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After Fast Vaccine Success, Israel Faces New Virus Woes

After Quick Vaccine Success, Israel Faces New Virus Woes

JERUSALEM – Just last week, Israel was seen as a model coronavirus country, well ahead of the rest of the world in vaccinating its citizens.

But the virus had other ideas.

This week, Israel faces a tightened lockdown as infections surge to more than 8,000 new cases a day. Officials fear that the more transmissible variant of the virus, first identified in the UK, is spreading rapidly and Israel’s vaccine supplies are running low.

The prospect that Israel would have the virus under control by spring, which was once promising, now seems uncertain. Health officials say the vaccine campaign can’t compete with rising infection rates, at least in the short term.

And the Palestinian Authority, which operates its own health system in the occupied West Bank, has asked Israel for vaccines, which has sparked a debate about Israel’s responsibility to the Palestinians at a time when Israel’s vaccine supplies are dwindling.

“We are at the height of a global pandemic that is spreading at record speed with the UK mutation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement late Tuesday, explaining the government’s decision to impose a full national lockdown that will Closing most schools and schools will all non-essential jobs for at least two weeks.

“With every hour that we delay, the virus is spreading faster and it will cost a very high price,” he added.

The lock decision was made after Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Science Institute in Rehovot, Israel, presented the government with the dire prognosis that without such measures, Israel’s infection rate could rise to 46,000 new cases per day by February, an astonishing number Country with about 9 million inhabitants.

Government officials cited the variant discovered in the UK as one of the main reasons for imposing tighter restrictions. Mr Netanyahu said the line had “jumped forward”, although not at the same pace as the UK.

At least 30 cases of the variant have been identified in Israel through special samples spread across 14 different cities. However, officials and experts said these tests were aimed at identifying the presence of the variant, not quantifying it, and the actual number of cases was likely much higher.

Many scientists believe that the variant is more transmissible, which means that it can more easily spread from one person to another.

Professor Segal said the variant could be a factor in the rising rate of infection in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. In the past four weeks, infections among the ultra-Orthodox have increased sixteen-fold.

He estimated that the variant now accounts for around 20 percent of morbidity in ultra-Orthodox cities and neighborhoods.

During the coronavirus crisis, there was constant tension between the ultra-Orthodox, who make up around 12.5 percent of the population, and the incumbent Israelis, especially because some ultra-Orthodox rabbis insisted on keeping their educational institutions open during the crisis, violating previous lockdowns and regulations generally disregarding the restrictions on large gatherings and social distancing.

Israel’s vaccine supplies cast another shadow over the tempting prospect of an early emergence from the crisis. Vaccine supplies were running low and officials said they may have to slow their widely touted vaccination program until mid-January if they can’t convince drug companies to ship more vaccines sooner than promised.

A few days ago, the Israelis celebrated the successful start of their vaccination campaign, which has surpassed the rest of the world. Approximately 1.5 million Israeli citizens, or more than 16 percent of the population, have received an initial dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine since the vaccination program began on December 20.

Updated

Jan. 7, 2021, 6:03 ET

The shortcoming, according to the authorities, could be due to the success of the program: the first phase of the program went faster than most thought possible.

Israel has not disclosed the number of vaccine doses received as the agreements with the pharmaceutical companies are confidential. The government has promised to reserve enough vaccines so that anyone who received a first dose can get their second dose as planned after about 21 days. This should include the majority of Israel’s high-risk population of health workers and citizens 60 and older.

Quiet negotiations are being held with the drug companies to improve their supplies, but the shortage could lead to delays in implementation. Mr Netanyahu, whose political future may depend on the success of the program, said he “continues to work around the clock to bring millions of vaccines to Israel”.

Mr. Netanyahu said Wednesday that a small initial shipment of Moderna vaccines should arrive on Thursday and that more would follow. Pharmaceutical companies now see Israel as an interesting test case for vaccination effectiveness and possibly the first country to be fully vaccinated. Officials and experts stated this, which gives him an advantage in securing additional shipments.

Israel has been criticized by human rights groups for failing to expand its vaccination program to most Israeli-controlled Palestinians, despite the fact that Israelis living in settlements in the West Bank have been vaccinated.

Palestinian officials have recorded hundreds of Covid-19 cases daily in the occupied West Bank and Hamas-led Gaza Strip, the overcrowded Palestinian coastal enclave whose borders are tightly controlled by Israel and Egypt, and health officials believe the real numbers are much higher . Palestinians in these areas have not yet received vaccines.

On Wednesday, two Palestinian officials said the Palestinian Authority had asked Israel for up to 10,000 doses of the vaccine to immunize Palestinian frontline workers.

Hussein al-Sheikh, the top Palestinian official in charge of coordination with the Israelis, said Israel refused.

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for not having the authority to speak to the news media, said Israel secretly delivered “dozen” vaccines to the Palestinians this week but has not yet responded to the larger request. Several Palestinian officials denied having received vaccines from Israel.

The Oslo Accords, the provisional peace accords signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, commit both sides to work together to fight epidemics and provide each other with support in emergencies.

The Geneva Conventions also oblige an occupying power to ensure medical care for the local population and preventive measures to combat contagious diseases and epidemics.

Alan Baker, a former Israeli ambassador and international law expert who helped draft the Oslo Accords, said he believes this would “represent a commitment for Israel to provide vaccines to fight Covid 19 help “but that was it” a one-way street. “

Hamas, he said, holds Israeli hostages in Gaza and is obliged to release them by the same humanitarian standards.

Israel Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said last week it was in Israel’s best interest to contain the virus on the Palestinian side, but Israel’s first obligation was to its own citizens. (Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of East Jerusalem receive vaccinations through the Israeli program.)

Dr. Ali Abed Rabbo, a senior official in the agency’s health department, said the Palestinians hope to receive two million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in February. They also expect the Covax global vaccine-sharing system to deliver 60,000 doses in the first quarter of 2021 and nearly two million more later this year.

United Nations officials have asked Israel to provide the Palestinians with some vaccines to protect their medical workers, said Gerald Rockenschaub, head of the World Health Organization’s mission to the Palestinians.

But Israel advised United Nations officials that it cannot send vaccines to the Palestinians just yet because of a lack of shots for its own citizens, Rockenschaub said.

Categories
Health

U.S. Is Blind to Contagious New Virus Variant, Scientists Warn

U.S. Is Blind to Contagious New Virus Variant, Scientists Warn

Experten warnen davor, dass die Vereinigten Staaten ohne ein robustes System zur Identifizierung genetischer Variationen des Coronavirus schlecht gerüstet sind, um eine gefährliche neue Mutante aufzuspüren, und lassen die Gesundheitsbeamten blind, wenn sie versuchen, die schwerwiegende Bedrohung zu bekämpfen.

Die Variante, die jetzt in Großbritannien auf dem Vormarsch ist und die Krankenhäuser mit neuen Fällen belastet, ist in den USA derzeit selten. Aber es könnte in den nächsten Wochen explodieren und neuen Druck auf amerikanische Krankenhäuser ausüben, von denen einige bereits kurz vor dem Bruch stehen.

