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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>Combined Impact of Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination on Antibody Presence</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly and vaccine uptake stagnates, questions remain about the amount of SARS- CoV-2 antibodies present in the population induced by either SARS-CoV-2 infection, by a COVID-19 vaccine, or both. The TEXAS Coronavirus Antibody REsponse Survey (CARES) is a statewide seroprevalence program which utilizes the Roche S-test to detect antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the Roche N-test to detect antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein, to monitor the combined impact of prior infection and the COVID-19 vaccine. The current sample size having both S- and N-test data and reported vaccination status is 8,846. Participants with prior infection (i.e.  N+) and with either partial or full vaccination have the highest proportion of those showing the maximum value of the S-test (80.95% and 83.07%, respectively). Using a permutation test, there is no statistically significant difference between the median S-test value for those that have had prior infection and are partially vaccinated versus those that have had prior infection and are fully vaccinated. These groups both show significantly higher median amount compared to the other three groups: N+/not vaccinated, N-/partially vaccinated, and N-/fully vaccinated (all p-values &lt; 0.0001). Unvaccinated individuals with prior infection have one of the lowest median S-test values. For participants with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and a COVID-19 vaccine, the median S-test value is high and is not statistically different between those who are partially vaccinated and those who are fully vaccinated.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.08.21263268v1" target="_blank">Combined Impact of Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination on Antibody Presence</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Robust immune response to the BNT162b mRNA vaccine in an elderly population vaccinated 15 months after recovery from COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Knowledge about the impact of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection of the elderly on mRNA vaccination response is needed to appropriately address the need for booster vaccination in this vulnerable population. To address this, we investigated antibody and genomic immune responses in 16 elderly (avg. 81 yrs.) individuals that had received a single booster dose of BNT162b vaccine 15 months after recovering from COVID-19. Spike-specific IgG antibody levels increased in each of the study participants from an average of 710 U/ml prior to the vaccination to more than 40,000 U/ml within ten weeks after the vaccination. In contrast, anti-spike-specific IgG antibody levels averaged 2,190 U/ml in 14 healthy SARS-CoV-2-naive individuals (avg. 58 yrs.) ten weeks after the second dose of BNT162b. RNA-seq conducted on PBMCs demonstrated the activation of interferon-activated genetic programs in both cohorts within one day. Unlike their transient induction in the younger naive population, persistent activity and the initiation of additional cell cycle regulated programs were obtained in the older COVID-19 recovered population. Here we show that the elderly, a high-risk population, can mount a strong antibody and a persistent molecular immune response upon receiving a single dose of mRNA vaccine 15 months after recovery from COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.08.21263284v1" target="_blank">Robust immune response to the BNT162b mRNA vaccine in an elderly population vaccinated 15 months after recovery from COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Nationwide trends in COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations in the United States</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a promising technology for population-level surveillance of COVID-19 disease. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is shed in the stool of infected individuals and aggregated in public sewers, where it can be quantified to provide information on population-level disease incidence that is unbiased by access to clinical testing. In this study, we present results from the largest nationwide wastewater monitoring system in the United States reported to date. We profile 55 locations with at least six months of sampling and highlight their wastewater data from April 2020 through May 2021. These locations represent over 12 million individuals across 19 states. Samples were collected approximately weekly by wastewater treatment utilities as part of a regular wastewater surveillance service and analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 concentrations using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 (copies/mL) were normalized to pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a stable and persistent indicator of feces concentrations in wastewater. Here, we show that wastewater data reflects temporal and geographic trends in clinical COVID-19 cases, demonstrating that wastewater surveillance is a feasible approach for nationwide population-level monitoring of COVID-19 disease. We also provide key lessons learned from our broad-scale implementation of wastewater-based epidemiology, which can be used to inform wastewater-based epidemiology approaches for future emerging diseases. With an evolving epidemic and effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, wastewater-based epidemiology can serve as an important passive surveillance approach to detect changing dynamics or resurgences of the virus.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.08.21263283v1" target="_blank">Nationwide trends in COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations in the United States</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Enhanced Detection of Recently Emerged SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in Wastewater</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding in stool enabled wastewater surveillance for the genetic material of the virus. With the emergence of novel variants of concern and interest it becomes increasingly important to track arrival and spread of these variants. However, most current approaches rely on the manually curated lists of mutations phenotypically associated with the variants of concern. The resulting data has many overlaps between distinct variants leading to less specific characterization of complex sample mixtures that result from wastewater monitoring. In our work we propose a simple and specific method for characterization of wastewater samples by introducing the concept of quasi-unique mutations. Our approach is data driven and results in earlier detection and higher resolution of variants of concern emergence patterns in wastewater data.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.08.21263279v1" target="_blank">Enhanced Detection of Recently Emerged SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in Wastewater</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A randomized controlled trial of inhaled ciclesonide for outpatient treatment of symptomatic COVID-19 infections</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Importance Systemic corticosteroids are commonly used in the treatment of severe COVID-19. However, their role in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate disease is less clear. The inhaled corticosteroid ciclesonide has shown early promise as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Objective To determine whether the inhaled steroid ciclesonide is efficacious in patients with high risk for disease progression and can reduce the incidence of long-term COVID-19 symptoms or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. Design This was a phase III, multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial to assess the safety and efficacy of ciclesonide metered-dose inhaler (MDI) for the treatment of non-hospitalized participants with symptomatic COVID-19 infection. Patients were screened from June 11, 2020 to November 3, 2020. Setting The study was conducted at 10 centers throughout the U.S. public and private, academic and non-academic sites were represented among the centers. Participants Participants were randomly assigned to ciclesonide MDI 160 μg per actuation, two actuations twice a day (total daily dose 640 μg) or placebo for 30 days. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary endpoint was time to alleviation of all COVID-19 related symptoms (cough, dyspnea, chills, feeling feverish, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and new loss of taste or smell) by Day 30. Secondary endpoints included subsequent emergency department visits or hospital admissions for reasons attributable to COVID-19. Results 413 participants were screened and 400 (96.9%) were enrolled and randomized (197 in the ciclesonide arm and 203 in the placebo arm). The median time to alleviation of all COVID-19-related symptoms was 19.0 days (95% CI: 14.0, 21.0) in the ciclesonide arm and 19.0 days (95% CI: 16.0, 23.0) in the placebo arm. There was no difference in resolution of all symptoms by Day 30 (odds ratio [OR] 1.28, 95% CI: 0.84, 1.97). Participants treated with ciclesonide had fewer subsequent emergency department visits or hospital admissions for reasons attributable to COVID-19 (OR 0.18, 95% CI: 0.04 - 0.85). No subjects died during the study. Conclusions and Relevance Ciclesonide did not achieve the primary efficacy endpoint of time to alleviation of all COVID-19-related symptoms. Future studies of inhaled steroids are needed to explore their efficacy in patients with high risk for disease progression and in reducing the incidence of long-term COVID-19 symptoms or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.07.21261811v1" target="_blank">A randomized controlled trial of inhaled ciclesonide for outpatient treatment of symptomatic COVID-19 infections</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Safety and efficacy of the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in five groups of immunocompromised patients and healthy controls in a prospective open-label clinical trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Patients with immunocompromised disorders have mainly been excluded from clinical trials of vaccination against COVID-19. Thus, the aim of this prospective clinical trial was to investigate the safety and efficacy after two doses of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination in five selected groups of immunocompromised patients and healthy controls. Methods: 539 study subjects (449 patients and 90 controls) were included in the clinical trial. The patients had either primary (n=90), or secondary immunodeficiency disorders due to human immunodeficiency virus infection (n=90), allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation/chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (n=90), solid organ transplantation (SOT) (n=89), or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (n=90). The primary endpoint was seroconversion rate two weeks after the second dose. The secondary endpoints were safety and documented SARS-CoV-2 infection. Findings: Adverse events were generally mild, but one case of fatal suspected unexpected serious adverse reaction occurred. 72.2% of the immunocompromised patients seroconverted compared to 100% of the controls (p=0.004). Lowest seroconversion rates were found in the SOT (43.4%) and CLL (63.3%) patient groups with observed negative impact of treatment with mycophenolate mofetil and ibrutinib, respectively. Interpretation: The results showed that the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine was safe in immunocompromised patients. The rate of seroconversion was substantially lower than in healthy controls, with a wide range of rates and antibody titres among predefined patient groups and subgroups. This clinical trial highlights the need for additional vaccine doses in certain immunocompromised patient groups and/or subgroups to improve immunity.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.07.21263206v1" target="_blank">Safety and efficacy of the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in five groups of immunocompromised patients and healthy controls in a prospective open-label clinical trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Understanding a national increase in COVID-19 vaccination intention: a mixed methodological approach</strong> -
<div>
