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Technology

The Pokémon Happy Meal at McDonald’s is getting ruined by greedy adults

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Right now, select McDonald’s are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Pokémon with a promotion that turns the iconic Happy Meal box into Pikachu’s face. Bundled with this cherubic container are 50 collectible cards, including some rarer holographic cards. And some people are mass buying Happy Meals to get their hands on them.

Pokémon cards are such a hot commodity that some fans say they’re having a hard time buying booster packs at big retailers. Nearly every week, there’s a new record broken for the dollars people are spending on old-school packs — and new scams to go along with that commotion.

The McDonald’s promotion, in other words, never stood a chance. Folks are waking up early to stake out what McDonald’s are selling the new Happy Meals. Some are apparently buying the Happy Meals in mass numbers in the hopes of getting all the collectibles, and just throwing out the food. Some McDonald’s are even placing restrictions on buying the Happy Meals, though scalpers are reportedly already turning around and selling the individual cards for a markup. Some customers are going around to multiple restaurants, unable to find a single Happy Meal. On websites like eBay, entire boxes of the cards or sealed packs are going for hundreds of dollars. It’s unclear if the boxes are being bought behind the scenes, or if they’re being swiped by employees.

Granted, you don’t have to be a kid to appreciate a toy, and Pokémon nostalgia is squarely the realm of adults. Plus, not everyone is being a scalper or hoarder! Some folks are trying to do some good even as they buy multiple packs.

Some mass buyers are even experiencing a healthy dose of karma. But it’s wild to see the fervor around the cards reach such a fever pitch that actual kids probably won’t be able to get a product partially made for them, too. McDonald’s did not immediately provide Polygon with a comment.



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Health

Younger adults are biggest spreaders of Covid-19, study suggests

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A research team at Imperial College in London used cell phone location data covering more than 10 million people and publicly available information on the spread of the virus to calculate which age groups were most responsible for the spread of the virus across most of the US.

Children accounted for very little spread, the researchers said, as did older adults. This could mean that opening schools may not contribute to spread if transmission is controlled among younger adults, they said.

“This study provides evidence that the resurgent COVID-19 epidemics in the US in 2020 have been driven by adults aged 20-49, and in particular adults aged 35-49, before and after school reopening,” the team wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

“Unlike pandemic flu, these adults accounted after school reopening in October, 2020 for an estimated 72.2% of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the US locations considered, whereas less than 5% originated from children aged 0-9 and less than 10% from teens aged 10-19.”

And it might be the adults aged 35 to 49 who are the biggest factor in driving the pandemic, as opposed to younger adults, Oliver Ratmann of the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team and colleagues concluded.

“Prior to the implementation of COVID-19 interventions, contacts concentrated among individuals of similar age, were highest among school-aged children and teens, and also common between children/teens and their parents, and middle-aged adults and the elderly. Since the beginning of the pandemic, these contact patterns have changed substantially,” the team wrote.

“This study indicates that in locations where novel highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 lineages have not yet established, additional interventions among adults aged 20-49, such as mass vaccination with transmission-blocking vaccines, could bring resurgent COVID-19 epidemics under control and avert deaths,” they added.

They estimated that people 35 to 49 accounted for 41% of the new transmissions through mid-August, and adults 20 to 34 were responsible for another 35%. Children and teens accounted for just 6% of spread. People 50 to 64 made up 15% of transmission.

“Over time, the share of age groups among reported deaths has been remarkably constant, suggesting that young adults are unlikely to have been the primary source of resurgent epidemics since summer 2020, and that instead changes in mobility and behavior among the broader group of adults aged 20-49 underlie resurgent COVID-19 in the US in 2020,” the team wrote.

Efforts to control virus spread

The researchers said that efforts to control the spread of coronavirus — including vaccination — should probably focus on those aged 20 to 49.

But there is not yet enough vaccine to immunize everyone, and the federal government is working with state and local governments to try to vaccinate people in an orderly, fair and logical way.

