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<title>17 May, 2023</title>
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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>Defining distinct RNA-protein interactomes of SARS-CoV-2 genomic and subgenomic RNAs</strong> -
<div>
Host RNA binding proteins recognize viral RNA and play key roles in virus replication and antiviral defense mechanisms. SARS-CoV-2 generates a series of tiered subgenomic RNAs (sgRNAs), each encoding distinct viral protein(s) that regulate different aspects of viral replication. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate the successful isolation of SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNA and three distinct sgRNAs (N, S, and ORF8) from a single population of infected cells and characterize their protein interactomes. Over 500 protein interactors (including 260 previously unknown) were identified as associated with one or more target RNA at either of two time points. These included protein interactors unique to a single RNA pool and others present in multiple pools, highlighting our ability to discriminate between distinct viral RNA interactomes despite high sequence similarity. The interactomes indicated viral associations with cell response pathways including regulation of cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein granules and posttranscriptional gene silencing. We validated the significance of five protein interactors predicted to exhibit antiviral activity (APOBEC3F, TRIM71, PPP1CC, LIN28B, and MSI2) using siRNA knockdowns, with each knockdown yielding increases in viral production. This study describes new technology for studying SARS-CoV-2 and reveals a wealth of new viral RNA-associated host factors of potential functional significance to infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.15.540806v1" target="_blank">Defining distinct RNA-protein interactomes of SARS-CoV-2 genomic and subgenomic RNAs</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Disparities in COVID-19-related trauma and internalizing symptoms across sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and their intersection during the pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Sexual minority individuals face elevated risk for internalizing problems due to minority stress, and internalizing problems may have been exacerbated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined sexual orientation- and race/ethnicity-related mental health disparities during the first four months of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. We investigated disparities in COVID-19-related trauma (CRT) and internalizing symptoms (depression, anxiety) in a university community sample via surveys in March-April (Wave 1) and May-June 2020 (Wave 2) cross-sectionally using t-tests and longitudinally using residualized change score regressions. The analytic sample (N = 646; M age = 25.70, SD age = 10.16 at Wave 1) comprised 350 (54.2%) non-Hispanic White and 296 (45.8%) racial/ethnic minority participants; and 514 (79.6%) heterosexual and 132 (20.4%) sexual minority participants. Except for Wave 1 CRT, sexual minority individuals reported greater symptomatology than heterosexual individuals across all outcomes at each wave and racial/ethnic minority individuals reported no differences in outcomes compared to non-Hispanic White individuals. Longitudinally, sexual minority individuals reported less recovery from CRT compared to heterosexual individuals. No similar longitudinal disparities were identified across race/ethnicity. These findings build upon a growing body of literature of mental health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results highlight the importance of examining CRT to understand the effects of the pandemic on minoritized populations, particularly sexual minority individuals. Further work is needed to elucidate the potential exacerbating effects of minority stress on these disparities.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/5jsz9/" target="_blank">Disparities in COVID-19-related trauma and internalizing symptoms across sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and their intersection during the pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Quantifying and Realizing the Benefits of Targeting for Pandemic Response</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To respond to pandemics such as COVID-19, policy makers have relied on interventions that target specific population groups or activities. Because targeting is operationally challenging and contentious, rigorously quantifying its benefits and designing practically implementable policies that achieve some of these benefits is critical for effective and equitable pandemic control. We propose a flexible framework that leverages publicly available data and a novel optimization algorithm based on model predictive control and trust region methods to compute optimized interventions that can target two dimensions of heterogeneity: age groups and the specific activities that individuals normally engage in. We showcase a complete implementation focused on the Ile-de-France region of France and use this case study to quantify the benefits of dual targeting and to propose practically implementable policies. We find that dual targeting can lead to Pareto improvements, reducing the number of deaths and the economic losses. Additionally, dual targeting allows maintaining higher activity levels for most age groups and, importantly, for those groups that are most confined, thus leading to confinements that are arguably more equitable. We then fit decision trees to explain the decisions and gains of dual-targeted policies and find that they prioritize confinements intuitively, by allowing increased activity levels for group-activity pairs with high marginal economic value prorated by social contacts, which generates important complementarities. Because dual targeting can face significant implementation challenges, we introduce two practical proposals inspired by real-world interventions - based on curfews and recommendations - that achieve a significant portion of the benefits without explicitly discriminating based on age.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.23.21254155v6" target="_blank">Quantifying and Realizing the Benefits of Targeting for Pandemic Response</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effectiveness of Sotrovimab and Molnupiravir in community settings in England across the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 sublineages: emulated target trials using the OpenSAFELY platform</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background The effectiveness of COVID-19 monoclonal antibody and antiviral therapies against severe COVID-19 outcomes is unclear. Initial benefit was shown in unvaccinated patients and before the Omicron variant emerged. We used the OpenSAFELY platform to emulate target trials to estimate the effectiveness of sotrovimab or molnupiravir, versus no treatment. Methods With the approval of NHS England, we derived population-based cohorts of non-hospitalised high-risk individuals in England testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 during periods of dominance of the BA.1 (16/12/2021-10/02/2022) and BA.2 (11/02/2022-21/05/2022) Omicron sublineages. We used the clone-censor-weight approach to estimate the effect of treatment with sotrovimab or molnupiravir initiated within 5 days after positive test versus no treatment. Hazard ratios (HR) for COVID-19 hospitalisation or death within 28 days were estimated using weighted Cox models. Results Of the 35,856 [BA.1 period] and 39,192 [BA.2 period] patients, 1,830 [BA.1] and 1,242 [BA.2] were treated with molnupiravir and 2,244 [BA.1] and 4,164 [BA.2] with sotrovimab. The estimated HRs for molnupiravir versus untreated were 1.00 (95%CI: 0.81;1.22) [BA.1] and 1.22 (0.96;1.56) [BA.2]; corresponding HRs for sotrovimab versus untreated were 0.76 (0.66;0.89) [BA.1] and 0.92 (0.79;1.06) [BA.2]. Interpretation Compared with no treatment, sotrovimab was associated with reduced risk of adverse outcomes after COVID-19 in the BA.1 period, but there was weaker evidence of benefit in the BA2 period. Molnupiravir was not associated with reduced risk in either period.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289914v1" target="_blank">Effectiveness of Sotrovimab and Molnupiravir in community settings in England across the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 sublineages: emulated target trials using the OpenSAFELY platform</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predictors of Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: A One-Year Case-Control Study</strong> -
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Objective: To determine the associated factors with mortality, in addition to age and sex, in a high-complexity hospital in Bogota, Colombia, during the first year of the pandemic. Design: A case-control study. Setting: High-complexity center above 2,640 meters above sea level (masl) in Colombia. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 564 patients admitted to the hospital with confirmed COVID-19. Deceased patients (n: 282) and a control group (n: 282), matched by age, sex, and month of admission, were included. Clinical and paraclinical variables were retrospectively obtained by systematic revision of clinical records. Multiple imputations by chained equation (MICE) were implemented to account for missing variables. Classification and regression trees (CART) were estimated to evaluate the interaction of associated factors on admission and their role in predicting mortality during hospitalization. Results: Most of the patients included were males in the seventh decade of life. Most of the admissions occurred between July and August 2021. Surprisingly, recovered patients reported heterogeneous symptomatology, whereas deceased patients were most likely to present respiratory distress, dyspnea, and seizures on admission. In addition, the latter group exhibited a higher burden of comorbidities and alterations in laboratory parameters. After the imputation of datasets, CART analysis estimated 14 clinical profiles based on respiratory distress, LDH, dyspnea, hemoglobin, D-dimer, ferritin, blood urea nitrogen, C-reactive protein, PaO2/FiO2, dysgeusia, total bilirubin, platelets, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. The accuracy model for prediction was 85.6% (P &lt; 0.0001). Conclusion: Multivariate analysis yielded a reliable model to predict mortality in COVID-19. This analysis revealed new interactions between clinical and paraclinical features in addition to age and sex. Furthermore, this predictive model could offer new clues for the personalized management of this condition in clinical settings. Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Mortality, Predictors, Risk Factors
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289918v1" target="_blank">Predictors of Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: A One-Year Case-Control Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immunoglobulin A as a key immunological molecular signature of post-COVID-19 conditions</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 has infected humans worldwide, causing millions of deaths or prolonged symptoms in survivors. The transient or persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection have been defined as post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC). We conducted a study of 151 Brazilian PCC patients to analyze symptoms and immunoglobulin profiles, taking into account gender, vaccination, hospitalization and age. Fatigue and myalgia were the most common symptoms and lack of vaccination, hospitalization, and neuropsychiatric and metabolic comorbidities were relevant for the development of PCC. Analysis of serological immunoglobulins showed that IgA was higher in PCC patients, especially in the adult and elderly groups. Also, non-hospitalized and hospitalized PCC patients produced high and similar levels of IgA. Our results indicated that the detection of IgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 during the course of the disease could be associated with the development of PCC and may be an immunological signature to predict prolonged symptoms in COVID-19 patients.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.11.23289866v1" target="_blank">Immunoglobulin A as a key immunological molecular signature of post-COVID-19 conditions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Hesitancy Among People With HIV in Freetown, Sierra Leone: A Cross-sectional Study</strong> -
<div>
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Objectives: People living with HIV (PWH) are at increased risk of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality, yet less is known about COVID-19 vaccination uptake and hesitancy, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine uptake and hesitancy among PWH in Sierra Leone. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a convenience sample of PWH in routine care at Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone from April through June 2022. We collected sociodemographic and health-related data. We used the VAX Scale, a validated instrument to assess attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. From the responses, we constructed hesitancy (VAX) scores, with higher scores implying negative attitudes toward vaccination. We used generalized linear models to identify factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. Results: A total of 490 PWH were enrolled (71.4% female, median age 38 years, median CD4 count 412 cells/mm3, 83.9% virologically suppressed). About 17.3% had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The mean VAX score was 43.14 ± 7.05, corresponding to 59.9% of participants classified as vaccine-hesitant. Preference for natural immunity (65.8%) and concerns about commercial profiteering (64.4%) were the commonest reasons for hesitancy, followed by mistrust of vaccine benefits (61.4%) and worries about future side effects (48.0%). In adjusted regression analysis, being Muslim (β = 2.563, p &lt; 0.001) and residence in urban areas (β = 1.709, p = 0.010) were associated with greater vaccine hesitancy, while having tested ever for COVID-19 was associated with lesser vaccine hesitancy (β = -3.417, p = 0.027). Conclusion: We observed a low COVID-19 vaccine uptake and high hesitancy among PWH in Sierra Leone. Our findings underscore the need to address vaccine hesitancy as a critical element of efforts to boost COVID-19 vaccine uptake among this population in Sierra Leone.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.11.23289882v1" target="_blank">Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Hesitancy Among People With HIV in Freetown, Sierra Leone: A Cross-sectional Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Outbreak of a carbapenem-resistant XDR Acinetobacter baumannii belonging to the International Clone II (IC2) in a clinical setting in Brazil, 2022</strong> -
