June 21 coronavirus news

More than 45% of the US population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s some more current data on vaccination efforts in the United States: 

Public health officials are trying to help reach the deadline President Biden set to get at least one Covid-19 shot into the arms of 70% of US adults by July 4, but there’s no real “Hail Mary pass” to do that, Dr. Marcus Plescia, the chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said Monday.

“I just don’t know if there’s something out there that we’re not doing that for sure will get us over the score line,” Plescia told CNN. “That’s the problem — we’re doing all the things that we know can be effective, but it’s just allowing us to maintain this steady state, when what we really need to do is bump the demand back up.”

Some states such as Colorado, for example, are doing a push before July 4 to call people who have not yet been vaccinated directly to provide them with information and help schedule appointments. Plescia said past vaccine campaigns have shown that reminders like that can help. Incentives have worked in the past, even “fairly modest” incentives like free tickets to the zoo or food coupons, he said. Getting more vaccines into providers’ offices can also be helpful because people tend to trust their doctor’s advice.

“The problem is I think you can get people who are vaccine hesitant to get vaccinated by working with providers, but it’s kind of a slow process,” Plescia said. Mass vaccinations are the most efficient tool to protect people from Covid-19, and that process worked “really well” for a while, he said, “but it’s not working anymore.”

“We do anticipate that this is going to be an important function of public health for quite some time,” Plescia said.

A record 80.5 million Americans have health coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, largely because states have had to keep people enrolled during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new federal data released Monday.

Between February 2020 and this past January, enrollment in Medicaid jumped by 9.7 million people to nearly 74 million Americans — also a record, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. That’s an increase of 15.2%.

Nearly 124,000 children joined CHIP during that period, an increase of 1.9%, pushing enrollment to nearly 6.8 million kids. More than 38.3 million children are covered by Medicaid and CHIP combined.

“This report reminds us what a critical program and rock Medicaid continues to be in giving tens of millions of children and adults access to care,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

All states saw jumps in their Medicaid enrollment, ranging from 7% in Alaska to 25% in Utah, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Read more here.

President Biden addressed the Poor People’s Campaign, praising their “urgent work” in brief, pre-recorded remarks to the group’s assembly.  

“I don’t think we’ve ever been together at time of such opportunity to deliver dignity for our nation’s poor and low-wage workers, and make ending poverty not just an aspiration, but a theory of change,” Biden said in a video. 

The President acknowledged that the pandemic caused “devastation” for the nation’s most vulnerable, and touted provisions in the American Rescue Plan, which, he said, “cut hunger by a quarter” and are “on track to cutting child poverty in half.” 

He also made a push for his sweeping physical and social infrastructure agenda and renewed calls for a $15 minimum wage, currently stalled in Congress.  

“We have to build back better than before with millions of jobs that deliver dignity, a $15 minimum wage, affordable housing, universal pre-K, tuition-free community college. We need to build worker power through organization and collective bargaining, and heed the cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making,” he said.

Delta Air Lines says it will hire more than 1,000 pilots next summer, citing a “remarkable” rebound in air travel demand.

In a company memo, Delta’s head of flight operations John Laughter called the news “another positive indicator” that air travel is bouncing back, forecasting that domestic leisure travel will return to pre-pandemic levels sometime this month.  

“We have to foster a strong pipeline of pilot candidates in order to support our future demand and manage pilot attrition,” Laughter said.

The news comes as air travel continues to grow.

The Transportation Security Administration screened 2.1 million people at airports across the country on Sunday, the most since March 7, 2020. 

The new pandemic record marks the fifth day this month that air travel figures have exceeded 2 million passengers, roughly 75% of a normal day for the airline industry pre-pandemic. 

But carriers are struggling to keep up with the crush of passengers. Flight-tracking site FlightAware says American Airlines canceled 6% of all flights on Sunday. The airline cites labor issues with both its own crews and contractors and says it is rebooking passengers on new flights in advance through mid-July.

