Omicron resistant to most monoclonal antibodies but neutralized by booster dose

 The Omicron variant was detected for the first time in South Africa in November 2021 and has since spread to many countries. It is expected to become the dominant variant within a few weeks or months. Initial epidemiological studies show that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the currently dominant virus (the Delta variant). It is capable of spreading to individuals who have received two vaccine doses and to previously infected individuals. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the Vaccine Research Institute, in collaboration with KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), Orléans Regional Hospital, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (AP-HP), Inserm and the CNRS, studied the sensitivity of the Omicron variant to monoclonal antibodies used in clinical practice to prevent severe forms of the disease in people at risk, as well as to antibodies in the blood of individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 or vaccinated. They compared this sensitivity with that of the Delta variant. The scientists demonstrated that Omicron is much less sensitive to neutralizing antibodies than Delta. The scientists then analyzed the blood of people who had received two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. Five months after vaccination, the antibodies in the blood were no longer capable of neutralizing Omicron. This loss of efficacy was also observed in individuals who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 within the past 12 months. Administering a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine or a single vaccine dose in previously infected individuals led to a significant increase in antibody levels that was sufficient to neutralize Omicron. Omicron is therefore much less sensitive to the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies currently used in clinical practice or obtained after two vaccine doses.

The study was published as a preprint on the bioRxiv website on December 15, 2021 and in Nature on Dec 23, 2021

Initial epidemiological studies demonstrate that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant. The Omicron variant's biological characteristics are still relatively unknown. It has more than 32 mutations in the spike protein compared with the first SARS-CoV-2 and was designated as a variant of concern by WHO on November 26, 2021.

In South Africa, the Omicron variant replaced the other viruses within a few weeks and led to a sharp increase in the number of cases diagnosed. Analyses in various countries indicate that the doubling time for cases is approximately 2 to 4 days. Omicron has been detected in dozens of countries, including France and became dominant by the end of 2021.

In a new study supported by the European Union's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the Vaccine Research Institute, in collaboration with KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), Orléans Regional Hospital, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (AP-HP) and Inserm, studied the sensitivity of Omicron to antibodies compared with the currently dominant Delta variant. The aim of the study was to characterize the efficacy of therapeutic antibodies, as well as antibodies developed by individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 or vaccinated, in neutralizing this new variant.

The scientists from KU Leuven isolated the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 from a nasal sample of a 32-year-old woman who developed moderate COVID-19 a few days after returning from Egypt. The isolated virus was immediately sent to scientists at the Institut Pasteur, where therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and serum samples from people who had been vaccinated or previously exposed to SARS-CoV-2 were used to study the sensitivity of the Omicron variant.

The scientists used rapid neutralization assays, developed by the Institut Pasteur's Virus and Immunity Unit, on the isolated sample of the Omicron virus. This collaborative multidisciplinary effort also involved the Institut Pasteur's virologists and specialists in the analysis of viral evolution and protein structure, together with teams from Orléans Regional Hospital and Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou in Paris.

The scientists began by testing nine monoclonal antibodies used in clinical practice or currently in preclinical development. Six antibodies lost all antiviral activity, and the other three were 3 to 80 times less effective against Omicron than against Delta. The antibodies Bamlanivimab/Etesevimab (a combination developed by Lilly), Casirivimab/Imdevimab (a combination developed by Roche and known as Ronapreve) and Regdanvimab (developed by Celtrion) no longer had any antiviral effect against Omicron. The Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab combination (developed by AstraZeneca under the name Evusheld) was 80 times less effective against Omicron than against Delta.

"We demonstrated that this highly transmissible variant has acquired significant resistance to antibodies. Most of the therapeutic monoclonal antibodies currently available against SARS-CoV-2 are inactive," comments Olivier Schwartz, co-last author of the study and Head of the Virus and Immunity Unit at the Institut Pasteur.

The scientists observed that the blood of patients previously infected with COVID-19, collected up to 12 months after symptoms, and that of individuals who had received two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, taken five months after vaccination, barely neutralized the Omicron variant. But the sera of individuals who had received a booster dose of Pfizer, analyzed one month after vaccination, remained effective against Omicron. Five to 31 times more antibodies were nevertheless required to neutralize Omicron, compared with Delta, in cell culture assays. These results help shed light on the continued efficacy of vaccines in protecting against severe forms of disease.

"We now need to study the length of protection of the booster dose. The vaccines probably become less effective in offering protection against contracting the virus, but they should continue to protect against severe forms," explains Olivier Schwartz.

