With protective equipment shortages lingering, health facilities turn to mask-cleaning system

In a warehouse in Northeast Washington sits eight large shipping containers — the kind one might expect to see in a shipyard. Inside are dozens of previously worn N95 respirator masks. Workers, clad in protective clothing, place masks onto racks inside a container, tossing aside any that are contaminated with bodily fluids or makeup. The masks are sprayed with hydrogen peroxide vapor and then moved into empty shipping containers to be aerated. The process is part of a government-sponsored program to decontaminate and reuse what is normally single-use personal protective equipment during the novel coronavirus crisis. The system operated by Battelle Memorial Institute, an Ohio-based nonprofit research corporation, is part of efforts in the D.C. area and across the country to reuse personal protective gear such as masks amid continued shortages of the equipment. The shortages have persisted largely as a result of supply chain failures, including the availability of materials, said Ingrida Lusis, vice president of policy and government affairs at the American Nurses Association. On top of that, she said, some hospitals are storing large amounts of personal protective equipment amid concerns about future waves of the coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19. And as hospitals bid against one another to obtain critical materials such as respirators, gowns and gloves, some have lost out. Meanwhile, PPE decontamination appears to be more commonplace. There are nearly 50 Battelle decontamination facilities nationwide. And in an American Nurses Association study administered in May, 43 percent of the 14,000 nurses surveyed said their hospitals were decontaminating and reusing N95 respirators. In addition, 79 percent of respondents said they were required or encouraged to wear personal protective equipment for longer periods of time or reuse it, according to the study conducted between May 15 and 31. Battelle says its biggest customers in the D.C. area are MedStar Health in addition to Inova Health System hospitals — which include Fairfax Hospital. Kaiser Permanente medical centers in the area are also decontaminating and reusing N95 respirators. At Adventist HealthCare’s Shady Grove Medical Center, staff members initially decontaminated N95 masks in-house, using sterilizers they had on hand, said Sharon Greene-Golden, the hospital’s central sterile-processing manager. The facility has outsourced the process to Battelle. The coronavirus pandemic forced sterilization professionals like Greene-Golden to toss aside old rule books that called for PPE to be discarded after it was used with one patient. “It changed things for me,


Why Tucker Carlson and Trump can’t win with empty patriotism

to Vietnam — could never attack the patriotism of someone who had volunteered to serve and returned home with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. Kerry was targeted for one of the most repugnant campaigns of slander in the history of presidential politics, which buried him in a mountain of lies about his service. In a particularly shameful episode, delegates to the Republican convention showed up wearing Band-Aids on their faces with purple hearts drawn on them, to claim that the wounds for which Kerry was awarded those medals were not serious enough. The obvious Republican contempt for Kerry’s service, as well as the service of anyone else who happened to be a Democrat, didn’t matter. The “You’re on the side of terrorists!” and “You don’t love America!” attacks were extremely potent, not least because Democrats became so terrified of the accusation. It’s why so many Democrats with national ambitions — including Kerry, Biden and Hillary Clinton — voted for the Iraq War, despite how obvious it was that it was a terrible idea and just about everything Bush said about it was a lie. But to repeat, 2020 is not 2004. The endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have not just made it impossible to say that if you don’t support a particular war then you don’t “support the troops;” they have also made the idea that love for America can only be found in the GOP laughable. The fact that the accusations were tossed around so liberally in those days has rendered them ineffectual. We aren’t in that moment of angry patriotism, when everyone’s love of country was constantly being judged and a hugely popular group could be banned from country radio simply because the lead singer said, “We’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” (In case you’re wondering, nobody practices “cancel culture” more enthusiastically than the right.) In other words, in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis, when the idea of America as vulnerable to outside military threats seems almost absurdly remote, the right’s brand of patriotism just isn’t the weapon it once was. Patriotism can mean a faith in our country’s founding ideals, a belief in service and sacrifice, a commitment to the well-being of one’s fellow Americans. But there’s also a more crude and harsh version, the one Trump carries, which defines itself only


Yet again, Trump is accused of doing something he falsely claimed Obama did

specified. If he heard it at all, it was probably from somewhere in the swampier parts of conservative media. But here we have Trump’s introduction of this theory: Obama managed to get into Harvard … somehow. The allegation at this point centered specifically on Obama’s intelligence, with Trump going on to disparage Obama’s writing, specifically what he described as a drop in quality between Obama’s first book (which Trump claimed had been ghostwritten) and the second. He returned to the subject a bit later. “You know, I wrote many bestsellers,” Trump said. “And also, number one bestsellers including ‘The Art of the Deal.’ I know something about writing. And I want to tell you, the guy that wrote the first book didn’t write the second book.” The irony, of course, is that Trump didn’t write “The Art of the Deal.” It was written by author Tony Schwartz (who has subsequently expressed regret at doing so). “The first book is Ernest Hemingway plus. The second book was written by somebody that was much more average,” Trump added later. “How do you have average marks — how do you have bad marks and get into Harvard?” That question takes on a new light, given Mary Trump’s book. How do you get into the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, despite dubious abilities? Pay someone to take the SAT maybe. And perhaps, have your brother — Mary’s father, in fact — lobby the admission’s officer. Again, there’s no evidence that Obama engaged in any underhanded techniques to get into Harvard. His aptitude is by now well established. While he never released any transcripts of his time in college, neither did Trump. In fact, Trump had his personal attorney threaten Fordham University (the first college he attended) with legal action should it release records from his time there. A few days later, Trump revisited this theme during a speech at a tea party event in Florida. “He had lousy marks in school, and he got into Harvard on a scholarship. Explain that one,” he said. “By the way, I have friends that have kids that have all As that have the highest aptitude test, they can’t get into Harvard. They can’t get into Wharton either, by the way, which I’m very proud to tell you. But they can’t get into Harvard.” The “aptitude test” to which Trump refers is the Scholastic Aptitude Test,


30 years after the ADA, barriers to travel remain

Regarding the June 28 Commuter article “How transit has changed 30 years after the ADA”: The Americans With Disabilities Act did result in tremendous progress in getting people transportation, although most of our transportation systems do not fully meet people’s needs. These are timely concerns, as the novel coronavirus has greatly affected transportation access. Thirty years later, people who are blind or low-vision still face travel challenges, and transportation issues continue to be a barrier to independence. The pandemic worsened an existing problem: People most reliant on public transportation aren’t the ones for whom these systems were designed. If a bus does not have audible stop announcements, closing the front of the bus to protect drivers exacerbates not knowing where to get off. If bus and train apps are not accessible, how will a rider know about service changes? These problems could be resolved by prioritizing inclusion and accessibility. We urge transportation providers to make accessibility and inclusion a priority. Even if systems are “fully accessible” by 2040, that is 50 years after the ADA was passed — half a century of transportation barriers that keep people from getting to work, school, social events and more. Sarah Malaier The writer is public policy and research adviser with the American Foundation for the Blind. Read more letters to the editor.


The Daily 202: America is in the middle of a child-care crisis

requires universities to certify by July 15 whether they will be fully open, operate on a hybrid model or offer online-only classes.” Top colleges started announcing their fall plans. All involve remote learning. “The District, Maryland and Virginia reported 659 new known coronavirus cases Monday, bringing the regional total to more than 146,000 since the start of the pandemic. The daily increase is the smallest number in the three jurisdictions since April 3,” Dana Hedpgeth and Fenit Nirappil report. “The region recorded five new fatalities Monday, with no daily deaths reported in Virginia for the first time since March 28. It is also the lowest regional number of deaths since that date. … The District on Monday reported 33 new cases and two deaths. In Maryland, 272 new cases and three fatalities were reported. Virginia had 354 new cases. Several key measures of the virus have been improving in the Washington region, experts say, and the daily average caseload has plateaued after weeks of decline. … Officials also cautioned that the region could have an increase in cases after celebrations tied to the Fourth of July holiday.” “For up to six minutes after she was shot by police officers during a drug raid, Breonna Taylor, an emergency room technician, lay dying in her apartment but received no medical aid, her family claims in a new court filing. The document also contends that the post-midnight raid on March 13 was motivated by the mayor’s desire to clear a block in one of Louisville’s most blighted neighborhoods for redevelopment,” the Times reports. “City officials called the claims a ‘gross mischaracterization,’ while the coroner who performed the autopsy said the young woman’s injuries would have been lethal even with intervention. … The shooting had taken place in near darkness, and officials say they didn’t know initially that Ms. Taylor was injured.” “A young father crossing a Bronx street, holding hands with his 6-year-old daughter. A 15-year-old who refused to talk to the police in Manhattan. A man in a Staten Island public housing complex, found prone in his apartment. They were among 64 people shot in a surge of shootings over the weekend in New York City, the police said,” the Times reports. “The city surpassed 400 shootings in the first half of the year for the first time since 2016, with 528 by the end of last month; the 205 shootings in


Cochabamba y el coronavirus. El ex secretario de Cristina Kirchner. Narcojets en Guatemala

Hablamos con familiares de muertos en Bolivia; con el doctor José Luis Jiménez de la Universidad de Colorado; con Diego Cabot, de La Nación de Buenos Aires, y con Kevin Sieff de The Washington Post.


Teaching the human body to fight covid-19

In the race for a coronavirus vaccine, scientists are turning to RNA testing. How the Small Business Administration funneled money to major chains. And, why historically black colleges and universities face unique challenges during the pandemic.


