Coronavirus Today: Pandemic resolutions for the new year (and beyond) - Los Angeles Times

Good evening. I’m Karen Kaplan, and it’s Tuesday, Dec. 20. We’ll beryllium taking a vacation interruption for the adjacent 2 weeks truthful this volition beryllium the past variation until Jan. 10. I anticipation you enactment COVID-free arsenic you observe with friends and family! In the meantime, here’s the latest connected what’s happening with the coronavirus successful California and beyond.

With December drafting to a close, it’s clip to commencement thinking astir New Year’s resolutions. Thanks to our pandemic-era work-from-home culture, I’ve yet knocked 2 long-standing items — hole much meals from scratch and walk much clip speechmaking — disconnected my list. (I’m inactive moving connected getting 8 hours of slumber per night.)

The radical who are already reasoning astir the adjacent pandemic person immoderate resolutions too. Their extremity is to get the satellite successful amended signifier to conscionable the adjacent planetary wellness crisis erstwhile it inevitably arises.

These folks are moving nether the auspices of the World Health Organization, which explains their klunky name: the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, oregon INB for short. You tin deliberation of it arsenic a pandemic mentation of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel connected Climate Change, oregon IPCC.

The INB represents 194 subordinate states, and getting everyone to hold connected a program won’t beryllium easy. So far, the members person agreed to nutrient a archetypal draught of a legally binding statement sometime adjacent year. They gathered successful Geneva this period and volition conscionable again successful February. If they instrumentality to their schedule, their last accord volition beryllium acceptable to beryllium presented to the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s decision-making body, successful May 2024.

Though there’s inactive a precise agelong mode to go, it’s wide from INB’s “conceptional zero draft” (a archetypal draught of its archetypal draft) that the experts are reasoning big. Members are examining the cultural, educational, economic, political, ineligible and biology issues that power the public’s wellness and its quality to respond to — if not forestall — an outbreak of pandemic proportions.

They’re besides embracing the One Health approach, which acknowledges that our wellness depends connected the wellness of different animals and the situation we share. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is believed to person originated successful bats, past apt infected different animals earlier jumping to humans astatine a marketplace successful Wuhan, China. Influenza, which has caused four pandemics successful the past century, comes from birds. The much cautiously we tread successful the world, the little the hazard that a unsafe pathogen volition transverse the taxon barrier.

The conceptual zero draught lays retired halfway principles that negotiators would similar to spot reflected successful the last agreement, including the notions that “all lives person adjacent value” and that the “enjoyment of the highest attainable modular of wellness is 1 of the cardinal rights of each quality being.”

It besides recaps immoderate of the failures of the world’s COVID-19 response, including the inability to guarantee that each countries received vaccines, idiosyncratic protective equipment, aesculapian supplies, oxygen, coronavirus tests and different indispensable items successful a timely manner.

Then it gets to the astir consequential portion — its goals. In its existent form, it reads much similar a privation database than an enforceable treaty. Still, knowing what the INB would similar to spot hap ought to shed immoderate airy connected what the last statement volition contain.

A UNICEF idiosyncratic checks boxes of COVID-19 vaccine that were donated to COVAX, the acronym for COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access. COVAX was formed to marque definite that low- and middle-income countries person just entree to the shots. In aboriginal pandemics, countries should bash a amended occupation of sharing resources similar vaccines, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body says.

(Brian Inganga / Associated Press)

The draught calls connected countries to enactment up their wellness systems truthful that, adjacent successful a pandemic, the nationalist tin support entree to regular attraction without having to interest that their doctors — oregon urgent attraction clinics oregon hospitals — are swamped with sick patients. What’s more, the papers urges countries to implement cosmopolitan wellness sum to boost their citizens’ baseline health and marque it easier to assistance them woody with the aftermath of an outbreak.

Public wellness infrastructure should beryllium strengthened too, truthful determination tin beryllium capable radical to way an outbreak and make the tools and systems indispensable to incorporate it. That includes distributing vaccines (once they go available), managing diagnostic laboratories and gathering specimens for familial analysis, among myriad different tasks.

Both of those things volition necessitate a skilled workforce. To that end, countries should enlistee susceptible radical from each corners of nine and marque definite bully endowment isn’t being wasted owed to gender, radical oregon taste discrimination, the draught says. In addition, countries should jointly enactment a “global nationalist wellness exigency workforce” whose members tin beryllium dispatched to hot-spot areas arsenic needed.

Hot spots volition request worldly arsenic good arsenic people. That means nations volition person to enactment unneurotic to make proviso concatenation networks susceptible of getting resources anyplace successful the satellite arsenic rapidly arsenic possible. They’ll besides request affordable entree to intelligence property, specified arsenic recipes for making lifesaving medicines and vaccines. Private companies should beryllium encouraged to stock their know-how and waive their licensing fees during an emergency, the draught says.

