May 1 coronavirus news

After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals, gray areas remain. Medical experts answered viewer questions on CNN to clear up any confusion.

Q: If I've been vaccinated, is it safe to attend an event at a sports arena with 100% capacity?

A: Not right now, Dr. Peter Hotez said, but it may be much safer by the summer.

"If you really feel compelled to go to a sporting event right now even if you are vaccinated, given that there are going to be a lot of people surrounding you that [might be] still infected with Covid, you definitely want to wear a mask," said Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Q: Is it OK to attend a wedding if I've been vaccinated? 

A: Look at local Covid-19 transmission rates, according to Dr. Celine Gounder.

"When you are outdoors, at the very least, you need to be wearing a mask, and when you're indoors for that wedding reception or ceremony, you need to be doubling up masks and social distancing," said Gounder, an infectious disease specialist.

Q: Is it safe for my teen to go to prom?

A: Gounder said it is very important for prom participants to be wearing masks. 

"I would still be concerned, because it is going to be hard to maintain six feet apart, especially with that prom date. ... I would prefer to see the 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds getting vaccinated before celebrating that," Gounder said.

Q: How do you address a family member who has not been vaccinated and wants to be in the company of everybody else on Mother's Day?

A: Set boundaries and use "I statements" if you feel uncomfortable, according to psychiatrist Dr. Kali Cyrus, such as "I would feel horrible if you came and got sick from one of us if you're not vaccinated" or "I would feel horrible if you came and our mother got sick."

If they love you, they should understand that, Cyrus said.  

India should consider a temporary shutdown to handle its devastating Covid-19 surge, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

“One of the things to be considered is to temporarily shut down – I mean literally lock down – so that you wind up not having more spread,” Fauci said Friday in an interview with The Indian Express. 

India reported over 400,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day Friday, breaking a global record.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, compared the situation in India to a war. He said the country needs to focus on its immediate needs, like getting oxygen, supplies and personal protective equipment. 

“But also, one of the immediate things to do is to essentially call [for] a shutdown of the country,” he said.

A medical expert said she is unsure if the US will ever reach herd immunity in the fight against Covid-19, and said that officials need to target a specific group of Americans for vaccinations right now.

"So that's why getting to herd immunity now as much as possible is really important, and because we don't have the incentives in place ... I don't know that we'll get there," said Wen, a former Baltimore City health commissioner.

According to a CNN poll, about a quarter of adult Americans said they will not try to get a coronavirus vaccine. In the poll, 55% of adults say they have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 45% have not.

Wen said she sees three buckets of people who have not yet gotten vaccinated: those completely opposed to all vaccines, those who have not yet been able to get a shot, and those who are still hesitant to receive it.

The US should be targeting those who actually want the vaccine but have not been able to receive it yet for a variety of reasons, including work or family responsibilities.

There is also a "big middle" of people who have specific concerns about vaccines.

"We need to address these concerns, ideally by people in their community who change their minds" and show how their lives have gotten back to relative normalcy after being vaccinated, Wen said.

"Just like people did the vaccine selfie, I think we need to have selfies of people now going to bars and restaurants with other vaccinated people to show what a return to 2019 pre-pandemic life could really look like," she added.

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The Kentucky Derby is back — but the race has limited attendance to about 40,000-50,000 spectators.

Derby-goers get their temperature checked and receive a goodie bag with hand sanitizer and other items when they arrive, and they need to wear a mask when not sipping on mint juleps, according to CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro.

Fancy hat-clad fans of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby said they were excited and felt safe ahead of the race.

"I didn't feel nervous at all, especially in our seats and everything. Everyone is pretty spaced out, and the mask mandate and everything, everybody is wearing masks. ... I've been feeling pretty safe here," Megan Henson added.

The record crowd was 170,000 in 2015.

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About 598,882 Americans will have died from coronavirus by August 1, according to the latest projection from an influential coronavirus model released by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. 

