UK: Four-day workweek trial begins after pushes in California, Iceland

Do you and your co-workers feel like the weekend is always too short?

Thousands of workers in the United Kingdom are testing out a four-day workweek as part of a pilot program.

The trial includes more than 3,300 workers in 70 companies and organizations in sectors ranging from financial services to health care, retail and even a fish and chip shop.

It is being coordinated by the nonprofit groups 4 Day Week Global and 4 Day Week UK Campaign and the progressive think tank Autonomy, and the results of the trial will be analyzed by researchers from Cambridge University and Oxford University in the U.K. and Boston College in the United States, according to multiple reports.

The workers “are receiving (100%) of the pay for (80%) of the time, in exchange for a commitment to maintain at least (100%) productivity,” according to the pilot program’s site. It will include workshops and other training for participants, in addition to “wellbeing and productivity assessment.”

“We’ll be analyzing how employees respond to having an extra day off, in terms of stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel and many other aspects of life,” said Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College and the lead researcher on the project, The New York Times reported.

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Joe Ryle, the campaign director for the 4 Day Week Campaign, told the Times data on the program will be collected through interviews and surveys, in addition to measures the individual companies use to document productivity among staff.

The U.K. is not the first country where workers have tested out a four-day workweek. A study on workers in Iceland published by Autonomy last year found that "Worker wellbeing increased across a range of indicators, from perceived stress and burnout, to health and work-life balance." Productivity also either remained the same or improved for a majority of employers.

The world's biggest four-day work week pilot starts in the UK - CNN

London (CNN Business) Thousands of UK workers are starting a four-day work week from Monday with no cut to their pay in the largest trial of its kind.

to a The pilot, which will last for six months, involves 3,300 workers spanning 70 companies, ranging from providers of financial servicesto a fish-and-chip restaurant

During the program, workers receive 100% of their pay for working only 80% of their usual week, in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.

The program is being run by not-for-profit 4 Day Week Global, Autonomy, a think tank, and the 4 Day Week UK Campaign in partnership with researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.

Sienna O'Rourke, brand manager at Pressure Drop Brewing, an independent brewery in London, told CNN Business that the company's biggest goal was to improve the mental health and well-being of its employees.

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The world's biggest four-day work week pilot starts in the UK | CNN ...

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The UK is testing out 4-day work weeks. Here's why it matters

London CNN Business —

Thousands of UK workers are starting a four-day work week from Monday with no cut to their pay in the largest trial of its kind.

The pilot, which will last for six months, involves 3,300 workers spanning 70 companies, ranging from providers of financial services to a fish-and-chip restaurant.

During the program, workers receive 100% of their pay for working only 80% of their usual week, in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.

The program is being run by not-for-profit 4 Day Week Global, Autonomy, a think tank, and the 4 Day Week UK Campaign in partnership with researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.

Sienna O’Rourke, brand manager at Pressure Drop Brewing, an independent brewery in London, told CNN Business that the company’s biggest goal was to improve the mental health and well-being of its employees.

“The pandemic [has] made us think a great deal about work and how people organize their lives,” she said. “We’re doing this to improve the lives of our staff and be part of a progressive change in the world.”

Given the company manufactures and ships products, workers have less flexibility about when and where they work, O’Rourke said. But any difficulties in navigating holiday and sick leave would be tackled as a team.

Until now, Iceland had conducted the biggest pilot of a shorter working week between 2015 and 2019, with 2,500 public sector workers involved in two large trials. Those trials found no corresponding drop in productivity among participants, and a dramatic increase in employee well-being.

Video Ad Feedback 03:31 - Source: CNNBusiness Slack CEO: 'Days of 9 to 5, Monday to Friday are over'

Calls to shorten the working week have gathered steam in recent years in several countries. As millions of employees switched to remote work during the pandemic — cutting onerous commuting time and costs — calls for greater flexibility have only grown louder.

Government-backed trials are set to take place in Spain and Scotland later this year, the 4 Day Week Campaign said in a press release.

Joe O’Connor, CEO of 4 Day Week Global, said that the workers have shown they can work “shorter and smarter.”

“As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognizing that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge,” he said in the statement.

Researchers will measure the impact the new working pattern will have on productivity levels, gender equality, the environment as well as worker well-being.

Flights canceled; Fauci says omicron to fuel infections: COVID updates

More than 7,300 flights were delayed or canceled across the nation Sunday amid the latest omicron-driven coronavirus surge.

About 1,400 flights entering, leaving or flying within the United States were canceled and about 5,900 were delayed Sunday, according to the tracking website FlightAware. More than 4,000 flights were delayed or canceled Christmas Day as days of scheduling nightmares left holiday travelers scrambling.

Delta, United and JetBlue have blamed the omicron variant for staffing problems that led to flight cancellations. “This was unexpected,” United spokesperson Maddie King said of omicron’s impact on staffing.

Flight delays and cancellations have been a recurring theme this year as airlines have ramped up schedules. Thousands of workers were driven from the industry last year when air travel collapsed, and staffing has not kept up with the resurgence in demand.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" he supports a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel. But, he said, wearing a mask with proper filtration should keep air travelers reasonably safe.

Such a mandate would be another "mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated," he said. "Anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome."

Many U.S. airlines require their employees to be fully vaccinated, sparking controversy among some staff, but it's not yet required of most domestic passengers. International travelers entering the United States must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within a day of their departure.

Also in the news:

► Even with testing and reporting interrupted by the Christmas holiday, the United States' case counts grew – 1.29 million in a week, or an average of about 184,000 per day, Johns Hopkins University data shows. Hospitalizations were up and deaths rose slightly, to an average of over 1,300 per day.

► Vice President Kamala Harris declined to blame the unvaccinated for the latest surge. "But it is clear that everyone has the ability to make a choice to save their lives and to prevent hospitalization if they get vaccinated and if they get the booster," she said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

► Mastercard SpendingPulse reported Sunday that U.S. holiday sales rose 8.5% from a year earlier, the biggest annual gain in 17 years. The results cover Nov. 1 through Dec. 24.