"This study shows that the Omicron variant hampers the effectiveness of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies, but it also demonstrates the ability of European scientists to work together to identify challenges and potential solutions. While KU Leuven was able to describe the first case of Omicron infection in Europe using the Belgian genome surveillance system, our collaboration with the Institut Pasteur in Paris enabled us to carry out this study in record time. There is still a great deal of work to do, but thanks to the support of the European Union's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), we have clearly now reached a point where scientists from the best centers can work in synergy and move towards a better understanding and more effective management of the pandemic," comments Emmanuel André, co-last author of the study, a Professor of Medicine at KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and Head of the National Reference Laboratory and the genome surveillance network for COVID-19 in Belgium.

The scientists concluded that the many mutations in the spike protein of the Omicron variant enabled it to largely evade the immune response. Ongoing research is being conducted to determine why this variant is more transmissible from one individual to the next and to analyze the long-term effectiveness of a booster dose.

---

JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/d41586-021-03827-2 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Human tissue samples

ARTICLE TITLE

Considerable escape of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron to antibody neutralization

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-Dec-2021

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/939536

Study examines differences in coverage denials for traditional Medicare, MA

 Traditional Medicare coverage rules make up the bulk of denied services and spending compared to a Medicare Advantage plan, according to a new study in the latest Health Affairs issue.  

The study, led by the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and CVS Health, relied on Medicare Advantage claims that were denied for beneficiaries enrolled with Aetna from 2014 through 2019. In total, the authors identified $416 million worth of denied spending, or $60 of denied spending per beneficiary annually. Traditional Medicare coverage rules made up 85% of denied services and 64% of denied spending, while Aetna's MA plans made up the rest. 

In total, the sample included nearly 3 million beneficiaries. The study did not include services that were denied during a prior authorization process. 

The theoretical benefit of excluding certain low-value services from coverage is to reduce spending while discouraging medically unnecessary services, the authors wrote in their report. The legal standard for Medicare coverage is that services be “reasonable and necessary," though clinical effectiveness evidence is not required. The authors of the study wrote that until now, little has been publicly known about variants like types of services facing denials, reasons for denial and whether the denials are increasing over time. The study aimed to identify these and other measures. 

The study found that most denials were for lab services, and nearly a third of beneficiaries received one or more denied services a year. Denial rates increased slightly over time, though the portion of denied spending attributable to Medicare rules decreased. 

Aetna's MA coverage rules were broken into six categories: cosmetic, experimental or investigational, not a treatment of disease, without proven efficacy, related to a primary denied service or without supporting medical records provided. 

The most common denied service under Aetna's Medicare Advantage plans was experimental or investigational (61%), followed by or without proven efficacy (20%). The most common type of service denied was a lab procedure (31% of services denied under Aetna MA, and 76% of services denied under Medicare). 

Among the share of spending denied, lab services accounted for 36% under Medicare and 18% under Aetna MA, followed by oncologic procedures (14%) and drug administration (13%). 

Hospital outpatient departments accounted for more than a third of denied spending, followed by labs, which made up one-fifth. Emergency departments made up just over 5%.

The most frequent code of denied claims was for glycosylated hemoglobin testing, which tends to be common and inexpensive, the authors wrote. These lab claims tend to be denied due to a lack of appropriate diagnosis codes, with the latest Medicare manual on lab diagnostic coding being more than 2,000 pages long. Aetna MA restrictions, meanwhile, tend to affect more rare and expensive services like chemotherapy, the study found. 

“By describing the scope and distribution of coverage denials in Medicare Advantage, our study provides a glimpse into how this managed care tool has been shaped and wielded,” the authors wrote.

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/health-affairs-study-medicare-coverage-denials-more-common-than-medicare-advantage

Omicron cases 'could fall just as quickly as they rose': CDC

 Despite the astronomic rise in omicron-related Covid cases nationwide, there is hope that the number will fall just as fast, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday at a media briefing — her first without the rest of the White House's Covid-19 Task Force in nearly six months.

The rise and fall of Covid diagnoses has historically been shown as "waves," but Walensky suggested the omicron surge in the U.S. may be visualized more as an "ice pick," with a dramatic rise and fall in cases similar to South Africa, which has passed its omicron surge.

"I do think in places that we are seeing this really steep incline, that we may well see also a precipitous decline," Walensky said during the briefing.

Currently, new Covid cases in the U.S. are up more than 204 percent compared to two weeks ago, according to an NBC News analysis.

Record number of pediatric cases

On Friday, the CDC released new data on Covid-related hospitalizations, specifically among children. Hospitalization rates are also increasing among the youngest children for whom there is no vaccine: ages 0 to 4.

