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478 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>13 January, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Efforts to Protect the Environment</strong> - The potential ramifications of West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency are profound. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-supreme-court-case-that-could-upend-efforts-to-protect-the-%20environment">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Murder of Mexican Journalists Spreads to a Magical Town</strong> - A magazine editor in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a mecca for tourists and expats, falls victim to a relentless wave of violence against the press. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-murder-of-mexican-journalists-spreads-to-a-magical-town">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Boris Johnson’s Lockdown Partygate</strong> - The Prime Minister is embroiled in a scandal involving government staffers allegedly yukking it up while imposing strict measures in the U.K. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/boris-johnsons-lockdown-partygate">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Best Worst-First-Date Movie</strong> - A look at Tom Noonan’s forgotten masterpiece “What Happened Was . . .” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-best-worst-first-date-movie">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Eco-Protesters Who Live in Tunnels</strong> - To block the construction of a railway that could destroy ancient forests, climate activists in the U.K. have begun digging tunnels in its way, and living underground for weeks. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/the-eco-protesters-who-live-in-tunnels">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Texas shows the dangers of indifference to omicron</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/WRKf4OzKGFuqE_zDDqed2gJofpY=/344x0:5848x4128/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70382592/1363509136.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A medical assistant shelters Covid-19 testing equipment from the rain on January 8, 2022, in Houston, Texas. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The state is facing worryingly high hospitalizations, staff shortages, and dwindling ICU beds.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a28oJF">
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Like many states across the country grappling with the onset of the omicron variant, Texas’s fight against Covid-19 took a turn for the worse in December. And due to the state’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/texas-covid-cases.html">relatively low vaccination rates</a>, and a Republican state government that has fought public health officials’ recommendations on masking, vaccine mandates, and business restrictions, matters may not improve anytime soon.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wRgoAB">
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Although the symptoms of Covid-19 are typically milder for the vaccinated, omicron is more transmissible than previous variants, even among people who have had two shots. Together, the infectiousness of omicron and Texans’ resistance to getting the vaccine have created a crisis for hospitals and medical workers, one that disproportionately puts unvaccinated people in danger.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UmuDyw">
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The numbers aren’t encouraging: On Wednesday, more than <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/45e18cba105c478697c76acbbf86a6bc">61,000 Texans were confirmed to have tested positive</a> for the virus, but given the prevalence of home testing and that people might be sick but not testing at all, the numbers are likely much higher.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HKOnGQ">
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Hospitalizations have more than doubled since last month to over <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/2f65350877c548f395f2ab673b7bf009">11,500</a>, including over 2,200 patients in the ICU. It’s the <a href="https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/north-
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texas-covid-news-jan-10-2022/287-a2c59499-1239-4bba-89de-43ecdfe86b90">first time</a> Texas has had more than 10,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations since September 2021. Pediatric hospitalizations, which are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/07/world/omicron-covid-vaccine-tests">on the rise nationally</a>, increased by <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-pediatric-covid-hospitalizations-up-200-from-christmas/">200 percent</a> in the state between Christmas and January 3.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="faC3Tk">
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That has put hospital capacity under strain yet again. As of January 12, <a href="https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/hospital-utilization">87 percent</a> of available ICU beds across more than 500 Texas hospitals are in use, and about a third of those beds are filled with Covid-19 patients. That leaves <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/2f65350877c548f395f2ab673b7bf009">only 315 available adult ICU beds</a> across the entire state. Those numbers are concerning, especially if hospitalizations have yet to peak during the latest wave.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kWmALt">
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“Ideally, everybody would take this thing seriously and follow the steps that we know work, which is primarily get vaccinated and boosted, but also be smart about gatherings and wear a mask,” said John Henderson, the president and CEO of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. “But in Texas, especially rural Texas, people have prioritized getting back to normal. On some level, I understand that. But the virus is in charge and until we get control of the virus, we can’t get back to normal.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rMzTXa">
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As is the case nationally, unvaccinated people account for the vast majority of the hospitalizations in Texas — Dallas County’s health director, Philip Huang, told me that they make up roughly 80 percent at the hospitals he oversees. About <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-fully-percent-total">58 percent</a> of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, slightly below the national rate of about 63 percent. <a href="https://tabexternal.dshs.texas.gov/t/THD/views/COVID-19VaccineinTexasDashboard/Summary?%3Aorigin=card_share_link&%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y">Fewer than a third</a> of fully vaccinated people have received booster shots, which have proven to be the best defense against omicron.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2wu8v9">
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What happens next depends on whether more people get vaccinated and boosted, and whether they take the necessary preventative measures. <a href="https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/covid-19/assets/modeling.pdf">Projections</a> for north Texas from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center indicate that if the public returns to their patterns of behavior in the early summer of 2020 — limited masking, social distancing, and business restrictions — hospitalizations could peak at less than half what they would under the status quo.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nufFad">
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But given that the same study found willingness to get vaccinated has remained flat and mask usage has steeply declined, that’s an unlikely scenario, particularly since Republican state leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott are opposed to vaccination and mask mandates. What’s more probable is that Texas sees a repeat of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/us/covid-texas-hospitalizations-
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icu.html">September 2021</a>, when hospitals were so full that they erected overflow tents outside, patients were being treated in waiting rooms, and Abbott was forced to ask out-of-state medical staff for help.
