New Coronavirus News from 13 May 2022

Omicron subvariants BA.4, BA.5 confirmed for 1st time in Japan at airport quarantine [The Mainichi, 13 May 2022]

TOKYO -- A total of three people infected with the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the coronavirus's omicron strain have been confirmed at airport quarantine in Japan, the health ministry announced on May 12, the first time their existence has been confirmed in the country.

These strains had previously been detected mainly in South Africa, Europe, and the United States, and are more likely to spread than the BA.2 subvariant that is currently the mainstream in Japan.

BA. 4 was detected in a man in his 50s who arrived from South Africa on April 22, and BA. 5 was found in two men in their 60s who arrived from Spain and Zambia, respectively, on April 29. All three were asymptomatic at the time of arrival.

As for the omicron variant, BA.1, which sparked the sixth wave of coronavirus infections, and BA.2, which is now the mainstream, have been confirmed in Japan.

Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor of theoretical epidemiology at Kyoto University, presented data on the "effective reproduction number," which indicates how many people one person can spread the infection to, at a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare advisory board meeting on April 20.
According to this data, in South Africa, the effective reproduction number was found to be 1.49 times higher for BA.4 than for BA.1 and 1.4 times higher for BA.5 than for BA.1, and the spread of these subvariants is proceeding in that country.

(Japanese original by Sooryeon Kim, Lifestyle and Medical News Department)

Anthony Fauci at a Loss When Asked About Biden's COVID Vaccine Claim [Newsweek, 13 May 2022]

BY JAKE THOMAS

A nthony Fauci, the president's chief medical advisor, says he "just can't explain" a White House tweet stating the COVID-19 vaccine wasn't available when President Joe Biden took office.

Fauci made the remarks Friday to CNN's Jake Tapper, who asked him about the since corrected tweet that seemed to falsely give credit to Biden for the vaccine's development. The exchange comes as the Biden administration seeks to defend its record against withering criticism from political opponents.

During the segment, Tapper pointed to a Thursday tweet from the White House stating that "when President Biden took office, millions were unemployed and there was no vaccine available."

"But as you know, that's not true," said Tapper. "There was a vaccine available, it might not have been widely available, but it was available."

Tapper said that CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale found that more than 3 million Americans had been fully vaccinated and more than 18 million had at least one shot as of Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021.

"Why is the White House politicizing the pandemic by tweeting out that there was no vaccine available until Joe Biden became president?" asked Tapper. "It's not true."

"So you're talking to the wrong person," deflected Fauci. "I wasn't involved in the tweet. I just can't explain it. Sorry."

Tapper responded by asking Fauci if he agreed it was important to have facts about the vaccine, "whether it's from the Trump White House or the Biden White House," and that the vaccine became available before Biden was sworn in.

Fauci agreed, adding, "I think from a pure accuracy, that's not a correct statement."

By Friday afternoon, the White House had corrected the tweet.

"We previously misstated that vaccines were unavailable in January 2021. We should have said that they were not widely available," the White House said in a follow-up tweet. "Vaccines became available shortly before the President came into office. Since then, he's responsible for fully vaccinating over 200 million people."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on December 11, 2020. Developing a vaccine was a priority for then-President Donald Trump.

The vaccine was initially only available to people particularly vulnerable to the virus because of a medical condition, their age or occupation.

Currently, 66.4 percent of the U.S. population, 220 million people, is fully vaccinated, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Biden has seen sagging poll numbers going into the 2022 midterm elections amid high inflation and gas prices. Seeking to stem possible losses, the president and his allies have played up his administration's handling of the pandemic and how the U.S. has seen record-low unemployment numbers since he took office.

North Korea and Eritrea are the only two countries without vaccines [The Washington Post, 13 May 2022]

By Adam Taylor

North Korea admitted the inevitable this week — that covid-19 had finally reached its population. But for global health experts, there’s a particularly worrying detail: It is one of just two countries without any vaccines.

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North Korea and Eritrea — both poor and led by brutal governments — have refused to join global vaccine-sharing initiatives, leaving their populations vulnerable to fast-spreading variants of the virus.

In Pyongyang, authorities Thursday attributed the outbreak to the highly contagious BA.2 omicron subvariant. On Friday, state media reported that one person had died and some 350,000 people had shown symptoms of fever.

Many health experts were already skeptical that North Korea had yet to report a single coronavirus case — more than two years into the pandemic. For its part, Eritrea has admitted about 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 103 deaths, figures that are far lower than those of its neighbors.

North Korea admits to coronavirus outbreak for the first time
“North Korea, with a huge immunity gap — no protection acquired with vaccines or prior infections — is an open field for uncontrolled transmission, which maximizes the odds of new variants,” said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

John P. Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Cornell University’s Weill Cornell Medicine, said in an email that unless North Korea was able to limit transmission through a lockdown, “a very high percentage of the population” would soon be infected.

“The carnage could be awful,” he said. “To the extent that it might affect the regime’s hold over the population.”

In both countries, rumors have swirled that the political elites are already vaccinated — and that their dismissal of foreign-made vaccines is just for show.

Eritrea, under longtime president and strongman Isaias Afwerki, has ignored requests by other African nations to join Covax, the global vaccination effort backed by the World Health Organization. Some activists say the country is rife with propaganda that paints Covax as a Western tool to destroy Africa.

In December, the head of the African Centers for Disease Control, John Nkengasong, said Eritrea was the only member of the African Union that had not “joined the family of 55 member states that are moving forward with vaccination, but we are not giving up.”

