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<title>24 January, 2023</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Prediction of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mutations using Sequence-to-Sequence and Transformer models</strong> -
<div>
In the study of viral epidemics, having information about the structural evolution of the virus can be very helpful in controlling the disease and making vaccines. Various deep learning and natural language processing techniques (NLP) can be used to analyze genetic structure of viruses, namely to predict their mutations. In this paper, by using Sequence-to-Sequence (Seq2Seq) model with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) cell and Transformer model with the attention mechanism, we investigate the spike protein mutations of SARS-CoV-2 virus. We make time-series datasets of the spike protein sequences of this virus and generate upcoming spike protein sequences. We also determine the mutations of the generated spike protein sequences, by comparing these sequences with the Wuhan spike protein sequence. We train the models to make predictions in December 2021, February 2022, and October 2022. Furthermore, we find that some of our generated spike protein sequences have been reported in December 2021 and February 2022, which belong to Delta and Omicron variants. The results obtained in the present study could be useful for prediction of future mutations of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.23.525130v1" target="_blank">Prediction of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mutations using Sequence-to-Sequence and Transformer models</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Wastewater-based surveillance can be used to model COVID-19-associated workforce absenteeism</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) is a powerful tool for understanding community COVID-19 disease burden and informing public health policy. The potential of WBS for understanding COVID-19 impact in non-healthcare settings has not been explored to the same degree. Here we examined how SARS-CoV-2 measured from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) correlates with local workforce absenteeism. SARS-CoV-2 RNA N1 and N2 were quantified three times per week by RT-qPCR in samples collected at three WWTPs servicing Calgary and surrounding areas, Canada (1.3 million residents) between June 2020 and March 2022. Wastewater trends were compared to workforce absenteeism using data from the largest employer in the city (&gt;15,000 staff). Absences were classified as being COVID-19-related, COVID-19-confirmed, and unrelated to COVID-19. Poisson regression was performed to generate a prediction model for COVID-19 absenteeism based on wastewater data. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 95.5% (85/89) of weeks assessed. During this period 6592 COVID-19-related absences (1896 confirmed) and 4,524 unrelated absences COVID-19 cases were recorded. Employee absences significantly increased as wastewater signal increased through pandemic waves. Strong correlations between COVID-19-confirmed absences and wastewater SARS-CoV-2 signals (N1 gene: r=0.824, p&lt;0.0001 and N2 gene: r=0.826, p&lt;0.0001) were observed. Linear regression with adjusted R2-value demonstrated a robust association (adjusted R2=0.783), when adjusted by 7 days, indicating wastewater provides a one-week leading signal. A generalized linear regression using a Poisson distribution was performed to predict COVID-19-confirmed absences out of the total number of absent employees using wastewater data as a leading indicator (P&lt;0.0001). We also assessed the variation of predictions when the regression model was applied to new data, with the predicted values and corresponding confidence intervals closely tracking actual absenteeism data. Wastewater-based surveillance has the potential to be used by employers to anticipate workforce requirements and optimize human resource allocation in response to trackable respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.22.23284878v1" target="_blank">Wastewater-based surveillance can be used to model COVID-19-associated workforce absenteeism</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Real-world effectiveness of Azvudine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Current guidelines prioritize the use of the Azvudine in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. However, the clinical effectiveness of Azvudine in real-world studies was lacking, despite the clinical trials showed shorter time of nucleic acid negative conversion. To evaluate the clinical effectiveness following Azvudine treatment in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, we identified 1505 hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the study period, with a follow-up of up to 29 days. After exclusions and propensity score matching, we included 226 Azvudine recipients and 226 matched controls. The lower crude incidence rate of composite disease progression outcome (4.21 vs. 10.39 per 1000 person-days, P=0.041) and all-cause mortality (1.57 vs. 6.00 per 1000 person-days, P=0.027) were observed among Azvudine recipients compared with matched controls. The incidence rates of initiation of invasive mechanical ventilation were also statistically different between the groups according to the log-rank tests (P=0.020). Azvudine treatment was associated with significantly lower risks of composite disease progression outcome (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.18 to 0.99) and all-cause death (HR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.94) compared with matched controls. Subgroup analyses indicated robustness of the point estimates of HRs (ranged from 0.14 to 0.84). Notably, male Azvudine recipients had a stronger effectiveness than female recipients with respect to both composite outcome and all-cause death. These findings suggest that Azvudine treatment showed substantial clinical benefits in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and should be considered for use in this population of patients.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.23.23284899v1" target="_blank">Real-world effectiveness of Azvudine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>In-silico Analysis of SARS-Cov2 Spike Proteins of Different Field Variants</strong> -
<div>
Background: Coronaviruses belong to the group of RNA family of viruses which trigger diseases in birds, humans, and mammals, which can cause respiratory tract infections. The COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected every part of the world, and the situation in the world is getting worse with the emergence of novel variants. Our study aims to explore the genome of SARS-CoV2 followed by in silico analysis of its proteins. Methods: Different nucleotide and protein variants of SARS-Cov2 were retrieved from NCBI. Contigs &amp; consensus sequences were developed to identify variations in these variants by using SnapGene. Data of variants that significantly differ from each other was run through Predict Protein software to understand changes produced in protein structure The SOPMA web server was used to predict the secondary structure of proteins. Tertiary structure details of selected proteins were analyzed using the online web server SWISS-MODEL. Findings: Sequencing results shows numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms in surface glycoprotein, nucleocapsid, ORF1a, and ORF1ab polyprotein. While envelope, membrane, ORF3a, ORF6, ORF7a, ORF8, and ORF10 genes have no or few SNPs. Contigs were mto identifyn of variations in Alpha &amp; Delta Variant of SARs-CoV-2 with reference strain (Wuhan). The secondary structures of SARs-CoV-2 proteins were predicted by using sopma software &amp; were further compared with reference strain of SARS-CoV-2 (Wuhan) proteins. The tertiary structure details of only spike proteins were analyzed through the SWISS-MODEL and Ramachandran plot. By Swiss-model, a comparison of the tertiary structure model of SARS-COV-2 spike protein of Alpha &amp; Delta Variant was made with reference strain (Wuhan). Alpha &amp; Delta Variant of SARs-CoV-2 isolates submitted in GISAID from Pakistan with changes in structural and nonstructural proteins were compared with reference strain &amp; 3D structure mapping of spike glycoprotein and mutations in amino acid were seen. Conclusion: The surprising increased rate of SARS-CoV-2 transmission has forced numerous countries to impose a total lockdown due to an unusual occurrence. In this research, we employed in silico computational tools to analyze SARS-CoV-2 genomes worldwide to detect vital variations in structural proteins and dynamic changes in all SARS-CoV-2 proteins, mainly spike proteins, produced due to many mutations. Our analysis revealed substantial differences in functional, immunological, physicochemical, &amp; structural variations in SARS-CoV-2 isolates. However real impact of these SNPs can only be determined further by experiments. Our results can aid in vivo and in vitro experiments in the future.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.22.525048v1" target="_blank">In-silico Analysis of SARS-Cov2 Spike Proteins of Different Field Variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVision: Convolutional Neural Network for the Differentiation of COVID-19 from Common Pulmonary Conditions using CT Scans</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
With the growing amount of COVID-19 cases, especially in developing countries with limited medical resources, it is essential to accurately diagnose COVID-19 with high specificity. Due to characteristic ground-glass opacities (GGOs), present in both COVID-19 and other acute lung diseases, misdiagnosis occurs often: 26.6% of the time in manual interpretations of CT scans. Current deep-learning models can identify COVID-19 but cannot distinguish it from other common lung diseases like bacterial pneumonia. COVision is a multi-classification convolutional neural network (CNN) that can differentiate COVID-19 from other common lung diseases, with a low false-positivity rate. This CNN achieved an accuracy of 95.8%, AUROC of 0.970, and specificity of 98%. We found a statistical significance that our CNN performs better than three independent radiologists with at least 10 years of experience. especially in differentiating COVID-19 from pneumonia. After training our CNN with 105,000 CT slices, we analyzed the activation maps of our CNN and found that lesions in COVID-19 presented peripherally, closer to the pleura, whereas pneumonia lesions presented centrally. Finally, using federated averaging, we ensemble our CNN with a pretrained clinical factors neural network (CFNN) to create a comprehensive diagnostic tool.