In den Vereinigten Staaten gibt es kein landesweites System zur Überprüfung des Coronavirus-Genoms auf neue Mutationen, einschließlich derjenigen, die von der neuen Variante getragen werden. Ungefähr 1,4 Millionen Menschen testen jede Woche positiv auf das Virus, aber Forscher führen nur eine Genomsequenzierung durch – eine Methode, mit der die neue Variante definitiv erkannt werden kann – an weniger als 3.000 dieser wöchentlichen Proben. Und diese Arbeit wird von einem Flickenteppich aus akademischen, staatlichen und kommerziellen Labors geleistet.

Wissenschaftler sagen, dass ein nationales Überwachungsprogramm in der Lage sein würde, festzustellen, wie weit verbreitet die neue Variante ist, und dabei zu helfen, aufkommende Krisenherde einzudämmen, was das entscheidende Zeitfenster verlängert, in dem schutzbedürftige Menschen im ganzen Land geimpft werden könnten. Das würde mehrere hundert Millionen Dollar oder mehr kosten. Während dies wie ein steiler Preis erscheinen mag, ist es ein winziger Bruchteil der 16 Billionen US-Dollar an wirtschaftlichen Verlusten, die die Vereinigten Staaten aufgrund von Covid-19 schätzungsweise erlitten haben.

“Wir brauchen eine Art Führung”, sagte Dr. Charles Chiu, ein Forscher an der University of California in San Francisco, dessen Team einige der ersten Fälle der neuen Variante in Kalifornien entdeckte. „Dies muss ein System sein, das auf nationaler Ebene implementiert wird. Ohne diese engagierte Unterstützung geht es einfach nicht. “

Mit einem solchen System könnten Gesundheitsbeamte die Öffentlichkeit in den betroffenen Gebieten warnen und neue Maßnahmen einleiten, um mit der Variante fertig zu werden – beispielsweise die Verwendung besserer Masken, Kontaktverfolgung, Schließung von Schulen oder vorübergehende Sperrungen – und dies frühzeitig tun, anstatt zu warten Eine neue Welle überflutete Krankenhäuser mit Kranken.

Die eingehende Biden-Administration ist möglicherweise offen für die Idee. “Der gewählte Präsident unterstützt ein nationales Testprogramm, das dazu beitragen kann, die Verbreitung von COVID-19 zu stoppen und Varianten zu finden”, sagte TJ Ducklo, ein Sprecher des Übergangs. „Das bedeutet mehr Tests, mehr Laborkapazität und Genomsequenzierung. Dies ist wichtig, um COVID-19 zu kontrollieren und die USA darauf vorzubereiten, zukünftige Krankheitsbedrohungen zu erkennen und zu stoppen. “

Experten verweisen auf Großbritannien als Vorbild dafür, was die USA tun könnten. Britische Forscher sequenzieren das Genom – das heißt das gesamte genetische Material in einem Coronavirus – aus bis zu 10 Prozent der neuen positiven Proben. Selbst wenn die USA nur ein Prozent der Genome aus dem ganzen Land oder etwa 2.000 neue Proben pro Tag sequenzieren würden, würde dies ein helles Licht auf die neue Variante sowie andere möglicherweise auftretende Varianten werfen.

Aber die USA verfehlen dieses Ziel jetzt weit. Im vergangenen Monat haben amerikanische Forscher laut GISAID, einer internationalen Datenbank, in der Forscher neue Genome von Coronaviren teilen, nur einige hundert Genome pro Tag sequenziert. Und nur wenige Staaten waren für den größten Teil der Bemühungen verantwortlich. Kalifornien liegt mit 8.896 Genomen an der Spitze. In North Dakota, wo bisher mehr als 93.500 Fälle aufgetreten sind, haben Forscher kein einziges Genom sequenziert.

Im März startete Großbritannien das, wonach sich viele amerikanische Experten sehnen: ein gut geführtes nationales Programm zur Verfolgung von Mutationen des neuen Coronavirus. Das Land investierte 20 Millionen Pfund – ungefähr 27 Millionen US-Dollar – in die Schaffung eines wissenschaftlichen Konsortiums, das Krankenhäuser im ganzen Land einbezog und ihnen Standardverfahren für den Versand von Proben an spezielle Labors gab, in denen ihre Viren sequenziert wurden. Mithilfe von Cloud Computing analysierten Experten die Mutationen und fanden heraus, wo jede Linie des Virus auf einen Evolutionsbaum passt.

“Was Großbritannien mit der Sequenzierung getan hat, ist für mich der Mondschuss der Pandemie”, sagte Emma Hodcroft, eine molekulare Epidemiologin an der Universität Bern in der Schweiz, die Nextstrain, ein in Seattle ansässiges Projekt zur Verfolgung von Krankheitserregern, mitgestaltet hat. “Sie haben beschlossen, Sequenzierung zu machen, und sie haben einfach ein absolut unglaubliches Programm von Grund auf neu erstellt.”

Das intensive Programm Großbritanniens zur Verfolgung der genetischen Entwicklung des Coronavirus ist wahrscheinlich der Grund, warum es im vergangenen Monat als erstes Land die neue Variante namens B.1.1.7 identifiziert hat. Großbritannien hat bisher 209.038 Coronavirus-Genome sequenziert – fast zwei Drittel aller weltweit sequenzierten. Die USA, ein fünfmal größeres Land, haben nur 58.560 Genome sequenziert.

In den USA hat eine Konstellation von Labors, hauptsächlich an Universitäten, seit dem Frühjahr Coronavirus-Genome analysiert. Viele von ihnen geben ihre eigenen bescheidenen Mittel aus, um die Arbeit zu erledigen. “Es kommt alles auf diese Basisbewegungen an, um es in Gang zu bringen”, sagte Kristian Andersen, Virologe am Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, dessen Labor an der Spitze dieser Bemühungen steht.

Aktualisiert

6. Januar 2021, 19:09 Uhr ET

Dr. Andersen und andere Wissenschaftler beleuchteten den Weg des Coronavirus, der sich über den Globus und die Vereinigten Staaten ausbreitete. Einige der frühen Fälle in den Vereinigten Staaten stammten aus China, dem Geburtsort des neuartigen Coronavirus, aber es waren Reisende aus Europa, die die meisten Fälle in viele amerikanische Städte brachten.

Nach diesen ersten Erfolgen wurde das Screening jedoch nur in geringem Umfang fortgesetzt. “Es hat sicherlich nicht zu einer Revolution in der genomischen Überwachung geführt”, sagte Dr. Andersen.

Im Mai haben die Zentren für die Kontrolle und Prävention von Krankheiten Dutzende von Labors in den USA in einem Konsortium zusammengeführt. Es ist bekannt als SARS-CoV-2-Sequenzierung für das Notfallkonsortium für öffentliche Gesundheit, Epidemiologie und Überwachung oder SPHÄREN.

Wissenschaftler, die an SPHERES teilnehmen, sagen, dass dies ein guter Anfang war. “Es ist ein wirklich nützliches Netzwerk für Wissenschaftler, Akademiker und Forscher, um sich in den USA gegenseitig zu helfen”, sagte Dr. Hodcroft. Labore, die sich an der Sequenzierung von Coronavirus-Genomen beteiligen wollten, konnten sich von anderen Labors beraten lassen, anstatt das wissenschaftliche Rad neu zu erfinden.

Es handelt sich jedoch nicht um ein nationales Programm mit einem klaren Mandat und Ressourcen, um sicherzustellen, dass Mutationen in den USA sorgfältig überwacht werden. “Als Land brauchen wir eine genomische Überwachung”, sagte Dr. Andersen. “Es braucht ein Bundesmandat.”

Die CDC lehnte es ab, die Wissenschaftler, die SPHERES betreiben, für ein Interview zur Verfügung zu stellen. “CDC arbeitet mit staatlichen Laboratorien für öffentliche Gesundheit, Wissenschaft und Handel zusammen, um die Kapazität zur Überwachung häuslicher Stämme zu erhöhen und wöchentlich Tausende von Proben zu sequenzieren”, schrieb Brian Katzowitz, ein Sprecher der Agentur, in einer Erklärung.

Der Coronavirus-Ausbruch >

Wissenswertes zum Testen

Verwirrt von den Bedingungen zum Testen von Coronaviren? Lasst uns helfen:

    • Antikörper: Ein vom Immunsystem produziertes Protein, das bestimmte Arten von Viren, Bakterien oder anderen Eindringlingen erkennen und genau daran binden kann.
    • Antikörpertest / Serologietest: Ein Test, der für das Coronavirus spezifische Antikörper nachweist. Ungefähr eine Woche, nachdem das Coronavirus den Körper infiziert hat, beginnen Antikörper im Blut zu erscheinen. Da die Entwicklung von Antikörpern so lange dauert, kann ein Antikörpertest eine laufende Infektion nicht zuverlässig diagnostizieren. Es kann jedoch Personen identifizieren, die in der Vergangenheit dem Coronavirus ausgesetzt waren.
    • Antigen-Test: Dieser Test erkennt Teile von Coronavirus-Proteinen, die als Antigene bezeichnet werden. Antigen-Tests sind schnell und dauern nur fünf Minuten. Sie sind jedoch weniger genau als Tests, bei denen genetisches Material aus dem Virus nachgewiesen wird.
    • Coronavirus: Jedes Virus, das zur Familie der Orthocoronavirinae-Viren gehört. Das Coronavirus, das Covid-19 verursacht, ist als SARS-CoV-2 bekannt.
    • Covid19: Die durch das neue Coronavirus verursachte Krankheit. Der Name steht für Coronavirus Disease 2019.
    • Isolierung und Quarantäne: Isolation ist die Trennung von Menschen, die wissen, dass sie an einer ansteckenden Krankheit leiden, von denen, die nicht krank sind. Quarantäne bezieht sich auf die Einschränkung der Bewegung von Personen, die einem Virus ausgesetzt waren.
    • Nasopharyngealabstrich: Ein langer, flexibler Stab mit einem weichen Tupfer, der tief in die Nase eingeführt wird, um Proben aus dem Raum zu entnehmen, in dem die Nasenhöhle auf den Hals trifft. Proben für Coronavirus-Tests können auch mit Tupfern entnommen werden, die nicht so tief in die Nase reichen – manchmal auch als Nasentupfer bezeichnet – oder mit Mund- oder Rachenabstrichen.
    • Polymerasekettenreaktion (PCR): Wissenschaftler verwenden PCR, um Millionen Kopien von genetischem Material in einer Probe zu erstellen. Mithilfe von PCR-Tests können Forscher das Coronavirus auch dann nachweisen, wenn es knapp ist.
    • Viruslast: Die Menge an Viren im Körper einer Person. Bei Menschen, die mit dem Coronavirus infiziert sind, kann die Viruslast ihren Höhepunkt erreichen, bevor sie Symptome zeigen, wenn überhaupt Symptome auftreten.

Am Mittwoch kündigten die Gensequenzierungsunternehmen Helix und Illumina eine Zusammenarbeit an, um die Entstehung von B.1.1.7 mit Unterstützung der CDC zu verfolgen. Die Unternehmen sequenzieren bis zu 1.000 Genome pro Woche. Karen Birmingham, eine Sprecherin von Illumina, wies jedoch schnell darauf hin, dass das Pilotprogramm weit entfernt von einer nationalen Anstrengung sei. “Wir begrüßen die genomische Überwachung in den USA viel umfassender und koordinierter”, sagte sie.

Dank des robusten britischen Systems zur genetischen Überwachung konnten Wissenschaftler besser verstehen, wie gefährlich die neue Variante ist. Eine ernüchternde Studie, die am Montag von Forschern des britischen Sequenzierungskonsortiums veröffentlicht wurde, ergab, dass die Sperrung des Landes im November die Übertragung gewöhnlicher Varianten des Coronavirus gut beschleunigte, die Verbreitung von B.1.1.7 jedoch nicht aufhielt.

Epidemiologen messen die Ausbreitungsrate eines Virus mit der sogenannten Reproduktionszahl. Wenn die Fortpflanzungszahl 1 ist, bedeutet dies, dass jede infizierte Person sie im Durchschnitt an eine andere Person weitergibt. Eine wachsende Epidemie hat eine Fortpflanzungszahl von mehr als 1, während eine schwindende Zahl weniger als 1 beträgt. Die britischen Forscher schätzten, dass andere Coronaviren als B.1.1.7 während der Sperrung eine Fortpflanzungszahl von 0,95 hatten, während B.1.1.7 dies getan hatte eine Reproduktionszahl von 1,45.

Die Geschwindigkeit, mit der B.1.1.7 häufiger geworden ist, deutet darauf hin, dass es einige biologische Merkmale aufweist, die eine bessere Ausbreitung von einem Wirt zum anderen ermöglichen. Laborexperimente haben gezeigt, dass einige seiner Mutationen es dem Virus ermöglichen können, sich erfolgreicher an Zellen in den Atemwegen zu binden.

Am Montag gab die britische Regierung bekannt, dass das Land in eine noch strengere nationale Sperrung geraten werde als im November. “Sie dürfen nicht gehen oder außerhalb Ihres Hauses sein, außer wenn dies erforderlich ist”, sagte die Regierung in einem Gutachten.

Es ist noch zu früh, um zu wissen, wie sich B.1.1.7 auf die amerikanische Pandemie auswirken wird – und vor allem, ob es die US-Krankenhäuser wie die in Großbritannien überwältigen wird. Die meisten Menschen, die sich infizieren, geben das Virus nicht an andere weiter. Ein kleiner Teil der Menschen ist für einen Großteil seiner Übertragung in sogenannten Super-Spreading-Ereignissen verantwortlich. Sie landen zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort, um viele Menschen gleichzeitig zu infizieren.

Wenn die neue Variante jedoch dieselbe Flugbahn wie in Großbritannien einschlägt, wird sie in den kommenden Wochen die gängigeren, weniger ansteckenden Varianten übertreffen. “Es könnte in den nächsten Monaten das dominierende Virus werden”, sagte Nathan Grubaugh, Virologe an der Yale University.

Eines ist jedoch sicher. Mitarbeiter des öffentlichen Gesundheitswesens können die Variante nur stoppen, wenn sie sie sehen können. Dr. Grubaugh und andere Wissenschaftler erstellen benutzerdefinierte Tests für B.1.1.7. die PCR verwenden, eine schnelle und kostengünstige Technologie, mit der auf jede Variante des Coronavirus getestet werden kann.