<div>
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Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) is a leading cause of nosocomial infections worldwide, and the occurrence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) lineages among them is increasing. Most of A. baumannii pandemic lineages, known as International clones, are represented by MDR/XDR CRAB strains. The IC2 is considered one of the most successful and widespread pandemic clones, however, it is rare in South America, where IC1, IC4 and IC5 are prevalent. In Brazil, besides sporadic reports, an IC2 outbreak was reported only once in Sao Paulo city during the COVID-19 pandemics. This study characterized an outbreak caused by IC2 strains (n=16) in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro in 2022. MLST (MLST Pasteur scheme) analysis revealed that all strains recovered from nosocomial infections belonged to ST2 and corresponded to CRAB presenting the XDR phenotype. In general, this broad resistance spectrum was explained by the presence of several antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (armA, blaTEM, blaOXA-23, blaOXA-66, and aacA4-catB8-aadA1-qacEdelta1/sul1 carried in class 1 integron). Interestingly, the strains characterized here presented a broader resistance spectrum compared to those of the unique other and contemporary IC2 outbreak in Brazil, although they shared most of the ARGs. This study stressed the possibility of the successful establishment of IC2 in Brazilian clinical settings during and after the COVID-19 pandemics in response to a series of events, such as the overuse of antibiotics, during that period.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289862v1" target="_blank">Outbreak of a carbapenem-resistant XDR Acinetobacter baumannii belonging to the International Clone II (IC2) in a clinical setting in Brazil, 2022</a>
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<li><strong>Absolute and relative excess mortality across demographic and clinical subgroups during the COVID-19 pandemic: an individual-level cohort study from a nationwide healthcare system of US Veterans</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background. Most analyses of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic have employed aggregate data. Individual-level data from the largest integrated healthcare system in the US may enhance understanding of excess mortality. Methods. We performed an observational cohort study following patients receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) between 1 March 2018 and 28 February 2022. We estimated excess mortality on an absolute scale (i.e., excess mortality rates, number of excess deaths), and a relative scale by measuring the hazard ratio (HR) for mortality comparing pandemic and pre-pandemic periods, overall, and within demographic and clinical subgroups. Comorbidity burden and frailty were measured using the Charlson Comorbidity Index and Veterans Aging Cohort Study Index, respectively. Results. Of 5,905,747 patients, median age was 65.8 years and 91% were men. Overall, the excess mortality rate was 10.0 deaths/1000 person-years (PY), with a total of 103,164 excess deaths and pandemic HR of 1.25 (95% CI 1.25-1.26). Excess mortality rates were highest among the most frail patients (52.0/1000 PY) and those with the highest comorbidity burden (16.3/1000 PY). However, the largest relative mortality increases were observed among the least frail (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.30-1.32) and those with the lowest comorbidity burden (HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.43-1.46). Conclusions. Individual-level data offered crucial clinical and operational insights into US excess mortality patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notable differences emerged among clinical risk groups, emphasising the need for reporting excess mortality in both absolute and relative terms to inform resource allocation in future outbreaks.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289900v1" target="_blank">Absolute and relative excess mortality across demographic and clinical subgroups during the COVID-19 pandemic: an individual-level cohort study from a nationwide healthcare system of US Veterans</a>
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<li><strong>Heterogeneous changes in mobility in response to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 outbreak in Shanghai</strong> -
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the measures taken by authorities to control its spread had altered human behavior and mobility patterns in an unprecedented way. However, it remains unclear whether the population response to a COVID-19 outbreak varies within a city or among demographic groups. Here we utilized passively recorded cellular signaling data at a spatial resolution of 1km x 1km for over 5 million users and epidemiological surveillance data collected during the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 outbreak from February to June 2022 in Shanghai, China, to investigate the heterogeneous response of different segments of the population at the within-city level and examine its relationship with the actual risk of infection. Changes in behavior were spatially heterogenous within the city and population groups, and associated with both the infection incidence and adopted interventions. We also found that males and individuals aged 30-59 years old traveled more frequently, traveled longer distances, and their communities were more connected; the same groups were also associated with the highest SARS-CoV-2 incidence. Our results highlight the heterogeneous behavioral change of the Shanghai population to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 outbreak and the its effect on the heterogenous spread of COVID-19, both spatially and demographically. These findings could be instrumental for the design of targeted interventions for the control and mitigation of future outbreaks of COVID-19 and, more broadly, of respiratory pathogens.
</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289890v1" target="_blank">Heterogeneous changes in mobility in response to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 outbreak in Shanghai</a>
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<li><strong>A Bayesian System to Track Outbreaks of Influenza-Like Illnesses Including Novel Diseases</strong> -
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It would be highly desirable to have a tool that detects the outbreak of a new influenza-like illness, such as COVID-19, accurately and early. This paper describes the ILI Tracker algorithm that first models the daily occurrence of a set of known influenza-like illnesses in a hospital emergency department using findings extracted from patient-care reports using natural language processing. We include results based on modeling the diseases influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza for five emergency departments in Allegheny County Pennsylvania from June 1, 2010 through May 31, 2015. We then show how the algorithm can be extended to detect the presence of an unmodeled disease which may represent a novel disease outbreak. We also include results for detecting an outbreak of an unmodeled disease during the mentioned time period, which in retrospect was very likely an outbreak of Enterovirus D68.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.10.23289799v1" target="_blank">A Bayesian System to Track Outbreaks of Influenza-Like Illnesses Including Novel Diseases</a>
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<li><strong>Regularized COVID-19 Forecast Ensemble Methods</strong> -
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Forecasts of COVID-19 outcomes play an essential role in alerting public health and government officials to the trajectory of the pandemic. The sudden and critical need for these forecasts spurred both the proliferation of diverse epidemiological transmission models from academia and industry across the United States and efforts to standardize and curate these model outputs. In many scientific domains, ensemble models, where individual forecasts are aggregated into one, have demonstrated smaller forecasting error than the individual models from which they are constructed. Using COVID-19 deaths as an index outcome, we developed and evaluated several ensemble approaches where point forecast models were combined via weighted sums based on historical individual model or ensemble model performance. We found that a simple method that minimized the error of the past performance of individual models and used L2 regularization to encourage broader distribution of weights across models outperformed a baseline mean ensemble and all other tested methods across US states for both absolute error and weighted interval scores. This suggests that performance-based ensembles can produce accurate forecasts despite training on only point forecasts and recent historical data, provided that sufficient regularization and constraints are used to capture uncertainty. Availability of an accurate and explainable ensemble forecast model can increase trust among stakeholders and the general public, thus bettering preparedness and response efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289872v1" target="_blank">Regularized COVID-19 Forecast Ensemble Methods</a>
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<li><strong>Disrupted seasonality and association of COVID-19 with medically attended respiratory syncytial virus infections among young children in the US: January 2010-January 2023</strong> -
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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections and hospitalizations surged sharply in 2022 among young children. To assess whether COVID-19 contributed to this surge, we leveraged a real-time nation-wide US database of electronic health records (EHRs) using time series analysis from January 1, 2010 through January 31, 2023, and propensity-score matched cohort comparisons for children aged 0-5 years with or without prior COVID-19 infection. Seasonal patterns of medically attended RSV infections were significantly disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The monthly incidence rate for first-time medically attended cases, most of which were severe RSV-associated diseases, reached a historical high rate of 2,182 cases per 1,0000,000 person-days in November 2022, corresponding to a related increase of 143% compared to expected peak rate (rate ratio: 2.43, 95% CI: 2.25-2.63). Among 228,940 children aged 0-5 years, the risk for first-time medically attended RSV during 10/2022-12/2022 was 6.40% for children with prior COVID-19 infection, higher than 4.30% for the matched children without COVID-19 (risk ratio or RR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.27-1.55); and among 99,105 children aged 0-1 year, the overall risk was 7.90% for those with prior COVID-19 infection, higher than 5.64% for matched children without (RR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.21-1.62). These data provide evidence that COVID-19 contributed to the 2022 surge of severe pediatric RSV cases.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.12.23289898v1" target="_blank">Disrupted seasonality and association of COVID-19 with medically attended respiratory syncytial virus infections among young children in the US: January 2010-January 2023</a>
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<li><strong>Composite interventions on outcomes of severely and critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Shanghai, China</strong> -
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Abstract Background: The sixty-day effects of initial composite interventions for the treatment of severely and critically ill patients with COVID-19 are not fully assessed. Methods: Using a bayesian piecewise exponential model, we analyzed the 60-day mortality, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and disability in 1082 severely and critically patients with COVID-19 between December 8, 2022 and February 9, 2023 in Shanghai, China. The final 60-day follow-up was completed on April 10, 2023. Results: Among 1082 patients (mean age, 78.0 years), 421 [38.9%] women), 139 patients (12.9%) died within 60 days. Azvudine had a 99.8% probability of improving 2-month survival (adjusted HR, 0.44 [95% credible interval, 0.24-0.79]) and Paxlovid had a 91.9% probability of improving 2-month survival (adjusted HR, 0.71 [95% credible interval, 0.44-1.14]) compared with the control. IL-6 receptor antagonist, Baricitinib, and a-thymosin each had a high probability of benefit (99.5%, 99.4%, and 97.5%, respectively) compared to their controls, while the probability of trail-defined statistical futility (HR &gt;0.83) was high for therapeutic anticoagulation (99.8%; HR, 1.64 [95% CrI, 1.06-2.50]), and glucocorticoid (91.4%; HR, 1.20 [95% CrI, 0.71-2.16]). Paxlovid, Azvudine and therapeutic anticoagulation showed significant reduction in disability (p&lt;0.05) Conclusions: Among severely and critically ill patients with COVID-19 who received 1 or more therapeutic interventions, treatment with Azvudine had a high probability of improved 60-day mortality compared with the control, indicating its potential in resource-limited scenario. Treatment with IL-6 receptor antagonist, Baricitinib, and a-thymosin also had high probabilities of benefit of improving 2-month survival, among which a-thymosin could improve HRQoL. Treatment with Paxlovid, Azvudine and therapeutic anticoagulation could significantly reduce disability at day 60. Keyword: COVID-19; Azvudine; Paxlovid; Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist; Baricitinib, α-thymosin, Intravenous immunoglobulin
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.10.23289325v2" target="_blank">Composite interventions on outcomes of severely and critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Shanghai, China</a>
