The nationwide death rate, however, has dropped sharply since inoculations became widely available. More than 79,000 people died of covid-19 in January, but it has taken almost four months for the death toll to go from 500,000 to 600,000.
Here are some significant developments:
Tucker Carlson’s attack on Anthony Fauci has quietly collapsed two weeks after accusations
Nearly 3 million people tuned in to Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show on the evening of June 2, a number equivalent to nearly 1 percent of the country. Among the things those viewers heard from Carlson that night was a staggering accusation of duplicity if not illegality on the part of the country’s top infectious-disease expert, Anthony S. Fauci.
Carlson accused Fauci of lying under oath, of lying during a news conference and of being somehow implicated in criminal activity based on the contents of a number of emails released publicly under a Freedom of Information Act request. Those emails included a heavy dose of redacted sections — one such section itself prompted Carlson’s speculation about criminality — but included enough Lego pieces for Carlson to build what he wanted to build.
Pfizer engineers used a ‘bulldozer’ approach to go from ‘utter failure’ to 3 billion doses
PORTAGE, Mich. — The first attempt to produce industrial-scale quantities of the experimental vaccine that has played a central role in arresting the coronavirus pandemic in the United States was a total failure.
Operators at a Pfizer plant outside Kalamazoo hoped the trial run could provide quick validation of the company’s gamble on a newfangled mRNA technology. It also was an early test of Pfizer’s strategy of refusing government aid to develop and rapidly ramp up commercial scale production of its vaccine.
But as soon as pressure built in the array of pumps, tubes and tanks at the plant on Sept. 11, it became clear something was wrong, Pfizer team leaders told The Washington Post in the most detailed public accounting of the company’s efforts to produce mass quantities of vaccine.
When operators checked a vat at the end of the production run, most of the key ingredient — the fat molecule encasing the messenger RNA — was missing.
Breaking Olympic covid rules could result in athletes’ disqualification, deportation
TOKYO — Olympic athletes and officials breaking strict coronavirus rules could face punishments ranging from warnings to disqualification, organizers of the Tokyo Summer Games said Tuesday.
The International Olympic and Paralympic Committees and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee unveiled an updated “playbook” Tuesday, setting out detailed rules for coronavirus testing and behaviors designed to reduce the risk of an outbreak and deliver a “safe and secure” Olympics.
Athletes arriving from abroad will have to be tested twice within 96 hours before departure and be tested again on arrival. They will have to wear masks outside competition, avoid handshakes, maintain physical distance, limit social interaction and use only dedicated Olympics transport. They have to submit detailed activity plans in advance and will be tested again, every day.
Royal Caribbean delays cruise after 8 crew members test positive for coronavirus
One of the first cruises scheduled to sail from the United States has been postponed after eight crew members tested positive for the coronavirus during routine testing.
Royal Caribbean International’s Odyssey of the Seas, which was scheduled to sail to the Caribbean on July 3 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will now start its first voyage on July 31.
“Two steps forward and one step back!” Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday night. He said the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution.”
It’s the latest reminder of the difficulty of keeping the virus off cruise ships, which have not carried passengers from U.S. shores since March 2020. Earlier this month, two passengers on a Celebrity cruise that left St. Maarten tested positive during a Caribbean sailing, despite a requirement that everyone over 16 be fully vaccinated. Also this month, two people on an MSC cruise in the Mediterranean tested positive during a routine test; vaccinations were not required for that voyage.
Analysis: A guide to the latest books explaining the pandemic
As the first big wave of coronavirus books arrives, it's shedding new light on the outbreak — and raising questions when those stories conflict.
The pandemic literary moment is hard to miss, with reporters, pundits and politicians afflicted by book contracts. Former Biden official Andy Slavitt, author of the just-published “Preventable,” will be interviewed tomorrow by my colleague Yasmeen Abutaleb — who’s co-authoring her own imminent book on the bumbled response, “Nightmare Scenario,” with fellow Post reporter Damian Paletta.
They’ll join hundreds of coronavirus books already out or coming soon, including big-picture offerings from former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb (“Uncontrollable Spread”) and CNN’s Sanjay Gupta (“World War C”); narrower scopes like Brendan Borrell’s “The First Shots” on the vaccine race or Alina Chan and Matt Ridley’s “Viral” on coronavirus’ disputed origins; and an entire cottage industry about Anthony S. Fauci, ranging from a children’s picture book to “Faucian Bargain,” a conspiratorial tome taking aim at the government’s top infectious-disease expert.
Censure resolution against Rep. Greene for comparing masks to the Holocaust to be withdrawn after her apology
Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.) said Tuesday that he has decided against introducing a resolution to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, citing the Georgia Republican’s apology for comparing coronavirus face-mask policies to the Nazi practice of labeling Jews with Star of David badges.