As world reopens, North Korea is one of two countries without vaccines
In North Korea, the government rejected doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine out of apparent concerns about potential side effects. It also turned down the delivery of nearly 3 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine, saying the shipments should go to other countries suffering more severe outbreaks.

Last month, a panel of experts convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended that North Korea be offered a high-volume donation of mRNA vaccines. But the vaccines previously allocated for North Korea under the Covax plan are no longer available.

Morrison said Covax and other donors had “grown weary” of North Korea’s nonresponsive nature during the pandemic. “That does not rule out revisiting the issues of what to do on a crash basis,” he added.

A spokesperson for Gavi, a nonprofit that helps coordinate Covax, said the initiative had “currently not committed any volume for” North Korea. But, the spokesperson said, if Pyongyang moves forward with a national vaccination program, Gavi could work with Covax to help North Korea catch up with immunization targets.

Pyongyang might not have a choice. Even in partially vaccinated places such as China or Hong Kong, omicron subvariants have spread incredibly fast among pockets of unvaccinated people — with deadly consequences similar in scale to the first wave of cases in other parts of the world.

China, North Korea’s most important ally, is battling a BA.2 outbreak and has imposed a severe lockdown on its commercial hub, Shanghai.

“China is itself struggling with the spread of the omicron variant, so I am not sure whether it has strong incentives to help North Korea battle covid,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

A model released as a preprint this week estimated that if China relaxed what it calls its “zero covid” policy, the virus could kill up to 1.5 million people.

In North Korea, it would be “far worse,” Moore said, “because of the minimal vaccine uptake there.”

COVID-19 Finally Slipped Through North Korea’s Borders. Here’s What to Know About the ‘Explosive’ Outbreak [TIME, 13 May 2022]

BY CHAD DE GUZMAN

North Korea on Friday went public with its first “explosive” COVID-19 outbreak, reporting six fatalities and raising concerns about the hermit state’s defenses against the coronavirus after two years of claiming to have warded off infections.

The state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) says that one of the six people who died had tested positive for the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron.

Up to 187,000 North Koreans are now reportedly being “isolated and treated” after some 18,000 developed a fever on Thursday. KCNA adds that a fever “whose cause couldn’t be identified explosively spread” since late April, appearing in some 350,000 people. It says that leader Kim Jong Un visited “the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters” on May 12 and “learned about the nationwide spread of COVID-19.”

The situation may be worse than what is reported, says Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. “People desperately need coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics,” Easley tells TIME.

According to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea plans to donate COVID-19 vaccines to the North. “We will hold discussions with the North Korean side about details,” a spokesperson for President Yoon Suk-yeol told the agency.

Until today, North Korea was among a handful of countries, including Turkmenistan and Tuvalu, that have not reported a case of COVID-19. Its borders have been closed since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.

It is also believed that the country has not administered COVID-19 vaccines to its 25 million people, having refused COVID-19 vaccines from global vaccine sharing program COVAX. In February, the WHO-led program scaled back North Korea’s allotment after millions of doses were rejected last year.

“There is no evidence that North Korea has access to enough vaccines to protect its population from COVID-19. Yet it has rejected millions of doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines offered by the WHO-led COVAX program, which requires transparent distribution and monitoring,” says Amnesty International’s East Asia researcher Boram Jang.

North Korea shares a border with ally China, which is trying to stamp out infections with a stringent zero-COVID policy. Beijing on Thursday said it was “ready to go all out” to assist Pyongyang in combating the outbreak.

How COVID-19 could break North Korea
A COVID-19 outbreak may prove disastrous for North Korea. The country has poor medical infrastructure; a 2021 index assessing the epidemic and pandemic preparedness of 195 countries ranked North Korea at 193rd. Its seeming lack of a vaccination program makes its people more vulnerable to severe infections and death.

Jang says that if North Korea continues to pursue an isolationist strategy, it “could cost many lives” and would be an “unconscionable dereliction” of its duty to citizens. “It is vital that the North Korean government acts now to protect the right to health of one of the world’s populations with lowest access to vaccines and one of the most fragile health systems.”

There is no evidence that North Korea has access to enough vaccines to protect its population from COVID-19

Acording to the KCNA, Kim has criticized the spread of the disease in the capital Pyongyang, highlighting a vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system. He has also ordered a swift lockdown and isolation of infected cases, but added that residents should be “provided with every convenience” in their attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19, the agency says.

North Korea’s two-year border closure has battered its economy, on top of the U.S.-led sanctions over the nuclear-armed country’s ballistic missile tests.

But the hermit state may be welcoming more outside help now. Ahn Kyung-su of Seoul-based research center dprkhealth.org said North Korea’s announcement signals its need for international support and that it needs COVID-19 medication more than vaccines. “This is because drugs are much simpler in terms of transportation, distribution and management personnel than vaccines.”

But according to Easley, engagement with Pyongyang won’t be easy. Says the international studies professor: “Even international humanitarian assistance has to navigate Pyongyang’s political pathologies.”

North Korea: 'First' Covid cases prompt strict national lockdown [BBC News, 13 May 2022]

By Frances Mao

North Korea has ordered a strict national lockdown after confirming its first official Covid infections.

State media have reported an Omicron outbreak in the capital, Pyongyang, but did not state the number of cases.

North Korea has rejected any kind of vaccine programme, even when offered a supply by other countries.

Instead, it controlled Covid by sealing its borders - and had never recorded a case, despite experts believing the virus has long been present.

