an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco. Different sports present different levels of risk, with “shared” sports such as gymnastics (shared beam, vault, etc.) tougher to make safe than “singular” sports such as golf (own clubs, own ball). Collision sports such as lacrosse present higher risk than softball and other limited-contact sports. Sports involving covered skin and faces such as fencing will need to be treated differently than those like wrestling. To begin sorting it out, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the NCAA have issued initial guidance. Phase 3 of the USOPC’s five phases, for example, includes: “If a ball is being used (e.g., basketball), make sure only one player is using a specific region of the court and/or basket at a time, and the court in that region needs to be cleaned before another player uses the ball in that space to prevent indirect transmission from ball 1 to ground and from ground to ball 2.” The National Athletic Trainers’ Association will also post best practices in the coming weeks. Many sport-specific organizations, such as USA Basketball, as well as professional ones such as the NBA, are expected to issue guidelines as well. But what is your average youth sports coach, a mom like Sarah Pinkerton, supposed to make of it all? When it comes to high school, there’s a degree of clarity. The National Federation of State High School Associations writes the rule book, literally, as the organizing body for the 51 associations (each state and Washington, D.C.) that govern approximately 20,000 high schools and 8 million athletes. The long list of “return-to-sport” issues NFHS has had to contemplate, and the degree of nuance required to resolve each, has produced an intellectual, logistical and moral puzzle. Take, for example, physicals. States require pre-participation evaluations to try to catch conditions such as heart defects and asthma that could make athletic participation dangerous. Because many doctors have been only seeing patients with acute illnesses, there’s likely to be a backlog when that changes, so families may have a hard time getting appointments. Wealthier ones are likely to get access first. The NFHS therefore recommended that state associations be flexible and consider issuing one-year extensions for everyone except first-time athletes. It sounds pragmatic and clear-cut, but the decision wasn’t easy. Cindy Chang, who has served as chief medical officer for Team USA, said


Maryland’s public universities gear up for some in-person teaching in fall, but plans are still in flux

Maryland’s public universities are moving toward at least some in-person teaching in the fall term after a spring disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The University System of Maryland, which oversees 15 universities and higher education centers, said Friday that campus-restart plans will vary from school to school. The flagship University of Maryland at College Park, which has about 41,000 students, has not yet disclosed how it will operate in the fall. But the system’s guidance, in a four-page statement, clearly signaled that higher education leaders anticipate a mix of teaching and learning methods as they navigate the challenge of operating in the shadow of a pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans. Leaders are mindful not only of student safety but also of the risk to faculty and staff who are older and more vulnerable to developing covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Schools “will welcome students back to campus this fall in a hybrid fashion, combining at least some on-campus, in-person instruction with remote learning,” the system said. Schools expect to announce plans over the next two weeks. They want to reassure students and families about the continuity of education in part to maintain enrollment. Some families are skeptical about paying full tuition for remote-only learning. Most students at residential universities will begin in mid-to-late August, the system said. Some schools will halt in-person instruction by Thanksgiving, but others may continue face-to-face classes for the entire term. Still to be determined are the mix of “residential students” and “remote students” at each school, as well as plans for athletics. The system serves about 172,000 students, from Frostburg State University in the west to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. Morgan State University in Baltimore and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, both public, are not part of the system. Morgan State has said it plans to reopen campus in the fall. Colleges and universities nationwide were forced to switch to remote instruction in March as the virus crisis intensified. Students stuck at home since then are growing anxious to know whether they will be allowed to return to campus. Some universities are cautioning that they may not have answers until July. But a growing number are saying they expect to start with students on campus in August, wrap up in-person teaching by Thanksgiving, and finish up with final exams remotely. With that strategy, educators hope to minimize student travel


Climate news quiz: Cycling lanes and ocean plastic

All right: Time to see if you’ve been paying attention to The Washington Post’s climate-related coverage. If you have, this quiz should be an easy A. Answer: C. Answer: D. Answer: B. Answer: D. Answer: D. Answer: A. Answer: C. Answer: B. Answer: C. Answer: D. 0 to 3 questions correct Climate novice: You’ve still got a lot to learn about climate change. But that’s okay: We’ve got you covered. Got a question? Ask us here. 4 to 7 questions correct Climate curious: Hey, not bad! You know a thing or two about climate change. But there’s still more to learn, and we’ve got you covered. Got a question? Ask us here. 8 to 10 questions correct Climate expert: Well done! You’re super climate-literate. You probably already know that one of the most important things you as an individual can do to combat climate change is to spread the word. Go ahead: Brag a little, share this quiz with your friends, and find out who knows the most about climate change.


World Digest: May 29, 2020

Abiy Ahmed. The government said that it “strongly rejects malicious claims of extrajudicial killings, evictions and destruction of property” but that it would launch an independent investigation if there was evidence of any wrongdoing. The Ethiopian army and regional police did not respond to requests for comment. Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has instituted reforms that include removing a ban on political parties, releasing political prisoners and welcoming home exiled militant groups such as the Oromo Liberation Front. But the new freedoms have also uncorked long-repressed tensions between Ethiopia’s many ethnic groups. — Reuters FRANCE The children of detained Rwandan genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga on Friday accused French authorities of violating his “fundamental human rights,” saying that he has severe senile dementia among other ailments and that imprisonment could kill him. Kabuga, 87, has been indicted by U.N. prosecutors on charges of genocide and incitement to commit genocide. He is accused of bankrolling and arming ethnic Hutu militias that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus over about 100 days in 1994. He denied the charges this week. He has been in a Paris prison since May 16, when police raided his hideout in the capital’s suburbs, ending a 26-year manhunt. A French court will decide Wednesday whether to transfer him to a U.N. tribunal. “His state of health requires support and constant surveillance,” his 11 children said in a statement, adding that he had lost weight and become more incoherent in detention. A Paris court denied a request this week for his release, saying it could stir unrest in the Rwandan community. — Reuters SOUTH AFRICA South Africa says it has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unprocessed tests for the coronavirus, a striking example of the painful shortage of testing kits and reagents across Africa as cases steadily rise. “This challenge is caused by the limited availability of test kits globally,” the Health Ministry said in a statement, putting the backlog at 96,480 as of Monday. Priority is given to processing tests from patients in hospitals and health workers, it said. South Africa has conducted more tests for the virus than any other country in Africa — more than 655,000 — and has the most confirmed cases with 27,403. — Associated Press Russia to send team to Guiana Space Center after fuel leak: Lebanon extends mandate of U.N. border force: Roman mosaic unearthed in Italy: — From news services


What you need to know about outdoor drinking and dining as D.C. and Virginia reopen bars and restaurants

contact tracing by DC Health." Some establishments will be more relaxed about this than others, though: At Farmers Fishers Bakers at Georgetown’s Washington Harbour, any walk-up customers will be encouraged to make a reservation on the spot through Open Table. Duffy’s Irish Pub on H Street NE lets customers join a first-come, first-seated wait list through its website. At Dacha’s Shaw and Navy Yard beer gardens, “We are going to maintain a virtual line,” owner Dmitri Chekaldin said . Customers can add themselves on a wait list using Resy when they’re within two miles of the front door. If there’s no wait, they’ll be taken straight to a table. If a table isn’t ready yet, “they can go to the cafe, go walk around the neighborhood, and come back when they get a text.” While you may be used to waiting in line outside a restaurant for the next available table, expect more spots to go to the pager-style text message system: Restaurants and bars may not have the room outside to allow customers to stand in line six feet apart, as required by ABRA regulations, so they may tell customers to wait elsewhere and come back later. Whether in Virginia or the District, it pays to have researched second and third options nearby, because seats are going to be at a premium, and many places will be full. You’ll have to watch the clock. Most restaurants and establishments surveyed are planning to limit seating times to two hours per person, whether a fine dining spot such as Seven Reasons, which is charging a $50 deposit per reservation, or a neighborhood beer garden such as H Street’s Biergarten Haus. “It’s a completely arbitrary number,” admits Justin Cox, the founder of Atlas Brew Works, which is offering reservations for tables outside the Ivy City brewery from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1 to 3 p.m., and 3 to 5 p.m. “Two hours sounds like a good window to get outside and enjoy the sunshine,” he said. The feeling across businesses seems to be that two hours is longer than a couple might spend at dinner, but also long enough to discourage people from lingering without ordering extra drinks. But some windows will be shorter: Trade is offering 90-minute same-day reservations beginning at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. on weeknights, and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.