Schneider had sharply criticized Greene over her remarks, including in a tweet Monday morning in which he said Greene had “dishonored the millions of lives lost” during World War II and the Holocaust.
But in a statement Tuesday night, Schneider said he was “pleasantly surprised” to learn that Greene had visited the Holocaust Museum and apologized for her remarks. Schneider, who is one of the museum’s trustees, said he appreciated that after her visit, Greene “understood the harm of her comparison.”
France to lift outdoor mask requirement, curfew in coming days
Amid continued declines in new coronavirus cases, France on Wednesday said it will no longer require face masks to be worn outside beginning Thursday and will lift its eight-month long nightly coronavirus curfew stating Sunday, June 20.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex made the announcement, calling “very good news.” He noted that curfew would be lifted ten days earlier than the government had initially planned.
After a slow start to its vaccination program, France has inoculated over 58 percent of adults with at least one coronavirus shot, according to the Associated Press. Beginning Tuesday, vaccines are now also available 12 to 18-year-olds.
Public health experts say the risk of transmission of the virus is significantly reduced in outdoor venues.
Pandemic aid for Maryland residents who fell behind on electric and gas bills will be forthcoming
Some Maryland residents in debt to their electric and gas utilities will soon receive bill credits as part of $83 million in state pandemic aid, the state’s Public Service Commission said Tuesday.
The commission also extended, from June 30 until at least Nov. 1, a state moratorium on disconnecting electric or gas service for nonpayment for customers who have received state energy assistance within the past four years, officials said. The moratorium also covers residents who have demonstrated a medical need to retain power or are on a utility payment plan, officials said. Shut-offs for other customers were allowed to resume in November 2020.
Thousands of Maryland residents owe their electric and gas utilities $276 million, many because they lost jobs, work hours or income during the pandemic, the commission said. Advocates for the poor have said millions of Americans will need help digging out from pandemic-related debt for unpaid rent, home mortgages, utility bills and other expenses.
Potentially fatal black fungus cases reported in covid-19 patients in Oman, as infections there surge
Covid-19 cases are surging in Oman, like they are in many countries across Asia and Africa, as variants of the coronavirus take hold and vaccine uptake remains low.
But as the Persian Gulf state’s hospitals fill up, doctors are reporting another worrying sign: cases of a potentially fatal fungal infection among covid-19 patients, the same kind previously detected in India and elsewhere.
Commonly called “black fungus,” mucormycosis is a relatively rare infection that afflicts people with weakened immune systems, spreading through their respiratory tract and eating through facial structures.
Oman’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported that it had detected three cases of the fungus among covid-19 patients, although the condition of those afflicted was not immediately clear.
Oman is facing a surge in cases fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant, with new infections more than tripling within the past month, the Associated Press reported. Hospitals have had to turn away patients amid a shortage in beds as the number of severe cases of covid-19 also rises. Adding to the crisis, just 8.5 percent of the country’s 5 million residents have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
If not detected and treated early, the black fungus requires the infected areas to be removed by surgery to stop its spread. Doctors say increased prescription of steroids to recovering covid-19 patients probably contributed to its surge.
Moscow mayor mandates 60% of hospitality workers must be vaccinated
MOSCOW — With Moscow’s coronavirus outbreak taking a “dramatic” turn for the worse, the city’s officials said Wednesday that businesses operating in the hospitality, education, health-care and entertainment sectors will be required to ensure 60 percent of their workforces are vaccinated.
The decree clashes with President Vladimir Putin’s position against compulsory vaccination, which three weeks ago, he called “impractical and impossible.”
Russia, which declared victory in the global vaccine race last August when it authorized its Sputnik V jab for mass use, has struggled with vaccine uptake. Just 12 percent of people are vaccinated despite Sputnik being widely available and free for citizens.
In a blog post about the mandatory vaccination for workers in the service sector, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said vaccination is a “personal matter … as long as you sit at home or in the country.”
“But when you go out into public places and come into contact with other people, willingly or unwillingly, you become an accomplice of the epidemiological process,” he added. “We are simply obliged to do everything in order to carry out mass vaccinations in the shortest possible time and stop this terrible disease.”
Sobyanin, who described Moscow’s coronavirus outbreak as “dramatic” on Tuesday, said there’s been “an explosive growth” in serious cases over the past few days. The number of patients hospitalized in Moscow and in critical condition has increased by 70 percent, he said.
Russia’s coronavirus headquarters reported more than 3,000 new cases on Wednesday, and more than 5,700 of those were in Moscow.
