Will Shortened Isolation Periods Spread The Virus
The decision by federal health officials to shorten isolation periods for Americans infected with the coronavirus drew both tempered support and intense opposition from scientists on Tuesday.
One of the main points of contention was the absence of a testing requirement and fears that the omission could hasten the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The new guidance, coming amid a crush of new infections that has starved many hospitals of workers, seemed to some scientists like a necessary step to shore up work forces in essential industries. And encouraging people to leave isolation early after testing negative could spare them the hardships of prolonged periods at home.
But letting hundreds of thousands of infected people forgo those tests even if, crucially, their symptoms were not entirely gone risks seeding new cases and heaping even more pressure on already overburdened health systems, experts said in interviews on Tuesday.
To me, this feels honestly more about economics than about the science, said Yonatan Grad, an associate professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who has tracked coronavirus infections in the National Basketball Association.
Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview on Tuesday that the new guidance had been necessitated by the volume of people about to be infected.
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Do The Vaccines Protect Against Variants
Pfizer, Moderna and J& J COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to offer strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death from the Delta variant. Unvaccinated people are most at risk from getting severely ill or dying from the extremely contagious variant. Read from Yale University. Studies are underway, but vaccines should offer protection against other variants such as . We recommend getting your booster as soon as you are eligible.
Phase : Expanded Trials
Hundreds of human subject volunteers
Once the vaccine is approved for phase 2, developers expand the research to include more people. They continue to ask questions regarding safety and the effectiveness of the immune response. They watch for major side effects and analyze antibody levels to determine if the immune response is powerful enough to crease immunity. By increasing the number of human subjects, researchers can observe how different populations react to the vaccine, such as men vs. women and differences between race, ethnicities, and age groups.
The DSMB continues to monitor the trials and has the power to stop the study at any time if they are worried about safety or how well the vaccine is working.
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The Nfl Revises Its Coronavirus Protocols After More Than 90 Players Test Positive
The N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association on Tuesday night amended this seasons Covid-19 protocols to mirror new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, halving the amount of time players who test positive for the coronavirus need to isolate regardless of their vaccination status.
In a memo sent to all 32 of the leagues teams, Commissioner Roger Goodell said players infected with the coronavirus whether vaccinated or unvaccinated now need to quarantine for only five days, not 10, if their symptoms improve, after the C.D.C. revised its recommendation on Monday. Factors listed in the memo include whether the players fever subsided after 24 hours without medication, if their cough improved, and if team and league medical officials determine the player can return to the facility.
The new protocols have drastic implications for the N.F.L., which has struggled to contain a surge of coronavirus cases as the playoffs approach. More than 94 percent of the N.F.L.s players are vaccinated.
Vaccinated players could clear protocols if they had two negative tests 24 hours apart, but positive tests for unvaccinated players normally led to their missing at least one game under previous rules, and the revised guidelines allow for them to potentially return to the field more quickly.
Rallies on Mondays have had special resonance in Germany since weekly demonstration walks on that day helped bring down the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Delta Air Lines Blames New Cleaning Rules In Shanghai For The Midair Turnaround Of A Flight From Seattle

A Delta Air Lines flight that was en route from Seattle to Shanghai turned back in midair last week because the Chinese airport had imposed new cleaning rules that would have caused delays, the airline said in a statement on Tuesday.
The new cleaning procedures require significantly extended ground time and are not operationally viable for Delta, the airline said.
Details of the new cleaning regulations in place at Shanghai Pudong International Airport were not immediately clear, but China has rolled out increasingly strict Covid-19 travel rules amid a growing outbreak in the northern city of Xian and before the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.
The scrapped flight left passengers with out-of-date Covid-19 test results and expired U.S. visas, according to Chinese news reports. The Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, which did not name Delta, said in a statement that it had made a stern representation to the airline.
The new sanitation protocols also led EVA Air of Taiwan to suspend passenger services to Shanghai Pudong from the cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung until Feb. 3, Taiwans semiofficial Central News Agency reported. Another Taiwan-based carrier, China Airlines, is suspending flights from one city to Shanghai until the end of January and reducing flights on another route, according to news reports.
In total, 810 cases have been recorded in Xian.
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Cases Have Increased Recently And Are Very High
An average of 84 cases per day were reported in Lane County, a 61 percent increase from the average two weeks ago. Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 1 in 12 residents have been infected, a total of 31,901 reported cases.Right now, Lane County is at avery high risk for unvaccinated people.Read more about risk below.
Fully Vaccinated Oregon Residents Who Received Pfizer Vaccine Have Died Of Covid
- More than 15,000 Pfizer recipients in Oregon have tested positive for COVID-19
- Moderna and J& J recipients have also reported getting infected with COVID-19
- The majority of Oregon residents with COVID-19 are patients aged 65 and older
More than 140 fully vaccinated individuals in Oregon have died of COVID-19 despite receiving the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, according to state data.
