The FDA requested that data from the two-dose trials be submitted to initiate a “rolling submission” process in hopes of expediting the rollout, according to a joint statement from Pfizer and BioNTech. The unusual approach has raised questions among some parents about whether they should rush to get their young children the shot as soon as it’s available. Only 22 percent of children ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated, according to Washington Post data.
The omicron variant wave in the United States has caused millions of families to struggle with unreliable child care, irregular school and day-care closures, quarantines and fears over their children getting infected. Regulators could approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s authorization request as early as the end of this month.
Here’s what to know
Medicare to offer free at-home coronavirus tests from pharmacies, starting in the spring
Return to menuThe Biden administration announced Thursday that, starting in early spring, the 64 million people on Medicare will be able to get free coronavirus rapid tests from certain pharmacies.
The initiative responds to weeks of criticism from members of Congress and advocacy groups that Medicare, the vast federal insurance system for older and disabled Americans, was left out of an order President Biden issued last month that required private insurers to pay for at-home tests that have become a critical tool in managing the pandemic.
As a result, people with the traditional form of Medicare have been able to get free tests only with a prescription from a doctor or other health-care practitioner or from one of 20,000 testing sites nationwide — options that critics have decried as inadequate. About 4 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries have chosen a newer version of the program, known as Medicare Advantage, that relies on managed care plans. In that version, some insurance companies cover the tests while others do not.
Travel groups ask White House to lift pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated
Return to menuMore than two dozen travel industry groups are asking the Biden administration to exempt vaccinated people fromthe requirement to produce negative test results before traveling to the United States.
In a letter to the White House on Wednesday, trade associations told Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, that the protection provided by pre-departure testing was negligible because covid-19 was already prevalent in the United States, where at least one-fifth of the population had already been infected with the coronavirus.
The groups also pointed to the easing of such requirements in the United Kingdom and Europe, where government officials have deemed the costs of pre-departure testing as outweighing the benefits. “Surveys of air passengers indicate that pre-departure testing is a leading factor in the decision not to travel internationally,” the groups wrote. “People simply are unwilling to take the chance that they will be unable to return to the U.S.”
The letter comes as international travelers coming into the United States remain far below pre-pandemic figures, although data shows the industry has somewhat recovered.
In December, overseas arrivals were 51 percent below that of December 2019, according to the U.S. Travel Association, a signatory to the letter. That was an improvement from October, when overseas arrivals were 78 percent below the same month of 2019. But travel spending had recovered to $92 billion in December, which was 2 percent below the amount from December 2019. That represented “the strongest performance since the start of the pandemic,” according to the U.S. Travel Association, a nonprofit organization.
Globally, the tourism industry saw a 4 percent upturn in 2021, the United Nations World Tourism Organization said last month, compared with 2020. Revenue from international tourism could have exceeded $700 billion in 2021, the agency said, which is a slightly improved figure from 2020. But that is still far below the $1.7 trillion recorded in 2019, it added.
The travel industry associations said their proposal could serve as an added incentive for people to get vaccinated if implemented. “Travel and aviation’s recovery is dependent on the government taking steps to remove travel restrictions that are no longer justified by current circumstances.”
U.S. jobless claims drop to 238,000 as labor demand remains high amid pandemic
Return to menuAmericans filed 238,000 first-time unemployment claims last week, federal data shows, a signal that the economic recovery is grinding onward despite the dampening effects of omicron, inflation and a brutally tight labor market.
The tally is a 23,000 drop from the previous week’s revised level, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The results come on the heels of a jarring private payrolls report, which showed that U.S. companies shed more than 300,000 jobs in January as a surge in coronavirus cases collided with an ongoing labor shortage. Experts are looking to Friday’s jobs report for a fuller picture of January employment.
“January hiring may well be the weakest in a year as the Omicron wave sidelined millions of workers,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said in commentary Thursday. “That would serve as a reminder of the high degree of volatility and uncertainty during these challenging times with a pandemic still raging. If we continue to see more encouraging signs with COVID, it would be reasonable to expect the economic recovery will gather momentum again.”
Though the new figures are still a way off from pre-pandemic numbers, they stand in sharp contrast to where they were last year, when they hovered above 800,000. Continued claims also declined, to about 2.67 million; that compares with more than 18.5 million recorded the same week in 2021.
The data reflects the thorny realities of the recovery labor market, as employers are desperate to hang on to workers, who are leaving their jobs in droves. Some 10.9 million positions sat unfilled nationwide last month, federal data shows, nearing the all-time high set last summer.
WHO says Europe entering a ‘cease-fire’ with covid as protection grows
Return to menuOfficials from the World Health Organization in Europe said Thursday the continent could soon enter a “cease-fire” and “long period of tranquility” in the battle against the coronavirus, thanks to vaccination rates and the less severe omicron variant.
Speaking to reporters from Geneva, Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe hit a cautiously optimistic note referring to a “plausible endgame” for the pandemic.
