How did covid-19 begin? Its initial origin story is shaky.

did the outbreak occur? Solving this medical mystery is important to prevent future pandemics. What’s increasingly clear is that the initial “origin story” — that the virus was spread by people who ate contaminated animals at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan — is shaky. Scientists have identified the culprit as a bat coronavirus, through genetic sequencing; bats weren’t sold at the seafood market, although that market or others could have sold animals that had contact with bats. The Lancet noted in a January study that the first covid-19 case in Wuhan had no connection to the seafood market. There’s a competing theory — of an accidental lab release of bat coronavirus — that scientists have been puzzling about for weeks. Less than 300 yards from the seafood market is the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from that facility and the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology have posted articles about collecting bat coronaviruses from around China, for study to prevent future illness. Did one of those samples leak, or was hazardous waste deposited in a place where it could spread? Richard Ebright Ebright described a December video from the Wuhan CDC that shows staffers “collecting bat coronaviruses with inadequate [personal protective equipment] and unsafe operational practices.” Separately, I reviewed two Chinese articles, from 2017 and 2019, describing the heroics of Wuhan CDC researcher Tian Junhua, who while capturing bats in a cave “forgot to take protective measures” so that “bat urine dripped from the top of his head like raindrops.” And then there’s the Chinese study that was curiously withdrawn. In February, a site called ResearchGate published a brief article by Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao from Guangzhou’s South China University of Technology. “In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high risk biohazardous laboratories,” the article concluded. Botao Xiao told the Wall Street Journal in February that he had withdrawn the paper because it “was not supported by direct proofs.” Accidents happen, human or laboratory. Solving the mystery of how covid-19 began isn’t a blame game, but a chance for China and the United States to cooperate in a crisis, and prevent a future one. Read more from David Ignatius’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.


Mask shortages are outrageous. The federal government needs to do better.

physicians older than 50, representing just over half of the nations’ entire physician workforce. The average age of nurses in the United States is 51. A 48-year-old emergency department nurse in New York City died of covid-19 on March 24, and emergency department physicians have been reported to have developed severe covid-19 requiring intensive care in Washington state and New Jersey. It is tragic that a country as wealthy as the United States cannot provide proper PPE to its health-care workforce during a deadly viral pandemic. There is little excuse for inadequate stockpiling of N95 masks and other PPE like surgical masks and gowns. The novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan was not the first viral epidemic of recent years — the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak was in 2003, the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak started in 2012, and there have been periodic avian flu outbreaks. Why weren’t we better prepared? Badly designed lines of authority in the federal government have failed to provide proper protection for health-care workers and a disorganized and poorly coordinated response has left states and cities fighting to outbid each other for purchases of desperately needed PPE for their health-care workers (and ventilators for their patients). And even with an ineffective federal pandemic response team in place before the Wuhan outbreak, there was still sufficient time to prepare for spread of the virus to the United States. The severity of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China was recognized by the World Health Organization and U.S. intelligence agencies in fall 2019. Yet what was President Trump’s response as late as February? It was “when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away,” “just like the flu,” “a foreign virus,” and most incongruously, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. . . . Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” Let me tell you, Mr. President, as a physician who takes care of patients at a public safety-net hospital, you never had the covid-19 pandemic under control. You were worried more about the stock market than the pandemic. It was a public health emergency that you failed to take seriously until it was too late and wide community spread is the result. Lives have been lost all over this country because of your failure to take seriously what your public health and intelligence experts were trying to tell you. health-science@washpost.com


‘The holiday of a lifetime’: An oral history of the infected, rejected Zaandam cruise ship

happening on land, with the pandemic upending daily life in an uneven way. Some people were living in a nightmare, sick and scared. Some people were living in odd inconvenience, doing jumping jacks on their balconies and watching movies. The crew, depleted by illness, had to work overtime — like other essential workers on the mainland. But all were in the same boat, so to speak: on an anxious voyage back to a changed world, unsure when they’d return to solid ground. This is their story, as told by Zaandam passengers through phone interviews, social media posts and email correspondence. Some quotes have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Valerie Myntti, 68, retired attorney (Minnesota): Daniel Petrucelli, 71, retired business analyst (Massachusetts): Ian Rae, 73, musician (England): South Koreans have been quarantining themselves for weeks. Italy has made the decision to close its universities and schools. But on March 7 in Buenos Aires, the day Zaandam’s passengers board the ship, Argentina has only just announced the country’s first coronavirus-related death. Rae: Orlando resident Dave Parks, whose Florida-based parents are on the ship: John Williams, 73, retired teacher (Canada): California resident Max Jo, whose parents are on the ship: Petrucelli: Paul Major, 63, professor of dentistry (Canada): In the first days of Zaandam’s voyage, the cruise lives up to its promise. Myntti: Major: Petrucelli: When we got to Punta Arenas [at the southern tip of Chile], we did a tour called “Off the Beaten Path.” We went to a penguin reserve. We had to take a smaller boat off to Isla Margarita — Mary Ellen Petrucelli: Mr. Petrucelli: Mrs. Petrucelli: Mr. Petrucelli: Zaandam’s Rae: Major: Rae: Major: Daniel Petrucelli: Rae: Myntti: Many passengers were meant to disembark in San Antonio, Chile. But with Chile refusing to allow Zaandam to dock and offload passengers, the ship is forced to anchor off Valparaiso while boats from the mainland bring fuel and supplies. Myntti: Daniel Petrucelli: Jo (in California): Myntti: Petrucelli: Major: Williams: Jo (in California): Williams: Rae: Petrucelli: Joan Price, traveling with John Williams: Petrucelli: Jo (in California): By now Zaandam has left Valparaiso, bound for Panama. That weekend, March 21 and 22, people begin to get sick and, by the following Tuesday, 30 passengers and 47 crew members have reported to Zaandam’s medical center with flu-like symptoms. Another Holland America cruise ship, Rotterdam, meets Zaandam off the coast of Panama, carrying


As virus takes hold, resistance to stay-at-home orders remains widespread — exposing political and social rifts

had resisted a statewide order and whose top aide had taken to Facebook over the weekend to accuse local officials of “overreach” for directing residents to stay at home. Kemp said he learned Tuesday that the virus was “transmitting before people see signs.” For weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others have been warning about the disease’s spread in the absence of symptoms. That cases could remain undetected was “quite apparent from what was going on in China,” said Andrew Reisman, president of the Georgia Medical Association and a member of the governor’s task force advising him on the pandemic. Still, Reisman said information about the virus was rapidly evolving and that “responsibility lies above all with individual people.” Some of the people affected have been those involved in emergency response. Gracia Szczech, the regional FEMA administrator based in Atlanta, alerted staff in an email Monday of an employee’s positive test — the third in the Atlanta office, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. A FEMA spokesperson said: “As staff have reported diagnoses, FEMA regional offices have implemented CDC approved and recommended cleaning of the workspace. They also continue to advise all staff on mitigation and safety measures to protect themselves and others from the virus.” Cody Hall, a spokesman for Kemp, said updated CDC guidance, in addition to new modeling and projections about hospital capacity, shifted the governor’s thinking. Tom Wolf, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, also issued a statewide order Wednesday, calling it the “most prudent option” as the number of cases in his state surpassed 5,000. After initially barring local jurisdictions from ordering residents to stay at home, Arizona’s governor, Republican Doug Ducey, this week reversed himself and issued a statewide order. But Will Humble, a former director of the state’s health department, said it was unenforceable. “It says it’s a stay-at-home order, but try to find something that’s not exempted that wasn’t already closed,” he said. Aides to the governor and state’s health director didn’t respond to requests for comment. Governor’s offices in Missouri and Oklahoma also didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Public Health, Arrol Sheehan, said the state “continues to review situations in other states, follow our plans, update our plans, coordinate with health-care and community partners and advise our citizens


In a suddenly barren sports landscape, D.C. United Coach Ben Olsen embraces family, hope

morning and put three hours of film on of our third preseason training to watch [striker Ola Kamara’s] movement in the box for an hour." The specter of the crisis is not lost on the kids, who range in age from 5 to 11. Olsen and his wife, Megan, are “constantly reminding the children there are a lot of people out there doing great things in a very tough time. … I am constantly thinking about others not in the situation I am in.” Olsen’s thoughts are also with his younger sister, Erin, a mother of five in greater Philadelphia who this past winter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Since the coronavirus outbreak, he has not been allowed to visit her because she is high risk. Though MLS is on hiatus — the training moratorium expires Friday but will be extended — Olsen monitors the players and looks ahead to someday restarting the season. He is part of a weekly video conference and speaks regularly with captain Steven Birnbaum and others. The training staff provides workout programs for the players. “Our priority has [been] — and will be until we get back — the safety of our players and making sure they are in the right environment to stay healthy and [stay] fit,” Olsen said. “We live in a business of control, and we try to control everything: diet, training loads, you name it. To not be able to do that is a little bit frustrating.” Amid a global crisis, Olsen said, “there is no playbook” for dealing with players. He said people have been telling him how much they miss sports. “It’s a strange thing because the priority of sports in this moment is low, but at the same time, it is a big part of the fabric of our country. We look to sports during these types of times,” Olsen said, citing the return of competition after the 2001 terrorist attacks. “In some ways, [sports] helped heal.” Whenever activities resume, MLS will conduct several weeks of training camp. Until then, Olsen said, “We believe we can keep [the players] at a certain level for a couple weeks, couple months, whatever it is, so when we do return, we’re not back at zero.” The shutdown impacted not only the training and match schedule; it also disrupted United’s intensive search for new players before the current transfer and trade window


Coronavirus cases in the Washington region surpass 4,000; senators urge more relief funding for D.C.

