The Daily 202: John Bolton’s book undercuts the Trump defense team’s claims that there are no firsthand witnesses

last night. -- Entrepreneur Andrew Yang qualified for the February debate in New Hampshire after missing out on this month’s Des Moines debate. THE NEW WORLD ORDER: -- Reports of coronavirus infections and deaths are soaring in China, and a fifth case has now been confirmed in the United States. “China's national health commission reported that 2,744 people across 30 provinces had been infected as of Sunday. Eighty deaths have been reported, including in major metropolitan areas such as Shanghai. Several doctors in Beijing, the capital, also reported being infected. Patients also have been confirmed in France, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and Australia. … The galloping virus, which has crimped travel, shuttered movie theaters and idled factories, will further depress [economic] growth. … The virus will also imperil China’s ability to meet the targets for additional purchases of U.S. goods contained in the trade deal President Trump signed earlier this month.” (Our graphics team has mapped out the spread of the coronavirus, illustrating why officials are so worried.) -- Worries are growing that the quarantine in China won’t be enough. -- China has banned the trade of wild animals until the epidemic is under control, as evidence mounts the disease was transmitted to humans through snake meat sold at a market in Wuhan. -- Three rockets crashed into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad, wounding one. -- Jared Kushner’s Middle East peace plan will finally be released publicly tomorrow, -- One of Brexit’s biggest impacts may be the end of freedom of movement. -- In an attempt to attract one group of foreigners it doesn’t want to lose, the U.K. has launched a new visa to lure researchers, mathematicians and scientists. -- The Kremlin is struggling to control cyberspace at home, despite it being notorious for global meddling online. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS THAT SHOULDN'T BE OVERLOOKED: -- The nation was shocked after NBA star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash. The five-time NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist was 41. “Bryant, who retired as the NBA’s third-all-time leading scorer with 33,643 points, was expected to be inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on the first ballot this summer. -- Remembrances flooded the Internet. -- Bryant was a tireless competitor who became a global sports icon, -- The Grammys celebrated Bryant’s life in a touching memorial at the


The Health 202: Coronoavirus infections are skyrocketing

THE PROGNOSIS How many people around the world will ultimately be sickened or die of the swiftly spreading coronavirus? That depends partly on a calculation known as the “basic reproductive number.” This number — which is a calculation of how many people one victim can infect — has a lot to do with how rapidly a virus is able to spread. If the number is 2.0, it means each victim will spread the virus to two others on average. The same for 3, 4, 5 and so on. If the number is less than 1.0, it means the pathogen will eventually die out. But for this new coronavirus, which has • The World Health Organization has given an estimate on the conservative end of the spectrum, placing it between 1.4 and 2.5. • But researchers at Great Britain’s Lancaster University estimate the virus’s reproductive number is somewhat higher, around 3.8. • And a preliminary estimate from Harvard researchers Maimuna Majumder and Kenneth Mandl puts the figure between 2.0 and 3.3. At first glance, those estimates may not appear so terrible. They are certainly lower than the transmission rates for many other illnesses including the 2003 SARS outbreak in China, which had a reproductive number of 4, and the highly infectious mumps and measles, whose reproduction numbers are 10 and 18, respectively. But the picture looks different when one considers the real numbers of people who could become infected. The Lancaster researchers estimated that nine days from now, by Feb. 4, there could be more than 190,000 cases in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak started in December. “Our work suggests that a basic reproductive number for this … outbreak is higher compared to other emergent coronaviruses, suggesting that containment or control of this pathogen may be substantially more difficult,” the researchers wrote. Regardless of where the reproductive number exactly lies, this is a fact: The new coronavirus is spreading so quickly that China's emergency quarantine measures affecting 50 million people may not be enough to keep it contained in central China. In a late-night news conference on Sunday, the mayor of Wuhan announced that 5 million people fled Wuhan in recent days and scattered around the world, despite the unprecedented quarantine. That likely means many more infections and deaths than if the city's residents had been more closely contained. “The effectiveness of an unprecedented quarantine around the viral


Days after resigning, Jack Evans joins D.C. elected officials for Lunar New Year

He is not currently an elected official, but former D.C. Council member Jack Evans still had a front-row seat for this weekend’s Lunar New Year festivities. Evans resigned from the council Jan. 17, days before his colleagues were set to expel him for repeated ethics violations. On Monday, he filed paperwork with the D.C. Board of Elections to run again for his old seat. A day earlier, the Democrat had raised eyebrows among some onlookers with an appearance at the annual Chinatown celebration in Ward 2, the center-city district he had represented for 29 years. Evans marched Sunday alongside Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) near the front of the parade. Evans, who had been the council’s longest-serving member, later sat with current officeholders in the front row of a stage overlooking dance performances. Mendelson, who had counted on Evans as an ally in recent years, told him it would be inappropriate for him to join other elected officials in presenting a ceremonial council resolution commemorating the Year of the Rat, a Mendelson spokeswoman said. Evans did not join them. Lindsey Walton, the chairman’s spokeswoman, said Mendelson “doesn’t have any control over who shows up, but he thought it was inappropriate that Evans was walking with elected officials.” Evans did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A spokeswoman for Bowser, who has said Evans was reaping consequences for “very significant mistakes,” declined to comment on his parade appearance. Raymond Lee, the parade commander, said he was not aware that Evans recently resigned and did not think much of his presence at the celebration. “He just showed up on his own, as far as I know, and he always comes to the parade,” Lee said. “We’re not supposed to get involved in politics.” Evans resigned after several ethics probes found that he used his public positions, including as chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board, to benefit private consulting clients who paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars. He has also been the subject of a federal investigation that has involved subpoenas to the city government for records about Evans’s private clients and an FBI search of Evans’s Georgetown home. Evans has not been charged with a crime. The council took a preliminary vote to oust him Dec. 3 and was set to finalize the vote last week. He would have been


A D.C. Dream Day with Doron Petersan

amazing we are. I’d invite the ladies that I just did this storytelling night, Bite Your Tongue, with at Hook Hall: Sara Polon from Soupergirl, Anna Valero from Hook Hall, Amy Saidman and her team from Story District. I’d go and get my mountain bike and head back over to Northeast. I’m going to do the Fort Dupont trail. It takes you south through the city all the way down to I-295 and you can take it back or you can hop off and skirt around the Anacostia River trail and just kind of tool around there. I’m east of the river and I’m hungry again. I’m going to go over to Turning Natural and grab some of those vegan veggie patties. They’re like empanadas but not empanadas. I’d eat all of those, all of the ones they have because I’m not going to get full. And then I would get my favorite drink they have: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince [which is just a symbol on the menu]. I never know what to say when I walk in so I’m like, “The Prince symbol?” It’s very fruit forward and it’s just tangy enough and just tart enough. I’d get some extra hemp protein. I would stop at 305 Fitness for some dancing. I love the classes there. It’s such a great break in your day to dance like crazy. And it’s the perfect mix of ’90s aerobics and super hip-hop dancing. I should probably include my husband, Peter, and my neighborhood. We haven’t had a date in so long. So once we remember what the other one looks like, we would go to Rock and Roll Hotel and see all of our old favorite bands from the early ’90s — they’d all be back and they’d all be young. While we’re there I’d eat the pile a fries at the Bubbie’s Plant Burgers & Fizz pop-up. They’re these overloaded, ridiculous fries. I wouldn’t go to dinner, I would go dessert-hopping around the city because everything is magically vegan today. There are so many places I’ve heard of that have these amazing, fancy desserts, but I’ve never been able to eat them, so I can’t remember any of the actual dessert names. I know RPM Italian is supposed to have great pastries. There’s Centrolina. Basically, I would go to all the Italian restaurants and eat all the desserts. goingoutguide@washpost.com


U.S. stock markets close sharply lower amid fears about spreading coronavirus

Global markets took a steep drop Monday as investors grew increasingly anxious about the swift spread of the coronavirus beyond China’s borders. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 454 points, or 1.6 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq also slid significantly, 1.6 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. Travel-related companies were hit particularly hard. Shares of American Airlines lost 5.5 percent and Delta fell 3.4 percent. Wynn Resorts, which has a large footprint in Macao, fell 8.1 percent. Las Vegas Sands fell 6.7 percent. Luckin Coffee, a company based in China that manages more than 4,000 locations, saw its stock price fall 9 percent. “If the current outbreak turns into a pandemic that significantly disrupts global commerce, the impact would be bad news for the global economy and corporate earnings,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. Monday’s losses pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average below where it started 2020. But the stock market is still up markedly from where it was one year ago. Even as China has moved to sequester its residents during one of the year’s busiest travel seasons — Beijing has extended the quarantine to more than 50 million people — the mayor whose city, Wuhan, is the epicenter of the outbreak said 5 million people had managed to leave. So far, the coronavirus has infected at least 2,800 people in China and killed 82. Health officials say the virus has the potential to be more deadly than the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, which killed nearly 800 people and infected more than 8,000 others. Separate from the public health concerns, the economic impact of coronavirus “will be significant,” wrote Michael Farr, president of Farr, Miller & Washington, a D.C. investment firm, in an analyst note. Travel in Asia has already slowed dramatically. And there’s concern that supply chains could be disrupted if, for example, the delivery of auto parts or manufacturing grinds to a halt. “In the global economic fabric, China will cause a measurable slowdown,” Farr said, cautioning that it’s still too early to determine the virus’s precise impact on global GDP. There have been five confirmed cases in the United States: two in California and one each in Washington state, Arizona and Illinois. Infections have also been confirmed in Canada, France, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan. Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, wrote in an analyst note


