COVID-19 Update
The World at a Glance: The reported number of deaths and hospitalization rates continue to decrease globally, despite the average number of reported cases rising in 18 countries. In Europe, the rate of increase is less than 50% of what it was during their peak surges. China’s current increase is 66% what it was at its peak. The city of Shanghai slides into its 3rd week of lockdown, prompting fears of far-reaching effects across the global supply chain.
United States at a Glance: There was a slight increase in the number of new cases, seemingly peaking around April 15 before decreasing once again. The spike in new cases appear to be endemic to the Northeast Region, as well as New York where two new variants account for 90% of cases in central New York. Experts are hopeful that the new variants will not result in major surges as seen during the initial spread of Delta and Omicron variants. In comparison, the number of deaths and hospitalization rates continue to decrease, and 82% of the U.S. population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine; 67% of the population is fully vaccinated.
COVID Policies
On April 18, the White House announced it will hold its Second Global COVID-19 Summit on May 12. The summit will further objectives made during the first summit in September 2021, such as increasing global vaccination rates, aiding high-risks areas, health care worker protection, and generating financing for pandemic preparedness. The announcement for the summit comes days after the Biden Administration issued an extension of the TSA face mark order through May 3. However, on April 18, a federal judge in Florida struck down the extension, announcing that masks are now optional at airports and other transportation hubs. A White House spokesperson says the Justice Department will make a decision about a legal response.
Vaccination News
On April 13, HHS Secretary Becerra announced that the Public Health Emergency for COVID has been renewed for 90 days. This new expiration date is mid-July.
Pfizer and BioNTech reported that a third shot of the children's dose of their Covid-19 vaccine raised Omicron-fighting antibodies by 36 times in kids ages 5 through 11. The trials resulted in a “robust response” regardless of theater the children had previous exposure to COVID-19. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to submit a request for an emergency use authorization of a booster dose for children in this age group "in the coming days." Only 28% of children ages 5 through 11 are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Therapeutics Update
As of April 5, 2022, sotrovimab is no longer authorized to treat COVID-19 in any US region due to increases in cases caused by the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant. The previously authorized dose of sotrovimab is unlikely to be effective against the BA.2 sub-variant, which now makes up more than 50% of cases in all US regions.
Supply Chain Update
On April 15, Texas Governor Abbott repealed a border inspection order that halted commercial traffic at the Pharr-Reynosa international bridge, impacting the flow of products to the U.S. Abbott’s order allowed Texas State Troopers to inspect all commercial trucks traveling between the US-Mexico border, a task usually conducted by US federal agents. Abbott stated the policy was to curb the flow of illegal contrabands and human trafficking. However, the inspections severely impeded the flow of trade between the two countries, halting deliveries while truckers remained in traffic for as long as 30 hours. Protests against the measures exacerbated delays. Abbott’s policy was panned by US and Mexican officials, as well as the Texas Agriculture Commissioner. The American Tuckers Association condemned the policy for being “flawed, redundant, and adding considerable weight on an already strained supply chain.” Abbott’s policy cost an estimate $240 million and is likely to contribute to higher produce prices throughout the nation. Other products, including medical products, could be disrupted by the order. However, there currently have not been any reports of this happening.
Public Health and Community Engagement
Public Health
On April 13, HHS announced a $16 million award to strengthen Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Programs. There are seven awards granted to support eight states. With this, HHS hopes to advance data and technology innovations to support positive maternal and child health outcomes and address health disparities in these communities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also announced the continuation of the mask order and an update to its Travel Health Notice System for international destinations. In the future, Level 4 travel health notices are reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as “rapidly increased case trajectory or extremely high cases counts, emergence of a new variant of concern, or healthcare infrastructure collapse.” Levels 1-3 will continue with their system determined by 28-day incidence or case counts. This new system goes into effect on April 18.
On April 14, HHS announced its joint action with 90 other federal agencies to develop an Equity Action Plan. This announcement responds to Executive Order 13985, which aims to ensures that “the government works better for all.” Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Rebecca Haffajee stated, “Our HHS Equity Action Plan demonstrates that we are committed, in collaboration with the public and our partners, to overcoming existing inequities through our research, policies, and programs.”
On April 15, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the availability of $226.5 million to launch The Community Health Worker Training Program. This program aims to increase the number of community health workers who play a crucial role in delivering care. The Community Health Worker Training Program will be expanded across multiple years and focus on building “the pipeline of public health workers” through education and on-the-job training.
Community Engagement
As part of the Advancing Resilience for Community Health in Emergency Response (ARCHER) Initiative, Healthcare Ready and the Centene Foundation for Quality Healthcare held a webinar on engaging and strengthening partnerships for community health centers with various partners across federal, state, and local public health, NGOs, and private sector industry. The training included a partnership mapping exercise and scenario-based discussion in which staff retroactively assessed how partnerships supported their response to a past disaster. Our Crisis Standards of Communication webinar provided attendees with information on how to incorporate equitable approaches into communications and messaging, ways to identify changing communications during crisis, and best practices for communications and stakeholder management during crisis The webinar recording, and all past resources and recordings, can be found on our Resource Center.
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