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June 3, 2021 - Brief Issue 207
The Coronavirus Daily Brief is a daily news and analysis roundup edited by New America’s International Security Program and Arizona State University.
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Top Headlines
U.S. Daily Case Average Hits Record Low for Covid-19 Pandemic (Health & Science)
First Human Case of New Bird Flu Confirmed; Experts Say it’s Not Another Pandemic-Level Threat (Health & Science)
Covid-19 Prevention Measures Have Significantly Reduced Cases of Common Childhood Diseases, Doctors Say (Health & Science)
Israel Reports Rare Instances of Myocarditis in Pfizer Recipients, Mainly Among Young Men (Health & Science)
COVAX Gets $2.4 Billion Funding Boost (Around the World)
Olympic Volunteers Quit, Top Doctor Warns Games Are ‘Not Normal’ (Around the World)
China Could be Nearing Herd Immunity (Around the World)
Biden Declares ‘Month of Action’ Against Coronavirus (U.S. Government)
Economic Recovery Accelerates Despite Lingering Problems (U.S. Economy)
Federal Courts Upholds Eviction Ban (U.S. Society)
Health & Science
There have been 33,307,424 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 595,833 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 296,912,892 vaccine doses, with 50.8% of Americans having received their first vaccine dose and 41% fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). Worldwide, there have been 171,680,288 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 3,691,680 deaths.
U.S. Daily Case Average Hits Record Low for Covid-19 Pandemic
The U.S. daily average for new coronavirus cases hit 17,248 as of Monday, the first time it’s fallen below 20,000 since March 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University (CNN). Plus, in a sign that cases are dropping nationwide, New York City reported its lowest-yet positivity rate on Tuesday. Officials and health experts attribute this mainly to Covid-19 vaccinations: "Cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all declining because of the millions of people who have stepped forward and done their part to protect their health and the health of their communities to move us out of this pandemic," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Over half of the U.S. population is at least partially vaccinated, with vaccination campaigns continuing on a federal and local level.
Bonus Read: “It’s Okay to Let Go of Herd Immunity,” (NPR).
First Human Case of New Bird Flu Confirmed; Experts Say it’s Not Another Pandemic-Level Threat
A 41-year-old man in China’s Jiangsu Province was diagnosed last week with a rare bird flu strain called H10N3, making him the first confirmed human case of the disease (NYT, BBC). The World Health Organization said although there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of H10N3, the man’s hospitalization illuminates the lurking possibility of a flu pandemic: "As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising, which is a vivid reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic is persistent.” The man will be discharged soon; China has provided no information on how he contracted the virus. Beijing’s National Health Commission said Tuesday that the virus was low-threat and unlikely to spread among humans. “This case is an occasional poultry-to-human cross-species transmission, and the risk of a large-scale spread is extremely low," the NHC said. The last bird flu outbreak was driven by the H7N9 strain, killing about 300 people in 2016 and 2017. Avian viruses mainly become pandemic-level threats if they swap genetic material with human viruses, according to Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Covid-19 Prevention Measures Have Significantly Reduced Cases of Common Childhood Diseases, Doctors Say
Thanks to coronavirus-related public health measures like increased hand washing, surface cleaning, and social distancing, several common childhood diseases – including strep throat, chickenpox, and stomach viruses – have declined dramatically in the U.S. and elsewhere (WSJ). Chickenpox cases fell by two-thirds in the U.S. over the past year; other countries, including Japan and Germany, reported drops in norovirus and rotavirus cases upwards of 90%. Dr. Rana El Feghaly, a pediatrician at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, said even though mask-wearing might not survive the pandemic, she hopes other disease prevention measures will remain in place. “I can foresee how things would move toward a middle ground, where it’s not as strict, but also we continue to do some of the precautions that we know help, like washing your hands and sneezing into your shirt, into your elbow,” she said. “Those types of things, we know they work.” Even though surface disinfecting and hand sanitizing are believed to be less effective against Covid-19 than practices that prevent air transmission, doctors say these measures are very effective against other common infectious diseases.
