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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>Perception and practices followed by AYUSH practitioners and health seekers for prevention of COVID-19: Cross-sectional analysis of an app-based data</strong> -
<div>
Abstract AYUSH Sanjivani is a mobile application launched by the Ministry of AYUSH (MoA) to gather information regarding the utilization of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) advocacies for the prevention of COVID-19 infection. A cross-sectional analysis of the data generated through this mobile application has been performed and presented in this article to examine the acceptability and extent of utilization of AYUSH preventive measures in India. Objectives: The objectives of this cross-sectional analysis was to determine the trends of the utilization of AYUSH measures by the beneficiaries as reported by AYUSH practitioners and by the practitioners themselves for the prevention of COVID-19 and to determine the benefit obtained in terms of self-reported parameters of general well being, the overall impact on general health and in preventing the onset of flu-like symptoms. Methods: A secondary data analysis was undertaken, utilizing the cross-sectional data generated through the AYUSH Sanjivani App from May to July 2020. The responses in terms of demographic profile, utilization pattern, benefits obtained, the interventions used and the data of beneficiaries in terms of geographic location and interventions prescribed were analyzed statistically to assess the trends of the utilization of AYUSH measures for prophylaxis. Results: Data of 74,568 AYUSH physicians and 1,35,21,245 beneficiaries/health seekers whose data were reported by 3623 AYUSH practitioners were used for analysis. AYUSH advocacies/measures were utilized by 69,195 (92.8%) physicians for prophylaxis. Samshamani Vati, Chyavanprash, and Arsenicum Album-30 were the most commonly used AYUSH interventions. Improvement in terms of appetite, bowel movements, sleep, mental well being, stamina, change in pre-existing disease, and change in disposition were reported by 42400 (61.3%) physicians. Maximum beneficiaries were from the state of Gujarat followed by Madhya Pradesh. Arsenicum Album-30 was the most commonly prescribed/distributed intervention among the beneficiaries/ health seekers. Conclusion: Maximum physicians have reported having benefited from the use of AYUSH prophylactic measures for the prevention of COVID-19. Moreover, a good proportion of the Indian population was provided the AYUSH prophylactic measures as recorded in the app.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/b6jqv/" target="_blank">Perception and practices followed by AYUSH practitioners and health seekers for prevention of COVID-19: Cross-sectional analysis of an app-based data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Expert Predictions of Societal Change: Insights from the World after COVID Project</strong> -
<div>
How will the world change after the COVID-19 pandemic? Is there a consensus on the most significant psychological and societal changes ahead? To answer these questions, we analyzed interviews from the World after COVID project – reflections of more than 50 of the world’s top behavioral and social science experts, including fellows of National Academies and presidents of major scientific societies. These experts independently shared their thoughts on what societal shifts would emerge after the COVID-19 pandemic and provided advice for how to respond to new challenges and opportunities these changes may bring. Using mixed-method and natural language processing analyses, we distilled and analyzed these predictions and suggestions. Most predictions were unique, not statistically reducible to broader categories, and most themes were mentioned by fewer than 10% of experts. Half of the experts approached their post-COVID predictions dialectically, highlighting both positive and negative features of the same domain of change. The project provides a time capsule of experts’ predictions for the effects of the pandemic on a wide range of outcomes. We discuss the implications of heterogeneity in these predictions, the value of uncertainty and dialecticism in forecasting, and the value of balancing explanations with predictions in expert psychological judgment.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/yma8f/" target="_blank">Expert Predictions of Societal Change: Insights from the World after COVID Project</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Risk perception, Unhealthy Behavior, and Anxiety due to Viral Epidemic among Healthcare Workers: The Relationships with Depressive and Insomnia symptoms during COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
We aimed to investigate the relationship between mental health problems and unhealthy behaviors among healthcare workers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an online survey, we collected data on healthcare workers’ perception regarding COVID-19 exposure in a work unit. Workers’ depression, insomnia, and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Insomnia Severity Index, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, respectively. Work-related stress and anxiety in response to the viral epidemic were measured using the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemic-9 (SAVE-9) scale. We found that work-related stress and anxiety in response to the viral epidemic was associated with female sex, perception of the workplace as being dangerous, and depressive symptoms. Unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and drinking as coping behaviors during the pandemic, were associated with male sex, young age, depression, and insomnia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to closely observe the patterns of work-related stress and anxiety reactions among healthcare workers to reduce their burnout.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/ph3ny/" target="_blank">Risk perception, Unhealthy Behavior, and Anxiety due to Viral Epidemic among Healthcare Workers: The Relationships with Depressive and Insomnia symptoms during COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The B1.351 and P.1 variants extend SARS-CoV-2 host range to mice</strong> -
<div>
Receptor recognition is a major determinant of viral host range, as well as infectivity and pathogenesis. Emergences have been associated with serendipitous events of adaptation upon encounters with a novel host, and the high mutation rate of RNA viruses has been proposed to explain their frequent host shifts. SARS-CoV-2 extensive circulation in humans has been associated with the emergence of variants, including variants of concern (VOCs) with diverse mutations in the spike and increased transmissibility or immune escape. Here we show that unlike the initial virus, VOCs are able to infect common laboratory mice, replicating to high titers in the lungs. This host range expansion is explained in part by the acquisition of changes at key positions of the receptor binding domain that enable binding to the mouse angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) cellular receptor, although differences between viral lineages suggest that other factors are involved in the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs to infect mice. This abrogation of the species barrier raises the possibility of wild rodent secondary reservoirs and provides new experimental models to study disease pathophysiology and countermeasures.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.18.436013v1" target="_blank">The B1.351 and P.1 variants extend SARS-CoV-2 host range to mice</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mental Health and Behavior of College Students in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Mobile Smartphone and Ecological Momentary Assessment Study - Part II</strong> -
<div>
Background: Since late 2019, the lives of people across the globe have been disrupted by COVID-19. Millions of people have become infected; billions have been continually asked or required by local and national governments to change their behavioral patterns. Previous research on the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that it is associated with large-scale behavioral and mental health changes, but few studies have been able to track these changes with frequent, near real-time sampling or compare these changes to previous years of data for the same individuals. Objectives: By combining mobile phone sensing and self-reported mental health data in a cohort of college-aged students enrolled in a longitudinal study, we seek to understand the behavioral and mental health impacts associated with the pandemic, measured by search term interest in “coronavirus” and “covid fatigue” across the United States. Methods: Behaviors such as the number of locations visited, distance traveled, duration of phone usage, number of phone unlocks, sleep duration, and sedentary time were measured using the StudentLife mobile smartphone sensing app. Depression and anxiety were assessed using weekly self-reported Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs), including the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4). Participants were 217 undergraduate students. Differences in behaviors and self-reported mental health collected during the Spring 2020 term, as compared to previous terms in the same cohort, were modeled using mixed linear models. Results: Linear mixed models observed differences in phone usage, sleep, sedentary time and the number of locations visited associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In further models, these behaviors were strongly associated with increased interest in covid fatigue. When mental health metrics (e.g., depression and anxiety) were added to the previous measures (week of term, number of locations visited, phone usage, sedentary time), both anxiety and depression (<em>P</em>&lt;.001) were significantly associated with interest in covid fatigue. Notably, these behavioral and mental health changes are consistent with those observed around the initial implementation of COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring of 2020 [@Huckins2020]. Conclusions: In the initial lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, people spent more time on their phones, were more sedentary, visited fewer locations, and exhibited increased symptoms of anxiety and depression. As the pandemic persisted through the spring, people continued to exhibit very similar changes in both mental health and behaviors. Though unsurprising, understanding these large-scale shifts in mental health and behaviors is critical in disrupting the negative consequences to mental health during the ongoing pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/8yt4x/" target="_blank">Mental Health and Behavior of College Students in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Mobile Smartphone and Ecological Momentary Assessment Study - Part II</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Knowledge barriers in the symptomatic-COVID-19 testing programme in the UK: an observational study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Symptomatic testing programmes are crucial to the COVID-19 pandemic response. We sought to examine United Kingdom (UK) testing rates amongst individuals with test-qualifying symptoms, and factors associated with not testing. Methods We analysed a cohort of untested symptomatic app users (N=1,237), nested in the Zoe COVID Symptom Study (Zoe, N= 4,394,948); and symptomatic survey respondents who wanted, but did not have a test (N=1,956), drawn from the University of Maryland-Facebook Covid-19 Symptom Survey (UMD-Facebook, N=775,746). Findings The proportion tested among individuals with incident test-qualifying symptoms rose from ~20% to ~75% from April to December 2020 in Zoe. Testing was lower with one vs more symptoms (73.0% vs 85.0%), or short vs long symptom duration (72.6% vs 87.8%). 40.4% of survey respondents did not identify all three test-qualifying symptoms. Symptom identification decreased for every decade older (OR=0.908 [95% CI 0.883-0.933]). Amongst symptomatic UMD-Facebook respondents who wanted but did not have a test, not knowing where to go was the most cited factor (32.4%); this increased for each decade older (OR=1.207 [1.129-1.292]) and for every 4-years fewer in education (OR=0.685 [0.599-0.783]). Interpretation Despite current UK messaging on COVID-19 testing, there is a knowledge gap about when and where to test, and this may be contributing to the ~25% testing gap. Risk factors, including older age and less education, highlight potential opportunities to tailor public health messages.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.16.21253719v2" target="_blank">Knowledge barriers in the symptomatic-COVID-19 testing programme in the UK: an observational study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immune response during lactation after anti-SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccine</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance: Data regarding efficacy and safety of anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccines during lactation is needed to address vaccination guidelines, ease vaccine hesitancy concerns, and inform public health strategies for this population. Objective: To determine whether anti-COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccines administered during lactation illicit an immune response or the transfer of anti-SARS-CoV2 antibodies into human milk. Design: Plasma and milk samples were collected from a prospective cohort of lactating individuals who received the mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19 and from individuals who recovered from COVID-19 infection. Setting: Ambulatory or during postpartum hospitalization. Participants: We report results from lactating participants who received the mRNA-1273 (Moderna, n=9) or the BNT162b2 (Pfizer, n=14) vaccine or recovered from natural SARS-CoV-2 infection (n=3). Interventions and Exposures: Anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccination (BNT-162b2 and mRNA-1273) or natural SARS-CoV-2 infection. Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s): Plasma and milk samples were collected from lactating individuals before first vaccine dose, on the day of the second dose, and 4 weeks after the second dose. Maternal plasma was evaluated for vaccine-derived IgM and IgG antibodies. Human milk was evaluated by ELISA for vaccine-induced IgA antibodies specific for SARS-CoV-2. Results: Twenty-three lactating individuals were recruited for this study. Levels of IgG and IgM were significantly increased in plasma samples on the day of the second vaccine dose (post vaccine 1), when compared to pre-vaccine samples. In addition, plasma IgG levels 4 weeks after second vaccine dose were significantly higher than plasma IgG levels pre-vaccine or on the day of the second dose. In addition, our results show transfer of anti-SARS-CoV2-Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) IgA antibodies to human milk, 3-4 weeks after each dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (BNT-162b2 and mRNA-1273). The levels of anti-SARS-CoV2-RBD IgA antibody in milk of vaccinated individuals were not significantly different from levels among participants who experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusions and Relevance: Administration of anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccines during lactation leads to increased anti-SARS-CoV2 IgM and IgG levels in the plasma of lactating mothers and increased anti-SARS-CoV2-RBD IgA levels in human milk. Lactating women who receive the vaccine should continue breastfeeding their infant human milk to allow continuing transfer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA antibodies to the neonate. Additional studies are needed to evaluate the effect of these vaccines on lactation outcomes and infant health.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.09.21253241v2" target="_blank">Immune response during lactation after anti-SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccine</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Genetic variability associated with OAS1 expression in myeloid cells increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and severe COVID-19 outcomes</strong> -
<div>
Genome-wide association studies of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have highlighted the importance of variants associated with genes expressed by the innate immune system in determining risk for AD. Recently, we and others have shown that genes associated with variants that confer risk for AD are significantly enriched in transcriptional networks expressed by amyloid-responsive microglia. This allowed us to predict new risk genes for AD, including the interferon-responsive oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1). However, the function of OAS1 within microglia and its genetic pathway are not known. Using genotyping from 1,313 individuals with sporadic AD and 1,234 control individuals, we confirm that the OAS1 variant, rs1131454, is associated with increased risk for AD and decreased OAS1 expression. Moreover, we note that the same locus was recently associated with critical illness in response to COVID-19, linking variants that are associated with AD and a severe response to COVID-19. By analysing single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of isolated microglia from APPNL-G-F knock-in and wild-type C57BL/6J mice, we identify a transcriptional network that is significantly upregulated with age and amyloid deposition, and contains the mouse orthologue Oas1a, providing evidence that Oas1a plays an age-dependent function in the innate immune system. We identify a similar interferon-related transcriptional network containing OAS1 by analysing scRNA-seq data from human microglia isolated from individuals with AD. Finally, using human iPSC-derived microglial cells (h-iPSC-Mg), we see that OAS1 is required to limit the pro-inflammatory response of microglia. When stimulated with interferon-gamma (IFN-{gamma}), we note that cells with lower OAS1 expression show an exaggerated pro-inflammatory response, with increased expression and secretion of TNF-. Collectively, our data support a link between genetic risk for AD and susceptibility to critical illness with COVID-19 centred on OAS1 and interferon signalling, a finding with potential implications for future treatments of both AD and COVID-19, and the development of biomarkers to track disease progression.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.16.435702v1" target="_blank">Genetic variability associated with OAS1 expression in myeloid cells increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and severe COVID-19 outcomes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of a new spike (S) protein based commercial immunoassay for the detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The investigation of antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 represents a key aspect in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present study, we compared one new and four widely used commercial serological assays for the detection of antibodies targeting S (spike) and NC (nucle-ocapsid) protein. Methods: Serum samples from a group of apparently non-responders, from an unbiased group of convalescent patients and from a negative control group were simultaneously analyzed by the LIAISON SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG test, Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2 S1 IgG ELISA and IDK anti-SARS-CoV-2 S1 IgG assays. IgG binding NC were detected by the Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay and by the pan-immunoglobulin immunoassay Elecsys An-ti-SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, samples were also tested by live virus and pseudovirus neutrali-zation tests. Results: Overall, about 50% of convalescent patients with undetectable IgG antibodies using the commercial kit by Euroimmun were identified as IgG positive by Immundiagnostik and Roche. While both assays achieved similarly high sensitivities, Immundiagnostik correlated better with serum neutralizing activity than Roche. Conclusions: Although the proportion of IgG se-ropositive individuals appears to be higher using more sensitive immunoassays, the protective ability and the potential to serve as indirect markers of other beneficial immune responses war-rants for further research.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.10.21253288v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of a new spike (S) protein based commercial immunoassay for the detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Exploring surveillance data biases when estimating the reproduction number: with insights into subpopulation transmission of Covid-19 in England</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The time-varying reproduction number (R<sub>t</sub>: the average number secondary infections caused by each infected person) may be used to assess changes in transmission potential during an epidemic. While new infections are not usually observed directly, they can be estimated from data. However, data may be delayed and potentially biased. We investigated the sensitivity of R<sub>t</sub> estimates to different data sources representing Covid-19 in England, and we explored how this sensitivity could track epidemic dynamics in population sub-groups. We sourced public data on test-positive cases, hospital admissions, and deaths with confirmed Covid-19 in seven regions of England over March through August 2020. We estimated R<sub>t</sub> using a model that mapped unobserved infections to each data source. We then compared differences in Rt with the demographic and social context of surveillance data over time. Our estimates of transmission potential varied for each data source, with the relative inconsistency of estimates varying across regions and over time. R<sub>t</sub> estimates based on hospital admissions and deaths were more spatio-temporally synchronous than when compared to estimates from all test-positives. We found these differences may be linked to biased representations of subpopulations in each data source. These included spatially clustered testing, and where outbreaks in hospitals, care homes, and young age groups reflected the link between age and severity of disease. We highlight that policy makers could better target interventions by considering the source populations of R<sub>t</sub> estimates. Further work should clarify the best way to combine and interpret R<sub>t</sub> estimates from different data sources based on the desired use.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.18.20214585v2" target="_blank">Exploring surveillance data biases when estimating the reproduction number: with insights into subpopulation transmission of Covid-19 in England</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A novel SARS-CoV-2 related virus with complex recombination isolated from bats in Yunnan province, China</strong> -
<div>
A novel beta-coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in late 2019 and rapidly spread throughout the world, causing the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the origin and direct viral ancestors of SARS-CoV-2 remain elusive. Here, we discovered a new SARS-CoV-2-related virus in Yunnan province, in 2018, provisionally named PrC31, which shares 90.7% and 92.0% nucleotide identities with SARS-CoV-2 and the bat SARSr-CoV ZC45, respectively. Sequence alignment revealed that several genomic regions shared strong identity with SARS-CoV-2, phylogenetic analysis supported that PrC31 shares a common ancestor with SARS-CoV-2. The receptor binding domain of PrC31 showed only 64.2% amino acid identity with SARS-CoV-2. Recombination analysis revealed that PrC31 underwent multiple complex recombination events within the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 sub-lineages, indicating the evolution of PrC31 from yet-to-be-identified intermediate recombination strains. Combination with previous studies revealed that the beta-CoVs may possess more complicated recombination mechanism. The discovery of PrC31 supports that bats are the natural hosts of SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.17.435823v1" target="_blank">A novel SARS-CoV-2 related virus with complex recombination isolated from bats in Yunnan province, China</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identification of guanylyltransferase activity in the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-sense RNA virus that is responsible for the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which continues to cause significant morbidity, mortality and economic strain. SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe respiratory disease and death in humans, highlighting the need for effective antiviral therapies. The RNA synthesis machinery of SARS-CoV-2 is an ideal drug target and consists of non-structural protein 12 (nsp12), which is directly responsible for RNA synthesis, and numerous co-factors that are involved in RNA proofreading and 5’ capping of viral mRNAs. The formation of the 5’ cap-1 structure is known to require a guanylyltransferase (GTase) as well as 5’ triphosphatase and methyltransferase activities. However, the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA capping remains poorly understood. Here we show that the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase nsp12 functions as a GTase. We characterise this GTase activity and find that the nsp12 NiRAN (nidovirus RdRP-associated nucleotidyltransferase) domain is responsible for carrying out the addition of a GTP nucleotide to the 5’ end of viral RNA via a 5’ to 5’ triphosphate linkage. We also show that remdesivir triphosphate, the active form of the antiviral drug remdesivir, inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 GTase reaction as efficiently as RNA polymerase activity. These data improve understanding of coronavirus mRNA cap synthesis and highlight a new target for novel or repurposed antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.17.435913v1" target="_blank">Identification of guanylyltransferase activity in the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Cultural influence on COVID-19 cognitions and growth speed: the role of cultural collectivism</strong> -
<div>
