June 1 coronavirus news

Ohio will rescind a number of Covid-19-related health orders starting tomorrow, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced today.

The rescinded orders include several regarding facial coverings, according to the governor’s office. The statewide mask mandate will lift, as will the required use of masks in child education settings.

Among others, the state is rescinding orders that previously limited access to Ohio’s jails and detention facilities and released protected health information to Ohio’s first responders.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he discussed Covid-19 and vaccines in his meeting with the Costa Rican president and said in the next week or two the Biden administration will announce how it will distribute vaccines to the rest of the world.

“Among other things, we will focus on equity, on the equitable distribution of vaccines, we will focus on science, we’ll work in coordination with COVAX and we will distribute vaccines without political requirements of those receiving them,” Blinken said at a news conference in San Jose.

Blinken noted that the United States had worked closely with Costa Rica during Covid-19.

Fewer than one in 20 people in the US – about 4.7% of the population – live in a county considered to have “high” Covid-19 transmission, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

However, in a handful of states, more than a quarter of the population lives in a county with “high” transmission: Rhode Island (88%), Washington (40%), Wyoming (37%), Montana (29%) and Colorado (28%).

CDC considers a county to have “high” transmission if there have been 100 or more cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 residents or a test positivity rate of 10% or higher in the past seven days. 

About two weeks ago, closer to 20% of the population lived in a county considered to have “high” transmission. 

Overall, most people in the US live in a county that is still considered to have “substantial” transmission (28% of the population) or “moderate” transmission (about 64% of the population). 

About 3% of the US population – nearly 10 million people – lives in a county considered to have “low” transmission, defined by the CDC as less than 10 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity rate of less than 5% in the past seven days.  

In six states, more than 10% of the population lives in a county considered to have “low” transmission: Vermont, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Virginia.

Is it okay to use a different brand of vaccine for your coronavirus booster shot? The US National Institutes of Health said Tuesday it is launching a trial to see if it’s safe and if mixing vaccine types works.

The phase 1/2 clinical trial will enroll 150 volunteers who have been fully vaccinated already to see if giving a different type of brand of vaccine gives them the desired immune system boost without side-effects.

It’s not known yet whether people will need booster doses of coronavirus vaccines — or, if so, when they will be needed. It would be easier to give those boosters if people didn’t have to get the same brand or type of vaccine as they got before.

Currently, three vaccines are authorized in the US: two mRNA vaccines, one made by Pfizer/BioNTech and one made by Moderna, and the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine arm, which uses a virus called an adenovirus to deliver genetic material that elicits immunity. 

People are supposed to get two doses of either Moderna’s or Pfizer’s vaccine, or a single dose of J&J’s, and scientists are not sure if it matters if people get the same brand or even class of vaccine for all the shots. They’re currently supposed to get the same vaccine for both doses – although earlier Tuesday Canada became the first country to say people could get either mRNA vaccine for the second shot, even if they got AstraZeneca’s adenovirus vaccine for their first dose.

People often get annual influenza shots made by different companies and using different technologies from one year to the next.

“The results of this trial are intended to inform public health policy decisions on the potential use of mixed vaccine schedules should booster doses be indicated.”

The trial will be led at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the University of Maryland, College Park. “Twelve to 20 weeks following their initial vaccination regimen, participants will receive a single booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as part of the trial,” the NIH said.

“People who have not yet received an FDA authorized COVID-19 vaccine are also eligible to enroll in the trial in a separate cohort. Initially, these volunteers will receive the two-dose Moderna COVID-19 vaccine regimen and will be assigned to receive a booster dose of a vaccine about 12 to 20 weeks later.”

Twelve states have now reached the Biden administration’s goal to vaccinate 70% of adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, according to data published Tuesday by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

California and Maryland join Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont in reaching that benchmark.

Overall, 296,404,240 total doses of Covid-19 have been reported administered, about 81% of the 366,317,045 total doses delivered.

The CDC did not update its Covid-19 data tracker on Monday, but about 1.5 million doses have been reported administered since Sunday, for a seven-day average of about 1.2 million doses per day.

About 168.5 million people – nearly 51% of the US population – have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and about 136 million people – nearly 41% of the population – is fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been reported on the date administered.

With about 34,500 new cases reported last week, the US saw the lowest number of weekly Covid-19 cases among children since early October, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Tuesday.

Children accounted for nearly 25% of the new cases reported late last week. Nearly four million children have tested positive since the start of the pandemic as of May 27.

Children made up between 6% and 19.6% of those who were tested for Covid-19, according to the states that reported numbers, and 5.2% to 34.6% of children tested were positive for the coronavirus, depending on the state.

Children are still considered much less likely than adults to develop severe symptoms of Covid-19 or to die from the disease. Children represented 1.3% to 3.2% of total reported hospitalizations for Covid-19, based on the information provided by 24 states and New York City. Only 0.1% to 1.9% of all cases of Covid-19 in children required hospitalization. 

Nine states reported zero child deaths among the 43 states that provided data on Covid-19 mortality. 

The mask mandate in Minneapolis has been lifted immediately, according to a news release from the mayor's office. 

Mayor Jacob Frey signed an emergency regulation today that lifts the mask mandate, which had been in place since May 2020, the release states. Masks will still be required in schools through the last day of the school year, it says, with the school districts able to set their own policy for the next school year. 

Over 78% of residents over the age of 15 have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the release says, with 69% being fully immunized. 

Smaller shipments of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine are currently available for ordering, a US Health and Human Services spokesperson told CNN. 

These shipments contain 450 doses while the larger shipments contain 1,170 doses. Both shipment sizes are available for vaccine providers to order.

Pfizer has been working on this smaller shipment size in order to meet changing demands and said they would be available by the end of May. 

While slightly more than 40% of the total US population is fully vaccinated, the pace of vaccinations has been on the decline. 

Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, told CNN previously that the larger shipments have posed challenges for smaller vaccination sites.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and the state's Department of Health announced on Tuesday that vaccinated and unvaccinated people will not be required to wear masks outdoors in the state starting June 2, according to a news release from the office of the governor.

"Beginning Wednesday, June 2, vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, will not be required to wear masks outdoors in Rhode Island," the release read.

The removal of the outdoor mask requirement applies to all ages and settings, according to the release. Outdoor live performances, youth sports, and summer camps are included.

"Similar to the Governor's May 21 reopening changes, a host establishment or organization may ask customers or participants to wear masks at their discretion," the release read.

"Per its most recent guidance regarding outdoor masking for summer camps, it also strongly recommended that unvaccinated individuals wear masks in areas of 'substantial' or 'high' transmission," it said.

As for indoor masking, there are no changes to the guidance, according to the release, including throughout school settings.

"Fully vaccinated people can elect not to wear masks indoors where it is permitted. People who are yet to be fully vaccinated should continue wearing masks indoors," the release said.