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.22.23284880v1" target="_blank">COVision: Convolutional Neural Network for the Differentiation of COVID-19 from Common Pulmonary Conditions using CT Scans</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Delirium in a Young Predominantly Hispanic Population with COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Abstract Purpose: To study a primarily Hispanic population of adults younger than 65 to determine if COVID-19 patients with a concurrent delirium diagnosis had worse clinical outcomes in terms of hospital stay, ventilation and mortality, than those without a delirium diagnosis. Methods: After approval by the appropriate Institutional Review Board, a retrospective cohort study was performed looking at demographics, vital statistics, and clinical outcomes of patients aged 18-65 admitted to a hospital in the United States - Mexico border region with COVID-19 between March 1 and June 30, 2020. Data were analyzed using Fisher9s exact test, or an unpaired t-test where appropriate, and a univariate analysis was performed to establish relative risk. Confidence intervals were set at 95% and p values ≤0.05 were considered significant. Results: 133 patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses (58% men, 92% Hispanic) were included. Mean age was 50.5 with a standard deviation of 11.7 years (range 20-65 years). The prevalence of delirium was 6%. Fifty percent of delirium patients died during hospitalization compared to 15% of patients without delirium. Patients with delirium were found to spend more days hospitalized, in the intensive care unit, and intubated than their counterparts without delirium. Delirium was associated with increased risk of being placed on mechanical ventilation (RR 3.91, 95% CI 1.46-10.41, p value 0.006). Conclusions: Delirium was associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes independent of age. COVID-19 patients need to be actively assessed for signs of delirium and appropriate precautionary measures should be implemented. Proper documentation of delirium is key to continue learning about the incidence of delirium in COVID-19 patients.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.22.23284879v1" target="_blank">Delirium in a Young Predominantly Hispanic Population with COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A New Approach for Active Coronavirus Infection Identification by Targeting the Negative RNA Strand- A Replacement for the Current Positive RNA-based qPCR Detection Method</strong> -
<div>
This manuscript describes the development of an alternative method to detect active coronavirus infection, in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The pandemic, which was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has had a significant impact on global health as well as on the economy and daily life in the world. The current positive RNA-based detection systems are unable to discriminate between replicating and non-replicating viruses, complicating decisions related to quarantine and therapeutic interventions. The proposed method targets the negative strand of the virus and has the potential to effectively distinguish between active and inactive infections, which could provide a more accurate means of determining the spread of the virus and guide more effective public health measures during the current pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.22.525117v1" target="_blank">A New Approach for Active Coronavirus Infection Identification by Targeting the Negative RNA Strand- A Replacement for the Current Positive RNA-based qPCR Detection Method</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Waning Immunity Against XBB.1.5 Following Bivalent mRNA Boosters</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has continued to evolve. XBB is a recombinant between two BA.2 sublineages, XBB.1 includes the G252V mutation, and XBB.1.5 includes the G252V and F486P mutations. XBB.1.5 has rapidly increased in frequency and has become the dominant virus in New England. The bivalent mRNA vaccine boosters have been shown to increase neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers to multiple variants, but the durability of these responses remains to be determined. We assessed humoral and cellular immune responses in 30 participants who received the bivalent mRNA boosters and performed assays at baseline prior to boosting, at week 3 after boosting, and at month 3 after boosting. Our data demonstrate that XBB.1.5 substantially escapes NAb responses but not T cell responses after bivalent mRNA boosting. NAb titers to XBB.1 and XBB.1.5 were similar, suggesting that the F486P mutation confers greater transmissibility but not increased immune escape. By month 3, NAb titers to XBB.1 and XBB.1.5 declined essentially to baseline levels prior to boosting, while NAb titers to other variants declined less strikingly.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.22.525079v1" target="_blank">Waning Immunity Against XBB.1.5 Following Bivalent mRNA Boosters</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A modeling study on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic responses on the community transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria</strong> -
<div>
Non-pharmaceutical COVID-19 interventions have dramatically modified the transmission dynamics of pathogens other than SARS-CoV-2. In many countries, reports have shown that implementation of population-wide lockdowns led to substantial reductions in invasive bacterial disease caused by respiratory bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. By contrast, most European countries reported increased antibiotic resistance among S. pneumoniae isolates from 2019 to 2020. To disentangle impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic responses on bacterial epidemiology in the community setting, we propose a mathematical model formalizing simultaneous transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and antibiotic-sensitive and -resistant strains of S. pneumoniae. The impacts of population-wide lockdowns, isolation of COVID-19 cases, changes in antibiotic consumption due to altered healthcare-seeking behavior and prophylactic use in the early pandemic were explored across six pandemic scenarios. Our model was able to reproduce the observed trends, showing how lockdowns substantially reduce invasive pneumococcal disease incidence, while surges in prophylactic antibiotic prescribing favor disease caused by resistant strains. Surges in COVID-19 cases were associated with increased antibiotic resistance rates across all pandemic scenarios. Introducing synergistic within-host SARS-CoV-2-pneumococcus interactions further exacerbates increasing incidence of resistant disease. When data availability is limited, mathematical modeling can help improve our understanding of the complex interactions between COVID-19 and antibiotic resistance.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.08.503267v2" target="_blank">A modeling study on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic responses on the community transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Novel Monoclonal Antibody Targeting a Large Surface of the Receptor Binding Motif Shows Pan-neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 Activity Including BQ.1.1 Variant</strong> -
<div>
In the present study we report the functional and structural characterization of 17T2, a new highly potent pan-neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 human monoclonal antibody (mAb) isolated from a convalescent COVID-19 individual infected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 17T2 is a class 1 VH1-58/{kappa}3-20 antibody, derived from a receptor binding domain (RBD)-specific IgA memory B cell and developed as a human recombinant IgG1. Functional characterization revealed that 17T2 mAb has a high and exceptionally broad neutralizing activity against all SARS-CoV-2 spike variants tested, including BQ.1.1. Moreover, 17T2 mAb has in vivo prophylactic activity against Omicron BA.1.1 infection in K18-hACE2 transgenic mice. 3D reconstruction from cryogenic-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) showed that 17T2 binds the Omicron BA.1 spike protein with the RBD domains in up position and recognizes an epitope overlapping with the receptor binding motif, as it is the case for other structurally similar neutralizing mAbs, including S2E12. Yet, unlike S2E12, 17T2 retains its high neutralizing activity against all Omicron sublineages tested, probably due to a larger contact area with the RBD, which could confer a higher resilience to spike mutations. These results highlight the impact of small structural antibody changes on neutralizing performance and identify 17T2 mAb as a potential candidate for future therapeutic and prophylactic interventions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.20.524748v1" target="_blank">A Novel Monoclonal Antibody Targeting a Large Surface of the Receptor Binding Motif Shows Pan-neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 Activity Including BQ.1.1 Variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Finding a Needle in the Haystack: Design and Implementation of a Digital Site-less Clinical Study of Serial Rapid Antigen Testing to Identify Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> -
<div>
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Background: Rapid antigen tests (Ag-RDT) for SARS-CoV-2 with Emergency Use Authorization generally include a condition of authorization to evaluate the test9s performance in asymptomatic individuals when used serially. Objective: To describe a novel study design to generate regulatory-quality data to evaluate serial use of Ag-RDT in detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus among asymptomatic individuals. Design: Prospective cohort study using a decentralized approach. Participants were asked to test using Ag-RDT and molecular comparators every 48 hours for 15 days. Setting: Participants throughout the mainland United States were enrolled through a digital platform between October 18, 2021 and February 15, 2022. Ag-RDTs were completed at home, and molecular comparators were shipped to a central laboratory. Participants: Individuals over 2 years old from across the U.S. with no reported COVID-19 symptoms in the 14 days prior to study enrollment were eligible to enroll in this study. Measurements: Enrollment demographics, geographic distribution, and SARS-CoV-2 infection rates are reported. Key Results: A total of 7,361 participants enrolled in the study, and 492 participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 154 who were asymptomatic and tested negative to start the study. This exceeded the initial enrollment goals of 60 positive participants. We enrolled participants from 44 U.S. states, and geographic distribution of participants shifted in accordance with the changing COVID-19 prevalence nationwide. Limitations: New, complex workflows required significant operational and data team support. Conclusions: The digital site-less approach employed in the 9Test Us At Home9 study enabled rapid, efficient, and rigorous evaluation of rapid diagnostics for COVID-19, and can be adapted across research disciplines to optimize study enrollment and accessibility.