The number of known coronavirus cases in the District, Maryland and Virginia stood at 4,062 on Wednesday, with 1,986 cases in Maryland, 1,486 in Virginia and 590 in the District. The total of virus-driven deaths was 37 in Virginia, 34 in Maryland and 11 in the District, for a total of 82 fatalities in the region. Here are some of the most significant and recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19: • On Wednesday, Maryland reported 325 new infections, while Virginia added 234 cases. The District saw an increase of 91 cases. • Twenty-five Democratic senators sent a letter to Senate leaders urging them restore full funding for coronavirus relief to the District, which was treated as a federal territory in the latest stimulus bill. • D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says a new decision on whether to extend school closures is likely within two weeks. • The coronavirus pandemic became even more personal for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who announced the death of a close friend to covid-19. What a stay-at-home order means for you


Power Up: A breeding ground for coronavirus, sports games are on hold indefinitely

Good morning. It's Friday. You made it. Are you a doctor on the NO GAME TIME: Athletic games, however, have become one of the most potent breeding grounds for the deadly coronavirus that has caused over 50,000 deaths globally: games are now dangerous mass gatherings of people, packed into stadiums like sardines for hours. Golf’s Master’s Tournament was postponed this week, tennis’s Wimbledon was canceled, and U.S. gymnast Simone Biles cried when she heard the Tokyo Olympics were put on hold until 2021. Baseball’s Opening Day is also off. ‘Contagion disaster’: Stateside, live sports events went dark the week of March 12, We don’t know when things might start humming again, and it’s providing a challenge for coaches and players who need to stay in shape if they have to snap back into a season: In the meantime, some teams are finding other ways to make themselves useful during the coronavirus crisis You are reading the Power Up newsletter. MORE THAN 10 MILLION PEOPLE FILED FOR UNEMPLOYMENT IN MARCH: The sheer size is unlike anything we've seen in recent memory: SMALL BUSINESS LOANS COULD HAVE A ROCKY START TODAY: The $349 billion “Paycheck Protection Program” is a key part of the coronavirus rescue package: Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Americans EXPERTS DOUBT THE WHITE HOUSE'S DIRE MATH: The experts said they don’t challenge the numbers’ validity, Why is this happening? Many are puzzled by the hands-off, hands-on approach of President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. HEADLINES FROM THE HOT SPOTS: What about the remaining states without stay-at-home orders?: Georgia became the latest state to issue such an order: NEW YORK: The highly touted 1,000-bed USNS Comfort only has 20 patients: One hospital was so short on gowns it reportedly offered to doctors Yankees ponchos: NEW JERSEY: Coronavirus is the most common cause of death in the state: MICHIGAN: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) A Detroit-based health system is conducting a major study of a drug Trump touted: What the situation looks like nationally: LOUISIANA: Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) extended his stay-at-home order to April 30: Because of the extension, New Orleans’s tourist dependent economy does not expect to reopen until at least June with no business really anticipated for August or September,NOLA.com’s Tyler Bridges reports. CALIFORNIA: Data shows the state is bending the curve, but a surge is still coming: Bay Area officials urge residents to cover


How changes in movement and spending explain the sudden, staggering loss of jobs in America

Friday morning brought the first official tally of how the coronavirus pandemic is damaging the American economy. In March, more than 700,000 people lost their jobs, sending the unemployment rate north of 4 percent for the first time in two years. These numbers aren’t great — but they’re also unquestionably much better than the current reality. The jobs data that was just released is weeks old, missing, for example, the past two weeks of initial unemployment claims that show about 10 million people report being newly out of work. The current unemployment rate is probably higher than 10 percent, higher than at the peak of the recession a decade ago. Even these preliminary numbers, though, reflect how the economy began to slow down in response to the pandemic. Most of the job losses came from jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry, erasing the jobs added in that sector over the past two years. Losses there should be expected, given that bars and restaurants were among the first businesses to face mandated closures by state and local governments. Data from Google released on Friday shows the breadth of the shift in Americans’ behaviors as reflected in where we are spending more and less time. Across the country, Americans spent 47 percent less time at retail and recreation venues by the end of March relative to the expected baseline. They spent 51 percent less time at public transit stations and 38 percent less time at workplaces. By contrast, Americans were spending 12 percent more time at home. Those shifts vary by state, as you would expect, reflecting stay-at-home orders issued by states and the scale of the pandemic throughout the country. Nevada, for example, saw the biggest drop in movement to workplaces, trailed by Hawaii (not pictured) — states heavily reliant on tourism. Visits to groceries and pharmacies dropped, but less dramatically than visits to retail shops. One of the starkest contrasts drawn in the data provided by Google is the difference in how the number of visits to public transit contrasts with visits to parks. A number of states, generally more rural ones, saw lower decreases in use of transit and big increases in visits to parks. You can see those changes better when compared to the national decreases in visits to those types of venues. Relative to the country on the whole, Nevada’s and New York’s declines in the


A border city is handing out $1,000 fines for those who don’t cover their faces. The mandate has led to confusion.

Soon after officials in Laredo, Tex., voted to fine residents who venture out in public without covering their faces, confusion rippled across the bilingual border community on the Rio Grande. Where were residents supposed to get masks, considering that drugstores had sold out long ago? Did you have to cover up in your own car, or at work? Would masked anchors deliver the evening news? And was the city seriously suggesting that people conceal their faces when entering a bank? The emergency mandate, which went into effect early Thursday, appears to be the first of its kind in the country, as The Washington Post’s Arelis Hernández reported. Other communities, most notably Los Angeles, have strongly suggested wearing masks to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. But Laredo is taking a far more aggressive approach, threatening to punish those who don’t cover their noses and mouths with a $1,000 fine. “I’d rather bury them in debt than bury them in a coffin,” city councilman George Altgelt said during a special session on Tuesday. The directive has been controversial, given that roughly a third of Laredo’s population lives at or below the poverty line, and there’s no global consensus on whether mandatory face coverings can significantly slow the spread of the virus. For weeks, public health officials in the United States have been discouraging people who aren’t sick from wearing masks, and emphasizing the need to save protective gear for health-care workers. But many scientists are skeptical of that advice, and officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering recommending that homemade cloth masks be worn in public, The Post reported on Monday. As of Thursday night, 65 people in Laredo had tested positive for covid-19, and five deaths had been attributed to the virus, according to statistics provided by the city. Many fear that the numbers could grow much higher, given Laredo’s proximity to a major international border crossing. While only essential workers and commercial trucks are allowed to enter the United States from Mexico, there have been calls for additional precautions, and the city has enacted a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. “We’re next-door neighbors to a country that’s not even taking this seriously,” Altgelt said at Tuesday’s special council session. Some Laredoans question the wisdom of imposing steep financial penalties at a time of widespread unemployment, and have suggested on social media that


The Health 202: Here are the stories of medical professionals being upended by coronavirus fight

to run them, you’re sunk.” Are you worried about contracting the virus while at work? “I’m over 60, so that’s not good. I’ve had breast cancer in the past, so that’s a little ding there. I really try not to worry about it, although I would say the anxiety is a lot higher than normal.” George Diaz, specialist in Infectious Diseases in Everett, Wash. Diaz treated the first covid-19 patient in the U.S., who was admitted to Providence Regional Medical Center on Jan. 20. Are cases still rising at your hospital? “We’ve probably over the past 10 days now have had a fairly flat number of folks in the hospital with covid-19, around 50 or so. It hasn’t declined yet but it hasn’t risen.” How are your supplies of PPE and ventilators? “Thankfully, we’re part of a large health system and the PPE is generally acquired at a system level and distributed to those that have the most need. My hospital used more PPE in the first two months of this outbreak than the entire health system used in the prior year.” “At this point the ventilator supply seems to be okay. Of all the ventilators in the hospital, about half are currently in use.” How often do you change your mask? “It sort of depends on what you’re doing. One of the things we’re doing is trying to really limit the number of people who enter the room of a patient with covid. Sometimes physicians can do the patient history from outside the room. All the rooms have windows and telephones so they can connect with the patient remotely. That reduces exposure and need for PPE.” How many hours are you working a week? “I would imagine probably 70 hours a week. It was probably 50-55 hours before covid. When I’m working clinically, patient care is about 16 hours a day and the days I’m not working clinically I have mostly administrative meetings related on covid stuff, like clinical trials.” Are covid-19 patients different than other influenza patients? “When we had the swine flu epidemic 10 years ago, we weren’t seeing the volume of patients coming into the hospital with severe infections like we see now. We don’t typically see people under 60 becoming really ill and requiring a ventilators and it’s much more common with covid than we see with seasonal flu.” — Devyani Chowdhury, an independently practicing


