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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>International risk of the new variant COVID-19 importations originating in the United Kingdom</strong> -
<div>
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A fast-spreading SARS-CoV-2 variant identified in the United Kingdom in December 2020 has raised international alarm. We estimate that, in 16 out of 19 countries analyzed, there is at least a 50% chance the variant was imported by travelers from the United Kingdom by December 7th.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.09.21249384v4" target="_blank">International risk of the new variant COVID-19 importations originating in the United Kingdom</a>
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<li><strong>Exhaled SARS-CoV-2 quantified by face-mask sampling in hospitalised patients with covid-19</strong> -
<div>
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Background Human to human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is driven by the respiratory route but little is known about the pattern and quantity of virus output from exhaled breath. We have previously shown that face-mask sampling (FMS) can detect exhaled tubercle bacilli and have adapted its use to quantify exhaled SARS-CoV-2 RNA in patients admitted to hospital with covid-19. Methods Between May and December 2020, we took two concomitant FMS and nasopharyngeal samples (NPS) over two days, starting within 24 hours of a routine virus positive NPS in patients hospitalised with covid-19, at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, UK. Participants were asked to wear a modified duckbilled facemask for 30 minutes, followed by a nasopharyngeal swab. Demographic, clinical, and radiological data, as well as International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC) mortality and deterioration scores were obtained. Exposed masks were processed by removal, dissolution and analysis of sampling matrix strips fixed within the mask by RT-qPCR. Viral genome copy numbers were determined and results classified as Negative; Low: less than or equal to 999 copies; Medium: 1,000-99,999 copies and High 100,000 or more copies per strip for FMS or per 100microlitres for NPS. Results 102 FMS and NPS were collected from 66 routinely positive patients; median age: 61 (IQR 49 - 77), of which FMS was positive in 37% of individuals and concomitant NPS was positive in 50%. Positive FMS viral loads varied over five orders of magnitude (&lt;10-3.3 x 106 genome copies/strip); 21 (32%) patients were asymptomatic at the time of sampling. High FMS viral load was associated with respiratory symptoms at time of sampling and shorter interval between sampling and symptom onset (FMS High: median (IQR) 2 days (2-3) vs FMS Negative: 7 days (7-10), p=0.002). On multivariable linear regression analysis, higher FMS viral loads were associated with higher ISARIC mortality (Medium FMS vs Negative FMS gave an adjusted coefficient of 15.7, 95% CI 3.7-27.7, p=0.01) and deterioration scores (High FMS vs Negative FMS gave an adjusted coefficient of 37.6, 95% CI 14.0 to 61.3, p=0.002), while NPS viral loads showed no significant association. Conclusion We demonstrate a simple and effective method for detecting and quantifying exhaled SARS-CoV-2 in hospitalised patients with covid-19. Higher FMS viral loads were more likely to be associated with developing severe disease compared to NPS viral loads. Similar to NPS, FMS viral load was highest in early disease and in those with active respiratory symptoms, highlighting the potential role of FMS in understanding infectivity.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.18.20176693v2" target="_blank">Exhaled SARS-CoV-2 quantified by face-mask sampling in hospitalised patients with covid-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of sampling frequency and normalization of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations for capturing COVID-19 burdens in the community</strong> -
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Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 provides an approach for assessing the infection burden across a city. For these data to be useful for public health, measurement variability and the relationship to case data need to be established. We measured SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in the influent of twelve wastewater treatment plants from August 2020 to January 2021. Replicate samples demonstrated that N1 gene target concentrations varied by 21% RSD between technical replicate filters and by 14% RSD between duplicate assays. COVID-19 cases were correlated significantly (rho≥0.70) to wastewater SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations for seven plants, including large and small cities. SARS-CoV-2 data normalized to flow improved correlations to reported COVID-19 cases for some plants but normalizing to a spiked recovery control (BCoV) or a fecal marker (PMMoV or HF183) generally reduced correlations. High frequency sampling demonstrated that a minimum of two samples collected per week was needed to maintain accuracy in trend analysis. We found a significantly different ratio of COVID-19 cases to SARS-CoV-2 loads in one of three large communities, suggesting a higher rate of undiagnosed cases. These data demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance can provide a useful community-wide metric to assess the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.17.21251867v2" target="_blank">Evaluation of sampling frequency and normalization of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations for capturing COVID-19 burdens in the community</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vaccination strategies for minimizing loss of life in Covid-19 in a Europe lacking vaccines</strong> -
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Aim and Background: We aimed at identifying vaccination strategies that minimize loss of life in the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 mainly kills the elderly, but the pandemic is driven by social contacts that are more frequent in the young. Vaccines elicit stronger immune responses per dose in younger persons. As vaccine production is a bottleneck, many countries have adopted a strategy of first vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable, while postponing vaccination of the young. Methods: Based on published age-stratified immunogenicity data of the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine, we compared the established ′one dose fits all′ approach with tailored strategies: The known differential immunogenicity of vaccine doses in different age groups is exploited to vaccinate the elderly at full dose, while the young receive a reduced dose, amplifying the number of individuals receiving the vaccine early. A modeling approach at European Union scale with population structure, Covid-19 case and death rates similar to Europe in late January 2021 is used. Results: When the elderly were vaccinated preferentially, the pandemic initially continued essentially unchecked, as it was dominantly driven by social contacts in other age groups. Tailored strategies, including regular dosing in the elderly but reduced dose vaccination in the young, multiplied early vaccination counts, and even with some loss in protection degree for the individual person, the protective effect towards stopping the pandemic and protecting lives was enhanced, even for the elderly. In the European Union, pandemic duration (threshold &gt;100′000 cases/day) was shortened from 53 to 18-24 days; cumulative death count over 100 days was reduced by &gt;30′000. Conclusion: Protecting the vulnerable, minimizing overall deaths and stopping the pandemic is best achieved by an adaptive vaccination strategy using an age-tailored vaccine dose, in this model parameterized to European demographics, coronavirus transmission observations and vaccine characteristics.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.29.21250747v5" target="_blank">Vaccination strategies for minimizing loss of life in Covid-19 in a Europe lacking vaccines</a>
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<li><strong>Encephalopathies associated with severe COVID-19 present specific neurovascular unit alterations without evidence of strong neuroinflammation</strong> -
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Objective: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been associated with a large variety of neurological disorders. However the mechanisms underlying these neurological complications remain elusive. In this study we aimed at determining whether neurological symptoms were caused by SARS-CoV-2 direct infection or by either systemic or local pro-inflammatory mediators. Methods: We checked for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by RT-qPCR, SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and for 49 cytokines/chemokines/growth factors (by Luminex) in the cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) +/- sera of a cohort of 22 COVID-19 patients with neurological presentation and 55 neurological control patients (inflammatory [IND], non-inflammatory [NIND], multiple sclerosis [MS]). Results: We detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA and virus-specific antibodies in the CSF of 0/22 and 10/21 COVID-19 patients, respectively. Of the four categories of tested patients, the CSF of IND exhibited the highest level of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. In contrast, COVID-19 patients did not present overall upregulation of inflammatory mediators in the CSF. However, the CSF of patients with severe COVID-19 (ICU patients) exhibited higher concentrations of CCL2, CXCL8, and VEGF-A in the CSF than patients with a milder form of COVID-19. In addition, we could show that intrathecal CXCL8 synthesis was linked to an elevated barrier index and correlated to the increase of peripheral inflammation (serum HGF and CXCL10). Conclusion: Our results point at an absence of massive SARS-CoV-2 infection or inflammation of the central nervous system, but highlight a specific impairment of the neurovascular unit linked to intrathecal production of CXCL8.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.01.20217497v2" target="_blank">Encephalopathies associated with severe COVID-19 present specific neurovascular unit alterations without evidence of strong neuroinflammation</a>
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<li><strong>The Mean Unfulfilled Lifespan (MUL): A New Indicator of the Impact of Mortality Shocks on the Individual Lifespan</strong> -
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Declines in period life expectancy at birth (PLEB) provide intuitive indicators of the impact of a cause of death on the individual lifespan. Derived under the assumption that future mortality conditions will remain indefinitely those observed during a reference period, however, the intuitive interpretation of a PLEB becomes problematic when that period conditions reflect a temporary mortality shock, resulting from a natural disaster or the diffusion of a new epidemic in the population for instance. Rather than to make assumptions about future mortality, I propose measuring the difference between a period average age at death and the average expected age at death of the same individuals (death cohort): the Mean Unfulfilled Lifespan (MUL). For fine-grained tracking of the mortality impact of an epidemic, I also provide an empirical shortcut to MUL estimation for small areas or short periods. For illustration, quarterly MUL values in 2020 are derived from estimates of COVID-19 deaths in 159 national populations and 122 sub-national populations in Italy, Mexico, Spain and the US. The highest quarterly values in national populations are obtained for Ecuador (5.12 years, second quarter) and Peru (4.56 years, third quarter) and, in sub-national populations, for New York (5.52 years), New Jersey (5.56 years, second quarter) and Baja California (5.19 years, fourth quarter). Using a seven-day rolling window, the empirical shortcut suggests the MUL peaked at 9.12 years in Madrid, 9.20 years in New York, and 9.15 years in Baja California, and in Guayas (Ecuador) it even reached 12.6 years for the entire month of April. Based on reported COVID-19 deaths that might substantially underestimate overall mortality change in affected populations, these results nonetheless illustrate how the MUL tracks the mortality impact of the pandemic, or any mortality shock, retaining the intuitive metric of differences in PLEB, without their problematic underlying assumptions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.09.20171264v4" target="_blank">The Mean Unfulfilled Lifespan (MUL): A New Indicator of the Impact of Mortality Shocks on the Individual Lifespan</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Multiscale Multicellular Spatiotemporal Model of Local Influenza Infection and Immune Response</strong> -
