• In today’s Recommendations for Industry, we discuss CDC’s school guidance – and the caveats, and how TAG’s Key Points show continued cautions to be important. Read more below.
• The safety and efficacy of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine was conducted with 32,449 participants and shown to be 79% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and effective in stopping severe disease. The WHO review has also found that no blood clot has been linked to the vaccine.
• Due to spring break madness, Miami Beach has imposed an emergency curfew.
• New lockdowns are occurring in Europe due to COVID-19 rise in cases.
• CIDRAP synthesized a recent study that has found that the B117 variant has a 67% increased death risk. This recent study echoes two other studies that have also been recently released.

Today’s Key Points Show Reasons to Continue Cautions

Although CDC has published updated school guidance permitting 3-foot distancing in the schools, there are a number of caveats that are important to know:

• The update is relevant only to elementary schools.
• At least 3 feet of physical distancing is considered sufficient when masks are worn properly.
• 6 feet is still required when students are not wearing masks – e.g. while eating lunch.
• 6 feet is still recommended for middle schools and high schools in areas with high community transmission unless students can cohort in small groups.
• The considerations are meant to supplement – not replace – any Federal, state, local, territorial, or tribal law.
• The guidance also provides a lowest to highest risk categorization of school classes, activities, and events.

The news on the variant front also is continuing to inform caution in reducing cautionary measures with findings that the risk of death from the B117 variant, first detected in the U.K., is significantly higher (67%) than the previous dominant strains.

So even as vaccines continue to roll out – with AstraZeneca planning to seek FDA emergency use authorization in the coming weeks based on its U.S. trial showing it to be 79% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100% effective in stopping severe disease and hospitalization, with “no increased risk” of blood clots – there are indicators that we need to continue to be cautious, maintain preventive measures, and encourage vaccinations. 

• In last Friday’s Recommendations for Industry, we discuss TAG’s Global Reflections on the current state of the pandemic, and a new study, and FDA warning letters, on the unreliability of large-area thermal scanners. Read more here.
• Ontario, Canada has been criticized for under-reporting COVID-19 ICU numbers.
• A recent large-scale study, published in the Lancet, of the Danish population has found that older individuals were more apt to get be reinfected by COVID-19; findings from this study support considerations for vaccinations and populations that might be considered for earlier vaccinations.
• Another study of French COVID-19 survivors who had been hospitalized at the Consultation Multi-Expertise de Bicetre Après found that half of them had at least one COVID-related symptom 4 months later. The most reported symptoms were fatigue, cognitive conditions, and shortness of breath.
• In last Wednesday’s Recommendations for Industry, we discuss why it is important to continue worker protections (including the new OSHA program). Read more here.
• Do you want to know when different sectors of the food and agriculture world can be vaccinated? Food manufacturing versus food service versus food retail (grocery)? Check out the 50-state chart updated this past Monday March 16, 2021, here.
• OSHA Injury Reporting – Employers may still submit the required 2020 injury and illness data beyond the March 2, 2021 deadline.
• Are you eligible to receive a vaccine, but cannot get an appointment? There is a new service, called Dr. B that allows individuals to be put on a standby list for leftover COVID-19 vaccines. Sign up here.