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Sens. Wicker, King check optimistic for Covid after being totally vaccinated

Sens. Wicker, King test positive for Covid after being fully vaccinated

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, left, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Tom Williams-Pool | Getty Images

Sens. Roger Wicker and Angus King, who are both vaccinated for the coronavirus, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday after experiencing symptoms.

Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and King, an independent from Maine, are the latest in a string of prominent politicians to announce positive coronavirus tests in recent weeks despite being fully vaccinated. Others include Republicans Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas.

“Senator Wicker is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, is in good health, and is being treated by his Tupelo-based physician,” Phillip Waller, Wicker’s communications director, said in a statement. The 70-year-old Wicker “is isolating, and everyone with whom Senator Wicker has come in close contact recently has been notified.”

The Senate is in recess this week, and many of the chamber’s members are in home states either preparing for 2022 elections or checking in with district offices.

“Despite all my efforts, when I began feeling mildly feverish yesterday, I took a test this morning at my doctor’s suggestion, and it came back positive,” King, 77, said in a statement. “While I am not feeling great, I’m definitely feeling much better than I would have without the vaccine.”

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) holds a chart as bipartisan members of the Senate and House gather to announce a framework for fresh coronavirus relief legislation at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Dec. 1, 2020.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

Wicker’s and King’s positive tests came as the Biden administration ramps up efforts to encourage Americans to seek booster shots starting next month amid a growing pool of data that shows vaccine protections fade over time.

Three of Washington’s top health experts on Wednesday provided further details on how the immune system’s protections wane over time.

It’s now “very clear” that immunity starts to fall after the initial two doses, and with the dominance of the delta variant, “we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease,” according to a statement signed by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and other U.S. health leaders.

New Covid-19 cases are emerging at their highest rates since winter as the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the U.S. Health experts blame its rapid spread for the uptick in case counts and deaths as a growing number of so-called “breakthrough” cases show fully vaccinated people are still at risk.

More than 140,000 new cases and 822 deaths were reported in the U.S. on Monday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of new daily deaths has more than doubled since the start of August.

The situation in Florida and Texas is especially grim, with case counts in both states blowing past records and overwhelming hospital systems.

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Health

Why absolutely vaccinated folks can get Covid

Why fully vaccinated people can get Covid

Nurses watch a computer screen in Bogota, Colombia on February 18, 2021.

JUAN BARRETO | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – People fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are highly protected from serious infection, hospitalization and death from the virus. But coronavirus cases among the fully vaccinated – so-called “breakthrough” covid cases – are still seen in those who received two doses.

It does this for a number of reasons, experts note.

First off, none of the vaccines used in the US or Europe are 100% effective at preventing infections.

In addition, new Covid strains such as the highly contagious Delta variant – which is now widespread worldwide – have made the efficacy picture more difficult. There is also incomplete data on how long immunity to Covid lasts after vaccination.

The alarm was raised over groundbreaking Covid cases when preliminary data released in late July in Israel – which had one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world – showed that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was only 40.5% effective at preventing symptomatic illness was.

The analysis, conducted when the Delta variant became the dominant tribe in the country, nonetheless found that two doses of the shot offered strong protection from serious illness and hospitalization, the country’s health ministry reported.

The data also appeared to show declining effectiveness of the Pfizer BioNTech shot, with the vaccine being only 16% effective against symptomatic infections in those who received two doses of the shot in January. However, in people who had received two doses by April, the rate of effectiveness (against symptomatic infection) was 79%.

However, a study conducted in England from April to May found that after two doses, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic diseases caused by the Delta variant.

However, comparing the results is difficult given the differences in the nature of vaccination programs in the two countries (for example, Israel has given the Pfizer vaccine to the entire adult population, while in the UK several vaccines with the Pfizer BioNTech shot mostly at younger people) as well Differences in study dates, Covid test regimes and age groups.

Like the Israeli data, the English data concluded that the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine was 96% effective against hospitalizations from the Delta variant after two doses. Similarly, after two doses, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was found to be 92% effective in preventing hospitalization. Initial data on the vaccine’s efficacy from clinical studies published last year by Pfizer and BioNTech showed that the vaccine was 95% effective.

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick Medical School in the UK, told CNBC that cases of Covid in fully vaccinated people are a reminder that “no vaccine is 100% effective”.

“There will always be a proportion of people who are still susceptible to infection and disease,” he said on Monday.

