As Frank Sinatra crooned, love and marriage "go together like a horse and carriage," but it's been hard to get hitched during the pandemic. About 1 million people in the U.S. were forced to cancel, postpone, or dramatically shrink their weddings last year—including my colleague Eliana Dockterman, who canceled her 220-person wedding planned for last September and switched to a 13-guest courtyard get-together in New York City.
Thanks to vaccination, however, experts are expecting the later half of 2021 to be one of the busiest wedding seasons ever. Eliana, who reported on the upcoming wedding boom for her latest story, is now planning a more traditional ceremony for November.
The rest of this year's weddings won't be stress-free by any means. In addition to the usual wedding-planning frustrations, couples must now consider whether face masks, hand sanitizer and even vaccines will be mandatory. Moreover, considering that weddings may be the first big in-person, post-vaccination events many people attend, they may trigger what psychiatrists call "re-entry anxiety:" stress brought on by resuming normal activities.
The key to dealing with all this may be extending kindness to ourselves and others. Sheehan D. Fisher, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University, told Eliana that it might make sense for wedding guests to take little steps ahead of time to prepare themselves for being in a big group—for instance, going out for a small dinner. Once they're at the wedding, guests should remember they're at the event for a "larger purpose," Fisher says: "you're there to support the couple." It may help, too, to remember that weddings are a celebration of what so many of us have missed over the last year-plus: love, joy and community.
About 366.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this afternoon, of which about 294.9 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 40.7% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
Moderna has applied for full U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its coronavirus vaccine for people over the age of 18, it announced today. While the vaccine has been available in the U.S. since December under emergency use authorization based on safety and efficacy data, full approval would allow the vaccine to stay in use after the pandemic. The FDA decision could take months, CNBC reports. Nearly 125 million Moderna shots have been administered in the U.S. so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organization approved the Chinese-made Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine for emergency use today, allowing it to be supplied to countries in need through COVAX and enabling governments worldwide to speed up its domestic approval. In announcing its decision, the WHO pointed to trial results showing the two-dose vaccine is safe and effective; evidence suggests it prevents symptomatic COVID-19 in 51% of recipients and prevents severe disease and hospitalization in 100% of them.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 170.7 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 3.5 million people have died. On May 31, there were 378,494 new cases and 8,676 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:
At more than 500 deaths per 100,000 people, Peru now has the world's highest COVID-19 death rate per capita, Reuters reports, after the government nearly tripled its official tally yesterday. The tweak, which has not yet been accounted for in the Johns Hopkins University data, came after the Peruvian government reviewed official data and found that deaths were being dramatically undercounted due to a lack of adequate testing. "We think it is our duty to make public this updated information," Prime Minister Violeta Bermudez said during a press conference.
Acknowledging that the tendency to informally name coronavirus variants after the country in which they're discovered is "stigmatizing and discriminatory," the WHO said yesterday that it will begin using Greek letters as an alternate shorthand that's easier to remember than the variants' official names. For instance, a variant that was discovered in India, officially named "B.1.617.2," will now also be called the "Delta" variant.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus yesterday called for a global treaty on pandemic preparedness and response. Tedros said the treaty, which he called "an idea whose time has come," would help bring together the world's political, financial and technical systems to improve global health security, in part by improving early warning systems, stockpiling supplies, and ensuring equitable vaccine access. "In the coming months and years, other crises will demand our attention, and distract us from the urgency of taking action now," said Tedros while speaking at the close of the World Health Assembly. "If we make that mistake, we risk perpetuating the same cycle of panic and neglect that has led us to the point."
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 33.2 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 594,500 people have died. On May 31 there were 5,735 new cases and 138 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:
Nearly 2 million travelers passed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints as Memorial Day weekend began Friday, the highest single-day number since March 2020. However, the resurgence hasn't been easy for airline staff. The Federal Aviation Administration has received about 2,500 reports of unruly passengers since Jan. 1, most involving passengers who refused to wear face masks. Furthermore, both American and Southwest Airlines are extending bans on in-flight alcohol service after a passenger was recorded attacking a flight attendant earlier this month, the New York Times reports.
New York City's COVID-19 positivity rate is down to 0.83%, the lowest figure since the city began recording those data, mayor Bill de Blasio said today. Calling the number a "crucial milestone," de Blasio said it's "a testament to the power of vaccination." About 43% of adult New York City residents are fully vaccinated, and 51% have had at least one dose. However, vaccination rates are unequal across the city—63% of Manhattan residents have received at least one dose, compared to just 42% of Bronx residents.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of June 1, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Miscalculating the Pandemic
In this Atlantic interview, mathematician Jordan Ellenburg explains why so many pandemic predictions missed the mark. Read more here.
The Filipino Nurses on the Front Lines
Here, my colleague Paulina Cachero traces the vital role of Filipino nurses in the U.S.—from the days they first immigrated to the ICUs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here.
A Peek Inside Fauci's Inbox
The Washington Post has published emails sent by and to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, giving an inside look at the front lines of the U.S. pandemic response. 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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