Coronavirus Daily Brief - September 14, 2020, Brief Issue 92

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September 14, 2020 - Brief Issue 92

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

COVID-19 and Younger Americans: What a New Study Finds (Health & Science)

Enrollment in Clinical Trials of Convalescent Plasma Threatened by Politicization of the Treatment; NYT: Trump Called NIH Director to Demand Approval Before Republican Convention (Health & Science)

France’s New Case Count Eases on Sunday After Record-Setting Saturday (Around the World)

Nearly Half of Russians Say No to Any Vaccine in New Poll (Around the World)

Czech Republic Reports Its Largest Daily Increase (Around the World)

India Reports Low Mortality Rate, Raising Doubts Over Statistics’ Accuracy (Around the World)

Jakarta to Ban Patients From Home Quarantine As Lockdown Returns (Around the World)

Israel Announces Three-Week Lockdown to Begin on Rosh Hashanah (Around the World)

Saudi Arabia to Begin Allowing Some International Travel (Around the World)

Officials: Trump Administration Interfered with CDC Reports on Coronavirus (U.S. Politics & Government)

Polls Suggest the Economy Carries Less Weight in 2020 Election (U.S. Politics & Government)

Emergency Unemployment Aid Running Out (U.S. Economy)

Remote Schooling Out of Reach for Many West Virginians Without Internet Access (U.S. Society)

Health & Science

There have been 6,520,604 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 194,084 people have died (Johns Hopkins). Around 2,451,406 people have recovered, and the United States has conducted 88,819,861 tests. Worldwide, there have been 29,026,240 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 924,643 deaths. At least 19,644,664 people have recovered from the virus.

United States Sees Highest Increase in New Coronavirus Cases in Over a Week, Highest COVID-19 Deaths in Over Two Weeks; University and College Town Coronavirus Cases Surge Across the Country; Wildfire Smoke May Increase Lung Susceptibility to Coronavirus Infection

The United States recorded its highest new coronavirus case count in over a week, at 47,643, on Friday, and recorded its highest number of COVID-19-related deaths in over two weeks, at 1,215 (Fox Business, Bloomberg). On Sunday, the number of new cases dropped to 33,369 (NYT). As we noted in a brief from last week, White House Coronavirus Task Force Member Anthony Fauci said that the United States’ daily increase in new coronavirus cases is sitting around 40,000, but needs to significantly decrease in order for the country to stabilize. Further, CNN reports, Fauci said that the United States will likely “not return to pre-coronavirus life until the end of next year.” University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) director Christopher Murray is worried about how the colder months will drive U.S. case numbers up. “When we look ahead into the winter with seasonality kicking in, people becoming clearly less vigilant, you know mask use is down, mobility is up in the nation, you put all those together and we look like we're going to have a very deadly December ahead of us in terms of toll of coronavirus,” said Murray.

North and South Dakota’s coronavirus cases are “growing faster than anywhere else in the nation,” reports the Los Angeles Times, “fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic.” The positivity rate in North Dakota as of Sunday is 5.29 percent with a cumulative positivity rate of 7.13 percent (ND Health). The state’s seven-day rolling average of new cases per 100,000 residents stood at 257.87 on Sunday. On Sunday, South Dakota registered 201 new coronavirus cases, with a testing positivity rate of 10.3 percent and a total testing positivity rate of 8.6 percent (SD Health). On September 11, South Dakota recorded 240 new cases. The Los Angeles Times reports, “Over 1,000 students at the states’ four largest universities — University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University and University of South Dakota — have had to leave campus to quarantine after being exposed to the virus, according to data released by the schools.” There are no statewide mask requirements in either North or South Dakota. Missouri and Iowa have also seen an increase in new cases per capita reports the New York Times. Missouri’s seven-day rolling average as of September 11 was 216, and Iowa’s was 212.

As we noted in a brief from last week, several universities and college towns across the United States are managing outbreaks of the virus. Each university has its own individualized prevention and monitoring protocols, and some have moved to either a hybrid model for learning or have moved completely online. For those that have continued in-person learning, some have rigorous testing campaigns for students, and others do not. Axios notes that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tests its students twice a week and still has seen a significant surge in new cases after students continued to attend parties. The university anticipated up to 9,000 students possibly socializing in larger groups, but didn’t anticipate that they wouldn’t isolate after testing positive for the coronavirus, would continue to attend parties, or would even attempt to hack the university’s coronavirus app (Bloomberg, NYT). The university has now implemented several changes in its policy, from testing those in group fraternity houses three times each week to texting instead of calling students.

