The Latest: Quarantine optional for exposed Florida students

FILE- In this April 12, 2021, file photo then Superintendent Austin Beutner speaks to teachers at Normont Elementary School in Harbor City, Calif. Now that schools have welcomed students back to classrooms, they face a new challenge: a shortage of teachers and staff the likes of which some districts say they have never seen. Public schools have struggled for years with teacher shortages, but the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problem. (Brittany Murray/The Orange County Register via AP)

In this March 2, 2021, file photo, socially distanced and with protective partitions students work on an art project during class at the Sinaloa Middle School in Novato, Calif. Public schools have struggled for years with teacher shortages, particularly in math, science, special education and languages. But the pandemic has exacerbated the problem. The stresses of teaching in the COVID-era caused a spike in teacher retirements and resignations. Now that California schools have welcomed students back to in-person learning, they face a new challenge: A shortage of teachers and all other staff, the likes of which some districts say they've never seen. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual COVID-19 summit during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In this July 2, 2021 file photo, a United Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International Airport in Denver. The vast majority of United Airlines employees are deciding to get vaccinated against COVID-19 rather than risk losing their job. United said Wednesday, Sept. 22, that more than 97% of its U.S.-based employees are fully vaccinated. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)

In this Sept. 14, 2021, file photo, a syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa. An influential panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention met on Wednesday, Sept. 22, to decide who should get COVID-19 booster shots and when. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A doctor vaccinates a student with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, as part of the vaccination campaign called '#HierWirdGeimpft', #Here We Vaccinate, during a visit of the German President at Ruth Cohn School in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visits the school to support the special week-long vaccination campaign which people will be offered the shots without appointments. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A medical worker in a booth takes a nasal sample from a disinfection worker during coronavirus testing at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. The letters on a jacket read, "Disinfection." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

German Health Minister Jens Spahn speaks during a news conference on the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. (Annegret Hilse/Pool Photo via AP)

Empty bottles of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines await disposal by a nurse with the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center in Jackson, Miss., across the street from Jackson State University, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The university in cooperation with Jackson-Hinds, provided vaccinations for community residents, faculty, staff and students, free of charge. The Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning voted last week to ban public universities from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for students, faculty and staff. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center nurse Maggie Bass, right, injects a COVID-19 vaccine into the arm of a Jackson, Miss., resident at a site across the street from Jackson State University, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The university in cooperation with Jackson-Hinds, provided vaccinations for community residents, faculty, staff and students, free of charge. The Board of Trustees of the Institutions of Higher Learning voted last week to ban public universities from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for students, faculty and staff. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Agustina Ancales and her partner Pablo Vazquez pose for a photo with their dog Sigmoide in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. Ancales' mother got the dog for the couple as a gift after Vazquez was diagnosed with cancer during the COVID-19 lockdown to try to cheer them up. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Vice President Kamala Harris attends a United Nations General Assembly virtual COVID-19 Summit, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Detroit Red Wings left wing Tyler Bertuzzi (59) waits for the puck to drop during an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, in this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, file photo. Bertuzzi is the only unvaccinated Detroit Red Wings player going into training camp and faces the potential of missing all of his team's games in Canada this season as a result, general manager Steve Yzerman said Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter, File)

In this March 2, 2021, file photo, a sign is displayed at a COVID-19 vaccination site for employees of the Los Angeles School District, LAUSD, in the parking lot of SOFI Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Public schools have struggled for years with teacher shortages, particularly in math, science, special education and languages. But the pandemic has exacerbated the problem. The stresses of teaching in the COVID-era caused a spike in teacher retirements and resignations. On top of that, schools now have to hire all kinds of additional staff, like tutors and special aides to help kids make up for learning losses, and more teachers to run online school for those not ready to return. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

People visit artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's "In America: Remember," a temporary art installation made up of white flags to commemorate Americans who have died of COVID-19, on the National Mall in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A day after assuming his job, Florida’s newly appointed surgeon general on Wednesday signed new rules allowing parents to decide whether their children should quarantine or stay in school after being exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

The guidelines signed by Dr. Joseph Ladapo eliminate previous rules requiring students to quarantine for at least four days off campus if they’ve been exposed. Under the new rules, students who have been exposed can continue going to campus, “without restrictions or disparate treatment,” provided they are asymptomatic. They can also quarantine, but no longer than seven days, provided they do not get sick.