Israel Reports Rare Instances of Myocarditis in Pfizer Recipients, Mainly Among Young Men
A report submitted Tuesday to the Israeli Ministry of Health outlined a possible link between the two-dose Pfizer coronavirus vaccine and scattered cases of myocarditis, or heart muscle inflammation (Science, Reuters, WaPo). Israeli researchers tracked 275 cases of myocarditis out of more than 5 million vaccinated individuals, over 100 of which occurred in Pfizer recipients within a month of the second dose. Most were mild cases in men aged 16 to 24. The U.S. Department of Defense and the CDC are also examining the link between mRNA vaccines and myocarditis; some experts think the rare side effect results from an amped-up inflammatory response in young people, triggered by the shot. Cardiologist Peter Liu of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute said the vaccine’s benefits still drastically outweigh its risks, even for young people – though in Israel, where Covid-19 has virtually disappeared as a threat, the risk-benefit analysis might look different.
Gavi and Covax Look to Sinovac As World Leaders Call for Vaccine Equity
Following the World Health Organization’s authorization of China’s Sinovac coronavirus shot for emergency use, the global vaccine alliance, Gavi, is talking to Sinovac in the hopes of distributing its vaccine to poorer nations (WaPo). The Sinovac shot was recently found highly effective in a mass immunization trial in southeastern Brazil, and is being rolled out across the globe (WSJ).
Gavi has partnered with the WHO’s Covax facility in an equitable vaccine distribution initiative, but supply shortages have limited the amount of doses Covax can send to nations in need. Sinovac may help fill the gap. “The world desperately needs multiple COVID-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe,” said Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director general for access to health products. Covax has so far shipped 77 million coronavirus vaccine doses to 127 countries and territories.
Meanwhile, four major global agencies – the WHO, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund – issued a call for investments of up to $50 billion from wealthier nations to address global vaccine inequity (STAT). A new analysis from the Rockefeller Foundation found that vaccinating half the adult population of the world’s lowest-income countries would be less costly, in terms of money and human life, than doing nothing (Science News).
Bonus Read: “Now Proven Against Coronavirus, mRNA Can Do So Much More,” (CNN).
Around the World
COVAX Gets $2.4 Billion Funding Boost
The World Health Organizations’ program to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, COVAX, raised nearly $2.4 billion in fresh funding following a virtual conference on Wednesday. The new funds will allow it to deliver 1.8 billion fully subsidized doses of coronavirus vaccine to developing economies by 2022 (WaPo). Around 40 private donors and countries came together to pledge funds; some of the donations included a $2,500 contribution from Mauritius to a $50 million pledge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and $800 million from Japan.
Olympic Volunteers Quit, Top Doctor Warns Games ‘Not Normal’
Roughly 10,000 volunteers for the Tokyo 2020 Games have quit due to a spike in infections and a top infectious disease expert who advises the Japanese government said that holding the Games during a pandemic was “not normal.” Shigeru Omi told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, “If they were to be held during a pandemic, it is the organizers’ responsibility to scale them down as much as possible and strengthen the management system.” The volunteers who resigned were concerned about Tokyo’s failure to control an ongoing spike in coronavirus infections, according to Japanese organizing committee chief Toshiro Muto. Muto maintained that the loss of over 10% of the 80,000 volunteers who signed up to help at the Games was not “particularly problematic” since the event will be scaled down and will not have any foreign spectators (Japan Times).
China Could be Nearing Herd Immunity
On Tuesday China said it administered 22.3 million doses of coronavirus vaccines on Monday alone, bringing the total number of shots given on its mainland to over 660 million (WaPo). China is inoculating people six times faster than the United States did during its mid-April peak thanks to the help of celebrity ad campaigns and incentives like cash and free laundry detergent. And while the World Health Organization just authorized Chinese-made Sinovac shot for emergency use, questions remain about how much protection the Chinese-developed vaccines offer. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recently made third doses of the Sinopharm vaccine available to large groups of people, suggesting that additional doses are necessary for continued protection. Although, as the Post notes, “Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious-disease expert in the United States, has said Americans will probably need a booster shot, though the timing of such a dose remains unclear.”