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</p>
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<h3 id="bg3115">
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Hospital capacity and staffing are the major challenges
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eJqUmX">
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Rural hospitals in the state’s northern panhandle, like Hereford Regional Medical Center, have been overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients. Just before Christmas, the hospital <a href="https://dschd.org/news/statement-from-jeff-barnhart-ceo-deaf-smith-county-hospital-district-on-patient-surge-
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staffing-shortage/">reported</a> “unprecedented need for emergency medical care and hospitalization.” All those requiring hospitalization were <a href="https://dschd.org/news/press-release-covid-19-surge-affecting-care-capacity-
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across-the-region/">unvaccinated</a>. Five were in critical condition, including two who were on a ventilator.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UDkSz0">
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The hospital had stopped accepting patient transfers from other hospitals due to a lack of beds and staffing shortages, and wasn’t able to transfer its patients to larger urban hospitals because those facilities were also overwhelmed. At the same time, hospital officials worked with the state to secure supplemental staffing and replenish supplies of critical medications that had been caught up in global supply chain backlogs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UTs2Qx">
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The state has since helped with staffing and medical supplies. But Hereford Regional is still in crisis mode, with many more very ill patients than its two ICU beds and no end in sight.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tz1we9">
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“I don’t think that we’ve hit the peak with the surge yet,” said Jeff Barnhart, the CEO of the Deaf Smith County Hospital District, which oversees Hereford.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BEkRuZ">
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The shortage of beds is driven as much by the delta variant as it is the new omicron variant, Henderson said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Kqrr8">
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Under normal circumstances, Hereford’s two ICU beds would be more than enough to serve the local community, and patients requiring complex care could easily be transferred to larger urban hospitals in Amarillo or Lubbock, according to Barnhart.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFDOcd">
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But over the last few weeks, the ICU has been full and Covid-19 patients are being treated on the medical surgical floor, which is typically reserved for patients preparing for or recovering from surgery. All the nearby hospitals have been too full to accept transfers: The Amarillo Public Health Department has <a href="https://covid-data-amarillo.hub.arcgis.com/">reported</a> that 73 percent of ICU beds and 81 percent of total hospital beds in the surrounding Potter and Randall counties are currently in use.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1DNb3X">
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Hospitals that do have space don’t always have the resources to airlift patients. That means Hereford has had to transport Covid-19 patients by car, sometimes as far as Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, or Dallas, stopping every so often to refill the patients’ oxygen tanks.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0FgQyt">
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Staffing shortages are also a near-universal problem across Texas hospitals. That’s in part because many medical staff have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in home quarantine.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gRK5M4">
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“If you don’t have the staff, you can’t take care of patients, even if you have beds,” Henderson said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N3PRJu">
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/quarantine-isolation-background.html">changed its recommendation</a> for people to quarantine for five days instead of 10, if they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and if other symptoms have improved. That guidance could allow asymptomatic health care workers to return to work much sooner, helping alleviate staffing shortages and the availability and quality of medical care for all. There is a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/new-cdc-isolation-quarantine-guidelines-
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confuses-some-and-raises-questions">risk</a>, however, that health care workers who return to work too soon after testing positive could spread the virus to their colleagues and patients.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Es33PA">
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Retaining medical staff is also proving a challenge. They’re burnt out after two years on the frontlines of the pandemic and working extra shifts at the pleading of their supervisors. With nationwide demand high, and supply dwindling, Barnhart said he’s been losing nurses to traveling positions that pay $125 to $200 per hour — much more than his small rural hospital ever could.
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</p></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WxuDkN">
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All of this has hurt quality of care not only for Covid-19 patients, but also for others with critical medical needs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qQx3vi">
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“It’s not just Covid patients who come to the hospital,” Huang said. “The ability of the health care workforce to provide needed care to people who are coming in for other serious conditions, like car accidents, is compromised.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="B08VO9">
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Despite omicron, it’s business as usual in Texas
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XuJyvh">
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Despite the pressure on Texas hospitals, omicron hasn’t shifted state Republican leadership’s pandemic strategy. Since March 2021, Gov. Abbott has been primarily focused on rolling back public health measures that had been used to curb the pandemic and keeping Texas open for business, no matter the risk.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="enhhMt">
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He ended the state’s <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/02/greg-abbott-texas-announcement/">mask mandate and business capacity limits</a>. He banned local officials from implementing their own mask and vaccine mandates and has <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/02/greg-abbott-texas-announcement/">taken those who defy him to court</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VyS1up">
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton signed on to a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandates for large businesses and health care workers, which is <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/17/vaccine-mandate-businesses-texas/">now before the US Supreme Court</a>. Paxton also successfully fought another federal mandate that requires federal contractors to be vaccinated, which has been <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2022/01/03/416482/texas-gop-officials-praise-
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ruling-blocking-federal-vaccine-mask-mandate-for-head-start-program/">blocked in court</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wQ75pq">
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That’s despite the fact that most Texas voters <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/09/ut-texas-tribune-poll-
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coronavirus/">support</a> mask mandates and allowing private businesses to require that their workers be vaccinated. There is, however, a large partisan divide on the topic and significant opposition to such mandates among Abbott’s Republican base. For example, a October <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/09/ut-texas-tribune-poll-
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coronavirus/">University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll</a> found that while 89 percent of Texas Democrats believe employers should require their employees to be vaccinated or to be able to show a recent negative test, 72 percent of Republicans believe employers shouldn’t have those requirements.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gAzUOy">
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Though Abbott says he is pro- vaccine, his public remarks on the topic of vaccination have largely focused on protecting the right to be unvaccinated. He told the <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/07/29/texas-gov-greg-abbott-issues-broad-
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covid-19-order-that-touts-personal-responsibility-not-edicts/">Dallas Morning News</a> in July, for instance, that people have “the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children.” He hasn’t held a press conference on Covid-19 in months. He has never tweeted about booster shots, and it’s not clear whether he <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/23/greg-abbott-texas-covid-omicron/">has received one himself</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FNNAHO">
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His supporters seem to be taking cues from him, and that’s proving to be dangerous amid the omicron wave. It also means hospitals are unlikely to see any relief until omicron begins to decline naturally. In the near term, in part due to personal choices and in part due to policy choices, health care workers in Texas will continue to face an overwhelming number of Covid-19 patients. And all of their patients will continue to suffer for it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P63MAB">
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“The lesson that we learned is that we can’t be complacent,” Huang said. “We can’t just go back to the way things were. We need to still keep our guard up.”
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Is Covax finally going to vaccinate the world?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PlMUqO-
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wdEz9Y6MBG_E5x1az4zs=/0x0:3339x2504/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70382576/1236593127.0.jpg"/></p>
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<figcaption>
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Chamak Sunuwar, 83, receives his first jab of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, supplied by Covax, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on November 15, 2021. | Dipendra Rokka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The global vaccination initiative has faced setbacks. Could a recent surge in doses foretell a better year ahead?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K5Envq">
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Last September, the World Health Organization and the United Nations laid out a <a href="http://who.int/news/item/07-10-2021-who-un-set-out-steps-to-meet-world-covid-vaccination-targets">roadmap</a> to end the pandemic. The key goal: having every country in the world achieve at least 40 percent vaccination coverage against Covid-19 by the end of 2021, and 70 percent by mid-2022.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wm8WZ1">
|
|||
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|
One major player in that effort has been Covax. A global vaccine distribution project co-led by the WHO, Covax was <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covax-explained">billed</a> by one sponsor as the “world’s best hope of bringing the acute phase of this pandemic to a swift end.” However, it has been plagued with <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-inequity">problems</a> since its inception — <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-
|
|||
|
|
inequity">namely insufficient funds, insufficient supply, and insufficient willingness</a> from rich countries to share vaccines. These <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-
|
|||
|
|
inequity">struggles</a> have hampered the global fight against Covid-19.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2a0ybd">
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|
But there’s a glimmer of hope. Covax ended the year strong: December brought a last-minute <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/01/covid-covax-doses-delivered/">surge</a> of deliveries, with about 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines shipped to 144 mostly low- and middle-income countries. That is roughly a third of the total of vaccine doses Covax delivered in 2021 — in only one month.
|
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<div id="Nb3ZEc">
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<div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ryjHjN">
|
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|
As the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/01/covid-covax-doses-delivered/">reported</a>, much of this surge can be attributed to an increase in the supply of vaccine doses to Covax, particularly with long-delayed donations from high-income countries and pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer, and BioNTech.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xWPrK7">
|
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|
That’s welcome news, not just for the countries that received them, but also for the world. <a href="https://www.who.int/campaigns/vaccine-equity">Vaccine equity</a> would most directly prevent sickness and death in low- and middle-income countries, but it would also give the virus <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-
|
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|
|
perfect/22598415/covid-vaccinate-world-virus-variant-delta-lambda">fewer opportunities to mutate</a> and produce variants like delta and omicron.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HcjxM1">
|
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|
Even with the late surge, though, the total number of vaccines delivered in 2021 —<strong> </strong>900 million — amounts to less than half of <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-
|
|||
|
|
releases/covax-joint-statement-call-action-equip-covax-deliver-2-billion-doses-2021-0">Covax’s original target</a> of sending at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. “We’re very far from the 70 percent vaccination rate in low-income countries,” says Amanda Glassman, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, adding that reaching that level soon would require a “huge lift” in terms of <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/28-10-2021-new-act-accelerator-
|
|||
|
|
strategy-calls-investment">financing</a> for booster doses and delivery. “We’re still not serious as a world about paying for the stuff and getting it done.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QYb0nH">
|
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|
Almost <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html">three-fourths of all Covid-19 vaccine shots</a> administered thus far have gone into the arms of people in high- and upper-middle-income countries, with <a href="https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-vaccine-
|
|||
|
|
tracker/?areas=gbr&areas=isr&areas=usa&areas=eue&areas=are&areas=chn&areas=chl&cumulative=1&doses=total&populationAdjusted=1">more booster doses in high-income countries having been administered than total doses</a> in low-income countries. While <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL">59.4 percent of the global population</a> has received at least one dose so far, only <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations">9.5 percent of people in low-income countries</a> have received that much coverage. Experts have denounced this state of affairs as the product of <a href="https://www.vox.com/21327487/covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-trump-us-china-competition">nationalism</a> and extreme<strong> </strong>global<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/28/1059649438/as-new-
|
|||
|
|
covid-19-variant-spreads-human-rights-lawyer-points-to-vaccine-apartheid">inequality</a>.<strong> </strong>
|
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|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Chart: Share of people vaccinated against Covid-19, by country income level.
