U.S. Mask Guidance Loosened; Singapore Cases Slow: Virus Update

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Bloomberg News

26 Feb 2022, 05:19 PM IST

U.S. Mask Guidance Loosened; Singapore Cases Slow: Virus Update

Signage outside Pfizer headquarters in New York, U.S. (Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. health officials dialed back their threshold for masking recommendations. The guidance signaled that the federal government is prioritizing protecting hospitals and vulnerable people over broadly preventing infections.

Students at New York City’s public schools will not have to wear masks outdoors when they return after a mid-winter break on Monday, the first step to what Mayor Eric Adams said was a plan to ease up on mandates throughout the city.

More than 10% of European Union citizens living in Hong Kong have left the city, according to the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macau, as its strict Covid Zero measures continue to frustrate residents.

Key Developments:

Virus Tracker: Cases pass 432.4 million; deaths top 5.9 million
Vaccine Tracker: More than 10.6 billion doses administered
What we know about omicron and subvariant BA.2: QuickTake
The best and worst Places to be as the omicron threat fades

U.S. Loosens Mask Guidance (3:50 p.m. NY)

U.S. health officials dialed back their threshold for masking recommendations, a signal that the federal government is shifting into a new phase of its pandemic response that prioritizes protecting hospitals and vulnerable people over broadly preventing infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday introduced a new three-tiered system for classifying local Covid-19 risks. In areas where the risks from the virus are low, officials said that most people can go without masks in indoor public places such as restaurants or shopping malls.

The recommendations also apply to schools -- the first update to school guidance since July 2021. While the CDC earlier recommended masks for schools regardless of community risk level, the updated recommendation is for a requirement only in high-risk areas.

Colorado Urges Vaccinated to Shed Masks (3:10 p.m. NY)

Colorado’s top health officials are encouraging vaccinated residents “to move beyond the pandemic” and shed their masks after two years of Covid-19, Governor Jared Polis said Friday.

“It feels like 10 years instead of two years” Polis said at a news conference, urging a return to normalcy. Unlike earlier briefings neither Polis nor his advisors were wearing masks.

“We’re in a really good place,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, director of the state Department Public Health and Environment. An estimated 90% of state residents are immune to the omicron variant and 81% have received at least one vaccine dose, Ryan said.

New Singapore Cases Fall For Third Day (11:20 a.m. NY)

Singapore’s new local cases has fallen for third straight day after hitting a record high earlier this week, the latest Ministry of Health data show.

The Southeast Asian financial hub found 18,383 new local infections as of noon Friday, including those detected through rapid tests, down from 18,434 the day before

The city-state’s local cases hit new high of 25,731 on Feb. 22 and the MOH expects it may take a few weeks before the transmission wave peaks.

EU Regulator Suggests Booster After 3 Months (9:29 a.m. NY)

The European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee recommended reducing the interval between primary and Spikevax booster doses from six to three months. It also recommended authorizing the use of Moderna’s vaccine as a booster dose in people who have previously completed a primary vaccination with another mRNA vaccine or an adenoviral vector vaccine.

NYC to Relax School Mask Mandate (8:37 a.m. NY)

Masks will still be required inside for all students, staff and visitors of the U.S.’s largest school system, which has roughly 1 million students. Adams said he was eager to lift all city mask and vaccine mandates, but he would “follow the science” and only do so on the suggestion of city health officials.

Swedish Inquiry Faults Initial Response (6:49 a.m. NY)

Sweden’s initial response to the pandemic was partly misguided and slow, according to the findings of a government-appointed commission.

However, the commission’s final report concluded that the country did relatively well during the pandemic. Sweden was one of the nations in Europe that had the lowest level of excess mortality in 2020 and 2021, despite a policy that shunned many of the harsh restrictions elsewhere on the continent.

Germany Warns Pandemic Not Over (5:44 a.m. NY)

The pandemic isn’t over, and Germany is still struggling with rising case rates among high-risk groups, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said in Berlin Friday.

Germany will face problems in the fall if it doesn’t boost its vaccination rates, in particular among its older population, Lauterbach said.

EU Expats Leaving Hong Kong (5:48 p.m. HK)

This exodus happened over the past year or so, Chinese language newspaper Ming Pao reported Friday. The EU office has relayed concerns from expatriates and business community to the Hong Kong government around flight bans and travel restrictions, school closures, extended quarantine in government facilities and separation of children, it said in a statement Thursday.

Hong Kong Cases Surge Again (5:40 p.m. HK)

Hong Kong reported 21,979 cases on Friday as officials struggle to contain the city’s worst ever outbreak and residents prepare for mandatory mass testing next month that’s set to uncover even more infections.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, once known as the freest economy on earth and “Asia’s World City,” is now second only to Pakistan as the worst place to live during Covid. The city saw its ranking tumble to 52nd on Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking.

New Delhi Relaxes Restrictions (5:05 p.m. HK)

The Indian capital today withdrew most of its Covid restrictions -- even though mask-wearing remains in force. All schools in the city will move entirely to in-person teaching from April 1, New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a Twitter post. India has had some of the longest school closures in the world and most continue to offer hybrid options.

Vegan Vaccine (11:50 a.m. HK)

The world’s first plant-derived Covid vaccine was cleared for use in Canada, creating a novel immunization to combat the virus from a unit of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. and Philip Morris International.

The vaccine named Covifenz was jointly developed by Medicago Inc., a biopharma company owned by Mitsubishi Chemical and Philip Morris and based in Quebec City, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc. It will be available for adults aged 18 to 64, Health Canada said in a statement.

China Outbreak Grows (9:30 a.m. HK)

China’s outbreak continued to swell, especially in the northern part of the country, as Inner Mongolia detected 30 new cases and Liaoning province found 18. A total of 82 domestically transmissions have been found in more than half of Chinese provinces on Friday, according to the National Health Commission. There were 22 additional infected that didn’t shown symptoms. Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the pathogen first emerged over two years ago, seems to have successfully tackled a flareup after reporting more than 20 cases recently.

Covid Leads to Surge in Orphans, Study Says (7:30 a.m. HK)

At least 5.2 million children have lost a parent or caregiver to Covid, putting them at risk of poverty, exploitation and abuse and highlighting the lasting scars of the pandemic, a study shows.

More than 1.2 million children under nine years of age were orphaned between March 2020 and October last year, along with 2.1 million kids between 10 and 17, according to a new modeling study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal.

With assistance from Bloomberg