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September 15, 2020 - Brief Issue 93

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

The Coronavirus Daily Brief will be on hiatus the week of September 21st, as New America and ASU host their sixth annual Future Security Forum. The forum will include multiple panels on the security impact of coronavirus with speakers including Helene Gayle, MD, Chair of New America and Member of the Committee on Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus, and Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. A full schedule can be found here and you can register online here.

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Top Headlines

Daily Number of New U.S. Cases Declining Since Late July, Yet U.S. Continues to Lead the World in Number of Coronavirus Cases; New York Reports 38th Straight Day of Testing Positivity Under 1%; Arizona Improving but Universities Harbor Infections; Texas and California Lead the Nation in Number of New Infections, but the Dakotas Have Higher Rates of Infection Per Capita; Wisconsin Facing its Highest Rates of Infection Thus Far (Health & Science)

CDC: Children Can Contract COVID from Childcare Centers and Transmit the Disease to Others; Oxford: Nearly Half of Coronavirus Transmission is from People Without Symptoms (Health & Science)

U.K.’s Recovery Trial Will Test Regeneron’s Experimental Antibody Cocktail against COVID-19 (Health & Science)

Politico: Trump Administration Preparing Untested Data System to Manage Vaccine Distribution, Duplicating Functions of Existing Vaccine Registries (Health & Science)

World Witnesses Record Daily Global Rise In New Coronavirus Cases (Around the World)

England Experiences Lack of Testing Across Top-10 Hotspots (Around the World)

Indian Lawmakers Test Positive For Coronavirus At Start of Parliamentary Session (Around the World)

Jordan Returns to Partial Lockdown to Curb Outbreak (Around the World)

House Democrats to Probe Reports of Political Interference in CDC Reports (U.S. Government & Politics)

American Prisoners Face Twin Crises of Pandemic and Wildfire (U.S. Government & Politics)

Nevada Governor Criticizes Trump for Holding Indoor Rally (U.S. Government & Politics)

Amazon to Hire 100,000 New Employees in the U.S. and Canada (U.S. Economy)

Majority of D.C. Area Workers Unlikely to Return to Offices Until Summer 2021 (U.S. Economy)

Hershey Launches Trick or Treat Pandemic Risk Map (U.S. Society)

Health & Science

There have been 6,555,243 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 194,545 people have died (Johns Hopkins). Around 2,474,570 people have recovered, and the United States has conducted 89,603,688 tests. Worldwide, there have been 29,303,757 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 928,963 deaths. At least 19,880,425 people have recovered from the virus.

Daily Number of New U.S. Cases Declining Since Late July, Yet U.S. Continues to Lead the World in Number of Coronavirus Cases; New York Reports 38th Straight Day of Testing Positivity Under 1%; Arizona Improving but Universities May Harbor Infections; Texas and California Lead the Nation in Number of New Infections, but the Dakotas Have Higher Rates of Infection Per Capita; Wisconsin Facing its Highest Rates of Infection Thus Far

Within the United States, the daily number of new cases has been declining steadily since late July (Vox, WSJ). Some attribute the decline to local, state, or federal action, while others point to evidence of public action as more individuals took up masking and avoided crowded indoor spaces, choosing to have safer, more socially distanced events outdoors, although it is difficult to generalize across a country with such diverse populations and policies at the state and local levels.

To place these gains in context, the United States continues to have the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases globally at over 6.5 million, followed by India at over 4.8 million, Brazil with over 4.3 million, Russia with about 1.1 million, and the remaining 190-odd countries of the world with about 12.3 million combined. Although the U.S. is a developed country with only about 4 percent of the global population, the United States has had about 22 percent of the world’s cases and 22 percent of the world’s deaths from coronavirus (JHU, Worldometer). Former CDC Director Tom Frieden commented, “The US Covid death rate is 5.2 times that of Germany and 85 times that of South Korea,” adding, “We can do better” (Twitter). 

