For many Americans, one voice rose above the others early in the pandemic to provide a sense of reason: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to the President. With his decades of experience as a civil servant and deep scientific knowledge, combined with his straightforward way of presenting the facts, Fauci became the rudder guiding many of us through the confusion of the pandemic.
While Fauci struggled along the way—he told my colleague Alice Park in September that we were then living through his "worst case scenario," and he faced plenty of critics, doubters and skeptics—he never considered quitting. That would be "kind of like General Patton during World War II saying, 'I'm tired of this, I'm going to walk away,'" he told Alice, who recently wrote a profile of Fauci based on a series of interviews over the last few months.
Today, the country is clearly in a different place, with the number of new COVID-19 cases falling and vaccination increasing. Our new goal, says Fauci, is getting the vaccine to as many people as possible. In part, that means convincing the skeptics and fighting mis- and disinformation. "We just have to keep trying to get the message out based on the evidence and the data. We can't give up," Fauci told Alice.
In his latest conversation with Alice, Fauci wouldn't go so far as to say that the pandemic is nearing its end. Instead, he warned that variants of the virus may pose threats in the years to come. However, he emphasized that the quality of the mRNA vaccines exceeded his expectations; he now thinks the technology will "revolutionize vaccinology."
Fauci also sees another bright spot in everything that's happened over the past year-plus: some young people are following his example and pursuing a medical career. "The idea that some young man or woman may decide to go into medicine because they see what I'm doing, that pleases me as much as anything else," he told Alice.
About 344.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this afternoon, of which 274.4 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 37.3% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
...But those shots haven't been evenly distributed across the U.S. Only 38.9% of people in rural counties have been vaccinated so far, compared to 45.7% in urban counties, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released today. The discrepancy is especially alarming because rural Americans tend to be older and have co-morbidities that put them at greater risk of severe COVID-19; they're also more likely to lack health insurance and suffer from poor access to health care.
As Canada struggles with its mass vaccination effort—less than 4% of Canadian adults are fully vaccinated—neighboring U.S. states are lending a hand, NPR reports. North Dakota is vaccinating truck drivers from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, for instance, while Montana is doing the same for drivers from Alberta. Some Indigenous tribes, like the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, are also vaccinating people on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 163.6 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 3.4 million people have died. On May 17, there were 539,662 new cases and 10,643 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:
Even as the number of new cases in India appears to be leveling off—it reported 2.2 million new cases over the past week, compared to 2.7 million the week before—the country is still setting records for daily deaths, reporting a new high of 4,329 today, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true toll of India's outbreak is likely higher, but the country has struggled to increase its testing capacity amid its latest spike, the Associated Press reports.
In contrast, European countries are starting to lift more pandemic restrictions as new daily cases of the virus drop, the New York Times reports. The Czech Republic is now permitting outdoor dining, plays and concerts; Poland reopened bars and restaurants on Saturday; and Italy has pushed its nighttime curfew from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. However, Europe may not be out of the woods yet: scientists are uncertain how the variant that has devastated India, B.1.617, could affect the rest of the world.
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 586,000 people have died. On May 17, there were 28,634 new cases and 392 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.]
Even some of those exempt from Washington's pandemic-related restrictions against travel from India are getting stranded there as U.S. embassies and consulates close amid the country's outbreak, the New York Times reports. Payal Raj, for instance, returned to India to renew her visa but is now stuck there, separated from her husband and daughter. "Our family is in a crisis," Raj told the Times.
How are businesses reacting to the CDC's new guidance allowing vaccinated people to go maskless even indoors? Some mega-chains, like Target, Walmart and Costco, are largely dropping their masking rules, NPR reports, while small businesses are still figuring out what's best for their employees, customers and bottom line.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of May 18, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
We're Leaving Immunocompromised People Behind
While many Americans are keen to get back to their "normal" lives as vaccination continues, those with certain health conditions that render vaccines less effective must remain cautious, Ariana Eunjung Cha reports for the Washington Post. Read more here.
Fake Farms Received Real PPP Loans
Kabbage, an online lending platform, sent 378 Payroll Protection Program loans worth about $7 million in total to fake farms and other made-up companies with names like "Deely Nuts" and "Tomato Cramber," Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis report for ProPublica. Read more here.
Grief Keeps a School District Closed
Even as COVID-19 cases fall in Los Angeles County, the El Rancho Unified School District is staying remote-only for the rest of the school year because so many children lost a loved one during the pandemic, Melissa Gomez reports for the Los Angeles Times. 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 Tara Law and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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