New York mandates COVID vaccination for all city workers, offers bonus
New York Mayor Invoice de Blasio is providing a carrot to go together with the vaccination mandate stick.
De Blasio on Wednesday introduced that each one 160,000 metropolis workers must be vaccinated by Oct. 29 or danger being positioned on unpaid depart, however mentioned those that comply will get a $500 bonus.
To be eligible for the bonus, employees must obtain a minimum of their first vaccine dose by Friday of subsequent week. Roughly 46,000 metropolis workers, practically 29% of the overall, have but to get their photographs.
Vaccination has been required for metropolis well being care and colleges workers since late September. The mayor mentioned vaccination charges for these departments are 95% or larger. Different metropolis employees additionally confronted the identical requirement however may get examined often for the virus as a substitute. That is not an possibility.
“There isn’t any better privilege than serving the individuals of New York Metropolis, and that privilege comes with a duty to maintain your self and your neighborhood protected,” de Blasio mentioned.
Additionally within the information:
►Former NFL broad receiver Kenbrell Armod Thompkins pleaded responsible in Miami to stealing identities to fraudulently receive coronavirus-related unemployment insurance coverage advantages in California. He faces as much as 12 years in jail at his scheduled Jan. 6 sentencing.
►The Brazilian Senate is predicted to advocate that President Jair Bolsonaro be indicted on felony fees for allegedly bungling Brazil’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A Senate report requires Bolsonaro to be indicted on 9 fees starting from charlatanism to crime in opposition to humanity.
►The proprietor of a Louisiana livestock enterprise has pleaded responsible to stealing greater than $76,000 from a federal support program to assist compensate farmers and ranchers for losses from the coronavirus pandemic. Burnell Gabriel Zachary has agreed to repay the cash as a part of his plea settlement with federal prosecutors.
►Conservative radio host Dennis Prager, 73, says he contracted COVID-19 on objective after months of attempting to get contaminated. The host of “The Dennis Prager Present” advised listeners he hopes to “obtain pure immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics.”
📈 Right now’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded greater than 45.1 million confirmed COVID-19 instances and greater than 729,000 deaths, in accordance to Johns Hopkins University data. World totals: Greater than 241.8 million instances and 4.91 million deaths. Greater than 189.4 million Individuals – 57.1% of the inhabitants – are absolutely vaccinated, based on the CDC.
📘 What we’re studying: Nearly two years after the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many employers and companies are requiring the vaccine. However what occurs to those that refuse? Some have been fired or benched. Others stop. Those that did embody soccer coaches, Broadway stars and information reporters. Read about them here.
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FDA OKs mixing COVID vaccine boosters, backs Moderna, J&J boosters
Extra Individuals could be eligible for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines and will get any model of vaccine they select, based on an authorization Wednesday from the Meals and Drug Administration.
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention nonetheless must log off earlier than booster photographs of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines change into out there. A vaccine advisory panel, assembly Thursday, will contemplate the identical authorization, which might then want approval from the CDC’s director.
Loads of booster doses will likely be out there for individuals who need them, the White Home has mentioned.
The FDA desires the identical teams of individuals to be eligible for a booster shot of Moderna as can already get a 3rd dose of the very related Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The Moderna booster dose could be half the unique dose, at 50 micrograms.
Beneath the FDA’s advice, individuals who received Moderna photographs initially would change into eligible for boosters six months after they end the preliminary two-dose sequence if they’re over 65 or at excessive danger for COVID-19 due to well being issues, jobs or dwelling circumstances.
With J&J, the FDA mentioned, a second dose of the vaccine will carry safety as much as the extent offered by the opposite two vaccines. Everybody who received the J&J vaccine can get a second dose two months after their preliminary dose with no restrictions.
The brand new suggestions would additionally enable anybody to decide on which model they need for a booster dose, somewhat than sticking with the vaccine they received initially.
— Karen Weintraub and Elizabeth Weise
Florida fireplace chief terminated after failing to self-discipline employees over vaccine mandate
A Florida battalion chief who was fired for refusing to self-discipline employees who hadn’t complied with a county requirement to get vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19 was attempting to guard them from a wrongful punishment, the firefighters union mentioned.
