New York City schools now offering 2nd dose; COVID cases higher among unvaccinated - WABC-TV

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Amid overwhelming demand -- and with concern growing over the emerging omicron variant -- New York City is offering second COVID vaccine doses starting Tuesday at its public schools.

In-school vaccination clinics were so popular during the first round earlier this month that the city decided to bring them back to hundreds of schools, including PS 40 in Gramercy.

The clinics are offering second doses of the Pfizer vaccine to children as young as 5.

Right now, only 16% percent of NYC school kids age 5 to 11 have gotten their first shot, and officials want to dramatically boost those numbers.

ALSO READ | No confirmed cases of omicron variant in NYC, but new mask advisory issued

The city's popular $100 vaccine incentive does apply to youngsters if they are vaccinated at a city-run site, including schools.

School vaccine schedules can be found at Schools.nyc.gov/COVID19, and school leaders are also sending home communications with students.

Meantime, four months after the city staged a massive reopening concert, Mayor Bill de Blasio is asking people to put their masks back on.

The city is strongly encouraging people to wear masks in all indoor settings ahead of the expected arrival of the omicron variant, though the mayor stressed it was an advisory and not a mandate.
"We did put out the mask advisory to say formally, in a way more than we've done previously, it's time to use the masks in a lot of settings," he said. "But the key strategy is vaccination. If something changes, of course, a mask mandate is an option. But it's not one we're using right now."

The mayor says 88% of New York City adults have gotten at least one shot, and close to a million have received boosters. Still, the number of new cases in unvaccinated people far exceeds instances among fully vaccinated people.

So far, New York has no confirmed cases of the omicron variant, but experts say it's only a matter of time, with initial data suggesting this variant may spread even easier than the delta variant.

Health experts say your best defense remains vaccination and boosters.

"We don't know exactly what's going on with this variant, but I would assume -- and I think it's a reasonable assumption -- that when you get vaccinated and boosted and your level goes way up, you're going to have some degree of protection, at least against severe disease," Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

ALSO READ | 2 men impersonating NYPD officers rob home in the Bronx: New video

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi said previous infection may not provide protection due to the number of mutations on the variant.

"Preliminary evidence suggests that those who've had COVID-19 in the past may be more easily re-infected with omicron," he said.

Experts say it's just one more reason to get vaccinated.

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Local health systems say they're prepared for winter Covid upswing and omicron variant - Crain's New York Business

Covid-19 positivity rates have been increasing in the city and state in recent months, but the city’s health systems said cases have been within their capabilities to handle. They added that even if the omicron variant adds a surge on top of Delta, they do not anticipate any disruptions in supplies or services downstate.

As of Sunday, the state’s seven-day Covid-19 test positivity rate average exceeded 4%—a level last seen around May.

“This upswing hasn’t been surprising,” said Dr. Bruce Lee, professor of health policy and management at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health. Evidence suggests respiratory viruses increase in transmission during drier and colder weather, Lee said, and people staying indoors more as Covid precautions relaxed probably drove rates up.

“Public health planners had already anticipated a winter surge,” he said.

But local health systems cited adequate capacity to handle the recent increase in cases, especially downstate. The city’s seven-day positivity rate was about 2%, according to state data.

“We’re not even close to filling up our capacity that we saw in spring last year,” said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at Northwell Health. As of Monday, the Long Island health system was on average at 82% capacity. The majority of recent Covid cases have been unvaccinated individuals, but there was no need to curtail any services, Farber said.

A big part of the ease had to do with experience, said Dr. Laura Iavicoli, assistant vice president of emergency management at NYC Health + Hospitals.

“This looks like the beginning of a fourth wave,” Iavicoli said, “and given our modeling, it looks like we will not surpass two-thirds of what we saw in the third wave this summer.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s declaration of a state of emergency, permitting hospitals to implement a flex and surge strategy and cancel elective procedures if needed, was probably less relevant to downstate hospitals, said Dr. Brian Bosworth, chief medical officer at NYU Langone Health.

“The governor said she wanted the flex to help hospitals that were in danger of running out of beds adjust capacity,” Bosworth said. “That seemed to concern mostly institutions upstate.”

