House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Susan Collins test positive for ...

WASHINGTON – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined a growing list of Washington officials testing positive for COVID-19.

Vilsack announced Saturday on Twitter he tested positive for COVID-19. Vilsack is the latest of several vaccinated and boosted administration officials to test positive. He was scheduled to travel to Denver this week with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

Vilsack's announcement came two days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, and President Joe Biden's sister tested positive for COVID-19 A day earlier, two cabinet officials and others tested positive the day before.

Pelosi, who is asymptomatic, tested positive on Thursday. She will quarantine, her spokesman announced.

“The speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided,” said spokesman Drew Hammill.

Pelosi attended crowded events at the White House Tuesday and Wednesday at which Biden spoke.

The White House said Biden's interactions with Pelosi do not meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definition of being in close contact.

Late Thursday evening another White House official said they too had tested positive for COVID-19. Michael LaRosa, press secretary for first lady Jill Biden, tested positive for the virus, LaRosa confirmed to USA TODAY.

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Collins tests positive after Supreme Court vote; DeFazio experiencing 'mild cold-like symptoms and fatigue'

Collins, one of three Republicans who broke from her party to vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, tested positive late Thursday afternoon.

Her office said the senator is experiencing mild symptoms and will isolate and work remotely following the diagnosis.

Collins' positive test came just hours after she voted for Jackson's historic nomination. Last week, Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., warned reporters that the confirmation wasn't a done deal until after the vote, because something like a senator testing positive for COVID and being unable to vote could disrupt the process.

The senator attended the annual Gridiron Dinner on Saturday, as did Vilsack and two other cabinet members who have since tested positive. LaRossa also attended the dinner, which attracts a wide swath of government officials and journalists. Some lawmakers and reporters who were at the dinner have also tested positive.

History in the making:Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed by Senate as first Black woman on Supreme Court

Meanwhile, DeFazio announced on Twitter late Thursday that he tested positive for COVID-19, adding: "Thanks to being fully vaccinated, I am only experiencing mild cold-like symptoms and fatigue. I will follow CDC guidance and quarantine. I encourage everyone to get vaccinated!"

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia announced Thursday evening that he too has the virus, tweeting "Late this afternoon after a routine test, I tested positive for COVID-19. I’m so thankful to be both vaccinated & boosted, and at the advice of the Attending Physician I plan to isolate."

Biden tests negative

Biden was last tested Wednesday, as part of his regular testing regime of a couple times a week, and tested negative, according to the White House.

His doctor does not believe it's necessary for Biden to test daily, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. "COVID will continue to be with us," she said. "We will see cases rise and fall."

Pelosi was one of nine House members to test positive this week. Democratic Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota tested positive later Thursday afternoon. All of the members are fully vaccinated and boosted.

Following Pelosi's diagnosis, a planned trip by lawmakers to Asia that the speaker was to lead has been postponed.

Biden's sister also tests COVID positive

Valerie Biden Owens tested positive on Wednesday after experiencing mild symptoms, her publisher said in a statement.

Owens had not been in close contact with the president or first lady, the publisher said.

Owens' memoir, "Growing up Biden," comes out Tuesday.

The Biden family:A look at who's who in Joe Biden's close-knit family tree

`Growing up Biden':Valerie Biden Owens, Joe's sister who ran his campaigns, writing memoir

On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said they had tested positive, as did Vice President Kamala Harris' communications director Jamal Simmons.

All three had attended the annual Gridiron Dinner Saturday night.

Pelosi was not at the dinner but her spokesman, Hammill, was.

Biden did not attend the dinner but spoke Wednesday at an event in a hotel ballroom packed with more than 2,000 union leaders and members, most of whom were not wearing masks.

He also held a crowded health care event at the White House on Tuesday and hosted lawmakers and others for a bill signing Wednesday.

Biden, 79, has been vaccinated, and he received his first booster shot in September and a second at the end of March.

In addition, the White House had gone beyond CDC's recommended protocols to protect Biden from the virus. Anyone who meets with the president or is traveling with him is tested first. When possible, Biden is also kept socially distanced from others, according to Psaki.

"We are living with COVID-19," Psaki said Wednesday. "We are continuing to fight it."

More:AG Garland, Commerce Sec Gina Raimondo latest attendees of Washington dinner to test positive for COVID

Susan Rice tests positive for Covid-19 | CNN Politics

(CNN) White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice has tested positive for Covid-19, she announced Monday, becoming the latest high-ranking Biden administration official to contract the coronavirus.

Rice said she last saw President Joe Biden f ive days before her diagnosis but was masked and is not considered a close contact. She is fully vaccinated and has had two booster shots.

"This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I'm feeling fine and grateful to be vaccinated and double boosted. I last saw the President in person on Wednesday—masked—and under CDC guidance he is not considered a close contact," Rice tweeted.

Several top Biden officials -- who are all fully vaccinated and boosted -- have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken tested positive shortly after attending the White House Correspondent's Dinner in Washington, which was also attended by President Joe Biden. In the days after the event , reporters and staffers from CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Politico and other participating news organizations also tested positive for the virus.

Read More

White House's Kate Bedingfield tests positive for Covid-19 ...

(CNN) White House communications director Kate Bedingfield has tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the latest high-level Biden official to test positive for the virus. President Joe Biden, she said in a statement, is not a close contact.

"This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19. I last saw the President Wednesday in a socially-distanced meeting while wearing an N-95 mask, and he is not considered a close contact as defined by the CDC," she said in a tweet

Bedingfield said she is experiencing mild symptoms and is "fully vaccinated and boosted," in a subsequent tweet , adding that she would work from home and return to in-person work after a five-day isolation period and negative test.

Harris, who is fully vaccinated and not experiencing symptoms, tested positive on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California. Her spokesperson Kirsten Allen saidthat the President was not a close contact and that Harris would work from the vice president's residence until she tests negative.

Harris has been taking the antiviral coronavirus treatment Paxlovid after consulting her physicians, according to Allen. Paxlovid is available via emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in people 12 and older who are at high risk of severe illness. It requires a doctor's prescription.

Covid-19 has been spreading among White House officials over the past couple of months. In late March, White House press secretary Jen Psaki canceled her plans to travel with the President to Belgium and Poland after testing positive for Covid-19 for the second time. Her replacement on the Europe trip, White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, tested positive shortly after returning from the trip. Harris' husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, tested positive for Covid-19 earlier in March.

White House officials have acknowledged that it is "possible" the President will at some point contract Covid-19 but have emphasized the precautions being taken to prevent infection.

"The bottom line is he is vaccinated and boosted. He is very well protected. He's got very good protocols around him to protect him from getting infected. But there is no 100% anything," White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on Tuesday.

The President is scheduled to attend two high-profile events this weekend -- the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington and a memorial for former Vice President Walter Mondale in Minneapolis.

White House officials argue the nation is in a much better position than it was at the beginning of the pandemic because of the availability of vaccines, boosters, at-home tests, treatments and masks. The US has largely lifted most of its Covid-19 mitigation measures after the Omicron variant spike over the winter.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Omicron variant will 'find just about everybody,' Fauci says, but ...

(CNN) As the Omicron variant spreads like wildfire across the United States , it's likely just about everybody will be exposed to the strain, but vaccinated people will still fare better, the nation's leading infectious disease expert said Tuesday.

"Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will ultimately find just about everybody," Dr. Anthony Fauci told J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Those who have been vaccinated ... and boosted would get exposed. Some, maybe a lot of them, will get infected but will very likely, with some exceptions, do reasonably well in the sense of not having hospitalization and death."

In contrast, those who are not vaccinated are "going to get the brunt of the severe aspect of this," he added.

Across the United States, at least one in five eligible Americans -- roughly 65 million people-- are not vaccinated against Covid-19. More than 62% of the country has been fully vaccinated, but only 23% are fully vaccinated and boosted, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fauci's comments came in response to a question about whether the pandemic has entered a new phase. That will come when there's enough protection in the community and drugs to easily treat severe Covid-19, he said, adding, "We may be on the threshold of that right now."

Also Tuesday, US Food and Drug Administration acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said that while most people could catch the virus, the focus now should be on making sure hospitals and essential services function.

Woodcock was responding to a question from Sen. Mike Braun about whether it's time for the United States to change its Covid-19 strategy. Her statement was not a new assessment of Covid-19, but rather an attempt to make clear the need to prioritize essential services as the Omicron variant surges.

