to the arena, Watanabe told reporters of the newcomers after the game.

On Tuesday, the Raptors welcomed back Pascal Siakam, Malachi Flynn, and Gary Trent Jr. after they cleared protocols.

However, Precious Achiuwa, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Isaac Bonga, Justin Champagnie, Khem Birch, and Fred VanVleet all remained sidelined because of protocols. Goran Dragic (not with the team) and David Johnson (left calf strain) are also sidelined.

The Sixers are without Shake Milton, Danny Green, and Andre Drummond because of COVID. Milton and Drummond are expected to clear protocols Wednesday and could be available for Thursdays game at the Brooklyn Nets, depending on their conditioning.

Because of human nature, the mental preparation is at least a little bit different when facing a decimated squad like the Raptors.

But the rule of thumb with the game is always respect your opponent, Tobias Harris said. Obviously different guys are coming from different places and have an opportunity. But right now, its just part of the game that were in because of the situation of COVID and outbreak.

But at some point, I hope that guys bounce back and not have as many cases.

Dont we all.

Its hard watching recently signed players be depended on to make major contributions. Sure, there are a lot of great stories to write about young players getting chances to prove themselves and veterans showing they still have skill.

To their credit, the Sixers will tell you basketball is basketball. Coach Doc Rivers is more optimistic than most.

READ MORE: COVID cripples Sixers schedule as NFL, NBA, NHL resume protocols they shouldve never quit | Marcus Hayes

Its good basketball, he said. Its still a competition. I think what it proves is theres a lot of guys that can play basketball. Obviously, theyre not Kevin Durants or Joel Embiids, but theyre still very talented players. Greg Monroe comes in last night and plays great. Tyler is playing great for us.

It just says theres still guys out there that can play.

As Rivers points out, most of the guys have experience in the league.

But the overall product has taken a hit. How many times can you watch a player, through no fault of his own, glance over at a teammate or the bench to ask for instructions?

And the situation is dismal in Toronto.

The Raptors reduced fan capacity by 50% at their arena earlier this month after new restrictions were announced by the province of Ontario.

Combining a half-empty arena with the Raptors decimated roster, Tuesdays contest lacked the normal pregame excitement.

For our group, its such a focus on getting us right and ready, Harris said, and building our chemistry and finding our flow as a team and our identity and how were going to play. So thats what our main focus is on, not really on the excitement of the game.

Those things are always going to be exciting. But our biggest goal is to figure out how we can be better.

Perhaps.

But things will be better for everyone involved when rosters are close to being back at full strength. The question is when will that be.

It appears that most of the NBA news on Twitter these is centered on the next player being placed in protocols. With the coronavirus showing no signs of going away, it could be while before we see teams back at full strength.

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COVID-19 absences have affected the NBA product and Sixers-Raptors wasnt exempt | Keith Pompey - The Philadelphia Inquirer

After a brief reprieve from surging cases in the fall, omicron, the newest and most transmissible Covid-19 variant yet, is tearing its way across the nation, causing a nearly 30 percent spike nationally in cases in a matter of days. As communities roll out eerily familiar safety measures, for some, its feeling like 2020 again: In the past few weeks, California and New York reinstated indoor mask mandates, restaurants from Philadelphia to Houston to Los Angeles are temporarily closing amid outbreaks, at-home rapid tests are sold out from coast to coast, and some universities are sending students back online.

Welcome to the pandemics junior year, to adopt the darkly comic term that went viral on Twitter this fall. It looks like 2022 is destined to be the third year in a row thats marked by fear and confusion, positive tests and near misses and a resounding feeling of failure.

There is a part of me thats like, I dont care! I dont care at all! says Theo McKenna, a 31-year-old bartender and actor in New York City. But Im like, I do. While McKenna is boosted, masking up, and still determined to protect themselves and others, omicron has left them wondering, What did we do everything for, then?