The safety problem for restaurants isn’t the dining room. It’s the kitchen.

of whatever is on the dishes all over the kitchen? Restaurants across the country are starting to reopen — some tentatively and some, like C&C Coffee and Kitchen in Castle Rock, Colo., with viral enthusiasm. As customers head back out to eat, most of the public discussion about safety is focusing on the front of the house — where customers sit. Some restaurants are rearranging dining rooms. A few are coming up with adorable, slightly creepy ways to enforce social distancing at tables: The Inn at Little Washington, the D.C. area’s only three-Michelin-starred restaurant, is planning to fill seats with mannequins. Everything will be fine, it seems, as long as patrons stay six feet apart. But in the back of the house, the part that most customers never see, a very different conversation is taking place. Chefs and other kitchen staff are quietly raising the alarm about the prospect of returning to what once passed for normal: chaotic, overcrowded, poorly ventilated kitchens where everyone is shouting, everyone is touching multiple surfaces and nobody has time for safety precautions when the front of the house gets slammed. “We’re touching food. We’re in close contact. There’s no social distancing,” says Michelle DeChesser, 52, a 20-year kitchen veteran who has worked as a chef at upscale restaurants from Portland, Ore., to Lancaster, Pa. Independent chef-owners, who work alongside their staff, are torn between giving customers something approximating a normal restaurant experience and keeping themselves and their employees safe. “It’s crazy for people to think they can run old-school-style table service — and I say ‘old school’ meaning, like, two months ago,” says Eric Rivera, 38, the chef and owner of Addo in Seattle. Like a lot of the independent chef-owners I talked to, Rivera is completely reconfiguring his restaurant, including the kitchen, to keep both the front and back of the house safe. “Our dining room now looks like a warehouse,” says Rivera, who is offering only takeout and delivery for now. “We have metro shelving. It’s like a grocery store.” But there’s no official guidance for any of them to follow, and even less advice for how to reorganize the kitchen. At May Kaidee, a vegan Thai restaurant in Lower Manhattan, partner Jonathan Daniel (who also goes by his Thai name, Jo Tao Wan) happened to know an epidemiologist who warned him in mid-February that the virus was beginning to spread. Since


Boston Marathon officially canceled for first time in event’s 124-year history

The Boston Marathon was canceled because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, marking the first time the iconic event will not take place in its 124-year history, city officials announced Thursday. In conjunction with the Boston Athletic Association, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) made the announcement less than a week after indicating a final decision on the marathon’s status was near. The most prestigious marathon in the United States was postponed earlier this year from the original April 20 date tentatively to Sept. 14 amid safety concerns for participants, race organizers and staff, and spectators. “The traditional one-day running of the 124th Boston Marathon is not feasible this year for public health reasons,” Walsh said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. “There is no way to hold this usual race format without bringing large numbers of people into close proximity. “While our goal and hope was to make progress and contain the virus and recover our economy, this kind of event would not be responsible or realistic on Sept. 14 or anytime this year.” On Wednesday, the United States hit the grim milestone of 100,000 reported deaths because of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. There have been more than 5.6 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus around the world. The pandemic has put the majority of professional athletic competitions on indefinite hold, and sports such as NASCAR that have resumed are doing so without fans. The Boston Marathon, which is run on a course from the city’s western suburbs to a downtown finish line, typically consists of an international field of 30,000 runners, with hundreds of thousands of fans watching in person and thousands of volunteers assisting on race day. It’s also the only major non-Olympic marathon in the country in which runners are required to qualify to compete. It brings the city an estimated $200 million in revenue. Qualifiers for this year’s race have the option to participate in a virtual version of the event to receive their medal. Alternatively, anyone entered in this year’s race can have their entry fee refunded, according to organizers. The cancellation underscores uncertainty regarding other races that are part of the six World Marathon Majors. The London Marathon, for instance, was postponed to Oct. 4 from its original date of April 26. The status of the Berlin Marathon, which had been scheduled for Sept. 27, remains on hold. “The spirit of Boston


This former intelligence official was a hero. He’s now the target of a brutal campaign by MBS.

For intelligence officers, there’s a special horror at abandoning colleagues who helped fight common enemies. There’s a sense of moral betrayal and shattered trust — a violation of the unwritten rules of the spy trade. Some former senior U.S. and British spymasters are feeling that shock to the conscience now, as they watch the plight of Saad Aljabri, a former top Saudi intelligence officer who helped build the kingdom’s counterterrorism capability — and in the process provided what intelligence officials describe as invaluable help to the West. Aljabri’s son Khalid, a cardiologist who lives with his father in Toronto, said during interviews that two of his younger siblings — Omar, 21, and Sarah, 20 — were seized and imprisoned in mid-March by the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is often referred to as MBS, as leverage to force their father to return to the kingdom from exile in Canada. MBS’s squeeze on a former pillar of the kingdom’s counterterrorism program stuns those who have dealt with Aljabri. The crown prince’s allies have circulated accusations: that Aljabri knows about theft of operational funds by him and his patron, deposed crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and that he’s a sympathizer of the Muslim Brotherhood. Khalid Aljabri rejected the allegations: “These are baseless claims, and we have proof that they are politically motivated. Whatever allegations they make, nothing justifies holding his children as hostages.” Saad Aljabri declined to comment. A senior Saudi official reached Thursday night in the kingdom declined to comment on the Aljabri case. Aljabri’s friends believe that the Western governments Aljabri has helped over the years must come to his aid now. “From a moral and ethical perspective, we have a duty to help him in a time of trouble,” says a former British official, speaking for many of his colleagues. “What is happening to him and his family is wrong,” Michael Morell, a former acting director of the CIA under President Barack Obama, said of Aljabri in a text message this week. “His work saved Saudi and American lives, in the kingdom and outside. I would trust him with my life, with my own family. I can’t fathom that he would ever plot against his own government.” George Tenet, who served as CIA director during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, expressed similar confidence in Aljabri. “He was just a very solid person,” Tenet


Historical societies across the U.S. are crowdsourcing pandemic time capsules

are discarding stuff and cleaning out a home, they call us,” Meagher says. The rare uniform found in an attic seems scant compared with the multitude of images shot by cellphones. “You can go through the albums of ancestors and hand over a box,” she says. “But not many people will want to go through someone’s cloud drive.” The society has been collecting pandemic experiences for only a few weeks and has shared some on social media, but it won’t be presenting the material until staff members are back in the office. “It’s a project I feel passionate about,” she says. “There’s 8 billion people in the world, and every single one of them has a story about how this affected them. While similar, no two stories will be the same.” The Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston has launched a project titled “Witness to History: What Are Your COVID-19 Experiences?” It posts weekly prompts to help spur writers, such as, “How do you feel our government has handled COVID-19?” The project page on the society’s website notes that in 1798, the society’s founder reached out to Paul Revere to get his take on that famous midnight ride, and adds, “Now it is your turn.” President Catherine Allgor says: “The great thing about historical societies nowadays is that we don’t wait for it to become history. We collect in the present, and this seemed like a historical moment.” Besides the prompts, the society encourages people to write in journals — Allgor says posts on Twitter and Instagram are a form of journaling. At her site, “You have to register [to provide materials] and give us permission to use the material because we want to accession it into our collection.” She says, “In 20, 50, 100 years, when people are researching the pandemic of 2020, if you participate in our project, you are literally creating history.” She too hinted at the cathartic nature of being involved. “I’ve been struck by how freely people admitted to their emotions. This is an outlet where people can express thoughts and fears that we don’t want to burden our loved ones with.” Each of the historians I spoke with seemed very aware of their important role in preservation. “I’m so proud of my sister historical societies, libraries and museums,” said Allgor. “We have one big job, and that is to be culturally relevant to our communities.”


New Library of Congress commissions provide hard-hit artists with a creative spark

The limbo of this extended quarantine has forced us all into a state of increased resourcefulness. This has been especially true for artists, curators and musicians, whose outlets for sharing their work have been swiftly limited to laptops and balconies. Take David Plylar, senior concert producer in the music division at the Library of Congress. In considering how he could continue the library’s mission to commission new music (about 600 pieces since 1925), Plylar reached for an idea he’s had on his bookshelf for 20 years. When he was in school studying music composition, he read “The Decameron,” 14-century author Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterful collection of 100 stories as told by 10 acquaintances isolating from the bleakest stretch of the plague in a secluded Italian villa. “I always wanted to write a piece about it, doing something with this idea of having multiple viewpoints presented,” Plylar says in a phone interview. “But of course, the problem was that I was just myself and didn’t have time to do 100 pieces.” He still doesn’t. But Plylar did detect parallels between Boccaccio’s tales — which served as tethers to a world left behind by its sheltering tellers — and our current circumstances. Working with other curators and specialists at the library over the past month, Plylar assembled 10 pairs of composers and performers to collaborate remotely on short solo compositions (between one and three minutes) that he’s calling the “The Boccaccio Project.” The pieces will be recorded and premiere on the LOC website over 10 days starting June 15 and continuing on weekdays through June 26. Though taking only structural cues from “The Decameron,” Plylar expects the 10 works — the manuscripts of which will be archived by the library — to be as wide-ranging in tone and tenor as the text’s 100 tales, largely due to the project’s unique pairings and the unusual demands of remote collaboration. The New York-based pianist Jenny Lin is collaborating with California composer Cliff Eidelman, and New York composer Damien Sneed is paired with pianist Jeremy Jordan. Oboist Andrew Nogal and pianist Daniel Pesca of Chicago’s Grossman Ensemble are taking on works by Baltimore composer Richard Drehoff and Indiana-based Aaron Travers, respectively. Flutist Nathalie Joachim of Chicago’s Flutronix is paired with composer (and fellow flutist) Allison Loggins-Hull. And members of ensembles including San Francisco’s Del Sol String Quartet and New York’s Wet Ink Ensemble are teaming with


Simone Biles casts doubt on training if Olympics are postponed again: ‘I do not know what I would do’