Outsiders say the nation's 25 million population is vulnerable due to the lack of a Covid-19 vaccine programme, even rejecting offers from the international community to supply millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made Sinovac jabs last year.

There have also been concerns about North Korea's impoverished healthcare system.

KCNA said leader Kim Jong-un had vowed to eradicate the outbreak, which it called a "severe national emergency" that had breached the country's "quarantine front".

At the meeting outlining the new Covid rules, Mr Kim was seen wearing a face mask on television for what is believed to be the first time. He soon removed it, while other officials present kept theirs on.

North Korea's strategy of sealing its foreign borders - one of the first countries to do so, in January 2020 - has also stopped essential supplies from entering the country, leading to food shortages and a faltering economy.

On Thursday, KCNA said Mr Kim had ordered "maximum emergency" virus controls, which appeared to include orders for localised lockdowns and gathering restrictions in workplaces.

The North Korean news outlet added that the first case of the Omicron variant had been reportedly detected in the capital four days ago.

Residents in some areas of Pyongyang had been subjected to lockdown for at least two days before the latest announcement, according to NK News, a Seoul-based monitoring site.
South Korea's government said it has renewed its offer of humanitarian assistance to the North in response to the news of the outbreak. Pyongyang has yet to respond.

For more than two years, North Korea has, rather dubiously, claimed not to have a single case of Covid-19. So why admit to it now?

Most likely it is because this outbreak is too serious and too difficult to hide.

North Korea has been consistent in its public commitment to fighting the virus. This is how it has justified closing its borders for so long. Now that Omicron has entered the country, the challenge is to limit its spread.

With no vaccines, poor healthcare and a limited capacity to test people, North Korea's options are very limited right now.

Authorities have clearly decided they have no choice but to put the country into lockdown. In order to do this, they simply have to tell people and the rest of the world.

It does not necessarily mean they will be any more willing to accept outside help.

Analysts initially said Pyongyang's disclosure of the Covid cases at this time was significant and could hamper the state's nuclear ambitions, which have been on show this year.

But hours after the Covid announcement on Thursday, North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles about 360km (224 miles) towards the Sea of Japan/ East Sea, South Korea's military said.

North Korea has claimed to have conducted more than a dozen banned missile tests, including one of an intercontinental ballistic missile, a weapon it hadn't tested in more than four years.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP that North Korea might shelve plans for a nuclear test to focus on battling the outbreak, though if public fears escalated, Mr Kim may go ahead with a test "to divert this fear to another place".

But Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University, said that North Koreans "may be less interested in nuclear or missile tests when the urgent threat involves coronavirus rather than a foreign military".

He added that he believed Pyongyang would "likely double down" on its lockdowns, given that it was entering a "period of uncertainty in managing its domestic challenges and international isolation".

Despite North Korea's claims that it had "shining success" in keeping out Covid, there have been signs throughout the pandemic of the virus' potential presence in the country. There were several unconfirmed reports of Covid cases previously.

In June last year, state media reported that Mr Kim had punished officials over a "grave incident" related to Covid, but did not specify details.

Then in September, the state held a military parade featuring lines of soldiers wearing hazmat suits and masks, which some analysts saw as a sign that a special force was created to help prevent the spread of Covid.

North Korea shares land borders with South Korea and China, which have battled outbreaks.
China is now struggling to contain an Omicron wave with lockdowns in its biggest cities.

California coronavirus updates: US may be vulnerable to COVID-19 come this fall and winter season [Capital Public Radio News, 13 May 2022]

Friday, May 13
11:23 a.m.: US may be vulnerable to COVID-19 come this fall and winter season
The new White House COVID-19 coordinator is issuing a dire warning.

Dr. Ashish Jha said in an Associated Press interview that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to the coronavirus this fall and winter if Congress doesn’t swiftly approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments.

Jha said in the interview that America’s immune protection from the virus is waning, and with the virus adapting to be more contagious, booster doses will be necessary for most people.

He predicted that the next generation of vaccines, which are likely to be targeted at the currently prevailing omicron strain, “are going to provide a much, much higher degree of protection against the virus that we will encounter in the fall and winter.”

But he warned that the U.S. is at risk of losing its place in the global vaccination line to other countries if Congress doesn’t act in the next several weeks.

11:16 a.m.: This is what may be behind N. Korea’s COVID-19 admission
North Korea’s recent admission of its first domestic COVID-19 cases has surprised many outsiders and prompted speculation about how back the outbreak is and whether it could handle a major humanitarian crisis in a country where public medical infrastructure is terrible.

As reported by the Associated Press, some experts say North Korea may face one of the world’s worst per-capita fatality and infection rates if it doesn’t get outside aid shipments soon.
Others argue that North Korea may just want to use the outbreak to tighten public vigilance against the virus and boost its control of its people.

11:05 a.m.: N. Korea reports six deaths attributed to COVID-19
North Korea says six people have died and 350,000 have been treated for a fever that has spread explosively across the country.

According to the Associated Press, the announcement came a day after it acknowledged its first COVID-19 cases of the pandemic.

The hermitic country likely doesn’t have enough testing supplies and said the cause of the fevers was unclear. Experts have warned a COVID0-19 outbreak could be devastating in a country with a broken health care system and an unvaccinated, malnourished population.

Leader Kim Jong Un was shown on state TV at a pandemic response meeting, where he took off his face mask and smoked a cigarette while talking with officials.