That figure is down from last week’s report, when IHME estimated there would be at least 602,723 cumulative deaths on August 1.

The new projection accounts for scaled-up Covid-19 vaccine distribution over the next 90 days and the continued spread of the B.1.1.7 virus variant in the US. Under that scenario, daily deaths are expected to decline through August 1.

In a worst-case scenario, with reduced mask use and increased mobility, the model projects 617,711 American deaths by August 1. If universal mask use was adopted in the US, the model projects 593,938 deaths by that time.

The team noted that virus transmission is currently increasing in 11 states – down from 34 when it released the last projection – highlighting Oregon, in particular.

The CDC said Tuesday that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks during certain outdoor activities.

The IHME team said US policy should focus on sustaining mask use until transmission falls, reducing risk of local transmission of the B.1.617 virus variant first identified in India and increasing vaccine confidence.

“Looking ahead to the winter of 2021, the level of vaccination achieved and preventing the circulation of highly transmissible escape variants will be critical to avoid a further surge,” the team said.

India’s union territory of Delhi has extended its lockdown a second time for another week amid an ongoing surge in Covid-19 cases and shortages of beds and oxygen at hospitals.

The national capital will continue to stay under lockdown until May 10, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted. 

The initial lockdown, announced by Kejriwal on April 19, was due to end on April 26.

Delhi is facing an unprecedented second wave during which local hospitals have struggled to provide basic oxygen supply to critically ill patients. 

Delhi reported 27,047 cases Friday evening, including 375 deaths.

A plane carrying the first shipment of medical aid from France to India departed from Paris on Saturday.

“There is only one solution to fight the virus: solidarity and cooperation,” Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, a junior minister in the French Foreign Ministry, told journalists while the aid was being loaded onto the aircraft.

“Hundreds of people contributed to the operation, this is the beautiful thing about it, it shows the solidarity from a lot of French people,” Lemoyne added.

The shipment includes eight high-capacity oxygen generators, each providing yearlong oxygen for 250 beds, liquid oxygen for 2,000 patients for five days, plus 28 ventilators and equipment for Intensive Care Units, the French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain said on Twitter earlier this week.

The oxygen generators — produced by French company Novair — will “enable hospitals to produce their own oxygen and, crucially, means they won’t have to buy their oxygen anymore,” Novair International Director Jean-Pierre Berlioz said.

“We have built these eight units in a record time, a real feat,” Berlioz said, adding that “this will save lives, so we are incredibly proud of it.”

He said the generators will be operational in India within a few days.

Additionally, liquid oxygen containers will be filled by a French company in Qatar and be sent to India by boat in the coming days, according to Lemoyne.

A new wave of Covid-19 infections has struck Nepal, causing shortages of hospital beds in 22 districts, health officials said on Saturday.

According to Nepal’s Health Emergency Operation Center, the rate of infections has increased "beyond the control of the health system" among 22 districts, most of which are at India-Nepal border.

On Thursday, Nepali authorities have imposed a two-week lockdown in capital city Kathmandu in efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

Authorities have also urged Nepali citizens not to travel internationally or domestically. 

Nepal reported 5,657 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, edging closer to the daily record of 5,743 in October 2020.

The country also reported 33 deaths on Friday, according to John Hopkins University.

India has received 150,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine as the country grapples with a brutal second wave of the pandemic, the government said Saturday.

Arindam Bagchi, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, said the doses, delivered to Hyderabad, would be the first of millions to be sent to India.

“Deeply value support from long-standing friend Russia. Over a decade of India-Russia special & privileged strategic partnership,” Bagchi said in the tweet.

India's drug regulator, the Drugs Controller General of India, approved the Sputnik V vaccine for use last month.

“As [Russia and India] continue dedicated joint efforts to combat the Covid-19, this move is especially important to support the Indian Government’s endeavors to mitigate deadly 2nd wave & save lives,” the Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev said in a tweet.