2 years after COVID first hit the US, hundreds of thousands of Americans are still falling ill

NEW YORK -- At the beginning of 2020, as the nation celebrated the start of a new year, many Americans were still unaware of the "mysterious pneumonia" that had sickened dozens of workers at a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Now, two years later, the U.S. has confirmed more than 69 million COVID-19 cases, and over 860,000 deaths, the highest in the total for any country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And the nation, despite the wide availability of highly effective vaccines and novel treatments, is experiencing its most significant surge on record due to the highly transmissible omicron variant and tens of millions of eligible Americans remaining unvaccinated.

More at source: ABC

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California School District Asks Parents to Help With Janitorial Duties Amid Staff Shortage

 As the Omicron variant of the coronavirus leads to staff shortages nationwide, one school district is asking for parents to volunteer to help with custodial duties and COVID testing.

The highly transmissible variant spread rapidly across the United States, infecting millions of people in the past month. The soaring number of cases forced many schools to shut to return to remote learning and left those that stayed open with staff shortages.

But California's Palo Alto Unified School District—located in Silicon Valley—opted to turn to parents for help keeping their schools open.

More at source: Newsweek

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Supreme Court blocks Biden Covid vaccine mandate for businesses, allows health-care worker rule

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its sweeping vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies, but allowed a vaccine mandate to stand for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments.

The rulings came three days after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency measure for businesses started to take effect.

The mandate required that workers at businesses with 100 or more employees get vaccinated or submit a negative Covid test weekly to enter the workplace. It also required unvaccinated workers to wear masks indoors at work.

“Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion.

“Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category,” the court wrote.

More at source: CNBC

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U.S. reports 1.35 million COVID-19 cases in a day, shattering global record

The record in new cases came the same day as the nation saw the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients also hit an all-time high, having doubled in three weeks, according to a Reuters tally.

There were more than 136,604 people hospitalized with COVID-19, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January last year.

While the Omicron variant is potentially less severe, health officials have warned that the sheer number of infections could strain hospital systems, some of which have already suspended elective procedures as they struggle to handle the increase in patients and staff shortages.

The surge in cases has disrupted schools, which are struggling with absences of staff, teachers and bus drivers.

More at source: Reuters

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U.S. reports over 1 million new daily Covid cases as omicron surges

• The U.S. reported a record number of new Covid cases on Monday, with over 1 million new infections.
• A total of 1,082,549 new coronavirus cases were reported Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to spread throughout the country and beyond.
• The U.S. also has the highest seven-day average of new cases in the world, according to Johns Hopkins rankings.

The new daily tally brings the total number of cases confirmed in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic to 56,189,547. In total, the virus has caused 827,748 deaths across the country.

More at source: CNBC

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The U.S. breaks its single-day virus case record for the second day in a row

With more than 580,000 cases, the United States shattered its own record for new daily coronavirus cases — beating a milestone it already broke just the day before.

Thursday’s count, according to The New York Times’s database, toppled the 488,000 new cases on Wednesday, which was nearly double the highest numbers from last winter. The back-to-back record-breaking days are a growing sign of the virus’s fast spread and come as the world enters its third year of the pandemic.

More at source: NY TIMES

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CDC revealed that fully vaccinated people can spread the coronavirus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that anyone — regardless of vaccination status — can likely spread the omicron variant of the coronavirus to other people.

• “The Omicron variant likely will spread more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and how easily Omicron spreads compared to Delta remains unknown,” according to the CDC. “CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms.”

More at source: CDC

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In this most joyous of seasons we want to extend a very Merry Christmas to all IJCSA Members and their families & staff. Also in this season of reflection and looking forward to a prosperous NEW YEAR 2022!! Offices will be closed through the 27th and reopening on the 28th. For New Years closed on the 31st & open on the 3rd. All automated online services will be open. Be caring! Be kind! Be safe! Enjoy the holidays! 

Covid-19 Marches Toward Endemic Status in U.S. as Omicron Spreads

The Omicron variant’s aggressive advance is the latest twist in the course of a disease that public-health experts say is on a path toward becoming endemic in the U.S.

In other words, the Covid-19 pandemic won’t have an end date. Rather, a crisis that engulfed the world within months of the coronavirus’s discovery in China will dissipate in fits and starts into something that feels more like normal over the course of years, infectious-disease experts say.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a day where the whole thing feels over,” said Joshua Schiffer, an associate professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

How quickly an endemic, steady-state arrives and how disruptive the virus remains will depend on what level of disease officials and individuals decide to tolerate, the precautions they are willing to adopt, and how the virus evolves.

“It’s a tug of war between society and the virus,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco...

More at source: WSJ

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The Omicron Plan: “Circuit breakers” and other short-term strategies to get us through the next wave.

Are we back to square one? Unlikely. We are seeing an alarming increase in case counts, but I’ve yet to see data suggesting that our vaccines fail to provide protection against severe disease which, fortunately, matches my recent frontline experience. Due to high vaccination rates here in Massachusetts, mostly we’ve been seeing mild cases, with some serious cases among the unvaccinated.

But it’s a very dangerous time. Because many parts of the country remain under-vaccinated, Omicron may stretch hospitals well beyond their limits. That could mean a horror show in some places, especially where hospitals are already full of patients receiving care for “usual” (non-Covid) conditions.

More at source: Inside Medicine

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