Orange County Hearth Rescue battalion chief Stephen Davis was fired Tuesday for failure to observe a direct order and difficulty disciplinary actions earlier this month, mentioned Lisa McDonald, a spokeswoman for the fireplace division in metro Orlando.
However a union representing firefighters advised WFTV in Orlando that Davis didn’t difficulty the sanction as a result of the employees on his checklist had been mistakenly recognized as unvaccinated or hadn’t gotten of their requests for spiritual exemptions on time.
“He didn’t do what he was requested to do as a result of he realized some individuals on the spreadsheet that he obtained had been absolutely vaccinated and had spiritual exemptions on the time,” firefighter Jason Wheat advised the TV station, which mentioned Davis and dozens of different fireplace division workers have sued the county over its vaccine mandate.
White Home to distribute 15M doses in first week as soon as vaccine for teenagers 5-11 will get OK
The Biden administration mentioned Wednesday that it has obtained sufficient coronavirus vaccine and is ready to quickly and equitably distribute doses for the nation’s 28 million kids ages 5-11 as soon as federal officers authorize it.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds may win authorization in a few weeks, White Home Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients mentioned at a briefing Wednesday. He mentioned 15 million vaccines would then be shipped within the first week alone.
Vaccines for kids would be the focus of the Meals and Drug Administration’s unbiased advisory committee assembly Tuesday and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s unbiased panel assembly Nov. 2-3.
“Our planning efforts imply that we’ll be prepared to start getting photographs in arms within the days following a last CDC advice,” the White Home mentioned in a press release.
The assertion mentioned 25,000 pediatrician and first care places of work, greater than 100 kids’s hospitals, tens of hundreds of pharmacies and a whole bunch of faculties and community-based clinics will likely be offering the photographs.
85% of companies that closed throughout COVID again up and working
The overwhelming majority of companies that briefly closed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have reopened, based on a brand new Yelp report. Eighty-five % of the companies that shuttered from March 2020 by means of the third quarter are up and running, Yelp mentioned, citing knowledge on enterprises listed on its well-liked buyer evaluate web site. Many eating places, retailers and different shops nonetheless aren’t working at full capability amid employees shortages and risky client demand due to latest COVID spikes triggered by the delta variant. However they’ve survived.
“For a overwhelming majority of these companies to reopen throughout the pandemic is a real testomony to the perseverance and flexibility of these enterprise house owners,” says Justin Norman, Yelp’s vice chairman of knowledge science.
– Paul Davidson
30% of Maryland COVID deaths are amongst absolutely vaccinated
Almost all COVID-19 deaths in Maryland have been amongst people who find themselves unvaccinated, however as the share of absolutely vaccinated residents within the state grows, absolutely vaccinated residents are making up a better share of all individuals dying from the illness within the state.
Andy Owen, a spokesperson for the Maryland Division of Well being, mentioned that from Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, about 30% of Marylanders who died of confirmed COVID-19 had been absolutely vaccinated. Many had different well being points that made them extra susceptible.
Greater than 60% of the state inhabitants is absolutely vaccinated, and the speed of their deaths stays far decrease than amongst those that will not be vaccinated.
“Within the final two months, unvaccinated individuals had been greater than 3.5 instances extra probably than absolutely vaccinated individuals to die from COVID-19, Owen mentioned, who additionally identified the significance of eligible residents getting booster photographs.
– Grace Hauck
Rescue cash concentrating on inexpensive housing, however purple tape abounds
Changing misplaced income to keep away from funds cuts is the most typical use of COVID-19 rescue funds, a USA TODAY evaluate of plans submitted by U.S. cities to the Treasury Division discovered. However with regards to new investments, nothing seems to get extra consideration than affordable housing and programs for the homeless. But housing advocates need extra lasting federal funding than one-time cash. And so they’re searching for execution, not simply plans. Cities and states have been sluggish to spend the rescue cash due to prolonged public enter processes and federal guideline points.
