Category: News Daypop

Upon reopening after the holiday break on January 3rd, New York City public schools will expand in-school coronavirus testing, but relax quarantine rules for students in a bid to keep them in class as much as possible amid skyrocketing infection and hospitalization rates.  NYC Mayor de Blasio announced Tuesday that roughly 80,000 students will be tested every week across the public school system once classes resume. de Blasio said in a virtual briefing at City Hall that while only unvaccinated students were eligible for the randomized in-school surveillance tests at the start of the school year, vaccinated kids will now also be able to get them. In another policy shift, de Blasio said students who are exposed to an infected classmate will receive an at-home rapid test kit that their parents should administer as soon as they’re home. Students who are negative on the at-home test can return to school the very next day as long as they’re asymptomatic — a marked shift from the previous mandatory 10-day quarantine rule for kids exposed to an infected classmate.

de Blasio, who leaves office on Saturday, was joined for his briefing by incoming Mayor Eric Adams and New York Gov. Hochul. “We have a lot of evidence now that tells us this is going to be the approach that works in the future,” de Blasio said, citing data from the Health Department indicating 98% of kids who have a close interaction with an infected classmate do not contract the virus. Gov. Hochul added that her administration is setting aside 2 million at-home testing kits for city schools that can be distributed to students as needed in the event of a positive case.

Adams, who’s set to be sworn in as de Blasio’s successor on Saturday, noted that data indicates children are at a comparatively low risk of catching COVID-19 in school. “Your children are safer in school, the numbers speak for themselves,” said Adams.  However, he also suggested at a later press conference he may adjust the outgoing mayor’s school plan once he takes over. “We’re going to roll out our plan. It’s going to be a very clear plan,” Adams said at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

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Authorities said that five people were killed (including a police officer) and three injured in a series of shootings that began in the Denver area and ended later in the suburb of Lakewood. Police said the shootings began when the gunman killed two women and injured a man just before 6 p.m. Monday in Denver. The gunman fatally shot another man a few blocks away, with police then killing the suspect.

Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said at a news conference: “There are four significant locations where gunfire took place in the City and County of Denver.” Denver Police officers identified a vehicle associated with the incident and a pursuit ensued. There was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and officers, Pazen continued. No officers were injured as a result.

A motive for the shootings is unknown, and an investigation is ongoing. The deceased victims names were not released.

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President Joe Biden signed a nearly $770 billion defense bill into law on Monday, which includes an overhaul on sex assault crimes prosecution.The National Defense Authorization Act for military appropriations in the 2022 fiscal year includes $740 billion for the Department of Defense, which is $25 billion more than Biden’s budget request. It also includes $27.8 billion for  Department of Energy defense-related activities and another $378 million for other defense-related activities.

The bill includes funding to change how the military prosecutes sexual assault cases, along with other items, such as military construction, basic pay increase for troops, national security programs and intelligence programs, a brief White House statement shows.

The bill also specifically includes a 2.7% pay raise for troops, an independent commission to review the two-decade war in Afghanistan. Biden said in a White House statement: “The Act provides vital benefits and enhances access to justice for military personnel and their families,” Biden also said in the statement that “unfortunately,” certain sections of the legislation continue to bar the use of funds to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States or custody of certain foreign countries unless certain conditions are met. He added that these restrictions “constrain the flexibility of the executive branch with respect to its engagement in delicate negotiations with foreign countries over the potential transfer of detainees,” and urged Congress to eliminate the restrictions.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) announced on Monday that Americans who test positive for COVID-19 but do not have symptoms can stop isolating after five days as long as they continue wearing masks, cutting in half the agency’s previous isolation period down from 10 days.  The CDC also said it was loosening its guidance for quarantining after a COVID-19 exposure for unvaccinated Americans or those eligible for a booster who have not yet received their additional shot. It now recommends a five-day quarantine followed by five days of strict mask-wearing, but says that if quarantine “is not feasible,” it can be skipped as long as they wear a mask in the 10 days after exposure.