“There are also two other factors that affect the effectiveness of the vaccine: (1) Waning immunity – we still don’t know how long the protective immunity induced by the vaccine will last. This is very likely a factor in older and more vulnerable people who vaccinated at the beginning of the vaccine rollout program, “he noted.

The second factor, he added, relates to “breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals due to the more contagious Delta variant,” which made the case more important for booster programs, he said. In the case of booster programs, the jury has not yet made a decision, in the USA and Great Britain a decision has yet to be made

Breakthrough cases by number

It’s difficult to know the full extent of the “breakthrough” Covid cases, but figures from NBC News have shown that at least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for Covid and 1,400 of them have died. Still, the 125,682 “breakthrough” cases in 38 states found by NBC News represented less than 0.08% of the more than 164.2 million people (and will be) fully vaccinated since the beginning of the year, or about every 1,300.

That is, the number of cases and deaths among the vaccinated is very low compared to the number among the unvaccinated. Health authorities, especially in the US, are urging unvaccinated people to register for a Covid vaccination.

Andrew Freedman, an infectious disease reader at Cardiff Medical School, UK, told CNBC that “breakthrough cases” are expected.

“The vaccines are very good at protecting against serious infections, hospitalizations, and death, but they are less effective at providing complete protection against infection, and we know that many people who have been fully vaccinated are still having delta infections in most cases get mild symptoms. ” “He said on Monday to CNBC’s” Squawk Box Europe “.

“What we don’t know is whether there is an additional booster will actually increase protection and reduce infections with delta variants, “he noted.

It must be emphasized that studies show that fully vaccinated people are much less likely to contract Covid – or even contract the virus at all.

New research from the UK published last Friday showed that people who were double-vaccinated were three times less likely to test positive for the coronavirus than those who were not vaccinated.

Analysis of the PCR test results in the REACT-1 study – a large coronavirus surveillance program in the UK led by Imperial College London – also suggested that fully vaccinated people may also be less likely to pass the virus on to others than those who were not vaccinated, because they have an average lower viral load and therefore probably less virus shedding.

Professor Paul Elliott, director of the Imperial School of Public Health’s REACT program, said the results highlight both the benefits and the limitations of Covid vaccines.

“These results confirm our previous data, which show that both doses of a vaccine offer good protection against infection. But we also see that there is still a risk of infection as no vaccine is 100% effective and we know that some are double vaccinated. “People can still get the virus,” he said.

Steven Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial, said “breakthrough infections” need further investigation in fully vaccinated people, especially as parts of the world are grappling with the spread of the Delta variant.

“The Delta variant is known to be highly contagious, and as a result, we can see from our data and others that breakthrough infections occur in fully vaccinated people. We need to better understand how contagious fully vaccinated people become infected as this will help better predict the situation in the months to come, and our results will help build a broader picture of it. “

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Half of Individuals are actually absolutely vaccinated, White Home says

Half of Americans are now fully vaccinated, White House says

Half of Americans, including all ages, are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, a White House official said Friday, a major milestone as the nation battles a surge in new infections fueled by the Delta variant.

More than 821,000 doses were given from the previous day, including 565,000 people receiving their first syringe, White House Covid data director Cyrus Shahpar said in a tweet before the data was posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website were published. The seven-day average of new vaccinations is up 11% from last week and 44% over the past two weeks, he added.

While the milestone is exciting, the country still has a long way to go before the pandemic is over, said Dr. Paul Offit, who advises the Food and Drug Administration on Covid vaccines. The highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread rapidly, especially in regions of the country with the lowest vaccination rates, he said.

“They had over 100,000 cases and over 600 deaths yesterday, which tells us we’re not there yet,” Offit said.

The U.S. reports an average of about 98,500 daily infections, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows, which already surpassed the peak of cases seen last summer when the nation lacked a vaccine.

Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi – states with some of the lowest vaccination rates – accounted for roughly half of the new Covid cases and hospital stays in the past week, said Jeffrey Zients, the White House’s Covid Response Coordinator, said told reporters Thursday. In the past seven days, 1 in 3 new Covid cases occurred in Florida and Texas.

In Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis opposes calls for further restrictions, the infection rate is nearing the state’s pandemic peak in late January, when an average of nearly 18,000 new cases were reported each day.

Florida reports an average of about 15,800 new cases daily for the past seven days, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, 51% more than a week ago. This is the second worst outbreak in the US by average daily new cases per capita, behind Louisiana.

The death toll there is also rising, with an average of 58 daily Covid deaths, 45% more than last week but below the record seven-day average of more than 180 daily deaths in late January.

