“America appears to have ended the pandemic,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “The virus did not wipe us out.”
The US has reported more than 15,000 cases of strain B.1.1.7 Covid-19, sometimes called the UK variant. The Royal Oak hospital at Beaumont Health, Michigan, is realizing that its patients are increasingly younger and healthier than they were several months ago.
Fred Romankewiz, 54, who tested positive for Covid the same day he planned to get his vaccine, is being treated at the hospital and told CNN that the virus appears to have “spent ten rounds with Mike Tyson”.
Tina Catron, a 44-year-old woman with no underlying health problems, said, “You feel a little suffocating.” She experienced dangerously low oxygen levels of 82% – well below the normal 95% to 100% range.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWER.
Q. Can I travel after being vaccinated?
ONE. Millions of Americans took flights this week, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are still asking people to avoid non-essential travel, even if you have been fully vaccinated, because most Americans have not yet had the vaccine.
WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY
The US will have enough vaccines for all Americans by the end of next month
More than 40% of adults and more than 75% of the elderly in the United States have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and about 23% of adults and 55% of the elderly are fully inoculated. An analysis by CNN shows that the United States is vaccinating its people almost five times faster than the global average.
North Korea will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics
North Korea, an already isolated nation, decided to cut almost all ties with the outside world in 2020 to prevent an influx of coronavirus cases. The country has not reported a major Covid-19 outbreak and there is no evidence that it did, although experts doubt Pyongyang’s claim that the country has not seen a single case of the virus.
After false starts, the Australia-New Zealand bubble starts this month
Australia has allowed New Zealanders to enter the country without quarantine for several months, and Monday’s announcement will make the deal a two-way street. Both countries reported very few cases and deaths of Covid-19 and tried to eliminate the virus, rather than simply controlling it.
“This is an important step in our response from Covid and represents an agreement that I do not believe we have seen anywhere else in the world. That is, safely opening international travel to another country, while continuing to pursue a strategy of elimination and a commitment to keep the virus away, “Ardern said at a news conference.
ON OUR RADAR
- A secret report showing members of the Parisian elite enjoying secret dinners in upscale restaurants, violating Covid-19 rules, sparked fury in France and sparked an investigation.
- “I started to feel myself for the first time in a year” – Jessamyn Smyth is one of many victims of Covid who says his symptoms improved after getting the vaccine. Researchers are investigating this.
- A bar opening event in rural Illinois in February was related to 46 Covid-19 cases and the closure of a school that affected 650 children.
- California now has the lowest positivity rate for Covid-19 in the United States.
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would go to the pub for a beer in the beer garden when England eases restrictions on coronavirus next Monday.
- The Indian territory of the Union of Delhi imposed a night curfew with immediate effect, as cases of coronavirus increase. Several states are also asking for vaccines for younger Indians.
TODAY’S MAIN TIPS
With summer coming and more people getting Covid-19 vaccines in many countries, you may be wondering if going to the beach is a safe bet. Even for people who have been fully vaccinated, “nothing will be 100% safe, just as nothing will be 100% risk,” said CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen. The good news is that beaches “are much safer than other environments because they are outdoors,” says Wen.
TODAY’S PODCAST
“In fact, I am alive today because of a drug that was developed 30 years ago for another disease.” – Dr. David Fajgenbaum, a researcher who works to find drugs already approved for reuse as Covid-19 treatments.