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January 6, 2021 - Brief Issue 133

The Coronavirus Daily Brief is a daily news and analysis roundup edited by New America’s International Security Program and Arizona State University.

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Top Headlines

Slow Vaccine Rollout Hampers Covid-19 Mitigation Efforts Around the World (Health & Science)

U.S. Surgeon General Tells States to Begin Vaccinating Lower Priority Groups (Health & Science)

Los Angeles County is Running Out of Hospital Beds, Oxygen; EMS Told Not to Transport Patients with Low Chances of Survival (Health & Science)

U.S. to Continue with Two-Dose Vaccination Plan (Health & Science)

U.K. Coronavirus Variant Found in New York (Health & Science)

World Bank Sees Prospect of a ‘Lost Decade’ (Around the World)

Britain Enters Third Lockdown as One in 50 Residents Have Coronavirus (Around the World)

Germany Extends Lockdown, Toughens Restrictions (Around the World)

Balkans Left Behind in Europe’s Vaccination Push (Around the World)

Israel Leads World in Vaccination Campaigns, Leaves Out Palestinians (Around the World)

China, Almost Back to Pre-Pandemic Normal, Now Sees Slight Rise in Infections; Won’t Grant Entry to International Coronavirus Experts (Around the World)

FDA Raises Concerns Over Covid-19 Test Used by Congress (U.S. Government & Politics)

2020 Auto Sales Expected to Hit Lowest Point in Nearly a Decade (U.S. Economy)

Colleges Adjust Spring Schedules Amid Covid-19 Surges (U.S. Society)

Police Provide Further Details on Wisconsin Pharmacist Alleged to Have Intentionally Tampered with Vaccines (U.S. Society)

Health & Science

There have been 21,051,001 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 357,385 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has conducted 256,215,179 tests and distributed 17,020,575 vaccine doses, with 4,836,469 people initiating vaccination (U.S. CDC). Worldwide, there have been 86,510,936 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 1,870,856 deaths. At least 48,547,373 people have recovered from the virus.

Slow Vaccine Rollout Hampers Covid-19 Mitigation Efforts Around the World

Although many countries around the world have started distributing Covid-19 vaccines, the rollout effort is going more slowly than anticipated (NYT). In England, officials hope to be able to vaccinate 13.9 million high-risk people by the middle of February. However, fewer than 800,000 people had been vaccinated as of December 27, indicating a need to increase the speed of vaccine distribution. The country will be under strict lockdown orders until these groups have been vaccinated, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In most European Union countries, vaccinations did not begin until after Christmas, and data from 19 of the 27 countries show that only about 500,000 vaccines have been given so far.

In the United States, officials aimed to give 20 million vaccine doses by the end of December, but so far only about 4.8 million people have initiated their vaccination process (USA Today, U.S. CDC). Vaccine doses continue to sit on pharmacy shelves as officials struggle to deliver them to those most in need, including healthcare workers and those living in nursing homes. Only about 14% of vaccines distributed to long-term care facilities have been given to residents, even as deaths continue to climb for this population (NPR). Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost infectious disease expert, estimates that vaccinations in the U.S. will soon reach 1 million per day. However, other experts say that to do so, states need more federal funding, increased staffing, and a more cohesive national vaccination plan (ABC). Bonus Read: “How Experts Say the Federal Government Can Speed Up COVID-19 Vaccinations,” (ABC).

U.S. Surgeon General Tells States to Begin Vaccinating Lower Priority Groups

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told states on Tuesday not to be too rigid in following Covid-19 vaccine prioritization guidelines (NYT). According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, frontline healthcare workers and those in nursing homes should receive the vaccine first, followed by people over 75 and other essential workers. However, Dr. Adams said that if states found insufficient demand among healthcare workers, they should move quickly to vaccinate people down the priority list rather than waiting for those workers to be vaccinated first. He also advised moving vaccines to locations with higher demand if necessary.

“We need to continue to do a better job of matching up supply and demand at the local level,” Dr. Adams remarked, acknowledging the slower-than-anticipated rollout. States such as Texas and Florida have already begun offering vaccines to people 65 and older and to those with certain medical conditions. Other states, such as New York, are not ready to move on to other priority groups, saying that the slow rollout has been due to inefficiencies in the system, not due to medical workers declining the vaccine.