"I think it's hard to process what's actually happening right now, which is: Most people are going to get Covid," Woodcock said Tuesday at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. "And what we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, transportation, you know, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens."

On Tuesday, the number of US patients hospitalized with Covid-19 hit a record high, adding strain to health care networks and pushing states toward emergency staffing and other measures as they struggle to cope.

More than 145,900 people were in US hospitals with Covid-19 as of Tuesday -- a number that surpasses the previous peak from mid-January 2021 (142,246), and is almost twice what it was two weeks ago, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services

The hospitalization record comes amid a surge in cases fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant

The United States averaged more than 754,200 new Covid-19 cases daily over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University data. That's about three times last winter's peak average (251,987 on January 11, 2021), and 4.5 times the peak from the Delta-driven surge (166,347 on September 1), according to JHU.

The country has averaged 1,646 Covid-19 deaths a day over the past week -- 33% higher than a week ago, according to JHU. The peak average was 3,402 daily on January 13, 2021, JHU data shows.

The Omicron variant caused 98.3% of new coronavirus cases in the United States last week, according to estimates posted Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A technician administers a Covid-19 test Monday at a drive-thru location at Churchill Downs, Kentucky.

Leaders activate new measures to combat surging numbers

Hospitals are increasingly juggling staffing issues -- not just because of the increased demand, but also because their employees, who are at a high risk of infection, have to isolate and recover after testing positive.

In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam declared a limited state of emergency Monday after the number of intensive care unit hospitalizations more than doubled since December 1. The order allows hospitals to expand bed capacity and gives more flexibility in staffing, he said, adding that it also expands the use of telehealth as well as expanding which medical professionals can give vaccines.

In Texas, at least 2,700 medical staffers are being hired, trained and deployed to assist with the surge, joining more than 1,300 personnel already sent across the state, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement to CNN.

Kentucky has mobilized the National Guard to provide support, with 445 members sent to 30 health care facilities, the state announced.

"Omicron continues to burn through the commonwealth, growing at levels we have never seen before. Omicron is significantly more contagious than even the Delta variant," said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, noting the earlier variant that spurred a surge of cases in the summer and fall.

"If it spreads at the rate we are seeing, it is certainly going to fill up our hospitals," he said, and Kentucky is "down to 134 adult ICU beds available."

And New Jersey reinstated a public health emergency, Gov. Phil Murphy announced, saying the state needed to "commit every resource available to beating back the wave" caused by Omicron. In the past two weeks alone, the state saw more than 10,000 people requiring hospitalization due to Covid-19, the governor said in a video announcement.

Mitigation measures such as mandatory masking are also being revived in some areas.

Delaware Gov. John Carney signed a universal indoor mask mandate Monday because of hospitalization increases, with some hospitals "over 100% inpatient bed capacity amid crippling staffing shortages," he said. Churches and places of worship are exempt, while businesses should provide masks to customers and have signage about indoor mask requirements.

"It's time for everyone to pitch in and do what works. Wear your mask indoors. Avoid gatherings or expect to get and spread Covid. Get your vaccine and, if eligible, get boosted. That's how we'll get through this surge without endangering more lives," Carney said.

Share of hospitalizations from breakthrough infections is growing, but risks for unvaccinated are higher

The HHS data on Covid-19 hospitalizations includes both those patients who are hospitalized because of Covid-19 complications and those who may have been admitted for something else but test positive for Covid-19. This has been true throughout the pandemic, though the share of patients who fall into each category may have changed over time.

Fully vaccinated people are accounting for a growing share of people hospitalized with Covid-19 -- but hospitalizations among people who received a booster shot are still rare, and the gap in risk by vaccination status has been wide.

Between April and July 2021, before the emergence of the Omicron variant, more than 90% of Covid-19 hospitalizations were among people who were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, according to a study published by the CDC.

But a sampling of data collected by CNN suggests that figure has dropped to somewhere between 60% and 75% in recent days and months:

• In Pennsylvania, about 75% of Covid-19 hospitalizations between September and early December 2021 were among people who were not fully vaccinated, according to data from the state health department.

• In New York, about 61% of Covid-19 hospitalizations during the week ending January 2, 2022 were among people who were not fully vaccinated, according to data from the state health department.

• Beaumont Health, the largest health care system in Michigan, reported on Thursday that 62% of Covid-19 patients in its eight hospitals were unvaccinated.

In some hospitals, up to 40% of patients with Covid-19 "are coming in not because they're sick with Covid, but because they're coming in with something else and have had Covid or the Omicron variant detected," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Fox News on Sunday.

But Covid-19 cases in hospitals strain resources, regardless of whether a patient was hospitalized because of Covid-19, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said.

"If they get (incidentally) diagnosed with Covid in the hospital, they still need to go into infection protocol -- personal protective equipment, all of that still needs to be utilized. So it's a huge drain on the system overall," Gupta said Tuesday.

While fully vaccinated people are accounting for a larger share of Covid-19 hospitalizations, multiple accounts suggest that those who are fully vaccinated and boosted account for a small share.

In the University of Maryland Medical System, less than 5% of hospitalized patients were fully vaccinated and boosted, President and CEO Dr. Mohan Suntha said Thursday. Beaumont Health reported Thursday that only 8% of Covid-19 patients were fully vaccinated and boosted.

The CDC did not respond to CNN's multiple requests for data on the share of Covid-19 hospitalizations by vaccination status.

The agency publishes data on its website regarding the relative risk by vaccination status. Cumulatively, the risk of hospitalization has been eight times higher for unvaccinated people than for fully vaccinated people. But in the last week of November, CDC data showed that hospitalization rates were about 17 times higher for unvaccinated people than for fully vaccinated people.

Schools and industries face Omicron issues

The debate over safety in schools from Covid-19 continues to play out as only about one in six children ages 5 to 11 is fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC.

As Los Angeles prepared to return to school on Tuesday, approximately 62,000 students and staff had tested positive for Covid-19 and will have to stay home, data from the Los Angeles Unified School District showed Monday, equating to a 14.99% positivity rate. The positivity rate of Los Angeles County at large, by comparison, has spiked to 22%.

In Chicago, educators returned to school Tuesday and students are expected to resume in-person learning Wednesday following a nearly weeklong dispute. The Chicago Teachers Union had voted to teach remotely last week, and the school district responded by canceling classes for four days.

The agreement, announced late Monday , included metrics for when a classroom would need to go remote due to Covid-19 levels.

In areas where schools have returned to in-person learning after the holiday break, the time needed for those with Covid-19 to recover has impacted some essential services.

Other sectors also are struggling due to high infection rates.

Some municipalities have seen nearly a quarter of their trash collection workforce call in sick in recent weeks due to Covid-19, leading to delays, according to the Solid Waste Association of North America.

"This coincided, unfortunately, with increased trash and recycling volumes associated with the holidays. However, we hope that as volumes decline and sanitation workers return to work, these delays will prove temporary," executive director and CEO David Biderman said in a statement Monday.

In travel, US airlines canceled thousands of additional flights over the weekend due to Covid-19 callouts and winter storms, and cruise line Royal Caribbean International announced it has canceled voyages on four ships because of "ongoing Covid-related circumstances around the world." Last week, Norwegian Cruise Line canceled the voyages of eight ships.

Public transit systems in major metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington, DC, have had to scale back service with employees ill from Covid-19. In Detroit, 20-25% of SMART bus service is canceled or delayed, the agency said in a statement Saturday.

Travis Caldwell
Jason Hanna
Deidre Mcphillips
Christina Maxouris

Dec. 30 Arizona COVID-19 update: 5,687 new cases, 41 new deaths

Arizona surpassed 24,000 known COVID-19 deaths this week, and while hospitals remain strained, patient levels dropped slightly this week compared with last.

On Thursday, Arizona reported 5,687 new COVID-19 cases and 41 new known deaths.

COVID-19 and other hospitalizations have remained high in recent weeks, with some hospitals operating near or over capacity.

Emergency room visits from patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 spiked to 1,939 visits statewide on Tuesday and remained at a relatively high 1,892 visits on Wednesday.

An increase in emergency room visits from patients with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 could be an early sign that the extremely contagious omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus is taking hold in Arizona, though it's too early to know for certain.

Arizona is one of six states getting a federal emergency response team to help support overwhelmed rural hospitals. On Wednesday, 2,323 patients were hospitalized across Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19, and just 110 ICU beds were available across the state. While the level of patients remained relatively high in hospitals this week, the numbers were down slightly from last week, state data shows.