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<li><strong>Pre-pandemic humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
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Objective: To assess the evidence on the presence of antibodies cross-reactive with SARS-CoV-2 antigens in pre-pandemic samples from African populations. Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies evaluating pre-pandemic African samples using pre-set assay-specific thresholds for SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. Results: 26 articles with 156 datasets were eligible, including 3,437 positives among 29,923 measurements (11.5%) with large between-dataset heterogeneity. Positivity was similar for anti-N (14%) and anti-S antibodies (11%), higher for anti-S1 (23%) and lower for anti-RBD antibodies (7%). Positivity was similar, on average, for IgM and IgG. Positivity was seen prominently in countries where malaria transmission occurs throughout and in datasets enriched in malaria cases (14%, 95% CI, 12-15% versus 2%, 95% CI 1-2% in other datasets). Substantial SARS-CoV-2 reactivity was seen in high malaria burden with or without high dengue burden (14% and 12%, respectively), and not without high malaria burden (2% and 0%, respectively). Lower SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactivity was seen in countries and cohorts of high HIV seroprevalence. More sparse individual-level data showed associations of higher SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactivity with Plasmodium parasitemia and lower SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactivity with HIV seropositivity. Conclusions: Pre-pandemic samples from Africa show high levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. Levels of cross-reactivity tracks especially with malaria prevalence.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.07.22280814v3" target="_blank">Pre-pandemic humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
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</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Standard of Care Combined With Glucocorticoid in Elderly People With Mild or Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Glucocorticoid<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Huashan Hospital<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>Conducting Clinical Trials of the Medicine “Rutan Tablets 0.1g” No. 10 in the Complex Therapy of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Patients With COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: The drug “Rutan 0.1”.;   Other: Basic treatment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Research Institute of Virology, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan<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>Arginine Replacement Therapy in COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Arginine Hydrochloride<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Emory University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effectiveness of a Second COVID-19 Vaccine Booster in Chinese Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Intramuscularly administered Ad5-nCoV vaccine;   Biological: Aerosolized Ad5-nCoV;   Biological: DelNS1-2019-nCoV-RBD-OPT1;   Biological: SYS6006<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<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>A Pilot Study Evaluating the Efficacy of the Vielight Neuro RX Gamma in the Treatment of Post COVID-19 Cognitive Impairment</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post COVID-19 Cognitive Impairment<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Vielight Neuro RX Gamma active device;   Device: Vielight Neuro RX Gamma sham device<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Vielight Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PAxlovid loNg cOvid-19 pRevention triAl With recruitMent In the Community in Norway</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post COVID-19 Condition, Unspecified;   SARS-CoV2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Haukeland University Hospital;   University of Bergen<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>Working Towards Empowered Community-driven Approaches to Increase Vaccination and Preventive Care Engagement</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: mHealth Outreach;   Other: Care Coordination<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, San Diego;   San Ysidro Health Center<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Role of Vit-D Supplementation on BioNTech, Pfizer Vaccine Side Effect and Immunoglobulin G Response</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Combination Product: Vitamin-D<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sulaimany Polytechnic university<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>REVERSE-Long COVID-19 With Baricitinib Pilot Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Baricitinib 4 MG<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Vanderbilt University Medical Center;   Emory University;   University of California, San Francisco;   University of Minnesota;   Vanderbilt University;   Yale University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of Alveavax-v1.2, a BA.2/Omicron-optimized, DNA Vaccine for COVID-19 Prevention</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Sars-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Alveavax-v1.2;   Drug: Janssen Ad26.COV2.S<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Alvea Holdings, LLC<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>Post Covid-19 Dysautonomia Rehabilitation Randomized Controlled Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome;   Dysautonomia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Procedure: Rehabilitation;   Procedure: Standard of Care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Evangelismos Hospital;   National and Kapodistrian University of Athens;   LONG COVID GREECE;   414 Military Hospital of Special Diseases<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 Vaccination Detoxification in LDL-C</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Stress Syndrome;   COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Reaction;   COVID-19-Associated Thromboembolism;   COVID-19 Post-Intensive Care Syndrome;   COVID-19-Associated Stroke;   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Combination Product: Atorvastatin Calcium Tablets<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Yang I. Pachankis<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>Exercise for Health in Patients With Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long COVID<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Rehabilitation program<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Campus docent Sant Joan de Déu-Universitat de Barcelona;   Hospital de Mataró;   University of Barcelona<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>Digital Multimodal Rehabilitation for People With Post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: RehabCovid_Telematic;   Behavioral: RehabCovid_ImmersiveVR;   Behavioral: Control_Condition<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa;   University of Barcelona;   Universitat de Girona;   Unitat Assistencial i Preventiva de l’Esport- Centre d’Alt rendiment;   Politecnic University of Catalonia;   Corporación Fisiogestión<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>Understanding the Determinants of Mucosal Immunity and Optimizing the Diagnosis of Infection With SARS-CoV-2 Variants</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Blood sample collection;   Other: Saliva sample collection;   Other: Nasopharyngeal and nasal sample collection;   Other: Exhaled Breath Condensate (EBC)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Institut Pasteur;   Biogroup Laboratoire de biologie médicale<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compounds from myrtle flowers as antibacterial agents and SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors: <em>In-vitro</em> and molecular docking studies</strong> - Plants and their related phytochemicals play a key role in the treatment of bacterial and viral infections, which inspire scientists to design and develop more efficient drugs starting from the phytochemical active scaffold. This work aims to characterize the chemical compounds of Myrtus communis essential oil (EO) from Algeria and to evaluate its in vitro antibacterial effect, as well as the in silico anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. The chemical profile of hydrodistilled EO from myrtle flowers was…</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>Declined Humoral Immunity of Kidney Transplant Recipients to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines</strong> - CONCLUSION: KTRs’ humoral response after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is dramatically inhibited and wanes. Antibody levels show a significant decline over time in KTRs with hypertension; receiving triple immunosuppressive therapy or steroid-based or antimetabolite-based regimens; receiving mixed mRNA and viral vector vaccines; and with a transplant of &gt;10 years.</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>Interactive network pharmacology and electrochemical analysis reveals electron transport-mediating characteristics of Chinese medicine formula Jing Guan Fang</strong> - BACKGROUND: Jing Guan Fang (JGF) is an anti-COVID-19 Chinese Medicine decoction comprised of five medicinal herbs to possess anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties for treatment. This study aims to electrochemically decipher the anti-coronavirus activity of JGF and show that microbial fuel cells may serve as a platform for screening efficacious herbal medicines and providing scientific bases for the mechanism of action (MOA) of TCMs.</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>Physicochemical characterization of reusable facemasks and theoretical adhesion by a challenged bacterium</strong> - CONCLUSION: Such information is valuable to understand attachment of biological particles and to contribute in the inhibition of this attachment.</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 of SARS-CoV-2 antivirals through a cell-based RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) reporter assay</strong> - COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2) continues to pose an international public health threat and thus far, has resulted in greater than 6.4 million deaths worldwide. Vaccines are critical tools to limit COVID-19 spread, but antiviral drug development is an ongoing global priority due to fast-spreading COVID-19 variants that may elude vaccine efficacies. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2 is an essential…</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 Omicron sub-lineages differentially modulate interferon response in human lung epithelial cells</strong> - Although most of the attention was focused on the characterization of changes in the Spike protein among variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus, mutations outside the Spike region are likely to contribute to virus pathogenesis, virus adaptation and escape to the immune system. Phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strains reveals that several virus sub-lineages could be distinguished, from BA.1 up to BA.5. Regarding BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5, several mutations concern viral proteins with antagonistic…</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>Purification and characterisation of heparin-like sulfated polysaccharides with potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity from snail mucus of Achatina fulica</strong> - Heparin-like sulfated polysaccharide, acharan sulfate, was purified from the mucus of an African giant snail with unique sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). This study reported on finding novel and safe heparin resources from Achatina fulica for further use as well as easy isolation and purification of the active fraction from the initial raw material. Its structure was characterised by a strong-anion exchange combined with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and nuclear magnetic…</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>Structure-guided optimization of adenosine mimetics as selective and potent inhibitors of coronavirus nsp14 N7-methyltransferases</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic reveals the urgent need to develop new therapeutics targeting the SARS-CoV-2 replication machinery. The first antiviral drugs were nucleoside analogues targeting RdRp and protease inhibitors active on nsp5 Mpro. In addition to these common antiviral targets, SARS-CoV-2 codes for the highly conserved protein nsp14 harbouring N7-methyltransferase (MTase) activity. Nsp14 is involved in cap N7-methylation of viral RNA and its inhibition impairs viral RNA translation and immune…</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>Immunization with Recombinant Accessory Protein-Deficient SARS-CoV-2 Protects against Lethal Challenge and Viral Transmission</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to a worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Despite the high efficacy of the authorized vaccines, there may be uncertain and unknown side effects or disadvantages associated with current vaccination approaches. Live-attenuated vaccines (LAVs) have been shown to elicit robust and long-term protection by the induction of host innate and adaptive immune responses. In this study, we sought to verify an attenuation…</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 Enters Human Leydig Cells and Affects Testosterone Production In Vitro</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a SARS-like coronavirus, continues to produce mounting infections and fatalities all over the world. Recent data point to SARS-CoV-2 viral infections in the human testis. As low testosterone levels are associated with SARS-CoV-2 viral infections in males and human Leydig cells are the main source of testosterone, we hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 could infect human Leydig cells and impair their function. We successfully detected…</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>NLRP3 Inflammasome’s Activation in Acute and Chronic Brain Diseases-An Update on Pathogenetic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Perspectives