Featured Headlines
American life begins to return to normal, even as some fear it’s too soon – New York Times
Tens of thousands of students walked into classrooms in Chicago public schools on Monday for the first time in nearly a year. Restaurants in Massachusetts were allowed to operate without capacity limits, and venues like roller skating rinks and movie theaters in most of the state opened with fewer restrictions. And South Carolina erased its limits on large gatherings.
States easing COVID-19 restrictions despite experts’ warnings – PBS Newshour
With the U.S. vaccination drive picking up speed and a third formula on the way, states eager to reopen for business are easing coronavirus restrictions despite warnings from health experts that the outbreak is far from over and that moving too quickly could prolong the misery.
Total number of cases passes 114 million – Med News today
Scientists have detected the so-called Brazilian Manaus P.1 variant in the United Kingdom. So far, they have documented three cases in Scotland and three in England. They first detected the variant in people traveling to Japan from Manaus, Brazil, in January 2021.
Even with 3 vaccines now, CDC head warns of possible 4th COVID surge – CIDRAP
Over the weekend both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave the green light to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, making it the first one-dose option available to Americans.
The CIA Can Help Spot the Next Pandemic – Wall Street Journal
In December 2019, unfamiliar and serious cases of pneumonia started to appear at hospitals in Wuhan, China. Doctors were stumped. They began sending off an unusually high number of samples to local labs for genomic sequencing to see if a new virus was lurking in patients’ lung fluid. By the end of the month, there were clusters of these pneumonia infections in at least three separate families, an indication that a new virus was spreading among people.
On the Other Side of That Pandemic Wall – Scientific American
To say that we’re living in a so-called new normal is a gross misnomer. The realities of social isolation, virtual remote learning, rolling lockdowns, and nearly half a million dead in the U.S. are as far from normal as one could imagine. As the virus and its toll continue to deplete us, mental exhaustion has started to kick in, as neuroscientist David Badre writes in this issue’s cover story
Israel’s Supreme Court Ends Spy Agency Cellphone Tracking Of COVID-19 Infections – NPR
Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered an end to a controversial surveillance program to track COVID-19 infections through cellular phone location data, citing concerns about the country spying on its own citizens.
Brasilia Enters Lockdown as Hospitals Face Covid Collapse – Bloomberg
Brasilia entered a broad lockdown on Sunday, including a daily 8 p.m. ban on alcohol sales, after Covid-19 patients brought the Brazilian capital’s hospitals to the breaking point.
Vaccine Headlines
Fauci Rejects Possible Vaccine Arbitrage Between Three Choices – Bloomberg
Anthony Fauci pushed back against any tendency to shop around or wait for a preferred coronavirus vaccine among the three that are now approved for use in the U.S.
How to Reprogram a Vaccine – The Intelligencer
In December 2020, as quickly as excitement grew over the new COVID-19 vaccines that had been approved for use, worry took over. Evidence worldwide suggested that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was mutating. P.1, a variant first discovered in Brazil, ravaged the Amazonian city of Manaus. B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, was thought to transmit more readily and, within a matter of weeks, led to a surge in cases and became the dominant strain in Britain, And B.1.351, found in South Africa, was also causing worry, especially because researchers recently found it may evade some of the newest vaccines.
Trials of all three vaccines came up with different efficacy numbers, but all offer crucial protection in this health emergency
A first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine substantially reduced the risk of older people becoming ill with Covid-19, scientists in Britain reported on Monday, the strongest sign yet that a shot that much of the world is relying on to end the pandemic will protect the elderly.
Here is what we know about the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – New York Times
When Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine won emergency use authorization on Saturday from the Food and Drug Administration, the move augmented the nation’s vaccination effort with a third major tool — one that differs markedly from the first two authorized vaccines, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Catholic Archdiocese Bans COVID Vaccine Over Tenuous Link to Abortion – The Intelligencer
In a ruling reminiscent of medieval speculation over the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin, the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has issued a split decision on the religious acceptability of major COVID-19 vaccines. It has deemed the Pfizer and Moderna versions okay but called the new Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine “morally compromised” because it was derived from cloned stem cells distantly related to tissue from fetuses aborted back in the 1970s.
How do subunit vaccines work? – MedNewsToday
Subunit vaccines use a small part of a pathogen to train our immune system to fight off future infection. They cannot cause disease but may need the addition of other chemicals for the vaccine to trigger a strong immune reaction.
COVID-19 cases rebound globally as COVAX immunizations begin in Africa – CIDRAP
After a 6-week decline, global COVID-19 cases are on the rise again, a concerning development balanced against the backdrop of promising vaccine launches in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the first nations to receive their COVAX doses.
Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Rollout Begins In U.S. As COVID-19 Cases Tick Up – NPR
Johnson & Johnson has begun shipping nearly 4 million doses of its newly authorized COVID-19 vaccine across the U.S., officials said Monday, and is expected to further scale up supply in the coming weeks and months.
Israeli Health Officials To Government: Vaccinate All Palestinians – NPR
Israeli health officials have urged their country’s leaders to help vaccinate the entire Palestinian population against COVID-19, citing a public health imperative, an outgoing senior health official told NPR Monday.
Clinical Considerations
Official Reporting for March 2, 2021
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update March 1, 2020
Confirmed Cases: 113 820 168
Deaths: 2 527 891
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 114,417,054
Deaths: 2,537,563
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 28,405,925 (+50,505 New Cases)
Total deaths: 511,839 (+1,062 New Deaths)
Science and Tech
Coronavirus Mutations: A Visual Guide to New, More-Infectious Variants – Wall Street Journal
Some strains appear to have adaptations that may make them better at infecting cells or eluding the immune system
Regeneron Cocktail Stumbles Against SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Vitro – The Scientist
A treatment of two monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is ninefold less effective in the lab against the B.1.351 variant than against the dominant version of the virus.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
People Share #TheMoment They Realized The Pandemic Was Changing Life As They Knew It – NPR
It has been nearly a year since much of the U.S. entered coronavirus-related lockdowns. For many people, they’re approaching the anniversary of when they realized that life as they knew it was being fundamentally altered from how it had been a month, a week or even a day earlier.
Published Research
Bepridil is potent against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro – PNAS
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
Vaccine Hesitancy
7 Ways to Reduce Reluctance to Take COVID Vaccines – Scientific American
Trusted messengers and repeated reminders can overcome hesitancy, social science shows
Twitter Takes Aim At Coronavirus Vaccine Misinformation With New Labels, Strike System – Forbes
Twitter will attach warning labels to posts that contain misleading information about coronavirus vaccines and introduce a strike system.
Should we criminalize COVID-19 vaccine disinformation? – Medical News Today
Since the development of the first vaccine in the late 18th century, vaccination has been an outstanding success story of modern medicine.
Coping in 2020 (and probably most of 2021)
Longing to travel again, but it’s not yet time for that. I will be posting travel posters here based on Yelp reviews for a few days. Enjoy!