► Vermont Everyone Eats, a food assistance program helping state residents, restaurants and farmers get through the pandemic, has been extended through April 1.

► France has recorded more than 100,000 virus infections in a single day for the first time since the pandemic struck. COVID-19 hospitalizations have doubled over the past month.

► More than 160 nonprofits in Rhode Island are sharing $5.4 million in federal coronavirus relief funding for housing, behavioral health services, health care, job training, food pantries and child care for those hardest hit by the pandemic.

📈Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 52 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 816,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 279.9 million cases and 5.3 million deaths. More than 204 million Americans – 61.7% – are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

📘 What we're reading: The omicron variant has thrown America's great return to the office into disarray, perhaps for months. Many companies who had notified employees they would need to come back to the office at least part-time early next year have pushed back those plans or are considering doing so. Read more.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY's free Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Some states report jumps in hospitalizations

The latest wave of COVID-19 is pounding hospitals in some parts of the country, according to Department of Health and Human Services data reported Sunday.

Washington, D.C., reported 77% more COVID-19 patients in hospital beds, and 42% more in intensive-care beds, than a week earlier.

Florida's hospital admissions are up 64%. Hawaii's are up 44%.

And in Louisiana, COVID-19 hospitalizations doubled in the last week. The Louisiana Department of Health said 449 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday. That's the highest since mid-October, which at the time was the state's worst surge.

Statewide, 80% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 are not fully vaccinated, the health department reported.

But the wave is moving unevenly across the country. Nearly half of the states report lower COVID-19 admissions and fewer people in ICU beds.

Fauci expects daily infections to rise 'much higher'

The "extraordinarily contagious" omicron variant will continue to drive daily coronavirus infections higher across the nation, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

"Every day it goes up and up. The last weekly average was about 150,000 (per day) and it likely will go much higher," Fauci said on ABC's "This Week."

President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser warned that while studies show omicron is less severe in terms of hospitalizations, more cases still could overwhelm hospitals. He defended the administration's efforts to provide more tests amid a shortage, and said he wished he had thought about ordering 500 million at-home tests two months ago.

"I think things will improve greatly as we get into January," he said. "But that doesn't help us today and tomorrow."

Fenway Bowl, Military Bowl shelved as surge cripples college football

The Fenway Bowl and the Military Bowl were canceled due to the pandemic on Sunday as coronavirus outbreaks at the University of Virginia and Boston College forced the schools to call off postseason plans. The game, scheduled Wednesday at Fenway Park in Boston, was to pit the Cavaliers against Southern Methodist University. The Military Bowl, scheduled Monday in Annapolis, Maryland, between Boston College and East Carolina University, was canceled because of positive COVID-19 tests at BC.

“This is not the way we wanted to see this season come to an end,” BC coach Jeff Hafley said. “We just do not have enough players to safely play a game."

The Hawaii Bowl was canceled last week after Hawaii withdrew from the game against the University of Memphis. And Rutgers will replace Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl against Wake Forest on New Year’s Eve after the Aggies pulled out because of a lack of available players.

Florida sets infection records two days in a row

Florida hit a record in the pandemic for the second day in a row, with 32,850 new cases reported Saturday. The 31,758 cases reported Friday had broken the state's previous record of more than 27,000, set in August during the height of the delta wave. The current surge is driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, public health experts say.

The swelling number of cases increased demand for COVID-19 tests, even on Christmas Day. Hours before a testing site opened at Tropical Park in Miami, dozens of cars lined up outside the entrance. The testing site was open from mid-morning to mid-afternoon; two other sites in Miami-Dade County were open on Christmas Day.

NBA urges booster shots for players

The NBA’s Christmas message to its teams was a refrain it has been using for weeks: Get boosted.

With the number of players on the league’s health and safety protocols list hovering around 100 – and with Chicago coach Billy Donovan now dealing with those protocols as well, calling into question his availability for the next few Bulls games – the league and the National Basketball Players Association continue to hammer home the importance of booster shots.

By Dec. 31, every NBA team must arrange a booster-shot event for players, staff and family members, the latest mandate from the league in its quest to get its skyrocketing infections under control. The NBA has told teams its data shows that boosters substantially reduce a person’s risk of being infected, but one out of every three players hasn't gotten a booster shot. About 97% of the league is vaccinated.

That comes as the league’s Jan. 5 booster mandate looms for all eligible scorer’s table personnel, team attendants and other staff who interact in person with players or referees. In almost all cases, if people in those positions don’t have boosters by Jan. 5, they won’t be allowed to continue in those jobs.

Positive COVID test? Here’s what to do.

Testing positive for COVID-19 starts a confusing, disruptive and at times frightening process – one that millions of Americans will likely go through in the coming weeks as the omicron variant rapidly spreads this holiday season.

First, you need to isolate. That’s a more intense version of quarantining – it means cutting off contact with other people as much as possible so you reduce the chance of infecting them. This also means forgoing travel, not going to work and even limiting contact with people in your own household who aren't infected.

The CDC says isolating is a necessary step whether you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated, and whether you have symptoms or feel fine.

Everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should monitor their symptoms. And people who are unvaccinated or at high risk for severe disease should be extra vigilant for symptoms that might require emergency care. Call your doctor for early treatment options.

How long should you isolate? How long will I be contagious? What if you are a close contact with someone who tested positive? Here’s what you should know about omicron and COVID this holiday season.

Contributing: Mike Stucka, USA TODAY; Associated Press

Denver sent mental health help, not police, to hundreds of calls

Another U.S. city is reporting early success with a program that replaces traditional law enforcement responders with health care workers for some emergency calls.

Previously, Denver 911 operators only directed calls to police or fire department first responders. But the Support Team Assistance Response (STAR) pilot program created a third track for directing emergency calls to a two-person team: a medic and a clinician, staffed in a van from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.

