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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Evaluation of COVID-19 as a risk factor for maternal-fetal and neonatal complications: protocol of a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: COVID-19 in pregnant women has been suggested to impair maternal-fetal and neonatal outcomes. We then designed the present systematic review with meta-analysis to evaluate the repercussion of such disease over maternal fetal and neonatal mortality, need for intensive care, way of delivery, premature delivery, birth weight, Apgar score, presence of intrauterine growth restriction (IGR), and presence of amniotic fluid change. Methods: We will conduct a computerized search through MEDLINE/PubMed, LILACS/BIREME, Web of science, Biorxiv, Medrxiv, and Embase on July 23, 2020. We will include cohort and case-control studies fully reported comparing pregnant women with COVID-19 with those not affected by the disease for maternal fetal and neonatal mortality, need for intensive care, way of delivery, premature delivery occurrence, birth weight, Apgar scores, presence of intrauterine growth restriction, and presence of amniotic fluid change. Three doubles of reviewers will perform in duplicate and independently all steps on screening, risk of bias judgments, and data extraction with ability to discuss disagreements with supervising authors. Pooled effects will be estimated by both fixed and random-effects models and presented according to qualitative and quantitative heterogeneity assessment. Sensitivity analyses will be performed as well as a priori subgroup, meta-regression and multiple meta-regression analyses. We will also evaluate the risk of selective publication by assessing funnel plot asymmetry and the quality of the evidence by the application of the GRADE recommendations. Discussion: This systematic review with meta-analysis aims to assess the repercussion of COVID-19 in pregnant women over maternal-fetal and neonatal outcomes and to help clinicians and health systems improve such population outcomes throughout the current pandemic. Systematic review registration: This review protocol was also submitted to PROSPERO registration on February 9, 2021.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252294v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of COVID-19 as a risk factor for maternal-fetal and neonatal complications: protocol of a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort and case-control studies.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clinical evaluation of the molecular-based BD SARS-CoV-2/Flu for the BD MAX™ System</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Efficient and accurate assays for the differential diagnosis of COVID-19 and/or influenza (flu) could facilitate optimal treatment for both diseases. Diagnostic performance related to SARS-CoV-2 and Flu A/B detection was characterized for the BD SARS-CoV-2/Flu for BD MAX™ System (MAX SARS-CoV-2/Flu) multiplex assay in comparison with BD BioGx SARS-CoV-2 Reagents for BD MAX™ System (BioGx SARS-CoV-2) and the Cepheid Xpert® Xpress Flu/RSV (Xpert Flu). Two hundred and thirty-five nasopharyngeal specimens were obtained from external vendors. MAX SARS-CoV-2/Flu had positive percent agreement (PPA) and negative percent agreement (NPA) values for SARS-CoV-2 and Flu A/B that met FDA-EUA acceptance criteria of &gt;95%.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21251915v1" target="_blank">Clinical evaluation of the molecular-based BD SARS-CoV-2/Flu for the BD MAX™ System</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vaccine Rollout Strategies: The Case for Vaccinating Essential Workers Early</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In planning for upcoming mass vaccinations against COVID-19, many jurisdictions have proposed using primarily age-based rollout strategies, where the oldest are vaccinated first and the youngest last. In the wake of growing evidence that approved vaccines are effective at preventing not only adverse outcomes, but also infection (and hence transmission of SARS-CoV-2), we propose that such age-based rollouts are both less equitable and less effective than strategies that prioritize essential workers. We demonstrate using modelling that strategies that target essential workers earlier consistently outperform those that do not, and that prioritizing essential workers provides a significant level of indirect protection for older adults. This conclusion holds across numerous outcomes, including cases, hospitalizations, deaths, prevalence of Long COVID, chronic impacts of COVID, quality adjusted life years lost and net monetary benefit lost. It also holds over a range of possible values for the efficacy of vaccination against infection. Our analysis focuses on regimes where the pandemic continues to be controlled with distancing and other measures as vaccination proceeds, and where the vaccination strategy is expected to last for over the coming 6-8 months - for example British Columbia, Canada. In such a setting with a total population of 5M, vaccinating essential workers sooner is expected to prevent over 200,000 infections, over 600 deaths, and to produce a net monetary benefit of over $500M. 20-25% of the quality adjusted life years lost, and 28-34% of the net monetary benefit lost, are due to chronic impacts of COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252309v1" target="_blank">Vaccine Rollout Strategies: The Case for Vaccinating Essential Workers Early</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Comparison of the clinical characteristics and mortality in ARDS due to COVID-19 versus ARDS due to Influenza A-H1N1pdm09</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Importance: Infection with the SARS-Cov-2 and Influenza A-H1N1 viruses is responsible for the first pandemics of the 21st century. Both of these viruses can cause severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The clinical differences and mortality associated with these two pandemic pneumonias in patients with ARDS are not well established Objective: To compare case-fatality between ARDS-Covid-19 and ARDS-Influenza A (H1N1), adjusting for known prognostic risk factors. Design, Setting and Participants: One hundred forty-seven patients with COVID-19 were compared with 94 with Influenza A-H1N1, all of these were admitted to the intensive care unit of the Referral Center for Respiratory Diseases and COVID-19 in Mexico City and fulfilled the criteria of ARDS. Results: Patients arrived at the hospital after 9 days of symptoms. Influenza patients had more obesity, more use of Norepinephrine, and higher levels of lactic dehydrogenase and glucose, and fewer platelets and lower PaO2/FIO2. Crude mortality was higher in COVID than in influenza (39% vs. 22%; p = 0.005). In a Cox proportional hazard model, patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 had a hazard ratio (HR) = 3.7; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.9-7.4, adjusted for age, gender, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, ventilatory ratio, and prone ventilation. In the fully adjusted model, the ventilatory ratio and the absence of prone-position ventilation were also predictors of mortality. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 patients treated in an intensive care unit (ICU) had a 3.7 times higher risk of death than similar patients with Influenza A-H1N1, after adjusting for SOFA score and other relevant risk factors for mortality.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.07.21251306v1" target="_blank">Comparison of the clinical characteristics and mortality in ARDS due to COVID-19 versus ARDS due to Influenza A-H1N1pdm09</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The differential impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Medicaid expansion is a federally-funded program to expand health care access and coverage to economically challenged populations by increasing eligibility to Medicaid enrollment and investing in public health preventive services in the individual states. Yet, when the COVID-19 epidemic plagued the country, fourteen states were practicing their chosen decision not to enact the Medicaid expansion policy. We examined the consequences of this nationwide split in Medicaid design on the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic between the expansion and non-expansion states. Our study shows that, on average, the expansion states had 217.56 fewer confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents than the non-expansion states [-210.41; 95%CI (-411.131) - (-2.05); P&lt;0.05]. Also, the doubling time of COVID-19 cases in Medicaid expansion states was longer than that of non-expansion states by an average of 1.68 days [1.6826; 95%CI 0.4035-2.9617; P&lt;0.05]. These findings suggest that proactive investment in public health preparedness was an effective protective policy measure in this crisis, unsurpassed by the benefits of COVID-19 emergency plans and funds. The study findings could be relevant to policymakers and healthcare strategists in non-expansion states considering their states9 preparations for such public health crises.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252296v1" target="_blank">The differential impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Comprehensive County Level Framework to Identify Factors Affecting Hospital Capacity and Predict Future Hospital Demand</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: As of February 19, 2021, our review yielded a small number of studies that investigated high resolution hospitalization demand data from a public health planning perspective. The earlier studies compiled were conducted early in the pandemic and do not include any analysis of the hospitalization trends in the last 3 months when the US experienced a substantial surge in hospitalization and ICU demand. The earlier studies also focused on COVID 19 transmission influence on COVID 19 hospitalization rates. While this emphasis is understandable, there is evidence to suggest that non COVID hospitalization demand is being displaced due to the hospitalization and ICU surge. Further, with the discovery of multiple mutated variants of COVID 19, it is important to remain vigilant in an effort to control the pandemic. Given these circumstances, the development of a high resolution framework that examines overall hospitalizations and ICU usage rate for COVID and non COVID patients would allow us to build a prediction system that can identify potential vulnerable locations for hospitalization capacity in the nation so that appropriate remedial measures can be planned. Method: The current study recognizes that COVID 19 has affected overall hospitalizations, not only COVID 19 hospitalizations. Drawing from the recently released Department of Health and Human services (DHH) weekly hospitalization data (or the time period August 28th , 2020 to January 22nd, 2021.), we study the overall hospitalization and ICU usage as two components: COVID 19 hospitalization and ICU per capita rates; and non COVID hospitalization and ICU per capita rates. A mixed linear mixed model is adopted to study the response variables in our study. The estimated models are subsequently employed to generate predictions for county level hospitalization and ICU usage rates in the future under a host of COVID 19 transmission scenarios considering the new variants of COVID 19 and vaccination impacts. Findings: We find a significant association of the virus transmissibility with COVID (positive) and non COVID (negative) hospitalization and ICU usage rates. Several county level factors including demographics, mobility and health indicators are also found to be strongly associated with the overall hospitalization and ICU demand. Among the various scenarios considered, the results indicate a small possibility of a new wave of infections that can substantially overload hospitalization and ICU usage. In the scenario where vaccinations proceed as expected reducing transmission, our results indicate that hospitalizations and ICU usage rates are likely to reduce significantly. Interpretation: The research exercise presents a framework to predict evolving hospitalization and ICU usage trends in response to COVID 19 transmission rates while controlling for other factors. Our work highlights how future hospitalization demand varies by location and time in response to a range of pessimistic and optimistic scenarios. Further, the exercise allows us to identify vulnerable counties and regions under stress with high hospitalization and ICU rates that can be assisted with remedial measures. The model will also allow hospitals to understand evolving displaced non COVID hospital demand.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.19.21252117v1" target="_blank">A Comprehensive County Level Framework to Identify Factors Affecting Hospital Capacity and Predict Future Hospital Demand</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Practical strategies for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing in resource-constrained settings</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Standard nasopharyngeal swab testing for SARS-CoV-2 detection by PCR is not always feasible due to limitations in trained personnel, personal protective equipment, swabs, PCR reagents, and access to cold chain and biosafety hoods. Methods: We piloted the collection of nasal mid-turbinate swabs amenable to self-testing, including both standard polyester flocked swabs as well as 3D printed plastic lattice swabs, placed into either viral transport media or an RNA stabilization agent. Quantitative SARS-CoV-2 viral detection by RT-qPCR was compared to that obtained by nasopharyngeal sampling as the reference standard. Pooling specimens in the lab versus pooling swabs at the point of collection was also evaluated. Results: Among 275 participants, flocked nasal swabs identified 104/121 individuals who were PCR-positive for SARS-CoV-2 by nasopharyngeal sampling (sensitivity 87%, 95% CI 79-92%), mostly missing those with low viral load (&lt;10^3 viral copies/uL). 3D-printed nasal swabs showed similar sensitivity. When nasal swabs were placed directly into an RNA stabilizer, the mean 1.4 log decrease in viral copies/uL compared to nasopharyngeal samples was reduced to &lt;1 log, even when samples were left at room temperature for up to 7 days. Pooling sample specimens or swabs both successfully detected samples &gt;10<sup>2</sup> viral copies/uL. Conclusions: Nasal swabs are likely adequate for clinical diagnosis of acute infections to help expand testing capacity in resource-constrained settings. When collected into an RNA preservative that also inactivates infectious virus, nasal swabs yielded quantitative viral loads approximating those obtained by nasopharyngeal sampling.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.18.21251999v1" target="_blank">Practical strategies for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing in resource-constrained settings</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern, B.1.526, Identified in New York</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Recent months have seen surges of SARS-CoV-2 infection across the globe along with considerable viral evolution. Extensive mutations in the spike protein of variants B.1.1.7, B1.351, and P.1 have raised concerns that the efficacy of current vaccines and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies could be threatened. In vitro studies have shown that one mutation, E484K, plays a crucial role in the loss of neutralizing activity of some monoclonal antibodies as well as most convalescent and vaccinee sera against variant B.1.351. In fact, two vaccine trials have recently reported lower protective efficacy in South Africa, where B.1.351 is dominant. To survey for these novel variants in our patient population in New York City, PCR assays were designed to identify viruses with two signature mutations, E484K and N501Y. We observed a steady increase in the detection rate from late December to mid-February, with an alarming rise to 12.3% in the past two weeks. Whole genome sequencing further demonstrated that most of our E484K isolates (n=49/65) fell within a single lineage: NextStrain clade 20C or Pangolin lineage B.1.526. Patients with this novel variant came from diverse neighborhoods in the metropolitan area, and they were on average older and more frequently hospitalized. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences in the database further reveal that this B.1.526 variant is scattered in the Northeast of US, and its unique set of spike mutations may also pose an antigenic challenge for current interventions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252259v1" target="_blank">A Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern, B.1.526, Identified in New York</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Household secondary attack rate of COVID-19 by household size and index case characteristics</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In this population-wide study in Ontario, Canada, we investigated the household secondary attack rate (SAR) to understand its relationship to household size and index case characteristics. We identified all patients with confirmed COVID-19 between July 1 and November 30, 2020. Cases within households were matched based on reported residential address; households were grouped based on the number of household contacts. The majority of households (68.2%) had a SAR of 0%, while 3,442 (11.7%) households had a SAR ≥75%. Overall household SAR was 19.5% and was similar across household sizes, but varied across index case characteristics. Households where index cases had longer delays between symptom onset and test seeking, households with older index cases, households with symptomatic index cases, and larger households located in diverse neighborhoods, were associated with greater household SAR. Our findings present characteristics associated with greater household SARs and proposes immediate testing as a method to reduce household transmission and incidence of COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252287v1" target="_blank">Household secondary attack rate of COVID-19 by household size and index case characteristics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The immunophilin protein FKBPL and its peptide derivatives are novel regulators of vascular integrity and inflammation via NF-kappaB signaling</strong> -
<div>
A breakdown in vascular integrity and excessive inflammation are hallmarks of serious pathological conditions including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDs) and most recently, severe COVID-19. FK506 binding protein like (FKBPL) is a member of the immunophilin protein superfamily with potent anti tumor activity through inhibition of angiogenesis and cancer stemness. An FKBPL based 23mer peptide, ALM201, displayed a good safety and pharmacokinetic profile in a Phase 1a oncology clinical trial and was subsequently designated orphan drug status by the FDA in ovarian cancer. Here we describe a novel role for FKBPL and its peptides in regulating vascular integrity and cytokine production though modulating NFkappaB signaling. FKBPL knockdown promoted endothelial cell barrier permeability, which was further exacerbated upon stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and accompanied by increased expression of TNF mRNA and phosphorylation of p65(RelA). Whilst treatment with the FKBPL based pre-clinical peptide, AD-01, increased VE-cadherin endothelial tight junctions following LPS stimulation. Bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDM) from FKBPL haploinsufficient mice (Fkbpl+/-) also demonstrated increased phosphorylation of p65(RelA) in response to LPS stimulation compared to wild-type mice. Furthermore, treatment with AD-01 inhibited p65(RelA) phosphorylation following LPS stimulation resulting in reduced NFkappaB target gene expression and proinflammatory cytokine production. In an in vivo LPS survival model, Fkbpl+/- mice have reduced survival compared to wild-type mice. Moreover, treatment of wild-type mice with the clinical FKBPL-based peptide, ALM201, following LPS injection resulted in a 100% survival rate in mice at experimental endpoint, as well as an abrogation of production of proinflammatory cytokines, TNF and IL-6, in peritoneal lavage washings. Analysis of human genetic biobanks found an association between common genetic variants associated with FKBPL and traits associated with inflammatory disorders such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and high lymphocyte count. In summary, for the first time, we describe a novel role for FKBPL as a regulator of inflammation and vascular integrity through modulating NFkappaB signaling and FKBPL based therapies demonstrate potent anti inflammatory activity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.24.431422v1" target="_blank">The immunophilin protein FKBPL and its peptide derivatives are novel regulators of vascular integrity and inflammation via NF-kappaB signaling</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Connected Despite Lockdown: The Role of Social Interactions and Social Media Use in Wellbeing</strong> -
<div>
Humans are social beings, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world are periodically in lockdown and are required to try to physically distance themselves from others. The resultant limitation of face-to-face interactions presents a challenge to wellbeing. During periods of lockdown, people can, however, still connect to others via technology, but it is unknown whether such interactions offer benefits comparable to face-to-face interactions. In the present study, we examined how different ways of interacting with others impacted wellbeing during a period of lockdown in the United Kingdom. In a 30-day diary study conducted in April-June 2020, 110 adults reported the time they spent daily on face-to-face interactions and technology-mediated communication (video, phone, text) with different interaction partners. They also indicated the time they spent on active and passive social media use and their end-of-day wellbeing. Multilevel regressions indicated that more face-to-face interactions both within and outside of one’s household positively predicted wellbeing, while technology-mediated communication had less consistent positive effects. Additionally, more active and less passive social media use predicted better wellbeing. These results highlight the complexity of benefits of different kinds of social interactions during lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic and point to the importance of taking into account communication channels, interaction partners, and how people use social media when studying the effects of connecting to others.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/x5k8u/" target="_blank">Connected Despite Lockdown: The Role of Social Interactions and Social Media Use in Wellbeing</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 detection and genomic sequencing from hospital surface samples collected at UC Davis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Rationale: There is little doubt that aerosols play a major role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The significance of the presence and infectivity of this virus on environmental surfaces, especially in a hospital setting, remains less clear. Objectives: We aimed to analyze surface swabs for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and infectivity, and to determine their suitability for sequence analysis. Methods: Samples were collected during two waves of COVID-19 at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, in COVID-19 patient serving and staff congregation areas. qRT-PCR positive samples were investigated in Vero cell cultures for cytopathic effects and phylogenetically assessed by whole genome sequencing. Measurements and Main Results: Improved cleaning and patient management practices between April and August 2020 were associated with a substantial reduction of SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR positivity (from 11% to 2%) in hospital surface samples. Even though we recovered near-complete genome sequences in some, none of the positive samples (11 of 224 total) caused cytopathic effects in cultured cells suggesting this nucleic acid was either not associated with intact virions, or they were present in insufficient numbers for infectivity. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 genomes of the positive samples were derived from hospitalized patients. Genomic sequences isolated from qRT-PCR negative samples indicate a superior sensitivity of viral detection by sequencing. Conclusions: This study confirms the low likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 contamination on hospital surfaces contains infectious virus, disputing the importance of fomites in COVID-19 transmission. Ours is the first report on recovering near-complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences directly from environmental surface swabs.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.21252022v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 detection and genomic sequencing from hospital surface samples collected at UC Davis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Implications of central carbon metabolism in SARS-CoV-2 replication and disease severity</strong> -