“This period of higher protection should be seen as a cease-fire that could bring us enduring peace,” he said. “This context, that we have not experienced so far in this pandemic, leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility.”
The European region has recorded 12 million new cases in the past week, he said, the highest weekly case incidence since the start of the pandemic — largely driven by omicron variant. Hospitalizations are also increasing but overall, admissions to intensive care units have not increased significantly, he added, and the number of deaths across the region was also starting to plateau.
Canada military may be needed to clear ‘Freedom Convoy’ anti-vaccine-mandate protesters, Ottawa police say
Return to menuCanada’s military may need to be deployed to clear the capital, Ottawa, of protesters from the self-described “Freedom Convoy” of truckers and their supporters opposed to coronavirus vaccine mandates, the city’s chief of police said.
As local police and officials accuse truckers and their supporters of essentially occupying the city, Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said Wednesday that “every single option” is being considered to end the “intolerable, unprecedented” protests against coronavirus public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau which have continued since last Friday and led to vandalism against historic sites and what authorities described as “illegal” and “intimidating” behavior to police and others.
Sloly acknowledged in a virtual meeting of city councilors that military action would “come with massive risks.” Still, he said, “the range of illegal, dangerous and unacceptable activities is beyond the ability to list.”
Risk of getting covid in Olympic bubble is low, IOC expert says ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony
Return to menuWith the Winter Olympics set to commence Friday, thousands of athletes are flying to China and entering what Beijing calls a “closed loop” system, in which Games attendees and support staff are strictly cut off from the outside world to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A spokesman for the municipal government assured the public during a Wednesday press briefing that the covid situation in the capital is “overall controllable” and “headed in a good direction.” Beijing reported three new coronavirus cases on the same day.
Meanwhile, there have been 287 confirmed positive cases among Olympics arrivals, 102 of them athletes and team officials. From the United States that includes four-time Olympian Elana Meyers Taylor, Team USA’s top medal hope in bobsled, and her husband, Nic Taylor, an alternate on the men’s bobsled team.
International Olympic Committee officials say they expect to see the number of cases among Olympic arrivals fall once more people are in the bubble. And rather than focusing on the total tally, they are more vigilant about monitoring whether the coronavirus will spread within the Games’ facilities.
“Virtually every country in the world at the moment has a higher level of covid than China does,” said Brian McCloskey, chair of the Olympic medical expert panel, Wednesday during an IOC press briefing. He added that the risk of catching covid within the closed loop, which is already low, can be further reduced if people “stick to the playbook rules.”
Those working and living in the closed loop system are subject to daily testing. Once an individual tests positive, they have to isolate and be swabbed twice a day until they get two consecutive negative covid results. A tearful video posted on social media Wednesday by a Belgian skeleton racer drew attention to the added layer of stress that athletes face as a result of China’s strict covid policies ahead of their career-defining competitions.
‘Significant element’ from U.S. involved in self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Canada
Return to menuTORONTO — Ottawa police said Wednesday that a “significant element” from the United States has been involved in the participation, funding and organization of a self-described “Freedom Convoy” that has for several days jammed streets in the capital to protest public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“They have converged in our city, and there are plans for more to come,” said Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly. He said that the participants, who also include locals and other Canadians, are “putting our city and our residents, our partners and our officers at great risk.”
The number of protesters has declined substantially from the thousands on Parliament Hill over the weekend. But a determined core group remains, officials say. With trucks noisily blocking streets, businesses shut down and residents frustrated for the sixth day, pressure has mounted on police to bring a resolution to the disruption.
Sarah Palin due back in court for trial against Times after covid delay
Return to menuSarah Palin, former Alaska governor, is due back in court in New York City on Thursday in her defamation trial against the New York Times, after a delay when she tested positive for the coronavirus.
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said on Jan. 24 that the proceedings would be postponed because of the Republican’s positive test.
The trial is set to resume Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, the Associated Press reported. Palin is seeking unspecified damages based on claims that a 2017 editorial in the Times defamed her and hurt her career as a political commentator. It is the first libel case against the Times to go to trial in the United States in 18 years, and it will be closely watched as a high-stakes test of First Amendment principles and protections.
Palin, 57, a former Republican vice-presidential nominee, is unvaccinated against the coronavirus and has said she would get immunized only “over my dead body.” She caused an uproar last month when she was spotted dining in a New York City restaurant, flouting local health and safety measures, after testing positive.
Xi’s Games: Beijing Winter Olympics test China’s supreme leader amid pandemic
Return to menuFew leaders of Olympic host countries are as closely tied to the event’s success or failure as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who oversaw the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics as vice president. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Games, Xi has said, “are a major event for the [Chinese Communist] party and the country.”
