This is a surreal moment in the pandemic, full of hope and fear.
Here in the United States, we are at the last stage of a marathon – vaccines are here and the appointments to get these injections are becoming more abundant. People are planning the moments that have been delayed for a year or more. The finish line is in sight.
At the same time, our desire for power to the end crashed against the wall. Restrictions are increasing while the boxes are still high, sending box counts over the roof. Hospitals are getting crowded again. Tests have fallen, leaving us with incomplete information as new variants emerge.
“We have a lot to expect, so many promises and potential from where we are and so many reasons for hope,” Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference this week. “But now, I’m scared.”
It is the juxtaposition of the fatigue of the pandemic and the euphoria of the vaccine that can make the coming months the most painful, as many people get sick and some die tragically.
At the STATE this week, reporter Andrew Joseph writes about the particular agony that families are going through, while some members are vaccinated at the same time that their loved ones die of COVID-19. “[A]As the weeks go by, ”writes Joseph,“ some deaths will seem more and more as if they hadn’t happened if vaccine campaigns were moving a little faster, if we could avoid the bumps in the spread for a little longer, if we could reduce the transmission a little bit more. “
Last year was riddled with deaths that didn’t have to happen. Earlier this week, Deborah Birx, a former coronavirus coordinator under the Trump administration, said in a CNN interview that hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States could have been prevented if the government had acted more quickly. But even after all these lessons and all those unnecessary deaths, the death toll is still growing – slower than before, but it has nowhere to go, except upwards.
Meanwhile, in stark contrast to our national pain, there is the relief and joy of millions of people being vaccinated every day.
It seems that we live in a permanent state of contradiction. Yesterday, the CDC was loosening travel guidelines for fully vaccinated people, while CDC director Walensky continued to urge people to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel. Texas and Mississippi are withdrawing masks’ mandates and California is easing restrictions, while President Biden repeatedly warns that the fight is not over yet.
We wait uncomfortably in this liminal space, caught between two potential ways that the next few months could happen before we finally cross the finish line. Are we going to pass him radiantly, with our friends and family by our side? Or will the heavens open with a roar, drenching us and driving some people off course before they reach the end?
“You look out the front window and it’s raining,” said Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention The Washington Post, “But from the rear window, it’s sunny. And your house is literally at the height of the storm and you don’t know which way it is going – storm or is it going to be sunny? It is more or less where we are at COVID. “
Here’s what else happened this week.
To look for
COVID showed how testing new drugs can be faster and better
Drug tests are generally expensive, time-consuming and inaccessible – but the pandemic has shown that they are not to have to be any of those things. Here is an interesting interview about how they can change in the future. (Claudia Wallis /American scientific)
COVID-19 vaccine ‘passports’ are not exactly like certifications against yellow fever
Many different groups are looking for ways for people to prove whether they have been vaccinated or not. But these ‘vaccine passports’ can be an ethical nightmare. To learn more about vaccine passports, check out this Wired story. (Nicole Wetsman /The Verge)
Development
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is considered to be powerfully protective in adolescents
The first tests of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children aged 12 to 15 years showed that the vaccine is remarkably protective and safe. (Apoorva Mandivalli /The New York Times)
Errors ruin 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine
A mess at a vaccine factory ruined 15 million doses of the single vaccine. Doses will not be distributed. (Nicole Wetsman /The Verge)
Keeping vaccines secret is not easy. These ideas can help.
Many vaccines need to be kept cool to remain potent. It is a complicated process now, but in the future, there may be some better options. (Wudan Yan /Technical review of MIT)
Perspectives
Amelia ran out of her family’s car and threw herself into her grandfather’s arms. Henry followed, a brand-new monster truck in his backpack, waiting to jump on his grandparents’ floor. Jackie grabbed him so hard he almost pulled him out of the red Crocs. How big he grew up. She was crying.
—Evan Allen recounts a family’s emotional reunion for The Boston Globe.
More than numbers
To the people who received the 628 million doses of the vaccine distributed so far – thank you.
For the more than 129,998,978 people worldwide with a positive test, may their path to recovery be smooth.
To the family and friends of the 2,832,850 people who died worldwide – 553,946 of them in the United States – their loved ones will not be forgotten.
Be safe, everyone.