Simone Biles has resumed training at her gym near Houston following a two-month shutdown forced by the novel coronavirus, her sights squarely on the postponed Tokyo Games that are scheduled to open in July 2021. But if lingering health concerns about the pandemic force the Games’ cancellation in 2021, Biles acknowledged Thursday in an interview with ESPN’s Julie Foudy that she didn’t know if she could stick with the sport for the next Olympic cycle. “I do not know what I would do,” said Biles, speaking from her training base in Spring, Tex., on Foudy’s “Laughter Permitted” podcast as part of ESPNW’s virtual NYC Summit. “So I’m just praying for the best, hoping that it goes on for selfish reasons, of course, but [also] for all the athletes around the world working toward this dream.” Biles, who will be 24 when the 2021 Olympics are held, said that her greatest challenge isn’t the sport’s physical demands. It’s the mental strain of keeping her inner fire alive — and doing so without full faith in USA Gymnastics, which failed to report team doctor Larry Nassar’s serial sexual abuse and has refused, amid bankruptcy proceedings, to disclose information that athletes and their lawyers are demanding. “Everybody wants me to speak out, and they don’t realize how draining that is for me while I’m training,” Biles said, crediting her parents, coaches and agents for helping her manage the workload and expectations. “I just try to focus on myself, because if I get involved it stresses me out. It’s a lot to put on myself to be the voice and the face of the sport — especially with USA Gymnastics, being where they stand. Not a fan-favorite [of mine]. Obviously, a lot more investigations need to be done. … At the end of the day, I have my one goal, so I just go into the gym, drain out everything and do my work. And that’s the only thing I can focus on.” Asked if she felt she could walk away from gymnastics given all she has achieved, which includes five world all-around championships, the 2016 Olympic all-around gold medal and four signature skills named for her in the sport’s international rule book, Biles didn’t hesitate. “Most definitely I could walk away from this sport and feel like I accomplished more than I ever actually imagined because when I was younger, growing up, all


Coronavirus on the border: California hospitals overwhelmed by patients from Mexico

including families who have moved freely across the region since before that line was drawn and whose movement has continued during the pandemic. Public health issues have always straddled the border here. Texas conducts mosquito-spraying campaigns with the Mexican state of Tamaulipas during dengue outbreaks. Arizona has joint firefighting exercises with Sonora. California and Baja California have long battled a cross-border tuberculosis epidemic together. The San Ysidro border crossing, south of San Diego, is the busiest ambulance pickup point in the United States. For years, the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission conducted simulations on how the two countries would respond if a pandemic settled on the border. A special procedure was created for Mexican ambulances to transfer patients to U.S. ambulances on American soil. Then a real pandemic struck. Now, approximately half of the coronavirus patients in several California border hospitals, including El Centro Regional Medical Center, are recent arrivals from Mexico. As a result of that surge, Imperial County, home to El Centro, has a much higher concentration of coronavirus cases — 760 per 100,000 residents — than any other county in California. “It’s amazing how this disease has taught us that borders don’t exist,” said Adolphe Edward, the chief executive of El Centro Regional. The hospital’s staff includes 60 people who cross the border from Mexicali each day to work. About 1.5 million Americans live in Mexico, and more than 250,000 of them live in the cities just south of California. Those cities have been hit harder by the coronavirus than almost anywhere else in Mexico. More than 300 medical personnel in Tijuana and its outskirts have been infected, according to Yanín Rendón Machuca, the head of the local health workers union. At the city’s general hospital, only a quarter of the staff remains at work. Ambulance drivers in Mexicali sometimes wait hours while hospital workers make room in hallways for patients with covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Some overwhelmed public clinics in the border city are no longer accepting patients. “We see patients who have been in Mexican hospitals for two, three or four days before they cross the border and come to us,” said Dennis Amundson, the medical director in the intensive care unit at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista, Calif. U.S. citizens and green-card holders in northern Mexico started sharing messages and Facebook posts in groups such as “Rosarito Living” and “Expats


D.C. will begin to lift restrictions Friday after decline in community spread of the coronavirus

The number of known coronavirus cases in the District, Maryland and Virginia was 97,078 on Wednesday, with 48,423 cases in Maryland, 40,249 in Virginia and 8,406 in the District. The number of virus-related deaths reached 2,392 in Maryland, 1,281 in Virginia and 445 in the District, for a total of 4,118 fatalities. Here are some of the most significant recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19: • D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said the city will gradually start to lift restrictions in place since March, effective at 12:01 a.m. Friday, after meeting key thresholds to contain new virus infections. The city’s current stay-at-home and business closure orders had been set to run through June 8. • D.C., Maryland and Virginia reported 1,715 new coronavirus cases Wednesday and 109 deaths. There are now 97,078 cases and 4,118 deaths in the three jurisdictions. • Communities in Northern Virginia can begin easing their pandemic-related shutdowns on Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said, arguing that the region is seeing a decline in hospitalizations and the percentage of positive tests for the novel coronavirus even as the rate and overall number of infections remain far higher than in the rest of the state. • Northam’s move to begin reopening even the hardest-hit parts of the state came along with a tighter restriction on wearing face coverings in enclosed public places. Northam said the mask requirement will be enforced by the state health department, not police. Businesses that let employees work without masks could lose their licenses. When will D.C. reopen?


Why failing to reopen Purdue University this fall would be an unacceptable breach of duty

Mitch Daniels, a Post contributing columnist, is president of Purdue University and a former governor of Indiana. On Feb. 1, watching the outbreak of a new virus in China, our university suspended travel to that country. On Feb. 26, we extended that ban to visiting other countries reporting the infection. On March 10, we decided to close the Purdue University campus for the spring semester and move to remote instruction. On March 17, we canceled our traditional commencement. At the point when the campus was shut down, if we had needed to decide on our plans for the fall, we would have felt compelled to resume with remote instruction and keep the campus closed. For all we knew, covid-19 posed a danger across all lines of age and health status, and a place as densely populated as our campus would be defenseless against it — operations couldn’t be responsibly restarted. We have all learned a lot since then. What would have been a reckless and scientifically unjustified decision in late March is now plainly the best option from both a scientific and a stewardship standpoint, at least for our particular institution. The Post asked me to explain here what has gone into our thinking. (We’re not alone: Two-thirds of the more than 700 colleges surveyed by the Chronicle of Higher Education have now come to the same conclusion and will reopen with in-person instruction in the fall.) The most salient discovery the world has made during these terrible two months is that covid-19 is a very dangerous disease, specifically for the elderly and the infirm, particularly those with diabetes, hypertension, other cardiovascular illnesses or the obesity that so frequently leads to these disorders. The companion discovery is that this bug, so risky in one segment of the population, poses a near-zero risk to young people. Among covid-19 deaths, 99.9 percent have occurred outside the 15-to-24 age group; the survival rate in the 20-to-29 age bracket is 99.99 percent. Even assuming the United States eventually reaches 150,000 total fatalities, covid-19 as a risk to the young will rank way below accidents, cancer, heart disease and suicide. In fact, it won’t even make the top 10. This is fundamental information for institutions with radically skewed demographic compositions. If you’re running a nursing home, it means one thing. New York unintentionally ended hundreds of lives prematurely by ordering covid-19 patients into such homes,


Read more on the Long(er) Road to Tokyo

The Tokyo Games have been postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak. As the virus has spread, training sites have closed and athletes have been separated from coaches. Here’s how American Olympians have adjusted their training during the pandemic. Paralympic running: Open water swimming: Diving: Swimming: Read more:


For artists hit hard by isolation, a creative jolt

tales — which served as tethers to a world left behind by its sheltering tellers — and our current circumstances. Working with other curators and specialists at the library over the past month, Plylar assembled 10 pairs of composers and performers to collaborate remotely on short solo compositions (between one and three minutes) that he’s calling the “The Boccaccio Project.” The pieces will be recorded and premiere on the LOC website over 10 days starting June 15 and continuing on weekdays through June 26. Though taking only structural cues from “The Decameron,” Plylar expects the 10 works — the manuscripts of which will be archived by the library — to be as wide-ranging in tone and tenor as the text’s 100 tales, largely due to the project’s unique pairings and the unusual demands of remote collaboration. David Plylar in 2014 at the Library of Congress, where he is senior concert producer in the music division. (Ian Wagreich/for Duke University Alumni Magazine) The New York-based pianist Jenny Lin is collaborating with California composer Cliff Eidelman, and New York composer Damien Sneed is paired with pianist Jeremy Jordan. Oboist Andrew Nogal and pianist Daniel Pesca of Chicago’s Grossman Ensemble are taking on works by Baltimore composer Richard Drehoff and Indiana-based Aaron Travers, respectively. Flutist Nathalie Joachim of Chicago’s Flutronix is paired with composer (and fellow flutist) Allison Loggins-Hull. And members of ensembles including San Francisco’s Del Sol String Quartet and New York’s Wet Ink Ensemble are teaming with composers such as Luciano Chessa, Erin Rogers and Ashkan Behzadi. Violinist Jannina Norpoth of the New York-based PUBLIQuartet and composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh both had operas in progress when the pandemic struck and cleared their calendars. “I was so uninspired to finish [the opera], I was really creatively kind of dead,” Nourbakhsh says over a Zoom call. “And then when this came up, because it’s so short and we have to get it done so quickly, it just gave me a lot of creative energy. It got me out of the hole that I was in.” Norpoth, her neighbor in hard-hit Brooklyn, could relate. “As somebody who thrives off of working with other people all the time,” she says, “a lot of the places where I gather inspiration are just not there right now. So this was a really nice way to connect, even virtually.” Nourbakhsh’s piece for Norpoth, “A Shared Solitary,” incorporates field recordings