Two key metrics can help us to gauge where the U.S. stands: the testing positivity rate and the incidence rate (the number of new cases per 100,000 people per day, as a rolling seven-day average). Over the last seven days, the United States averaged 8.28% positivity in new tests (Johns Hopkins). The percent of coronavirus tests that are positive can help indicate if the level of testing is adequate, and it can help us understand the spread of the virus (OurWorldinData). “As a rule of thumb,” write two professors of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins, “one threshold for the percent positive being ‘too high’ is 5%”; the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends staying under that target for 14 days before relaxing social distancing guidelines (JHU). Over the last seven days, the United States averaged 10 new cases per 100,000 people per day (Pandemics Explained). For travel to foreign countries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines “low risk” as an incidence rate of 1.5 and “high risk” as more than 3, so at 10 the U.S. more than exceeds that standard for high risk (CDC). While neither of those metrics gives a complete picture, they are more meaningful when considered together. 

In what Atlantic writer Ed Yong has called the “patchwork” of the pandemic (Atlantic), the United States is seeing enormous variation in rates of infection across different states and in different industries. Some states, even those with raging pandemics earlier this year, have successfully controlled their rates of infection, while others are seeing dramatic increases, with colleges becoming the latest professional settings to see increased rates of infection, in addition to nursing homes and meatpacking plants.

New York, once the nation’s hotspot with a positivity rate of almost 37 percent in March, has had its 38th straight day of a COVID-19 infection positivity rate lower than 1% (CNN, JHU, ny.gov). Although 53 school staff members in New York City recently tested positive for the disease, the city is setting up a COVID-19 “Situation Room” for the Department of Education (CNN). Reinforcing scientific messaging, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, "New York's ability to beat back COVID-19 and slow the spread depends on what we do. That's why it's so important to wear a mask, socially distance and wash your hands, and why local governments are critical partners in enforcing state guidance" (ny.gov). New York, with an incidence rate of 3.6, has one of the lowest incidence rates in the United States, after Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont (Pandemics Explained). 

Arizona has reduced its incidence rate from a peak of 70 down to about 5 per 100,000 per day, but its testing positivity remains high, averaging over 7.4  percent over the last week (Covid Tracking Project, JHU, Pandemics Explained). The number of new cases fell 72 percent in August compared to the previous month, reports the Wall Street Journal, writing that Arizona’s “apparent turnaround” contrasts with the other hot-spot states of Florida, California and Texas, “whose conditions have improved but not as much,” with reported cases in those states dropping by “54%, 21% and 29%, respectively, last month.” Arizona’s improvement may stem from several factors, including the governor’s decision “to allow cities, towns and counties to enact more restrictive measures, such as mask mandates” in mid-June, limiting bars to take-out and delivery service and restricting the number of people allowed in restaurants, writes the Journal. These measures, along with the sparse population of rural areas, may have helped slow the spread. However, on Saturday the University of Arizona reported over 1,000 infections, driven by large off-campus parties, according to a university spokesperson (ABC). On Monday, the university asked students living on or near campus to quarantine in a 14-day shelter-in-place order (KOLD). Cases in the surrounding Pima County “started increasing in late August, roughly two weeks after the University of Arizona community returned, prompting the county’s chief medical officer to suggest “we’re in for a little bit of a rough patch here,’” writes the Arizona Daily Star. 

Texas and California are leading the nation in new infections, with Texas reporting 4,260 new cases and California 2,795 (WSJ). However, the raw numbers don’t take into account the large populations in those states. In terms of the number of cases per capita, the Dakotas have the highest rates of new infections, as we noted in Monday’s brief: North Dakota is averaging an incidence rate of 36 new cases per 100,000 people per day with 5.5 percent testing positivity and South Dakota with an incidence rate of about 25 and over 10 percent testing positivity (JHU, JHU, Pandemics Explained). 