Recently the Netherlands saw a substantial increase in pro-COVID-19 vaccination intention (48 to 75%). Using qualitative methods we identified vaccination beliefs and contextual factors informing this increase. Quantitative methods confirm that intentions were a function of beliefs: people with stronger intention to vaccinate were motivated most by protecting others and reopening society, those reluctant were mostly concerned by (unknown long-term) side effects. We demonstrate that belief shifts track intentional shifts, and offer insights for improving pro-vaccination campaigns.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/rpc2g/" target="_blank">Understanding a national increase in COVID-19 vaccination intention: a mixed methodological approach</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Psychological correlates of attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines among Polish respondents – a snapshot study before the start of the massive vaccination campaign</strong> -
<div>
Background: COVID-19 vaccines are being recognized as a way to stop the ongoing pandemic. However, for this method to be effective, it requires a high level of people’s willingness to be vaccinated. In this context, measuring the psychological aspects of attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19 when the vaccine was developed but not yet distributed was of interest. Method: In a study conducted on a sample of 468 Polish participants, we measured attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine in the context of such variables as fear of COVID, the general tendency to conspiracy ideation and conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19, knowledge about vaccines, attitudes towards science, previous protective behaviors during a pandemic, perceived infectability and germ avoidance. We also tested the association of attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine with participants’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, gender, age, and level of education. Results: The analyses revealed correlations between attitudes towards the vaccine with most of the variables studied. A regression model with predictors such as fear of COVID, attitudes towards science, and conspiracy beliefs related to COVID-19 explained 46% of the variance of the attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. Male participants were more positive about the COVID-19 vaccine than female participants. Attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine were not related to personal experiences of the pandemic, the age, and the level of education of participants. Conclusion: The obtained results show the importance of psychological aspects concerning attitudes towards vaccination, which can be considered in designing preventive public interventions.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/czvda/" target="_blank">Psychological correlates of attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines among Polish respondents – a snapshot study before the start of the massive vaccination campaign</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An open label, adaptive, phase 1 trial of high-dose oral nitazoxanide in healthy volunteers: an antiviral candidate for SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Repurposing approved drugs may rapidly establish effective interventions during a public health crisis. This has yielded immunomodulatory treatments for severe COVID-19, but repurposed antivirals have not been successful to date because of redundancy of the target in vivo or suboptimal exposures at studied doses. Nitazoxanide is an FDA approved antiparasitic medicine, that physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling has indicated may provide antiviral concentrations across the dosing interval, when repurposed at higher than approved doses. Within the AGILE trial platform (NCT04746183) an open label, adaptive, phase 1 trial in healthy adult participants was undertaken with high dose nitazoxanide. Participants received 1500mg nitazoxanide orally twice-daily with food for 7 days. Primary outcomes were safety, tolerability, optimum dose and schedule. Intensive pharmacokinetic sampling was undertaken day 1 and 5 with Cmin sampling on day 3 and 7. Fourteen healthy participants were enrolled between 18th February and 11th May 2021. All 14 doses were completed by 10/14 participants. Nitazoxanide was safe and well tolerated with no significant adverse events. Moderate gastrointestinal disturbance (loose stools) occurred in 8 participants (57.1%), with urine and sclera discolouration in 12 (85.7%) and 9 (64.3%) participants, respectively, without clinically significant bilirubin elevation. This was self-limiting and resolved upon drug discontinuation. PBPK predictions were confirmed on day 1 but with underprediction at day 5. Median Cmin was above the in vitro target concentration on first dose and maintained throughout. Nitazoxanide administered at 1500mg BID with food was safe and well tolerated and a phase 1b/2a study is now being initiated in COVID-19 patients.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.10.21263376v1" target="_blank">An open label, adaptive, phase 1 trial of high-dose oral nitazoxanide in healthy volunteers: an antiviral candidate for SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The anticipated artificial increase in life expectancy from COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In 2020, life expectancy in the United States decreased by an estimated 1.5 years. Due to mortality displacement during the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy could soon rebound to above its pre-pandemic baseline. We estimated the size and duration of this artificial rise in life expectancy through 2030. We found that this rebound could persist for years and will likely be most pronounced in minority populations who suffered the highest rates of mortality during the pandemic. Accounting for this artificial rebound will be critical to avoid funneling resources away from populations that still urgently need them.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.09.21263351v1" target="_blank">The anticipated artificial increase in life expectancy from COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Global Experiment on Motivating Social Distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e. a controlling message) compared to no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly-internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message reduced feelings of defiance relative to the controlling message. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly-internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing: Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/n3dyf/" target="_blank">A Global Experiment on Motivating Social Distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Trauma Spillover in Social Networks</strong> -
<div>
Internet searches indicative of mental disorders rose in US counties when more people died of or fell ill with COVID-19 in other places— inside and outside US borders— with which they had strong ties over social media. Casualties within counties or in their vicinity, the stringency of COVID-19 response policies, and the seasonality of affective disorders do not account for the association; nor do characteristics fixed to counties or time. Social ties as defined by migration confirm the association. The results merit attention because internet search behavior predicts emergency department visits.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/t6b2y/" target="_blank">Trauma Spillover in Social Networks</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Determinants of Indonesian MSME Exports and Their Performance during the Covid-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
MSME proved resilient to crises, but its performance did not improve. Indonesian MSMEs when compared to other countries have low export competitiveness. The Covid-19 pandemic has weakened more than 50% of MSMEs. The research objectives are to analyze the simultaneous and partial effect of the rupiah against the US dollar exchange rate, the growth of MSME, investment, and bank credit on the export of MSME products; analyze the influence of MSME exports on GDP growth; and analyze the effect of MSME exports on employment; and to find out the export performance of MSME during the Covid-19 pandemic. Survey research with technical analysis of OLS Multiple Regression data on secondary data for the 2010-2020 quarter. Research results are: 1) Stability of the Rupiah/USD exchange rate, growth in the number of MSMEs, increased investment, and increased bank lending to the MSME sector as well as controlled inflation rates had a very significant impact on increasing exports of MSME products; 2) Exports of MSME products contribute greatly to GDP and have an impact on increasing people’s per capita income; 3) The increasing export value of MSME products encourages MSME entrepreneurs to continue to increase their productivity so that this sector can absorb a significant workforce; 4) MSME’s performance in the Covid-19 pandemic was shown by the decline in the value of exports and employment, but the number, investment, credit, and contribution to GDP continued to increase until the end of 2020.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/hxcjm/" target="_blank">Determinants of Indonesian MSME Exports and Their Performance during the Covid-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Streamlined use of protein structures in variant analysis</strong> -
<div>
Motivation: Variant analysis is a core task in bioinformatics that requires integrating data from many sources. This process can be helped by using 3D structures of proteins, which can provide a spatial context that can provide insight into how variants affect function. Many available tools can help with mapping variants onto structures; but each has specific restrictions, with the result that many researchers fail to benefit from valuable insights that could be gained from structural data. Results: To address this, we have created a streamlined system for incorporating 3D structures into variant analysis. Variants can be easily specified via URLs that are easily readable and writable, and use the notation recommended by the Human Genome Variation Society (HGVS). For example, ‘https://aquaria.app/SARS- CoV-2/S/?N501Y’ specifies the N501Y variant of SARS-CoV-2 S protein. In addition to mapping variants onto structures, our system provides summary information from multiple external resources, including COSMIC, CATH-FunVar, and PredictProtein. Furthermore, our system identifies and summarizes structures containing the variant, as well as the variant-position. Our system supports essentially any mutation for any well-studied protein, and uses all available structural data - including models inferred via very remote homology - integrated into a system that is fast and simple to use. By giving researchers easy, streamlined access to a wealth of structural information during variant analysis, our system will help in revealing novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying protein function in health and disease. Availability: Our resource is freely available at the project home page (https://aquaria.app). After peer review, the code will be openly available via a GPL version 2 license at https://github.com/ODonoghueLab/Aquaria. PSSH2, the database of sequence-to-structure alignments, is also freely available for download at https://zenodo.org/record/4279164.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.10.459756v1" target="_blank">Streamlined use of protein structures in variant analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Risk perception and personal responsibility during COVID-19: An experimental study of the role of imperative vs reasoning-based communication for self-isolation attitudes</strong> -
<div>
