How to Stay Happier During the Pandemic, According to Science
When the long history of COVID-19 is at last written, it will, no surprise, be recalled as a deeply unhappy time—something that we already know by first-hand experience and are increasingly learning by scientific studies. As my colleague Tara Law reports, since the start of the pandemic, four in 10 U.S. adults have reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, up from about 1 in 10 in 2019, the Kaiser Family Foundation found last year. In the U.K., reports of anxiety and depression were at a high during lockdown restrictions in March 2020 and fell when restrictions were loosened later that spring, according to data published in April 2021 from the University College London’s COVID-19 Social Study.
But humans are resilient, able to remain upbeat in the face of the grimmest circumstances. Recent research highlights a few activities that seem to help the most, like staying social, volunteering, exercising and getting outdoors. Among the findings:
Being married or cohabitating was among the most protective measures against loneliness. When people felt connected to others, they experienced fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Being neighborly helps, and a third of participants in the COVID-19 Social Study said they’d received more support from their neighbors during the pandemic than before it.
Volunteering doesn’t only help people in your community. One recent study names it as one of the top activities associated with a rise in life satisfaction.
None of theseactivities can fully spare people from the psychological and emotional damage the pandemic has caused, of course. But any boost to wellbeing is welcome in these challenging times.
More than 614 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of yesterday afternoon, of which more than 512.6 million doses have been administered, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 62% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 292.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.4 million people have died. On Jan. 3, there were 2,363,655 new cases and 5,726 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 56.1 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 827,000 people have died. On Jan. 3, there were 1,083,948 new cases and 1,693 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
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 Jan. 4, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy is not associated with preterm birth or low birth weight, according to a study published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Among 46,079 pregnant women whose data were included as part of a collaboration of health care organizations, 21% received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose during pregnancy—nearly all of which were administered during the second or third trimester. Compared to the incidence of preterm births or small-for-gestational-age births among the unvaccinated women in the study, the researchers found no increased risk of either condition. The researchers stress that the CDC continues to recommend vaccination for pregnant women and for those trying to become pregnant.
Under a government-imposed COVID-19 lockdown, the 13 million people of the Chinese city of Xi’an are complaining that food is increasingly hard to come by, reports the Associated Press. The quarantine order, imposed on Dec. 23, originally permitted residents to leave their homes every other day to buy food, but that rule has been tightened in some districts as COVID-19 cases mount, with residents confined to their homes full time. That has made ordering online the only option, but in one video, guards were seen attacking a man delivering steamed buns to a residence. China has acknowledged the food scarcity problem, with one government official conceding in a statement, “there may be supply pressures in communities.”
A federal judge on Monday issued an injunction blocking the Navy and Defense Departments from punishing service members who defy the government-imposed vaccine mandate, reports Reuters. The suit, brought by 35 Navy SEALs and other special forces members, argued that taking the vaccine conflicted with their religious beliefs. The District Court judge agreed with their position, writing in a 25-page opinion, "The Navy service members in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms."
Nationwide, more than 103,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number since the peak of the Delta surge last summer, according to the Washington Post. That figure falls short of the peak day for COVID-19 hospitalizations—January 24, 2021—when the total stood at more than 142,000. Still, the latest spike represents a 27% increase in hospitalizations in just the past week, a stretch in which the daily average of new cases also doubled.
While most U.S. schools are determined to remain open through the Omicron surge, a small group of districts in cities including Newark, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Atlanta are returning to remote learning, a move that affects more than 450,000 students, reports the New York Times. In some cases, parents were given as little as a few days’ or even hours’ notice of the closures. In Atlanta, for example, officials announced only on Saturday that schools would be shuttered for the first week of January. Many of the affected districts serve low-income communities, raising fears of widening the educational gap between richer and poorer students.
The pandemic is worsening an existing labor shortage, with the U.S. ending 2021 with 12 million open jobs and not enough workers to fill them, reports the Wall Street Journal. That figure represents an increase of 1 million new openings just since the end of October, when the total stood at 11 million. A rising tide of Omicron cases could worsen the labor shortage, especially if school closures—which have so far been limited—increase, forcing parents to remain at home rather than looking for work.
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 Jeffrey Kluger and edited by Mandy Oaklander.
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