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April 20, 2022 - Brief Issue 316
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
White House Covid Czar: People Over 60 Should Get a Second Booster (Health & Science)
Severe Covid Could be Triggered by Infected Immune Cells, Say Studies (Health & Science)
Moderna Shows Data for Fall Vaccine Strategy (Health & Science)
U.S. CDC Removes All Countries from Highest Risk Category (Around the World)
China Reports First Deaths from Current Wave of Covid-19; Economic Trends Show Cost of Zero Covid Strategy (Around the World)
India Hinders WHO’s Efforts for Global Death Toll (Around the World)
Myanmar’s Health System in Collapse (Around the World)
Judge Strikes Down Public Transit Mask Mandate; Biden Admin May Appeal; TSA Drops Enforcement; Airlines, Amtrak, DC Metro, Uber, and Lyft Drop Mask Requirements; New York to Keep Mandates (U.S. Government & Politics)
Philadelphia Reinstates Mask Mandate; An “Odd Juxtaposition” as Federal Transit Mandate Falls (U.S. Government & Politics)
White House to Hold Global Summit on Covid in May (U.S. Government & Politics)
Amid Poor Polling, Biden Seeks to Refocus From Ukraine to Domestic Issues (U.S. Government & Politics)
Biden to Expand Student Debt Forgiveness Access (U.S. Government & Politics)
White House Covid Czar Dismisses China-Style Lockdowns (U.S. Government & Politics)
Small Businesses Voice Opposition to Rerouting of Covid Aid (U.S. Government & Politics)
Bank of America Reports 12% Quarterly Drop in Profit (U.S. Economy)
Amid Surging Demand, Airlines Cut Back on Some Flights Fearing Cascading Disruptions (U.S. Economy)
Hotel Sales Reach Highest Level Since 2016 (U.S. Economy)
Red Sox Catcher, Staffers Test Positive for Covid (U.S. Society)
Health & Science
There have been 80,733,217 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 989,366 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 570,111,931 vaccine doses, with 77.4% of all Americans having received at least one vaccine dose and 66% fully vaccinated. Among adults aged 18 or older 88.8% have received at least one dose, and 75.9% are fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). 45.5% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a first booster shot. Worldwide, there have been 506,124,895 cases of coronavirus, with 6,204,397 deaths.
Bonus Read: “New CDC team: A ‘Weather Service’ to forecast what’s next in pandemic,” (WaPo).
White House Covid Czar: People Over 60 Should Get a Second Booster
Dr. Ashish K. Jha, the new White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said on Sunday that a fourth shot–-a second booster dose–is recommended for people over the age of 60. Speaking to “Fox News Sunday,” Dr. Jha cited a new study from Israel that showed a fourth shot significantly reduced infections and deaths among older people (NYT). “The data out of Israel is pretty compelling for people over 60,” he said. “When people got that second booster shot four months after their first booster, what we saw was a substantial reduction, not just in infections, but in deaths. So I think people over 60 should be getting it.” Israel authorized a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those over 60 in January. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized second booster doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccines for anyone over the age of 50 but so far, only about half of all vaccinated adults have gotten a single booster dose so far (WaPo). Bonus Read: “The Troublesome U.S. Booster Gap,” (WaPo).
Severe Covid Could be Triggered by Infected Immune Cells, Say Studies
Two new studies suggest that immune cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 could trigger a strong inflammatory response that contributes to the severity of Covid-19 infections. Previous research has suggested that inflammation is connected to respiratory distress and other organ damage that marks severe infections but scientists haven’t been able to pinpoint the catalyst for that inflammation. Now, two studies–one published in Nature and a preprint posted online on bioRxiv earlier in April–suggest that two types of white blood cells trigger the inflammation. The white blood cells are the macrophages in the lungs, and monocytes in the blood (Nature).
In the Nature paper, Judy Lieberman, an immunologist at the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts, and her colleagues looked at blood samples from people with COVID-19. They found that about 6% of monocytes were undergoing a type of cell death associated with inflammation, known as pyroptosis. To see that many cells dying is unusual because normally the body gets rid of dead cells quickly. The researchers found that the dying cells were infected with SARS-CoV-2 and hypothesize that the virus was activating inflammasomes, large molecules that trigger a cascade of inflammatory responses that end in cell death.
