Shanghai’s education bureau has asked most grades in primary, middle and high school to hold classes online from Monday as worsening COVID-19 infections hit major cities across China.

The bureau on Saturday also asked kindergartens and childcare centres in the financial hub to shut all in-person classes from Monday, according to an online statement.

Source: Shanghai asks schools to move online from December 19, weeks after lockdowns were ended – ABC News

This spread of COVID-19 is the first significant outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic. The impact was visible in an upscale shopping district, where the usually bustling shops and restaurants were practically empty, functioning in some cases on skeleton crews or offering only takeout. Similar scenes are happening across Beijing, with offices and shops reporting being understaffed or shifting work arrangements as employees either have become ill or stayed home to avoid being infected. Source: Spike in COVID-19 Cases in Beijing Leaves Workplaces Empty

The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported 16,719 new COVID-19 cases, maintaining a nearly-doubled case count compared to three weeks ago.

Source: Ohio sees new COVID-19 cases above 15,000 for 3 weeks

Source: 3 Ann Arbor schools closed due to rising flu, COVID-19 & RSV cases

Kelley, who is facing charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia related to his assault on a law enforcement officer during the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, obtained a list of law enforcement personnel who participated in that criminal investigation. In conversations with a cooperating witness, Kelley and Carter discussed collecting information and plans to kill the individual law enforcement personnel on the list that included an attack on the FBI’s Knoxville, Tennessee Field Office.

Source: Two Tennessee Men Arrested for Planning Attacks on Law Enforcement Personnel and the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office | OPA | Department of Justice

Do I really have to worry about Covid again this Christmas?

Within reason, yes, says Dr Helen Salisbury, a GP, senior medical education fellow at Oxford University and member of the Independent Sage advisory group. “Some people still get very ill, especially the clinically vulnerable who have not responded to vaccines, and even if that’s not you, you might make someone else ill if you catch Covid and pass it on.”

But isn’t it just like a cold these days?

Mercifully, for many healthy people it is. But “even in this post-vaccination period and with so-called mild Omicron subvariants, an additional 750,000 have succumbed to long Covid and its associated disabilities during 2022”, says Salisbury, “and this is often in people who were fine after previous infections.”

OK then – what should I do?

The most important thing is to get up to date with your vaccines, according to Linda Bauld, a professor of public health at Edinburgh University and the chief social policy adviser to the Scottish government.

Being fully vaccinated won’t fully protect you from infection, but it significantly lowers the risk of illness, she says, adding that this applies equally for the flu jab.

Source: Dreaming of a Covid-free Christmas? How to stay safe over UK’s festive season | Coronavirus | The Guardian

The reason for the spike? It’s not just inflation and supply-chain problems.

Crop disease is ravaging lettuce fields in Salinas Valley — the “Salad Bowl of the World” — causing a shortage across the country. And as farmers and researchers desperately search for a remedy for the insect-spread virus, shoppers, grocers and restaurant owners are left to face the sticker shock.

“Seven dollars for a head of lettuce — iceberg lettuce, not the fancy stuff?” said Candice Schwab in disbelief as she pushed her shopping cart down the produce aisle at the high-end Draeger’s. “It’s outrageous.”

Source: $11 for a head of California lettuce? Here’s what’s behind the shortage causing ‘outrageous’ prices – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Source: More Than 4 in 10 Republicans and a Third of Parents Now Oppose Schools Requiring Children to Get Vaccinated for Measles and Other Illness, Up Since the COVID-19 Pandemic Began | KFF