New York Times. Coronavirus stuff. April 19, 2021.

April 19, 2021

An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment.

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The New York Times

By Jonathan Wolfe and Amelia Nierenberg

India is facing new lockdowns and oxygen and drug shortages as cases spiral upward. In an effort to block variants, Hong Kong banned flights from three countries and emptied an apartment block. New York State said that some people got too much unemployment money and might have to give it back. Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and vaccines in development.

The U.S. reaches universal eligibility

The United States passed a significant milestone in its vaccine rollout: As of today, all adults in every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine.

The states had rushed to meet the April 19 deadline set by President Biden two weeks ago, and today the final states — Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont — expanded eligibility.

After a slow start in December, the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. has picked up considerably in recent months. More than 131 million people, or half of all American adults, had received at least one shot as of Sunday, and about 84.3 million people had been fully vaccinated, a third of the adult population. At its current pace, the U.S. will vaccinate 70 percent of its population by mid-June, but experts are warning Americans not to let their guards down. The virus is resurgent and the U.S. is averaging more than 67,000 new cases a day over the past seven days, up from over 54,000 a month ago.

The next phase of the rollout will bring its own challenges. Some scientists and health officials believe that making more people eligible will ultimately get more people vaccinated more swiftly. But others have said they are worried that some of the most vulnerable people, including those 65 and older, may have trouble competing for a shot. About a fifth of that group has not received even one shot.

As the vaccine supply expands, the extent of vaccine skepticism in the country will also come into focus. To combat vaccine hesitancy, the Biden administration is making an intense push today, which officials have likened to a “get out the vote” effort that will roll out on social media and radio and television programs.

Officials are particularly concerned about a rise in vaccine hesitancy as federal health officials pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson dose while regulators examine six cases of rare blood clots among recipients. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel is expected to meet on Friday and make recommendations about the vaccine’s use.

The science behind Covid ‘blah’

A year in, and we are languishing. That’s the academic term for the collective fog we’ve endured for more than a year — trouble concentrating, trouble staying motivated, trouble getting excited about the future.

Languishing isn’t burnout, which is more a lack of energy. It’s not depression, with its lack of hope. Instead, it’s a sense of stagnation, of emptiness, of just-getting-by, a malaise that might be the dominant emotion of 2021.

Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at Wharton, suggested we think of languishing as a midpoint between flourishing and depression.

“Flourishing is the peak of well-being: You have a strong sense of meaning, mastery and mattering to others. Depression is the valley of ill-being: You feel despondent, drained and worthless,” Grant writes.

There’s still more research to do, but giving the emotion a name might give us a way to move forward, Grant argues.

“It could give us a socially acceptable response to ‘How are you?’

Instead of saying ‘Great!' or ‘Fine,’ imagine if we answered, ‘Honestly, I’m languishing.’ It would be a refreshing foil for toxic positivity — that quintessentially American pressure to be upbeat at all times.”

Vaccine rollout

It can still be tough to find a vaccine appointment in France. A data scientist’s app is helping. There’s a giant blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. You can soon get vaccinated beneath it, if you’d like. Alaska will offer vaccinations to tourists in June to boost tourism-related businesses, Alaska Public Media reports. The U.S. military will begin offering vaccines to detainees at Guantánamo Bay. “Joe’s Covee Car” is decorated with dryer balls that look like the coronavirus. And it ferries people to vaccine sites in New Jersey for free, The Washington Post reports.

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What else we’re following

The Navajo Nation reported no new deaths for the seventh consecutive day and just two new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, The Associated Press reports. After the N.F.L. canceled its in-person draft combine, pro prospects and the teams scouting them have been forced to adjust. Airports in Australia and New Zealand were filled with emotional scenes as thousands of passengers were allowed to travel freely between the two countries for the first time in more than a year. Eyeing tourist season this summer, Greece will relax its quarantine rules. The pandemic has exacerbated Argentina’s economic crisis: In 2020, the national economy shrank by nearly 10 percent, the third straight year of recession. Cambodians could get 20 years in prison for breaking pandemic rules, under a new law that human rights groups say pushes the country toward “totalitarian dictatorship,” The Guardian reports.