In terms of incidence rate, Texas at about 11 and California at about 8 are doing relatively better, but while California’s positivity rate averaged 3.5 percent over the last seven days, Texas’s positivity rate is over 8 percent (JHU, JHU, Pandemics Explained). California’s hospitalization rates have gradually declined to April levels, another indicator that some conditions in the state may be improving (Fox, LA Times). However, Texas in particular has been plagued with problems in its coronavirus data, which public health officials say is decentralized, antiquated, and relies on often delayed, faxed test results. “Inconsistencies and problems with Covid-19 data collection in Texas have clouded the picture of the pandemic’s trajectory in the state, to the point that some residents and officials say they cannot rely on the numbers to tell them what is really going on,” reports the New York Times. Texas health officials announced Monday that they are changing how the state reports the positivity rate: they will now use the date the test was administered rather than the date the health agency receives the test result, which can be weeks or months after the test was given, reports the Texas Tribune. Texas has recorded 14,405 coronavirus deaths, the third highest behind New Jersey and New York, reports CNN, and 681,885 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, the second highest behind California.

Wisconsin is “facing its highest level of new daily cases during the pandemic, averaging more than 1,000 new cases a day in the last week,” and as in many other states, college towns are “driving the troubling surge,” writes the New York Times. At the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, campus police are ramping up patrols of large off-campus parties. The Milwaukee Health Department “said it has received complaints from college students worried about safety, and it was alarmed by activity over Labor Day weekend,” writes ABC.

CDC: Children Can Contract COVID from Childcare Centers and Transmit the Disease to Others; Oxford: Nearly Half of Coronavirus Transmission is from People Without Symptoms

A CDC study of three childcare centers in Salt Lake City, Utah, showed that twelve children infected with the coronavirus appeared to infect at least a dozen more people among the 46 family members they came into contact with, including a mother who had to be hospitalized (CDC, Fox, Nature). The children, ranging in age from eight months to ten years, had no symptoms or only mild ones. The study did not test all the children’s close contacts, so it may have missed additional infections that the study did not capture, the authors say.

In a study of 191 cases of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, researchers at the University of Oxford found that infected people transmitted the coronavirus to others before they felt any symptoms in about 40 percent of transmission events. Further, they transmitted the virus on the day that symptoms appeared or the following day in about 35 percent of transmission events, the authors reported in a preprint manuscript (Nature, medRxiv).

U.K.’s Recovery Trial Will Test Regeneron’s Experimental Antibody Cocktail against COVID-19

The U.K.’s Recovery trial will test Regeneron’s experimental antibody cocktail, the University of Oxford and Regeneron announced on Monday.  Recovery is the world's largest randomized trial of treatments for COVID-19 and has arguably yielded some of the most important results on coronavirus treatments, as we have covered in previous briefs. Researchers plan to test at least 2,000 patients who will receive Regeneron’s treatment, compared to several thousand control patients who will receive the usual standard of care (Bloomberg).

The drug cocktail combines two different antibodies to target different parts of the coronavirus’s spike protein and reduce the chances of “viral escape,” which occurs when a spontaneous mutation allows the virus to evade the treatment, as we have covered in earlier briefs. This approach requires the “unlikely occurrence of two simultaneous mutations” for the virus to escape the drug (Science). Regeneron is testing the antibody therapy as a COVID-19 treatment in two other trials and as a COVID-19 preventative in one trial.

“Novel antivirals and monoclonal antibodies are among the most exciting and promising treatments for COVID-19 because they are specific to the disease, but they are also traditionally the most expensive,” said Nick Cammack, COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator Lead at the U.K’s Wellcome Trust (Science Media Centre). Up until now, the Recovery trial has tested pre-existing drugs, and most notably found that coronavirus patients on ventilators who received the inexpensive steroid dexamethasone had one third fewer deaths, as we covered in our brief of June 16. The study is also testing an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory drug, and convalescent plasma to see if they can improve COVID-19 survival. “This is the first drug actually designed for this disease” that the Recovery trial will test, said Martin Landray, an Oxford professor of medicine who is co-leading the trial (Reuters). Science journalist Kai Kupferschmidt commented that the new treatment seems to signal “a slow move from repurposed drugs to specifically designed ones.” 

