COVID-19 News and Discussions

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U.S. warns against travel to Israel, Portugal and Spain as delta fuels outbreaks
Source: Washington Post

The United States is now warning against travel to Israel and several European countries as the more contagious delta variant fuels coronavirus outbreaks mostly among the unvaccinated.

The State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new travel advisories Monday for Israel, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain, as well as Kyrgyzstan, citing surging case numbers in all five countries.

The warnings came as the White House also said it had no plans to lift broad restrictions on visitors from Britain, Europe’s Schengen region and other nations such as Brazil, China, India and South Africa. Spain and Portugal have already reopened to U.S. travelers — and Canada said it would allow entry to vaccinated Americans beginning next month.

But, “given where we are today … with the delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... t-updates/

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CDC updates guidance, recommends vaccinated people wear masks indoors in certain areas
Source: CNN

(CNN) To prevent further spread of the Delta variant, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on Tuesday to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors when in areas with "substantial" and "high" transmission of Covid-19, which includes nearly two-thirds of all US counties. New unpublished data showing that vaccinated people infected with the Delta coronavirus variant can have as much virus as those who are unvaccinated is the primary driver for the CDC's latest mask guidance change, a source involved with the decision process told CNN.

Overall, vaccinated people still play a small role in transmission and breakthrough infections are rare. In addition, the source noted two other factors that led to this decision: the prevalence of the Delta variant and low vaccine uptake. When the CDC previously revised its guidance on May 13 for vaccinated people to unmask, Delta only represented 1% of reported infections. Now, according to the CDC, it represents at least 83% of cases.

The source also noted that the country's overall level of vaccination is lower than what was initially expected and that most transmission is happening in areas with vaccination levels below 40% of the population. "When you get information about risks and how to mitigate risks, there's a public health obligation to let people know about it," a senior administration official said. The White House is hoping that the new guidance will give local officials "a lot of cover" to implement new mask mandates where appropriate.

Meanwhile, the guidance for unvaccinated people remains the same: continue masking until they are fully vaccinated.
Nearly half -- 46% -- of US counties currently have high transmission and 17% have "substantial" transmission, according to data from the CDC, as of Tuesday morning.In two states, Arkansas and Louisiana, every county is currently listed as having "high" levels of community transmission of Covid-19, according to CDC data. Several other states -- including Missouri, Mississippi and Alabama -- also have "high" transmission in nearly every county. In Florida, every county was listed with high transmission on Monday; as of Tuesday morning, one -- Glades County -- has substantial transmission.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/health/c ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Biden says White House exploring vaccine mandate for federal employees

Source: WaPo

President Biden said that the federal government was considering making vaccines mandatory for its workforce — what would be a significant escalation in push to expand vaccine coverage as the coronavirus surge from the Delta variant sends shockwaves through the country. “That’s under consideration right now,” he said in response to a reporter’s question at an appearance Tuesday. “If you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were.”

There are at least 4 million federal employees, a figure that includes civilian workers, members of the military, and members of the U.S. Postal Service, according to recent estimates, making the government the country’s largest employer. It could not be learned if the discussions about vaccine requirements would also apply to members of the military. The news comes after weeks of waning vaccination rates, despite its wide availability and the swelling number of caseloads across the country.

Public health experts say they are extremely concerned by the sharp rise of cases from the Delta variant as the appetite for restrictions and closures from the pandemic have eased. Many workplaces such as private offices and federal agencies have begun to explore the process of reopening for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020, a process now thrown into peril by the new risk of the variant and the country’s large pockets of unvaccinated people.

Many companies have avoided vaccine mandates, opting instead for guidance urging or recommending the vaccine. But the tide may be turning. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs hospitals and clinics around the country, announced on Monday that it would mandate coronavirus vaccines for more than 100,000 frontline healthcare workers, making it the first federal agency to do so.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... employees/

[weatheriscool]

really stupid

[weatheriscool]

Scientist sounds alarm: COVID vaccines producing symptoms of Parkinson’s, other neurodegenerative disorders

July 22, 2021 (Children’s Health Defense) – As cases pile up (445 as of July 9) of the reportedly “rare” neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome in people who received a COVID vaccine — forcing the sluggish U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add a warning label to the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot — scientists are issuing urgent warnings about a possible tsunami of other types of neurological injuries.Immunologist J. Bart Classen, one-time National Institutes of Health (NIH) contract scientist and proprietor of Classen Immunotherapies, a Maryland biotechnology firm, published a paper in February outlining the potential for messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID vaccines to trigger development of prion diseases as well as other chronic diseases.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/scien ... -disorders

I honestly don't think the Johnson and johnson vaccine is a good choice. It is time to take this seriously.

