Hope dawns in NY after year of Covid
Manhattanhenge, the celestial marvel that occurs when the sunset aligns with New York’s east-west grid, basking its concrete canyons in light, takes place in two weeks.
And after a catastrophic year in which more than 581,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, it suddenly seems like golden rays are appearing up on every horizon.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s shock announcement on
Thursday – that fully vaccinated people were no longer required to wear masks indoors or outdoors – has been hailed as America’s VEDay over the virus.
While that may be premature, it’s the newly visible smiles on unmasked faces that are infectious, the optimism that’s transmissible.
After prying itself open gradually over gradual recent months, New York has begun the great reopening.
Yankee Stadium is encouraging vaccinated fans to pack out its stands from the coming week, and the prospect of drinking warm beer and overpriced hotdogs has never seemed so appealing.
Broadway shows are returning in September, and, naturally, Hamilton tickets have been secured.
In my neighbourhood, the downstairs deli has sprung back to life, offering Philly cheese sandwiches and macaroni salad by the pound.
The bookshop next door, with its first editions of modern fiction classics like A Clockwork Orange, and $2 George Bush biographies, has also emerged from hibernation.
Anti-vax hysteria, stoked by bad-faith attacks from politicians and cable news propagandists ‘‘just asking questions’’, had been threatening to curtail the push for herd immunity.
In a country where you can choose your own vaccine, whether it be two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer shots, or one-anddone with Johnson & Johnson, a large proportion of the population remained stubbornly reluctant.
But as of Friday night (US time) nearly 60 per cent of adults have had at least one shot, and 36 per cent of the population is fully covered.
A recent surge of imaginative coercive techniques seems to have convinced many who were on the fence to get the jab.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced this week the state would be offering a weekly US$1 million lottery prize, and all newly vaccinated residents would automatically go in the draw.
A bar in Buffalo, New York, is offering a free beer to anyone who visits the pop-up clinic next door. Krispy Kreme is offering anyone with proof of a Covid vaccination a free doughnut a day for the rest of the year.
One of the big fast-food chains, Shake Shack, offered a free burger and fries to anyone in New York who got the shot at one of the city’s mobile vaccination units.
Some marijuana dispensaries around the country have been handing out joints to anyone who could prove they were vaxxed.
In Alabama, anyone with proof of vaccination can drive their car for two laps around the Talladega Superspeedway today.
But surely the most effective vaccine bribe will be the prospect of a life more ordinary.
At the vast concrete enclave of the Javits Convention Centre in New York where I was vaccinated, the US Army ran an exemplary operation. Shuffled from one queue to the next by the helpful men and women in uniform, you simply had to prove your New York bona fides, and before you knew it, there was the painless prick as the needle went in.
As hundreds of us waited the compulsory 15 minutes afterwards to ensure no ill-effects, we were serenaded by a harpist. If this was how the horror movie ends, it was rather idyllic.
Like everything in America, vaccinations have become politicised, and misinformation has spread on social media and to millions of Fox News viewers by the likes of Tucker Carlson.
But the uptake among the most vulnerable has been strong, with 84 per cent of over-65s having had at least one jab.
The other crucial development this week was the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds.
Sensible restrictions will stay in place for a good while yet, and many epidemiologists believe mask-wearing will be commonplace for at least a year.
People with a lower-risk tolerance, or underlying health issues, will understandably still be wary of resuming their pre-pandemic lives.
While the US has relatively lax quarantine rules for visitors arriving from many countries, including New Zealand, a ban on non-US citizens travelling between China, United Kingdom, Europe, Brazil, South Africa and India remains in place.
When people ask: ‘How is Covid in New Zealand?’ it seems churlish to mention we’ve barely had two dozen fatalities, when the current seven-day rolling average Covid-related deaths in the US sits at 592.
Anecdotally at least, New Zealand’s image has been greatly enhanced during the pandemic.
Thoughtful, science-led leadership was something many yearned for here during the dark depths of 2020.
The great unmasking of America this week shows that, once vaccinations have been put into enough arms, bold steps must be taken to try to get us back to the lives we once had.
Science has given us a lifeline out of this despair, and once it is safe to do so, New Zealanders should embrace the world again.
The prospect of a trans-Pacific bubble is still a long way off, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully in time for 2022.
Anti-vax hysteria, stoked by bad-faith attacks from politicians and cable news propagandists ‘‘just asking questions’’, had been threatening to curtail the push for herd immunity.