U.S. To Quit WHO; Brazil Tops Spain in Deaths: Virus Update

Brazil overtook Spain to rank fifth in the world in coronavirus deaths, with no sign of easing in Latin America’s biggest economy. The U.S. will quit the World Health Organization after President Donald Trump faulted its actions with China and the virus. Wuhan city is set to complete testing all of its 11 million residents as China pours massive resources into avoiding a resurgence of infections. Mumbai’s snowballing cases are overwhelming the city’s hospitals. Moderna began a mid-stage trial of a vaccine that showed promising safety and early efficacy data this month. Singapore and China agreed to allow essential travel between the two countries starting in early June. Key Developments: • Virus Tracker: Cases top 5.9 million; deaths over 364,000 • Bodies left on hospital beds as Mumbai is overwhelmed • How China tested 11 million people in just two weeks • In boom-and-bust San Francisco, pandemic brings grim new reality • Watchdog warns of significant fraud with virus unemployment aid • Citi breaks with rivals on whether work from home is permanent Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus. For a look back at this week’s top stories from QuickTake, click here. Australia to Urge Eliminating Payroll Tax as It Seeks to Revive Economy (11:20 a.m. HK) Australia’s government will call on states to eliminate payroll taxes as part of the nation’s efforts to jump-start the economy and create jobs, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. “I’d love the states to get rid of the payroll tax,” he said. The government’s coronavirus recovery plans will involve changes to taxes on income, and for small and medium businesses, Frydenberg said in the interview. The proposals should be finalized ahead of the government’s annual budget release in October, he said, according to the report. Sotheby’s Realty Gets Trump Backing to Fight Michigan Lockdown (10:40 a.m. HK) A group of small business owners in Michigan fighting stay-at-home orders by the state’s governor, saying they threaten their livelihoods, got a boost from the Trump administration. “As the president and many states have recognized, the onerous restrictions on civil liberty that Americans have tolerated to slow the spread of Covid-19 cannot continue forever, and the Constitution will not allow them to do so,” the Justice Department said in a court filing


in support of a lawsuit challenging executive orders by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Michigan’s Democratic governor has sparred frequently with President Donald Trump over her response to one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. The lawsuit the Trump administration is backing was filed in late April by a franchise of Sotheby’s International Realty, along with a lawn and property maintenance company, an automotive glass exporter, an engine oil and auto parts distributor, a jewelry store, a dental office and an association of car washes. Singapore, China Agree to Allow Essential Travel Starting in June (9:42 a.m. HK) Singapore and China have agreed to allow essential travel for business and official purposes between the two countries in early June, according to a joint emailed statement. The Fast Lane arrangement will be first applied between Singapore and six Chinese provinces or municipalities directly under the central government, and will gradually expand to include additional areas. Covid-19 prevention and control measures will remain in place. The agreement comes as countries cautiously seek to begin so-called “travel bubbles” after the pandemic shut down borders. China, where the coronavirus first emerged, appears to have brought its cases under control, while Singapore is moving toward opening its economy after wrestling to contain an outbreak among thousands of foreign workers. China Cargo Ship Source of Two New Reported Infections (9:35 a.m. HK) Two crew members of a Chinese-registered cargo ship, Zhong Chang Rong Sheng, tested positive for Covid-19 in China’s Shandong Province after they arrived from India via Singapore, state television CCTV reported on its official Weibo account. The two Chinese nationals, and another crew member who hasn’t tested positive, have been hospitalized, while the remaining 19 people on board are still under quarantine on the vessel. It docked at Lanshan Port of Rizhao in Shandong province on May 27. The two infections are among four new coronavirus cases, all imported, reported by China. Chile Gets Flexible Credit Line From IMF for Virus (8:35 a.m. HK) The International Monetary Fund approved a $23.9 billion credit line for Chile as one of South America’s wealthiest nations grapples with a recession amid the virus that the central bank forecasts may be the worst since the 1980s. The two-year flexible credit line is a precautionary measure that should boost market confidence and provide insurance against downside risks, the fund said in an emailed statement late Friday. Managing Director Kristalina Georgievasaid that


economy after wrestling to contain an outbreak among thousands of foreign workers. China Cargo Ship Source of Two New Reported Infections (9:35 a.m. HK) Two crew members of a Chinese-registered cargo ship, Zhong Chang Rong Sheng, tested positive for Covid-19 in China’s Shandong Province after they arrived from India via Singapore, state television CCTV reported on its official Weibo account. The two Chinese nationals, and another crew member who hasn’t tested positive, have been hospitalized, while the remaining 19 people on board are still under quarantine on the vessel. It docked at Lanshan Port of Rizhao in Shandong province on May 27. The two infections are among four new coronavirus cases, all imported, reported by China. Chile Gets Flexible Credit Line From IMF for Virus (8:35 a.m. HK) The International Monetary Fund approved a $23.9 billion credit line for Chile as one of South America’s wealthiest nations grapples with a recession amid the virus that the central bank forecasts may be the worst since the 1980s. The two-year flexible credit line is a precautionary measure that should boost market confidence and provide insurance against downside risks, the fund said in an emailed statement late Friday. Managing Director Kristalina Georgievasaid that although the nation has a good track record, its trade openness exposes it to external risks. United Airlines Will Add Back International Flights in July (8:30 a.m. HK) United Airlines Holdings Inc. will add back some international flying in July, saying demand has “risen modestly” in some markets after the Covid-19 pandemic all but wiped out travel. Flights will resume or increase on 40 international routes in July, United said in a statement Friday. The Chicago-based airline will serve only 27 foreign routes in June. United has said its overall schedule will be down about 75% from a year earlier in July, compared with a 90% reduction currently. The plan to increase flying reflects a modest rebound in demand for all U.S. airlines as travel restrictions ease and economic activity picks up. Germany, EC Settle Lufthansa Aid (7:15 a.m. HK) Germany settled a dispute with the European Commission over a 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) bailout of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, clearing the way for the carrier to accept a rescue package to help it weather a collapse in travel demand triggered by the pandemic. The deal requires Lufthansa to reduce the number of aircraft kept at Frankfurt and Munich airports. Lufthansa


website. • Texas reported a 2.1% rise in new cases, above the 1.9% seven-day average and less than the 3.2% jump on Thursday. Trump Says U.S. to Sever WHO Ties (3 p.m. NY) President Donald Trump said the U.S. will sever ties with the World Health Organization, the United Nations body he accuses of failing to provide accurate information on the spread of the coronavirus that broke out in China. “Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving, urgent global health needs,” Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House. “The world needs answers from China on the virus. We must have transparency.” The U.S. contributes more than $450 million to the WHO, Trump said. Florida Sees One of Largest Jumps Since Reopening (2:07 p.m. NY) Florida reported 54,497 Covid-19 cases on Friday, up 2.3% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 1.3% in the previous seven days. It was the third-largest daily increase since the state started reopening on May 4. Deaths among Florida residents reached 2,413, an increase of 2.1%. Overall, case numbers had been trending downward. Governor Ron DeSantis has often attributed out-of-trend upticks to “data dumps” from laboratories, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that was the case Friday. NYC Set to Reopen June 8 (1:30 p.m. NY) New York City will start reopening some businesses on June 8, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, as officials meet the set of metrics the state is following to end the mandatory lockdown. The city could see 400,000 workers back on the job as the first phase of reopening begins, he said.A sticking point for the city is a high infection rate in some communities. Cuomo said the overall rate is about 20% but that in some neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn, the rate exceeds 40%. The governor said officials will concentrate on those hot spots next week, which he said will set the stage for reopening. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways, commuter rail and bus services, is preparing for the return of workers, he said.“Reopening does not mean we’re going back to the way things were,” Cuomo said. “We go forward.” For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com ©2020 Bloomberg L.P.


U.S. Cases Rise 1.2% for Third Day; Moderna Trial: Virus Update

The U.S. is severing ties with the World Health Organization, which President Donald Trump said failed to provide accurate information on the virus. New York City, last of the state’s regions to remain in lockdown, will start reopening on June 8. Toronto’s biggest employers agreed to keep office staff working from home until at least September. The outbreak in India’s financial capital has overwhelmed Mumbai’s health care system. Moderna started a mid-stage trial of its vaccine, which showed promising safety and early efficacy data earlier this month. The virus may have started spreading in U.S. communities weeks before the first diagnosis of patients not linked to international travel. Key Developments: • Virus Tracker: Cases top 5.8 million; deaths over 363,000 • Bodies left on hospital beds as Mumbi is overwhelmed • In boom-and-bust San Francisco, pandemic brings grim new reality • Washington reopens in win for Trump amid nagging safety doubts • Canada’s Covid hot zone is even deadlier than Chicago or L.A. • Citi breaks with rivals on whether work from home is permanent Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus. For a look back at this week’s top stories from QuickTake, click here. Moderna Begins Vaccine Trial (5:15 p.m. NY) Moderna Inc., one of the leading companies developing a coronavirus vaccine, said it had started a mid-stage trial and given doses to the first patients. The 600-person, phase 2 study will give healthy participants one of two doses of the shot, or a placebo, Moderna said in a statement. They’ll be examined for potential side effects as well as whether it creates an immune-system response that could protect against the virus that causes Covid-19. The company plans to launch a larger phase 3 study in July with many more patients, working with the U.S. government. Published results of the phase 1 study are pending, though the shot showed promising safety and early efficacy data earlier this month. Toronto Office Workers at Home to September (4:30 p.m. NY) Canada’s major banks and other businesses will encourage Toronto office staff to keep working from home until at least September to help contain the spread of Covid-19, Mayor John Tory said. Telecom companies, accounting firms, insurance companies and universities and colleges joined financial companies in agreeing to continue telework at the request of


The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways, commuter rail and bus services, is preparing for the return of workers, he said.“Reopening does not mean we’re going back to the way things were,” Cuomo said. “We go forward.” Sanofi Seeks Assurance on Hydroxychloroquine (1:21 p.m. NY) Sanofi decided to temporarily suspend the recruitment of new Covid-19 patients for hydroxychloroquine trials until it has reassurance on safety, the French drugmaker said in an emailed statement Friday. The drugmaker also put on hold the release of supplies of hydroxychloroquine for off-label use in Covid-19 until safety concerns are cleared up by the World Health Organization, according to the statement. The antimalarial drug has been touted as a Covid-19 treatment by President Donald Trump, who said he had used it. U.S. Spread May Have Started in January: CDC (1 p.m. NY) The coronavirus may have started spreading in U.S. communities during the second half of January or in early February, weeks before the first known patients that weren’t linked to international travel were diagnosed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death from Covid-19 of a woman in Santa Clara County, California, who fell ill on Jan. 31, plus the death of an unrelated man between Feb. 13 and 17, show that the virus was established well before the first known case of community transmission was diagnosed on Feb. 26, according to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. A genetic analysis found a single lineage of virus was imported from China between Jan. 18 and Feb. 9, followed by several from Europe. The early transmission was limited. Emergency department records from the same period showed no increase in visits for Covid-like infections before late February, while testing of 11,000 respiratory specimens starting on Jan. 1 found no positive cases before Feb. 20, the report said. “It is not known how many U.S. infections occurred during February and March, but overall disease incidence before February 23 was too low to be detected through emergency department syndromic surveillance data,” the report concluded. U.K. to Taper Pay Support (12:20 pm. NY) The U.K. will gradually taper a job support program for workers hurt by the pandemic, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said in a bid to avert a mass wave of unemployment this summer. Self-employed workers will be offered a further grant in August covering three months of earnings to help


Live updates: As some hard-hit regions move to reopen, pandemic’s epicenters shift across the country, globe

Slowing rates of infection in some of the hardest-hits part of the United States have offered a glimmer of hope, as New York City, once the country’s coronavirus epicenter, on Thursday announced plans to ease restrictions after 10 weeks under lockdown. Yet as officials say a possible phased reopening there is likely to start next month, other parts of the nation and world are bracing for the worst. Globally, the pandemic has shifted to Latin America and the Middle East as the death toll — now more than 354,000 — continues to rise. In the United States, home to more than 100,000 of those fatalities, rural areas are reporting surges, too. “Restarting won’t mean back to normal — we CAN’T rush back,” New York Mayor Bill De Blasio (D) wrote on Twitter. “We need to keep this virus in check.” Here are some significant developments: Trump is set to outline measures against China on Friday, as the political fallout over the virus spurs a broader power struggle between Beijing and Washington on trade, finance and the fate of Hong Kong. Jobless claims were filed by 2.1 million Americans last week, raising the total over the past 10 weeks to more than 40 million. The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday to make it easier for small businesses to use federal loans, but Senate leaders have not yet signaled support. The Trump administration mishandled the initial distribution of the only approved coronavirus medication, remdesivir, delaying treatment to some critically ill patients with covid-19. South Korea is reinstate some social distancing measures, including school closures, after a recent uptick in new infections. The Department of Veterans Affairs has drastically scaled back the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat veterans with covid-19 after a major study raised questions about its efficacy and linked it to serious side effects, including higher risks of death. Sign up for our coronavirus newsletter | Mapping the spread of the coronavirus: Across the U.S. | Worldwide | Which states are reopening | Have you been hospitalized for covid-19? Tell us whether you’ve gotten a bill.


We’re Going on a Staycation

Airbnb has been hit hard by the travel trough, it said domestic bookings rose strongly in China, Korea, the Netherlands and Denmark in April, and they’ve increased significantly in Germany since the beginning of May. More telling, Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky told the Associated Press that 30% of bookings are currently within a 50-mile radius of people’s own homes — basically the next town over — up from 13% before the novel coronavirus outbreak, a trend he attributes to people’s aversion to flying for now. Areas that tourists can drive to, and classic local vacation spots, such as the mountains, lakes and beaches, are proving resilient. Take Germany, a country known for exporting summer tourists. Short-term rentals in the North Sea coastal district of Nordfriesland, which includes the island of Sylt, enjoyed an almost 800% increase in bookings between March 22 and May 17, according to AirDNA. And it’s unlikely they’re coming from abroad — in general just 16% of visitors are from outside Germany. By contrast, Berlin, a popular destination for foreign visitors, has seen just a 71% increase. It’s a similar picture in the U.S, where rentals near beaches in Alabama, Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas are proving popular. By contrast, cities such as New York and San Francisco are recovering more slowly. In this Covid-19 crisis, home-rental sites tend to have an advantage. For example, the majority of Airbnb hosts are in less populated areas, while most hotel chains have a bigger presence in cities. Some of the lodging giants have also ventured into the holiday rental market. Four years ago, French hotel giant Accor SA acquired Onefinestay, an upmarket competitor to Airbnb. One potential drawback with private rentals during the pandemic is that guests have to trust hosts are cleaning and disinfecting well. Hotel groups including Accor, Marriott International Inc., Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and InterContinental Hotels Group Plc have announced stringent hygiene standards. Airbnb has responded with its own guidelines developed with former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, including advice on personal protective equipment and disinfectants. Hosts who sign up can leave their properties empty for just 24 hours between guests. Otherwise, they must respect a 72-hour “booking buffer.” For other people, getting away from home may mean taking their lodging with them. Provisional bookings at caravan and campsites in the U.K. look promising. In the U.S., there’s been a bump in demand for


Covid restrictions Europe travel

to non-E.U. travelers as well — but only from select countries, and not yet the United States, which is dealing with the world’s largest coronavirus outbreak. [Europe is loosening coronavirus restrictions. But don’t expect to vacation there anytime soon.] Even if countries do open to Americans later this summer, as Portugal and a few others have indicated they might, a drastically smaller number of people will come, given the time needed to plan international travel and the enduring health concerns. Airlines will have to relaunch routes as well; at the moment, for instance, there are no direct flights connecting Rome and the United States. “They want to come, but we’re not booking until we have a clearer idea of the situation,” said Pablo Muñoz, owner of Bike Spain Tours, who said 80 percent of luxury cycling business comes from the United States. Places in Europe that hold deep importance for Americans, like the military cemetery at Normandy in northern France, are having to rethink how they can help people feel connected to loved ones who are buried there, said Alison Bettencourt, Director of Public Affairs at the American Battle Monuments Commission. Last year, for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the cemetery saw 1.7 million visitors. This year, the American Battle Monuments Commission, which oversees military cemeteries, instead hosted two virtual Memorial Day ceremonies. “We’ve been looking very heavily in social media, and our online presence,” Bettencourt said. Much remains shuttered in Normandy, France — typically a major destination for American visitors. (Lou Benoist/AFP/Getty Images) American tourists are generally well-regarded in most places across Europe — seen as personable, good tippers. But Diego Chiaranda, a gondolier in Venice, said Americans might wind up paying a price for their country’s disastrous response to the pandemic. “Americans, according to the news, are in bad shape, with their high level of transmission,” he said, noting that the economy was suffering there as well. “That is a bit our fear. Will they be able to afford to come?” [Rome’s restaurants reopen. Will diners return? Or just delivery riders?] For Americans living in Europe, the realities of being abroad have also changed. Peter Flaccus, an American artist who has lived in Rome since 1993, said his son, daughter-in-law, and their four children had been planning to spend much of the summer in Italy. Instead, Flaccus will be alone with his wife. “It’s tough,” Flaccus


The Path Forward: The Global Economy

The dramatic spread of COVID-19 has disrupted business and the economy worldwide. The Washington Post Live brings together former British prime minister Gordon Brown and former U.S. treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers to discuss the impact of this pandemic on the global economy.


Why Kids Should Go Straight Back to School

Relatively early in the Covid-19 pandemic, in March, I made the case against closing schools and later warned that doing so, even though it may be necessary, will cause many children a lifetime of harm. I was expecting that by now, two months on, we would know whether such drastic steps were justified epidemiologically. But one of the most frustrating aspects of SARS-CoV-2 is that it just doesn’t want to yield that data easily. Nonetheless, policymakers all over the world must now weigh the different risks and come to a decision. The right one is to get the kids back into their classrooms. And not just partially, as our schools are doing here in Berlin, where children rotate in and out of their physical classes in a complex and staggered pattern for specified hours or days, depending on their grade. Ask parents or children, or at least those who have access to online learning, and most will say that this stop-go education is more stressful and less effective than schooling was during the total lockdown. On one side of the ledger, there’s the probable role children play in spreading the coronavirus in the wider population, and thus their contribution to renewed spikes in cases. On the other side is the damage school closures do to their education, well-being and life prospects, and indirectly even to the cohesion and prosperity of entire societies in the coming generation. It’s pretty well established that healthy children — that is, those without preexisting conditions — are somewhat less likely to catch the coronavirus and a lot less likely to suffer severe symptoms. Recently reported cases of delayed whole-body inflammations resembling Kawasaki disease are scary, but very rare. The relevant question for epidemiologists, therefore, is whether children, especially when asymptomatic, can easily spread the virus to adults, causing new outbreaks and endangering high-risk groups such as the elderly. With the seasonal flu, this is the case. With the coronavirus, the science just isn’t clear. Data from several countries — notably Iceland — suggest that children are less likely to give the virus to their parents or other adults than to catch it from them. Other research counters that children may be just as contagious as adults. Perhaps the most controversial such study was done by a team around Christian Drosten, a virologist here in Berlin who’s become a national celebrity since the outbreak. They published


less contagious, and that schools should be opened. As this debate rages on, what about the other side of the ledger, the damage done not by Covid-19 but by interrupted education? Here there’s really no controversy. This recent report signed by more than 90 education experts and economists — again, here in Germany, but they could be anywhere — spells it out. As schools stay totally or partially closed, the experts argue, children aren’t merely learning less, they’re also forgetting much of what they’d already learned, from grammar to social skills. The worst off, unsurprisingly, are kids from low-income or dysfunctional families, not to mention those who suffered abuse or stress at home even before the pandemic. For these youngsters, school closures mean the disappearance of healthy meals, safe surroundings and oases of support. The consequences will last, both for the children and for their societies. Many of the kids will spend less time in school or university even in later years, the report’s authors say, and will achieve less while they’re there. They’ll be more likely to be unemployed as adults. And even when they do work, they will earn less. Each year of school closures costs people between 7% and 10% of foregone lifetime income, so even a few months can make a big difference. These cohorts of the undereducated will strain welfare systems and public budgets, dampen the economic growth of entire countries and increase inequality enough to stress political cohesion. In countries or regions where Covid-19 is more or less under control — spreading, but not overwhelming health systems — the responsible policy is therefore to open schools. It will lead to some additional infections and fatalities. But the alternative would lead to even more suffering, including death, down the line. As a parent, I know the kids won’t wear their masks properly and don’t always count out the whole Happy Birthday song while washing their hands. But let’s teach them how to stay as safe as they can. Above all, let’s teach them again. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. He’s the author of “Hannibal and Me.” For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion ©2020 Bloomberg L.P.


