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March 8, 2022 - Brief Issue 296

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

Global Deaths Surpass 6 Million (Health & Science)

Covid May Change Brain, Says New Study (Health & Science)

Covid Isn’t Over, But Global Health Funders Are Moving On (Around the World)

WHO Verifies Attacks on Ukrainian Health Facilities (Around the World)

Russia Revives Covid Support for Companies Affected by Sanctions (Around the World)

Mainland China Cases Climb to 2-Year High (Around the World)

Experts and Former Advisers Urge White House to Do More on the Pandemic (U.S. Government & Politics)

Controversial Florida Surgeon General Recommends Against Vaccinating Children, Contravening CDC Guidance (U.S. Government & Politics)

“People's Convoy” Enters Day Two, No Major Traffic Disruption (U.S. Government & Politics)

Boise, Idaho Mayor Says She Faces Violent Threats (U.S. Government & Politics)

Washington D.C. Shifts to Weekly Covid Reporting (U.S. Government & Politics)

U.S. Well Positioned to Weather Ukraine Economic Shock (U.S. Economy)

New York City Rents Surge Back (U.S. Economy)

New York City Public Schools No Longer Require Masks (U.S. Society)

Health & Science

There have been 79,339,497 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 960,314 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 555,332,256 vaccine doses, with 76.5% of all Americans having received at least one vaccine dose and 65.1% fully vaccinated. Among adults aged 18 or older 88% have received at least one dose, and 75.1% are fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). 44.1% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster shot. Worldwide, there have been 448,083,038 cases of coronavirus, with 6,009,111 deaths.

Global Deaths Surpass 6 Million

Now in its third year, the coronavirus pandemic has caused over 6 million deaths as of Monday. The last million deaths were recorded over the last four months, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The grim toll is a stark reminder that the pandemic is far from over. In many remote Pacific islands, the virus is just now arriving on their shores. Hong Kong is seeing deaths climb. In Eastern Europe, poor vaccination rates and high death rates are combining with the arrival of more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine. The United States has the largest official death toll in the world, with almost 1 million deaths. Still, experts say the global death toll is an undercount due to insufficient recordkeeping and testing in many parts of the world (Politico). 

Covid May Change Brain, Says New Study

According to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature, Covid-19 may cause greater loss of gray matter and tissue damage in the brain compared to what naturally occurs in people who were not infected. The study involved 785 people aged 51 to 81 and is believed to be the first to use brain scans before and after Covid infection. Researchers found “shrinkage and tissue damage primarily in brain areas related to sense of smell; some of those areas are also involved in other brain functions,” writes the New York Times. Covid patients in the study experienced between 0.2-2% additional gray matter loss over the three years between scans. “I find it surprising in the sense of how much more was lost and how generalized it is,” said Dr. Spudich, who has studied the neurological effects of Covid. She added, “I wouldn’t have expected to see quite so much percentage change.”

Bonus Read: “Do masks for young children impede their language development?” (WaPo).

Around the World

Covid Isn’t Over, But Global Health Funders Are Moving On

Even as many people in poorer countries wait for vaccines, leaders of global health organizations and big funders are already moving on from the current pandemic in favor of preparing for the next one. “We need to fund global surveillance, to see the next pathogen early. We need to fund [research and development] for better diagnostics, therapeutics,” Bill Gates said in an interview with Politico in Munich last month. But not everyone agrees with that approach, saying that shifting the focus to pandemic preparedness is dangerous when the current pandemic is still infecting millions of people and killing thousands every day. “We’re still in danger because there are masses of people in the world not vaccinated,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organization, said in an interview in Geneva. “There is now this feeling that it’s over after Omicron, that we’ve seen the back of it, let’s just let everything go. And I think that that may be a little bit too complacent. We really need to be careful.”

