Featured Headlines
Dr. Scott Atlas, a highly controversial member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, has resigned from his post in the Trump administration.
Airlines Face ‘Mission of the Century’ in Shipping Vaccines – Bloomberg
In cooled warehouses on the fringes of Frankfurt airport, Deutsche Lufthansa AG is preparing its depleted fleet for the gargantuan task of airlifting millions of doses of the vaccines meant to end the global pandemic.
Moderna Applies for Emergency F.D.A. Approval for Its Coronavirus Vaccine – New York Times
The first shots could be given as early as Dec. 21, if authorization is granted.
Continuing the spate of stunning news about COVID-19 vaccines, the biotech company Moderna announced the final results of the 30,000-person efficacy trial for its candidate in a press release today: Only 11 people who received two doses of the vaccine developed COVID-19 symptoms after being infected with the pandemic coronavirus, versus 185 symptomatic cases in a placebo group. That is an efficacy of 94.1%, the company says, far above what many vaccine scientists were expecting just a few weeks ago.
Britain races to become the first Western country to approve a coronavirus vaccine – Washington Post
Britain could become the first Western country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, with the highest hopes resting on Pfizer’s candidate and the homegrown offering from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
The country’s largest county begins a new shutdown – Washington Post
Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, entered a new shutdown Monday, hoping to slow its worst-ever surge of the coronavirus. The stay-at-home order bans nearly all public gatherings and prohibits people in different households from getting together, even in private. While it’s less severe than the statewide shutdown in March, Los Angeles’s order is the strictest in California.
Wealth Gap Widens as Pandemic Hits Russia’s Poorest Regions Hard – Bloomberg
The coronavirus pandemic is set to widen the gulf between the richest and poorest parts of Russia as the government pushes the country’s far-flung regions to fend more for themselves.
Clinical Considerations
Black kids bear brunt of severe COVID-linked syndrome – CIDRAP
A study of 223 patients younger than 20 years hospitalized with the rare but serious COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in New York City found that black children were disproportionately affected.
Official Reporting for November 30, 2020
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update November 24, 2020
Confirmed Cases: 62 363 527
Deaths: 1 456 687
ECDC
Confirmed Cases: 62 757 540
Deaths: 1 460 477
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 63,189,103
Deaths: 1,466,762
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 13,295,605 (+152,608 New Cases)
Total deaths: 266,051 (+885 New Deaths)
Surveillance Headlines
UNITED STATES
California: Hospitalizations From COVID-19 Surging; ICUs May Be Overwhelmed In Weeks – NPR
Rhode Island: Hospitals are full. Covid field hospital opening today – Providence Journal
Guam: While mainland America struggles with covid apps, tiny Guam has made them work – MIT Tech Report
Op-Ed: Rural Hospitals Struggling With COVID Care – MedPageToday
EUROPE
Turkey: Announces its strictest lockdown yet as it passes half a million cases – NYT
Germany: Europe’s Christmas markets move festivities online, and other global developments. – NYT
Science and Tech
How Does Coronavirus Manage To Evade Your Immune System? – Forbes
How did Covid-19 become a global pandemic, and how can researchers develop vaccines that would give people immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus?
Vaccine
Moderna’s Covid Vaccine: What You Need to Know – NYT
Does this mean the end of the pandemic? Who was in the trial? Is it part of Operation Warp Speed? And other questions answered.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
Your Individually Rational Choice Is Collectively Disastrous – The Atlantic
Stopping the virus from spreading requires us to override our basic intuitions.
Published Research
None Today
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
Vaccine Hesitancy
France’s Vaccine Skeptics Are the Ones to Watch – Washington Post
A Covid-19 vaccine is getting closer, and governments are scrambling to meet the financial and logistical challenge of immunizing their populations in a short space of time. Hopes for a pickup in global economic growth next year depend on it.
Red Cross chief urges vaccine ‘fake news’ fight – Washington Post
The head of the world’s largest humanitarian network is urging governments and institutions to combat “fake news” about COVID-19 vaccines which has become “a second pandemic” and start building trust in communities around the world about the critical importance of vaccinating people.
Covid-19 vaccines face a varied and powerful misinformation movement online – NBC
New research shows the bigger threat to public trust in a Covid-19 vaccine comes from smaller, better-connected Facebook groups.
Coping in 2020
The news has been somewhat slow in good COVID content for the past few days. Please feel free to send interesting content my way to include in the next Tulane Outbreak Daily!