World Watch

How soon will COVID-19 vaccines return life to normal?

When will we get back to normal?

That depends on the definition of normal. To many people now, it means herd immunity, in which a high percentage of a population has either been vaccinated or naturally infected, leaving too few susceptible hosts for a virus to continue to spread. “It’s such a clean, beautiful concept, the tipping point idea, that if we can just get there, the virus will go away, and then we can just go about our business as if it’s gone,” Longini says. “It’s kind of a pie-in-the-sky concept that’s very, very attractive.” READ MORE

Death rates from alcohol reach new high in England and Wales

More people have died in England and Wales from drinking alcohol during the first three quarters of 2020 than at any other time in the past two decades, according to records kept by the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS). In a new report released on Tuesday, the ONS found that alcohol was a contributing factor in 5,460 deaths in England and Wales between January and September This indicates a 17-percent increase on booze-related fatalities over the same period of the year before. In 2019, there were 11 deaths per 100,000. That rate increased to 12.8 in 2020. “Research showed that at the end of last year more than one in two over-50s were drinking at a level that could cause health problems now or in the future, with nearly one in four classed as high risk or possibly dependent.” said Julie Breslin from a drug, alcohol and mental health charity in the UK. READ MORE