That feeling of ever-dwindling resolve and malaise has had many names over the last 21 months: grief, burnout, languishing, trauma. Perhaps the most popular is pandemic fatigue, which describes the difficulty many well-intentioned individuals have had in keeping up safety precautions over long periods.

People are especially exhausted because so much energy is spent on what ifs and worrying, says David Sbarra, a psychology professor at the University of Arizona. Theres enough to worry about about the known-knowns that worrying about all the unknowns just takes a big toll on us after a while.

As we face the latest wave, many are considering what effect this cumulative sorrow has had on us. Two years of data suggest, in short, bad things. The physical and psychic consequences of the Pandemic With No End are shaping up to be devastating, with few areas of our lives left untouched.

These days, it feels as though even the most determined Americans are scrounging around for a clean mask, wondering if its all still worth it.

To be honest, if anything, I feel like I fall into the mindset of: I am vaccinated, so Im just gonna, like, do me, Jacob, a 23-year-old based in Baltimore, recently told the Atlantic. While the vaccinated can still spread the virus and are at risk of long Covid symptoms themselves, President Biden announced they dont necessarily need to reconsider their holiday plans much to the chagrin of many concerned scientists. Infection now, however, seems inevitable. Even public health experts are mentally bracing to test positive after spending two years dodging the virus, Dan Diamond recently wrote in the Washington Post. People who never thought theyd get sick are now questioning whether their breakthrough cases should really require 10 days of isolation.

Perhaps a feeling of crushing defeat is to be expected, says health psychologist Alison Holman, a professor in the University of California Irvine School of Nursing. Over two years of relentless chaos, the social, political, environmental, and pandemic pressures have built on each other, grinding aspirations and optimism to dust. Its totally unprecedented, Holman says. The pandemic is the first time in my life that Ive experienced something like this: an ongoing collective trauma with many underlying chronic stressors with punctuated acute stressors.

While we may be done with the pandemic, Covid-19 is clearly not done with us.

When the World Health Organization first declared a global public health emergency, many people were gripped by fear of the unknown.

In the first and, to date, best-studied stage of the pandemic lockdown essential workers continued to care for sick patients and run grocery store check-out lines. Within weeks, roughly 35 percent of people in the US were working from home and an additional 14.7 percent were unemployed. While US public health officials tried to do their best, messaging was often hopelessly confused, with endless reversals about hand-washing, mask-wearing, and more. Researchers, unsurprisingly, found a three-fold increase in depression from 8.5 percent before the pandemic to nearly 28 percent in late March and early April 2020 according to a survey of roughly 1,441 American adults published in the journal JAMA Network Open. Anxiety similarly spiked, with about 30 percent of Americans experiencing clinically significant symptoms in the same period.

This initial nosedive in mental health was widely anticipated, in part because of the well-established science of chronic stress. When the body is flooded with stress hormones such as cortisol, the heart beats faster and harder, muscles tense, inflammation increases. Over time, the immune system weakens and the central nervous system, which remains continually on high alert, wears down, and both physical and mental health can worsen. While there are ways to manage chronic stress, one of the most protective features is a strong social network the very thing lockdown threatened. We all know those people for whom its water off a ducks back, says Andrew McLean, a psychiatrist based at the University of North Dakota. But the majority of us, we need some support.

While the coronavirus itself posed the biggest threat to older adults, the emotional consequences of the pandemic response seem to have hit younger people the hardest. Among kids, depression, anxiety, and behavioral issues shot up, affecting two-thirds of children mid-pandemic as opposed to just one-third prior. Doctors also believe the pandemic helps to explain the dramatic increase in tic-like disorders among adolescents, the doubling of eating disorders between April and May 2020, and the startling rise in suicide attempts among girls ages 12 to 17.

As depression and anxiety increased, so did difficulty with basic cognitive function, as people around the world reported a distorted sense of time and memory issues. Under normal circumstances, you have this rolling agenda for yourself, says Holman. It gets you through each day and provides the basis for your longer-term future. Canceled plans, flights, classes, and weddings profoundly altered our sense of time.

