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Flight cancellations snarl holiday plans for thousands
Airlines continued to cancel hundreds of flights Saturday because of staffing issues tied to COVID-19, disrupting holiday celebrations during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, noted nearly 1,000 canceled flights entering, leaving or inside the U.S. Saturday, up from 690 flights scrapped on Friday. Over 250 more flights were already canceled for Sunday. FlightAware does not say why flights are canceled.
Delta, United and JetBlue had all said Friday that the omicron variant was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations. United spokesperson Maddie King said staffing shortages were still causing cancellations and it was unclear when normal operations would return. “This was unexpected,” she said of omicron's impact on staffing. Delta and JetBlue did not respond to questions Saturday.
According to FlightAware, the three airlines canceled more than 10% of their scheduled Saturday flights. American Airlines also canceled more than 90 flights Saturday, about 3% of its schedule, according to FlightAware. American spokesperson Derek Walls said the cancellations stemmed from “COVID-related sick calls." European and Australian airlines have also canceled holiday-season flights because of staffing problems tied to COVID-19.
READ: Airlines cancel flights due to Covid staffing shortages
For travelers, that meant time away from loved ones, chaos at the airport and the stress of spending hours standing in line and on the phone trying to rebook flights. Peter Bockman, a retired actor, and his daughter Malaika, a college student, were supposed to be in Senegal on Saturday celebrating with relatives they hadn't seen in a decade. But their 7:30 p.m. flight Friday from New York to Dakar was canceled, which they found out only when they got to the airport. They were there until 2 a.m. trying to rebook a flight.
“Nobody was organizing, trying to sort things out,” he said, faulting Delta for a lack of customer service. “Nobody explained anything. Not even, ‘Oh we’re so sorry, this is what we can do to help you.’”
Their new flight, for Monday evening, has a layover in Paris, and they are worried there will be issues with that one as well. They have already missed a big family get-together that was scheduled for Saturday.
FlightAware's data shows airlines scrapped more than 6,000 flights globally for Friday, Saturday and Sunday combined as of Saturday evening, with almost one-third of affected flights to, from or within the United States. Chinese airlines made up many of the canceled flights, and Chinese airports topped FlightAware's lists of those with most cancellations. It wasn't clear why. China has strict pandemic control measures, including frequent lockdowns, and the government set one on Xi'an, a city of 13 million people, earlier this week.
Air China, China Eastern and Lion Air, an Indonesian airline with many canceled flights, did not respond to emails Saturday.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a regular problem for the U.S. airline industry this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and were caught short-staffed this year as travel recovered.
To ease staffing shortages, countries including Spain and the U.K. have reduced the length of COVID-19 quarantines by letting people return to work sooner after testing positive or being exposed to the virus.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who have called on the Biden administration to take similar steps or risk further disruptions in air travel. On Thursday, the U.S. shortened COVID-19 isolation rules for health care workers only.
2 Kansas officers shot by suspect, expected to recover
Two police officers responding to a domestic violence call in Wichita, Kansas, were shot and wounded in the early hours of Christmas Day, authorities said.
A woman told police that her boyfriend, 24-year-old Malik Rogers, had threatened and attacked her. Early Saturday, officers went to Rogers' apartment to arrest him, but police say he resisted and got into a struggle with the officers.
READ: UP Polls: 3 shot dead during clash in Thakurgaon
Rogers barricaded himself in a bathroom, and when officers forced open the door, he pointed a gun and fired several shots, police said in a news release.
One officer was shot in the leg. The other was shot in the arm. Both were being treated at a hospital with injuries Police Chief Gordon Ramsay described as serious but not life-threatening. Both have been with the department for less than a year.
READ: News crew guard dies after being shot in attempted robbery
After the shooting, a tactical team was called and the apartment was evacuated. The suspect was later found dead of what police called a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
No officers fired any shots, police said.
5 killed in Christmas morning gunfire in northeast Brazil
Five people were killed and six others were wounded by gunfire while celebrating Christmas on a soccer field in the northeastern city of Fortaleza early Saturday, according to the Ceara state Public Security Secretariat.
According to the agency's press office, three people have been arrested. Local news media say the crime may have been motivated by a feud between criminal factions.
READ: Deadly gunfire at airport; Taliban insist on US pullout date
Authorities said only two of the victims had been identified: One is 21 and the other 26 years old and both had a police record for crimes including criminal association, illegal firearms, receiving stolen goods, and disturbing the peace.
