Transcript: Veterans: Frontline Concerns

to those who were potentially exposed. And we just decided that we wanted to flip the presumption, and one of the ways that we did that is we went to the CDC and other expert advisors who said there's a scientific basis for assuming that they were in Lejeune for a period of time, they were likely exposed, and for that reason we should just assume that they should be provided care. Same sort of construct needs to work here with burn pits or any toxic exposures, and it's also important to mention, particularly domestically or in foreign bases, that we have to include family members. You know, a part of what we focused on at Camp Lejeune is the exposure of family members and giving them the health care that they deserve. So, when we cast that net and we try to find every incident that could have been a toxic exposure, it's not just burn pits in the Middle East or people who were forward deployed in combat situations. It's also chemical exposures here at home, like Camp Lejeune. That way we are going to cast a wider net and we are probably going to save a lot of lives in the process. MR. IGNATIUS: So, one takeaway for me, Senator, is your phrase "the presumption of care." Let me just ask, the burn pit, the toxic exposure problem obviously affects the lungs in many cases, and we have now a pandemic that has terrible consequences for lung-compromised people. Do our veterans have special vulnerabilities to COVID-19 because of some of these exposures you're trying to track down? SEN. TILLIS: Well, they could very well. Some of the reports that we've gotten have it manifest itself in terms of respiratory distress. That's clearly an at-risk indicator for COVID-19. There are a number of other things that just basically affect your immune responses, a number of things that we need to get down to. But there is no question in my mind that at least with some of the reports we've gotten out of burn pits, we have had a number of people report before oversight committees that their husband or wife came back with respiratory problems. That's a key risk factor in COVID-19. That's why we have to accelerate it. You know, I have to--I hate to get down in the weeds but I think it's so important.


discuss that. But I think what's difficult about the veterans' issue is that so few people in this country serve. It's such a small percentage of the population, and their issues are oftentimes purposefully hidden from the general population. We've gotten really, really good in this country at saying we support the military. And we put on the flag pin, and we thank them for their service, and we give them that 10 percent coupon for appetizers at Chili's. But the truth is, structurally, we have not done enough to address the wounds of war that they come home with, whether they be brain injury, PTS, or these toxic exposures. The system is set up to deny them the benefit. A great example, you know, when we're talking about burn pits, one of the great delay methods is to say, "Well, we don't have the science yet." When are you going to have the science? "Well, we've got to study it for 20 to 25 years." Well, by then a lot of these people will have died, and their families will have been left without a provider, without a caregiver, without a husband, without a wife, without a son, without a mother, without a father. So, we don't--they don't have the time for that, and that's a delaying method anyway. For instance, what did they use in the burn pits to get rid of all these materials? They used jet fuel. Well, at the World Trade Center, what burned those materials? Jet fuel. We have 20 years of science on what these toxic exposures did to the lungs and organs of the first responders and construction workers and survivors down at Ground Zero. The science is there. We deny them their benefits because of cost. And if we've got the money to go to war, we have to make sure we have the money to take care of people when they come home from war. MR. IGNATIUS: Jon, before we leave this part of the segment I just want to note, you've got a new movie coming out, The Irresistible, and you've got an interesting interview coming up in a competing publication, The New York Times, in their magazine, coming up in a week. And in that interview, you say something really quite interesting, which is that we should be careful about blaming the police separate from the rest of


knew very early. We obtained documentation that the Pentagon knew as early as October 2001 that the base had been a storage for chemical weapons, that there was potentially enriched uranium at the site. They knew that when you dug into the soil, that black goo was basically an underground pool of solvents and fuels and everything that had just been dumped onto this ground for the last several decades. And that's where these soldiers lived from 2001 to 2005. MR. IGNATIUS: And, Tara, have the soldiers experienced significant health problems as a result of that appalling exposure that you just described? MS. COPP: They have. Not only did when they first came home, nobody knew what K2 was. And even today, when these veterans tell their VA caregivers I served as Karshi-Khanabad, they often get a blank stare. So initially, when these veterans started coming home--and one of the very earliest deaths happened just two years after they first were sent there in 2001--and they would go and they would ask for help, and they would be denied because either nobody knew about what was happening at this base, or just how bad the contamination was, and there were no records. So, they had to start taking care of their own, and that's where we started to meet some of these servicemembers. They formed a Facebook group. You know, slowly but surely, they found other veterans who had served there, and they vetted them. And as this has gotten more attention, more than 4,000 veterans have now joined this Facebook group. About 1,400 have filled out a survey saying whether or not they've experienced any sort of illness there. And more than 450 have reported some form of cancer. MR. IGNATIUS: Powerful reporting. Good for McClatchy for pressing it. I want to now ask Congressman Ruiz to join our conversation. Congressman, you have been a strong proponent of doing something to take care of the victims of burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. I understand that your commitment on this issue stems in part from the experience of one of your own constituents, Jennifer Kepner, who herself was exposed to burn pits. Maybe you could just tell us that story as a way of helping us to see this in more immediate and personal terms. REP. RUIZ: Thank you, David. And I first want to thank the Washington Post,


What to know about the coronavirus and summertime activities

do your business, and before you flush, close the lid (if there is one). The coronavirus has been found in feces, and although it’s not clear yet whether it spreads this way, a new study suggests that “plumes” from the toilet when flushed may spread the virus. When you’re done in the stall wash your hands with soap and water and dry them with whatever is available. Some studies have suggested that air dryers could potentially blow pathogens around the room, but it’s not clear that this is a source of covid-19 spread. “I would preferentially use a paper towel, but the air dryers aren’t enough of a worry to not use them,” Snoeyenbos Newman says. Don’t touch your phone or your face while you’re in the restroom, and as soon as you’re out, clean your hands again with a sanitizer, to make sure you didn’t pick up anything from the door. Do all of this, and you should be fine, Snoeyenbos Newman says. As with other indoor space, don’t go into a crowded restroom, and if it’s a place that might be busy, look for some kind of monitoring to control crowding. The risk at restaurants is from other people, not food, says Donald Schaffner, a food microbiologist at Rutgers University. To date, there’s no evidence that anyone has contracted the coronavirus via food, he says. If you’re going to eat out, takeout poses the lowest risk. Dining at a restaurant is far riskier, because it puts you in proximity to other people. Your server and other employees should be wearing masks, and ideally so should patrons when they’re not eating, Schaffner says. Eating outside is your best option, as it allows for natural ventilation and may give you more space for social distancing, says Saskia Popescu, an infection-prevention epidemiologist at George Mason University. Even outside, it’s important that there’s plenty of space between tables and room for servers to move between them without getting too close. Time spent in proximity to others is part of the risk equation, so you don’t want to linger too long after your meal. There’s been a lot of talk on social media and neighborhood message boards about the risk posed by people who exercise — breathing heavily — without a mask. But infectious-disease experts say that if you are outside and keeping a proper distance, the risk here is actually pretty low.


New Zealand beat back the coronavirus, but families were left divided and migrant workers stranded

entered its first recession in nearly a decade. “INZ recognizes that the border restrictions have resulted in hardship for many migrants, including those who have been separated from their loved ones and those who have not been able to return to their jobs and homes,” ministry spokeswoman Yvette McKinley said. “While we are empathetic to the situation these migrants find themselves in, any decisions to ease the border restrictions must be made based on what is best for all New Zealand.” Immigration restrictions and a struggling economy are not unique to New Zealand amid the pandemic. But the plight of those stranded highlight an often-hidden cost of the nation’s efforts to banish the virus. These experiences, said New Zealand immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont, show the flip side of policies that squashed the country’s outbreak and earned it the attention of the world. “This government is not a very popular government with the migrant community at all, and this has really exacerbated that,” said McClymont, who has worked in the field for 25 years. “The migrant communities don’t really see our prime minister and government in the same way as the rest of the world does.” Among those affected are several thousand migrant workers from India who were back home on holiday when New Zealand suddenly shut, according to McClymont. Many of his clients are now without income as expenses accumulate. For anyone who does cross the border, New Zealand has mandated a 14-day quarantine at isolation centers with a daily capacity of 250 people. Initially, as the lockdown eased, immigration services said that partners of New Zealand citizens or permanent residents with certain visas could enter — but only if they were traveling with a New Zealand citizen. The government amended the rule the second week of June, allowing partners with relationship-based visas to enter on their own. This change, however, did not help most of the people polled in a Facebook group of more than 700 members set up by separated families, according to Harnett. That’s because after months of offshore visa services being shut, most partners still remain unable to acquire a visa. New Zealand is processing some visas again, but immigration authorities are first going through the large backlog of applications from inside the country, while those from abroad largely remain deferred. As of June 16, there had been over 16,500 requests for exemptions for foreigners to


These people have been sick with coronavirus for more than 60 days.