In the absence of any sense of normalcy, Americans looked for ways to get by. In June 2020, 13 percent of adults reported starting or increasing substance use as a way of managing their pandemic-related emotions, according to the CDC. (Drug deaths rose, too: Between April 2020 and April 2021, more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses an all-time record.) Other common stress reducers fell by the wayside: Both physical activity and partnered sex declined in the US and around the world. Coping resources were just spent, Holman says, absolutely spent.

Even if Covid-19 disappeared and all our pandemic problems cleared up today, Holman believes the hardship people have already endured will have knock-on effects for decades to come. Going forward, researchers expect to see more recurring mental illness and continued substance-use disorders, as well as an increase in physical health consequences, including heart attacks and stroke.

One of lockdowns few silver linings the overall drop in deaths by suicide by 3 percent between 2019 and 2020 is feeling a little tenuous. Researchers hypothesize that despite the stress and isolation, many people felt a sense of shared purpose early in the pandemic. A closer look at the suicide data reveals that suicide rates are increasing among Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic men, says psychiatrist Christine Yu Moutier, the chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

I am very, very concerned, Moutier says, adding, this has such a long, uncertain tail to it, and the exhaustion is real.

The vaccine was a moonshot that landed: While the fully vaccinated may still become infected, the evidence to date suggests that their risk of serious illness remains low. But the US has not moved quickly enough to contain Covid-19, says Samuel Scarpino, managing director of the Pandemic Prevention Institute at the Rockefeller Foundation. Without investment in widespread at-home testing; robust local, state, and federal surveillance; and vaccines for the rest of the world, the virus is once again evolving out of our control. As a result, Americans patience with the long, slow march to endemicity has worn catastrophically thin.

While the data on 2021 is still pouring in, the rollback of governmental support and the fracturing of social cohesion also may have contributed to an even harder year than the one that preceded it. Health care workers are stretched to extremes. Parents hoping for a vaccine for children under 5 continue to be disappointed. And, as hard as it is to believe, more Americans died of Covid-19 in 2021 than in 2020. Now, the rapid spread of the omicron variant all but guarantees more hardships are on the horizon.

There might be one boon to finally surrendering to the pandemic, however: honesty. As masks, vaccines, and other safety precautions became politicized, it became harder for some people who were supportive of attempts to curb the spread of Covid-19 to talk openly about their own difficulties. Some instead opted for toxic positivity. We all had to lie to each other and say, I didnt mind it that much! McKenna says. I think thats something people are more honest about. For McKenna, masking up is exhausting, its uncomfortable, they say. Ill still do it, [but] I dont have to like it.

That may seem small, but this so what? sentiment seems to be fueling major societal shifts, including the Great Resignation, the name for the phenomenon of millions of people leaving their jobs in recent months. While everyones reasons for quitting are different, many have explicitly cited an unwillingness to accept poor pay and bad schedules, as well as a belief that a better job is out there for them.

Letting up on the moral judgments, perfectionist tendencies, and insistent stiff upper lip of the last two years could prove crucial in other ways, too, says psychologist Nicole Ruzek, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Virginia. I hope people are talking about it with each other, she says of the pandemics many annoyances, big and small. My worry has been that were displacing our feelings of helplessness and hopelessness and anger. Instead of letting things explode, that energy can be harnessed.

So, whats a bummed-out and boosted American to do? Ride out this pandemic, while working on preventing the next one, says Steven Taylor, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia and the author of The Psychology of Pandemics.

As surreal as it felt, so much of the Covid-19 crisis was predictable, Taylor says. Everything from botched public health messaging to anti-mask campaigns has happened before and then was quickly forgotten about. With a little work, Taylor believes, the future could surprise even him.

Im hoping this is what makes Covid-19 different, he says, That we learn these lessons.