<div>
Respiratory viral infections pose a serious public health concern, from mild seasonal influenza to pandemics like those of SARS-CoV-2. Spatiotemporal dynamics of viral infection impact nearly all aspects of the progression of a viral infection, like the dependence of viral replication rates on the type of cell and pathogen, the strength of the immune response and localization of infection. Mathematical modeling is often used to describe respiratory viral infections and the immune response to them using ordinary differential equation (ODE) models. However, ODE models neglect spatially-resolved biophysical mechanisms like lesion shape and the details of viral transport, and so cannot model spatial effects of a viral infection and immune response. In this work, we develop a multiscale, multicellular spatiotemporal model of influenza infection and immune response by combining non-spatial ODE modeling and spatial, cell-based modeling. We employ cellularization, a recently developed method for generating spatial, cell-based, stochastic models from non-spatial ODE models, to generate much of our model from a calibrated ODE model that describes infection, death and recovery of susceptible cells and innate and adaptive responses during influenza infection, and develop models of cell migration and other mechanisms not explicitly described by the ODE model. We determine new model parameters to generate agreement between the spatial and original ODE models under certain conditions, where simulation replicas using our model serve as microconfigurations of the ODE model, and compare results between the models to investigate the nature of viral exposure and impact of heterogeneous infection on the time-evolution of the viral infection. We found that using spatially homogeneous initial exposure conditions consistently with those employed during calibration of the ODE model generates far less severe infection, and that local exposure to virus must be multiple orders of magnitude greater than a uniformly applied exposure to all available susceptible cells. This strongly suggests a prominent role of localization of exposure in influenza A infection. We propose that the particularities of the microenvironment to which a virus is introduced plays a dominant role in disease onset and progression, and that spatially resolved models like ours may be important to better understand and more reliably predict future health states based on susceptibility of potential lesion sites using spatially resolved patient data of the state of an infection. We can readily integrate the immune response components of our model into other modeling and simulation frameworks of viral infection dynamics that do detailed modeling of other mechanisms like viral internalization and intracellular viral replication dynamics, which are not explicitly represented in the ODE model. We can also combine our model with available experimental data and modeling of exposure scenarios and spatiotemporal aspects of mechanisms like mucociliary clearance that are only implicitly described by the ODE model, which would significantly improve the ability of our model to present spatially resolved predictions about the progression of influenza infection and immune response.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.20.432089v1" target="_blank">A Multiscale Multicellular Spatiotemporal Model of Local Influenza Infection and Immune Response</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Preprints in motion: tracking changes between posting and journal publication</strong> -
<div>
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, preprints in the biomedical sciences are being posted and accessed at unprecedented rates, drawing widespread attention from the general public, press and policymakers for the first time. This phenomenon has sharpened longstanding questions about the reliability of information shared prior to journal peer review. Does the information shared in preprints typically withstand the scrutiny of peer review, or are conclusions likely to change in the version of record? We assessed preprints that had been posted and subsequently published in a journal between 1st January and 30th April 2020, representing the initial phase of the pandemic response. We utilised a combination of automatic and manual annotations to quantify how an article changed between the preprinted and published version. We found that the total number of figure panels and tables changed little between preprint and published articles. Moreover, the conclusions of 6% of non-COVID-19-related and 15% of COVID-19-related abstracts undergo a discrete change by the time of publication, but the majority of these changes do not reverse the main message of the paper.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.20.432090v1" target="_blank">Preprints in motion: tracking changes between posting and journal publication</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>KLF2 is a therapeutic target for COVID-19 induced endothelial dysfunction</strong> -
<div>
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is regarded as an endothelial disease (endothelialitis) with its mechanism being incompletely understood. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that the endothelium represents the Achilles’ heel in COVID-19 patients and that endothelial dysfunction precipitates COVID-19 and accompanying multi-organ injuries. Thus, pharmacotherapies targeting endothelial dysfunction have potential to ameliorate COVID-19 and its cardiovascular complications. Primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMECs) were treated with serum from control subjects or COVID-19 patients. Downstream monocyte adhesion and associated gene/protein expression was evaluated in endothelial cells exposed to COVID-19 patient serum in the presence of KLF2 activator (Atorvastatin) or KLF2 overexpression by an adenoviral vector. Here, we demonstrate that the expression of KLF2 was significantly reduced and monocyte adhesion was increased in endothelial cells treated with COVID-19 patient serum due to elevated levels of pro-adhesive molecules, ICAM1 and VCAM1. IL-1{beta} and TNF-, two cytokines observed in cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19 patients, decreased KLF2 gene expression. Next-generation RNA-sequencing data showed that atorvastatin treatment leads to a cardiovascular protective transcriptome associated with improved endothelial function (vasodilation, anti-inflammation, antioxidant status, anti-thrombosis/-coagulation, anti-fibrosis and reduced angiogenesis). Treatment of HPMECs with atorvastatin or KLF2 adenovirus ameliorate COVID-19 serum-induced increase in endothelial inflammation and monocyte adhesion by increasing KLF2 expression. Altogether, the present study demonstrates that genetic and pharmacological activation of KLF2 represses COVID-19 associated endothelial dysfunction, heralding a potentially new direction to treat endothelialitis accompanying COVID-19.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.20.432085v1" target="_blank">KLF2 is a therapeutic target for COVID-19 induced endothelial dysfunction</a>
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<li><strong>Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccinations: a cross-sectional community survey in Bangladesh</strong> -
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Background: Several vaccines have been approved against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and distributed globally in different regions. However, general community knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccinations are poorly understood. Thus, the study aimed to investigate community knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccinations in Bangladesh. Methods: An exploratory and anonymous population-based e-survey was conducted among 1658 general individuals (55.6% male; mean age=23.17±6.05 years; age range=18-65 years). The survey was conducted using a semi-structured and self-reported questionnaire containing informed consent along with four sections (i.e., socio-demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions). Multiple linear regression was performed to determine the variables predicting knowledge, and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccinations. Results: The mean scores of knowledge and attitudes were 2.83±1.48 (out of 5) and 9.34±2.39 (out of 12) respectively. About a quarter of participants thought that the COVID-19 vaccination available in Bangladesh is safe, only 60% will have the vaccination and about two-thirds will recommend it to family and friends. In the multiple regression model, higher SES, having university/ higher levels of education, holding nuclear families and having previous history of essential vaccines uptake were associated with knowledge; whilst attitudes were significantly associated with being female and having previous history of essential vaccines uptake. Just over half of the participants thought that everyone should be vaccinated and 61% responded that health workers should be vaccinated first on priority basis. 95% vaccine should be administered free of charge in Bangladesh and almost 90% believed that the COVID-19 vaccine used in Bangladesh may have side effects. Conclusions: The findings reflect inadequate knowledge but more positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine among the general population in Bangladesh. In order to improve knowledge, immediate health education programs need to be initiated before mass vaccination schedule.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.16.21251802v2" target="_blank">Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccinations: a cross-sectional community survey in Bangladesh</a>
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<li><strong>Statewide Impact of COVID-19 on Social Determinants of Health - A First Look: Findings from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin</strong> -