The STAR program, which launched in June, reported promising results in its six-month progress report. The program aims to provide a "person-centric mobile crisis response" to community members who are experiencing problems related to mental health, depression, poverty, homelessness, or substance abuse issues.

Denver is among several U.S. cities working to develop an alternative emergency responder model for people who are experiencing mental health crises, as police officers fatally shoot hundreds of people experiencing mental health crises every year, according to a Washington Post database of fatal shootings by on-duty police officers. Since 2015, police have fatally shot nearly 1,400 people with mental illnesses, according to the database.

Over the first six months of the pilot, Denver received more than 2,500 emergency calls that fell into the STAR program's purview, and the STAR team was able to respond to 748 calls. No calls required the assistance of police, and no one was arrested.

Denver police responded to nearly 95,000 incidents over the same period, suggesting that an expanded STAR program could reduce police calls by nearly 3%, according to the report.

"Overall, the first six months has kind of been a proof of concept of what we wanted," said Vinnie Cervantes, a member of Denver Alliance for Street Health Response, one of the organizations involved with the STAR program. "We've continued to try to work to make it something that is truly a community-city partnership."

Data collected during the pilot program found that STAR calls were focused in certain areas of the city, and most were calls for trespassing and welfare checks. Approximately 68% of people contacted were experiencing homelessness, and there were mental health concerns in 61% of cases – largely schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder – with 33% of people having co-occurring conditions, according to the report.

Carleigh Sailon, a social worker with the Mental Health Center of Denver who works out of the STAR van, said she takes a "non-judgmental, client-centered, supportive" approach to assisting people in crisis.

"The intent of STAR is to send the right response, not a one-size fit all response. People call 911 for an array of reasons and it’s not always something that involves risk or a criminal element," Sailon said in a statement. "If the STAR van can handle someone in crisis and that frees up police to handle a robbery or domestic violence call, then that’s an incredible success."

The report comes on the heels of a year that saw thousands of protests nationwide in response to the killings of several Black men and women, as well as a series of high-profile police killings of people experiencing mental health crises, including Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York, and Walter Wallace, Jr. in Philadelphia. Many protesters called on their local governments to redirect funding away from police departments.

In recent years, some police departments, such as in Los Angeles and San Antonio, have partnered with mental health professionals to work as "co-responders," assisting street cops responding to incidents involving a mental health crisis. In the wake of Breonna Taylor's killing in Louisville last year, the city increased its police budget and put money toward exploring co-responder models. And Chicago is expected to begin piloting a co-responder program this year.

But other cities rely on emergency response models that do not involve police. The Denver program is modeled after the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) in Eugene, Oregon. White Bird Clinic, a health care center in the city, launched the program as a community policing initiative in 1989.

Like the Denver program, CAHOOTS responds to a range of mental health-related crises and relies on techniques that are focused on harm reduction. With a budget of about $2.1 million annually, CAHOOTS answered 17% of the Eugene Police Department's overall call volume in 2017, according to the program.

In 2019, Cervantes traveled with a group from Denver to Eugene to study the CAHOOTS model. Cervantes said his organization, the Denver Alliance for Street Health Response, is working with about ten other cities in Colorado to draft co-responder models. Aurora – where 23-year-old Elijah McClain died after officers stopped him on the street in 2019 – is expected to launch its pilot in about a month, Cervantes said.

Jan. 15:Family of man fatally shot by Texas officer responding to mental health call want arrest

On the East Coast, New York City announced plans in November to launch a similar pilot program in two neighborhoods.

For the coming year, Denver has allocated $1.4 million in the city's budget to continue the STAR program, according to the report. The funding would be enough to purchase four additional vans and fund six new two-person teams, as well as a full-time supervisor, the report said. The program is also transitioning from the city's safety department to its public health department.

Cervantes said that, as the program goes forward, he hopes to see more complete data on who the program is serving. Current data does not list race or ethnicity for a third of people served by the program, Cervantes said.

"That's something that surprises me," Cervantes said. "How do we really understand the impact of the most marginalized communities in Denver if we don’t have the data there?"

Cervantes said the STAR program set out to connect residents in crisis with social services in the city, as well as identify the gaps in many of the services. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down many of the existing services, it made STAR's task more difficult.

"With COVID, some of the services that would typically be available weren’t quite in full service. That’s something the STAR program had to adapt to," he said.

The STAR program is organized through a coalition of city agencies and organizations, including the Denver Police Department, Denver Health Paramedic Division, Denver 911, the Caring for Denver Foundation, the Mental Health Center of Denver and community supporters.

Follow breaking news reporter Grace Hauck on Twitter @grace_hauck.

CDC cuts isolation time for Americans who test positive from 10 days ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has cut the amount of time it recommends people should isolate after testing positive for the coronavirus, reducing the number of days from 10 to five.

Health officials similarly reduced the amount of time a person should quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tests positive.

The changes come amid a surge in cases spurred by the omicron variant and concerns about staffing shortages at hospitals, airlines and businesses across the country. Research has suggested omicron, while more infectious, causes milder illness. CDC officials say the new guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the country is about to see a lot of omicron cases.

“Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact many are going to be asymptomatic,” she said Monday. “We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science.”

Last week, the agency loosened rules that had called on health care workers to stay out of work for 10 days if they test positive. The new recommendations said workers could go back to work after seven days if they test negative and don’t have symptoms. And the agency said isolation time could be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages.

The CDC’s guidance on isolation and quarantine has seemed confusing to the public, and the new recommendations are “happening at a time when more people are testing positive for the first time and looking for guidance,” said Lindsay Wiley, an American University public health law expert.

Isolation recommendations are for those who are infected with the coronavirus and start on the day a person tests positive. The agency recommends isolating for five days and going back to normal activities if a person is not showing any symptoms after that period.

