Tag Archives: omicron variant

The Associated Press reports: Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for people on their plans. The Biden administration announced the change Monday as it looks to lower costs and make testing for the virus more convenient amid rising frustrations. Under the new policy, first detailed to the AP, …

Reuters reports: COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a fresh high of 132,646, according to a Reuters tally on Monday, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January last year, amid a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant. While potentially less severe, health officials have warned that the sheer number of infections caused by the Omicron variant could …

The New York Times reports: The pace of daily new infections of the coronavirus has nearly doubled in the past week, surpassing two million known cases a day, underscoring just how quickly the Omicron variant has spread around the world. On April 25 last year, the global average hit a high of more than 827,000 cases, a level that has …

Axios reports: Royal Caribbean International on Friday canceled trips on four ships due to spiking rates of COVID-19, the company said in a statement. The cancellations are the latest blow to the cruise industry as it responds to a surge of cases driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant. “As a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, …

Bloomberg News reports: More than 1 million people in the U.S. were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday as a tsunami of omicron swamps every aspect of daily American life. The highly mutated variant drove U.S. cases to a record, the most — by a large margin — that any country has ever reported. Monday’s number is almost double the previous …

Reuters reports: Over 4,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday, more than half of them U.S. flights, adding to the toll of holiday week travel disruptions due to adverse weather and the surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant. The flights cancelled by 8 pm GMT on Sunday included over 2,500 entering, departing from or within …

The New York Daily News reports: If more Americans get vaccinated and boosted, the U.S. just might return to a semblance of normalcy by February or March, the country’s top infectious disease expert said on Sunday. Hopefully, enough people get vaccinated “to the point that when omicron comes down to a low level, we keep it down at a low …

The New York Daily News reports: New York City hit yet another grim COVID-19 milestone on the last day of 2021, recording a single-day record of nearly 50,000 new cases on Dec. 31, according to state data released Saturday afternoon. City residents reported 49,724 positive tests Friday, making up the lion’s share of the state’s record-breaking case total of over …

The Associated Press reports: By late morning Saturday on the East Coast, more than 2,500 U.S. flights and nearly 4,200 worldwide had been canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware.That is the highest single-day toll yet since just before Christmas, when airlines began blaming staffing shortages on increasing COVID-19 infections among crews. Saturday’s disruptions weren’t just due to the virus, however. …

The Washington Post reports: Amtrak said Thursday that it will reduce its schedule between New Year’s Eve and Jan. 6 as it battles bad weather in some parts of the country and a surge in coronavirus cases among its employees. “Amtrak regrets any inconvenience,” the railroad said in a statement. “We are continuing to monitor changing conditions and will make …

The Washington Post reports: The rapid surge of omicron infections in the United States may be relatively brief, measured in weeks rather than months, according to infectious-disease experts who have been astonished by the speed of the coronavirus variant’s spread — and who are hoping this wave ebbs just as quickly. The idea of a rapid peak and swift decline …

The Hill reports: Virginia public health leaders urged residents with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 cases to avoid making emergency hospital visits as the state sees a surge of coronavirus infections. The Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association said that people who have asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 cases or other nonserious illnesses often can recover at home …

NBC News reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued an advisory urging all travelers — vaccinated and unvaccinated — to avoid cruise ship travel amidst a record-breaking Covid surge driven by the omicron variant in many states across the United States. “Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the …

The New York Daily News reports: The MTA suspended three New York City subway lines without warning Thursday morning as it faces massive staffing shortfalls from a surge in COVID-19 cases. The agency pulled the brakes on all B, Z, and W trains just before the start of rush hour. Meanwhile, J, D and No. 5 trains will make local …

The New York Times reports: With a caseload nearly twice that of the worst single days of last winter, the United States shattered its record for new daily coronavirus cases, a milestone that may still fall short of describing the true toll of the Delta and Omicron variants because testing has slowed over the holidays. As a second year of …

CNBC reports: JetBlue Airways is cutting more than 1,280 flights from its schedule from Thursday through mid-January in anticipation of more Covid-19 infections among pilots and flight attendants. “This past week has been one of our most difficult operating periods during the pandemic,” three JetBlue department leaders wrote Tuesday in a note to staff, which was seen by CNBC. “The …

The New York Times reports: A Johnson & Johnson booster shot provided strong protection against the Omicron variant, greatly reducing the risk of hospitalization, according to a clinical trial in South Africa. The study, which compared more than 69,000 boosted health care workers with a corresponding group of unvaccinated South Africans, found that two shots of the vaccine reduced the …

New York City’s NBC News affiliate reports: The state reported a new single-day high of 67,090 cases on Wednesday, a 64.5% increase in just the last day, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. The unprecedented total came amid a recent high in the number of daily tests — 362,594 — for a positivity rate of 18.5%. Hospitalizations are escalating exponentially, too, rounding …

Reuters reports: Greece is introducing new restrictions on the hospitality sector from Thursday, bringing forward measures planned for early January as coronavirus infections surge. Bars, nightclubs and restaurants will be forced to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, with the exception of New Year’s Eve when then can stay open until 2 a.m.. “These measures, if …

The Associated Press reports: The mayor of one of Florida’s largest counties on Tuesday blasted Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying he has been missing in action during the latest wave of COVID-19, as some counties brought back mask mandates for government workers and other municipalities opened up new testing sites in response to overwhelming demand. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings …