A reader commented that my recent mention of Safelite's having replaced my windshield left them with the Safelite jingle as a earworm. Apologies. I've had my own earworm today, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. My apologies if I just shared that one with you.
Dr. Fauci is walking back his comments about the US's being out of the "full-blown explosive pandemic phase," offering, "I want to clarify one thing. I probably should have said the acute component of the pandemic phase. And I understand how that can lead to some misinterpretation." We may be in a different phase, he said, but "By no means does that mean the pandemic is over." He also said that the future may see the need for intermittent vaccinations, possibly every year. I recently had a conversation with someone who said she would gladly get one shot a year just as she does with influenza. More often than that, she said, she probably would skip.
A story popped up last night about South Africa's possibly facing a fifth wave, this one from BA.4 and BA.5. The full extent of such a surge is not yet clear, but cases in one province are doubling every 4.8 days. An infectious disease physician from Mass General Hospital warns, "I would say that the data that's coming out of South Africa by the hour really is alarming ... From a weather report standpoint, we are watching closely, but it does have a bit of a flavor of, here we go again." It's not clear if herd immunity is even possible any longer.
Beijing is closing all city schools indefinitely. No announcement was made regarding virtual learning or studying for exams. Students currently make up over 30 percent of total covid cases. Clusters have been linked to six schools and two kindergartens. The government is trying to avoid the large-scale measures being used in Shanghai and only locking down the districts in which cases are identified. The goal is to test every resident three times this week. Two down, and one to go. Staying internationally, Denmark has stopped its covid vaccination program, the first country in the world to do so. Authorities say that they expect to need to restart it in the fall.
Moderna has asked the FDA to authorize its vaccine for children under the age of six. Data submission should be complete by May 9. At this point, Moderna is only approved for adults; however, the company has also requested that their vaccine be authorized for the six to 11 and 12 to 17 groups. The FDA may consider all three age groups at the same time.
POTUS still plans to attend the White House Correspondents' dinner. He will not eat and he may wear a mask when not speaking. Everyone attending must show proof of vaccination as well as a negative test within the preceding 24 hours. It is not clear, though, if the same requirements will hold for the servers. Superspreader? You tell me.
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