June 17 coronavirus news

There’s more evidence that at least some of the current coronavirus vaccines protect people against the ever-changing variants of coronavirus.

Tests done using the blood of both people who had recovered from Covid-19 and those who had been vaccinated with Moderna’s vaccine showed big differences in how the immune system responded to mutations in the virus, Dr. Allison Greaney of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington told a meeting of federal vaccine advisers.

“We know that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is evolving to evade antibody immunity,” Greaney told a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, which advises the US Health and Human Services Department. 

The team, which is tracking viral mutations and their effects, made artificial versions of mutant virus and tested them against samples of blood. While some mutations caused a 30-fold loss of antibody effectiveness against the virus in the blood of people who had recovered from an infection, the loss of efficacy was far lower in the blood of people given two doses of Moderna vaccine, she said.

In some samples, there was no effect on the immunity – which suggested that the vaccine stimulates a broad immune response that covers the current mutations, she said.

Federal officials have been urging Americans to get vaccinated quickly to stop the virus from circulating and acquiring the mutations that help it evade the immune system. Tests such as those done at the University of Washington lab support the idea that people who have been infected will be more vulnerable to catching variant versions of the virus than vaccinated people will be. 

A masked server waits on a customer at Langer's Deli in Los Angeles, California on June 15.

Fully vaccinated Californians won’t have to wear masks in the workplace after state regulators voted Thursday to end mask requirements and the governor immediately signed an executive order to allow the changes to quickly take effect.

The new rule adopted by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), which passed 5-1, ended weeks of confusion and aligned workplace rules with the state Covid-19 guidelines, allowing fully vaccinated employees to be unmasked indoors. No face coverings will be required outdoors, regardless of vaccination status.

Cal/OSHA Deputy Chief Eric Berg explained in the board meeting that masks could still be required during outbreaks. In addition, N95 respirator masks must be provided upon request for employees who work indoors or with other people. 

While it is not required for employers to retain copies of vaccination cards, employers must document vaccination status. Self-attestation by employees will be allowed.

Physical distancing requirements were also eliminated under the new rule.

Just moments after Cal/OSHA voted to adopt the revised Covid-19 standards, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order so the rules could take effect more quickly than the standard 10-day review period.

A meeting of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was scheduled for Friday has been rescheduled because of the Juneteenth holiday.

President Biden signed a bill into law Thursday establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day and a federal holiday. Because that’s Saturday this year, the holiday falls on Friday. 

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled to meet Friday to discuss two questions about Covid-19 vaccines – whether booster shots might be needed, and whether a rare heart inflammation called myocarditis, seen mostly in young men and boys, might be linked to some of the Covid-19 vaccines.

They’ll combine those discussions into another scheduled meeting later this month. 

“The June 18, 2021 COVID-19 meeting is being rescheduled due to the observation of the Juneteenth National Independence Day holiday. The discussion will be rescheduled to be included as part of the June 23-25 ACIP meeting,” the CDC said.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during press conference at Troy Babes in Toyland in Troy, Michigan, on June 14.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday that the state will open at full capacity on Tuesday, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

The state will no longer set capacity limits or require masks in either indoor or outdoor settings.

Whitmer said “today is a day we’ve all been looking forward to, as we can safely get back to normal day-to-day activities and put this pandemic behind us.”

The announcement comes as Michigan reports that half of its residents have been fully vaccinated and more than 60% have received at least one shot, according to the state’s Covid-19 vaccine dashboard.

Whitmer announced in the press release that some orders will remain in effect to “protect vulnerable populations in corrections, long-term care and agriculture.”

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee speaks during a press conference on June 17.

Beginning June 18, Rhode Island will loosen some Covid-19 restrictions, according to Gov. Dan McKee.

The capacity and restrictions on indoor settings such as night clubs, and saunas and whirlpools will be removed. The governor said he urges individuals who are not vaccinated to still wear their masks in indoor settings, while masks requirements for those fully vaccinated have already been removed in most indoor and outdoor settings. 

To encourage Covid-19 vaccination, the governor announced that Uber is partnering with United Way, a nonprofit organization in Rhode Island, to provide 10,000 free rides to vaccination sites across the state. 

By the numbers: There are 606,630 people fully vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine in Rhode Island, and 1,238,796 total doses of the vaccine have been administered so far, according to the state’s Covid-19 dashboard. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will end the Covid-19 emergency declaration on Friday.

During a news conference Thursday, DeWine said the state had already “basically lifted almost all of the orders” implemented due to Covid-19 and now the state of emergency for Ohio will be lifted tomorrow.

DeWine said this doesn’t mean the pandemic is over, but his state is headed in the right direction.

The governor also loosened restrictions on visitations to nursing homes and assisted living facilities. DeWine said the state will no longer dictate how visits to these centers are conducted.