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss reports linking heart inflammation to the coronavirus vaccine in youths and young adults.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was scheduled to meet last week but the meeting was postponed because of the Juneteenth federal holiday.

ACIP is scheduled to hear about reports of 300 or more cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in youths and young adults who have recently received the mRNA types of vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Doctors who have treated such cases say they’re easily treated and most affected people have recovered. ACIP members will discuss the link and whether the benefits of vaccination outweigh any risks.

The Maryland Department of Labor announced today that they have detected over 508,000 fraudulent new unemployment insurance claims since the beginning of May, according to a release from the Department of Labor. 

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 1.3 million claims flagged and investigated in Maryland have been confirmed as fraudulent, as the Department of Labor continues to investigate potentially fraudulent in-state and out-of-state claims, the release said.

“With fraudulent activity rampant in unemployment insurance programs across the country, Maryland has consistently adapted and added new security measures to prevent, detect, and report fraud,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said.

On June 1, Hogan announced that the state would end enhanced pandemic federal unemployment benefits, starting early July.

“As the economy recovers and states across the country continue to opt out of the federal benefits programs, bad actors are becoming more brazen and aggressive in their attempts to exploit unemployment insurance programs than ever before,” Maryland Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson added. “I strongly encourage all Marylanders to remain especially vigilant in the coming weeks to protect themselves against scams and identity theft.”

A hospital CEO says low vaccination rates combined with the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant, have led to a six-fold increase in hospitalizations in his system.

“We’ve seen now, in four and a half weeks, almost a six-fold increase in Covid patients,” CEO of Cox Health in Springfield, Missouri, Steve Edwards, told CNN.
“It appears to be related to the Delta variant,” he said. “Maybe three or four weeks ago it was 10% of those isolates that were sequenced and as of last week it appeared to be 90%.”

“I think it is the Delta variant and there is a lot of kindling with low vaccination rates so it’s spreading very rapidly,” he added

The hospitals’ recent patients are younger and presenting with more severe diseases than previous Covid-19 patients, he said.

“Almost all of our cases are unvaccinated people that, in my opinion, have put themselves in harm’s way during this pandemic,” he said.

A World Health Organization (WHO) executive warned Monday that the time to help the most vulnerable get vaccinated is quickly closing.

Watch the moment:

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not directly respond to what it would mean if the US doesn’t hit President Biden’s goal of having 70% of Americans with at least one dose of a vaccine by July 4, instead touting progress made so far and calling on more young Americans to get vaccinated.

Asked if there is concern that missing the President’s goal will delay a return to normalcy in the country, Psaki instead focused on the significant progress made so far, with the number of cases and deaths down dramatically.

“We’ve made tremendous progress in our vaccination efforts to date, and the ultimate goal has been to get America back to normal as you said, and we’re looking forward to doing that even here at the White House,” Psaki said discussing the President’s July 4th celebration, a date he said American would celebrate its independence from the virus.

“What we’ve seen over the course of the past couple months in terms of progress is a massive reduction in the number of Covid cases by about 90%, a 95% reduction in the number of deaths that are down, that’s significant progress. We set this bold ambitious goal because we wanted to continue to make progress and we’re doing exactly that, we’ve seen 16 states meet it,” she added.

Biden has set a goal of having 70% of US adults get at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and having 160 million US adults fully vaccinated by July Fourth, but it is unclear whether the nation will hit that mark. Psaki said that regardless of whether the administration meets that goal, they will continue to vaccinate Americans after the fourth.

“Even if we do sail past the 70% goal, we’re still going to be vaccinating people on July 5th, On July 7th, on July 10th. That is still going to be continued to be part of our objective.”

Psaki said there is a big gap in the vaccination rate for those older than 25 and those 18-25 years old, and said the administration will continue to focus on ways to get younger Americans vaccinated. 

