Congress Passed Legislation Making the Treasury Secretary the Boss of the Federal Reserve During a Financial Crisis: That’s Creating Its Own Crisis - Pam Martens - Following the financial crisis of 2007 to 2010, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law on July 21, 2010. At the time, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and could have put teeth into the law, had they chosen to do so. The Act did not reform Wall Street nor did it protect American consumers from the looting practices of the Wall Street banks. Dodd-Frank allowed Wall Street’s private justice system to continue, where both customers and employees must waive their rights to bring claims in a court of law; it allowed Wall Street banks to continue using depositors’ money to make wild gambles in derivatives; it permitted Wall Street banks to continue buying triple-A credit ratings from the ratings agencies for dodgy securitized products; [..] We could go on and on, but you get the point: Dodd-Frank was a grand show that accomplished next to nothing in the way of meaningful structural reform of Wall Street. Now Americans are learning that the Dodd-Frank Act did one other very dangerous thing: it legally authorized the U.S. Treasury Secretary to take the Federal Reserve hostage during a financial crisis. Section 1101 of the Act provides that the Federal Reserve Board, “may not establish any program or facility under this paragraph without the prior approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.” The referenced paragraph pertains to the Fed’s ability to enact emergency lending facilities during a financial crisis. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on December 1 indicates that he is very much aware of who’s now in charge of calling the shots on emergency loans by the Fed in a time of crisis. Powell testified as follows: “Our actions taken together have helped unlock almost $2 trillion of funding to support businesses, large and small, non-profits and state and local governments since April. This in turn has helped keep organizations from shuttering and has put employers in a better position to keep workers on and to hire them back as the economy continues to recover. These programs serve as a backstop to key credit markets and have helped restore the flow of credit from private lenders through normal channels. We’ve deployed these lending powers to an unprecedented extent. Our emergency lending powers require the approval of the Treasury and are available only in very unusual circumstances, such as those we find ourselves in.” Today, we have a Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, who spent 17 years as a Goldman Sachs banker; co-founded the hedge fund Dune Capital Management; then got a sweet deal from the FDIC to buy the failed bank, IndyMac, together with the infamous hedge fund tycoons John Paulson and George Soros, renamed it OneWest and proceeded to become rich on the deal while foreclosing on tens of thousands of struggling families during the financial crisis, including active military members. Is Mnuchin really the person Americans want overseeing emergency loan programs at the Fed, an institution that can legally create trillions of dollars electronically out of thin air? Mnuchin has already demonstrated that he’s unfit for this job by demanding in aNovember 19 letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the Fed stop making emergency loans by December 31 under certain emergency loan programs, including the Main Street Loan Facility that benefits small and medium size businesses and the Municipal Liquidity Facility that supports local and state governments. Mnuchin is fine with the Fed continuing the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, the Commercial Paper Funding Facility, and the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, all of which benefit Wall Street. Mnuchin is also fine with the Fed continuing its Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility, which reimburses banks for the Small Business Administration loans they make (which are already guaranteed by the SBA). That Fed program has quietly sluiced more than $3 billion to mega Wall Street bank Citigroup.
Fed extends Main Street program to process more loans—The Federal Reserve is extending its middle-market business rescue program to Jan. 8 in an effort to give the central bank more time to process loans that have been submitted leading up to the program’s close. The Main Street Lending Program was previously set to end Dec. 31, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested that the Fed return all unused funds appropriated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to backstop several emergency lending programs, including Main Street. The Fed initially pushed back on the request, arguing that the programs should stay in place until the economy was on a more certain path to recovery, but later agreed to return the money. The disagreement drew the attention of lawmakers, who passed a stimulus package last week that included a provision to prevent the Fed from restarting any of the CARES Act-funded facilities. Still, Mnuchin approved the Fed extending the Main Street Lending Program — which offers loans to companies with either up to 15,000 employees or up to $5 billion in annual revenue — for an additional week into 2021. The extension will “allow more time to process and fund loans” that were submitted to the Fed on or before Dec. 14, the Fed said in a press release Tuesday. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is administering the Main Street program, had previously instructed lenders to submit loans by Dec. 14, adding that it was unlikely any loans submitted after that date would be able to be processed in time. As of Dec. 23 the Main Street program had purchased almost $15 billion in loans, according to the Fed’s weekly balance sheet. Though a far cry from the $600 billion allocated for the program, activity picked up in recent weeks. Data the Fed released earlier this month showed that as of Dec. 2 the program had purchased about $6 billion in loans.
US Dollar as “Global Reserve Currency” amid Fed’s QE and US Government Deficits: Dollar Hegemony in Decline -Wolf Richter - The US dollar’s position as the dominant global reserve currency is an immensely important factor in supporting the ballooning US government debt, the Fed’s drunken money-printing, and Corporate America’s ambition to offshore production to cheap countries, thereby creating huge and ever-growing trade deficits. They all have become dependent on the willingness of other central banks to hold large amounts of dollar-denominated paper. But from the looks of things, those central banks might be getting a little nervous.The global share of US-dollar-denominated exchange reserves – US Treasury securities, US corporate bonds, US mortgage-backed securities, etc. held by foreign central banks – fell to 60.5% in the third quarter, according to the IMF’s COFER data release. This is the lowest since 1995. Over the past six years, the dollar’s share has been dropping at a rate of about 1 percentage point per year: Dollar-denominated global foreign exchange reserves do not include the Fed’s own holdings of dollar-denominated assets that it bought as part of its QE, such as its $4.6 trillion in US Treasury securities and $2.1 trillion in US mortgage-backed securities.The decline in the dollar’s share began 20 years ago when the euro assumed the place of the predecessor currencies, including the Deutsche mark, that used to be in the basket of foreign exchange reserves. But that 20-year 10-percentage-point decline pales compared to the near 40-point plunge in the dollar’s share from 1977 (85%) to 1991 (46%), which was followed by the 25-point surge till 2000.For now, the motto among these central banks, jointly, seems to be: easy does it. No one wants to trigger a sudden crisis (2020 = Q3): The combined countries of the Eurozone have had a large trade surplus with the rest of the world, and particularly with the US. Their currencies were already reserve currencies. So ever since the euro became an official currency, and with its members expanding from originally 5 to now 19, there was talk about the euro eventually reaching “parity” with the dollar as a reserve currency. But the Euro Debt Crisis put an end to that talk when euro-denominated sovereign debt, issued by Greece, defaulted.The euro’s share has since been stuck in the range between 19.5% and 20.6%, though the Eurozone now comprises 19 member states. In the third quarter, the euro’s share was 20.5%. The euro was the last effort by a single currency to dethrone the dollar. The Chinese renminbi still doesn’t count. The RMB became an official reserve currency in October 2016, when the IMF included it in its basket of currencies that back the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). There has been talk that it would be the next currency to dethrone the dollar. But by the looks of it, this will require more patience than mortals are expected to possess.After four years of being in the SDR basket, the RMB’s share in Q3 was still just 2.13%. But, but, but… it has edged past the Swiss franc (0.17%), the Australian dollar (1.73%), and the Canadian dollar (2.0%). If the share of the RMB continues to rise at the pace of the past two years, it will take 110 years for it to reach 20%. At this pace, it’s not going to be a threat to the dollar in the expected lifetime of the average Gen Z member. But things move slowly until suddenly they move fast; and we can’t draw a straight line for 110 years. The RMB is the short red line in the spaghetti near the very bottom (more on that spaghetti in a moment):
Goldman Now Sees Q1 GDP Surging 5% Thanks To $900BN Covid Stimulus - It was just one month ago when Wall Street's best and brightest - which these days also means most clueless - personified in this case by JPMorgan's chief economists, predicted that GDP in the first quarter of 2021 would contract by 1%,effectively putting the US on collision course with a double dip recession.Just before Thanksgiving, JPM economist Michael Feroli wrote that while the economy powered through the July coronavirus wave, "at that time the reopening of the economy provided a powerful tailwind to growth. The economy no longer has that tailwind; instead it now faces the headwind of increasing restrictions on activity." Meanwhile, "the holiday season—from Thanksgiving through New Year’s—threatens a further increase in cases. This winter will be grim, and we believe the economy will contract again in 1Q, albeit at “only” a 1.0% annualized rate." The bottom line, or rather square, is shown in the table below: Well, in a world in which even the top economists are blindsided by every single event - events which it is their job to anticipate, predict and price in - just one month later everything has changed once again and in a note from Goldman's economists this time, we read that contrary to JPM's dour forecasts, Q1 GDP will (should) actually be a great quarter for the economy, and as a result of the just approved $900BN stimulus bill and ongoing vaccine rollout, Goldman now expects G1 GDP to grow 5.0%, up from 3.0% previously, and sees full year GDP rising to 5.8% (from 5.3% previously), to wit: President Trump approved a COVID relief package worth roughly $900bn (4% of GDP). The package is slightly larger and comes earlier than the roughly $700bn package we had previously assumed in our forecasts.... we upgrade our 2021 growth forecasts to incorporate this additional fiscal stimulus.
Trump signs $2.3T relief, spending package -President Trump on Sunday signed the government funding and coronavirus relief package, the White House said, averting a government shutdown and delivering economic aid as the pandemic worsens. Trump signed off on the $2.3 trillion package from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., days after he expressed displeasure with the spending outlined in the omnibus and complained that the coronavirus relief measure should include direct payments of $2,000 per person, up from $600. But the delay came after Trump single-handedly brought the government to the brink of a shutdown and unemployment benefits expired for millions of Americans Saturday as the bill went unsigned. Trump has visited his golf club in Florida each day since arriving in the state on Wednesday and has made no public appearances. He did so again on Sunday both before and after signing the legislation. "I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed," Trump said in a statement upon signing the legislation. "I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill." Trump's demand that Congress clawback some of the spending greenlighted under the deal is already facing pushback, in a sign that congressional leaders are likely to ignore it. "The House appropriations committee has jurisdiction over rescissions, and our Democratic majority will reject any rescissions submitted by President Trump," House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. Trump's statement was at times self-congratulatory despite his role in the uncertainty of the past week. The president credited his work with Congress in passing the CARES Act earlier this year, which he said helped the country avoid "another Great Depression," though Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was the lead negotiator for the White House. Trump boasted that he was signing the bill "to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP [the Paycheck Protection Program], return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more." But unemployment benefits lapsed on Saturday, and eviction moratoriums would have done the same had Trump not signed the bill soon. The president, as part of his statement formally announcing the decision, said the Senate had agreed to tee up several of his priorities, including his push for $2,000 checks and repealing a tech shield that has emerged as a top target for Trump and his conservative allies.
Millions in US face weeks without income due to delay in paltry “relief” bill - On Sunday night, President Donald Trump signed a $2.3 trillion bill that combines a $900 billion bipartisan coronavirus “relief” package with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill. Trump had been withholding his signature, claiming to oppose the minuscule size of the $600 direct payment included in the bill. The delay in signing the bill has already caused confusion regarding the resumption of unemployment payments to some 14 million people. On Saturday, two programs created by last March’s CARES Act, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, expired. PUA was designed to provide relief for workers who wouldn’t normally qualify for state benefits, such as contractors, the self-employed and so-called “gig” workers. PEUC provided up to 13 weeks of unemployment aid to workers who had exhausted their state benefits, which for most last 26 weeks, but for others, depending on the state where they reside, can last a mere 12 weeks. The legislation specifies that payments are to begin after December 26, 2020 and end no later than March 14, 2021. States are not allowed to begin disbursing the $300 weekly unemployment payments until the bill becomes law, and with the one-week delay, millions may be receiving only 10 weeks’ worth of payments instead of 11, beginning in 2021. In an email to the Hill, Elizabeth Pancotti, a policy adviser at Employ America, estimated it could take up to six weeks for jobless workers to begin receiving payments again. “Some states may be able to stand this up in a week or two if we get guidance quickly from [the US Labor Department] but allowing the programs to lapse has created such a mess at many state UI [unemployment insurance] offices, so it could be 4-6 weeks before workers receive payment,” Pancotti wrote. This means that some 14 million unemployed workers will not be receiving anything for at least a week and perhaps considerably longer. Among them are millions who will be unable to put food on the table or pay for needed health care, prescription drugs, gasoline, cell phone bills and other basic necessities.
Jobless Benefits Won’t Lapse After Delay, Labor Department Says - Unemployed people claiming federal benefits won’t see a one-week gap in their payments, despite the delay in President Donald Trump signing the program extension into law, according to the Department of Labor.States are implementing the provisions as quickly as possible, and the Labor Department doesn’t anticipate that claimants will miss a week of benefits due to the timing of the new law’s enactment, a spokesman for the Department said in a statement Tuesday. Trump signed a bipartisan stimulus and government funding bill, which included an 11-week extension of unemployment benefits, into law on Sunday, a day after benefits expired. That prompted concern that jobless Americans would lose out on benefits for the last week of December. Trump held off signing the bill for several days as he demanded bigger stimulus payments for individuals and action on two unrelated issues involving election security and removing a liability shield for technology companies.The pandemic relief law provides a $300-a-week payment for jobless individuals and extends benefits for self-employed and gig workers through mid-March. The $300 federal payments are on top of benefits that state unemployment offices provide. The state benefits vary by income and jurisdiction, but the average state payment was $378 a week, according to Labor Department data.The measure largely extends programs with few changes, meaning that existing guidance will continue to apply, making it easier for the states to implement, the Labor Department spokesman said. “Millions of jobless workers will be able to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they will not lose a week’s worth of income,” Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. “Now, Donald Trump’s needless delay in signing the relief bill still means unnecessary administrative headaches and late payments, but workers will not lose income.” About 14 million Americans have been receiving benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs extended in the law. The uninterrupted jobless benefits could help bolster the economy that has struggled as consumer spending has been falling and unemployment claims remain at elevated levels. Consumer spending, which accounts for a majority of the economy, dropped 0.4% in November -- the first decline since April, according to Commerce Department data. Personal income decreased 1.1%, reflecting the winding down of several pandemic aid programs.
GOP Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair says he'll vote in favor of $2,000 checks -- Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), the Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair, said Sunday that he will vote in favor of House Democrats' bill to provide the $2,000 relief checks that President Trump has demanded. Reed, who co-chairs the bipartisan group of about 50 members, released a statement indicating his support for larger stimulus checks than the $600 ones currently allotted in the almost $1 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that passed both chambers of Congress. The Republican co-chair said he will support the Democrats’ bill that the House will vote on Monday and that boosted the check amounts to $2,000. "The American people are hurting,” he said. “Economic stagnation and lockdowns have left many in difficult financial situations.” “I’ve communicated to the President my support for his directive to increase the total size of stimulus checks to $2,000 per individual and will be voting in favor of the CASH Act tomorrow to do so,” Reed added. “It is only fair that we act decisively now to deliver the comprehensive relief individuals desperately need.” Reed’s signal of support for bigger check amounts came minutes after Trump tweeted that there was “Good news on Covid Relief Bill,” adding “Information to follow!” The president did not provide additional details on these comments. The Problem Solvers Caucus, co-chaired by Reed and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), was key in creating bipartisan legislation for COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress last week, after negotiations between Democrats, Republicans and the White House had stalled for months.
House passes bill boosting stimulus checks to $2,000 in bipartisan vote -- The House on Monday passed legislation that would increase the amount of direct payments in the recently signed coronavirus relief package from $600 to $2,000. The bill passed in a 275-134 vote, with support from more than 40 Republicans. It needed a two-thirds majority under the procedures that were used for consideration. The measure faces an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled Senate. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of Senate Republican leadership, said last week that he didn’t think a bill to increase the stimulus checks to $2,000 could pass in the upper chamber. But bringing up the measure on Monday allowed Democrats to force Republicans to take a recorded vote on an issue that is popular with Democratic lawmakers and the public and supported by President Trump. The vote came after Trump last week criticized the relief package over the size of the direct payments, creating uncertainty about the fate of the legislation. When he ultimately signed the relief package on Sunday, Trump said in a statement that he “told Congress that I want far less wasteful spending and more money going to the American people in the form of $2,000 checks per adult and $600 per child.” Trump brought up Monday’s previously planned House vote in his statement over the weekend and said the Senate would “start the process” for a vote that would increase the size of the direct payments to $2,000. However, a statement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued Sunday made no mention of a Senate vote. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) said Monday he would try to pass the House measure on Tuesday. His attempt is likely to be thwarted by Republicans, despite support from some GOP senators. Monday's bill in the House, known as the CASH Act, would increase the size of payments for both eligible adults and children from $600 to $2,000. Individuals with income of up to $75,000 and married couples with income up to $150,000 would be eligible for the full amount. The amounts would decrease above those income thresholds. The bill would also allow adult dependents, such as college students, disabled adults and elderly relatives, to be eligible for both $2,000 payments and the $500 payments authorized by the CARES Act in March. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the bill would cost about $464 billion. That’s on top of the $164 billion estimated cost of the $600 payments. Democrats emphasized Trump’s support for $2,000 direct payments during the House floor debate on the bill Monday. “The president of the United States has put this forth as something that he wants to see, in part of his signing the legislation yesterday,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said. “I hope that that view will be shared by the Republicans in the Senate.” Republicans generally opposed the bill, expressing concerns about its impact on the deficit and arguing that the checks would not be well targeted.
Neoliberal Champion Larry Summers Opens Mouth, Inserts Both Feet: Taibbi - Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama, president of Harvard, and Chief Economist at the World Bank, wrote a post-Christmas editorial forBloomberg entitled, “Trump’s $2000 Stimulus Checks are a Big Mistake.” It’s a classic:Some argue that while $2,000 checks may not be optimal support for the post-Covid economy, taking stimulus from $600 to $2,000 is better than nothing. They need to ask themselves whether they would favor $5,000, or $10,000 — or more. There must be a limiting principle.The genesis of this Summers article is a perfect tale in microcosm about how America’s intellectual elite manages to lose elections to people like Donald Trump. It’s a two-step error. First, they put people like Summers in charge of economic policies. Then, they let them talk in public.Summers the day before Christmas appeared on Bloomberg to offer his initial thoughts on why $2000 checks must be bad: he looked at which politicians were supporting the plan, and worked backward. “When I see a coalition of Josh Hawley, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump getting behind an idea, I think that’s time to run for cover,” he said, adding: “When you see the two extremes agreeing, you can almost be certain that something crazy is in the air.”Seeing that his comments “lit up the Twittersphere,” Summers then sat down to compose an article doubling down on his reasoning. Essentially, he argued that from an econometric point of view, we’re already overdoing it on the help front. If you were under the impression that huge numbers of people are living off meals from food banks and/or are at risk in an eviction crisis, you were wrong.Noting that “total employee compensation” is “only running about $30 billion per month behind the Covid baseline,” he insisted that $200 billion more in tax rebates per month over the next quarter would “equal an additional seven times the loss of household wage and salary income over the next quarter.”He then showed a graph explaining that “because of the legislation passed in 2020, total household income… has exceeded normal levels relative to the economy’s potential more or less since the pandemic began.” The good news, as a result, is that “the existing stimulus bill is sufficient to elevate household income relative to the economy’s potential to abnormally high levels — unheard of during an economic downturn.”The whole piece reads like an extended New Yorker cartoon, in which an evictee with empty pockets is about to dive after a rotten apple core in a dumpster, only to be blocked by a cauldron-bellied Harvard economist in a $3000 Zegna suit. Caption: “Actually, total household income relative to the economy’s potential sits at abnormally high levels.”
Rubio backs Trump's push for $2,000 direct payments | Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said on Monday that he backs President Trump’s push to increase the direct payments to Americans for COVID-19 relief to $2,000, up from the $600 allocated in the package that Trump signed Sunday. “I agree with the President that millions of working class families are in dire need of additional relief, which is why I support $2,000 in direct payments to Americans struggling due to the pandemic,” Rubio said in a statement that came shortly before the House voted in support of the increase. The Florida senator sided with the president after Trump criticized the relief package passed by Congress last week for not providing enough direct payments to Americans making less than $75,000 per year. The measure currently faces an uncertain future in the GOP-controlled Senate. Rubio placed blame on Democrats for the lack of relief this year after negotiations between both parties and the White House stalled for months before the legislation passed last week. “For months, Republicans tried to pass additional relief for workers, families, and small businesses — only to be rejected by Democrats at every turn,” he said. “Remember, months ago Speaker Pelosi and Democrats rejected the Administration’s previous offer of $1,200 per adult and $1,000 per child. Thankfully, she’s finally stopped holding working families hostage.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) previously rejected other proposals from the White House and Republicans for not offering enough money in the last several months. But Republicans, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have expressed reluctance to funnel larger amounts of money for relief and stimulus checks. “I share many of my colleagues’ concern about the long-term effects of additional spending, but we cannot ignore the fact that millions of working class families across the nation are still in dire need of relief,” Rubio said in his statement. “Congress should quickly pass legislation to increase direct payments to Americans to $2,000.”
Sanders to slow down NDAA veto override in bid to get vote on $2K checks proposal - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is planning to slow down the Senate's vote on overriding President Trump’s veto of a mammoth defense policy bill unless leadership agrees to hold a vote on increasing the amount of recently passed coronavirus relief checks from $600 to $2,000. Sanders announced his plans in a tweet Monday as the House passed legislation to boost the amount of the direct payments included in the $2.3 trillion package signed by Trump on Sunday night. "This week on the Senate floor Mitch McConnell wants to vote to override Trump's veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill and then head home for the New Year. I'm going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class," Sanders tweeted. A spokesman for Sanders confirmed that he will object to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) setting up a vote on the veto override of the defense bill until a proposal to increase the amount of the direct payments to $2,000 is also voted on. Sanders can't ultimately prevent the Senate from voting on whether to override Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which initially passed the Senate earlier this month in a 84-13 vote, with Sanders voting "no" at the time. But McConnell is likely to have to move to break a rare filibuster of the veto override effort, forcing it to overcome a 60-vote procedural hurdle and delaying a final vote on Trump's veto message for days until later this week. The veto override will ultimately need a two-thirds vote to pass the Senate. In addition to Sanders, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said he would similarly slow down the NDAA vote in an effort to get one on increasing the amount of direct assistance provided as part of the $2.3 trillion package. "I will be j oining @BernieSanders in blocking the defense bill until we get a vote on $2000 in direct cash relief. That relief passed in the House today with 44 Republicans voting for it. Senate Republicans must do the same and get the American people the help they need," Markey tweeted.
McConnell blocks vote on $2K checks, signals new package -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Democrats to set up a stand-alone vote on increasing the amount of recently passed stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) both tried to get consent for the Senate to bring up legislation that passed the House in a 273-134 vote on Monday. The GOP leader did not directly address why he objected. But he signaled separately that he could package the increase in direct stimulus checks, with a repeal of a tech shield that has emerged as a top target for Trump and election-related investigations. "During this process, the president highlighted three additional issues of national significance he would like to see Congress tackle together," McConnell said. "Those are the three important subjects the president has linked together. This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus," McConnell added. McConnell did not provide additional details about how he might bring the measures up. But tying the stimulus checks push to Section 230, a legal shield for tech companies, or to Trump's unproven claims that widespread election fraud cost him his reelection would almost certainly undermine Democratic support for such legislation. Schumer in his remarks Tuesday pressed for a vote on the $2,000 checks. "The fastest way to get money into Americans' pockets is to send some of their tax dollars right back from where they came. Two-thousand dollar stimulus checks could mean the difference between American families having groceries for a few extra weeks or going hungry," Schumer said.
McConnell says push by Democrats, Trump for $2,000 stimulus checks has ‘no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate’ -Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to deliver a political death blow to a last-minute push to authorize $2,000 stimulus checks for most Americans, arguing he would not be “bullied” into action despite pressure from President Trump, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans for the more generous payments.With only days left on the legislative calendar — and significant business still pending on the Senate floor — McConnell said Wednesday that the chamber would not vote on a House-passed stimulus bill, a move that threatened to render it impossible for lawmakers to broker a compromise before the end of the year.The GOP leader’s stance threatened to carry broad political repercussions, coming only a day after Trump said it would be a “death wish” for Republicans if they did not boost stimulus payments beyond the $600 lawmakers authorized as part of a broader, $900 billion relief package signed into law earlier this week.“The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats’ rich friends who don’t need the help,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.In addition to Trump and most Democrats, a growing number of Senate Republicans had called for the larger payments. That includes Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the two Georgia Republicans who face reelection votes next week.McConnell said a House-passed bill authorizing the $2,000 checks had “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate.” Instead, he said he would bundle the $2,000 checks into a broader bill that would include curbs on technology companies as well as an effort to study the 2020 election, nodding to complaints raised by Trump about his loss. Democrats said such a package had no chance of passing and accused McConnell of deliberately seeking to kill the stimulus payments.“In blocking it, they are in denial of the hardship the American people are experiencing now, health-wise, financially and every way,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a news conference.McConnell’s move could be one of his last as majority leader, pending the outcome of the Georgia runoffs next week. If Democrats capture both seats, they will seize control of the Senate. After he spoke Wednesday afternoon, several other Republicans rushed to backstop McConnell’s strategy, suggesting he had support from several members of his party even as others wanted to vote with Democrats on the larger checks.
Frustrations flare as $2,000 checks blocked for fourth straight day - Frustrations flared in the Senate during a rare New Years Day session as lawmakers battled for the fourth day in a row over a proposal to increase the amount of recently approved coronavirus relief checks. Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed bill to increase the stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 on Friday, as well as an attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to set up votes on the House bill and a competing proposal from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would link the money to a unrelated tech fight and creating a new elections commission. The stalemate formally closes the door on the already unlikely chance that Congress could get an agreement to President Trump's desk before the end of the current Congress. The House has already left town for the remainder of the session, which ends Sunday morning, and the Senate took its last votes on Friday when it handed Trump his first veto override. "That means today is the last chance to take up and pass the House bill to provide $2,000 checks to the American people. If the Senate does not take action today, $2,000 checks will not become law before the end of Congress and they will know that Leader McConnell and the Republican majority have prevented them from getting the checks," Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) said from the floor. He added that he believed McConnell had blocked the House bill from getting a vote "because he's afraid it will pass." McConnell blocked the House-passed bill on three separate days this week and blasted the proposal on Friday as "socialism for rich people." "While this huge new aid package takes effect, a bipartisan caucus in both chambers is not keen to let Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Sanders to have universal cash giveaways regardless of needs," he said. The House passed legislation to increase the amount of the checks on Monday before leaving town until the start of the 117th session of Congress on Sunday. Trump has urged Senate Republicans to pass legislation, but the idea garners fierce pushback from several Republicans. Under the Senate's rules, any one senator can try to set up a vote or pass a bill, but any one senator can also object. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), McConnell's No. 2, blocked Schumer's request on Friday. Responding to Democrats, he dryly thanked them for having the Senate in session on New Year's Day — Sanders and others had slow-walked a defense bill unless they got a checks vote, forcing Friday's session. "I know that's something that has always been on my bucket list, maybe not on top of the bucket list, but nevertheless, thank you for that opportunity," Thune said. Thune argued that while Republicans are willing to look at additional aid, the House-passed bill was not "efficient" or "an effective way to spend the American taxpayer's dollars."
WATCH: Sanders Refutes McConnell Claim That $2,000 Direct Payments Amount to 'Socialism for Rich People' - After sardonically commending Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his sudden concern about "socialism for the rich," Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday rejected the Kentucky Republican's attempt to attach that description to the push for $2,000 direct payments, which the Vermont senator noted would overwhelmingly benefit middle- and working-class Americans."I'm delighted that after talking on the floor of the Senate for years about socialism for the rich, apparently that has gotten across to my Republican friends," Sanders (I-Vt.) said on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon. "Of course, that's what we do every single day. That's why we have the incredible level of income and wealth inequality that exists in this country... Decade after decade, we have used this body to provide massive tax breaks to the rich, to provide corporate welfare to corporations who don't need it." "But the Vermont senator said McConnell's claim that the $2,000 relief payments—as proposed in a House-passed bill—amount to "socialism for rich people" is false, pointing to a new Tax Policy Center analysisshowing that less than one percent of the benefits of the checks would flow to the top five percent of the income distribution.The "overwhelming majority of those funds," said Sanders, would "go to the middle class, the working class, low-income people who in the midst of this pandemic, are in desperate economic condition."By contrast, 52% of the benefits of the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—a 2017 bill that McConnell enthusiastically supported—went to the top five percent in 2020."Now, again, I am delighted to hear the majority leader talking about socialism for the rich," the Vermont senator continued. "And I hope we will continue that discussion in the next session." Watch:
These Are the Very Real Dangers to the U.S. Economy of Not Issuing $2,000 Stimulus Checks -- Pam Martens - The question of just how much fiscal stimulus and COVID-19 relief payments are needed right now in order to prevent the U.S. economy from going off a cliff requires a recognition of what we do not know about the actual fragility of the U.S. economy over the next 12 months and the current fragility of the financial system of the United States. We start from the factual premise that the current financial crisis did not originate as a result of the pandemic. The plumbing of the financial system broke on September 17, 2019, months before the first COVID-19 case was discovered anywhere in the world. We know this because this is the date that the Federal Reserve announced it would begin acting as lender of last resort to the repo loan market on Wall Street. (Repos are a form of borrowing where banks, brokerage firms, hedge funds and mutual funds engage in short term loans, typically overnight, which are collateralized with safe securities such as Treasury notes.) The demand for short-term repo borrowing dramatically outpaced amounts offered for loans on September 17. This drove the overnight repo loan rate to an unprecedented high of 10 percent rather than the typical range of 2 to 2.25 percent, which was where the Fed was targeting the Fed Funds rate at that time. The Fed was forced to race to the rescue, injecting $53 billion into the repo market via the New York Fed on that date and promising to make another $75 billion available the next morning. The repo loans from the Fed continued in massive amounts through the fall. By January 6 we were reporting, using the Fed’s own data, that the “Federal Reserve Admits It Pumped More than $6 Trillion to Wall Street in Recent Six Week Period.” Until the American people understand why the Fed was bailing out Wall Street to the tune of $6 trillion in cumulative loans before the first case of COVID-19 was identified in the U.S., we are simply spectators of the barbarians at the gate rather than citizens in a representative democracy. Now let’s examine the darkness surrounding the economic impact from the pandemic itself. Larry Summers wrote in his opinion piece for Bloomberg News on Sunday, where he argued against $2,000 stimulus checks, that “Without new stimulus, things would have normalized in 2021.” Seriously?Now take a look at the graph at the top of this article which comes directly from the state of California. The most populous U.S. state and fifth largest economy in the world looks more like a petri dish for breeding COVID-19. The data, which is current as of December 29, shows that California has a positivity rate of 14.5 percent; it has a population of more than 40 million people and zero ICU beds available; and the pandemic is considered to be spreading widely in 54 of its 58 counties. As of yesterday, there was a Regional Stay at Home Order in 47 of California’s 58 counties. One aspect of that order requires that “all retailers may operate indoors at no more than 20% capacity….” California is also reporting that the increase in new cases and deaths is going in the wrong direction, as the charts below indicate.Throwing money at Wall Street and random people, who may or may not be unemployed or need the money, is not a plan. But until there is an administration in Washington that takes this crisis seriously and develops a decisive plan based on a transparent set of facts, $2,000 checks should be considered a critical insurance policy that things won’t get a lot worse until a meaningful plan emerges.