For China’s most powerful ruler in decades, the Olympics are a chance to cast his country as a global leader to be respected and emulated, and an opportunity to claw back some of the goodwill lost over Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Key coronavirus updates from around the world
Return to menuHere’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe:
- In Bangladesh, the government has extended school closures implemented last month amid a rise in cases due to the omicron variant. Teachers and students had returned to in-person classes briefly in September after 543 days of closure during the pandemic.
- Sweden said it will lift pandemic restrictions next week, despite experiencing record levels of infections. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a news conference, “It is becoming time to open up Sweden again.”
- Bali will welcome its first direct flight carrying foreign tourists in nearly two years on Thursday. The Indonesian resort island is hoping to boost tourism revenue but will still require vaccinated travelers to quarantine between five and seven days at hotels.
- In Venezuela, medical charity Doctors Without Borders is providing mental health care to covid patients, their families and medical workers in two public hospitals in the capital, to support the country’s run-down health system.
- In China, President Xi Jinping said in a video message Thursday that “the world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready. We will do our best to deliver to the world a streamlined, safe and splendid Games.” The Beijing Olympics officially open Friday amid an outbreak of coronavirus infections.
- New Zealand on Thursday announced a phased reopening of its border, which has been largely closed for two years. Foreign vaccinated tourists can come to the country beginning March 13, while up to 5,000 international students will be allowed to enter starting April 12.
New Zealand announces plan to reopen to the world after nearly two years of coronavirus travel restrictions
Return to menuNew Zealand will ease its covid border restrictions starting this month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday.
The country will first allow in New Zealand citizens, residents and some visa holders who are fully vaccinated and coming from Australia, without requiring them to undergo a minimum 10-day quarantine at government-managed facilities, starting Feb. 27. But they must self-quarantine elsewhere and must have been in Australia for 14 days before arrival.
Two weeks later, the country aims to welcome New Zealanders from anywhere in the world, as well as skilled workers. In gradual steps, the country is set to lift all of its pandemic travel restrictions by October.
The plan marks the first time since early 2020 that New Zealand will open its borders to travelers without requiring them to undergo quarantine at government-managed facilities, minus a short-lived quarantine-free travel corridor with Australia. Officials had recently suspended new bookings into the country’s mandatory quarantine system for returning citizens, worried the virus would leak out into the community from those government-run facilities.
Analysis: Americans have lost 13.5 million years of life during the pandemic
Return to menuEdward Daniels was 53 years old when he died of covid-19 at a hospital on Long Island in April 2020, in the early months of the coronavirus’s emergence in the United States. In an obituary published by the New York City news site the City, part of a series focused on the deaths of those who succumbed to covid-19, Daniels’s wife remembered him as not just a family man, but a “community hero.” Someone who gave of himself for others.
Until his death. Actuarial tables from 2019 suggest that a 53 year-old man would have been expected to live another 27 years, meaning that Daniels’s death from covid deprived his family of a father and his community of a hero for nearly another three decades. Daniels’s death, in other words, wasn’t just a loss of life. It was a loss of years of life. Nearly 30 years, gone, thanks to the virus.
New research from Hanke Heun-Johnson and Bryan Tysinger conducted for the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics looks at that same equation for all of the unexpected deaths that have occurred since the pandemic began. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculates a metric called “excess deaths,” a comparison between the number of deaths recorded in the United States and the number of deaths that would be expected based on prior years’ trends. It allows them to spot things like exceptionally bad flu seasons, for example. Those data are also how we know that the number of deaths from covid-19 is not exaggerated: Hundreds of thousands more people have died over the past two years than we otherwise would have expected.
Prospect of coronavirus vaccination for young children prompts elation and questions
Return to menuKaren Bianco and her husband jumped at the opportunity to get vaccinated and boosted. They got their 6-year-old son a coronavirus shot as soon as he was eligible. But with their 3-year-old son, the decision has now become far more complicated.
After Bianco, who lives in Maryland, read the news this week that federal regulators would take an unusual approach in evaluating the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old, she felt she had to rethink what once felt like a no-brainer. The companies are submitting data on the safety and efficacy of the first two doses of a planned three-dose regimen.
News that vaccines for children ages 6 months to 5 years old may be available by the end of the month has elicited relief and elation for many as the omicron variant wave has caused millions of families to struggle with unreliable child care, irregular school and day-care closures, quarantines, lost days at work and fears over their children getting infected. The omicron variant has sickened more children than at any other point in the pandemic.
‘Sham’ coronavirus testing company gave people false results, lawsuit claims
Return to menuLast month, as the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread throughout the United States, a woman in Washington state grew frustrated after waiting five hours for her rapid coronavirus test result. But when she returned to the site, a staffer told her the clinic had lost her result, court records state.
The woman told authorities she got a second coronavirus test at the same Center for Covid Control site. But two hours later, she was told her test result had been misplaced again.
Then, about a minute later, the woman got an email notifying her that she had tested negative for the coronavirus, court records state. The woman went to work the following day but remained concerned about the accuracy of the two tests. She got a third test at a local health department site, according to court records, and that result was positive.
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