Health officials have been bracing to discover more infections since the first reported U.S. case was announced Wednesday.
“This is not a cause for major alarm,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said at a news conference, urging people to wear masks, get vaccinated and get booster shots.
Researchers worry that omicron could prove more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines — but scientists are still trying to answer those questions.
Here’s what to know
D.C. mayor recommends masks but stops short of mandate
Return to menuD.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser moved to beef up the District’s coronavirus response Thursday as the country braces for the impact of the emerging omicron variant, but refrained from bringing back her recently rescinded indoor mask mandate even while her health department issued an “advisory” recommending indoor masking.
Health director LaQuandra Nesbitt announced new walk-up vaccination sites for any D.C. residents ages 5 and up, where residents can get both first doses and booster shots, at three D.C. libraries in Woodridge, Petworth and downtown. She also said that the city’s at-home vaccination program — originally created for homebound people to get shots delivered to them — will expand to include any family who wants shots at home.
Parents of children ages 5 to 11 can call the city to get a vaccination for their children at their own house; the on-call medical professionals can also administer first shots or boosters to the whole household.
Google pushes back office return date
Return to menuGoogle has been one of the highest-profile U.S. companies to say it will require workers to come back into the office, but on Thursday it pushed back its Jan. 10 date for mandatory in-office work.
The decision comes amid growing uncertainty about how the new omicron variant of the coronavirus could change the pandemic, prompting border closures even as officials lack definitive answers on just how dangerous the variant is.
“We have safely opened more than 90% of our U.S. offices, and in recent weeks, nearly 40% of U.S. Googlers came in. While these signals are encouraging, we’re going to wait until the new year to assess when U.S. office locations will be ready to transition out of voluntary work-from-home,” Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of security, said in an email sent to staff that was obtained by The Washington Post.
Google was one of the first large companies to send workers home at the beginning of the pandemic. Unlike tech companies such as Twitter and Microsoft, which say they will allow remote work indefinitely, the search giant has said the majority of workers will need to return to the office at least part time.
LeBron James cleared to return after false-positive coronavirus test
Return to menuLos Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been cleared to return to the court after a false-positive test landed him in the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols earlier this week, the NBA announced Thursday.
The 36-year-old James was held out of a Tuesday win over the Sacramento Kings and sent back to Los Angeles after registering a positive test that was collected Monday, but he will be eligible to play when the Lakers host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
“LeBron James has cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols,” the league said in a statement. “James was originally placed in the protocols on Tuesday, Nov. 30 after a series of tests delivered conflicting results, including an initial positive test that was collected on Nov. 29. Additional testing confirmed that he is not a positive case.”
New York confirms 5 cases of omicron, now detected in five states
Return to menuTen cases of the omicron coronavirus variant have now been detected around the United States, with half of them confirmed in New York on Thursday.
New York and Hawaii are the latest states to announce infections, and officials in both states said there is evidence of “community spread.” California, Minnesota and Colorado have also detected cases.
Health officials have been bracing to discover more infections since the first reported U.S. case of omicron was announced Wednesday. The patient was a San Francisco resident who recently traveled to southern Africa, where omicron was initially identified.
The five New York cases appear to be unrelated, state officials said, and do not seem to be linked to an anime convention that tens of thousands of people attended from Nov. 18 to Nov. 22. The Minnesota man found to have the omicron variant attended the conference at New York City’s Javits Center from Nov. 19 to Nov. 21 and developed mild symptoms — now resolved — on Nov. 22, according to health authorities.
The city of New York is urging people who attended Anime NYC to get tested for the coronavirus.
“This is not a cause for major alarm,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said of the confirmed omicron cases Thursday, urging people to wear masks, get vaccinated and get booster shots.
Many of the known patients around the country have recently traveled to Africa. Hochul said that one of the New York patients with omicron is a 67-year-old woman from Suffolk County who spent time in southern Africa and returned to the United States in late November. The woman had some measure of vaccination, the governor said, but it is not clear how many doses.
The vaccination status of the other four New York patients, all residents of New York City, was not clear.
The Hawaii patient had previously had covid-19, was not vaccinated and had “no history of travel,” health officials said.
Travelers to U.S. must be tested within one day of global departure, starting Dec. 6
Return to menuPresident Biden on Thursday announced that inbound international travelers must be tested for the coronavirus within one day of global departure, regardless of nationality or vaccination status. The policy, which takes effect Dec. 6, toughens protocols for vaccinated travelers, who had been able to get tested as long as three days before departure.
The move, which federal officials had weighed earlier this week, comes after the White House imposed travel restrictions on eight nations in southern Africa following warnings from scientists about the emergence of the omicron variant.
Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist and infectious-disease specialist who advised Biden’s transition team on the coronavirus response, said she was unhappy that the White House prioritized restrictions and testing for international travelers while overlooking domestic flights.
“When you think about Texas, it’s the size of France — and it operates as its own country in many respects,” Gounder said, calling for a renewed focus on how state policies contribute to the virus’s spread. “If you’re really trying to prevent spread of dangerous variants, you should be providing similar standards across the board.”
