11.11.20 (wired.com)
| Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine could break scientific ground, CDC releases new mask guidelines, and an interactive map illustrates the risk of holiday gatherings. Here’s what you should know: Headlines Pfizer’s coronavirus shot will be the first ‘genetic’ vaccine approved for humans if it is green-lit by the FDA On Monday morning, Pfizer announced that its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90 percent effective. More time and data are needed for FDA approval, but if the vaccine is distributed, it will be the first of its kind: Rather than injecting people with a small quantity of the pathogen so they can build up immunity, it teaches cells to build benign proteins that train the immune system to respond to SARS-CoV-2. This is a huge scientific development if it works. But we will likely still need many non-mRNA vaccines to ensure that everyone around the world gets inoculated. CDC releases new guidance explaining that masks protect all parties involved Yesterday the CDC updated its mask guidance, saying that wearing one protects both you and the people around you. Masks block particles you exhale from spreading to others and help filter the air you’re breathing in, the new guidelines explain. It also says that wearing masks can be an economic boon, citing an analysis that found that increasing universal mask wearing by 15 percent could prevent national losses of up to $1 trillion. Interactive Covid-19 risk map shows there’s virtually no safe way to gather for the holidays A color-coded interactive map from the Georgia Institute of Technology helps users assess Covid-19 risk level based on location and the size of the crowd. It’s a striking visual representation of something public health experts have been saying for a while: There is no perfectly safe way to gather for the holidays, especially as cases rise nationwide. And new research corroborates the map’s implications, finding that a small number of locations—indoor places where people gather for a long time, as they would on the holidays—are often responsible for a disproportionate number of Covid-19 cases. |