Ingham County Health Department, where Michigan State University is located, has suggested that students self-quarantine to manage an outbreak in the country. Since August 24, at least 342 individuals have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Ingham County Health Officer Linda S. Vail said of the outbreak, “I am concerned about the health and safety of the MSU community, and importantly, I am seriously concerned that unchecked transmission locally will affect the health and safety of all Ingham County residents. If we do not slow the spread immediately, we will be dealing with the consequences across the county for months to come” (Detroit News). Lafayette County, where the University of Mississippi is located, has one of the highest rates of coronavirus infection per capita in the entire United States in the last two weeks, at 1,053 cases per 100,000 people (USA Today). The University of Mississippi has increased student testing, as well as randomized testing. Further, USA Today reports that “Of the 25 hottest outbreaks in the U.S., communities heavy with college students represent 19 of them.” The worst recorded area is in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where James Madison University is located. For every 100,000 residents, the county has 1,562 coronavirus cases.

Some states are faring better with coronavirus testing. A new analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that Alaska, during the summer, “was testing more people per capita than any other state in the U.S…It currently ranks No. 2, behind Rhode Island, and has the nation’s lowest Covid-19 deaths per capita.” Because the state’s population is so spread out, the local government contracted a 3-D printing company to help manufacture plastic swabs for coronavirus tests. Alaska ran its own testing system as a result, and has also started using rapid tests and has trained individuals with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to help with testing capabilities.

Smoke from wildfires blazing across multiple U.S. Western states is worrying doctors as the coronavirus remains a pressing concern in the country. According to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Brad Spellberg, “Multiple studies have shown a correlation between higher levels of pollution in the air and greater spread and severity of Covid-19 cases,” adding, “Some studies have also shown that exposure of lung tissue to pollution may increase susceptibility to viral infections” (CNN). What’s more, the smoke can irritate lung tissue, which can result in susceptibility to lung infections, notes Cedars-Sinai Hospital infectious disease specialist Rekha Murthy. Doctors are worried that because of the thick smoke, individuals will spend more time indoors instead of outdoors, which could yield virus spread if people come into regular contact with individuals outside of their “immediate household.” Bonus Read: “Hospitals Prepare for ‘Nightmare’ Scenario of Flu and Coronavirus Striking at Same Time,” (WaPo).

COVID-19 and Younger Americans: What a New Study Finds

A research letter from Harvard University, published in JAMA Internal Medicine and penned by seven doctors, highlighted that out of 3,222 young adult Americans between the ages of 18-34 (and not pregnant) who were hospitalized with COVID-19, 2.7 percent (88) died, one out of five needed intensive care, and one out of 10 required the use of a ventilator (NYT). Further, three percent of those patients who survived the disease (99) “could not be sent home from the hospital and were transferred to facilities for ongoing care or rehabilitation,” writes the New York Times. JAMA Deputy Editor Mitchell H. Katz, also a doctor, wrote an editorial that aligned with the research letter, noting that the research “establishes that Covid-19 is a life-threatening disease in people of all ages and that social distancing, facial coverings, and other approaches to prevent transmission are as important in young adults as in older persons.” According to the Harvard data, the average age of the 3,222 individuals was 28.3 years-old, and 57.6 percent (1,849) were men, and 57 percent (1,838) were Black or Hispanic. Further, 36.8 percent (1,187) were considered obese, 24.5 percent (789) were considered morbidly obese, 18.2 percent (588) were diabetics, and 16.1 percent (519) had hypertension (JAMA). Scott D. Solomon, lead author of the letter and Harvard University Professor of Medicine (also affiliated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts) said of the findings, “We talk a lot about how young people can transmit the disease to others who are more vulnerable, but we want to make the point that some young people — it’s not a huge number compared to those getting infected — but a finite number are going to have serious consequences of this disease” (NYT). Bonus Read: “Seeking the Causes of Post-Covid Symptoms, Researchers Dust off Data on College Students with Mononucleosis,” (STAT).