other people. That’s why all of a sudden just about the entire population of Albany has been exposed.” Has your practice’s income dropped? “Our reimbursement is down by 75 percent or more. All the services we’re providing right now are either unreimbursed or minimally reimbursed. Half our staff is on the phone constantly talking to someone relative to the coronavirus anxieties or how to get the services they need despite the lack of availability. All that is unreimbursed, almost all of it.” How is all this affecting care for non-covid patients? “Say a patient calls with abdominal pain. I can’t safely bring that patient into the office and examine their abdomen. I don’t feel like I can safely send them to the ER unless I’m convinced it’s a really serious problem. So it’s that kind of problem, multiplied by 50, for all kinds of conditions.” You are reading The Health 202, our must-read newsletter on health policy. The vast majority of Americans are now taking seriously the pleas from public health officials to limit interactions with others. — Ninety-two percent of Americans say they’re now practicing some form of social distancing, such as canceling travel plans and avoiding large gatherings, according to new polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s up from 59 percent two weeks ago. — And 75 percent say they are staying home instead of going to work, school, or other regular activities — roughly triple the share who said that two weeks ago. Eighty-two percent of Americans said they’re sheltering in place, not leaving their homes except to buy food or receive medical care. The poll also illustrates the catastrophic economic and mental health effects reaching into virtually every corner of society. — Four in 10 said they’ve lost a job or income because of the crisis. That includes 54 percent of part-time workers and 45 percent of workers paid hourly or by the job. — One-third said they’ve been unable to get needed care for medical conditions other than covid-19. Nearly a quarter said they’ve been unable to get prescription medications. — Forty-five percent said the pandemic has impacted their mental health, and 19 percent say there’s been a “major impact.” Mental health experts say that’s normal in a situation like this, our colleague Joel Achenbach reports. AHH: The Trump administration is poised to call on Americans to wear masks in public. The White House


WNBA becomes latest pro league to hit pause on season in response to coronavirus

The WNBA announced Friday it will delay its season in response to the global novel coronavirus pandemic. The league announced it will postpone the opening of training camps, scheduled for April 26, and push back its regular season schedule, slated to begin May 15. “While the league continues to use this time to conduct scenario-planning regarding new start dates and innovative formats, our guiding principle will continue to be the health and safety of the players, fans and employees,” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. The WNBA joins other major North American pro sports leagues and the NCAA in having to adjust playing schedules in response to the pandemic. The league, however, is moving forward with its draft as scheduled April 17. The event will be conducted virtually, without players, media or guests. The defending champion Washington Mystics said all tickets to postponed games will be honored and ticket holders will have a variety of options if games are canceled. “We will get through this difficult time together and look forward to seeing our fans and defending our championship as soon as safely possible,” Mystics General Manager and Coach Mike Thibault said. “In the meantime, we will continue to find other ways to stay connected as we encourage everyone to stay home and be safe.”


Health-care workers deserve hazard pay during covid-19 pandemic

When an entire branch of our nation’s workforce must collectively gear up day after day for life-threatening work, with little to no protection, they deserve hazard pay. Health-care workers are engaged in what is more and more often being described as a “war” against the covid-19 pandemic, and the casualties are mounting. In China, an estimated 3,000 health-care workers have been infected by the virus responsible for covid-19; at least 22 have died. In Italy’s Lombardy region, 1 in 5 health-care professionals has become infected, and many fear the United States could soon be headed in that same direction. More than 50 of Italy’s doctors are already confirmed dead. Domestically, we lost our first physicians and nurses to covid-19 two weeks ago. With dozens more surely to follow, when is enough, enough? Being a resident physician in internal medicine, I work as part of a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses and other health professionals. For us, caring for patients with covid-19 on the hospital floors and in the intensive care units has become our new norm. And as our direct contact with infected patients has exponentially increased over the past few weeks, the water cooler chatter has heated up. We wonder aloud what we’re going to do when we run out of personal protective equipment (PPE), where we’re going to quarantine ourselves when we get sick, and how best to keep our loved ones safe. As Thomas Kirsch, an emergency physician in Washington, put it in a recent Atlantic article: “How much risk do health-care workers have to take? Or, more bluntly: How many of us will die before we start to walk away from our jobs?” Hazard pay is loosely defined by the Labor Department as “additional pay for performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship.” With or without proper PPE, health-care workers are putting their physical health on the line every day during this pandemic when they leave their shelters and families to treat those with covid-19. If you have any doubt, the proof is in a viral tweet that reveals the emblematic bruises — lines of capillaries shattered under the pressure of an N95 mask — now marking the faces of Italy’s strained health-care workers. And they are the lucky ones, for at least they’re still alive. Pandemics do not spare those who care for the sick. In 2003, nearly half (44 percent) of SARS infections


The Kennedy Center is wrong to stop paying the National Symphony Orchestra

Regarding the March 30 Style article “A shocked NSO will no longer get paychecks”: I purchased four tickets to the April 1 performance at the Kennedy Center of the New York City Ballet. After performances were canceled, the center asked if I would make a donation of the $360 I had paid. I said yes, of course I want to help in these difficult times. After the announcement that the 96 National Symphony Orchestra musicians would not receive pay or health insurance until the center reopens, I will ask for my money back. If the Kennedy Center is indifferent to the needs of its own, why should I assist it? John Nellis The purpose of the If the coronavirus keeps the center closed through the end of May, the center will cancel the musicians’ health insurance. Having been given taxpayer money to keep the center afloat, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter is jettisoning crew, making sure everyone suffers the same privation she chose when she forswore her salary during the crisis. If the Kennedy Center cannot figure out how to use the stimulus funds to keep its employees employed, the center should return the money to the treasury so some other organization can make better use of it. Andrew Lindemann Malone Read more letters to the editor.


The facts about the ‘Taliban Five’

In recounting negotiations between Republican officials and the “Taliban Five” who were controversially released from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the March 31 front-page article “ ‘Taliban Five’ ex-detainees helped clinch pact with U.S.” glossed over several significant points. A year-long congressional investigation revealed the Obama administration misled Congress and engaged in a months-long effort to sidestep the legal requirement to provide notification 30 days before these detainees were moved out. The investigation also found that career Defense Department officials, who were ordinarily responsible for minimizing the risk of sending detainees elsewhere, were intentionally sidelined. Furthermore, the inquiry concluded that after the Taliban Five arrived in Qatar, the Pentagon was poorly prepared to help implement the security arrangements the administration had put in place. These are relevant facts in assessing the propriety of the Obama administration’s actions, regardless of the wisdom or desirability of freeing the Taliban Five or engaging them now in an effort to secure peace in Afghanistan. Christopher J. Bright The writer led the oversight and investigations subcommittee staff of the House Armed Services Committee when it conducted the inquiry into the release of the Taliban Five. Read more letters to the editor.


The coronavirus pandemic has halted tourism, and animals are benefiting from it

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, lockdowns are extended and restrictions on global travel continue to tighten, one of the industries hit hardest by the lack of travelers has been animal tourism. For many zoos and aquariums, the lack of guests has both opened up and forced them down new avenues. Some are now holding live streams for the public, expanding interactions with zookeepers through spaces like Facebook Live, and allowing their permanent animal residents to check in on some of their longtime neighbors. Elsewhere, whole swaths of animal industries dependent on global tourism have been thrust into crisis mode, and many animal conservation efforts are facing uncertainty with the unprecedented decline in human and animal movement alike. Natasha Daly, a writer for National Geographic who covers animal welfare, wildlife conservation and animal exploitation, says it’s too soon to tell how conservation will be affected by the lack of tourism. But she’s encouraged by the reality that for many people, humanity’s relationship to nature is now front of mind. “This crisis has put the issues of the wildlife trade and the ways that people exploit animals for all sorts of things — it has thrust it into the spotlight,” Daly said. (Netflix’s wildly popular documentary series “Tiger King” has only added to the attention.) “So, I think that maybe more people than ever are aware of some of the issues involved in the wildlife trade, just because it’s dominated the headlines over the last few months.” That dominance has become especially notable on social media, where news of animals acting in never-before-seen ways has become a salve. Posts about swans returning to Venetian canals and elephants passed out after drinking corn wine in the fields of China were showered with hundreds of thousands of likes, endorsing the idea that the lack of human activity had reversed the course of nature and given animals a break from our disruptive ways. The only problem with the feel-good stories is that they were fake. And Daly — the author of the piece debunking them — says that although she was heartened to see that people care, fake nature stories can be harmful to our understanding of how we can help going forward, no matter how good it feels in these troubling times. “The bottom line is that it’s important that these things we’re cheering on are actually true,” she said. There are plenty of


