February 13 coronavirus news

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not currently recommend required Covid-19 testing before domestic air travel, a CDC official told CNN Saturday. Federal officials said this week that they had been considering a testing requirement.

“At this time, CDC is not recommending required point of departure testing for domestic travel,” according to a CDC statement sent to CNN Friday night. “As part of our close monitoring of the pandemic, in particular the continued spread of variants, we will continue to review public health options for containing and mitigating spread of COVID-19 in the travel space.”

The CDC added that it does not recommend that people travel at this time. 

“If someone must travel, they should get tested with a viral test 1-3 days before the trip,” the agency said. “After travel, getting tested with a viral test 3-5 days post-travel and staying home and self-quarantining for 7 days, even if test results are negative, is a recommended public health measure to reduce risk.”

The guidance comes after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview Sunday with Axios on HBO that the Department of Transportation and the CDC were actively considering requiring a negative Covid-19 test for any passengers on domestic flights. 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he agreed with comments by Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Friday that vaccinations and new treatments could make Covid-19 “another illness we have to live with, like we do flu” by the end of the year.

“I do think that in due time [Covid-19] will become something that we simply live with. Some people will be more vulnerable than others – that’s inevitable,” Johnson said Saturday, replying to a reporter’s question.

Johnson also said he was feeling “optimistic” ahead of a planned announcement on February 22 of his road map for England to exit lockdown but added “we have to be cautious.”

Johnson said that reopening schools in England was the “priority,” with the hope that they can return on March 8.

“Then working forwards to getting non-essential retail open as well, and then in due course as and when we can prudently and cautiously of course, we want to be opening hospitality as well,” he continued.

Asked about details of the lockdown easing announcement scheduled for February 22, Johnson replied that he will “be trying to set out as much as I possibly can in as much detail as I can, always understanding that we have to be wary of the pattern of disease.” 

The UK government is hoping to meet its target of offering Covid-19 vaccinations to 15 million people in the most vulnerable groups by Monday, February 15. To date 14 million people in the UK have had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Here’s some context: There have been more than 4 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

In March last year, the UK government said it was hopeful the country could cap its coronavirus deaths at 20,000. But more than 116,500 have died, according to figures from JHU – and the country has one of the highest number of confirmed deaths in the world, proportionate to population.

As US President Joe Biden strives to take the opposite approach of former President Donald Trump on the coronavirus response, he’s leaving most of the details to the scientists – including the tough talk about what Americans may have to brace for in the coming months.

Biden has opted for a more measured approach than his predecessor, showing up to promote vaccine announcements and appearing at a vaccine site or a laboratory, but mainly saving the hard questions for his closed-door daily briefing on the pandemic.

Missed opportunities: That has left a gap in the messaging about how and when America might pull out of the crisis – and glosses over the challenge and exhortation that a president can uniquely deliver in times of national calamity.

Even one senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to be more candid, acknowledged in an interview with CNN that the public may not yet understand that the variants will require “more public involvement and sacrifice than people probably have registered in their own mind.”

Experts are also noticing missed opportunities for Biden to help the country rise to the challenge.

Said another health expert, who is close to the White House: “They’re painting way too rosy of a picture.” The source, who requested anonymity to speak more frankly, added that the administration isn’t doing enough to sound the alarm about the threat of variants and the challenges that could lie ahead.

Administration officials have chafed at that criticism, insisting they are taking the variants seriously without inciting public panic.

Read the full story here:

US President Joe Biden speaks, flanked by White House Chief Medical Adviser on Covid-19 Dr. Anthony Fauci (R) during a visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, February 11, 2021. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Biden grapples with balancing optimism and tough talk on pandemic's outlook

A health worker in Torrance, California, processes a Covid-19 antibody test in May 2020.

The US Food and Drug Administration moved too quickly to allow the marketing of antibody tests for coronavirus without authorization last spring and ended up with a lot of tests that did not work well, two top officials said Saturday.

The FDA won’t be doing that again, and agencies need to prepare ahead of time for quick development of tests in pandemics, Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health and Dr. Timothy Stenzel, director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, wrote in a joint commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Flawed” policy: At the time it seemed important to get antibody tests onto the market so researchers could assess just how widespread the virus was, they said. So, FDA published guidance in March allowing developers to market tests without emergency use authorization as long as the test was validated, and the tests carried warnings that they were not FDA-reviewed.