with Respect to Other Inflammasomes</strong> - Increasingly prevalent acute and chronic human brain diseases are scourges for the elderly. Besides the lack of therapies, these ailments share a neuroinflammation that is triggered/sustained by different innate immunity-related protein oligomers called inflammasomes. Relevant neuroinflammation players such as microglia/monocytes typically exhibit a strong NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Hence the idea that NLRP3 suppression might solve neurodegenerative ailments. Here we review the recent…</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>Structural and non-structural proteins in SARS-CoV-2: potential aspects to COVID-19 treatment or prevention of progression of related diseases</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a new member of the Coronaviridae family known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There are structural and non-structural proteins (NSPs) in the genome of this virus. S, M, H, and E proteins are structural proteins, and NSPs include accessory and replicase proteins. The structural and NSP components of SARS-CoV-2 play an important role in its infectivity, and some of them may be important in the pathogenesis 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>Pan-sarbecovirus prophylaxis with human anti-ACE2 monoclonal antibodies</strong> - Human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that target the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein have been isolated from convalescent individuals and developed into therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, therapeutic mAbs for SARS-CoV-2 have been rendered obsolete by the emergence of mAb-resistant virus variants. Here we report the generation of a set of six human mAbs that bind the human angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (hACE2) receptor, rather than 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>A peptide derived from HSP60 reduces proinflammatory cytokines and soluble mediators: a therapeutic approach to inflammation</strong> - Cytokines are secretion proteins that mediate and regulate immunity and inflammation. They are crucial in the progress of acute inflammatory diseases and autoimmunity. In fact, the inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines has been widely tested in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Some of these inhibitors have been used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients to improve survival rates. However, controlling the extent of inflammation with cytokine inhibitors is still a challenge because…</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>Novel targeted inhibition of the IL-5 axis for drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms syndrome</strong> - CONCLUSION: Current treatment guidelines for DRESS are based on case reports and expert opinion. Understanding the central role of eosinophils in DRESS pathogenicity emphasizes the need for future implementation of IL-5 axis blockade as steroid-sparing agents, potential therapy to steroid-resistant cases, and perhaps an alternative to CS treatment in certain DRESS patients more prone to CS toxicity.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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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>Chicago’s Unlikeliest Mayor, Brandon Johnson</strong> - The former union organizer makes the leap from protest to politics. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/chicagos-unlikeliest-mayor-brandon-johnson">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Vanishing Acts of Vladimir Putin</strong> - One of the seeming paradoxes of the Russian President is the degree to which he is at once a unitary micromanager and an absent, aloof, and often indecisive leader. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-vanishing-acts-of-vladimir-putin">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Bluesky Tells Us About the Future of Social Media</strong> - The new platform aims to be a decentralized alternative to Twitter. The vibe there is mostly like that of a Portland coffee shop. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-bluesky-tells-us-about-the-future-of-social-media">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Don’t Believe Donald Trump: A Failure to Raise the Debt Ceiling Would Be Disastrous</strong> - The ex-President’s intervention has made a fraught situation even more complicated. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/dont-believe-donald-trump-a-failure-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling-would-be-disastrous">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>W.G.A. Strike: Why Your Favorite Shows Could Go Dark</strong> - Michael Schulman talks with Laura Jacqmin, a veteran TV writer and a Writers Guild strike captain. Plus, the comedian and essayist Samantha Irby in conversation with Doreen St. Félix. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/wga-strike-why-your-favorite-shows-could-go-dark">link</a></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>How companies sell you on the promise of “community”</strong> -
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American life is hostile to community building, but we’re more desperate for it than ever.
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In early May, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/03/new-surgeon-general-advisory-raises-alarm-about-devastating-impact-epidemic-loneliness-isolation-united-states.html">announced</a> an advisory for the public health crisis of loneliness and social isolation in the US. For the past three years, it’s been one of the defining experiences of American life: Shut inside during the pandemic, we’ve emerged into an even more antisocial society, one in which health care is still only <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/10/21207520/coronavirus-deaths-economy-layoffs-inequality-covid-pandemic">afforded to the rich</a>, one where working mothers are <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22605612/working-mothers-pandemic-childcare-ideal-parent-worker-remote">under ever-greater pressure</a>, where <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23700519/writers-strike-ai-2023-wga">non-sentient technology is prioritized</a> over the human labor it depends on.
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When people ask how to get involved in their communities or make new friends, the typical response is something like this: Join a club! Take a class! Hang out at cafes or bars and strike up conversations! The problem with that advice isn’t that it doesn’t work, it’s that the idea of “community” in modern life is usually tied to something that costs money — a lot of it. In an age of declining religious affiliation, more <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/10/17801164/crossfit-soulcycle-religion-church-millennials-casper-ter-kuile">people are turning to, say, pricey fitness classes</a> as a means of fostering relationships, leading to what one researcher refers to as the “privatization of community.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cUbTQi">
Harvard Kennedy School Fellow Sam Pressler studies the ways in which financial, geographic, and cultural shifts have replaced previously accessible spaces and institutions with inaccessible, expensive ones. In neighborhoods full of college-educated people with disposable income, this leads to lots of pay-to-play activities that offer the promise of community for a price, like SoulCycle, pottery studios, and pricey cafés and bars. Poor neighborhoods tend not to have such amenities, nor do they have affordable, accessible “third places,” leading to stark divides in the social connectedness of the rich and the isolation of the poor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hExT8C">
In our interview, we discuss how issues like loneliness and civil participation actually begin at birth, why there’s such a decline in third places, and the smartphones of it all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iwFYDP">
<strong>How did you first become interested in the privatization of communities?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="58DlZA">
I’m not a traditional academic: I spent my six years after undergrad building a nonprofit called the Armed Services Arts Partnership, or ASAP. We work with veterans and the military community and reconnect them to a sense of belonging, purpose, and translatable skills in civilian life through community-based arts, programming classes, workshops, performances. The veteran space gets a lot of funding to meet the needs of purpose and belonging because we [view] veterans as a class of citizens deserving of that investment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xDnUkm">
But all these issues are not just veterans’ issues. They may be a little bit more acute because of the abruptness of the military transition, but these are very much human issues that other people in American life are experiencing. So after I handed that organization off, I took a graduate fellowship at Harvard, where I researched this topic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VpVd7u">
<strong>What are some of the structural reasons we have so many more privatized communities than we used to?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y8Z9HC">
One is the decline of institutions that provide meaning and relationships in life: religion, secular civil society, unions. People who live in more distressed places tend to have weaker institutions, and a lot of the accessible institutions and experiences of American life have been replaced by those that have higher barriers to entry, whether that’s geographically, culturally, or financially. You can apply that to every stage of life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="48rMUF">
The kind of associational life of the mid-20th century had its flaws, but <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bowling-Alone-Collapse-American-Community/dp/0743203046">Robert Putnam’s research</a> seems to indicate that organizations like the Lion’s Club, 4H, or YMCA were fairly cross-class communities. <a href="https://prospect.org/special-report/narrowing-civic-life/">Theda Skocpol in particular</a> describes the process of how the highest-socioeconomic status people began pulling away from those institutions in the latter half of the 20th century as we begin to live in increasingly sorted regions and neighborhoods. Over the past half-century, the <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/logan/logan_diversity_chapter7.pdf">proportion of families</a> living in poor or affluent neighborhoods doubled while the proportion living in middle-income neighborhoods declined by more than one-third. This increasing geographic isolation of the well-off means that a growing proportion of society’s resources are concentrated in a shrinking proportion of its neighborhoods.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="JB1WNQ">
<q>A growing proportion of society’s resources are concentrated in a shrinking proportion of its neighborhoods</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NS036H">
<strong>Where does that leave us? How are these shifts affecting us on a societal level?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lo03f0">
There is a cumulative and compounding disadvantage that occurs among people with lower socioeconomic status and the children of people without degrees. In childhood, we have the residential sorting of our schools (if you go to school in Palo Alto, you basically have to afford a $3 million or $4 million home). Schools in our sorted, high-income neighborhoods have become exclusive, but then school activities have become pay-to-play. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Our-Kids-American-Dream-Crisis/dp/1476769907">Robert Putnam has</a> great research on when activities become pay-to-play — like travel sports teams and extracurriculars — it’s lower socioeconomic status people who stopped participating in those activities. One study he cites found that, prior to the institution of fees for sports, roughly half of all kids were playing sports. When fees were introduced, one in three athletes from homes with annual incomes of $60,000 or less dropped out due to the increased cost, compared to one in 10 athletes from families with incomes of over $60,000. You’re cultivating habits of social connection, and if there’s not easy access to a Boys and Girls Club or whatever it may be, they’re losing that attachment to institutions and also the social connections that come with it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2qv3b8">
The adult transition is really interesting. In American life, it really started after World War II when all these young men were called to serve and were having a shared experience across class and connected to an institution. By 1960, 40 percent of men over age 18, and <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/acs-43.pdf.">the vast majority of men</a> in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, had military experience. We created the GI Bill after World War II as a means of broadening access to college beyond just the aristocratic. &lt;/p&gt;
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eLPS4V">
But in a kind of perverse way, college has now become the replacement for that adult transition experience. College, particularly, is reserved for mostly selective four-year schools, and it’s mostly for the top 20 percent of earners’ children. <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/book/dream-hoarders/">Approximately 50 percent</a> of students at the most selective colleges (480 schools) come from the top quintile of earning families, and among “Ivy-plus” colleges, <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w23618/w23618.pdf">more students come from families</a> in the top 1 percent of the income distribution (14.5 percent) than the bottom half of the income distribution (13.5 percent). We took this cross-class experience for men and replaced it with one that is pretty sorted by class and mostly reserved for the most well-off kids. In college, you build your social networks, you foster habits of attachment, and it follows you afterward. We don’t have an alternative pathway in American life for people who don’t go to college, so if you just enter the workforce, you don’t have that institutional [backing].