As of the week ending Jan. 1, 4.3 per 100,000 children under age 5 were admitted to a hospital with Covid-19, Walensky said.

"While children still have the lowest rate of hospitalization of any group, pediatric hospitalizations are at the highest rate compared to any prior point in the pandemic," she said.

Indeed, more than a dozen states nationwide have reported record pediatric hospitalizations linked to Covid-19, according to NBC News data.

"This very well may be that there are just more cases out there," Walensky said.

Isolation guidelines

During Friday's briefing, Dr. Henry Walke, head of the CDC’s Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections, defended the agency’s recent recommendations on isolation.

The agency said that people may use rapid antigen tests around day five of their isolation periods if they want to, but it is not requiring them.

The results of a rapid test late in the course of Covid-19 illness do not indicate how contagious a person remains, Walke said.

"Regardless of the test result, wearing a well-fitting mask after those five days of isolation is still recommended," he said.

Isolation refers to the five-day period after a person tests positive, when that person should stay away from others, including family members. The CDC said people are most contagious a day or two before symptoms begin, and for two to three days after.

The CDC does not require a negative test to leave isolation after five days, as long as patients no longer have symptoms. However, even asymptomatic patients should wear a mask for an additional five days.

Does omicron infection protect against delta variant?

Walensky said that early evidence suggests that the omicron variant may help protect people from the delta variant. On the flip side, "we have an indication that if you had delta, you are susceptible to infection with omicron," she said.

And would an omicron infection protect a person from omicron reinfection? The CDC is beginning studies to answer this question.

It is an important issue, as the new variant has swiftly taken hold in the U.S., accounting for more than 95 percent of Covid-19 cases.

"This virus has changed, and it's constantly throwing up curveballs," Walensky said. "As the virus changes, the science changes."

The CDC briefing Friday was the agency's first on its own since late July. Such briefings used to be a mainstay of public health communication. In previous years, the CDC held weekly briefings on a variety of headline-grabbing health topics: the flu, lung illnesses linked to vaping, even Ebola.

But the agency — historically considered a gold standard among public health officials worldwide — has struggled with its communication on Covid since the beginning of the pandemic.

The first, and perhaps most notable, example occurred during a CDC telebriefing in February 2020, when a former CDC official, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, warned Americans to prepare for an inevitable life-altering pandemic.

Walensky has participated in regular news conferences of the White House Covid-19 Task Force, usually along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden.

But clear, direct communication from the CDC about its recommendations is key for the agency to explain to Americans the reasoning behind its guidance.

"It is important to have access to those CDC scientists who are working on these issues" round the clock, said Glen Nowak, a former head of CDC communications and current co-director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Health and Risk Communication.

Lack of communication "makes it look like CDC hasn't thought it completely through, or that they don't have answers to questions related to their recommendations and policies," Nowak said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/omicron-cases-fall-just-quickly-rose-cdc-says-rcna11356

More older Mainers are being infected with COVID-19 than kids again

 Maine is seeing COVID-19 infections climbing steadily among older people so far this month.

It marks a reverse in a trend seen here since the summer, when cases among younger Mainers and largely unvaccinated kids fueled a surge in positive cases.

The biggest jump was in Mainers in their 60s, among whom there were 1,183 cases between Jan. 1 and 7, up from 334 over the same period in December, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data show.

A Flourish chart

Infections are up across all age groups except Mainers under age 20 the first seven days of January, compared with the same period each month going back to June. In the under-20 group, there have been 876 cases, down from 2,181 over the same timeframe last month.

As a percentage of cases over the seven-day period, Mainers under age 20 accounted for only 13 percent of cases, compared with nearly 46 percent during the same period in December. Meanwhile, the percentage of cases among 60-something Mainers jumped nearly 11 points to 17.8 percent.

The oldest Mainers continue to make up just a fraction of reported cases overall, with those 80 or older accounting for only 5.3 percent of cases so far this month. That’s still up from just 2.4 percent of cases between Dec. 1 and 7.

A Flourish chart

Overall, cases were up significantly the first seven days of this month, when 6,642 were reported. That’s compared with 4,784 the same time in December.

It is possible efforts to get Maine kids vaccinated have contributed to the fall in infections. Maine is vaccinating kids at a higher rate than most other U.S. states, though that has plateaued in recent weeks. This shift also comes as Maine braces for a surge in infections from the contagious omicron variant that is ravaging other states. Already, Maine is seeing a record rate of positive test results in the past week, which Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah said Wednesday reflects more people contracting the virus than simply a higher volume of tests.

