COVID-19 was wreaking havoc in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip—a Palestinian territory along the Mediterrean Sea between Israel and Egpyt—even before the latest deadly fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas broke out 10 days ago. By early April, more than 1,000 people in Gaza were testing positive for the virus every day, while about 3,500 virus-related deaths have been reported across both Gaza and the West Bank, another Palestinian territory.
Israel's bombardment is almost definitely making the coronavirus situation worse in Gaza, where the health care system has long been hampered by power outages, labor shortages, and import limitations on medical supplies. But as my colleague Jamie Ducharme reports, the chaos is making it impossible to accurately measure the scope of Gaza's outbreak.
Israeli airstrikes have destroyed Gazan health care centers and roads leading to hospitals, Jamie reports, and they have forced the closure of the region's only COVID-19 test processing lab. As a result, coronavirus testing and care are now practically nonexistent there. Furthermore, all vaccinations in Gaza have been halted amid the fighting. The pause in shots will only prolong the stark contrast in vaccination rates between Israel, where more than 60% of the population has been at least partially vaccinated, and Gaza, where that figure is just 2%.
One expert who spoke with Jamie acknowledged that Gaza's outbreak is likely to worsen as a result of the fighting—which shows no signs of abating—but Gazans' need for immediate safety is taking precedence over their concerns about the virus. "I'm now much more worried about the mental and physical situation," said Hadas Ziv, head of projects and ethics at the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights in Jaffa, Israel, referencing the effects of the continuing Israeli airstrikes. "It's too overwhelming to know how to deal with both."
About 349.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this afternoon, of which 277.2 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 37.8% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is now available for children in the U.S. ages 12 to 15, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily straightforward for adolescents to receive the shot. States' laws regarding parental consent vary widely, the Wall Street Journal reports, complicating the situation for some kids who want the shot despite their parents' objections.
Fake vaccine and test certificates are proliferating as the real versions are increasingly required for travel in some countries, The Guardian reports. At least 1,200 vendors offer these falsified documents on the dark web, according to cybersecurity company Check Point. Meanwhile, United Kingdom border workers are catching about 100 people per day trying to use falsified coronavirus documents to enter the country.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 164.2 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and 3.4 million people have died. On May 18, there were 622,216 new cases and 14,346 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 2.5 million confirmed cases:
The European Union will reopen its borders as soon as next week to tourists who have been fully vaccinated with an approved shot or who come from a whitelisted country, the New York Times reports. The acceptable vaccines include those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm; the list of approved countries will be finalized Friday. E.U. member states are also allowed to require tighter measures, like negative COVID-19 tests or quarantines.
The Tokyo Medical Practitioners' Association, a 6,000-member group of health care providers, is calling for this summer's Tokyo Olympics to be canceled amid Japan's escalating outbreak, the Associated Press reports. "Japan will hold a heavy responsibility if the Olympics and Paralympics work to worsen the pandemic, increasing the number of those who must suffer and die," reads a letter the group sent to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and other officials. Japan has spent more than $15 billion organizing the games, and organizers have shown no indication that they will be canceled despite polling showing 60-80% of Japanese residents are against holding them.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is walking back a controversial policy banning travelers—even citizens—from entering the country if they had recently been to India, where COVID-19 has been surging. Repatriation flights from India to Australia began Saturday, my colleague Amy Gunia reports, though 9,000 Australians are still stranded in India. Many Australians of Indian descent see their struggle to return home as a result of racism in a quickly diversifying nation. "Why weren't these steps taken when it was America or [the] U.K.?" one asked Amy.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded nearly 33 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 587,200 people have died. On May 18, there were 27,851 new cases and 857 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:
[Note: The apparent surge in Alabama is due to a backlog of previously unreported cases.]
As fully vaccinated people in the U.S. shed their masks and take steps towards normalcy, those who are fully vaccinated but immunocompromised are being left behind, the Washington Post reports. For people in this group—which includes those with certain conditions and organ transplant recipients—the vaccine may not be as effective or even work at all; some patients are even being advised to behave as if they are unvaccinated. There are little data so far about how well immunocompromised people are protected, but researchers worry that they may be easy targets for dangerous variants.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned today that antibody tests should not be used to determine if someone is protected from or immune to COVID-19. "Antibody tests can play an important role in identifying individuals who may have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and may have developed an adaptive immune response," said the FDA's Dr. Tim Stenzel in a statement. But whether someone has antibodies or not isn't enough information to judge that person's immune status, as the vaccines induce antibodies to specific proteins, which aren't necessarily the type of antibodies the tests detect.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of May 19, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
CDC's Abrupt Change to Mask Guidelines Puts People at Risk
The CDC's unexpected about-face on mask-wearing last week rankled some medical experts, in part because the move makes it harder for businesses to enforce mask policies if they choose to do so. "When an indoor mask mandate was in place, employers were forced to protect their employees and customers. That protection has now gone," write Dr. Gavin Yamey and Theresa Chapple-McGruder for TIME. Read more here.
George Washington's Lesson for COVID-19 Vaccine Skeptics
Way before Dolly Parton pushed people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, George Washington required his troops to be immunized against smallpox. It was a controversial move, writes Robert Brent Toplin for History News Network, but mass inoculation helped Washington's army survive an epidemic. Read more here.
How COVID-19 Changed One Woman's Outlook on Life
After a year of loss and worrying that she might never again see her loved ones, one grandmother has adopted a new perspective: less fear, more acceptance. "I hereby resign from my full-time volunteer job as conjurer of worst-case scenarios," writes Connie Schultz for TIME. 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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