There have been five confirmed cases in the United States: two in California and one each in Washington state, Arizona and Illinois. Infections have also been confirmed in Canada, France, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan. Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, wrote in an analyst note that SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, hit growth in China hard before passing relatively quickly. Most of the damage came from consumers staying in and not spending, so growth picked up once shoppers’ routines returned to normal. But even though the Chinese economy, which depends heavily on consumer spending, could suffer, the United States is likely to avoid a major blow. “Over the course of a year, SARS was a nonissue for U.S. investors,” McMillan wrote. “Even if this new disease proves to be much worse than it looks at the moment, here in the U.S. the damage will be limited — and should pass quickly.” The outbreak, which comes just after Washington and Beijing signed a partial trade deal, also creates uncertainty for businesses that manufacture and source materials in China. Nike shares fell 1.8 percent, and Apple’s stock slumped 2.9 percent. Apple could still find cover in the near-term. Many Chinese customers already bought iPhones or AirPods in the run up to Lunar New Year, wrote Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, suggesting a “strong December and January [are] likely already in the books.” “While China is a major part of our bull thesis and growth story of Apple for the coming 12 to 18 months, we do not view the impact of this virus epidemic as changing the numbers,” Ives wrote. European markets were all in the red Monday, with the FTSE 100 and the DAX trading down more than 2 percent. Many Asian markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, but the Japanese Nikkei 225 also lost ground. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading down 3.4 percent, and gold, a safe haven for investors in times of turmoil, was up 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, Boeing shares fell 2 percent Monday amid conflicting reports of a plane crash in Taliban-controlled territory in central Afghanistan. It’s not clear what caused the crash or who operated the aircraft. Initial reports said it was a passenger jet, but video footage posted by a Taliban-linked account appeared to show a U.S. Air Force plane.


The Bodega was the go-to grocery for a D.C. neighborhood, until a fatal shooting closed its doors

The Bodega on Franklin Street had been a hub for the longtime residents of the Langdon Park community. People stopped in to pick up household staples, a cold beer and smokes — along with what some say was the best fried chicken in Northeast Washington, if not the city. Local drunks sometimes brought nuisance issues, but often nothing more than urinating in alleys and leaving empty beer cans along the street. But in recent years, after it was sold to new owners, the go-to grocery became a place to stay away from. Residents, particularly newcomers to the neighborhood, began complaining about people loitering outside and documented what they believed were hand-to-hand drug sales. A health inspector found violations in the store. And a pair of daytime shootings last spring left parents scrambling their children into basements or huddled on the floor. Police finally forced the Bodega’s doors shut on Jan. 6 on an emergency basis, after at least 80 rounds sprayed from a car parked on Franklin Street and struck three people outside the store. The gunfire wounded two and killed 38-year-old Lamar Emmanuel Walters, who lived a few blocks away and was on his way to visit a friend paralyzed by a bullet a few years earlier. “This is not Afghanistan, this is the District of Columbia,” said Jeremiah Montague Jr., the advisory neighborhood commissioner for the area. “One shooting is one too many. And there has been more than one that has occurred at that location.” The Bodega — also known as the Langdon Park Grocery Store — has been closed since the killing. The city’s liquor board permanently stripped the license to sell alcohol on Jan. 17. And neighbors remain on edge to see if the doors will reopen, as they believe it is a magnet for danger. Before the shooting, a D.C. Council member joined with a police lieutenant to get the property declared a nuisance. The store advertised a happy hour with strawberry Jell-O shots — a violation of its liquor license, according to a complaint to the liquor board. And D.C. police conducted drug operations that led to arrests, police officials said, but loitering still continued. Montague, who complained that the Bodega’s owners have violated several agreements with the community to improve conditions, called the triple shooting the “ultimate crescendo” in the three-year fight. The shooting occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m. on a Monday


The economic system we’ve built is a superhighway for viruses

hands or spoiled by heat and pests. Better nutrition means that our bodies have more reserves available to fight invading pathogens. Better sanitation means that pathogens have a harder time spreading from person to person, and that even when one does make it through all our defenses, our immune systems can really focus on the threat. When we do get sick, our health-care system can provide antibiotics to treat secondary infections, and intravenous fluids to keep us hydrated, reducing mortality even if there is no direct treatment for the disease. Thanks, too, to centuries of specialization, we actually know how infectious diseases spread. So when an epidemic gets underway, we don’t waste time on sacrifices to propitiate angry gods or fretting about deadly miasmas seeping in with the night air. Instead, we use our superior knowledge and resources to keep our hands clean, our faces covered, our homes free of pests that serve as disease vectors and our patients isolated in hospitals that can treat them rather than spreading infection to family members who can’t. Those resources can also be used to attack diseases head-on; humans are reading the DNA of the Wuhan coronavirus, tracking mutations and looking for its source. Meanwhile, well-funded U.S. government labs are already testing a medicine to fight coronaviruses, part of a program to address emerging infectious threats. Could we be better prepared for a pandemic? Of course, and we should be. The advent of antibiotics and to some extent antivirals has made even our health-care systems too complacent about fighting infectious disease, something that should be both a medical and a political priority. But even as we prepare, we should probably be less worried that our complexity makes us vulnerable to collapse and more grateful it has given us the resources to actually fight those emerging threats. Read more: The Post’s View: China’s coronavirus containment may fail. We must do more than wait and hope. Scott Gottlieb: What must be done to head off the coronavirus threat Leana S. Wen: Governments need people’s trust to stop an outbreak. Where does that leave us? Ronald A. Klain and Nicole Lurie: We’re past ‘if’ on the coronavirus. We’re on to ‘how bad will it be?’ John Pomfret: Following the SARS playbook, China keeps a dangerous tight leash on coronavirus information The Post’s View: China should embrace the lessons of previous outbreaks to combat the new coronavirus


As deadly coronavirus spreads, U.S. to expand screening of passengers from China at 20 airports

the city’s health commission. A 50-year-old man who visited Wuhan on Jan. 8 developed a fever when he returned home a week later and died Monday — one of the pathogen’s younger victims. Seven other cases of illness in Beijing have been confirmed so far. Late Monday, a top U.S. health official criticized Chinese authorities for not inviting U.S. and other international investigative agencies to join them in researching the new virus. While China has been more transparent than it was during the 2003 SARS outbreak, U.S. officials are still getting their information through press briefings rather than from direct transfer of scientific data, said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci pointed out that China’s health minister, Ma Xiaowei, said publicly Sunday that the virus could be transmitted by an infected person even before symptoms appear. “We really need to know what is the scientific basis of saying the virus is spread by someone who doesn’t have any symptoms,” Fauci told The Washington Post. “That was a major potential game-changer that gets spoken to us in a press briefing. We should have seen the data.” This could affect how the U.S. screens people traveling from China. “If people can be transmitting and infecting without any symptoms, that has a major impact on how you screen people,” he said. Amid growing alarm about the disease’s fast spread, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is boosting staffing at 20 U.S. airports that have quarantine facilities. Vice President Pence said Monday that those airports receive 90 percent of airline passengers from China. Previously, passengers from Hubei province were screened and tested at five airports if they showed signs of fever or respiratory illness or have been in contact with a sick person, the CDC said. The expanded effort will take effect in coming days. Epidemiologists around the globe raced to understand how the virus spreads, how long it incubates before making a person ill, whether it can be contagious even when the person is asymptomatic, and how lethal it is. They said the public should not assume the worst about this outbreak. This virus does not appear to be as deadly as SARS or MERS, two similar coronaviruses that made the jump from animals to humans earlier this century and that were ultimately contained. The victims so far of the new coronavirus


have overwhelmingly been over 60 or already ill from other causes. In the United States, 110 people in 26 states are being tested for possible infection, but only five so far — all people who traveled from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China — are confirmed to have the infection, the CDC said Monday. No one in the United States has died, and there is no known case yet of the virus spreading within the country. “We understand people may worry about the new #coronavirus,” CDC Director Robert R. Redfield tweeted Monday. “In today’s connected world, an outbreak anywhere can be a risk everywhere. Risk is dependent on exposure. 2019-nCoV is not spreading in the US at this time. CDC continues to believe the risk to the US public is now low.” The five confirmed cases are in Southern California, Chicago, Arizona and Washington state. Infections also have been confirmed in France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Canada and Sri Lanka. The CDC increased its travel warning to a Level 3 Monday — its highest alert level — urging U.S. citizens to avoid all nonessential travel to China because of the outbreak. The warning says those who travel should avoid all contact with sick people, animal markets and products that come from animals, and wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Among the most urgent questions is whether the unprecedented quarantine around the outbreak’s epicenter, in Hubei, will be effective. Widespread suspicions on Chinese social media that government officials mishandled the early stages of the crisis were fanned dramatically on Monday by the Wuhan’s mayor’s interview. Dong-Yan Jin, a professor of molecular virology and oncology at Hong Kong University’s School of Biomedical Sciences, said Chinese authorities missed the critical moment to control the epidemic: before the Lunar New Year travel rush began a week ago. “There was a lack of transparency in Hubei and an unwillingness by local governments to face the music; now, they tend to overcompensate,” Jin said. “You cannot expect that to work miracles and stop the outbreak.” Viruses can mutate during an outbreak and become more or less deadly, but genetic analysis of the virus from people infected shows no sign of mutation, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, speaking to reporters Monday. As