[Xyls]

Why are we posting LifeSiteNews? These are hardly people I would consider to have objective vaccine information. Either way J&J has already published the reports of Guillain-Barre and FDA added a warning on July 13th (see link below). It doesn't really matter anyways as most vaccines in NA are Modern/Pfizer. I would expect LifeSite to be a vaccine misinformation site based on previous reporting...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/12/health/j ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

US on track to see 200K daily COVID-19 cases, former CDC director says
Source: The Hill

The U.S. is on track to see 200,000 daily COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks, the former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director told CNN.

"We're heading into a rough time. It's likely, if our trajectory is similar to that in the United Kingdom, that we could see as many as 200,000 cases a day," Tom Frieden said on Monday.

*snip*

The jump in cases is due to the delta variant that has swiftly made its way across the states and caused significant case increases in areas with many unvaccinated individuals.

The case count could quadruple in the next four to six weeks due to the variant, Frieden said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5 ... ector-says

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Mitch McConnell to Run Ads Urging Vaccination
Source: Political Wire

“McConnell, who was vaccinated for COVID-19 in December and has been promoting vaccinations in public remarks ever since, plans to run 60-second radio ads on more than 100 Kentucky radio stations in the coming days promoting the vaccine with money from his re-election campaign.”

Said McConnell: “There is bad advice out there, you know. Apparently you see that all over the place: people practicing medicine without a license, giving bad advice. And that bad advice should be ignored.”

Read more: https://politicalwire.com/2021/07/28/mi ... ccination/


Reuters link: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mcconn ... 021-07-28/

McConnell aims to boost U.S. Republican vaccination rate by countering 'bad advice'
Many congressional Republicans have refused to say publicly whether they have been vaccinated, and some have attacked the shots as unnecessary or dangerous. This continues a pattern that began early in the pandemic when conservatives protested social-distancing restrictions meant to slow the virus' spread.

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Covid: No quarantine for fully jabbed US and EU travellers to England
Source: BBC

People who are fully vaccinated from the EU and US will not need to quarantine when arriving in England, the BBC has been told. Currently, people who have been fully vaccinated in the UK do not have to isolate when travelling from countries on the amber list, except from France.

But that exemption did not apply to people vaccinated outside the UK. The government's Covid Operations committee met earlier and made the decision. More details will be released later on Wednesday. It is not yet known when the change will come in - and whether the other UK nations will adopt the rule change. Earlier, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said talks on travel were taking place between the four nations.

The travel industry had been pushing for the change in the rules so that people living abroad can more easily come to the UK for holidays or to visit loved ones. "At the moment we're in this slightly ridiculous situation where if I'm on a plane from Spain, because I'm lucky enough to have had two jabs, once we get to the UK I just wander off, no problem," said travel expert Simon Calder.

"But the person sitting next to me, who happens to have had their vaccinations in Spain, not in the UK, has to go and sit in a room for 10 days. Doesn't make sense."

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57999362

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Orange County, Florida issues "state of emergency" as Delta variant cases rise.
Source: Business Insider

Orange County, FL is home to many theme parks such as Disney World, Universal, also the city of Orlando.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-v ... ncy-2021-7

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CDC says nearly 67% of U.S. counties have substantial, high COVID-19 transmission
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that 66.6% of U.S. counties had transmission rates of COVID-19 high enough to warrant indoor masking and should immediately resume the policy.

The transmission rate was up from 63.4% as of Tuesday. In total, 49.9% of U.S. counties have high COVID-19 community transmission rates and 16.7% have substantial rates, the CDC said. The CDC reversed its mask guidance policy for vaccinated Americans on Tuesday.

Substantial transmission means at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, while high transmission is more than 100 cases per 100,000 people over the last week.

In a toughening of guidance issued earlier this month, the CDC also recommended all students, teachers and staff at schools for kindergarten through 12th grade wear masks regardless of whether they were vaccinated.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-s ... li=BBnb7Kz

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

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[weatheriscool]

Biden announces federal workers must be vaccinated or face regular tests.
Source: New York Times

President Biden on Thursday announced that all civilian federal employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be forced to submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel.

“We all want our lives to get back to normal, and fully vaccinated workplaces will make that happen more quickly and more successfully,” Mr. Biden said, speaking in the East Room. “We all know that in our gut. With incentives and mandates, we can make a huge difference and save a lot of lives.”

The federal government employs more than 4 million Americans, all of whom will need to attest to being fully vaccinated in order to avoid wearing a mask on the job, regardless of where in the country they work, and comply with screening tests once or twice a week.