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There is an urgent need to track the early and ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on population health from local to global scales. At the same time, there is an overall lack of U.S. state-specific surveillance data tracking social determinants of health (SDOH) and associations with population well-being, individual mitigation and coping strategies, family dynamics and other economic shocks of the pandemic in populations. Statewide data can offer important insights into how SDOH shape the long-term effects of COVID-19 in the population since implementation of many policies and programs varied widely early on in the pandemic. In May of 2020, the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) program launched a statewide online/phone survey of early and ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on health and well-being across diverse communities and families. The goal of this study is to provide descriptive data including perceived COVID-19 risks, access to and results of COVID-19 antigen testing, individual mitigation and coping strategies, family dynamics and other economic shocks of the pandemic on health and mental health in populations. Key findings include higher rates of testing and perceived past infection from COVID-19 among non-white respondents. Higher economic shifts and job changes in female vs male respondents. Families with children reported overall higher levels of stress, and stress from the pandemic. There were urban and rural differences in changes to access to care. Rural regions, which had a lower prevalence of infections early in the pandemic as compared to urban areas, also reported fewer delays or missed appointments due to COVID-19. Key findings show that SDOH are shaping impacts of health and well-being early on in the pandemic and future longitudinal follow-up will be important to shape policies and programs well into the future.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.18.21252017v1" target="_blank">Statewide Impact of COVID-19 on Social Determinants of Health - A First Look: Findings from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin</a>
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<li><strong>The unexpected dynamics of COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil: Herd immunity versus interventions</strong> -
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The arrival of SARS-COV-2 in late March 2020 in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, captured worldwide attention and concern. The rapid growth of the epidemic, a health system that had collapsed, and mass gravesites for coping with growing numbers of dead, were broadcast by the media around the world. Moreover, a majority of the local Amazonian indigenous communities were physically distant from appropriate medical services, to the point where warnings of genocide were issued. In a recent Science paper (December 2020), Buss et al. reported that some 76% of the residents of the city of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, had been infected by October 2020. This estimate of the COVID-19 attack rate was based on a seroprevalence analysis of blood donor data, which despite its shortcomings was thought to be a sufficiently reliable proxy of the larger population. An attack rate of this magnitude (76%) implied that herd immunity had already been reached and the community was relatively protected from further infection. Yet in December 2020, a harsh second wave of COVID-19 struck Manaus, and currently appears to be even larger than the first wave. Here we use mathematical modelling of mortality data in Manaus, and in various states of Brazil, to understand why a second wave appeared against all expectations. Our analysis is based on estimating a “flexible” reproductive number R_0 (t) from the mortality data, as it changes in time over the epidemic.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.18.21251809v2" target="_blank">The unexpected dynamics of COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil: Herd immunity versus interventions</a>
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<li><strong>In depth analysis of patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 in sub-Saharan Africa demonstrates distinct clinical and immunological profiles</strong> -
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Although the COVID-19 pandemic has left no country untouched there has been limited research to understand clinical and immunological responses in African populations. Here we comprehensively characterise patients hospitalised with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, and healthy community controls. PCR-confirmed COVID-19 participants were more likely to receive dexamethasone and a beta-lactam antibiotic, and survive to hospital discharge than PCR-/IgG+ and PCR-/IgG- participants. PCR-/IgG+ participants exhibited a nasal and systemic cytokine signature analogous to PCR-confirmed COVID-19 participants, but increased propensity for Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation. We did not find evidence that HIV co-infection in COVID-19 participants was associated with mortality or altered cytokine responses. The nasal immune signature in PCR-/IgG+ and PCR-confirmed COVID-19 participants was distinct and predominated by chemokines and neutrophils. In addition, PCR-/IgG+ individuals with high COVID-19 clinical suspicion had inflammatory profiles analogous to PCR-confirmed disease and potentially represent a target population for COVID-19 treatment strategies.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.15.21251753v2" target="_blank">In depth analysis of patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 in sub-Saharan Africa demonstrates distinct clinical and immunological profiles</a>
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<li><strong>Evaluation of a Commercial Culture-free Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus-2 and Comparison with an Anti-RBD ELISA Assay</strong> -
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Background: SARS-CoV-2 surrogate neutralization assays that obviate the need for viral culture offer substantial advantages regarding throughput and cost. The cPass SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit (Genscript) is the first such commercially available assay, detecting antibodies that block RBD/ACE-2 interaction. We aimed to evaluate cPass to inform its use and assess its added value compared to anti-RBD ELISA assays. Methods: Serum reference panels comprising 205 specimens were used to compare cPass to plaque-reduction neutralization test (PRNT) and a pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization (PLV) assay for detection of neutralizing antibodies. We assessed the correlation of cPass with an ELISA detecting anti-RBD IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies at a single timepoint and across intervals from onset of symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: Compared to PRNT-50, cPass sensitivity ranged from 77% - 100% and specificity was 95% - 100%. Sensitivity was also high compared to the pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization assay (93% [95%CI 85-97]), but specificity was lower (58% [95%CI 48-67]). Highest agreement between cPass and ELISA was for anti-RBD IgG (r=0.823). Against the pseudotyped lentiviral neutralization assay, anti-RBD IgG sensitivity (99% [95%CI 94-100]) was very similar to that of cPass, but overall specificity was lower (37% [95%CI 28-47]). Against PRNT-50, results of cPass and anti-RBD IgG were nearly identical. Conclusions: The added value of cPass compared to an IgG anti-RBD ELISA was modest.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.23.21250325v2" target="_blank">Evaluation of a Commercial Culture-free Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus-2 and Comparison with an Anti-RBD ELISA Assay</a>
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<li><strong>Gout, rheumatoid arthritis and the risk of death from COVID-19: an analysis of the UK Biobank</strong> -
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Objectives To assess whether gout and / or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are risk factors for coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) diagnosis. To assess whether gout and / or RA are risk factors for death with COVID-19. Methods We used data from the UK Biobank. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression was employed in the following analyses: Analysis A, to test for association between gout or RA and COVID-19 diagnosis (n=473,139); Analysis B, to test for association between gout or RA and death with COVID-19 in a case-control cohort of people who died or survived with COVID-19 (n=2,059); Analysis C, to test for association with gout or RA and death with COVID-19 in the entire UK Biobank cohort (n=473,139) Results RA, but not gout, associated with COVID-19 diagnosis in analysis A. Neither RA nor gout associated with risk of death in the COVID-19-diagnosed group in analysis B. However RA associated with risk of death related to COVID-19 using the UK Biobank cohort in analysis C independent of comorbidities and other measured risk factors (OR=1.9 [95% CI 1.2 ; 3.0]). Gout was not associated with death related to COVID-19 in the same UK Biobank analysis (OR=1.2 [95% CI 0.8 ; 1.7]). Conclusion Rheumatoid arthritis is a risk factor for death with COVID-19 using the UK Biobank cohort. These findings require replication in larger data sets that also allow inclusion of a wider range of factors.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.06.20227405v2" target="_blank">Gout, rheumatoid arthritis and the risk of death from COVID-19: an analysis of the UK Biobank</a>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Effectiveness Study of the Sinovac’s Adsorbed COVID-19 (Inactivated) Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Adsorbed COVID-19 (Inactivated) Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Butantan Institute<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>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>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>COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Therapy</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Convalescent plasma<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Angelica Samudio;   Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y Tecnología, Paraguay;   Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social, Paraguay;   Centro de información y recursos para el desarrollo, Paraguay<br/><b>Completed</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>Telerehabilitation in Covid-19 After Hospital Discharge</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Standard Physiotherapy program;   Other: Telerehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Universidad de Granada<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>AGILE (Early Phase Platform Trial for COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: CST-2: EIDD-2801;   Drug: CST-2: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Liverpool;   University of Southampton;   Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine;   Lancaster University;   Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust<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>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Prothione™ Capsules for Mild to Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Placebo;   Drug: Prothione™ (6g)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Prothione, LLC<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>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>Enriched Heparin Anti COVID-19 Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Heparin sodium;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   UPECLIN HC FM Botucatu Unesp<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>Community Network-driven COVID-19 Testing of Vulnerable Populations in the Central US</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Social Network Strategy + COVID-19 messaging<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Chicago<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>Impact of Colchicine and Low-dose Naltrexone on COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Colchicine 0.6 mg;   Drug: Naltrexone<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   HealthPartners Institute;   Park Nicollet Foundation<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>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>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety of disease-modifying treatments in SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positive multiple sclerosis patients</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Despite the relatively high SARS CoV-2 seroprevalence found in this sample of PwMS, all the positive cases showed either no or only mild COVID-19 symptoms. These reassuring findings indicate a lack of COVID-19 complications in PwMS on DMTs and support the hypothesis that it is safe to maintain ongoing treatment with these drugs in the current setting.