A version of this story appeared in the March 3 edition of CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday.
“Some of it appears to be due to relaxing of public health measures, continued circulation of variants and people letting down their guard,” Tedros said. “Even as vaccines continue to roll out, we urge all governments and individuals to remember that vaccines alone will not keep you safe.”
“I know I’m trying to be funny now, but I’m dead serious about the vaccine,” she told the camera. “I think we all want to get back to normal, whatever that is, and that would be a great shot in the arm, wouldn’t it?”
But as this joyful video was shared on Parton’s Twitter account on Tuesday, several US states went against the advice of health experts by lifting mask mandates and loosening other restrictions put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The governors of Texas and Mississippi defied federal government warnings not to relax restrictions or open economies too fast by rescinding mask mandates and allowing businesses to operate at full capacity. Their counterparts in Louisiana and Michigan announced that restaurants will be allowed to increase capacity, among reopening measures in other states.
The looming relaxations are paradoxically a symptom of President Joe Biden’s success as confidence grows in the availability of vaccines, Stephen Collinson writes. But experts are warning that opening too quickly could provide a vast petri dish that new variants of Covid-19 need to thrive.
After the number of new coronavirus cases in the United States declined from unprecedented highs recently, the downturn appears to have stagnated at a high level, and seven-day average case levels are as high as they were last summer. “We should not ease up, allow indoor dining, big groups … getting rid of mask mandates. We have to hold on for another two or three months in this condition,” Dr. Zeke Emanuel, who was a member of Biden’s Transition Covid-19 Advisory Board, told CNN.
The new Covid-19 variants that are sweeping across the globe are often not just more infectious, they could also make vaccines less effective. That means that states like Texas and Mississippi, which were slow to adopt steps like mask wearing, are not just risking their own citizens but all other Americans too.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED
Q: Is testing for Covid-19 still important?
A: Covid-19 testing numbers are dropping in the US. And that’s bad news. Without testing, there’s no way to keep track of where the pandemic is headed and whether vaccines are working. And there’s no way to make use of one of the most important tools for fighting infectious diseases: contact tracing.
The team, from the CDC and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted that the study did not control for other factors that could have affected hospitalization rates. But it said its findings support community mask wearing to reduce Covid-19 transmission and hospitalization, noting that the practice likely has a direct effect on coronavirus-related illness and death.
Send your questions here. Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you’re facing: +1 347-322-0415.
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY
The UK has administered Covid-19 shots to more than 20 million people, with campaigns first targeting the over-80s who are most vulnerable to the disease. The new data supports the country’s decision to use both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines at a time when other countries in Europe showed concern about using the AstraZeneca shot in older people. Meera Senthilingam repor
President Biden said the US would have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for every American adult by the end of May, dramatically accelerating the administration’s previous goal of having enough shots by the end of July. The speedier estimate has been helped along by a new partnership between drugmakers, which will see Merck help manufacture the recently authorized Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
This comes as Barbara Schmalenberger, 86, became the first patient in the US to receive the Johnson & Johnson shot. “It was really exciting,” Schmalenberger told CNN after getting vaccinated. “When I got out of my car, I was shaking I was so excited. I couldn’t wait.”
Intensive care units are nearing their limits across Brazil, as health experts and state officials beg the government to impose strictermeasures to reduce coronavirus transmission. The country is struggling to control the new, more infectious coronavirus variants. “The mutated virus has three times more contamination capacity, and the speed can surprise governors in terms of structure and support,” said Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello. This is the reality we have today in Brazil.”
A coronavirus variant of concern first reported in Brazil, known as P.1, may be up to 2.2 times more transmissible and could evade immunity from previous Covid-19 infection by up to 61%, a new modelling study by researchers in Brazil and the UK suggests.
The variant’s emergence in the UK has exposed major flaws in the British government’s hotel quarantine system, while also vindicating critics who warned that the country’s failure to clamp down on indirect flights from high-risk countries like Brazil would make it easier for variants to spread, Tara John reports.
British health officials are racing to track down a person who has been infected with a Covid-19 variant first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus. The person is one of six cases of the P.1 variant in the UK. The variant carries a pattern of mutations that appears to make the virus more easily transmitted. The unidentified individual did not complete a registration card associated with their test so officials are not able to easily find them.
The European Union’s vaccine strategy is splintering as the 27 member states turn to nations outside the bloc to boost a faltering rollout plagued by supply issues, contract skirmishes and sluggish takeup, Zamira Rahim reports.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced Monday that he intends to work with Israel and Denmark on future vaccine production and cooperation around developing further shots to combat variants. Other EU nations have turned to Russia and China to plug the gaps in vaccine supply through unilateral procurements.
ON OUR RADAR
- A panel of WHO experts has strongly advised against using hydroxychloroquine to prevent Covid-19 after reviewing all existing studies on the subject.
- A batch of Covid-19 vaccines had to be rescued by boat after heavy rains threatened the power supply at a Kentucky health facility.
- Former US President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump received a Covid-19 vaccine at the White House in January, a Trump adviser told CNN.
- A Trader Joe’s worker says he was fired after writing directly to the chain’s CEO calling for stronger Covid-19 safety protocols in his store.
- The first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines sent through the COVAX program to Latin America landed in Colombia yesterday.
- The European Commission has started laying the groundwork for a vaccine passport that could let European Union citizens travel this summer.
- China plans to inoculate more than half a billion people by the end of June, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan has revealed.
- A California doctor’s trial was delayed after he appeared for a virtual court hearing while simultaneously conducting surgery.
TOP TIP
But help is available. If you or someone you know is being affected by domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline / 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) / TTY 1-800-787-3224. A worldwide list of directories is provided by UN Women. You can also find a list of national agencies on The Pixel Project.
Young people around the world appear to be hitting a breaking point that developmental psychologists are calling the “pandemic wall.”
As we near the anniversary of the outbreak and associated social distancing measures, kids and parents alike are mourning how our lives used to be. It doesn’t even matter how dramatically kids’ lives have changed, experts say. The fact that disruption has become normalized is traumatizing enough.
Here’s how grown-ups can help.
TODAY’S PODCAST
“When you’re an inch away from all of your aspirations being taken away from you and the Games maybe even being completely canceled, it’s heartbreaking.” – Sandi Morris, 2016 Olympic silver medalist
“These are portraits of people who are just taking a break being between patients at work or taking a breather. And I wanted to capture that moment and that emotion in their eyes.” – Jayashree Krishnan, a Seattle-based artist.