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.04.22278274v2" target="_blank">Finding a Needle in the Haystack: Design and Implementation of a Digital Site-less Clinical Study of Serial Rapid Antigen Testing to Identify Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Performance of Screening for SARS-CoV-2 using Rapid Antigen Tests to Detect Incidence of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection: findings from the Test Us at Home prospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Performance of Rapid Antigen Tests for SARS-CoV-2 (Ag-RDT) varies over the course of an infection, and their performance is not well established among asymptomatic individuals. Objective: Evaluate performance of Ag-RDT for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in relation to onset of infection for symptomatic and asymptomatic participants. Design, Setting, and Participants: Prospective cohort study conducted from October 2021 to February 2022 among participants &gt; 2 years-old from across the US who enrolled using a smartphone app. During each testing encounter, participants self-collected one nasal swab and performed Ag-RDT at home; at-least fifteen minutes later, a second nasal swab was self-collected and shipped for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR at a central lab. Both nasal swabs were collected 7 times at 48-hour intervals (over approximately 14 days) followed by an extra nasal swab collection with home Ag-RDT test 48-hours after their last PCR sample. Each participant was assigned to one of the three emergency use authorized (EUA) Ag-RDT tests used in this study. This analysis was limited to participants who were asymptomatic and tested negative by antigen and molecular test on their first day of study participation. Exposure: SARS-CoV-2 positivity was determined by testing a single home-collected anterior nasal sample with three FDA EUA molecular tests, where 2 out 3 positive test results were needed to determine a SARS-CoV-2 positive result. Onset of infection was defined as day on which the molecular PCR comparator result was positive for the first time. Main Outcomes and Measures: Sensitivity of Ag-RDT was measured based on testing once (same-day), twice (at 48-hours) and thrice (at 96 hours). Analysis was repeated for different Days Post Index PCR Positivity (DPIPP) and stratified based on symptom-status on a given DPIPP. Results: A total of 7,361 participants enrolled in the study and 5,609 were eligible for this analysis. Among 154 eligible participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection based on RT-PCR, 97 were asymptomatic and 57 had symptoms at onset of infection (DPIPP 0). Serial testing with Ag-RDT twice over 48-hours resulted in an aggregated sensitivity of 93.4% (95% CI: 89.1-96.1%) among symptomatic participants on DPIPP 0-6. Among the 97 people who were asymptomatic at the onset of infection, 19 were singleton RT-PCR positive, i.e., their positive test was preceded and followed by a negative RT-PCR test within 48-hours. Excluding these singleton positives, aggregated sensitivity on DPIPP 0-6 for two-time serial-testing among asymptomatic participants was lower 62.7% (54.7-70.0%) but improved to 79.0% (71.0-85.3%) with serial testing three times at 48-hour interval. Discussion: Performance of Ag-RDT within first week of infection was optimized when asymptomatic participants tested three-times at 48-hour intervals and when symptomatic participants tested two-times separated by 48-hours.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.05.22278466v2" target="_blank">Performance of Screening for SARS-CoV-2 using Rapid Antigen Tests to Detect Incidence of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection: findings from the Test Us at Home prospective cohort study</a>
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<li><strong>Monitoring and responding to emerging infectious diseases in a university setting: A case study using COVID-19</strong> -
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Emerging infection diseases (EIDs) are an increasing threat to global public health, especially when the disease is newly emerging. Institutions of higher education (IHEs) are particularly vulnerable to EIDs because student populations frequently share high-density residences and strongly mix with local and distant populations. In fall 2020, IHEs responded to a novel EID, COVID-19. Here, we describe Quinnipiac University’s response to SARS-CoV-2 and evaluate its effectiveness through empirical data and model results. Using an agent-based model to approximate disease dynamics in the student body, the University established a policy of dedensification, universal masking, surveillance testing via a targeted sampling design, and app-based symptom monitoring. After an extended period of low incidence, the infection rate grew through October, likely due to growing incidence rates in the surrounding community. A super-spreader event at the end of October caused a spike in cases in November. Student violations of the University’s policies contributed to this event, but lax adherence to state health laws in the community may have also contributed. The model results further suggest that the infection rate was sensitive to the rate of imported infections and was disproportionately impacted by non-residential students, a result supported by the observed data. Collectively, this suggests that campus-community interactions play a major role in campus disease dynamics. Further model results suggest that app-based symptom monitoring may have been an important regulator of the University’s incidence, likely because it quarantined infectious students without necessitating test results. Targeted sampling had no substantial advantages over simple random sampling when the model incorporated contact tracing and app-based symptom monitoring but reduced the upper boundary on 90% prediction intervals for cumulative infections when either was removed. Thus, targeted sampling designs for surveillance testing may mitigate worst-case outcomes when other interventions are less effective. The results’ implications for future EIDs are discussed.
</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.13.23284515v2" target="_blank">Monitoring and responding to emerging infectious diseases in a university setting: A case study using COVID-19</a>
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<li><strong>Scaling rules for pandemics: Estimating infected fraction from identified cases for the SARS-Cov-2 Pandemic</strong> -
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Using a modified form of the SIR model, we show that, under general conditions, all pandemics exhibit certain scaling rules. Using only daily data for symptomatic, confirmed cases, these scaling rules can be used to estimate: (i) reff, the effective pandemic R-parameter; (ii) ftot, the fraction of exposed individuals that were infected (symptomatic and asymptomatic); (iii) Leff, the effective latency, the average number of days an infected individual is able to infect others in the pool of susceptible individuals; and (iv) alpha, the probability of infection per contact between infected and susceptible individuals. We validate the scaling rules using an example and then apply our method to estimate reff, ftot, Leff and alpha for the first phase of the SARS-Cov-2, Covid-19 pandemic for several countries where there was a well separated first peak in identified infected daily cases after the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. Our results are general and can be applied to any pandemic.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.05.22279599v2" target="_blank">Scaling rules for pandemics: Estimating infected fraction from identified cases for the SARS-Cov-2 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Remote working: Thriving or Surviving?</strong> -
<div>
Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns certainly expediated the idea of working and learning in a remote environment. Nevertheless, remote working as a concept has long been an option for employers and employees. Some organisations previously enabled their workers to opt-in a homeworking on Fridays, or build up flexitime, as an example. Despite being around for decades, only a relatively small proportion of people worked in this way. A seismic shift caused by the pandemic now meant that millions of people migrated to a remote format.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://edarxiv.org/rb8hu/" target="_blank">Remote working: Thriving or Surviving?</a>
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<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>Digital Tools to Expand COVID-19 Testing in Exposed Individuals in Cameroon</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Digital based contact tracing<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation;   Find<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>Evaluation of the Outcome of COVID-19 Patients Discharged Home on Oxygen Therapy</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Phone satisfaction questionnaire<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Centre Hospitalier René Dubos<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>Postural Changes and Severe COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Postural interventions based on pulmonary imaging<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Wuhan Union Hospital, China<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Chatbot to Enhance COVID-19 Knowledge</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: chatbot;   Other: Printed educational booklet<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sun Yat-sen University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Awaken Prone Positioning Ventinlation in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Awaken prone positioning ventilation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Southeast University, China<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on the Safety and Efficacy of Meplazumab for Injection Patients COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Meplazumab foe injection;   Other: Normal saline<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Pacific Meinuoke Bio Pharmaceutical 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 on the Safety and Efficacy of Meplazumab for Injection in Severe Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Meplazumab for injection;   Other: Normal saline<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Pacific Meinuoke Bio Pharmaceutical 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>A Phase 2 Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of QLS1128 Orally in Symptomatic Participants With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: QLS1128;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Qilu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.<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>Bright Light Therapy for Post-COVID-19 Fatigue</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post COVID-19 Condition<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Bright light therapy;   Device: Dim red light therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Chinese University of Hong Kong<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>Oropharyngeal Immunoprophylaxis With High Polyphenolic Olive Oil as Clinical Spectrum Mitigating Factor in COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: High polyphenolic olive oil. (Early harvest olive oil).