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Exhaustion, fear, and resignation: Welcome to Covid-19, 2022 edition - Vox.com

A security checkpoint at Denver International Airport on Sunday. While the coronavirus was a major factor in the groundings, bad weather and maintenance issues also caused problems.Credit...David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Flight disruptions in the United States continued on Monday as many people embarked on their first trips in almost two years, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, again raised the possibility of a vaccination requirement for air travel.

At least 2,600 more flights were canceled Monday, including about 1,000 U.S. flights, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant is sending daily caseloads in parts of the United States soaring to levels higher than last winters pandemic peak.

While the cancellations were only a small percentage of overall flights, the problem threatened to extend into the holiday week.

When you make vaccination a requirement, thats another incentive to get more people vaccinated, Dr. Fauci said on MSNBC on Monday. If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think thats something that seriously should be considered.

Over the holiday weekend, airlines canceled thousands of flights as the Omicron variant hit flight crews. In all, about 2,300 U.S. flights were canceled on Saturday and Sunday of the Christmas holiday weekend, with more than 3,500 more grounded globally, according to FlightAware, which provides aviation data. On Sunday alone, more than 1,300 U.S. flights and nearly 1,700 additional ones worldwide were canceled.

While some of the groundings were caused by bad weather and maintenance issues, several airlines acknowledged that the current wave of coronavirus cases, contributed significantly. A JetBlue spokesman said that the airline had seen an increasing number of sick calls from Omicron.

Twelve percent of JetBlue flights, 6 percent of Delta Air Lines flights, 5 percent of United Airlines flights and 2 percent of American Airlines flights on Sunday had been canceled, according to FlightAware.

The stock prices of United, Delta, American and Southwest the four largest U.S. carriers were slightly lower on Monday.

Traveling rebounded sharply this year, making the situation at airports worse: Roughly two million people passed through screening checkpoints each day last week, according to the Transportation Security Administration, and on Sunday. The numbers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were much higher than last year, and some figures even exceeded those of the same days two years ago, when virtually no Americans were aware of a virus beginning to circulate halfway around the world.

The Omicron variant, which is now responsible for more than 70 percent of the new coronavirus cases in the United States, has already helped push daily case averages in the United States above 200,000 for the first time in nearly 12 months, according to The New York Timess coronavirus tracker.

An airline trade group has asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to shorten the recommended isolation period for fully vaccinated employees who test positive to a maximum of five days, from 10 days, before they can return with a negative test.

Swift and safe adjustments by the C.D.C. would alleviate at least some of the staffing pressures and set up airlines to help millions of travelers returning from their holidays, said Derek Dombrowski, a JetBlue spokesman.

The flight attendants union, however, has argued that reductions in recommended isolation times should be decided on by public health professionals, not airlines.

Some of this weekends delays had little to do with the pandemic. Alaska Airlines had only a few cancellations related to crew exposures to the coronavirus, according to a spokeswoman, Alexa Rudin. Yet it had canceled 170 flights those two days, according to FlightAware, including 21 percent of its Sunday flights, because of unusually cold and snowy weather in the Pacific Northwest, which affected its hub, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The pandemic has also caused a shortage of train and bus workers nationwide. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is also dealing with an uptick in positive cases among its staff, which is 80 percent vaccinated. It said that subway service on Monday was running on a normal schedule, with scattered exceptions.

Whatever we can do as riders to help minimize the risk to transit workers will help to reduce the spread, said Lisa Daglian, the executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the M.T.A., a watchdog group. The M.T.A. is doing what it can with the resources it has available.

Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for the Riders Alliance, an advocacy group, said: My sense is the M.T.A. is once again making the best of a bad situation.

Read the rest here:

Covid-19 and Omicron News: Live Updates - The New York Times

Dozens of flights in and out of Washington-area airports were canceled over the holiday weekend. Flight cancellations continued Monday, but those werent the only issues travelers ran into.

Dozens of flights in and out of Washington-area airports were canceled over the holiday weekend. Flight cancellations continued Monday, but those werent the only issues travelers ran into.