Los Angeles County is Running Out of Hospital Beds, Oxygen; EMS Told Not to Transport Patients with Low Chances of Survival

Los Angeles County hospitals are currently treating 7,600 Covid-19 patients, with 21% of those being cared for in intensive care units (CNN, WaPo). The influx is beginning to overwhelm hospitals. According to County Supervisor Hilda Solis, “hospitals are declaring internal disasters and having to open church gyms to serve as hospital units.”

Last week, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency issued a memo to ambulance drivers instructing them not to transport people to the hospital if they are deemed to have little chance of survival. The order applies to patients who have suffered from cardiac arrest and who show no signs of breathing or pulse after resuscitation attempts. Patients who are transported to the hospital may face hours-long wait times for an open bed, even as medical systems work hard to direct ambulances to the hospitals with the most capacity. 

Due to shortages of supplemental oxygen, ambulance crews have also been told not to administer oxygen to patients unless oxygen saturation levels drop below 90%. Last week, a “task force on oxygen” was created to try to keep oxygen tanks filled and supplied to hospitals most in need. Health officials fear the post-holiday surge in Covid-19 cases could make the situation even worse. Dr. Marc Eckstein, head of the Los Angeles Fire Department EMS Bureau, said that the “next four-to-six-week period is going to be critical with our system being taxed.”

U.S. to Continue with Two-Dose Vaccination Plan

As Covid-19 cases continue to rise and vaccination efforts proceed more slowly than anticipated, some experts have suggested delaying the second dose of the vaccination and instead trying to deliver at least one dose to as many people as possible. U.K. officials have done just that, deciding last week to prioritize delivering first doses even if it meant there would not be enough to give people a second dose within the recommended time frame. In the U.S., however, top officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have indicated that the U.S. will continue with the two-dose vaccination strategy (WaPo). According to the FDA, the current research “support[s] the use of two specified doses of each authorized vaccine at specified intervals.” Limited data from clinical trials show that a single vaccine dose offers some protection from Covid-19, but it is unclear how long this immunity lasts or exactly how effective this plan would be. 

On Sunday, Dr. Moncef Slaoui floated a plan to administer two half doses of the Moderna vaccine, citing early data suggesting that two half doses may be just as effective as two full doses (NYT). However, the FDA criticized the idea, saying that it was “not rooted solidly in the available science.” Moderna and the National Institutes of Health are conducting analyses on a lower dose regimen, but the researchers said this could take months and may require an additional trial (NYT). For now, the FDA, which would have to approve any vaccine protocol changes, does not intend to make any changes to vaccine dosing recommendations. Bonus Read: “It’s Time to Consider Delaying the Second Dose of Coronavirus Vaccine,” (WaPo).

U.K. Coronavirus Variant Found in New York

A new, more contagious coronavirus strain has begun to surge around the U.K., prompting a nationwide lockdown that began Monday. That variant has now been found in other places around the world, and according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York state health officials have confirmed the state’s first case of the variant in a man living in Saratoga Springs (Politico). The man had not traveled, and the infection appears to have been a result of community spread. The coronavirus variant, first identified in the U.K., has been identified in 33 additional countries, as well as in California, Colorado, and Florida.

India Approves Covid-19 Vaccines from AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech

On Sunday, India approved its first two coronavirus vaccines, one from AstraZeneca and Oxford University and the other from local company Bharat Biotech (Reuters). India, which has recorded more coronavirus infections than any other country except the United States, will begin its immunization efforts shortly and expects to administer 300 million vaccines by mid-summer. Although the Bharat Biotech vaccine has been found to be safe and to produce a strong immune response, efficacy data is not yet available. Vaccination efforts are expected to prioritize the AstraZeneca vaccine while administering the locally-developed vaccine under more stringent conditions.

South African Coronavirus Mutation Unlikely to Subvert Vaccine, Experts Say

British scientists expressed concern Monday that currently authorized Covid-19 vaccines might be less effective against a Coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa (Reuters). Although many coronavirus mutations have been identified so far, this one raised concerns because the mutation is in a part of the spike protein thought to be important for the neutralizing antibody response. However, the South African researchers who identified and have been studying the variant said that the vaccines induce a broad immune response that does not depend on just one portion of the spike protein. Dr. Richard Lessells, an expert at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, which played a large role in identifying the variant, said that “although these mutations may have some effect, they are very unlikely to completely negate the effect of the vaccines.”

Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence Growing, According to USA TODAY

A USA TODAY analysis released on Tuesday indicates that Americans are increasingly willing to accept a Covid-19 vaccine. The analysis pooled dozens of surveys and found that around 60% of respondents in recent weeks have said they would get a Covid-19 vaccine if it were available to them now, compared with a low of about 50% in September. The exact percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated in order to end the pandemic is unknown, but experts estimate the number to be around 80%. Many experts have emphasized the need for information campaigns about Covid-19 vaccines, particularly among groups with low rates of vaccine acceptance.

New York Hospital System Northwell Health Has Sued 2,500 Patients Since Start of Pandemic

At the start of the Covid-19 crisis, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered state-run hospitals not to sue patients with overdue medical bills. Most private hospitals also chose to comply with the orders. However, the state’s largest health system, Northwell Health, sued more than 2,500 patients last year, even as many New Yorkers lost income (NYT). On average, the lawsuits demanded $1,700 in unpaid bills, not including interest. According to a report published last year by the Community Service Society, Northwell sued more patients than any other nonprofit New York hospital chain, filing cases against 14,000 patients between 2015 and 2019. Northwell said that most of the bills involved in lawsuits are several years old and that no Covid-19 patients have been sued, adding that the hospital system lost money over the last year. A group of state legislators introduced a bill last year that would increase transparency in billing and limit hospitals’ ability to sue patients, saying that the continued lawsuits during the pandemic indicated the importance of such legislation.

Bonus Reads: “What it Takes to Heal From Covid-19,” (NYT); “Pfizer Introduces New Logo Playing Up Role in Drug Creation, (WSJ).

Around the World

World Bank Sees Prospect of a ‘Lost Decade’

The World Bank said on Tuesday that the pandemic is exacerbating a downward trend for global growth that was projected for the decade beginning in 2020. According to the Bank’s semiannual Global Economic Prospects report, the prospect of a “lost decade” ahead is real and can be attributed to “lower trade and investment caused by uncertainty over the pandemic, along with disruptions in education that will hamper gains in labor productivity,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “If history is any guide, unless there is substantial reform, we think the global economy is headed for a decade of disappointing growth outcomes,” Ayhan Kose, the bank’s acting vice president for equitable growth and financial institutions, said in an interview. 

Europe

Britain Enters Third Lockdown as One in 50 Residents Have Coronavirus

Britain began its third lockdown on Tuesday in what the government is calling the last major national effort to defeat the spread of the coronavirus before mass vaccinations can bring an end to the pandemic (Reuters). Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that 1.1 million people had been vaccinated in England and 1.3 million across the United Kingdom but that the vaccinations weren’t enough to have an effect on transmission rates yet. On Tuesday the U.K. recorded more than 60,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time (BBC). According to England’s chief medical officer, one in 50 people in England are estimated to have recently been infected with the virus (NYT). Johnson announced the new lockdown late on Monday and said the new highly contagious variant of the virus was spreading so fast that the National Health Service was at risk of being overwhelmed within 21 days. Schools and non-essential businesses were forced to close and the government is telling people to stay in their homes. The government has indicated that the lockdown or at least some of the measures will remain in place until March, with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove saying, “We can’t predict with certainty that we’ll be able to lift restrictions the week commencing the 15 to 22 [February], what we will be doing is everything we can to make sure that as many people as possible are vaccinated so that we can begin progressively to lift restrictions,” Gove told Sky News on Tuesday. “I think it’s right to say that, as we enter March, we should be able to lift some of these restrictions – but not necessarily all” (Guardian). Bonus Read: “UK Hospitals Stagger Under Toll From the New Virus Variant,” (AP).

