No images? Click here Click here to subscribe to the daily brief. October 6, 2021 - Brief Issue 247 The Coronavirus Daily Brief is a daily news and analysis roundup edited by New America’s International Security Program and Arizona State University. The brief will be on hiatus October 11 and 12 to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Please consider making a donation to support our ongoing analysis of the most important news and headlines surrounding Covid-19. Top Headlines Johnson & Johnson Asks FDA to Authorize Booster Shot (Health & Science) Depression and Anxiety Declined but Remained High in First Half of 2021, Says CDC (Health & Science) Cases in Children Rise After English Schools Drop Mask Mandates (Around the World) India’s Supreme Court Orders Covid Payments (Around the World) South Korea to Vaccinate Pregnant Women (Around the World) Biden Administration Orders Arizona to Stop Using Covid Money for Anti-Mask Grants (U.S. Government & Politics) NIH Director to Step Down (U.S. Government & Politics) Attorney General Tasks FBI with Addressing Spiking Threats to Educators (U.S. Government & Politics) Trade Deficit Reaches Record High (U.S. Economy) It’s Crunch Time for Athletes Who Oppose Vaccination (U.S. Society) Health & Science There have been 43,952,159 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 705,374 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 397,718,055 vaccine doses, with 65% of all Americans having received at least one vaccine dose and 56% fully vaccinated. Among adults aged 18 or older 77.8% have received at least one dose, and 67.4% are fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). 3.2% of Americans have received a booster shot. Worldwide, there have been 235,933,077 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 4,819,512 deaths. Johnson & Johnson Asks FDA to Authorize Booster Shot On Tuesday pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine and cited studies that showed the extra shot increased protection (AP). The one-shot J&J vaccine was authorized by the FDA in late February and one large international study showed it was 66% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 85% effective at preventing severe to critical illness (WSJ). The company said that a second shot of its vaccine about two months after the first significantly boosts protection, to 94 percent, against moderate to severe disease. According to the New York Times, “nearly 15 million Americans have been inoculated with Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, compared with 102 million fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and nearly 69 million with Moderna’s.” The agency’s advisory panel has a meeting scheduled for Oct. 15 to review the evidence and data on booster shots and will decide then on a recommendation to the agency in regards to booster doses of the J&J vaccine and the Moderna vaccine (Politico). Moderna requested last week that the FDA approve its booster dose. The FDA already authorized a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine in September for many adults. Depression and Anxiety Declined but Remained High in First Half of 2021, Says CDC The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released survey data on Tuesday that showed that despite a decline in symptoms of anxiety and depression across the United States, symptoms remained much more common in the first half of 2021 than before the pandemic. The agency analyzed 1.5 million responses to a biweekly online survey conducted from August 2020 to June 2021 about the severity of symptoms of anxiety or depression. The New York Times reports: “From August to December 2020, symptoms of anxiety rose by 13 percent and symptoms of depression by 15 percent, the surveys found. But from December to June 2021, that trend reversed: Symptoms of anxiety decreased by 27 percent and of depression by 25 percent. The C.D.C. said that there was a strong correlation between the average number of daily Covid-19 cases and the severity of respondents’ anxiety and depression.” The CDC noted that some parts of the population that were harder hit by the virus could also be at higher risk for psychological ill effects during the pandemic. Bonus Read: “Covid cases in kids are soaring. In Tennessee, most remain unmasked and unvaccinated.” (WaPo). Around the World Cases in Children Rise After English Schools Drop Mask Mandates On Tuesday, England’s Education Department reported that 186,000 students were absent from school on Sept. 30 with confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections, a number that was 78% above the number reported on Sept. 16. Some health experts blame the rise in cases on the government’s decision to send millions of students back to school without vaccines or the requirement to wear face masks. Critics of the decision likened it to a “kind of national chickenpox party” and say that some children that contract the virus will have lingering effects from Long Covid and some could even die (NYT). But officials have defended their decision with data: 90% of the country’s 8.4 million students in state-supported schools are in class and the majority of absences are unrelated to Covid. India’s Supreme Court Orders Covid Payments India’s coronavirus death toll could now mean a government payout of hundreds of millions of dollars after the Supreme Court ordered India’s disaster management agency to pay 50,000 rupees (around $671) to families of those who have died from Covid (NYT). The official death toll from the pandemic is 449,260, but health experts believe the true toll is much higher. Even with the official count, the payouts ordered by the court would amount to $300 million. Under India’s National Disaster Management Act, around 400,000 rupees ($5,400) should be provided to families who lose relatives in typhoons, floods, and other disasters. The Supreme Court issued the order on Monday in response to a public interest litigation, a case brought on behalf of the public rather than a specific plaintiff. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government declared the pandemic a disaster in March 2020 so that a strict nationwide lockdown could be imposed; now, lawyers say that disaster declarations should have led to compensation payments being made. The government offered $671 per death. The Supreme Court, which factored in the agency’s other costs, agreed. South Korea to Vaccinate Pregnant Women Beginning this week South Korea will start taking reservations for coronavirus vaccine appointments for pregnant women. The country is racing to inoculate 80% of all adults by the end of the month and health authorities see pregnant mothers as key to the campaign. "The vaccines are safe for pregnant women and can meaningfully decrease their risks of contracting COVID-19 and becoming critically ill," KDCA director Jeong Eun-kyeong told a public briefing on Monday (Reuters). Of the 731 pregnant women infected with the virus in South Korea as of August, about 2% of them developed serious illnesses, more than six times that of women aged 20-45, according to the KDCA. As of Tuesday, around 63% of adults in South Korea were fully vaccinated. U.S. Government & Politics Biden Administration Orders Arizona to Stop Using Covid Money for Anti-Mask Grants On Tuesday, the Biden