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February 24, 2022 - Brief Issue 290

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

New Omicron Type is Spreading Fast (Health & Science)

Vaccines Weaker Against Omicron (Health & Science)

New Covid-19 Vaccine Shows 100% Efficacy Against Severe Disease (Health & Science)

U.S. Maternal Deaths Rose During Pandemic (Health & Science)

Canada Ends Emergency Powers (Around the World)

WHO Concerned About Reduced Testing, Monitoring (Around the World)

South Korea Cases Rise by 70,000 in a Day (Around the World)

Africa CDC: Pause Vaccine Donations (Around the World)

Post Poll: Most DC Parents Satisfied with Pandemic Schooling (U.S. Government & Politics)

Some Companies Abandon Annual Raises to Review Pay More Often (U.S. Economy)

A Hot Lumber Market Has Led to Trading Pauses (U.S. Economy)

New Yorkers Split on Lifting of Coronavirus Restrictions, Many Voice Opposition (U.S. Society)

Life Insurance Companies See Rise in Non-Covid-related Claims (U.S. Society)

Health & Science

There have been 78,731,240 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 941,909 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 551,372,287 vaccine doses, with 76.3% of all Americans having received at least one vaccine dose and 64.8% fully vaccinated. Among adults aged 18 or older 87.8% have received at least one dose, and 74.9% are fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). 43.4% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster shot. Worldwide, there have been 430,148,646 cases of coronavirus, with 5,920,054 deaths.

New Omicron Type is Spreading Fast

The new subvariant of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, dubbed BA.2, now accounts for more than a third of cases around the world and is causing concern as many countries move away from restrictions. BA.2 accounted for about 3.9% of infections in the U.S. in the week through Feb. 12, according to the CDC, but other countries are seeing it in higher percentages. Denmark, for example, estimated that 92% of its cases were BA.2 in mid-February (WSJ). So far, early evidence suggests that BA.2 is 30% more infectious than the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron first discovered in Africa in Nov. 2021. 

Studies seem to suggest, at least so far, that BA.2 poses a lower risk of severe disease compared to the Delta variant. But, the Journal notes that “some initial research in test tubes and animals leaves room for concern that BA.2 might be more harmful. A team led by Kei Sato at the University of Tokyo found that BA.2 had an easier time invading the cells in the lungs of hamsters compared with BA.1.” Sato told the Journal that BA.2 has as many differences from BA.1 as last year’s Delta variant had from the original virus detected in Wuhan, China and that BA.2 might merit its own Greek-letter name rather than being classed as a type of Omicron.

Vaccines Weaker Against Omicron

New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that, while coronavirus vaccines still provided protection during the Omicron wave, the coverage they provided was weaker than during other surges. As a result, the rate of infection was much higher, as was the rate of hospitalization and death for fully vaccinated adults, including those who had received boosters (WaPo). The Post explains: “Before delta struck the United States in July, there were five to 10 cases of covid-19 for every 100,000 fully vaccinated adults each week, while the rate for unvaccinated people was 50 to 90 cases. In the delta wave, unvaccinated people were five times as likely to get infected as vaccinated people. With omicron, that difference dropped to less than three times as likely. Before omicron, unvaccinated people were 15 times as likely to be hospitalized as were fully vaccinated people. With the latest coronavirus variant, the difference in rates dropped to about seven times as much.”

New Covid-19 Vaccine Shows 100% Efficacy Against Severe Disease

Two doses of a new Covid-19 vaccine made by Europe-based pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and GSK showed 100% efficacy in preventing severe disease and hospitalization, the company said on Wednesday (NYT). The vaccine, which is based on a conventional vaccination approach, could be used as a booster dose after one of the other vaccines and showed that it increased antibody levels by 18- to 30-fold. The Times writes that the “vaccine had an efficacy of 75% against moderate-to-severe disease and showed 58% efficacy against symptomatic disease in its Phase 3 clinical trial. Although that number is lower than was observed for the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in their initial trials, it is ‘in line with expected vaccine effectiveness in today’s environment dominated by variants of concern,’ Sanofi and GSK said in a statement.” 