Current US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance put frontline healthcare workers and frail long term care facility residents at the front of the vaccine line. The White House under both presidents Trump and Biden has suggested that states open up vaccination to anyone over 65, as this age group is considered most vulnerable to death and severe disease from Covid-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that while older people are more at risk for severe disease, experts have suspected for some time that younger people are driving the spread of the virus in the US.

Fauci did not discount the idea that the US should ensure those aged 20 to 49 get vaccinated but noted that it should not come at the expense of vaccinating older people, especially those with underlying health conditions.

“You don’t want to deprive them to get the younger ones, because they’re the ones that are going to wind up in the hospital and have a higher rate of death,” Fauci told CNN’s Don Lemon. “What we don’t want to do is to neglect them.”

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University and CNN medical analyst, said that while it’s important to vaccinate older people, younger adults should not necessarily be at the back of the line.

“I’ve thought for a while now that the priority groups just aren’t working and that we have to open it up to everyone,” Reiner told CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday.

“Now we can set aside, perhaps, a larger percentage of the vaccines for older Americans, but I think we need to start getting the vaccine out into younger people for exactly this reason — the younger people are the people who are spreading the virus,” Reiner added.

The Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines currently available in the US provide protection against severe disease, though it is unclear whether they prevent transmission of the virus.

Researchers have suggested that the type of protection provided by vaccines may have some role in decisions about who should get a vaccine and when.

“Ultimately, everyone has to be vaccinated,” said Reiner. “And if you end up vaccinating older people, you’ll save their lives because they’re at higher risk. And if you vaccinate younger people, you’ll save lives also because they’re spreading the virus.”

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Health

Adults 20 to 49 are biggest COVID-19 spreaders in US: study

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Adults aged 20 to 49 are the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 in the US, according to British researchers who say targeting this age group for vaccination could hasten school reopenings.

A team at Imperial College London used cell phone data from more than 10 million people to calculate that 65 of 100 infections still originated from those aged 20 to 49 in the US.

The found that people in that age bracket accounted for about 72 percent of the cases after schools reopened in October. Less than 5 percent came from children, and less than 10 percent from teens.

Adults aged 35 to 49 accounted for 41 percent of new cases through mid-August, compared to 35 percent for adults aged 20 to 34, according to the peer-reviewed study published in Science.

“We find adults aged 20-49 are a main driver of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United State and are the only age groups contributing disproportionally to onward spread, relative to their population size,” Imperial College’s Dr. Melodie Monod said.

Adults aged 35 to 49 accounted for 41 percent of new cases through mid-August, according to the study.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

“While children and teens contribute more to COVID-19 spread since school closure mandates have been lifted in fall 2020, we find these dynamics have not changed substantially since school reopening,” she added.

The college’s Dr. Oliver Ratmann said: “We believe this study is important because we demonstrate that adults aged 20-49 are the only age groups that have consistently sustained COVID-19 spread across the US, despite large variations in the scale and timing of local epidemics.

“Thus, at least where highly transmissible variants have not established, additional interventions targeting the 20-49 age group could bring resurgent epidemics under control and avert deaths,” he added.

Meanwhile, a new study suggests that coronavirus antibodies last for at least six months after infection for the majority of people who contracted the bug.

The research from UK Biobank found that 99 percent of participants who had tested positive for previous infection retained antibodies for three months after being infected, while 88 percent did so for the full six months of the study, according to Sky News.

“This important study has revealed that the vast majority of people retain detectable antibodies for at least six months after infection with the coronavirus,” said Professor Naomi Allen, UK Biobank chief scientist.

“Although we cannot be certain how this relates to immunity, the results suggest that people may be protected against subsequent infection for at least six months following natural infection,” Allen said.

“More prolonged follow-up will allow us to determine how long such protection is likely to last,” she added.

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Business

US coronavirus: The US can vaccinate up to 85% of adults and begin a return to normal by fall, Fauci says

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“When you put …. the pedal to the floor, you can get it done,” Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday night.

If the US were to administer 1 million shots per day — the pace required to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of giving 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office — it would take until the end of 2021 to fully vaccinate 75% of US adults, assuming every recipient needs two shots, according to a CNN analysis.

