The New York Times International - 26 08 2020

2020·9.27 MB·English

SWEET AND SOUR WAR ON GERMS COASTAL QUIET
ADDICTIVE JOYS BACTERIA THAT THE LONELY PLIGHT OF
OF TAMARIND LOVE TO HUNT THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
BACK PAGE | LIVING PAGE 12 | SCIENCE PAGE 3 | WORLD
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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST26, 2020
How QAnon Authorities
is Trump’s in Hong
last chance Kong turn to
tech tactics
Pro-democracy politicians,
activists and media leaders
Paul Krugman
targeted by digital dragnet
BY PAUL MOZUR
OPINION To get onto his Facebook account, the
police used Tony Chung’s body.
Last week’s Democratic National When officers swarmed him at a
Convention was mainly about decency Hong Kong shopping mall last month,
— about portraying Joe Biden and his they pulled him into a stairwell and
party as good people who will do their pinned his head in front of his phone —
best to heal a nation afflicted by a an attempt to activate the facial recogni-
pandemic and a depression. There tion system. Later, at his home, officers
were plenty of dire warnings about the forced his finger onto a separate phone.
threat of Trumpism; there was frank Then they demanded passwords.
acknowledgment of the toll taken by “They said, ‘Do you know with the na-
disease and unemployment; but on the tional security law, we have all the rights
whole the message was surprisingly to unlock your phones and get your
upbeat. passwords?’” Mr. Chung said.
This week’s Republican National Emboldened by that new law, Hong
Convention, by contrast, however Kong security forces are turning to
positive its official theme, is going to harsher tactics as they close a digital
be QAnon all the dragnet on activists, pro-democracy po-
As the old way. liticians and media leaders. Their ap-
I don’t mean that proaches — which in the past month
saying goes:
there will be fea- have included installing a camera out-
The only
tured speeches side the home of a prominent politician
thing he can
claiming that Donald and breaking into the Facebook account
hope for is Trump is protecting of another — bear marked similarities to
fear itself. us from an imagi- those long used by the fearsome domes-
ADAM DEAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
nary cabal of liberal Luon Sovath, a Cambodian Buddhist monk and rights activist who fled after postings on Facebook accused him of sexual impropriety. He has denied the claims. tic security forces in mainland China.
pedophiles, although Not accustomed to such pressures,
anything is possible. But it’s safe to Hong Kong lawmakers and activists,
predict that the next few days will be Pushed into exile by Facebook and the American companies that own
filled with QAnon-type warnings about the most popular internet services in the
terrible events that aren’t actually city, have struggled to respond. Pro-de-
happening and evil conspiracies that mocracy politicians have issued instruc-
don’t actually exist. tions to supporters on how to secure dig-
That has, after all, been Trump’s ital devices. Many have flocked to en-
style since the very first day of his His downfall shows how repressive fense of Human Rights. “Facebook’s re- crypted chat apps like Signal and
BANGKOK
presidency. governments can move with stunning action has been like little drops from a changed their names on social media.
New presidents traditionally use speed to disgrace their opponents, using sink, so late and so little.” Dogged by the global reach of the law,
their inaugural addresses to deliver a social media and technology to amplify In a statement to The Times about Mr. even people from Hong Kong living far
An outspoken monk falls
message of hope and unity, even in their divisive campaigns. Under Prime Luon Sovath’s case, Facebook said that away worry. One Facebook discussion
dark times: “The only thing we have to victim to a viral campaign Minister Hun Sen, the Cambodian gov- it had built up a team in Cambodia to bet- group of Hong Kongers living in Austral-
fear is fear itself.” ernment has repeatedly used falsified ter monitor the local situation. ia closed off public access after a user
linked to Cambodia’s rulers
Trump, however, offered a vision of Facebook posts or manipulated audio to “We recognize the important role that claimed to have reported discussions to
“American carnage,” in particular of defame and imprison politicians, activ- Facebook plays in enabling expression the Hong Kong authorities for poten-
inner cities devastated by violent ists and other human rights defenders. in Cambodia,” the company said. “We tially violating the law.
BY HANNAH BEECH AND SUN NARIN
crime. His rhetoric was ugly and had Facebook has come under fire in the want people to feel safe when they’re us- Major internet companies like Face-
clear racial overtones, but it also had In just four days, the reputation of a United States for disseminating hate ing our platform, which is why we take book and Twitter have temporarily
another problem: it bore no relation- Buddhist monk who had spent decades speech and disinformation. It has been reports of impersonation and other vio- stopped sharing data with the local po-
SUN NARIN
ship to reality. Trump took office in a fighting for the human rights of Cambo- criticized for failing to detect Russian in- Tim Ratha, one of the sisters named in lations of our community standards se- lice. Others have gone further, devising
nation whose violent crime rate had dians was destroyed. fluence in the 2016 U.S. election, provid- the accusations against Mr. Luon Sovath. riously.” more permanent solutions.
been falling for decades; our big cities First, grainy videos appeared on a ing a platform for political conspiracy A fake Facebook page used her identity. Last month, Mr. Luon Sovath, who is In July, Yahoo changed its terms of
were as safe as they had ever been. fake Facebook page, claiming that he theories and allowing false claims about now in Switzerland after receiving a hu- service so that users in Hong Kong are
The same pattern of attempts to had slept with three sisters and their the coronavirus to proliferate. manitarian visa, was charged in absen- protected under American law, not local
panic Americans over nonexistent mother. Then a government-controlled But its influence is even greater in high-profile activists and opposition po- tia by prosecutors in Siem Reap Prov- rules. It also cut access for employees in
threats recurs throughout this admin- religious council defrocked the monk for places like Cambodia, where the social liticians have been assassinated over ince with raping one of the sisters, esca- Hong Kong to user data to protect them
istration. If you get your information having violated Buddhist precepts of media platform is the only digital inter- the years, their cases rarely investi- lating the accusations in the videos. from the law, according to two people fa-
from administration officials or Fox celibacy. Fearing imminent arrest, the face for millions of people. Since civil lib- gated properly. The sex claims against Mr. Luon So- miliar with the matter.
News, you probably believe that mil- monk fled Cambodia for a life in exile, erties are often constricted in such coun- As scandals proliferate on its plat- vath, one of Cambodia’s most celebrated A Google spokeswoman said in a
lions of undocumented immigrants like so many people who have stood up tries, Facebook can be a powerful tool form, Facebook has been criticized for activist monks, went viral. Copies of the statement that the company had not
cast fraudulent votes, even though to Asia’s longest-governing leader. for autocrats to bolster their grip on the being too slow in removing problematic videos, which purported to show Face- produced data for the Hong Kong au-
actual voter fraud hardly ever hap- The monk, Luon Sovath, was the vic- state, even as it provides a rare space for accounts and pages, many fake. It took book Messenger calls between the thorities since the national security law
pens; that Black Lives Matter protests, tim of a smear campaign this summer free expression and activism. almost a month for Facebook to take monk and some of the women, were was enacted, and that the authorities
which with some exceptions have been that relied on fake claims and hastily as- During his nearly 35-year rule, Mr. down the page where the videos smear- shared widely on the social media plat- could seek information for criminal in-
remarkably nonviolent, have turned sembled social media accounts de- Hun Sen — a onetime soldier for the ing the Cambodian monk were first form. vestigations through U.S. diplomatic
KRUGMAN,PAGE11 signed to discredit an outspoken critic of genocidal Khmer Rouge and now an en- posted. He has denied the rape charges, along channels. That means the company is
the country’s authoritarian policies. A thusiastic Facebook user — has deci- “As a company, you would think they with accusations that he had sexual re- effectively treating data requests in the
The New York Times publishes opinion New York Times investigation found ev- mated Cambodia’s political opposition. would want to be more vigilant and not lations with any of the women. city the way it does those from mainland
from a wide range of perspectives in idence that government employees He has cozied up to China, eschewing allow their platform to be misused,” said Clues in the videos, uncovered by The China.
hopes of promoting constructive debate were involved in the creation and post- aid from the West that was conditioned Naly Pilorge, the director of the Cambo- Times, also undercut the claims. Long known as a financial hub, Hong
about consequential questions. ing of the videos on Facebook. on improving human rights. Numerous dian League for the Promotion and De- CAMBODIA,PAGE4 HONG KONG,PAGE8
Caught off step by Italy’s dance ban
ters traced back to nightclubs crowded
LEGNAGO, ITALY
with maskless patrons. Yet the new
rules aimed at stopping young people
C
from gathering en masse have also
An effort to curb crowds A
swept up older Italians for whom an
T
leaves many older adults evening at the dance hall is a cherished
H
part of life.
perplexed over the rules A
As lockdown measures were lifted,
R
Caribe reopened in July — with many
new and hard-to-enforce rules. Only S
BY EMMA BUBOLA I
married couples or “stable affections,” S
Raffaele Leardini, 72, slipped on his pink which had to be declared in writing,
linen shirt, buttoned it up to the middle could dance together. Masks were re-
of his chest, combed back his hair and quired on the dance floor, as partners L
set off on Thursday with his wife to Ca- clasped sanitized hands after register- A
ribe, their favorite outdoor dance hall. ing their names and having their tem- R
When they arrived, they found the club peratures taken. U
open but the dance floor sealed off with If masks were lowered, the DJ would T
red and white tape. stop the music. But even with the re- L
“What is this?” asked Mr. Leardini, a strictions, the dancing lasted only a little U
retired mechanic. “They can’t do this.” over a month. C
But they have. In an attempt to limit a The Italian government’s decree on
resurgence of the coronavirus, Italy has dancing, issued on Aug. 16, made no dis-
banned dancing in nightclubs and out- tinction between packed, sweaty clubs
door dance halls. blaring reggaeton and sedate communi-
As in other countries around the ty centers where people swirl in pairs to
FRANCESCA VOLPI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Raffaele Leardini and wife, Loretta Parini, in Legnago, Italy, before officials issued a world, new cases in Italy are being driv- accordion-driven waltzes.
dance ban at nightclubs. Some think it’s a mistake to conflate dance halls and nightclubs. en by young people, with several clus- ITALY,PAGE2 A podcast with culture writers Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham.
nytimes.com/stillprocessing
Listen on your favorite podcast app.
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2 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
page two
Nun who reached out
to imprisoned mothers
“When you went in there, there was
SISTER ELAINE ROULET
no doubt who was running things,” Sis-
1930-2020
ter Teresa said. “She’d say, ‘It’s the wom-
en in green.’”
Elaine Margaret Roulet was born on
BY JOHN LELAND
Oct. 5, 1930, in the Maspeth neighbor-
Sister Elaine Roulet, a Roman Catholic hood of Queens. She was the second of
nun who helped female inmates bond two children of George and Margaret
with their children and created innova- (Laundrigan) Roulet. Her father died
tive programs for mothers both in pris- when she was a child, and her mother
on and after release, died on Aug. 13 at worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
the Stella Maris Convent in New York. Sister Elaine professed her first vows
She was 89. in 1949 and took her final vows in 1952 as
The cause was heart failure, said Scott a Sister of St. Joseph, Brentwood, on
Stepp, director of development at Provi- Long Island, N.Y. She spent the 1950s
dence House, a nonprofit organization and ’60s as a parochial school teacher
that she helped start. and principal in Brooklyn and Queens.
Sister Elaine followed the simplest of But her strongest calling was to work
ideas: that female inmates, most of with poor people, leading her to the pris-
whom are mothers, should have regular ons, said Sister Mary Ross, who worked
time with their children and receive par- with her at one of the first Providence
enting lessons to prevent their family Houses.
wounds from passing to the next gener- With a master’s degree in counseling
ation. from Bank Street College of Education
At the Bedford Hills Correctional Fa- in Manhattan, Sister Elaine started at
cility, a maximum-security prison for Bedford Hills in 1970 as a family liaison
women in Westchester County, just and quickly saw a need to expand both
north of New York City, Sister Elaine the nursery and the visiting center.
helped create the Children’s Center, a Her emphasis on teaching parenting
room filled with toys where mothers skills, often to women with no maternal
could play with their children instead of role models, transformed lives for gen-
speaking stiffly across a table or erations, said JoAnne Page, the presi-
through glass. She also revitalized the dent of the Fortune Society, an organiza-
nursery to allow babies to live with their tion that supports people after prison.
mothers for their first 12 or 18 months. “The idea that a baby will have a
The program has been replicated in chance to start with a mother who’s
prisons around the country. learning to be a parent — I can’t put into
PHOTOGRAPHS BY FRANCESCA VOLPI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Guests can listen to the music at Caribe, above, a dance hall in Legnago, Italy, but cannot go on the dance floor. Below, the ticket counter at the venue, which has an older clientele. “She wanted to do some pretty un- words how much impact that has,” Ms.
usual things, and I was lucky to be the Page said. “That creates a whole differ-
right person at the right time,” Elaine ent ripple effect.”
Caught off step by a dance ban Lord, the former superintendent at Bed- Sister Elaine lived simply in Brent-
ford Hills, said in a phone interview. “We wood and later in Breezy Point, in
were like the Thelma and Louise of the Queens — rising at 4 a.m., praying until
prison system. 5, then attending Mass and swimming
“She wanted to make it more humane, before taking the long drive to the prison
ITALY,FROM PAGE1 and I went along with that because I to spend the day behind bars. She lik-
Many regulars at Caribe, which ca- wanted to make it more humane,” Ms. ened her convent room to a prison cell,
ters to an older clientele, said they un- Lord continued. “I let her get away with and she bought all of her clothing from
derstood that the government was try- those things because I trusted there was thrift stores, managing always to match
ing to protect the country — and people a good reason.” exquisitely.
their age in particular — but were frus- Besides her work on the Children’s “All you had to say was, ‘Elaine, I like
trated that the ban included places that Center and the nursery, Sister Elaine or- those earrings,’ and in two seconds
had been following the rules. ganized bus trips for older children to they’d be in your hands,” Sister Mary
A spokesman for the health minister visit their mothers in Bedford Hills as said.
said that any kind of dancing required a well as summer “camps” where children The actor Glenn Close, who witnessed
physical proximity that can spread in- stayed with host families so that they Sister Elaine’s work at Bedford Hills and
fection. could visit their mothers daily. became a good friend, said she had once
The patrons didn’t understand why She also started a home for children wanted to give Sister Elaine some shoes
they could no longer hold their partners whose mothers were incarcerated and and asked her what her size was. “She
on the dance floor while bars, beaches built a network of 10 Providence Houses, said, ‘Anywhere from 6 to 9,’” Ms. Close
and gyms stayed open. which provide housing and support to said in a phone interview. “She always
“It was good to close down nightclubs women who might otherwise be in pris- had a smile and a laugh, but underneath
— teenagers just don’t get it,” said Mr. on or homeless. In 2005, she started Our she was a deeply serious woman, min-
Leardini, who was so happy when the Journey, a monthly retreat for formerly istering to women who are forgotten.”
club reopened in July that he burst out incarcerated women. Sister Elaine developed dementia in
crying when he heard the news. “But She was inducted into the National her later years and moved to the Stella
here you have people with a brain and a Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993. Maris convent in Queens, where young-
mask.” Sister Elaine relied on the wisdom of er nuns cared for her. But she main-
Mr. Leardini had gone dancing at Ca- the people she served in designing pro- tained the sense of humor that col-
ribe three times a week with his wife, grams to meet their needs — another in- leagues said was one of her most effec-
Loretta Parini, for more than four dec- novation in prison thinking, said Sister tive tools.
ades. When forced to stop during the Teresa Fitzgerald, the executive direc- “I’m convinced that laughter is God’s
lockdown, he fell into depression. He tor of Hour Children, an offshoot of Sis- favorite earthsound,” she said in a 1995
said that he had gained weight and that ter Elaine’s work based in the borough interview for an oral history of her order,
every night he opened his closet and of Queens; the organization serves “and I’m so convinced that if we could
wondered whether he would ever again mothers and their children in and after use humor, it would really evaporate so
be able to wear his colorful collection of prison. many problems.”
dancing shirts.