U.S. Maternal Deaths Rose During Pandemic

Deaths during pregnancy and the first six weeks after childbirth increased during the first year of the pandemic, especially among Black and Hispanic women, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The study found that maternal deaths increased by 14%, from 754 in 2019 to 861 in 2020. The New York Times writes, “The United States already has a much higher maternal mortality rate than other developed countries, and the increase in deaths pushes the nation’s maternal mortality rate to 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020 from 20.1 deaths in 2019. Maternal mortality rates in developed countries have in recent years ranged from fewer than two deaths per 100,000 live births in Norway and New Zealand to just below nine deaths per 100,000 live births in France and Canada.” One third of the pregnant women and new mothers who died in 2020 were Black; their mortality rate was nearly three times that of white women. The mortality rate for Hispanic women also increased significantly and is almost on par with the rate for white women, when historically it has been lower.

Around the World

Canada Ends Emergency Powers

Canada is ending the special measures put in place nine days ago to clear weeks-long protests that crippled some border crossings and disrupted Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday. "The situation is no longer an emergency. Therefore, the federal government will be ending the use of the Emergencies Act," Trudeau told a news conference (Reuters). "We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are now sufficient to keep people safe," he said. The protests started as an opposition to a cross-border Covid-19 vaccine mandate for truck drivers but turned into a broader demonstration against the government. 

WHO Concerned About Reduced Testing, Monitoring

On Tuesday WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove expressed concern about the reduced testing and monitoring of the coronavirus across many countries all over the world. During an online question-and-answer session, she said ““We need to be strategic about this, but we cannot abandon it,” and added that “we do not want to see is the dismantling of these surveillance systems that have been put in place for covid-19” (WaPo). Global infections fell about 20% this week compared to the previous week but Van Kerkhove said the decline “may not be real” because of the reduced testing. Similarly the death rate could be an undercount. “Now is not the time to just drop everything,” Van Kerkhove said. “We need to be very careful about what is being done, because we have to limit the spread.”

South Korea Cases Rise by 70,000 in a Day

South Korea’s prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, urged calm after a record number of Covid-19 cases were reported in a day, saying that the pandemic was still at “manageable levels.” Health authorities reported 171,452 new infections on Wednesday, a big jump from the 99,573 cases reported the day before. “Although our awareness and implementation of anti-Covid rules should not be loosened, there is no reason at all to fear or panic about the numbers of new cases as in the past,” Kim said, according to a transcript of a pandemic response meeting (Guardian). The Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) shared data that showed that those infected with Omicron were 75% less likely to become seriously ill or die compared to those who contracted the Delta variant. According to the KDCA, about 56% of people who died over a five-week period were either unvaccinated or had received only one dose. 

Africa CDC: Pause Vaccine Donations 

The Africa CDC will request that all Covid-19 vaccine donations be paused until later this year, according to a report by Politico. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, explained that the continent is no longer short on supplies but instead facing challenges around logistics and vaccine hesitancy. “It makes sense to say, ‘Look, let’s pause and avoid the risk of sending so much that it gets expired, and then clear this and put our efforts in taking these ones up so we can now see how many people have actually been immunized — and then maybe now you can look at the next wave of donations,’” he said. Across the continent, countries face issues with cold storage capacity, warehouse availability, and even needle and syringe supplies. Reaching remote communities is also an issue, as is skepticism about the safety of the vaccines among the public. 

U.S. Government & Politics

Bonus Read: “Masks come off in blue states. Residents wonder: Is it too soon, or long overdue?,” (WaPo).

