The carousel at Bear Mountain State Park in N.Y. The carousel’s carved animals represent native to the region.
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,147thday of the pandemic and World Asthma Day, an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma to improve asthma awareness and care around the world.
The Biden administration plans to end the coronavirus vaccine requirements for federal workers, federal contractors, and international air travelers on May 11, concurrent with the end of the pandemic public health emergency.
The move comes over 39 months after SARS-CoV-2 began appearing in the United States with over 1.16 million deaths and a jaw-dropping 106.7 million infections since that time.
The country not only has recorded almost three times the number of cases of the country with the second highest number of cases – namely India, with just under 45 million, although it is only 58th in the number of cases per million members of the population, preceded by Austria, France, Greece, Iceland, New Zealand, and South Korea, among others.
In other news we cover today, the pandemic has exacerbated an epidemic of loneliness and New York wants to ban neonicotinoid pesticides to protect the birds and the bees.
UNITED STATES
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned of an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” Tuesday and put forward a framework for a “National Strategy to Advance Social Connection.”
“In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness,” Murthy wrote in the advisory. “And that was before the Covid-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems.”
Research shows that loneliness and isolation are linked in younger people to sleep issues, inflammation, and immune changes, while in other adults they are tied to pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and a shortened life span.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Lawmakers in New York State want to ban neonicotinoid pesticides to protect the birds and the bees.
The pesticides are blamed for killing birds and bees that pollinate crops by hooking up with nectar-rich flowers.
“The pervasive use of neonicotinoid insecticides … damage the central nervous systems of insects, including pollinators like honeybees, and are the main cause of hive collapse. These insecticides also harm the development of birds,” said state Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Pete Harckham.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, May 2.
As of Tuesday morning, the world has recorded 687.3 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.2 million from the previous day, and over 6.86 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, just over 659.7 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of under 0.1 million from the previous day.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday at press time is 20,643,913, an increase of 57,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,604,523, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 39,390, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past five months.
The United States reported 88,210 new cases in the period April 20 through April 26, a figure that is down 13% over the same period one week earlier, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death toll for the same period is 1,052, a figure that is down 20%. The average number of hospital admissions from Covid was 4,315 on May 1, a figure that is down 14% over the preceding 14 days. Finally, the test positivity rate is 5.1%, down 14% over the 14 days preceding April 28.
Starting on March 25, 2023, the Morning News Brief began to update case data as well as death tolls on a weekly basis.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Tuesday, recorded over 106.6 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.16 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.9 million, and a reported death toll of 531,547.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat last reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July 2022, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with just under 40 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.4 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 701,494, has recorded 37.4 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are Japan, with 33.7 million cases, South Korea, with 31.2 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with just under 25.8 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with over 24.5 million, and Russia, with 22.8 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, just over 270 million people in the United States – or 81.3% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 69.4%, or 230.5 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 675.4 million. Breaking this down further, 92.2% of the population over the age of 18 – or 238.1 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 79.1% of the same group – or 204.3 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 20.3% of the same population, or 52.3 million people, has already received an updated or bivalent booster dose of vaccine, while 23.3 million people over the age of 65, or 42.6% of that population have also received the bivalent booster.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 70% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Tuesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.38 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 176,366 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 29.7% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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