“What do I have — eight more years
ahead?” he said, sipping a Corona beer when she first went to a dance hall near communities, Liscio dance nights pro- cancel the bookings of hundreds of lo-
from a wine glass. “They can’t take ev- her home in the northern town of Casa- vide companionship and comfort. cals who had rushed to get a spot for
erything away from me.” leone, but a more expert dancer took her Moreno Conficconi, a Liscio musician their masked Liscio nights.
For now, he and others had to content hand — and told her she was “light as a from Emilia-Romagna known as “More- “They closed our dance floor, but out-
themselves sitting on white couches on feather.” no the Blonde,” said it was a mistake to side it there are way more dangerous
the edge of the dance floor, tapping their Four years later, he sat next to her in conflate dance halls and nightclubs. things still going on,” she said.
feet as the club’s singer, wearing a long, front of the taped-off dance floor. “There is no crowd in our music,” she At Caribe, everyone seemed to agree
shiny pink dress, walked around the pe- “It’s because these youngsters were said. “There are only intentional hugs.” that Benito Garofalo, 80, was the best on
rimeter of the tape, singing. all amassed” that they had to stop danc- When Italy announced the ban on the dance floor.
Grazia Maria Bellini, 66, was among ing, Ms. Bellini said. “The thing is that dancing, the government promised to Mr. Garofalo lost his wife in Decem-
those listening on a recent night. When we don’t have much else.” pay millions in subsidies to nightclub ber, and said dancing was the only thing
the club reopened, she resumed her Fri- The Liscio, which involves a combina- owners, but many community centers that had helped him keep negative
day appointments at the hairdresser tion of Viennese ballroom dances like that host dance nights do not qualify. thoughts away.
and bought a long green dress with little the waltz, polka and mazurka, became “They close us down as nightclubs, “Now I don’t have dancing,” he said,
roses on the trim. But before she had the Italy’s most popular dance craze in the but then they don’t help us like they help “and the bad thoughts are back.”
chance to show it off, the dance floor was 1970s, especially in the towns and vil- nightclubs,” said Maria Pina Colarusso, In his perfectly ironed yellow shirt,
closed again. lages along the Italian Riviera of the a volunteer from the Arci community Mr. Garofalo approached Cristina Dan-
Since age 11, Ms. Bellini had worked at northern Emilia-Romagna region. center in Soliera, a town near Modena. ielis, 62, a recently retired obstetrician
a polishing plant, spray-painting wood. While the cheerful songs extolling the She said that since many of the com- from nearby Mantua, who sat on a sofa
When she retired and after her husband virtues of family are largely eschewed munity centers survived only on the pi- in a flowery dress.
died, she gingerly tried the dance floor. by the young, they remain staples for adina flatbread and soft drinks they sell “Did they bring you drinks?” he
JOYCE DOPKEEN/THE NEW YORK TIMES
She didn’t know the steps of the Lis- many older Italians, especially in the na- on the Liscio nights, they would be asked. “I so wish I could ask you for a Sister Elaine Roulet in 1991 at the Children’s Center at the Bedford Hills Correctional
cio, Italy’s traditional “smooth dance,” tion’s northern lowlands. And in many forced to close. She has already had to dance.” Facility in Westchester County, N.Y., which she helped create.
Convention-shattering New York playwright
was about a man who tries to get his car “Sad to say the play is never more elo- When his parents divorced shortly af- (which, as Mr. Baker put it in his review,
KENNETH BERNARD
repaired in a small town and ends up in a quent than a cage full of monkeys,” he ter he was born, with the Depression in “lasts a bit longer than 60 minutes and is
1930-2020
nightmarish sort of gantlet. wrote, “and never more satisfying than full force, his mother moved to Florida more about the queerness of queer-bait-
By then the Ridiculous had been go- when it has ended.” for a time, leaving him in the care of the ing than about queers”) was the peak of
ing for several years, featuring the When “The Moke Eater” was staged American Female Guardian Society and the Bernard-Vaccaro collaborations.
BY NEIL GENZLINGER
works of two other out-there writers, in Atlanta in 1977, Helen C. Smith, re- Home for the Friendless. Later he was One character, a dictatorial director, was
Kenneth Bernard, a playwright who rat- Ronald Tavel and Charles Ludlam. The viewing for The Atlanta Constitution, taken in by relatives in Framingham, played by Mr. Vaccaro himself.
tled the expectations of audiences and Bernard plays, which also included wrote, “I didn’t like the play, don’t pre- Mass., before rejoining his mother in Dr. Bernard married Elaine Ceil Reiss
critics with avant-garde works staged “Night Club” (1970), “The Magic Show tend to understand much of it.” New York when he was about 12. in 1952; she died in 2019. In addition to
by the Playhouse of the Ridiculous and of Dr. Ma-Gico” (1973) and “The Sixty But those critics who got what Dr. Dr. Bernard earned a bachelor’s de- his son Lucas, he is survived by another
other theatrical groups in New York and Minute Queer Show” (1977), were in Bernard was after recommended his gree in English at the City College of son, Judd; a daughter, Katey E.
beyond, died on Aug. 9 at a nursing some ways even more transgressive. work to adventurous theatergoers, as New York and, after serving in the Army Bernard; and four grandchildren.
home in New York City. He was 90. “In contrast to Tavel’s arch verbalism Rob Baker of The Daily News did for from 1953 to 1955, did postgraduate Dr. Bernard wrote poetry and fiction
His son Lucas said the cause was hy- and Ludlam’s distinctive blend of trav- “The Sixty Minute Queer Show” when it work at Columbia University, where he as well as plays and published two fic-
pertensive cardiovascular disease com- esty and tradition, Bernard brought to was staged at La MaMa Experimental earned a Ph.D. in English literature. tion collections. He also occasionally
plicated by other health problems. the Ridiculous a nightmare imagination Theater Club in Manhattan in 1977 un- He had become interested in experi- ventured a straightforward opinion arti-
By day, Dr. Bernard was an English rooted in the grotesque,” Gerald Rabkin der Mr. Vaccaro’s direction. mental theater and begun writing when cle, as in 1978, when he wrote an essay in
professor at Long Island University, a wrote in Performing Arts Journal in “It is a pastiche of short skits parody- a friend took him to see a Ridiculous pro- The New York Times criticizing public
job he took in 1959 and held for more 1978. “He did not reject the playfulness, ing virtually every play presented at La duction of a Ludlam play at the Bouw- schools’ emphasis on athletics that ben-
than 40 years. By night, he was a central the phallicism, the sexual ambiguity MaMa in the past 10 years, including erie Lane Theater in Manhattan in 1967. efit only students who are physically fit
figure in the experimental theater that had characterized early Ridiculous several of Vaccaro’s own.” he wrote. He was impressed and offered some of and sports like football that few people
movement that began bubbling up in the work. But he subordinated them and “The spoofs are outrageous but never his plays, including “The Moke Eater,” play after their 20s.
BILLIE BILLING/SOUTHERN EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES
small performance spaces of the city’s added a scream of pain.” Kenneth Bernard, who rattled audiences’ mean, for Vaccaro’s style is to move and to Mr. Vaccaro. “The key to a lifetime of healthful
Midtown and Downtown Manhattan ar- His works, though, were often more and critics’ expectations, in the 1980s. to provoke as he destroys, to leave us The timing was fortunate; Mr. Lud- sports activity is early exposure to ac-
eas in the 1960s. sideshow than traditional play, exer- haunted after the hysteria.” lam and Mr. Vaccaro were parting ways. tivities one can perform at 70 as well as
His works were a favorite of John Vac- cises in the meta that blurred the lines Kenneth Otis Bernard was born on Mr. Vaccaro agreed to put on “The Moke at 20 and 45,” wrote Dr. Bernard, who
caro, the director behind the Playhouse between rehearsal and performance. The Home News of New Brunswick, May 7, 1930, in Brooklyn to Otis Bernard Eater,” which was first staged at Max’s had been a fine gymnast in high school.
of the Ridiculous, whose assaultive, an- Any playgoer or reviewer who went in N.J., was not onboard with Dr. Bernard’s and Mary Travaglini. His father was a Kansas City, the nightclub and restau- “In this light, activities like hiking, bird-
archic productions were part of the stew expecting a traditional story with a li- use of actors portraying monkeys as a businessman and writer of Christian- rant on Park Avenue South frequented watching and yoga are of more value to
that gave rise to punk, queer theater and near plot (and expecting not to be of- metaphor for society’s deterioration in themed books. His mother, an independ- by Andy Warhol and other trendsetting the average student.”
more. The first Bernard play staged by fended) was overmatched. “The Monkeys of the Organ Grinder,” ent-minded woman, invested in lychee artists and musicians.
the troupe, “The Moke Eater” (1968), Ernest Albrecht, the theater critic of staged in that city in 1970. groves in Florida. “The Sixty Minute Queer Show” Susan Beachy contributed research.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 | 3
World
FEDERICO RIOS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
DAVID MERCADO/REUTERS LUIS GANDARILLAS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Clockwise from left: Cemeteries around La Paz, Bolivia, have been overwhelmed by the pandemic; Jeanine Áñez, center, the country’s interim president, said her predecessor left Bolivia unprepared; and supporters of Bolivia’s former president blockading a highway.
Bolivia’s death toll rose as leaders clashed
traordinary rise in death, adjusted for stepped in with a promise to govern un- hospital ventilators at twice the real cal tensions,” said Franklin Pareja, a po- ones at home for days because funeral
TARIJA, BOLIVIA
its population, is more than twice as til elections could be held. cost. litical scientist at San Andrés Major Uni- parlors and crematories could not han-
high as that of the United States, and far Since then, Ms. Áñez has announced Ms. Áñez has defended her approach versity in La Paz. “This political standoff dle the increase.
higher than the levels in Italy, Spain and that she is running for the office — and to the outbreak, saying that her decision has a cost in lives.” “The health system is saturated,” said
The Covid-19 fatality rate
Britain. asked the electoral board to postpone to enact a swift lockdown avoided an In the La Paz region of Bolivia, five the Health Ministry’s chief epidemiolo-
is among the worst in the About 20,000 more people have died the new vote, saying the pandemic even greater loss of life. She also blamed times as many people died in July than gist, Mr. Prieto. “We don’t have enough
since June than in past years, according made it unsafe for people to go to the Mr. Morales’s party for mismanaging in past years, according to the data. capacity, equipment or the intensive
world, an analysis finds
to a Times analysis of registration data polls. The rescheduling of the vote from the health care system during its 14 Although Bolivia’s official statistics care units required.”
from Bolivia’s Civil Registry, a vast num- May to October has enraged opposition years in office and for stifling her plans show a severe spike in mortality start- Despite the crisis, some regional gov-
ber in a nation of about 11 million people. groups, who see it as an attempt by the to bolster public spending in the pan- ing in July, the closure of government of- ernments, under pressure to restart the
BY MARÍA SILVIA TRIGO,
Tracking deaths from all causes gives caretaker president to cling to power. demic. fices during a lockdown in April meant economy before the elections, are re-
ANATOLY KURMANAEV
a more accurate picture of the pan- “She is not recognized as a legitimate “We did more in three months than that almost no deaths were registered opening gyms and restaurants, feeding
AND ALLISON MCCANN
demic’s true toll, demographers say, be- leader, which makes it extremely diffi- what was done in the history of health that month. Officials at the Civil Regis- fears that mortality rates will continue
So many people were dying that the Bo- cause it does not depend on testing, cult to coordinate a complex response care of this country,” she wrote in a Twit- try, which issues death certificates, to rise. The Health Ministry estimates
livian government’s numbers couldn’t which has been limited in Bolivia. The that the pandemic requires,” said Santi- ter post this month. warned that at least some of the deaths that the country will reach the peak of
be accurate. mortality figures include people who ago Anria, a Bolivia expert at Dickinson More than a hundred roadblocks by that occurred in April could have been the pandemic in September.
Calls to pick up bodies were inundat- may have died from Covid-19 and from College in Pennsylvania. labor unions and Mr. Morales’s support- registered in later months, potentially In the meantime, the people will con-
ing the country’s forensic office. By July, other causes because they couldn’t get ers have paralyzed an already weak- skewing the mortality rate. tinue to bear the burden.
agents were gathering up to 150 bodies health care. ened economy, leaving the government The spike in deaths, however, can be When Josué Jallaza, a 24-year-old taxi
“This is a very cruel situation
per day, 15 times the normal amount in “This is a very cruel situation that with fewer resources to import urgently confirmed by Bolivia’s overwhelmed driver in Cochabamba, fell sick with co-
previous years, said the country’s chief we’re living through,” said Mr. Flores, that we’re living through. needed medical supplies. The shortages crematories, cemeteries and body-col- ronavirus symptoms, his family called
forensic official, Andrés Flores. who heads the Institute of Forensic In- We’ve been left completely of oxygen and other equipment caused lection agencies. three times for a doctor, but no one
The demands on his office suggested vestigations. “We’ve been left com- exposed.” by the roadblocks resulted in the deaths The deaths have forced the local au- came. After he fainted, his family took
that the official tally of Covid-19 deaths pletely exposed.” of at least 30 patients, the government thorities to expand crematories and him to a hospital, “but they didn’t want
— now just over 4,500 — was a vast un- With a bare-bones health system, a said in a report to the Organization of open new cemeteries. In La Paz’s mu- to admit us,” said his brother, Marcelo
dercount, Mr. Flores said. But with lim- decentralized government and poor in- Ms. Áñez’s decision to run for presi- American States. nicipal cemetery, residents had to line Jallaza.
ited testing, scarce resources, and a po- frastructure, Bolivia struggled to con- dent antagonized the opposition law- As hospitals ran out of medicines and up outside the entry last week for a “They threw us out like a dog,” Mr. Jal-
litical crisis tearing Bolivia apart, the tain infectious diseases such as dengue makers and regional officials on whom coronavirus tests, Mr. Morales’s allies in chance to bury their loved ones. laza said.
extra lives lost were going largely un- even before the coronavirus arrived, she depended to mobilize health care re- the legislature passed a law to allow the In Bolivia’s constitutional capital, Su- They then took him to a private clinic,
recognized. said Virgilio Prieto, an epidemiologist at sources, said Mr. Anria, leading to a dis- medical use of a bleaching agent, chlo- cre, the local health authorities said they where “a doctor came out, looked into
New mortality figures reviewed by Bolivia’s Health Ministry. organized, ineffective effort. rine dioxide — an unproven and poten- had to stack up dozens of bodies in his eyes, and said, ‘He’s already dead;
The New York Times suggest that the But its ability to respond was under- Her response was also bogged down tially dangerous coronavirus treatment morgues, hospitals and even a univer- we can’t do anything,’” Mr. Jallaza said.
real death toll during the outbreak is mined by a contested presidential elec- by corruption scandals, including the ar- popular among Bolivians. sity, until they were able to install a new The family took the body home, and
nearly five times the official tally, indi- tion that led to the ouster in November rest of her health minister in May after “The pandemic has found us in a very crematory oven to meet the demand. spent four days trying to bury it. After
cating that Bolivia has suffered one of of Evo Morales, a socialist. An interim investigators accused him of using precarious situation, with an inexperi- And in the central city of Cochabamba, pleading in tears with cemetery offi-
the world’s worst epidemics. The ex- president, Jeanine Áñez, a conservative, money from international donors to buy enced government and elevated politi- families had to keep bodies of their loved cials, they were finally granted a grave.
The gateway to a natural wonder, now a sleepy beach town
tional arrivals in the region, the throngs
AUSTRALIA DISPATCH
who help support the jobs of more than
CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA
60,000 people (more than those em-
ployed by Australia’s oil and gas indus-
BY LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA
try). Experts have warned that even
Diving beneath the ocean, Russell Hosp with a vaccine, it may be years before
swam toward the limestone bed of the travel returns to pre-coronavirus levels.