WHO Verifies Attacks on Ukrainian Health Facilities

On Monday the World Health Organization verified eight attacks on health-care facilities in Ukraine, double the organization’s previous count (WaPo). At least nine people have died and 16 were injured in the attacks. “WHO strongly condemns these attacks,” the organization said in a statement. “Attacks on health care violate international law and endanger lives. Even in times of conflict, we must protect the sanctity and safety of health care, a fundamental human right.” As we covered in previous briefs, Ukraine was facing a surge in Covid-19 cases before Russia’s invasion, and oxygen supplies and other medicines and supplies have been severely impacted by the fighting. 

Russia Revives Covid Support for Companies Affected by Sanctions

Russia is hoping to protect companies from the international sanctions that have been imposed in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine by reviving a support program for some companies. In a statement, the Russian government said it was proposing a "comprehensive package", first introduced as an anti-crisis measure in 2020 as a way of responding to the pandemic’s impact (Reuters). The re-instituted measures will allow firms to restructure existing loans or take out new ones and will provide subsidies. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war. 

Mainland China Cases Climb to 2-Year High

China has logged its highest number of daily new Covid-19 infections in two years as the Omicron variant tests the government’s strict “zero Covid” policy (Reuters). There were 214 symptomatic cases and 312 asymptomatic cases reported on Sunday. “Right now the epidemic situation is severe and complex, with many uncertain factors,” said Wu Jinglei, the director of the Shanghai Health Commission (NYT). The current surge is still smaller than recent waves of infection caused by the Omicron variant in other countries like the U.S., Germany, and South Korea, but it’s enough to worry financial regulators and economists who think that stringent measures could be on the way that would further damage the country’s economic growth. 

U.S. Government & Politics

Experts and Former Advisers Urge White House to Do More on the Pandemic

On Monday, a group of public health experts that included multiple former Biden advisers, called for the White House to do more to respond to the pandemic and launched a website to host their own proposals (WaPo). The Washington Post writes, “Vaccinate 85 percent of Americans against the coronavirus. Ensure that people experiencing long covid can get disability benefits. Develop a plan to restore trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those are among the more than 250 discrete recommendations issued by a team of former Biden covid advisers and dozens of other outside experts on Monday, arguing that the White House must take additional steps to combat the virus and reduce the risk of other infectious diseases, with the goal of avoiding the societal disruptions that have characterized the past two years.” The group of experts included six former members of the Biden transition’s coronavirus advisory team. The group warned that eradicating the virus is not realistic while also arguing that it cannot yet be called endemic either. Though it released its own plan, the group has consulted with the administration, and some of its proposals are reflected in the Biden administration’s recently released strategy.

Controversial Florida Surgeon General Recommends Against Vaccinating Children, Contravening CDC Guidance

On Monday, Florida’s controversial Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo announced that Florida will not recommend vaccination for children aged 5 and older (Politico). He made the comments, which go against the CDC’s recommendations, during a roundtable discussion on Monday. Politico writes, “Ladapo in particular has been an outspoken critic of pandemic-era safety measures such as quarantines, wearing face masks and vaccines. DeSantis picked Ladapo to become surgeon general in September, which was three months after the surgeon general petitioned the CDC to withhold giving final authorization to the vaccines without years of clinical studies and trials in June.” Despite the major announcement, Ladapo was not answering questions. Around 71,000 people have died of Covid in Florida and 15 million state residents are vaccinated. Though initially supportive of vaccination, Florida’ Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has been less supportive recently. Politico writes, “DeSantis’ public support for the vaccine faded over the summer as the deadly Delta variant swept through Florida and the nation, leading to overcrowded hospitals and killing more than 10,000 people in the state alone in just a few months. Rather than pushing vaccinations, DeSantis focused for weeks on treatments like monoclonal antibody cocktails for people already infected by the virus.”

“People's Convoy” Enters Day Two, No Major Traffic Disruption

On Monday, the “People's Convoy” protest against pandemic restrictions entered its second day with protesters again circling the D.C. on the Beltway (WaPo). The Washington Post reports that like the protest on Sunday, Monday’s protest did not appear to significantly increase traffic. Protest organizer Brian Brase said he has no intent to move the protest beyond the Beltway while acknowledging that some participants do want to enter the city. He also during a pre-protest briefing contended that “We do not want to shut down the Beltway. We just want them to hear us roar.” Brase also said the protest is coordinating with law enforcement to not impede traffic.