Germany Extends Lockdown, Toughens Restrictions 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that she and the state premiers had agreed to extend the current hard lockdown by another three weeks, until the end of January, and to put tougher restrictions on social contact in place as well (Reuters). “The measures we have adopted today are drastic,” Merkel said in a news conference after meeting with the state premiers. “They are not just a continuation of what we did before Christmas. Given the situation, they are tougher.” Under the new, extended lockdown rules, members of one household cannot meet more than one person from another household; schools, child care centers, cultural sites and all but essential shops are closed. Merkel and the governors also agreed to limit movement to 15 kilometers from home for people living in areas in which there are more than 200 new infections a week per 100,000 people. It is the first such rule in effect across Germany since the pandemic began (NYT). Strict social restrictions were put in place before Christmas, including closing schools, restaurants, and most shops, but infection and hospitalization rates have continued to climb; seven-day infection rates are currently at 140 per 100,000 people. Vaccination efforts are underway in Germany but have been off to a slow start as they are focused on vaccinating the elderly and others currently residing in care homes. According to the Robert Koch Institute, nearly 265,000 people had been vaccinated as of Monday (AP).

Balkans Left Behind in Europe’s Vaccination Push

As other European countries rush to vaccinate their residents, the Balkan nations have struggled to get access to Covid-19 vaccines from multiple companies and programs and currently lack any firm timeline for the start of national inoculation campaigns. It is becoming clear that Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, home to about 20 million people, will lag far behind the European Union’s 27 nations and Britain in efforts to reach herd immunity by quickly vaccinating a large number of their people (AP). According to the Associated Press, North Macedonian epidemiologist Dragan Danilovski compared the current vaccine situation in the Western Balkans to the inequalities seen during the 1911 sinking of the Titanic. “The rich have grabbed all the available lifeboats, leaving the less fortunate behind,” Danilovski told broadcaster TV 24. Many Balkan nations are hoping that COVAX, a global vaccine procurement agency set up by WHO and global charity groups will assist in obtaining vaccines for them, but so far, it has only secured deals to cover about 20% of a country’s population. Serbia is the only Western Balkan nation to obtain vaccines so far with deliveries from Pfizer-BioNTech and the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine but the doses are not enough to begin mass inoculations. 

Middle East

Israel Leads World in Vaccination Campaigns, Leaves Out Palestinians 

Israel’s vaccination campaign is off to a good start; according to the Economist, “less than three weeks after Israel launched its covid-19 vaccination drive, more than 1.2m of its citizens, about 14% of the population, have received the first of two jabs.” That number is far above the rest of the world’s vaccination efforts; even Bahrain, which comes second in terms of vaccination per person, has vaccinated less than 4% of its population. The U.S. vaccination rate is about 1% (WaPo). By January 9, Israel hopes to have vaccinated nearly 2 million people: two-thirds of those over 60, and most of the country’s medical staff. In fact, Israel’s campaign is working so well that it has run out of doses of the vaccine and health officials are now scrambling to buy more. 

However, Israel’s vaccine count does not include the almost 5 million Palestinians under its control in the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip. Human rights organizations have said that Israel is responsible for vaccinating those populations as well and have called on the country to extend vaccination efforts to those areas (WaPo, Guardian). The Guardian notes that Israel has distributed vaccines to Jewish settlers “deep inside the West Bank” but not to their Palestinian neighbors. Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein acknowledged that it was in Israel’s self-interest to expand the vaccination program to the Palestinian population as thousands of workers enter Israel on a daily basis, but disclaimed any responsibility, saying, “We can’t deny an Israeli citizen a vaccination because we want to help someone else,” he said. “But if there will be extra or a feeling that everyone is feeling safe, then we will.” Gerald Rockenschaub, the WHO chief for the Palestinian territories, said, “Nobody is safe until everyone is safe,” and explained, “It’s in everyone’s interest to ensure that countries that can’t purchase vaccines on the global marketplace have their needs met adequately.” 