“For example, you will no longer need to schedule visits,” he said. “Nor will there be a state requirement that you can only have two visitors at a time.” 

DeWine announced the fourth round of winners in the Vax-a-Million Covid-19 and scholarship lottery. Residents “still have the opportunity to register, still have the opportunity to get the shot,” before the fifth and final drawing next week, he said. 

One million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in Toronto, Canada, Thursday evening, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

The vaccine doses are part of the 80 million dose commitment announced by the administration in May, he said during a press briefing Thursday.

Earlier today, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said the US would be increasing the number of Covid-19 vaccine shipments each week as it plans to distribute doses to other countries.

“The process to export the 80 million takes partnership and coordination with the receiving governments, but that’s well underway now. On Tuesday, doses landed in Mexico. Today, doses are landing Canada. And yes, importantly doses will be shipped to Brazil in the coming weeks,” he added. 

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Thursday that the federal government will announce a plan to distribute 55 million Covid-19 vaccines with other countries in the coming days, less than two weeks before the Biden administration’s self-imposed deadline to distribute the doses around the world. 

The White House had previously set its own deadline for distributing 80 million US vaccine doses globally by the end of June and announced where the initial 25 million would be allocated earlier this month. 

“There will be an increasing number of shipments each and every week as we ramp up these efforts. The process to export the 80 million takes partnership and coordination with the receiving governments, but that’s well underway now. On Tuesday, doses landed in Mexico. Today, doses are landing Canada. And yes, importantly doses will be shipped to Brazil in the coming weeks,” he added. 

Rhode Island Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Griego works in a coronavirus mass-vaccination site at the former Citizens Bank headquarters in Cranston, Rhode Island, on June 10.

During a Covid-19 response team briefing on Thursday, White House senior adviser Jeff Zients would not directly answer a question as to whether the Biden administration expects to meet its goal of having 70% of American adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4.

More than 167 million American adults – 64.7% – have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In recent weeks, the number of people getting vaccinated has dropped significantly.

“We are going to get to 70%, and we’re going to continue across the summer months to push beyond 70%, for the reasons that I just talked about,” Zients said. “You have to get vaccinated in order to be protected against Covid-19, the Delta variant and any other variants that might come down the road.”

After over a year of staying at home and following strict safety guidelines, many people are understandably reluctant to step out their front door and re-enter society.

For some, they’re downright terrified.

Psychiatrist Dr. Arthur Bregman calls this fear “cave syndrome,” a non-medical term he’s coined.

At his practice in Coral Gables, Florida, he found many of his patients were nervous about going outside their homes and interacting with others as Covid-19 restrictions lifted. Some of his patients felt mildly uncomfortable while others took their fear to more extremes.

Here’s how to overcome the “cave syndrome” anxiety:

Mindfulness: When he notices a patient is afraid to leave their home, he said he teaches them his MAV system, which stands for “mindfulness, attitude and vision,” which he developed in 2021.

The first step is to be mindful about what’s bothering you and focus on narrowing down what that is, he said.

Once you know what is making you nervous, Bregman said it’s time to start to develop a positive attitude. It’s important to have a positive mindset and believe good things can happen to you when you leave your house, he said.

A great way to develop this positivity is to imagine all the great activities you participated in prior to the pandemic, such as eating indoors with friends or attending concerts, Bregman noted. Then, visualize your goals and what you can accomplish when you leave your “cave,” he said. The sooner people can do this system, the better, Bregman added.

Downward social comparison: Dr. Alan Teo, an associate professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, said instead of upward social comparison, when you compare yourself to others who are socializing more than you, he recommended you compare yourself to those who are socializing less than you.

With downward social comparison, “it helps you feel a little bit better about yourself,” Teo said.

Don’t pressure yourself: Some people are introverted and feel drained after long periods of social interaction, which he said is perfectly normal.

Teo also suggested people try a behavior-based approach called exposure and response prevention. It’s a clinical strategy where you gradually expose yourself to what you fear, in this case social interaction, and you work your way up to more challenging social experiences.

An easy way to think of this approach is to imagine you’re climbing a ladder, Teo said. For the first “rung,” you could try taking a walk with a friend. For a higher “rung,” you could go to a party, he said.

Cruise ships sit docked at PortMiami on May 26 in Miami.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday lowered the level of its travel health notice for cruise ships from “Level 4: Very High” to “Level 3: High.” 

On its website, the CDC says this travel notice is specifically for travelers who are not fully vaccinated and that it recommends that travelers who aren’t fully vaccinated avoid travel on all cruise ships.

They note that since the coronavirus spreads easier between people who are in close quarters aboard ships, the chance of getting it on one is high. 