Great Barrier Reef, where he reattached But while the idled boats and empty
bits of blue staghorn coral. With tourists storefronts tell the story of a city shaken
gone, he was filling the void with this by Australia’s travel bans, in other pock-
small act of conservation, which took his ets of Cairns there is a sense of relief at
mind off the uncertain future on land. having made a lucky escape from the
“It was a bit surreal,” Mr. Hosp, a reef threat of infection.
guide, said of spending hours at sea un- Patrons at bars flout the rules of social
accompanied by the usual enthusiastic distancing, and backpackers from over-
visitors. Aboard the quiet catamaran, he seas — many of whom have decided to
said, he realized just how much the coro- ride out the pandemic wave in Australia
navirus “had changed the world.” — share close quarters in dormitories at
The pandemic has fast-forwarded a hostels. Real estate agents say the area
looming reckoning for the tropical city of has drawn some clients looking to flee
Cairns, the main gateway to the reef and the danger of Covid-19.
the base for Mr. Hosp and many others At night, parts of the city could almost
PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATALIE GRONO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
whose livelihoods depend on it. Pandemic travel bans are keeping thousands of travelers away from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, endangering the economic future of Cairns, whose lifeblood is reef tourism. be mistaken for a pre-pandemic world.
Tour operators there were already On a recent Saturday, locals and back-
fighting a perception that the reef is in packers spilled out into the streets, lin-
its death throes, as warming waters rus itself has barely touched Cairns: “It’s been so quiet,” said Heather Hughes, a global expert on coral reefs at As recent flare-ups of the coronavirus ing up to get into the only nightclub in
cause repeated mass bleaching that has The city of 150,000 people in far north- Forbes, a Cairns resident, adding that James Cook University in Townsville, have closed state borders within Aus- town. Inside, guests, mandated to sit
robbed many corals of their vivid colors. eastern Australia has recorded only a because the city had been dependent on Australia. tralia, some people have taken the op- down, had organized their stools in a cir-
But where climate change has been couple of dozen cases, and has none cur- tourism for so long, it was difficult to In the end, a prolonged downturn in portunity to explore their own (very cle on the dance floor.
more of a creeping threat to the reef’s rently. know how to diversify its economy. visits to the reef could actually be detri- large) backyards. Even this limited revelry was not pos-
survival, and thus to Cairns’s tourism But there is no escaping the reach of “I don’t think anywhere should be mental to its well-being. “Tourism pro- “We were supposed to be in Hawaii, sible a few months ago, with Queens-
lifeblood, the coronavirus has delivered the pandemic. solely dependent on one thing,” she said. vides a social and economic rationale for but we said we still wanted to take a trip land in lockdown as virus cases were ris-
a hammer blow. “We’d never stopped running before It might seem that there was a silver why the reef needs to be better pro- somewhere warm,” said Alicia Dean as ing.
Now this city, so linked with the natu- — the global financial crisis, terrorism lining in all this, that the exodus of tour- tected,” Professor Hughes said. she lounged in a sarong on the deck of a With little else to do during those eight
ral wonder just off its shore that it can attacks, airline strikes; you name it, the ists would be a boon for the health of a The situation has prompted the boat heading out to the reef. She had weeks, Mr. Hosp, the reef guide, and
scarcely imagine life without the vis- world has thrown it at us,” Mr. Hosp reef in critical condition. Cairns region to look more critically at traveled within the state of Queensland crew members from other tour compa-
itors who come in droves, has been said. “We don’t know if we’ll ever get But while the abrupt absence of vis- its dependence on international trav- from Brisbane, the capital, to Cairns, nies, undertook work that the govern-
forced to confront the prospect that it back to normal.” iting crowds has had surprising effects elers, especially those from China, who more than 1,000 miles to the north. ment had deemed essential: replanting
can no longer depend on tourists. In Cairns, visitors who usually cram in other places — monkeys overrunning make up a large portion of reef visitors. And some foreigners, stranded in hundreds of pieces of coral as part of a
Foreign and local travelers, already the jetty every morning as they wait to a city in Thailand, deer wandering cities China and Australia are engaged in an Australia, figured they may as well take study on the impact of heat stress on
deterred by last summer’s devastating pile onto boats have dwindled from the in Japan looking for food — the envi- increasingly bitter diplomatic tug of war the time to experience the reef, a World their growth.
bush fires and now locked out by Aus- thousands to a few hundred, leaving op- ronmental impact of tourism on the reef that could keep Chinese travelers away Heritage Site. “My flight keeps getting Under the ocean, among the parrot-
tralia’s international and domestic trav- erators out of work, boats moored at the is negligible, scientists say, especially even after the borders are reopened. canceled,” Julia Pape, a 27-year-old from fish and green turtles, Mr. Hosp said,
el bans, have all but vanished, and a $4.6 dock, and some hotels and restaurants when compared with climate change. “We’re realizing that we can’t rely on Germany, said as she donned her flip- “you could almost forget what was go-
billion industry built around the world’s shuttered. The reduction in international travel, China,” said Samantha Davidson, a trav- pers and wet suit, ready to plunge into ing on in the world.” But aboard the boat,
largest living structure has ground to a Storefronts on the main drag are for and therefore planet-warming emis- el consultant at the Reef Info Visitor the tropical waters. the harsh reality of the virus’s impact
near halt. lease, and the esplanade, usually heav- sions, has created only a short-term Center. “It’s good,” she added, because Tourists like Ms. Dean and Ms. Pape, came flooding back.
The sudden disappearance of visitors ing with tourists at dusk, looks like benefit. The “infrastructure of fossil fu- it’s sending a message to those closer to however, don’t make up for the hun- “I definitely missed the tourists,” Mr.
feels all the more unreal because the vi- something out of a sleepy beach town. els wasn’t affected,” said Prof. Terry home: “Hey, come and see us.” dreds of thousands of missing interna- Hosp said. “It was very humbling.”
..
4 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
In exile after a Facebook smear campaign
CAMBODIA,FROM PAGE1 ative, and two more are friends from her
An analysis found split-second hometown.
footage in which key personal informa- In another video, an online notifica-
tion of two government employees tion from Telegram, the messaging ap-
briefly flashes onscreen. The employees plication, appears for a moment, deliv-
work for the Press and Quick Reaction ered to an account user named
Unit, a propaganda arm of the Cambodi- “sopheapm.” That name is used on Tele-
an cabinet. gram by Miech Sopheap, the other em-
The videos were uploaded on a Face- ployee.
book page that assumed the identity of Ms. Miech Sopheap and Ms. Yeng
one of the sisters, Tim Ratha, who de- Sreypoch declined repeated requests
nied both ownership of the page and any for comment. They are two of the three
sexual relationship with the monk. The “friends” of the fake Facebook account
page was created the day the videos in Mr. Luon Sovath’s name.
were posted and lifted photographs Tith Sothea, the head of the unit, said
from the sister’s real Facebook account. in a statement that his office had noth-
A fake Facebook account in the ing to do with the videos.
monk’s name was also linked to the vid- “I fervently deny the allegation and
eos. It, too, stole images from Mr. Luon the smearing, fabricating,” he said, “that
Sovath’s real account and was estab- the Press and Quick Reaction Unit set
lished one day before the videos came up a Facebook to post alleged videos.”
out. When Mr. Tith Sothea took up his job
While the Facebook page has been in 2018, local news media said his unit
taken down, the videos are still circulat- was to “carry out media work and react
ing. The two government employees to content with a negative character
linked to the production of the videos re- coming from national and international
main on Facebook, posting makeup tips media.”
and animal memes on their timelines. Facebook said that on June 27 it took
“We know that Facebook will side down the fake page where the videos ap-
with repressive regimes if their bottom peared after a trusted partner reported
line is impacted by freedom-of-expres- its existence. Human Rights Watch ac-
sion issues,” said Michael Caster, a hu- knowledged it was that partner.
man rights researcher who has studied Initially, Facebook said that it had
technology use in authoritarian coun- punished the creator of the fake Face-
tries. book page by removing the administra-
In some developing countries, the tor’s account. After The Times pointed
American company’s influence is out- out that there were two other adminis-
size because smartphone users looking trators of the page, Facebook said that
for cheap digital packages rely on its their accounts were suspended pending
products as their sole source of informa- further verification.
tion online. The conversations in the videos are
The dependence can be deadly. In purportedly between Mr. Luon Sovath
Myanmar, military-linked Facebook ac- and Ms. Tim Ratha or Som Bopha, her
counts inflamed hatred of the Rohingya mother. There are a few sexually sug-
amid the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim gestive references, including an aside
ethnic group. about licking.
Hate speech circulating on Whats- The monk and the two women said
App, which is owned by Facebook, fu- that some of the audio is from phone
eled anti-Muslim mobs in India. conversations they had. But they say
Incendiary rumors about minority that these chats were edited in a mis-
OMAR HAVANA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Muslims in Sri Lanka spread unchecked Luon Sovath, 42, began preaching human rights from his pagoda as government repression proliferated under Prime Minister Hun Sen. leading way. The passage about licking,
on Facebook, leading to fatal riots in Ms. Tim Ratha said, referred to an ex-
2018. Earlier this year, Facebook apolo- pression of affection from her dog.
gized for its role in the Sri Lanka vio- help to restore and defend human rights as that of Ms. Tim Ratha, a 30-year-old And there are other parts of the audio,
lence. and democracy in Cambodia,” Mr. Luon nurse whose family has a house and gro- all three said, that are not them at all,
In May, Facebook released the find- Sovath said. cery store across the street from the such as references to specific sexual en-
ings of independent human rights as- Mr. Luon Sovath, 42, was ordained as monk’s pagoda. counters.
sessments conducted in several coun- a monk at 12 years old. As government “He is a good and respectful monk,” “How can a mother and her daughters
tries, including Cambodia. Facebook ac- repression proliferated under Mr. Hun Ms. Tim Ratha said in an interview. do such a thing with the same monk,”
knowledged that freedom of expression Sen, the monk began preaching human Shortly after the videos appeared on said Ms. Som Bopha, Ms. Tim Ratha’s
was “severely restricted” in Cambodia rights from his pagoda. Facebook, the police in Siem Reap de- mother. “It is impossible.”
and that human rights defenders were While politicians and activists who manded Ms. Tim Ratha report to the sta- The three people say they do not know
jailed for views expressed on social me- spoke up against Mr. Hun Sen’s govern- tion at night, she said. how their private phone conversations
dia. ment were jailed, exiled or even killed, Their questions were rapid-fire and went public. Human rights groups say
“The information environment was Mr. Luon Sovath appeared to be pro- intimidating, she said. Why would you that the Cambodian authorities regu-
dominated by misinformation and ru- tected by his saffron-hued robes. have a sexual relationship with a monk, larly harvest phone conversations with-
mor,” Facebook said in a summary of the with your sisters and mother no less? out people’s knowledge. Tapped or ma-
report. “This was exacerbated by state What is your Facebook password? nipulated audio has been used in Cam-
An analysis found footage in
control of the media and cyberwarfare That’s your phone, isn’t it? bodian courts to convict the govern-
strategies, and compounded by low dig- which key personal information Ms. Tim Ratha denied everything, ment’s critics.
ital literacy.” of two government employees even as her voice was shaking from fear, Ms. Tim Ratha said that a friend of
Facebook said that it had nearly tri- briefly flashes onscreen. she recalled. hers reported the fake page to Facebook
pled its human content moderators in “We are just victims,” she said. “We multiple times over several days. Ms.
Cambodia, although it would not say didn’t commit anything wrong.” Pilorge, of the human rights group, said
how many people worked in Khmer, the But in elections two years ago, the The four videos consist of nothing her colleagues filed similar complaints.
local language. Between January and governing Cambodian People’s Party more than fuzzy footage of smartphones Facebook said that they did not receive
March, Facebook said it took down 1.7 won every seat in Parliament after the with the monk’s fake Facebook profile a single user report questioning the ve-
billion fake accounts worldwide. main opposition party was disbanded on the screens. Audio seems to emanate racity of the page.
But none of the tripwires appear to and its leader imprisoned. The inde- from the phones, as if he is chatting with In Switzerland, Mr. Luon Sovath said
have been triggered in the case of the pendent news media was eviscerated. the women on Messenger. he was adjusting to life in exile. His thin
monk, even as his fate was front-page Mr. Luon Sovath said he knew he was At two points the videos go off script. monastic robes are sufficient for sum-
news in the government-controlled me- living on borrowed time. In one instance, the thumb holding the mer, but when the snows come his inner
dia. Over the years, Mr. Luon Sovath “They went after opposition poli- phone slips for less than a second and thermostat will have to adjust, he said.
said, he has been the repeated victim of ticians, N.G.O.s, human rights activists, pulls up a list of Facebook Messenger He keeps to a Buddhist monk’s sched-
fake Facebook accounts set up in his and now it comes to my turn,” he said. friends. ule, fasting after noon and meditating.
name and he has reported them to the On May 30, four videos appeared on a Two are brothers of Yeng Sreypoch, “I want to go home,” he said. “But I
company. Facebook page that had been set up ear- one of the employees of the Press and A Facebook page used to target Mr. Luon Sovath had been set up on the same day that had no choice to run away from my
“I want to say to Facebook, you should lier in the day. The page masqueraded Quick Reaction Unit. Another is her rel- videos appeared on it claiming that he had slept with three sisters and their mother. country and become a refugee.”
Hong Kong researchers document first reinfection case
saliva test on Aug. 15 after a trip to Spain noted. “Again, it’s what the textbook
Patient had no symptoms,
via the United Kingdom; the test was says should happen,” she said. “When
suggesting that immune administered at the airport. The man you have second exposure to the same
had picked up a strain that was circulat- pathogen, you should elevate the anti-
system kept it in check
ing in Europe in July and August, the re- body, and that’s what’s happening.”
searchers said. Most people who are infected with the
His infections were clearly caused by coronavirus produce detectable anti-
BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI
different versions of the coronavirus, Dr. bodies that would be expected to protect
A 33-year-old man was infected a sec- To said: “Our results prove that his sec- against the virus. Even people who had
ond time with the coronavirus more ond infection is caused by a new virus only mild symptoms, including this
than four months after his initial bout, that he acquired recently, rather than man, may also have immune “memory”
the first documented case of so-called prolonged viral shedding.” in the form of B and T cells that prevent
reinfection, researchers in Hong Kong Common cold coronaviruses are symptoms on second exposure.
reported Monday. known to cause reinfections in less than “The majority of patients likely have a
The finding was not unexpected, es- a year, but experts had hoped that the cocktail of immune responses that acti-
pecially given the tens of millions of peo- new coronavirus might behave more vate on second exposure,” said Brian
ple who have been infected worldwide, like its cousins SARS and MERS, which Wasik, a virologist at Cornell University
experts said. And the man had no symp- seemed to produce protection lasting a in New York. “This Hong Kong patient
toms the second time, suggesting that few years. also seems to have been asymptomatic
even though the prior exposure did not on second infection, perhaps due to
prevent the reinfection, his immune sys- some immune response.”
“The majority of patients likely
tem kept the virus somewhat in check. But the researchers said it’s also pos-
“The second infection was completely have a cocktail of immune sible that in some people, a second expo-
asymptomatic — his immune response responses that activate on second sure will prove more severe. “It cannot
prevented the disease from getting exposure.” be generalized yet, because there’s still
worse,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immu- a possibility that the second infection
nologist at Yale University who was not can be worse,” Dr. To said.
involved with the work but reviewed the It’s still unclear how common reinfec- Building immunity is not unlike boost-
report at The New York Times’s request. tion from the new coronavirus might be, ing memory, said Dr. Michael Mina, an
“It’s kind of a textbook example of how because few researchers have se- immunologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan
immunity should work.” quenced the virus from each infection. School of Public Health.
People who do not have symptoms “We’ve had, what, 23 million cases The initial bout with the new coro-
may still spread the virus to others, how- documented thus far, but the fact that navirus is likely to result in “non-steril-
ever, underscoring the importance of one out of them at this point has been re- izing immunity,” but the virus will elicit a
vaccines, Dr. Iwasaki said. In the man’s infected should not cause undue alarm stronger response with each exposure,
case, she added, “natural infection cre- as of yet,” said Jeffrey Shaman, an epi- he said: “It is often these second and
MIGUEL CANDELA/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
ated immunity that prevented disease Getting temperatures checked at a mall in Hong Kong. Experts said it’s unclear how often people might become reinfected. demiologist at Columbia University in third exposures that help to solidify the
but not reinfection.” New York. memory response for the long term.”
