My mother could have been a doctor—Purdue, premed, 1938—but like so many women of her era, she got married, started a family, and became a de facto pediatrician for six unruly and often calamity-prone children. She was the one to take us to the doctor for our shots and the one who trooped us down to the emergency room—conveniently just a block away from home—when we did something really stupid.

Mothers have long been recognized as healthcare decision makers within the family, and that may well be the case when COVID-19 vaccinations become available to children and adolescents. Kaiser Health News reports that more women than men are getting their COVID-19 vaccines, even though more men than women are dying of the disease, and that is about par for the course for us guys.

I’m confident that my Mom would have piled us into the station wagon and taken us for our COVID-19 shots, just as we dutifully lined up for our polio shots in the mid-1950s. She was a tiny but formidable force of nature, a spirit strong enough to deal with the loss of her first child at 2 years of age, her only sister at 35 and her husband at 55. A widow for 30 years, she volunteered at the same hospital that wouldn’t even look at her application to nursing school in the 1940s because she was married.   

Today, nurses and doctors remain the most trusted professionals, one reason why the federal government will be sending COVID-19 vaccine doses directly to the offices of pediatricians and family physicians so that those familiar vaccine conversations with parents can take place. Doctors with the highest rates of immunizing their young patients against measles, polio, whooping cough, flu and other diseases will tell you that their success reflects a true partnership with families, built on science and fortified by trust. Docs and nurses, moms and dads—and kids. Now there’s a vaccination coalition that can make a difference.

This edition of the Coronavirus Briefing is 2,500 words long and will take you 9 minutes to read.

Lives reclaimed

Can normal be on the near horizon?

·  The Governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut jointly announced a substantial loosening of restrictions on indoor and outdoor activities, effective May 19. People going to restaurants and theaters, museums and churches, hair salons and barbershops, and outdoor events and amusement parks may be able to party like it’s 2019. Similar decisions are being made across the country as we speak.

·  A “ballsy TV ad” in the U.K., created by Chicago-based Energy BBDO for Wrigley’s Extra Gum, celebrates the time when social distancing ends and “people can see each other again.” And “see” each other they do. As Campaign’s Emmet McGonagle describes, “People step away from their pizza box-covered flats and step out into the world once more, where they engage in a series of sentimental and overtly sexual behavior that one can only dream about for now.” Not coincidentally, Wrigley’s will be sponsoring Love Island as well.

·  In California, which has the lowest case rate of coronavirus infection in the country (33 per 100,000 population vs a national average of 116 per 100,000), most restrictions are scheduled to be lifted by June 15. Disneyland reopened on April 30, albeit at 25% capacity and for California residents only.

·  On the theory that “Nebraska Needs Football,” the University of Nebraska held its spring Red and White intrasquad game last Saturday, welcoming 36,400 fans in a stadium that seats 90,000. The spring game was canceled in 2020 and the fall regular season games were played in crowdless stadiums. Final score:White 21, Red 20.

·  The gradual thaw of springtime will be followed by a distinct warming trend in the summer. The U.S. Travel Association reports that 72% of American travelers are planning a summer vacation or getaway, up from 37% in 2020. In addition, 41% of U.S. companies are planning to restart domestic business travel in the next 3 months, up from 25% just one month ago.

·  The CDC is telling us to ”Think globally. Get vaccinated. Travel locally.”  The State Department has now categorized 80% of the countries around the world as “Level 4: Do Not Travel.”

·  The CDC’s guidance for domestic travel continues to recommend that unvaccinated people be tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus 1-3 days before their trip and 3-5 days after returning. Also recommended: self-quarantining for a full 7 days when you get home. If you’re vaccinated, no such testing or sequestering is needed, but don’t forget your mask.

·  Cruise lines have been informed by the CDC that they can resume sailing from U.S. ports this summer without having to do practice runs but only if 98% of the crew and 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

·  The 27-country European Union is looking forward to inviting non-essential travelers (ie, tourists) who are fully vaccinated. Each country will set its own rules, but for starters you’ll need a Digital Green Certificate to show that you’ve had your shots.

·  Four hundred delegates, not wearing masks and not keeping a social distance, came together in Liverpool last week for the Good Business Festival, the first in-person, live business event in the U.K. since the first national lockdown in March 2020. No one had to show proof of vaccination but everyone had to test negative for SARS-CoV-2 to be admitted and will be tested afterward as well. The event is one of as many as 15 events in April and May—soccer matches, nightclub gigs, and the World Snooker Championship—that are being monitored by researchers to determine how public gatherings can be safely conducted with a combination of testing and NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions).   

The Takeaway:

In summertime, the livin’ won’t be easy, but—fingers crossed—it will be easier than it has been, and better.

Source: Getty Images

Lives disrupted

We are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Inside the tunnel it’s still dark. 

·  The Ad Council is collaborating with Pivotal Ventures, a company created by Melinda Gates, on a campaign to help parents engage in “meaningful conversations” with their middle school children at a time “when many young people are struggling with the isolation and stress caused by the pandemic.” At SoundItOutTogether.org, songs and videos from popular artists help start the conversations. Emphasis is on reaching parents and caregivers in Black and Latinx communities. According to the  National Institute of Mental Health, more than half of mental illness begins before age 14.

·  The mental health of adolescents was in crisis even before the pandemic, Tori Rodriguez observes in Psychiatry Advisor. The pandemic has made things worse, in part by reducing access to school-based screening and intervention programs. In addition, some young people have been forced to spend more time in abusive or dysfunctional households. Rodriguez discusses the issues and possible solutions with Cecile Rousseau, professor of psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal.

·  The mental health of adults is another casualty of the pandemic, Alicia Lasek reports in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. In a national household survey, self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression among all adults accompanied surges in COVID-19 activity, with the most notable spikes in people over 80. The oldest also made greater use of psychiatric medications and mental health counseling.

·  In People Management, Daniel Stander describes practical approaches employers can take to improve mental health in the workplace. Line managers, for example, should be trained “to empathetically lean into sensitive and difficult conversations, identify signs that someone in their team may be struggling, understand that internal and external supports are available and effectively manage a situation before it worsens.” Stander, an employment lawyer and certified mental health first aider, says businesses must recognize that attention to mental health needs to extend beyond observance of “awareness weeks” and become “central to the company’s identity.”

·  Massachusetts is spending $70 million on summer programs to help offset the effects of “learning loss” throughout the pandemic. Programs will include early literacy academies for kids from kindergarten through second grade, math academies for older children, and acceleration academies focusing on a single subject.

·  The Tokyo Olympics are still on, although at least eight workers directing traffic or performing other tasks for the Olympic torch relay in Japan have tested positive for COVID-19. In the meantime, the Tokyo Motor Show, which was scheduled for October, has been cancelled “because of the difficulty of providing, in a safe and secure environment, a show program that allows participants to experience ‘hands on’ the appeal of mobility.”  

The Takeaway:

Coping will be one of the continuously sharpened tools in the shed.

Source: Getty Images

Lives reimagined

Life will be different once the pandemic is under control. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

·  What kind of consumer will emerge from the darkness of the pandemic? Rather than someone jubilantly celebrating freedom from restraint, strategists Tess Lowery and Laura Casado Cisa of BBH London see a Clumsy Human, one with atrophied social skills taking awkward steps forward out of lockdown mode. Writing in Campaign, Lowery and Cisa say they expect many brands to create “orgiastic depictions of a post-pandemic utopia” but suggest that “marketing to the Clumsy Human will give brands an edge.” In other words, “lean into the cringe.”

·  Sixty-eight percent of businesses surveyed recently want their employees to be in the office at least 20 hours a week in a post-pandemic economy. Top reasons include fostering social connections among colleagues, boosting productivity and allowing for more spontaneous idea sharing and problem solving. At the same time, more than 70% have identified employee mental health as a priority and plan to offer more flexible work-from-home policies. The research was conducted in March by Arizona State University and the Rockefeller Foundation among 1,339 mid to large businesses in the U.S. and U.K.

·  Campus life will change in ways that begin with having a vaccinated student body. The Chronicle of Higher Education has now chronicled more than 220 colleges that will require COVID-19 vaccination of students and/or employees.

·  CVS Health wants to help with all this. They’re offering a service, called Return Ready, designed to help employers welcome people back to the workplace and colleges welcome students back to campus by offering on-site COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs.