Local health systems also said they had adequate supplies and personal protective equipment for the current surge and beyond.

Dr. Bernard Camins, medical director of infection prevention at Mount Sinai Health System, said the institution had a stable supply since the summer of last year, having drawn lessons from the shortage experienced during the spring surge of 2020.

What local institutions are keeping an eye out for, however, is how the omicron variant plays out in the city.

“It’s too early to say omicron will cause a surge,” Lee said. Although early reports suggest it might have increased transmissibility compared with Delta, it is not clear it can outcompete the other variants circulating, he said.

“People were worried the episilon variant seen in California was going to spread nationwide, but that got outcompeted by Delta instead,” he noted.

“One thing is clear is that the recent upswing is over 99% Delta,” Iavicoli said. That variant spread is still not over, she said, adding New Yorkers need to remain vigilant about masking as they head into the winter.

In case omicron does result in another surge, health systems are beginning preparations. NYU Langone is considering increasing the amount of variant sequencing it does with its positive tests, Bosworth said. Mount Sinai’s pathogen surveillance team is in the process of expanding its surveillance lab capacity to detect the omicron variant earlier, Camins said.

Bed capacity remains top of mind, and system-wide briefings on how to turn beds in units for Covid use have been distributed, Iavicoli said. Similarly, Northwell has playbooks available to extend its bed count to levels seen during the spring surge last year, to more than 5,000 beds, a Northwell spokeswoman said.

It’s never too early to start preparing for the omicron variant, Bosworth said, adding it could already be on our shores.

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NYC offers 2nd dose of COVID vaccine at public schools starting today - WABC-TV

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Amid overwhelming demand -- and with concern growing over the emerging omicron variant -- New York City is offering second COVID vaccine doses starting Tuesday at its public schools.

In-school vaccination clinics were so popular during the first round earlier this month that the city decided to bring them back to hundreds of schools, including PS 40 in Gramercy.

The clinics are offering second doses of the Pfizer vaccine to children as young as 5.

Right now, only 16% percent of NYC school kids age 5 to 11 have gotten their first shot, and officials want to dramatically boost those numbers.

ALSO READ | No confirmed cases of omicron variant in NYC, but new mask advisory issued

The city's popular $100 vaccine incentive does apply to youngsters if they are vaccinated at a city-run site, including schools.

School vaccine schedules can be found at Schools.nyc.gov/COVID19, and school leaders are also sending home communications with students.

Meantime, four months after the city staged a massive reopening concert, Mayor Bill de Blasio is asking people to put their masks back on.

The city is strongly encouraging people to wear masks in all indoor settings ahead of the expected arrival of the omicron variant, though the mayor stressed it was an advisory and not a mandate.
"We did put out the mask advisory to say formally, in a way more than we've done previously, it's time to use the masks in a lot of settings," he said. "But the key strategy is vaccination. If something changes, of course, a mask mandate is an option. But it's not one we're using right now."

The mayor says 88% of New York City adults have gotten at least one shot, and close to a million have received boosters. Still, the number of new cases in unvaccinated people far exceeds instances among fully vaccinated people.

So far, New York has no confirmed cases of the omicron variant, but experts say it's only a matter of time, with initial data suggesting this variant may spread even easier than the delta variant.

Health experts say your best defense remains vaccination and boosters.

"We don't know exactly what's going on with this variant, but I would assume -- and I think it's a reasonable assumption -- that when you get vaccinated and boosted and your level goes way up, you're going to have some degree of protection, at least against severe disease," Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

ALSO READ | 2 men impersonating NYPD officers rob home in the Bronx: New video

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi said previous infection may not provide protection due to the number of mutations on the variant.

"Preliminary evidence suggests that those who've had COVID-19 in the past may be more easily re-infected with omicron," he said.

Experts say it's just one more reason to get vaccinated.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 COVERAGE

New York City COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on coronavirus

Submit a News Tip or Question

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US tracking of virus variants has improved after slow start - KKTV 11 News

(AP) – After a slow start, the United States has improved its surveillance system for tracking new coronavirus variants such as omicron, boosting its capacity by tens of thousands of samples per week since early this year.