Under Trump, America’s Nuclear Weapons Industry Has Boomed - While the country has been coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, economic decline, and the election, President Donald Trump’s administration quietly and steadily steered America’s nuclear weapons industry to its largest expansion since the end of the Cold War, increasing spending on such arms by billions of dollars with bipartisan congressional support. Overall, the budget for making and maintaining nuclear warheads has risen more than 50 percent since Trump was elected in 2016, substantially outpacing the rates of increase for the defense budget and overall federal spending during his presidency before the pandemic. On Monday, Congress approved Trump’s proposal to increase spending next year alone for the production of such weaponry by roughly $3 billion. But the creation of a larger and more modern nuclear warhead complex of factories, laboratories, and related businesses is already playing out around the country, despite slowdowns in other federal projects due to the pandemic. Four factories in Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee and New Mexico dedicated to producing warheads are being modernized. Four existing warheads are being substantially rebuilt with modern parts, on top of another such upgrade – costing $3.5 billion – that was completed last year. This pace compares with an average modernization of one type of warhead at a time during the Obama administration. “Over the next five years, the [nuclear weapons-related] costs start going up dramatically,” Mackenzie Eaglen, a former congressional staff member who is now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said at a recent defense conference. “These are sharp, significant increases, and we are not seeing sharp, significant increases in defense spending overall.” Jon Wolfsthal, a White House adviser on nuclear weapons issues while Biden was serving as vice president, said in an interview that the new Democratic administration may adopt different policies. He predicted, for example, that “there will be some broad thinking about the defense budget and how quickly we need to replace” existing land-, air-, and sea-based nuclear forces, possibly revisiting the aggressive timetables set by Trump over the past four years.
Pentagon brass on “red alert” over Trump’s coup plotting - The senior US military command is operating at what amounts to a state of high alert in anticipation of a possible coup attempt by President Donald Trump over the next month aimed at overturning the results of the November presidential election. This heightened sense of danger was triggered by an extraordinary December 17 interview given by Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), Trump’s first national security adviser and now pardoned felon, to Newsmax, the far-right cable television outlet that has faithfully backed Trump’s fraudulent claims of a stolen election. Flynn asserted the president’s power to declare martial law and suggested that he could deploy “military capabilities” in the swing states where he lost to “basically rerun an election.” In other words, voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and other “battleground” states where Democratic candidate Joe Biden won would be herded back to the polls at the point of a bayonet to ensure that they sustained Trump’s grip on the White House. Even more ominously, the retired three-star general was invited to the White House the next day—along with Sydney Powell, Trump’s former election fraud lawyer who pushed theories that the vote had been rigged by, among others, the deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez—where the feasibility of imposing martial law was the subject of a heated debate. The extraordinary tension within the Pentagon’s top brass has been made clear over the past several days in a series of reports by media commentators with close ties to the US military-intelligence apparatus. Prominent among these warnings is a Washington Post column by David Ignatius titled “Until Biden’s win is certified, the US remains vulnerable.” Ignatius has long served as a conduit for information that the Pentagon and the CIA want leaked to the public. The United States “will be in the danger zone until the formal certification of Joe Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6, because potential domestic and foreign turmoil could give President Trump an excuse to cling to power,” Ignatius writes.
Trump's final days try to turn the military into a political pawn - The Pentagon is not a happy place these days. The military has been dragged into political quarrels not of its making. Those include President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), as well as his determination to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany — and, who knows, perhaps South Korea — regardless of military advice and the tactical situation on the ground in each of those places. Worst of all, Trump has not denied that he is giving serious consideration to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s mad proposal to invoke martial law in order to overturn election results in battleground states where President-elect Biden was the clear winner. That numerous workers in the five-sided building have contracted COVID-19 has hardly helped morale, either. The president gave four reasons for vetoing the NDAA. A veto, he tweeted, “will make China very unhappy,” without explaining why that was the case. He went on: “Must have Section 230 termination, protect our National Monuments and allow for removal of military from far away, and very unappreciative, lands.” Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act protects social media companies; they have incurred the president’s wrath for adding warnings to some of his assertions about his loss to Biden. The so-called National Monuments are military bases named after Confederate generals, whose renaming Trump opposes. And Trump opposes the bill’s restrictions on his ability to withdraw overseas military forces, especially those based in Germany. Congress is likely to override the president’s veto of the military authorization bill, in part because it includes the pay tables that set military salaries for the coming fiscal year. It is for that reason — paying the military — that NDAAs have passed in timely fashion for each of the past 59 years. But an override is not guaranteed; Trump supporters in the House could team up with other members who have called for a 10 percent cut in defense spending to block the override. The NDAA then would be a dead letter. Should that be the case, the Biden administration certainly will oppose efforts to use the NDAA as a vehicle for repealing Section 230. It likewise will oppose efforts to withdraw troops from Germany or, for that matter, from South Korea; and it will revisit the speed with which forces in Iraq and Afghanistan should be brought home. Finally, whereas the NDAA calls for a commission to review the question of bases named for Confederate officers, Biden could simply order that the bases be renamed immediately. On the other hand, apart from incorporating pay tables and a few other elements of the NDAA, it may be exceedingly difficult to reconstruct all parts of the massive bill once the Biden administration takes office. There simply are too many provisions that were the subject of difficult negotiations that will have to wait another year. The military certainly would be the worse off as a result.
Pentagon leaders exchange lobbyists for Christmas — Leaders across the Department of Defense celebrated the Christmas holiday by exchanging lobbyists, sources confirmed today. “Ooh, is that a Raytheon? I’ve always wanted a Raytheon!” Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said during the annual Pentagon Christmas party while shaking a man-sized box sitting under a Christmas tree in the Pentagon courtyard. “My mom gets me a General Dynamics every year, and I’m soooo bored of it.” The gift exchange, dubbed “TS/SCI Santa,” was classified at the highest levels, and each participant was only allowed access to see the specific gift that they’re given. To keep the atmosphere light and playful, contracts signed during the lobbyist exchange were limited to 5 years and 3.5 billion dollars. “We all remember that one time we did a lobbyist white elephant and it led to us signing off on the F-35 program. What a mess,” said Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I think there was a little too much Lockheed Martin-brand rum in the eggnog that year.” According to officials, this year every Pentagon leader was expected to acquire a lobbyist, wrap it, and place it under the tree. Then on Christmas morning, gifts were exchanged at random, adding to the element of surprise, which is one of the principles of war. Miller said the exchange added some much-needed cheer into a usually stern work environment. “All year-round, we’re so serious about the fact that this whole system is just a racket to ensure money and contracts keep flowing, that we never just sit back and have some holiday laughs at the expense of taxpayers,” said Miller. “We forget that the military-industrial complex is supposed to be joyful and fun.”
House poised to override Trump veto for first time - The House appears poised to override President Trump’s veto of the must-pass annual defense policy bill, a dramatic rebuke of Trump in the final days of his presidency. House lawmakers will vote Monday on overriding Trump’s rejection of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed both chambers of Congress with more than the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a veto. Some Republicans have said they would sustain Trump’s veto despite supporting the bill earlier this month. Still, dozens would need to flip their vote for the override to fail, and some Democrats who previously voted against the measure could switch their votes to override Trump. Top House Democrats are projecting confidence they have the votes needed to deliver the first veto override since Trump took office. “The FY21 NDAA passed with overwhelming, veto-proof support in both the House and Senate, and I remain confident that Congress will override this harmful veto,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said in a statement after Trump vetoed the measure on Wednesday. “While the president may not care about our service members and their families, Congress still places an immense value on their service and sacrifice.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), calling Trump’s veto “an act of staggering recklessness,” said in her own statement the chamber will “take up the veto override with bipartisan support.” Including this year’s defense bill, Trump has issued nine vetoes during his presidency. Republicans have been largely reluctant to vote against Trump over the past four years. But Trump may have met his match in the NDAA, a bill he has never before vetoed. Lawmakers are immensely proud of the bill’s 59-year streak of becoming law and do not want to be remembered as the Congress that failed to deliver. The $740 billion legislation authorizes funding for jobs, military bases and weapons manufacturers that affect nearly every congressional district and state. Troops would lose out on a host of special pay and bonuses without passage of the NDAA. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also been stressing the importance of cybersecurity provisions in this year’s bill after a massive hack suspected to have been carried out by the Russians compromised myriad government systems at key agencies. “We’ve just had one of the worst cyberattacks against us in our history. We experience threats from around the world every day. Our troops deserve a pay raise and it is our duty to keep America safe,” tweeted Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who is retiring at the end of this Congress. “Our goal was to rebuild our military and defend our nation. The NDAA does just that and it modernizes our forces. I will be supporting it again.”
House overrides Trump veto of defense bill - More than two-thirds of the House voted Monday to override President Trump’s veto of a must-pass defense policy bill, the first successful override vote of Trump’s presidency. The vote is ongoing, but a sufficient number of lawmakers have voted to send the action to the Senate, which also needs to muster two-thirds support in order for Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to be overridden. The NDAA passed both chambers of Congress earlier this month with large bipartisan majorities, but it was unclear exactly how many Republicans would buck the president when it came to the override vote. Ahead of the vote, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, urged his colleagues to vote for “the exact same bill” they did before, emphasizing that “not a comma has changed.” Trump vetoed the bill last week over complaints it did not repeal an unrelated tech law he has fixated on as Twitter adds corrective labels to his posts making unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Trump also opposes the NDAA’s requirement to strip the names of Confederate generals from military bases and provisions seeking to halt U.S. troop withdrawals in Afghanistan and Germany. He has also issued vague gripes about the bill being weak on China, despite myriad provisions aimed specifically at Beijing, including a new $2.2 billion counter-China fund. Including the defense bill, Trump has issued nine vetoes during his presidency. Neither chamber of Congress has successfully voted to override any of the previous ones. But Trump met his match in the NDAA, one of the few remaining bastions of bipartisanship in Congress. Lawmakers are immensely proud of the bill’s 59-year streak of becoming law and do not want to be remembered as the Congress that failed to deliver. The $740 billion legislation authorizes funding for jobs, military bases and weapons manufacturers that affect nearly every congressional district and state. Troops would lose out on a host of special pay and bonuses without passage of the NDAA. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also been stressing the importance of cybersecurity provisions in this year’s bill after a massive hack suspected to have been carried out by the Russians compromised myriad government systems at key agencies.
Trump rips GOP leaders for allowing veto override - President Trump on Tuesday sharply criticized Republican leaders for allowing a vote to override his veto of a must-pass defense policy bill, calling them “weak” and “tired” and accusing them of a “disgraceful act of cowardice.” The House on Monday evening voted 322-87 to override Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), teeing up what may be the first and only veto override of Trump’s presidency. “Weak and tired Republican ‘leadership’ will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, apparently referring to GOP Senate leadership. “Say goodbye to VITAL Section 230 termination, your National Monuments, Forts (names!) and Treasures (inserted by Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren), 5G, and our great soldiers being removed and brought home from foreign lands who do NOTHING for us.” Trump called the veto override’s expected passage “a disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech.” He demanded lawmakers negotiate a “better bill” and that the Senate not approve the annual defense policy bill until it is “fixed.” Trump, who vetoed the bill last week, objected to a provision mandating that Confederate-named military bases be renamed. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a frequent target of Trump's, introduced legislation to rename the bases with Confederate names. Trump also had demanded that it include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that provides a liability shield to tech companies, but the final bill did not include such a provision. Trump targeted Republican leaders as the Senate prepared to begin consideration of the veto override on Tuesday. The Senate is likely to vote on the action sometime later this week. In order for Congress to override Trump’s veto, both the Senate and House need two-thirds of their members to support the override. The NDAA passed the Senate with 84-13 support, but it’s unclear whether and how many Republican senators who supported the bill will decide not to break with Trump and vote against the override once it comes for a vote. While 66 House Republicans voted against the veto override on Monday, 109 broke with Trump and supported the bill.
Senate Moves Closer to Handing Trump First Veto Override - The Senate moved closer to a vote on whether to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a $740.5 billion defense policy bill, in a clash with the White House that may not culminate until the final hours before the current congressional term ends on Sunday. Friday’s procedural vote on a motion to limit debate passed 80-12. It needed 60 votes to pass. Senators unexpectedly went directly into an override vote that had been thought more likely to take place Saturday or even Sunday. Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, said after the the cloture vote that he would “urge all of our colleagues” to override Trump’s veto. Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said he’s not alone in calling the annual defense bill “the most significant vote we have” and praised the bipartisan spirit that went into it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was forced earlier this week to schedule a series of procedural actions because Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is delaying the process by demanding a separate vote on increasing pandemic stimulus payments to $2,000 from $600 for most Americans. Trump has demanded the increase and Democrats favor it, but many Republicans are opposed, and McConnell has refused to bring it up as a stand-alone bill. Under Senate rules, the impasse could delay the vote on whether to override a Trump veto for the first time in his presidency until Saturday, or even as late as Sunday, hours beefore the current Congress ends at noon Washington time. The House voted on Monday to override Trump’s veto of the annual defense measure, H.R. 6395.
Congress Overturns Trump Veto On Defense Bill After Political Detour -The Senate voted Friday to overturn President Trump's veto of the mammoth annual defense bill in an unprecedented act that assures the decades-long continuity for that legislation. It follows a House vote earlier this week. The Senate vote, 81-13, came after an unusual political detour for the National Defense Authorization Act, which establishes policy and handles myriad other issues for the military services. The popularity of the military, together with the scale of the bill, means it passes virtually every year and has for decades — until this one hit a snag. It is the first veto override by Congress in the Trump presidency. Congress, with bipartisan agreement, included provisions in the bill that would rename military bases and other facilities that have Confederate names. The support for that gesture followed this year's national movement on behalf of racial equality and police reform following the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and other Black citizens at the hands of police. Trump, however, supports preserving the names of figures such as Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg and others on Army bases and other military infrastructure that now bear them. The president dismissed his last Senate-confirmed defense secretary, Mark Esper, in part over a split on that issue. So Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act and also complained that Democrats wouldn't agree to a deal that might include the removal of some legal protections for Big Tech companies. The president's choices were called "an act of staggering recklessness" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who led the House in overturning the veto on Monday. And Trump's intransigence led to awkward politics for his ostensible allies, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who arranged the Senate's vote on Friday. Trump not only put McConnell and majority Republicans into the position of needing to overturn a presidential veto. But the president also came out against the position McConnell and his members took on direct cash payments to qualified Americans as coronavirus relief. That put Trump, Pelosi and Democrats onto the same side and required McConnell to arrange an outcome in which he quashed the higher payments but also ensured the passage of the defense bill — on, as it transpired, a national holiday when many Americans are paying more attention to celebrations and hangovers than congressional byplay. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont led a bid to hold up the defense bill to force action on the relief payments, but that fizzled. McConnell torpedoed the higher relief payments with a measure on Thursday that chained them to issues he knew Democrats wouldn't support, including the Big Tech legal revisions and the prospect for a commission that would sustain Trump's baseless claims about widespread election impropriety. The majority leader also said the support Congress already has authorized was generous enough and, in his telling, sending out more cash only would help the well-off.
In Potential Final Protest Targeting UN, Trump Administration—Joined by Just Israel—Votes Against 2021 Budget - In what could be the Trump administration's final act of protest targeting the United Nations, the United States—joined by Israel—voted on Thursday against the intergovernmental organization's $3.231 billion budget for 2021 based on alleged "anti-Israel bias" and global refusal to reimpose previously lifted sanctions on Iran.Throughout President Donald Trump's nearly four years in office, he and key members of his administration have repeatedly attacked "globalism" and various U.N. bodies, notably ditching the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2018 and the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this year, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.Ambassador Richard Mills, the deputy at the U.S. mission to the U.N., explained the administration's opposition to elements of the budget during a Wednesday meeting before Ambassador Kelly Craft—a GOP donor and former envoy to Canada whom Trump appointed after Nikki Haley left the post—delivered similar remarks Thursday."We object strongly to U.S. taxpayer dollars going to support a follow-up event to the Durban conference," said Mills. The Durban Declaration and Program of Action,adopted at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in South Africa, aimed to "combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance."As Reuters reported in 2009—when the Obama administration, under pressure from Israel, boycotted a U.N.-organized meeting dubbed Durban II—the U.S. and Israel "walked out of that 2001 conference when Arab states tried to define Zionism as racist."Craft charged that the new U.N. budget "extends a shameful legacy of hate, anti-Semitism, and anti-Israel bias." She and Mills also pushed back against "those who continue to challenge the United States' ability to trigger the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran," citing the snapback mechanism in U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, which enshrined the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. Considering that Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal—officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—in 2018, Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian American Council said in September that the administration's snapback claims "are a farce that defy the international community and a basic comprehension of facts."
US sold ambassador's home in Israel for $67 million, records show -The United States sold the ambassador’s residence in Israel for more than $67 million over the summer, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing recently published Israeli tax documents.The State Department in September confirmed the sale of the residence, located in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya, but did not disclose the price or the buyer, according to the AP.That same month, the Israeli newspaper Globes identified U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a vocal supporter of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the buyer of the residence. A representative for Adelson said the billionaire had no comment, the AP reported. The $67 million price tag appears to be the single-most expensive residence purchase in Israel, according to the AP, which added that congressional aides in the House and Senate said lawmakers were looking into whether the sale complied with regulations.The sale of the ambassador’s residence was viewed as solidifying Trump’s decision to move the embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President-elect Joe Biden has criticized that move but has said he would not reverse the decision. While the seat of Israel’s government is in Jerusalem, nearly all countries with diplomatic relations maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv as a reflection of support for Palestinians to establish the capital of a future Palestinian state in east Jerusalem.
U.S. slaps tariffs on French and German wines, aircraft parts amid EU dispute(Reuters) -The U.S. government on Wednesday said it would raise tariffs on certain European Union products, including aircraft components and wines from France and Germany, the latest twist in a 16-year battle over aircraft subsidies between Washington and Brussels. In a statement, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said it was adding tariffs on aircraft manufacturing parts and certain non-sparkling wines as well as cognacs and other brandies from France and Germany. The USTR did not say when the tariffs would take effect but noted that additional details would be “forthcoming.”The U.S. action comes as U.S. and European negotiators continue talks about ending the long-runnig dispute over government aid to Europe’s Airbus SE, which is politically backed by Britain, France, Germany and Spain, and U.S. aid to planemaker Boeing Co. The USTR said on Wednesday the EU had unfairly calculated tariffs against the United States allowed by a September World Trade Organization ruling in the ongoing dispute: “The EU needs to take some measure to compensate for this unfairness.” Representatives for the European Union and Airbus could not be immediately reached for comment on the USTR action. Ben Aneff, president of the US Wine Trade Alliance, said the action would cause further hardship for U.S. companies already hit hard by previous tariffs, and urged President-elect Joe Biden to quickly reverse course. “This action is a body blow for American companies. U.S. restaurants and small businesses are already struggling to survive; this decision will only destroy more jobs and shutter more doors,”
Congressional staff now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine --A limited number of congressional staffers are now eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine, according to a memo from Congress's in-house physician. The Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) said it is offering the vaccine to two staffers in the personal office of every House member and senator, plus four staffers in the offices of every committee chairperson and ranking member. Members of Congress have been receiving their first doses of a vaccine against COVID-19 for the past two weeks. The doses were part of a limited batch that was made available specifically for Congress under "continuity of government" national security protocols. Officials serving in the executive branch and the Supreme Court, as well as other top government leaders including Vice President Pence and President-elect Joe Biden, are also getting doses, along with health care workers and nursing home residents across the nation in recent days. But the number of available vaccines is extremely limited, and some members of Congress have publicly turned down the opportunity to be vaccinated. It is not clear what happens to the allocated doses if a member declines to be vaccinated, and the OAP has not responded to requests for clarification. In addition to staff, the new memo from Brian Monahan to all congressional offices says vaccines will be available for some "critical" employees of the House; people whose jobs are essential for "continuity of operations," require physical presence or are likely to involve in-person interactions. The memo did not specify who those critical employees are, stating only that they will be notified separately.
Hiding Covid-19: How the Trump Administration Suppresses Photography of the Pandemic - As Covid-19 tore through the United States in the spring, a senior official in the Trump administration quietly reinforced a set of guidelines that prevented journalists from getting inside all but a handful of hospitals at the front line of the pandemic. The guidelines, citing the medical privacy law known as HIPAA, suggested a nearly impossible standard: Before letting journalists inside Covid-19 wards, hospitals needed prior permission from not only the specific patients the journalists would interview, but also other patients whose names or identities would be accessible. The onerous guidelines were issued on May 5 by Roger Severino, who worked at the conservative Heritage Foundation before Donald Trump appointed him to direct the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. The guidelines made it extremely difficult for hospitals to give photographers the opportunity to collect visual evidence of the pandemic’s severity. By tightening the circulation of disturbing images, the guidelines fulfilled, intentionally or not, a key Trump administration goal: keeping public attention away from the death toll, which has surpassed 300,000 souls. “The last thing hospital patients need to worry about during the Covid-19 crisis is a film crew walking around their bed shooting B-roll,” Severino said dismissively in a short press release accompanying the guidelines. In the pandemic’s early days, when hospitals were first inundated with media requests, the prevailing HIPAA guidelines were quite restrictive, even on matters that had nothing to do with media access. Those guidelines predated the Trump administration and were not written for a pandemic. But the scale of the Covid-19 crisis quickly forced the Trump administration to loosen a wide range of privacy restrictions on medical providers — except, as it turned out, the ones that kept Americans from viscerally seeing the ailing and the dying.
Trump ‘did not want anyone tested for Covid unless they were in hospital and vomiting’ - In a closer look at President Donald Trump's last few months in office, The New York Times has published a detailed new report around how the outgoing US leader wanted to approach the worsening coronavirus pandemic.Overheard yelling at his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner on 19 August, Mr Trump reportedly demanded to "do what Mexico does" when it comes to testing for Covid-19."They don’t give you a test till you get to the emergency room and you’re vomiting," he said during a gathering of top aides in the Oval Office. The statement mirrors Mr Trump's past thinking around how the US coronavirus cases should appear: specifically, the fewer tests conducted, the fewer positive cases on record.The New York Times also reports that Trump was frustrated that Dr Francis S Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health, had said that it would still be a matter of days before the government could give approval for using convalescent plasma to treat Covid."They’re Democrats! They’re against me! They want to wait!" Trump said, arguing that the government's top medical professionals were conspiring against him.According to interviews with more than two dozen current and former administration officials, Mr Trump's main concern around managing the public health crisis in the last quarter of his presidency essentially boiled down to how he could stand to benefit.For example, as he made public promises around vaccine availability by Election Day, Mr Trump expressed worry that Joe Biden would receive credit if that deadline was hit.
Massachusetts GOP leader says he likely got covid-19 at a White House Hanukkah party: 'I'm paying the price' - Earlier this month, Tom Mountain, a Massachusetts Republican Party leader, posed for a maskless photo in front of a silver menorah as dozens of other guests without face coverings mingled nearby at a White House Hanukkah party. Three days later, the vice chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee was rushed to the hospital with a severe case of covid-19 that later left him close to needing a ventilator.Now, as Mountain recovers at home in Newton, Mass., he says he likely contracted the virus at the White House event. "Lets put it this way: when I went down to Washington, D.C. for the White House Hanukkah event, I was perfectly fine," Mountain, 60, told WJAR. "And three days later after that event, I was in the hospital . . . ready to be put on a lifesaving ventilator." The Dec. 9 event where Mountain believes he contracted the novel coronavirus was one of at least 25 indoor holiday celebrations the White House scheduled despite warnings from the Trump administration's public health experts to avoid large gatherings and travel to mitigate the spread of a virus that has killed more than 333,000 Americans. The White House holiday parties came months after a Rose Garden introduction for then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett became a 'super spreader' event that left President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and more than a dozen attendees and administration officials with the virus. Asked to comment on Mountain's claim that he likely contracted the virus at the Hanukkah celebration, a spokeswoman for the first lady referred The Washington Post to earlier statements touting safety measures at the holiday events, including reduced crowd sizes and mask requirements. Mountain attended the first of two Dec. 9 Hanukkah celebrations, which were split up to reduce the crowd size, Mountain told the Globe. Attendees were required to wear a mask while waiting in line but Mountain said many guests removed them once inside. Mountain, sporting a "Trump" jacket and a red-white-and-blue tie, also strolled through the East Wing without a mask. "People would just leisurely and gingerly take off their mask to mingle, to schmooze," he told WJAR. "I don't even think some people wore masks the entire time. And again, I was guilty as anyone else. I just wasn't wearing a mask."
The US is vaccinating people way too slowly. A top doctor says the federal government is to blame. - Dr. Ashish K. Jha, a top US doctor and the dean of Brown University School of Public Health, on Tuesday shared in a Twitter thread why he believed the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the US was flawed, and he said the issue begins with the federal government. The US Food and Drug Administration in December authorised two different vaccines for COVID-19 — one created by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, and another created by Pfizer and BioNTech — for emergency use in the US. While people across the US have already begun to receive the vaccine, a limited supply means the vaccine won’t be widely available to all who need it well into 2021, prolonging the pandemic that has so far killed more than 336,000 people in the US, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. According to an analysis published Tuesday by NBC News, at the current pace, it could take the US nearly a decade to vaccinate enough Americans to meaningfully bring the pandemic under control. The White House previously said it aimed to vaccinate 80% of Americans by the end of June, which would require more than 3 million vaccinations per day, according to the report. So far, the US has vaccinated just about 2 million people in 16 days. President-elect Joe Biden, who last week received the first dose of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine, on Tuesday said the Trump administration is falling “far behind” on vaccinations. “As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” Biden said. “A few weeks ago, the Trump administration suggested that 20 million Americans could be vaccinated by the end of December. With only a few days left in December, we’ve only vaccinated a few million so far,” he added. The president-elect on Monday said he plans to invoke the Defence Production Act, a wartime production law giving the president authority to pressure US industries to produce supplies, to speed up vaccine production once he takes office in January. In his Twitter thread, Jha first noted that Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said in October that the US would be prepared to have 100 million doses of the vaccine ready to ship by December, and that Azar later reduced that number to 40 million. Jha pointed out that Operation Warp Speed, the White House effort centered around the vaccine, had further reduced the estimate, saying there would be 20 million doses ready by the end of this year.
Romney: Lack of comprehensive vaccine distribution plan is 'inexcusable' - Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) slammed federal distribution of the coronavirus vaccine on Friday, calling the lack of a comprehensive strategy “inexcusable.” Romney called the unprecedented rapid vaccine development “a tribute to the [National Institutes of Health], the [Food and Drug Administration] and to the professionals in the pharmaceutical industry.” However, he said, “unlike the development of the vaccines, the vaccination process itself is falling behind. It was unrealistic to assume that the health care workers already overburdened with COVID care could take on a massive vaccination program. So too is the claim that CVS and Walgreens will save the day: they don’t have excess personnel available to inoculate millions of Americans.” The senator went on to suggest a plan in which “every medical professional, retired or active, who is not currently engaged in the delivery of care” is trained to administer the shot, with states establishing vaccination sites throughout their borders. A schedule could then be established based on patient risk and birthdate. “The current program is woefully behind despite the fact that it encompasses the two easiest populations to vaccinate: frontline workers and long-term care residents,” he said. “Unless new strategies and plans are undertaken, the deadly delays may be compounded as broader and more complex populations are added. We are already behind; urgent action now can help us catch up.” London primary schools to close temporarily as COVID-19 cases surge Photo shows Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter sharing New Year's kiss National public health officials have also expressed concerns about the handling of vaccine distribution thus far. "We would have liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses into people today by the end of the 2020, which was the projection," Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, told “Today” earlier this week. White House testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir, meanwhile, told CNN Thursday that officials "need to be doing a better job, but all vaccine programs start somewhat slow.”
Romney urges sweeping vaccine plan as U.S. surpasses 20 million COVID-19 cases (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Mitt Romney on Friday urged the U.S. government to immediately enlist veterinarians, combat medics and others in an all-out national campaign to administer coronavirus vaccinations and slow a surging rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. The Utah Republican, who ran unsuccessfully for president as his party’s nominee in 2012, called for greater action as the Trump administration fell far short of its goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans with a first of two required doses by the end of 2020. As of Friday, the first day of the new year, an estimated 2.8 million vaccine doses have actually been given, mostly to front-line healthcare workers as well as staff and residents of nursing facilities. “That comprehensive vaccination plans have not been developed at the federal level and sent to the states as models is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable,” Romney said in a statement. The United States has lost more than 345,000 lives from COVID-19 to date, equal to one in every 950 Americans, and ranks 16th in national per capita coronavirus deaths in the world. Meanwhile, the tally of known U.S. infections reached another sober milestone on Friday, surpassing 20 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients exceeded 125,000, setting a daily record once more.
Biden to use Defense Production Act for vaccine production: adviser -President-elect Joe Biden plans to use the Defense Production Act to boost production of the coronavirus vaccines, an adviser said on Monday. Celine Gounder, a member of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory team, said to expect Biden to invoke the law, which gives the president broad authority to increase the manufacturing output of critical items in a national emergency, once he is sworn in next month. “You will see him invoking the Defense Production Act. The idea there is to make sure the personal protective equipment, the test capacity and the raw materials for the vaccines are produced in adequate supply so that those aren’t limiting steps in all of this,” Gounder told CNBC in an interview. Biden’s advisory team was reportedly consulting with experts earlier this month on if the law should be invoked to help produce and administer more vaccines over concerns the Trump administration has been too optimistic that mass vaccination will occur by the spring. Trump has used the Defense Production Act during the COVID-19 pandemic, first in March to order General Motors to ramp up the production of life-saving ventilators. He also invoked it in April to order meat processing plants to stay open.
