California to reopen; states open eligibility
California plans to drop its tier system and open up the state June 15 if vaccine supply remains steady and coronavirus metrics continue to decline, officials said Tuesday. Everyday activities will be allowed, businesses will open with “common sense” riskreduction measures, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of mobile vaccination teams armed with oneshot, Johnson & Johnson jabs that will target some of the hardest-to-reach New Yorkers. The vans and buses will be equipped with four to six vaccinators each, bringing doses to communities most in need, including neighborhoods identified by the city’s Task Force for Racial Inclusion and Equity as being hardest-hit by the virus and histories of socio-economic disparity.
“We’re doing all we can to get as many shots in arms as possible,” de Blasio said. “We’re going above and beyond to reach every New Yorker ... to help our city recover one dose at a time.”
New York, along with Maryland, on Tuesday joined the growing list of states allowing anyone over 16 to sign up for vaccinations.
Fewer dying, more positive tests
Americans are now dying of COVID-19 at less than half the rate they were a month ago, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. The 5,453 U.S. deaths from the disease in the week ending Monday is down from 12,263 who died in one week a month earlier – and down from 21,383 in one week just two months ago. Experts said the vaccination effort largely aimed at the most vulnerable people is helping curb fatalities. But the news isn’t all good – the United States continues to report high levels of cases. The 452,636 cases reported in the week ending Monday was up 20% from two weeks earlier.
3 vaccinated people died in Mich.
Michigan public health officials say 246 people tested positive two weeks or more after becoming fully vaccinated, and three have died. Spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin said the positive tests are a very small fraction of 1% of the 1.7 million vaccinated across the state. Two of the three deaths occurred within three weeks of completing the vaccine. All three were 65 or older.
New research suggests that the Moderna vaccine provides protection for at least six months. The report in the New England Journal of Medicine echoes what Pfizer said last week about its vaccine.
CDC has new guidance on cleaning
The run on Lysol and other disinfectants may finally be over. Disinfection to reduce transmission of COVID-19 at home is probably not needed unless someone in your home is sick or if someone who has tested positive has been in your home within 24 hours, the CDC says in new guidance. Cleaning with a household cleaner that contains soap or detergent reduces the amount of germs on surfaces and, in most situations, removes most virus particles on surfaces, the guidance says. “Clean high-touch surfaces regularly (for example, daily) and after you have visitors in your home,” the guidance says.
‘Double mutant’ variant in Calif.
At least one case of a variant that contains two worrisome mutations has been documented in California. It’s called a “double mutant” because the spike protein of the virus contains two mutations – one that is found in a variant tied to California and another that is commonly found in variants tied to South Africa and Brazil, said Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, the medical director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory for Stanford Health Care.