“In order to provide herd immunity, a “However, it remains very, very con- Over all, experts said, it’s unclear how
potent vaccine is needed to induce im- weeks, which can lead to positive test re- quencing,” said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, toms. In accordance with the regula- cerning — and this does nothing to dis- often people might become reinfected,
munity that prevents both reinfection sults in the absence of live virus. a clinical microbiologist at the Univer- tions in Hong Kong, he was hospitalized pel that — that we may be subject to re- and how soon, after a first bout with the
and disease,” Dr. Iwasaki said. But the Hong Kong researchers se- sity of Hong Kong. on March 29 even though his symptoms peat infection with this virus,” he said. virus.
Doctors have reported several cases quenced the virus from both of the man’s The study is to be published in the had subsided and released on April 14 Dr. Iwasaki was more sanguine. She “Those remain open questions, be-
of presumed reinfection in the United infections and found significant differ- journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The only after he had tested negative for the noted that the man had no antibodies af- cause one person exhibiting a mild rein-
States and elsewhere, but none of those ences, suggesting that the patient had Times obtained the manuscript from the virus twice. ter the first infection but produced them fection, clearly documented as a distinct
cases have been confirmed through rig- been infected a second time. university. He had no detectable antibodies after after the second exposure. Immunity is strain of the virus, does not provide
orous testing. Recovered people are “I believe this is the first reported The man’s first case was diagnosed on that first bout with the virus. He was expected to build with each exposure to enough evidence one way or another,”
known to carry viral fragments for case that is confirmed by genome se- March 26, and he had only mild symp- positive again for the coronavirus on a a pathogen exactly in this way, she Dr. Shaman said.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 | 5
world
Four years later, it’s still an us-vs.-them game
one note of caution: “I should have drop-
NEWS ANALYSIS
kicked my crystal ball into a flaming
dumpster after 2016.”
If both admirers and critics of the
At his party’s convention,
president seem inclined to append such
Trump shows little interest caveats lately, many in Mr. Trump’s or-
bit are also acutely aware of the race’s
in trying to expand his base
present dynamics: Mr. Biden is win-
ning. Mr. Trump, so polarizing at this
stage of his tenure, will have a hard time
BY MATT FLEGENHEIMER
changing many minds, meaning his
President Trump was trying to rewrite clearest shot at re-election involves sul-
history and enlist frontline Covid work- lying Mr. Biden’s standing.
ers to the cause. The strain showed. And yet, strategists in both parties
Flanked in the East Room of the agree that all of this might still prove
White House by Americans involved in enough for Mr. Trump.
the fight against the coronavirus — a They are mindful of an electoral map
nurse, a trucker, a postal worker, an- that pushed him into office in 2016 de-
other nurse — Mr. Trump set off on Mon- spite a significant deficit in the popular
day for more than four rose-colored min- vote. They cite the typical durability of
utes recasting the recent past before his his support levels — rarely spectacular
Night 1 convention audience. but not yet irreversibly disastrous, ei-
“Tell me a little about your stories,” he ther — and see a way forward for him:
asked his guests at first. But he had a the enthusiasm of his base combining
few of his own: about dastardly Demo- with a coalition of nose-holding Trump
crats and governors who disappointed voters, a series of lucky breaks and
him, about his preferred nicknames for some ill-timed Democratic stumbles to
the virus and the insufficient gratitude lift him once more.
for his government’s efforts.
“We have delivered billions of dollars
“His path to victory is similar
of equipment that governors were sup-
posed to give, and in many cases they to his path to victory last time,
didn’t get,” he complained. “So the fed- which is to consolidate his
eral government had to help them, and base and demonize
all of the people that did this incredible
the opposition.”
work, they never got credit for it. But
you understand where it came from.”
At least twice, Mr. Trump called the
pandemic “the China virus,” seeking to “They have done the math and they
deflect blame. cannot win unless the base turns out in
“I don’t want to go through all the full force,” said Carlos Curbelo, a former
names,” he said at one point, “because Republican congressman from Florida
some people may get insulted. But that’s who clashed at times with Mr. Trump
the way it is.” and did not support him in 2016. “His
And this is the way it was, as ever, on path to victory is similar to his path to
Monday night: a re-election team that victory last time, which is to consolidate
had pledged a message of uplift and DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES his base and demonize the opposition.”
unity beforehand — with its candidate Some additions to the Republican
struggling in the polls amid poor ap- lineup on Monday, which included sev-
praisals of his pandemic response — eral Black supporters, did appear
and a principal who knows no other way geared toward projecting more inclu-
but rampaging and revisionism. sion, not only (or even primarily) to
All night, the proceedings played out court Black voters but also to combat
in this perpetual tug. Any aspirational perceptions — often damaging among
appeals from speakers like Nikki Haley, white voters — that Mr. Trump and his
the former United Nations ambassador, party have given safe harbor to racist
and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, views.
the chamber’s only Black Republican, Mr. Scott — who publicly condemned
seemed doomed to be shadowed by the Mr. Trump’s remarks after the 2017 neo-
often ominous tone of the evening. Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va., but has
Some of the convention’s opening se- generally been a reliable ally — was
quences often more closely resembled among the most notable speakers.
Mr. Trump’s preferred Fox News pro- “President Trump built the most inclu-
gramming, with a roster of contributors sive economy ever,” he said, hailing the
holding forth on “the Russia hoax,” the nation’s financial position before the vi-
“socialist” Democrats and the mental rus hit and criticizing Mr. Biden’s record
acuity and stamina of their nominee, Jo- for Black Americans.
seph R. Biden Jr. There was also Vernon Jones, a Geor-
“I’m speaking to you from an audito- gia state legislator and a rare Democrat-
rium emptier than Joe Biden’s daily PETE MAROVICH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES PETE MAROVICH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES ic endorser of the president, one week
schedule,” Representative Matt Gaetz of Top, President Trump made a surprise visit to the Republican National Convention on Monday where his son, Donald Trump Jr., above left, said the Democratic nominee Joseph R. after a Democratic convention that of-
Florida, one of the president’s most vo- Biden Jr. had a “radical left-wing” platform that would impede economic recovery. Above right, Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, speaking at the convention. ten showcased Republican backers of
cal and combative congressional sup- Mr. Biden.
porters, yukked into the camera at one With Mr. Trump in charge, of course,
point, railing against the “woketopians” Ms. McCloskey said, “your family will Kimberly Guilfoyle, the younger Mr. in parks, riots in streets and blackouts in He at once perpetuated the abiding political discipline can always be fleet-
of the left. not be safe in the radical Democrats’ Trump’s girlfriend who has become a homes.” tenets of an us-against-them presidency ing.
Other speakers included Charlie Kirk, America.” top fund-raising figure in the re-election, In one memorable flourish, Mr. Trump and laid bare the narrow political path In recent days, the president and his
a right-wing provocateur with a book Later, there was an address from the also appeared on Monday, deploying appeared with a different group of he hopes to navigate to a second term. team had predicted that he would be
called “The MAGA Doctrine,” and Mark president’s son Donald Trump Jr., who some of the evening’s darker imagery. guests at the White House: former hos- “I think it’s dumb,” Michael Steel, a presiding over a four-day testament to
and Patricia McCloskey, who became called Mr. Biden “the Loch Ness mon- “If you want to see the socialist Biden- tages, in a bid to highlight the adminis- longtime Republican strategist, said of optimism and national sunniness.
social-media-famous this year after ster of the swamp” with a “radical left- Harris future for our country, just take a tration’s work in freeing people who had the president’s approach. “But I do think “Very uplifting and positive,” he said
pointing guns at protesters marching wing” platform that would impede eco- look at California,” she thundered from been held in other countries. it’s indicative not just of his campaign of his desired convention tenor over the
near their home in St. Louis. nomic recovery. “He sticks his head up an auditorium in Washington. “It is a Taken together, the accumulation of but of his administration. He has chosen weekend.
Sitting side by side on a couch, they every now and then to run for presi- place of immense wealth, immeasurable rhetoric made plain that if Mr. Trump every single time to double down on his “We definitely want to improve on the
solemnly told viewers what they saw at dent,” the president’s son said of Mr. Bi- innovation and immaculate envi- believes his party should be a big-tent base rather than expanding his appeal.” dour and sour mood of the D.N.C.,”
stake in a Biden administration: “Make den, “then he disappears and doesn’t do ronment — and the Democrats turned it enterprise, he is also not much inter- Mr. Steel, a veteran of Jeb Bush’s pres- Kellyanne Conway, the president’s
no mistake, no matter where you live,” much in between.” into a land of discarded heroin needles ested in persuading skeptics to join him. idential campaign four years ago, added counselor, told reporters.
Not the convention this state’s Republicans had hoped for
toring style and mismanagement of a for Prosperity, was preparing for an af- greets them with a friendly elbow bump.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
coronavirus outbreak that is still ternoon of door-to-door canvassing for Republicans hope to capitalize on the
spreading throughout the state. Mr. Tillis in Ms. Strom’s neighborhood relatively unique circumstances of the
North Carolina was supposed to be a recently. Political division has grown so Biden-Trump matchup, with many
Instead of a celebration,
more promising opportunity for Repub- intense, he said, that many voters have likely Biden voters now saying that their
North Carolina’s G.O.P. is licans, which is why they selected Char- shut down. choice is driven more by opposition to
lotte, its largest city, as the site of the Re- “Even the smallest things that were the president than by affection for Mr.
trying to hold a Senate seat
publican National Convention this year. never political before now have a slant, Biden. In private polling, Republicans
The presence of tens of thousands of and I think people are on overload,” he have found that as many as 29 percent of
Trump supporters would be a display of said. “It just never stops. And you hit a Biden supporters in states where there
BY JEREMY W. PETERS
confidence for a party that has carried point where some of these folks are is a competitive Senate race say they
For most of the past decade, North Car- the state in all but one presidential elec- thinking they just want to turn every- are open to voting for a Republican.
olina was a showcase for the Republican tion since 1980, and planned to do so thing off.” The organization, which is But Democrats are making an ag-
Party’s growth — its strength in the sub- again. But when the pandemic made funded by the libertarian billionaire gressive play for traditional Republican
urbs, in rural areas and in races up and that kind of mass gathering unsafe, Mr. Charles Koch, has had to refine its algo- voters in North Carolina, seeing an op-
down the ballot proving that it could Trump got into a spat with state and lo- rithms to find its target voters, fewer of portunity to remind voters about the
dominate in parts of the country where cal officials and moved the festivities to whom are registering with either of the least popular parts of the Republican
demographics favored the Democrats. Jacksonville, Fla., only to cancel once major parties, Mr. McCoy said. agenda.
Now it could be a victim of its own ex- that plan proved unfeasible. Americans for Prosperity has said it During a commercial break during
cess. A much more scaled-down gathering will not campaign for Mr. Trump or help Rush Limbaugh’s radio show recently,
After victories in 2010, when Republi- is taking place in Charlotte this week as with his re-election, a split that stems an ad by an independent group support-
cans took control of the State Legisla- several hundred Republican officials from differences over both substance ing the Democrat running against Mr.
TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
ture for the first time in more than 100 from across the country meet to vote on Members of Americans for Prosperity canvassing for Senator Thom Tillis in and style. Instead, the group is using its Tillis — Mr. Cunningham, who is an
years, and in 2012, when a Republican relatively mundane party matters — Mooresville, N.C. The Republican senator trails his Democratic opponent in most polls. super PAC to focus on the Senate, the Army veteran and a former state sena-
won the governor’s race, they used their their movements tracked by Bluetooth battleground where other Republican- tor — blamed Republican budget cuts
power in the State Capitol to carry out a sensors and their faces shielded by friendly organizations like the United for the closure of health care centers in
sweeping conservative agenda that in- masks, a must per the party’s rules. Trump were more attuned to women States Chamber of Commerce are also the rural parts of the state.
“The smallest things that were
cluded tax cuts, caps on medical mal- Polls show former Vice President Jo- and working families, Ms. Strom said shifting resources in an attempt to de- “There’s a scab there,” Morgan Jack-
practice damages and ending tenure for seph R. Biden Jr. tied with Mr. Trump never political before now have a she might not be leaning so much in fa- fend the majority and maintain a bul- son, Mr. Cunningham’s chief political
teachers. here. And the president’s standing is slant, and I think people are on vor of the Democrats. “Had the Republi- wark against the Democratic-led House strategist, said in an interview. “And if
But some of their most contentious dragging down the incumbent Republi- overload. It just never stops.” cans run anybody else, I might not have — and a possible Biden White House. you pick it, it will bleed.”
moves — creating highly gerryman- can senator, Thom Tillis, who is trailing voted for Hillary,” she said, referring to States like North Carolina, along with Disliking Mr. Trump or how he con-
dered congressional districts; restric- his Democratic opponent, Cal Cunning- the 2016 election, when Mr. Trump de- Maine and Iowa, are their firewall. ducts himself does not always translate
tions on gay and transgender rights that ham, in most polls. moving from Chicago four years ago. feated Hillary Clinton in North Carolina. The United States Chamber of Com- into a vote for Democrats, and many are
prompted national boycotts; and curbs The challenges in North Carolina are In a sense, Ms. Strom is like other re- “But it’s almost not about politics. I don’t merce started running an ad last week- likely to vote again for the president in
on the power of the Democratic gover- an extension of Republicans’ vulnerabil- cent transplants who are helping to think he has any morality. I don’t think end in the Raleigh market aimed at vot- spite of his conduct. Ms. Strom’s neigh-
nor — backfired with voters and the ities in other states across the Sun Belt transform the state’s political dynamics he’s a very good person.” ers who might be persuaded to vote Re- bor Kirk Domanick told a canvasser
courts, which struck down many of like Georgia and Arizona. As these by bringing their liberal sensibilities to a While Ms. Strom’s vote for Mr. Biden publican even if they had written off the from Americans for Prosperity that he
them. And after defeating the Republi- places grow more racially diverse, the traditionally conservative state. As the is all but certain, she is not as firm about president. There is no mention of Mr. was likely to vote Republican because
can governor in 2016, Democrats won Republican Party has lost support in the mother of a child with special needs, she her vote in the Senate race. Republicans Trump, the Republican Party or bread- he was worried that Democrats were go-
enough seats in the Legislature in 2018 fast-growing communities around large said she has come to see Republicans as see people like her as their path to hold- and-butter conservative issues like fis- ing too far in shutting down the state to
to break the supermajority that the Re- cities by supporting an agenda that the party that doesn’t care about people ing the Senate majority. But voters’ an- cal responsibility. Instead, the ad fo- stop the spread of the coronavirus.
publicans had for eight years. some people see as hostile to minorities, like her. “You realize not everybody can tipathy for Mr. Trump, combined with cuses on Mr. Tillis’s support for the Mr. Domanick said that Mr. Trump
Now, embattled Republican lawmak- immigrants and women. pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” the exhaustion that many say they feel nearly $700 billion Paycheck Protection “needs to shut up sometimes” but “does
ers find their fates intertwined with “They say most people get more con- she said as she stood in the doorway of when it comes to politics, makes it hard- Program, which has helped small busi- the best he can.”
those of President Trump, a deeply po- servative as you age, but I’ve gotten her house one recent afternoon. “Some er for activists like Chris McCoy to nesses during the pandemic, and it “Joe Biden is not a bad guy — he’s just
larizing figure who won here in 2016 by more liberal,” said Cindy Strom, an edu- people do need a helping hand from the break through. praises the senator as responsible and not the guy for now,” he said, adding a
three percentage points but has pushed cational consultant who lives in the government.” Mr. McCoy, the state director of the reliable. Mr. Tillis is shown wearing a caveat: “Maybe Joe will surprise me.
many voters to their limits with his hec- Charlotte suburb of Mooresville after But if the Republican Party and Mr. conservative political outfit Americans mask as he meets with constituents and November is a long way off.”
