HOUSTON — The latest wave of coronavirus infections in Texas continues to tax the state’s health care systems as health officials report that 10,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 for the first time since early February.
State health officials reported Tuesday that 10,041 hospital patients in Texas were ill with COVID-19 as of Monday. That is the most since 10,259 COVID-19 hospitalizations were reported Feb. 4.
Meantime, a state district judge in San Antonio granted a temporary restraining order to allow the governments of San Antonio and Bexar County to require public school students to wear masks in class and to quarantine unvaccinated students exposed to the virus.
SALT LAKE CITY — The top health official in Utah’s most populous county plans to impose an indoor mask mandate for students under the age of 12, who are ineligible to be vaccinated.
Salt Lake County Health Director Angela Dunn says the order will officially be issued Wednesday, about a week before schools resumes. She made the announcement Tuesday next to Mayor Jenny Wilson, who said she supports the decision.
Last year masks were required in schools but under a new state law school mask mandates are banned. Local health departments can issue a rule but only with support from elected county leaders. The mandate will have to be confirmed by the city council.
Critics of mask have been vocal in their opposition.
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RENO, Nev. — Health officials in northern Nevada say current coronavirus trends mirror those that led to some of the worst times of the pandemic.
They warned Tuesday about the possibility of closing schools or limiting business capacities again if the steep trajectory of new cases doesn’t begin to flatten soon.
The Washoe County Health District also confirmed the first COVID-19 death of a fully vaccinated person in the Reno-Sparks area, a man in his 80s with multiple underlying conditions.
Nevada’s test positivity rate has risen from a low of 3.4% in mid-May to 16.3% on Monday. It has reached 17.1% in Clark County and 15.4% in Washoe County.
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LOS ANGELES — Singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks has canceled appearances at five music festivals, citing coronavirus concerns.
Nicks released a statement Tuesday saying these are challenging times requiring challenging decisions. She says that while she is vaccinated, she is being extremely cautious with hopes of a brighter 2022.
Nicks had been scheduled to headline one day each at BottleRock Napa Valley in California and the Jazz Aspen Festival in Colorado in September. In October, she was to have played two days at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and one day at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown says she is issuing two new pandemic mandates — a vaccination requirement for state employees and statewide indoor mask requirements.
Details about the statewide mask requirement will be released during a news conference Wednesday.
Under the new vaccine rule, state employees will be required to be fully vaccinated on or before Oct. 18 or six weeks after a coronavirus vaccine receives full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, whichever is later.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota health officials say the state has recorded at least 5,599 people vaccinated against the coronavirus who later became infected by the virus, with 514 of them requiring hospitalization for COVID-19. At least 57 died.
But officials stressed Tuesday that those cases represent a tiny fraction of the state’s immunized population.
The state health department says just over 3 million people in Minnesota have been fully vaccinated and about 200,000 more have gotten one dose.
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ATLANTA — Georgia’s most populous county is considering mandating coronavirus vaccines or frequent tests for its employees, saying incentives to get protected against the virus aren’t working.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts tells WSB-TV that the commission could debate a mandate for employees later this week.
A number of hospital systems have mandated vaccines for employees in Georgia, as have some private colleges and universities and other private employers.
However, Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order in May saying public agencies in Georgia can’t require people to prove they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. He says that means no agency can require anyone to receive the vaccination.
It’s unclear if the policy to be considered by Fulton County could run afoul of that order.
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KANSAS CITY — The health department in Kansas City, Missouri, says only 35 of the more than 70,000 people who attended Garth Brooks’ concert there Saturday took advantage of a chance to get a coronavirus vaccination.
The mobile vaccination clinic operated for four hours in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot before the concert, and fans were offered a chance to get upgraded floor seats to the concert if they got a shot.
Brooks says he is fully vaccinated, and he encouraged his fans to get the shot.
The health department says it will continue to partner with community events in an effort to increase vaccinations, including at the upcoming Planet Comicon Kansas Cit, scheduled for Aug. 20-22.
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JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi is approaching its pandemic high for COVID-19 hospitalizations as the coronavirus continues spreading rapidly in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S.
The state Health Department reported Tuesday that 1,410 patients with COVID-19 were in Mississippi hospitals Monday. The state’s highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations for a single day was 1,444 on Jan. 4, before vaccines against the virus were widely available.
Officials say that as of Tuesday, 35% of Mississippi residents were fully vaccinated, compared to about 50% nationally.
The Health Department says that between July 13 and Monday, unvaccinated people made up 97% of those newly diagnosed with COVID-19, 89% of those hospitalized with it and 85% of those who died from it.
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SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco school district has reversed course, saying it will require its 10,000 teachers and other staff to get vaccinated for the coronavirus or be tested weekly.
The announcement makes the San Francisco Unified School District the latest in California to issue a vaccine or testing mandate for staff as schools across the state return to in-person classes amid a troubling surge in infections because of the highly contagious delta variant.
The San Jose and Long Beach Unified school districts have issued similar requirements in recent days.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified district is requiring all students and employees to undergo weekly virus testing regardless of vaccination status. It is California’s largest school district.
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MIAMI — The Florida Hospital Association says nearly 70% of the state’s hospitals are expecting critical staffing shortage in the next seven days.
Association president Mary Mayhew says an influx of COVID-19 cases is hitting at a time when Florida hospitals are seeing “unusually high numbers of very ill non-COVID patients.”
Mayhew says that “our front line health care heroes are finding themselves stretched thin and physical and mental exhaustion is taking its toll.”
She says that many of those being hospitalized for COVID-19 during the latest surge in cases are in their 20s and 30s.
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COLUMBIA, South Carolina — South Carolina’s top prosecutor has advised authorities in the state capital that they are prohibited by law from instituting a school mask mandate as a way to protect children who are age-ineligible for the coronavirus vaccine.
Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a Tuesday letter to the Columbia city council that its recently approved measure is “in conflict with state law and should either be rescinded or amended.” He is giving officials until Friday to make changes.
The Columbia council ratified an ordinance last week requiring the use of masks in the city’s elementary and middle schools for at least the beginning of the school year.
But a state budget proviso that went into effect July 1 bars South Carolina educational institutions from using appropriated funds to mandate masks.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says it is “vital” that Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the nation heads into the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Biden attended a White House briefing of emergency management and scientific advisers. He said getting vaccinated is part of preparing for the possibility of damaging storms this year, in addition to taking other preparedness measures.
He says: “A vital part of preparing for hurricane season is to get vaccinated now.”
Biden encouraged Americans living in vulnerable areas to remind themselves of their evacuation zones and to visit Ready.gov for additional information on how to be ready in case a storm hits.
Getting vaccinated would guard against the chances of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 should someone need to evacuate to a shelter during a storm.
He added: “Get vaccinated. Make a plan.”
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ COVID-19 hospitalizations hit a new high for the second day in a row Tuesday as a surge in coronavirus cases continued to overwhelm the state’s health system.
The state Department of Health says virus hospitalizations rose by 59 to 1,435. A day earlier, the state broke the record it set in January for total COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Arkansas’ latest surge has been brought on by the highly contagious delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate.
Arkansas’ reported coronavirus cases rose by more than 2,600 from Monday to Tuesday, and COVID-19 deaths increased by 24.
The department says there are only 12 ICU beds available in the state.
Arkansas ranks third in the country for new virus cases per capita, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers.
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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s governor on Tuesday gave employees of the state’s prisons and its health care and congregate care facilities about a month to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or begin taking weekly tests.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement affects about 25,000 employees.
Wolf set a Sept. 7 deadline for the employees to get fully vaccinated. In addition to the Corrections Department, the announcement applies to state hospitals, veterans’ homes, community health centers and homes for those with intellectual disabilities.
Wolf also announced what is intended as an incentive toward vaccination: starting Oct. 1, vaccinated state employees will be eligible for an additional paid day off.
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HELENA, Mont. — Montana state employees will be required to return to in-person work starting Sept. 7.
The Montana State News Bureau reported Tuesday that the requirement was announced by the state Department of Administration in an email to workers last week.
The plans come as Montana health officials reported 493 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest number of cases tallied in a single day since January.
Department of Administration Director Misty Ann Giles encouraged employees to get vaccinated though vaccination against COVID-19 is not required.
Less than half of eligible Montana residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday defended his administration’s handling of the delta variant, which is surging through unvaccinated communities across the country.
Biden spoke after the Senate passage of a bipartisan infrastructure bill he championed. He was asked if his administration acted too slowly to recommend reimposing face mask requirements and other distancing measures to slow the spread of the highly transmissible variant.
Biden said the issue is not the variant but the reluctance of 90 million eligible Americans to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We knew how the variant spread and we know the vaccines prevent the spread,” Biden said. “What is disappointing is that more people were not willing to take the vaccine.”
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MILWAUKEE — One of the country’s most popular music festivals will require attendees to have a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend the concerts.
Organizers at Summerfest in Milwaukee released a revised entry protocol policy Tuesday. They announced that those attending the lakeside festival will need proof of vaccination or negative results from a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of attending.
The annual concert runs Sept. 2 to 4, 9 to 11, and 16 to 18.
Last month, Lollapalooza, the large music festival on Chicago’s lakefront, put in place similar restrictions. On Tuesday, the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which is scheduled for Sept. 2-5 in Tennessee, also announced requirements for vaccination or testing.
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OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska’s largest public school district will require students to wear masks indoors when they return to classrooms next week.
The Omaha Public Schools board voted 8-1 Monday to require all people to wear masks indoors at school, effective Tuesday, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
The resolution made note of recent guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending universal masking for teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools in an effort to fight the growing spread of COVID-19 cases.
The Omaha district joins a growing number of Nebraska school districts requiring face masks when school starts this fall.
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O’FALLON, Mo. — More than 375,000 Missouri residents have entered the state’s coronavirus vaccine lottery program, but vaccinations continue to lag, especially in rural areas.
State officials say the first of five drawings will be Friday. In all, 800 adults will win $10,000 cash prizes, and 100 people ages 12-17 will win education savings accounts worth $10,000. Entries for the first drawing are due Wednesday. Only those who have initiated vaccination are eligible.
Gov. Mike Parson announced the incentive program last month. Officials say about 120,000 people registered within 24 hours of the announcement, and vaccinations have risen nearly 50% in the past month.
But state data say only 49.4% of Missouri residents have had at least one shot, nearly 10 percentage points below the national average. Fewer than 25% of residents in 14 Missouri counties have initiated vaccination.
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WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital will require that all local government workers and public school teachers be fully inoculated by Sept. 19.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s policy, announced Tuesday, largely mirrors those adopted recently by the federal government and U.S. military. Those who opt out of the vaccine must submit to weekly self-testing.
The policy does not apply to teachers in the city’s robust charter school network, which holds about half of D.C. students. But it has been endorsed by the local teachers union and local AFL-CIO chapter.
Virus metrics have spiked in D.C. and the larger DMV area of northern Virginia and southern Maryland. But health officials maintain that new infections are predominantly among the unvaccinated, saying breakthrough infections among the vaccinated among are rare, and then milder and less infectious.
Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting
Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.
In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.
“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.
There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.
Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.
Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.
In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.
Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.
New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.
The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.
Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.
Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.
“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”
McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.
But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.
The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.
He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.
“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.
“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.
McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”
McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.
He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.
“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
