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After a year of challenges, the latest Covid data offer New York doses of optimism.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom of California plans to prioritize strategies like coronavirus vaccination and stockpiling supplies.
Credit…Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group, via Associated Press

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Sunday described the new pandemic plan he released last week as a “more sensible and sustainable” approach that would lead the state out of “crisis mode” now that Omicron cases had dropped significantly and many residents were eager to move on.

His comments on MSNBC followed an announcement from state officials last week about a “next-phase” plan, which would prioritize strategies like coronavirus vaccination and stockpiling supplies while easing away from emergency response measures like mask mandates.

“A year and a half, two years ago, we had a war metaphor and we were hoping there would be a day where there would be a ticker-tape parade à la World War II,” Governor Newsom said. “At the end of the day, though, I think we are realizing that we’re going to have to live with different variants and this disease for many, many years. And that’s what this plan does, it sets out a course to do it sustainably.”

The Omicron variant sparked an enormous surge in California. Though the state has seen a sharp decline in known infections since mid-January, new cases are still hovering at more than 13,000 per day. Overall through the pandemic, the coronavirus has infected at least 1 in 5 Californians and killed more than 84,000, according to a New York Times database.

California is among the many states to loosen masking requirements in recent weeks, with Hawaii as the last state holding onto a statewide mandate. Puerto Rico also has yet to announce upcoming changes.

But federal health officials have yet to release any new recommendations that reflect the lifting of restrictions — including mask mandates in schools — in nearly every state, and the U.S. path in the next phase remains complicated.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last week cited the need to “remain vigilant” so that infections continue their promising decline nationwide. She said the C.D.C. would soon be releasing new “relevant” guidelines that would suggest adjusting restrictions, including for mask-wearing, based on factors like hospital capacity, not just case counts.

Despite the rollbacks across the country, many people remain extremely vulnerable and feel left behind by the changes. More than seven million adults in the United States are considered to be immunocompromised, meaning they have diseases or are receiving treatments like chemotherapy that reduce their ability to fight coronavirus infections or respond well to vaccines. And tens of millions have other conditions that put them at greater risk for severe illness or death.

California’s new plan emphasizes surveillance and preparedness, focusing on continuing to promote vaccines while stockpiling medical supplies, ensuring surge staffing, combating disinformation and increasing wastewater and genomic tracking to spot new variants. Under the plan, mask requirements would be subject to change based on the severity and volume of new infections.

In his remarks on MSNBC, Mr. Newsom acknowledged the fatigue felt by people because of the “whipsaw component” of changing rules and policies depending on each surge or wave. “We’re exhausted. Everybody is exhausted. And at the same time we’re also a little bit anxious. What does the future hold?” he said.

California’s new policy was based on a two-month review of best practices across the world, Mr. Newsom said. But he stressed the need to be “humble” in the face of a virus that could continue to mutate in unexpected ways.

On CNN on Sunday, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado also emphasized the uncertainty of what could be around the corner, even though he had lifted mask mandates and other restrictions last summer. Asked why more governors were doing so now, he highlighted the protection now offered by booster shots, which dramatically decrease the risk of severe illness.

California and Colorado have reported a fully vaccinated rate of about 70 percent; roughly 92 percent of Colorado residents 65 and older are fully vaccinated, as compared to 89 percent in California.

“I think what’s important is we prepare for an uncertain future,” Governor Polis said. “And I think a lot of states are undertaking that. I hope the federal government is as well.”

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Credit…Jacob King/Pool via REUTERS

Mark Landler

Queen Elizabeth II has been infected with the coronavirus, Buckingham Palace said on Sunday, becoming one of the world’s most prominent figures to battle the virus and deeply rattling the country she has led for seven decades.

The palace issued few details about the condition of the queen, who turns 96 in April. She is one of several people at Windsor Castle who are infected, a palace official said, suggesting an outbreak at the royal residence, west of London, where the queen has spent most of her time since the pandemic engulfed Britain in March 2020.