The president also directed the Defense Department to study how and when to add the coronavirus vaccine to the list of required vaccinations for all members of the military. The announcement marked the first time he has suggested that a mandate could come for active-duty members of the military before any of the three federally authorized vaccines receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. And he called on states, territories and local governments to pay $100 to Americans who remain unvaccinated to get their shots.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bi ... li=BBnb7Kz

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Arkansas governor declares public health emergency, announces special session on mask law
Source: KATV

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday declared a public health emergency amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and announced a special legislative session to change a law that prevents public schools from requiring masks.

Hutchinson said the declaration will allow the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management to seek staffing assistance from health workers outside the state. It also eases the process for retired health workers to re-enter the workforce and for medical students to become licensed.

The Republican governor said the White House is sending federal assistance at his request.

A previous emergency declaration expired May 30 as cases declined and vaccinations increased. But vaccinations have since reached a plateau, leaving the state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation. The low vaccination rate and the spread of the highly-transmissible Delta variant have driven a surge in new cases and hospitalizations.

Read more: https://katv.com/news/local/arkansas-go ... ases-surge

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Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe

Source: Washington Post

The delta variant of the coronavirus appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal federal health document that argues officials must “acknowledge the war has changed.” The document is an internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slide presentation, shared within the CDC and obtained by The Washington Post. It captures the struggle of the nation’s top public health agency to persuade the public to embrace vaccination and prevention measures, including mask-wearing, as cases surge across the United States and new research suggests vaccinated people can spread the virus.

The document strikes an urgent note, revealing the agency knows it must revamp its public messaging to emphasize vaccination as the best defense against a variant so contagious that it acts almost like a different novel virus, leaping from target to target more swiftly than Ebola or the common cold. It cites a combination of recently obtained, still-unpublished data from outbreak investigations and outside studies showing that vaccinated individuals infected with delta may be able to transmit the virus as easily as those who are unvaccinated.

Vaccinated people infected with delta have measurable viral loads similar to those who are unvaccinated and infected with the variant. “I finished reading it significantly more concerned than when I began,” Robert Wachter, chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, wrote in an email. CDC scientists were so alarmed by the new research that the agency earlier this week significantly changed guidance for vaccinated people even before making new data public.

The data and studies cited in the document played a key role in revamped recommendations that call for everyone — vaccinated or not — to wear masks indoors in public settings in certain circumstances, a federal health official said. That official told The Post that the data will be published in full on Friday. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky privately briefed members of Congress on Thursday, drawing on much of the material in the document.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... -guidance/

[wjfox]

The COVID-19 Delta variant is more contagious than we feared—even among the vaccinated

By Rachel Feltman | Published Jul 30, 2021 5:12 PM

When it comes to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “the war has changed.” Data released by the agency on Friday demonstrates that while vaccines are still likely to be highly effective in preventing hospitalization and death due to COVID-19, even immunized individuals are capable of catching and spreading the potent new Delta variant.

This comes just days after the agency changed its official recommendations on masking. On a Tuesday press call, CDC director Rochelle Walensky advised school-age children to mask up, and suggested people living in areas with significant COVID-19 transmission wear masks indoors even if they’re vaccinated. That accounts for some two-thirds of the US.

On Thursday, The Washington Post obtained an internally-distributed CDC slideshow summarizing some of the data behind that pivot. Most crucially, the CDC now considers the Delta variant to be more contagious than the common cold and Ebola—perhaps as contagious as chicken pox, with each infected individual giving the virus to another 8 or 9 people, on average—and more likely to cause severe illness than previous strains.

“It’s one of the most transmissible viruses we know about,” Walensky told CNN.

https://www.popsci.com/health/covid-19- ... -expected/

[wjfox]

Those who flout COVID recommendations are less agreeable, have lower intellect, and tend to be more extroverted than those who adhere to recommendations.

COVID non-conformists also prioritise self-interest and personal freedom and show greater tolerance for social deviance, a new study reports.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/ ... liers.html

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Walmart & Disney Impose COVID Vaccine Mandates
| National Review
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/wal ... employees/

Walmart and Disney, two of the largest private employers in the United States, imposed COVID vaccine mandates on their employees Friday.

The superstore’s requirement applies to home-office associates, as well as market, regional, and divisional workers, who have a deadline of October 4 to receive the shot, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.

“We want to get to a place where we can use our offices and be together safely,” Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon wrote in the memo. “It’s important for our business, our culture, our speed and our innovation.”

Disney’s directive applies to all salaried and nonunion hourly employees, who are obligated to get both doses in the next 60 days if they are still unvaccinated, according to a company statement acquired by CNN Business. Staff members still working remotely must show verification of vaccination before they come back to the office.