Month: June 2021

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World News

Your Wednesday Briefing – The New York Instances

Your Wednesday Briefing - The New York Times

We cover new restrictions as Asia and Australia battle the Delta variant and as rebels recapture Tigray’s capital.

Asia-Pacific countries with slow vaccination campaigns are trying to slow the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus by resorting to a new round of restrictions.

Bangladesh and Malaysia are urging residents to stay home, and Bangladesh is sending soldiers to patrol the streets to make sure no one is outside. In Australia, authorities in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin have imposed strict curfews.

Tired residents become frustrated as in some cases they have already gone through multiple locks. “My restaurant is known for its hospitality and communal dishes, the opposite of social distancing,” said a restaurant owner near Kuala Lumpur. For his business, this lock could be “the last straw,” he said.

Context: Studies have shown that Covid-19 vaccines against the Delta variant are still largely effective, although protection is significantly lower for those who are partially vaccinated. “If we can get a really high vaccination rate, it will change the game completely,” said an epidemiology expert in Melbourne.

Eight months after the attack by the Ethiopian army on the Tigray region, the civil war takes a turn: Tigrayan fighters recapture the regional capital Mekelle. Local residents celebrated in the streets. Here are the latest updates.

The rebels have signaled that they have little desire for a ceasefire. Senior rebel members said they would continue to fight and be ready to pursue Eritrean troops who have joined Ethiopian forces on their territory.

The dramatic turnaround was a blow to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who launched an offensive last November that he promised would be over in a few weeks. After eight months of violence accusing Eritrean troops of atrocities, the war now looks like it could drag on.

Turn the tide: The war began with Tigrayan troops clearly on the defensive. But the rebels have managed to regroup. In addition, the invasion and human rights violations have drawn numerous recruits into the arms of the group.

The toll: Almost two million people have been displaced from their homeland. The region faces a long list of crises, including water and education shortages, and a famine that leaves millions of people starving.

The commander of the US-led mission in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin Miller, warned that the country could be on the path to a chaotic, multi-layered civil war as US and international forces prepare to withdraw in the coming weeks.

“Civil war is certainly a path that can be imagined if it continues on its way,” Miller said during a rare press conference in Kabul. “That should concern the world.”

He did not provide a timeline for completing the withdrawal, but said he had reached a point where he would soon end his command, which began in September 2018.

New York’s dining scene has changed due to the creative outdoor table settings made necessary by the pandemic. But how does the city keep the romance alive while the outbreak subsides and the rules are relaxed? Our food reviewer has a few answers.

In 1897 invading British soldiers stole thousands of artifacts from the Kingdom of Benin, now part of Nigeria. In the UK, the events are known as the Punitive Expedition. In Nigeria, they are known as the Benin massacres because of the residents who killed British troops.

Activists, historians and royals in Nigeria have called for the art to be returned, but museums resisted, arguing that their global collections served “the people of every nation.”

However, given Europe’s grappling with its colonial history, some institutions are changing their position. Germany has announced that it will return a significant number of Benin bronzes (as the items are called) over the next year, and the National Museum of Ireland is planning to return 21 items. The work is expected to move to a new museum in Benin City due to be completed in 2026.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Until next time. – Melina

PS Christina Goldbaum, a reporter at the Metro desk who reported from East Africa, strengthens our Afghanistan team.

The latest episode of “The Daily” is about the building collapse in Miami.

Claire Moses wrote the arts and ideas. You can reach Melina and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

Categories
Health

Eli Lilly CEO says drugmaker will preserve trying to lower insulin prices

Eli Lilly CEO says drugmaker will keep looking to cut insulin costs

An Eli Lilly & Co. logo is seen on a box of insulin medication in this arranged photograph at a pharmacy in Princeton, Illinois.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said he welcomes new competition from Walmart, even as the retailer undercuts the drugmaker’s prices on fast-acting insulin.

Walmart announced Tuesday that it will sell a lower-price version of the notoriously expensive diabetes drug, starting this week.