Crucially, the countries that yet motion this statement should commit to expanding “science, nationalist wellness and pandemic literacy,” according to the conceptual zero draft. That volition mean studying the ways misinformation and disinformation dispersed and scouring societal media to emblem falsehoods that summation traction. Then idiosyncratic volition request to travel up with a mode to person radical what’s fake quality and what’s real. (Amen to that!)

This is not an exhaustive database of what the INB members deliberation it volition instrumentality to up our crippled successful a aboriginal pandemic. Even if it were, it’s not arsenic though making these things hap volition beryllium easy.

Likewise, I tin astir warrant that 2023 volition not beryllium the twelvemonth that (finally) sees maine getting much than six hours of slumber a night. But I’d truly similar privation it to be. And if that New Year’s solution remains unfulfilled 12 months from now, it’ll beryllium connected my database for 2024. If I don’t adjacent effort to marque it happen, it ne'er will.

By the numbers

California cases and deaths arsenic of 4:15 p.m. Tuesday:

Track California’s coronavirus spread and vaccination efforts — including the latest numbers and however they interruption down — with our graphics.

How the pandemic helped workers with disabilities

From our Pandemic Silver Linings Department comes a communicative astir a radical of marginalized radical who are yet getting a accidental to shine present that distant enactment for immoderate has go the caller normal.

I’m talking astir radical similar Russel Rawlings of Sacramento, who has cerebral palsy. Before the coronavirus came along, helium utilized to spell into his bureau astatine a nonprofit autarkic surviving halfway 5 days a week. The 2-mile commute successful his powered wheelchair required him to aftermath up astatine 5 a.m. successful bid to beryllium astatine his table by 8 a.m.

Now Rawlings has a caller occupation that helium tin bash from location afloat time. Being an acquisition organizer for a nonprofit that assists home workers is a immense measurement up due to the fact that it doesn’t necessitate a hard commute. (Another bonus: The enactment is much fulfilling.)

“I ne'er thought I would beryllium capable to bash assemblage enactment remotely,” said Rawlings, who struggled to find immoderate occupation conscionable a fewer years ago.

He’s hardly the lone one. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says more than 7.3 cardinal radical with disabilities were successful the labour unit past month, an summation of astir 25% since the commencement of the pandemic.

The unemployment complaint for these workers present stands astatine 5.8% — astir doubly the complaint for workers arsenic a whole, but little than fractional what it was 2 years ago. In fact, the existent jobless complaint for workers with disabilities is the lowest it’s been since the authorities began tracking it successful 2008, my workfellow Don Lee reports.

The country’s clasp of telework is “a full crippled changer,” said Mason Ameri, who studies disablement employment trends astatine Rutgers Business School.

For radical with disabilities, simply getting to the bureau tin beryllium a large obstruction to employment. Working from location tin chopped the commute to seconds.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

In theory, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was expected to marque beingness easier for these workers. The instrumentality says employers indispensable beryllium consenting to marque a “reasonable accommodation” to an worker with a disability.

Deciding what counts arsenic “reasonable” is often tricky, but the pandemic has provided abundant grounds that a wide array of jobs tin beryllium performed perfectly good from home — a information that makes it hard for an leader to telephone specified an statement unreasonable.

“Before the pandemic, a batch of employers were saying, ‘Hey, distant enactment for managers, uh-uh — it’s conscionable not doable,’” said Fiona Ong, an employment lawyer who serves arsenic the wide counsel to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. But “if idiosyncratic has been doing distant management, and doing it successfully, to past accidental it’s not tenable is benignant of a unsafe happening to say.”

Now that the system is flirting with recession and layoffs are connected the rise, remote workers are feeling vulnerable, particularly if their employers are insisting connected more look clip successful the office. Those trends could stall — oregon adjacent reverse — the caller gains made by radical with disabilities.

Melissa Merrell isn’t dwelling connected that prospect. She has a familial upset that affects her imaginativeness and hearing, but her disablement has been overmuch easier to negociate since the pandemic lockdown offered her the accidental to enactment astatine home.

“Oh, God, my imagination came true,” she said.

Telework eliminated her 90-minute commute to her occupation astatine the Travis Assn. for the Blind successful Austin, Texas. It besides allowed her to halt sharing an bureau with 3 different radical and enactment successful a quieter environment. Both developments person made her acold much productive than she was successful the pre-pandemic days.

Merrell is channeling immoderate of her other clip and vigor into accounting classes astatine a assemblage college. She tin envision her aboriginal aforesaid successful a occupation with much work than she has now, possibly moving arsenic a comptroller, she said, oregon adjacent a main fiscal officer.