<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hospital General Nuestra Señora del Prado<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>Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Azvudine in Preventing SARS-Cov-2 Infection in Ousehold in China</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azvudine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Shanghai Henlius Biotech;   Huashan Hospital;   Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Industrial Development Co. Ltd.;   HeNan Sincere Biotech Co., Ltd<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>Efficacy of Megadose Vitamin C in Severe and Critical Ill COVID-19 Patients.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vitamin C;   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Vitamin C;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Zhujiang Hospital<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Randomized, Phase I Study of DNA Vaccine OC-007 as a Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection;   COVID-19 Vaccine Adverse Reaction<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: DNA vaccine OC-007;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Matti Sällberg<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>Multicenter Randomized Double-blind Placebo-controlled Study to Investigate Azvudine in Symptomatic Adults With COVID-19 at Increased Risk of Progressing to Severe Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azvudine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Peking Union Medical College 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>An Investigator Initiated, Randomized, Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Immunogenicity and Efficacy of the Recombinant Two-component COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cell) in Adults Aged 18 Years and Older</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Prevention of COVID-19 Caused by SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Yu Qin<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Epitope-directed anti-SARS-CoV-2 scFv engineered against the key spike protein region could block membrane fusion</strong> - The newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 causing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) resulted in &gt;500 million infections. A great deal about the molecular processes of virus infection in the host is getting uncovered. Two sequential proteolytic cleavages of viral spike protein by host proteases are prerequisites for the entry of the virus into the host cell. The first cleavage occurs at S1/S2 site by the furin protease, and the second cleavage at a fusion activation site, the S2’ site, by the TMPRSS2 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>Potent Dual Polymerase/Exonuclease Inhibitory Activities of Antioxidant Aminothiadiazoles Against the COVID-19 Omicron Virus: A Promising In Silico/In Vitro Repositioning Research Study</strong> - Recently, natural and synthetic nitrogenous heterocyclic antivirals topped the scene as first choices for the treatment of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections and their accompanying disease, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Meanwhile, the mysterious evolution of a new strain of SARS-CoV-2, the Omicron variant and its sublineages, caused a new defiance in the continual COVID-19 battle. Hitting the two principal coronaviral-2 multiplication enzymes…</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>Neutralization activity of IgG antibody in COVID‑19‑convalescent plasma against SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We evaluated the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels, anti-spike (S)-immunoglobulin G (IgG) and anti-nucleocapsid (N)-IgG, and the neutralization activity of IgG antibody in COVID‑19‑convalescent plasma against variants of SARS-CoV-2, alpha, beta, gamma, delta, kappa, omicron and R.1 strains. The study included 30 patients with clinically diagnosed COVID-19. The anti-S-IgG and anti-N-IgG…</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>Botanical inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry: a phylogenetic perspective</strong> - Throughout the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the use of botanical dietary supplements in the United States has increased, yet their safety and efficacy against COVID-19 remains underexplored. The Quave Natural Product Library is a phylogenetically diverse collection of botanical and fungal natural product extracts including popular supplement ingredients. Evaluation of 1867 extracts and 18 compounds for virus spike protein binding to host cell ACE2 receptors in a SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped virus system…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Potential Self-Peptide Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)) plays an essential role in viral replication, cleaving viral polyproteins into functional proteins. This makes M^(pro) an important drug target. M^(pro) consists of an N-terminal catalytic domain and a C-terminal α-helical domain (M^(pro)C). Previous studies have shown that peptides derived from a given protein sequence (self-peptides) can affect the folding and, in turn, the function of that protein. Since the SARS-CoV-1 M^(pro)C is known to stabilize its…</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>Repeated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: induction of high-avidity anti-RBD neutralizing antibodies</strong> - CONCLUSION: The data indicate that in cancer patients mRNA vaccine induces high avidity anti-RBD antibodies and neutralizing antibodies that increase after the third dose. The process of induction and selection of high-affinity antibodies is apparently unaffected by the treatment with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies.</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>Inhibition of Enveloped Virus Surrogate Phi6 Infection Using Yeast-Derived Vacuoles</strong> - The periodic emergence of infectious disease poses a serious threat to human life. Among the causative agents, including pathogenic bacteria and fungi, enveloped viruses have caused global pandemics. In the last 10 years, outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Middle East respiratory syndrome have all been caused by enveloped viruses. Among several paths of secondary transmission, inhalation of aerosols containing saliva with…</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>Valproate Coenzyme-A Conjugate Blocks Opening of Receptor Binding Domains in the Spike Trimer of SARS-CoV-2 through an Allosteric Mechanism</strong> - The receptor-binding domains (RBDs) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer exhibit “up” and “down” conformations often targeted by neutralizing antibodies. Only in the “up” configuration can RBDs bind to the ACE2 receptor of the host cell and initiate the process of viral multiplication. Here, we identify a lead compound (3-oxo-valproate-coenzyme A conjugate or Val-CoA) that stabilizes the spike trimer with RBDs in the down conformation. Val-CoA interacts with three R408 residues, one from each RBD,…</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>Causal associations of tea intake with COVID-19 infection and severity</strong> - Tea ingredients can effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection at adequate concentrations. It is not known whether tea intake could impact the susceptibility to COVID-19 or its severity. We aimed to evaluate the causal effects of tea intake on COVID-19 outcomes. We performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to assess the causal associations between tea intake (N = 441,279) and three COVID-19 outcomes, including SARS-CoV-2 infection (122,616 cases and 2,475,240 controls), hospitalized COVID-19…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 N protein mediates intercellular nucleic acid dispersion, a feature reduced in Omicron</strong> - The coronavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein is known to bind to nucleic acids and facilitate viral genome encapsulation. Here we report that N protein can mediate RNA or DNA entering neighboring cells through ACE2-independent, receptor (STEAP2)-mediated endocytosis, and achieve gene expression. The effect is more pronounced for the N protein of wild-type SARS-CoV-2 than that of Omicron variant and other human coronaviruses. This effect is enhanced by RANTES (CCL5), a chemokine induced by N protein,…</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>6-Shogaol Exhibits Anti-viral and Anti-inflammatory Activity in COVID-19-Associated Inflammation by Regulating NLRP3 Inflammasomes</strong> - Recent global health concern motivated the exploration of natural medicinal plant resources as an alternative target for treating COVID-19 infection and associated inflammation. In the current study, a phytochemical, 6-shogaol [1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)dec-4-en-3-one; 6-SHO] was investigated as a potential anti-inflammatory and anti-COVID-19 agent. In virus release assay, 6-SHO efficiently (94.5%) inhibited SARS-CoV2 replication. When tested in the inflammasome activation model, 6-SHO…</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>Is the information on infection prevention measures against COVID-19 reaching the target audience? A cross-sectional survey among eating and drinking services in Tokyo, Japan</strong> - CONCLUSION: Current information dissemination methods for information on COVID-19 infection control may not successfully convey information or reach their target populations. This study indicates the need for specific expressions and layouts to effectively share information on COVID-19. Also, special means of communication must be established to cater to individuals aged 60 and above.