Moderna Shows Data for Fall Vaccine Strategy
On Tuesday, Moderna released new data supporting its vaccine strategy for fall, which includes developing a booster shot that would combine different versions of the coronavirus. The new data showed that such a vaccine, known as bivalent, would increase recipients’ immune defenses against multiple variants (NYT). The company has been working on a bivalent vaccine since February 2021 and the shot used in the study, which was published as a preprint and has not undergone peer review, includes four mutations found in the omicron variant. Antibody levels were higher with the bivalent vaccine compared with a regular booster against a range of variants and remained so after six months, with the exception of the delta variant. But it's important to note that the study was not designed to measure vaccine effectiveness. The Washington Post cautioned that “outside experts noted that the research provided limited insight into the future vaccination strategy because this vaccine formulation isn’t likely to be used.”
“At this point, we should at minimum be thinking about a bivalent Omicron booster,” David R. Martinez, a viral immunologist at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, said in an email to the Post. “We should also be asking ourselves what the overall goal is, as the variant-specific boosters are a patch-fix approach, and the ancestral vaccines seem to be doing a generally good job at protecting against severe disease.”
Bonus Read: “When Covid Enters the House, What Should We Do?” (NYT).
Around the World
U.S. CDC Removes All Countries from Highest Risk Category
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its Covid-19 travel advisory system on Monday and re-designated its highest risk category–known as “Level 4”--for extreme scenarios, meaning that all countries that had been in that category have now been downgraded (WaPo). About 120 countries are now at a Level 3 advisory, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy and many other popular European destinations due to “high” levels of the coronavirus. Twelve destinations sit at Level 2 and another 55 are at Level 1, the lowest-risk level. The three lower-level warnings will continue to be determined mainly by 28-day coronavirus incidence or case counts. “With this new configuration, travelers will have a more actionable alert for when they should not travel to a certain destination (Level 4), regardless of vaccination status, until we have a clearer understanding of the COVID-19 situation at that destination,” according to a statement from the CDC last week.
China Reports First Deaths from Current Wave of Covid-19; Economic Trends Show Cost of Zero Covid Strategy
Chinese health authorities said on Monday that three Covid-19 patients had died, the first Covid-related deaths reported since the current outbreak began and prompted citywide lockdowns last month. The Shanghai Municipal Health Commission said that the deaths were of a 89-year-old woman, a 91-year-old woman and a 91-year-old man, all of whom had been admitted to local hospitals and all of whom had underlying health conditions (WSJ). The patients hadn’t been vaccinated, according to the commission. China recorded more than 23,000 Covid-19 cases nationwide on Sunday.
Lockdowns across the country and mass quarantines have had an impact on China’s economy, according to official data released Monday. The economy expanded 4.8% in the first three months of this year compared to the same time last year. That pace was barely faster than the final three months of last year, and, according to the New York Times, “it also obscured a looming problem” as much of that growth was recorded in January and February, before the economic activity in Shenzhen and Shanghai shut down in March. Retail sales fell 3.5% in March compared to a year earlier and factory output grew 5%, a slower rate than what was recorded in the first two months of the year (WSJ). Bonus Read: “Shanghai says some people may have to sleep at work even after its lockdown ends.” (NYT).
India Hinders WHO’s Efforts for Global Death Toll
The World Health Organization (WHO) is attempting to calculate the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic and has so far found that more people have died than previously thought–a total of about 15 million by the end of 2021. That figure is more than double the official total of 6 million reported by countries individually (NYT). But the WHO’s findings, which are a result of over a year of research and analysis by global experts, haven’t been released yet due to objections from India. Indian officials dispute the calculations of its death toll and are trying to keep the numbers from becoming public. The WHO has estimated more than a third of the additional 9 million deaths occurred in India but Prime Minister Narendra Modi disagrees and his government says that 520,000 people died.
The WHO’s report was supposed to be released in January but it has been continually pushed back. “It’s important for global accounting and the moral obligation to those who have died, but also important very practically. If there are subsequent waves, then really understanding the death total is key to knowing if vaccination campaigns are working,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha, director of the Centre for Global Health Research in Toronto and a member of the expert working group supporting the W.H.O.’s excess death calculation. “And it’s important for accountability.”
Myanmar’s Health System in Collapse
A coup on Feb. 21, 2021 in Myanmar put the country into disarray and has severely impacted the healthcare system as security forces have intensified their crackdown on doctors who oppose the military junta that seized power. According to the New York Times, “In recent weeks, the security forces have arrested doctors at their homes and hospitals, revoked the licenses of prominent physicians, searched hospitals for wounded resistance fighters and threatened to close health care facilities that employ doctors opposing the regime.” Human rights group Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma, said the Myanmar military has “destabilized the country beyond repair.” The group said “the health care sector is one of many which has been obliterated.” The country has only vaccinated about 40% of its population against Covid-19 and many patients have been left without routine care or much needed operations.