Quarantines are defined differently, because the term refers to those who are in close contact with someone who tests positive. The CDC had recommended that unvaccinated people who come into close contact with someone who tested positive should quarantine for 10 days. The agency had said those who were vaccinated could skip a quarantine.

The CDC is now recommending those who are vaccinated and received a booster shot can skip quarantining if they wear a face mask for at least 10 days. If a person is vaccinated and has not gotten a booster, or if they are partly vaccinated or not vaccinated at all, the CDC recommends a five-day quarantine, then wearing a mask in public for an additional five days.

Also in the news:

► Apple is temporarily not allowing customers to shop inside its retail stores in New York City as COVID-19 cases surge.

► Minnesota has become the 18th state to report at least 1 million coronavirus cases, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

► Up to 300 Massachusetts National Guard members started fanning out across the state Monday to provide much-needed help to dozens of understaffed hospitals facing a surge of COVID-19 patients.

► The state of Connecticut plans to distribute 3 million at-home COVID-19 rapid tests and 6 million N95 masks to residents beginning as soon as Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday.

📈Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 52.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 817,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 281.1 million cases and 5.4 million deaths. More than 204 million Americans – 61.7% – are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

📘 What we're reading: In some counties in the U.S., only half of the spike in deaths during the pandemic has been attributed to COVID-19. Researchers say that points to a massive undercount.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY's free Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Texas runs out of monoclonal antibody treatment to fight omicron

Texas has run out of a key treatment to fight the omicron COVID-19 variant, which now makes up 90% of the virus cases in the state.

On Monday, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that its regional infusion centers in Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio and The Woodlands have run out of the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab.

That antibody has been shown to be effective against the omicron variant. Other monoclonal antibodies have not been shown to be effective against omicron.

The state does not expect to receive another shipment of sotrovimab from the federal government until January.

– Nicole Villalpando and Roberto Villalpando, Austin American-Statesman

Dr. Anthony Fauci warns against big New Year's Eve parties

A little champagne and a kiss are fine, but Americans should stay away from big parties this New Year's Eve, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

Fauci said in an interview on CNN that people should avoid the gatherings where they don’t know the vaccination status of all the guests. The omicron variant is fueling another infection surge, and crowded indoor parties could accelerate spread.

“When you are talking about a New Year's Eve party, where you have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating, you do not know the status of the vaccination – I would recommend strongly, stay away from that this year," Fauci said. "There will be other years to do that, but not this year."

Biden promises to ramp up access to testing

President Joe Biden conceded Monday that his administration has not done enough to provide access to coronavirus testing and promised to step up the effort. Earlier this month the Biden administration touted a plan to combat the latest surge that included 500 million free tests. But those test haven't begun rolling out yet, and demand for tests before holiday gatherings set off a rush that depleted stocks in most pharmacies and other locations.

"Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do," Biden said during a call with the White House COVID-19 Response Team and several governors. "We're doing it."

He said that starting in two weeks private insurance will reimburse people for the cost of at home test, and that the government will provide access to free tests for people without insurance.

Thousands more flights canceled, delayed

Airlines canceled and delayed thousands more flights Monday amid a staffing crisis caused by the nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant. This after more than 1,500 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Sunday and over 6,000 delayed, the tracking website FlightAware reported. Several airlines said the scheduling issues were caused by staffing problems tied to COVID-19.

JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said the airline has seen an "increasing number" of sick calls because of the fast-spreading omicron variant. The company entered the holiday season with the highest staffing levels since the start of the pandemic, he said. He warned that additional cancellations and delays “remain a possibility.”

The omicron variant is proving to be much more contagious than the delta variant; omicron now accounts for more than 70% of new cases in the U.S., according to the CDC.

FLIGHT CANCELED? What airlines owe you when flights are canceled, delayed

COVID testing becoming more popular at child care locations

Large-scale, regular testing remains rare in the child care world, but the idea is gaining traction as omicron works its way into communities. Families are fighting to keep their kids in classrooms, which at the early learning level often stay open during winter break. The upside to regular testing extends far beyond the classrooms and teachers, experts say. Read more here.

“Every time a classroom of 12 kids has to close down because of an outbreak, that’s at least 12 parents who can’t go to work,” said Sarah Muncey, co-president and chief innovation officer of Neighborhood Villages, an organization that advocates for early education reform. If “we have multi-pronged testing strategies … we can live through this winter and keep child care and, therefore, the economy open.”

– Alia Wong

US should consider vaccine mandate for US air travel, Dr. Anthony Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said the U.S. should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel, signaling a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed, as COVID-19 cases spike.

Fauci, the president's chief science adviser on the pandemic response, said such a mandate might drive up the nation’s lagging vaccination rate as well as confer stronger protection on flights, for which federal regulations require all those age 2 and older to wear a mask.

“When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated,” Fauci told MSNBC. “If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered.”

The Biden administration has thus far balked at imposing a vaccination requirement for domestic air travel. Two officials said Biden’s science advisers have yet to make a formal recommendation for such a requirement to the president.

The U.S. currently mandates that most foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, though citizens and permanent residents only need to show proof of a negative test taken within a day of boarding.

New York City begins requiring vaccinations for private-sector businesses

Private employers operating in New York City must require COVID-19 vaccinations for their workers beginning Monday under a sweeping mandate aimed at curbing a spike in the virus. The order affects an estimated 184,000 businesses, and those that do not comply could face fines starting at $1,000. But Mayor Bill de Blasio has said imposing penalties would be a last resort. Unvaccinated workers need not be fired but must be kept out of the workplace.

Employers have to verify and keep a record of each worker’s proof of vaccination. Workers who have only gotten one shot will have to get a second one within 45 days. Companies must display a sign affirming they are complying with the rule “in a conspicuous location,” under the city’s mandate.

Fueled by omicron, new infections rise 47% in 1 week

Even with testing disruptions from the Christmas holiday, America still reported dramatically worse COVID-19 numbers on Sunday.

In just the most recent 17 days the country has reported more new coronavirus cases than it had in all of November, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the week ending Sunday, the country reported 1.39 million cases – nearly 200,000 per day.