“Buckingham Palace confirm that the queen has today tested positive for Covid,” the palace said in a statement. “Her Majesty is experiencing mild, coldlike symptoms but expects to continue light duties at Windsor over the coming week. She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all the appropriate guidelines.”

Elizabeth met earlier this month with her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, who was later reported to be reinfected with the coronavirus and went into isolation. He last contracted a mild case of the virus in March 2020. The palace on Sunday did not address whether Charles was the source, but officials pointed to the number of cases at Windsor Castle, suggesting she could have been infected by others in the royal household.

The news of the queen’s illness came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was poised to relax the remainder of coronavirus restrictions in England, including a requirement to isolate for five days after receiving a positive test. Mr. Johnson will introduce plans on Monday to lift the regulations by the end of February, prompting some members of the opposition Labour Party to warn that he was acting rashly.

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Credit…Pool photo by Tsafrir Abayov/EPA, via Shutterstock

Israel will reopen to all foreign tourists, regardless of their vaccination status, as the country eases travel restrictions amid a rapid decline in coronavirus cases from the Omicron variant.

Only fully vaccinated foreign visitors have been allowed to enter the country since January, but that mandate will end as of March 1, Israeli leaders announced in a statement Sunday. Tourists entering Israel will be required to pass two P.C.R. tests — one before departure and one after arrival.

Israel has reported a 63 percent decline in new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database.

Israel has maintained a stringent border policy throughout the pandemic and its once-thriving tourism industry has struggled. It first closed its borders to most foreign travelers in March 2020, and did not reopen them until Nov. 1, 2021. By the end of 2021, the borders were shut again, amid the Omicron wave.

The authorities are also easing restriction on Israeli nationals, who will no longer be required to undergo a P.C.R. test before their flights — only after arriving in the country. Unvaccinated Israelis will no longer have to quarantine after returning if they test negative.

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Credit…Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

Christine Chung

The singer Justin Bieber has tested positive for the coronavirus, one day after he began his world tour in San Diego on Friday, a representative for Mr. Bieber confirmed on Sunday.

A show at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that was scheduled for Sunday has been postponed to June 28, according to a statement on social media. The third stop on the tour, at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., outside of Phoenix on Tuesday, was also rescheduled for late June, the tour said.

“Justin is of course hugely disappointed, but the health and safety of his crew and fans is always his number one priority,” the statement said.

A representative for the singer declined to comment on whether other members of the tour have also tested positive for the coronavirus, but the statement about his performance on Sunday being rescheduled did start off by saying it was because of a Covid outbreak within “the team.”

Mr. Bieber’s tour, called Justice in Action, had been previously delayed because of the pandemic.

During the tour, he has planned to perform in several countries over 13 months. The singer is aiming to raise awareness about several issues, including criminal justice reform and climate change. Fans who engage with organizations he is supporting can earn reward points that can be redeemed for prizes like tour merchandise and a trip to meet Mr. Bieber in Paris.

His next show is scheduled for Thursday at The Forum in Los Angeles. That would just meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for isolating for five days after a positive coronavirus test. The C.D.C. advises ending isolation after five days if you have been fever-free for 24 hours and your symptoms are improving, but recommends wearing a mask when around others for an additional five days.

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Credit…Andrew Rush/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, via Associated Press

Apoorva Mandavilli

For more than a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected data on hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the United States and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public.

When the C.D.C. published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65 two weeks ago, it left out the numbers for a huge portion of that population: 18- to 49-year-olds, the group the data showed was least likely to benefit from extra shots, because the first two doses already left them well-protected.

The agency recently debuted a dashboard of wastewater data on its website that will be updated daily and might provide early signals of an oncoming surge of Covid cases. Some states and localities had been sharing wastewater information with the agency since the start of the pandemic, but it had never before released those findings.

