The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and the Omicron variant

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published its latest report on vaccination efforts in the United States on Tuesday.

Here’s a look at some key figures:

Based upon a review of the last seven days, on average more than one million vaccine doses are being administered each day, with the large bulk of those doses — nearly 50% — coming in the form of the booster. By contrast, only about 270,000 people are beginning a vaccine regimen each day.

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. 

Here’s a look at the pace of vaccine doses administered over time, according to CDC data:

Cold temperatures and icy roads expected for Wednesday will force multiple state-managed and partner community Covid-19 testing sites to be closed across Colorado or have a delayed start, according to the Colorado State Emergency Operations Center (CSEOC). 

At least two testing sites — one in Denver and another in La Veta — are set to be closed, and more than 20 sites across the state will have a delayed start, the CSEOC statement read. 

Patients with Wednesday appointments are being provided information about rescheduling, CSEOC noted. 

Additional community testing sites may have to close depending on how weather conditions evolve throughout the day, according to CSEOC, which added that it will update its website with information as it comes in. 

Downing Street is prepped for the Sue Gray report to be in the public domain on Wednesday, a source who is a cabinet minister told CNN. 

Senior civil servant Sue Gray is conducting an inquiry – at the prime minister’s request – into reports of various parties at Johnson’s Downing Street office and garden in violation of Covid-19 restrictions in 2020.

If the report is officially published – rather than leaked ahead of publication – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give a statement following Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

A full report will then be published at a later date when the opposition party has control of the business, likely Feb. 1, according to the cabinet minister who spoke to CNN. 

Statewide Covid-19 cases are trending downward across the state with hospitalizations down 18% in New York compared to the previous week, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Tuesday. 

Last week there were about 12,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations across the state, according to the state’s Covid-19 dashboard, but as of Monday, hospitalizations across state are down to nearly 9,800. 

The governor pointed toward the progress in bringing down the number of hospitals statewide that had to temporarily suspend elective surgeries in order to handle the overwhelming number of Covid-19 hospitalizations.

“At one time we had 47 hospitals that had to stop elective surgeries to give them more capacity and today we’re down to 32,” she said.

While statewide positive Covid-19 cases fell to 12,484 Monday, the governor said it was still high, but much lower than when the state recorded an all-time peak of Covid-19 cases in the state on Jan. 7 when there were over 90,000 cases. 

“Testing has been a critical tool to keep schools open,” Hochul tweeted. “That’s why we will have already distributed more than 14 million tests to schools by the end of this week. To continue those efforts, we’re planning to send tests home with every K-12 student ahead of the Midwinter break.”

The winter surge isn’t over, Hochul said, but cases are headed in the right direction and the state is in a much better position to deal with Covid-19 cases.

People walk through Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on January 21 in New York City.

An appellate court judge has granted New York State’s motion to stay, putting the state’s mask mandate back temporarily as the case makes its way through the appeals process, according to a copy of the judge’s decision.

The New York attorney general also tweeted the news.

“Protecting the health of New Yorkers during the #COVID19 pandemic is our top priority,” she continued.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul applauded the court for “siding with common sense and granting an interim stay,” and commended Attorney General Letitia James for defending the health of New Yorkers by challenging the mask mandate.

“These measures are critical tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19, make schools and businesses safe, and save lives,” Hochul said.

“We will not stop fighting to protect New Yorkers, and we are confident we will continue to prevail.”

Some context: Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker ruled Monday that the state did not have the authority to enact a mask mandate without the sign off from lawmakers.  

The Omicron variant caused 99.9% of new coronavirus cases in the US last week – slightly higher than the previous week, according to estimates posted Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Delta variant makes up the remaining 0.1%.

Over the past month and a half, Omicron has risen rapidly in estimates, accounting for:

Not every Covid-19 test is sent for the extra genetic sequencing needed to detect which variant has infected someone. The CDC works off samples and extrapolates its estimates based on that extra testing.

New Covid-19 cases among children in the US topped 1 million last week for the first time since the American Academy of Pediatrics began tracking cases, the group said today. 

For the week ending Jan. 20, there were at least 1.15 million new cases, a rate that is nearly five times greater than the peak of last winter’s surge, the group reported.

According to the group, children (who constitute 22% of the US population) now account for 25.5% of total reported weekly cases. Since the start of September, nearly 5.6 million new cases have been reported among children.

The group said it also marks the 24th consecutive week that more than 100,000 children have tested positive for the virus.