“Quarantining healthy students is incredibly damaging for their educational advancement,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday at a news conference in Kissimmee. “It’s also disruptive for families. We are going to be following a symptoms-based approach.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people who get infected can spread the virus starting from two days before they have any symptoms. The CDC recommends that a student should quarantine for 14 days if they are unvaccinated. They can shorten the quarantine to seven days by testing negative, according to the CDC.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— Biden doubling vaccine purchase, calls for more global shots

— CDC panel considers who needs booster shots

— United Airlines says 97% of US-based workers fully vaccinated

— COVID-19 creates dire US shortage of teachers, school staff

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— See AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

HELENA, Mont. — Gov. Greg Gianforte said he will deploy Montana National Guard soldiers to help overburdened hospital staff in Great Falls.

Wednesday’s announcement comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations near 400 and a southwestern Montana hospital reports crisis standards of care are imminent. Gianforte announced the upcoming deployment of 20 Guard members to Benefis Health System, starting next weekend.

On Tuesday, the governor announced 70 Guard members were being sent to fulfill requests for additional help at six hospitals. Under the current requests, Montana will have 107 Guard members assisting with the state’s COVID-19 response. Montana hospitals are reporting 395 patients with COVID-19. The governor’s office anticipates more requests for Guard assistance.

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that masks will be required inside temples to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Church leaders said Wednesday that masks will be required temporarily in an effort to keep temples open. The message was the latest in a series of statements from church leaders encouraging masking and vaccination efforts against COVID-19.

In Utah, where the church is based, a summer surge of the virus among unvaccinated residents has continued to grow while vaccination rates have slightly increased. About 64% of Utah residents ages 12 and older were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Schools have welcomed students back to classrooms but face a new challenge: A shortage of teachers and staff the likes of which some district officials say they’ve never seen.

Public schools have struggled for years with teacher shortages, but the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problem. One school official in California calls it “the most acute shortage of labor” he’s ever seen.

Similar scenarios are playing out across the country as schools cope with a spike in retirements and a need to hire more teachers, counselors, tutors and aides to help children make up for learning losses.

The lack of teachers is “really a nationwide issue and definitely a statewide issue,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, president of California’s State Board of Education.

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BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana reported its 16th child death from COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The state health department says the victim was between the ages of 12 and 17. No other details were released. It was the seventh pediatric death from the disease since July. Another child’s death was reported five days ago.

The state reported a total of 99 new COVID-19-related deaths Wednesday.

The latest hospitalization figure was 1,221, much higher than the spring and early summer, but down from a peak of more than 3,000 in August.

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CHICAGO — United Airlines officials say 97% of its U.S. employees are fully vaccinated.

There’s less than a week to go before United employees face a deadline to get the shots or get fired. The Chicago-based airline with 67,000 U.S. employees is among a group of companies that announced they would require vaccinations.

The airline says a small number of employees are seeking a medical or religious exemption from vaccination. Employees who get an exemption will be placed on leave starting Oct. 2 and could eventually come back. However, they might have to wear a mask and undergo weekly testing for the coronavirus.

The airline said last month that up to 90% of pilots and nearly 80% of flight attendants were vaccinated. It didn’t give a companywide figure at the time.

United Airlines workers who apply unsuccessfully for an exemption will have five weeks after their denial to get vaccinated.

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CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson is headed home a month after he was hospitalized for a breakthrough COVID-19 infection and following intensive physical therapy for Parkinson’s disease.

A spokeswoman for Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition confirmed Wednesday the civil rights leader left a downtown Chicago facility.

He and his wife, Jacqueline, were first hospitalized a month ago for COVID-19. While Jesse Jackson was vaccinated, his wife was not because of what he described as a pre-existing condition. She required oxygen and was briefly in the intensive care unit before being released earlier this month.

After about a one-week hospital stay, 79-year-old Jesse Jackson was transferred to a physical therapy hospital. He disclosed a Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017.

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PHOENIX — Arizona reported more than 70 COVID-19 deaths for the second consecutive day and the fifth time this month.

There were 2,106 coronavirus cases and 74 confirmed deaths on Wednesday. The COVID-19 hospitalizations remained below 2,000 for the fifth straight day, with 1,897 coronavirus patients occupying hospital beds on Tuesday.

While the pace of additional cases has dropped during the past two weeks, the rate of deaths rose, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths rose from 38 on Sept. 6 to 40 on Monday. The rolling average of daily new cases dropped from 3,267 to 2,467 during the same period.