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MH7l0n">
When we get to adulthood, this is where we see neighborhoods that are sorted by class, where the “third places” are maybe a nice coffee shop or maybe it’s Soho House, where you have to pay $200 a month to be a member. A lot of adult activities have become very much tied to your socioeconomic status. Going to CrossFit could cost $250 a month, or SoulCycle founded this <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/style/self-care/soulcycle-peoplehood.html">idea of “peoplehood”</a> and making friends while using the SoulCycle revenue model. You get to the point in adulthood where all these things are compounded, and <a href="https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/the-college-connection-the-education-divide-in-american-social-and-community-life/">folks without college degrees or of lower socioeconomic status</a> generally are not participating in community as much. They have much <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/02/22/americans-with-higher-education-and-income-are-more-likely-to-be-involved-in-community-groups/">lower levels of friendships</a> and social connections than those with degrees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X43Il2">
<strong>Third places are so much more difficult to find now, and the ones that do exist, as pointed out in </strong><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/04/third-places-meet-new-people-pandemic/629468/"><strong>this piece in the Atlantic</strong></a><strong>, are often “either too expensive for the average American or apparently designed to disincentivize lingering.” The examples the author gives are like, faux dive bars that are secretly really expensive or corporatized public spaces like the High Line where you’re encouraged to move quickly through them. How are these kinds of not-really third places affecting communities?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iOmhT7">
There’s good research from this guy named Dan Cox at the Survey Center on American Life that shows that people who actively go to a third place, whether that’s a public third place like a park or a more private third place like a coffee shop, tend to have higher levels of social connectedness and lower levels of loneliness.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="lieL3M">
<q>A lot of adult activities have have become tied to your socioeconomic status</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KPOamQ">
From a very clear social interaction perspective, [third places] are super important. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/557044/palaces-for-the-people-by-eric-klinenberg/">Eric Klinenberg’s book <em>Palaces for the People</em></a> talks about the role of parks and libraries that are open to everyone and have the incentive of serving the public. A lot of the cool third places that I’ve seen oftentimes are tied to religious groups, like coffee shops that are open to all but tied to a church. Homeboy Industries is a good example in LA of a third place run by former gang members and meant to be a community hub. There’s an interesting opportunity from the public perspective of, like, libraries doing yoga programs, workforce development programs. There are definitely examples out there, but to run a coffee shop in Palo Alto, California, which is where I am right now, it’s like, your real estate costs are so expensive that the type of people who are gonna go there are only young people who have the disposable income to spend $6 on that drink.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dMtIfI">
<strong>From what you’ve said, it seems like those people are the least in need of this kind of community.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QTsEhi">
In these places, there’s a number of fitness classes you can participate in, there’s a number of arts programs, like improv class, you could pay $250 for it. You have this clustering of opportunities for participation in some places, and then in others, you have civil society deserts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="94y3OV">
<strong>Something that I think a lot about, which feels somewhat related, is how young people are </strong><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/04/american-teens-sadness-depression-anxiety/629524/"><strong>more depressed</strong></a><strong> and </strong><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3n5aj/loneliness-epidemic-young-people"><strong>lonelier than ever</strong></a><strong>, and how much of it </strong><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/teens-loneliness-smart-phones/2021/07/20/cde8c866-e84e-11eb-8950-d73b3e93ff7f_story.html"><strong>has to do with smartphones</strong></a><strong>. I tend to believe that when you have a facsimile of community on your phone, you’re less likely to seek it out in public spaces, or rather, it gives you an excuse to stay home and not participate in society. Is there a link between that and socioeconomic class as well?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xqu5U5">
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-367.">There</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-9-88.">is</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106357.">really</a> <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2019-census-8-to-18-full-report-updated.pdf.">good</a> data on screen time spent across different devices between lower socioeconomic status kids and higher socioeconomic status kids. What you see are the lower socioeconomic status kids who are not participating in real-life community or extracurriculars as much are spending way more time in front of screens. That’s research that’s been going on for decades — it used to be TV, now it’s phones and video games. But that has held as technology has changed. The more recent research that’s coming out around the issue of social media is with the comparisons. And then if you’re not on social media, then you feel left out, so it’s a double-edged sword.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jkI965">
The key point that comes across from the research I’ve done is really thinking about this as a life course issue. Not just a one-phase-of-life issue, which I think is oftentimes how it’s framed. But really, there are compounding cumulative disadvantages that happen at each stage of life, and your disadvantage in childhood makes you less likely to be able to have the attachments and the social connections after your transition, which then makes you less likely to have the attachments and social connections in adulthood. There are a lot of contributing factors to isolation and loneliness, but social isolation looks largely to be by class lines. This is a big issue and there is no one right answer to address it, but part of it is nudging our culture away from individualism and toward collectivism. I’m not saying full collectivism — there are huge dangers in collectivism — but nudging a little bit toward collectivism, and fostering this type of cross-class engagement. We all lose something when we’re not engaging across differences, be it racial difference or class difference.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hDlrQ1">
<strong>Have you been finding any cool ways that people are developing cross-class sections of community?</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iEb1cD">
<a href="https://www.pcsquash.com/.">There’s a great guy in Portland, Maine </a>who used squash as a hook to intentionally build a cross-class community, starting with squash programming as an accessible extracurricular activity for youth, then building adult programming around it. We can look at what the veteran community has done over the last 20 years, where a lot of the post-9/11 veterans said that instead of going to the VFW and sitting around drinking, they want to be active and involved in their community, be it service through groups like The Mission Continues or physical activity through groups like Team Red, White, and Blue. The military is one of the few cross-class institutions left in American life.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="uJzuzi">
<q>We all lose something when we’re not engaging across differences, be it racial difference or class difference</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0ARZc5">
What makes me most hopeful is that I think the conversation has meaningfully shifted in elite circles and national media. I think that’s been a result of the pandemic: You had people who typically were very active in their community and had a lot of connections not being able to do that and realizing how that feels. I also think there’s the role played by Trump’s election. If we have large parts of the country where people are disconnected from community and from other people, that could be fertile ground for more authoritarian impulses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="23DeLH">
As a result, you’re seeing things like the Surgeon General’s advisory on loneliness and social isolation, which I think is really meaningfully advancing the conversation. You’re seeing more philanthropic groups focused on this issue. There may never be enough, but people are taking it seriously as an issue. When I was first starting my organization, people would say, “You either need to do direct mental health services or direct employment.” We have to understand that community is the connective tissue between those things and your mental health and your ability to retain a job. If you don’t have a supportive set of social connections in a supportive community outside of that job or outside your home, you’re going to be worse off. Now it seems like there’s a collective recognition of that, from a policy perspective, from a philanthropic perspective, even from a media perspective. That feels to be a step in the right direction.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LdNSUi">
<em>This column was first published in the Vox Culture newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/newsletters"><em>Sign up here</em></a><em> so you don’t miss the next one, plus get newsletter exclusives. </em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>What happened to the GOP’s promises to support women and families after Roe?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A protester in a crowd holds up a sign that reads “Abortion is healthcare.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/H977DWtG_ybzTPin7BkUhgCV4VQ=/316x0:3836x2640/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72287619/GettyImages_1241511672.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Allison Joyce/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
North Carolina’s new abortion ban exposes the GOP’s failures to shore up government assistance for parents and children.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wm0Mmr">
Last summer, after the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/24/23181720/supreme-court-dobbs-jackson-womens-health-samuel-alito-roe-wade-abortion-marriage-contraception"><em>Dobbs</em> decision</a> overturned the federal right to have an abortion, much <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/05/roe-v-wade-abortion-republicans-social-safety-net">ink</a> was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/13/1111244809/many-states-have-anti-abortion-laws-will-they-provide-a-social-safety-net-for-mo">spilled</a> on the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/09/texas-republicans-roe-wade-abortion-adoptions/">possibility</a> that Republicans, eager to pass a new round of abortion bans, would feel compelled at the same time to improve the social safety net to help the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23057032/supreme-court-abortion-rights-roe-v-wade-state-aid">women and children</a> their new laws would affect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yg6DjE">
But that spending has largely not materialized. Though nearly 20 states have banned abortion over the past year, experts say few have put meaningful dollars into supporting children and families.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mlyJiz">
In recent weeks, it might have seemed as though that was changing. In Florida, which passed a six-week abortion ban last month, state legislators <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/609864-florida-kidcare-expansion-clears-legislature-with-unanimous-support/">voted</a> to expand children’s health insurance and put real money behind those plans. In <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/5/16/23725346/north-carolina-abortion-ban-republicans-roy-cooper">North Carolina</a>, a 12-week abortion ban includes some additional support for children and families — but the provisions are not as generous as they might first appear.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WEtrVu">
The two states’ approaches reveal a party struggling to figure out how to tamp down the political backlash that has followed the end of <em>Roe</em>: Are symbolic gestures enough? Or do Republicans really have to get serious about shoring up government assistance for children and families?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ahWopg">