The outbreak threatens to slow the country’s progress in ending the pandemic, especially as schools reopen and employers start bringing workers back to the office this fall, health experts say.

With the virus widespread in states like Florida, the nation “is likely to see even more worrying varieties emerge this fall and winter,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law.

“America is about to return to normal. This could be a major setback for our national Covid response, ”he said.

As cases rise, more companies are requiring their workers to get vaccinated, and federal health officials say they are urging states to incentivize their residents.

Some Americans are already seeing the effects of not vaccinating and are now getting the injections, US officials said Thursday.

In Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, the seven-day average of first-doses reported daily has more than doubled since early July, CDC data shows, as the outbreak worsened nationwide. In Arkansas, which has the third worst outbreak in the country, based on new cases per capita every day, vaccinations nearly tripled.

Zients said Thursday that the White House’s Covid Surge Response Teams are also working with 16 states with rising cases to meet their specific needs.

– CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

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Politics

The SEC wants extra energy from Congress to completely regulate crypto, Chair Gensler says

The SEC needs more power from Congress to fully regulate crypto, Chair Gensler says

Gary Gensler

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said Tuesday that Wall Street’s top regulator needs Congress to grant it additional powers for overseeing a vast and ever-evolving cryptocurrency market.

Speaking about crypto at the Aspen Security Forum, Gensler said the SEC has “taken and will continue to take our authorities as far as they go.”

“Certain rules related to crypto assets are well settled. The test to determine whether a crypto asset is a security is clear,” he said. “There are some gaps in this space, though: We need additional congressional authorities to prevent transactions, products and platforms from falling between regulatory cracks. We also need more resources to protect investors in this growing and volatile sector.”

Gensler, who previously taught classes about blockchain and other financial technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has asked lawmakers to grant his agency the legal authority to oversee crypto exchanges.

He said many of the crypto coins were trading like assets and should fall under the purview of the SEC, which already has significant authority over digital assets.

Despite his deep knowledge of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Gensler has made it clear that he intends to take a hands-on approach when it comes to new financial technologies. Capitol Hill has for months held hearings on how best to monitor the nascent market, now worth trillions, amid violent price swings and rapid growth.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for example, last week wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to urge her to bulk up oversight efforts.

Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee and a longtime critic of the nation’s largest banks, pressed the Treasury secretary to use her powers on the Financial Stability Oversight Council to bring about a safer crypto market.

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“FSOC must act quickly to use its statutory authority to address cryptocurrencies’ risks and regulate the market to ensure the safety and stability of consumers and our financial system,” the Massachusetts Democrat wrote in a letter to Yellen. “As the demand for cryptocurrencies continues to grow and these assets become more embedded in our financial system, consumers, the environment, and our financial system are under growing threats,” she added.

Chief among regulators’ concerns about crypto are its susceptibly to fraud and market manipulation.

The Federal Trade Commission reported earlier this year that consumers reported losing more than $80 million to crypto scams between October and March, with many of those losses stemming from underhanded scammers targeting small investors on social media, the FTC said.

“The American public is buying, selling, and lending crypto on these trading, lending, and DeFi [decentralized finance] platforms, and there are significant gaps in investor protection,” Gensler said. “Make no mistake: To the extent that there are securities on these trading platforms, under our laws they have to register with the commission unless they meet an exemption. Make no mistake: If a lending platform is offering securities, it also falls into SEC jurisdiction.”

Gensler on Tuesday did not offer comment on the potential for approving a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, a pending decision that many in the crypto market are anxiously awaiting.

Investors are closely following the status of an application by VanEck to list shares of its Bitcoin Trust on the Chicago Board of Exchange’s BTZ Exchange. Regulators said in a letter dated June 16 that they would take additional time to seek comments from the public.

Bitcoin was last seen trading at $38,200, but has been volatile in recent months and in late July dipped below $30,000.

Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, known for advocating somewhat easier regulation of digital assets, told CNBC last month that she’s frustrated with how slow the regulator has been to approve such an ETF.

Denying bitcoin ETF applications not only runs the risk of a double standard but also may leave thousands of investors with few, more-dangerous alternatives, Peirce said.

“The complications of not approving [an application] become stronger, because people are looking for other ways to do the same kinds of things that they would do with an exchange-traded product,” she said. “They’re looking at other types of products that aren’t as easy to get in and out of, they’re looking at companies, perhaps, that are somehow connected with bitcoin or crypto more broadly.”

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CDC research reveals 74% of individuals contaminated in Massachusetts Covid outbreak had been absolutely vaccinated

CDC study shows 74% of people infected in Massachusetts Covid outbreak were fully vaccinated

Boston EMS medics work to resuscitate a patient on the way to the ambulance amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts, April 27, 2020.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

About three-fourths of people infected in a Massachusetts Covid-19 outbreak were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to new data published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new data, published in the U.S. agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that fully vaccinated people who get infected carry as much of the virus in their nose as unvaccinated people, and could spread it to other individuals.

“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others, including their unvaccinated or immunocompromised loved ones.”

On Tuesday, the CDC reversed course on its prior guidance and recommended fully vaccinated Americans who live in areas with high Covid infection rates resume wearing face masks indoors. The guidelines cover about two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to a CNBC analysis.

While the delta variant continues to hit unvaccinated people the hardest, some vaccinated people could be carrying higher levels of the virus than previously understood and are potentially transmitting it to others, Walensky told reporters on a call Tuesday. She added the variant behaves “uniquely differently from past strains of the virus.”

A CDC document that was reviewed by CNBC warned that the delta variant sweeping across the country is as contagious as chickenpox, has a longer transmission window than the original Covid strain and may make older people sicker, even if they’ve been fully vaccinated.

Delta, now in at least 132 countries and already the dominant form of the disease in the United States, is more transmissible than the common cold, the 1918 Spanish flu, smallpox, Ebola, MERS and SARS, according to the document. Only measles appears to spread faster than the variant.

The data published Friday was based on 469 cases of Covid associated with multiple summer events and large public gatherings held in July in Barnstable County, Mass., according to the CDC. The events were held in an unnamed town in Barnstable, which encompasses Cape Cod and is just outside Martha’s Vineyard. Approximately three quarters, or 74%, of the cases occurred in fully vaccinated people who had completed a two-dose course of the mRNA vaccines or received a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s.

Overall, 274 vaccinated patients with a breakthrough infection were symptomatic, according to the CDC. The most common side effects were cough, headache, sore throat, muscle pain and fever. Among five Covid patients who were hospitalized, four were fully vaccinated, according to the agency. No deaths were reported.

Testing identified the delta variant in 90% of specimens from 133 patients.

The CDC the data has limitations. The agency noted that as population-level vaccination coverage increases, vaccinated persons are likely to represent a larger proportion of Covid cases. Additionally, asymptomatic breakthrough infections might be underrepresented because of detection bias, the agency said.

The CDC also said the report is “insufficient” to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the authorized vaccines against Covid, including the delta variant, during this outbreak.

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CDC to reverse indoor masks coverage, saying totally vaccinated folks ought to put on them indoors in Covid sizzling spots

CDC to reverse indoor mask policy, saying fully vaccinated people should wear them indoors in Covid hot spots

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend Tuesday that fully vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in locations with high Covid-19 transmission rates, according to those familiar with the matter.

According to the sources, federal health officials still believe that fully vaccinated individuals represent a very low level of transmission. Still, some people vaccinated could carry higher amounts of the virus than previously thought and potentially pass it on to others, they said.

The CDC is expected to hold a briefing on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET.

The updated guidelines come before the fall season, when the highly contagious Delta variant is expected to lead to a further surge in new coronavirus cases and many large employers plan to bring workers back to the office. In mid-May, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people would not need to wear masks in most environments, whether indoors or outdoors.

Continue reading: Americans will need masks indoors as the US is heading for a “dangerous fall” with a surge in Delta Covid cases

Health experts fear that Delta, already the dominant form of the disease in the US, hits states with low vaccination rates. These states are now being forced to reintroduce mask rules, capacity limits and other public health measures that they have largely withdrawn in recent months.

White House senior medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the CDC was considering revising mask guidelines for vaccinated Americans, saying it was “in active consideration”.

“It’s a dynamic situation. It’s in the works, it’s developing like so many other areas of the pandemic, “Fauci, also director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, told CNN. “You need to look at the data.”

The CDC guidelines are just a recommendation, leaving it up to state and local officials to reintroduce their masking rules for specific individuals. But even before the CDC’s expected guidelines on Tuesday, some regions reintroduced mask mandates and notices as Covid cases rose again.

Several California and Nevada counties are now advising all residents to wear masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. In Massachusetts, Provincetown officials advised everyone to return to wearing masks indoors after the July 4 celebrations resulted in an outbreak of new cases.

Experts say Covid prevention strategies remain critical to protecting people from the virus, especially in areas with medium to high transmission rates in the community.

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine advocate who served on advisory boards for both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC earlier this month that the US is still “undervaccinated” and about half the population is not fully vaccinated be .

Even people who are fully protected have cause for concern when it comes to variants of Covid, Offit said. While the vaccines protect well against serious illness and death, they may not protect as well against minor illness or the spread of Covid to others, he said. No vaccine is 100% effective, he noted.

“It is not a bold prediction to believe that SARS-CoV-2 will be circulating in two or three years. I mean, there are 195 countries out there, most of which haven’t received a single dose of vaccine. ”“ Offit said. “Will it still be circulating in the United States? I think that would be very, very likely.”

Israel released preliminary data last week showing that the Pfizer vaccine was only 39% effective against the virus there, which officials attributed to the rapidly spreading Delta variant. Its effectiveness against serious illness and death remained high, the data showed. US and World Health officials said they would look at Israeli research, which was non-peer-reviewed and had few details.

Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson executives have stated that they expect Americans to need booster vaccinations, and Pfizer has announced it will ask the FDA to approve booster vaccinations as it sees signs of waning immunity. Federal health officials say that otherwise healthy people don’t currently require booster doses of the vaccines, although they may recommend it for the elderly or those with compromised immunity.

– CNBC’s Meg Tirrell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Most absolutely vaccinated individuals who get Covid delta infections are asymptomatic, WHO says

Most fully vaccinated people who get Covid delta infections are asymptomatic, WHO says

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus R speaks at a daily briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.

Chen Junxia | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

People fully vaccinated against Covid-19 still get the Delta variant, but global health officials said the vaccinations saved most people from getting seriously ill or dying.

“There are reports that vaccinated populations have cases of infection, particularly with the Delta variant,” said Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization, at a press conference on Monday. “Most of these are mild or asymptomatic infections.”

However, hospital admissions are on the rise in some parts of the world, especially where vaccination rates are low and the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading, she said.

In the US, officials said virtually all recent hospital admissions and deaths from Covid have occurred in people who have not been vaccinated. Breakthrough infections are rare, and about 75% of people who die or are hospitalized after being vaccinated with Covid are over 65, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The Delta variant is spreading around the world at a breakneck pace, driving the number of cases and deaths again. However, the same hit does not suffer everywhere,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We are in the midst of a growing two-pronged pandemic, with the haves and the have-nots growing divergent within and between countries in high-vaccination locations.”

The variant spreads quickly and infects unprotected and vulnerable people, he said.

Swaminathan warned that vaccinated people can still get Covid and pass it on to others, which is why WHO officials have urged people to continue wearing masks and practice social distancing. “But it certainly greatly reduces your chances of severe hospitalization and death,” she added.

Some studies have shown that those who are infected with Covid after vaccination produce much fewer virus than those who are not vaccinated, which reduces the risk of spreading the virus to others. WHO officials said more studies are needed to understand the impact of the vaccines on transmissibility.

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CDC says totally vaccinated academics and college students needn’t put on masks indoors in up to date steering

CDC says fully vaccinated teachers and students don't need to wear masks indoors in updated guidance

Students wearing masks listen to teacher Dorene Scala during third grade summer school at Hooper Avenue School on June 23, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its public health guidance for schools Friday, saying fully vaccinated teachers and students don’t need to wear masks inside school buildings.

The CDC’s new guidance comes about two months after federal health officials permitted the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for kids ages 12 to 15, allowing middle and high school students to get the shots ahead of the fall school semester.

Teachers and students who are not vaccinated should still continue to wear masks indoors, the U.S. agency said, adding the practice is especially important when inside and in crowded settings, when social distancing cannot be maintained.

The agency also said it still recommends that students remain at least 3 feet apart in classrooms, combined with indoor mask wearing by people who are not fully vaccinated, to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.

“When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as indoor masking,” the CDC wrote in its guidance.

The CDC’s recommendation will likely have no impact on students under 12, who are currently ineligible to get a Covid vaccine in the U.S.

The updated guidance comes as several states across the U.S. have largely done away with their mask requirements, social distancing and other pandemic-related restrictions because the Covid vaccines have helped drive down the number of new infections and deaths.

In mid-May, the CDC said fully vaccinated people didn’t need to wear masks in most settings, whether indoors or outdoors. They are still expected to wear masks on public transportation, the agency said, such as on airplanes, buses and trains. The federal government’s mask mandate on public transportation is scheduled to expire on Sept. 13 unless the CDC extends it once again.