Community deaths

Md., in 2014. Mary Merrick, 102, a volunteer and former board president of the Ivymount School in Rockville, Md., for children with special needs, died May 19 at a retirement center in Bethesda, Md. The cause was complications from hypertension, said a son, David Merrick. Mrs. Merrick, a Bethesda resident, was born Mary Heine on a farm in the District. She was an Ivymount volunteer and fundraiser for more than 50 years. Marian Fox, 95, a health policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its predecessor agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, from 1971 to 1989, died May 21 at an extended-care center in Silver Spring, Md. The cause was complications from senile dementia, said a son, Steve Fox. Mrs. Fox, a Silver Spring resident, was born Marian Perkins in Monticello, Ill., and had lived in the Washington area for 66 years. She was a former president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs and was historian and newsletter editor of the Maryland Congress of PTAs. Frederick Struble, 87, an economist who specialized in monetary policy and banking supervision for the Federal Reserve Board, died May 18 at his winter home in Tucson. The cause was complications from a stroke, said his wife, Margaret Barnhill. Mr. Struble, who also lived in Rockville, Md., was born in Wichita He worked for the Fed from 1969 to 1996. He later worked for two years for the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection and two years as a PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant on the Asian Development Bank. Mary Jane Price, 92, a receptionist at the Bethesda, Md., law office of Furey, Doolan and Abell from 1981 to 2011, died April 30 at a medical center in Derwood, Md. The cause was pneumonia, said a daughter, Deb Price. Mrs. Price, a Bethesda resident, was born Mary Jane Caldwell in New Castle, Va., and had lived in the Washington area since 1972. She belonged to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Bethesda. Jerry Sardone, 85, a residential real estate broker in Northern Virginia since 1968, died May 21 at a hospital in Reston, Va. The cause was pneumonia related to covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, said a son, James Sardone. Mr. Sardone, a Reston resident, was born in Rochester, N.Y. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a Montgomery County, Md., police officer. In 1968, he started


Maryland biotech firm wins $1.6 billion to develop coronavirus vaccine

The Novavax contract award via President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccination effort eclipses the $1.2 billion deal struck with AstraZeneca in May for 300 million doses of the vaccine. The government also has vaccine development contracts with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson that each fall in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars. The government is funding the development of multiple vaccine candidates based on an assumption that some may not work. Of those that are effective, more than one vaccine probably will be required to inoculate billions of people in the United States and around the world against the virus. “Adding Novavax’s candidate to Operation Warp Speed’s diverse portfolio of vaccines increases the odds that we will have a safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a news release. Producing a vaccine by the end of 2020 is a highly optimistic timeline, according to experts. Developing a successful vaccine typically takes multiple years. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of Trump’s coronavirus response team, has said early to mid-2021 is the most likely schedule for the first vaccines to become available. Novavax has genetically engineered a coronavirus spike protein that is expected to trigger an antibody response in the human body. The company does not yet have any products on the market, according to its website, but is working on vaccines for influenza, Ebola, respiratory syncytial virus and Middle East respiratory syndrome. It has received $388 million for coronavirus work from the nonprofit Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the company said in March. In May, it launched a Phase 1 safety and efficacy trial in 130 people in Australia, with preliminary results expected this month, the company said. The government award of $1.6 billion was based on lab, mouse and ape studies shown to government officials, Erck said. “You can have a pretty high level of expectation that what we showed in our baboon study will play out in humans,'' he said. Phase 1 has not resulted in any safety problems, he added. A Phase 2 trial involving 1,000 to 2,000 people, comparing the Novavax vaccine against a placebo, is expected to start in August in Australia and possibly the United States, Erck said. It will take roughly 60 days. Initial Phase 3


Threats and censorship are the price for questioning narratives about Kashmir

On Saturday, I spent five hours at a local police station in New Delhi with my brother filing a complaint of criminal intimidation after I was flooded with rape and death threats online. Users on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter — with bios that described them as “nationalists” and “proud Indians" — threatened to burn me alive, rape me in the presence of my family and cut me into pieces. One Instagram message invoked what happened to my friend and fellow journalist, Gauri Lankesh, a critic of Hindu nationalist organizations who was shot dead outside her house in Bangalore in 2017. The abuse came after I shared my opinion about the killing of a civilian in Kashmir. In a tweet, I wrote: “When it comes to Kashmir, there are no humanists, just convenient nationalists.” That was enough to stoke ultranationalist rage, which sees Kashmir not through the prism of humanity but through dangerous, misguided and blind patriotism. On July 1, Bashir Ahmed Khan, a 65-year-old resident of Srinagar, was shot and killed outside in an alleged crossfire between militants and paramilitary forces in Kashmir’s Sopore region. Khan’s death led to outrage in the most militarized zone in the world amid conflicting reports. A haunting image of Khan’s 3-year-old grandson, who was traveling with him, sitting on his grandfather’s dead body went viral on social media. While paramilitary forces said Khan was hit by a bullet in the crossfire as he was driving from Sopore to South Kashmir’s Kupwara district, his family insists that, according to witnesses, Khan was forced to get out of his car and was shot dead. Khan is the third civilian to die in the valley since May. Now a child whose innocence was brutally taken away that morning in Kashmir is viewed as a witness in the case. But he is not the first child in Kashmir to witness bloodshed, and he will not be the last. A generation of Kashmiris has grown up witnessing the murder of immediate family members. Most murders are labeled casualties in crossfires. In August 2019, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the special semi-autonomous status given to Jammu and Kashmir and locked Kashmiris under curfew without Internet or any communication for months at a time. Foreign correspondents were barred from entering the valley while many Indian journalists stood outside the iconic Dal Lake reporting that everything was normal, just


A simple forecast suggests a Democratic sweep in 2020

The covid-19-driven economic collapse, upheaval over racial politics in the United States and President Trump’s consistently low popularity ratings have given Democrats an opening to win the presidency and both houses of Congress in 2020. Our prediction, based on economic indicators and presidential approval ratings, provides a simple, albeit early, forecast predicting a Democratic win in November. Here’s how we approached these forecasts. The House forecast To produce a House forecast for 2020, we built on a well-known forecasting model developed by political scientists Michael Lewis-Beck and Tom Rice. The model is based on three factors: changes in real gross national product in the first and second quarters of the election year; the president’s approval rating in Gallup polls as of July of the election year; and whether it is a presidential or midterm year. That last variable matters because of a well-known historical pattern: In midterm elections, the party that does not hold the presidency gains seats in the House, as happened in 2018. We applied the Lewis-Beck and Rice model to each election from 1948 to 2018. We adjusted the model by using gross domestic product (GDP) instead of gross national product because GDP excludes foreign production by American-owned firms and is the more commonly used indicator of national economic trends. We believe this approach is reliable, because this model has accurately predicted the winner in 14 out of 17 presidential elections between 1948 and 2012. We then estimated the model’s predictions for the upcoming 2020 election using the most recent quarter’s GDP and current presidential approval rating. In the first quarter of 2020, GDP fell at the rate of -4.8 percent and Trump’s Gallup Poll rating in June was 39 percent. Important to our prediction is the assumption that current economic and political conditions stay roughly the same. The model predicts that the Republicans will lose 14 seats in the House, a number that would solidify the Democrats’ majority in the 117th Congress. The accuracy of the model, however, is modest; a plausible outcome ranges from a 24-seat loss to a 53-seat gain for the Democrats. The Senate forecast Predicting the Senate outcome is similar, but includes an additional factor: the number of seats the president’s party has up for election. In 2020, this factor favors the Democrats because 23 Senate Republicans — but only 12 Senate Democrats — must defend their seats. For the Senate, the


Bubonic plague triggers health alert in China after herder is infected

people in several deadly waves throughout history. One particularly deadly wave in the 14th century traveled along the Mongol Empire’s flourishing trading routes and killed one-third of the population in Europe. Today, the disease continues to circulate regularly in many parts of the world but usually does not spark major epidemics or public health crises. Madagascar suffered several notable outbreaks in recent years that killed hundreds. The United States averages about seven cases a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials in China say they had about 30 cases in the last decade. Carried by rats and fleas, the plague is usually treatable with antibiotics in its “bubonic” form, which attacks lymph nodes and causes fevers and boils. But the disease can lead to quick death if the bacteria infect the respiratory system or bloodstream in rarer conditions known as pneumonic and septicemic plague. China’s National Health Commission said it found five plague diagnoses since last year; four patients came from Inner Mongolia and recovered normally while one man in Gansu province died. Chinese authorities have not released details about the causes or circumstances of the cases. In the adjacent country of Mongolia, farther north, two herders died last year after eating marmot meat and contracting the disease. Chen Zhengming, an epidemiologist and China program leader at Oxford University's population health school, said the plague has long existed in Inner Mongolia and posed limited risk. “From time to time the sporadic outbreak does occur in remote areas and China, mainly through its CDC systems, has good response systems and experience in containing them rapidly,” he said. The plague case, which was covered widely by the media in Beijing this week, was not the only health scare to emerge in recent weeks in China. The central government — and some international experts — called for calm after Chinese researchers reported that a new variation of the H1N1 swine flu, called G4, has “the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus” and has already been found in some pig farmers. The paper was published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and written by a team of veterinary researchers and epidemiologists including George Gao, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. White House coronavirus adviser Anthony S. Fauci testified in the Senate that U.S. officials were “keeping an eye” on the


There was an effective vaccine. An outbreak struck anyway.

