Guide to vaccinations, productivity, tips

One year has passed since the World Health Organization officially declared Covid a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

During that period, there were over 29 million Covid cases in the United States and 527,720 people died. Now, after months of adjusting to everything from wearing a mask to working from home, more than 60 million people have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

There are still questions about how the pandemic will end and what life looks like in a post-pandemic world. But over a year, CNBC Make It has developed a comprehensive guide, from information about vaccines and current variants, to how to stay productive as you work remotely, to what it might mean to you. endemic Covid-19.

Here’s what I learned about Covid and what you need to know to move on.

Three Covid vaccines are currently authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use. Experts say you should get the vaccine available to you.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna two-shot vaccines use innovative messenger RNA or mRNA technology. The Modern Vaccine has been shown to have an efficacy of 94.1%. The Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective against Covid.

Both mRNA vaccines appear to be effective against many emerging variants. But Moderna began clinical trials for a booster shot targeting the South African strain on February 24th.

The Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine is used a common cold virus to give instructions to cells on how to fight the coronavirus. It demonstrated an overall efficacy of 66% in the prevention of Covid and was 86% effective in the prevention of severe disease and death by Covid.

Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said the company is well positioned to manage variants.

Some other promising vaccines in progress include one from Novavax and one from Oxford-AstraZeneca.

As of March 10, more than 30 million people in the United States have been completely vaccinated, according to the CDC.

President Joe Biden said that due to an “intensified process”, the US will have enough supplies to vaccinate every adult in the country by the end of May.

But it could take until the summer for “everyone and everyone” to be vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci told “Pod Save America” ​​in an February 18 episode.

It will take until May or June to vaccinate the priority groups, according to Fauci’s chronology. And then it could take several months for all adults to have vaccines in their arms, he said.

Because people are fully vaccinated, the CDC says you can safely visit with other fully vaccinated people and even some unvaccinated people inside without wearing masks or social distances, according to the March 8 guide.

To check your own eligibility status, use NBC News’ immunization plan.

While vaccines have made a return to normalcy a reality, it is not yet time to leave your mask.

As more contagious Covid coronavirus variants appear that challenge the effectiveness of current vaccines (such as the one in South Africa), the CDC says wearing a combination of surgical mask and cloth, called a “double mask,” can reduce exposure by about 96 percent. %.

Knotting the ear loops of a surgical mask, then inserting and flattening the material so that it fits close to the face, improved and protection, found CDC, as well as other hacks.

And you can use indicative signs to find out if your N95 mask is real or counterfeit.

It can be difficult to go through the so-called “immunity stimulators”. Dr. Fauci said in September that most immunity supplements do nothing, but there is one exception: vitamin D deficiency can affect your susceptibility to infection, Fauci said.

“So I wouldn’t mind recommending it and doing it myself, taking vitamin D supplements,” he told Jennifer Garner during an Instagram Live.

It’s also good to take vitamin C, which has an antioxidant effect, Fauci said. But “I wouldn’t do any of the other preparations and herbs,” he said.

Fauci also recommended other habits that can keep your immune system functioning optimally, such as getting enough sleep and reducing stress.

Many people have experienced the pandemic in a constant state of uncertainty. And “fear and anxiety really go hand in hand: the more uncertain things are, the more we are afraid and the more we are afraid of things, the more anxious we are,” says Kevin Antshel, a clinical psychologist. and director of the clinical psychology program at Syracuse University.

In addition, people are saddened by the loss of jobs, loved ones and “normal” life. Some, especially front-line health care workers, may even have some form or symptom of post-traumatic stress.

So, it is important to recognize the signs that long-term stress is negatively affecting your mental health and to know what to do about it. There are strategies and mindsets, such as rethinking your thoughts or focusing on goal-oriented tasks, that can help you cope.

Because so many aspects of our lives have become virtual, from doctor meetings to meetings and school, video calls have become exhausting. And video conferencing is here to stay, even after the pandemic.

“The way we get involved in space communicates a lot about our intentions, our relationships and even our values ​​- with video chat, all these things are flattened, diluted and often completely missing,” says the media expert. digital James Jarc tells CNBC Make It.

But there are ways to deal with the usual frustrations, from covering the face thumbnail with a sticky note to taking advantage of the chat function.

In November, Gates shared four educational or educational books to read during the pandemic. Some of the suggestions relate to urgent issues, such as “Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World” by Fareed Zakaria. Others, such as a history book about Winston Churchill during World War II, point to how leaders act under pressure.

Regardless of the title that interests you, research has shown that reading can reduce your stress level as effectively as other methods of relaxation.

In a February survey of more than 100 immunologists, infectious disease researchers and virologists, nearly 90% said that SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid, would become endemic.

When a disease becomes ‘endemic’, it means that there is a ‘constant presence and / or prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population in a geographical area’, according to the CDC. The flu is a good example.

In the next few years, if Covid becomes endemic, it probably won’t be as severe or fatal. But regular testing and annual vaccine incentives could become the norm.