COVID in California: Pfizer CEO tests positive for COVID again

Pfizer seeks clearance for updated children’s booster shots

On Monday, Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its updated bivalent COVID-19 booster shots for children ages 5 to 11. The company has not yet published clinical trials for the vaccines but said in a statement that the human data is similar to its previous shot that targeted previous omicron subvariants. On Friday, Moderna submitted its emergency authorization request to the FDA for its new booster shots for children ages 6 to 12. The shots will most likely become available in early October.

Canada won’t require masks on planes, drops vaccine mandate

The Canadian government announced Monday it will no longer require people to wear masks on planes to guard against COVID-19, the Associated Press reports. Transport Canada said the existing rules for masks will come off Oct. 1. Government officials also confirmed Canada is dropping the vaccine requirement for people entering the country at the end of the month. Canada, like the United States, requires foreign nationals to be vaccinated when entering the country. No change in the mandate is expected in the U.S. in the near term. Unvaccinated foreign travelers who are allowed to enter Canada are currently subject to mandatory arrival tests and a 14-day quarantine.

U.S. manufacturers regain jobs lost during the pandemic 

The U.S. manufacturing sector has regained the jobs shed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then some, the New York Times reported. 

Factories added a net gain of about 67,000 jobs above those lost during the pandemic, the Times said.

Pfizer CEO tests positive for COVID, again 

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tweeted that he tested positive for COVID-19 but was “feeling well & symptom free.”

Bourla said he had not yet received a dose of a bivalent booster, since he was following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wait three months following his most recent bout with COVID, which was in mid-August.

“While we’ve made great progress, the virus is still with us,” Bourla tweeted.

COVID is in a lull, again. Experts say it’s still a time of ‘trade-offs’

The long summer coronavirus surge is winding down, with case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths falling sharply.

But nearly three years after COVID emerged and quickly swept across the globe, it’s still premature to claim victory, health experts warn. Arguing whether the pandemic has ended is largely a matter of semantics, these experts say, and there’s little doubt that COVID remains a stubborn and wily threat — no matter how badly the public wants it to be gone. Read more about where the pandemic goes from here.