Dr. Grubaugh sagte jedoch, dass es weitaus besser wäre, wenn die Forscher nicht lange nach der Ankunft einer gefährlichen neuen Variante in den USA um diese Tests kämpfen müssten. “Es ist insgesamt nur ein Pflaster für unseren Mangel an genomischer Überwachung”, sagte er.

Ein landesweites Überwachungsprogramm Die Entwicklung des Coronavirus zu verfolgen, würde es Forschern nicht nur ermöglichen, die Ausbreitung von B.1.1.7. zu beobachten, sondern auch andere, möglicherweise noch gefährlichere neue Mutationen, die in seiner Linie auftreten. Neue Varianten könnten menschliche Zellen noch effizienter infizieren oder, schlimmer noch, Impfstoffen oder antiviralen Medikamenten ausweichen.

“Nur weil wir es nicht eingerichtet haben, heißt das nicht, dass wir es nicht tun können”, sagte Dr. Hodcroft. “Wir müssen nur wirklich entscheiden, dass dies etwas ist, was wir wollen.”

Sie betonte, dass der einzige Weg, diese gefährlichen neuen Fehler zu finden, darin bestehe, ständig nach ihnen zu suchen. “Sie tauchen nicht am ersten Tag auf und stellen sich vor und sagen: ‘Hey, schau mir zu!'”, Sagte sie. „Wir brauchen eine Weile, um das herauszufinden. Und wir brauchen länger, wenn wir nicht suchen. “

Categories
Business

Fed Officers Fretted Over Virus Surge at December Assembly

Fed Officials Fretted Over Virus Surge at December Meeting

Federal Reserve officials cautiously watched a surge in coronavirus cases at their December 15-16 meeting, but hoped the vaccine breakthroughs could set the stage for a strong economic recovery in 2021.

“In view of the worsening pandemic across the country, expansion should slow even further in the coming months,” said minutes of the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee published on Wednesday. “Even so, the positive vaccine news” was viewed as favorable to the medium-term economic outlook. “

Central bank officials kept interest rates at near zero at the meeting and pledged to purchase $ 120 billion in bonds each month “until substantial further progress is made in meeting the committee’s maximum employment and price stability targets” . Since March, they have rapidly increased their holdings of government and mortgage-backed debt to keep markets calm and many types of credit cheap.

Essentially, the Fed sets the price of money borrowed to manage demand in the economy and worsens conditions during tough times to fuel growth and recruitment. The central bank is also trying to keep price hikes stable at around 2 percent, though officials officially updated their approach to setting policy last year to emphasize that after years and years of weaker hikes, they would welcome slightly faster hikes.

Minutes showed that the Fed discussed the accounting guidelines in depth at the meeting, with “some” commenting that the new wording signaled that the Fed could accelerate bond purchases “if progress towards meeting the committee’s goals proves to be slower than expected to turn out “.

Many analysts had expected the Fed to shift its bond purchases onto longer-term debt in order to get a higher bang per dollar as short-term interest rates are already very low, but the logs suggest that there is little appetite for a switch. Only “a few participants said they were open” to shake the mix of purchases.

The Fed’s December meeting came as virus cases increased after Thanksgiving. Since then, the number of new cases has initially decreased, but then increased again.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

With a coronavirus vaccine spreading out of the US, here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:

    • If I live in the US, when can I get the vaccine? While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary from state to state, most doctors and residents of long-term care facilities will come first. If you want to understand how this decision is made, this article will help.
    • When can I get back to normal life after the vaccination? Life will only get back to normal once society as a whole receives adequate protection against the coronavirus. Once countries have approved a vaccine, they can only vaccinate a few percent of their citizens in the first few months. The unvaccinated majority remain susceptible to infection. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines show robust protection against disease. However, it is also possible that people spread the virus without knowing they are infected because they have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Scientists don’t yet know whether the vaccines will also block the transmission of the coronavirus. Even vaccinated people have to wear masks for the time being, avoid the crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it becomes very difficult for the coronavirus to find people at risk to become infected. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve this goal, life could approach a normal state in autumn 2021.
    • Do I still have to wear a mask after the vaccination? Yeah, but not forever. Here’s why. The coronavirus vaccines are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This seems to be sufficient protection to protect the vaccinated person from disease. What is not clear, however, is whether it is possible for the virus to bloom in the nose – and sneeze or exhale to infect others – even if antibodies have been mobilized elsewhere in the body to prevent that vaccinated person gets sick. The vaccine clinical trials were designed to determine if people who were vaccinated are protected from disease – not to find out if they can still spread the coronavirus. Based on studies of flu vaccines and even patients infected with Covid-19, researchers have reason to hope that people who are vaccinated will not spread the virus, but more research is needed. In the meantime, everyone – including those who have been vaccinated – must imagine themselves as possible silent shakers and continue to wear a mask. Read more here.
    • Will it hurt What are the side effects? The vaccine against Pfizer and BioNTech, like other typical vaccines, is delivered as a shot in the arm. The injection in your arm feels no different than any other vaccine, but the rate of short-lived side effects seems to be higher than with the flu shot. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported serious health problems. The side effects, which can be similar to symptoms of Covid-19, last about a day and are more likely to occur after the second dose. Early reports from vaccine trials suggest that some people may need to take a day off because they feel lousy after receiving the second dose. In the Pfizer study, around half developed fatigue. Other side effects occurred in at least 25 to 33 percent of patients, sometimes more, including headache, chills, and muscle pain. While these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign that your own immune system is having a strong response to the vaccine that provides lasting immunity.
    • Will mRNA vaccines change my genes? No. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to boost the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inside. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus that can stimulate the immune system. At any given moment, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules that they produce to make their own proteins. As soon as these proteins are made, our cells use special enzymes to break down the mRNA. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can only survive a few minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a little longer, so the cells can make extra viral proteins and trigger a stronger immune response. However, the mRNA can hold for a few days at most before it is destroyed.

Officials expressed hope that vaccine proliferation, which has been sluggish in much of the US, will pave the way for economic recovery in the second half of 2021. They were aware that their prospects would depend on the success of this process and the path of the pandemic.

“The second half of the year looks more promising because of vaccinations,” said Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, on a call to reporters this week.

But even if the rebound is remarkable, officials knew that if they take the economy off its feet, they will likely be patient.

Ms. Mester, who has historically favored higher rates than many of her colleagues, said she probably wasn’t worried about 2.5 percent inflation. Her colleague Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and this year’s monetary policy voter, said during an event Tuesday that a 3 percent rise in prices “wouldn’t be too bad.”

The presidents of 11 of the Fed’s 12 regional banks share rotating votes on monetary policy. The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and members of the Board of Governors in Washington continuously vote on interest rates.

In the near future, rather than directing a rapid recovery, the economic slowdown is likely to be the Fed’s biggest challenge. According to ADP, private payrolls fell by 123,000 jobs between November and December. The government’s official employment report on Friday is expected to show either a significant slowdown in employment growth or a return to direct losses.

The December minutes read: “Participants saw increasing challenges for the economy in the months ahead as the continued surge in Covid-19 cases and the associated mandatory and voluntary measures resulted in greater social distancing and subdued spending, particularly for Services that are required personally Contact. “

The Fed’s December meeting preceded two major developments that could affect the economy in the near term. At the end of last month, Congress agreed to provide additional support to the American economy in the form of a $ 900 billion aid bill.

