AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST
CDC recommends shorter COVID isolation, quarantine for all
NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.
The decision also was driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant.
Early research suggests omicron may cause milder illnesses than earlier versions of the coronavirus. But the sheer number of people becoming infected - and therefore having to isolate or quarantine - threatens to crush the ability of hospitals, airlines and other businesses to stay open, experts say.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the country is about to see a lot of omicron cases.
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Omicron, storms disrupt air travel for 4th consecutive day
NEW YORK (AP) - Flight cancellations that disrupted holiday travel stretched into Monday as airlines called off thousands more flights because crews were sick with COVID-19 during one of the year's busiest travel periods, and storm fronts added to the havoc.
Flight delays and cancellations tied to staffing shortages have been a constant this year. Airlines encouraged workers to quit in 2020, when air travel collapsed, and carriers have struggled to make up ground this year, when air travel rebounded faster than almost anyone had expected. The arrival of the omicron variant exacerbated the difficulties.
Since Friday, airlines have canceled more than 4,000 flights to, from or inside the U.S., with over 1,000 U.S. cancellations on Monday, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight cancellations.
"During the pandemic we have seen experienced airline personnel leave the industry and not return across the globe," said John Grant, senior analyst at travel industry research firm OAG. "Filling those skill gaps was already a challenge in the recovery before the latest variant."
Delta, United, JetBlue and American have blamed the coronavirus for staffing problems in the past several days. European and Australian airlines also canceled holiday-season flights because of infected staff, but weather and other factors played a role as well.
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Live updates: Israel allowing boosters after 3 months
JERUSALEM - Israel´s Health Ministry says it will allow people with two doses of the coronavirus vaccine to get a booster shot after three months, rather than the five-month waiting period it previously allowed.
The government said in a statement Monday that it shortened the timeframe to boost immunity as the swiftly-moving omicron variant spreads around the globe.
The new rule would apply to vaccines made by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
There was still no decision on whether to roll out a second tranche of booster shots to its population as the country grappled with rising infections.
Israel began trials of a fourth dose of coronavirus vaccine on Monday in what is believed to be the first study of its kind.
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Fauci: US should consider vaccine mandate for US air travel
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Monday the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel, signaling a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed, as COVID-19 cases spike.
Fauci, President Joe Biden´s chief science adviser on the pandemic response, said such a mandate might drive up the nation's lagging vaccination rate as well as confer stronger protection on flights, for which federal regulations require all those age 2 and older to wear a mask.
"When you make vaccination a requirement, that´s another incentive to get more people vaccinated," Fauci told MSNBC. "If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that´s something that seriously should be considered."
The Biden administration has thus far balked at imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel. Two officials said Biden´s science advisers have yet to make a formal recommendation for such a requirement to the president.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said a vaccine mandate on planes could trigger a host of logistical and legal concerns.
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Young South Africans learn of Tutu's activism for equality
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu's legacy is reverberating among young South Africans, many of whom were not born when the clergyman battled apartheid and sought full rights for the nation's Black majority.
Tutu, who died Sunday at the age of 90, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for those efforts.
Even though they did not know much about him, some young South Africans told The Associated Press on Monday that they understood his role as one of the most prominent figures to help their country become a democracy.
Zinhle Gamede, 16, said she found out about Tutu´s passing on social media and has learned more about him over the past day.
"At first I only knew that he was an archbishop. I really did not know much else," Gamede said.
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Omicron spreads global gloom over New Year's celebrations
BRUSSELS (AP) - As omicron spreads ever more gloom around the globe ahead of New Year's Eve, governments are moving at different speeds to contain the scourge, with some reimposing restrictions immediately and others hesitating to spoil the party again.
In Britain, where the highly contagious variant of the coronavirus has sent caseloads soaring to record highs, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Monday no further restrictions will be introduced in England before the new year. New daily infections in England are hovering around 100,000, and hospital admissions were up more than 70% on Christmas from a week earlier.
"When we get into the new year, of course, we will see then if we do need to take any further measures, but nothing more until then, at least," Javid said.
Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, though, nightclubs have been ordered closed and limits on gatherings imposed in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, leaving the country divided in its approach to the crisis.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, has already shut down all nonessential stores, restaurants and bars and extended the school holidays in what largely amounts to a new lockdown. In Belgium, new measures went into effect Monday and over the weekend: Shopping in large groups was banned, and movie theaters and concert halls closed in the middle of the holiday season.
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Jury signals verdict not near at Ghislaine Maxwell trial
NEW YORK (AP) - The jury considering the fate of Ghislaine Maxwell at her sex trafficking trial finished a third full day of deliberations Monday with no sign that a verdict is near and no clear signal either that there is dissension in their ranks.
Jurors in Manhattan federal court asked for multi-colored sticky notes and a white board, along with transcripts of some trial testimony, the definition of "enticement" and a question on the law. Judge Alison J. Nathan referred them to her legal instructions that she read to them just before they began deliberations a week ago.
The judge also requested that they deliberate an extra hour beginning Tuesday, unless that created a hardship.
The British socialite is charged with recruiting and grooming teenagers as young as 14 to be sexually assaulted by financier Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell´s lawyers say she was a U.S. government scapegoat after Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a Manhattan federal jail cell while awaiting a sex trafficking trial.
Maxwell, who was behind bars for her 60th birthday Saturday, was described as a central component to Epstein's plans by four women who testified they were sexually abused as teenagers by Epstein with help from Maxwell when she was his girlfriend and afterward.
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Snow blasts California and freezes Pacific Northwest
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Blowing snow in mountains of Northern California and Nevada closed key highways, while an arctic blast brought frigid temperatures to the Pacific Northwest and unusually warm weather settled over parts of Texas and the Southeast.
At Donner Pass in the Sierra, officials with the University of California, Berkeley´s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory on Monday said recent snowfall has smashed the snowiest December record of 179 inches (4.6 meters), set in 1970. The record is now 193.7 inches (4.9 meters) as more snow is expected.
The Northstar California Resort in Truckee closed its mountain operations on Monday amid blizzard conditions. The ski resort has received more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) of snow over the last 48 hours, according to the resort's Facebook post.
Search and rescue crews are looking for a missing skier who was last seen Saturday morning on a lift at the ski resort, KCRA reported.
The snowpack in the Sierra was at dangerously low levels after recent weeks of dry weather but the state Department of Water Resources reported on Monday that the snowpack was between 145% and 161% of normal across the range with more snow expected.
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Again, crews find apparent time capsule at Lee statue site
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Crews wrapping up the removal Monday of a giant pedestal that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond found what appeared to be a second and long-sought-after time capsule, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said.
The governor tweeted photos of a box being removed from the site and said conservators were studying the artifact.
"They found it! This is likely the time capsule everyone was looking for," he tweeted.
The governor said the box would not be opened Monday. It wasn't immediately clear what kind of condition any contents might be in.
The development marked the latest turn in a months-long search for the capsule, which contemporaneous news accounts indicate was placed during a cornerstone-laying ceremony in 1887 attended by thousands of people. News accounts described its dozens of donated artifacts, including Confederate memorabilia. Based on historical records, some have also speculated the capsule might contain a rare photo of deceased President Abraham Lincoln.
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For celebrations, English fizz is on the rise
LONDON (AP) - English sparkling wine has been gaining prestige in recent years, with some experts comparing it to Champagne in taste and quality.
Globally, the sector is still relatively small: IWSR Drinks Market Analysis reports that sparkling wine produced in the U.K. represents about 0.2% of total global sparkling wine volume. But sales are growing: U.K.-produced sparkling wine volume rose by almost 11% from 2015-2020, the report said.
"Maybe 10 years ago, there were only two or three wines which might have been known outside of the U.K. or certainly recognized by wine critics as well," says Jonathan White, spokesman for British wine producer Gusbourne. Today, "there´s a collective of maybe 10 to 20 producers that are making really excellent wines."
Gusbourne planted their first vines in Appledore, Kent, in 2004. They released their debut Brut and Blanc de Blanc sparkling wines in 2010, and say demand has been growing ever since.
"There's been a splurge of interest from overseas in recent years as wine media and critics have started to talk more fondly and more positively about the wines from England," White says.