READ: Gunfire at Kabul airport kills 1; Taliban mass near Panjshir
Airlines cancel flights due to Covid staffing shortages
Airlines continued to cancel hundreds of flights Saturday as staffing issues tied to COVID-19 disrupted holiday celebrations during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, noted 888 flights entering, leaving or inside the U.S. canceled Saturday, up from 690 Friday. About 200 more flights were already canceled for Sunday. FlightAware does not say why flights are canceled.
Delta, United and JetBlue on Friday had all said the omicron variant was causing staffing problems leading to flight cancellations. United spokesperson Maddie King said staffing shortages were still causing cancellations and it was unclear when normal operations would return. “This was unexpected,” she said of omicron’s impact on staffing. Delta and JetBlue did not immediately respond to questions Saturday.
Also read: Christmas being celebrated amid Covid caution
According to FlightAware, the three airlines canceled more than 10% of their Saturday scheduled flights. American Airlines also canceled 90 flights Saturday, about 3% of its schedule, according to FlightAware. American spokesperson Derek Walls said the cancellations stemmed from “COVID-related sick calls” and the airline contacted customers on Friday. European and Australian airlines have also canceled holiday-season flights due to staffing problems tied to COVID.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a regular problem for the U.S. airline industry this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and were caught short-staffed this year as travel recovered.
Also read: India braces for third Covid wave
To ease staffing shortages, countries including Spain and the U.K. have reduced the length of COVID-19 quarantines by letting people return to work sooner after testing positive or being exposed to the virus.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian was among those who have called on the Biden administration to take similar steps or risk further disruptions in air travel. On Thursday, the U.S. shortened COVID-19 isolation rules for health care workers only.
4 people injured after shooting at Chicago-area mall
A shooting at a suburban Chicago mall full of Christmas shoppers left four people injured Thursday, police said.
The incident at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook began with two males involved in a shootout in a corridor around 5:45 p.m., police Chief James Kruger said.
He said the injuries were not life-threatening. Three people who were shot may have been bystanders hit by ricocheting bullets.
Also read: Michigan teen charged in Oxford High School shooting
One person was in custody, and police were looking for another suspect, Kruger said.
"This is just a very unfortunate incident that is completely out of character for our area,” the chief said.
The outdoor mall is a major shopping destination about 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) west of Chicago. TV stations with aerial cameras showed police cars and emergency vehicles spread across the property with their lights flashing.
Shoppers who were interviewed as they were gradually released said they took cover in stores and dressing rooms.
Also read: Police: 2 die, 4 injured in Idaho mall shooting
Alex Gay, 23, said she was walking in the mall when she suddenly saw people running. She didn't hear any gunshots.
“I’m shook up,” Gay told the Chicago Tribune. “It was scary everyone was sprinting out of the mall as sirens went over intercom saying, ‘Emergency. Evacuate. Seek shelter.’ I almost got trampled.”
Biden tries COVID cajoling, avoids new decrees that divide
President Joe Biden’s message to the American people on confronting omicron comes with a heavy dose of cajoling, while some other countries are issuing edicts to their citizens as the new coronavirus variant takes over with breathtaking speed.
America's polarized reaction to vaccines and masks, and its system of government in which states have broad authority over health matters, limit some of the options Biden can exercise — at least without igniting political flareups that could distract from the urgency of his message.
“What we have learned is politics matters,” said Jen Kates, who directs global health work for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “You would have expected us to weather the storm, and we haven’t.”
“We are a big country, we are a complex country, and on every issue partisans are divided,” she said. “That, coupled with local control, and we end up with a disjointed response.”
In France, Prime Minister Jean Castex has banned public concerts and fireworks displays at New Year’s celebrations while calling on people to avoid large gatherings and limit the number of family members coming together for Christmas.
Read:Biden to urge Americans to get vaccinated as Christmas nears
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government is advising citizens not to travel, backing that with a stiff warning that if they test positive abroad they won’t be able to get on a flight to return, and could be stranded.
In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and state governors agreed on restrictions to take effect before the new year, including limiting private gatherings to 10 people, closing nightclubs nationwide and holding large events like soccer matches without in-person audiences.
