Los Angeles school board fires 500 unvaccinated employees
Nearly 500 Los Angeles Unified School District employees were fired this week for refusing to comply with a mandate that they get vaccinated against COVID-19, while some 34,000 students have not yet been vaccinated as required.
Omicron overwhelms news cycle despite scant information
“World, meet omicron,” writes Rachel Gutman in The Atlantic. “Omicron, meet a lot of people who are very, very anxious to know more about you.”
Schools Often Respond to Student Health Needs with Discipline
Schools with students who have higher levels of substance use and depressed feelings have a higher prevalence of school discipline and school-based police contact, according to a study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers.
Fauci: 1st US case of COVID-19 omicron variant identified
A person in California who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 became the first in the U.S. to have an identified case of the omicron variant, the White House announced Wednesday as scientists continue to study the risks posed by the new virus strain.
US tracking of virus variants has improved after slow start
After a slow start, the United States has improved its surveillance system for tracking new coronavirus variants such as omicron, boosting its capacity by tens of thousands of samples per week since early this year.