Many challenges faced by humans require large-scale cooperation for communal benefits. We examined what motivates such cooperation in the context of social distancing and mask wearing to reduce the transmission intensity of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). We hypothesized that collectivism, a cultural variable characterizing the extent that individuals see themselves in relation to others, contributes to people’s willingness to engage in these behaviors. Consistent with preregistered predictions, across three studies (n=2864), including a U.S. nationally representative sample, people’s collectivist orientation is positively associated with intentions, positive beliefs, norm perceptions, and policy support for the preventive behaviors. In separate analyses at the country level (n=69 countries), more collectivist countries demonstrated lower growth rate in both COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths. Together, these studies demonstrate the positive role of collectivism at the individual- and country-level in reducing COVID-19 transmission, and highlight the need to consider culture in public health policies and communications.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/fet6z/" target="_blank">Cultural influence on COVID-19 cognitions and growth speed: the role of cultural collectivism</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Logarithmic Axis Graphs Distort Lay Judgment</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 data is often presented using graphs with either a linear or logarithmic scale. Given the importance of this information, understanding how choice of scale changes interpretations is critical. To test this, we presented laypeople with the same data plotted using differing scales. We found that graphs with a logarithmic, as opposed to linear, scale resulted in laypeople making less accurate predictions of growth, viewing COVID-19 as less dangerous, and expressing both less support for policy interventions and less intention to take personal actions to combat COVID-19. Education reduces, but does not eliminate these effects. These results suggest that public communications should use logarithmic graphs only when necessary, and such graphs should be presented alongside education and linear graphs of the same data whenever possible.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/cwt56/" target="_blank">Logarithmic Axis Graphs Distort Lay Judgment</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Myocarditis in naturally infected pets with the British variant of COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Domestic pets can contract SARS-CoV-2 infection but, based on the limited information available to date, it is unknown whether the new British B.1.1.7 variant can more easily infect certain animal species or increase the possibility of human-to-animal transmission. In this study, we report the first cases of infection of domestic cats and dogs by the British B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosed at a specialist veterinary hospital in the South-East of England. Furthermore, we discovered that many owners and handlers of these pets had developed Covid-19 respiratory symptoms 3-6 weeks before their pets became ill and had also tested PCR positive for Covid-19. Interestingly, all these B.1.1.7 infected pets developed atypical clinical manifestations, including severe cardiac abnormalities secondary to myocarditis and a profound impairment of the general health status of the patient but without any primary respiratory signs. Together, our findings demonstrate for the first time the ability for companion animals to be infected by the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 and raise questions regarding its pathogenicity in these animals. Moreover, given the enhanced infectivity and transmissibility of B.1.1.7 variant for humans, these findings also highlights more than ever the risk that companion animals may potentially play a significant role in SARS-CoV-2 outbreak dynamics than previously appreciated.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.18.435945v1" target="_blank">Myocarditis in naturally infected pets with the British variant of COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Tolerability of Emricasan in Symptomatic Outpatients Diagnosed With Mild-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Emricasan;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Histogen<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 Reinforcing Standard Therapy in COVID-19 Patients With Repeated Transfusion of Convalescent Plasma</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Convalescent Plasma with antibody against SARS-CoV-2.;   Other: Standard treatment for COVID-19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Son Llatzer;   Fundació d’investigació Sanitària de les Illes Balears<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>Diagnostic Performance of the ID Now™ COVID-19 Screening Test Versus Simplexa™ COVID-19 Direct Assay</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: ID Now™ COVID-19 Screening Test<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint Joseph<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dose-Ranging Study to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of Melatonin in Outpatients Infected With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Melatonin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   State University of New York at Buffalo;   National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Brilacidin in Hospitalized Participants With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Brilacidin;   Drug: Placebo;   Drug: Standard of Care (SoC)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Innovation Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<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>Off-the-shelf NK Cells (KDS-1000) as Immunotherapy for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: KDS-1000;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Kiadis Pharma<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>Corticosteroids for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Prednisone;   Device: Point of Care testing device for C-reactive protein<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Alberta<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>Effects of Telerehabilitation After Discharge in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Telerehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hacettepe University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Assess if a Medicine Called Bamlanivimab is Safe and Effective in Reducing Hospitalization Due to COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Bamlanivimab;   Other: Standard of Care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fraser Health;   Fraser Health Authrority Department of Evaluation and Research Services;   Surrey Memorial Hospital Clinical Research Unit;   Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences;   Surrey Hospitals Foundation;   BC Support Unit;   University of British Columbia;   Ministry of Health, British Columbia<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of Adaptogens in Patients With Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: ADAPT-232 oral solution;   Other: Placebo oral solution<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Swedish Herbal Institute AB;   National Family Medicine Training Centre, Georgia;   Tbilisi State Medical University;   Phytomed AB<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Self-Testing Through Rapid Network Distribution</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: COVID-19 self-test;   Behavioral: COVID-19 test referral<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Pennsylvania;   Public Health Management Corporation<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effectiveness of the Adsorbed Vaccine COVID-19 (Coronavac) Among Education and Public Safety Workers With Risk Factors for Severity</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Adsorbed SARS-CoV-2 (inactivated) vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fundação de Medicina Tropical Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado;   Butantan Institute<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>Text-based Reminders to Promote COVID-19 Vaccinations</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19, Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Self-benefit;   Behavioral: Prosocial-benefit;   Behavioral: Early access;   Behavioral: Fresh start<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, Los Angeles;   Carnegie Mellon University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Text-based Interventions to Promote COVID-19 Vaccinations</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19, Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Patient MyChart Scheduling Link;   Behavioral: Patient Educational Video;   Behavioral: Enhanced Follow through Message<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, Los Angeles;   Carnegie Mellon University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vitamin D3 Levels in COVID-19 Outpatients From Western Mexico</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Vitamin D3<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Guadalajara<br/><b>Completed</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>Macrolides May Prevent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Entry into Cells: A Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship Study and Experimental Validation</strong> - The global pandemic caused by the emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is threatening the health and economic systems worldwide. Despite the enormous efforts of scientists and clinicians around the world, there is still no drug or vaccine available worldwide for the treatment and prevention of the infection. A rapid strategy for the identification of new treatments is based on repurposing existing clinically approved drugs that show antiviral activity against…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Membrane Nanoparticles Derived from ACE2-Rich Cells Block SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic worldwide necessitates the development of therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. ACE2 is the main receptor of SARS-CoV-2 S1 and mediates viral entry into host cells. Herein, membrane nanoparticles (NPs) prepared from ACE2-rich cells were discovered to have potent capacity to block SARS-CoV-2 infection. The membranes of human embryonic kidney-239T cells highly expressing ACE2 were applied to prepare NPs using an extrusion method. The nanomaterials, termed ACE2-NPs,…</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>Antiretroviral drug activity and potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19 and HIV infection</strong> - COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 which has led to 2,643,000 deaths worldwide, a number which is rapidly increasing. Urgent studies to identify new antiviral drugs, repurpose existing drugs, or identify drugs that can target the overactive immune response are ongoing. Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) have been tested in past human coronavirus infections, and also against SARS-CoV-2, but a trial of lopinavir and ritonavir failed to show any clinical benefit in COVID-19. However, there is…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Artificial Intelligence for COVID-19 Drug Discovery and Vaccine Development</strong> - SARS-COV-2 has roused the scientific community with a call to action to combat the growing pandemic. At the time of this writing, there are as yet no novel antiviral agents or approved vaccines available for deployment as a frontline defense. Understanding the pathobiology of COVID-19 could aid scientists in their discovery of potent antivirals by elucidating unexplored viral pathways. One method for accomplishing this is the leveraging of computational methods to discover new candidate drugs…</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>Discovery of Clioquinol and analogues as novel inhibitors of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 infection, ACE2 and ACE2 - Spike protein interaction in vitro</strong> - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has resulted in an ongoing pandemic. Presently, there are no clinically approved drugs for COVID-19. Hence, there is an urgent need to accelerate the development of effective antivirals. Herein, we discovered Clioquinol (5-chloro-7-iodo-8-quinolinol (CLQ)), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug, and two of its analogues (7-bromo-5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline…</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 Annona muricata Acetogenins as Potential Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Agents Through Computational Approaches</strong> - Annona muricata, a tropical plant which has been extensively used in ethnomedicine to treat a wide range of diseases, from malaria to cancer. Interestingly, this plant has been reported to demonstrate significant antiviral properties against the human immunodeficiency virus, herpes simplex virus, human papilloma virus, hepatitis C virus and dengue virus. Additionally, the bioactive compounds responsible for antiviral efficacy have also shown to be selectively cytotoxic while inhibiting…</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>Antibodies to neutralising epitopes synergistically block the interaction of the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 to ACE 2</strong> - CONCLUSION: COVID-19 convalescent patients have SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and MBCs, the specificities of which can be defined with short peptides. Epitope-specific antibodies synergistically block RBD-ACE2 interaction.</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>Imaging features of COVID-19: What we can learn from SARS and MERS (Review)</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious type of pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has rapidly become a global pandemic. COVID-19, SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are all caused by members of the Coronaviridae family. As expected, emerging genetic and clinical evidence from patients with COVID-19 has indicated that the pathway of infection is similar to that of SARS and MERS. Additionally, much like SARS and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nano-formulation of herbo-mineral alternative medicine from <em>linga chenduram</em> and evaluation of antiviral efficacy</strong> - Traditional medicine is becoming a primary source of health care in many countries in recent years. The current study proposes a new dimension of understanding a traditional origin treatment, using herbo-mineral preparations in nanoform. The herbo-mineral preparation, Linga chenduram [HMLC], was prepared according to the ancient palm script protocol dates back to 1000 years. In search of alternative therapy for the coronavirus, an attempt was made to determine this ethnic medicine formulation’s…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Structural basis for bivalent binding and inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection by human potent neutralizing antibodies</strong> - Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nAbs) to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) represent promising candidates for clinical intervention against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We isolated a large number of nAbs from SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals capable of disrupting proper interaction between the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike (S) protein and the receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). However, the structural basis for their potent…</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>Hydroxychloroquine, a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, is effective in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro</strong> - No