It's tough to sum up in words all the ways COVID-19 has changed our lives over the past year. So TIME's Emily Barone and Lon Tweeten set out to do it in numbers and images instead.
Emily asked reporters across the TIME newsroom to track down pandemic-era statistics related to their expertise. She whittled down those 100 data points into a group of about 30, which Lon then illustrated to show how Americans have been living, working and relating to one another during this bizarre time.
"The magic of this particular story, I think, is that it is so incredibly relatable. And much of the credit goes to Lon, who really captured this last year in his drawings," Emily says. "Even if your family doesn't look exactly like the one he created, I think there are some parts of their everyday life that you can identify with."
Here are some of the stats from the story that jumped out at me:
In March 2020, the average U.S. adult spent 13.5 hours per day looking at screens (guilty), up 3 hours and 20 minutes from 2019.
About 40% of U.S. consumers tried curbside pickup or an app for home delivery for the first time during the pandemic.
During the second half of 2020, home sales soared to levels not seen since 2006.
In 2020, Americans adopted 36,000 more pets from rescue groups than they did in 2019.
Online pajama sales soared by more than 100% from March to April 2020, while pants and bra sales dropped by more than 10% each.
One out of six fitness facilities in the U.S. was forced to close during the pandemic, while at-home workout companies like Peloton saw triple-digit revenue jumps.
That's just a snapshot of our pandemic year. To see the full story, and Lon's illustrations, click here.
VACCINE TRACKER
More than 142.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which 110.7 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. Approximately 21.6% of the overall U.S. population has received at least one dose, and about 11.8% of Americans have gotten both doses.
The World Health Organization said today that countries should continue administering the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine, after several European nations paused its use following rare reports of blood clots among people who got the shot. The WHO said it is assessing whether there's any evidence to suggest the vaccine caused these clots, and stressed that the shot's benefits far outweigh its risks. Italy and France have suggested they'll resume use if the shot proves to be safe, but the vaccine so far remains sidelined there and in countries including Germany and the Netherlands.
South Africa, the epicenter of Africa's COVID-19 outbreak, yesterday joined the list of countries that have authorized Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for emergency use. The country previously authorized the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but has only administered about 150,000 doses so far. More than 50,000 people in South Africa have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 120.6 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 2.7 million people have died. On March 16, there were 477,725 new cases and 9,997 new deaths confirmed globally.
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 2 million confirmed cases:
Cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga is set to become Brazil's fourth health minister to serve during the pandemic. He comes on board just as the country yesterday reported its highest single-day death toll yet: 2,841. Despite the dire situation in Brazil, Queiroga seems to be matching his tone with President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the virus and maintained that lockdowns are unnecessary. Queiroga yesterday encouraged people to wear masks and wash their hands, but did not endorse social distancing.
Germany is one of the many countries suspending use of the AstraZeneca vaccine—but the pause comes at a critical time in its outbreak, as CNBC reports. Germany is currently recording about 83 new cases per 100,000 people, up from 68 a week ago. The longer Germany's AstraZeneca doses sit unused, the longer it will take to vaccinate enough people to curb viral spread there.
Even as some European countries battle a resurgence, however, the European Union is trying to save the summer travel season. The bloc's leadership today proposed a certificate system under which E.U. residents who are vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 or have recently tested negative for the virus could travel at will throughout member countries. Each country's government could decide if it wants to ease up on certain precautions for people who hold these certificates, like lifting mandatory quarantine periods.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. recorded more than 29.5 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 536,000 people have died. On March 16, there were 52,329 new cases and 1,286 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country 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:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will put $10 billion toward expanded COVID-19 testing in schools nationwide, with the goal of helping more classrooms reopen this academic year, the Biden Administration announced today. The Administration also announced that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will invest more than $2 billion in improving testing, contact tracing and data collection in underserved communities.
In an interview with Fox News yesterday, former U.S. President Donald Trump encouraged his supporters to get vaccinated. "I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly," Trump said. His comments come just days after Dr. Anthony Fauci called on Trump, who got his shot earlier this year, to endorse the vaccine.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of March 17, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
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WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Let the Pandemic Change You for the Better
The pandemic has allowed all of us to view our lives, our country and our culture anew. As MIT professor Sherry Turkle writes for TIME, we shouldn't let that opportunity go to waste. Read more here.
An Epidemic of Hate
As the country reels from a series of shootings in Atlanta that appear tied to anti-Asian racism, a report by the organization Stop AAPI Hate shows that there have been nearly 4,000 other hate incidents against Asian-Americans during the pandemic. Read more here.
Another Benefit of Vaccines?
Some Long COVID patients have reported a development scientists can't explain: in some cases, after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, their months-long symptoms lessened or even disappeared, the Washington Post reports. 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 Alex Fitzpatrick.
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