</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>Bionics design of affinity peptide inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 RBD to block SARS-CoV-2 RBD-ACE2 interactions</strong> - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), has already posed serious threats and impacts on the health of the population and the country’s economy. Therefore, it is of great theoretical significance and practical application value to better understand the process of COVID-19 infection and develop effective therapeutic drugs. It is known that the receptor-binding structural domain (SARS-CoV-2 RBD) on the spike protein of the novel coronavirus directly mediates its interaction with the host receptor…</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>Potential inhibitory properties of structurally modified quercetin/isohamnetin glucosides against SARS-CoV-2 Mpro; molecular docking and dynamics simulation strategies</strong> - Concerned organizations and individuals are fully engaged in seeking appropriate measures towards managing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV-2) infection because of the unprecedented economic and health impact. SAR-CoV-2 Main protease (SARS-CoV-2 Mpro) is unique to the survival and viability of the virus. Therefore, inhibition of Mpro can block the viral propagation. Thirty (30) derivatives were built by changing the glucosides in the Meta and para position of quercetin…</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 inhibits spermatogenesis in the testes by inducing cellular senescence</strong> - Introduction: COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) has been linked to organ damage in humans since its worldwide outbreak. It can also induce severe sperm damage, according to research conducted at numerous clinical institutions. However, the exact mechanism of damage is still unknown. Methods: In this study, testicular bulk-RNA-seq Data were downloaded from three COVID-19 patients and three uninfected controls from GEO to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 infection on spermatogenesis. Relative expression of…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Spectre of Anti-Asian Violence in the Monterey Park Shooting</strong> - Waiting for details to emerge, there was the familiar apprehension experienced by so many Asian Americans since attacks against them began to soar during the pandemic. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-spectre-of-anti-asian-violence-in-the-monterey-park-shooting">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Biden-Documents Mess</strong> - House Republicans are ramping up conspiracy theories, but one thing seems clear: the government’s documents system has an overclassification addiction. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/the-biden-documents-mess">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Is Columbia Kicking Out a Beloved Preschool?</strong> - The Red Balloon is part of the university’s progressive history, but it may not have a future. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/why-is-columbia-kicking-out-a-beloved-preschool">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On the Picket Lines of Britain’s Shattered National Health Service</strong> - The N.H.S. is the country’s pride. But rolling strikes reveal a system in the midst of collapse. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/on-the-picket-lines-of-britains-shattered-national-health-service">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gun Violence Is America’s Never-Ending Plague</strong> - The mass shooting in Monterey Park was one of dozens already this year. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/gun-violence-is-americas-never-ending-plague">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Are we in a new Cold War?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin stand in front of their countries’ flags. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vZR9gk1fHxDGysnsFS0aLaw6efk=/0x16:5512x4150/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71899631/1243270810.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Forumlar Majmuasi Complex in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 15, 2022. | Ju Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The unnerving similarities — and key differences — between our current moment and the Cold War, explained by an expert.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NYrCbe">
When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, Vladimir Putin said the world was facing <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-24/full-transcript-vladimir-putin-s-televised-address-to-russia-on-ukraine-feb-24">a confrontation between the civilizations</a> of the West and Moscow. This division into two camps evoked memories of the Cold War, and, as in those days, Russian leaders again <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/10/30/23426491/russia-ukraine-dirty-bomb-nuclear">openly discussed using nuclear weapons</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6UlriG">
There’s a major difference between today and half a century ago — Moscow looks far weaker than the former empire of Stalin and Brezhnev. Putin’s forces have failed to achieve nearly all their goals in Ukraine, and many of the USSR’s satellite states are now NATO members. Ukraine was once part of the Soviet Union, but its ties to the United States and the European Union have never been stronger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t9g7jl">
Yet many recent trends also resemble the contours of the Cold War. Moscow and Beijing have become staunch allies — closer than even during the communist era. Chinese President Xi Jinping is pursuing his openly declared ambitions to oppose the global power of the United States. Since the invasion, meanwhile, the US and EU have made a series of moves to completely sever trade relations with Russia and to <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/11/5/23440525/biden-administration-semiconductor-export-ban-china">halt the development of China’s tech sector</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lAFMXL">
Is the world splitting again into two hostile blocs, just as during the Cold War? To find out, I spoke with Sergey Radchenko, a historian of the Cold War and the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mscU8C">
A transcript of our conversation follows, edited for length and clarity.
</p>
<h4 id="8ZjykE">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cmCtMQ">
Observers have <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/article/new-report-authoritarian-rule-challenging-democracy-dominant-global-model">long</a> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/2022/05/13/world-will-divide-two-blocs-democracy-vs-autocracy-ex-nato-chief-says-1701954.html">said </a>that the world is dividing into democratic and authoritarian countries. President Joe Biden has approached global politics with this frame, and many of his actions have only heightened the division; he organized a <a href="https://www.state.gov/summit-for-democracy/">democracy summit</a>, and he’s talked about creating a league of democracies. Xi Jinping, meanwhile, has cast China as an alternative model, more efficient than the Western one. The hostility between the bloc of mostly democratic, mostly Western countries and the Beijing-Moscow camp seems at least superficially similar to the Cold War era of two rival blocs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nkgJ2l">
How much does the global political dynamic today resemble the Cold War?
</p>
<h4 id="cL8HW1">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="elB65i">
There are some similarities but also vast differences. The distinguishing feature of the Cold War was the two sides’ different conceptions of modernity and how to get there. There were different approaches to the notion of property and to the economy — central planning in the Soviet Union and China or a market-oriented economy in the West. The ideological distinction today is authoritarianism versus democracy. This is a very big difference.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2fv80o">
But at the level of everyday life, there are a lot of similarities among Russia, China, and the West: restaurants run by private individuals, the service sector, and people everywhere have iPhones — if they can get them now in Russia.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2aDRtv">
Another interesting distinction is that the connections between Moscow and the West were not as strong during the Cold War as they are today. Even though the West has tried to expel Russia from the world economy, it is still intricately connected. Natural resources still flow out of Russia, and Russia depends on imported goods. Moscow still trades with the world — it is not an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/autarky">autarkic system</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="01DNUr">
Those connections are even stronger with China. If you compare China today to China during the Cold War, it’s night and day. Superficially, there are similarities between these two periods, but if you dig deeper, you see great differences.
</p>
<h4 id="g2HWXB">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KNqXxp">
You mention that the Cold War was also a conflict of political and economic ideologies. How would you compare the ideological dimension of global politics today to the Cold War?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gnwoid">
<strong>Sergey Radchenko</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fpt3do">
If you look at Russian and Chinese ideology today, you’d have to ask, <em>What exactly is it?</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QEPU3n">
If there is a Russian ideology, it’s ethnic nationalism. China’s case is also largely nationalism. In China, nationalism began to displace communism as an ideology in the 1970s, after the Cultural Revolution. It comes from the disappointment of the population with ideological dogma and with the great promise of a communist revolution that never happened. The Chinese Communist Party was facing a legitimacy deficit, and they were looking for things to fill it — so nationalism replaced communist revolution. The same thing happened with the Soviet Union falling apart; the Russian Federation had to reinvent itself on the basis of Russian nationalism.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="thuejc">
Nationalist ideology exists in many other places. Nationalism is not at all a new ideology, but it’s not the same as during the Cold War.
</p>
<h4 id="xE8ilo">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w7PVSd">
But can nationalism function as a unifying ideology for a bloc of allied countries? Iran’s theocracy, for example, also has a prominent nationalist element. But do these parochial nationalisms create limits for any alliance?
</p>
<h4 id="9BwlZj">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fqwcYD">
They do. And even when China and the Soviet Union had a common ideology in the 1960s, they were the worst of enemies. In 1969 <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/1969-sino-soviet-border-conflicts-key-turning-point-cold-war">they fought a border war</a>, and the Soviets threatened to use nuclear weapons. A shared ideology is by no means a guarantee that you will not have a really nasty relationship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IAFw9R">
Just before Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin went to Beijing, and the countries issued a joint declaration that had an ideological underpinning for the first time in recent memory. It talked about opposing an American conception of world order. I’m not sure where this ideological dimension is going.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ukpv7m">
You mentioned Iran earlier. Iran is becoming closer to Russia and supplying weapons to Russia for the war against Ukraine. Russia, China, and Iran have joint military exercises. I would call it an alignment and not an alliance. What is the basis for this alignment? They share an anti-American agenda. But beyond that, their interests don’t converge all that much.
