Cases: Los Angeles County on Friday reported its highest single-day number of new COVID-19 cases since mid-February — when the region was still in the grips of the omicron-driven winter surge — and health officials said the spike shows further evidence of continued high transmission of the coronavirus.
The county reported 4,025 COVID-19 infections on Friday.
The number of people in the county who are hospitalized with COVID-19 also ticked upward, reaching 298, up from 267 a day earlier. The number of those patients being treated in intensive care was 33, up from 25 on Thursday.
“If you’re not fully vaccinated and boosted,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement, “please consider doing so now to maximize protection against the more infectious variants currently circulating.”
The new cases reported Friday lifted the county’s cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 2,907,721.
Six more virus-related fatalities were reported Friday, raising the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 32,022.
The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 2.8% as of Friday, up from 2.6% the day before.
The average daily number of new cases recorded over the past week rose to more than 2,600, up nearly 20% from a week ago, Ferrer said on Thursday.
The county’s transmission rate also continues to rise, with the average daily rate at 26 per 100,000 residents, up from 21 a week ago.
More notably, the seven-day cumulative rate reached 176 per 100,000 residents.
If that number tops 200 per 100,000 residents, it will move Los Angeles County from the low-transmission rate as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to a moderate level.
President Joe Biden appealed to world leaders at a COVID-19 summit Thursday to reenergize a lagging international commitment to attacking the virus as he led the U.S. in marking the “tragic milestone” of 1 million deaths in America. He ordered flags lowered to half-staff and warned against complacency around the globe.
The coronavirus has killed more than 999,000 people in the U.S. and at least 6.2 million people globally since it emerged in late 2019, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Other counts, including by the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association, have the toll at 1 million.
The president called on Congress to urgently provide billions of dollars more for testing, vaccines and treatments, something lawmakers have been unwilling to deliver so far.
Vaccines: from the New York Times-June is shaping up to be a big month for vaccines for young children. That’s when the F.D.A. is expected to rule on the use of Moderna’s vaccine for children of all ages — including those as young as 6 months. The agency is also expected next month to review Pfizer’s data for its proposed three-dose vaccine for children younger than 5.
Currently there is no vaccine available for children younger than 5, forcing parents to rely on flimsier protective measures.
As we wait, we’re getting new data about how well Moderna’s vaccine works in young children. A new study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the company’s vaccine elicited a strong immune response in young children — at least against the Delta variant, my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli reports.
In the clinical trial, which included only children 6 to 11 years old, Moderna gave half the adult dose — 50 micrograms — or a placebo, to 4,000 children.
The Economy: Inflation eased slightly in April after months of relentless increases but remained near a four-decade high, making it hard for millions of American households to keep up with surging prices. Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from a year ago, the government said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5% year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest since 1981. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, the smallest rise in eight months.
Still, Wednesday’s report contained some cautionary signs that inflation may be becoming more entrenched. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, so-called core prices jumped twice as much from March to April as they did the previous month. The increases were fueled by spiking prices for airline tickets, hotel rooms and new cars. Apartment rental costs also kept rising. Those price jumps “make clear that there is still a long way to go before inflation returns to more acceptable levels,” said Eric Winograd, U.S. economist at asset manager AB.
Even if it moderates, inflation will likely remain high well into 2023, economists say, leaving many Americans burdened by price increases that have outpaced pay raises. Especially hurt are lower-income and Black and Hispanic families, who on average spend a greater proportion of their incomes on gas, food and rent.
Seven million people in the United States, by one estimate, who are unable to work full time or who have had to scale back their work because of long Covid, which is defined as when Covid symptoms persist weeks, months or even years after the initial onset of an infection.
Some research has shown that lingering Covid symptoms are more prevalent in people in their 30s and 40s — when workers are often in the prime of their careers. That’s according to a British government study, which was published this month, that found that the ailment was also most prevalent in women, people living in deprived areas and those working in social care, teaching or health care or having another disability.
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Dr. Begum and her colleagues have seen firsthand how patients who overexert themselves in the early stages of recovery can end up prolonging their symptoms.
