Sources - Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins tests positive for COVID-19 - ESPN

10:59 AM ET

EAGAN, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings placed quarterback Kirk Cousins on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday, the team announced. Cousins, who is not vaccinated, will not be eligible to play at the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.

Cousins was subjected to a daily testing cadence because of his vaccination status. He experienced symptoms on Friday and then tested positive for the virus, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Vikings activated backup quarterback Sean Mannion on Friday; he had been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list hours before Minnesota's loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. Mannion, who is vaccinated, was "sick," according to coach Mike Zimmer.

Mannion is in line to start against the Packers. Minnesota signed Kyle Sloter -- who spent the 2021 season on Las Vegas' practice squad -- earlier this week while Mannion remained on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Rookie Kellen Mond, who was active for the first time all season against the Rams as Cousins' backup, rounds out the QB depth chart.

Mannion, a career No. 2 quarterback, has started only two games over his seven-year NFL career: a Week 17 loss in 2017 to the San Francisco 49ers while a member of the Rams and a Week 17 loss to the Chicago Bears with Minnesota in 2019. In both instances, the Rams and Vikings had already locked up postseason bids and rested most of their starters.

If Mannion throws a touchdown pass against the Packers, it will be the first of his career.

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Mannion spent the 2018-20 seasons in Minnesota as Cousins' No. 2 and was signed to the Vikings practice squad in early September after spending training camp with Seattle Seahawks. He was then promoted to the active roster on Sept. 21.

The Vikings face a must-win situation in Green Bay to keep their playoff hopes alive. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Minnesota's chances of making the playoffs increase to 46% with a win over the Packers and drop to 2% with a loss.

Zimmer said this week that the Vikings were taking more safety measures to keep Cousins and Mond separated to prevent COVID-19 from further affecting the quarterback room.

"We don't want those guys in the same room together, so we're going to try and spread them apart," Zimmer said. Following a 30-23 loss to the Rams in Week 16, Cousins was asked about how the quarterback room would need to adjust with COVID-19 already in the Vikings' building.

"It just is what it is," Cousins said on Sunday. "At this point, you just have to follow the protocols, be disciplined and there's a lot of people not testing. So, it's in our building. It's going to be in our building. It's going to spread. We've just got to be disciplined to keep our distance and make sure that to the best of our ability we don't get it, but it is going to be difficult."

The Vikings had the first NFL quarterback room to be affected by COVID-19 this season after Mond tested positive for the virus during the first week of training camp. Both Cousins and former backup Nate Stanley were deemed high-risk close contacts and were forced to quarantine for five days before returning to practice.

During their night practice on July 31, the Vikings had only one quarterback available -- Jake Browning, who is now on the practice squad in Cincinnati.

After he returned to practice in August following his five-day isolation, Cousins said he was "at peace" with his vaccination decision and called it "a very private health matter."

At one point during the preseason, the Vikings had the highest percentage of unvaccinated players in the NFL. Zimmer aired his frustrations with all the unvaccinated players in Minnesota's locker room -- not just the quarterback group -- and warned of the situation that the Vikings now face.

"Something like this happens a day before a game that has a chance to get you to the playoffs or something like that ... this delta variant is rough," Zimmer said on July 31.

Two days later, Zimmer doubled down on his stance when asked how he would react if the Vikings lost a game because their starting quarterback or a star player was unavailable because of COVID-19 protocols.

"Probably won't be happy we lost the game, first, and I probably won't be happy we could've prevented this," the Vikings coach said on Aug. 2. "Like I said, these guys, some of them just won't do it. I shouldn't say it, but some of the things they read is just, whew, out there."

Cousins is not the Vikings' only star player to end up on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Safety Harrison Smith missed two games after testing positive the morning before a loss to the Baltimore Ravens, and running back Dalvin Cook missed last week's loss to the Rams after testing positive. Starting nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson was also out 10 days after being placed onto the reserve/COVID-19 list.

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COVID-19 outbreak within Denver Nuggets forces postponement vs. Golden State Warriors - ESPN

4:50 PM ET

The NBA has postponed the Golden State-Denver game scheduled for Thursday night after COVID-related issues have left the Nuggets without the necessary eight players required to play.

It is the 11th game to be postponed this season for COVID-related reasons.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone entered the league's health and safety protocols earlier Thursday along with other staff members, including two assistant coaches, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Nuggets forwards Jeff Green and Zeke Nnaji and guard Bones Hyland had also entered protocols Thursday, the team said.

In addition to the protocols, the Nuggets are dealing with several injuries, including questionable status on four players: Monte Morris, Aaron Gordon, Austin Rivers and Vlatko Cancar.

Warriors forward Draymond Green took to social media to vent his frustrations over the game being postponed.

