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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>What happened to drug detections and drug-offences during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparison of recorded offence rates and dynamic forecasts (ARIMA) in Queensland, Australia</strong> -
<div>
Public commentary has offered mixed opinion on the likely impact of COVID-19 restrictions on drug-related offending. On the one hand, it is argued that drug users—and the drug markets in which they interact—may have become the incidental targets of law enforcement as police seek to enforce social distancing regulations by focusing their efforts on street-level pedestrian activity or open-air gatherings. On the other, interstate border closures and restrictions on person and freight traffic are thought to have interrupted illicit drug supply chains, temporarily reducing or displacing market activity at the street level and thus reducing police detections of drug users. In this study, we extend current analyses of crime during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore how the rate of police detection for drug possession and other drug-related offences has changed. Using Queensland crime data, we use Auto-Regressive and Moving Average (ARIMA) time series modelling techniques to explore historical trends and their dynamic forecasts. We then compare actual offence rates for March through June to identify any statistically significant changes. Importantly, we do not expect the impact of COVID-19 regulations to be universal, mostly because of the significant heterogeneity in local drug market dynamics that has elsewhere been documented. Our analysis has significant import for criminal justice practitioners in further understanding drug market dynamics and drug-related offending during COVID-19 restrictions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/q5zk9/" target="_blank">What happened to drug detections and drug-offences during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparison of recorded offence rates and dynamic forecasts (ARIMA) in Queensland, Australia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Portable and label-free quantitative Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (qLAMP) for reliable COVID-19 diagnostics in 3 minutes: An Arduino-based detection system assisted by a pH microelectrode</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has been recently studied as an alternative method for cost-effective diagnostics in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Recent reports document that LAMP-based diagnostic methods have a comparable sensitivity and specificity to that of RT-qPCR. We report the use of a portable Arduino-based LAMP-based amplification system assisted by pH microelectrodes for the accurate and reliable diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 during the first 3 minutes of the amplification reaction. We show that this simple system enables a straightforward discrimination between samples containing or not containing artificial SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the range of 10 to 10,000 copies per 50 μL of reaction mix. We also spiked saliva samples with SARS-CoV-2 synthetic material and corroborated that the LAMP reaction can be successfully monitored in real time using microelectrodes in saliva samples as well. These results may have profound implications for the design of real-time and portable quantitative systems for the reliable detection of viral pathogens including SARS-CoV-2.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.23.21256350v1" target="_blank">Portable and label-free quantitative Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (qLAMP) for reliable COVID-19 diagnostics in 3 minutes: An Arduino-based detection system assisted by a pH microelectrode</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mortality audit of cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 positivity or COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted cancer care services globally. The present review of cause of deaths was conducted in a tertiary care cancer center in the North East India. In our institute, all cancer patients requiring admission for surgery, chemotherapy, and other daycare procedures require testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). From 09 July 2020 to 16 May 2021, 119 cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 positive report or COVID-19 have been admitted at our institute Covid ward. A total of 19 cancer patients with COVID-19 succumbed. Of 19 deaths, 13 (68.4%) patients were men and 6 (31.6%) patients were women. The age range from 27 years to 74 years (median =55 years). Vomiting alone or with diarrhea was the most common symptom requiring admission after testing (4/19, 21.0%), followed by bleeding from primary tumour site (3/19, 15.7%). The antecedent and underlying cause of deaths in 19 (100%) patients was cancer. SARS-CoV-2 infection should not be a hindrance for cancer treatment and management.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.21.21257574v1" target="_blank">Mortality audit of cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 positivity or COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 outcomes in Ontario, Canada</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: To estimate the effectiveness of one and two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines against symptomatic infection and severe outcomes. Design: Using a test-negative design study and linked laboratory, vaccination, and health administrative databases, we estimated adjusted vaccine effectiveness (aVE) against symptomatic infection and severe outcomes (hospitalization or death) using multivariable logistic regression. Setting: Ontario, Canada between 14 December 2020 and 19 April 2021. Participants: Community-dwelling adults aged ≥16 years who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 and had COVID-19 symptoms. Interventions: Pfizer-BioNTech9s BNT162b2 or Moderna9s mRNA-1273 vaccine. Main outcome measures: Laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 identified by RT-PCR; hospitalization or death associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: Among 324,033 symptomatic individuals, 53,270 (16.4%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 21,272 (6.6%) received 1 or more vaccine dose. Among test-positive cases, 2,479 (4.7%) had a severe outcome. aVE against symptomatic infection 14 days or more after receiving only 1 dose was 60% (95%CI, 57 to 64%), increasing from 48% (95%CI, 41 to 54%) at 14-20 days after the first dose to 71% (95%CI, 63 to 78%) at 35-41 days. aVE 7 days or more after receiving 2 doses was 91% (95%CI, 89 to 93%). Against severe outcomes, aVE 14 days or more after receiving 1 dose was 70% (95%CI, 60 to 77%), increasing from 62% (95%CI, 44 to 75%) at 14-20 days to 91% (95%CI, 73 to 97%) at 35 days or more, whereas aVE 7 days or more after receiving 2 doses was 98% (95%CI, 88 to 100%). For adults aged 70 years and older, aVE estimates were lower after receiving 1 dose, but were comparable to younger adults after 28 days. After 2 doses, we observed high aVE against E484K-positive variants. Conclusions: Two doses of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 vaccines are highly effective against both symptomatic infection and severe outcomes. Effectiveness is lower after only a single dose, particularly for older adults shortly after the first dose.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.24.21257744v1" target="_blank">Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 outcomes in Ontario, Canada</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vaccine-Hesitant Parents’ Considerations Regarding Covid-19 Vaccination of Adolescents</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction: Israel led a rapid vaccine rollout against COVID-19, leading to a local remission of the epidemic and rolling back of most public health measures. Further vaccination of 12-15-year-olds may be hindered by public perceptions of the necessity and safety of vaccination. Methods: we examined the considerations of vaccine hesitant parents (VHPs) regarding vaccination of children against COVID-19. The responses of 456 parents were surveyed and analyzed before FDA authorization of vaccination of children. Results: parents who were vaccinated against COVID-19 were more likely to intend to vaccinate their children (r=-0.466, p&lt;0.01). Low accessibility of vaccination may be a dissuading factor for VHPs more inclined to vaccinate. Vaccine efficacy and gaining a “Green Pass” were positively associated with an intention to vaccinate and statistically significant. VHPs inclined not to vaccinate indicated short development time and possible long term effects as dissuading factors. Discussion: vaccine promotion should be tailored for VHPs9 positive and negative considerations for higher uptake.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.25.21257780v1" target="_blank">Vaccine-Hesitant Parents’ Considerations Regarding Covid-19 Vaccination of Adolescents</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Exploring the natural origins of SARS-CoV-2 in the light of recombination</strong> -
<div>
The lack of an identifiable intermediate host species for the proximal animal ancestor of SARS-CoV-2, and the large geographical distance between Wuhan and where the closest evolutionary related coronaviruses circulating in horseshoe bats (Sarbecoviruses) have been identified, is fuelling speculation on the natural origins of SARS-CoV-2. We have comprehensively analysed phylogenetic relations between SARS-CoV-2, and the related bat and pangolin Sarbecoviruses sampled so far. Determining the likely recombination events reveals a highly reticulate evolutionary history within this group of coronaviruses. Clustering of the inferred recombination events is non-random with evidence that Spike, the main target for humoral immunity, is beside a recombination hotspot likely driving antigenic shift in the ancestry of bat Sarbecoviruses. Coupled with the geographic ranges of their hosts and the sampling locations, across southern China, and into Southeast Asia, we confirm horseshoe bats, Rhinolophus, are the likely SARS-CoV-2 progenitor reservoir species. By tracing the recombinant sequence patterns, we conclude that there has been relatively recent geographic movement and co-circulation of these viruses’ ancestors, extending across their bat host ranges in China and Southeast Asia over the last 100 years or so. We confirm that a direct proximal ancestor to SARS-CoV-2 is yet to be sampled, since the closest relative shared a common ancestor with SARS-CoV-2 approximately 40 years ago. Our analysis highlights the need for more wildlife sampling to (i) pinpoint the exact origins of SARS-CoV-2’s animal progenitor, and (ii) survey the extent of the diversity in the related Sarbecoviruses’ phylogeny that present high risk for future spillover.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.22.427830v3" target="_blank">Exploring the natural origins of SARS-CoV-2 in the light of recombination</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Portable real-time colorimetric LAMP-device for rapidquantitative detection of nucleic acids in crude samples</strong> -
<div>
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification is known for its high sensitivity, specificity and tolerance to inhibiting substances. We developed a device for performing real-time colorimetric LAMP combining the accuracy of lab-based quantitative molecular diagnosis with the simplicity of point-of-care testing. This handheld device employs a single reaction pot for amplification and a mini-camera for detection. Competitive features are the rapid analysis (&lt;30min), quantification over 9 log-units, crude sample compatibility (saliva, tissue, swabs), low detection limit (&lt;5copies/reaction), smartphone operation and fast prototyping (3D printing). The devices clinical utility is demonstrated in cancer mutations and COVID-19 testing. Excellent performance includes: detection of 0.01% of BRAF-V600E-to-wild-type molecules; 97% sensitivity to SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection (89 samples); 83% (Ct&lt;34), 98% (Ct&lt;30) and 100% (Ct&lt;25) to 163 nasopharyngeal swabs; 100% specificity in all cases. The device high technology-readiness-level makes it a suitable platform for performing any colorimetric LAMP assay; moreover, its simple and inexpensive fabrication holds promise for fast deployment and application in global diagnostics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.22.215251v2" target="_blank">Portable real-time colorimetric LAMP-device for rapidquantitative detection of nucleic acids in crude samples</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Single-Molecule Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 5’ Cap Recognition by Human eIF4F</strong> -
<div>
Coronaviruses initiate translation through recognition of the viral RNA 5’ m7GpppAm cap by translation factor eIF4F. eIF4F is a heterotrimeric protein complex with cap-binding, RNA-binding, and RNA helicase activities. Modulating eIF4F function through cellular regulation or small-molecule inhibition impacts coronavirus replication, including for SARS-CoV-2. Translation initiation involves highly coordinated dynamics of translation factors with messenger or viral RNA. However, how the eIF4F subunits coordinate on the initiation timescale to define cap-binding efficiency remains incompletely understood. Here we report that translation supported by the SARS-CoV-2 5’ UTR is highly sensitive to eIF4A inhibition by rocaglamide. Through a single-molecule fluorescence approach that reports on eIF4E-cap interaction, we dissect how eIF4F subunits contribute to cap-recognition efficiency on the SARS-CoV-2 5’ UTR. We find that free eIF4A enhances cap accessibility for eIF4E binding, but eIF4G alone does not change the kinetics of eIF4E-RNA interaction. Conversely, formation of the full eIF4F complex significantly alters eIF4E-cap interaction, suggesting that coordinated eIF4E and eIF4A activities establish the net eIF4F-cap recognition efficiency. Moreover, the eIF4F complex formed with phosphomimetic eIF4E(S209D) binds the viral UTR more efficiently than with wild-type eIF4E. These results highlight a dynamic interplay of eIF4F subunits and mRNA that determines cap-recognition efficiency.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.26.445185v1" target="_blank">Single-Molecule Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 5’ Cap Recognition by Human eIF4F</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An altered metabolism in leukocytes showing in vitro igG memory from SARS-CoV-2-infected patients</strong> -
<div>
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is a systemic infection that exerts a significant impact on cell metabolism. In this study we performed metabolomic profiling coupled with multivariate statistics analysis obtained from 43 in vitro cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), 19 of which displaying IgG memory for spike-S1 antigen 60-90 days after infection. By using mass spectrometry analysis, a significant up regulation of S-adenosyl-Homocysteine, Sarcosine and Arginine was found in leukocytes showing IgG memory. These metabolites are known to be involved in physiological recovering from viral infections and immune activities, and our findings might represent a novel and easy measure that could be of help in understanding SARS-Cov-2 effects on leukocytes.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.27.445918v1" target="_blank">An altered metabolism in leukocytes showing in vitro igG memory from SARS-CoV-2-infected patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The anti SARS-Cov-2 Vaccines And The Questions They Raise</strong> -
<div>