Enrollment in Clinical Trials of Convalescent Plasma Threatened by Politicization of the Treatment; NYT: Trump Called NIH Director to Demand Approval Before Republican Convention

To know if convalescent plasma actually helps COVID-19 patients, researchers need to conduct randomized clinical trials. To conduct trials, they need participants to volunteer. However, enrolling these volunteers is more difficult now that news coverage of the treatment is increasingly politicized (WaPo). President Trump’s inaccurate claim at the Republican National Convention that convalescent plasma could reduce deaths by 35 percent, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization, resulted in pushback from scientists explaining why the 35 percent statistic is wrong and why evidence for convalescent plasma is inconclusive, because we still lack results from randomized clinical trials (NYT, WaPo, WSJ). Patients who might have been willing to participate in a randomized trial may now be deterred—either by the availability of the treatment (thus negating the benefit of enrolling in a trial where they might receive a placebo instead of the treatment) or by fears of trying an untested medical treatment recommended by President Trump, whose overblown claims about hydroxychloroquine were not borne out by scientific data.

“We know there needs to be more randomized clinical trials and we need that for further efficacy data,” Kate Fry, chief executive of America’s Blood Centers, told the Washington Post. Her organization, a coalition of nonprofit blood donor banks, has the largest government contract to gather plasma from COVID-19 patients. “It’s a real shame that it has gotten politicized the way it has. The comparisons to hydroxychloroquine are unjustified because they are very different products and the safety data is very different.”

Days before the Republican National Convention, President Trump called Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to demand agency’s approval of convalescent plasma, saying, “Get it done by Friday,” the New York Times reported Saturday. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a controversial emergency use authorization, NIH advised that convalescent plasma “should not be considered standard of care” because there was “insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19” as we noted in last Tuesday’s brief (BioCentury). Former senior FDA officials criticized the FDA’s decision, which relied on a study whose results FDA Commission Stephen Hahn overstated (BioCentury). Hanh later recanted unofficially, saying the “criticism is entirely justified” on Twitter but not in an official statement.

Meanwhile, demand for convalescent plasma (if not for participation in randomized clinical trials) remains high, outpacing donations of plasma from recovering patients (Wired). The FDA’s emergency use authorization appears to have encouraged recovering patients to donate, but the “donors are like a needle in a haystack,” says Pampee Young, chief medical officer at the American Red Cross, adding, “not only do you have to be well and qualify as a normal blood donor, but you also have to be recovering from COVID-19.” Bonus Read: “I Learned the Hard Way That a ‘Breakthrough’ Treatment Isn’t Innocuous” (Atlantic).

Vaccine Clinical Trials: AstraZeneca Phase III Trial Restarted in the U.K. but Still on Hold in Other Countries; Pfizer Expanding its U.S. Phase III Trial from 30,000 to 44,000 Participants; China Starts Phase I Trial of Nasal-Spray Vaccine; Merck Starts Phase I Trial in Belgium

AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced Saturday that they restarted their Phase III coronavirus vaccine trial in the U.K. after an independent review by the United Kingdom Medicines Health Regulatory Authority (Bloomberg, NYT). The trial has not resumed in the United States, India, Brazil, or South Africa, although Brazil’s health regulator said Saturday it was considering the trial’s restart. AstraZeneca did not give details about the patient whose symptoms led to the suspension of its global clinical trials or data to support its decision to resume. As we covered in last Thursday’s brief, AstraZeneca followed standard safety protocols and suspended its global Phase III coronavirus vaccine trial Tuesday because of a single participant in the U.K. whose symptoms might indicate a disease, transverse myelitis, so that an independent board could investigate whether those symptoms were linked to the vaccine under trial.

Also on Saturday, Pfizer announced it expected to reach its enrollment of 30,000 participants in its United States Phase III trial next week and submitted a proposal to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the trial from 30,000 to 44,000 participants to increase diversity among participants (CNN, NYT, STAT, WaPo, WSJ). Expanding the trial could also reduce the time needed to yield definitive data. Pfizer reiterated the possibility of conclusive trial results by the end of October (Axios, Bloomberg, Fox Business). Pfizer’s vaccine has a chance to be one of the first approved, but delivery of their vaccine, which must be kept at 94 degrees below zero, holds special challenges (ABC).

