Poll: Only 13% of Americans in self-quarantine

The number of Americans self-quarantining at home has dropped to the lowest point since late October, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. The 13% of those polled who reported self quarantining was down from 19% one month ago. The high point for self-quarantining came one month after the pandemic began, when 55% said in April 2020 they had self-quarantined.

More Americans report going out to eat, visiting friends or relatives and visiting a non-grocery retail store in the past week. The 44% who said they visited friends or relatives in the past week was up 7 percentage points from a month ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday loosened its guidance restrictions for fully vaccinated Americans, approving indoor visits among vaccinated people.

Summer camps making a comeback

Many summer camps, lost to the pandemic last summer, will make a return this summer. The return could save many camps devastated by financial loss when more than 80% of overnight camps shuttered. New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey are among several states ready to allow the camps after banning them last year, according to the American Camp Association. And parents are currently scrambling to get their kids signed up before slots are filled, although some states have yet to release their operating guidelines.

In New York, Andrew and Alyssa Klein held their son and daughter out of camp last year. But this summer they’re letting them go to a camp in Maine.

“We have to figure out a way to live our lives safely,” Andrew Klein said. “We can’t live in a cocoon. We did that for a year.”

Other top headlines

● The U.S. has over 29 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 525,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 117 million cases and 2.6 million deaths. More than 123.2 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 93.7 million have been administered, according to the CDC.

● In New York City, high schools will reopen for inperson learning March 22, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced. Last week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order requiring classrooms to reopen March 15, and California announced it will offer financial incentives for school districts to welcome students back by May 1.

● New York City unveiled the Vaccine for All Corps. City officials say they will recruit 2,000 New Yorkers as vaccinators and to serve in support and administrative roles.

● After initially determining that inoculating prisoners could be a “PR nightmare,” Tennessee officials on Tuesday said some inmates were receiving a vaccine. Inmates over 65 or who have health conditions that already have priority status will be vaccinated, spokesperson Dorinda Carter said.

● Four in 10 Americans say they’re still feeling the financial impact of the loss of a job or income within their household, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

● Russia signed a deal to produce 10 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Italy this year. The Russian Direct Investment Fund has said the production of Sputnik V will span several countries, including India, South Korea, Brazil, China, Turkey, Iran, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

● Hungary set records Tuesday for the number of patients being treated in hospitals and new daily virus deaths amid a powerful surge in cases.