<div>
Viruses hijack host metabolic pathways for their replicative advantage. Several observational trans-omics analyses associated carbon and amino acid metabolism in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity in patients but lacked mechanistic insights. In this study, using patient-derived multi-omics data and in vitro infection assays, we aimed to understand i) role of key metabolic pathways in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) reproduction and ii) its association with disease severity. Our data suggests that monocytes are key to the altered immune response during COVID-19. COVID-19 infection was associated with increased plasma glutamate levels, while glucose and mannose levels were determinants of the disease severity. Monocytes showed altered expression pattern of carbohydrate and amino acid transporters, GLUT1 and xCT respectively in severe COVID-19. Furthermore, lung epithelial cells (Calu-3) showed a strong acute metabolic adaptation following infection in vitro by modulating central carbon metabolism. We found that glycolysis and glutaminolysis are essential for virus replication and blocking these metabolic pathways caused significant reduction in virus production. Taken together, our study highlights that the virus utilizes and re-wires pathways governing central carbon metabolism leading to metabolic toxicity. Thus, the host metabolic perturbation could be an attractive strategy to limit the viral replication and disease severity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.24.432759v1" target="_blank">Implications of central carbon metabolism in SARS-CoV-2 replication and disease severity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Development of Tribo-Electroceutical Fabrics for Potential Application in Self-sanitizing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)</strong> -
<div>
Attachment of microbial bodies including coronavirus on the surface of personal protective equipment (PPE) is found to be potential threat of spreading infection. Here, we report the development of a novel tribo-electroceutical fabric (TECF) consisting of commonly available materials namely Nylon, and Silicone Rubber (SR) for the fabrication of protective gloves on Nitrile platform, as a model wearable PPE. A small triboelectric device (2 cm x 2 cm) consisting of SR and Nylon on Nitrile can generate more than 20 volt transient or 41 micro-Watt output power, which is capable of charging a capacitor up to 65 V in only ~50 sec. The novelty of the present work relies on the TECF led anti-microbial activity through the generation of an electric current in saline water. The fabrication of TECF based functional prototype gloves can generate hypochlorite ions through the formation of electrolysed water upon rubbing them with saline water. Further a computational modelling has been employed to reveal the optimum structure and mechanistic pathway of anti-microbial hypochlorite generation. Detailed anti-microbial assays have been performed to establish effectiveness of such TECF based gloves to reduce the risk from life threatening pathogen spreading. The present work provides the rationale to consider the studied TECF, or other material with comparable properties, as material of choice for the development of self-sanitizing PPE in the fight against microbial infections including COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.23.432624v1" target="_blank">Development of Tribo-Electroceutical Fabrics for Potential Application in Self-sanitizing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 disturbs nucleocytoplasmic trafficking to advance the viral replication</strong> -
<div>
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. ORF6 is known to antagonize the interferon signaling by inhibiting the nuclear translocation of STAT1. Here we show that ORF6 acts as a virulence factor through two distinct strategies. First, ORF6 directly interacts with STAT1 in an IFN-independent manner to inhibit its nuclear translocation. Second, ORF6 directly binds to importin 1, which is a nuclear transport factor encoded by KPNA2, leading to a significant suppression of importin 1-mediated nuclear transport. Furthermore, we found that KPNA2 knockout enhances the viral replication, suggesting that importin 1 suppresses the viral propagation. Additionally, the analyses of gene expression data revealed that importin 1 levels decreased significantly in the lungs of older individuals. Taken together, SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 disrupts the nucleocytoplasmic trafficking to accelerate the viral replication, resulting in the disease progression, especially in older individuals.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.24.432656v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 disturbs nucleocytoplasmic trafficking to advance the viral replication</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</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>Study to Evaluate a Single Dose of STI-2020 (COVI-AMG™) in Hospitalized Adults With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-AMG;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Safety &amp; Efficacy of Low Dose Aspirin / Ivermectin Combination Therapy for Treatment of Covid-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: 3-dayIVM 200 mcg/kg/day/14-day 75mgASA/day + standard of care (intervention 1)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Makerere University;   Ministry of Health, Uganda;   Mbarara University of Science and Technology;   Joint Clinical Research Center<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>The Safety and Efficacy of FB2001 in Healthy Subjects and Patients With COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: FB2001;   Drug: FB2001 Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Frontier Biotechnologies Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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 Antithrombotic Rivaroxaban Evaluation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Rivaroxaban 10 mg<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz;   Bayer;   Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein;   Hospital do Coracao;   Hospital Sirio-Libanes;   Hospital Moinhos de Vento;   Brazilian Research In Intensive Care Network;   Brazilian Clinical Research Institute<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>A Safety and Efficacy Study of Human Monoclonal Antibodies, BRII-196 and BRII-198 for the Treatment of Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: BRII-196 and BRII-198;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Brii Biosciences, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Study of the Kinetics of COVID-19 Antibodies for 24 Months in Patients With Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Covid19;   SARS-CoV 2<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Sampling by venipuncture<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Centre Hospitalier Régional d’Orléans<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Effect of Prone Position onV/Q Matching in Non-intubated Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: prone position<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Southeast University, China<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Protecting Native Families From COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing;   Behavioral: COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring System;   Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing and COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring System;   Other: Supportive Services<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Honey and Nigella Sativa in COVID-19 Prophylaxis</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Honey;   Drug: Nigella sativa seed;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sohaib Ashraf<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Oxidative Stress Parameters, Trace Element and Quality of Life in Women Before and After Covid-19 Vaccines</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid-19 Vaccine<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: CoronoVac Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Izmir Bakircay University;   Cigli Regional Training Hospital;   Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Safety and Efficacy of Thymic Peptides in the Treatment of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Honduras</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Thymic peptides<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universidad Católica de Honduras;   Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Safety and Immunogenicity Study in Adults of AZD1222 and rAd26-S Administered as Heterologous Prime Boost Regimen for the Prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AZD1222;   Biological: rAd26-S<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   R-Pharm;   AstraZeneca<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Pulmonary Rehabilitation of Patients With a History of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Pulmonary rehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Rzeszow<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></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>Trial Efficacy of Saisei Pharma Dietary Supplements MAF Capsules, 148 mg and M Capsules, 148 mg in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: MAF capsules 148 mg;   Dietary Supplement: M capsules 148 mg;   Other: Standard of care<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Saisei Pharma<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></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>Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Tofacitinib<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</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>A pilot double-blind safety and feasibility randomised controlled trial of high-dose intravenous zinc in hospitalised COVID-19 patients</strong> - CONCLUSION: Hospitalised COVID-19 patients demonstrated zinc deficiency. This can be corrected with HDIVZn. Such treatment appears safe, feasible and only associated with minimal peripheral infusion site irritation. This pilot study justifies further investigation of this treatment in COVID-19 patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.</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>Does remote ischaemic conditioning reduce inflammation? A focus on innate immunity and cytokine response</strong> - The benefits of remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) have been difficult to translate to humans, when considering traditional outcome measures, such as mortality and heart failure. This paper reviews the recent literature of the anti-inflammatory effects of RIC, with a particular focus on the innate immune response and cytokine inhibition. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, the inflammatory hypothesis of cardiac protection is an attractive target on which to re-purpose such novel therapies. A…</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>Role of IL-6 inhibitor in treatment of COVID-19-related cytokine release syndrome</strong> - Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) may be the key factor in the pathology of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As a major driver in triggering CRS in patients with COVID-19, interleukin-6 (IL-6) appears to be a promising target for therapeutics. The results of inhibiting both trans- and classical- signaling with marketed IL-6 inhibitors (tocilizumab, siltuximab and sarilumab) in severe COVID-19 patients are effective based on several small studies and case reports thus far. In this…</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>The ORF8 Protein of SARS-CoV-2 Induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Mediated Immune Evasion by Antagonizing Production of Interferon Beta</strong> - The open reading frame 8 (orf8) is an accessory protein of SARS-CoV-2. It has 121 amino acids with two genotypes, orf8L and orf8S. In this study, we overexpressed the orf8L and orf8S of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the orf8b of SARS-CoV to investigate their roles in the regulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the inhibition of interferon beta (IFNß) production. We found that the two genotypes of SARS-CoV-2 orf8 are capable of inducing ER stress without significant difference by triggering…</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>A molecular modelling approach for identifying antiviral selenium-containing heterocyclic compounds that inhibit the main protease of SARS-CoV-2: an in silico investigation</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, and the situation worsens daily, associated with acute increases in case fatality rates. The main protease (Mpro) enzyme produced by SARS-CoV-2 was recently demonstrated to be responsible for not only viral reproduction but also impeding host immune responses. The element selenium (Se) plays a…</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>A comparative analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antivirals characterizes 3CL(pro) inhibitor PF-00835231 as a potential new treatment for COVID-19</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a dire need for novel effective antivirals to treat COVID-19, as the only approved direct-acting antiviral to date is remdesivir, targeting the viral polymerase complex. A potential alternate target in the viral life cycle is the main SARS-CoV-2 protease 3CL^(pro) (M^(pro)). The drug candidate PF-00835231 is the active compound of the first anti-3CL^(pro) regimen…</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>The Experience of Greece as a Model to Contain COVID-19 Infection Spread</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in late 2019 and has caused a pandemic known as corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), responsible for the death of more than 2 million people worldwide. The outbreak of COVID-19 has posed an unprecedented threat on human lives and public safety. The aim of this review is to describe key aspects of the bio-pathology of the novel disease, and discuss aspects of its spread, as well as targeted protective strategies that can…</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>Homozygosity for rs17775810 Minor Allele Associated With Reduced Mortality of COVID-19 in the UK Biobank Cohort</strong> - CONCLUSION: The rs17775810 analysis corroborates the favorable effect of fluvoxamine on COVID-19 survival.</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>Comparative Genomics and Integrated Network Approach Unveiled Undirected Phylogeny Patterns, Co-mutational Hot Spots, Functional Cross Talk, and Regulatory Interactions in SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has resulted in 92 million cases in a span of 1 year. The study focuses on understanding population-specific variations attributing its high rate of infections in specific geographical regions particularly in the United States. Rigorous phylogenomic network analysis of complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes (245) inferred five central clades named a (ancestral), b, c, d, and e (subtypes e1 and e2). Clade d and subclade e2 were found…</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>Dual Nature of Type I Interferons in SARS-CoV-2-Induced Inflammation</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The ability of our cells to secrete type I interferons (IFN-Is) is essential for the control of virus replication and for effective antiviral immune responses; for this reason, viruses have evolved the means to antagonize IFN-I. Inhibition of IFN-I production is pronounced in SARS-CoV-2 infection, which can impair the adaptive immune response and exacerbate…</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>Autophagosome maturation stymied by SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Many pathogens are capable of disrupting autophagy within host cells. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Miao et al. discover that the SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF3a inhibits autophagosome-lysosome fusion by dysregulating the HOPS complex.</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>Probing the SAM Binding Site of SARS-CoV-2 nsp14 in vitro Using SAM Competitive Inhibitors Guides Developing Selective bi-substrate Inhibitors</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly brought the healthcare systems world-wide to a breaking point along with devastating socioeconomic consequences. The SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes the disease uses RNA capping to evade the human immune system. Non-structural protein (nsp) 14 is one of the 16 nsps in SARS-CoV-2 and catalyzes the methylation of the viral RNA at N7-guanosine in the cap formation process. To discover small molecule inhibitors of nsp14 methyltransferase (MT) activity, we developed…</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>Applying the CiPA Approach to Evaluate Cardiac Proarrhythmia Risk of some Antimalarials Used Off-label in the First Wave of COVID-19</strong> - We applied a set of in silico and in vitro assays, compliant with the CiPA (Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay) paradigm, to assess the risk of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine-mediated QT prolongation and Torsades de Pointes (TdP), alone and combined with erythromycin and azithromycin, drugs repurposed during the first wave of COVID-19. Each drug or drug combination was tested in patch clamp assays on 7 cardiac ion channels, in in silico models of human ventricular electrophysiology…</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>Tetracycline as an inhibitor to the SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains an extant threat against public health on a global scale. Cell infection begins when the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 binds with the human cell receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Here, we address the role of tetracycline as an inhibitor for the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. Targeted molecular investigation show that tetracycline binds more favorably to the RBD (-9.40 kcal/mol)…</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>Antibody affinity maturation and plasma IgA associate with clinical outcome in hospitalized COVID-19 patients</strong> - Hospitalized COVID-19 patients often present with a large spectrum of clinical symptoms. There is a critical need to better understand the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 that lead to either resolution or exacerbation of the clinical disease. Here, we examine longitudinal plasma samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients with differential clinical outcome. We perform immune-repertoire analysis including cytokine, hACE2-receptor inhibition, neutralization titers, antibody epitope repertoire,…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-COV-2 BINDING PROTEINS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318004130">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compositions and methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU317343760">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>稳定的冠状病毒重组蛋白二聚体及其表达载体</strong> - 本发明公开了稳定的冠状病毒重组蛋白二聚体及其表达载体，冠状病毒重组蛋白，由冠状病毒S蛋白S‑RBD、冠状病毒N蛋白的CTD区N‑CTD和将二者偶联的连接子构成。本发明一些实例的冠状病毒重组蛋白，可以形成并维持稳定的二聚体结构，避免单体S‑RBD降解，有利于提高冠状病毒重组蛋白的免疫原性，有望用于制备检测试剂原料、疫苗、抗体、预防或治疗性药物。本发明一些实例的冠状病毒重组蛋白二聚体，具有很好的免疫原性。在疫苗开发领域具有广阔的应用前景。本发明一些实例的表达载体，易于表达冠状病毒重组蛋白二聚体且表达量高。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN318107321">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SELF-CLEANING AND GERM-KILLING REVOLVING PUBLIC TOILET FOR COVID 19</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318003558">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Deep Learning Based System for the Detection of COVID-19 Infections</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318003547">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新冠病毒疫苗表达抗原蛋白的电化学发光免疫检测试剂盒</strong> - 本发明提供一种新冠病毒疫苗表达抗原蛋白的电化学发光免疫检测试剂盒，所述试剂盒至少包含：包被有链霉亲和素的孔板、生物素标记的抗新冠棘突蛋白抗体1、SULFO标记的抗新冠棘突蛋白抗体2、洗涤液、读数液、新冠病毒S蛋白标准品和新冠病毒RBD蛋白标准品。本发明以生物素标记的抗新冠棘突蛋白的抗体1与链霉亲和素板进行连接作为固定相，以新冠S蛋白、RBD蛋白作为参照品，可被SULFO标记的抗体2识别，从而检测新冠抗原的表达情况。该试剂盒能准确灵敏地定量检测不同基质中的新冠S蛋白、RBD蛋白，样品的前处理过程简单，耗时少，可同时检测大量样品。本发明对于大批量样品的新冠病毒疫苗表达抗原的检测具有重要意义。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317672956">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>陶瓷复合涂料、杀毒陶瓷复合涂料及其制备方法和涂层</strong> - 本发明是关于一种陶瓷复合涂料、杀毒陶瓷复合涂料及其制备方法和涂层。该涂料包括30<sub>99.9%无机树脂、0.1</sub>70%氮化硅、0<sub>10%功能助剂、0</sub>18%无机颜料和0<sub>2%其他功能助剂；无机树脂由有机烷氧基硅烷、有机溶剂和硅溶胶混合、反应，抽醇，添加去离子水获得；有机烷氧基硅烷、有机溶剂和硅溶胶的质量比为1</sub>1.6：0.5~0.8：1。所要解决的技术问题是如何制备一种贮存稳定性好、可常温固化且膜层的物理化学性能优异的涂料；该涂料VOC含量低，具有良好的安全生产性，且涂料成膜过程中的VOC排放很低，利于环保；该膜层的硬度高、柔韧性好，不易开裂，且可以接触性杀灭病毒和细菌；该涂料既可常温固化，也可加热固化，无需现场两个剂型调配，施工方便，成本节约，从而更加适于实用。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317672744">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU315792577">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>利用BLI技术检测新型冠状病毒中和性抗体的方法</strong> - 本发明提供一种利用BLI技术检测新型冠状病毒中和性抗体的方法，先将同一浓度的人ACE2蛋白捕获到生物传感器表面上，再将新型冠状病毒棘突蛋白RBD分别与不同浓度的待测中和性抗体预混，再将各混合液分别与捕获到生物传感器表面上的人ACE2蛋白接触，根据基于BLI技术的分子互作仪器检测到的干涉光谱的相对位移强度变化计算抑制率，绘制抑制曲线，计算IC50。本发明操作简单，快速高效，检测全过程无需包被和反复加样、洗板，15min内即可得到实验结果。检测反应在黑色孔板中进行，可实现大批量样品的新冠中和抗体的检测，与传统定性检测不同，通过计算IC50值，可以快速比较不同新冠中和性抗体的抑制能力。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317346970">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU315792579">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Republicans Finally Face Merrick Garland—and Act as if They Were the Ones Unfairly Treated</strong> - Ted Cruz’s arrogance is hard to match, but he was not the only Republican whose questioning was, to put it generously, lacking in perspective. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-republicans-finally-face-merrick-garland-and-act-as-if-they-were-the-ones-unfairly-treated">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Awful Uncertainty of the Coronavirus Death Toll</strong> - The new number—half a million Americans dead—is only an approximation of the pandemic’s real effects. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-awful-uncertainty-of-the-coronavirus-death-toll">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Rural Alaskan Towns Leading the Country in Vaccine Distribution</strong> - In Native communities where tribal health organizations are in charge of distributing the vaccine, herd immunity is on the horizon. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-rural-alaskan-towns-leading-the-country-in-vaccine-distribution">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Good, the Bad, and the Embarrassing in America’s COVID-19 Response</strong> - Were Americans too unruly, or did elected officials expect too little of them? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/the-good-the-bad-and-the-embarrassing-in-americas-covid-19-response">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On Climate, Wall Street Out-Orwells Orwell</strong> - BlackRock’s C.E.O. says divestment from fossil-fuel stocks would be “greenwashing.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/on-climate-wall-street-out-orwells-orwell">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Biden just partially lifted Trump’s pandemic-related restrictions on legal immigration</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ywE63j4vNgUa6mRQPbShUW4PKYQ=/0x0:5333x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68871208/1230841379.0.jpg"/>
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U.S. President Joe Biden signs executive actions in the Oval Office of the White House on January 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But foreign workers still can’t get visas.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EksCN2">
President Joe Biden has partially lifted a Trump-era ban that has severely curtailed legal immigration amid the pandemic, saying that it separated families and harms US industries who rely on international talent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JA67QS">
Family members of US citizens and green card holders will now be able to immigrate to the US, a phenomenon that former President Donald Trump previously excoriated as “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/times-trump-slammed-chain-migration-apparently-helped-wifes/story?id=57132429">chain migration</a>.” So too will Individuals who were selected to receive visas through the diversity visa lottery, which allows the US to accept 55,000 immigrants annually from countries with historically low levels of immigration and was the subject of Trump’s infamous “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/1/11/16880804/trump-shithole-countries-racism">shithole countries</a>” rant.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="szswh2">
The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the restrictions on those immigrants prevented about <a href="https://twitter.com/MittelWorld/status/1364721532526862339?s=20">26,000 people</a> from obtaining green cards monthly since last April, when Trump implemented the ban.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mZgRB5">
