Officials report no confirmed COVID-19 cases among its students (as of the writing of this post) but have received reports from other schools in the Atlanta University Center. A mask mandate is in effect for the next 14 days as a precautionary measure. Morris Brown College will not permit parties or large student gatherings on campus during this time. Other precautions include temperature checks upon arrival, social distancing, and contact tracing. Morris Brown College requires vaccines for students, with exemptions allowed for religious and medical reasons.
Officials have also advised students to maintain social distancing and prohibited parties and large student gatherings for two weeks. In an editorial published by the American College of Physicians (ACP), government doctors and public health experts in Seattle have again called for mandatory face coverings in healthcare facilities. They argue that hospital patients face a higher risk of severe illness or death from Covid and would benefit from reducing the risk of infection among patients and healthcare workers.
The Hollywood studio Lionsgate is bringing back mask mandates at their offices. The Hollywood Report wrote that Lionsgate sent out an email to all staff members requesting that when traveling to particular floors, they “mask up.”
The protocol was put in place after several Santa Monica employees caught the virus, they are also asking employees to self screen before coming to work.
The 10 experts, from the Seattle & King County health department and the University of Washington, said we should adapt to this new reality instead of accepting unnecessary risks to patient and provider health. The discussion of wearing masks in public has gained attention after the CDC mentioned monitoring the new Covid variant BA.2.86.
Georgia has seen an increase in Covid cases for three consecutive weeks, although the overall number of infections and hospitalizations remains low. The academic paper was likely written before the emergence of new variants and the rise in Covid hospitalization rates in the US. Earlier today, a former FDA boss expressed concern about the BA.X, BA.2.86, or Pirola variant, which is highly mutated and potentially more capable of evading the immune systems of vaccinated or previously infected individuals.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb acknowledged that there is no evidence suggesting the variant is deadlier than previous versions of the virus, but Covid fatalities in the US have started to rise, albeit from near historic lows. Hospitalizations and fatalities are increasing in the US, though they are still well below this time last year.
A “highly mutated” strain of COVID has shown up in Michigan – but @ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan it “doesn’t appear to be spreading wildly”
“It doesn’t appear to be more dangerous, but it may be more transmissible than the strains are circulating now” pic.twitter.com/tluw0rwjja
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 20, 2023
Government watchdogs have been tracking spending and found that the DOD, for example, awarded Hologic Sales and Service LLC a $1.5 million contract beginning on October 1st that’s set to expire in May of 2024. The federal database shows the the contract is for “Hologic covid testing services in support of the department of pathology at Madigan army medical center, Tacoma, WA 98431.”
