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Medics in a pneumonia ward in the Philippines.

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LONDON – Mass vaccination campaigns are being carried out in the developed world, but many countries are still grappling with spikes in coronavirus infections and new strains, such as the highly infectious Delta variant.

And now health experts are warning the public that a very difficult flu season could also be ahead.

“There is great uncertainty about the 2021-2022 flu season,” epidemiologist Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the University of Texas’ Covid-19 modeling consortium, told CNBC.

“As with Covid, when someone recovers from a seasonal flu infection, they retain a certain level of immunity, at least for a short time, which protects them from future infections. Since our covid containment measures prevented the flu from spreading over the past year, there aren’t “a whole lot of people who recently got infected,” she said.

“So we can enter the flu season with a higher vulnerability than usual, which could exacerbate the risks,” she added.

Meyers believes that whether the flu season is more severe this year or not could depend on how the virus evolves as well as decisions on a personal level.

“As we have learned from the past 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the choices we make as individuals and communities can have a huge impact on the fate of an outbreak. We can and should do our part to prevent a disastrous flu season “by getting vaccinated early this fall and taking sensible precautions if and when the virus spreads widespread,” she said.

“Our experience with Covid can lead to behavior changes that work in our favor. People may be more willing to take flu vaccines and wear face masks or take other precautions to prevent transmission during high season.”

Get ready

The alarm about a potentially bad winter flu season was raised in June by Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer.

“Either we will have a very significant increase in Covid, people will minimize their contacts and we will have less respiratory virus, or people will go back to a more normal life, there will be some Covids, but beyond that we will go back to” one Flu surge, an RSV surge (Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms) in children, and so on. “

“I think we have to be aware and adjust to the fact that the coming winter can be a difficult one,” he said.

Flu numbers from the US and England show that influenza cases have decreased during the pandemic, largely due to the social distancing measures in place, which are helping to stop the transmission. During the 2019-2020 flu season, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that influenza and pneumonia (a life-threatening flu complication that often affects the elderly) will be linked to 38 million illnesses, 405,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths . The CDC stressed that the numbers are only estimates.

But regarding the 2020-2021 season, the CDC told CNBC that due to the low level of influenza activity last winter, there wasn’t enough flu or flu-related hospitalizations in the United States to use a model to estimate US flu exposure for 2020- 2021. “

“We can say that the low level of flu activity during the 2020-2021 season has contributed to dramatically fewer flu cases, hospital admissions and deaths compared to previous flu seasons,” Lynnette Brammer, team leader of the CDC’s domestic influenza surveillance team, told CNBC on Tuesday.

“For example, in the three seasons leading up to the pandemic, the peak percentage of respiratory viruses that tested positive for flu every week was between 26.2% and 30.3%. However, last season, the percentage of respiratory viruses that tested positive for flu remained lower than “0.4% during each week of a typical flu season.”

In England and Wales for comparison, deaths from influenza and pneumonia in 2018 were 29,516 in England and Wales and 26,398 in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics. Similar to the US, there was a sharp drop in 2020 with 15,437 deaths related to (and due to) influenza and pneumonia.

Whitty’s comments were taken up by Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London who has also advised the UK government on its Covid strategy.

He agreed that “seasonal influenza is likely to be a major problem” when it comes fall and winter.

“All the measures we have taken against Covid around the world have brought the flu to a very low level and basically no one got the flu in the last year, so the immunity has dropped a little … I think we have to go to one Be prepared for potentially quite significant flu. “Epidemic later this year,” he told the BBC show “Today” in late June.

What’s coming?

It’s hard to predict what will happen during the 2021-22 flu season, said CDC’s Brammer, but the CDC is “preparing for flu virus circulation to return to pre-pandemic levels” as some respiratory viruses are already circulating again Pre-pandemic stages.

“We think something similar could happen with the flu, especially as community efforts to contain it continue to relax. , which also circulated at a low level in the 2020-2021 season, is increasing. This increase is outside of the typical season, “she noted.

Several factors “could make the upcoming flu season more severe than usual,” Brammer said:

• Antibodies that protect against flu decrease over time.
• Immunity to a flu shot decreases faster than immunity to a natural infection.
• Since there was little flu virus activity last season, the immunity of adults (especially those who were not vaccinated last season) now depends on exposure to virus two or more seasons earlier.
• Young children also have lower immunity to the flu. They may not have previously been vaccinated or have had natural exposure. If children return to school and potentially become infected, there could be a higher number of children who have not previously been exposed to the flu and therefore have lower immunity, which could exacerbate illness.

“We know that the flu shot is still the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from the flu and its potentially serious complications,” added Brammer.

Lotus on Tuesday unveiled a new mid-engine sports car called the Emira as its “last hurrah” with internal combustion engines before the famed luxury automaker transitions to electric vehicles.

The Emira will go on sale next spring starting at under $85,141 (72,000 euros), according to Lotus. It will feature a top speed of 180 mph and hit 62 mph in less than 4.5 seconds, the company said.

“The Emira is a game-changer for Lotus. It stands as a beacon of everything we have achieved to date in the transformation of the business, the embodiment of our progress,” Matt Windle, managing director of Lotus, said in a statement. “It is a highly significant milestone on our path to becoming a truly global performance car brand.”

The Emira is the first new Lotus under the company’s”Vision80″ transformation plan through its 80th anniversary in 2028. That includes plans to sell only electric cars by then.

The car’s sleek, yet aggressive, design was inspired by the more than $2 million Lotus Evija EV, according to the company, which is owned by China-based Geely.

The car will be powered by a 3.5-litre V-6 engine from Toyota Motor or a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine from Mercedes-Benz’s performance AMG unit. It will offer up to 400 horsepower, with a maximum torque of about 317 foot-pounds, according to Lotus.