a tiny fraction of recipients reported symptoms. But the government withdrew proactive recommendations for it, in part because of fear of legal repercussions, and the vaccination rate dropped below 1 percent. Following a lengthy political battle, a new HPV vaccine is expected to be approved by the government soon and a vaccination push may follow. But the cost of the multiyear pause is high: A study published by the Lancet this year estimated that the crisis could result in up to 5,700 deaths unless coverage increases. Globally, more than a dozen covid-19 vaccines have reached clinical evaluation already, with more than 100 others in the works. President Trump has bragged of a “warp-speed” U.S. process for developing a vaccine, while other nations are racing forward with their own programs. Some experts hope covid-19 could go the way of smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980. “It’s a hard time to be an anti-vaccination activist right now,” said Riko Muranaka, a Japanese doctor and journalist who tracks HPV vaccine misinformation. But vaccinating an entire planet is an enormous task. It took decades of work to eradicate smallpox. Similar efforts to quash measles and polio have yet to succeed. And the coronavirus pandemic is disrupting vaccination efforts, not aiding them. UNICEF warns that routine immunization services have been hindered in at least 68 countries. Some advocates worry that the spread of coronavirus misinformation could fuel anti-vaccination sentiment. “Global narratives of vaccine development for covid-19 may contribute to an upsurge in anti-vax messages, including in Pakistan,” said Rana Muhammad Safdar, coordinator for Pakistan’s polio program. “If and when we get a covid-19 vaccine, we will see claims about the vaccine being dangerous and ineffective join this story, regardless of what the evidence says,” said Julie Leask, a professor at the University of Sydney and an expert on vaccinations. Polls show a significant minority of Americans say they would not get a coronavirus vaccine. In Samoa, that may seem unlikely. The country, having learned just how hard it is to stop an outbreak once it begins, went into lockdown early this time around. It has not reported a single confirmed coronavirus case. But anti-vaccination sentiment lingers. Tamasese, the businessman arrested last year over allegations that he spread misinformation, said in an email that neither the measles outbreak nor the coronavirus pandemic have changed his mind. “My position on vaccination has actually been reaffirmed,” he wrote.


Chi Chi, the feathered banana, flew away. Chance brought the cockatiel home.

said. But she kept the appointment. MyEyeDr. is in Cabin John Village, the shopping center just behind Lisa and Alan’s townhouse development. When Lisa went inside, the manager, Andrew Plaxen, could tell she was upset about something. “I said to him, ‘I’m really having a hard time. Our bird got out by accident,’ ” Lisa said. Andrew asked what Chi Chi looked like and offered words of encouragement. “I tried to console her a bit, telling her the bird will come back, that animals usually don’t stray too far,” he said. Andrew had grown up on Long Island with a dog that was “a wanderer.” Rex would let himself out of the house and go on adventures. He always came back. Lisa wished she could be as confident as Andrew. She went home to make more calls in search of Chi Chi. Because of the novel coronavirus, some MyEyeDr. customers prefer not to come into the store. One had arranged to meet Andrew in the parking lot. And so around 4 on Monday, Andrew went outside. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the sky. Andrew looked up to see two crows chasing a bird half their size. One crow pecked at the bird, which plummeted 25 feet to the asphalt. Andrew ran over to the downed bird. “I put my hand out and it crawled right up my arm,” he said. The bird — yellow, with peach cheeks — climbed onto Andrew’s shoulder and accompanied him as he walked back into the store. Andrew called Lisa and said, “I think we have your bird.” Lisa and Alan hurried over and were reunited with Chi Chi. They took the bird to an avian veterinarian in Rockville who checked her out and administered fluids. The ordeal had left Chi Chi a little beat up — scratched and missing one of her flight feathers — but she survived. After a few weeks of being a bit skittish, she’s back to being herself. Think about the things that had to come together: Lisa had to keep her eye doctor appointment. Andrew had to walk into the parking lot at just that moment. “The story is just kind of a miracle, something you don’t think’s going to happen,” Lisa said. Said Andrew: “This is a time right now when we need some feel-good stories out there.” He has been made Chi Chi’s godfather. Twitter: @johnkelly


Latin America’s coronavirus crisis is only getting worse

case in much of the world, the spread of the virus has disproportionately affected the country’s poor and only underscored societal and economic divisions. “Although it likes to think otherwise, Chile’s DNA code is very Latin American, and its cities are highly segregated,” Dante Contreras, an economist at the University of Chile, said to The Washington Post. “Part of the population lives in the First World and the rest in the Third World, yet we all live within a few kilometers of one another. … Both the social movement and pandemic have torn away a veil, revealing a very different country to the one that Chile’s elite had thought it lived in.” That’s a recurring theme in Latin America’s coronavirus experience “The adherence of the population to social distancing measures is very different to Europe, where they don’t have so many poor people and they don’t have big slums,” said Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director at the Pan American Health Organization, to the Financial Times. “It’s very difficult to sustain these measures for a long time.” “Nearly three-quarters of Mexico’s coronavirus fatalities have involved underlying conditions such as hypertension or diabetes,” wrote my colleague Mary Beth Sheridan. “As cheap, processed foods and sugary soft drinks have proliferated in recent decades, particularly in poor neighborhoods, obesity and other chronic illnesses have multiplied. Even before Mexico reported its first cases, epidemiologists were fearful about the virus’s effect on a country suffering a nutritional crisis.” And on top of the public health calamity, there’s another imminent disaster. Experts fear that, as a consequence of pandemic shutdowns and slumping economies, tens of millions in the region will be pushed deeper into poverty, erasing multiple generations of social progress achieved in various countries. That may well have knock-on political effects once the pandemic passes and popular anger flares. “Optimists think that the overriding lesson of covid-19 is that democratic governments, armed with science and openness, are doing a better job than populists, and that voters will reward them,” noted the Economist, referencing the disease caused by the coronavirus. “That may be so in richer parts of the world. In Latin America opposition to incumbents, whether populists or democrats, is more likely to be the trend.” Read more: How the split over masks sums up America’s chaotic coronavirus response An isolated Trump receives an eager Polish president A journalist’s conviction spells trouble for democracy in the Philippines


Scientists solve mystery of bombardier beetles’ hot, toxic spray

at Berkeley. Will collected 18 of the beetles. He fed and injected them with chemicals similar to the ones the beetles use to protect themselves. The chemicals are strong enough to irritate human skin and kill ants, but they didn’t bother the beetles at all. Attygalle analyzed the beetles’ spray using a piece of equipment called a mass spectrometer. The scientists were able to trace the route the chemicals take through the beetles’ bodies. The chemicals collect in a reservoir, where they are stored until they are needed. That happens when the beetles are threatened — when they’ve been swallowed by a frog, for example. Valves open and the chemicals are pushed into a “reaction chamber.” There, they are mixed with enzymes. This heats them to a boiling 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius). It also converts the chemicals into their final, sometimes-deadly product. Then, “like detonating a bomb,” Attygalle says, the beetles shoot the spray from their backsides. The spray is so pungent and irritating, the frog spits the beetle out. The scientists also discovered that how the spray is made is different than researchers once believed. Once it was thought that the two compounds in the spray were made from the same starting material. Scientists now say they’re made from two substances. Attygalle says bombardier beetles aren’t the only ones that use these chemicals to protect themselves. Other beetles, spiders and some millipedes do, too. But bombardier beetles are the only ones that “heat it up and spray it,” Attygalle says. His team’s research shows that these different organisms “have independently come up with these mechanisms, which is biologically interesting.” Many kinds of chemicals are important throughout the insect population. In fact, “nearly all insects are chemistry-controlled,” Attygalle says. “It’s why they have been so successful at surviving evolutionary pressures.” For example, when monarch butterflies mate, the males transfer a toxic chemical to the females. This chemical protects their eggs from being eaten by predators. Attygalle says his favorite part of insect-chemical research is having his theories proved right. He and collaborators such as Will “start with stories, which need a lot of imagination — and often your imagination is wrong,” he says. “You wouldn’t believe how many times we get negative results.” But when it all pans out after months of trying, “all the bells are ringing — it worked! That is the biggest fascination and joy.”


There are so many coronavirus myths that even Snopes can’t keep up

The people wanted to know: Did self-described psychic Sylvia Browne predict the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in her 2008 book? So they turned to the place one goes to find the answers to such questions: Snopes.com. The Internet’s original myth-busters tackled this query on March 4, and the resulting post became one of the site’s most-read pieces that month, along with a look into whether the Trump administration actually fired the U.S. pandemic response team in 2018 and the one about whether Costco truly issued a toilet paper recall. They deemed the Sylvia Browne matter a “mixture" of truth and fiction. Yes, Browne had written more than a decade ago that “in around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tubes and resisting all known treatments.” But the Snopes team determined that “it’s unclear whether Browne’s ‘prediction’ was more of a lucky guess, considering the book was written after the SARS outbreak.” (Browne also predicted the disease “will suddenly vanish” and then come back in 10 years. Jury is still out on that.) But since then, Snopes, which delves into everything from bizarre urban legends to intricate government policies, has been overwhelmed with so many covid-19-related questions that the website can’t keep up. The company has done something that seems counterintuitive: It has scaled back operations by publishing fewer stories. There have been no furloughs or layoffs; but Snopes is encouraging employees, whose lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic, to take time off if needed. It’s a predicament other fact-checkers and journalists are facing: As the novel coronavirus has swept the globe, so has misinformation about the virus. The World Health Organization has referred to the abundance of articles, commentary and social media postings about this one topic — some accurate, some not — as an “infodemic” which “makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.” Compared with other big news stories, this pandemic presents a particularly difficult challenge for professional fact-checkers. The multi-headed crisis has its roots in what is essentially a science and medical story, requiring many journalists, not just health reporters, to quickly get up to speed. Covid-19 remains a mystery even to many of the professional scientists who could explain it to a reporter. And the stakes are high: The consequences of promoting a bogus diagnostic technique


July 8 morning weather update

The inside scoop on D.C. weather.