still alive in the body and creating continued havoc, or whether it has come and gone, leaving a lingering immune or inflammatory response that makes people continue to feel sick. “The bottom line is we just don’t know,” said Adam Lauring, an infectious- diseases physician at the University of Michigan. Juana Diaz, 62, from Washington, D.C., has had symptoms since April 3. They started with a headache and scratchy throat. She wasn’t concerned, she said, although “I never have headaches.” The following day, she lost her sense of taste and smell and immediately knew what was happening. Cara Schiavo, a 31-year-old social worker from Cedar Grove, N.J., came down with something that looked like pinkeye on March 15, and then wound up in the emergency room when she developed a fever and other symptoms. Since then, “I haven’t had a day when I’ve been back to normal.” Matthew Long-Middleton, 35, a radio journalist in Kansas City, Mo., was struck with fever, chills and typical flu-like symptoms on March 11, and has never fully recovered. “I sometimes try to work from bed, but sometimes just sitting up is too much,” he said. Post-viral syndromes have been associated with numerous viruses in the past, but until the pandemic, they were considered relatively rare. In the case of covid-19, researchers are unsure whether people with extended symptoms are simply facing a long recovery — or whether their illness will come to resemble something like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, a complex illness characterized by profound exhaustion and sleep problems, or other conditions that can last for years, or a lifetime. “Covid is a totally different animal,” said Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at Northwell Health, New York State’s largest health system. “You see that with very few respiratory diseases. Even with influenza for the most part, you live or die." The virus also involves so many parts of the body — from the brain to the toes — that some symptoms may be due to damage to different organs that have not repaired themselves. Patients describe everything from a decrease in lung function to a persistent loss of taste and smell. “It’s a pretty bad infection even in mild cases,” said Avindra Nath, clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. Some patients with long-tail illness are testing positive, then negative and positive again


Before she fell ill, said Diaz, the Washington, D.C., woman worked out five days a week and ran each weekend. She is scrupulous about eating a healthful diet. But since shortly before April 8, when test results showed she was positive for the coronavirus, she has suffered symptoms that include fatigue, sore throat, poor appetite and minor lung congestion, but has never had the disease’s telltale cough or fever. She has never been hospitalized. Her sense of taste and smell has partially returned. She has been tested for strep and flu, treated for thrush and checked for less common ailments that might cause this cluster of symptoms, but all have come back negative. By process of elimination, her physician has concluded that Diaz has a lingering form of covid-19. “The only conclusion has to be this has to be related to the patient having covid-19,” said Ranit Mishori, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Diaz’s doctor. She spoke generally to avoid violating patient privacy by speaking about one person’s case. Mishori said she has seen a handful of patients with similar symptoms that have lingered since the beginning of the outbreak. “It’s incredibly frustrating for the patients and the doctors taking care of them,” she said. Some patients experience rotating symptoms — fatigue one week, headache the next, sore throat after that. “It changes and lingers,” Mishori said, but usually doesn’t become more severe. “I can’t tell them that next week, they won’t have it,” she said. “Or it’s going to be for eight to 10 weeks. Or that it’s going away.” On May 1, Diaz tested positive for the coronavirus again, though doctors have told her it’s likely the test is just turning up dead remnants of the virus. Still, her sore throat remains, and the disease has caused tremendous anxiety. She has been on administrative leave from her job since April 3 and is angry and frustrated. As of this week — a little over two months into her illness — Diaz was finally feeling like she was just starting to get better with just a bit of lingering sore throat pain, congestion and drastically reduced endurance. “I’m the fixer. I take care of everything,” she said. “I take care of my household. Something that happens to me that I cannot fix, I shut down. I feel like I have lost control.”


Trump, citing pandemic, orders limits on foreign workers, extends immigration restrictions through December

President Trump issued a proclamation Monday barring many categories of foreign workers and curbing immigration visas through the end of the year, moves the White House said will protect U.S. workers reeling from job losses amid the coronavirus pandemic. The ban expands earlier restrictions, adding work visas that many companies use, especially in the technology sector, landscaping services and the forestry industry. It excludes agricultural laborers, health-care professionals supporting the pandemic response and food-service employees, along with some other temporary workers. The restrictions will prevent foreign workers from filling 525,000 jobs, according to the administration’s estimates. The measures will apply only to applicants seeking to come to the United States, not workers who already are on U.S. soil. “American workers compete against foreign nationals for jobs in every sector of our economy, including against millions of aliens who enter the United States to perform temporary work,” the proclamation states. “Under ordinary circumstances, properly administered temporary worker programs can provide benefits to the economy. But under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, certain nonimmigrant visa programs authorizing such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers.” Critics of the moves say the president is using the public health crisis to carry out the kind of border closures and immigration overhaul he has long extolled, giving him the opportunity to campaign on the measures in his bid for reelection. Trump in recent months has carried out a broad crackdown at the Mexico border and has barred travelers from China and European nations with large coronavirus outbreaks. Major U.S. businesses broadly panned the president’s proclamation. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which had lobbied to soften the limits for months, said Trump adopted a “severe and sweeping attempt to restrict legal immigration,” which could hurt the country’s economic recovery amid the pandemic. “Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” said Chamber President Thomas Donohue. “Restrictive changes to our nation’s immigration system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth, and reduce job creation.” The freeze announced Monday will apply to the H1-B visa category for highly skilled workers, the H-4 visa for their spouses and the L visas companies use to transfer international employees into the United States. Most H2-B visas — for temporary workers who


LAX is testing fever-detecting cameras as passengers depart and arrive

elevated temperature. Airlines that are doing their own temperature screening can still prohibit travelers from flying if they have fevers. “Through this pilot, we are not going to stop anybody from traveling,” Erbacci said. “We want to test the accuracy of the technology and to understand if it is really able to capture accurate body temperatures of passengers en masse as they walk through this portal.” During a launch event Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged travelers to opt in to the program, even though it is voluntary. “Help us make sure we can find that model that will work to get people where they need to go and get them there safely without seeing covid-19 spread,” he said. Similar technology has been used in airports in Asia since the SARS epidemic; during the coronavirus pandemic, workplaces, foreign airlines, resorts and other businesses have invested in thermal imaging as they sought the safest routes to reopening. “Our ability to spot folks that are exhibiting covid symptoms, as we saw at the beginning of this pandemic, is so critical to stopping its spread, to ensuring that people can travel safely and that as borders reopen, whether they’re traveling in the United States or from and to the United States, that we can do our part to continue to bend the curve down,” Garcetti said. Erbacci said the airport is trying to gather enough information from the pilot to put together a framework that can be shared across the industry. Using three types of cameras on loan, officials plan two six-week trials with input from agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and county health officials. TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in an email that the agency has no direct role in the pilot but had been well-informed by airport officials and would stay in close contact throughout. Some U.S. airlines have urged the TSA to add temperature screenings to security checkpoints, but the agency said in a statement that no decision had been made about health screening measures at airports and that authorities would continue to rely on the health expertise of the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC. The pilot is set up to follow guidelines from the Airports Council International and the International Air Transport Association that call for any type of temperature screening to


Income emerges as a major predictor of coronavirus infections, along with race

has bills were hospitalized for covid-19, about one-third of the cases in the analysis. Of the hospitalized patients, 28 percent died, the data shows. Of the hospitalized patients in the analysis, about 81,000 are in the traditional version of Medicare, rather than in private Medicare managed-care plans. The government has spent $1.9 billion for the hospital stays of patients in that original version. For the United States as a whole, there have been nearly 2.3 million cases of coronavirus infection since it began spreading in the winter and over 118,000 deaths. According to a report a week ago by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 400,000 coronavirus cases were reported through the end of May among Americans 60 and older. The new data is consistent with that of the CDC report in finding pronounced racial and ethnic disparities in how likely individuals are to be infected or hospitalized. The new data found that, out of every 100,000 U.S. residents on Medicare, 731 black people were infected, compared with 380 Hispanics, 281 whites and 256 Asians. Hospitalizations followed a similar pattern, with 332 out of 100,000 black people on Medicare requiring a hospital stay, compared with 124 Hispanics, 95 Asians and 88 whites. The rate of hospitalization was nearly four times greater in rural areas than in urban ones, the data shows. As earlier research has indicated, underlying health conditions play a substantial role in how susceptible people are to the virus — and how likely they are to need to go to a hospital. By far, the highest rates of infection and hospitalization among people on Medicare are found in patients with end-stage kidney disease, the analysis found. Verma said it has been difficult for such patients to stay at home because they need to travel to dialysis centers. The data also shows that nearly 80 percent of those hospitalized have high blood pressure, and 60 percent have high cholesterol. The rates for chronic kidney disease, anemia and diabetes are 50 percent each. Nearly half have heart disease. Verma first said in April that her agency was preparing a demographic analysis of the pandemic, using diagnostic billing codes for testing or treatment of the coronavirus. She predicted at the time the analysis would be available in early May. On Monday, she said the lag time in filing Medicare claims made it difficult to release an analysis before now.