And the Democrats were on the verge of retaking the Senate, which could pave the way for easier adoption of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s priorities, which could include additional tax aid for businesses and families.

“The Fed will welcome greater prospects for fiscal support, which most officials believe is better suited to the challenges of the Covid cycle than to monetary policy,” Evercore ISI economists wrote in a research note on Wednesday.

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Health

42 Individuals in West Virginia Mistakenly Given Virus Remedy As a substitute of Vaccine

42 People in West Virginia Mistakenly Given Virus Treatment Instead of Vaccine

42 people in Boone County, southwest West Virginia, who were due to be given the coronavirus vaccine Wednesday, were instead mistakenly injected with experimental monoclonal antibody treatment, the West Virginia National Guard said Thursday.

None of the 42 recipients have developed any adverse effects to date, the guard said in a statement. The guard who directs the state’s vaccine distribution efforts described the flaw as a “collapse of the process.”

The experimental treatment, a cocktail of antibodies from Regeneron, is the same that President Trump received when he was hospitalized with Covid-19 in November. It is intended to be given as an intravenous infusion, not a direct injection like the vaccine.

Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, the West Virginia National Guard’s adjutant general, said the mix-up appeared to have occurred during the delivery of a shipment of the Regeneron cocktail to a distribution hub where the vials were placed among the supplies of the Moderna vaccine. The hub staff then apparently included the treatment vials in a vaccine shipment to Boone County.

General Hoyer attributed the situation to “a few human errors” and said the guard acted quickly once they realized what had happened. “We have found a problem, we fix it and we are making progress,” he said on Thursday in a radio interview.

No other shipments of the vaccine were affected, the guard said in a statement.

Vials for the treatment and vaccine look somewhat similar but are clearly labeled, as are the boxes they are in. Both are kept refrigerated before use.

The mistake came at a time when record numbers of hospitalizations across the country signaled a greater need than ever for the scarce and expensive antibody treatments, even though some supplies across the country are being kept unused in refrigerators.

Officials in West Virginia reported 1,109 new coronavirus cases and 20 new deaths Thursday. There have been at least 85,334 cases and 1,338 deaths in the state since the pandemic began, according to a database from the New York Times.

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Health

Discovery of Virus Variant in Colorado and California Alarms Scientists

Discovery of Virus Variant in Colorado and California Alarms Scientists

“I would expect a similar trend,” said Trevor Bedford, evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The variant is currently likely to make up less than 1 percent of cases, but it could make up the majority of cases by March.

The variant has 23 mutations compared to the original virus that was discovered in Wuhan, China. Seventeen mutations have occurred since the virus strayed from its youngest ancestor, said Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and a scientific advisor to the UK government.

The speed at which the virus took on so many changes worries scientists who expected the coronavirus to evolve much more slowly.

Current vaccine candidates should continue to protect people from disease, several experts said. However, the appearance of the new variant, which contains at least one mutation that weakens the body’s immune protection, makes it likely that vaccines will need regular adjustments, much like they do in order to remain effective against the influenza virus.

Scientists still aren’t sure how much more easily the mutant spreads. Initial estimates were around 70 percent higher transferability, but since then the number has been revised to 56 percent and could drop even further, said Dr. Cevik.

But with each new person it infects, the coronavirus also has more chances of mutating and therefore more chances of showing up with mutations that give it an advantage – by making it more transmissible or less susceptible to the immune system, for example.

“When you’ve had enough of huge amounts of viral replications around the world, you’re going to get lots of different varieties,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

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Entertainment

‘Nutcracker’ in Could? The Virus Postpones a Christmas Custom

‘Nutcracker’ in May? The Virus Postpones a Christmas Tradition

CHICAGO – In the world of amateur ballet, each year has a familiar rhythm. Ballet academies hold auditions for The Nutcracker in the fall, and as winter approaches, the young dancers learn how to be toy soldiers, angels, or mice. Just before Christmas, when the ballet takes place, it is time to perform.

This year, with the pandemic, many ballet schools have given up the tradition entirely. But an academy in downtown Chicago owned by two Russian ballet teachers who ran the Joffrey Academy of Dance for years decided to find a way to assemble a “Nutcracker” – no matter how complicated it got.

Young ballerinas wore masks on their faces and numbers on their jerseys and played at the A&A Ballet Academy in September. Alexei Kremnev and Anna Reznik, the owners of the school, set out to create a “nutcracker” for a socially distant age: they shrank the line-up, cut off the partnership, cut production to avoid interruptions, and swore, only about 7 percent of the plays sell seats. They persevered even if a young dancer had a confirmed case of Covid-19 and had two other symptoms and moved the samples to Zoom for some time.

Then, about two weeks before the reduced throng of parents and grandparents were due to arrive for the scheduled performances, a spate of Covid cases caused the state to close all theaters again.

Unimpressed, Mr. Kremnev and Ms. Reznik came up with a simple solution: Why not postpone “Nutcracker” to May if they hope that there will be fewer restrictions?

The idea of ​​moving the most Christmassy ballet into spring may seem unsettling. Set on Christmas Eve, “The Nutcracker” usually features a towering Christmas tree and dancing snowflakes, making it an annual holiday tradition around the world. But Mr. Kremnev and Mrs. Reznik don’t see why it has to be that way. After all, Handel’s “Messiah”, the ultimate Christmas Oratorio, was originally considered Easter music.

And ballet companies have not always limited their “Nutcracker” performances to the Christmas season, especially in the Soviet Union and Russia, where the ballet with its glorious Tchaikovsky score premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892. During this very first performance in December, when a new “Nutcracker” production was being assembled in what was then Leningrad in 1934, the premiere was in February. And in March 1966, the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow unveiled a new production.

“For them it was just another ballet – and not the most successful ballet,” said Jennifer Fisher, dance historian and author of Nutcracker Nation. “Once it’s planted here in San Francisco in 1944 and in New York in 1954, it becomes an annual production, always at Christmas.”

Even in the US it wasn’t always limited to winter: in 1977 Mikhail Baryshnikov’s “Nutcracker” was performed for the American Ballet Theater in May after a more traditional world premiere in Washington, New York in December.

Mr. Kremnev and Ms. Reznik said that when they lived in Russia it was customary to play “Nutcrackers” throughout the season, usually September to May, so this year’s shift doesn’t feel strange to them.

“It was a repertoire like ‘Spartacus’ or ‘Swan Lake’ or ‘Sleeping Beauty’,” said Kremnev.

In May, when the temperature rises and, with a bit of luck, the virus subsides, the dancers from A&A Ballet, their furry mouse suits, their Tricorn soldiers’ hats, and the weirdly large skirt of Mother Ginger can break out – assuming the theaters in Chicago it is allowed to reopen.

For Mr. Kremnev (50) and Ms. Reznik (52), who are married, reopening their studio in the summer was a challenge in itself. It was often difficult to determine where classes and rehearsals fit into the state’s gradual reopening plan. (Is a ballet academy more of a fitness class or a camp?) However, they ran an intensive program in their studio in July, and a city inspector visited the program to make sure the program was in line with state guidelines.