As economy reels from pandemic, Trump and Mexican president mark start of 3-nation trade pact

and its government, and thank you, President Trump, for being increasingly respectful with” Mexico. Though the two expressed confidence that the pact would pay dividends, experts have raised questions over how well some of the new trade deal’s core provisions will work out. The Trump administration last year agreed to modify the deal under pressure from House Democrats, who were delaying ratification. New language was added at the 11th hour to make sure that Mexico implemented various domestic labor reforms, including granting workers the right to form independent unions. In recent congressional testimony, Robert E. Lighthizer, the president’s chief trade negotiator, called USMCA “the best trade agreement in U.S. history” but acknowledged that enforcing the labor provisions would be tough. The agreement includes a novel provision that would allow the United States to temporarily block exports from specific Mexican factories if it thinks worker rights were being violated there while awaiting a decision from an independent panel of experts. Even as López Obrador arrived at the White House, there were signs of trouble on the labor front. Susana Prieto, a Mexican attorney representing workers in maquiladora factories near the U.S. border, accused the Mexican government of seeking to intimidate her with a prosecution on trumped-up charges. Prieto, who has sought higher wages and changes to make factory work safer during the pandemic, was released from a Mexican jail on July 1. She had been held for three weeks on charges that included inciting a riot, after seeking to register an independent union. The terms of her release required her to leave the border region near Texas for the state of Chihuahua, hundreds of miles away. But prosecutors there also have warrants for her arrest, she said. At a news conference, Prieto called López Obrador’s visit to Washington “completely inappropriate.” Also on Wednesday, far from the White House, officials in Florida detained the former governor of Chihuahua state, Mexican officials said — in what amounted to a coup for López Obrador. While Trump didn’t mention the arrest of Cesar Duarte, it was widely seen in Mexico as a goodwill gesture from the White House. The Mexican president had promised to win the extradition of the notorious politician, who is wanted on corruption charges. “A gift from the U.S. — the capture of Cesar Duarte” read the headline on the website of the daily Reforma. Duarte has been a fugitive since 2017.


Trump hosts Mexico’s president, an unlikely ally

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday, along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador flew to the United States on Tuesday on a commercial passenger plane. It also offered another unusual sight: In recognition of pandemic-era health and travel protocols, López Obrador was wearing a mask, an action he has seldom taken in public, even as infection rates spike through the country. Like Trump, he’s under fire at home after letting complacency define his initial response to the coronavirus pandemic. López Obrador’s scheduled Wednesday appearance at the White House provides a strange coda to the final months of the U.S. president’s term. Trump’s campaign was launched, notoriously, on anti-Mexican animus: He decried Mexican “rapists,” demonized a judge of Mexican heritage and repeatedly vowed to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, which Mexico would pay for. The southern neighbor became the locus of much that ails Trump’s America — a beneficiary of unfair trade deals, the staging ground for “caravans” of illegal infiltrators, the abode of menacing cartels and other criminal elements. For AMLO — a common nickname for the Mexican president — Trump, too, presented a useful political foil. Before his election, he spoke of Trump as a “neo-fascist” he likened to Hitler and as “an irresponsible bully” whose border wall plans were a “monument to hypocrisy and cruelty.” But since López Obrador came to power it has been a different story “We should not have people forced to wait for asylum — trying to find safety for themselves and their families — while camped outside in the elements for months at a time,” Sister Norma Pimentel, director of a Texas-based Catholic charity that works with migrants, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed last week. “It is contrary to our laws and the dictates of humanity.” Democratic lawmakers in the United States warned that AMLO’s arrival risks politicizing the U.S.-Mexico relationship by shifting the focus away from the disaster of the pandemic. In Mexico, critics have also decried the visit, not least because it appears to endorse an American president with a long track record of demonizing immigrants and insulting Mexicans. Others contend that Mexico has little choice but to find common ground with the White House. “We are talking about the most powerful man on Earth, Mexico’s most important trade


Torri Huske, an All-Met swimmer and Olympic hopeful, selects Stanford

Even with high school sports on hold, the recruiting cycle never slows. As local athletes wait to see what next season will look like, many of them are weighing decisions about their futures. We will use this recruiting roundup to stay on top of local commitments, offers and news. For rising Yorktown senior Torri Huske, this summer promised new milestones in her swimming career, including participation in the U.S. Olympic trials and a chance at the Summer Games in Tokyo. But those plans, like so many others, gave way to realities of the coronavirus pandemic. Still, the 17-year-old took a big step forward last week when she announced her commitment to Stanford, the three-time reigning NCAA women’s champion. Huske also considered Virginia, Duke and Florida. “I feel like going into it, I kept a pretty open mind,” Huske said. “My parents would ask me which was my favorite, but I wasn’t dead set on any one school. I wanted to make sure I fit in with the team and felt at home on the campus.” When she visited Stanford last fall, everything clicked. She loved the California setting, but more than that she appreciated the culture fostered by Coach Greg Meehan and assistant coach Tracy Slusser. As she observed Cardinal swimmers in a weight training session, she could sense their drive and camaraderie. “They were doing circuits in the weight room, a really hard set, and if someone messed up or dropped a weight, they would have to restart,” Huske said. “But they were all so positive and encouraging with each other. You could just tell how much they all cared for each other.” When she heads to Stanford in 2021, Huske will follow in the strokes of another elite D.C. area swimmer — two-time Olympian Katie Ledecky, who led the Cardinal to NCAA titles in 2017 and 2018 before going pro. For now, Huske, a two-time All-Met Swimmer of the Year, will focus on her own Olympic dreams, even though they have been deferred. The Tokyo Games have been rescheduled for next July and August, though the pandemic could threaten that timetable, too. She already has qualified for six events at the Olympic trials, now scheduled for June 2021: the 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyle; the 100- and 200-meter butterfly; and the 200-meter individual medley. Her best race, the 100-meter butterfly, also represents her best chance at an Olympic


The Finance 202: Republicans decried ‘blue state bailouts.’ But red states have coronavirus budget woes, too.

but that he would like to see them go to Americans making $40,000 a year or less. And the White House is exploring another avenue: tax credits for Major League Baseball and other incentives to get Americans to take vacations, Jeff Stein reports. One idea is to limit Hong Kong's access to U.S. dollars: “The idea of striking against the Hong Kong dollar peg -- perhaps by limiting the ability of Hong Kong banks to buy U.S. dollars -- has been raised as part of broader discussions among advisers to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and hasn’t been elevated to the senior levels of the White House, suggesting that it hasn’t gained serious traction yet … The proposal faces strong push back from others in the administration who worry such a move would only hurt Hong Kong banks and the U.S., not China …” TikTok tries to strike balance: Activists say the social network is still not doing enough: “Color of Change President Rashad Robinson described the meeting as ‘disappointing’ during a news conference … The organizers of the campaign, known as #StopHateForProfit, provided a list of demands to the social network days before the meeting, he said, and the company did not have clear responses to their recommendations.” Boeing continues to face uncertain future: “The company has said it is confident it will weather what has been one of the most tumultuous periods in its more than 100-year history … But the future of the Max and the company’s fate remain far from certain, and reopening the production line may represent misplaced optimism after a series of staggering setbacks across a range of programs.” Deutsche Bank fined $150 million for relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, other lapses: “Despite knowing Epstein’s ‘terrible criminal history,’ the bank ‘inexcusably failed to detect or prevent millions of dollars of suspicious transactions,’ Linda A. Lacewell, the superintendent of financial services, said in a statement … The $150 million penalty also covered Deutsche Bank’s conduct in two money laundering cases. The New York State Department of Financial Services said Deutsche failed to properly monitor the activities of two foreign bank clients, Danske Estonia and the Federal Bank of the Middle East, or FBME.” Top U.S. home mortgage lender to go public: “The Detroit-based company, which owns Rocket Mortgage and Quicken Loans, listed the size of the offering in a filing as $100 million, a placeholder amount


Americans are the dangerous, disease-carrying foreigners now

resident coming from China for saving “millions of U.S. lives.” In February and March, the president justified his preexisting plan for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border “to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering our country.” It’s easy to see why Trump might think this way. After all, our history of tying foreigners to disease has deep roots. In 1793, Germans were blamed for bringing yellow fever, often called the “German flu,” into the country. In Philadelphia, they were quarantined in a “pesthouse” on Province Island. In 1832 and 1849, the Irish were tied to cholera outbreaks in New York City. San Francisco public health officials claimed that Chinese immigrants brought numerous dangerous diseases such as smallpox, bubonic plague and leprosy into the country. Tuberculosis was known as a “Jewish disease.” Newspapers identified Italian immigrants as the source of the polio epidemic that raged along the East Coast during the summer of 1916. Mexicans were described as living in “filth, disease, [and] squalor” and were charged with bringing typhus, plague and smallpox into the United States. Public health, xenophobia and racism worked together to form a toxic brew throughout U.S. history. In the late 19th century, we began our long practice of banning immigrants on medical grounds. The 1891 Immigration Act allowed the U.S. government to deny entry to any foreigner “suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease,” such as trachoma, favus, venereal disease, parasitic infection or tuberculosis. By 1903, the U.S. Public Health Service included a new category of excludable diseases and conditions that rendered the immigrant “likely to become a public charge” unable to support themselves. Some of these “defects” included pregnancy, “poor physique,” “nervous affections,” deformities, varicose veins and poor eyesight. Over the years, more diseases and conditions were added to the government’s no-entry list. Most were chronic, mental or moral conditions, such as “feeblemindedness” and “constitutional psychopathic inferiority,” a coded reference to those engaged in allegedly perverse or degenerate sexual activity or behavior. These expanded lists meant the United States was able to ban more and more immigrants, especially those considered to be racially undesirable and inferior such as Asians, southern and eastern Europeans, and Mexicans. By 1915, 69 percent of immigrants blocked from entry had been shut out on medical grounds. In the 1920s, discriminatory national-origins quotas were put in place to further restrict immigration from southern, eastern and


