Why does Japan insist on holding the Olympics?

Jeff Kingston, a professor at Temple University Japan, is the author of “ Holding the postponed 2020 Olympics next July — as Japan appears determined to do — is crazy. Kudos to Michael Phelps for stating the obvious: “The fact that you’re going to put ten thousand plus athletes, plus all the volunteers, plus all the coaches, it doesn’t make sense to me. I just don’t see how it can happen.” This peerless Olympian also said he was astonished officials waited so long to delay the Games earlier this year as the pandemic swept across the globe. There are troubling signs that the Olympics could become the superspreader event of all superspreader events. Vaccines are not a solution as they won’t be available in Japan until sometime between March and May 2021, leaving a narrow window for a national vaccination campaign. The government will pay for inoculations, but the logistical challenges are enormous. Moreover, one-third of Japanese oppose being inoculated despite a blitz of favorable PR for the vaccines and a worrying third wave in Japan. Japan has recorded just over 2,700 covid-19 deaths. That’s not a big number, but 10 percent of this total died in the first two weeks of December alone and the number of cases is surging alarmingly across the nation. There are about 600 serious cases, but public health experts warn that the nation’s health-care system is already on the verge of being overwhelmed. Recently, Osaka had to plead for more nurses from the military and around the nation to mitigate grave staffing shortages. The trends are ominous, and public health experts are deeply worried. Nobody really knows if the pandemic will be contained seven months from now, so bringing tens of thousands of people from all over the world to densely packed Tokyo (population 13 million) seems like an awfully big gamble. What could possibly go wrong? For one thing, the International Olympic Committee says that vaccinations will not be mandatory for competitors. There is also the ethical dilemma of inoculating athletes from poorer nations while their compatriots face a long wait. And how can we have confidence in the mandatory two-week quarantine for all visitors if Tokyo can’t even keep newly arrived visitors off public transport? Fingers are crossed but just think back nine months ago and remember how fast things can go wrong and the unexpected becomes reality. Given all the uncertainties


U.S. Olympic officials have yet to decide if vaccinations will be mandatory for Tokyo

week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced Russia’s ban from high-level international competition from four years to two, sparking frustration and outrage in some corners. “The ruling sort of watered down many of the sanctions that [the World Anti-Doping Agency] had initially imposed,” said Susanne Lyons, chair of the USOPC board. “We don’t believe it honors clean athletes or builds confidence in the global anti-doping system.” She said the USOPC aims to be “a mediator and an influencer” with other anti-doping stakeholders, and “we’ve made our feelings known to WADA and offered our help and support.” “What we’ve decided to do is really increase the volume on our concerns about the necessary evolution that has to happen to get to the highest level of transparency, fairness and rigor,” she said, “on how anti-doping is governed around the world.” Monday marked the first time USOPC officials fielded questions since announcing this month that they would not discipline American athletes who stage podium protests over human rights or social justice issues at the Olympics. Hirshland said athletes who choose to demonstrate could still face punishment from the IOC or international federations. She said a USOPC working group that is focused on protests will continue its work next year, further evaluating the issue and potential consequences for athletes. “Now comes the hard work of determining, defining and, ideally, asking the IOC to be clear about their rules and the ramifications of those rules in advance,” Hirshland said. “ … Our timeline to complete that work is certainly in the first quarter, giving us ample time to not only do the work but then communicate and ensure that the athlete population who may be competing this spring has time and clarity in advance, so they can make thoughtful and informed choices.” Also at its quarterly meeting, the USOPC board added six new members, increasing the number of athletes voting on the organization’s most powerful decision-making body and keeping in line with new federal regulation. Signed into law in August, the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act imposed reforms in the Olympic world and called on the composition of the USOPC’s board of directors to be at least one-third amateur athletes. With the addition of two new athlete “at-large positions,” there are now nine current or former athletes on the 19-member board. “The pendulum often swings a bit in the world of governance,”


Air Force investigation finds disparities in how Black and White members are treated

we are not immune to the spectrum of racial prejudice, systemic discrimination, and unconscious bias," Goldfein wrote. More than 123,000 airmen responded to the request for feedback, Lt. Gen. Sami Said, the Air Force inspector general, said in a phone call with reporters on Monday. “The things that surprised me: The pent-up angst on the topic,” he said. “The volume was surprising. When we asked for feedback, I expected to get feedback. But we were just drowned with feedback. The airmen were very eager to tell the story -- their story. They wanted their voices heard.” The Air Force report’s publication does not on its own require any additional action. But Said said his office will continue to scrutinize the issue, providing updates after 60 days that will examine disparities in how Black and White airmen are criminally prosecuted, administratively disciplined and elevated for promotion. The investigation found that Black airmen faced harsher treatment in all three areas. The problems in the Air Force, which has about 330,000 members on active duty, come amid broader scrutiny across the Defense Department of areas in which the military is falling short on race relations. On Friday, the Pentagon released a report that highlighted persistent shortcomings in some areas, including the advancement of Black officers to senior ranks and the existence of service members who participate in hate groups. The report was compiled following the formation in June of a new Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion. It highlighted that while junior members of the military, on the whole, are more diverse than the American population, senior ranks are progressively less so. The board’s recommendations include making sure that recruiting advertisements better reflect the country’s diversity, increasing the number of scholarships available to college students who pledge to join the military through Reserve Officer Training Corps programs, and assessing barriers to the advancement for Black service members already in the military. Chief Master Sgt. Ramón Colón-López, the senior enlisted adviser to Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in the report that commanders must offer solutions when service members feel ostracized or raise concerns about being denied opportunities. “Candidly, the Pentagon’s work on this should take no more than six months getting our policies straight,” he said. “The work then goes to commanders to do what commanders do -- lead and care for their people.”


Monday night features the Jupiter and Saturn ‘double planet.’ Here’s how to see it.

On Monday night, Jupiter and Saturn will pair up in the southwestern sky, appearing closer than they have in more than 800 years in some areas. It’s officially known as a “great conjunction,” but many are hailing it as a “Christmas star,” the spectacle coinciding with the winter solstice. The cosmic rendezvous will be most prominently visible during twilight in the two hours immediately after sunset. Thereafter, the duo will disappear below the horizon. If clouds obscure your view Monday, don’t fret. The proximate planets will be visible nearby for the next few nights, albeit at a slightly greater distance from each other. Monday night’s spectacle will also be streamed online via the Virtual Telescope Project, Lowell Observatory, Vanderbilt University and Slooh, among others. For those looking to enjoy the show, telescopes aren’t required. Simply look to the west-southwest about 30 minutes after sunset. Jupiter will shine brightly to the left, with Saturn, a touch dimmer, adjacent to the right. They will appear extremely close — only about a quarter the width of the full moon apart from each other. To make the show even more spectacular, the half-illuminated moon will shine high above and to the left of the two planets, with Mars even farther up along that diagonal line. Over the Great Lakes, northern Ohio Valley and interior Northeast, low pressure will bring widespread clouds and a few showers to some, obscuring the spectacle. Tuesday night may offer better viewing for eastern New England, but clouds might still stubbornly reign over New York state and the northern Appalachians. Some places are right on the fringe of cloud cover and could be a bit iffy. That’s the case for Washington, St. Louis and Omaha. In the D.C. area, mostly cloudy skies are most likely to prevail, but a few breaks could allow for glimpses, especially to its south. Tuesday night offers better viewing prospects. A pocket of moisture around 30,000 feet above ground may bring high clouds to portions of the Gulf Coast on Monday night, too, but there is a chance the veil of cloud cover may be thin enough to permit some sporadic viewing. Most of the Southeast should be free of clouds, though, allowing for opportune enjoyment of fleeting conjunction. Other areas with favorable viewing conditions include the Desert Southwest, the Four Corners region, the Plains and the Ozarks. The Pacific Northwest and northern Intermountain West


U.K. coronavirus mutation prompts more travel bans and major disruptions at ports

