Why Ukraine’s COVID-19 Problem Is Everyone’s COVID-19 Problem
Ukraine has tried to fend off attacks by Russian troops for more than a week. But another conflict is simmering in the region. Global health experts worry that the war will soon cause a spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths in Ukraine and parts of surrounding countries, potentially putting the whole world at increased risk.
“I don’t think people fully understand how war is like the breeding ground of disease,” Les Roberts, professor emeritus of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, told my colleague Alice Park for her new story about Ukraine’s worsening COVID-19 outlook. Ukraine was dealing with a COVID-19 surge even before Russia invaded because of its population’s low vaccination levels—only about 35% of the Ukrainian population has received shots—and cases are likely to rise. Taking pandemic precautions like wearing masks, distancing from others, and quarantining can become impossible during a war. In fact, people are doing the exact opposite in order to survive. More than one million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries so far by crowding into buses, trains, and cars; upon arriving in a new country, Ukrainians are often winding up in refugee settlements or other packed living situations.
All of the global health experts Alice interviewed were worried that the “unstable political and social situation [in Ukraine] poses immediate threats: to basic health care; to continuing vaccination programs, including booster campaigns; and to enforcing mitigation measures that we know work,” Alice says. Longer-term threats also loom, like the possible emergence of new variants stemming from outbreaks.
Protecting global health during this war and future conflicts needs to be a priority, experts told Alice. “There are some encouraging signs that global health leaders are starting to find ways to better coordinate responses to emergency public health risks, such as supporting more intellectual-property sharing and building more in-country manufacturing facilities,” she says. “There won't be any quick and easy solutions, but these are a start.”
More than 440 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 6 million people have died. On March 2, there were more than 1.6 million new cases and 7,971 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 6 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 79 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 954,000 people have died. On March 2, there were 52,355 new cases and 2,095 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 Mar. 3, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine announced he has Long COVID in a statement made yesterday. The Democrat from Virginia concurrently introduced legislation—called the Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education (CARE) for Long COVID Act—to help the millions of Americans who also have the condition by funding more Long COVID research; creating a centralized patient database to learn more about symptoms and share findings among institutions; and expanding access to treatment. “I tell people it feels like all my nerves have had like five cups of coffee,” Kaine told the Washington Post yesterday shortly after introducing the legislation. “A lot of people have these symptoms and they don’t know if they’ll ever go away.”
Australia is now completely open for vaccinated visitors. The last holdout region, Western Australia, dropped its border restrictions today after two years, enabling vaccinated international travelers (and boosted Australians) with a negative test result to enter Western Australia without quarantining, the New York Times reports. “Tomorrow, we take a big step forward as our border controls come down,” said Mark McGowan, premier of Western Australia, at a news conference yesterday. “Families can reunite without unduly risking the health of the state.”
The U.S. government will share some of its coronavirus technologies with the World Health Organization in an effort to pass along tools to other countries with fewer resources to fight the pandemic, the Washington Post reported. Anonymous sources with inside knowledge reportedly told the Post that vaccines and therapeutics developed by private companies won't be shared, but other technologies that power COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments will be included in the deal.
Vaccination rates for children ages 5-11 are about twice as high in urban parts of the U.S. compared to rural areas (30% compared to 15%, respectively), according to new research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released today. The urban/rural divide was true for all age groups, the research found, but it was especially stark among children. Access to health care is one contributing factor, but so are political ideologies, the authors note. Other research has shown that rural areas tend to have more Republican voters, who are less likely to receive COVID-19 vaccinations (and to get their kids vaccinated) than Democratic voters.
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 Mandy Oaklander and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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