Trump has raised the white flag in the fight against covid-19

In addition to being a poorly attended political flop featuring a defensive, bigoted and barely coherent harangue, President Trump’s recent campaign rally in Tulsa was a presidential declaration of surrender to covid-19. It is not possible to maintain that the United States is in a public health crisis while inviting thousands of people to yell spittle-flinging approval in an enclosed space. The provision of masks at the event was a transparent pretense. The Trump campaign must have known that the hardest core of Trump supporters would follow the example of their dear leader by going maskless. It has become a defining characteristic of MAGA macho to practice unprotected social intercourse. This means that Trump was willing to put his audience and their community at risk of infection and death. And for what? To bask in adulation? To restart his faltering campaign? Any excuse is ridiculously reckless. And because of the demography of death from covid-19, Trump was being particularly reckless with the lives of older people. It is the oddest of campaign messages: “Trump 2020: Worth the Added Morbidity!” But the Tulsa event was the natural expression of a broader campaign strategy. Trump plainly believes that his reelection prospects depend on the appearance of economic improvement by Election Day. As such, he has fed populist support for reopening at every turn. Now, more than two dozen states (including Oklahoma) are reporting coronavirus surges. This is subjecting the American public to a measurable risk of death — a risk that increases dramatically with age. (The highest number of U.S. coronavirus-related deaths since February have come among people 85 and older. The second highest has come among people 75 to 85. Taken together, these categories represent well over half of deaths involving covid-19.) Trump’s apparent assumption that rapid reopening will ultimately be good for the economy may prove mistaken (since full recovery will come only when people truly believe the worst of the disease is over). But Trump obviously believes this course is in his personal interest. And it raises profound ethical issues. There will always be some trade-off between social freedom — the freedom to move and associate — and the requirements of public health during a pandemic. Some measures of enforced social distancing are too draconian to maintain for long (except in extreme cases). Some level of risk to life is unavoidable. But the relative weight one puts on the


No, more testing doesn’t explain the rise of covid-19 cases in the U.S.

However, more than 20 states — most of them in the South and Midwest — still have positivity rates higher than 5 percent. These include Arizona, at 17 percent; Alabama, at 12 percent; Florida, at 10 percent; Texas, at 9 percent; and Georgia, at 8 percent. These states have also made news for their rising covid-19 case numbers. Arizona had 14,107 cases last week, when it tested 67,235 people — up from 8,802 cases and 56,424 tests in the previous week At a glance, it may look as if Arizona found more cases last week because it tested more people, but the reality is that new cases outpace the spread of testing. In the last week, the incidence of new cases has increased in nearly half of the states. (Nationally, an average of about 20,000 cases have occurred each day since the beginning of June). For some of these states, such as West Virginia and Oregon, these increases may be due to week-to-week fluctuation, not increasing transmission. Recently, West Virginia and Oregon have both increased the number of people tested and seen a decline in test positivity. But for some states with rising case growth, it is almost certainly because more people are becoming infected. Disconcertingly, in the past two weeks, more than 10 states have reported increases in both new cases and positivity rates. These trends are most pronounced in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. These states are all doing more testing than in previous weeks, but if the infection rate were holding steady, we’d expect the positivity rate to at least stay level. That states are finding more cases relative to the amount of tests they are conducting provides the strongest rebuttal to the administration’s assertion that case numbers are rising because we’re getting better at finding cases through increased testing. They tell us the opposite — that each of these states needs to do even more testing to find infections — followed by more rigorous contact tracing and isolation. And if states are failing to control their case numbers, they should reopen more slowly and be sure that people are adhering to social-distancing recommendations. Testing, in short, is not an obstacle to Trump’s goal of reopening the economy. It is one of the tools that will allow us to control disease spread, to keep people safe and confident as they begin reengaging outside


Small businesses turned to technology to survive the pandemic. But it may not be enough.

have been set up for only a few weeks are helping tide the business over. The store is planning to reopen soon. “We all want to kind of return to the normalcy of human interaction; we’re just not going to rush back into that,” Moore said. Others are creating entirely new websites. Shopify, which offers prebuilt websites to sell products online, said it had a 53 percent increase in people creating new online stores in April compared to March. Asian-Veggies.com is one of them. Joseph Boo created the site in April to help his dad’s wholesale vegetable business, selling produce that’s difficult to find, such as snow-pea shoots, yu choi, and watercress. His father, Kian Tai Boo, has sold vegetables in New York City for more than 28 years, most recently as a wholesaler, using pen and paper to track changing prices. When the pandemic hit, 90 percent of his revenue was gone. His company, Fresh Goods, was left with a warehouse in Queens filled with more than 70 types of fruit, vegetables and dry goods popular in Asian cooking. Joseph Boo used Shopify to make the website, software called Onfleet for the delivery logistics, his iPhone for product shots, UpWork to hire help, and Instagram and Facebook for marketing. In the past two months, Asian Veggies has had roughly 1,200 orders and brought in more than $100,000, enough to help the business but not replace its income entirely. They see it as a profitable addition they will keep running after the pandemic and are already looking for more warehouses to expand. One challenge with selling vegetables virtually is gaining the trust of customers who are used to carefully picking out their own. While it might have been impossible to build that customer base before the pandemic, the limitations of closed stores and new rules about touching vegetables while shopping has left them with fewer options, and Joseph Boo says many are pleasantly surprised. “For the older generation, they want to feel the veggies before they buy it. They need it to talk to them and say ‘I’m the one,’ ” Boo said. “This 100 percent would not have happened if the pandemic hadn’t happened.” Not all closed stores have physical goods they can sell. Many businesses and professions have moved to offering paid versions of their usual services online. On Zoom and FaceTime, physical trainers are running clients through


Fear in the elevators, plexiglass in the mailroom: Coronavirus has spread inside D.C.’s largest apartment building

The secret social hub of the Woodner apartment building in Northwest Washington used to be its mailroom. Residents who took the elevator down from their apartments overlooking the P-shaped swimming pool and walked through the lobby where Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington once lounged would duck in to pick up packages and find themselves staying for half an hour. When the building needed a new employee to sort the mail and hand out packages, longtime resident Matthew Penrod — a retired National Park Service ranger — signed up. One of his regular visitors was a Franciscan friar who seemed to like long discussions just as much as he did. Sometimes, Brother John-Sebastian Laird-Hammond would stop by twice in the same day, Penrod said, just because he wanted to talk more. Then the new coronavirus came to the District. And when Penrod saw news reports in March about the first person in the city to die of covid-19, he gasped at the familiar face. It was Laird-Hammond. The virus has transformed life in the District’s largest residential building, which has an estimated population of more than 2,000 — aging tenants who have stayed in their units for decades, lots of Latino immigrant families, students and interns, teachers and journalists, and anyone else seeking affordable rent in the gentrifying 16th Street strip between Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant. Gone are the relaxed gatherings by the pool, the children playing and elderly residents catching up in the lobby, the carefree mingling in the in-house dry cleaner and grocery store. Instead, residents stay in their units, gripped by fear of a virus that has hit Columbia Heights particularly hard — and has sickened and killed Woodner residents and employees. Once, the Woodner was a swanky hotel and apartment complex, the largest air-conditioned building in the world when it opened in 1951. But the glitz and glamour have long since faded. And since March, the building’s managers have cut exterminators and repair work to reduce the risk of contagion. Residents have taken photos of trash piling up in the hallways and dirty floors in the laundry room. They gripe about bug and rodent infestations and about inconsistent answers when residents try to set up payment plans to delay their rent. And they worry especially that the management company has not shared any information about coronavirus cases in the building, even as more and more residents


European Union isn’t likely to blacklist U.S. travelers

rates. This implies that the E.U. is basing the list on reasonably objective measures of the risks associated with allowing travelers to enter from different countries. The upside for U.S. travelers, again, is that the list is not binding. The downside is that the United States is in a bad position to press for an exception, as long as its rate of coronavirus infection is high. The list is likely to cause fights within Europe Even apart from the problems described above, the list is unlikely to shape European border control policy. Member states such as Spain want to reopen their borders to international tourism as quickly as possible, for economic reasons. Spain recently opened its borders to tourists from most of Europe, including Britain, where the coronavirus is still quite widespread, and is unlikely to want to be constrained by a nonbinding E.U. document. The Spanish government appears to be pinning its hopes on temperature testing and contact tracing to prevent the virus from becoming reestablished. Spain and other tourism-dependent economies may press for more openness. There are bigger disagreements about travel within the E.U. The reason for continued border controls is that different countries have different rates of infection. In particular, Sweden has a much higher rate of infection than its neighbors, including another E.U. member state, Denmark. That is why Denmark has kept its border with Sweden closed while opening up its border with Norway, which is not a member of the E.U. This may mean that Sweden would like a list that could allow the reopening of borders but that its neighbors, which have been skeptical about Sweden’s unorthodox policy approach to the epidemic (it has placed only minimal controls on public interaction) will want to push back. Finally, there might interesting politics in the relationship with Britain, which is still negotiating its departure from the E.U. The United Kingdom has relatively high rates of infection, and much closer ties to other member states than the United States does. It shares a border with one member state, the Republic of Ireland. British politicians might react badly if their country is blacklisted, leading to greater frictions in the negotiations over common border areas. In addition, the Republic of Ireland wants continued travel arrangements with Britain, because of political sensitivities over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Closing that border could hurt peace in


