Your Coronavirus Update – Sept. 23, 2021

Photo: AARP

RHODE ISLAND & VICINITY

Discover Newport has opted not to hold in-person networking events for the next several months due to the uptick in COVID.

The RI Children’s Museum will close for building renovations

MBTA cracking down on non-mask wearers – $50 fine

Providence Firefighters estimate 10% of their employees will not get vaccinated and may leave the department.

Cranston policies in schools has changed to require mandatory PCR testing instead of quarantining for students who travel

Massachusetts is considering vaccination passports. They will require certain state and city workers, including the Massachusetts State Police to be vaccinated.

The Masssachusetts State Police is suing Gov. Baker over the vaccine mandate.

16 RI parents and grandparents from Glocester, Smithfield, North Smithfield, and Warwick are filing suit against RI school mask mandate

Ballou Nursing Home in northern RI is closing due to staffing shortages – Briarcliff has also indicated they may face a serious problem due to staffing shortages.

URI Parents’ Weekend will feature Stephen Colbert at the Ryan Center – all attendees over 12 are required to show proof of vaccination or a valid URI Student ID; mask wearing required except when eating/drinking. (http://www.theryancenter.com/events/A_Conversation_with_Stephen_Colbert)

Ryco’s Creative Sewing Center is closing its doors after decades of operation on Carrington Street in Lincoln.

Massachusetts reported 1,230 cases in the first 3 days of school.

The Governor’s mandate for vaccinations of healthcare workers by Oct. 1 does not include the self-directed programs including Personal Choice, Independent Provider and Shared Living, programs for people on Medicaid. More at Seven Hills of Rhode Island handles these programs. You can learn more here https://www.sevenhills.org/programs/independent-provider-model

Vaccination exemptions for healthcare workers are accepted for some medical conditions – not religious requests. While medical exemptions may be accepted under strict conditions, religious ones are not.

Matt Weldon, head of RI DLT said healthcare workers who claim they have a medical or religious reason would be taken into consideration when looking at claims for unemployment. Otherwise, they’d have to follow any reasonable policy. Weldon notes, “Every UI claim is different and the facts and circumstances presented ultimately determine if that claim will be approved or not. That said, RI law requires workers to adhere to their employer’s policies when those policies have been clearly communicated and are reasonable in nature. If an employee knowingly violates an employer’s policy the law indicates that they would not be eligible for unemployment.”

The Vienna Boys Choir performance at the Diocese for Christmas has been canceled as all performances of the European based choir are canceled through 2022.

Joe Paolino of Paolino Properties says all of his employees must be vaccinated to work for him.

The Providence Journal reports that the RI State Police is not keeping track of vaccination rates

Maribeth Calabro of the Providence Teachers Union feels personally that every teacher should be vaccinated, and she personally wears a mask throughout the day.

90% of employees of Charter Care’s Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital are vaccinated.

Scullers Jazz Club in Boston is reopening for live jazz performances with these regulations: proof of vaccination (may include a physical card or digital photo of the card from the CDC); Children under 12, who cannot be vaccinated, must wear masks; attendees must bring a valid photo ID such as driver’s license, Federal ID or passport. Fully Vaccinated means your first visit to the club is at least 2 weeks after your final dose. Alternatively, you must show proof of a negative Covid test within 48hrs of the show day you plan to attend. In addition, per Boston city mandate, other than when you are eating or drinking, you must wear a mask while attending the show.

Best Buy has started closing some stores – 2 in Connecticut.

Gov. McKee says about 60+ nursing home workers from the Veterans Home and Eleanor Slater Hospital – RNs, CNAs, etc. – will probably not vaccinate by Oct 1st – backup plans made to use retired personnel, traveling nurses, staff, etc. to fill in. RI will sign contract so state isn’t competing w/hospitals to fill positions. These numbers are down from 200+ unvaccinated.

Attleboro/New Bedford HS football team canceled because of COVID outbreak in NB team.

The Franklin Park Zoo is starting to vaccinate vulnerable animals.

Dierks Bentley concert at XFinity Center canceled due to COVID – Bentley notes all of his band are fully vaccinated.

The Bristol Plymouth Football team suspends play through Sept. 27 due to COVID outbreaks.

One hospital in Central MA has run out of ICU beds. Several other MA hospitals are experiencing similar crowding.

