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Friends who attended anime convention with man who contracted omicron have tested positive for coronavirus, health official says

By Lenny Bernstein, Frances Stead Sellers and Fenit Nirappil
Today at 8:07 p.m. EST

The Minnesota man who contracted the omicron variant of the coronavirus met up with about 35 friends at a New York City anime convention and about half have tested positive for the coronavirus, a state health official said Friday.

Members of the group traveled to New York from a variety of states for the weekend convention that began Nov. 19 and tested positive after their return, said Kris Ehresmann, director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control Division at the Minnesota Department of Health. It is not known whether they are infected with omicron or another variant.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... d-omicron/

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:56 am Also to note that after getting the vaccine there is a build up period of about two weeks for the full effect.

Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame

Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump during the last presidential election have been nearly three times as likely to die from COVID-19 as those who live in areas that went for now-President Biden. That's according to a new analysis by NPR that examines how political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic.

NPR looked at deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which vaccinations widely became available. People living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rates of those that went for Biden. Counties with an even higher share of the vote for Trump saw higher COVID-19 mortality rates.

In October, the reddest tenth of the country saw death rates that were six times higher than the bluest tenth, according to Charles Gaba, an independent health care analyst who's been tracking partisanship trends during the pandemic and helped to review NPR's methodology. Those numbers have dropped slightly in recent weeks, Gaba says: "It's back down to around 5.5 times higher."

The trend was robust, even when controlling for age, which is the primary demographic risk of COVID-19 mortality. The data also reveal a major contributing factor to the death rate difference: The higher the vote share for Trump, the lower the vaccination rate.

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health says they've been working with nursing homes and extended care facilities across the state to identify where the National Guard medical teams will have the most impact.

A. Holly Patterson Extended Care is one of 11 facilities in the state that have been identified so far.

"Our people are trained as the equivalent of EMTs, except one difference— people are shooting at you. These are medics on the battlefield and in evacuation flight,” says Eric Durr, a spokesperson for the New York National Guard.

The exact date of when the team will be deployed to the Uniondale facility has not been released yet.

All Private Employers in NYC Will Have to Require COVID-19 Vaccination by Dec. 27

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE AND KAREN MATTHEWS / AP
DECEMBER 6, 2021 1:28 PM EST

NEW YORK — From multinational banks to corner grocery stores, all private employers in New York City will have to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the mayor announced Monday, imposing one of the most aggressive vaccine rules in the nation.

The move by Mayor Bill de Blasio comes as cases are climbing again in the U.S. and the worrisome but little-understood omicron variant is gaining a toehold in New York and elsewhere around the country.

“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,” he said.

De Blasio, a Democrat with just weeks left in office as leader of the nation’s largest city, said the mandate will take effect Dec. 27, with in-person workers needing to provide proof they have received at least one dose of the vaccine. And they will not be allowed to get out of the requirement by agreeing to regular COVID-19 testing instead.

The measure will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses, ranging from big corporations to mom-and-pop businesses in the city of 8.8 million people, according to a spokesperson for the mayor. The city’s private-sector workforce is 3.7 million.



https://time.com/6125996/nyc-private-bu ... e-mandate/

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 3:41 pm And the city will shut down all businesses who do not comply? And kick out all employees who do not comply? And who will check the millions of workers and thousands of businesses? And who will pay all the law suits?

(WXYZ) — Michigan is continuing to grapple with the fourth and most-trying wave of COVID-19.

The state is setting a record this week with more than 4,600 patients hospitalized. Michigan also has the highest new case rate based on population, double the national average.

Three Michigan hospitals are now getting federal help to deal with the influx of patients, but that number could grow.

"It's overwhelming to think that we have more cases than we've had in prior surges," Dr. Paul Bozyk, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Beaumont Royal Oak, said.

"Hospitals across the state right now are in crisis mode with respect to COVID-19," Bozyk added.

Wisconsin hospital leaders are sounding the alarm as the state endures another COVID-19 surge. The seven-day average of new infections is over 3,500 — the highest it's been in a year.

During a roundtable discussion hosted by Wisconsin Health News on Tuesday, hospital leaders said they have reached a crisis point.

"We are full. Period," said Eric Conley, CEO of Milwaukee’s Froedtert Hospital. "It's really impacting, impeding care for those patients who are not COVID that need the care getting in because getting to our beds is just very, very hard."

According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association COVID-19 dashboard, there were 1,630 people in the state hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Tuesday afternoon— an increase of 212 over the past week. More than 400 of those patients are in intensive care units, which are in short supply.

As of Tuesday, hospitals in the Fox Valley and North Central Wisconsin regions reported having only one or two intensive care unit beds available. Hospitals in the northwestern and western part of the state reported having zero ICU beds available. And in southeastern Wisconsin, the number of available beds was cut in half overnight — from 30 on Monday to 15 on Tuesday.

State health officials say the surge in cases following Thanksgiving have led to the highest number of Vermonters hospitalized for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

On Tuesday, the Vermont Department of Health reported 90 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, more than two dozen requiring intensive care. Gov. Phil Scott 90 percent of the 31 people currently in the ICU have not been vaccinated.

While state leaders predicted an increase after Thanksgiving, cases were higher than they anticipated. The state’s infection rate jumped by 51 percent in the past two weeks. The post-Thanksgiving surge is driven by the Delta variant, which continues to be the state’s primary strain, health officials said.

W. Kevin Vicklund wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:39 pm Grab the lube, Michiganders!