The recent 20th anniversary of 9/11 left me reflecting on many things, including the COVID-19 cover story that I wrote along with my colleague Elijah Wolfson back in September of last year, marking the moment the U.S. crossed 200,000 deaths. The connection between the two events? They both led to the only times TIME has opted for a black border around its cover, as opposed to the usual red.
Illustration by John Mavroudis for TIME
Nearly quarter of a million deaths seemed unfathomable back then, but the toll has only gotten worse since. As of yesterday, more than 666,600 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S., and nearly 4.7 million have died globally. These are just utterly bewildering numbers—another way of looking at it is that one in every 500 Americans who were alive before the outbreak are now dead because of it. A reported 2,678 Americans died of the virus yesterday alone, nearly the number—2,977—killed on 9/11.
The difference between then and now is obvious: two decades ago, much of the country rallied around the flag after a sudden, unthinkable act of external aggression. Today, pandemic fatigue and vaccine skepticism has left much of the country vulnerable to the continued, drawn-out onslaught of the virus, as a significant number of Americans refuse to take the steps that would keep themselves and their loved ones safe. If 9/11 was a bullet wound to America's heart, the pandemic is a cancer going dangerously ill-treated.
That's not to say efforts aren't being made. Vaccine mandates from the Biden Administration and employers across the country seem to be working, bolstering our defenses against a potential fifth wave this fall and winter. Regulators may soon approve booster shots, conferring further protection still. And at least some communities are fighting to ensure that schools can be kept as safe as possible as kids return for in-person classes this autumn.
As I write this, the U.S. fourth wave seems to be ebbing—cases are largely dropping in the badly-hit South, though rising slightly in the North. Meanwhile, 76% of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine dose, per the CDC. Yet thousands of Americans are still dying every day, and millions remain needlessly vulnerable to a virus that has proven itself dangerous and adaptable. Unlike on 9/11, today all Americans have the knowledge and the tools to prevent further catastrophe—it's just up to us to actually use them. For now, we appear likely to be stuck in a kind of liminal state, with the pandemic's end always just around the corner, a Godot that never quite arrives.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
About 462.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of yesterday afternoon, of which more than 383 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 54.2% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 226.4 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 3 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 4.6 million people have died. On September 15, there were 563,272 new cases and 10,360 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's every country that has reported over 4.5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 41.6 million coronavirus cases as of 3 a.m. E.T. today. More than 666,600 people have died. On September 15, there were 166,284 new cases and 2,678 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 numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Sept. 16, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Existing vaccines have remained effective against COVID-19 disease even amid the rise of the Delta variant, per two studies from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) out today. In one, researchers found little change in hospitalization and death rates after the Delta variant became prominent in the U.S. (though infection rates increased). In the other , researchers found that, based on data from five Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, vaccines were 87% effective in preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations between February and August, during which period the Delta variant became prominent.
People vaccinated with the Moderna shot within the last eight months had 36% fewer breakthrough infections compared with those inoculated a year ago, according to a study from the company published as a pre-print yesterday. The research, which has yet to be peer reviewed, comes as Moderna—like Pfizer-BioNTech—is seeking regulatory approval for a third dose to bolster recipients' immune response. Indeed, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will meet tomorrow to consider recommending the authorization of a Pfizer booster shot.
The toll of Hawaii's outbreak is being felt disproportionately by Pacific Islanders who live there, per new CDC research out today. While Pacific Islanders account for just 5% of Hawaii's population, they represented 22% of coronavirus cases and virus-related deaths between March 2020 and February 2021, the study found. This kind of data disaggregation can help public health officials "develop culturally responsive outreach teams and tailored public health interventions and vaccination campaigns to more effectively address health disparities," the CDC says.
U.S. jobless claims rose a bit last week, but are still near their pandemic-era low, according to new numbers out from the Labor Department this morning. Some 332,000 people filed new unemployment claims last week—that's up from the previous week's 312,000, but nowhere near this year's high-water mark of 904,000 set in January.
Also in economic news: U.S. retail sales grew 0.7% last month, per new data from the Commerce Department, in a sign that Americans continue to spend more even as the pandemic drags on. When excluding car sales, which have been suppressed by supply shortages and price increases, overall sales rose nearly 2% in August.
Trinidad's health minister has refuted rapper Nicki Minaj's claim that a coronavirus vaccine caused her Trinidadian cousin's friend to become impotent, CNN reports. "One of the reasons why we could not respond yesterday in real-time to Ms. Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false," Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim." Public health officials have lambasted Minaj for sharing the unsubstantiated claim with her nearly 23 million Twitter followers; Twitter decided not to delete Minaj's tweet despite the misinformation therein. "I'm not blaming her for anything, but she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis except a one-off anecdote," White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN.
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 Alex Fitzpatrick and edited by Elijah Wolfson
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