How do you continue to cancel games when you've implemented rules to prevent this from happening? Is that not a competitive advantage for other teams? The guys we didn't have due to the protocol list played no role in Tuesdays loss? Pick a side but don't straddle the fence.

— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021

"How do you continue to cancel games when you've implemented rules to prevent this from happening?" Green posted to Twitter. "Is that not a competitive advantage for other teams? The guys we didn't have due to the protocol list played no role in Tuesdays loss? Pick a side but don't straddle the fence.

"So when the game is rescheduled(which will probably take a day away from our "break"), we wil play them at full strength... But they got to sneak a win when we weren't at full strength, only two days ago??? Let's make it make some sense here."

Green said the postponement also would likely add a back-to-back to the Warriors' schedule, "which is also advantage Denver."

Assistant coach David Adelman will serve as acting head coach for the Nuggets during Malone's absence, sources told ESPN.

Malone joins Doc Rivers (Philadelphia), Frank Vogel (Lakers), Monty Williams (Phoenix), Billy Donovan (Chicago), Chauncey Billups (Portland) and Mark Daigneault (Oklahoma City) as NBA coaches who have entered the COVID-19 protocols.

The Denver Post first reported about Malone and Adelman.

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Florida Democrats blast 'MIA' Gov. Ron DeSantis as Covid cases surge - NBC News

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been missing in action as Covid cases in the state have spiked to new heights, Florida Democratic officials charge.

"Counties are overwhelmed w/ lines that stretch for miles," state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat, tweeted Thursday. "It's every man/woman for themselves, because leadership is MIA," he added.

DeSantis, a Republican and outspoken opponent of vaccine and mask mandates, last held a Covid press briefing on Dec. 17. Covid cases have reached new highs in Florida since then, including a record level of more than 58,000 new cases on Wednesday.

Nov. 18, 202101:39

DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. His press secretary, Christina Pushaw, tweeted Thursday that the governor has "a wife and 3 kids ages 1-5, and it’s not surprising if he wants to take a few days off at Christmas to spend time with his family, especially as his wife is battling cancer. I don’t criticize (President Joe) Biden for going to Rehoboth Beach all week, right?"

Pushaw pointed out some of his daily schedule from Tuesday, which showed he had had meetings scheduled at the Florida Capitol with state officials.

In a press conference Tuesday, Jerry Demings, the Democratic mayor of Orange County, called on the governor to step up his response efforts because the omicron surge has resulted in people waiting in line as long as five hours to get tested.

"We have not received any assistance from the state of Florida at our testing sites," Demings said. "Local governments have been left to figure it out and respond on our own. We are doing our best."

“He signed into law legislation that effectively prohibited local governments from being able to take charge and lead in our fight against Covid-19,” Demings said.

"Our residents, all Florida residents should be outraged, and they should ask the question, now, where's our state? Where's our governor? Where is Ron DeSantis now? When was the last time you saw the governor do a press briefing regarding Covid-19?" Demings asked.

Following Demings' complaints, DeSantis's Twitter account tweeted a picture of him at a sweet shop in Chipley. DeSantis's office told MSNBC the sweet shop visit actually took place on Dec. 16.

The state's agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, said Wednesday that she had "no idea" where DeSantis was.

Fried, who's running for governor as a Democrat, told MSNBC that DeSantis "cancelled our Cabinet meeting in the middle of December" and "I haven't seen him since Dec. 17. I don't know where he is."

"Local counties and state commissioners are having to stand up testing sites," she said. "We have five hour lines in Miami-Dade county, and he's nowhere to be found."

In her Twitter feed, Pushaw blamed the White House for the long testing lines. "Regarding tests, ask Biden, who is on vacation," she tweeted.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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Chicago woman quarantined in airplane bathroom for 3 hours after testing positive for Covid-19 mid-flight - CNN

(CNN) — After a woman tested positive for Covid-19 midflight, the bathroom became her seat for the next few hours.

Marisa Fotieo was on an Icelandair flight from Chicago to Reykjavik, Iceland, on December 19, en route to her final destination of Switzerland with her brother and father.

Before the flight, Fotieo told CNN she took two PCR tests and about 5 rapid tests, all of which came back negative. But about an hour and a half into the flight, Fotieo started to feel a sore throat.

"The wheels started turning in my brain and I thought, 'OK, I'm going to just go take a test.' It was going to make me feel better," Fotieo told CNN. "Immediately it came back positive."

When she got her results in the airplane bathroom, over the Atlantic Ocean, she said she started to panic.

"The first flight attendant I ran into was Rocky. I was hysterical, I was crying," Fotieo said. "I was nervous for my family who I just had dinner with. I was nervous for the other people on the plane. I was nervous for myself."

Ragnhildur Eiríksdóttir, or Rocky, the flight attendant Fotieo ran into, helped calm her down.

"Of course, it's a stress factor when something like this comes up, but that's part of our job," Eiríksdóttir told CNN.