abstract</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antiviral Efficacy of Pralatrexate against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused more than 100 million confirmed cases of human infectious disease (COVID-19) since December 2019 to paralyze our global community. However, only limited access has been allowed to COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral treatment options. Here, we report the efficacy of the anticancer drug pralatrexate against SARS-CoV-2. In Vero and human lung epithelial Calu-3 cells, pralatrexate reduced viral RNA copies of SARS-CoV-2 without detectable cytotoxicity, and viral…</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>Etoricoxib may inhibit cytokine storm to treat COVID-19</strong> - The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented disaster. The emergence of COVID-19-mediated cytokine storm is one of the most important contributors to the development of acute and severe illness in patients. At present, there is an urgent need for drugs that can inhibit cytokine storm to treat COVID-19. In the absence of specific drugs and vaccines, it is important to screen existing drugs as potential treatments. This article introduces a potential repositioning of the existing…</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>(1)H, (13)C and (15)N Backbone chemical shift assignments of the n-terminal and central intrinsically disordered domains of SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein</strong> - The nucleoprotein (N) from SARS-CoV-2 is an essential cofactor of the viral replication transcription complex and as such represents an important target for viral inhibition. It has also been shown to colocalize to the transcriptase-replicase complex, where many copies of N decorate the viral genome, thereby protecting it from the host immune system. N has also been shown to phase separate upon interaction with viral RNA. N is a 419 amino acid multidomain protein, comprising two folded,…</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>Immunity, virus evolution, and effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines</strong> - Phylogenetic and pathogenesis studies of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs) strains have highlighted some specific mutations that could confer the RNA genome fitness advantages and immunological resistance for their rapid spread in the human population. The analyses of 30 kb RNA SARS-CoVs genome sequences, protein structures, and functions have provided us a perspective of how host-virus protein-protein complexes act to mediate virus infection. The open…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptides and their use in diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319943278">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF COVID 19 POSITIVE PATIENTS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319942709">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sars-CoV-2 vaccine antigens</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318283136">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-COV-2 BINDING PROTEINS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318004130">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gerät zur Unterstützung und Verstärkung natürlicher Lüftung</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Lüftungssystem für einen mit öffnbaren Fenstern (16) ausgestatteten Gebäuderaum, gekennzeichnet dadurch, dass es ein Gehäuse (18) und einen Ventilator (20) aufweist, wobei durch das Gehäuse eine vom Ventilator erzeugte Luftströmung strömen kann, wobei das Gehäuse dafür eine Einströmöffnung (24) für Luft und eine Ausströmöffnung (22) für Luft enthält, wobei eine der beiden Öffnungen der Form eines Öffnungsspalts (26) zwischen einem Fensterflügel (12) und einem Blendrahmen (14) des Fensters (16) angepasst ist.</p></li>
</ul>
<img alt="embedded image" id="EMI-D00000"/>
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<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE319927546">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>X射线图像识别方法、装置、计算机设备及存储介质</strong> - 本申请涉及一种X射线图像识别方法、装置、计算机设备和存储介质。通过获取X射线图像，将X射线图像作为训练样本；构建多注意力交互网络，多注意力交互网络包括卷积批处理标准化网络、特征提取网络和输出网络；其中特征提取网络包括多注意力交互特征提取模块和批标准化模块，特征提取网络通过学习通道之间的相关性，多通道之间的信息交互来达到增强模型的识别能力。利用训练样本对多注意力交互网络进行训练，得到X射线图像识别模型；获取待测X射线图像；将待测X射线图像输入到X射线图像识别模型中，得到X射线图像的类别。本方法减少了网络的参数量和计算量，提高了模型的泛化能力。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN319953046">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>利用HEK293细胞制备新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白的方法</strong> - 本发明提供一种利用HEK293细胞制备新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白的方法，包括：1）构建新冠病毒核衣壳蛋白（N蛋白）重组表达载体；2）用重组表达载体转染HEK293细胞；3）体外培养细胞，从培养上清中分离纯化N蛋白。利用HEK293表达系统可在短时间内获得大量新冠病毒N蛋白，通过一步亲和层析法可获得纯度高达98%以上的N蛋白。与大肠杆菌相比，采用HEK293表达系统制备的N蛋白在与抗体的结合活性及新冠抗体胶体金检测方面均表现出极大优势，且HEK293表达系统制备的N蛋白其蛋白空间构象接近于病毒N基因在宿主体内的蛋白表达构象，具有更高的免疫诊断和抗体制备的准确性，将其用于制作诊断试剂和疫苗前景广阔。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN319953048">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compositions and methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU317343760">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>偶联新型冠状病毒S2蛋白的磁珠及其制备方法与应用</strong> - 本发明提供偶联新型冠状病毒S2蛋白的磁珠及其制备方法与应用。所述偶联新型冠状病毒S2蛋白的磁珠是将表面修饰有链霉亲和素的磁珠与生物素标记的新型冠状病毒S2蛋白结合制得的。本发明还提供偶联后磁珠的冻干过程，以及偶联后磁珠的酵母展示scFv文库的筛选。该磁珠具有结合能力强，特异性好，稳定性高，便于操作的特点，既可用于新冠病毒S2抗体的富集，也可用于表达S2抗体的酵母细胞的淘选。利用本发明磁珠进行S2蛋白抗体的富集和表达S2蛋白抗体的细胞筛选，可将低浓度的特异性抗体捕获后进行浓缩，提高了灵敏度。在酵母展示scFv文库细胞筛选上，比流式细胞分选方法所需周期短，可快速筛出目标克隆酵母细胞，提高筛选效率。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN319952963">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>靶向SARS-CoV-2的抗体及其制备方法和应用</strong> - 本发明提供了靶向SARS‑CoV‑2的抗体及其制备方法和应用，该抗体包含VH和VL，所述VH包含以下CDR：氨基酸序列如SEQ ID NO:1、2、3所示的VH CDR1、VH CDR2、VH CDR3；所述VL包含以下的CDR：氨基酸序列如SEQ ID NO:4、5、6所示的VL CDR1、VL CDR2、VL CDR3。该抗体能够高亲和且特异地结合SARS‑CoV‑2的S蛋白的RBD，抑制RBD蛋白与受体ACE2蛋白的结合，高效地抑制SARS‑CoV‑2感染细胞，同时对潜在的免疫逃逸突变的假病毒具有很好的中和活性，从而可有效应用于SARS‑CoV‑2病毒及相关疾病的诊断、预防和治疗中。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN319687581">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Alabama Workers Trying to Unionize an Amazon Fulfillment Center</strong> - South of Birmingham, warehouse employees are voting on whether to form a union. Their decision could have ripple effects around the country. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-alabama-workers-trying-to-unionize-an-amazon-fulfillment-center">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Deb Haaland’s Historic Appointment Makes Her Uniquely Qualified to Confront the Fossil-Fuel Industry</strong> - The new Secretary of the Interior is charged with carrying out Biden’s pledge to end new leasing for oil-and-gas development on federal land. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/deb-haalands-historic-appointment-makes-her-uniquely-qualified-to-confront-the-fossil-fuel-industry">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Larry Summers Versus the Stimulus</strong> - Could the passage of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief package mark the end of the neoliberal era? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-populism/larry-summers-versus-the-stimulus">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reeducated</strong> - A virtual-reality documentary takes viewers inside Xinjiang’s secret detention camps for Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/video-dept/reeducated-film-xinjiang-prisoners-china-virtual-reality">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How “Reeducated” Was Made</strong> - To produce a film about the inaccessible indoctrination camps of Xinjiang, its creators relied on eyewitness accounts—and virtual reality. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/video-dept/how-reeducated-was-made-xinjiang-china-uighurs-prisoners-eyewitness-accounts">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Instacart’s harsh ratings system hurts grocery delivery people like me</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Inside The New Downtown LA Whole Foods Market Inc. Store" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sinIys-N7ezklLz8FS5bRnlSYnY=/237x0:3764x2645/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68992589/496871302.0.jpg"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Our livelihoods depend on a ratings system that must change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eGzztn">
It was the last job of the night. At 9 o’clock in New York City, my Instacart Shopper app alerted my phone: an order for a store in Brooklyn with delivery to Manhattan. I was exhausted from a long day of shopping and delivering 24-packs of Poland Spring bottles and gallons of milk jugs, but I decided to chase the extra $30 and deliver to Jill on the Upper West Side. [<em>Author’s note: Details have been changed to protect her privacy.</em>]
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zo6wTM">
The order was typical, but there were several out-of-stock items given the time of day, which I messaged Jill about through the app to no response. Hoping for the best, I dropped off the order. To my chagrin, the next morning a four-star rating appeared on my phone, which in the world of Instacart shoppers meant that I was effectively facing a massive pay cut.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ml7VLe">
Instacart does not give us insight into whom our low ratings come from, only a dose of paranoia and anxiety to figure it out and save our income. So, out of desperation and a sense — given my deliveries of the day before — that Jill was the rater in question, I drafted her a letter explaining how, thanks to Instacart’s ratings system, a rating like hers can destroy a shopper’s livelihood.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xidL4H">
For a minute, I thought about dropping it off at her apartment, but then reality sunk in. Such a letter might appear extreme, accusatory, or aggressive, as well as make matters worse. I didn’t even know whether Jill was actually the customer who rated me. At the same time, the repercussions of four-star ratings have left me with little choice but to tell others about what it’s like on my side of the app.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LVddrV">
I have been shopping for Instacart for eight months and usually work 40 hours per week to meet my expenses. As a commission gig, it felt like an opportunity to make more money than an hourly wage entry-level job in the entertainment industry, where I am pursuing a career. Yet relying on the app for income has illuminated to me the divisiveness of platforms that facilitate services such as Instacart. As a shopper, I believe the app perniciously prevents genuine communication between the two parties using it, while arming one with the capacity to truly punish the other in a way my customers might never know.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bjxjc0">
Instacart is a third-party app, similar to Uber or Airbnb but for grocery delivery. Just like other gig economy platforms, the app has two sets of users: those who order groceries and those who shop and deliver them. What transpires between shoppers and customers feeds on a precarious ratings system where a shopper’s wages tremble on a razor-thin margin of error. Someone in college with a 3.9 GPA would be considered an exceptional student, and an Uber driver with a 4.8-star rating is a trusty motorist, but an Instacart shopper whose rating falls to even 4.96 out of five stars could struggle to pay rent for the next month or even two.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2TQRkb">
The way Instacart works is this: A handful of orders appear on the shopper dashboard, and shoppers choose which orders they wish to fulfill, typically by how much pay the order promises. However, shoppers with higher customer ratings get first pick — the higher-paying orders. Even though shoppers in the, let’s say, 4.9- to five-star range provide virtually the same quality service, those even slightly below a perfect five-star rating can slip to orders that pay significantly differently.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ivWAkf">
Although Instacart automatically drops the lowest rating, I know that just one additional rating still has an impact: When I received a four-star rating after dozens of five-star ratings, my average dropped to 4.96. With it, my newly limited batches shrank my average earnings from $25 per hour<em> </em>to much lower, likely below New York’s $15 minimum wage. I became a bottom feeder, seemingly receiving the leftover orders that, by other shoppers’ definition, paid an amount that was not worth accepting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t0LusX">
For many, the urge to rate a delivery service four stars or lower makes sense on the surface. If the service did not deliver on its promise, the customer has the right to report and penalize this service — or, in this case, the worker.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Plu0CG">
A ratings system allows customers to feel safe using the service, filtering out any untrustworthy employees from handling your personal tasks. However, minor mistakes on several orders that might warrant a stern talk from a manager should not be enough to slash a worker’s wages. In my experience, however, this<em> </em>has been<em> </em>the case when receiving anything less than a five-star rating as an Instacart shopper.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFDkgZ">
For me, and for so many of the other shoppers I’ve talked to, a five-star rating versus a 4.96-star rating could mean the difference between a shopper who can pay the bills and one who cannot. That this might not even reflect the quality of their shopping but merely the bad luck of serving a punitive customer seems unjust. Shoppers should not have to live in financial and mental paranoia that one or two customers will demolish their income, livelihood, and family security with the swipe of a finger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6wJJeT">
Ultimately, though, most customers aren’t aware of how harmful the ratings system can be. It is Instacart’s responsibility — and the responsibility of the many tech companies that pit workers against each other for profitability.