LONDON — The British government scrambled Monday to dampen the impact of travel entry bans from more than 40 countries prompted by fear of a new coronavirus mutation believed to have originated in England. Health officials said they do not believe the mutation is more deadly or vaccine resistant, but evidence that it spreads much more easily has alarmed governments in Europe and around the world. Scientists advising the British government estimated that the new variant was 50 percent more transmissible. As country after country shut their borders to people traveling from Britain, the greatest travel disruption emerged along both sides of the English Channel, after France imposed a far more comprehensive ban than the border closures during the first wave of the virus in spring. The short passage from Britain to France across the channel is one of the most important transport corridors in Europe. On Monday, hundreds of trucks backed up for miles, prompting concern that food and other time-sensitive cargo might end up rotting on the roadside. British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s warned: “If nothing changes, we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, some salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit — all of which are imported from the continent at this time of year.” The hashtag #lettuce trended on Twitter in Britain, as panicked shoppers tried to stock up on supplies for Christmas and beyond. In a news conference at Downing Street on Monday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson played down the impact of border closures and batted away questions about the need for a national lockdown, while emphasizing progress on vaccines. More than 500,000 people in Britain have gotten an initial Pfizer-BioNTech shot. Johnson said he understood the fears of other countries about the new virus strain, but was talking to French President Emmanuel Macron — who is self-isolating after coming down with covid-19 last week — about getting the ports moving again. Meanwhile, Johnson reported, the line of trucks idling at the Dover port had been reduced from 500 to 170. And he said France’s travel ban affected only 20 percent of the trade going in and out of Britain — freight carried by trucks with drivers, who travel by ferry or tunnel. “Which means the vast majority of food, medicines and other supplies are coming and going as normal,” Johnson said, adding that British supermarket supply chains are “strong


and robust.” British scientists advising the government said Monday that this coronavirus mutation first arose in England in September, but it wasn’t until December that researchers saw how quickly it began to dominate. Today, 80 percent of newly diagnosed cases in London, for example, were likely caused by the new mutation. A review of the latest data underscored “high confidence” that the new strain has a transmission advantage over earlier versions of the coronavirus seen in Britain, said Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases at the University of Oxford. The scientists said that in nasal and throat swabs taken from patients, there appeared to be more virus particles present, compared to earlier versions. Researchers on Monday also flagged early evidence that children appeared to be more susceptible to the new strain, although they cautioned it did not make the children more likely to have symptoms or become sick. The new strain may make children “as equally susceptible as adults,” said Wendy Barclay, head of the infectious-disease department at Imperial College London. Adam Finn, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Bristol, said Monday that the new strain was being tested to see if it might be more resistant to vaccines. “It is a matter of immediate interest,” he said, adding that predictions are it will “have either no effect or a minor effect” on the efficacy of vaccines. In the interim, scientists said Britain’s vaccine rollout should continue as quickly as possible. The World Health Organization sought to temper panic. Chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said the coronavirus is mutating at a much slower rate than the seasonal flu. “And so far, even though we’ve seen a number of changes and a number of mutations, none has made a significant impact on either the susceptibility of the virus to any of the currently used therapeutics, drugs or the vaccines under development, and one hopes that that will continue to be the case,” she said. Tobias Kurth, director of the Institute of Public Health at Berlin’s Charité University Hospital, said the decision by numerous countries to “pull the emergency brakes” and suspend travel with Britain is “understandable.” But Kurth cautioned that the mutation is “certainly already in continental Europe, and likely in Germany.” “We won’t be able to stop it,” even though travel restrictions may slow the spread of the mutation, he said. French Health Minister Olivier Véran acknowledged Monday


The new coronavirus strain should be a wake-up call

control. The new strain was initially detected in September and has been expanding rapidly over the past four weeks. Many nations on Monday scrambled to cut transportation links to Britain in hopes of keeping the evolved virus at bay. In theory, a virus showing improved transmissibility could threaten any nation with more infections, suffering and death. All viruses mutate. Many mutations are meaningless and disappear. But sometimes a small change in the genetic code can give the virus an advantage in the pressure-cooker environment of natural selection. Although there are many unknowns, scientists looking at genetic sequences of the new strain see an unexpectedly large number of changes — 17 mutations all at once — and some of them concern the spike protein, the device by which the virus attaches to the human cell. There may be a purely biological explanation for the increased transmissibility: Perhaps the spike protein has improved its function, which might lead to fewer viral particles triggering an infection — or a higher viral load in each person, causing a more rapid proliferation to others. It is also possible that human behavior helped boost the transmission with superspreader events and crowds of people without masks. The good news is that, so far, the new strain does not appear to produce a more severe disease outcome or higher mortality. So far, it does not seem to threaten the viability of the first vaccines, although that is always a worry with mutating viruses, as the ever-changing influenza demonstrates. Until the vaccine becomes widely available, there is only one way to stop the new strain from taking hold and hitting millions more people. That is to redouble all the methods currently in use to slow the spread. The strict stay-at-home order for London and environs must be terribly disappointing for Britain, especially at Christmas. There is no other way to brake the runaway train. Mr. Johnson should have acted sooner. Suspending transport links to and within the United Kingdom will be costly and disruptive. In the short term it might stop the virus, but if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the virus is relentless and opportunistic. It crosses an invisible bridge between people when they are in close contact. Our best and only defense right now is to close that bridge with distancing, masks, good hygiene and shutdowns as necessary — while awaiting the vaccine.


Half-measures won’t protect us from the new covid-19 variant

As bad as covid-19 has been, you can imagine it being worse. What if each sick person had infected an average of 15 others, as measles does, rather than two or three? What if it had killed more young people than old people, like the 1918 influenza? Or simply killed a much higher percentage of its victims — 10 percent, like SARS, or 34 percent, like MERS? If we ever run into such a bug, covid-19 may prove to have been our training exercise, preparing us for the next round just as SARS prepared the Pacific Rim to weather covid-19 with relative aplomb. Maybe next time, the rest of us will also be ready to take decisive action before the new pathogen can get a foothold. It’s a nice theory, but like any theory, it needs a real-world test. Unfortunately, we might be getting one as London goes into lockdown and as nation after nation closes its borders to British travelers. All because a new variant of the coronavirus, now common in Southeast England, may be as much as 70 percent more contagious — possibly by reinfecting people who already had a different variant of the coronavirus. Though that’s far from the most likely scenario, if the worst came true, it would obviously complicate our hopes of reaching herd immunity in 2021 through some combination of vaccination and natural infections. In the meantime, it complicates life for officials who undoubtedly wish they could go back to January and close their borders, limit internal movement, test the hell out of their population and quarantine the sick. It’s pleasant to wish yourself back there with them, then spin forward to a world where America was like Australia, with perhaps occasional lockdowns but longer stretches of relative normalcy. Eventually, though, you come back to the reality where they didn’t act more forcefully, and wonder whether they ever really could have. For those precautions to work, most countries needed to take them before they could be sure they were necessary. Leave aside the economic and political costs; if countries do that too often, many alarms will prove false, and authorities will quickly become the boys and girls who cried wolf. When a real threat does arrive, their cries for public action will go unanswered. There’s even the uncomfortable possibility this has already happened, because of the peculiarities of covid-19. The disease fell into an


uncanny perceptual valley — deadly enough to kill perhaps 1 million Americans if everyone went about their lives as usual, yet not deadly enough to make the tradeoff between normal life and normal mortality rates seem overwhelmingly obvious. What if the cycle of under- and over-reaction, rather than training us to respond better to a more dire disease, ends up priming us to ignore emerging threats even more thoroughly — or at least, enough of us to make pandemic control effectively impossible? I’m sure world leaders wonder about this too, which raises the stakes even further on sounding a false alarm. As a columnist, I’m supposed to confidently offer a solution to their quandary: Do this, not that. But I can’t tell them whether the apparently elevated infectiousness is real or just the kind of statistical mirage that popped up so frequently last spring. All I can do is suggest they avoid repeating one particularly spring folly: thinking a binary uncertainty — here or not, bad or not — can somehow be resolved by compromising on half-measures. A partial response that breeds either complaceny or resentment might be worse than nothing. The current bans on British travelers, for example, are all too reminiscent of America closing her border to China while the virus changed planes in Italy. The new variant of virus in Britain is already known to be in other countries, and we should assume the same of a South African variant that reportedly may cause more serious illness in young people. If you think these new variants are bad enough to warrant travel restrictions, then you should probably keep everyone out, as Israel will do starting Wednesday, rather than messing with targeted half-measures. That won’t keep the new variants at bay if they’re already inside your borders, but by preventing new introductions, it might keep them rare enough to control through testing and contact tracing — especially if governments also drastically step up capacities for testing, contact tracing and genetic surveillance of variants. Of course, if the new variants turn out to be nothing, that will be a very expensive and highly counterproductive overreaction. But in that case, why halt flights from Britain? All you’re doing is spending reputational capital you may need later. I’m well aware that neither option is precisely attractive, and I wish I were more sure which is the right course. Or less sure


The deadliest year in U.S. history didn’t have to be so deadly

If you decided to read the names of every American who is known to have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at a rate of one per second starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, you would not finish until a bit after 10 a.m. Saturday. Except, of course, that’s only including the deaths known as of writing; by then, we can expect 8,000 more deaths, pushing the recitation past noon. Preliminary federal figures indicate that more than 3.2 million Americans will die over the course of 2020, the highest figure on record. It’s just a bit shy of 1 percent of the total population as of July 1, and about 1 in 10 of those deaths will be a result of covid-19. That’s the primary context in which any discussion about how the pandemic has affected the United States should occur. Secondarily, we should consider how the number of new coronavirus infections correlates to that figure. At the moment, nearly two people are dying of covid-19 each minute, a function of a massive surge in the number of new infections that began in mid-September. The surge and the deaths are inextricable. For months, the number of new deaths on any given day has been about 1.8 percent of new cases several weeks prior. Allowing the virus to spread wildly means allowing more Americans to die. In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, one of the architects of the decision to let the virus spread, former White House adviser Scott Atlas, blames the scale of the pandemic on the media. It’s the “politicization” of the virus, he argues, that has led to the dire outcomes we see, and that’s largely due to “media distortion.” It’s hard to overstate both how dishonest Atlas’s argument is and how ironic it is that he should point the blame elsewhere. He makes false assertions about where states have been successful and suggests that mitigation efforts that weren’t 100 percent effective shouldn’t be used. He boasts that the effort to combat the spread of the virus was left to states — which is precisely the criticism aimed at President Trump’s administration. When Trump (and Atlas) undercut efforts to slow the spread of the virus, Trump supporters — including state leaders — picked up on that approach, contributing to the current spread. Trump and Atlas shared the view that allowing the virus


