This year’s unsolicited seed scare highlights the work of legitimate seed growers

vigor. The others are F1 hybrids, produced by crossing two designated parent plants. The hybrid grows into a plant with desired traits, but its own seed is genetically variable, so to keep the strain going, the original cross must be repeated each season. For plants such as tomatoes and peppers, that must be done by hand, a truly laborious task, especially if the flower has to have its pollen parts removed first to avoid self-fertilization. This is one reason such seed is grown in global regions where labor costs are lower. Tim Butcher manages 1,000 acres of broccoli and onion seed production in Yuma, Ariz., for Priority Seed Production and is a contract grower for more than 35 seed companies from around the world, including Johnny’s. The seed company typically supplies the grower with stock seed. For hybrids, that means furnishing both parent lines. Butcher plants alternate rows of each parent and then lets honeybees do the pollination. This is not as simple as it appears. If one parent blooms later, or earlier, than the other, then each must be planted at different times, so they flower simultaneously. Another burden is that desired varieties are isolated so that they are not accidentally pollinated with an unwanted pollen parent. Honeybees can fly up to three miles from their hives and contaminate the genetic purity of a desired variety, which is why Gettle can only isolate five of his catalogue’s 20 squash varieties on his farm and contracts out the growing of the others. In his operation — itself a network of contracted farms — Butcher has a detailed digital map designed to pinpoint the location of each crop to avoid planting similar varieties too close. All of these measures come down to preserving the integrity and the identity of the seed. There is one other skill the seed farmer must have: knowing when to harvest, which is after the seed ripens but before the mother plant scatters it to the four winds. Some plants test that skill to its limit. For Butcher, one of the trickiest is the beautiful, fragrant sweet pea, with its garlands of flowers. Once the seeds are ripe, the pods are ready to split and eject their cargo. “You can hear these pods popping, and you know you’re losing the seed,” he said. “It’s a joy to grow but one of my hardest crops.” @adrian_higgins on Twitter


Brooks Koepka withdraws from U.S. Open because of injuries

Brooks Koepka announced Wednesday that he will be skipping this year’s U.S. Open because of knee and hip injuries that have plagued him throughout 2020. Koepka entered 2020 as the sport’s most dominant golfer on its biggest stages, having won four of the previous 10 majors and finishing no worse than a tie for sixth in four others (he’s won two of the past three U.S. Opens and finished second at the other). But he went winless this year, with more missed cuts (four) than top 10 finishes (two), and did not take part in the season-ending FedEx Cup playoff tournaments because of the injuries. “This is physical,” Koepka said after missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship in August, his most recent tournament. “I know how to do it, I can do it. I just physically can’t do it.” Koepka had a stem-cell procedure last September to relieve pain caused by a partially torn patella tendon and then reaggravated the injury after slipping on wet concrete during an October tournament in South Korea. He took four months off from competitive golf and has yet to regain the dominance he once showed. This year’s U.S. Open, which was postponed from its usual Fathers Day weekend slot on the calendar by the novel coronavirus pandemic, starts Sept. 17 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y. The Masters, also postponed because of the pandemic, is set for Nov. 12-15, with Koepka having qualified for a spot if he’s healthy. Read more: An Olympic gold medalist said she was ‘brave’ for not wearing a mask. It was not well-received. White House threats could put U.S. Olympic athletes in middle of anti-doping funding fight Tokyo Olympics organizers say Games can proceed without a coronavirus vaccine NFL football during a pandemic promises to look sort of similar and yet radically different


In ongoing debate over Fed’s Main Street program, lawmakers reach little consensus

Lawmakers on a top banking panel largely agree that the Federal Reserve’s Main Street lending program has fallen short. But they’re debating whether or how to change the rules and allow the Fed to make more, albeit riskier, loans to struggling businesses. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Wednesday, policymakers differed over whether the Main Street program can be strengthened with a new structure and relaxed loan terms, or if more direct aid from Congress is needed to help companies fighting for survival during the pandemic. As of last Thursday, the Main Street lending program had completed $1.2 billion in loans, just a fraction of the $600 billion pot. “I am still concerned that incorporating widespread restrictions in these facilities could render the facilities ineffective and leave businesses and their employees without critical resources they desperately need,” said Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the Banking Committee. The program could have wider reach if the Fed bought 100 percent of all Main Street loans from banks, instead of 95 percent, according to Jeffrey D. DeBoer, president of the Real Estate Roundtable, and Hal S. Scott, president of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, who testified at the hearing. Since the current structure leaves banks with some skin in the game, many lenders have shied away from making riskier deals. DeBoer and Scott also recommended that companies should be given a longer timeline before having to pay back the loans. “The current approach has been tried and found wanting,” Scott said. Lawmakers also highlighted trouble in the commercial real estate industry, which has taken a beating from lockdown measures and rent deferrals. The Main Street program’s restrictive terms have made it hard for commercial real estate companies to get help, DeBoer said, which has rippling consequences for the broader economy, from jobs to housing to state and local taxes. A core issue is how much risk the Fed and Treasury Department can take under the Cares Act, since any losses are ultimately covered by taxpayers. In an interview last week, Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said that is “completely appropriate” to want to limit the amount of risk to protect taxpayer dollars. But any number of rules on the terms sheet could be relaxed to expand the program’s reach, Rosengren said. “It’s important for Congress to make clear how much risk they want,” Rosengren told


Beijing blasts Australia’s search of Chinese state media employees’ homes

Australian officials recently searched the homes of four Chinese journalists, China’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, a day after two Australian reporters fled China over safety concerns amid a public breakdown in the two countries’ already tense relations. “As we understand, the Australian side hasn’t provided any reasonable explanation so far for the searches, and hasn’t returned all the seized items to our journalists,” China Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a routine news conference. Zhao accused Australia of blatantly violating the interests of Chinese journalists in the searches in June, causing severe harm to the mental health of those reporters and their families. He said laptops, cellphones and children’s toys were seized from the employees of state-run Xinhua News Agency, China Media Group and China News Service. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Wednesday that those raids were part of an Australian investigation into an alleged foreign interference plot involving the New South Wales state Parliament. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Beijing’s vitriol against Australia appeared to be a defense for its own interrogations of two Australian journalists days earlier, prompting their dramatic flight from Beijing, and its detention of a prominent Australian TV anchor in China over the summer for murky reasons. Australian authorities were notified in mid-August that Cheng Lei, an Australian TV anchor working for China’s state-run China Global Television Network, had been detained. Beijing announced on Tuesday that she was suspected of endangering China’s national security, without providing details. Last week, Bill Birtles, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s correspondent in Beijing, and Michael Smith, the Australian Financial Review’s correspondent in Shanghai, received visits from state security officers who told them they could no longer leave China. They sought shelter in Australian diplomatic compounds and arrived home in Australia on Tuesday after Birtles was interrogated by security officers about Cheng, he later recounted. Zhao denied that these recent events were retribution for Australia’s raids on the Chinese journalists’ homes. “I believe these are two different things, and we do not have to over-interpret this,” he said. The departure of Birtles and Smith left Australian media organizations without foreign correspondents in China for the first time in decades. Several Australian nationals remain working in Beijing for non-Australian media companies. The tensions add to the rapid breakdown in relations between China and Australia over the U.S.


Delayed trials, home detention and hundreds of dollars in ankle-monitoring costs

back to the jail where the corona is.” An attorney for the home-detention company says the firm has never sent someone to jail for missing a payment. Still, the situation has alarmed public defenders in Baltimore and elsewhere. They are gathering names of people awaiting trial on private home detention. The names will be submitted to the courts with a request that judges prioritize these cases once jury trials resume, said Marianne Lima, who oversees pretrial litigation for the city’s public defender office. Jury trials are scheduled to resume statewide Oct. 5. Hundreds of people remain on private home detention in Baltimore alone, Lima said. The companies charge them anywhere from $11 to $17 a day. “Their business is booming,” she said. “There are a lot of people who can’t pay who just aren’t informing their attorneys because they’re terrified of going back to jail.” The Maryland Senate’s judicial committee held meetings in May to consider problems the virus has caused the criminal justice system. The senators issued a report with recommendations, including urging state and local governments to cover fees for home monitoring. They wrote that the fees cause “unnecessary hardship.” State Sen. Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore City) serves on the committee and says she hasn’t heard yet whether any jurisdictions would adopt the recommendation. “Making sure that cost is not a barrier to pretrial freedom is essential,” she said. State law generally requires a defendant to be tried within 180 days, but that has been suspended amid the virus, frustrating defense attorneys who watch their clients sitting in jail or paying for home detention month after month. “When someone is put on home detention right now, it’s really a sentence to an indefinite trial date,” said Matthew Zernhelt, legal director for the nonprofit group Baltimore Action Legal Team, or BALT, which pays home monitoring fees for about 100 people. “They’re paying indefinitely, or they’re sitting in jail in COVID conditions.” Still, there aren’t easy solutions. Other people have expressed fears about returning to a crowded courtroom. Cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Baltimore Circuit Court; at least two sheriff’s deputies contracted the virus. In announcing plans to unionize, public defenders said they worried about returning to a courtroom and exposing themselves to the virus. The U.S. District Court in Baltimore resumed jury trials Monday, with a judge wearing a face shield on the bench. In Maryland,


Boris Johnson threatens to override Brexit deal. E.U. says that would break international law.

