Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Coronavirus Briefing: Secret blueprints

Coronavirus Briefing: Secret blueprints

September 17, 2020

An informed guide to the global outbreak, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment.

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The New York Times

By Jonathan Wolfe

Fewer people filed for unemployment insurance in the U.S., but layoffs continue to come at an extraordinarily high level by historical standards.
The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of a “very serious” resurgence of the coronavirus across Europe.
New York City will again delay the start of in-person classes for most students.
Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and trackers for U.S. metro areas and vaccines in development.

Two vaccine makers reveal their secret blueprints

Drug companies making vaccines have been under increasing pressure from independent scientists and public health experts to be more transparent about how they are running their clinical trials.

But none of the nine companies that are testing vaccines in late-stage clinical trials had released detailed blueprints — until today.

Moderna became the first to release detailed protocols for its vaccine trials, and hours later Pfizer followed suit. The disclosures are aimed at addressing growing suspicion among Americans that President Trump’s drive to produce a vaccine before the election on Nov. 3 could result in a product that was unsafe.

Moderna and Prizer revealed how trial participants were selected and monitored, what kinds of problems would prompt the trials to be stopped early, and the evidence researchers would use to determine whether people who got the vaccine were protected from the coronavirus.

AstraZeneca, another leader in the race for a vaccine, did not respond to inquiries about whether it would now disclose its study protocol.

Our reporters are still reviewing Pfizer’s disclosures. Here are a few highlights from Moderna’s:

The blueprint suggests that the first analysis of the trial data may not be conducted until late December, though company officials now say they expect the initial analysis in November. Even so, later analyses in the spring may be needed.

That places the timeline for delivery of the vaccine more in line with the cautionary estimates from many researchers, and stands in sharp contrast to Mr. Trump’s predictions.

Read more about the disclosures here. We also answered questions about when you might be able to be vaccinated.

Locking down Israel, again

During the country’s initial outbreak in the spring, Israel managed to limit the spread of the virus with containment measures. But after a quick end to the lockdown, the virus has come roaring back: The country has one of the worst infection rates in the world.

Now Israel is about to become one of the few places in the world to enter a second lockdown, set for Friday, the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

To prevent large family gatherings that could become petri dishes for the virus, people will be required to stay within about 600 yards of their homes. But there are lots of exceptions: work, exercise, to protest, to buy essentials or to fulfill a variety of religious obligations.

Many Israelis are questioning the logic behind the complex rules.

The exemptions are particularly upsetting for secular Israelis. Swimming pools are closed, but Jewish women will be allowed to travel farther than 600 yards for a dip in a ritual bath. Cultural venues, museums, gyms and hotels will be shut, but synagogues will remain open.

The result, our colleague Isabel Kershner told us, is an atmosphere that is more despairing than joyous for the holiday.

“People are quite sad,” Isabel said. “You already had Passover under the first lockdown, in April, and I think people then just couldn’t imagine that we would still be not only in the same place — but worse, by September. There is a very depressed and sad feeling about this.”

Resurgences

India has reported 97,894 new virus cases, its highest one-day increase. With 5.1 million confirmed cases, or 378 per 100,000 people, the country has the world’s second-highest caseload, after the U.S.
The health minister in France said that a growing number of cities — including Lyon and Nice — were experiencing a worrying spread of the coronavirus and would have to enact new restrictions on public gatherings.
The health secretary in Britain said that almost two million people in northeastern England would be barred from meeting with anyone outside their households as part of the latest local lockdowns.

Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.

What else we’re following

Barely half of Americans say they will get a coronavirus vaccine, a new poll finds, down from 72 percent in May.
A new analysis has found that more than 40 percent of U.S. school employees are at high risk for severe Covid-19 cases.
The Times’s Apoorva Mandavilli reported that a heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month, which said that people without symptoms did not need to be tested, was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections.
The World Health Organization said that health care workers worldwide made up one in seven recorded Covid-19 cases.
Graduate students at the University of Michigan returned to work after an eight-day strike, and the university said it had “created a stronger process” to address their health and safety concerns.
The pastor of an evangelical church in Idaho has been hospitalized with Covid-19 for about two weeks after defying a county mask mandate and holding in-person worship services.
Our Brussels correspondent made it through long flights and quarantines to visit her parents on a small, close-knit Greek island. She discovered that when someone tested positive for the virus, privacy was the first thing to go.
A writer from The Atlantic shares tips for ventilating your abode, culled from his long quest to perfect the airflow in his humid home in Japan.

What you’re doing

I work at home at a desk in the middle of my living room. As the school year started, my kids were not always quiet as they passed through. So I decided to create the idea of an office door. I made a sign that leans against the lamp on my desk that reads: “In the Office: Focus Required. Please ‘knock’ before ‘entering.’” Now, if I’m at my desk, my kids play along by either knocking on a nearby wall or saying, “Knock knock, Mom,” to ask if it’s OK to interrupt. So far, it’s working out pretty well.

— Tami Booth Corwin, Bucks County, Pa.

Let us know how you’re dealing with the outbreak. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Our newsletter on Tuesday incorrectly stated the number of doses of a new potential treatment for Covid-19 that the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is manufacturing. It is making 100,000 doses, not 10,000.

Lara Takenaga contributed to today’s newsletter.

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