|
|||
|
|
" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8qN-yuF7oHNeqtZ3_XyWLJv6lIA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-
|
|||
|
|
explorer?facet=none&Metric=People+vaccinated+%28by+dose%29&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Color+by+test+positivity=false&country=Lower+middle+income~Low+income~Upper+middle+income~High+income" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a></cite>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ee12C1">
|
|||
|
|
Nevertheless, this late 2021 surge in vaccine deliveries could be a hopeful sign that a key vessel for global vaccination efforts is finally righting itself. With improvements in supply and delivery, Covax has the potential to help the world reach greater vaccination coverage. But all of this hinges on Covax getting this right <strong>— </strong>and that few further storms appear on the horizon for the project.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="9h8W9r">
|
|||
|
|
Covax, explained
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9CnogE">
|
|||
|
|
Covax is an initiative led by three groups. There’s the WHO; Gavi, a public-private group that works on getting people in developing countries vaccinated; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a project co-founded by the Gates Foundation that seeks to make vaccines available in the event of outbreaks. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is also organizing the delivery of vaccines.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QHuvOk">
|
|||
|
|
Rich countries <a href="https://time.com/6096172/covax-vaccines-what-went-
|
|||
|
|
wrong/">were supposed</a> to pool funding through Covax<strong> </strong>to negotiate deals for and finance multiple vaccine candidates, increasing the chances of effective ones being developed. At the same time, some of that financing was intended to allow Covax itself to purchase vaccines for poorer countries that couldn’t afford them. In addition, Covax<strong> </strong>was also supposed<strong> </strong>to gather vaccines via donations<strong> </strong>from nonprofits, businesses, and countries,<strong> </strong>in order to further shore up its supply.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1bO6sA">
|
|||
|
|
But all that didn’t quite pan out. Rich countries <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-
|
|||
|
|
covid-19-vaccines-global-inequity">not only faltered</a> in their funding commitments to Covax, they also struck their own bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies, even as Covax was still fundraising.<strong> </strong>That left the group with little supply to buy once it did raise funds. And even when rich nations amassed more vaccines than they needed, they <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3159712/covax-chief-warns-against-replay-
|
|||
|
|
covid-19-vaccine-nationalism?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3159712">were slow</a> to donate the extras.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/PyPY0HTUaZM_ONBg73vlAHBYVCA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covax-
|
|||
|
|
donations?country=FRA~ESP~SWE~USA~CAN~NOR~NZL~GBR~DNK~CHE~ITA~DEU~PRT~ARE~BEL~European+Union~JPN~NLD~FIN~HKG~IRL" target="_blank">Our World In Data</a></cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Covid-19 vaccine doses donated to Covax by country. Data is current as of November 29, 2021, and may not fully reflect the surge of donations late last year.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5DRTip">
|
|||
|
|
Pharmaceutical companies similarly underdelivered on the <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pharmaceutical-companies-and-rich-nations-delivering-just-one-seven-doses-
|
|||
|
|
promised">commitments they had made</a> to Covax. A <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hk2ezb71vf0sla719jx34v0ehs0l22os">report </a>by the People’s Vaccine Alliance — a coalition of organizations and activists campaigning for the sharing of knowledge and technology related to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests — found that neither AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, nor Johnson and Johnson “have sold more than 25 percent of their vaccine supply (agreed through contracts)” to Covax as of October 2021.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xLvMvp">
|
|||
|
|
Groups like Oxfam International <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pharmaceutical-companies-
|
|||
|
|
and-rich-nations-delivering-just-one-seven-doses-promised">suspect</a> this is because these companies “put their rich customers at the front of the line.” And when vaccine doses finally did make it to poorer countries, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/12/30/too-many-covid-19-vaccine-doses-are-being-wasted">too many of them</a><strong> </strong>were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/minister-says-nigeria-had-only-weeks-use-
|
|||
|
|
some-donated-vaccines-2021-12-08/">close to expiration</a>, leaving little time to get shots into arms. A <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2021/10/08/how-covax-failed-on-its-promise-to-vaccinate-the-world/">joint investigation</a> in October by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Stat News also found that Covax had contributed less than 5 percent of all vaccines administered globally.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HI0rom">
|
|||
|
|
“The reality is that Covax purchased a bit later than the high-income countries, and bet on Indian manufacturers given their limited resources,” Glassman says. When those Indian vaccines failed to pan out because of the devastating delta surge in that country, another expected source of doses dried up. “It’s not surprising that they didn’t get the deliveries they hoped for during [2021].”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="V33KR1">
|
|||
|
|
What the year-end surge means
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R3odU9">
|
|||
|
|
But if Covax’s performance to date has been underwhelming, the surge in activity in late 2021 has renewed hopes that it’s turned the corner.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oIMXaw">
|
|||
|
|
Olly Cann, director of communications at Gavi, believes that the end-of-year surge in shipments is indeed a hopeful sign that the pace of vaccine distribution will pick up for Covax this year. “We do have genuine momentum when it comes to delivering doses into the countries that we serve,” he says. “We’re now in a situation where we can now meet the demand” of the low- and middle-income countries that Covax is prioritizing.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="STy6D8">