administration ordered Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Doucey to cease using federal money provided for Covid relief for grants directed only to schools that don’t have mask mandates (AP). In a letter to the governor, the Treasury Department called the grants “not a permissible use” of the funds. Doucey created the grant program in August as part of an effort to pressure schools into not implementing mask mandates. The AP explains, “He launched a $163 million grant program using federal funding he controls, but he made it available only to schools without mask mandates. He also established a $10 million program that offers vouchers to families at public schools that require masks or that tell students to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure.” NIH Director to Step Down National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins plans to step down from his position by the end of the year, the agency announced on Tuesday (Politico, NYT). Collins is the longest-serving NIH director and the only director to serve under more than one president - having served under three consecutive presidents. Though less known than other figures, Collins played an important role in the pandemic response. Politico writes, “During the coronavirus pandemic, Collins has been on the front lines urging Americans to wear masks and get vaccinated. While Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, became the most visible advocate for the administration’s vaccination efforts, the Biden administration has increasingly put Collins on network shows to urge vaccinations and defend the booster strategy.” Collins oversaw growth in the agency with Politico noting, “During Collins' 12-year tenure, the NIH budget grew by 38 percent, from $30 billion in 2009 to $41.3 billion in 2021. Collins proposed a series of ambitious initiatives directed at pressing health issues including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, opioid use disorder, rare diseases and the coronavirus pandemic.” Biden will nominate a replacement who will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Attorney General Tasks FBI with Addressing Spiking Threats to Educators On Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland tasked the FBI with addressing what he called a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against educators and school board members (Politico, WaPo). In a memorandum on the subject, Garland wrote, “ I am directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with each United States Attorney, to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders in each federal judicial district within 30 days of the issuance of this memorandum. These meetings will facilitate the discussion of strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, and will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.” The move comes as the National School Boards Association called for federal assistance on the issue. Tensions over education have increased over the past year amid debates over how issues of race is taught along with disputes over mask mandates and other school-level Covid responses. The move drew criticism from Republicans. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), for example, stated, “If this isn’t a deliberate attempt to chill parents from showing up at school board meetings, I don’t know what is,” while U.S. Economy Trade Deficit Reaches Record High As imports continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic, the trade deficit has reached a new record (WSJ). On Tuesday, the Commerce Department released data showing that “ the trade gap in goods and services expanded to $73.3 billion in August from $70.3 billion in July as the Delta variant of Covid-19 and supply constraints weighed on global trade” The prior record was set in June. Exports are also growing, increasing .5% from July, and the Wall Street Journal writes, “Economists say the pace of the increase in imports is likely to slow in the coming months as U.S. consumer demand cools down.” Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics, told the Journal, “With most other economies still behind the U.S. in their recovery from the pandemic, and domestic consumption growth slowing, we still think goods exports will start to catch up with imports soon.” Cotton Prices Hit Record High On Monday, cotton prices hit a record high as measured by the price of cotton futures, which closed at $1.05 a pound on Monday (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal writes that closing number kept “prices at their highest level since September 2011. Prices have risen 18% higher over the past 10 sessions. Higher clothing prices could eventually follow.” The increase comes amid pandemic-related supply chain issues for a range of commodities. The increase also reflects the impact of U.S. trade policies. The Journal writes, “Last year, President Donald Trump banned U.S. imports of clothing and other products made of cotton from the Xinjiang region, China’s largest cotton-producing area. The administration said at the time that there was evidence that the products were made with forced labor by the Uyghur ethnic group.” U.S. Society It’s Crunch Time for Athletes Who Oppose Vaccination The Wall Street Journal reports that athletes who oppose vaccination are beginning to face substantial tradeoffs between their financial earning power and their stance (WSJ). The Journal writes, “Crunch time has come for some of the most high-profile vaccine opponents in sports. Unvaccinated athletes, some who make many millions of dollars per year, are facing decisions on whether they will bow to vaccine mandates.” For example, the Brooklyn Nets’ leading scorer Kyrie Irving, who has refused vaccination faces missing all the team’s practices, home games, and the playoffs if he persists in his stance. State and local laws, like New York’s vaccination mandates are beginning to force the hands of sports organizations that sought to incentivize voluntary vaccination. Meanwhile while professional sports leagues are still avoiding mandating vaccination themselves, some organizations are instituting mandates. For example, the Journal notes that the “U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has told athletes eyeing the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing that they will need to be vaccinated in order to go; starting Nov. 1, they also have to be fully vaccinated to use official training facilities.” Bonus Read: “SoHo Catered to Free-Spending Tourists. What Happens Without Them?,” (NYT). Analysis & Arguments Yasmin Tayag criticizes the continued reliance upon cloth masks (Atlantic). Helen Rosner interviews Moe Tkacik on his work regarding efforts to regulate food delivery apps (New Yorker). Readers can send in tips, critiques, questions, and suggestions to coronavirusbrief@newamerica.org. The Brief is edited by David Sterman and Emily Schneider with Senior Editor Peter Bergen. Read previous briefs here and stream and subscribe to our weekly podcast here. About New America New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals. Read the rest of our story, or see what we've been doing recently in our latest Annual Report. Help us to continue advancing policy solutions and journalism by making a donation to New America. |