COVID-19 Update for January 24, 2022-Statistics, Cases, Vaccines, Masks, the Future of Retail and <ore

The Biden administration’s website that allows people to order up to four free at-home coronavirus tests quietly went live  — a day in advance of its formal introduction — and demand already appears to be significant.

There were more than 700,000 visitors on the home page of Covidtests.gov early Tuesday afternoon — more than 20 times as many as at the government site with the next highest traffic, the U.S. Postal Service’s package-tracking page.

Ordering the free tests was quite easy: Visit Covidtests.gov, click on “Order Free At-Home Tests” and then enter your name, address and email address (if you want to track the package) and click “Check Out Now.” The process took under 30 seconds. Orders will usually be shipped in seven to 12 days, the website says.

Cases: Los Angeles County reported another 72 deaths associated with the coronavirus Saturday, along with 39,117 new positive COVID tests. County health reported another 63 deaths associated with the coronavirus, and 26,354 new positive COVID tests. Sunday’s number of cases and deaths likely reflect reporting delays over the weekend, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Sunday’s test positivity rate was 15.1%, down from 16.1% on Saturday and from 17.4% last Sunday.

On Saturday, the county health department said more than 250,000 COVID- 19 cases had been confirmed during the past seven days, down from the 291,000 cases reported for the previous seven days.

Officials said residents who test positive should isolate away from others for at least five days. To exit isolation after day five, residents will need a negative COVID-19 viral test, have had no fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine, and be asymptomatic or have improving symptoms.

Residents who don’t meet these criteria can exit isolation after day 10, provided they have no fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine and are asymptomatic or have improving symptoms.

Los Angeles County has totaled 2,494,097 cases of COVID-19 and 28,480 deaths since the pandemic began.

More than 250,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the county over the past seven days, down from the 291,000 cases reported for the previous seven days, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Saturday’s test positivity rate was 16.1%, a decline from 17.4% last Sunday.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-positive patients in L.A. County hospitals fell for the second consecutive day, dropping from 4,792 as of Friday to 4,698. However, the number of those patients in intensive care continued its worrisome climb, increasing from 740 to 769.

The health department said residents who test positive should isolate away from others for at least five days. To exit isolation after day five, residents will need a negative COVID-19 viral test, have had no fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine, and be asymptomatic or have improving symptoms.

Residents who don’t meet these criteria can exit isolation after day 10, provided they have no fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine and are asymptomatic or have improving symptoms.

Residents are also asked to determine and notify their close contacts of their exposure. Close contacts include individuals who were less than 6 feet away from the infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period in the 48 hours prior to the newly infected person developing symptoms or testing positive.

Additionally, residents need to wear a well-fitting surgical or higher- grade mask around others both indoors and outdoors for 10 days, even if they are leaving isolation after day five. The best masks that block COVID-19 virus particles are N95, KN95, and KF94 masks.

The latest Omicron developments continue to be encouraging. New Covid-19 cases are plummeting in a growing list of places. The percentage of cases causing severe illness is much lower than it was with the Delta variant. And vaccines — particularly after a booster shot — remain extremely effective in preventing hospitalization and death.

Since early last week, new cases in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York have fallen by more than 30 percent. They’re down by more than 10 percent in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. In California, cases may have peaked.

If anything, the official Covid numbers probably understate the actual declines, because test results are often a few days behind reality.

And: Half-empty classrooms and reduced numbers of substitute teachers, custodians and other staff in Alhambra, Sierra Madre and Pasadena have some parents and school teachers in Pasadena Unified School District wondering if the district is properly prepared to handle surging COVID-19 case counts throughout the region. District officials say they are doing everything they can to keep pace with virus-spurred absentees and that their highest priority remains the safety of students and staff.

Pasadena city leaders and neighboring Los Angeles County health officials have reported record- breaking case loads in the weeks since thousands of students returned to campus from holiday break at the start of January. The winter surge already is beginning to take a toll on the teachers and staff who are responsible for the safety of Pasadena Unified students.

A week after Pasadena welcomed students back, city Health Officer Dr. Ying-Ying Goh announced an 11-fold increase in the city’s daily case counts since Dec. 20.

Approximately 330 Pasadena Unified elementary students and 142 secondary students have tested positive for COVID-19 since the opening of campuses on Jan. 3, according to district officials. The increasing counts have forced parents to contend with quarantines and instruction-related hiccups that added to frustration for local stakeholders.

Teachers, nurses and school staff are spending long hours in the classroom working what can sometimes feels like two jobs because their regular workload is now coupled with public healthrelated responsibilities.

The quandary is a result of the enduring coronavirus pandemic that’s become so burdensome that some instructors have begged the district to switch to virtual instruction.

And: Even as they face the staggering omicron-propelled surge of the coronavirus, medical professionals in the region are bracing for a long-term future of treating, managing and responding to the virus. There’s a sense that it’s no longer about “beating” or “eliminating” COVID- 19. It’s not about “Zero COVID-19.”
Don’t get them wrong, no one is giving ground. Leaders and front-line workers alike still speak in terms of “changing the trajectory of the disease” and “turning the tide.”