Scientists have called for greater transparency from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and other vaccine developers on their trial protocols and data, especially because the federal government holds billion-dollar contracts with these companies (NYT). The U.K.’s RECOVERY trial, which has already yielded strong data on the steroid dexamethasone and other treatments, has published its trial protocols.

China approved a Phase I trial in humans for a nasal spray vaccine candidate (Bloomberg, Fox, Hill). As we noted in July 16’s brief, nasal spray vaccines can trigger an immune response directly in the cells that line the nose, mouth, digestive tract, and lungs, which may help shut down a respiratory virus more quickly (NYT, NPR). However, nasal vaccines have their own complications and may take longer to develop than more traditional options. Maryland-based Altimmune is developing a nasal vaccine candidate, and hopes to begin a Phase I trial in the fourth quarter of this year.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck has started a Phase I trial of a vaccine candidate in Belgium, the Wall Street Journal reports, with plans to complete the trial in April 2022, but could produce conclusive results earlier. As we noted in earlier briefs, Merck and its CEO Kenneth Frazier have consistently emphasized safety over speed (Bloomberg, Financial Times). Bonus Reads: “What We Know About the C.D.C.’s Covid-19 Vaccine Plans” (NYT); “The Ethics of Pausing a Vaccine Trial in the Midst of a Pandemic” (STAT); “‘An Uncharted Situation for All of Us’: From Shipping Containers to Security Concerns, a Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Chain Takes Shape” (STAT); and “Why Are So Many Americans Hesitant To Get A COVID-19 Vaccine?” (NPR).

U.S. Changes Coronavirus Screening Policy for International Airline Passengers; Dozens of Reagan National Airport Workers May Have Been Inadvertently Exposed to the Coronavirus After Attending a Church Service in August

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States plans to remove enhanced coronavirus screening requirements for international travelers (CDC, Axios, Hill). Instead, a press release states that the CDC will move to “other public health measures” that “focus on the individual passenger.” For example, the CDC highlights: “pre-departure, in-flight, and post-arrival health education for passengers; robust illness response at airports; voluntary collection of contact information from passengers using electronic means as proposed by some airlines to avoid long lines, crowding and delays associated with manual data collection; potential testing to reduce the risk of travel-related transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 and movement of the virus from one location to another; country-specific risk assessments to assist passengers in making informed decisions about travel-related risk; enhancing training and education of partners in the transportation sector and at United States ports of entry to ensure recognition of illness and immediate notification to CDC; and post-arrival passenger recommendations for self-monitoring and precautions to protect others, with enhanced precautions, including staying home to the extent possible for 14 days for people arriving from high-risk destinations.” Airline trade company Airlines for America spokeswoman Katherine Estep told the New York Times, “We continue to support spending scarce screening resources where they can best be utilized and, given the extremely low number of passengers identified by the C.D.C. as potentially having a health issue, agree that it no longer makes sense to continue screening at these airports.” Columbia University National Center for Disaster Preparedness director Jeff Schlegelmilch told Bloomberg that the United States not instituting a mandatory quarantine for passengers from countries with high coronavirus infection rates could increase an influx of new cases coming into the country.

A new Washington Post report says that “Dozens of workers at Reagan National Airport may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus after attending services at an Alexandria church last month.” The exposure was not identified until the week of August 21, reports the Post, but exposure likely occurred somewhere between August 14-17. Airport workers who attend the church “may have continued going to their jobs because they were unaware they’d been exposed – potentially endangering co-workers and airport customers.” According to Service Employees International Union affiliate 32BJ SEIU, airport workers who could have been exposed worked in food service, baggage, and wheelchair assistance at Reagan. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) officials stated they had not heard of any coronavirus cases for those employees who attended the church, but also noted that those employees were not self-quarantining after attending services. The Post notes that the MWAA numbers could be inaccurate because they do not include contract airport workers. Virginia permits religious services below 250 people, and also requires masks and social distancing (Commonwealth of Virginia). Over 7,000 residents in the greater Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area have died from COVID-19 (WaPo).