tourism as quickly as possible, for economic reasons. Spain recently opened its borders to tourists from most of Europe, including Britain, where the coronavirus is still quite widespread, and is unlikely to want to be constrained by a nonbinding E.U. document. The Spanish government appears to be pinning its hopes on temperature testing and contact tracing to prevent the virus from becoming reestablished. Spain and other tourism-dependent economies may press for more openness. There are bigger disagreements about travel within the E.U. The reason for continued border controls is that different countries have different rates of infection. In particular, Sweden has a much higher rate of infection than its neighbors, including another E.U. member state, Denmark. That is why Denmark has kept its border with Sweden closed while opening up its border with Norway, which is not a member of the E.U. This may mean that Sweden would like a list that could allow the reopening of borders but that its neighbors, which have been skeptical about Sweden’s unorthodox policy approach to the epidemic (it has placed only minimal controls on public interaction) will want to push back. Finally, there might interesting politics in the relationship with Britain, which is still negotiating its departure from the E.U. The United Kingdom has relatively high rates of infection, and much closer ties to other member states than the United States does. It shares a border with one member state, the Republic of Ireland. British politicians might react badly if their country is blacklisted, leading to greater frictions in the negotiations over common border areas. In addition, the Republic of Ireland wants continued travel arrangements with Britain, because of political sensitivities over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Closing that border could hurt peace in Northern Ireland. It is possible that countries in the Schengen zone, which covers most (but not all) E.U. countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, could come up with a shared approach. The Schengen zone used to allow effectively border-free travel among its member states. However, some of the most difficult problems include Schengen members that are unlikely to reach agreement easily (Sweden, Denmark and Norway are all Schengen members). And if there is no prospect of a return to border-free travel within Europe, it will be difficult to persuade member states to agree on a shared approach to travelers from outside the E.U.


Kaywin Feldman wants the National Gallery to be relevant to everyone. But first they have to come back.

Kaywin Feldman spent most of her first year as director of the National Gallery of Art devising an audience-first strategy that focuses attention and resources on understanding the Washington museum’s visitors. Then in March, at the start of her second year, the visitors were gone and the museum was shuttered to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Three months later, the first woman to run the national museum feels a sense of urgency to reopen fully and to provide a sanctuary for a weary public. The museum’s sculpture garden was the first to come back (on June 20); Feldman and her staff are preparing to welcome visitors to the ground floor galleries of the West Building starting the third week of July. But even when visitors finally return, it won’t be as it was before. “All of us are getting used to a new normal,” Feldman said, noting that for the first time in its history, the gallery will distribute free timed passes to limit attendance to about 500 a day. It will also require visitors to wear masks. These changes, coupled with the uncertain effect of covid-19 on consumer behavior, will have long-lasting implications for the institution and Feldman’s plans to remake it. “For the next two years, our audience isn’t going to be typical, certainly not the level of tourists,” she said. “We’re going to be in this phase, the recovery phase, the period in between reopening and a vaccine, when people are going to be nervous. We might have to close again. Our core audience might not want to come back.” A survey done in February showed that about 70 percent of that month’s visitors identified as white, a majority were 55 to 75 years old, and half lived in the Washington metropolitan area. Annual attendance is about 4.5 million. Even during the shutdown, while most of the staff works remotely, Feldman has arrived at the museum’s I.M. Pei-designed East Building every morning at 7:3o, making her way to her seventh-floor office. An Ed Ruscha painting, “I think I’ll …,” previously on loan to the Obama White House, hangs on one wall; another boasts floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Capitol. From this “happy place,” she relies on what one curator described as her “insistently positive” outlook to navigate the short-term recovery from the pandemic. She’s also focused on transforming the museum into an institution that


America’s digital divide is an emergency

The virus has made us go virtual. We bank online, shop for groceries online, spend time with loved ones online, attend schools online and even access a ballot online. Today, the Internet is an essential service, a public good. Like electricity or water, no one should be excluded from using it. But far too many Americans are cut off from access to affordable high-speed Internet even as more of our core systems go digital. Unchecked, the result will be an America even more unequal than the one we see today. Broadband infrastructure has expanded in some places, but consumer access to broadband is receding. The reason? American broadband rates are some of the most expensive in the world. The Federal Communications Commission’s decision to roll back net neutrality in 2018 made it possible for broadband companies to charge more for certain services or content. Now, a trend of “tier flattening” means that the range of plans at different price points is being eliminated. This undermines the right of consumers to the option of an affordable plan. Other roadblocks to access disproportionately impact people of color. To qualify for home broadband, for instance, consumers must pass a credit check, a system shot through historically with racial inequities. As a result, black and Latino households are less likely to have access to broadband. According to a 2016 Free Press report, nearly half of Americans without at-home Internet are in black and Hispanic households. This year, we’ve seen exactly how much the digital divide matters. More than 55 million U.S. students in 124,000 shuttered schools were able to access education only through the Internet. An estimated 12 million of them could not do so from home. Some states got creative with hot spots and mobile WiFi buses. Some providers offered a window of free service. But when these ad hoc approaches inevitably failed, students had to use McDonald’s WiFi to turn in their homework. Similar issues have emerged in health care for seniors. As providers quickly made the leap to telemedicine, seniors are stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide. According to the U.S. Census, about 1 in 3 households headed by someone 65 or older does not have access to a computer. From vital Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information to safe access to telehealth appointments, the lack of reliable Internet access has left millions of senior citizens effectively


Trump’s new immigration restrictions hit one country hard: India

Musk, the founder of SpaceX, said he disagreed with the move, calling it “too broad.” In India, Hemant Mohapatra, a partner at the venture capital firm Lightspeed India, called on professionals to come back to India, describing the ban as a “personal betrayal.” Some Indians working in the United States were stranded outside the country or separated from their families because of flight bans and visa processing delays during the pandemic. Trump’s new executive order has deepened the uncertainty around their future. For Dixit, the visa ban means prolonging the separation from her children. Her younger daughter doesn’t talk to her on FaceTime anymore. She worries about how these months will affect her older daughter. “I can give up on my career, but I need to reunite with my kids,” she said. “Should I risk their lives by making them travel here in a pandemic?” For Pramod Alagandhula, 36, an engineer working at a biotechnology company in Michigan, this could signal the end of his American Dream. He came to the United States as a student in 2007, found a job he liked and pieced together a life. He and his wife returned to India in February to care for a sick parent. He has been working remotely from India since March, but the embassy closure meant his visa renewal application — required for him to return to the United States — was not processed. He worries that he will lose his job if he is unable to go back soon. “I am still in shock,” he said. “It’s like my life is coming apart.” Nasscom, a trade association in the Indian information technology industry, called the order “misguided and harmful to the US economy.” “H-1B visas — from their inception and till today — fulfill a critical skills gap in the U.S. economy and make it more competitive,” said Shivendra Singh, vice president of global trade at Nasscom. H-1B workers, he said, are also engaged in managing essential services in covid-19 recovery, such as hospitals, cybersecurity, online education and e-commerce. Some of “the backbone and critical infrastructure is being managed by the technology workers on H-1B.” Dixit, the software engineer from California, has written to U.S. senators and congressmen in desperation. She has also sought an emergency appointment with the embassy, without luck. “I didn’t do anything wrong or break any law,” she said. “Why are we being punished?”


The Health 202: Trump claims an increase in coronavirus cases is due to more testing. That isn’t true anymore.

H2-B visas — for temporary workers who would stay in the United States for up to three years — also will be suspended, the officials said, with exceptions for hospitality and food service employees.” Critics argue the president is using the pandemic to push for the kind of immigration restrictions he has long praised. “Those that suggest we’re out of the woods, those that suggest this somehow is going to disappear, these numbers tell a very, very different and sobering story,” Newsom said at a news conference. “The Democratic governor started easing his stay-at-home order roughly six weeks ago and has now allowed 54 of 58 counties in the state to open businesses again,” the Los Angeles Times’s Taryn Luna reports. “Newsom also noted a modest uptick in the rate of positive cases — from 4.5% to 4.8% — in the last week. The number of patients in intensive care has also increased by 11% over two weeks, he said.” The governor has previously said California may need to reimpose restrictions if cases surge, but he has not provided any details in doing so. “The findings released Monday are based on billing records for people on Medicare who have contracted the virus,” Amy Goldstein reports. “They echo the commonly understood pattern that black Americans are more likely to test positive for and to be hospitalized for covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, than other racial and ethnic groups. But they also point to the role of poverty as the pandemic has sped through U.S. communities in the winter and spring.” The analysis found Medicare beneficiaries who also qualified for Medicaid were four times as likely to have been infected or hospitalized with the coronavirus as those covered by Medicare alone. That’s according to billing records from more than 325,000 cases from January through mid-May. Amy adds: “The new data is consistent with that of the CDC report in finding pronounced racial and ethnic disparities in how likely individuals are to be infected or hospitalized. The new data found that, out of every 100,000 U.S. residents on Medicare, 731 black people were infected, compared with 380 Hispanics, 281 whites and 256 Asians.” In the 10 weeks since the beginning of the pandemic, emergency department visits dropped 23 percent for heart attacks, 20 percent for strokes and 10 percent for hyperglycemic crises — findings that suggest patients either avoided medical facilities


El coronavirus en la Central de Abasto, de México. EE UU y el BID. La retórica racista de Trump

Sobre Mauricio Claver-Carone hablamos con el ex economista jefe del BID y un ex embajador de Colombia. Llamamos a Mary Beth Sheridan, corresponsal del Post en la capital mexicana. Y consultamos a José Del Real, de este diario, que sigue de cerca a Trump