“As we dig into the data, we know that what we’re seeing is a lower rate among young people. That’s concerning especially with the Delta variant being on the rise as it is, which does not discriminate by age, which still could cause death, serious illness,” she said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced further easing of Covid-19 restrictions in a speech after a cabinet meeting on Monday.  

Sunday lockdowns and weekday curfews will be lifted starting July 1, Erdogan said. Government working hours will go back to normal and age restrictions on public transportation and intercity travel will be lifted, Erdogan said. 

Turkey recorded at least 5,294 new cases and 51 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the online health ministry Covid-19 tracker. The country went into lockdown in late April and tightened restrictions after daily cases hit 60,000. 

Turkey’s vaccination effort has picked up since the beginning of June. More than 42 million people have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to health ministry.

From June 14 to June 20 more than 7 million doses of vaccine were administered, Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet on Monday.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio kicked off Monday’s news conference by announcing that over 9 million vaccine doses have been administered in New York City and the city has the lowest Covid-19 positivity rate since the beginning of the pandemic at 0.53%.

See the mayor’s post:

De Blasio reminded New Yorkers that their work isn’t done. The city is moving in the right direction but more and more people need to get vaccinated. As an incentive, vaccinated New Yorkers can now win cash prices or even a vacation package.

Ten winners this week will be awarded $2,500 prizes and fifteen winners will receive “Staycation Packages.”

The city’s “Weekly NYC Vaccine Contest” runs through mid-July and is offered free of charge to first time vaccine recipients. 

See the mayor’s tweet:

The Foo Fighters rocked Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, with unexpected guest Dave Chappelle.

It was The Garden’s first concert since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered venues in New York City in March 2020.

The band and frontman Dave Grohl kicked off the show with “Times Like These,” with cheers from the crowd. They launched into “The Pretender” and Grohl stopped multiple times to ask the crowd, “Did you miss it?”

At one point, Chappelle joined the band on stage to sing Radiohead’s “Creep.”

The show was only for vaccinated fans and was the first 100% capacity concert in a New York arena since the start of the pandemic.

“We’ve been waiting for this day for over a year,” Grohl said in a statement.

The Foo Fighters have additional summer concert dates planned for their “25th-26th Anniversary Tour” later this summer.

Chappelle also announced two dates with Joe Rogan on Sept. 3 in Nashville, TN. and Sept. 4 in New Orleans, LA.

The Biden administration on Monday is releasing its plan for allocating an additional 55 million Covid vaccines globally by the end of this month. Roughly 75% of the doses will be shared through the COVAX global vaccine program, with the remaining 25% shared with countries with regional priorities and other considerations.

As CNN reported, the administration will be distributing 55 million doses of Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer’s vaccines abroad, most of which will be J&J and Moderna. As of Monday, the 55 million AstraZeneca doses are still not cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for safety and efficacy review yet. 

Approximately 41 million of the 55 million doses will be shared through COVAX, with 14 million for Latin American and Caribbean countries, 16 million for Asia, 10 million for Africa.

The remaining approximately 14 million doses “will be shared with regional priorities and other recipients, such as: Colombia, Argentina, Haiti, other CARICOM countries, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, Oman, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova, and Bosnia.” 

The White House said in a statement that the vaccines will be distributed “as expeditiously as possible,” noting that the process “will take time” due to regulatory and legal transport requirements.

The doses, the White House said, should be prioritized for “those most at risk, such as health care workers, should be prioritized, based on national vaccine plans.” The White House will be announcing which vaccines will go to which country once they are shipped out.

Fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days when entering Canada beginning July 5 just before midnight, federal officials announced Monday.  

This ends both a 14-day mandatory quarantine for non-essential travelers returning to Canada and a hotel quarantine that was imposed several months ago. 

These policy changes do not apply to fully vaccinated foreign nationals, including US citizens. The US, Canada border remains closed to foreign nationals and non-essential travel until at least July 21.