Trump’s covid-19 denial won’t fly

but as the virus overpowers health-care providers in red states, one wonders how long even usually sycophantic Republicans will react. Is Arizona in a good place? “One in four COVID-19 tests in Arizona is coming back positive, the highest percentage in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University, and an indicator that there isn’t enough testing to keep up with the new coronavirus’ spread in the state,” the Arizona Republic reported. “Arizona’s COVID-19 metrics have been moving in the wrong direction for more than a month.” Arizona set a single-day record of 117 dead Tuesday, surpassing 105,000 total cases. Then there is the frightful reality that state is running out of hospital beds. (“State health officials report that 89% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were full as of last Tuesday, leaving 187 ICU beds for future patients,” AZ Big Media reported. “Additionally, 85% of inpatient beds are in use, leaving 1,140 beds unused statewide.”) In a good place? No. Is Florida in a good place? The Miami Herald reports, “Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed 7,347 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 213,794. Of those, 2,066 cases were reported in Miami-Dade County, bringing the county’s total to 51,058 known cases as officials prepare to roll back reopenings such as restaurant indoor dining because of the increasing coronavirus cases.” There were also 63 deaths. It’s positive test rate climbed past 20 percent, a record for the state. The Post reports, “In a sign of intensifying trouble, 52 intensive care units across more than a third of the state’s counties had reached capacity by Tuesday, according to data released by the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. Another 17 hospitals had also run out of regular beds.” In a good place? No. What about Texas? CBS News reports, “Texas has once again broken its single-day record for new coronavirus cases. The state reported 10,028 new cases Tuesday as officials warned that hospitals are reaching capacity.” Texas also hit a record 60 deaths in a single day. Like Arizona, the hospital bed situation looks ominous: “Coronavirus hospitalizations have more than doubled in Texas over the last two weeks. Officials reported 9,268 people were sick with coronavirus in state hospitals Tuesday — another daily record.” And if that were not all bad enough: “An average of 13.5% of tests now come back positive, as of Monday. Texas Governor


Spreading rock dust on the ground could pull carbon from the air, researchers say

Spreading rock dust on farmland could pull enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to remove about half of the amount of that greenhouse gas currently produced by Europe, according to a major study published Thursday in the journal Nature. And if China, the United States and India — the three countries that emit the most CO2 — adopted the practice on a large scale, they could collectively clear about 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air, according to the new research published by scientists at the University of Sheffield’s Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation and the university’s Energy Institute. Known as enhanced rock weathering, the process involves layering crushed rock onto soil. When silicate or carbonate minerals in the dust dissolve in rain water, carbon dioxide is drawn from the atmosphere into the solution to form bicarbonate ions. The bicarbonate ions are eventually washed by runoff into the ocean, where they form carbonate minerals, storing their carbon indefinitely. The study published Thursday is the first analysis that used modeling and simulations to estimate the potential of individual countries to capture carbon through enhanced rock weathering. As nations around the globe strive to mitigate climate change, it’s not enough to reduce the carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases produced when humans burn fossil fuels, experts say. Carbon already in the atmosphere has to be removed, scientists say, if nations are to prevent the average global surface temperature from crossing a perilous threshold: 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. That is the point beyond which experts warn about dangerous and irreversible changes to the planet. The 2015 Paris accord, supported by every major economy except the United States under President Trump, calls for severe cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the removal of between 2 billion and 10 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide each year to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. “Spreading rock dust on agricultural land is a straightforward, practical CO2 drawdown approach with the potential to boost soil health and food production,” said David Beerling, director of the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation and lead author of the study. “Our analyses reveal the big emitting nations — China, the U.S., India — have the greatest potential to do this, emphasizing their need to step up to the challenge.” The researchers point out that the countries where enhanced rock weatherization


Walgreens opening doctor offices at hundreds of its drugstores

Walgreens plans to open hundreds of primary-care clinics in the coming years as the drugstore giant continues to expand into medical care. The pharmacy chain said Wednesday it has reached a deal with VillageMD to staff and operate 500 to 700 clinics in 30 U.S. markets within five years. Though the company did not identify specific locations, it said most will be in underserved areas. VillageMD, a primary-care provider that employs more than 2,800 physicians serves patients through free-standing clinics. It plans to recruit more than 3,600 primary-care providers under its partnership with Walgreens. Walgreens will invest $1 billion in equity and debt in VillageMD over three years and at the end of that period will claim a 30 percent ownership stake. The clinics will be about 3,300 square feet, about a quarter of the typical Walgreens store, although some will be as large as 9,000 square feet, the company said. Though the retailer, which has more than 18,000 locations, will continue to sell its array of drugstore goods, it said it will scale back on grocery and wellness merchandise at stores with larger VillageMD clinics. The clinics will offer a host of services, from annual checkups to preventive care to the treatment of chronic diseases. Nurse practitioners, physicians’ assistants and social workers will work out of some locations. At-home visits and telehealth options will also be made available. “ The partnership comes as drugstores are consolidating to offer more services. In 2018, CVS acquired Aetna, the nation’s third-largest health insurer, in a $69 billion deal. The mega tie-up was designed to pull CVS’s brick-and-mortar locations closer to front-line clinics for basic care and patient monitoring. Walgreens said expanding medical care at its drugstores is both a convenience for its customers and a better way to treat chronic conditions that require a host of daily medications. Combining services also leads to better health outcomes, the company said, based on its trial run involving a handful of clinics in Houston. The clinics will offer comprehensive health care and will accept a range of health insurance plans, the company said, while patients without health insurance will be charged on a sliding scale. It did not disclose what it might charge for specific services. More than half of the clinics will be located in areas where the federal government has designated a shortage of health-care professionals and where communities are underserved, Walgreens said.


‘My New Normal,’ an emotional and psychological journey through the covid-19 pandemic in New York City

cases were presenting themselves, leading to a multitude of deaths. I heard from some of my friends in Brooklyn that the wailing of ambulance sirens was a constant, haunting soundtrack to the terror gripping the city. Things came to a standstill as people were asked to stay inside, practice social distancing and wear masks in an attempt to flatten the curve. Razowsky was one of the many people endeavoring to get through all of it. Now that the virus has spread far and wide across the United States, many of us, unfortunately, can relate, in some ways, to the struggle New Yorkers faced. Razowsky told In Sight a little more about their experience and what led them to embark on the project: “In mid-March 2020, we suddenly found ourselves living in a world that leaves former activities we thought little about, such as visiting friends, walking outside or grocery shopping, fraught with invisible danger. Living alone when the pandemic hit, my life abruptly became one of extreme solitude, both inside my home and out in the world. And, as we have long passed 90 days since the start of the pandemic in New York City, with Phase 2 of reopening happening locally as case numbers spike nationally, we are seemingly only at the beginning of this new global experience. “Generally, I point my camera outward to hold a mirror up to the world. But as our global identity shifts, I’ve placed myself inside my work like never before. We’ve all been pushed into this unexpected together and, I think, are looking for ways to feel less alone with our inner turmoil. I began ’My New Normal’ to help myself process this unexpected situation, and hope that by visualizing this uncertainty, I can help offer an expression for our startling new common experience.” You can see more of Razowsky’s work on their website, here. In Sight is The Washington Post’s photography blog for visual narrative. This platform showcases compelling and diverse imagery from staff members and freelance photographers, news agencies and archives. If you are interested in submitting a story to In Sight, please complete More on In Sight: ‘My dad died alone and afraid from something that, by all rights, shouldn’t have killed him’ Intensely personal images show how a Bangladeshi family copes during the covid-19 pandemic A photographer in Mexico uses an imperfect camera to document an uncertain time


Why Israel is seeing a coronavirus spike after initially crushing the outbreak

JERUSALEM — Israel's deft handling of its coronavirus outbreak this spring won praise at home and abroad, but the virus has returned, with cases now increasing faster than ever and health officials warning that hospitals could be overwhelmed by the end of the month. Israelis across the political spectrum are asking what’s gone wrong and demanding to know how their government could have fumbled so badly after getting it so right. An Israeli official with knowledge of the pandemic response said government researchers have traced the bulk of new infections to a single category of activity: public gatherings, particularly weddings. The official said a huge spike in weddings — some 2,092 between June 15 and June 25 — proved the events to be covid-19 incubators. “You have people coming from all over the country,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the matter. “They hug each other; they sing, they dance. That’s the ultimate opportunity to infect people.” Israel has begun to alert other governments about its findings on the peril of weddings, the official said. A shutdown of wedding halls was among the new restrictions announced Monday, along with closing concert venues and public pools. Restaurants have been limited to 20 indoor diners and 30 outside, while houses of worship will be held to 19 attendees. Israel’s flattened curve of cases began to climb again after the government eased its lockdown in late May, opening gyms and cafes and allowing large gatherings. The country Monday surpassed a total of 30,000 infections. Hospitals are scrambling to accommodate serious cases, which have started doubling every day, according to figures cited by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has begun pleading with citizens to wear masks and avoid crowds. Health and policy experts, while crediting the government for dampening the virus’s spread in the spring, cite a raft of failures for its summer resurgence. They include refraining from appointing a coronavirus “czar” to coordinate the response and failing to put together a national network of testing labs and technicians able to track the virus. The government official noted that Israel was averaging more than 20,000 tests a day, but acknowledged inadequate contact tracing. “It wasn’t robust enough in terms of manpower,” the official said. With new restrictions now taking effect, Israelis are again losing the near-normality they had thought was theirs to enjoy. The