Since it was first reported in late 2019, SARS-Cov-2 had a global impact on human physical and mental health, as well as on their social life and economic endeavor. In one year, the virus has infected over 115 million people, killed almost 2.6 million of them and left many others with long-term health sequelae. The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems, interrupted routine care and prevented patients’ follow-up. All these factors led to increased mortality from other chronic diseases. Further, the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has caused an unprecedented disruption to education, economic trade, travel, social life, and has profoundly changed our way of living. In this review article we present the organization and the function of the immune system that protects us against diseases, the virology, the infection, the transmission and the pathogenesis of SARS-Cov-2, the disease Covid-19, the development of vaccines against SARS-Cov-2 and some of the questions raised by these vaccines, as well as suggested responses to them.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/tvuqj/" target="_blank">The anti SARS-Cov-2 Vaccines And The Questions They Raise</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Liberating host-virus knowledge from biological dark data</strong> -
<div>
Connecting basic data about bats and other potential hosts of SARS-CoV-2 with their ecological context is critical for understanding the emergence and spread of COVID-19. However, when global lockdown started in March 2020, the world’s bat experts were locked out of their research laboratories, which, in turn, locked up large volumes of offline ecological and taxonomic data. Pandemic lockdowns have put a magnifying glass on the long-standing problem of biological ‘dark data’: data which are published, but disconnected from digital knowledge resources, and thus unavailable for high-throughput analysis. Knowledge of host-to-virus ecological interactions will be biased until this challenge is addressed. Here we outline two viable solutions: (i) how to interconnect published data about host organisms, viruses, and other pathogens in the short term; and (ii) how to shift the publishing paradigm beyond unstructured text (‘PDF prison’) to labeled networks of digital knowledge. Biological taxonomy is foundational to both solutions as the indexing system for biodiversity data. Building digitally connected ‘knowledge graphs’ of host-pathogen interactions will establish the needed agility for quickly identifying reservoir hosts of novel zoonoses, allow for more robust predictions of emergence, and thereby strengthen planetary health systems.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://ecoevorxiv.org/txekq/" target="_blank">Liberating host-virus knowledge from biological dark data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Elevated Angiopoietin-2 inhibits thrombomodulin-mediated anticoagulation in critically ill COVID-19 patients</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Several studies suggest that hypercoagulation and endothelial dysfunction play central roles in severe forms of COVID-19 infections. We hypothesized that the high levels of the inflammatory cytokine Angiopoietin-2 (ANGPT2) reported in hospitalized COVID-19 patients might promote hypercoagulation through ANGPT2 binding to thrombomodulin with resulting inhibition of thrombin/thrombomodulin-mediated physiological anticoagulation. Plasma was collected from critically ill COVID-19 patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Uppsala University Hospital and ANGPT2 was measured at admission (61 patients) and after ten days (40 patients). ANGPT2 levels were compared with biochemical parameters, clinical outcome, and survival. We found that ANGPT2 levels were increased in COVID-19 patients in correlation with disease severity, hypercoagulation, and mortality. To test causality, we administered ANGPT2 to wildtype mice and found that it shortened bleeding time in a tail injury model. In further support of a role for ANGPT2 in physiological coagulation, bleeding time was increased in endothelial-specific Angpt2 knockout mice. Using in vitro assays, we found that ANGPT2 inhibited thrombomodulin-mediated anticoagulation and protein C activation in human donor plasma. Our data reveal a novel mechanism for ANGPT2 in hypercoagulation and suggest that Angiopoietin-2 inhibition may be tested in the treatment of hypercoagulation in severe COVID-19 infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.13.21249429v2" target="_blank">Elevated Angiopoietin-2 inhibits thrombomodulin-mediated anticoagulation in critically ill COVID-19 patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reduced sensitivity of infectious SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.617.2 to monoclonal antibodies and sera from convalescent and vaccinated individuals</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 lineage emerged in October 2020 in India. It has since then become dominant in some indian regions and further spread to many countries. The lineage includes three main subtypes (B1.617.1, B.1617.2 and B.1.617.3), which harbour diverse Spike mutations in the N-terminal domain (NTD) and the receptor binding domain (RBD) which may increase their immune evasion potential. B.1.617.2 is believed to spread faster than the other versions. Here, we isolated infectious B.1.617.2 from a traveller returning from India. We examined its sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and to antibodies present in sera from COVID-19 convalescent individuals or vaccine recipients, in comparison to other viral lineages. B.1.617.2 was resistant to neutralization by some anti-NTD and anti-RBD mAbs, including Bamlanivimab, which were impaired in binding to the B.1.617.2 Spike. Sera from convalescent patients collected up to 12 months post symptoms and from Pfizer Comirnaty vaccine recipients were 3 to 6 fold less potent against B.1.617.2, relative to B.1.1.7. Sera from individuals having received one dose of AstraZeneca Vaxzevria barely inhibited B.1.617.2. Thus, B.1.617.2 spread is associated with an escape to antibodies targeting non-RBD and RBD Spike epitopes.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.26.445838v1" target="_blank">Reduced sensitivity of infectious SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.617.2 to monoclonal antibodies and sera from convalescent and vaccinated individuals</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 inactivation by human defensin HNP1 and retrocyclin RC-101</strong> -
<div>
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 is an enveloped virus responsible for the COVID-19 respiratory disease pandemic. While induction of adaptive antiviral immunity via vaccination holds promise for combatting the pandemic, the emergence of new potentially more transmissible and vaccine-resistant variants of SARS-CoV-2 is an ever-present threat. Thus, it remains essential to better understand innate immune mechanisms that are active against the virus. One component of the innate immune system with broad anti-pathogen, including antiviral, activity is a group of cationic immune peptides termed defensins. The defensins’ ability to neutralize enveloped and non-enveloped viruses and to inactivate numerous bacterial toxins correlate with their ability to promote the unfolding of thermodynamically pliable proteins. Accordingly, we found that human neutrophil -defensin HNP1 and retrocyclin RC-101 destabilize SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and interfere with Spike-mediated membrane fusion and SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell culture. We show that HNP1 binds to Spike with submicromolar affinity. Although binding of HNP1 to serum albumin is more than 20-fold weaker, serum reduces the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of HNP1. At high concentrations of HNP1, its ability to inactivate the virus was preserved even in the presence of serum. These results suggest that specific - and {theta}-defensins may be valuable tools in developing SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention strategies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.27.445985v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 inactivation by human defensin HNP1 and retrocyclin RC-101</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A new method to study genome mutations using the information entropy</strong> -
<div>
We report a non-clinical, mathematical method of studying genetic sequences based on the information theory. Our method involves calculating the information entropy spectrum of genomes by splitting them into windows containing a fixed number of nucleotides. The information entropy value of each window is computed using the m-block information entropy formula. We show that the information entropy spectrum of genomes contains sufficient information to allow detection of genetic mutations, as well as possibly predicting future ones. Our study indicates that the best m-block size is 2 and the optimal window size should contain more than 9, and less than 33 nucleotides. In order to implement the proposed technique, we created specialized software, which is freely available. Here we report the successful test of this method on the reference RNA sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus collected in Wuhan, Dec. 2019 (MN908947) and one of its randomly selected variants from Taiwan, Feb. 2020 (MT370518), displaying 7 mutations.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.27.445958v1" target="_blank">A new method to study genome mutations using the information entropy</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Evaluate the Effects of RO7496998 (AT-527) in Non-Hospitalized Adult and Adolescent Participants With Mild or Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: RO7496998;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;   Hoffmann-La Roche<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>Low-Dose Radiation Therapy to Lungs in Moderate COVID-19 Pneumonitis: A Case-Control Pilot Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Radiation: Low dose radiotherapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical 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>Mix and Match of the Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose for Safety and Immunogenicity</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine;   Biological: BNT162b2;   Biological: ChAdOx1-S [recombinant];   Other: 0, 28 day schedule;   Other: 0, 112 day schedule<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Canadian Immunization Research Network;   Canadian Center for Vaccinology;   BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute;   Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba;   CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval;   Ottawa Hospital Research Institute;   Northern Alberta Clinical Trials + Research Centre;   Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion;   University of Toronto;   Massachusetts General Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Leronlimab in Moderatelly Ill Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Leronlimab;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein;   CytoDyn, 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>A Global Phase III Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cells)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cells);   Other: Placebo control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Jiangsu Province Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.;   West China Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Leronlimab in Critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) With Need for Mechanical Ventilation or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Leronlimab;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein;   CytoDyn, 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>A Proof of Concept Study for the DNA Repair Driven by the Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Critical COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Mesenchymal Stem Cells Transplantation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   SBÜ Dr. Sadi Konuk Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi;   Istinye University;   Liv Hospital (Ulus)<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>A Study of Bemcentinib for the Treatment of COVID-19 in Hospitalised Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Bemcentinib;   Other: SoC<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   BerGenBio ASA<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>The Proof of Concept Phase 2 Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Clevudine in Patients With Mild and Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Clevudine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bukwang Pharmaceutical<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19: A Study to Test Whether BI 767551 Can Prevent COVID-19 in People Who Have Been Exposed to SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: BI 767551 intravenous;   Drug: BI 767551 inhalation;   Drug: Placebo intravenous;   Drug: Placebo inhalation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Boehringer Ingelheim<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 Global Phase III Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID- 19 Vaccine (Sf9 Cells)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (Sf9 cells);   Other: Placebo control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.;   West China Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Allogeneic Natural Killer (NK) Cell Therapy in Subjects Hospitalized for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: DVX201<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Deverra Therapeutics, Inc.;   Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lot-to-lot Consistency of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine for Prevention of COVID-19 in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero cell）<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   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>Study of Allogeneic Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Treatment of COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Distress</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-MSC;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Evaluate a Single Intranasal Dose of STI-2099 (COVI-DROPS™) in Outpatient Adults With COVID-19 (US)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-DROPS;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TMEM41B is a host factor required for the replication of diverse coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Antiviral therapeutics are a front-line defense against virally induced diseases. Because viruses frequently mutate to escape direct inhibition of viral proteins, there is interest in targeting the host proteins that the virus must co-opt to complete its replication cycle. However, a detailed understanding of the interactions between the virus and the host cell is necessary in order to facilitate development of host-directed therapeutics. As a first step, we performed a genome-wide loss 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>Molecular dynamics analysis of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine against specific SARS-CoV-2’s pathogenicity factors</strong> - The causative agent of the pandemic identified as SARS-CoV-2 leads to a severe respiratory illness similar to SARS and MERS with fever, cough, and shortness of breath symptoms and severe cases that can often be fatal. In our study, we report our findings based on molecular docking analysis which could be the new effective way for controlling the SARS-CoV-2 virus and additionally, another manipulative possibilities involving the mimicking of immune system as occurred during the bacterial cell…</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>Interfering with Host Proteases in SARS-CoV-2 Entry as a Promising Therapeutic Strategy</strong> - Due to its fast international spread and substantial mortality, the coronavirus disease COVID-19 evolved to a global threat. Since currently, there is no causative drug against this viral infection available, science is striving for new drugs and approaches to treat the new disease. Studies have shown that the cell entry of coronaviruses into host cells takes place through the binding of the viral spike (S) protein to cell receptors. Priming of the S protein occurs via hydrolysis by different…</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>Repurposing the HCV NS3-4A protease drug boceprevir as COVID-19 therapeutics</strong> - The rapid growth of COVID-19 cases is causing an increasing death toll and also paralyzing the world economy. De novo drug discovery takes years to move from idea and/or pre-clinic to market, and it is not a short-term solution for the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Drug repurposing is perhaps the only short-term solution, while vaccination is a middle-term solution. Here, we describe the discovery path of the HCV NS3-4A protease inhibitors boceprevir and telaprevir as SARS-CoV-2 main protease…</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>Selenium to selenoproteins - role in COVID-19</strong> - The disruption of antioxidant defense has been demonstrated in severe acute respiratory syndrome due to SARS-CoV infection. Selenium plays a major role in decreasing the ROS produced in response to various viral infections. Selenoprotein enzymes are essential in combating oxidative stress caused due to excessive generation of ROS. Selenium also has a role in inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, thus alleviating inflammation. In viral infections, selenoproteins have also been found to inhibit type…</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>Identifying potential drug targets and candidate drugs for COVID-19: biological networks and structural modeling approaches</strong> - Background: Coronavirus (CoV) is an emerging human pathogen causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) around the world. Earlier identification of biomarkers for SARS can facilitate detection and reduce the mortality rate of the disease. Thus, by integrated network analysis and structural modeling approach, we aimed to explore the potential drug targets and the candidate drugs for coronavirus medicated SARS. Methods: Differentially expression (DE) analysis of CoV infected host genes (HGs)…</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>Quinoline and Quinazoline Derivatives Inhibit Viral RNA Synthesis by SARS-CoV-2 RdRp</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a fatal respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The identification of potential drugs is urgently needed to control the pandemic. RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is a conserved protein within RNA viruses and plays a crucial role in the viral life cycle, thus making it an attractive target for development of antiviral drugs. In this study, 101 quinoline and quinazoline derivatives were screened against…</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>Interplay of the ubiquitin proteasome system and the innate immune response is essential for the replication of infectious bronchitis virus</strong> - Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is the only coronavirus known to infect poultry. The replication and pathogenesis of IBV are poorly understood, mainly because of the unavailability of a robust cell culture system. Here, we report that an active ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is necessary for efficient replication of IBV in Vero cells. Synthesis of IBV-specific RNA as well as viral protein is hampered in the presence of chemical inhibitors specific for the UPS. Like other coronaviruses, IBV…</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>Coronavirus PEDV nucleocapsid protein interacts with p53 to induce cell cycle arrest in S-phase and promotes viral replication</strong> - Subversion of the host cell cycle to facilitate viral replication is a common feature of coronavirus infections. Coronavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein could modulate host cell cycle, but the mechanistic details remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated manipulation of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) N protein on cell cycle and its influence on viral replication. Results indicated that PEDV N-induced Vero E6 cell cycle arrest at S-phase, which promoted viral replication (P &lt; 0.05)….</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>Artificial intelligence as a fundamental tool in management of infectious diseases and its current implementation in COVID-19 pandemic</strong> - The world has never been prepared for global pandemics like the COVID-19, currently posing an immense threat to the public and consistent pressure on the global healthcare systems to navigate optimized tools, equipments, medicines, and techno-driven approaches to retard the infection spread. The synergized outcome of artificial intelligence paradigms and human-driven control measures elicit a significant impact on screening, analysis, prediction, and tracking the currently infected individuals,…</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>Studying the prominence effect amid the COVID-19 crisis: implications for public health policy decision-making</strong> - The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought with it crucial policy- and decision-making situations, especially when making judgments between economic and health concerns. One particularly relevant decision-making phenomenon is the prominence effect, where decision-makers base their decisions on the most prominent attribute of the object at hand (e.g., health concerns) rather than weigh all the attributes together. This bias diminishes when the decision-making mode inhibits…</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>Platycodin D, a natural component of Platycodon grandiflorum, prevents both lysosome- and TMPRSS2-driven SARS-CoV-2 infection by hindering membrane fusion</strong> - An ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now the greatest threat to global public health. Herbal medicines and their derived natural products have drawn much attention in the treatment of COVID-19, but the detailed mechanisms by which natural products inhibit SARS-CoV-2 have not been elucidated. Here, we show that platycodin D (PD), a triterpenoid saponin abundant in Platycodon grandiflorum (PG), a dietary and medicinal herb commonly used in East Asia, effectively blocks 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>Long non-coding RNAs in Epstein-Barr virus-related cancer</strong> - Epstein Barr-virus (EBV) is related to several cancers. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) act by regulating target genes and are involved in tumourigenesis. However, the role of lncRNAs in EBV-associated cancers is rarely reported. Understanding the role and mechanism of lncRNAs in EBV-associated cancers may contribute to diagnosis, prognosis and clinical therapy in the future. EBV encodes not only miRNAs, but also BART lncRNAs during latency and the BHLF1 lncRNA during both the latent and lytic…</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 ‘deep dive’ into the SARS-Cov-2 polymerase assembly: identifying novel allosteric sites and analyzing the hydrogen bond networks and correlated dynamics</strong> - Replication of the SARS-CoV-2 genome is a fundamental step in the virus life cycle and inhibiting the SARS-CoV2 replicase machinery has been proven recently as a promising approach in combating the virus. Despite this recent success, there are still several aspects related to the structure, function and dynamics of the CoV-2 polymerase that still need to be addressed. This includes understanding the dynamicity of the various polymerase subdomains, analyzing the hydrogen bond networks at 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>Time-dependent viral interference between influenza virus and coronavirus in the infection of differentiated porcine airway epithelial cells</strong> - Coronaviruses and influenza viruses are circulating in humans and animals all over the world. Co-infection with these two viruses may aggravate clinical signs. However, the molecular mechanisms of co-infections by these two viruses are incompletely understood. In this study, we applied air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures of well-differentiated porcine tracheal epithelial cells (PTECs) to analyze the co-infection by a swine influenza virus (SIV, H3N2 subtype) and porcine respiratory coronavirus…</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>METHOD OF IDENTIFYING SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONA VIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2) RIBONUCLEIC ACID (RNA)</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323956811">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IMPROVEMENTS RELATED TO PARTICLE, INCLUDING SARS-CoV-2, DETECTION AND METHODS THEREFOR</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323295937">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>DEEP LEARNING BASED SYSTEM FOR DETECTION OF COVID-19 DISEASE OF PATIENT AT INFECTION RISK</strong> - The present invention relates to Deep learning based system for detection of covid-19 disease of patient at infection risk. The objective of the present invention is to solve the problems in the prior art related to technologies of detection of covid-19 disease using CT scan image processing. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN324122821">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A COMPREHENSIVE DISINFECTION SYSTEM DURING PANDEMIC FOR PERSONAL ITEMS AND PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) TO SAFEGUARD PEOPLE</strong> - The current Covid-19 pandemic has led to an enormous demand for gadgets / objects for personal protection. To prevent the spread of virus, it is important to disinfect commonly touched objects. One of the ways suggested is to use a personal UV-C disinfecting box that is “efficient and effective in deactivating the COVID-19 virus. The present model has implemented the use of a UV transparent material (fused silica quartz glass tubes) as the medium of support for the objects to be disinfected to increase the effectiveness of disinfection without compromising the load bearing capacity. Aluminum foil, a UV reflecting material, was used as the inner lining of the box for effective utilization of the UVC light emitted by the UVC lamps. Care has been taken to prevent leakage of UVC radiation out of the system. COVID-19 virus can be inactivated in 5 minutes by UVC irradiation in this disinfection box - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN322882412">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING SYSTEM FOR MENTAL HEALTH MONITORING OF PERSON DURING THE PANDEMIC OF COVID-19</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU323295498">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>USE OF IMINOSUGAR COMPOUND IN PREPARATION OF ANTI-SARS-COV-2 VIRUS DRUG</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU322897928">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种高灵敏SARS-CoV-2中和抗体的检测方法、检测试剂盒</strong> - 本发明公开了一种高灵敏SARS‑CoV‑2中和抗体的检测方法、检测试剂盒，属于生物医学检测技术领域，本发明试剂盒包括层析试纸、卡壳和样本稀释液，所述层析试纸包括底板、样品垫、结合垫、NC膜和吸水垫，所述NC膜上依次设置有捕获线、检测线和质控线，所述捕获线包被有ACE2蛋白，所述检测线包被有RBD蛋白，所述结合垫设置有RBD蛋白标记物；本发明采用阻断法加夹心法原理提高检测中和抗体的灵敏度，通过添加捕获线的方式，将靶向RBD的非中和抗体提前捕获，保证后续通过夹心法检测中和抗体的特异性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN323798634">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>逆转录酶突变体及其应用</strong> - 本发明提供一种MMLV逆转录酶突变体，在野生型MMLV逆转录酶氨基酸序列（如SEQ ID No.1序列所示）中进行七个氨基酸位点的突变，氨基酸突变位点为：R205H；V288T；L304K；G525D；S526D；E531G；E574G。该突变体可以降低MMLV逆转录酶对Taq DNA聚合酶的抑制作用，大大提高了一步法RT‑qPCR的灵敏度。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN323494119">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Konstruktion einer elektrochemischen Atemmaske zum aktiven Schutz vor Coronavirus</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Konstruktion einer elektrochemischen medizinischen Atemmaske (1) für den aktiven Schutz gegen Infektion mit Coronaviren dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass ein elektrochemischer Effekt durch eine allgemein positives Magnetfeld der Maske erzeugbar ist, das die positiv geladenen Coronavirus-Mikroorganismen von der Person vertreibt, indem eine aktive elektrochemische Atemmaske (1) aus einem zweischichtigen Material verwendet wird, umfassend eine äußeren Schicht (2) aus einer hochmolekularen Verbindung aus Bambus in Mischung mit Kupfer-, Silber- oder Goldmetallfasern und einer inneren Schicht (3) aus einem Vliesstoff auf Basis von Polypropylenfasern SMS oder SNS, wobei der Maskenkörper aus zwei in der Mitte der Gesichtssymmetrie genähten Elementen gebildet ist, um die Kontur der Gesichtskurven so weit wie möglich zu wiederholen, ausgestattet mit einem Atemfilter (9) mit einem Einsatz aus zwei Schichten ferromagnetischen Metallgewebes, wobei das Filter (9) hat eine herausnehmbare SMS- oder SNS-Vlieskartusche in einem Kunststoffrand (14) und eine Öse zur Fixierung im Filtergehäuse umfasst, wobei die Maske (1) jeweils einen Nasen- und Kinnbügel aus einem flexiblen Einschubstreifen zwischen den beiden Lagen des Maskengewebes aufweist, die eine Fixierung auf Basis von doppelseitig klebendem Silikonklebeband in den Maskenseitenkanten sowie Nacken- und Kopfbefestigungsschlaufen ermöglichen.</p></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE324122059">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compositions and methods for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU321590214">link</a></p></li>
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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>George Floyd, the Tulsa Massacre, and Memorial Days</strong> - The two tragedies make for easy inferences about the importance of commemoration. But this is not how trauma works. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/george-floyd-the-tulsa-massacre-and-memorial-days">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Great Britain Needs a Vacation</strong> - A nation of devoted international travellers has been bottled up by the coronavirus. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/great-britain-needs-a-vacation">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bitcoin’s Troubles Go Far Beyond Elon Musk</strong> - Recent moves by China have exposed the vulnerability of the cryptocurrency. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/bitcoins-troubles-go-far-beyond-elon-musk">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>American Democracy Isn’t Dead Yet, but It’s Getting There</strong> - A country that cannot even agree to investigate an assault on its Capitol is in big trouble, indeed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/american-democracy-isnt-dead-yet-but-its-getting-there">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>California’s Novel Attempt at Land Reparations</strong> - Property seized from a Black family a century ago is being returned to their descendants. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/californias-novel-attempt-at-land-reparations">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>Why it’s so satisfying to root for Disney villains</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-ta_RJKt30VCLFF9BOtAId9i_5Y=/122x0:1562x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69355925/cruella.0.jpg"/>
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Emma Stone stars as Cruella de Vil, one of Disney’s most beloved villains. | Walt Disney Motion Pictures
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Characters like Cruella have grown beyond their stories.
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“If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will.”
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The jauntily sinister lyrics to “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXTQWVqBDWY">Cruella de Vil</a>,” from the 1961 Disney film <em>One Hundred and One Dalmatians</em>, might be one of the most well-remembered things about the film for many Disney fans — only slightly less well-known than Cruella de Vil herself.
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The vengeful, fur-wearing villainess may seem like the epitome of a character few people could love; she kills puppies, for god’s sake! Instead, she’s the opposite. Over the years, she’s become one of Disney’s most beloved villains, popular enough to have fueled a live-action 1996 remake of <em>One Hundred and One Dalmatians </em>starring Glenn Close, and now a new live-action origin story, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22451883/cruella-review-disney-emma-stone-101-dalmatians-de-vil"><em>Cruella</em></a>, starring Emma Stone.
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Cruella is merely the latest example of Disney’s enthusiasm for catering to fans of the bad guys, a stance it has increasingly leaned into over the last decade as it’s started to craft franchises around villains after defining itself by its princesses. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21583453/frozen-movies-anniversary-critic-at-large-small-elsa-anna"><em>Frozen</em></a>’s Elsa was <a href="https://screenrant.com/frozen-elsa-original-villain-different-look/">originally intended</a> to be the villain of that film, before the narrative shifted to make her the sympathetic antihero instead. Angelina Jolie headlined two live-action films exploring the backstory of Sleeping Beauty’s evil dragon Maleficent in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/8/28/6078279/angelina-jolie-maleficent-summer-blockbuster">2014</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/17/20918266/maleficent-mistress-of-evil-review-angelina-jolie-elle-fanning-michelle-pfeiffer-chiwetel-ejiofor">2019</a>. The company even took the gambit offscreen, launching a new board game franchise, <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/disney-villainous/disney-villainous-tier-list/">Disney Villainous</a>, in 2018, that encourages characters to play as its most popular evil characters and triumph over the forces of wholesomeness.
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Since the first Disney stores opened in 1987, the company has had a robust line of villain merchandise designed to target fans of its most famous Big Bads, including Cruella, Maleficent, <em>The Little Mermaid</em>’s Ursula, <em>The Lion King</em>’s Scar, and <em>Aladdin</em>’s Jafar, among others. From there, it continued to expand its targeted marketing: In 1992, as part of the Walt Disney World Hollywood Studios attraction, it launched <a href="https://wdwthemeparks.com/shop/villains-in-vogue/">Villains in Vogue</a>, a shop that served park guests for more than 20 years until it was rebranded<strong> </strong>in 2015.<strong> </strong>Since then, Disney has held special “villains” theme park events, launched the <a href="http://www.kidzcoolit.com/reviews/disney-maleficent-villains-dvdblu-ray-collection.php">“Villains” Blu-Ray collection</a>, and in 2020 released a <a href="https://chipandco.com/dramatic-disney-villains-midnight-masquerade-collection-revealed-403913/">limited-edition</a> line of high-end villain dolls. The collection — check out the Ursula doll below<strong> —</strong> quickly <a href="https://d23.com/d23-gold-member-exclusive-offer-coming-soon/">sold out</a>.
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/l_QEnFDC12NHy5ziaGGtOBFhSHs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22544274/Ursula.png"/> <cite>Disney - Midnight Masquerade Limited Edition Collection</cite>
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She’s a witch under the sea but a goddess to all her fans.
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This marketing method seems to be working. Longstanding rumors of a theme park dedicated entirely to Disney villains have kept fans titillated for years — and though it’s apparently nothing more than <a href="https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/disney-dark-kingdom-villain-theme-park-revealed">an internet myth</a>, it’s a telling sign of how popular Disney villains really are. The first <em>Maleficent</em> film grossed more than <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3915417089/?ref_=bo_yld_table_6">$758 million</a> worldwide and <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2014/">came in sixth in the domestic box office rankings</a> in 2014, while the sequel respectably earned <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl939755009/">nearly $500 million</a> worldwide (and came in <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2019/?grossesOption=calendarGrosses">23rd</a> domestically). The aforementioned Villainous board game <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/disney-villainous-expansions-review/">keeps adding expansion packs</a>. And those sold-out limited-edition dolls? They’re <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_trksid%3Dp2060353.m570.l1311%26_nkw%3Dmidnight%2Bmasquerade%2Bdisney%26_sacat%3D0&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fculture%2F22453479%2Fdisney-villains-cruella-fans-jung-archetypes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">reselling</a> for hundreds of dollars.
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Clearly, this whole celebrating the villains thing is paying off for the Mouse, which may seem counterintuitive. Isn’t Disney, on celluloid at least, supposed to represent good triumphing over evil, and all that’s wholesome and morally upright about society?
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To a degree, the popularity of Disney’s villains is part of the much broader cultural embrace of antiheroism as a way of understanding a world that <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/10/17925740/tv-protagonists-sexual-misconduct-antiheroes">revolves around assholes</a>. But while antiheroes seem to have reached their peak with the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22233503/antihero-donald-trump-house-of-cards">denouement of Donald Trump</a>, Disney villains occupy a different space in the cultural psyche, one that’s withstood the test of time.
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In fiction, villain characters let us vicariously express and indulge our “taboo” and “deviant” sides
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Traditionally, the villain in any story — Disney or otherwise — represents a behavior, character trait, or facet of identity that society has deemed to be taboo or immoral. Perhaps the villain commits one or more of the Biblical seven deadly sins, as explored in David Fincher’s 1995 movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znmZoVkCjpI"><em>Seven</em></a>. Maybe they crave vengeance, like the long litany of horror movie villains who’ve come back from the dead or reached out from beyond the grave to destroy all the people who brought them to ruin. Or they might exhibit pure sociopathy and a desire for power, like the kind we sometimes see in <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/3/18212473/ted-bundy-movie-documentary-true-crime-podcasts">real-life criminals</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FUj2QY">
Villainy gets even more complicated as a concept when we consider that, historically, the “villain” in any given story is villainous not because of something they do but because of something they are. Far too often, traditional narrative storytelling has worked to further marginalize people who are already marginalized in society by framing aspects of their identities as monstrous, inherently evil, or Other. One of the most famous examples is Frankenstein’s monster, Mary Shelley’s sympathetic but tortured creature who lashes out at his creator, Victor Frankenstein, by killing people around him. As the “villain” of <em>Frankenstein</em>, he has become<strong> </strong>a twofold cautionary tale: a warning against the vice of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Nz8YrCC9X8">scientists playing god</a>, and a tragic story about a freak who will never be able to fit into society.
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Yet a lot of us feel closer to the freaks than to the society that’s keeping them at bay. This is why monsters like werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires, and fairies have also traditionally served as metaphors, standing in for our real-life experiences and identities. Many narratives recognize these connections by reclaiming and reaffirming their respective villains’ humanity and their place in society.
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A well-crafted narrative often reflects viewers’ sympathy by allowing the “villain” to have a lot more fun than the virtuous main character. Often, whether intentionally or subconsciously, the villain also reflects some hidden aspect of the upstanding main character that the character has had to repress — think of virtuous Dr. Jekyll and his murderous alter-ego Mr. Hyde. This doubling is something psychologist Carl Jung famously referred to as the “<a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-jungs-4-major-archetypes-2795439">shadow</a>.”
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“A lot of people tend to use the term shadow as interchangeable with evil, and I don’t think that that is the most helpful way to define shadow,” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dori-koehler-phd-11b44034">Dori Koehler</a>, a humanities professor at Southern New Hampshire University, told Vox. Koehler has studied Disney’s storytelling as an example of modern-day Jungian mythology, and authored the 2017 book <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fthe-mouse-and-the-myth-sacred-art-and-secular-ritual-of-disneyland%2F9780861967278&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fculture%2F22453479%2Fdisney-villains-cruella-fans-jung-archetypes" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>The Mouse and The Myth: Sacred Art and Secular Ritual of Disneyland</em></a>.<em> </em>“What shadow really is is the things of which we are unaware, the things which we have not brought to consciousness.”
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In one of my favorite examples of the villain as the shadow, Alfred Hitchcock’s <em>Strangers on a Train</em> (1950), one titular stranger, Bruno, functions as a doppelgänger to his heroic counterpart, Guy. He’s fearless, bold, unafraid to shock people by saying what others think, while Guy is straitlaced, uptight, and seething beneath his polite exterior. Bruno pushes his social deviance to an extreme by actually committing murder — but even when Guy is horrified by Bruno, he still likes and identifies with Bruno. That’s because, on some level, Guy is Bruno and Bruno is Guy — the hero can’t exist without the villain, and vice versa. This truth functions as the underlying foundation of countless villain/hero constructions in modern pop culture, from Batman and the Joker to Harry Potter and Voldemort to the entire plot of the 2000 movie <em>Unbreakable</em> (in which a villain engineers a hero’s origin story so he can finally have a nemesis).
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In essence, feeling affection or admiration for a villain allows us to transgress without actually transgressing in the real world. We can identify with the fictional villain and with the taboo sides of ourselves that society typically forbids, discourages, or punishes us for showing.
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But if villains in general allow us to safely transgress social mores, there’s an even more particular satisfaction in cheering on Disney villains — because Disney films typically draw on our most fundamental views of good and evil, and therefore tap into some of our most powerful subconscious desires.
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<h3 id="lF1X9K">
Disney villains represent dramatic manifestations of deeply embedded cultural archetypes
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“Disney [animation arose] out of the tradition of caricature and cartooning,” Koehler points out. “And there wasn’t a whole lot of space for nuance in that tradition. It was very gag-focused and quite dogmatic. It’s either everything or nothing — all colors, no colors.”
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That literally two-dimensional creative landscape made Disney’s now-classic animated films the perfect vehicle for fairy tales: Not only does animation serve as a unique tool for depicting fantasy worlds, but its foundation of caricature aligns well with fairy tales built around straightforward depictions of good and evil.
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This two-dimensionality also arguably allows animated Disney films to vividly depict many universal figures — those broadly held images of societal roles and various character types that most people recognize. Consider the queen and the princess, the mother and the maiden. Koehler notes that the very first humanoid character to appear in the pantheon of Disney animation was Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, in the 1934 short <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBdWL3qj1IY"><em>The Goddess</em> <em>of Spring</em></a>. With her strange movements and inhumanly long arms, Persephone already looks a bit otherworldly — but Koehler points out that, technically, she might be the first Disney princess and that “all of the Disney princesses have been reiterations of that archetype across time.”
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The Persephone myth, as the short depicts, involves her violent abduction to the underworld at the hands of Hades, against her will and over the strenuous objections of her mother, Demeter. So you could argue that from the start, Disney princesses were constructed from dual traumatic conflicts. As princesses, they typically have to learn to assert their agency within a restrictive, patriarchal society. They typically also have to do this without a mother to guide them. In the process, they often wind up battling a distorted matriarchal figure like the fabled “evil stepmother” — usually a woman who’s eschewed the traditional societal role that the princess seems destined to embrace and accept.
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<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3ccSVmC5elMY2S-nGEcPYPIHTVc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22539067/queens.png"/> <cite>Pinterest</cite>
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“Evil queens are just Disney princesses who worked in customer service too long.”
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Disney is full of these figures, women who’ve essentially prioritized their careers and personal ambitions over family and domesticity. It’s easy to see how plenty of people could find those paths appealing rather than deviant. Disney’s female villains, then, are a reflection, according to Koehler, of “what happens when the feminine isn’t allowed continued renewal in a positive, healthy way.” Villains like Snow White’s evil queen, Cinderella’s evil stepmother, and Ursula the sea witch are jealous of the youth, beauty, and better social standing of their counterparts.
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In contrast, male Disney villains are frequently portrayed as visibly effeminate. <em>Pocahontas</em>’s Governor Radcliffe sings about glitter, while <em>Robin Hood</em>’s Prince John sucks his thumb; Hercules’s Hades literally bursts into flames; Scar, Jafar, <em>The Great Mouse Detective</em>’s Rattigan, <em>The Princess and the Frog</em>’s Dr. Facilier, and <em>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</em>’s Frollo are all of a type: elegant, debonair, coded as flamboyant and emasculated — as well as ruthless. And where most of the female Disney villains often fixate on destroying their younger, prettier princess counterparts, the male villains are usually consumed with power; they’re concerned with destroying whole realms and communities.
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It’s also notable that Disney had a long pattern throughout the 20th century of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/22/21326824/white-voice-actors-black-characters-cartoons-whitewashing">coding its animal villains as racist stereotypes</a>. It frequently modeled such characters on minstrel caricatures and often unconsciously framed entire cultures — like the notorious Siamese cats of <em>Lady and the Tramp</em> or the monkey tribe of <em>The Jungle Book </em>— through racist lenses. All of these villain portrayals lent an irony to Disney’s reputation: Even as the company branded itself as a moral arbiter for generations of children, its most popular films frequently drew on deeply regressive tropes about what we should fear and why.
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If there’s one thing humans love to do, however, it’s to resist doing what they’re told. And that means Disney villains — unlawful, disobedient, and often depicted unfairly — are primed to be reclaimed and reinterpreted by the audience.
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Disney villains have spawned a deeply interactive mode of fan engagement and interpretation
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“Disney has historically had an interesting intersection between the stories that it tells and the way that the fans have engaged with the stories Disney tells,” Koehler explains. Indeed, over time, many of Disney’s most popular villains have become almost fully extricated from their original source texts, taking on entirely new cultural meanings outside of their storylines.
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One big reason for this is the unique relationship many of them have to queerness and camp. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21417212/what-are-the-gayest-disney-films-mulan-queer-subtext">Many Disney characters</a>, from <a href="https://www.vox.com/21417591/disney-mulan-gay-hero">Mulan</a> to Maleficent, have long been read as queer by fans. And perhaps because of the homophobic stereotypes in their portrayals, many of the villains discussed have become symbols for the gay community.
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The most obvious examples here are Ursula, who was actually <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/how-the-little-mermaids-ursula-went-from-joan-collins-lookalike-to-a-drag-queen/">based on real-life drag queen Divine</a>; Cruella, who was <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/tallulah-bankhead-cruella-de-vil">based on</a> Hollywood star Tallulah Bankhead, herself <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780822383505-018/html">a symbol of camp</a>; and <em>Beauty and the Beast</em>’s Gaston, whose queer-coded portrayal was <a href="https://www.godisageek.com/2015/11/richard-white-kings-quest-interview/">heavily influenced</a> by the film’s queer lyricist, the late <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-irreplaceable-howard-ashman-disney-finally-tells-the-story-of-losing-its-finest-lyricist-to-aids">Howard Ashman</a>. “Camp” is <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/3/18514408/what-is-camp-explained-met-gala-susan-sontag">notoriously difficult to define</a>, but as it relates to queer culture, I use it to mean that Bankhead, Divine, and their cartoon counterparts all represent performances of gender that are so at odds with typical cisgender expression that they become a kind of performance art, with inherent commentary on how slippery the notion of gender itself is.
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Once again, the caricature aspect of Disney animation (which has often carried through to later live-adaptations) aids these queer readings, and since they’re each bound up with sex and sexuality, there’s a lot of metanarrative — the narrative about the character that exists outside of the actual story — that queer audiences attach to certain characters and what they stand for.
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Sometimes, that metanarrative travels far. For example, at this point in the trajectory of Cruella de Vil, her character has almost nothing to do with puppies. In the new movie, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22451883/cruella-review-disney-emma-stone-101-dalmatians-de-vil">a direct, if far-fetched, prequel to the original animated film</a>, she’s been given a backstory straight out of <em>The Devil Wears Prada</em> that puts her in the fashion industry and pits her against a ruthless female executive (Emma Thompson). It’s clear that Disney is exploring the metanarrative about Cruella, building on her love of furs and fashion as well as fans’ interpretation of her as a fabulously camp performance artist. The film also draws on <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22350286/2000s-pop-culture-misogyny-britney-spears-janet-jackson-whitney-houston-monica-lewinsky">the current trend of reevaluating demonized women</a> to give her a far more sympathetic persona. <em>Cruella</em> ultimately explains how we arrive at the original <em>One Hundred and One Dalmatians</em> storyline, but it has little connection to that storyline.
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As an example of a reimagined villain who nevertheless still sports all the traits audiences originally celebrated, <em>Cruella</em> is the latest of Disney’s ongoing attempts to capitalize on and build off themes its audiences have layered onto its stories. But it should be noted that Disney’s celebration of such characters <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/11/22/20975178/frozen-2-elsa-girlfriend-lesbian-queer-review">often feels exploitative</a>; after all, while Disney is happy to market directly to queer Disney fans, there still isn’t a meaningful example of a queer character in the animated Disney canon.
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And that’s another reason that villains, by default, have a part to play in fiction beyond reflecting societal fears and serving as an outlet for our deep-seated temptations: Embracing them allows us to find ourselves in narratives where many of us continue to be shunted to the side or rendered invisible. Rooting for Disney villains isn’t just an audience-centered way of interacting with a story. It also gives individual viewers — rather than Disney, with its many corporate obligations and strictures on what is and isn’t family-friendly — the agency to determine who we cheer for and identify with, and what version of the narrative we accept.
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“Fictional tropes are the place where we find our healing,” Koehler tells me. “We need to see our villains transformed.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b95PL3">
When it comes to Disney’s villains, there’s real power in reclaiming their narratives to give them the win, for once, instead of watching them <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r1C5S8Qvo0">literally</a> and inevitably fall to an oppressive society’s rules.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Bosses are acting like the pandemic never happened</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IsHSM6OoC0F5ptPFsCg3ALjN5XM=/335x0:2760x1819/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69355756/GettyImages_1232850612.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Grocery store workers hold a boycott rally in front of a Food 4 Less supermarket in Los Angeles, on May 12. | Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The pandemic transformed work. A lot of employers haven’t caught up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p3prTX">
For more than a year, the Covid-19 pandemic changed how America worked.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JfHNjc">
Grocery store cashiers, line cooks, janitors, and millions of others — <a href="https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/taking-stock-of-essential-workers/">about a third</a> of the American workforce — saw their jobs become dangerous overnight, as they were asked to keep coming to work in person in spite of the viral threat. Meanwhile, millions more transitioned from going to an office to working from their homes — the percentage of workers logging on remotely rose from <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122987/change-in-remote-work-trends-after-covid-in-usa/">17 percent to 44 percent</a> once the pandemic began. And workers in both groups had to figure out how to take care of their kids when schools and day cares across the country closed their doors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u5dlrv">
Among employers and in the culture at large, there was at least some minimal acknowledgment that work had become harder than anyone had bargained for. Some bosses, especially in white-collar industries, became more understanding of child care responsibilities, granting employees the flexibility to do their work outside a traditional nine-to-five — even if they didn’t necessarily <a href="https://www.vox.com/22321909/covid-19-pandemic-school-work-parents-remote">reduce the overall workload</a>. Meanwhile, grocery store chains and other companies began offering hazard pay and other bonuses. It wasn’t enough for what many workers were going through, but it was something.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XlqFzI">
Now, with vaccinations on the rise and summer approaching, a lot of employers are going back to business as usual.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hSjzZv">
Restaurant and other service industry employers are <a href="https://www.eater.com/22417344/restaurant-labor-shortage-covid-19-unemployment-benefits-risks">saying they can’t find workers</a>, and some are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/19/service-industry-workers-vaccination-unemployment-benefits/">blaming expanded unemployment benefits</a> — even as many businesses continue to offer wages that feel stuck in 2019 and safety remains uncertain in an ongoing pandemic. Indeed, a relaxation of mask mandates has brought new potential risks, with service workers now having to contend with more maskless customers. Restaurant workers “have concerns because it is not easy to know who has been vaccinated,” Sekou Siby, president and CEO of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), which works on behalf of low-wage restaurant workers, told Vox.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Be1O1oXA99Qhmb-VbltbNdjBtaQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22543815/GettyImages_1318901000.jpg"/> <cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
McDonald’s workers and labor activists protest against the restaurant chain in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 19.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qSYFEc">
Meanwhile, some large employers are ready to get rid of the flexibility of the pandemic in order to bring all their employees back to the office. “The commute, you know, yes, people don’t like commuting, but so what,” JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/business/goldman-sachs-return-to-office.html">said at a May conference</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="90VmfB">
Hazard pay is long gone, and grocery store workers in some places are fighting for even the smallest wage increases. “We were there through the whole pandemic,” Heidy Lopez, a cashier at a Food 4 Less grocery store in the Los Angeles area, told Vox. But now, “you feel like this company doesn’t care.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fKiFuX">
Many have <a href="https://time.com/collection/great-reset/">hailed the pandemic</a> as an opportunity for a great reset — a chance to “build back better,” in President Biden’s words. But that can’t happen, labor advocates say, until bosses and policymakers create lasting changes in wages and working conditions, beyond a few weeks of hazard pay or some applause at 7 pm. “Employers really need to see workers as a key part of their business, not just a widget they can plug in and use,” Rakeen Mabud, managing director of policy and research and chief economist at the Groundwork Collaborative, told Vox.
</p>
<h3 id="lmZoyZ">
The last year transformed work in terrifying ways
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V2OHF7">
The last year has been a harrowing one for many American workers. Even before Covid-19 hit, millions of workers had been dealing with years of stagnant wages and absent or inadequate benefits, as CEOs and shareholders got rich. The ratio of CEO-to-worker compensation was 320 to 1 in 2019, up from 293 to 1 in 2018 and just 21 to 1 in 1965, <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-surged-14-in-2019-to-21-3-million-ceos-now-earn-320-times-as-much-as-a-typical-worker/#:~:text=Using%20a%20different%20%E2%80%9Cgranted%E2%80%9D%20measure,%2Dto%2D1%20in%201989.">according to the Economic Policy Institute</a>. “The squeeze that workers have felt for many years, really since the 1970s, has only amplified during the pandemic,” Mabud said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Msjlid">
When the pandemic hit, workers were forced to take on health risks many of them never thought they’d face on the job. And many say their employers were slow to protect them. Last spring, Food 4 Less workers had to bring their own PPE because the store didn’t provide it, Lopez said. “The company was like, ‘Oh, it’s nothing. It’s not a pandemic.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6voD6e">
But Lopez could clearly see the frightening reality of the situation. “As a cashier who was looking at all of my co-workers getting sick, it was scary,” she said — especially because she lives with her 8-year-old nephew and family members who are prone to lung problems. She called her doctor several times last year, not because of Covid-19 symptoms but because of anxiety: “The stress was physically hurting me.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qg8oAE">
Some large companies, like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, did begin <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/5/16/21258834/coronavirus-essential-workers-hazard-pay-kroger-target-covid">offering hazard pay</a> for front-line workers last spring. Kroger, the parent company of Food 4 Less, gave employees a $2 per hour “hero bonus.” But that bonus expired last May, with Covid-19 cases rising in many areas. And when Los Angeles mandated an additional $5 per hour in hazard pay for many grocery store workers earlier this year, Kroger shut down three stores in the area. “It becomes impossible to operate these three stores” with the mandate, <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2021/03/10/why-kroger-shutting-stores-over-hazard-pay/6947544002/">the company said</a> in a statement to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qbPftxx4ffl0eGaKH49iLQTFKTE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22543832/GettyImages_1230956045.jpg"/> <cite>Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Andrea Zinder, president of United Food and Commercial Workers 324 union, addresses a protest in front of a Food 4 Less supermarket in Long Beach, California, on February 3.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4-7W0rIWucDQW5gcJVJIIsLpgHA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22543833/GettyImages_1232201652.jpg"/> <cite>Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Some locales are mandating hazard pay for workers, causing some outlets to close down stores.
</figcaption>
</figure></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N371M2">
It wasn’t just Kroger rolling back hazard pay. Thirty-eight of the 300 largest companies in America announced some form of hazard bonus last spring, <a href="https://justcapital.com/news/essential-workers-remain-at-high-risk-on-the-frontlines-but-for-many-hazard-pay-has-expired/">according to the watchdog group Just Capital</a>. But by last August, half of those policies had expired.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CRu6Rl">
Now, Food 4 Less workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union are negotiating a new contract, but management is offering a wage increase of just 50 cents an hour to 38 percent of its workers — and no increase to the rest. “Kroger’s offer is a win for Food 4 Less’ 7,000 associates: a competitive wage increase and a strong health care and benefits package,” Bryan Kaltenbach, president of Food 4 Less, said in a press release provided in response to Vox’s request for comment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EaIgOc">
And while Covid-19 rates are declining across the country, the pandemic is far from over. In fact, it could be entering a more complicated phase for service workers, with states dropping mask mandates and the CDC issuing guidance that vaccinated people can be indoors without masks. Since there’s no way to tell if someone is vaccinated just by looking at them (and few establishments are going so far as to check vaccination cards), grocery store and other front-line workers have been thrust into a confusing environment in which it’s not clear who could be spreading the virus.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ILuGxn">
Lopez has been vaccinated, but customers’ behavior at times still has her concerned. “I get people who lick their fingers and give me money,” she said.
</p>
<h3 id="MBtfcY">
Restaurants laid off workers. Now they want them back.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n624Nl">
It’s not just grocery stores. Restaurant workers have shouldered some of the highest risks during the pandemic, with line cooks facing the highest risk of Covid-19 mortality of any occupation, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/jobs-where-workers-have-the-highest-risk-of-dying-from-covid-study.html#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20from%20the,even%20more%20than%20healthcare%20workers.&amp;text=Line%20cooks%20had%20a%2060,mortality%20associated%20with%20the%20pandemic.">according to one study</a>. The industry has also been hit hard by layoffs, with <a href="https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/pandemic-has-cost-restaurants-59-million-jobs">5.9 million restaurant workers</a> losing their jobs between March and May of last year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ol8qqB">
Now business is picking back up with rising vaccination rates and warmer weather, and restaurants are looking to hire again, but many say they can’t find workers. Some are blaming the expanded unemployment insurance in the American Rescue Plan. “You have some cases where it’s more profitable to not work than to work, and you can’t really fault people for wanting to hold on to that as long as possible,” chef Jeremy Fox <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/dining/restaurant-worker-shortage.html">told the New York Times</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Protesters outside a restaurant hold signs that read, “We are closed due to poverty wages,” and, “Will work for fair wages!”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TVDlKsesF1vwEH-vafEvMdDCE2E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22543835/GettyImages_1233122311.jpg"/> <cite>Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Activists take part in a protest outside of the Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, DC, to call for a full minimum wage with tips on May 26.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5kdvaV">
But others say if employers want workers to come back, there’s a simple solution. “Employers post their too-low wages, can’t find workers to fill jobs at that pay level, and claim they’re facing a labor shortage,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/06/small-businesses-struggle-to-find-workers-as-pandemic-eases.html">Heidi Shierholz</a>, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in <a href="https://www.epi.org/blog/u-s-labor-shortage-unlikely-heres-why/">a recent op-ed</a>. “I often suggest that whenever anyone says, ‘I can’t find the workers I need,’ she should really add, ‘at the wages I want to pay.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3vcwSD">
Indeed, “it is too easy to blame the workers, instead of those who have been making tons of money but who didn’t think it was important to raise wages,” Siby of ROC United said. Restaurant owners benefited from corporate tax cuts passed in 2017 under President Trump, but never passed those savings on to workers, Siby said. Moreover, ROC United pushed earlier in the pandemic for restaurants to adopt right-to-return policies after layoffs, giving laid-off workers first priority when those businesses were hiring again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wgkf7D">
“But nobody wanted to listen,” Siby said. “All of a sudden now they need those workers who were left unprotected.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JdsnCk">
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/06/small-businesses-struggle-to-find-workers-as-pandemic-eases.html">Some restaurant owners counter</a> that with their low profit margins, they can’t afford to raise wages. But the whole debate feels somehow anachronistic, with employers trying to get workers to accept the same pay they were getting before the pandemic, or only a slight increase, as though the last year didn’t change everything about their jobs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UMtZsW">
Restaurant profit margins have always been low, Siby said, yet <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-15-minimum-wage-was-supposed-to-hurt-new-york-city-restaurants-but-both-revenue-and-employment-are-up-2019-10-28">restaurants survived</a> when <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-15-minimum-wage-phase-continue-2020-following-dob-analysis-showing">New York City instituted a $15 minimum wage</a> in 2019. Now, ROC United is fighting for a true living wage — in some places closer to $24 per hour — as well as an end to the tipped minimum wage, which allows restaurants to pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 an hour. The latter is especially problematic during the pandemic with fewer customers coming to restaurants, meaning fewer tips in servers’ and bartenders’ pockets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A9DXoJ">
And if restaurants don’t raise wages, Siby believes workers will eventually shift to retail jobs, where pay is often better. “If you’re still paying people less than $15, the law of the labor market is pretty clear,” he said. “They will go to where the offer is higher.”
</p>
<h3 id="GUrUVP">
Corporate employers are pushing a return to the office
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="656bc7">
While essential workers risked their lives on the job, millions of others were able to work from the relative safety of their homes this year. Working remotely during a pandemic was far from ideal for many, exacerbating a degradation of the boundaries between job and personal life that had already become a hallmark of late capitalism. “Work is our lover,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22308547/pandemic-anniversary-labor-works-intimacy-how-to-do-nothing">Vox’s Constance Grady wrote</a> in March. “And this year, we took it to bed.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2lHJZh">
However, for some, remote work during the pandemic brought greater flexibility. People moved to be closer to family members. They started hobbies or exercise routines with the time they saved from commuting. For those with young children or other care responsibilities, remote work was the difference between being able to keep working — difficult as it was to balance work and care — and having to quit a job.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LMZu2b">
In other words, the pandemic may have brought some workplaces closer to what Prithwiraj Choudhury, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies the future of work, calls a “work from anywhere” ideology — one in which workers are no longer constrained to an office or even a particular city, but can live and work for most of the year from a location of their choice.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VJrzJ1">
Such a setup is actually far more inclusive than an office model, Choudhury told Vox, especially for working parents who can choose to live in smaller cities with cheaper day care, or near family who can help with child care. “It takes a village to raise a child, so you can go closer to that village,” Choudhury said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vLrO4T">
But now, some companies are trying to turn back the clock on remote work. It’s not just JPMorgan, where Dimon said that “sometime in September, October it will look just like it did before.” Goldman Sachs will also ask a majority of its US and UK workers to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/business/goldman-sachs-return-to-office.html">come back to the office in June</a>. Retail giant Saks, meanwhile, wants its New York City offices to be the “default” for employees come September, with CEO Mark Metrick calling Zoom “a culture killer for companies” and comparing its rise to “when cigarettes went mainstream,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/19/business/saks-return-to-office.html">according to the Times</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9nSECa">
But an attachment to in-office work could actually end up hurting companies. CEOs should be thinking “if I try to push my organization back to 2019 and that all-cubicle model,” Choudhury said, “the risk is I’m going to lose my best employees.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YPno7NXd_2SHTNjapHjMQ37xRIw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22543853/GettyImages_1320078709_2.png"/> <cite>Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Commuters seen during the morning rush hour in New York City on May 25. Gov. Cuomo lifted pandemic restrictions, including mask mandates, social distancing guidelines, venue capacities, and restaurant curfews on May 19.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tk4Q5g">
For workers, meanwhile, a premature return to pre-pandemic conditions can be anywhere from frustrating to outright dangerous. People who are immunocompromised, for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/health/coronavirus-vaccine-immune-system.html">may not be protected from Covid-19</a> even if vaccinated. And pockets of vaccine hesitancy could cause <a href="https://www.vox.com/22442307/covid-19-vaccine-south-sun-belt-coronavirus-cases-pandemic-summer">further outbreaks around the country</a> this summer and beyond.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5dcygQ">
But something else has changed since 2019, beyond the conditions of work in America. “Workers have leverage in this moment,” Mabud said. The pandemic has drawn attention to the inequities of low-wage work, and a boost to the social safety net has allowed people to prioritize their health and safety, sometimes for the first time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NhQH4M">
“Workers are saying, ‘I’m not willing to take on a job that has terrible pay and requires me to take on customers who don’t want to wear masks,’” Mabud said. “This is a moment for employers to create the workplaces that people want to work in.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfcIyF">
For Lopez, that workplace would be one where she’s respected and treated fairly. “I want to be an essential worker,” she said. “It feels really good to be able to do everything that you can in order to help. But you have to be realistic of what I need also.”
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>America’s asylum system is broken. Here’s how Biden could fix it.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/athL2W1zD0WWhZ4-tjRJSwoju0Y=/0x0:2667x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69355601/AP_21078524580490.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
An asylum seeker from Haiti waits at a makeshift camp in Tijuana, Mexico, near the entry port leading to the United States, on March 17. | Gregory Bull/AP
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The US isn’t prepared for another spike in migration at the border.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bXoapc">
Republicans have been eager to blame President Joe Biden for inviting a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22346509/humanitarian-border-crisis-biden-unaccompanied-children">recent spike</a> in arrivals of children and families at the southern border, with his promises of a more humane approach to immigration policy than his predecessor. But it’s not a one-off crisis — it’s part of a recurring problem to which the US has not adapted, and that has persisted even at times when the federal government has pursued restrictionist border policies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mHGCfR">
The Obama administration saw a similar spike in 2014, when more than 237,000 Central Americans, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/09/683623555/president-obama-also-faced-a-crisis-at-the-southern-border">more than 60,000 unaccompanied children</a>, showed up at the southern border. And it happened again in 2019 under the Trump administration, when officials encountered almost 1 million migrants over the course of a year, including <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">144,000</a> in a single month.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p9g10W">
The US doesn’t have a system in place to ensure that migrants are treated humanely and in accordance with federal law when these spikes occur. Children have consequently been kept in jail-like holding facilities operated by US Customs and Border Protection beyond the 72-hour legal time limit. That is why the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and the Biden administration have been condemned for keeping “kids in cages.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="85LFkB">
While the humanitarian challenges on the southern border are far from over, the number of migrant children and families arriving has slightly <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-apprehensions-remained-at-a-20-year-high-in-april-but-arrivals-of-children-and-families-decreased/">subsided</a> from record levels in March, and the Biden administration is moving unaccompanied children out of unsuitable CBP holding facilities much more quickly than it was before. As of May 26, there were 619 children in those facilities, down from more than 5,000 in early April, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. (There are still more than 18,000 children in government-run shelters, many of whom are waiting to be reunited with family in the US.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nYtCmj">
As the pressure on resources at the southern border begins to ease, now is the time for the Biden administration to start charting a path forward to ensure that, the next time the US sees a spike in migrant arrivals, it is prepared.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-kvtfrgl97ECTWhMmtxPc3Nd5ec=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22544138/AP_21050652145287.jpg"/> <cite>Gregory Bull/AP</cite>
<figcaption>
A man tries to hand out flyers explaining policy changes to asylum seekers waiting in in Tijuana, Mexico, on February 19.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L2819r">
“We’ve never had a plan to rapidly surge resources into the immigration system when things get overloaded,” said Theresa Cardinal-Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “And yet, history has shown that we have major migration events that happen every once in a while. We need to think about those more as regular things rather than the odd accidents that may never come again.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bCzOn9">
The US can anticipate these spikes, which are symptoms of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Central America’s “Northern Triangle” — Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. For years, these countries have suffered from <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/death-threats-and-gang-violence-forcing-more-families-flee-northern-central-america"><strong>gang violence</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/why-cant-central-america-curb-corruption"><strong>government corruption</strong></a>, <a href="https://rosanjose.iom.int/SITE/en/blog/extortion-causing-expulsion-migrants-northern-triangle-central-america"><strong>extortion</strong></a>, and some of the highest rates of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-central-america-aid-cuts-analysis/central-americas-poorest-of-the-poor-hit-hard-by-u-s-aid-cuts-charities-idUSKBN1WI2HA"><strong>poverty</strong></a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/report/countering-criminal-violence-central-america"><strong>violent crime</strong></a> in the world. The pandemic-related economic downturn and a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/3/22/22335816/border-crisis-migrant-hurricane-eta-iota"><strong>pair of hurricanes</strong></a> late last year that devastated Honduras and Guatemala, in particular, have only exacerbated those longstanding problems. Many of the migrants arriving on the southern border, sometimes in large caravans, likely felt they had no choice but to seek refuge elsewhere — <a href="https://immigrationimpact.com/2018/07/17/it-is-legal-to-seek-asylum/"><strong>as is their right</strong></a> under US and international law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3Tw0MU">
Though the Biden administration has yet to give an outline of its plans to manage the border, several immigrant advocacy groups and think tanks have devised potential frameworks to improve migrant processing. Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema have also <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-bill-senate-bipartisan-cornyn-sinema/">drafted a bill</a> that would implement related reforms, though it’s not clear whether the legislation will draw significant support from members of either party. Those strategies will become all the more important as the Biden administration begins to lift <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22398712/biden-title-42-migrant-border-expel">pandemic-related restrictions</a> at the southern border and resumes processing migrants en masse.
</p>
<h3 id="sk3Hbn">
Customs and Border Protection shouldn’t be primarily responsible for processing vulnerable migrants
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GIR7m3">
A core problem with the current system is that US Customs and Border Protection, the law enforcement agency responsible for apprehending migrants trying to cross the border without authorization, is also charged with initially processing asylum seekers. That’s a relic of the 1990s and 2000s when single adult males from Mexico accounted for the vast majority of people arriving on the border.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e2AFel">
Since 2014, children and families from the Northern Triangle have arrived in greater numbers with fundamentally different humanitarian needs than the Mexican migrants who came before them, including child care, schooling, and medical and mental health care for trauma victims.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="svspoO">
The Bipartisan Policy Center has argued that the recent shift in migration flows requires the US to rethink its approach to how it processes people at the border: CBP should continue to focus on issues related to border security — crime, drugs, contraband, and terrorism — but should leave processing children, families, and other vulnerable populations who may need emergency relief to other experts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gvZ6zy">
In a plan laid out in a <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/redefining-border-security/">recent report by the think tank</a>, migrants apprehended at the border would be taken into temporary influx facilities jointly operated by CBP, FEMA, and the Department of Health and Human Services where they would receive shelter, food, emergency medical care, and access to other relief. Only minimal processing, such as recording basic biographical data, would occur at these facilities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dmDLZX">
People suspected of criminal activity or who have outstanding warrants would still go to secure holding facilities currently operated by CBP. But everyone else would be transported to newly created Regional Migration Processing Centers, where non-uniformed staff (as opposed to CBP officers) would administer legal and medical services to migrants and care for children and trauma victims. There would be separate spaces to house families and children and single adults.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/D1zw6N-xHWH6N_0o8dN0gvMtR0s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22544143/AP_21058010217721.jpg"/> <cite>Christian Chavez/AP</cite>
<figcaption>
After waiting months and sometimes years in Mexico, people seeking asylum in the United States are being allowed into the country as they wait for courts to decide on their cases.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vB8hE3BLi9jxIVYCcwPdwQRTkIE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22544151/GettyImages_1232963215_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Jonathan Alpeyrie/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A child plays in a courtyard at the Holding Institute shelter in Laredo, Texas, on May 15.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zplWQg">
These centers would be staffed with asylum officers from US Citizenship and Immigration Services who would be able to immediately grant asylum to people with straightforward cases, as opposed to having to go through extensive, time-consuming proceedings in immigration court. Those cases would have to be completed in 20 days or less, or transferred to new, nearby border courts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7CD7p1">
The border courts, staffed with a new slate of immigration judges, would primarily handle cases involving migrants who have recently arrived in the US and would have to issue a decision within 90 days. If it takes longer for migrants’ cases to be decided, they could be transferred to other immigration courts across the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5NMJ1X">
The result would theoretically be that immigration cases could be decided in a matter of weeks or months, rather than years. As of April, immigrants had been waiting an average of <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/">more than three years</a> for their cases to be decided in immigration court, which is a lot of time in limbo.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V9f5iy">
“We have to have a system that is much more expeditious in deciding cases,” Cardinal-Brown said. “That’s good both for people who deserve protection — who can find out quickly, get their status, and get legal work — and for people who don’t make the cut, who can be sent back in an expeditious manner.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iNChhh">
Under the plan, those who receive an adverse decision from an asylum officer could appeal in immigration court if they choose, though not everyone will. Single adults and those who aren’t seeking a form of humanitarian protection could still face rapid deportation through a process called “expedited removal,” under which a migrant does not have the opportunity to plead their case before an immigration judge.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pwSu1L">
That’s why it’s also important for the US to explore additional legal avenues for people to migrate to the US, such as work visas. The asylum system may be the only currently viable path for Central Americans. Otherwise, they would need a job opportunity requiring certain skills or education or an immediate family member who’s a US citizen and could sponsor them for a visa.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0VJGBK">
“We need to vastly expand legal avenues for people so that they’re not coming into the asylum system in lieu of some other available form of relief,” Cardinal-Brown said.
</p>
<h3 id="S673Kh">
Biden could look for alternatives to rapid deportations
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cys1HH">
While Cardinal-Brown maintains that expedited removal has a place in a functioning immigration system, others have advocated for dramatically scaling back its use, or even abolishing it altogether.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IPlbM6">
Expedited removal was implemented more than two decades years ago in the interest of increasing efficiency in immigration enforcement. But in the time since, the backlog of cases in immigration courts has grown to <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_backlog/">exceed 1.3 million</a>, suggesting that it isn’t necessarily working as intended to relieve pressure in other parts of the immigration system. The Trump administration had nevertheless expanded its use beyond just immigrants arriving at the border. Now, unauthorized immigrants living anywhere in the US can be deported under expedited removal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="outGYO">
Yael Schacher, senior US advocate at Refugees International, has argued that, once the Biden administration lifts pandemic-related restrictions at the border, it shouldn’t revert to relying on expedited removal as a primary means of managing migration at the southern border.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nx8MMK">
In a <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2021/5/11/addressing-the-legacy-of-expedited-removal-border-procedures-and-alternatives-for-reform">recent report</a>, she recommends implementing two pilot programs to test out such methods. One program could be based on the administration’s existing system for processing people who qualify for exemptions from the pandemic-related <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22398712/biden-title-42-migrant-border-expel">expulsion policy</a> implemented last March under President Donald Trump.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AyeLIP">
Similar procedures could be used to identify groups that request asylum at a port of entry and for whom expedited removal has historically proved unfair and inefficient, including speakers of indigenous or rare languages. CBP could release them from custody and instruct them to check in with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would then refer them to the asylum office to file an application. If they don’t follow through with the application, then the government could initiate deportation proceedings in immigration court, Schacher writes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6hNTMT">
The other proposed pilot program could be modeled after the Biden administration’s current practice of releasing some families into the US due to the fact that Mexico has refused to take them back after they are expelled.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GTwrRr">
After being processed by CBP, migrants from countries that have not historically cooperated with US efforts to deport their citizens could be sent to a newly created reception center operated by Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="VnBhKN">
<q>“We’ve never had a plan to rapidly surge resources into the immigration system when things get overloaded”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JdA5tr">
They would be subject to full deportation proceedings in immigration court, provided with legal orientation services and, if necessary, placed in a case management program designed to ensure immigrants show up for their immigration appointments without putting them in detention. (Although <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/10/21059924/trump-asylum-seekers-show-up-court-hearing">studies have shown</a> that most migrants who were never detained or who were released from detention still show up for their court hearings.) Immigration judges would then terminate deportation proceedings and refer them to the asylum office to file an application.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xiw4Jl">
These proposed pilot programs might seem unnecessarily complex, requiring various steps of referral to different agencies. But they are designed to work within the existing legal framework and allow the Biden administration to test out potential changes to the asylum system unilaterally.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y3UofC">
“Putting resources into developing that fair process seems to make the most sense from a human rights and efficiency perspective, especially given that the deterrent approach we have taken for the past 25 years certainly has not stopped people from coming to the border, or led to an efficient asylum process,” Schacher said. “I’m trying to encourage us not to presume that the only efficient and fair way to do things is to rush the process while everyone is detained at the border, which I think is the impulse now.”
</p>
<h3 id="DNunCr">
The US could put more power in the hands of asylum officers
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pXML6q">
It’s clear the current system isn’t operating quickly enough to accommodate the number of asylum seekers arriving on the border. That could actually encourage more migrants to make the journey north, said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fH0t0u">
“The government is doing all this <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/4/1/22359917/biden-border-mixed-messaging-crisis">messaging</a> [about the dangers of migrating], and that is not nearly as meaningful to people as the fact that they know from their communities, their families in the United States, and from smugglers, that if you manage to get here and get into the system, your case is going to be pending for years into the future,” said Meissner, who also served as the commissioner of what was then known as the US Immigration and Naturalization Service under the Clinton administration. “That is a real pull factor.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wVtde2">
As a fix, Meissner has <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/us-asylum-system-crisis-charting-way-forward">proposed</a> to empower asylum officers via a regulatory change to grant asylum in cases that arise on the border without having to refer applicants to the immigration courts, unless they want to appeal an adverse decision. It would represent an expansion of their existing responsibilities, which also include issuing decisions for tens of thousands of people annually who apply for asylum from inside the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r403Uw">
Shifting processing to the asylum office, which only has a backlog of about <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/20_0630_cisomb-2020-annual-report-to-congress.pdf">350,000 cases</a>, would in some ways enhance due process for asylum seekers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZTaKZ">
In contrast to the process in the immigration courts, interviews at the asylum office are non-adversarial. Asylum officers undergo extensive training on how to conduct interviews with people who have experienced trauma, such as sexual violence, assault, death threats, kidnapping, and torture. And they are educated on conditions in migrants’ home countries that might have driven them to flee.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7J6Cl6">
Allowing asylum officers to grant asylum in the first place would also allow immigration judges to focus their resources on more complex cases.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e10ZCnDCkITGFmbJuJr3HO0DbrI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22544156/AP_21050646913925.jpg"/> <cite>Gregory Bull/AP</cite>
<figcaption>
Asylum seekers wait for news of policy changes in Tijuana on February 19.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ev2ZI4">
“It’s important to reserve the immigration court time for cases where there’s a real issue as to whether relief can be granted,” said Paul Schmidt, a former immigration judge who chaired the Board of Immigration Appeals, an appellate body within the DOJ, under the Clinton administration. “I think there’s a lot of cases out there that could easily be granted at the asylum office. They never have to get to the immigration court.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WG6FFu">
But there are some ways in which the asylum office remains under-resourced. Karen Musalo, founding director of the Center for Gender &amp; Refugee Studies and a professor at UC Hastings College of Law, said that asylum seekers are currently required to provide their own interpreters during interviews with asylum officers, meaning that the quality of interpretation can be “quite below standard,” often to the detriment of an applicant’s case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y18G6P">
Asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, also don’t have government-appointed lawyers, either at the asylum office or in the immigration courts. There is a robust network of legal aid groups, NGOs, and law firms doing pro bono work that have stepped up to fill that gap somewhat, representing people individually, conducting “know your rights” presentations, and offering legal advice. But <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/access-counsel-immigration-court">more than half</a> of people facing immigration court proceedings still don’t have a lawyer, even though it vastly improves their chances of obtaining relief from deportation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5iJi7k">
Biden recently issued a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/05/18/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-sign-presidential-memorandum-to-expand-access-to-legal-representation-and-the-courts/">memorandum</a> seeking to expand access to legal counsel for immigrants, but it’s not yet clear how he would do so.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eiVaeY">
“The entire system would run more efficiently and smoothly, and it would be cost-effective, to have appointed counsel for all asylum claims,” Musalo said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IsYpEH">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W9NSuE">
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Couldn’t sleep for 8-9 days during IPL, had to pullout: R. Ashwin on family’s fight with COVID</strong> - Talking about the ongoing 14-day quarantine in Mumbai, Ashwin gave an idea of the Indian team’s life in the protected environment</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>Pirlo leaves Juventus after disappointing year in charge</strong> - Reports say the former Italian player was fired but the club’s statement has not mentioned it.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>WTC Final: India, NZ to be adjudged joint winners in case of draw or tie</strong> - India and New Zealand will be adjudged joint winners of the inaugural World Test Championship if their final clash in Southampton ends in a draw or</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>“Quite surreal”: Marcus Rashford on his chat with Obama for child food poverty campaign</strong> - Rashford had led a campaign to end child food poverty and successfully lobbied the British government to continue providing free school meals during the holidays.</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>Pochettino looking to bright future with PSG amid Spurs links</strong> - Pochettino was sacked by Tottenham six months after leading them to the Champions League final the previous season.</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>Five arrested for death of four in clash</strong> - Holenarasipur Police have arrested five people in connection with the death of four people in a clash between two families over a property dispute at</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>Coronavirus | Tamil Nadu lockdown extended till June 7</strong> - CM announced that provision stores would be allowed to sell essential supplies through carts or vehicles in their respective localities with permission from local bodies</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>Four arrested in murder case</strong> - The police have arrested four people in connection with a murder reported on May 23 in Hassan. A team of officers, investigating the murder, arrested</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>Lakshadweep’s proposed two-child norm for panchayat polls ‘flawed’</strong> - It should take steps to contain further cut in Total Fertility Rate: Population Foundation of India</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>No rift over Lakshadweep ‘development’ push: BJP office bearer</strong> - Change necessary for tourism boost, says A.P. Abdullakutty</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>Belarus plane: Russia accuses EU of risking passenger safety</strong> - Russia condemns a decision to avoid Belarusian airspace over the arrest of a dissident journalist.</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>Germany officially recognises colonial-era Namibia genocide</strong> - Foreign Minister Heiko Maas asks for forgiveness for atrocities and announces financial aid package.</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>Russian hackers target aid groups in new cyber-attack, says Microsoft</strong> - A fresh wave of cyber-attacks targets government agencies and human rights groups, mostly in the US.</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>Three sentenced over Barcelona and Cambrils jihadist attacks</strong> - The men assisted those responsible for attacks in 2017 that killed 16 people and injured 140.</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>Mystery plans to redraw Balkan borders alarm leaders</strong> - Unofficial plans to change the borders have caused alarm - but no-one knows whose idea they are.</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>Covert channel in Apple’s M1 is mostly harmless, but it sure is interesting</strong> - Technically, it’s a vulnerability, but there’s not much an attacker can do with it. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1768316">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary and the soft, squishy science of language</strong> - A deep dive into xenolinguistics, pragmatics, the cooperative principle, and Noam Chomsky! - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1767514">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Russia plans nuclear space tug, Falcon Heavy launch delays</strong> - “Europe really needs to build infrastructure to get to space.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1768283">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SolarWinds hackers are back with a new mass campaign, Microsoft says</strong> - Kremlin-backed group uses hacked account to impersonate US aid agency. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1768370">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ohio lawmakers want to abolish vaccine requirements—all vaccine requirements</strong> - Someone would only have to verbally decline vaccination and cite “reasons of conscience.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1768349">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Satan arrives to welcome a new damned soul to hell.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Congratulations!”, he says, “You wasted your entire pitiful life!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well,” the man replies, “at least I’m not a adult living in my father’s basement.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmvov4/satan_arrives_to_welcome_a_new_damned_soul_to_hell/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmvov4/satan_arrives_to_welcome_a_new_damned_soul_to_hell/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>The maid asked for a raise</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
[Long]
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The maid asked for a raise. The woman asked her why.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Maid : “For three reasons. Number 1, I iron clothes better than you.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Woman : “Who said that?”
</p>
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Maid : “Your husband said that”
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Woman : “Oh”
</p>
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Maid : “Secondly, I cook better than you”
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Woman : " Who said that?"
</p>
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Maid : “Your husband”
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Woman : “Oh”
</p>
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Maid : “And the third reason is that I am better at sex than you”
</p>
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Woman : “Did my husband said that too?”
</p>
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Maid : “No, the gardener did.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkknightOP-69"> /u/DarkknightOP-69 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmqx85/the_maid_asked_for_a_raise/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmqx85/the_maid_asked_for_a_raise/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A man walks into a bar and orders a whiskey…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
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A man walks into a bar and orders a whiskey.
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The barkeep says “That’ll be 2 pence”
</p>
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“2 pence!?” said the man. “That’s cheap! Do you sell food?”
</p>
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“Yep” , said the barkeep
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Alright, I’ll have a steak and chips” replied the man
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Sure” said the barkeep, “That’s also 2 pence”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Goodness me!” said the man. “How can you charge so little?” … “Are you the owner?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Nope, but I’m a friend of the owner” replied the barkeep.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well where’s the owner?” asked the man
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Oh, he’s upstairs with my wife!” replied the barkeep
</p>
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“What’s he doing upstairs with your wife?” asked the man
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“The same thing I’m doing to his business” replied the barkeep.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Brian-Goldwin"> /u/Brian-Goldwin </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmiwya/a_man_walks_into_a_bar_and_orders_a_whiskey/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmiwya/a_man_walks_into_a_bar_and_orders_a_whiskey/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My boss calls me “The computer”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Not because of my calculation skills but because I go to sleep when left unattended for 15 minutes.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Raziel_01"> /u/Raziel_01 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmfoku/my_boss_calls_me_the_computer/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nmfoku/my_boss_calls_me_the_computer/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Racial Humor</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
An Irish man is sitting at a bar, then a Chinese man sits down next to him. The Chinese takes a drink, the the Irish man says to him, “do you know Kung fu?”. The Chinese man says, “why because I’m Chinese? That’s just racist!”. The Irish man says, “No, I ask because you’re drinking my beer”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kingheet"> /u/kingheet </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nms0v8/racial_humor/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/nms0v8/racial_humor/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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