Tag: Biden

President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions

President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions

WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to serve as members on the Route 66 Centennial Commission: Caroline Beteta, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission Danielle E. Blackshear, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, Member, Route 66 Centennial Commission 

Biden grieves with Uvalde, Zelenskyy visits warfront, plus holiday travel hassles and more top news today

Biden grieves with Uvalde, Zelenskyy visits warfront, plus holiday travel hassles and more top news today

Today is Memorial Day. Let’s get caught up. Here are today’s top stories, our podcast recapping other recent news, today’s weather, celebrity birthdays and a look back at this date in history. The Midwest faces the possibility of holiday tornadoes. And Hurricane Agatha, the season’s 

WHO flags Omicron risk, travel curbs tighten, Biden urges vaccination

WHO flags Omicron risk, travel curbs tighten, Biden urges vaccination

  • WHO says Omicron poses very high global risk, world must prepare
  • Still unclear if variant causes more severe disease
  • Biden says variant is cause for concern, not for panic

GENEVA/JOHANNESBURG, Nov 29 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday the Omicron coronavirus variant carried a very high risk of infection surges, while border closures by more countries cast a shadow over an economic recovery from the two-year pandemic.

Big airlines acted swiftly to protect their hubs by curbing passenger travel from southern Africa, where the new Omicron variant was first detected, fearing that a spread of the variant would trigger restrictions from other destinations beyond the immediately affected regions, industry sources said.

But shares in carriers bounced back with the rest of the market on Monday following Friday’s rout as hopes grew that the variant might prove to be milder than initially feared.

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U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the new variant muddies the outlook on inflation because prices could keep rising for longer than earlier thought.

The rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the new variant “pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation,” Powell said in testimony prepared for delivery on Tuesday to the U.S. Senate. Health-related concerns could “reduce people’s willingness to work in person, which would slow progress in the labor market and intensify supply-chain disruptions.”

Credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service warned that Omicron could hurt global growth prospects and push up prices.

U.S. President Joe Biden urged Americans not to panic and said the government was working with pharmaceutical companies to make contingency plans if new vaccines were needed.

Biden said the country would not go back to lockdowns this winter, but urged people to get vaccinated, get their boosters and wear masks.

“This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,” Biden said in remarks at the White House following a meeting with his COVID-19 team. “We’re going to fight and beat this new variant.”

The United States has blocked entry for most visitors from eight southern African nations. Biden said the travel restrictions would give the U.S. time to get more people vaccinated.

Vaccine hesitancy in the United States and elsewhere has thwarted public health officials’ attempts to control the virus.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for healthcare workers likely exceeded its authority.

The WHO advised its 194 member nations that any surge in infections could have severe consequences, but said no deaths had yet been linked to the new variant.

“Omicron has an unprecedented number of spike mutations, some of which are concerning for their potential impact on the trajectory of the pandemic,” the WHO said. The overall global risk related Omicron is ” very high,” it said.

NEEDS MORE RESEARCH

A man stands in front of a monitor showing flight schedules at an arrival hall of Haneda airport’s international terminal, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan, November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Further research was needed to understand Omicron’s potential to escape protection against immunity induced by vaccines and previous infections, the WHO said.

An infectious disease expert from South Africa, where scientists first identified Omicron, said it was too early to say whether symptoms were more severe than previous variants, but the variant did appear to be more transmissible.

The expert, Salim Abdool Karim, also a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, said existing vaccines were probably effective at stopping Omicron from causing severe illness. Scientists have said it could take weeks to understand the severity of Omicron.

South African cases were likely to exceed 10,000 a day this week, up from barely 300 a day two weeks ago, Karim added.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denounced “unjustified and unscientific” travel bans that damage tourism-reliant economies.

Health ministers from the Group of Seven bloc of wealthy nations praised South Africa for its “exemplary work” in detecting the variant and alerting others.