Viruses mutate constantly. To find and track new versions of the coronavirus, scientists analyze the genetic makeup of a portion of samples that test positive.

They’re looking at the chemical letters of the virus’s genetic code to find new worrisome mutants, such as omicron, and to follow the spread of known variants, such as delta.

It’s a global effort, but until recently the U.S. was contributing very little. With uncoordinated and scattershot testing, the U.S. was sequencing fewer than 1% of positive specimens earlier this year. Now, it is running those tests on 5% to 10% of samples. That’s more in line with what other nations have sequenced and shared with global disease trackers over the course of the pandemic.

“Genomic surveillance is strong,” said Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious diseases at the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Contributing to the effort are nearly 70 state and local public health labs, which are sequencing 15,000 to 20,000 specimens each week. Other labs, including those run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its contractors, bring the total to 40,000 to 80,000 weekly.

Nine months ago, about 12,000 samples each week were being analyzed in this way.

“We’re in a much, much better place than a year ago or even six or nine months ago,” said Kenny Beckman of the University of Minnesota, who credited federal dollars distributed to public and private labs. He directs the university’s genomics laboratory, which now sequences about 1,000 samples a week from states including Minnesota, Arkansas and South Dakota. A year ago, the lab did no sequencing.

Relying on $1.7 billion in President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill, the U.S. has been setting up a national network to better track coronavirus mutations.

Still, about two dozen countries are sequencing a larger proportion of positive samples than the U.S., said Dr. William Moss of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Omicron’s emergence could “stimulate the United States to do this better.”

“I think we still have a long way to go,” Moss said.

Some states are sequencing only about 1% of samples while others are in the range of 20%, noted Dr. Phil Febbo, chief medical officer for Illumina, a San Diego-based company that develops genomic sequencing technologies.

“We could be more systematic about it and more consistent so we ensure there are no genomic surveillance deserts where we could miss the emergence of a variant,” Febbo said.

Aiding the surveillance effort, standard PCR tests that use nasal swabs sent to laboratories can detect a sign that someone probably has the omicron variant. If a PCR test is positive for only two of the three target genes — a so-called S-dropout test result — it’s a marker for omicron even before the extra step of genetic sequencing to prove it.

“It’s fortuitous,” said Trevor Bedford, a biologist and genetics expert at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “If you need to do sequencing to identify the variant you’re always going to be lagged a bit and it’s going to be more expensive. If you just rely on this S-dropout as identification then it’s easier.”

He said other variants also have sparked this quirk in PCR test results, but not the delta variant. With delta so dominant in the U.S. right now, an S-dropout result will get noticed, Bedford said. (Bedford receives funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports The Associated Press Health and Science Department.)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said it is “inevitable” that omicron will make its way into the United States.

Many experts said it’s probably already here and will be picked up by the surveillance system soon. But the question is, then what?

University of Wisconsin AIDS researcher David O’Connor noted: “We don’t have the sorts of interstate travel restrictions that would make it possible to contain the virus in any one place.”

Instead, genomic surveillance will tell officials if omicron is spreading unusually fast somewhere and whether more resources should be sent to those places, he said.

When omicron does surface, public health authorities will have to consider other variables in their triage efforts, such as the level of infection already present in that community and the vaccination rate. Serious outbreaks in highly vaccinated areas would be particularly concerning.

Still, the University of Minnesota’s Beckman sees little upside in vastly ramping up sequencing.

“You don’t need to sequence more than a few percent of positive cases to get a feel for how quickly it’s growing,” he said.

Unlike in some other countries, U.S. government officials haven’t exercised the authority to force people to quarantine if they test positive for worrisome variants. Given that, sequencing is mainly a surveillance tool for tracking mutations’ spread.

“I think it’s important to track variants, but I don’t think it’s practical to think that we’re going to be able to sequence quickly and broadly enough to stop a variant in its tracks,” Beckman said.

