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Your Coronavirus Update – Nov. 3, 2021
BREAKING: Vaccines approved by CDC for children 5-11. Program begins now.
Tuesday night, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that children 5 to 11 years old be vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine. CDC now expands vaccine recommendations to about 28 million children in the United States in this age group and allows providers to begin vaccinating them as soon as possible.
COVID-19 cases in children can result in hospitalizations, deaths, MIS-C (inflammatory syndromes) and long-term complications, such as “long COVID,” in which symptoms can linger for months. The spread of the Delta variant resulted in a surge of COVID-19 cases in children throughout the summer. During a 6-week period in late June to mid-August, COVID-19 hospitalizations among children and adolescents increased fivefold. Vaccination, along with other preventative measures, can protect children from COVID-19 using the safe and effective vaccines already recommended for use in adolescents and adults in the United States. Similar to what was seen in adult vaccine trials, vaccination was nearly 91 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 among children aged 5-11 years. In clinical trials, vaccine side effects were mild, self-limiting, and similar to those seen in adults and with other vaccines recommended for children. The most common side effect was a sore arm.
COVID-19 vaccines have undergone – and will continue to undergo – the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. Vaccinating children will help protect them from getting COVID-19 and therefore reducing their risk of severe disease, hospitalizations, or developing long-term COVID-19 complications. Getting your children vaccinated can help protect them against COVID-19, as well as reduce disruptions to in-person learning and activities by helping curb community transmission.
Distribution of pediatric vaccinations across the country started this week, with plans to scale up to full capacity starting the week of November 8th. Vaccines will be available at thousands of pediatric healthcare provider offices, pharmacies, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and more.
The following is attributable to Dr. Walensky:
“Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against the virus that causes COVID-19. We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a COVID-19 vaccine. As a mom, I encourage parents with questions to talk to their pediatrician, school nurse or local pharmacist to learn more about the vaccine and the importance of getting their children vaccinated.”
The children’s vaccine is a lower dose and clearly marked with orange caps (see photo, above)
For more information on obtaining the shot, locally: https://rinewstoday.com/how-children-5-11-will-soon-get-their-covid-19-vaccination/
NOTE: CVS is now scheduling vaccines, for ages 5+ as early as Sunday.
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RHODE ISLAND & REGIONAL
Stop and Shop delivery – formerly Peapod – now accepts SNAP cards for payment of food items, which can be ordered online.
Brown University has said fully vaccinated undergraduate students and employees are no longer required to be tested for COVID-19 while on campus; they can test if they want to, up to once a week. Unvaccinated students and employees are still required to be tested twice a week every four days. Undergraduate students will be required to test twice after returning from Thanksgiving break. Mask wearing is still in effect.
RI is testing Test to Stay in one Westerly school district. This is a quarantine option for unvaccinated pre K-12 students and staff who are identified as close contacts due to a school-related exposure to COVID-19. It aims to allow students to attend school and school-related extracurricular activities while lowering the risk of spreading COVID-19 to others. Fully vaccinated students and staff identified as close contacts do not need to quarantine if they do not have symptoms of COVID-19. Rhode Island is implementing a pilot of a Test to Stay Program in grades preK-6 in one district. Students and staff who choose the Test to Stay Pilot Program (TTS) option for quarantine will get tested each morning for seven days before going to class and school-related activities. They must follow quarantine guidance at home and when outside of school settings. – More info, here: https://www.back2schoolri.com/test-to-stay/
Lifespan has raised salaries of critical behavioral healthcare workers to either a 3% increase or $20/hour
Governor’s Press Conference:
RI will have small grants – $5K each – available for help in hiring – opens on Thursday – go to: https://backtobusiness.skillsforri.com
We have to help businesses listen to those who are unemployed and what their needs are. There will be more information available at skillsforri.com. We are one of 6 states to be chosen nationally to get assistance with getting people back to work.
The Dunk lottery ticket incentive went well to promote “shots in the arm” with Gene Valicenti and John Hazen White, Jr., who contributed the money for the lottery tickets.
Lt. Gov: Emergency Management Council has grants available. Up to $30 million for RI for 3 options – flood mitigation assistance program for buildings/structures – building resilience infrastructure program (pre-disaster mitigation activity) – hazard mitigation program to reduce/eliminate risk from natural hazard. Especially appropriate for coastal communities. We don’t want to send it back.