New U.S. CDC Report Finds “Adults With Positive SARS-CoV-2 Test Results Were Approximately Twice as Likely to Have Reported Dining at a Restaurant,” but Study Had Multiple Limitations

A new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report found that “Adults with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results were approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results” (CDC). Three-hundred fourteen adults 18 years-old and above who received a SARS-CoV-2 test between July 1-29 across 11 outpatient testing or health care centers in California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington were included in the research. One-hundred fifty-four of those tested positive, and 160 tested negative (CNN). The researchers studied the social habits of those individuals, from mask wearing to their recreational activities, such as dining at a restaurant or going to the gym, etc. According to the analysis, 42 percent who tested positive “reported having close contact with at least one person known to have Covid-19, compared with 14% of those who tested negative -- and most of the close contacts, 51%, were family members,” reports CNN. Further, “71% of the adults with Covid-19 and 74% of those who tested negative reported always using a face covering while in public.” There appeared to be no “significant differences” for positive or negative tested individuals for activities such as grocery shopping, working from an office, going to a gym or salon, using public transit, or even attending a religious service. For those who did test positive, they were “almost twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results” (CIDRAP). In response to the study, the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) wrote that there were weaknesses in the research. Some of the issues AFDO identified were not differentiating between indoor and outdoor dining and that the 10 states used had “greatly varying restrictions on restaurants during the potential period of potential exposure” (AFDO). Last week, the CDC updated its guidelines for dining.

Around the World

Americas

Cuba Shuts Down Inter-Provincial Travel as Virus Spreads Outside Havana

Cuban authorities announced on Saturday that the government is shutting down all inter-provincial transportation and extending lockdown restrictions in Havana as the island nation attempts to stop the disease from spreading outside the capital. The country began returning to relatively normal conditions at the end of June as authorities largely succeeded in containing the initial wave. But a spike in Havana that began in August triggered a return to lockdown conditions in the capital on September 1. Havana’s new wave of infections has yet to subside, with 200 cases reported in the city last week. New outbreaks have also recently been reported outside Havana, with 28 new cases reported in central Cuba’s Ciego de Avila on Saturday following a week of increased strain on the province’s health care system. Last week, 100 patients in Ciego de Avila were moved to neighboring Camaguey province to free up hospital space. Most of Cuba’s provinces, however, have thus far remained free of community spread since the current spike began last month. Cuba’s total case count stands at 4,684 with 108 deaths (Reuters).

Europe

France’s New Case Count Eases on Sunday After Record-Setting Saturday

France’s daily new case count fell to 7,183 infections on Sunday after experiencing a record 10,561 new cases on Saturday (France 24). Saturday’s record surpassed a record set two days earlier on Thursday, which saw 9,843 new cases before dipping slightly on Friday. Doctors warned against private gatherings in a column published Sunday in the Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. ”After the joy of reuniting this summer, it's time to be careful in the private world," wrote the doctors. "The smaller a room, the more people it contains, the less airy it is, the more you increase the risks.” But despite seeing record-setting days in the past week, the number of patients in intensive care is still far lower than the peaks seen at the start of the pandemic. While the infection rates have risen in all age groups, young adults have seen a disproportionately higher increase. France has designated 42 “red zone” regions, which include Paris, Lyon and most of the Mediterranean coastline, for strict public health measures and enforcement (BBC).

Nearly Half of Russians Say No to Any Vaccine in New Poll

Almost half of Russians polled said they will never accept a coronavirus vaccination. In a survey conducted by the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, 45.6 percent of polled Russians said they would not accept a vaccine regardless of its origin. The number of respondents saying they would opt out of a vaccination rose from 37.7 percent in a June survey conducted by the same university. Only 13.2 percent of respondents said they would be willing to vaccinate, with another 19 percent saying they would prefer to wait until next year to decide. The same survey also showed 43.4 percent of respondents believing the pandemic to be either exaggerated or “invented,” up from 32.8 percent in late May. Russia last month was the first country in the world to approve a vaccine for public use despite the drug, known as Sputnik V, still being in the early phases of testing. Experts around the world have derided the vaccine’s quick turnaround, arguing that it was declared safe and effective far too early in the trials. With more than a million cases, Russia has the world’s fourth-largest coronavirus outbreak (The Moscow Times).

