Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: COVID reinfections, masks while traveling & more
In the United States, more than 80.9 million people have tested positive for coronavirus as of Saturday, April 23, according to Johns Hopkins University, as cases rise in some areas of the country.
To date, more than 991,000 people living in the U.S. have died, including about 2,000 since last week. Worldwide, there have been more than 508 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including about 4 million new cases since one week ago.
Additionally, over 6.2 million have died from the virus globally. Roughly 219 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated as of April 22 — 66% of the population — and 99 million of those people have gotten a booster shot, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Roughly 99% of the U.S. lives in a location with low or medium COVID-19 Community Level, the agency says as of April 22. About 0.4% of Americans reside in an area with a high COVID-19 Community Level. For them, it’s recommended to wear a mask while indoors in public.
The CDC reports the weekly average of COVID-19 cases have risen nationwide as of April 13. Cases are 19.1% higher compared to the prior week’s average, according to the CDC.
The omicron BA.2 subvariant dominated positive U.S. cases for the week ending April 16.
Here’s what happened between April 17 and April 22:
How soon can you be reinfected with COVID? Quicker than you may think, studies find
Yes, it’s possible to get reinfected with COVID-19 after catching the coronavirus once — and it can happen quicker than you may realize, recent studies have found.
That’s the case even if you’re fully vaccinated.
The record for the quickest recorded COVID-19 reinfection was reported Wednesday, April 20, after a healthcare worker got sick with the virus 20 days after an initial infection, according to researchers in Spain.
The 31-year-old woman, who is fully vaccinated and had received a booster shot, tested positive for the coronavirus omicron variant 20 days after getting sick with the delta variant, a news release from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases said.
Continue reading below:
Masks no longer needed on planes and public transportation, TSA says. What to know
Travelers are no longer required to wear a mask on planes, trains and public transportation hubs following the decision of a federal judge in Florida, the Transportation Security Administration says.
This comes days after the agency, alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extended the mask mandate for 15 days on April 13. However, the April 18 court ruling has done away with this requirement after it’s been in effect for roughly two years.
Continue reading here:
Should you keep wearing masks? What experts say as mandates end on public transit
Mask mandates on public transportation are ending, and some health experts are worried.
The TSA announced this week that it will no longer enforce mask mandates after a U.S. federal judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t have the authority to keep the public transportation policy in place, according to previous reporting done by McClatchy News.
Following the ruling, several airlines announced that masks would now be optional in airports and on flights. Public transportation systems across the country and ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft also announced that while masks still are recommended, they are no longer mandatory, McClatchy News reported.
Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University, told Bloomberg that “this is not the right time to get rid of masks,” adding that making individuals responsible for mitigating risk is “not how to stop a pandemic.”
Continue reading for what experts are saying:
Uber ends mask requirement for passengers, drivers. ‘You can always cancel the trip’
Uber’s mask requirement for passengers and drivers ended in the U.S. as of April 19, the company said.
The move comes a day after the Transportation Security Administration announced an end to the national mask mandate for public transportation — including in airports and public transportation hubs and on planes and trains.
“If you ever feel uncomfortable, you can always cancel the trip,” Uber said in an update to its COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Read more here:
Airlines lift mask rules — but what about the bans on people who refused to wear them?
After the Transportation Security Administration announced on April 18 that it would no longer enforce the federal mask mandate, following a federal judge’s ruling, many airlines dropped their mask requirements onboard and in airports.
Now, airlines are deciding whether to allow passengers banned for not wearing masks back on flights.
Continue reading for what airlines are saying:
CDC updates its travel warning system. Here’s what to know about the changes
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is changing the way it determines which countries have the highest risk of COVID-19 as travelers prepare for their next trips abroad.
The public health agency updated its Travel Health Notices system on April 18, announcing that Level 4, or the “Do Not Travel” risk category, will no longer be based solely on coronavirus incidence and case counts.
Instead, Level 4 “will be reserved for special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern, and healthcare infrastructure collapse,” according to the CDC’s website.
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Man sold hundreds of fake COVID vaccine cards he called a ‘work of art,’ feds say
A Colorado man is accused of selling hundreds of fake COVID-19 vaccine cards across at least 12 states, federal officials said.
Robert Van Camp made thousands of dollars in the scheme from April 2021 to April 2022, according to a criminal complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Van Camp, of Parker, was arrested on Tuesday, April 19. He was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Keep reading about the case here:
Reporters Cassandre Coyer, Tanasia Kenney and Helena Wegner also contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 7:19 AM with the headline "Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: COVID reinfections, masks while traveling & more."
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