Jamaica locking down as COVID-19 cases climb, Israel offers booster doses to more adults
The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 20, 2021 8:20 AM ET | Last Updated: 4 hours ago
A student wearing a protective mask attends class on the first day of school at St. Lawrence Catholic School in North Miami Beach, Fla., earlier this week. (Marco Bello/Reuters)
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Millions of students in Florida, Texas and Arizona are being required to wear masks in class as school boards in mostly Democratic locales are imposing anti-COVID mandates in defiance of their Republican governors.
The three states are all hot spots in the nation’s recent COVID-19 surge and defiant boards in Miami, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and elsewhere argue that requiring masks protects students from contracting and spreading the virus as pediatric hospitals fill.
Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona argue that children are safe without masks and such decisions should be left up to parents.
Florida accounts for 1 in 5 cases nationwide as the highly contagious delta variant spreads.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most pediatric medicine organizations support masking.
-From The Associated Press, last updated at 11:25 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH | Vaccination key to avoiding the worst from delta variant, experts say:
Vaccination key to avoiding the worst from delta variant, experts say
With the delta coronavirus variant making up more than 80 per cent of cases in Canada, experts say most people will encounter it. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent the worst outcomes. Correction: At 1:30 in this story, Dr. Mike Nayak is incorrectly identified as Mark Nayak. 2:44
Ontario sees 650 new COVID-19 cases as ICU admissions climb again.
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Saskatchewan is not mandating masks for students, staff returning to school.
What’s happening around the world
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett received a coronavirus vaccine booster shot as the country began administering them to people aged 40 and over amid a spike in infections. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
As of early Friday morning, more than 210 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide. According to the Johns Hopkins University tracking database, more than 4.4 million deaths had been reported worldwide.
In the Middle East, Israel has made third booster shots against COVID-19 available to people age 40 and older, in an effort to fight a surge of the delta variant. About 5.9 million people of Israel’s 9.3 million population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. More than 5.4 million have received two doses, and 1.3 million have received a third dose.
In the Americas, Mexico is battling a new wave of coronavirus infections as daily cases hit record highs and the official death toll passed 250,000, one of the highest worldwide.
In Jamaica, the prime minister has announced a lockdown to try and slow the spread of COVID-19 as the island nation faces a strong surge in cases.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam will deploy troops in Ho Chi Minh City and prohibit residents from leaving their homes, authorities said, as its biggest city turns to drastic measures to slow a spiralling rate of coronavirus deaths.
Sri Lanka’s government imposed a 10-day lockdown across the island on Friday in an attempt to contain the rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases. The lockdown will be effective from 10:00 p.m. Friday until Aug. 30, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella tweeted.
Thailand, meanwhile, passed one million total coronavirus infections Friday, as its latest surge dropped below 20,000 daily cases for the first time in 10 days. Over 97 per cent of the cases counted since the pandemic began have been since April.
A pro-democracy protester waves a flag reading, ‘Everyone should have access to a COVID vaccine’ at Victory Monument on Friday in Bangkok. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)
In Africa, faced with slowing numbers of people getting COVID-19 vaccinations, South Africa has opened eligibility to all adults to step up the volume of inoculations as it battles a surge in the disease driven by the delta variant.
Less than 200,000 jabs are being given per day, down from 250,000 earlier this month and significantly lower than the target of 300,000 that the government had hoped to achieve by this time. To boost the flagging numbers, health officials decided to offer jabs to the younger adults immediately.
The update comes a day after the Africa director for the World Health Organization warned that “as some richer countries hoard vaccines, they make a mockery of vaccine equity.”
Matshidiso Moeti and other African health officials, including the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had recently warned against offering booster shots in countries further advanced in their vaccination rollouts, such as the U.S., as less than two per cent of the population on the continent of 1.3 billion people is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
In Europe, Germany is declaring Crete and other Greek islands as a “high-risk area” for COVID-19, meaning that many people coming from those spots who haven’t been vaccinated will need to quarantine upon arrival in Germany.