“Any efforts to smash through that and deliver better value to patients, I’m for,” Ricks said in an interview Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

Walmart developed the less expensive version of analog insulin with Novo Nordisk. The fast-acting insulin will cost about $73 for a vial or about $86 for a package of prefilled insulin pens. It will be available exclusively at Walmart and Sam’s Club for adults and children with a prescription.

Insulin has become a focal point in lawmakers’ debate over soaring drug prices — especially since it is a 100-year-old medication and one that can be lifesaving for millions of Americans diagnosed with diabetes. Eli Lilly is among the companies that have faced pushback for its prices by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including former President Donald Trump.

Ricks said the company’s leaders “welcome anyone who wants to lower the price of insulin” — including the big-box retailer.

“We always look at new solutions ourselves, and this is an interesting development and we’ll look at further options,” he said. “If we can reach one more patient with more affordable insulin, we’re going to try to do that.”

Ricks said Eli Lilly continues to seek ways to reduce costs for people with diabetes. He pointed to two related efforts: The launch of a half-price, generic version of insulin, called insulin lispro, in early 2019 and the cap on out-of-pocket cost for insulin at $35 per month, which began as many Americans struggled with finances during the coronavirus pandemic.

Those moves, in part, were a response to fierce criticism by lawmakers and a subpoena by the state of New York.

Eli Lilly’s generic version costs nearly twice the price of Walmart’s at $137.35 per vial.

Over the past 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 34.2 million U.S. adults have the disease, which ranks as the seventh-leading cause of death in the country, the CDC said.

Categories
Politics

Biden Heads to Wisconsin to Promote His Infrastructure Deal

Biden Heads to Wisconsin to Sell His Infrastructure Deal

President Biden began a national tour in Wisconsin Tuesday to educate voters about the bipartisan infrastructure deal announced by the President and Middle Senators last week.

Mr Biden used his speech in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to highlight several aspects of the deal – which would increase federal spending on physical infrastructure by $ 579 billion, the largest such increase in decades. He portrayed the deal as a deal that would improve the quality of life for Wisconsin residents, including by increasing the use of broadband internet in rural areas, where about 35 percent of families lack reliable internet, according to the White House.

“This bipartisan breakthrough is a big deal for the American people,” Biden said, predicting the deal would create jobs that did not require a college degree. “This is a blueprint for rebuilding America.”

Mr Biden pledged to replace the nearly 80,000 lead water pipes in Milwaukee, and cited spending on road and bridge repairs to reduce traffic for drivers across the country, the equivalent of an annual loss of $ 1,000 for the average American because of lost time.

The president and his staff have argued aggressively over the past few days that the deal would be a huge step forward for the nation in key infrastructure areas, as part of a delicate effort to sell Democrats in the House and Senate for the merits of a deal fell well short of Mr. Biden’s initial $ 2.3 trillion US employment plan. The deal leaves out entire categories of spending on climate change and investing in home nursing for the elderly and disabled.

The president called the deal the largest federal infrastructure move since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the law to create the interstate highway system 65 years ago. “This is a generational investment – a generational investment – to modernize our infrastructure,” he said, “to create millions of well-paid jobs.”

The tour is also designed to reassure Republicans that Mr Biden is committed to the agreement. Mr Biden told reporters Thursday that he would not sign the bipartisan agreement unless it was accompanied by a second, partisan bill that includes much of Mr Biden’s remaining $ 4 trillion economic agenda, which is a hectic weekend for the White House sparked some Republicans questioning whether the deal could survive.

On Sunday, Mr Biden released a statement saying he did not mean to imply that he would veto the bipartisan agreement and pledged to campaign aggressively to get it passed. This worried the progressives, who are counting on the second passage of the party law.

Alluding to the intricate politics of the two economic laws, Mr. Biden also used the Wisconsin speech to highlight much of the second half of his agenda that was excluded from the deal, including investments in housing, childcare, tax loans for parents, child poverty aim to combat, and invest heavily in public education.

