The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and Omicron variant

The Netherlands will relax some lockdown measures despite high Covid-19 infection rates driven by the Omicron variant, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday. 

Nonessential stores, hairdressers, beauty salons and other service providers will be allowed to reopen on Saturday for the first time since Dec. 19. 

Rutte added that the uncertainties meant that bars, restaurants and cultural venues would have to remain closed until at least Jan. 25. 

“In the next 10 days, we will look at exactly what we can learn from abroad and what we can also learn from here in the Netherlands,” Rutte said. 

On Friday, the Netherlands Institute for Health announced a record high of more than 35,000 infections in 24 hours. Infections have continued to rise despite the latest lockdown measures. 

“We have to learn to live with the virus, and so we need a long-term perspective,” Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said at the same news conference. “It is a common problem that we must solve together. Not only in The Hague, not only in the education sector, not only in healthcare, but as a society. With businesses, catering, culture, sports. Together, with all parties, we look for the best way to further open society and keep it open.” 

More than 25% of New Jersey schools are remote this week due to Covid-19, down from nearly 35% last week, but most plan to reopen to in-person instruction next week, according the New Jersey Department of Education.

As of Jan. 13, 686 of the 2,679 schools that are monitored by the NJDOE closed their doors, pivoting to virtual learning. NJDOE data includes all public school in the state, in addition to public charter schools, renaissance schools and some private schools for students with disabilities. This does not include most private schools or other non-public schools.

Yet that number is lower when compared to the previous week, when 934 schools were remote, according to the NJDOE.

More than 560 of the schools that are currently virtual plan to reopen next Tuesday, Jan. 18, and about 70 more schools are set to reopen the following Monday, Jan. 24, according to the NJDOE. 

Most schools in New Jersey were in person during the fall semester, with just 33 schools using remote instruction between September and mid-December, according to Mike Yaple, a DOE spokesperson.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday that, overall, the state is still experiencing about 20,000 positive tests with nearly 6,000 hospitalizations, noting that positive tests have begun to decrease.

The state of Alabama is reporting record numbers of Covid-19 hospitalizations for children, and health officials are seeking immediate measures to reduce the spread of the virus within the youth population, according to a statement released Friday.

The news comes from the Alabama Department of Health and the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which notes that Thursday saw 2,091 patients admitted with Covid-19, 71 of which were children. Of the pediatric patients, three were sent to the intensive care unit, and one was put on a ventilator.

Forty-one pregnant women were also admitted, with one in the ICU and one requiring a ventilator.

Guidance from health officials calls for children to avoid public gatherings, and to wear well-fitted masks in an effort to reduce Covid-19 exposure. Eligible children are also urged to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

“In the crisis of higher virus transmission with the Omicron variant, immediate measures are critical,” said ADPH District Medical Officer Dr. Wes Stubblefield in the statement.

Alabama schools reported 16,035 cases of Covid-19 this week with 139 of 143 districts reporting. That number represents a massive increase from a week ago, in which the number of reported cases was 2,940.

“The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is extremely contagious and fast-spreading. Pediatric hospitalizations are at record high numbers, and we continue to see children with serious complications of COVID-19 infections such as MIS-C,” said Dr. Katrina Skinner, president of the AAP’s Alabama chapter.

“Parents should take the current COVID-19 outbreak seriously as it poses a very real threat to the health and well-being of their children. Children depend on their parents to protect them by minimizing their exposure to high-risk settings, to teach good masking practices and other preventive measures, as well as getting them vaccinated if eligible,” Skinner added.

According to health officials in Alabama, children under the age of 18 accounted for 12.7% of the 9,2666 total Covid-19 cases reported on Thursday.

At least 14,380 school classes were canceled on Friday due to Covid-19, according to a statement from France’s Ministry of Education. This marks the highest number of school closures since spring 2020, per reporting from CNN affiliate BFMTV. 

The number of canceled lessons represents 2.73% of all classes in the country, according to the ministry statement. 

The closures are due to the discovery of Covid-19 cases among students or teachers.

France has seen record-high numbers of new daily cases this week, with 1,458,456 cases registered since Sunday.

“We can say that we are at the peak when we have passed it,” Genevieve Chene, director general of Public Health France, told BFMTV Friday. “We’re not yet in that situation,” she added. 

Chene said that “as [the Omicron variant] is more contagious [than Delta], we must expect a rise in hospitalizations in the next weeks.”

A medical worker prepares a Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine booster dose at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, on January 6.