The flight attendant said she did what she could to try to rearrange seats so Fotieo could be seated in a spot alone, but the flight was full.

"I was nervous for my family who I just had dinner with. I was nervous for the other people on the plane. I was nervous for myself," Marisa Fotieo told CNN.

Courtesy Marisa Fotieo

"When she came back and told me she couldn't find enough seating, I opted to stay in the bathroom because I did not want to be around others on the flight," Fotieo said.

A note was then put on the bathroom door saying it was out of service, and that was Fotieo's new seat for the remainder of the flight.

CNN contacted Icelandair on Thursday for comment but has yet to hear back.

Policies vary among airlines as to how to handle a Covid-positive passenger. This comes just weeks after the US and other countries have made travel restrictions amid the spread of the Omicron variant.

She was inside the bathroom for about three hours. Eiríksdóttir continuously checked up on her and provided her with plenty of food and drinks.

"I was in shock that I was missing out on a family trip. I was in shock that I was going to be in Iceland alone. I was in shock that I had 20 families back home that just had me in their classroom," Fotieo said.

While inside the bathroom, she said she bought internet access and made calls to let her school know. She also made a TikTok video, which has been viewed more than 4.3 million times, as of Thursday afternoon.

Fotieo said she did not feel crammed inside the bathroom and was just happy to not be in the main cabin with the rest of the passengers, one of which was her 70-year-old father.

Quarantined in Iceland

Once the plane touched down in Iceland, Fotieo and her family were the last ones off the flight.

Since her brother and father didn't have any symptoms, they were free to take their connecting flight to Switzerland. Fotieo was given both a rapid and PCR test at the airport, both of which were positive, she said.

She was then shuttled to a Red Cross hotel where she began her 10 days of quarantine.

Doctors checked in on her three times a day, she was given meals and medication was readily available. "Honestly it has been an easy experience," Fotieo said. "It's partially due to Rocky and the breed of Icelandic people. Everyone here is so kind."

Marisa Fotieo received gifts, a tree and a card from the flight attendants while quarantined in Iceland.

Courtesy Marisa Fotieo

Throughout her quarantine, she continued to document the experience on TikTok. She even received Christmas gifts and snacks from Eiríksdóttir, who she had stayed in contact with over social media.

"I knew she was going to be by herself in Iceland," Eiríksdóttir said. "So even if it's isolated, if you have someone there that can bring you something is nice. So, I just had to be that someone."

Fotieo's last day of quarantine was December 30 and her family planned to meet up with her then. They will be able to experience Iceland together to make up for the lost time, as their flight back to the States is on January 3.

And Fotieo has plans to meet up with Eiríksdóttir before she leaves the country. Eiríksdóttir also mentioned visiting Fotieo when she has flights over to Chicago.

"Coming out of this experience I have a new friend and I have a new outlook on how much flight attendants have to do," Fotieo said. "Rocky and the flight crew had me, but they also had the other passengers to deal with on the flight."

CNN's Channon Hodge and Mackenzie Happe contributed to this report.

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The latest on coronavirus pandemic and Omicron variant: Live updates - cnn.com

A Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is prepared for administration at a vaccination clinic on September 22, in Los Angeles. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

The mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech is 92% effective at preventing Covid-19 in young people ages 12 to 17, according to data published Thursday in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The researchers looked at 243 adolescents with no previous positive Covid-19 tests in Arizona between July 25 and Dec. 4. The teens or their parents took nasal swabs and sent them in for weekly PCR testing. Twenty-one teens tested positive during the study period, and 18 of them reported symptoms. The findings are consistent with clinical trials and other studies, the researchers report. 

The study took place during a period when Delta was the dominant circulating variant of the coronavirus. Early findings suggest that the latest variant, Omicron, may be less sensitive to vaccines. A booster dose raises protection levels, but boosters have not been approved for children and teens in the US. 

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for people as young as 16, and it’s available under an emergency use authorization for ages 5 to 15. 

Other research published in the MMWR on Thursday found that reports of serious adverse events were rare in children ages 5 to 11 who got the vaccine. 

The study looked at reports of two safety surveillance systems, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and v-safe, from Nov. 3 to Dec. 19. During this period, about 8.7 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were given to kids 5-11. 

VAERS received 4,249 reports of adverse events, and more than 97% were not serious. One hundred serious events were reported, most commonly fever, vomiting and increased levels of troponin, a protein found in the heart muscle. There were 12 reports of seizure and 15 reports of myocarditis, of which 11 were verified.

More on the study: V-safe enrolled 42,504 vaccinated children ages 5-11. After the first dose of the vaccine, 54.8% reported local reactions and 34.7 reported systemic reactions; after the second dose, 57.5% reported local reactions and 40.9% reported systemic reactions. The most commonly reported reactions were pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache.