The Daily 202: Five reasons Trump is poised to get acquitted — but Watergate brought down Nixon

ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has hired a Washington lobbyist whose business has boomed under the Trump administration as part of a $12.5 million effort to ease sanctions and reset bilateral relations as the U.S.-backed campaign to oust the socialist leader stalls,” “A former unpaid Trump campaign adviser on the West Coast, his firm, Sonoran Policy Group, had no reported lobbying from 2013 to 2016 but has billed more than $10.5 million to foreign clients since the start of 2017. “This month, Stryk’s name showed up in handwritten notes released by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the impeachment inquiry into Trump. -- Notable commentary from The Post’s opinion page: THE NEW WORLD ORDER: -- Trump’s Middle East peace plan is expected to offer conditional statehood for Palestinians. -- Bibi withdrew his request for immunity from prosecution on corruption charges hours before parliamentary proceedings on the issue were set to begin. -- As fear over the spread of the coronavirus grows, the U.S. warned Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China. “Late Monday, a top U.S. health official criticized Chinese authorities for not inviting U.S. and other international investigative agencies to join them in researching the new virus. While China has been more transparent than it was during the 2003 SARS outbreak, U.S. officials are still getting their information through press briefings rather than from direct transfer of scientific data, said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci pointed out that China’s health minister, Ma Xiaowei, said publicly Sunday that the virus could be transmitted by an infected person even before symptoms appear. … This could affect how the U.S. screens people traveling from China. … “Amid growing alarm about the disease’s fast spread, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is boosting staffing at 20 U.S. airports that have quarantine facilities. … Epidemiologists around the globe raced to understand how the virus spreads, how long it incubates before making a person ill, whether it can be contagious even when the person is asymptomatic, and how lethal it is. They said the public should not assume the worst about this outbreak. This virus does not appear to be as deadly as SARS or MERS, two similar coronaviruses that made the jump from animals to humans earlier this century and that were ultimately contained. … In the United States,


virus. While China has been more transparent than it was during the 2003 SARS outbreak, U.S. officials are still getting their information through press briefings rather than from direct transfer of scientific data, said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci pointed out that China’s health minister, Ma Xiaowei, said publicly Sunday that the virus could be transmitted by an infected person even before symptoms appear. … This could affect how the U.S. screens people traveling from China. … “Amid growing alarm about the disease’s fast spread, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is boosting staffing at 20 U.S. airports that have quarantine facilities. … Epidemiologists around the globe raced to understand how the virus spreads, how long it incubates before making a person ill, whether it can be contagious even when the person is asymptomatic, and how lethal it is. They said the public should not assume the worst about this outbreak. This virus does not appear to be as deadly as SARS or MERS, two similar coronaviruses that made the jump from animals to humans earlier this century and that were ultimately contained. … In the United States, 110 people in 26 states are being tested for possible infection, but only five so far … are confirmed to have the infection.” -- Hong Kong and Russia announced dramatic restrictions on travel to and from China as governments across Asia struggle with an increasingly difficult dilemma: choosing between public health or economic vitality. -- A U.S. military plane crashed in Taliban territory in Afghanistan. Sayed Salahuddin and Susannah George report: “It was unknown how many people were on board or whether there were survivors. … Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed on Twitter that an ‘enemy intelligence aircraft’ crashed and subsequently told The Post that ‘our mujahideen [fighters] tactically crashed the plane.’ He did not explain what tactics were purportedly used to bring down the plane.” -- U.S.-backed Afghan forces have been unable to reach the site of the crash. -- The U.S. dropped more munitions on Afghanistan last year than at any other time over the past decade. -- Syrian government forces launched a new attack against the final rebel-held pocket in northwestern Syria following a short-lived cease-fire. -- The State Department removed an NPR reporter from a trip with Mike Pompeo days after the secretary of state got


Facebook, Google and Twitter scramble to stop misinformation about coronavirus

groups promoting “natural” cures still remain on the site, though Facebook now warns people before they join them. Similarly awash in anti-vaccine videos, Google tweaked its YouTube algorithms last year to stop a wide array of harmful content from surfacing in search results, and Twitter introduced similar efforts to redirect users searching about anti-vaccine topics to more credible results. But dangerous disinformation remains available on those platforms, too, prompting rebukes from U.S. health officials who still see social media as a vulnerability. Major disease outbreaks threaten to serve as breeding grounds for even more harmful disinformation, experts said. Almost four years ago, inaccurate posts about the global, mosquito-borne Zika illness dwarfed the popularity of more authoritative sources of information about the outbreak, according to researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Their findings in 2016 raise fresh concerns for Facebook, Google and Twitter as coronavirus surfaces as a new global health threat. “We’re in a low information zone. Scientists have been looking at this, but there isn’t a ton of well marked patterns around how this particular virus spreads,” said Joan Donovan, director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center. As the infection count ticked higher, Facebook and Twitter over the weekend experienced an influx of popular posts suggesting the United States or other foreign governments previously had obtained patents for the coronavirus. One tweet calling the coronavirus a “fad disease” — again repeating it had been patented — had been shared roughly 5,000 times on Twitter as of Monday. Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers have rated those claims false, pointing to the fact that researchers had patented gene sequences for other, older viruses. But closed, private Facebook groups with thousands of members — formed around topics like “natural healing,” which question scientific conclusions about medicine — have helped to incubate the hoax anyway. Thousands of Facebook users also joined newly created communities specifically to swap insight around the coronavirus, a search of the social-networking site shows. That creates bubbles of potential misinformation that researchers say can be hard to penetrate. More than 1,100 Facebook users, seemingly fearful of the deadly illness, flooded into the group “Coronavirus Warning Watch.” People there have traded theories about its spread — in some cases suggesting it’s about “population reduction” — along with links for where to buy masks and other medical gear. As with all groups, posts, photos


Jerry Craft’s graphic novel ‘New Kid’ wins 2020 Newbery Medal

Jerry Craft’s “New Kid,” a graphic novel about a seventh-grader’s struggle to adjust to a private school with little diversity, has won the John Newbery Medal for the year’s best children’s book. “New Kid” also received the Coretta Scott King Award for an outstanding work by an African American writer. Craft told KidsPost last spring that the story was based in part on his own experience and that of his two sons. Like Jordan, the main character in “New Kid,” Craft loved drawing, which helped get him through the experience. “I can’t remember a time I wasn’t drawing,” he said. Kadir Nelson won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for his illustration of “The Undefeated,” a poetic tribute to African American history, featuring the words of Kwame Alexander. “The Undefeated” was also a runner-up for the Newbery prize, won by Alexander in 2015 for “The Crossover.” George Takei of “StarTrek” fame shared a prize for best young adult literature by an author of Asian Pacific background. He, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott co-wrote “They Called Us Enemy,” a graphic memoir based on Takei’s being held in a detention camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. The prizes were announced Monday by the American Library Association during its annual midwinter meeting, held this year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. kidspost@washpost.com


Coronavirus prompts CDC to expand travel warning to all of China; top U.S. health official urges Beijing to admit disease experts

the virus. “We really want to come back [to India] at the earliest,” he said. “All our families are very worried.” By: Niha Masih 10:27 AM: Outbreak hitting Chinese tourism market BERLIN — Several Russian tourism operators have halted the sale of package trips to China, following advice from Russia’s federal tourism agency, Rosturizm. The vice president of the Association of Russian Tour Operators, Dmitry Gorin, told Reuters that sales ceased Friday and that customers who had already purchased trips would be reimbursed. The measure came as China announced its own steps to curb tourism, aimed at slowing the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak there. Beijing halted inter-province bus traffic into the capital over the weekend, followed by a nationwide ban on tour groups traveling abroad that took effect on Monday. Hotel and restaurant owners in destinations that rely heavily on Chinese visitors fear the ban could remain in place for months. In China, Shanghai’s Disneyland and Beijing’s Palace Museum will remain closed until further notice. Meanwhile, corporations around the globe moved to restrict business travel to China as a precautionary measure. German manufacturer Schaeffler — which employs around 90,000 people internationally — was among the biggest European companies to prohibit business trips to China last week. By: Rick Noack 10:15 AM: Dow falls on fears the outbreak will turn into a pandemic WASHINGTON — Global markets took a sharp downturn Monday as investors grew increasingly anxious about the swift spread of the coronavirus beyond China. The Dow plunged 450 points, or about 1.5 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq futures were also down significantly, 1.5 percent and 2 percent, respectively. “Stock markets are selling off this morning on fears that the coronavirus might be harder to contain than previous viral outbreaks,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. “If the current outbreak turns into a pandemic that significantly disrupts global commerce, the impact would be bad news for the global economy and corporate earnings.” Read more here. By: Rachel Siegel 10:13 AM: Canada confirms second ‘presumptive positive’ case of the coronavirus TORONTO — Canadian public health officials said Monday that the wife of the man who was declared the country’s first “presumptive positive” case of the coronavirus has also tested positive for the virus at Ontario’s public health laboratory. The woman has been in “self-isolation,” David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said in a statement.