The total of known deaths in the state was 24,212 as of Thursday. The state surpassed 24,000 deaths on Tuesday, 17 days after it reached 23,000 deaths.

Arizona's seven-day COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 people ranked fourth in the nation out of all states and territories as of Wednesday, behind only the Northern Mariana Islands, New Mexico and Tennessee, after ranking first and second last week, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State data released on breakthrough infections

The state this month began publicly posting data on breakthrough COVID-19 infections, and state officials say the data so far underscores the effectiveness of the vaccine.

About 22% of reported COVID-19 cases in Arizona in October were breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people, according to state health officials.

The vast majority of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are among people not fully vaccinated.

State data shows that unvaccinated people in Arizona had a 3.9 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 15.2 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19 in October compared with fully vaccinated people.

As of Dec. 6, the state had reported 608 breakthrough COVID-19 deaths, which works out to a breakthrough death rate among fully vaccinated people of 0.02%.

Case rates and death reports

Previous days this past week saw the following new case reports: 3,495 on Dec. 25; 344 on Dec. 26; 7,641 on Dec. 27; 1,976 on Dec. 28; and 3,411 on Dec. 29. No cases were processed on Dec. 25, which led to low reported numbers on Dec. 26 and a high number on Dec. 27, state officials said.

Death reports for the past week were: 70 on Dec. 25; zero on Dec. 26; zero on Dec. 27; 162 on Dec. 28; and 27 on Dec. 29.

The Arizona Republic generally recaps the state's daily numbers online in a COVID-19 updates blog and in a weekly recap story online on Thursdays or Fridays and in the newspaper on Sundays.

Arizona's seven-day case rate per 100,000 people ranked among the lowest in the among all states and territories on Wednesday — 43rd — after ranking first and second for much of January and then lower since, according to the CDC's COVID-19 Data Tracker. Last week, it ranked 31st.

While other parts of the country are experiencing soaring cases due to the omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, the omicron variant is not dominant in Arizona. Public health and hospital leaders in Arizona have said they expect the extremely contagious omicron variant to increase in prevalence here during the next few weeks.

The state's seven-day average for new reported COVID-19 cases was at 3,327 on Thursday, compared with 2,928 a week ago and 3,093 two weeks ago. The average had reached as high as 9,800 in January, according to state data.

Percent positivity, which refers to the percentage of COVID-19 diagnostic tests that are positive, varies somewhat based on how it's measured. It's been higher in recent weeks, a sign of more community spread.

For most of May and June, Arizona's percent positivity for COVID-19 testing was at 4% to 5%, before rising over the course of July, August, September and October. It was 12% for the week of Nov. 7, 13% for the week of Nov. 14, 13% for the week of Nov. 21, 13% for the week of Nov. 28, 11% for the week of Dec. 5 , 11% for the week of Dec. 12, 13% for the week of Dec. 19, and so far 20% for the week of Dec. 26. The percentages are now for all diagnostic tests conducted, rather than for unique individuals tested, after a change to the state dashboard.

Johns Hopkins University calculates Arizona's seven-day moving average of percent positives at 9.8% as of Thursday. It shows the state's percent positivity peaked at 24.2% in December.

A positivity rate of 5% or less is considered a good benchmark that the disease's spread is under control.

The state's overall COVID-19 death and case rates since Jan. 21, 2020, still remain among the worst in the country.

The COVID-19 death rate in Arizona since the pandemic began is 331 deaths per 100,000 people as of Wednesday, according to the CDC, putting it fourth in the country in a state ranking that separates New York City from New York state. The U.S. average is 246 deaths per 100,000 people as of Wednesday, according to the CDC.

New York City has the highest death rate, at 420 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Mississippi and Alabama.

Arizona surpassed 24,000 known deaths on Dec. 28 after passing 23,000 deaths on Dec. 11, 22,000 deaths on Nov. 23, 21,000 deaths on Oct. 27, and 20,000 deaths on Oct. 1.

The state exceeded 10,000 known deaths on Jan. 9. Arizona's first known death from the disease occurred in mid-March 2020.

Many of the reported deaths occurred days or weeks before because of reporting delays and death certificate matching.

A total of 1,373,767 COVID-19 cases had been identified across the state as of Thursday.

Hospitals remain stretched

The Arizona data dashboard shows 93% of all ICU beds and 94% of all inpatient beds in the state were in use on Wednesday, with 38% of ICU beds and 26% of non-ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. Statewide, 110 ICU beds and 544 non-ICU beds were available, a slightly higher number of available beds than last week, when just 94 ICU beds were unoccupied.

The number of patients hospitalized in Arizona for known or suspected COVID-19 cases was at 2,323 on Wednesday, a drop from last week and from metrics earlier in the month. Two weeks ago that number was at 2,789. The record was 5,082 inpatients on Jan. 11. The highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in a single day during the summer 2020 surge was 3,517 on July 13.

The number of patients with suspected or known COVID-19 in ICUs across Arizona was at 628 on Wednesday, compared with 669 last week and 704 three weeks prior, still far below the record high of 1,183 on Jan. 11. During the summer surge in mid-July 2020, ICU beds in use for COVID-19 peaked at 970.

Arizonans with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 on ventilators was at 391 on Wednesday. The record-high 821 was reached on Jan. 13. During the summer 2020 surge, July 16 was the peak day for ventilator use, with 687 patients.

Wednesday saw 1,892 patients in Arizona emergency rooms for COVID-19, which is relatively high yet still below the Dec. 29, 2020, single-day record of 2,341 positive or suspected COVID-19 patients seen in emergency departments across the state.

Vaccination update

Arizonans aged 5 and older are eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine, while the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved for those 18 and older. Many individuals are eligible for booster doses, too.

The state reported more than 4.6 million people in Arizona — about 65.2% of the total state population — had received at least one vaccine dose as of Thursday, with more than 3.9 million residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The state’s data dashboard now separates out doses administered to Arizona residents versus all doses administered in the state.

Arizona's rate of fully vaccinated people out of the total population is 56.9%, which is behind the national rate of 61.9%, according to the CDC as of Wednesday.

Out of the vaccine-eligible population, people ages 5 and older, 60.5% of those in Arizona are fully vaccinated, compared with 65.9% at the national level, CDC data shows.

Health experts strongly recommend booster shots, especially with the omicron variant spreading. About 32% of fully vaccinated Arizonans over the age of 18 had received a booster shot as of Wednesday, slightly below the national rate of 35.9% for that same age group.

The CDC recommends booster doses for fully vaccinated individuals ages 16 and older as long as it's six months or longer after they became fully vaccinated.

What to know about Thursday's numbers

Reported cases in Arizona: 1,373,767.

Daily cases are grouped by the date they are reported to the state health department, not by the date the tests were administered.

Cases by county: 866,014 in Maricopa; 172,153 in Pima; 88,597 in Pinal; 44,260 in Yuma; 38,967 in Mohave; 36,284 in Yavapai; 27,717 in Coconino; 26,905 in Navajo; 19,985 in Cochise; 16,196 in Apache; 12,172 in Gila; 10,441 in Santa Cruz; 8,955 in Graham; 3,638 in La Paz; and 1,483 in Greenlee, according to state numbers.

The rate of cases per 100,000 people since the pandemic began is highest in Navajo County, followed by Graham, Apache, Gila and Maricopa counties, per state data. The rate in Navajo County is 23,847 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, the U.S. average rate since the pandemic began is 16,047 cases per 100,000 people as of Wednesday, according to the CDC.

The Navajo Nation reported 41,262 cases and 1,588 confirmed deaths as of Wednesday. The Navajo Nation includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

The Arizona Department of Corrections reported 12,708 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, including 2,284 in Tucson, 2,091 in Eyman, 2,014 in Yuma, 1,342 in Lewis and 1,163 in Douglas; 52,099 inmates statewide have been tested. A total of 3,433 prison staff members have self-reported testing positive, the department said. Fifty-six incarcerated people in Arizona have been confirmed to have died of COVID-19, with nine additional deaths under investigation.

Race/ethnicity is unknown for 16% of all COVID-19 cases statewide, but of positive cases during the past six months, the breakdown is 42% white, 26% Hispanic or Latino, 4% Native American, 4% Black and 2% Asian/Pacific Islander.

The race/ethnic breakdown of cases since the start of the pandemic in 2020 has been 39% white, 29% Hispanic or Latino, 5% American Indian, 4% Black and 2% Asian/Pacific Islander. Race/ethnicity of positive cases since the onset of the pandemic is unknown in 16% of cases, and listed as other race in 6% of cases.

