Experts advising the Health Ministry have recommended that older people receive a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine, though they disagree on whether the cohort should start at 60 years old, 65 or 70.
Some of the data presented at a discussion Wednesday suggested that the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing severe symptoms among 60-year-olds and above has dropped to 81 percent from 97 percent in January.
While most panel members favored a booster shot for anyone 60 or older, others suggested that the bar be raised to 65 or 70. The Health Ministry’s director general, Nachman Ash, will make the final decision.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife pulled their 10- and 11-year-olds from a summer basketball camp over its policy not to enforce face coverings, a spokesperson in his office said.
“The Newsoms were concerned to see unvaccinated children unmasked indoors at a camp their children began attending yesterday and after seeing this, removed the kids from the camp,” his spokesperson Erin Mellon said in a statement Wednesday.
Newsom, a Democrat, faces a recall election later this year that was motivated in large part by his Covid-19 measures. The camp issue was raised after a group opposed to California’s pandemic preventative measures for K-12 schools had drawn attention to his children’s attendance at the camp.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that all adults ― even those fully vaccinated — wear masks indoors if they live in areas with “high” or “substantial” transmission of COVID-19.
That encompasses nearly two-thirds of all U.S. counties, including eight in New Jersey.
Monmouth County is the only county with what the CDC currently calls a high transmission rate, but it isn’t alone in being targeted by the updated guidance. Seven others — Bergen, Essex, Union, Middlesex, Ocean, Burlington and Atlantic — are seeing rates of transmission that the CDC classifies as “substantial,” the next step down.
The CDC said the categories are based on a combination of new cases per 100,000 people, as well as the test positivity rate over the previous seven days.
The latest guidance comes as the highly contagious Delta variant has become the predominant strain of the virus. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, said Tuesday that the variant is behind many of recent outbreaks and has been found to behave “uniquely differently” from past strains that have been studied.
HIDALGO COUNTY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – The La Joya Police Department issued a public health announcement after an officer approached an undocumented migrant family at Whataburger who told him Border Patrol released them because they had COVID-19.
On July 26 the police department of the small town along the Rio Grande and Mexican border shared details of the incident. They said a concerned citizen at the restaurant waved down the officer. The citizen told him about the family “coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths and not wearing face masks.”
Whataburger management also told the officer that they wanted the group to leave as well due to “their disregard to other people’s health.”
BIDEN: "The pandemic we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. So please—please, please, please—if you're not vaccinated, protect yourself and the children out there. It's important." pic.twitter.com/unA325ayxh
After euphoria in major Western economies as vaccinations spread and cities reopened, July delivered a reality check. As contagious new strains spread, we were reminded once again that the road to recovery won’t be smooth.
Norway now leads a pack of European nations that have leaped ahead in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking, a monthly snapshot that tracks 53 economies’ performance in Covid containment, quality of healthcare, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and—as of last month—progress toward restarting travel and easing border curbs.
President Joe Biden this week is expected to announce his administration will require federal workers to be vaccinated for the coronavirus or else submit to strict testing measures, NBC News reported Wednesday.
Biden is set to unveil the new rules, which followed a White House internal policy review, during a speech Thursday, two administration officials told NBC. It is unclear when the changes would go into effect.
Biden is also expected to announce new steps that his administration is taking to try and boost the U.S. vaccination rate, which has slowed significantly in recent months and fallen below prior White House goals, NBC reported.
The new measures arrive as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads around the world, including in the U.S., where it represents a huge proportion of new infections.
It’s shocking enough that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot thinks combatting racism is done by ensuring that only journalists of color get to ask her questions, but it’s absolutely depraved when she doubles down on her intent to ignore non-minority journalists even after millions have condemned her actions as undeniably racist. Mayor Beetlejuice has succumbed fully to the Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory mind virus. She has turned into a woke Marxist zombie.
During a July 26 episode of The New York Times podcast “Sway,” Lightfoot addressed her statement from May that she only plans on having one on one interviews with people of color on the subject of her two year anniversary of being inaugurated mayor. During the recent segment, Lightfoot admitted she “would absolutely do it again.” Oh really? She’ll be robustly racist again? Well isn’t that sweet?
LOS ANGELES – A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a wealthy California political donor on charges he injected gay men with methamphetamine in exchange for sex, leading to two deaths and other overdoses.
Ed Buck was found guilty of all nine felony counts in federal court, which could lead to a life sentence. The verdict came exactly four years after one of the victims, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore, was found dead of an overdose in Buck’s West Hollywood apartment.
“Today is bittersweet,” LaTisha Nixon, Moore’s mother, said after the verdict. “We got victory today.”
The jury deliberated for more than four hours after a two-week trial. Buck’s defense attorneys — one of whom was a prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case — did not immediately return a request for comment.