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government on Wednesday threatened to override elements of the Brexit withdrawal agreement painfully negotiated with the European Union, a move that E.U. leaders charged — and a British minister acknowledged — could breach international law. The proposed legislation could amount to a negotiating tactic as London and Brussels try to hash out a permanent trade deal, to take effect when an 11-month transition period ends in December. It could also sour Britain’s relationship with its closest European allies, just when it needs them most, and increase the chances that the United Kingdom quits the E.U. without a trade deal in place, risking further economic turmoil in the midst of a pandemic. Senior E.U. leaders blasted the idea. “Very concerned about announcements from the British government on its intentions to breach the Withdrawal Agreement,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter. “This would break international law and undermines trust.” Other European officials confessed they were unsure how to interpret what was happening. “You know, the British and Boris Johnson in particular are always in a bluffing strategy. We should remain calm, but we need to be prepared,” French Trade Minister Franck Riester told France’s BFM Business radio on Wednesday. “Because, in the eventuality of a no-deal, we must be absolutely prepared for the consequences, which will be difficult.” When Brandon Lewis, who serves in Johnson’s cabinet as the minister for Northern Ireland, was asked whether the proposed legislation would breach international law, he conceded that it would, in “a very specific and limited way.” The proposed legislation introduced Wednesday in Parliament could unravel protections previously agreed upon by Britain and Europe to safeguard peace in Northern Ireland. The bill would allow Britain to forgo requirements for inspections and paperwork for goods shipped across the Irish Sea from Northern Ireland to other parts of the United Kingdom. It would also allow Britain to set its own rules for providing targeted state aid to economic sectors in Northern Ireland, possibly undermining European demands for “level playing fields.” The issue of how to manage the border between the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the European Union, and Northern Ireland, which will leave the E.U. along with the rest of the United Kingdom, has been one of the most vexing in the long Brexit saga. Downing Street said the legislation, called the Internal Market


African countries can fight coronavirus better when citizens encourage one another

By early September, Africa had recorded more than 1.25 million covid-19 cases. The actual count is probably significantly higher, given low testing volumes in a number of countries. One recent news report details a covid-19 “blind spot” in sub-Saharan Africa, where little data are available, echoing other concerns Africa could become the new epicenter of the pandemic. When the pandemic spread to the continent, public health officials in Africa drew on their expertise in containing previous outbreaks such as Ebola. Many moved quickly to impose restrictions to contain and mitigate the disease’s spread. But by early May, leaders began lifting the curfews and lockdowns. This means governments rely on citizens to comply with health directives like social distancing and sanitation measures. Counting on individuals Our online study captures a sample of 2,814 social media users. Similar to other studies of social media users, our sample is more male, more educated and more urban than the general population in these countries. While not nationally representative, our sample provides insights about individuals who can afford smartphones and Internet access, which means they are more likely to have greater access to information. Compared to lower-income individuals, this group would be more likely to be able to afford masks and food delivery and have space to socially distance from their neighbors. These three countries varied in the number of covid-19 cases and in their governments’ response to the pandemic, as the figure shows. Our survey revealed participants are generally well-informed about both the recommended health guidelines and the status of the epidemic within their country’s borders. When asked to report the total number of domestic covid-19 cases, 90 percent of respondents in Uganda and Kenya and 75 percent in Nigeria provided an answer within 10 percent of the official case count at the time. More than 80 percent of respondents across all three countries report maintaining a distance of 1 to 2 meters (about 3 to 6 feet) from others is a way to reduce the spread of the virus. Respondents also demonstrated widespread awareness of other mitigation strategies such as frequent handwashing and wearing a mask. At the time of the survey, few believed rumors about false ways to avoid transmission, including eating garlic and sleeping under a mosquito net. Despite awareness of health guidelines, a substantial share of respondents were unable or unwilling to practice social distancing, even during lockdowns. In Uganda,


be able to afford masks and food delivery and have space to socially distance from their neighbors. These three countries varied in the number of covid-19 cases and in their governments’ response to the pandemic, as the figure shows. Our survey revealed participants are generally well-informed about both the recommended health guidelines and the status of the epidemic within their country’s borders. When asked to report the total number of domestic covid-19 cases, 90 percent of respondents in Uganda and Kenya and 75 percent in Nigeria provided an answer within 10 percent of the official case count at the time. More than 80 percent of respondents across all three countries report maintaining a distance of 1 to 2 meters (about 3 to 6 feet) from others is a way to reduce the spread of the virus. Respondents also demonstrated widespread awareness of other mitigation strategies such as frequent handwashing and wearing a mask. At the time of the survey, few believed rumors about false ways to avoid transmission, including eating garlic and sleeping under a mosquito net. Despite awareness of health guidelines, a substantial share of respondents were unable or unwilling to practice social distancing, even during lockdowns. In Uganda, which was under a nationwide lockdown at the time of the survey, 43 percent of respondents had been within 6 feet of individuals outside their household that day. This share was only slightly higher in Kenya (46 percent), where no lockdown measure was in place. In Nigeria, 29 percent of participants in locked-down states were not practicing physical distancing, compared to 46 percent living in states not under lockdown. A majority of respondents supported government lockdown policies, though support was lower in Kenya and Nigeria (50 percent and 53 percent support, respectively), than in Uganda, where three-quarters of respondents supported the lockdown. Health officials worldwide have stressed reducing the spread of covid-19 requires everyone to cooperate for the good of the community. However, encouraging compliance may be difficult if people don’t believe their fellow citizens support good health behaviors and policies. We find respondents underestimated other people’s support for a lockdown policy by an average of 6 percentage points in Kenya, by 8 percentage points in Nigeria, and by 21 percentage points in Uganda. Our study suggests individuals support lockdown policies and are more observant of health measures than they perceive others to be. That is, they underestimate public support


requires everyone to cooperate for the good of the community. However, encouraging compliance may be difficult if people don’t believe their fellow citizens support good health behaviors and policies. We find respondents underestimated other people’s support for a lockdown policy by an average of 6 percentage points in Kenya, by 8 percentage points in Nigeria, and by 21 percentage points in Uganda. Our study suggests individuals support lockdown policies and are more observant of health measures than they perceive others to be. That is, they underestimate public support for these important health policies. In classic collective action problems, like energy conservation — where the outcome of a group is better off if everyone works together, even if at a personal cost — you are less likely to contribute to the greater good if you believe others will not do so. Reinforcing the collective narrative about everyone working together to stem the covid-19 pandemic might be one approach to broaden support for public health policies. In sub-Saharan Africa, health authorities have used peer-to-peer communication to promote health behaviors and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Interpersonal appeals may help inform individuals, personalize risks, and increase compliance with health policies. More than half of our survey participants were willing to write an anonymous public message to their compatriots encouraging physical distancing. Between 32 and 53 percent of these messages included an appeal for people to work together to end the spread of the virus. Our research suggests public appeals from fellow citizens — for example in the form of WhatsApp messages, public posts or widespread peer-to-peer campaigns — might encourage more people to comply with pandemic mitigation strategies. Why? These messages show others there is broad public support for covid-19 health policies. They demonstrate friends, family, neighbors and fellow citizens are willing to do what it takes to stop the coronavirus, even if personally costly. These insights about human attitudes and behavior could travel well beyond the three countries in our study. Clara Bicalho Melina R. Platas Leah R. Rosenzweig Read more: The coronavirus is about to hit Africa. Here are the big challenges. The World Bank’s 2017 pandemic response fund isn’t working How can African governments persuade citizens to follow coronavirus guidelines? Many Africans distrust their governments. How will that affect their coronavirus response? Covid-19 is accelerating multilateralism in Africa Here’s why Ebola has been so hard to contain in Eastern Congo


Near birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., a predominantly Black nursing home tries to heal after outbreak

does not have data for specific nursing homes, spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said. The lack of information has frustrated some local leaders. “I have no doubt that there is a disparity,” said Tony Marshall, president of the Georgia Health Care Association, which represents the state’s long-term care providers. “I just don’t have the information to be able to support [that] one way or the other. That’s the limitation of the data that’s made available.” State Rep. Karen Bennett (D), chairwoman of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, said she has urged the state to collect and release demographic data on coronavirus cases in nursing homes. “The health and protection of our constituents, that’s number one,” she said. “We just want to continue to have some equitable solution for protection.” In their July 15 letter to CMS and the CDC, Warren, Casey, Murray and Wyden urged the federal government to begin to collect and release demographic data, including for race, ethnicity, age, sex, primary language and disability status, on nursing home residents and employees sickened by the virus. “Such information is necessary to accurately understand and mitigate the impact of this crisis and appropriately direct resources,” the lawmakers wrote. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deadly impact on nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and all evidence indicates that that impact has been disproportionately borne by people of color.” The letter cited findings by University of Chicago researcher R. Tamara Konetzka, who told the Senate Special Committee on Aging in May that there was a “strong and consistent” relationship between race and the likelihood of coronavirus cases and deaths in nursing homes. Konetzka originally looked at 12 states, determining the relationship between outbreaks and such factors as nursing home quality. Among other things, Konetzka found that nursing homes with the highest percentage of non-White residents were twice as likely to have coronavirus cases and deaths. In a subsequent national analysis, she said she found that race was highly correlated with where the virus was circulating. “All of those effects were just dwarfed by the race effect in our analysis because race is a good proxy for where the virus is circulating,” Konetzka told The Post. As the United States pushes to reopen schools and businesses, Georgia Council on Aging Executive Director Kathy Floyd said she is concerned about how Black communities whose elderly residents have been particularly affected by the coronavirus will