Thursday, May 12
9:33 a.m.: Biden marks 1 million US COVID deaths in a global summit
President Joe Biden has appealed to world leaders for a renewed international commitment to attacking COVID-19 as he leads the U.S. in marketing the “tragic milestone” of 1 million deaths in America.

Biden told the second global coronavirus summit Thursday: “This pandemic isn’t over,” as reported by the Associated Press.

The virtual meeting comes as a lack of resolve at home reflects the global response. Biden ordered the U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the dead in America.

He used last year’s first summit to pledge to donate 1.2 billion vaccine doses worldwide.

There are a few official death totals floating around. According to figures complied by Johns Hopkins University, the coronavirus has killed more than 999,000 people in the U.S.

Other counts, including the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association, have the toll at 1 million.

9:26 a.m.: Creeping COVID-19 cases still result in very few mask mandates at school
U.S. coronavirus cases are up, leading a smattering of school districts, especially in the Northeast, to bring back mask recommendations and requirements.

As reported by the Associated Press, their return comes for the first time since the omicron winter surge ebbed and the United States approaches 1 million deaths from the virus.

Districts in Maine, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have brought masks back in schools, with a few in Massachusetts also recommending them.

The uptick in cases is a vast undercount because testing has dropped considerably and most tests are being taken at home and are not reported to health departments.

9:08 a.m.: North Korea confirms first COVID-19 outbreak, orders countrywide lockdown
North Korea has imposed a nationwide lockdown to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak of the pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

It had held for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world.

The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in public, likely for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The size of the outbreak isn’t immediately known, but it could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated.

Some experts say the North, by its rare admission of an outbreak, may be seeking outside aid such as vaccines and COVID-19 treatment pills.

Wednesday, May 11
10:05 a.m.: Los Angeles School District to postpone COVID-19 mandate
A COVID-19 vaccination mandate for students 12 and older in the Los Angeles Unified School District has been postponed from this fall to next year, as reported by the Associated Press.

The Board of Education voted Tuesday to delay the mandate to no sooner than July 1, 2023, aligning the district with the state.

Last year, California announced that it would require all schoolchildren to receive the coronavirus vaccine, and Gov. Gavin Newsom estimated it would take effect for the 2022-23 school year.

However, last month the Newsom administration put off the requirements to at least summer 2023 because school administrators worried they would not have enough time to implement the mandate.

9:53 a.m.: Pandemic infections are harder to track due to official testing plummeting
Testing for COVID-19 has plummeted globally, making it tougher for scientists to track the course of the pandemic and spot worrisome viral mutants as they emerge and spread.

Experts say testing has dropped by 70-90% worldwide from the first to the second quarter of this year, as reported by the Associated Press.

Rates are particularly low in low-income countries, however, that’s the opposite of what experts say should be happening with new omicron variants on the rise in places such as the U.S. and South Africa.

In the U.S., a shift toward home testing has also obscured efforts to track the virus.

9:43 a.m.: China defends their ‘zero-COVID’ approach
China on Wednesday defended sticking to its strict “zero-COVID” approach, calling critical remarks from the World Health Organization “irresponsible.”

According to the Associated Press, the response from the Foreign Ministry came after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had been discussing with Chinese experts the need for a different approach in light of new knowledge about the virus.

Tedros said the policy characterized by strict lockdowns, mass testing and compulsory quarantining for anyone who tests positive or has contact with someone infected was not sustainable and urged China to change strategies.

Earlier Wednesday, a Shanghai health official said that while China’s largest city has seen progress, any relaxation in anti-virus measures could allow the outbreak to rebound.

Tuesday, May 10
9:38 a.m.: In rare cases, some who took Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill have gotten infected again
A small number of COVID-19 patients are relapsing after taking Pfizer’s antiviral pill, raising questions about the drug at the center of the U.S.' response effort.

Paxlovid has become the go-to option against COVID-19 because of its at-home convenience and impressive results in heading off severe disease.

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. government has presented more than $10 billion to purchase enough pills for 20 million people.

However, doctors have begun reporting cases of patients who see their symptoms return several days after treatment — making it one of the several questions about how the drug is holding up against a changing virus.

Pfizer mainly studied the drug in unvaccinated patients during the delta variant wave, but most Americans now have had at least one shot as omicron variants dominate the outbreak.

8:56 a.m.: Here’s how COVID-19 pills work

COVID-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home, but that convenience comes with a catch — the pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear.

The challenge for patients is getting tested, getting a prescription and then starting the pills within five days of the start of symptoms, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. regulators authorized the pills from Pfizer and Merck late last year. Both were shown to reduce the chances of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 in high-risk patients.
The pills are intended for those with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are more likely to become seriously ill.

8:52 a.m.: Norway discards excess COVID-19 vaccines as demand declines in low-income countries

Norwegian health authorities say the country has a surplus of COVID-19 vaccines and has already discarded more than 137,000 doses because there is declining demand in low-income countries.

According to the Associated Press, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said that it plans a further disposal of doses if global demand does not change.

In Norway, there’s high vaccine coverage, while globally a demand for donations has fallen.
Earlier this month, health officials in neighboring Denmark said that 1.1 million excess COVID-19 vaccines would be discarded because their expiration date is near, and efforts to donate them to developing countries have failed.

Monday, May 9
10:16 a.m.: Employers added nearly 430,000 jobs last month despite inflation
America’s employers added 428,000 jobs in April, extending a streak of solid hiring that has defied punishing inflation, chronic supply shortages, the Russian war against Ukraine and much higher borrowing costs.