Covid Variant in U.S.; Biden to Speed Vaccinations: Virus Update - The Covid-19 variant discovered in the U.K. has arrived in Colorado, the state’s governor said on Tuesday. And U.S. President-elect Joe Biden criticized vaccine-distribution efforts under President Donald Trump as too slow, repeating his pledge to deliver 1 million doses a day after he takes office. Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease doctor said the country’s vaccination rate is lagging and expressed concern about a post-holiday coronavirus surge. The doctor, Anthony Fauci, said on CNN that U.S. officials had hoped to have more people vaccinated by now. The European Union will take an additional 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. A new strain of the virus that’s taking hold in the U.K. is a potential “game changer,” according to Ireland’s health minister. Denmark extended its lockdown by two weeks. Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced the state’s first case of the Covid-19 variant that was discovered in the U.K. It’s the first time the strain has been found in the U.S., according to the Washington Post. The person infected is a male in his 20s who is in isolation in Elbert County and has no travel history, Polis said on Twitter. He will remain there until cleared by public health officials. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden slammed the slow rollout of the coronavirus vaccine by President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday, saying the plan was falling “far behind” where it needs to be. “As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” he said. “If it continues to move as it is now, it’s going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”
Biden predicts surge in deaths, proposes no measures to stop it, and pledges to reopen the schools - On Tuesday, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden gave what was billed as a “major speech” on the coronavirus pandemic. He spoke following a meeting with his coronavirus advisory panel. In perfunctory remarks that lasted barely 15 minutes, Biden provided a grim description of the mass death already occurring and predicted that things would get only worse in the coming months. “We will lose tens of thousands more lives in the months to come,” he said. “Hospitals are being stretched beyond capacity. That is data before the impact of cases coming from the holidays and this coming holiday of New Year’s Eve. “We have to anticipate that infections over the holidays will produce soaring death tolls in February. Turning this around is going to take time. We might not see improvement until we are well into March.” If anything, Biden’s grim portrayal was a serious underestimation of the scale of death and suffering, not to mention the devastating economic crisis impacting tens of millions of workers and small business people. In many cities across the US, intensive care units are at 100 percent of capacity. Freezer trucks are being used to stack bodies that cannot be accommodated by morgues. Only hours after Biden’s speech, NBC Nightly News reported that overwhelmed hospitals in Los Angeles are beginning to ration care, deciding to withhold treatment from patients less likely to survive. Ambulances are waiting hours to deliver patients to triage wards. The broadcast showed an LA nurse tearfully saying, “Patients are dying like flies.” Biden reiterated his earlier prediction that 400,000 Americans will have died of COVID-19 by the end of the Trump administration in mid-January. But once again, he presented this catastrophic wave of death and suffering as something inevitable and unalterable. He proposed no emergency measures to prevent tens of thousands of additional deaths over the next few weeks. He incongruously combined clichés, happy talk and hollow exhortations—“Brighter days are coming. It’s going to take all the grit and determination we have as Americans to get it done”—with an acknowledgment that the process of distributing and administering vaccines has already virtually collapsed.
Incoming Democratic House members sidestep questions on voting for Pelosi as speaker --Incoming Democratic House members Cori Bush (Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), both of whom won their races after primary victories over longtime incumbents, would not commit on Sunday to voting to reelect Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “What I'm going to do is make sure that the voices of the people of St. Louis are heard and that we have what we need. And so you will find out then,” Bush told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday on “State of the Union.” Bash responded, “That’s not a yes,” with Bush answering, “I'm working with my community.” When asked the same question, Bowman was similarly noncommittal, saying, “You will find out when my vote is tallied and, again, organizing with our community to figure out what's best.” Bash asked Bowman what input he was soliciting from his constituents ahead of the vote. “We got to bring H.R. 40 to the floor for a vote. We need reparations for the African American community,” Bowman said, referencing legislation that would authorize a commission to study reparation proposals. “We need a federal jobs guarantee. We need 'Medicare for all.'” House Democrats’ underperformance in the 2020 elections significantly narrowed the party’s majority to single digits, which will lessen further after President-elect Joe Biden tapped Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Cedric Richmond (D-La.) and Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to be members of his administration in January.
Severed Pig's Head Left On Nancy Pelosi's Driveway As Vandals Tag Garage -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco house was vandalized on Friday morning, after angry activists spray-painted "$2K," "Cancel Rent," and "We Want Everything" on the garage door - leaving a severed pig's head on the ground in a pool of red paintAccording to KPIX, police received a call about the incident around 2:00 a.m. on Friday at the 2600 block of Broadway. "I don’t think that this is a useful way to go about it and it’s a terrible start to this new year, when we are hoping for less anger and hatred than we’ve had to deal with for the last year," said Pelosi's neighbor, Audrey Carlson. San Francisco police have not released any information about suspects in the case. Also, no one has come forward claiming responsibility for the vandalism. Some of the graffiti mentions UBI (universal basic income) and “cancel rent,” so it is possible the culprit is someone associated with those movements. Pelosi helped spearhead the passage a bill last Monday to increase the $600 stimulus checks to $2,000, with 275 members of the House of Representatives voting for the bill and 134 voting against it. –KPIX
‘New York Democratic Party chairman warns Ocasio-Cortez against challenging Schumer -- The chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) should not challenge Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the 2022 Democratic primary,according to the New York Post.“I think it would be a primary driven by ambition more than by need,” state party boss Jay Jacobs told the newspaper, saying he believed the progressive congresswoman would “absolutely” lose to Schumer. “Chuck Schumer has been a progressive force in the state for decades,” Jacobs told the Post. “[Ocasio-Cortez] has a constituency that admires her and supports her, and they’re in her community, and I think it would be a loss for them if she were to do that.”The New York congresswoman, a frequent critic of the party’s centrist wing who unseated a longtime incumbent in the Democratic primary to win her seat in 2018, has not directly expressed a desire to challenge Schumer.She told Politico in April that she didn't know whether she would ever mount such a challenge. President Trump has frequently claimed Ocasio-Cortez would defeat the New York senator in a primary.More recently, in October, Ocasio-Cortez told Vanity Fair, “I don’t know if I’m really going to be staying in the House forever, or if I do stay in the House, what that would look like. I don’t see myself really staying where I’m at for the rest of my life.”Ocasio-Cortez has frequently said Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should be replaced but also has said she is not yet prepared to take a leadership position herself.“I do think that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party. ... The internal dynamics of the House has made it such that there's very little option for succession,” she said in a December interview with The Intercept’s podcast. “It's easy for someone to say, ‘Oh, well, you know, why don't you run?’ but the House is extraordinarily complex, and I'm not ready. It can't be me. I know that I couldn't do that job.”
Why Senators Must Reject Avril Haines for Intelligence - Medea Benjamin, Marcy Winograd - Even before President-Elect Joe Biden sets foot in the White House, the Senate Intelligence Committee may start hearings on his nomination of Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence. Barack Obama's top lawyer on the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013 followed by CIA Deputy Director from 2013 to 2015, Haines is the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. She is the affable assassin who, according to Newsweek, would be summoned in the middle of the night to decide if a citizen of any country, including our own, should be incinerated in a U.S. drone strike in a distant land in the greater Middle East. Haines also played a key role in covering up the U.S. torture program, known euphemistically as "enhanced interrogation techniques," which included repeated water boarding, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, dousing naked prisoners with ice cold water, and rectal rehydration. For these reasons, among others, the activist groups CODEPINK, Progressive Democrats of America, World Beyond War and Roots Action have launched a campaign calling on the Senate to reject her confirmation. These same groups ran successful campaigns to dissuade Biden from choosing two other warmongering candidates for critical foreign policy positions: China-hawk Michele Flournoy for Secretary of Defense and torture apologist Mike Morell for CIA Director. By hosting calling parties to Senators, launching petitions and publishing Open Letters from DNC delegates, feminists—including Alice Walker, Jane Fonda, and Gloria Steinem—and Guantanamo torture survivors, activists helped derail candidates who were once considered shoo-ins for Biden's cabinet. Now activists are challenging Avril Haines. In 2015, when Haines was CIA Deputy Director, CIA agents illegally hackedthe computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee to thwart the Committee's investigation into the spy agency's detention and interrogation program. Haines overruled the CIA's own Inspector General in failing to discipline the CIA agents who violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers. According to former CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, she not only shielded the hackers from accountability but even awarded them the Career Intelligence Medal. And there's more. When the exhaustive 6,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture was finally complete, after five years of investigation and research, Haines took charge of redacting it to deny the public's right to know its full details, reducing the document to a 500-page, black-ink-smeared summary.
Neera Tanden and Antony Blinken Personify the ‘Moderate’ Rot at the Top of the Democratic Party -- Sometimes a couple of nominations convey an incoming president’s basic mindset and worldview. That’s how it seems with Joe Biden’s choices to run the Office of Management and Budget and the State Department. For OMB director, Biden selected corporate centrist Neera Tanden, whose Center for American Progress thrives on the largesse of wealthy donors representing powerful corporate interests. Tanden has been a notably scornful foe of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing; former Sanders speechwriter David Sirota calls her “the single biggest, most aggressive Bernie Sanders critic in the United States.” Who better to oversee the budget of the U.S. government? For Secretary of State, Biden chose his longtime top foreign-policy adviser, whose frequent support for U.S. warfare included pushing for the disastrous 2011 military intervention in Libya. Antony Blinken is a revolving-door pro who has combined his record of war boosterism with entrepreneurial zeal to personally profit from influence-peddling for weapons sales to the Pentagon. Standard news coverage tells us that Tanden and Blinken are “moderates.” But what’s so moderate about being on the take from rich beneficiaries of corporate America while opposing proposals that would curb their profits in order to reduce income inequality and advance social justice? What’s so moderate about serving the military-industrial complex while advocating for massive “defense” spending and what amounts to endless war? As OMB director, Tanden would head what the Washington Post describes as “the nerve center of the federal government, executing the annual spending plan, setting fiscal and personnel policy for agencies, and overseeing the regulatory process across the executive branch.” Blinken is ready to be the administration’s most influential figure on foreign policy, bolstered by his longstanding close ties with Biden. As staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden chaired the panel’s mid-2002 crucial sham hearings on scenarios for invading Iraq, Blinken helped grease the skids for the catastrophic invasion. Overall, purported “moderates” Tanden and Blinken have benefited from favorable mass-media coverage since their nominations were announced several weeks ago. Most of the well-documented critical accounts have appeared in progressive outlets such asCommon Dreams, Democracy Now, The Daily Poster, In These Times and The American Prospect. But some unappealing aspects of their records have been reported by the mainstream press.
Larry Wilkerson: No Evidence of Massive Russian Hack --Yves here. For this Christmas-New Year period, we’ve been working out way through worthy pieces that warrant the extra time and attention it takes to digest them properly. One is this Thenalysis.news interview with Larry Wilkerson that gives a long form debunking of the latest Russian scare story taken up uncritically by just about every media outlet. Both tech experts and Russia beat watchers like Aaron Mate have challenged it, but it’s useful to have Wilkerson take the it apart. (with Paul Jay, video interview and transcript)
Microsoft Says SolarWinds Hackers Also Broke Into Its Source Code - The hackers behind the massive SolarWinds cyberattack, an operation allegedly backed by Russia that compromised networks at many U.S. agencies and Fortune 500 corporations, also broke into Microsoft’s internal systems and accessed one of the company’s most closely guarded secrets: its source code.“We detected unusual activity with a small number of internal accounts and upon review, we discovered one account had been used to view source code in a number of source code repositories,” said the Microsoft Security Response Center team in a blog post on Thursday.Microsoft had previously confirmed that it, like the scores of other cyberattack victims, unknowingly downloaded malicious code hidden in SolarWinds’ popular network management tool Orion Platform. But Thursday’s disclosure is its first admission that hackers accessed internal company systems.Exactly what portions of Microsoft’s source code repositories the hackers managed to get their hands on remains unclear. Three people briefed on the matter told Reuters that Microsoft has known for days that its source code was breached. When reached for comment on the matter, a Microsoft spokesperson told the outlet that its security team was working “around the clock” and that “when there is actionable information to share, they have published and shared it.”The company said Thursday that the compromised account was only able to view Microsoft’s source code as it did not have the necessary permissions to tamper with it. While its internal investigation is still ongoing, Microsoft said it has so far found “no evidence of access to production services or customer data” and “no indications that our systems were used to attack others.”While hackers may not have been able to change Microsoft’s source code, even just sneaking a peek at the company’s secret sauce could have disastrous consequences. Bad actors could use that kind of insight into the inner workings of Microsoft’s services to help them circumvent its security measures in future attacks. The hackers essentially scored blueprints on how to potentially hack Microsoft products. Experts believe that the state-sponsored Russian group known as ATP 29 infiltrated SolarWinds as early as 2019, but the attack went under the radar until earlier this month. The team of highly sophisticated hackers reportedly used malware tucked away on the Texas-based software company’s product that could quietly harvest user data such as internal correspondence, keystrokes, and credentials. According to SolarWinds, more than half of its 33,000 Orion customers may have been infected. Its clientele includes the Departments of Homeland Security, State, and Treasury among dozens of other federal agencies as well as three-fourths of the corporations on the Fortune 500 list. Federal investigations remain ongoing and the scope of the attack is still being uncovered, as Microsoft’s latest disclosure illustrates.
Congress's deepening interest in deepfakes | TheHill -Congress is closing the year by taking significant yet unheralded early steps to legislate on “deepfakes,” false yet highly realistic artificial intelligence (AI)-created media — like a recent satirical video of President Trump appearing to read a Christmas story.In quick succession in December, Congress sent two bills to the president, the National Defense Authorization (NDAA) for FY 2021 and the IOGAN Act. They would require, respectively, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to issue reports on and bolster research into deepfakes, which are sometimes known by other names like “machine-manipulated media,” “synthetic media,” or “digital content forgeries.” These bills ask for recommendations that could lay the predicate for federal regulations of such media. The NDAA, which Congress is soon expected to pass over the President’s Dec. 23 veto, would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue a yearly report for five years on “digital content forgeries.” Unlike the 2020 NDAA, which required the Director of National Intelligence to report only on the weaponization of deepfakes by foreign states or proxies to undermine U.S. national security interests, this law would direct DHS to broaden the aperture and study not just how foreign governments use deepfakes to harm national security but the broad range of dangers posed by such false media. This includes how deepfakes are used to “commit fraud,” harm “vulnerable groups,” or violate civil rights laws — an apparent reference to the rising epidemic of nonconsensual deepfake pornography, wherein a non-consenting woman’s face is placed on a nude body to create a realistic-looking pornographic image. The bill also calls for an analysis of technical countermeasures to deepfakes and of methods for detecting digital content forgeries, including “recommendations on how to identify and address suspect content” to warn users. The NDAA includes manipulated “text” in its definition of a “digital content forgery” — an important addition since AI-generated text can be used to manipulate social-media conversations and skew public notice-and-comment periods.
Proposed House Rules Seek To Erase Gendered-Terms Such As 'Father', 'Mother', 'Son', & 'Daughter' - Leaders in the House of Representatives announced on Friday a rules package for the 117th Congress that includes a proposal to use “gender-inclusive language” and eliminate gendered terms such as “‘father, mother, son, daughter,” and more. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-Mass.) announced on Friday that the rules package includes changes that would “honor all gender identities by changing pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral.”A separate announcement from McGovern (pdf) said that the Democratic rules package will make “Changes [to] pronouns and familial relationships in the House rules to be gender neutral or removes references to gender, as appropriate, to ensure we are inclusive of all Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioners and their families—including those who are nonbinary.” Terms to be struck from clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, the House’s Code of Official Conduct, as outlined in the proposed rules (pdf), include “father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandson, [and] granddaughter.”Such terms would be replaced with “parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, [and] grandchild.”According to the proposed rules, “seamen” would be replaced with “seafarers,” and “Chairman” would be replaced with “Chair” in Rule X of the House.Pelosi and McGovern said that the overall package “includes sweeping ethics reforms, increases accountability for the American people, and makes this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history.”The rules package includes removing floor privileges from former Congress members who have been convicted of crimes related to their House service or election.
The Threat of Authoritarianism in the U.S. is Very Real, and Has Nothing To Do With Trump - Glenn Greenwald - Asserting that Donald Trump is a fascist-like dictator threatening the previously sturdy foundations of U.S. democracy has been a virtual requirement over the last four years to obtain entrance to cable news Green Rooms, sinecures as mainstream newspaper columnists, and popularity in faculty lounges. Yet it has proven to be a preposterous farce.In 2020 alone, Trump had two perfectly crafted opportunities to seize authoritarian power — a global health pandemic and sprawling protests and sustained riots throughout American cities — and yet did virtually nothing to exploit those opportunities. Actual would-be despots such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán quickly seized on the virus to declare martial law, while even prior U.S. presidents, to say nothing of foreign tyrants, have used the pretext of much less civil unrest than what we saw this summer to deploy the military in the streets to pacify their own citizenry.The hysterical Trump-as-despot script was all melodrama, a ploy for profits and ratings, and, most of all, a potent instrument to distract from the neoliberal ideology that gave rise to Trump in the first place by causing so much wreckage. Positing Trump as a grand aberration from U.S. politics and as the prime author of America’s woes — rather than what he was: a perfectly predictable extension of U.S politics and a symptom of preexisting pathologies — enabled those who have so much blood and economic destruction on their hands not only to evade responsibility for what they did, but to rehabilitate themselves as the guardians of freedom and prosperity and, ultimately, catapult themselves back into power. As of January 20, that is exactly where they will reside. But the premises of pre-Trump debates over how grave a problem this is have been rendered utterly obsolete by the new realities of the COVID era. A combination of sustained lockdowns, massive state-mandated transfers of wealth to corporate elites in the name of legislative “COVID relief,” and a radically increased dependence on online activities has rendered corporate behemoths close to unchallengeable in terms of both economic and political power. The lockdowns from the pandemic have ushered in a collapse of small businesses across the U.S. that has only further fortified the power of corporate giants. “Billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter (27.5%) at the height of the crisis from April to July, just as millions of people around the world lost their jobs or were struggling to get by on government schemes,” reported The Guardian in September. A study from July told part of the story: The combined wealth of the world's super-rich reached a new peak during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study published by the consulting firm PwC and the Swiss bank UBC on Wednesday. The more than 2,000 billionaires around the world managed to amass fortunes totalling around $10.2 trillion (€8.69 trillion) by July, surpassing the previous record of $8.9 trillion reached in 2017. Employees are now almost completely at the mercy of a handful of corporate giants which are thriving, far more trans-national than with any allegiance to the U.S. A Brookings Institution study this week — entitled “Amazon and Walmart have raked in billions in additional profits during the pandemic, and shared almost none of it with their workers” — found that “the COVID-19 pandemic has generated record profits for America’s biggest companies, as well as immense wealth for their founders and largest shareholders—but next to nothing for workers.” These COVID “winners” are not the Randian victors in free market capitalism. Quite the contrary, they are the recipients of enormous amounts of largesse from the U.S. Government, which they control through armies of lobbyists and donations and which therefore constantly intervenes in the market for their benefit. This is not free market capitalism rewarding innovative titans, but rather crony capitalism that is abusing the power of the state to crush small competitors, lavish corporate giants with ever more wealth and power, and turn millions of Americans into vassals whose best case scenario is working multiple jobs at low hourly wages with no benefits, few rights, and even fewer options.
New York Post’s Hunter Biden Laptop Source Sues Twitter for Defamation - A computer repair shop owner cited in a controversial New York Post story is suing Twitter for defamation, claiming its content moderation choices falsely tarred him as a hacker. John Paul Mac Isaac was the owner of The Mac Shop, a Delaware computer repair business. In October, the New York Post reported that The Mac Shop had been paid to recover data from a laptop belonging to Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and it published emails and pictures allegedly from a copy of the hard drive. After the Post’s sourcing and conclusionswere disputed, Facebook and Twitter both restricted the article’s reach, and Twitter pointed to its ban on posting “hacked materials” as an explanation. Mac Isaac claims Twitter specifically made this decision to “communicate to the world that [Mac Isaac] is a hacker.” He says that his business began to receive threats and negative reviews after Twitter’s moderation decision, and that he is “now widely considered a hacker” because of Twitter. Unlike many suits against social media companies, Mac Isaac isn’t specifically complaining that Twitter removed content — a choice that would be likely protected by the First Amendment. Nor is he claiming other people defamed him through Twitter, a strategyunsuccessfully pursued by Rep. Devin Nunes of California. His suit loosely mirrors that of conservative activist Laura Loomer, who sued Facebook for banning her under a “dangerous individuals” policy. (Loomer’s case was dismissed voluntarily in August.) Basically, his argument rests on the fact that Twitter said the New York Post report was based on hacked materials, and by extension, it maliciously implied he was a hacker.
GOP lawmaker sues Pence in bid to overturn Biden win --Vice President Pence was sued Sunday by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and several other Republicans in a far-fetched bid that appeared aimed at overturning President-elect Joe Biden's election win. The lawsuit focuses on Pence’s role in an upcoming Jan. 6 meeting of Congress to count states’ electoral votes and finalize Biden’s victory over President Trump. Typically, the vice president’s role in presiding over the meeting is a largely ceremonial one governed by an 1887 federal law known as the Electoral Count Act. But the Republican lawsuit, which was filed against Pence in his official capacity as vice president, asks a federal judge in Texas to strike down the law as unconstitutional. The GOP plaintiffs go further: They ask the court to grant Pence the authority on Jan. 6 to effectively overturn Trump’s defeat in key battleground states. Election law experts were dismissive of the lawsuit’s prospects for success. “The idea that the Vice President has sole authority to determine whether or not to count electoral votes submitted by a state, or which of competing submissions to count, is inconsistent with a proper understanding of the Constitution,” said Edward Foley, a law professor at the Ohio State University. Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Kelli Ward, who chairs the Arizona Republican Party and formerly served as an Arizona state senator. Ward has amplified claims from Trump and his allies — all of which have been dismissed in court — that the 2020 election was subject to widespread fraud and was behind an unsuccessful earlier lawsuit to overturn Biden’s win in Arizona. The lawsuit targeting the vice president comes as Pence finds himself under increasing pressure from Trump supporters — even the president himself — to use his statutory role to subvert normal election protocols. Trump last week retweeted a supporter who called on Pence to refuse to certify Biden’s win on Jan. 6. The president has also reportedly complained that Pence has not done enough in the fight to overturn Trump’s electoral defeat, according to CNN. Pence’s office did not respond to a request for comment. The GOP lawsuit is premised on the dubious notion that the election results in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are in doubt, despite Biden winning each of those states by a decisive margin. The litigants seek to authorize Pence to select slates of electors from those states who would cast votes for Trump rather than Biden.
Top federal prosecutor resigns after Pennsylvania election fraud investigation --The U.S. attorney who was widely criticized for the September announcement of an investigation into discarded Pennsylvania ballots announced his resignation from the Justice Department Tuesday. Freed previously made headlines in September when he took the highly unusual step of announcing his office was investigating the discarding of mail-in ballots in Luzerne County. The full Justice Department press release of an ongoing investigation was highlighted as an atypical move, as was Freed’s announcement that seven of the ballots were reportedly cast for President Trump. The president and his allies seized on the case as evidence for Trump’s frequent claims that mail-in voting would enable widespread voter fraud. Trump has continued to promote such claims since his loss in November, particularly in Pennsylvania, one of several states that flipped from 2016 and clinched Biden’s victory.
GOP Sen. Hawley Will Object To Electoral College Certification - Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Wednesday he plans to object during the Electoral College certification process when Congress convenes next week, a move that ensures a delay in the final step to mark President-elect Joe Biden's election victory. "I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws," Hawley said in a statement Wednesday morning. Hawley alleged — without providing evidence — that there was an "unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election" in support of Biden. In his statement, Hawley called on Congress to investigate allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities. No credible evidence of such fraud has been provided by President Trump or his legal team. Hawley is the first senator to announce publicly he will object to the results. That's significant because the rules dictate that for an objection to be considered, a member from the House and the Senate must lodge an objection in writing. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., has already said he will object to the results as well.
Ted Cruz Leads Senators In Challenge To Wednesday Electoral Count; Demands Emergency Audit - Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is leading a group of 11 Senators who plan to object to certifying state Electoral College votes on Wednesday. The group, which includes Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Senators-Elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), are also calling for the resurrection of an Electoral Commission to conduct an emergency audit of the results. According to Axios, the move pits the group of GOP Senators against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had 'hoped to avoid the spectacle of his party leading a last-ditch effort to prevent Joe Biden from being declared the 2020 election winner.' The move comes after Sen. Josh Howley (R-MO) said that he would raise a general objection."Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed," the eleven Senators said in a statement.
- The group noted a similar commission - made of five representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court justices - reviewed allegations of fraud in the 1876 election.
- “Accordingly, we intend to vote on Jan. 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed." -Axios
Notably, Democrats have raised similar election challenges in the past. The last three times a Republican has been elected president — Trump in 2016 and George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004 — Democrats in the House have brought objections to the electoral votes in states the GOP nominee won. In early 2005 specifically, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., along with Rep. Stephanie Tubbs, D-Ohio, objected to Bush’s 2004 electoral votes in Ohio.
Judge throws out Gohmert suit aimed at empowering Pence to overturn 2020 election results - A federal judge on Friday dismissed a GOP-led lawsuit aimed at empowering Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, contending that the plaintiffs — Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and 11 Arizona Republicans who would have been electors for Donald Trump — lacked standing to sue.U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee based in Tyler, Texas, said the suit, which was filed against Pence, couldn’t be brought by an individual member of Congress, since it alleged an injury that would apply to the entire House and Senate.Gohmert had asked the court to declare that Pence, who is constitutionally required to preside over the Jan. 6 session of Congress to certify the results of the 2020 election, had the sole authority to decide whether some of Biden’s electoral votes should be rejected — and whether alternative slates of Trump votes could be introduced instead. But Kernodle said Gohmert’s argument relied on entirely speculative circumstances.“Congressman Gohmert’s alleged injury requires a series of hypothetical—but by no means certain—events,” the judge wrote in his 13-page ruling issued Friday evening. “Plaintiffs presuppose what the Vice President will do on January 6, which electoral votes the Vice President will count or reject from contested states, whether a Representative and a Senator will object under Section 15 of the Electoral Count Act, how each member of the House and Senate will vote on any such objections, and how each state delegation in the House would potentially vote under the Twelfth Amendment absent a majority electoral vote.”“All that makes Congressman Gohmert’s alleged injury far too uncertain to support standing under” the Constitution, Kernodle added. Kernodle’s decision did not completely slam the door on the possibility that Gohmert or the would-be electors might be able to get some relief in court. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning that Gohmert’s lawyers could try to reframe the suit so it will pass legal muster. Gohmert, who filed the suit on Sunday, had asked for a final ruling from Kernodle by Jan. 4 in order to have time for potential appeals.
Rep-elect on Trump's Electoral College challenge: 'There's no question in my mind that I think he won' - Rep.-elect Burgess Owens (R-Utah) expressed his support for a challenge to the Electoral College vote that certified President-elect Joe Biden’s win, saying Thursday that there’s “no question” that President Trump won reelection. Owens, who was endorsed by Trump, told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview that he “absolutely” believes Trump won the presidential election, despite Biden being widely recognized as the president-elect since November. “There’s no question in my mind that I think he won,” he said.The incoming Utah representative’s comments come as Congress is scheduled to certify the election results on Wednesday, a move that several lawmakers plan to block in a long-shot effort to overturn the election. Owens, a former NFL player, compared the fight to his experience in football, saying he plans “to leave everything on the field” for the president. “In 10 years in the NFL, I played in a lot of losing games,” he said. “If you leave everything on the field and you’ve done everything you can and there’s nothing left, then it’s a winning game regardless of what the score might be.”The Utah representative-elect called joining the effort to contest the Electoral College vote “the right thing to do” because “seventy-plus percent of conservatives say” the election “is not fair,” according to the Tribune. In his interview, Owens cited a theory that 42,000 votes were counted twice in Nevada, which state officials have denied. He also said after living in Pennsylvania for more than two decades, “I know how the Democratic Party has done things [there], and it has not been fair.”
Giuliani, Trump Jr. among guests at Mar-a-Lago New Year's party ditched by Trump: report -- President Trump’s two adult sons and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were reportedly among the guests at a New Year’s Eve party at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club, which the president himself did not attend despite previously planning to do so. The president returned to Washington from Florida early with no official explanation, but his Thursday arrival came days before Congress is set to certify the results of the Electoral College vote amid the president’s repeated attempts to overturn its results. Without the president, the highest-profile attendees included Giuliani and Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and performers Berlin and Vanilla Ice, CNN reported Friday. The latter’s name trended on Twitter after a clip of his performance surfaced. A person familiar with preparations told CNN that numerous bookings were made when the buyers believed the president would be at the party, with some performers reluctant to commit to attending without knowing whether he would be there. Trump, who forewent his usual Thanksgiving visit to the club, was expected to ring in the new year in Florida as late as Wednesday before it became clear that evening that he and first lady Melania Trump would leave for Washington. The club set tables for 10 people with no social distancing measures, according to the network, and few party attendees wore masks.
Obesity & Stupidity: Barr, Pompeo & Trump -I do not need any encouragement to poke fun at American obesity since I've always considered it as part of US descent into, ah, fatheadedness. Prominent examples of US decline are its recent political class: Chicken Barr, Portly Pomepo and Plump Trump. These lard-assed eater-leaders exemplify current Americanness to the rest of the world--fat and obnoxiously loud despite having nothing good to say (or do). While busy wrecking the United States--and the rest of the world by sheer dint of America's influence and reach--the question is posed: How can the planet be saved from more malevolent Yankee lardasses? The more important question is the relation between obesity and stupidity as the title states: Trump and Pompeo have teamed up to destroy America's reputation abroad. Barr has done the sameto the Department of Justice but lost Trump's favor anyway. That's some reward for longtime sycophancy. Now, the evidence is not clear on whether low IQ leads to being fat or the other way around. Is it that fatsos like these cannot comprehend what it takes to maintain one's health, or that being fat has deleterious effects on cognitive functioning? That chicken-and-egg question remains unresolved. (In terms of sheer idiocy, Trump's idea that minimal exertion is the key to health literally takes the cake[s].) Still, one can probably make the intermediate argument that low IQ is an obesity risk based on existing research on the subject matter: Our findings suggest that low IQ is an independent risk factor for obesity even after adjusting for several potential confounding factors. Thus, we believe that individuals with low cognitive abilities should be screened for obesity on a regular basis. They say that people choose the leaders they deserve. In the US case, you can at least vouch for its leaders exemplifying the, ah, width and breadth of its population. Physique-wise, and I would argue intellect-wise, these three are representative democracy weighing in fully on leadership attributes.