The military provides a model for how institutions can address racism

mirrored broader social issues in the United States. But military institutions also had particular problems, notably a racially biased military justice system. African American soldiers pointed to the administration of “Article 15” punishments, which did not require judicial review. Officers had full discretion to punish soldiers with no oversight and without thorough investigations. African American soldiers received these nonjudicial punishments at much higher rates than their white counterparts, often with more severe consequences. This system paired with lower rates of promotion and a reluctance to recognize structural discrimination eventually prompted uprisings in 1971. Of all the protests that year, the most severe was one at Fort McClellan, Ala., located outside the town notorious for being the site where white supremacists had bombed a bus full of Freedom Riders in 1961. Over the course of two weeks in November 1971, African American soldiers gathered to protest local bus drivers who had hurled racial slurs at them. But soon their grievances expanded to include practices within the military: unfair discipline practices, unequal rates of promotion and inaction of command when soldiers reported incidents of discrimination and abuse. Fort McClellan command responded to mass gatherings with blanket arrests, resulting in military police detaining over 100 military service members. In the wake of the uprising, the commander blamed “troublemaking” militant soldiers, rather than the institution’s failure to address racism within the installation. But the protest garnered national attention, and the Congressional Black Caucus launched ad hoc hearings to investigate racism in the military. Many black officers and enlistees warned that the situation was explosive. They testified that the military failed to enforce off-base housing regulations, which resulted in white enlisted men finding better housing than black officers. Across the military, Congress learned, when soldiers reported discrimination, complaints were swept under the rug and officers refused to take action. The Department of Defense responded to increased congressional scrutiny by creating the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI), which was tasked with developing educational programs for enlistees and officers throughout all military branches. It trained instructors to lead conversations about race at all military installations. These rap sessions served as a way for African American soldiers to speak out without fear of retaliation and provide an avenue to solve conflict. While it seemed to be a step in the right direction, it neither solved the problem for black soldiers nor did it lessen the frequency of their


Is entirely contactless travel possible? I planned a trip to find out.

“Contactless” is just about the last word I would use to describe my travel style. Before the pandemic, some of my favorite travel memories were made possible thanks to contact. But that kind of travel can’t take place right now. The pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc around the world and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to tell us that “travel increases your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19.” And yet, my impulse to travel has been in the back of my mind throughout my hundred days of working at home in isolation. On a Wednesday night, after transitioning from staring at my computer for work to staring at my computer for fun, I started thinking about how I could pull off a trip with the lowest possible risk. What if I cut out the parts of travel that made it problematic during the pandemic? The parts like going through airports, sitting on planes, interacting with hotel guests, congregating at bus terminals or contaminating a gas station? Convinced I could make contactless travel a thing, I booked a campsite, went to Target and bought the cheapest tent and sleeping bag I could find. Then I hatched a plan to bike 42.8 miles to a national park carrying all of my gear and supplies. When the pandemic started, I was sure I’d keep up with my five-day-a-week workout routine at home with militant precision. Reader, that did not happen. Workouts turned into semiregular 15-minute ab exercises, coupled with some biking and jogging on occasion. When I looked on the Internet for a campsite available in the next two days, I had to keep in mind that my endurance would be a factor. That filtered out most of the options, and I settled on Oak Ridge Campground in Prince William Forest Park. Yes, it was 40 miles away. No, I had never biked that far before. But I figured the energy of being out of my apartment would help propel me past my known endurance. According to the CDC, the concerns with taking a trip by car is the risk of spreading or contracting the novel coronavirus while you’re at a rest stop or gas station. So I vowed not to visit any of these establishments on my ride. The compulsion to book a campsite came strong and suddenly. Before I knew it, I had rented a plot of


Returning to school this fall may be 'extremely difficult’ with covid-19 still raging, South Carolina official says

School districts have been planning for the 2020-21 school year with a growing consensus that the most likely scenario would be a mix of in-school and virtual learning. But now, with coronavirus infection rates rising, South Carolina’s top education official says reopening school buildings will be “extremely difficult” if a rise in covid-19 cases is not stemmed — and other states are likely to be in the same position. South Carolina State Superintendent Molly Spearman just released final recommendations for districts to consider as they plan for the new school year even as the state is experiencing a sharp rise in covid-19 cases. More than 1,000 were reported on Monday, adding to a sharp spike in June. In fact, nearly half of the states have seen a rise in cases this month as they were opening up in various stages, with a big surge in the South and West. And 10 states have recently seen the sharpest rises since the pandemic began months ago. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called the record jump in cases and hospitalizations there “sobering.” And on Tuesday, Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, characterized the surge in cases as “disturbing” and said he is “quite concerned” about community spread. Asked about schools reopening, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that individual districts would have to make their own calls. “You want to tailor it to the degree of viral dynamics in the particular location that you’re talking about,” he said. Some districts and states, such as Florida and Texas, have said they plan to reopen buildings, even with rises in cases. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has told state legislators that schools will open safely, but exactly how is unclear. No districts are yet exactly sure what they are going to do come August and September, and are planning for various scenarios. Until now, it looked as if many if not most would open the school year with a blend of virtual and in-school learning to maintain proper social distancing. But if covid-19 rates stay high, districts may decide they cannot open at all, and will have to follow a remote model again, like they did last spring when the pandemic first hit and shut down nearly all schools in the country for months. Spearman on Monday said as


Trump’s decision to pull U.S. out of WHO will boost China’s influence

Last week, senior House Republicans urged the Trump administration to reconsider its decision to terminate U.S. relations with the World Health Organization. While there is no strong evidence substantiating President Trump’s claim that the WHO has become “China-centric,” the U.S. pullout may actually push the organization in that direction. How does China engage with the WHO? Here’s what you need to know. 1. Beijing isn’t a top contributor of WHO funding or personnel The WHO has 40 Chinese staff, less than 1 percent of the organization’s employees. The headquarters leadership team has only one member from China, compared to two from the United States. Based on financial contributions and earmarks, the U.S. government has had more leverage than China in setting WHO program priorities — China contributes just 1.5 percent of the total WHO budget, compared to 16 percent from the United States. About those earmarks — the WHO’s program budget portal shows nearly three-quarters of U.S. government contributions are voluntary, and earmarked for programs that reflect U.S. global health funding priorities, like polio eradication, health and nutrition services, and vaccine-preventable diseases. To some extent, U.S. voluntary contributions have a heavy influence on the WHO agenda. Polio eradication accounts for 27 percent of WHO program funding, and contributions from the U.S. government and organizations have supported this effort for three decades. Numbers-wise, there have been just 68 cases worldwide of wild poliovirus type 1 to date in 2020, and other strains appear to have been eradicated. Tuberculosis control, in comparison, received 2.3 percent of the funding, despite 1.5 million TB deaths in 2018. 2. China’s influence within the WHO has grown But the WHO still has concrete reasons to take China’s priorities into account in its decision-making. China has been the origin point of several major disease outbreaks, for instance. The WHO stepped up its China presence after the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak and has been working closely with Beijing on pandemic response in recent years. Also, China’s huge population and position as a manufacturing giant in the global supply chain suggest the country plays a central role in addressing complex global health, development and security dynamics. As China broadens its capacity and procedures in disease prevention and control, it becomes even more imperative for the WHO to seek China’s cooperation to effectively coordinate the global response to public health emergencies of international concern, like covid-19. Other organizations like the Gates


formally participate without China’s approval. In July 2018, Tedros went to Beijing to discuss with senior Chinese officials how to build “stronger and more strategic WHO-China collaborations.” These discussions involved improving the health of people in countries covered by China’s Belt and Road Initiative and an agreement to “further expand the number of Chinese health professionals seconded to WHO.” In December of that year, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) signed an MOU with the WHO, which led to the WHO approval of a new version of its International Classification of Diseases that includes TCM as remedies. Trump’s pullout will help, not hinder, China’s influence China’s influence over the WHO became clearer during the novel coronavirus outbreak. In exchange for China’s compliance on information sharing as stipulated in the International Health Regulations — the widely adopted global agreement on ways to prevent the international spread of disease — the WHO not only used China’s rhetoric on the nature of the virus spread but also was reluctant to criticize how Beijing initially mishandled the crisis. Despite its frustration over China’s failure to provide complete information, the WHO praised China for “setting a new standard for outbreak control.” Since all the conditions that allow Beijing to influence WHO decision-making remain in place, U.S. withdrawal won’t make the organization less subject to China’s influence. On the contrary, the U.S. move is likely to mean the WHO will increasingly look toward China for leadership and support. After Trump’s initial April announcement that the United States would suspend WHO funding, China pledged a $30 million donation for the WHO’s coronavirus effort. What happens now? Some experts suggest that the United States could work with other stakeholders to push for crucial WHO reforms, such as ensuring member state compliance with WHO norms, to make the WHO stronger and more responsive. Indeed, on Sunday, Tedros gave the commencement speech for the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. Instead of lavishly praising Beijing’s approach to the virus, he emphasized that the pandemic taught us “the best” and “only” way forward is to “be together.” The TMC newsletter is changing shape! Sign up here to keep receiving our smart analysis. Yanzhong Huang (@YanzhongHuang) is a professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations and a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of “