By April, they wrote, “the market was flooded with serology tests, some of which performed poorly and many of which were marketed in a manner that conflicted with FDA policy.”

Later, the FDA worked with the National Cancer Institute to evaluate antibody tests developed by university labs. That worked better, they said.

“Knowing what we know now, we would not have permitted serology tests to be marketed without FDA review and authorization, even within the limits we initially imposed,” Shuren and Stenzel wrote.

Lessons learned: “First, our experience with serology tests underscores the importance of authorizing medical products independently, on the basis of sound science, and not permitting market entry of tests without authorization,” they wrote.

Plus, the federal government needs to coordinate research better, and evaluate tests before they are needed so they can be checked quickly in an emergency.

Like many countries around the world, Denmark is desperate to reopen the parts of its economy frozen by the pandemic.

The kingdom of under 6 million people has become one of the most efficient vaccination distributors in Europe and aims to have offered its whole population a jab by June.

But before that target is reached, there’s pressure for life to return to normal for Danes already inoculated and to open up borders for Covid-immune travelers from overseas.

Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s acting finance minister, last week raised the prospect of a so-called coronavirus passport being introduced by the end of the month.

“Denmark is still hard hit by the corona pandemic,” he said. “But there are parts of Danish society that need to move forward, and a business community that needs to be able to travel.”

The government has since indicated that a February deadline might be ambitious, but the relatively small Scandinavian country could still become the world’s first to formally embrace the technology to open its borders in this controversial way.

Read the full story:

A woman arrives at Bellevue beach in Aarhus, Denmark on August 7, 2020. - A heatwave has hit Denmark on Friday as the high temparatures are supposed to last throughout the weekend. (Photo by Michael Drost-Hansen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT (Photo by MICHAEL DROST-HANSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Covid passports could deliver a 'summer of joy,' Denmark hopes

For the first time in 100 days, the United States is averaging fewer than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The nation has a current 7-day average of 96,609 new cases per day, according to JHU data. The last time this metric was below 100,000 was on Election Day, November 3, 2020. 

On November 3, the US saw an average of 925 deaths per day. Right now, the US is seeing an average of 3,024 deaths per day, which is more than a 200% increase in daily deaths since November.

 Over those 100 days – from November 3, 2020 to February 12, 2021 – the US tallied 18,141,364 new Covid-19 cases and 248,148 reported deaths, JHU data shows. 

An NHS staff member prepares an AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccination near Truro, England, on January 26.

University researchers plan to start testing AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on children as young as six in Britain on Saturday. 

A team at the University of Oxford, which developed the vaccine, said it will test the vaccine on children and teens aged 6-17 there and at sites in London, Southampton and Bristol. 

Few trials of coronavirus vaccine involve children as yet. In the US, Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines are being tested in children as young as 12. 

Grace Li, a pediatric researcher in the Oxford Vaccine Group, said in a statement: “We’ve already seen that the vaccine is safe and effective in adults, and our understanding of how children are affected by the coronavirus continues to evolve.”

While children are much less likely than adults to be hospitalized or die from Covid-19, children are as just as likely as adults to become infected.

“While most children are relatively unaffected by coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell with the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people as some children may benefit from vaccination,” added Dr. Andrew Pollard, chief investigator for the trial at Oxford. “These new trials will extend our understanding of control of SARS-CoV2 to younger age groups.” 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks during a virtual news conference at 10 Downing Street in London, on February 8.

The UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he hopes that vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 will turn the disease into something we “live with, like we do flu” by the end of the year. 

Hancock said he hoped that by the end of the year, Covid-19 “will become a treatable disease,” and that he anticipated new drugs to tackle the virus should arrive.

In an interview with the UK’s Daily Telegraph, Hancock said new treatments would be key in “turning Covid from a pandemic that affects all of our lives into another illness that we have to live with, like we do flu. That’s where we need to get Covid to over the months to come.”

Some 14 million people have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as of Thursday, according to the UK government, and more than 530,000 have received a second dose.

