Healthcare

California health authorities announced over the weekend that hospital staff members who test positive but are symptom-free can continue working. Some hospitals in Rhode Island and Arizona have likewise told employees they can stay on the job if they have no symptoms or just mild ones.

The health order now includes booster requirements for people who work in higher-risk settings, including adult care facilities, adult day programs, dental offices, home health care workers and pharmacists, as well as workers who visit such settings, like police officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and lawyers whose clients are in jails.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.

“Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

The arrival of omicron comes as hospitals statewide continue to strain under a surge in coronavirus cases, most traced to the delta variant, along with staffing shortages.

The money, which includes funds from the American Rescue Plan and other sources, will support more than 22,700 providers, marking the largest number of providers enrolled in these programs in history, according to the White House.

An influential U.S. advisory panel will discuss expanding eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults Friday, a move that could make the shots available as early as this weekend.

Active-duty sailors had until Nov. 14 to get their last dose of the vaccine.

Some states, along with New York City, are not waiting for U.S. health officials to approve COVID-19 booster shots for all adults out of concern of a possible winter surge.

Cases tapered off after the delta variant surged this summer, but newly rising cases could be a worrisome sign of what’s ahead this winter.

About 660,000 of the 2.2 million tests being recalled have already been used

Experts studied 10 patients with ear-related symptoms linked to COVID-19. The hearing loss ranged from mild to profound.

Singapore’s government says its citizens have until Dec. 8 to get vaccinated or they will be left on their own to cover any medical expenses they accrue.