..
6 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world
District flipped in ’18 is in play in New Mexico
Small for voting for Mr. Trump’s im-
LAS CRUCES, N.M.
peachment, Ms. Herrell said in an inter-
view that she was counting on a surge in
Republican turnout to win the race.
Pandemic response fuels
“I’m more in touch with what our vot-
Republicans in a bid to er values are,” Ms. Herrell said. “This is
a very family-oriented district, very
retake a congressional seat
blue collar, pro-Second Amendment,
pro-life, pro-free market.”
In New Mexico’s June primary, voter
BY SIMON ROMERO
turnout climbed to about 40 percent of
When Democrats in New Mexico swept eligible voters, the highest level for a
elections just two years ago, flipping the primary in the state since the early
Republican-held congressional district 1990s. But in what could be a troubling
that stretches across more than half the sign for Democrats, the total number of
state ranked among their biggest wins. Republican votes cast in the primary in-
But in a sign of how tenuous the Dem- creased by more than 40 percent from
ocrats’ hold is on some of the House 2016, while Democratic votes rose by
seats they picked up in 2018, especially about 5 percent, according to the New
in districts President Trump carried Mexico secretary of state’s office.
four years ago, that prize is suddenly in Democrats say they are also counting
play yet again. on much higher turnout in the Novem-
The incumbent, Representative Xo- ber election in anticipation of greater
chitl Torres Small, is now among the voting by mail by constituents hesitant
most vulnerable Democrats in Congress to cast ballots in person during the pan-
in a race that is drawing attention from demic. In the meantime, Ms. Herrell and
leaders of both parties, and potentially other Republicans are eyeing the politi-
huge amounts of spending, as Republi- cal divisiveness around New Mexico’s
cans eye an opening to blunt Democrat- response to the pandemic as an opening
ic momentum in this part of the West. to build support for the party in the cov-
Yvette Herrell, the Republican seek- eted district.
ing to oust Ms. Torres Small, is stoking On a drive across the district in recent
anger over a slump in the oil industry days, the contrast with other parts of
and measures taken by Democrats in New Mexico came sharply into focus. In
New Mexico to fight the coronavirus towns like Artesia and Cloudcroft, few
pandemic. Shifting blame from Presi- people had masks on. At convenience
dent Trump for the pandemic’s eco- stores in Roswell, neither employees
nomic fallout, Ms. Herrell has grown so nor patrons wore masks.
critical of New Mexico’s virus mitigation At a Holiday Inn in Roswell, some
policies that it sometimes seems as if guests congregated in the lobby without
she is running as much against the masks while about a dozen other un-
state’s Democratic governor as Ms. Tor- masked guests met up in the parking lot
res Small. for an impromptu party, knocking back
“This is a razor-thin race we’re look- beers as if the pandemic did not exist.
ing at if the Republicans energize their But even while New Mexico has man-
base, as they already did in the prima- aged to avoid the huge outbreaks seen in
JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
ry,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a pollster with Yvette Herrell, who in 2018 lost the congressional race by fewer than 4,000 votes, has said that she was counting on a surge in Republican turnout to win the race in 2020. neighboring Texas and Arizona, Repub-
Latino Decisions and executive director licans in the state are using every
of the University of New Mexico’s Cen- chance they get to attack Democrats’ co-
ter for Social Policy. robust fund-raising in 2018), dwarfing now casting herself as a moderate Dem- ronavirus measures during an election
As the Republican convention gets Ms. Herrell’s $379,000 and raising the ocrat who can reach consensus with Re- year in which social media strategies
underway, some of the complications of possibility that outside groups could en- publicans and even defy Democratic are eclipsing traditional face-to-face
politics in 2020 are playing out in New ter the fray to bolster the Republican’s leaders when necessary. campaigning.
Mexico. campaign. Still, with on-the-ground campaigning Steve Pearce, the chairman of New
The cautious pandemic response by As the race tightens, it offers a limited this year by social distancing Mexico’s Republican Party and a former
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has kept glimpse into whether a Democrat can measures aimed at curbing the spread congressman who represented the dis-
cases from exploding in a poor state that hold on to a relatively conservative dis- of the coronavirus, Ms. Torres Small trict for a total of 14 years, said it made
is home to large numbers of people with trict that Mr. Trump won by 10 points in may face an uphill battle to persuade sense strategically to criticize the state’s
underlying conditions. New Mexico has 2016. The district is now the largest by voters that she is on the energy indus- pandemic response in a district where
had far fewer Covid-19-related deaths area in the United States to be repre- try’s side. Republicans have to peel away Demo-
on a per capita basis than neighboring sented by a Democrat, stretching from cratic votes to win.
Arizona, one of the first states to reopen suburban areas near Albuquerque to “You’re looking for these wedges, and
“This is a razor-thin race we’re
in May. the border with Mexico. the business owners are a tremendous
Still, open defiance by sheriffs, busi- Almost 50 percent of eligible voters in looking at if the Republicans wedge, and then the people who work
ness owners and many others of Ms. Lu- the district are Hispanic, a larger pro- energize their base, as they for these small-business owners are
jan Grisham’s policies, which include a portion than New Mexico’s two other already did in the primary.” tremendous wedges,” Mr. Pearce said.
statewide mask mandate, can make congressional districts. Ms. Torres Democrats, for their part, are defend-
parts of the district in southern New Small, a bilingual 35-year-old water ing the state’s pandemic measures while
Mexico feel almost like a different state rights lawyer whose grandmother emi- In one sign of the skepticism she is en- emphasizing that proclaiming loyalty to
from Albuquerque and points north- grated from Mexico, is trying to appeal countering, Harry Teague, the only Mr. Trump, and voicing support for po-
ward, where many people are wearing to those voters with ads in both Spanish other Democrat to represent the district larizing projects like his border wall,
ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
masks. Xochitl Torres Small, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from Ms. Herrell, who is focusing and English. in the last 40 years, this month endorsed may not offer a path to victory in a heav-
The strategy of running hard to the on the slumping energy sector and New Mexico’s restrictions in response to the virus. The vast district includes Las Cruces, her opponent, Ms. Herrell. ily Latino district where many are skep-
right by avowing loyalty to Mr. Trump a Democratic-leaning city that is home In contrast to the bipartisan image tical of the administration’s treatment of
while blasting Democrats for problems to New Mexico State University, but also cultivated by the incumbent, Ms. Her- people in the borderlands.
associated with the pandemic could be ers undecided. The poll, conducted in other races around the country leaning the counties that produce most of New rell, 56, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation “Our district is small town New Mex-
working for Ms. Herrell, who lost the July in a survey of 400 voters, had a mar- in the party’s direction. Still, the contest Mexico’s oil, an area sometimes called who was born and raised in southern ico, as small town as it gets,” said Mi-
2018 race by fewer than 4,000 votes. gin of sampling error of plus or minus in New Mexico shows how easily that “Little Texas,” where voters have been New Mexico, is making it explicitly clear caela Lara Cadena, a Democratic state
A poll by the Tarrance Group for the 4.9 percentage points. could change, even for candidates hold- seething over a shift to the left in the that she sides with Republicans on is- legislator from Mesilla, a town of about
Republican National Committee Democrats are still thought to have ing a significant cash advantage. state. sues including oil production, abortion 2,200 near Las Cruces. “But people don’t
showed the candidates tied with each the upper hand in their battle to main- Ms. Torres Small has about $3.9 mil- Ms. Torres Small, whose 2018 ads fea- and support for President Trump. want to see blind loyalty to anybody or
getting 46 percent and 8 percent of vot- tain control of the House, with various lion in cash on hand (partly a result of tured her grasping a hunting rifle, is While voicing criticism of Ms. Torres any office.”
Covid in the classroom? Some schools want to keep it quiet
to combat the pandemic. tive media coverage, said Mr. Calvert at
Public notification policies
“If schools don’t notify, it actually can the University of Florida. “In the name
in the U.S. vary widely make disease control more difficult,” of protecting personal privacy, many of
said Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Har- those districts are really sacrificing pub-
from state to state
vard Global Health Institute. “And it’s lic health concerns,” he said.
not like no one will know. Word will get Such is the fear in Camden County,
out through a rumor mill. You don’t where in recent weeks the 40-bed hospi-
BY DAN LEVIN
scare people by telling them what’s go- tal in St. Marys, the county seat, had to
On the first day of school in Camden ing on. You scare them by hiding infor- divert ambulances elsewhere because
County, Ga., local Facebook groups were mation.” of a crush of coronavirus patients.
already buzzing with rumors that a In many places, reopening schools Although the district offered a choice
teacher had tested positive for the coro- has taken on a distinctly partisan bent, between remote learning and in-person
navirus. The next day, a warning went with President Trump and Republican instruction, some families said they felt
out to school administrators: Keep governors such as Ron DeSantis of Flor- PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLOTTE KESL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES pressure to return when school started
teachers quiet. ida urging in-person instruction. A con- Kiisa Kennedy, above, whose two children this month. Kiisa Kennedy, whose two
“Staff who test positive are not to noti- stant flow of information about positive attend Camden County High School in children go to Camden County High
fy any other staff members, parents of cases in classrooms and quarantined Kingsland, Ga., left, said the school dis- School, said she agreed to let her 11th-
their students or any other person/enti- students could hinder those efforts, ex- trict had been “very hush-hush” about grade son, a football player, attend
ty that they may have exposed them,” perts said. positive coronavirus cases. “We as par- classes because the district was not pro-
Jon Miller, the district’s deputy superin- “When schools have to shut down af- ents cannot make informed decisions viding certain advanced courses to re-
tendent, wrote in a confidential email on ter students test positive, that doesn’t because they’re withholding the informa- mote learners or letting them partici-
Aug. 5. look good politically on governors and tion,” she said. pate in sports.
In the weeks since, parents, students lawmakers who have advocated for Like other parents, she said she had
and teachers in the coastal community opening up,” said Clay Calvert, director heard of at least nine positive cases in
on the Florida border have heard by of the Marion B. Brechner First Amend- cerns prevent officials from sharing the city’s education department. A district spokesman declined to com- the schools and entire classes that had
word of mouth of more positive cases ment Project at the University of Flor- those details with the public. Tennessee In Florida, the Pasco County school ment, citing the litigation. to be quarantined, but the district re-
linked to district schools. Some parents ida. “So the potential is there to hide be- last week backed away from a previous district outside Tampa will inform stu- The silence worries Kila Murphey, a fused to answer questions.
said they had been called by local offi- hind privacy laws. commitment by the governor to report dents and teachers who have been in nurse practitioner with two children in “They’ve been very hush-hush,” she
cials and told that their children should “There are definitely battle lines the number of cases linked to schools, close contact with someone who has the district. “Simply saying that the said. “We as parents cannot make in-
quarantine. drawn, and the release of information and is providing information only by tested positive for the virus, a district health department is going to do contact formed decisions because they’re with-
But even as fears of an outbreak have can sway public opinion.” county. spokesman said, and will alert the rest tracing doesn’t really reassure me of holding the information.”
grown, the district has refused to pub- Indeed, some states have seen grow- of the school and the news media about anything,” she said. “We need to know The school district did not respond to
licly confirm a single case, either to the ing concern after school doors opened confirmed cases. that there was a Covid case and what several requests for comment.
Some states say that privacy
local community or The New York and infections were immediately re- But in nearby Orange County, which steps the school is taking to ensure they Ginger Heidel, a spokeswoman for
Times. ported. In Georgia, nearly 2,500 stu- concerns prevent data sharing. includes Orlando, the teachers’ union don’t have an outbreak.” the Coastal Health District, the agency
“This is a danger to our community,” dents and 62 staff members in the Cher- filed a lawsuit against the district in July Officials often cite privacy laws such that covers several coastal counties in
said Cheryl Honeycutt, the mother of an okee County School District have been after it refused to disclose the names of as the federal Family Educational Georgia including Camden, declined to
8-year-old Camden student. “We’re ordered to quarantine, while 71 out of 82 In Virginia, state law prohibits the schools and workplaces where employ- Rights and Privacy Act and the Health answer questions about virus cases in
safer if we know what’s going on, but counties in Mississippi have reported health department from disclosing ees had tested positive for the virus, cit- Insurance Portability and Accountabil- schools, citing privacy laws. She said
their pan answer is, ‘We can neither con- cases in schools. cases at specific facilities, including ing privacy laws. ity Act when arguing against disclosure. schools were only required to alert peo-
firm or deny.’” State notification policies vary widely schools, said Tammie Smith, a spokes- “The district is totally nontranspar- Yet neither law bars public schools from ple who have been in close contact with
As schools in parts of the United across the country. Officials in Colorado woman for the state health commis- ent,” said Wendy Doromal, president of releasing information about cases as someone who had tested positive, but
States have reopened classrooms amid and North Carolina are reporting which sioner. The commissioner had originally the Orange County Classroom Teachers long as they do not provide personal de- were allowed to notify the community “if
a still-raging pandemic, some districts schools have had positive cases, while said the same thing about nursing Association, which represents the dis- tails about those who are infected, the they want.”
have been open about coronavirus cases Louisiana, which had not previously homes, but was later ordered to release trict’s 14,000 educators. “Of course we federal education and health depart- Earlier this month, the Camden
in their buildings. They send weekly — identified specific schools with out- the data by Gov. Ralph Northam after a never asked for the individual’s name or ments have said — and in some situa- County school district reversed course
and in some cases, daily — reports to breaks, said last week that it was creat- public outcry. any confidential information.” tions, even that might be allowed. on its mask-optional policy, announcing
families and update online dashboards ing a new system to “efficiently report Disclosure plans at the district level Ms. Doromal said the union sued after “School notification is an effective that they would now be required on
with the latest positive test results and relevant Covid-19 data in schools for reveal a similar patchwork. In New York teachers, including some with health is- method of informing parents and eligi- school grounds. But the announcement
quarantine counts. greater public visibility.” City, the nation’s largest school system sues that could make them more vulner- ble students of an illness in the school,” came with no information about cases
But other districts have been silent, On the other end of the spectrum, Ok- with 1.1 million students — and one of able to the virus, went to schools during the Education Department wrote in linked to schools.
sometimes citing privacy concerns to lahoma does not require school districts the few remaining big districts planning the summer to retrieve belongings or March. “That just made me more scared,” Ms.
withhold information, to the dismay of to report Covid-19 cases to health de- to open with in-person instruction — of- volunteer, only to discover that some Schools have often abused privacy Kennedy said.
some anxious parents, concerned edu- partments. And some states that do, in- ficials will tell families and students buildings were closed for deep cleaning laws to hide damaging information that
cators and public health experts trying cluding Maine, say that privacy con- about each confirmed case, according to because of a positive case. could expose them to lawsuits or nega- Barbara Harvey contributed reporting.
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 | 7
Business
Amazon’s bold move
in an Indian metropolis
The 1.8 million-square-foot building
Company signals its plan
sits on a campus of nearly 70 acres. The
for growth with an office in development has come to symbolize a
defining feature of India’s booming tech
Hyderabad, its biggest yet
industry: the inexorable presence of in-
ternational tech companies.
When Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos,
BY GENEVA ABDUL
visited India in January, he was met
The austere building is hardly distin- with an antitrust case by Indian regula-
guishable in the landscape of glass and tors, who are investigating Amazon and
concrete buildings making up Asia’s Sili- the Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart,
con Valley, as Hyderabad, India, is which is owned largely by Walmart.
known. It is one of Amazon’s latest de- India bans foreign direct investment
velopments, and the American online in retail, a shift from policy in the United
retailer’s largest office building in the States and Britain. By law, Amazon and
world. other foreign-owned e-commerce com-
With plans to cement its place as the panies are required to be neutral mar-
center of gravity around which online ketplaces reliant on independent sell-
retail revolves, Amazon has turned to ers.
India, the world’s fastest-growing mar-
ket for internet users. And it has picked
“There are loopholes they’re
Hyderabad, a city of nearly 10 million in
India’s south, as its base of operations. exploiting. Everyone knows that.”