But that time frame would shrink if some people received one-dose vaccines. Johnson & Johnson produced one such candidate and is expected to report on Phase 3 clinical trials by the end of the month.

And Fauci said Friday he believes the US can go faster than 1 million shots per day.

“I’d like it to be a lot more,” Fauci told CNN’s John Berman. “The goal (of 100 million shots in 100 days) was set, but you don’t want to get fixated on, ‘Was that an undershoot or an overshoot?’

“If we can do better than that, which I personally think we likely will, then great.”

The US recently recorded 1 million new shots in a 24-hour period, according to changes in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning. That’s only the second time a one-day increase rose above 1 million.

Fauci’s assessment offers a glimmer of hope as forecasts predict the death toll from the virus will likely top 500,000 within the next month.

“The only way to solve a problem is to own it,” he said Thursday. “Everybody wear a mask. Everybody adhere to the public health measures. Get the vaccine out as expeditiously as possible. Do everything we can to get the doses available and to get them into people’s arms.”

Seniors spend hours waiting in LA.

More than 15 million people in the US have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine. Almost 2.4 million of them received a second dose, according to CDC data last updated Thursday morning.

Some state and local officials say they aren’t getting the vaccines fast enough to meet demand.

In Georgia, officials are seeing high numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and the 120,000 doses allotted per week to the state is not enough to vaccinate seniors and other high-risk residents, Gov. Brian Kemp said.

“We will still have far more demand than we have supply,” Kemp said.

Constraints on supply in New York City means there are not enough doses to vaccinate members of the city’s police and fire departments, the agencies told CNN on Thursday. There are still enough for those who already have appointments made and those who had already received their first dose, the fire department said.

Lines at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium on Thursday were filled largely with people over 65 years old, with some waiting for five hours for the vaccine, Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

“There may be a wait… so use the restroom beforehand, bring water and snacks, and make sure your gas tank is filled up or your car is charged,” he said.

Biden’s pick for Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, said the US needs to do more to speed up the vaccinations.

“We cannot take a year in order to get to the critical levels of vaccination that we need in this country,” Murthy told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday. “We’ve got to get there sooner.”

Even with reports of many people waiting in line, about six in 10 Americans don’t know when or where to get a coronavirus vaccine, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Most Americans don’t know when or where they can get a vaccine, including older Americans, who are already eligible to get a vaccine in a growing number of states,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a news release Friday. “Understandably large numbers of people are frustrated, angry and confused.”

The Biden administration will “try to build … (a) national clearinghouse” that provides information on where people can get shots, the White House chief of staff said Thursday night.

“It needs to be earlier and more transparent for people to figure out how to get their shot and where to get their shot,” Ron Klain told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.

New vaccines could be on the way

Officials hope new coronavirus vaccines will be approved and help speed up the administration.

Currently, the US has approved vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna.

However, Johnson & Johnson, assuming it receives FDA approval, plans to have “enough vaccines for 100 million Americans by spring,” board member Dr. Mark McClellan told CNBC on Thursday.

Fauci said the company’s vaccine is “right around the corner” from seeking emergency use authorization from the FDA.

“They’re probably a couple of weeks away from getting the data looked at, to have the FDA evaluate whether or not we’re in a situation where we could move ahead and start thinking about getting it out into the public,” he said Thursday.

That candidate would come with advantages, including that it would be a single shot, and that it doesn’t require storage at extremely low temperatures, he said.

As for another candidate in Phase 3 trials, from AstraZeneca, that is “a bit behind, but not too far behind,” Fauci said.

Last week, the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed program’s chief adviser said he hoped the AstraZeneca candidate, if data shows it to be effective, could receive US authorization by the end of March.

“Hopefully the vaccine again is efficacious, as has been shown in the trials conducted in Brazil and in the UK,” Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui said. “So maybe an approval somewhere towards the latter part of the month of March, and a significant number of doses available around that time.”

CNN’s Naomi Thomas, Michael Nedelman, Deidre McPhillips, Maria Cartaya, Lindsay Benson, Lauren Mascarenhas, Alexandra Meeks, Evan Simko-Bednarski, Andrea Diaz and Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report.

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