Biden has massive climate plans. Where will he find the money to fund them?

electric by 2030. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part of the Energy Department, is already testing buses. (Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Biden can claim that the school bus initiative would create jobs, cut emissions and reduce air pollution that disproportionately affects children, the poor and communities of color. Agriculture offers another field for climate action. Experts want to change the way most farmers till and plant the soil so that they store more carbon. Some techniques require initial investments, and the Commodity Credit Corp. could provide capital earlier in the growing season, said Chris Harbourt, global head of carbon at Indigo Agriculture, a Boston-based technology company. Farmers are still reluctant. So the government could provide coverage from the Federal Crop Insurance Program only to farmers who use climate-friendly best practices. Agricultural and climate experts say this linkage seems more and more appropriate every year, because floods that cause crop damage are growing more frequent as the climate changes. The pocketbook of tax breaks rests in the Treasury. Production and investment tax credits could be extended for wind and solar, although supporters say the incentives aren’t needed as prices decrease. The Joint Committee on Taxation has put the cost at $19.3 billion over five years. The Treasury and Congress could agree to expand the 45Q tax credit. Originally passed in 2008 but greatly expanded in 2018, the credit goes to companies that capture carbon dioxide from the air or industrial flue emissions and then store it in empty oil and gas reservoirs or other geologic formations. The credit has bipartisan support, including from conservative Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and liberal Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). If the definition of carbon storage were altered to include farmers and storing carbon in the soil, then farmers might switch their practices, Harbourt said. Right now, the cost of 45Q is minimal: $600 million over five years or $2.3 billion over 10 years. But with a flurry of corporate commitments to erase their greenhouse gas emissions, executives are looking harder at carbon capture. The incoming administration is also seeking to boost spending on science and research, hoping for a breakthrough on energy storage that would make renewables easier to use and manage. The Energy Department, which runs 17 national laboratories, is home to much of the administration’s science budget. Biden could substantially increase spending in that area. One example:


The legend of panettone, Italy’s mythical Christmas cake

of the combination of love and passion with the best mother there is: lievito madre (yeast starter), which we take care of every day and we’ve keep it alive for over half a century, making it one of the most historic in Milan,” Santoro said. The Romans Giorgia Proia, co-owner and head baker of pastry and coffee shop Casa Manfredi, has been experimenting with panettone. “For us in Rome, it means Christmas, happiness and festivities, but we’ve started serving panettone in June to see what would happen,” she says. The result? People love panettone any time of the year. Proia makes a classic panettone, decorated with sugar sprinkles and toasted almonds, and a “chocolate cubed” panettone, which is a triple threat with milk chocolate, dark chocolate and cacao. Pasticceria Bompiani is Rome’s art house pastry shop. Owner and pastry chef Walter Musco has been wowing the Eternal City for nearly a decade with his edible contemporary art confections like his Easter egg series inspired by artists such as Cy Twombly, Arne Jacobsen and Hans Hartung and cakes inspired by the Bauhaus and artists Jackson Pollock and Alberto Burri. Musco mixes up art with top-quality ingredients, and he is always up for a good tradition. For the Christmas season, Bompiani has a classic panettone, and he then adds a little flair with an unexpected version. In 2020, it’s a white chocolate and caviar panettone — and it’s already sold out. The centurion Nicola Olivieri was born to make panettone. The sixth-generation baker has been perfecting his great-grandfather’s 130-year-old panettone recipe for the past few decades and adding his own twist to a lineup that includes apricot and salted caramel as well as coffee and chocolate. Olivieri’s Veneto bakery, Olivieri 1882, is considered one of the top panettone makers in Italy, a title not to be taken lightly. Nicola’s emphasis on ingredients and a four-day process of making the panettone. This year, you can enjoy a fresh Olivieri panettone in the United States with two-day shipping from Italy. The art piece There is traditional panettone, and then there is designer panettone. Think Armani and Dolce & Gabbana. Leading the pack of the prettiest, artsiest and tastiest is Gucci Osteria, the love-child restaurant of chef Massimo Bottura, who runs a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Modena, and the historic luxury brand from Florence. In collaboration with specialist baker Posillipo Dolce Officina, Gucci Osteria presents an


London on lockdown

A new mutation of the coronavirus is spreading in the U.K. — and causing chaos at certain ports of entry as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. Plus, the historic nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland to be interior secretary.


You asked: Should I travel to a 50-person outdoor wedding?

Traveling has always come with complications, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it more challenging than ever. Our By The Way Concierge column will take your travel dilemmas to the experts to help you navigate the new normal. Want to see your question answered? Submit it here. My niece’s wedding in New Orleans is this month. We would fly from Austin, rent a car and stay at a hotel. There will be about 50 people at the wedding, mostly from New Orleans, Memphis and South Florida. The wedding venue is outdoors; the rehearsal dinner is not. Most likely very few people will wear masks. We gathered there as a family in June for my father’s funeral, but right now feels riskier. Should we go? — Barbara, Austin Your gut feeling is correct; it is risky to be traveling. Add a large gathering into that mix and it is exceptionally risky for yourself and others. Coronavirus hospitalizations are going up across the country, including in your home state of Texas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged people not to travel during this surge, but millions are still traveling this holiday season. Because your trip is to New Orleans, I took your question to local New Orleans health experts, including Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. “My epidemiologist self will say, no, they shouldn’t come to a big gathering,” Hassig told me right out of the gate. “It is really not a good idea at this point in time to be gathering with people from multiple parts of the country, especially if one is older.” Throughout the pandemic, weddings have been linked to multiple headline-making outbreaks. The most infamous of them was similar in size to the wedding you are considering attending. Back in early August, this 65-person wedding in rural Maine spawned a cluster of coronavirus infections responsible for seven deaths. Hassig says she is more concerned about the peripheral wedding activities, like the potentially indoor rehearsal dinner or reception where people would be eating and drinking. Even with New Orleans’s mask mandate, being in close contact with other wedding guests is particularly risky as you won’t know the health status of the other guests. “You’ll have your masks off when you’re eating, talking, laughing, probably hugging, getting seated probably closer than you should be seated in that kind


Man who died following medical emergency on United flight had coronavirus, coroner says

The 69-year-old man whose medical emergency forced a United Airlines jet to divert to New Orleans last week had the novel coronavirus, a Louisiana coroner said. The report by Jefferson Parish coroner Gerry Cvitanovich was the confirmation passengers on Flight 591 have been waiting to hear for a week, after the Los Angeles man’s wife was heard telling medical workers on the plane that he had been experiencing symptoms, including trouble breathing and loss of taste and smell. The flight was en route from Orlando to Los Angeles on Dec. 14 when an announcement came over the public address system asking for medical professionals. A nurse, an emergency medical worker and another man jumped into action and did chest compressions for about 45 minutes, witnesses said. After he was taken off the plane, the man, identified in the report as Isaias Hernandez, was pronounced dead at Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner. His causes of death were listed as covid-19 and acute respiratory failure. In early statements about the incident, United did not mention the coronavirus. The airline said in a statement Friday that based on an initial understanding that the man had suffered a heart attack, the flight continued to Los Angeles after the diversion. Later, officials discovered that the man had been feeling sick before traveling, but he had wrongly said he did not have covid-related symptoms on a preflight checklist. In Friday’s statement, United said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked for the passenger manifest. “We are sharing requested information with the agency so they can work with local health officials to conduct outreach to any customer the CDC believes may be at risk for possible exposure or infection,” United spokesman Charles Hobart said in the statement. Neither United nor the CDC had any comment about the coroner’s report. It was not known if any passengers had been notified by public health officials yet about the man’s status; according to the CDC, the agency sends contact information to state and local health departments for contact tracing and public health follow-ups. Tony Aldapa, who said he was one of the volunteers on the plane who performed CPR, told Chris Cuomo on CNN on Monday that he and others stepped in to help despite the possibility that the man had the virus. “My whole mind-set that whole time was that this individual needed CPR … regardless of anything else he


Texas politicians have long blamed people of color for public health crises

When asked on national television on Nov. 29 why the Latino population in El Paso faced a major health crisis, Republican Mayor Dee Margo, said Hispanic people were hospitalized more for covid-19 than “normal White Caucasians.” He failed to address the city’s large number of low-wage essential workers and his own refusal to support a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. Such racial inferiority-based explanations for disproportionately high rates of infection and death in the Latino population have long been used by regional political elites to evade accountability during health crises. They also distract from the underlying structural causes of widespread sickness and death: negligent leadership and political, economic and health care systems shaped by over a century of anti-Mexican racism. The racist politics of this crisis have been made visible in the actions of predominantly White state and local politicians, in addition to local business owners, who repeatedly blocked Mexican American County Judge Ricardo Samaniego’s lockdown orders issued when infection rates spiked in October. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called Samaniego (D) a “tyrant” and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) used the courts to block public health measures. Siding with state officials, the mayor sought to further evade accountability by resorting to the language of personal responsibility, saying “we can control this spike with our personal actions.” Yet the pictures of tent-filled hospital parking lots, inmates loading bodies onto refrigerated trucks, and reports of patients left to die without adequate care — many of them Latino — tell another story. It’s a story that bears a striking resemblance to a situation that El Pasoans faced a century ago. During the early 20th century, tuberculosis exposed the white supremacist ideologies and practices that made the region’s Latinx population so vulnerable to massive death. Introduced into the region by thousands of predominantly White sufferers of the disease who hoped to recover in the warm, dry desert climate, tuberculosis quickly spread to the working-class Mexican community. Health officials noted Mexican women suffered from especially high infection rates as they were employed in large numbers to care for White “health seekers” in sanitariums and private homes. In June 1910, Mexican physician José A. Samaniego, great-uncle of current County Judge Samaniego, addressed a large crowd in the Mutualista Hall about the growing number of Mexican deaths from tuberculosis, as well as high infant mortality. Prevention was critical, he argued, and city leaders


