As vaccination ramps up in the U.S. and adult eligibility continues to expand, many Americans are wondering what they can and can't do in mixed-vaccination households. "We are getting a lot of questions from people who are in half-vaccinated families and struggling to navigate what that means—when parents are vaccinated but kids aren't, or one spouse is vaccinated but the other isn't," says my colleague Jamie Ducharme, who fields TIME readers' COVID-19 questions. "It's a confusing time."
This week, Jamie tackles one question on plenty of parents' minds: what's safe for a family in which both parents have been vaccinated, but the children have not? Thankfully, what's known about childhood COVID-19 infection is reassuring. It's unusual for children to get a severe case, and deaths are rare. That's not to say adverse events don't happen: some kids have been hospitalized, a small number have died, and a few have developed long-haul symptoms. But most children fully recover from the coronavirus.
Some precautions are still warranted, even if both parents have been fully vaccinated. Indoor, unmasked playdates are not a great idea until kids have been inoculated, experts told Jamie. That may sound pretty discouraging, as regulators have yet to authorize a shot for use in children (youth trials of the vaccines are underway). But context matters—as more adults get vaccinated, cases will fall, and everyday life will become less risky for adults and kids alike.
In the meanwhile, parents can take advantage of the warming weather and let kids play outside, experts suggest. But groups of kids should still wear masks indoors. Kids with underlying health conditions should continue to be more careful in general, of course. Furthermore, schools are becoming increasingly safe as adult vaccination rates ramp up; if kids wear masks and physically distance from one another, many experts say that in-person education can be relatively safe (see the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance below for more). Unfortunately, there's no clear path ahead for the summer vacation season. If you're set on going away this year, try to drive instead of fly, and spend most of your time outdoors, experts told Jamie.
Still, look forward to better—and less risky—days ahead. Experts say that adolescents will probably be able to get vaccinated sometime in 2021. "We are beginning to loosen up and emerge from this darkness," one pediatric infectious disease specialist told Jamie, but "it's not full sunlight" yet.
More than 151.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which 115 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. Approximately 22.5% of the overall U.S. population has received at least one dose, and about 12.3% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
The U.S. has administered more than 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, meeting President Joe Biden's promise of 100 doses within his first 100 days with 42 days to spare. In remarks yesterday anticipating the milestone, Biden acknowledged that cases are still rising in several states, and said that Americans should continue to wear masks, socially distance and get vaccinated as soon as possible, especially given the emergence of new coronavirus variants. "Scientists have made clear that things may get worse as new variants of this virus spread," Biden said. "Getting vaccinated is the best thing we can do to fight back against these variants."
While the European Medicines Agency said yesterday that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, several countries—including Denmark, Sweden and Norway—won't immediately resume its use, CNN reports. Countries across Europe shelved the AstraZeneca shot this week after a small number of reports of a sometimes fatal blood clotting issue among recipients. The EMA's investigation found no link between the shot and the clotting, but some countries' public health officials aren't convinced. "It cannot be ruled out that there may be an association between the vaccine and the rare cases of blood clots, a low level of blood platelets and bleeding," the Danish Medicines Agency said in a statement.
Germany, on the other hand, resumed use of the AstraZeneca vaccine today, CNN reports. The virus continues to spread quickly there, making rapid mass inoculation an urgent priority. More than 17,000 new cases were reported over the past day, and 226 people died. More than 70% of Germany's new cases involve emerging variants, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the country's disease control agency. While Germany has slowly been opening back up, health minister Jens Spahn said during a press conference today that new restrictions may be necessary due to rising infections.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 121.7 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 18, there were 590,391 new cases and 10,590 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:
Parts of France are headed back under lockdown today for at least a month amid what what Prime Minister Jean Castex called a "third wave" of COVID-19, Euronews reports. People in areas including Paris and Nice will face new restrictions, including reduced capacity at high schools, the closure of non-essential shops and a rule to stay close to home. The U.K. variant makes up nearly 75% of France's new cases, Castex said. The country also resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine today to people aged 55 and above, the New York Times reports; Castex received the shot on live TV in hopes of restoring trust in the vaccine after the clotting reports.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 29.6 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 539,000 people have died. On March 18, there were 59,822 new cases and 1,611 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:
K-12 students who are wearing masks can be as close to three feet from one another in classrooms, the CDC said in updated guidance issued today. The agency previously said that masked school children should stay six feet apart from one another. (The six-feet recommendation still stands for middle and high school students in areas where transmission is high.) The new guidance should open the door to more school openings across the country, though it will be up to individual districts to adopt or reject the suggestions.
Seventeen U.S. states will open up COVID-19 vaccine appointments to all adults this month or next, the New York Times reports, ahead of President Biden's May 1 timetable. All adults in Ohio and Utah will be eligible for the shot this month, while those in Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Maryland and Missouri can get the jab in April. At the same time, governors across the country—including some in states where vaccine eligibility remains limited—are easing coronavirus-related restrictions as cases plateau rather than drop, and as variants rapidly spread in places like New York and New Jersey. Projections indicate that cases in the U.S. will slowly decline in the coming months, but it's too early to definitively rule out another wave.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of March 19, 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
Actor Jamie Dornan's Father Dies of COVID-19
Dr. Jim Dornan, a prominent physician in Northern Ireland—and father of actor Jamie Dornan—died from COVID-19 this week at age 73. A leading OB/GYN, he published copious research on maternal and fetal health. "Jim's encouragement, zest for life and a real humanness endeared him to us all and to the many, many women he cared for over the years," said a spokesperson for the health organization Belfast Trust. Read more here.
Will We Miss Cocooning?
For some, coming out of quarantine might not be as easy as it sounds, as many of us have grown accustomed to a smaller, more intimate life centered around the home. "With distance and reflection, those of us who were able to hunker down during the pandemic may even come to cherish the shelter of COVID-19 life," writes Devon Powers in The Atlantic. Read more here.
A Controversial Gift From a Bahraini Prince
A Bahraini prince who recently traveled to Nepal to climb Mount Everest arrived with a surprise: 2,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, which he planned on giving to citizens of a remote village. But importing drugs without permission violates Nepalese law, and regulators are still deciding whether the vaccines can be administered, Antonia Noori Farzan writes in the Washington Post. 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 Mandy Oaklander and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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