Arizona’s pandemic totals have reached 1.07 million cases and 19,658 confirmed deaths.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says the U.S. is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world. The U.S. purchase of another 500 million shots brings the total U.S. vaccination commitment to more than 1.1 billion doses through 2022.

At a virtual “vaccine summit” on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Biden also embraced a goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year. Biden encouraged well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control around the world.

“We need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges,” Biden said, adding wealthy countries should commit to donating, rather than selling the shots to poorer nations “with no political strings attached.”

World leaders, aid groups and global health organizations are growing increasingly vocal about the slow pace of global vaccinations and the inequity of access to shots.

About 160 million shots supplied by the U.S. have already been distributed to more than 100 countries, representing more donations than the rest of the world combined. The remaining American doses will be distributed over the coming year.

“To beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere,” Biden said. “For every one shot we’ve administered to date in America, we have now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world.”

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WASHINGTON — Influential government advisers are debating which Americans should get an extra dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine once regulators clear the booster shots.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule soon on Pfizer’s bid for extra doses, after its advisers last week dramatically scaled back the Biden administrations plans for boosters for everyone. Instead, that panel backed booster shots for seniors and others at high risk.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has the final word on who would qualify and convened its own advisers Wednesday to start deliberations.

The priority remains to vaccinate the unvaccinated, who the CDC says account for the vast majority of COVID-19 cases, now soaring to levels not seen since last winter. About 182 million Americans are fully vaccinated, nearly 55% of the total population.

The government will decide later whether to allow extra doses of Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Travelers and authorities from India and many African countries are angry and confused about Britain’s new COVID-19 travel rules, calling them discriminatory.

The British government announced what it billed as a simplification of the rules last week, including allowing fully vaccinated travelers arriving in England from much of the world to skip quarantine and take fewer tests.

But the fine print on who was considered “fully vaccinated” is proving far more complicated. People vaccinated in India and African countries were among those left off the list.

Countries like Kenya, which has received hundreds of thousands of doses the AstraZeneca vaccine from Britain, were left wondering why their vaccination programs don’t appear to be good enough.

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BERLIN — Germany will stop sick pay for unvaccinated people who have to go into quarantine because of COVID-19.

Previously, Germans could claim for income lost due to having to go into quarantine after returning from abroad or coming into contact with a positive case.

Health Minister Jens Spahn says the move was a matter of “fairness,” arguing that by the time the new rule comes into force on Nov. 1, everyone who wants a vaccine will have had an opportunity to get the shot.

Those who choose not to “will need to bear responsibility for this then, including the financial costs,” he says.

Germany has fully vaccinated 63.4% of its population. The government says it wants to achieve a vaccination rate of 75% to prevent a sharp rise in cases during the winter months.

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LONDON — Britain’s government has announced plans to share more than a million doses of coronavirus vaccine with South Korea in a “vaccine swap.”

The U.K. plans to ship more than a million doses of its stockpile of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to South Korea in the coming weeks. South Korea is attempting to fully vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of October.

The Department of Health says the vaccine doses are not immediately required in the U.K. and won’t affect Britain’s program to roll out booster shots for parts of the population this fall and winter. South Korea will return the same number of doses to Britain by the end of the year.

Officials add the doses swapped with South Korea are not part of Britain’s commitment to send 100 million vaccines overseas.

Britain has donated 10.3 million vaccines to other nations, including 6.2 million through the vaccine-sharing facility COVAX. The rest were donated bilaterally to countries in need.

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GENEVA — The number of new coronavirus cases fell again last week, with 3.6 million cases reported globally, down from 4 million the previous week, according to the World Health Organization.

Last week’s drop marked the first substantial decline for more than two months, with falling cases in every world region. In its latest update on the pandemic released on Tuesday, WHO said there were major decreases in cases in two regions: a 22% fall in the Middle East and a 16% drop in Southeast Asia.

The U.N. health agency said there were just under 60,000 deaths in the past week, a 7% decline. Southeast Asia reported a 30% decrease in COVID-19 deaths and the Western Pacific region reported a 7% increase. The most coronavirus cases were seen in the U.S., India, Britain, Turkey and the Philippines. WHO said the faster-spreading delta variant has reached 185 countries and is present in every part of the world.

The organization also revised its list of “variants of interest,” or those that it believes have the potential to cause big outbreaks; WHO said it’s tracking the lambda and mu variants, which both arose in Latin America but have yet to cause widespread epidemics.