D.C. police arrest four in killing of 13-year-old

D.C. police have arrested four suspects in the fatal shooting in March of a 13-year-old boy who was killed as he walked with friends to play basketball near his home in Shaw in Northwest Washington, according to authorities. Police said the shooting appears to be part of a dispute between rival crews and was retaliation for the killing of a man in September on the same block where the boy was slain. The young teenager, Malachi Lukes, was struck in the neck on the Sunday afternoon of March 1. The affidavit does not say whether police believe Malachi was part of a crew or was with people who were. The arrests made over the past several days could help answer questions posed by residents in Shaw worried about violence over the past several months and tie up loose ends to several recent shootings, including homicides. A detailed arrest affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court on Friday outlines disputes and alliances among several street crews and links a single handgun to the killing of Malachi on the 600 block of S Street NW and to several other shootings. Police flier for the homicide of Malachi Lukes, 13, who was shot and killed March 1. (DC Police) Police described it as a “ghost gun,” an untraceable self-built firearm that is becoming common at crime scenes across the District. “The recent violence between these rival crews has resulted in several shootings and homicides,” police wrote in the affidavit. [A 13-year-old boy was fatally shot while walking with friends to play basketball] Police identified the suspects as Aaron Brown, 24; Reginald Steele, 21; Koran Jackson, 19; and Tyiion Freeman, 20. Brown, Steele and Jackson are from Southeast Washington. Freeman is from Northwest. All four suspects were charged with first-degree murder while armed. Brown was the only defendant to make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday. A brief hearing focused on a Maryland case involving Brown for which is to be extradited, and he was ordered detained until that matter is resolved. Details of that Maryland case were not available. Brown is represented by an attorney for the D.C. Public Defender Service; a spokeswoman declined to comment. Police on Friday outlined an exhaustive investigation into Malachi’s killing that relied on surveillance video, phone records, postings on social media, interviews with informants, ballistic evidence, the GPS log for the getaway car and a


Trump’s China Fight Shows Covid-19 Hasn’t Changed Oil’s World

The big question haunting oil is how much Covid-19 has changed the world. Will more people give up on commuting or, conversely, drive into work? Has air travel peaked for good? Have Londoners and Angelenos been spoiled by a few haze-free months? Judging from the past week, though, maybe oil’s real problem is the world hasn’t changed enough. Last year, the big challenge confronting oil demand was the trade war. This eased somewhat in January with the “phase one” agreement committing China to buy more U.S. exports, including extra freedom molecules of energy. Even then, however, most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs were left in place, and sensitive issues such as Chinese subsidies were deferred. It was more ceasefire than treaty. The guns are silent no longer. China’s decision to effectively lop off the second half of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” rubric was met with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s announcement the U.S. would take Beijing at its word. No longer recognized as autonomous, Hong Kong’s trade could be hit with tariffs, and the U.S. could even impose sanctions. More importantly, this is a tangible breach after months of escalating tension, with tit-for-tat expulsions of journalists and Trump even floating the idea of China being “knowingly responsible” in the spread of Covid-19. The phase one agreement, meanwhile, was off to a slow start, with China taking just $14.4 billion of goods listed under the deal in the first quarter, versus the $34 billion implied by the targets, according to Bloomberg Economics. With November looming, and his presidency tainted by America’s Covid-19 death toll and joblessness, Trump may well have decided China makes a better pandemic scapegoat than economic buttress. But antipathy to Beijing extends beyond the president. In the same week Pompeo opened the door to sanctions over Hong Kong, the Democratic-controlled House voted almost unanimously to authorize sanctions against China for human-rights abuses against the country’s Uighur minority. For reasons extending back much further than the existence of the Chinese Communist Party, such prods into the country’s internal affairs will touch a nerve, potentially escalating a trade dispute into broader great-power rivalry. The unraveling of free trade has been apparent since at least the 2016 presidential campaign. As I wrote here a few years ago, this is particularly pernicious for an oil market built on the back of globalization and U.S. security guarantees. Far from provoking mass


kumbaya in the face of a common enemy, Covid-19 elicited a more Darwinian response, even between supposedly united states. Besides attempts to tattoo a flag on the virus, its arrival threw a spotlight on countries’ vulnerability to shortages of imported medical supplies, providing fodder for economic nationalists seeking re-shoring and a general shortening of supply chains. Fragmentation means friction, which tends to suppress growth over time. In projections published last year, BP Plc ran a “less globalization” case that took a hefty chunk out of forecast oil and natural gas demand; in the latter case, even more than for a scenario of quicker de-carbonization. The world also hasn’t changed as much as it might seem when it comes to oil supply, either. The coronavirus world tour coincided with the breakdown of Saudi-Russia cooperation on production cuts — and then facilitated a rapid rapprochement as oil prices headed toward negative territory. The swinging supply cuts forced on OPEC+ members, along with signs of congestion resuming in Chinese cities especially, helped drag oil back into the $30s this month. But the underlying dynamics haven’t changed altogether. Russia has implemented big cuts but is reportedly keen to start unwinding these sooner rather than later. As when it broke with OPEC+ in March, Moscow is done ceding market share to U.S. frackers. The latter have cut production very quickly, but their instinct to get rigs and crews back to work remains strong. Holding them in check are low prices, particularly for longer-dated futures, weighed down by the glut of physical oil and spare OPEC+ capacity that’s built up over the past couple of months. Shale does at last seem poised for rationalization. However, supply’s defining characteristics of the past four years — excess inventory and OPEC+ versus shale competition — are for now accentuated rather than altered. Similarly, the International Energy Agency’s latest investment report, which dropped this week, was consumed with Covid-19 yet trod familiar ground. This showed the theme of excess supply extending into refining, where too much capacity was opening even before the pandemic showed up. Above all, that other force of nature confronting energy markets, climate change, pervaded the discussion. If anything, the pandemic is a reminder of why we should be tackling that threat head-on. Covid-19 has both spotlighted the risk and, if stimulus efforts are shaped properly, may catalyze a response. With uncanny timing, at Chevron Corp.’s (virtual)


toward negative territory. The swinging supply cuts forced on OPEC+ members, along with signs of congestion resuming in Chinese cities especially, helped drag oil back into the $30s this month. But the underlying dynamics haven’t changed altogether. Russia has implemented big cuts but is reportedly keen to start unwinding these sooner rather than later. As when it broke with OPEC+ in March, Moscow is done ceding market share to U.S. frackers. The latter have cut production very quickly, but their instinct to get rigs and crews back to work remains strong. Holding them in check are low prices, particularly for longer-dated futures, weighed down by the glut of physical oil and spare OPEC+ capacity that’s built up over the past couple of months. Shale does at last seem poised for rationalization. However, supply’s defining characteristics of the past four years — excess inventory and OPEC+ versus shale competition — are for now accentuated rather than altered. Similarly, the International Energy Agency’s latest investment report, which dropped this week, was consumed with Covid-19 yet trod familiar ground. This showed the theme of excess supply extending into refining, where too much capacity was opening even before the pandemic showed up. Above all, that other force of nature confronting energy markets, climate change, pervaded the discussion. If anything, the pandemic is a reminder of why we should be tackling that threat head-on. Covid-19 has both spotlighted the risk and, if stimulus efforts are shaped properly, may catalyze a response. With uncanny timing, at Chevron Corp.’s (virtual) shareholder meeting this week, the only measure where a majority of investors voted against the board concerned aligning the oil major’s lobbying with efforts to address climate change. There is still so much we don’t know about the lasting impacts of Covid-19 or, indeed, the workings of the virus itself. One thing that seems clear, however, is its tendency to magnify pre-existing conditions. For oil, those were excess supply, fraying globalization and a looming climate emergency. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy, mining and commodities. He previously was editor of the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column and wrote for the Financial Times’ Lex column. He was also an investment banker. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion ©2020 Bloomberg L.P.