“Definitely, there’s an enormous alternative right here as a result of there may be $350 billion on the desk that can be utilized for housing,” mentioned Sarah Saadian, vice chairman of public coverage on the Nationwide Low Earnings Housing Coalition. Read more here.
– Joey Garrison
In-N-Out restaurant defiant after being shut down over COVID mandate
California burger chain In-N-Out had a San Francisco restaurant briefly shut down for failing to observe a metropolis requirement that workers verify prospects for proof of vaccination to eat within the eating places.
The chain mentioned the restaurant had indicators explaining the vaccination necessities however was not checking for vaccination playing cards. The town Well being Division shut down the restaurant briefly on Thursday, although it rapidly reopened for grab-and-go solely.
“We refuse to change into the vaccination police for any authorities,” the corporate mentioned in a press release. The town Well being Division responded that “vaccination is especially necessary in a public indoor setting the place teams of persons are gathering and eradicating their masks, elements that make it simpler for the virus to unfold.”
Deaths, new case charges down sharply from latest peak
COVID-19 is killing about 20% fewer Individuals now than throughout the latest peak of deaths 4 weeks in the past, and instances are being reported at lower than half the tempo they had been throughout an earlier a part of the delta variant-driven wave.
Johns Hopkins College knowledge reveals states reported 11,725 deaths within the week ending Tuesday, down from greater than 14,500 per week lower than a month in the past. Within the week ending Tuesday the USA reported 569,445 new instances, in contrast with about 1.15 million a few month and a half in the past.
The upper numbers got here amid America’s first huge encounter with the extremely contagious delta variant. The excessive counts got here months after free, efficient vaccines grew to become broadly out there to American adults and teenagers.
– Mike Stucka
Fox Information Channel’s Neil Cavuto checks optimistic, urges vaccination
Fox Information Channel anchor Neil Cavuto says he has tested positive for COVID-19 and that, whereas he was shocked by the information, “medical doctors inform me I’m fortunate as properly.” Cavuto wasn’t on air for “Your World with Neil Cavuto” Tuesday after studying of his check outcomes following Monday’s episode. Cavuto mentioned in a press release that his situation “could be a much more dire state of affairs” if he had not been vaccinated due to “all my medical points.”
Cavuto, 63, had open-heart surgical procedure in 2016, was recognized with a number of sclerosis in 1997 and was handled for most cancers within the Nineteen Eighties. The Fox Information anchor mentioned he hopes “anybody and everybody will get that message loud and clear” following his analysis: “Get vaccinated, for your self and everybody round you.”
Neighborhood transmission of virus easing throughout nation
A couple of-quarter of Individuals are actually dwelling in a county that not has excessive ranges of neighborhood transmission of coronavirus, a USA TODAY evaluation of Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention knowledge reveals. That is a significant change from earlier in the newest pandemic wave. The CDC defines “excessive” as 100 instances or extra per 100,000 individuals per week.
America is not out of the woods – one other 82.5 million Individuals reside in a “substantial” county and seven.5 million are in a “average” county. About 560,000 are in a “low” counties. The bottom charges had been present in Hawaii, Florida, California and Maryland, the place fewer than one-third of residents lived in locations with excessive ranges of coronavirus. One of the best place on document is Puerto Rico, the place about 71,000 individuals – simply 2.1% of the inhabitants – reside in an space of excessive neighborhood transmission.
Washington sees fallout from state employee vaccine mandate
Greater than 1,800 Washington state employees have been fired, resigned or retired due to the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, based on knowledge launched Tuesday. The newest numbers launched by the governor’s Workplace of Monetary Administration present that about 3% of the state’s roughly 63,000-person workforce that was lined by the mandate have left their jobs, and the instances of one other 4.6% – or 2,887 – are pending as a result of they’re both within the technique of receiving a job lodging, are planning to retire, are getting vaccinated or are awaiting separation from their company.
Of the 1,887 who’re not employed, 1,696 had been fired, 112 resigned and 79 retired.
Contributing: The Related Press