Hancock said he was “confident” that the vaccine would be offered to all adults in the UK by September.

Here’s some context: There have been more than 4 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

In March last year, the UK government said it was hopeful the country could cap its coronavirus deaths at 20,000. But more than 116,500 have died, according to figures from JHU – and the country has one of the highest number of confirmed deaths in the world, proportionate to population.

Winter Park Resort in Grand County, Colorado.

A ski resort in Colorado has had a Covid-19 outbreak, with more than 100 active infections among its employees.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced the outbreak at Winter Park Resort in January but released the data in its weekly outbreak summary on Wednesday.

There are at least 109 employees with active infections, they said.

With ski season in full swing in Colorado, other resorts have also reported Covid-19 cases. But the outbreak at Winter Park is currently the largest, according to CDPHE data.

“We have been working closely with public health authorities since the pandemic began,” said Jen Miller, communications manager at the ski resort. “We did extensive planning and had to get approval from the state on our operations before we could open on December 3.”

Cases linked to socializing and living situations: Most of the cases have been traced back to social gatherings outside of work and to congregate housing, Miller said.

Precautions, according to Miller, include: reconfiguring lift corrals and lift-loading procedures, extra staff, new signage reminding visitors about mask requirements, limitations on dining, a reservation system to manage visitation and the number of people at the resort, contactless lodging and a state-approved testing site for their 1,700 active employees.

But some visitors have reported that mask mandates were not being enforced.

When asked about those reports, Miller said, “We’ve done extensive work and continue to evolve our operations as necessary. I can’t speak to one individual’s experience, but we do appreciate feedback and will continue to make modifications with the health and well-being of our employees, guests and community as our top priority.”

Conor Cahill, press secretary for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, said ski resorts across the state need to “do a better job planning for and managing surge weekends.”

Read the full story here.

A sticker given to people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine in New York City.

Though officials and health experts say the end of the Covid-19 pandemic will rely on a large proportion of Americans being inoculated, nearly a third of US adults say they have not decided if they will get the vaccine when it is offered to them.

Could be swayed: About 31% of US adults say they plan to “wait and see” how it works out for other people, according to a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Friday. Many said that a close friend or family member getting vaccinated would be most likely to sway their decision.

Vaccinations have been ramping up across the country as officials race to get most Americans inoculated by the end of summer, aiming for a return to normality while trying to get ahead of the coronavirus variants.

To reach herd immunity, about 70-85% of Americans would need to be vaccinated, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease director Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated.

Though many states have complained that their supply of doses from the federal government does not meet their demand, the pace has quickened in recent weeks.

The US has averaged nearly 1.6 million doses administered per day over the past week, higher than the daily average of about 1.3 million last week, according to a CNN analysis of data published Thursday by the CDC.

And more than 6,500 retail pharmacies around the country opened appointments Friday for the 1 million doses they have been allocated.

Here’s some background: The United States recorded an additional 97,525 new coronavirus cases and 5,323 more deaths Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

Friday’s figures bring the national total to 27,490,037 cases and 480,767 deaths, across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories.

Read the full story here.

A worker checks in a person with an appointment to receive a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a CVS Pharmacy location in Eastchester, New York on February 12.

The United States recorded an additional 97,525 new coronavirus cases and 5,323 more deaths Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.

Friday’s toll includes more than 2,400 backlogged deaths from Ohio. The state’s health department said on February 10 that some 4,000 deaths “may have been underreported through the state’s reporting system” and would be added to future tallies.

Friday’s figures bring the national total to 27,490,037 cases and 480,767 deaths, across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories.

So far, at least 69,014,725 vaccine doses have been distributed, with some 48,410,558 shots administered, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Flights to Victoria have been suspended as the Australian state begins a hard five-day lockdown, Premier Daniel Andrews said Saturday. 

No flights will be allowed into Victoria until next Thursday, other than those carrying more than 100 passengers who have already commenced travel to the state.

Victoria recorded one additional Covid-19 case Saturday, connected to the recent Holiday Inn cluster. A total of 14 confirmed cases of the UK variant have been linked to the cluster. 

The state entered the five-day “circuit breaker” lockdown at 11:59 p.m. local time on February 12.  

A health care worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination site in Las Mesa, California, on February 11.