‘The next patient could be me’: For a family of Filipino doctors, pandemic is personal

http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/the-coronavirus-pandemic-gets-personal-for-a-family-of-pediatricians-in-the-philippines/2020/05/28/996d979b-4a68-409d-8dcb-89fd5c65532f_video.html (REF:cabator,REF:aldagjc/The Washington Post) MANILA — Theodore Joseph Ablaza, 28, starts another grueling shift attending to young patients in a covid-19 ward in Manila. Although the public hospital is air-conditioned, all the gear makes conditions oppressive. “I always joke to people that it feels like being an astronaut,” said Ablaza, who goes by TJ, a pediatric resident at the Philippine General Hospital. “But in reality, it feels like being in a sauna.” Medicine runs in TJ’s family, and their lives, like countless others, have been transformed by the pandemic. Across town, his parents Ted, 60, and Mita, 62, both pediatricians, meet children and their parents at a private maternity hospital in Tondo, one of Manila’s poorest communities. The couple also has two daughters, Nadine, an economics student, and Tin, who runs a small business. The Philippine General Hospital in Manila. (Martin San Diego for The Washington Post) There is no end in sight for the pandemic in the Philippines, which in mid-March instituted a lockdown that is now among the world’s longest. With more than 15,000 cases and 900 deaths, the country has suffered one of the most extensive outbreaks in Southeast Asia. Officials have faced criticism for not conducting enough tests, but a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday that authorities are expanding testing capacity. TJ’s parents’ workplace, Amisola Maternity Hospital, is not a covid-19 facility, but patients still show up for common concerns, including colds, coughs and fevers — potentially symptoms of the novel coronavirus. “We have to take it as part of the occupational hazard of the profession,” Ted said. As physicians, they have no choice but to report for duty, his wife adds. “If we don’t go to work, then there will be no pediatric doctors here.” [Meet the health workers spearheading the Philippines’ fight against covid-19] The health system is severely undermanned, with roughly one doctor for every 33,000 patients, according to the Philippines’ Department of Health. Some 35 health workers have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and more than 2,000 have contracted the illness, the World Health Organization has reported. Medical workers face shortages of personal protective equipment and a lack of transportation during the lockdown. Members of the airway team take turns simulating intubation on infants. (Martin San Diego for The Washington Post) The Philippine General Hospital, which caters to many of Manila’s urban poor, allows its staff


Historical societies rush to save relics of covid-19 era

facility in a different location, he continues, adding that the couple represented the first covid-19 cases in Kauai. “We will encounter things like this again,” he says. “Odds are, there will be another pandemic. We’ll look back at this time to know how to react, whether to open early or late; these examples will guide us. We don’t know what the answers are.” At the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, a virtual time capsule is underway called “Experiencing History: Collecting Materials Related to the Coronavirus and Covid-19 Response.” Hundreds of submissions have already been received, and chief archivist Matt Strauss says that although staff members are working from home, they meet regularly on Microsoft Teams to discuss how to collect materials from the pandemic. [Navigating pandemic-era air travel: Here’s what it’s like to fly internationally right now] He’s looking forward to reaching out for physical objects once social distancing is over. “We have local companies here that are making ventilators and masks, distilleries that converted to making hand sanitizer, two long-standing restaurants that had to close already,” he says. 'Photo submitted to the Indiana Historical Society by Steve Barrett of Connersville, Ind. The caption reads, in part, "Lizzie Mae Barrett, a 103-year-old resident of Heritage House Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Connersville, IN, is having a window visit from Chris and Wayne Greeson (Chris shown).” (Courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society) A photo of face masks stacked on a sewing table is part of the Georgia Historical Society’s COVID-19 Collection. (Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society) “Folks are readjusting to life and continuing to celebrate Passover and Easter,” Strauss says. “We have a photograph of an Easter Bunny wearing a respirator.” The center is in the collecting phase now and will catalogue materials to make them accessible in the future. Strauss made an important point, repeated by other historians, that as a nation we don’t have much material on the 1918 influenza epidemic that similarly upended this country. “We don’t want that to repeat,” he says. “We’ll see a wealth of different materials that illustrate what life was like during a pandemic in western Pennsylvania.” “COVID-19 in Georgia: Collecting the Stories of Georgians During the Pandemic of 2020” is the project at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. Communications director Pattye Meagher says this is nothing new: “At the core of everything we do, we are a collecting


joy not germs 3/21/20." (Courtesy of the California Historical Society) The society has been collecting pandemic experiences for only a few weeks and has shared some on social media, but it won’t be presenting the material until staff members are back in the office. “It’s a project I feel passionate about,” she says. “There’s 8 billion people in the world, and every single one of them has a story about how this affected them. While similar, no two stories will be the same.” The Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston has launched a project titled “Witness to History: What Are Your COVID-19 Experiences?” It posts weekly prompts to help spur writers, such as, “How do you feel our government has handled COVID-19?” The project page on the society’s website notes that in 1798, the society’s founder reached out to Paul Revere to get his take on that famous midnight ride, and adds, “Now it is your turn.” President Catherine Allgor says: “The great thing about historical societies nowadays is that we don’t wait for it to become history. We collect in the present, and this seemed like a historical moment.” Besides the prompts, the society encourages people to write in journals — Allgor says posts on Twitter and Instagram are a form of journaling. At her site, “You have to register [to provide materials] and give us permission to use the material because we want to accession it into our collection.” She says, “In 20, 50, 100 years, when people are researching the pandemic of 2020, if you participate in our project, you are literally creating history.” She too hinted at the cathartic nature of being involved. “I’ve been struck by how freely people admitted to their emotions. This is an outlet where people can express thoughts and fears that we don’t want to burden our loved ones with.” Each of the historians I spoke with seemed very aware of their important role in preservation. “I’m so proud of my sister historical societies, libraries and museums,” said Allgor. “We have one big job, and that is to be culturally relevant to our communities.” Mailman is a writer based in California. Find her on Twitter: @ErikaMailman More from Travel: Under quarantine, we rediscovered our Paris neighborhood In defense of souvenirs: For travel-lovers stuck at home, even the unlikeliest tchotchkes can spark joy Amid the pandemic, an adventure addict finds solace in imagination


As states start to reopen, here’s where people are going

that fine dining is likely not in the budget for people who previously may have been willing to splurge. Full-service eateries have been hit especially hard because they tend to operate at lower profit margins than fast-food franchises, and most states are restricting their capacity to maintain social distancing. But sit-down restaurants in states that allowed them to reopen got a Mother’s Day bump, and full-service chains such as Applebee’s and Olive Garden report that they are beginning to make up lost ground, according to NPD’s data. You may notice that one non-state, the District of Columbia, stands alone on these charts. One reason is that the city has only begun to reopen today. Another is that it is completely urban, unlike the 50 states, which are all a mix of cities and non-cities. If New York City or San Francisco were measured separately, their data probably would look about the same. In addition to restaurants, other industries are looking up — and a few are not. If you’re peering at this story through overgrown bangs, you won’t be surprised customers in many states surged to barber shops and hair salons as soon as they reopened. Unfortunately, data for hair establishments is uniquely muddied by salons tucked into locations such as private homes, apartment buildings, grocery stores, senior centers and hospitals. Customer cellphone pings in those sites can be impossible to distinguish from people who are in the building for other reasons. But while individual state data can be sketchy, the overall trend is clearly upward, and we removed a few major outliers when possible. Foot traffic for many of these categories varies quite a bit among states, in part because of staggered dates of reopening. Bar traffic, for instance, varies wildly, with Montana and Alabama showing large recent spikes. That’s because SafeGraph’s data contains a relatively small sampling of bars, but also because the definition of a bar is somewhat loose. For instance, the spike in Alabama is heavily skewed by one giant beach bar/restaurant/entertainment complex that hosted, among other events, a May 22 high school graduation. Grocery-store traffic peaked right before widespread shutdowns and then dipped when most Americans were staying home. Since then, it has settled into a traffic pattern that is as busy — and often busier — than in early March. (A similar trend is playing out at general merchandise retailers such as Walmart and


Running into trouble: Eager pandemic exercisers rack up injuries

The calls started in late March and early April, about two weeks after newly homebound Americans began diving into new workout waters. A Minnesota grandfather had pumped up the tires on his long-neglected bike and pedaled six miles with his granddaughter’s virtual gym class. His calves hurt so badly he couldn’t walk. A former NFL safety in Louisiana had taken up running miles instead of yards in shoes that had seen too many seasons. His feet and knees ached. A working mother in Virginia, suddenly home all day, had followed online videos through scores of dips, pushups and jumping jacks. She developed tendinitis in both shoulders. For people faced with more free time but fewer athletic options, overuse injuries are the painful flip side to the noble pursuit of “quarantoning” as getting toned during quarantine is known. Medical professionals and a footwear retailer on the receiving end of those distress calls say eager exercisers often overestimate how much of a new activity their musculoskeletal systems can handle. And they might do it again when they return to their gyms and studios after weeks or months away, expecting to be at the same level they were in March. “Unfortunately we’re going to see a large number of people come to us when we all get back to quote ‘normal” again,’ said Michael Ercole, a Virginia physical therapist. “They’re going to get back into the way that they used to do things, and they’re going to get hurt.” Health-care professionals say they are seeing more injuries from bad home-office setups than from bad fitness forays, but physical therapists in particular say they are seeing both — and occasionally some creative person will combine the two. Kelly Roberts Lane, a physical therapist in Mahtomedi, Minn., said a tech industry executive ended up in her clinic after buying a new walking treadmill desk for his home office. Overnight, he went from long hours of sitting to walking up to 14 miles a day — with a little running thrown in as well. Before long, he had a strained foot. Lane, who also fielded the call from the cycling grandpa, said she is hearing from many office workers who wanted to take advantage of the unexpected downtime to get in shape but then went too hard too fast. “We’re going from sedentary at work to a ton of movement because we can,” Lane said, “and


Dar’Yana Dyson, a teen who loved music and wanted to become a cosmetologist, dies of complications of covid-19