Q/A:
Q: Eleanor Slater Hospital – unvaccinated workers could continue working there. Why is this not happening at nursing homes and others who are suffering with severe shortages? Update on replacement workers?
A: Thank healthcare workers who have been vaccinated. We are all much safer. Eleanor Slater staff who are not vaccinated – we haven’t been able to recruit other workers – yet – so they are being kept on. The nursing homes need to be reminded that they came to me and asked for this mandate. We will continue to work with them if they feel as though they have an emergency. Re, Eleanor Slater, there are potentially some National Guard who can assist but they need the specialized skillset for behavioral services. We have a contract with traveling nurses – a commitment for 6 personnel for tomorrow has now been reduced to 3.
Q: Any other industry groups in healthcare that have approached you about mandates?
A: No, we’ve done well with this. For those with 100+ employees, states with very high vaccination rates and very low virus rates – we may talk to D.C. It will always be disruptive. Our economy depends on people working. There may be something coming out of D.C. by the end of the week for states like ours, such as testing and masking.
Q: Infante-Green’s contract coming up for vote tonight?
A: I look forward to working with her; hope the commission will complete her contract.
Q: Do you think there are more systemic issues about returning to work? Those with investments and savings vs. those who have no skills, education – is there a dual standard? Childcare issues being another determinant. People applying for jobs 30-40 times and getting no responses, as an example.
A: It’s an employer and employee issue. We need to take the time to find out all the reasons. It’s a 2-way street. Multiple issues at play. Workforce that wants to train up. We need to dig deep into this issue.
Q: We need to pay people more in the short term?
A: The hourly rate staff payment scales is rising everywhere. A lot of pressure to raise rates. Companies who understand the dynamics are going to benefit by this.
Q: MTX Corp qualifies for millions in tax credits for only 250 jobs in a year. While worthy in concept, is this the right way to proceed?
A: I’m all in for reducing the cost of business. We need more suggestions. We need to capture both large and small companies. And we are having significant success.
Q: Items in budget for businesses?
A: Fixing unlevel playing fields between RI and bordering state businesses – coming out of a pandemic, dealing with economic issues, 18% and 14% interest/penalties on overdue taxes – need that to change.
Q: Why doesn’t RI have skilled labor technical training at URI/CCRI, RIC? Not just New England Tech which is expensive and private?
A: We talked about that yesterday – to bring skilled labor training to our state colleges. We viewed Building Futures in Woonsocket yesterday too – very good program that should be replicated. Rhode Island College needs a new branding strategy.
Q: Do you support new bus hub in front of the Garrahy complex?
A: It has to fit the budget – I don’t want to be specific about the exact design, location.
Q: Experts seem to think mandates bring percentage vaccinated up – what number is good for you for us to move past all our restrictions?
A: We want to be the top – we’re very good now – 90% without mandates we succeeded in reaching.
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
COVID19 total death toll passes 5 million in past 2 years
About 9,000 New York City municipal workers were put on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that took effect Monday and thousands of city firefighters have called out sick in an apparent protest over the requirement
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tests positive for COVID-19, with members of her family testing positive. She has mild symptoms. Declined to travel with the President to Europe, last seen with the President on Tuesday – tested negative for four days, then positive on Sunday.
Visitors were suddenly locked in Shanghai Disneyland after a positive Covid-19 case was found in a woman who traveled from Hangzhou, China.
University Hospital in New Jersey will require 270 employees to get COVID-19 booster shots by Dec. 24.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be back this year – larger than ever.
As restrictions in New Zealand are eased, the number of Covid cases is expected to soar and critics say a higher price will be paid by the country’s minority communities, including the Indigenous Maori population.
A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study hunting for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus. The drug used to treat OCD and depression is fluvoxamine.
Merck agrees to let other drug makers make its COVID pill – this will help millions of people in poorer countries get access
Deer have been found to carry coronavirus.
Cruise Ships – Federal CDC health officials extended for nearly three more months rules cruise ships must follow to travel during the pandemic.
Test before Turkey? – Some researchers are saying if tests were more plentiful, they would recommend everyone test before gathering for Thanksgiving
In Portugal, over 120,000 have received their 3rd shot – boosters
The Kremlin insisted on Monday that Russian-developed Sputnik Light was a standalone COVID-19 vaccine, after Russia’s health minister was quoted as saying it would be used only as a booster for people who have already been inoculated with non-Sputnik vaccines.