Here’s the latest data on vaccination efforts in the United States, published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Note: CDC data on Covid-19 vaccinations are estimates. The agency notes that data on people who are fully vaccinated and those with a booster dose may be underestimated, while data on people with at least one dose may be overestimated. 

The Pentagon announced three major contracts totaling nearly $2 billion for Covid-19 test kits, part of the Biden administration’s efforts to make the scarce kits more readily available to the public.

The announcement includes no information about the number of test kits these contracts will purchase, but the contracts all have an estimated completion date of March 14, 2022.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask information for the American public on Friday, including clarifying that certain types of masks and respirators offer more protection from the coronavirus than others and offering tips on what consumers should look for when shopping for them. 

The updated information recommends that Americans wear the most protective mask or respirator they can find that fits well and that they will wear consistently. 

The information was last updated in October. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that the agency was planning to update the information to reflect the options that are available to people and the levels of protection different masks provide. 

“Loosely woven cloth products provide the least protection, layered finely woven products offer more protection, well-fitting disposable surgical masks and KN95s offer even more protection, and well-fitting (National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety)-approved respirators (including N95s) offer the highest level of protection,” the CDC says.

The updated information notes that “a highly protective mask or respirator may be most important for certain higher risk situations, or by some people at increased risk for severe disease.”

This includes: 

Masks still aren’t recommended for children under 2, but the CDC “recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of their vaccination status or the area’s transmission rates.”

The updated information also offer tips for getting a better fit and more protection, such as: 

The CDC says consumers looking for masks that meet quality standards can look for certain labels like “meets ASTM F3502” or “meets workplace performance,” and they can go to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health website to get more information on personal protective equipment. 

The agency also says certain respirators don’t meet international standards and has links to sites for more details.

Specially labeled “surgical” N95s “should be reserved for use by healthcare personnel,” the CDC says.

You can read more about this here.

Citing ongoing negotiations with a pair of powerful city unions, Philadelphia is pushing back its vaccine mandate for city workers by 10 days.

Initially slated to go into effect today, the mandate is now delayed as Philadelphia negotiates with both the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 as well as the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22.

The Fraternal Order of the Police’s Mike Neilon told CNN the matter is “in limbo” as the union is still before the arbitration panel.

Officials say the first union to agree to the mandate was AFSCME DC 33, which represents trash collectors. AFSCME DC 47, which represents non-profit and higher education workers, followed today.

Kenney also shared his approval for those workers who have begun the vaccination process, adding, “we also commend those employees who’ve taken the first steps towards getting vaccinated—receiving at least one dose of the vaccine by today.”

The date of the vaccine mandate could also be pushed back further as arbitration proceedings continue for some union employees.

CNN has reached out the union representing the firefighters, as well as the pair of the unions that have agreed to the mandate already.

CNN’s Laura Studley and Liam Reilly contributed to this alert

A COVID-19 testing location in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn earlier this week.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state is “turning the corner on the winter surge” of Covid-19.

“So here’s the news flash: turning the corner, you heard it here first; I’ve been waiting to say that,” Hochul said in a press conference on Friday afternoon. “Positivity is declining. We’re now at 16.3%; again, our peak was a few days ago on Jan. 3 [with] 23% positivity.”

Hochul also shared that the state’s Covid-19 hospitalizations are starting to decline, reporting 12,207. 

Hochul reported 49,027 new Covid-19 cases, adding that this “is a very positive trend” as the state reported over 90,000 cases just a week ago. She also shared that there are 177 new Covid-related deaths.

The state has secured 64 million Covid-19 tests that will be given to testing sites, schools, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, Hochul said. The governor also thanked President Biden for sending additional ambulance and medical teams to the state.

“Recap: Cases are tending down, turning the corner and we have to continue being vigilant,” said Hochul. “We’re not going to spike the football, understand that?”

Airline passengers from the United States are likely to face an unprecedented scenario of zero China-bound flights starting next week, as Covid-19 infections continue to surge in the US.

The Chinese government has been tightening containment measures ahead of the Winter Olympics, set to open in Beijing in less than three weeks.

For at least two weeks, starting on Jan. 19, all flights from the US to China have either been canceled or are likely to have to be in compliance with the Chinese aviation regulator’s so-called “circuit-breaker” rule on international flights, according to CNN research of government announcements and published flight schedules.

That Chinese rule, implemented last June, means a flight is automatically suspended for two weeks if five or more passengers test positive upon landing in China. If 10 or more passengers test positive, the suspension period increases.