Taiwan snaps world’s longest covid-free streak after pilot infects local resident

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Authorities in Taiwan, which has led the world in covid-19 containment, said Tuesday they would roll back foreign flights and tighten quarantine requirements for crew members after identifying the first locally transmitted coronavirus case since April, stemming from a cargo pilot who flew routes abroad, including to the United States. The reports of a single new case and its particulars — the pilot, a New Zealander, was said to have been coughing during his last flight but did not wear a mask at all times — immediately sparked public consternation as they snapped the island’s record without a domestic transmission. The 253-day streak had been a point of pride for Taiwan’s 23 million people and its leaders. Taiwanese officials said Tuesday they would cut passenger flights from London by half beginning Wednesday because they feared the possibility of importing the new viral variant that has recently spread in Britain. Taiwanese citizens, meanwhile, fumed about the lax controls surrounding pilots from abroad and whether a new cluster of cases could derail public New Year’s celebrations. The Taiwanese government also fined the pilot the maximum under the law, about $10,000 for failing to report his symptoms and contacts as it issued stern warnings about personal accountability. “Wear your masks well and let’s not fumble this now, especially when we’re in a period with a mutation that’s transmitting fast,” Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said Tuesday, showing a flash of frustration. “We need to have stricter controls for pilots. Our measures weren’t actually being implemented.” Recent cases in Taiwan, China, Australia and elsewhere have underscored how easy it is for the coronavirus to regain a foothold even in places where public health authorities had contained it through careful quarantine, isolation and contact-tracing policies. Authorities have turned their attention recently to flight crew members, who are sometimes afforded more relaxed quarantine requirements compared to passengers because they need to fly so frequently. In Taiwan, for instance, arriving pilots are quarantined for three days and cabin crew members for five. New regulations — potentially upping the quarantine period to the usual 14 days for most travelers — would be announced later this week, Chen pledged. “We’re definitely going in the direction of stricter,” he said. At the urging of public health experts, Australian agencies this month imposed strict quarantines in hotels monitored by police after a dozen Chilean crew members were caught


U.S. officials debate travel bans as coronavirus variant spreads in Britain

of the country, does it really matter?” Tan said. Canada issued a 72-hour ban on flights from the United Kingdom on Sunday, and it took effect within hours, at midnight. Canada’s minister of transport, Marc Garneau, said the move “will reduce the public health risks to Canadians.” President Trump had issued a proclamation partially banning travel from the United Kingdom in March, though there were numerous exceptions, including for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as some relatives. Travel fell sharply, but thousands of people have continued to fly to the United States from the United Kingdom each month. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics and aviation data firm Cirium, more than 13,600 passengers flew directly from the United Kingdom to the United States in June. That figure has continued to climb. Airlines for America, an industry advocacy group, said total passengers arriving from London’s Heathrow Airport topped 30,000 in November. U.S. officials said health authorities have been considering the best course, and discussions are underway among senior officials. “CDC is following the situation closely and actively assessing the implications of the new variant and response options with respect to international travel,” the agency said in a statement. In Chicago, Allison Arwady, commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Health, said the new variant did not give her “major pause” and should not undermine the vaccine campaign. “It still has the same crown, it still has the same spikes, there’s no major changes in any way that we would anticipate the vaccine would not be effective,” Arwady said. “It does not in any way affect us here in Chicago in terms of our planning or how the virus is behaving here. And, importantly, nothing about this at this point is concerning from a vaccine protection standpoint.” In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said his administration had been in discussion for the past 48 hours with airlines and “stakeholders” in the state about possible new quarantine and testing protocols for travelers arriving from the United Kingdom. He said he hoped “the federal government takes action in this space.” He noted that researchers in California sequence 5,000 to 10,000 coronavirus samples a day and had seen no evidence of a new variant in the state. Mark Ghaly, California’s health and human services secretary, described the variant as “a little bit more sticky than the covid


lags behind many countries in sequencing the virus, having sequenced just 0.3 percent of the approximately 18 million coronavirus cases that have emerged since the start of the year. Forty-four countries surpass that proportion. The United Kingdom has sequenced roughly 8 percent of its outbreak, ranking ninth in the world. Australia, Denmark, Gambia, Iceland, New Zealand, Taiwan and Vietnam have sequenced even higher percentages of their outbreaks. The emergence of the new coronavirus variant could serve as a wake-up call about the need for better surveillance of the virus, said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport. “The same kind of infrastructure that you’d want to monitor for all kinds of infectious-disease threats is what you’d want to have in place now, but we just don’t really have it in place,” Kamil said. There have been many false alarms about dangerous mutations of the coronavirus, starting early in the pandemic. But a number of scientists who have been skeptical about reports of mutations are saying this new variant — the existence of which was announced Dec. 14 in the House of Commons — looks like a truly more transmissible version of SARS-CoV-2. They note that it is defined by not just one, but 17 mutations that popped up together and was first seen in a sample in September. There is no definitive scientific proof that this variant’s rapid spread in recent months is directly driven by the mutations. But they said the mutations are suspicious. Eight affect the spike protein on the virus’s exterior. The mutations may be helping the virus bind more easily to human receptor cells, scientists said. “My hunch is that it probably does have some kind of transmission advantage just because it did become so prevalent so quickly,” Rasmussen said. “The preliminary data is strongly suggesting that it is spreading more easily,” Kristian G. Andersen, an immunologist at Scripps Research, said in an email Monday. “We need to act as if the lineage is indeed spreading more easily as we cannot afford to hope that it’s not and then be wrong about it.” Even though the appearance of this variant is concerning and will require close surveillance, it is unlikely to undermine the vaccination program, said William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “The vaccine is a pretty thorough thing,” Hanage said. “Whether or not


I fled with my family to Australia. Now guilt and relief mix as the U.S. continues to unravel.

Lindsay Knaak-Stuart is an American entrepreneur and marketing professional. As covid-19 continues to spread in the United States, I sit mask-free with my family in a cafe in Brisbane, Australia, drinking a flat white. Life is pretty normal here, almost as if this past year never happened. I’m relieved and grateful that we escaped New York City. I don’t think I would have made it through another lockdown with kids in our small apartment. And so here we are, in my husband’s home country, where they took the coronavirus seriously and shut their borders back in March. There are social distancing signs, sophisticated contact-tracing measures and limits to the number of people in shops and restaurants, but mask-less holiday shoppers move freely. The country has kept the total number of reported coronavirus cases to fewer than 29,000, with fewer than 1,000 fatalities. Getting to Australia wasn’t easy. There were many months of waiting for my partner visa to come through, canceled and rescheduled flights and, finally, a mandatory government hotel quarantine upon landing. While I wouldn’t wish a 14-day hotel-bound stay with two kids on my worst enemy, we were determined to fulfill our responsibility as, well, good citizens. Seventy-two hours before flying to Australia, we were required to answer questions about our health and dietary restrictions. This info would be used to plan our quarantine stay — a “privilege” for which our family of four would pay $3,800. After the 22-hour trip from NYC to Sydney — thankfully on a flight with only 36 passengers, due to weekly passenger arrival caps — we landed like hot-spot covid celebrities, ushered in by local police to start a process with the vibes of an episode of “Homeland.” We were first directed through a series of health and border checkpoints, then were greeted at baggage claim by additional police and members of the Australian Defense Force. They had been waiting for us, and so had the bus that was going to take us to our undisclosed quarantine location. Families were on one bus, couples and singles on another. We snaked through Sydney, our police motorcade leading the way, and finally arrived at a nondescript full-service hotel/apartments where we would be locked for 14 days and would later emerge a few pounds heavier but feeling a lot more hopeful. It was clear Australia was taking things seriously; the guards placed outside our door


How political leaders could persuade more Americans to get a covid-19 vaccination

Since the Food and Drug Administration approved the first coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, tens of thousands of Americans have been vaccinated — a fact widely hailed as a significant first step toward ending the pandemic. That will happen, experts estimate, when roughly 70 percent of the population becomes immune, whether through vaccination or recovery from covid-19. But recent public opinion data suggest that between one-third to two-fifths of Americans might refuse. What will it take for enough Americans to get vaccinated that the pandemic could end? My research found that Americans’ attitudes toward getting a vaccine have been profoundly volatile and influenced by political leaders’ cues — and that those leaders could make a significant difference now. How I did my research In public opinion surveys conducted from April to December 2020, I found that covid-19 vaccine refusal has become highly politicized. Specifically, I found that partisans’ intentions to vaccinate are volatile and shift as elite Republicans and Democrats disagree about vaccine-related issues. Over the past nine months, I used Lucid Theorem to survey five nationally representative samples of U.S. adults, totaling 4,998 respondents, or roughly 1,000 in each sample. People who said they leaned toward one party or another were coded as independents. The survey asked respondents whether they were very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, or not at all likely to get vaccinated. As you can see in the figure below, early in the pandemic, Republicans’ and Democrats’ attitudes toward being vaccinated against covid-19 have bounced around fairly dramatically. Vaccination attitudes shifted as political leaders from different parties changed their cues What explains these shifts? In May, majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans alike told pollsters they wanted to be vaccinated against the virus. Republicans’ interest in being vaccinated dropped off, however, possibly because President Trump steadily insisted that the virus was not a major public-health threat. However, as the election approached, Trump began to promise his supporters that a vaccine was nigh, and might even be available by Election Day. Meanwhile, in the vice-presidential debate, Sen. Kamala D. Harris said she wouldn’t trust the Trump administration’s assurance that a vaccine was safe — echoing statements made by Joe Biden and New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo a few weeks earlier. In recent research, I found that this may have reversed politicization trends: Republicans became more likely to say they would vaccinate, while Democrats’ intentions to do


Biden’s policies on climate change

At the current rate, the Earth is on pace to warm more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, a threat that President-elect Joe Biden has called “existential" and one of his central priorities — even amid the devastating coronavirus pandemic and a crippled economy. Biden says that the crisis demands a coordinated, whole-of-government response, and that the United States is running out of time. Whether he will be able to transition the country to a greener future will depend on many factors — science, money and political will, among them. By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis A year ago, amid a crowded Democratic presidential primary, no one would have mistaken Joe Biden as the field’s biggest climate crusader. But in recent days, the president-elect has demonstrated that he is prepared to deliver on his promise to pursue a more ambitious environmental agenda than any president before him — one that aspires to rapidly shrink the nation’s carbon emissions, give voice to the vulnerable communities hit hardest by pollution and create new jobs in industries helping to create a greener future. By Brady Dennis Leaders from 75 countries gathered virtually earlier this month to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate accord and to outline more ambitious plans to cut planet-warming emissions in the critical years ahead. The one glaring absence at the event: the United States. Now, President-elect Joe Biden’s promises on climate action have no doubt provided relief to many world leaders, but he is likely to encounter a world that is wary of the strength of the United States’ commitment. By Steven Mufson President-elect Joe Biden is planning to pursue a costly package of climate change policies aimed at transforming the country’s economy, including the way farmers plant crops and the way automakers design engines. Biden will seek to merge the need for stimulus spending with the need for climate action — without taxing crude oil, carbon or gasoline, as previous presidents tried in vain to do. He intends to insert or earmark money for climate plans in every department budget. But marshaling political support will pose obstacles. By Steven Mufson and Dino Grandoni President-elect Joe Biden has promised a “transition” away from gas, oil and coal — the main sources of carbon dioxide emissions that have put the planet on a path toward dangerous warming. A few big oil and gas companies are


Rare Jupiter and Saturn conjunction dazzles skywatchers worldwide

Stargazers worldwide looked skyward Monday evening, searching for what many are referring to “the Christmas star” or a “double planet.” The attention-grabbing spectacle, the rare alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, marked the closest night sky pass of the two planets in nearly 800 years in many areas. The last time that Jupiter and Saturn appeared so close together in the mid-latitudes was on March 5, 1226, according to Space.com. Monday night’s show featured the two planets virtually overlapping, appearing barely a quarter the diameter of the full moon from one another. In reality, the two are hundreds of millions of miles away from one another; Saturn, whose orbit is outside that of Jupiter, is considerably more distant. Though the planets rendezvous in our night sky every two decades or so, the next “great conjunction” that brings the planets into proximity as impressive as Monday night’s show won’t come until the year 2080. Fortunately, if you missed Monday night’s conjunction because of cloud cover, you can try your luck again Tuesday night. While the planets won’t be quite as intimate, they’ll still be nestled comfortably close. The remarkable pairing of the planets brought them just 0.1 degrees apart. That’s about the apparent thickness of a coin if you held it in an outstretched hand. On Tuesday night, they’ll be about 60 percent farther apart, but that’s still close enough to yield a remarkable show. The half-illuminated moon will also be visible above and to the left of the planetary pairing, with Mars, marked by a speck of rusty brown, higher up along that line. In the nation’s capital, clouds drifting in from the west obscured the view for many, though a few lucky D.C. residents managed to catch a glimpse of the conjunction through breaks in the overcast. Others farther to the southwest wound up more lucky, with clear skies around twilight affording ideal observation of the conjunction. Ed Piotrowski, chief meteorologist at the ABC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., used a backyard telescope and attached camera to capture a remarkable photo of the conjunction. His shot reveals the colorful, latitudinal bands of Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere, as well as the icy rings of Saturn. Jupiter’s moons can be seen as well — from top left, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io. Those with backyard telescopes may enjoy a similarly stunning view on Tuesday night, weather permitting. Of course, telescopes aren’t required, the


because of cloud cover, you can try your luck again Tuesday night. While the planets won’t be quite as intimate, they’ll still be nestled comfortably close. The remarkable pairing of the planets brought them just 0.1 degrees apart. That’s about the apparent thickness of a coin if you held it in an outstretched hand. On Tuesday night, they’ll be about 60 percent farther apart, but that’s still close enough to yield a remarkable show. The half-illuminated moon will also be visible above and to the left of the planetary pairing, with Mars, marked by a speck of rusty brown, higher up along that line. In the nation’s capital, clouds drifting in from the west obscured the view for many, though a few lucky D.C. residents managed to catch a glimpse of the conjunction through breaks in the overcast. Others farther to the southwest wound up more lucky, with clear skies around twilight affording ideal observation of the conjunction. Ed Piotrowski, chief meteorologist at the ABC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., used a backyard telescope and attached camera to capture a remarkable photo of the conjunction. His shot reveals the colorful, latitudinal bands of Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere, as well as the icy rings of Saturn. Jupiter’s moons can be seen as well — from top left, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io. Those with backyard telescopes may enjoy a similarly stunning view on Tuesday night, weather permitting. Of course, telescopes aren’t required, the planets bright enough that they can still be seen with the naked eye. Where skies are clear, you’ll want to look toward the western and southwestern sky starting a little after sunset (as it gets dark) and for up to another 90 minutes or so until the planets dip below the horizon. Cloud cover could be problematic over the Upper Midwest and Northern Tier, where a low-pressure system near the international border could bring inclement weather. Some downwind high-altitude clouds may drift over the northern Appalachians and interior New England as well. A few low clouds are also possible in the Pacific Northwest near the coastline, though the higher elevations inland should see clearer skies. Meanwhile, a developing cold front over the eastern Plains and into the Ozarks and Corn Belt cloud stir up some cloud cover, too, particularly from Louisiana and Arkansas north through Missouri and Iowa. Kansas City and Omaha may both be in the iffy zone.


Debunking five common concerns about the covid-19 vaccines

As coronavirus vaccines are distributed across the United States, some questions and misleading information have emerged. Here is information to combat five common concerns. Only the vulnerable need to get the vaccine. There’s a lot of misinformation to unpack here. As has been well reported, younger individuals and those across many occupations are among the more than 320,000 Americans who have succumbed to covid-19. Even setting aside those facts, Buck’s statement reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how vaccines work. Vaccines protect more than the individual who is inoculated; the goal is to have enough of the population vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity,” which is also, accurately, called “community immunity.” The more people who are immune means fewer people the virus can infect — lowering the infection rate and the risk for us all. Another reason that everyone eligible should get the vaccine is to protect those who cannot get it. With studies on children and the virus just getting started, it’s likely that young kids and babies won’t be able to receive the vaccine until fall 2021. Immunosuppressed people may need to rely on the immunity of others to help them stay healthy. In this sense, not getting a vaccine is like not wearing a mask: Your decision affects not just you but everyone around you, too. There’s no point in getting the vaccine if we still have to wear masks. As vaccination brings us all closer to herd immunity, there will be a point when enough of the population is protected that we can do away with masks. That could happen by the end of 2021. In the meantime, vaccination is a crucial tool. It doesn’t replace other tools but is a powerful measure that can help save lives and help the economy recover. We don’t know how long the vaccine will protect us. Virus mutations could mean the vaccine won’t work. It may turn out that people have to receive regular booster shots, as we already do for tetanus or an annual shot that adjusts for variants, as we do for influenza. The theoretical necessity of future vaccinations doesn’t override the urgency of getting one now. The vaccine is not safe. For those worried about political interference in expediting approval, it’s critical to emphasize that no shortcuts were taken in research or the approval process. Vaccine safety was tested in phase 3 trials involving tens of thousands of


that young kids and babies won’t be able to receive the vaccine until fall 2021. Immunosuppressed people may need to rely on the immunity of others to help them stay healthy. In this sense, not getting a vaccine is like not wearing a mask: Your decision affects not just you but everyone around you, too. There’s no point in getting the vaccine if we still have to wear masks. As vaccination brings us all closer to herd immunity, there will be a point when enough of the population is protected that we can do away with masks. That could happen by the end of 2021. In the meantime, vaccination is a crucial tool. It doesn’t replace other tools but is a powerful measure that can help save lives and help the economy recover. We don’t know how long the vaccine will protect us. Virus mutations could mean the vaccine won’t work. It may turn out that people have to receive regular booster shots, as we already do for tetanus or an annual shot that adjusts for variants, as we do for influenza. The theoretical necessity of future vaccinations doesn’t override the urgency of getting one now. The vaccine is not safe. For those worried about political interference in expediting approval, it’s critical to emphasize that no shortcuts were taken in research or the approval process. Vaccine safety was tested in phase 3 trials involving tens of thousands of participants. External committees of scientists vetted the data and produced independent recommendations to support vaccine authorization. Allergic reactions suggest that the vaccine is dangerous for at least some people. Over the next several months, we may all hear family, friends and colleagues express vaccine hesitancy. Let’s approach them with empathy, understand the cause of their concern and aim to address those issues with accurate information. Ending the pandemic will require all of us talking to those we know to debunk myths and help everyone understand that vaccines are safe, effective and life-saving. Read more: Diana Nyad: I have the pandemic to thank for this precious time with my old hound, Teddy Kathleen Parker: What the pandemic has taught us about ourselves Sarah Finefrock: What it’s like to watch your loved one die from covid-19 Leana S. Wen: As covid-19 vaccines roll out, what should Americans expect next? Megan McArdle: The vaccine scientists did their job. Now the messengers need to do theirs.


