Delta Variant
Second Anniversary of the COVID-19 Pandemic
March 11 marked the second anniversary of WHO's declaration of the pandemic and the beginning of its third year. Cases continue to plummet in the U.S. and plateau globally while war in Europe has overshadowed the virus that has killed 6 million.
The Pandemic Era
"We are living in the Covid-19 era, not the Covid-19 crisis," Allan Brandt, a historian of science and medicine at Harvard University, told Gina Kolata of the New York Times last October in a review of past pandemics and what we can learn from them.
Beware Endemics!
The pandemic will end and SARS-CoV-2 may evolve to become a mild, endemic cold coronavirus, warns Aris Katzourakis, a professor of viral evolution and genomics in an opinion for Nature. Examples of other endemic diseases are malaria and tuberculosis.
COVID Zero: The High Price of Containment
Vision Zero: a strategy to eliminate road crashes, particularly those with fatal outcomes. COVID Zero: a strategy to end coronavirus transmission. Only one has worked—but at a steep price.
Omicron Breaks Another Pandemic Record: Hospitalizations
The highly infectious Omicron variant is contributing to a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. The record set in last winter's surge fell on Tuesday as hospitals suffer from massive labor shortages caused by the variant.
Pandemic Endgame: Danish Epidemiologist's Prediction
Based on the results of a new study on the transmission of the Omicron variant in Denmark released by the Statens Serum Institut, Tyra Grove Krause, the institute's chief epidemiologist, said, "We will have our normal lives back in two months."
State Hospitalization Record Breaks as Omicron Surges
Infections from the Omicron variant, which early studies suggest cause less severe illness than the Delta variant, may be contributing to a record number of hospitalizations in Ohio, the highest since the start of the pandemic.
Nation's Capital Is #1 COVID Hotspot
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations per capita in the District of Columbia are higher than in any state or U.S. territory on New Year's Day. Only Puerto Rico and Louisiana have seen hospitalizations increase faster than D.C. in the last two weeks.
Omicron Helps to Shatter Infection Records
The rapidly spreading Omicron variant and its viral competitor, the Delta variant, are setting new case records globally and in the U.S.
Your Date With Omicron
“All of us have a date with omicron,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The Associated Press on Dec. 20, adding "...and the best way you can encounter this is to be fully vaccinated.”
Coronavirus Geography: Denmark Could Be an Omicron Harbinger
Denmark is one of three countries that experts suggest watching to determine how the Omicron wave will affect the U.S. and other well-vaccinated nations. Cases are surging notwithstanding having 78% of its population fully vaccinated.
Revisiting Vermont: A COVID Update
PBS NewsHour investigates the surging coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Vermont which, along with Rhode Island, has 75% of its total population fully vaccinated, the nation's highest, as the U.S. appears to enter a winter surge.
Global COVID Death Toll Reaches Another Grim Milestone
The official death toll due to COVID-19 since the first recorded death in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 10, 2020, passed 5 million on Nov. 1, although The New York Times stresses that's a vast undercount. The WHO points to Europe as the latest hot spot.
COVID Vaccination Strategy: What the U.K. and U.S. Could Learn from Israel
Cases are surging in the U.K. despite 68% of its population being fully vaccinated. Experts say that U.K. officials should observe how Israel, with 63% of its population fully vaccinated, managed to reduce transmission after a similar surge.
Biden Administration Targets Five States that Ban School Mask Mandates
President Biden asked his education secretary to see what could be done about states that prohibit school districts from enacting CDC public health recommendations. Miguel Cardona responded by empowering his Office of Civil Rights to investigate.
Florida Judge Rules That Governor Overstepped Authority in Banning School Mask Mandates
A group of parents won the first round on Aug. 27 in a state circuit court in a dispute with the governor and state education agencies over the ability of school boards to require all students to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Vaccinated Account for 20 Percent of Covid Infections in a Few Hot Spots
All Americans, vaccinated and unvaccinated, are still in this pandemic together.
Vaccinated Californians Estimated to Account for 20% of Current COVID Infections
State and national health authorities are unusually tight-lipped when it comes to so-called vaccine breakthrough infections, so one Bay Area newspaper editorial page editor did the math himself.
Delta Variant's High Transmissibility Prompts CDC to Issue Masking Correction
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acting on new data that it had yet to publish, changed its masking guidance on July 27 to reflect the prevalence of the virus in specific counties rather than basing it on a person's vaccination status.
Mandating and Verifying Vaccinations
President Joe Biden might consider observing the actions of his French counterpart to learn of successful strategies to deal with the COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant and resistant population.
Pagination
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.