However, many foreign workers applying for temporary visas are still barred from entering the US until at least March 31, when the existing ban is scheduled to expire unless Biden decides to renew it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="34s8Qh">
That includes skilled workers applying the sought-after H-1B visa, which the tech industry has come to rely on, and their spouses applying for H-4 visas as their dependents. Foreigners transferring to the US offices of their multinational companies through L visas, including business executives, and some scholars and people participating in cultural and work exchanges on J-1 visas are also still banned.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="glAkDa">
It’s not clear when Biden will lift restrictions on those visa applicants, which Trump saw as a threat to domestic workers who were laid off amid the pandemic. Though Trump administration officials argued at the time that the ban would save 525,000 American jobs, most of the layoffs ultimately occurred in industries that <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/dol-data-shows-trump-green-card-suspension-targets-the-wrong-industries/">don’t employ a significant number of foreign workers</a> coming on visas, suggesting that the ban did little to lower unemployment and could have harmed companies that employ both Americans and noncitizens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HiG1rp">
The ban always excluded immigrants who are already in the US, existing visa holders, temporary workers in food production industries, and health care workers and researchers fighting Covid-19.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vnroFp">
In a proclamation on Wednesday night, Biden said that the ban “does not advance the interests of the United States.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4hybuk">
“To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,” he wrote. “It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NELVEl">
Revoking the ban is only the first step: the Biden administration will now have to tackle the extensive backlog of visa applications that built up while the ban was in effect. That includes some <a href="https://twitter.com/chantaladasilva/status/1364728605595619329?s=20">473,000 visa applicants</a> who were sponsored by family members in the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XZKnrz">
Lawyers for those affected say they will <a href="https://twitter.com/KarenTumlin/status/1364719946727444480?s=20">continue to challenge the remaining provisions of the ban</a> affecting foreign workers in court. Last year, a federal judge had <a href="https://www.balglobal.com/bal-news/us-court-limits-immigrant-visa-ban-but-only-for-families-who-brought-lawsuit/">exempted 181 families</a> from the ban who proved they had been harmed by it, including children who would have become ineligible for green cards after they turned 21 while the ban was still in effect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eHnzF8">
In addition to facing pressure to revoke the visa ban, Biden is also being pushed revoke a Trump-era policy that continues to allow the US to turn away the vast majority of asylum seekers arriving on the southern border on pandemic-related grounds. He could do so by issuing a similar, unilateral proclamation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qYd2Vm">
</p></li>
<li><strong>One Good Thing: Netflix’s Ginny &amp; Georgia is so much more than a Gilmore Girls rip-off</strong> -
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<img alt="Georgia helps Ginny do her hair in a mirror." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PgkCb9eHmH4cY7NwhBCPnZZWhcs=/400x0:3600x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68870792/Ginny_Georgia_Season1_Episode3_00_37_28_15R.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Ginny &amp; Georgia’s Brianne Howey (left) and Antonia Gentry are a mother-daughter duo with a complicated, codependent relationship — and if that sounds familiar, that’s wholly intentional. | Courtesy of Netflix
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
(Though it’s also occasionally just that … )
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FmPuDB">
“Is this show <em>awful</em>?” I wondered aloud after watching the second episode of <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81025696">Netflix’s <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em></a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vjoT8n">
I had been skeptical of the series, whose premise (at first blush) seemed to be “What if Lorelai Gilmore was a con artist, but the rest of <em>Gilmore Girls</em> was largely the same?” and whose mere existence seemed to be predicated on Netflix’s fears that it might lose <em>Gilmore Girls</em> from its streaming catalog someday. (The algorithm has to recommend something in its “complicated mother/daughter relationships” category.) But <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em>’s second episode, which crams in so many stray plotlines it seems as though it’s casting about for a reason to exist, left me ready to abandon ship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DuT6oO">
I’m glad I stuck with it. By the end of the series’ 10-episode first season, I was ready for more. Heck, I was more or less hooked by episode six. There is no denying <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em> suffers from growing pains, or that season one would be a lot better if its story were spread out over additional episodes. (The way this series accelerates its will-they/won’t-they relationships made me realize that TV romances are much better when they play out across 22 episodes instead of 10.) But its charms are considerable, and it riffs on <em>Gilmore Girls</em> without being beholden to it. It made me nostalgic for the heyday of the WB.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0rus5f">
Like <em>Gilmore Girls</em>, <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em> is about a mother (Georgia) who had her daughter (Virginia/Ginny) as a teenager and is dealing with parenting that daughter now that said daughter is<em> </em>a teenager. When the series begins, Georgia is 30 and Ginny is 15; they live in a small town in Massachusetts (instead of Connecticut like in <em>Gilmore Girls</em>), and complicated family dynamics, class issues, and love triangles dominate both shows’ plotting.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JjT2RA">
But <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em> adds a hefty dose of Shonda Rhimes-ian melodrama to that basic template. Creator Sarah Lampert and executive producer Debra Fisher ladle on the sudsy complexity as we learn Georgia has a more checkered past than she has let on to her kids. (Ginny has a half-brother named Austin, who is 9.) By the end of the first episode, it’s clear Georgia has got some serious skeletons in her closet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hvw8EX">
The most notable reason to watch <em>Ginny &amp; George</em> is for the half of the show that focuses on Ginny, played by newcomer Antonia Gentry. Ginny’s mother is white, and her father is Black. The show is at its best when it starts to dig into the complicated ways Ginny understands her own identity. A scene where Ginny argues about biracial identities with one point of her love triangle — Hunter (Mason Temple), a boy with one parent of Asian descent and one white parent — is a highlight of the whole season.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9vh57H">
But Ginny’s half of the show also includes a teen friend group worth investing in, particularly her best friend Maxine (Sara Waisglass), a lesbian who is out and proud but who also has never had a girlfriend. Occasionally, the series can drift a little too far into <em>Euphoria</em> territory with the teens, who face Several Important Issues, but a scene where they just get to hang out and goof around will usually right the ship very quickly. The other point of Ginny’s love triangle is Marcus (Felix Mallard), who’s one of the best spins in a while on the “teen bad boy” trope. He deals pot, but nobody really cares. The real reason he and Ginny shouldn’t get together is that he’s Maxine’s twin brother. Scandalous!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QH0afs">
Georgia’s half of the show is less successful, though it has its charms. Brianne Howey, an actor I’ve enjoyed in other works and who <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/18/13996906/the-exorcist-finale-recap-tv-review-fox">played a teenager herself in <em>The Exorcist</em></a> just a few years ago, sometimes feels a little stranded amid her character’s baroque, soapy plotlines. The series’ frequent flashbacks to Georgia’s past add very little to her story beyond what we already understand from her present self, and her main love interest for the season (the mayor, played by <em>Friday Night Lights </em>star Scott Porter, a.k.a. Jason Street) is a riff on a Shonda Rhimes love interest that feels simultaneously overheated and undercooked.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Po30gQ">
But even in this less successful half of the show, vague proximity to Ginny works wonders. The later episodes of the season, which bring Ginny and Georgia into wary conflict with one another and test the strength of their bond, is much better than the early episodes simply because both characters have good reason to be upset, and both have good reason to try to work out their differences.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="toBwMM">
By the season finale, <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em> has wound its way to a cliffhanger straight out of the WB shows it so clearly admires, one where it seems like everything has changed forever in thrilling fashion. And yet you can also already see how the show will start to knit its status quo back together, assuming it gets a second season.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DcKGTn">
It takes a lot of work to overcome the kind of utter and abject horror I felt when Georgia said, “We’re like the <em>Gilmore Girls</em> but with bigger boobs” within the series’ first 15 minutes, especially to the extent that I’m absolutely going to mainline every single episode of season two, should one ever exist. But even with all of its faults, <em>Ginny &amp; Georgia</em> got there for me. It is not a perfect show, but it’s a lovable and endlessly watchable one. Sometimes, when you just want to watch a fun TV show, “lovable and watchable” is better than perfection anyway.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FNUlet">
Ginny &amp; Georgia <em>is currently </em><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81025696"><em>streaming on Netflix</em></a><em>. For more recommendations from the world of culture, check out the </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/one-good-thing">One Good Thing</a><em> archives.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>How Biden can rein in the Big Meat monopoly</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Xv4PYAn1Get8CgleDNZuxI8VJ9k=/216x0:3772x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68870315/GettyImages_1128837932.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
An employee restocks shelves in the meat section at a Kroger supermarket. | Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg/Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The meat industry is bad for farmers, workers, consumers, animals, and the environment. It should be the next target in Democrats’ antitrust push.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXKptO">
Shortly after President Joe Biden took office in January, a <a href="https://foodandwaterwatch.org/news/groups-call-white-house-enact-merger-moratorium-food-and-agriculture-industries">coalition of some 30 groups</a> made a push for a cause that flew under the radar: curbing the power of Big Ag.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ea7b8n">
The signatories, which included familiar groups like farmer advocates, labor unions, animal welfare groups, and environmental organizations, called on Biden to issue an executive order banning food industry mergers, at least until stronger antitrust rules are in place. (Disclosure: The Open Markets Institute, where I work, was one of the signatories.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3etQi7">
The effort to shine a light on Big Ag is indicative of a broadening movement to stop the rapid consolidation of food production. It’s also part of an emergent anti-consolidation mood on the left. Antitrust policy has reemerged as a progressive priority over the past few years, though much of that focus has generally been on breaking up and regulating Big Banks or Big Tech.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FhbQnN">