“I will continue to point out that critical investments are still needed,” he said.

Categories
Health

Wash Fruits and Greens

How to Wash Fruits and Vegetables

By and large, the American food supply is quite safe, but food safety specialists keep their eyes on certain pathogens, both bacteria and viruses, that have been associated with dangerous outbreaks tied to produce. For example, E. coli O157:H7, a bacterium found in the intestines of cattle and other animals, also turns up in leafy greens and, if ingested, can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Certain groups, such as the very young and the very old, are particularly prone to developing severe symptoms and potentially deadly kidney failure.

“We see a number of outbreaks caused by viruses in produce,” said Dr. DiCaprio. “So, when we talk about food-borne viruses, primarily it’s hepatitis A virus and norovirus. We see those viruses causing a number of outbreaks in soft berries because often these commodities are harvested by hand, so we as humans can cross-contaminate those berries during harvest.”

If you see dirt, sand or grit on your produce — for example, in the grooves of a celery stalk —you’d certainly want to remove that material. But it’s also important to rinse off dust and other small debris that you may not see but that can also contain harmful germs.

Early fears about the possible transmission of coronavirus on foods were not borne out, though other viruses may be spread by the dirty hands of other customers. So wash any fruits or vegetables you pull off the shelves or produce stand, including leafy greens, whole fruits and raw vegetables. Washing won’t completely decontaminate a piece of produce, Dr. DiCaprio said, but generally removes 90 percent to 99 percent of the microorganisms. Ingesting fewer microbes makes it less likely you’ll get sick.

There’s no need to rewash greens or other items that say “pre-washed” on the package. In fact, washing them could raise the risk of cross-contamination with other foods, such as raw meat, that you may be preparing — a concern whenever you are washing any foods, so take care to keep work surfaces clean.

Categories
Entertainment

Intercourse/Life: Does Adam Demos Have Physique Double in Bathe Scene?

SEX / LIFE (L to R) ADAM DEMOS as BRAD SIMON in episode 107 of SEX / LIFE Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2021

We would have expected it to be on a Netflix show called. frontal nudity? Sex / life? Yeah, but that didn’t stop us from falling jaws when Adam Demos appeared as full-size Brad Simon in the third episode, Empire State of Mind. It seems Cooper Connelly (Mike Vogel) wasn’t the only one shocked by the size of Brad’s penis, as fans immediately wondered if it was demos or not during the scene. Well, it looks like we have an answer thanks to an interview on Collider with showrunner Stacy Rukeyser. “No. This is not a body double. I mean, people usually ask, ‘Is it real or is it a prosthesis,’ ”she told the point of sale. “And I can tell you what Adam Demos says: ‘A gentleman never tells’. So we leave that to the imagination of the beholder.”

If you’re wondering what Demos actually said about the scene, he confirmed in an interview with. the lack of a body double Weekly entertainment. “I was okay with [the nudity] because you read the script and know what you’re getting into from the start. That doesn’t mean you can’t have discussions about the level of comfort they allowed us – and with the intimacy coordinator, so it felt a lot safer. “So there you have it, you never really know what is real and what is fake . Sounds like a good reason to look again Sex / lifecurrently streamed on Netflix.

Categories
World News

Inflation is again close to targets and that ought to be celebrated: BIS

Inflation is back near targets and that should be celebrated: BIS

A crowded bar in Paris’ 6th Arrondissement as Parisians embrace the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions as cafes and restaurants across France re-open for the first time in over 6 months.

Kiran Ridley | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON — The recent surge in consumer prices is temporary and should be celebrated, Claudio Borio, head of the economic and monetary department at the Bank for International Settlements, told CNBC.

“For those countries … that have been trying very, very hard to get inflation up unsuccessfully, having inflation persistently higher, roughly at target, that would actually be very good news and one should rejoice about that,” Borio told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum in an interview.

His comments come after inflation readings have beaten expectations in both the U.S. and Europe over recent months — dividing policymakers.

