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Richard Arnold: Covid-19 numbers are improving in US, and Super Bowl 2021 - Holiday Breakfast
Holiday Breakfast
Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are getting better across much of the United States. But that progress could quickly reverse if people celebrate the Superbowl with people who don't live with them, according to health experts.
"When people get together in private residences in close proximity, that is one of the single most effective ways to spread this disease," Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said. "We can't afford to have the disease spread now, with these mutations and these variants."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, "while the instinct may be to celebrate together, we cannot get cocky."
"We must continue doing the things we know are effective at taming the virus: wear a mask, adhere to social distancing, and avoid gatherings," he said. "We can beat this thing, but we must stay smart."
Why Covid-19 numbers are getting better
After an abysmal start to winter -- marred by record-breaking new cases, hospitalizations and deaths -- new cases and hospitalization figures are improving.
The US just marked its eighth consecutive day with less than 100,000 people hospitalized for Covid-19 hospitalizations, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
And the seven-day average of new cases has dropped from 220,000 on January 6 to 120,000 on Saturday.
Such good news is probably the result of holiday-related infections tapering off, as well as Americans doing a better job with safety precautions, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"That's what I think is going on: a combination of the natural peaking, as well as people doubling down on the public health measures," Fauci told MSNBC on Friday.
But daily Covid-19 deaths are still high. For weeks, the US has reported a daily average of more than 3,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The average daily death toll exceeds the number of lives lost in the 9/11 attacks.
Fauci: There's probably not enough time for certain 1-dose studies
The two vaccines currently administered in the US -- from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna -- both require two doses, spaced three or four weeks apart.
But supply is still limited. And health experts have debated whether the US should give first doses to as many people as possible now, at the risk of delaying second doses for some people.
Fauci said that there may not be enough time to study how much protection is provided by one dose or how long that protection might last.
"By that time, we will already be in the arena of having enough vaccines to go around anyway," Fauci told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.
"From a theoretical standpoint, it would be nice to know if you just get one dose, how long the durability lasts and what (is) the level of effect," Fauci said. "So it would be great to have the study, but I don't think we could do it in time."
Fauci said he believes "you can get as many people...their first dose at the same time as adhering within reason to the timetable of the second dose."
Meanwhile, a third vaccine -- which requires only one dose -- might become available to the public in the coming weeks.
Johnson & Johnson officially asked the US Food and Drug Administration for an emergency use authorization of its one-dose Covid-19 vaccine Thursday. A decision could be made by the end of this month.
AstraZeneca's vaccine will be discussed
Early data suggests two doses of another vaccine, this one from Oxford/AstraZeneca, provide "minimal protection" against mild and moderate Covid-19 from the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa, the University of Oxford said Sunday.
Viral neutralization against the B.1.351 variant was "substantially reduced" when compared to the earlier coronavirus strain, according to a news release Sunday from the University of Oxford.
The study, which has not been released, included about...
"When people get together in private residences in close proximity, that is one of the single most effective ways to spread this disease," Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said. "We can't afford to have the disease spread now, with these mutations and these variants."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, "while the instinct may be to celebrate together, we cannot get cocky."
"We must continue doing the things we know are effective at taming the virus: wear a mask, adhere to social distancing, and avoid gatherings," he said. "We can beat this thing, but we must stay smart."
Why Covid-19 numbers are getting better
After an abysmal start to winter -- marred by record-breaking new cases, hospitalizations and deaths -- new cases and hospitalization figures are improving.
The US just marked its eighth consecutive day with less than 100,000 people hospitalized for Covid-19 hospitalizations, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
And the seven-day average of new cases has dropped from 220,000 on January 6 to 120,000 on Saturday.
Such good news is probably the result of holiday-related infections tapering off, as well as Americans doing a better job with safety precautions, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"That's what I think is going on: a combination of the natural peaking, as well as people doubling down on the public health measures," Fauci told MSNBC on Friday.
But daily Covid-19 deaths are still high. For weeks, the US has reported a daily average of more than 3,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The average daily death toll exceeds the number of lives lost in the 9/11 attacks.
Fauci: There's probably not enough time for certain 1-dose studies
The two vaccines currently administered in the US -- from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna -- both require two doses, spaced three or four weeks apart.
But supply is still limited. And health experts have debated whether the US should give first doses to as many people as possible now, at the risk of delaying second doses for some people.
Fauci said that there may not be enough time to study how much protection is provided by one dose or how long that protection might last.
"By that time, we will already be in the arena of having enough vaccines to go around anyway," Fauci told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.
"From a theoretical standpoint, it would be nice to know if you just get one dose, how long the durability lasts and what (is) the level of effect," Fauci said. "So it would be great to have the study, but I don't think we could do it in time."
Fauci said he believes "you can get as many people...their first dose at the same time as adhering within reason to the timetable of the second dose."
Meanwhile, a third vaccine -- which requires only one dose -- might become available to the public in the coming weeks.
Johnson & Johnson officially asked the US Food and Drug Administration for an emergency use authorization of its one-dose Covid-19 vaccine Thursday. A decision could be made by the end of this month.
AstraZeneca's vaccine will be discussed
Early data suggests two doses of another vaccine, this one from Oxford/AstraZeneca, provide "minimal protection" against mild and moderate Covid-19 from the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa, the University of Oxford said Sunday.
Viral neutralization against the B.1.351 variant was "substantially reduced" when compared to the earlier coronavirus strain, according to a news release Sunday from the University of Oxford.
The study, which has not been released, included about...
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