Stimulus battle stands in way of AML measure becoming law— A key legislative change to the nation’s anti-money-laundering framework still hangs in the balance as Congress remains at an impasse over the size of stimulus checks. Congress voted with a veto-proof majority earlier this month to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes an amendment requiring businesses to report their true owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The legislation would spare banks the burden of reporting their customers’ beneficial owners to Fincen. The bill is on the verge of becoming law. Although President Trump vetoed the NDAA due to its lack of restrictions for social media companies, the bill had garnered support from more than two-thirds of each chamber, setting up a potential override of Trump's veto. The House voted Monday to override the veto, but a vote in the Senate has been held up over whether to increase the amount of direct payments to Americans to provide pandemic relief. Some Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, say they won't allow an override vote to proceed until Republican lawmakers support $2,000 stimulus checks, an idea already backed by Trump. The recent pandemic relief law signed by Trump only provided $600 checks. The holdup over the NDAA delays enactment of one of the banking industry's key legislative priorities. While the sector had pushed for more aggressive reforms of the AML framework, industry representatives remained in full support of passing the more moderate beneficial ownership measure. Some experts believe the Senate could still vote as early as this week to override the veto if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell secures 60 votes for a procedural motion to break the Democratic-led filibuster. “We applaud House lawmakers for twice advancing this critical, bipartisan anti-corruption reform by veto-proof margins,” Ian Gary, executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, said of the beneficial ownership measure in a statement. “We ask senators to similarly support these critical transparency reforms when they come up for a final vote this week.” Bankers still hope that Congress will eventually consider increasing the minimum transaction thresholds for suspicious activity reports and currency transaction reports as part of broader AML reforms. Some are also holding out hope that banks could receive more relief through the implementation of the NDAA provision.
Judge orders halt to voter purge in two Georgia counties ahead of Senate runoffs - A judge in Georgia ruled on Monday that two of the state's counties cannot invalidate voting registrations based on unverified change of address data. “Defendants are enjoined from removing any challenged voters in Ben Hill and Muscogee Counties from the registration lists on the basis of National Change of Address data,” U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner wrote in an order, according to Reuters.Abrams Gardner is the sister of former Democratic candidate for governor and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams.The two counties had sought to purge thousands of voters from the rolls based on what local election officials called unreliable change of address data. The vast majority of them included 4,000 in Muscogee County, which President-elect Joe Biden won by a large amount in November, and another 150 in Ben Hill County.The suit was brought by Democracy Forward, a legal group led by an attorney for the Democratic Party, Politico reported. “We continue to monitor how other Georgia counties respond to the suppression scheme,” said attorney Marc Elias. “Where necessary, we will sue and we will win.” The initial challenge to the voter registration rolls was brought forth by a citizen who told officials in Muscogee he had accessed publicly available voting data to allege some voters on the rolls there had moved out of Georgia. More than 2 million people in the state have already cast their ballots ahead of the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections, a contest that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Stimulus law may put disputes over PPP agent fees to rest for banks - The new stimulus package may finally put an end to a class of litigation that has pestered banks for months. A provision in the law signed this week by President Trump states explicitly that the only agent fees that Paycheck Protection Program lenders are required to pay are those “which the lender directly contracts with the agent." The provision, moreover, is backdated to March 27, potentially driving a final nail in the coffin of dozens of lawsuits that borrower agents have filed seeking a cut of banks’ PPP fees. That revenue stream is significant. The stimulus legislation directs the Small Business Administration to pay lenders the lesser of $2,500 or 50% of proceeds on loans under $50,000, 5% on loans between $50,000 and $350,000, 3% on loans between $350,000 and $2 million, and 1% on loans greater than $2 million. Borrower agents, many of them small accounting firms, have filed more than 60 suits involving more than 100 banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Truist Financial and other major banks — seeking payment from lenders for assistance they provided clients who received PPP loans. Though courts have repeatedly ruled against the agents, litigation has persisted, according to Richard Gottlieb and Brett Natarelli, attorneys at the law firm Manatt who blogged on the issue last week. "It's still being litigated," Gregory Cook, a partner at Balch & Bingham in Birmingham, Ala., said in an interview. "It has not been abandoned by plantiffs' counsel." The roots of the disputes between banks and the professional firms that sought agent fees can be traced back to PPP’s early days, when both groups were struggling to process an avalanche of applications from desperate borrowers. In the program’s first phase, between April 3 and April 16, the SBA, which is administering the Paycheck Protection Program as part of its 7(a) program, approved nearly 1.7 million loans for $342 billion.
No holiday off as banks, payment networks clean up after SolarWinds hack - With Microsoft, Equifax and others acknowledging that the SolarWinds hack of U.S. government entities had affected their holdings, security teams and vendors have put the holiday aside while continuing around-the-clock surveillance to ensure no financial services or payments networks have been hacked. The allegations against a Russia-backed group, citing a monthslong campaign, mark the most devastating defeat in cybersecurity for the U.S. in years. U.S. officials caught on when the hackers were probing the IT systems at FireEye, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity company. The broader campaign was designed to breach the software of SolarWinds, which is based in Austin, Texas.It is believed that at least 1,800 organizations, including banks, corporations and dozens of government departments, downloaded the compromised software. And even if banks and payment networks have not caught any intrusions, it would be too soon to declare that they are in the clear. "SolarWinds provided software to a huge swath of Fortune 500 companies, but so far we have not seen any banks infer that they have detected malware related to the breach," said Julie Conroy, research director and fraud expert with Aite Group."Forensics thus far have indicated there have been no breaches related to this hack, as of yet," Conroy added. "The back door was open, but nobody used it." For the most part, the hack has ruined the season for cybersecurity personnel. "This is not going to be the most enjoyable holiday season for a lot of professionals in cybersecurity," Conroy said. "Many of them are working around the clock to analyze their systems and make sure that there is not something they are missing." Chris Roberts, hacker in residence at the identity protection company Semperis, has been actively working with various government entities on the SolarWinds attack. He's not ruling out some concerns for financial services or payments down the road. "Several financial services organizations have been involved in this attack," Roberts said. "The number of companies 'infected' " is large. "We've seen elements of adversarial activity in more than a dozen of those impacted so far." In supply chain attacks like these, Roberts added, it is not surprising to see an impact across any networks connected to these organizations. Companies will have to continue focusing on remediation activities to prevent further damage, he said. "It is important to understand that just because a company was initially affected or showed indication of activity, that doesn't mean they were directly a part of the ongoing intelligence-gathering efforts." When an attack of this magnitude is exposed, it's definitely an all- hands-on-deck mode to counter the potential damages. "The security industry has rallied to address this attack from several angles, and in many cases organizations impacted are working around the clock to determine and implement any necessary fixes," Roberts said. Most companies will undertake complete end-to-end third-party code reviews in an attempt to get people feeling safe again, he added.
How will SEC complaint affect banks’ relationships with Ripple? - Banks that use Ripple’s software for cross-border payments, including PNC Financial Services Group, Bank of America and Banco Santander, got some unwelcome news last week when the Securities and Exchange Commission slapped Ripple with a 71-page complaint. The complaint casts a harsh light on how the company raises money through the sale of digital tokens called XRP.According to the SEC, Ripple executives have sold 14.6 billion units of XRP for more than $1.38 billion to fund the company’s operations and acquire personal wealth without registering their offers and sales of XRP with the SEC. Those actions have broken several securities laws, the complaint says. The SEC seeks to permanently ban Ripple and its leaders from selling unregistered XRP, make defendants "disgorge all ill-gotten gains" from the transactions and impose unspecified civil money penalties. What does this mean for the banks that work with the San Francisco company? In the early days of Ripple and XRP, some banks were bullish on both. The capital markets division of Royal Bank of Canada, a former Ripple partner, enthusiastically endorsed Ripple and XRP in a 2018 report called “Imagine 2025.“ ATB Financial in Edmonton started piloting Ripple’s xCurrent software for cross-border payments in 2016. Tim Wan, who at the time was director of innovation at the $43 billion-asset ATB, saw Ripple as a software company that was trying to replace the current methods of international money movement (basically, Swift) with a more efficient and cheaper way — “which is respectable,” he said. “And I believe that there is a need.” Ripple has long urged banks to use XRP as a mechanism for moving money around the world. Using Ripple’s xRapid software, banks could use their own local currency (say, U.S. dollars) to buy XRP. Then they could buy the currency of the foreign country with that XRP and use that to make the payment, instead of using a network of correspondent banks. The accusations leveled by the SEC have been swirling around Ripple for years, in multiple class actions brought by investors and in off-the-record conversations among people who follow the business. Ripple and Brad Garlinghouse are likely to argue in court, as they have in public comments in the past, that XRP is a decentralized digital currency. In a blog posted last week, Garlinghouse argued that XRP is not a security because “XRP is not an ‘investment contract.’ XRP holders do not share in the profits of Ripple or receive dividends, nor do they have voting rights or other corporate rights. Purchasers receive nothing from their purchase of XRP except the asset. In fact the vast majority of XRP holders have no connection or relationship with Ripple whatsoever.” Brian Klein, a partner at Baker Marquart who has represented cryptocurrency companies in similar cases in the past but is not involved in this case, said the SEC’s allegations are untested. “There's obviously a complete other side of this story that hasn't been told yet and deserves to be heard,” he said. “The case could represent an existential threat to Ripple because of the penalties the SEC is seeking. Unfortunately, just the filing of this case could also permanently damage XRP. That mere allegations by the SEC could be the death blow to a cryptocurrency is very unfortunate.”
OCC approves LendingClub acquisition of Radius — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has signed off on LendingClub’s purchase of Radius Bancorp, the latest step in the San Francisco company’s effort to become the first online lender to own a bank. LendingClub will still need approval from the Federal Reserve on the company's pending application to become a bank holding company. If the Fed endorses the merger, LendingClub will form Interim LCB. Once the deal closes and assuming the Fed approves the application, the OCC approval will allow the Boston-based Radius to convert from a federal savings association to a national bank that will be owned by LendingClub and ultimately renamed LendingClub Bank, National Association, the OCC said. “With this conditional approval, we have completed another important milestone in our journey to become the only full-spectrum fintech marketplace bank and the first neobank that will be publicly traded in the U.S.,” a LendingClub spokesperson said in a statement. “We feel good about the progress we have made.” Under the OCC approval, the resulting bank will be required to have day-one capital of $410 million, including $250 million provided by LendingClub itself. Within 45 days, LendingClub Bank will also need to appoint a chief credit officer and chief compliance officer and submit those appointments to the OCC. The bank will also have to enter into an operating agreement with the regulator within three days after the merger is complete. That agreement will be in effect for three years. LendingClub, which pioneered a marketplace lending model, announced its agreement to purchase the $1.4 billion-asset Radius for $185 million in February. The firm said at the time that the deal would take 12 to 15 months to close, and that the acquisition will allow for the creation of a scaled-up, digital bank that will enable customers to pay less when borrowing and earn more when saving. LendingClub had said it planned to pay 75% of the purchase price in cash — by tapping into its stockpile of cash on hand — and the remaining 25% in stock. The company said that it also plans to spend approximately $20 million on advisory and transaction-related costs, plus $50.2 million as part of an agreement with its largest shareholder that will enable compliance with federal bank ownership rules. The online lender had been pursuing a dual path toward obtaining a bank charter, applying for a charter with the OCC while also seeking to acquire a bank in order to access a cheaper source of funding for its loans.
BankThink OCC again overreaches on preemption law -- As the nation awaits an incoming administration, acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks continues to charge ahead with aggressive actions, provoking both state authorities and consumer advocates. His latest overreach involves an age-old favorite for this banking agency — preemption. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has a long history of this type of behavior. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the OCC (and the former Office of Thrift Supervision) engaged in a forceful campaign to preempt state laws that placed restrictions on the problematic practices of federal banks and thrifts. States tried to clamp down on banks for false advertising, failing to provide meaningful disclosures when offering financial products and services and increasing overdraft and other fees in ways that consumers had a hard time avoiding. Each of these state efforts was met with pushback from the federal banking regulators, who argued that because of federal preemption, if a bank was federally chartered, the state law simply did not apply to the bank. This culminated in a now infamous 2004 regulation where OCC broadly claimed that practically all state laws were completely inapplicable to national banks. This occurred at about the same time states were beginning to notice and respond to the growth in subprime mortgage lending. The OCC, armed with favorable court decisions, cut states off time and time again, while not as heavily policing the banks’ bad behavior itself. In the wake of 2008, Congress clamped down on the OCC and sought to make it more difficult for the agency to issue preemption regulations. Specifically, by approving a section in the Dodd-Frank Act that circumscribes when the OCC can preempt state consumer financial laws. One of the most important limitations provides that, in order for the OCC to claim preemption, the state law at issue must “significantly interfere” with the exercise by the national bank of its powers. In coming to this conclusion, the OCC must engage in a case-by-case analysis (rather than make a blanket claim of preemption as it had done in the past). The agency must also consult with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the process. In essence, this law responds to the OCC’s pre-2008 machinations of making broad preemption declarations applicable to whole swaths of state law without specific, articulable reasons for doing so. But as of Dec. 18, the acting comptroller offered a different interpretation of this provision — one divorced from the intentions of Congress and from common sense. In its interpretive letter, the OCC asserts that it does not have to go through the above-described determination, with its case-by-case analysis and consultation with the CFPB, unless it makes an “affirmative conclusion” that the agency is engaging in preemption rulemaking. If the OCC instead issues a regulation that just so happens to preempt state law, but doesn’t affirmatively state as such, then the agency can completely sidestep the process.
Has the OCC become too politicized? - — Bank regulators traditionally avoid the level of partisan warfare playing out in other corners of the capital. But policy observers point to recent actions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as a sign of politicization creeping into the government’s oversight of the industry. The OCC has not only engaged in public fights with other agencies over policy differences, namely how each reforms the Community Reinvestment Act. But some moves by acting Comptroller Brian Brooks — most recently a proposal punishing banks that restrict lending to firearms and fossil fuel businesses — are seen crossing the line separating bank regulation from partisan issues. Some worry that political influence in the workings of the OCC and the other regulators could reverberate long after the Trump administration, with President-elect Joe Biden potentially appointing officials set on going in the other direction and establishing a new, progressive regulatory agenda. “If Biden’s team brought someone to tear down the OCC and reverse all previous rulings from the previous administration — that would be draconian,” said Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association. “Of all the agencies that can’t afford policy whiplash, the OCC is the biggest, because the reputation and traditions of the OCC are being pretty close to as apolitical as possible.” After Biden’s victory in November, President Trump announced he would nominate Brooks for the permanent comptroller’s job. If confirmed, Brooks could serve in the role for five years. However, it is doubtful the Senate will confirm him in the closing days of 2020, and regardless, many legal experts say Biden can choose his own acting comptroller after taking office. But Brooks’s nomination magnifies the political dynamics behind regulatory appointments. Whoever Biden nominates could face an uphill battle, especially if the GOP maintains Senate control after the Jan. 5 Georgia runoffs determine which party has the majority. But a bigger question faces the Biden White House with far-reaching implications for the industry. Does the incoming administration select leaders for agencies like the OCC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that support policies swinging far to the left, or that will restore a more moderate, nonpolitical approach to regulatory policy? “There are things you can do that a political party or ideology supports that also supports the mission of the OCC,” said Gregg Gelzinis, a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. “I’d consider the OCC acting extremely partisan to mean that they put the needs of a political party above the mission of the agency.”
Travel Insurers Likely To Make Vaccination A Requirement, New Report Finds --Yet another sector of the travel industry has signalled that it could mandate vaccination against coronavirus to provide services to travellers, according to a report that notes insurers may demand to see proof of vaccination before covering those wishing to go on holiday.The international Travel and Health Insurance Journal reports that “If the EU obliges travellers to vaccinate, travel insurance providers may refuse to cover those who decline to have the vaccination.”The report notes that the European Union has previously indicated that travellers and anyone applying for a visa could be mandated to get the vaccine in order to enter and move between EU countries.“If EU makes vaccines mandatory, travel insurers will likely follow suit,” the journal emphasises.Elvio Chilelli at insurer Europ Assistance commented that while vaccination is currently not a requirement, if the EU does mandate it then the insurer will adopt the same policy.AXA insurance also plans to make COVID vaccination a compulsory requirement if the EU does so.“It is likely that countries are going to require people to have had the vaccine to enter. Therefore, if customers haven’t been inoculated, they will not be covered,” the company stated.“If there is no requirement from the entering country, we cannot enforce that people have had the vaccine – as customers may not have had the opportunity to get one,” a Axa spokesperson said.EU news website Schengenvisainfo also reported on the likely move by insurers, pointing out that anti-vaxxers will likely be specifically targeted by the mandates.
Synchrony, PayActiv join CFPB's compliance sandbox - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has granted two companies, the fintech PayActiv and the credit card issuer Synchrony Financial, entry into its compliance assistance sandbox. This gives the companies the CFPB’s blessing to continue developing or offering certain products for two years without regulatory reprisal provided they comply with terms of the approval. In PayActiv's case, the product getting a safe harbor offers workers access to their earned but unpaid wages before payday. PayActiv will be free from liability under the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z while it’s in the sandbox. Early wage access has at times been controversial, especially when companies have charged large or hidden fees for the service. For Synchrony, the CFPB has approved the company's proposal to develop a “dual-feature credit card” for consumers with a limited or damaged credit history. Synchrony intends to offer a lower-rate secured card that lets eligible accountholders graduate to unsecured credit after 12 months. The CFPB says it is trying to encourage innovation while protecting consumers. “By facilitating compliance in such circumstances, approvals help further the Bureau’s statutory purpose of ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent and competitive,” the CFPB said in its approval letter to PayActiv. “Approvals thereby facilitate access and innovation within consumer financial services while also facilitating compliance.”
CFPB fines Nevada lender over alleged Military Lending Act violations— Omni Financial of Nevada was fined more than $2 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over alleged violations of the Military Lending Act. The CFPB alleges that the Las Vegas-based company, which specializes in loans to military service members, violated the MLA’s prohibition against requiring loan repayment by allotment. Through allotment, borrowers designate a portion of their paycheck to be used to pay loans automatically. The CFPB’s consent order says that Omni has been violating the MLA’s ban on allotment since 2016. "The system allows a servicemember to designate a portion of each paycheck to certain recipients other than the servicemember," bureau said in the consent order. "The allotment system was intended to help ensure that servicemembers could pay their obligations while they were deployed or otherwise unavailable to handle personal finances. Over the years, this has become less necessary as technology has made it easier to make payments automatically or remotely." The agency said allotment enabled Omni to guarantee payment on unsecured loans. "Affected Consumers have been harmed in the amount of interest and fees paid because they were wrongfully deprived of the option to pay by means other than allotment,” the order said. The CFPB also alleged that Omni violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act’s prohibition against requiring consumers to preauthorize electronic fund transfers as a condition of receiving credit. The CFPB alleges that Omni requires all of its borrowers to provide bank-account information and authorize the lender to withdraw funds. In addition to the $2.175 million civil penalty that Omni must pay, the firm must provide notice of the CFPB’s findings to all customers repaying their loans by allotment along with notice that they may change their repayment method.
How far left will CFPB swing in 2021? -With a new Democratic president set to take office in January, the biggest question facing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau entering 2021 is: How far will the pendulum shift back? After three years of Trump-appointed officials at the bureau undoing much of the agency's Obama-era policies, the CFPB's focus could boomerang back to tough enforcement and aggressive rule writing rather quickly, some officials said. Now that a Supreme Court ruling has made it easier for presidents to install CFPB chiefs of their choosing, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to appoint a new acting CFPB director either on or shortly after Jan. 20. Current Director Kathy Kraninger is expected to be fired or resign, although some Republicans are pushing for a legal battle over who would succeed her. With a change in leadership, many predict the agency's agenda for the new year could quickly resemble that pursued by former CFPB Director Richard Cordray during the Obama administration. “Everybody is expecting a more aggressive and active CFPB on a number of fronts,” The immediate focus will be on aiding consumers who have been harmed financially during the COVID-19 pandemic, observers said. Mortgage servicers, credit bureaus, debt collectors and auto lenders are expected to land in the CFPB’s crosshairs. “There will likely be more mortgage-related investigations and a laser beam focus on what servicers are doing not to harm consumers,” Moran said.
Wall Street Mega-Landlord Blackstone Prepares to Reap the Spoils of Another Crisis - Back in 2008, Blackstone emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the subprime crisis, becoming a trailblazer in financializing rents. As that crisis went global, so too did Blackstone’s property empire. By the time the dust had settled, it was the biggest commercial real estate company on the planet, according to Fortune magazine. . Now, Blackstone wants to repeat the feat, albeit using a somewhat different playbook. At the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference, held on December 9, Blackstone’s CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, gave a few hints about how it plans to do just that. Asked if he thought large firms such as Blackstone would once more gain more market share during this crisis, he responded: I think something similar will happen. You always have winners and losers. Blackstone was a huge winner coming out of the global financial crisis. And I think something similar is going to happen. During the last crisis, Blackstone pioneered the buy-to-rent scheme by snapping up, for cents on the dollar, huge batches of foreclosed homes from struggling and bailed-out banks and then turning them into rental properties. In short order, Blackstone’s subsidiary Invitation Homes became the largest owner of single-family rental homes in the United States. It also took the meaning of “absentee landlord” to a whole new level, as accusations of ill repair and poor maintenance quickly mounted. Tenants also complained about excessive rent increases and fees. Once the model was up and running in the U.S., it was quickly exported to cities in Canada (Toronto) and Europe (Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Dublin, Stockholm…). Since going public in 2007, Blackstone has multiplied eightfold the equity capital it devotes to real estate, to $163 billion. As Scharzman himself put it, the company’s strategy in post-crisis Europe essentially involved “waiting to see how beaten up people’s psyches get, and where they’re willing to sell assets … You want to wait until there’s really blood in the streets.” Now, around half of Blackstone’s earnings come from real estate, with much of it coming from commercial property. In its role as commercial landlord the company holds the fate of hundreds of thousands of struggling small and large business tenants in its hands. In the UK, it is already facing a growing backlash after its commercial real estate subsidiary, the Arch Company, began hiking rents for some tenants in the midst of a global pandemic. Those tenants include florists, cafés, breweries, gyms and mechanics, many of whom have been sledgehammered by the recent crisis. But they’re unlikely to find a sympathetic ear from their landlord.
FHFA sets new end date for multifamily forbearances - The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday gave property owners more leeway to postpone payments on multifamily mortgages for coronavirus-related hardships if they provide relief to their renters as well. “Due to the continued presence of COVID-19 in our communities and its disproportionate impact on renters, FHFA will extend forbearance multifamily offerings and tenant protections beyond the end of the year and through the first quarter of 2021,” said Director Mark Calabria in a press release. The announcement by the government-sponsored enterprises’ regulator and conservator followed a push for clearer advance notice on federal forbearance deadlines from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Multifamily forbearance recipients can’t charge penalties for, or engage in evictions, solely for nonpayment, must provide all tenants with a written notice of rights, flexibility in repayment, and where applicable, 30-day notices to vacate, according to the FHFA. Repayment of back rent over time should “not necessarily” be in a lump sum. Congress has agreed on a relief bill that would provide some broader rental and other assistance for hardships related to the pandemic, including an extended eviction ban, but at press time it was still pending President Trump’s signature. Certain jurisdictions also have other related coronavirus-related contingencies in place for rental and owner-occupied housing markets. For single-family loans, forbearances related to coronavirus-related hardships are offered on more of an ongoing basis through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s programs, spokespersons for the two government-sponsored enterprises said Tuesday. Also, the FHFA earlier this month extended the ban on evictions for single-family foreclosures and real-estate owned properties through “at least” Jan. 31, 2021. The Federal Housing Administration also has a ban on single-family evictions and foreclosures that has been extended until Feb. 28, 2021. There are generally exceptions allowed for vacant and abandoned properties.
Fannie Mae: Mortgage Serious Delinquency Rate Decreased in November --Fannie Mae reported that the Single-Family Serious Delinquency decreased to 2.96% in November, from 3.05% in October. The serious delinquency rate is up from 0.66% in November 2019.These are mortgage loans that are "three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure". The Fannie Mae serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59%. By vintage, for loans made in 2004 or earlier (2% of portfolio), 5.87% are seriously delinquent (up from 5.82% in October). For loans made in 2005 through 2008 (3% of portfolio), 10.00% are seriously delinquent(up from 9.84%), For recent loans, originated in 2009 through 2018 (95% of portfolio), 2.48% are seriously delinquent (down from 2.57%). So Fannie is still working through a few poor performing loans from the bubble years.Mortgages in forbearance are counted as delinquent in this monthly report, but they will not be reported to the credit bureaus.This is very different from the increase in delinquencies following the housing bubble. Lending standards have been fairly solid over the last decade, and most of these homeowners have equity in their homes - and they will be able to restructure their loans once they are employed.
Black Knight: Number of Homeowners in COVID-19-Related Forbearance Plans Increased Slightly - Note: Both Black Knight and the MBA (Mortgage Bankers Association) are putting out weekly estimates of mortgages in forbearance.This data is as of December 29th. From Black Knight: The U.S. Sees its Third Consecutive Week of Forbearance Plans Increases: In the past week, our McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker found that forbearance plan volumes ticked upwards for the third week in a row, rising by 15,000 from the prior week and pushing the number of active plans to its highest level since early November.We saw FHA/VA forbearances increase by 11,000 this week, with portfolio/PLS forbearances increasing by 4,000 while GSE volumes remained flat. This week’s increase was primarily the result of limited forbearance plan removal activity, with removals falling to their lowest level since the start of the pandemic, likely due (at least in part) to the holiday week. On a bright note, forbearance plan starts also hit their lowest level since the pandemic began, a number also likely impacted by the holidays. Forbearance start volumes have now fallen in each of the last three weeks running. Despite three consecutive weekly rises, the number of active plans only stands 13,000 higher than the same point last month, and with nearly 270,000 forbearance plans still set to expire at the end of December, it’s possible that we could see an inflow of forbearance plan removals over the first week of January, a situation Black Knight experts will continue to monitor. As of Dec. 29, some 2.83 million (5.3% of) homeowners remain in COVID-19-related forbearance plans, including 3.5% (964,000) of GSE mortgages, 9.6% (1.16 million) of FHA/VA loans and 5.4% (700,000) of portfolio-held and privately securitized loans.
Mortgage rates end year at record low, even as Treasury yields rise - Mortgage rates yet again have dropped to a record low, even as the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury flirts with breaking back above the 1% mark, according to Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.66% for the week ending Dec. 24, down from last week when it averaged 2.67%, the lowest point since Freddie Mac started tracking this data in 1971. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.74%. However, the 10-year Treasury yield rose over the prior seven day period. It closed at 0.955% on Dec. 23, up 3.5 basis points compared with one week earlier. In fact, at one point during Dec. 23, the 10-year yield was at 0.973%, its highest level since Nov. 10. Still, the low mortgage rates have made for a nice holiday surprise for what is normally a slow time of the year for the housing market. Purchase applications were up 26% and refis up 124% compared with the same week last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Dec. 23. “The housing market is poised to finish the year strong as low mortgage rates continue to fuel homebuyer demand and refinance activity,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a press release. “Moving into 2021, we expect rates to hold steady, but the key driver in the near term will be the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic and the execution of the vaccine.” The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.19%, down from last week when it averaged 2.21%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.19%. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.79% with an average 0.2 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time, the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.45%.
Median home purchase mortgage payment sank to 2020 low in November -The median mortgage payment for a newly purchased home fell to a low point for 2020 in November, even as sellers were pricing properties at an all-time high, Redfin reported. November's nationwide median mortgage payment was $1,094, down from $1,124 in October and the 2020 high point of $1,163 in February. The median list price for November was $336,000. November's low payment amount was driven by an average mortgage rate of 2.77% for the month, according to Freddie Mac data cited in Redfin's report. "The relationship between historically low mortgage rates and surging home prices has been fascinating to watch this year," Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist, said in a press release. "We've seen mortgage rates drive unforeseen levels of homebuyer demand, which has pushed prices up by upwards of 15% in recent weeks. The good news for those buyers who are persevering through a dearth of homes for sale and fierce bidding wars is that once you do land a home, today's sub-3% mortgage rates are largely cancelling out the high prices," Fairweather continued. November was also the low point in 2020 for the median newly bought home in 35 out of the 50 largest metro areas in the nation. That list includes three of the four markets with the highest median payment in November, all in California: San Francisco at $4,420, San Jose at $3,828 and San Diego at $2,128. The only exception within that group of markets was Los Angeles. That market's median payment was at its low for the year in April at $2,382. Last month, the median payment in Los Angeles was $2,453. At the other end of the scale is Detroit, where November's median monthly payment of $491 was the lowest for any metro in the country that month. However, in both January and February, before the pandemic hit, the monthly payment for a new purchase in this Michigan metro area was even lower, at $438 and $483, respectively.
Case-Shiller: National House Price Index increased 8.4% year-over-year in October - S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for October ("October" is a 3 month average of August, September and October prices). This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities) and the monthly National index. From S&P: S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index Shows Annual Home Price Gains Soared to 7% in September:; The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported an 8.4% annual gain in October, up from 7.0% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 7.5%, up from 6.2% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 7.9% year-over-year gain, up from 6.6% in the previous month. Phoenix, Seattle and San Diego continued to report the highest year-over-year gains among the 19 cities (excluding Detroit) in October. Phoenix led the way with a 12.7% year-over-year price increase, followed by Seattle with an 11.7% increase and San Diego with an 11.6% increase. All 19 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending October 2020 versus the year ending September 2020. ... The National Index posted a 1.4% month-over-month increase, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.4% and 1.3% respectively, before seasonal adjustment in October. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a month-over-month increase of 1.7%, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.6%. In October, all 19 cities (excluding Detroit) reported increases before and after seasonal adjustment. “The surprising strength we noted in last month’s report continued into October’s home price data,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The National Composite Index gained 8.4% relative to its level a year ago, accelerating from September’s 7.0% increase. The 10- and 20-City Composites (up 7.5% and 7.9%, respectively) also rose more rapidly in October than they had done in September. The housing market’s strength was once again broadly-based: all 19 cities for which we have October data rose, and all 19 gained more in the 12 months ended in October than they had gained in the 12 months ended in September. “We’ve noted before that a trend of accelerating increases in the National Composite Index began in August 2019 but was interrupted in May and June, as COVID-related restrictions produced modestly decelerating price gains. Since June, our monthly readings have shown accelerating growth in home prices, and October’s results emphatically emphasize that trend. The last time that the National Composite matched this month’s 8.4% growth rate was more than six and a half years ago, in March 2014. The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000). The Composite 10 index is up 1.6% in October (SA) from September. The Composite 20 index is up 1.6% (SA) in October. The National index is 24.3% above the bubble peak (SA), and up 1.7% (SA) in October. The National index is up 68% from the post-bubble low set in December 2011 (SA).
