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U.S. renews COVID-19 public health emergency

The United States on Wednesday renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency, allowing millions of Americans to keep getting free tests, vaccines and treatments for at least three more months.

The public health emergency was initially declared in January 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began. It has been renewed each quarter since and was due to expire on April 16.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a statement said it was extending the public health emergency and that it will give states 60 days notice prior to termination or expiration.

This could be the last time HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra extends it, policy experts have said.

"We've all had access to coverage and we've been able to tap into the availability of COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines, largely at no cost during the public health emergency, but not all of these items will continue to be free....

More at source: Reuters

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Philly will require masks in indoor public spaces again as COVID-19 cases rise

By resuming the indoor mask mandate, city officials hope to stave off another surge in hospitalizations and deaths that could accompany the current case increase that appears to be caused by the BA.2 omicron subvariant.

“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations and a wave of deaths, it’ll be too late for many of our residents,” Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said during a briefing Monday.

“We don’t know if the BA.2 variant in Philadelphia will have the kind of impact on hospitalizations and deaths that we saw with the original omicron variant this winter,” Bettigole said. “I suspect that this wave will be smaller than the one we saw in January.”

Hospitalizations may be the key in determining how long the masks will stay on, Bettigole said.

“This is our chance to get ahead of the pandemic, to put our masks on until we have more information on the severity of this variant.”

More at source: Philadelphia Inquirer

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A crowd of janitorial workers and supporters marched from Bovard Auditorium to USC Village Thursday in a continued demonstration calling for higher wages and better health care benefits. The protest follows last Thursday’s negotiations with contractor Aramark, which protesters felt did not adequately address the concerns expressed by the Service Employees International Union. 

Demonstrators carried a banner that read: “Janitors READY 2 STRIKE,” a sentiment also expressed at SEIU-organized protests that took place March 31 on campus and April 1 at Union Hall while negotiations were ongoing. 

More at source: Daily Trojan

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More contagious omicron BA.2 on track to displace other variants in U.S. in next two weeks

The more contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant now makes up 72% of Covid infections that have undergone genetic sequencing in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BA.2 became dominant in the U.S. last week, and now appears on track to displace the earlier version of omicron, BA.1. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington state, projected that will happen within the next two weeks.

Though some estimates differ, BA.2 spreads 30% to 80% faster than BA.1., according to data from public health authorities in the U.K. and Denmark.

More at source: CNBC

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The FDA and CDC have cleared the way for Americans older than 50 to get a second booster shot—but they don’t quite suggest that everyone in that age group should do so. Like masking and many other pandemic-control measures, a fourth dose (or third, for the J&Jers in the back) is now a matter of personal judgment, even as another wave of COVID cases seems poised to break.

That leaves millions of Americans and their doctors to perform their own risk-benefit analysis. Read: Another COVID wave is looming Or perhaps it’s just a risk analysis. The upsides of a fourth shot are indeed uncertain: The best we can say right now is that its protective effects are probably modest and temporary (with greater benefits for older people). But a modest, temporary boost is still better than nothing—so why not go ahead and get one, just in case? What, if any, risks would that actually entail?

More at source: The Atlantic

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Shanghai starts China's biggest COVID-19 lockdown in 2 years

The citywide lockdown that will be conducted in two phases will be China’s most extensive since the central city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, confined its 11 million people to their homes for 76 days in early 2020. Millions more have been kept in lockdown since then.

Shanghai's Pudong financial district and nearby areas will be locked down from Monday to Friday as mass testing gets underway, the local government said. In the second phase of the lockdown, the vast downtown area west of the Huangpu River that divides the city will start its own five-day lockdown Friday.

Residents will be required to stay home and deliveries will be left at checkpoints to ensure there is no contact with the outside world. Offices and all businesses not considered essential will be closed and public transport suspended.

More at source: Yahoo News

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Long COVID study indicates “something concerning is happening”

Two new studies are reporting on an ongoing long COVID research project investigating the persistent effects of COVID-19 on cognition in the months after acute disease. The University of Cambridge-led research found many long COVID patients are experiencing significant and measurable memory or concentration impairments even after mild illness.

“Long COVID has received very little attention politically or medically,” said Lucy Cheke, senior author on the new studies. “It urgently needs to be taken more seriously, and cognitive issues are an important part of this. When politicians talk about ‘Living with COVID’ – that is, unmitigated infection, this is something they ignore.”

More at source: News Atlas Health

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WHAT DO FORENSIC CLEANERS DO?

Forensic cleaners are employed by a variety of different organisations, including businesses, hospitals, and government agencies. They typically work on crime scenes, accident scenes, and other areas where there is a high potential for biohazards. Forensic cleaners are also known as Trauma cleaners, Biohazard cleaners or hygiene technicians.

There are three main types of forensic cleaning:

1. remediation
2. decontamination, and
3. disinfection.

More at source: INSC

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What rising Covid-19 infections in the UK and Europe could mean for the US

(CNN)Two weeks after the United Kingdom dropped its last remaining Covid-19 mitigation measure -- a requirement that people who test positive for the virus isolate for five days -- the country is seeing cases and hospitalizations climb once again.

Covid-19 cases were up 48% in the UK last week compared with the week before. Hospitalizations were up 17% over the same period.

The country's daily case rate -- about 55,000 a day -- is still less than a third of the Omicron peak, but cases are rising as fast as they were falling just two weeks earlier, when the country removed pandemic-related restrictions.

More at source: CNN

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