Monday by an unlikely player: the Wuhan mayor, Zhou Xianwang. In a remarkable interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Zhou acknowledged that his city did not release “timely and satisfactory” information at the start of the epidemic, and he appeared to blame higher-ups in his chain of command. “I hope everyone can understand that this is an infectious disease, and infectious diseases must be disclosed according to law,” he said. “We can only disclose information after we receive authorization.” By: Gerry Shih and Simon Denyer 8:30AM: Number of cases may be higher than reported, experts say BEIJING — Some medical experts warn that the number of cases may be higher than the authorities know or acknowledge. They also say that the mass lockdown and efforts to quarantine patients are too late due to the missteps in December, when reports of a novel virus in Wuhan began to emerge without prompting a response. Gabriel Leung, an epidemiologist who is chair of public health medicine at Hong Kong University, told reporters in Hong Kong on Monday that his model showed the true number of coronavirus patients to be as high as 44,000. He warned that the epidemic could become global and reach a peak in China in April or May, when 150,000 new cases could be confirmed every day in one Chinese city — Chongqing — alone. By: Gerry Shih and Simon Denyer 8:20AM: Still unclear if patients can infect others without showing symptoms Escalating worldwide concerns, Chinese Health Minister Ma Xiaowei said Sunday that people carrying the new coronavirus could infect others even while they do not show any symptoms for as long as 14 days, a period known as incubation. That implies that, unlike SARS, seemingly healthy travelers could have unwittingly infected others. But international experts, including at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say they are still seeking to confirm Ma’s statement. Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, told reporters on Monday that expert panels were not yet convinced that the virus could be spread by people who were still symptom-free. Some researchers say that even a small degree of porousness in the quarantine effort could have magnified implications for the epidemic’s toll. In a study published Saturday, Yu Xiaohua, a professor at the University of Göttingen in Germany, concluded that the epidemic cannot be controlled if the quarantine rate of the infectious population falls below 90


Trump team resumes defense amid fallout from new report on Bolton’s claim on withholding military aid from Ukraine

would not constitute an abuse of power,” Dershowitz said, calling such arrangements “the way foreign policy has been operated by presidents since the beginning of time.” Dershowitz then turned to Bolton’s allegation, reportedly outlined in his book manuscript, that Trump directly tied the withholding of military aid to Ukraine to his desire for investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden. The New York Times first reported this detail on Sunday night. “If a president, any president, were to have done what the Times reported about the context of the Bolton manuscript, that would not constitute an impeachable offense,” Dershowitz said. “Let me repeat: Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense. That is clear from history. That is clear from the language of the Constitution. You cannot turn conduct that is not impeachable into impeachable conduct simply by using words like ‘quid pro quo’ and ‘personal benefit.’ ” By: Elise Viebeck 7:55 PM: Dershowitz takes the podium on Trump’s behalf Dershowitz began his constitutional argument in defense of Trump just before 8 p.m. on Monday, adding impeachment to the list of nationally televised news events that have defined his career. Dershowitz became one of the biggest legal celebrities of the 1990s when he advised the defense team in football star O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. In the mid-2000s, he was part of Jeffrey Epstein’s legal team when the wealthy investor was under investigation on suspicion of child prostitution. The convicted sex offender was found dead in his jail cell last year in an apparent suicide. Dershowitz’s friendship with Epstein has produced a war of lawsuits and countersuits, and the legal drama has at times overshadowed the 81-year-old’s legacy as one of America’s best-known courtroom stars. As part of the defense team during Simpson’s trial, he was a constant presence in American living rooms. But by then, he was already a household name, immortalized on the big screen in the film “Reversal of Fortune,” which documented his successful appeal of socialite Claus von Bulow’s conviction for the attempted murder of his wealthy wife. Read more about Dershowitz and other recent additions to Trump’s legal team here. By: Elise Viebeck 7:47 PM: Seizing on Starr comment, Democratic senator says outrage goes both ways Late on Friday night, Republican senators declared themselves outraged after Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) suggested, based


The new viral threat: What you need to know

The newly identified coronavirus that emerged last month from Wuhan, China, sickening more than 1,900 people worldwide and killing at least 56, has sparked growing anxiety and questions: How lethal is the virus? How can it be avoided? Is travel, especially to China, suddenly risky? Here is what we know so far. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to much more serious diseases, according to the World Health Organization. They can infect both humans and animals. The newly emergent strain in China is related to two other coronaviruses that have caused major outbreaks in recent years: MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The new virus hasn’t been named yet; it’s referred to as “a novel coronavirus.” In rare cases, coronaviruses can spread from animals, such as camels and bats, to humans. (Household pets are not a threat.) The new virus is believed to have originated from a live animal market in Wuhan. But now it’s clear, health authorities say, that the virus is spreading from person to person — likely through coughing and sneezing or touching an infected surface and then the mouth, nose or eyes, or coming into contact with contaminated fecal matter. Symptoms range from fever, muscle aches, dry cough, runny nose and shortness of breath to much more severe problems So far, the virus appears more serious than the common cold but less dangerous than SARS, public health experts have said. It does not appear to be anywhere near as deadly as Ebola, which is harder to transmit because it requires direct contact with an infected person’s blood or bodily fluids. Antibiotics don’t work on viruses. There’s no medication for the new coronavirus, though the National Institutes of Health said human vaccine trials could begin within three months. Currently, health-care professionals are focusing on providing “supportive care,” including ensuring patients get plenty of liquids and oxygen. The situation is fluid but getting worse. The CDC has urged travelers to avoid Wuhan. Several other Chinese cities also are essentially on lockdown. Even places that aren’t quarantined are experiencing disruptions and closures that could affect where travelers go and how they get around. For example, Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai Disneyland have been shuttered, as have many theaters and temples. Would-be travelers can stay abreast of developments by checking the CDC website and monitoring alerts


issued by the State Department and U.S. embassies. Beijing authorities are restricting the movements of their own people. Officials said all inter-province bus services to and from Beijing would be halted in an effort to contain the outbreak, according to local news reports. In addition, officials are suspending domestic and overseas Chinese group tours, state media reported. Elsewhere in Asia, cases of infection appear isolated. Nevertheless, more vulnerable travelers, including those who have health issues or are older, should be cleared by a medical professional before departing. Yes, if the insurance was purchased with the “cancel for any reason” benefit. This optional upgrade for the policy usually has several restrictions, but if the traveler meets the criteria, he or she can recover up to 75 percent of their trip costs. People with standard travel insurance who cancel because of fear of contracting the virus will have to absorb the losses, however. When traveling outside the United States, travelers should be sure they have travel medical insurance that will cover hospital costs if they fall ill while abroad or need to be taken back to the United States. Some airlines are. Cathay Pacific passengers who reserved a ticket on or before Jan. 21 can rebook, reroute their flight or receive a refund without penalty for travel through March 31. Air China is also waiving change and cancellation fees for tickets issued by Jan. 31 for travel by March 29. Other airlines that are loosening their rules include United, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan. Some carriers, however, are taking a wait-and-see approach. Some hotels also are making it easier to rejigger plans: Hilton, Accor, InterContinental Hotels and Hyatt are easing restrictions, and not just on Wuhan hotels. The waiver covers changes and cancellations at properties throughout China, for travel through early February. To qualify, the booking must have occurred directly through the hotel; otherwise, the third-party agent should be contacted. Policies vary among tour operators and should be checked. A large number of airports around the world have established enhanced screening procedures for passengers arriving from Wuhan, and a few countries, including India, are testing passengers arriving from any destination in China. South Korea’s Incheon International Airport is employing ear thermometers. In Japan, arriving passengers must fill out health forms. Australia is distributing pamphlets. In the United States, the CDC and Customs and Border Protection are overseeing the process at five


One of the biggest impacts of Brexit? An end to freedom of movement.

they be denied coverage by the National Health Service? “If you are an E.U. citizen with breast cancer and have to suddenly pay 40,000 pounds for treatment, the fact that you’re also not going to be chucked out of the country is not really a response to the problem,” Ford said. This is months down the road. But even now, E.U. citizens are anxious. Elena Remigi, 51, has been collecting testimonials. Remigi moved from Italy to Ireland to Britain and said that, for many like her, there is a “sense of betrayal — that the rules we based our lives on are taken away.” The same sentiment is felt among some of the 1.4 million Britons living in Europe. People such as Carole-Anne Richards, 53, who has lived in Italy for 15 years and travels extensively through Europe for her work as a consultant. Speaking on a drizzly day at a rally in London, Richards noted that, after Brexit, she won’t be an E.U. citizen living in Italy, but rather a “third-country national,” with implications for her work and personal life. “I will have difficulties doing my job because I no longer have freedom of movement,” she said. Anna Amato, 57, was just 18 months old when she moved from Italy to Bristol, England, her home ever since. She has a British husband, two British children and has worked in several jobs, including as a medical secretary at a hospital. In 2017, after the Brexit referendum, she decided to get British citizenship, which she thought would be a formality. She was told by officials to instead apply first for permanent residency, which she was denied on the grounds that she didn’t provide enough evidence to prove her status. Although Home Office officials said they have been in touch with Amato, she has not tried to apply again under the settled-status system introduced last year. “What if I am denied again? I don’t trust the system and I’m not going to apply for less rights than I have now,” she said. She said she felt “humiliated” by the whole ordeal. “I am now questioning: Who am I? I always felt like I belonged. I have always felt British; I am proud to be British. But now, they’re telling me, ‘We don’t want you,’ ” she said. “When people say to me, ‘Go back,’ where do I ‘go back’ to?” karla.adam@washpost.com william.booth@washpost.com


