DALLAS — A top county official says there are no available pediatric intensive care beds in the Dallas area, with hospitals overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus cases.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says ICU beds for children are at capacity in the 19-county area in and around Dallas.
If a parent is seeking care for a sick or injured child, Jenkins says: “Your child will wait for another child to die. Your child will just not get on a ventilator. Your child will be care-flighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won’t be getting one here unless one clears.”
This week, Jenkins signed an executive order requiring masks be worn inside schools, county buildings and businesses after a judge granted a temporary restraining order against Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning such mandates.
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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:
— Canada to require air travelers to be vaccinated by end of October
— Moscow reports surge in deaths from coronavirus in July
— FEMA: Paid $1 billion to help cover coronavirus funerals
— US allows extra COVID-19 vaccine doses for some. Now what?
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— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana set daily records for people hospitalized with COVID-19 for two weeks, reaching 2,907 patients Friday.
About 99% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated, according to state health department. Only 38% of Louisiana’s population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
However, people seeking their first shot has increased dramatically in the last month, with nearly 46% of Louisiana’s residents starting the vaccine series. Demand for the vaccine has strengthened enough that hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other health providers administering the vaccines across Louisiana have increased orders for doses.
State Department of Health spokesperson Aly Neel says Louisiana vaccine providers requested fewer than 13,000 doses from federal officials the week of July 5. It reached nearly 70,000 doses requested the week of Aug. 2, Neel says.
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PORTLAND, Maine -- Republicans in Maine are pushing back against a mandate from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that all health care workers in the state get vaccinated for the coronavirus.
Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matt Pouliot and other Maine Senate Republicans say they are submitting emergency legislation to try to reverse the governor’s order. Pouliot says Mills “has taken unilateral actions restricting the liberties of Maine citizens” without notifying the Maine Legislature.
Mills said Thursday that Maine residents “have a right to expect that everybody who cares for you” has been vaccinated.
Cases of the virus are rising in the state. Maine officials have recommended people wear masks in counties where transmission of the virus is high or substantial based on criteria by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC reported Friday that would apply to every county in Maine except Sagadahoc and Kennebec.
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NEW YORK — U.S. health officials have acknowledged more than 1 million Americans got extra coronavirus vaccine doses before it was authorized for people with weakened immune systems.
About 1.1 million people who received the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines got at least one additional dose on their own. About 90,000 people who got the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine received at least one more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
It’s not known how many of the people who got extra doses are immune-compromised. The Food and Drug Administration this week authorized an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines in people with weakened immune systems to better protect them from the virus.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Most Arkansas public school students will be required to wear masks when classes begin statewide next week.
At least 60 public school districts and charter schools have approved the requirements in the week since a judge prevented the state from enforcing a law banning school districts and governmental entities from requiring masks.
The requirements will cover at least half of the state’s 473,000 public school students.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson didn’t issue a statewide mask requirement after the judge’s ruling and instead left the decision to local school boards. The state’s 10 largest districts have all approved some type of mandate.
The pace at which the mandates are being approved surprises even health experts, who say they’re needed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as Arkansas’ cases and hospitalizations skyrocket.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City school district will require students and staff to wear masks starting next week, with provisions for an opt out of the requirement, the district’s superintendent announced Friday.
Also, school employees who provide proof of full vaccination by Nov. 15 will receive a $1,000 stipend, according to Superintendent Sean McDaniel.
McDaniel says he issued the requirement days after the start of school on Monday because the number of virus cases increased from four the first day of classes to 119 on Thursday. McDaniel adds he doesn’t believe the requirement violates a state law banning mask mandates in schools because he, not the school board, issued the directive.
McDaniel says he hasn’t discussed the matter with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who issued a statement supporting the district and Santa Fe South, a public charter school that adopted a similar mask requirement that includes opt-out provisions.
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O’FALLON, Mo. — Missouri hospitals are filling to capacity with COVID-19 patients, along with the intensive care units with a record number of patients.
The state health department’s coronavirus dashboard shows 2,318 people hospitalized with the virus, 50 more than Thursday and the highest number in seven months.