More Americans are traveling to Mexico’s Riviera Maya than ever before. The parties have led to more coronavirus cases.

This article has been revised to remove a quotation that prompted threats by telephone and social media. MEXICO CITY — The beachside dance floor was packed. The pulse of electronic music throbbed. In the middle of the pandemic, in the crowd of maskless dancers, some tourists commented to each other: "Tulum is back." “It felt like covid was over. The borders are open. The world is back to normal. Let’s just have fun,” said Alexandra Karpova, 31, a public relations executive who flew from New York to attend the November festival, called Art With Me, on Mexico’s Riviera Maya on the Caribbean coast. But in the days after the festival, dozens of attendees tested positive for the coronavirus. Some brought it back to the United States. The incident prompted a question at the heart of Mexico’s economic recovery: Is the country — with among the highest coronavirus caseloads in the world — taking too many risks to re-energize its lucrative tourism sector? Remarkably, the number of American tourists visiting the state of Quintana Roo, where Tulum and Cancun are located, has increased by 23 percent compared with 2019. With Europe closed to most Americans, Mexico has successfully marketed itself as a desirable alternative. Roughly 100 flights from the United States are now landing in Quintana Roo every day. Many tourists are coming to stay at coastal resorts, where masks are mandatory in public places. Others are going on scuba diving tours or taking kite surfing lessons. But Tulum’s global reputation as a party destination has not changed during the pandemic. “There are parties almost every night,” said Maria Prusakova, 30, the founder of a public relations firm, who traveled to Tulum in July from San Francisco. When the restaurants closed at 11 p.m., she said, the parties started at private villas. No one wore masks. Prusakova got sick at the same time as 12 of her friends. They all tested positive — in her case, only after she returned to San Francisco. Prusakova is returning to Tulum for New Year’s Eve, when the city is typically packed with parties. This year, authorities say they won’t permit them. State officials say they are scanning social media to find any mention of large gatherings. Event organizers are quietly telling tourists that they will find a way to host parties. “We need to find a way to create jobs. Otherwise, the situation will


more than 1,200 guests, with each party or event capped at 300 people. “It felt like Burning Man on the beach,” Karpova said. “There was just an amazing energy. People were just so thirsty to be together. It was like, ‘We’re free again.’ ” In the days after the festival, the Hospital de Tulum saw a surge in testing requests, almost all from foreign tourists. Nearly all of those tests came back positive. “A big part of this tourism is young people, used to partying, used to dancing. Many of them, when they get sick, are asymptomatic, but they’ve interacted with locals who might not be,” said Marco Rodriguez, the hospital’s administrative director. “People come here because they want to go to the biggest and best parties in Mexico, but the people hosting these events need to comply with the law.” Officials in Tulum and Quintana Roo have played down the impact of tourism on the spread of the pandemic. Nearly 2,000 people have died in the state, according to official statistics. Experts say the number is probably much higher. “We’ve prioritized sanitary measures and health, and the level of the contagion in Tulum has remained low,” said the city’s mayor, Victor Mas. Mas said that Art With Me had “moments of irresponsibility, but it’s not a generalized problem.” Last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans against traveling to Mexico, saying in a statement that there is a “very high level of Covid-19” in the country. But Americans have continued to make the trip. Infamously, Austin Mayor Steve Adler issued a video message last month urging people “to stay home if you can.” It turned out he had recorded the message from Cabo. After people learned of the surge in cases related to Art With Me, they started posting angry comments on the festival’s Facebook page. “Tulum once again shows us it is about greed and this time this greed is going to kill others,” wrote one person. “New Yorkers did not need you going to and returning from a superspreader event,” wrote another. The debate about balancing tourism revenue and prioritizing public health has flared in other parts of Mexico, too. In Acapulco, the city launched a marketing campaign in the middle of the pandemic, which included a voice-over saying “there are no rules” and boasted about late-night parties. The advertisement was quickly withdrawn.


In a challenging, exhausting year, the garden has been a lifeline for many

trees and weeding. “They have become good at identifying weeds,” she said. Last March, her 17-year-old daughter, Angelica, “was in the middle of school sports, lots of social groups, so it was hard to pivot, to just hit that wall,” she said. She turned to a farmer friend, who allowed Angelica to foster three newly hatched ducklings; they lived in her bedroom in a box with a heat lamp. “Ducks are wonderful little creatures. They would follow her around the garden.” After a few weeks, when they were grown, the ducks went back to the farm, but Angelica and her parents also tend a few thousand other charges: honeybees, with one hive in the garden and another two at Green Spring Gardens near Alexandria. The Lisles’ 14- year-old son, Thomas, is now skilled in the related tasks of honey extraction and bottling. Cynthia Miller, who lives in a small townhouse community in Annandale, Va., spent a chunk of time attacking a stand of mature bamboo that had invaded the common grounds, using some of the harvested culms for veggie tepees. She also volunteers in the edible demonstration garden at Green Spring, where she helped raise produce for food banks while socializing at a distance with other gardeners. “It gave us a sense of accomplishment,” she said. In Morgantown, Pa., Bridget Wosczyna and her husband, John Briddes, moved from one historic farmhouse to another about five miles away over the summer. The “new” property (dating to 1805) was more isolated, had more acreage and appealed to the couple for its remoteness in the pandemic. “My husband and I are not particularly private people, but we wanted some separation from other people. We wanted space where people couldn’t be near us unless we chose that,” she said. The rub was that Wosczyna is a collector of unusual bulbous plants such as jack-in-the-pulpits and other aroids, as well as spring flowers such as trilliums. She had to dig and move them to the new property, either to replant this year or carry over in containers. Moving years of accumulated plants is a big task, especially as the summer heat sets in, but the work had its benefits. “It helped me to not think about what happened this year, and certainly the politics as well,” she said. “I was able to remove a lot of the stress by moving the garden.” @adrian_higgins on Twitter


It could take years for Biden to restore wildlife protections erased by Trump

an alarming rate of species extinction. Last year, two major reports by scientists worldwide supported the finding that human activity has triggered the sixth great extinction event, threatening to wipe out wildlife on a massive scale. In May 2019, a United Nations panel determined that 1 million species face extinction — “more than any other period in human history.” Four months later, top ornithologists in government and academia reported that 3 billion birds have vanished in North America over the past 50 years. For conservationists who expressed outrage about Trump’s policies, Biden is a friend. He has a favorable 83 percent lifetime score with the League of Conservation Voters dating to 1973. As a senator, Biden co-sponsored legislation to ban the practice of farming animals to be killed by hunters. At a town hall meeting in March during the Democratic presidential primary, he supported a ban on hunting trophies from Africa. “For decades, the Endangered Species Act has protected our most vulnerable wildlife from extinction,” Biden said on his Facebook page. “Now, President Trump wants to throw it all away. “At a time when climate change is pushing our planet to the brink, we should strengthen protections — not weaken them,” he said. Biden’s administration would have to start drafting policy to reverse Trump’s new rules the day he enters office to make progress in 2021. The new administration would have to reinterpret key rules in both the Endangered Species Act and bird treaty, draft legal policy, submit it for public comment, then write a final draft. The process often takes more than a year. Federal courts may have made Biden’s work easier. Judges have repeatedly rejected Trump’s environmental rules, including his recent decision not to fine private citizens and industry when they unintentionally kill massive numbers of birds. The bird treaty called on industries to cover oil residue pits that birds confuse with bodies of water. Scores of birds die each year after landing in them. “There is nothing in the text of the MBTA that suggests that to fall within its prohibition, activity must be directed specifically at birds,” Judge Valerie E. Caproni wrote, referring to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, when she ruled against the Trump in August. “Nor does the statute prohibit only intentionally killing migratory birds." Biden could simply yield to the court decisions, conservationists said. Despite his court losses, Trump managed to roll back