</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>Inflammation control and improvement of cognitive function in COVID-19 infections: is there a role for kynurenine 3-monooxygenase inhibition?</strong> - The novel respiratory virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), emerged during late 2019 and spread rapidly across the world. It is now recognised that the nervous system can be affected in COVID-19, with several studies reporting long-term cognitive problems in patients. The metabolic pathway of tryptophan degradation, known as the kynurenine pathway (KP), is significantly activated in patients with COVID-19. KP…</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 Review of Persistent Post-COVID Syndrome (PPCS)</strong> - Persistent post-COVID syndrome, also referred to as long COVID, is a pathologic entity, which involves persistent physical, medical, and cognitive sequelae following COVID-19, including persistent immunosuppression as well as pulmonary, cardiac, and vascular fibrosis. Pathologic fibrosis of organs and vasculature leads to increased mortality and severely worsened quality of life. Inhibiting transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), an immuno- and a fibrosis modulator, may attenuate these…</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>Screening and evaluation of anti-SARS-CoV-2 components from Ephedra sinica by ACE2/CMC-HPLC-IT-TOF-MS approach</strong> - Traditional Chinese medicines played an important role in the treatment of COVID-19 in 2020. Ephedra sinica, one of the major constituent herbs of multi-component herbal formula, has been widely used to treat COVID-19 in China. However, its active components are still unclear. The objectives of this study are to screen and evaluate active components from the traditional Chinese medicine Ephedra sinica for the treatment of COVID-19. In our study, we established an ACE2/CMC bioaffinity…</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>SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV spike-mediated cell-cell fusion differ in the requirements for receptor expression and proteolytic activation</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects cells through interaction of its spike protein (SARS2-S) with Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and activation by proteases, in particular transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2). Viruses can also spread through fusion of infected with uninfected cells. We compared the requirements of ACE2 expression, proteolytic activation, and the sensitivity to inhibitors for SARS2-S-mediated and…</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>Lopinavir/ritonavir: Repurposing an old drug for HIV infection in COVID-19 treatment</strong> - Currently, there is no specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. However, drugs previously developed to treat other viral infections are being tested to verify if they might also be effective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Twenty years ago, the F.D.A. approved Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) to treat HIV infection. LPV and ritonavir were initially purposed to inhibit 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL^(pro)) of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV and preliminary promising data on its efficacy…</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>Development of a large volume concentration method for recovery of coronavirus from wastewater</strong> - Levels of severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 (SARS CoV 2) RNA in wastewater could act as an effective means to monitor coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) within communities. However, current methods used to detect SARS CoV 2 RNA in wastewater are limited in their ability to process sufficient volumes of source material, inhibiting our ability to assess viral load. Typically, viruses are concentrated from large liquid volumes using two stage concentration, primary and secondary. Here,…</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>Re(I) Tricarbonyl Complexes as Coordinate Covalent Inhibitors for the SARS-CoV-2 Main Cysteine Protease</strong> - Since its outbreak, the severe acute respiratory syndrome - coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has impacted the quality of life and cost hundreds-of-thousands of lives worldwide. Based on its global spread and mortality, there is an urgent need for novel treatments which can combat this disease. To date, the 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro), which is also known as the main protease, is considered among the most important pharmacological targets. The vast majority of investigated 3CLpro inhibitors…</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>Simultaneous Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Entry Pathways by Cyclosporine</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 represents a global public health emergency. The entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells requires the activation of its spike protein by host cell proteases. The serine protease, TMPRSS2, and cysteine proteases, Cathepsins B/L, activate spike protein and enable SARS-CoV-2 entry to the host cell through two completely different and independent pathways. Therefore, inhibiting either TMPRSS2 or cathepsin B/L may not sufficiently block the virus entry. We here…</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>Advances of Inorganic Materials in the Detection and Therapeutic Uses Against Coronaviruses</strong> - Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped viruses with particle-like characteristics and a diameter of 60-140 nm, positively charged, and single-stranded RNA genomes which produce a major outbreak of human fatal pneumonia since the beginning of the 21st century. COVID-19 is currently considered as a continuous potential pandemic threat across the globe. Therefore, considerable efforts have been made to develop innovative methods and technologies for suppressing the spread of viruses as well as…</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>SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) inhibitors with antiviral activity in a transgenic mouse model</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus continually poses serious threats to global public health. The main protease (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2 plays a central role in viral replication. We designed and synthesized 32 new bicycloproline-containing M^(pro) inhibitors derived from either Boceprevir or Telaprevir, both of which are approved antivirals. All compounds inhibited SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro) activity in vitro with IC(50) values ranging from 7.6 to 748.5 nM. The co-crystal structure of…</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>3D culture models to study SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and antiviral candidates: From spheroids to bioprinting</strong> - The pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is receiving worldwide attention, due to the severity of the disease (COVID-19) that resulted in more than a million global deaths so far. The urgent need for vaccines and antiviral drugs is mobilizing the scientific community to develop strategies for studying the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, replication kinetics, pathogenesis, host-virus interaction, and infection inhibition. In this work, we review the…</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>Phyto-compounds from a rather poisonous plant, Strychnos nux-vomica, show high potency against SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase</strong> - CONCLUSION: Sharing the same binding location as that of ATP and having high binding affinities, Ergotamine, Isosungucine, Sungucine and Strychnine N-oxide could be effective in controlling the SARS-CoV-2 virus replication by blocking the ATP and inhibiting the enzyme function.</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 COVID-Kidney Controversy: Can SARS-CoV-2 Cause Direct Renal Infection?</strong> - Determining whether SARS-CoV-2 causes direct infection of the kidneys is challenging due to limitations in imaging and molecular tools. Subject of Review: A growing number of conflicting kidney biopsy and autopsy reports highlight this controversial issue. Second Opinion: Based on the collective evidence, therapies that improve hemodynamic stability and oxygenation, or dampen complement activation, are likely to ameliorate acute kidney injury in COVID-19. At this time, whether inhibition of…</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>Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, coronavirus disease 2019 and abdominal aortic aneurysms</strong> - CONCLUSION: COVID-19 may theoretically influence AAA disease through multiple SARS-CoV-2-induced mechanisms. Further investigation and clinical follow-up will be necessary to determine whether and to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic will influence the prevalence, progression and lethality of AAA disease in the coming decade.</p></li>
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<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>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>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>能够抑制冠状病毒Spike蛋白与ACE2相互作用的化合物的用途</strong> - 本发明公开了能够抑制冠状病毒Spike蛋白与ACE2相互作用的化合物的用途。结构如下，该类化合物在制备治疗和/或预防SARS‑CoV‑2新型冠状病毒感染的药物中的用途。同时，化合物不仅能够抑制冠状病毒Spike蛋白与ACE2蛋白的相互作用，IC50&lt;1μM，同时能够促使Spike‑ACE2复合物的解离。在细胞水平上可以有效的抑制新型冠状病毒SARS‑CoV‑2假病毒入侵，IC50&lt;2μM。所述化合物能特异性的结合在Spike蛋白的RBD区域，KD&lt;6μM，表明该类化合物对于制备治疗和/或预防冠状病毒感染药物具有非常积极的作用。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317346989">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>Atul Gawande on COVID-Vaccine Distribution and When Normalcy Might Return</strong> - The New Yorker staff writer assesses the vaccination campaign so far, new mutations, and when it might be possible to enter public spaces safely without a mask. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/atul-gawande-on-covid-vaccine-distribution-and-when-normalcy-might-return">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After Dark, Citizens and Myanmar’s Junta Face Off Across Ghostly Front Lines</strong> - Innovative grassroots resistance grows despite mounting regime intimidation. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/after-dark-citizens-and-myanmars-junta-face-off-across-ghostly-front-lines">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Rush Limbaugh Invented Donald Trump</strong> - By subsuming his conservatism into the cult of one man, Limbaugh finished his career less as a leader of the Republican Party than as simply another Trump follower. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-rush-limbaugh-invented-donald-trump">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 Sound and the Fury of Andrew Cuomo</strong> - Assemblyman Ron Kim was bathing his children when he got an unexpected call from the governor. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-sound-and-the-fury-of-andrew-cuomo">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Why some Texans are facing catastrophic electric bills after a winter storm</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HaICorRzZr0XGkGiQDdDslgZ1Rw=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68849152/1303083232.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
An aerial view of electrical power lines running through a neighborhood on February 19, 2021, in Austin, Texas. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wholesale power plans left Texans on the hook for thousands of dollars after prices spiked.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HYev47">