Some 689 COVID-19 patients are in Missouri intensive care units, the most since the pandemic began, topping 685 ICU patients on Dec. 23. The state data indicates 384 people on ventilators.
ICU capacity is down to 15% statewide, and inpatient bed capacity is at 16% remaining.
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TORONTO — The Canadian government will require all air travelers and passengers on interprovincial trains to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says that includes all commercial air travelers, passengers on trains between provinces and cruise ship passengers. It’s expected to take effect sometime in the fall and no later than the end of October.
The government also will require vaccinations for all federal public servants in the country.
The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic Leblanc noted the federal government is the largest employer in the country. Leblanc says it is the government’s duty to guarantee the safety of their employees and those they serve.
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MOSCOW — Russia has reported a daily record of 815 COVID-19 deaths, the highest toll of the pandemic.
The Russian coronavirus task force on Friday also confirmed 22,277 cases.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s Health Department says deaths of all causes in the capital increased 60% in July compared to the same month a year earlier. They included 6,583 coronavirus-related deaths, which corresponds to a COVID-19 mortality rate of 3.95%.
Health officials blamed the increase on COVID-19 deaths on the more contagious delta variant and unusually hot weather that exacerbated coronavirus-induced complications. Russia’s vaccination drive has lagged other nations. As of a week ago, 20% of the population was fully vaccinated.
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CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools officials announced they’ll require all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-October unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption.
The mandate — announced two weeks before the full-time in-person learning begins Aug. 30 — applies to all Chicago Board of Education workers, a group that includes teachers, staff, workers in the district’s central office, and regular vendors and network employees.
“Our Chicago Public School communities deserve a safe and healthy environment that will allow our students to reach their greatest potential,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that California would become the first state to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
CPS says staffers must submit proof that they are fully vaccinated by Oct. 15, unless they have the approved exemptions. In the meantime, employees who have not reported they’re fully vaccinated will be tested at least once a week until Oct 15 or until they provide proof of vaccinations. Those employees who have approved exemptions must be tested throughout the school year.
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PHOENIX — Arizona reported more than 3,000 additional virus cases for the first time in six months amid an escalation of legal wrangling over school districts’ mask-wearing restrictions.
The state’s coronavirus dashboard reported 3,225 cases and 23 deaths, increasing the state’s confirmed pandemic totals to 958,992 cases and 18,435 deaths.
The state’s seven-day rolling average of daily cases rose in the past two weeks from 1,507 on July 28 to 2,547 on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
A judge was scheduled Friday to hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging an Arizona school district’s decision to require students and staff to wear masks indoors.
With nine other districts adopting similar mask rules despite a state law prohibiting districts from requiring mask-wearing, the case against Phoenix Union is seen as a test case. Also, the Arizona School Boards Association and others have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of that law.
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WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reporting a grim milestone in its program to provide funeral assistance payments for people who have died from COVID-19.
Matthew Redding, FEMA’s Deputy Director of Individual Assistance, says the agency has paid more than $1 billion to 150,000 people who have applied for help covering coronavirus funeral expenses.
The government provides a maximum of $9,000 per deceased individual and up to $35,000 per application for U.S. citizens who can provide proof their family member died of COVID-19 and had qualified expenses not covered by some other source.
Redding says the U.S. government has no projected end date for the funeral assistance. “FEMA has sufficient resources to continue this mission as the nation continues to grapple with so much loss,” he said.
In some cases, there’s been assistance for multiple family members since the program launched nearly three months ago. FEMA has provided funeral assistance in the past but never on this scale.
More than 619,000 people have died in the U.S. from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask requirements in schools faces a challenge in a Tallahassee courtroom.
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper is scheduled to hear the lawsuit Friday. Parents from several large school districts want the governor’s prohibition on mandatory masking lifted as children across Florida return to school.
DeSantis says parents should decide whether their children wear masks in classrooms. But with infections from the delta variant surging, some school districts are following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends staff and students wear masks. The lawsuit says the mask ban violates Florida’s constitution.
In Palm Beach County, officials said they ended the second day of classes with 440 students sent home to quarantine because of 51 cases detected among staff members and students.
Orange County’s school system reported 333 total cases after classes began this week, with 20 teachers and 39 students still quarantined.
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