___

AP writers Lauran Neergaard, Matthew Perrone and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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NY Monitoring Omicron Variant of COVID-19 - wrcr.com

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio Monday “strongly recommended” every New Yorker, including fully-vaccinated people and those who have had the virus, should wear masks in all indoor public places due to the potential for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 to arrive. In a press conference yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul said the situation is being closely monitored, and she fully expects it to arrive here…

Dr. Kirsten St. George is the Director of Virology at the New York Wadsworth Lab, and she says continuous monitoring of positive COVID specimens has not yet found any evidence of the new strain being in the country or the state…

The governor also says she’s concerned about the number of COVID hospitalizations trending up while the number of available hospital beds is going down.

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Amid Variant Fears, U.K. Discovers Limits to Its Virus Strategy - The New York Times

Britain’s approach to coronavirus-related restrictions has been looser than other European countries, but the Omicron variant has spurred swift action on mitigation measures.

LONDON — At almost every step of the pandemic, Britain has been a coronavirus renegade. It locked down later than its European neighbors in March 2020, rolled out vaccines faster than almost any major country earlier this year, and threw off virtually all restrictions last summer in an audacious bid to return life to normal.

But with worries about a new variant, Omicron, flaring across the world, Britain has edged back in line with its neighbors in rushing to protect itself. Prime Minister Boris Johnson swiftly banned travel from 10 African countries, made face masks compulsory in shops and on public transportation, and on Tuesday greatly accelerated the deployment of vaccine booster shots, hoping to inject every adult by the end of January.

Britain’s approach is still significantly looser than countries like Austria, which are back in national lockdowns. People can gather in pubs without masks, for example, and officials keep promising weary Britons a normal Christmas. But Mr. Johnson said the government was prepared to stiffen its laissez-faire approach, at least for the moment, to stave off another wave of infection.

“We’re going to be throwing everything at it,” Mr. Johnson said at a Downing Street news conference. “We’re taking some proportionate precautionary measures while our scientists crack the Omicron code.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a briefing on Covid-19 on Tuesday.Pool photo by Tom Nicholson

Public-health experts welcomed the moves as a recognition that there are limits to Britain’s distinctive strategy, which combines a robust vaccination program with an almost total lack of restrictions since July. It showed, they said, that going it alone does not make sense with a fast-moving variant.

“The U.K. has reacted pretty promptly and basically initiated their Plan B, which many people like myself think they should have initiated a couple of months ago, to put off the threat of the new variant,” said Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London. “They are bringing the booster forward and making it available to anyone, which I think gives the right message.”

Under the new plan, Britain will expand eligibility for a booster shot to anyone 18 and older; they had previously been restricted to people over 40. It will shorten the time between shots to three months from six months, drawing on 400 military personnel to help deliver the extra doses. And it will offer a second vaccine shot to children aged 12 to 18, rather than only to those 16 or older.

The government will require all visitors to take a Covid test by the end of their second day after arrival in the country and quarantine until they receive a negative result. But officials brushed aside a call by the authorities in Scotland and Wales to impose a mandatory eight-day quarantine on all people who enter the country.

Even without the new variant, Britain has been reporting cases at a rate of more than 40,000 a day. The government has tolerated that high number because 80 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, which has weakened the link between infections and hospital admissions. About 30 percent of adults have gotten booster shots.

Masked shoppers at a Christmas market in London on Monday.Andy Rain/EPA, via Shutterstock

While the new regulations on travel and face masks bring Britain closer to other European countries, Professor Spector, who leads the Zoe Covid Study, which tracks Covid-19 symptoms, noted that “by comparison with other countries, the restrictions are still pretty mild.”

He also pointed out that Britain was slow out of the gate last week after news of the variant first emerged. It allowed passengers from African nations who landed in Britain to disperse into the country without testing them.

The government has stopped short of ordering people to work from home or mandated vaccine passports or masks in restaurants in England. France requires vaccine passports for restaurants. Spain and Italy mandate the wearing of masks in schools. In England, the Department of Education only advised students 12 and older to wear masks in communal areas, beginning Monday.