When it came time for their “Art Deco Nutcracker” set in 1920s America, the couple were keen to keep the show operating by rules designed to stop its spread. In September no more than 10 artists could rehearse at the same time. They planned a cast of around 75 dancers, half the size of the usual. And they would only occupy about 7 percent of the 725 seats in the Studebaker Theater, which would be anything but a financial success.

Then there were the changes to the ballet itself. Mr. Kremnev, who choreographed “The Art Deco Nutcracker” in 2017, removed all partnerships and close contacts between the young dancers. The Sugarplum Fairy could no longer dance the pas de deux with her Cavalier, and the trio of Russian dancers performing in the second act could no longer embrace each other.

During rehearsals, the ballet teachers could no longer bring the dancers’ bodies into the correct positions.

“Usually they’re very handy,” said Grace Curry, a 17-year-old dancer who plays both Clara and the Sugarplum Fairy in a variety of lineups. “They move your leg where they want, they put your foot in the right position. But this year they couldn’t. “

The dancers, ages 4 to 24, were disappointed with the sudden cancellation of the show, but Mr. Kremnev and Ms. Reznik were relatively unimpressed.

Her production of “Nutcracker” isn’t really about the performances or the ticket revenue. It’s about getting the students in the studio to train, learn the choreography and learn to perform in sync with the others.

“It really doesn’t matter if we do it,” said Ms. Reznik. “I always tell my students that everything we do in the studio can be used for the future.”

But they will assure the dancers and their families that they intend to make “Nutcrackers” a Christmas tradition – in 2021.

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World News

Protests at Oregon State Capitol Over Virus Restrictions

Protests at Oregon State Capitol Over Virus Restrictions

Armed protesters who tried to force their way into the Oregon state capitol on Monday were met by officials in riot gear as lawmakers rallied for a one-day special session amid tensions over coronavirus restrictions in the state mounted.

Oregon State Police declared the protest, which included dozens of people, an illegal gathering, and officials fired pepperballs to evict the crowd from the Salem Capitol. Police arrested at least two people, including one who authorities said used bear spray on officers. Later, some in the crowd broke windows at an entrance to the Capitol.

Many in the crowd, including people from far-right groups, wore guns, wore body armor, or held flags in support of President Trump.

Governor Kate Brown had convened a one-day special session of lawmakers to discuss issues related to the pandemic, including facilities for landlords and tenants and funding for vaccine distribution, as well as efforts to deal with the state’s devastating forest fire season.

The protesters opposed the restrictions imposed by Ms. Brown to limit the spread of the coronavirus and shouted about its impact on workplaces and schools. “Arrest Kate Brown,” sang the mob of officers. One person carried a sign that read, “Politicians are the virus, revolution is the cure.”

Riot officers with batons, some wearing gas masks, later moved in large numbers to push protesters out of an entrance to the Capitol. Many in the crowd shouted that they had supported police officers for a long time, including back the blue rallies, but would no longer support them.

Oregon’s coronavirus infection numbers are at the peak of the pandemic. By order of the governor, many counties are subject to mandatory restrictions, such as bans on eating indoors in restaurants.

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Politics

Pence Will Be Vaccinated on Dwell TV, Including to Administration’s Combined Virus Message

Pence Will Be Vaccinated on Live TV, Adding to Administration’s Mixed Virus Message

WASHINGTON — At 8 a.m. on Friday, Vice President Mike Pence will roll up his sleeve to receive the coronavirus vaccine, a televised symbol of reassurance for vaccine skeptics worried about its dangers. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to receive his injection on camera next week.

Notably absent from any planned public proceedings is President Trump, who has said relatively little about the vaccine that may be seen as a singular achievement and has made it clear that he is not scheduled to take it himself.

The vaccine may provide a ray of hope at a time when the surging coronavirus is regularly killing around 3,000 Americans a day. But the message on the virus from the Trump administration’s highest officials remains muddled and often contradictory as they continue to toggle between facing reality and trying to dictate an alternate one.

Mr. Pence, who will receive his first vaccine shot and encourage Americans to follow suit almost six months to the day after he published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal titled “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave,’” hosted a holiday party at his residence this week where guests mingled in an outdoor tent and posed for pictures without masks, according to attendees.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was forced into quarantine after being exposed to someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus after hosting a string of large, indoor holiday parties at the State Department and attending a private party Saturday to watch the annual Army-Navy football game. Only one unofficial adviser in the president’s circle has performed a public mea culpa for his earlier disregard of public health guidelines: Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, who on Wednesday released a television ad urging Americans who do not wear a mask to learn from his own harrowing medical experience and wear one.

The president, who recovered from his own bout with the virus after being treated with experimental drugs at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, is described by aides and allies as preoccupied with the election results he still refuses to accept, and has shown no interest in participating in any kind of public health message.

Even in private conversations, they said, Mr. Trump rarely even brings up the vaccine that the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, described this week as a “medical miracle” that the president, “as the innovator,” deserved credit for.

Instead, Mr. Trump has been focused on his efforts to overturn the election results and consumed by his anger at Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, who this week finally congratulated Mr. Biden on his victory and said that “the Electoral College has spoken.” And he remains frustrated that the vaccine was not available before Election Day, people who have spoken to him said.

But the president is also aware that a large part of his political base is made up of supporters who refuse to wear masks and so-called anti-vaxxers suspicious of the Covid-19 vaccine. After months of positioning himself in opposition to public health experts, people familiar with his thinking said, Mr. Trump feels on some level as if he does not want to be seen as caving in the end to the advice of the same people he has disparaged.

Some supporters with large online followings have even criticized him in recent days for promoting the vaccine at all. “You know, Trump, probably 80 percent of your base does not want that vaccine,” DeAnna Lorraine, a QAnon conspiracy theorist with a large following on Infowars, said on her program last week. “I don’t care who takes it. I don’t care if Jesus takes it. I’m not taking the vaccine.”

As Mr. Trump hesitates, lawmakers and Supreme Court justices are expected to begin receiving vaccines in the coming days, though the doses will be limited. Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the Capitol physician, wrote to lawmakers on Thursday that he had been notified by the National Security Council that his office would receive a “specific number” of doses to “provide for continuity-of-government operations.” He told lawmakers they could begin scheduling appointments to be vaccinated and suggested eventually some “continuity-essential staff members” could also receive doses.

“My recommendation to you is absolutely unequivocal: There is no reason why you should defer receiving this vaccine,” Dr. Monahan wrote. “The benefit far exceeds any small risk.”