But the project faces challenges, in-
cluding pushback from local businesses
and politicians. But Praveen Khandelwal, founder
Hyderabad has emerged in a few and general secretary of the Confedera-
short years as a technology and finan- tion of All India Traders, which oversees
cial center, and a beacon for young tal- 70 million traders and 40,000 trade asso-
ent. The city, which saw the biggest ciations, argues that the company has
surge in tech office space last year, is al- hurt domestic trade, resulting in the clo-
ready a base in India for other multi- sure of thousands of homegrown busi-
national tech companies, including the nesses across the country.
U.S. giants Facebook, Google and Amazon’s new Hyderabad office, he
Microsoft. Apple spent $25 million for said, is merely a way to “push for control
the development of its offices there. and dominance over Indian retail trade
“Hyderabad is a known software tech in a more structured way.” Mr. Khandel-
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
A busy mall in Houston. Many Trump voters praise the U.S. president’s economic stewardship before the pandemic hit, and they do not blame him for the damage it has caused. talent center, and the government has wal led protests against Amazon’s trade
been an enabler for us to have a campus practices this year.
this size,” said Minari Shah, an Amazon India’s retail regulator is investigat-
Trump gets lift from economy spokeswoman. “This is an important ing Amazon over allegations that it is us-
confirmation of how India continues to ing deep discounts and preferred sell-
be important to Amazon.” ers, said Satish Meena, a senior analyst
Over the last decade, the technology for the global technology research firm
behemoth has woven itself into the fab- Forrester.
ric of Indian life. And now, four years af- “There are loopholes they’re exploit-
hit, and they do not blame him for the the coronavirus crisis has dispropor- Political Report in Washington, who has ter construction began, the Hyderabad ing. Everyone knows that,” Mr. Meena
Despite recession, polls
damage it has caused. In interviews, tionately harmed Black and Latino written extensively on the economy and office, Amazon’s first fully owned office said.
show many Americans see some of those voters cited record stock workers, who lean heavily Democratic Mr. Trump’s electoral fortunes. “And outside the United States, joins its 40 The challenges emerging in India
market gains — although only about half — but may also reflect regional divides. what the actual economic situation is in other offices, 67 shipping centers, 1,400 echo stories in the United States, where
him as a tough negotiator
of Americans own any stock at all — as Small business owners in small, more November is less important to them delivery stations and a work force of American tech giants have squeezed
evidence of a rebound under the presi- rural states that backed Mr. Trump in than it would be in a different time with more than 60,000 (plus 155,000 contrac- smaller rivals and business owners.
dent. the 2016 election report less economic different candidates.” tors) in the country. AMAZON,PAGE8
BY JIM TANKERSLEY
“He’s had failures — so have I — in damage from the crisis than those in Mr. Trump’s overall approval ratings
It is an enduring political question amid business,” said Dale Georgeff, 58, of Ce- larger blue states, according to an anal- have never cracked a majority through-
a pandemic recession, double-digit un- darburg, Wis., a Trump supporter who ysis of census survey data by the Eco- out his presidency. Voters have given
employment and a recovery that ap- owns parts of a brewery and a vehicle nomic Innovation Group in Washington. him higher approval ratings on his han-
pears to be slowing: Why does Presi- paint shop and also sells insurance. “But Perhaps most notably, Mr. Trump is dling of the economy — he topped 60
dent Trump continue to get higher I think the biggest thing is that — and I reaping the benefits of extreme polar- percent in one survey this year before
marks on economic issues in polls than think this is how it rubs certain people ization of the American electorate, a di- the pandemic hit — even as some of his
his predecessors Barack Obama, the wrong way — he’s treating this like a vide so intense that it has overpowered signature economic initiatives, like the
George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush business, and he’s running it like a busi- long-running connections between eco- 2017 tax cut package he signed into law,
enjoyed when they stood for re-elec- ness.” nomic performance and presidential ap- remain relatively unpopular.
tion? proval ratings. For many Republican But the plunge in economic activity
Mr. Trump’s relative strength on the voters and conservatives, optimism since the coronavirus began to spread
economy, and whether Joseph R. Biden For many Republicans, optimism about the economy and approval of the rapidly in the United States late this past
Jr. can cut into it over the next 10 weeks, about the economy and approval president have become deeply entwined winter has hurt Mr. Trump’s standing on
are among the crucial dynamics in bat- of the president have become — and for Democrats, disfavor for Mr. economic issues as well as his overall
tleground states in the Midwest and the Trump brought deep pessimism over approval. Most polls now find Ameri-
deeply entwined.
Sun Belt that are expected to decide the the economy even in the years of growth cans are evenly split on whether they
election. Many of these states have and low unemployment before the pan- approve of his handling of the economy.
struggled this summer with rising coro- demic. The polling firm Gallup, for example,
navirus infection and death rates as well David Winton, a Republican strat- Polls conducted in June, July and Au- found Mr. Trump enjoyed a 48 percent
as job losses and vanishing wages and egist and pollster, said that Mr. Trump’s gust for The New York Times by the on- approval rating on the economy this
savings — hard times that, history sug- ratings had been bolstered by the addi- line research firm SurveyMonkey un- month, down from 63 percent in Janu-
gests, will pose a threat to an incumbent tion of nine million jobs in May, June and derscored the degree to which even Re- ary. The decline was acute among mod-
president seeking re-election. July, after the nation lost more than 20 publicans hit hard by the crisis continue erates, independents and voters who at-
Yet polling data and interviews with million jobs in March and April. Mr. to give Mr. Trump and his economy high tended at least some college.
voters and political analysts suggest Trump’s approval on the economy “has marks. Eight in 10 Republican respond- In a recent ABC News/Washington AMAZON INDIA BLOG
that a confluence of factors are raising still generally remained positive, and ents who lost a job in the recession and Post poll, two-thirds of Americans said Amazon’s office in Hyderabad, India, is 1.8 million square feet. It’s home to 7,000 em-
Mr. Trump’s standing on the economy is- better than his overall job approval,” he have yet to return to work approve of the economy was in bad shape — the ployees, with an expected work force of 15,000, largely consisting of technology teams.
sue, which remains a centerpiece of his said. “This has certainly been helped by Mr. Trump’s handling of the pandemic. most since 2014, and a 20-percentage-
pitch for a second term and has been a the last three good monthly jobs reports Nearly three in 10 Republicans who lost point increase in negative ratings of the
major theme of the Republican National that occurred despite the continuing re- jobs say they are better off economically economy since Mr. Trump took office.
Convention this week. strictions on many businesses to oper- than they were a year ago, a sentiment The decline in sentiment is hurting
The president has built an enduring ate.” that is shared by barely one in 10 Demo- Mr. Trump in his campaign against Mr. ADVERTISEMENT
brand with conservative voters, in par- Polling suggests that Americans who crats who have kept their jobs through- Biden, the Democratic nominee. Among
ticular, who continue to see him as a suc- form Mr. Trump’s voter base are less out the crisis. registered voters who said they thought
LEGAL NOTICE:
cessful businessman and tough negotia- likely to have lost a job or income than “For so many of these voters, opinions the economy was doing badly, 70 per-
tor. Many of those voters praise his eco- Democratic or independent voters. That of Trump are basically baked in,” said cent planned to support Mr. Biden and IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
nomic stewardship before the pandemic divergence is partially driven by race — Amy Walter, national editor for the Cook TRUMP,PAGE8
THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA,
CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:16-cv-00253 WTM-GRS
Wary of home appraisals SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. MEDIENT
STUDIOS, INC., et al.,
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN TO
they’re found to produce discriminatory
Discrimination often arises
appraisals. Title XI of the Financial In- DEFENDANT MANU SANDHA KUMARAN
for Black owners seeking stitutions Reform, Recovery and En-
forcement Act, enacted in 1989, also You have been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities
to value their residences
binds appraisers to a standard of unbi-
and Exchange Commission in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District
ased ethics and performance.
“My heart kind of broke,” Ms. Horton of Georgia. The name of the case is SEC v. Medient Studios, Inc., Fonu2, Inc.,
BY DEBRA KAMIN
said. “I know what the issue was. And I
Manu Kumaran, Joel A. “Jake Shapiro, and Roger Miguel, Civil Action
Abena and Alex Horton wanted to take knew what we needed to do to fix it, be-
advantage of low home-refinance rates cause in the Black community, it’s just No. 4:16-CV-00253-WTM-GRS. The lawsuit against you is pending before Judge
brought on by the coronavirus crisis. So common knowledge that you take your William T. Moore, Jr. The SEC alleges that you and the other defendants violated
in June, they took the first step in that pictures down when you’re selling the
process, welcoming a home appraiser house. But I didn’t think I had to worry the antifraud, reporting and registration provisions of the federal securities laws by
into their four-bedroom, four-bath about that with an appraisal.” engaging in a microcap fraud. Specifically, the SEC alleges that you made numerous
ranch-style house in Jacksonville, Fla. Appraisals, by nature, are subjective.
false statements in press releases and public filings for Medient Studios, Inc., and
The Hortons live just minutes from And discrimination, particularly the
the Ortega River, in a predominantly subconscious biases and microaggres- participated in a promissory note backdating scheme involving Medient’s stock. The
white neighborhood of 1950s homes that sions that have risen to the fore in white
SEC seeks permanent injunctions against you prohibiting further violations of the
tend to sell for $350,000 to $550,000. America this summer following the
They had expected their home to ap- death of George Floyd, is notoriously relevant provisions of the federal securities laws, an order barring you from serving
praise for around $450,000, but the ap- difficult to pinpoint.
as a director or officer of a public company registered pursuant to Sections 12 or
praiser felt differently, assigning a value Ms. Horton shared her experiment in
CHARLOTTE KESL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
of $330,000. Ms. Horton, who is Black, A second appraisal was valued 40 percent higher than the first for Abena and Alex a widely circulated Facebook post, earn- 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [15 U.S.C. § 78; § 78o(d)], an order
immediately suspected discrimination. Horton’s home in Jacksonville, Fla., after Ms. Horton removed all signs of Blackness. ing 25,000 shares and more than 2,000
barring you from participating in an offering of penny stock, disgorgement of ill-
The couple’s bank agreed that the val- comments, many of which came from
ue was off and ordered a second apprais- son on a shopping trip to Target, and left drive down home values in Black neigh- Black homeowners and carried the gotten gains (plus prejudgment interest), and a civil penalty.
al. But before the new appraiser could Mr. Horton alone at home to answer the borhoods. Even in mixed-race and pre- same message: This also happened to
arrive, Ms. Horton, a lawyer, began an door. dominantly white neighborhoods, Black me. You are directed to contact W. Shawn Murnahan, Senior Trial Counsel, Securities
experiment: She took all family photos The new appraiser gave their home a homeowners say, their homes are con- In each comment, a repeated theme: and Exchange Commission, 950 East Paces Ferry Road, N.E., Suite 900, Atlanta, GA
off the mantle. Instead, she hung up a se- value of $465,000 — a more than 40 per- sistently appraised for less than those of Home appraisers, who work under
ries of oil paintings of Mr. Horton, who is cent increase from the first appraisal. their neighbors, stymying their path to- codes of ethics but with little regulation 30326, USA to provide him with a valid address so that he can send you a Summons
white, and his grandparents that had Race and housing policy have long ward building equity and further per- and oversight, are often all that stands and the Complaint for Injunctive and Other Relief. If you do not contact attorney
been in storage. Books by Zora Neale been intertwined in the United States. petuating income equality in the United between the accumulation of home equi-
Murnahan within 20 days of the publication of this notice, the SEC will be entitled
Hurston and Toni Morrison were taken Black Americans consistently struggle States. ty and the destruction of it for Black
off the shelves, and holiday photo cards more than their white counterparts to Home appraisers are bound by the Americans. to seek entry of your default in the above-referenced case pursuant to Fed. R. Civ.
sent by friends were edited so that only be approved for home loans, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to not discrimi- After the first appraisal came up short
P. 55(a).
those showing white families were left specter of redlining — a practice that de- nate based on race, religion, national or- on his house in an affluent, racially
on display. On the day of the appraisal, nied mortgages to people of color in cer- igin or gender. Appraisers can lose their mixed suburb of Hartford, Conn.,
Ms. Horton took the couple’s 6-year-old tain neighborhoods — continues to license or even face prison time if APPRAISALS,PAGE8
..
8 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
business
Hong Kong’s digital dragnet New office
in Indian city
HONG KONG,FROM PAGE1
Kong is now emerging as a land of inter- is Amazon’s
net fault lines, a place where China’s
harsh techno-authoritarian rule collides
with the open internet in a society and biggest yet
economy governed by rules that protect
digital rights.
“With China’s rising influence and
power, it’s not safe for technology com- AMAZON,FROM PAGE7
panies to put their servers in China or Amazon is facing antitrust charges in
Hong Kong now,” said a prominent ac- the European Union, and Mr. Bezos and
tivist, Joshua Wong. “It’s important for other tech titans were grilled by U.S.
them to help support Hong Kong’s citi- lawmakers in July about their anticom-
zens and society with digital security.” petitive practices.
The first coordinated sting under the Amazon’s 15-story Hyderabad office
new security law made Mr. Chung an ex- opened last year.
ample of an offense new to Hong Kong It features prayer rooms, a small syn-
but common in mainland China: an in- thetic cricket field, 49 elevators, a heli-
ternet crime. The police accused him of pad and a cafeteria open 24 hours a day
writing a post calling for Hong Kong in- on a campus that, according to the com-
dependence on the Facebook page of a pany, is made of 2.5 times more steel
newly formed political party and de- than the Eiffel Tower. It’s home to 7,000
manded that he delete it. He denied writ- employees out of an expected work
ing it. force of 15,000, largely consisting of
Enforcing internet laws meant gath- technology teams focused on using ma-
ering digital evidence, and the police chine learning and software develop-
pushed hard to gain access to Mr. ment to innovate services — such as
Chung’s accounts. Though less than Amazon Pay’s cash load service for dig-
fully prepared for the arrest, Mr. Chung ital transactions in a country with 190
said, he was able to foil officers at each million citizens that do not use banks.
turn. In the stairwell when the police The building is also used by customer
forced his head in front of his phone, he service workers.
closed his eyes and scrunched his face, Representatives for Amazon declined
rendering useless his iPhone’s facial to comment on the cost of the develop-
recognition software. He had long since ment, but revealed to Bloomberg that it
disabled the fingerprint unlock on his cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” to
other phone. For passwords, he told the build. (The campus is Amazon’s largest,
police that he had forgotten them. but the company plans to open a second
Even so, a few hours after he was de- headquarters in Arlington, Va., that
tained, his friends noticed that his Face- could be as large as eight million square
ISAAC LAWRENCE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
book account was active, appearing as if Tony Chung in the Hong Kong stairwell where, he said, the police pinned his head in front of his phone in an attempt to activate the device’s facial recognition system. feet.)
he were online and using it. Mr. Chung Amazon and Flipkart bill themselves
believes that the security forces broke as e-commerce marketplaces, matching
in, though he said he wasn’t sure how. tactic of the secret police. it was an attempt by the Hong Kong po- buyers with independent sellers. That
When he was released and tried to sign If the surveillance caught Ms. Chow lice to get the login information for Mr. has enabled Amazon to sell products by
back in, Facebook had frozen his ac- off guard, her response also showed how Lai’s account. The tactic has added to a sellers such as Cloudtail at prices lower
count over a suspicious login. Hong Kong activists are successfully new level of paranoia that has made than independent sellers.
The Hong Kong police declined to adapting to aggressive police tactics. day-to-day operations more difficult, ac-
comment on recent tactics and cases. A Shortly after she was arrested, her per- cording to Mr. Simon.
Jeff Bezos has announced a
Facebook spokeswoman declined to sonal Facebook account was suspended. “The problem is this slows everything
comment. A spokeswoman for Verizon An assistant posted on her public page down, because now everyone is double $1 billion investment to help
Media, which owns Yahoo, said it was to explain that the account, with the help checking: ‘Did you send this message? small and midsize businesses in
“assessing potential impacts” of the law of Facebook, had been disabled to pro- Did you send that?’ It never stops; it India bolster their online growth.
on its operations in Hong Kong. tect it. just never, ever stops,” he said.