At least 143 Oregon residents who have received two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have died of the virus as of Oct. 14. The state has also recorded 15,057 breakthrough infections and 562 breakthrough hospitalizations among Pfizer recipients since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the latest data.
Among those who received the two-dose Moderna vaccine, 72 have died of COVID-19. There have also been 7,938 breakthrough cases and 333 breakthrough hospitalizations.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 34 Johnson & Johnson recipients have died, while 203 have been admitted. Overall, 3,648 J& J recipients have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Across the state, health officials have recorded a total of 30,687 breakthrough COVID-19 infections as of Thursday. The median age of breakthrough infections occurred in fully vaccinated individuals aged 48.
Of the total number of cases, 3.8% occurred in residents of care facilities or senior living communities. At least 25.1% involved patients aged 65 and older and 2.5% in children between the ages of 12 to 17.
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This Is How Many People Are Refusing The Covid
According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 26,870,000 Americans — or 10.8% of the 18 and older population — say they will either probably or definitely not get the vaccination.
Many Americans who have yet to be vaccinated cite one of three reasons: either they are concerned about possible side effects, or they want to wait to see if it is safe, or it is difficult for them to obtain a vaccination. Others cite different reasons.
Nationwide, 17,000,000 people, 6.8% of the adult population, do not trust the COVID-19 vaccines, and another 9,970,000, or 4.0%, do not think COVID-19 is a big threat. Additionally, 15,250,000 American adults, or 6.1% of the 18 and older population, have not been vaccinated because they do not trust the government.
In Oregon, an estimated 364,400 adults, or 11.0%, say they will likely refuse the vaccine. Of all adults in the state, 7.5% will refuse because they do not trust the COVID-19 vaccine specifically, 4.5% because they do not think COVID-19 is a big threat, and 7.9% because they distrust the government.
Despite pockets of resistance, Oregon is doing a better job at vaccinating its population quickly than most states. So far, 63.6% of Oregons population are fully vaccinated, compared to 59.2% of all Americans.
All survey data used in this story was published by the Census on Oct. 20, 2021. All data related to COVID-19 infections, fatalities, and vaccinations is current as of Nov. 5, 2021.
Cases By County And Demographic Tables
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For hospital capacity data: Please see our daily COVID-19 update and Hospital Capacity dashboard.
For data on testing at the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory: Please see our daily COVID-19 update.
1This includes cases confirmed by diagnostic testing and presumptive cases. Presumptive cases are people without a positive diagnostic test who have COVID-19-like symptoms and had close contact with a laboratory confirmed case. Antibody test results are not included in our data. County of residence for cases may change as new information becomes available. If changes occur, we will update our counts accordingly.
2For additional details on individuals who have died from COVID-19 in Oregon, please refer to our press releases.
3This includes cases who test negative and are not epi-linked to a confirmed case.
4Ever hospitalized, if available, as reported to OPERA. OPERA is the state of Oregon’s electronic disease surveillance system for COVID-19. Cases are considered hospitalized if they were ever admitted to the hospital for inpatient care during the their COVID-19 illness. Cases who were examined in but not admitted to a hospital may be incorrectly classified as hospitalized until interview and medical record review are complete, leading to fluctuations in the number of hospitalized COVID-19 cases.
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The Us Record For Daily Cases Is Broken As An Omicron Tidal Wave Grows
The U.S. record for daily coronavirus cases has been broken, as two highly contagious variants Delta and Omicron have converged to disrupt holiday travel and gatherings, deplete hospital staffs and plunge the United States into another long winter.
As a third year of the pandemic loomed, the seven-day average of U.S. cases topped 267,000 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times database. The milestone was marked after a year that has whipsawed Americans from a relaxation of rules in the spring to a Delta-driven summer wave to another surge that accelerated with astonishing speed as Omicron emerged after Thanksgiving.
The record came only a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the number of days that infected Americans should remain isolated to five days from 10. The C.D.C. changed course as Omicrons rapid spread has worsened a labor shortage, upending the hospitality, medical and travel industries, among others. The agency did not recommend rapid testing before people left isolation, and experts warned that that omission risked seeding new cases and heaping even more pressure on already overburdened health systems.
Hospitalizations have been rising, averaging more than 71,000 a day, but remain far below peak levels. While deaths have also been increasing, the daily average of 1,243 is a fraction of the record 3,342 reported on Jan. 26.
Ron DePasquale
Fears Of Omicron As An Unstoppable Threat Are Tempered By Signs Of Milder Symptoms
The Omicron variant is blazing around the world with such speed that even the leader of Israel, one of the most highly vaccinated countries, warned on Tuesday that it cannot be stopped.