Czech Republic Reports Its Largest Daily Increase

The Czech Republic on Sunday reported 1,541 new infections, its third consecutive day of record daily increases, amid a new surge of COVID-19 in the central European nation. The country currently has had the third-fastest spread in Europe, with 94 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, over the past 14 days. For the past five days, new daily infections have exceeded 1,000 people. Epidemiologist Roman Prymula, the government’s commissioner for science and research in healthcare, said on a Czech television station Sunday that the pandemic’s much feared second wave had arrived in the country. Prime Minister Andrej Babis called for calm on Sunday, pointing out the country’s low mortality rate while imploring people to maintain public health measures. During the initial outbreak at the pandemic’s start, the Czech Republic was one of Europe’s least-affected countries with daily new cases never exceeding 377 infections. It has now seen a total of 35,401 cases with 453 deaths (Reuters).

Asia-Pacific

India Reports Low Mortality Rate, Raising Doubts Over Statistics’ Accuracy

India, the country with the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak, has reported one of the world’s lowest mortality rates as experts question whether the official data tells the whole story. With a mortality rate of 1.7 percent of cases, the statistics appear to show India doing a markedly better job at treating COVID-19 than the United States, with a death rate of 3 percent, or the United Kingdom, with a rate of 11.7 percent. But while the Indian government has lauded the mortality rate as a sign of success, Indian scientists warn that the country has long had problems with accurately counting deaths. Only 86 percent of all deaths in India were even registered with the government prior to the pandemic, community medicine specialist Dr. Hemant Shewade told CNN, while the cause of death was listed in only 22 percent of registered deaths. The problem is particularly pronounced in underserved rural areas, where the majority of deaths never make it into official statistics let alone assigned a cause. India’s bureaucratic problems in registering deaths and their causes has been further exacerbated during the pandemic due to a lack of testing, said Ramanan Laxminarayan, a senior research scholar at Princeton University. With antibody tests suggesting that India may be undercounting cases by a factor 50 to 100, Laxminarayan said that the true number of infections may be closer to 100 million than the official tally of 4.4 million cases and nearly 80,000 deaths (CNN).

Jakarta to Ban Patients From Home Quarantine As Lockdown Returns

Jakarta’s government will force everyone diagnosed with the coronavirus to undergo isolation at state facilities while introducing stronger social distancing measures as Indonesia’s new round of lockdowns begins this week. As of Monday, when the new lockdown goes into effect, self-isolation at home will be strictly banned for anyone diagnosed with the coronavirus, said Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan during a televised press conference on Sunday. Doni Monardo, the head of Indonesia's National COVID-19 Handling Task Force, said asymptotic patients will be housed at hotels in both Jakarta and Bali paid for by the state. The new measures will also close entire office buildings if a case is detected inside the premises rather than just individual workplaces. Only five people will be allowed to work from an office at a time, in line with the new ban on gatherings of more than five in public places. Jakarta, Indonesia’s hardest-hit city, saw its daily new cases count rise above 1,000 at the end of August. Anies warned last week when he announced the new rules that the city’s healthcare system was on the brink of collapse (Jakarta Globe).

Middle East

Israel Announces Three-Week Lockdown to Begin on Rosh Hashanah

The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved a new three-week lockdown to begin on Friday amid a recent surge in coronavirus infections. The new restrictions will see all schools shut down along with non-essential businesses, which reopened in May when the first lockdown was eased. People will also be confined to a 500-meter radius around their homes, although those commuting to work will be exempt. Public religious observances of Rosh Hashanah, which begins on Friday night, in heavily-impacted “red” areas will be limited to up to six prayer groups, composed of up to 10 people each, if held in closed structures. In all other parts of the country, four groups with 25 people each will be permitted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that restricting observance of one of Judaism’s most important holidays is not an attractive decision. "This is not the kind of holiday we are used to. And we certainly won't be able to celebrate with our extended families,” he said. The new lockdown, which is the second since the pandemic’s beginning, will be reevaluated and voted on by the Knesset after two weeks. Israel reported 1,997 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total of active cases to 39,479. The total case count since the pandemic’s beginning stands at 156,823, with 1,126 deaths (Haaretz).