Of those who have tested positive in Arizona since the start of the pandemic, about 20% were younger than 20, 43% were 20-44, 14% were 45-54, 11% were 55-64 and 12% were age 65 or older.

Laboratories had completed 15,579,213 total diagnostic tests for COVID-19 as of Thursday, 10% of which have come back positive. That number includes both PCR and antigen testing. Percent positivity is at 20% so far for the week of Dec. 19. The state numbers leave out data from labs that do not report electronically.

The state Health Department includes probable cases as anyone with a positive antigen test, another type of test to determine infection. Antigen tests (not related to antibody tests) use a nasal swab or another fluid sample to test for current infection. Results are typically produced within 15 minutes.

A positive antigen test result is considered very accurate, but there's an increased chance of false-negative results, Mayo Clinic officials said. They say a doctor may recommend a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to confirm a negative antigen test result.

Arizona as of Wednesday had the ninth highest overall case rate in the country since Jan. 21, 2020. Ahead of Arizona in cases per 100,000 people since the pandemic began are Rhode Island, Alaska, Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Kentucky and Wisconsin, according to the CDC.

Arizona's infection rate is 18,749 cases per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. The national average is 16,047 cases per 100,000 people, although the rates in states hard hit early in the pandemic may be an undercount because of a lack of available testing in March and April 2020.

Reported deaths in Arizona: 24,212

Deaths by county: 13,670 in Maricopa; 3,153 in Pima; 1,306 in Pinal; 1,176 in Mohave; 982 in Yuma; 951 in Yavapai; 745 in Navajo; 542 in Apache; 466 in Cochise; 416 in Coconino; 308 in Gila; 206 in Santa Cruz; 157 in Graham; 107 in La Paz; and 27 in Greenlee.

People age 65 and older make up 17,121 of the 24,212 deaths, or 71%. About 16% of deaths were among people 55-64 years old, 8% were 45-54 and 5% were 20-44 years old.

While race/ethnicity was unknown for 7% of deaths, 52% of those who died were white, 27% were Hispanic or Latino, 7% were Native American, 3% were Black and 1% were Asian/Pacific Islander, the state data shows.

The global death toll as of Thursday was 5,425,516. The U.S. had the highest death count of any country in the world, at 823,115, followed by Brazil at 619,095 and India at 480,860, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Arizona's 24,212 deaths represent about 2.9% of COVID-19 deaths in the United States.

Republic reporter Alison Steinbach contributed to this article.

Reach the reporter at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieinnes

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

Officials across the US enact emergency procedures to help ...

More than 151,000 Americans were in the hospital with Covid-19 nationwide on Wednesday, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The agency's data on Covid-19 hospitalizations include both patients who are hospitalized because of Covid-19 complications and patients who may have been admitted for something else but test positive for Covid-19. This has been true throughout the pandemic, though the share of patients who fall into each category may have changed over time.

While experts say Omicron appears to cause less severe disease than the Delta variant -- especially in people who are vaccinated and boosted -- its high transmissibility has sent infection numbers shooting up nationwide, followed by hospitalizations.

The US averaged more than 747,260 new Covid-19 cases daily over the last week, according to Johns Hopkins University data. That's about three times last winter's peak average (251,987 on January 11, 2021), and about 4.5 times the peak from the Delta-driven surge (166,347 on September 1), according to JHU.

"The sudden and steep rise in cases due to Omicron is resulting in unprecedented daily case counts, sickness, absenteeism, and strains on our health care system," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a Wednesday briefing.

"The risk of hospitalization remains low, especially among people who are up to date on their COVID vaccines. However, the staggering rise in cases ... has led to a high number of total hospitalizations," she added.

To combat the massive strain on health care services that comes as more staff members call out sick with the virus, state leaders are enacting emergency procedures to help hospitals cope.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday she was deploying another 700 National Guard members to hospitals statewide. Mississippi health officials directed hospitals to transfer some critically ill patients to different hospitals on a rotating basis, based on location and resource availability. The state's targeted order applies to patients including those who are being treated for heart attacks, strokes and transplant patients with complications.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced new efforts to support hospital staffing, including funding that will cover the costs for health care professionals -- mostly nurses -- to work for 60 hours a week for 60 days.

And in West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice -- who himself is sick with Covid-19 -- directed a team of local leaders to review and approve requests from hospitals for staffing support.

In Kansas, doctors warned they're not just short on staff, but on ventilators and monoclonal antibodies as well.

"The issue with the ventilators is we have many ventilators in-house but not all of them are able to handle the high oxygen requirements that our Covid patients require and the high pressures that they require to maintain oxygenation and ventilation," said Dr. Lisa Hays, chief medical officer for AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, said.

She added: "I had to learn how many bodies our morgue could hold yesterday and determine whether that was going to be adequate for what our needs are."

Deaths are also rising -- but CDC director says this could be because of Delta variant

The country has averaged 1,715 Covid-19 deaths a day over the last week -- 40% higher than a week ago. The peak average was 3,402 daily on January 13, 2021, JHU data shows.

Walensky said Wednesday she thinks the recent rise in Covid-19 deaths is still due to the Delta variant. Delta was the country's predominant variant for months until Omicron overtook it in the week ending December 25 , according to the CDC.

Changes in death rates usually lag behind case rates by a factor of weeks. "We will need to follow those deaths over the next couple of weeks to see the impact of Omicron on mortality," Walensky said Wednesday during a White House Covid-19 response team briefing.

preprint study of data from California hospitals found that people infected with Omicron were less likely to be hospitalized -- and for a shorter time -- than those infected with Delta, and their risk of death was also lower.

The study, which was posted Tuesday and has not yet been peer-reviewed, analyzed data from people in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health care system in December who tested positive for Covid-19, including about 52,000 infected with Omicron and 17,000 infected with Delta.

Of those people, 235 with Omicron and 222 with Delta were hospitalized. No patients with Omicron needed to be put on a ventilator, while 11 patients with Delta did.

Rates of admission to the ICU were four times less for those with Omicron compared with Delta, and rates of death for those with Omicron were about a tenth of those with Delta, according to the study.

More than 62,000 people could die of Covid-19 in the next four weeks, an ensemble forecast from the CDC published Wednesday predicts. Covid-19 has killed more than 842,300 people in the US , according to JHU.

Students return to Olive Vista Middle School on Tuesday in Sylmar, California.

The return-to-school debate rages on

As Omicron rages on, people working in education services have debated whether in-person learning is currently feasible -- and school districts across the country have taken different approaches after the holiday break.

Health experts are urging more vaccination, with only 17% of children ages 5-11 and 54% of ages 12-17 immunized so far, according to the CDC.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday that children are being infected at a much higher rate than in 2020.

More than 580,000 US pediatric Covid-19 cases were reported last week alone, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association said Wednesday. That's a 78% increase over the 325,000 new cases reported the prior week.

"Of the children who have been hospitalized or go to the intensive care unit or die, about a third of them have no comorbidities. Therefore, it can occur in anyone," Offit said Tuesday.

JUST WATCHED Covid-19 pushes the US health care system to the brink Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Covid-19 pushes the US health care system to the brink 02:05

"This is not a virus to fool around with," he said. "This virus can cause you to make an immune response to your own blood vessels, which means that you can have heart disease, brain disease, kidney disease, lung disease as well as liver disease."

But Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told CNN's Erin Burnett on Tuesday that data shows risks to children are very low and it's time to talk about easing measures such as mandatory masking.

Experts, including Allen, have said in-person learning should move forward, citing the eligibility of K-12 students for vaccines and that adult teachers and staff have had plenty of time to get inoculated and boosted.

"We are coming up on two years of disrupted school, kids in masks, to think there is no harm there or no loss in socialization, no impact, I think is incorrect," Allen said. "The risk to kids is low and adults have had time to protect themselves with the vaccine."

Pediatric Covid-19 hospitalizations across the country recently hit a pandemic high -- at 5,018 children on Saturday, well beyond the peak of a Delta-variant-driven wave, which was 2,544 on September 10, according to HHS.

As some schools return to class, others head home

Several of the nation's largest school districts are returning to in-person learning while others are shifting to remote.

Districts in Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta moved forward with returns to classrooms this week.

While other districts, such as Cincinnati, Santa Fe and Las Vegas -- where the Clark County school district is the fourth largest in the country -- are temporarily moving back to remote learning as they deal with teacher absences.

