Biden tells governors next steps to fight pandemic are at the state level

Federal health officials shortened the recommended time Americans infected with the coronavirus should isolate from 10 days to five if they are asymptomatic — a decision they said was driven by a growing body of research about when people are most infectious.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also cut the quarantine time to five days for those exposed to the coronavirus who are not boosted. In addition, they recommended that such people wear masks around others for an additional five days.

With the omicron variant spreading rapidly, the United States is all but certain to see a sharp rise in breakthrough coronavirus infections among vaccinated people. These cases were relatively rare in the pre-omicron days, but the new variant has shown an ability to slip past the body’s first line of immune defenses. That means many Americans who have gotten the shots will at some point test positive.

Coronavirus vaccines act like a shield against disease, not an impenetrable barrier, and they offer protection against the omicron variant. Health authorities say booster shots of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are the best defense against serious illness, providing robust protection against severe disease. Your likelihood of developing a breakthrough infection is lowest if you’ve gotten the additional shot. The initial two-shot vaccine regimen still offers protection, but it’s not as effective against the omicron variant without boosters.

Recently imposed coronavirus-related cleaning mandates at a Shanghai airport prompted the turnaround of a flight from Seattle last week, Delta Air Lines said Monday.

The flight’s midair return to Seattle International Airport had drawn criticism from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, the Associated Press reported.

Mikaela Shiffrin, who spoke of being tired and looking forward to a brief Christmas break while competing in France last week, announced Monday that she has tested positive for the coronavirus, which disrupts her schedule less than six weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The two-time Olympic champion added that she is isolating after becoming the latest elite female skier to test positive.

Coronavirus cases are being reported at record levels across the world — surpassing even last winter’s devastating peak in some places — as officials grapple with a surge caused by the omicron variant. France recorded more than 104,000 new cases Saturday, reaching a six-figure daily tally for the first time. Britain, Italy, Ireland and the Australian state of New South Wales also reported record levels of new cases over the weekend.

In the United States, the seven-day average of new daily cases was more than 203,000 on Sunday, according to a Washington Post tally, a level not seen since Jan. 19. U.S. health officials warn that the country could soon see more than 1 million new cases per day, far beyond last winter’s peak of 248,000.

Airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights on Monday as they struggled to recover from pockets of wintry weather and an omicron-driven surge in caseloads among crews that caused staffing shortages.

The misery was shared broadly across the industry, but two smaller airlines — Alaska Airlines and SkyWest Airlines — were hit the hardest, according to aviation data provider FlightAware. The two carriers had canceled about 400 flights as of Monday morning.

The nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Anthony S. Fauci, said Monday a vaccination requirement should be considered for domestic air travel, as soaring coronavirus infections contributed to another day of disruptions.

While noting that there were pros and cons to such a move, he said it was “just another one of the requirements that I think is reasonable to consider,” along with similar requirements at some universities and workplaces.

President Biden told a group of governors Monday that the next step in combating the coronavirus pandemic has to be at the state level.

“Look, there is no federal solution,” he said after joining the White House covid-19 response team’s regular call with the National Governors Association on Monday. “This gets solved at the state level.”