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Category: Health

How to know when the pandemic is over

How to know when the pandemic is over

Alexis C Madrigal writes: In the middle of January, the deadliest month of the pandemic, one day after inauguration, the Biden administration put out a comprehensive national strategy for “beating COVID-19.” The 200-page document includes many useful goals, such as “Restore trust with the American people” and “Mount a safe, effective, and comprehensive vaccination campaign.” But nowhere does it give a quantitative threshold for when it will be time to say, “Okay, done—we’ve beaten the pandemic.” A month later, it’s…

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The most likely timeline for life to return to normal

The most likely timeline for life to return to normal

Joe Pinsker writes: The end of the coronavirus pandemic is on the horizon at last, but the timeline for actually getting there feels like it shifts daily, with updates about viral variants, vaccine logistics, and other important variables seeming to push back the finish line or scoot it forward. When will we be able to finally live our lives again? Pandemics are hard to predict accurately, but we have enough information to make some confident guesses. A useful way to…

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California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: ‘The devil is already here’

California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: ‘The devil is already here’

The Los Angeles Times reports: A coronavirus variant that emerged in mid-2020 and surged to become the dominant strain in California not only spreads more readily than its predecessors, but also evades antibodies generated by COVID-19 vaccines or prior infection and is associated with severe illness and death, researchers said. In a study that helps explain the state’s dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths — and portends further trouble ahead — scientists at UC San Francisco said the cluster…

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Why does the pandemic seem to be hitting some countries harder than others?

Why does the pandemic seem to be hitting some countries harder than others?

Siddhartha Mukherjee writes: On December 2nd, Mukul Ganguly, an eighty-three-year-old retired civil engineer in Kolkata, India, went to the Salt Lake Market to buy fish. The pandemic was surging around much of the world, and he wasn’t oblivious of the risks of spending time at a wet market. His wife, a former forensic analyst, protested vehemently. But Mr. Ganguly wouldn’t be deterred. He picked up his fabric shopping bag, tucked a doubled-up handkerchief in his pocket, and stepped out. Mr….

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Here’s what WHO’s COVID-19 mission to China found about the origins of the coronavirus

Here’s what WHO’s COVID-19 mission to China found about the origins of the coronavirus

By Dominic Dwyer, University of Sydney As I write, I am in hotel quarantine in Sydney, after returning from Wuhan, China. There, I was the Australian representative on the international World Health Organization’s (WHO) investigation into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Much has been said of the politics surrounding the mission to investigate the viral origins of COVID-19. So it’s easy to forget that behind these investigations are real people. As part of the mission, we met the man…

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By summer, the pandemic may feel like it’s behind us — even if it’s not

By summer, the pandemic may feel like it’s behind us — even if it’s not

James Hamblin writes: Until very recently, Anthony Fauci had been citing August as the month by which the U.S. could vaccinate 70 to 80 percent of the population and reach herd immunity. Last week, he suddenly threw out May or early June as a window for when most Americans could have access to vaccines. Despite some concerns about new coronavirus variants, Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told me that he doesn’t see viral…

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Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is highly effective after one dose and can be stored in normal freezers, data shows

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is highly effective after one dose and can be stored in normal freezers, data shows

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE generates robust immunity after one dose and can be stored in ordinary freezers instead of at ultracold temperatures, according to new research and data released by the companies. The findings provide strong arguments in favor of delaying the second dose of the two-shot vaccine, as the U.K. has done. They could also have substantial implications on vaccine policy and distribution around the world, simplifying the…

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U.S. life expectancy falls by a year in pandemic, most since WWII

U.S. life expectancy falls by a year in pandemic, most since WWII

The Associated Press reports: Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting. Minorities suffered the biggest impact, with Black Americans losing nearly three years and Hispanics, nearly two years, according to preliminary estimates Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is a huge decline,” said Robert Anderson, who oversees the numbers for the CDC….