U.S. Government & Politics
Judge Strikes Down Public Transit Mask Mandate; Biden Admin May Appeal; TSA Drops Enforcement; Airlines, Amtrak, DC Metro, Uber, and Lyft Drop Mask Requirements; New York to Keep Mandates
On Monday, a federal judge struck down the federal government’s mask mandate for public transit (AP, CNN, Fox, WaPo). U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida ruled that the CDC’s mandate exceeded its authority. Mizelle wrote, “the Mask Mandate is best understood not as sanitation, but as an exercise of the CDC's power to conditionally release individuals to travel despite concerns that they may spread a communicable disease (and to detain or partially quarantine those who refuse)," adding, "But the power to conditionally release and detain is ordinarily limited to individuals entering the United States from a foreign country.” Last week, prior to the ruling, the CDC had extended the mandate through May 3.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that it may appeal the ruling (NBC, NYT). The department stated, “The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to CDC’s conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health.” The New York Times described the decision as a “careful course, publicly objecting to Monday’s ruling but putting off a final decision about whether to contest it.” The Times writes, that the choice “came after a day of back and forth inside the White House, as administration officials faced a legal and political quandary: whether to let the judge’s ruling stand or to fight it, knowing that an appeal could result in a higher court, perhaps the Supreme Court, ruling against the administration and setting a lasting precedent that could undercut the C.D.C.’s authority.”
However, the Justice Department is not asking for a stay of the order’s implementation, and the Transportation Security Administration said it would no longer enforce the mandate (Politico). In the wake of the ruling and the TSA’s advisory, airlines including Alaska Airlines, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue, United, Southwest, and Spirit announced that masks were now optional on their flights (NPR, NYT). Los Angeles Airport dropped its mask requirement, as did Amtrak and the DC Metro (WaPo)..
On Tuesday, Uber and Lyft joined those ending mask requirements in the wake of the ruling (NYT, CNN). In a statement, Lyft wrote, “Wearing a mask is now optional for everyone in the car,” adding that passengers can now also ride in the front seat and do not need to keep windows open. Lyft also stated, “health safety reasons – like not wearing a mask – will no longer appear as cancellation options in the app.” Uber sent an email to users reading in part, “The CDC order requiring masks while using rideshare platforms such as Uber is no longer in effect, and we've revised our COVID-19 mask and front-seat policies accordingly.”
However, not every transit provider is loosening their restrictions. The New York Times reports, that in New York, “Tim Minton, a spokesman for the M.T.A., confirmed on Monday evening the mandate would remain in place, citing a March 2 decision by the New York state health commissioner, which noted the protections mask-wearing offers from transmitting the coronavirus, especially on public transportation.” New York Governor Kathy Hochul expressed support for the decision to maintain the mandate tweeting, “Do your part to keep your neighbors safe.” New York City’s commission that regulates taxis and rideshares also tweeted, “Masks are still required in all taxis and for-hire vehicles.”
The ruling and resultant changes were greeted with mixed emotions and confusion (WSJ, WaPo, WaPo). Some providers quickly changed their procedures while others didn’t, creating a patchwork of new rules. The Wall Street Journal notes, “The sudden switch in requirements was evident at New York City’s JFK airport, where, in the early hours of the morning, signs in the preboarding area of Terminal 4 reminded travelers to wear masks in accordance with federal law. An announcement played over the PA system reminding travelers to ‘wear a face mask when required and follow the instructions of staff.’ A similar announcement played on the AirTrain, which connects all passenger terminals.” In other cases pilots announced the change, as Capt. Kenny Buckley did, telling passengers, “Welcome on our first flight without the mask mandate.” Though passengers on some flights with such announcements cheered, the Washington Post notes, “as with so many anecdotes these days, those captured only a subset of opinion. A few pilots lifted the mandate midflight, not all. Some passengers cheered. Others fretted quietly. The lifting of the mandate was seen as liberation by some but as a new source of worry for many.” The Post also points to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll from March showing “Half of the country thought the mandate should be extended after its initial mid-April deadline; about half didn’t.”