Some European officials believe the region’s pandemic-induced stimulus program should be scaled back in the face of rising prices, while others argue that inflation will be temporary and so monetary policy should remain loose.

Inflation can be a tricky economic indicator: If it is too high, it erases the purchasing power of consumers; if it is too low, it can reduce economic growth. 

“The real problem is if inflation proves to be higher, uncomfortably higher for uncomfortably long,” Borio said.

However he stressed that the BIS — which is known as the central bank of central banks — expects the increase in inflation to be “transitory.”

Until recently in the euro zone, inflation has been persistently low in the wake of the global financial crisis and the region’s sovereign debt crises. But prices have experienced a massive increase in recent weeks.

Annual Inflation in the euro zone rose to 2% in the month of May, slightly above the ECB’s target of “below, but close to, 2%.” This has been linked to the easing of various social-distancing rules across the 19 euro nations and consumers’ willingness to spend more.

However, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has insisted that the uptick in inflation is temporary, and that it will fall back below target in the foreseeable future.

“Inflation has picked up over recent months, largely on account of base effects, transitory factors and an increase in energy prices. It is expected to rise further in the second half of the year, before declining as temporary factors fade out,” she said at a press conference earlier this month.

Speaking to CNBC, Borio agreed that “so far, most [of] what is going on is essentially temporary.”

“We have one-off increases in prices which are basically bouncing back from where they were before; we’re having technical effects, so-called base effects; we’re seeing, indeed, there are speed limits to [the] world economy,” he added.

The latest ECB forecasts point to a headline inflation of 1.9% at the end of 2021, followed by a decrease to 1.5% and 1.4% in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

In the BIS latest annual report, released Tuesday, the institution said that “normalising policy will not be easy” for central banks.

This subject has already sparked some divisions within the ECB, with hawkish member Jens Weidmann pushing for the coronavirus-stimulus program to be lifted step-by-step.

Whereas other ECB members are worried about a premature scaling back of the program.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Claudio Borio, head of the economic and monetary department at the Bank for International Settlements.

 

 

Categories
Politics

Kamala Harris’ chief of employees limits entry to vp

Kamala Harris' chief of staff limits access to vice president

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waits to speak during an event on high-speed internet access in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex on June 3, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Kamala Harris’ chief of staff has effectively shut out several longtime of the vice president’s political and business world allies as the Biden administration contends with several challenges, including battles over voting rights and the border, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harris has not been returning phone calls to people who have considered themselves members of her inner circle, including donors and people who supported her Senate and White House runs, according to some of the people with knowledge of the situation. 

Under chief of staff Tina Flournoy’s watch, Harris speaks regularly to President Joe Biden, her family members, a tight group of friends, and her strategists, these people said. The people declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Yet as Flournoy, who built a tough reputation while working for former President Bill Clinton, exerts her power as a gatekeeper to the vice president, several of Harris’ allies outside the federal government are struggling to get their calls returned after years of regularly being in touch with her, some of these people said.

A person familiar with Flournoy’s handling of incoming communication with these associates says she sometimes starts a conversation asking, “What is it that you want from the vice president?” If the person wants to just say hello and have a brief conversation, Flournoy says that time will come at future private events.

If a person wants to speak to Harris about where she stands on policy, Flournoy will, at times, say they can’t speak to the vice president about policy and will make an introduction to one of her policy advisors.

Some of these same advisors and donors are trying other routes, including by attempting to speak with Douglas Emhoff, the vice president’s husband. Many of those calls have yet to be returned, these people said.

Chiefs of staff, especially those in the highest echelons of government, are expected to run a tight ship for their bosses, including by limiting who gets in the door for meetings or who reaches them on the phone. In the vice president’s world, some allies can get in – but they guard their status so they don’t run afoul of Flournoy. 

For instance, an influential Democratic donor who raised money for Harris’ failed bid for president recently tried to reach out to the vice president, and had yet to receive a call back. Then this person decided to contact Flournoy. 