Tokyo hopes to allow up to 10,000 spectators at summer events
Tokyo is hoping to allow up to 10,000 spectators to attend mass events, potentially including the Olympics, after a state of emergency covering much of the country is lifted this weekend, according to Japanese media reports.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, a minister leading the country’s covid response, said that the new limits could apply from July through August, the Kyodo News agency reported. (The Games begin July 23.)
The call will be made by a panel of experts who will take into account factors like the prevalence of coronavirus variants, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters Wednesday.
The government is slated to make a decision on whether to allow domestic spectators at the Olympics by the end of the month. Overseas fans have been barred from attending the Games.
Japan’s coronavirus case count has dipped sharply in recent weeks as an inoculation program takes off. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had been under significant pressure to cancel or delay the already-postponed Games, but one recent poll showed a small majority is now in favor of going ahead as an end to the current pandemic wave looks within reach.
Some of the country’s top medical experts have warned against relaxing restrictions too quickly, with one group of researchers warning that infections might increase by 10,000 if spectators were allowed at the Olympics, according to Kyodo News.
The national government is also reportedly considering putting Tokyo under a “quasi-state of emergency,” with some restrictions on hospitality business hours during the Games.
Japan on Tuesday reported a seven-day rolling average of 1,702 new infections, down from over 6,000 in mid-May. More than 14 percent of the population has received at least one shot of a vaccine.
E.U. recommends lifting ban on U.S. travelers for first time since pandemic began, say diplomatic sources
BRUSSELS — The European Union is officially recommending that the 27-member bloc lift restrictions on U.S. travelers, a long-anticipated move that will allow a return to near-normal travel with the continent for the first time since the pandemic began, according to diplomats.
The European diplomats spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement planned for Friday.
E.U. ambassadors decided Wednesday to approve a proposal to add the United States — along with Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Serbia — to its “white list” of places where nonessential travelers are allowed in from across the bloc, sources said. Although this list is nonbinding, it seeks to harmonize travel rules across the European Union. Some European countries, including Greece, Portugal and Spain, are already accepting vaccinated U.S. travelers.
The full resumption of transatlantic travel still has one further hurdle: The United States has yet to say when it will reciprocally lift its ban on E.U. travelers, although that move is similarly expected within weeks.
Inclusion on the “white list,” created in June 2020, means E.U. countries can accept travelers regardless of their vaccination status, although each individual country can set its own requirements for entry and quarantine. Australia, Israel, Japan and New Zealand are among the countries already on the list.
The resumption of travel will be a major boost to tourism-dependent economies across the continent.
Following a slow start to vaccine rollouts, European officials and policymakers hope that the bloc will reach herd immunity by July. So far, around 45 percent of the nearly 450 million E.U. residents have been inoculated with at least one shot, and around half of those have been fully vaccinated.
Earlier this week, the E.U. Parliament also formally approved legislation to create a digital certificate system starting July 1 that would scrap quarantine requirements for people who can prove they are vaccinated or that they have recently recovered from covid-19 or tested negative for the virus.
North Korea’s Kim calls food situation ‘tense’ as reports of shortages mount
TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called the country’s food situation “tense,” state media reported on Wednesday, amid mounting reports of shortages.
Opening a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s central committee, Kim claimed the economy had improved this year, with industrial production up 25 percent from a year earlier, and generally struck a more upbeat tone than in February, when he had admitted the country’s economic plan had “failed tremendously.”
Nevertheless, Kim’s admission about food shortages speaks of a problem that can’t be glossed over.
Last year, North Korea faced its worst slump in more than two decades, experts say, largely due to the self-imposed closure of the border with China, a measure designed to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay.
Maldives relaxes curfew as infections fall
The Maldives relaxed a curfew in its capital Wednesday as new coronavirus infections continued to decline. Residents in Male will now be allowed out between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. to exercise, though a curfew from 4 p.m. until 4 a.m. will remain in place for at least two more weeks, health officials announced, according to local media reports.
The archipelagic state in the Indian Ocean instituted the curfew in early May as coronavirus infections climbed. The curfew was then tightened as the per capita rate of new cases soared to among the highest in the world.
The Maldives reported relatively few infections in 2020, despite the tourism-reliant country reopening its borders in July. But cases began to spike in April after restrictions on public movement were lifted during Ramadan, Reuters reported. Adding to the outbreak were local elections and an influx of people escaping hard-hit India.
New infections in the country of half a million people have plummeted in recent weeks from a seven-day rolling average of more than 1,600 per day in late May to under 300 this week, according to Our World in Data. Just under 60 percent of the population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the website, which tracks publicly available data.
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