AstraZeneca Starts Deliveries of Thailand-Made Vaccines
On Wednesday AstraZeneca’s partner in Thailand, Siam Bioscience, began deliverit its first doses of Covid-19 vaccines. The company said the first locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines were delivered to Thailand’s Ministry of Health ahead of the start of the country’s official mass vaccination program, which is slated to begin on June 7 (AP). It did not say how many doses were delivered. Siam Bioscience and AstraZeneca partnered last year and planned for Siam Bioscience to provide Southeast Asian countries with vaccines, including 6 million doses to Thailand in June and 10 million doses monthly from July to November with a final 5 million doses delivered in December. China’s Sinovac has also been delivering vaccines to Thailand.
Germany Will Build Up Vaccine Reserve Capacity for Future Pandemics
Germany will pay vaccine manufacturers an annual reservation fee in order to build up a reserve capacity of around 600-700 million doses per year in hopes of fending off future pandemics, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday (Reuters). The government will launch a call for tenders for pandemic preparedness contracts so that vaccine doses “can be activated quickly if the worst comes to the worst," Spahn told a news conference. The contracts will maintain institutional knowledge that was acquired during the current pandemic so the next time “we don’t have to ramp up production from zero to 100,” said Christoph Krupp, head of the vaccine production task force. "We want to bet on several companies and several vaccine types and not just one," Krupp said. The contract terms include having production capacity in Germany and being able to manufacture active ingredients in addition to being able to scale-up production.
Britain Looks to AstraZeneca for Help Fighting Beta Variant, Still Dealing with Delta Variant
Britain is seeking additional doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that has been modified to better target the “beta” coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa and is in talks with Oxford and AstraZeneca. Britain previously secured 100 million doses of the vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford and then licensed by AstraZeneca, and the health ministry said the extra doses would be changed to target the new variant (Reuters). Britain has also committed to funding trials for the new adapted vaccine. Variants continue to puzzle scientists and health experts as little is known for certain about how much more contagious and/or deadly each variant is from the original virus. But fear of the variants spreading faster and being less responsive to currently available vaccines has caused authorities to change policies, not just in Britain but around the globe. The European Union, for example, has delayed putting the UK n a “white list” of countries from which non-essential travel into the bloc is allowed due to concerns over the rise in cases of the “delta” variant (Guardian). The delta variant, first identified in India, is believed by scientists who have studied it to be highly transmissible.
U.S. Government & Politics
Biden Declares ‘Month of Action’ Against Coronavirus
U.S. President Joseph Biden vowed a “national month of action” on Wednesday to meet his goal of administering at least one vaccine shot to 70% of the population by July 4. “America is headed into the summer dramatically different from last year, a summer of freedom, a summer of joy, a summer of get togethers and celebrations, an all-American summer that this country deserves. You might even be invited to visit us at the White House in July to celebrate Independence together,” said Biden in a fifteen-minute address at the White House.
In addition to announcing new community outreach initiatives, including an effort to recruit 1,000 Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons to spread the word through the “Shots at the Shop” initiative, Biden stressed the role of the Trump administration in developing the vaccines. “The science was done under Democratic and Republican administrations. Matter of fact, the first vaccines were authorized under a Republican president,” said Biden.
Biden also announced new partnerships with the private sector to offer contest prizes for inoculations, including tickets to the NFL’s Super Bowl LVI, free entry to Major League Baseball games, Xboxes provide by Microsoft and a year of free flights on United Airlines. Brewing company Anheuser-Busch also announced Wednesday that it will offer a $5 virtual debit card good for the purchase of one of its beverages to all Americans aged 21 or older when the 70% goal is reached.
“Get a shot and have a beer,” said Biden in reference to the promotion (WaPo, Guardian).
U.S. Economy
Economic Recovery Accelerates Despite Lingering Problems
U.S. economic growth has picked up at a "somewhat faster rate” in recent weeks despite hiring difficulties, supply chain disruptions and rising prices, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Officials noted "the positive effects...of increased vaccination rates and relaxed social distancing measures” in its Beige Book summary. However, the Fed noted continuing labor shortages among low wage workers.
"High-income earners were actively seeking jobs to replace lost income, while low-income earners were more likely to stay on the sidelines if they were receiving government benefits,” read the summary. Material shortages were also widely noted, with wood product manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest unable to meet demand despite operating at full capacity. The overall mood, however, remained cautiously optimistic. The Dallas Fed reported: "Outlooks improved, though there was widespread apprehension about the sustainability of current demand growth in light of supply constraints, difficulty hiring, and rising costs” (Reuters).