France to allow limited reopening of borders amid coronavirus mutation fears

so they could start to cross over to France. “We’ll be making sure that tomorrow we’re out there, providing tests,” Shapps said. “This will take two or three days for things to be cleared.” The leader of the Kent County Council in southeast England told the BBC on Tuesday that 3,000 trucks were waiting to cross the English Channel. On Monday, British government officials claimed there were only 170. Drivers honked their horns in frustration as some prepared to sleep for a third night in their cabs. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised his country that a newly sovereign, free-trading, swashbuckling “Global Britain” will soar after Brexit, coming in less than nine days. But with no free-trade deal signed between Britain and the E.U., and the gateway to continental Europe blocked this week, Britons found themselves more isolated than ever. Adding to the sense of loneliness, after saying that it would be “inhumane” to cancel Christmas gatherings of friends and family, Johnson felt compelled to do just that on Sunday, based on advice from his public health advisers, who see cases of the coronavirus soaring here. More than 18 million Britons are now in “Tier 4” shutdown, with all nonessential shops, pubs, restaurants, gyms, hair salons, theaters and toy stores closed. Anthony S. Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease official, told the BBC on Tuesday he thought a total U.S. ban on arrivals from Britain “might be a bit of an overreaction.” The European Commission on Tuesday sought to promote a more coordinated approach after different levels of restrictions were announced haphazardly over the previous days. It urged all 27 member states to end bans on flights and trains from Britain and to reopen freight routes. “All nonessential travel to and from the UK should be discouraged,” the E.U.’s executive arm said in a statement, but “flight and train bans should be discontinued given the need to ensure essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions,” including the delivery of coronavirus vaccines. Despite the commission’s recommendation, several countries continued to head in the opposite direction Tuesday. Hungary banned passenger planes from the United Kingdom until early February, while Germany and Ireland extended their entry restrictions. The Netherlands announced The tussle over travel and trade came as scientists in Britain and around the world scrambled to assess the impact of the new mutation of the coronavirus, first spotted in England. Sharon Peacock, the


disruptions,” including the delivery of coronavirus vaccines. Despite the commission’s recommendation, several countries continued to head in the opposite direction Tuesday. Hungary banned passenger planes from the United Kingdom until early February, while Germany and Ireland extended their entry restrictions. The Netherlands announced The tussle over travel and trade came as scientists in Britain and around the world scrambled to assess the impact of the new mutation of the coronavirus, first spotted in England. Sharon Peacock, the director of the U.K. consortium tracking mutations of the virus, said Tuesday that “we have no evidence that the vaccine is in any way compromised by this new variant.” Judith Breuer, professor of virology at University College London, said the observed rise in the prevalence of the variant strongly suggests the new mutation is driving increased transmission. Breuer said that in coming weeks, researchers will be able to see whether the greater spread of the variant leads to more-serious illness, an observation that might be captured by a spike in hospitalizations and deaths. So far, she said, there has been no evidence to show the mutation is more deadly. BioNTech chief executive Ugur Sahin said Tuesday that the vaccine his company developed in partnership with Pfizer is likely to be effective against the new variant identified in Britain but that a new version of his vaccine could be developed within six weeks if necessary. From a technical perspective, tweaking the vaccine would simply be a matter of replacing one mutation with another while the “messenger” molecule remained the same. Whether regulators would be willing to quickly approve a slightly modified version of the vaccine that has been cleared for distribution in the United States, Britain and the E.U. is another story, Sahin told reporters at a news conference. “The likelihood that our vaccine will work is relatively high,” Sahin said, noting that 99 percent of proteins found in the new mutation are the same as in other strains. The French travel restrictions imposed Sunday night, with an initial 48-hour time frame, did not ban freight coming into Britain, but flows in that direction were nevertheless hampered. Few companies appeared willing to risk sending their drivers over only to get stuck in the United Kingdom for Christmas. Even after France agreed to reopen its borders, it remained to be seen whether the new testing requirements would deter truckers carrying goods destined for British shores.


These caterpillars aren’t just hungry, they’re hangry

the urge to fight when food is scarce may be the same for people and insects. The difference: “We can process that we shouldn’t hit people. But caterpillars can’t.” Keene says he’s always loved monarchs — some populations of which, in the butterfly stage, migrate thousands of miles. When they’re caterpillars, “they’re so charismatic, they look like they have two heads; they’re huge for caterpillars, and they interact socially,” he says. He was inspired to study them after seeing them shove each other in his garden. He looked for information on the Internet. “But I couldn’t find a [scientific] paper on caterpillar aggression,” he says. “Then I went on YouTube and found lots of videos.” That convinced him that caterpillar aggression is real. Keene and fellow scientists captured monarch caterpillars in the wild and placed them on milkweed leaves in their lab. Groups that had plenty to eat were calm. Groups that didn’t turned aggressive. The most aggressive caterpillars were the oldest ones, which were almost ready to metamorphose into butterflies. (They don’t eat for eight to 12 days while they’re in a chrysalis.) Habitat loss across the United States is leading to a loss of the milkweed that monarchs need to survive. Even outside Keene’s lab, the caterpillars are probably getting hangry. But that’s not the primary reason he wants to study them. He hopes to gain a better understanding of how hunger affects aggression in humans. It’s a lot easier to study it in caterpillars. “The human brain has billions of neurons,” Keene says. (Neurons are sensory cells that take in information, then send signals to our brains.) Insects have only “100,000 or 200,000 neurons, so we can get to a point where we can understand what each cell does. That would be completely impossible” in humans’ larger brains. This study was the first step. Next,Keene will set up cameras in a garden on campus so he can film monarchs. He’ll also start to study their genes in the lab to see which ones are involved in hunger-related aggression. Many nonscientists, it seems, are eager to help. Since his paper was published, he said, “I’ve gotten videos from people all over the country, showing monarch fights.” Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that monarchs are in a cocoon during the stage between caterpillar and butterfly. They are in a chrysalis. The story has been updated.


Large-scale study will track virus spread, vaccination rates in Washington region

A massive study announced Tuesday may help local health officials better track the spread of the novel coronavirus in the region and identify pockets of vaccine hesitancy. The two-year study, led by researchers at MedStar Health and sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, appears to be one of the largest of its kind, health officials said. Researchers aim to recruit 60,000 participants, including those who haven’t contracted the virus or received the vaccine. “We really can’t have good public policy without good data,” William Weintraub, director of outcomes research at the MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute, said during an online news conference Tuesday. “This study is going to be critical to understanding the spread of covid-19 in our community.” And the virus is certainly spreading. There were 6,075 new cases reported in D.C., Maryland and Virginia on Tuesday. The District reported 160 cases and two deaths Tuesday; Virginia reported 3,591 cases and 51 deaths; Maryland reported 2,324 cases and 48 deaths. Hospitalizations were up 14 percent from last week in the District; up 6 percent from last week in Virginia; and down 5 percent from last week in Maryland, according to The Washington Post’s tracker. The aim of the MedStar study is to bolster and add to the data public health officials already collect. Researchers hope to pay special attention to groups that are most at-risk, such as Black and Latino residents. All study materials will be offered in English and Spanish. Two thousand people have already enrolled. Every day, participants are prompted to go online and answer brief questions such as whether they are experiencing any covid-19 symptoms, have been exposed to someone with the virus, have been wearing a mask or have received the coronavirus vaccine or flu shot. Some participants will undergo blood testing to determine whether they have developed coronavirus antibodies. “A lot of people might think, ‘Yeah, the pandemic is doing all these negative things to us, and what can we do to really help?’ ” said D.C. resident Oliver Moe, 23, who has been participating in the study for seven weeks. “I really feel empowered every day to just start off the day saying, ‘Hey, I’m giving back to my community,’ ” Moe said. The goal is to not only publish scientific papers on the data but also to send the information to public health agencies, especially the D.C. Department of


Historic $15 billion rescue of struggling arts and entertainment industry nears reality

This story has been updated. Tucked into Congress’s immense, end-of-year relief package is an item that must be regarded as just this side of a miracle: $15 billion to help save the entertainment industry — the largest public rescue of the arts in U.S. history. If the stimulus legislation passed by the House and Senate on Monday is signed into law by President Trump, that chunk of change will help shore up the finances of hundreds, if not thousands, of music clubs, performance spaces and other venues devastated by the pandemic shutdown. The hope among leaders of the country’s creative economy — employing 5.1 million arts workers — is that a victorious “Save Our Stages” effort bodes well for additional rescue programs. The appropriation is by no means an all-encompassing salvation; the estimated losses for the live music industry alone in 2020 are $33 billion, said Audrey Fix Schaefer, a spokeswoman for the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which spearheaded the “Save Our Stages” legislative campaign. The bill that NIVA prompted and was introduced in June by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) was conceived to provide grants to the mostly for-profit nightclubs and concert spaces that host local and touring bands — to cover payroll, rent, utilities and other operating expenses. Months of negotiations led to more key sponsors, including Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), and additional beneficiaries, among them Broadway, regional theaters, movie houses, museums and zoos. The omnibus legislation also authorizes the creation of two new Smithsonian museums focused on American Latinos and women. According to Klobuchar, the bill was intended chiefly to help smaller operations. “It’s small towns that may have one venue. It’s a huge deal to lose that,” she said in an interview. “So many times people think of entertainment and music as sort of a boutique industry. In fact, it’s one of our biggest exports and one of the most important goodwill exports that our country has.” Cornyn added in a statement that he was proud to take a leading role to ensure that those who run such venues “have the resources to overcome lost revenue and mounting bills.” How far the $15 billion would stretch, though, remains unclear. Under the terms of the legislation, the Small Business Administration would have its Office of Disaster Assistance disburse the grants. During the first 14 days, first crack at the money


U.S. ranks 43rd worldwide in sequencing to check for coronavirus variants like the one found in the U.K.