TD Garden is requiring fans 12 and older to show proof of vaccination or one of two types of negative COVID-19 test results in order to attend a Bruins or Celtics game, concert, or any other event at the arena.

TD players, referees, coaches, band members, vendors, ushers — anyone who sets foot in the arena. TD Garden officials reached a decision late last week to implement the stricter regulations while the Delta variant prolongs the pandemic.

Of the 22 nursing service agencies in RI, only 57% are vaccinated (as of early Sept).

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Pfizer has authorized Pfizer boosters for over 65 and high risk – next step is CDC approval. Once that happens, in 1-2 days most likely, boosters could begin immediately.

Shipping and certain holiday industries such as toys, artificial Christmas trees, decors, etc. are all expected to have shortages and delays – 93 days to Christmas today.

Brazil’s health minister, Marcelo Queiroga, has tested positive for Covid and gone into isolation, 24 hours after meeting a maskless Boris Johnson and other British officials in New York. They shook hands. Later, Johnson sat next to President Biden and also shook hands with him.

A Chinese city of 10 million shuts down after first COVID-19 cases since February

U.S. doubling order for global COVID vaccines to 1 billion doses.

Pres. Biden to urge 70% world vaccination within year

Germany has ended unemployment/disability payments for people in quarantine who are unvaccinated.

Pakistan received another batch of ten million doses of two Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Wednesday.

Dr. Fauci had predicted 2 football games would become superspreaders. However, events held with 18,000 and 15,000 fans in attendance, most not wearing masks, resulted in a lower average positive rate than in the timeframe before the events were held.

Pediatric vaccinations for children under 12 coming soon; ages 2-5, expected early 2022 – infants and babies – after that.

Recommendations that eventually all Americans will have the ability to test themselves – at home – every day.

Portugal has vaccinated 80% of its population.

Lions and tigers test positive for COVID-19 at Washington DC’s National Zoo

Vaccination rates of staff in nursing homes are directly related to higher quality ratings from the Medicare program, the nonprofit status of the facility and a long-tenured staff also seemed to lead to higher rates, suggesting that facility culture and leadership may play a role.

Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation’s largest nursing-home operators, required vaccinations in August and said it had “met our deadline of 100 percent vaccinated staff, as promised — excluding the small number of individuals who received medical or religious exemptions.”

Nursing home aides — the staff members who provide the most direct care to residents — were the least likely to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by mid-July, according to a new analysis of U.S. facilities. – https://bit.ly/3ztK8KS

CVS Health Corp said on Monday it would fill as many as 25,000 clinical and retail jobs ahead of the flu season and as the United States prepares to administer booster COVID-19 vaccine shots.

FEMA will reimburse NYC hospitals for all costs of COVID19 services – some $900 million

The US death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed that of the 1918 flu pandemic

The CDC said, all in all, the 3 shots – Pfizer, Moderna and J&J – when looked at together: Moderna is the most effective.

The American Heart Association will present this year’s Scientific Sessions 2021 as a fully virtual experience Saturday, November 13 through Monday, November 15, 2021.

For 6.7 miles of the San Francisco marathon road race, those that go through the Golden Gate National Park, regulations will require runners to wear a mask.

The Vatican has just issued a decree that starting 1 Oct 2021, all visitors must have COVID Green Pass.

George Holliday who filmed the Rodney King video has died of COVID at 61. He was not vaccinated.

The NBA won’t require players to get vaccinated this coming season, but they will have separate eating, dressing, and traveling methods to separate them from fully vaccinated players.

Broadway has reopened in NYC.

Idaho principal of a school with masks optional has died of COVID – he had 7 children.

Chris Rock has COVID-19, and a message for anyone skeptical of getting the jab: just do it already.

Italy will require its residents to show a health pass to go to work, the government announced Thursday. It is the first country in Europe to require coronavirus vaccination certificates so widely.

Medicare now has a tool to check the ratings of every nursing home in the US (including RI) – info includes vaccination rates – go to: Medicare Care Compare at: https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/

Hospitals bill insurers more than $300,000 per complex COVID-19 patient, new data show That is more than three times the rate negotiated between hospitals and insurers, a new FAIR Health report estimates.

J&J said in statement Tuesday that it ran two early studies in people previously given its vaccine and found that a second dose produced an increased antibody response 

COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000. 

Family Guy producers have produced an educational/motivational video on vaccinations for COVID-19: