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Coronavirus Watch: What omicron means for your holiday plans

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

The omicron variant is moving faster than surveillance systems can track, unnerving some medical experts who are starting to put the brakes on preparations for their holiday gatherings.

Reporters Elizabeth Weise and Karen Weintraub spoke with researchers this week who said they were reconsidering gathering with loved ones for Christmas. Here's why, and what you should consider.

It's Wednesday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news to know:

  • The omicron variant compromises the effects of a two-dose vaccine, but boosters are a successful tool to quell the fast-spreading threat, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday. "At this point there is no need for a variant-specific booster," Fauci said at a press briefing.
  • Faced with more than 30,0000 unvaccinated older students, the Los Angeles Unified School District pushed back the deadline for its vaccine mandate hours before California's universal indoor mask mandate went into effect Wednesday.
  • Amtrak is no longer expecting service to be disrupted in the new year after announcing it will allow unvaccinated employees to remain working if they test regularly.
  • A positive test among U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s traveling party has cut short his tour of Southeast Asia. 

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 50.2 million COVID-19 cases and 800,900 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 271.6 million cases and more than 5.3 million deaths. About 72% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 61% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Among U.S. adults, 84% have received at least one shot, and about 72% are fully vaccinated.

Tracking the pandemic: See the numbers in your area here. See where cases are rising here. See vaccination rates here. And here, compare vaccinations rates worldwide and see which countries are using which vaccines.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

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