Better breakfasts, less takeout, more togetherness: Our 2020 food resolutions

might be convenient, thanks to myriad delivery apps at our fingertips serving up hundreds of options. But the fact is, most of it just isn’t that good. (Oh, and about those options: Do you ever just swipe and swipe until your eyes glaze over, like when you spend a half an hour paging through Netflix for just the right thing before just giving up and watching HGTV?) In our Capitol Hill neighborhood, delivery pizza options are mediocre, but sometimes we still feel like a pie, so we settle for an extra-large pepperoni meh. And so many of the services don’t prioritize keeping your food hot and fresh, which means we’re frequently digging into lukewarm dinner. Not too appetizing, right? Such tragically mediocre meals been happening too often, too. In general, Eric and I are reasonably good at menu-planning, mapping out dinners we will cook during the week. We usually shop on the weekends but sometimes need an after-work grocery run. The problem arises when plans change: friends cancel a dinner date, say, or we work too late to get the roast chicken in the oven in time to eat before 10 p.m. Maybe we’re too tired to make it to the store. Or we might be scheduled to eat leftovers, but when we’re finally opening the door to the fridge, the thought of eating the same chili we had for lunch two days in a row seems tedious and sad. The new year is the perfect time for a reset. My strategy? Always have a Plan B. I’ll stock a handful of pantry-and-freezer dinners that I can turn to when our week goes sideways. (Oh, and the first step: I’m deleting those delivery apps from my phone.) The key is that the menus need to feel intentional and not scrounged. They also can’t all be pasta, which is my crutch. I’m aiming for a few that satisfy our cravings for something out-of-routine unusual. Actually, the first first step was enlisting my husband’s support. He’s game, and into drawing up some clutch menus. So here we are: Team No Takeout, reporting for duty in 2020. — Emily Heil More from Voraciously Get Voraciously’s Plant Powered newsletter and star cooking the way you want to Slow cookers vs. multicookers (a.k.a. Instant Pots): Which is right for you? Who makes the best store-bought hummus around? We tried 11 top brands to find out.


The most extreme close-up of the sun

All is not calm on the sun. New images released Wednesday, which the National Science Foundation says are the star’s most detailed close-ups, show turbulent solar plasma: Charged particles that rise to the surface of the star, forming convection cells the area of Texas, which cool and descend back into the sun’s depths. The images, from the nearly complete Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, are the most zoomed-in examinations of that turbulence. They reveal structures as small as 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) on the surface of the sun. Those details are five times smaller than any solar image had captured before, Thomas Rimmele, the telescope’s director, told reporters Friday. (The sun is 1.4 million kilometers, or 870,000 miles, in diameter.) The Inouye Solar Telescope, a $344-million tool built on the peak of Haleakala on Maui, took these images on its first day of operation in December. This is the “largest, most powerful solar telescope in the world,” Rimmele said. The telescope will help astronomers understand the sun’s magnetic field and its atmosphere, known as its corona, more fully. From its violent atmosphere, the sun belches energetic particles that move so swiftly that they are able to hit Earth in minutes. Such solar storms are capable of overwhelming electric grids and disturbing radio communications. “We still do not understand how the corona is heated to millions of degrees when the surface of the sun is only 6,000 degrees,” Rimmele said. (If that phenomenon sounds counterintuitive, well, it is. Solar experts often describe the effect like this: Imagine pulling your hand away from a hot plate, only for your palm to heat up even more.) “The Inouye telescope has the unique resolution and sensitivity required to perform the most precise measurements of the sun’s magnetic field, especially in the corona,” he said. The telescope is a marvel of engineering. A mirror within the telescope adjusts 2,000 times per second, to compensate for distortions introduced by Earth’s atmosphere. As the telescope focuses on the sun, it generates heat — in the manner of a magnifying glass, except it gets hot enough to melt metal, Rimmele said. Coolant fed through 7.5 miles of pipe keeps the telescope chill. “We make the equivalent of a swimming pool full of ice every night to provide cooling for the optics and structures during the day,” he said. The construction at Haleakala was the target of protesters, who


The Daily 202: Senate Republicans move the goal posts again after Bolton’s book and Dershowitz’s defense of Trump

Texas special election last night. -- Democrats are preparing for a “hostile” Trump transition. -- A super PAC supporting Senate Democrats announced that it raised $61 million last year. -- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, alarmed by these and other numbers, warned donors of a fundraising crisis. -- Some lighter fare: An unexpected political matchup has shaken the Vermont town of Fair Haven. NEW WORLD ORDER: -- “As the total number of people in mainland China infected by the new coronavirus surpasses those stricken by the 2002-3 SARS epidemic, Beijing has shut down schools indefinitely “Other countries in the region also are reporting more people infected — nearly all of them tourists from China. North Korea is calling the fight against the coronavirus a matter of ‘national existence’ amid fears over what an outbreak would do to a country with a rudimentary health infrastructure and a malnourished population. The UAE has reported its first cases — the first in the Middle East — members of a family traveling from Wuhan. Germany reported three new cases late Tuesday, while Thailand confirmed six more. Hong Kong reported two new cases Wednesday. … Two more coronavirus cases have been reported in Australia, bringing to seven the number of people in the country confirmed as having the virus that originated in central China. … “Researchers with the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne announced on Wednesday that they have grown the coronavirus from a patient sample, potentially paving the way for more scientific breakthroughs. It was the first time such an experiment had succeeded outside of China, the scientists said. They hope that the sample — set to be shared with laboratories around the world — will help to speed up efforts to develop a vaccine and to diagnose the virus in patients without symptoms. … China has [also] handed over the genome of the coronavirus to Russia in a joint effort between the two countries to create a vaccine…” A plane carrying as many as 240 American evacuees from the Chinese city of Wuhan landed overnight in the United States. The White House warned airline executives the U.S. government may suspend all flights to and from China if the coronavirus outbreak become a bigger public health threat. Officials at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, have called off two college basketball games after administrators announced two students who had recently traveled


to China were being tested for coronavirus. -- Experts still can’t say whether efforts to limit the spread of the virus will succeed. -- Has Trump's isolationist mentality hindered the U.S. government's response? -- Trump's Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal was quickly criticized for granting Israel most of what it has sought over decades of conflict while establishing a disjointed Palestinian state. -- U.S. forces recovered the bodies of two American service members from the site of a surveillance plane crash in Taliban territory in Afghanistan. -- The Pentagon now acknowledges 50 troops have been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injuries as a result of the Iranian missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq. -- A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck between Jamaica and Cuba, one of the strongest on record for the Caribbean. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS THAT SHOULDN’T BE OVERSHADOWED: -- America is drowning in red ink: The federal budget deficit will eclipse $1 trillion in 2020, the Congressional Budget Office said, and the 13-figure shortfall is largely due to the Trump tax cuts. -- The Trump administration is inviting states to convert part of Medicaid into a block grant, a conservative goal Congress rejected more than two years ago. -- Trump will sign the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement during a ceremony at the White House today for about 400 guests, but he chose not to invite any of the key Democrats who shepherded the deal through Congress. -- A lack of a “black box” could hinder the NTSB investigation into Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash. -- Retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher – who was accused of war crimes but championed by Trump – struck back at the active-duty SEALs who testified against him by highlighting their faces in a video published on social media. -- Another Navy SEAL has been promoted four months after he admitted to choking a Green Beret to death. -- Meanwhile, Special Operations forces are stretched dangerously thin as the president’s interference in Gallagher’s case and two others comes with a cost to military ethics and discipline, -- Lawyers for Dylann Roof, who was sentenced to death for killing nine black parishioners in a 2015 mass shooting, appealed the decision, arguing that the trial was “tainted” by mental health issues. -- Trump praised Mike Pompeo for his ugly attacks on NPR journalist Mary Louise Kelly. “You did a good job on her," the president told his secretary of


Experts debunk fringe theory linking China’s coronavirus to weapons research

As China attempts to contain the spread of a new coronavirus that has left more than 100 people dead, rumors and disinformation have spread amid the scramble for answers. Some of the speculation has centered on a virology institute in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak began. One fringe theory holds that the disaster could be the accidental result of biological weapons research. But in conversations with The Washington Post, experts rejected the idea that the virus could be man-made. “Based on the virus genome and properties there is no indication whatsoever that it was an engineered virus,” said Richard Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University. Tim Trevan, a biological safety expert based in Maryland, said most countries had largely abandoned their bioweapons research after years of work proved fruitless. “The vast majority of new, nasty diseases ... come from nature,” he said. The British newspaper Daily Mail was among the first to suggest the possibility of a link between the newly spreading virus and the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, reporting last week that the lab, which opened in 2014 and is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, had been the subject of safety concerns in the past. A separate article published by the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper in Washington, took the theories a step further, suggesting in a headline that the “Coronavirus may have originated in lab linked to China’s biowarfare program” and pointing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The article cited research by Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, who told The Post he did not want to comment further. Despite little public evidence, the theory has spread widely on social media, to conspiracy theory websites and in some international news outlets. The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is a “Cellular Level Biosafety Level 4” facility, which means it has a high level of operational security and is authorized to work on dangerous pathogens, including Ebola. Those entering the level 4 lab use airlocks and protective suits. Waste, and even air, is heavily filtered and cleaned before leaving the facility. Milton Leitenberg, an expert on chemical weapons at the University of Maryland, said he and other analysts around the world had discussed the possibility that weapons development at the Wuhan lab could have led to the coronavirus outbreak in a private email chain but that no one had found convincing evidence