Post Poll: Most DC Parents Satisfied with Pandemic Schooling

A Washington Post poll released on Wednesday finds that eight out of ten DC parents with children in public school report being satisfied with how schooling was handled during the pandemic (WaPo). The Post also reports, “Overall perceptions of the city’s schools have barely budged in the last three years. In all, 42 percent of residents — parents and non-parents — rate schools positively, while 39 percent rate them negatively. That’s similar to 2019, when 44 percent of residents held positive views of schools.” However, on the specific question of the handling of the pandemic, there was a decline in satisfaction despite overall positive responses. The Post writes, “80 percent of public school parents rate them positively overall, with 78 percent giving their children’s schools positive marks for handling education during the coronavirus pandemic. Parents’ ratings have declined since 2019, when 92 percent rated their children’s schools positively.”

Bonus Read: “The Doctor Giving DeSantis’s Pandemic Policies a Seal of Approval,” (NYT).

U.S. Economy

Some Companies Abandon Annual Raises to Review Pay More Often

The Wall Street Journal reports that some companies are moving away from a system that provides annual wage increases to a system that reviews pay more often (WSJ). Examples include CoorsTek Inc., an industrial ceramics manufacturer that shifted to a quarterly review system. The Journal notes the role of wage increases amid a tight labor market in driving such shifts in pay practices as well as the need to keep up with inflation. The new trend remains somewhat limited. The Journal writes, “Full off-cycle salary reviews remain relatively rare, surveys show, and executives say companies can turn to other options, such as using one-time bonuses, expanding benefits or adding vacation days, to help retain workers without boosting wages. In a January survey by the consulting firm Mercer, roughly half of respondents said they didn’t plan additional reviews or salary increases to address inflation this year, though nearly a quarter said they were considering it.” Even so, 20% said they were planning off-cycle pay reviews in 2022.

A Hot Lumber Market Has Led to Trading Pauses

As we have covered in prior briefs, during the pandemic, lumber has seen major spikes in price. The Wall Street Journal reports that one result of such spikes has been a halt to trading as a result of a rule called the lock limit (WSJ). The Journal explains, “Traders compare it to squeezing through a keyhole. Trading doesn’t officially halt, but once the price rises or falls to the maximum dollar amount allowed by exchange rules, there can be no more trades in the direction the market is moving. And so the action grinds to a standstill until the next day. Or until some big news reverses sentiment among the few dozen humans and algorithms that regularly trade lumber futures.” Such limits were hit in 25 of 35 trading sessions so far in 2022, according to the Journal.

Bonus Read: “Economy Gained Momentum in February Despite Inflation Worries,” (WSJ).

U.S. Society

New Yorkers Split on Lifting of Coronavirus Restrictions, Many Voice Opposition

A poll surveying New York State residents found that New Yorkers are split on the issue of lifting of pandemic restrictions including mask mandates and indoor vaccine requirements with many voicing opposition to their removal (NYT). Forty-five percent of surveyed registered voters said they opposed the lifting of New York’s mask mandate and indoor vaccination requirement. In contrast, 31% said they should have ended earlier and 20% said it was lifted at the right time. On the question of masks in schools 58% were supportive of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to wait until March to make a decision.

Life Insurance Companies See Rise in Non-Covid-related Claims

In 2021, life insurance companies not only made a large number of Covid-19-related benefit payouts, but also saw a rise in other death claims. The Wall Street Journal reports that “executives and actuaries believe many of these other fatalities are tied to delays in medical care as a result of lockdowns in 2020, and then, later, people’s fears of seeking out treatment and trouble lining up appointments.” Insurance companies are planning for sustained high levels of non-Covid-related deaths even past the decline of Covid fatalities this year. Heart and circulatory issues as well as neurological disorders are counted among the main claims aside from Covid. The impacts on long-term life insurance policies are uncertain as insurers attempt to predict the end of the pandemic and possible life-long effects of the virus on morality.

Analysis & Arguments

Sunita Puri writes on the importance of collective grief amid the pandemic (NYT).

Faye Flam writes on the issues with the “Follow the Science” slogan (Bloomberg).

Seth Ackerman argues that inflation is not eating away at real wages (Jacobin).

Clifford Marks reports on the fight over single player health care in the American Medical Association (New Yorker).

Aaron Wudrick criticizes the Canadian government’s response to the trucker protests (National Review).

 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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