As we noted in our brief of August 10, scientists have generated “an explosion of antibody research against COVID-19” (Trends in Pharmacological Science). Antibody therapies could play a critical role in the pandemic because they can act in two ways: like a vaccine, they can potentially prevent infection, and as a treatment, they can speed recovery from COVID-19. At least eight antibody therapies are in human trials and dozens more are in development. Eli Lilly and biotech firm AbCellera are testing an antibody drug in 2,400 staff and residents of nursing homes to see if it can prevent coronavirus infections and, in a separate study, testing if it helps COVID-19 patients improve faster, with results expected as early as September. GlaxoSmithKline, partnering with Vir Biotechnology, is testing their antibody therapy on COVID-19 patients, and AstraZeneca is conducting an early test of its antibody therapy in healthy volunteers. Some antibody therapies might be ready before a vaccine and could help bridge the gap, but they are relatively expensive to produce, so their use may need to be prioritized for protecting vulnerable populations like healthcare workers and the elderly. Even if they prove effective in trials, initial supplies will be limited, likely a few hundred thousand doses, which would fall far short of treating the tens of millions of Americans who might benefit (CNN). 

Bonus Reads: “When Will There Be a Covid-19 Cure? The Body Is Still the Best Virus-Killer” (Bloomberg); “Can Plasma and Antibody Therapies Help as the World Awaits a Covid-19 Vaccine” (FT); Drug Repurposing: How Often Does It Work? (In the Pipeline); “Still Wanted: A Treatment for the Coronavirus” (Politico).

Politico: Trump Administration Preparing Untested Data System to Manage Vaccine Distribution, Duplicating Functions of Existing Vaccine Registries

To organize the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine, should one be approved, the Trump administration is preparing a “new, unproven data system that threatens to bypass state trackers that have long been mainstays in public immunization programs,” writes Politico. Funded by a sole-source contract for almost $16 million to Deloitte Consulting, the vaccine management system duplicates aspects of information systems called vaccine registries that performed similar functions for decades and have the benefit of experience and familiarity with local health clinics as well as fine-tuning over the years. Earlier this summer, the Trump administration rolled out a new coronavirus case data system at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that was intended to replace the one long in use by states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the new system’s multiple problems and the subsequent reversion to the prior system at the CDC, as we covered in several previous briefs, do not inspire confidence in the new vaccine management system. The software for the vaccine management system is not yet available and state public health officials and health care providers have not had a change to preview or test the system, although the CDC says an initial version of the software may be available next month. State public health experts are also concerned that the new system will require extensive new data reporting. “It’s this bizarre, murky, muddy situation,” said Rebecca Coyle, executive director of the American Immunization Registry Association, told Politico. Bonus Read: “The Key to Efficient Vaccine Distribution: Start Preparing Early” (STAT).

Bonus Read: “Who Pays for Covid-19 Medical Care? That Depends on How (or if) You Are Insured” (WSJ)

Around the World

World Witnesses Record Daily Global Rise In New Coronavirus Cases

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Monday that it had recorded the greatest daily rise in coronavirus cases with 307,930 new diagnoses in 24 hours, up from its previous record a week earlier on September 6. India is currently experiencing the greatest rise at 94,372 new cases, followed by the U.S. with 45,523 and Brazil with 43,718. Europe is also seeing rising case-loads, with countries across the continent experiencing record or near-record daily increases in the past week. France and Spain’s newest spikes are among the fastest moving in Europe, with both having experienced record-breaking days of new cases last week. The WHO also warned that Europe can expect to see increases in mortality over the next two months (New Scientist). Elsewhere, Peru, Israel, South Korea and Australia have also seen recent increases. Some regions, such as all of Israel and the Indonesian capital Jakarta, are returning to harsh lockdown measures to stem the tide. Many others are reintroducing new restrictions or at least pausing the rollout of public health relaxations. Altogether, the world has experienced more than 29.4 million cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 932,373 deaths (BBC). 