The United States has the most coronavirus cases in the world — but in sequencing cases to check for genetic changes, it lags at an astoundingly low rate. Of the more than 18 million cases officially reported in the United States, just 51,212, or 0.3 percent, have been genetically analyzed for variants, according to the latest data from the GISAID Initiative, which provides a global database of coronavirus genomes. Worldwide, the United States ranks 43rd in percentage of cases sequenced among countries with more than 100 reported infections. Britain, by contrast, is No. 8, having analyzed 7.4 percent of its more than 2 million documented cases, according to the Covid-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium. Britain’s relatively high rate probably contributed to its detection of a highly transmissible variant circulating in southern England since September. “It makes sense that it was detected first in the U.K. because they have probably the world’s best surveillance program,” Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security, told The Washington Post. Australia, which has reported more than 28,200 coronavirus cases, has sequenced 58.6 percent, the highest rate worldwide. New Zealand ranks second, with 48.6 percent of the country’s more than 2,100 cases analyzed. Taiwan, Denmark and Iceland also make the top five. South Africa, which globally falls at 42, just ahead of the United States, announced Dec. 18 that it had detected a similar variant after a surge in cases there. South Africa is battling the worst outbreak in Africa. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not documented any cases of the British variant in the United States — but experts, even at the CDC, say it’s probably already here. “Given the small fraction of U.S. infections that have been sequenced, the variant could already be in the United States without having been detected,” the CDC wrote on its website.


Fauci’s Christmas Eve: Turning 80 and fighting the pandemic

the pot it would have been very embarrassing.” Fauci has been warning people that this is no time to mix households. In a recent call among Fauci, Grady and their daughters, Fauci expressed concern that it might look hypocritical if anyone in the family traveled home for the holidays. Before he could even complete a full sentence, the kids said, “We get it, Dad.” So the Fauci family will have a Zoom Christmas. The kids didn’t come home for Thanksgiving, either. Fauci and his wife ordered takeout from Cafe Milano, a Washington restaurant popular among the city’s power brokers, and shared it with their security detail. “I felt sad,” he said of Thanksgiving. “It was very 2020.” This is not Fauci’s first pandemic. He dealt with the original SARS, H1N1 (the pandemic influenza of 2009 that turned out to be less lethal than feared), MERS — a deadly respiratory virus — and Ebola. The biggest thread in his career has been his work on HIV. But even with his long history of fighting new infectious diseases, Fauci has found himself surprised and mystified by the novel coronavirus. “I have never really seen anything like this. And it still puzzles me,” he said. The virus can cause a fatal disease — but it often causes no symptoms at all. What explains the wildly unpredictable nature of the virus? “I don’t know,” he said. “And that’s what I really want to find out.” Fauci said he focuses “like a laser beam” on doing just that and telling the public what he knows — and what he doesn’t. But his blunt assessments have not always been well-received. Fauci’s grave warnings about the coronavirus — in White House task force meetings he tended to be “the skunk at the picnic,” he said — have put him in conflict with President Trump. Fauci remembers Trump asking why he couldn’t be more positive about the virus. Fauci said he responded: “I’m trying to give a correct interpretation of what’s going on.” Fauci maintains that he and the president remained cordial this year, even after the president insinuated that he might fire him. Fauci certainly heard Trump when, in an October call with campaign staff, the president said of public health officials, “People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots” and pointedly remarked, “Fauci is a disaster.” The next day, Trump mocked Fauci’s botched ceremonial


With hospitals nearly overwhelmed, officials say California ‘cannot afford’ another holiday surge

on a new variant of the virus that has proliferated in Britain. There’s no evidence that the variant, officially known as B.1.1.7, causes more severe illness or greater risk of death. But it appears to be more contagious, a revelation that spurred a whirlwind of travel restrictions. More than 50 countries banned arrivals from the United Kingdom, despite some experts’ belief the new variant may not have originated there. Among them was France, which halted transit along a key European trade route in a particularly disruptive move. On Tuesday, a limited reopening was announced, but France and Britain continued to argue over how to unblock the ports late into the night. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who initially said canceling Christmas gatherings would be “inhumane,” is now advising increasingly isolated Britons to do exactly that. More than a quarter of residents are living under strict lockdown, with shops, pubs and restaurants closed. The U.S. has not imposed restrictions on travel from the United Kingdom, though officials said health authorities have been considering the best course. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that B.1.1.7 may already be circulating in the country. “Ongoing travel between the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the high prevalence of this variant among current UK infections, increase the likelihood of importation,” the CDC said in a scientific brief. “Given the small fraction of US infections that have been sequenced, the variant could already be in the United States without having been detected.” There has been no evidence of the new variant in California, where samples are regularly tested. With the state already under enormous strain, Ghaly said health officials would be watching closely, concerned about how it could impact current efforts to contain and mitigate the virus. “The last thing we want to do,” he said, “is let a new strain of covid come and spread more rapidly or easily across the state.” Top U.S. disease trackers and drugmakers have said they believe that recently authorized vaccines will be effective against the coronavirus variant identified in the United Kingdom. The first of those vaccines was produced by Pfizer, in collaboration with the German company BioNTech. The U.S. government has been seeking an agreement that would provide an additional 100 million vaccine doses of that vaccine for the second quarter of next year. Pfizer has indicated it could provide 70 million in


Britain finds 2 cases of coronavirus variant linked to South Africa; travel resumes across English Channel

Britain has found two cases of a coronavirus variant linked to South Africa, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday, both of which are tied to contact with recent arrivals from that country. Hancock announced new restrictions on visitors from South Africa and called on anyone who has recently been to that country or been in contact with a recent arrival from there to quarantine immediately, describing the measures as temporary while officials seek to better understand the variant. “This virus is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and appears to have mutated further than the new variant that’s been discovered in the U.K.,” he said at a news conference. South African officials announced last week that their scientists had detected a new variant that appeared to be fueling a rapid rise in infections there. The appearance of the South African variant in Britain comes as its officials are already grappling with a worsening coronavirus outbreak linked to a different variant recently discovered in England. Experts have cautioned that both variants need additional study as scientists seek to better understand the mutations and what effect — if any — they will have on vaccines. British authorities are tightening restrictions in response to the increase in cases. By Dec. 26, about 24 million people will face Britain’s toughest coronavirus rules, under which all nonessential businesses are required to close. Many countries in Europe and elsewhere closed their borders to British travelers in recent days to try to limit the spread of the variant discovered in England. Some also placed restrictions on people traveling from South Africa. France banned freight across the English Channel, one of Europe’s busiest travel corridors, for 48 hours. On Wednesday, ferry passengers began to trickle back into France from Britain, after a late-night agreement between the countries to allow some people back into France, provided they could show negative coronavirus test results. It will take days, however, to move the thousands of freight trucks stranded on the British side of the English Channel as all the drivers are tested. British Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted Wednesday that mass testing has begun and that the “priority is to get lorries moving.” Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick estimated that at least 4,000 trucks were parked around the Kent region and said the military would manage testing sites, including one at Manston airport, where many of the trucks are located.


Stalling recovery raises stakes for Trump’s new demands on economic relief bill

assemble the legislation, leaving lawmakers confused when Trump suddenly announced opposition. Many economists don’t think sending $2,000 checks to more than 150 million households is a wise use of taxpayer money because the bulk of the funds would go to people who did not lose a job. In the first round of stimulus checks, only about 40 percent of the money was actually pumped back into the economy through consumer spending. The rest was saved or used to pay off debt. Some critics of Trump’s approach believe the aid should be targeted toward the unemployed and small businesses that need it most. In addition to the check, the relief bill would provide over $3,000 in additional aid to unemployed workers, though that is lower than the more than $6,000 extra for the unemployed that Democrats originally wanted. Many struggling families told The Washington Post that while $2,000 could make a big difference in their ability to afford food, medications, rent and car payments, what they need most is quick relief. “If it’s possible to do more, fine, but they’d better hurry. That’s all I can say,” said Deedee Smith, 57, who lost her job working in catering at a big hotel and convention center in Albuquerque. “I will take $600. At this point, anything would help.” Trump’s new demand is holding up the entire economic package, delaying any new money and potentially pushing back the date when checks could be sent to Americans. Democrats quickly rallied around Trump’s call for $2,000 checks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to try to hold a vote on it as soon as Thursday. The process would require unanimous support, which is unlikely to happen since it would take only one Republican to block it. If the measure fails, it’s uncertain what will happen next. The stimulus package would extend unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, beginning as soon as Dec. 27 and run at least through mid-March. The measure also would extend Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — which targets part-time and gig workers who did not qualify for state unemployment insurance benefits — for 11 weeks. “The key thing from this morning is just how many people are still on those federal programs that will expire,” said Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute. “All of those people are the ones who will get hit massively if Trump doesn’t sign the bill.”