Omicron Variant in California: Fauci Suggests COVID Vaccination Mandate for Domestic Air Travelers

Dec. 27—The omicron surge is well underway in the Bay Area. Even though it's everywhere, there are good reasons to continue to avoid it where possible. California has shortened its isolation and quarantine times, following a similar move by the federal government.

Latest updates:

Parts of Bay Area see 'vertical wall' jump in COVID cases as omicron spreads: COVID is ubiquitous, and those places that aren't yet seeing surges should expect to soon, said Dr. Robert Wachter, chief of medicine at UCSF. Read the story here.

California follows new CDC quarantine guidance: Public health officials said Monday that the state would follow recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortening isolation and quarantine times for people who test positive for COVID-19. The new guidance shortens the isolation time from 10 days to five days for people infected with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic. After the five days, those individuals can leave isolation if they continue to mask for an additional five days.

Cruise ship outbreaks probed: The CDC said Monday it is investigating potential COVID-19 outbreaks of the virus on 68 cruise ships, Reuters reports. A handful of U.S. cruise ships have been denied entry into foreign ports due to reported outbreaks, according to ABC News. Last Thursday, Holland America's Line ship the MS Koningsdam was turned away from Puerto Vallarta after 21 crew members tested positive for the virus.

CDC new guidance treats unboosted the same as unvaccinated: The new federal guidelines for coronavirus isolation and quarantine say that people who are unvaccinated, or who have not received a booster shot on top of their vaccination, should stay home for five days if they are exposed to an infected person. After that they should wear a mask around others for an additional five days. "If you can't quarantine you must wear a mask for 10 days," the guidance says. It's less restrictive for those who are boosted on top of their vaccination shots: If they get exposed, they don't have to isolate, but should wear a mask around others for 10 days.

Basketball players also now will have shorter isolation: NBA players who test positive for COVID-19 now can return to play faster, under updated league health and safety protocols. The main change: Isolation periods for players who test positive may now be shortened to six days, from the 10 that was customary previously — as long as they are asymptomatic and meet other testing standards, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press. The change That memo was sent on the same day that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days. The new rules came as CDC officials shortened the isolation period for the broader public, to five days for asymptomatic people who test positive.

New isolation advice tied to wide omicron spread: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Monday the country is about to see a lot of omicron cases, but shortening the recommended isolation time should not be a problem. "Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact many are going to be asymptomatic," she told the Associated Press. "We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science." The shortened isolation period guidance — that people without symptoms isolate for five days instead of the previously recommended 10 — is less stringent than loosened rules for health care workers that CDC announced last week. Earlier rules had health workers staying out of work for 10 days if they tested positive. Now they can go back after seven days if they test negative and don't have symptoms. And the agency said isolation time could be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages.

COVID-19 isolation period cut in half under new CDC guidance: Americans infected with COVID-19 and showing no symptoms should isolate for five days, down from the 10 that was previously recommended, followed by five days of wearing a mask around others, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday. The agency similarly shortened the time that an infected person's close contacts need to quarantine. CDC officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that the most infectious period is the two days before and three days after a person develops COVID symptoms. The decision also was driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant. Early research suggests omicron may cause milder illnesses than earlier versions of the coronavirus.

Fauci says vaccination for domestic flights should be on the table: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, says the nation should seriously consider a COVID vaccination requirement for domestic air travel, as is already required for foreign nationals flying into the U.S. President Biden said last week that his advisers had told him such a step for domestic flights was not necessary. But Fauci told MSNBC Monday, "When you make vaccination a requirement, that's another incentive to get more people vaccinated," He added. "If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that's something that seriously should be considered." Asked about the issue on Monday, Biden told reporters only that the subject was discussed on a call with the nation's governors Monday morning. Recent days have seen thousands of flights canceled as air crews have been hit with COVID.

More than 77% have at least one shot in U.S.: Across the nation, 77.3% of vaccine-eligible Americans, those 5 and older, now have received at least one shot, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. But the number fully vaccinated is just 65.6% of those eligible — just shy of 205 million people. And of the fully vaccinated adults, just over a third have received booster shots, which have become crucial over time as the effectiveness of a person's initial vaccination wanes, the national data shows. Those under 18 are not yet eligible for boosters.

Not the kind of No. 1 story we want: The pandemic in its second year headed the list of top Bay Area news stories in 2021. Roughly 4,500 people died here of the virus, compared to nearly 2,500 in 2020. Overall, the virus now has taken more than 75,000 Californians. The Bay Area fared better than most regions in terms of the pandemic's severity, in part due to high vaccination rates, mask-wearing edicts and other prevention efforts in San Francisco and nearby counties. But the disease took new forms that prevented a true turning of the corner: first with the Delta variant's spike during the summer, and now the Omicron variant raging with increased transmissibility.