That didn’t work. The donor reached out to a fellow Democratic financier for Flournoy’s contact information. But the fellow financier declined to share Flournoy’s email address for fear of losing access themselves.

Another Harris supporter said she hasn’t heard from the vice president since a call with supporters during the transition period.

While Flournoy has made it tougher to get in touch with Harris, some of the vice president’s supporters accept it as a consequence of Harris building out her portfolio. Harris recently made her first visit as vice president to the U.S.-Mexico border, she touted President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, and is expected to have a role working on criminal justice reform, among other items.

One person close to Harris said they appreciated what Flournoy is doing and has accepted that it’s simply going to be harder to get in touch with Harris now that she is vice president and begins working on big-ticket initiatives.

“There’s no question she [Flournoy] is a strong chief of staff and there’s no question that she is very focused on making sure that the VP is able to be focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and getting people vaccinated, the border, voting rights,” said another Harris ally who has spoken to Flournoy. 

“So by making sure that she is able to focus on what she’s being charged with, there could be people who are not necessarily getting access because the chief of staff is prioritizing those tasks for the VP over political outreach,” this person explained.

A spokeswoman for Harris did not return a request for comment.

In this May 31, 2008 file photo, Tina Flournoy, then Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws committee member, during a hearing in Washington.

Susan Walsh | AP

Flournoy’s background

Flournoy has deep roots in Washington, D.C., and is a veteran of the mainstream Democratic establishment.

In the latter half of the 1980s, she worked as a law clerk for Julia Cooper Mack,  a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals, before jumping into politics, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

CRP also says she later had stints as a counsel for the Democratic National Convention, as a leader on Clinton’s transition team after he was elected in 1992, and then as counsel for the former president’s office of presidential personnel.

Flournoy is listed as general counsel for cigarette maker Phillip Morris in a 1995 White House press advisory naming Kennedy Center advisory committee members. Later, she served as traveling chief of staff for Sen. Joe Lieberman during the 2000 presidential campaign, when he was Al Gore’s running mate.

After working on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign for president, she became assistant to the president for public policy at the American Federation of Teachers, an influential union. Flournoy was originally connected to Harris by Minyon Moore, who was an assistant to Clinton when he was president. Moore, who didn’t return a request for comment, was once named as one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington.

Before she became Harris’ chief of staff, Flournoy led the staff working for former President Bill Clinton starting in 2013. At that post, Flournoy oversaw a staff of approximately 10 people who worked directly with Clinton, and had regular engagement with the Clinton Foundation, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

While Flournoy was chief of staff, Clinton held an infamous tarmac meeting with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch while his wife ran for president in the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server was being investigated at the time by the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department.

Flournoy’s style working for Harris is familiar to people who knew her while she worked for Clinton. She took over managing access to Clinton after the departure of his longtime right-hand man, Doug Band. Band, who co-founded corporate consulting firm Teneo, is known for helping create Clinton’s post-presidential life, including assisting in launching the foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative.

According to a report by Vanity Fair, Clinton and Band interacted with some controversial celebrities and executives, including the late Jeffrey Epstein, who later died by suicide in prison after being arrested for child sex trafficking.

“If you look at Doug’s tenure, it ranges from Epstein to others,” a person with direct knowledge of Flournoy’s work told CNBC.

“If you look from 2013 through about a year a half ago when Tina was here, you can’t point to any single one of them being here [Clinton’s orbit]. I call some of those people who were once around ‘the unsavory humans,'” this person added.

Clinton praised the hiring of Flournoy in a tweet after Harris made the official announcement. A spokesman for Clinton did not return a request for comment.

Band did not comment.

Categories
Health

Moderna says Covid vaccine exhibits promise in a lab setting towards variants, together with delta

Moderna says Covid vaccine shows promise in a lab setting against variants, including delta

A healthcare worker prepares a dose of Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday February 9, 2021 at the Pacheco Vaccination Center in Brussels, Belgium.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Moderna said Tuesday that its Covid-19 vaccine showed promise against coronavirus variants, including the highly contagious Delta variant, first identified in India in a laboratory setting.

