COVID-19 Briefing - Tuesday, 1/26

Will vaccines protect against the new variants? More on variants, double masking, and travel restrictions.

January 26, 2021

Today's Recap:

The world surpassed 100 million cases of COVID, a staggering milestone.
Though the CDC has not made a recommendation regarding double masking, one is expected to be coming very soon. It’s believed that layering a medical mask beneath a cloth one may minimize COVID-19 transmission, especially in crowded places like classrooms.
The short supply of COVID vaccines continues to spark some bad behavior.
So, what’s up with all these variants? After studies showed Moderna’s vaccine to be less effective against the South African variant, they’re developing a vaccine booster and are considering adding it to their vaccine regimen.
Because of these new variants, the Biden administration is imposing a ban on non-US citizens who have recently been in South Africa, Brazil, the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe.
But US citizens aren’t exempt, at least from testing. According to the White House, all international travelers will need a negative PCR lab test within three days of travel and should self-quarantine after entry into the US.
President Biden also issued an executive order on worker safety this week.
We love Medpage Today for it’s COVID coverage, and they’ve put together this helpful list linking to each state’s vaccination website.
Considering a cruise? Not unless you’ve been vaccinated, one cruise line says.
California businesses are beginning to reopen after Gov. Newsom lifted the state’s broad stay-at-home order this week. The state is expected to move back to its county-by-county tiered system, which will allow restaurants, retailers and personal care businesses to reopen based on the spread of COVID in their area.
A new, non-peer reviewed study from the Montreal Heart Institute says Colchicine is effective in treating COVID with 25% fewer hospitalizations, 50% less need for mechanical ventilation and 44% fewer deaths. Critics, concerned it’s the next Hydrochloroquine, say the study team hasn’t provided access to their data.
Regeneron says its antibody cocktail acted as a passive vaccination for those exposed to sick people in their home. Their analysis showed a reduction (by half!) in overall infections and totally prevented symptomatic infections. Meanwhile Eli Lilly says theirs significantly reduced hospitalizations and deaths.

Best Questions:

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If a local health department requires a 14-day quarantine for illness, do we need to follow that?

Yes, we strongly recommend following the specific recommendation of local and state health departments. Although the CDC issues general guidance, each state and local health department issues guidelines for their jurisdiction. As an example, Fairfax County, VA is requiring a 14-day quarantine for those who have COVID symptoms.

Are health departments reacting differently to positive tests that confirm one of the variants?

Many of you have had variations of this question over the last 36 hours. First, let’s talk about testing for variants. We do not have a robust system for testing for variants in the US, so we aren’t seeing many confirmed variants. However, what we are seeing is genome sequencing, which identifies variants (in CT, tests are sent to Yale and in MN, tests are sent to the state lab). Some health departments have required a 14-day exclusion for an employee who has been confirmed positive with the UK variant (also known as B117). In separate instances, we’ve seen health departments require broader and longer close contact exclusions. Stay tuned... Much more to come on this subject matter as we learn more about variants and ramp up genome sequencing to track them.

A manager who had tested positive said his doctor told him that it was a false positive. Can we clear this employee?

Well...we have many questions! How would the clinic know it’s a false positive? Did it send a second specimen to a lab for PCR testing and that’s what came back negative? Can the clinic send a copy of that result? We’re running into all kinds of new situations regarding COVID testing ranging from people saying all kinds of things to get back to work and others saying all sorts of things to get out of it. Minimally, we would require a negative PCR result to even further the discussion with the employee. Unless we have extremely compelling evidence that this was a false positive on a rapid test followed by at least one negative PCR test and NO symptoms or close contact with someone sick, we would treat this as a genuine positive result. False positives are still much more rare than false negatives, even for rapid tests.

Any recommendations for communicating about vaccination with our employees?

Vaccines have successfully eliminated or reduced the spread of many infectious diseases in the U.S., but many people are hesitant to get them for a variety of reasons, including severe allergies, religious beliefs and misinformation about their necessity or efficacy. You have your work cut out for you, but it’s key to tap into the resources you already have and get started soon, even if your employees won’t be eligible to get their vaccine for a few more months.

Check out our new COVID Vaccination Communication Action Plan here, or in the app.

Best Listen:

Scientists and engineers have worked for years on boarding airplanes in the most efficient way - now they’re studying how to do it in the safest way, too.