Some major US airlines say the Chinese government is unnecessarily forcing them to cancel China-bound flights, citing the “circuit-breaker” rule as an issue, and now the US federal government is getting involved.

The agency says it is “engaging” with the Chinese government and “we retain the right to take regulatory measures as appropriate.”

United Airlines says it has been “forced to cancel” eight flights from San Francisco to Shanghai this month. With only a few days’ notice from the Chinese government, United says it must then quickly rebook passengers onto different flights.

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are also impacted by China’s measures. American says it has been forced to cancel eight flights between Dallas and Shanghai in January and February.

More background: Over a third of the 9,356 scheduled international flights from Dec. 24 to Jan. 12 bound for China – already a fraction of pre-pandemic level – were canceled, according to data shown on the app developed by state-owned aviation industry IT provider TravelSky.

During this period, a growing number of passengers on flights from the US – operated by both US and Chinese carriers – have tested positive upon arrival in China, triggering a wave of cancellations just ahead of the Beijing Olympics and the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in China. 

Last month, a Delta flight from Seattle to Shanghai turned around midair because of a change in cleaning procedures at the Chinese airport that “significantly extended ground time and are not operationally viable,” according to the airline. Chinese officials disputed the account, urging the carrier to “protect customers’ legitimate rights.”

China has largely sealed off its borders since March 2020 and continued to stick to a strict zero-Covid policy.

The US Treasury Department warned Arizona Friday that it’s at risk of losing some of its federal Covid-19 relief funds unless it makes changes to grant programs the state created that prioritize schools that don’t require children to wear masks. 

If Arizona does not make the changes within 60 days, the Treasury Department could start recouping the funds that are being spent in violation of eligible uses, read a letter sent to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s office.

Treasury officials have issues with two of Arizona’s aid programs. The $163 million Education Plus-Up Grant Program awards money to schools that do not require the use of masks and are open for in-person learning. 

The state’s Covid-19 Educational Recovery Benefit Program is available only to families of students whose current or prior school requires the use of masks. It’s meant to provide up to $7,000 per student whose parents are facing financial and educational barriers due to mask mandates and “unnecessary closures,” according to a state website.

The conditions imposed on these grants “undermine efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 and discourage compliance with evidence-based solutions for stopping the spread of Covid-19,” the letter said. 

A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

GoDocs team member distributes a Binax at-home COVID-19 testing kits to people on Junction Blvd. in the New York City borough of Queens, late December.

The website for the newly established federal effort to distribute Covid-19 rapid tests by mail across America will launch its website for requests on Jan. 19, but it will be limiting four rapid tests per residential US household, according to senior administration officials.

According to senior administration officials on a call with reporters on Friday:

“The administration is quickly completing a contracting process for this unprecedented purchase of 500 million at home rapid tests, with over 420 million tests already under contract. All paths interactive through this program will be rapid at-home tests that have been granted an emergency use authorization by the FDA. Half a billion tests will be available for order on Jan. 19,” a senior administration official said about the process of test procurement.

The official noted that there are “some tests already in the possession of the US government, in the order of 10 million.”

While the official mentioned the administration will also be launching a free call line for the tests, a launch date wasn’t provided.

Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as to whether the US government hadn’t yet secured the initially promised half-billion tests, the official noted that “we’re working to finalize the contract on the last 80 million, and this is an unprecedentedly large purchase,” adding that “it’s been going at a fast speed.” 

The total cost for the initial 500 million tests, the official said, is around $4 billion for purchase and distribution.

“We’re confident that with our contracting team, which is very fast, with the ones we have on hand and the timeline we’re laying out today, that we can meet all of our timelines and get these to Americans that want them,” the official said. 

Another official noted that the initial limit to four tests per household that wants them “in the first 500 million.”

Data released Friday showed the number of people in hospitals with Covid-19 quadrupled in Canada in little more than month.

This comes as, Canadian public health officials warned that a punishing surge of new hospitalizations would put considerable strain on the health care system well into next month.

Recent data indicates that hospitalizations have not increased at the same “explosive rate” as cases, Canada’s top doctor confirmed Friday during a Covid-19 briefing.

But despite that data, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the, “sudden acceleration and enormous volume of cases associated with an Omicron surge puts an intense strain on hospitals over several weeks, and adds to longer-lasting impacts such as extended backlogs and a strained workforce.”

Dr. Tam also noted that critical care admissions, however, had not increased at the same pace and the length of stay in hospital for patients seemed to be shorter than with previous waves of the pandemic. 

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Canadians earlier this month to “hunker down” for winter.