North Carolina recently has been the most prominent battleground over abortion rights in America. The state legislature passed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/05/04/north-carolina-abortion-ban/?utm_campaign=wp_the_health_202&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;wpisrc=nl_health202">a 12-week abortion ban</a>, which was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Republicans possessed enough seats in the legislature to override Cooper’s veto on Tuesday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFThtV">
In addition to banning abortion after 12 weeks, with some exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother, the North Carolina law requires multiple in-person appointments before a person could be prescribed medication for an abortion. It also introduces intrusive reporting requirements, such as mandating that doctors report a patient’s fertility history to the state government after an abortion, including information such as their number of live pregnancies, previous pregnancies, and previous abortions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3wqtla">
The law does include some provisions that Republicans say will provide additional support for children and families, including a new paid parental leave policy and increased child care subsidies. These are the kinds of policies that some prognosticators expected post-<em>Dobbs</em>. But both programs have significant holes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rI4aaq">
Paid parental leave applies only to state employees, not the private sector. Increasing the state’s child care subsidies for families already receiving them would not alleviate the main problem with accessing child care in North Carolina, as there are already 30,000 children in the state on a waitlist for financial assistance. The law does not do anything to get people off of that waitlist, such as by increasing the number of subsidies available.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iSHW3b">
“This bill would ban abortion and heavily restrict abortions for North Carolinians and would do very little to advance maternal and child health,” said Rebecca Kreitzer, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina who is following abortion legislation across the country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eivWQ1">
The legislation also extends the period in which new parents can give up an unwanted child confidentially and without fear of prosecution — known as a safe surrender law — keeping with a trend of conservative states shoring up support for adoption in lieu of expanding the welfare state.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tSZG1o">
That follows the pattern in the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/06/25/abortion-illegal-7-states-more-bans-coming">nearly 20 states</a> that have moved to ban or heavily restrict abortion since the <em>Dobbs</em> decision. States have either skipped any expansion of the safety net while advancing those bills or they have only made symbolic gestures, Kreitzer said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kuVyCu">
In some states, legislators have stuck to policies more traditionally favored by conservatives, such as tax credits for donations to crisis pregnancy centers or additional funding for adoption agencies. Some states, including Wyoming, have <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gop-legislators-trying-pro-life-not-just-anti-abortion/">extended their postpartum Medicaid benefits</a>, but those efforts have <a href="https://www.kpcw.org/local-news/2021-03-04/utah-bill-that-would-have-expanded-medicaid-for-new-mothers-falls-short">failed</a> in other states like Utah, and some, such as Missouri, have put <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/03/postpartum-medicaid-extension-clears-missouri-senate-with-anti-abortion-amendment/">restrictions</a> on who qualifies for the additional support.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KySxHj">
The bottom line is, there has decidedly not been an extensive expansion of social welfare programs in states where abortion is now largely illegal, and North Carolina — despite gesturing in that direction — is following the same pattern.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LxuA5I">
“These bills being introduced and passed are symbolically doing things to advance women’s and children’s health but are not going to substantively have an impact,” Kreitzer said.
</p>
<h3 id="m0iS76">
Florida actually has expanded its welfare state
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VxnQSJ">
There may be one exception to this: Florida’s recent expansion of its children’s health insurance program. That bill, which passed last week, less than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban, is perhaps the most substantial expansion of the welfare state that passed soon after new restrictions on abortion went into effect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7cy3f9">
The legislation, which is now heading to DeSantis’s desk, would extend eligibility for low-cost health insurance from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 300 percent (about $69,000 for a family of three). It was the first expansion of the program, called KidCare, in 25 years. It passed through the state legislature unanimously.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yZwYT9">
The bill also set aside about $100 million to initially fund the expansion and to increase reimbursement rates to doctors and other medical providers so they would be more likely to accept the program’s coverage at their practices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQw8Pv">
There have been some concerns about the premiums that families will be required to pay; the state will set those rates at a later date. But “in general, it’s a good thing,” Joan Alker at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TQnkZQ">
Unlike the North Carolina bill, the expansion of KidCare was not explicitly linked to the abortion ban. But they were moving in tandem through the state legislature; one House committee considered the abortion ban and the health insurance legislation <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/florida-republicans-abortion-ban-1234706628/">back to back</a>. House leaders also <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/603290-legislatures-passage-of-6-week-abortion-ban-celebrated-slammed/">touted</a> their plans to expand government support for new mothers as they celebrated the passage of the six-week abortion ban.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iLb8Ip">
DeSantis is expected to be the most viable challenger to former president Donald Trump in the Republican primary and, in general, he is <a href="https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/7456/Who-will-win-the-2024-US-presidential-election">regarded</a> as the elected official with the next-best odds of being the next president, behind Trump and President Joe Biden.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GxNlXG">
But to get elected, he’ll need to court social conservatives, which the six-week abortion ban helps to do, without alienating more moderate voters who will be critical to the general election. An expansion of health insurance for kids would be one way for DeSantis to make that case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VfMlTa">
It remains to be seen whether that calculus works out for DeSantis; polling <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/13/florida-house-passes-six-week-abortion-ban-backed-by-desantis.html">suggests</a> Florida’s six-week ban is not popular in the state. But pairing stricter abortion rules with a more meaningful expansion of the welfare state could, in theory, provide a path through the <em>Dobbs</em> backlash, which has already contributed to the party’s poor showing in the 2022 midterm elections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CnG2wq">
Republicans across the country find themselves in uncomfortable political territory as they attempt to deliver on their decades-long promises to roll back abortion rights. In South Carolina, new proposed abortion restrictions have been tripped up <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/07/us/south-carolina-abortion-ban.html">by the objections of Republican women in the legislature</a>. Nebraska’s proposed abortion ban has likewise <a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-transgender-ban-nebraska-filibuster-94f1e637e2d9034f608c793bf929e888">been stymied so far by a holdout Republican lawmaker</a>. In North Carolina, the legislature <a href="https://www.wral.com/story/nc-house-republicans-scrap-rule-on-veto-override-votes/20667372/">has altered</a> its rules so that veto overrides can be brought up for a vote without any notice — a parliamentary maneuver that, in Kreitzer’s eyes, reveals the leadership’s discomfort with a drawn-out debate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sqeqNT">
“Republicans knew that if they took the time to really debate it, it might not pass,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uRKGqa">
In general, conservatives seem to be operating with a sense of impending political doom, facing a stark reality that many voters aren’t as comfortable with going as far as Republicans had long promised they would.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Li46ZA">
But rather than lower their ambitions — or, with the exception of Florida, try to ameliorate the backlash by meaningfully expanding the social safety net — they seem intent on pushing new restrictions through while they have the chance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AoPr24">
“The urgency to pass this, to pass drag bans, to pass these cultural war things, the writing on the wall is indicating that things are moving in the other direction,” Kreitzer said. “Future elections might not go their way.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>It’s not just climate disasters. “Normal” weather is getting weirder, too.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A parked SUV in water above its wheels. An airport and planes are in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uXqH8ZkUpr7P8EvFYofj1K609JE=/0x0:4444x3333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72287558/GettyImages_1252164021.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
The torrential rainfall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in April came amid the state’s hottest year on record. | Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Why you should keep tabs on the subtle changes in weather, not just extremes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="foCA9a">
It’s been a strange few weeks for weather across the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jEQiVm">
A <a href="https://www.wsiltv.com/news/top-stories/seventh-and-final-victim-identified-in-72-vehicle-i-55-dust-storm-crash-in-illinois/article_fee0cdb8-f028-11ed-a661-3be2fdc30e97.html">dust storm in Illinois</a> earlier this month led to a 72-vehicle pileup that killed seven people. In April, more than 25 inches of rain — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/04/14/florida-fort-lauderdale-flooding/">88 billion gallons</a> — drenched Fort Lauderdale, Florida. <a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/wisconsin-wildfires-red-flag-warning-extreme-fire-danger/89-2a35e6a8-d78b-4ac7-af26-a2cd3989769f">Wisconsin declared an emergency</a> as more than 80 wildfires ignited amid hot temperatures, low humidity, and high winds. A three-day storm caused floods and set <a href="https://kdvr.com/weather/wx-news/denver-rainfall-records-set-during-3-day-storm/">new rainfall records</a> in Denver, Colorado. Just this past weekend, a <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/05/15/pacific-northwest-heat-wave-seattle-oregon-canada-records">historic heat wave</a> baked the Pacific Northwest, more than a month before summer officially starts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zbk6pi">
There is a lot of natural variability in weather, and oddly timed or extreme events have occurred in the past. However, average temperatures are rising around the world, altering the odds of mixing the right raw ingredients behind early heat waves, sudden downpours, and expanding fire seasons. In some cases, they will become more frequent or more extreme.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9QtR3M">
“Often these are happening on a background of a changing normal, a changing baseline,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/barb-mayes-boustead-3819b260/">Barbara Mayes Boustead</a>, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. “As that shifts, we may see events like these more often in the future, and things that might have once been very, very rare become less rare.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bv2DiI">