In the U.S., Biden has not issued fresh travel warnings nor urged the cancellation of public events. He stands by his workplace vaccine mandate, which is caught up in litigation. But he has held back from actions such as a vaccination requirement for air travel, which some public health experts have called for.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, the president seemed to be taking pains to try to connect with viewers on TV. He avoided a catchphrase that he and other members of his administration have often used __ “pandemic of the unvaccinated” __ and instead tried to appeal to vaccine refusers as fellow Americans.
“I, honest to God, believe it’s your patriotic duty,” Biden said, urging the unvaccinated to get their shots.
He even invoked his Republican predecessor. “Just the other day, former President (Donald) Trump announced he had gotten his booster shot,” Biden said. “It may be one of the few things he and I agree on.”
To vaccinated Americans, the president's message was a flashing yellow light to use caution and common sense as they go ahead with their holiday plans. To the unvaccinated, it was meant as a flashing red light to pause, take a good look, and reconsider their stance.
“You have an obligation to yourselves, to your family,” said Biden.
“Get vaccinated now,” he pleaded. “It’s free. It’s convenient. I promise you, it saves lives.”
But it's unclear what, if anything, will persuade some 40 million U.S. adults who remain unvaccinated.
Read:Biden visiting storm-ravaged Kentucky to offer aid, support
A Kaiser foundation poll out this week found that only about 1 in 8 unvaccinated adults said the emergence of omicron has made them more likely to get a shot.
Earlier Kaiser polling highlighted the partisan and ideological splits. A survey last month found that 55% of unvaccinated adults are Republicans or lean to the GOP. That's compared to 16% for the Democrats.
A quarter of all Republicans say they will definitely not get a shot, compared to just 2% of Democrats who say the same.
The U.S. under COVID is like two nations, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He's not sure Biden's message will connect with vaccine refusers.
About two-thirds of Americans understand that vaccines can help them, Hotez said, but about one-fourth to one-third “are living under a rock."
While the White House is trying reach all Americans, “it comes out as very simplistic,” said Hotez.
And Biden's task of messaging is not going to get any less complicated.
As omicron spreads, more vaccinated people are going to become infected because two shots alone do not appear to offer enough protection against getting sick. Even if vaccinated people avoid hospitalization, as the data indicate they generally can, a case of COVID disrupts family life and work routines.
“Because omicron spreads so easily, we’ll see some fully vaccinated people get COVID, potentially in large numbers,” Biden acknowledged. “There will be positive cases in every office, even here in the White House ... among the vaccinated.”
Yet his administration has not changed the definition of “fully vaccinated” from two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to three, as some public health experts have urged. With Johnson & Johnson's single dose vaccine, a booster is also recommended.
The sense of unease among the vaccinated majority of Americans is underscored by news reports of well-known people such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., contracting COVID though fully vaccinated and boosted.
And Wednesday night, Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a close ally of Biden, announced he has tested positive with a breakthrough infection but has no symptoms. Still, his brush with COVID-19 meant he had to miss his granddaughter's wedding.
“America is in a new phase of this pandemic," Clyburn, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, said in a statement. “No one is immune to this virus. I urge anyone who has not done so to get their vaccines and boosters.”
Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for children?
Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe for children?
Yes, U.S. regulators authorized Pfizer’s vaccine for younger children after millions of 12- to 17-year-olds already safely got the shot, the only one available for children in the country.
More than 5 million children ages 5 to 11 have gotten a first dose since early November, and government safety monitoring has not uncovered any surprise problems.
Read:Omicron less likely to put you in the hospital, studies say
This age group gets kid-size doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a third of the amount used to vaccinate everyone 12 or older. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the shots based on a study showing the kid-size doses were 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19. The 5- to 11-year-olds developed virus-fighting antibodies as strong as those of teens and young adults who got regular doses, with similar or fewer annoying reactions such as sore arms, fever or achiness.
The FDA assessed the safety of the kid-size doses in 3,100 vaccinated youngsters. Regulators deemed that enough data, considering the trove of safety information from hundreds of millions of larger doses given to adults and teens worldwide.
Very rarely, teens and young adults given the Pfizer vaccine or a similar one made by Moderna experience a serious side effect, heart inflammation, or what doctors call myocarditis. It’s mostly in young men or teen boys, and usually after the second dose. They tend to recover quickly, and after intense scrutiny U.S. health authorities concluded the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that small risk.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into a handful of reports of heart inflammation, mostly mild and brief, among 5- to 11-year-olds since vaccinations of that age group began.