Black activist says he was victim of ‘attempted lynching’ by white group in incident partially caught on video

to a 911 call for service on private property near Lake Monroe to investigate a battery. No arrests were made at the scene, but the agency said it is continuing to review the evidence and conduct interviews. It said it would not be releasing any additional information for now. On Monday evening, hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside Monroe County Courthouse in Bloomington to demand swift arrests in Booker’s case. “As a person of color in this community, this terrified me,” protester Rosie Maharjan, 22, told The Washington Post. “I always felt safe in Bloomington because it’s one of the more liberal areas of Indiana, and it just shows that it’s absolutely not. There’s dangerous white supremacists even here.” The protest was peaceful but turned frightening as it wrapped up, when a speeding car plowed into at least one protester, according to a spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. The spokesman referred comment on the incident to the Bloomington Police Department, which said late Monday it had no additional information to release. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton (D) and City Clerk Nicole Bolden said in a joint statement Monday that they would be working with the Monroe County prosecutor to seek justice in Booker’s case, although the city has no jurisdiction over the investigation. The city officials said Booker was “physically assaulted and denounced and threatened with racial epithets” on “Indiana state park land at Lake Monroe.” The incident, the officials said, exemplifies “the persistence of racism and bias in our country and our own community,” deserving “nothing less than our collective condemnation.” According to Booker’s account, he and a group of friends went to Lake Monroe to watch the lunar eclipse on the Fourth of July. On their way to the park, he said they encountered a man in a Confederate hat who warned them they were walking on private property. He said they apologized, but attempts to “smooth over” the dispute went awry. He said the men followed him and his group as they tried to leave. Then, he said, the men “jumped me from behind." “The five were able to easily overwhelm me and got me to the ground and dragged me pinning my body against a tree,” he said, before they allegedly began hitting his head and pulling his hair. At one point, he said, he heard one man shout, “We’re going to break his arms,” while


A local’s guide to Beijing

116.395620 phone: 011-86-10-6316-7177 website: https://hotel.muji.com/beijing/en/facilities/ Twitter: instagram: A meat lover’s heaven. Mongolian hot pot arrived in Beijing with Kublai Khan’s army and has remained a local favorite for more than 800 years. This Mongolian hot-pot joint is not near any tourist spot, and is almost deliberately not Instagrammable, but it might just be the best place to dip hand-cut mutton into a bubbling clear broth. There is no English menu, so you’ll need a translation app handy. BTW: Label: LUNCH address: G22, Shunmai Jinzuan International Business Center, Bakeyang West St, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China latlng: 39.886902, 116.462493 phone: 011-86-136-1110-1883 website: Twitter: instagram: As Sichuan cuisine wins over foodies across the world, in China, it has firmly settled in as the most popular eat-out choice. One explanation: The numbing peppercorns it’s famous for trigger your brain to release joy juice (endorphins), so office workers enjoy a brief respite from their PowerPoint problems over mapo tofu. If you are not visiting Sichuan on your China trip, you must visit this old Chuan Ban restaurant on the ground floor of the province’s liaison office in the Jianguomen area. Be prepared to queue unless you arrive before 6 p.m. This is the gold standard in town for good ol’ spicy food. BTW: Label: DINNER address: 5 Gongyuan 1st Alley, Chaoyangmen, Dongcheng, Beijing, China latlng: phone: 011-86-10-6512-2277 website: Twitter: instagram: Confucius says: When in Peking, eat duck. In less than 10 years, Da Dong has unseated numerous grandes dames of the roast-duck houses to become the go-to place for Peking duck (the rumor is that the ducks nowadays are actually of British import). On last count, there are more than a dozen Da Dong locations in town. The Nanxincang branch’s is between Dongsi and Sanlitun, and probably more convenient for people using this guide. Reserve ahead. BTW: Label: DINNER address: 1-2F Nanxincang Commercial Building, 22 Dongsi Shitiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China latlng: phone: 011-86-10-5169-0329 website: Twitter: instagram: Chinese people tend to have dinner at 6 p.m. so it’s not easy to eat after 9. Jin Ding Xuan is open 24/7 and serves food from all regions of China but is known for its cheerful Cantonese dim sum at a great bargain. It occupies three floors and has a traditional lanterned Chinese facade. Expect to meet young people, especially getting a bite after clubbing or after having watched European soccer matches on TV. BTW: Label: LATE-NIGHT


I’m a female journalist in the Middle East. I won’t be silenced by online attacks.

sprawled on the desk of Al Jazeera’s chairman with the caption “I want a raise” was furiously retweeted. For these people, it seemed incomprehensible that a woman could be successful based on her merit or hard work. After all, as far as their governments are concerned, women should be seen but not heard — unless they occupy token positions to demonstrate a facade of modernity and can be paraded in front of the world’s media. There has been a disturbing rise in gender-related harassment and threats against female public figures. The movement for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia has terrified the government, which has insisted on doling out reforms on its own terms while detaining the female activists behind the movement. Loujain al-Hathloul, the most prominent of the Saudi women campaigners, and several others remain behind bars. It’s their courage, and that of the many unknown heroes and victims of autocratic governments in the Middle East, that inspires me to continue my work, no matter how brutal and misogynistic the smear campaigns, no matter how many death threats I receive. Last Friday, a Turkish court began hearings on Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder — a stark reminder that justice has still not been served two years on. Jamal himself once warned me to ignore and block these Twitter accounts. Even though the man widely believed to be responsible for Jamal’s murder may never be held to account, we must not let him and those who work for him imperil one of the fundamental pillars of a free society — a free press. At a time when Twitter has taken proactive steps to stop hate speech — for example, banning people such as Katie Hopkins in Britain or by flagging tweets by President Trump — it is unacceptable that attacks like this are allowed to continue. Twitter and other social media sites must take action to protect journalists such as myself and ensure that its platform is no longer misused by authoritarian regimes. Read more: Omar Abdulaziz: Saudi spies hacked my phone and tried to stop my activism. I won’t stop fighting. Iyad el-Baghdadi: Saudi Arabia is suffocating the Arabic public sphere. We must fight back. Manal al-Sharif: I’m a Saudi activist. Twitter put my life in danger. David Ignatius: The dazzling rise and tragic fall of Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Nayef Jamal Khashoggi: A missing voice, a growing chorus


Japan is reeling from devastating rains and flooding, with more on the way

3.85 inches. Nearby Ashikita picked up 7.5 inches in three hours, also breaking a six-hour record with 12.8 inches. The torrents caused the Kuma River to overflow, leading to floods and landslides that inundated streets, homes and businesses, and submerged cars. A nursing home was overrun by floodwaters, resulting in the deaths of 14 residents. In Kyushu, Japan’s third-largest island, 3.6 million people were asked to evacuate and 13 people remain missing. Meanwhile, landslides have wrought havoc, and the Japanese Meteorological Agency has issued rainfall and ground-loosening warnings for most of southern Japan. The agency warned of a high risk of landslides in Nara prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, with a particular danger in the foothills of Mount Obako. Kyushu is the wettest place in Japan. According to NHK News, Kyushu holds the record for the nation’s greatest one-hour rainfall and annual total — 6.02 inches and 341 inches (28 feet and 5 inches), respectively. Its position in Japan’s southwest puts it in contact with the warm flow of the Koroshio Current, the Pacific’s “western boundary current.” The current, akin to an even stronger Gulf Stream, transports mild subtropical water northward through the Philippine Sea, adding heat and moisture to the air, fueling potentially drenching downpours. Most of the Koroshio Current’s flow curves east of Japan because of the Coriolis force, or Earth’s spin, but a portion of it snakes into the East China Sea. This branch, the Tsushima Current, meanders west of the Japanese archipelago. Kyushu is sandwiched between. Atmospheric moisture is most readily available in the summertime, and often interacts with the Meiyu front — a semi-permanent feature in the East Asian atmosphere. The usually weak boundary divides warm air to the south from a cooler, drier northwest flow emanating from northern China and southeastern Russia. The front sags south in the wintertime, swinging much closer to Japan during the summer as the cold retreats north into the Arctic. Over the weekend, the Meiyu front was draped directly over Kyushu, with a pair of frontal depressions — waves of low pressure — riding up the boundary. That helped focus heavy downpours and tap into the excessive moisture available. A weather balloon launched Saturday from Kagoshima, a seaside city on Kyushu, revealed an excessively moist atmosphere typical of what one might expect to find in the middle of a tropical storm. A PWAT, or precipitable water index, of 3.00 inches