Individual decision-making about social distancing, self-quarantine and self-isolation is crucial in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. In the rapidly evolving pandemic, little is known about how different government communication strategies may systematically affect people’s attitudes to staying home or going out, nor the extent to which people perceive and process the risk of different scenarios. In this study, we report results from a sample of 581 participants (residing in the United Kingdom), and we examine the degree to which participants’ attitudes regarding the permissibility of leaving one’s home are (1) sensitive to different levels of risk of viral transmission in specific scenarios, (2) sensitive to communication framings that are either imperative or that invite reasoning about scenarios, or (3) creating “loopholes” for themselves when scenarios are framed with reference to the participants themselves rather than in general terms. We find that participants’ attitudes to social distancing are sensitive to the level of risk of transmission, and that when scenarios are framed in imperative terms, rather than when their reasoning is encouraged, participants have more impermissive attitudes to going out in Minimal Risk scenarios, with a trend of decreased permissiveness more generally; for self-loopholes, more research is needed to determine if participants make exceptions for themselves. Thus, subject to the limitations of this study, during phases where it is important to promote self-isolation for all scenarios, including those perceived to be low risk, imperative communication may be best.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/s7jeq/" target="_blank">Risk perception and personal responsibility during COVID-19: An experimental study of the role of imperative vs reasoning-based communication for self-isolation attitudes</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>High-dose Intravenous Vitamin C (HDIVC) as Adjuvant Therapy in Critical Patients With Positive COVID-19. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Dose-comparison Trial.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: High doses of intravenous vitamin C;   Drug: Dextrose 500 mL<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hugo Galindo<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>Developing and Testing a COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Intervention</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Vaccination<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Moving to COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Intervention<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   VA Office of Research and Development;   VA Bedford Healthcare System<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study on Safety and Clinical Efficacy of AZVUDINE in Initial Stage COVID-19 Patients (SARS-CoV-2 Infected)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: AZVUDINE;   Drug: AZVUDINE placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   HRH Holdngs Limited;   GALZU INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH, TEACHING, APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Brazil;   SANTA CASA DE MISERICORDIA DE CAMPOS HOSPITAL (SCMCH), Brazil;   UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DO NORTE FLUMINENSE (UENF), Brazil<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 Morbidity in Healthcare Workers and Vitamin D Supplementation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Vitamin D<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Federal State Budgetary Institution, V. A. Almazov Federal North-West Medical Research Centre, of the Ministry of Health<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Text Message Nudges for COVID-19 Vaccination</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Text message<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Ascension South East Michigan<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Pilot Study of a PhysiOthErapy-based Tailored Intervention for Long Covid</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Physiotherapy<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
University of Calgary;   Alberta Health Services<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>Quercetin in the Prevention of Covid-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Quercetin;   Combination Product: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Azienda di Servizi alla Persona di Pavia<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate Change in Viral Load After OPN-019 in Adults With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: OPN-019<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Optinose US 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>Physical Activity and Smell Trainings to Help Individuals With Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Recover From Persistent Smell and Taste Impairments - A Pilot Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Physical activity;   Other: Smell training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Université de Montréal<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>Phase 3 Study to Evaluate the Lot Consistency of a Recombinant Coronavirus-Like Particle COVID-19 Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: CoVLP formulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Medicago<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>Evaluation of the Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity of Inactivated COVID 19 Vaccine(TURKOVAC) in Healthy Population of 18 and 64 Years of Age (Both Inclusive):a Randomized, Double-blind, Phase IIb Clinical Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Triple dose vaccination by inactivated Covid19 vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Health Institutes of Turkey;   TC Erciyes University;   Kocak Farma;   Mene Research<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation in Long COVID-19 Patients With Persistent Breathlessness and Fatigue</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:  <br/>
Other: Cardiopulmonary exercise training<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Louis Bherer<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>Clinical Trial on Sequential Immunization of Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cells) and Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cells) in Population Aged 18 Years and Above</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO cell);   Biological: COVID-19 vaccine (Vero cells)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
National Vaccine and Serum Institute, China;   China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Abbott ID NOW COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Covid19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:  <br/>
Diagnostic Test: Buccal Swab- Copan flocked swab;   Diagnostic Test: Standard of Care COVID-19 swab<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Calgary;   Health Canada<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Colchicine Tablets in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Covid19;   Colchicine<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Colchicine Tablets;   Drug: Standard therapy<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center;   Kunming Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 3C-like protease antagonizes interferon-beta production by facilitating the degradation of IRF3</strong> - The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 is a great threat to global public health. However, the relationship between the viral pathogen SARS-CoV-2 and host innate immunity has not yet been well studied. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 encodes a viral protease called 3C-like protease. This protease is responsible for cleaving viral polyproteins during replication. In this investigation, 293T cells were transfected with SARS-CoV-2 3CL and then infected with Sendai virus (SeV) to induce the RIG-I like receptor…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Potential role of flavonoids against SARS-CoV-2 induced diarrhea</strong> - COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, can lead to massive inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract causing severe clinical symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 infects lungs after binding its spike proteins with alveolar angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and it also triggers inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. SARS-CoV-2 invades the gastrointestinal tract by interacting with Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) that induces the expression of ACE2. The influx of ACE2 facilitates cellular binding of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Diverse effects of clarithromycin and proposal of its clinical application for treating COVID-19 as a repurposing drug</strong> - Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has been declared a pandemic, which is a serious threat to human health. The disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Until now, several vaccines and a few drugs have been approved for the prevention and treatment for COVID-19. Recently, the effect of some macrolides including clarithromycin (CAM) on COVID-19 has attracted attention. CAM is known to have diverse effects including immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive effects, autophagy inhibition, steroid…</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>Probenecid inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in vivo and in vitro</strong> - Effective vaccines are slowing the COVID-19 pandemic, but SARS-CoV-2 will likely remain an issue in the future making it important to have therapeutics to treat patients. There are few options for treating patients with COVID-19. We show probenecid potently blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication in mammalian cells and virus replication in a hamster model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that plasma concentrations up to 50-fold higher than the protein binding adjusted IC(90) value are achievable for 24 h…</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>Decreased HD-MIR2911 absorption in human subjects with the SIDT1 polymorphism fails to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication</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>Potential of herbal products in prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Literature review</strong> - The COVID-19 epidemic is the greatest pandemic that human kind experienced for decades, with high morbidity and mortality. Despite recent development of vaccines there is still many severe cases of COVID-19. Unfortunately there is still no standardized therapies and treatment of severe cases is very challenging. The aim of this study is to indicate if herbs administered alone or as a complementary therapy could be used as prophylaxis or treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Over 85% of patients…</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>Supporting newly graduated medical doctors in managing COVID-19: An evaluation of a Massive Open Online Course in a limited-resource setting</strong> - INTRODUCTION: Newly graduated medical doctors in their internships are positioned to strengthen the front line in combating COVID-19. We developed a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to equip them with adequate knowledge for COVID-19 management. This paper aims to analyze the MOOC and evaluate participant satisfaction and increase in knowledge after completing the course.</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>Tie2 activation protects against prothrombotic endothelial dysfunction in COVID-19</strong> - Endothelial dysfunction accompanies the microvascular thrombosis commonly observed in severe COVID-19. Constitutively, the endothelial surface is anticoagulant, a property maintained at least in part via signaling through the Tie2 receptor. During inflammation, the Tie2 antagonist angiopoietin-2 (Angpt-2) is released from endothelial cells and inhibits Tie2, promoting a prothrombotic phenotypic shift. We sought to assess whether severe COVID-19 is associated with procoagulant endothelial…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pan-3C Protease Inhibitor Rupintrivir Binds SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease in a Unique Binding Mode</strong> - Rupintrivir targets the 3C cysteine proteases of the picornaviridae family, which includes rhinoviruses and enteroviruses that cause a range of human diseases. Despite being a pan-3C protease inhibitor, rupintrivir activity is extremely weak against the homologous 3C-like protease of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, the crystal structures of rupintrivir were determined bound to enterovirus 68 (EV68) 3C protease and the 3C-like main protease (M^(pro)) from SARS-CoV-2. While the EV68 3C…</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>Remdesivir and EIDD-1931 Interact with Human Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporters 1 and 2: Implications for Reaching SARS-CoV-2 Viral Sanctuary Sites</strong> - Equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs) are present at the blood-testis barrier (BTB), where they can facilitate antiviral drug disposition to eliminate a sanctuary site for viruses detectable in semen. The purpose of this study was to investigate ENT-drug interactions with three nucleoside analogs remdesivir, molnupiravir and its active metabolite, EIDD-1931 and four non-nucleoside molecules repurposed as antivirals for COVID-19. The study used 3D pharmacophores for ENT1 and ENT2…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identifying FDA-approved drugs with multimodal properties against COVID-19 using a data-driven approach and a lung organoid model of SARS-CoV-2 entry</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Small clinical studies reported that general statin use, and specifically, atorvastatin use, are associated with protective effects against COVID-19. Our study corroborrates these findings and supports the investigation of atorvastatin in larger clinical studies. Ultimately, our framework demonstrates one promising way to fast-track the identification of compounds for COVID-19, which could similarly be applied when tackling future pandemics.