|
|||
|
|
A major reason for that optimism is in seeing positive signs in India, a <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/09/23/india-worlds-biggest-
|
|||
|
|
vaccine-manufacturer-15-percent-vaccinated-covid/">major vaccine producer</a> and the main supplier of vaccines to Covax. Due to the devastating <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22628806/india-covid-19-cases-deaths-
|
|||
|
|
delta-variant">second wave of Covid-19 that hit India last spring</a>, the country focused its efforts on vaccinating its own citizens and had banned exports of doses, which Cann notes was “a severe blow to us at the time.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hewamP">
|
|||
|
|
The country finally <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-serum-institute-resumes-covishield-
|
|||
|
|
vaccine-exports-under-covax-facility-2021-11-26/">resumed exports to Covax</a> at the end of November. Along with the WHO’s long-awaited <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/novavax-s-long-awaited-covid-19-vaccine-
|
|||
|
|
authorizations-offer-alternative-mrna">emergency approval</a> of the vaccine developed by US-based Novavax, whose manufacturing partner for Covax is the Serum Institute of India. and which doesn’t require the cold storage needed by mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, Covax is “back in business,” Glassman says.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HcYq0b">
|
|||
|
|
She expects India’s shipments to Covax to continue for the next three months at least, adding that even with Omicron, India may not need to resort to export bans again now that <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-
|
|||
|
|
and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/">62 percent of Indians have received at least one dose</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tgqHAr">
|
|||
|
|
Another problem with Covax is that it was initially developed as a procurement and shipping effort for vaccines, but not a delivery effort — meaning actually getting shots into arms. “Waiting for a delivery is a big deal, obviously, because the longer the wait, the more disease and deaths there will be,” Glassman says.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eLn5Gh">
|
|||
|
|
But Covax deliveries are now ramping up, as shipments from India are finally reaching recipient countries and also because the international community is finally starting to address this problem of delivery. Glassman also notes that last month, Covax’s leadership <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-and-who-partnership-
|
|||
|
|
gavi-ask-ted-chaiban-serve-global-lead-coordinator-covid">appointed</a> Ted Chaiban, the regional director for the Middle East and North Africa for Unicef, to serve as the organization’s global coordinator for vaccine readiness and delivery. In her view, this reflects a shift in Covax’s strategy toward actually administering vaccines in recipient countries.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="SUDAN-HEALTH-VIRUS-VACCINE" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/2KslEc1-gZboQKi8MAtEftdmYS0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg"/> <cite>Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Aid workers check a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines sent by Covax to Khartoum, Sudan, on October 6, 2021.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="hl9ZK7">
|
|||
|
|
Can Covax help achieve 70 percent global vaccination by the middle of 2022?
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JdRt9O">
|
|||
|
|
Despite the recent good news, it’s highly unlikely that Covax will enable the WHO to reach its goal of 70 percent global vaccination by mid-year. While supply constraints have eased, financing is still a challenge, as high-income countries have remained <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/2021-vaccine-inequity/">unwilling</a> to share enough funds or resources for low- and middle-income countries to acquire or make the vaccines themselves.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lazkJr">
|
|||
|
|
But there are also questions about how practical that 70 percent vaccination coverage threshold is — both for the rich nations meant to be funding Covax and the poorer countries meant to receive vaccines. Governments in lower- income countries with younger populations (who are less susceptible to hospitalization and death from Covid-19) are overwhelmed by many competing priorities, such as poverty, hunger, and other diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. Glassman and Cann both mentioned that the 70 percent vaccination goal may not just be out of reach, but also simply not the best allocation of limited resources.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N8tapc">
|
|||
|
|
Cann also notes that Covax was never meant to be the solitary silver bullet to solve the issue of vaccine equity.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bKNKfq">
|
|||
|
|
“What we were set up to do was to cover the most vulnerable groups as quickly as possible,” Cann says. “That’s why we initially focused on the 20 percent coverage of the [highest priority low- and middle-income recipient] countries. This is roughly 950 million doses. We’re actually quite close to this now, and we’ll have delivered that number in the coming days, if not weeks.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L0UhGF">
|
|||
|
|
Meeting its goals<strong> </strong>will also depend on whether Covax will<strong> </strong>be pushed down the priority list again <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/31/world/global-vaccine-supply-
|
|||
|
|
inequity.html">in favor of</a> high-income countries, as the latter now aim to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/13/we-have-enough-covid-vaccines-for-most-of-world-but-rich-countries-
|
|||
|
|
stockpiling-more-than-they-need/">shore up supplies of vaccines</a> to administer booster shots for their populations.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VlGdFJ">
|
|||
|
|
“The big problem we’ve had, and still to a degree do, is that it’s been very, very hard to get transparency from manufacturers on when doses are going to be coming to us,” Cann says. “It’s difficult for us to be confident that we’re not being pushed to the back of the queue, or being deprioritized over bilateral deals.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7sxQty">
|
|||
|
|