An Olympic gold medalist said she was ‘brave’ for not wearing a mask. It was not well-received.

began her Sunday post by writing that while her “intention is NEVER to hurt or disrespect,” she was aware she was about to “upset some people.” A number comments by other Instagram users proved her correct, as Walsh Jennings was roundly criticized, although she also received some messages of support. “Mask wearing has NOTHING to do with YOUR freedom but rather protecting others,” wrote sports photographer Donald Miralle. “Even if there’s a 1% chance it can help the spread or save a life why wouldn’t you do it? It’s really not that hard, just a small inconvenience ONLY when you’re indoors in public places. “Unfortunately using your platform to broadcast this selfish viewpoint is disrespectful and hurtful towards the larger population.” The most decorated beach volleyball player in Olympic history, Walsh Jennings was looking for a fifth medal this year but has reset her sights to 2021 after organizers of the Tokyo Olympics postponed the Games because of the pandemic. In March, she described that as “the most rational and most thoughtful decision you could make for all of the stakeholders.” However, Walsh Jennings’s comments Sunday suggested that she thought things had gone too far. She described her mask-less visit to a store, which garnered her glares and a “snarky comment” from another shopper, as “incredibly uncomfortable (shockingly so).” “I was tempted to just say F it many times and put my mask on,” she wrote. “I didn’t. It was hard. I feel a bit braver for having chosen to live the discomfort. … I do not want to be compelled to do things I do not believe in because it makes others feel better." Jennifer Kessy, a former professional beach volleyball player who won an Olympic silver medal in 2012, replied by writing: “You have traveled the world enough to know what freedom is and isn’t. I played you in the finals of a tournament in Dubai. Women were not even allowed in the stadium, show their face in public, and so many other atrocities we can’t even begin to imagine. That isn’t FREEDOM. Just to be wearing a mask isn’t taking your freedom. You can go anywhere you want, buy what you want, eat healthy real food, love who you want, access social media, own a home, and all you need to do is WEAR A MASK. To me this sounds like Freedom.” When she returned to Instagram


For binational couples divided by the coronavirus, Croatia offers a rare rendezvous

Croatia’s reputation as a travel destination is built around its Adriatic coastlines and rich history. But there is a subset of travelers attracted to the country for a new reason: the relative ease with which binational couples, divided by pandemic travel bans, can reunite there. After “six months of nightmares trying to meet each other,” Israeli Dana Zigdon, 34, was able to reconnect with her Portuguese fiance in Croatia. “You ask all of the ambassadors to help you, and everyone says, ‘no,’ ” she said, speaking by phone earlier in September from a bar in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital. “It feels like over here that there’s no virus.” Like countless couples and families around the world, Zigdon and her fiance, Pedro Bourgard, 32, had no inkling of the global crisis they would face when they parted ways in early March. Days before they were set to reconvene later that month, the coronavirus crisis grounded international travel and countries shut their borders. Some people wound up stuck wherever they happened to be. Nearly six months later, many lives revolve around calls with loved ones stranded across continents and divided by time zones. On Facebook pages like Love Is Not Tourism and Couples Separated by Travel Bans, people share experiences and keep a constant eye out for news of any changes in travel restrictions. Amid the chaos, Croatia has offered a lifeline: As of early June, the country of 4.2 million people is open to nearly all foreign nationals, if they have tested negative for the novel coronavirus within 48 hours. Travelers on tourist visas must also provide a basic itinerary. E.U. citizens can enter without any restrictions. Rendezvous in Croatia are possible because it is part of the European Union but not the Schengen Area, so it is not subject to the same travel restrictions as most other countries on the continent. Croatia has also maintained a relatively low coronavirus count — around 12,600 confirmed infections and 206 related deaths since late February. Tourism is down some 60 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Like elsewhere in Europe, however, virus numbers have begun to creep up. Some European government have put Croatia on lists of countries to which they no longer recommend travel, or require quarantines for returning travelers. On Saturday, several thousand people gathered in Zagreb to protest coronavirus-related restrictions, such as face mask requirements and limits


Inside the world of the Workampers, who choose life on the road and piecemeal employment over conformity

They are radical downsizers, risk takers, irrepressible nomads. They roam the country in RVs and vans, alighting at RV parks, campsites and national parks long enough to take temporary gigs. They are called Workampers. Many are fleeing conformity and willing to exchange fixed addresses and material goods for a sense of freedom. Amid the economic devastation of a pandemic-ravaged America, where secure jobs are increasingly scarce, it would not be surprising to find the Workamper lifestyle become one of necessity — as opposed to the lifestyle choice it has largely been. Workampers are willing to toil for sustenance wages, becoming gate guards at Texas oil fields, hiring on at amusement parks, taking gigs at Amazon warehouses through its CamperForce program (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post). Sometimes their only compensation for work is a free site to park in, as well as hookups for water and electricity. “You got to park your ego at the door when you take some of these jobs,” says 68-year-old Bob Frechette, a former nursing home administrator. Brenda Curtis knows that. The 56-year-old works at an RV park in housekeeping, which includes a lot of bathroom cleaning, instead of paying site rent. “I don’t make a lot of money,” she says, “but I don’t need a lot of money.” It is not uncommon to find single female Workampers. “When I started traveling,” says Lysianne Evans, 62, a former small-business accountant, “a lot of women were like, ‘Jeez, aren’t you worried? Aren’t you scared to be traveling by yourself?’ I’m like, ‘No, that’s what my gun is for.’ ” Like the hippies and train-hoppers of yore, this subculture shuns corporate or otherwise confining lifestyles. “One of the things about Workamping is that we’ll work less,” says 61-year-old Dale Greer, who had been in plastics manufacturing. “We want to be able to see things and take the time to do so. In today’s society it just seems like you’re always busy, you’re always working. You’re always rushing to get to one place, and everything’s like fast food, fast everything, fast information.” Economically, the covid-19 pandemic has affected Workamping in ways that reflect the wider population. RV parks have closed. Jobs have been canceled. But those who have already spurned costly, debt-laden lifestyles may find it easier to adjust to greater privations. It is, after all, a way of life by choice. As Allison Rogers,


‘Decoupling’ the U.S. from China would backfire

putting in massive tariffs.” China certainly has made big advances in technology and military weapons over the past decade. But some leading experts say the claim that China is ahead on key technologies, such as artificial intelligence, is flat wrong. And they warn that policies that seek a radical break between the U.S. and Chinese economies, as Trump implies, could backfire. “China is closing the gap in technology, but the U.S. can widen its lead if it adopts the right policies,” argues Jason Matheny, a former director of IARPA, the intelligence community’s in-house think tank. Matheny is director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University and contributed to a recent review of technology issues for the Working Group on Science and Technology in U.S.-China Relations, sponsored by the University of California at San Diego and the Asia Society. Peter Cowhey Studies from around the world document the U.S. advantage over China in artificial intelligence, perhaps the most important of the emerging technologies. A study published in August 2019 by the Center for Data Innovation, a research institute based in Washington and Brussels, found that “despite China’s bold AI initiative, the United States still leads in absolute terms.” The United States scored first in four of the study’s six key metrics: talent, research, development and hardware. China led in the other two, adoption of AI technology and access to data that feeds it. Similarly, an AI index published last December by the global think tank Tortoise ranked the United States first overall, and the leader in talent, infrastructure, research and commercial activity. A study published in 2018 by Oxford University researcher Jeffrey Ding measured countries’ AI capabilities. China’s score was about half that of the United States. The United States leads the race because it’s the place where the brightest minds want to study, work and live. A report published in June by the Paulson Institute found that the United States “has a substantial lead over all other countries in top-tier AI researchers,” with nearly 60 percent working for American companies and universities. China is the biggest source of these top-tier engineers, but more than half of them remain in the United States. Even in areas where China appears to be leading the United States, such as publication of AI papers and registration of patents, experts are skeptical. “China’s academic system incentivizes researchers to produce both papers


director of IARPA, the intelligence community’s in-house think tank. Matheny is director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University and contributed to a recent review of technology issues for the Working Group on Science and Technology in U.S.-China Relations, sponsored by the University of California at San Diego and the Asia Society. Peter Cowhey Studies from around the world document the U.S. advantage over China in artificial intelligence, perhaps the most important of the emerging technologies. A study published in August 2019 by the Center for Data Innovation, a research institute based in Washington and Brussels, found that “despite China’s bold AI initiative, the United States still leads in absolute terms.” The United States scored first in four of the study’s six key metrics: talent, research, development and hardware. China led in the other two, adoption of AI technology and access to data that feeds it. Similarly, an AI index published last December by the global think tank Tortoise ranked the United States first overall, and the leader in talent, infrastructure, research and commercial activity. A study published in 2018 by Oxford University researcher Jeffrey Ding measured countries’ AI capabilities. China’s score was about half that of the United States. The United States leads the race because it’s the place where the brightest minds want to study, work and live. A report published in June by the Paulson Institute found that the United States “has a substantial lead over all other countries in top-tier AI researchers,” with nearly 60 percent working for American companies and universities. China is the biggest source of these top-tier engineers, but more than half of them remain in the United States. Even in areas where China appears to be leading the United States, such as publication of AI papers and registration of patents, experts are skeptical. “China’s academic system incentivizes researchers to produce both papers and patent applications in large volumes, even when the quality is low,” Matheny argued in an interview. Richard J. Danzig The United States and China have an increasingly competitive relationship, but they need each other, too, like conjoined twins. Hasty attempts at separation could harm them both. Open research made U.S. technology great; making it more difficult for the best brains to live and work here would be folly. Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.