</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>Development of Effective Therapeutic Molecule from Natural Sources against Coronavirus Protease</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)) is one of the molecular targets for drug design. Effective vaccines have been identified as a long-term solution but the rate at which they are being administered is slow in several countries, and mutations of SARS-CoV-2 could render them less effective. Moreover, remdesivir seems to work only with some types of COVID-19 patients. Hence, the continuous investigation of new treatments for this disease is pivotal. This study investigated the inhibitory role…</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>Phosphorylation of SARS-CoV-2 Orf9b Regulates Its Targeting to Two Binding Sites in TOM70 and Recruitment of Hsp90</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is the causative agent of the COVID19 pandemic. The SARS- CoV-2 genome encodes for a small accessory protein termed Orf9b, which targets the mitochondrial outer membrane protein TOM70 in infected cells. TOM70 is involved in a signaling cascade that ultimately leads to the induction of type I interferons (IFN-I). This cascade depends on the recruitment of Hsp90-bound proteins to the N-terminal domain of TOM70. Binding of Orf9b to TOM70…</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 Insight into the Binding of Cyanovirin-N with the Spike Glycoprotein, M(pro) and PL(pro) of SARS-CoV-2: Protein-Protein Interactions, Dynamics Simulations and Free Energy Calculations</strong> - The emergence of COVID-19 continues to pose severe threats to global public health. The pandemic has infected over 171 million people and claimed more than 3.5 million lives to date. We investigated the binding potential of antiviral cyanobacterial proteins including cyanovirin-N, scytovirin and phycocyanin with fundamental proteins involved in attachment and replication of SARS-CoV-2. Cyanovirin-N displayed the highest binding energy scores (-16.8 ± 0.02 kcal/mol, -12.3 ± 0.03 kcal/mol 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>In silico evaluation of COVID-19 main protease interactions with honeybee natural products for discovery of high potential antiviral compounds</strong> - This research investigates antiviral potential of extracted honeybee products against COVID-19 main protease (Mpro) by computational methods. The crystal structure of COVID-19 Mpro was obtained from the protein data bank. Six synthetic drugs with antiviral properties were used as control samples in order to compare the results with those of natural ligands. The six honeybee components, namely 3,4,5-Tricaffeoylquinic acid, Kaempferol-3-O-glucoside, (E)-2’-Geranyl-3’,4’,7-Trihydroxyflavanone,…</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>MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUE TO ANALYSE THE CONDITION OF COVID-19 PATIENTS BASED ON THEIR SATURATION LEVELS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU335054861">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A HERB BASED COMPOSITION ANTI VIRAL MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF SARS COV 2 AND A METHOD FOR TREATING A PERSON INFECTED BY THE SARS COV 2 VIRUS</strong> - A Herbal composition, viz., PONNU MARUNTHU essentially comprising of ALLUIUM CEPA extract. [concentrated to 30%] 75%, SAPINDUS MUKOROSSI - extract [Optimised] 10%, CITRUS X LIMON - extract in its natural form 05 TRACYSPERMUM AMMI (L) – extract 07%,ROSA HYBRIDA - extract 03%, PONNU MARUNTHU solution 50 ml, or as a capsulated PONNU MARUNTHU can be given to SARS cov2 positive Patients, three times a day that is ½ an hour before food; continued for 3 days to 5 days and further taking it for 2 days if need be there; It will completely cure a person. When the SARS cov2 test shows negative this medicine can be discontinued. This indigenous medicine and method for treating a person inflicted with SARS COV 2 viral infection is quite effective in achieving of much needed remedy for the patients and saving precious lives from the pangs of death and ensuring better health of people. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN334865051">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU333857732">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Expression Vector for Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Neutralizing Antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU333857737">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>DEVELOPMENT OF CNN SCHEME FOR COVID-19 DISEASE DETECTION USING CHEST RADIOGRAPH</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU333857177">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=AU333402004">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19胸部CT图像识别方法、装置及电子设备</strong> - 本申请涉及一种COVID‑19胸部CT图像识别方法、装置及电子设备。所述方法获取COVID‑19的胸部CT图像，并针对胸部CT图像的特点，构建新冠肺炎CT识别网络，对该网络进行训练得到COVID‑19胸部CT图像识别模型，并利用该模型对待测CT图像进行分类。采用空洞卷积、深度卷积以及点卷积算子，减少冗余参数；采用并行结构连接方式，实现多尺度特征融合、降低模型复杂度；采用下采样方式，使用最大模糊池化以减少锯齿效应，保持信号的平移不变性；采用通道混洗操作，减少参数量与计算量，提高分类准确率，引入坐标注意力机制，使空间坐标信息与通道信息被关注，抑制不重要的信息，以解决资源匹配问题。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN335069870">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A PROCESS FOR PREPARING MONTELUKAST SODIUM FOR TREATING COVID 19 PATIENTS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU333857132">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IDENTIFICATION OF ANTI-COVID 19 AGENT SOMNIFERINE AS INHIBITOR OF MPRO &amp; ACE2-RBD INTERACTION</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU333857079">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种脂质化合物及包含其的脂质载体、核酸脂质纳米粒组合物和药物制剂</strong> - 本发明属于基因治疗技术领域，具体涉及一系列脂质化合物及包含其的脂质载体、核酸脂质纳米粒组合物和药物制剂。本发明提供的具有式（I）结构的化合物，可与其它脂质化合物共同制备脂质载体，展现出pH响应性，对核酸药物的包封效率高，大大提升了核酸药物在体内的递送效率；而且，可根据核酸药物需要富集的器官而选用特定结构的脂质化合物作为脂质载体，具有良好的市场应用前景。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN334878390">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>Preserving the Selfless Heroism of the Passengers of United Flight 93</strong> - In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the valor of the passengers and crew has become central to the history of 9/11. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-selfless-heroism-of-the-passengers-of-united-flight-93">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gavin Newsom and the Golden State’s Recall Fever</strong> - Recall campaigns happen all the time in California. What’s at stake in this one? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/california-chronicles/gavin-newsom-and-the-golden-states-recall-fever">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Waiting to Testify at R. Kelly’s Trial</strong> - Lizzette Martinez was allegedly abused by the R. &amp; B. star when she was a minor. Now she may be asked to testify against him. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/waiting-to-testify-at-r-kellys-trial">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Fall of the bin Ladens</strong> - The family might have thrived indefinitely after Osama’s death but for the ambitions of Mohammed bin Salman. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-fall-of-the-bin-ladens">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden’s Big News</strong> - Extra! Extra! Read all about it! - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/blitts-kvetchbook/bidens-big-news">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>How to end the American obsession with driving</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Afternoon traffic in Los Angeles with lots of cars on a wide highway crossed by overpasses." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mtsxARYtVto438pyxqVrHvi3yjg=/954x0:6427x4105/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69847421/1233506003.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Afternoon traffic in Los Angeles. Known as the capital of car culture, LA is notorious for its carbon emissions from the transportation sector. | Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To fight climate change, cities need to be designed with much more walking, biking, and public transit use in mind.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M2lZcG">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UCg95N">
This summer’s series of extreme wildfires, hurricanes, and tropical storms have made it more apparent than ever that the effects of climate change are here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UShj1U">
Limiting the damage caused by future disasters will require a whole-of-government approach — one not limited to what the federal government can do. There’s a host of ideas that states and municipalities could implement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in some of the world’s biggest polluters: American cities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RJ0QdL">
According to a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2021.696381/full">2021 study published in <em>Frontiers</em></a>, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles have some of the highest per-capita emissions totals in the world. The study broke down cities’ emissions based on sector, using the most recently available data (from 2009 and 2010), and found a large portion of those emissions come from transportation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NNxvxw">
<a href="https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions">Data from the EPA</a> shows that the transportation sector is actually the biggest source of pollution in the US, and that light-duty vehicles (or passenger cars) are responsible for 58 percent of those emissions. Overall, the EPA’s research — and the 2021 study — reinforce the fact that the transportation systems of American cities over-rely on cars in ways that are not sustainable should the US actually want to approach its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-
releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-
good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/">stated greenhouse gas reduction goal</a> of 50 percent by 2030, a number it has to reach in order to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius or less.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qJyWv5">
Reducing driving is difficult, however, because American cities, particularly those across the Southwest, are built for drivers. Biking and walking are often not options, and public transit, where it exists, does not typically serve trips that do not involve going from a city’s outskirts to its downtown or back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D6P6qP">
“There’s really only one rational way to get where you’re going, and it’s typically not direct,” said Jeff Speck, a city planner and the author of <em>Walkable City</em>. “It’s typically organized around the assumption of driving as the only viable transportation mode.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="onQtPx">
The greenhouse gases produced by this reality are not inevitable. They’re underwritten by federal, state, and local policy, from the initial construction of the interstate highway system to the recent <a href="https://www.vox.com/22621793/public-transit-funding-bipartisan-
infrastructure-bill">bipartisan infrastructure bill</a>, where the $39 billion in new funding for public transit is dwarfed by $110 billion for improving, expanding, and building new highways, bridges, and roads.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QCpHY8">
Transforming American cities to be more walkable isn’t easy, but there are measures local authorities can take to create a safer, more democratized transportation ecosystem that can positively affect the climate crisis. I spoke with several urban planners, transportation scholars, and advocates to learn about the most important strategies for curbing car reliance in cities. From those conversations arose the following solutions — all of which are implementable on the municipal level.
</p>
<h3 id="2ehkDK">
Make streets safer for bikes and pedestrians
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zhRgad">
Many of the car trips that people take are within biking distance — say, to dinner, or an activity like a movie theater. But people may choose to drive because riding would be dangerous. They might have to cross a highway or bike down roads where there are no bike lanes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="erKuWS">
Places where bike ownership thrives — which can be as big as a city like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capital-world-transport-
cycling-kindermoord">Amsterdam</a>, which has such a widespread bike network that cycling is favored over driving, or just a college campus — have prioritized bike and pedestrian safety over cars.