Mizelle’s ruling also resurfaced controversy regarding her appointment in 2020 by President Trump. CNN notes, “Her confirmation in the days after the 2020 election was controversial and uniformly opposed by Democrats. A former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Mizelle was 33 at the time of her confirmation. She had been rated ‘not qualified’ by the American Bar Association for ‘the short time she has actually practiced law and her lack of meaningful trial experience.’” Bonus Reads: “Do I still need to wear a mask on a plane? 5 questions, answered,” (WaPo); “Should You Still Wear a Mask?,” (NYT).
Philadelphia Reinstates Mask Mandate; An “Odd Juxtaposition” as Federal Transit Mandate Falls
On Monday, Philadelphia officially reinstated its mask mandate (NYT). We covered the decision, the first of a major U.S. city, to reinstate the mandate in prior briefs. The New York Times reports, “Most Philadelphians interviewed on Monday accepted the mandate, a number even applauding it. But this was not unanimous. Some restaurant owners saw the mandate as yet another reason for customers to stay home in a brutal two years for the food service business — ‘another bump in a series of stops and starts,’ one said.” The judicial decision on the federal public transit mask mandate led to confusion in Philadelphia and what the New York Times termed “an odd juxtaposition” with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority tweeting, “Effective immediately, masks are not required on SEPTA vehicles and in stations and concourses. However, in accordance with Philadelphia’s mask mandate, SEPTA employees working inside SEPTA offices, districts and shops within the City must continue to wear masks” (NYT).
White House to Hold Global Summit on Covid in May
On Monday, the White House announced that it would host its Global Covid-19 Summit on May 19 in an effort to encourage greater funding for global pandemic response (Politico, NYT). Politico writes, “The summit will be co-hosted by Belize, Germany, Indonesia and Senegal — CARICOM chair, leader of the G-7, leader of the G-20 and African Union chair, respectively.” The White House stated, “In advance of the May 12 Summit, we are calling on world leaders, members of civil society, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, and the private sector to make new commitments and bring solutions to vaccinate the world, save lives now, and build better health security — for everyone, everywhere.” The summit will be the second of its kind, and had originally planned for March. The summit comes as U.S. funding for global Covid efforts has seen opposition in Congress and as events like the invasion of Ukraine shifted global attention from the pandemic.
Amid Poor Polling, Biden Seeks to Refocus From Ukraine to Domestic Issues
Politico reports that amid poor polling ahead of midterm elections, President Biden is seeking to refocus on domestic policy (Politico). Politico writes, “With the war in Ukraine entering its second month and continuing to dominate global headlines, White House allies are expressing concern that voters may see the president as more consumed by international affairs than domestic ones.” In an effort to counteract this perception, Politico writes, “In the coming weeks, Biden will travel more inside the country and further stress that Russia’s invasion isn’t some far-off crisis but one with deep economic ramifications in the United States.” Biden will also emphasize efforts to control inflation and the various economic support efforts the government has implemented. Politico adds, “the White House is eyeing faster, tangible actions to tackle kitchen table issues, namely inflation. This month, Biden issued executive orders allowing the use of an ethanol blend this summer to lower gas prices and to jumpstart a new regulation fixing the Affordable Care Act’s so-called family glitch, which would lower health insurance costs for millions. And late last week, the administration announced plans to resume the sale of leases for oil and gas drilling on federal lands.”
Biden to Expand Student Debt Forgiveness Access
On Tuesday, the Department of Education announced that it plans to expand access to student debt forgiveness for low-income students (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal writes, “The changes would apply to an income-based program for repaying student loans, allowing around 3.6 million people—nearly 10% of all student-loan borrowers—to receive at least three years of credit toward eventual debt forgiveness.” As we have covered in prior briefs, and as the Journal writes, the move “is part of a politically sensitive debate on the forgiveness of student-loan debt and attempts to more broadly overhaul how the student-loan repayment system works. President Biden earlier this month extended to Aug. 31 a pandemic-related pause on payments of federal student loans and faces pressure from progressive members of his own party to forgive debt on a larger scale.”
White House Covid Czar Dismisses China-Style Lockdowns
On Sunday, White House Covid Czar Ashish Jha dismissed the value and effectiveness of lockdowns of the type China has implemented in response to outbreaks of Covid (Politico). On Fox News Sunday, Jha stated, “We don’t think that this zero-Covid strategy that China is pursuing is one that is likely to work.” He added, “I think it’s very difficult at this point with a highly contagious variant to be able to curtail this through lockdowns.”