At 28 weeks, barely the size of an eggplant, Dar’Yana Dyson was ready for her early entrance. “She was that determined to enter the world,” her mom, Kandice Knight, said, recalling her daughter’s premature delivery. “She wanted to make her mark.” Knight, who was then 15 years old, traveled by taxi from her Southeast Baltimore home to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s neonatal unit each day for two months to feed her newborn daughter. “I wanted my baby home so bad,” Knight said. “The nurses said I was spoiling her. . . . I was just doing anything to get her home.” Knight, whose own mother was in jail when she became pregnant, thought that with her daughter in her life, she “would never be lonely.” Now, 15 years later, Knight is struggling to make sense of Dar’Yana’s death. Dar’Yana, 15, who loved music and dancing and had dreams of becoming a cosmetologist, died May 16 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the youngest person in Maryland — and one of the youngest across the country — to die of complications of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Dar’Yana, the oldest of four children in the Baltimore County family, was originally diagnosed with covid-19 and Kawasaki disease, a rare illness that causes swelling in medium-size arteries throughout the body. Knight said doctors now say Dar’Yana didn’t have Kawasaki. The doctors at Johns Hopkins, Knight said, were perplexed by Dar’Yana’s case. “They don’t understand why she died so young and so healthy,” Knight said. “They say this is the most rare case they have ever seen. . . . I don’t understand why, why God took her.” The vast majority of those younger than 18 who are infected with the coronavirus have mild symptoms or none at all. Dar’Yana’s symptoms began with a stomachache about a week before she died. She didn’t have an appetite and had developed a reddish rash near her armpit. Knight also noticed that she wore a patent-leather jacket inside. Her stepfather asked her why she was wearing it, and she said she was cold, Knight said, which signaled a fever. Knight took Dar’Yana to Union Memorial Hospital on May 11, a Monday, but doctors there couldn’t figure out what was wrong. They gave her a coronavirus test, which came back negative, so they transferred her to Johns Hopkins. At Hopkins, Dar’Yana spent five days


Researchers warn covid-19 could cause debilitating long-term illness in some patients

In the fall of 2009, one of us, Beth, was hit by an illness she suspects was H1N1 flu, which was circulating then. In 2012, the other, Brian, developed a sudden fever, which his doctors said was also likely of viral origin. Neither of us recovered, and we’re both disabled to this day. The long-term illnesses that can follow viral infections can be devastating — and are devastatingly common. In 2015, the nation’s top medical advisory body, the Institute of Medicine, estimated that between 800,000 and 2.5 million U.S. residents live with the illness or illnesses awkwardly named myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). An estimated three-quarters of these cases were triggered by viral or bacterial infections. Now, as a new pandemic virus is burning through the world and causing many deaths, researchers are raising alarms that the novel coronavirus and the covid-19 disease it causes will also leave in its wake a potentially large population with post-viral problems that could be lifelong and, in some cases, disabling. At the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere, scientists who have been studying post-viral ME/CFS are seizing the opportunity to focus on covid-19 patients. They want to understand what biological factors separate those who regain their health from those who remain sick. “We want to look at who recovers and who doesn’t,” said Avindra Nath, the head of clinical neurology at NIH’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., who is gearing up to study covid-19 patients. “It’s quite possible some will never get their health back.” In addition to emerging reports of damage to lungs, kidneys and hearts, covid-19 patients are complaining of ongoing crushing fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems and other symptoms that anyone with ME/CFS is very familiar with. “I’m 69 days after my first symptoms and still feeling fatigued,” wrote Canadian comedian Wayne Jones on Twitter, saying he has tested positive for the new coronavirus. “I also have sore eyes, and weakness and headaches that come and go. All signs point to post-viral fatigue.” Sometimes a precursor to ME/CFS post-viral fatigue syndrome can occur after virtually any viral infection. Symptoms wax and wane; a person can feel fine one day and terrible the next. Exercise or other usual activities can bring fever and often symptoms rushing back. Although there is no known treatment, these problems often resolve on their own. But patients who have experienced post-viral fatigue syndrome advise the newly


ill to rest, rest and rest some more, as returning to normal activities can trigger relapses. If symptoms continue for six months or longer, post-viral fatigue syndrome can convert to a diagnosis of ME/CFS, which is usually lifelong and often devastating. Up to 25 percent of ME/CFS patients are housebound or bedbound for years. There are no treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration. A survey organized by a group of covid-19 patients called the Body Politic shows that many coronavirus symptoms overlap with those of post-viral fatigue syndrome. Fatigue, including severe fatigue, brain fog — problems with concentration and thinking — chills and sweats, and sleep problems were commonly reported among 640 respondents, who were recruited from online support groups. The Body Politic, which includes some patients with expertise in survey design and statistics, calculated that respondents had just a 20 percent chance of being symptom-free 50 days after the illness began. The group cautioned that while the survey suggests many respondents had long illnesses, the results may not apply to the broader population of covid-19 patients. The novel coronavirus is too new to say whether such lingering symptoms represent an extended covid-19 illness or a post-viral syndrome. But researchers suspect at least some covid patients will remain sick and eventually develop post-viral ME/CFS. Their suspicions are grounded in previous research. Studies on other outbreaks — including those of Epstein-Barr virus, Ross River fever and Q fever — have shown that up to 12 percent of people who fell acutely ill never regained full health. Many were eventually diagnosed with ME/CFS. After the first SARS epidemic, which sickened 8,000 people worldwide in 2002-2003, one study found that 27 percent of 369 survivors of that variety of coronavirus met the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome several years later. If figures like this are seen with this novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which epidemiologists warn will eventually infect 50 to 70 percent of all U.S. residents, our nation is on track for a devastating wave of millions of patients with chronic post-viral illnesses. “The most important study of several we’re starting is to get coronavirus-infected patients and follow them over time to see if they convert to ME/CFS,” said Ron Davis, a geneticist at Stanford University. His adult son, Whitney Dafoe, is seriously ill with the disease. “If you point out the fact that you might not ever get over covid-19, it’ll


put people’s attention on this problem,” Davis said. “We need doctors to be reading covid-19 information and be on the lookout for people who never get well. I think that’s extremely important.” While it may sound odd that many different viruses can cause the same long-term problems, the answer is rooted in how the body defends itself. Viral infections trigger a common immune response, including fever and inflammation. Sometimes these defenses go awry, or get stuck in an “on” position even when the virus has been cleared, emerging research shows. In 2017 and 2018, one of us, Brian, participated in an inpatient study at NIH searching for the biological basis of post-infectious ME/CFS. Over two visits, patients in the study undergo an extensive battery of medical testing. Now Nath and his team are adapting this study to follow post-covid patients. The NIH hopes to bring covid-19 survivors to NIH hospital in Bethesda this summer. The NIH plans to study the immune systems of covid-19 survivors, along with conducting exercise tests to spot problems with metabolism, and other tests to document any dysfunction in how the brain regulates heart rate and blood pressure. Problems in this area, the autonomic nervous system, are common in post-viral fatigue syndrome and ME/CFS. Nath, a neurovirologist, has also performed autopsies on “about a dozen” patients, he said, who died of covid-19. When conditions allow his laboratory to reopen, Nath plans to look for the coronavirus in the brains of these patients and to search for nervous system damage caused by the overwhelming inflammation that can accompany covid-19. Researchers have published clues that sustained inflammation — including low-level inflammation in the brain — may be present in ME/CFS. Reports already show that the novel coronavirus can, in rare cases, infiltrate the central nervous system. Some 30 covid-19 patients in Italy have been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, hallmarked by rapid nerve damage that can lead to paralysis. In Detroit, one covid-19 patient who died was reported to have extensive brain damage caused by his immune system’s overwhelming response to the coronavirus, a condition called hemorrhagic encephalopathy. Research on ME/CFS, which was neglected for decades, has been gathering momentum in recent years. While federal funding remains low, ME/CFS researchers have documented brain dysfunction and extensive problems in the immune systems of patients. Emerging work has also highlighted damage to the body’s ability to produce energy, and some scientists


are common in post-viral fatigue syndrome and ME/CFS. Nath, a neurovirologist, has also performed autopsies on “about a dozen” patients, he said, who died of covid-19. When conditions allow his laboratory to reopen, Nath plans to look for the coronavirus in the brains of these patients and to search for nervous system damage caused by the overwhelming inflammation that can accompany covid-19. Researchers have published clues that sustained inflammation — including low-level inflammation in the brain — may be present in ME/CFS. Reports already show that the novel coronavirus can, in rare cases, infiltrate the central nervous system. Some 30 covid-19 patients in Italy have been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, hallmarked by rapid nerve damage that can lead to paralysis. In Detroit, one covid-19 patient who died was reported to have extensive brain damage caused by his immune system’s overwhelming response to the coronavirus, a condition called hemorrhagic encephalopathy. Research on ME/CFS, which was neglected for decades, has been gathering momentum in recent years. While federal funding remains low, ME/CFS researchers have documented brain dysfunction and extensive problems in the immune systems of patients. Emerging work has also highlighted damage to the body’s ability to produce energy, and some scientists think a literal lack of energy could lie at the heart of ME/CFS. Nath and other researchers plan to study energy production in covid-19 survivors. The NIH is also funding long-term research on a cohort of up to 2,000 covid-19 patients who were hospitalized in the United States, said Joseph Breen, an immunologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “Those people can be tracked,” Breen said. “If you do a longitudinal follow-on study correctly, it can really help understand the rate of ME/CFS and other problems that may be present. We’re going to learn things we never learned with SARS and MERS,” the two previous illnesses caused by different coronaviruses earlier this century. One challenge, Breen said, is differentiating post-viral fatigue syndrome and ME/CFS from the lingering effects of being in an intensive care unit or on a ventilator, which are known risk factors for long-term ill health. Mady Hornig, an immunologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said her group plans to follow covid-19 patients with neurological symptoms, including loss of smell, to see who develops ME/CFS. She plans to recruit African American, Hispanic and American Indian patients, who are underrepresented in ME/CFS research.