Zillow Case-Shiller House Price Forecast: "Nothing Short of Remarkable", 9.5% YoY in November --The Case-Shiller house price indexes for October were released today. Zillow forecasts Case-Shiller a month early, and I like to check the Zillow forecasts since they have been pretty close. From Matthew Speakman at Zillow: October Case-Shiller Results & November Forecast: Nothing Short of Remarkable The path of home prices in recent months has been nothing short of remarkable. In many places across the country, and in the nation overall, home prices are growing by some measures at their fastest pace in decades. Record low mortgage rates, a wave of households aging into homeownership and a limited number of homes for sale all combined to stoke competition for houses and placed consistent upward pressure on prices for the better part of the last calendar year. These factors appear likely to remain in place in the near term, and an incrementally improving economy should encourage more buyers to enter the market. Taken together, this torrid pace of home price appreciation appears primed to continue well into 2021....Monthly growth in November as reported by Case-Shiller is expected to slow slightly from October in all three main indices, while annual growth is expected to accelerate across the board. S&P Dow Jones Indices is expected to release data for the November S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices on Tuesday, January 26.
The Zillow forecast is for the year-over-year change for the Case-Shiller National index to be at 9.5% in November, up from 8.4% in October.The Zillow forecast is for the 20-City index to be up 8.9% YoY in November from 7.9% in October, and for the 10-City index to increase to be up 8.4% YoY compared to 7.5% YoY in October.
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America: December Update on House Price Inflation Gone Wild - Wolf Richter -Prices of single-family houses jumped 8.4% in the US, the biggest year-over-year jump since March 2014, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Indexfor October, released today. The index is based on the “sales pairs” method, comparing the price of a house that sold in the current month to the price of the same house when it sold previously, going back decades. By comparison, the National Association of Realtors’ house price index, which is based on “median prices,” has skyrocketed 15%. In this terrible economy with 9 million to 20 million people out of work, house prices have been fired up by record low interest rates, the $3 trillion the Fed has handed the markets, the shift of working from home and not wanting to live in an apartment or condo tower, and by a dose of panic-buying. House prices in the Los Angeles metro rose by 1.1% in October from September and by 8.4% year-over-year, which put them 14.1% above the peak of the insane Housing Bubble 1. The Case-Shiller index was set at 100 for January 2000 across all 20 cities it covers. Today’s index value for Los Angeles of 312 means that house prices in the metro have more than tripled since January 2000 (+212%), making it the most splendid housing bubble on this list. Today’s release of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, named “October,” is a rolling three-month average of closings that were entered into public records in August, September, and October.The Case-Shiller Index provides sub-indices for some cities. For Los Angeles, in addition to overall house prices, it provides data on condos, and for high-, mid-, and low-tier house prices.Prices in the low-tier segment (black line) jumped 10.4% year-over-year and have nearly quadrupled since January 2000 (+281%). During Housing Bubble 1, this segment surged the most, and during the Housing Bust, it collapsed the most (-56%). High-tier prices (green line) jumped 8.0% year-over-year and are up 188% from January 2000. Condo prices (red line) have been increasing at the slowest rate of the four categories (0.5% month-over-month and 5.0% year-over-year):
NAR: Pending Home Sales Decrease 2.6% in November - From the NAR: Pending Home Sales Slide 2.6% in NovemberPending home sales declined in November, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Month-over-month contract activity fell in each of the four major U.S. regions. However, compared to a year ago, all four areas achieved gains in pending home sales transactions.The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, fell 2.6% to 125.7 in November, the third straight month of decline. Year-over-year, contract signings climbed 16.4%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001....The Northeast PHSI slid 3.3% to 108.6 in November, a 15.3% increase from a year ago. In the Midwest, the index fell 3.1% to 115.9 last month, up 14.1% from November 2019.Pending home sales in the South decreased 1.1% to an index of 150.0 in November, up 21.3% from November 2019. The index in the West fell 4.7% in November to 111.3, which is up 10.4% from a year ago. This was below expectations for this index. Note: Contract signings usually lead sales by about 45 to 60 days, so this would usually be for closed sales in December and January.
Hotels: Occupancy Rate Declined 33.0% Year-over-year, 2020 Worst Year on Record - This is the end of the worst year on record for hotel occupancy. The average weekly occupancy rate was 44.2%, far below the occupancy rate for the previous worst year of 55.0% in 2009. The normal annual average weekly occupancy rate is around 63%. From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: US hotel results for week ending 26 December: U.S. weekly hotel occupancy fell to its lowest level since early May, according to STR‘s latest data for the week of Christmas.20-26 December 2020 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019):
• Occupancy: 32.5% (-33.0%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$92.08 (-28.8%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$29.94 (-52.3%)
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average. The red line is for 2020, dash light blue is 2019, blue is the median, and black is for 2009 (the worst year since the Great Depression for hotels - before 2020).Seasonally we'd expect the occupancy rate to decline into the new year, and then, usually, business travel would start to pick up in the new year. Since there is a seasonal pattern to the occupancy rate - see graph above - we can track the year-over-year change in occupancy to look for any improvement. This table shows the year-over-year change since the week ending Sept 19, 2020: This suggests no improvement over the last several months.
Consumer Confidence Decreases in December - The headline number of 88.6 was a decrease from the final reading of 92.9 for November. This was below the Investing.comconsensus of 97.0.“Consumers’ assessment of current conditions deteriorated sharply in December, as the resurgence of COVID-19 remains a drag on confidence,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “As a result, consumers’ vacation intentions, which had notably improved in October, have retreated. On the flip side, as consumers continue to hunker down at home, intentions to purchase appliances have risen. Overall, it appears that growth has weakened further in Q4, and consumers do not foresee the economy gaining any significant momentum in early 2021.” Read more The chart below is another attempt to evaluate the historical context for this index as a coincident indicator of the economy. Toward this end, we have highlighted recessions and included GDP. The regression through the index data shows the long-term trend and highlights the extreme volatility of this indicator. Statisticians may assign little significance to a regression through this sort of data. But the slope resembles the regression trend for real GDP shown below, and it is a more revealing gauge of relative confidence than the 1985 level of 100 that the Conference Board cites as a point of reference. For an additional perspective on consumer attitudes, see the most recent Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. Here is the chart from that post.
U.S. gasoline prices reach 9-month high as refiners cut more output(Reuters) - U.S. gasoline prices hit a nine-month peak as drivers took to the roads on holiday travel, crude oil prices kept climbing and refiners further cut fuel production due to weak margins. Prices at the pump topped $2.25 a gallon this week, according to the American Automobile Association, the highest since March when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Supplies fell to the lowest in a month at 236.6 million barrels, according to U.S. government data released on Wednesday. U.S. rush-hour traffic this holiday season reached pandemic highs, with a congestion index posting the biggest month-on-month increase since July, according to location technology company TomTom. Still, no U.S. city is above 2019 levels. Stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of COVID-19 have weighed on fuel demand all year, sinking demand and prices for gasoline and other motor fuels. Refineries are running at average utilization rates below 80% this year, the latest Energy Information Administration data showed.
Flying During Christmas Travel Period? Still in Collapse Mode - Wolf Richter -- The days around the Christmas holidays have always been huge for leisure travel. Last year was huge too. But this year, with all the discouragements about traveling, the exhortations to stay at home, and with lots of people refusing to set foot inside an airport? TSA checkpoint screenings of passengers that entered the secured areas at US airports during the Christmas travel period from Friday, December 18, through Sunday, December 28, ranged from 616,000 on Christmas Day to 1.28 million yesterday, the largest day since the collapse of airline traffic in March. But that biggest day yesterday was still down by 50% from Sunday after Christmas last year (2.58 million).The seven-day moving average (bold line) was down 57% over the last few days, compared to a year ago. But it was the smallest plunge since the collapse of the air passenger business in March. The chart shows the daily percent decline (fine line) from the same weekday in the same week last year, and the 7-day moving average (bold line): The Pandemic has given rise to numerous high-frequency data sets, including daily data sets that are reported the next day. They give an immediate picture of the that segment of the economy, but they’re somewhat raw.One of them is the TSA’s data set on checkpoint screenings, released every morning for screenings the prior day. It compares these daily number of air passengers to the same weekday in the same week last year. This metric gets caught up in calendar shifts; for example, Christmas Day, which fell on Friday this year, is being compared to Friday, December 27, last year. The seven-day moving average irons out most of those calendar shifts.In mid-December, TSA checkpoint screenings of passengers had dropped sharply as they normally do after the Thanksgiving travel burst, but they did so even more sharply than last year, and were between -67% and -72% compared to 2019, with the seven-day moving average at around -68% for nine days in a row. But then the ramp-up of the Christmas leisure travel burst began. The chart below shows the number of TSA checkpoint screenings in 2020 (red) and 2019 (green) for each day and the seven-day moving average (bold): Health experts may consider the travel numbers this year a big risk factor in spreading the virus – not necessarily being on an airplane, as we’re constantly being re-re-reassured, including by the airlines themselves, that the risks of contagion on an airplane are minimal; but the risks associated with the rest of the trip, including being in an airport, and whatever mixing and mingling people are doing at their destination with people that are not in their household.But even the biggest travel days this year in terms of checkpoint screenings were still a pale imitation of last year. For the airlines, this is tough. But fear not for the airlines. We the taxpayers will hand them another $15 billion via the new stimulus package just signed into law over the weekend, in addition to the tens of billions of dollars from the prior stimulus package, to bail out and enrich shareholders and creditors.\
After Covid, Plane Makers Are Even More Dependent on China – WSJ - With airlines in the West expecting to take years to recover from Covid-19, aircraft manufacturers depend on the resilience and growth potential of the Chinese market. But China’s own aerospace ambitions and the geopolitical tensions that surround them could make it a turbulent ride. China has recovered from the pandemic to become the world’s largest domestic aviation market. Traffic is 8% higher than a year ago, data by Oliver Wyman’s PlaneStats show. In the U.S. and Europe, it is still down 41% and 68%, respectively. With another 500 million Chinese expected to join the middle classes over the next few years, the country is also the industry’s big growth opportunity. The International Air Transport Association predicts 5% average annual growth in passenger journeys in the Asia-Pacific region between 2019 and 2039. Mature Western markets are expected to expand at a 2.2% rate. Following a mild liberalization of its airline industry in 2004, China has become the second largest source of revenues for the two major plane makers, Boeing and Airbus, which have since opened plants there. It is one of their few bright spots too: In November, Boeing downgraded its 20-year global aircraft demand forecast by 2%, but upgraded China’s by 6.3% to 8,600 planes. Relative to the rest of the world, China is especially important for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families, which are the backbone of low-cost airlines. It has accounted for a quarter of deliveries for the 737 MAX, which Boeing is scrambling to remarket after a 20-month grounding. China’s true catch-up potential, though, is in long-haul routes, and thus the wide-body jets worst-hit by Covid-19. Traditionally, only the A330 had broad acceptance among the big Chinese state-owned carriers. Current orders, however, are finally skewed toward the nimbler A350 and 787 jets that Airbus and Boeing are focused on. Backlogs underplay how many planes China will end up needing. The country represents 4.4% of Boeing and Airbus’ combined firm orders, which seems far too low. As Barclays analysts point out, this suggests fewer than 20 deliveries of the A320 in 2023, compared with a recent annual average of 120. To be sure, the C919 is delayed and unlikely to enter service before late 2021, with limited initial production capacity. Its international adoption is constrained by a shorter range and worse customer service than its peers. But it is key for Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” industrial plan. This shouldn’t be underestimated, especially in the later half of the decade. The Chinese government can sell the plane at very discounted prices, and it owns a big chunk of the customers. The outcome may be determined by geopolitics. A few days ago, the Department of Commerce published a list of Chinese companies with military ties that will be banned from buying a range of U.S. goods and technology. It included some Comac subsidiaries, potentially dealing the C919 a heavy blow. It is unclear whether President-elect Joe Biden will keep such a hard line, but Beijing may retaliate by refusing to unground the MAX. Western aerospace’s dependence on the Chinese market has never been greater. Neither have the risks to its continued dominance.
Dallas Fed: "Texas Manufacturing Activity Expands at a Faster Pace" in December - From the Dallas Fed: Texas Manufacturing Activity Expands at a Faster Pace: Expansion in Texas factory activity picked up in December, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, rebounded from 7.2 to 25.5, indicating an acceleration in output growth. Other measures of manufacturing activity also point to stronger growth this month. The new orders index pushed up 11 points to 17.8, and the growth rate of orders index rose from 9.7 to 16.5. The capacity utilization index moved up 11 points to 17.7, and the shipments index advanced from 13.7 to 21.9. Perceptions of broader business conditions continued to improve in December. The general business activity index remained positive but edged down from 12.0 to 9.7. Meanwhile, the company outlook index pushed further into positive territory, rising from 11.0 to 16.8. Uncertainty regarding companies’ outlooks continued to rise; the index increased six points to 13.4. Labor market measures indicated an increase in employment and work hours. The employment index increased from 11.7 to 19.6, suggesting a pickup in hiring. This was the last of the regional Fed surveys for December. Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index: The New York and Philly Fed surveys are averaged together (yellow, through December), and five Fed surveys are averaged (blue, through December) including New York, Philly, Richmond, Dallas and Kansas City. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) PMI (red) is through November (right axis). The ISM manufacturing index for December will be released on Monday, January 4th. Based on these regional surveys, the ISM manufacturing index will likely decrease slightly in December from the November level. Note that these are diffusion indexes, so readings above 0 (or 50 for the ISM) means activity is increasing (it does not mean that activity is back to pre-crisis levels).
December Regional Fed Manufacturing Overview - Five out of the twelve Federal Reserve Regional Districts currently publish monthly data on regional manufacturing: Dallas, Kansas City, New York, Richmond, and Philadelphia. Regional manufacturing surveys are a measure of local economic health and are used as a representative for the larger national manufacturing health. They have been used as a signal for business uncertainty and economic activity as a whole. Manufacturing makes up 12% of the country's GDP. The other 6 Federal Reserve Districts do not publish manufacturing data. For these, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book offers a short summary of each districts’ manufacturing health. The Chicago Fed published their Midwest Manufacturing Index from July 1996 through December of 2013. According to their website, "The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) is undergoing a process of data and methodology revision.." Five out of the twelve Federal Reserve Regional Districts currently publish monthly data on regional manufacturing: Dallas, Kansas City, New York, Richmond, and Philadelphia. The latest average of the five for December is 11.74, down from the previous month's 14.12. It is well below its all-time high of 25.1, set in May 2004.
Worker opposition grows as US manufacturers ramp up production amid pandemic upsurge - According to recent reports, US manufacturing output has increased for seven consecutive months and is now close to pre-pandemic levels, despite an uncontrolled and continuing increase of COVID-19 infections and deaths. The US Federal Reserve reports that manufacturing output is now just five percent below the level of February, even as infections spike and the death toll from COVID-19 nears 350,000, the highest number in the world.Leading the resurgence in production has been the auto industry, which saw a 5.3 percent increase in output in November. According to a Ford Motor spokesman, the auto company is now operating at 98 percent of pre-pandemic levels.Manufacturing profits, again led by the auto industry, are approaching pre-pandemic highs. Auto company stock prices have also rebounded, rising steadily since May and beating analysts' expectations.The corporations and both big business parties have used economic blackmail to keep workers on the job. While handing trillions to Wall Street, the airlines, major hospital chains and other giant corporations, Congress voted to provide a pittance to tens of millions of workers who are facing levels of evictions, hunger and poverty not seen since the Great Depression.Despite this there are growing signs of opposition to the sacrifice of workers’ lives for corporate profit. Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to block a strike by 8,000 Union Pacific Railroad (UP) workers, which was scheduled to start Monday, over the lack of COVID protections and pay for quarantined workers. Hundreds of UP and other railway workers have been infected and at least 10 have died. In riding roughshod over the right to strike, the judge absurdly declared that the pandemic was not “a work-specific safety concern” for the Union Pacific workers. An attempt by Fiat Chrysler management to address the COVID-related manpower shortage at its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) outside Detroit by establishing a 12-hour, seven-day work schedule for skilled trades, with the support of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, had to be scrapped in the face of an outpouring of opposition.The attitude of workers to the UAW was expressed in a comment received by the Autoworker Newsletter from the FCA Tipton, Indiana transmission plant. “Transmissions in the Chrysler plants in Indiana are not a necessity and it's truly unbelievable how little [UAW President] Rory Gamble and his associates care about anyone but themselves’” the worker wrote. “They live the life of the rich and it truly shows how little we the workers actually mean to these people, who have done absolutely nothing to protect the union workers in Indiana.”
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decreased to 787,000 - The DOL reported:In the week ending December 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 787,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 803,000 to 806,000. The 4-week moving average was 836,750, an increase of 17,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 818,250 to 819,000. This does not include the 308,262 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that was down from 396,948 the previous week. The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 836,750. The previous week was revised up. The second graph shows seasonally adjust continued claims since 1967 (lags initial by one week). At the worst of the Great Recession, continued claims peaked at 6.635 million, but then steadily declined. Continued claims decreased to 5,393,440 (SA) from 5,457,941 (SA) last week and will likely stay at a high level until the crisis abates. Note: There are an additional 8,459,647 receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that decreased from 9,271,112 the previous week (there are questions about these numbers). This is a special program for business owners, self-employed, independent contractors or gig workers not receiving other unemployment insurance. An additional 4,772,853 are receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) that decreased from 4,793,230 the previous week. This was close to expectations.
U.S. Jobless Claims Post Surprise Drop, Shadowed by Virus Risks - U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a one-month low, though the recent increases in coronavirus cases and business closures threaten to keep layoffs elevated through early 2021.Initial jobless claims in regular state programs declined by 19,000 to 787,000 in the week ended Dec. 26, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. That was less than the 835,000 median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The figures are often volatile around holidays and last week included Christmas. Without adjustments, claims dropped by 31,736. Continuing claims for state programs, which roughly correlates to the total number of people receiving state unemployment benefits, also decreased, to 5.22 million in the week ended Dec. 19. Economists projected an increase to 5.37 million.Underscoring the pandemic’s damage to the job market as 2020 draws to a close, claims for benefits have averaged 1.45 million a week this year compared with about 220,000 in 2019.The surprise decline in claims is a welcome sign, though the level remains elevated as economic fallout from the coronavirus continues to reverberate. While the stimulus package recently signed into law should cushion the blow of further shutdowns and closures, it may take some time for funds to reach consumers and without a widely available vaccine, is only a temporary measure.
New Mexico fines two megachurches $10K each over packed Christmas Eve services -New Mexico officials fined two megachurches $10,000 each after they hosted packed Christmas Eve services last week. Legacy Church and Calvary Church in Albuquerque, N.M., were shown in photos on the church’s Instagram accounts to have held services with large crowds of people, many of whom were not wearing masks, city station KOB 4 and ABC affiliate KOAT reported. The packed services were held despite state restrictions instituted Dec. 15 that limit worship services to 25 percent capacity and require masks. Each violation amounted to a $5,000 fine. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham condemned the churches, saying they violated “the state public health order and common sense” in a statement obtained by NBC News. "These two churches and their leaders endangered the lives, livelihoods and health of not only their parishioners but their entire communities — and, given how quickly this virus can spread, potentially our state as a whole," she said. "These illegal and selfish gatherings will directly contribute to more suffering and illness in our state,” she added. “These church leaders should reflect on the danger they’ve unleashed in their communities." Legacy Church told NBC News on Wednesday that state officials overstepped “their constitutional authority” and were countering “what we are called on by God to do.”
Texas' most populous county tells residents to 'cancel all gatherings' for New Year's - Texas's most populous county on Wednesday issued a public safety alert warning residents against celebrating New Years with anyone other than those in their immediate household. KHOU-11, a local CBS-affiliate, reports the warning from Harris County, which contains Houston, told residents to “protect yourself, family and healthcare workers.” Dr. Ali Mokdad, a researcher who helped create the COVID-19 model used by the White House, told the television station that a rise in cases and mobility has been observed but mask-wearing has remained stagnant. "The concern for New Years Eve is totally different," Mokdad told the station. "It's a different kind of celebration. People celebrate with friends, family and sometimes people they don't know. It could be a super spreader event on top of what you're seeing in Texas." Over 60 percent of ICU beds in Texas are currently occupied by COVId-19 patients KHOU reports, with cases not expected to peak until some time in January. According to Mokdad’s model, if trends continue the way they’re going Texas could experience as many as 35,000 deaths by the beginning of February. “Many hospitals are facing a shortage of ICU beds. If you put such a pressure on hospitals we may have to start referring patients to other hospitals far from where they live,” said Mokdad. KHOU notes that the vaccine rollout has been much slower than expected. Trump officials on Wednesday defended the pace of vaccine distribution, claiming up to 20 million doses will be made available for all 64 U.S. territories. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) more than 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered so far. "Mask 95 percent wearing will do much better between now and April 1 especially when compared to the rapid rollout of the vaccines simply because we don't have enough vaccines,"
The New York Times scapegoats medical workers in the tragic death of Dr. Susan Moore - On December 20, Dr. Susan Moore passed away in Indianapolis, Indiana, one of the nearly 350,000 women and men who have lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The New York Times has used Dr. Moore’s tragic death to promote its racialist narrative of American society and the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 23, the Times published a sensationalist article by John Eligon under the headline, “Black Doctor Dies of COVID-19 After Complaining of Racist Treatment.” Without any investigation into the circumstances of the case, the Times sought to hold up Dr. Moore’s death as an example of a vicious form of racism that pervades the health care industry. “Lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen tube hugging her nostrils,” Eligon begins his article, “the Black patient gazed into her smartphone and, with a strained voice, complained of an experience all too common among Black people in America.” Not only does the Times accept, without providing any evidence, that the attending physician, Dr. Eric Bannec, is racist, but it implies that he is only part of a health care system that is pervaded with racism. Going even further than the Times, an opinion piece in the Washington Post compared Dr. Moore’s death to that of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May. “Say her name: Dr. Susan Moore,” read the headline, echoing a chant in this year’s protests against police violence. “No matter how well-intentioned our health-care system is,” the authors write, “it has not rooted out the false idea of a hierarchy of human valuation based on skin color and the falser idea that, if there were such a hierarchy, ‘White’ people would be at the top.” Officer Derek Chauvin deliberately strangled George Floyd by keeping his knee on his neck for nine minutes as bystanders begged him to stop. To compare the doctors showing up to work day after day to save lives in a yearlong mass casualty incident to the actions of murderous police officials is so absurd as to hardly merit a rebuttal.
Racialist campaign in Boston culminates in removal of statue of Lincoln and emancipated slave --On December 29, city officials removed from downtown Boston a famous statue of Abraham Lincoln and an emancipated slave that has stood for 141 years. This politically reactionary act was the culmination of a campaign, including a petition drive, carried out by racialist elements linked to the Democratic Party. On July 1, the Boston Art Commission voted unanimously for the removal of the statue. Upon removal of the monument last Tuesday, the city announced that it will be put into storage pending determination of a new location. The statue, called the “Emancipation Group,” is a bronze recasting of the Freedmen’s Memorial by Boston artist Thomas Ball. The original is located in Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Park. Contrary to the claims of its racialist detractors, the statue, paid for by subscriptions from former slaves, cannot by any objective standard be characterized as racist or demeaning. It depicts the abolition of slavery in the US, which Lincoln and over 360,000 Union soldiers paid for in blood. It features Lincoln, his hand over the Emancipation Proclamation, and a freed slave, his shackles broken, crouched in a runner’s stance with the key to his chains in his hand. The granite base of the statue, all that remains after Tuesday’s removal, bears an inscription that reads: “A race set free and the country at peace. Lincoln rests from his labors.” Frederick Douglass, the famous African-American abolitionist, gave a powerful speech acknowledging Lincoln’s greatness at the dedication of the monument in 1876.
Social media use tops list of child health concerns among parents in 2020; COVID ranked tenth! - For American parents, you may think the constant concern overCOVID-19 is their biggest fear when it comes to their child’s health. A new survey finds that’s not actually the case, not even close. Researchers from the University of Michigan say quarantine and lockdowns have parents worrying more about their kids overusing digital devices than contracting coronavirus. According to a national poll from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, a staggering 72 percent of U.S. parents say their biggest health concern in 2020 is that their child is on social media too much. In fact, the top three health concerns for moms and dads are all concerns about their child’s screen time. Worries over cyberbullying and internet safety both finished as a concern for 62 percent of respondents. Surprisingly, COVID-19 only ranked 10th among 2020 health concerns for parents. Just 48 percent say they’re greatly concerned about the virus infecting their children. Fears finishing above coronavirus in the poll included children developing unhealthy diets in quarantine, lack of physical activity, increased stress, and concerns teensmay start drinking or smoking during isolation. “This is an especially challenging time for families, with many children experiencing significant changes in routine that may negatively impact their health and wellbeing,” says Mott Poll co-director and pediatrician Gary Freed in a university release. “Parents’ biggest concerns for young people seem to be associated with changes in lifestyle as a result of the pandemic. COVID-19 has turned the world of our children and teens upside down in many ways and this is reflected in how parents rate health issues in 2020.” While the overwhelming majority of white and Hispanic parents are focused on the internet’s negative impact on their children, researchers find Black parents have much different priorities. The survey finds the top health concern among Black parents is the impact of racism on their kids (82%). Fears over COVID-19 ranked second for Black parents (73%), with overuse of social media falling to third. For Hispanic parents, racism comes in as the sixth-highest health concerns for their children and COVID-19 finishes eighth. Neither issue makes the top 10 health concerns for white parents.
As COVID-19 spreads, New York City schools prepare to reopen Monday after holiday break - On Wednesday, authorities announced that New York City’s seven-day rolling average for the positivity rate for COVID-19 tests rose to 7.93 percent. Cases have increased 25 percent and deaths 64 percent in the last 14 days. Nevertheless, the city’s Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio assured the media that schools would reopen on January 4 after the holiday break. In response to Wednesday’s announcement of the COVID-19 figures, one educator tweeted to the mayor: “Stop acting like you’re concerned about the virus. You have teachers working in unsafe environments.” Another commented, “You can’t be planning on opening schools at this rate, right? By January 4 it will be at least 10%, just getting to the school is a huge risk for kids and teachers.” At a Tuesday press conference, de Blasio said, “Look at the amazing success we’ve had in our schools, keeping them safe. Clearly New York City public schools one of the safest places to be in all of New York City.” De Blasio then touted the fraud of school testing, noting that between December 7-23 nearly 100,000 tests were conducted among students and staff, and the rate of positive tests was 0.68 percent. Students and educators are randomly tested in each open school building once a week, and the monthly total of those tested must add up to 20 percent of the school’s total population. This testing regime—including the frequency, quality and reliability of results—is largely considered a joke by New York City educators and parents. One city educator, noting that the Department of Education posted COVID-19 testing results on Monday, asked on Twitter, “Who’s being tested on 12/28, since the schools have been closed since 12/23?” A second New York educator commented, “There are teachers saying they’ve been waiting for days for results. Maybe this is how long the huge backlog is taking? Really confidence-inspiring as we’re a few days away from even more staff and student cases and closures.” An art teacher told the WSWS, “Teachers are not informed of test results. The problem [of cases in schools] is bigger than what we thought, and testing twenty percent is not enough; that leaves eighty percent that can have COVID to slip through into class. It can be a week and a half before we get test results.”
12,000 NYC Students Banned From School For Not Consenting To Random Covid Testing --About 12,000 New York City students are being prevented from attending in-person learning because their parents "failed to sign consent forms for weekly random testing", Bloomberg reported last week. The students are part of a larger group of 190,000 pre-school through elementary students who returned to classrooms in December. While about 60,000 pre-school and kindergarten students are exempt from testing, there are still about 130,000 students who are required to participate in random testing. Nathaniel Styer, a spokesman for the city Department of Education, said: “Due to the extensive efforts of our staff, 91% of students who need a consent form have one on file. Students without consent forms, and who do not have approved exemptions, are transitioned to remote instruction.” Random testing is conducted on 20% of everyone in each school building, every week. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza are responsible for implementing the standards that went into place after NYC schools had previously shut down. Meanwhile, high school and middle school students that are part of NYC's 1 million plus student body are all receiving remote instruction. "Tens of thousands" of elementary school parents have voluntarily opted out of the random testing in favor of remote learning as well, Bloomberg concluded.
Detroit educators unions sanction school openings, poverty wages for staff, and pay raise for Superintendent Vitti - Detroit schools are presently set to reopen for face-to-face instruction in the coming weeks, a measure which will endanger countless lives as it coincides with the expected post-Christmas surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths. Following a consultation with the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) Superintendent Nikolai Vitti announced in a memo to staff that in-person learning will begin January 11, with the option of opening learning centers beforehand. In other words, as the state nears a half million COVID-19 cases and over 12,000 deaths, the education unions continue their partnership in the homicidal policy of reopening schools. In September, the DFT defied a “safety strike” vote by over 90 percent of teachers and instead signed a letter of agreement with Vitti to implement his back-to-school policy. For her part, Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer reversed her mandatory closure of high schools on December 18, paving the way for a full resumption of in-person learning at K-12 schools. Toeing this Democratic Party line, the unions have not only blocked a struggle against the forced return to schools, but they have agreed that it continues to be done at poverty-level wages. The week before Christmas, DPSCD settled one-year contracts with six support staff unions. The insulting deal pushed by the unions provides two percent pay increases and $2,000 bonuses to some 2,700 workers across 133 job classifications. To make matters worse, cafeteria workers were told that they would not even receive the two percent raise because of “revenue shortfall,” and instead they received merely $1,000 in “hazard pay.” The deal, purportedly reached after months of “negotiations,” means near-impossible living standards for support staff. In return for putting their lives on the line, many support workers make at or below minimum wage, with hourly wages as low as $9.25 an hour. In a self-indictment of the union’s long role in suppressing opposition among workers, Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals president Donna Jackson previously noted, “It’s not an attractive salary to try to feed your families, pay for health care, trying to pay bills and a lot of that is being subtracted out.” Most egregiously, contracts do nothing to protect workers from the deadly reopening of schools being enforced across the state by the Democratic governor. Many support staff have been forced by the school administration to continue working in unsafe buildings since June. They were told that their upcoming contract would include a vague amount of hazard pay, but meanwhile they needed to report for work or lose their jobs. Vitti tried to justify this policy by noting the requirement “is not a decision unique to DPSCD.” He pointed to other Wayne County districts pursuing the same irresponsible policies, affecting large numbers of low-paid workers.