</p>
<h4 id="mvhSKH">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7mYukk">
Let’s stick with China for a moment. China today is very different from the China of the Cold War. It’s far more powerful militarily, economically, and politically. As Xi Jinping has consolidated power in China, relations between Beijing and the West have worsened. Even EU leaders such as Margrethe Vestager <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/12/09/the-eu-is-shedding-its-friendly-stance-on-china-vestager-trade-biden/">speak openly</a> now of an adversarial relationship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="udxFxr">
Is China today playing the role that the Soviet Union did in the Cold War?
</p>
<h4 id="Hc9jHY">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j6WQ4T">
China is the leader of this new alignment, but I don’t know that China has the ambition to be the new Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had the ambition to transform the world. Is China interested in preserving the international order and just improving its place in it? Or are they trying to replace the international order? Do the Chinese have a grand strategy?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lq1SLj">
We don’t have a clear view of what the Chinese are thinking, nor do I think the Chinese know what they want. They have proposed a series of stratagems such as the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative">Belt and Road Initiative</a>. They talk about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016/live-updates/general-election/real-time-updates-on-the-2016-election-voting-and-race-results/chinese-president-xi-jinping-asks-for-win-win-cooperation-from-trump/">“win-win”</a> and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/opinion/global/xi-jinpings-chinese-dream.html">“Chinese dream.”</a> These things are vague, and it’s not clear what they entail — and whether they entail undoing the existing structures of the international order.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="Ep0jbB">
<q>“China is the leader of this new alignment, but I don’t know that China has the ambition to be the new Soviet Union”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dZgCH0">
From the Chinese perspective, the world is looking more chaotic, and the Chinese are trying to take advantage of this chaos. But it’s not clear that they have the same sort of single-minded pursuit of global transformation like the Soviet Union did through Marxist-Leninist ideology.
</p>
<h4 id="MBQEZs">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6qrIHT">
For many, the Cold War comparisons were revived when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But Russia seems to have made a terrible mistake. It appears much weaker than a year ago — and weaker than the Soviet Union. Where does Russia stand today?
</p>
<h4 id="qdVILp">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0QNZK0">
Putin obviously miscalculated. He was looking forward to a more chaotic world where he felt Western influence was declining, and he perhaps thought that he could improve Russia’s relative position by invading Ukraine. It was a very poorly thought-through idea.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4jtxLZ">
This is where the Cold War connects to today: Russia has always felt that it does not get enough respect in global politics. That feeling is rooted in the Soviet past. This was a key preoccupation of Soviet leaders from Stalin to Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, and even to Yeltsin after the fall of communism. They felt that the Soviet Union or Russia should exercise a prominent, central role in global politics, and that the United States was not willing to give it that place in the system. That’s a major continuity.
</p>
<h4 id="d3HmLy">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D4CdoZ">
After the invasion of Ukraine, the West experienced newfound unity and moral clarity, with overwhelming condemnation of Putin and support for Kyiv. But then inflation rose to highs not seen in decades, and steeply rising energy costs have <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/energy-crisis-food-and-fuel-protests-surged-in-2022-the-biggest-were-in-europe/">caused protests in many European countries</a>. How does Western unity look today?
</p>
<h4 id="F57AXJ">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ErDQUB">
The jury is still out. Western unity has been much greater than one might have supposed back in February 2022, but Putin is playing the long game. He thinks he can outlast the West. He thinks this unity will not last once something goes wrong — an economic downturn or recession, the rise of populism in Europe, or a new president in the United States. This ability to wait and to plan for the long term underpins Russian policy at the moment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cs82Hd">
Putin also thinks that he can create disagreements among European countries. This is a Cold War parallel; it’s a time-tested Soviet and Russian approach to international politics, in particular to Europe. During the Cold War, the Soviets’ key priorities were to push the United States out of Europe and undermine European integration.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WrBwxa">
But Russia, just as the Soviet Union did, has consistently underestimated its ability to bring Europeans and Americans together. If Russia or the Soviet Union did not do stupid stuff like invade neighboring countries, there would be a lot less unity among European countries. <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-blockade">Stalin threatened Berlin in 1948-49</a>, so NATO was created in 1949 as a response. <a href="https://www.rbth.com/history/334285-stalins-blunder-made-turkey-nato">Stalin threatened Turkey</a>, so Turkey joined NATO. In 1979 and throughout the 1980s, there was the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Soviet-invasion-of-Afghanistan">Soviet invasion of Afghanistan</a>. The Russians try to play on the contradictions with the West, but they also pursue stupid policies that bring the West together against them.
</p>
<h4 id="lJEjjH">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QgawV1">
But many powerful countries in Asia and the Middle East do not fall into either of these blocs. India, for example, has skirmished with China along their shared border, but Delhi has maintained robust trade ties with Russia. Saudi Arabia warmly welcomed Xi recently, in a visit that irritated many in Washington who saw Saudi Arabia as a longstanding US ally.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QZ37xM">
How do you see other countries approaching the new global dynamic?
</p>
<h4 id="Bed3jO">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sLdEXh">
I don’t think they like this at all. They like a much more multipolar world, where they can maintain their freedom of action. India never liked the idea of a divided world. That is why they pursued the<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/1958/chapter-abstract/141772492"> policy of non-alignment</a> since Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister in the 1940s. It’s a time-tested tradition.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wo9VQq">
Today, the relationship among China, Russia, and India has the kind of flexibility lacking during the Cold War. During the Sino-Soviet alliance in the Cold War, if India and China had a conflict and the Soviets tried to stay neutral, the Chinese said, <em>You’re betraying your obligations as an ally</em>. Today, when the Chinese and the Indians have a conflict in the Himalayas, the Russians can just say, <em>We’re sorry, but that’s your business.</em> And China and India will accept that. The Global South would much prefer not to have a world divided strictly into a system of two blocs and alliances.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="SzJwiH">
<q>“This is where the Cold War connects to today: Russia has always felt that it does not get enough respect in global politics”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<h4 id="Nedjh7">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FyAP5v">
So is the world today more like the bipolar Cold War, when it was split into two camps, or is it<strong> </strong>multipolar — meaning many competing centers of power?
</p>
<h4 id="al3GPp">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fkXqdD">
A lot of people say that today’s world is different from the Cold War precisely in that respect. There’s something to it, although this bipolarity was falling apart since the 1970s. China disconnected from the Soviet Union and then exited the Cold War — and was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split">even aligned with the United States against the Soviet Union</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="75oL4B">
Today, there is a tendency toward the solidification of two blocs, as we saw with Biden’s effort to create a bloc of democracies. But I don’t think it’s going to fly, because of the economic underpinnings of the world system, the redistribution of wealth to new countries, and the emergence of new centers of power. Those are real things.
</p>
<h4 id="OiNpWJ">
Michael Bluhm
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p0v71u">
What does a more multipolar world mean?
