Congress Is On The Verge of Passing a New COVID-19 Relief Bill—But It May Not Be Enough
Congressional leaders appear to have finally reached a deal on additional COVID-19 relief, after months of partisan bickering. The $900 billion aid package is set to include $600 direct payments for most Americans, subsidies for small businesses, an extra $300 in weekly unemployment benefits and relief for renters facing eviction, among other benefits.
Between the new package, the $2.3 trillion CARES Act passed this spring and a few other economic aid packages passed this year, the U.S. has now spent about $3.9 trillion on pandemic response. That’s a massive number, one so large it’s hard to conceptualize. But as TIME’s Emily Barone writes in a new analysis, it actually doesn’t stack up very well against aid provided by other countries.
The U.S. has spent the equivalent of about 18% of its gross domestic product on pandemic aid. That may seem like a lot, but other wealthy nations have spent far more by percentage. Japan spent the equivalent of 42% of its GDP, for example, while Slovenia spent about 25%.
The way the U.S. chose to dole out aid also had some drawbacks, Emily reports. For one thing, direct payments haven’t been very targeted. Most Americans were eligible for $1,200 payments this spring, and are eligible for $600 payments now, regardless of actual need. As a result, there’s less aid money available for people who really need it, while plenty of people cashed or saved checks they could have done without. “Ideally we want to target those most impacted,” economist Alejandra Grindal told Emily. “But sometimes it’s easier to do blunt force.”
The pandemic also made it abundantly clear that the U.S. does not offer a safety net as strong as those in many other countries. Even before the pandemic, many European nations offered robust welfare benefits for people who are out of work—not to mention universal health coverage that makes it affordable to seek medical care. The U.S. didn’t have those foundations to build upon, and has seen its poverty rate spike this year.
The new aid package is certainly a step in the right direction. But the U.S. is in for a long road to recovery.
As Moderna’s vaccine begins to roll out in the U.S., the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel is pushing out new recommendations for vaccine prioritization. The second wave of vaccinations (following the current one, for health care workers and long-term-care-facility residents) should include adults 75 and older, as well as some essential workers—including first responders, teachers, grocery store clerks and agriculture employees, according to the committee. After that, the panel says, access should open up to adults ages 65 to 74, people with underlying medical conditions and essential workers not included in the previous round, such as restaurant workers.
The European Commission approved the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech today, following a recommendation from the European Medicines Agency. That means distribution could begin in all 27 European Union nations this week. The bloc’s health body had planned to discuss the vaccine on Dec. 29, but moved up the meeting as the virus continues to ravage Europe and vaccine distribution moves forward in other countries around. It will meet again in early January to decide whether to approve Moderna’s vaccine.
Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health are rushing to design a study that could help explain rare but serious allergic reactions to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, the Washington Post reports. The researchers hope to discover, in a matter of weeks, which component of the vaccine seems to be causing these reactions, but it could be difficult to quickly recruit a sample of volunteers with a history of severe allergies.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
Almost 76.8 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 1.6 million people have died. On Dec. 20, there were 534,444 new cases and 7,679 new deaths confirmed globally.
Editor's note: On Nov. 25, Turkey changed its policy to include asymptomatic cases in its daily numbers. On Dec. 10, the country provided a large case dump to bring the total historical reporting in line with this new standard. However, the data are not yet available to accurately distribute this increase retroactively. The result is a significant anomaly that impacts the charts and maps both for Turkey, and, due to the country’s large case numbers, the world.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here is every country with over 1 million confirmed cases:
A new, extra-transmissible COVID-19 strain spreading in the U.K. is prompting lockdowns and international travel restrictions. More than 40 countries are restricting travel from the U.K. in an effort to keep out the new viral strain, which authorities say does not appear to be more deadly than other COVID-19 variants but is about 70% more transmissible. The U.K. has also banned Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern parts of England where the virus is spreading especially fast.
Another new COVID-19 strain also appears to be driving a resurgence of cases in South Africa, the Associated Press reports. While the strain in South Africa is separate from the one in the U.K., both seem to spread more easily than original versions of the virus—an outcome that experts say is expected as viruses mutate with time. In South Africa, the new strain’s spread has prompted tougher lockdown measures, including restrictions on gathering at beaches and limitations on alcohol sales.
In an unfortunate echo of the pandemic’s earliest days, hundreds of COVID-19 cases have been reported in connection with a shrimp market in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province. Four cases tied to the market were reported on Friday; by Sunday, that number had jumped to 689, CNN reports. Prior to this cluster—which prompted a mass testing campaign of tens of thousands of people in Samut Sakhon and nearby provinces—Thailand had recorded only about 5,000 cases of coronavirus in total.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 17.8 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 317,000 people have died. On Dec. 20, there were 189,099 new cases and 1,509 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
President-elect Joe Biden received his coronavirus vaccine today during a televised event at Delaware's ChristianaCare Hospital. Biden is the latest high-ranking political figure to get vaccinated publicly, a campaign that could soothe concerns about the vaccine's safety. Future first lady Dr. Jill Biden was also vaccinated today.
Stanford Medicine in California is one of the first—but probably not the last—institutions to draw criticism for its vaccine rollout plans. Only seven resident physicians were included in Stanford’s first wave of vaccination, ProPublica reports, even though these doctors are engaged in patient care every day. Senior-ranking doctors, many of whom are able to work from home, apparently took their place in the first wave. Stanford has apologized for its flawed rollout strategy and says it plans to revise it moving forward.
Despite all the political debate over mask mandates, the majority of Americans would support such a policy, according to new data from STAT and the Harris Poll. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they’d support mandated masking and required testing if someone develops COVID-19 symptoms. About two-thirds of respondents said the government should ban gatherings of more than 10 people.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 21, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Funeral Costs Are Sinking Families
In this heartbreaking story, TIME’s Melissa Chan reports on yet another consequence of the pandemic: grieving, cash-strapped families struggling to pay for funerals after their loved ones die from COVID-19. Read more here.
How the Vaccine Is Reaching Nursing Homes
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention placed people who live in long-term care facilities at the front of the line for COVID-19 vaccines—but actually getting the vaccines to people who need them can be difficult. TIME’s Alice Park has the inside story. Read more here.
College Basketball Needs to Shut Down During the Pandemic
There’s long been debate over whether college athletes should be paid. But now, with college basketball players risking their lives during the pandemic without compensation, the need for change is clear, the co-hosts of “The End of Sport” podcast write for TIME. Read more here.
COVID-19 May Be Worsening Suicide Rates for Indigenous Youth
Native American youth die by suicide at roughly twice the rate of white children in the U.S—and the pandemic may be exacerbating that already grim statistic. 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. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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