There are also concerns that the Hong The company allows people to ap- Mr. Simon added that people in Hong
Kong police are adopting invasive sur- point other legal administrators to an Kong were quickly adapting to the new The impact of Amazon’s strategy has
veillance techniques commonly used by account. That person can then coordi- information security environment. With been noted.
China’s secret police force. nate with Facebook to shut the account the police now able to tap phones with- For the past couple of years, Satinder
Agnes Chow, a prominent activist and to protect the data in the event of an ar- out a warrant, many citizens have Wadhwa has struggled to keep his busi-
politician, is no stranger to police atten- rest. switched entirely to encrypted chat ness alive in Greater Kailash, South
tion. Weeks before she was arrested this Other police tactics have been more apps. Delhi, amid the growth of online retail.
month, she released a YouTube video subtle, and more challenging to address. Many, he said, go further, setting the His specialty watch store, Time & Style,
punctuated with animations designed to Hours after the media mogul Jimmy apps to auto-delete messages and even used to be filled with throngs of locals.
teach Hong Kongers the basics of cyber- Lai was arrested, an employee at his eschewing taking paper notes in meet- Now, Mr. Wadhwa estimates he gets
security. She dispensed tips like how to company, Next Digital, received a mes- ings. half as many customers.
LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
enable two-factor authentication and Agnes Chow, an activist and politician. A statement released after her arrest said a sage from someone posing as a part of “I just don’t want to come off this is the “People have stopped coming to the
how to maintain a “public toilet phone” surveillance camera had been placed next to her doorstep before she was detained. tech support. Using the names of his em- end of the world; it’s not. This is just a market; that means they’re buying on-
where users can download apps they ployees, the message asked for login de- nuisance that we have to live with every line,” Mr. Wadhwa said. “If they’re get-
don’t trust — like, she pointed out, those tails to Mr. Lai’s Twitter account in order day,” Mr. Simon said. ting a better price and delivery at home,
from mainland China. “I’m a bit scared,” she wrote in a Face- had also appeared next to her doorstep to set up a new iPhone for Mr. Lai. “In China this is normal stuff. In Hong why will they come to us?”
Yet she was surprised when strange book post a day before her arrest that in- in the weeks before her arrest and was Schooled from years of cyberattacks, Kong they’re learning how to operate.” It’s a question many business owners
men appeared near her house, appar- cluded a photo of the men. removed after she was pulled in by the the recipient of the message flagged it as across India are asking. “Amazon is fi-
ently keeping watch in shifts and openly A statement released after her arrest police. In China, putting a camera out- suspicious. Mark Simon, an executive at Edmund Lee contributed reporting. Lin nancially strong. Their reach is strong,”
filming her with their smartphones. said an infrared surveillance camera side the door of dissidents is a common Next Digital, said the company believed Qiqing contributed research. Mr. Wadhwa said.
Since construction on the Hyderabad
office began in 2016, Amazon made
some promising appeals to locals: It
Black homeowners face started an Amazon Fresh store for gro-
cery delivery in Bangalore.
It also started Prime Reading with
inequity over appraisals books in Hindi and Tamil, and intro-
duced an online pharmacy amid the
pandemic.
The retail behemoth’s desire for ex-
APPRAISALS,FROM PAGE7 In Mr. Hughley’s case, the appraiser pansion is easy to explain. India’s e-
Stephen Richmond, an aerospace engi- was fired. Ms. Horton has filed a com- commerce industry is still in its infancy,
neer, took down family photos and post- plaint with the Department of Housing nearing 120 million online shoppers in
ers for Black movies and had a white and Urban Development; when con- 2018 out of a population of more than one
neighbor stand in for him on a second tacted about her case, HUD said it had billion.
appraisal. He was hoping to refinance; been assigned to the Jacksonville Hu- In 2018, Amazon was the second-larg-
with the second report, he saw his man Rights Commission. The agency est online retailer in India, trailing Flip-
home’s value go up $40,000 from the ini- added that it receives a handful of simi- kart, with a market share of 32 percent
tial appraisal just a few weeks earlier. lar complaints each year. (compared with 41 percent in the United
In 2000, the American actor and co- In 2018, researchers from Gallup and States).
median D.L. Hughley had an appraisal the Brookings Institution published a Analysts at Forrester predict e-com-
on his home in the Montevista Estates report on the widespread devaluation of merce sales in the country will reach
neighborhood of West Hills, a primarily Black-owned property in the United nearly $86 billion by 2024.
white area in the San Fernando Valley in States, which they discussed in a 2019 As India’s reliance on international
Los Angeles. Despite a steady uptick in hearing before the House Financial tech companies grows, the recent an-
the housing market and the addition of a Services Subcommittee. The report titrust investigation is only the latest in
pool and new hardwood floors, the found that a home in a majority Black a chain of events that has led the govern-
house was appraised for nearly what he neighborhood is likely to be valued for ment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
had bought it for three years earlier — 23 percent less than a near-identical to rein in foreign investment.
$500,000. home in a majority-white neighbor- Mr. Meena says there is a panic
hood; it also determined this devalua- among local sellers, who feel they are
tion costs Black homeowners $156 bil- being pushed out of the marketplace as
Confronting a bias that can cost
lion in cumulative losses. others are given preference, and are
them tens of thousands of dollars. Many appraisers, both during the now seeing the government raise ques-
hearing and in the weeks after, defended tions about large tech companies’ busi-
DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
their practice, noting that it’s their job to Cheering for President Trump in Pennsylvania. Many Trump supporters cite the record stock market gains during his administration. ness practices only after they have de-
In Mr. Hughley’s case, his bank report on local market conditions, not veloped their own e-commerce plat-
flagged the report. “They were like, this set them. forms.
has to be some kind of mistake because “Is there a problem with poor and un- Trump gets lift from economy To circumvent the latest wave of un-
in order for your house to have come in derserved communities in the United rest, Mr. Bezos announced a $1 billion in-
this low; it would have to be in some lev- States? Yes. Is it the appraisal profes- vestment during his visit in January to
el of disrepair,” Mr. Hughley said. sion’s fault? No,” wrote Maureen help small and midsize businesses bol-
The bank ordered a new appraisal, Sweeney, a Chicago-based appraiser in TRUMP,FROM PAGE7 have our lives back — until we deal with ries most about job loss is independent ster their online growth.
which came back $160,000 higher, and a letter to the house subcommittee fol- his running mate, Senator Kamala Har- this virus.” voters.) Nearly two in five conservative It follows Amazon’s promise of $5 bil-
Mr. Hughley went on to sell the home for lowing the hearing. “It’s like blaming the ris of California, in the election in No- In television advertisements the Bi- Republicans say that by late October lion in investments in the country in
$770,000. canary for the bad air in the coal mine, or vember, according to the ABC/Post poll. den campaign has sought to link Mr. “the virus will be under control, and the 2016, and another $500 million pledged
Mr. Hughley talks about the experi- blaming the mirror for your bad hair But Mr. Biden, the former vice presi- Trump to the recession. economy will be strong or steadily im- in food e-commerce the next year.
ence in his book, “Surrender, White Peo- day. Appraisers reflect the market; we dent, is far from commanding on the is- Partisan politics — and divergent ex- proving,” which is more than double the Since the pandemic, however, with e-
ple!”, a satirical look at white suprema- do not create it.” sue: Voters were split almost evenly periences with the virus — factor heav- rate of Americans over all. Only 3 per- commerce as virtually the only channel
cy, which was published in June by But what about a Black homeowner in into thirds on the question of whether ily into the remaining divide. The Sur- cent of Democrats agree with that state- for selling products for months, more
Harper Collins and examines racial in- a white neighborhood whose property is the economy would be in better, worse veyMonkey polling shows Republicans ment. small businesses are realizing the po-
equality in the United States across edu- appraised for less than his neighbor’s? or about the same shape now, if he were are less likely to have lost a job in the cri- Democrats predict that if the recov- tential in working with companies such
cation, health care and the housing mar- Whether appraisers are devaluing president. And while some polls this sis than Democrats or independents, ery stalls in the fall and economic dam- as Amazon and Flipkart, Mr. Meena
ket. “People always tell us to pull our- Black homes or entire Black neighbor- summer showed the candidates dead- though the gap shrinks when comparing age mounts anew, Mr. Trump’s eco- said.
selves up by our bootstraps. But what if hoods, the core issue is the same, said locked on the question of who would only white voters. In the recovery from nomic ratings will plunge. Within the United States, the Euro-
you remove the straps?” he said. Andre Perry, one of the writers of the best handle the economy, Mr. Trump led the depths of recession, the unemploy- “Trump is a master at convincing peo- pean Union and now India, Amazon’s as-
“You’re invested in the American Brookings Institution report and the au- Mr. Biden on handling the economy in ment rate has remained higher for Black ple of his alternative reality,” said Jared cendancy as a retail giant has been met
dream, you have capital, you have a chip thor of “Know Your Price: Valuing Black an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll and Latino workers than for whites. Bernstein, an economist at the Center with antitrust investigations and in-
in the game. And the fact that somebody Lives and Property in America’s Black released this week. A Reuters poll had “Republicans are putting more impor- on Budget and Policy Priorities who is creased scrutiny over data and tax regu-
could summarily minimize my wealth Cities.” the men tied. tance on the economic issues of the pan- an outside adviser to Mr. Biden. “But he lations.
just because of a bias, it seemed crazy to “We still see Black people as risky,” Mr. Biden emphasized his plans to demic,” said Laura Wronski, a research will be unable to do so as people face “It’s not only in India,” Mr. Meena
me.” Mr. Perry said. “White appraisers carry create jobs and to bring the virus under scientist for SurveyMonkey, “and Dem- evictions, job losses, falling incomes and said. “They will face challenges from
In response to the coronavirus pan- the same attitudes and beliefs of white control in his acceptance speech at the ocrats are putting more importance on tremendous difficulties meeting their regulators all over the world.” he said.
demic, a federal ruling issued in March America — the same attitudes that com- Democratic National Convention last the health issues.” basic needs. At some point, reality TV Amazon was likely to serve as a blue-
allowed appraisals for homes that were pelled Derek Chauvin to kneel casually week, and he criticized Mr. Trump’s han- Fewer than one in five conservative collides with reality.” print for other international retailers, he
being sold to be done remotely in certain on the neck of George Floyd are shared dling of the pandemic. “I understand Republicans worries about losing a job added.
circumstances, temporarily pausing the by other professionals in other fields. something this president doesn’t,” Mr. in the crisis, far less than any other ideo- Reporting was contributed by Ben Cas- “Ultimately, they think they have
need for interior home inspections. How does that choking out of America Biden said. “We will never get our econ- logical group, the SurveyMonkey selman, Kathleen Grey, Jon Hurdle, Tom enough value and time to capture the In-
Those looking to refinance still must look in the appraisal industry? Through omy back on track, we will never get our polling shows. (In perhaps a troubling Kertscher, Alan Rappeport and Giovanni dian market,” Mr. Meena said. “That’s
complete an in-person appraisal. very low appraisals,” he said. kids safely back to school, we will never sign for Mr. Trump, the group that wor- Russonello. what they are hoping for.”
..
THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 | 9
Opinion
A vaccine that stops Covid-19 won’t be enough
The best
vaccines
don’t just
prevent a
disease; they
also prevent
the pathogen
causing the
disease from
being trans-
mitted. So
why aren’t
we focusing
more on
those?
CLAIRE MERCHLINSKY
children by describing how those nized and whose immune response insurance records for 2005-10 of some amounts and for shorter periods of
Adam Finn
protect us from a particular disease: might wane over time. nine million people in Germany. time than if they had not been vacci-
Richard Malley An attenuated form of a pathogen, or The benefits of this approach have To understand why this is the case, nated.
just a bit of it, is inoculated into the been demonstrated with other patho- remember what it takes for you to Much still needs to be learned about
human body in order to trigger its gens and other diseases. become ill from a pathogen, be it a precisely how such mechanisms work
immune response; having learned to The Haemophilus influenzae type B virus or a bacterium. — what part do antibodies play? T
Not long after the new coronavirus fight off that pathogen once, the body (Hib) conjugate vaccines were de- First, you are exposed to it. Then it cells? — but the upshot from these
first surfaced last December, an ambi- will remember how to fend off the signed, and licensed in the early 1990s, infects you. While you are infected, examples is this: Vaccines can block
tious prediction was made: A vaccine disease should it be exposed to the to prevent young children from devel- you may infect others. In some cases, the transmission of viruses or bacteria,
would be available within 12 to 18 same pathogen later. oping serious the infection develops into a disease. and they can do so in several ways.
months, and it would stop the pan- A vaccine’s ability to forestall a With some infections such as In other cases, it doesn’t: Though Given the communitywide benefits
demic. disease is also how vaccine developers meningitis. Soon infected, you remain asymptomatic. of accomplishing that, especially in a
vaccines, for
Despite serious challenges — how to typically design — and how regulators enough an unex- One way that vaccines can interrupt pandemic, current vaccine-develop-
some diseases,
mass manufacture, supply and deliver typically evaluate — Phase 3 clinical pected and wel- a pathogen’s transmission cycle is by ment efforts should prioritize finding
the indirect
a vaccine worldwide — the first prong trials for vaccine candidates. come side benefit preventing the pathogen from causing vaccines that limit the transmission of
of that wish could well be fulfilled. Yet the best vaccines also serve benefits of became clear: The an infection in the first place. This is SARS-CoV-2.
Eight vaccine candidates are undergo- another, critical, function: They block a vaccination vaccine inter- how many common vaccines — The U.S. Food and Drug Administra-
ing large-scale efficacy tests, so-called pathogen’s transmission from one can be great- rupted the bacteri- against measles, mumps, rubella and tion has stated that preventing a
Phase 3 trials, and results are ex- person to another. And this result, er than the um’s transmission; chickenpox — operate. SARS-CoV-2 infection is in itself a
pected by the end of this year or early often called an “indirect” effect of direct effects. after its introduc- Other vaccines — like the ones sufficient endpoint for the Phase 3
2021. vaccination, is no less important than tion, occurrences against meningococcal meningitis or trials of vaccine candidates — that it is
But even if one, or more, of those the direct effect of preventing the of the disease pneumonia brought on by the pneumo- an acceptable alternative goal to pre-
efforts succeeds, a vaccine might not disease caused by that pathogen. In dropped also in coccus bacterium — can block the venting the development of Covid-19.
end the pandemic. This is partly be- fact, during a pandemic, it probably is groups that had not been vaccinated. transmission of the pathogen by inter- The World Health Organization has
cause we seem to be focused at the even more important. The human papillomavirus (HPV) fering with the infection or by decreas- said that “shedding/transmission” is
moment on developing the kind of That’s what we should be focusing vaccines were developed to prevent ing either the quantity of pathogen as well.
vaccine that may well prevent on right now. And yet we are not. cervical cancer and genital warts in that the infected patient sheds or the These guidelines are an important
Covid-19, the disease, but that wouldn’t Stopping a virus’s transmission women. They have proved immensely duration of the shedding period. signal, especially considering that the
do enough to stop the transmission of reduces the entire population’s overall effective among the women to whom Some recipients of the pneumococ- F.D.A. has never approved a vaccine
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes exposure to the virus. It protects peo- they are administered — and up to 50 cal pneumonia vaccine simply don’t based on its effects on infection alone;
Covid-19. ple who may be too frail to respond to percent effective at preventing genital get infected with the bacterium; others instead, the agency has focused exclu-
Doctors usually explain vaccines to a vaccine, who do not have access to warts among unvaccinated men, ac- do get infected and carry the bac- sively on the vaccine’s effectiveness at
patients and the parents of young the vaccine, who refuse to be immu- cording to a 2017 study of the health terium in their nose, but in smaller FINN,PAGE10
So you think New York is ‘dead.’ (It’s not.)
could start any type of business.”