</p>
<h4 id="J6qFVx">
Sergey Radchenko
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PQJUE1">
It’s a very interesting question, because the world may become much more chaotic as new centers of power try to redefine the world in a way that suits their interests. That is what Putin was trying to do by invading Ukraine. He was thinking he could capitalize on this by acting in a rough and unexpected manner. He miscalculated with regard to Ukraine, but I don’t think he miscalculated in his interpretation of where the world is going.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TAPn6n">
We are moving more in the direction of diffuse centers of power, with many states unwilling to be drawn into either of these new blocs. I’m not even sure that China and Russia will emerge as a bloc. They will maintain their distance and their own internal contradictions, though they will probably not allow those contradictions to spill into a conflict as during the Cold War.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gDlLzF">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="71ebLS">
</p></li>
<li><strong>Cat Person, Brett Kavanaugh, Fair Play, and the anger of entitled men</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A tall man looks down at a shorter, younger woman." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YAMuG7lhwa6fV_161zQ_OB01YoU=/86x0:1059x730/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71899555/catperson.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun in <em>Cat Person</em>, which premiered at Sundance 2023. | Sundance Institute
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
What Sundance movies reveal about the angry “good guy.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2yoayn">
<em>Cat Person</em> — the movie adaptation of <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/cat-person">the New Yorker short story</a> that took over your Twitter feed in December 2017 — starts with a now-familiar paraphrase of a Margaret Atwood quotation: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them,” says the on-screen text. “Women are afraid that men will kill them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jmaKyn">
The crowd laughed nervously when the words appeared at <em>Cat Person</em>’s Sundance premiere. It’s a solid précis for the film, which chronicles the doomed relationship of 20-year-old Margot (Emilia Jones) and a very tall guy named Robert (Nicholas Braun). They meet at the movie theater where she works behind the concession counter. They have a bracing and thrilling text message relationship, followed by a far less scintillating in-person one, and then it all goes south.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two young women sit in the dark looking at the brightly lit screen of a phone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GOfq159jFLMdrHRuAh_i0qDmlbw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24381081/catperson2.jpg"/> <cite>Sundance Institute</cite>
<figcaption>
Geraldine Viswanathan and Emilia Jones in <em>Cat Person.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KzZbyr">
The movie is good, till it isn’t; director Susanna Fogel deftly pushes Margot’s interior narrative into a visual medium by adding secondary characters (like best friend Tamara, played by the always fantastic Geraldine Viswanathan), cleverly deploying dream sequences, and rendering Margot’s squirmy experience with visceral precision. But there’s a third act tacked on that destroys the ambiguity of the original story. In the short story, we’re left with lots of questions, the way you would at the end of such a relationship. But the film tries to tie the loose ends up, and the result is maddening.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5hcSJr">
Still, I mostly enjoyed it. And the Atwood paraphrase kept churning in the back of my mind, because I started ticking off the other films I’d just seen at Sundance that could have claimed it as well. There’s a particular type of “good guy” who breaks into an incandescent rage when his ego is bruised — when he suspects, in other words, that women are laughing at him — and rendering him recognizably on screen in a risk-averse, male-driven Hollywood hasn’t always seemed possible. This Sundance proves it is.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ORolLb">
In <em>Cat Person</em>, for instance, Margot finds herself desperate not to assert her own aversion to having sex with Robert, and tells herself it’s just easier to go through with it. He’s bigger than her, and she’s worried throughout about putting herself in danger. But in his bedroom, she’s no longer afraid that Robert, who’s still mostly a stranger, is some kind of deranged serial killer luring her into a trap. She just worries how he might react if he feels slighted — and does something she really regrets because of it.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two people in business garb stand close together. The woman looks at the man." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/z5vGD720M2a42awEBO7dUhKIebI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24381078/fairplay.jpg"/> <cite>Sundance Institute</cite>
<figcaption>
Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor in <em>Fair Play</em>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NNcAdx">
Margot’s sentiment feels well-paired with <em>Fair Play</em>, another of the festival’s buzziest films, a relationship drama inspired by, if not actually hewing to, the outlines of an old-school <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/22-signs-youre-watching-an-erotic-thriller.html">erotic thriller</a>. (Netflix picked up the movie for a cool $20 million, so you’ll be able to see it soon.) This time the couple at its center, Emily and Luke (Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich), are rising high-finance stars who have to hide their relationship at work. But when she’s promoted over him, things turn sour.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UgUS50">
<em>Fair Play</em> is caustic and enthralling, but mostly it’s the kind of movie that makes you wince with recognition — or, in any case, if you’ve ever made yourself small to avoid the rage of an insecure man. Luke seems like the best sort of supportive boyfriend until he senses that others are laughing at him, that the life he’s desperately convinced he deserves to lead is on the verge of toppling, and that Emily, who adores him, might look at him through a different lens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SyOr3L">
What comes into sharp relief in <em>Fair Play</em> — and in <em>Cat Person</em>, for that matter — is that for these men, the kind who pride themselves on being “good guys,” the women they’re dating aren’t the problem. These women are accommodating and supportive far beyond their own comfort. It’s that these men believe that they deserve something (a woman, a job, a very particular type of respect) simply for existing; when they get even a whiff of the opposite, they snap into verbal and physical violence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X8bP3X">
Maybe you’ve never run into this; maybe you’ve never experienced it firsthand. But I assure you someone you love has. I know I have. What both movies manage to do, and what’s hard to do in any other medium, is put the viewer in the mental space of the women who find themselves cowering or even just worrying that their very reasonable confidence and sense of self-worth will threaten a man, and that there will be consequences.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JY4KJJ">
Crucially, both films are less about the individual characters than the world around them. It’s a world that cultivates men like Luke and Robert, makes them promises it can’t fulfill, and then gives them tacit license to strike out when they don’t get what they want. That’s why they feel of a piece with <em>Justice</em>, a documentary by Doug Liman about the allegations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and what the women who accused him endured as they took their story into the public eye.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a6kX64">
<em>Justice</em> centers mostly on Deborah Ramirez, who alleges she was the subject of grotesque harassment by Kavanaugh while a student at Yale. Ramirez’s story <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez">has been told</a>, but for the film she revisited the story and talks about the aftermath of making the accusations. Cut together with the congressional testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh’s own hearings prior to his confirmation, it’s a pretty brutal film to watch.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An image of Brett Kavanaugh clutching a document." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-pCHCEyTLz9LfvDhRkD6R3xiJbw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24381080/kavanaugh.jpg"/> <cite>Sundance Institute</cite>
<figcaption>
The documentary <em>Justice</em>, from filmmaker Doug Liman, centers on allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Edaw1Q">
But what sticks out in concert with movies like <em>Cat Person</em> and <em>Fair Play</em> is the vehemence — which reads, on screen, as almost inexplicably explosive — with which Kavanaugh denied the allegations. His anger. His inability to exhibit the cool-headed humility you’d expect from someone on the nation’s highest court. The small lies he told for no reason, which the movie establishes with journalistic rigor. His blistering, red-faced rage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IfOX0s">
It’s like you’re watching Luke or Robert explode at Emily or Margot, in a manner all out of proportion with whatever they’re exploding about, because there’s a lot more going on here than anger about perceived mistreatment. It’s the fury of someone who’s been crossed, the foolish spiraling panic of a child who’s had their toy snatched away. And on screen, you can watch it, and see how ugly and irrational it is. You can’t walk out of one of these films feeling comforted and comfortable. They are testimony to the broken world we’re living in, and how very, very far we have to go.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o0k5pF">
Fair Play, Cat Person<em>, and </em>Justice<em> premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. </em>Cat Person<em> will be distributed by Netflix; </em>Fair Play<em> and </em>Justice<em> are currently awaiting distribution.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>Saving species, and other stories</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4H_HRGHHoIFqwuQ5jv-OSqGhK-g=/217x0:1502x964/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71899527/Screen_Shot_2023_01_18_at_10.35.41_AM.0.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
What’s lost when focusing on the cute and charismatic. Plus: Why Teslas keep catching on fire, the progressive case for more people, and others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cAs0Ge">
This edition of The Highlight is a collaboration from across the Vox newsroom, a wide-ranging exploration of the policies and personal practices that could make the world a better place.