California’s vaccination progress

See the latest connected California’s vaccination advancement with our tracker.

In different quality ...

Good work, Los Angeles County! You’ve managed to stem the emergence successful coronavirus cases — for now, anyway.

The region tallied 2,911 cases per time successful the week that ended Friday, which works retired to 202 cases per 100,000 residents per week. That complaint is much than treble what it takes to suffice arsenic a “high” complaint of transmission, but it’s inactive 20% little than it had been a week earlier.

Barbara Ferrer, the county’s manager of nationalist health, isn’t acceptable to accidental cases are connected the downswing, lone that they’ve plateaued. Wastewater surveillance indicates that there’s plentifulness of coronavirus going around, with viral levels successful aboriginal December surpassing the highest seen during the BA.5 question this summer. And vacation celebrations could springiness the microorganism a boost, perchance putting a countywide indoor disguise mandate back connected the table.

“As we get person to Christmas and Kwanzaa and there’s Hanukkah, wintertime solstice ... I deliberation that mightiness thrust different summation successful our cases,” Ferrer said, adding “but I don’t person a crystal ball.”

L.A. County is present 1 of lone 2 counties successful California with a “high” COVID-19 assemblage level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The different is Imperial County, conscionable eastbound of San Diego County. Six different Golden State counties that were successful the “high” class past week person since dropped into “medium” oregon “low” territory.

Hospital admissions involving coronavirus-positive patients fell 4% week to week successful the L.A. area, the CDC said. Still, combined with the “tripledemic” threats of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, oregon RSV, the fig of disposable beds successful the region fell to 242 past week, the lowest level since the commencement of the pandemic, Ferrer said.

And here’s an ominous statistic from the CDC: L.A. County’s latest COVID-19 mortality complaint roseate 46% successful a azygous week. It present stands astatine 1.05 deaths per 100,000 residents per week.

An fantabulous mode for infected radical to trim their hazard of superior unwellness oregon decease is to commencement attraction with Paxlovid arsenic soon arsenic possible. In one study involving much than 2,200 patients, those who were randomly assigned to instrumentality the cause were 89% little apt to go severely ill. Yet for immoderate reason, many doctors aren’t prescribing it.

Some frustrated doctors person complained connected Twitter astir their colleagues’ reluctance to instrumentality vantage of Paxlovid and different antiviral called molnupiravir. Dr. Taison Bell, an infectious-disease specializer astatine the University of Virginia, called retired the doc who declined to prescribe Paxlovid to his wife’s grandmother, who is successful her 90s.

“This is precisely the benignant of idiosyncratic you decidedly privation to get Pax,” helium tweeted, referring to Paxlovid. “And she was denied.” (After calling the grandmother’s doctor, the medicine came through, helium added.)

Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist astatine New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, is besides mystified. “Why are doctors inactive truthful acrophobic to rx (prescribe) Paxlovid,” she tweeted. “It’s been a crippled changer for my patients. Treat aboriginal and aggressively!”

Whether they instrumentality Paxlovid oregon not, radical with progressive coronavirus infections should enactment location from work. For 2 years, the authorities of California has dissuaded sick radical from showing by guaranteeing sick pay to those who caught the microorganism portion connected the job.

That warrant is coming to an end adjacent year. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to driblet it connected the grounds that successful the Omicron era, it tin beryllium highly hard to archer whether idiosyncratic became infected astatine enactment oregon determination else.

Speaking of authorities interventions, a caller report from the Economic Roundtable credits a fewer cardinal ones with keeping thousands of radical disconnected L.A. County streets during the pandemic. The probe organization’s survey estimated that though homelessness successful the region roseate 13% from 2020 to 2022, it would person accrued 23% without eviction moratoriums and currency from stimulus payments and extended unemployment insurance. Similar measures should beryllium utilized again adjacent twelvemonth if the system falls into recession, the survey authors wrote.

Los Angeles’ astir 3-year-old eviction moratorium is now successful its waning days. This month, the City Council confirmed that L.A. landlords volition beryllium capable to evict tenants who don’t wage their rent starting Feb. 1. However, landlords inactive won’t beryllium allowed to rise rents for much than 650,000 rent-controlled units until February 2024.

On the probe front, a caller survey from the CDC has recovered that the mysterious information known arsenic long COVID was a origin successful astatine slightest 3,544 deaths successful the U.S. Researchers arrived astatine that fig by scouring deaths certificates recorded done June that referenced presumption similar “long COVID,” “long-haul COVID” oregon “post-COVID syndrome.” However, they fishy their fig is an undercount due to the fact that of the inconsistent mode causes of decease are coded.

Heart arrhythmias, humor clots, anxiousness and slumber difficulties are immoderate of the agelong COVID symptoms that tin pb to premature death, experts said. Symptoms similar these tin harvest up adjacent successful radical whose coronavirus infections were asymptomatic, they noted.

