When the U.S. government started taking orders for rapid at-home COVID-19 tests last month, it felt a little like the early days of the vaccine rollout. Practically everyone I knew was logging on and excitedly claiming their household’s four free tests. The enthusiasm (and desperation) were understandable: Weeks into the Omicron surge, retailers in many parts of the country were sold out of rapid tests. That left people who wanted to take a test before traveling or socializing—or who needed to test for school or work—without the tools they needed.
Supplies are more plentiful now, my colleague Emily Barone reports, and we’re less likely to run into such shortages again. To offer free kits to every household, the U.S. government had to pay test manufacturers billions. With big paychecks in their pockets and clear demand for their products, many companies ramped up production, Emily found.
“The government program's real impact is less about the free tests,” Emily says, noting that families like hers—with multiple school-age children—will quickly use up their four free diagnostics. It’s “more about jumpstarting mass production at multiple testing companies, which helps ensure that when health centers and schools and pharmacies need testing kits in the future, the manufacturers will be able to supply them.”
Test maker iHealth, for example, went from making 1 million tests per day to 10 million after receiving a $1.3 billion government contract. Now, it aims to double production by the end of February. Many of those tests will first go toward fulfilling the government’s order, but elevated manufacturing capacity should help keep store shelves stocked moving forward.
Some companies, however, are still reluctant to plan for continued demand. On an earnings call last week, the CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals—a company that also manufactured more tests after winning a lucrative government contract—predicted that consumer demand for at-home tests will drop by this summer.
That may be true, if the virus follows the trends of previous pandemic years. But solid manufacturing infrastructure will hopefully ensure that Americans aren’t left scrambling if and when they need tests again.
More than 400 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.7 million people have died. On Feb. 8, there were more than 3 million new cases and 12,286 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world 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:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 77 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 908,000 people have died. On Feb. 8, there were 198,738 new cases and 3,277 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 Feb. 9, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Johnson & Johnson temporarily halted production of its COVID-19 vaccine, potentially disrupting global supply, the New York Times reports. Only one manufacturing plant, located in the Netherlands, had full regulatory approval to make the vaccine, but it stopped production in late 2021 and has instead been making a different shot—an experimental vaccine for RSV, according to the Times. The plant is expected to resume production of the COVID-19 vaccine, but not for a few months—long enough that some officials fear Johnson & Johnson could fall behind on its commitments to deliver shots to countries in the developing world. A company spokesperson told the Times it has millions of finished doses in inventory and is working “day and night” to get the shots where they’re needed most.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical company Novavax is not on track to meet its goal of delivering 2 billion vaccine doses this year, according to government officials from countries expecting to receive those doses. Regulatory delays and export restrictions have already interfered with shipments to the E.U., Indonesia, and the Philippines, Reuters reports. Novavax has also not yet delivered doses it had promised to COVAX, the effort to distribute vaccines around the world. Company executives declined to share the exact number of doses it has distributed so far.
States including New Jersey, New York, California, and Oregon have recently announced plans to lift mask mandates. But U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said yesterday that case and hospitalization rates are too high for the agency to change its own mask guidance, which recommends face coverings in public indoor places including schools. In an interview with WYPR radio, Walensky noted that hospitalization rates are higher now than they ever were during the Delta surge.
Despite having one of the highest case rates in the world, Denmark has done away with all COVID-19 restrictions, the New York Times reports. That makes Denmark one of several countries—including the U.K. and Norway—to roll back restrictions in hopes that fairly mild Omicron will turn COVID-19 into a manageable, routine disease . But that lax approach could change in the future, said Magnus Heunicke, Denmark’s health minister. “If there’s a new variant, if we learn that vaccines aren’t as effective, we will not hesitate to do what’s necessary,” he told the Times. “That’s the contract.”
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 Mandy Oaklander.
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