Read: U.S. announces first recorded Omicron-related death
To put the risk in context, COVID-19 also causes heart inflammation, often a more severe kind, said Dr. Matthew Oster, a pediatric cardiologist at Emory University. It also sometimes occurs in children who get a multisystem inflammatory syndrome after a coronavirus infection.
Before the pandemic, doctors regularly diagnosed heart inflammation caused by bacterial or viral infections or medications, again mostly in teen boys and young men. Oster said one theory is that testosterone and puberty play a role, which is partly why many experts expect any vaccine-related risk would be lower for younger kids getting a smaller dose.
Pfizer pill becomes 1st US-authorized home COVID treatment
U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus.
The long-awaited milestone comes as U.S. cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all rising and health officials warn of a tsunami of new infections from the omicron variant that could overwhelm hospitals.
The drug, Paxlovid, is a faster way to treat early COVID-19 infections, though initial supplies will be extremely limited. All of the previously authorized drugs against the disease require an IV or an injection.
An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon win authorization. But Pfizer’s drug is all but certain to be the preferred option because of its mild side effects and superior effectiveness, including a nearly 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severe disease.
“The efficacy is high, the side effects are low and it’s oral. It checks all the boxes,” said Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic. “You’re looking at a 90% decreased risk of hospitalization and death in a high-risk group — that’s stunning.”
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s drug for adults and children ages 12 and older with a positive COVID-19 test and early symptoms who face the highest risks of hospitalization. That includes older people and those with conditions like obesity and heart disease, though the drug is not recommended for patients with severe kidney or liver problems. Children eligible for the drug must weigh at least 88 pounds (40 kilograms).
The pills from both Pfizer and Merck are expected to be effective against omicron because they don’t target the spike protein where most of the variant’s worrisome mutations reside.
Pfizer currently has 180,000 treatment courses available worldwide, with roughly 60,000 to 70,000 allocated to the U.S. The company said it expects to have 250,000 available in the U.S. by the end of January.
Federal health officials are expected to ration early shipments to the hardest hit parts of the country. Pfizer said the small supply is due to the manufacturing time — currently about nine months. The company says it can halve production time next year.
The U.S. government has agreed to purchase enough Paxlovid to treat 10 million people, and it will be provided free to patients. Pfizer says it’s on track to produce 80 million courses globally next year, under contracts with the U.K., Australia and other nations.
President Joe Biden said the pill marks a “significant step forward in our path out of the pandemic” and said his administration will work with states to ensure equitable distribution.
Health experts agree that vaccination remains the best way to protect against COVID-19. But with roughly 40 million American adults still unvaccinated, effective drugs will be critical to blunting the current and future waves of infection.
Read: Bangladesh receives 1.8 mn Pfizer vaccine jabs from US
The U.S. is now reporting more than 140,000 new infections daily and federal officials warn that the omicron variant could send case counts soaring. Omicron has already whipped across the country to become the dominant strain, federal officials confirmed earlier this week.
Against that backdrop, experts warn that Paxlovid’s initial impact could be limited.
For more than a year, biotech-engineered antibody drugs have been the go-to treatments for COVID-19. But they are expensive, hard to produce and require an injection or infusion, typically given at a hospital or clinic. Also, laboratory testing suggests the two leading antibody drugs used in the U.S. aren’t effective against omicron.
Pfizer’s pill comes with its own challenges.
Patients will need a positive COVID-19 test to get a prescription. And Paxlovid has only proven effective if given within five days of symptoms appearing. With testing supplies stretched, experts worry it may be unrealistic for patients to self-diagnose, get tested, see a physician and pick up a prescription within that narrow window.
Read: FDA paves way for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations in young kids
“If you go outside that window of time I fully expect the effectiveness of this drug is going to fall,” said Andrew Pekosz, a Johns Hopkins University virologist.
The FDA based its decision on company results from a 2,250-patient trial that showed the pill cut hospitalizations and deaths by 89% when given to people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 within three days of symptoms. Less than 1% of patients taking the drug were hospitalized and none died at the end of the 30-day study period, compared with 6.5% of patients hospitalized in the group getting a dummy pill, which included nine deaths.
Pfizer’s drug is part of a decades-old family of antiviral drugs known as protease inhibitors, which revolutionized the treatment of HIV and hepatitis C. The drugs block a key enzyme which viruses need to multiply in the human body.
The U.S. will pay about $500 for each course of Pfizer’s treatment, which consists of three pills taken twice a day for five days. Two of the pills are Paxlovid and the third is a different antiviral that helps boost levels of the main drug in the body.