That number is up 47% from a week earlier, and up 65% from two weeks earlier. Christmas disruptions and limited access to testing mean the real number is likely worse.

New case records were set in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Puerto Rico.

– Mike Stucka, USA TODAY

COVID-19 continues to spread on cruise ships

COVID-19 cases are continuing to emerge on cruise ships. Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and MSC Cruises are among the companies dealing with clusters of cases on board, spurring itinerary changes and protocols to mitigate spread.

The CDC has been working with global public health experts and industry partners to learn about omicron, spokesperson Dave Daigle told USA TODAY last week. "We are still learning how easily it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, and how well available vaccines and medications work against it," he said.

The likelihood of contracting the coronavirus on a cruise is "high because the virus spreads easily between people in close quarters aboard ships," Daigle said.

MSC Seashore, which was scheduled to disembark passengers Thursday, sailed with 28 passengers who tested positive for COVID-19. The CDC is investigating Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas ship as it sails with more than 50 cases of coronavirus onboard.

– Morgan Hines, USA TODAY

Contributing: The Associated Press

Inside the plan to end the track-and-trace epidemic | The Week UK

Some of the individuals contacted by the app are “being forced to self-isolate for ten days despite never having come into face-to-face contact with a positive Covid case”, the paper reports, with a source close to the track-and-trace team saying that the Bluetooth signal used is powerful enough to penetrate walls.

Suggestions that many people are being made to quarantine unnecessarily have also been raised after reports that “neighbours are being told to self-isolate because the NHS app is ‘pinging’ people through walls”, The Telegraph says.

Government figures also show the number of school children forced into isolation because others in their school “bubble” tested positive for Covid-19 stood at 624,000 in the week of 2-8 July.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, has warned that hospital bosses are finding staff isolations are already “impacting on their ability to deliver care”, adding: “They’re particularly worried about the growth in numbers of staff isolating as the rate of Covid community infections rises.”

“One in five workers in hospitality and retail are self-isolating” at the moment, the paper adds, with NHS hospitals already “reporting staff absences of up to 25% and bus and train services are frequently cancelled or delayed due to driver shortages”.

The number of people being told to self-isolate is raising fears of a summer “pingdemic”, The Telegraph says, “with businesses, transport and schools brought to a standstill”.

The number of new UK coronavirus infections hit 48,553 yesterday, the highest since mid-January and the start of the third lockdown , with the number of people contacted by the NHS app “likely to rise as infections increase”, The Times says.

NHS bosses have “warned that mass isolation of staff is harming patient care”, The Times reports, with businesses and factories “also said to be on the verge of shutting down” amid the sudden spike in people being warned to quarantine.

The NHS app sent a record 520,194 alerts last week, telling users to quarantine for up to ten days because of close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. An additional 337,695 people were told to isolate by NHS test and-trace, while 194,005 tested positive, meaning more than 1.6 million people went into self-isolation across the week.

Fears are rising of a “summer of chaos” after hundreds of thousands of Brits were forced into self-isolation by the NHS track-and-trace app, closing down businesses and affecting healthcare services.

NHS boss Hopson has called for the issue of mass self-isolation to be treated “as a matter of urgency”, warning that providing daily care and dealing with the NHS backlog caused by the pandemic “is becoming increasingly difficult with large numbers of staff unable to work”.

Meanwhile, Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, told the Daily Mirror that “it is not an exaggeration to say factories are on the verge of shutting and that at some sites hundreds of staff are off work”, adding: “There will be public health consequences if test and trace becomes seen as a nuisance rather than an infection control measure.”

A Department of Health spokesperson defended the NHS app, saying that it “is doing exactly what it was designed to do - informing close contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 that they are at risk and advising them to isolate.

“As cases continue rising it is vital people are aware of their personal risk so they can make informed decisions on their behaviour to protect those around them.”

But ministers are understood to be mulling options to avoid outbreaks of mass isolation, with some suggesting that the app, “which monitors users’ closeness to each other and pings them if they have spent more than 15 minutes within two metres of someone who later tested positive”, should have its sensitivity tuned down as vaccination rates increase, The Guardian says.

‘Test to release’

From mid-August, anybody who has received two vaccine doses will be exempt from self-isolation. However, “ministers have reportedly been looking at bringing this forward, and at the option of making the app less sensitive”, says Politico’s London Playbook.

Sources told the site that any changes to the app are “unlikely to happen any time soon”, with focus instead turning to a Public Health England pilot that is looking into the impact of a “test to release” scheme.

Under the plan, those told to self-isolate are sent two PCR tests and enough lateral flow tests to last throughout their quarantine period. The PCR tests are taken on the first and last day, while the lateral flow tests are used every day. Test negative with the lateral flow test and you are able to leave the house.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove is known to be taking part in the study, which is using 40,000 volunteers across the country who were contacted by test and trace and told to self-isolate.

To the backdrop of concern over mass self-isolation, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has warned that England could be “plunged back into lockdown within five weeks as Covid cases surge during the third wave”, The Sun reports.

Speaking during a Science Museum webinar yesterday, Whitty said: “I don't think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast. We are not by any means out of the woods yet on this, we are in much better shape due to the vaccine programme, and drugs and a variety of other things.”

Cautioning that the pandemic “has got a long way to run in the UK, and it's got even further to run globally”, he added: “We’ve still got over 2,000 people in hospital, and that number is increasing.

“If we double from 2,000 to 4,000, from 4,000 to 8,000, to 8,000 and so on, it doesn’t take many doubling times till you’re into very very large numbers indeed.”

The intervention will put pressure on ministers looking to reduce self-isolation numbers, especially Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has been in post for just a few weeks and immediately “threw his weight” behind the 19 July unlocking, Politico says.

Boris Johnson has said the country must “learn to live with Covid”. But the end of regulations set to take place this Monday may mean the “pingdemic” is just beginning.