There’s a case to be made that Big Ag — and more specifically, Big Meat — should join that list. As author and business reporter Chris Leonard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkZN3CMN8sc&amp;list=PLVPIycvkyLV9nUlTBM4VkKeKq-_guVHQb&amp;index=1">said at a recent Yale Law conference</a>, “concentration in agriculture is only important to people who eat, otherwise it’s a trivial matter.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Qyc15">
How we produce meat has profound implications for people, the environment, and animals. Big Meat corporations operate on an industrial model of animal agriculture that drives farmers off the land, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/05/amputations-serious-injuries-us-meat-industry-plant">injures workers</a>, traps billions of animals in horrid conditions, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/docs/understanding_cafos_nalboh.pdf">pollutes rural drinking water</a>, and in some states disproportionately sickens <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3672924/">rural communities of color</a>. Big Meat justifies this destruction under the banner of cheap meat, all the while allegedly working together to actually <a href="https://thecounter.org/pilgrims-pride-poultry-price-fixing-indictment/">raise prices for consumers</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="79bR8V">
To be sure, some of these problems existed in the livestock industry 50 years ago, back when we ate less meat and the industry wasn’t dominated<strong> </strong>by just a few companies. But the rapid expansion and consolidation of the meat industry since the 1970s has translated into immense political power, earned in part by <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/summary?cycle=2002&amp;id=G2300">giving out millions</a> to politicians each year and maintaining a revolving door between the federal government and industry (<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/industries/lobbyists?cycle=2002&amp;id=G2300">two-thirds</a> of meat industry lobbyists are former government employees). In fact, Tom Vilsack — who served as secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for both of President Obama’s terms, and was just confirmed to return to the post as Biden’s agriculture secretary — was a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/05/06/tom-vilsack-dairy-farm-monopoly/">dairy industry lobbyist</a> during much of the Trump presidency.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UBrYKS">
This revolving door has resulted in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/politics/">legislation and regulatory policy</a> that leans heavily in the big meatpackers’ favor. In fact, early on in the pandemic, President Trump signed an executive order to keep slaughterhouses open — and that executive order was <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/emails-show-the-meatpacking-industry-drafted-an-executive-order-to-keep-plants-open">drafted by a meat lobbyist</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NFG4cV">
Obama made major promises to tame meatpackers’ power, but as secretary, Vilsack <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2012/obamas-game-of-chicken/">failed to make headway in the face of industry pushback</a>. The Biden administration now has a chance to move where Obama faltered — but with Vilsack returning, food-focused <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22166303/gov-tom-vilsack-cabinet-picks-agriculture">activists are skeptical</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CsjIuC">
Taking on Big Meat wouldn’t just help consumers, farmers, and meatpacking workers; one poll found <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/046/231/original/2020_Public_Opinion_Research_Summary_(1).pdf">82 percent of independent rural voters</a> would be more likely to vote for a candidate who<strong> </strong>supports “a moratorium on factory farms and corporate monopolies in food and agriculture,” so it could also help halt Democrats’ losing streak in rural areas and heartland states.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MOH7mi">
As progressives take their campaign against consolidation into a higher gear with a friendlier administration in power, Big Meat needs to be on the priority list.
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<h3 id="cjRjPa">
What exactly is “Big Meat”?
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rTccOq">
When you roam the meat aisle, you’ll see a wide variety of brand names, but chances are good that most of them are owned by one of the just six companies that <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/158679/beyond-big-meat-coronavirus-pandemic-meatpacking-monopoly">control two-thirds</a> of all US meat production: JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, Smithfield, Hormel, and National Beef.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CVwvko">
The meat industry is even more consolidated today than the early 1900s, when Upton Sinclair wrote <em>The Jungle</em> and President Woodrow Wilson <a href="https://lpeproject.org/blog/break-up-the-modern-meat-trust/">broke up and regulated</a> the powerful and manipulative Meat Trust, the handful of companies that dominated the market at the time. These progressive-era reforms worked for some 50 years to establish fairer and more competitive livestock markets. As <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41108/18011_aer785_1_.pdf?v=0">recently as 1977</a>, the top four companies in each industry controlled just 25 percent of cattle, 31 percent of pork, and 22 percent of chicken processing.
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k_E4o6FGUWLE2bjjboOH_EVgvf0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22325355/GettyImages_629442741.jpg"/> <cite>Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images</cite>
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Butchers in a Chicago meatpacking plant, circa 1944.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VjCWZg">
But that all changed in the late 1970s, when judges and legal scholars adopted a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003603X19875036">new, radically conservative antitrust doctrine</a> that gave corporations more cover to <a href="https://prospect.org/economy/meat-monopolies-endanger-workers-farmers-consumers/">buy up their competitors</a>. The former president of Tyson Foods, Don Tyson, told Leonard, the business reporter, that their motto was to “expand or expire — buy your competitor or go out of business.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mkra4A">
In addition to direct competitors, meat corporations such as Tyson bought up or drove out companies all along the meat supply chain, from feed manufacturers to <a href="https://www.cobb-vantress.com/en_US/our-story/our-history/">livestock breeders</a>. Altogether, this decimated independent, local businesses that kept money circulating through rural communities and funneled wealth to a handful of corporate headquarters instead. Today, the top four corporations in each industry slaughter <a href="https://farmactionalliance.org/concentrationreport/">73 percent of all beef, 67 percent of all pork, and 54 percent of all chicken</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ecCk4s">
Over this period, meat production became much more industrial, and meatpackers used their growing power to push the farms they bought from to consolidate as well — to go big or go home. This precipitated an explosion in factory farms, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production">dramatically expanding the chicken industry</a> and shifting pork and beef production to fewer, larger farms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZNoPgv">
For example, from 1997 to 2012, the number of pigs on factory farms has gone up by <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/factory-farm-nation-report-may-2015.pdf">more than a third and the average hog farm has grown by 70 percent</a> — but nearly <a href="https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/northcentralrec/livestock-extention/pps/Swine_Status_ND.pdf">70 percent of hog farms have gone out of business</a> in recent decades. In one decade, the number of cattle-feeding operations in the largest 13 cattle states <a href="https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/food-power-addressing-monopolization-americas-food-system">dropped by 40 percent</a> as the average operation size <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/factory-farm-nation-report-may-2015.pdf">increased 13 percent</a>. Today, about <a href="http://www.animalmatters.org/facts/farm/">9 billion animals</a> live in terrible conditions on American factory farms, producing some <a href="https://www.meatinstitute.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/47465/pid/47465">100 billion pounds</a> of meat a year, and all closely controlled by just six meat conglomerates.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ob6Q9fzD8RWdqFiRYA0EEG1aeG0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22324272/HogsandPigs.png"/> <cite>Family Farm Action Alliance, <a class="ql-link" href="https://farmactionalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FFAA.LivestockConsolidation.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Consolidation in US Livestock and Crop Sectors, 1987 to 2017</em></a></cite>
<figcaption>
Due to consolidation in the pork industry, the number of farms has gone down while the sales of each farm has gone up.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NIVSRY">
Factory farms aren’t just bad for animal welfare and the environment; increased consolidation leaves livestock farmers with little choice but to raise animals on the big meat companies’ terms. This has driven small farmers off the land and trapped those who remain in take-it or leave-it contracts that are so exploitative some farmers say they are <a href="https://apnews.com/article/93141db585a648d4bdb488ba18d3e59a">treated like indentured servants</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="bfXkug">
How Big Meat controls farmers
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zboP3t">
Say you’re a chicken farmer in the Southeast, where most chickens are raised. To get into the business, you’ll need to sign a contract to raise chickens for a poultry processor (or “integrator”) like Tyson. Right from the outset, you’re at a disadvantage — half of all chicken farmers <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=43872">report having just one or two integrators</a> to choose from, which gives the integrators more power to set the terms of their contracts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W9GNVf">
For the average-sized farm (four chicken houses) you’ll need to <a href="https://www.rafiusa.org/blog/what-debt-in-chicken-farming-says-about-american-agriculture/">invest around $1 million</a> to get started. Every couple months you’ll receive a new flock of baby chicks, which you don’t technically own. The integrator will drop off feed and everything else they need.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="456KHk">
You’re not paid a standard price for each chicken you raise. Instead, you’re paid based on an opaque performance ranking system that compares you to other chicken farmers in your area — if you used less feed to raise heavier birds, you’ll get a bonus, but if you weren’t as efficient, you’ll get a pay cut.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mU2Cs2">
Income isn’t so reliable, and some weeks you might receive a flock of sick birds and the loss sets you back on your $1 million loan payment for those chicken houses. You want to say something, but you risk retaliation. Meatpackers have been known to send farmers who complain even more sick birds or even <a href="https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/2019/07/18/livestock-farmers-speak-out-about-meatpacker-mistreatment-call-on-usda-for-stronger-protections?rq=anthony">withhold chicken feed</a>, driving them out of business.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KP7diS">
Such unpredictable income can <a href="https://www.rafiusa.org/blog/what-debt-in-chicken-farming-says-about-american-agriculture/">trap farmers in a cycle of debt</a>. While the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2014/august/financial-risks-and-incomes-in-contract-broiler-production/">median poultry farming household</a> did make more than the median US household in 2011, the range of incomes across poultry households is much larger — the bottom 20 percent of poultry households made $18,780 or less.
