Couple Gets Vaccine On 50th Anniversary: U.S. Coronavirus Blog

NEWARK, NJ — Judy and Alan Greene never expected to spend their 50th wedding anniversary in such a way, but they are grateful. The Newark, New Jersey, couple originally planned to go on a cruise to mark the milestone but instead got their second coronavirus vaccine doses at the Meadowlands mass vaccination site in East Rutherford.

"The feeling that we have is that, No. 1, we're together and we're healthy, but this is making us even more healthy," Judy Greene told NBC Philadelphia.

Both Alan, 88, and Judy Greene, 78, are retired teachers. Judy Greene taught sixth grade for 28 years, and Alan Greene worked for more than three decades as a teacher and principal, according to NBC and other news reports. The two met when Alan Greene was transferred to a school where Judy worked.

A half-century later, the Greenes are happy to celebrate their anniversary, and their future together as fully vaccinated from the virus.

"Those 50 years went by very quickly, and I hope we have many more," Alan Greene told NBC Philadelphia.

The Latest

Nearly a year into the pandemic, roughly 4 in 10 Americans say they're still feeling the financial impact of job or income loss within their household.

A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows just how devastating the pandemic continues to be for some families.

About half of Americans say they have experienced at least one form of household income loss during the pandemic, including 25 percent who have experienced a household layoff and 31 percent who say someone in the household was scheduled for fewer hours. Overall, 44 percent said their household experienced income loss from the pandemic that's still affecting their finances.

Among those hardest hit are Black and Latino households, as well as younger Americans, some of whom are now going through the second major economic crisis of their adult lives.

• Financial Loss From Coronavirus Pandemic Continues Across U.S.

Long-awaited guidance on how those vaccinated for coronavirus can interact in public came this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In guidelines released Monday, the CDC gave fully vaccinated Americans the green light to go without masks around other vaccinated people.

The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can gather in a way similar to those considered low risk for severe disease, such as vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to health officials.

"We know that people want to get vaccinated, so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.

The CDC is still recommending that fully vaccinated people wear well-fitted masks, avoid large gatherings, and physically distance themselves from others when out in public.

A year into the pandemic, many are still bucking the CDC's guidance on masks by refusing to wear them. In Boise, Idaho, a video surfaced over the weekend showing young children burning paper masks outside the state Capitol as adults nearby encouraged them.

More than 60 million people have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Meanwhile, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appears to be highly effective against combatting the more contagious Brazil variant of the virus.

The study was conducted by scientists with the vaccine manufacturers and researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, according to a Washington Post report.

Also, some U.S. students have been out of the classroom for nearly a year. The distance is showing in their reading skills, according to new research from the Policy Analysis for California Education.

In the study, researchers found that second graders were 26 percent behind where they would have been in their ability to read aloud accurately and quickly, The New York Times reported. Third graders were 33 percent behind.

Also, experts have said a new treatment could turn into the "holy grail."

Preliminary testing of a pill called Molnupiravir shows good signs of reducing the virus in patients, Dr. Marc Siegel, a New York University physician and professor, said Sunday while on "Fox and Friends."

"It may be the holy grail on this because it was just studied in phase two trials, and it literally stopped the virus in its tracks," Siegel said of the drug manufactured by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. "And there wasn't any virus found in the patients that were studied."

Finally, states and cities continue to ease restrictions put in place to slow the virus's spread.

The city of Chicago on Monday announced fans will be allowed at home baseball games for the city's two professional teams this upcoming season. Capacity at White Sox and Cubs home games will be capped at 20 percent, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The two Chicago teams join nearly all others in Major League Baseball in having plans to allow some fans in their stadiums to start the seasons. The Washington Nationals are the only team, as of Monday, to see a request for limited capacity attendance denied.

Newest Numbers

As of Tuesday evening, the United States had reported more than 29 million cases and more than 527,400 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 1,879 deaths and 53,468 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in the United States as of 6:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new daily cases have fallen 14.8 percent, new daily deaths have fallen 20 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 12.9 percent.

More than 123.2 million vaccine doses have been distributed and nearly 93.7 million administered in the United States as of Tuesday, according to the CDC. More than 61 million people have received one dose, and more than 32.1 million have received two.

As of Tuesday, 23 states and U.S. territories remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days. Oregon is the only state with a positivity rate below 1 percent.

For more live coverage on the coronavirus, follow The New York Times or The Washington Post

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