(Netflix’s wildly popular documentary series “Tiger King” has only added to the attention.) “So, I think that maybe more people than ever are aware of some of the issues involved in the wildlife trade, just because it’s dominated the headlines over the last few months.” That dominance has become especially notable on social media, where news of animals acting in never-before-seen ways has become a salve. Posts about swans returning to Venetian canals and elephants passed out after drinking corn wine in the fields of China were showered with hundreds of thousands of likes, endorsing the idea that the lack of human activity had reversed the course of nature and given animals a break from our disruptive ways. The only problem with the feel-good stories is that they were fake. And Daly — the author of the piece debunking them — says that although she was heartened to see that people care, fake nature stories can be harmful to our understanding of how we can help going forward, no matter how good it feels in these troubling times. “The bottom line is that it’s important that these things we’re cheering on are actually true,” she said. There are plenty of posts that are. In one of the more heartwarming videos (with nearly 15 million views on Twitter), a pair of rockhopper penguins at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago were shown wandering around the empty facility, interacting with various underwater exhibits and even waddling past the reception desk. Meanwhile, at the Fort Worth Zoo, a Patagonian mara spent quality time with a trio of otters on the other side of the glass, and the Toronto Zoo shared a photo of donkeys and llamas getting up close and personal with a couple of polar bears. Andrew Lentini, senior director of wildlife and science at the Toronto Zoo, says it’s important that the animals still be able to do walkabouts as a part of their training and care, but many of them miss guest interaction and the joys of people-watching. “One of our oldest residents here is an orangutan named Puppe who just loves to watch people and particularly loves children,” Lentini said. “She’ll often go right up to a mom and a young child. She just loves to watch them, and not having guests here, she misses that a little bit.” Lentini says the biggest change in day-to-day operations has been safeguarding


posts that are. In one of the more heartwarming videos (with nearly 15 million views on Twitter), a pair of rockhopper penguins at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago were shown wandering around the empty facility, interacting with various underwater exhibits and even waddling past the reception desk. Meanwhile, at the Fort Worth Zoo, a Patagonian mara spent quality time with a trio of otters on the other side of the glass, and the Toronto Zoo shared a photo of donkeys and llamas getting up close and personal with a couple of polar bears. Andrew Lentini, senior director of wildlife and science at the Toronto Zoo, says it’s important that the animals still be able to do walkabouts as a part of their training and care, but many of them miss guest interaction and the joys of people-watching. “One of our oldest residents here is an orangutan named Puppe who just loves to watch people and particularly loves children,” Lentini said. “She’ll often go right up to a mom and a young child. She just loves to watch them, and not having guests here, she misses that a little bit.” Lentini says the biggest change in day-to-day operations has been safeguarding the staff and maintaining precautions like social distancing for some of their animals, including the great apes, who may have a similar susceptibility to covid-19 as humans. With reopening pushed further down the calendar, Lentini says the zoo is focused on maintaining its mission to connect people with animals and its dedication to conservation science. The zoo has received positive feedback from its social media outreach and online programs, such as a virtual zoo school. Lentini says his goal, with the zoo’s continuing work, is to give people hope. “It’s not business as usual,” he said. “We rely on our guests to really help support the zoo, not just in our mission but also through their attendance here. So, without that, we’re making some changes to really control our spending — just spending on essential items that are critical for our operation — and we’ll continue to adapt as this goes on.” For some animals outside of zoo and aquarium settings, pandemic-related restrictions and the decline in travelers have provided not just an opportunity for rest, but also a lifesaving turn. One of the most profound shifts in tourism is the shutdown of elephant parks in Thailand. The country derives


Should U.S. states be free to close their borders to other U.S. citizens?

Italy’s situation worsened, one by one, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and others began to shut down borders, with exceptions for commercial traffic. In Europe, free movement is not just a right but also a symbol of European solidarity and identity. These symbols are important. Keeping the Schengen area in place was one reason German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave for keeping borders open as Italy’s crisis escalated. Since health and immigration are considered issues of national security, European governments have largely paved their own paths, gradually converging on travel restrictions and stay-at-home measures, as each government tried to halt the pandemic’s spread. Some governments are taking a different approach: relying not on government edicts but on high social trust to ask their citizens and visitors to reduce travel, self-quarantine if they have symptoms, and stay at a distance from one another. Overall, the E.U. has been criticized for its slow response and fumbling leadership, leaving countries to proceed on their own. The U.S. states find themselves in a similar situation, with no clear federal leadership. The Trump administration has been undercutting the CDC messaging and using politics to make public health decisions. Trump has told U.S. governors to take matters into their own hands, often leading to bidding wars with other states for supplies. Why should governors keep borders open? For one, openness allows different governments to mobilize together and coordinate public health resources. The states have extremely varying levels of hospital beds, tests, ventilators and other health-care necessities. That’s also true in Europe, a second reason Merkel originally wanted to keep borders open, enabling German hospitals to treat Italian patients, for example. And keeping borders open prevents cross-border panic-buying. When trying to contain a pandemic, border closures are essential. But when trying instead to mitigate its effects, the decision to do so is more difficult — and more political. Flattening the curve through social distancing only works with cooperation. For this, citizens take their cues from political leaders and health experts. Our research shows citizens do not have strong preferences on border closure and can therefore be persuaded by effective messaging. A lack of consistent messaging from the federal government or central leadership — especially when it actually encourages competition instead of cooperation — suggests a deeper problem: a lack of national solidarity. The TMC newsletter is changing shape! Sign up here to keep receiving our smart analysis. Sara Wallace Goodman


After a disastrous summer, Australia braces for yet another plague

Nikki Stamp is a heart and lung surgeon in Perth, Australia. In the Old Testament, the Bible recounts the 10 Plagues of Egypt, disasters inflicted by God to force the Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. In the past few months, Australia has been forced to endure plagues of its own, afflicted with terrifying bush fires, drought and smoke pollution that choked the skies. Now, the emergence of a global pandemic feels very much like another plague lapping at our shores after the summer that destroyed so much. As of Thursday, there were 5,133 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Australia. Most cases have been in returned travelers — people who have traveled by plane or been passengers on cruise ships — rather than from pockets of local transmission. Just two weeks ago, it was predicted that by April, Australia would run out of intensive care unit beds. But the rates of infection have not yet been racing away as we have seen overseas. Despite this apparent good fortune, it is far too early to make predictions for the coming months. The disasters of the past few months, though, are still very fresh in our minds, as the country braces itself for what is yet to come. The damage left by the bush fires, which decimated vast swaths of the east coast of Australia, not only included countless losses of wildlife but also devastating loss of human life, property and local economies. The efforts to rebuild communities and businesses, which had just begun, are already at risk from the coronavirus outbreak, as people are unable to travel to inject much-needed spending into affected areas. Questions have even been raised as to whether funds raised to rebuild after the devastating summer can or will be repurposed to tackle covid-19. The economic and psychological scars left by the summer’s catastrophes are far too fresh for us as a country to have to bunker down for yet another wave of destruction and angst. In the face of this, scrutiny of the role of our elected leaders is especially sharp. Particular scrutiny has been paid to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose handling of the bush-fire crisis drew intense criticism. As the bush fires took hold, Morrison continued with holiday plans to Hawaii, leaving behind a country suffering and aching for leadership. As the pandemic unfolds, the prime minister has found himself in the unenviable


Every day for the past two weeks has set a record low for traveler screenings, TSA reports

The Transportation Security Administration has reported a record low for traveler screenings every day for the past two weeks. TSA agents screened 124,021 travelers at U.S. airports on Thursday, its lowest number in the past decade. On the same day last year, the agency screened 2,411,500 travelers. TSA checkpoint data With many U.S. states issuing stay-at-home orders, Americans have been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to forgo all nonessential travel to slow the spread of coronavirus. The center has also issued a special travel advisory that urges “residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from nonessential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.” The State Department is advising U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel at this time due to the pandemic, and is only offering passport services to people with “qualified life-or-death” emergencies that require immediate international travel. Since the global spread of the coronavirus in January, tens of thousands of flights have been canceled, and the International Air Transport Association estimates that 1.1 million flights will be canceled through June 30, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Read more: How coronavirus grounded the airline industry Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve” Some airlines and hotels suspend redemption options for loyalty programs


Migrants are the unsung heroes of the pandemic

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday, along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? From almost the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, politicians and pundits have emphasized the importance of national borders The response to the pandemic, argued some commentators, marked a resurrection of the nation-state as the dominant actor in an age of fear and lockdowns. It hit the brakes on our interconnected world, with supply chains shut down, trade disrupted and travel temporarily halted. Some analysts even view the pandemic as the precursor to a new era, one in which globalization unravels and countries turn inward and seek greater self-reliance. In other words, it’s a time for nationalists and citizens. To be a migrant, refugee or asylum seeker during this global crisis is to find yourself even more out of luck than you were before. No matter the desperate entreaties of aid agencies, there’s even less international capacity to attend to the world’s cramped, ramshackle refugee camps where the outbreak is starting to spread. Things aren’t much better for those fleeing conflict or deprivation: The Trump administration, for one, has fast-tracked the deportations of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. border, while nonprofit groups warn of the administration’s negligent treatment of immigrants exposed to the virus in detention centers. And yet you can argue that migrants are the unsung, front-line heroes of the pandemic Elsewhere, their absence has deepened the sense of crisis. My colleagues reported earlier this week on the troubles European countries are facing now that border closures and travel bans have deprived them of the migratory labor on which their agricultural sectors depend. “Farms across Western Europe are deeply dependent on Eastern Europeans who travel for work during the growing season,” they reported. “Yet with lockdowns in place as agriculture wakes up from its winter slumber, German asparagus may start rotting in the field and French strawberries may suffer from a lack of tending. European countries say they have enough food, for now. But there are concerns about what could happen if the crisis drags deep into the growing season, as well as fears for the livelihoods of their farmers.” In the United States, the food and restaurant industries are arguably dependent on migrant labor. Of the approximately 400,000 agricultural workers in California, some 60 to 75 percent may be undocumented migrants, mostly from Mexico.