Saudi Arabia to Begin Allowing Some International Travel

Saudi Arabia will begin to ease its ban on international air travel on September 15 for “exceptional categories” of travelers, the nation’s state news agency announced Sunday. Starting on Wednesday, Saudi citizens will be allowed to travel to and from the kingdom if they meet certain criteria. Eligible categories of people include public sector employees and military personnel traveling for work, diplomats posted abroad, private sector and non-profit employees based outside the country, businesspeople tending to international commerce, students studying overseas, sports teams and medical tourists. Citizens of other Gulf Cooperation Council Countries as well as foreigners holding Saudi residency will also be permitted entry provided that they can prove they are coronavirus negative (Saudi Press Agency). Saudi Arabia suspended all international travel in March amid a lockdown that initially included 24-hour curfews in most urban areas. Although authorities eased the lockdown in June, international travel is not planned to return in full force for citizens until New Years Day 2021. Saudi Arabia has recorded a total of 325,651 cases of coronavirus and 4,268 deaths (Reuters).

Bonus Read: “Teachers Unions Around the World Clash with Governments Over Plans for Reopening Schools,” (WaPo).

U.S. Government & Politics

Officials: Trump Administration Interfered with CDC Reports on Coronavirus

Trump administration political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) interfered with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports on the coronavirus, seeking and obtaining the right to review CDC products, Politico reported on Friday (Politico, Axios, NYT, WaPo). Politico writes, “the health department’s politically appointed communications aides have demanded the right to review and seek changes to the CDC’s weekly scientific reports charting the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, in what officials characterized as an attempt to intimidate the reports’ authors and water down their communications to health professionals.” Emails from communications aides for CDC Director Robert Redfield revealed complaints that the CDC’s reports would undermine the Trump administration’s effort to present an optimistic picture of the situation. While CDC officials initially resisted such editing, according to three people familiar with the emails that spoke to Politico, they “have increasingly agreed to allow the political officials to review the reports and, in a few cases, compromised on the wording.” In one email, an aide to Michael Caputo, a Trump campaign figure with no medical experience who was installed as HHS’ spokesperson, accused the CDC of trying to “hurt the President.”

The reports targeted by the emails, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, were described by one former official to The New York Times as “holiest of the holy.” The interference has drawn criticism including from former CDC director Tom Frieden, who tweeted, “If the CDC had been allowed to lead public communication, Americans would have better understood the risk of Covid and how to protect ourselves and our families. We would have saved lives and jobs.” The news of interference in CDC products comes as the Trump administration wrestles with revelations from interviews Trump conducted with Bob Woodward for Woodward’s book Rage in which his private comments on the risk from the virus portrayed it as a far greater danger than his public comments did, and where Trump suggested he intentionally played down the threat in his public commentary.

Polls Suggest the Economy Carries Less Weight in 2020 Election

“It’s the economy, stupid” is a long-standing truism in American politics, but the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that recent polls suggest the economy may carry less weight in people’s decisions regarding the 2020 election than ever before (WSJ). This is partly because peoples’ views are increasingly driven by party affiliation but also because as the Journal puts it, “other issues including the Covid-19 pandemic, leadership style, race and social concerns are factoring heavily in the election choices of voters, diminishing the weight people say they place on the economy.” Reviewing polling on overall approval compared to approval on the economy, the Journal finds that “President Trump is nearly alone in drawing higher economic ratings than overall job approval.” The shift in importance of the economy as an issue may also be shaped by the sudden change from an economy performing well on traditional indicators to “what will likely be recorded as the deepest and shortest downturn after the pandemic hit the U.S.” per the Journal, raising questions regarding how people interpret Trump’s economic legacy.

ICE Deployment to Police D.C. Protests Involved Detainee Transfer that Led to a Coronavirus Outbreak