Europe

England Experiences Lack of Testing Across Top-10 Hotspots

England saw a sudden disappearance of available testing across all of its 10-most impacted hotspots as people attempting to get tests at walk-in centers and drive-thru facilities were simply told that none were available on Monday. While the causes behind the stoppage were not immediately clear, local officials complained that the testing system had gone into “meltdown” over the weekend. In Bolton, which has by far the highest infection rate in England, a mobile testing unit failed to show up on Saturday, leaving dozens of people, many symptomatic, waiting at a car park for hours before giving up. Local leaders have also said that news of a new requirement implemented on Friday for appointments at walk-in centers had not been widely circulated, leading to rejections for testing at seemingly idle testing locations. “The complete lack of courtesy to local authorities when they are changing the rules for testing centers within our boroughs is disgraceful,” said Oldham council leader Sean Fielding. One official told The Guardian that while swabs remained available at the sites, England’s laboratory backlog had grown to the point where people seeking tests were simply being told they were unavailable. The Department of Health and Social Care pushed back against suggestions that testing in these areas had stopped, saying through a spokesperson that “it is wrong to say testing is not available in these areas, and our capacity continues to be targeted where it is needed most” (Guardian).

Bordeaux and Marseille Introduce New Measures To Fight Outbreaks

Authorities in Bordeaux and Marseille have introduced new public health measures to combat the pandemic as both cities emerge as French hotspots. The new restrictions, which are broadly similar in both cities, include limits on public gatherings and sporting events as well as curbs on alcohol sales at bars. Bordeaux regional prefect Fabienne Boccio said at a Monday press conference that offices will be required to tell their workers to stay at home where possible while retirement home residents may only receive two visitors per week. Gendarme and riot police will be deployed to ensure compliance, she added (France 24). The new measures came as both cities saw their cases as a proportion of population rise well past the national average of 75 per 100,000 people, with Marseille having 195 infections per 100,00 inhabitants and Bordeaux having 143 (Guardian). Last Saturday saw France hit a record number of new daily cases at 10,561 cases before falling to 7,183 infections the next day (France 24). 

Germany Outbreak Linked to U.S. Army Civilian Employee

German authorities on Monday blamed a U.S. citizen working at a U.S. Army recreational facility for causing an outbreak at a Bavarian ski resort town. The American woman, whose identity is being withheld, allegedly defied stay-at-home orders to visit multiple bars after returning from a vacation abroad with COVID-19 symptoms. Although told to stay home following a test, she did not self-isolate until receiving the diagnosis. The Edelweiss Lodge, the U.S. Army-operated recreation center in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where the woman worked, has reportedly seen 24 coronavirus cases since the woman returned last week. Garmisch-Partenkirchen has also seen a spike, with 33 cases reported on September 11 alone, as public health restrictions in the town return to fight the spread. Germany has seen a total of 259,000 cases since the pandemic’s start (CNN).

Asia-Pacific 

Indian Lawmakers Test Positive For Coronavirus At Start of Parliamentary Session

Twenty-five Indian lawmakers were barred from entering the parliament building on Monday due to coronavirus infections as the country’s legislature went into session. Members of parliament were required to take tests 72 hours in advance of the beginning of the session, leading to the diagnoses. Among those found to carry the coronavirus was Meenakashi Lekhi, the national spokeswoman for President Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, who announced on Twitter Monday morning that she had tested positive but was otherwise in good health. For those who did enter parliament on Monday, plexiglass partitions greeted them at their seats. Masks were mandatory, while many chose to wear face shields (NDTV). With the infection rate among the 785 lawmakers standing at around 3 percent, the percentage of Indian parliamentarians testing positive was about 10 percent higher than the reported rate of India’s general population (NPR). India has the second largest coronavirus outbreak in the world, with 4.4 million cases since the start. It currently has the world’s fastest spread, with 92,071 new cases reported on Monday. Experts fear the real number could be far higher as large swathes of the country remain underserved by the health care system (CNN).

Bonus Read: “Coronavirus Pandemic Fuelling Plant Poaching in Philippines,” (Guardian).