ESPN without warning failed to broadcast the scheduled afternoon NBA show of reporter Rachel Nichols on Tuesday — hours after blocking her from sideline coverage of the NBA Finals due to her suggestion to LeBron James’s key advisor that Black colleague Maria Taylor got a hosting gig last year because of her race.

The drama at the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports came in the hours before the finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns was due to tip off in Phoenix.

Nichols, who is white, was the primary sideline reporter for ESPN during the NBA playoffs. The expectation had been that she would continue in that role during the finals.

But on Sunday, The New York Times published a bombshell report that detailed the circumstances of Nichols’ accidentally recorded called with James advisor Adam Mendelsohn in July 2020, and the backlash they caused within the Walt Disney-owned sports cable TV giant.

In that call, Nichols suggested to Mendelsohn, who also is white, that Taylor got a plum spot hosting 2020 Finals shows because of her race, the Times reported. Nichols expected to get that spot.

“If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it,” Nichols said on the call, audio of which was published by The Times.

ESPN Host Rachel Nichols goes on camera after the Phoenix Suns game against the LA Clippers during Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals of the 2021 NBA Playoffs on June 28, 2021 at Phoenix Suns Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.

Michael Gonzales | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

“Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away,” she said.

According to the Times report, Mendelsohn shortly afterward in that call said: “I don’t know. I’m exhausted. Between Me Too and Black Lives Matter, I got nothing left.”

Nichols laughed at his remark.

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The conversation was captured, and fed to ESPN’s control room in Connecticut, by a live camera in Nichols’ hotel room in Florida. A tape of that call quickly circulated at ESPN, which reportedly never disciplined Nichols for what she said about Taylor during the call.

On Tuesday, ESPN announced that Nichols would not appear on either the sideline during the finals or on “NBA Countdown,” the pre-game and halftime show for the championship series.

Taylor will host that show with other ESPN reporters, the network said.

ESPN also announced that Malika Andrews — who is Black — will handle sideline reporting during the finals. But the network said Nichols will appear on her show, “The Jump,” on-site from the finals games “for weekday shows.”

Hours later, “The Jump” failed to appear as scheduled at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Instead, two other ESPN hosts, Jalen Rose and David Jacoby, appeared on their show, “Jalen and Jacoby.”

“The Jump” is expected to be back on the air as scheduled Wednesday.

ESPN declined to comment.

On Monday, Nichols apologized for the controversy as she opened the broadcast of “The Jump.”

“I also don’t want to let this moment pass without saying how much I respect, how much I value our colleagues here at ESPN,” Nichols said.

“How deeply, deeply sorry I am for disappointing those I hurt, particularly Maria Taylor, and how grateful I am to be a part of this team,” she said.

On Sunday, the Times reported that Taylor’s colleagues in May discussed whether they would refuse to appear on “NBA Countdown” in protest over changes to the production, which they believed were made to benefit Nichols.

Mendelsohn apologized for his comment about the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements on Sunday in an email to CNBC after being asked about it.

“I made a stupid, careless comment rooted in privilege and I am sincerely sorry,” said Mendelsohn, who last year co-founded James’ Black voter advocacy group More Than A Vote.

“I shouldn’t have said it or even thought it,” Mendelsohn said in an email.

“I work to support these movements and know that the people affected by these issues never get to be exhausted or have nothing left. I have to continue to check my privilege and work to be a better ally,” he added.

Tilman Fertitta, Chairman and CEO of Landry, told CNBC on Tuesday that he expected consumer spending to remain strong for the remainder of 2021, even as the initial boost from the Covid stimulus wears off earlier this year.

In an interview with Power Lunch, the billionaire restaurateur and casino operator said tax refunds to Americans and payouts starting for the newly created upfront child tax credits will provide a tailwind.

“You will likely continue to see money pouring into the economy for the rest of the year,” said Fertitta, whose sprawling hospitality empire gives him an in-depth look at how Americans spend money.

“Then I think we’re going to lose some of those consumers, but we’re going to start taking back the business customers and the conferences and the big party rooms in New York and LA and all your big cities,” added Fertitta, noting that he still believes the US economy “is really headed for another Roaring Twenties for a while”.

As the US economy recovers from the pandemic stalemate and more Americans are vaccinated, consumers are recovering on a large scale.

In mid-June, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told CNBC that consumer spending at that point this year was 20% higher than it was in 2019. Moynihan noted that stimulus money was a factor in the spending numbers, those based on transaction volumes through its customers’ debit and credit cards as well as through the cellular payment network.

Right now, said Fertitta, the Houston-based Landry’s group’s more expensive restaurants see a distinct strength.

“The funny thing about consumers is that they like the high-end. It’s the high-end steakhouses, the high-end seafood restaurants, ”said Fertitta. “It’s not yours [Rainforest Cafes] and your bubba gumps. it’s your Mastro and … your Morton. “All four of these restaurant brands are under the Landry umbrella.

Fertitta said rising oil prices are one thing to watch because it can affect how Americans spend their money. On Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures hit levels unheard of since November 2014, trading just under $ 77 a barrel before turning negative in the session.

The current national average in gas prices is $ 3.134 per gallon as demand for pandemic-era reductions increases, according to AAA. At that time last year, the national average was $ 2,180 per gallon.

“Then the consumer starts looking, ‘If I pay $ 5 for gasoline, I might not be able to shop at a restaurant or I might not make it all the way to a casino,’ so it can have a huge impact on us,” said Fertitta . “But then the flights go up, maybe people go to closer places. And that’s how I’ve seen it help us when the gasoline goes up, and I’ve seen it where it hurts us. “

It is too early to say what will happen this time, he said, “but you cannot have inflation and everything at the same time.”