(Bloomberg) — Singapore infections increased at the fastest pace in nearly two months amid the worldwide spread of the omicron variant. A U.S. agency said travel to the Southeast Asian nation should be avoided.
Fewer U.S. patients are ending up in intensive-care units than last winter as omicron’s trajectory mirrors the experience of South Africa and the U.K. But Maryland expects hospitalizations to rise and declared a state of emergency.
The language around what constitutes fully vaccinated is being replaced, according to Anthony Fauci, as omicron makes boosters necessary for optimal protection. Omicron now accounts for 95% of new sequenced cases in the U.S.
Infections climbed to a record in Greece, which is planning to reopen schools next week as scheduled. Germany eased travel from the U.K. and South Africa.
Key Developments:
- Virus Tracker: Cases pass 294 million; deaths exceed 5.4 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 9 billion shots administered
- U.S. schools close in droves as omicron drives staff shortages
- Frustrated test-seekers are overwhelming emergency rooms
- How safe is flying as omicron surges: QuickTake
New Vaccine Language (7:45 a.m. HK)
The language around what constitutes fully vaccinated against Covid-19 is being replaced, in the strongest indication by White House chief medical adviser Anthony S. Fauci that two shots of a messenger RNA vaccine fall short of protection amid the highly transmissible omicron variant.
“We’re using the terminology now ‘keeping your vaccinations up to date,’ rather than what ‘fully vaccinated’ means,” Fauci said during a National Institutes of Health lecture Tuesday. “Right now, optimal protection is with a third shot of an mRNA or a second shot of a J&J.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called Tuesday for third shots of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine to be administered within five months of the initial two-shot series, shortening the time frame before a booster by a month. A CDC advisory panel is expected to recommend boosters for teenagers in a meeting Wednesday.
NYC Economic Recovery to Lag Until 2025 (7:42 a.m. HK)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces a longer-than-expected Covid recovery with a nearly $3 billion budget gap next year and a labor force that isn’t expected to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025, the city’s Independent Budget Office said in its latest economic forecast released Tuesday.
Rising tax revenue could mitigate some of the pain but Adams will be forced to make tough choices over balancing the budget without the billions of federal aid that has masked much of the city’s underlying fiscal uncertainty, the IBO said.
Quarantine Breaches in the Philippines (7:30 a.m. HK)
Philippine authorities charged nine people for allegedly violating the health emergency law, and are investigating another case of a returning citizen who skipped quarantine amid rising Covid-19 infections.
The Philippines tightened virus curbs in its capital this week amid an exponential rise in Covid-19 infections, possibly due to the omicron variant. The Southeast Asian nation recorded 5,434 cases on Tuesday, the highest since late October.
Texas Sues U.S. Over National Guard Shot Rule (6:05 a.m. HK)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sued the Biden administration over its effort to impose a coronavirus vaccine mandate on National Guard troops, saying it violates state sovereignty to require the shots when the troops are not on active federal duty.
Under U.S. law, National Guard units answer to the states where they are domiciled unless they are called into active duty by the federal government. Abbott’s lawsuit also cites Texas’s state constitution, saying its governor serves as the national guard’s commander-in-chief except when the troops are called into federal service.
The dispute between Texas and the U.S. has been brewing since at least last month, when Abbott said he wouldn’t enforce the vaccine mandate on National Guard soldiers and then said he would sue to block it.
CDC Says Singapore’s Covid Levels ‘Unknown’ (3:35 p.m. NY)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reclassified its Covid-19 travel advisory for Singapore, guiding Americans to avoid travel to the Southeast Asian nation because the level of the disease there is “unknown.”
“Because the current situation in Singapore is unknown, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the CDC said in its advisory.
Singapore, which was previously classified under the CDC’s highest Covid-19 risk level, now joins the same classification category as Afghanistan, North Korea and Syria.
The city-state reported a total of 842 new Covid-19 cases as of noon on Jan. 4.
AmEx Delays U.S. Office Return (3 p.m. NY)
American Express Co. postponed its return to U.S. offices amid a surge in Covid-19 cases linked to the highly contagious omicron variant.
The New York-based credit-card giant will give employees two weeks’ notice before it starts bringing a larger number of staffers back to its offices. The firm had previously said it intended to start bringing back employees beginning Jan. 24.
Omicron Now 95% of New U.S. Cases (2:17 p.m. NY)
Omicron made up 95% of all sequenced Covid-19 cases in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 1, up from a revised 77% in the previous week, according to a model by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, the CDC estimated that the variant accounted for 58.6% of cases in the week ending Dec. 25.
The omicron variant is accounting for the lion’s share of new coronavirus cases as Americans return to work and school following the holiday season, according to estimates from federal health officials.
U.S. hospitals are so far seeing significantly fewer severe outcomes from the omicron wave than they saw in past Covid-19 spikes, mirroring the experience of South Africa and the U.K. Even New York, the uber-dense site of one of the nation’s worst outbreaks, is seeing similar results.
Florida to Release Testing Guidance (1:08 p.m. NY)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration plans to release new guidance on coronavirus testing that will be tied to risk factors, as state officials criticized efforts to mandate screening broadly.
The Republican governor and the state’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, criticized what they see as over-testing, such as for those seeking to engage in social events or for children to return to in-person education.
Pfizer in Pact With U.S. for More Pill Courses (12:01 p.m. NY)
Pfizer Inc. said the U.S. government has agreed to buy an additional 10 million courses of its Covid-19 pill, adding to the country’s stash of virus-fighting tools.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that the U.S. agreed to buy the additional supply of the drug, known as Paxlovid, on top of 10 million courses that it had previously agreed to purchase. About 10 million courses have been accelerated for delivery by the end of June, Pfizer said, with the remaining tranche to be delivered by the end of September.
Maryland Declares State of Emergency (10:30 a.m. NY)
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a 30-day state of emergency as he predicted hospitalizations could reach more than 5,000, a 250% increase from a peak reached a year ago.
The next four to six weeks “will be the most challenging time of the entire pandemic,” Hogan said Tuesday at a virus briefing.
Hogan announced several actions to deal with the crisis, including giving the state’s health department the authority to direct and expedite transfer of patients; establishing alternative care facilities; allowing inactive health-care practitioners to help out without having to get their licenses renewed; authorizing graduate nurses to provide full nursing services; and activating 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard to assist.
Armani Cancels Fashion Shows (8:59 a.m. N.Y.)
Giorgio Armani has canceled January’s shows in Milan and the Paris fashion weeks due to increasing infection rates in Europe, the Italian company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The move was made “with great regret” because the shows are considered “crucial and irreplaceable occasions,” the fashion house said in the release. Valentino’s Vintage campaign has also been moved from January to April, the Italian company said in a separate statement.
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