Oklahoma sues over vaccine mandate for National Guard, escalating standoff
Return to menuOklahoma’s attorney general on Thursday sued the Biden administration over its coronavirus vaccine mandate for members of the military, further escalating a standoff over requirements for the conservative state’s National Guard.
Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor (R) is asking a federal court to halt enforcement, declare the mandate unconstitutional and prevent the federal government from withholding funding for the Oklahoma National Guard and its members. The Pentagon warned this week that Guard members who refuse vaccination will not get paid and will be barred from training, jeopardizing their careers.
Thousands of Oklahoma Guard members have defied the defense secretary’s August order that service members get vaccinated against the coronavirus, with the support of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). Republican leaders in other states have signaled interest in following suit.
In a statement Thursday, Stitt said that as commander in chief of the state’s National Guard, he will “continue fighting to protect Oklahoma against this alarming pattern of unconstitutional federal overreach coming from the Biden administration.”
The Oklahoma National Guard’s commanding general has defended his directive countering federal vaccination requirements, telling troops in a private town hall event that he was following orders from the governor.
“I did not initiate a civilian-military crisis just because I thought it was cool, right?” Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by The Washington Post.
Scientists warn U.S. is headed toward winter surge fueled by delta variant
Return to menuWhile the United States braces for the unknowns of omicron, epidemiologists warn that the country, particularly the Northeast and Upper Midwest, is still headed toward a winter surge fueled by the delta variant as people travel for the holidays and gather indoors during cold weather.
Beds have been full for seven weeks with a flood of mostly unvaccinated patients, a hospital official said. The hospital routinely turns down other overwhelmed facilities trying to transfer covid-19 patients — sometimes saying no 15 or 20 times a day.
Officials are urging Americans to get booster shots to protect themselves as much of the country heads indoors. Just over 1 in 5 Americans have received them as immunity from initial shots starts to wane.
Scientists find clues to what triggered rare blood clots with AstraZeneca vaccine
Return to menuLONDON — Scientists say they have identified clues to what triggered blood clots in rare cases of people who took AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine.
The very rare but sometimes deadly clots led to pauses in the vaccine’s rollout last year in Europe and had public health experts worried it could fuel hesitancy, even as they stressed that the benefits of the vaccine far outweighed any risks.
The vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford and widely used in European countries and places such as Canada and India, has not been approved in the United States. The United States temporarily halted use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a handful of blood clot cases were reported among the millions of people who received those shots but lifted the pause after a safety review.
Colorado becomes third U.S. state to detect omicron case
Return to menuColorado on Thursday became the third state to announce a case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, this one in a woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa.
The Arapahoe County resident, who is fully vaccinated but has not yet received a booster, is isolating at home with mild symptoms, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a news release. The announcement came days after the discovery of a case in California and hours after one in Minnesota.
Colorado health officials said in the release that it is “particularly critical that Coloradans heed caution,” including getting vaccines and boosters, masking in indoor public spaces, limiting large gatherings and practicing physical distancing.
The Colorado state public health laboratory confirmed the presence of the omicron variant, the news release said. It was discovered through routine case investigation and flagged for follow-up due to the patient’s recent travel. The health department issued an isolation order in the case; all close contacts of the woman have tested negative for the virus.
“CDC is coordinating all travel-associated interstate and international contact tracing efforts and will work with airlines to identify all potentially exposed passengers,” the news release said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The health department called for people who have recently traveled internationally to get tested three to five days after their return, regardless of symptoms or vaccination status.
Biden brushes off Senate Republicans’ threat to shut down government over vaccine mandates
Return to menuPresident Biden, during remarks at the National Institutes of Health, recognized that some Republicans in the Senate are threatening to shut down the government if his vaccine requirements for large employers stand.
Saying it is time to put “divisiveness behind us” as the nation prepares to confront the omicron coronavirus variant, Biden said some of his “friends on the other team” are arguing that if he doesn’t commit to rolling back vaccine mandates, “they are going to let us default” on the federal debt, sparking a federal government shutdown.
“We have everything in place to be able to make sure there is not a shutdown,” Biden told reporters. “I spoke with Mitch McConnell, spoke with [Charles E.] Schumer. There is a plan in place, unless somebody decides to be totally erratic,” he said, referring to Senate leadership.
At the moment, any senator — Republican or Democrat — can cause a brief government shutdown if they object to a stopgap measure that require all 100 Senate votes to pass.
Republicans have taken the stopgap bill as their best opportunity to protest Biden’s vaccine requirements. Currently, an amendment in the Senate that would defund Biden’s federal vaccine requirements calls for a 60-vote threshold, and some Senate Republicans, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), spent Thursday demanding that the threshold be lowered to 51 votes.
Lee, on the Senate floor, said he “stands by” the commitment he made not to pass or expedite a measure that allows for the enforcement of Biden’s vaccine mandates and asked that the threshold on the amendment be lowered. So did Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who told reporters that “shutting down the government is worth saving the jobs in Kansas.”