</p>
<div id="6sdvPQ">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Americans only love the college experience because it’s the only time in their lives they live in walkable communities
</p>
— ¡ ! (<span class="citation" data-cites="Bro_Neill">@Bro_Neill</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bro_Neill/status/1348355127216910336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WXvHLJ">
In most American cities, particularly in the suburbs, that’s not the case. And when the efficient movement of cars is considered paramount over the safety of any other mode, accidents and fatalities occur. The car- centric transportation system is contributing to a <a href="https://www.ghsa.org/resources/news-releases/GHSA/Ped-
Spotlight-Addendum21">consistent yearly uptick in pedestrian casualties</a>; they rose <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mind-boggling-pedestrian-deaths-surged-2020-despite-fewer-cars-
road-n1267910">21 percent in 2020</a>, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uBboWf">
“The problem is, the minute you leave the local [road], you probably enter an environment in which it’s not safe to bike because the bike lanes aren’t separate,” Speck said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FR6ahq">
By adding protected bike lines — separated from car lanes by a barrier for safety — biking becomes a safe, accessible alternative to shorter drives. Essentially, bike lanes have to be set apart by something other than “a scrap of paint,” said Ralph Buehler, the chair of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech. This is something that became clear during the first year of the pandemic: the GHSA found that 2020’s uptick in pedestrian deaths came despite traffic decreasing by up to <a href="https://inrix.com/scorecard/">about 42 percent</a> at the peak of the pandemic. Reducing traffic alone doesn’t make biking and walking safer; the streets themselves need to be redesigned with safety in mind.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5xKZuF">
This sort of redesign also incentivizes walking and biking. Speck’s research has found converting 12- to 14-foot-wide driving lanes into 10-foot-wide lanes slows average car speeds from 40 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour and creates room to either add bike lanes or street-side parallel parking, which better protects the sidewalk from traffic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hhLKLp">
And relatively inexpensive changes like turning one-way streets into two-way streets or lowering the curb radius so that cars slow down more when they make right turns are also proven to reduce crashes and injuries, Speck said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z02DMj">
<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448001/">Studies conducted in cities</a><strong> </strong>that have made such changes have found marked decreases in car use. <a href="https://thecityfix.com/blog/how-oslo-achieved-zero-pedestrian-and-bicycle-fatalities-and-how-others-can-apply-
what-worked/">Oslo has redesigned its roads</a> in high pedestrian traffic areas, such that 91 percent have speed limits under 40 miles per hour, while expanding its system of bike lanes. It saw a <a href="https://ecf.com/news-and-
events/news/city-oslo-joins-cities-regions-cyclists-network">77 percent increase</a> in bike traffic between 2014 and 2020.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GNpgWK">
There are American examples too. In Philadelphia, an investment in miles of protected bike lanes led to a nearly <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/census-transit-community-philadelphia-bike-train-
subway-bus-20181209.html">70 percent increase</a> in the number of people who biked to work from 2010 to 2017, even as congestion and public transit use worsened.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PUwj3V">
Buehler added that for such changes to be successful, there also needs to be connectivity across areas. If you’re taking a shorter trip to pick up takeout or grab a few groceries, much of it may be bike- or pedestrian-friendly — except for a critical highway juncture. To promote walking and biking, cities need to ensure that routes exist for human-powered transportation to every place the average person needs to go.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="52jD0x">
When I lived in Madrid, I could walk or take transit practically everywhere without ever crossing a highway that had no pedestrian infrastructure. I would take 30-minute walks home in the middle of the night from clubs, when the Metro was not running. Even in the dark, there were no crossings where I was unprotected as a pedestrian.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CiXTib">
Examples of similar connectivity can also be found in the US, Buehler said, most commonly with respect to schools.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kAvF8R">
“There’s a safe-route-to-school program that tries to design safe routes to school,” Buehler said. “You can also think about that to community centers. The main point is designing networks.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIYGdm">
Safe routes to school are a start, but to really promote biking and walking, cities need to develop safe routes to other places, like drugstores and restaurants, as well. There’s a very large obstacle to doing this at the moment, however: zoning.
</p>
<h3 id="YhemcV">
End single-family zoning to encourage mixed-use development
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SLAenI">
On its face, single-family zoning is a housing policy that creates quiet, uncrowded neighborhoods by restricting the development of apartments, townhouses, or any other dwelling that’s not a freestanding home. It’s incredibly prevalent in the US (75 percent of residential land is single-family zoned), and, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22252625/america-racist-housing-rules-how-to-fix">as my colleague Jerusalem Demsas</a> points out, it is incredibly harmful. It has had a racist impact, having been used to exclude people of color from certain neighborhoods, and it overall increases the cost of housing by limiting supply.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aW9FEJ">
Another problem with single-family zoning is that it encourages car usage:<strong> </strong>In areas zoned for single families, there can be little development;<strong> </strong>the idea is people live in one area and then access workplaces, leisure activities, and stores via car.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nzIndH">
“We zoned and created bento boxes,” said Brian Jencek, the director of planning at HOK, a planning and design firm. “Never let the gravy and rice touch. … Now we want stew, but we have to undo over a century of American planning.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PE2Q9H">
The best way to make that stew is to create mixed-use development, which facilitates what Jencek calls the 20-minute city, meaning you’re never more than a 20-minute walk from everything you might need, from jobs and schools to pharmacies and clinics to community centers and parks. In a mixed-use city, that’s possible. But in most American suburbs, single-family zoning does not allow for it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BzM63t">
Going back to my Madrid example, mixed-use development meant that nearly everything was within walking distance. From my neighborhood, I could walk to school, stop at a bakery along the way, get any beauty services at a salon on the way home, and meet my friends for dinner at night. I walked or took public transit everywhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NXkyE2">
Compare that to my grandparents’ house, in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Due to single-family zoning, the only activity we can walk to is to see my cousins who also live in the suburb. Any restaurant, appointment, or shopping has to be a car trip.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vFttbG">
Razing West Bloomfield and rebuilding it as a 20-minute city isn’t really feasible. But one change that could encourage the development of walkable cities over time, Speck said, is eliminating<strong> </strong>single-family zoning in areas that are within walking distance of transit stops. Doing so would encourage the development of commercial spaces, which would benefit residents in the area; and those not living near the new services would be able to access them via public transit, lessening the need for a car.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bQOVHK">
Upzoning near transit also means that homeowners could add accessory dwelling units, or granny flats — a detached housing unit — on a lot, Speck said, helping to situate middle- and low-income people near transit, easing the housing crisis and putting more people in walkable and transit-accessible communities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dRl3VL">
While increased development is often associated with rising property values and gentrification, Jencek said mixed-use development, done with community input, can create the economic benefits of development without pricing people out. The end result of rezoning would look different in different neighborhoods but does not necessarily mean a complete overhaul of a community. It could just mean adding a one-acre community park to a neighborhood without recreation access or creating a network of safer, slower streets to invite restaurants to expand their outdoor seating.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xSeKB8">
The idea is simple: Add a new land use to a neighborhood, creating an activity or business site that is accessible without a car.
</p>
<h3 id="MCVkPQ">
Make drivers pay the costs of driving
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PRSumN">
The first two solutions focused on making driving less necessary. But people don’t always drive because they need to — they often do so because it is convenient and cheap.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2nUYLZ">
It’s true that the upfront cost of a car is high, and there is gas and insurance. But drivers’ other costs — road maintenance, traffic lights, and policing, for instance — are heavily subsidized.<strong> </strong>Speck said estimates place the subsidization of driving at $10 for every dollar a driver spends as opposed to $1.50 for public transit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBhvOb">
Much of that subsidization comes in the form of taxes, which people pay whether they drive or not, but there are a lot of indirect costs as well: In higher-income households, people use highways but do not have to pay for the noise and emissions in the low-income neighborhoods that highways run through, for example. And the climate costs of mass driving affect everyone, regardless of car ownership.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ycRU11">
One solution to this is congestion pricing, where drivers must pay a fee to drive in high-traffic areas or during peak hours. Central London imposes congestion pricing, and New York City has plans to do so, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/nyregion/new-york-congestion-pricing.html">though they may not materialize</a>. Another idea is to increase the gas tax, so that actual drivers are paying the costs of car infrastructure rather than general taxation. Both of these price controls could disincentivize driving.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VPG3J2">
But many experts believe making driving less convenient would do more to limit car usage, and one easy way to do this is to reduce the supply of parking.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T7t3rD">
Every mode of transportation needs a terminal. Planes have airports and boats have seaports, both of which require travelers and companies to pay. But for cars, parking “is capitalized into the costs of the goods you buy,” Brian Taylor, the director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said. Think about your local grocery store — the parking lot is often larger than the actual commercial space, and it’s free. The grocery store is expected to pay for the parking lot through the revenue it generates from sales.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UQxAmB">
“We treat that as sacrosanct,” Taylor said. “The default is that the storage of private vehicles tends to get priority if you look at how we’ve allocated curb space. And that creates all sorts of problems.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1le0h6">
Delivery vehicles and rideshares that need to pull up on the curb have no space, so they halt traffic. Traffic is generated by people circling and looking for parking, knowing they can park on the street for free instead of paying for a garage. And because city governments mandate parking requirements for most types of development, commercial development — and therefore connectivity — is stunted by the need for parking.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9CBE9">
Most American cities require parking minimums, meaning new apartment buildings and developments have to cordon off a certain amount of space for people to leave their car, either for free or for a rate much lower than the market price, considering how valuable that space is.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EfzRvO">
If cities removed their minimum parking requirements for developers, there would be far less incentive to provide free parking. A private developer would likely still build some off-street parking — but they would charge for it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P4lZ2X">
In Los Angeles, for example, Taylor said the real cost of an underground parking space might be $60,000. So a condo that costs $520,000, and comes with two underground parking spaces, could instead be sold at $360,000, with owners offering parking at its real cost of $60,000 per space. In that scenario, a family might forgo a second car and get an electric bike instead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KbMeVU">
To disincentivize street parking, Taylor suggested municipalities raise the price at meters, manage curbs differently, or remove parking altogether in some areas and only allow loading, unloading, and scooter and bike traffic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DB8ItR">
These are all strategies that would need to be rolled out in tandem with expanding connectivity, particularly with public transit. It is easy to imagine a situation in which gas taxes and expensive meters begin to primarily hurt low-income communities with zero access to public transportation, for instance. But once other options are in place,<strong> </strong>imposing the costs of parking on drivers would make driving more like going to a restaurant for dinner, Taylor said: You don’t do it every night, but it’s enjoyable when you do.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5rhjMH">
“If people were more responsible, in one way or another, for those costs, they’d be much more judicious of their use,” Taylor said. “Instead of being the default of every trip, it would be one among an array of choices that have advantages and disadvantages.”