According to the Associated Press, last month’s hiring kept the unemployment rate at 3.6%, just above the lowest level in a half-century.

Employers have added at least 400,000 jobs for 12 straight months. Still, the job growth, along with steady wage gains, will help fuel consumer spending and likely keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise borrowing rates sharply to fight inflation.

That would lead to increasingly heavy borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. Higher loan rates could also weigh down corporate profits.

10:11 a.m.: New York City plans to continue some outdoor car-free areas set up during pandemic

As New York City forges ahead with its recovery, the pandemic is leaving lasting imprints, especially on city roadways — less room and for cars and more space for people, as reported by the Associated Press.

As the COVID-19 outbreak ravaged New York City two years ago, the bustling metropolis found itself transformed into grids of mostly deserted streets and sidewalks as businesses shuttered and virus-wary denizens shut themselves in.

Now the city is drafting new rules that would allow eateries to make outdoor dining permanent, although the policy is being challenged in court. The city is also announcing plans to close off even more streets to vehicles on Sundays, so pedestrians have more room to roam in warmer months.

9:44 a.m.: Italy and Greece welcome back tourists after relaxing pandemic restrictions
For travelers going to southern Europe, summer vacations just got a lot easier.

According to the Associated Press, Italy and Greece have relaxed some COVID-19 restrictions before Europe’s peak summer tourist season as life increasingly returns to normal after the pandemic.

Greece’s civil aviation authority announced Sunday it was lifting all COVID-19 rules for international and domestic flights except for wearing face masks during flights and at airports.

Air travelers were previously required to show proof of vaccination, a negative test, or a recent recovery. Italy did away with the health pass that had been required to enter restaurants, cinemas, gyms and other venues.

Visitors to Italy also no longer have to fill out the EU passenger locator form, a complicated ordeal.

Sunday, May 8
10:13 a.m.: FDA restricts J&J COVID-19 vaccine due to rare blood clotting risk
U.S. regulators strictly limit who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s OVID-19 vaccine due to a rare but serious risk of blood clots.

According to the Associated Press, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine.

The decision is the latest restriction to hit the company’s vaccine, which has long been overshadowed in the U.S. by the more effective shots from Pfizer and Moderna.

In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended using the Moderna and Pfizer shots over J&J’s because of its safety issues.

Saturday, May 7
10:59 a.m.: Nevada governor sets May 20 date to lift state of emergency
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak says that in two weeks, he’ll lift the state of emergency he declared during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic more than two years ago, according to the Associated Press.

In a statement on Friday, the Democrat who is running for a second term credited the declaration with giving the state flexibility to respond to challenges as they arose.

He put a May 20 end date to the statewide emergency he declared on March 12, 2020. Most measures, including business restrictions and mask mandates, have already been lifted.
As of the end of this week, state health officials have reported just over 665,000 known cases of COVID-10 and almost 10,800 deaths.

Friday, May 6
9:38 a.m.: Californian bill to allow preteens to get vaccinated without parental consent advances

A California measure that would allow children age 12 and up to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent, including against the coronavirus, has cleared its first legislative committee.

According to the Associated Press, if the proposal that advanced Thursday becomes law, California would allow the young people of any state to be vaccinated without parental permission.

Minors aged 12 to 17 in California currently cannot be vaccinated without permission from their parents or guardians unless the vaccine is to prevent a sexually transmitted disease.

Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener’s proposal is perhaps the most continuous measure remaining from lawmakers’ once-ambitious agenda after several other proposals lost momentum as the winter pandemic wave eased.

9:19 a.m.: A look at the nearly 1 million COVID-19 deaths in the US

The count of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 is nearly 1 million, and there’s a wealth of data that clarifies which groups have been hit the hardest.

According to the Associated Press, more than 700,000 people 65 and older died. Men died at higher rates than women, and white people made up most of the deaths overall.

Despite this, an unequal burden fell on Black, Hispanic and Native American people considering the younger average age of minority communities.

Racial gaps narrowed between surges and then widened again with each new wave. Most deaths happened in urban counties, but rural areas also paid a high price.

9:12 a.m.: China cancels the Asian Games due to omicron spreading
The Asian Games in China are being postponed because of concerns about the spreading omicron variant of COVID-19, as reported by the Associated Press.

The decision comes less than three months after the country hosted the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

The World University Games have also been postponed. The Asian Games were to take place from Sept. 10-25 in the eastern city of Hangzhou and would involve more than 11,000 athletes — that’s more than the Summer Olympics.

The World University Games had been scheduled for June 26 - July 7 in the western city of Chengdu.

Thursday, May 5
10:13 a.m.: WHO estimates nearly 15 million excess deaths during with COVID-19 pandemic
The World Health Organization is estimating that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the first two years of the pandemic.

According to the Associated Press, that’s more than double the current official death toll.
In a report released on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said that most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Accurately counting COVID-19 deaths have been problematic as reports of confirmed cases represent only a fraction of the devastation wrought by the virus. This could be attributed to limited testing and global differences in how countries count COVID-19 deaths.

9:56 a.m.: Pfizer is trying to get their young children's vaccine approved by the FDA
Pfizer now hopes to tell U.S. regulators how well its COVID-19 vaccine works in children under 5 by early June, according to the Associated Press.

Currently, only children ages 5 or older can be vaccinated in the U.S. using Pfizer's vaccine.

Rival Moderna hopes to be the first to offer vaccinations to the youngest children and began filling its own data with the Food and Drug Administration last week.

