This is the weekly edition of CNN’s coronavirus newsletter. Look out for your roundup every Wednesday. If you haven’t subscribed yet, sign up here.
In the face of waning protection, boosters are key in helping to push the coronavirus to an endemic disease instead of causing pandemic-levels of infection, Andy Pekosz, Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told CNN.
“Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, Covid-19 need no longer control our lives,” Biden said as he acknowledged that Americans are “tired, frustrated, and exhausted” with the pandemic.
Covid-19 cases are falling in the US, but numbers are still very high. More than 1,600 people are dying of the virus every day, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) seven-day average of new deaths, as the US closes in on the milestone of one million total Covid-19-related deaths.
Despite that, Biden highlighted the CDC’s recently updated mask guidelines, which show that “most Americans in most of the country can now be mask free,” CNN’s Maegan Vazquez reports.
Here are the main takeaways:
- From next week, Americans can order additional free at-home Covid-19 tests supplied by the US government. “If you already ordered free tests, tonight, I’m announcing you can order another group of tests. Go to Covidtest.gov starting next week and you can get more tests,” Biden said.
- A new initiative will provide free antiviral pills to Americans who test positive. “We’re launching the ‘Test to Treat’ initiative so people can get tested at a pharmacy, and if they’re positive, receive antiviral pills on the spot at no cost,” he said.
- Biden said now was the moment for people to begin going back to work regularly, following two years of pandemic-related changes to the workplace. “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again,” he urged.
- Biden called for a bipartisan “reset” from the polarization of the past two years. “We can’t change how divided we’ve been. But we can change how we move forward – on Covid-19 and other issues we must face together,” he said.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.
Q: Several screenshots on social media are claiming that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on Facebook encouraging people not to interact with the unvaccinated. Is it true?
A: No. The Facebook post in the screenshot is phony. Trudeau did not post any message encouraging anyone to make life difficult for the unvaccinated, Tara Subramaniam and Clara Grudberg report.
If your child continues to be concerned, you could still have them mask – even if others around them are not, says CNN’s Medical Analyst, Dr. Leana Wen.
“Ease into social and extracurricular activities. Don’t start with the school dance with hundreds of people in a room, but rather with a playdate or birthday party with two or three good friends,” she added.
Send your questions here. Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you’re facing: +1 347-322-0415.
READS OF THE WEEK
Hong Kong struggles with Covid as the world moves on
Hong Kong is mulling a full lockdown due to an Omicron-fueled surge that has pushed hospitals and morgues to the limit. As many countries in the world choose to live with the virus, Hong Kong’s strict zero-Covid policy bans contact between Covid-19 patients and their immediate families who do not test positive.
Fighting back tears, Hong Kong residents Laura and Nick struggle to comfort their sobbing 11-month-old daughter, Ava, through a phone screen. They were barred from visiting Ava at Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital, where the infant is recovering from Covid-19 after testing positive last Monday, CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout, Jadyn Sham, Rhea Mogul, Teele Rebane and Lizzy Yee report.
Women in the world’s richest nations feel let down by their governments following the pandemic
But being stuck in the Olympic closed loop – a system of multiple bubbles, including venues, conference centers and hotels, designed to keep arrivals isolated from the general population – has prevented Wang from experiencing the Beijing she knows, and hugging her grandmother. In this piece, she explores the sacrifices people have made to be part of the Olympics.
At least 5.2 million children globally have lost a parent, grandparent or family member who helped care for them to Covid-19, according to a new study, which the authors describe as a “heartbreaking hidden pandemic.”
The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, looked at Covid-19 mortality data from 21 countries from the start of the pandemic through October 2021 and estimated the number of children who lost a parent or caregiver, Jen Christensen reports.
Hong Kong faces a ‘preventable disaster’ after betting on zero Covid. In Europe, Austria drops vaccine mandate
The Duchess is triple vaccinated and will continue to follow all government guidelines and review engagements on that basis, a royal source said.
Plummeting Covid-19 case counts across the US have led to the lifting of mask mandates and more conversations about steps toward normality – but more people are dying of the coronavirus now than during most of the pandemic, Deidre McPhillips reports.
A common refrain early in the pandemic was that Covid-19 was most deadly for the elderly and people with certain health conditions. The people dying from the virus now tend to be younger than before, and they’re overwhelmingly unvaccinated, experts say.
Study links even mild Covid-19 to changes in the brain
TOP TIP
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to replacing the precious document. Here are some options (and advice about things that don’t work).
The CDC recommends Covid-19 testing:
- If you have Covid-19 symptoms
- If you have known or suspected close contact with the coronavirus
- Before or after travel
- For screening in schools, workplaces, etc.
- When asked by a health care professional or public health official
Here’s how to get free antiviral medicine if you test positive for Covid-19
TODAY’S PODCAST
Love isn’t just romantic dinners and moonlit walks; it’s also a survival mechanism just like hunger and thirst. On this week’s podcast, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the science behind falling in love and shares one expert’s tips on keeping love alive during the pandemic. Listen Now.
