Coronavirus live updates and omicron variant news - The Washington Post

Anti-vaccine activists, reveling in their pandemic successes, will rally in D.C. against mandatesU.S. blocks dozens of flights by Chinese airlines in response to virus policyBiden plan to ship 500 million covid-19 test kits transforms Postal Service to relief agencyParent threatens school board with promise to show up with guns if masking isn’t made optional Ireland lifts most coronavirus restrictions as ‘omicron storm’ wanesFederal judge in Texas blocks Biden’s vaccine requirement for government workersCalifornia bill could allow teens to get vaccinated without parental consent Booster shots in U.S. have strongly protected against severe disease from omicron variant, CDC studies showSome governments have launched plans to fine the unvaccinated. A study indicates otherwise — but says catching coronavirus might.Hong Kong warns against trying to stop hamster cull Adele postpones Las Vegas residency in tears, citing coronavirusAnti-vaccine activists, reveling in their pandemic successes, will rally in D.C. against mandatesU.S. blocks dozens of flights by Chinese airlines in response to virus policyBiden plan to ship 500 million covid-19 test kits transforms Postal Service to relief agencyParent threatens school board with promise to show up with guns if masking isn’t made optional Ireland lifts most coronavirus restrictions as ‘omicron storm’ wanesFederal judge in Texas blocks Biden’s vaccine requirement for government workersCalifornia bill could allow teens to get vaccinated without parental consent Booster shots in U.S. have strongly protected against severe disease from omicron variant, CDC studies showSome governments have launched plans to fine the unvaccinated. A study indicates otherwise — but says catching coronavirus might.Hong Kong warns against trying to stop hamster cull Adele postpones Las Vegas residency in tears, citing coronavirusWhy?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts.Unvaccinated adults age 65 or older who contracted the coronavirus were 49 times more likely to require hospitalization than seniors who had received booster vaccine doses, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Unimmunized adults in that age group were also 17 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital than those who had received either two shots of an mRNA vaccine or one Johnson & Johnson dose. Hospitalizations in the state increased as cases spiked this winter, but they remain lower than the national average.Vaccine boosters provide robust protection against severe disease from the omicron variant in the United States, according to three reports released Friday that offer the first real-world data in this country showing the utility of the additional shots in keeping vaccinated people out of the hospital.But the reports by scientists the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are arriving late to the winter surge in coronavirus cases that have choked the corridors of hospitals across much of the country.When omicron was first identified in late November and began spreading rapidly in the United States, millions of vaccinated people lined up for the extra shots. The carriers said they expect those losses to extend through the first quarter this year as customers delay travel.U.S. wastewater samples suggest the omicron variant of the coronavirus was probably present in the country more than a week before its first case was detected, a new CDC report said on Friday.The sewage samples indicate the variant may have been spreading in New York City as early as Nov. 21, shortly before researchers announced omicron cases in the southern African region late last year, and 10 days before the United States identified its first case, according to the report.Scientists also reported finding signs of omicron in samples from later in November in California and Texas.“The detection of omicron-associated mutations in community wastewater provides strong early evidence that the omicron variant was likely present or more widely distributed in these communities than originally indicated by clinical testing alone,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said.While the evidence is not conclusive, it supports an approach of looking at wastewater tracking along with testing to help detect emerging variants early on.