New Orleans Bans Upcoming Mardi Gras Parades To Avoid Spike

The Washington Post: Mardi Gras 2021: New Orleans Bans Parades Due To Covid-19 
Mardi Gras celebrations in 2021 will not include New Orleans’ traditional parades, which take place every year to mark the carnival season, Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office confirmed in a news conference Tuesday. Mardi Gras guidance on the city’s website states: “Parades of any kind will not be permitted.” The guidelines stress that not all celebrations around Mardi Gras are canceled, but parades will not be possible “because large gatherings have proven to be super spreader events.” (McMahon, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Delta Air Lines Will Block Middle Seats Through March 2021 
Delta, the only airline of the big three still blocking middle seats for social distancing, will continue to do so until March 30, 2021, the airline announced Wednesday. The decision comes days after JetBlue announced it will stop limiting capacity in January 2021 and weeks after Southwest said it will stop blocking middle seats on Dec. 1. Alaska Air has committed to blocking seats until Jan. 6. (McMahon, 11/18)

AP: All NFL Teams To Enter Intensive COVID-19 Protocol Saturday
The NFL is placing all teams in intensive protocol starting Saturday to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 as the number of cases rises around the country. Use of masks will be mandatory at all times at team facilities, including during practice and in weight rooms. Meetings must be held either virtually or in the largest indoor space with approval by the league. Meals have to be made available for grab-and-go to avoid players and staff congregating in cafeterias. Time spent in the locker room also has to be limited. (Maaddi, 11/19)

KQED: Most Coronavirus Transmission Happens At Indoor Restaurants, Cafes, Gyms: Study
"There is a very small number of places, about, let's say, 10%, where 85% of all infections happen," said Jure Leskovec, a Stanford computer scientist and one of the study's authors. The research, conducted by a group from Northwestern University and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub as well as Stanford, looked at infections between March 1 and May 2 of this year. Indoor sit-down restaurants, cafes and gyms were the top three points of transmission, and crowding in any indoor business increased the risk of contracting the virus. (Venton, 11/18)

CNN: Coronavirus Quarantine: Are American Adults Capable Of Isolating For Two Weeks? 
If you think quarantine needs a better publicist in the United States, you might be right. New Zealanders went into a strict lockdown and so did Italians. So did the residents of China, Spain, Bolivia, Morocco and South Korea. The idea of isolating for a stretch of two weeks either because you've been exposed to Covid-19 or are traveling from a Covid-19 hotspot, however, can feel like a punishment to Americans, not a long-standing infectious disease prevention policy. (Hochwald, 11/19)

In other public health news —

CIDRAP: Childhood Vaccine Uptake Down 26% This Year, Report Estimates
Nine million childhood vaccines are projected to be missed by the end of this year in the United States—a 26% decrease compared with 2019—according to a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) report. This decline would cause a gap between vaccination rate and that required for herd immunity of 4.8 percentage points for measles and 12.7 percentage points for pertussis (whooping cough). Polio would still maintain a 2.9-percentage-point buffer. According to BCBS medical claims, both measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DtaP) childhood vaccination rates dropped 26% January through September year-over-year, with a predicted 2020-end rate of 88.2% and 79.3%, respectively. That compares with herd immunity requirements of 93.0% and 92.0%, respectively, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (11/18)

KHN: Family Mourns Man With Mental Illness Killed By Police, Calls For Change
Rulennis Muñoz remembers the phone ringing on Sept. 13. Her mother was calling from the car, frustrated. Rulennis could also hear her brother Ricardo shouting in the background. Her mom told her that Ricardo, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia five years earlier, wouldn’t take his medication. Within an hour, Ricardo Muñoz, 27, was dead. Muñoz, who had a knife, was killed by a police officer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The incident has striking similarities to the killing of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia six weeks later but has received far less national attention. (Sholtis, 11/19)