High School Student Sues Over Leftist "Indoctrination" In Nevada - - A high school senior of mixed race is suing a taxpayer-funded charter school in Nevada over the “coercive, ideological indoctrination” that is central to its Critical Race Theory-based curriculum that forces students to associate aspects of their identity with oppression. In the lawsuit, Clark v. State Public Charter School Authority, filed Dec. 22 in federal court in Nevada, the young plaintiff William Clark and his mother Gabrielle Clark claim their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were being violated.Students were allegedly told that by refusing to identify with an oppressive group, they were exercising their privilege or underscoring their role as an oppressor. The lawsuit was filed by the Illinois-based group Schoolhouse Rights, whose website describes its mission as supporting “civil rights litigation in defense of students’ freedom of conscience in public education and the rights of parents to guide and direct the upbringing of their children.”The student at Democracy Prep in Las Vegas whose mother is black and deceased father was white, claims there was a hostile classroom environment, and that he felt discriminated against in the mandatory, year-long “Sociology of Change” course required for graduation. There is another required class, “Change the World,” in which students carry out a political or social work project.Because the so-called civics curriculum implemented by new management carried the same name as the previous curriculum, parents like Mrs. Clark “were not aware of the turn towards coercive, ideological indoctrination until they began seeing the detrimental effects it worked upon their children,” the legal complaint states.The new curriculum “inserted consciousness raising and conditioning exercises under the banner of ‘Intersectionality’ and ‘Critical Race Theory.’ These sessions … are not descriptive or informational in nature, but normative and prescriptive: they require pupils to ‘unlearn’ and ‘fight back’ against ‘oppressive’ structures allegedly implicit in their family arrangements, religious beliefs and practices, racial, sexual, and gender identities, all of which they are required to divulge and subject to non-private interrogation.”
1984? Twitter Mob Cancels English Literature -- Under the hashtag #DisruptTexts, English and Literature teachers across the United States are banding together to censor dangerous classic novels. For example, a teacher in Lawrence Massachusetts said that the organization #DisruptTexts helped her school district remove Homer’s The Odyssey from the curriculum. Others have done away with the “slut-shaming” classic, The Scarlet Letter, as well as Shakespeare for his works written “at a time when hate-ridden sentiments prevailed.” The idea is that anything written too long ago will reflect the bias and prejudice of the past, and fail to properly indoctrinate students into the correct way of thinking, according to the woke Twitter mobsters. Instead the organization has partnered with Penguin Publishing to suggest teachers use titles such as Antiracist Baby a “picture book that empowers parents and children to uproot racism in our society and in ourselves… to help readers recognize and reflect on bias in their daily lives.” Click here if you want to see the #DisruptTexts website for yourself.
Why We Desperately Need To Bring Back Vocational Training In Schools - Throughout most of U.S. history, American high school students were routinely taught vocational and job-ready skills along with the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. Indeed readers of a certain age are likely to have fond memories of huddling over wooden workbenches learning a craft such as woodwork or maybe metal work, or any one of the hands-on projects that characterized the once-ubiquitous shop class. But in the 1950s, a different philosophy emerged: the theory that students should follow separate educational tracks according to ability. The idea was that the college-bound would take traditional academic courses (Latin, creative writing, science, math) and received no vocational training. Those students not headed for college would take basic academic courses, along with vocational training, or “shop.” Ability tracking did not sit well with educators or parents, who believed students were assigned to tracks not by aptitude, but by socio-economic status and race. The result being that by the end of the 1950s, what was once a perfectly respectable, even mainstream educational path came to be viewed as a remedial track that restricted minority and working-class students. The backlash against tracking, however, did not bring vocational education back to the academic core. Instead, the focus shifted to preparing all students for college, and college prep is still the center of the U.S. high school curriculum.Not everyone is good at math, biology, history and other traditional subjects that characterize college-level work. Not everyone is fascinated by Greek mythology, or enamored with Victorian literature, or enraptured by classical music. Some students are mechanical; others are artistic. Some focus best in a lecture hall or classroom; still others learn best by doing, and would thrive in the studio, workshop or shop floor. And not everyone goes to college. The latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that about 68% of high school students attend college. That means over 30% graduate with neither academic nor job skills. But even the 68% aren’t doing so well. Almost 40% of students who begin four-year college programs don’t complete them, which translates into a whole lot of wasted time, wasted money, and burdensome student loan debt. Of those who do finish college, one-third or more will end up in jobs they could have had without a four-year degree. The BLS found that 37% of currently employed college grads are doing work for which only a high school degree is required.
White teen kicked out of college after N-word video resurfaces - A high school cheerleader had her college “dream” shattered when a black classmate arbitrarily posted a years-old video of her saying the N-word, her lawyer said this week — as the University of Tennessee faced backlash for pushing the teen out. Incoming freshman Mimi Groves, now 19, was kicked off the school cheer team and forced to withdraw earlier this year amid complaints from outraged alumni and students when fellow teen Jimmy Galligan posted the clip. The incident gained national attention when it was detailed in a New York Times story over the weekend. Groves’ lawyer accused the university of making a “rush to judgement” for something his client did as a kid. “Mimi was a kid when she did this,” attorney Shan Wu told Fox News Monday. “She’s appalled, and having said that, she’s not trying to excuse [her actions] in any way.” “What she lost was her dream,” the lawyer added. Galligan, of Leesburg, Virginia, was in class at Heritage High School in Loudoun County last year when a friend texted him the video of Groves spitting out the racial slur. “I can drive, n—–s!” Groves said in the clip while driving in traffic. She had sent the three-second clip to a friend through Snapchat in 2016. Galligan, 18, whose mother is black and father is white, said he complained to school faculty but they ignored the video of the then-high school cheerleading captain. So he held onto the video until he found the right time to publish.
Ohio governor signs bill requiring women to choose burial or cremation of aborted fetal tissue -Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R ) signed a bill Wednesday that will require any aborted tissue to be either buried or cremated, leaving the decision to either the female patient or the clinic and penalizing whoever fails to decide. The bill signed on Wednesday also states, “the pregnant woman is responsible for the costs related to the final disposition of the fetal remains at the chosen location.” Those who are found to have failed to meet the requirements defined in the bill are subject to face, “a misdemeanor of the first degree.” If cremation is chosen as the form of disposal then the remains must either be placed in a "grave, crypt, or niche" or scattered in a "dignified manner."
What Can Be Learned From Differing Rates of Suicide Among Groups - U.S. suicide rates vary widely across racial and ethnic groups in ways that can upend expectations. The explanations may suggest avenues for prevention.Suicide in America has been rising for two decades, with rates for white Americans consistently well above those for Asian-Americans, Black Americans and Hispanics. In data released in 2017, the rate for white Americans was around 19 per 100,000, and it was about 7.1 for both Hispanics and Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders, and 6.6 for Black Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emotional and social stress is associated with suicide. From this, a puzzle emerges. Because of pervasive racism, Black Americans experience substantial stress, fewer opportunities for advancement and more threats to well-being. These negative experiences can degrade mental and physical health, as well as limit education, employment and income — all of which can increase suicide risk. Unemployment, which is higher for Black Americans than white Americans, is itself a source of stress. Yet the Black suicide rate is about one-third that of whites. “Social stressors — lower socioeconomic status and racism among them — are more prevalent and severe for the Black population than the white one,” “But suicide and some risk factors for it, like mental health conditions, are less prevalent in the Black population. This is puzzling.” One explanation may be a racial disparity in suicide data. “Because suicides can be difficult to prove, many may be misclassified as undetermined intent or accidents,” he said. “This problem is greater for Black Americans than white Americans.” His work, and that of others, shows that deaths of Black Americans are far more likely to be coded as undetermined than those of white Americans, in part because Black Americans dying by suicide are less likely than whites to leave a note and to have a record of mental disorders. (Lower rates of mental health diagnoses reflect at least in part poorer access to health care and treatment that stems from racism.) But misclassification cannot fully explain the racial difference in suicide. Other factors may help protect Black Americans from suicide, despite conditions that would seem to place them at higher risk. Dawne Mouzon, a sociologist and associate professor at Rutgers University, suggested that religious involvement is one source of protection. Black Americans overwhelmingly identify as Christian. “Because of their faith, Black Americans are more likely to believe suicide precludes reaching heaven after death,” she said.
Wealthy hospitals rake in U.S. disaster aid for COVID-19 costs (Reuters) - After collecting billions of dollars in U.S. coronavirus aid, many of the nation’s wealthiest nonprofit hospitals are now tapping into disaster relief funds that critics say they don’t need. The money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is going to some large health systems that have billions of dollars in cash reserves and investments, according to government records reviewed by Reuters. FEMA has received nearly 2,200 aid requests from hospitals and thus far has approved about 15% of them, for a total of $894 million, the agency told Reuters. Hospitals can request more money as U.S. infections surge, and FEMA officials expect total aid awards to rise significantly. Some health policy experts say that large and well-capitalized nonprofit systems - which typically pay no taxes - do not need the additional relief money. Among the aid applicants are some of the nation’s best-known health systems, including the Cleveland Clinic, Providence and Stanford Health Care. “These are very financially successful hospitals that have already received a huge amount of taxpayer money to help with COVID-19,” said Eileen Appelbaum, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. “This feels like greed for them to go to FEMA for even more money.” Some nonprofit hospitals said federal aid hasn’t covered all of the lost revenue and higher expenses caused by the pandemic. The FEMA program, they said, recognizes their major investments in staff and equipment to handle the crisis. “The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted hospitals and health systems around the country, including ours,” said Angela Smith, spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic. FEMA funds are typically dispersed after hurricanes, floods or other natural disasters in a specific region. Nonprofit hospitals nationwide can apply now because President Donald Trump declared the pandemic a national emergency in March. For-profit hospitals, which have faced similar challenges from the pandemic, can’t tap the FEMA money because federal law governing disaster relief excludes for-profit businesses.
New study shows coronavirus capable of entering the brain, has similarities to HIV — There have been many reports this year of recovering COVID-19 patients struggling with lingering, neurological issues like “brain fog” and overall mental fatigue. While it’s been discussed for some time that SARS-CoV-2 may haveadverse effects on the brain, the “how” and “why” of this relationship has remained a mystery – until now. Researchers from the University of Washington say the coronavirus’ spike protein is indeed capable of bridging the blood-brain barrier in mice. While mice obviously aren’t people, study authors say these findings all but confirm SARS-CoV-2 can do the same in humans. This spike protein, or S1 protein, is essentially what allows the coronavirus to enter and infect new human cells. Even by itself, S1 proteins can do serious damage by detaching from the the coronavirus and sparking harmful inflammation.“The S1 protein likely causes the brain to release cytokines and inflammatory products,” says professor of medicine and lead study author William A. Banks in a university release.This super intense immune response among COVID patients is called the “cytokine storm.” The immune system recognizes the virus as the major threat that it is, inciting an immune “overreaction” that appears to be causing brain fog, fatigue, and other cognitive problems in patients.This isn’t a unique phenomenon to COVID-19; many HIV patients deal with the same cognitive symptoms. These similarities led the research team to compare the S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2 to the gp120 protein present in HIV-1.Sure enough, the two proteins are very, very similar. Both are glycoproteins, or proteins covered in sugars. Glycoproteins typically function as the “hands” and “feet” of infectious viruses. Both S1 and gp120 can also cross the blood-brain barrier and do toxic harm to brain tissues. In summation, study authors speculate these findings may help explain a number of COVID-19’s more mysterious symptoms. “We know that when you have the COVID infection you have trouble breathing and that’s because there’s infection in your lung, but an additional explanation is that the virus enters the respiratory centers of the brain and causes problems there as well,” Banks explains.
Small Number of Covid Patients Develop Severe Psychotic Symptoms – NYT - The patient, a 42-year-old physical therapist and mother of four young children, had never had psychiatric symptoms or any family history of mental illness. Yet there she was, sitting at a table in a beige-walled room at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, N.Y., sobbing and saying that she kept seeing her children, ages 2 to 10, being gruesomely murdered and that she herself had crafted plans to kill them. The only notable thing about her medical history was that the woman, who declined to be interviewed but allowed Dr. Goueli to describe her case, had become infected with the coronavirus in the spring. She had experienced only mild physical symptoms from the virus, but, months later, she heard a voice that first told her to kill herself and then told her to kill her children. At South Oaks, which has an inpatient psychiatric treatment program for Covid-19 patients, Dr. Goueli was unsure whether the coronavirus was connected to the woman’s psychological symptoms. “Maybe this is Covid-related, maybe it’s not,” he recalled thinking. “But then,” he said, “we saw a second case, a third case and a fourth case, and we’re like, ‘There’s something happening.’”Indeed, doctors are reporting similar cases across the country and around the world. A small number of Covid patients who had never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms weeks after contracting the coronavirus.In interviews and scientific articles, doctors described:A 36-year-old nursing home employee in North Carolina who became so paranoid that she believed her three children would be kidnapped and, to save them, tried to pass them through a fast-food restaurant’s drive-through window.A 30-year-old construction worker in New York City who became so delusional that he imagined his cousin was going to murder him, and, to protect himself, he tried to strangle his cousin in bed.A 55-year-old woman in Britain had hallucinations of monkeys and a lion and became convinced a family member had been replaced by an impostor. Beyond individual reports, a British study of neurological or psychiatric complications in 153 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 found that 10 people had “new-onset psychosis.” Another study identified 10 such patients in one hospital in Spain. And in Covid-related social media groups, medical professionals discuss seeing patients with similar symptoms in the Midwest, Great Plains and elsewhere.
Impact of Sex and Metabolic Comorbidities on COVID-19 Mortality Risk Across Age Groups: 66,646 Inpatients Across 613 U.S. Hospitals - The relationship between common patient characteristics, such as sex and metabolic comorbidities, and mortality from COVID-19 remains incompletely understood. Emerging evidence suggests that metabolic risk factors may also vary by age. This study aimed to determine the association between common patient characteristics and mortality across age-groups among COVID-19 inpatients.We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients discharged from hospitals in the Premier Healthcare Database between April – June 2020. Inpatients were identified using COVID-19 ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes. A priori-defined exposures were sex and present-on-admission hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and interactions between age and these comorbidities. Controlling for additional confounders, we evaluated relationships between these variables and in-hospital mortality in a log-binomial model.Among 66,646 (6.5%) admissions with a COVID-19 diagnosis, across 613 U.S. hospitals, 12,388 (18.6%) died in-hospital. In multivariable analysis, male sex was independently associated with 30% higher mortality risk (aRR, 1.30, 95% CI: 1.26 – 1.34). Diabetes without chronic complications was not a risk factor at any age (aRR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.96 – 1.06), and hypertension without chronic complications was only a risk factor in 20-39 year-olds (aRR, 1.68, 95% CI: 1.17 – 2.40). Diabetes with chronic complications, hypertension with chronic complications, and obesity were risk factors in most age-groups, with highest relative risks among 20-39 year-olds (respective aRRs 1.79, 2.33, 1.92; p-values ≤ 0.002).Conclusions: Hospitalized men with COVID-19 are at increased risk of death across all ages. Hypertension, diabetes with chronic complications, and obesity demonstrated age-dependent effects, with the highest relative risks among adults aged 20-39.
‘Super Gonorrhea’ is spreading like wildfire thanks to COVID-19 2020 hasn’t been kind to anyone, but it’s almost over. Unfortunately, if you find yourself with a case of “Super Gonnorhea” you might feel the effects of this terrible year for an extended period of time. Doctors are now warning of the increasing spread of the antibiotic-resistant strain of STI, and they’re blaming the coronavirus pandemic for helping it gain momentum. According to a report from The Sun, the problem has gotten so bad that the World Health Organization has taken notice. The issue is that as the coronavirus pandemic was ongoing, many clinics and hospitals used antibiotics in the treatment of patients and to prevent the cross-infection of hospitalized individuals. That overuse of antibiotics has given a boost to antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, according to WHO. Antibiotics are great. They have saved countless lives and provided mankind with the incredible power to rid ourselves of problematic microbes. Unfortunately, as the decades began to pile up, the very microorganisms we fought using antibiotics began to find ways around them. Now, several types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are known to exist, and these “superbugs” require more complex treatment that sometimes includes multiple antibiotics or newer versions of drugs that are not yet compromised. In the case of gonorrhea, the bacterium that causes the infection has, over time, adapted to common first-line treatments. In particular, the new “super” strain of the infection doesn’t respond to treatment with azithromycin, which has long been the go-to medication option. “Overuse of antibiotics in the community can fuel the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in gonorrhoea,” a WHO spokesperson told The Sun. “Azithromycin – a common antibiotic for treating respiratory infections – was used for Covid-19 treatment earlier in the epidemic.” “During the pandemic, STI services have also been disrupted. This means more STI cases are not diagnosed properly with more people self-medicating as a result. Such a situation can fuel emergence of resistance in gonorrhea including gonorrhea superbug (super gonorrhoea) or gonorrhoea with high level resistance to current antibiotics recommended to treat it.” The worst part is that the number of people reporting a new gonorrhea infection is growing year-over-year, to the tune of about 17%. That means more and more people are getting the infection, and the antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacteria has an even larger population of people to further its adaptation to medications and other treatments.
Common diabetes drug may trigger rare, life-threatening complications for COVID-19 patients — Even before the coronavirus pandemic, people living with diabetes were already at risk from life-threatening complications from their condition. One such problem is diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which can prevent cells from receiving enough glucose to fuel their natural processes. Being sick or not having food can act as a trigger for DKA. Now, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital say a common diabetes drug may spark this serious condition in COVID-19 patients.People with diabetes are among the many groups at higher risk of severe coronavirus infections. Previous studies have revealed that a large number of patients who die from COVID turn out to have diabetes as well. The new report notes an uptick in cases of a rare form of diabetic ketoacidosis, called euDKA, diagnosed in COVID patients taking sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i).For diabetics with EuDKA, their cells can’t absorb enough glucose and compensate by metabolizing fats instead. This creates a build-up of acids called ketones. EuDKA is also harder to diagnose than DKA and is characterized by lower blood sugar levels.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been warning diabetes patients that taking SGLT2i, which work by releasing extra glucose in the urine, can increase a person’s risk of developing either form of diabetic ketoacidosis. Researchers say five euDKA cases appeared at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in just two months during spring 2020. This was the height of the pandemic in Boston. Three of the cases were diagnosed in one single week. The Brigham team says the hospital saw fewer than 10 EuDKA cases in the previous two years combined prior to the pandemic. All five of the patients had COVID-19 and all had been taking SGLT2i drugs for their diabetes. Three of the patients were eventually discharged to rehabilitation centers, one was sent home, and a 52-year-old man died of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
COVID Tied to Rare But Severe Eye Infection -A rare, sight-stealing infection might be triggered by COVID-19, a new study suggests.In the space of two months, three patients suffering from COVID-19 in one New York health system developed keratitis, an inflammation of the cornea, which then led to a sight-threatening infection of the tissues or fluids inside the eyeball called endophthalmitis."I see things like this, but very rarely," said researcher Dr. Amilia Schrier, a professor of ophthalmology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.Having three cases of endophthalmitis in such a short time is exceedingly rare, and because they were all tied to COVID-19 infection it needed to be investigated, she said. "The whole point is to alert people of the association, but I cannot say specifically that COVID causes it."Although Schrier can't say for sure that COVID-19 caused the endophthalmitis, she can't rule it out either.Of the three patients, one died from COVID-19, another had to have an eyeremoved "despite heroic efforts to save the eye," and a third lost all sight, Schrier said.Endophthalmitis is very rare, but it can be caused by a virus, Schrier said. Since doing her research, Schrier has heard of other cases of endophthalmitis linked to COVID-19 patients -- one in Boston and another in Australia.Symptoms of endophthalmitis can include pain, redness, discharge from theeye, lid swelling and reduced vision. All the patients were in their 60s and were treated at Northwell Health's Ophthalmology Department.
Why is COVID-19 causing heart inflammation, or myocarditis, in athletes? - Researchers are learning more about the long-term effects of having COVID-19 with each passing day, and one aspect that keeps coming up is that athletes are struggling with a potentially serious heart condition after having had the virus. University of Florida star forward Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed on the basketball court during a game on Dec. 12, has reportedly been diagnosed with myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that has repeatedly been linked to COVID-19, which he suffered from during the summer. University of Florida star forward Keyontae Johnson, seen here on Dec. 21, collapsed on the basketball court during a game earlier this month — reportedly the result of COVID-19-related myocarditis. And he's not the only athlete to have experienced this medical issue. But Johnson is far from the only athlete to struggle with heart inflammation in the wake of the coronavirus. In August, Georgia State quarterback Mikele Colasurdo announced onTwitter that he was unable to play football this season after he was “diagnosed with a heart condition as a result of my COVID-19 infection.” Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez also struggled with myocarditis after having had the virus. So did University of Miami defensive back Al Blades. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, known as the myocardium, according to the Mayo Clinic. The condition can affect your heart muscle and your heart's electrical system, and reduce its ability to pump. As a result, “patients can struggle with fast or abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmias,” Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York, tells Yahoo Life.Myocarditis is usually caused by viral infections. “It happens more often with some viruses than others,” Dr. Richard Watkins, an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, tells Yahoo Life. He lists the coxsackievirus (which can cause hand, foot and mouth disease) as being a more common culprit, while influenza and HIV less so.The symptoms of myocarditis include the following, says the Mayo Clinic: chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and rapid heart rate (arrhythmias).Myocarditis can be severe, Russo says, adding, “You can have a stroke or heart attack and die.” But the condition improves on its own in many cases and people can have a complete recovery — they’ll just often have to avoid competitive sports for up to six months, Russo says. In some situations, though, medications and even a mechanical heart pump may be needed, the Mayo Clinic says.
Study: Ultraviolet LED Lights Can Kill Coronavirus --In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have proven that coronaviruses can be quickly and efficiently killed using ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LEDs). The study, which was published in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, analyzed the disinfection efficiency of UV-LED irradiation at different wavelengths or frequencies on a virus from the family of coronaviruses. The researchers found that the optimal wavelength for killing HCoV-OC43, a coronavirus strain used as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 because of their similarities, was 265 nanometers. However, a wavelength of 285 nanometers had a similar result, which matters because 285-nanometer bulbs are much less expensive than 265-nanometer bulbs. The wavelengths took less than 30 seconds to destroy more than 99.9% of the coronaviruses.“UV disinfection has been around for a while, but UV-LEDs are still very new, and so is their use,” lead study author Yoram Gerchman, PhD, a biochemist and professor at the University of Haifa and Oranim College in Isreal, tells Verywell. “Part of the problem is, the lower the wavelength, the more expensive and less efficient is the UV-LED, so there is much interest in the higher wavelength.” Ultraviolet light is a type of electromagnetic radiation. It’s mostly invisible to the human eye and travels in a wavelength pattern at the speed of light.2The numbers that are used to measure UV light describe the activity level, or how energetic the photons in the light are, as well as the size of the wavelength.The most common form of UV radiation is sunlight, which produces UVA, UVB, and UVC rays.2 UVA rays have the longest wavelengths, followed by UVB, and finally UVC rays.UVA and UVB rays are transmitted through the atmosphere. All UVC rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer, but the UVC rays are often used in commercial light disinfecting devices. UV-LEDs are a form of UVC lights.
At-Home Testing for Covid - Incidental Economist (video) 
Experts have long been calling for quicker, cheaper, and more accessible ways of testing for Covid-19. Though such tests would be less accurate than the predominant PCR test, speed matters more than accuracy when it comes to curbing a pandemic. The FDA just issued an Emergency Use Authorization for a fairly affordable, at-home Covid test that renders results in 15 minutes, providing a useful mitigation resource as vaccine distribution rolls out. At-Home Testing for Covid @ YouTube - Dr Aaron Carroll
Healthy teen dies after COVID-19 'ate through her': family - A healthy high school senior from Chicago contracted COVID-19 just before Christmas — and was dead within days as the virus “ate her through,” her family says. “She called me up crying to say that, you know, ‘Mom, I’m going to miss Christmas.’ And I had to reassure her that it’s just a day on the calendar, and when she comes home, ‘We’ll do Christmas with you.’ … Unfortunately she didn’t [leave the hospital],” Sarah Simental’s grieving mother, Deborah Simental, told the local ABC-TV affiliate. “It literally just ate her through,” the mom said of the coronavirus. “And no parent should ever have to watch their child go through that.” Deborah said her 18-year-old daughter had no health problems when she got a headache and began suffering a sore throat and body aches Dec. 23. Sarah felt so poorly that her parents took her to a local hospital — where she only worsened and was airlifted to the University of Chicago Hospital, ABC said. The teen never recovered, dying the day after Christmas. “I have no words for it. I just can’t believe how fast that it progressed,” Sarah’s dad, Don Simental, told the outlet. Deborah said the only consolation for her and her husband was that they were able to be at their daughter’s bedside when she died. “She said, ‘I’m going to be OK, Mom.’ And that was the last thing,” the mother recalled.
Four-year-old boy dies from Covid-19 complications in upstate New York - A four-year-old from upstate New York died from Covid complications over the weekend, one of the youngest people in the country to perish from the virus, and a reminder that children are still at risk during the coronavirus pandemic.Xavier M. Harris of Utica, New York, died of heart complications from Covid-19 on Saturday, the day after Christmas, his family and friends confirmed to the New York Post.“He was an extremely healthy little boy,” Brandie Reid, a family friend, told the Post. “He had had no prior health problems at all, according to his mom.” Mr Harris was “a spunky 4 year old beautiful boy who’s smile and spunk lit up the room” according to a GoFundMe page Ms Reid set up, with the family’s permission, to help cover funeral costs. So far it has raised more than $31,000.“It’s absolutely awful,” Ms Reid added to the Post. “It’s [the virus] not just killing nursing home residents and elderly people. It’s obviously not a regular thing that happens, that a 4-year-old dies from this virus, but it does happen. And he was healthy.”The tragedy struck everyone from local officials to strangers online. “Obviously the news reports of a 4-year-old boy passing away are terribly brutal,” Oneida County executive Anthony Picente told reporters during a Tuesday briefing. “No parent should have to bury a child. Certainly we don’t want to see anyone lose a life to this. I’ve said since the day I stood up here months ago, these are not numbers. These are people. These are neighbors and friends and fathers and mothers and now children.”
He Was Hospitalized for Covid-19. Then Hospitalized Again. And Again. - The routine things in Chris Long’s life used to include biking 30 miles three times a week and taking courses toward a Ph.D. in eight-week sessions. But since getting sick with the coronavirus in March, Mr. Long, 54, has fallen into a distressing new cycle — one that so far has landed him in the hospital seven times. Periodically since his initial five-day hospitalization, his lungs begin filling again; he starts coughing uncontrollably and runs a low fever. Roughly 18 days later, he spews up greenish-yellow fluid, signaling yet another bout of pneumonia. Soon, his oxygen levels drop and his heart rate accelerates to compensate, sending him to a hospital near his home in Clarkston, Mich., for several days, sometimes in intensive care. “This will never go away,” he said, describing his worst fear. Nearly a year into the pandemic, it’s clear that recovering from Covid-19’s initial onslaught can be an arduous, uneven journey. Now, studies reveal that a significant subset of patients are having to return to hospitals, sometimes repeatedly, with complications triggered by the disease or by the body’s efforts to defeat the virus. Even as vaccines give hope for stopping the spread of the virus, the surge of new cases portends repeated hospitalizations for more patients, taxing medical resources and turning some people’s path to recovery into a Sisyphean odyssey that upends their lives. “It’s an urgent medical and public health question,”. Data on rehospitalizations of coronavirus patients are incomplete, but early studies suggest that in the United States alone, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands could ultimately return to the hospital. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of 106,543 coronavirus patients initially hospitalized between March and July found that one in 11 was readmitted within two months of being discharged, with 1.6 percent of patients readmitted more than once.In another study of 1,775 coronavirus patients discharged from 132 V.A. hospitals in the pandemic’s early months, nearly a fifth were rehospitalized within 60 days. More than 22 percent of them needed intensive care, and 7 percent required ventilators.And in a report on 1,250 patients discharged from 38 Michigan hospitals from mid-March to July, 15 percent were rehospitalized within 60 days. Recurring admissions don’t just involve patients who were severely ill the first time around…
Explanations for ‘long Covid’ remain elusive. For now, believing patients and treating symptoms is the best doctors can do -STAT - Nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, the perplexing problems of Covid-19 long-haulers seem no nearer resolution — or even explanation — than when they first puzzled doctors and patients in the spring. This much is known: Long haulers, recovering patients whose symptoms persist after their coronavirus infections disappear, are a mix of younger people who never needed hospital care and older people with chronic conditions that predate Covid. Their symptoms trail the infection’s path through their lungs, hearts, muscles, nerves, and brains. Deadening fatigue can dog them for weeks or months. Sometimes their problems wane, then resurface in a stuttering pattern that leaves them wondering if they’ll ever get over the malaise. With a growing sense of urgency as cases mount across the U.S., physicians have launched specialized clinics to treat and study these “long Covid” patients, creating registries to track their progress. But answers are elusive: Why does brain fog or muscle weakness or shortness of breath linger in some people and not others? What can help lift the fog or restore their vigor? Can these people ever resume normal life?“The vaccines and therapeutics, they were easy. With this post-acute Covid syndrome, we have no idea how to measure it. We have no prior experience in terms of defining it or treating it, so it’s kind of a wild, wild West right now.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about a third of Covid-19 patients still feel after-effects two to three weeks after their infections clear and they test negative for the virus. One in four of those people was 18 to 34 years old and had no chronic medical conditions before falling ill with Covid-19, according to CDC’s report, released in July. A survey conducted in the U.K. concluded in November that 1 in 5 people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) suffered from symptoms lasting five weeks or longer; 1 in 10 said their problems lasted 12 weeks or longer. So far, there is little science beyond case reports and anecdotes to guide clinicians treating these patients, whose difficulties are distinct from the delirium and PTSD sometimes seen after a stay in a hospital intensive care unit. The clinical trial Deeks leads at UCSF is tracking a cohort of people with enduring post-Covid symptoms — some who did and some who didn’t become critically ill from the coronavirus — to build a bank of blood and saliva samples obtained early in their disease to understand virologic, immunologic, and host factors that might correlate with being a Covid-19 long-hauler.There is a consensus that the problem is more common in women than men, unlike the overall mortality rate, which is higher in men. The CDC survey did not find an association between race and return to full health after Covid-19, but the small number of respondents limits any conclusions to be drawn. How the problems play out in different people is unpredictable, doctors say, with some gradually getting better and others not. Multiple organs are involved, so multiple biological mechanisms might be at play.
