Today's the day many parents and caretakers of young children across the United States have long been waiting for: kids aged 5 to 11 are finally eligible for their coronavirus shots. There will no doubt be a rush to pharmacies and pediatrician's offices over the next few days—I'm already hearing from friends that appointments are hard to come by, as they were when the broader vaccination campaign began almost a year ago and getting a slot for my eligible loved ones felt like winning the golden ticket.
The initial surge in demand will no doubt fade over the coming days and weeks, as the parents who've long been committed to vaccinating their kids ASAP are able to do so. The challenge will then once again shift to convincing those on the fence—in an October KFF poll, only about a third of U.S. parents of 5-11-year-olds said they would get their kids vaccinated "right away," while another third or so were in wait-and-see mode, and the rest were a firm no. As my colleague Jamie Ducharme recently reported, "that split illustrates the significant challenge ahead of federal officials and health care workers, who must be ready to fulfill many families' urgent desire for shots while also reaching those who are hesitant."
As the father of a 2-year-old, I get why parents would be at least a little nervous about vaccinating their kids, especially given that children generally don't develop severe COVID-19 and the shots have been linked to rare heart-related side effects in younger recipients. But kids can and do get very sick and die from the coronavirus, the virus itself can also cause heart issues, and, perhaps most importantly, kids can spread the virus to adults, who are more vulnerable. So it's urgent to convince as many parents as possible to vaccinate their children. (Personally, I can't wait until my son is eligible for his shot.)
One of the best ways to do that, experts told Jamie, is for trusted community members to answer parents' questions, hear out their concerns and so on. That's in part why the Biden Administration's youth vaccination drive is centered around pediatricians' offices and schools. "I let [parents] know, 'You're not crazy, you're not being over-dramatic, you're not being unreasonable,'" one pediatrician told Jamie of how he handles vaccine-hesitant parents. "That's the beauty of being a pediatrician ... we can relate to our patients and our families."
Another promising tactic: framing vaccination as the key to letting our kids resume a normal childhood. School districts could, for instance, curtail mandatory quarantine programs if the student body reaches a certain vaccination threshold—which would also make it easier for their parents to resume a more predictable routine themselves. Or schools could mandate vaccination for popular extracurricular activities like sports.
"Sports are very important to kids. Going to school is very important to kids. Going to school is very important for parents," as one expert told Jamie. "We're going to keep our schools open longer if we all get in this together."
Nearly 521.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which more than 423.9 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 58.1% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 247.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 p.m. E.T. today, and about 5 million people have died. On Nov. 2, there were 429,800 new cases and 7,486 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 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 46.1 million coronavirus cases as of 1 p.m. E.T. today. More than 748,500 people have died. On Nov. 2, there were 72,754 new cases and 1,461 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 Nov. 3, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Colorado governor Jared Polis has authorized hospitals there to turn patients away as the state deals with a major viral surge. In a statement, Polis said a combination of viral spread and hospital staffing shortages necessitate "targeted efforts to respond and mitigate the effects of the pandemic, prevent further spread, preserve our health care resources, and provide needed flexibility to address the collateral consequences of the pandemic." Colorado, where about 62% of residents are vaccinated, is currently reporting about 50 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, up from around 10 earlier this summer:
Dutch officials have reintroduced mandatory masking rules in an effort to curb growing case numbers, Reuters reports. Vaccination or negative tests will also be required to access gyms, museums and similar public places. Cases have risen significantly in The Netherlands over the last month after leaders there dropped many viral containment measures in late September:
The coronavirus is spreading like wildfire among Iowa's deer population, according to research from Penn State University and state wildlife officials that was published as a pre-print this week. According to the study, as many as 80% of deer analyzed between spring 2020 and winter 2021 were infected. The researchers believe the deer are picking the virus up from humans—through sewage discharges, for example, or when people feed them in their backyard—and then spreading it among themselves. There's no evidence that deer are then in turn spreading the virus back to humans.
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 Angela Haupt.
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