Kennedy Center cancels most of schedule through 2020

wrote that more information would be given to furloughed staffers by July 24. The 50 or so employees brought back from furlough are mostly members of the social-impact and education teams, Rutter said, and some backstage workers are doing repairs and maintenance. But she did not say when the rest of the staff would return. “It’s a dire time for everybody,” she said. “I’m doing my very best to take all people into consideration. The sooner we can get back, the better.” Members of the arts center’s two orchestras agreed to 25 percent pay cuts earlier this spring as part of the first wave of cancellations. They expect the arts center will ask for more. “We do anticipate them asking for further modifications,” said Peter de Boor, a horn player and the chairman of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra committee. “We will hear what they have to say and take them under consideration.” Ed Malaga, the president of the Washington Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians, which represents the NSO musicians, said the union and the arts center had already renegotiated their contract to provide relief during the crisis. The agreement expires in 2024. Eric de Waardt, a viola player who is in his 34th season with the NSO, said the decision was sad but expected. “We’ve been watching what [orchestras] are doing in New York and San Francisco, so we knew it was coming,” de Waardt said. “It’s very sad, but it’s nobody’s fault.” The NSO musicians learned of the cancellations in an email sent minutes before the public announcement. There are many questions about potential negotiations, de Waardt said. “It’s not a great relationship, and we’re always trying to read between the lines, always listening for a double meaning,” he said. The NSO’s opening-night gala on Sept. 26 is among the canceled events. It will be replaced by a “special effort” to celebrate its 90th season, Andrews said. According to Rutter, Kennedy Center officials plan to negotiate with their other unions. “A couple of those contracts expire in the next few weeks,” she said. “We are in the process of working with those, given the fact that the season will be so different.” The Kennedy Center received $25 million in federal aid as part of the Cares Act in March, but it is not seeking another grant, Rutter said. The arts center is in contact


Novak Djokovic is latest tennis player to test positive for virus after protocol-flouting tour

tours, the International Tennis Federation and the national federations that stage the U.S., French and Australian opens — must think deeply about plans to restart the pro tours in mid-August. This much is clear for all sports, amateur and professional: The Adria Tour debacle demonstrates the peril of letting athletes decide when it’s “safe” for sports to resume, and it underscores the imperative of having public-health officials dictate the terms. In a text message, former U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe, now an ESPN commentator who recently recovered from the coronavirus, wrote, “We all understand that no plan for coming back to normal from covid-19 is foolproof, but let’s not be foolish along the way back.” The men’s pro tour is scheduled to resume with Washington’s Citi Open on Aug. 14. The remaining Grand Slam events on the 2020 calendar — the U.S. Open and the deferred French Open — are scheduled to start Aug. 31 and Sept. 27, respectively. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Washington-based venture capitalist Mark Ein, who manages the Citi Open, said the experience of the Adria Tour validates the strict protocols that will be in place for the Citi Open as well as the Western & Southern Open and the U.S. Open, which will follow in New York. “Everybody recognizes that the issue isn’t ‘Can you come back to sports?’ but ‘How [do] you come back to sports?’ ” Ein said. “What we saw in that tour was the textbook case of how not to come back. What we’re going to show in Washington and the other U.S. events is how you should come back.” Ein said he continues to field calls from agents of players who want to be part of the Citi Open’s 48-player draw. “If there is a silver lining in this, I think it will make players just that much more cautious,” Ein said. “I don’t think it impacts their desire to get back to doing what they love, but it makes clear that they need to do their part to do it in the safest possible way.” Djokovic, who boasts 17 Grand Slam titles to Rafael Nadal’s 19 and Roger Federer’s men’s record 20, devoted the bulk of his statement acknowledging his diagnosis to defending his rationale for flouting safety protocols in staging the event, underscoring his charitable intent. “It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all


Countries around the world scramble to contain coronavirus flare-ups as U.S. states remain open

BERLIN — In nations around the world that saw new coronavirus infections decline in recent weeks, spikes in confirmed case numbers have alarmed officials, and sent Australia, Germany, Portugal and South Korea, among other countries, scrambling to respond to resurgent outbreaks. Within the countries in question, the new flare-ups are mostly rooted in identifiable regions, where officials launched or expanded aggressive containment efforts this week. German authorities said Tuesday they would impose a new regional lockdown in a district of the country’s northwest to contain an outbreak linked to a meat-processing plant, after more than 1,500 workers were infected. Portugal cracked down on mass gatherings. Australia’s Victoria state re-shuttered several schools. An area in the northeast of Spain reintroduced restrictions. Even New Zealand, which has just 10 confirmed, active cases, tightened border measures as an increasing number of citizens abroad began to fly home. The swell of responses to outbreaks around the world stood in stark contrast to the U.S. approach. With cases on the rise in nearly half of states and with Arizona, Florida and Texas recording record new case numbers in recent days, states have continued to reopen and the White House has continued to signal its desire for a return to normal. President Trump has maintained the United States will not shut down a second time, despite a clear spike in infections over the past week in the Southern and Western regions of the country. The number of daily new coronavirus cases remains at a far higher level in the United States than in Europe, where stringent lockdowns have helped to slow the spread of the virus. In Germany, by comparison, policymakers imposed regional thresholds based on new case numbers or strain on hospital capacity that trigger a snapback in restriction or put reopening on hold. The announcement Tuesday that lockdown measures would be reimposed in a district in northwestern Germany saw this system put to use. Schools and kindergartens had already shut their doors as the number of cases climbed in recent days. Starting Tuesday, people will only be able to meet with one other person or members of their own household. Gyms, bars, galleries and museums will be closed. Health officials remained optimistic that localized outbreaks could be contained through testing, contact tracing and quarantines. In some countries, new measures are not yet in place, but rising infection numbers have prompted officials to warn that


A summer without camp is more than a bummer

industry to redouble marketing efforts and launch new fundraising initiatives. New Deal programs provided limited federal dollars to renovate and build recreation campgrounds on the proviso that they be used by nonprofit agencies serving underprivileged youth. Survival depended on camps regularly reminding the American public about the important role they played for all children. This paid off as the economy rebounded in the post-war era and the camping industry professionalized and expanded. The American Camp Association, a trade body founded in 1914, led these efforts by offering accreditations, becoming a voluntary industry regulator. Architects whose careers began with New Deal initiatives designing playgrounds and remodeling national parks played a major role in a camp-building spurt that followed the post-war baby boom. Camps were sold as an ideal blend of old and new: physical plants at the forefront of design and activities informed by the latest expertise, while still maintaining the spirit of the outdoors in a safe and controlled environment by retaining a wild aesthetic of unhewn timbers. As historian Abigail van Slyck summarized, the mid-20th century camp was a cultivated “manufactured wilderness.” The 1950s saw changes recognizable as best practice today, such as dividing facilities into age-based “villages” reflecting the latest psychological research, while even play-based activities required “lesson plans” to ensure safety, and the meeting of defined learning objectives. Going to camp became a rite of passage within many families and an established part of American culture. Eudora Welty’s 1949 classic “Moon Lake” used the camp setting to discuss the transitions between childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Allan Sherman’s 1963 humorous song “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” will resonate with many parents’ experiences of receiving letters from homesick campers. Since then, the summer camp has been featured in a variety of forms, including R.L. Stein’s “Goosebumps” series, several episodes of “The Simpsons” and the cult-hit film “Wet Hot American Summer” and has continued to form part of a distinct American youth culture. The selling points of a traditional camp experience have changed little since 1914’s Good Housekeeping article: an opportunity to be outdoors, have fun with other children and learn new skills. The industry has become bigger and more accessible thanks to the rising influence of the nonprofit sector since the Depression era. By 2017, the majority of approximately 5,600 day camps and 8,400 overnight camps serving 14 million attendees offered scholarships, and only a quarter were defined as “for


The ultimate covid-19 mystery: Why does it spare some and kill others?