Readers critique The Post: How to cover the president’s handling of the coronavirus

under Section 1 of the Sherman Act). The authors concluded their response to Myth No. 2 by noting that “enforcers and courts tend to take competitors’ complaints about their rivals’ behavior with a grain of salt.” That is true, and, in my view, more unfortunate the more true it is. Competitors are the first ones to notice that other, usually bigger companies are abusing their market power, and they often notice that by observing that they are being hurt by the anticompetitive conduct of those companies. So while some competitors’ complaints may not be true, one would hope that enforcers and courts have become sophisticated enough to look carefully and not just take all competitors’ complaints with a grain of salt. In the olden days of coal mining, before there was technology to do the job, miners (it is said) would take a canary into the mines, because canaries were more sensitive than people to the poison gases that could lurk in the mines. If the canary died, the miners took it as a warning that the air in the mines was poisonous. So rather than simply writing off competitors’ complaints as whining, enforcers and courts would help consumers much more quickly and effectively by understanding that competitors’ complaints and the damage they are seeing to their businesses could be the “canaries in the coal mine,” warning that one or more companies had poisoned the air for competition. Jeffrey Blumenfeld The writer is an antitrust lawyer. ● Thank you to the Post staff who contributed two pages of sports movie recommendations in lieu of the real-time action that we prize but cannot enjoy during social distancing [“Sports movies for when there’s no sports,” Sports, March 22]. Perhaps the staff was preoccupied with the pandemic because there was no mention of films about running. The absence of running movies is noted particularly as the sport makes headlines: USA Track & Field requests postponing the Tokyo Olympics, the Boston Marathon moves from April to September and the District’s historic Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run switched to a virtual race. For starters, the following films have an IMDb rating of seven or higher and are broadly appealing: “Chariots of Fire” (1981), “Forrest Gump” (1994), “Without Limits” (1998), “The Long Green Line” (2008), “Unbroken” (2014) and “Skid Row Marathon” (2017). Please let readers know great sports movies also include those without bats, balls, pucks


Pro league offers swimmers a financial lift during Tokyo Olympics delay

For now, at least, Caeleb Dressel has a swimming pool for daily workouts. He has a new month circled on his calendar — July 2021 — and a long list of goals that will carry over to the postponed Olympics. But just about everything else between now and then is less clear. “I don’t know when my next swim meet is going to be. I have no idea,” Dressel said Friday in a telephone interview. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to train in the pool that I’m using right now. There’s so many I-don’t-knows right now.” For many athletes, that uncertainty has a ripple effect. They know the Olympics will take place a year later and now must figure out how to fund another 12 months of working toward that dream. But swimmers such as Dressel learned this week they will receive an added boost. The nascent International Swimming League, which completed its inaugural season in December, has pledged to offer 10-month grants to more than 300 professional swimmers, giving them $1,500 per month beginning in September. Konstantin Grigorishin, the Ukrainian businessman who is financing the league, said the initiative was prompted by conversations with his general managers. Jason Lezak, the four-time U.S. Olympian who runs the league’s Cali Condors, pointed out some of the financial challenges swimmers will face in the next year. There will be fewer prize checks and potential uncertainty surrounding sponsorship money. It’s possible some corporations haven’t allocated as much money for 2021 after already spending heavily in anticipation of a 2020 Olympics. “Massive,” Dressel called the ISL’s plan. “There are so many uncertainties for everybody right now. At least we know we have this one thing. “If you don’t have to worry about money or how you’ll travel to a swim meet, that’s so nice to not have that stress,” added Dressel, who swam last season for the Condors. “You can just train.” The initiative will buoy swimmers struggling to make ends meet, but Dressel is among the elite few whose Tokyo journeys had been backed by corporate sponsors. The 23-year-old has 13 world titles to his name and was poised to be among the biggest American stars at the Summer Games. He was expected to be a medal contender in as many as eight events in Tokyo, which would have made him a nightly presence on NBC’s broadcasts. Some of


Congress gave $25 million to help the Kennedy Center weather the coronavirus. Now some politicians want it back.

The $25 million emergency funding for the Kennedy Center was already a controversial piece of the $2.2 trillion federal stimulus package, but criticism of it grew after the arts center furloughed hundreds of employees Tuesday, within days of the bill’s passage last week. The cuts, characterized as temporary, brought the center’s coronavirus-related job losses to more than 1,100. Now, some of the politicians who approved the grant are among the loudest critics. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) this week introduced a bill to rescind the funding, which he described as “frivolous spending in the midst of a national emergency” and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) called the job cuts shameful. “If an organization is receiving assistance from the federal government, we expect them to take care of their workers,” he said in a statement. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), chair of the House subcommittee that funds the arts center, promised to review the staff reductions. “It is extremely disappointing that the Kennedy Center has decided to furlough employees. It was our clear understanding that with this financial relief, layoffs and cuts to benefits would be avoided,” McCollum said in an email to The Washington Post on Thursday. “I will be doing my due diligence on oversight into the Kennedy Center’s actions.” The arts center’s board of trustees is required to submit a report by Oct. 31 to the House and Senate appropriations committees “that includes a detailed explanation of the distribution of the funds provided,” according to the stimulus regulations. The political backlash comes as Kennedy Center President and CEO Deborah Rutter continues to defend why her organization needs federal help even as it temporarily sheds more than half its staff. Almost 800 part-time and hourly workers were laid off in mid-March, the 96-member National Symphony Orchestra was furloughed last week, and this week 250 members of the Kennedy Center’s administration, about 60 percent, were told they would be furloughed without pay for five weeks starting Monday. The outrage is extending to the box office, too. John Nellis, 81, of Bethesda had agreed to donate the $380 he spent on four tickets and a parking pass for a canceled performance by the New York City Ballet. But, after reading about the furloughed musicians, he’s decided to ask for a refund. “I found it difficult to take, hard to stomach,” Nellis said. “I would like to take that money and donate it


salaries of the roughly 150 employees still on the payroll, most working in finance, marketing, programming and the box office, as well as the salaries of those they hope to bring back from furlough as soon as possible after mid-May, such as the musicians of the NSO. “Spreading out the $12.75 million throughout the summer enables us to bring staff and musicians back on payroll when we can more confidently forecast a realistic reopening date,” Kennedy Center spokeswoman Eileen Andrews explained. In 2018, the center had 232 employees earning annual salaries of $100,000 or more, according to tax filings, and at least 13 earned more than $200,000, including Rutter, who is paid $1.2 million a year but has renounced her salary until the pandemic recedes. The center also pays NSO Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and a roster of artistic advisers such as Renée Fleming, Q-Tip, Mason Bates, Jason Moran, Ben Folds and Mo Willems. Noseda is not being paid as a result of the canceled concerts, according to Andrews. Pay for the others is either being deferred or reduced, she said. About $7.5 million of the bailout will cover six months of benefits — pension, social security and health care — for all employees, including those furloughed. The center continues to negotiate with its insurance company to fund health-care benefits after May 31. Another $1.75 million is for future artists’ contracts and fees, and $1 million will pay the rent for off-site properties, including the Washington National Opera administrative offices and its Takoma Park studio, the Kennedy Center’s archive and production warehouses. The $2 million balance covers deep cleaning and IT upgrades resulting from the virus and other administrative expenses. No one knows when the crisis will end, so the money might be the center’s only income for as long as six months, Rutter said. And even when the arts center does reopen, it’s unclear whether government rules will continue to limit the size of public gatherings or whether audiences will be comfortable returning to the theater. “We are trying to conserve the cash for as long as possible,” Rutter said on Tuesday. The center also has a $10 million line of credit it can tap. Critics have openly wondered on news sites and social media why the federally supported arts center — the largest in the country — doesn’t use its $100