But many acknowledge that the future will very likely be about managing the virus for years to come — with vaccines and medicine, but also with humility and adaptability.

Prevention strategies and treatments will be adapted and refined. It’s essential, experts say, that the way COVID-19 strategies are communicated to the public improve at the same time.

Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, seemed to be echoing Yadegar.
“When you look at the history of infectious diseases, we’ve only eradicated one disease in the history of man, that’s small pox. That’s not going to happen with this virus,” Fauci told Bloomberg.

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell reflected last week on a future where mask-wearing could be more commonplace, where there’s more robust funding for public health and where the design of congregate-living facilities accounts for the need to isolate. Supervisor Hilda Solis spoke of “a future with widespread testing and therapeutics,” “not far off,” “entirely within our control,” with vaccines and safety measures.

At the federal level, a year later, a group of former advisors to President Biden are urging his administration to pivot to a new domestic coronavirus strategy — one not caught off-guard by variants, where there are thresholds and benchmarks for when emergency measures should be taken to quell future surges and where vaccines are continually updated.

Testing: In recent months, mobile coronavirus testing tents and vans have sprouted on urban sidewalks and street curbs as demand has skyrocketed in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant. Some of the sites run by private companies offer legitimate, timely and reliable results, but others are more like weeds.

High demand and scarce supply opened the door to bad actors, and officials in some states are having a hard time keeping up their oversight amid the proliferation. And they are sounding the alarm that by visiting the pop-up industry’s sometimes makeshift tents, desperate patients could be putting their health, wallets and personal data at risk.

Consumers seeking testing — either a rapid antigen test that provides results in under an hour or a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test that generally takes longer but is more accurate — may think all testing sites are created equal, but they’re not. Unfortunately, telling the good from the bad is not always easy.

Fake testing sites put consumers at risk for identity theft, inaccurate or missing test results and financial losses if they’re charged for the tests, which are typically free to consumers. It’s hard to walk down a street in some large cities without running into at least one or two of the popup sites. Sites were ubiquitous in Los Angeles, and in some places testing tents run by the same company were clustered within easy walking distance of one another. 

Public health experts say they hope that concerns about a mobile test site’s legitimacy won’t deter people from getting tested.

Vaccines: Two million. That’s the number of unvaccinated people in Los Angeles County — more than three times the population of Wyoming, and a commentary on the sheer scale of the county, the nation’s most populous by far. It’s also an indicator on how vulnerable Los Angeles remains to the coronavirus.

Please see the COVID-19 Vaccine Facts and COVID-19 Datos de la Vacuna (updated 1/11/22) for the most up to date information on why and how to get a vaccine, who should get a vaccine and which vaccines are available in the United States.  This flyer also provides information on side effects and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Please visit our COVID-19 Vaccine Resources webpage for other important information.

Please visit the COVID-19 Vaccine: How to Get Vaccinated webpage for more extensive information.  

From the New York Times: Some of the timeliest data on Covid-19 outcomes by vaccination status comes from New York City and the Seattle area, and the two are telling a consistent story.

Cases for vaccinated and unvaccinated residents alike are rising:

 

Protocol updates (From LA County Public Health Department): Over the New Year holiday, the State of California lowered the threshold for what is considered a Mega Event:

• Events including 500 participants or more are considered Indoor Mega Events (prior threshold was 1.000)
• Events including 5,000 participants or more are considered Outdoor Mega Events (prior threshold was 10,000)

This means that all the state requirements for Mega Events now apply to these smaller events, such as checking for proof of full vaccination or recent negative test.  Please review the state requirements.  The State asks venues to comply immediately, but must be in full compliance by no later than January 15, 2022.   

Our LA County Health Officer Order will be updated soon to include this change and will be sent out.

The What Event Operators Need to Know FAQ has been updated. Recent changes are highlighted in yellow:

• Lowered the definition of Mega Events to align with State Guidance.  The definition of a Mega Event has changed from 10,000 attendees for outdoor events to 5.000 and from 1,000 at indoor events to 500. Mega event rules apply to all events at these lowered thresholds, effective 1/15/22.
• No later than January 17, 2022, employees who work in an indoor setting where they are in close contact with other employees or customers must be provided with and required to wear a well-fitting medical grade mask, surgical mask, or higher-level respirator, such as an N95 face filtering respirator or KN95, at all times while indoors at the worksite or facility. The full cost of purchasing an appropriate face mask must be borne entirely by the employer and not the employee.  

FAQ-MegaEvent_VaxTest.pdf

UpgradeMaskRequirement 012022.pdf

The COVID-19 Omicron variant is very contagious.  As of January 17, 2022, all employers must provide well-fitting medical masks or respirators to employees who work indoors and in close contact with other workers and/or customers. This is to provide additional protection from COVID-19 infection. As with all employer safety requirements, the cost of a mask must not be passed on to employees.  The revised Upgrade Your Mask!  guidance provides information on choosing and use of masks.