</p>
<div id="IA7emO">
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D9Pqw6">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HpzSOo">
This meatpacker manipulation isn’t unique to poultry. Most <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/july/marketing-and-production-contracts-are-widely-used-in-us-agriculture/#:~:text=In%202017%2C%2049%20percent%20of,the%20value%20of%20crop%20production.">pork and about a third of beef is produced</a><strong> </strong>on contract to a shrinking number of powerful buyers. These arrangements give meatpackers more power to determine the price farmers receive, and they incentivize an industrial, factory-farm model that is disastrous for animal welfare and the environment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5jyTF4">
Meatpacker abuse extends to the next step in the supply chain, meat processing, where the powerful meat lobby has deregulated worker safety.
</p>
<h3 id="M4vfMV">
Why meatpacking plants are some of the most dangerous workplaces
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QC3YNf">
Perhaps the best illustration of the power Big Meat holds over its workforce came in the spring of 2020, as Covid-19 spread through the close quarters of meatpacking plants. Rather than pause or slow slaughter lines to prevent further outbreaks, dominant meat lobbyists <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/emails-show-the-meatpacking-industry-drafted-an-executive-order-to-keep-plants-open">literally wrote new rules</a> for the Trump administration to keep plants running, business as usual.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QuRcla">
Without mandatory or enforceable pandemic safety standards, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/11/20/meatpacking-industry-could-face-significant-changes-under-joe-biden/3777230001/">most meatpackers still have not reconfigured their plants</a> or slowed slaughter line speeds to allow for proper distancing.<strong> </strong>As a result more than <a href="https://thefern.org/2020/04/mapping-covid-19-in-meat-and-food-processing-plants/">57,000 meatpacking workers have fallen ill and 284 have died</a> since the start of the pandemic. (Here’s a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/us/meat-processing-plants-coronavirus.html?smid=fb-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">helpful visualization</a> of how meatpackers can make their plants safer for workers.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fNHJ2eB9lIhhtmtSBej2SYd703o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22325329/GettyImages_1222290130.jpg"/> <cite>Jeremy Long/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A protester in Pennsylvania mourns a poultry worker who died from a Covid-19 outbreak at a Bell &amp; Evans chicken plant. Meatpacking plants have been Covid-19 hotspots, leaving over 57,000 workers infected and 284 dead.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O4XNg7">
Meatpacking has always been a gruesome job, but working conditions dramatically deteriorated during the 1980s after decades of reform.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wGtmYU">
From 1980 to 1990, meatpacking worker injury rates increased <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/labor/article-abstract/5/2/13/15213/That-Was-a-Dirty-Job-Technology-and-Workplace?redirectedFrom=fulltext">40 percent</a>. <a href="https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/porklinespeed/">Despite such high injury rates</a>, inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/shame-meatpacking/">fell to an all-time low in the late ’90s</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KPVZaI">
Today, the industry averages <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/05/amputations-serious-injuries-us-meat-industry-plant">two amputations per week</a>. Many of them can be attributed to fast slaughter line speeds, the <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/cab74978-9bac-4768-ad23-c11ff91e7257/Petition-Southern-Poverty-Law-Center-090313.pdf?MOD=AJPERES">leading cause</a> of injury in meatpacking plants, which also lead to accidental cuts and repetitive motion disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Poultry line speeds have <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/01/24/blood-sweat-and-fear/workers-rights-us-meat-and-poultry-plants">more than doubled</a> in the past half century, and the meat industry <a href="https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/porklinespeed/">continues to lobby hard to make them even faster</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o3L37V">
Despite these dangerous working conditions, wages remain low. In 1979, largely unionized meatpacking workers made roughly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/05/01/meatpacking-work-has-gotten-less-safe-now-it-threatens-our-meat-supply/">$28 per hour</a>, <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/labor/article-abstract/5/2/13/15213/That-Was-a-Dirty-Job-Technology-and-Workplace?redirectedFrom=fulltext">14 percent</a> above the national manufacturing average, adjusted for inflation. In just more than a decade, meatpacking wages <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/labor/article-abstract/5/2/13/15213/That-Was-a-Dirty-Job-Technology-and-Workplace?redirectedFrom=fulltext">fell from 14 percent above the national average to 20 percent below it</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9sScCk">
Wages fell after<strong> </strong>the broad deregulatory policies of the Reagan era ushered in both <a href="https://prospect.org/economy/meat-monopolies-endanger-workers-farmers-consumers/">industry consolidation</a> and union busting. Just as meatpackers built power through buying up their competitors, they also preyed upon weakened union power, <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33002.html">closing union plants and re-opening them with lower wages and a non-unionized workforce</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bRvE3I">
At the same time, meatpackers made a <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20061027_RL33002_17844882076ad885474951c4207671a50f1cf53a.pdf">concerted effort</a> to move plants from urban centers to rural areas hostile to unions, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/trumps-invasion-was-a-corporate-recruitment-drive/596230/">recruited</a> a more vulnerable and mobile immigrant workforce. Today, <a href="https://cepr.net/meatpacking-workers-are-a-diverse-group-who-need-better-protections/">two-thirds of meatpacking workers are people of color, and roughly half are immigrants</a>. Language barriers, institutional racism, and less unionization further decimated worker power and exacerbated exploitation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ivawpB">
A 2016 Oxfam report found that many poultry workers are denied bathroom breaks and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/poultry-workers-denied-bathroom-breaks-wear-diapers-oxfam-report-n572806">resort to wearing diapers</a> while working the slaughter line. In <a href="https://www.workplacefairness.org/blog/2019/10/07/treated-like-meat/">one informal survey</a> of women in Iowa’s meatpacking industry, 85 percent reported witnessing or experiencing sexual violence at work.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YkQ1s3">
Today, continued consolidation makes it easier for meatpackers to come together and conspire against workers and fix wages. An <a href="https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/2020/09/23/judge-affirms-poultry-worker-wage-fixing-claims-but-demands-more-details-for-largest-offenders?rq=wage%20fixing">ongoing class-action lawsuit</a> accuses 14 top poultry processors (representing some 80 percent of the industry) of meeting “off the books” at industry conferences to share information about hourly plant workers’ wages and benefits in a conspiracy to hold them down across the industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FV9YOZ">
Progressives have long championed the working class, but until the pandemic hit, the plight of meatpacking workers went largely unnoticed. This goes for many rural food workers, predominantly immigrants and people of color, who are ignored when progressives often write off rural areas as white and conservative. A robust antitrust agenda that takes aim at Big Meat would, <a href="https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/2020/07/15/food-worker-organizations-file-usda-civil-rights-complaint-against-meatpackers-for-exposing-workers-of-color-to-covid-19?rq=civil%20rights">advocates argue</a>, help these overlooked workers by breaking Big Meat’s political power.
</p>
<h3 id="6sngXY">
How Big Meat cheats its customers
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q2DsYk">
For all <a href="https://www.meatinstitute.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/101931/pid/101931">the talk of Big Meat feeding the world</a> by producing “efficient” cheap protein, some of the biggest meat producers have recently been caught red-handed conspiring together to inflate chicken prices for consumers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="geJhvQ">
Last year, the DOJ indicted <a href="https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/file/1326486/download">10 poultry executives</a> for regularly calling and texting one another to <a href="https://thecounter.org/pilgrims-pride-poultry-price-fixing-indictment/">coordinate their bids</a> for large annual purchasing contracts with restaurant chains and grocery stores. Pilgrim’s Pride, the second largest US poultry company, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pilgrim-s-pride-reaches-plea-agreement-with-justice-department-on-chicken-price-fixing-allegations-11602649655">pleaded guilty</a> and paid the government a $110 million fine for “restraining competition,” though indicted poultry executives could still face criminal charges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zHhckN">
But poultry price-fixing schemes could go even further. Other private class-action suits have accused chicken companies of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/17/internal-document-supports-argument-that-u-s-chicken-prices-have-been-artificially-inflated-for-years/">manipulating a price index</a> and cutting back chicken production in order to raise prices, which could have cost the average American family of four <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/you-re-getting-skinned-chicken-prices-suit-says-n721821">an extra $330 on chicken</a>, annually.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dKn4MY">
Now that one crime is out in the open, poultry corporations are rushing to settle these other suits. Just weeks ago, Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson Foods agreed to pay $75 million and $221.5 million, respectively, to settle private price-fixing suits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9YeCIX">
It’s not just chicken; <a href="https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/bloomberg-law-turkey-remains-rare-meat-not-embroiled-antitrust-probes">most major meat corporations have been accused of price-fixing</a> in recent years. In December, the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/antitrust/jbs-settlement-of-pork-price-fixing-suit-is-worth-24-5-million">paid $24.5 million</a> to settle pork price-fixing allegations, and in June, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-issues-subpoenas-to-beef-processing-giants-11591371745">DOJ subpoenaed</a> the top four beef packers to investigate cattle market manipulation.
