The President tested positive again on Monday for a “rebound” case, a rare result of the antiviral Paxlovid he was treated with last week. Don’t miss: Paxlovid has been given to Biden and millions of Americans infected with COVID-19. In the UK, it sits on the shelf. Experts worry, however, that the CDC’s isolation guidelines are confusing and don’t reflect the changing nature of the virus two and a half years into the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. The CDC recommends a five-day isolation schedule, but does not insist on a negative test that would prove a patient is no longer shedding the virus and is unlikely to infect another person. However, new research shows that people often remain infectious for more than five days, meaning it is vital that when self-isolation ends, they continue to wear a suitable mask around others at home or indoors until day 10. the newspaper reported. “Given that a significant portion of people have a positive rapid test after 5 days, I think an updated recommendation should include people who have a negative rapid test before they come out of isolation for COVID,” Tom Inglesby, director of Johns Hopkins Center for. The health security and senior adviser to the Biden administration on the tests from December to April told the Washington Post. The CDC is expected to unveil new recommendations in the coming weeks after an internal review, according to the Post, citing three officials and advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, a draft of the update does not include a testing requirement before ending the lockdown, they said. Also read: Campus COVID-19 vaccine mandates had the biggest impact on colleges with low-income students. Here’s why they were so effective. The daily average for new cases in the US remains close to 130,000 a day, but not all data is being collected as many people are testing at home. The average was 121,313 on Monday, according to a New York Times tracker, down 4% from two weeks ago. The daily average of hospitalizations rose to 43,653, 5% in two weeks. The daily average of deaths stands at 4% at 446. Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch Daily Update curates and reports all the latest developments every weekday since the start of the coronavirus pandemic Other COVID-19 news you need to know: •Japan is considering amending its COVID-19 reporting protocols, including a change in the way it collects case numbers, in a bid to ease the burden on hospitals as they strain under a new wave that has spread across the country, Japan said Times. citing government sources. Medical facilities and public health centers currently work together to report overall COVID-19 cases to the government, but the change may limit case reporting to designated institutions. With the prevalent omicron variant having a lower risk of causing serious disease than earlier strains, some government officials have questioned the need to report every case. The government is expected to start formal discussions after the end of the seventh wave of the pandemic. • President Joe Biden is set to name top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to serve as White House coordinators to fight the growing monkeypox outbreak, the Associated Press reported, as the disease replaces COVID in the headlines. Biden will announce Tuesday that he has tapped Robert Fenton, who helped lead FEMA’s mass vaccination effort for COVID-19, as the agency’s acting administrator when Biden first took office as White House coordinator. Dr. will be appointed as his deputy. Dimitris Daskalakis of the CDC. Daskalakis, director of the agency’s HIV prevention division and a national expert on issues affecting the LGBTQ community, previously helped lead New York’s response to COVID-19. Separately, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to speed up efforts to combat the monkeypox outbreak, becoming the second state in three days to do so, after New York. The continued spread of monkeypox has prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency. WSJ’s Denise Roland explains what you need to know about the outbreak. Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images • Apple AAPL, -0.85% is dropping its face mask mandate for employees at “most locations,” The Verge reported, citing an internal email from the company’s COVID response team that it received. “Feel free to continue wearing a face mask if you feel more comfortable doing so,” the email states. “Also, respect each person’s decision to wear a mask or not.” The move comes amid an increase in the highly contagious BA.5 variant of COVID-19. Earlier this week, the Bay Area BART transit system reinstated its mask mandate. • The number of companies filing for voluntary liquidation in England and Wales hit a record in the second quarter after COVID support programs were scrapped, Reuters reported. Total company insolvencies rose by 81% compared with the April-June period last year, with most creditor voluntary liquidations (CVLs) the highest since records began in 1960, the government’s insolvency office said. Total corporate bankruptcies were 13% higher than in the January-March quarter. President Joe Biden posted a video on Twitter Saturday afternoon after testing positive for COVID-19 Saturday morning in what his doctor called a case of recovery. Photo: AP Photo/Susan Walsh Here’s what the numbers say The global tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 578.5 million on Monday, while the death toll topped 6.40 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US leads the world with 91.5 million cases and 1,030,554 deaths. Tracking from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 223.2 million people living in the US are fully vaccinated, equal to 67.2% of the total population. But just 107.9 million had received a booster, equal to 48.3% of the vaccinated population, and just 19.9 million of those aged 50 and older who met the criteria for a second booster had one, equal to 30. 9% of those who had a first booster.