JITTERY MARKETS

Fears the new variant might be resistant to vaccines helped wipe roughly $2 trillion off global stock markets on Friday, but markets calmed on Monday, even after Japan said it would close its borders to foreigners, following a similarly wide ban by Israel. read more

The prospect of a fast-spreading variant has raised fears of a return of the sort of restrictions that shut down a swathe of industries in 2020.

“This is new,” said Nissan Motor Co’s (7201.T) U.S. spokeswoman, Lloryn Love-Carter. “We’re monitoring of course, but we still have a lot of pretty strict COVID protocols in place.”

Portugal found 13 cases of the variant at a Lisbon football club. Spain, Sweden, Scotland and Austria also reported their first cases.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that restrictions would isolate southern African countries.

“The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa – and they should not be penalized for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world,” he said.

Guterres has long warned about the dangers of vaccine inequality globally and the risk that low immunisation rates are a breeding ground for variants.

More than 261 million people in over 210 countries have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019 and 5,456,515​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

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Reporting by Reuters bureaus
Writing by Himani Sarkar, Catherine Evans, Nick Macfie and Grant McCool
Editing by Peter Graff and Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Biden delayed Africa travel ban over Omicron on advice of advisers led by Fauci

Biden delayed Africa travel ban over Omicron on advice of advisers led by Fauci

President Biden said Friday that he delayed implementation of a new ban on travel from southern Africa on the advice of his medical advisers, who are led by Dr. Anthony Fauci. A reporter asked Biden why the emergency precaution will take effect Monday, rather than 

Biden imposes new international travel vaccine rules, lifts existing restrictions

Biden imposes new international travel vaccine rules, lifts existing restrictions

A Delta Airlines passenger jet methods to land at LAX in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 7, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Image WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday signed an purchase imposing new vaccine demands for most overseas countrywide air vacationers 

Fact Sheet: Biden Administration Releases Additional Detail for Implementing a Safer, More Stringent International Air Travel System

Fact Sheet: Biden Administration Releases Additional Detail for Implementing a Safer, More Stringent International Air Travel System

As we keep on to operate to guard men and women from COVID-19, right now, the Biden Administration is releasing extra depth around implementation of the new global air vacation policy necessitating international countrywide tourists to the United States to be completely vaccinated. This current plan puts in area an intercontinental travel technique that is stringent, consistent throughout the globe, and guided by community overall health.

Starting up on November 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be needed to be absolutely vaccinated and to offer proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to boarding an plane to fly to the U.S., with only limited exceptions. The up to date vacation tips also consist of new protocols all-around testing. To even more bolster protections, unvaccinated vacationers – no matter if U.S. Citizens, lawful permanent people (LPRs), or the little selection of excepted unvaccinated foreign nationals – will now need to have to check in just 1 working day of departure.

Currently, the Administration is releasing the adhering to paperwork to carry out these demands: 1) a Presidential Proclamation to Progress the Risk-free Resumption of Worldwide Journey For the duration of the COVID-19 Pandemic 2) 3 Facilities for Ailment Command and  Prevention (CDC) Orders on vaccination, screening, and get in touch with tracing and 3) technological directions to deliver implementation facts to the airways and their passengers. 

With science and general public overall health as our guide, the United States has made a new worldwide air vacation technique that the two boosts the protection of Americans below at home and boosts the security of worldwide air journey. The additional depth unveiled currently supplies airways and worldwide air travelers with time to get ready for this new policy forward of the November 8 implementation day. As beforehand announced, fully vaccinated foreign nationals will also be able to vacation across the Northern and Southwest land borders for non-essential factors, this kind of as tourism, commencing on November 8. Additional detail on amendments to limits with regard to land borders will be obtainable in the coming days.

Vacationers can locate comprehensive specifics about today’s air journey announcement on the CDC and Division of Point out internet sites.  A summary is underneath:

Absolutely Vaccinated Position:

  • Commencing on November 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air tourists to the United States will be needed to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an plane to fly to the U.S.