In Louisiana, a group of teachers was planning a "sickout" Wednesday to protest Covid-19 protocols and severe staff shortages, demanding virtual learning return in their district and for school officials to extend isolation times for those infected from five days to 10 days.

"Entire departments are out, buses and classrooms are being combined, ancillary staff, teachers, office staff, and other school employees are covering classes to keep the school afloat," said Valencea Johnson, president of the East Baton Rouge Parish branch of the Louisiana Association of Educators. "We cannot continue to do this. Our staff is experiencing burnout and our students are not getting the education they need and deserve."

CNN reached out to the superintendent of the district for response.

The Biden administration is set to give K-12 schools an additional 10 million Covid-19 tests per month, according to a government fact sheet -- but that would cover just a fraction of students. Approximately 53 million students were in grades K-12 as of 2019, according to the US Census Bureau.

And according to the CDC, Covid-19 screening should be offered for students at least once per week when community transmission is at moderate, substantial, or high levels.

Travis Caldwell
Jason Hanna
Christina Maxouris

Olympics 2022 recap: US skier hurt in crash; no medals for US men ...

USA TODAY Sports

NOTE: Here's a look back at Monday's results in Beijing. For updates from everything going on Tuesday, check out our live blog.

Team USA earned its first figure skating medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics thanks to a clutch performance from its ice dancers.

The U.S. took home the silver in the team figure skating competition after Madison Chock and Evan Bates turned in a season-best score in the ice dancing free program.

The news was not so good for skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin. The defending Olympic champion will not repeat in the women's giant slalom.

Shiffrin's first of five potential events in Beijing ended in disappointment Monday when she wiped out on her opening run.

(Looking for coverage from Sunday's events? Here's everything you need to know.)

TV SCHEDULE: How and what to watch each day of the Beijing Olympics

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WINTER OLYMPICS 2022: Answering 10 major questions for the Beijing Games

Star US figure skater out individual event after testing positive for COVID-19

Vincent Zhou, 21, the nation's No. 2 male figure skater behind Nathan Chen, tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday and will be unable to compete in Tuesday's individual event. Zhou skated for the U.S. in the team event, winning silver, and was scheduled to compete individually on Tuesday, in the short program.

"It seems pretty unreal that of all the people, it would happen to myself," Zhou said in an emotional, 5-minute long video shared on social media Monday announcing that he will not be competing Tuesday. "That's not just because I am still processing this turn of events, but also because I have been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic. I have taken all the precautions I can and I have isolated myself so much that the loneliness can be crushing at times."

-- Analis Bailey

Disappointing night at short track for US

Andrew Heo emerged as the best chance for an American medal in short track speed skating in the two events at Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday.

But the 20-year-old didn’t have enough juice to make the “A” final, despite putting together a pair of consistent times to make the “B” final in the men’s 1,000 meter. Heo went 1:24.03 to go into semifinal after a slower 1:24.6 quarterfinal time. He then bursted too early and came in last of the final (1:36.14).

On the women’s side (500 meters), neither of the United States’ two skaters made it out of the quarterfinals. Maame Biney came in third in the second heat with a time of 46.009. Meanwhile, teammate Kristen Santos was penalized in the fourth quarterfinal as she fell and took an opposing skater with her into the wall.

The men’s “A” final was not without drama, as the race was called halfway through due to metal parts on the track. After a brief cleanup and ice manicure, the race restarted, with China’s Rei Ziewei and Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu battling it out for gold. Liu appeared to eke out the photo finish, but after a replay, Liu was assessed a yellow card for committing two penalties. That disqualified him and gave Rei gold in front of a delighted home crowd.

Italy’s Arianna Fontana won the women’s 500 prior to that.

-- Chris Bumbaca

While you were sleeping

From a historic moment to a devastating crash, the Beijing Games have not lacked excitement since it began.

Here are the top stories you missed while you were asleep:

17-year-old Chinese snowboarder claims slopestyle silver, shares podium with his idol

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Mark McMorris remembered the little kid he would see on his visits to China, the one who idolized him and who clearly loved snowboarding.

After the Olympic slopestyle final, McMorris just had to look across the podium to find him.

China’s Su Yiming fulfilled a dream and drew the attention of throngs of media, fans, workers and volunteers at Genting Snow Park. The 17-year-old phenom claimed silver, beating his idol in an Olympic final.

McMorris won bronze for a third consecutive Games, while his Canadian teammate Max Parrot won gold.

“I’m seeing this little kid, he’s always around, and he loves snowboarding more than anything and idolized me and then boom, this fall he’s just like so damn good,” said McMorris, who has been making trips to China to compete for Burton, one of his sponsors, since 2010.

“He became a man, and he definitely has some height now and he’s strong and he’s riding at an incredible level. I’m super proud of him because he is a true snowboarder. He loves the sport. I’m honored to share the podium with him, and his future’s really bright.”

Su finished first in qualifying and drew the most attention here. His massive second run included two triple corks, including one on the final jump with three off-axis flips and five spins that he had never done before.

By the time he lined up on the podium with his idol, dozens of workers stood atop the jump where he made his mark to watch.

“This moment is indeed amazing for me because when I was very young I had this dream to compete in my hometown, in my country, to attend the Olympic Games,” Su said. “I'm extremely happy to achieve this medal in my hometown and also compete and stand on the podium with my idol from my childhood. I really felt overwhelmed.”

— Rachel Axon

US speedskater and flag-bearer Brittany Bowe comes up empty in women's 1500 meters

BEIJING — It was a disappointing day for the Americans at the National Speed Skating Oval, but a historic one for an Olympic speedskating legend.

Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands won gold at 1500 meters Monday, claiming an individual medal at the Winter Games for a whopping fifth consecutive time. Her first medal of the streak came at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Wüst also broke the Olympic record, to boot. She crossed the line in 1:53.28.

American Brittany Bowe, who carried the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony alongside curler John Shuster, had been expected to contend for a medal at this distance but finished well off the pace. She finished nearly a full second off the podium, in 10th place, with a time of 1:55.81.

Bowe will next race in the 500 on Sunday and the 1000, her signature event, on Feb. 17.

— Tom Schad

US skier Nina O'Brien hurt in scary crash in giant slalom

BEIJING — Nina O’Brien, the top U.S. woman in the giant slalom after Mikaela Shiffrin went out, crashed just ahead of the finish line Monday and appeared to seriously injure her left leg.

O’Brien was taken off the course on a stretcher, but U.S. Ski & Snowboard said on Twitter that she was “alert and responsive.”

“She was worried about delaying the race,” the organization said. “And also she wanted to know how fast she was skiing.”

O’Brien had one gate left in the second run and was going at top speed when she lost her balance. Her legs flew wide and she tumbled past the last gate and into the finish area. O’Brien immediately clutched at her left leg, and still photographs showed her ankle going the opposite direction of how it should.

— Nancy Armour

American men fail to medal in snowboard slopestyle

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — There would be no repeat gold for Team USA's men’s snowboard slopestyle team. There would be no medal, even.

Four years after Red Gerard pulled off a surprising Olympic win, the 21-year-old finished just off the podium here at the Beijing Olympics.

Gerard, 21, was a surprise gold medalist in Pyeongchang four years ago – even to himself. He has since embraced the competition scene and came to Beijing gunning for a medal.

He sat in third until Canadian Mark McMorris landed a big run to bump Gerard and take bronze himself. Canadian Max Parrot, who won silver in slopestyle four years ago, claimed gold, while 17-year-old Chinese phenom Su Yiming took silver.

Americans had won the gold in both previous contests since slopestyle was added in 2014, with Sage Kotsenburg claiming it in the debut and Gerard winning in 2018.

“Fourth never feels good. One off from being cool,” Gerard said. “I haven’t really fully put it together yet. I’m just happy that I landed a run, and I was really happy with the run, probably the best run I’ve ever done.”

Gerard used a unique line to put himself in contention.

On his first run, he landed 1620s on the first and third jumps. But in the rail section, he did a trick off the roof of the guard tower feature and on the second jump he used the quarter pipe to launch himself into double cork 1080.

He flubbed a trick in the rail section on his third run, leaving him to wait to see if his score would hold. But McMorris put down a run with three triple corks on the jumps to give himself a bronze medal for a third consecutive Games.

Americans Chris Corning and Sean Fitzsimons finished sixth and 12th, respectively.

— Rachel Axon

Olympic downhill skiing drought continues for US men

BEIJING — The U.S. men’s drought in the Olympic downhill continues.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle was the top American finisher Monday, finishing in 14th place, 82 seconds behind Olympic gold medalist Beat Feuz of Switzerland. Bryce Bennett, the top U.S. man in the downhill this season, was 19th while Travis Ganong was 20th.