The researchers noted that their findings are consistent with clinical trials and that both VAERS and v-safe rely on reports that may be biased or underreported. “Parents and guardians of children ages 5 to 11 years should be advised that local and systemic reactions are expected after vaccination,” they wrote. “Vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent Covid-19 infection.”

 

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Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, 3 players enter NBA's COVID-19 protocols - ESPN

12:11 PM ET

The Denver Nuggets are in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak among players, coaches and staff that has put their game Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors in jeopardy, sources told ESPN.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone entered the league's health and safety protocols Thursday, sources said, while the team said forwards Jeff Green and Zeke Nnaji and guard Bones Hyland had also entered.

More staff members -- including two assistant coaches -- have also entered into the protocols, sources said.

The Nuggets could have trouble reaching the required eight players to play against the Warriors in Denver, sources said. In addition to the protocols, the Nuggets are dealing with several injuries, including questionable status on four players: Monte Morris, Aaron Gordon, Austin Rivers and Vlatko Cancar.

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Assistant coach David Adelman will the acting head coach with Malone out, sources said.

Malone joins Doc Rivers (Philadelphia), Frank Vogel (Lakers), Monty Williams (Phoenix), Billy Donovan (Chicago), Chauncey Billups (Portland) and Mark Daigneault (Oklahoma City) as NBA coaches who have entered the COVID-19 protocols.

The Denver Post first reported about Malone and Adelman.

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Alleged Chinese smugglers publicly shamed for breaching Covid rules - CNN

(CNN)Police in southern China paraded four suspects through the streets for allegedly smuggling people across sealed borders in breach of pandemic control measures -- a controversial act of public shaming that triggered backlash on Chinese social media.

On Tuesday, four people wearing hazmat suits, face masks and goggles were paraded in Jingxi city, Guangxi province -- each carrying placards showing their names and photos on their chest and back, according to videos shared on social media and republished by state media outlets.

Each suspect was held by two officers -- also wearing hazmat suits and face shields. They were surrounded by yet another circle of police, some holding machine guns and in riot gear, while a large crowd looked on.

The four people were suspected of helping others to illegally cross China's borders, which have been largely sealed during the pandemic as part of the country's "zero-Covid policy," according to the state-run Guangxi Daily,

The punishment was aimed at deterring border-related crimes and encouraging public compliance with epidemic prevention and control measures, the Guangxi Daily said.

On Tuesday, authorities in Jingxi formally arrested two suspects accused of transporting two Vietnamese immigrants into China in October. One of the immigrants tested positive for coronavirus, causing schools to shut, nearly 50,000 residents to undergo home isolation and more than 10,000 tests to be conducted, according to a report on the Jingxi government website. It is unclear if the two suspects were among the four people paraded on Tuesday.

The suspects are paraded through the streets, surrounded by police and a crowd of onlookers.

Echoes of Cultural Revolution

Border towns face tremendous pressure to keep coronavirus out under China's stringent zero-Covid policy, with local officials periodically fired or punished for failing to contain any flare-ups that evade the tough measures.

Jingxi, a city of about 670,000 people, shares a 152-kilometer (94-mile) border with Vietnam. In neighboring Yunnan province, the city of Ruili was repeatedly locked down for months earlier this year due to imported Covid cases, sparking an outcry from local residents.

Since Tuesday, videos of the public shaming in Jingxi have gained wide attention on Chinese social media, drawing widespread criticism.

To many, the parade and placards hark back to the dark period of the Cultural Revolution. Five decades ago, public shaming exercises were a hallmark of the persecutions unleashed by Mao Zedong's fervent Red Guards, becoming a symbol of the lawlessness and chaos of that decade of social turmoil.

In 1988, the Chinese government banned shaming parades for all suspected and convicted criminals, including those sentenced to death. But similar incidents have occurred repeatedly over the years, prompting criticism from state media -- and more notices reiterating the ban from the government.

Chinese police parade alleged people smugglers for violating pandemic rules.

In 2010, a government adviser hailed a newly issued ban on shaming parades of sex workers as a sign of "the country's growing respect for human rights and dignity," state news agency Xinhua reported.

This time, state media weighed in too. The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, cited a law professor as saying the public shaming in Jingxi "violates Chinese law" and "insults the dignity of citizens."

The Beijing News, another state-run outlet, said the measure "severely violates the spirit of the rule of law," and should not be allowed to happen even when under huge pressure of epidemic prevention.

Meanwhile, the Jingxi police and local government have defended the exercise, claiming it was an "on-site disciplinary warning activity" and there was no "inappropriateness," according to the state-run Zhengzhou Daily.

This is not the first time Jingxi authorities have paraded suspects.

In November, three people accused of people smuggling were held on stage while an official read out their punishments to an audience of hundreds, including primary school students, according to a report on the Jingxi government website.

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