Despite the sobering news, children are still statistically less likely than adults to be hospitalized with Covid-19, and data from states that report hospitalizations by age showed that rates of hospitalization were roughly the same last week as the week prior.

The group also reports that deaths continue to account for a small percentage of total cases among children, with 0.26% of cases resulting in death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that at least 1,140 children have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.

However, the number of infections continues to rise due to the high rate of transmission of the Omicron variant and because children remain the least vaccinated of any age group, despite the fact that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is now eligible to those age 5 and older.

The White House on Tuesday reacted to criticism from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after federal officials moved to curb the use of some versions of Covid-19 treatments found to be less effective against the now-dominant omicron variant. 

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration said it was revising its authorizations for monoclonal antibody treatments made by Eli Lilly (bamlanivimab and etesevimab, administered together) and Regeneron (REGEN-COV, or casirivimab and imdevimab), because data showed they are “highly unlikely to be active against the omicron variant.”

DeSantis, who has made the treatments the cornerstone of his state’s Covid-19 response, assailed President Biden’s administration for the decision. In response to the FDA’s ruling, Florida will close all sites administering the treatments.

“What the FDA is making clear is that these treatments, the ones that they are fighting over — that the governor’s fighting over — do not work against Omicron, and they have side effects,” Psaki said.

Some people who’ve received monoclonal antibody treatment reported rashes, diarrhea, nausea and dizziness after treatment, according to the National Institutes of Health. A small percentage of patients had severe allergic reactions.

Psaki noted that the federal government last week sent Florida 71,000 doses of treatments that are effective against the Omicron and Delta strains, including 34,000 that work on the Omicron variant.

On Tuesday, DeSantis vowed to “fight back” against a decision by federal regulators to limit the use of certain monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid-19 that have not been effective against the Omicron variant.  

DeSantis did not say what actions his administration is considering. 

The Biden administration is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccination and testing regulation aimed at large businesses, following the Supreme Court’s decision to block the rule earlier this month.

The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday it will be withdrawing the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard for businesses with 100 or more employees, according to a statement on the agency’s website. 

OSHA did not immediately return CNN’s request for additional comment.

It comes less than two weeks after the Supreme Court blocked the rule, dealing a major blow to President Biden’s attempts to use the power of the federal government to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. OSHA’s regulation required businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated or undergo regular testing and wear a face covering at work. 

“OSHA strongly encourages vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace,” the agency noted in its statement Tuesday.

The withdrawal will be effective Wednesday, according to OSHA’s statement, with official publication in the Federal Register.

Elton John performs during the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour in New Orleans on January 19.

Elton John’s concerts at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas have been postponed after the singer tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the arena. 

The venue announced the already long-delayed “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour would not run this Tuesday and Wednesday.

The singer had just returned to performing after a nearly two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The tour was also delayed last year as he underwent hip surgery.

He had announced tour dates in June 2021, saying at the time: “The shows that I announce today will be my final tour dates ever in North America and Europe. I’m going to go out in the biggest possible way, performing at my very best, with the most spectacular production I’ve ever had, playing in places that have meant so much to me throughout my career.”

It’s not yet clear if the tour, scheduled to stop in Little Rock, Ark., and Oklahoma City on Saturday and Sunday, will go forward or be postponed. 

The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion Tuesday to stay a state Supreme Court judge’s decision striking down a statewide mask mandate while the appeals process plays out, court documents showed.

In the motion, James argued that allowing the ruling to remain in place would cause “irreparable harms to public health” during the current surge of Covid-19 cases brought on by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. While the wave is receding, daily case numbers in New York remain stubbornly high.

If a stay is granted, the mandate would remain in effect during the appeals process. 

A hearing to discuss the motion is expected Tuesday afternoon in appellate court, according to New York state courts spokesperson Lucian Chalfen.

Meanwhile, in response to Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker’s ruling on Monday, at least 15 school districts have made it optional to wear masks, while nine other districts and the Archdiocese of New York have indicated they will keep the mandate in place, according to a CNN review.

In his opinion, Rademaker wrote because New York was no longer under a state of emergency when the mask mandate was announced, the governor and health commissioner did not have the additional authority to order such a mandate, adding the mandate is now unenforceable.

The Palm Beach County School District put in place a mask mandate for staff this month to help control the spread of Covid-19. The district is the largest employer in the county, north of Miami, with more than 22,000 staff members.  

On Thursday five teachers refused to follow the district policy regarding masks and were asked to leave and stay at home for non-compliance, Shea said. The district is now conducting a personal investigation that could lead to disciplinary action.