It also advises that people who decide to go on a cruise should get tested one to three days before their trip and three to five days after. People who are not fully vaccinated should also self-quarantine for seven days after travel, even if they test negative. Those who do not get tested should self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.   

Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, says that the CDC easing this travel warning reflects the country’s current situation. 

“I think they can do that because enough people have been vaccinated and cases are low enough right now that that lowers the overall risk,” she told CNN. 

However, Marr who also studies the airborne transmission of Covid-19 gave an emphatic “no” when asked whether she’d recommend unvaccinated people go on cruises right now.

The Biden administration announced it was investing about $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan to go toward a Covid-19 antiviral development strategy.

“We know that there are many people who are immunosuppressed in which vaccines, at least initially, may not give an optimal response. And it also adds a line of defense against other unexpected emerging things like variants of concern that we are currently dealing with,” Fauci continued.

People receive food from a local charity in the Queens borough of New York City on June 4.

Claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week, marking the first increase in initial claims since late April.

Another 412,000 workers filed for first-time benefits in the week ended June 12, adjusted for seasonal swings, the Labor Department said Thursday. 

Since the start of May, weekly claims had set new pandemic-era lows every week — and economists polled by Refinitiv expected another low for Thursday’s report.

The number of claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program — which isn’t adjusted for seasonality — also climbed at 118,025 claims. Congress set up the program to provide aid for those not eligible for regular state benefits, such as the self-employed, during the pandemic.

For context: Continued claims, which count those who have filed for benefits for at least two weeks in a row, rose slightly to 3.5 million in the week ended June 5, adjusted for seasonal swings.

The B.1.617.2, or Delta, variant first identified in India is like “Covid on steroids,” Andy Slavitt, former White House senior adviser for Covid-19 response, said Wednesday.

The CDC has labeled the Delta variant a “variant of concern,” noting it now accounts for about 10% of cases in the US.

Slavitt said the variant provides people with one more reason to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

“If you have been vaccinated, you have very little to worry about,” he said.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with members of media at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, on June 6.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NPR’s Morning Edition Thursday that when it comes to the Delta variant, he’s not concerned about people who are vaccinated, and the variant is another good reason for people to get vaccinated.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevated the Delta variant to a variant of concern this week. Fauci said that “the combination of more transmissibility and greater severity of disease, appropriately, prompted the CDC to elevate it to a variant of concern.” 

When asked how concerned he was about the variant, Fauci said “I’m not concerned about the people who are vaccinated. Because the good news about all this, among the seriousness of the situation with regards to the variant, is that the vaccines work really quite well.” 

People who are vaccinated are protected, he said, “which is another very good reason to encourage people strongly to get vaccinated because if you are not vaccinated, you are at risk of getting infected with a virus that now spreads more rapidly and gives more serious disease.” 

He said that the United Kingdom is having a “very difficult time with this,” adding that more than 90% of their isolates are the Delta variant. 

“Ten percent of our isolates are Delta, we want to make sure we don’t get into the same situation that people in the UK did,” he said. 

A healthcare worker administers a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the University of New Mexico's Gallup campus in Gallup, New Mexico, on March 23.

Thirteen states have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents against Covid-19, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:

Fireworks explode over the White House as part of the Fourth of July celebration July 4, 2020 in Washington, DC.

The White House will host a celebration for thousands of essential workers and military families on July Fourth on the South Lawn to mark America’s “independence from the virus,” according to a White House official. 

The celebration, which will be the largest in-person White House event since President Biden took office, comes as states across the nation lift restrictions put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19. 

The White House is encouraging state and local partners to host their own events across the nation to celebrate the progress the country has made in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic. More than 50% of Americans 12 and older are fully vaccinated, children are returning to in-person learning and businesses have been returning to full capacity across the nation. 

The National Mall will be open for the traditional July Fourth fireworks, with crowds expected to gather.

But the event will follow a grim milestone in the country’s fight against the pandemic: The US surpassed 600,000 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In February, the President held a candle-lighting ceremony and a moment of silence after the US surpassed 500,000 deaths.

People walk on Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco, California, on June 15, 2021.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now calling the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, also known as B.1.617.2, a “variant of concern.” 

The variant of concern designation is given to strains of the virus that scientists believe are more transmissible or can cause more severe disease. Vaccines, treatments and tests that detect the virus may also be less effective against a variant of concern. Previously, the CDC had considered the Delta variant to be a variant of interest.

What we know: The CDC said the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, shows increased transmissibility, potential reduction in neutralization by some monoclonal antibody treatments under emergency authorization and potential reduction in neutralization from sera after vaccination in lab tests.

The World Health Organization classified the Delta variant as a variant of concern on May 10.

Covid-19 cases have been declining over the past few months in the United States, but there’s concern that could change as the pace of vaccinations slows and the Delta variant spreads.

Read more about the Delta variant here.