美国新学年开始后，一周内至少18万儿童感染新冠
来源：海外网
8/27/2021
海外网8月27日电 美媒称，美国新学年开始后，一周内超过18万名儿童的新冠病毒检测结果呈阳性，数周内已有至少9万名学生因新冠疫情隔离。
据美国《国会山报》26日报道，美国儿科学会公布的数据显示，8月12日至8月19日期间，超过18万名儿童的新冠病毒检测结果呈阳性。美国卫生与公众服务部公布的数据显示，截至26日上午，美国的住院患儿数量超过了1400人。美国19个州共有至少9万名学生被隔离，包括新冠病毒检测呈阳性的感染者和密切接触者。
报道称，美国新冠患儿数目激增的可能原因有两种，其一是目前暂时没有适合12岁以下儿童接种的疫苗，其二是部分地区的学校仍没有规定学生戴口罩。美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心8月的一项民意调查显示，大约60%的美国人支持学生和教师佩戴口罩的规定，但美国学校的口罩之争仍在持续。美国疾病控制与预防中心建议所有中小学校的学生、教师、工作人员和访客在室内活动时戴口罩，但至少有8个州反对这项建议，颁布了禁止戴口罩的规定。
US CDC Updates Covid Guidelines on Airborne Transmission, Says Virus Can Spread Beyond 6 Ft
It however also warned that airborne virus can be transmitted even if the infectious source is farther than six feet.
5/08/2021
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its public guidance on the spread of coronavirus and said, people can get infected by inhaling very fine respiratory droplets and aerosolised particles carrying the virus or by direct splashes, sprays or touching contaminated hands to mouth, nose, or eye.
The agency states: “Inhalation of air carrying very small fine droplets and aerosol particles that contain infectious virus. Risk of transmission is greatest within three to six feet of an infectious source where the concentration of these very fine droplets and particles is greatest.”
It however also warned that airborne virus can be transmitted even if the infectious source is farther than six feet in certain conditions, largely indoors.
“These transmission events have involved the presence of an infectious person exhaling virus indoors for an extended time (more than 15 minutes and in some cases hours) leading to virus concentrations in the air space sufficient to transmit infections to people more than 6 feet away, and in some cases to people who have passed through that space soon after the infectious person left,” it reads.
The revision is a change in the US federal agency’s earlier stand on most covid transmission being acquired through “close contact, not airborne transmission.”
The revision also came weeks after experts said there is consistent, strong evidence to prove that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is predominantly transmitted through the air. The assessment published in The Lancet journal states public health measures that don’t acknowledge that the transmission is airborne leave people unprotected and allow the virus to spread.
“The evidence supporting airborne transmission is overwhelming, and evidence supporting large droplet transmission is almost non-existent,” said Jose-Luis Jimenez, from the University of Colorado Boulder in the US.
“It is urgent that the World Health Organization and other public health agencies adapt their description of transmission to the scientific evidence so that the focus of mitigation is put on reducing airborne transmission,” Jimenez was quoted as saying.
The analysis was conducted by six experts from the UK, the US and Canada.
CDC Expands Negative COVID-19 Test Requirement to All Air Passengers Entering the United States
Media Statement
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Contact: Media Relations
(404) 639-3286
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test to all air passengers entering the United States. Testing before and after travel is a critical layer to slow the introduction and spread of COVID-19. This strategy is consistent with the current phase of the pandemic and more efficiently protects the health of Americans.
Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to emerge in countries around the world, and there is evidence of increased transmissibility of some of these variants. With the US already in surge status, the testing requirement for air passengers will help slow the spread of the virus as we work to vaccinate the American public.
Before departure to the United States, a required test, combined with the CDC recommendations to get tested again 3-5 days after arrival and stay home for 7 days post-travel, will help slow the spread of COVID-19 within US communities from travel-related infections. Pre-departure testing with results known and acted upon before travel begins will help identify infected travelers before they board airplanes.
Air passengers are required to get a viral test (a test for current infection) within the 3 days before their flight to the U.S. departs, and provide written documentation of their laboratory test result (paper or electronic copy) to the airline or provide documentation of having recovered from COVID-19. Airlines must confirm the negative test result for all passengers or documentation of recovery before they board. If a passenger does not provide documentation of a negative test or recovery, or chooses not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding to the passenger.
“Testing does not eliminate all risk,” says CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, MD, “but when combined with a period of staying at home and everyday precautions like wearing masks and social distancing, it can make travel safer, healthier, and more responsible by reducing spread on planes, in airports, and at destinations.”
This order was signed by the CDC Director on January 12, 2021 and will become effective on January 26, 2021.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0112-negative-covid-19-air-passengers.html