Why China’s politics makes it easier — and harder — to control disease outbreaks

kept the outbreak off the front pages for several more weeks — probably to avoid any panic during a Jan. 7-17 annual meeting in Wuhan for top municipal and provincial officials. Wuhan’s mayor offered to resign over his own delay informing the public, but noted that he needed to “seek permission” before releasing sensitive information. A similar dynamic kept the SARS outbreak hidden in Guangdong province in winter 2003, while the virus gathered steam and spread internationally. China’s leadership has reversed course and said anyone hiding coronavirus cases will be” forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame” but the problem is endemic to China’s governance system. Officials at all levels often hesitate to deviate from the current Communist Party line — though the government’s hesitation to publicize the coronavirus threat earlier has prompted widespread outrage on social media. 5. China’s animal practices contribute to cross-species infection dangers Like SARS and other bird and swine flus, the new virus most likely emerged because of the proximity of people and animals in densely populated areas and the ubiquity of crowded live-animal markets. These markets sell both domesticated and wild animals — and scientists believe viruses can easily jump between species or, in some cases, to humans. Scientists traced SARS to wild civets, a delicacy in southern China. The source of the current virus remains unclear, but on Jan. 26, the Chinese government announced a ban on the sale of all wild animals. China’s livestock industry, increasingly industrialized, still has many small-scale farmers engaged in backyard production. Bird flu, for instance, emerged when the virus passed from wild birds to backyard flocks and then to humans. What would help prevent another coronavirus outbreak? SARS and the new virus both emerged in China in part because local authorities continue to allow the sale of wild animals. Avian flu emerged because of the proximity of people and their animals in small backyard farms. The One Health integrated system to coordinate animal and human health, promoted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other global agencies, would boost joint cross-species disease surveillance and control efforts in public health. This type of surveillance, and making reporting of disease outbreaks in animals as important as that in humans, could lessen the chance of new emerging infectious diseases from China. Don’t miss anything! Sign up to get TMC’s smart analysis in your inbox, three days a


Foreigners leave Chinese province as coronavirus cases rise

Countries began evacuating their citizens Wednesday from the Chinese city hardest hit by a new virus. The coronavirus has infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by the severe virus known as SARS. The number of confirmed cases jumped to 6,078, more than the 5,327 in mainland China during the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003. The death toll rose to 132, which is still lower than the 348 people who were killed in China by SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome. Scientists say there are many questions to be answered about the new virus, including how transmissible and severe it is. Virus symptoms include cough and fever and in severe cases pneumonia. The United States and Japan evacuated 200 of their citizens from the city of Wuhan, which Chinese authorities have shut down to try to contain the virus. Airlines announced they were cutting flights to China, and Hong Kong was suspending rail travel to and from the mainland at midnight. The U.S. plane was headed to California on Wednesday after a refueling stop in Alaska. All 201 passengers, who included diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan, passed health screenings in China and Anchorage. In China’s Hubei province, 17 cities including Wuhan have been locked down, trapping more than 50 million people in the most far-reaching disease control measures ever imposed. Sara Platto, an Italian animal behavior researcher and veterinarian, said there were 25 Italians stuck in Wuhan who stay in touch online. “My son turned 12 on January 23, the first day of the lockdown in Wuhan. So he couldn’t invite his friends over. We had a remote birthday celebration, with people ‘visiting’ him over WeChat,” Platto said, referring to a Chinese messaging app. “We called it the epidemic birthday.” People spending most of their times indoors have to deal with boredom. Her son Matteo usually has a very busy agenda between his school, sports and volunteer work, but now “it’s like suddenly everything has slowed down,” Platto said. As with other international schools, classes are moving online until the all-clear is sounded. The new virus is from the coronavirus family, which includes those that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS. The source of the virus and the full extent of its spread are still unknown. But the World Health Organization said most cases so


jumped to 6,078, more than the 5,327 in mainland China during the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003. The death toll rose to 132, which is still lower than the 348 people who were killed in China by SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome. Scientists say there are many questions to be answered about the new virus, including how transmissible and severe it is. Virus symptoms include cough and fever and in severe cases pneumonia. The United States and Japan evacuated 200 of their citizens from the city of Wuhan, which Chinese authorities have shut down to try to contain the virus. Airlines announced they were cutting flights to China, and Hong Kong was suspending rail travel to and from the mainland at midnight. The U.S. plane was headed to California on Wednesday after a refueling stop in Alaska. All 201 passengers, who included diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan, passed health screenings in China and Anchorage. In China’s Hubei province, 17 cities including Wuhan have been locked down, trapping more than 50 million people in the most far-reaching disease control measures ever imposed. Sara Platto, an Italian animal behavior researcher and veterinarian, said there were 25 Italians stuck in Wuhan who stay in touch online. “My son turned 12 on January 23, the first day of the lockdown in Wuhan. So he couldn’t invite his friends over. We had a remote birthday celebration, with people ‘visiting’ him over WeChat,” Platto said, referring to a Chinese messaging app. “We called it the epidemic birthday.” People spending most of their times indoors have to deal with boredom. Her son Matteo usually has a very busy agenda between his school, sports and volunteer work, but now “it’s like suddenly everything has slowed down,” Platto said. As with other international schools, classes are moving online until the all-clear is sounded. The new virus is from the coronavirus family, which includes those that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS. The source of the virus and the full extent of its spread are still unknown. But the World Health Organization said most cases so far “have been milder, with around 20 percent of those infected experiencing severe illness.” Scientists expect many crucial questions about the virus’s behavior will be answered in the coming weeks as the outbreak evolves and it becomes clearer how people are infected.


The Energy 202: Coronavirus is slowing the global demand for oil

live in China, where scientists say the virus was transmitted to humans at a live animal market in Wuhan. China has been down this road before. D uring a 2003 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in China, e nergy demand took a similar downturn. The price of oil slumped from around $35 per barrel to under $25 per barrel, according to ICIS, in March of that year after the World Health Organization issued a global alert about the virus linked to that disease. If the latest outbreak becomes a “SARS-style epidemic,” JPMorgan said in a research note, it could trim $5 off the price per barrel. Major oil-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, are aiming to reassure the jittery market. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a statement that impact seen so far in oil and other commodity markets is “primarily driven by psychological factors and extremely negative expectations adopted by some market participants.” The Saudi kingdom and other nations in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet in March where they will debate whether to further cut petroleum production in response to the decreased demand. Before then, U.S. drivers may see a further decrease at the price at the pump. In January, the national average for gasoline has already fallen by around 7 cents, to $2.50 per gallon on Wednesday. The coronavirus outbreak, said De Haan, “will likely accelerate the downward movement of gas prices over the next week or two.” You are reading The Energy 202 , our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment. — Warren releases infectious disease plan amid deadly outbreak: — On the trail: — Debate over Pennsylvania plant highlights dilemma for Democrats: — A potential experimental fish farm in Florida: — A proposal to protect crayfish in Appalachian coalfields — GOP senators want answers about EV tax credits: — Guardian to ban fossil fuel advertising: — “The whales just kept coming — Millions faced polluted air in 2018: A new report found a third of all Americans — about 108 million people — lived in areas with at least 100 days of poor air quality because of air pollution in 2018. The report, from Environment America Research & Policy Center, Frontier Group and U.S. PIRG Education Fund, specifically highlights ground-level ozone and fine particulate pollution, which can both be released by fossil fuels. Today — "Lucky dog":


White House tells airlines it may ban China-U.S. flights amid coronavirus threat

The White House on Tuesday warned airlines that it may suspend all China-U. S. flights if the coronavirus outbreak becomes a bigger public health threat to the United States. In a meeting with airline executives Tuesday afternoon, White House officials said they are not banning flights yet but said they will assess the situation daily, leaving open the possibility of a ban, people with knowledge of the meeting said. Airlines have already canceled hundreds of flights scheduled from China’s Wuhan international airport in recent days, giving U.S. health officials a respite as they focused on the logistics of rerouting U.S.-bound travelers from the region to one of five airports for special screening. Travelers from Wuhan are being funneled to airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, where they are being screened for the virus. If cleared, they are allowed to continue to their final destination, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The new strain of coronavirus has killed at least 132 people and sickened nearly 6,000 in China. Infections have been confirmed in France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Nepal, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Canada, Sri Lanka and the United States. The State Department has issued a Level 4 advisory for Wuhan, meaning “no American should travel to Wuhan while this virus continues to have impact,” Vice President Pence said Monday. Later Monday, the State Department issued a Level 3 travel advisory for all of China, urging Americans to reconsider or postpone travel to any part of the China. Public health officials continue to say the coronavirus poses a low risk to the American public, but say the enhanced screenings at five airports are part of “proactive preparedness precautions.” Officials familiar with Tuesday’s meeting between the airline executives and the White House said the White House made clear that any decision to ban flights will be based on the public health threat. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Tuesday described the outbreak as “fast moving, constantly changing,” and said senior officials are keeping a close on the outbreak to respond and keep Americans safe. “Americans should know that this is a potentially very serious public health threat, but at this point Americans should not worry for their own safety,” he said. luz.lazo@washpost.com