</p>
<h3 id="4cY2pH">
What’s in the way of reducing car usage?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YI4KYY">
The free market did not create car supremacy by itself, though the government played a big role. The government has the power to change how city-dwelling Americans use their cars, but doing so on the scale needed to truly combat climate change isn’t easy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1suUar">
City planners contend with regulations that promote driving, and politicians who want to change those are often met with pushback from constituents. In overcoming this, it’s important to remember that not every change needs to be a grand one — yes, a gas tax hike might help but so will more popular measures like bike lanes. And incremental advances, like new zoning regulations rolled out a few neighborhoods at a time, for instance, could have a large impact in the long run.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DL0OkY">
Also, a multimodal city does not mean cars will be obsolete. Some trips, like to a hardware store, will always necessitate vehicles, and there’s a role for ridesharing as well. But policies are needed to ensure other modes receive a fair shot. It’ll make us safer, <a href="https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2017/03/06/great-idea-street-networks">maybe happier</a>, and will give our planet a better chance of survival.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>CDC study: Unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die of Covid-19</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A high school student sits wearing a mask as a nurse administers a Covid vaccine shot." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8ls3oi7YgmVStgWDPs9HO5D2VyA=/500x0:4500x3000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69845670/1234976370.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A nurse gives a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shot to Gizelle Carrillo, 14, at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, California, on August 30, 2021. | Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A trio of new studies from the CDC show that Covid-19 vaccines remain highly effective against severe illness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DwDLId">
As the Biden administration <a href="https://www.vox.com/22666625/biden-vaccine-mandate-covid-19-supreme-court-osha-constitution-legal">steps up its efforts</a> to get shots in arms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7037e1.htm?s_cid=mm7037e1_w">new study</a> Friday that underscores the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines against serious illness or death.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hFWg4q">
The study, which examined hospitalizations and deaths from Covid-19 over a period of more than three months, found that unvaccinated people are more than 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than those who have been vaccinated, and 11 times more likely to die of the virus, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/09/10/press-briefing-
by-white-house-covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-55/">according to CDC director Rochelle Walensky</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JEaUn7">
The study — as well as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7037e3.htm?s_cid=mm7037e3_w">two</a> <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7037e2.htm?s_cid=mm7037e2_w">others</a> also released Friday by the CDC — is still an early release, meaning that there could be changes in the final version. But the findings nonetheless provide some clarity about the state of the pandemic as the delta variant makes its mark on communities throughout the country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bbY0qX">
As the delta variant <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-
proportions">became more widespread in the US</a> over the course of the summer, the study also found that protection against initial infections fell slightly — but the vaccine’s “effectiveness against hospitalization and death showed barely any decline during the entire period,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/10/moderna-most-
effective-covid-vaccine-studies/">according to the Washington Post</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wKASqR">
<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7037e2.htm?s_cid=mm7037e2_w">Another of the studies</a> confirmed that effectiveness remains high across the board. The three vaccines available in the US — made by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson &amp; Johnson — are 86 percent effective at preventing hospitalization from Covid-19, and 82 percent effective at preventing visits to the emergency room or urgent care because of the virus, according to the study’s findings. Researchers also found that Moderna is the most effective at preventing hospitalizations, at 95 percent, with the Johnson &amp; Johnson shot providing about 60 percent protection against hospitalizations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4s0xLR">
Despite the remarkable effectiveness of the Covid vaccines, however, the virus continues to run rampant in the US as the country struggles with <a href="https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/1436751573095440388?s=20">resistance to the vaccine</a>.
</p>
<div id="xbt8d5">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
With Japan overtaking the United States in vaccinations, the US now has the lowest vaccination rate in the G7 despite its head start. <a href="https://t.co/JIfJGVK61K">pic.twitter.com/JIfJGVK61K</a>
</p>
— Michael Li 李之樸 (<span class="citation" data-cites="mcpli">@mcpli</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/mcpli/status/1436751573095440388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4DSv5y">
Americans are still lagging behind other wealthy countries in vaccine uptake, and only 52.76 percent of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/11/world/covid-delta-
variant-vaccine#us-vaccination-rate-low">according to the New York Times</a>. Only about 700,000 vaccine doses are being administered each day in the US — about 300,000 fewer than Japan’s vaccination program is currently reporting, despite Japan’s smaller population.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uJcJCP">
Currently, the US is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">averaging</a> nearly 146,000 new Covid-19 cases per day, compared to less than 12,000 new cases per day at points in June this year. At the pandemic’s peak this winter, the country was reporting more than 250,000 cases per day on average.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hZrCAc">
But a new movement toward stricter vaccine requirements coincides with a seven percent decrease in daily reported Covid-19 cases over the past two weeks, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">the New York Times</a>. Testing is also up 21 percent over the same period, with an average of more than 1.6 million tests being administered per day.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m61qgb">
Deaths, however — which tend to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/6/21314472/covid-19-coronavirus-us-
cases-deaths-trends-wtf">lag spikes in new cases</a> — are currently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html">increasing</a> in the US. As of Friday, the country was averaging more than 1,600 deaths per day from the virus.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UvCyGH">
While this last statistic is grim, however, there are signs that the delta-fueled surge in cases over the summer is at least leveling off as more people get vaccinated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cVqg0a">
Cases in Mississippi, where the virus has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-cbc4d9aa87d4f74991f9bea959bf0939">strained hospital capacity</a> to beyond its limits, are down by a third over the past two weeks. In Tennessee, which currently has the most cases per capita of any state, the <a href="https://www.tn.gov/health/news/2021/8/6/tennesseans-
respond%E2%80%94covid-19-vaccinations-up-47%E2%80%94to-start-national-immunization-month.html">vaccination rate</a> increased by 47 percent from July 12 to August 2, and the rate at which infections are increasing in the state has started to slow.
</p>
<h3 id="jBe5kV">
“Our patience is wearing thin”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nHfDWr">
As the US continues to struggle with Covid-19, President Joe Biden on Thursday <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/us/politics/biden-mandates-
vaccines.html">announced</a> that all businesses with more than 100 employees must require either vaccination or weekly Covid-19 testing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FNIMLH">
“Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated, even though the vaccine is safe, effective, and free,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-
room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/09/remarks-by-president-biden-on-fighting-the-covid-19-pandemic-3/">Biden said</a> at a press conference on Thursday, decrying what he referred to as the “pandemic politics” of Republican leaders who have downplayed Covid-19, spread disinformation, and fought against measures like inoculation and mask-wearing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dnE42a">
“We cannot allow these actions to stand in the way of protecting the large majority of Americans who have done their part and want to get back to life as normal,” Biden said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xXAc01">
Corporate America is also warming to vaccine mandates, with major companies like United Airlines and Tyson Foods implementing vaccine requirements for their workers. United set a deadline of September 27 for all of its US-based employees to be vaccinated, and it says that more than half of its previously unvaccinated employees have now been vaccinated, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035475948/unvaccinated-united-airlines-employees-to-be-put-on-temporary-
leave">NPR</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="VGrKZP">
Pediatric Covid-19 cases are on the rise
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qV3wni">
Despite the significant protection afforded by vaccines, however, not everyone is eligible yet. The Food and Drug Administration has yet to authorize a Covid-19 vaccine for children younger than 12, and pediatric Covid-19 cases are surging as children head back to in-person schooling — particularly in states that have rebuffed mask mandates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2QeaJ9">
<a href="https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/news/2021-2022-school-year-calendar">New York City public schools</a>, the largest school system in the country, will test its own Covid-19 policies on Monday as the school year begins. All employees of New York City’s Department of Education <a href="https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/health-and-
wellness/covid-information/health-and-safety-in-our-schools">are required</a> to be fully vaccinated by September 27.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WQvUlZ">
That’s <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-13/lausd-orders-teachers-get-
covid-19-vaccine">also the case</a> in Los Angeles, which on Thursday became the first major public school district in the US to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/09/us/los-angeles-schools-vaccine-mandate-students/index.html">mandate Covid-19 vaccines for all eligible students</a> as well as for teachers after an unanimous vote by the school board.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cnD45H">
In Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis is currently fighting to prevent districts from requiring masks, pediatric deaths from Covid-19 have more than doubled since July. While the number of deaths is still extremely low relative to other age groups — only 17 children have died from Covid-19 in the state since the beginning of the pandemic — seven of those deaths were between March 2020, when the outbreak began in the US, and July 2021, a period of 15 months. The remaining 10 occurred after July 30 this year, <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2021/09/09/child-covid-fatalities-nearly-double-in-
florida-1390807">Politico</a> reported Thursday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v1TC5V">
Additionally, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2021/09/10/biden-administration-opens-investigation-into-floridas-
school-masking-policies-1390924">Politico</a>, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the Florida public education system’s anti-mask mandate policy. In a <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/f/?id=0000017b-d1cf-d916-ad7b-f7cf86d10000">letter</a> to Robert Corcoran, commissioner of Florida’s Department of Education, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Suzanne Goldberg warned that the policy could violate the civil rights of children with disabilities by preventing them from “safely returning to in-person education.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3VPK7d">
Given the increase in pediatric cases — and scrutiny of in-school Covid-19 prevention policies — the pressure is on for vaccine manufacturers to determine whether their inoculations are safe for use in children.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sbdxd7">
According to German news outlet Der Spiegel, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/biontech-seek-approval-soon-vaccine-5-11-year-olds-
spiegel-2021-09-10/">BioNTech</a> will share the results of its clinical trials on children ages 5 to 11 this month, seeking global approval of the vaccine for use in this age group.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QfSah1">
That could mean the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine could be authorized for children in that age group as soon as the end of October, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/exclusive-us-decision-pfizer-covid-19-shot-kids-
age-5-11-could-come-october-2021-09-10/">Reuters</a> reported Friday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7caOX4">
BioNTech, which has partnered with Pfizer to manufacture its vaccine, also has a plan to seek approval for use in children ages 6 months to 2 years by the end of the year, and Moderna said that it has filled its roster for clinical trials of its vaccine in children ages 6 to 11 and is working on determining an appropriate dosage for children as young as 6 months.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F2RLev">
In the meantime, however, Biden officials have emphasized that widespread vaccine uptake among people who are eligible for the vaccine is the best way to keep pediatric Covid-19 cases low.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZSiZQA">
“That’s why this collective responsibility we have as a society to make sure we are not only taking care of our own health, but reducing the chances we pass a virus on to somebody who’s more vulnerable — that’s why this is so important,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/09/10/press-briefing-by-white-house-
covid-19-response-team-and-public-health-officials-55/">said on Friday</a>. “And that’s what the efforts that the President announced yesterday will help us do: reduce transmission, protect lives, and protect our children as well.”
