COVID Transmissions for 10-19-2020
Good morning! It has been 337 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19.
Welcome to another week. Let’s show it who’s boss.
As usual, bolded terms are linked to the running newsletter glossary.
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Now, let’s talk COVID.
Small gatherings, among family and the like, driving upswing in US virus spread
Many will have already heard this, but with Thanksgiving about a month away I think it’s worth emphasizing here. The CDC has been tracing the causes of recent US increases in virus spread. The assessment of the national pattern, according to statements made by Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC Director, is that small gatherings of friends and family have been driving this uptick, as reported in the New York Daily News: https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-thanksgiving-holidays-small-gatherings-driving-surge-20201014-g2ceh64wm5gdxp3yr6o6l4mzvq-story.html
I think a lot of us want to have Thanksgiving celebrations this year as we have every normal year, but I just don’t think that’s going to be possible, based on this. Please prepare to make different arrangements now, seeing family over Zoom and trying to come together more metaphorically than literally. It’s nice to see family on Thanksgiving. It’s not as nice when that means Thanksgiving is the last time you see them at all.
Pfizer announces expected vaccine data by third week of November
In line with previous predictions made by me and by others, Pfizer has announced that the expect to have their first vaccine data by late November. Moderna had also previously signaled an expectation that they will have trial data around that same time. For a variety of reasons, November is going to be an interesting month.
NY wedding expected to draw 10,000 people shut down by state officials
New York State has been wrestling with tensions between the ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and state health officials. I will not wade into the politics, but I do think it’s noteworthy that a wedding that was expected to bring 10,000 people to the city was recently shut down by Dr. Howard Zucker, the state’s chief health official. The New York Times has the full story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/nyregion/nyc-covid-hasidic-wedding.html
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
The arts live on
Today, taking my usual run in the park, I passed by an actor performing a one-woman show for a small audience. People were sitting in a distanced fashion in small clusters, likely separated by household. The star of the show was wearing makeup and had a nice assortment of props with an interesting staging. It looked to be some kind of period piece.
It’s nice to see people in the arts trying to be creative and do their work in what must be an extremely difficult time. I know this little glimmer of activity is nothing compared to a real reopening, but I found it heartening to see.
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Thanks for reading, everyone! Have a great week.
See you all next time.
Always,
JS