US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic’s 1st year
U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation’s founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents, according to figures released Tuesday.
The United States grew by only 0.1%, with an additional 392,665 added to the U.S. population from July 2020 to July 2021, bringing the nation’s count to 331.8 million people, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The U.S. has been experiencing slow population growth for years but the pandemic exacerbated that trend. This past year was the first time since 1937 that the nation’s population grew by less than 1 million people.
“I was expecting low growth but nothing this low,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s metropolitan policy program, Brookings Metro. “It tells us that this pandemic has had a huge impact on us in all kinds of ways, and now demography.”
Once there’s a handle on the pandemic, the U.S. may eventually see a decrease in deaths, but population growth likely won’t bounce back to what it has been in years past because of fewer births. That will increase the need for immigration by younger workers whose taxes can support programs such as Social Security, Frey said.
“We have an aging population and that means fewer women in child-bearing ages,” Frey said. “We see younger people putting off having children and they’re going to have fewer children.”
Read: Thousands of Afghans seek temporary US entry, few approved
The decision not to have children by young families may be driven by financial worries as much, if not more, than health concerns, said Linda Kahn, a professor at New York University and lead researcher in a study that showed that almost half of New York City mothers who had been trying to become pregnant before the pandemic began in the U.S. in March 2020 stopped in the first few months of the outbreak.
“COVID really was a stress test of our whole system and how it fails to support women and families,” Kahn said. “Women were much harder hit in the pandemic. They lost their jobs at greater rates and had to give up their jobs, often to do home-schooling. The pressures on women were enormous and there’s really no safety net in the U.S.”
The population estimates are derived from calculating the number of births, deaths and migration in the U.S. For the first time, international migration surpassed natural increases that come from births outnumbering deaths. There was a net increase of nearly 245,000 residents from international migration but only about 148,000 from new births outnumbering deaths.
International migration dropped by about half from the previous year because of COVID-19 restrictions, such as borders being closed for nonessential travel and the closure of many consulates abroad where visas are issued. As recently as 2016, the U.S. had a net increase of more than 1 million international migrants.
In more than two dozen states, most notably Florida, deaths outnumbered births. Deaths exceeded births in Florida by more than 45,000 people, but the state’s saving grace was a migration gain of more than 259,000 people, the nation’s highest.
University of New Hampshire demographer Kenneth Johnson described the decline in the United States’ natural population increase as “stunning,” saying it was the smallest spread of births over deaths in more than 80 years.
“Of course most of this is COVID, but not all of it,” Johnson said. “U.S. natural increase was already at a low ebb prior to COVID with the fertility rate hitting a new record low each year and deaths steadily rising due to the population aging.”
Between 2020 and 2021, 33 states saw population increases, primarily through domestic migration, while 17 states and the District of Columbia lost population.
Read: Omicron sweeps across nation, now 73% of new US COVID cases
States in the Mountain West saw the biggest year-over-year growth rate, with Idaho growing by almost 3%, and Utah and Montana each seeing population increases of 1.7%. The District of Columbia lost 2.9% of its population, while New York and Illinois lost 1.6% and 0.9% of their populations, respectively. In pure numbers, California had the greatest net population loss of any state from people leaving: almost 353,000.
While the pandemic gave some people the option of working remotely, data released last month by the Census Bureau shows there was no great migration in the U.S. because of it.
Some did take advantage of the opportunity, however. Tired of the heat, hurricane threats and traffic in Houston, tech worker Heidi Krueger moved to a small town south of Knoxville, Tennessee, in September. She can see the Great Smoky Mountains from her front porch.
“Because I was working from home during the pandemic, it made it feasible to move and still keep my same job,” Krueger said. “As long as I have internet, I can still connect to our clients.”
U.S. announces first recorded Omicron-related death
An unvaccinated man living in Harris County, Texas, is believed to be the first victim having died from the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the United States, local media reported Monday.
"Sad to report the first local fatality from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A man in his 50s from the eastern portion of Harris County who was not vaccinated," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo tweeted earlier in the day.
The victim had an underlying health condition, she added.
Read: Omicron sweeps across nation, now 73% of new US COVID cases
Reports from ABC News and Fox News said this is believed to be the first recorded Omicron-related death in the United States.
Omicron accounts for 73.2 percent of new cases across the country in the week that ended on Dec. 18, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.