U.S. Vaccinations at 200,000 a Day Run Far Short of ‘Warp Speed’ - The U.S. is vaccinating an average of only 200,000 people a day against Covid-19, and many states have used just a small percentage of the shipments sent to them this month. Data gathered from states and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that while Operation Warp Speed has distributed millions of doses, some states have been slow to get them into people’s arms. The nation almost certainly won't hit the Trump administration’s goal of 20 million vaccinations by year-end, according to a Bloomberg News analysis. The CDC’s latest tally, as of Monday, showed that despite the distribution of 11.45 million doses from Moderna Inc., and from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, just 2.13 million people had gotten shots. That represents about 20% of early allocations. Oregon has used only 15.3% of its supply, Ohio 14.3% and Maryland 10.9%. Officials blame a delicate vaccine with complex storage requirements, uncertainty over the supply of doses and strain on local health agencies already facing historic challenges. “We would like to have better uptake,” said Steve Kelso, a spokesman for the Kent County Health Department in Michigan, where the state has used 18.5% of its doses. “We could be sticking more needles in arms." More than 330,000 Americans have died from the pandemic and tens of thousands more are expected to succumb in coming months, making the vaccine’s rollout all the more critical. But Moncef Slaoui, chief science advisor to Operation Warp Speed, said last week that the goal of getting 20 million people vaccinated by year-end was unlikely to be met. In recent weeks, countries around the world have launched vaccination campaigns in a global race to end the pandemic. Some are far outstripping the U.S.: Israel, whose size and population is similar to New Jersey’s, gave shots to an average 60,000 people a day in its first week. If the U.S. were moving at the same speed, it would be doing 2.2 million daily inoculations — 10 times its current pace. A Health and Human Services Department spokesman said Tuesday that reported numbers don’t reflect the latest situation. “We are closely monitoring the data being reported from the jurisdictions about vaccine administration, and we are encouraged by the work they have done so far during the holidays,” said Michael Pratt. “There is an expected lag between shots going into arms and the data being reported.” President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening reiterated in a tweet that “it is up to the States to distribute the vaccines.” But President-elect Joe Biden said in an earlier speech that “the effort to distribute the vaccine is not progressing as it should” and that he would “move heaven and Earth to get us going in the right direction.” Biden said his administration would achieve 100 million shots in his first 100 days if Congress provides funding. “If it continues to move as it is now, it’s going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people,” he said.
Analysis: Some Said the Vaccine Rollout Would Be a ‘Nightmare.’ They Were Right. -— Even before there was a vaccine, some seasoned doctors and public health experts warned, Cassandra-like, that its distribution would be “a logistical nightmare.”After Week 1 of the rollout, “nightmare” sounds like an apt description.Dozens of states say they didn’t receive nearly the number of promised doses. Pfizer says millions of doses sat in its storerooms, because no one from President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed task force told them where to ship them. A number of states have few sites that can handle the ultra-cold storage required for the Pfizer product, so, for example, front-line workers in Georgia have had to travel 40 minutes to get a shot. At some hospitals, residents treating COVID patients protested that they had not received the vaccine while administrators did, even though they work from home and don’t treat patients.The potential for more chaos is high. Dr. Vivek Murthy, named as the next surgeon general under President-elect Joe Biden, said this week that the Trump administration’s prediction — that the general population would get the vaccine in April — was realistic only if everything went smoothly. He instead predicted wide distribution by summer or fall.The Trump administration had expressed confidence that the rollout would be smooth, because it was being overseen by a four-star general, Gustave Perna, an expert in logistics. But it turns out that getting fuel, tanks and tents into war-torn mountainous Afghanistan is in many ways simpler than passing out a vaccine in our privatized, profit-focused and highly fragmented medical system. Gen. Perna apologized this week, saying he wanted to “take personal responsibility.” It’s really mostly not his fault.Throughout the COVID pandemic, the U.S. health care system has shown that it is not built for a coordinated pandemic response (among many other things). States took wildly different COVID prevention measures; individual hospitals varied in their ability to face this kind of national disaster; and there were huge regional disparities in test availability — with a slow ramp-up in availability due, at least in some part, because no payment or billing mechanism was established.Why should vaccine distribution be any different? Instead of a central health-directed strategy, we have multiple companies competing to capture their financial piece of the pandemic health care pie, each with its patent-protected product as well as its own supply chain and shipping methods.
4 Burning Questions on the Global Vaccine Rollout - Lynn Parramore - Mounting delays, technical glitches, scheduling snafus. Companies, countries, and coalitions jockeying for position. The vaccine rollout we’ve all been waiting for is underway, featuring sky-high stakes and mind-bending complexities that seasoned experts struggle to comprehend. Economist and business historian William Lazonick, critical of the rise of a financialized pharmaceutical industry business model that puts profits ahead of human life, has warned that companies fixated on manipulating stock prices in order to funnel money to shareholders are no longer focused on making the drugs people need at prices they can afford. As he sees it, these firms have morphed from socially useful and innovative enterprises into predatory, scofflaw monopolies that restrict the output of medicines and push prices out of reach. Now, with the world’s attention riveted on the pandemic, Lazonick and co-researcher Öner Tulum, who has delved into the tension between innovation and financialization in the pharmaceutical industry, turn to real-time analysis of the vaccine rollout. Together, they examine how businesses, governments, and various civil-society coalitions are working together – and competing – to inoculate the planet against Covid-19. The researchers focus on four key questions related to demand, capacity, scale, and control, each of which reveal the challenges to and pitfalls of an unprecedented mass-production effort that is critical to bringing the pandemic to an end:
- 1. How much vaccine do we need? By the researchers’ reckoning, there are 5.5 billion people in the world 18 years and older who need two shots of a Covid-19 vaccine (at least until a one-shot vaccine is approved), which means that 11 billion doses total would be required to vaccinate all of them. Together, China and India account for nearly 40% of that 11 billion total. But not everybody needs to get vaccinated in order to beat coronavirus, so it may only be necessary to have 75% of people receiving two shots, in which case, about 8.3 billion doses worldwide would do the job.
- 2. How much capacity is out there? Let’s say the world needs enough capacity to make just over 8 billion doses, plus all the stuff required to use them, ranging from new machinery for Covid-19 vaccine production, chemical ingredients, glass vials, and purified water — never mind the timeframes for constructing new manufacturing facilities. Lazonick and Tulum estimate that if we had three or four years to complete the entire global rollout, we could get all the production processes and supply chains in order and have those doses distributed, no problem. But we need it faster than that. A lot faster, because the coronavirus is extremely contagious, and potentially becoming more so as the virus mutates. Tulum observes that the capacity to produce vaccines is controlled by a few Big Pharma firms and about ten large contract manufacturers, which are companies that provide services to drug companies. He adds that there are really only four global companies with sufficient capacity for a pandemic-sized vaccination effort on their own: Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur, and Merck. And the only reason the big guys have this capacity is because governments have incentivized them to build it.
- 3. What could go wrong, logistically? The rapid scaling up of production for Covid-19 vaccines is a tremendous challenge. Not only must the vaccine be produced, it must be made on a massive scale. Already, reports indicate a wide range of problems and glitches. Many issues involve the supply chain, in part because every company is competing with other companies all over the world for stuff needed for the manufacturing processes. Already, there are problems with firms getting access to the various types of machines and materials required. Pfizer, for example, slashed production projections for 2020 from 100 million to 50 million doses and then agreed to provide 100 million extra doses to the U.S. for 2021 in exchange for receiving priority from the government in the delivery of resources. Equipment is an especially tough hurdle. The messenger RNA vaccine that Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have developed, for example, requires new types of machinery that have never previously been used for mass production. In the case of the Moderna vaccine, now approved for emergency use, the U.S government has been lining up contract manufacturers, one of which, Swiss-based Lonza, is doubling its manufacturing capacity at a facility in New Hampshire. Bottom line: a lot can go wrong, and things may be more complicated and chaotic than many realize.
- 4. Who controls the vaccine rollout? - The U.S. and the U.K. are the most aggressive countries when it comes to seeking control over manufacturing capacity, supply chains, and vaccine output. For its part, the European Union (EU) is acting as a bloc to procure for member countries. At the same time, various coalitions have entered the competition, the most prominent of which is COVAX, an initiative coordinated by GAVI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and World Health Organization (WHO). The U.S. has been the most aggressive of all in the procurement competition, with its Operation Warp Speed run out of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in collaboration with the Department of Defense. There’s been a lot of wheeling and dealing, and mind-blowing amounts of money poured into companies for bringing vaccines online extremely quickly. Lazonick notes that the U.S. infrastructure for healthcare delivery was underfunded even before Trump occupied the White House, with matters worsened by the incompetence and negligence of his administration in preparing for and responding to the pandemic. This is why the vaccine rollout faces problems in the U.S. even when vaccines are made available from the manufacturers. As he puts it, “Operation Warp Speed has been very active in paying billions of taxpayer money for procurement contracts and thus hoarding access to the very limited supply of vaccines that the whole world needs, but very inactive in making sure that the vaccines on which it puts its hands actually find their way into the arms of the American people.” Lazonick also warns that the lion’s share of the available Covid-19 vaccines in 2021 will end up going to the rich nations.
COVID Vaccines: At-Risk Prisons Excluded From US Plans - --Coronavirus outbreaks in prisons and jails in the United States have been widespread. But inmates of US prisons and jails have largely been left behind as the country rolls out its first set ofCOVID-19 vaccines. Public health experts and advocates have been pushing for states and the federal government to make this vulnerable population a priority. More than 1.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States. One tracking projectreported more than 270,000 cases and more than 1,700 deaths in the prison system since April. Inmates are twice as likely to die from the coronavirus as the general population, and 19 of the top 20 hot spots in the US are inside prisons, according to the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice. Poor living conditions and overpopulation have exacerbated the problem. "They have been the source of so many cases because they are a confined population, because they can't do social separation," Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University, told DW. "They are a high-risk circumstance." Health experts warn that the consequences could be disastrous if nothing is done to mitigate infections among the incarcerated. The American Medical Association had recommended inmates and correctional workers "should be prioritized in receiving access" to the vaccines in the first phase of inoculations. Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee in mid-December did not recommend prisoners be included in the initial phase. The federal government has largely left state governments on their own to determine how to distribute the vaccines. "The federal government has mismanaged this process, specifically developing logistics," said Ryan King, director of research and policy at the Justice Policy Institute. "This was avoidable ... there's been a lack of real federal leadership."
Addicts in rehab next to get COVID-19 vaccine, Cuomo says - Recovering addicts in residential rehab facilities will be among those vaccinated against the coronavirus this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo obliquely revealed Monday. During a virtual news conference in Albany, Cuomo said the state was expecting to receive a combined 259,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. In addition to urgent care center employees and “individuals who are administering the COVID-19 vaccines, for obvious reasons,” Cuomo said that shots would be given to residents of “OASAS” — the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports. The agency runs 12 treatment centers across the state, with five located in or around New York City, and also certifies and monitors “hundreds” of private facilities, according to its website. “These are congregate facilities. Congregate facilities are problematic. That’s where you have a lot of people in concentration,” Cuomo said. “Nursing homes are obviously the most problematic because they’re congregate plus older, vulnerable people. OASAS facilities, what we call the O facilities, they’re congregate — not necessarily older — but congregate facilities.” Residents and staffers will be vaccinated at both the state-run and privately operated rehab centers, as well as at facilities run or licensed by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and the Office of Mental Health, according to the state Department of Health. Emergency medical services personnel, medical examiners and coroners and some funeral workers will also get shots, a DOH spokeswoman said.
Over half of U.S. adults ‘unlikely’ to get COVID vaccine under emergency use authorization — The coronavirus vaccine is finally a real thing and millions of people have already received it. While the rollout has the world cheering, researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University finds many Americans aren’t exactly chomping at the bit to be the first in line for the vaccine under an emergency use authorization. Their survey reveals 53.1 percent are definitely, likely, or somewhat unwilling to get the shotunder emergency use conditions.The poll does find that 46.9 percent of the 788 U.S. adults surveyed are definitely, likely, or somewhat willing to receive the vaccine under such conditions. So what is keeping the majority of the United States from getting their first shot?If researchers remove the emergency use authorization stipulation, 59.9 percent of respondents are definitely or probably planning on being vaccinated in the future. Meanwhile, 18.8 percent are neutral on the entire matter and 21.3 percent are probably or definitely not getting the vaccine.“The biggest issue coming out of this study is that participants seemed worried about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine under emergency use authorization,” says lead author and VCU assistant professor Jeanine Guidry, Ph.D., in a university release.So why are Americans shying away from “emergency use” of the COVID vaccine? Concerns over potential side-effects appear to be the top answer to that question.“Such concerns are not unusual,” Guidry adds, “but we now also know that two of the vaccines — Pfizer and Moderna — may have some expected side effects … and that may make people hesitate to get the vaccine.”Researchers also discovered a number of differing opinions among people of different age groups and ethnicities. Younger Americans are more willing to get the coronavirus vaccine than older adults. Whites are also more likely to feel good about receiving a COVID shot in comparison to African Americans. Both of these differences stayed steady regardless of the inclusion of the emergency use authorization stipulation.
WHO Chief Scientist Warns "No Evidence COVID Vaccine Prevents Viral Transmission" - Once again, the WHO has stepped in to offer some confusing comments about the coronavirus vaccine, warning that there is "no evidence to be confident shots prevent transmission" and that people who receive the vaccine should continue wearing masks and following all social distancing and travel guidelines. The comments were made by WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan during what appears to have been a virtual press conference held Monday. A clip of the offending line has begun circulating on social media. "At the moment, I don't believe we have the evidence on any of the vaccines, to be confident that it's going to prevent people from getting the infection and passing it on," Of course, a close look at the research released by Pfizer and Moderna shows the studies haven't actually tested whether the vaccines actually prevent transmission of the virus; the goal of the trials was to see whether vaccinated patients presented with COVID symptoms at a rate that was substantially less frequent than individuals who hadn't been vaccinated. That's pretty much it. Though the data might hint at lowering transmission rates, that's still tbd, apparently.
Gottlieb: New coronavirus strain 'probably here in the United States' --Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Sunday that a new strain of COVID-19 believed to have originated in the U.K. is “probably here” in the U.S. “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Gottlieb if he thought the measures that the federal government has taken to fight the new strain by requiring negative COVID-19 tests from all air passengers arriving from the U.K. would have an impact. “Well, I think it's probably here in the United States, and it could be here in a reasonable number at this point,” Gottlieb responded. Gottlieb said the U.S. needs a better way to sequence and track the strains of the coronavirus that are currently circulating. "We don't sequence a lot of samples in this country, and a lot of that sequencing that does get done gets done in private labs and doesn't get aggregated into public databases. That needs to be fixed," Gottlieb said. "In the U.K., they're sequencing about 10 percent of all the samples. Here we're doing a fraction of 1 percent." In response to the newly detected strain, many countries have limited or banned travel to and from the U.K. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) last week put in place a 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers arriving to his state from the U.K., while many other lawmakers, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), have called for stricter restrictions. Brennan also asked Gottlieb for this thoughts on the rate at which vaccines have been distributed and administered. She noted that 9 million doses of the two approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have been distributed and a little more than a million people have received a vaccine. "The pace is slower than what was stated. I think it's probably realistic to think that the pace is going to be a little bit slower, especially as we try to move through hard-to-vaccinate populations next month," said Gottlieb. "I suspect there's more than a million who have been vaccinated. There's a lag in reporting. But the idea that we're going to get to 20 million vaccines, vaccinations, by the end of the year, that's probably unrealistic at this point."
White House testing czar: More infectious COVID strain is no more dangerous -Adm. Brett Giroir, the White House coronavirus testing czar, expressed confidence that a new, more infectious strain of the vaccine detected in the U.K. is no more deadly than the more common strain. “We don’t know if it’s here or not, there’s certainly a possibility that it’s here or not,” Giroir said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It is not any more serious than the normal stains of COVID. You can still protect yourself by the mitigation measures … we have no evidence to suggest, nor do we believe that the vaccine would not be effective.” Giroir added that “we would certainly encourage states to have quarantine orders or to have testing once these travelers arrive” from the U.K., but noted existing protocols for travelers from the U.K. and continental Europe that are already in place. Asked if public health officials anticipated a surge in infection as a result of the holiday season, Giroir said, “it really depends on what the travelers do when they get where they’re going.” “We know the actual physical act of traveling in airplanes for example can be quite safe,” he added. “What we really worry about is the mingling of bubbles once you get to your destination.”
Fauci: Mutant coronavirus strain must be taken 'very seriously' -- Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, on Sunday said people should take the more contagious strain of the coronavirus that has emerged in southeastern England “very seriously.” Fauci, who has discouraged outright barring flights from the United Kingdom, said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that U.S. officials were right to require proof of negative coronavirus tests for anyone entering the country from Britain. Public health officials are examining the new strain “very intensively now,” including questions such as, “Does it make someone more ill? Is it more serious virus in the sense of virulence? And the answer is, it doesn’t appear to be that way.” Fauci added that while their British counterparts have expressed confidence that existing vaccines will be equally effective against the new strain, “we’re going to be doing the studies ourselves,” according to the AP. “We're getting isolates of it, making combination of viruses, to be able to directly test, getting sera from people who we have vaccinated, and see if it still neutralizes this new strain, this mutant strain that's coming from the U.K., as well as from South Africa,” he added. “There's a similar, but not entirely the same type of mutation that we're seeing in South Africa.” Fauci declined to answer whether it was a mistake not to require negative tests from British travelers earlier, telling CNN’s Dana Bash, “Obviously, I think the move to put some form of restriction on travel — and restriction could either be blocking out travel completely, which the decision was made not to do that.” “But I think it's prudent and a good idea to do some form of testing, and not let somebody on the plane from the U.K. unless they have a documented negative COVID-19 test,” he added.
Faster-Spreading Covid Strain Affects Young the Most, Study Says - The new coronavirus variant that emerged in the U.K. is more transmissible and appears to affect a higher proportion of people under 20, according to a report from Imperial College London and other science groups.The mutation of concern has “a substantial transmission advantage” and is linked to “epidemic growth in nearly all areas,” the scientists wrote. It can raise the virus’s reproduction rate, which indicates how many people one patient infects, by as much as 0.7, the researchers found.“This will make control more difficult and further accentuates the urgency of rolling out vaccination as quickly as possible,” said Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial who has worked on modeling the outbreak. Social distancing measures that worked against earlier strains of the virus were insufficient to control the spread of the new variant, the study found. The government had previously said the new strain was as much as 70% more transmissible than other versions, without providing documentation.The researchers used statistical tools to evaluate the link between transmission and frequency of the new variant across the U.K. The data have informed the government’s pandemic planning in recent weeks, Ferguson said. It’s possible the new variant appears to infect the young the most because the research was conducted at a time when there were lockdowns but schools remained opened, the scientists said.
December deadliest month of COVID-19 pandemic --December is the deadliest month for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.The U.S. has recorded more than 63,000 deaths so far this month. April was previously the deadliest month of the pandemic, with more than 55,000 deaths. According to the COVID Tracking Project, deaths surpassed that number just three weeks into December as temperatures dropped, people gathered for the holidays and cases surged. According to the most recent data from Johns Hopkins, the U.S. has seen more than 19 million coronavirus cases and more than 330,000 deaths due to COVID-19.President-elect Joe Biden warned last week that the pandemic will get worse before it gets better, even with the arrival of vaccines, and cautioned Americans to be vigilant."I’m going to tell you the truth. And here’s the simple truth: Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us," Biden said during a press conference Tuesday."As frustrating as it is to hear, it’s going to take patience, persistence and determination to beat this virus. There will be no time to waste in taking the steps we need to turn this crisis around," he added.Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, on Sundayagreed with that assessment, warning the U.S. could see the worst of the pandemic in the weeks ahead."As we have gone from the late fall to the early winter, the numbers really are quite troubling," Fauci said. "With the hospitalizations over 120,000, we really are a critical stage," he added.
One year into the pandemic, 65,000 deaths in the US in one month - One year after the first cases of COVID-19 were identified in China, December was the deadliest month of the pandemic both in the United States and throughout the world. More than 65,000 Americans lost their lives to the virus over the past 28 days. At the present rate, deaths in December will be double what they were in November, when nearly 37,000 people died. The United States accounts for about a third of the global death toll of 175,000 over the past month. Medical personnel work in the intensive care ward for Covid-19 patients at the MontLegia CHC hospital in Liege, Belgium, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020 [Credit: AP Photo/Francisco Seco] By the end of this week, total deaths in the US will surpass 350,000, and the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 will reach 20 million. Another 193,000 people could die in this country over the next two months, according to predictions from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Experts have warned that even this scenario may be optimistic. “We very well might see a post-seasonal—in the sense of Christmas, New Year’s—surge,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Sunday. “The projections are just nightmarish,” Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN. In a warning to the rest of the world, the number of daily new cases hit an all-time record of 42,000 in the UK yesterday, driven by the emergence of a new strain of the disease that medical experts estimate is 56 percent more transmissible than the original. US Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir said Monday that the new and more dangerous strain of the virus is “likely” already present in the United States. He was left to speculate because, unlike the UK, the US does not have a genetic surveillance system in place to ascertain the presence of different strains of the disease. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 continues to surge throughout the country. “California is now the only place (state or country) in the world” with more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases per million people, noted physician Eric Topol. Southern California, the state’s most populous region, as well as San Joaquin Valley, in the state’s center, have 0 percent ICU bed capacity. On Sunday Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brad Spellberg said that the hospital faced a “massive crisis.” Another hospital in the region has begun issuing guidelines for patients and families as to how the hospital will make decisions on who will live and who will die in the case that care has to be rationed.
One in 1,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 --Within 10 months since the onset of a public health crisis that has upended the lives of millions of Americans, the nation’s death toll has surpassed 330,000, during what has become the year’s deadliest month, with nearly 60,000 lives lost within the final weeks of 2020. The overwhelming scale of death means that one in 1,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. Nearly 19 million confirmed infections have been reported in 2020, with an average number of daily new cases remaining above 200,000 within the year’s final days, according to Johns Hopkins University – more than three times higher than the outbreak’s summer peak in July. Within the final weeks of the year, Covid-19 has become the leading cause of death in the US. Health officials have forecast a death toll that could reach 400,000 early next year – eclipsing American lives lost during World War II, based on projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The arrival and promise of an effective vaccine, of which nearly 2 million doses have already been administered, will arrive too late for thousands of current patients. States reported a record-high 120,000 Covid-19 patients who were currently hospitalised on Christmas Eve, according to the Covid Tracking Project. That figure broke a record that was just one-day old, when more than 119,000 people were hospitalised. At Christmas, health systems reported nearly 119,000 hospitalised patients. The first reported coronavirus-linked death in the US was on 29 February in Washington state, though health officials later determined that two California residents died from Covid-19 earlier that month. Within the next few months, the nation’s death toll eclipsed 100,000 in May. Four months later, another 100,000 Americans had died from the disease. Eleven weeks later, as infections and hospitalisations surged, deaths followed, reaching 300,000 by mid-December.
Experts say experience convinced Midwest of virus dangers -- As much of the country experiences spiking virus rates, a reprieve from a devastating surge of the coronavirus in the Upper Midwest has given cautious relief to health officials, though they worry that infections remain rampant and holiday gatherings could reignite the worst outbreaks of the pandemic. States in the northern stretches of the Midwest and Great Plains saw the nation's worst rates of coronavirus infections in the weeks before Thanksgiving, stretching hospitals beyond capacity and leading to states such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin reporting some of the nation’s highest deaths per capita during November. But over the last two weeks, those states have seen their average daily cases drop, with decreases ranging from 20% in Iowa to as much as 66% in North Dakota, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Since the middle of November, the entire region has returned to levels similar to those seen in October. For a region that was a harbinger of the virus waves that now plague much of the country, the positive direction in the Midwest offers hope that people can rally to take virus precautions seriously as they await vaccines during what experts think will be the final months of the pandemic. Governors have used the declining numbers to justify their divergent approaches to fighting the pandemic, even jousting at times. In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has defended keeping some restrictions in place through early January, saying limits on bars and restaurants are working. In neighboring South Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has argued the opposite, using the recent decline in numbers in her state to argue that mask mandates don't make a difference. But some epidemiologists believe the most compelling factor for many who redoubled their efforts to prevent infections may be that they experienced the virus on a personal level. As the pandemic crept into communities across the Midwest, more people had loved ones, friends or acquaintances fall ill or die. “It's fox hole religion — the whole thing gets a lot more real when the guy next to you gets shot,” said Dr. Christine Petersen, the director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa. “All of a sudden, your local hospital is full, and your sister, aunt, or grandmother is in the hospital.” Roughly one of out every 278 people across northern states spanning from Wisconsin to Montana required hospital care for COVID-19, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. In tight-knit communities, those experiences hit home. The virus outbreak was so widespread by early November that nearly everyone has known someone severely affected by COVID-19, said Dr. James Lawler with the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security.
Oregon Hospitals Didn't Have Shortages. So Why Were Disabled People Denied Care? - At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a small group of disability rights advocates found itself in a race against time to save the life of a woman with an intellectual disability.The woman was taken to the hospital with COVID-19. But the hospital, in a small Oregon town, denied the ventilator she needed. Instead, a doctor, citing her "low quality of life," wanted her to sign a legal form to allow the hospital to deny her care.In the hospital, a medical provider wrote do-not-resuscitate (DNR) and do-not-intubate orders for the woman. Those are medical instructions to health care providers to withhold potentially painful interventions, like a ventilator or CPR, if a patient stops breathing or the patient's heart stops. The woman was alone in the hospital and did not understand what the doctor and medical staff wanted her to agree to. In addition, the hospital staff sent word to the woman's group home: Fill out DNRs in advance for your other residents, in case one of them comes to the hospital.Out of that quiet fight in early spring, the advocates — staff at a disability rights legal group, a state lawmaker and a few others — discovered something disturbing: There were many cases in Oregon of health care being rationed to people with disabilities.At the same moment, across the United States, disability groups and even a civil rights office of the U.S. government were raising a similar warning: that behind closed doors, people with disabilities, as well as elderly people, were in danger of being denied health care.NPR was looking for cases, too, and heard about the woman in Pendleton while she was in the hospital.There's no reason that these examples would occur more frequently in Oregon than in other states. But the fight for that anonymous woman with an intellectual disability peeled back the curtain on health care decision-making in Oregon in a way that did not happen in other states.That activism led to change in Oregon — including anti-discrimination legislation and new statewide policies.
TSA screened 1.1M travelers the day after Christmas - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened more than 1.1 million travelers on Saturday, the day after Christmas, despite pleas from public health officials for individuals not to travel amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. TSA confirmed that it screened 1,128,773 travelers on Dec. 26. The number falls short of the 1,191,123 travelers who passed through airport checkpoints on Dec. 23. Dec. 23 brought the most travelers through airport checkpoints since March 16, when 1,257,823 people were screened. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and top health officials called on Americans not to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday or around Christmas in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci earlier this month urged Americans to “Stay at home as much as you can, keep your interactions to the extent possible to members of the same household.” “This cannot be business as usual this Christmas because we're already in a very difficult situation, and we're going to make it worse, if we don't do something about it,” Fauci told The Washington Post. The United States reported 225,930 coronavirus cases on Saturday and 1,646 fatalities. The country has reported over 19 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Covid Variant in Colorado, Governor Says; First Reported US Case of New Strain - Colorado has confirmed the first reported U.S. case of the Covid-19 variant that emerged in the U.K. Colorado Governor Jared Polis said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been advised of the case by the state’s health department. Cases involving the new strain have been identified in more than a dozen countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Singapore and South Korea. Last week, the CDC said the variant was probably already in the U.S., noting that only about 51,000 of the 17 million U.S. cases had been sequenced in a way that would allow discovery of the new strain. Preliminary analysis has suggested the variant is 56% to 70% more transmissible than other strains and is contributing to a spike in cases in the U.K. It is not considered to be more deadly. The individual in Colorado is a male in his 20s, who is now in isolation and has no history of travel, the governor said in a statement released via Twitter. The new variant was responsible for 62% of Covid-19 infections in London in the week ending Dec. 9, up from 28% in early November, according to Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia’s Norwich School of Medicine. Vaccine developers have said they believe their shots will protect against the variant.
US reports its first known case of new UK Covid variant - A man in Colorado has become the first known US case of the newly identified strain of Covid-19 circulating in the UK – and authorities have found a second suspected case in this state.The new variant is thought to be more contagious than other, established variants and has prompted some countries to restrict travel from the UK. Public health experts believe that this variant is already spreading throughout the US. The Colorado man confirmed to have contracted the new variant, called B.1.1.7, is in his 20s, and had no travel history, according to the state’s health department. In a statement, Governor Jared Polis said that health officials are conducting an investigation into how the man might have contracted the virus, while he recovers in isolation. Although the new variant had not been found in the US until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that it was probably already circulating through the country. The agency said while the new variant had not been identified through sequencing efforts “labs have only 51,000 of the 17m US cases” – and the variant might not have been picked up. According to Colorado Politics, public health officials said they have detected a second suspected case of this variant. Both the man who’s confirmed to have the variant and the suspected case have been working in the same Elbert county, Colorado assisted living facility, per CNN. They live outside Elbert county, but officials did not say where they reside. Detection of this new variant in the US comes as Covid-19 continues to spread seemingly unabated. There have been 19,516,147 confirmed cases in the US and 338,656 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.Among the recent deaths is Luke Letlow, Louisiana’s incoming Republican congressional representative. Letlow, who reportedly did not have pre-existing conditions, died from coronavirus-related complications at 41 years old, his spokesman said in a statement.The new variant has also recently been detected in at least 17 countries, including South Korea, Spain, Australia and Canada. On Christmas Day, the CDC issued new guidelines for travelers from the UK, requiring proof of a negative Covid-19 test.That the Colorado man who tested positive for the new variant has no travel history is significant in that it suggests the new variant is already spreading through US communities, said Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University, in a tweet. “There is a lot we don’t know about this new Covid-19 variant, but scientists in the United Kingdom are warning the world that it is significantly more contagious,” Polis said in a statement. “We are working to prevent spread and contain the virus at all levels.”