Boise, Idaho Mayor Says She Faces Violent Threats

On Thursday, Boise, Idaho Mayor Lauren McLean released a statement saying that she has faced violent threats, seemingly as a result of her pandemic response (NYT). The statement read in part, “ I will tell you that these threats are real and grave. Based on information obtained by our police department, a dedicated security detail has been added to City Hall. I now have that detail with me most days.” The Times writes, “Ms. McLean, a Democrat, said she had faced protests with torches and pitchforks outside her home and ‘sinister thwarted plots’ against her. Ms. McLean said she was discussing the threats in public because violent intimidation had driven other officials to resign from their posts.” the Times notes, “Ms. McLean did not specifically mention the coronavirus in the statement, though several of the protests she described taking place outside her home in 2020 were against Covid restrictions.”

Washington D.C. Shifts to Weekly Covid Reporting

Washington D.C. has ceased reporting new Covid data on each weekday, and will now only report data on a weekly basis with new data released on Thursdays (DCist). DCist writes, “The move is in line with recent D.C. government actions that aim to return residents to more ordinary routines after two years of pandemic interruptions. Mayor Muriel Bowser lifted the city’s short-lived vaccine requirement for businesses on Feb. 15 and dialed back the indoor mask mandate on March 1. The Bowser administration also just discontinued its popular testing program at firehouses, although residents can still access testing at COVID centers and select libraries.”

U.S. Economy

Bonus Read: “U.S. Treasurys Regain Favor,” (WSJ).

U.S. Well Positioned to Weather Ukraine Economic Shock

As we have covered in prior briefs, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted supply chains and introduced a level of uncertainty into economic projections as a range of data suggested the U.S. economy was continuing to recover from the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal reports that despite concerns, the United States is well positioned to weather an economic shock resulting from the invasion (WSJ). The Journal writes, “A range of U.S. data suggests U.S. economic activity picked up in recent weeks. Many Wall Street analysts expect the Labor Department on Friday to report large job gains in February and a further decline in unemployment. These developments suggest that the U.S. is in a position to withstand the economic shock that might emanate from battlegrounds in Ukraine. Those effects could push U.S. inflation higher from already elevated levels, but the economic expansion appears to be on solid ground.”

New York City Rents Surge Back

The New York Times reports that rents in New York City are surging to new highs after they fell precipitously during the pandemic (NYT). The Times writes, “Rents in New York rose 33 percent between January 2021 and January 2022, according to the online listing site Apartment List, almost double the national rate and the highest increase among the 100 largest American cities tracked by the group.” The trend towards growing rents is apparent nationally, but particularly prominent in New York City. Nancy Wu, an economist with StreetEasy, a real estate website, told the Times, “We’re seeing that rents have returned and basically surpassed where they were prepandemic.” The Times notes that “declines and increases have been much sharper in wealthier neighborhoods.”

U.S. Society

New York City Public Schools No Longer Require Masks

On Monday March 7, the New York City mask mandate was lifted allowing all public school children from kindergarten to 12th grade the option to choose whether or not to wear masks during the school day. New York City Mayor Eric Adams made this decision shortly after Governor Kathy Hochul announced the end of the statewide mandate. The mask mandate remains in place for children under 5 years of age and will be reevaluated depending on how older students fare with the mandate removal. The New York City Department of Education is still requiring daily health screenings and mask-wearing for students suspected of contracting the virus. With the mask mandate being lifted, some parents have expressed concern that it is too soon while others welcome the new situation. The New York Times reports that a “complicated mixture of emotions was on display at the Cynthia Jenkins Elementary School in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood of Queens, where about 11 percent of the school’s students are fully vaccinated.” New York City has a higher rate of vaccination than the national average, but there are areas of the metropolis that remain highly unvaccinated.

Analysis & Arguments

Daniel Alarcón writes on one of the world’s deadliest Covid outbreaks, which occurred in Ecuador (New Yorker).

The Wall Street Journal examines what indicators to look at to judge the potential for falling inflation (WSJ).

 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.

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