Ivy League won’t hold sports this fall, becoming first D-1 conference to suspend football season

and the NCAA canceled all remaining winter and spring championships that afternoon. By the end of the week, sports in the United States had ground to a halt. Harvard and Princeton both announced this week that they would bring a limited number of undergraduate students to campus this fall. Princeton plans to bring freshmen and juniors to campus for the fall term, then sophomores and seniors in the spring. Harvard said it will have up to 40 percent of undergraduate students on campus in the fall. Yale announced a less restrictive plan with three of four undergraduate classes on campus during each semester. The Ivy League said Wednesday that return-to-campus policies for athletes would be the same as the general student body. In April, Robin Harris, executive director of the Ivy League, said: “If we don’t have students in dorms, if we don’t have students on campus, I don’t see how we would ever have athletics competition. That, to me, seems the threshold: When do students come back?" Universities around the country have varying plans for the fall. Some said they hope to hold in-person classes as usual, while others announced plans for primarily remote learning. College athletic facilities across the country closed in mid-March because of the pandemic. The NCAA voted to lift the suspension of team activities beginning June 1. In the following weeks, many football players returned to campus to begin voluntary workouts. Around the same time, the number of coronavirus cases began to rise around the country. The NCAA’s Division I Council approved a plan for college football practice that starts July 13 for most teams. Beginning that week, athletes may be required to participate in team activities, whereas programs currently are allowed to hold only voluntary workouts. Outside Division I, other conferences and schools have announced changes for fall sports. The Division III Centennial Conference said this week that it decided to suspend all competition scheduled for the fall semester. Morehouse, Bowdoin, Williams College, Pratt Institute, the College of New Jersey and Massachusetts Boston also canceled their fall seasons. Adam Kilgore contributed to this report. Read more: Unable to afford coronavirus testing, some colleges are canceling football season As coronavirus cases rise, governors warn the college football season could be in danger Senators press NCAA for coronavirus rules, criticize schools’ liability waivers Coaches inspire and instruct on the field. Can they help in a pandemic?


Surge in virus hospitalizations strains hospitals in several states

129,000 people have died. Florida is rushing some 100 new health-care workers to Miami-Dade County’s public hospital network to handle the influx of coronavirus cases, including 75 nurses who will be ready to work in intensive care units. But Miami hospital workers fear that might not be enough. The large Jackson Health System in Miami has opened new floors and new units to handle the increasing number of patients, said Lilian Abbo, the hospital’s head of infection prevention. “If we continue this trend, we may not have enough staff,” she said. Staff at its main hospital, Jackson Memorial, say it has grown crowded, with doctors and nurses working long hours. Hospital workers are adding negative-pressure systems to rooms so they can be used for covid-19 patients, said Nicholas Namias, chief of trauma and surgical critical care. “We’re not in some sort of apocalyptic scene, but we’re very actively creating beds,” he said. In states with surging cases, deaths have not spiked as sharply as hospitalizations — a point touted by President Trump, who falsely claimed this week that the United States had the world’s lowest mortality rate from the virus. Numerous countries have maintained lower death rates. Epidemiologists, health officials and physicians in some of the hardest-hit states said the prevalence of new cases among younger people may explain why there are fewer fatalities than raw case numbers would suggest. But they also stressed that fatalities are a lagging indicator, sometimes following hospitalizations by weeks. Deaths are rising in a number of places, especially in the Sun Belt. Texas on Wednesday reported 98 deaths from covid-19, a one-day high that surpassed its earlier record reached on Tuesday, when Arizona and Mississippi also reached one-day highs. Arizona and Texas also hit new highs this week in seven-day rolling averages of deaths, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. Florida is also beginning to see a sustained rise in fatalities, as documented in a Federal Emergency Management Agency report obtained by The Washington Post. The report shows a rebound in the seven-day rolling average of fatalities starting about two weeks ago and notes, “State is monitoring bed census daily and making contingency plans in the event capacity becomes an issue.” At this point, juggling virus patients with people suffering other ailments has become more challenging. Hospitalizations for the virus in Texas have more than doubled in the past two weeks, filling


bed, who should go to a covid bed.” Namias said he could envision the hospital being overrun by covid-19 patients if the state’s infection numbers continue upward. “It could happen,” he said. “That’s why we ask people for vigilance in wearing a mask and keeping a distance.” Hospitals are also feeling the strain in Los Angeles County, which is averaging around 2,300 new cases each day. Anne Caputo-Pearl, a nurse at California Hospital Medical Center, which treats a majority of low-income and minority patients, said she has seen an influx of patients who live in crowded housing or without housing at all, and who are therefore unable to isolate at home. Nurses are constantly busy with sick patients, often extending 12-hour shifts without being asked, she said. Intensive care units are at or near capacity, she said. Emergency room wait times have grown. Caputo-Pearl and her fellow nurses are being forced to “use personal protective equipment until it is unusable,” which means wearing gowns until they’re unsafe and N95 masks for as long as possible. Thankfully, she said, they still switch out gloves when possible. Caputo-Pearl said Dignity Health, the system that runs her hospital, maintains its staff has enough PPE to operate safely. “This whole notion of what’s enough — I think nurses and doctors are going to have a very different definition of what’s enough than hospital administrators and even the CDC,” Caputo-Pearl said. “But we’ve all been asked to reuse our PPE, and that is the expectation.” A spokesperson for California Hospital Medical Center and Dignity Health did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Some doctors have noticed that a larger proportion of younger patients are now contracting the virus. They tend to recover and be discharged more quickly than older patients, helping to free up beds faster. Rajiv Bahl, an emergency medicine physician in Orlando, saw that happening in early June. But lately, more older people have become infected, he said, “and we’re now seeing people with underlying conditions coming in to the emergency department and getting more sick.” There’s now an “overall stress on the system,” Bahl said, “whether it be protective equipment, staff, ventilator needs.” “I don’t think we can hang our hats on the fact that deaths haven’t increased with cases,” he added. Health-care workers are now juggling incoming patients, searching for open beds in their own hospitals or at others


We took a plane, train and (rental) automobile for the experience, not the journey

Mandatory face coverings. Contact-free check-in. Boarding back to front. Blocked airplane seats. Limited passenger capacity on trains. The industry’s safety procedures are becoming as much a part of the experience as the act of travel itself. Though the rules are changing as quickly as a mood ring on an emotional day, most travelers are already familiar with some of the measures, such as masks and social distancing. However, knowing the protocols is different from enduring them, especially when you are inside a plane, train or rental car for an extended period. Travelers contemplating a domestic trip can’t help but wonder: What’s it like . . . to take a train? To fly in a plane? To rent a car? Are passengers abiding by the rules, and when they fail to do so, are staff members intervening? Is traveling with so many new restrictions stressful or comforting? To fill in the blanks, I sampled all three forms of transportation the week before the Fourth of July. I hopped a train from Washington’s Union Station to Newark Liberty International Airport, caught a flight to Chicago O’Hare and rented a car. Before setting off, I contacted medical experts for safety advice and stocked up on masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the latest travel essentials. Here is my report from the rails, sky and road. Expert advice The experience On a Tuesday morning, Union Station felt like a hollow shell, with empty halls and shuttered stores. Only a few food places were open, not that I was going to drink coffee after Dausey’s warning. In the waiting area, I stood away from the other passengers and loiterers, but noticed many people without masks. When I asked a MARC employee about the rule-flouters, he explained that some people simply refuse to follow orders. I countered with: If I showed up without pants on, wouldn’t security ask me to leave and not return until I was properly dressed? He responded to my analogy with a look of resignation. Only a few dozen people were taking the Northeast Regional train, a consequence of the pandemic and Amtrak’s decision to reduce passenger capacity by 50 percent. Because I didn’t have to dodge a rush of passengers, I sauntered to one of the last cars. I found a seat sandwiched between empty rows. The conductor scanned the ticket on my phone and moved on. No contact, no chitchat. I


With raised fists, a moment of silence and BLM shirts, MLS’s troubled restart officially opens

the league wearing T-shirts supporting Black Lives Matter and other causes. During the extended period of silence, gloved fists were raised, a nod to John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. ""It was very powerful to put my fist up and to be there on the field with so many people that are trying to make a change in this country," Miami forward Juan Agudelo said. Orlando captain Nani, who scored the winning goal deep into second-half stoppage time, said, “We all want to change the world. We want a better world. The ceremony was beautiful.” The 22 starters took a knee on the center circle, an act that has occurred on fields in Europe and at the National Women’s Soccer League tournament in Utah. The setting here was silent, except for the rumble of generators. On the lower back of game jerseys, players were invited to post names, such as “George Floyd,” or messages, such as “Freedom” and “Amor.” When the ceremony ended, there was polite applause. Then began the MLS is Back Tournament, which stumbled to the starting line after FC Dallas withdrew Monday because 10 players and one staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. Nashville SC faces a similar fate with at least five infected players. Nashville’s first match, against Chicago, was supposed to take place late Wednesday. The outbreak, however, prevented the team from practicing for the past week and forced a postponement. D.C. United’s opener was moved to Sunday morning from Friday night because its opponent, Toronto FC, had testing issues that delayed its arrival. Nashville’s exit, expected Thursday, would force further schedule changes. More than 1,300 players and staff are living in a so-called bubble at a Disney resort three miles from the sports complex. As of Tuesday, only one player who isn’t with Dallas or Nashville had tested positive since the arrival in the Orlando area, the league said. Delegations were tested regularly for weeks leading to the tournament and tested every other day at the hotel, which is also serving as a health clinic and activity center for the sequestered players. Away from their homes and families for up to six weeks, players say the pandemic is weighing heavily. Florida’s recent spike in cases raised the anxiety level. The players also said they are excited to resume competition after the season was suspended in March following