The CDC says people who are fully vaccinated and boosted do not need to quarantine after exposure. The agency had previously said all vaccinated Americans, regardless of whether they had received a booster shot, did not need to quarantine after a close contact as long as they did not have symptoms.

The change mirrors a similar move by the CDC announced last week to shorten its isolation guidance for health care workers. Many communities are now seeing record numbers of cases and rising hospitalizations fueled by the variant. Nationwide, the daily average of cases tallied by the CDC has accelerated to a pace not seen since the deadly surge of cases last winter.

Several industries have blamed the recent surge in Omicron cases for crippling much of their workforce. Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed over the holiday weekend, as pilots, flight attendants and other airline workers were forced to isolate after breakthrough cases.In deciding to shorten the recommended isolation period, the CDC said data shows the majority of transmission “occurs early in the course of illness,” within two days before symptoms begin and three days after. The CDC also cited recent data from South Africa and the United Kingdom, where Omicron has spread widely, showing a booster shot could restore vaccine effectiveness against infection.

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According to a report published Sunday by the credit card company Mastercard, retail sales during the holiday season jumped 8.5% compared with 2020  E-commerce sales were up 11% in 2021 for the holiday season running from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 compared to the previous year, and online sales were up a massive 61% from 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to a historic increase in shopping online.  Online shopping made up 20.9% of all retail sales in 2021, up from just 14.6% in 2019 while the e-commerce boom rages, according to the report.

Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard, said in a statement that the growth in holiday sales happened early because of “conversations surrounding supply chain and labor supply issues.  Consumers splurged throughout the season, with apparel and department stores experiencing strong growth as shoppers sought to put their best-dressed foot forward.”

The Mastercard report noted that jewelry sales increased 32% percent in 2021 from 2020, and are up 26.2% compared to 2019. Apparel sales are up 47.3% in 2021 compared to 2020, and up 29% compared to 2019.

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On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant are likely to climb “much higher” as the variant wreaked havoc on holiday traveling, with 2,271 flights cancelled as of Sunday.  Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC New’s This Week that  “every day it (Omicron cases) goes up. The last weekly average was about 150,000, and it will likely go much higher.”  As of Sunday, 71,044 people nationwide had been hospitalized with COVID-19. New York on Sunday reported 36,454 new COVID-19 cases, down from a record 44,431 on Friday.

Delta canceled 212 flights, JetBlue 195, American Airlines 158 and United 115 as the major airlines cited staff shortages due to COVID-19 outbreaks. A JetBlue spokesman told CNBC that the airline came into the holiday with is highest staffing levels since the beginning of the pandemic but was still forced to cancel flights amid the Omicron surge.

Fauci on Sunday urged Americans not to “get complacent” despite studies showing Omicron appears to be less severe in terms of causing hospitalizations, noting that a high volume of new infections “might override a real diminution in severity. If you have many, many, many more people with a less level of severity, that might kind of neutralize the positive effect of having less severity when you have so many more people. And we’re particularly worried about those who are in that unvaccinated class … those are the most vulnerable ones when you have a virus that is extraordinarily effective in getting to people.”

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A cruise ship out of South Florida will skip two ports after 55 people onboard tested positive for COVID-19. Royal Caribbean International confirmed Thursday that its ‘Odyssey of the Seas’ ship will not stop in Curaçao or Aruba as planned. The ship left Port Everglades on Saturday for an 8-night Caribbean sailing. It plans to remain out at sea until returning to Fort Lauderdale as scheduled on Sunday.  Last Saturday, another Royal Caribbean ship – ‘Symphony of the Seas’ – arrived back in Miami after 48 people tested positive for COVID-19.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “The decision was made together with the islands out of an abundance of caution due to the current trend of COVID-19 cases in the destinations’ communities as well as crew and guests testing positive on board — 55 crew members and guests, representing 1.1% of the onboard community. The cruise sailed with 95% of the onboard community fully vaccinated.”