The novel coronavirus can be a killer — or no big deal. It can put a person in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, isolated from family, facing a lonely death — or it can come and go without leaving a mark, a ghost pathogen, more rumor than reality. Six months into a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people globally, scientists are still trying to understand the wildly variable nature of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Among their lines of inquiry: Are distinct strains of the coronavirus more dangerous? Does a patient’s blood type affect the severity of the illness? Do other genetic factors play a role? Are some people partially protected from covid-19 because they’ve had recent exposure to other coronaviruses? Much of the research remains provisional or ambiguous, and for now scientists can’t do much better than say that covid-19 is more likely to be worse for older people — often described as over the age of 60 — and for those with chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, lung disease and heart disease. That describes tens of millions of people in the United States alone. It also isn’t much of an explanation: The link between chronic disease and the severity of covid-19 is more in the category of correlation than causation. The “why” of the matter remains unclear. The issue of disease variability “is the most critical question about covid,” said Edward Behrens, chief of the rheumatology division at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Why do some people get sick? Why do some people have no problem at all?” he said. Social and demographic factors, including sex, race, ethnicity, income and access to quality health care, play major roles in how this pandemic affects people and who suffers the most. The ultimate goal of many researchers is to develop a personalized risk score — so that a person who has covid-19, or remains vulnerable to catching the disease, would have some idea of how to navigate the pandemic. One potential breakthrough was highlighted by National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins on his blog: Scientists developed an artificial intelligence tool that sorted the blood of covid-19 patients and found 22 proteins that consistently appear among the patients who are severely ill. At this point, such a blood marker only tells doctors what they can already see with their own eyes — a very


blood are 9 to 18 percent less likely to test positive for covid-19 than people with other blood types. The company is still exploring links between blood type and disease severity. More than 750,000 of the company’s customers have completed a web-based survey about their experiences with covid-19, and 2,000 of them said they’d been hospitalized from the disease. The company is now recruiting 10,000 non-customers who have been hospitalized with covid-19. “It would be very nice if there was a single gene that we could understand as conferring different levels of risk for covid-19,” said Adam Auton, 23andMe’s principal scientist. “In reality, dozens or hundreds or even thousands of genes are all making very small contributions toward disease risk.” Jean-Laurent Casanova, head of the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases at Rockefeller University, is co-leading an international team searching the genomes of “outliers” — patients younger than 50 who had no known preexisting conditions, but were hospitalized with life-threatening cases of covid-19. They’re looking for unusual gene variants that these patients have in common. Casanova and his colleagues have previously found genetic mutations that increase a person’s susceptibility to infectious diseases, such as severe pneumonia caused by influenza. “There are many, many infectious diseases for which genetic variations have been shown to be causal,” Casanova said. “So when covid occurred, if I may say, it’s business as usual.” Numerous papers have explored whether different strains of the virus are more transmissible or lethal. One strain has become dominant in much of Europe and the United States. That strain has a genetic mutation affecting what is called the spike protein — the structure that lets the virus bind to receptor cells in humans. So far, there is no consensus that this or other mutations are significant from a clinical standpoint. Collins, director of NIH, says of the different strains, “I think they’re all acting the same.” Another possibility frequently discussed by researchers is that the mode of transmission is key to understanding the severity of the disease. Many scientists argue that, contrary to what the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have repeatedly stated, the virus sometimes spreads through tiny aerosol particles, not simply through large respiratory droplets. That leads some scientists to think the aerosol transmission could enable the virus to penetrate deep into the lungs and trigger a more severe


people have immune systems that are better primed for this new invader because of previous exposure to genetically related coronaviruses. That’s still highly conjectural. The immune system not only can be protective, it can also go haywire and make an illness catastrophically worse. If the immune system is an army that attacks infections, molecules called cytokines are the messengers that tell the troops what to do to beat back the invader. Too few cytokines, and the defense will be too weak, allowing the infection to progress. Too many, and the commands become a cacophony that causes an erratic and overreactive immune response — a cytokine storm. “The army goes crazy and just sort of does more damage than they would intend to do,” said Behrens, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “You start making too many cytokines all at the same time. Now your immune cells are confused. They’re trying to do everything all at once,” he said. “Now it’s no longer the virus that’s killing you, it’s the immune system that’s killing you.” Some children infected with the coronavirus have a severe, sometimes fatal Kawasaki-like syndrome. It affects multiple organs — “the gut, the heart, the skin, the eyes,” Behrens said — and research by his team suggests it is a cytokine storm. Behrens hopes the team’s study of children with covid-19 will also shed light on why some adults get so sick. Quickly identifying a storm of cytokines, which can be detected in blood tests, is key, he said. In March, CHOP developed a rapid diagnostic test, which delivers patients’ results in a day. But there’s much more to learn. “What is their particular storm? Where in the process are they? Which drug should we pull off the shelf?” Behrens said. “That kind of personalized precision medicine is the holy grail for all this.” In the United Kingdom, health officials have released two different measures of risk. One developed by the National Health Service looks at age, gender and very granular medical factors such as whether you have preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Those at low risk are asked to social distance as the economy reopens. Those at higher risk are asked to “shield,” which means staying inside as much as possible and avoiding contact with others. Jennifer Lighter, a hospital epidemiologist at NYU Langone, found that obesity was the No. 1 risk factor in


Mexican officials raise Oaxaca earthquake death toll to seven

MEXICO CITY — At least seven people died and two dozen were injured in the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that shook Mexico on Tuesday, officials said. The quake, whose epicenter was in the southern state of Oaxaca, also caused minor structural damage, including 21 hospitals, Mexican officials said. But given its size, many in the country expressed relief that the damage wasn’t more severe. A 2017 earthquake near Mexico City killed more than 300 people, and fear of a similar disaster runs deep here. A 1985 quake killed 10,000 people. According to Mexico’s national seismological service, Tuesday’s earthquake took place about 14 miles off the Pacific Ocean, south of the town of Crucecita. Experts said that its location off the coast helps explain the relatively limited damage. Aftershocks and smaller quakes continued through Tuesday afternoon, and could be felt by residents of Oaxaca. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador estimated that by Tuesday evening, there had been 147 aftershocks. By Wednesday, the country’s civil protection force said there had been more than 1,400 aftershocks. “Fortunately there was no major damage,” he said in a video posted on Twitter. A warning alarm system in Mexico City sounded before the quake was felt, prompting many to run into the streets seeking safer ground. Some of the city’s high-rises swayed and residents posted videos of gaps in pavement opening and closing. Mexico is combating one of the world’s most severe coronavirus outbreaks, and emergency management officials had expressed concern about what it would mean to respond to a large earthquake in the middle of a pandemic. Civil protection coordinator David Leon said that more than 20 hospitals were damaged in the country, Deutsche Presse reported. Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that in some cases, patients had to be temporarily evacuated. The state oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos, was forced to briefly shut down its refinery. One worker at the refinery died when he fell during the earthquake, the company said. In response to both the 1985 and 2017 earthquakes, Mexico revised its building codes, so that newer structures are more resistant to future quakes. But major Mexican cities are still populated by many informally constructed buildings that officials believe could be vulnerable.


The Energy 202: Stacey Abrams wants the South to do more to tackle climate change

for fixing roads, trails and other infrastructure in national parks and other public lands. “While I am disappointed that Republicans have indicated they would oppose this bill under suspension, which is why I will bring it to the floor under a rule later in July, I look forward to seeing it pass the House with strong bipartisan support and being sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law,” Hoyer said a note. Local officials are cutting spending on infrastructure projects and upgrades in more than 700 U.S. cities as they deal with the catastrophic impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on their budgets. Cities have nixed plans to purchase new firetrucks, service parks or replace water pipes as a result, Tony Romm reports. “The decision to suspend or terminate some of these long-planned purchases, upgrades and repairs threatens to worsen municipal services and harm local businesses, according to the National League of Cities, which deduced from a new survey released Tuesday that more federal aid is necessary to ensure that local financial woes do not imperil the country’s economic recovery,” he writes. Nearly three months after President Trump signed the Cares Act, “some local governments are signaling that worst fears have come to fruition. The National League of Cities found 69 percent of municipalities have not received any money from the $150 billion federal program, either allotted to them from the Treasury Department or their home states,” Romm adds. “…About 65 percent of cities either delayed or outright canceled their planned capital expenditures or infrastructure improvements. These cuts in particular could deprive local vendors, manufacturers and construction workers of critical business, experts said, meaning cities’ financial troubles could metastasize into a greater economic ill.” The park announced it would shutter several campgrounds following a spike in coronavirus cases in California. Two weeks after reopening, park officials said they will cancel reservations at least through July for six campgrounds, while 50 percent of the Upper Pines campgrounds will remain open, the Associated Press reports. “Following a closure that lasted nearly three months, Yosemite reopened its 800 miles of park trials on June 11 for visitors with reservations. The decision to shut down the park, however, follows a surge of confirmed cases in the state of California,” our colleague Candace Buckner writes. “On Monday, California set a state record, exceeding 6,000 new infections reported in a single day.” That’s according


The economics of Trump’s visa restrictions

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Why Defense Must Change

civilians to new tasks quickly. As a result, managers turn to uniformed personnel and to contractors to do what department civilians could and should be doing. A similar problem exists with respect to the hiring of new employees. While industry can offer promising applicants a job and a bonus on the spot, all the Defense Department can offer is a ream of paperwork and a promise to get back to them in three to five months. In an era when our enemies are moving at the speed of satellites, cell phones and cyberspace, these burdensome regulations are not acceptable. The Department of Defense cannot meet the challenges of the future with an organization anchored to the past. We must be permitted to be as agile, flexible and adaptable as the forces we field in battle around the world. The Defense Transformation Act would help provide the nation with that kind of agility and flexibility. The new National Security Personnel System the president has proposed would reduce red tape, provide the hiring flexibility necessary to attract the best candidates quickly and competitively, and offer all employees a performance-based promotion system that rewards excellence rather than longevity. Instead of a bargaining process that requires negotiations with more than 1,300 separate local units, the new system would work with a half-dozen or more national unions, which would retain and protect all the rights of union workers but do so through a more efficient and reasonable process that would not take years to navigate. Moreover, the new system would not only protect and ensure the fundamental rights of all civilian employees and provide improved opportunities for advancement; it would also likely increase the number of civil service opportunities and make the Defense Department more competitive with the private sector. But the existing personnel system is not the only problem. Despite 128 studies to reform the department's acquisition process, it now takes the department double the time it took in 1975 to produce a new weapons system -- this in an age when new technologies are coming on line in months, not decades. Today the Department of Defense uses 1,800 different and antiquated information systems to run its finance and accounting programs, ensuring that timely and accurate business management information cannot be produced. Current laws and regulations have created a situation in which, to develop and justify a budget, we must employ thousands of people,


It’s time to start viewing the coronavirus differently

Regarding the June 19 article “Genetic material may hold key to covid-19’s unpredictable nature”: The first line of the article perfectly describes the wild variability of coronavirus: “a killer — or no big deal.” The day I received my positive test back I was stunned, as the mild cold-like symptoms contrasted with the images of the deadly pandemic spread by the media. Indeed, being only mildly affected by a national tragedy is an odd predicament. The facts are that the median age for virus deaths in Italy was 81. The survival rate for 20- to 29-year-olds is above 99 percent. We must stop treating mild survivors as “lucky” and view the threat of the virus differently for different populations, as the article suggested. A pragmatic approach to reopening would take into consideration the age variability data. This way, the cold that I had would not be put on the same plane as the deadly killer that cost many their lives. Amelia Langer Read more letters to the editor.


