What you need to know about coronavirus on Monday, January 25

What you need to know about coronavirus on Monday, January 25

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At dawn, market vendors unload fresh fruits and vegetables. Office workers fill popular restaurants during lunch breaks. At dusk, elderly couples go down to the city’s parks, practicing dance steps along the Yangtze River. Red lanterns were raised around the city in anticipation of the Lunar New Year celebrations.

A year has passed since the central Chinese city of 11 million people was placed under the world’s first coronavirus confinement on 23 January. At least 3,869 residents of Wuhan have died from the virus, which has since claimed more than two million lives around the globe.

The world was shocked when flights, trains and buses that left Wuhan were canceled, roads were blocked and people were ordered to stay in their homes, relying on staff and volunteers for daily needs. Initially, it was difficult for patients, family members and even some health professionals to reach hospitals.

But the Chinese government has since announced these drastic measures as crucial to curbing the initial outbreak, and similar measures have already been applied in countries around the world – with some cities, and even entire countries, outside China undergoing several blockades.

In this context, Wuhan can be seen as a success story in taming the virus. He hasn’t reported a local coronavirus infection in months. But severe measures have also taken a huge personal toll on residents, and despite the apparent return to normal life, deep emotional scars still haunt the city, wrote David Culver and Nectar Gan.
Elderly couples dance along the Yangtze River that cuts through the heart of Wuhan.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWER.

Q: Are medical masks better than cloth ones?

AN: Facing new, more communicable variants of the coronavirus and a spike in winter infections, a number of European countries – including France, Germany and Austria – are beginning to make medical-grade facial masks mandatory in the hope that they can slow the spread of the disease.
Unlike surgical and tissue masks, which protect others from larger respiratory droplets emitted when the user breathes, speaks, coughs or sneezes – in other words, the air that comes out – medical grade masks (for example FFP1, FFP2, KN95 and N95 masks) protect the user by filtering the incoming and outgoing air. They can also provide some level of protection against smaller droplets or aerosols. When fitted correctly, FFP2 masks can filter at least 94% of the particles, while N95 masks can filter at least 95% of the particles.

And while the narrow weave of surgical masks offers a high level of protection against leakage – that’s why they are used by medical professionals close to patients – fabric masks are more unpredictable. Its effectiveness depends on the number of layers of fabric and the type of fabric used – most do not have any type of safety classification.

Submit your questions here. Are you a healthcare professional battling Covid-19? Send us a message on WhatsApp about the challenges you are facing: +1 347-322-0415.

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY

The megaric have already recovered from the pandemic. The poor can take a decade to do this

Nine months. That was the time it took the world’s billionaires to recover their fortunes after the coronavirus pandemic.

The recovery of the world’s poorest may take more than a decade, according to Oxfam International’s annual inequality report. The report, released on Sunday before the World Economic Forum’s virtual meeting of political and financial leaders, usually held in Davos, Switzerland, describes the uneven impact of the virus around the globe. The pandemic can increase economic inequality in almost all countries at the same time, the first time this has happened, Oxfam found.

“We have seen the greatest increase in inequality since the beginning of records. The deep divide between rich and poor is proving to be as deadly as the virus,” said Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam’s executive director. “Rigid economies are channeling wealth to a wealthy elite who are riding the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic – shop assistants, healthcare professionals and market vendors – are struggling to pay the bills and feed themselves. table.”

The CDC is reviewing new data that suggests that the coronavirus variant identified in the UK may be more deadly

Scientists at the United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention are talking to British health officials to learn more about the data that suggest a new variant of the coronavirus may be more deadly. A report released on Friday says there is “a realistic possibility” that the Covid-19 variant first detected in the UK has a higher mortality rate than other variants. Although the data are not conclusive, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “there is some evidence that the new variant … may be associated with a higher degree of mortality”. Other strains have also been identified in South Africa and Brazil.

CDC modeling shows that this new strain may become the predominant variant in the United States in March. Only 195 cases of the new variant have been detected in the US so far, according to the CDC, but public health officials believe that many other cases are going unnoticed. The cases have been found in 22 states, says the CDC, with California and Florida detecting a particularly high number.

Reacting to the new data in an interview with CBS on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it must be assumed that the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK, B.1.1 .7, has the power to cause further damage, including death. But he also noted that the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines “appear to continue to protect against the mutant strain. It is a very small decrease, but the cushion you have in effectiveness is so big that it will not harm impact.”

What ‘vaccine passports’ mean for your summer vacation

The words “vaccine passport” sound reassuring, perhaps evoking the image of an elegant embossed document with watermarked pages and official stamps of approval. Thriving on border controls, this passport can open travel doors that, for many of us, were closed by Covid-19.

Some destinations – including Seychelles, Cyprus and Romania – have already lifted quarantine requirements for visitors who can prove they are vaccinated. Others, like Iceland and Hungary, have opened up to people who have recovered from Covid-19.

This raises the prospect that proof of inoculation or immunity could be the golden ticket to restarting travel and appears to be good news for people eager to book summer holidays after months of blocking, especially as the release of vaccines gain strength.

But the concept of immunity passports remains deeply controversial, and anyone who bets on them for the 2021 summer break may be disappointed. While there is a strong case that globally recognized inoculation documentation could help reconnect the planet, there are still fears about the protection they actually offer, how they can be abused and what it all means for those still waiting for the injections. .

ON OUR RADAR

  • The world is approaching a new dark milestone: 100 million boxes.
  • President Biden will formally reinstate Covid’s travel restrictions for non-American travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and much of Europe on Monday, a White House official confirmed to CNN.
  • More than three dozen Capitol Police officers have tested positive for coronavirus since the Capitol rebellion on January 6, the union representing Capitol Police told CNN on Sunday.
  • Residents of a city in northeastern China turned to social media to complain that a strict blockade by coronavirus left them short of food and medicine, causing an online uproar and an apology from local authorities.
  • Israel will introduce a week-long ban on most inbound and outbound flights on Monday night, in an attempt to slow the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.
  • Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has become the latest world leader with a positive test for coronavirus.
  • The protests against Covid’s curfew in the Netherlands resulted in looting and clashes with police in cities across the country on Sunday.
  • The travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand was suspended for 72 hours after the South African variant of Covid-19 was detected in a woman who was quarantined for 14 days in New Zealand.

BEST TIP

As many people postpone the necessary medical care due to the pandemic, medical professionals fear that their patients will become ill or even die from other causes.

About 25% of Americans said they or someone in their home delayed medical care last month due to the coronavirus, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation in December. A previous report by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 41% of Americans postponed medical care, including 12% who postponed urgent or emergency care.

We spoke with CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, to get her advice on which consultations can be postponed and which cannot, and what care that people should take when going to the doctor. Read more here.

TODAY’S PODCAST

“I am optimistic that if we can have not just two vaccines, but potentially three to five vaccines launched, then we will be able to obtain a substantial fraction of the vaccinated population during this calendar year.” – Dr. Dan Barouch

Dr. Barouch is the director of the Virology and Vaccine Research Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is helping to develop the Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate. CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, talks to him about how this vaccine is different and how it could reach Americans soon. Listen now.

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