Even in the early morning hours, lines at the check-in counters at both Delta and American Airlines stretched the halls of Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday. Still, most of the flyers WTOP spoke with had no issues with their travel experience, except waiting to check a bag.

Jean, who was headed back to Fort Myers, Florida, said there were no issues with the check-in process and she was very confident that her flight would not be one of the flights canceled.

I take this flight about every other week, she told WTOP.

But other flights from Reagan National to Chicago, Minneapolis and Phoenix, among others, were scrapped Monday morning. And even more inbound flights had been canceled for the airport closest to D.C.

These local experiences contributed to the massive list of cancellations that travelers saw nationwide over the Christmas weekend.

FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, said nearly 1,000 flights entering, leaving or inside the U.S. were canceled Saturday, up from 690 flights scrapped on Friday. Sunday saw the worst spate of cancellations, with over 1,500 flights canceled in the U.S.

As of midmorning Monday, there were already 788 flight cancellations.

Delta, United and JetBlue have all said that the omicron variant of COVID-19 was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations.

According to FlightAware, those three airlines canceled more than 10% of their scheduled Saturday flights. American Airlines also canceled more than 90 flights Saturday, about 3% of its schedule, according to FlightAware.

But along with canceled flights, travelers ran into other problems specifically COVID testing delays.

Anne from Fredericksburg and her family were headed to Antigua for a little fun in the sun post-Christmas. To enter the Caribbean island, you have to have a negative COVID test.

We had to get them three days ago, because thats the timeline, said Anne. We were supposed to have our COVID testing results by yesterday and two people in our family their tests arentback yet. So theyre not allowing you to get on the plane.

Anne said it was frustrating to follow all the protocols that were required and still not get the tests back in time.

We are going to try to get a flight for them tomorrow. Yeah they were all booked, but well see.

Originally posted here:

COVID-19 causes flight cancellations and other travel frustrations around DC - WTOP

6 travel tips to stay safe while flying

Here are 6 tips to know before you book your flight during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ProblemSolved, USA TODAY

A little champagne and a kiss are fine, but Americans should stay away from big parties this New Year's Eve, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

Fauci said in an interview on CNN that people should avoid the gatherings where they dont know the vaccination status of all the guests. The omicron variant is fueling another infection surge, and crowded indoor parties could acceleratespread.

When you are talking about a New Year's Eve party, where you have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating, you do not know the status of the vaccination I would recommend strongly, stay away from that this year," Fauci said. "There will be other years to do that, but not this year."

Fauci did say that a trimmed quarantine period for infected Americans was being considered. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionupdated its guidancefor infected health care workers, saying those who show no symptoms or have mild symptoms can return to work after seven days if they test negative for infection. Previously a 10-day period had been required.

The idea about cutting down the period of quarantine (for everyone)... is something that is under, I would say, serious consideration, Fauci said.

Also in the news:

Minnesota has become the 18th state to report at least 1 million coronavirus cases, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

Up to 300 Massachusetts National Guard members started fanning out across the state Monday to provide much needed help to dozens of understaffed hospitals facing a surge of COVID-19 patients.

The state of Connecticut plans to distribute 3 million at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and 6 million N95 masks to residents beginning as soon as Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday.

Today's numbers:The U.S. has recorded more than 52million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 816,000deaths,accordingtoJohns Hopkins Universitydata.Global totals: More than 279.9 million cases and5.4million deaths. More than 204million Americans 61.7% are fully vaccinated,according to theCDC.

What we're reading:In some counties in the U.S., only half of the spike in deaths during the pandemic has beenattributed to COVID-19. Researchers say that points to a massive undercount.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more?Sign up forUSA TODAY's free Coronavirus Watch newsletterto receive updates directly to your inboxandjoin ourFacebook group.

President Joe Biden conceded Monday that his administration has not done enough to provide access to coronavirus testing and promised to step up the effort. Earlier this month the Biden administration touted a plan to combat the latest surge that included 500 million free tests. But those test haven't begun rolling out yet, and demand for tests before holiday gatherings set off a rush that depleted stocks in most pharmacies and other locations.

"Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do," Biden saidduring a call withthe White House Covid-19 Response Team and several governors. "We're doing it."

He said thatstarting in two weeks private insurance will reimburse people for the cost of at home test, and that the government will provideaccess to free tests for people withoutinsurance.

Airlines canceled and delayed thousandsmoreflights Mondayamid a staffing crisis caused by the nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant.This after more than 1,500 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Sunday and over 6,000 delayed, the tracking websiteFlightAwarereported.Several airlines said the scheduling issues were caused by staffing problems tied toCOVID-19.

JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said the airline has seen an "increasing number" of sick calls because ofthe fast-spreading omicron variant. Thecompany entered the holiday season with the highest staffing levels since the start of the pandemic, he said.He warned that additional cancellations and delays remain a possibility.

The omicron variant isproving to be much morecontagious than the delta variant; omicron now accounts for more than70%of new cases in the U.S., according to the CDC.

FLIGHT CANCELED?What airlines owe you when flights are canceled, delayed

Large-scale, regular testing remains rare in the child care world, but the idea is gaining traction as omicron works its way into communities. Families are fighting to keep their kids inclassrooms, which at the early learning level often stay open during winter break.The upside to regular testing extends far beyond the classrooms and teachers, experts say. Read more here.

Every time a classroom of 12 kids has to close down because of an outbreak, thats at least 12 parents who cant go to work, said Sarah Muncey, co-president and chief innovation officer of Neighborhood Villages, an organization that advocates for earlyeducation reform. If we have multi-pronged testing strategies… we can live through this winter and keep child care and, therefore, the economy open.

Alia Wong

A retired Iowa school superintendent died in late November, nearly a month after he was diagnosed with sepsis, and his family thinksCOVID-19 is indirectly to blame.They say Dale Weeks might have survived if hed been admitted immediately to alarge medical center, where he could have received advanced testing and prompt surgery.But he stayed for 15 days at Newtons relatively small hospitalbecause the bigger Iowa facilities said they couldnt spare a bed for him, his family says. Iowas short-staffed hospitals have been jammed for months with patients, including people severely sickened by COVID-19.

Its infuriating that people who are not vaccinated are clogging it up, said Jenifer Owenson of Des Moines, who is one of Weeks four children.

Tony Leys,Des Moines Register

Private employers operating in New York City must require COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers beginning Mondayunder a sweeping mandate aimed at curbing a spike in the virus.The order affects an estimated 184,000 businesses, and those that do not comply could face fines starting at $1,000. But Mayor Bill de Blasio has said imposing penalties would be a last resort. Unvaccinated workers need not be fired but must be kept out of the workplace.

Employers have to verify and keep a record of each workers proof of vaccination. Workers who have only gotten one shot will have to get a second one within 45 days. Companies must display a sign affirming they are complying with the rule in a conspicuous location, under the citys mandate.

Israel has begun trials of a fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine with 150 medical personnel who received a booster dose in August receiving a fourth shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The staff receiving the additional dose were tested and found to have low antibody levels.

The trial came as Israeli officials have considered rolling out a second tranche of booster shots to its population. Israel, like much of the world, is grapplingwith rising infections from the omicron variant. Over 4.2 million of Israels 9.3 million people have received a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

This study is expected to shed light on the additional benefit of giving a fourth dose, and lead us to understand whether and to whom it is worth giving a fourth dose, said Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba Medical Center

Even with testing disruptions from the Christmas holiday, America still reported dramatically worse COVID-19 numbers on Sunday.

In just the most recent 17 days the country has reported more new coronavirus cases than it had in all of November, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the week ending Sunday, the country reported 1.39 million cases nearly 200,000 per day.

That number is up 47%from a week earlier, and up 65% from two weeks earlier. Christmas disruptions and limited access to testing mean the real number is likely worse.

New case records were set in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Puerto Rico.