Military officials have a higher calling than loyalty to Trump

Derek Chollet If (illegal) orders were to be issued by the president in the wake of an election outcome that he did not like, the chain of command would require orders to be issued to the defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, who would task the appropriate unified combatant command, in this case Northern Command under the command of Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy. Northern Command has the responsibility of deploying troops within the continental United States. Fortunately, Mr. Esper has been widely reported to have resisted President Trump’s improper desire to invoke the Insurrection Act and considered resigning in such circumstances. Northern Command’s policy specifically states that the military may not be used for domestic law enforcement. Neither Mr. Esper’s reported position nor Northern Command’s policy as stated on its website is absolutely determinative. But public statements by respected former commanders including four chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, unified combatant commanders and other senior officers have made clear that, despite a disgruntled electorally defeated president’s willingness to use the military for his advantage, senior career officers hold to a higher responsibility. Alan Neuschatz Read more letters to the editor.


The Health 202: Health officials promise to ramp up pandemic response as Trump tries to move on

day-by-day basis,” Fauci added. E.U. countries are worried the U.S. has failed to control the pandemic, the New York Times’s Matina Stevis-Gridneff reports. While Europe has largely curbed the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. has seen infection spikes in numerous states. “That prospect, which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States, which has more than 2.3 million cases and upward of 120,000 deaths, more than any other country,” Matina writes. “…Travelers from the United States and the rest of the world already had been excluded from visiting the European Union — with few exceptions mostly for repatriations or ‘essential travel’ — since mid-March. But a final decision on reopening the borders is expected early next week, before the bloc reopens on July 1.” For his part, Trump prohibited citizens from most E.U. countries from traveling to the U.S. “Prohibiting American travelers from entering the European Union would have significant economic, cultural and geopolitical ramifications,” Matina adds. “… Despite the disruptions caused by such a ban, European officials involved in the talks said it was highly unlikely an exception would be made for the United States. They said that the criteria for creating the list of acceptable countries had been deliberately kept as scientific and nonpolitical as possible.” The president’s advisers are weighing an evaluation of the agency to “chart what they view as its missteps in responding to the pandemic” as the administration looks to point fingers elsewhere amid criticism over its inability to curb the virus’s spread, Politico’s Nancy Cook and Adam Cancryn report. Administration aides have also discussed narrowing the mission’s agency or embeding more political appointees in it. One official told Nancy and Adam the overall goal would be to make the CDC nimble and more responsive. “Politically, Trump aides have also been looking for a person or entity outside China to blame for the coronavirus response and have grown furious with the CDC, including its public health guidance and actions on testing, making it a prime target,” they add. “But some wonder whether the wonky-sounding CDC, which the administration directly oversees, could be an effective fall guy on top of Trump’s efforts to blame the World Health Organization.” The American Hospital Association had sued to block the


After sharp declines, virus numbers may be starting to plateau in the region

The District, Maryland and Virginia reported 36 new covid-related deaths on Wednesday, along with 884 new infections. The seven-day averages for both figures have been declining since early June but started to plateau this past week. The District added four deaths and 34 new cases. Maryland added 16 deaths — including six in Baltimore City — and 330 new infections, nearly half of which were in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. The number of patients hospitalized in Maryland with covid-19 continued to decline on Wednesday, dropping to 544. More than 3,100 people have died of covid-19 in the state. Virginia reported 16 deaths and 520 cases, contributing to a slight uptick in the seven-day averages of those figures. The number of patients hospitalized also saw a slight uptick, going from 847 on Tuesday to 886 on Wednesday. Virginia Officials say they are bracing for a potential rise in new infections, but are hoping to avoid the spikes that are happening in states that have reopened more quickly and with fewer social distancing requirements still in place.


We can’t take our eyes off the virus. The front page shouldn’t, either.

Moving the daily report of national cases of the novel coronavirus and related deaths from the front page to inside the front section signals that this deadly virus is no longer an issue and not newsworthy. This is the wrong message to send at this time. States that eased restrictions early are now experiencing a resurgence of cases. It is vitally important that we continue to be vigilant, and seeing those numbers on the front page is a daily reminder. Terry Long Read more letters to the editor.


Justice Department does not oppose Roger Stone’s request to stay out of prison until Sept. 3

Roger Stone Stone, 67, is set to go to prison June 30 but asked a federal judge Tuesday for a two-month extension in reporting for his sentence. U.S. prosecutors did not oppose the request and have taken similar stances for other defendants at higher risk of illness from the novel coronavirus. The longtime GOP operative and friend of President Trump had been expected to seek a stay of his 40-month prison sentence since he appealed his case in April to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “Roger J. Stone, Jr. respectfully moves the Court for an Order extending his surrender date to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons from June 30, 2020, to September 3, 2020, in light of his heightened risk of serious medical consequences from exposure to the COVID-19 virus in the close confines of a BOP facility,” Stone attorneys Seth Ginsberg and Grant J. Smith wrote in a motion to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District. They asked the judge to file a letter from Stone’s doctor under seal detailing his medical conditions. Stone’s attorneys said they were told by prosecutors that they did not oppose a 60-day extension based on Justice Department guidance on the handling of voluntary surrender dates during the pandemic. Legal analysts said it is not uncommon for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District to agree to delaying a defendant’s sentence, especially for inmates considered at higher risk for the virus, which could include Stone because of his age. “Challenges of the covid-19 pandemic in prisons, combined with a desire to respect the appellate process, can often lead the Justice Department in close cases to not oppose a motion,” said Douglas A. Berman, an expert on criminal sentencing at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. Berman said the handling of Stone’s case has been “so peculiar” that any accommodation or penalty for the defendant would fuel partisan attacks by one side or the other, and reasonably so, given its political context. Still, he said prosecutors and judges have treated other older defendants the same way. The longtime Trump adviser’s request to push back his reporting date came the day before a federal prosecutor was expected to testify before House lawmakers that top Justice Department officials pressured government lawyers to cut Stone “a break” in his sentencing. Late Tuesday, Jackson ordered prosecutors to


White House adds high-level officials to Census Bureau, raising fears of politicization

of the 2020 Census, and both men “have been working on Census Bureau Issues since April as a senior advisor and advisor at the Department of Commerce,” the spokesperson said via email. The Census Bureau is overseen by the Commerce Department. A LinkedIn profile for an Adam Korzeniewski said he worked for Commerce for three months beginning in April. Before that, he spent five months as a field manager with the Census Bureau, from December 2019 until April. He also is listed as having worked as a self-employed political consultant from April 2018 to December 2019; and as a general manager for Dollaride, the ride-sharing van company, for six months beginning in January 2019. He served in the Marines for five years beginning in 2007. The LinkedIn profile was later listed as unavailable, as was a profile for Cogley. Data from the decennial census is used to determine congressional apportionments, redistricting and around $1.5 trillion in annual federal funding. So far, 61.6 percent of households have responded to the 2020 count, which is being conducted largely digitally for the first time ever. Those who don’t self-respond will be the hardest to count, and include more people who are low-income, young, minorities and renters. Follow-up with those households typically includes door-knocking, but the pandemic has forced the bureau to postpone such tactics until later in the year, presenting additional challenges to conducting an accurate count. In a census that has been hit with unusual challenges, from lawsuits over the citizenship question to delays and suspensions in operations because of covid-19, census experts expressed concern about the motivation behind appointments. Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former staff director of the House census oversight subcommittee, called them “inappropriate,” adding that they “suggest possible political interference that could undermine a comprehensive effort to reach historically undercounted population groups.” Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, called them “yet another unprecedented attempt by the Trump Administration to politicize the 2020 Census.” Examples of politicization could include opening offices differentially so as to not count areas with minority populations as well as other areas; attempting to influence the bureau’s economic surveys; or making statements implying that data could be shared with immigration authorities, though such sharing is illegal. But former Census Bureau director John Thompson said such actions would not be tolerated by career staff. “If they tried to do anything the Census Bureau