In Texas this week, freezing temperatures <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/16/22284140/texas-blackout-outage-winter-storm-uri-ercot-power-grid-cold-snow-austin-houston-dallas">overwhelmed the state’s power grid</a>, triggering <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/climate/texas-blackouts-disinformation.html">rolling blackouts</a>, <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/19/power-outages-texas-13-000-were-still-without-power-austin-friday/4517303001/">multi-day power outages</a> — and, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/20/griddy-customers-face-5000-bills-for-5-freezing-days-in-texas/">catastrophic electric bills</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dRZOuu">
<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/20/griddy-customers-face-5000-bills-for-5-freezing-days-in-texas/">According to the Dallas Morning News</a>, some Texans have been hit with power bills totaling as much as <a href="https://www.fox4news.com/news/griddy-customer-unable-to-switch-provider-stuck-with-17000-electric-bill">$17,000</a> for only a few days of electricity, many times more than the usual cost of power in Texas.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hf7ADt">
Specifically, it’s Texas residents who rely on a wholesale power plan, rather than a fixed-rate plan, who have seen their bills climb after the demand for power jumped dramatically across the state this week as Winter Storm Uri struck and temperatures plunged. Texas, which has a deregulated electricity market, has a number of providers, both wholesale and fixed rate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G1a1Xl">
Fixed-rate customers pay an agreed-upon rate for their power, but wholesale buyers pay a variable rate; whatever the current price per kilowatt-hour of electricity is. Wholesale power plans, such as those offered by Texas energy company Griddy, can be attractive because during good weather, a customer on a variable plan will pay less than one on a fixed-rate plan, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/20/griddy-customers-face-5000-bills-for-5-freezing-days-in-texas/">according to Public Utility Commission of Texas spokesperson Andrew Barlow</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kQvbIx">
The problem is, weather isn’t always good — in Dallas on Tuesday, the low temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/16/22284140/texas-blackout-outage-winter-storm-uri-ercot-power-grid-cold-snow-austin-houston-dallas">colder than in Anchorage, Alaska</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n5avCH">
That freezing weather led to rolling blackouts throughout the state amid an increased demand for power; in turn, that demand caused prices to spike, with wholesale rates <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-texas-power-prices/texas-power-prices-spike-as-deadly-cold-wave-overwhelms-grid-idUSKBN2AH0U0">soaring to about $8,800</a> per megawatt-hour in the Dallas area on Wednesday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sJqcfm">
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-texas-power-prices/texas-power-prices-spike-as-deadly-cold-wave-overwhelms-grid-idUSKBN2AH0U0">According to Reuters</a>, the wholesale rate before this week’s storm was only about $50 per megawatt-hour. On Wednesday, Texas’s Public Utility Commission moved to <a href="http://www.ercot.com/services/comm/mkt_notices/archives/5221">cap wholesale prices</a> at $9,000 per megawatt-hour, or $9 per kilowatt-hour.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mqy22w">
Griddy, the wholesale power company that has faced the most rancor from customers online, <a href="https://www.griddy.com/post/letter-from-griddy-about-the-storm-and-prices">warned</a> customers on Monday that their rates could climb precipitously with the onset of cold weather — but those warnings didn’t come in time for many Texans to change to a new service provider, the Dallas Morning News <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/20/griddy-customers-face-5000-bills-for-5-freezing-days-in-texas/">reported</a> Friday, and people were still caught off guard by their power bills.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2WU8xJ">
“$5,000 for five days is outrageous,” Dallas resident DeAndré Upshaw <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2021/02/20/griddy-customers-face-5000-bills-for-5-freezing-days-in-texas/">told Morning News reporter Maria Halkias</a> Friday. “No one could have anticipated this except the people who manage the service and the power grid.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVmj5u">
The winter storm was not the first time wholesale customers in Texas have been stuck with large bills due to unexpected weather; in <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2019/08/23/texans-pay-more-for-electricity-now-than-other-major-markets-a-wholesale-price-record-is-to-blame/">2019, a heat wave caused a spike in power usage</a> — and a sudden increase in wholesale prices — that left many Texans paying hundreds of dollars more than they expected for power. But for some Texans, the current situation is worse by several orders of magnitude, and comes at a difficult time economically, with the US in the midst of a pandemic-related recession.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ugV49H">
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/19/22291426/texas-blackouts-utility-bills-electricity-cost-energy-insecurity">According to The Verge</a>, “4.8 million Americans were unable to pay at least one energy bill last year and received a disconnection notice from their utility company.” Texas’s supersized wholesale power bills are sure to make that problem more acute in the aftermath of the storm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dy2fCn">
As Texas struggles to recover from the winter storm — President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/19/22291432/biden-major-disaster-declaration-texas-fema-storm">approved a major disaster declaration</a> for the state on Saturday — it’s unclear what comes next for Texans who got stuck with astronomic energy bills.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jCsrzz">
<a href="https://www.griddy.com/post/griddy-seeks-relief-from-ercot-for-customers-exposed-to-non-market-pricing">In a Friday statement</a>, however, Griddy said that it was “seeking customer relief” from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages most of the state’s power grid, and from the state’s Public Utility Commission.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BiIJug">
“Griddy is continuing these efforts and is committed to crediting customers for any relief received, dollar-for-dollar,” the company said. Failing that relief, customers could be on the hook for thousands of dollars worth of bills.
</p>
<h3 id="dXmBc4">
Gigantic electric bills are just part of Texas’s power problem this week
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ukSYiq">
Texas has been in unique difficulty this week in part because of the state’s unique power system: Unlike the rest of the lower 48, most of the Lone Star State relies on ERCOT’s <a href="https://twitter.com/SunriseElPaso/status/1361546550099529729?s=20">independent, internal power grid</a>, which provides about <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/16/22284140/texas-blackout-outage-winter-storm-uri-ercot-power-grid-cold-snow-austin-houston-dallas">90 percent</a> of the state’s electricity.
</p>
<div id="YUJwdG">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
El Paso is the only Texas city that is part of the Western interconnect power grid. The rest of our state has its own outdated power grid thanks to officials trying to escape federal regulations. Thanks to them, 2.5 million Texans have no power <a href="https://t.co/Ik9SSc4ioh">pic.twitter.com/Ik9SSc4ioh</a>
</p>
— Sunrise El Paso (<span class="citation" data-cites="SunriseElPaso">@SunriseElPaso</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/SunriseElPaso/status/1361546550099529729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cmt9AC">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/16/22284140/texas-blackout-outage-winter-storm-uri-ercot-power-grid-cold-snow-austin-houston-dallas">As Vox’s Umair Irfan explained earlier this week</a>, it’s been a hard week for that grid, even though Texas is “the largest oil, natural gas, and wind energy producer” in the country. Demand has far exceeded supply, which is what led to rolling blackouts and dramatically higher prices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ap6Kcr">
According to Irfan:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h8A7Mw">
The sudden cold snap this weekend put the state’s ample resources to the test, with demand reaching a record high peak for the winter, more than 69,000 megawatts. That’s 3,200 MW higher than the previous record set in 2018.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oiU9Xe">
As demand reached new heights, the supply of electricity fell drastically in the past few days, far below what operators expected. Ordinarily, ERCOT plans for winter to be much warmer and anticipates a lower energy demand. Power providers often schedule downtime and maintenance during the winter months to prepare for the massive annual surge in electricity demand in the hot Texas summer. The state’s ample wind and solar energy resources are also diminished in the winter, so ERCOT doesn’t depend on them to meet much of the demand they anticipate.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SgbJ5x">
Texas’s power grid was also hobbled by lower-than-usual electricity supply after natural gas pipelines <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/climate/texas-blackouts-disinformation.html">froze</a> in the winter weather, and as energy production dropped off across the board. This put the state in an even worse jam, and also contributed to high power prices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4c53ME">
Texas’s decision to remain on an independent grid dates back more than 80 years, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-set-stage-its-energy-crisis-more-80-years-ago-n1258341">according to NBC</a>, and was intended to keep Texas utilities free of federal regulation. It’s succeeded on that count — but at the cost of not being able to borrow power from other states in a crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OyCVin">
“The Texas power grid is really an island,” Rice University professor Daniel Cohan <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/16/22284140/texas-blackout-outage-winter-storm-uri-ercot-power-grid-cold-snow-austin-houston-dallas">told Vox</a> earlier this week. “Whatever happens in Texas stays in Texas.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6A37xC">
As of Friday, things were getting back to normal with the Texas grid, though the state is still facing <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/20/22292609/texas-water-food-shortages-power-boil-order">water and food shortages</a>. ERCOT <a href="http://www.ercot.com/news/releases/show/225962">ended emergency conditions</a> and returned to normal operation; the number of people without power fell to <a href="https://poweroutage.us/area/state/texas">just about 58,000</a>, as of late Saturday afternoon, rather than millions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vPNJvE">
For Griddy customers and other Texans on a wholesale plan, however, the effects of the storm will linger in the form of gigantic power bills.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LNk8bO">
“I don’t have that type of money,” one Texas resident, Akilah Scott-Amos, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/dollar5152-power-bill-texas-winter-storm-hell-only-gets-worse">told the Daily Beast</a> this week. “I now owe Griddy $2,869.11. This is going to put me in debt, this is going to mess up my credit. Are they going to cut me off? In the middle of this ongoing crisis?”