Energy, Jerry Seinfeld Wipe your tears, wipe your butt and
attitude and pull it together.
He says he knows people who have
personality
left New York for Maine, Vermont,
cannot be
When I got my first apartment in Tennessee, Indiana. I have been to all
“remoted” Manhattan in the hot summer of of these places many, many, many
1976, there was no pooper-scooper times over many decades. And with
through even
law, and the streets were covered in all due respect and affection, Are ..
the best fiber dog crap. You .. Kidding .. Me?!
optic lines. I signed the rental agreement, He says Everyone’s gone for good.
walked outside, and my car had been How the hell do you know that? You
towed. I still thought, “This is the moved to Miami. Yes, I also have a
greatest place I’ve ever been in my place out on Long Island. But I will
life.” never abandon New York City. Ever.
Manhattan is an island off the And I have been onstage at your
coast of America. Are we part of the comedy club Stand Up N.Y. quite a
United States? Kind of. And this is few times. It could use a little spruc-
one of the toughest times we’ve had ing up, if you don’t mind my saying. I
in quite a while. wouldn’t worry about it. You can do it
But one thing I know for sure: The from Miami.
last thing we need in the thick of so There’s some other stupid thing in
many challenges is some putz on the article about “bandwidth” and
LinkedIn wailing and whimpering, how New York is over because every-
“Everyone’s gone! I want 2019 body will “remote everything.” Guess
back!” what: Everyone hates to do this.
Oh, shut up. Imagine being in a Everyone. Hates.
real war with this guy by your side. You know why? There’s no energy.
Listening to him go, “I used to play Energy, attitude and personality
chess all day. I could meet people. I DANIEL ARNOLD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES SEINFELD,PAGE11
..
10 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL EDITION
opinion
Let the culture wars begin. Again.
he turned over his convention to the coalition of affinity groups. (Chaldeans racially coded appeals to white subur-
socially conservative wing of his party, for Trump!) I doubt their messages of ban women.
A.G. SULZBERGER,Publisher in the vain hope he could energize those unity will stick. If the party were serious That, as David Axelrod has noted, is
same core supporters. about bridge-building, it would not what this week may truly have in store.
DEAN BAQUET,Executive Editor MARK THOMPSON,Chief Executive Officer The convention devolved into an make Trump a recurring character each Trump has been asked at least twice
JOSEPH KAHN,Managing Editor STEPHEN DUNBAR-JOHNSON,President, International atom-splitting culture war. Speakers evening. He is constitutionally incapa- what his plans are for his second term,
TOM BODKIN, Creative Director CHARLOTTE GORDON, V.P., International Consumer Marketing decried the dangers of radical feminists ble of conciliation, even if the future each time by friendly interviewers. He
Jennifer Senior
SUZANNE DALEY, Associate Editor HELEN KONSTANTOPOULOS, V.P.,International Circulation (Hillary!). The evils of socialism (Bill integrity of the U.S. Constitution de- responded with his trademark verbal
HELENA PHUA, Executive V.P., Asia-Pacific wanted health care for all). The depre- pends on it, and he has gravitated his incontinence. There was no decipher-
KATHLEEN KINGSBURY, Editorial Page Editor SUZANNE YVERNÈS, International Chief Financial Officer dation of the “homosexual rights move- whole media career toward genres that able answer in either reply.
ment.” Ted Kennedy was their Bernie. reward provocation, escalation and The most Trump can imagine selling
H.R.C. was their A.O.C. The Los Angeles ginned-up fury: pro-wrestling, reality is himself, and what that self is is merely
The Republican convention at last is riots — also sparked by a videotaped act TV, Twitter. a hologram, a weightless shape. He
underway, and much of it will be virtual, of police brutality — were today’s civil Long before The convention play-acts at being a businessman. He
which makes it very 2020. Yet as unrest. guest list is a reflec- play-acts at being a president. The only
Trump, there
strange as it is to say — and bear with Pat Buchanan was the headliner on tion of this. Three of thing that’s authentic about him is his
was Pat
POLITICIZING SCIENCE WILL COST LIVES me here — something about this mo- opening night. It was entirely fitting. He the featured speakers comic-book worldview, one divided
Buchanan.
ment brings to mind the Republican was the proto-Trump, a nativist-reac- are viral social media between heroes and villains, us and
convention of 1992. tionary-white-identitarian who’d just The 2020 stars, part of our new them.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is no stranger
Sowing doubt Does anyone remember that dark run a populist primary on the slogan Republican cottage industry of During the 2016 convention, peddling
to political interference. Special interests have played pageant of apocalyptica? The parallel “Make America First Again” and would convention outrage; their place grievances may have worked. But as
about the
as much of a role as actual data in the approval of circumstances are worth noting. Like proceed to make two more runs at the is looking on the stage is the I’ve written before, grievance politics
safety of treat- questionable cancer drugs and faulty medical devices Donald Trump, George H.W. Bush was a White House, each more hostile to strangely ultimate retweet. are much easier to sell in times of stabil-
ments will Republican incumbent with pitiful immigrants than the last. He closed his like the We’ll hear from Mark ity and prosperity. Hate is something
for almost as long as the agency has existed. approval ratings and terrible poll num- address with an image of the U.S. Army and Patricia McClos- you can ill afford when citizens are
imperil the 1992 edition.
Yet the latest breach of principle by the F.D.A. feels bers compared with his moderate chal- finally reclaiming the streets of Los key, the Missouri losing their livelihoods and their lives.
fight against lenger (then a young Arkansas gover- Angeles. “My friends,” he concluded, couple who bran- “You cannot bluff a virus,” as Garry
far more perilous than earlier ones — in part because
coronavirus nor named Bill Clinton); like Trump, “We must take back our cities, and take dished guns at Black Kasparov, the political activist and
of the number of lives and livelihoods at stake, but also Bush presided over a nation scarred and back our culture, and take back our Lives Matter protesters cutting through chess grandmaster, likes to say. And
in the months
because it’s part and parcel of a systematic undermin- exhausted by a recession. country.” their gated community. (Message: They you certainly can’t chant “lock her up”
and years They were very different men, Trump The columnist Molly Ivins later de- are coming for your suburbs.) We’ll hear with the same gusto when the key
ing of the nation’s premier scientific institutions.
and Bush. A decades-long public ser- cided the speech “probably sounded from Nicholas Sandmann, the student players of your 2016 campaign team
to come.
On Sunday the agency granted an emergency au-
vant, Bush believed in international better in the original German.” from Covington Catholic High School have been arrested or sentenced to
thorization for the use of plasma from people with alliances and the power of our institu- Cut to today. Faced, as Bush was, with whose videotaped interaction with a prison.
coronavirus antibodies to treat Covid-19 patients, ab- tions; he was a hard worker, a courteous lousy poll numbers, extravagant unpop- tribal elder won him 15 minutes of un- An us-and-them strategy certainly
colleague, a modest fellow — the super- ularity, and a recession for which he has comfortable fame and settlements from didn’t serve George H.W. Bush in 1992.
sent substantial evidence that the treatment actually
ego to Trump’s id, the string trio to no salable response or plan, Trump, an The Washington Post and CNN. (Mes- On Election Day, Clinton ground him
works or a definitive sense of who might benefit from Trump’s death metal band. atom-splitter by nature, is set to take to sage: Fake news.) into a fine paste. That may be one indi-
it. But he always had a goon squad on the stage every night this week, on the Have I mentioned that two producers cator to go by this week.
hand to fire up the party’s base of reli- theory that he’ll set off the chain reac- of “The Apprentice” are working on this But I’m going to offer one more. In
Last week, regulators appeared to be holding off on
gious conservatives and social reac- tion that drives his base to the polls. spectacle? And that Rudolph Giuliani is late 2018, The Hollywood Reporter and
authorizing wider use of such “convalescent plasma,” tionaries, which lived in a curious coali- The sole difference is that he’s not the another speaker? Neither bodes partic- Morning Consult did a survey that
owing to scientists’ concerns about that lack of evi- tion with the party’s elite cadre of inter- fringe wing of the party. He isthe party. ularly well for that spirit of harmony showed Americans had seriously
nationalists seeking lower taxes. In This is what the party has become: The that convention planners keep talking soured on reality shows. It was the only
dence. But after President Trump complained bitterly
1988, he got himself elected thanks in party of Pat Buchanan, cubed. about. Nor do the president’s recent television genre to poll negatively. And
about that delay, the F.D.A. decided to move forward. large part to a race-baiting campaign Republican officials may claim that speeches and tweets, not that they ever it was the only genre in which respond-
In announcing the new decision, the president and ad. And in 1992, knowing he didn’t have this week’s convention will be an uplift- do. But these days, he’s been channeling ents found there was simply “too
a cheerful economic message to peddle, ing, inclusive event, featuring a wide the spirit of George Wallace, making much.”
his team have vastly overstated the promise of conva-
lescent plasma, calling it a “major therapeutic break-
through” and claiming that it has been proven to “re-
duce mortality from Covid by as much as 30 to 50
percent,” without explaining that any such findings
come with heavy caveats.
Dr. Stephen Hahn, the F.D.A.’s commissioner, went
so far as to suggest that the plasma therapy could
save the lives of 35 out of every 100 coronavirus pa-
tients who took it. As STAT News reports, the number
is much closer to three to five out of every 100, and
even that lower estimate is questionable: The data
came from an observational study, not a rigorous clini-
cal trial.
Dr. Hahn could have made a more honest case for
authorizing plasma therapy by simply pointing to the
urgency of the moment and the apparent safety of the
treatment. The administration could have helped re-
solve the questions around convalescent plasma by
arranging for more rigorous clinical trials. That it
instead chose egregious overselling of its benefit is
unconscionable, especially as an election nears.
This is hardly the first time the Trump administra-
tion has sacrificed scientific integrity for the sake of
political theater. The president pressed the F.D.A. to
grant a similar authorization to the malaria drugs
chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, despite ample
warning from scientists that the drugs were not only
unproven for the coronavirus but potentially danger-
ous. That authorization was revoked in June, after the
drugs were linked to serious heart complications in
more than 100 patients, including at least 25 who died.
The administration also stripped the agency of its
ability to regulate lab-developed diagnostic tests, a
ILLUSTRATION BY THE NEW YORK TIMES; PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSE R. LOPEZ/THE NEW YORK TIMES
move that may improve the supply of coronavirus
diagnostics but will also wreak havoc on countless
patients suffering from other serious conditions.
Nearly from the start of the pandemic, the president A vaccine that stops Covid-19 won’t be enough
has sidelined, muzzled and disempowered the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency with
FINN,FROM PAGE9 In the late 1990s, the United States, dlers reduced ninefold the incidence of that a very small number of instances
perhaps the highest concentration of infectious dis- disease prevention. like other wealthy countries, replaced pneumococcal disease in the elderly. — gatherings at restaurants or bars,
ease expertise in the world. And yet vaccine developers do not with an acellular vaccine the killed- With some vaccines, for some dis- choir rehearsal, funerals, church serv-
seem to be heeding this new call. whole-cell pertussis vaccine it had eases, the indirect benefits of vaccina- ices — might account for a vast major-
To the administration’s supporters — indeed, to
Based on our review of the Phase 3 previously used against whooping tion can be greater than the direct ity of the cases of infection overall.
anyone eager for coronavirus treatments — it may
tests listed at ClinicalTrials.gov, a data- cough. A resurgence of whooping effects. But the discussion about those in-
seem like a win to eliminate roadblocks that keep base of trials conducted around the cough already was underway, but it Based on these precedents, it could stances has tended to focus on their
tests, treatments and vaccines from entering the mar- world, the primary goal in each of these accelerated then: Although the new be a grave mistake for vaccine devel- settings and circumstances, such as
studies is to reduce the occurrence of vaccine was better than the previous opers now to hew only, or too closely, to the presence of crowds in confined
ketplace. But skipping science now only costs more
Covid-19. one at protecting the inoculated from the single-minded goal of preventing spaces for extended periods of time.
time, and potentially more lives, in the long run. Four of the six Covid-19 vaccine trials the disease, it was Covid-19, the disease. Yet the question of whether some
What if convalescent plasma doesn’t work? What if for which information is available say Eight vaccine less good at block- Doing so could mean privileging infected individuals, perhaps espe-
they will also evaluate the incidence of ing transmission of vaccines that don’t block the transmis- cially at certain stages of infection, are
it does, but only on a specific subset of patients? What candidates are
SARS-CoV-2 infections among subjects the bacterium that sion of SARS-CoV-2 at all, or abandon- particularly infectious — whether they,
undergoing
if it’s good for some patients but actually dangerous — but only as an ancillary outcome. causes the cough. ing vaccines that block transmission themselves, are superspreaders — also
large-scale
for others? Authorizing the therapy makes it all but This approach is shortsighted: One Conversely, a well enough but that, by prevailing needs to be studied head-on: When
cannot assume that a vaccine that efficacy tests. vaccine that, let’s standards, are deemed to not forestall does contagiousness peak in whom
impossible to answer those questions, because pa-
prevents the development of Covid-19 But even if say, offers older enough the development of Covid-19. and why? And can vaccines modify
tients who can get it from their doctors are unlikely to in a patient will necessarily also limit one, or more, adults only modest That, in turn, would essentially any of that?
sign up for a clinical trial. the risk that the patient will transmit of those efforts protection against mean that the only way to ever get rid The best vaccines don’t just protect
Politicizing the regulatory process — tying the au- SARS-CoV-2 to other people. succeeds, a developing a dis- of SARS-CoV-2 would be near-univer- the inoculated from getting sick from a
For example, a study of young Aus- ease might none- sal immunization — a herculean task. disease. They also protect everyone
vaccine might
thorization and approval of treatments to political tralian teenagers published in the New theless be very Focusing on how to block the coro- else from even contracting the patho-
not end the
considerations — undermines the entire system. On England Journal of Medicine early this effective, when navirus’s transmission is a much more gen that causes that disease.
pandemic.
year found that the vaccine used to administered to efficient approach. Preventing the very transmission of
Saturday, the president accused the F.D.A. of deliber-
prevent the diseases caused by the B healthy adults or This is why randomized controlled SARS-CoV-2, no less than stopping it
ately thwarting the development of a coronavirus strain of meningococcus in children children, at curb- trials of the vaccines currently under from turning into Covid-19, should be a
vaccine in an effort to imperil his re-election. and teenagers “had no discernible ing a pathogen’s transmission in a consideration should include regular main priority of current efforts to
effect” on the presence of the relevant population overall. monitoring for the presence of SARS- develop the vaccines to end this pan-
The agency’s latest moves show that it’s susceptible
bacterium in the throats of vaccinated This is the case with the pneumococ- CoV-2 in study subjects. The goal demic.
to such criticism. This makes it hard to trust that regu- subjects displaying no symptoms. cal conjugate vaccine. A 2015 study should be to evaluate whether the
lators will do their jobs to fully and publicly vet any The inactivated polio vaccine preva- published in the New England Journal subjects acquire the infection at all, ADAM FINNis a senior clinician in the
lent in many developed countries today, of Medicine found that the vaccine and for how long, as well as how abun- pediatric immunology and infectious
prospective vaccines before allowing them on the
known as IPV, is highly effective at reduced the occurrence of pneumonia dantly they shed and spread the virus, diseases clinical service at Bristol Royal
market.
protecting individuals against polio. in inoculated adults age 65 or older by when and how. Hospital for Children and a professor of
If widespread vaccination is the key to victory over But it is far less effective at reducing only about 45 percent. Yet, according Studying these issues could also help pediatrics at the University of Bristol.
a pandemic that has already cost more than 170,000 viral shedding, at least in fecal excre- to a study last year by researchers at cast a light on the role of so-called RICHARD MALLEYis a physician specializ-
tions, than the oral vaccine, known as the Centers for Disease Control and superspreading events in this pan- ing in infectious diseases at Boston
American lives, injecting politics into medical science
OPV, used more widely in other parts Prevention and Stanford University, demic. Children’s Hospital and a professor of
is dangerous and potentially fatal. of the world. the immunization of infants and tod- More and more research suggests pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
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