Baltimore’s Domino plant is working overtime as raw sugar pours in from Mexico

sugar supply. It’s not yet known whether that country can spare enough to fully fill the gap, the USDA economists said. If not, supply could come from Brazil and other countries. The USDA asked the Commerce Department to allow the extra sugar imports last fall — some raw sugar and some already refined into the granular product familiar to consumers. There will be far more raw sugar among the extra imports, which would be minimally processed in Mexico before being finished at U.S. refineries. With the increase, an estimated 1.8 million tons will arrive at U.S. ports this year from Mexico, up from about 1 million tons. Imports from all sugar-producing countries usually total 3 million to 4 million tons a year to supplement about 9 million tons produced domestically. If demand continues to exceed supply on store shelves and in food manufacturing plants, more sugar imports could be allowed, but they could carry higher tariffs, potentially pushing up consumer prices, the agriculture officials said. “We’ll be keeping an eye on things,” Johansson said. Domino already is the nation’s largest marketer of refined sugar. Domino Foods is owned by Florida-based ASR Group and produces those bright yellow packages of sugar sold at the grocery store. It also supplies sugar to food manufacturers. Domino operates two sugar cane refineries in addition to the one in Locust Point in Baltimore, in Yonkers, N.Y., and Chalmette, La., near New Orleans. Extra sugar shipments are expected at each plant. On a recent Tuesday in Baltimore, workers were readying equipment to unload the latest ship — the Daiwan Kalon, laden with raw sugar from Brazil. The sugar would drop down a chute from the vessel onto a conveyor belt that runs from the dock to a shed, where it’s dumped into enormous piles that resemble the ones made of road salt that are stored around the region. Some is more brown than white, but it all gives off a whiff of molasses. The sugar is scooped up by a front-loader into a hopper, and from there it is moved through metal ducts into the plant for processing. That involves washing and filtering the sugar and refining it into fine and extra-fine granules and other types of products. The sugar is packaged into 2,000-pound bulk “totes” for candy and ice cream makers and the like, or into retail bags, canisters and packets for retailers. The plant


Students studying in China told to return to D.C. area as coronavirus spreads

Students from universities in the Washington area who are studying abroad in China have been told to return home amid the coronavirus outbreak that has left more than 100 people dead and thousands infected. American University students were told Tuesday to leave Beijing and return to their campus in Northwest Washington “as soon as possible,” said Jennifer Fei, a junior and international studies major who was studying in the Chinese capital. “I think there is a lot of uncertainty right now with how wide-reaching this virus is going to be,” Fei said by email. “Since so many have traveled for the Lunar New Year, I think it’s really difficult to predict how many have been affected or may become affected.” AU is prohibiting travel to China, said university spokeswoman Kelly Alexander. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned travelers Monday to avoid nonessential trips to China, and Chinese authorities have imposed travel restrictions in the country. “AU will be working with the students to assist them in arranging accommodation and registration in courses on campus,” Alexander said in an email. Georgetown University issued a similar warning, said school spokeswoman Meghan Dubyak. Three students studying in Beijing have been asked to leave, and school officials have temporarily banned university-related travel to China. “While there have been no reported cases with any connection to Georgetown, the university is taking proactive steps to ensure the safety and health of our community out of an abundance of caution, since there is still much about the situation that is unknown,” university officials said in a letter sent to faculty and students. Coronaviruses belong to a family of viruses that can manifest in illnesses ranging from a garden-variety cold to more serious diseases. The novel coronavirus that authorities believe has emerged in China has caused an outbreak of respiratory illness around the world. The University of Virginia has responded by advising students to leave their program at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, and continue their studies remotely, said Brian Coy, a university spokesman. Virginia Tech leaders have told faculty and students to avoid traveling to the country. “By the luck of the draw, and the way faculty scheduling and course scheduling worked out,” there are not any Virginia Tech students in China, said spokesman Mark Owczarski. But the ban on travel will prevent faculty from attending conferences or conducting research in China, Owczarski


Trump administration issues new sanctions related to Russia’s takeover of Crimea

The Trump administration on Wednesday placed sanctions on leading Russian-backed officials in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was part of Ukraine before Russia claimed it in 2014 and set off the biggest East-West confrontation since the Cold War. The sanctions targeting seven officials and a railway company connecting Russia with Crimea were handed down by the Treasury Department two days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to meet with officials in Ukraine. The United States has never recognized Moscow’s seizure of Crimea and still considers it a part of Ukraine. Most of the officials facing sanctions represent the port city of Sevastopol, which had been home to Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet since the time of Catherine the Great in 1783 until the demise of the Soviet Union. Many residents are retired Russian navy officers who settled and stayed even when it became part of Ukraine. Many never learned to speak Ukrainian, and Crimeans voted to become part of Russia in 2014. Ukraine remains in a war with Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. Its need for military aid has become the focus of impeachment proceedings against President Trump, who is accused of withholding military aid unless Ukraine agreed to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter. The European Union imposed sanctions on many of the same Crimean officials this week as punishment for their involvement in local Russian local elections held in Crimea in September. The E.U. considers Crimea to be illegally annexed. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said the U.S. action “reiterates our unwavering support for restoring free and fair democratic political processes in Crimea.” The action gave a subtle cold shoulder to the Crimean officials, preceding each one’s title with “so-called.” Among them was Yuri Gotsanyuk, the “so-called Prime Minister of the so-called Republic of Crimea.” Other officials facing sanctions include the governor, the chairman of the legislative assembly and several members of the Sevastopol election commission. Also blacklisted is the Grand Service Express, a Moscow-based private railroad that offers passenger service between Crimea and the Russian mainland over what the Treasury Department called the Kerch Strait Bridge. Russians have called it the Crimean Bridge since construction was completed last month, another marker of Russian sovereignty. Pompeo is expected to be in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday for meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials. His


Losses from Max grounding continue as Boeing reports another dismal quarter

the bad quarterly results, Boeing stock opened 2 percent higher Wednesday compared to the previous day’s close, and it rose 2.6 percent by early afternoon. Bank of America analyst Ron Epstein, who covers the aerospace and defense markets, estimates the Max crisis has cost the company $18.3 billion. Assuming the aircraft is cleared to fly again by May, Epstein said, those costs should exceed $20 billion. The 737 Max “is maybe a $30 billion exercise between developing the plane and cleaning it up," Epstein said. There are also problems in the company’s Arlington-based defense, space and security division, which also stumbled in the last quarter after several years of stable growth. Boeing took a $410 million charge in case NASA requires it to repeat a test mission of the spacecraft it is developing to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. In December, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft suffered a software problem and failed to reach the correct orbit during a test flight with no astronauts on board. NASA is investigating what caused the spacecraft’s on board clock to be 11 hours off and whether to require the company to perform another test mission. The 737 Max has been out of commission for more than 10 months as regulators remain unconvinced it is safe to fly. It was grounded in mid-March when the Federal Aviation Administration recognized similarities in a pair of deadly plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, both of them involving new 737 Max jets, that killed 346 people. Boeing later admitted that a new flight-control program, interacting with bad data from the planes’ external sensors, had in both cases pushed the jets into an uncontrollable nosedive. The FAA has made the jets’ return to the sky contingent on a set of software and display changes designed to prevent the same problems from occurring again. But the timeline for approval has continually shifted over the past year as regulators discovered more problems with the plane. The company now estimates that it will be able to return the Max to flight in “mid-2020,” although it emphasized that the timeline is up to regulators. Throughout most of 2019, Boeing continued churning out new planes under the assumption regulations would soon clear them to fly. However, in December, the company announced it would indefinitely halt production of the embattled jets. That production halt has rippled throughout the company’s supply chain, resulting in about


Can the coronavirus be contained? Unknowns complicate response.

China has ordered an unprecedented quarantine of more than 50 million people. It has closed schools and shut down live animal markets. Airports across the globe are screening passengers coming from the world’s most populous country. But three weeks after the new coronavirus emerged as a health crisis, experts can’t yet say whether these efforts will succeed at containing an infection that now threatens at least 15 countries. Some early signs are discouraging: Six countries, including China, have confirmed human-to-human transmission of the infection. Those include four cases in Germany connected to a single person — a worrisome sign for containment of the disease. Cases in China continue to multiply, and five million residents of Wuhan, where the virus originated, have left the city, some of them surely carrying the disease. But so far, the mortality rate is less than the rate of other severe respiratory coronaviruses. In China, where 5,974 people are infected, 132 have died through Tuesday. That is a high rate, but far less than the fatality rate of SARS and MERS. And countries like the United States that quickly began screening travelers, isolating sick people and tracing their contacts have just a handful of cases. There have been no fatalities outside China. Public health officials said Tuesday that they are grappling with a long list of unknowns that will determine how successful they are in limiting the toll of the widening outbreak. Those questions include how lethal the virus may be, how contagious it is, whether it is transmitted by people who are infected but show no symptoms, and whether it can be largely contained in its country of origin. “It is very striking how quickly the numbers are going up,” said Trish Perl, chief of infectious diseases and geographic medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who has fought other respiratory virus outbreaks, including SARS and MERS. “As the numbers are going up, do I think I’m concerned about the rapidity of it? Yes,” Perl said. “Do I think it may be difficult to control? Yes. But in the context of a lot of unknowns.” Experts are not sure whether the rise in new cases means the virus is now widely circulating in China, or whether the Chinese are doing a better job of surveillance and testing, or both. U.S. health officials held a news conference Tuesday to reassure a wary public that, for now, virtually