Ultimately, Glassman believes that the optimistic scenario is that there are “orders in place, there’s manufacturing under way to meet those orders, and then it’s just a matter of time and effort for the shots to get from airports into arms.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xo26HG">
|
|||
|
|
Covax has a long way to go though if it wants to achieve the WHO’s goal, and it’s likely the poorest countries in the world won’t achieve 70 percent vaccination <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01762-w">until 2023</a> at current rates of delivery.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBF9Qb">
|
|||
|
|
That said, countries in the Global South also may not need to keep waiting on Covax. They are already pursuing other avenues to vaccinate their populations, from pushing for a<strong> </strong><a href="https://msfaccess.org/one-year-after-first-shot-pharma-must-urgently-share-tech-covid-19-vaccines">patent waiver</a> at the<strong> </strong>World Trade Organization to encourage technology transfer, to shoring up their own <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/south-africas-biovac-start-making-pfizer-biontech-
|
|||
|
|
covid-19-vaccine-early-2022-2021-12-06/">domestic manufacturing</a> capabilities (including for <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/10/19/1047411856/the-great-vaccine-bake-off-has-begun">mRNA vaccines</a>) to<strong> </strong>seeking out other vaccine sources.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H7aXvj">
|
|||
|
|
And there was one more development of note<strong> </strong>at the very end of 2021: <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-covid-vaccine-for-all/">CORBEVAX</a>, a vaccine created by Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, was licensed for use without patents and had its technology transferred immediately to Biological E. Limited, an Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer. One of the key people behind the project, Dr. Peter Hotez, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-covid-vaccine-for-all/">claimed available CORBEVAX doses will soon surpass</a> in number the vaccine doses donated so far by the US government or any other G7 country.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cNOYbp">
|
|||
|
|
Given the enormous need — both to protect vulnerable people in the poorest nations and prevent the rise of new variants — the world must pursue every possible channel to get shots into arms and truly end the Covid-19 pandemic. Though Covax is showing signs of turning the corner, it may end up playing a smaller role than what the international community had originally envisioned for it in 2020.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xSWDHx">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The empty promise of instant delivery</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A employee for Fridge No More, an ultrafast delivery service in New York City, rides a scooter
|
|||
|
|
on a city sidewalk while carrying a large square pack of groceries on his back." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/YQ8ITG-wJ9i3fIqrs4Y0iMV5hHY=/470x0:5397x3695/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70382533/GettyImages_1232370673.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Instant delivery services are booming, as shoppers choose to opt out of the mundane nuisances involved with running errands or grabbing coffee. | Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The pandemic changed how shoppers think about convenience, but on-demand delivery can only offer so much.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="88Vsea">
|
|||
|
|
As a resident of New York City, I face <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/1/17/16897160/lines-waiting-history">long lines</a> with a sigh of hardened resignation. I don’t question the absurdity of the experience. Instead, I foolishly consider it a mark of stamina, even if getting a Covid-19 test, as of late, means standing outdoors in 27-degree weather for an hour. Recently, while in a lengthy Starbucks line, my patience wore thin. It dawned on me that this wait was a result of my stubborn preference for buying coffee the old-fashioned way — that there was, in fact, an escape from this humiliating cycle. I could simply place a mobile order, and retrieve it at the store without waiting in line.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4g1oml">
|
|||
|
|
This kind of frictionless convenience is wildly appealing and seemingly everywhere now; it’s especially pronounced in transactional spaces, whether it be a Starbucks, the local grocery store, or the airport. But there is a trade-off to resetting our expectations, and it looms large. Customers these days feel so entitled — and they are enraged. People are angrier, meaner, and more prone to throwing childish tantrums in front of service staff, as detailed in a recent<em> </em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/01/business/customer-service-pandemic-rage.html">New York Times feature titled</a>, “A nation on hold wants to speak with a manager.” It doesn’t help that we’re two years into a pandemic that has burst the country’s bubble of abundance (read: <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/11/5/22764088/supply-chain-
|
|||
|
|
shipping-delays-logistics">supply chain issues</a> and rampant <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
|
|||
|
|
goods/2021/11/10/22775092/inflation-cpi-october-economy-biden-fed">inflation</a>).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HwKDlO">
|
|||
|
|
Companies, especially those in public-facing industries, are contending with a shortage of available workers while struggling to meet the old-fashioned service standards set in a very different time. “The meanness of the public has forced many public-facing industries to rethink what used to be an article of faith: that the customer is always right,” wrote the Times’ Sarah Lyall. “If employees are now having to take on many unexpected roles — therapist, cop, conflict-resolution negotiator — then workplace managers are acting as security guards and bouncers to protect their employees.”
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iYsCiO">
|
|||
|
|
Some consumer behavior scholars believe that Amazon is to blame for these high (and often impractical) expectations, from one-click buy to one-day shipping. “We call it the Amazonification of business,” said Thomas Hollman, director for Arizona State’s Center for Services Leadership. “Everyone is compared to Amazon in terms of waiting in line, the kinds of customer interactions and knowledge base. This perception is equalizing all kinds of businesses.”