Proof of Vaccination:

  • For international nationals, evidence of vaccination will be demanded – with quite limited exceptions – to board the plane.
  • Passengers will will need to present their vaccination position, and the airways will require to:
    • Match the title and date of start to verify the passenger is the same man or woman reflected on the proof of vaccination
    • Establish that the document was issued by an official resource (e.g., community well being company, authorities agency) in the place wherever the vaccine was supplied
    • Evaluate the necessary facts for analyzing if the passenger fulfills CDC’s definition for totally vaccinated this sort of as vaccine merchandise, range of vaccine doses obtained, day(s) of administration, internet site (e.g., vaccination clinic, overall health treatment facility) of vaccination.
  • The Biden Administration will perform closely with the airlines to make sure that these new needs are implemented effectively.

Accepted Vaccines:

  • CDC has determined that for purposes of journey to the United States, vaccines accepted will incorporate Food and drug administration authorised or licensed and Earth Well being Organization (WHO) crisis use stated (EUL) vaccines.
  • Men and women can be deemed entirely vaccinated ≥2 weeks after receipt of the last dose if they have been given any one dose of an Food and drug administration approved/licensed or WHO EUL permitted solitary-dose sequence (i.e., Janssen), or any mix of two doses of an Food and drug administration authorized/licensed or WHO unexpected emergency use shown COVID-19 two-dose collection (i.e. mixing and matching).
  • More details are out there in the CDC Annex listed here.

Enhanced Testing:

  • Beforehand, all tourists ended up required to create a unfavorable viral test end result in 3 times of travel to the United States.
  • Each nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), these as a PCR examination, and antigen exams qualify.
  • As declared in September, the new process tightens individuals demands, so that unvaccinated U.S. Citizens and LPRs will have to have to supply a detrimental test taken within one day of touring.
  • That means that all completely vaccinated U.S. Citizens and LPRs traveling to the United States should really be prepared to present documentation of their vaccination standing alongside their damaging take a look at consequence.
  • For all those Americans who can clearly show they are entirely vaccinated, the exact necessity currently in area will utilize – they have to produce a adverse exam final result inside of 3 days of travel.
  • For everyone traveling to the United States who simply cannot show proof of full vaccination, they will have to generate documentation of a detrimental take a look at inside of one particular working day of departure.

Necessities for Small children:

  • Little ones beneath 18 are excepted from the vaccination necessity for international nationwide travelers, supplied both the ineligibility of some younger small children for vaccination, as properly as the international variability in obtain to vaccination for more mature young children who are eligible to be vaccinated.
  • Young children concerning the ages of 2 and 17 are required to take a pre-departure check.
  • If touring with a completely vaccinated adult, an unvaccinated child can exam 3 times prior to departure (constant with the timeline for absolutely vaccinated grown ups). If an unvaccinated boy or girl is touring by yourself or with unvaccinated grown ups, they will have to test inside of one day of departure.

Restricted Exceptions from the Vaccination Requirement:

  • There are a really restricted established of exceptions from the vaccination need for foreign nationals. These include things like exceptions for small children under 18, sure COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial members, these with professional medical contraindications to the vaccines, all those who require to journey for emergency or humanitarian causes (with a US federal government-issued letter affirming the urgent want to vacation), individuals who are touring on non-vacationer visas from international locations with low-vaccine availability (as established by the CDC), and other pretty slim types.
  • Those who receive an exception will usually be expected to attest they will comply with relevant general public health and fitness needs, like, with incredibly minimal exceptions, a need that they be vaccinated in the U.S. if they intend to stay right here for far more than 60 times.

Contact Tracing:

  • The CDC is also issuing a Get hold of Tracing Purchase that requires all airways traveling into the United States to maintain on hand – and immediately flip around to the CDC, when necessary – get hold of information that will make it possible for public overall health officers to comply with up with inbound air vacationers who are most likely infected or have been uncovered to a person who is contaminated.
  • This is a vital general public health measure both equally to avert the introduction, transmission, and spread of new variants of COVID-19 as properly as to insert a essential prevention software to address other community overall health threats.

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