The FDA has set tentative meetings in June to review data from one or both companies.
9:47 a.m.: COVID-19 health care coverage dries up despite US still being in the pandemic phase

For the first time, the U.S. came close to providing health care for alll for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, but just for one condition — COVID-19.

Now, things are reverting to how they were as federal money for the uninsured dries up, as reported by the Associated Press.

Lack of an insurance card could become a barrier to timely care for COVID. A $20 billion government program that paid the pandemic bills of uninsured people has been shut down.

Special Medicaid COVID coverage likely faces its last months, even though the virus is not yet contained. To exacerbate matters, safety-net hospitals and clinics are seeing sharply higher operating costs. They fear they won’t be prepared if there’s another surge.

Wednesday, May 4
9:52 a.m.: Shasta County Board of Supervisors fires county health officer
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted to terminate county Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom by a 3-2 vote during its closed session on Tuesday, and the announcement was made public soon after.

In a letter addressed to the community and published in A News Cafe on Friday, Ramstrom wrote that she believed the board would consider her termination during this week’s meeting but that she had been given no notice that her performance was unsatisfactory.

“My performance review did not mention anything suggesting that my job was in jeopardy, and I have no specific information from the Board that my job performance was unsatisfactory in any way,” she wrote.

Ramstrom has frequently come under fire by some members of the community during board meetings for upholding COVID-19 safety measures and mandates. In her letter, she wrote that she and her colleagues had been no more restrictive than the state required.

9:37 a.m.: CDC restates recommendation for masks on public transportation
Despite a court ruling last month that struck down a national mask mandate on public transportation, U.S. health officials are restarting their recommendation that Americans wear masks on planes, trains, and buses.

As reported by the Associated Press, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday issued a statement saying people age 2 and older should wear a well-fitting mask when traveling in public spaces, like buses.

Last month, a federal judge in Florida struck down a government requirement for masking in public transportation. The Justice Department is appealing the decision.

9:25 a.m.: Despite COVID-19 cases increasing, mask mandates still seem off the table
As mask mandates and vaccination rules kept falling across the U.S., infections from the latest COVID variants have quietly taken hold in some places, sparking concern among public health officials.

According to the Associated Press, more cities are now in a new high-risk category that is supposed to trigger indoor mask-wearing, but there’s been little appetite to do so.

Nationally, hospitalizations are up slightly but still as low as at any point in the pandemic.
Deaths have steadily decreased to nearly the lowest numbers in the last three months.
The muted response reflects the country's exhaustion after two years of restrictions and the new challenges that health leaders are facing at this phase of the pandemic.

An abundance of at-home virus test kits has led to a steep undercount of COVID-19 cases, which is an important benchmark.

Tuesday, May 3
9:39 a.m.: Kamala Harris tests negative for COVID-19 six days after testing positive
Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative on Monday for COVID-19, six days after she tested positive for the virus, according to the Associated Press.

She has been cleared to return to the White House on Tuesday. Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said Harris, who was prescribed the antiviral treatment Paxlovid last week, was negative on a rapid antigen test.

Allen said Harris would continue to wear a “well-fitting mask while around others” in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines until her tenth day after her positive test.

9:31 a.m.: California’s population shrank second year in a row
Officials have announced that California’s population shrank in 2021 for the second year in a row, according to a new estimate from the California Department of Finance.

As reported by the Associated Press, state officials say California lost 117,552 people in 2021, giving it a population of just over 39 million residents.

California is still far ahead of Texas, which is No. 2 for population size in the U.S.

State officials blame the loss on a declining birth rate and more deaths because of the pandemic. Also, fewer people are moving from other states to California.

9:13 a.m.: Beijing shuts indoor dining during holiday to stem COVID-19 infections
Restaurants in Beijing have been ordered to close dine-in services over the May holidays as the Chinese capital grapples with a COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities said at a recent news conference that dining in restaurants has become an infection risk, cting virus transmissions between diners and staff.

Restaurants have been ordered to only provide takeout services from Sunday to Wednesday, during China’s Labor Day holidays.

Beijing began mass testing millions of residents earlier this week. Parks and entertainment venue are allowed to operate only at half capacity.

The stakes are high as the ruling Communist Party prepares for a major congress this fall at which President XI Jinping is seeking a third five-year term as the country’s leader.

Monday, May 2
9:22 a.m.: CDC says 60% of US adults have previously been infected with COVID-19
Most people in the U.S., including most children, have now been infected with COVID-19 during the omicron surge, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NPR reports that at a briefing for reporters last Tuesday, the CDC’s Dr. Kristie Clarke said so many people caught omicron over the winter that almost 60% of everyone in the country now has antibodies to the virus in their blood.

That number is even higher for children — almost 75% of kids 11 and younger have antibodies to the virus.

Clarke said the finding means many people have at least some immunity to the virus but stresses that people should still get vaccinated since it still provides the strongest, broadest protection against getting seriously ill.

Immunity provided solely by a previous infection may or may not be as protective against severe disease.

9:18 a.m.: Here’s what to do if you test positive for COVID-19 while traveling
COVID-19 rules for travelers will vary depending on the destination, but testing positive for the virus could result in an unexpected change in plans, such as being required to stay isolated in a hotel.

As reported by the Associated Press, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that travelers going overseas should make contingency plans since they may have to stay longer than planned if they test positive.

Travel companies suggest getting insurance that covers the cost of recovery or isolation.

Those who do end up needing medical treatment are advised to check with their embassy for suggested health care providers.