Fact check: No driving tax of 8 cents per mile in infrastructure bill

The claim: A 'driving tax' proposed by President Joe Biden would cost Americans 8 cents per mile

The timing of a vote on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package divided House Democrats this week, with some lawmakers arguing the bill should move in tandem with a larger package of social welfare programs.

But online, one popular narrative in opposition to the bipartisan public works bill, one of the largest in history, centers on a purported "driving tax."

"Biden's new driving tax is expected to cost you about 8 cents/mile," reads text in a Sept. 29 Instagram post. "Average person drives 15k miles/year. Get ready to pay an extra $1,200 a year (or about 1 month's rent)."

The source of the text is a Sept. 28 tweet from Kyle Hooten, a former speechwriter in the Trump administration and an editor at a website called Alpha News. The post accumulated more than 940 retweets in two days.

Similar claims have racked up thousands of interactions on Facebook and Instagram, according to CrowdTangle. Many of the posts cite a screenshot of a broadcast from Newsmax, a conservative news organization, about "Biden tax increases."

More:Here's what's in the infrastructure bill as it nears a vote in the House

"You guys tired of your boy yet?" one Facebook user wrote Sept. 28. "Now were (sic) going to have to pay to drive to work. Then pay to drive home."

That's wrong – the infrastructure bill does not include a "driving tax."

As other independent fact-checking organizations have noted, the legislation includes a voluntary pilot program to study the viability of a per-mile user fee to improve roads and maintain the Highway Trust Fund.

"There is no new vehicle tax in the infrastructure bill," Joshua Sewell, a senior policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a federal budget watchdog group, said in an email.

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the claim for comment.

Bill would create pilot program

If passed, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would create a voluntary "national motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot." The legislation does not include a new "driving tax," as the social media posts claim.

Hooten told USA TODAY in an email that his tweet "doesn't mention anything about the infrastructure bill."

"Nor did I claim the tax is imminent or that any plans are set in stone – thus the word 'expected,'" he said. "I simply echoed analysis aired by Newsmax about how this tax might evolve."

But the Newsmax broadcast mentioned "Biden's Build Back Better plan," an apparent reference to the infrastructure package. (The Build Back Better Act is a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which is separate from the infrastructure package and does not mention the user fee.)

"The infrastructure bill directs the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Treasury Secretary and an advisory board, to establish a voluntary per-mile user fee pilot project," Sewell said.

If passed, pilot participants would record how many miles they drive and pay fees based on those miles. Enrollment would be voluntary, and participants would be reimbursed for any charges they pay.

Fact check:$3.5 trillion reconciliation bill doesn't include 'animal agriculture tax'

The goal, according to the bill, is to test whether such a user fee could help "restore and maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund" and "improve and maintain the surface transportation system."

The Highway Trust Fund finances most federal spending for highways and mass transit, according to the Tax Policy Center. The fund gets most of its revenue from taxes on gas and diesel.

However, since 2008, those taxes alone have not sustained the fund. Congress has transferred billions of dollars in general revenues into the fund to meet its spending obligations.

"The gas tax is an eroding source of revenue because more and more cars are fuel-efficient or electric," Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director at the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told USA TODAY. "I think almost everybody understands, even the opponents of doing it now, that at some point we're going to have to transition from charging people based on gas used to miles traveled."

In addition to the potential federal pilot, which would run from fiscal year 2022 to 2026, several states are exploring road usage charges.

Will McBride, vice president of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, said in an email that a user fee is "not a bad idea as a way to fund expenditures on roads." A 2020 analysis from the right-leaning think tank found that a federal tax averaging 1.7 cents per mile could cover the highway fund's expenditures.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a "driving tax" proposed by Biden would cost Americans 8 cents per mile. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure package in Congress would not levy a new mileage-based tax. The legislation includes a voluntary pilot program to study whether a per-mile user fee could help improve roads and maintain the Highway Trust Fund.

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Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

What is UBI? More cities test monthly checks for residents

Despite working two jobs, Lorrine Paradela, 46, of Stockton, California, endured unrelenting stress over whether she could pay her bills every month.

“Sometimes you get child support, sometimes you don’t,” says Paradela, who lives with her 17-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter and doesn’t qualify for public assistance. “My mind kept going all the time. It wouldn’t stop. I didn’t sleep right.”

In early 2019, she began receiving $500 a month as part of a Stockton pilot program that gave a similar amount to 125 residents for two years. She used the money to pay bills, buy her kids gifts, fix her 2003 Chevy Trailblazer and buy a 2015 Honda Accord that allowed her to keep working.

“I was able to breathe better," she says. "I was able to sleep.”

Andrew Yang’s call for a "universal" basic income – handing every American adult $1,000 a month – was deemed a fanciful curiosity when he made the idea the linchpin of his 2020 Democratic presidential run.

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Yet his vision is playing out in a growing number of cities, such as Stockton, that are conducting “guaranteed income” pilot programs, giving groups of mostly lower-income residents a few hundred dollars to $1,000 monthly with no strings attached for up to two years. It’s also taking shape in Congress through a variety of proposed tax credits or allowances.

The movement, started by Stockton, has gained currency amid the economic carnage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left 10 million Americans unemployed despite a solid jobs recovery, and heightened awareness of racial inequities after the death of George Floyd in police custody.

“I think COVID made it more urgent and more politically feasible,” says Jonathan Morduch, an economist and professor of public policy at New York University who helped design a pilot in Compton, California.

Guaranteed income has become more critical in the longer-term as the nation’s gig economy spawns a growing population of freelance and contract workers who don’t receive benefits and whose income fluctuates from week to week, Morduch says.

Proponents say the initiatives provide households financial stability during sharp economic swings, alleviate stress and broaden recipients’ horizons. They come without the scrutiny and work requirements of programs such as welfare and food stamps.

