New York City public schools will welcome back students for in-person learning Monday, re-opening schools fully for the first time in more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Schools don't plan on offering remote options in hopes of getting students back in classrooms, despite the delta variant's spread across the country and increases in the number of children infected and hospitalized.
New York City will require students and faculty to wear masks. The city mandated employees to get at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27.
The return to normal for students in New York City comes as areas around the country wrestled with new case surges and mandates that both were impacting health care. A hospital in rural New York said it was pausing its maternity services as employees quit instead of getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Six employees at the Lewis County Health System have resigned, and seven more are unwilling to get vaccinated, meaning Lewis County General Hospital will stop delivering babies for the time being, according to reports.
"We are unable to safely staff the service after Sept. 24," said Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer at a news conference.
The move appears to be temporary. During the pause in maternity services, Cayer said the health system will focus on recruiting nurses to get baby deliveries back up and running.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo passed a mandate Aug. 16 to ensure that all healthcare workers in New York must be vaccinated. More specifically, hospitals and long term care facility employees need to get their first dose of the vaccine by Sep. 27.
Also in the news:
►Alaska state Sen. Lora Reinbold has asked to be excused from legislative sessions until next year, saying she has no way to fly to Juneau after she was barred from Alaska Airlines for violating mask policies, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
►Hospitals in Iowa are among the latest to limit elective procedures to deal with COVID-19. UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital and Mercy Medical Center told The Cedar Rapids Gazette they are preserving capacity.
►Florida accounted for 1 of every 26 deaths reported in the world in the week ending Friday, Johns Hopkins University data shows. Florida had 2,448 deaths, 21.4% of the 11,413 U.S. deaths and 3.9% of the 62,559 global deaths.
📈Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded nearly 41 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 660,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 224 million cases and 4.6 million deaths. More than 178 million Americans — 53.8% of the population — have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘What we're reading: President Joe Biden initiated a nationwide vaccine mandate last week, ordering employers with 100 or more workers to be inoculated or enforce weekly COVID-19 testing. But what are the consequences for someone who doesn't comply? Is a failure to meet the mandate the same as breaking the law? Read more here.
Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY's Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.
Biden's testing plan calls for discounted COVID tests
Consumers could soon get discounted coronavirus tests at Amazon, Kroger and Walmart as part of President Joe Biden's plan to significantly increase testing.
The Biden administration said those three major retailers over the next three months will sell rapid, over-the-counter tests "at cost," a discount of up to 35% from retail prices.
Biden's strategy calls for spending nearly $2 billion to procure 280 million rapid tests for long-term care facilities, community testing sites, homeless shelters, prisons and other vulnerable populations. Another 25 million free at-home rapid tests would be sent to community health centers and food banks.
Companies say federal support to expand testing options is needed as the delta variant drives demand higher and manufacturers scramble to keep pace.
"There is a big shortage in the market right now across the board," said Ron Gutman, co-CEO of Intrivo, a testing manufacturer. "We have a lot more demand than we’ve ever seen before."
— Ken Alltucker
What might increase vaccine willingness? Study may yield answers.
As the United States battles COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amid a surge in cases fueled by the delta variant, a new study co-authored by a New Mexico State University researcher examines how COVID-19 infections in social circles may influence vaccine willingness.
In the study, Jagdish Khubchandani, public health sciences professor at NMSU, and a team of researchers conducted a national assessment of COVID-19 vaccine willingness among American adults based on COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths within their friend and family groups.
“In this study, and in our prior studies, we have extensively studied COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and some factors repeatedly emerge as predictors of vaccine hesitancy,” said Khubchandani, who has conducted multiple studies on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy since late 2020. “Education, race and political ideology are the major factors, and we need more efforts to reach sections of our society that remain hesitant about the vaccines.”
Researchers found the rates of vaccine hesitancy differed significantly based on whether participants in the study had a close friend or family member who was affected with COVID-19. Read more here.
— Carlos Andres López, Las Cruces News
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