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Are Biden’s new vaccine requirements legal?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="President Biden stands in a middle school classroom where several students are seated and
raising their hands." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZZzdx50e-gwdil_XszoqAbscBS4=/90x0:2661x1928/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69844060/GettyImages_1235161912_copy.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
President Biden visited Brookland Middle School in Washington, DC, to speak about coronavirus protections on September 10. | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They probably are, but that doesn’t mean that a right-wing judiciary will uphold them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vG5eTR">
On Thursday, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/09/remarks-by-president-biden-on-fighting-the-
covid-19-pandemic-3/">voiced the frustrations</a> that millions of vaccinated Americans have expressed to each other for months. The US economy is still being squeezed, and many Americans’ lives are in danger, because there is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” caused by “nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Da1oy6">
He also announced several new policies intended to encourage vaccination. The most potent is a rule requiring large employers to protect their workers from unvaccinated colleagues by requiring either vaccination or weekly testing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eVT1Gy">
“The Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week,” Biden revealed. Additionally, the Labor Department will “require employers with 100 or more workers to give those workers paid time off to get vaccinated.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YAfwCm">
That immediately raised the question of whether the Labor Department can actually do that. In response to Biden’s announcement, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/us/republican-governors-mandate-reaction.html">several GOP governors</a> immediately promised litigation, even though it is <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-840_6jfm.pdf">far from clear</a> why a state, not a private employer, would be the proper plaintiff to bring such a lawsuit.
</p>
<div id="hinji1">
<blockquote class="twitter- tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
I will pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration.
</p>
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (<span class="citation" data-cites="GovKemp">@GovKemp</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKemp/status/1436078242574868486?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<div id="74mtK0">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
I have asked the Attorney General to stand prepared to take all actions to oppose this administration’s unconstitutional overreach of executive power. It has no place in America. Not now, and not ever.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">— Governor Mark Gordon (<span class="citation" data-cites="GovernorGordon">@GovernorGordon</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovernorGordon/status/1436092158960824334?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2021</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NzCKFK">
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: <a href="https://www.vox.com/22599791/covid-vaccine-mandate-legal-joe-biden-supreme-court-jacobson-massachusetts-boss-
employer">Vaccine mandates are not unconstitutional</a>. The Supreme Court upheld a local health board’s decision to mandate smallpox vaccinations in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/197/11"><em>Jacobson v. Massachusetts</em></a> (1905). And states routinely require nearly all school-age children to receive a long list of vaccines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gvVwGm">
In Georgia, for example, nearly all children <a href="https://dph.georgia.gov/schoolvaccines">must be vaccinated against many diseases</a>, including polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, meningitis, and septicemia.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dDxWE6">
But just because the Constitution permits the government to require vaccines does not necessarily mean that the Labor Department may, as Biden says it will, issue a binding rule requiring large employers to encourage vaccination. The Labor Department may only act pursuant to an act of Congress. So unless Congress passes a new law, the department must rely on an existing statute if it wishes to regulate employers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fi65qe">
There is a strong argument, however, that the <a href="https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/oshact/completeoshact">Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970</a> (OSH) permits the Labor Department to act. Among other things, that law permits the secretary of labor to issue an “emergency temporary standard” regarding workplace health or safety if they determine that “employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful,” and that such a standard is “necessary to protect employees from such danger.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZWe2yI">
The delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a substance or agent that is physically harmful. Still, employers who object to the Labor Department’s new rules might claim that Covid-19 does not present a sufficiently “grave danger” to justify implementing an emergency standard. Or they might argue that the particular rule announced by President Biden is not “necessary” to protect workers from Covid-19.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u4Nw5W">
Under existing case law, the Biden administration likely could overcome these objections. But they will also have to present their case to a judiciary that is dominated by Republican appointees and that has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/7/27/22594374/courts-covid-delta-pandemic-supreme-court-brett-
kavanaugh-public-health-destroy">handed down several decisions</a> undercutting public health rules intended to prevent the spread of Covid-19. So there’s no guarantee these courts will follow existing law.
</p>
<aside id="9jSEbB">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XtDw2W">
The bottom line is that the fate of the new vaccination rules is uncertain. There is fairly little case law interpreting the Labor Department’s power to issue emergency standards, and there is no guarantee that an increasingly conservative judiciary will treat existing case law as binding.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uhSvTU">
But if the courts eventually strike down the Labor Department’s rule, it matters a great deal <em>when</em> they do so. If the rule is in effect for several months, even if the Supreme Court eventually decides to repeal it, many employers are likely to comply with it voluntarily — and millions of Americans could be vaccinated while the rule is in effect.
</p>
<h3 id="frAaPQ">
When can the Labor Department issue an “emergency temporary standard”?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2b8Fm8">
The Occupational Safety and Health Act gives the Labor Department very broad authority to protect workers’ health and safety. Under the law, the secretary may <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/655">issue binding regulations</a> “to serve the objectives” of the statute. It enumerates several purposes that it is intended to achieve, including “authorizing the Secretary of Labor to <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/651">set mandatory occupational safety and health standards</a> applicable to businesses affecting interstate commerce,” and “providing medical criteria which will assure insofar as practicable that no employee will suffer diminished health, functional capacity, or life expectancy as a result of his work experience.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kEcnkW">
Yet while the law gives the department a great deal of power to issue regulations, it normally may only do so in a <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46288">lumbering, protracted process</a> that typically takes years to complete. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency within the Labor Department, often spends months or years meeting with stakeholders within an industry before proposing a new rule. The proposed rule must be announced to the public to give people who may be affected by the rule an opportunity to comment. Then OSHA must take these comments into account while devising a final rule.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sxd5Hl">
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the whole process, on average, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46288">takes seven years and nine months</a> — meaning that, if the Biden administration started that process now in order to push out a vaccination rule, President Biden could be out of office by the time that rule is finalized.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yB7INg">
The law also has a rarely invoked provision permitting OSHA to bypass this long process and issue an emergency temporary standard, which may remain in place for up to six months. Although this provision has not been used very often in the past, the Biden administration <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46288">did use it last June</a> to implement new, Covid-related rules governing health care employers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="htYnWe">
Litigation challenging the Biden administration’s new vaccination rules is likely to focus on whether the Covid-19 pandemic meets the legal standard required to issue such an emergency rule — including whether Covid-19 presents a “grave danger” and whether the administration’s proposed rule is “necessary” to protect workers from that danger.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LJnkYvH5jcTRNZUo-
C_b9Gk735Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22840900/GettyImages_1235150503_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
On Thursday, President Biden announced several new policies to encourage vaccination including requiring large employers to protect their workers from unvaccinated colleagues by requiring either vaccination or weekly testing.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mRVyI6">
Prior to the pandemic, the last time OSHA attempted to issue an emergency standard <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46288">was 1983</a>, when the Reagan administration tried to reduce the amount of asbestos workers could be exposed to by 75 percent. That rule was eventually struck down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, although on fairly narrow grounds, and in an opinion that suggests OSHA has a fair amount of discretion to decide when an emergency standard is warranted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1akDZf">
Significantly, the Fifth Circuit’s opinion in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2262513958944201057&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr"><em>Asbestos Information Association v. OSHA</em></a> (1984) holds that courts should not second-guess the agency’s determination that a particular health hazard presents a “grave danger” to workers. “Gravity of danger is a policy decision committed to OSHA, not to the courts,” according to the Fifth Circuit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5tr2Bn">
Moreover, even if the courts were to make such judgments, the Fifth Circuit’s opinion suggests that health hazards that are far less threatening than Covid-19 can still be a “grave danger.” According to OSHA, the Reagan administration rule at issue in <em>Asbestos Information Association</em> was expected to save “eighty lives out of an estimated worker population of 375,399” during the six-month period that it would have been in effect — far fewer than the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to Covid-19.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jkKmO6">
And yet, the Fifth Circuit explained that “the Secretary determined that eighty lives at risk is a grave danger. We are not prepared to say it is not.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tk6Kmn">
While <em>Asbestos Information Association</em> has some good news for the Biden administration, the court’s opinion also suggests that OSHA may carry a difficult burden of proof when it claims that an emergency standard is “necessary” to protect workers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cTHYf9">
The Fifth Circuit did not rule on whether the Reagan-era asbestos standards were “necessary,” but it did strike down those standards because OSHA failed to consider alternative rules, such as requiring employers to provide respirators to their workers that could filter out asbestos.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cG7qkd">
Under the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, OSHA could have potentially reissued the same emergency asbestos standards if it had explained why alternatives such as respirators are inadequate. But OSHA had to actually do that work.