As Americans faced layoffs and lost wages, student loan companies kept going to court to collect

in part because some courts are restricting access. Debt collectors have also faced pressure from lawmakers and legal-aid groups to cease court action during the unprecedented global pandemic. But the industry has resisted. After Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced legislation to restrict collection practices during the pandemic, debt collection trade group ACA International railed against the bill. “We are deeply alarmed that such an action would disrupt the credit ecosystem and cause further harm to consumers, lenders, medical providers and other businesses” that rely on debt collectors, Mark Neeb, chief executive of ACA International, wrote in March to Brown. In an interview, Neeb said his industry already has programs in place to help those who need it, making legislation unnecessary. Collectors work on behalf of creditors, who are willing to work with customers during this time, he said. “As dire as things are right now, and I just did my own math in my head this morning I made an estimate I thought the unemployment rate might be around 7 or 8 percent now, so that means 90 percent aren’t unemployed," Neeb said. "To make a wave-of-the-hand statement that an industry should be shut down because 8 percent of the population would perhaps have a difficult time meeting obligations right now seems like too much of an attempt to make a wave-of-the-hand statement that everybody is in dire financial straights. Everybody is not in dire financial straights.” Last month, Greater Boston Legal Services sent a letter to several industry groups requesting a moratorium on involuntary collection and lawsuits. One trade group, Receivables Management Association International, issued guidance to its members encouraging them to consider suspending interest or reducing the balance of debt for people facing financial hardships. Another trade group, National Creditor Bar Association, promised to raise the issue with their board. “Student loan and other forms of debt collection are a really serious issue during the crisis,” said Matthew Brooks, an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services. “Even as courts close, debt collectors continue to call vulnerable community members and pressure them to make payments on debts of as little as $200.” Some cities and states have also intervened to spare residents from litigation and collection. New York is halting the collection of state-issued student and medical debt, and no longer accepting court filings that are not considered essential, including student debt cases. For Justin Snyder, getting a break,


No, cannabis is not a miracle cure for covid-19

age” of cannabis, given the many U.S. states that have legalized its use in recent years; however, the true heyday of medicinal cannabis in the West came and passed nearly two centuries ago, in the 19th century. During the 1830s and 1840s, pharmacists and physicians in Europe and its colonies developed numerous cannabis-based medicines, including edibles and tinctures, and used them to combat the era’s most feared, deadly and then misunderstood epidemic diseases, namely the plague and cholera. One of the first Western physicians to experiment with cannabis as medicine was Irishman William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, a surgeon for the British East India Company and a professor of medicine in colonial Calcutta throughout the 1830s and 1840s. While in India, O’Shaughnessy concocted a crude tincture of “charas,” a Hindi word for the pressed resin of cannabis, commonly known today as “hash,” and used it to treat cholera, hydrophobia (rabies), rheumatism, tetanus and convulsive disorders. Around the same time, French physicians working in North Africa likewise experimented with medicines made from cannabis resin, called “hashish” in the Arab-Muslim world. French doctors observed Egyptian doctors using hashish to treat a range of ailments and then adopted the drug into their own medical tool kits. French physician Louis Rémy Aubert-Roche, head of hospitals in Egypt during the plague outbreak there in 1834-1835, became so convinced of its effectiveness against the scourge that he published a book on the subject in 1840. In the opening pages, Aubert-Roche reported that dawamesk, as they called it, dissolved in coffee and administered over several days effectively cured 60 percent of plague patients he treated in the hospitals of Alexandria and Cairo during the epidemic. In the era before germ theory, doctors believed the plague was caused by “bad air” released from toxic and unhygienic environments — an idea known as “anti-contagionism.” And so doctors like Aubert-Roche saw hashish as a treatment for what he understood to be damage to the nervous system. “Hashish, a substance that acts upon the nervous system, has given me the best results” for the plague, he wrote. “I believe it is a drug not to be neglected.” But Aubert-Roche was wrong, mistaking pain relief and illusory correlation for cure. His and others' calls to regard cannabis as legitimate medicine reverberated in French and Western medical circles for the next decade. And dozens of Western medical practitioners heeded these calls and devoted their energies


In Chicago, schools closed during a 1937 polio epidemic and kids learned from home — over the radio

Schools across America have been closed for weeks amid a crisis over the spread of a deadly coronavirus, and nobody knows yet when they will be allowed to reopen. At least one-fifth of states are planning to stay closed for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year, but nobody knows how the virus will affect the population in the fall when the new academic year is supposed to begin. Today’s crisis is unprecedented in its effects on the country’s institutions, population and economic, with much of public life stopped. But schools have closed before because of a viral outbreak in different cities, and students were sent home to do distance learning. This post tells the story of what happened in 1937 when the public schools in Chicago closed for three weeks, delaying the start of the school year, because of fears about the spread of polio, which caused epidemics over several decades. Some 457,088 people got polio from 1937 to 1997, according to Post-Polio Health International. Thousands of people, including children, died and many more were paralyzed. Here is a look at how Chicago educated its children when they were at home in the fall of 1937. It was written by Michael Hines, an assistant professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education where he researches and teaches the history of education in the United States. He has published articles in the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth and History of Education Quarterly, and is writing a book on race, democracy and Chicago’s schools during World War II. A rapidly spreading virus with no known cure or vaccine. Chicago-area schools closed. Experiments in remote learning and concerns over access to technology. This has happened before. While the challenges to education stemming from the novel coronavirus pandemic may seem unprecedented, educators may be surprised to learn that almost 100 years ago Chicago’s schools faced similar circumstances. In the fall of 1937, an outbreak of poliomyelitis, or polio, a highly infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and death and is especially dangerous to young children, swept through the Chicago area. It forced schools to delay the opening of the academic year and prompted widespread alarm about lost instructional time and students left to their own devices. Determined to continue instruction for the district’s nearly 325,000 elementary age students, then-Superintendent William H. Johnson and then-Assistant Superintendent Minnie Fallon initiated a


CDC considering recommending general public wear face coverings in public

recent article in the journal the Lancet rounded up the disparate advice given by governments across the planet during this pandemic. In Hong Kong, people are encouraged to wear a surgical mask when taking public transit or being in a crowded place. But the World Health Organization states that healthy people need to wear a mask only if taking care of a person suspected to have the virus. The authors of the Lancet review endorsed masks under certain circumstances: “It would be reasonable to suggest vulnerable individuals avoid crowded areas and use surgical face masks rationally when exposed to high-risk areas. As evidence suggests COVID-19 could be transmitted before symptom onset, community transmission might be reduced if everyone, including people who have been infected but are asymptomatic and contagious, wear face masks.” In recent days a video has been in circulation via YouTube showing anonymous researchers using laser beams in a darkened laboratory to study the way speaking can generate droplets. The researchers urge people to cover their faces to block droplets caused by speech. The video ends with an informal appearance by Harold Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, who urges people to speak virtually and not face to face. “The laser beam experiments demonstrate clearly that you don’t need to cough or sneeze to produce the fluid droplets that are likely to be a significant source of infectious virus: simple speech is enough to produce them,” Varmus told The Post. “Mask-wearing also serves as a reminder to all that we are in a crisis situation and are trying to be good citizens by covering our mouths,” Varmus said. He noted that people walking down the street are at a very low risk of infection. “There is nothing you can do to turn your risk to zero, but we have to balance behaviors and resources in a rational way and if you meet with someone for 20 seconds it’s different than if you meet for 20 hours,” he said. NIH issued a statement downplaying the significance of the video and advised people to follow CDC guidelines. “This is an early basic science experiment that while intriguing, is very preliminary. The work has not been validated, peer reviewed, or published,” NIH said. “To suggest that this has immediate public health implications for the spread of coronavirus would be misleading.” joel.achenbach@washpost.com lena.sun@washpost.com laurie.mcginley@washpost.com


The Wizards are staying connected, even as they keep a distance

respect that. Still, they want to tailor assistance to each individual and make sure no player gets left behind. “The coaches and the medical staff kind of divide up the roster, but they’re poking every player every day: ‘What did you do today? Let me see you,' ” Sheppard said. “The younger guys are the ones you’re concerned about. Older veteran players, I’m not as worried about their professionalism and their ability to [say], ‘Hey, I’ve got to stay in shape because this is my job.’ ” Besides fitness, the Wizards were concerned about their players’ mental health. Some players have young children and might not be able to stand hearing cartoon theme songs much longer. There are also six international players on the roster who cannot leave the country, and they might be longing for family. Monumental Basketball officials said they planned for these issues; in follow-up conference calls, players and staffers were reminded of team resources. “We had nutritionists, chefs and mental health [professionals] fully available for our players since Day One,” said Daniel Medina, chief of athlete care and performance. Anderson and his team of sports psychologists began working with the Monumental Basketball squads this season, and they have been available to players and their families during the hiatus. Also, team chaplains have counseled players who have missed the routine of chapel on game nights and Bible study during road trips, Sheppard said. While some resources can be deeply personal, the Wizards still want to keep a bond within the team. There are plans for a virtual group yoga class, led by Mariam Moghaddam, an instructor and the wife of Wizards player development coach Kamran Sufi. Sheppard also envisions starting a book club, in which he will send specific titles for different players to help them pass the time wisely. But even online gaming and social media can be useful at times. Sheppard has enjoyed scrolling past the banter about their virtual showdowns or watching the latest TikTok dance routine performed by Beal and his fiancee, Kamiah Adams. “Bradley and Kamiah are becoming TikTok rock stars,” Sheppard said. “Everybody’s staying connected; guys are commenting on other guys’ posts and talking smack.” No one knows how long the suspension of the season will last and when teams will be whole again. But even as the web of Wizards crisscrosses the nation, they are finding ways to stick together.


