• In today’s Recommendations for Industry, we discuss TAG’s recommendation that businesses continue on a slow, deliberate path to “demasking” and the reduction of other COVID-19 protections. Read more below.
• A recent report in Huffington Post found that Google searches for fake COVID-19 vaccination cards spiked after CDC’s new recommendations.
• A new type of coronavirus (originating from dogs) has been identified in Malaysia. It further stresses that coronavirus outbreaks are not rare events; in fact, they happen “every decade or so.”
• Researchers have identified that only 12 people, “the Disinformation Dozen,” are behind most vaccine hoaxes on social media, producing up to 65% of the anti-vaccine misinformation share.
• AARP, US News, and Littler are continually updating state-by-state mask guidances for every state. If you are wondering what’s happening in your state, check out these links.
• A recent NEJM study has found that a two-dose AstraZeneca vaccine “did not show protection against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 due to the B1351 variant.”
• Different states are handling their mask ordinances differently; in Texas, the governor has banned all government and public school mask mandates!
• 100M J&J vaccine doses are currently on hold due to potential contamination.
• The CDC expects to have data on COVID-19 vaccines for children <12 and pregnant women by this upcoming fall!
• The 2 variant (originating from India) is likely to become the dominant variant in the U.K. soon.
• The WHO Europe has found that the current COVID-19 vaccines appear protective against variants.
• A study shows that vaccinations sharply cuts virus spread in nursing home.
• Doctors and medical professionals in Tokyo are pleading with Olympic Games’ organizers to cancel the Olympics as cases continue to rise in Japan. Additionally, only about 1-2% of the Japanese population is fully vaccinated!
• COVID hotspots continue in Latin America with cases doubling in the last week in Argentina and Uruguay.
• Food Safety:
  • CDC is currently investigating multiple outbreaks of Salmonella associated with backyard poultry. There have been 163 individuals reported sick in 43 states with 1/3 of the patients under the age of 5.

Colorado is investigating a potential norovirus outbreak near Denver.

We’re Getting There … But Keep it Slow & Deliberate

The CDC guidance on demasking of vaccinated individuals has been a huge topic of discussion in the media, social media – and businesses with whom TAG has provided consultation. While some states and businesses have taken demasking to the extreme, essentially indicating that it’s all over with no protections needed., TAG strongly advises that businesses take it slower and more deliberately for a number of reasons.

The CDC recommendation is not as simple as it sounds. While it seems to make sense to require only unvaccinated persons to wear masks and distance, determining who is on each side of the vaccination issue is not only difficult, it could seriously impact the camaraderie within your company. That is: how do you deal with the potential of fake ID cards; excuses (“The dog ate my card”); rumors/hearsay/”snitching” (“Cathy isn’t vaccinated but isn’t wearing her mask”), and other HR issues.

With all this, one option is to allow office workers to work at their desks without masking, but require all (vaccinated or not) to wear masks in common areas.

The US is on a good trajectory, which projections are showing could lead to negligible numbers by July. But we want to keep that progression moving forward and not have to backtrack because cases start going the other direction. Even more focused on your business, you don’t want to remove protections, then have to go backward. Let’s make sure we get it right the first time.

• In Wednesday’s Recommendations for Industry, we discussed TAG’s weekly Matrix and what it means to encourage workers to be vaccinated – state by state. Read more here.
• Vaccination rates across the U.S. are uneven and there is increasing evidence that places with lower vaccination rates tend toward higher case rates. [CNN]
• Two studies have been released that explore the disparities of US COVID vaccine distribution.
• CIDRAP reports that while COVID-19 cases are at the lowest rate in a year, hospitalizations among young adults have increased to 36% of all hospitalizations. Additionally, different states are taking different approaches to mask mandates (some allowing no masks for fully vaccinated individuals outdoors only with others still requiring masking).
• NYT explores the “New Honor System On Masks” – what does “trusting” others on their actual vaccination status mean?
• Currently, the U.S. is promising 80M vaccine doses to other countries. [NYT]
• Canada’s PM Trudeau suggests that in order for the US-Canada border to open, 75% of the Canadian population would need to be vaccinated.
• The EU says that the Pfizer vaccine can now be stored in the refrigerator (thawed, unopened) for up to a month (instead of the current 5 days).
• One of the researchers that helped developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has come out to say that vaccinating children in more affluent nations before vaccinating high-risk individuals in poorer nations is “morally wrong.”
• Food Safety:
  • Scientists at Cornell University have discovered 5 new species of Listeria (one of which is immotile). This will inevitably lead to a “rewrite of the standard identification protocols issued by food safety regulators.” [News Release / Journal Article in Microbiology Research]
• In Monday’s Recommendations for Industry, we discussed international, and U.S. initiatives intended to help businesses prepare for public health crises, to ultimately “make COVID-19 the last pandemic. Read more here.
• The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness & Response has put out a report titled, “COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic,” which we will discuss more of today. See the brief here and the Lancet article here.
• UNICEF says more affluent countries can donate COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX.
• Pre-Olympics, 10 weeks from now, the increase of COVID-19 cases has prompted Japan to widen its State of Emergency.
• The head of Dubai’s airport has said that the only way for us to begin mass foreign travel is to roll out vaccine passports.
• Uruguay currently has the highest death toll per capita.
• More and more fast-food places are offering incentives for those who are getting vaccinated! For example, if you have a Shake Shack near you, you can now get free fries! Yum!
• With increasing vaccinations, states in the North East United States (including C.T., MA, PA, and R.I.) have seen a significant drop in cases and hospitalizations.
• In Friday’s Recommendations for Industry, we discussed CDC’s updated COVID-19 recommended on the unmasking of fully vaccinated people – and TAG’s recommendations for a judicious transition. Read more here.