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="WRciG9"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wb1TEI">
Though Instacart’s ratings system can lead to particularly perverse outcomes, it is indicative of a larger problem. Communicating through these apps on our devices, especially in a transactional way, will always put workers at the mercy of tech corporations, with little tolerance for small misunderstandings that can have serious ripple effects. It is a troubling precedent as third-party platforms increasingly become how we do not only business but also anything else in our modern world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4w40D7">
Unfortunately, my public service announcement will likely not enlighten Instacart on this matter. I believe it fully understands the toll of ratings on shoppers. When the <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/">Covid-19</a> pandemic hit last year, Instacart gained popularity as Americans feared crowded supermarkets. With a new spotlight shining on the app, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/17/instacart-covid-19/">Instacart suspended the effect of customer ratings on shoppers</a> in March. Capitalizing on an emotional moment, <a href="https://medium.com/shopper-news/maximizing-your-access-to-batches-d38a9e943eaa">Instacart then reversed the move months later</a> as the pandemic raged on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sd5j1d">
Then, just as 2021 began, a dozen in-store shoppers — salaried shoppers who pack “delivery only” orders for full-time shoppers like me to pick up — attempted to unionize at a Mariano’s in Skokie, Illinois. Instacart supported their right to do so, but shoppers reported that high-level Instacart managers soon appeared at Mariano’s touting “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/akw3z8/leaked-memos-show-instacart-is-running-a-union-busting-campaign">anti-unionization literature</a>.” The unionization was eventually successful, but Instacart ultimately included 10 of these shoppers in a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k9deg/instacart-says-it-will-lay-off-all-of-its-unionized-workers">mass layoff of 1,900 in-store employees</a> at select supermarket chains in January, which potentially had a chilling effect on other in-store workers considering unionizing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sh8H13">
As the pandemic has pushed Instacart to publicly care about shoppers, many, like me, feel it privately neglects us. Shoppers still suffer and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/health/grocery-workers-increased-covid-19-risk-wellness/index.html">work in the same treacherous environments</a> that leave them vulnerable to Covid-19. As shoppers have witnessed the app fine-tune labor issues — such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/technology/instacart-doordash-tipping-deliveries.html">a wage policy that counted shoppers’ tips toward their guaranteed base pay</a> rather than paying them out directly — it often feels like Instacart thrives on a power dynamic of punishment and command between shoppers and customers. Customers possess a near-godlike judgment over shoppers, who never fully know which customers rated them and why, while it seems to me that customers don’t know that their ratings can have such drastic effects on shoppers’ incomes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YQWdzk">
While some people are genuinely ruthless raters, I believe the reason most Instacart customers submit lower ratings stems from the app itself, including the fact that shoppers cannot rate customers for their own conduct.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Eo6vuI">
Unlike Uber, where both parties can rate each other and drivers can get a sense of which passengers are more likely to drunkenly vomit in the backseat, Instacart shoppers cannot warn each other about customers who make their order a shopping hell.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5wFel0">
In some cases, we must wait up to an hour in crowded supermarkets full of people coughing — our parking spot expiring — waiting for a customer to respond, knowing they may penalize us for any unseen messages about refunds and replacements. Instacart customers, conversely, can act as neglectfully as they please — being unresponsive to shopper messages, canceling the order as we deliver (which results in lost tips, sometimes up to 75 percent of our total pay) — without penalty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sO0dVU">
Instacart doesn’t do a great job of notifying customers through the app about issues beyond a shopper’s control, like replacements or missing items, putting the onus on shoppers to communicate this. A large portion of my customers do not respond to my in-app messages about out-of-stock items, which are part of virtually every order, and on the occasions they answer my calls, they are often shocked to learn I have sent them a plethora of messages in the app.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9JwdnU">
If a customer is distracted or not tech-savvy, they can miss every message from a shopper about out-of-stock groceries, only to receive a bag of replacements and missing items, leading them to believe the shopper botched the order. Though Instacart says it removes low ratings if the customer’s feedback is a reason outside of the shopper’s control, such as an app outage, it also allows customers to choose among a variety of reasons for their low ratings. The limited protections Instacart flashes are like sweeping up dust in a burning building, overlooking their larger power structure where one party is at the mercy of another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gXUx67">
This stark reality highlights a dark side to Instacart’s old advertisement that shoppers can “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/10/she-was-instacarts-biggest-cheerleader-now-shes-leading-worker-revolt/">earn up to $25 per hour</a>”: Just as I surpassed that average, four-star ratings brought me right back down below it. I was first told by Instacart support that the closest way to recover those high-paying orders and dispute a rating is to contact a support team member in the app or file a complaint with the fraud department.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t3MZpJ">
I, as well as other shoppers I have spoken to, have watched complaints sit in queues for weeks or even months, while support agents have told us different time frames for addressing these reports. I was even told by another agent later that there is, in fact, no way for a shopper to remove a rating, that we can only work our way out of it by taking on more orders.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qHkrvd">
Instacart’s policy is that a shopper must complete a whopping 100 orders — roughly a month of work — following any rating in order to erase it. Despite Instacart assuring shoppers their first low rating is removed, this policy means it takes only two ratings out of 100 orders to potentially harm our wages.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="20R1SZ">
After Vox reached out to Instacart (the company declined to comment on the record), the company <a href="https://medium.com/shopper-news/providing-a-fair-reliable-experience-for-shoppers-b05a769dbb6c">released an update</a> last week about the measures in place to help shoppers with its medieval ratings system, such as automatically forgiving the lowest rating. But to someone who has been a full-time shopper for almost a year and knows the ins and outs of these policies — I have experienced the brunt of them — the update felt disingenuous. Instacart mentions at the end that “there may be small pilots and adjustments in the coming months.” I am rooting for Instacart to do it, but I will hold my praise until I see it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TmmrBx">
At this point, you might be wondering why I would stay working at a job like this. Like many shoppers, I do enjoy the process of shopping, the autonomy of accepting orders, and the flexibility of the hours. Some transactions can be touching when I have the opportunity to deliver to a customer who is clearly in need of this service, such as a single parent at home with their child or anyone unable to carry 40 pounds of groceries up the stairs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yq62Qj">
However, Instacart has chosen to highlight the flip side of this concept, leaving interactions like those few and far between. More commonly, a class war of ratings prevails. The Covid-19 pandemic only accentuated the tension of ratings and forced Instacart to reveal — <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/3/20/21185791/instacart-shopper-groceries-social-distancing">as another shopper put it</a> — those who can afford to stay home and those who cannot.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t2metP">
Instead of truly connecting customers and shoppers, Instacart exposes the power dynamic between us. This tension divides us as humans, each side walled off from genuine communication through the threat of a rating. While shoppers are aware of what we sign up for, the “we appreciate essential workers” signs on the windows of the wealthy residences we deliver to become tiresome when their ratings do not reflect it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yuU2Ro">
Sadly, so long as our future is ruled by a similar fleet of third-party apps, the two parties actually using them will drift further from mutual understanding, always viewing each other based on the designs of a middleman making a profit. This digital reality conditions us to expect our every need to be satisfied instantly, distancing us from what others endure to deliver it. In turn, it is easier to pin our frustrations about the unrealistic promises of these apps on the workers immediately carrying them out. But in rating some employees as “bad apples,” we ignore the companies that might be rotting trees and instead keep their business model alive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wMmANJ">
The ratings system feels like a way of teasing eager workers with high-paying orders before luring them into low wages. At any given time, countless shoppers with low ratings are accepting orders that amount to a wage they might not otherwise agree to in order to claw their way back to the high-paying orders they relied on previously. Such a dilemma is likely why Instacart axed its old claim that shoppers could “earn up to $25 per hour,” as many felt sustaining that pay was unrealistic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L8CZ0b">
Instacart is a microcosm of a more pernicious future where consumers believe a utopia can exist for themselves without creating a dystopia for someone else. On the other side of each transaction, though, in the case of Instacart, is a shopper politely fearing a low rating.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K1Pwsb">
Even reviews for the positive interactions, which I cherish, that yield grateful feedback on the app are deleted when they fall outside the 100-order range. The ratings system so much defines the experience of the platform that I often feel judged not as a shopper or person, but like an updated version of myself, a sum of my recent ratings — a four-star version of myself. I do not want to move into a future where we view others and ourselves that way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OYoA2B">
In the end, it was this tension that made it inherently hostile and uncomfortable for me to deliver a letter to Jill asking her to reconsider her rating. Instead, I messaged an Instacart support agent about the issue. Following our chat, I was taken aback when the app forced me to rate the agent and our interaction.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4LgA9w">
In all honesty, my instinct was to rate them one star — the agent did nothing to help me, and this was seemingly the only place I could make my voice heard. But I stopped myself, knowing how these ratings systems might work and that my low rating would hurt them. I understand that ratings pit us against each other, and this is core to Instacart’s success. My hope is for customers — and maybe the company — to understand this too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lu5PLn">
<em>Ehud Sopher is a screenwriter and director based in New York City.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>The uneasy intimacy of work in a pandemic year</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2VITMlzB3C7P3TR7baAOjbemmf0=/0x0:2251x1688/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68992486/VoxMedia_1_yeyeigomez_300pp.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Yeyei Gómez for Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How capitalism and the pandemic destroyed our work-life balance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XK3Flb">
As we confront the one-year anniversary of the US locking down in response to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19</a> pandemic, we are also confronting the one-year anniversary of America choosing work above all else.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O11vSF">
Many of us stopped seeing our families and friends, while accepting without question the idea that we would not stop working. We stopped going to theaters and restaurants, but we did not stop working. We stopped going to offices, but we did not stop working.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VtfVV2">
Our government could have <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/wiener/programs/project-on-workforce/tools-covid-19-employment-crisis">paid people to stop working and stay home</a>, where they could not catch the virus. It did not; it told service workers they were essential and sent some of them out to risk their lives working instead, and then half a million people died.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ewQRKP">
We were forced to choose between our health and our jobs. Most of us chose our jobs; those who dared to choose their health instead were <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-pandemic-unemployment-benefits_n_60382388c5b6371109daea8b">offered almost no resources</a>. When companies shut down and jobs vanished, the unemployed among us had to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/20/22191585/congress-900-billion-coronavirus-stimulus-package-negotiations">pry vanishingly tiny benefits</a> out of an overtaxed and underfunded system only to be told they should really <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/why-republicans-dont-want-to-extend-the-600-unemployment-payments.html">go out and find new jobs</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ce3b4g">