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="MnWeQ3">
|
|||
|
|
<q>“Everyone is compared to Amazon in terms of waiting in line”</q>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RN2MWj">
|
|||
|
|
It hasn’t helped that Americans are courted by a growing number of apps and technologies that expedite how they shop. Through mobile orders, instant delivery, automated chatbots, and even <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/2/17923050/self-checkout-amazon-walmart-automation-jobs-surveillance">self- checkout kiosks</a>, people are promised immediacy alongside better and faster service. These tools are designed to give the customer a greater sense of control over how they receive their goods. With it comes the pretense of a life efficiently lived — at the expense of digital privacy, money, and tech companies’ brewing influence over our lives. Have you ever given in to a late-night notification encouraging you to order takeout?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rw5eFZ">
|
|||
|
|
Venture capital firms are bullish on the emerging and crowded market of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/21/gopuff-gorillas-and-
|
|||
|
|
others-flood-new-york-with-instant-delivery-options.html">ultrafast delivery startups</a>, which have yet to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-grocery-delivery-cant-make-fast-money-11641904381">be profitable</a> without investor help. In substituting human-to-human interactions with human-to-machine transactions, shoppers are opting out of the mundane nuisances involved with running errands or grabbing coffee. This might seem like an individual consumer choice, but it is informed by a post-pandemic retail and service landscape that can be hostile to ordinary shoppers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A8rGig">
|
|||
|
|
In October, tech writer Drew Austin remarked how his regular trips to convenience stores and pharmacies in New York City have become <a href="https://kneelingbus.substack.com/p/172-running-up-that-hill">littered with unexpected inconveniences</a>. There are fewer and fewer employees on shift, which means checkout lines are longer. Meanwhile, more merchandise is locked up to compensate for the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/stealing-from-self-checkout/550940/">potential increase in theft</a> from the installation of self-service kiosks, which shoppers are encouraged to use to avoid waiting in long lines.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WfSaTe">
|
|||
|
|
This makes for an unpleasant and inexpedient in-person shopping experience at a Walgreens, where one expects to flit in and out without a hitch. “The implicit message of all this, for ordinary customers, is that we should have stayed home and ordered online,” Austin wrote. “These spaces aren’t for us. We’re effectively trespassing in the company’s warehouse.” Manhattan resembles “a post-Covid retail wasteland,” he continued, populated by vacated chain stores that are being converted into instant delivery hubs.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ia6QC5">
|
|||
|
|
New Yorkers, for example, once might’ve needed convincing to try instant grocery delivery or <a href="https://www.eater.com/21540765/ghost-
|
|||
|
|
kitchens-virtual-restaurants-covid-19-industry-impact">delivery-only restaurants</a>, dubbed “ghost kitchens” by venture capitalists. The pandemic altered the stakes not just for consumers, who had an incentive to stay home and order, but businesses reexamining the need for traditional retail spaces. Starbucks, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/business/retail-vacancies-midtown-manhattan.html">New York Times</a>, has permanently closed 44 of its 235 locations in Manhattan since the start of 2020. It has plans, however, to expand its mobile pickup offerings and add more pickup-only locations.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sit2na">
|
|||
|
|
Research from Edge by Ascential, a digital commerce advisory firm, predicts that retailers could dedicate as much as <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/stores-may-soon-use-one-third-of-their-space-for-e-commerce-fulfillment-
|
|||
|
|
re/603977/">a third of their space</a>, once used for in-person shopping, to fulfilling online orders in coming years. This switch will likely cost businesses <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-omnichannel-age-is-here-and-its-
|
|||
|
|
expensive/597653/">more money</a>, compared to having customers enter a store and pick out the items they want. The way things are heading, though, more and more people are choosing to have items shipped to them and delivered in the same week, day, or even in the next 15 minutes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zb0vd4">
|
|||
|
|
This preference is not just for everyday necessities like groceries, baby formula, or toilet paper. Direct-to-consumer startups, particularly those in the home goods and food and beverage spaces, are trying to reach urban shoppers through on-demand delivery. “What we’re trying to accomplish with fast commerce is to give people the ability to get as close to instant gratification as we can,” the head of customer experience at Olipop, a low-calorie alternative soda, <a href="https://thingtesting.com/stories/DTC-on-demand-
|
|||
|
|
delivery">told Thingtesting</a>. “If consumers are looking for a drink late at night, we want to make sure it’s Olipop.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="umMyLX">
|
|||
|
|
Despite the booming landscape of instant delivery apps, most have yet to yield sustainable returns for the investors <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-grocery-delivery-cant-make-fast-
|
|||
|
|
money-11641904381">pumping them with billions of dollars</a>. As much as Amazon and couriers like DoorDash, Uber, and Gopuff are pushing to turn urban centers into fulfillment centers, complete with ghost kitchens and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22745054/instagram-boutique-drop-shipping-ghost-stores">ghost brands</a>, stores — and all the nuisances of in-person shopping — will still be around in some capacity. Shoppers still like sauntering through malls, no matter how tech-adjusted they are.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ryWrxO">
|
|||
|
|
Amazon might have won customers over with its blindingly fast delivery standards, but its business model is not free of logistical complexities. One-day shipping is expensive and dependent on a vast, underpaid workforce that smaller retailers can’t afford. “What solves all of these problems — the high return rates, the cost-prohibitive last-mile freight, the logistics nightmares, the buyer frustration, and the monumental volume of consumer waste it all sends to landfills — on some level? Stores. Going to a store,” <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/amazon-department-stores-prime-
|
|||
|
|
shipping/619860/">wrote</a> the Atlantic’s Amanda Mull.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uw2txr">
|
|||
|
|
At the start of the pandemic, Americans avoided in-person shopping out of necessity. Today, with most businesses more or less reopened, more are choosing to steer clear of stores due to depreciating customer service. It’s a result of the many cost-cutting factors retailers have implemented, from introducing new technologies to understaffing workers. Meanwhile, delivery appears to be an antidote to the chaos of the store, when it actually isn’t, from retailers’ standpoint.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RDBBWH">
|
|||
|
|
Soon, retail employees might be too swamped meeting delivery quotas to be relieved that customers are no longer demanding to speak to a manager. The future of retail wants to offer customers hyperoptimized convenience. But is all of this <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/what-instant-delivery-services-could-do-to-
|
|||
|
|