One of the teachers has returned to their classroom today, the district said. “The other four are welcome to return as soon as they follow the facial covering mandate. The great majority of teachers are in compliance,” with the mask policy, and this was the first non-compliance issue that Shea was aware of. 

The Palm Beach Post first reported this story.  

During a period when the Omicron coronavirus variant was dominant, severe outcomes for patients hospitalized with Covid-19 — including ICU admission, ventilator use and death — were less common than during Delta or the first winter surge, according to a study published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, while the daily average of new cases and hospital admissions reached record highs during the Omicron period, the ratio of daily cases to hospital admissions and cases to deaths was lower than during previous periods. The ratio of cases to hospitalizations and deaths compared the peak daily average of each metric within each period. 

Severity of disease appears to be lower during the Omicron period due to a combination of factors, according to the researchers: higher vaccination coverage — including boosters — immunity acquired from previous infection and potentially lower virulence of the Omicron variant. 

A look at the numbers: Among patients hospitalized with Covid-19, about 13% were admitted to the ICU during the Omicron period, compared with about 18% during Delta and the first winter surge. About 7% of patients died in the hospital during Omicron, compared with more than 12% during earlier peaks. 

Also, patients hospitalized with Covid-19 during the period of Omicron predominance had a lower average length of stay than during other periods of high transmission: about 5.5 days on average during the Omicron period, compared with 7.6 days during the Delta surge and about eight days during the first winter surge. 

For this study, researchers analyzed Covid-19 indicators for three periods of high transmission: the first winter surge from December 2020 through February 2021, a period of Delta predominance from mid-July through October 2021 and an early period of Omicron predominance from mid-December 2021 through mid-January 2022.

It also reinforces the value of vaccination to prevent severe illness and death, they said. 

These findings are reflective of broad trends and are not indicators of individual risk. Covid-19 hospitalization data includes incidental Covid-19 infections, which could affect in-hospital severity indicators. Also, the Delta variant was still circulating during the beginning of the Omicron period, which could also affect severity indicators. 

Researchers analyzed trends in Covid-19 cases and deaths reported to the CDC by state and territorial health departments, and in-hospital outcomes among more than 300,000 Covid-19 patients in 199 hospitals.

A medical staff waits stands by a Covid-19 test center at Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt on July 28.

On Tuesday, the European Union recommended lifting travel restrictions for citizens traveling within the bloc who have been fully vaccinated in the past nine months, have tested negative, or have recently recovered from Covid-19.

The European Council has proposed that member states remove testing and quarantine requirements for people who hold “EU digital Covid certificates” from February 1, 2022, according to an online statement.

According to the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 69.7% of the total EU/European Economic Area population has been fully vaccinated. More than 40% of the EU/EEA population has received an additional booster dose.

Those who do not hold a digital certificate may be required to undergo a test no later than 24 hours after their arrival.

Neil Young performs in 2015 in Los Angeles.

Neil Young, an outspoken advocate for Covid-19 safety and prevention, doesn’t want his music to share a home with vaccine misinformation.

In a now-deleted post on his website, Young asked his managers and record label to remove his music from Spotify because he said the music and podcast platform is “spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe this disinformation spread by them.” (Rolling Stone originally reported the text of the deleted post.)

“Rogan” refers to Joe Rogan, the exceedingly controversial podcast host who has made frequent false and inaccurate claims surrounding vaccines and Covid-19. Earlier this month, a group of more than 250 scientists, doctors and nurses penned an open letter to Spotify condemning the streamer for platforming Rogan and calling on Spotify to warn its listeners about misinformation.

CNN has reached out to Young’s manager, his publicist at Warner Records and Spotify for comment.

Frank Gironda, Young’s manager, did confirm to the Daily Beast that the two had discussed Young’s concerns and were “trying to figure this out right now.” He said, too, that Young was “very upset about this disinformation.”

New York state on Monday night filed an appeal of a decision by a judge who struck down a statewide mask mandate, ruling that officials did not have the authority to enact the order without the approval of the Legislature.

State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker argued that because New York was not under a state of emergency when the mandate was announced, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett did not have the authority to issue the order. Rademaker added that the mandate is now unenforceable.

Hochul “strongly” disagreed with Monday’s ruling.

Rademaker said his decision was based on whether the order “was properly enacted.”

“To be clear, this court does not intend this decision in any way to question or otherwise opine on the efficacy, need or requirement of masks as a means or tool in dealing with the Covid-19 virus,” Rademaker wrote in his decision.

Following a New York Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s mask mandate, New York State Education Department told schools they “must continue to follow the mask rule.” 