It’s the second consecutive Olympics that the U.S. men have failed to have anyone finish in the top 10.

Johan Clarey of France won the silver and Matthias Mayer, the 2014 Olympic champion, took the bronze in the race, which was rescheduled from Sunday because of high winds.

“I can’t think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck,” said Feuz, who four years ago was the bronze medalist in the downhill and silver medalist in the super-G.

Only two American men have won the Olympic downhill, and Tommy Moe was the last to do it, at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer. Bode Miller was the last U.S. man to win a medal in downhill, a bronze in 2006.

-- Nancy Armour

Players wear masks for Canada vs. ROC women's hockey game

Even during an Olympics with extreme COVID-19 protocols, it was a bizarre look for Canadian and Russian women’s hockey players. Both teams took the ice Monday wearing KN95 masks underneath their hockey masks.

The start of the preliminary group game was delayed by more than an hour because the Canadian team did not receive a report on Russia’s COVID testing status and didn’t want to take the ice until that happened, according to Toronto Sun reporter Rob Longley.

The Associated Press reported that the IOC told the IIHF, the international hockey federation, that players were required to wear masks due to “safety and security reasons.”

The Russians returned for the third period without their masks, however. The Canadians kept theirs on.

-- Roxanna Scott

US figure skating silver medalist tests positive for COVID-19

BEIJING — A prominent U.S. figure skater has tested positive for COVID-19, and at the worst possible time.

U.S. Figure Skating announced Monday that Vincent Zhou, who is scheduled to skate the men's short program Tuesday, tested positive on Sunday. It is now unclear whether he will be able to compete.

"Under the guidance of the USOPC medical staff, Zhou is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status," the national governing body said in a statement. "If the results are negative, Zhou will be able to compete in the men’s short program, which begins Tuesday. At this time, we ask you respect his privacy as we await the results."

The news of the positive test comes at a devastating time for Zhou, who skated the long program for Team USA in the team competition on Sunday morning.

With the draw already having been completed, it is unlikely that the U.S. would be able to have an alternate skate in Zhou's place. Nathan Chen and Jason Brown are the other American men in the field.

— Tom Schad

Russian woman makes figure skating history

BEIJING — In the final event of the team figure skating competition, Russian skater Kamila Valieva landed a trick that no woman had ever achieved on Olympic ice.

Then she did it again in the same program.

Valieva, 15, became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Winter Games, making four rotations in mid-air. She also became the first woman to land two of them in the same program, kicking off her program with a quad salchow before later landing a quad toe.

That she fell on a third quad attempt later in the program proved to be a mere footnote.

Valieva's performance capped a dominant gold-medal-winning performance by the Russian Olympic Committee in the team event. Valieva is also one of three Russian wunderkinds who will be vying for podium spots in the women's individual competition, and there is a chance they could sweep the podium.

— Tom Schad

USA wins silver in team figure skating event behind stellar ice dance

BEIJING — After the first day of the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Team USA was dreaming of gold.

Instead, it squeaked out a silver.

Buoyed by a strong final performance from the ice dance team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates on Monday, the Americans edged Japan to win their first silver medal in the team figure skating event. They won bronze in both 2018 and 2014.

The Russian Olympic Committee, which entered as the favorite, won gold in dominant fashion.

"We're celebrating silver," Bates said. "Winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games is an incredible achievement, and the fact that we all get a silver medal, the whole team -- I'm so happy. I'm so happy."

The U.S. and Japan were tied in the standings with 48 team points entering the final two events of the competition -- the free dance and women's long program. But Chock and Bates, the captains of the U.S. team, turned in a stellar performance to finish first in their event, and Karen Chen did enough in a redemptive long program to hang on.

— Tom Schad

Chinese American sensation makes Olympic debut

BEIJING – There is no bigger star in China at these Olympics than Eileen Gu, the 18-year old freestyle skier from San Francisco who is headed to Stanford after these Olympics.

Despite her American roots, Gu chose in 2019 to compete for China, the country where her mother grew up and where she has become a fashion model and a breakthrough star.

Given the hype surrounding her debut at the Beijing Games, Gu admitted there was some pressure to perform well Monday in the first Big Air competition for skiing ever at the Olympics. After two of her three runs, though, Gu’s place in the final was uncertain. After her ski fell off on the second jump, her only choice was to produce a clean run or be eliminated from the competition.

“I would not feel satisfied if I didn’t make finals,” she said. “I was just focusing on the trick itself. I wasn’t thinking about there are people who want to watch me or that there was this pressure on me. It’s a right 9 (or jump with 2 ½ rotations). I’ve been doing right 9s since I was 14, and I know I can do that trick so I was just kind of talking to myself in that way.”

Gu pulled it off, securing her place in what will be a widely-watched final here on Tuesday at the Big Air Shougang.

Among the four-woman American contingent, only Darian Stevens qualified for the final after landing a left 900-degree trick on her third try after finding trouble on her second jump.

“I was obviously feeling the heat,” said Stevens, a native of Missoula, Mont. “I had a really good first jump I was very happy with and had a little bit of a speed issue on the second one so there was a lot of pressure riding on that third jump but I was really happy to land it.

— Dan Wolken

NBC's Mike Tirico to depart Beijing early

NBC prime-time Olympic host Mike Tirico will have a shorter stay in Beijing than originally planned.

Tirico's final show from Beijing will be Monday night. He will fly from China to NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, to host Wednesday's and Thursday's shows before heading to Los Angeles on Friday to anchor Olympic and Super Bowl coverage through Sunday.

Tirico will then head back to Stamford for the final week of Olympic coverage. The Games conclude on Feb. 20.

Maria Taylor, who signed with NBC on the eve of last summer's Tokyo Olympics, will host Tuesday night's show while Tirico is flying back.

Tirico was originally scheduled to stay in Beijing through Thursday before going to Los Angeles. NBC officials, though, have reiterated that his schedule was subject to change based on COVID-19 and other factors.

This is the first year that the Olympics and Super Bowl are taking place at the same time. Four years ago, Tirico missed the Super Bowl as he was preparing for his first Olympics as prime-time host in Pyeongchang.

NBC has its announcers and hosts working out of its Connecticut headquarters. It has a limited group of reporters on the ground in China. NBC News' Craig Melvin is still in Beijing and will host “prime plus coverage” (which is late night in New York but prime time in Los Angeles) over the weekend.

— Associated Press

Ice dancers score season best to put U.S. in silver medal position

BEIJING —The U.S. is all but assured of winning silver in the team figure skating competition after a clutch performance from Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the free dance.

Chock and Bates won their event with a season-best score of 129.07, widening the gap between the Americans (58) and Japan (54), which is in third place. There is one event remaining, with Karen Chen set to skate in the women's free skate.

Teams are awarded points based on their finish in each event, with 10 points to the winner, nine to the runner-up and so on.

The U.S. had been squarely in silver-medal position entering Monday, but a last-place finish from Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier in the pairs' long program allowed Japan to knot the score.

The Russian Olympic Committee has all but locked up the gold, while the other two finalists, Canada and China, only had remote chances of medaling entering Monday.

The Americans have won bronze medals in the team event at each of the past two Olympics.

— Tom Schad

Shiffrin wipes out in first run of giant slalom

YANQING, China — Mikaela Shiffrin's first chance for a gold medal was over almost as soon as it began.

Expected to contend for multiple medals at the Beijing Olympics, several of them gold, Shiffrin lost an edge on the fifth gate of the first run of the women’s giant slalom and skied out. It’s the first time she’s failed to finish a GS race since January 2018.

"It's a huge disappointment. Not even counting the medals," Shiffrin said afterward. "The easiest thing to say is I skied a couple of good turns and skied one turn a bit wrong and really paid the hardest of consequences for that."

Shiffrin has said she hopes to do all five individual events at the Beijing Olympics. Her next race will come Wednesday, in the slalom. She won gold there in 2018, making her the youngest champion in that event.

-- Nancy Armour

Report: Peng Shuai meets with IOC president, says she 'never disappeared'

BEIJING – Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai told a French newspaper that her long-planned dinner with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has already occurred.

In a story published Monday by L'Equipe, Peng said the two met for dinner Saturday. She also once again denied having accused anyone of sexual assault, after alleging in a social-media post in November that she had been assaulted by Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking Chinese government official.

Peng's post was later scrubbed from Chinese social media, and she disappeared from public view for several weeks. She also disagreed with that characterization.