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>March Madness is back for 2021 — and so are the fans</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tmlIVcUcXmCoSrQJd4RBZ6T3kms=/411x0:4380x2977/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68848678/1294198117.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The USC Trojans bench looks on during a NCAA basketball game against the Utah Utes at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on January 2, 2021. | Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Despite the pandemic, the NCAA will allow a limited number of spectators for both men’s and women’s tournaments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hFml6A">
The National Collegiate Athletic Association <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-02-19/ncaa-allow-limited-fan-attendance-division-i-mens-basketball-tournament">announced</a> Friday it would <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2021-02-19/ncaa-division-i-womens-basketball-championship-allow-limited-fan-attendance?utm_campaign=trending">allow</a> a limited number of fans to attend the the upcoming 2021 men’s and women’s Division I March Madness basketball tournaments in person, despite the risk posed by the <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">coronavirus pandemic</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vh6CO7">
According to the NCAA, fans will be present for every round of the men’s tournament, though only the later rounds of the women’s tournament — starting with the Sweet 16 — will have spectators.
</p>
<div id="l5J2A3">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
ATTENDANCE UPDATE! <br/><br/>NCAA to allow limited fan attendance at DI MBB NCAA Tournament! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a><br/> <a href="https://t.co/YFlndZLyxY">https://t.co/YFlndZLyxY</a> <a href="https://t.co/M3QzsYXvcn">pic.twitter.com/M3QzsYXvcn</a>
</p>
— NCAA March Madness (<span class="citation" data-cites="marchmadness">@marchmadness</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1362794896088829956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lsTUCQ">
The tournaments will both begin in March and run into early April, with the men’s tournament set to kick off on <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-march-madness-schedule">March 18</a> and the women’s on <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/ncaa-womens-basketball-tournament-dates-schedule">March 21</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6gjsRl">
Teams usually travel around the country during the tournaments, but this year each will take place across multiple venues in a single city, with the men set to play every game in <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/01/04/953261708/ncaa-says-2021-march-madness-will-take-place-in-a-bubble-in-indiana#:~:text=All%2067%20of%20the%20upcoming,be%20able%20to%20attend%20games.">Indianapolis</a>, and the women playing in <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fwomens-college-basketball%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F30840486%2Fentire-ncaa-women-tournament-held-san-antonio-area&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2021%2F2%2F20%2F22292749%2Fmarch-madness-ncaa-tournament-2021-in-person-fans" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">San Antonio</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6taoMl">
Arenas will be at as much as 25 percent capacity for the men’s games and 17 percent for the women’s, with masks, social distancing, and testing requirements in place for all games.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="veVF4n">
In a <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-02-19/ncaa-allow-limited-fan-attendance-division-i-mens-basketball-tournament">statement</a> released Friday, the NCAA said that the decision to allow fans was made “in conjunction with state and local health authorities” and that the “number one priority for decisions around the tournament continues to be the safety and well-being of everyone participating in the event.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J6x5w2">
However, a number of public health experts have said the safest thing to do would be to have no spectators at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w8vqBj">
“At this point in the epidemic, we can no longer say we don’t know enough,” Ana Bento, a professor in Indiana University’s epidemiology and biostatistics department, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/sports/ncaabasketball/ncaa-tournament-fans.html">told the New York Times</a> on Friday. “We know what to avoid in order to minimize risk. This is something that carries a lot of risk.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1umY7R">
According to Bento, the tournaments could easily spiral into superspreader events, worsening a pandemic that has already killed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html">more than 495,000 Americans</a> and knocked a full year off the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/covid-life-expectancy.html">average life expectancy</a> in the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lYluqG">
Superspreader events are of particular concern as new coronavirus variants continue to infect people around the country and threaten a fourth wave of cases. Last Sunday, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rochelle-walensky-cdc-director-uk-strain-coronavirus-face-the-nation/">warned</a> that a more infectious — and possibly <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/10/covid-19-cases-are-falling-variant-driven-storm/">more deadly</a> — coronavirus variant first seen in the UK could become “the dominant strain by the end of March.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2xiEQd">
“Now more than ever, with continued spread of variants that stand to threaten the progress we are making, we must recommit to doing our part to protect one another,” Walensky <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/02/19/press-briefing-by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-5/">said at a press conference</a> Friday. “Wear a well-fitting mask, social distance, avoid travel and crowds, practice good hand hygiene, and get vaccinated when the vaccine is available to you.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RAM4mq">
In 2020, the NCAA <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/ncaa-cancels-remaining-winter-and-spring-championships">canceled</a> both tournaments outright in response to the first wave of Covid-19 cases in the US. Almost a full year later, the country has reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html">more than 28 million total cases</a> — but a steady decline in daily case numbers since early January 2021, as well as an accelerating mass vaccination campaign, has made the limited return of fans to indoor sporting events look more feasible to many sports officials.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FE8rwQ">
<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html">According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, nearly 60 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US. Both of the Covid-19 vaccines <a href="https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/covid-19-vaccines">authorized by the Food and Drug Administration</a> require two doses to be fully effective, and at least 17 million people have been <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanstruyk/status/1362907585779744771?s=20">fully vaccinated</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="S5UVaS">
College basketball isn’t the only sport to bring back fans
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="awLvIW">
Despite the pandemic, the NCAA isn’t alone in its move to allow a limited number of fans back to sporting events.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zJCI3Z">
A handful of NBA teams are already letting spectators attend home games; New York’s teams will allow fans to fill 10 percent of their stadiums starting on February 23, <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nba.com%2Fnews%2Fwhere-nba-teams-stand-on-in-arena-attendance&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2021%2F2%2F20%2F22292749%2Fmarch-madness-ncaa-tournament-2021-in-person-fans" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">according to the NBA</a>. However, no NBA team has filled its arena to more than 25 percent capacity, and most teams haven’t even done that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sB3xcN">
The NBA was among the first leagues to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/3/11/21176019/nba-suspends-season-covid-19-virus">suspend its season</a> in 2020 after a player tested positive for Covid-19 in early March, and later concluded the season in a “<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/8/17/21366621/nba-basketball-disney-mlb-baseball-nhl-hockey-covid-sports-bubble-tv">bubble</a>” the league set up in Orlando, Florida.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ho3pn4">
The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/sports/football/super-bowl-attendance-fans.html">majority</a> of NFL teams, meanwhile, allowed fans to attend at least some games in person during the league’s 2020 season, and about 22,000 people attended the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22266404/super-bowl-nfl-covid-19-chiefs-buccaneers-tampa-kinexon">Super Bowl</a> earlier this month in Tampa, Florida.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ETBa5X">
A portion of that total — which represents about 30 percent of capacity at the Tampa Bay stadium, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/sports/football/super-bowl-attendance-fans.html">according to the New York Times</a> — was vaccinated health care workers, but for about 14,500 other attendees, vaccination was not a requirement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PQ0B9c">
The NCAA also allowed fans during its <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/10/21355857/college-football-coronavirus-explained">2020 football season</a>, though that didn’t always go off <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-11-09/notre-dame-coronavirus-testing-students-clemson-win">without a hitch</a>. In August, two major conferences — the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/16/913522262/big-ten-reverses-decision-will-start-football-season-in-october#:~:text=Live%20Sessions-,Big%20Ten%20To%20Resume%20Football%20In%20October%2C%20Reversing%20Earlier%20Decision,month%20to%20postpone%20the%20season.">Big Ten</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pac-12-reverses-course-and-will-play-football-after-all-11600992096">Pac-12</a> — canceled their fall season before later reversing their decisions, and quite a few games ended up being <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/12/12/which-college-football-games-week-16-postponed-canceled-covid-19">canceled anyway</a> after players tested positive for Covid-19.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6CEwGi">
Nonetheless, the college football season concluded with about 14,000 fans in attendance at the <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2021/01/12/how-many-fans-attend-national-championship-alabama-ohio-state">national title game</a> in January.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gdSvWu">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/sports/ncaabasketball/ncaa-tournament-fans.html">As the New York Times points out</a>, however, football has at least one major advantage over basketball when it comes to public health — unlike basketball, many football games are played in open-air stadiums, where Covid-19 transmission is far less of a risk.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kNh2Wa">
Still, the NCAA is forging ahead with its plan. “This year’s tournament will be like no other,” NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said in <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2021-02-19/ncaa-allow-limited-fan-attendance-division-i-mens-basketball-tournament">Friday’s statement</a>, “and while we know it won’t be the same for anyone, we are looking forward to providing a memorable experience for the student-athletes, coaches and fans at a once-in-a-lifetime tournament.”