Covid-19 Vaccines ›

Answers to Your Vaccine Questions

With distribution of a coronavirus vaccine beginning in the U.S., here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:

    • If I live in the U.S., when can I get the vaccine? While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is getting made, this article will help.
    • When can I return to normal life after being vaccinated? Life will return to normal only when society as a whole gains enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they’ll only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens at most in the first couple months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to getting infected. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against becoming sick. But it’s also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they’re infected because they experience only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists don’t yet know if the vaccines also block the transmission of the coronavirus. So for the time being, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid indoor crowds, and so on. Once enough people get vaccinated, it will become very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve that goal, life might start approaching something like normal by the fall 2021.
    • If I’ve been vaccinated, do I still need to wear a mask? Yes, but not forever. Here’s why. The coronavirus vaccines are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be enough protection to keep the vaccinated person from getting ill. But what’s not clear is whether it’s possible for the virus to bloom in the nose — and be sneezed or breathed out to infect others — even as antibodies elsewhere in the body have mobilized to prevent the vaccinated person from getting sick. The vaccine clinical trials were designed to determine whether vaccinated people are protected from illness — not to find out whether they could still spread the coronavirus. Based on studies of flu vaccine and even patients infected with Covid-19, researchers have reason to be hopeful that vaccinated people won’t spread the virus, but more research is needed. In the meantime, everyone — even vaccinated people — will need to think of themselves as possible silent spreaders and keep wearing a mask. Read more here.
    • Will it hurt? What are the side effects? The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is delivered as a shot in the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection into your arm won’t feel different than any other vaccine, but the rate of short-lived side effects does appear higher than a flu shot. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported any serious health problems. The side effects, which can resemble the symptoms of Covid-19, last about a day and appear more likely after the second dose. Early reports from vaccine trials suggest some people might need to take a day off from work because they feel lousy after receiving the second dose. In the Pfizer study, about half developed fatigue. Other side effects occurred in at least 25 to 33 percent of patients, sometimes more, including headaches, chills and muscle pain. While these experiences aren’t pleasant, they are a good sign that your own immune system is mounting a potent response to the vaccine that will provide long-lasting immunity.
    • Will mRNA vaccines change my genes? No. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use a genetic molecule to prime the immune system. That molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse to a cell, allowing the molecule to slip in. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any moment, each of our cells may contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce in order to make proteins of their own. Once those proteins are made, our cells then shred the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules our cells make can only survive a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a bit longer, so that the cells can make extra virus proteins and prompt a stronger immune response. But the mRNA can only last for a few days at most before they are destroyed.

Dr. Monahan began notifying lawmakers who were eligible for vaccines, and Mr. McConnell and Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated they would be among the first vaccinated.

Public health officials said they were pleased that the vice president was going to be vaccinated in public, along with Surgeon General Jerome Adams, despite the president’s own lack of interest in sending a similar public health message.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said Dr. Vinay Gupta, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Washington. “The question is why don’t they do it together, six feet apart? It would be really powerful for the president, who has gotten exceptional treatment, to say that even in spite of getting the best care, it’s important that I get this vaccine.”

Mr. Trump’s decision, so far, to not get vaccinated, Dr. Gupta said, risked undermining any confidence that Mr. Pence might instill among skeptics who take their cues from the president alone.

“The fact that he is not getting it makes one wonder if he’s worried,” Dr. Gupta said. He also said the muddled messages from the administration — hailing the vaccine while hosting holiday parties — risked “giving false reassurances to the American people that the vaccine is here and vigilance is no longer required.”

White House officials have said Mr. Trump does not need to get vaccinated because he still has the protective effects of the monoclonal antibody cocktail that was used to treat him for the virus in October. But Dr. Gupta said that was a misinterpretation of the results and that there was “no scientific reason not to get vaccinated.”

The first lady, Melania Trump, who tested positive for the virus in October and credited her recovery to a regimen of “vitamins and healthy food,” also has no plans to receive the vaccine in public. A spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, declined to say whether Mrs. Trump would get vaccinated.

Mr. Trump said on Sunday that he would delay a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, hours after The New York Times reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to its staff.

“I am not scheduled to take the vaccine,” Mr. Trump added, “but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time.”

But many White House officials are eager to receive the vaccine, even as the president has made it clear he wants them to wait.

Doctors from Walter Reed this week set up vaccine stations inside the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. There, they began vaccinating staff considered critical to the functioning of government: That included Secret Service members, some medical staff and some other support staff who work near Mr. Trump.

But Mr. Trump made it clear he does not like the optics of West Wing aides receiving the vaccine, and the White House declined to detail who exactly was receiving it. The number of doses they had received, an official said, was classified.

“His priority is frontline workers, those in long-term care facilities, and he wants to make sure that the vulnerable get access first,” Ms. McEnany said this week. When it came to staff working in the West Wing, she added, “it will be a very limited group of people who have access to it, initially.”

Mr. Pence declined to get the vaccine on the first day it was available to him, despite pressure from aides who wanted him to do so quickly, publicly — and before Mr. Biden held his own public event. Mr. Pence, people familiar with his thinking said, was concerned about the optics of jumping the line, when he wanted the administration to receive credit for the distribution of an effective vaccine to frontline medical workers without any distractions.

Instead, Mr. Pence chose to delay his own vaccination until Friday, when his office has asked all of the television networks to carry him live.

Lara Jakes and Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.

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Business

Unemployment Claims Present Influence of Layoffs as Virus Surges

Unemployment Claims Show Impact of Layoffs as Virus Surges

The surge in coronavirus cases is rippling through the economy, forcing employers to lay off workers with an extraordinarily high layoff rate, even as new vaccines and the possibility of further government aid offer hope for the next year.

The number of Americans filing initial unemployment insurance claims remained high last week, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. After falling earlier in the fall, claims have risen, dwarfing the pace of past recessions.

Consumer caution, coupled with new restrictions on business activities such as indoor restaurants, has hit the hotel, lodging, airline and other service industries. The debut of a coronavirus vaccine offers some prospect of relief, but until mass vaccination begins next year the economy will remain under pressure.

“Companies are closing, and as a result, job losses are increasing – and that is exactly what we feared we were going into the winter,” said Rubeela Farooqi, US chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “It will definitely be a challenging couple of months.”

The pace of retail sales has already slowed, as has overall economic growth. Few expect coronavirus cases to subside this winter and further drag on economic activity, but advances on a new relief law on Capitol Hill could ease the blow.

935,000 new state benefit claims were made last week, compared to 956,000 the previous week. Adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, last week’s value was 885,000, an increase of 23,000.

There have been 455,000 new applications for assistance from Pandemic Unemployment, a government-funded program for part-time workers, the self-employed, and other people who are normally not eligible for unemployment benefits. This sum, which was not seasonally adjusted, increased by 40,000 compared to the previous week.

The move to limit business and consumer activities by government agencies was evident in the new data. In Illinois, where indoor eating was banned on November 20, claims rose by over 35,000. In California, where restrictions went into effect December 3, new registrations rose by nearly 24,000.

As of late November, more than 20 million workers were receiving unemployment benefits under state or federal programs, according to data from the Department of Labor. Although the unemployment rate fell from 14.7 percent in April to 6.7 percent in November, the ongoing layoffs underscore the economic fragility of many Americans.

Economy & Economy

Updated

Apr. 17, 2020, 4:35 pm ET

“We’re not going in the right direction,” said Gregory Daco, chief US economist at Oxford Economics. “With the services expiring, it’s even more worrying.”

The pain in the labor market is particularly acute for the less skilled, whose jobs and finances are far more affected than those of wealthier Americans.

The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrials and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at record highs on Thursday and have completed a strong rally in recent weeks. The IPO was hot news and shaped thousands of paper millionaires in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

The housing market has also been resilient, fueled by low interest rates that make mortgages more affordable as city dwellers flee to the suburbs.

Total wages and salaries have returned to pre-pandemic levels at $ 9.6 trillion a month after falling below $ 8.7 trillion in the depths of the spring recession. But the American share of the labor force remains well below a year ago, underscoring the deep hole the economy is slowly working its way out of.

Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress resumed talks Thursday on another pandemic relief bill that economists have warned is overdue. With no action taken, two key unemployed programs will expire this month – Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provide extra weeks of assistance after government benefits expire and cut payments to millions.

In addition to extending these programs, the $ 900 billion package is expected to include $ 600 stimulus payments to individuals, a $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit allowance, and rent and food aid.

The $ 2.2 trillion CARES bill, passed in March, has been credited with helping the economy weather the depths of lockdowns in many parts of the country last spring. But partisan battles in Washington have held up renewed federal support for months.

Economists have warned that without a new aid package from Washington, economic growth could stay flat in the first quarter of 2021. In addition, the abrupt end of unemployment benefits for millions could further weigh on consumer spending.

Data released on Wednesday showed retail sales declined 1.1 percent in November, a disappointing start to the crucial Christmas season. Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services, expects economic growth to be weak for the next several months before accelerating later in 2021.

“Until we vaccinate many people, the economy will face a difficult test,” he said. “I don’t know if there will be a total decline or loss of jobs, but the pace of improvement will slow significantly.”

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World News

Turkey’s Coffeehouses, a Hub of Male Social Life, Could Not Survive Virus

Turkey’s Coffeehouses, a Hub of Male Social Life, May Not Survive Virus

ISTANBUL – For years, Varan Suzme has been visiting the Kiral Coffeehouse near his house, where men from his Istanbul neighborhood chat for hours, sip from tiny, steaming cups, and play backgammon and cards.

“I came here every day,” said Mr Suzme, 77, a retired clothes salesman. “This is our second home. It’s a place I love, I see my friends and I’m happy and I play. “

Until the pandemic. A lockdown earlier this year closed coffeehouses across the country, as well as bars and restaurants, and when the government allowed them to reopen in June it banned the usual games and said they increased the risk of virus transmission.

Customers, mostly middle-aged and retired, stopped coming for fear of the virus, and with banned games, coffee house owners saw business shrink. Even before another lockdown went into effect this month, they feared that the coronavirus could endanger the survival of many coffee houses and rob the country of an essential center of Turkish life.

The Turkish coffee house is a one-of-a-kind men’s reserve, ranging from a post office to a social club that is fueled with cups of coffee – or now, when tastes change, tea. In every neighborhood, from the narrow streets of Istanbul to the ancient cities dotted around the country, men stop on the way to and from work, retirees meet and exchange gossip and political parties.

“We miss our friends and play backgammon,” said Mamuk Katikoy, 70, when he recently came for an interview at the Kiral Coffeehouse in Istanbul’s Yesilkoy district. “I haven’t seen this man in eight months,” he said, greeting a 90-year-old friend who also stopped by.

Several coffee shop owners complained that the religiously conservative government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was against the games because of its association with gambling and that the ban was more ideological than hygienic.

The country was already in an economic downturn when the pandemic hit, and with scarce government aid, many businesses were forced to shut down for good.

Several famous cafes in Beyoglu’s artistic district have closed in recent months. They had introduced Italian espresso to Istanbul society – the now closed Simdi Cafe was famous for its espresso machine from the 1960s – and represented a prime of intellectual and artistic life in Turkey.

The traditional Turkish coffee house is a more humble affair where the regulars are mostly workers who play cards, backgammon, and “okey,” a game similar to rummy and played with numbered tiles. Some coffeehouses charge hourly fees for games that are in progress, while others make their living only from the drinks they serve.

But without games, the business between locks was so bad that most of the coffee houses were closed or had few customers. Owners warn that they may have to close permanently without further government help.

“Our stores are empty,” said Murat Agaoglu, head of Turkey’s Federation of Coffee Houses and Buffets, who predicted that 20 percent of the country’s coffee houses would shut down.

That could rob Turkey of a pillar of its communities that is almost as old as drinking coffee. The custom spread from Arabia north to Turkey and further to Europe in the 16th century.

The first coffee houses in Turkey were founded by two Syrian merchants in the Tahtakale district of what was then Constantinople, near the seat of power of the Ottoman Empire and in the teeming streets of the spice bazaar.

“At that moment, Istanbul was one of the most populous cities in the world,” said Cemal Kafadar, Professor of Turkish Studies at Harvard University. “Imagine the commercial potential of this innovation. Within half a century there were hundreds of coffee houses in the city. And since then we have been able to enjoy the blessed brew of this blessed bean privately or publicly. “

The court of the Ottoman sultans dealt with drinking coffee. Artisans made tiny, delicate cups and narrow-necked coffee pots, women began serving coffee to guests in their homes, and men gathered in coffeehouses and smoked tobacco in extravagantly long-stemmed pipes. Later the aqueduct became fashionable.

The coffeehouses became meeting places for business people to socialize, but they also became centers of literary activity and public entertainment. Some had reading rooms or housed storytellers and puppeteers. Many still have names that go back to their Arabic origins: “kahvehane”, which means “coffee house”, and “kiraathane”, which means “reading house”.

The coffeehouses inevitably became centers of political gossip and activism, as they did across Europe, and closed regularly as political agitation increased, Kafadar said.

Updated

Dec. 15, 2020, 3:03 p.m. ET

Over time they lost their standing in the eyes of the more educated urban public and gradually became cheap hangouts for workers. “From the middle of the 19th century, modernizers associated it with idleness and backwardness,” said Kafadar.

The traditional coffeehouses, which are regulated by the government, are allowed to sell tea, coffee, and other soft drinks, including salep, a popular orchid bulb drink from Ottoman times.

The drinks and games, as well as the prices, are listed in the license that is affixed to the wall of the coffee house. The prices are regulated and set low.

They serve traditional Turkish coffee, each cup individually brewed, bitter or sweet to taste, and small glasses of strong black tea. Aqueducts are still listed among the listings, but Mr Erdogan’s government banned indoor use more than a decade ago.

For Guven Kiral it was his life to run a coffee house. He inherited his from his father and moved it to new premises in the same neighborhood.

“This place is like my kid,” he said. “I have a son, but it’s like a second son to me.”

On busy days, 60 people would play, he said, but the pandemic has put an end to that, silencing the shuffling of cards and the sharp click and hit of backgammon pieces.

“When I open, customers come for tea and sit for a while, but then they say, ‘Sorry, there are no games’ and leave,” said Mr Kiral, who fears he will be forced to close down forever. “We’re racing downhill. The pandemic has caused us a great loss. “

He demonstrated his anti-virus hygiene system: spread out disposable tablecloths, break out a new deck of cards for each game, and soak the backgammon counters in detergent. The tables would be widely spaced and even expanded to separate customers, he said.

“The big problem is the ban on games, both for the customers and the people who work in these places,” said Bendevi Palandoken, head of the Turkish Chamber of Crafts, which represents owners and workers in 120,000 coffee houses across the country. “We want the government to reduce the burden of social security and cash benefits for breadwinners.”

A flyer on the wall at the Kiral Coffeehouse reads, “We ask the government, do you care?”

Mr Kiral said he would be heartbroken and lose business.

“For my regular guests, the separation will be the first. You won’t see any more people, ”he said. “We’d lose our jokes, our laughter.”

On a broader level, he said that the entire older generation would be punished. “The costs will be for a specific age group. You will have nowhere to go. “