“On both sides of the border we’re proceeding with appropriate caution and care and taking the advice of our public health experts as we begin to ease border measures. But clearly we’re not in there yet and we’ve got a lot of work to do and I think it’s another opportunity just encourage Canadians to continue to get those vaccinations,” said Bill Blair, Canada’s public security minister during a press conference in Ottawa Monday.  

In order to avoid quarantine, travelers will have to provide proof of full vaccination at least 14 days prior to travel and a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of entering Canada. 

All those entering Canada will be required to self-isolate at home until the results of an arrival Covid-19 test comes back negative. 

As of Monday, Canada’s Public Health Agency reported that more than 75% of eligible Canadians has received at least one dose of a vaccine and more than 20% of eligible residents were fully vaccinated. 

Federal officials called this a “first phase” of reopening given the pace of vaccination in Canada. 

Flu cases nearly disappeared during the pandemic but it wasn’t the only winter bug affected by pandemic-related distancing and hygiene measures.

Wisconsin researchers reported Monday they found a range of respiratory infections significantly down during the 2020-2021 flu season.

Not only that, but so did the number of prescriptions for antibiotics – something that indicates having rapid tests on hand to diagnose just what germ is causing an infection may cut down on unnecessary drug prescriptions.

“Winter seasonal viruses (influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and seasonal coronavirus) currently average 12 per month compared with 4,800 per month in previous seasons,” Dr. Alexander Lepak and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine wrote in their report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Internal Medicine.

Prescriptions for antibiotics fell by 79%, they reported. 

“The data suggest that COVID-19 transmission mitigation strategies may help curb respiratory viral diseases beyond SARS-CoV-2 and, indirectly, decrease antibiotic prescribing,” they wrote.

The state of Maryland is reporting zero deaths from Covid-19 for the second day in a row, Gov. Larry Hogan announced in a news release on Monday. 

According to Johns Hopkins University, Maryland has a seven-day average of three reported deaths and 68 new Covid-19 cases per day.

Maryland is also reporting a seven-day Covid-19 positivity rate of 0.66%, which is down 89% since mid-April, according to the release. 

There are currently 153 Covid-19 patients hospitalized statewide and 41 patients in the intensive care unit statewide which is nearing the lowest recorded level of people in the ICU of 40, the release adds.

Note: These numbers were released by the state’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Non-White children have a higher risk of negative Covid-19 outcomes, suggests research published in JAMA Pediatrics Monday.

The researchers used a nationally representative sample of 2,576,353 children ages zero to 18 in England to look into the relationship between race and Covid-19 outcomes among kids. Of the 410,726 children who were tested for Covid-19, 6.4% were positive.

About 17.1% of White children received a Covid-19 test, compared to 13.6% of Asian children, 8.3% of Black children and 12.9% of children of mixed or other races.

Although White children were most likely to receive a Covid-19 test, non-White children were more likely to test positive, the researchers note.

They also found that Asian children were significantly more likely to be hospitalized and need the intensive care unit than White children. 

Black children and those of mixed or other races had comparable risk of being hospitalized. However, those who were admitted were more likely to be hospitalized for 36 hours or more, compared to white children.

“These results suggest that racial minority children may have a more severe course of COVID-19,” the researchers wrote.

They also noted that additional research is needed to explore the risk around MIS-C and longer-term outcomes of coronavirus.

In a related editorial also published in JAMA Pediatrics Monday, pediatricians with Boston Children’s Hospital say a targeted approach is needed to respond to these inequities.

“If future initiatives do not prioritize equity over equality by distributing resources based on relative need and ensuring that children from communities most severely impacted by COVID-19 are given preference, we run the risk of perpetuating existing disparities for generations to come,” the authors wrote.

Louisiana residents who received at least one Covid-19 vaccine can register to win one million dollars as part of the state’s “Shot at a Million” campaign, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office announced. 

The campaign is part of the state’s efforts to reward residents who get their Covid-19 vaccine.

Fourteen vaccinated residents will win scholarships and cash prizes throughout the month of July, and one adult will win $1 million.

Who can enter to win?

Residents can register online at ShotAtAMillion.com or call the toll-free hotline at 877-356-1511

Cuba announced 1,561 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic.

Health officials also announced 11 new Covid-19 related deaths for a total of 1,170 fatalities.

Cuban officials are widely administering the Cuban-made vaccine candidates, and as of Monday, they say they have given more than four million doses on the island.

Cuban officials say one of the vaccine candidates registered an efficacy of 62% but have yet to share more details of their testing.

At least 70% of adults in the Commonwealth of Virginia have received at least one Covid-19 shot, and 60% of adults are fully vaccinated, Gov. Ralph Northam announced in a press briefing Monday.

Northam added that Covid-19 case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths from Covid-19 are the lowest they have been since the “early days of the pandemic” and the percent positivity is less than 1.5%.

The Biden administration is considering ending a public health order that’s allowed border authorities to turn back thousands of migrants in a phased approach by the end of July, CNN has learned. 

The administration has been facing fierce criticism for relying on a public health authority, known as Title 42, that was put in place under the Trump administration in early 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Since last October, US Border Patrol has expelled 648,185 migrants under the authority, according to agency data.

The policy allows border officials to expel migrants encountered at the US-Mexico border. Immigrant advocates claim it has put migrants in harm’s way, leaving many, including those seeking asylum, in dangerous conditions in Mexico. In some cases, families have opted to separate from their children, since unaccompanied migrant children are not subject to the policy. 

Over recent weeks, the administration has coordinated with nongovernmental organizations to identify vulnerable migrant families in Mexico and allow them to enter the United States, instead of turning them away. It was among the first moves that appeared aimed at gradually easing the Trump-era policy. 

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.

 Axios first reported the Biden administration was considering ending the policy as early as July 31, including that Biden was briefed on a plan for stopping family expulsions.

The Trump-era public health order remains the subject of litigation. Since February, plaintiffs in a case concerning families being subject to the order have been in negotiations with the government. Last Friday, the pause on litigation was extended until July 2.  

Although Kashirah Jackson is back at work, she’s still far from recovering from the economic upheaval the coronavirus pandemic wreaked on her finances. 

Early last year, the independent hair stylist’s business in Charlotte, North Carolina, was doing well and she was socking away her earnings for a down payment on a home. But the state lockdown left her unable to see her clients and forced her to deplete her savings so she and her 1-year-old daughter could survive. 

Now, only about 60% of her customers have returned. And though Jackson is still collecting some unemployment benefits, her income remains down from pre-pandemic times.

While the coronavirus pandemic has cut a wide swath through many people’s bank accounts, it has also highlighted the economic insecurity that many Black Americans face.

The inequity: A quarter of Black Americans said their current financial situation was worse now than it was a year ago, before the pandemic, compared to 17% of their White peers, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year. Among adults who are usually able to save, 44% of Black respondents said they are saving less than they were in early 2020, compared to just over a quarter of White Americans.

Far more Black Americans reported being concerned about being able to afford food, cover their rent or mortgage and pay their bills, said Khadijah Edwards, a research associate at Pew.

This inequity stems in part from Black Americans having far less wealth and savings to turn to during tough times than White Americans. And the gaps also give Black households less of a springboard to recover when the economy picks up again.

The typical non-Hispanic White household had a net worth of $188,200 in 2019, compared with $24,100 for a non-Hispanic Black family, according to Federal Reserve Bank data. 

The big difference in homeownership, which is key to building wealth, accounts for part of the chasm. It’s often more difficult for Black Americans to buy homes because they have lower median incomes, are less likely to receive inheritances or assistance from their parents and must contend with historical racism in real estate and its lasting impacts.

Only 45% of Black Americans own homes, compared to nearly 74% of White Americans, according to the most recent Census Bureau data.

Also contributing to their vulnerability: Black Americans are much less likely to invest in stocks or mutual funds than White Americans and have less than a quarter of the savings set aside for emergencies.