Asia

China, Almost Back to Pre-Pandemic Normal, Now Sees Slight Rise in Infections; Won’t Grant Entry to International Coronavirus Experts

China, where the coronavirus pandemic originated, is now one of the safest places in the world in terms of the virus, with fewer than 100,000 infections reported for all of 2020. In contrast, the United States has been reporting more than that every day since early November (NYT). Many “normal” activities are back in full swing, with restaurants and hotels packed and shops full of customers. The Chinese economy will be the only major economy to have grown in the past year. But the success in dealing with the pandemic came at the expense of citizens’ privacy, with the government taking extreme social-control measures at the beginning of the pandemic that are out of bounds for democratic nations. And while some experts believe that China’s ability to deliver on the promise of “prosperity and stability in exchange for its unrelenting grip on political power,” as the New York Times writes, will bolster its image on the world stage, its missteps with the World Health Organization (WHO) may dim its new shine. On Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “very disappointed” that China has still not authorized the entry of a team of international experts to examine the origins of the coronavirus (Reuters).“Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China,” Tedros said, continuing, “I have been in contact with senior Chinese officials and I have once again made it clear the mission is a priority for the WHO.” China has denied trying to cover up its association with the pandemic but some world leaders, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump, have questioned Beijing’s actions at the beginning of the outbreak. Now China is trying to reshape the narrative about when and where the pandemic began even as it works to keep local transmission in check. Chinese authorities said on Tuesday they are stepping up efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus as locally transmitted Covid-19 cases are on the rise near Beijing. The northeastern Hebei province entered “wartime mode” after reporting its first local infections in more than six months (Reuters). 

Thailand Experiences Unexpected Surge in Cases

Thailand reported 527 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, many of them migrant workers who were already isolated, according to the government (AP). Thailand went months with hardly any cases of domestic transmission, but the country is now seeing a sudden surge in virus cases. Field hospitals are being set up in parts of five provinces that have the most cases, and large parts of the country, including the capital Bangkok, are now under various lockdown restrictions. While the restrictions are not as harsh as those imposed in March, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha still implored people to stay home. “We don’t want to lock down the entire country because we know what the problems are, so can you all lock down yourselves?” he said. “This is up to everyone, if you don’t want to get infected just stay home for 14 to 15 days.”

Americas 

Mexico Sets Out Vaccination Plan

On Tuesday Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador set out the government’s plan to vaccinate the country’s population and said the government hoped to inoculate the country’s elderly by the end of March (Reuters). About 44,000 healthcare workers have already been vaccinated using Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, the only one approved in the country so far, but authorities are aiming to ramp up vaccinations in the coming weeks. “We are going to start at the bottom, where the most marginalized people live,” Lopez Obrador told his daily morning news conference. But health experts worry about the logistics of reaching marginalized communities in rural areas that often have threadbare medical services and no way of storing vaccines that require ultra-cold temperatures. 

U.S. Government & Politics

FDA Raises Concerns Over Covid-19 Test Used by Congress

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a notice on Monday warning that the Curative SARS-CoV-2 test carries a high risk of false negatives (Politico). The Curative test, which is used widely by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, a laboratory-based test that is generally considered to be highly accurate. The FDA did not specify how often false negatives (a negative reading in an infected individual) occur with the Curative test. Dr. Brian Monahan, the Capitol physician, said that more information would become available in the coming days. The warning about the accuracy of the test has prompted worries among members of Congress, who will be required to vote in person at the start of the 117th Congress.

9th Circuit Court Appears Skeptical of Church Limitations as it Weighs California’s Orders

The 9th Circuit Court appears skeptical of California Governor Gavin Newsom's order banning indoor church services, according to a report in Politico on Monday (Politico). Politico writes, “Judge Morgan Christen, an Obama appointee, expressed agreement with Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, a Reagan appointee, that aspects of the so-called blueprint Newsom announced last April are likely unconstitutional under standards the Supreme Court set out in a 5-4 decision in November about New York's limits on religious observation.” Even so, Politico notes, “a majority of the judges on the case sounded unlikely Monday to immediately reverse tighter stay-at-home restrictions imposed last month due to a record surge in infections.”

U.S. Economy

2020 Auto Sales Expected to Hit Lowest Point in Nearly a Decade

The U.S. auto industry expects to log 2020 as having the lowest number of sales in almost a decade, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday (WSJ). The Journal reports, “Analysts from several research firms expect U.S. vehicle sales to total 14.4 million to 14.6 million in 2020, which would be down roughly 15% from a year earlier and the lowest level since at least 2012. The decline would snap an unprecedented five-year stretch in which sales topped 17 million vehicles annually.” On Tuesday, GM announced that its sales declined 11.8% but reported a fourth quarter increase in pickup truck and SUV sales. Toyota reported an 11.3% drop in sales. Meanwhile Nissan Motor Co. reported the highest drop at 33%. Bucking the larger trend, Tesla’s U.S. sales rose about 15% according to the market research firm Motor Intelligence (Tesla does not report separate U.S. sales numbers).