U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But several nations continued to pursue or consider evacuating their citizens from Wuhan, including France, South Korea, Morocco, Britain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Russia. In the Philippines, immigration authorities temporarily suspended the issuance of visas for Chinese nationals upon arrival. Immigration commissioner Jaime Morente said the move was designed “to slow down the influx of group tours” and prevent the spread of the virus. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced dramatic measures to stem the flow of mainland Chinese into the territory, including the closure of railways, ferries and cross-border tour buses. Flights to mainland China will be slashed by half, and the Hong Kong government will stop issuing individual travel visas to mainland Chinese, starting Thursday. Yet for all the action taken, even the near future remains uncertain. “There is a real possibility that this virus will not be able to be contained,” said former CDC director Tom Frieden, who oversaw the responses to the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Researchers are struggling to accurately model the outbreak and predict how it might unfold, in part because the data released by Chinese authorities is incomplete. China has shared information showing when cases were reported, but not when people became ill. Researchers also want to know more about the incubation period, currently estimated at two to 14 days, and how severe most cases are. The virus’s fatality rate is just over two percent, if figures posted by the Chinese government are accurate. That is considerably lower than death rates from the respiratory coronaviruses that caused SARS, which killed nearly 10 percent of people infected, and MERS, which killed about 35 percent. Some experts are encouraged that no case outside China seems to be severe. and that no fatalities have been recorded outside China so far. Others cautioned that the current death rate may mean little because the most severe cases in an epidemic like this one often emerge early, when sick people present themselves to health care providers, then become fewer as public health measures are instituted and medical care is strengthened. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted in an interview that the virus may have been spreading unnoticed for weeks in Wuhan before it emerged into public view. If many people had mild symptoms, it would have been easy to miss them, and that


At Fiola, less could be even more

(Excellent) Nine years can be hard on a restaurant, especially one that has been relying on the inherited mechanics of predecessors going back to 1992. Fabio Trabocchi says Fiola, his flagship Italian restaurant in Penn Quarter, is overdue for a makeover. “We opened with little money and a lot of hope” in 2011, says the chef, whose restaurant went on to garner raves from me and a Michelin star for the past three years. Food flash: The James Beard award winner plans to close the fine-dining restaurant at the end of June and reopen it as something even more luxe in October. His ultimate goal is nothing less than “a world-class Italian restaurant.” If his previous work around the city (Del Mar, Fiola Mare, several branches of Sfoglina) is any indication, Washington can look forward to just that next fall. Well, that and some bug eyes and clogged arteries, but I’m getting ahead of the story. Trabocchi isn’t waiting until the last minute to make changes. Last summer, he pulled the plug on lunch service, and already, he has assembled a team of talents, including executive chef Josh Kaplan and head sommelier Jennifer Foucher, to prepare for the next iteration of Fiola. I returned recently to take a pulse check and was pleased to find multiple ways to use the dining destination. The current Fiola lets you order from an a la carte menu in a supposedly casual Ezio Room to the left of the entrance. Customers seated in the main dining room, where pools of space surround the tables and a wall of stone is punctuated by windows into the kitchen, can build their own four- or five-course dinners from a range of dishes or leave the decisions in the hands of the kitchen via tasting menus that can run to seven courses. If you’ve been to any of his establishments, you know Trabocchi has a problem with restraint. In his world, more always trumps less, and what you think you’re getting — even in the Ezio Room, designed for folks who prefer a few plates to a three-hour meal — always adds up to something greater when the extras are factored in. Dinner opens with a gratis snack from the kitchen (maybe chicken broth poured over a delicate cup of mushrooms, including last-of-season truffle) and a trio of house-baked breads; even if you decline dessert, three sweets show


U.S. seeks to send expert team to China to combat coronavirus outbreak; Xi defends response

containing an infection that now threatens at least 15 countries. Some early signs are discouraging: Six countries, including China, have confirmed human-to-human transmission of the infection. Those include four cases in Germany connected to a single person — a worrisome sign for containment of the disease. Cases in China continue to multiply, and 5 million residents of Wuhan, where the virus originated, have left the city, some of them surely carrying the disease. But so far, the mortality rate is less than the rate of other severe respiratory coronaviruses. In China, where 5,974 people are infected, 132 have died through Tuesday. That is a high rate, but far less than the fatality rate of SARS and MERS. And countries like the United States that quickly began screening travelers, isolating sick people and tracing their contacts have just a handful of cases. There have been no fatalities outside China. Public health officials said Tuesday that they are grappling with a long list of unknowns that will determine how successful they are in limiting the toll of the widening outbreak. Those questions include how lethal the virus may be, how contagious it is, whether it is transmitted by people who are infected but show no symptoms, and whether it can be largely contained in its country of origin. Some experts are encouraged that no case outside China seems to be severe, and that no fatalities have been recorded outside China so far. Read more about the outbreak’s unknowns and public health officials’ response here. By: Lena H. Sun and Lenny Bernstein 8:45 PM: Two college basketball games postponed after Miami (Ohio) students tested for coronavirus WASHINGTON — Officials at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, have called off two college basketball games after administrators announced two students who had recently traveled to China were being tested for coronavirus. One of the students visited the campus health center on Monday and exhibited flulike symptoms, prompting staff to test him and his travel companion, a university statement said. The two students are now isolated in their off-campus residences while they await their test results from the CDC. The school’s men’s and women’s basketball teams were set to face Central Michigan and Western Michigan, respectively, over the next two days, but the athletic department announced on Tuesday that those games would be postponed. The statement “The health and safety of our student-athletes is always a top


at President Trump, whom Warren hopes to face in the November 2020 election and whose policies she says could make it more difficult for the world to deal with coronavirus and other diseases. “The world is watching closely to determine if this will be designated as our next global Public Health Emergency,” Warren said, referring to coronavirus in a statement outlining her plan. “Instead of building capacity to combat these problems, Donald Trump has deprioritized global health security and risked putting us on our heels in a crisis.” Warren, along with former vice president Joe Biden, has criticized Trump’s disbanding of the White House’s global health security team and the abrupt departure of the top U.S. official in charge of the country’s response in the event of a deadly pandemic. If she were elected president, Warren said she would increase funding to the agencies charged with responding to outbreaks and increase funding for international fights against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. She said she would also push the CDC to develop vaccines for infectious diseases, such as a universal flu vaccine. Part of the money for these initiatives, she said, will come from a “swear jar” that requires drug companies that break the law to pay a portion of their profits to the National Institutes of Health, which will use that money to research infectious disease treatments. “Diseases like coronavirus remind us why we need robust international institutions, strong investments in public health, and a government that is prepared to jump into action at a moment’s notice,” Warren said. By: Reis Thebault 3:45 PM: German officials confirm three new coronavirus cases BERLIN — German authorities confirmed three new coronavirus cases in the southern state of Bavaria on Tuesday evening, increasing the total number of cases in Germany to four. The three new cases are connected to Germany’s first patient, a 33-year-old male, who was confirmed to have the virus Monday and is in a “medically good state,” according to regional health officials. Authorities did not immediately provide details on the three other infected individuals. All of them work for the same company, an automotive supplier in Bavaria. The initial patient was most likely infected there Jan. 21 by a Chinese business visitor from Shanghai, who had entered Germany on Jan. 19 and did not display symptoms caused by the virus during her stay in southern Germany, according to preliminary details provided


to evacuate around 700 of its nationals who have asked to come home. The government plans to send provide some 2 million masks and other medical relief items, including 200,000 items of protective clothing and goggles, on the planes, Yonhap news agency reported. By: Simon Denyer 8:30 AM: Countries move forward with evacuation plans BERLIN — Several countries continued to move forward with plans to evacuate their citizens from the coronavirus epicenter Wuhan. Among the nations pursuing or considering such plans are France, South Korea, Morocco, Britain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Russia, Reuters reported. French authorities said they will initially focus on the evacuation of citizens who are not showing any symptoms of the virus, with a flight from Wuhan expected to arrive back in France on Thursday. The second flight for infected citizens has yet to be scheduled. In neighboring Germany, the Der Spiegel magazine reported that at least one military aircraft was expected to leave for Wuhan later this week to evacuate German citizens. The plans were not officially confirmed and the German Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. British authorities were still finalizing their own plans, too. Via its Twitter account, the British embassy in Beijing urged British nationals in Hubei province willing to leave the region to call a 24/7 hotline before 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The British government had previously faced pressure to enact a plan. The opposition Labour Party’s Emily Thornberry accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of “not doing whatever it takes to protect our citizens from harm,” according to the Evening Standard newspaper on Monday. By: Rick Noack 7:30 AM: Chinese embassy in Copenhagen demands apology over coronavirus cartoon BERLIN — The Chinese embassy in Denmark has demanded an apology over a coronavirus cartoon published in one of the country’s highest-circulation newspapers, Jyllands-Posten. The cartoon showed a Chinese flag with what appeared to represent five coronavirus particles instead of the five typical yellow stars. The illustration — published by the same paper that drew international attention with the satirical Muhammad cartoons in 2005 that sparked rioting across the Middle East — struck a nerve with Chinese officials in Denmark. In a release, a spokesperson for the embassy called the cartoon “an insult to China” that “hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.” “Without any sympathy and empathy, it has crossed the bottom line of civilized society and