“The social safety net is frayed,” says Halah Ahmad, a vice president of PR and policy communications for the Jain Family Institute, which helps design guaranteed income programs and researches their effects. “It’s not meeting people’s needs, and people are falling through the cracks.” She says those failings exact a huge cost on society.

Guaranteed income supporters say it can fill the gap for people who don’t qualify for public assistance because they earn too much. It serves as a supplement for those who do meet the requirements for assistance, because many of those individuals are barely scraping by.

Critics say the social safety net is the proper remedy for poverty, which afflicts 10.5% of Americans. Guaranteed income, they say, offers a disincentive to work and, since there are no strings attached, opens the door to misuse of the money for drugs or alcohol.

“If there’s a crack (in existing programs), we can fill the crack without giving away free money,” says Jon Coupal, head of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Findings from the Stockton trial, released Wednesday, bolster the case for guaranteed income.

The $500 monthly stipend allowed more participants to find jobs, reduced income volatility, eased stress and helped them pay unexpected expenses and meet basic needs. Less than 1% of the money was spent on alcohol or tobacco, according to the results of the two-year pilot, which ended in January.

About a half-dozen cities – including Compton; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Richmond, Virginia – launched guaranteed income pilots. A similar number – including Oakland, California; Pittsburgh; and Patterson, New Jersey – plan trials this year. Los Angeles, Atlanta and Newark, New Jersey, are among more than 25 cities seriously weighing programs as part of a coalition called Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. The initiatives are funded by private donations or a mix of private and public dollars.

Leaders of the efforts say the goal is a national guaranteed income for low- and even middle-income Americans that would be funded by the federal government, which has the finances and infrastructure to dole out monthly payments.

The personal checks sent to most Americans as part of congressional COVID-19 relief packages paved the way for a broader public acceptance of unconditional government money, Ahmad of the Jain Family Institute says. Their drawback, some Democratic lawmakers say, is that they’re one-time windfalls even as many households continue to suffer from COVID-19-induced unemployment or reduced hours.

Proposals in Congress would provide some form of recurring guaranteed income that does away with work mandates, which can pose an undue burden when parents are taking care of kids or sick relatives, supporters say. A $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan passed by the House late last week would increase a child tax credit from $2,000 to up to $3,600 for a year, and Democrats will probably seek to make the change permanent. Even Americans with little or no income could get a refund, and the credit could be drawn in monthly installments of $250 to $300.

Bills by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Vice President Kamala Harris would give tax credits of $3,000 yearly to individuals and $6,000 to married couples even if they don’t have children and aren’t working. The Harris proposal would cost about $3 trillion over a decade. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, wants to provide a $3,000 to $4,200 yearly per-child benefit, even for stay-at-home parents, offsetting the cost by scrapping other programs and tax deductions.

Matt Weidinger, a research fellow in poverty studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says the proposals largely reverse 1990s-era welfare changes that imposed work requirements on recipients and shrank welfare rolls.

“It’s paying people a check to not be working,” says Weidinger, who worked on the changes for a Republican-controlled House committee.

That may be just the ticket to a more just society, argues Stephen Nunez, lead researcher on guaranteed income for the Jain institute. Estimates show the Romney bill, for example, would cost $230 billion but cut child poverty by a third, generating $267 billion to $367 billion in benefits, Nunez says.

Paine, MLK sought guaranteed income

Guaranteed income, or universal basic income, isn’t new. Philosopher Thomas Paine called for a basic income in the USA in the late 1770s. Martin Luther King Jr. backed the idea to wipe out poverty in the 1960s. Negative income tax trials were conducted in Seattle and New Jersey starting in the 1960s. In recent years, countries such as Iran, Kenya and Finland have rolled out basic-income programs.

Former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs says he was inspired by King to launch his city’s pilot to address its 22% poverty rate.

“It makes so much sense that if the issue is cash, the solution is cash, not legislating how to use the cash,” as do federal programs such as food stamps, he says.

Many households that receive public aid have no leeway for unexpected expenses, such as a car repair, a rent increase or making up for a late COVID-19 unemployment check, Morduch and Ahmad say.

'People should be trusted'

Even more critical, Morduch says, is that guaranteed income accepts that “people should be trusted to use the money efficiently and be smart and thoughtful,” knowing how best to meet their own needs.

By contrast, Ahmad says, public assistance programs are rooted in distrust and racism that have hurt Black Americans, in particular. Doling out the money unconditionally relieves stress and affords recipients the money and time to forge a better life, seek higher-paying jobs or train for a new career, Morduch says.

Nunez says studies show guaranteed income recipients work less but just modestly, and the additional time is typically spent with their families. He says there’s no evidence they spend the money on drugs or alcohol.

In the Stockton trial, 37% of the funds were spent on basic needs such as food; 22% on merchandise such as clothing and home goods; and 11% on utilities.

A year into the trial, 40% of the participants were employed full-time, up from 28% when the trial started. More than half were able to pay for unexpected expenses with cash or cash equivalents, up from 25% a year earlier.

Before she got her stipend, Paradela, the Stockton participant, says she sometimes paid only part of her bills to leave more cash for food and sought payday loans. After she received the money, she bought her son video games and paid for both her children to visit their uncle in Seattle.

Paradela, who works full-time with autistic adults and delivers food part-time, says the money allowed her to take time off if she got sick.

Paradela says she applied for subsidized housing but was turned down because her $33,000 salary exceeded the $28,000 cap. Under the Stockton program, “you don’t have no one looking over your shoulder and into your personal business. You do what you need to do.”

She plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in business, so she can help her brother run a home for people with disabilities.

Since Stockton residents simply had to live in neighborhoods where median income was below the city’s median to qualify, some middle-income residents with salaries as high as $80,000 took part, Tubbs says. Middle-class families are also struggling to pay bills, he says, especially in pricey cities such as San Francisco, and they should be included in guaranteed income initiatives.

That makes the pilot look a bit more like Yang’s universal basic income idea.Morduch says programs should be geared to lower-income people, and more affluent families should pay higher taxes to fund them.

