August 20, 2021

ProPublica reports that the CDC decided back on May 1 to count breakthrough infections only when they led to hospitalization or death, leaving the country without a clear picture of how often vaccinated people were getting sick even as officials cited breakthrough figures to reassure the public. The same day, NPR walks through why highly vaccinated Israel is seeing a dramatic surge, drawing six lessons about waning protection from a country that rolled out shots earlier than almost anyone.

Those two threads sit awkwardly beside the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” slogan. The data used to justify third doses also raise a harder question about how durable two doses ever were, and the country’s own surveillance was built to look away from the answer.

The school mask fights turn physical, with NPR reporting anti-mandate parents disrupting board meetings and, in some cases, assaulting staff. Montana stands alone as the only state barring employers from requiring vaccination, while Texas courts trade rulings over Governor Greg Abbott’s attempt to stop districts from mandating masks.

The Topic Of Masks In Schools Is Polarizing Some Parents To The Point Of Violence

School districts around the country have seen incidents of anti-mask parents and protesters disrupting school board meetings and school events, and some are getting physically violent.

NPR

Study Shows Uptick in U.S. Alcohol Beverage Sales During COVID-19 Pandemic

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on socio-economic, energy-environment and transport sector globally and sustainable development goal (SDG)

ScienceDirect.com

Three reasons why personal protective equipment (PPE) supply remains critical

Demand for gloves, masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment continues to grow in response to COVID-19.

Unicef

Sydney faces curfew and longer lockdown as Australia’s Delta outbreak grows

City’s western reaches, already in lockdown, will have a curfew imposed from Monday after huge rise in coronavirus cases

The Guardian

Fact check: Texas lieutenant governor falsely implies Black people to blame for Covid surge | CNN Politics

CNN

For some Black Americans, vaccine hesitancy is just one part of a legacy of mistrust

To get the shot, many must overcome their historical memory of unethical medical experiments

The Guardian

Pfizer and BioNTech apply for full U.S. approval for their Covid vaccine. (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Montana only state to ban vaccine requirements for employees

AP News

EXPLAINER: Texas mask battle looks to courts for resolution

AP News

Examining the politicization of school mask mandates in Florida's Broward County

Students returned to school in a number of states this week amid a new surge of COVID cases and a fierce battle over mask mandates. Republican governors in states like Arizona and Texas have tried to stop school districts from mandating face masks, drawing sharp criticism from some parents and educators, and action from the white house. John Yang reports from Florida, the epicenter of this debate.

PBS

US extends Canada, Mexico travel restrictions for COVID-19

The highly contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly in the US, with deaths rising to more than 600 per day.

Al Jazeera

Newspapers Have Been Struggling And Then Came The Pandemic

The pandemic accelerated declines in newspaper revenue. As a result, many newspapers have cutback on journalists, and community news. Others have shut down entirely or have been acquired by hedge funds or private equity funds.

Forbes

Time for Pandemic Puppies to Learn How to Be Alone (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Nando’s chicken shortage: how the pandemic has made supply and demand tougher to predict

Shortages of chicken at Nando’s are due to disruptions in supply, rather than demand.

The Conversation

Covid cases: This summer compared with last

Case numbers are 30 times higher than at the same point last year - where might we be heading next?

BBC

Five troops, including first Marine, dead from COVID-19 during pandemic’s deadliest week

The COVID-19 mortality rate for troops has grown 25 times in the past few months.

Military Times

Survey: Tokyo Olympics did its best despite the Covid-19 pandemic

Our recent online poll gave us an insight into attitudes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games around the world

Time Out

Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New COVID Cases. Here's Why

What happened? Here are six lessons learned from Israel's experience — and one looming question for the future of the pandemic.

NPR

Disparities in Excess Mortality Associated with COVID-19...

This report describes excess mortality rates associated with COVID-19 among older people and certain racial/ethnic minority groups.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (.gov)

A proposal for long-term COVID-19 control

William A. Haseltine proposes a multimodal strategy for long-term control of COVID-19.

Brookings

India gives emergency approval for world's first COVID-19 DNA vaccine

Reuters

Breastfeeding and COVID-19 Vaccines | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

In this Q&A, Ruth Karron, MD, a pediatrician trained in infectious diseases, and Ruth Faden, PhD, MPH, an expert in biomedical ethics, answer some questions about the safety and concerns of getting vaccinated while breastfeeding and the benefits breast milk may provide to infants.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

The CDC Only Tracks a Fraction of Breakthrough COVID-19 Infections, Even as Cases Surge

A May 1 decision by the CDC to only track breakthrough infections that lead to hospitalization or death has left the nation with a muddled understanding of COVID-19’s impact on the vaccinated.

ProPublica

Awake prone positioning in COVID-19: is tummy time ready for prime time?

The Lancet

A New Generation of Fast Coronavirus Tests Is Coming (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Viral evolution 101: Why the coronavirus has changed as it has, and what it means going forward

We can’t predict the next coronavirus variant. But there are some fundamental principles that explain why the virus has morphed as it has and where we could be headed next.

STAT

Oregon’s governor makes incremental changes to stem coronavirus surge. Is it enough?

The governor has yet to turn to some of the restrictions she adopted in previous, though smaller case and hospitalization surges

OregonLive.com

After India’s brutal coronavirus wave, two-thirds of population has been exposed to SARS-CoV2

A public health scholar based in New Delhi explains how India has emerged from the massive spike in COVID-19 cases, even as the country braces for a new wave.

The Conversation

Parents Report More Negative Pandemic Effects on Kids Who Attend School Virtually vs. In-Person | KFF

In his latest Axios column, Drew Altman shows that parents feel that children have fared better during COVID attending school in-person than virtually in terms of academic performance and their mental health and wellbeing.

KFF

Younger generations are more concerned with climate change than coronavirus | YouGov

In a YouGov poll of more than 12,000 US adults, 36% say they are more concerned about the impact that climate change will have on humanity, while 34% are more concerned about the impact of coronavirus.

YouGov Today

The week in charts: Afghanistan, Haiti, the coronavirus and more

In our visual roundup: The shambles in Afghanistan • Haiti’s quake and storm • Covid-19’s origins • Central bankers’ choices • America’s parched West

The Economist

Nicole Kidman Got An Exemption To Hong Kong's Quarantine

The government said it granted the exemption to the actress "for the purpose of performing designated professional work." Some Hong Kong lawmakers criticized the decision as unfair.

NPR

UK regulator approves ‘first of its kind’ Covid antibody treatment

Sajid Javid says green light for Ronapreve – which was used to treat Donald Trump – is ‘fantastic news’

The Guardian

‘It’s Kitchen Sink Time’: Fast, Less-Accurate Coronavirus Tests May Be Good Enough (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today (Published 2021)

The New York Times

The White House Bet on Abbott’s Rapid Tests. It Didn’t Work Out. (Published 2020)

The New York Times

BTS Cancels World Tour Due to Coronavirus Impact

Korean pop sensation BTS has officially canceled its 'Map of the Soul' world tour due to the impact of the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

Variety

Protecting wild nature can help prevent the next COVID-like pandemic

Infectious diseases like COVID-19 are aided by habitat destruction and creeping development, which bring more people in contact with disease-vector wildlife they might not have otherwise encountered. Protecting more wild nature in the U.S., along with measures like preserving biodiversity, can help forestall these deadly pandemics.

The Wilderness Society

August 20, 2021

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