Coronavirus Updates: ‘Surge response’ teams deploy to areas hit by delta variant

July 02, 2021

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Important developments in the pandemic.

By Marisa Iati
with Ben Guarino

The Post's coronavirus coverage linked in this newsletter is free to access from this email.

The latest

U.S. officials continue to focus their pandemic-relief efforts on the risk posed by the coronavirus's delta variant, which now represents about 25 percent of the country's confirmed infections. The White House on Thursday said they had formed "surge response" teams that will deploy extra supplies such as testing and therapeutics to areas experiencing delta outbreaks, including Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri and Utah. The Biden administration said this initiative might also include increased paid promotions in affected areas about the benefits of getting the vaccines.

More than a year after scientists began their urgent push to develop those vaccines, researchers continue to test new immunization candidates. While they were optimistic about another mRNA vaccine developed by German company CureVac, the two-dose inoculation was shown to be only 48 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness in clinical trials, the firm announced Wednesday. Still, CureVac emphasized that efficacy was higher in adults 60 and younger.

The importance of widespread access to effective vaccines was underscored by a recent increase in coronavirus infections across Europe — the first such rise in 10 weeks, according to the World Health Organization. Health officials had hoped the pandemic would continue to wane as more people got their shots, but the WHO's regional director for Europe said increased socialization, summer travel and the spread of the delta variant were hindrances.

That increase in infections comes as the European Union begins its "vaccine passport" program, which is meant to ease travel across Europe for vaccinated people. But people who got AstraZeneca doses made in India, which have not been approved by E.U. regulators, do not meet the program's criteria. The WHO and Covax said the decision will worsen global vaccine inequity.

That inequity is on display in each of Africa's main regions, where the delta variant is causing a sharp increase in cases. African countries, meanwhile, have only gotten a trickle of vaccines from wealthier nations.

Other important news

Another Republican lawmaker compared public-health measures to Nazi atrocities, signaling an escalation in the use of similar extremist rhetoric from fringe groups to elected officials.

The federal deficit will reach $3 trillion this year, largely because of pandemic relief spending, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Crowded stadiums have returned to Europe for the Euro 2020 quarterfinals, making some officials nervous as infections rise. Germany's interior minister called UEFA, which is organizing the tournament, "utterly irresponsible."

More than 80 teens and adults are infected with the coronavirus after attending a summer camp that did not verify vaccination status or require face masks indoors.

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Your questions, answered

"Is indoor dining considered safe now if you are fully vaccinated?" — Margie in New Mexico

With Independence Day weekend fast approaching, and certain states close to or exceeding the 70-percent mark of adults with at least one vaccine dose, we can definitely see the appeal of a holiday celebration at a restaurant. But we can't give you a yes-or-no answer on safety. Instead, we'll ask you to consider risk — what risks you might experience if you eat indoors, and whether you're comfortable with that level of risk.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says "if you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did before the pandemic." That includes dining indoors at restaurants, according to the agency's illustrated risk chart. But the agency also acknowledges those risks vary by person, and some dining situations are less risky than others: Drive-through, pick-up or delivery food has the least risk; eating outdoors with limited capacity adds a bit more risk; indoor dining at limited capacity or unlimited outdoor seating adds even more risk; and unlimited indoor seating has the highest risk. That hierarchy essentially reflects how many people you'd be exposed to in the course of your meal.

Risk like this can be tough to conceptualize. Which is why Leana Wen, a health policy professor and Washington Post columnist, proposes imagining that you have a "coronavirus budget." You spend parts of that budget when you participate in activities around other people. Wearing a mask or taking other precautions during an activity can lower your expense. And you can vastly increase your budget through vaccination.

It's increasingly clear that people who are unvaccinated are the most in danger — the unvaccinated represent the large majority of coronavirus deaths now, according to a recent Associated Press analysis. And if you're in an area where lots of people are vaccinated, and case rates are low, your coronavirus budget is probably greater than that of vaccinated people in an area where vaccine rates are low and cases remain high.

Even if your budget is high, "you still have to think about how to spend it, and if your priority is seeing grandchildren and going to church, then maybe you're not going to restaurants all that often," Wen pointed out to The Post when describing the risks of eating at restaurants in March.

When evaluating risks at a restaurant, here are some other things to consider: Do you have any health conditions that put you at greater risk of severe disease or a weaker immune response? Will the restaurant be crowded? Or well-ventilated? Will you wear a mask when you're not eating? In Los Angeles County, for instance, health officials are asking everyone — irrespective of vaccination status — to mask up inside restaurants to avoid the more contagious delta variant.