Yang, who is proposing a basic income for poor New York City residents as part of his mayoral campaign there, told USA TODAY "the pandemic exposed how many New Yorkers live on the edge of ruin... Getting more money directly into people’s pockets was once radical and is now mainstream."

One emergency away'

In December, Compton, which has a 20% poverty rate, launched the nation’s largest guaranteed income pilot, giving 800 residents varying amounts of money. Ex-offenders and undocumented immigrants were eligible.

“Like most Americans, my family was only one emergency away from financial disaster, and now I am working to ensure this is no longer the case,” says Compton Mayor Aja Brown. The money, she says, lets participants “take more risks, tailor government assistance to their needs and ultimately accumulate wealth.”

Georgia Horton, a Compton resident who was incarcerated, couldn’t find a job when she left prison, then began speaking to groups about her experiences for hefty fees. The pandemic temporarily squashed her budding career, leaving her struggling to pay bills. The $3,000 annual payment she received from the city a month ago allowed her to buy materials for her new cleaning business, as well as a laptop so she could revive her speaking tours online.

“It puts you out of the panic mode, so you can start making decisions,” Horton says.

Some programs target certain demographic groups. In Jackson, Mississippi, Springboard to Opportunities, a nonprofit group, has provided 130 Black mothers $1,000 a month in two trials since 2018, and a third is set to begin.

“Those who have been harmed the most (by discrimination) are Black mothers,” Springboard CEO Aisha Nyandoro says.

During the first round, the number of participants with a high school equivalency education rose from 63% to 85%. Some participants moved out of subsidized housing.

“If (public assistance) isn’t working, why not try something different?” Nyandoro asks.

Fact check: False claim that vaccine rules caused flight cancellations

The claim: U.S. flights are backed up because pilots and crew members are refusing vaccine mandates

With a surge in summer domestic air travel and passenger volumes at pre-pandemic levels, some U.S. airlines have struggled to meet the demand, resulting in a wave of flight cancellations and delays.

Airlines say the disrupted flights are due to bad weather, staffing issues and operational challenges, among other factors. But, of course, some social media users see something more nefarious at play.

“BREAKING! FLIGHTS ACROSS AMERICA ALL BACKED UP BC PILOTS/CREW ARE WALKING OFF BOARDED FLIGHTS!” reads an Aug. 9 Facebook post, which gained more than 2,000 shares within a few days. “THEY ARE REFUSING THE MANDATED JAB.”

Accompanying the text is an image of a flight information display board on Aug. 1 at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. The screens show delayed or canceled flights by Spirit Airlines.

This claim is wrong on several fronts. The flight cancellations and delays have nothing to do with vaccine mandates, and a majority of major U.S. airlines do not have vaccine requirements in place.

Fact check:Workers fired for refusing a vaccine are unlikely to qualify for unemployment

The Facebook user who shared the post did not return a request for comment.

Airlines cite weather, operational challenges

Spirit, American and other airlines have been canceling hundreds of flights a day, but it has nothing to do with vaccine mandates.

American spokeswoman Sarah Jantz said the airline experienced prolonged weather issues on the weekend the Facebook photo was captured.

"The nine-hour weather event resulted in flight delays, cancellations and almost 100 diversions," Jantz said via email.

Spirit CEO Ted Christie told USA TODAY weather, technology issues and crew shortages have caused disrupted flights. Similarly, American spokesman Curtis Blessing told USA TODAY the airline's cancellations are due to "prolonged and severe" weather that started on Aug. 1, which temporarily delayed flights and closed two ramps at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, its home base.

Meanwhile, Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, said a majority of flight cancellations that took place on Aug. 2 were due to a pilot shortage and scheduling issues.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, many airlines let go of pilots and flight attendants. Bloomberg reported in July 2020 that about 400,000 airline workers were fired, furloughed or told they may lose their job.

As a result, airlines are scrambling to hire back workers, who are required to undergo extensive training and security clearances.

Additionally, a majority of airline carriers retired older planes from their fleets in an effort to save cash, but the travel demand returned sooner than airlines expected.

Data from the Transportation Security Administration shows 10.1 million people were screened nationwide between July 1 and July 5, setting a new pandemic-era record.

On top of weather and labor shortages, some U.S. airports are running into fuel shortages, which are expected to last through mid-August, the Associated Press reported.

Fact check: Pfizer CEO fully vaccinated, canceled Israel trip in March

Many US airlines don't have vaccine mandates

The post claims pilots are refusing vaccine mandates, but only a few major airlines have implemented policies requiring all employees get vaccinated. And some of those have not yet taken effect.

United Airlines recently announced that employees in the U.S. must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 25. United spokeswoman Leslie Scott said more than 90% of its pilots and 80% of flight attendants are already vaccinated.

"We’ve received overwhelmingly supportive feedback from other workgroups across the company since announcing the vaccine requirement last week," Scott said via email.

Hawaiian Airlines has said it will also require vaccination, while Frontier Airlines said all employees must be vaccinated by Oct. 1 or provide proof of a negative test on a regular basis.

Other U.S. airlines have encouraged that their staff get vaccinated, however, they have not mandated it.

American CEO Doug Parker told The New York Times he would not be imposing a vaccine mandate for staff or passengers, saying it "wouldn’t be physically possible to do without enormous delays in the airline system."

In May, Delta announced new hires in the U.S. would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and that current employees are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated. Southwest and Spirit have announced they are encouraging employees to get vaccinated but not requiring it.

Claims that British Airways was concerned about the risk posed by vaccinated pilots, along with claims that airlines are banning vaccinated people from flying, have been previously debunked.

Fact check: COVID-19 vaccine mandates don't violate Nuremberg Code

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that flights in the U.S. are being canceled because airline employees are refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Airlines say the recent flight cancellations are due to labor shortages, bad weather, fuel shortages, operational issues and scheduling troubles. United and Hawaiian are the only major U.S. airlines so far to implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app, or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.