Moderna says new version of vaccine is tailored to quell infection by South Africa variant

The nation’s capital on Wednesday surpassed 1,000 deaths tied to the coronavirus, a wrenching reminder of the pandemic’s blow to the Washington region even as cases fall and more residents receive the vaccine.

Citing the declining rate of infection, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Wednesday lifted some restrictions on mass gatherings, marking one of the area’s most significant steps toward reopening since a winter surge in cases. Among other changes, Northam expanded the number of people who can gather outdoors from 10 to 25 and allowed outdoor entertainment venues to operate at 30 percent capacity.

In D.C., Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said the city’s coronavirus death toll “is a reminder that this pandemic has forever changed families and communities,” adding that “even when the pandemic ends, for many, the pain and loss will still be there.”

In a proclamation, she declared Wednesday a citywide day of remembrance and urged houses of worship to honor the memories of residents who died. She ordered flags on city property to fly at half-staff through this week to remember the 500,000 people nationwide who have lost their lives.

After a particularly brutal winter in isolation, summer travel dreams feel like a glimmer of hope shimmering on the distant horizon.

At least 44.5 million people in America have received one dose of the vaccine, and new coronavirus cases and deaths have begun to fall, giving the country reasons to feel optimistic. As a result, the travel industry appears to be gearing up for a big summer season.

So set your airfare price alerts, start browsing travel insurance policies and consider consulting a travel adviser because while summer travel may be possible, it won’t be back to the old normal yet. Here are other considerations to keep in mind as you begin your (flexible) trip planning.

LONGMONT, Colo. — When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered his two Boulder restaurants in early spring, trailblazing “chef farmer” Eric Skokan reinvented his farm-to-table business to keep most employees on payroll. He offered takeout, opened a year-round farm stand and refurbished a vintage ice cream truck to deliver made-to-order meals. Neither of his restaurants had enough room for outdoor dining, so he turned to his 425-acre farm and erected umbrellas over wooden tables on a dahlia-and-strawberry-covered hillside.

When a summer thunderstorm sent the umbrellas careening over the fence into the buffalo paddock next door, Skokan hired workers to help construct eight cabanas out of decades-old tempered glass from former carnation greenhouses. His new strategy seemed to be succeeding. Every Monday morning, patrons would snap up a week’s worth of dinner reservations at the unique rural retreat.

Then, on July 24, as Skokan prepared a cabana for guests, a speeding dump truck lost control on the tight curve of Nelson Road that borders the property, swerved into the oncoming lane and hit a car. Two of his sons, Kelsey and Ian, were in the convertible. “Death and grief open up a black hole, and you feel yourself falling into it,” Skokan said in early February, pausing to take a deep breath. “My phone exploded with condolences — lots of hands reached out and pulled Jill and I out of that hole and helped create a space to heal.”

Their recovery is indeed a story of shared anguish. Yet the collective action that followed not only supported a grieving family but sustained a treasured part of the community. And it’s not finished.

Just before midnight, Benjamin Kagan takes his position.

He logs onto his laptop and navigates to the appointment page of a local health-care clinic. He enters a stranger’s personal information and he waits.

When the clock strikes 12, Benjamin must quickly find the bright green button that says, “Get in line.” If he played his cards right, he’ll have scored a vaccine appointment. Hopefully, the process doesn’t take too long, because Benjamin has to sleep.

He has algebra class the next day.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to give grocery workers a $5-an-hour pay increase, the latest local government to adopt a “hero pay” measure during the pandemic even as retailers have warned stores could close as a result.

The temporary increase, approved Tuesday in a 4-to-1 vote, will go into effect on Friday for some grocery and drug retail stores in unincorporated parts of the county, a 120-day pay bump that county officials say will benefit about 2,000 workers.

It’s the latest in a series of similar proposals popping up in cities across the West Coast, including in Seattle and elsewhere in California — an effort from some local policymakers to compensate grocery store workers for risks they’ve face during the ongoing pandemic.

Just hours after D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser confirmed 1,000 covid-19 deaths in her city, she made another somber announcement, this one far more personal: Her sister had died of the virus.

Mercia Bowser, who died Wednesday morning at age 64, was the eldest of the six Bowser siblings, raised in a family deeply involved in the District and its politics. The mayor, 48, is the youngest.

The mayor, who is a generally private person and rarely mentions her daughter, parents or siblings, called the thousandth death “a reminder that this pandemic has forever changed families and communities.”

A coronavirus variant detected in California this winter rapidly became dominant in the state over five months and now makes up more than half of the infections in 44 counties, according to new research from scientists who believe this version of the virus should be declared a “variant of concern warranting urgent follow-up investigation.”

The United States has been ramping up scrutiny of the shape-shifting virus, and scientists have identified many genetically distinct variants, but there is continued uncertainty and debate over which of these mutations are significant and to what extent. The variant identified in California has emerged as potentially the first homegrown “variant of concern” in the United States, though it has not yet been designated that by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The variant contains a mutation that scientists suspect is enhancing the virus’s ability to bind to human receptor cells. If truly more transmissible, as the new study contends, the California variant joins a growing list of virus variants circulating in the United States as the country continues to emerge from the devastating winter wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

In the first massive “real world” study of its kind, Israeli researchers found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine protected recipients from the virus, affirming clinical results that inoculation can prevent serious illness or death.

Comparing people who received the vaccine with others of a similar age and background, researchers found that in a population of more than half a million people, the vaccine was 57 percent effective in preventing symptomatic cases two to three weeks after the first dose and 94 percent a week after the second dose, according to the article published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, conducted by Clalit Research Institute, the research arm of Israel’s largest health insurers, Ben-Gurion University and Harvard University, did not have any of the limitations that randomized clinical trials have, including smaller sample size, a highly controlled setting and restrictive inclusion criteria. The efficacy of the vaccine in conditions outside those confines is a positive sign for experts.

“It is quite gratifying that the real-world observation data mirror in consonant with the [randomized clinical trials] data from the phase three trials,” said Stephen Morrissey, the journal’s executive managing editor.

The study also evaluated hospitalization and death data. Fewer people who received both doses, nine participants, died of covid-19 compared with the 32 people who had not yet been vaccinated and died, according to the research.

Israel leads the world vaccinating the largest portion of its population — about half of its residents have had one dose, as of Wednesday. Due to its ability to secure a sizable supply of vaccines, given the number of people who live there, the Middle Eastern country offers an example for other countries that trail behind it.