Those of us who were lucky enough to have jobs we could do from home brought our work into our living rooms, our kitchens, our bedrooms. We pivoted. We shared strategies for how to be productive and overcome the stress of trying to work during a global health emergency. We challenged ourselves to meet and even exceed our pre-pandemic goals, against unfavorable odds. Despite everything, we prioritized work.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="inrTz7">
America has treated work as a sacred object throughout this past year, as something that is valuable for its own sake: more valuable than the money with which it is meant to provide us, more valuable than contact with our loved ones, than our mental health, than our lives, than the lives of our neighbors. We have treated work as something to be taken home and cherished.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="odFUdp">
Work is our lover. And this year, we took it to bed.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9VrjBzIhLW89IId0wqBEVJrnltA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22380443/VoxMedia_2_yeyeigomez_300pp.jpg"/>
</figure>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="TzxFc0"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HNboEB">
In 2011, the scholar Melissa Gregg published a three-year ethnographic study of the professional lives of a group of knowledge workers in Brisbane, Australia. Titled <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fwork-s-intimacy%2F9780745650289&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fculture%2F22308547%2Fpandemic-anniversary-labor-works-intimacy-how-to-do-nothing" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Work’s Intimacy</em></a>, Gregg’s study found that as mobile technologies like laptops and smartphones and wifi proliferated, and as jobs became more precarious and subject to mass layoffs, office workers had begun to experience their entire lives as work-centric.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ebFir9">
Everyone Gregg spoke to believed that it was their personal, individual fault that their work took up so much of their lives: It was because of their personalities, or their specific situations. It wasn’t because of anything work had done to them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P6hKf4">
One worker told Gregg it was her “own style” that saw her checking her email outside of her paid work hours, because it “gives me a peace of mind.” Another said she felt grateful that her part-time job allowed her to spend time with her kids, and so “I don’t mind working extra on those other days [for which she is not paid, while she is also watching her kids], particularly just keeping an eye on things so that it works.” Receiving new deadlines at 5 pm was just “the nature of project work,” said a third.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t90FdH">
Gregg outlines specific strategies that corporations use to engender this sense of personal obligation to work in their employees. People naturally form bonds with their colleagues, and then they understand themselves to be a team and want to put in extra work so as not to let their teammates down. And then corporations take advantage of that human social bond. Meanwhile, a decentralized management structure means that the manager who failed to hire adequate staffing so as not to overwork existing employees becomes invisible, and thus blameless. When you have to work an extra shift because your boss is caught shorthanded, it becomes <em>your</em> responsibility, not the responsibility of a company that didn’t prepare itself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cuG6Tl">
There’s also the issue of self-identity. People in knowledge professions identify with their jobs, and typically<strong> </strong>want to present themselves to the world as competent and dedicated professionals. When they understand that being a competent and dedicated professional means working at all hours, they work at all hours.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5jonXu">
And then mobile technology brings work into our homes, rendering it inescapable. “The coerciveness of communications technologies,” Gregg writes, “is their capacity to enhance a pre-existing psychological connection to the job, just as the convenience of the devices allows work to take place in more and more places.” Our culture makes us already disposed to spend our leisure hours thinking of work, feeling obligated to it — and then our technology provides an added incentive to just go ahead and do that work, no matter where we are or what time it is.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="U4QSmy">
<q>Our work identity is all that is left to us when other activities are forbidden, so of course we feel compelled to think about it even when we are off the clock</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XaF2dG">
What we’re left with is a situation in which workers in knowledge professions find ourselves thinking of work at all times, obsessing over it, devoting ourselves to it, even in our most private and intimate settings, even when we say we want to be thinking of other things. What is this experience, Gregg asks, but the experience of being in love?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3esD6s">
“Classic definitions of love see the beloved as ‘the only important thing’ in life, compared to which ‘everything else seems trivial’ … leading to ‘the sense that one is in touch with the source of all value,’” Gregg writes. “A significant number of participants in this study spoke about work using language very similar to these tenets.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZlibNJ">
To be sure, Gregg adds, just as often, the people she spoke to talked about work in terms of “efficiency” and “productivity.” But, she argues, this attention to efficiency seemed to exist for its own sake, not to make room for anything new. “The time spent engaged in work-related tasks regularly rivaled or came at the expense of other experiences,” she writes. “There was often little time for the very domestic or leisure pursuits we might consider to be the rationale for needing to be efficient in the first place.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqY1Ev">
It makes sense to be obsessed with your job if you’re not sure you can get another one easily. But that, too, Gregg argues, is part of the coercion of modern office work in our era of mass layoffs, and just one more way we are pushed to treat it as a love object. “Precarity,” she writes, “is another manifestation of work’s intimacy.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sRsK3I">
We obsess over our jobs because we know we can’t count on them. So we keep thinking about them after we leave the office, and in the end we find ourselves unable to get them out of our minds, like a bad boyfriend.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6BKz0G">
Gregg was writing from 2008 to 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 recession. But her conclusions about post-recession knowledge workers in Australia seem to be if anything more relevant to pandemic-era office workers in the US, because the pandemic has only exacerbated the issues she identified.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N2YGUb">
Our colleagues are some of the only human contact we have left, so of course we feel extra loyalty toward them. Our work identity is all that is left to us when other activities are forbidden, so of course we feel compelled to think about it even when we are off the clock. Layoffs have cascaded across the country, so of course we feel more insecure than ever.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u2pZDP">
And now work doesn’t only leave the office to sneak into our houses for a little idle email-catchup here and there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jJvETp">
Work is in our homes all the time now. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/31/style/working-from-bed.html">Work has very literally gone to bed with us</a>. Work wants to have a serious talk about where this relationship is going.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/x1wX_TVXjTur9BGZesXByFGDPOI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22380445/VoxMedia_3_yeyeigomez_300pp.jpg"/>
</figure>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="pZpnRM"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2dbOdd">
Our tendency to treat work like a lover is the result of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/4/17/21201878/quarantine-productivity-social-distancing-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-19-capitalism-ep-thompson">centuries of social conditioning</a> and systemic incentives that few of us have the power to redirect on our own. The only way to fix these problems, to let something besides the labor we sell to<strong> </strong>our employers be the loved object at the center of our lives, is to pursue systemic change: <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/14/18536789/right-to-work-unions-protecting-the-right-to-organize-act-bill">union protections</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/24/20835653/trump-overtime-pay-rule-explained">labor law reforms</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22287335/covid-19-relief-stimulus-unemployment-delivery">repairs to our social safety net</a> that mean we don’t have to obsess over the precarity of our jobs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xa2peP">
But while we are pursuing systemic change, we do all still have to live in our existing, not-yet-changed system. So what options do we have for surviving in this system in a pandemic year? How do we find a way of living our lives that doesn’t revolve around a fetishistic obsession with work?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B1OG3e">
There are a few possibilities for survival in Jenny Odell’s 2019 book <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fhow-to-do-nothing-resisting-the-attention-economy%2F9781612197494&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fculture%2F22308547%2Fpandemic-anniversary-labor-works-intimacy-how-to-do-nothing" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>How to Do Nothing</em></a>, a manifesto of sorts against what Odell calls “the attention economy.” That’s the idea that we should be caught up in our work, our screens, and everything else that capitalism wants to sell to us or extract from us at all times.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dZDf8V">
“We know that we live in complex times that demand complex thoughts and conversations,” Odell writes, “and those, in turn, demand the very time and space that is nowhere to be found.” And so the “nothing” in Odell’s title is not really <em>nothing</em>, but is instead something that capitalism understands to be valueless. It’s time apart to think, reflect, connect, and converse. Time that does not go into producing goods to be sold or into buying goods from other people.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fRmgLs">
Odell argues that we can create that time through a conscious turning away from our screens and the pursuit of physical context, both in our neighborhoods and in our natural landscapes. “I propose that rerouting and deepening one’s attention to place will likely lead to awareness of one’s participation in history and in a more-than-human community,” she writes. “From either a social or ecological perspective, the ultimate goal of ‘doing nothing’ is to wrest our focus from the attention economy and replant it in the public, physical realm.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vjycc3">
Odell’s logic suggests that to prevent work from invading the time in which we are not paid to do it, we must be intentional about what we do in our leisure time. So instead of scrolling listlessly through Facebook and Twitter and Instagram in search of frictionless connection with other people, we can join mutual aid groups and form genuine bonds with our actual neighbors, in person. Instead of passively accepting whatever entertainment our screens offer us while we plug away at off-hours work, we can become interested in the natural landscape all around us, in the weeds that sprout up from the cracks of our sidewalks and the birds that nest on our telephone wires. And this shift in attention, Odell argues, will allow us the time and space to form richer, more nourishing connections with the world in which we live.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sWpnLE">
To turn away from work and the technology that enables it is, in this moment, an act of extreme privilege. But Odell argues that if we have the ability to push back against the systems that teach us to build our lives around work, then we have an ethical duty to do so.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="RDReEv">
<q>When this pandemic ends, the structures will still be in place that brought us to this relationship with our work</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PR1H3p">
“Wherever we are, and whatever privileges we may or may not enjoy, there is probably some thread we can afford to be pulling on,” she says. “Sometimes boycotting the attention economy by withholding attention is the only action we can afford to take. Other times, we can actively look for ways to impact things like the addictive design of technology, but also environmental politics, labor rights, women’s rights, indigenous rights, anti-racism initiatives, measures for parks and open spaces, and habitat restoration — understanding that pain comes not from one part of the body but from systemic imbalance. As in any ecology, the fruits of our efforts within any of these fields may well reach beyond to the others.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtMFNr">
To withhold our attention from our work and from our screens may make us feel guilty, as though we are somehow cheating. But that shouldn’t be surprising: We’ve been taught to treat work as a loved one. So turning our attention away from it, to other and more valued objects, would be a kind of adultery.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xNErD5">
Toward the end of <em>How to Do Nothing</em>, Odell describes driving down a highway outside Santa Cruz, coming around a corner, and suddenly seeing a nature preserve filled with hundreds of birds. “Unexpectedly,” she writes, “I started crying.” She felt an overwhelming connection with the birds who lived in this refuge, a terror that it might be destroyed, and a sense that by preserving the birds and the refuge, she could somehow preserve herself. And she had a very clear sense of the right term for this sense of connection.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nLexuB">