Researchers have found that vaccines still provide protection from the new variant, cutting the risk of hospitalization by 60 for older adults and 70 percent across all age groups. But vaccines provide only about 30 percent protection from breakthrough cases, although omicron has proven to be more mild than previous variants, according to NPR.

That protection can be boosted significantly with a third jab, giving the vaccinated a 70 percent to 75 percent chance of fending off an omicron infection, NPR reported. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday expanded eligibility for COVID-19 boosters for all Americans over age 12.

https://bangordailynews.com/2022/01/08/news/more-older-mainers-are-being-infected-with-covid-19-than-kids-again/

As NJ COVID hospitalizations continue to rise, number on ventilators has jumped 50%

 COVID hospitalizations in New Jersey continued to rise on Friday, and it appears more patients being hospitalized over the past week have been in need of more intensive care. 

Hospitalizations stood at 5,701 on Friday night, an increase of 80 from the prior day, after an adjustment to Thursday's count by the state health department.

That represents a 1.4% increase in hospitalizations. But those in the ICU stood at 812 Friday night, up 4% from the prior day, and those needing a ventilator stood at 441, a 10.5% increase from the prior day.

While hospitalizations have increased by 21% since Jan. 2, driven in part by the spread of the omicron variant, those in the ICU have risen by 26%, and the number of patients on ventilators has grown by 51%.

The state on Saturday confirmed that another 72 people have died from COVID. That puts the total number of confirmed or probable deaths from COVID at 29,444 since the pandemic began 22 months ago.

The state Health Department also reported a daily count Saturday of 29,564 new COVID infections confirmed by PCR tests — the third highest daily count since the pandemic began — and 5,253 new infections confirmed through antigen tests.

But that's only a partial snapshot of the total number of new cases, since those numbers don't include results from at-home test kits or infected people who didn't bother to get tested.

Hospitalized COVID patients needing the most intensive care remain far and away those who are unvaccinated. For instance, Hackensack Meridian Health reported on its Facebook page that of the 1,062 COVID patients its 11 hospitals were treating Wednesday, 55% were not vaccinated.

Even more telling, among those needing ICU care, 68% were not vaccinated, and of those needing a ventilator to help them breathe, 74% were not vaccinated.

At the same time, hospitals continue to see significant numbers of staff having to isolate at home because of positive test results. On Friday, there were 522 new cases of COVID infection among hospital workers, following daily new case counts of 779, 851, 767, 672 and 334 in the preceding days.

That makes it an even greater challenge for hospitals to care for the growing number of COVID patients they are receiving. To bolster hospital staff, the state is getting strike teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Over the past 30 days, University Hospital in Newark has seen the highest number of COVID infections among staff, with 649.

Next is Hackensack University Medical Center with 503, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with 499, St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson with 466, St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton with 415, Morristown Medical Center with 369 and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus with 365.

To cope, some hospitals are moving administrators into support roles and postponing non-emergency surgeries.

The one upside is that patients admitted with COVID-19 now are by and large staying for a briefer period than during the earlier waves of the pandemic, are recovering faster, and are less likely to die from the disease.

New Jersey nursing homes face a similar issue with depleted staff, and surges in cases among both patients and employees. There are currently 513 active COVID outbreaks at long term care facilities, with 5,627 infections among residents and 8,679 among staff. Starting Monday, the state is deploying National Guard personnel to help offset the losses among nursing home staff. 

The worst outbreak has been at Woodland Behavioral and Nursing Center, formerly Andover Subacute II, in Sussex County, with 192 cases among residents, 108 cases among staff, and three deaths among residents.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/coronavirus/2022/01/08/nj-covid-cases-omicron-latest-update-hospitlization-ventilators/9136991002/

Covid: 'New variant discovered in Cyprus'

 We are proud of our scientists, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said on Saturday after the discovery of a new variant by Cypriot scientists was announced.

Dr Leontios Kostrikis, who leads the team of scientists working at the University of Cyprus’ biotechnology and molecular virology lab, said a new coronavirus variant has been identified in the community.

Speaking to local media, Kostrikis explained that the new variant, which has been dubbed Deltacron, shares the genetic background of the Delta variant along with some of the mutations of Omicron.

“We have found a significant number of mutations only previously found in Omicron cases, which is different from other variants as it has 30 mutations,” he said. “Ten of these were identified in these samples taken in Cyprus”.

He added that the variant was identified in 25 samples taken in Cyprus, 11 of which came from people hospitalised for coronavirus and 14 from the general population.

“The frequency of the mutations was higher among those in hospital which could mean there is a correlation between Deltacron and hospitalisations”.

It is quite possible that the specific variant has not been identified anywhere else in the world, he said, so this discovery could be of global interest.