This has caused confusion for some schools, parents and teachers, who were left scrambling before the start of school day.

In an opinion released Monday, Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker argued that because New York was no longer under a state of emergency at the time the mask mandate was announced, the governor and health commissioner did not have the additional authority to order such a mandate, adding the mandate is now unenforceable.

At least 13 school districts have notified their communities that mask-wearing will be optional for now, according to a CNN review. 

At least one parent and teacher told CNN they were scrambling Tuesday morning as schools were issuing new guidance on their way out the door to start the school day.

The Eastchester Union Free School District, located in Westchester County, sent an email Monday evening stating they would keep the mandate in place as they expected an appeal to be filed. Then it reversed course Tuesday morning saying one hadn’t been filed yet and masks would indeed be optional. 

Another district, Mamaroneck, said while masks were optional, guidance could change during the course of the school day.

Despite Monday’s ruling, two districts, Lynbrook and Jericho, have chosen to enforce masks.  

CNN continues to reach out to schools to determine how they are reacting to the recent ruling striking down the state’s mask mandate.

The rollout of free N95 masks for the public began this week across the United States, with some pharmacies already handing out the masks and other expecting to do so in the coming days.

The program is part of the Biden administration’s effort to distribute 400 million free N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile via pharmacies and community health centers. The program is expected to be fully up and running by early February. The masks are arriving at their destinations with accompanying flyers and signage from the US Department of Health and Human Services, which paid for the masks.

Participating pharmacies include Hy-Vee, Meijer, CVS, Walgreens and Kroger. Community health centers are expected to distribute masks too, but on a smaller scale.

Here’s what you need to know about getting a free N95 mask through this program:

The United States already has started to distribute some of the first free N95 masks as part of the Biden administration's effort to make 400 million N95 masks available for Americans starting this week. The masks -- which are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile -- will be made available at a number of local pharmacies and community health centers nationwide as part of this program. Hy-Vee pharmacies confirmed to CNN on Monday that some of their locations have already started to distribute free masks.

Related article Here's how to get free N95 masks from pharmacies or community health centers

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street in London on January 25.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he welcomed the London Metropolitan Police’s decision to conduct an investigation into the alleged lockdown parties at Downing Street.

Johnson has been under immense pressure over alleged summer garden parties and Christmas gatherings held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under strict Covid restrictions.

The latest revelation came to light Monday when a Downing Street spokesperson said Johnson celebrated his birthday with a gathering at his official residence in June 2020 while the UK was in its first Covid-19 lockdown.

Under Covid-19 restrictions at the time, indoor gatherings were not allowed, with people permitted only to meet outside in groups of up to six people.

Israel’s Covid-19 advisory panel is officially recommending a fourth vaccine dose for people age 18 and older if more than five months have passed since their third dose.

According to the panel, a statistical analysis on data from around 400,000 people in Israel who already received the fourth shot shows it provided more than three times the level of protection against serious illness, while also doubling the protection against infection.

In early January, Israel began administering a fourth vaccine dose to people over the age of 60 and other people considered high risk. 

The panel recommendation comes a week after preliminary data from a small sample released by Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv led researchers to withhold their backing for a fourth dose to all adults. The data in that study was taken two weeks after 154 health care workers at the medical center were given a fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, along with 120 health care workers who were given a fourth dose of the Moderna vaccine. A third group of health care workers were not given any fourth dose.

Researchers said results showed that while a fourth vaccine dose substantially increased the number of antibodies, it was not necessarily enough to prevent infection caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant. “Slightly fewer infections” were observed among the vaccinated group, but researchers said they did not see “enough to support [any] decision to give it to all of the population.”

The latest recommendation by the government’s advisory panel is subject to approval by the director general of the Ministry of Health. It is not clear yet how and when the director general will decide. 

According to Johns Hopkins University data, more than 212,000 cases were reported in Israel in the past day.

There are 968 people hospitalized in serious condition, according to government data. 

Professor Eran Segal, the top Covid adviser to the Israeli government, said in a series of interviews to Israeli media on Monday that he believes Israel will start to see a decrease in infections this week, but that the chance of getting infected now is the highest it has been since the outbreak of the pandemic. 

However, he said Omicron could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

“There may be additional variants. But the more time passes, our toolbox also improves. We have medicines now; we have the vaccines. There will be natural immunity of perhaps over half the population in Israel and around the world. All those things we hope will help to end the coronavirus, at least as the pandemic we have come to know in the past two years,” Segal told Channel 12 news.