Two full years into the pandemic, the agency leading the country’s response to the public health emergency has published only a tiny fraction of the data it has collected, several people familiar with the data said.

Much of the withheld information could help state and local health officials better target their efforts to bring the virus under control. Detailed, timely data on hospitalizations by age and race would help health officials identify and help the populations at highest risk. Information on hospitalizations and death by age and vaccination status would have helped inform whether healthy adults needed booster shots. And wastewater surveillance across the nation would spot outbreaks and emerging variants early.

Without the booster data for 18- to 49-year-olds, the outside experts whom federal health agencies look to for advice had to rely on numbers from Israel to make their recommendations on the shots.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C., said the agency has been slow to release the different streams of data “because basically, at the end of the day, it’s not yet ready for prime time.” She said the agency’s “priority when gathering any data is to ensure that it’s accurate and actionable.”

Another reason is fear that the information might be misinterpreted, Ms. Nordlund said.

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, the agency’s deputy director for public health science and surveillance said the pandemic exposed the fact that data systems at the C.D.C., and at the state levels, are outmoded and not up to handling large volumes of data. C.D.C. scientists are trying to modernize the systems, he said.

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Credit…John Taggart for The New York Times

In February 2021, New York City was enduring another wave in the pandemic. The city was reporting an average of roughly 4,000 coronavirus cases per day, one of the highest daily caseloads in the country at the time; vaccine eligibility had not yet expanded to all adult New Yorkers; and at least one more contagious variant was starting to spread, threatening what progress the city had made on the virus.

A year later, the city is emerging from an enormous wave, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, when testing lines stretched for hours and the city’s hospital system strained, but did not break.

But much has evolved since early 2021 — for the better. About 76 percent of New York City residents are now fully vaccinated, with about 85 percent having received at least one dose. And a glance at the numbers shows that despite this January recording the most known number of cases in any month of the pandemic, the city seems to have made it through the latest wave far faster than it did the previous one. (During the devastating first wave of the coronavirus in the spring of 2020, testing was scarce, leaving many cases unreported.)

New data released on Friday provided further evidence that the Omicron wave was tapering off: Officials reported a seven-day daily average of 989 cases on that day, the first time that cases slipped below 1,000 since before the Omicron spike began late last year.

Mayor Eric Adams struck an optimistic tone about the trajectory of the pandemic on Wednesday while announcing his preliminary budget for the 2023 fiscal year. “We have survived a global pandemic and an economic crisis that has threatened decades of progress,” he said. “Now, after two years of struggle, we are on the brink of a recovery that offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real change on a grand scale.”

The continued decline in cases prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to drop a statewide policy that had required masks or proof of full vaccination indoors. Masks are still required in a number of places in New York City, however.

On Saturday, she announced a state milestone to rival New York City’s: The statewide positivity rate dropped to 1.72 percent on Friday, going below 2 percent for the first time since Omicron emerged. It was also the lowest rate since Oct. 23, the governor said.

“As we continue to see hospitalizations and cases decrease, I want to thank New Yorkers who have been doing their part to keep each other safe,” Ms. Hochul said in a statement.

She added: “As New York continues to build back from the pandemic, I want to remind everyone how critically important it is to use the tools at our disposal and get vaccinated and boosted to ensure we continue our incredible progress as we head into the spring.”

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Credit…Gabby Jones for The New York Times

Lola Fadulu

As the Omicron surge subsides in many parts of the country, state and local officials, including in New York, have begun to roll back mask mandates.

Coronavirus cases in New York City have dropped 62 percent over the past two weeks, and hospitalizations have decreased 48 percent, according to federal data. Around 77 percent of all residents are fully vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and city Health Department officials continue to recommend everyone over age 2 wear masks in indoor public spaces in New York and most of the rest of the country.

But as mandates continue to get rolled back, it can be hard to know where exactly masks are still required. Here’s an overview of the masking rules currently in place in New York City.