Other types of workers, however, such as chefs who lost their sense of smell or software developers who could not remember codes they wrote before they were sick, may have to change careers and need support for retraining programs, said Ms. Malli, a member of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, a group of long Covid patients who are researching the disease.
The key difference between long Covid and other disabilities is that the virus is airborne and transmitted in the workplace and during commutes, Ms. Malli said. It is also different because of the numbers of people it has affected. “We’ve never had a post-viral illness at this scale, where a medium-sized employer is going to see multiple workers getting Covid initially and have long-term complications.”
A study published in January by the Brookings Institution found that long Covid could account for 15 percent of the millions of unfilled jobs in the United States.
Some countries in Western Europe have robust policies to protect those with disabilities, said Philippa Dunne, one of the authors of a report published by the Solve Long Covid Initiative, a nonprofit research and advocacy group.
In the United States, however, there are fewer protections. Since people who are unvaccinated may be at a higher risk for developing long Covid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, companies in regions with low vaccination rates, like the South, may have more worker shortages than those in regions with higher vaccination rates, Ms. Dunne said.
A major logistical hurdle in the United States for employees with long Covid is qualifying for unemployment benefits. There is no single test for diagnosing it, and it is only vaguely defined, with so much still unknown. That can make it harder for people to be diagnosed and gain access to disability benefits. It can also complicate responses from employers, who are still navigating how to handle coronavirus-related work issues, including the fraught issue of whether Covid vaccinations should be mandatory for workers.
Katie Brennan, an adviser for the Society for Human Resource Management, said employers must consider their legal obligations to employees under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act. With F.M.L.A., eligible employees are entitled up to 12 weeks off, and state protections may also be in place, she said.
Beyond the legal guidelines, companies can support and retain employees with long Covid by providing flexibility and a gradual return to work option. It’s crucial that people with long Covid avoid returning to work without the adjustments they need to manage fatigue, according to a guide by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.
Business travel appears to be returning, albeit unevenly, after all but disappearing for most of the pandemic.
Despite early predictions that Zoom meetings would supplant face-to-face encounters even after the coronavirus had receded, industry trade groups and hotel companies are pointing to significant upswings in small business meetings as well as larger conventions and trade shows in the last couple of months. Airlines also say bookings by business travelers have recently jumped.
What is not returning so quickly, executives and experts say, are business trips by individuals. Some employers continue to set limits on travel. In other cases, because of Covid restrictions, visitors are not allowed in the offices of the people they want to see.
And reflecting the disparate pace of the recovery, domestic business travel has returned faster than international, and travel to and from Europe has had a bigger rebound than Asia bookings.
Even within the United States, the strength of the return of business travel depends on the destination.
Advice for summer travel by Jonathan Wolfe for the New York Times:
The summer travel season is about to start — and this year things look radically different.
Restrictions in tourist hot spots are loosening, mask rules on flights are changing, and more people are making travel plans — even as cases start to tick up again in the U.S.
For advice, I turned to Seth Kugel, who just started writing The Times’s Tripped Up column, where he answers readers’ travel questions and tries to resolve their disasters.
How should we approach travel this summer?
Many people have been revving up to travel for the first time in a few years, and their expectations for how life-changing and perfect their trip is going to be are probably way too high.
There’s an Instagram and TikTok trend in which a person is in an airport or at home, and they put their hand or foot in front of the camera, remove it, and they’re suddenly relaxing on the beach or at the Eiffel Tower. And I just want to take that trend and rip it out of that Instagram algorithm because it ignores the hard part of travel. You don’t just snap your fingers and end up on the beach.
If you’ve been traveling throughout the pandemic, you’re used to an alternate universe of travel where flights are empty, prices are cheap, and everybody is doing everything they can to get your tourist dollars. That world is definitely over.
People need to remember that vacations are tiring, weather is unpredictable, and lines can be long. During the summer, everyone is back out traveling, and there’s just no way your trip is going to be exactly as you fantasized. So be ready for that.
What specific advice do you have?
