Writing this newsletter is more or less the first thing I’m doing after a week away from work, besides making a mostly futile effort to catch up on email and spending a few minutes remembering why I deleted Twitter from my phone while I was away.
I spent my time off trying to disconnect from the outside world as much as possible—a weird time to do that, given the gravity of the news over the past few days. But after nearly a decade in journalism, I’ve learned that it’s important to my mental health to take a break now and again. So off to the Adirondacks I drove, with my wife and our 10-month old son, for some time in the mountains with family and friends.
That the trip was possible at all was a blessing. Even as recently as a few weeks ago, I wasn’t convinced it would be safe or ethical to go. But the situation in New York’s High Peaks region is relatively calm, we wore masks and kept our distance on the trails and during a visit to Lake Placid, and we ate every meal at our rental house to cut down on interacting with locals or other visitors. It was a good break. We hiked, we swam, we fished. We saw the Milky Way and at least five bald eagles. We got ice cream at a roadside stand that only does soft serve, and offers just one flavor a day—and sometimes that flavor is banana—but it doesn’t matter because it’s the best ice cream you’ll ever eat.
But there was still an undercurrent of sadness to the whole thing. It was impossible to get over the fear that, simply by staying in the same house as some of the people we love the most, we were potentially putting them (and ourselves) at risk. We collectively decided that danger was worth it, especially so my son could spend some time with loved ones who he has barely gotten to know. But it’ll be some time before I’m no longer fearing that phone call about a positive test—we rolled the dice, and they won’t land for weeks.
My advice if you’re planning a vacation in the coming weeks: follow public health guidelines (including state quarantine rules), pick a destination in driving range instead of flying (it’s easier to stay socially distant on a road trip), and avoid traveling to or from a hotspot (to reduce the odds of bringing the virus with you on your trip or back home when you return). A relatively safe and ethically sound vacation is possible. It’s just a matter of making smart choices.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 25.2 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 2 a.m. ET today, and more than 846,000 people have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Aug. 30, there were over 226,200 new cases and 3,896 new deaths confirmed globally. Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here is every country with over 300,000 confirmed cases to date:
India is set to lift several lockdown measures tomorrow despite runaway viral spread throughout the country. Some public transit services will resume immediately, while limited mass gatherings will be permitted in less-hard-hit areas later in September, CNN reports . India currently has the world’s third-highest caseload, at just over 3.6 million, and is on pace to overtake Brazil and take the number two spot behind the U.S. in the coming weeks. At the same time, India’s lockdowns have caused significant economic hardship across the country, where the economy shrank by nearly 24% in the April-June quarter.
Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, is coming back out of lockdown today after residents and officials there got an unexpected surge in cases back under control. Schools and retail shops are back open, and all Aucklanders can once again freely travel out of the city. Recent tests show that it’s “highly unlikely” the virus exists anywhere in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said during a press conference yesterday. The recent spike was likely caused by travelers who brought the virus in from abroad.
Meanwhile, schools in Hong Kong are opening back up for in-person classes on Sept. 23, officials announced today, following a drop in cases in the region. If outbreaks occur at individual schools, authorities will be able to re-close them on a case-by-case basis, the South China Morning Post reports.
And lastly, study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzing 3,248 front-line health care workers and published today found that nearly 30% of the subjects had antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, despite being asymptomatic. Furthermore, nearly 70% of those with antibodies did not previously receive a positive test result. The results underscore the threat of viral spread among medical staff and the need for frequent testing at hospitals and similar facilities.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 5.9 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. ET today. More than 183,000 have died. Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
On Aug. 30, there were more than 35,000 new cases and 305 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn’t ruling out emergency-use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine that’s still in phase three trials (which test a new treatment for safety and efficacy), he told the Financial Times in an interview published yesterday. “It is up to the [vaccine developer] to apply for authorization or approval, and we make an adjudication of their application,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said. “If they do that before the end of phase three, we may find that appropriate. We may find that inappropriate, we will make a determination.” Hahn’s comments come as the White House is pushing for a vaccine to be available ahead of November’s general election, which has experts and laypeople alike worried that politics could trump safety.
Twitter yesterday deleted a tweet amplified by U.S. President Donald Trump that mischaracterized new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that only 6% of virus deaths list COVID-19 as the sole cause (others involve at least one more factor, like heart disease). Coronavirus doubters are incorrectly pointing to that data as evidence that the virus’ death toll is being drastically overcounted. In reality, the virus is killing people who suffered from a pre-existing condition, but many of those people may still be alive today if not for the virus. Furthermore, at least 200,000 more Americans have died since March than in typical years, the New York Timesreported earlier this month, evidence that the death toll is, if anything, being undercounted.
More than 1,000 University of Alabama students have tested positive for the virus since the school’s Tuscaloosa campus reopened just two weeks ago. While no students have yet been hospitalized, the results underscore the difficulty of controlling viral spread on college campuses, where social distancing is antithetical to many students’ expectation of the undergraduate experience. Several other major schools, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, shifted to remote learning after similar outbreaks on their campuses.
Finally, the U.S. Open, one of the world’s top tennis tournaments, begins today—sans fans and some of the sport’s top stars, including Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu. But other major draws, like Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka, will play. It’s also something of a comeback for the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which was turned into an emergency field hospital for coronavirus patients during the height of New York’s outbreak this past spring, back when it seemed impossible that this year’s tournament would be held at all.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of August 31, 1 a.m. eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist who joined the White House earlier this month as a COVID-19 advisor, is pushing the administration to adopt a “herd immunity” strategy, the Washington Post reports. (Atlas and the White House denied the paper’s report.) That plan allegedly calls for letting the virus spread through most of the population, so that Americans would build up a natural resistance to it. But most experts caution herd immunity has not worked in places like Sweden, which has suffered a serious public health and economic crisis after instituting the approach. Read more here.
Mask Up and Shut Up
Derek Thompson at The Atlantic has a simple request: stop talking. “Every route of viral transmission would go down if we talked less, or talked less loudly, in public spaces,” Jose L. Jimenez, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who studies disease transmission, told him. Read more here.
Hoaxes Are Making Doctors’ Jobs Harder
There is no shortage of pandemic hoaxes making their way across the Internet—and many people who believe in them are bringing their misguided views to their doctor. That’s complicating medical professionals’ work, write medical myth expert Seema Yasmin and ER doctor Craig Spencer in a joint op-ed for the New York Times. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Alex Fitzpatrick and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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