Middle East and Northern Africa

Jordan Returns to Partial Lockdown to Curb Outbreak 

Jordan will close schools and other indoor public places on Thursday for two weeks in response to a recent spike in new coronavirus cases, the government announced Monday. Places of worship and public markets will also be closed, while restaurants will only be open for take-out. The decision follows a record-high 252 new local cases on Sunday and another 204 on Monday, bringing the total number of cases since March to 3,528 (Jordan Times). “These measures are harsh as they are, but we hope they will reduce infections and prevent a large outbreak that would lead to a total shutdown that would have catastrophic consequences,” said Health Minister Saad Jaber in a televised statement on Monday. The initial lockdown, which was eased in June, had largely contained the pandemic’s first wave in the nation of 10 million people before September’s spike. While the cause of the new outbreak is unclear, it coincided with the new school year and the resumption of International flights (Reuters).

Moroccan Medical Workers Protest Shortages 

Medical workers in Morocco have staged protests in recent days against staff shortages amid North Africa’s largest surge of COVID-19. Intensive care units are currently operating beyond capacity with few doctors and nurses at hand to treat the patients, with long lines of people outside medical centers waiting for treatment. Speaking at a protest last week in Rabat, Anas Qarim, a nurse at a medical center in the city of Meknes, said that just three nurses and two doctors are on hand at his hospital to treat 120 COVID-19 patients. While the Ministry of Health has established field hospitals to raise capacity, Jamal Eddine Kohen, head of the Federation of Intensive Care Doctors, said there simply are not enough doctors and nurses to cope. Morocco has seen more than 1,000 new confirmed cases everyday since July, with a record of 2,430 set on Friday. King Mohammed VI acknowledged last month that the situation “does not leave much room for optimism.” 

In addition to medical workers, the public has also responded angrily to the overstretched healthcare system. Fatima Zahra Ait Lmahjoub of Casablanca, said it took her 12 hours searching at four hospitals for her to find a bed for her sick 71-year-old mother. “My mother was unable to walk or breathe normally… public hospitals didn’t even offer an ambulance and asked me to take her by taxi,” she told Reuters. Brahim Himmi, a rights activist in Marrakech, said sick people are avoiding treatment as confidence in hospitals plummets. “Many people go to hospital only when their symptoms are aggravated, because they don’t trust the already frail health system,” said Himmi, who last month had to wait nine hours to see a doctor after he fell ill with COVID-19. The total case count since the pandemic’s beginning stands at 88,203, with 1,614 deaths (Reuters).

U.S. Government & Politics

House Democrats to Probe Reports of Political Interference in CDC Reports

On Monday, House Democrats announced that they would launch a probe into whether and how Trump administration officials pressured Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials to change scientific reports, following reporting by Politico that suggested political appointees had interfered and demanded review over such reports (Politico). In a letter on the probe, Representative Jim Clyburn, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, wrote “During the pandemic, experts have relied on these reports to determine how the virus spreads and who is at greatest risk.” The letter emphasized “With nearly 200,000 Americans killed and hundreds more dying each day from the coronavirus pandemic, the public needs and deserves truthful scientific information.” We covered Politico's original reporting on the accusations of interference in Monday’s brief.

American Prisoners Face Twin Crises of Pandemic and Wildfire

Inmates in prisons along the United States' west coast are struggling as they face the twin crises of the coronavirus and raging wildfires, according to a report in the New York Times on Monday (NYT). The Times notes that many prisoners were moved out of the way of wildfires only to find themselves in crowded conditions, where “they were safe from one catastrophe, but delivered to another: the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread at an alarming rate in America’s prisons.” Bobbin Singh, executive director of the prison advocacy organization Oregon Justice Resource Center, told the Times, “From what we know about Covid-19, how quickly it can spread and how lethal it can be, we have to prepare for the worst.” Oregon’s prison system alone has had 1,600 infections over the past three months, and prisons are now dealing with smoke from the fires. As we covered in yesterday’s brief, smoke can exacerbate the risks of coronavirus. The crises have generated substantial concern that further outbreaks might be inevitable. Rasheed Stanley-Lockhart, who was recently released from prison in California and now works for a non-profit, commented, “Right now, it’s this situation of, no matter which way you turn there’s something waiting.” More than 200,000 of America’s coronavirus cases have occurred within the prison system, and at least 1,200 prisoners have died.