The two-dose mRNA vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies against Delta as well as Beta and Eta, variants that Moderna said were first found in South Africa and Nigeria, respectively.

The company said the results were based on blood serum from eight participants one week after receiving the second dose of the vaccine. The data has not yet been reviewed by experts. The results, while promising, may not reflect how the vaccines actually perform against the variants in real-world scenarios.

Moderna shares rose more than 4% in intraday trading after the lab results were announced.

“We continue to strive to investigate new variants, generate data and share them as they become available,” said Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, in a press release. “These new data are encouraging and reinforce our belief that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should continue to protect against newly discovered variants.”

Moderna’s update comes days after World Health Organization officials urged fully vaccinated people to continue wearing masks, maintain social distance, and practice other pandemic safety measures as the delta spreads rapidly across the world.

Delta, now present in at least 92 countries including the United States, is expected to become the predominant variant of the disease worldwide. In the US, the prevalence of the variant doubles about every two weeks.

WHO officials said Friday that they are urging fully vaccinated people to continue to “play it safe” as much of the world remains unvaccinated and highly contagious variants like Delta spread in many countries and cause outbreaks.

The comments were a departure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said fully vaccinated Americans can be maskless in most environments.

“People can’t feel safe just because they got the two doses. They still need to protect themselves,” said Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO Deputy Director General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, during a press conference.

Approved vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson have been shown to be highly effective in preventing Covid, particularly against serious illness and death.

Some variants, including Delta, have shown the vaccines to be slightly less effective, and WHO officials said they fear people vaccinated could become part of the chains of transmission.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that about half of the adults infected in a Delta variant outbreak in Israel were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, prompting the local government to reintroduce indoor masking and other measures.

In the United States, President Joe Biden warned that unvaccinated people are particularly at risk of contracting Delta.

He said the number of Covid deaths would continue to increase across the country due to the spread of the “dangerous” variant, calling this a “serious concern”.

“More than six hundred thousand Americans have died, and with this variant of the Delta, you know there will be others too. You know it will happen. We need to vaccinate young people,” Biden said Thursday at a community center in Raleigh, NC

Categories
Health

Why You Nonetheless May Need to Have a House Covid Check on Hand

Why You Still Might Want to Have a Home Covid Test on Hand

Rapid antigen tests are the cheapest (approximately $ 12 per test) and are available in retail stores and online. (They are usually not covered by insurance.) Abbott’s BinaxNOW test includes two rapid antigen tests per pack and costs about $ 24. To take the test, simply wave the swab in both nostrils and place it in a special card. After 15 minutes, the result reads similar to a pregnancy test: Two pink lines indicate that you are positive for Covid-19. The QuickVue At-Home test from Quidel is similarly expensive. After wiping your nose, soak the swab in a solution in a test tube and then in a test strip. You will get results in about 10 minutes.

Updated

June 29, 2021, 5:55 a.m. ET

The rapid antigen tests are less reliable for finding Covid-19 in people with low viral loads than the “gold standard” PCR tests you can get from a healthcare provider. One study found that a rapid home antigen test had a 64 percent chance of correctly detecting the virus in people with symptoms who tested positive on a PCR test. (The test only caught about 36 percent of those who had the virus but had no symptoms.)

But don’t let these numbers put you off. The inexpensive rapid antigen tests provide a reliable rapid test to identify people with infectious virus levels. Suppose you want to invite unvaccinated friends or children to your home. Before hosting an indoor event, you can reduce the risk of asymptomatic spread and infection by 90 percent or more if all guests have a rapid antigen test within an hour of the event, said Dr. Mina.

Rapid tests can also be used as extra protection before spending time with people who are at high risk of complications from Covid-19, such as immune problems or cancer treatments. Neeraj Sood, professor and vice dean of research at the University of Southern California and director of the COVID initiative at the USC Schaeffer Center, said that despite being vaccinated, he would do rapid tests to take extra precautions around such people.

