An Air China 777 aircraft at New York’s JFK Airport
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,149th day of the pandemic and, of course, as the calendar tells us, Cinco de Mayo, a yearly celebration held on May 5 commemorating Mexico’s victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Today the holiday is more well known in the United States than in Mexico and has become a celebration of Mexican culture and food.
It’s notable that one area of the economy has not yet recovered from the pandemic, air travel between the United States and China.
The number of U.S.-China direct flights remains infinitesimal compared to what it was prior to the start of 2020. In the first four months of the year, the number of flights between the two superpowers was down 73% from the same period in 2019, according to Cirium, a company that tracks flight data.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation increased by 50% the number of flights Chinese airlines could operate to the United States, a jump from eight per week to 12.
Granted this is an improvement from the time when airlines were not at all permitted to fly or permitted just one flight each.
Travel in and out of China began to become severely restricted as the scope of the spread of the novel coronavirus became better understood. Beijing, however, kept borders tightly sealed for several years and imposed weeks-long quarantine requirements on the few who entered.
In other news we cover today, a pandemic program that kept Covid patients out of the hospital is being expanded to other medical conditions while prisoners in Connecticut will once again be allowed to go to funerals instead of having to view them remotely, a practice that started early in the pandemic.
UNITED STATES
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava-said she tested positive again for SARs-CoV-2. The news serves as a reminder that virus remains among us even when the pandemic emergency is ending. The mayor first contracted the virus at the start of her term in 2020 and once again in 2022.
A spokesman said she has “cold-like symptoms” and “isn’t seriously ill.”
In Connecticut, inmates in Connecticut prisons may soon be allowed again to attend funerals in person, a state spokesman said.
Before the start of the pandemic, inmates were allowed to attend loved ones’ funerals, with some caveats. The viewings were private and had to be arranged between the Department of Correction and the funeral home.
“The individual is evaluated as to whether or not this is something that we would be able to do and if we are going to do it, what security measures would be required,” said Ashley McCarthy, a spokesman for the DOC.
Meanwhile, in California, Safer at Home, a program at L.A. County-USC Medical Center that was launched during the pandemic to treat about 4,500 SARS-CoV-2 patients at home, is being expanded to treat other medical conditions.
The patients are being cared for remotely by a team of several dozen nurses and five physicians, according to hospital officials. Each patient is given a pre-programmed mobile phone that allows him to communicate with his medical team via audio or video call, as well as equipment including a thermometer and pulse oximeter. Nurses call a patient several times a day to ensure medications are being taken on time and to see if there are any questions or any changes in condition.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, May 5.
As of Friday morning, the world has recorded 687.6 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.1 million from the previous day, and 6.87 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, just over 660 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 Friday at press time is 20,697,164, an increase of 26,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,657,938, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 39,226, 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 4,198 on May 2, a figure that is down 15% 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 Friday, recorded over 106.7 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, just under 45 million, and a reported death toll of 531,642.
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 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, 701,833, has recorded just under 37.5 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 over over 33.7 million cases, South Korea, with over 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 over 22.8 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, 270.1 million people in the United States – or 81.4% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 69.5%, or 230.6 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 676 million. Breaking this down further, 92.2% of the population over the age of 18 – or 238.2 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 52.6 million people, has already received an updated or bivalent booster dose of vaccine, while 23.5 million people over the age of 65, or 42.9% 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 Friday, 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 110,352 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 29.8% 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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