Covid Whiplash: Now-Dominant BA.2 Variant Being Quickly Overtaken Across The U.S. By Yet Another Faster-Growing Omicron Offshoot, Says CDC

In the past few weeks, everyone from late night hosts to country stars to comedians to many at the White House, including Vice President Kamala Harris, has contracted Covid. The uptick in boldfaced names testing positive is not a coincidence.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Sunday that she tested positive for Covid-19. She is currently doing well and is asymptomatic.

Hollywood’s unions have reached an agreement with management’s AMPTP on revised Covid-19 protocols. In a statement, the unions said that the new agreement “creates a more flexible set of protocols for areas of the United States and Canada with low Covid hospital admissions, while maintaining core elements to keep sets safe. The unions — SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, IATSE, the Teamsters and the Basic Crafts — said that the agreement was reached “with the continued commitment to keeping casts, crews and all set workers safe in light of the changing impact of Covid-19.”

Jon Batiste is currently battling COVID-19.

In February, the first few cases of two new, more infectious variants were identified in the Northeastern United States. Dubbed BA.2.12.1 and BA.2.12.2, these sublineages of the BA.2 variant made up only 1.5% of newly-sequenced positive tests before March 19.

David Foster and Katharine McPhee enjoyed a night out this weekend!

It looks like Katie Holmes has a new man in her life!

In February, New York State Health officials identified a small number of new Covid cases related to a new, even more infectious subvariant of Omicron BA.2. Dubbed BA.2.12.1, it made up only 3% of all new cases in the state for that month. Figures released today by the CDC indicate that in the past eight weeks BA.2.12.1 has not only outcompeted BA.2 in terms of growth, but it has now become the dominant variant in the region made up of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The CDC data indicates that BA.12.2 now accounts for 58% of new cases in the region. In New York state, its share is much higher.

Covid test positivity in California is up 47.6% in the past week, according to the California State data dashboard. One week ago, the 7-day daily test positivity rate was 2.1%. Today, it sits at 3.1%. That’s quite a jump for a metric that is averaged over seven days to account for daily fluctuations in data reporting and testing.

In 2020, the rights to the New York Times best-selling novel, “The Water Dancer” were sold to MGM, Plan B, Maceo-Lyn, and Harpo Films with the intention of making a big-screen adaptation. Now we’ve learned that Nia DaCosta, known for the indie “Little Woods” and the “Candyman” remake, has been named the director for the project.

Pioneering hip hop artist Keith Grayson, who performed as DJ Kay Slay and worked with top stars, has died of complications from COVID-19. Grayson's death at age 55 on Sunday was confirmed by his family in a statement released through New York radio station HOT 97, where he hosted "The Drama Hour" for more than two decades.

Nia DaCosta (Candyman) has been tapped to direct an adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2019 debut novel The Water Dancer for MGM, Plan B, Harpo Films and Maceo-Lyn.

“Candyman” director Nia DaCosta has found her next film and has been set to direct an adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book “The Water Dancer” for MGM. Coates adapted the script based on his #1 New York Times Bestselling Novel of the same name. The film adaptation is being produced by Maceo-Lyn, Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films.

NEW YORK -- Pioneering hip hop artist Keith Grayson, who performed as DJ Kay Slay and worked with top stars, has died of complications from COVID-19.Grayson's death at age 55 on Sunday was confirmed by his family in a statement released through New York radio station HOT 97, where he hosted “The Drama Hour” for more than two decades.“A dominant figure in hip hop culture with millions of fans worldwide, DJ Kay Slay will be remembered for his passion and excellence with a legacy that will transcend generations,” the family statement said.Grayson grew up in Harlem, immersed in New York City's early hip hop scene. He got his start as a teenage graffiti artist and was featured in the 1983 hip hop documentary “Style Wars."He began selling bootleg mixtapes on street corners in the early '90s and released his first studio album, “The Streetsweeper, Vol.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S.-based Wonder Street and New Zealand-based Stripe Studios have struck a deal to team on a slate of unscripted TV series, kicking off the partnership with Snow Patrol as well as New Zealand Gold Diggers.

For Colored Girls, Ntozake Shange’s brilliant work isn’t even just a play, but rather a series of monologues that also incorporate music and dance.The show is a modern-seeming musical of sorts, and it’s impressive that it still feels fresh and timely, as it was originally performed in New York in 1976. The title features seven women who have all faced adversity due to sexism and racism, and while everyone should see it, the event is not running very long, just for 20 weeks.A post shared by for colored girls – Broadway (@forcoloredgirlsbroadway) LGBTQ audiences have a lot of reasons to go see Take Me Out.

“At present there are a number of Omicron sub-lineages we’re following closely, including BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 and another recombinant detected, made up of BA.1 and BA.2,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today. That recombinant is called XE and, until today was the newest more-transmissible variant raising concern. Now there are subvariants BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1.