Mr. Johnson declined to advise people to cancel Christmas festivals, Nativity plays, or other social gatherings — parting company with one of his top health advisers, Jenny Harries, who said earlier that people should consider cutting back on socializing during the holiday season to curb potential transmission.

“I’m still confident that this Christmas will be considerably better than last Christmas,” said Mr. Johnson, alluding to the coal in British stockings last year after the rampaging Alpha variant forced the government to impose a lockdown.

Much of Britain’s strategy still hinges on its faith in vaccines, one of the few bright spots in its otherwise erratic response to the pandemic. Britain’s rapid rollout buoyed the Johnson government and gave it both the political capital and epidemiological case for easing pandemic restrictions in July — a policy it has stuck with even as the weather has chilled and cases remained stubbornly high.

A road sweeper on London Bridge in October. By Monday, health officials had identified 13 cases of the Omicron variant in England. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

“Our strategy is to buy the time we need to assess this variant,” the health minister, Sajid Javid, said on Tuesday. There are now 13 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in England and nine in Scotland, he said, adding that it was not clear whether the most recent cases were linked to travel from Africa or community transmission.

The Coronavirus Pandemic: Key Things to Know

---

Card 1 of 4

The Omicron variant. The latest Covid-19 variant was identified on Nov. 25 by scientists in South Africa, though Dutch officials said two cases were detected in the Netherlands days earlier. Should you be concerned? Here are answers to common questions about this variant.

Travel restrictions and lockdowns. As more Omicron cases emerge globally, countries are responding in varied ways. Japan joined Israel and Morocco in barring all foreign travelers, and Australia delayed reopening its borders for two weeks. Here’s a list of where U.S. citizens can travel right now and what to know about travel restrictions.

A new type of treatment. A panel of advisers to the F.D.A is meeting to discuss an antiviral pill from Merck, the first in a new class of treatments that could work against a wide range of variants. ​​The panel will vote on whether to recommend authorizing the drug for high-risk patients, which the F.D.A. could do within days.

Economic impact. Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, driven by the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will hasten the removal of its supports for the economy just as Omicron has begun to spread. Meanwhile, analysts expect the markets to face weeks of uncertainty and increased volatility amid the new variant’s arrival.

On London’s busy streets, already twinkling with Christmas lights, some said the new rules seemed to be making a difference, after months in which mask-wearing habits had become rather desultory.

“Everyone’s wearing masks, and there’s a lot more police presence at stations,” said Joanne Cairns, 42, a marketing officer who arrived in London on Tuesday from the north of England.

But Matteo Grios, 32, said he found the patchwork of rules confusing. “Masks on public transport aren’t really going to stop the spread of the virus when you have big events happening at stadiums, or pubs where people get drunk,” he said.

Mr. Johnson’s reluctance to impose sweeping measures reflects pressure from his own Conservative Party. Experts say it is unlikely he would find robust support from restive lawmakers, some of whom flaunt their distaste for such measures by refusing to wear masks in Parliament.

While the House of Commons voted in favor of the mask mandate and travel restrictions on Tuesday, a handful of Conservative lawmakers warned against what they called the government’s authoritarian drift.

“Boris Johnson does face quite a lot of opposition on his backbench,” said Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, a London-based research group. She noted that he had alienated members with his handling of issues like a row over Conservative lawmakers who have lucrative second jobs.

Still, unlike last spring, when Mr. Johnson dragged his heels on imposing a travel ban on India after the emergence of the Delta variant, Britain acted quickly this time. Critics suggest he delayed putting India on a “red list” back then to avoid antagonizing New Delhi at a time when Britain was keen to strike a trade deal.

“The government has been stung by that criticism,” Dr. Rutter said.

Some experts chalk up Britain’s faster response to simple trial and error, after nearly two years of grappling with the ever-shifting challenges of the pandemic. On masks, for example, officials initially played down their efficacy, then urged people to wear them in confined spaces, before relaxing the guidance again in July.

“No country has found a good way of living with this virus,” said Devi Sridhar, head of the global public health program at the University of Edinburgh. “Going it alone with mixed strategies and restrictions has not worked out well.”

Saskia Solomon contributed reporting.

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