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>“It’s criminal”: A Texas community left without aid in the cold</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qtDtjXqUY_yDVMvziMBn-_LwD_s=/0x0:2667x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68848437/mnm_BedollaFamily_3161.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Gloria Vera-Bedolla prepares to deliver disaster relief boxes to her neighbors in the Forest Bluff neighborhood, in the Austin area. | Montinique Monroe for Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
An Austin organizer explains how the Texas freeze left her already vulnerable community in crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1NySKn">
Gloria Vera-Bedolla, a Latina community organizer and mother of three, feels like her neighborhood near Austin, Texas, has been forgotten in a deep freeze that has plunged the state into a humanitarian crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wdJVWQ">
“We continue to be the victims of social injustice, food injustice, systemic racism — all of it,” she said. “And lots of people don’t speak up because they’re not used to being heard.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sKFJky">
Known as Forest Bluff, Vera-Bedolla’s neighborhood is on the east side of Interstate 35, where a vast share of the city’s Black and Hispanic populations reside. Her family moved there in 2017 after rising property taxes pushed them out of central Austin, drawn by cheaper real estate and more square footage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="THuRdR">
But the nearest major grocery store is more than 10 miles away and there is no public transportation, making it a food desert. Even under normal circumstances, the tap water sometimes runs brown. Many of her neighbors are undocumented immigrants who live paycheck to paycheck and are ineligible for public benefits. Her 24-year-old son is reluctant to visit because he’s been pulled over so many times by the Travis County Sheriff’s Department for no stated reason.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J1d38f">
When the record-breaking winter storm set in on Sunday night, dropping <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/15/record-austin-snowfall-spells-joy-kids/6752325002/">7.5 inches of snow</a> in parts of the county, it only exacerbated challenges that her community already faced.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zVIsDMzoOJPMW9KD9tLg-fWpY_E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317224/mnm_BedollaFamily_3124.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Gloria works from her living room. In addition to her day job, she works with the nonprofit Community Resilience Trust, which aims to address racial equity issues in Austin.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hRu1aO1Tx6ofb7YZWLyQoAZkEu0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317227/mnm_BedollaFamily_3138.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Roberto Bedolla with his daughter Daniela, 6, at the family’s kitchen table. The nearest major grocery store is more than 10 miles away.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/G4A5UIfoYTVkBJR5coYi-hScxbM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317229/mnm_BedollaFamily_3120.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Roberto cuts what is left of the firewood in front of his home. The family is down to their last few logs for their fireplace.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VlO5sO">
Unlike some in her neighborhood, Vera-Bedolla’s family never lost power, but their running water shut off, their furnace wasn’t working absent a sufficient supply of propane, and the flame on their gas stove was lower than a candle, making it hard to cook until her parents, who also live in Austin, delivered an electric hotplate on Thursday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yFRw1F">
She said she was in a better position than her neighbors, many of whom don’t have cars to access food or other supplies, have poorly insulated houses, and are elderly or caring for small children. One neighbor who does not have renters’ insurance and whose pipes froze and burst will have to pay out of pocket for the repairs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1aLmaM">
There wasn’t any help coming for Forest Bluff that Vera-Bedolla hadn’t requested herself as a liaison between her community and the city government, or from nonprofits working to administer relief. In addition to her day job in admissions for the Central Texas Allied Health Institute, she has been working with the nonprofit <a href="https://communityresiliencetrust.org/crt-cares/">Community Resilience Trust</a>, which is working to address racial equity issues in Austin.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5svAX2">
She had managed to procure 30 boxes of emergency food from <a href="https://www.centraltexasfoodbank.org/">Central Texas Food Bank</a> and was urging the city’s emergency operations center to deliver a truckload of water on Friday. Meanwhile, her husband Roberto Bedolla had been breaking up the ice on the streets to allow cars safe passage, since the city hadn’t sent anyone to their neighborhood to sand them.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zXsL3ns_d5JsCdZcIRLrapYhe2Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317240/mnm_BedollaFamily_3169.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Gloria and Roberto deliver disaster relief boxes to her neighbors.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wFCPAA">
“It’s awful. It’s criminal,” she said. “I feel like we’re being targeted, like we’re being killed off. You cut off our water. You cut off our fuel into our home. You cut off electricity for some people, and all they have is electrical appliances. It’s scary.”
</p>
<h3 id="xAlhtS">
The problem isn’t power anymore, but access to food and water
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b2bF9a">
Earlier in the week, the dangerously cold temperatures and collapse of the Texas power grid left millions in the state unable to heat their homes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KR2BLY">
Vera-Bedolla and her husband slept by their fireplace under layers of blankets in the living room, waking up periodically at night to feed the flames with an increasingly depleted supply of wood. By Friday, they were down to their last two logs. Meanwhile, their two daughters, 19-year-old Bianca and 6-year-old Daniela, slept in the same bedroom with an electric space heater to keep them warm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pK9Lnh">
They managed to keep the temperature to around 55 degrees in the warmest rooms of the house throughout the crisis, but her neighbors, whose houses were built with less insulation, were shivering in indoor temperatures in the 30s and 40s.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/auuvBfV-GAtG1cCadkIBXgM-fB4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317258/mnm_BedollaFamily_3129.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Gloria wraps herself in blankets while working from her living room.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DP4RIAM9Pcxm-6b0PdAMy3sJy5s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317250/mnm_BedollaFamily_3109.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Roberto sleeps on a couch in his living room near the fireplace to keep warm.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OPghRV">
On Friday, Texas began to thaw out, with temperatures rising to over 40 degrees in Austin. It is expected to continue warming up throughout the weekend, melting the ice that had made roads impassable and reducing pressure on the electric grid, which has restored service to all but about <a href="https://poweroutage.us/area/state/texas">58,000 residents</a> across the state as of late Saturday afternoon. And Vera-Bedolla said Friday that her gas supply had also resurged, allowing her to heat her house.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eSXYDh">
But Texans are now facing a residual crisis, of limited access to potable water and food. Many grocery stores closed for days and those that were open often had empty shelves, with delivery trucks unable to restock them until late in the week. Much of the state also remains under “boil water notices,” requiring residents to boil water for two minutes to kill any contaminants that could cause sickness, after frozen pipes burst in people’s homes and businesses and in public water mains, draining reservoirs to dangerously low levels.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xoJaBp">
In Forest Bluff, those who don’t own cars had no choice but to walk to nearby convenience stores, which charge exorbitant prices for food that is often expired. This week, Vera-Bedolla said she saw more than 150 people lining up outside the stores, which had at that point been “picked clean.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cLUFocNsCpG4YdnYEXFOLq3ki7c=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317264/mnm_BedollaFamily_3173.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Much of Texas has power back — but it still faces a residual crisis of limited access to potable water and food.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Iv5oQf">
The water pressure came back in her house on Friday night, but she was still urging the city emergency operations center to deliver 400 cases of bottled water to a nearby middle school so her neighbors don’t have to drink potentially contaminated water from the tap.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4qkzE7">
When she has been able to cook a meal this past week, she has been making extra and bringing it to whoever wants it, including two neighbors who have infants to care for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sAH7kB">
She also went door-to-door to deliver the emergency food boxes — packed with oatmeal, rice, spaghetti sauce, pasta, and canned beans, soups, and fruit — to people going hungry in her neighborhood. One woman was so grateful that she praised God, making the sign of the cross.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sBJ10P">
“I know it’s not going to be enough, but it’s going to relieve food insecurity for some families,” Vera-Bedolla said. “There are little kids going without.”