cities?sref=ExbtjcSG">actually good for us</a>? And is it financially feasible?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Explained | Where does Djokovic’s Australian visa saga stand?</strong> - All eyes are now on Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, who must decide whether to deport the tennis star.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Saina has always been my idol, win over her one of the biggest of my career, says Malvika</strong> - It was the first time Saina Nehwal and Malvika Bansod were meeting in a big tournament.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is it end of the road for Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane</strong> - Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were trending on social media with the hashtag being ‘PuRane’ (Old).</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>South Africa vs India, 3rd Test | Kohli, Pant take India to 130/4 at lunch on Day 3</strong> - India’s overall lead is now 143</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India Open Badminton | Sindhu advances, Malvika Bansod knocks Saina Nehwal</strong> - Malvika Bansod, ranked 111th, took 34 minutes to see off the former world number 1.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Assam pioneer of pig heart transplant now working on biomolecular treatment</strong> - Time will tell if genetically-altered pig organs used by U.S. surgeons will be acceptable to humans or not, says Dhaniram Baruah</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Farooq Abdullah demands stern action against those ‘spewing venom at hate speech conclaves’</strong> - The NC president said the “criminal hush” in government circles raises a question that begs to be answered.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New species of wood-boring, deep-sea mollusc found in Arabian sea</strong> - Discovery of species, named Xylophaga nandani, by team of researchers from Kerala and Brazil</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NGT directs Tamil Nadu Government to stop construction of fish landing centre in Thoothukudi</strong> - The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change submitted to the Tribunal that no approval was sought for the project under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022 | Shiv Sena tests pulse of farmers as it plans foray in State</strong> - Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut met Rakesh Tikait</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>German court finds Syrian colonel guilty of crimes against humanity</strong> - The trial of Anwar Raslan was the world’s first criminal case over state-led torture in Syria.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid: Half of France’s schools could close as teachers strike</strong> - About 75% of primary teachers are expected to strike as they complain about confusing testing rules.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid-19: France to relax travel rules from the UK</strong> - Vaccinated travellers will no longer need a compelling reason to enter France, or have to isolate.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Escaped Dutch youth offender shot dead in Belgium</strong> - The young man reportedly took two people hostage, drove over the border and opened fire on police.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Brexit: Liz Truss aims for ‘reset’ as UK-EU protocol talks resume</strong> - The foreign secretary will act as the UK’s lead negotiator for the first time since taking the role.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immune system vs. virus: Why omicron had experts worried from the start</strong> - How the immune system targets viruses and shapes viral evolution. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1825216">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Prime Video releases red-band trailer for Legend of Vox Machina animated series</strong> - It’s based on popular <em>Critical Role</em> web series; S1 funded by Kickstarter campaign. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1825509">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CDC to update advice on best masks—but just wants you to wear one, any of them</strong> - The best mask is the one Americans will actually wear, CDC director says. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1825547">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sony brings a compact, flagship smartphone to the US</strong> - Sony’s small phone has a headphone jack and a microSD slot. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1825354">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PCIe 5.0 is just beginning to come to new PCs, but version 6.0 is already here</strong> - PCIe 6.0 will provide up to 256GB/s of bandwidth for next-gen servers and PCs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1825371">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>How to determine the gender of your cat ?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
pour some milk in a bowl and place it next to the cat, if she drinks it, your cat is a female, but if he drinks it, the cat is a male
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ght17"> /u/ght17 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2ga3m/how_to_determine_the_gender_of_your_cat/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2ga3m/how_to_determine_the_gender_of_your_cat/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
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<li><strong>I absolutely HATE when people make a post subtly implying it’s their cake day, just so people can wish them.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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You won’t catch me doing that today.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Bubbly_Toe_8840"> /u/Bubbly_Toe_8840 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2x7mw/i_absolutely_hate_when_people_make_a_post_subtly/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2x7mw/i_absolutely_hate_when_people_make_a_post_subtly/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Has Covid-19 forced you to wear glasses and a mask at the same time?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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You may be entitled to condensation.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Chris7ka"> /u/Chris7ka </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2b9ox/has_covid19_forced_you_to_wear_glasses_and_a_mask/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2b9ox/has_covid19_forced_you_to_wear_glasses_and_a_mask/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>When I was growing up # was pound, not hashtag</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Good thing it changed, since “pound metoo” would’ve been sending the wrong message
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gloomy-Proposal-7072"> /u/Gloomy-Proposal-7072 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2jx3q/when_i_was_growing_up_was_pound_not_hashtag/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2jx3q/when_i_was_growing_up_was_pound_not_hashtag/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>But is it murder?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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A homicide detective walks into a bar and orders a beer. “Hey look at those birds outside,” the bartender comments to him. “Did you know that a group of crows like that is called a murder?” “Well you can’t be sure that’s a murder,” the detective says. “Unless there is probable caws.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Firegoat1"> /u/Firegoat1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2ucw0/but_is_it_murder/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/s2ucw0/but_is_it_murder/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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