“It’s a bit like falling in love — that terrifying realization that your fate is linked to someone else’s, that you are no longer your own,” she says. “But isn’t that closer to the truth anyway? Our fates are linked, to each other, to the places where we are, and everyone and everything that lives in them. How much more real my responsibility feels when I think about it this way!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mOAce3">
As Gregg recognized, our technologies are coercive. They conspire with capitalism to make us feel that we should spend all our time gazing at our screens, absorbing frictionless, context-less ideas. But Odell suggests that if we are able to build connections to the world outside of the attention economy, we will find our screens less compelling — and that this shift, too, will be an act of love.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3VRVij">
“I find that I’m looking at my phone less these days. It’s not because I went to an expensive digital detox retreat, or because I deleted any apps from my phone, or anything like that. I stopped looking at my phone because I was looking at something else, something so absorbing that I couldn’t turn away,” Odell writes. “That’s the other thing that happens when you fall in love. Friends complain that you’re not present or that you have your head in the clouds; companies dealing in the attention economy might say the same thing about me, with my head lost in the trees, the birds, even the weeds growing in the sidewalk.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xSLUwZ">
We are, hopefully, only months away from reaching herd immunity in the US. But when this pandemic ends, the structures will still be in place that brought us to this relationship with our work, this fraught and fetishized intimacy with our jobs and with getting enough done, this belief that this pursuit is worth more than our lives.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HYcKEy">
We do not have to be trapped in an endless, stifling love affair with our own labor. We can build our lives around other things, things that matter more to us: our loved ones, our communities, the world in which we live. We can try to reform our labor system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F3XQum">
We can start by teaching ourselves how to turn away from work.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Substack writers are mad at Substack. The problem is money and who’s making it.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="People sort mail into bins circa 1940." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fmNODLJl6bmwwKL_QoJy-d3lpTI=/0x0:4798x3599/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68992178/107418535.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The newsletter startup’s new controversy, explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kr7xg4">
Jude Doyle has been publishing a Substack newsletter since 2018, not long after the startup launched. This week, the writer, who <a href="http://judedoyle.com/bio">describes themselves</a> as a “non-binary author, columnist, and all-around weirdo,” announced that they were leaving and <a href="https://jude-doyle.ghost.io/le-test/">setting up shop at Ghost, a nonprofit publishing platform</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a1BdAM">
The <em>why</em> Doyle left matters because it illustrates the tension Substack faces as it tries to be both a platform — where it simply sets up a place for anyone to write anything and steps away — and a publisher — where it makes choices about the kinds of writers it wants on Substack.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9QgmcG">
But the <em>how</em> is just as important because it illustrates a potential problem looming for the buzzy, Silicon Valley-backed company: In a very short time, Substack has supercharged the newsletter industry and helped make it newly attractive to a wide range of authors. But unlike other digital platforms, Substack doesn’t have any lock-in that will keep writers — popular or otherwise — from bolting to competitors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hLPQxY">
And competitors — including ones from Facebook and Twitter — are definitely coming after Substack.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hHo27v">
First the why: Doyle says they left Substack because they were upset that Substack was publishing — and in some cases offering money upfront to — authors they say are “people who actively hate trans people and women, argue ceaselessly against our civil rights, and in many cases, have a public history of directly, viciously abusing trans people and/or cis women in their industry.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TZOOYj">
That list includes some of Substack’s most prominent and recent recruits: Former Intercept journalist <a href="https://greenwald.substack.com/">Glenn Greenwald</a>, my former Vox coworker <a href="https://www.slowboring.com/">Matt Yglesias</a>, and <a href="https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/">Graham Linehan</a>, a British TV writer who was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/27/entertainment/graham-linehan-twitter-removal-trnd/index.html">kicked off Twitter last year</a> for “repeated violations of [Twitter’s] rules against hateful conduct and platform manipulation.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IqKPQN">
Substack’s main business model is straightforward. It lets newsletter writers sell subscriptions to their work, and it takes 10 percent of any revenue the writers generate (writers also have to fork over another 3 percent to Stripe, the digital payments company).
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="dTUK6H">
<q>The money that Substack and its writers are generating — and how that money is split up and distributed — is of intense interest to media makers and observers</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NXhcbw">
But in some cases, Substack has also shelled out one-off payments to help convince some writers to become Substack writers, and in some cases those deals are significant. Yglesias says that when it lured him to the platform last fall,<strong> </strong>Substack agreed to pay him $250,000 along with 15 percent of any subscription revenue he generates; after a year, Yglesias’s take will increase to 90 percent of his revenue, but he won’t get any additional payouts from Substack.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="83rso2">
As Yglesias told me via Slack (he stopped working as a Vox writer last fall but still contributes to Vox’s <em>Weeds</em> podcast), the deal he took from Substack is actually costing him money, for now. Yglesias says he has around 9,800 paying subscribers, which might generate around $860,000 a year. Had he not taken the Substack payment, he would keep 90 percent of that, or $775,000, but under the current deal, where he’ll keep the $250,000 plus 15 percent of the gross subscription revenue, his take will be closer to $380,000.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Zxlmn">
Substack has been experimenting with this kind of offer for some time, but last week, it began officially describing them as <a href="https://blog.substack.com/p/why-we-pay-writers">“Substack Pro” deals</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TcsXKz">
The money that Substack and its writers are generating — and how that money is split up and distributed — is of intense interest to media makers and observers, for obvious reasons. But the general thrust isn’t any different from other digital media platforms we’ve seen over the last 15 years or so.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YelHSI">
From YouTube to Facebook to Snapchat to TikTok, big tech companies have long been trying to figure out ways they can convince people and publishers to make content for them without having to hire them as full-time content creators. That often involves cash: YouTube set the template in 2007, when it set up a system that let some video makers keep 55 percent of any ad revenue their clips generated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wAGdUW">
But YouTube has also shelled out advances for specific kinds of videos it wants from specific kinds of creators. A decade ago, for instance, it spent hundreds of millions trying to get <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111028/youtube-and-hollywood-finally-link-up-and-come-clean/">celebrities like Madonna and Jay-Z</a> to make stuff for the site. Facebook has done the same thing, which is why at one point the New York Times had a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/5/11/11656312/facebook-video-news-feed">seven-person team dedicated to making Facebook Live videos</a>. (Facebook’s Instagram, interestingly, has been quite slow to figure out how to share revenue with its creators.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4puisJ">
Like Substack, YouTube and the other big consumer tech sites fundamentally think of themselves as platforms: software set up to let users distribute their own content to as many people as possible, with as little friction as possible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y4YIg4">
That stance usually generates criticism in cases where someone finds odious content on, say, YouTube, and then <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/23/18636238/youtube-neal-mohan-chief-product-officer-recode-media-peter-kafka-podcast">YouTube does or doesn’t explain</a> why the clip is on the site, and then may or may not get around to taking it down. The current Substack controversy is a little different: Critics like Doyle say they’re upset that Substack is funding authors they don’t like — either directly via advance payments like the one Yglesias got, or just by letting them keep a share of subscription revenue they sell.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JMk1CY">
“Substack isn’t a self-publishing platform,” <a href="https://doyles.substack.com/p/in-queers-we-trust-all-others-pay">Doyle wrote earlier this month</a>. “It curates its writers. It pays them, sometimes massively, and it makes choices as to who gets paid well and who doesn’t.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lltWzZ">
The “Is this company a platform or a publisher or a tech company or a media company?” conversation is a long-running one that plenty of digital media companies end up participating in, willingly or not. It usually gets answered with some kind of shrug.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gIbZJA">
It’s unclear if Substack’s version of this story will work out any differently, though for right now it is generating a fair bit of negative attention: On Thursday, for example, writer <a href="https://thehypothesis.substack.com/p/heres-why-substacks-scam-worked-so">Annalee Newitz told her Substack audience that the company is a “scam”</a> and that she intends to leave. Other writers, including <a href="https://twitter.com/espiers/status/1372517299631034371?s=20">Elizabeth Spiers</a> and <a href="https://emilyvdw.substack.com/p/on-substack">my Vox colleague Emily VanDerWerff</a> are voicing similar thoughts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Zr0Tg">
One sort-of solution Substack critics have suggested is having the company identify which authors are part of the Substack Pro program<strong>.</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6AD5Ah">
“It would allow other people on the platform to make an informed decision about whether they want to be on the platform,” Spiers told me via Twitter DM. “I think if you’re a progressive, you’d want to know if you’re publishing on a platform that is essentially subsidizing a <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/">Breitbart</a>. And I’m sure conservatives would want to know if Substack was exclusively subsidizing leftists. … If they’re not embarrassed by who they’re publishing and see no problem with it, why won’t they make that list public?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g4V6Ch">
Like everyone else who doesn’t work at Substack, I don’t know how many authors are in its Pro program. But I would be surprised if they are consistently on one end of the ideological spectrum. A writer I know who was offered a Pro-like deal last year (but didn’t take it) is someone who is not a straight white guy and whose politics are very much left of center.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="EISejN">
<q>Substack may need to work on its perception problem, but it certainly doesn’t need additional publicity</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pE9PWN">
More to the point, Substack is aware that it now has a reputation as a platform for white guys who don’t want to or can’t work at traditional publications anymore, and the company<strong> </strong>is eager to point out when it has high-profile writers who don’t fit that mold. The company’s most successful author, as of late last year, is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/27/business/media/heather-cox-richardson-substack-boston-college.html">Heather Cox Richardson</a>, a Boston College professor who generates a daily explainer that puts the news of the moment in historical context.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lymnmC">
“It’s good for us to manage the perception [that Substack caters to conservative writers]. It would feel really bad for me if people who would be really great on Substack don’t feel like it’s a good place to be for them,” Substack CEO Chris Best told me in December.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9wK6w">
Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie says the company may offer more transparency for the Pro deals it signs in the future, but won’t commit to letting users know who has existing deals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ezPNwc">
“We completely understand why some people think it would be wiser to make the list of people we do deals with public,” McKenzie told me via email. “We’re thinking of ways that might make the Pro deals more open in the future, but we also want to honor our existing commitments to the writers who signed Pro deals on the understanding that it is up to them whether or not they want to publicize their deals. Whatever the ultimate outcome might be here, we will always stick to the principle of the writer, not Substack, being in charge.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fyl5tu">
Substack may need to work on its perception problem, but it certainly doesn’t need additional publicity in some parts of the world: Lots of people in tech and media are very aware of Substack and are trying to figure out how to compete with it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XDURA6">
