Summer Vacations Are Back in Business—For the Vaccinated, Anyway
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced the news many people have been waiting for: Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely return to their vacations, family visits and business trips.
Up until today, the CDC took a more cautious stance on travel, recommending that even fully vaccinated people—those who received their last vaccine dose at least two weeks prior—avoid non-essential trips. The agency loosened that policy today, saying fully vaccinated people can travel domestically at low risk without tests or post-travel quarantine periods, as long as they continue taking precautions like wearing masks and avoiding crowds if possible.
Still, the CDC stopped short of recommending travel, saying only that travel presents few risks to fully vaccinated individuals. "While we believe fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves, CDC is not recommending travel at this time due to [the] rising number of cases," Director Rochelle Walensky said during a press briefing today. Cases are up almost 10% over the last two weeks across the U.S., with hotspots in the Northeast and Midwest.
The agency also said travelers do not need a negative test result before an international trip (unless it's required by the destination), but should get tested before they return to the U.S. and a few days after their arrival. Just like anyone, international travelers should continue wearing masks in public, given the number of people who are not yet protected against the virus and the emergence of new viral variants around the world.
Why the change? Recent studies have provided compelling real-world evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are not just effective at preventing disease, but also at stopping infections that could allow the virus to keep spreading. One study published this week found that two doses of either Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccines provided health care and other essential workers 90% protection against COVID-19 infections. Crucially, those results applied to both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections, which suggests the vaccines help prevent viral spread as well as disease.
Research on post-vaccination transmission is ongoing, but recent studies have been promising enough for the CDC to relax its guidelines around socializing and, now, travel. It's worth noting, however, that 90% protection against infection is still not a complete guarantee—hence why people should continue wearing masks even after vaccination. Furthermore, less than 20% of Americans are fully vaccinated. But the rate of inoculations is increasingly quickly, meaning summer travel should be relatively safe for millions of Americans this year.
VACCINE TRACKER
More than 204.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which 157.6 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. Approximately 30% of the overall U.S. population has received at least one dose, and about 17.5% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
The head of Africa's CDC said yesterday that India's decision to hold off on exporting up to 90 million vaccine doses manufactured at the Serum Institute of India (SII) could be "catastrophic" for his continent, which was counting on the shipments. India's move, intended to help that country focus on its domestic rollout amid a recent surge in cases, "will definitely impact our ability to continuously vaccinate people," Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said yesterday. The delay is raising concerns about the world's reliance on SII, which has been tasked with making and shipping out many vaccines earmarked for low- and middle-income countries.
Prisons and jails have seen some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S., prompting many advocates to argue for their place high up on vaccine priority lists. But getting shots into these facilities may only be half the battle. From September to December 2020, just 45% of incarcerated individuals at 16 U.S. prisons or jails said they wanted a shot, according to new U.S. CDC data. Twenty percent of people who said they would refuse a shot cited distrust of health care or the correctional system.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 129.6 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 2.8 million people have died. On April 1, there were 711,621 new cases and 11,861 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:
In Canada, leaders in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia are taking new precautions against the spread of COVID-19. Each of the three provinces has implemented lockdown measures, including forbidding indoor dining and closing non-essential businesses; Ontario has also limited outdoor gatherings to five people. These decisions come as the spread of new COVID-19 variants outpaces Canada's vaccine rollout, with average case counts up more than 40% over the last week.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 30.5 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 553,000 people have died. On April 1, there were 79,029 new cases and 1,064 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:
U.S. employers added more than 900,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 6.2% to 6%, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly 10 million Americans remain unemployed, but signs of recovery—particularly in industries like leisure, hospitality, construction and education—are promising.
Michigan has emerged as the U.S.' current COVID-19 hotspot, with the country's highest number of daily per-capita infections. The state is reporting more than 5,600 new infections each day, in part due to the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant as well as a premature loosening of pandemic restrictions, the New York Times reports. In another worrying sign, Michigan officials yesterday identified the state's first case associated with the P.1 variant, which originated in Brazil and is thought to be more transmissive than the mainline virus.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 2, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
What COVID-19 Survivors Need to Know About Vaccines
With the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, experts have tested and recommend that people receive two doses in order to mount a full immune response. But for COVID-19 survivors, new research suggests one shot may achieve a similar result. TIME's Alice Park reports on what that means. Read more here.
Can Public Transit Survive the Pandemic?
When the pandemic hit, public transit ridership numbers plummeted in many of the world's major cities. TIME's Ciara Nugent reports on the situation in London—and the man trying to save the city's system. Read more here.
Welcome to COVID-21
The coronavirus is changing, and so are we. As James Hamblin writes for The Atlantic, we're essentially in a different pandemic than we were in March 2020. Read more here.
Vacation Destinations Are Changing
Passenger volumes are down at major airports across the country, the New York Times reports. But many smaller facilities are actually seeing more travelers than they did before the pandemic, as tourists seek out new kinds of destinations. 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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