“If I was hanging out in a closed room with a friend who was on chemotherapy and didn’t get the vaccine, I would do two tests,” said Dr. Sood. He did a rapid antigen test three or four days before visiting his friend and another test on the same day of the visit. “If both are negative I am very confident that I don’t have any Covid and I will not pass it on to my friend,” he said.

Rapid tests could also be used to make a small family reunion at home or a children’s birthday party with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people safer. “When you put that extra layer of home testing in place, you are all more confident,” said Irene Peterson, professor of epidemiology and health informatics at University College London. “Or you could choose not to have the party.”

If you want more certainty than a rapid antigen test can provide, consider a more expensive, rapid molecular test to use at home. These tests work by detecting the actual genetic material (RNA) of the virus and amplifying it to see if you are infected. A home-use rapid molecular test works almost as well as the PCR tests done in test centers that are processed by a laboratory, but they are also more expensive than the home antigen tests. Lucira does a high-accuracy molecular test for $ 55 that uses nasal swabs and a battery-powered processing unit that gives results in 30 minutes.

Categories
Politics

The Struggle on Historical past Is a Struggle on Democracy

The War on History Is a War on Democracy

In March 1932, the cover of Fortune magazine featured a painting of Diego Rivera’s Red Square. A multitude of faceless men marched with red banners and encircled a locomotive with a hammer and sickle. This was the image of communist modernization that the Soviets wanted to convey during Stalin’s first five-year plan: the achievement was impersonal, technical, undeniable. The Soviet Union transformed itself from an agricultural hinterland into an industrial power through a mere disciplined understanding of the objective realities of history. Its citizens celebrated the revolution, as Rivera’s painting suggested, while shaping them into a new breed of people.

But by March 1932 hundreds of thousands were starving to death in Soviet Ukraine, the country’s breadbasket. Rapid industrialization was financed by the destruction of traditional agricultural life. The five-year plan had brought about “deculakization”, the deportation of peasants who were considered more affluent than others, and “collectivization”, the appropriation of agricultural land by the state. The result was a mass hunger attack: first in Kazakhstan, then in southern Russia and above all in Soviet Ukraine. The Soviet leaders were aware of this in 1932, but still insisted on requisitions in Ukraine. Grain that humans needed to survive was forcibly confiscated and exported. Writer Arthur Koestler, who was living in Soviet Ukraine at the time, recalled propaganda depicting the starving as provocateurs who preferred to see their own bellies puff out rather than accept Soviet gains.

After Russia, Ukraine was the most important Soviet republic, and Stalin saw it as headstrong and disloyal. When the collectivization of agriculture in Ukraine did not produce the yields Stalin expected, he blamed local party authorities, the Ukrainian people and foreign spies. Since food was mined during the famine, Ukrainians in particular suffered and died – around 3.9 million people in the republic, according to best estimates, well over 10 percent of the total population. In communicating with trusted comrades, Stalin did not hide the fact that he was pursuing a specific policy against Ukraine. Residents of the republic were forbidden to leave it; Farmers were prevented from going into the cities to beg; Communities that failed to meet grain targets were cut off from the rest of the economy; Families were robbed of their cattle. In particular, grain from Ukraine was ruthlessly confiscated, far beyond common sense. Even the seeds were confiscated.

The Soviet Union took drastic measures to ensure that these events went unnoticed. Foreign journalists were banned from Ukraine. The only person reporting the famine in English under his own byline, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, was later murdered. Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, Walter Duranty, declared famine to be the price of progress away. Tens of thousands of hunger refugees made it across the border to Poland, but the Polish authorities refrained from making their plight public: a treaty with the USSR is being negotiated. In Moscow, the disaster was portrayed at the 1934 party congress as a triumphant second revolution. The deaths have been rearranged from “hunger” to “exhaustion”. When the next census counted millions fewer people than expected, the statisticians were executed. Residents of other republics, mostly Russians, moved into the abandoned houses of the Ukrainians. As beneficiaries of the calamity, they were not interested in its sources.