Do I need a mask to ride the subway?

Yes. The federal government requires masks to be worn on planes, trains and other forms of public transportation. The city also requires masks in all public transportation settings, including taxis and car services.

Do I need a mask at indoor restaurants, gyms or entertainment venues?

It depends. The city recommends that everyone wear masks in indoor public spaces, but businesses are allowed to set their own mask policies.

Other rules: The city’s health department requires restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues to ask for proof of vaccination, under a policy known as Key to N.Y.C. People ages 5 and up must show proof of having received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, unless they received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Do I need a mask to see Broadway shows?

Yes.

Other rules: Most Off-Broadway and other smaller theaters have chosen to require masks as well. Theatergoers must also be vaccinated, under the Key to N.Y.C. policy. Some theaters are requiring patrons to have received booster shots, so check the policies before you head out to see a show.

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Credit…Josh Keller

Josh Keller

Millions of people continue to suffer from exhaustion, cognitive problems and other long-lasting symptoms after a coronavirus infection. The exact causes of the illness, known as long Covid, are not known. But new research offers clues, describing the toll the illness takes on the body and why it can be so debilitating.

Patients with severe Covid may wind up in hospitals or on ventilators until their symptoms resolve. Damage to the body from severe Covid — pneumonia, low oxygen, inflammation — typically shows up on traditional diagnostic tests.

Long Covid is different: A chronic illness with a wide variety of symptoms, many of which are not explainable using conventional lab tests. Difficulties in detecting the illness have led some doctors to dismiss patients, or to misdiagnose their symptoms as psychosomatic. But researchers looking more deeply at long Covid patients have found a wide range of visible dysfunction throughout the body.

Studies estimate that perhaps 10 to 30 percent of people infected with the coronavirus may develop long-term symptoms. It’s unclear why some people develop long Covid and others don’t, but four factors appear to increase the risk: high levels of viral RNA early during an infection, the presence of certain autoantibodies, the reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus and having Type 2 diabetes.

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Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Credit…James Hill for The New York Times

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Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

For all the chatter about team uniforms at the Beijing Games — the Kazakh ensembles with the country’s name in its own language for the first time, the fabulous Canadian coats — the attire that defined these Olympics was personal protective equipment.

Workers often donned white suits, goggles, face shields and gloves and formed platoons that looked more like hazmat squads than people pulling off one of the world’s signature sporting events. They marshaled flights into airport gates, helped visitors navigate customs and security lines, administered coronavirus tests and, in at least one hotel, mixed drinks and served meals. They disinfected venues, patrolled with chemicals, loomed as emergency medical workers and provided the standing dystopian contrast to whatever glamour these Olympics could muster.

Indeed, at these Games, at least, they were a symbol as much as any other.

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Credit… Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

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Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Credit…Roman Pilipey/EPA, via Shutterstock

Alexandra Stevenson

China has done everything in its power to keep the virus outside its borders and protect its people — almost.

It has kept cases and deaths remarkably low through a “zero-Covid” strategy that has involved tracking and tracing every case, closed its borders and locked down cities of millions of people. It fostered domestic vaccines that allowed the country to carry out a vast inoculation effort.

But two years into the pandemic, China’s 1.4 billion people still don’t have access to one of the most effective coronavirus vaccines the world has to offer. Those vaccines use the breakthrough mRNA technology that was developed and approved in the West, and they have been embraced by dozens of countries.

The effectiveness of Chinese vaccines has been in doubt — partly because they use a century-old method for inoculation. Last spring, the country said it would approve BioNTech, the German mRNA shot made in partnership with Pfizer. Months later, China said that it was also close to producing its own mRNA vaccine. Neither are available today.

China’s lack of an mRNA shot — and its delay in approving a viable foreign option — has poked holes in Beijing’s victorious pandemic narrative and prompted experts to question whether the country’s go-it-alone approach is less triumphant than officials would have the world believe.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/20/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine