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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>Dolezal, L., Rose, A., and Cooper, F. COVID-19, Online Shaming and Healthcare Professionals.</strong> -
<div>
As previous pandemics have taught us, coming into contact with, or being associated with, a highly infectious and potentially deadly disease has social consequences. Hence, it is no surprise that stigma and shame have developed around COVID-19. Although there have been outpourings of support and admiration for health-care workers for their work in this pandemic, health professionals have been among those directly affected. This article considers how shame has been part of healthcare workers’ experience during the COVID-19 pandemic because of social media use and instances of online shaming.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/7ya8v/" target="_blank">Dolezal, L., Rose, A., and Cooper, F. COVID-19, Online Shaming and Healthcare Professionals.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Dolezal, L. and Lucas, G. Differential Experiences of Social Distancing: Considering Alienated Embodied Communication and Racism. Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology</strong> -
<div>
In this musing we consider how social distancing, the primary public health measure introduced to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, is creating social encounters characterized by a self-and-other-consciousness and an atmosphere of suspicion, leading to what we call “alienated embodied communication”. Whilst interaction rituals dominated by avoidance, fear and distrust are novel for many individuals who occupy positions of social privilege, Black and ethnic minority writers have demonstrated that the alienated bodily communication of COVID-19 social distancing is “nothing new” for people who routinely experience marginalization as a result of racism. Our aim in this musing, then, is to reflect on how on-going experiences of stigma, shame, and marginalisation can shape how social distancing is registered on an embodied and existential level, and therefore how social distancing may differentially impact individuals with lived experiences of racism.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/4wckh/" target="_blank">Dolezal, L. and Lucas, G. Differential Experiences of Social Distancing: Considering Alienated Embodied Communication and Racism. Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Drug-free nasal spray as a barrier against SARS-CoV-2 infection: safety and efficacy in human nasal airway epithelia</strong> -
<div>
Background: For SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses, the nasal epithelium is a key portal for infection. Therefore, the nose is an important target of prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against these viruses. We developed a nasal spray (AM-301, a medical device marketed as Bentrio) to protect against infection by SARS-CoV-2 and potentially other viruses. Aims of the study: To test the safety and efficacy of AM-301 against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: AM-301 was tested on an in vitro 3D model of primary human nasal airway epithelium. Safety was assessed in assays for tight junction integrity, cytotoxicity and cilia beating frequency. Efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection was evaluated in prophylaxis and infection mitigation assays. Results: AM-301 did not have any detrimental effect on the nasal epithelium. Prophylactic treatment with AM-301 reduced viral titer significantly vs. controls over 4 days, reaching a maximum reduction of 99%. When treatment with AM-301 was started 24 or 30 h after infection, epithelia that received the formulation had a 12- or 14-fold lower titer than controls. Conclusion: AM-301 was found to be safe in vitro, and it significantly decelerated viral titer growth in experimental models of prophylaxis and mitigation. Its physical (non-pharmaceutical) mechanism of action, safety and efficacy pave the way for further investigation of its possible use against a broad spectrum of viruses, allergens and pollutants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.12.452021v1" target="_blank">Drug-free nasal spray as a barrier against SARS-CoV-2 infection: safety and efficacy in human nasal airway epithelia</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Progressive Increase in Virulence of Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Ontario, Canada</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The period from February to June 2021 was one during which initial wild-type SARS-CoV-2 strains were supplanted in Ontario, Canada, first by variants of concern (VOC) with the N501Y mutation (Alpha/B1.1.17, Beta/B.1.351 and Gamma/P.1 variants), and then by the Delta/B.1.617 variant. The increased transmissibility of these VOCs has been documented but data for increased virulence is limited. We used Ontario COVID-19 case data to evaluate the virulence of these VOCs compared to non-VOC SARS-CoV-2 infections, as measured by risk of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death. Methods: We created a retrospective cohort of people in Ontarios testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and screened for VOCs, with dates of test report between February 7 and June 22, 2021 (n=211,197). We constructed mixed effects logistic regression models with hospitalization, ICU admission, and death as outcome variables. Models were adjusted for age, sex, time, comorbidities, and pregnancy status. Health units were included as random intercepts. Results: Compared to non-VOC SARS-CoV-2 strains, the adjusted elevation in risk associated with N501Y-positive variants was 59% (49-69%) for hospitalization; 105% (82-134%) for ICU admission; and 61% (40-87%) for death. Increases with Delta variant were more pronounced: 120% (93-153%) for hospitalization; 287% (198-399%) for ICU admission; and 137% (50-230%) for death. Interpretation: The progressive increase in transmissibility and virulence of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs will result in a significantly larger, and more deadly, pandemic than would have occurred in the absence of VOC emergence.
</p>
</div></li>
</ul>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.05.21260050v2" target="_blank">Progressive Increase in Virulence of Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Ontario, Canada</a>
</div>
<ul>
<li><strong>We are not ready yet: limitations of transfer learning for Disease Named Entity Recognition</strong> -
<div>
Intense research has been done in the area of biomedical natural language processing. Since the breakthrough of transfer learning-based methods, BERT models are used in a variety of biomedical and clinical applications. For the available data sets, these models show excellent results - partly exceeding the inter-annotator agreements. However, biomedical named entity recognition applied on COVID-19 preprints shows a performance drop compared to the results on available test data. The question arises how well trained models are able to predict on completely new data, i.e. to generalize. Based on the example of disease named entity recognition, we investigate the robustness of different machine learning-based methods - thereof transfer learning - and show that current state-of-the-art methods work well for a given training and the corresponding test set but experience a significant lack of generalization when applying to new data. We therefore argue that there is a need for larger annotated data sets for training and testing.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.11.451939v1" target="_blank">We are not ready yet: limitations of transfer learning for Disease Named Entity Recognition</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identifiability as an “Antidote”: Exploring Emotional Contagion and the Role of Anonymity in Twitter Discussions on Misinformation</strong> -
<div>
Misinformation carries both distorted facts and sophisticated emotional signals. Comparing to facts that could be labeled as true or false, we are more concerned about contaminative negative emotions transferring digital-ly among users. In this study, we explored an emotional contagion effect among misinformation discussion participants on Twitter. We analyzed the sentiment of 573 tweets in 192 discussion threads. Our result revealed that highly emotional tweets do not have a universal effect on the online discussions, but it affects those individuals with limited social and personal identity cues (i.e., being anonymous). We found that anonymous members of the online discussion are more susceptible to emotional contagions than those are not. We also suggest coping strategies that protect social media users’ emotional well-being during the era COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/4p5rj/" target="_blank">Identifiability as an “Antidote”: Exploring Emotional Contagion and the Role of Anonymity in Twitter Discussions on Misinformation</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Heparin for Moderately Ill Patients with Covid-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Heparin, in addition to its anticoagulant properties, has anti-inflammatory and potential anti-viral effects, and may improve endothelial function in patients with Covid-19. Early initiation of therapeutic heparin could decrease the thrombo-inflammatory process, and reduce the risk of critical illness or death. Methods We randomly assigned moderately ill hospitalized ward patients admitted for Covid-19 with elevated D-dimer level to therapeutic or prophylactic heparin. The primary outcome was a composite of death, invasive mechanical ventilation, non-invasive mechanical ventilation or ICU admission. Safety outcomes included major bleeding. Analysis was by intention-to-treat. Results At 28 days, the primary composite outcome occurred in 37 of 228 patients (16.2%) assigned to therapeutic heparin, and 52 of 237 patients (21.9%) assigned to prophylactic heparin (odds ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43 to 1.10; p=0.12). Four patients (1.8%) assigned to therapeutic heparin died compared with 18 patients (7.6%) assigned to prophylactic heparin (odds ratio, 0.22; 95%-CI, 0.07 to 0.65). The composite of all-cause mortality or any mechanical ventilation occurred in 23 (10.1%) in the therapeutic heparin group and 38 (16.0%) in the prophylactic heparin group (odds ratio, 0.59; 95%-CI, 0.34 to 1.02). Major bleeding occurred in 2 patients (0.9%) with therapeutic heparin and 4 patients (1.7%) with prophylactic heparin (odds ratio, 0.52; 95%-CI, 0.09 to 2.85). Conclusions In moderately ill ward patients with Covid-19 and elevated D-dimer level, therapeutic heparin did not significantly reduce the primary outcome but decreased the odds of death at 28 days.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21259351v3" target="_blank">Heparin for Moderately Ill Patients with Covid-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Transmission event of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant reveals multiple vaccine breakthrough infections</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance: Vaccine breakthrough by an emergent SARS-CoV-2 variant poses a great risk to global public health. Objective: To determine the SARS-CoV-2 variant responsible for 6 cases of vaccine breakthrough. Design: Nasopharyngeal swabs from suspected vaccine breakthrough cases were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by qPCR for Wuhan-Hu1 and Alpha variant. Positive samples were then sequenced by Swift Normalase Amplicon Panels to determine the causal variant. Setting: Transmission event occurred at events surrounding a wedding outside of Houston, TX. Two patients from India, likely transmitted the Delta variant to other guests. Participants: Following a positive SARS-CoV-2 qPCR test at a third-party site, six fully vaccinated patients were investigated. Three males and three females ranged from 53 to 69 years old. One patient suffered from diabetes while three others were classified as overweight. No significant other comorbidities were identified. None of the patients had a history of failed vaccination.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.28.21258780v4" target="_blank">Transmission event of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant reveals multiple vaccine breakthrough infections</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The sensitivity improved two-test algorithm “SIT2”: a universal optimization strategy for SARS-CoV-2 serology</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Reliable antibody tests are an essential tool to identify individuals who have developed an adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2. However, attempts to maximize the specificity of SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests have come at the cost of sensitivity, exacerbating the total test error with increasing seroprevalence. Here, we present a novel method to maximize specificity while maintaining or even increasing sensitivity: the “Sensitivity Improved Two-Test” or “SIT<sup>2</sup>” algorithm. Methods SIT<sup>2</sup> involves confirmatory re-testing of samples with results falling in a predefined retesting-zone of an initial screening test, with adjusted cut-offs to increase sensitivity. We verified and compared the performance of SIT<sup>2</sup> to single tests and orthogonal testing (OTA) in an Austrian cohort (1,117 negative, 64 post-COVID positive samples) and validated the algorithm in an independent British cohort (976 negatives, 536 positives). Results The specificity of SIT<sup>2</sup> was superior to single tests and non-inferior to OTA. The sensitivity was maintained or even improved using SIT<sup>2</sup> when compared to single tests or OTA. SIT<sup>2</sup> allowed correct identification of infected individuals even when a live virus neutralization assay could not detect antibodies. Compared to single testing or OTA, SIT<sup>2</sup> significantly reduced total test errors to 0.46% (0.24-0.65) or 1.60% (0.94-2.38) at both 5% or 20% seroprevalence. Conclusion SIT<sup>2</sup> proved to be the best diagnostic choice at both 5% and 20% seroprevalence in all tested scenarios. It is an easy algorithm to apply to different available SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing systems and can potentially be helpful for the serology of other infectious diseases.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.05.20226449v4" target="_blank">The sensitivity improved two-test algorithm “SIT2”: a universal optimization strategy for SARS-CoV-2 serology</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Pathogenic and transcriptomic differences of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants in the Syrian golden hamster model</strong> -
<div>
Following the discovery of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its rapid spread throughout the world, new viral variants of concern (VOC) have emerged. There is a critical need to understand the impact of the emerging variants on host response and disease dynamics to facilitate the development of vaccines and therapeutics. Syrian golden hamsters are the leading small animal model that recapitulates key aspects of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we show that intranasal inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 into hamsters with the ancestral virus (nCoV-WA1-2020) or VOC first identified in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351) led to similar gross and histopathologic pulmonary lesions. Although differences in viral genomic copy numbers were noted in the lungs and oral swabs of challenged animals, infectious titers in the lungs were comparable. Antibody neutralization capacities varied, dependent on the original challenge virus and cross-variant protective capacity. Transcriptional profiling indicated significant induction of antiviral pathways in response to all three challenges with a more robust inflammatory signature in response to B.1.1.7. Furthermore, no additional mutations in the spike protein were detected at peak disease. In conclusion, the emerging VOC showed distinct humoral responses and transcriptional profiles in the hamster model compared to the ancestral virus.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.11.451964v1" target="_blank">Pathogenic and transcriptomic differences of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants in the Syrian golden hamster model</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Daily sampling of early SARS-CoV-2 infection reveals substantial heterogeneity in infectiousness</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 replication and shedding in humans remain poorly understood. We captured the dynamics of infectious virus and viral RNA shedding during acute infection through daily longitudinal sampling of 60 individuals for up to 14 days. By fitting mechanistic models, we directly estimate viral reproduction and clearance rates, and overall infectiousness for each individual. Significant person-to-person variation in infectious virus shedding suggests that individual-level heterogeneity in viral dynamics contributes to superspreading. Viral genome load often peaked days earlier in saliva than in nasal swabs, indicating strong compartmentalization and suggesting that saliva may serve as a superior sampling site for early detection of infection. Viral loads and clearance kinetics of B.1.1.7 and non-B.1.1.7 viruses were indistinguishable, however B.1.1.7 exhibited a significantly slower pre-peak growth rate in saliva. These results provide a high-resolution portrait of SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics and implicate individual-level heterogeneity in infectiousness in superspreading.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.12.21260208v1" target="_blank">Daily sampling of early SARS-CoV-2 infection reveals substantial heterogeneity in infectiousness</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutations and Escape from Antibodies: a Computational Model of Epitope Loss in Variants of Concern</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein is exposed on the viral surface and is the first point of contact between the virus and the host. For these reasons it represents the prime target for Covid-19 vaccines. In recent months, variants of this protein have started to emerge. Their ability to reduce or evade recognition by S-targeting antibodies poses a threat to immunological treatments and raises concerns for their consequences on vaccine efficacy. To develop a model able to predict the potential impact of S-protein mutations on antibody binding sites, we performed unbiased multi- microsecond molecular dynamics of several glycosylated S-protein variants and applied a straightforward structure- dynamics-energy based strategy to predict potential changes in immunogenic regions on each variant. We recover known epitopes on the reference D614G sequence. By comparing our results, obtained on isolated S-proteins in solution, to recently published data on antibody binding and reactivity in new S variants, we directly show that modifications in the S-protein consistently translate into the loss of potentially immunoreactive regions. Our findings can thus be qualitatively reconnected to the experimentally characterized decreased ability of some of the Abs elicited against the dominant S-sequence to recognize variants. While based on the study of SARS-CoV-2 Spike variants, our computational epitope-prediction strategy is portable and could be applied to study immunoreactivity in mutants of proteins of interest whose structures have been characterized, helping the development/selection of vaccines and antibodies able to control emerging variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.12.452002v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutations and Escape from Antibodies: a Computational Model of Epitope Loss in Variants of Concern</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>High rate of mutational events in SARS-CoV-2 genomes across Brazilian geographical regions, February 2020 to June 2021</strong> -
<div>
Brazil has been considered as one of the emerging epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, experiencing over 3,000 daily deaths caused by the virus at the peak of the second wave. In total, the country has more than 19.2 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, including over 533,509 fatalities. A set of emerging variants arose in the country, some of them posing new challenges for COVID-19 control. The goal of this study was to describe mutational events across samples from Brazilian SARS-CoV-2 sequences openly publicly obtainable on the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data-EpiCoV (GISAID-EpiCoV) platform and generate an index of new mutant by each genome. A total of 16,953 SARS-CoV-2 genomes were obtained and are not proportionally representative of the five Brazilian geographical regions. A comparative sequence analysis was conducted to identify common mutations located at 42 positions of the genome (38 were in coding regions whereas two in 5’ and two in 3’ UTR). Moreover, 11 were synonymous and 27 missense variants, and more than 44.4% were located in the spike gene. Across the total of single nucleotide variations (SNVs) identified, 32 were found in genomes obtained from all five Brazilian regions. While a high genomic diversity is reported in Europe given the large number of sequenced genomes, Africa is emerging as a hotspot for new variants. In South America, Brazil and Chile, rates are similar to those found in South Africa and India, giving enough space to generate new viral mutations. Genomic surveillance is the central key to identifying the emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil and has shown that the country is one of the “hotspots” in the generation of new variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.10.451922v1" target="_blank">High rate of mutational events in SARS-CoV-2 genomes across Brazilian geographical regions, February 2020 to June 2021</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Niclosamide reverses SARS-CoV-2 control of lipophagy</strong> -
<div>
The global effort to combat COVID-19 rapidly produced a shortlist of approved drugs with antiviral activities for clinical repurposing. However, the jump to clinical testing was lethal in some cases as a full understanding of the mechanism of antiviral activity as opposed to pleiotropic activity/toxicity for these drugs was lacking. Through parallel lipidomic and transcriptomic analyses we observed massive reorganization of lipid profiles of infected Vero E6 cells, especially plasmalogens that correlated with increased levels of virus replication. Niclosamide (NIC), a poorly soluble anti-helminth drug identified for repurposed treatment of COVID-19, reduced the total lipid profile that would otherwise amplify during virus infection. NIC treatment reduced the abundance of plasmalogens, diacylglycerides, and ceramides, which are required for virus pro-duction. Future screens of approved drugs may identify more druggable compounds than NIC that can safely but effectively counter SARS-CoV-2 subversion of lipid metabolism thereby reducing virus replication. However, these data support the consideration of niclosamide as a potential COVID-19 therapeutic given its modulation of lipophagy leading to the reduction of virus egress and the subsequent regulation of key lipid mediators of pathological inflammation.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.11.451951v1" target="_blank">Niclosamide reverses SARS-CoV-2 control of lipophagy</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Bereavement from COVID-19, Gender, and Reports of Depression among Older Adults in Europe</strong> -
<div>
Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has left older adults around the world bereaved by the sudden death of relatives and friends. We examine if COVID-19 bereavement corresponds with older adults’ reporting depression in 27 countries, and test for variation by gender and country context. Methods: We analyze SHARE COVID-19 data collected between June-August 2020 from N=51,383 older adults (age 50–104) living in 27 countries, of whom 1,363 reported the death of a relative or friend from COVID-19. We estimate pooled-multilevel logit regression models to examine if COVID-19 bereavement was associated with self-reported depression and worsening depression, and we test whether national COVID-19 mortality rates moderate these assocations. Results: COVID-19 bereavement is associated with significantly higher probabilities of both reporting depression and reporting worsened depression among older adults. Net of one’s own personal loss, living in a country with the highest COVID-19 mortality rate is associated with women’s reports of worsened depression but not men’s. However, the country’s COVID-19 mortality rate does not moderate associations between COVID-19 bereavement and depression. Discussion: COVID-19 deaths have lingering mental health implications for surviving older adults. Even as the collective toll of the crisis is apparent, bereaved older adults are in particular need of mental health support.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/tzm9n/" target="_blank">Bereavement from COVID-19, Gender, and Reports of Depression among Older Adults in Europe</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Vaccinations With a Sweepstakes</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Philly Vax Sweepstakes<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
University of Pennsylvania;   Philadelphia Department of Public Health<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>A Study of PF-07321332/Ritonavir in Nonhospitalized High Risk Adult Participants With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: PF-07321332;   Drug: Ritonavir;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<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 Study to Evaluate MVC-COV1901 Vaccine Against COVID-19 in Adolescents</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19 Vaccine<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: MVC-COV1901(S protein with adjuvant);   Biological: MVC-COV1901(Saline)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on Sequential Immunization of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine and Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Ad5 Vector)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Ad5 vectored vaccine;   Biological: Inactive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (Vero cell)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;   CanSino Biologics Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid-19 Virtual Recovery Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Strength RMT;   Behavioral: Strength RMT and nasal breathing;   Behavioral: Endurance RMT;   Behavioral: Endurance RMT and nasal breathing;   Behavioral: Low dose RMT<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Mayo Clinic<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>Efficacy of Amantadine Treatment in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Patients With Moderate or Severe COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Amantadine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Noblewell;   Medical Research Agency (ABM);   Leszek Giec Upper-Silesian Medical Centre of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Different Use of The Aerosol Box in COVID-19 Patients; Internal Jugular Vein Cannulation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Internal jugular vein cannulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Training Hospital<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>Reconditioning Exercise for COVID-19 Patients Experiencing Residual sYmptoms</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Exercise Therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Wake Forest University Health Sciences<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>Lipid Emulsion Infusion and COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: SMOFlipid;   Other: 0.9% saline<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Assiut University<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>Short Term, High Dose Vitamin D Supplementation in Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: cholecalciferol 6 lakh IU<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research<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>Immunogenicity and Safety of an Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine;   Biological: 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine;   Biological: Inactivated Hepatitis A Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.<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>Coenzyme Q10 as Treatment for Long Term COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Covid19;   Long Term Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Coenzyme Q10;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Aarhus University Hospital;   University of Aarhus;   Pharma Nord<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effect of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields, 150 kHz) Concomitant With Best Standard of Care for the Treatment of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients and Continued Treatment Following Discharge</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: NovoTTF-100L<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   NovoCure GmbH<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>Study to Select the Dose and Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of Monoclonal Antibody in Adult With Recently Diagnosed Asymptomatic to Moderately Severe COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: MAD0004J08;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Toscana Life Sciences Sviluppo s.r.l.<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>Phase II Clinical Trial of CinnaGen COVID-19 Vaccine (SpikoGen)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein + Advax-SM adjuvant;   Biological: Saline placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cinnagen<br/><b>Active, not 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>Cationic Compounds with SARS-CoV-2 Antiviral Activity and their Interaction with OCT/MATE Secretory Transporters</strong> - In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, drug repurposing has been highlighted for rapid introduction of therapeutics. Proposed drugs with activity against SARS-CoV-2 include compounds with positive charges at physiological pH, making them potential targets for the organic cation (OC) secretory transporters of kidney and liver, i.e., the basolateral Organic Cation Transporters, OCT1 and OCT2; and the apical Multidrug And Toxin Extruders, MATE1 and MATE2-K. We selected several compounds proposed to…</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 diagnosis and testing in pediatric heart transplant recipients</strong> - Pediatric heart transplant recipients have been expected to be at higher risk of adverse events from developing COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 RNA PCR and antibody testing has been performed in our cohort of patients since March 15, 2020 and outcomes were reviewed. COVID-19 infection in our population of pediatric heart transplant recipients is common (21%), despite recommendations to avoid contact with others. Asymptomatic COVID-19 infection is common as well (55%). Despite the frequency 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>Determination of camostat and its metabolites in human plasma - preservation of samples and quantification by a validated UHPLC-MS/MS method</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: A methodology was developed that preserves camostat and GBPA in plasma samples and provides accurate and sensitive quantification of camostat, GBPA and GBA by UHPLC-MS/MS.</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>Accurate Bulk Quantitation of Droplet Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction</strong> - Droplet digital PCR provides superior accuracy for nucleic acid quantitation. The requirement of microfluidics to generate and analyze the emulsions, however, is a barrier to its adoption, particularly in low resource settings or clinical laboratories. Here, we report a novel method to prepare ddPCR droplets by vortexing and readout of the results by bulk analysis of recovered amplicons. We demonstrate the approach by accurately quantitating SARS-CoV-2 sequences using entirely bulk processing…</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>Strategies to target SARS-CoV-2 entry and infection using dual mechanisms of inhibition by acidification inhibitors</strong> - Many viruses utilize the host endo-lysosomal network for infection. Tracing the endocytic itinerary of SARS-CoV-2 can provide insights into viral trafficking and aid in designing new therapeutic strategies. Here, we demonstrate that the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is internalized via the pH-dependent CLIC/GEEC (CG) endocytic pathway in human gastric-adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells expressing undetectable levels of ACE2. Ectopic expression of ACE2 (AGS-ACE2) results in…</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 L-Arginine in Nitric Oxide Synthesis and Health in Humans</strong> - As a functional amino acid (AA), L-arginine (Arg) serves not only as a building block of protein but also as an essential substrate for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), creatine, polyamines, homoarginine, and agmatine in mammals (including humans). NO (a major vasodilator) increases blood flow to tissues. Arg and its metabolites play important roles in metabolism and physiology. Arg is required to maintain the urea cycle in the active state to detoxify ammonia. This AA also activates cellular…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Simultaneous evaluation of antibodies that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 variants via multiplex assay</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) is both the principal target of neutralizing antibodies, and one of the most rapidly evolving domains, which can result in the emergence of immune escape mutations limiting the effectiveness of vaccines and antibody therapeutics. To facilitate surveillance, we developed a rapid, high-throughput, multiplex assay able to assess the inhibitory response of antibodies to 24 RBD natural variants simultaneously. We demonstrate how this assay can be…</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>Tocilizumab as a Treatment for ‘Cytokine Storm Syndrome’ in COVID-19: A Case Report</strong> - Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) which is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a problem worldwide, particularly due to the high rate of transmission and wide range of clinical manifestations. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiorgan failure are the most common events observed in severe cases and can be fatal. Cytokine storm syndrome emerges as one of the possibilities for the development of ARDS and multiorgan failure in severe cases…</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>Catalytic Dyad Residues His41 and Cys145 Impact the Catalytic Activity and Overall Conformational Fold of the Main SARS-CoV-2 Protease 3-Chymotrypsin-Like Protease</strong> - Coronaviruses are responsible for multiple pandemics and millions of deaths globally, including the current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Development of antivirals against coronaviruses, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19, is essential for containing the current and future coronavirus outbreaks. SARS-CoV-2 proteases represent important targets for the development of antivirals because of their role in 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>Pulmonary Covid Fibrosis a New Pharmaceutic Approach</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: This study proposes to inhibit phosphodiesterase by vasodilatation of the pulmonary vascular bed and the MUC1 over expression by interleukin6, the Sildenafil with the SGLT2 and N-Acetylcysteine.</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>Review of the potential of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of infectious diseases</strong> - The therapeutic value of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for the treatment of infectious diseases and the repair of disease-induced tissue damage has been explored extensively. MSCs inhibit inflammation, reduce pathogen load and tissue damage encountered during infectious diseases through the secretion of antimicrobial factors for pathogen clearance and they phagocytose certain bacteria themselves. MSCs dampen tissue damage during infection by downregulating the levels of pro-inflammatory…</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>RIG-I-Like Receptor-Mediated Recognition of Viral Genomic RNA of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 and Viral Escape From the Host Innate Immune Responses</strong> - RIG-I-like receptors (RLR), RIG-I and MDA5, are cytoplasmic viral RNA sensors that recognize viral double-stranded RNAs and trigger signals to induce antiviral responses, including type I interferon production. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. However, the RLR role in innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 has not been fully elucidated. Here, we studied the roles of RLR in cytokine expression responding to SARS-CoV-2 and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Interleukin-1- Receptor Kinase 4 Inhibition: Achieving Immunomodulatory Synergy to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19</strong> - No abstract</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>Case Report: Adult Post-COVID-19 Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome and Thrombotic Microangiopathy</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our case suggests that that TMA could play a central role in the pathophysiology of post-COVID-19 MIS-A, making complement blockers an interesting therapeutic option.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The MERS-CoV N Protein Regulates Host Cytokinesis and Protein Translation via Interaction With EF1A</strong> - Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a pathogen causing severe respiratory disease in humans that emerged in June 2012, is a novel beta coronavirus similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). In this study, immunoprecipitation and proximity ligation assays revealed that the nucleocapsid (N) protein of MERS-CoV interacted with human translation elongation factor 1A (EF1A), an essential component of the translation system with important roles in protein…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Advanced Machine Learning System combating COVID-19 virus Detection, Spread, Prevention and Medical Assistance.</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU329799475">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Differential detection kit for common SARS-CoV-2 variants in COVID-19 patients</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU328840861">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 anti-viral therapeutic</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU327160071">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A POLYHERBAL ALCOHOL FREE FORMULATION FOR ORAL CAVITY</strong> - The present invention generally relates to a herbal composition. Specifically, the present invention relates to a polyherbal alcohol free composition comprising of Glycyrrhiza glabra root extract, Ocimum sanctum leaf extract, Elettaria cardamomum fruit extract, Mentha spicata (Spearmint) oil and Tween 80 and method of preparation thereof. The polyherbal alcohol free composition of the present invention possesses excellent antimicrobial properties and useful for oral cavity. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN325690740">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因及其应用</strong> - 本发明属于生物技术领域，具体涉及新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因及其应用。本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因，其核苷酸序列如SEQIDNO.1或SEQIDNO.6所示。本发明通过优化野生型新型冠状病毒南非B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因序列，并结合筛选确定了相对最佳序列，优化后序列产生的克隆表达效率比野生型新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD序列表达效率大幅提高，从而，本发明的新型冠状病毒B.1.351南非突变株RBD的基因可以用于制备新型冠状病毒疫苗。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990628">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体的试剂盒及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及生物技术领域，具体而言，提供了一种检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体的试剂盒及其应用。本发明提供的检测新型冠状病毒中和抗体试剂盒，具体包括（a）或（b）两种方案：（a）示踪物标记的RBD三聚体抗原，包被在固体支持物上的ACE2，以及，含有0.2‑10mg/mL十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱的工作液；（b）示踪物标记的ACE2，包被在固体支持物上的RBD三聚体抗原，以及，含有0.2‑10mg/mL十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱的工作液；其中，RBD三聚体抗原利用二硫键将刺突蛋白的RBD与S2亚基完全交联得到。十二烷基二甲基甜菜碱会显著提高RBD三聚体抗原与新冠中和性抗体结合速度，提升阳性样本平均发光强度，缩短检测时间。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990376">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种检测SARS-CoV-2的引物组合物及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及一种检测SARS‑CoV‑2的引物组合物及其应用。所述引物组合物包括SEQ ID NO:1~SEQ ID NO:12所示的核酸序列。本发明利用所述引物组合物进行逆转录巢式PCR，并结合Sanger测序，能够快速、准确地获取SARS‑CoV‑2基因信息，从而能够实现快速检测SARS‑CoV‑2以及判断SARS‑CoV‑2突变株，且具备良好的准确性、灵敏度、特异性以及重复性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328990422">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新冠病毒肺炎重症化预测系统及方法</strong> - 本发明涉及疾病预测技术领域，公开了一种新冠病毒肺炎重症化预测系统及方法，包括以下步骤：步骤一，采集患者血常规信息和用户信息；步骤二，将患者血常规信息按照用户信息进行等级分类；步骤三，将已经等级分类的患者血常规信息与对应等级的标准信息进行比较；步骤四，当患者血常规信息在标准信息范围内则判定患者为轻症患者，当患者血常规信息在标准信息范围外则判定患者为重症患者。本发明能够准确快速地区分轻症和重症。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN328308318">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MEDIDOR DE SATURACION</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=ES325874099">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>폐마스크 밀봉 회수기</strong> - 본 발명은 마스크 착용 후 버려지는 일회용 폐마스크를 비닐봉지에 넣은 후 밀봉하여 배출함으로써, 2차 감염을 예방하고 일반 생활폐기물과 선별 분리 배출하여 환경오염을 방지하는 데 그 목적이 있다. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=KR325788342">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s Next for the Campaign to Break Up Big Tech?</strong> - A judge recently dismissed two antitrust cases against Facebook. But what appeared to be a setback for the effort may actually provide a road map for how it can succeed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/whats-next-for-the-campaign-to-break-up-big-tech">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s Invisible Ideology</strong> - The President has deployed an exasperating but effective strategy to counter Trumpism. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/bidens-invisible-ideology">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Redefining Populism</strong> - A political philosopher offers a new way of looking at Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, and other right-wing leaders. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/redefining-populism">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Who Owns Mike Disfarmer’s Photographs?</strong> - Strangers made his small-town portraits famous in the art world. Decades later, his heirs want control of the estate. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/who-owns-mike-disfarmers-photographs">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Biden Antitrust Revolution</strong> - A new executive order calls for the federal government to work proactively to end monopolies that undermine economic fairness and American democracy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-biden-antitrust-revolution">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Shein, the Chinese fast fashion giant, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A photo of the fast fashion retailer Shein’s website and app." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/eRZwb_wUZ-PHU8uxX76S2ATv3es=/222x0:3778x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69574893/GettyImages_1233442352.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Shein’s ubiquity on social media has catapulted the company to cult status among young women across the globe. | Justin Chin/Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Chinese retailer is quickly becoming Gen Z’s favorite fashion company, due to its low prices and savvy social media presence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6pkqll">
If you’ve spent some time scrolling and shopping on TikTok, you’re probably familiar with the fashion retailer Shein. From personal experience, however, “familiar” doesn’t properly contextualize how pervasive the brand is, at least online. Perhaps a more accurate description is: I am haunted by Shein. As a consumer who falls squarely within the brand’s target demographic — a woman in her 20s, who buys most of her clothes online — I encounter Shein-related content almost daily, algorithmically fed to me through Instagram advertisements, YouTube hauls, and viral TikTok recommendations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Czgpnl">
Shein’s ubiquity, most notably on TikTok, has catapulted the retailer to cult status among young women across the globe. And while Shein is based out of China, it ships to 220 countries, with the US serving as its largest consumer market. In June, Shein overtook Amazon for the first time on the iOS App Store to become the leading US shopping app, a title it holds in over 50 countries. This comes after a pandemic year of record-breaking sales: Shein raked in close to <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/china/cross-border-fast-fashion-giant-shein-takes-aim-at-premium-
segment">$10 billion in 2020</a>, which was reportedly its eighth consecutive year of revenue growth over 100 percent. The retailer is also one of the<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2021/04/analysis-
shows-most-talked-about-brands.html">most talked-about brands</a> on TikTok and YouTube, and the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.similarweb.com%2Ftop-
websites%2Fcategory%2Flifestyle%2Ffashion-and-apparel%2F&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fthe-
goods%2F22573682%2Fshein-future-of-fast-fashion-explained" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">most visited</a> fashion and apparel site in the world, according to the web analytics platform Similarweb. Shein had enough in its coffers to place a bid to <a href="https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/retail/shein-topshop-arcadia-next-plc-
administration-topman-abg-frasers-256953/">buy Topshop</a> in January, which it ultimately lost to Asos.
</p>
<div id="ndjoto">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
This SHEIN app is injurious to my bank balance
</p>
— Khaveesha (<span class="citation" data-cites="khaveesha">@khaveesha</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/khaveesha/status/1414514671005048832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j9vvY9">
Shein has collaborated with well-known musicians (Katy Perry, Nick Jonas, Lil Nas X, Tinashe) for concerts and events and, like its trendy competitors, has sponsored influencers (Addison Rae) and created capsule collections with D-list reality TV stars (<em>The Bachelor</em>’s Hannah Godwin, <em>The Only Way Is Essex</em>’s Amber Turner). But Shein isn’t a brand made for and peddled by the rich and famous. In fact, it has cemented its reputation among regular people, particularly Gen Z shoppers, who promote the brand through unsponsored clothing hauls and outfit posts on social media. Friends and coworkers have recommended Shein swimwear and dresses to me in casual conversation, over text and even on Slack. On TikTok, a recent crowd favorite is <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theliannicole/video/6954119898528337157">Shein’s cross-wrap crop top</a> — a $13 garment that resembles a halter top, but with a strategically placed cutout that reveals extra cleavage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6xE4Am">
There are tens of thousands of styles on the retailer’s site, and each day, about 1,000 more are added. For context, this production pace is even speedier than the “ultra-fast” sites that dominate fast fashion’s Instagram era; Missguided and Fashion Nova, for example, reportedly release about 1,000 new styles a week. Shein’s business model, like that of its fast forebears, abides by the tenet that more is better, that excess can be made accessible through mysteriously low prices, with little care for environmental costs or transparency about its labor force.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang">
<div id="2jSduD">
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@mynamesmillicent69/video/6914678565460299010" class="tiktok-embed">
<section>
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mynamesmillicent69" target="_blank" title="@mynamesmillicent69"><span class="citation" data-cites="mynamesmillicent69">@mynamesmillicent69</span></a>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The part two no one asked for &lt;3 <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foryoupage" target="_blank" title="foryoupage">#foryoupage</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp" target="_blank" title="fyp">#fyp</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foryou" target="_blank" title="foryou">#foryou</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/shein" target="_blank" title="shein">#shein</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sheinhaul" target="_blank" title="sheinhaul">#sheinhaul</a>
</p>
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6906918961464937222" target="_blank" title="♬ original sound -
bhaddiebeats ">♬ original sound - bhaddiebeats </a>
</section>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OOgfGc">
A skilled Shein shopper can theoretically buy an entire outfit, accessories and shoes included, for $30 or less. In fact, there are entire sections on the site that help customers clinch the cheapest deals: A shopper can browse for <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fus.shein.com%2Fsale%2FUS-Tops-
Under-5-99-sc-00503569.html%3Fici%3Dus_tab01navbar06menu03dir01%26scici%3Dnavbar_WomenHomePage%7E%7Etab01navbar06menu03dir01%7E%7E6_3_1%7E%7EitemPicking_00503569%7E%7E%7E%7E0%26srctype%3Dcategory%26userpath%3Dcategory%253ETOPS%253EUnder%2520%25245.99&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fthe-
goods%2F22573682%2Fshein-future-of-fast-fashion-explained" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">tops under $5.99</a>, <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fus.shein.com%2Fsale%2FUS-Dress-all-
under-9-99-sc-00503602.html%3Fici%3Dus_tab01navbar05menu04dir01%26scici%3Dnavbar_WomenHomePage%7E%7Etab01navbar05menu04dir01%7E%7E5_4_1%7E%7EitemPicking_00503602%7E%7E%7E%7E0%26srctype%3Dcategory%26userpath%3Dcategory%253EDRESSES%253EAll%2520under%2520%25249.99&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fthe-
goods%2F22573682%2Fshein-future-of-fast-fashion-explained" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">dresses under $9.99</a>, and <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fus.shein.com%2Fsale%2FUS-All-
Under-5-sc-00505810.html%3Fici%3Dus_tab01navbar10menu02dir01%26scici%3Dnavbar_WomenHomePage%7E%7Etab01navbar10menu02dir01%7E%7E10_2_1%7E%7EitemPicking_00505810%7E%7E%7E%7E0%26srctype%3Dcategory%26userpath%3Dcategory%253ESALE%253EAll%2520under%2520%25245&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fthe-
goods%2F22573682%2Fshein-future-of-fast-fashion-explained" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">clearance items under $5</a>. The wardrobe possibilities, it seems, are endless. One Twitter user <a href="https://twitter.com/tweetshaeee/status/1412478506940784641">recently observed</a> that $280 spent on Shein can create a year’s worth of outfits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4PtIwm">
Yet Shein’s emergence as a fast fashion juggernaut can’t solely be attributed to the price of its clothing or its ubiquitous internet presence. The retailer is also nowhere to be found in the physical world — at least not in brick-and-mortar stores, although it has previously hosted in-person pop-up events. Shein appeared to have sprung out of thin air into the mainstream, unlike fast fashion’s old guards, whose spacious, brightly lit stores were proof of their dominance. Yet, Shein is so far ahead of competitors like H&amp;M, Zara, and Asos, according to an <a href="https://blog.apptopia.com/shein-accelerates-app-growth">analysis by Apptopia</a>, that it’s difficult to compare them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3FcIOg">
So what makes Shein so special? The answer might seem simple (two words: supply chains), if not for its influence over ever-changing trends and its impact on fashion consumption. There’s no doubt that it’s Shein’s world, and we’re just shopping in it.
</p>
<h3 id="1pHq5B">
A brief, incomplete history of Shein
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PRlvzb">
Shein was first launched in 2008 under the domain SheInside, as a site that sold wedding dresses and women’s fashion geared toward US and English-language shoppers. The retailer was started in Nanjing, a province in China, by entrepreneur Chris Xu, who specialized in search engine optimization marketing. Xu has yet to publicly express any interest in women’s fashion or clothing design (granted, it doesn’t seem like he has done many interviews in English); his expertise lies in SEO and brand marketing, key factors that have contributed to Shein’s online popularity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ULcJd">
During Shein’s early years, there was very little that distinguished the brand from other Chinese e-commerce retailers, except that it sold wedding gowns. According to reporting from <a href="https://pandayoo.com/2021/02/18/an-incomplete-business-story-about-shein/">PandaYoo</a>, an English-language site published by Chinese bloggers, Shein sourced its products from China’s wholesale clothing market in Guangzhou, a region where many Chinese garment factories and markets are centralized. Shein wasn’t involved in any aspect of garment design or manufacturing. It operated much like a dropshipping business that sells products from third-party wholesalers directly to overseas shoppers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a4MNg8">
It wasn’t until 2014 that Shein began to acquire its own supply chain system, transforming itself into a fully integrated retailer. That year, it purchased Romwe, another Chinese e-commerce retailer. By 2015, the company had <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sheinside-changes-its-brand-name-
as-well-as-its-domain-name-to-shein-300100667.html">shortened its domain name</a> to Shein, a move that reportedly made the brand more memorable and searchable for shoppers. Yet, prior to these major changes in 2014, the company had a decent online presence and enough customers to expand its operations. It was an early adopter of social media marketing, partnering with <a href="http://www.fashionandcookies.com/2012/12/sheinside-christmas-giveaway.html">fashion bloggers for giveaways</a> and promoting products on <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20130211115654/https://www.facebook.com/Sheinside">Facebook</a>, Instagram, and <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120510072308/www.pinterest.com/sheinside">Pinterest</a> as far back as 2012.
</p>
<div id="87HPWW">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SheInside?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SheInside</a> Valentine’s Day Giveaway<br/>Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/sheinsider?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="sheinsider">@sheinsider</span></a>,reply and retweet the tweet.<br/>5 winners! <a href="http://t.co/jmcbxoPqu3">pic.twitter.com/jmcbxoPqu3</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">— SHEIN (<span class="citation" data-cites="SHEIN_official">@SHEIN_official</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/SHEIN_official/status/427992674453307392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2014</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZY1m2P">
Throughout the early 2010s, Shein launched overseas sites in Spain, France, Russia, Italy, and Germany, and began selling cosmetics, shoes, bags, and jewelry, in addition to womenswear. According to a translated article from the Chinese tech site <a href="https://kr-asia.com/decoding-shein-growing-pains-and-bitter-
splits-part-2-of-3">LatePost</a>, by 2016, Xu had assembled a team of 800 designers and prototypers, dedicated to rapidly producing Shein-branded clothes. Shein also began honing its supply chain, cutting out suppliers that produced “mediocre-quality products or images,” according to a 2016 <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sheincom-
cuts-out-mediocre-suppliers-300259248.html">press release</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYofle">
By 2017, the present-day iteration of Shein had begun to take shape. The brand advertised on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFJclVva0HE">daytime television shows</a> in the US, and fashion influencers showcased Shein products and hauls <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOlA1GRmStA">alongside other retailers</a>, like Fashion Nova and Zaful. It was, however, the retailer’s early use of TikTok and ability to market <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
goods/22555723/tiktok-viral-products-cerave-sky-high-mascara-amazon-leggings">viral products</a> that skyrocketed Shein’s popularity.
</p>
<h3 id="HN4FBn">
Is Shein simply “fast fashion,” or is it the future?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xi2Tlj">
While venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs tout Shein as the future of fashion, the company’s rise didn’t occur in a vacuum. Its success is predicated on a confluence of factors, from geopolitical trade policies to a decades-old, disaggregated global fashion ecosystem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m2kzMp">
The fast fashion business model was pioneered in the 1990s by the founder of Inditex, the parent company of Spanish retailer Zara. Zara notoriously abandoned the concept of fashion seasons for a year-long cycle of production, which introduced customers to novel items every few weeks. Its success prompted other Western designers and retailers — H&amp;M and Forever 21, to name two — to follow its lead into the next decade. Retailers migrated most of their manufacturing process overseas to countries with lax labor laws, where wages can be low and working overtime (without additional pay) is common. This, of course, made fashion companies more profitable, as shoppers became hooked on a cycle of novelty. But soon, things were about to get even faster.
</p>
<aside id="PS1L1V">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YpyqFu">
Toward the tail end of the 2010s, “ultra-fast” fashion brands — Asos, Boohoo, Fashion Nova, and now Shein — emerged as viable competitors to the dominant fashion empires of the previous decade. Last October, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-inditex-challengers-focus/chinas-turbo-charged-online-
fashion-takes-on-zara-and-hm-idUSKBN27034K?il=0">Reuters reported</a> that investors think “Zara … is going to be crushed by fast fashion 2.0.” These ultra-fast fashion companies are able to reach millions of young shoppers directly through social media without the need for physical retail space, and relied on search traffic and customer data to foreshadow trends.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bRi2qb">
But by virtue of Shein’s location and software technology, the retailer developed a speedy edge on its competitors. Matthew Brennan, a Beijing-based writer and analyst of Chinese technology, likened its pace to “real-time” retail. That means Shein is constantly gathering and analyzing customer data and uses that knowledge to craft new designs — within as little as three days.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GKEcHf">
“Each new design is basically a bet because Shein can estimate how well a product is going to do, but it doesn’t know for sure until it sells,” Brennan explained. “Compared to its fast fashion competitors, Shein is able to take more bets, but at a lower risk. It’s able to place very small initial orders with these factories, about 100 or even smaller.” These batches were much smaller than Zara’s and that of ultra-fast fashion retailers like Boohoo, which reportedly ordered about <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/03/ultra-fast-fashion-is-eating-the-world/617794/">300 to 500 units per style</a>. If a specific top goes viral overnight on TikTok, for example, Shein will be able to instantaneously ramp up production on the garment and place additional orders depending on demand.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MD1o3s">
Shein has spent years cultivating relationships with Chinese garment factories and manufacturers, whereas most Western brands generally outsource this work. Inditex is similarly situated close to a garment production center in the northeast region of Spain, but according to Brennan, business in China moves much faster.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="15EPrl">
“Shein doesn’t work with very large factories but [with] small to mid-sized workshops that pick up orders daily,” Brennan said. “It’s very much like an Uber system, where new orders are coming into factory owners’ phones and they receive the order. It’s very scrappy, but efficient.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="Wrkl8u">
<q>“It’s very much like an Uber system, where new orders are coming into factory owners’ phones and they receive the order”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kzGgB8">
Most retailers place a main order at the start of the season, according to Craig Ryder, director of the UK-based Supply Chain Consulting Group: “It depends on where the order is made and where it’s being shipped to, but generally, between a retailer placing an order and getting it to market, there is very limited time to order more.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NcqzwR">
And despite Shein’s popularity, the company remains largely unknown among Chinese consumers. The Chinese apparel market is extremely competitive, and Shein’s priority from the beginning has been to export goods abroad. The retailer has also benefited from deteriorating trade relations between China and the US. China began waiving export taxes for direct-to-consumer companies in 2018 after the US imposed more tariffs, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-14/online-fashion-giant-shein-emerged-from-china-thanks-to-donald-
trump-s-trade-war?sref=ExbtjcSG">Bloomberg reported</a>. Since Shein ships its orders directly to customers from Chinese warehouses, packages worth less than $800, or small-value shipments, generally remain duty-free. In other words, Shein has managed to circumvent paying both export and import taxes for about three years, something brick-and-mortar retailers aren’t able to avoid.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nCrkXj">
“If you’re Zara, there’s no way you’re going to get around US import duties because you’re not shipping to individuals. You’re selling to stores and importing in bulk,” Michael Horowitz, a consultant at the firm Retail ROI, told Bloomberg. “[Zara has] too much of a physical presence. It can’t get away with it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4qYqEU">
Still, receiving a shipment from Shein can take a week or longer, which is a prolonged timeline for most US-based retailers and, of course, Amazon. (The company does offer free shipping on all orders.) Shein has, in a sense, served as an accelerant in the fashion world. It has forced competitors to reassess the emphasis on speed to increase profit margins, at the cost of everything else.
</p>
<h3 id="ReCNWV">
Is Shein’s speediness ethical?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="obXM08">
Over the past year, Shein has received backlash from customers for selling, among several offensive items, a necklace with a Buddhist swastika pendant, a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryancbrooks/shein-phone-
case-ferguson-apology">phone case</a> with an image of a handcuffed Black person outlined in chalk, and a Muslim prayer mat as a decorative rug. The company has <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCRK5UPHgY0/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=ae3eb043-a1cf-48e6-8eb2-0b715aab0066">apologized</a> for these incidents, which Shein has spun as a lack of cultural sensitivity and understanding of its global audiences.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c3qJqM">
But these hiccups — which are offensive at worst, and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@shynamash/video/6963371250341186822?lang=en&amp;is_copy_url=0&amp;is_from_webapp=v1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;sender_web_id=6909115078261343750">weird at best</a> — are partly a direct result of Shein’s fast production cycle. Following the completely legal <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/27/17281022/fashion-brands-knockoffs-copyright-stolen-designs-old-navy-zara-h-
and-m">copycat model </a>of most fast fashion retailers, Shein employs workers to recreate trending designs for its own products. The artwork on Shein’s offensive phone case was replicated without permission from a 2014 drawing by French graphic artist Jean Jullien, in the wake of the Ferguson uprisings. Several designers and artists have <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/designer-claims-shein-weworewhat-stole-design-viral-tiktok/">accused the company</a> of making blatant rip-offs of their work, but there’s little that can be done, besides drawing the internet’s attention to it.
</p>
<div id="dOPxP7">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Im SO over these major brands stealing from black designers. <a href="https://twitter.com/SHEIN_official?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="SHEIN_official">@SHEIN_official</span></a> STOLE my <a href="https://twitter.com/sincerelyriaxo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="sincerelyriaxo">@sincerelyriaxo</span></a> designs to a T. They couldn’t even change ONE thing and it’s now one of their highest selling items. They even stole the brands aesthetic. Like Come on <a href="https://t.co/ose8DiM9hK">pic.twitter.com/ose8DiM9hK</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">— Mariama Diallo ✨ (<span class="citation" data-cites="MariamaDiallo__">@MariamaDiallo__</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MariamaDiallo__/status/1403426272789680129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2021</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I3Lyom">
There’s a running, unproven accusation on TikTok that Shein depends on child labor. These comments usually appear on videos of Shein hauls or styling videos, in which users try to shame well-off creators for buying from a purportedly unethical company. To be clear, there is no evidence that Shein employs children or produces an unsafe labor environment, but the company has not publicly disclosed workers’ wages or hours. LatePost <a href="https://kr-asia.com/first-gen-entrepreneurs-value-what-investcorp-brings-to-the-table-head-of-private-equity-
gaurav-sharma-says">reported</a> that Shein has “a reputation for timely payment [to factories],” which is a rarity in China, and factory owners were willing to relocate their operations with the retailer in 2015.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WTQZJc">
Yet timely payment alone should not be cause for praise. What are the ethics of producing and selling thousands of garments a day at a breakneck pace, even if workers are reportedly paid on time? Shein’s business model drives — and depends on — overconsumption. Some of the most popular Shein-related TikToks feature young women buying <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@itsdejbabes/video/6946036569841143046?lang=en&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1">hundreds of dollars’</a> worth of clothes to try on for every season or fashion TikTok trend. Sure, not every consumer can afford ethically made goods or have easy access to a thrift store, but it’s not low-income shoppers who are keeping Shein and the fast fashion industry alive.
</p>
<div id="o7vVka">
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@itsdejbabes/video/6946036569841143046" class="tiktok-embed">
<section>
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@itsdejbabes" target="_blank" title="@itsdejbabes"><span class="citation" data-cites="itsdejbabes">@itsdejbabes</span></a>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
It finally came…$800 spent on clothes ✨…. SHEIN haul ?<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp" target="_blank" title="fyp">#fyp</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foryou" target="_blank" title="foryou">#foryou</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foryourpage" target="_blank" title="foryourpage">#foryourpage</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/shein_official" target="_blank" title="shein_official">#shein_official</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sheinhaul" target="_blank" title="sheinhaul">#sheinhaul</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fashion" target="_blank" title="fashion">#fashion</a> <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/shein" target="_blank" title="shein">#shein</a>
</p>
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/She-Make-It-Clap-6939938341282383874" target="_blank" title="♬ She Make It Clap -
Soulja Boy">♬ She Make It Clap - Soulja Boy</a>
</section>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xmjptY">
I’ve <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/2/3/21080364/fast-fashion-h-and-m-zara">previously written</a> about how the fashion industry is one of the world’s most resource-intensive sectors, even though there is<a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/3/15/14842476/fashion-climate-change-environment-pollution"> no official research</a> that fully summarizes fashion’s environmental impact. The production of polyester textiles alone <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=s6hDDQAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA25&amp;#v=onepage&amp;q=polyester&amp;f=false">emitted about 706 billion kilograms of greenhouse gases</a> in 2015, and hundreds of gallons of water go into making a single cotton garment. Most of the clothes from Shein are made from synthetic fabrics, which are responsible for releasing plastic microfibers into oceans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iMaM1h">
The retailer has stayed mum on ethical fashion and sustainability, but it’s hard to imagine Shein embracing corporate accountability without widespread consumer pressure. Regardless, Shein seems poised to be the fashion giant of the decade, and investors are scrambling to look for other retailers that could copy its speedy supply chain. And as the fashion industry adjusts to Shein’s blinding pace, it’s safe to assume that shoppers are encouraged and expected to buy more and more. All it takes is another viral must-have product from a brand that might be the next big thing. For now, though, Shein doesn’t seem willing to give up the throne.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>We must burn the West to save it</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/gK54GOpLN5CSo4Aeww2MOAGBVnU=/333x0:3000x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67671099/GettyImages_1279741558.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A member of the Karuk Tribe looks at ceramics damaged in her home by the Slater fire in Happy Camp, California, on September 30. | Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How an ancient American Indian practice can reduce the risk of massive wildfires.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hOKVmp">
To live in the American West today is to live with wildfires. And to suppress those fires is only to delay, and worsen, the inevitable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qoFrdr">
The massive fire seasons in recent years are vivid reminders of this fact. Record heat and an expansive drought across much of the region have laid the groundwork for <a href="https://www.vox.com/22527757/wildfires-heat-wave-drought-california-
arizona-utah-colorado-climate">another massive fire season</a> this summer. It’s not clear year whether it will be as severe as the <a href="https://www.vox.com/21431313/california-oregon-washington-wildfires-2020-weather-climate-
covid">unprecedented fires of 2020</a>, but already, more fires have ignited and more acres have burned. In California alone, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-12/california-wildfires-outpacing-2020-worst-on-
record">more than twice as many acres</a> have burned so far this year compared to the same time period last year.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="irb4p8">
A number of unique factors in recent seasons combined with long-term trends and created the devastating blazes. But a major reason for the massive scale of the destruction is that natural fires and burning practices first developed by Indigenous people have been suppressed for generations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yAWv6L">
Wildfires are essential to many Western ecosystems in the US, restoring nutrients to the soil, clearing decaying brush, and helping plants germinate. Without these fires, vegetation in woodlands, grasslands, and chaparral shrublands accumulates, so more fuel is available to burn, especially when a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/16/drought-worst-
western-megadrought-here-study-says/5145929002/">megadrought</a> keeps drying out the fuel, year after year. A debt to the landscape starts to mount, and when it comes due, there is hell to pay.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ysrrgd">
“If we’re not using fire in the same way that this landscape evolved with over millennia, then we could be creating a situation where we’re creating a further imbalance,” said <a href="https://www.csuchico.edu/geop/department/dhankins.shtml">Don Hankins</a>, an environmental geographer at California State University Chico and a Plains Miwok Indigenous fire practitioner.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LaBVoc">
So a key part of the strategy to reduce the growing threat from wildfires is to burn parts of the landscape on purpose.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6iN2PJ">
This is much easier said than done. It’s costly, it can be dangerous, and it demands a sophisticated and granular understanding of the land. But American Indians have used burning practices across much of the West for thousands of years, building up a vast reservoir of knowledge of when and how to start fires to protect themselves and to increase the bounty of the land.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGnCK5">
Much of this burning stopped when European settlers arrived, driving American Indians away from their ancestral homes and depriving those who remained of their culture. Now there’s a growing movement to bring these practices back to the landscape, with Indigenous practitioners in the lead in places like California. But it requires confronting an ugly past and facing a future of growing wildfire risk.
</p>
<h3 id="YhMpSj">
Why Indigenous burning practices are a powerful way to mitigate wildfire risk
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hvatcp">
To understand how we arrived in this era of extreme wildfires across the western United States, scientists have studied patterns like those in tree rings to get a sense of the history of fires across the West.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bgv9sZ">
“It shows that a lot of these areas burned a lot, anywhere from every two years to every 15 years,” said Eric Knapp, a research ecologist at the United States Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station. “If you haven’t burned in a long time — some of these places haven’t seen fire in recorded history, or since 1910 — that’s a lot of fire debt.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A tree ring section showing burn scars." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BknGpO0F9QUFFE7tOSweSWPXoSk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21978056/DSC_0006.jpg"/> <cite>Eric Knapp/USFS</cite>
<figcaption>
A tree ring cross-section collected near Redding, California, shows regular fire burn scars that became much less frequent after 1855.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q04a4y">
The US Forest Service has even <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/fire_regime_table/fire_regime_table.html">tabulated estimates</a> for how often fires have historically occurred across ecosystems like sage scrub and ponderosa pine forests. These records, plus what we know about how fires were suppressed since the 1800s, point toward how much American Indians in the western US engineered the landscape with their burning practices for thousands of years. European settlers arrived and saw a landscape that had been methodically cultivated, like forests with trees spaced far apart and with little leaf litter on the ground. But they often failed to recognize it as such.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xsCYLp">
“There’s this idea — the idea I was raised with — that this wilderness is untrammeled by man,” Knapp said. “The more work I’ve done in this field, the more strongly I believe that there was a pretty strong human imprint on this landscape.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="48GopI">
The gap between historical levels of burning and the current fires also illustrates how much more fuel is now available to burn in dangerous megafires. However, there’s more to paying off this fire debt than lighting a match.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PPwWaa">
<a href="https://nature.berkeley.edu/karuk-collaborative/?page_id=171">Bill Tripp</a> is the director of natural resources and environmental policy for the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources. The Karuk Tribe’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308925442_Co-management_as_a_Catalyst_Pathways_to_Post-
colonial_Forestry_in_the_Klamath_Basin_California">territory</a> is in Northern California and reaches into Oregon. Tripp, a member of the tribe and an Indigenous fire practitioner, explained that every bit of the landscape has its own terroir when it comes to fire, a unique set of traits in a given region that can influence a blaze. The ideal conditions for a burn depend on the mix of plants, sunlight, soil, and weather conditions. They can change from day to day, and from one hillside to another.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/ZBZFUMpH_ymy57K2lSjWp8gvdRM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21978044/GettyImages_1279741561.jpg"/> <cite>Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Bill Tripp, director of natural resources and environmental policy for the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, stands in a stretch of tribal land that was burned in June near Happy Camp, California.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YA1iBX">
And these deliberate fires are not just about reducing wildfire risk, as is often the case with prescribed burns from government or private land managers. These Indigenous burns serve cultural purposes, like maintaining trails, helping food plants grow, and providing materials for building and crafts. Such fires don’t just hinge on “when” and “how,” but on “why,” which in turn demands sophisticated local insight. For practitioners, it’s not just a tactic, but a way of thinking about how they interact with the natural world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Fvvdv">
“The Karuk people have historically been dependent on the food, fiber, and medicinal resources that come off the greater landscape,” Tripp said. “We’re still dependent on those today.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gkZ3d8">
When done right, these Indigenous-prescribed fires have natural breaks built in as they spread from one type of vegetation to another. Indigenous burning practices can create a mosaic of areas that can readily burn, surrounded by areas that are more resistant to ignition. Those breaks can be areas that have previously burned, thereby having less fuel, or plants that retain more moisture and are less likely to catch on fire.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6EuR9N">
There are ecological benefits, too. A well-timed burn can also restore the biodiversity of the species of plants and animals in places where invasives have become dominant. For example, invasive grasses like <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/r3/resources/health/invasives/grasses/ripgutBrome.shtml">ripgut brome</a> and shrubs like <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/spajun/all.html">Spanish broom</a> in parts of California can outcompete local vegetation, but quickly turn into highly flammable tinder when it gets hot.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i501cp">
A robust mix of native plant and animal species can instead make an ecosystem more resilient to shocks like drought and extreme heat, as well as speed up recovery after a fire.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A comparison
of ponderosa pine forests with and without prescribed burns. " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/vEYM9rV9CxBgBdeV47GEoRRyjpQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21975362/i1540_9295_11_s1_e15_f02.jpg"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/120329" target="_blank">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a></cite>
<figcaption>
This image shows how a ponderosa pine forest looks when fire is excluded (left) compared to a section of forest after multiple controlled burns (right).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VK0O04">
“In California, in our foothill and valley ecosystems, we’ve got a lot of nonnative grasses,” Hankins said. “If we think about the seasonal timing of when it’s appropriate to remove those species with fire and favor native species in their place … we can still achieve the fuel reduction but then we’re shifting the dynamics in favor of native species.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WUUYvK">
The Indigenous-prescribed fires can be slower and less intense than natural or inadvertent fires, creeping along the forest floor rather than tearing through tree canopies. The trees and plants that remain become more resistant to future fires.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wbnvbm">
Over time, with frequent controlled fires, the landscape starts to shift to a healthy mix of species. The fires become easier and safer to conduct, and eventually the risks of a devastating wildfire start to go down.
</p>
<h3 id="NtZB0k">
Halting Indigenous burning practices was part of a deliberate strategy to eradicate American Indians
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Arp64C">
When European settlers arrived in the western United States, they intervened to stop American Indian burning practices, but not just out of fear of fire. Instead, according to Tripp, cultural burning practices were blocked as a deliberate tactic to threaten the survival of Indigenous people like the Karuk Tribe.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RNTZ2m">
“It became part of the policy to remove that connection to the food systems well before fire suppression became a policy,” Tripp said. “When you’re going through a cycle of genocide and people are trying to remove the Indigenous component from a place, that [Indigenous burning practice] becomes a logical target.”
</p>
<aside id="Z32lqR">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mUDXk4">
Laws in states like California stripped Indigenous people of their rights and prevented them from practicing their culture, including burning. As late as the 1930s, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/16/california-wildfires-cultural-burns-indigenous-people">Karuk people were actively stopped</a>, and even shot, for trying to conduct burns.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BuhVbb">
Fire exclusion policies also stemmed from a misguided impulse to improve the region’s ecology. Prior to the 20th century, forests like those in the Sierra Nevada were far less dense, with trees spaced much farther apart. “The relative openness of forests was attributed to frequent fire, which many early foresters saw as a negative,” according to a 2012 <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/forest_mgmt/variabledensity/">study from the US Forest Service</a>. “It was believed that if fire could be kept out the forest could support many more trees. This became one of the main arguments for suppressing fire.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3OSjOR">
With the suppression of natural fires and indigenous burning practices, some sections of the forest grew to be anywhere from <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/forest_mgmt/methods/index.shtml">2.4</a> to 10 times as dense as they were when fires were more frequent, increasing the likelihood of what’s known as a “<a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/north/psw_2017_north005_stevens.pdf">stand-replacing fire</a>.” These are massive blazes that can wipe out almost all of the living trees in an area, including towering trees that form the canopy. When there’s a drought, more trees means there’s less water to go around, leading to drier and more flammable vegetation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rijj5A">
Today, the Karuk Tribe can only conduct burns on the tiny sliver of their ancestral lands across California and Oregon that is privately held and not part of federal land.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9CwuKZ">
More than 135,000 acres of Karuk ancestral territory burned in 2020<strong> </strong>fires. But Tripp said this could also be an opportunity to begin a regimen of controlled burns in those areas. “We need to be putting some strategic placement of follow-up burning,” he said.
</p>
<h3 id="aJ0XC4">
Vast swaths of land across the West are overdue for a fire
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jV9AWg">
The question now is how to scale up these Indigenous burning practices across federal, state, and private land and broaden appreciation for the knowledge behind them. Even with the record-breaking blazes across the United States in recent years, there are still millions of acres of wildlands that have yet to burn and could still be devoured in megafires. And as the climate changes, more areas will become primed to ignite.
</p>
<aside id="in1BHw">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qYE4Sg">
With controlled burns, the plants that could fuel a massive uncontrollable fire are depleted in smaller, easier-to-manage bursts. Many small fires can help prevent devastating megafires.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9iu8zo">
Burning is also just one of several ways to reduce the risks of dangerous wildfires alongside measures like mechanically removing vegetation and building fire breaks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="24nmHW">
Bringing these tactics to all the places they’re needed stands to be a costly endeavor, and the investment is far short of where it needs to be. Already the federal government, which manages huge swaths of land in the western United States — including 57 percent of the land in California — is struggling to implement its existing prescribed burning plans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cPM1Cl">
The US Forest Service conducts fire mitigation work, including controlled burns, across roughly 1 million acres of land per year across the country. But the agency has an <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/usfs-
fy-2021-budget-justification.pdf">80-million-acre backlog</a> built up after years of fire suppression and inadequate budgets, with 50 million acres “at high risk of wildfire, insects, and disease.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b0yYa5">
In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1.8.19-EO-N-05-19.pdf">executive order</a> to mitigate wildfire risk, with an emphasis on fuel reduction. In 2020, California reached an <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CA-Shared-Stewardship-MOU-8-12-20.pdf">agreement with the US Forest Service</a> to conduct fire mitigation treatment across 1 million acres in the state per year. That’s a big step up. Currently, California land managers conduct controlled burns on <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-
analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/09/18/california-may-need-more-fire-to-fix-its-wildfire-problem">125,000 acres per year</a> across state, federal, and private lands. By comparison, <a href="https://www.fdacs.gov/Forest-
Wildfire/Wildland-Fire/Prescribed-Fire">Florida</a>, a much smaller state, permits about 2 million acres of controlled burning each year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QT0zOP">
And California has a lot of fuel it needs to eliminate. “An estimated 20 million acres of forestland in California with high wildfire threat may benefit from fuels reduction treatment to reduce the risk of wildfire,” according to a 2018 <a href="https://resources.ca.gov/CNRALegacyFiles/wp-
content/uploads/2018/05/California-Forest-Carbon-Plan-Final-Draft-for-Public-Release-May-2018.pdf">state report</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/XCSyEm0ZEPPEz3oJO_xe9ii4AqA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21978295/GettyImages_1279741563.jpg"/> <cite>Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Karuk tribal chair Russell Attebery looks over a map of the area burned by the Slater Fire in Happy Camp, California, on September 30.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/zpZWqQKFsPQ84hRSoIiIEsB9DyA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21978296/GettyImages_1279741557.jpg"/> <cite>Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
An aerial view of the devastation that left scores of structures destroyed and thousands of acres burned by the Slater Fire.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qWTfDp">
However, California has been falling far short of its targets. <a href="https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-
misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/">CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom</a> reported that while the state has claimed that fire prevention work was conducted across 90,000 acres, the true number is less than 12,000.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qOqD9Q">
For Indigenous fire practitioners like Hankins and Tripp, the aim now is to build a framework from the bottom up to support Indigenous cultural burning practices within and beyond the bounds of Indigenous lands. The Karuk Tribe, for instance, has launched the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ecoculturalrevitalization/">Endowment for Eco-Cultural Revitalization</a> and is <a href="https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/karuk/campaign/default">raising funds</a> to help teach people about the culture around burning, and to support burning practices over the long term.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Dfd16">
“It’s not lost; it’s all still ingrained in our culture,” Tripp said. “If we wait a couple more generations, it might get lost. If we don’t start acting soon to revitalize the knowledge, practice, and belief systems, then a lot more than just information about our practices will be lost. We’ll be looking at large-scale biodiversity collapse as well. And we’re already starting to see it.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z55Qpi">
Deploying Indigenous knowledge to reduce fire risks would also require recognition of tribal sovereignty over their ancestral areas, returning land to American Indian communities, and a frank accounting of what was lost and stolen over more than a century of settlement and colonization.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VsIDv9">
At the same time, when land managers start strategically deploying fire and thinking carefully about all the factors at play, they often arrive at practices that resemble Indigenous burning.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DntzvQ">
<a href="http://jareddahlaldern.net/">Jared Dahl Aldern</a>, an environmental historian and lead researcher at the <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/icw/fire/">West on Fire Project</a>, highlighted the example of a 15,000-acre plot of land managed by Southern California Edison near Shaver Lake. The area survived the 2020 <a href="https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7147/">Creek Fire</a> near Fresno with much less destruction than adjacent federal land, becoming an island within a nearly 350,000-acre megafire. Prior to the blaze, the power utility deployed controlled burns, forest thinning, and timber harvests to help protect its assets on the land from wildfire.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M3pbi6">
“While they didn’t draw on a lot of Indigenous knowledge or consult with tribes in terms of figuring out how to do their land management, I call it a process of convergent evolution of their forestry practices because they ended up in the same place as historically what forest conditions were under an Indigenous fire regimen,” Aldern said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="InK3Gp">
But land managers don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to strategically deploying fire; by partnering with and following the lead of American Indian fire practitioners, they can build on an existing foundation of knowledge.
</p>
<h3 id="okiKLJ">
Prescribed burns are essential for reducing wildfire risk. But we need to do even more.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tCCyRW">
As important as it is to reduce the amount of vegetation that can readily burn, fuel is not the only driver of massive, destructive wildfires.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wgy7dm">
Many factors converged to create such a devastating year for wildfires in 2020. A series of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/21/21377181/california-
wildfire-2020-scu-lnu-lightning-complex-climate-change">unusual weather events</a>, from a searing heat wave to a rare dry lightning storm to high winds to extraordinarily low humidity, left much of the West ready to burn.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kmzZfT">
But other long-term factors are at play as well. People have continued to build into the <a href="https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/news/release/wui-interface-intermix">wildland-urban interface</a>, where suburbs meet shrubland. Across the United States, the number of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/13/3314">homes in these regions has grown rapidly</a> over the past two decades. And more homes continue to be built. One <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837714001409?via%3Dihub">study</a> found that, based on current trends, 645,000 homes in California will be in “very high” wildfire severity zones by the middle of the century.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Firefighters put out burning embers in the Fresno County community of
Bald Mountain, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, on September 11, 2020" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/uLiLERQOF0x-1PpPxIO3jufUxDk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21978154/GettyImages_1228462396.jpg"/> <cite>Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Firefighters extinguish the remnants of the Creek Fire, which ignited near Shaver Lake in California in September.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M0lHXR">
Since the vast majority of wildfires are <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/11/2946">ignited by humans</a>, this can increase the likelihood of sparking a new blaze, increase the damage of the blazes that do occur, and lengthen the fire season.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m99e9E">
Humans are also continuing to <a href="https://www.vox.com/21452781/zogg-fire-glass-wildfire-california-climate-change-hurricanes-
attribution-2020-debate">destabilize the climate</a>. With the emissions of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels, the planet is warming. That’s upping the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events and is increasing aridity in many parts of the West, making grasses and trees more likely to ignite.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="76anqi">
California, in particular, is still experiencing the effects of a <a href="https://www.drought.gov/drought/california-no-stranger-dry-
conditions-drought-2011-2017-was-exceptional">drought</a> that stretched from 2011 to 2017. That drought, <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/2015GL064924">exacerbated by climate change</a>, helped dry out forests and left trees vulnerable to pests like bark beetles, fueling a die-off of more than <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/2/13/18221822/california-149-million-dead-trees-wildfire">140 million trees</a> across the state, potentially adding more fuel to fires.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Rbi78">
There’s also risk in conducting controlled burns. Even a well-managed fire can behave in unpredictable ways, or winds can suddenly shift and drive embers over fire breaks and six-lane highways. Fires can even generate their own weather, and rising temperatures are making it harder to <a href="https://cals.ncsu.edu/applied-ecology/news/climate-change-will-decrease-prescribed-fire-opportunities-in-
southeastern-us/">safely conduct controlled burns</a>, whether by American Indians or by other land managers. There’s also the problem of air pollution stemming from wildfires; deliberate blazes also have to take steps to reduce the smoke exposure of people who live downwind.
</p>
<aside id="oMXLx1">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qua8PC">
In addition to restoring fire to the land, some of the existing vegetation may have to be removed in other ways. That can take the form of <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/does-forest-thinning-work/">forest thinning</a>, where trees in a given region are selectively removed to reduce fire risk.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EEtF5k">
Some forest thinning can yield salable products and generate money. But forest thinning is different from logging in that reducing wildfire risk is the priority. In fact, some forms of logging can <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr208en/psw_gtr208en_525-534_stone.pdf">increase fire risks</a>, as hardy, fire-resistant trees give way to fast-growing, fast-drying plants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k8jIs8">
People will also have to use fire-resistant building materials for their homes and construct defensible perimeters around property. In some cases, people may have to <a href="https://www.kqed.org/science/1945874/when-it-comes-to-wildfire-solutions-
relocating-communities-is-a-tough-sell">retreat from high-fire-risk areas</a> altogether. Humanity will also have to take aggressive action to limit greenhouse gas emissions in order to stave off the worst consequences of climate change, which include <a href="https://www.vox.com/21452781/zogg-fire-glass-wildfire-california-climate-change-hurricanes-
attribution-2020-debate">more severe wildfires</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VGaOBO">
Just as there’s no single cause of the increase in destructive wildfires in recent years, there’s no single fix. And since this situation took more than a century to develop, it will take decades to start making progress toward a solution. However, without concerted action now, the risks will only get worse. There is a debt to be paid — both to the landscape and to American Indians — and restoring Indigenous burning practices is a small step toward paying off both.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="arMDab">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mSyUPQ">
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>3 rules for when schools should keep masks</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/N9zsSGsJsyMiqaX5wB5UuH4fGoc=/244x0:5065x3616/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69574726/GettyImages_1233630771t.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Third grade students listen during a summer school class while wearing masks on June 23, 2021, in Los Angeles, California.
</figcaption></figure></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The CDC says some schools can drop mask mandates — but not all of them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="heSG6i">
As the US quickly returns to a pre-pandemic normal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now working to ensure that schools do the same — releasing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-
childcare/k-12-guidance.html">new guidelines</a> last week outlining, in part, when schools should still consider mandating masks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GN2G9J">
The guidelines put the CDC at the center of yet another Covid-19 controversy. As everything from concerts to bars to movie theaters has started up again, parents have pushed for schools to pull back Covid-related restrictions, too, leading to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/07/anti-mask-utah-
protesters-charged/">protests and shouting</a> over masks at public school board meetings. Elected officials have taken note, with <a href="https://about.burbio.com/school-mask-policies-by-state/">eight states</a> now banning school districts from imposing mask mandates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HhAv3h">
But experts say there are good reasons to continue requiring masks in at least some schools, particularly those where the majority of the student body isn’t — or can’t be — vaccinated and in areas where the coronavirus is still spreading at high rates. The CDC guidelines reflect this expert guidance, arguing that universal masking requirements make sense in several circumstances.
</p>
<div class="c-float- right">
<div id="quwB6h">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q9iOGR">
One key consideration: Children under 12 can’t yet get the vaccines. Since the CDC still recommends that unvaccinated people wear masks, it follows that kids under 12 should wear masks in schools — and those around them should as well to mitigate the risks of Covid-19 spread to potentially vulnerable children as much as possible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eYuhkG">
“The people who are at risk are those who are unvaccinated,” Katherine Auger, a health policy researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, told me. “And we know all kids under 12 are unvaccinated at this point.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tsjt7d">
For experts, it’s about a cost-benefit analysis. It’s true, they acknowledge, that children generally face a much lower risk from Covid-19 than older populations. But, at the same time, masks also are a very low-cost intervention: They are cheap, aren’t more than a minor hassle to wear, and can do a lot to stop the wearer from catching or spreading Covid-19. In short, masks are a low-cost, high-benefit intervention — one that can help ensure the defeat of Covid-19 this fall, before all kids get vaccinated, so high-cost interventions aren’t needed again. It’s about transitioning from Zoom school to a pre-pandemic normal responsibly, ensuring that the coronavirus isn’t given a chance to surge back and trump progress so far.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y2cWcC">
Part of the consideration here is the risk to kids of Covid-19, while low, isn’t zero. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm">More than 300 children</a> (under 18) have died of Covid-19 in the US, and that’s with widespread social distancing and masking keeping deaths down for much of the past year and a half. There are also concerns about Covid-19’s long-term consequences — with the evidence so far suggesting, Brown University School of Public Health dean Ashish Jha told me, “that it’s not great to have contracted Covid.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KJWJyt">
Experts also worry that kids could spread Covid-19 to people who are more vulnerable, or keep the virus circulating in a way that might allow it to mutate into yet another variant of concern.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwxFhP">
The good news is the vaccines work. So high schools with teenagers, who are now eligible to get vaccinated, can ditch the masks if their students are vaccinated. Once children under 12 are eligible for the shot (<a href="https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2021/07/when-could-the-covid-vaccine-be-ready-for-younger-kids.html">perhaps in the coming fall or winter</a>), elementary and middle schools could follow as well. The CDC guidelines are explicit in differentiating older and younger student bodies for this reason.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5GdUyQ">
Ultimately, there will be variation in how schools interpret all of this. Different places will be at different stages with Covid-19, based on their case counts and vaccination rates. Different communities will have different levels of risk tolerance, with some favoring a higher degree of risk to move closer to a pre-pandemic normal. Schools that serve more students who are immunocompromised or are otherwise at serious risk of Covid-19 may lean on the safe side. Even individual parents will likely make different decisions for their children.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OwHmUt">
But to make all of this advice more actionable, I talked to experts about what schools and parents should watch out for when considering masking up. That led to the following three rules on when schools should mandate or at least encourage covering up those faces.
</p>
<h3 id="bmey4x">
<ol type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">If Covid-19 is still quickly spreading in the community, mask
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="htSTKG">
If the community around a school is still seeing a lot of Covid-19 spread, the school is at risk, too: The more the virus is spreading, the more likely it is to end up in a school building and cause a local outbreak. <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w28753">One study</a> published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found places that reopened schools despite high levels of Covid-19 saw accelerated spread.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ijuaOR">
As the CDC notes, schools may want to require masking if they see “increasing or substantial or high COVID-19 transmission within the school or their surrounding community.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lint3o">
A good benchmark here is dropping, and staying, below four daily new cases per 100,000 people. That’s roughly in line with White House adviser Anthony Fauci’s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/u-s-needs-get-daily-cases-down-10-000-fall-n1235644">recommendation</a> that the US needs to, as a whole, get below 10,000 daily new cases to get the virus under control.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gvZE8V">
To make sure they’re in the clear, school districts should look at local data, at either the county or city level. They can also check that data with testing positivity rates — which should be below 5 percent if there’s enough testing — and state figures to make sure there might not be a hidden outbreak or one around the corner.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QQXrjq">
And if Covid-19 cases do start popping up in a school, officials should be ready to respond with escalated measures, from masking to physical distancing to a hybrid model, to prevent an outbreak from spiraling out of control.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qqm9Xz">
“Have some situational awareness,” Meagan Fitzpatrick, an infectious disease modeler at the University of Maryland, told me. “Look at what’s happening with Covid in your community. And have a plan that’s responsive — that doesn’t just make one blanket statement, yes or no, about masks but has a responsive attitude about it.”
</p>
<h3 id="UKhH7q">
<ol start="2" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">If vaccination rates are still low in the community, mask
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cIkkbF">
Even if a community sees low numbers of Covid-19 cases, there’s another number they should look at to feel in the clear: vaccination rates. Because if a community or school isn’t sufficiently vaccinated, it remains at risk of the coronavirus coming back — all it takes is one infected person interacting with others to potentially launch an epidemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="65HeVu">
In general, higher vaccine rates are always good — there’s no upper limit. But the evidence from different states and other countries <a href="https://www.vox.com/22400322/vaccines-herd-immunity-coronavirus-
israel">indicates</a> that around 60 percent vaccination rate is when cases really start to drop and stay low.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lvhLea">
There’s also evidence that places with low vaccination rates are more likely to see Covid-19 outbreaks. A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/briefing/covid-cases-rising-red-america.html">New York Times analysis</a> found that places with 60-plus percent of their population vaccinated report about a third of the cases as those with 0 to 30 percent vaccination rates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IbsykT">
School districts, then, should generally aim for at least 60 percent vaccination rates, looking particularly at these rates among their staff and student bodies. They can also look at community vaccination rates — since, again, risk out in the community can lead to risk in the school.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q8ZzZf">
For elementary and middle schools, that likely means, the CDC <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html">suggests</a>, they won’t be able to drop universal mask mandates this fall since their student bodies won’t be eligible for the shots. For high schools, this means they can drop the mask mandates — as long as enough of their staff and students are vaccinated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5wfoj4">
To ensure this happens quicker, schools should also consider mandating the vaccine, as they do with vaccines for other diseases. Schools could also try the carrot instead of the stick: They could suggest that people can ditch the mask if they’re vaccinated, or make it explicit that the school district will drop a mask mandate once it reaches a certain rate of vaccination among its students and staff.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lcA1oC">
But if a school does reach high vaccination rates along with low case counts, it can feel safe in dropping a mask mandate and other restrictions around Covid-19.
</p>
<h3 id="r7ATqW">
<ol start="3" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">When in doubt, mask
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pn87JL">
Over the past year and a half, people have made a lot of sacrifices to combat Covid-19. Workplaces shut down. Schools closed. Places of socialization and entertainment vanished. All of this happened so quickly that it felt like our lives were upended overnight.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ou3U0Y">
Masks, in comparison, were a relatively small intervention. Yes, they can be a bit of a hassle, and in some situations, including the classroom, they can make it harder to read faces.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L9gWaM">
But those are minor costs for stopping a deadly pathogen, especially when compared to the costs, financial or otherwise, of social distancing, mass testing, and better ventilation in buildings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c1S2RZ">
This is something that experts emphasized to me time and again: Once you look past the broader symbol that masks have become, they are a very low-cost intervention that, in the middle of a pandemic, can lead to big benefits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hqb6O2">
“Most kids don’t care that much” about having to wear a mask, Jha said. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tQBRxd">
In that context, maybe we shouldn’t make too much out of requiring masks in schools. It might be a good idea to play it safe, given the low cost of doing so.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="egPcru">
That’s especially true if masks are, short of broader vaccination, the thing that prevent a community from having to deploy much more costly, much more intrusive interventions. If masking prevents a Covid-19 outbreak that otherwise would have shut down a school or at least forced it to go back to a hybrid model, then universal masking is obviously the winner.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y7Mcdm">
“What are the simple things, low-cost things we can do to keep people in the classroom?” Auger said. “Something like a mask doesn’t prevent normal interaction. It doesn’t prevent learning. It is a low-cost, low-risk intervention that actually has a decent return on value.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dnq5mZ">
Looming over all of this is the risk of new Covid-19 variants. Some experts said that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22547537/delta-
coronavirus-variant-covid-19-vaccines-masks-lockdown">delta variant</a> has already made them more cautious about the future. While the vaccines seem to work against the variants so far, they can still hit unvaccinated people hard — as Israel <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-in-israel-mask-mandate-back-in-schools-following-
outbreak-671514">recently saw</a> with outbreaks in schools with low vaccination rates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X3x8hr">
It’s not just delta. The CDC warned of a worse possibility, in which a variant pops up “that is spread more easily among children and adolescents or is resulting in more severe illness from COVID-19 among children and adolescents.” That would dramatically shift the cost-benefit analysis of masks and other precautions in schools, since Covid-19 would suddenly be a much bigger threat to children.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aoM0lp">
The best way to prevent the emergence of new variants is to shrink the spread of Covid-19 altogether — to rob the virus of more opportunities to replicate, mutate, and transmit. That means vaccinating as many people as possible, but, also, when vaccination is not possible, following the standard precautions, including masks. Schools can play a role here, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kJJTkS">
The upshot is even schools that feel safe from Covid-19 right now should remain ready to adapt along with the virus. And when there’s any doubt, turn to the mask — which still, at the end of the day, comes at a fairly low cost.
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India to send 228-strong contingent to Tokyo Olympics, 119 athletes in it</strong> - This will be India’s largest ever contingent of athletes at the Olympics.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Deepak Kabra becomes first Indian gymnastics judge at Olympics</strong> - Kabra will be seen officiating the men’s artistic gymnasts at the Tokyo Games</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India to host 2026 World Badminton Championships</strong> - Suzhou in China will now stage the 2023 edition of the BWF World Mixed Team Championships</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>Stunned Cricket fraternity mourns 1983 WC hero Yashpal Sharma’s death; former teammates break down</strong> - Yashpal, a key member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad, died aged 66 after suffering a cardiac arrest after returning home from a morning walk.</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>Yashpal Sharma: Guts, glory and less feted innings of ‘83 WC that BBC didn’t cover</strong> - Yashpal was like that bridge between India being a horrible ODI outfit to their transformation into world champions</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>Rajasthan BJP MLA sent to jail in forgery case</strong> - A.L. Meena had forged his wife’s marksheet for panchayat elections</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>Minimal relaxations from July 15</strong> - Shops can remain open till 8 p.m., but traders not impressed</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>None left unprotected: Arunachal officials trek 9 hours to vaccinate 16 grazers</strong> - Tawang Deputy Commissioner leads team to inoculate villagers of Luguthang at 14,000 ft</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>Maharashtra govt submits medical records of late priest Stan Swamy in HC</strong> - The Maharashtra government on July 13 submitted to the Bombay High Court the medical records of Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Don’t assess parents’ income for education loans: HC</strong> - ‘It should be based on projected future earnings of students’</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>The EU countries ‘pushing back’ asylum seekers at sea</strong> - Greece is accused of sending thousands back to Turkey without allowing them to apply for asylum.</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>Google fined €500m by French competition authority</strong> - The search giant must propose ways to compensate news businesses for the use of their content.</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>France Covid: Vaccinations mandatory for all health workers</strong> - Amid a surge in cases, President Emmanuel Macron announces new measures to combat Covid.</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>Georgia: Scuffles in Georgia parliament over cameraman death</strong> - Protesters are calling for the prime minister’s resignation after the death of Lekso Lashkarava.</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>Flash floods cause travel chaos in parts of London</strong> - Cars are submerged in water in some areas while train services have also been cancelled.</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>Our brains “read” expressions of illusory faces in things just like real faces</strong> - “For the brain, fake or real, faces are all processed the same way.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779170">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Better performance for pirates: Crack removes stutters from Capcom PC game</strong> - This time, Denuvo doesn’t appear to be the culprit… entirely. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779719">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>F1 2021 reviewed: Codemasters adds story, keeps the racing sim feeling fresh</strong> - Get ready for the return of Devon Butler, the most hated man in racing. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779557">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Startup hopes the world is ready to buy quantum processors</strong> - Quantum processors are mostly used via cloud services; QuantWare will ship you one. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779515">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google’s new Drive app replaces Backup and Sync with Drive File Stream</strong> - The new Drive desktop app is available for Windows and Mac only. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1779598">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>I recently heard about this young adult novel in which Schrodinger’s cat and Pavlov’s dog team up for a cross county adventure…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So I headed on down to the library to see if they had a copy for my 10 year old daughter.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The librarian said that my description rang a bell but she wasn’t sure if it was there or not.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/KarateKid84Fan"> /u/KarateKid84Fan </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oj8jcp/i_recently_heard_about_this_young_adult_novel_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oj8jcp/i_recently_heard_about_this_young_adult_novel_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife says if 1,000 people upvote this joke, she’ll try anal right then and there.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So don’t vote until Thursday. She’s on a business trip.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Saint-Grave"> /u/Saint-Grave </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ojc5e0/my_wife_says_if_1000_people_upvote_this_joke/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ojc5e0/my_wife_says_if_1000_people_upvote_this_joke/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I don’t know if this belongs to this sub, but gonna share it anyways</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Johnny is a smart boy who goes to elementary school. One day, his teacher asks “What is politics?” and he cannot answer. So he gets curious what it actually is and asks his father when he comes back home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-Dad, what is politics?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-Well son, let me tell it in a way you will understand easier.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-I am listening dad.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-Who works and earns money in this house?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-You do.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-I am the capitalist regime, and who gets the money, and fulfill our needs by buying stuff and organizing the money usage?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-Mom does.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-She is the government. Who takes care of your little brother?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-Nanny.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-She is the worker class, your brother is our future and you are the public since our goal is to maintain your comfort and wealth.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Johnny memorizes everything his father said and then goes to bed. He wakes up to some weird noises. He realizes his brother is crying and when he goes next to him, he sees that his brother filled his diaper. He tries to wake his mom up but she doesn’t wake up. Then when he walks through the living room, he sees his dad and his nanny having sex. They don’t even see him passing through. When he turns back to his room, he notes down what he learnt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
-I think I understand what politics is now. Capitalism fucks the worker class while government is sleeping. The future is in deep shit and no one gives a damn about the public!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Edit: Ok, guys I posted this at 3 am and just realized the title makes no sense at all lol. It is not even a specific political joke, I don’t know why I thought that this joke would be “too political” for this subreddit. My bad…
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MedicalGoals"> /u/MedicalGoals </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oj3wyi/i_dont_know_if_this_belongs_to_this_sub_but_gonna/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oj3wyi/i_dont_know_if_this_belongs_to_this_sub_but_gonna/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A Russian spy infiltrated in America is arrested</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A Russian spy under the alias of “Joe Smith” is arrested by American officials. He is put in an interrogation room and confronted by an official, Agent Perry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Smith: “I don’t understand, why am I being interrogated?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Perry: “Drop the act, Smith, if that even is your real name. We know you’re a foreign spy!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Smith: “WHAT? No! I’m a real American, I can name all 46 Presidents of the United States, in order, with the dates of their inaugurations and their Vice Presidents.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Perry: “We still know you’re a spy!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Smith: “You’re all wrong! I can name all fifty states, US territories, and all their capitals!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Perry: “We still know you’re a spy!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Smith: “Wait… I know every word of the national anthem, the pledge of allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Perry: “We still know you’re a spy!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Smith: “Ok, I submit, I’m a Russian spy under a fake name. But… how could you tell?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Perry: “Because Americans don’t know any of those things.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Kenhamef"> /u/Kenhamef </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oj8h8u/a_russian_spy_infiltrated_in_america_is_arrested/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oj8h8u/a_russian_spy_infiltrated_in_america_is_arrested/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>As Jack was marrying Jill, his father gave him some advice “Son, when I got married to your mother, the first thing I did when we got home was strip her naked, take off my pants…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Then, I gave them to your mother and told her to try them on, which she did. They were huge on her and she said that she couldn’t wear them because they were too large. I said to her, ‘Of course they are too big for you, I wear the pants in this family and I always will.’ …Ever since that day, son, we have never had a single problem."
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Jack took his dad’s advice and did the same thing to his wife on his wedding night.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Then, Jill took off her panties and gave them to Jack. “Try these on,” she said. Jack went along with it and tried them on, but they were far too small.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What’s the point of this? I can’t get into your panties,” said Jack.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Exactly,” Jill replied, “and if you don’t change your attitude, you never will!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/littleboy_xxxx"> /u/littleboy_xxxx </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oirgv2/as_jack_was_marrying_jill_his_father_gave_him/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/oirgv2/as_jack_was_marrying_jill_his_father_gave_him/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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