Read the full story here.

All Italian regions, barring Valle d’Aosta, are entering the low-restriction “White Zone” category for Covid-19 social distancing measures starting Monday.

An ordinance signed by Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Friday, turning all of Italy’s regions including Sicily, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Tuscany, Marche and the Province of Bolzano into the low-restriction “white zone.”

Valle d’Aosta will remain a “yellow zone.”

The low-restriction “white zone” allows the regional authorities to drop most of the remaining coronavirus restrictions earlier than planned under the national roadmap for opening.

Here are the “white zone” guidelines from the Italian Health Ministry:

To enter the “white zone,” a region must have fewer than 50 coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants for three weeks consecutively.

The only area to remain in the “yellow zone” will be the northern region of Valle d’Aosta. The region will still observe the midnight curfew and will have restrictions on businesses and events.

Overall, Italy has registered 4,252,976 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, the national death toll stands at 127,270 according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

The vaccination requirement to attend Buffalo Bills games and other stadium events has been rescinded, according to a tweet from Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz’ verified Twitter account. 

According to the tweet, the decision was based on the news of just a few new Covid-19 cases, low hospitalizations and “good vaccination rates.” If circumstances warrant, the decision will be revisited.  

On April 13, Poloncarz tweeted Erie County supported returning all fans to the stadium and arena in the fall by requiring all staff and fans to be fully vaccinated. “No Vaccine = No Entry,” he tweeted at the time.

The Transportation Security Administration screened 2.1 million people at airports across the country on Sunday, the most since March 7, 2020. 

The new pandemic record marks the fifth day this month that air travel figures have exceeded 2 million passengers, about 75% of a normal day for the airline industry pre-pandemic. 

But carriers are struggling to keep up with the crush of passengers. Flight-tracking site FlightAware says American Airlines canceled 6% of all flights on Sunday.

The airline cites labor issues with both its own crews and contractors and says it is rebooking passengers on new flights in advance through mid-July.

The Delta variant, or the B.1.617.2 first identified in India, is one of the variants overtaking the Alpha, or B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the United Kingdom, as the dominant variant in the United States, and it’s happening faster in counties with lower vaccination rates, according to a new study by scientists at Helix, scheduled to be published as a preprint in the coming days.

Scientists at Helix analyzed nearly 20,000 Covid-19 tests collected since April 2021 and just under 250,000 Covid-19 sequence results of samples Helix collected since January 2021. 

What the research showed:

“The growth curve for B.1.617.2, which is more transmissible but against which vaccines are highly effective, shows faster growth in counties with lower vaccination rates,” said the study. “In contrast, P.1, which is less transmissible but against which vaccines have somewhat less efficacy, has a higher prevalence in counties with higher vaccination rates.”

More on the study: They defined a county with a lower vaccination rate as one which had less than 28.5% of the population completely vaccinated on May 1, the others were considered counties with a higher vaccination rate.

An important limitation is noted by the researchers: the relatively small number of positives that have been analyzed in the last two months, partly because of the lower numbers of cases in the US and the decrease in test positivity rate. The data is not homogenous across the US and the samples “do not proportionally represent the different areas of the United states by population”, they say, which is another limitation.

Tokyo 2020 announced on Monday that it will allow spectators at the Olympics this year amid the pandemic, setting a 50% cap at venues, up to a maximum of 10,000 people.

Organizers did however warn that it could restrict the number of fans in the event of a state of emergency or amid any other restrictions to curb the rise of Covid-19 infections.

Those attending the postponed Olympics will have to abide by a number of protocols aimed at stopping the spread of cases.

“Masks should be worn in venues at all times; speaking in a loud voice or shouting will be prohibited; congestion should be avoided by means of appropriate announcements; and visitors should leave venues in a staggered manner,” read a statement outlining the guidelines.

“Spectators will be requested to travel directly to venues and return home directly, and to take all necessary precautions when moving between prefectures,” the statement continued.