Coronavirus has made the digital divide more dangerous than ever

LIVING INDOORS to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, millions of Americans are turning to the Internet to meet their most pressing needs. Online grocery delivery services are overwhelmed by orders from those sheltering at home. Last week, a record 3.3 million Americans filed unemployment claims, crashing benefits websites in several states. Telehealth services, which have already seen a surge in demand, are poised to play a critical role in containing the coronavirus by keeping infected patients away from hospitals. This massive shift online poses troubling barriers to the least digitally connected Americans. These barriers aren’t new, of course. As opportunities in education, employment and health care have migrated online over the past decades, the “digital divide” has increasingly burdened Americans without access to high-speed broadband. These burdens are concentrated among low-income, rural and nonwhite Americans: More than 31 percent of rural Americans do not have access to broadband at home; 44 percent of adults in households making under $30,000 don’t have home broadband; and, even when controlling for income, black and Hispanic Americans still lag behind their white counterparts in broadband adoption. The disconnectedness may force individuals to make devastating decisions and undermine the fight against the coronavirus. Low-income patients are visiting clinics in person, and increasing the risk of virus spread, because they “could not afford to use voice minutes to call ahead.” Fortunately, the Federal Communications Commission has eased the strain on some by temporarily waiving certain rules on Lifeline, a program that subsidizes broadband and voice services for low-income consumers. The FCC also spearheaded the Keep Americans Connected Pledge, through which more than 550 companies have promised for 60 days not to terminate phone and broadband services of any consumers who are unable to pay their bills. These initial steps are welcome but insufficient in a time when the strength of an Internet connection mediates access to critical information, remote work opportunities, remote health services and more. Perhaps most concerning is the homework gap, which penalized millions of students without computers or speedy WiFi at home even before the onset of this pandemic. As schools across the country shutter for weeks or months, these children — disproportionately poor and nonwhite — cannot employ the imperfect solutions they have relied on until now, such as using the WiFi in parking lots of fast-food restaurants to finish homework. In the emergency coronavirus relief bill, Congress ignored calls


Love in the time of coronavirus

Galen Guengerich is senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the forthcoming “ In some places, fear has remained unspoken. Walking into a relatively crowded subway car the other day, I saw an Asian man sitting alone on one of the long benches. He was wearing a mask, sitting quietly, looking at his phone. All of the other benches were full of passengers, several wearing masks, but none of them Asians. The seating may have been just a coincidence, but the scene it created was striking. In other places, fear has been openly expressed. In speeches, the president has made dark references to a “foreign virus." People who wear masks and look Asian have been verbally assaulted and physically threatened — even if they have never been to Asia. In New York, one Asian man was sprayed forcefully with air freshener. A woman was punched in the jaw. But in this time of pandemic, the enemy we face is not other people, no matter how different or distant they may be from us. The enemy is the disease. Covid-19 is an illness to which people, often unwittingly and always unwillingly, play host. No one wants to get the disease, and no one wants to be treated like a contaminant. This is easy to forget, especially when keeping others at a distance seems precisely the point. We’ve all become experts on the trajectory of sneeze droplets and the half-life of surface contamination. How far is far enough from other people when you’re picking up groceries, or riding the subway, or attending a worship service? After all, if you get too close to an infected person, you might get infected, too. While this is obviously true and worth taking precautions against, it’s also true that the person is not the infection. When you conflate the two, you become susceptible to a moral disease, one that gets transmitted not by bodily fluids but by fear. The term “xenophobia” usually is invoked to describe the fear that leads people to act with contempt toward foreigners or strangers, to keep them at a distance — or worse. But in the introduction to her translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” Emily Wilson points out that the Greek word “xenos” — the root of our term “xenophobia” — can mean both “stranger” and “friend.” For


How to prepare for coronavirus in the U.S.

for individuals, businesses, health-care systems and schools to reexamine their pandemic preparedness plans to make sure they’re ready. So here’s what doctors, researchers and the CDC say you can do now — and in the event of a future outbreak — to prepare and protect yourself. Timothy Brewer is a professor of epidemiology and medicine at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health and its David Geffen School of Medicine, yet his central piece of advice is not exactly medical. “Don’t panic,” he said. “There’s no value in panicking or telling people to be afraid. Don’t let fear and emotion drive the response to this virus. That can be extremely difficult because it is new, and we’re still learning about it, but don’t allow fear of what we don’t know about the virus to overwhelm what we do know.” Brewer said it’s important to remember that covid-19 is a respiratory disease, as is influenza, and while there’s not a vaccine for it, there are tried-and-true ways to deal with this type of illness — which we will cover here. A few minutes into a phone call with a reporter, Brewer paused, coughed and then explained himself. “I’m currently recovering from a non-covid respiratory virus,” he said. But the precautions he took when fighting his influenza-like illness are no different from what people should be doing every day to stave off coronavirus and other respiratory diseases, Brewer said. You have seen the guidance before: Wash your hands regularly. Cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze. And when you’re sick, stay home from work or school and drink lots of fluids. The CDC recommends washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose or sneezing. It also advises not to touch your eyes, nose and mouth and to clean objects and surfaces you touch often — a common household cleaner will suffice. “These are all things you can do to prevent the spread of pretty much any respiratory virus,” Brewer said. And for the record, he added, he stayed home sick last week. “I practiced what I preached,” Brewer said. It’s exactly what will make you sick, but it’s so hard to stop. A 2015 study found that we touch our face an average of two dozen times an hour, and 44 percent of that touching involves contact with eyes,


have the coronavirus,” she said. “There are a lot of respiratory viruses.” Misinformation about coronavirus “People are more click-susceptible during these events because there’s more info and people aren’t sure who to trust,” University of Washington researcher Jevin West told The Post this month. Look to trustworthy sources, such as the CDC, the World Health Organization and local health departments, to stay informed, Popescu said — not the anonymous user doling out advice in Twitter mentions. “It can be really easy to go online, buy supplies and freak out, and then just stay on Facebook,” she said. “But stay up to date.” The frenzy over what the virus could mean for the global economy caused the worst weekly loss for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. That was followed by one of the worst single days on Wall Street since the Great Recession. While some families might be concerned about money tied up in the market, making drastic decisions is unnecessary, according to Xi Chen, assistant professor of public and global health and economics at the Yale School of Public Health. “The key thing is how long [the stock plunge] can last,” he said. “If it’s short-term, it might not affect the supply chain.” Chen pointed to severe acute respiratory syndrome, better known as SARS, which affected 24 countries in Asia, Europe and North and South America in the early 2000s, as a time when the market suffered for about a quarter before recovering with very strong growth. The coronavirus includes flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough and shortness of breath, according to the CDC. Getting a flu shot could ease people’s concerns about the new virus and also help health professionals, said Albert Ko, department chair and professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Yale School of Public Health. “The best thing people can do is get immunized for influenza to free up services for people who come in with coronavirus,” he said, noting that initial signs of illness for flu and coronavirus closely mirror each other. “When we’re testing people [for coronavirus], it reduces the noise about who has it.” On college campuses, at a music conservatory, in Chinese restaurants, among the ranks of a famous dance troupe and on streets every day, Asians have reported a rise in aggression, micro and macro. As the coronavirus has spread, so has anti-Asian prejudice. The WHO has urged government agencies


Wrapping up CES 2020: Anxiety, cats and yet another streaming service, called Quibi

LAS VEGAS — Wandering through the miles of CES exhibitors this year was the usual mix of inspiring, confusing and hilarious. The consumer tech industry’s biggest annual showcase combined lofty visions of the future, including electric self-driving cars and exoskeletons for baggage handlers, with smaller and much weirder ideas, like an exercise machine for cats. CES is huge — 2.9 million square feet, to be exact — but it’s no longer where the most influential tech products launch. Tech giants like Apple, Google and Amazon save the real stuff for their own events in the spring and fall. Still, we walk miles at CES each year to hunt for emerging ideas, practical new gadgets, adorable robots and you-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it tech. (We’re looking at you, people-moving egg.) This year, even the politicians flocked to CES, including White House adviser Ivanka Trump, who was a keynote speaker Tuesday. A few trends got us excited. Laptops are getting interesting again, thanks to new “foldable” technology that lets OLED screens bend and hinge. TVs are getting the ability to fix their own darned picture settings, finally. Fake meat is branching out in new directions. So are “artificial humans,” virtual avatars with whom we’re supposed to interact as if they were the real thing. CES is also useful for tracking progress on long-promised but still nascent technologies, including self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and augmented-reality glasses. The TV industry, the single largest exhibitor at the show, is pushing ahead into its latest reason to get you to upgrade: 8K TVs, which have four times as many pixels as ultra-HD 4K TVs. There are also trends we hope go away, such as companies using fear to sell dubious security and health gadgets, and casually integrating surveillance into everyday things. We’re also not a fan of “privacy-washing” — when tech companies market privacy features but continue gobbling up our data like a hungry, hungry hippo. Our CES favorites are usually the products that make you go hmmmm. Seeing what problems we’re trying to solve with tech reveals as much about us as it does the state of the art. As this year’s event winds down, here are our finds for the best, most noteworthy and weirdest products of CES 2020. There’s a another streaming video service that wants your monthly fee — and this one only works on your phone. Quibi offers “big stories in quick bites,” says founder