UpgradeMaskRequirement 012022.pdf

Isolation Instructions for People with COVID-19 (rev 1/19/22) - English, Spanish

Quarantine and Other Instructions for Close Contacts (rev 1/14/22v2) - English, Spanish

Isolation and Quarantine Summary Tables for the General Public (rev 1/18/22v2) - English, Spanish

Visit our Isolation Webpage and Quarantine Webpage for more information.

Other pertinent information and resources can be found on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health website at http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/

And finally:

From the New York Times: What’s after Omicron?

The Omicron variant continues to shatter records in the U.S. Yesterday, the country recorded a staggering 885,000 cases, and experts say the peak is still weeks away. We’re learning more about the new variant, and, so far, it seems to spread faster but cause less severe illness than previous variants; it also leads to fewer hospitalizations and deaths. Last week, my colleague Carl Zimmer reported that an Omicron infection may protect against later infections with the Delta variant. Those qualities have led to a lot of speculation about the Omicron surge and its aftermath. To help us answer these questions, and for a look at how 2022 might unfold, I checked in with Carl. Omicron is so infectious it has led to some speculation that it may help us reach herd immunity. Could it? Nobody should think that Omicron is going to make Covid magically disappear. Herd immunity is the idea of a virus just disappearing on its own because it can’t find enough hosts to keep itself going. And that is not going to happen. It’s too widespread. It’s too well adapted to us. SARS-CoV-2 is in animals. I mean, it’s just not going away. But we could be in a situation by some time in 2022 where it could be a much more manageable situation, where vaccines help to keep it in check — but it’s not disappearing. People sometimes talk about the possibility that Covid becomes endemic. What does that look like? When a virus is endemic, the number of infections every year is at a constant baseline level. Like chickenpox. People get chickenpox at a pretty steady rate year in, year out. But right now, Covid is not endemic. So the question is, is it going to eventually settle down to a steady, much lower background rate? What’s the latest thinking on that? One possibility that epidemiologists are thinking is that there will be future waves, but they will be smaller waves. New variants will evolve, but there will already be so much immunity — people will have already been infected with the coronavirus or will have been vaccinated — and so it’ll just be harder for new variants to find a lot of vulnerable hosts. So will Omicron help us reach endemicity? We don’t know. Something becoming endemic is a long, complex process, and it’s not like we can recognize in the middle of a new surge whether something is going to lead to endemicity. Epidemiologists aren’t trying to make that claim now. All they’re saying right now, in a very guarded way, is that maybe after this big surge over the next month or two, that if there are more surges later in the year, they will be smaller. So are there any upsides to Omicron, a variant that is milder but spreads faster? Framing it as a possible benefit is not really the right way to think about it. I mean, it’s better to be dealing with a variant that causes less severe disease. But if it’s much more transmissible, then you’re going to have a lot more seriously ill people in hospitals. So you can’t just look at one side of Omicron and ignore the other side. A lot of people, especially unvaccinated people, are going to get seriously sick from Omicron. And after the surge is done, there could be a lot of immunity to Omicron and perhaps to other variants. But it’s a very high price to pay for that. We should be trying to keep infections down. We should be protecting the most vulnerable among us. We should be thinking in those terms, not just asking, “Oh, what’s the upside of this?” How are you personally feeling about the state of the pandemic in the U.S.? It’s striking that we are not better able to deal with a new surge two years into the pandemic. Scientists have been warning that this virus, like all viruses, would mutate, so we needed to be ready for change. We had Alpha and then we had Delta, so we’ve been through this before. And yet, in the U.S., we’re in this latest surge without a strong testing capacity to deal with it, without a system to get people good masks, which we know can help. And so there’s just chaos. The Biden administration is now saying it’s going to give out 500 million tests. Those tests aren’t going to be coming in for at least a couple of more weeks — deep into this surge. And it’s not enough. It’s basically like waiting until half the house is burned down before you send in the firefighters — and you send one small fire engine. What do you see for the U.S.? We are going to go through a big surge. We’re going to go through a surge of cases over the next month, maybe more. We don’t know how much hospitalization that’s going to lead to, but it’s going to be a lot. And then it’s going to go down just like it’s gone down in the past. And so the question then is, what’s it like for the rest of 2022? Epidemiologists I talked to say it is possible that we may not have to deal with another giant surge later in the year just because there’ll be so much immunity once we get through this. But a lot of people are going to die. Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people are going to die in the surge. Should the fact that Omicron is milder change our behavior? I haven’t had Omicron myself, but I certainly know some people who have. Fortunately, none of them ended up in the hospital, but they’ve had a range of symptoms. Some of them have felt like they’ve just had a stuffy nose and others have been in bed for a few days. If you’re vaccinated, you could still be looking at being physically knocked out for a few days. But just as important, if you just walk around and say, “Well, you know, I’m not going to care about this virus,” you could then become the source of infection for other people — maybe people who are much more vulnerable. We’re still in the middle of a public health crisis, and it’s not just about ourselves as individuals.