NYC expands vaccine mandate to private employers

For companies whose employees are still toiling from their couches at home, the question of when to bring their full workforces back to the office has become even trickier.

During a pandemic in which many decisions have hinged on risk tolerance, the coronavirus’s new omicron variant has complicated the process of calculating those hazards. Major corporations that had planned to shepherd all their employees back into offices in early 2022 now have to decide whether those dates make sense in light of further evidence of the pandemic’s unpredictability.

Last week, Google and Uber became two of the first major employers in the United States to announce that they would postpone their Jan. 10 return date — not to another specific day, but indefinitely. Ford Motor Co. said Monday that it was pushing its expected return from January to March.

The United States will commit $400 million more to help other countries vaccinate and to support their health-care systems, a top foreign aid official announced Monday, as global health leaders called urgently for more assistance.

Samantha Power, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said the latest investment would bring “total U.S. commitments on vaccine readiness and delivery to more than $1.6 billion.”

The announcement at a USAID conference came as the spread of the omicron variant has focused new attention on the huge gap between coronavirus vaccination rates in developing nations and wealthy countries such as the United States. Experts have long said lack of vaccine access in poorer countries is a moral outrage and a global risk, allowing conditions for new virus variants to emerge.

Variants ‘haunt’ world with vaccine imbalance between rich and poor nations, officials say

The additional $400 million will aid vaccine manufacturing and delivery in low- and middle-income countries, said Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

She said that while about 40 percent of the world is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, 3 percent of people in “low-income countries” have that protection.

“For the past year, the story of covid-19 around the world has been a struggle for vaccine equity — rich nations replete with doses while poorer nations fought to secure vaccines for their people,” Power said.

Speaking at the same event, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lamented that “the largest vaccination campaign in history” has been “marred by horrific inequity.” He said ACT-Accelerator — a WHO-supported initiative aimed at equitable distribution of coronavirus testing, treatments and vaccines — is “out of cash.”

The initiative needs $23.4 billion over the next year, Tedros said.

“As the omicron variant demonstrates, the pandemic is far from over,” he said. “Persistent vaccine inequity has allowed this to happen.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave consumers additional information Monday on when and why to use at-home or over-the-counter coronavirus tests, suggesting individuals take the tests before indoor gatherings with people outside their households — especially those who might be at higher risk of infection or severe disease.

At-home tests that deliver results in as little as 15 minutes have become increasingly popular with consumers, and they are key to the Biden administration’s plan to battle the pandemic, especially the new and potentially more transmissible omicron variant. But consumers and public health experts have clamored for clearer information about the circumstances in which they should be used.

The latest guidance says the at-home tests can be used regardless of vaccination status or whether the person has symptoms of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“Even if you don’t have symptoms and have not been exposed to an individual with COVID-19, using a self-test before gathering indoors with others can give you information about the risk of spreading the virus that causes COVID-19,” the guidance states. “This is especially important before gathering with unvaccinated children, older individuals, those who are immunocompromised or individuals at risk of severe disease.”

A positive test means the test detected the virus and the person probably has an infection, should isolate for 10 days, wear a mask if they come in contact with others, and avoid indoor gatherings to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. A person can spread the virus to others as early as 48 hours before they have symptoms or test positive.

The United States on Monday began requiring all inbound international travelers to show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within a day of their flight to enter the country. The requirement is mandatory for anyone at least 2 years old, even American citizens and legal residents, regardless of vaccination status.

Previously, anyone flying into the United States needed to test before a trip, but their vaccination status determined their testing timeline. Vaccinated travelers had three days to get tested, while unvaccinated travelers had just one.

The updated testing requirements — along with the extension of federal mask mandates and the expansion of voluntary testing opportunities for new arrivals at some U.S. airports — aim to slow the spread of the emerging omicron variant.

The article linked below offers information about which types of tests are accepted, how to find a test abroad, how to arrange affordable tests, when to time a test, when to submit results and what happens if you test positive.