The US state of California is adding millions of people to its Covid-19 vaccination priority list, including residents “at high risk with developmental and other disabilities” and those with “serious underlying health conditions.”

The plan, outlined by state health officials in a briefing Friday, will begin March 15 and allow cancer patients, pregnant women, and other disabled individuals to join health care workers, seniors, teachers, and farm staff in line for a vaccine. The expansion could add as many as 6 million more Californians to the priority list.

It also broadens the ages from 65 and over to ages 16 to 64 in those categories.

California Health and Human Service Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told reporters the March 15 start will give officials time to work out details on how to get vaccines to those with various disabilities and could include at-home visits.

Ghaly acknowledged the timing could be optimistic, cautioning “we are still dealing with the scarcity of vaccine. This week the drastic shortfall of vaccines in the state led to the closure of the mass vaccination centers in Los Angeles.”

The expanded list of those eligible includes people with cancer, chronic kidney disease, oxygen-dependent heart disease, Down Syndrome, immune-suppressed organ transplant recipients, pregnant women, people with sickle cell disease, severe obesity and certain type-2 diabetes.

Ghaly expressed concern about the inequity of distribution among communities of color and low-income areas. There are plans to reach out to community clinics, public health systems and what they’re calling “trusted messengers in communities that data shows are reluctant to get vaccinated.”

Senior state health officials acknowledged complaints from rural counties that they have not been given their fair share of vaccines. However, officials say these areas have historically been medically underserved and much of the early distribution was in areas with high numbers of medical workers.

Officials say the focus will now be shifting to rural areas in California’s agricultural community, which has been disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.

Officials also believe a focus on Californians with development disabilities and severe underlying conditions will allow more vaccinations in vulnerable settings, like jails, homeless shelters and areas where homeless reside.

The state estimates 13 million Californians are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine, including 3 million health care workers, 3.4 million food and agricultural workers, 1.4 million in the education sector, a million in emergency services and more than 6 million people over the age of 65.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine speaks during a news conference in Columbus, Ohio, on February 12.

Ohio officials have learned that a handful of schools indicated they will break the commitment they signed to reopen schools full-time or in a hybrid model by March 1, in return for receiving vaccines for their personnel, Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday.

DeWine warned that if schools do not intend to return by March 1, vaccines will need to be reallocated from their personnel and back to other eligible, vulnerable populations. 

The governor said the issue came to a head Friday while health workers were vaccinating personnel at Cleveland Public Schools, but heard they were not going to return by March 1.

“I expressed to the CEO, I said look, we’ll just have to cut off the vaccinations, because that’s the deal,” DeWine said.

The governor said the Cleveland Public Schools CEO had made a commitment to do everything in his power to get children back in class by March 1.

DeWine emphasized there is no requirement that any school in the state go back to in-person learning.

Children arrive for class on December 7, 2020, in New York City.

About 99% of children in the US live in a county considered a “red” zone with high levels of Covid-19 transmission under new guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a CNN analysis of federal data.

Nearly 73 million children – about 99% of the US population under the age of 18 – live in a “high transmission” community, defined by the CDC as a county where there were at least 100 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people or a test positivity rate of at least 10% during the past seven days.

In these zones, the new CDC guidelines recommend virtual learning for middle and high schools and hybrid learning or reduced attendance for elementary schools.

The CDC also stresses five key mitigation strategies: requiring masks, physical distancing, hand-washing, maintaining clean facilities and contract tracing.

It also recommends different strategies based on how much transmission there is in the surrounding community, and has a color-coded guide with areas of high transmission colored red; substantial transmission colored orange; moderate transmission coded yellow and low transmission as blue.

The CDC says school districts should reassess weekly.

If schools in “high transmission” communities cannot “strictly implement all mitigation strategies,” the CDC says all extracurricular activities should be virtual.

Fewer than 100,000 children in the US live in a county considered “low” or “moderate transmission” where the CDC recommends K-12 schools open for full in-person instruction. Most of those students live in Hawaii or Washington.

The CNN analysis used the latest federal data on new case rates and test positivity rates, published Thursday by the US Health and Human Services Department, to determine each county’s risk threshold according to CDC guidelines.