"I never disappeared, everyone could see me," Peng told L'Equipe.

Activists have expressed concern that Peng's movements and statements have been monitored or influenced by the Chinese government in the wake of her allegation.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams confirmed that Bach and Peng had dinner Saturday night. When asked Sunday about the dinner, he said he had no update.

-- Tom Schad

Moguls skier Kai Owens couldn't see out of one eye after crash in practice

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Cupping, dry needling, ice, pressure and some kind of brush for her face -- all day, every day, every hour, for the last several days. This was Kai Owens’ entire existence.

With a lot of persistence and medical treatment, the Chinese-born, American raised freeskier was able to compete in the Beijing Winter Olympics Sunday night, finishing in 10th place in the women's moguls. Australia’s Jakara Anthony led the field with a gold medal performance of 83.09. American Jaelin Kauf won the silver with a score of 80.28, and Anastasiia Smirnova of Russia took bronze.

Her ability to get to this night came down to the wire. Owens, 17, missed the opening qualifying round several days earlier, last Tuesday night, when her eye was swollen shut from a crash during a practice run on the same day. Owens, who also had a concussion earlier in the season, was held out by coaches.

“The first day I couldn’t even move my arm,” said Owens. “I was in a sling because of my rotator cuff. And then I couldn’t see out of my eye.”

By Sunday night, her eye was still visibly injured, but remarkably healed given how bad it was a few days earlier.

“I’m just so thankful to be here,” said Owens. “I owe a huge ‘thanks’ to our Team USA staff, U.S. ski and snowboard staff. They helped get me out here tonight.”

-- Lori Nickel

Mikaela Shiffrin to make her debut at 2022 Beijing Games in giant slalom

BEIJING — In what could be the first of five races at the Beijing Olympics, and perhaps as many medals, Mikaela Shiffrin competes Monday in the giant slalom. She is the reigning Olympic champion in GS and is currently third in the World Cup standings, with two wins and a second-place finish in five races this season.

The GS will be followed Wednesday by the slalom, where she became the youngest Olympic champion in the event in 2014. Shiffrin also has a silver, from the Alpine combined in Pyeongchang.

Shiffrin won the season-opening GS race in October in Soelden, Austria. But she didn’t race GS again until December – she won one race and finished second in the other – and her training time throughout the season has been limited.

In fact, she said Friday that she has spent more time training GS since coming to Beijing than she has the rest of the season.

"That’s not ideal," she said.

Despite that, Shiffrin said she feels she’s in a "pretty good place," both in GS and overall.

"There’s a lot of potential there," she said. "What are the odds on a day where all the variables are controlled? My odds aren’t bad. I’m just going to have to see where the chips fall."

— Nancy Armour

Opinion: Are Olympic uniforms tainted by forced labor?

BEIJING – Everywhere you turn at these Olympic Games, friendly staff members and volunteers are impeccably dressed in uniforms depicting white snow peaks and blue Chinese skies. As the competitions get underway in full force, we will see hundreds of technical officials wearing similarly attractive grey and white gear with red accents on their sleeves.

But it’s the logo over the right breast that your eyes should be drawn to.

The nondescript symbol, which looks vaguely like the silhouette of an impala’s head or perhaps a pickaxe, represents Anta Sports, a Chinese sporting goods giant that endorses several NBA players, including Klay Thompson and Gordon Hayward. It is also the parent company of a subsidiary that owns legacy American brands like Wilson and Louisville Slugger. The founder of Lululemon, Canadian billionaire Chip Wilson, is heavily invested in the company.

In China, the world’s second-largest economy, Anta is a very big deal. It’s also at the center of arguably the biggest political controversy surrounding these Olympics involving alleged genocide and human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China.

— Dan Wolken

The unlikely pipeline at the heart of the U.S. speedskating team

Ocala, Florida, is a town of about 60,000 people located between Gainesville and Orlando. Palm trees dot downtown. Temperatures last week touched 80 degrees.

It's not the kind of place you'd expect to produce Winter Olympians.

But in a strange twist – and with the almost inadvertent help of a Florida grandmother – that is exactly what's happened.

Three of the top U.S. speedskaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Brittany Bowe, Erin Jackson and Joey Mantia – all hail from Ocala, which does not even have a year-round ice rink. All three are legitimate medal contenders. And all three started out as inline skaters on a team that is now called Ocala Speed, coached by the same woman, Renee Hildebrand.

— Tom Schad

Opinion: US figure skaters falter on jumps, but still guaranteed a medal at Winter Olympics

BEIJING – After Day 1 of the Olympic figure skating team competition, U.S. athletes talked about skating with intensity and building momentum for an improbable gold-medal run against the Russians.

On Day 2, the conversation turned, sharply. Thoughts of momentum were replaced by concerns about “picking each other up.” High-fives and fist bumps were gone. Hugs and kind words showed up in their place.

That’s because, given the chance to rise to the occasion, both Karen Chen and Vincent Zhou turned in flat, lackluster performances, leaving the United States likely settling for the team silver medal and wondering what might have been had Chen and Zhou been able to skate cleanly – or how things would have been different had U.S. Figure Skating officials chosen other skaters in their place.

— Christine Brennan

Louisville coronavirus: Rand Paul at event where guest tested positive

Two attendees of the Speed Art Museum's March 7 "Speed Ball" have tested positive for COVID-19, potentially exposing a swath of high-ranking Kentucky and Louisville officials and local power players to the virus.

Guests at the event — held the day after the governor announced Kentucky's first confirmed case of coronavirus — included Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, Metro Council President David James, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth.

The museum did not release the identity of the patients, but an attorney for Christy Brown, one of Louisville's most influential philanthropists and environmental advocates, confirmed to The Courier Journal she had attended the event and received positive test results Friday.

Mary Moss Greenebaum, the leader of the Kentucky Author Forum who also attended the Speed Ball fundraiser, confirmed Sunday afternoon she has tested positive for COVID-19.

The producer and founder of the popular roundtable conversation with newsmakers, authors and influencers said an initial test at University of Louisville Hospital on Thursday came back negative for the coronavirus.

But “one wise doctor was skeptical enough — given my symptoms — to insist that the test be done again and it turned out positive.”

“I’m a scared cookie,” Greenebaum said.

Governor, mayor, congressman get tested for virus

Several prominent Louisville and Kentucky officials said they had been tested in the wake of learning they had possibly been exposed and some still awaiting results said they planned to self-quarantine for 14 days after the date of the exposure.

The governor said Sunday he'd been tested over the weekend and received negative results.

Yarmuth, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives' Budget Committee, said in a news release that he was staying home for the rest of the week and was awaiting test results.

Fischer also said he had been tested but had not gotten results back and has placed himself in self-quarantine for 14 days. He said in a conference call with reporters that he feels "great."

Fischer was able to get a test upon recommendations from the local health department, he said, because of the nature of the March 7 contact and the nature of his job.

"The two categories right now for getting tested are symptoms of COVID-19 in the hospital and, then, close contacts with cases. Mayor Fischer fell into that second category," Louisville's health director, Dr. Sarah Moyer, said on the conference call.

Kentucky coronavirus live updates: Get the latest information here

Assuming Fischer's results come back negative, he said he would resume normal work activities March 24. If he becomes symptomatic, he would work with the health department to identify and notify people who may have been exposed.

Speed director sends word of Speed Ball's connection to case

Speed Director Stephen Reily notified museum employees that one Speed Ball attendee had tested positive for COVID-19 in an email Sunday morning, which noted that the individual was asymptomatic at the time.

Moyer said Sunday that most of the people at the Speed Ball were at "very minimal risk" but her team was working with those who had close contact with confirmed cases to get them tested and self-quarantined.

Brown's attorney said she began to feel ill Sunday, the day after the fundraiser. In an emailed statement, she said she feels better "each day" but is taking it easy as "there's always a possibility of new symptoms."

In a later statement, the Speed Art Museum said Reily learned Sunday afternoon that another guest had tested positive for COVID-19. Both were asymptomatic at the time, it said, adding that health officials and affected individuals are notifying those considered at "higher risk from possible exposure."

"This does not include either guests at the Ball generally or Speed staff members," the release said, adding that nonessential workers are permitted to work from home during the 14 days following the Speed Ball.

The Speed Ball is the museum's most significant fundraiser, according to its website. It was held at the museum, with dinner in the 1927 galleries, then dessert, dancing and cocktails.