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="9L1acN"/>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-yskcbmPvLWfL2qV_E951lNwxYo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24368824/glennharvey_2023_01_07_vox_popgrowth_final.jpeg"/> <cite>Glenn Harvey for Vox</cite>
</figure>
<h3 id="ib8Or6">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23542710/population-growth-birth-rates-fertility-rates-children-democrats-progressives-conservatives"><strong>Yes, you can have kids and fight climate change at the same time</strong></a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CQTm8E">
The progressive case for population growth.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CsxWOJ">
<em>By Bryan Walsh</em>
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="oLwIhi"/>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tiR0H_hHGhwEa4YHfXTXAmp5-DE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24368868/lede_animation_revised.gif"/> <cite>Praveeni Chamathka for Vox</cite>
</figure>
<h3 id="9jzgYG">
<strong>We pulled pandas back from the brink of extinction. Meanwhile, the rest of nature collapsed. </strong><em><strong>(coming Wednesday)</strong></em>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HN7gyx">
The trouble with the conservation’s cutest mascot.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ONoB23">
<em>By Benji Jones</em>
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="bOFD6A"/>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m-mnDjV1L__7ks7ZxmFawDp0yQI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24368876/vox_1.jpeg"/> <cite>Gianna Meola for Vox</cite>
</figure>
<h3 id="wkoqcc">
<strong>You may be thinking about animals all wrong (even if you’re an animal lover) </strong><em><strong>(coming Wednesday)</strong></em>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e1sK5k">
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum says humans should grant equal rights to animals, even in the wild. Is she right?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7brIhB">
<em>By Sigal Samuel</em>
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="2oxWVJ"/>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yZAKQBnIDpJkGT1I29uH7PG3l2A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24368888/STORY_5_SET_6.jpeg"/> <cite>Shaneé Benjamin for Vox</cite>
</figure>
<h3 id="mjB16u">
<strong>The glories of dining out alone </strong><em><strong>(coming Thursday)</strong></em>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a58UmB">
Solo dining is one of life’s great pleasures — and privileges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cHTTJ2">
<em>By Alissa Wilkinson</em>
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="uybdV3"/>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oeYtmq_ZQIJqdJ1dyYKnDmhe-II=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24368897/glennharvey_2023_01_07_vox_tesla_final.jpeg"/> <cite>Glenn Harvey for Vox</cite>
</figure>
<h3 id="BAwpZh">
<strong>Why Teslas keep catching on fire </strong><em><strong>(coming Friday)</strong></em>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RLJEDX">
EVs catch fire far less often than gas-powered cars, but firefighters still need to adapt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bM5VLD">
<em>By Rebecca Heilweil</em>
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="80Twjy"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rSnNuE">
<strong>CREDITS</strong><br/><strong>Editors: </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/adam-clark-estes">Adam Clark Estes</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/libby-nelson">Libby Nelson</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/alanna-okun">Alanna Okun</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/lavanya-ramanathan">Lavanya Ramanathan</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/brian-resnick">Brian Resnick</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/elbert-ventura">Elbert Ventura</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/bryan-walsh">Bryan Walsh</a><br/><strong>Copy editors:</strong> Kim Eggleston, Elizabeth Crane, Caitlin PenzeyMoog, Tanya Pai<br/><strong>Art direction: </strong>Dion Lee<br/><strong>Audience:</strong> Gabriela Fernandez, Shira Tarlo, Agnes Mazur<br/><strong>Production/project editors:</strong> Susannah Locke, Nathan Hall
</p>
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</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>Mzilikazi, Star Fling, Moriset, Hope And Gory and Fast Play impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mojito and Waikiki excel</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Santorino, Touch Of Grey, Faith Of Success and Serdar impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka beats Pegula; enters semifinals</strong> - Azarenka won the 2012 and 2013 championships in Australia, but she had not been back to the final four there since then.</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>Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma among notable gainers in women's T20I rankings</strong> - Smriti Mandhana remains the top-ranked batter from her country in third position</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>BJP, Jana Sena Party will remain together in Andhra Pradesh, says GVL Narasimha Rao</strong> - A resolution passed in the BJP State executive body meeting to launch 15,000-km Praja Poru Yatra on March 10</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>Delhi Police files over 6600-page charge sheet in Mehrauli murder case</strong> - The court extended Poonawala's judicial custody by 14 days till February 7.</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>PFI hartal: HC directive to furnish details of links of attached properties</strong> - The court directs Claim Commissioner to commence proceedings for quantification of the loss caused on account of the overt acts during the hartal from next week and file an affidavit in this regard before February 2</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>District Planning Committee meeting approves annual plan amendment of 65 local bodies</strong> - Nod for additional agendas of three municipalities, Kollam city Corporation</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority to celebrate National Tourism Day on January 25</strong> -</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>Erdogan tells Sweden not to expect Nato bid support</strong> - The Turkish president’s warning comes after protests in Sweden, including a Quran burning.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Germany won’t block export of its Leopard 2 tanks, foreign minister says</strong> - The country is under increasing international pressure to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.</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>Russia orders Estonian ambassador to leave country</strong> - Moscow accuses Estonia of “total Russophobia” after Tallinn reduced its diplomat numbers.</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>Andrey Medvedev: Russian Wagner mercenary who fled to Norway arrested</strong> - A man believed to be the Wagner Group’s first defector to the West is being held by police.</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>Swedish PM in hot water over eel fishing scandal</strong> - Ulf Kristersson is criticised after hiring an aide who had broken poaching laws and misled police.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Polestar 2 gets new electric motors in mid-life refresh</strong> - Cosmetic changes include a new front, and the single-motor car is now rear-driven. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911936">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fearing ChatGPT, Google enlists founders Brin and Page in AI fight</strong> - Threatened by upstart OpenAI, Google pledges to fast-track new AI projects. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911995">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tainted formula: DOJ opens criminal probe on Abbott after infant deaths</strong> - The company, which has denied causing the infant deaths, says it’s cooperating. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911941">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Musk testifies, claims tweet that judge ruled false was “absolutely truthful”</strong> - Musk testifies he could have used SpaceX shares to fund taking-Tesla-private deal. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1912044">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google’s Fuchsia OS was one of the hardest hit by last week’s layoffs</strong> - Fuchsia lost 16 percent of its employees, while the rest of Google cut 6 percent. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1911879">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I like my men how I like my coffee</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sorta hot and picked up at the gas station
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/peepee_dancer"> /u/peepee_dancer </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jw8tk/i_like_my_men_how_i_like_my_coffee/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jw8tk/i_like_my_men_how_i_like_my_coffee/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Guy giving a lecture, on the paranormal.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Guy: “How many people believe in Ghosts?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
About 60 hands go up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“How many have seen a ghost?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
About 15 hands go up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“How many have spoken to a ghost?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
3 hands go up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“How many have had sex with a ghost?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One hand goes up, Paddy right at the back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Guy says to Paddy, I have been doing this for 40 years and
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
you are the first that has claimed to have had sex with a ghost.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Come forward and explain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Paddy says, “sorry I couldn’t hear you from the back, I thought you said goats.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jrbvx/guy_giving_a_lecture_on_the_paranormal/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jrbvx/guy_giving_a_lecture_on_the_paranormal/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>[NSFW] What do you call a gamer with erectile dysfunction?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Ubisoft
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mull3t"> /u/mull3t </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jedqt/nsfw_what_do_you_call_a_gamer_with_erectile/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jedqt/nsfw_what_do_you_call_a_gamer_with_erectile/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I like my women like I like my snow</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Heavy &amp; wet
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Toddzilla1337"> /u/Toddzilla1337 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jl785/i_like_my_women_like_i_like_my_snow/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10jl785/i_like_my_women_like_i_like_my_snow/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A couple, both age 76, went to a sex therapist’s office. The doctor asked, “What can I do for you?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man said, “Will you watch us have sexual intercourse?” The doctor looked puzzled, but agreed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When the couple finished, the doctor said, “There’s nothing wrong with the way you have intercourse,” and charged them $80. This happened several weeks in a row. The couple would make an appointment, have intercourse with no problems, pay the doctor, then leave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Finally, the doctor asked, “Just exactly what are you trying to find out?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The old man said, “We’re not trying to find out anything. She’s married and we can’t go to her house, I’m married and we can’t go to my house. The Holiday Inn charges $120; the Hilton charges $150. We do it here for $80 and I get $64 back from my health plan.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/javadintaiwan"> /u/javadintaiwan </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10j5elo/a_couple_both_age_76_went_to_a_sex_therapists/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10j5elo/a_couple_both_age_76_went_to_a_sex_therapists/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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