Latest updates:
Lost your COVID vaccine card? Here’s what you can do: With more and more businesses as well as public and private employers in the Bay Area and California requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination, it seems more important than ever to keep track of that little piece of paper you got with your vaccine. But what happens if you lose it? Find out here.
Texas governor sued over ban on mask mandates: Gov. Greg Abbott’s order banning mask mandates faces mounting resistance from local officials as soaring COVID hospitalizations send the state’s health-care systems into crisis mode. San Antonio and Bexar County officials sued Tuesday, seeking to halt Abbott’s directive, which bars local governments from issuing mask requirements, news accounts say. The suit seeks a restraining order so they can mandate masks in public schools and require unvaccinated students who were exposed to quarantine.
Moderna vaccine twice as effective as Pfizer against delta, study finds: Of the two mRNA vaccines available in the United States, Moderna’s two-dose regimen could be significantly more effective against the delta variant of the coronavirus than version produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, according to a study of more than 50,000 patients in the Mayo Clinic Health System. Researchers found the effectiveness of Moderna’s vaccine against infection dropped from 86% in early 2021 to 76% in July when the delta variant became dominant. The effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine fell from 76% to 42% over the same period, the researchers said. A Moderna booster shot may be necessary for anyone who got the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines earlier this year, Dr. Venky Soundararajan, who led the Mayo study, told Reuters.
Fauci says teachers should be required to get COVID vaccination: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease experts, believes that teachers should be required to be fully vaccinated to make a safer return to schools in the fall. “I’m going to upset some people on this, but I think we should,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on MSNBC Tuesday when asked if he thought vaccine mandates should be issued for teachers. “We are in a critical situation now. We’ve had 615,000-plus deaths and we are in a major surge now as we’re going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business.”
Nearly 99% of Americans live in an area of “high” or “substantial” transmission: Every state in the United States except Vermont is considered to have “high” or “substantial” levels of coronavirus transmission, based on an analysis published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency’s county-level report shows over 98% of the US population lives in counties that are considered high-risk by the agency — areas with 100 or more cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents in the past week, or a test positivity rate of 10% or higher during the same period — with less than 2% of the population living in areas with “low” or “moderate” transmission.
Twitter suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over false COVID vaccine claim: Twitter said Tuesday it has suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for one week after she again violated its rules. Greene tweeted Monday that the Food and Drug Administration should not formally approve the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been available in the U.S. under FDA emergency authorization, and falsely claimed the vaccines were “failing” and were ineffective at reducing coronavirus spread. Twitter labeled the post as misleading and prevented Greene from tweeting for one week. According to the New York Times, Twitter said the suspension was Greene‘s fourth “strike” under the company’s rules, and she could be permanently barred if she violates Twitter’s coronavirus misinformation policy again. Greene incurred her third strike less than a month ago.
More than 75% of U.K. adults now fully vaccinated: More than 75% of the United Kingdom — nearly 40 million people — have received two shots of a COVID-19 vaccine, BBC News reported.
Unauthorized coronavirus testing site shut down in Marin County: Marin County health officials on Monday shut down what they said was an unauthorized coronavirus testing site in Fairfax, and said California officials are investigating the company over concerns also raised in Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Read the story here.
With delta variant rising, thousands of parents in San Francisco, across state demand distance learning option: Thousands of parents in San Francisco and across the state say they don’t want to send their kids back into classrooms this fall and are asking for online options as schools begin to reopen amid a new surge of the delta variant of COVID-19. Read the story here.
What we know about the delta variant, kids and long COVID: With pediatric COVID-19 cases rapidly rising in the Bay Area and elsewhere, anxiety is growing about little-researched long COVID in children, with physical and mental symptoms that can last for months or years. The Chronicle reached out to experts and reviewed the still-developing research to explore what is thus far known about long COVID and kids. Read the story here.
In conspiracy-tinged letters, 200 S.F. employees push back on city’s vaccine mandate: Nearly 200 San Francisco employees are attempting to rebuff the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and other protocols like testing and mask wearing for city workers, submitting identical, conspiracy-tinged letters suggesting the city is infringing upon their “God-given and constitutionally secured” rights. Read the story here.
San Francisco’s COVID case rate is suddenly higher than the U.S.’s: The latest wave of coronavirus cases, fueled by the extra-infectious delta variant, has put San Francisco’s case rate at above the national rate for the first time since March 2020, near the very start of the pandemic in the U.S. Read the story here.
Relief, excitement — and concern over delta variant — as Oakland Unified schools reopen: Excitement, laughter and a few tears defined the first day of school at the Oakland Academy of Knowledge on Monday. It even felt normal: the open-air corridors buzzed with students and the few straggling parents, albeit all in masks. Read the story here.
Vaccine advisers will meet on booster shots Friday: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group will convene to discuss the benefits of additional COVID-19 doses for those who are immunocompromised, according to a schedule released by the agency Monday. They will also host a public discussion on considerations for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for everyone else.