New York sees sharp climb in child hospitalizations: New York state health officials say new hospital admissions for children with COVID-19 increased fourfold in New York City from the week of Dec. 5 to the week of Dec. 19. About half of the cases were in children under 5, who are not yet eligible for vaccinations, the state Department of Health said in an advisory. During the week of Dec. 19, none of the admitted youths age 5 to 11 was vaccinated, and only a quarter of those 12-17 were fully vaccinated, the department said.

Delta blames Shanghai cleaning rules for flight return: Delta Air Lines said Monday that new pandemic-related cleaning requirements at a Shanghai airport were behind the turning back of a recent flight from Seattle in midair, a move that had prompted a protest from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. An emailed statement said the new mandates at the airport "require significantly extended ground time and are not operationally viable for Delta." It wasn't clear what the rules are, the Associated Press reported, but it comes as China tightens COVID-19 travel restrictions amid an outbreak in Xi'an and ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in six weeks.

Contra Costa County mandates boosters for high-risk workers: Firefighters, police and other first responders who interact with people in high-risk facilities such as hospitals, jails and nursing homes must get booster shots in Contra Costa County, under a new health order that takes effect Jan. 10. The order also applies to staff at homeless shelters. Workers must get the boosters within one month of becoming eligible. High-risk workers who are not vaccinated in the county must continue to get tested weekly for COVID.

Savings proposal for kids who lost parents to COVID-19: State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, announced Monday that she will introduce legislation to create savings accounts of up to $3,000 to $5,000 for lower-income children and teens in California whose parent or primary caregiver died of COVID-19. The bill also would ensure that kids not eligible for federal survivor benefits would still receive survivor support from a new CalHope Program. An estimated 20,000 children lost a parent or primary caregiver to the virus, Skinner said in a release. "The Hope for Children Act will offer a more secure future to children who lost their parents to this deadly pandemic," said Skinner, chair of the Senate Budget Committee. The bill also envisions the prospect of trust fund-type accounts for foster children.

Why should we even try to avoid getting COVID?: The omicron variant now sweeping the Bay Area and the nation, while wildly contagious, appears, for most people, to be milder than past variants. So why bother trying to avoid it? There are a host of good reasons. Read here about why it's important to still protect yourself and others.

"Happy" New Year up against some odds: As New Year celebrations approach, the omicron variant is casting more gloom. Dire warnings abound, caseloads are rising alarmingly fast, air traffic is snarled and several countries are considering more restrictions on top of lockdowns and other measures already in place around Europe. New York City's sweeping mandate requiring nearly all businesses, from multinational corporations to corner grocery stores, to ban unvaccinated employees from the workplace took effect Monday amid a spike in infections.

San Francisco reported highest case number ever on Thursday: On Thursday, the most recent day that data is available, the city reported 709 coronavirus cases — it's highest total ever, topping the previous high of 646 on Dec. 31, 2020, according to state figures analyzed by The Chronicle. Cases are expected to continue skyrocketing as new data is reported later today, though perhaps with a lag for the holidays.

Fauci says more tests will be available next month: During a television appearance on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expected the U.S. to expand its access to COVID-19 testing by January. Demand for tests has risen sharply along with the rapid spread of the omicron variant. The Biden administration has been rebuked for inadequate planning for the rise of the variant, which created a scarcity of COVID tests. Fauci said on "This Week" that conditions should improve next month, "but that doesn't help us today and tomorrow."

Thousands more flights canceled as omicron hits airline crews: More than 2,400 flights were canceled across the globe Monday as the omicron variant hit flight crews, thinning out available pilots and other staff. Of that total, nearly 900 U.S. flights were canceled, according to the aviation data website FlightAware.

UCSF's Bob Wachter: Here's the good news for San Francisco amid omicron: With the omicron variant of COVID-19 circulating even more quickly than health experts predicted, scientists are scrambling to make sense of what it means and what its impact will be. But new data has some feeling more optimistic than they were when omicron first began its rapid spread. Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of medicine at UCSF, wrote on Twitter that the latest data makes him optimistic about a highly vaccinated city like San Francisco.

COVID factories — The workers behind the U.S.- Mexico medical device supply chain: Essential workers along the U.S.- Mexico border produce life-saving medical devices destined for U.S. hospitals. But amid the pandemic, the most vulnerable of these workers have faced discrimination and harassment.

How coronavirus case rates in each Bay Area county compare to the delta surge: The immensely infectious omicron COVID-19 variant has already taken over delta as the dominant strain in the U.S., with cases rising sharply across the country. But how do the most recent case rates across the Bay Area compare with the highs of the delta surge? See the data here.

Erin Allday, Rita Beamish and Dominic Fracassa are Chronicle staff writers.

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