Trump let Saudi Arabia get away with murder. Could Biden hold MBS accountable?

for a music festival. In the earlier quarter of 2020, Saudi Arabia bought billions of dollars worth of shares in U.S. companies, including Facebook, Walt Disney, Carnival and Live Nation. In June, Amazon launched a shopping website in Saudi Arabia. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Post.) Getting away with murder Saudi-style means business deals have been heating up, just as Jamal’s case grows cold. The way the Saudis have handled the case sends a frightening message to many of the Saudi reformers who are languishing — and in some cases dying — in Saudi Arabia’s jails. Earlier this year, the dissident and intellectual Abdullah al-Hamid, a man Jamal called the “Nelson Mandela of Saudi Arabia” for his commitment to democratic reforms and freedoms, died in a Saudi prison. Saleh al-Shehi, another Saudi columnist and friend of Jamal’s, died this year of mysterious circumstances after his release from a Saudi prison. The women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul remains in a Saudi jail two years after her detention, and the influential Saudi cleric Salman al-Awda remains on the Saudi equivalent of death row for criticizing the monarchy. Jamal wrote in defense of all these figures, and it is imperative that their cases, and those of so many others, should not be forgotten. There may still be hope to hold Saudi Arabia accountable. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said during a debate last year that he believed Khashoggi was murdered on the orders of MBS, adding that there was “little social redeeming value in the present government.” Biden added he would “make it very clear we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them, we were going to, in fact, make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.” It’s up to Americans, and fellow journalists, to remind Biden of that promise. It may be the best way to prevent MBS from letting the curtain close on Jamal’s murder and his silencing of so many other Saudi human rights defenders. Read more: The Post’s View: The Khashoggi verdict is meant to provide a fig leaf. Democratic leaders shouldn’t take it. The Post’s View: A chilling new chapter of alleged perfidy by the Saudi crown prince Read Jamal Khashoggi’s columns for The Washington Post Ghada Oueiss: I’m a female journalist in the Middle East. I won’t be silenced by online attacks.


These tropical islands welcome tourists — if they can prove they’ve recovered from coronavirus

The coronavirus pandemic continues to tear through Brazil, but one of its most stunning tourist destinations — the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha — is opening to travelers again. The catch: Visitors must prove they have been infected with the novel coronavirus. Nestled in the south Atlantic, 220 miles off Brazil’s northeastern coast, the string of 21 islands and islets attracts throngs of local and international tourists each year, enchanted by the turquoise waters, golden-sand beaches and biodiversity. When the pandemic hit in March, the islands closed their doors to foreign visitors and implemented strict measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Fernando de Noronha, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, has now decided to gradually reopen to tourism, but only to those who can certify they have been infected with the virus and recovered. Since the reopening began last week, officials on the eponymous main island have required visitors to show a positive antibody test, taken within 90 days before arrival, or a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, done with a nose and throat swab, from at least 20 days ahead of their trip. Results from rapid coronavirus tests, which have had higher error rates, are not accepted, according to island officials. The unorthodox strategy could lead to new outbreaks at the idyllic destination. The islands have largely controlled the pandemic so far and have avoided deaths by enforcing strict rules — a sharp contrast with the rest of Brazil. There is also the risk of recovered patients contracting the virus on the islands and spreading it elsewhere in the country. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has contracted the coronavirus himself, has repeatedly downplayed the health risks posed by the coronavirus, even as cases and deaths have swept the country. The country now has one of the worst outbreaks in the world: more than 126,000 dead and 4.1 million infected. In this context, the price of the experiment might prove too high. But local authorities have argued that the unconventional approach is based on science and thus is the safest way to allow for economic recovery without putting the island at risk. Health experts have explicitly warned that antibodies do not definitely guarantee immunity. Recent cases of reinfection in Hong Kong, the United States and Europe add to the mixed evidence and divided expert opinions about potential immunity. Noronha’s officials say they are following strict measures


Olympic track champion loses final appeal of rule forcing her to lower testosterone levels

evidence submitted by the parties, such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF’s aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics,” the court said in its executive summary. On Tuesday, the Swiss Federal Tribunal ruled CAS “had the right to uphold the conditions of participation issued for female athletes with the genetic variant ‘46 XY DSD’ in order to guarantee fair competition for certain running disciplines in female athletics.” Semenya’s legal representatives said the IAAF rule is overly invasive to the South African runner because it requires her to submit to unneeded medical procedures to compete. “The Swiss Court dismissed the appeal despite finding that the World Athletics regulations seriously violate Caster’s physical integrity because the required hormonal drug intervention is not medically indicated, has negative health effects and is not based on the athlete’s free consent,” the statement from the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm read. In a statement, World Athletics said it welcomed the ruling. “Throughout this long battle, World Athletics has always maintained that its regulations are lawful and legitimate, and that they represent a fair, necessary and proportionate means of ensuring the rights of all female athletes to participate on fair and equal terms,” it added. “It has rejected the suggestion that they infringe any athlete’s human rights, including the right to dignity and the right to bodily integrity. We are very pleased that the highest court in Switzerland has now joined with the highest court in sport in endorsing World Athletics’ arguments.” Semenya, who won gold in the 800 meters at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and also has three world championships in the event, has refused to submit to procedures that would lower her testosterone. In March, she announced she would be switching to the 200 meters to circumvent the IAAF rule and compete at the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to 2021 by the novel coronavirus pandemic. According to the IAAF website, Semenya’s personal-best time in the 200 meters is 23.81 seconds, about a second slower than the Olympic qualifying standard. Read more: Serena Williams overcomes her recent past, beats Maria Sakkari in U.S. Open’s fourth round Bold NFL predictions: Patriots will miss the playoffs; Philip Rivers will contend for MVP Colleges should offer a major in sports. It could solve some problems. A Texas high school faces criticism after its Cotton Pickers team name gains attention


Pandemic seems to be leveling off in U.S., but numbers remain troublingly high, experts say

The coronavirus pandemic appears to be leveling off in most of the United States, with new cases, deaths and hospitalizations all down over the past week, but the plateau leaves the country with high and persistent infection numbers and worries of a post-Labor Day surge in some areas. The number of new cases reported daily peaked above 70,000 in July and has been falling since. The decline now seems to be slowing, with the daily number hovering near 40,000 for more than a week, a review of nationwide data showed Tuesday. That is one sign that the infection may be leveling off. Although that is good news, the numbers suggest continued high levels of infection and a long road ahead, particularly as cold weather and the flu season approach. Without a vaccine or a major advance in treatment, significant reductions in new cases would probably require voluntary or mandated changes in behavior that experts say are unlikely six months into the public health crisis. Although the pandemic has meant the loss of jobs, wages, schooling and more along with lost lives, large numbers of Americans have resumed many elements of their daily routines, and many still decline to wear masks or avoid crowds. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said he no longer thinks it makes sense to talk about “waves” of virus spread. Instead, he said, there will be spikes followed by plateaus. “This is just one big forest fire of coronavirus, and it will burn hot wherever there is human wood to burn,” he said. “If you don’t put the fire out completely, and then you walk away from it, it’s going to start burning again in days.” But instead of remaining vigilant, he said, a growing number of Midwesterners have begun to doubt the existence or severity of the virus. Cases in Minnesota traced to weddings and funerals are on the rise. “We have a very short-term memory as a population, in terms of what can happen in our communities,” he said. Anthony S. Fauci, the chief expert for infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health, warned in an interview that eight states were at risk of new spikes in cases: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. “It’s almost like whack-a-mole,” Fauci said of the rise in cases in the


Belt and alarming climbs in the Midwest. From Memorial Day weekend through the unofficial end of the season Monday, the number of Americans who died of covid-19 shot up from just under 100,000 to more than 186,000, according to data tracked by The Washington Post, as infections nearly quadrupled to upward of 6.2 million. As happened in the Sun Belt, people in their 20s and 30s are driving the surge in the Midwest; hospitalizations and deaths have yet to rise precipitously. In the South it took several weeks for those younger and healthier people to begin infecting an older and more vulnerable population. Joshua Wynne, dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota, says that doesn’t have to happen again. “The history of other places makes us quite concerned,” he said, but “I do not think it’s a foregone conclusion that simply because we’ve seen an uptick in cases it’s going to necessarily lead to a dire outcome.” The key is whether, along with tamping down the spread among young people, officials can identify and quarantine them in time. North Dakota had been spared a large outbreak for months. That made it an attractive destination for vacationers, Wynne said, who may have brought the virus with them. Then college students returned to campuses — as well as parties and bars — and began fueling the rise. The state went from a few dozen cases a day in July to more than 350 on Friday. “Probably some of my fellow citizens let their guard down a bit since we had been doing so well for so long,” Wynne said. “We got a little lulled into a false sense of security.” An economic analysis published this week by a German nonprofit used cellphone data to estimate that a motorcycle rally that brought nearly half a million people to Sturgis, S.D., last month led to 266,796 new cases across the country. Health officials in South Dakota questioned that analysis in a news conference with reporters Tuesday. While “the risk of covid-19 does increase with the size of the gathering,” state epidemiologist Joshua Clayton said, the analysis “did not account for an already increasing case load” from reopening schools. The state has traced only 124 cases directly to attendance at the rally. But that number does not include people who were infected by someone who went to


Refugee camps have avoided the worst of the pandemic. That could be about to change.