Other Senate Republicans have criticized their colleagues’ efforts, arguing that they would only hurt federal workers if the government is shut down.
“It smacks of virtue signaling when the courts have already put a stay on it and when the Biden administration isn’t enforcing a vaccine mandate on federal employees,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), according to HuffPost’s Igor Bobic.
Calif. school district will let unvaccinated students learn in person, defying state mandate
Return to menuA California school district has announced plans to allow in-person learning for unvaccinated students, defying the state vaccine mandate for schools that will go into effect next year.
The Alpine Union School District in San Diego County will allow unvaccinated students to continue learning in person and be taught by district teachers at an off-campus location, the superintendent said in a letter to parents last week. The small district’s plans come weeks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that all students and employees at public and private schools will need to be vaccinated, tentatively by next July.
“We realize that there are students in our community whose parents will choose not to have their children vaccinated,” Rich Newman, the district’s superintendent, wrote in a Nov. 22 letter to parents, adding, “This unique program is the first of its kind to provide in-person learning to students who will not attend school on campus if not vaccinated.”
GlaxoSmithKline says testing suggests antibody drug is effective against omicron
Return to menuGlaxoSmithKline announced Thursday that early laboratory testing indicates that its antibody-based covid-19 therapy, developed with U.S. partner Vir Biotechnology, is likely to be effective against the omicron variant of the virus.
The drug, called sotrovimab, has been tested against specific mutations found in omicron, the drugmaker said in a news release. It was found to retain activity against key mutations of the variant.
“Sotrovimab was deliberately designed with a mutating virus in mind,” Vir chief executive George Scangos said in the release.
Testing is ongoing and the companies expect to provide an update on the drug’s efficacy against omicron by the end of the year.
The news came days after Regeneron, another pharmaceutical company, warned that its antibody cocktail might not be as effective against omicron. While more testing is needed, preliminary analyses suggest a reduced effectiveness, the company said in a Monday statement.
The omicron variant, designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, has been identified in two U.S. states over the past two days. California announced a case Wednesday, followed by Minnesota on Thursday. Health officials have said additional cases are inevitable across the nation.
Minnesota becomes the second state to confirm omicron infection
Return to menuMinnesota on Thursday became the second U.S. state to confirm a case of the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
The variant was discovered in an adult male resident who had recently visited New York for the Anime NYC convention, the Minnesota Health Department said in a news release. He is fully vaccinated and received a booster shot in November.
The man developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22, one day after the conclusion of the convention held at the Javits Center from Nov. 19 to 21. He was tested Nov. 24 and advised to isolate himself from others; his symptoms have since resolved.
Gov. Tim Walz (D) called on Minnesotans to get vaccine and booster shots, and to be tested and wear masks indoors.
“This news is concerning, but it is not a surprise,” he said. “We know that this virus is highly infectious and moves quickly throughout the world.”
Because of the Minnesota patient’s presence at the convention, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said in a statement that New Yorkers should “assume there is community spread of the variant in our city.” He noted that the event required masks and vaccination. Attendees should have themselves tested and take additional social-distancing precautions, the mayor said, adding that contact tracers would be deployed.
A day earlier, the nation’s first confirmed omicron case was discovered in a San Francisco resident who had returned from South Africa on Nov. 22, began feeling ill around Nov. 25 and was tested Nov. 28. The patient, who is in self-isolation, was said to have mild symptoms that were improving.
The Minnesota Health Department said its omicron case was found through its variant surveillance program, adding that the program “allowed MDH to quickly identify omicron once it entered the state and made it more likely that Minnesota would be among the first states to find the variant.”
Minnesota epidemiologists are continuing to investigate the case alongside New York City and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During a briefing Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said the anime convention’s organizers had contact information for all attendees, a circumstance that would help contact tracing.
White House says ‘nothing is off the table,' including vaccine requirement for domestic air travel
Return to menuWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that “nothing is off the table” yet when it comes to the Biden administration’s approach to curbing the coronavirus pandemic, including requiring that people be vaccinated to fly domestically. The administration is weighing stricter requirements for international travelers, including Americans, who want to enter the United States, but have so far not mandated vaccines for domestic air passengers.
“Nothing is off the table, including domestic travel,” Psaki said at a news briefing Thursday. “But we do have some protections, some strong protections in place already.”
Some of those include the extension of a federal mask mandate for several modes of transportation through mid-March, as well as doubling fines for those who refuse to comply with the mandate.
“We base our decisions on the advice of the health and medical experts, what’s going to be most effective and what it is we can implement — what is most implementable,” Psaki said. “So we look at a range of factors as we make decisions about what steps we can put in place. So again, nothing’s off the table.
When asked to define what “most implementable” meant, Psaki said a number of coronavirus mitigation measures they had taken were “not intended to be controversial or divisive” but still may have been perceived that way.
“But our most important factor is what is going to be most effective,” she said.