Maryland county issues one of the region’s most strict mask mandates as DMV sees four-day increase in cases

virus’s spread. He urged Virginians to remain vigilant, noting the state has avoided spikes seen in other parts of the country. “Northern Virginia presents the best comparison to other parts of the national capital region, and has seen significant declines in case numbers, hospitalizations and percent of positive tests over the past month,” he said in a statement. “We are continuing to closely monitor health metrics across other parts of the Commonwealth, which tend to be closer — both physically and demographically — to our neighboring states of Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia.” The number of recent virus-related deaths has changed little in the greater Washington region — although numbers are down in Maryland, steady in the District and up slightly in Virginia when compared with mid-June. In Maryland, the seven-day average of daily deaths stood at 11 on Thursday, less than half the number in mid-June. The District’s average number of deaths is mostly unchanged at about two, while Virginia’s average has risen from about 11 to 17 during that time, with the increase generally coming outside the Washington suburbs. The number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 in the region — which stood at 1,454 on Thursday — has trended downward since mid-June, as has the number of patients in intensive care or using ventilators. Maryland officials said the state is continuing to make progress in battling the virus. Hogan said, “Key health metrics continue to trend in a very positive direction.” Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said Thursday that the Washington suburb, which was one of the hardest-hit in the region, continues to see infections and deaths trend downward. But she and the top health officer in Prince George’s warned there has been a slight uptick in recent days in the infection rate. “Please remain vigilant,” Alsobrooks said at a news conference. “We are going to recover together, and we are going to do so with data and science.” Alsobrooks said about 10,000 tests are being conducted weekly across the county, which is continuing to add new testing sites. She said positivity rates are down from their peak of 43 percent in late April to 6.5 percent in the last week of June. Alsobrooks said the county hopes to continue to expand testing sites and will open a new site at a community center in Clinton next week. Prince George’s County Health Officer Ernest


At the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, socially distanced stargazing

Idaho Dark Sky reserve, has spoken at these star floats in the past. While the region has too much rain and snow for research telescopes, he has seen regional astronomy clubs show up at the reserve in recent years. “Where I see the Dark Sky Reserve providing some added benefit to researchers is in the amateur astronomy field,” he says. “This group of capable and motivated people are responsible for a surprising number of comet and asteroid discoveries.” There are other late-night stargazing options for travelers who don’t wish to venture far from the comforts of Sun Valley. The Sawtooth National Recreation Area visitor center is located about seven miles north of town on State Route 75. Its restrooms and parking lot are open all night for the benefit of stargazers. There are many pull-offs farther along Route 75 for those who wish to hop out and see the night skies. The Galena Lodge, some 23 miles north of town, has a funky, bohemian feel and includes a restaurant (complete with monthly “full moon” parties), bike rental and gift shop. There’s nearby camping, and the lodge rents out four yurts, which cost $100 to $125 per night in the summer and $150 to $200 per night in the winter. From there, it’s a roughly seven-mile drive up a 6 percent grade until Route 75 reaches Galena summit at 8,700 feet. The roadside is well marked with light reflectors, making it easy to drive at night. Park at the Bethine and Frank Church Overlook, named after the late Idaho senator and his wife, and enjoy the best view in the whole reserve. (Frank Church once said: “I never knew a man who felt self-important in the morning after spending the night in the open on an Idaho mountainside under a star-studded summer sky.”) Several mountain ranges are visible from here, including the Sawtooth Range, of which you can see more than nine peaks that are at least 10,000 feet high. Visitors who come late at night will be struck by the almost eerie silence under a vast heavenly canvas. Although the funds are not available for a planetarium, Boise State University is introducing a mobile observatory to the reserve in the near future. Until then, bring a telescope, and go low-tech with an iPhone app that, by simply pointing the phone toward the night sky, unlocks the beauty of the cosmos.


Six months, six countries, six families — and one unrelenting, unforgiving epidemic

kindergarten, he was a street sweeper who scrimped on groceries and never stopped pleading with her to pursue something more secure than acting, even as she earned a master’s degree in drama. She and her partner, Cheng Ka-chun, hustled parts in local plays, puppet shows and traveling productions. They could afford a 300-square-foot slice of Hong Kong’s real estate market, one of the world’s most expensive, which they shared with a 2-year-old son. That would soon be in jeopardy. On that first day of the year, next door on the mainland, Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan had been closed for urgent cleaning after more than two dozen people who had been there were hospitalized with a perplexing pneumonia. Hong Kong, remembering the 2003 SARS outbreak that rattled the city, watched nervously as the outbreak blew up on the mainland. On Jan. 28, the city closed its rail links to the mainland. When the Lunar New Year vacation ended late in the month and Karen was preparing her workshops for returning students, she got word: Schools were closed. Rehearsals were canceled. Her income was gone. Maria Maraver had begun her assignment as a coronary care nurse at Gregorio Marañón Hospital just a few weeks before the reports of a respiratory syndrome wreaking havoc in China caught her eye. On one level, she was intrigued. If the novel coronavirus ever reached Spain, she could imagine treating the infected. She was confident her hospital was well-equipped for it. At 25, Maria was part of an accomplished family from suburban Madrid. Her Arkansas-born mother, with the help of an older brother, ran a chain of stores selling imported American foods. One sister was a first-year medical student; the other was cramming for the medical school entrance exam. An academic interest in the distant epidemic was part of breakfast table chatter. But their interest soon grew more immediate. Sixteen cases of coronavirus suddenly appeared in northern Italy. The outbreak had arrived in Europe. About 1,500 miles to the east in Hungary, Tamas Bodi and Melinda Biletics watched the news from Italy and thought of all the families on ski holiday there, some from the school where Melinda taught second grade and their two daughters were students. The school’s headmaster asked parents who had visited the Alps to keep their children home for two weeks. But many ignored him, and Melinda knew the virus had


If we want to beat covid-19, we need to get a lot better at vaccinating people

and supplied, they could administer covid-19 vaccines to their customers or even take on more proactive roles in administering vaccines at home in the communities they serve. Regulations that prevent administration of vaccines at pharmacies — such as those that prohibit immunization of young children — could be temporarily eased. Of course, though pharmacies have long been able to provide flu vaccines, they haven’t been able to close the gap between vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans. Nurses with appropriate protective equipment and vaccines could join postal workers on mail delivery routes to bring covid-19 vaccines directly to the home, an approach that could be particularly helpful in rural areas. At Boston Medical Center, pediatricians have already partnered with idle ambulance crews to bring routine vaccines directly to children in their homes during the pandemic. Programs like this one could be continued to deliver the coronavirus vaccine once available. Vaccination should also come at no cost to individuals. We already know that covid-19 infections have been more common among low-income Americans, who would benefit most from vaccination yet be least able to afford it. The long-term economic benefits of maximally vaccinating the population would far outweigh the costs of the vaccine and its administration. And finally, creative planning and public health messaging have never been more important. Ideas ranging from mandating that employers offer paid time off to allow employees to be vaccinated; “national vaccine days”; coordinated endorsements by politicians and celebrities; and national data collection to better target efforts to those who are not yet vaccinated should all be under consideration. A strategy to universal vaccination should be a sophisticated, prioritized, federally centralized effort. Health policy experts have already called for the mass preproduction of vaccine candidates with the hope of quickly distributing those vaccines that are ultimately found to be effective and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Having a stockpile of vaccines ready to distribute makes medical and economic sense, but only if we can administer those vaccines to everyone. Read more The Post’s View: Schools need to reopen. The question is how. James Downie: No wonder the Trump administration doesn’t want Anthony Fauci on TV Paul Basken: Coronavirus-related street closures should continue after the pandemic Uché Blackstock and Shreya Kangovi: Community health workers are essential in this crisis. But we need more of them. The Post’s View: The FAA must establish coronavirus safety rules for air travel


States that raced to reopen let businesses write their own rules, documents show

were also evident in the reaction to Kemp’s moves in Georgia, which, like South Carolina, saw record coronavirus hospitalizations this week. When the governor announced that he would reopen the state’s economy in late April, a move denounced by the mayors of the state’s largest cities, he received encouragement from the Georgia Center for Opportunity, a conservative think tank whose vice president of public policy, former Georgia state representative Buzz Brockway, wrote, “We applaud Governor Kemp’s decisions during this time of crisis.” Kemp also received opposing advice, including from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which in April asked him to “require masks for all retail food customers, food vendors, and workers in meatpacking plants, food processing facilities, and grocery stores.” “The science is clear,” the union wrote in an email. Kemp has recommended masks but not required them. For every message that arrived urging the governor’s office to take heightened precautions against the coronavirus, however, there were competing efforts to create exceptions and ease restrictions. In late March, major trade associations — from the National Association of Home Builders to the Retail Industry Leaders Association — bombarded the governor’s office with requests to be designated as essential. “We applaud the governor’s goal to keep businesses open,” wrote a lobbyist for a cereal plant, addressing the governor’s chief of staff on a first-name basis. Similar familiarity was assumed by a lobbyist for CrossFit, asking that its gyms be deemed essential. As the governor began to lift restrictions in April and early May, he faced pressure to reassure economic juggernauts that the state would remain open for business. A lobbyist for an Atlanta convention center asked for a “quote and/or verbiage from our governor” promising that the state would be able to host the International Woodworking Fair in August. “The economic impact of this show to the state of Georgia has been $100M in recent past …” the lobbyist wrote. “Needless to say, we need IWF to come back this year!” Those who voiced opposing views acknowledged that they were outmaneuvered if not outnumbered. Writing to express her “strong opposition” to reopening in April, a small-business owner in Atlanta said her position was shared by “a large if not majority of the people of Georgia.” “Perhaps not friends or influencers of this governor, or business leaders that have deep pockets, but the people that value human life,” she wrote.