For months, humanitarian organizations warned of a doomsday scenario: the novel coronavirus tearing through overcrowded camps for refugees and internally displaced people, where medical care and clean water are often scarce. At first, these fears did not materialize, although the true extent of the virus’s reach remains difficult to measure in places with limited testing. In March, as the virus spread around the world, camps and communities rife with displacement in Bangladesh, the Gaza Strip, Greece, Kenya, South Sudan, Syria and elsewhere imposed lockdowns and quarantines on arriving travelers. Many camps were already isolated by crises, which the pandemic compounded, and dependent on international aid, which it disrupted. In the meantime, the virus found its victims elsewhere. But that has begun to change. Nearly six months into the pandemic, advocates warn, the coronavirus has started to find new footholds in some camps, or in dangerous proximity, threatening some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. For the millions of people around the world displaced by economic collapse, violence and war, it is often impossible to follow practices such as social distancing, hand-washing and isolating those who are sick and most at risk. Last week, the Gaza Strip, one of the poorest and most densely populated places on Earth, reported its first official cases of community transmission. Within days, more than 250 covid-19 patients and four deaths were confirmed in the blockaded coastal enclave, where clean water, electricity and medical care are in critically short supply. Nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s roughly 2 million residents depend on international assistance after decades of conflict, and nearly 600,000 Palestinians still live in urban, largely slum-like refugee camps. The territory had previously recorded about 100 cases among quarantined travelers, amid rumors of unconfirmed community spread. On the Greek island of Lesbos, home to a massive camp for Europe-bound migrants, authorities on Wednesday confirmed the first case of infection: a 40-year-old asylum seeker. Cases on the camp’s doorstep had been climbing since the island’s capital, Mytilene, recorded its first infection on Aug. 12, said Caroline Willemen, who coordinates the Doctors Without Borders covid-19 response there. On Saturday, authorities tightened the island’s coronavirus measures. Just 10 miles from Mytilene, some 13,000 people live in Moria camp, which was built to house 3,000. The camp instated strict movement restrictions in February, and it tests and quarantines all new arrivals, some of whom have tested positive. But these measures


only go so far. “Sooner or later, someone who lives in Mytilene and works in the camp is going to bring [the virus] in,” Willemen said last week. In its density, she said, the camp is like “a festival that no one wants to be at” — and one that would be banned under Greece’s current virus-related restrictions. Meanwhile, northeastern Syria’s al-Hol refugee camp confirmed its first local coronavirus infection on Aug. 27, several weeks after three medical workers there tested positive. The northeast region had officially recorded 394 coronavirus cases as of Aug. 24. But tests are limited, and about half have come back positive — suggesting a much wider spread, said Will Turner, Doctors Without Borders’ emergency manager for Syria. The number of medical facilities in al-Hol has declined, from 24 in May to five in August, in part because of coronavirus-related cuts, Turner said. The camp houses more than 65,000 people, mainly women and children. In Syria’s war-ravaged northwest — the country’s last mainly rebel-held zone, where many residents have been displaced multiple times after years of fighting — testing and data are similarly scarce. Six weeks ago, the region’s first coronavirus patient, a doctor, was confirmed. Since then, infections have proliferated, half among medical staff, said Sherine Ibrahim, deputy director of the Care charity in Syria. “We were all quite surprised that we didn’t see this exploding earlier on,” said Misty Buswell, a Middle East regional director for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). “But I think now we are really starting to get to a tipping point.” In recent months, aid groups said donors by and large have shown less interest in funding covid-19 response work in places without major outbreaks, which has left groups pleading for resources to prevent potential catastrophes. In camps, the strategy from the start has been to assume that outbreaks are inevitable and prepare accordingly, said Mohamed El Montassir Hussein, the IRC’s Kenya country director. Since cases first emerged in Kenya in March, the country’s two main refugee camps, Kakuma and Dadaab, have been largely sealed off. Health-care staff, already dealing with seasonal malaria and cholera outbreaks, have worked to educate residents about the coronavirus, prepare isolation areas and bolster stockpiles of protective gear. Official numbers remain low: 76 cases in Kakuma and 44 in Dadaab as of Aug. 27, Hussein said. But testing remains minimal, and about 90 percent of


‘The 1918 flu is still with us’: The deadliest pandemic ever is still causing problems today

drawing the parallels “too closely.” There are similarities to draw between today’s pandemic and the influenza outbreak a hundred years ago. Both come from winged animals — one from birds and the other from bats. Both are respiratory viruses. Both led people to wear masks in public. Both forced cities and schools to shut down for periods of time. And, finally, in both cases, the country’s leaders exacerbated problems by ignoring the early warning signs. Despite all that, influenza viruses and coronaviruses are not the same. There’s very little someone can draw from influenza to then provide treatment for the infectious disease named covid-19, said Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “They’re really different viruses,” Offit added. Influenza is consistent and relatively quick when compared with the novel coronavirus. If you get exposed to the flu, you’ll start showing symptoms in one to four days after the infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it tends to take five days for those infected with SARS-CoV-2 to start showing symptoms of covid-19, but the timing can fluctuate from two days to two weeks. The novel coronavirus is not moving on the same time frame as the 1918 influenza, Greene told The Post. Everything is longer with the novel coronavirus — the symptoms, the sickness and even the long-term complications. Doctors are concerned covid-19 can lead to lasting cardiovascular complications. Then there are asymptomatic carriers of the disease. That one detail makes it harder to mitigate the spread of the virus by simply taking temperatures. Symptoms are not a be-all-end-all solution to tracking the disease. With that in mind, the novel coronavirus is acting more like polio, where those with mild cases don’t know they’re sick, Greene said. “It immediately raises a different set of problems for managing a disease,” Greene said. “One needs to relearn the way to think about who is dangerous, and that becomes, basically, everybody.” Recognizing both the similarities and differences to past pandemics can provide a “meaningful mirror” for the present, Greene added. The million-dollar question is: What can the 1918 influenza outbreak tell us about how our current pandemic may end? “The sad answer is not very much,” Markel said. “The operative word in this particular pandemic is ‘novel’ coronavirus. We’re learning as we go along, but we don’t really know that much.” Read more


Where can Americans travel to in the Caribbean?

As countries figure out how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, some have closed their borders to outside travel. Sometimes that’s a blanket ban on visitors, while for others the bans are origin country-specific. The United States is among countries targeted for bans due to increasing coronavirus cases. So where can Americans travel? These are the Caribbean destinations technically open for U.S. tourists. This list has been updated. The island of Anguilla began allowing applications for tourism visits on Aug. 21. Those who want to visit need to register and apply on the local tourism board’s website, providing their intended visit dates and personal information. A negative coronavirus test taken three to five days before arrival will be required to enter, as well as proof of international health insurance. Antigua and Barbuda opened it borders to international travelers on June 1. According to the country’s tourism website, “All arriving passengers will be monitored for COVID-19 for periods of up to 14 days in accordance with the directions of the Quarantine Authority and the Quarantine (COVID-19) Guidelines.” Visitors arriving by plane must show a negative covid-19 RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) test result, taken within seven days of their flight. Visitors arriving by sea have different quarantine guidelines issued by Port Health Authorities. Antigua and Barbuda health authorities may require travelers to take coronavirus tests at their hotel or other accommodation. Aruba The Bahamas has closed its borders to most U.S. visitors after a brief period of reopening. According to Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, “the situation here at home has already deteriorated since we began the reopening of our domestic economy,” he said. “It has deteriorated at an exponential rate since we reopened our international borders.” Barbados reopened its borders to international travel on July 12, and recently launched a program allowing visitors to stay on the Caribbean island visa-free for up to one year. Travelers from the United States must follow “high risk” category protocols, including taking a coronavirus test before or on arrival. Belize’s international airport will reopen on Oct. 1, after postponing its originally scheduled August reopening. According to the Belize tourism website, visitors will have to follow new entry protocols, including taking a coronavirus test within 72 hours of departure. According to the U.S. Consulate General, travel restrictions for Americans to the Caribbean Netherlands vary. Most U.S. airlines have canceled flights to Bonaire until at least August