Nevada Governor Criticizes Trump for Holding Indoor Rally

On Sunday, Trump appeared on stage in Henderson, Nevada, holding his first indoor rally in months (WaPo). The rally drew criticism from Nevada’s Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, who said “Tonight, President Donald Trump is taking reckless and selfish actions that are putting countless lives in danger here in Nevada” and said the rally went against the state’s coronavirus restrictions. The Biden campaign also criticized the rally, saying, “Every rally turned superspreader event Donald Trump decides to hold serves as another reminder to Americans that Trump still refuses to take this pandemic seriously and still doesn’t have a plan to stop it, even after nearly 200,000 deaths and untold economic damage.” Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesperson, stated, “If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets, gamble in a casino, or burn down small businesses in riots, you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States.”  Trump also defended his rally in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The rally is Trump’s first indoor rally since his June rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which also drew criticism, and which drew yet further controversy when Herman Cain, a businessman and former candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination, died from COVID-19 two weeks after appearing at the rally maskless although it is not clear where and when he contracted the disease.

Bonus Read: “‘Keep Back!’: How the Biden Campaign Obsesses Over Covid,” (Politico).

U.S. Economy

Amazon to Hire 100,000 New Employees in the U.S. and Canada

On Monday, Amazon announced that it plans to hire 100,000 new employees in the U.S. and Canada to keep up with coronavirus driven demand for online shipped goods (WSJ). The jobs include full and part-time positions that will pay at least $15/hour and have benefits. Hiring for the new positions has already begun. Amazon also plans to open 100 new operational buildings in September. Amazon already added 175,000 warehouse workers in March and April and plans to keep 125,000 of those workers on permanently. Amazon is the second largest private employer in the United States and has posted record sales along with growing profits even amid the pandemic.

Majority of D.C. Area Workers Unlikely to Return to Offices Until Summer 2021

According to a new survey of more than 400 employers, a majority of Washington D.C. area employees may not return to work in offices until at least summer 2021 (WaPo). The survey asked 430 employers representing about 275,000 workers between August 10 and August 28 and was carried out by the Greater Washington Partnership. The Washington Post reports, “about 40 percent of the region’s workforce could be back in the office by spring and 72 percent could be commuting to work by next summer, said Maricelly DiGravio, the partnership’s manager of research.”

U.S. Society

Hershey Launches Trick or Treat Pandemic Risk Map

On Monday, the candy making company Hershey Co. announced that in cooperation with public-health experts it has created a website that provides advice regarding trick or treating based on coronavirus risk (WSJ). Phil Stanley, Hershey’s global chief sales officer, told the Wall Street Journal, “We’re taking a proactive approach,” adding, “We’re really focused on helping consumers find creative ways to celebrate with treats, even though trick-or-treating is going to look different this year.” Hershey’s sales have struggled during the pandemic as social distancing has diminished the number of parties people hold, and the fast approaching Halloween season is critical for its profits constituting about a tenth of its $8 billion total sales, and trick or treating constitutes about half of Hershey’s Halloween sales. Hershey hopes that the precedent of sales over Easter during the pandemic will bode well for Halloween. Stanley commented, “We were really concerned with Easter in the height of the pandemic, but consumers found creative ways to celebrate, and we actually did well.” The website’s map was developed in cooperation with the Harvard Global Health Institute. Dr. Ingrid Katz, an infectious disease expert at the institute, commented, “We want to help people make informed choices, tailored to their local environment.”

Analysis & Arguments

Tomás Pueyo writes that travel restrictions are key to getting the pandemic under control and differentiate successful states from less successful ones (NYT).

In a report for New America, Frederic Wehrey examines the proxy war in Libya, its development over a decade, and how the pandemic may shape its future (New America)

H. Holden Thorpe argues that President Trump’s misstatements of science were not due to inadequate briefings but were lies that directly led to widespread deaths of Americans (Science).

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

The Brief is edited by David Sterman and Narisara Murray and co-edited by Emily Schneider and Bennett Murray with Senior Editor Peter Bergen.

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

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