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Your Coronavirus Update – Jan. 3, 2021
RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY
Most schools are back to in-person learning today, with a few exceptions: Blackstone Valley Prep is on Zoom Monday & Tuesday with afternoon rapid testing set up on both days for all students and faculty. Barrington offers Zoom participation for students who are sick or because they were a close contact. Pawtucket Charter School starts 1/6. 3 Central Falls schools and Providence have staggered starts over the next 3 days. Little Compton is now remote. Coventry in-person though kids at home can Zoom in. Met School, 1 week remote, then reassess.
Blackstone Valley Community Health Center on Main Street, Pawtucket temporarily closed. East Ave & Central Falls will stay open.
East Providence schools held a testing clinic Sunday where of 790 students and staff resulted in 113 positive cases. (14.3%)
The Providence College Friars played Seton Hall in Providence and estimates were that only 1% of attendees did not wear masks.
UConn will move classes online for 2 weeks of the spring semester and delay the move-in time.
6 New England Patriot players are on COVID protocols.
According to Nurse Journal, “In 2019, the top-paying states for travel RNs included California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Rhode Island.”
Sen. DiPalma said, “[I’m] at the testing site in Middletown, the line was the entire length of the parking lot, and continued onto Valley Rd. and growing.”
Lines not socially distanced were wrapped around the Providence Career & Tech building with long waits.
1,000 more appointments for East Providence school children will be available TODAY – this is for students only, not parents.
Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley has COVID – “Thankfully, my symptoms are relatively mild, and I am grateful to be fully vaccinated and boosted.
The RI legislature is set to go back in session, in-person with a mask request from House and Senate leadership – it is unclear if non-masking members will abide.
Sen. Sam Bell wants provisions made to take his votes by proxy while he is not in-person as his newborn son is in the PICU and doctors have advised him not to attend. So far, his request has not been granted.
ProJo’s Kathy Gregg reports: New policy for Eleanor Slater Hospital, and healthcare facilities: “they can work even if they have tested positive for COVID, if there is a staffing crisis…Under those circumstances, the memo advised the employees they can work if they are asymptomatic or return to work after 5 days even if they are “mildly symptomatic” in a crisis, as long as they wear N95 masks.Unannounced by the McKee administration, the memo from the Slater hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, cites recent Rhode Island Department of Health guidance for health-care facilities in “crisis situations for staffing” as the basis for the move.
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
Israel begins boosters – 4th shot – to people 60 years of age and older – 4 mos after last shot.
India begins vaccinating children, “before Omicron surge”.
Mailed at home tests won’t come in time to make a difference to the majority of Americans who need them now.
After initially saying that isolation could be done after 5 days, not 10, now Dr. Fauci says the CDC may revisit that and ask for a negative test before returning.
Ryan Bilodeau, an author who writes on immune compromised conditions has COVID and has had a fever for 3 days
Texas AG was successful in getting a court to hold the mandate on vaccines and masks for children in the federal Head Start program
Texas Gov. is requesting federal government assist with COVID testing and vaccination
Omicron seems to spare the lungs, which is one of the reasons it is less threatening than Delta.
Testing sites on Saturday in RI were frought with difficulties, people being turned away, etc. Currently there are no state appointments until Thursday of this coming week. Even people with appointments are being turned away due to confusion, particularly a problem with the Smithfield VFW Hall closing early, etc.
House & Senate still plan on returning to in-person meeting this Tuesday.
Public university students in New York must now get vaccine boosters
NYC official says they are seeing a 50% decrease of customers, with them staying at home due to Omicron.
Children in France 6+ must wear masks inside
“Omicron is truly everywhere,” Dr. Megan Ranney, a professor of emergency medicine at Brown University’s School of Public Health, said Friday to WCVB-Ch. 5 in Boston. “What I am so worried about over the next month or so is that our economy is going to shut down, not because of policies from the federal government or from the state governments, but rather because so many of us are ill.”
“Get ready. We have to remember, in the next few weeks, there’s going to be an unprecedented number of social disruptions,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor University’s National School of Tropical Medicine said in the same interview on WCVB.
NYC Subway has suspended 3 MTA lines due to COVID’s impact on train operators.
Chinese officials are now delivering food to the millions in lockdown, no longer allowing their populace to leave for grocery shopping.
New NYC Mayor opts to keep mandatory vaccine in place for private companies.
Home test kits are plentiful in Ireland, being sold at convenience stores. Approx. $11 each.
Airlines continue thousands of flight cancellations, some happening as late as boarding time.
White House is reducing press room capacity to 14 spaced seats.
US Defense Sect. Lloyd Austin has COVID, with mild symptoms.
Some hospitals are shutting down labor and delivery – Holy Cross in Florida, etc.
In England, doctors are saying that people 50 and over have an increased chance of hospitalization if they get COVID, vaccinated or not.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Jan. 7 on whether the Biden administration can order workers at private companies and health care employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
Italy is now evaluating plans to require COVID booster vaccinations every four months for the “Green Pass” to be valid (public transit, work, restaurants). Currently they are on a six-month schedule, essentially mandating two boosters per year. This would increase that to three.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Sunday the isolation period for fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19 would be cut to seven days from 10 days.