Kamala Harris tests positive for Covid, cases are on the reise in US

America's Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the US eases restrictions in a bid to revert to pre-pandemic normalcy. The White House said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden were considered a “close contact” of Harris in recent days. The White House said that Harris tested positive on both rapid and a PCR tests, and said she “has exhibited no symptoms.” Harris will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and would only return to the White House once she tests negative for the virus. Harris received her first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1.

Meanwhile, at least a dozen colleges and universities across the U.S. restored their indoor mask mandates this month after Covid ases rose on their campuses. Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, among others, announced they will again require face coverings in classrooms or certain indoor spaces. Some schools cited the threat of the more contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant, now the dominant strain of the virus in the U.S. Their moves come as BA.2 fuels a rise in cases nationwide and a divide on whether to again mandate masks to blunt its spread. Three schools in New York state reinstated their indoor mask mandates. 

According to the Mercury News Covid cases and hospitalisation are rising once again across the US, Nearly a third of the country is now registering substantial or high level of coronavirus transmission,icluding most Bay Area countries at high level,according to the centre for disesse control and prevention. The nnews paper report said that haspitalizationfrom Covid are up over 40 per cent in the last two weeks  in New York state. The rebound comes just as US authorities dropprd thr mask mandate for public transportation after a Judge in Florida said it exceeded their authority.