Over the summer, the Trump administration flew immigration detainees to Virginia in order to enable the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) to police protests in the nation’s capital, and in doing so helped fuel a coronavirus outbreak, according to a report in the Washington Post on Friday citing a current and a former U.S. official (WaPo). According to the Post, “After the transfer, dozens of the new arrivals tested positive for the novel coronavirus, fueling an outbreak at the Farmville, Va., immigration jail that infected more than 300 inmates, one of whom died.” According to the two officials, the transfers were designed to skirt rules on using charter flights when not accompanying detainees. The Department of Homeland Security official cited in the piece stated, “They needed to justify the movement of [Special Response Teams].” For its part, ICE claims the transfer was meant to facilitate social distancing, stating, “ICE transfers detainees due to the operational demands of the detention network. The June 2 transfer of detainees to Farmville was made as part of a national effort to spread detainees across the detention network to facilitate social distancing and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” However, the Post writes, “ICE statistics show the facilities the detainees came from were not near capacity on June 1, when the transfers were arranged. CCA Florence, a jail in Arizona with beds for roughly 550 detainees, was about 35 percent full that day, records show. The facility that appeared most crowded, Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, was about 70 percent full. Farmville was 57 percent full, according to ICE.”

Bonus Read: “The Gun-Toting, Millennial Restaurant Owner Trying to Ride the Covid Backlash to Congress,” (Politico).

U.S. Economy

Emergency Unemployment Aid Running Out

The emergency Lost Wages Assistance program approved by the Trump administration is beginning to run out, according to a report in the Washington Post on Friday (WaPo). The report states, “the Trump administration has begun telling states that the federal government will stop providing them the temporary $300 weekly jobless benefit, which had been a part of a White House executive directive in the weeks after the enhanced federal unemployment benefit of $600 ran out.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides the funding for the aid, projected that it would last no more than six weeks from its initiation in early August, and told some states that the additional benefit would not be provided after the week ending September 5.

United CEO: Air Travel Will Remain Low Until There’s a Vaccine

On Sunday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby stated that he does not expect air travel to rebound until there is a coronavirus vaccine (Politico). Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation” he said, “Our view is, demand is not coming back, people are not going to get back and travel like they did before until there is a vaccine that’s been widely distributed and available to a large portion of the population.” The pandemic has hit the airline industry hard as people stay at home and avoid traveling in close quarters.

Bonus Read: “Pandemic Job Market Has Bright Spots for Recent High School Grads,” (WSJ).

U.S. Society

Remote Schooling Out of Reach for Many West Virginians Without Internet Access

As debates rage over the risks of in-person learning and the effectiveness of alternative remote methods, for many West Virginia students, remote schooling remains out of reach due to a lack of Internet access in the state (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal notes, “In West Virginia, between 30% and 50% of K-12 students don’t have internet access at home, according to the state Department of Education.” Only nine of West Virginia’s 55 counties are currently holding school fully online though the others have adopted a hybrid model that still requires access to the Internet. The state is seeking to rapidly expand access, lifting a $50 million cap on what it can draw from a FCC fund aimed at bringing broadband access to rural areas and setting up almost 850 Wi-Fi hotspots around the state.

First NFL Sunday of the Pandemic Era

On Sunday, the National Football League held its first NFL Sunday of the season and the first since the pandemic (CNN, WaPo). The season commenced with most stadiums empty of spectators and some players opting out of playing due to the pandemic. Given football’s full-contact rules, many expect there to be coronavirus cases over the course of the season. The NFL’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Allen Sills, stated, “We expect to have positive cases” adding, “No matter how careful that we try to be and how many protocols we have in place, we know that this disease remains endemic in our societies and our communities, and it's highly contagious.”

Bonus Read: “Coronavirus Pandemic Could Permanently Change Grocery Shopping,” (Fox).

Analysis & Arguments

In New America’s annual terrorism assessment, brief editors David Sterman, Peter Bergen, and Melissa Salyk-Virk examine how the pandemic has shaped violent extremism in the United States (New America).

Emma Green writes on the evangelists of home schooling and how the pandemic is shaping their activity (Atlantic).

Dyani Lewis discusses how China’s utilization of its military for the coronavirus vaccine race shows the military’s growing research role (Nature).

Josh Quick argues that gene-sequencing in real time during a pandemic can help scientists and medical professionals adapt therapies and vaccines as information is quickly understood about how a virus changes and evolves (STAT).

In Science magazine, several researchers outline how to ethically distribute coronavirus vaccines globally.

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

The Brief is edited by Melissa Salyk-Virk and David Sterman and co-edited by Emily Schneider and Narisara Murray, and Bennett Murray with Brianna Kablack and Senior Editor Peter Bergen.

Read previous briefs here and stream and subscribe to our weekly podcast here.

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