</p>
<div>
<div id="GymPlh">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<h3 id="TF5TrB">
Black and brown communities have been hit harder by the current crisis
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ro8nhv">
Vera-Bedolla said she feels abandoned by her government — and it’s not the first time she has felt that way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="088zz8">
“We’re fighting these systems that were not made for the success of Black and brown people,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5JcUYi">
Her frustrations are shared by people who have been seeking justice and more equitable treatment for people of color in Austin, which is among America’s most economically segregated cities, and its only high-growth city where Black people represent a <a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/page/top-ten-demographic-trends-austin-texas">declining share</a> of the population.
</p>
<aside id="ULGspz">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lvr77m">
When former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said earlier this week that Texans would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perry-says-texans-would-rather-blackouts-than-regulate-power-grid-2021-2">rather suffer blackouts</a> than hand over control of their power grid to the federal government, Chas Moore, the executive director of a grassroots organization called the Austin Justice Coalition, said that the comments felt far removed from the reality that minority communities face when catastrophe hits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9P6bns">
“If you’re in a house that’s not well insulated and you don’t have access to clean, healthy food, chances are your experience with this whole thing is going to be completely different,” he said. “We bear the brunt of the debacle when things go awry. There’s just no way for people in certain situations to survive disasters like this.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vzRGhx">
Quincy Dunlap, the president and CEO of the Austin Area Urban League, said that while city officials have done their best to respond to an unanticipated weather anomaly, it’s obvious that relief hasn’t been distributed in an equitable manner.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nYr3OX_imbmQhRLjBz5sjwSOois=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317273/mnm_BedollaFamily_3195.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The Bedolla family outside their home in Austin. Gloria says they are in a better position than her neighbors, many of whom don’t have cars, have poorly insulated houses, and are elderly or caring for small children.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yfXEWfh9DQDe5hhrXIwgsDvRNrk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22317274/mnm_BedollaFamily_3201.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Gloria hugs her daughter Daniela. “We’re fighting these systems that were not made for the success of Black and brown people,” says Gloria.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NOXC8A">
I-35 was built as a physical <a href="https://medium.com/the-healthy-city/keep-austin-divided-a-foundation-of-segregation-af40e5b35c3f">racial and economic</a> dividing line, and once again, it served its original purpose earlier this week: On the affluent west side, empty corporate offices in downtown Austin <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/16/austin-power-outage-why-downtown-exempt-lit-ercot/6763026002/">glowed</a> “like a Christmas tree,” never appearing to lose power or heat throughout the crisis, Dunlap said. Meanwhile, most of East Austin was in darkness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L3nBat">
“When we switch the power out, the people should have the power first, and not the businesses unless they are deemed essential to supporting the people in the crisis response,” Dunlap said. “There is no human value in that distribution of power. There was no equity there.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WHxcEX">
For Moore, it didn’t feel like a one-off incident.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e02Qj9">
“It’s not new. It’s not surprising,” he said. “It’s the boiling point for systemic oppression.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0WfFh4">
<a href="http://montinique.com/"><em><strong>Montinique Monroe</strong></em></a><em> is a photojournalist in Austin, Texas, where she was born and raised. She contributed reporting for this article. </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>India net session: Kohli’s men get used to swinging pink ball, swanky stadium</strong> - While Jasprit Bumrah bracing for a comeback, Ishant Sharma is on the cusp of playing his 100th Test.</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>Australian Open 2021 | Djokovic beats Medvedev for ninth title, 18th Slam</strong> - Novak Djokovic has won six of the last 10 major tournaments and is assured of remaining at No. 1 in the rankings</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>Wasn’t unexpected: Aaron Finch on going unsold at IPL auctions</strong> - Aaron Finch had a forgettable IPL 2020 in the UAE, where he averaged just 22.3 with only one 50-plus score for RCB.</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 will have edge over India in pink ball Test despite home team’s unbelievable seam attack: Crawley</strong> - The 23-year-old is well aware that the hosts are armed with a potent seam attack.</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 feeling is surreal, says Suryakumar Yadav</strong> - Suryakumar was overlooked for the limited overs matches in Australia late last year despite a fine IPL</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>India-China disengagement raises hopes for GM-GWM deal, but many hurdles remain</strong> - Re-employment is a sticky point as Chinese firm has not given specific assurances to Talegaon staff</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>Suspicion cannot take the place of proof: Supreme Court</strong> - “An accused is presumed to be innocent unless proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Bench said</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>Indo-U.S. exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ comes to an end in Rajasthan</strong> - The closing ceremony was held at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges.</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>Anti-ULFA mood builds up in Assam over threat to kill 2 hostages</strong> - CM appeals for release of employees of oil exploration firm; activists slam ULFA for tarnishing Assam’s image</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>Mehbooba presses Centre for talks with people of J&amp;K</strong> - The PDP president, while visiting the family of a slain policeman, said J&amp;K issue can be solved only through dialogue between India and Pakistan.</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>How European businesses are adapting to Brexit</strong> - Companies doing business between Europe and the UK talk to the BBC about the impact of the new rules.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Greece #Metoo: Prominent actor Dimitris Lignadis held over rape accusations</strong> - The ex-boss of Greece’s national theatre faces underage rape allegations - the charges he denies.</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>Pablo Hasel: Luxury stores looted and vehicles ablaze in Barcelona protests</strong> - The arrest of the Catalan rapper has ignited a debate over freedom of speech in Spain.</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>Alexei Navalny: Putin critic loses appeal against jailing</strong> - The prominent Putin critic was jailed on charges of breaking the terms of a suspended sentence.</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>Bird flu: Russia detects first case of H5N8 bird flu in humans</strong> - Workers have been infected at a poultry plant - but there is no sign of transmission between humans.</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>The AI research paper was real. The “co-author” wasn’t</strong> - An MIT professor found his name on two papers with which he had no connection. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1743891">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New malware found on 30,000 Macs has security pros stumped</strong> - With no payload, analysts are struggling to learn what this mature malware does. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1744063">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As coronavirus variants spread, the US struggles to keep up</strong> - Without federal strategy or enough funding, US sequencing superpowers don’t work. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1743898">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s new in the first Android 12 Developer Preview</strong> - Lots of hidden features, and hints that the leak from the other day is true. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1743550">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Diablo II Resurrected tops BlizzCon announcement flurry</strong> - Expected announcements for <em>Diablo IV</em>, <em>Diablo Immortal</em>, <em>Hearthstone</em>, more. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1743883">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>What do you get for winning a muscle loss competition?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Atrophy.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/VERBERD"> /u/VERBERD </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/logfot/what_do_you_get_for_winning_a_muscle_loss/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/logfot/what_do_you_get_for_winning_a_muscle_loss/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I like my reddit posts the same way I like my girlfriends bra</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
[removed]
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ChickenChimpanreeeee"> /u/ChickenChimpanreeeee </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/louzey/i_like_my_reddit_posts_the_same_way_i_like_my/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/louzey/i_like_my_reddit_posts_the_same_way_i_like_my/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Warning: 18+</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
19
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cyanide-tastes-lit"> /u/cyanide-tastes-lit </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lo51sv/warning_18/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lo51sv/warning_18/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Unexpectedly, an artist’s wife started having sex with him every day.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Though quite unusual, he didn’t question his luck, deciding to just enjoy the ride.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One day, his wife approached him. “Honey? Can you sketch a picture for me?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Of course!” he replied. “What should I draw?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What you think our baby will look like.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He stared back at her, eyes wide. Then, sighing heavily, he grabbed a pencil and pad, quickly sketched out a picture, and pushed it toward her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What the hell is this?” she laughed, surveying the page. It was just a stick figure firing a gun at another stick figure, smiling, with no wounds showing on his stick body. “I <em>asked</em> you to imagine what our baby would look like!” she repeated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“And <em>I</em> got a vasectomy five years ago,” he said. “So I drew a blank.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/KairuSmairukon"> /u/KairuSmairukon </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lok04v/unexpectedly_an_artists_wife_started_having_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lok04v/unexpectedly_an_artists_wife_started_having_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Ted Cruz almost made America great again….</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
…but then the idiot came back
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Justlikeyourmoma"> /u/Justlikeyourmoma </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lorjcj/ted_cruz_almost_made_america_great_again/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lorjcj/ted_cruz_almost_made_america_great_again/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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