Mike Stucka, USA TODAY

The latest wave of COVID-19 is pounding hospitals in some parts of the country, according to Department of Health and Human Services data reported Sunday.Washington, D.C., reported 77% more COVID-19 patients in hospital beds, and 42% more in intensive-care beds, than a week earlier.Florida's hospital admissions are up 64%. Hawaii's are up 44%.

And in Louisiana, COVID-19 hospitalizations doubled in the last week.The Louisiana Department of Health said449 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday. That's the highest since mid-October, whichat the time was the state's worst surge.Statewide, 80%of peoplehospitalized with COVID-19 are not fully vaccinated, the health department reported.

But the wave is moving unevenly across the country.Nearly half of the states report lower COVID-19 admissions and fewer people in ICU beds.

COVID-19 cases are continuing to emerge on cruise ships.Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises are among the companiesdealing with clusters of cases on board, spurringitinerary changesand protocols to mitigate spread.

The CDC has been working with global public health experts andindustry partners to learn about omicron, spokesperson Dave Daigle told USA TODAY last week. "We are still learning how easily it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, and how well available vaccines and medications work against it," he said.

The likelihood of contracting the coronavirus on a cruise is "high because the virus spreads easily between people in close quarters aboard ships," Daigle said.

MSC Seashore, which was scheduled to disembark passengers Thursday, sailed with 28 passengers who tested positive for COVID-19.TheCDC is investigatingRoyal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seasship as it sails with more than 50 cases of coronavirus onboard.

Morgan Hines, USA TODAY

Testing positive for COVID-19 starts a confusing, disruptive and at times frightening process one that millions of Americans will likely go through in the coming week.

First, you need to isolate. Thats a more intense version of quarantining it means cutting off contact with other people as much as possibleso you reduce the chanceof infecting them. Thisalso means forgoing travel, not going to work and even limiting contact with people in your own household who aren't infected.

The CDC says isolating is a necessary step whether youre vaccinated or unvaccinated, and whether you havesymptoms or feelfine.

Everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should monitor their symptoms. And people who are unvaccinated or at high risk for severe disease should be extra-vigilant for symptoms that might require emergency care. Call your doctor for early treatment options.

How long should you isolate? How long will I be contagious?What if you are a close contact with someone who tested positive?Hereswhat you should know about omicron and COVID this holiday season.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Planning a big New Year's Eve party? 'Stay away from that this year,' Fauci warns; Biden vows better testing: Latest COVID-19 updates - USA TODAY

A healthcare worker fills a syringe with a dose of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine called COVAXIN, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination campaign at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in New Delhi, India, January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

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BENGALURU, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, will be the only shot available to children aged 15 to 18 when inoculation begins for them from Jan. 3, the Indian health ministry said in its guidelines released on Monday.

"This (Covaxin) is the only vaccine with emergency use listing for the age-group 15-18," the federal health ministry said on Monday.

COVID-19 infections are decreasing in India, with 6,642 new cases reported on average each day. That represents 2% of the highest daily average reported on May 9. There have been 34.8 million infections and nearly 480,000 deaths coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.

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However, India has reported a swift rise in Omicron cases, with the number of overall infections crossing 400 across 17 Indian states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been accelerating its vaccination campaign, administering at least one dose to 90% of the eligible 944 million population, while 62% have taken both doses.

As millions still await second shots, the authorities will now start offering booster shots to healthcare and frontline workers, who suffered from an overwhelming second-wave of the virus in the summer that killed tens of thousands.

Medical experts have said India needs to double down on its vaccination campaign and expand coverage to avert another possible surge in infections particularly in the vast hinterlands where healthcare facilities are sparse.

Modi has urged citizens to continue to wear facemasks and follow other COVID-19 protocols.

The federal government has also urged states to impose curbs on overcrowding in the festive season until the new year and a few states have partially banned public celebrations.

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Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Louise Heavens

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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India says only Covaxin COVID-19 shot to be given to those aged 15 to 18 - Reuters India