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Biden to announce U.S. will donate $4 billion for COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries

Biden to announce U.S. will donate $4 billion for COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries

ABC News reports: President Joe Biden plans to announce on Friday that the United States will contribute $2 billion to a U.N.-backed program seeking to distribute COVID-19 vaccine doses to people in the poorest countries in the world, according to senior Biden administration officials. Congress had already allocated the money in December for the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide to Gavi, an international vaccine distribution alliance. Congress provided a total of $4 billion and the officials said that…

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The coronavirus is here to stay — here’s what that means

The coronavirus is here to stay — here’s what that means

Nature reports: For much of the past year, life in Western Australia has been coronavirus-free. Friends gathered in pubs; people kissed and hugged their relatives; children went to school without temperature checks or wearing masks. The state maintained this enviable position only by placing heavy restrictions on travel and imposing lockdowns — some regions entered a snap lockdown at the beginning of the year after a security guard at a hotel where visitors were quarantined tested positive for the virus….

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As the pandemic ushered in isolation and financial hardship, overdose deaths reached new heights

As the pandemic ushered in isolation and financial hardship, overdose deaths reached new heights

STAT reports: Among the unrelenting death statistics flowing from the CDC last month, one grim non-Covid-19 statistic stood out: 81,003 deaths. That’s the number of people who died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending last June: a 20% increase and the highest number of fatal overdoses ever recorded in the U.S. in a single year. The drug deaths started spiking last spring, as the coronavirus forced shutdowns, and more recent statistics from cities throughout the U.S. and Canada…

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Herd immunity may be out of reach — but normality is in sight

Herd immunity may be out of reach — but normality is in sight

Eric Levitz writes: Nearly 20,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 over the past seven days. The hypercontagious U.K. variant is rapidly spreading through Florida, while a South African strain infamous for its resilience against antibodies has been spotted in California. Our government’s lackadaisical approach to genomic surveillance leaves us blind to precisely how prevalent these mutants are — and yet, even as other nations have responded to the emergence of such strains with lockdowns, our cities are reopening indoor dining…

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Young people’s despair deepens as Covid-19 crisis drags on

Young people’s despair deepens as Covid-19 crisis drags on

The New York Times reports: Life seemed promising last year to Philaé Lachaux, a 22-year-old business student in France who dreamed of striking out on her own in the live music industry. But the onset of the pandemic, leading to the loss of her part-time job as a waitress, sent her back to live at her family home. Now, struggling to envision a future after months of restrictions, Ms. Lachaux says that loneliness and despair seep in at night. “I…

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The body is far from helpless against Coronavirus variants

The body is far from helpless against Coronavirus variants

Katherine J. Wu writes: To locate some of the world’s most superpowered cells, look no further than the human immune system. The mission of these hometown heroes is threefold: Memorize the features of dangerous microbes that breach the body’s barriers. Launch an attack to bring them to heel. Then squirrel away intel to quash future assaults. The immune system is comprehensive, capable of dueling with just about every microbe it meets. It’s archival, ace at memorizing the details of its…

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A lone infection may have changed the course of the pandemic

A lone infection may have changed the course of the pandemic

Matt Reynolds writes: In each warm body it infects, the virus behind Covid-19 has the potential to change. It can become more deadly, more transmissible or more resistant to the vaccines on which we are all pinning so much hope. Mercifully, the biology of Sars-CoV-2 means that such changes happen slowly and almost always fail to catch on. But mutations, like pandemics, are a numbers game. Every new person infected provides another opportunity for the virus to adopt a new…

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What if we never reach herd immunity?

What if we never reach herd immunity?

Sarah Zhang writes: Let’s begin by defining our terms. Herd immunity is the hazy, long-promised end of the pandemic, but its requirements are quite specific. Jennie Lavine, a biologist at Emory University, likens it to wet logs in a campfire. If there’s enough water in the logs—if there’s enough immunity in a population—“you can’t get the fire to start, period,” she says. To be more technical about it, a population reaches herd immunity when the average number of people infected…

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