Opioid Use, Surging Amid the Pandemic, Hits Construction Industry

Opioid use, which has surged amid the pandemic, is hitting the construction industry hard, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday (WSJ). The Journal reports, “The construction industry, already facing a shortage of manual labor, has been hit particularly hard. Bricklayers, carpenters and laborers carry heavy loads and perform the same tasks day in and day out, leading to injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, strained shoulders and bad backs. Seeking relief, workers can get hooked on strong prescription drugs such as fentanyl, oxycodone and morphine, and street drugs like heroin.” One Pittsburgh area construction superintendent who is himself in recovery from opioid use, Mark St. Cyr, told the Journal, “If I’m supervising 10 guys, two or three will be using almost every day.” In addition, to the human cost, the Journal notes that opioid use is believed to have an impact on the industry’s productivity, writing, “In a 2019 report by Barclays Research that examined data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the bank’s analysts said that opioid use in the U.S. has made workers in the industry less productive and has increased costs to the industry.”

Bonus Read: “Voices From the Front Lines of America’s Food Supply,” (NYT). 

U.S. Society

Colleges Adjust Spring Schedules Amid Covid-19 Surges

Colleges across the country are once again adjusting their semester schedules, this time for the Spring, as the surging number of Covid-19 cases continues to disrupt their opening plans (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal reports that on Monday, Syracuse University, in New York, scrapped its original plan to open on January 25th and now plans to open two weeks later. The university’s chancellor Kent Syverud stated, “It has become increasingly clear that the next several weeks will likely be among the most difficult our country and Central New York will experience since the onset of the pandemic.” The University hopes that a new opening date of February 8 will help prevent further spread as people return from the holidays. Syracuse University is not alone in making such changes. The Journal reports, “Since mid-December, the University of Colorado Boulder, Old Dominion University and more than a dozen other schools have updated their academic calendars or planned mode of instruction in light of the continuing health crisis,” adding, “Mississippi State University delayed its spring term by five days, to Jan. 11, acknowledging that some students may not have stayed isolated during the holiday break.” The adjustments in some ways mirror the disruption and changes that came as schools began the Fall semester while facing the pandemic.

Police Provide Further Details on Wisconsin Pharmacist Alleged to Have Intentionally Tampered with Vaccines

Police have provided further detail in the case of Steven Brandenburg, a 46-year-old Wisconsin pharmacist who is accused of intentionally tampering with vials of the Moderna vaccine rendering them useless (NYT). On Monday, the New York Times reported that the police stated, “Brandenburg admitted to doing this intentionally, knowing that it would diminish the effects of the vaccine” and that according to the police, Brandenburg was a “an admitted conspiracy theorist” who believed the vaccine would change people’s DNA and harm them. Brandenburg was arrested on December 31 on charges of reckless endangerment five days after the vials were discovered sitting outside of the refrigerator in which they are stored. Adam Gerol, the prosecutor in the case, described Brandenburg as “pretty cooperative” and added “he expressed that he was under great stress because of marital problems.” According to Gerol, he had also previously brought a gun to his work twice, concerning his co-workers. Brandenburg was also undergoing a divorce. On Monday, prosecutors suggested they might reduce the charges from a felony to a misdemeanor if the vials prove to still be usable.

Analysis & Arguments

Two professors of epidemiology argue that the media and conventional wisdom have been too dismissive about the risk schools pose for transmitting coronavirus, but maintain that it is still important to work to reopen schools (WaPo).

Lawrence Wright explores the year that was 2020: “The Plague Year” (New Yorker).

Tom McTague writes on Britain’s failures in responding to the pandemic (Atlantic).

Jay Caspian Kang examines the lessons from San Francisco’s hyperlocal response to the pandemic (New Yorker).

 Readers can send in tips, critiques, questions, and suggestions to coronavirusbrief@newamerica.org.

The Brief is edited by David Sterman and Emily Schneider with Jessica Scott and Senior Editor Peter Bergen.

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