The planet has already warmed by <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature">2 degrees Fahrenheit</a> (1.1 degrees Celsius) on average since the industrial revolution. That change is worsening events like coastal flooding, stemming from rising seas and more extreme rainfall — the kind of catastrophes that grab headlines. “When the average changes, the biggest impact we often see is actually in the extremes,” Boustead said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jeXaiK">
But the fact that the average itself has moved also has important implications. Climate change is often told as a story of record-breaking disasters that destroy homes, flood the land, and take lives. But outside of the extremes, the weather is undergoing more subtle transformations, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-length-growing-season">extending the length of seasons</a>, drying out some areas, and adding water to others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uAC0XJ">
That moving baseline is now starting to change how we grow food, where certain animals live, and is having <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climateimpacts/climate-change-and-human-health">effects on our health</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="F6HDFk">
The climate is changing faster at local levels
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BlRJTm">
Extreme weather — severe heat, torrential rainfall, drought, and the like — is usually defined based on historical conditions in a given area, usually the top 10 percent of such events. That means the threshold for what counts as extreme is different based on where you are. A <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2021-05-25-100-degree-triple-digit-temperatures-average-most-us">100°F summer day in Phoenix, Arizona</a> is mundane, but <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48890556">90°F in Anchorage, Alaska</a> is one for the record books.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UZ1c7H">
Timing is important too. A sudden burst of rain in the dry season can trigger damaging <a href="https://www.weather.gov/pbz/floods">flash floods</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NF0EHG">
As global average temperatures rise, events that happened once a century may end up happening every generation or more. And disasters never seen before could recur as the dials get turned up around the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b5BoZ1">
“What feels extreme to us are often those things that don’t happen very often in our lifetime,” Boustead said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kNkZkO">
But that’s not the whole story. If you zoom into just about any part of the planet you can see that larger movements in average temperature, rainfall, humidity, and so on are already afoot. The Arctic, for instance, has been warming upward of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00498-3">four times as fast</a> as the Earth as a whole.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HRyfKg">
It’s these local averages that play the dominant role in the kind of weather that emerges. Florida is one of the fastest-warming states and just saw its hottest year to date. “In the last eight or 10 years, the state of Florida has seen a dramatic rise, in average, temperature of over 2 degrees Fahrenheit,” said <a href="https://www.coaps.fsu.edu/david-zierden">David Zierden</a>, Florida’s state climatologist and a researcher at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A person rides in the back of a High Water Response vehicle (a pickup truck with very large, high wheels) through a flooded street." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GfyE9dLzn732RpCPadWKW6Xeb98=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24660174/GettyImages_1482217864.jpeg"/> <cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Florida has already warmed by at least 2°F over the past decade.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RFpimD">
And for every 1.8°F increase in temperature, air can hold onto <a href="https://www.climatesignals.org/climate-signals/atmospheric-moisture-increase">7 percent more moisture</a>. As a result, hotter air allows storms to dish out more water. The Fort Lauderdale rainstorm fits this pattern.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AK96Lp">
“It’s very consistent with the theory and what modeling studies are showing us,” Zierden said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0yZEWH">
But part of what made the April downpour in Fort Lauderdale so stunning was that it didn’t spawn from a hurricane. “It was not associated with the tropical storm or tropical system so that made it an interesting event in and of itself,” he added. Nonetheless, it’s likely such events will become more common.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C1jwg1">
Researchers are also working to quantify just how much burning fossil fuels have made such events worse. It’s part of a new subfield of climate science called <a href="https://www.vox.com/22616968/ipcc-climate-change-report-attribution-extreme-weather-heat-fire">extreme weather attribution</a>. Using models and measurements, they can tease out humanity’s fingerprints on a weather disaster. For example, Hurricane Harvey in 2017 drenched Houston, Texas in a record deluge. Researchers calculated that <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aabb85">warming since 1980</a> added another 20 percent to rain gauges during the storm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w0dFuy">
It will take scientists more time to see how much climate change played a role in some of the recent extreme weather in the US, like the Fort Lauderdale flooding (the attribution study on Hurricane Harvey took eight months).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kmvkRZ">
The trickier problem is figuring out how much humans are altering the middle of the bell curve of weather events rather than the tails — the sort of weather we experience day in and day out. Here, the natural capriciousness and chaos of weather collide most with the underlying rise in temperatures, and it’s hard to tease out their respective roles in the less severe but still out of the ordinary weather we see.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="klSrbJ">
“We will always have the interplay of the variability of weather on the background of climate as it is changing,” Boustead said. “We may have a harder time separating it from the other signals that contribute to any given weather event.”
</p>
<h3 id="2OqMeH">
Pay attention to rising minimums
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yw10Yx">
With average temperatures rising, the floor is also lifting at the bottom end of the temperature scale. Cold extreme temperatures are becoming less common, but again, outside of the extremes, there are other significant changes underway. Across the US, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/09/climate-change-warm-winters-us">winters in general are warming up faster</a> than summers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="novweB">
These changes don’t have to trigger catastrophes to have consequences. With fewer days below freezing temperatures, for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/12/20/18136006/climate-change-warmer-winters">more insects can survive into the spring</a>. Bark beetles, combined with an epic drought, have <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/bark-beetles-and-climate-change-united-states">killed millions of trees</a> across the Western US, leaving ample fuel for wildfires. Their range and survival in the winter increased with climate change. The yellow fever mosquito <em>Aedes aegypti, </em>which also carries diseases like dengue and Zika, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9860750/">migrates farther north</a> in the United States as the country warms up. Lyme disease-carrying ticks are moving up to <a href="https://ncceh.ca/environmental-health-in-canada/health-agency-projects/ticks-changing-climate">34 miles north</a> per year into Canada due to warming, particularly in cooler times of the year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IQrU01">
Warmer winters also give <a href="https://www.vox.com/22383707/allergies-2021-pollen-allergy-covid-19-climate-change-asthma">pollen-spewing plants a head-start</a>. That’s why allergy seasons get longer and more irritating every year. Higher winter temperatures also mean more precipitation falls as rain instead of snow, which can lead to flooding in the spring followed by drought in the summer rather than a slow release of water from a snowpack. Until this past winter, this trend helped fuel an early burst of vegetation in the Western US that dried out in the summer, contributing to wildfire risk. Even with the epic snowfall this winter in the <a href="https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2023/April-23/Snow-Survey-April-2023">Sierra Nevada</a>, there is worry that intense summer heat could <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/04/17/californias-historic-wet-winter-risks-making-wildfire-season-even-worse/">create more fuel for fires</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H3R1jh">
Rising minimum temperatures can also significantly affect agriculture. <a href="https://environment.uw.edu/faculty/nicholas-bond/">Nicholas Bond</a>, the Washington state climatologist and a research scientist at the University of Washington, explained that nighttime temperatures are generally rising faster than in daylight hours, both in the winter and the summer. That can put stress on crops like corn, cotton, and peanuts, reducing their overall output. Rice, for example, can see a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1161030114001221?via%3Dihub">4.6 percent drop in yield</a> for every 1.8°F increase in nighttime minimum temperature.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Cotton is seen in a field while farmers harvest the crop from a 140 acre field in Ellis County, near Waxahatchie, Texas, on September 19, 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RrPYZcN8hGmmY4etT7wtcWyunxA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24660177/GettyImages_1243373077.jpeg"/> <cite>Andy Jacobsohn/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Cotton yields decline with rising temperatures, espeically at night.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fKiRkH">
The last US <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/10/">National Climate Assessment</a>, a government report that examines the effects of climate change across the country, warned that “yields from major US commodity crops are expected to decline as a consequence of higher temperatures, especially when these higher temperatures occur during critical periods of reproductive development.” (The next version of the report is due out later this year.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9BhLM8">
A study last year from the <a href="https://www.edf.org/climate-change-will-slow-us-crop-yield-growth-2030">Environmental Defense Fund</a> found that almost all of Iowa would see corn yields decline by at least 5 percent by 2030. In Minnesota, half the counties in the state would experience soybean declines of at least 5 percent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YVAc46">
Higher nighttime temperatures can even reduce the quality of Washington’s prized grapes. “Quality wines need cool nights for the development of acids to give the grapes their flavor and so forth. And so if the nights get too hot — and they’re not there yet — but if they get too hot, then conceivably the quality of those wines go down,” Bond said. “There are no great cabernets that are coming out of Mississippi.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I7UwUk">
The most important consequences of these shifts play out for human health. Longer warm seasons increase the chances of severe heat waves occurring earlier. Heat waves that unfold in the early summer or spring <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/4/14/23677907/spring-summer-heat-climate-change-india-bangladesh-thailand">tend to be deadlier</a> because people aren’t as acclimated to the higher temperatures at that point. Similarly, people living in cooler climates tend to suffer more under unusual heat. A 2021 heat wave across Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/31/pacific-northwest-heat-wave-deaths/10195963002/">killed at least 800 people</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dfP3vq">
And higher minimum temperatures, especially at night, <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/7/19/20700662/heat-wave-2019-health-new-york-washington">worsen these effects</a>. Without evenings to cool off, people face higher aggregate stress from heat, which can disrupt sleep and worsen underlying heart and lung problems. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00139-5/fulltext">One study</a> found that a hot night following a hot day could push mortality risk up to 50 percent higher compared to a hot day followed by a cooler night. Rising minimum temperatures also worsen the effects of conditions like <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/15/18213988/chronic-kidney-disease-climate-change">kidney stones</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8199586/">multiple sclerosis</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hs2iC6">