</p>
<h3 id="QY96Ir">
Making Big Meat play fair
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vr0Pdr">
So what can the government actually do to rein in Big Meat?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZBmQXN">
Well, the good news is there are already laws on the books to address Big Meat’s manipulation and merger mania. The bad news is we just haven’t been enforcing them. A good first step would be to appoint bold, creative, and progressive enforcers to lead critical antitrust agencies at the DOJ, the FTC, and of course, the Department of Agriculture.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OfzTVl">
But if the Biden administration wants to get serious about taking on Big Meat, it needs to go farther.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pkI6dM">
It can start by issuing stronger rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act — a 1921 law that is supposed to protect farmers against unfair and deceptive business practices. Biden’s USDA could pass rules that actually give contract farmers the opportunity to seek justice when jerked around by meatpackers, and <a href="https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/title-of-post-yla6k-74sca">cut loopholes for corporations</a> that justify farmer mistreatment as a “reasonable business decision.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dXKFya">
To deter gouging consumers, antitrust enforcers could bring more criminal charges against executives when they conspire to inflate prices, rather than <a href="https://civileats.com/2021/02/15/major-meat-corporations-pay-millions-to-settle-price-fixing-suits/">slap-on-the-wrist fines</a>. The DOJ and FTC can also direct federal antitrust enforcers to study and break up the most harmful agribusiness mergers, and block any future mergers that would give a corporation an anti-competitive share of the market (at a minimum, <a href="https://www.unf.edu/~traynham/ch14%20edited%20lecture.pdf">scholars believe</a> markets are excessively concentrated when four firms dominate 40 percent of all sales, but caps could be set even lower).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DNNwSu">
But effective antitrust enforcement needs to go beyond breaking up Big Meat or cracking down on price fixing. Regulators also need to set <a href="https://publicseminar.org/essays/can-we-trust-monopolies-to-play-fair/">new rules of fair play</a> to ensure alternative meatpacking models have a chance to succeed. The FTC has <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-march-2019/the-ftc-might-just-be-progressives-secret-weapon/">extensive power to issue fair competition rules</a> that would do far more to dismantle corporate dominance, in meatpacking and beyond, than breaking up Big Meat alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VATg4w">
None of these actions need approval from Congress. They just require political will from Agriculture’s Vilsack and other Biden appointees to stand up to meatpackers’ political power. Vilsack <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2012/obamas-game-of-chicken/">fumbled antitrust reform efforts</a> during the Obama administration, but pressure from the Democratic base could help put this issue on the Biden administration’s agenda.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8J0xKE">
But progressives can also push Congress to step up. Several farmer advocates <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/senate-democrats-take-aim-at-antitrust-and-lack-of-competition-in-ag-markets/2021/02/11/">recently endorsed</a> a new proposal by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) that would simply outlaw the largest mergers, unless corporations can prove they do not harm competition (as it stands, most mergers are permissible unless the government can prove they likely harm consumers).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qtjkLj">
Workers need better enforcers in the federal government, too. A <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2021/01/11/covid-19-deaths-not-investigated-osha-meatpacking-plants/6537524002/">recent investigation</a> found that OSHA failed to investigate over a third of the slaughter plants where workers died of Covid-19.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BWnKuX">
This isn’t a new problem — the agency has also claimed it <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/28/top-regulator-says-it-cant-afford-to-set-safety-rules-for-meatpackers/?arc404=true">did not have the resources</a> to issue slaughter line speed standards that incorporate worker safety, another direly needed rule that the Biden administration should pick up. Strengthening unions, by <a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/PRO%20Act%20Fact%20Sheet%202019%20FINAL1.pdf">passing laws like the PRO Act</a>, would also help give workers a voice on the job.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KSeP6A">
The ravages of the pandemic and recent price-fixing scandals have put the dangers of Big Meat on full display. If progressives do not mobilize in this moment to demand a fairer, safer, and more democratic meat industry, the exploitation of workers, farmers, animals, and the environment will only get worse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1vVTLx">
<em>Claire Kelloway is a reporter and researcher with the Open Markets Institute, and primary writer of FoodAndPower.net.</em>
</p></li>
</ul>
<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>Meet Chennai’s teenage horse-riding champion</strong> - Samartha Satyajit has been on horseback since the age of four, and his eyes set on the Olympics</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>Ind vs Eng third Test at Motera | Joe Root uproots middle-order; India takes 33-run lead</strong> - India lost as many as seven wickets for only 31 runs after looking solid at 114 for 3 at one stage in the game.</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>ICC signs deal with IMG, to live stream 541 games across 3 World Cups</strong> - “This is a significant step forward for our sport and increases the size of our platform globally.”</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>Brisbane the frontrunner to land 2032 Games as talks with Olympic committee start</strong> - Several cities and countries had publicly expressed an interest in the 2032 Games including Brisbane, Indonesia, Budapest, China, Doha and Germany’s Ruhr valley among others.</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>England take up umpiring in day-night Test with match referee Srinath but no official complaint</strong> - England were unhappy with two decisions made by third umpire C. Shamshuddin on the opening day of the match on Wednesday.</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>TiECon virtual event this weekend</strong> - Already 8,000 members from across the world have registered for it</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>Search on for Kerala’s academic diaspora</strong> - Scheme to locate experts for transforming higher education into knowledge economy</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>Chhattisgarh Naxal violence | Fifty four security personnel died in two years, 120 ultras killed</strong> - The details were given by State Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu in a written reply in the Assembly, while responding to a question raised by Leader of the Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik.</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>Orissa HC revives turtle mortality issue</strong> - 800 Olive Ridley turtles have died at the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary since January</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>Noted story writer Singamaneni Narayana Rao no more</strong> - The last rites will be performed on Friday morning and till then the mortal remains would be kept at his house in Srinivas Nagar for the people to pay last respects</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>Armenia PM Nikol Pashinyan denounces ‘attempted military coup’</strong> - PM Nikol Pashinyan is seen leading large crowds of supporters, after the army says he must resign.</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>Man survives 14 hours in Pacific Ocean ‘clinging to sea rubbish’</strong> - Vidam Perevertilov’s decision to swim towards a “black dot” - a fishing buoy - saved his life.</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>Cocaine ‘worth billions’ seized in record Germany and Belgium haul</strong> - More than 23 tonnes of the drug is discovered in shipments heading to the Netherlands.</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>Borussia Monchengladbach 0-2 Man City: 19 wins in a row for Pep Guardiola’s side</strong> - Manchester City make it 19 wins in a row with another utterly dominant display against Borussia Monchengladbach</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>Syria torture: German court convicts ex-intelligence officer</strong> - A German court sentences Eyad al-Gharib to jail for complicity in crimes against humanity.</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>Loki and Star Wars: The Bad Batch get Disney+ premiere dates</strong> - Also: the new Spider-Man movie has a name. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1744919">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fed glitch shuts down wire transfers, direct deposits, other services</strong> - A Fed statement attributed the outage to “operational error.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1744900">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden admin plans executive order to address chip-shortage woes</strong> - Semiconductor demand isn’t going to drop, but supply has proven a problem. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1744805">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cox’s bad customer service stymies users who don’t want upload speeds cut</strong> - Cox told media that customers can keep speed plans but didn’t tell sales reps. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1744904">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Firefox 86 brings multiple Picture-in-Picture, “Total Cookie Protection”</strong> - Despite a steadily slipping market share, Firefox is snappy and feature-forward. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1744857">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>If you put Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry together in a room, who’s the first to realize they’re full of shit?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The room.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MyfanwyTiffany"> /u/MyfanwyTiffany </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrzlk7/if_you_put_greg_abbott_ted_cruz_and_rick_perry/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrzlk7/if_you_put_greg_abbott_ted_cruz_and_rick_perry/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>As a stand-up comic with a lisp, it can be difficult to convey sarcasm online</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
/th
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Jamtuba"> /u/Jamtuba </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrih8a/as_a_standup_comic_with_a_lisp_it_can_be/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrih8a/as_a_standup_comic_with_a_lisp_it_can_be/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A pig walks into a bar and orders ten beers.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As soon as the pig is finished drinking the beers, he pays the bartender and starts to leave the bar.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Wait!” says the bartender. “You drank so much beer. Wouldn’t it be wise to use the bathroom before leaving?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Not for me,” says the pig. “I’m the type of pig that goes wee wee wee all the way home.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/wimpykidfan37"> /u/wimpykidfan37 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrsrmo/a_pig_walks_into_a_bar_and_orders_ten_beers/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrsrmo/a_pig_walks_into_a_bar_and_orders_ten_beers/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Congratulations to me! I just made my last mortgage payment!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I still owe like $262,000, but I’m just not going pay them any more.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NopeNopeNope2020"> /u/NopeNopeNope2020 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrbqbs/congratulations_to_me_i_just_made_my_last/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrbqbs/congratulations_to_me_i_just_made_my_last/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What’s the oldest age someone can get a circumcision?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I just want to know the cutoff date.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrsnxe/whats_the_oldest_age_someone_can_get_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lrsnxe/whats_the_oldest_age_someone_can_get_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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