Royal Caribbean says all 55 people who tested positive are fully vaccinated and mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic. The cruise line declined to say how many of those people are passengers and how many are crew.  Their statement read: “We continue to monitor their health. Close contacts were also identified and placed in quarantine to be monitored for 24 hours prior to testing.”

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On Thursday, jurors convicted suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a black motorist she shot during a traffic stop after she said she confused her gun for her taser.

The mostly white jury deliberated for about four days before finding former officer Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. The 49-year-old Potter faces about seven years in prison on the most serious count under the state’s sentencing guidelines, however, prosecutors said they would be seeking a longer term.

Potter shot and killed the 20-year-old Wright during an April 11 traffic stop in Brooklyn Center as she and other officers were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession charge. The shooting happened at a time of high tension in the area, with former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin standing trial just miles away for the killing of George Floyd.

Jurors were shown video of the shooting that was captured by police body cameras and dashcams. In sometimes tearful testimony, Potter told jurors that she was “sorry it happened.” She said that she shouted her warning about the Taser after she saw a look of fear on the face of Sgt. Mychal Johnson, who was leaning into the passenger-side door of Wright’s car. She also told jurors that she doesn’t remember what she said or everything that happened after the shooting, as much of her memory of those moments “is missing.” Potter’s lawyers argued that she made a mistake by drawing her gun instead of her taser.

Under Minnesota law, defendants are sentenced only on the most serious conviction if multiple counts involve the same act and the same victim.  The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years. A sentencing date was set for Friday, February 18 at 10 a.m. ET.

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The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it has authorized Pfizer’s antiviral pills to treat COVID-19 for emergency use, allowing limited use of the drug in Americans as young as 12 who are at “high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.”

Early data suggests Pfizer’s pills, called Paxlovid, are effective against Omicron cases. The FDA said in a statement: “This authorization provides a new tool to combat COVID-19 at a crucial time in the pandemic as new variants emerge and promises to make antiviral treatment more accessible to patients who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.”

The new treatment option comes as doctors are facing a nationwide shortage of monoclonal antibodies to treat high-risk cases of the disease, with most formulas ineffective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant. Paxlovid treatment needs to begin within a few days of first developing symptoms. A course of treatment is made up of three tablets that are taken twice a day, in the morning and evening, over the course of five days, for a total of 30 pills. Two of the tablets are nirmatrelvir, an antiviral Pfizer designed to target SARS-CoV-2, and one is ritonavir, a drug that has also been used to treat HIV.

Like with some other COVID-19 treatments that have been authorized by the FDA, the regulator will limit Pfizer’s drug to only people at “higher risk of being hospitalized for COVID-19.” That includes seniors and people with underlying conditions like heart disease or diabetes.  The FDA said Wednesday that “Paxlovid is available by prescription only and should be initiated as soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within five days of symptom onset.”

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The White House announced Wednesday that President Biden extended a pause on student loan repayments an additional 90 days through May 1, 2022. Those with student loans had been scheduled to begin repayments on February 1.

Mr. Biden said in his statement announcing the extension that although unemployment is relatively low, many are still struggling with the economic fallout from the pandemic: “Now, while our jobs recovery is one of the strongest ever — with nearly 6 million jobs added this year, the fewest Americans filing for unemployment in more than 50 years, and overall unemployment at 4.2 percent — we know that millions of student loan borrowers are still coping with the impacts of the pandemic and need some more time before resuming payments.”

The pause began under former President Donald Trump, and continued under Mr. Biden. Some progressives have been urging the president to cancel student loans entirely, not just pause them. Student loan interest is set to kick back in when payments resume, but some Senate Democrats are asking President Biden to waive it. It is not yet clear whether this will be the final extension on student loan repayments.

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