“The strain on the healthcare system is tremendous and as much as we can do, all of us, individually, collectively, to decrease the pressure on the hospital system, our exhausted healthcare workers on the frontline, I think that’s really what we need to be focusing on,” Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, said.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, Canada has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world with about 4 in every 5 Canadians fully vaccinated. 

Covid-19 positivity rates in the low teens among faculty, students and staff are a sign mitigation measures are working in Los Angeles Unified School District, interim Superintendent Megan Reilly said Friday. 

“Everything that we’re seeing is not unexpected as far as the numbers,” Reilly told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. 

“Today we’re seeing lower numbers, it’s about 13% for our students, 11%, just under 12% for our employees, so having people in school is safer for them and we think that’s what’s going to be shown as people return to our campuses,” she said. 

According to data from LAUSD, the district had an 11% positivity rate over the last seven days. There are 73,000 active cases among students and staff, and five cases the district said are linked to school-based transmission. 

The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested. 

Reilly said the district will rely on county and state public health experts if the time comes for schools to go remote, but stressed the importance of an in-person education. 

“We had three to seven times less positivity than the general public. And we know that to be true, that our measures work, So, again, I think it’s about kids being in the safest place possible — but also safe not just from Covid but safe for their well-being,” she told Bolduan. 

Watch the interview:

This animation shows the march of Covid-19 cases across the United States in the pandemic’s most recent six months.

Starting July 1, 2021, amid a relatively quiet summer, the emergence of new cases fueled by the Delta variant spreads across the South in August. Cases then climb across the Plains, Midwest and Northeast by fall.

Another dramatic rise overwhelms the map starting in December, likely attributable to the more transmissible Omicron variant. As of this week, nearly every county is reporting average rates higher than 100 new cases per 100,000 people. Average daily new cases nationwide are now more than three times the pandemic’s peak last winter.

The animation is based on county-level data collected by local governments and tracked by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

An estimated 64 million cases have been reported in the United States since the pandemic started in 2020, a number that is about 19 percent of the population — though some people have had Covid-19 more than once.

To note: Data is from Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering each day from July 1, 2021 through Jan. 13, 2021. New cases that are missing or not assigned to a particular county are excluded. Due to reporting anomalies, new case counts are omitted for counties in Nebraska from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1, 2021.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed its guidelines around isolation and quarantine.

CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, who is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management, offers a few pointers if you or someone in your family contracts Covid-19.

If one member of the family gets diagnosed with Covid-19, what should they do next?

The person who was just diagnosed with Covid-19 should be presumed to be potentially infectious. Everybody else in the family should also get tested immediately. It’s possible that the person who tested positive was not the first person to contract Covid-19, and other members may also test positive.

What if everybody tests positive? Do they need to isolate from one another?

If everyone in your household has Covid-19, they do not need to isolate from each other. That’s because it’s highly unlikely that they have different strains of coronavirus; they probably all got the same strain from one another, and they aren’t going to reinfect each other so quickly. The entire family, of course, should be isolating from other people.

What if it’s a child who tests positive, and everybody else is testing negative? Who’s going to care for the child?

If a young child tests positive for Covid-19 and other family members are at high risk, having the child form a pod with one parent is an option.

The two different “pods” should not interact with one another during the isolation period and the parent caring for the child with Covid-19 should wear a mask when with the child to try to reduce the likelihood of getting infected themselves.

How long should someone be in isolation?

The CDC’s new guidelines essentially shorten the isolation period from 10 days to five days, with an additional five days wearing a mask. This means that you should stay fully isolated for the first five days. After that, you can go out — to work, to the grocery and so forth — but you should wear a high-quality, well-fitting mask when out in public. Don’t go to settings where you will be maskless, such as restaurants.

When it comes to people in the same family, this guidance means you really shouldn’t have meals together or have other casual, maskless encounters with uninfected members of your family in the 10-day period. If families are in two pods, the two shouldn’t mix for 10 days inside their house.

Read more tips here.

3M N95 masks.

Compared to cloth masks, properly fitted N95s better prevent tiny particles from getting into your nose or mouth thanks to certain materials — such as polypropylene fibers — acting as both mechanical and electrostatic barriers to shared air, the primary driver of coronavirus infection.

The difference between N95, KN95 and KF94 masks is where the mask is certified, according to Oklahoma’s state health department. The US certifies N95s, whereas China approves KN95s. KF94s are Korean-standard masks.

Experts warn to watch out for knockoffs and purchase masks “from a trusted, reputable source,” such as Project N95, according to Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.

