We've written quite a bit about the vastly different pandemic scenarios playing out at home and abroad. While much of the world is still struggling for access to vaccines that can make a dent in viral spread, the U.S. is re-opening and peeking into the post-pandemic future.
But even in the U.S., we're living in two distinct realities. Politics and tribalism have essentially determined how Americans view the pandemic, David French writes in his latest column for TIME. In some states (most of them blue) close to 70% of adults have gotten at least one shot. In others (most of them red), that number hasn't cracked 50%. Democrats tend to take public health precautions seriously—perhaps, at times, too seriously—while Republicans tend to downplay the virus' risks. Decisions around masking and vaccination flow from there.
That helps explain why many fully vaccinated people in liberal areas feel too self-conscious to shed their masks, and why many people in conservative areas oppose vaccination, even though COVID-19 shots were developed through a Trump Administration initiative.
"When Trump drew the line in the sand minimizing the virus in the first months of the pandemic, millions of his supporters drew that line right with him," French writes. "Resistance to COVID restrictions became a marker of strength and independence, a sign that 'they' cannot tell 'us' how to live."
That's, in part, why vaccine skepticism is so hard to combat—for many people, it's baked into their sense of self. As long as that's true, French writes, scientific arguments won't get through to some people. Disentangling the pandemic from politics is our best hope at reaching uniform safety from the virus.
I've thought a lot about the alternative. If we continue to have such mismatched rates of vaccine coverage, will certains states battle COVID-19 while others have it all but eliminated? Could we be restricted from traveling between states? Will half the country move forward while the other stays static? No one has the answers at this point—but the questions are worth considering.
About 371.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of yesterday afternoon, of which 302.8 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 42.1% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
With vaccine rollout well underway in many wealthy countries, the world's focus is turning to vaccine donations for the developing world. At the upcoming G7 summit, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to ask his fellow world leaders to commit to donating enough vaccine doses and money to help vaccinate the entire world by the end of 2022. The U.K. has already pledged to give most of its surplus to COVAX, the initiative leading vaccination in the developing world, though the exact number of doses it will donate is unclear. (U.S. President Joe Biden has similarly pledged to give away 75% of his country's surplus doses.)
Millions of Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccines may expire this month if the U.S. can't find a way to use them quickly, the Wall Street Journal reports. The surplus, which amassed partially due to the temporary pause on J&J vaccinations this past spring, raises obvious questions about whether the U.S. should donate some of the doses to countries in need, but sources involved in vaccine rollout told the Journal that shipping and distributing the shots overseas before they expire is probably not feasible.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 173.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 3.7 million people have died. On June 7, there were 233,720 new cases and 5,950 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 3 million confirmed cases:
A report prepared by a U.S. government laboratory and analyzed by the State Department finds it plausible that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese laboratory, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sources who have seen the classified report told the Journal that it analyzed the virus' genomic profile to determine its origins, and made a strong case for further investigation into the possibility of a lab leak. That hypothesis, which China denies but has gained credibility in recent weeks, is currently under investigation by the Biden Administration.
The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has pledged $130 million for a study to test mRNA vaccines against a viral variant that originated in South Africa. The study, set to take place in eight African countries, would also assess the vaccines' efficacy in pregnant women (who were not included in initial clinical trials) and people with HIV (who, some research on non-mRNA vaccines suggests, may not mount a full immune response after vaccination). But neither Pfizer-BioNTech nor Moderna is willing to provide shots for the trial, Science reports. Pfizer has said it views the study as redundant, since it has performed its own research on variants and is testing its shot in pregnant women, while Moderna reps have cited concerns about the study's design and oversight.
Meanwhile, the Mastercard Foundation will donate $1.3 billion to Africa's coronavirus response, in an effort to help the continent—where only 2% of the population has gotten a vaccine dose so far—secure shots and build up manufacturing capabilities and public health networks. The money, comprising one of the largest private gifts made so far during the pandemic, will be distributed in partnership with Africa's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the next three years, according to the Washington Post.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 33.3 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Almost 598,000 people have died. On June 7, there were 15,096 new cases and 321 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:
All staffers at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas were supposed to be vaccinated by yesterday, but dozens are pushing back against the policy, citing safety concerns and the fact that COVID-19 vaccines have emergency-use authorization rather than full regulatory approval. The protest is the latest example of vaccine hesitancy among U.S. health care workers, roughly half of whom remained unvaccinated as of mid-March, the New York Times reports.
In other Texas news, governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a bill that prohibits businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination. Businesses that do so could lose their permits or operating licenses. "Texas is open 100%, and we want to make sure you have the freedom to go where you want without limits," Abbott said before signing the bill yesterday. "Vaccine passports are now prohibited in the Lone Star State." Other states, including Florida, have also enacted such measures.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of June 8, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
More Good Vaccine News from the CDC
A pair of new CDC studies confirm the remarkable effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. One finds that mRNA shots reduce the risk of infection by about 91% and make a vaccinated person less likely to spread the virus if they do get infected. A separate report adds that widespread vaccination has dramatically reduced rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death among elderly adults.
America Has a Drinking Problem
The pandemic has made many Americans take a hard look at their drinking habits. And if you haven't thought about your intake recently, this Atlantic story about Americans' extreme relationship with alcohol will certainly bring it top of mind. 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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