8:55 a.m.: COVID-19 pandemic has changed office fashion
After working remotely in sweats and yoga pants for two years, many Americans are rethinking their wardrobes to balance comfort and professionalism as some offices reopen.

According to the Associated Press, they’re dropping structured suits, zip-front pants and pencil skirts worn before the pandemic and are experimenting with new looks.

Retailers and brands are rushing to meet workers’ fashion needs for the future of work with blazers in knit fabrics, pants with drawstrings or elastic bands, and casual twists on the button-down dress shirt.

The New York Times Explainer-How N.Korea's COVID-19 outbreak could ignite a major health crisis [Reuters, 13 May 2022]

By Soo-Hyang Choi and Josh Smith

SEOUL, May 13 (Reuters) - North Korea's admission that it is battling an "explosive" COVID-19 outbreak has raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities, and no vaccine programme.

The isolated North confirmed on Thursday its first COVID-19 infections since the pandemic emerged more than two years ago, shifting to the "maximum emergency epidemic prevention system" and imposing a national lockdown. On Friday it reported its first COVID-related death.

State media have not confirmed the total number of COVID-19 cases so far, but said that more than 350,000 people have shown fever symptoms since late April.

NO VACCINATION, LIMITED TESTING Along with Eritrea, North Korea is one of only two countries that have not started a vaccination campaign against COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The COVAX global COVID-19 vaccine-sharing programme cut the number of doses allocated for North Korea as the country has so far failed to arrange for any shipments, reportedly over international monitoring requirements.

Pyongyang also declined offers of vaccines from China.

The latest reported assessment of whether leader Kim Jong Un was vaccinated was from July 2021, when South Korea's spy agency said there were no signs he had received a shot.
North Korea said last year it had developed its own polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment to conduct coronavirus tests, and Russia has said it had delivered small numbers of test kits.

But North Korea is heavily sanctioned over its nuclear weapons programme, and since 2020 has maintained strict border lockdowns that have blocked many supplies.

Experts said that so far the pace of testing suggests North Korea cannot handle the number of symptomatic cases it has reported.

As of the end of March, only 64,207 of North Korea's 25 million people had been tested for COVID, and all the results were negative, the latest WHO data shows.

"North Korea has been testing around 1,400 people each week. Assuming they were at their peak capacity, then they can perform 400 tests per day max - not nearly enough to test 350,000 people with symptoms," said Harvard Medical School’s Kee Park, who has worked on health care projects in North Korea.

It's unclear whether North Korea has imposed any mask mandates since the pandemic began. Citizens were at times seen wearing masks, but also going mask-free at some major political events that mobilized tens of thousands of people.

Kim was shown for the first time wearing a mask at the COVID response meeting on Thursday.

MEDICAL SYSTEM LACKS SUPPLIES
North Korea ranks last in the world for its ability to rapidly respond to and mitigate the spread of an epidemic, according to the latest Global Health Security Index in December.

Although it has a high number of trained doctors and the ability to rapidly deploy and organise staff in the face of emergencies, North Korea's health care system is chronically under-resourced.

Every North Korean village has one or two clinics or hospitals, and most county hospitals are equipped with X-ray facilities, "though not necessarily functional ones," the WHO said in its 2014-2019 Country Cooperation Strategy report.

Kwon Young-se, South Korea's new nominee to be the unification minister, responsible for inter-Korean ties, said at his confirmation hearing on Thursday the North is believed to lack even the most basic medical supplies such as painkillers and disinfectants.

An independent U.N. human rights investigator reported in March that the North's COVID-19 restrictions, including the border closings, could have prevented massive outbreaks "though likely at considerable cost to the wider health situation."

"Chronic issues plague the country’s healthcare system, including under-investment in infrastructure, medical personnel, equipment and medicine, irregular power supplies and inadequate water and sanitation facilities," the report said.

POTENTIAL 'NIGHTMARE'
The outbreak could pose a political challenge for the North's authoritarian leader, North Koreans who had defected to the South said.

"Kim ordered the mobilization of reserve medical supplies, which means in North Korea they will now use war reserves and that general hospitals have ran out of medicines," said Thae Young-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South in 2016 and is now a lawmaker.

Ji Seong-ho, another South Korean lawmaker who left the North in 2006, said the virus could spread rapidly, due partly to the lack of a working medical system.

"An enormous number of people died during the (1990s) famine after typhoid broke out. It was a nightmare for the North Korean regime, and for the North Korean people," Ji told a parliamentary session.

The New York Times Surge in Virus Cases Puts Most of New York State on High Alert [The New York Times, 13 May 2022]

By Lola Fadulu

How Long Covid Exhausts the Body

New coronavirus cases surged in most counties in New York State this week, putting them on “high” alert under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and triggering recommendations for indoor masking, including inside schools.

The state refrained from imposing an indoor mask mandate, but health officials on Friday afternoon did urge residents living in counties that have been placed on “medium” or “high” alert to wear masks in indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

“These public health measures, as well as ensuring proper air ventilation when gathering, will help reduce Covid-19 transmission in communities and lower the risk of serious illness and hospitalization for individuals,” the state health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, said in a statement.

As of Thursday, the average of new cases stood at more than 10,000 a day, according to a New York Times database. New cases have increased 47 percent over the past two weeks, and hospitalizations have increased 28 percent over that time period, to an average of more than 2,600 a day.

As of Thursday, the seven-day average of daily deaths stood at 20, up from 15 two weeks ago, according to the Times database.