·  Zoom fatigue is a real phenomenon, Heather R. Johnson notes in Psychiatry Advisor, though Zoom is taking the heat for all forms of video conferencing. Fatigue is the result of a wearying trifecta that includes longer and more frequent meetings, with less time in between. Negativity comes from feeling physically trapped and experiencing “mirror anxiety,” the stress of constant exposure to your own image.

The Takeaway:

Zoom and its cousins in technology need some love. They have kept us connected throughout a lengthy period of loose and frayed ends.

Source: Getty Images

Science reinvigorated

The steep and quick learning curve that COVID-19 has forced upon the healthcare and scientific communities will pay benefits down the road.

·  Studying acute kidney injury caused by COVID-19 is giving doctors a better understanding of kidney injury caused by other diseases, transforming the way research is conducted and charting a path to more effective treatment, Jody Charnow writes in Renal & Urology News. COVID-19 has forced the “almost overnight creation” of multicenter collaborations, large registries, and novel frameworks for sharing and analyzing data.

·  Federal health officials are encouraging long-term care facilities to make use of monoclonal antibody cocktails to treat COVID-19 infections and keep residents out of the hospital, Danielle Brown reports in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. The two combinations available are casirivimab and imdevimab (Regeneron) and bamlanivimab and etesevimab (Lilly). Both combos are authorized for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 that is at risk for progressing to severe disease.

·  Treatment with interferon may help reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 in patients with multiple sclerosis, Brandon May reports in Neurology Advisor. The finding comes from the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

·  Managing COVID-19 in the future will be a matter of tracking and taming any number of coronavirus variants. The World Health Organization is currently monitoring seven variants “of interest” and three variants “of concern,” including the B.1.1.7 variant that was first identified in the U.K. and is now the most prevalent in the U.S. The others of concern are B.1.351, first reported in South Africa, and P.1, first detected in Brazil. 

·  The CDC has its own classification scheme that lists five variants of concern, including the three flagged by the WHO plus two first identified in California. Fortunately, the CDC has not yet listed any variations “of high consequence,” which would defy our best efforts at treatment and prevention.

·  Ending the pandemic will require “making the vaccine widely available and addressing the global inequity in vaccine access,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told a Council of the Americas session this week. “This is not just a public health requirement. Our economic recovery depends on it.” The “how” comes next. Step One: Tai said Wednesday that the U.S. is willing to waive patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines. 

The Takeaway:

Virtually every virtual scientific meeting across medical specialties is sharing new data and insights on COVID-19. The learning curve won’t be quite as steep as we kick into gear.

The rest

·  Good news abounds when you look at current levels of cases and deaths in the U.S. and compare them to the situation just a few months ago. In January, we were averaging upwards of  250,000 cases a day; that’s now down to less than 50,000. Deaths that were averaging more than 3,000 a day in January are now down to about 700.  

·  Worldwide, the first billion COVID-19 vaccinations have been given.

·  A new infusion of $1 billion in American Rescue Plan money is going to rural health clinics for vaccination outreach and education and overall COVID-19 response. The clinics will receive shipments of vaccines directly from the federal government.

·  The pandemic has brought out the best in some of us. Third Sector’s Stephen Delahunty describes the many ways in which individual volunteers and charity organizations have responded kindly, and in kind, to support the pandemic response and the vaccine rollout in the U.K. A year ago, more than 400,000 people signed up in a single day to become National Health Service Volunteer Responders. They have since answered more than 1.5 million requests for help by delivering groceries, providing rides to medical appointments, making check-in calls, and working at vaccination sites.

·  We’re 5 months away from the Nobel Prize announcements. There’s plenty of buzz around the pioneers and innovators of messenger RNA vaccines, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman. Stay tuned.

… and some songs … for Mother’s Day

·  A Song for Mama, Boyz II Men

·  The Best Day, Taylor Swift

·  Mama Said, Lukas Graham

·  In My Mother’s Eyes, Willie Nelson

·  In My Daughter’s Eyes, Martina McBride

·  Mama Liked the Roses, Elvis Presley

·  You Raise Me Up, Westlife

·  Mama Said, The Shirelles

We end this week on a note of respect, admiration and love for mothers everywhere. See you back here for a Vaccine Project Newsletter next Wednesday. Stay well.