[ This story is being provided for free to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to The Couirer Journal at courier-journal.com/specialoffer/. ]

The Speed Art Museum was closed beginning Saturday for the rest of the month, part of a larger effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Reily advised in his Sunday morning email that museum employees "stay vigilant" in social distancing and in self-quarantining practices. He told The Courier Journal he hasn't begun exhibiting symptoms and that he would be working from home for the next week.

Along with several elected officials, attendees of the event, according to a photo gallery on The Voice-Tribune's website, included: University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi; Kent Oyler, the former president of Greater Louisville Inc.; and the Rev. Kevin Cosby of St. Stephen Church and Simmons College of Kentucky, as well as other area dignitaries and officials.

Other guests, including U of L president, weigh options

Bendapudi said she will also self-quaratine and does not have any symptoms. She has not been tested and U of L spokesman John Karman said he doesn't know if she has plans to.

Bendapudi's husband, Venkat, and her chief of staff, Michael Wade Smith, also attended the event. They both show no symptoms but will also self-quarantine, a U of L spokesman said.

"It is always an honor to lead U of L and for now I will be doing so remotely," Bendapudi tweeted Sunday.

Yarmuth's son, Aaron Yarmuth, said he isn't self-quarantining after attending the ball, but is avoiding physical contact and being "extra diligent" about hygiene. He also doesn't have any symptoms and isn't opposed to being tested if needed.

Cosby told The Courier Journal he feels fine and didn't speak to Brown or Greenebaum at the event.

What to do:9 steps to take if you might have COVID-19

James, the Metro Council president, confirmed he attended the event and said he is displaying no symptoms. Asked if he planned to self-quarantine, he said he wasn't sure because he'd just found out.

If testing opportunities become more widely available, he would get tested for the virus, he said.

Moyer told James in a text, shared with The Courier Journal, that her team would call if someone is at risk, adding that usually included being within 6 feet of a patient for 20 minutes, "or kissed, coughed or sneezed on."

Other attendees did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails left by The Courier Journal.

Greenebaum, Brown among 6 Jefferson County cases

There are 21 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Kentucky, as of Sunday afternoon. Of those, there are six in Jefferson County. Two of the cases are Greenebaum and Brown, both local influencers.

On March 9, the nonprofit Kentucky Author Forum affiliated with Greenebaum held a truncated event. The original speaker, author Amaryllis Fox, could not travel from California to Louisville because of virus-related travel concerns.

In her place, Malcolm Nance, an MSNBC contributor, analyst and author who was to interview Fox at the forum, stepped in and spoke to an audience of about 450 at The Kentucky Center in downtown Louisville.

After his presentation, Greenebaum hosted a small dinner for forum sponsors and supporters on the 25th floor of downtown’s Humana Building.

Greenebaum said she was not experiencing symptoms at the Speed Ball or at the forum event and follow-up dinner.

Symptoms, including a high temperature and a hacking cough, started to hit midweek, she said. They led to the decision to get tested.

Brown is a major philanthropic and political force in Kentucky, regularly showering various liberal causes, organizations and candidates with her wealth.

In the past decade, she has given nearly $2 million to Democratic candidates and political committees. Most recently, Brown gave millions toward a super PAC that supported former State Auditor Adam Edelen for governor.

Edelen, who came in third last May, was running with Brown's son-in-law, Louisville developer Gill Holland, as his running mate.

Much of Brown's money also has been spent on environmental causes, such as in 2018, when she pledged $5 million to establish an environmental health institute at the University of Louisville.

The gift was her family's largest ever to the school and represented one of the first major donations of Bendapudi's tenure.

Brown said in a statement that "this moment reminds us so directly that physical health is interrelated with all other forms of health (economic, psychological, spiritual, etc.)."

"I'm going to try to make use of this time to close the social distance — at least in our hearts and minds — and have a conversation about these things online, even while I am physically isolated," she said.

Darcy Costello: 502-398-0201; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/darcyc.

Two Biden Cabinet members among dozens of positive Covid-19 ...

(CNN) Two members of President Joe Biden's Cabinet tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, becoming some of the latest high-profile Washington figures to contract the virus in recent days.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced their positive diagnoses after having attended the elite Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington on Saturday. Other attendees, including first lady Jill Biden's press secretary, Michael LaRosa; Vice President Kamala Harris' communication director, Jamal Simmons; Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro; California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff; Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins; and the President's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, have also announced positive tests.

The string of positive cases has turned attention in Washington to the Gridiron dinner, an event that brings together some of the city's most prominent journalists, including from CNN, and the government officials they cover. Attendees had their vaccination status checked, but negative Covid-19 tests were not required to enter.

As of Thursday evening, 37 positive Covid-19 cases had been reported following Saturday's dinner, according to a letter from the club to its members.

Tom DeFrank, the president of the Gridiron Club, said in a statement Wednesday that "there is no way of being certain about when they first contracted Covid," DeFrank said.

"But they did interact with other guests during the night and we have to be realistic and expect some more cases," he continued. "Except in cases of public officials who have on their own disclosed their status, we will protect the privacy of guests who test positive."

Garland is not experiencing symptoms but asked to be tested after learning he may have been exposed to the virus, the Justice Department said. Earlier Wednesday, Garland had attended a news conference with other officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, to announce sanctions against Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev.

Raimondo, meanwhile, is "experiencing mild symptoms" but is "confident that the vaccine has prevented her from experiencing more significant symptoms," according to a statement from the Commerce Department Wednesday. Schiff said in a Tuesday tweet that he was "feeling fine," and Castro reported in his own of "experiencing mild symptoms." Owens did not have close contact with Biden or the first lady prior to her test, according to a statement from Celadon Books.

LaRosa, who had tested negative earlier this week after attending the Gridiron dinner, confirmed to CNN on Thursday that he was experiencing mild symptoms and isolating at home.

Though typically in close contact with the first lady, LaRosa only saw her briefly Thursday at the White House. He told CNN his interaction with Jill Biden had lasted less than 15 minutes and that they were several feet apart, which under CDC guidance means the first lady was not considered a close contact.

Vice president a close contact

Harris had been in close contact with Simmons, who tested positive on Wednesday, press secretary Kirsten Allen said.

"The Vice President will follow CDC guidance for those that have been in close contact with a positive individual and will continue to consult with her physician. The Vice President plans to continue with her public schedule," Allen said in a written statement.

In addition to having attended the dinner over the weekend, Simmons was also pictured in the East Room of the White House during the Affordable Care Act event with President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.

Biden is not considered to have been a close contact of Simmons, a White House official told CNN.

Inside the White House, in accordance with federal public health guidelines, officials and visitors have not been required to wear masks or social distance. Visitors are expected to be tested for Covid-19 before attending official White House events.

Simmons' case isn't the first to touch the White House.

Last month, second gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for the virus, marking the first known case of Covid-19 among the first or second families since Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office in January 2021. And White House press secretary Jen Psaki and White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre have also tested positive in recent weeks.

Covid-19 cases in Washington, DC, have declined since their peak in early January, when the country was facing a wave of Omicron variant cases. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's chief medical adviser, said Wednesday that he thinks there will be an uptick in cases of Covid-19 in the US over the next few weeks, and that it is likely that there could be a surge in the fall.

"I think we should expect ... that over the next couple of weeks, we are going to see an uptick in cases. And hopefully there is enough background immunity so that we don't wind up with a lot of hospitalizations," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, when asked by Bloomberg TV's David Westin about the prospect of another wave of Covid-19 from BA.2 or another variant, given the level of immunity believed to exist in the US today.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments Thursday.

Robert O'Brien, Trump's national security adviser, tests positive for ...

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, has tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Monday, becoming the highest-ranking administration official to contract the disease.

The news came days after the announcement that a Marine assigned to the military unit that flies Marine One tested positive for coronavirus but did not have direct contact with Trump or his presidential helicopter.

O'Brien, who was named national security adviser in September, "has mild symptoms and has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site," the White House said in a statement, asserting that there was no risk to the president or the vice president of exposure.

"The work of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted," the statement read.

Trump could not recall the last time he met with O'Brien and did know exactly when his top security adviser tested positive.

"I haven’t seen him lately," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Trump and O'Brien were last seen in public together during a July 10 visit to the U.S. Southern Command in South Florida. The next week, O'Brien traveled to Paris for meetings with counterparts from France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

The White House also conducted contact tracing last week after an employee for a cafeteria vendor at the two eateries inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building tested positive for the coronavirus.

Katie Miller, a top spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence, tested positive in early May and has since returned to work.