It’s time to start planning a 9/11-style commission for the coronavirus

2001, attacks, including assessments of national preparedness and response, and providing recommendations for improvement. Just under two years later, the commission delivered a final report with 41 recommendations that reshaped the U.S. domestic security and preparedness system, including the creation of a new Cabinet-level agency, the Department of Homeland Security. It already is clear that the U.S. experience in the covid-19 pandemic warrants such an assessment. The United States now has the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and more citizens have died from covid-19 than were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The projected economic impact of covid-19 likewise exceeds that of 9/11. The nation has inadequate testing capabilities and shortages of personal protective equipment. Authorities struggle to find much-needed patient beds, health-care equipment and supplies, and trained health-care workers to care for our citizens. States are taking unprecedented steps to limit public activity. We must learn from this event to better prepare for crises. For these reasons, now is the time for Congress and the president to appoint and adequately fund an independent, bipartisan commission to prepare a complete report on the nation’s response to the pandemic. Clearly, such a report will not be completed while the outbreak rages. But by immediately creating and funding a Covid-19 Commission, the president and Congress can take steps essential to that commission’s success, including: · Appointing commission members and assembling their staff so that they can outline their report, pose questions that must be answered and identify information resources, while recognizing that questions and resources will change as the outbreak progresses; · Requiring departments and agencies to maintain records of meetings and other decision-making processes, data collected and actions taken in their covid-19 responses, and to make those available to commission staff; · Encouraging state and local governments, relevant nongovernmental response organizations (such as the American Red Cross) and business organizations (such as health device and pharmaceutical manufacturers) to likewise maintain records and make those available to the commission; and · Allowing commission staff or designated representatives to embed within departments and agencies during response efforts to facilitate data collection. Creating a Covid-19 Commission now might seem like a distraction from the response. It is not. The information and personal observations needed for effective after-action assessments are best collected while they are fresh, a fact recognized by the Army. In April 2010, even before the World Health Organization declared that the


world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and more citizens have died from covid-19 than were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The projected economic impact of covid-19 likewise exceeds that of 9/11. The nation has inadequate testing capabilities and shortages of personal protective equipment. Authorities struggle to find much-needed patient beds, health-care equipment and supplies, and trained health-care workers to care for our citizens. States are taking unprecedented steps to limit public activity. We must learn from this event to better prepare for crises. For these reasons, now is the time for Congress and the president to appoint and adequately fund an independent, bipartisan commission to prepare a complete report on the nation’s response to the pandemic. Clearly, such a report will not be completed while the outbreak rages. But by immediately creating and funding a Covid-19 Commission, the president and Congress can take steps essential to that commission’s success, including: · Appointing commission members and assembling their staff so that they can outline their report, pose questions that must be answered and identify information resources, while recognizing that questions and resources will change as the outbreak progresses; · Requiring departments and agencies to maintain records of meetings and other decision-making processes, data collected and actions taken in their covid-19 responses, and to make those available to commission staff; · Encouraging state and local governments, relevant nongovernmental response organizations (such as the American Red Cross) and business organizations (such as health device and pharmaceutical manufacturers) to likewise maintain records and make those available to the commission; and · Allowing commission staff or designated representatives to embed within departments and agencies during response efforts to facilitate data collection. Creating a Covid-19 Commission now might seem like a distraction from the response. It is not. The information and personal observations needed for effective after-action assessments are best collected while they are fresh, a fact recognized by the Army. In April 2010, even before the World Health Organization declared that the 2009 H1N1 pandemic was over, the White House directed departments and agencies to prepare after-action reports of their individual performance. Many states did the same. We should create the Covid-19 Commission and get it working now. Read more We need smart solutions to mitigate the coronavirus’s impact. Here are 16. Paul Waldman: Trump takes a page from George W. Bush’s playbook Max Boot: I saw 9/11 in New York. This is worse.


Coronavirus peak in D.C., Maryland, Virginia: FAQ on why models differ

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced Friday that the city projects that 1 in 7 residents of the city will contract the novel coronavirus, with the nation’s capital seeing a peak in hospitalized patients around late June and early July. The city government is relying on a different model from the one used by the federal government when White House officials said this week that the outbreak would peak later this month. In neighboring Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Friday that state models project a surge in May, but he declined to say how many Virginians he expects to become infected. Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy secretary of public health, said Friday that state officials are studying models to show when Maryland is likely to hit its peak. Here’s an explanation of why the models are different and what that means for residents in the Washington region. There have been a number of different models projecting the trajectory of the coronavirus outbreak constructed by private consultants, universities and others. No model is perfect, and none should be read for confident predictions of the virus’s eventual toll. Projections will change frequently, but governments use models to aid planning and decision-making. Two in particular appear to be shaping government policy. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, or IHME, was cited by White House officials this week and is the source of many graphs and projections making their way around the Internet this week. The COVID-19 Hospital Impact Model for Epidemics, or CHIME, developed by Penn Medicine, is the one used by the D.C. government. • Look up D.C. projections under IHME • Read the District government’s projections based on CHIME model The key difference is how the models calculate the benefits of social distancing. The D.C. government thinks the IHME model overestimates the impact of social distancing on reducing new infections. According to city officials, the CHIME model takes into account social distancing measures from the closure of nonessential businesses and schools and the ban on mass gatherings — but it also calculates that many people will not comply. The model says some 93,000 D.C. residents will contract the coronavirus during the pandemic, with the vast majority of them recovering. “My experience with human beings is we don’t do everything perfectly, and our model accounts for people who are very strictly social distancing . . . and for


Whatever happened to the CDC?

There is no better example of thorough hand-washing than this. “Try calling your state or local health department or a medical provider,” says the sad shell of its former self. “While supplies of these tests are increasing, it may still be difficult to find a place to get tested.” It certainly may. It may also be difficult to get results of your test in less than a week or more. For that matter, you may be among the estimated 30 percent of tested patients who are getting false results. Or your results may be among the estimated 650,000 tests — half of the national total — that haven’t been communicated to the White House task force. If you read deeply enough into the page, all the way to the bottom, the CDC will eventually encourage you to be more aggressive about seeking aid should you lose consciousness and turn blue. The sad decline of the CDC was spotlighted on March 6, when President Trump ducked into the labs on his way to a weekend at Mar-a-Lago, sporting a red campaign cap and musing on his natural gifts as a scientist. The actual scientists standing awkwardly beside him looked like shovel-struck sheep. Markets correctly diagnosed a florid outbreak of federal fecklessness; the bottom dropped out of stocks. And that was the last we heard from Atlanta. Now the agency is agonizing over the efficacy of bandannas and scarves for blocking transmission, but it’s too late for the CDC to assert itself into the current crisis. Instead, the agency should leapfrog ahead to redeem its reputation. The United States needs a strategy for managing covid-19 after the current shutdown runs its course. How long that takes is anyone’s guess. Trump has said in recent weeks it might be August, or July, or June. At some point, social distancing and the arrival of summer will — with luck — slow the spread of covid-19 enough to allow the the United States to regroup for the next wave of disease in the fall. Having blown round one, the CDC should gird for round two. Long before Labor Day, the United States needs practical, working solutions to at least three problems that could make the difference between winning and catastrophically losing another round. The first problem: We must figure out who has already been infected with covid-19. Those whose bodies have successfully fought off the


Whatever happened to the CDC?

sheep. Markets correctly diagnosed a florid outbreak of federal fecklessness; the bottom dropped out of stocks. And that was the last we heard from Atlanta. Now the agency is agonizing over the efficacy of bandannas and scarves for blocking transmission, but it’s too late for the CDC to assert itself into the current crisis. Instead, the agency should leapfrog ahead to redeem its reputation. The United States needs a strategy for managing covid-19 after the current shutdown runs its course. How long that takes is anyone’s guess. Trump has said in recent weeks it might be August, or July, or June. At some point, social distancing and the arrival of summer will — with luck — slow the spread of covid-19 enough to allow the the United States to regroup for the next wave of disease in the fall. Having blown round one, the CDC should gird for round two. Long before Labor Day, the United States needs practical, working solutions to at least three problems that could make the difference between winning and catastrophically losing another round. The first problem: We must figure out who has already been infected with covid-19. Those whose bodies have successfully fought off the virus — with or without symptoms — can be a resource to the nation, using their antibodies to keep businesses afloat and services running. Given the massive failure of diagnostic testing, however, we need widespread tools to look back at past infection. The science exists to screen for antibodies; by Memorial Day we require such testing on a quick, accurate, inexpensive, mass-produced basis. This screening will be meaningless without a national registry of covid-19 survivors — a huge challenge for health privacy experts and medical records companies. The CDC can be the spur. The second problem: We still need diagnostic testing. The United States can’t begin to restore normal life until we have some alternative to blunt lockdowns, crude distancing and vague quarantines. The CDC should prepare the the United States to do what the South Koreans have done: broadly examine the public for telltale fevers, then aggressively isolate and test feverish individuals for covid-19. By August, schools, sporting events, transportation hubs and other public places must be ready for routine, airport-security-style temperature scans. The third problem: We need to accelerate covid-19 therapies. If we have effective testing, we will catch more cases early, allowing us to treat them with