Coronavirus’ impact on America’s nursing homes

The Washington Post is examining the deadly effects of the coronavirus on nursing home residents and workers including how regulators have responded, the impact of industry lobbying, nursing home chains with serious outbreaks, the toll on workers and the isolation that many nursing home residents have struggled with since the pandemic began. Below are selected stories detailing the pandemic’s impact on U.S. nursing homes and facilities for the elderly. Homes where a majority of residents are Black suffered higher death rates during the pandemic, Post analysis shows Nursing homes in the Sun Belt had months to prepare for rising coronavirus cases. They still weren’t ready. Nursing home companies accused of misusing federal money received hundreds of millions in pandemic relief. The ‘covid cocktail’: Inside a Pa. nursing home that gave some veterans hydroxychloroquine without covid testing. Immunity laws in many states shield nursing homes from covid-19 liability Major nursing home chain violated federal standards meant to stop spread of disease even after start of covid-19, records show How covid-19 spread through Maryland nursing homes We want to hear from you:


Coronavirus FAQ: Pandemic trackers, health advice, financial guidance and more

The coronavirus pandemic has produced, for many, an overwhelming overload of information and uncertainty: What’s happening in your state right now? How does this affect your finances? What kind of mask should you wear? Is restaurant takeout (really) safe? Here, The Washington Post Select app editors compiled the answers to those questions and more. Come back often and we’ll keep you updated. Our Graphics team is visualizing the virus on every level, from counties to countries. Get the latest updates, and see how you can help during the outbreak, below. Whether you’re young and fit or older and immunocompromised, coronavirus presents a frightening threat to Americans’ health. Experts shared with us when people should get tested, how the pathogen lingers and the best way to make yourself a face mask (because, yes, you really should wear one). The pandemic has led to record unemployment and a restless market in the U.S., with businesses suffering and some rent payments suddenly out of reach. If you need financial assistance, there are avenues. There’s no need to hoard beans, toilet paper or anything else, experts say. Being smart with your groceries and meal choices goes a long way — and, with the right precautions, delivery and takeout are perfectly safe. The CDC currently recommends that Americans avoid all nonessential international travel and it’s urging healthy caution with domestic travel, too. Here are some safe ways to get out and about. It’s not just our physical health that’s suffering; the isolation and stress are affecting our mental health and relationships, too. These strategies can help. Some healthy Americans have more time than they know what to do with. Others are homeschooling their children while working from home. Whether you need a way to pass a once-full Friday or just a reprieve from the mania, we’ve got you covered.


A local’s guide to Rome

and her partner, Domenico Cortese. The simple micro-bakery and restaurant may be one of the first sweet-and-savory brunch venues in the city. Guests come from around Rome for Wochner’s confections, including cinnamon twists, as well as homemade butter (made from kefir) and rye bread. Cortese, the mastermind behind dinner and lunch, makes daily sandwiches that are chef’s choice, with mustard aioli and Wochner’s sourdough. BTW: Label: Breakfast address: Marigold, Via Giovanni da Empoli 37, Rome latlng: phone: 011-39-06-8772-5679 website: https://marigoldroma.com/ twitter: instagram: marigold_roma This local market’s 100-plus vendors (produce, cheese, meat, fish, specialty foods, housewares) make it a great community hangout. Lunch standouts include fresh pasta of the day at Le Mani in Pasta (Box 58), vegan burgers and tacos at Sano (Box 3), mini pizzas at Da Artenio (Box 90) and fried delicacies at Mastro Papone (Box 96). In other words, every kind of eater can dine here all afternoon. BTW: Label: Lunch address: Mercato Testaccio, Via Beniamino Franklin and via Aldo Manuzio, Rome latlng: phone: 011-39-06-361-2155 website: http://www.mercatoditestaccio.it/ twitter: instagram: mercatoditestaccio The kind of hole-in-the-wall you’d walk by without giving it a second look. But stop: The small Supplizio is chef Arcangelo Dandini’s full-service incarnation of Rome’s staple fried fast food, the suppli, (deep-fried rice balls filled with mozzarella, tomato sauce and chicken giblets). Dandini’s are award-winning, and here he introduces different interpretations, from classico to carbonara, and cacio pepe (yes, your favorite Roman pasta, fried). BTW: Label: Lunch address: Supplizio, Via dei Banchi Vecchi 143, Rome latlng: phone: 011-39-06-8987-1920 website: https://www.supplizioroma.it/ twitter: instagram: Luciano Cucina Italiana is a next-generation trattoria, thanks to chef Luciano Monosilio. He’s known as the King of Carbonara, a title he rightfully deserves since elevating the typical Roman dish to Michelin-star status. The restaurant, with an absolutely-not-rustic, very contemporary design, features an exposed pasta lab and open kitchen and a menu with his award-winning (and must-try) carbonara and other traditional favorites. But the fun is in his creative Contemporanee (contemporary) and Ripiene (stuffed) pasta dishes: fettuccella ajo, ojo e bottarga di muggine — his version of pasta sauteed with garlic, pepper and olive oil and topped with cured fish roe. BTW: Label: Dinner address: Luciano Cucina Italiana, Piazza del Teatro Pompeo 18, Rome latlng: phone: 011-39-06-5153-1465 website: http://lucianocucinaitaliana.com/ twitter: instagram: luciano_cucinaitaliana Seu Pizza is the precise opposite of a typical Roman pizzeria: stylish, with mod furniture and art pieces, and the feel of


How much will we really learn about outside attempts to sabotage our election?

just slapped sanctions on a Ukrainian lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, who has been pushing Congress to investigate a series of smears about Joe Biden. Treasury bluntly claimed that Derkach is functioning as an agent of a Russian disinformation campaign. As a quick aside, note that Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, a ringleader of the scheme to smear Biden that got Trump impeached, appears to have been working with Derkach on this effort. And Trump’s Senate allies are pursuing a phony “investigation” designed to fake-validate similar narratives. Second, Microsoft announced Thursday that it has detected signs that the Russian hacking operation that struck in 2016 is again actively targeting political campaigns and parties. Microsoft also said China and Iran are pursuing such activities, but experts say Russia poses a far more serious threat. Microsoft has also reportedly indicated that hackers targeted a Democratic consulting firm that advises the Biden campaign, and The Post reports that Russia might be laying the groundwork for another 2016-style cybertheft operation. But in truth, little is known about these activities or their intentions. Which is exactly the point: We don’t know much. Enter Murphy’s effort. He is trying to get the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify portions of its recent national intelligence estimate that addresses foreign electoral interference. Murphy recently sent a letter to something called the Public Interest Declassification Board, an independent panel created by Congress to provide neutral advice to the executive branch on declassification decisions. Murphy said recent classified briefings about ongoing Russian interference provided to him and other lawmakers by intelligence officials convinced him that the public would be alarmed if it had more knowledge of what’s happening. “People should be very nervous about the size and scope of Russia’s operation,” Murphy told me. The ODNI recently revealed that Russia is using a “range of measures” to interfere in the election, primarily to damage Biden. But Democrats lambasted this disclosure for revealing far too little, and for drawing a false equivalence with Chinese and Iranian activity that muddied the waters around Russia’s role (as Trump wants). Murphy says the ODNI could declassify much more of its intelligence on ongoing Russian interference. So Murphy is asking that independent panel to issue an opinion on what the ODNI could declassify without compromising sensitive information. “I am certain that there are major elements that can be declassified without compromising sources and methods,”


provided to him and other lawmakers by intelligence officials convinced him that the public would be alarmed if it had more knowledge of what’s happening. “People should be very nervous about the size and scope of Russia’s operation,” Murphy told me. The ODNI recently revealed that Russia is using a “range of measures” to interfere in the election, primarily to damage Biden. But Democrats lambasted this disclosure for revealing far too little, and for drawing a false equivalence with Chinese and Iranian activity that muddied the waters around Russia’s role (as Trump wants). Murphy says the ODNI could declassify much more of its intelligence on ongoing Russian interference. So Murphy is asking that independent panel to issue an opinion on what the ODNI could declassify without compromising sensitive information. “I am certain that there are major elements that can be declassified without compromising sources and methods,” Murphy told me, which would provide Americans with “very important detail[s] about the variety of ways that the Russians are attempting to manipulate the election.” Murphy added that this intelligence, which he’s seen, also goes into detail about “the stories that the Russians are trying to tell about Joe Biden.” “Voters will be very interested to find out how those stories match up with information that’s coming out of certain corridors of the United States Capitol,” Murphy noted. Those skeptical about Russian interference would probably point out that Murphy is free to make such claims about Russia’s intentions, secure in the knowledge the intelligence community won’t ever release much that could test those claims. But again, Trump’s own intelligence officials say Russian interference is active and ongoing, and it should be on them to release as much as possible. This is particularly so, given that they have now suspended in-person briefings to Congress, and that Trump himself has openly invited more outside sabotage. Even if this outside panel does issue an opinion declaring that extensive declassification would be doable, of course there’s a high likelihood that it won’t happen. But Murphy points out that this would nonetheless “create additional pressure to release this information,” particularly on intelligence officials “who do see it as their duty to give the public information that will help them make an educated vote.” Trump could always quash any such release. But at least the public would then be clearly alerted as to his determination to deny us this knowledge.


High numbers of Los Angeles patients complained about coughs as early as December, study says

a small number of people sooner than previously reported, Spellberg said he doubted that “meaningful transmission” occurred in December or January. Using data from emergency departments that reported patients with flu-like illnesses, Spellberg and his colleagues observed two peaks in patients in December and February, as they reported in JAMA this spring. Those increases were consistent with a severe flu season, Spellberg said. Los Angeles’s third spike in flu-like illnesses, this time caused by the coronavirus, came later. What’s more, between March 2 and March 18, only 5 percent of 131 patients with flu-like illnesses tested positive for the coronavirus in the JAMA study. Spellberg said that if the virus had an earlier foothold in California, he would have expected that percentage to be higher. “You would have seen an explosion of cases,” he said. Understanding how long the virus circulated within a population helps refine epidemiological models of transmission. Infectious-disease scientists and doctors in many pockets of the world are eager to uncover when the coronavirus first spread outside of China. In late December 2019, Chinese health officials identified clusters of viral pneumonia in Wuhan. Researchers sequenced the culprit’s genome, describing the new coronavirus strain, in early January. The first officially reported U.S. case of coronavirus, a man who traveled home from Wuhan, occurred two weeks later. A few observations indicate that the virus may have traveled farther, earlier, before it flared into a global pandemic. A study of Italian sewage revealed traces of the virus in December. When researchers retested a nasal swab from a man hospitalized near Paris dating to Dec. 27, they detected the coronavirus. Genetic sequencing of coronavirus samples in New York suggests that the virus was spreading there by the end of January. In April, two autopsies in Santa Clara County, Calif., pushed back the first U.S. covid-19 deaths from late to early February. Study author Judith Currier, a UCLA infectious-disease physician, said that when it comes to people who wonder whether they were exposed to the virus many months ago, she does not recommend “antibody testing for people who never had a symptomatic illness,” citing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “If someone had a compatible clinical illness but never had testing for covid during that time, antibody testing could help to confirm,” she said. “Although we don’t know how long the antibodies last, so it would not be definitive."


Trump says he misled on virus to instill calm. But he’s governed with scare tactics.

you never know when he’ll be angry or whom he’ll victimize. They use bureaucratic chaos and create uncertainty to keep people divided, too frightened from mobilizing.” At Thursday’s news conference, Trump argued that he waited many weeks to share what he knew about the virus being airborne and deadlier, far more lethal than the flu, because he did not want to create panic in the public. “I want to show a level of confidence and I want to show strength as a leader and I want to show that our country is going to be fine, one way or the other,” Trump said. Asked why he did not level with the American people by calmly presenting information about the virus in real time — as, for instance, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had done — Trump was defensive. He said coronavirus outbreaks across Europe were “much worse than the numbers here,” which is false. He also argued that the United States has “rounded the final turn,” an assessment in conflict with much of the data. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany bolstered Trump’s defense by telling reporters Wednesday, “This president does what leaders do — good leaders: It’s stay calm and resolute at a time when you face an unsurmountable challenge.” But reporting at the time revealed Trump’s motivations for wanting to avoid panic in January and February to be far more nuanced. The president was fixated during that time not on leadership virtues but on the stock market, which he has long seen as a barometer of his reelection chances. He was strongly averse to any government announcement that might scare investors into a sell-off, his advisers explained. Trump’s critics said the president has been misguided, stoking fear where little exists while trying to instill calm when his silence has had deadly consequences, with the coronavirus death toll now nearing 200,000. “When we talk about what our real threat is, it’s clearly not the child that’s locked up in a detention center. It’s not the mother displaced in asylum or the people trying to cross the border. Our clearest danger right now is the president of the United States,” said Maria Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino, a grass-roots political group. On Thursday at the White House, Trump lashed out at a pair of reporters who questioned why he hadn’t been truthful with the public about the lethality of the


PGA Tour golfers play amid orange skies, smoky conditions because of California wildfires

“fog.” The visibility was so poor Wednesday that tournament organizers brought in light towers to illuminate the putting green: Rival CEO Nathan Hubbard gave us another striking visual Wednesday, one that didn’t include the orange skies. The tournament, taking place at the Silverado Resort in Napa, is not far from the LNU Lightning Complex fire, part of what one meteorologist is calling the biggest wildfire outbreak in the United States since 1910. And though the nearby wildfire does not pose a danger to the tournament and was 94 percent contained as of Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire, it still is throwing off enough smoke and ash to affect conditions at the golf tournament. As of early Thursday morning, the air quality in Napa was considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” per a reading taken by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Conditions for the rest of the day will be determined by the wind direction. “There may be some improvement in the visibility and air quality later this afternoon behind south-southwesterly winds, but additional fires in Monterey County will allow for additional smoke/haze to filter northward into the Bay Area,” PGA Tour meteorologist Joe Halvorson said in his daily forecast. Wildfires nearly upended the 2017 Safeway Open. Soon after the tournament’s end that year, the course had to be evacuated and grandstands were destroyed by fire. PGA Tour pro Cameron Davis, who is in the field this week, played in last year’s Australian Open in his home country, another tournament that was affected by nearby fires. “I have grown up with fires being a sad reality of summers, and my thoughts are with all affected,” Davis said Wednesday after wearing a mask during his practice round. “Last year’s Aussie Open was probably worse than this. I am basing how bad it is on how much my eyes are stinging. It’s amazing how dark it is, though. We couldn’t see the ball for the first six holes this morning, and I started my round later than my scheduled Thursday tee time.” Read more: An Olympic gold medalist said she was ‘brave’ for not wearing a mask. It was not well-received. White House threats could put U.S. Olympic athletes in middle of anti-doping funding fight Tokyo Olympics organizers say Games can proceed without a coronavirus vaccine NFL football during a pandemic promises to look sort of similar and yet radically different


The poisoning of Alexei Navalny should shock the E.U. into action

hospital, has awakened from a coma and appears to be doing better, though his long-term health is uncertain. The question remains, how will Ms. Merkel and her fellow leaders of democratic countries hold Mr. Putin accountable for this latest human rights outrage? This would be an easier question if the United States were not led by President Trump, with his notoriously tepid attitude toward Mr. Putin’s repression of domestic dissent and other abuses. On Tuesday, the United States joined its fellow members of the Group of Seven — Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Italy and Germany — in “condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the confirmed poisoning of Alexei Navalny.” Such words are no substitute, however, for a clear and convincing statement from Mr. Trump, of the kind other national leaders, such as Ms. Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have issued. Germany — the potential leader of any unified European response — faces its own conflict of interest in the form of the multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 2 pipeline, near completion and scheduled to start bringing Russian gas to Germany next year. The Merkel government first hinted at using the project as leverage to force Moscow to respond more transparently, then dialed that back a few days later. Berlin would be unlikely to scrap the pipeline altogether, in part because it’s too far along, and in part because that would be seen as a capitulation to Washington, which opposes Nord Stream 2 and has imposed sanctions on European companies involved in construction. Europe can make use of the existing international law framework on chemical weapons, leading, at least in theory, to United Nations sanctions against confirmed violators of the global ban on deadly agents such as Novichok, the Russian-origin one that felled Mr. Navalny. Germany took the first step by reporting the findings of its investigation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, though the threat is mostly symbolic given Russia’s veto power at the U.N. Security Council. More promising would be the adoption in Europe of legislation similar to the Magnitsky Act in the United States, to allow economic sanctions targeted at individuals found to be involved in human rights abuses. First proposed by a Dutch foreign minister in 2018, the law has been going through “preparatory work” in the European Union’s 27 members since then. The attack on Mr. Navalny should shock them into faster action.


If Trump lied, so did Fauci

this will ultimately go down.”On March 9 he said, “If you are a healthy young person, there is no reason if you want to go on a cruise ship, go on a cruise ship. But … an elderly person who has an underlying condition, I would recommend strongly that they do not go on a cruise ship.” As late as March 10, Fauci was still adamant that “as a nation, the risk is relatively low” but admitted that “there are parts of the country right now that are having community spread in which the risk there is clearly a bit more than that.” He added that “we would like the country to realize that as a nation, we can’t be doing the kinds of things we were doing a few months ago. That it doesn’t matter if you’re in a state that has no cases or one case.” Three days later, on March 13, Trump declared a national emergency. And on March 16 the president urged all Americans to avoid restaurants, bars, discretionary travel and groups of more than 10 people, while states began issuing orders to shelter in place. What this shows is that until mid-March, no one knew we were facing a once-in-a-generation pathogen. The real question is: Why did Fauci and all of the government’s smartest medical minds take so long to recognize the danger and advise the president to take action? The answer is because they expected this outbreak to be like the SARS, avian flu, swine flu, Middle East respiratory syndrome, Zika and Ebola outbreaks before it — a serious public health crisis, but one they could handle. They were wrong. When they finally realized they were wrong, and advised the president to implement mitigation measures, he did so — shutting down a booming economy to protect public health. The suggestion that Trump knew how dangerous the virus was, but intentionally misled Americans and failed to take action, is demonstrably wrong. What is “beyond despicable” is for Biden to suggest that he did. Read more: Jennifer Rubin: Biden’s campaign goes full throttle: Trump lied, people died Karen Tumulty: What Bob Woodward’s book tells us about Trump Molly Roberts: Anthony Fauci built a truce. Trump is destroying it. Greg Sargent: Trump’s rage at Fauci just boomeranged back on him The Post’s View: Republicans are lying about Biden and hoping voters are ignorant enough to believe them


