[ad_1]
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how our journalism works.
Last Sunday, the United States reported its 10 millionth case of the coronavirus, with the last million added in the previous 10 days. Covid-19 hospitalizations hit a new high this week, and daily new cases surpassed 160,000 for the first time on Thursday. Throughout the pandemic, science and health journalist Donald G. McNeil Jr. has been at the forefront of New York Times coverage and was recently awarded the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism 2020 from Columbia. Journalism School. In this edited interview, he spoke about the new wave of infections.
There is a lot of optimism around Pfizer Monday announcement, who suggested that his mRNA-based vaccine could be over 90% effective. What should we do with this? Is it too early to celebrate?
No, I would say a little bit of joy is in order. The FDA said it would accept a vaccine that was only 50% effective, which is worse than a year-long flu shot, so everyone’s expectations have been lowered. It’s pretty awesome. In addition, we were already fairly sure that mRNA vaccines would be harmless. With this type of vaccine, you inject just a short portion of the virus genome wrapped in a small ball of fat with a slight electrical charge. In contrast, some vaccines use an entire virus which is killed or weakened and which is more likely to cause bad reactions.
Pfizer has actually stated that its vaccine is at least 90 percent effective. We have to be careful: it was his press release, rather than the actual data, that scientists will want to examine. But I have read previous press releases from the big drug companies and compared them to data released later, and they were honest.
Some scientists fear that the viruses in animals, such as mink, could mutate and be more dangerous to humans. Does this have an effect on the outlook for a vaccine?
Probably no effect, at least for the time being. Pfizer said its vaccine works against all strains circulating in humans. The disturbing mutation in a strain of mink is primarily in mink. There is no immediate concern that it will become a dominant strain in humans.
Lockdowns have been renewed in much of the world and have faced violent reactions in places like Italy. What’s your take on the effectiveness of lockdowns and what’s the right balance for economic sustainability, mental and emotional well-being, and virus health?
We need to stop thinking of lockdowns as if they were an end in themselves. A very strict lockdown – in which people are literally ordered to stay at home – interrupts transmission long enough for you to launch real tools: rapid and accurate testing, rapid contact tracing, isolating infected people away from their families , etc. China has done it. New Zealand has done this. But we’ve never had any of that here. Our “national lockdown” in the spring was a joke.
China refused to reopen the cities until it had no cases for 14 days. We have never fallen below the average of 20,000 cases per day. We cannot do a contact tracing because a) many Americans do not cooperate and b) outside of the lockdown each case has about 50 contacts – 20,000 times 50, that’s a million new contacts to trace everyday. Who can do that? It’s impossible. So we are basically stuck with masks and we don’t eat or meet inside until the vaccines arrive. If people don’t, their hospitals are overwhelmed. When this happens, a virus that kills less than 1% of its victims suddenly kills 2 or 3 or 4 or 5% because people can’t have ventilators, can’t get ambulances, can’t even get oxygen. “Flattening the curve” is all about slowing things down so your hospitals don’t collapse.
Some companies offered perks, like free lunch, to encourage workers to return to the office. Other companies, including the New York Times, have extended working from home until the summer of 2021. When would you personally feel comfortable returning to the office?
When I’m vaccinated and everyone around me is.
The holiday season is fast approaching. What advice would you give to families wishing to celebrate with their loved ones?
Do it by Zoom. Don’t let Junior come home and kill Grandma. Think of it like World War II – our soldiers couldn’t go home to eat turkey. My father was in Normandy. My mother was with the Red Cross in occupied Austria. They missed the holidays. Life went on. There were happier years later.
[ad_2]
Source link