Small Businesses Voice Opposition to Rerouting of Covid Aid
The Wall Street Journal reports that small businesses are voicing opposition to plans to reroute unspent Covid aid funds to help provide for $10 billion to support the federal pandemic response (WSJ). The Journal writes, “At issue is about $5 billion that Congress allocated for three small-business aid programs but which hasn’t yet been spent. Some lawmakers want to repurpose those existing funds for healthcare, rather than allocate new money, because they are increasingly focused on reining in the federal deficit and spending amid a surge in inflation, which is at a 40-year high.” John Arensmeyer, chief executive of the Small Business Majority, an advocacy group, told the Journal that the move is “not in alignment with the professed need of small businesses and the professed desire on both sides of the aisle to help small businesses.” Funds are being rerouted in part due to Republican opposition to providing renewed funding as numerous government agencies reported that they had run out of funds, as we have covered in prior briefs, and rerouting funds provided one key part of a deal to release the funds. The Journal writes, “Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah), one of the deal’s lead negotiators, has insisted that the new Covid-19 funding come from repurposed money. ‘Importantly, this bill is comprised of dollar-for-dollar offsets and will not cost the American people a single additional dollar,’ he said earlier this month.”
U.S. Economy
Bonus Read: “How Panera Bread Navigated Covid, the Labor Market, Inflation and More,” (NYT).
Bank of America Reports 12% Quarterly Drop in Profit
On Monday, Bank of America reported that it saw a 12 percent drop in profit in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of last year (WSJ). The report adds to an underwhelming set of reports from major banks. The Wall Street Journal notes, “Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley reported double-digit declines in first-quarter earnings as well. All except Bank of America reported lower revenue.” The Journal writes, “This quarter was supposed to be a return to normal for U.S. banks after two years of pandemic operations. Instead, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also threw new hurdles into the global economy’s path to pandemic recovery, upending stock trading and commodities markets alike.”
Amid Surging Demand, Airlines Cut Back on Some Flights Fearing Cascading Disruptions
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Spirit Airlines is the latest airline to announce cuts to flights this Spring and Summer in an effort to avoid the potential cascading disruptions caused by weather or other events (WSJ). The Journal writes, “Spirit plans to reduce flying by 5% to 6% in June after making smaller adjustments in April and May, citing airspace slowdowns during recent storms in Florida that rippled throughout its network, causing delays and cancellations to pile up and straining the airline’s staffing. The airline said it would carry its new June schedule through Aug. 9.” The Journal notes, “JetBlue Airways Corp. said this month it would cut up to 10% of flights as it contends with a shortage of staff in some areas. Alaska Air Group Inc trimmed 2% of flights through the end of June, citing the need to catch up on pilot training.” The moves come as airlines seek to accommodate booming passenger demand as people return to travel and pandemic restrictions loosen. The Journal notes, “Budget carriers like Spirit, which cater to leisure travelers, have been expanding at an especially rapid clip. Spirit is now flying more than it did in 2019, before the pandemic decimated air travel—something that Mr. Klein said will remain the case even after the airline’s latest schedule reductions.”
Hotel Sales Reach Highest Level Since 2016
The hotel industry was hit hard by the pandemic, but investors are now increasingly looking at the industry as travel resurges and pandemic restrictions loosen (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal reports, “More than $12.5 billion worth of hotels were sold in the first three months of 2022, according to CoStar Group, the highest first-quarter figure since 2016. The prices of hotels for sale are surging and the share of delinquent hotel mortgages recently fell to a new pandemic low.” The Journal notes that some investors consider “hotels less overpriced than stocks or bonds. They are also betting that hotels will have an easier time recovering from the pandemic than offices or malls, which are struggling with rising vacancies that may take years to fill.” According to Real Capital Analytics hotel values increased 18% in March, another marker of the increased interest.
U.S. Society
Bonus Read: “BA.2 Proves the Pandemic Isn’t Over, but People Are Over It,” (WSJ).
Red Sox Catcher, Staffers Test Positive for Covid
Boston Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki, who is vaccinated, as well as two other team staff members have tested positive for Covid (WaPo). According to the Boston Globe, the two staff members were not coaches. The news came as on Sunday the team manager Alex Cora stated that multiple unvaccinated players would miss the series to be held in Toronto. The Washington Post writes, “Under the league’s coronavirus policy for this season, players are tested only when reporting covid symptoms. Players who test positive for coronavirus are placed on the covid injury list, and they do not count against a team’s active roster. The players can return 10 days after their positive test or if they test negative on two PCR tests, provided they are not showing symptoms and receive approval to return from MLB’s joint medical committee.”
Analysis & Arguments
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