Vaccination pace not sustainable, vaccine creator warns: COVID updates

The U.S. and other developed countries are pondering a second booster for their populations, but a co-creator of the AstraZeneca vaccine warns that "we can't vaccinate the planet every four to six months."

"It's not sustainable or affordable," Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told the Daily Telegraph. Pollard said the vaccination effort must target the vulnerable.

Pollard estimates that 9 billion COVID doses, including AstraZeneca, have been given worldwide since the first non-trial doses were jabbed in late 2020. He said the effort to keep everyone protected from infection must be abandoned.

"At some point, society has to open up. When we do open, there will be a period with a bump in infections, which is why winter is probably not the best time," he told the Telegraph. "But that's a decision for the policymakers, not the scientists."

Pollard, in an interview with Sky News, said it is too early to say whether future coronavirus variants will be milder than those that emerged earlier in the pandemic.

"I don't think we can be sure at this moment that future versions of coronavirus, the sons and daughters of omicron, will be causing mild disease," he added.

Also in the news:

► The U.S. averaged 491,000 new infections daily over the last seven-day period, almost double the previous seven days, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House briefing Wednesday. Hospitalizations were up 63%, she said.

► The Mayo Clinic confirmed it fired 700 employees Tuesday who did not comply with its policy to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday. The dismissed employees make up less than 1% of the Minnesota-based clinic’s workforce.

► Starbucks says its U.S. workers must be fully vaccinated by Feb. 9 or face a weekly COVID testing requirement. The Seattle-based coffee giant said it was acting in response to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which issued a vaccine-or-test requirement for companies with more than 100 employees in November.

► A New York teacher was arrested after she injected a teenager with a COVID-19 vaccine, without the parents' consent, the Nassau County Police Department announced on Monday. Laura Parker Russo, 54, was charged with unauthorized practice of a profession, according to a news release.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 57 million confirmed COVID-19 cases – or one for every six people in the country – and more than 830,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 295.5 million cases and 5.4 million deaths. More than 205.8 million Americans – 62% – are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

What we're reading: US coronavirus cases surge past previous records: How omicron is shaping the pandemic.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY's free Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Supreme Court hears challenge to federal mandates amid historic surge

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in challenges to two federal vaccine requirements Friday at a time when the omicron variant is causing infections to soar. While the justices have repeatedly turned away challenges to state and local COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the Biden administration is all but guaranteed to face a tougher reception. Federal courts have long recognized the power state and local governments have to regulate public health. But the federal government is a different story.

Brandon Trosclair, a second-generation grocer and former Republican candidate for legislative office in Louisiana, filed suit challenging the federal requirement that his workers get vaccinated.

" I just thought it was incredibly wrong to put that burden on the employer as well as ... on the employee." Read more here.

– John Fritze

Flu + coronavirus = Flurona: Should we be worried?

Texas Children’s Hospital announced this week that tests confirmed a child was infected with influenza A and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The patient was not hospitalized and is recovering at home, the hospital said. Health experts expect to see more “flurona” amid rapidly rising flu and coronavirus cases

“I expect to see plenty of co-infections going forward, but I don’t see anything that suggests it makes COVID infections worse,” said Dr. Frank Esper, a physician at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases. “Those are two viral pathogens that we actually have medicines for.”

– Adrianna Rodriguez

Entertainment industry struggles amid latest surge

As COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant continue to surge, entertainment specials and events are once again getting canceled or postponed. The Critics Choice Awards set for next Sunday postponed were postponed. So was the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony, originally scheduled for next Monday. "Late Night with Seth Meyers" was canceled all week after the star tested positive. Broadway is also struggling. "Mrs. Doubtfire" producer Kevin McCollum announced the musical would take a hiatus from Jan. 10 to March 14. Read more here.

“Mrs. Doubtfire has been in development for six years. We are doing everything in our power to keep the virus from prematurely ending our run on Broadway," McCollum said. "By taking this break we can afford to launch an extended run starting in March."

Those cool, designer cloth masks don't cut it with omicron, experts say

As common as cloth face masks have become, health experts say they do little to prevent tiny virus particles from getting into your nose or mouth and aren't effective against the omicron COVID variant. Omicron spreads more quickly and efficiently than other known COVID-19 variants, making it extremely transmissible – even through thick fabric face masks. The experts are urging the public to opt for three-ply surgical masks, KN95 or N95 masks which offer more protection against the highly contagious variant. Several countries, such as Germany and Austria, have surgical masks requirements in public.

"Cloth masks are not going to cut it with omicron," says Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech told NPR.

– Gabriela Miranda

Spring semester revving up online at many schools

A new year and the new strain of the coronavirus are resurrecting familiar problems for the nation’s millions of college students. Some universities have already decided to offer the first weeks of the spring semester virtually. And those offering an in-person start say digital instruction is still a possibility. What’s more, some that had rolled back COVID-19 precautions have reinstated those measures, such as the University of Alabama, which reintroduced its masking requirements.

Davidson College professor Chris Marsicano, who leads the College Crisis Initiative to study how colleges respond to the pandemic, says about 10% of the 400 major universities the group has reviewed so far plan to start online for the spring semester.

"This is not like last fall, where going online for a little bit could mean going online forever," he said. "All indications are that any delay or remote start will be followed up shortly thereafter by a return to normal operations."

– Chris Quintana

Hospitalization data provides some hope

Hospital admissions averaged 14,800 per day last week, up 63% from the week before – but short of the peak of 16,500 per day a year ago when the vast majority of the U.S. was unvaccinated. Public health experts suspect that lower hospitalization numbers reflect the vaccine’s continued effectiveness at preventing serious illness, even against omicron, as well as the possibility that the variant does not make most people as sick as earlier versions.

Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP, a global health center at Columbia University, said the case count does not appear to be the most important number now. Instead, she said, the U.S. should be “shifting our focus, especially in an era of vaccination, to really focus on preventing illness, disability and death, and therefore counting those.”

Chicago teachers vote for remote learning; no classes for 330K students

Teachers in the nation’s third-largest school district voted to switch to remote learning, prompting Chicago Public Schools to cancel Wednesday classes for its 330,000 students. The Chicago Teachers Union voted to pause in-person learning and work remotely until Jan. 18, or until COVID-19 cases fall below a particular threshold. The union, which has roughly 25,000 members, is also demanding the district require negative tests from students and staff before returning to school.

“This decision was made with a heavy heart and a singular focus on student and community safety,” the union said in a statement late Tuesday. Over the course of four hours late Tuesday, 73% of the union’s members voted in favor of shifting to remote learning.

In a news conference Tuesday night, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the vote constituted an “illegal work action.” She said a shift back to virtual learning would disproportionately affect children of color. Teachers who do not show up will not be paid, Lightfoot said.

– Grace Hauck, USA TODAY

Tested positive for COVID-19? Do you need to isolate or quarantine?

Testing positive for COVID-19 starts a confusing, disruptive and at times frightening process – one that millions of Americans will likely go through in the coming weeks.

There is a difference between isolation and quarantine. Quarantine means keeping someone who was in close contact with someone who has COVID away from others. Isolation means keeping someone who is sick or tested positive for COVID-19 without symptoms away from others, even in their own home, according to the CDC.

If you are fully vaccinated you do not need to quarantine unless you have symptoms. But the CDC says isolating is a necessary step if you test positive whether you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated, and whether you have symptoms or feel fine.

The CDC in late December shortened the time it recommends people isolate, saying: "People with COVID-19 should isolate for 5 days and if they are asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others."

Read the CDC's updated guidance on isolating and quarantining.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Vaccination pace not sustainable, vaccine creator warns: COVID updates

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