It’s clear then that these slower, less-visible changes in the climate still add up to major disruptions. The consequences are already manifesting now, but the future will grow even warmer and weirder.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZvZ45">
The good news is that we can see where these trends are going and take steps to dampen their blows. Better ecological management and restoring natural predators can slow the spread of some invasive species. <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23553924/california-rain-atmospheric-river-drought-aquifer-reservoir">Improving infrastructure and sound water regulations</a> can help ensure that rags-and-riches rainfall patterns get smoothed out so that enough water is available to everyone throughout the year. <a href="https://www.vox.com/22557563/how-to-redesign-cities-for-heat-waves-climate-change">White roofs and greenspaces</a> can offset some of the warming underway in urban areas. New crop varieties that can withstand drought and resist heat can help bolster the food supply. Greater awareness of the health impacts of heat and <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23067049/heat-wave-air-conditioning-cooling-india-climate-change">more access to cooling</a> can save lives.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FoUSNQ">
We also haven’t seen the full extent of warming from the greenhouse gases humanity has already emitted, and temperatures will continue to coast upward for a period even if carbon dioxide pollution suddenly stopped. But unless humanity zeroes out these emissions, the ratchet will continue to tighten in the direction of more warming indefinitely.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nBm6R4">
So while we may be able to endure and adapt to many of the shifts we can’t avoid, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22951182/climate-change-report-ipcc-un-adaptation-warming">there are limits</a>, so it’s critical to halt humanity’s contributions to warming overall.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qdXu13">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nn8uQ0">
</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>Sudirman Cup badminton tournament | India end campaign with 4-1 win over Australia</strong> - Placed in the ‘group of death’, India had lost 1-4 to Chinese Taipei and 0-5 against Malaysia — two heavyweights of the game — to crash out of the mixed team championship</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>IPL 2023: How DJ Zen created magical moments for MS Dhoni with Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan hits</strong> - Chennai Super Kings’ captain Dhoni and his ‘intro’ numbers have been viral hits in IPL 2023</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>IPL 2023, RCB vs SRH | Kohli in focus as Bangalore play Hyderabad in must-win game</strong> - RCB are currently in the fifth spot with 12 points from as many games and face two must-win matches to guarantee their play-off spot</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>Reigning champs China off to stellar start at Sudirman Cup</strong> - After winning the mixed doubles and men’s singles, hosts China sealed the showdown in the women’s singles where He Bingjiao beat Yeo Jia Min 22-20, 21-15</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>Daily Quiz | On La Liga</strong> - FC Barcelona are the 2022-23 Spanish La Liga champions for the 27th time after taking an insurmountable lead on Sunday. Here’s a quiz on La Liga history</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>Unchecked pilgrimage, construction in Uttarakhand spell disaster for fragile Himalayas, warn experts</strong> - “On May 4, a mountain crumbled in Helang on the way to Joshimath while road widening was taking place.”</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Man with multiple myeloma treated in a city hospital</strong> - He underwent autologous bone marrow transplant</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>Andhra Pradesh CM participates in ‘Poornahuti’ of Mahalakshmi Yagnam</strong> -</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>Tamil Nadu increases dearness allowance for government employees to 42%</strong> -</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>CUET-UG not to make board exams redundant, says UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar</strong> - UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar emphasises that board exams are not likely to be made irrelevant in light of the decline in pass percentage in CBSE class 12 exams this year</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>Nicolas Sarkozy to wear tag after losing corruption appeal</strong> - France’s former president was sentenced to three years in 2021 for trying to influence a judge.</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>Italy: F1 race cancelled as deadly floods spark evacuations in Emilia-Romagna area</strong> - About 5,000 people flee their homes in Emilia-Romagna, with five confirmed deaths across the region.</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>Albanian prisoners paid by UK government to return home</strong> - The BBC hears from offenders offered £1,500 each to end their UK sentences early and be deported.</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>Ukraine war: Kyiv says it shot down Russian hypersonic missiles</strong> - Russia denies its Kinzhal missiles were hit and says one destroyed a Patriot air defence system.</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>Brigitte Macron’s great-nephew beaten in apparently politically motivated assault</strong> - Eight people are arrested over the attack which came after a TV interview by President Macron on Monday.</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>Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers</strong> - Following in the footsteps of VPNFilter, new firmware obscures hackers’ endpoints. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1939749">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Long-sought universal flu vaccine: mRNA-based candidate enters clinical trial</strong> - The phase I trial will test safety and efficacy in a small number of people. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1939739">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Twitter sued over Saudi spying that allegedly landed popular user in prison</strong> - Saudi Arabia became a top shareholder while its spies infiltrated Twitter. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1939716">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French painters inspire new insights into the physics of soap bubbles</strong> - It’s one step closer to better control of bubble size, shape for practical applications. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1939471">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple details upcoming AI-driven iOS 17 accessibility features</strong> - You’ll be able to create an AI voice for yourself and more. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1939610">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Pope dies and stands before the Gates of Heaven.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He knocks and St. Peter opens the Gate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St.Peter:“Yes?? How can i help you??”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Pope:“I wanna speak with God.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St.Peter:“And you are ???”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Pope frustrated:“Im the Pope!!!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St. Peter:“Doesnt ring a bell.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Pope very angry:“I DEMAND TO SPEAK WITH GOD!!!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St.Peter closes the Gate and goes to God.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St.Peter:“My Lord there is someone who wants to talk with you.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
God:“Who?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St.Peter:“He calls himself the Pope.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
God:“Who is that supposed to be?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
St.Peter:" I dont know, what should we do with him??"
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
God:“Let Jesus talk with him, he spent some time down there.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Jesus goes to the Pope.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A few Minutes later Jesus returns Laughing like there is no Tomorrow.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
God:“Whats so funny Jesus??”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Jesus:“Father you wont believe this, that Fishing Club i founded 2000 years ago still exists!!!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Wolfguard087"> /u/Wolfguard087 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jwc1u/the_pope_dies_and_stands_before_the_gates_of/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jwc1u/the_pope_dies_and_stands_before_the_gates_of/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There was once a very successful farmer from Texas…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
There was once a very successful farmer from Texas who started gaining interest in his ancestry. After doing some digging, he traced his lineage back to a small town in Ireland. And lo and behold, they were a family of farmers. So he packed his bags and took a trip to Ireland to visit the small town to see if he could track down some of his kin.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After landing in Dublin, and driving an hour outside of the city, he stopped in a pub to grab a drink and start asking around about his family.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Texan sat down, ordered a pint, and started talking to the Irishman sitting at the bar. After explaining his story and the purpose of the trip, the Irishman responded, “You don’t say! I’ve never heard of your family, but I’m a farmer as well. Tell me, what’s it like farming in Texas?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Gladly,” the Texan said, “farming in Texas has been quite lucrative for me. If you started out in the morning, and drove west, you could drive all day before you reached the end of my property. And if you started the next day and drove East all day, you wouldn’t reach the end of my property. Same thing North and South, you could drive either direction all day and you wouldn’t reach the end of my farmland.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Ahh, I know what you mean,” said the Irishman, “I’ve got a tractor like that as well.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TioBaldicia"> /u/TioBaldicia </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jnxzu/there_was_once_a_very_successful_farmer_from_texas/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jnxzu/there_was_once_a_very_successful_farmer_from_texas/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Set your wifi password to 2444666668888888</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So when someone asks you, tell them it’s 12345678
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13j87na/set_your_wifi_password_to_2444666668888888/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13j87na/set_your_wifi_password_to_2444666668888888/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Would anyone like to buy a broken barometer.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
No pressure.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/heyandy1"> /u/heyandy1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jtexh/would_anyone_like_to_buy_a_broken_barometer/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jtexh/would_anyone_like_to_buy_a_broken_barometer/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife asked me “do I look fat in these jeans?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I said “promise not to be mad whatever I say?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She replied “yes of course!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I said “I banged your sister”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SionGest"> /u/SionGest </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jwliv/my_wife_asked_me_do_i_look_fat_in_these_jeans/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/13jwliv/my_wife_asked_me_do_i_look_fat_in_these_jeans/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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