The guidance may be controversial as scientists and other health experts say indoor mask mandates many make a return this fall, particularly in low vaccinated states, as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads across the U.S.

Already the dominant variant in the U.S., delta will hit the states with the lowest vaccination rates the hardest — unless those states and businesses reintroduce mask rules, capacity limits and other public health measures that they’ve largely rolled back in recent months, experts say.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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WHO urges absolutely vaccinated individuals to proceed to put on masks as variant spreads

Biden administration set to relax outdoor mask guidance

People wear face masks in Central Park on April 10, 2021 in New York City.

Noam Galai | Getty Images

The World Health Organization on Friday urged fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks, social distance and practice other Covid-19 pandemic safety measures as the highly contagious delta variant spreads rapidly across the globe.

“People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves,” Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, said during a news briefing from the agency’s Geneva headquarters.

“Vaccine alone won’t stop community transmission,” Simao added. “People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene … the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you’re vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing.”

The health organization’s comments come as some countries, including the United States, have largely done away with masks and pandemic-related restrictions as the Covid vaccines have helped drive down the number of new infections and deaths.

The number of new infections in the U.S. has held steady over the last week at an average of 11,659 new cases per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Still, new infections have been plummeting over the last several months.

WHO officials said they are asking fully vaccinated people to continue to “play it safe” because a large portion of the world remains unvaccinated and highly contagious variants, like delta, are spreading in many countries, spurring outbreaks.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that about half of adults infected in an outbreak of the delta variant in Israel were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, prompting the government there to reimpose an indoor mask requirement and other measures.

“Yes, you can reduce some measures and different countries have different recommendations in that regard. But there’s still the need for caution,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor to the WHO’s director-general, said at the briefing. “As we are seeing, there are new variants emerging.”

The WHO said last week that delta is becoming the dominant variant of the disease worldwide.

WHO officials have said the variant, first found in India but now in at least 92 countries, is the fastest and fittest coronavirus strain yet, and it will “pick off” the most vulnerable people, especially in places with low Covid vaccination rates.

They said there were reports that the delta variant also causes more severe symptoms, but that more research is needed to confirm those conclusions. Still, there are signs the delta strain could provoke different symptoms than other variants.

It has the potential “to be more lethal because it’s more efficient in the way it transmits between humans and it will eventually find those vulnerable individuals who will become severely ill, have to be hospitalized and potentially die,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said Monday.

In the U.S., President Joe Biden said Covid deaths nationwide will continue to rise due to the spread of the “dangerous” delta variant, calling it a “serious concern.”

He warned that Americans who are still unvaccinated are especially at risk.

“Six hundred thousand-plus Americans have died, and with this delta variant you know there’s going to be others as well. You know it’s going to happen. We’ve got to get young people vaccinated,” Biden said Thursday at a community center in Raleigh, North Carolina

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New Jersey has totally vaccinated 4.7 million individuals, Gov. Murphy says

New Jersey Gov. Murphy defends eligibility criteria

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) speaks at the coronavirus press conference in Trenton, New Jersey.

Michael Brochstein | Barcroft Media | Getty Images

New Jersey has achieved its goal of fully vaccinating more than 4.7 million people living, working and studying in the state about two weeks before its original target date, June 30, Governor Phil Murphy said Friday.

The milestone comes after an aggressive vaccination campaign that included door knocking and incentives for the state’s residents like free beer and wine, free tickets to state parks, and even a dinner with Murphy and his wife.

The state also exceeded President Joe Biden’s goal of vaccinating 70% of adults with at least one dose by July 4th. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Jersey vaccinated about 77% of its adults with at least one dose.

“With the millions of you who have stepped forward today to protect yourself, your families and our communities, we are proud to announce that we have exceeded our original goal now and 12 days before our self-appointed deadline “said Murphy Friday at a press conference.

The New Jersey outbreak, which peaked in January with a seven-day average of more than 6,000 new cases per day, has since declined to a daily average of around 260 cases per day over the past week. New Jersey has seen more than 1 million Covid cases and 26,000 Covid deaths since data collection began.

Covid deaths in the state peaked in April 2020 with a seven-day average of 345 deaths per day. The number has since fallen to an average of 6 deaths per day.

The state previously defied the CDC’s recommendations to allow vaccinated people to wear a mask indoors, but passed the CDC guidelines two weeks later.