To be clear: You don’t need to work with a company like Substack or Ghost to create and sell your own newsletter. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/10/16/16480782/substack-subscription-newsletter-sinocism-bill-bishop-ben-thompson-stratechery">Ben Thompson</a>, the business and technology writer whose successful newsletter served as the inspiration for Substack, built his own infrastructure cobbling together several services; my former colleague Dan Frommer does the same thing for his <a href="https://newconsumer.com/">New Consumer</a> newsletter. And Jessica Lessin, the CEO of the Information, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-jessica-lessin-got-people-to-pay-for-the-information/id1080467174?i=1000506837047">told me on the <em>Recode Media</em> podcast</a> that she’d consider letting writers use the paid newsletter tech her company has built for free.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YKq3s5">
But since Substack — kickstarted with $17 million in venture money — seems to have proven that there’s a large group of people who want to write newsletters for a much larger group of readers, very big companies are now coming for the same market. Earlier this year, <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/making-twitter-a-better-home-for-writers.html">Twitter bought Revue</a>, a Substack competitor, and is now starting to promote the service to potential writers:
</p>
<div id="Y1yy7j">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
I was making a Twitter thread and Twitter just told me I should think about making a Twitter-owned newsletter instead/as well. <br/><br/>Reminder: Substack relies on Twitter to help source potential writers, and to find new readers for Substack writers. <a href="https://t.co/QVZdQzpfGQ">pic.twitter.com/QVZdQzpfGQ</a>
</p>
— Peter Kafka (<span class="citation" data-cites="pkafka">@pkafka</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/pkafka/status/1365058640617553922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KRkjJr">
And this week Facebook said it also plans to launch its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/formedia/supporting-independent-voices">paid newsletter product</a> “in the coming months.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2q7Y0P">
In both cases, the potential advantages the big platforms have over Substack are obvious: Enormous reach, and an ability to compete viciously on pricing. Twitter says it will take 5 percent of authors’ revenue — half of the 10 percent Substack currently takes. And Facebook hasn’t said what it will charge, though its reps are nudging and winking and suggesting they may not take anything at all.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z7UOvR">
Meanwhile, Substack has deliberately made it easy for new competitors to take root, since it tells authors that they can take everything they’ve built on Substack — both their archives and their mailing list — and move it anywhere they want. Doyle, for instance, was able to get up and running on Ghost days after they wrote their first post criticizing Substack.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uDoiA4">
“I do think that the current Substack Discourse has sort of underweighted how big their business model challenge is here,” Yglesias told me when I asked him if he would stay on Substack after his first year on the platform. “In the long run, it seems like Substack is at serious risk of losing its biggest players.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FrYdlh">
On the other hand, unless you’re running your own private newsletter business, it seems like anyone on any newsletter platform runs the risk of the same problem Doyle identified in their first blog post. If you’re on someone else’s platform, then other people will be there too — perhaps even making money — and you may hate them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oe11Hq">
That’s fine, Doyle told me. In that case, they wrote: “I have the option to say ‘fuck it,’ leave, and encourage others to leave.”
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ISSF World Cup: Divyansh, Babuta qualify for men’s 10m air rifle final</strong> - A total of 294 athletes from 53 countries are competing in the first multi-nation Olympic sporting event of this scale anywhere in the world post the pandemic-forced lockdown</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>I just want to express myself: Prasidh</strong> - Karnataka speedster excited to be part of India’s ODI squad</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 and Co eye redemption in T20 series against South Africa</strong> - Apart from the nine-wicket win in the second match, Mithali Raj’s side failed to fire as a unit against their South African counterparts</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India vs England preview | Battle for supremacy among two best teams in series-decider</strong> - The Virat Kohli-led side, which did not have the depth earlier to attack in all situations, finds itself full of ‘x-factor’ with the emergence of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav</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>Lahore court orders FIA to register FIR against Pakistan captain Babar Azam in harassment case</strong> - A petition filed by a woman, Hamiza Mukhtar, who claimed she had been getting threatening messages on her Whatsapp, threatening her with dire consequences after she filed a case against the Pakistan captain</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>Kerala opposes Centre’s move to de-license power distribution</strong> - Kerala government tells Union Power Ministry in a March 15 letter that the proposed move may imperil the ordinary consumer if adequate safeguards are not in place</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tamil Nadu’s rights over Cauvery had been mortgaged to the Ministry of Jal Shakti: Stalin</strong> - DMK president M.K.Stalin on Friday alleged that Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami had mortgaged Tamil Nadu’s rights over Cauvery with the Ministr</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>Regulation of train services in Kerala announced</strong> - Railways fully or partially cancel and divert special trains for pre-commissioning works as part of track doubling in Madurai-Tirunelveli section</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>Parliament proceedings | Railways created 14.14 lakh mandays employment under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan: Goyal</strong> - The minister said measures were also taken to increase the cash flow of contractors so that they could expedite the execution of works which could then result in a corresponding increase in the engagement of contract workers on work sites.</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>BBMP to recommend closure of gyms, swimming pools, party halls in apartments</strong> - Civic body also bats for reducing occupancy to 50% in cinemas</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>Covid-19: EU states to resume AstraZeneca vaccine rollout</strong> - Germany, France, Italy and Spain will restart vaccinations after a regulator says it is “safe”.</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: Paris lockdown as France fears third wave</strong> - The French capital and various other areas will have movement restricted as cases rise.</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>Paris airport: Algerian passengers from UK stranded for weeks</strong> - Twenty-six Algerians who flew from the UK have spent three weeks waiting to complete their journey.</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>Lamborghini’s profits soar during Covid</strong> - The supercar maker admits it is ‘surprised’ after reporting record profits, partly fuelled by China.</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>Liverpool face Real Madrid in Champions League last eight</strong> - Liverpool will face Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, while Manchester City will play Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea will face Porto.</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>Mask up! How to choose and maintain the best masks for use against COVID-19 [Updated]</strong> - Finding masks that meet CDC and WHO guidelines is tough. We did the work for you. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1722673">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Pegasus booster will fly again, hacking SpaceX telemetry</strong> - “The RS-25 is a great program for us.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750645">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sherlock Holmes takes a back seat to street kids in The Irregulars trailer</strong> - New series modernizes Holmsian lore with diverse cast, supernatural elements. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750804">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NASA fired up its new rocket for 499.6 seconds on Thursday</strong> - The Green Run test may give NASA a green light to proceed with a launch. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750703">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Expert” hackers used 11 0-days to infect Windows, iOS, and Android users</strong> - The breadth and abundance of exploits for unknown vulnerabilities sets group apart. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750760">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>If you can’t think of a word, say “I forgot the English word for it.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
That way people will think you’re bilingual instead of an idiot.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NutritionalUncle"> /u/NutritionalUncle </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m89fbg/if_you_cant_think_of_a_word_say_i_forgot_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m89fbg/if_you_cant_think_of_a_word_say_i_forgot_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Through a poorly-worded genie wish, a man now has a 20-inch-long penis.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
While the bragging rights were good for a few days, the man soon realizes that his dick is uncomfortable and unusable, and he must find a solution. He begins asking the local enchanters and witches if they have any suggestions, and finally gets a lead that the enchanted forest over yonder is home to a magical talking frog. If a man asks this frog for a kiss, his penis will grow four inches if she says yes, and shrink four inches if she says no.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“This is perfect,” the man thinks, and he dons his most ill-fitting rags and rolls around in a pigsty before heading off to the enchanted forest. After traipsing around for a few hours, he sees a frog sitting by a small pond. He approaches the frog and asks if she might like to kiss him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The frog takes one look at his disheveled and dirty appearance and quickly answers, “No.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man feels a tingle and when he pulls open the waistband of his trousers, he finds that his previously 20-inch dick is now only 16 inches! He asks the frog again, “Please, could I have a kiss?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The frog rolls her eyes and responds again, “<em>No.</em>”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man’s penis is now a foot long. He considers for several seconds and decides that eight inches would really be more manageable. “Please madam,” he asks one more time, “may I kiss you?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The frog sighs loudly, and says, “How many times do I have to tell you?! No, no, no!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/hypo-osmotic"> /u/hypo-osmotic </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m81dv4/through_a_poorlyworded_genie_wish_a_man_now_has_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m81dv4/through_a_poorlyworded_genie_wish_a_man_now_has_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Three logicians walk into a bar</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The bartender asks, “Do you all want a drink”?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first one says, “I don’t know.” The second one says, “I don’t know.” And the third one says, “Yes.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/buttery_crispy_flake"> /u/buttery_crispy_flake </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m82bet/three_logicians_walk_into_a_bar/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m82bet/three_logicians_walk_into_a_bar/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>There was an old man who lived by a forest. As he grew older and older, he started losing his hair, until one day, on his deathbed, he was completely bald. That day, he called his children to a meeting…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He said, “Look at my hair. It used to be so magnificent, but it’s completely gone now. My hair can’t be saved. But look outside at the forest. It’s such a lovely forest with so many trees, but sooner or later they’ll all be cut down and this forest will look as bald as my hair.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What I want you to do…” the man continued. “Is, every time a tree is cut down or dies, plant a new one in my memory. Tell your descendants to do the same. It shall be our family’s duty to keep this forest strong.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So they did.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Each time the forest lost a tree, the children replanted one, and so did their children, and their children after them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And for centuries, the forest remained as lush and pretty as it once was, all because of one man and his re-seeding heirline.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/honolulu_oahu_mod"> /u/honolulu_oahu_mod </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m7ocuu/there_was_an_old_man_who_lived_by_a_forest_as_he/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m7ocuu/there_was_an_old_man_who_lived_by_a_forest_as_he/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Went for a job interview for a blacksmiths apprentice</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I was asked “have you ever shooed a horse before?” I said “no, but I once told a donkey to fuck off”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JesterFX"> /u/JesterFX </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m7rmhs/went_for_a_job_interview_for_a_blacksmiths/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m7rmhs/went_for_a_job_interview_for_a_blacksmiths/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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