U.S. to end enhanced coronavirus screening of airline passengers arriving from overseas

evidence that the administration acted quickly to control the novel coronavirus. People from China were barred in January, with most of Europe being added to the list in March. In March, the State Department also formally advised Americans against traveling overseas. That advisory was lifted in early August, but the CDC continues to warn against travel to many nations, including India and China, because of the virus. While the changes to screening and funneling of travelers might do little to immediately spur demand for international travel, the shift has the support of the airline industry. “We continue to support spending scarce screening resources where they can best be utilized and no longer believe that it makes sense to continue screening at these 15 airports given the extremely low number of passengers identified by the CDC as potentially having a health issue,” said Katherine Estep, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, an industry trade group. Domestic air travel has seen a partial rebound after declines in passenger numbers of 95 percent in the spring. But international passenger volumes have not returned. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics said this week that there were just 1.1 million travelers on international flights in July, a decline of 90 percent from the same month last year. The screening announcement comes as the travel industry pushes to establish testing programs that will screen travelers for the virus before they fly. In a letter sent this week to three top Trump administration officials — Wolf, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao — groups including Airlines for America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Travel Association said that a robust and reliable testing program could be key to restarting international travel. Noting that some governments have already begun putting pre-travel or post-arrival testing programs in place, the groups urged the U.S. government to follow suit, working closely with industry. They said a critical first step could begin with a pilot testing program between the United States and either Europe, Canada or the Asia-Pacific region. “We are cognizant of the many complexities and issues surrounding COVID-19 testing,” the groups wrote. “It is precisely because of these complexities that we call on the U.S. government to work on a bilateral and multilateral basis to establish a globally accepted framework for testing protocols for international travel.” The groups also reminded administration officials about


Humans are decimating wildlife, and the pandemic is a sign, report says

Humanity’s expansion, consumption and transformation of land and sea have caused wildlife populations to plunge over five decades, signaling a “broken” relationship with nature that helped trigger the global coronavirus pandemic, a report says. Average populations of nearly 4,400 mammals, amphibians, birds, fish and reptiles dropped by 68 percent since 1970, according to the World Wildlife Fund report, which is based on vertebrate monitoring projects around the world. The losses have been driven primarily by habitat loss, it says, along with pollution, invasive species, overhunting and overfishing and, increasingly, climate change. The result is dysfunctional ecosystems — bereft of important pollinators, predators and scavengers — less able to support human or animal health, said Rebecca Shaw, the fund’s chief scientist. The “Living Planet Report,” published every two years, is the latest to describe stunning declines in biodiversity resulting from human activity. The United Nations warned last year that 1 million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction. Also in 2019, ornithologists and government agencies reported North America had lost nearly 3 billion birds over 50 years. But World Wildlife Fund officials emphasized one catastrophic consequence of the declines is now before our eyes. The coronavirus pandemic, caused by the sort of “spillover” of a zoonotic virus that is becoming more common as humans expand their footprint, should be viewed as “an SOS signal for the human enterprise,” the report says. The report “provides unequivocal evidence that nature is unraveling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs,” wrote Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International. “Covid-19 is a clear manifestation of our broken relationship with nature and highlights the deep interconnection between the health of both people and the planet.” More than two-thirds of emerging infectious diseases in humans have origins in animals, and scientists say the virus that causes covid-19 probably originated in a horseshoe bat, though the virus’s precise path to people remains unknown. What’s clear is that animal viruses have more chances to hop to humans as we develop formerly wild spaces, fly around the globe, trade in wildlife and intensify livestock production. “If you start deforesting and are grabbing those animals out of the forest and putting them on trains and putting them on trucks and boats, alive, with domestic animals and humans, you have all this viral mixing,” Shaw said. “We’re disrupting nature and creating the opportunity for these spillover events.”


As students return, the deaths of at least six teachers from covid-19 renew pandemic fears

Teachers had just returned last month to prepare for the fall semester at John Evans Middle School in Potosi, Mo., when 34-year-old AshLee DeMarinis started to feel ill. DeMarinis had been worried about returning to work at the rural middle school, where she was starting her 11th year of teaching. She had asthma, which put her at a higher risk for complications from covid-19 despite her young age. “She was scared,” her sister, Jennifer Heissenbuttel, told The Washington Post. Three weeks later, DeMarinis died in the hospital after testing positive for the novel coronavirus and suffering from complications caused by the infection. DeMarinis isn’t the only teacher to die amid the pandemic as children return to schools across the United States. Educators in Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, Iowa and Oklahoma have died as the fall semester started in their districts. It isn’t clear whether any of the teachers were infected at school, and many quarantined to avoid exposing students and other staff members. But their deaths have renewed fears that school campuses will become a breeding ground for the virus, spreading the illness as communities grapple with how to balance the need to educate children with properly addressing the pandemic. School districts and state officials have struggled to find the right coronavirus precautions. In Georgia, one school district was forced to send hundreds of people home to quarantine after just one day of school prep on campus. Another district in that state ordered 900 children and staff to quarantine after being exposed to the virus during the first week back in class. DeMarinis was an avid crafter who spent her summer at a lake with her sister and her nieces. When she returned to school on Aug. 10, she was concerned about the pandemic, her sister told The Post, but she got to work readying the classroom for her students who were set to start classes in a few weeks. “She taught special education, and it was just her calling,” her sister said. “Her students loved her and her colleagues loved her.” DeMarinis initially thought she had an ear infection when she started to feel sick on Aug. 14. But her condition worsened quickly, and by Aug. 19 she tested positive for coronavirus. She died on Sunday after three weeks on a ventilator at the hospital. Nationally, at least five other teachers have died since early August. This week, Demetria


The Health 202: Scientists say a few weeks of coronavirus vaccine trials are enough

no part in it.” Collins also said an announcement by AstraZeneca that it is pausing its trial for a safety concern proves protocols are being followed. An independent panel is investigating whether a case of spinal inflammation in a single British participant is linked to the vaccine AstraZeneca is testing. The agency is expected to approve a vaccine for certain Americans under what's known as an emergency use authorization (EUA), which can be granted amid clinical trials. The two final-stage trials being conducted by Pfizer and Moderna involve 60,000 patients. That group is large enough for researchers to detect any common or even relatively common side effects that might come from the vaccine. But it's not large enough to detect extremely rare side effects that could manifest in, say, 1 out of every 1 million patients. “That’s what I worry about with EUA the most,” Markel told me. It's a concerning risk — but one that scientists will balance against the need to quickly distribute an effective vaccine for a virus that has killed about 900,000 people worldwide and crippled the U.S. economy. In the infamous 1955 “Cutter incident,” the government was forced to abandon a polio vaccine program after 200,000 children had been vaccinated. Forty thousand of them got polio after batches made by Cutter Labs accidentally contained live polio virus. And in 1976, President Gerald Ford’s administration hastily launched but then suspended a vaccination program for the swine flu — a disease that never even ended up reaching epidemic proportions. About eight months in, a small association was discovered between getting the vaccine and a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome. It’s not definitive that the two were linked, but scientists concluded there was an increased risk of one additional case of Gullain-Barre for every 100,000 people who got vaccinated. This is what happened during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. The FDA eased up on some procedures and rules to speed up consideration of new drugs, under heavy pressure from advocates. It also started allowing fatally ill patients to take some risks with unproven drugs. “Negotiations with drug companies are done in a day, in person, rather than over months by mail,” the New York Times reported in 1989. “Companies will soon be allowed to deliver records on computer disks instead of sending truckloads of paper. In the sharpest break with tradition, some patients are now beginning to


“A month into the forced reopening of Florida’s schools, dozens of classrooms — along with some entire schools — have been temporarily shuttered because of coronavirus outbreaks, and infections among school-age children have jumped 34 percent,” Lori Rozsa and Valerie Strauss report. “But parents in many parts of the state don’t know if outbreaks of the virus are related to their own schools because the state ordered some counties to keep health data secret.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) aggressively pushed to reopen schools, threatening to withhold funding for schools that did not open before the end of August, even as the state became a national hot spot for the coronavirus. Public health guidelines do not require schools to report cases, and DeSantis’s administration has even ordered some school districts to stop releasing school specific coronavirus information, citing privacy concerns. When the Florida Department of Health released a report that detailed cases linked to schools on Aug. 24, it was quickly removed from the website, with officials claiming it had been posted inadvertently. In the absence of official information, anonymous social media accounts run by teachers and parents have attempted to fill in the gap by crowdsourcing school specific outbreak information. A Washington Post analysis of data from more than two dozen states found that the death rate was more than 20 percent higher in majority-Black nursing homes compared with majority-White facilities, Sidnee King and Joel Jacobs report. “Homes where at least 7 in 10 residents were Black saw a death rate that was about 40 percent higher than homes with majority-White populations.” More than 2,200 residents at 250 predominantly Black nursing homes across the country have died. The Post's analysis is further evidence of racial disparities in the impact of the virus. Black people are 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 21 percent of coronavirus deaths in cases where race is known. Long-term care facilities account for 40 percent of the coronavirus deaths in the country, but there is little comprehensive data on the demographics of those who have died. In July, Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services calling for more-robust data collection. “Several major U.S. pharmacies told the two Democratic senators leading the investigation — Elizabeth