Americans’ blood pressure rose during the pandemic — especially among women, according to new research that underscores the ways the coronavirus has exacted an uneven toll.

The finding on gender disparities, published Monday in the journal Circulation, “provides more evidence of the outsize burden that pandemics place on women,” researchers wrote.

But the spike in blood pressure was observed across genders and age groups, and it could foreshadow an increase in cardiovascular-disease deaths, they warned. The increase kicked in after March 2020, when the spread of the coronavirus began to prompt wide-ranging restrictions in the United States.

Blood pressure readings include two numbers: systolic pressure, measured when the heart beats, and diastolic pressure, measured when the heart rests. From April to December 2020, the study found, people’s systolic blood pressure was on average between 1.1 and 2.5 mm Hg higher each month compared with the previous year. (Millimeters of mercury, or mm Hg, is a measurement of pressure.) For diastolic blood pressure, average monthly increases ranged from 0.14 to 0.53 mm Hg.

Among middle-aged people, the researchers note, an increase in systolic blood pressure of 2 mm Hg “is associated with significant increases in mortality” from strokes and heart problems linked to narrowed arteries.

The study examined hundreds of thousands of adult participants in an “employer-sponsored wellness program” across the United States, but the researchers said it is not clear whether this pool was representative of American adults.

Weight gain was not the cause of the increases, the researchers said. They offered many possible reasons for the rise, including more alcohol consumption, less exercise and “emotional stress.” The pandemic “disrupted both daily life and routine medical care,” they said, including the treatment of “chronic diseases” such as high blood pressure.

U.S. stocks posted strong gains Monday as investors seized on signs that the omicron variant might be less of a threat to the global economy than feared.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 646.95 points, or 1.9 percent, to close at 35,227. The S&P 500 rose 53.24 points, or 1.2 percent, to settle at 4,591.67. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index jumped 139.68 points, or 0.9 percent, to end at 15,225.15.

Travel and hospitality shares led the way, with American, Delta and United climbing at least 6 percent. Norwegian Cruise Line spiked 9.5 percent. The gains come after preliminary data from South African researchers found coronavirus infections caused by the omicron variant were less severe than those caused by the now-dominant delta variant.

Anthony S. Fauci, the chief White House medical adviser, cautioned Monday on CNN that researchers needed more robust data before drawing conclusions about the threat posed by omicron, but he said South African data was “a bit encouraging.”

Omicron concerns set off waves of volatility on Wall Street last week, with the three major U.S. indexes all posting losses for the five-day run.

The Minnesota man who tested positive for the omicron variant of the coronavirus after attending an anime convention in New York has just finished his quarantine, he said in an interview.

“I’m good to go,” said Peter McGinn, a 30-year-old health-care consultant from Minneapolis.

There is a lot McGinn still doesn’t know about his infection with omicron, including how he contracted it and whether the coronavirus cases among about 15 friends he saw in New York are also of the new variant.

One thing he does feel certain of is the value of vaccination. McGinn, who said he received Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine followed by a Moderna booster shot in early November, had only very mild symptoms and some fatigue, which he initially attributed to his exhausting trip to New York. It was only after a friend tested positive that he took a rapid test.

“I would recommend everyone, when they can, do get the booster,” McGinn said.

Federal health authorities warned Monday against travel to several European countries as well as Jordan and Tanzania amid fears of the omicron coronavirus variant, telling people to make sure they are fully vaccinated if they must visit.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said to avoid travel to Andorra, Cyprus, France, Liechtenstein and Portugal.

“Because of the current situation in France, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” one advisory reads.

These countries are only the latest to spur travel advisories. Last week, the CDC urged against travel to Niger, Papua New Guinea, Poland and Trinidad and Tobago.

The CDC also recently told airlines to share contact information for people entering the United States who have been in southern Africa, where the omicron variant was initially identified. Previously, the CDC had ordered airlines and aircraft operators to collect contact details on passengers and asked that they share it with federal health authorities “upon request,” to aid public health follow-up.