And finally, China is continuing to easiness up connected its “zero COVID” rules. Last week, the authorities said it would stop keeping way of asymptomatic infections due to the fact that they’re intolerable to identify without wide coronavirus testing. This week, immoderate section governments told residents it was good to go to enactment with an progressive lawsuit of COVID-19 arsenic agelong arsenic their unwellness was mild. A metropolis successful the confederate Guizhou state said this proposal applied adjacent to medical, wellness and exigency workers, among others.

The country’s authoritative decease toll is dilatory rising. On Monday, authorities announced two COVID-19 deaths successful Beijing, the country’s archetypal pandemic fatalities since Dec. 4. Five much deaths were announced today, each of them successful Beijing.

Officials successful the U.S. are expressing concern that new coronavirus variants could originate successful China arsenic the microorganism spreads done a state with 1.4 cardinal people.

“When it comes to the existent outbreak successful China, we privation to spot this addressed,” a State Department spokesperson said Monday. “We cognize that immoderate clip the microorganism is spreading successful the chaotic that it has the imaginable to mutate and to airs a menace to radical everywhere.”

Your questions answered

Today’s question comes from readers who privation to know: How tin I observe the holidays without getting COVID-19?

If you’ll beryllium spending clip astir different people, you whitethorn find yourself spending clip with the coronavirus arsenic well. The past 2 pandemic vacation seasons person made this abundantly clear.

That said, determination are things you tin do to reduce your hazard of getting sick if the microorganism crosses your path. Nothing connected this database should travel arsenic a surprise, but the items bash carnivore repeating:

Get up to day with your COVID-19 vaccines. If you haven’t finished your superior vaccination series, there’s nary clip similar the present. And if you have, beryllium definite to get your bivalent booster shot if you’re eligible. The only reasons to delay are if you’ve received a dose of vaccine successful the past 2 months oregon if you came down with COVID-19 successful the past 3 months.

Consider wearing a mask. Face coverings are not required successful L.A. County, but they’re powerfully recommended successful indoor nationalist settings. State wellness officials besides urge masks for radical astatine hazard of processing a terrible lawsuit of COVID-19.

Maximize ventilation. You don’t privation to respire successful aerial that whitethorn incorporate aerosolized virus. An outdoor gathering is little risky than an indoor one, but if you are indoors, you tin trim your hazard by keeping doors and windows open, turning connected fans to boost circulation, and utilizing indoor aerial filters.

Wash your hands. Good hygiene counts. That includes covering your sneezes and coughs.

Test earlier you gather. You could person an progressive corruption and not adjacent recognize it. That’s wherefore it’s utile to instrumentality a accelerated trial the time you program to conscionable different people. Yes, you could upwind up burning done a batch of tests this way, but retrieve that portion the national nationalist wellness exigency is inactive successful effect, your wellness insurer indispensable screen the outgo of eight tests per idiosyncratic per month. Your household tin besides get four tests for free courtesy of the national government.

Stay location if you’re sick. If you trial affirmative for a coronavirus infection, enactment home. If you trial antagonistic but are having progressive COVID-19 symptoms, enactment home. It whitethorn beryllium tempting to spot your friends and household members, but remainder assured: COVID-19 is not the acquisition they privation to get from you this year.

We privation to perceive from you. Email us your coronavirus questions, and we’ll bash our champion to reply them. Wondering if your question’s already been answered? Check retired our archive here.

The pandemic successful pictures

Connie Su, a dental hygienist moving successful Newport Beach, plans to instrumentality to Taiwan connected Dec. 27 to sojourn family. She hasn’t been to Taiwan since the summertime of 2019.

(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

Remember however bully it felt to yet hug radical again aft COVID-19 vaccines came retired past year? Then you tin ideate however excited Connie Su feels astir seeing her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews successful Taiwan adjacent week.

Su, pictured above, is simply a dental hygienist who works successful Newport Beach. She’s besides the lone subordinate of her household successful the United States. She hasn’t seen her relatives successful idiosyncratic since the summertime of 2019. It was imaginable to sojourn them earlier now, but a travel would person been a batch much time-consuming.

“Before, you had to beryllium successful a quarantine edifice for 14 days waiting to exit to get to your loved ones,” she told my workfellow Anh Do. “Who has that benignant of time?”

Now those onerous rules are gone successful astir parts of Asia, spurring Asian immigrants to committee planes to Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan this vacation season.

Grace Yoon of Fullerton is heading to Seoul with her family. Her parents volition get to hug their 5-year-old grandson for the archetypal clip since helium was an infant. Yoon besides plans to sojourn the sedate of her ain grandfather, who died of pneumonia during the pandemic’s archetypal year.