How cases, hospitalizations and deaths are trending in New York

New York City was one of the few places in the state where transmission rates have not risen high enough to trigger a higher alert level, according to the C.D.C.’s data. But new virus cases have increased 82 percent in New York City over the past 14 days, with the daily average standing at over 4,300, according to the Times database. Hospitalizations have increased 30 percent in the city over the same time period, to a daily average of 835.

Mayor Adams, who has focused on rolling back a number of pandemic policies in an effort to reopen the city, called the rise a “slow uptick.”

“Our hospitals and deaths — those numbers are really at a solid place,” he said at a news conference on Friday. “We’re going to be prepared and not panicked.”

Case counts in New York City’s school system have moved steadily upward, too. The daily average of new cases reported last week in the public school system was 1,216, raising alarm among some parents.

“The health and safety of our students and staff is our top priority,” Jenna Lyle, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said in a statement. “We will continue to follow the science and adjust if needed, putting the health and safety of our students and staff first.”

Known cases are far lower than they were during the winter, when the state was first struck by the highly contagious variant of the virus, Omicron, and cases in city schools reached around 14,000 in January.

However, Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, noted that testing is much lower than it once was. And widely used home tests are not usually reported. Both factors mean that case numbers could be much higher than the official counts.

About 77 percent of people are fully vaccinated in the state, a figure that rises to 79 percent in New York City. Covid-19 treatments available to certain at-risk populations may also be reducing the number of serious cases and keeping hospitalization rates relatively low.
“We have very good vaccination coverage and, although booster coverage hasn’t been so great, it’s been stable for a while,” said Dr. Nash.

“I think that we don’t yet know if we could absorb a big surge in transmission without seeing a substantial increase in hospitalizations and deaths,” he added.

If hospitalizations and deaths begin to rise quickly, government officials should consider “some reinstatement of measures to protect New Yorkers,” Dr. Nash said.

North Korea COVID-19 Cases Surge To 350,000 From 1 In Single Day - Benzinga [Benzinga, 13 May 2022]

byNavdeep Yadav,
North Korea Reports COVID-19 Cases Surging To 350,000 From 1 In Single Day Ahead Of Biden Asia Visit

At least six people have died due to COVID-19, and more than 350,000 are infected in North Korea as an "explosive" coronavirus outbreak takes a toll on the isolated nation, the country's state media KCNA confirmed, according to CNN.

This comes a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un confirmed the first-ever COVID-19 case in the hermit kingdom.

What Happened: North Korea is reporting COVID-19 cases for the first time since the pandemic started in 2020.

Experts believe that given North Korea's limited testing capabilities, the numbers it is reporting represent a small fraction of the infections, Reuters reported.

They also reportedly predicted that this could lead to thousands of deaths in one of only two countries without a COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Why It Matters: For more than two years, North Korea claimed to have kept the situation at bay by imposing a rigid COVID-19 blockade of its borders.

North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea in the middle of this reported outbreak, according to the Associated Press. The Biden administration has said the country could be preparing for a nuclear test ahead of the U.S. president's Asia visit.

Joe Biden is expected to be in Japan and South Korea from May 20-24.

N.Korea reports first COVID-19 death after 350000 sickened with fever [Reuters.com, 13 May 2022]

By Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith

SEOUL, May 13 (Reuters) - At least one person confirmed to have COVID-19 has died in North Korea and hundreds of thousands have shown fever symptoms, state media said on Friday, offering hints at the potentially dire scale of country's first confirmed outbreak of the pandemic.

About 187,800 people are being treated in isolation after a fever of unidentified origin has "explosively spread nationwide" since late April, the official KCNA news agency reported.

Roughly 350,000 people have shown signs of that fever, including 18,000 who newly reported such symptoms on Thursday, KCNA said. About 162,200 have been treated, but it did not specify how many had tested positive for COVID-19.

At least six people who showed fever symptoms died, with one of those case confirmed to have contracted the Omicron variant of the virus, KCNA said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the anti-virus command centre on Thursday to check the situation and responses after declaring a "gravest state of emergency" and ordering a national lockdown on Thursday.

North Korea has said the outbreak began in the capital of Pyongyang in April. State media did not elaborate on the cause of the outbreak, but the city hosted several massive public events on April 15 and 25, including a military parade and large gatherings where most people did not wear masks.

Kim "criticised that the simultaneous spread of fever with the capital area as a centre shows that there is a vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system we have already established," KCNA said.

Kim said actively isolating and treating people with fevers a top priority, while calling for scientific treatment methods and tactics "at a lightning tempo" and bolstering measures to supply medication.

In another dispatch, KCNA said health authorities were trying to organise testing and treatment systems and bolster disinfection work.

The rapid spread of the virus highlights the potential for a major crisis in a country that lacks medical resources, has refused international help with vaccinations and has kept its borders shut.

Analysts said the outbreak could threaten to deepen the isolated country's already tough food situation this year, as the lockdown would hamper its "all-out fight" against drought and the mobilisation of labour.

North Korea had declined vaccine supplies from the COVAX global sharing programme and China, possibly leaving the vast majority of people in a relatively young society at higher risk of infection.

Kwon Young-se, South Korea's new nominee to be the unification minister, responsible for inter-Korean ties, said at his confirmation hearing on Thursday that he was willing to push for humanitarian assistance for the North, including COVID treatment, syringes and other medical supplies.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said it had no plans to send vaccines to North Korea but supported international efforts to provide aid to vulnerable people there, urging Pyongyang to facilitate that work.