We cant prevent it, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, in blunt comments that reflected a growing consensus in nations where Omicron has caught fire: The virus is moving too fast to catch.
That daunting notion backed up by data from nations where Omicron is spreading rapidly only a month after it was first detected is tempered by early evidence that the variant causes milder symptoms, with vaccinations and boosters helping prevent serious illness and death.
Many experts worldwide have expressed concern that the sheer number of people who are likely to be infected could create a flood of patients, overwhelming already stressed health care systems. But that is running up against those who argue that it is time to accept that the virus is endemic, and that countries should move away from lockdowns and toward laxer rules including shorter quarantines.
John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford University and an adviser to the British government, said that Omicron was not the same disease we were seeing a year ago.
The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago of intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely, that is now history, in my view, and I think we should be reassured that thats likely to continue, he told the BBC on Tuesday.
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Omicron Might Help Defend Against Delta A Lab Study Suggests
People who have recovered from an infection with the new Omicron coronavirus variant may be able to fend off later infections from the Delta variant, according to a new laboratory study carried out by South African scientists.
If further experiments confirm these findings, they could suggest a less dire future for the pandemic. In the short term, Omicron is expected to create a surge of cases that will put a massive strain on economies and health care systems around the world. But in the longer term, the new research suggests that an Omicron-dominated world might experience fewer hospitalizations and deaths than one in which Delta continues to rage.
Omicron is likely to push Delta out, said Alex Sigal, a virologist at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, who led the new study. Maybe pushing Delta out is actually a good thing, and were looking at something we can live with more easily.
He posted the new study on the institutes website on Monday. It has not yet been published in a scientific journal.
Independent scientists said that the results of the South African experiment, though preliminary, were sound. Carl Pearson, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the findings were consistent with what is now happening in England.
Omicron arrives and grows rapidly, and the Delta trend switches to declining, he said.
Omicron Is Not More Severe For Children Despite Rising Hospitalizations

Even though the Omicron variant has produced a worrisome increase in hospitalizations among children in the United States, experts said that a combination of factors, including low vaccination rates, was the most likely explanation.
Doctors and researchers said they were not seeing evidence that Omicron was more threatening to children. Instead, much of the rise in pediatric admissions results from the sheer number of children who are becoming infected with both Delta and the more contagious Omicron variant, experts said, as well as low vaccination rates among children over 5.
I think the important story to tell here is that severity is way down and the risk for significant severe disease seems to be lower, said Dr. David Rubin, a researcher at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.
Preliminary data suggests that compared with the Delta variant, Omicron appears to be causing milder illness in children, similar to early findings for adults.
That data, however, has not alleviated anxiety among parents nationwide, as caseloads in children have risen in several states.
A number of states have reported increases of about 50 percent in pediatric admissions for Covid-19 in December. New York City has experienced the most significant rise, with 68 children hospitalized last week, a fourfold jump from two weeks earlier.
Roughly one in 10 American children has tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the academy.
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Who Can Get A Vaccine
Every Oregonian ages five and up is eligible for a vaccine. For Washington County-sponsored clinics and mobile vaccine events, anyone 14 or younger must be accompanied by a parent, a guardian or an adult designated by the parent or guardian. If the parent or guardian does not accompany the child, they must still complete and sign the COVID-19 vaccine consent form and fill out the pre-screening questionnaire. Teens 15 and older do not need to be accompanied by an adult and do not require parental consent in Oregon.
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Oregon Reports 611 Vaccinated People Infected With Covid
Despite so-called “breakthrough cases,” the current COVID-19 vaccines in use are highly protective. Joel Bissell | MLive.com
Public health officials announced Thursday that a total of 611 people in Oregon have tested positive for COVID-19 even though at least two weeks had passed since theyd finished their full courses of vaccinations.
Eight of those people died, with each age 70 or older.
Officials with the Oregon Health Authority said these cases represent a very small percentage — about .047% — of the 1.3 million Oregonians whove completed the one- or two-dose courses of the Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer or Moderna regimens.
But some of the 611 cases in Oregon could be an overcount because the definition of these so-called breakthrough cases is problematic, said Dr. Melissa Sutton, who oversees COVID-19 testing for the Oregon Health Authority.
Thats because a person isnt truly considered fully vaccinated until 14 days have passed after receiving one dose of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine or two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has defined a breakthrough case as someone who tests positive after at least 14 days have passed since that final shot.
That means a person could have been infected two to 14 days earlier than their positive test, when the vaccines hadnt had enough time to reach their peak effectiveness.
Of the total number of breakthrough cases in Oregon, about 50% showed no symptoms.
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