How long you can wear a N95 mask and when to reuse it

Marr said she’ll wear her N95 for up to a week before replacing it, even after wearing it in a crowded indoor setting like a subway car or grocery store.

However, a known exposure should affect your approach.

How to sanitize N95 masks

The longer and more frequently you wear an N95 mask, the more contaminated it can become. But particles will die off over the course of a few hours, Marr said, and even faster if you set the face covering aside in sunlight.

Because N95 masks have that special static charge that helps filter out viruses, you shouldn’t wash the masks, as water will dissipate the charge, Marr said.

A KN95 protective mask for children.

Can children use N95 masks?

Read more guidance for children’s masks here. And these five tips can help for getting your child to wear a mask.

Researchers analyzed electronic health records for about 80,000 children under the age of 5 who were infected with Covid-19 for the first time in the United States. 

They found that the Omicron coronavirus variant is “inherently milder” among children under 5, with infection leading to “significantly less severe outcomes” than the Delta variant, according to a preprint study published Thursday.

The study also showed about 70% reduction in hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions and mechanical ventilation among children infected with Omicron compared with those infected with Delta. They also found a 29% reduction in visits to the emergency room. Data on deaths was not included, as there were so few reported.  

About 1% of children infected with Omicron were hospitalized, compared with about 3% of children with Delta. 

The study also found that both variants disproportionately infected Black children, but especially the Omicron variant. More than a quarter (26%) of the children infected with Omicron were Black, but less than 15% of the children who had any encounter with the health care system during the same timeframe were Black. 

“Despite this encouraging result, further studies are needed to monitor the longer-term acute consequences from Omicron infection, the propensity for development of ‘long COVID,’ the rapidity of spread, potential for mutation, and how prior infections alter clinical responses,” the researchers wrote. 

Covid-19 hospitalizations among children have reached record highs in recent weeks. In the last week of December, there were about 10 hospitalizations for every 100,000 children under the age of 5, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

More on the study: The study included about 7,000 children infected during a time when the Omicron variant was predominant and about 63,000 children infected when the Delta variant was predominant. Virus samples were not sequenced for each individual child, but were instead assumed based on broader sequencing data from the time. Omicron accounted for about 92% of samples during the two weeks ending January 6, while Delta accounted for 99% of samples between September and mid-November. 

Mobile County Public Schools, Alabama’s largest school system, will switch to a virtual learning format starting next week because the uptick in Covid-19 cases has made it “difficult to staff many of our schools,” according to the superintendent.

Superintendent Chresal Threadgill made the announcement in an email sent to parents and teachers on Thursday. The school system plans to reopen for in-person learning on Jan. 24.

Regarding the Jan. 24 target date, Threadgill said he will “allow the numbers to inform further decisions being made within the district.”

About 265 positive Covid-19 cases among students and staff in the school system were reported Thursday, according to the school system’s website.

Threadgill said he believes switching to remote learning is “best for the health and safety” of the school system’s roughly 54,000 students and 7,200 employees.

Here’s a look at other school systems across the country that are shifting to remote learning.

Walgreens in San Francisco, last year.

Two of the biggest retail pharmacies in the US are temporarily closing some stores and pharmacies on the weekends as the latest surge in Covid-19 causes staff shortages.  

Walgreens says that, like many industries, this latest surge in the Omicron variant is placing a significant strain on its business in the short-term and driving demand unlike “anything seen before.” 

When making the decision to adjust store hours, Lathan said that the company makes every effort to minimize disruption for customers by selecting days with “the lowest prescription demand.” Lathan added that when Walgreens does temporarily close a store, it directs some pharmacy services to the nearest open Walgreens.  

CVS said on Friday that a vast majority of its stores are operating on their normal weekend hours, according to Mike DeAngelis, executive director of CVS Corporate Communications. But DeAngelis noted that “a tiny fraction of stores are temporarily closed on one or both days of the weekend to help address acute staffing issues amidst both the omicron surge and the workforce shortage affecting nearly every industry and company.” 

DeAngelis added that “the adjusted operating hours in these stores are temporary.” 

Pharmacies closing because of staffing pressures is happening consistently across the country, according to Mitchel Rothholz, chief of staff at the American Pharmacists Association. 

“It’s a problem across the whole healthcare system, not just in pharmacy,” Rothholz told CNN last month, “but our members are dealing with this constantly now, because of the increased demand for testing as well as Covid vaccinations, people who are wanting to get the boosters or even getting their first doses.” 

CNN’s Virginia Langmaid contributed reporting to this post.