I recently got an interesting letter from a reader who said that there were literally no car rentals available in Halifax in Canada in August. We’re back to “normal” in a lot of ways, but things are still a little wacky out there. Keep in mind that the industry and supply and demand are still in flux.
It’s also always important to figure out what kind of health insurance you need when you travel. Obviously, now it’s even more important since you might get Covid. Private insurers usually provide emergency coverage, whereas Medicare usually does not. If you are covered, you should know what documentation you’ll need if you have to go to the hospital, and you should also have a credit card that you can hand over, as you’ll most likely have to pay up front.
Any other tips?
Everyone at Expedia will read this and curse, but that doesn’t stop it from being true: Book direct with the hotel and book direct with the airline — it’s potentially much easier to make changes that way, if you need to. If you find a great deal through another site and can’t replicate that directly, it’s OK to book it, but be aware that you’re adding a little bit of risk to your vacation.
People also try to fit too much into their day. If you’re planning a seven-day trip, think of it as a five-day trip, because you’re bound to experience delays. Make a list of things you’d ideally like to do, but be ready to change plans if something better comes along.
What about masking on planes?
I still recommend an N95 mask for travel. But you should also keep in mind that things are changing. I just took a flight from St. Louis to New York, and the pilot said something like, “Federal regulations no longer require you to use a mask. Please respect your fellow travelers’ choices.”
Everyone who has been pro-mask has been snidely commenting on the people who don’t wear masks for a long time, and vice versa. This pilot was saying: That’s over now.
There are fewer and fewer people who are masked on flights, and that’s just going to be the price of travel. People around you are going to be eating. They may be coughing, and you just can’t get mad at them. It’s no longer fair to do that, and it could ruin your own trip. Don’t travel if you are going to go crazy when other people don’t wear masks.
Everyone has to respect other people’s decisions for now. That’s good practice for travel anyway. When you travel, you can’t be as judgmental.
If you have travel questions that you’d like Seth to answer in his column, you can send them to trippedup@nytimes.com.
Is this in your future?
Your summer plans
We asked readers what travel this summer meant to them, and how they were approaching it. Thanks to everyone who wrote in.
“The building excitement toward the first day of June is the same giddiness I felt when I was a child during summer vacation. Summer 2022 to me is exploration, having fun, smiles and laughter, and it’s letting out this deep breath I’ve been holding in for the past two years.” — Julian Lak, New York, N.Y.
“I am cautiously setting the date of July 2 for my unmasking. I will be leaving for summer camp for a month that day, and I don’t want to wear a mask at camp. Since I just got Covid (two days ago), I’m confident that my immunity plus the vaccine and a booster will be enough to keep away Covid for a while, at least for camp, if not for the foreseeable unmasked future.” — Atticus Howard-Recht, age 14, Brooklyn, N.Y.
“More of the same: masking indoors, avoiding crowds, only doing small outdoor gatherings. My almost 2-year-old (born during the pandemic) still can’t be vaccinated, and given all the ups and downs of both Covid and the under-5 vaccines, I’m not holding my breath that this summer will be much different.” — Erica, Alexandria, Va.
“Last week, finally, I began to date again! I feel more alive, ready for the enjoyment of in-person, real conversations, sharing a hike or walk, a meal or movie. As a senior, I take Covid very seriously. With a positive attitude and my N95 mask, I will venture to new horizons and hope the special one comes along!” — Lori Roth, Arizona
“Covid figures are rising, not falling. Hospital figures are going up in Britain as I write. I will not be celebrating the advent of summer by having barbecues with friends, where you get relatively up close and personal. No, I shall still be donning my mask and social distancing. No garden parties on the lawn for me. The end is not yet in sight.” — Lynn Reid, Edinburgh.
“This sums it up: Beaches, barbecues, and boosters. We will keep summer activities local or regional. This is not the time of year we would seek out international travel, anyway.” — Jill Ronda, northern N.J.
“Who’s waiting for summer? I leave tomorrow for three weeks in Wales, southeastern England and Umbria. I’ve packed masks and tests, and will mask obsessively in airports and similar spaces. But, at 81, getting back to walking and hiking just has to happen.” — Katherine Mawdsley, Davis, Calif.