Bonus Read: “Back-Aching Work. Low Pay. No Health Care: Here’s Why Chicago Restaurant Workers Aren’t Coming Back,” (Chicago Tribune).
AstraZeneca In Talks For New Vaccine Factory
AstraZeneca is in talks with the federal government about shifting vaccine production away from a troubled plant to a new location, the New York Times reported. The British-Swedish firm had previously produced its vaccine at a plant near Baltimore in partnership with the pharmaceutical company Emergent. The government forced Emergent to halt production after it emerged in April that it was conflating ingredients for both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which were produced at the same facility. Millions of doses of both vaccines were tainted as a result.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told the Times that AstraZeneca is currently in talks with the government to retrofit a production line at a plant owned by a separate company, Catalent, which is also located near Baltimore. “We can confirm we are working with Catalent but have not disclosed specific details on supply,” Holly Campbell, a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca, told the Times. If production resumes, up to 300 million doses could be delivered to the government as part of an agreement it reached with the Trump administration last May.
But with the U.S. already reaching its immunization targets with supplies from Pfizer, Modern and Johnson & Johnson, the AstraZeneca doses would likely be exported. Although the AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for emergency use in dozens of other countries, including the U.K. and all of the E.U., it has not yet been authorized in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the company is considering skipping the emergency approval process in favor of committing to the lengthier process for full authorization (NYT, WSJ).
Half of All States Have Cut Coronavirus Unemployment Benefits
The White House on Wednesday defended the federally-funded $300 a week unemployment benefit authorized by the American Rescue Plan of 2021 after Maryland became the twenty-fifth state to eliminate the payments. “Our view is that it's going to take time for workers to regain confidence in the safety of the workplace, re-establish childcare, school, and commuting arrangements, and finish getting vaccinated,” said Press Secretary Jan Psaki, who said last month that the White House would not try to stop states from ending the benefits.
Department of Labor records dated May 8 showed about 2.8 million people collecting the weekly $300 across states that have already slashed the aid. Republicans, which control the governorships in all those states, have maintained that the expanded unemployment benefit has already served its purpose as normalcy returns to the country.
“While these federal programs provided important temporary relief, vaccines and jobs are now in good supply,” said Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, whose state on Tuesday was the latest to end the payments, in a statement. “And we have a critical problem where businesses across our state are trying to hire more people, but many are facing severe worker shortages. After 12 consecutive months of job growth, we look forward to getting more Marylanders back to work.” Maryland House of Delegates majority leader struck back at the governor on Tuesday, accusing Hogan of taking away money that is “putting food on the tables of Maryland families.”
“I don’t know about Governor Hogan, but I’m still hearing from constituents who are struggling and still need help,” Delegate Eric Luedtke told the Baltimore Sun. “And to tell them that 30 days from now ‘you’re out of luck’ creates a lot of uncertainty for working families in the state,” he added. A May Quinnipiac poll suggested that a narrow majority of Americans favor the Republicans’ position, with 54% agreeing that states should end the subsidies early (Reuters, Baltimore Sun).
U.S. Society
Federal Courts Upholds Eviction Ban
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Wednesday declined to overturn the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national ban on home evictions. In reference to a federal appeal filed in response to a lower court’s ruling that the moratorium was unlawful, the three-judge panel said that the government "has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits.” Although other appeals are pending, it is likely that the ban will survive until its expiration on June 30.
The moratorium, which has been in place since September, has been welcomed by tenant rights groups but decried by landlords, who have argued that it has put them at risk of financial ruin. Some 7 million renters nationwide owe $40 billion in back rent, utilities and other fees, according to Moody’s Analytics.
"If the CDC eviction moratorium expires or is overturned before those funds are expended, millions of renters would be at immediate risk of losing their homes,” Diane Yentel, president of the Low Income Housing Coalition, told Reuters. “The result would be a historic wave of evictions, with tremendous, harmful consequences to individuals, communities, and our nation’s public health” (Reuters).
Analysis & Arguments
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The Brief is edited by David Sterman and Emily Schneider with Senior Editor Peter Bergen.
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