“The groundbreaking research and findings of Dr Kostrikis’ team make us proud of our scientists as this research puts Cyprus on the international map when it comes to health matters,” Hadjipantelas said.

Kostrikis said that the sequences of the 25 samples have been submitted to the GISAID database, which will make them available to the global scientific community.

That being said, he concluded, it is still too early to predict whether Deltacron could overpower Delta and Omicron.

The health minister said more details will be given in a press conference in the coming week.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/01/08/coronavirus-new-variant-discovered-in-cyprus/

Omicron explosion spurs nationwide breakdown of services

 Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full. Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers. Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.

The current explosion of omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the U.S. is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services — the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic.

“This really does, I think, remind everyone of when COVID-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life,” said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE. “And the unfortunate reality is, there’s no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers — globally — up.”

irst responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up.

In Kansas’ Johnson County, paramedics are working 80 hours a week. Ambulances have frequently been forced to alter their course when the hospitals they’re heading to tell them they’re too overwhelmed to help, confusing the patients’ already anxious family members driving behind them. When the ambulances arrive at hospitals, some of their emergency patients end up in waiting rooms because there are no beds.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Hospital, said when the leader of a rural hospital had no place to send its dialysis patients this week, the hospital’s staff consulted a textbook and “tried to put in some catheters and figure out how to do it.”

Medical facilities have been hit by a “double whammy,” he said. The number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Hospital rose from 40 on Dec. 1 to 139 on Friday. At the same time, more than 900 employees have been sickened with COVID-19 or are awaiting test results — 7% of the hospital’s 13,500-person workforce.

“What my hope is and what we’re going to cross our fingers around is that as it peaks ... maybe it’ll have the same rapid fall we saw in South Africa,” Stites said, referring to the swiftness with which the number of cases fell in that country. “We don’t know that. That’s just hope.”

The omicron variant spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more readily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus. However, early studies show omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, and vaccination and a booster still offer strong protection from serious illness, hospitalization and death.

Still, its easy transmissibility has led to skyrocketing cases in the U.S., which is affecting businesses, government offices and public services alike.

In downtown Boise, Idaho, customers were queued up outside a pharmacy before it opened Friday morning and before long, the line wound throughout the large drugstore. Pharmacies have been slammed by staffing shortages, either because employees are out sick or have left altogether.

Pharmacy technician Anecia Mascorro said that prior to the pandemic, the Sav-On Pharmacy where she works always had prescriptions ready for the next day. Now, it’s taking a lot longer to fill the hundreds of orders that are pouring in.

“The demand is crazy — everybody’s not getting their scripts fast enough so they keep transferring to us,” Mascorro said.

In Los Angeles, more than 800 police and fire personnel were sidelined because of the virus as of Thursday, causing slightly longer ambulance and fire response times.

In New York City, officials have had to delay or scale back trash and subway services because of a virus-fueled staffing hemorrhage. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said about one-fifth of subway operators and conductors — 1,300 people — have been absent in recent days. Almost one-fourth of the city sanitation department’s workers were out sick Thursday, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson said.

“Everybody’s working ’round the clock, 12-hour shifts,” Grayson said.

The city’s fire department also has adjusted for higher absences. Officials said Thursday that 28% of EMS workers were out sick, compared with about 8% to 10% on a normal day. Twice as many firefighters as usual were also absent.

In contrast, the police department saw its sick rate fall over the past week, officials said.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two checkpoints at the airport’s busiest terminal were shut down because not enough Transportation Security Administration agents showed up for work, according to statements from airport and TSA officials.

Meanwhile, schools from coast to coast tried to maintain in-person instruction despite massive teacher absences. In Chicago, a tense standoff between the school district and teachers union over remote learning and COVID-19 safety protocols led to classes being canceled over the past three days. In San Francisco, nearly 900 educators and aides called in sick Thursday.

In Hawaii, where public schools are under one statewide district, 1,600 teachers and staff were absent Wednesday because of illness or pre-arranged vacation or leave. The state’s teachers union criticized education officials for not better preparing for the ensuing void. Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said counselors and security guards were being pulled to go “babysit a classroom.”

“That is very inappropriate,” Tui said at a news conference. “To have this model where there are so many teachers out and for the department to say, ‘Send your kid’ to a classroom that doesn’t have a teacher, what’s the point of that?”

In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms. Some teachers say they appreciate that, but that it can be confusing for students, adding to the physical and mental stress they’re already feeling because of the pandemic.

“We’ve already been tested so much. How much can the rubber band stretch here?” asked Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-education-pandemics-76830eee3a8c2a5688df4fc77488195a