</p>
<h3 id="0xSnb6">
So are the courts likely to uphold the Biden administration’s vaccination rules?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BfpjKv">
One piece of good news for the Biden administration is that anyone challenging an emergency temporary standard must <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/660">file a petition in a United States Court of Appeals</a>, not in the federal district courts that normally try cases prior to appeals. That will prevent these challengers from seeking out one of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/2/22360341/obamacare-lawsuit-supreme-court-little-sisters-kelley-
becerra-reed-oconnor-nondelegation">several</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/25/22299197/trump-judge-drew-tipton-
biden-deportation-immigration-texas-united-states-injunction-supreme-court">district</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/17/22627107/trump-judge-remain-in-mexico-matthew-kacsmaryk-immigration-asylum-joe-
biden-donald-trump">judges</a> with well-earned reputations as conservative ideologues who can often be relied on to block Democratic policies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nAvuk5">
That said, many federal appeals courts, including the Fifth Circuit, are now <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/9/20962980/trump-supreme-court-federal-judges">dominated by Trump appointees</a> and other right-wing Republicans. So it is likely that at least one lawsuit challenging the new vaccine rules will wind up before a hostile panel of judges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qKdxdV">
The Fifth Circuit’s opinion in <em>Asbestos Information Association</em> suggests one way that judges acting in bad faith might sabotage the new vaccine rules. That opinion implies that OSHA must consider all reasonable alternatives to a new policy, and explain why those alternatives are inadequate. (We won’t know why the Biden administration believes that alternatives such as mask requirements are inadequate until OSHA formally issues the document implementing the new policy.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uxpzq9">
But a hostile panel might also force OSHA to consider <em>unreasonable</em> alternatives, and then send the vaccination rule back to the drawing board because OSHA failed to explain why it couldn’t require unvaccinated employees to wear hazmat suits or to seal themselves up in a hermetic bubble.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="roRmJY">
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is also <a href="https://www.vox.com/22276279/supreme-court-war-joe-biden-agency-regulation-administrative-
neil-gorsuch-epa-nondelegation">increasingly hostile</a> to federal statutes that grant broad regulatory authority to federal agencies, and may view a challenge to new vaccine rules as a good opportunity to diminish OSHA’s authority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fCUAuK">
Last month, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a23_ap6c.pdf"><em>Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS</em></a>, the Supreme Court struck down a moratorium on many evictions promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC claimed that such a moratorium is justified because it would prevent the spread of Covid-19 by people who lost their homes and had to seek shelter with friends or in homeless shelters. And the CDC relied on a broadly worded statute permitting it to “make and enforce such regulations as in [its] judgment are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases.”
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Nevertheless, a majority of the justices construed this statute narrowly to prohibit the eviction moratorium.
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There are some important distinctions between the statute at issue in <em>Alabama Association of Realtors</em> and the text of OSH. The statute at issue in the eviction moratorium case contained some language that, at least according to a majority of the justices, should be read to limit the CDC’s authority to actions to “inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, [and] destruction of animals or articles.” OSH does not contain similar language.
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That said, a major thrust of the Court’s opinion in <em>Alabama Association of Realtors</em> was that the CDC claimed a “breathtaking amount of authority,” and that no previous CDC regulation issued under the same statutory provision “has even begun to approach the size or scope of the eviction moratorium.”
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These are not legal judgments so much as value judgments. A majority of the Supreme Court was more uncomfortable with a federal agency having the power to halt evictions en masse than it was with the possibility that people who lost their homes might spread a deadly disease. It’s not hard to imagine the same justices applying a similar value judgment to the Biden administration’s vaccine rules.
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All of which is a long way of saying that the fate of those rules is likely to turn less on what OSH (or any other federal law) actually says, and more on whether at least five members of the Supreme Court agree with Biden’s policy.
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The man elected to govern the United States has come up with a plan to fight Covid-19. It’s now up to a panel of unelected justices to tell us if he can implement it.
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<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>Sri Lanka names Twenty20 World Cup squad</strong> - The squad consists six batsmen, five all-rounders and four bowlers.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2021 | Delhi Capitals players from England arrive in Dubai</strong> - The 2021 IPL, which was suspended in May owing to a COVID-19 outbreak in its bubble, will resume in the UAE from September 19.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Italian GP | Bottas wins sprint but Verstappen on pole at Monza</strong> - McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo will join Verstappen on the front row for the first time since the pair were teammates at Red Bull in 2018</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>Britain’s Salisbury gets U.S. Open doubles double with mixed title</strong> - Krawczyk became only the seventh player in the Open era to win three mixed doubles Slam titles in the same year</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>Fernandez pays tribute to New York City on anniversary of 9/11</strong> - The touching speech from an emotional Fernandez drew loud applause from the crowd and plenty of praise across social media.</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>Kandahar 1999 episode worst capitulation to terrorists in India’s modern history: Subramanian Swamy</strong> - At least 154 Indian Airlines passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Don’t know the context of Patil’s statement: Shettar</strong> - Former chief minister and BJP leader Jagadish Shettar has said that he didnot know in what context former minister Shrimant Patil had made statement</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>PM Modi writes to Akshay Kumar on demise of actor’s mother, latter says ‘grateful’ for the gesture</strong> - The letter noted how Kumar tasted success after immense hard work and struggle, an achievement in which his mother’s support was also paramount</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>AAP to contest all seats in U.P. assembly polls, not in talks for any alliance: Sanjay Singh</strong> - The AAP had earlier tested poll waters in the 2014 and 2019 Parliamentary elections on some selected seats in Uttar Pradesh without any success.</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>Zomato to stop grocery delivery service from Sep 17</strong> - Zomato had launched the pilot grocery delivery service in July this year in select markets offering grocery delivery within 45 minutes to its customers.</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>Pope warns of anti-Semitism as he visits Hungary</strong> - Francis also meets PM Viktor Orban, who holds starkly divergent views on immigration and refugees.</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>Venice Film Festival: Abortion drama wins top prize</strong> - Audrey Diwan’s Happening is set in 1960s France but comes amid debate over strict new laws in Texas.</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>Agnès Buzyn: France ex-health minister under investigation</strong> - Ex-health chief Agnès Buzyn is investigated for “endangering lives” in the management of the crisis.</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>Yes Sir, I Can Boogie singer dies aged 69</strong> - María Mendiola, one of the members of the duo Baccara, has died in Madrid at the age of 69.</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>Pantelleria: Two killed as tornado hits Italian island</strong> - Nine others were injured as the whirlwind overturned cars on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria.</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>As COVID cases rise, so do hospital-related infections</strong> - Overcrowding from COVID care is allowing infections to rise again. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1793697">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Twitch sues users over alleged “hate raids” against streamers</strong> - Lawsuit accuses anonymous users of “targeting black and LGBTQIA+ streamers.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1793678">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aliens board game is another ho-hum dungeon crawler</strong> - Sadly, this cardboard adaptation could be better. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1793765">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>California Senate passes warehouse workers bill, taking aim at Amazon</strong> - For years, algorithms have driven workers to meet punishing quotas. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1793687">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Porsche and Siemens break ground on low-carbon e-fuel plant in Chile</strong> - Electrolyzed hydrogen is combined with CO<sub>2</sub> to make methanol, then gasoline. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1793855">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><strong>I’m American, and I’m sick of people saying America is “the stupidest country in the world.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Personally, I think Alabama is the stupidest country in the world.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sumrandom3377"> /u/sumrandom3377 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmjz6r/im_american_and_im_sick_of_people_saying_america/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmjz6r/im_american_and_im_sick_of_people_saying_america/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What’s the difference between dildos and tofu?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I can put a dildo in my mouth without gagging.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Hypothermia4931"> /u/Hypothermia4931 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmhdvi/whats_the_difference_between_dildos_and_tofu/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmhdvi/whats_the_difference_between_dildos_and_tofu/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A man walks into a bar…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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The bartender asks “Why the long face?”
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The man replies “I just found out my wife is sleeping with another man. I’ve decided I’m going to drink myself to death.”
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The bartender looks shocked and says “I’m sorry I can’t help you kill yourself.”
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The man asks “Well what would you do in my situation?”
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The bartender puffs himself up a bit and says “If I found out a guy was sleeping with my wife I wouldn’t sit around feeling sorry for myself, I’d kill the guy.”
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The man jumps up from his stool and shouts “That’s a great idea! Thanks!” and runs out of the bar.
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A couple hours goes by and the bartender is starting to get nervous when the man walks back into the bar with a smile on his face.
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“Did you kill the guy?” The bartender asks nervously.
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“Nope! I slept with your wife. Whiskey please.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Waitsfornoone"> /u/Waitsfornoone </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmkakq/a_man_walks_into_a_bar/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmkakq/a_man_walks_into_a_bar/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>The lesbian couple living next door were getting it on at 2am.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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So I knocked on their door and complained about the noise.
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I said, “Could you be a bit louder, please? I’m trying to masturbate.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/incredibleinkpen"> /u/incredibleinkpen </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmr0wi/the_lesbian_couple_living_next_door_were_getting/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmr0wi/the_lesbian_couple_living_next_door_were_getting/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What does the mafia and pussies have in common?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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One slip of the tongue and you’re in deep shit.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ildrim"> /u/Ildrim </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmph2w/what_does_the_mafia_and_pussies_have_in_common/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/pmph2w/what_does_the_mafia_and_pussies_have_in_common/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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