Los Angeles County reports nearly 30,000 coronavirus cases - The number of coronavirus cases and related deaths in Los Angeles County continued to surge over the first two days of the three-day holiday weekend, with health officials on Saturday reporting a combined tally of nearly 30,000 cases. Officials reported 29,423 new coronavirus cases over Christmas Day and Saturday combined. Officials said Friday’s case numbers were delayed a day because of an interruption of internet service in the L.A. area by Spectrum.Local health agencies also reported 136 deaths over the two-day period. The county has averaged about 14,000 new coronavirus cases a day and 88 COVID-19 deaths daily over the past week.Los Angeles County has now reported a total of more than 707,000 coronavirus cases and more than 9,440 deaths.Hospitals throughout the county are overwhelmed. Some are running dangerously low on their supplies of oxygen, critical to treating severely ill COVID-19 patients who have begun to suffocate on account of their virus-inflamed lungs. Emergency rooms are so overcrowded that ambulances have to wait as long as eight hours to drop off patients or are sometimes sent to hospitals farther away.“People mixing with others not in their household has driven the COVID-19 pandemic in L.A. County to the most dangerous levels that we have ever seen,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “The overwhelmed hospitals are the saddest proof of this reality. To honor our health care workers and for the safety of your family and friends, please delay travel plans and gather only with members of our household. These actions will save lives.” In Los Angeles County, COVID-19 hospitalizations rose to 6,815, more than triple the figure from Thanksgiving, when 1,951 were in the hospital. ICUs across Los Angeles County are essentially full, and on Christmas, 1,368 people with COVID-19 were in the ICU, nearly triple the comparable figure from Thanksgiving, when 484 were in the ICU.
L.A. County health officials fear new COVID-19 surge in January due to holiday gatherings - Los Angeles County health officials are warning of a possible surge in COVID-19 cases following family gatherings and out-of-town trips during the holidays, despite pandemic guidelines that asked the public to stay home.Under one scenario, experts predict there could be a boost in new coronavirus cases by mid-January, a surge in hospitalizations by late January and early February, and another burst of deaths by early to mid-February.The quick succession of holidays in the fall and winter months typically allows people to celebrate and spend time with loved ones in a brief period. But that leaves little time for coronavirus cases to start falling before they spike again, creating surges on top of surges.People may be getting together in small groups to try to be safe because of the COVID-19 surge, but those interactions can still fuel the spread of the virus, said UCLA infectious disease specialist Dr. Tim Brewer.“I’m very concerned about the next two months,” Brewer said. Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a medical epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said a person who is exposed to COVID-19 at a Christmas gathering could be infectious by New Year’s Eve. However, the individual may be asymptomatic, go to a New Year’s Eve party and unknowingly spread the disease, he said.Coupled with a high infection rate — about 1 in 95 in Los Angeles County are contagious with the virus, according to county estimates — the holidays are creating a “viral wildfire,” he said.In Los Angeles County, the pace of daily deaths is higher than ever — with a person dying of the coronavirus about every 10 minutes.
'A viral tsunami:' LA doctors, hospitals are 'hanging on by a thread' as COVID surges -- The latest COVID-19 epicenter has shifted coasts, moving from New York to the Midwest and now moving to Los Angeles.The city reported more than 13,000 new cases on Dec. 27 alone, pushing the city to hit record highs in seven-day testing averages and positivity rates.The Los Angeles Times notes that with this wild uptick in cases comes dwindling hospitalization capacity. Intensive Care Unit bed numbers are falling, and health care providers may have to begin rationing care across county and state medical facilities. “Ambulances are circling hospitals for hours trying to find one that has a bed open so they can bring in their critically ill COVID patient gasping for air,” a doctor at an L.A. County public hospital told reporters last week. “We’re literally hanging on by a thread.” Epidemiologists and urban experts say that some of the city’s infrastructure and design characteristics made it easy for the virus to spread. Combined with lockdown-weary Angelenos and cooler winter weather, COVID-19 was able to gain ground despite the city’s prior strict lockdown measures. “There is no city as large and complex as L.A. The closest might be New York. And we saw what happened in New York,” Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, told The Times. An early sign of the outbreak occurring was Thanksgiving. Sensors at the Transportation Security Administration stations located in airports recorded millions of travelers moving over the holiday period, adding to experts’ worries of a new rise in cases. “We realized, ‘Oh, my God. We’ve got everyone traveling, like hundreds of thousands of people are traveling,’” Bibbins-Domingo added. “We at that point got really scared, because we just sort of knew in our core that we were headed to a surge on top of a surge.” Now, Los Angeles is averaging 14,000 new COVID-19 infections daily. “We’ve moved from having waves to now having a viral tsunami occurring here in Los Angeles,” Robert Kim-Farley, a medical epidemiologist at UCLA, told The Guardian.The rampant and dense homelessness and poverty that characterizes millions of Los Angeles’s inhabitants also made it more challenging to isolate and socially distance. “Los Angeles has the combination of poverty and density that leads to a virus like this being able to spread much more quickly and be more devastating,”
A Los Angeles hospital is so overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases it’s been forced to treat some patients in the gift shop - A Los Angeles hospital is so overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases that it’s now forced to treat some patients in the gift shop and chapel, CNN reported. Dr. Elaine Batchlor, CEO of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital said if cases continue to rise, they may have to result to wartime techniques designed to ration care.“We may be forced to do something that, as health professionals, we all really just loathe having to even think about,” Batchlor told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin.The hospital serves poor communities in South Los Angeles,The New York Timesreported.Dr. Oscar Casillas, the medical director for the hospital’s emergency department, told The Times that while the emergency department could normally see about 30 people at a time, they have seen as much as 100 people a day amid the pandemic.The hospital’s waiting room is now a tent outside.“Everything is backed up all the way to the street,” Casillas said.The Times said COVID-19 patients accounted for 66% of the community hospital’s capacity.Similar situations are playing out in hospitals across Los Angeles County, especially in South LA. Earlier this month, California activated its “mass fatality” program after deaths surged in the state. The program is meant to ensure local agencies aren’t overburdened. Southern California, which spans more than 56,000 square miles and has a population of nearly 24 million people had a 0% ICU capacity at the time.
California hospitals overwhelmed as COVID-19 cases hit 2 million -- California became the first state last week to reach 2 million recorded COVID-19 cases and is now the epicenter of the virus in the US. In Los Angeles County, the state’s most populous region, there are an estimated 6,500 people hospitalized, four times the number from last month. The number of people in intensive care units (ICUs) is approaching 1,300, double the number from a month ago. Every 10 minutes another patient in California dies from the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. Nearly every hospital in the state is operating beyond its capacity, putting in makeshift beds and rationing treatment for the most urgent cases. Many nurses and staff are complaining of fatigue and taking much needed leave, while hospitals scramble to make up for the losses in workers. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has predicted that hospitalizations could reach up to 100,000 in January under current scenarios. While California was the first state to impose a lockdown in spring, the government’s reopening policies have led to a horrific and preventable surge in cases. Last Thursday alone saw 351 new deaths in the state. Health officials have been begging the public to stay at home during the holiday season, but Governor Newsom has still not issued a statewide order for people to do so. As people travel for the holidays and spread the disease they will be blamed for the rise in infections. Meanwhile, workplaces, schools and other major congregate settings have been allowed to proceed with no systematic effort for contact tracing. Since the start of the pandemic, California has seen more than 2.1 million positive cases and more than 24,220 people die from COVID-19, according to the California Department of Public Health. In the past two weeks alone, there have been an additional 570,000 cases and 3,250 deaths, averaging to record highs of 41,000 new cases and 231 deaths every day. Last week, California reported the highest number of new cases per capita in the past week of any state, according to Johns Hopkins University. This week will see more than 19,750 patients hospitalized for the virus in California, including 4,228 in ICUs. Both totals are now double the peak recorded during the summer when there were around 7,200 hospitalized with 2,050 in intensive care.
California is at the breaking point: COVID-19 patients in ambulances are waiting EIGHT HOURS before entering ERs as ICUs run out of capacity - Hospitals in Southern California are so overrun by COVID-19 cases that doctors are running low on supplies of oxygen, infected patients are forced to wait eight hours in ambulances before they can enter an emergency room, and intensive care units are fully booked with no more beds available. The skyrocketing surge in COVID-19 cases is raising suspicions among public health officials in Los Angeles County that a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus is fueling the outbreak. California's deadly Christmas was marked by pleas to avoid holiday gatherings outside the home and indoor church services in what could be a make-or-break effort to curb a coronavirus surge that already has filled some hospitals well beyond normal capacity. Doctors say California is currently experiencing a 'viral tsunami' with COVID-19cases surging by a staggering 68 percent in the past two weeks alone and ICU beds now at capacity in the southern part of the state. California surpassed 2 million recorded cases of the deadly virus earlier this week, but experts predict that number will rapidly rise as residents gather to celebrate New Year. Festive gatherings with friends and family might be tempting after a year that has seen the pandemic take nearly 24,000 lives and ravage the economy as much of the state remained under a stay-at-home order that has closed nonessential businesses.But officials repeated warnings that Thanksgiving gatherings where people didn't wear masks or observe social distancing have resulted in a surge and begged people to forego Yule and New Year's festivities.In Sonoma County in California's wine country, a Native American casino announced it was canceling a planned private New Year's Eve indoor event that could have drawn as many as 4,000 people. The Graton Resort and Casino is on sovereign native land that isn't subject to state or county health orders, but it had come under scrutiny for the event.Governor Gavin Newsom said hospitals are under 'unprecedented pressure' and if current trends continue the number of those hospitalized because of the virus could double in 30 days.
Massive COVID-19 spike of 38,000 California prisoners sparks calls for early releases --More than 38,000 incarcerated people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, following a recent spike predicted by the office of the inspector general in an independent oversight report last month. While the state has started vaccinating inmates with special medical needs, supply remains limited and advocates say more inmates need to be released. “In the last nine months the state had a chance to do the right thing, they didn’t and now people inside are terrified,” Hadar Aviram, a professor with UC Hastings Law, told the Guardian. More coronavirus cases are connected to 60 prisons in the state than more than 300 nursing homes, as well as colleges, universities and food processing facilities, according to the New York Times’ COVID-19 Tracker. Across the country, more than 433,000 people have been infected in jails and prisons, and at least 1,960 inmates and correctional officers have died. Six of the facilities with the highest case counts are located in California, according to the Times’ tally. "We have implemented robust response and mitigation efforts across the system, including mandating the use of procedural [surgical] masks by all staff in our institutions, anyone entering institutions grounds is screened both verbally and by temperature check, and conducting staff and inmate testing regularly," said Vicky Waters, a special adviser at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told CNN.As of November, California Gov. Gavin Newsom had granted four medical reprieves while in office along with 22 pardons and 13 commutations, allowing those classified as "high medical risk" by the CDCR to serve their sentences "in appropriate alternative placements in the community." “I simply will not en masse release people without looking individual by individual,” he told The Guardian, saying that he reviewed individual cases on a weekly basis and continued to follow protocols. “I respect those who want to bypass protocols but we are moving in a different direction.”
US coronavirus cases surpass 19 million - The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 recorded in the U.S. since the pandemic began passed 19 million on Sunday, according to figures tabulated by Johns Hopkins University.The outbreak in the U.S. is growing rapidly, with a million cases added in the last five days and a million cases added in the six days before that. After recording more than 100,000 cases in one day for the first time in early November, the nation recorded 226,274 cases on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins. The COVID Tracking Project says the U.S. averaged 185,000 cases a day between Dec. 19 and 26. The nation has recorded 332,502 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began. The latest grim milestone comes as health experts warn a surge in cases is likely in the next few weeks as a result of people traveling and gathering for the holidays. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, predicted hospital systems in many cities could reach a breaking point. "As we have gone from the late fall to the early winter, the numbers really are quite troubling," Fauci, a member of the White House COVID-19 response team, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "With the hospitalizations over 120,000, we really are a critical stage," he continued before adding of Christmas gatherings, "Even though we advise not to, it's going to happen." India, the country with the second-highest number of total cases, had recorded just more than 10 million coronavirus infections as of Sunday, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. Brazil has more than 7.4 million cases. A more infectious strain of the virus is also spreading primarily in the United Kingdom, even as both the U.S. and the U.K. begin rolling out distribution of two vaccines for COVID-19. Officials have moved to place heavy restrictions on travel from the U.K. but have warned that some people carrying the new strain may have already arrived in the U.S.
South Carolina reports record coronavirus cases --South Carolina saw a single-day high for new coronavirus cases on Sunday, with more than 4,000 reported. The state reported 4,370 new cases for Dec. 25, with the delay due to the state’s policy of not reporting on major holidays, according to state officials. On Christmas Eve, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 2,550 new cases and 14 deaths. The department also reported a testing positivity rate of 23.5 percent on Sunday. The Palmetto State has seen a coronavirus surge in December and a total of 288,892 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The state has reported a total of 5,124 deaths. Last week, Gov. Henry McMaster (R) announced he had tested positive shortly after his wife Peggy announced she had been diagnosed days earlier. “Peggy and I urge everyone to be extra careful during the Christmas holiday season,” the governor said in a statement last Tuesday. “This virus spreads very easily.” McMaster isolated himself after the first lady tested positive and did not have any close contacts in the 48-hour period before his own positive test, according to his office.
Arizona sets record for COVID-19 patients in ICU -- Arizona is reporting a record number of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) who have or are suspected to have the coronavirus, announcing more than 10,000 new cases and 42 more deaths due to the virus on Sunday. The Arizona Republic reported on Monday that 4,390 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were confirmed the day before, significantly higher than the peak of 3,517 observed in the summer. Some 1,007 suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients were in ICUs, beating the previous record of 970 in July. According to Arizona’s coronavirus data dashboard, 91 percent of ICU beds in the state are occupied and more than half by COVID-19 patients. There are currently fewer than 200 ICU beds and 1,000 non-ICU beds available, reports the Republic. Along with record high ICU patients, the number of Arizona coronavirus patients on ventilators also reached a record high on Sunday: 715. The newspaper notes that the unusually high number of new cases reported, 10,086, is because the state added multiple days worth of cases at once after the recent holidays. The number of new cases has surpassed 2,000 for 31 out of the 33 past days, the Republic reports, and 27 of those days saw more than 4,000 cases reported. In the U.S., Arizona currently ranks third in terms of seven-day new-case averages, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data dashboard, surpassed only by California and Tennessee. NFL fines Baltimore Ravens over COVID-19 protocol violations: report London Ambulance Service receiving as many emergency calls now as... The impact from the recent holidays has yet to be seen, but experts have warned that a new surge could be imminent as thousands of families gathered despite warnings from government agencies against doing so. The state began its coronavirus vaccine plan on Dec. 14, the Republic reports. Front-line health care workers, early responders and those in vulnerable populations have been prioritized. The order in which the vaccines are deployed has been left to state governments to decide, and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has not yet announced who will be next in line, though the newspaper notes he has assured residents that the vaccine will be free for everyone once it is widely available.
Wisconsin Rep. Gwen Moore tests positive for COVID-19 --Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) announced Monday that she had tested positive for the coronavirus. “I tested positive for COVID-19. I am following guidance from my doctor and am isolating from others. I am thankful to be feeling well. And I do not foresee this disrupting my work for Wisconsin’s Fourth,” Moore tweeted. The Democratic congresswoman added, “I encourage every person to continue taking measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by wearing a mask, washing your hands, and practicing social distancing.” Moore, 69, has not attended any congressional proceedings in person since May 26, writing a proxy letter that designated Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) as her proxy. Due to her age, Moore is at a higher risk of experiencing more severe symptoms of the coronavirus though she reported she was feeling well. Moore joins Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen (Wash.), who shared last week that he had also tested positive for the coronavirus, and nearly 40 other House lawmakers who have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Members of Congress were given access to the coronavirus vacine as part of a "continuity of governance" plan that seeks to ensure the government is able to continue functioning in a broad range of different situations. However, many government officials such as Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) have deferred receiving the vaccine, stating that they believe other groups of people should receive the vaccine before politicians do. It is unclear if Moore has received a dose of a coronavirus vaccine yet.
Covid Death Toll to Reach 400,000 Before Trump Departs, CDC Says - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now predicts the U.S. will see 400,000 coronavirus deaths by Jan. 20, when President Donald Trump is to leave office. The country surpassed 100,000 deaths in May, and 200,000 four months later. It passed 300,000 in three months, and 400,000 looks set to take just one month, the CDC determined using a collection of mathematical models. The U.S. has one of the highest mortality ratios of nations hit hardest by the virus, behind only Italy, Spain and the U.K., scaled for population. The predicted pace would mean an additional 65,000 deaths in coming weeks. The numbers are a reminder of the increasing speed with which the virus claims lives in the U.S., underscoring the urgency of vaccine distribution efforts. Weekly deaths are predicted to rise through Jan. 16, even though national case numbers have been falling for two weeks amid patchy holiday reporting. Only Washington state reported a seven-day average in cases that was substantially higher than it was a week ago, according to Covid Tracking Project data.Nationally, the U.S. posted 162,190 new Covid-19 cases Monday, Covid Tracking Project data show. There have been at least 335,051 deaths attributed to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University data. According to Covid Tracking Project data:
- Connecticut, Kansas and Arizona had the highest new cases per million people.
- Connecticut also reported a single-day case record on Monday.
‘My Daughter’s Gone. My Mother’s Gone’: How One Family Is Coping With Loss - Cindy Bezzek and her husband built their home in Sanford, North Carolina, to be an oasis, with bonsai trees, tortoises and a waterfall-flanked koi pond. The place called Tranquility Ranch was Bezzek’s refuge after years of tumult. Her mantra when 2020 began: “Look for the beauty.”Then came spring, when Mark Bezzek, a physician, started treating patients so sick they died no matter what he did. When Mark’s mother contracted Covid-19 and died. When an assisted-living facility cut off Cindy’s visits with her own mother, Louise Hope. When the 92-year-old stopped eating and wasted away.When, as Cindy had long feared, her 33-year-old daughter, Marley, overdosed for the last time. The pandemic that began 8,000 miles away in a corner of a Chinese market overran the defenses of Tranquility Ranch. With her husband of four years plunged into the medical crisis and friends and family unable to visit freely, it left Bezzek, a 62-year-old retired mother of three, to grieve on her own. “My daughter’s gone. My mother’s gone. And I’m still here.” Across the globe, 2020 has been a year of loss: of education, jobs, health and lives. The U.S., whose federal government refused aggressive measures to confront the pandemic, has seen more than 19 million Covid-19 cases and 333,000 deaths, largely among the elderly and people of color. As many as 130,500 more Americans are expected to die this year from other causes, above historical averages. At least one factor: With people cut off from relatives and support systems, drug overdoses and mental-health crises have soared. Yet for all that families like the Bezzeks have endured, 2021 is set to begin much like the year that preceded it. By April, 209,000 more in the U.S. could be dead from Covid-19, according to one model. While calculating the impact of lost lives, productivity and health, economists and academics predict long-term effects on the mental health of those who have lived through the pandemic. Families across the U.S. are already grappling with that toll.
December 29 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Hospitalizations - The week-over-week growth in positive cases has slowed. Hopefully that continues after the holidays. The US is now averaging close to 2 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US has far too many daily cases - and percent positive - to do effective test-and-trace. There were 1,236,471 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 194,512 positive tests. Almost 70,000 US deaths have been reported so far in December, far surpassing April as the deadliest month. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project. The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 15.7% (red line is 7 day average). The percent positive is calculated by dividing positive results by total tests (including pending). And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site). The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported and daily hospitalizations.
Coronavirus dashboard for December 29: a final look back at the pandemic disaster in 2020 - Total US confirmed cases: 19,132,726* *Because many asymptomatic people probably never get tests, actual cases are probably more like 26 million, or about 8% of the US population
Average cases last 7 days: 184,005
Total US deaths: 333,118
Average deaths last 7 days: 2,207
Total vaccinated: 2,127,143 (per CDC via Bloomberg)
The good news is, we finally have started the process of vaccination, and 1% of the population should be vaccinated by the end of this week. The bad news is, at the current rate, it would take over 4 years to vaccinate everyone in the US. I do expect this to ramp up, both as more States get more efficient at administering the vaccine, and because the Biden Administration will be much more activist and competent at ramping up production and improving the supply chain. As we end 2020, let’s take a look at total infections and deaths per capita so far. Here are infections and deaths for the US as a whole (note separate scales): Roughly 1 in 16 Americans has had a *confirmed* infection; 1 in 1000 Americans has died from COVID this year. Here are total infections by State: 12% of North Dakotans and 11% of South Dakotans have had *confirmed* infections. Between 8% and 9% of the total population of Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and Tennessee have also had *confirmed* infections. At the other end of the distribution, only about 1% to 2% of the populations of Maine, Hawaii, and Vermont have been infected. That is a success story. Here are total deaths by State: New Jersey and New York, which had horrible outbreaks early, still lead the pack, with about 1 in every 500 residents having died of the disease this year. About one in 600-700 of the entire populations of Massachusetts, North and South Dakota, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Mississippi have also died of the disease. Maine, Vermont, Alaska, and Hawaii have the best record, with only 2 deaths per 10,000 population. Looking at the 7 day average rate of infections shows that the wave that began in early November utterly dwarfs the two prior waves, with North Dakota having the worst result of any State: Note that North Dakotans were apparently sufficiently terrified that their infection rate is now one of the 10 lowest in the entire country! The 7 day average of deaths shows that the initial outbreak in the NYC metro area remains the most lethal: Although Iowa and South Dakota’s recent spikes are in the same ballpark. I expect the recent horrific rates of infections and deaths to continue throughout the winter, although there will be alternating waves of panic and complacency, depending on the recent experience of each State. Between vaccinations, warmer weather, and a competent new Administration in Washington I expect a real subsidence to finally begin by about late March or early April.
Texas Logs 26,990 New Virus Cases, Shattering Previous Record - Texas posted a record 26,990 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, shattering the previous all-time high established less than a week ago. The tally was 41% higher than the previous record reached on Dec. 23, state health department figures showed. The figure may include some cases that local health authorities failed to report over the holidays, the state said. Hospitalizations, meanwhile, climbed to 11,775, breaking the record set a day earlier, according to the state’s online dashboard. Virus patients occupy more than 15% of hospital capacity in almost two-thirds of Texas’s 22 trauma service areas. In hot spots such as Laredo, the figure is as high as 36%. Governor Greg Abbott set 15% as the threshold at which economic and social restrictions may be reimposed to control outbreaks.
US hits new daily high with 3,725 coronavirus deaths - The United States on Tuesday broke its record for the most number of coronavirus-related deaths in a single day with 3,725 reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Tuesday surpassed the country’s previous single-day death toll high of 3,656 set on Dec. 16. As of Wednesday morning, the U.S. has now recorded a total of 338,656 deaths due to COVID-19. This comes as more than 82 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus, with the U.S. continuing to have the highest number of infections with approximately 19.5 million. The record numbers come as about 2 million Americans have already received their first doses of the coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the CDC, though this is far from the Trump administration's goal of 20 million vaccinated by the end of the year. Globally, nearly 1.8 million people have died from COVID-19 this year, according to the university’s data. These numbers come as experts predict the pandemic will get worse as more infections are reported in the coming weeks following travel and gatherings over the holidays. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said on Tuesday during an interview on CNN that America has to assume that the coronavirus pandemic is “going to get worse.” He noted that the U.S. is seeing between 100,000 and 200,000 new infections each day and added that once cases begin to rise, increases in hospitalizations and deaths follow.
California sets new coronavirus daily death record with 442 - California on Tuesday set a new coronavirus daily death record, logging 442 fatalities, according to a tally kept by the Los Angeles Times.The number is the equivalent of one person dying from the virus every three minutes, according to the Times. The record comes as the U.S. broke its record for single-day coronavirus deaths, reporting 3,725 fatalities.Over half of California’s reported deaths were recorded in Los Angeles County, setting a record for a single day in the county, according to the Times.The newspaper predicted that the state will likely exceed 25,000 total deaths on Wednesday and that L.A. County will reach 10,000 by New Year’s Day.The record comes as California deals with a surge in coronavirus infections that continues to impact the state and its hospital capacity. The Golden State was the first to pass 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases last week and was forced to activate its “mass fatality” program earlier this month. The state also ordered 5,000 body bags and 60 refrigerated units.California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) extended stay-at-home orders for San Joaquin Valley and Southern California on Tuesday as they both reached 0 percent ICU capacity.California has recorded 2,230,934 cases since the pandemic began, according to the Times, and there have been 24,987 fatalities. L.A. County alone has logged 9,806 total deaths.
Los Angeles County coronavirus deaths reach 10,000 total –= Los Angeles County reached 100,000 coronavirus deaths total on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, called it a "terrible milestone" and said more could have been done to prevent it from being reached. "Most heartbreaking is that if we had done a better job of reducing transmission of the virus, many of these deaths would not have happened," she said. The typical daily death rate for all combined causes countywide is typically about 170 people. Now, about 150 are dying per day in LA county of the coronavirus alone, according to the AP. The news comes as The Golden State recorded a record high of 442 coronavirus-related fatalities on Tuesday. Los Angeles's COVID-19 struggle has significantly worsened in recent months, after leveling out and remaining relatively low August through October. As cases began to rise around the country, the county experienced skyrocketing infections. Restriction efforts to try to combat further spread have been extended, with the Southern California stay-at-home order now in effect for at least another three weeks. Medical personnel have reported extremely limited hospital capacity throughout the county, resorting to treating patients in hospital gift shops and conference rooms and turning away ambulances. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that the first case of a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus had been detected in California. So far, no deaths from the new variant have been recorded in the U.S.
Nurses call for help as California hospitals pushed to the brink - California hospitals continue to buckle under the strain of a flood of COVID-19 patients in critical care requiring hospitalization. The state remains the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. Only last week it the milestone of 2 million cases, is quickly approaching 2.25 million cases. Deaths have surpassed 25,000 in the richest and most populous state in the country. Every day deaths continue to break one-day records, with 440 deaths on Tuesday, more than half of which are from Los Angeles County. On Wednesday evening California Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed that the UK variant of the virus has been found in a 30-year-old man with no history of travel in the state’s southern San Diego county, implying wide community spread. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s hospitals have begun diverting ambulances and making decisions about rationing care. On Tuesday, he reported that more than 95% of Los Angeles hospitals have diverted ambulances in the last 24 hours. Throughout the regions of Southern California and the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, ICU capacity remains at zero percent. Meanwhile healthcare staff are pleading for help. A video by Gayana Chuklansev, an intensive care nurse in Los Angeles, went viral on Tiktok and has been viewed 1.5 million times as of Wednesday. Chuklansev explains through tears, “We have no ventilators for patients. We have no sedating medications. Patients are dying like flies... We’re full. We’re at max capacity. We have no resources. We have no staff. Our doctors can’t even intubate because they have like 40 patients each.” “Physically I am exhausted,” an Anaheim nurse told the World Socialist Web Site.” Last Monday we had a Code Blue and two intubations. I have six ICU patients in my unit because our ICU is full. Some days, I’m so busy I’m completely numb to hunger, thirst, bathroom. I don’t realize until the end, 14-16 hours later, that I haven’t stopped to take care of any of that. I don’t feel anything. “Emotionally, it’s so taxing. We lost a 43-year-old two weeks ago with five kids and a pregnant wife. Then we found out that the wife had miscarried and also contracted COVID-19. We intubated her, while her husband of 20+ years sat in the bed next to her crying. I held his hand and promised we’d do everything we could to help her. My last memory of him was me rolling her past him to ICU. She died a couple days later. “Every single day, I’m calling family to tell them their loved one has died or just got intubated. Saturday I had a Code Blue and intubation at the same time. ICU was too busy to show up so we were completely on our own. We came out of those, and an hour or two later, I had two more patients crashing. “We have also lost people at our hospital, one of our housekeepers just last Wednesday. He was the happiest guy. He’d sing and dance randomly. One of the last things he said before we intubated him was, ‘I really don’t want to die. I’m not ready.’ It just breaks my heart.
Hundreds attend evangelist singer's NYE concert in LA despite skyrocketing COVID-19 cases - Christian singer and activist Sean Feucht held a New Year's Eve concert in Los Angeles County on Thursday that drew around 2,500 guests despite the area's surging number of coronavirus cases. The Los Angeles Times reports that Feucht held the event in the parking lot of Higher Vision Church in Valencia, with many of the hundreds of guests attending without wearing face coverings. It was one of many such events held by Feucht in recent days. He has been holding similar concerts across the country as well as a worship protest on the National Mall last October. According to the Times, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said there were no reported incidents related to the event. Video of Thursday's event showed crowds jumping, singing and shouting while packed shoulder to shoulder. Feucht captioned the video citing a 99 percent survival rate for COVID-19 as a reason his worship services won't be stopped. Public health officials have warned that while a 99 percent survival rate sounds rosy, it would amount to somewhere between 700,000 and 1.5 million dead without measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci previously noted that a 1 percent mortality rate "means it is 10-times more lethal than the seasonal flu." The event in Los Angeles County, where more such concerts are being planned, comes as the state faces skyrocketing cases of COVID-19, and after it has detected the more rapidly spreading strain of the virus that was first detected in the United Kingdom last month.
"I'm Choosing The Risk Of Getting COVID": Over Half Of Health Care Workers At California Hospitals Refuse Vaccinations - California's health workers are refusing to take the new COVID-19 vaccines - with over half of frontline workers at one hospital unwilling to take it, and between 20% and 50% of workers at other facilities who feel the same, according to the Los Angeles Times. At St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, fewer than half of the 700 hospital workers eligible for the vaccine were willing to take the shot when it was first offered. At Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, one in five frontline nurses and doctors have declined the shot. Roughly20% to 40% of L.A. County’s frontline workers who were offered the vaccine did the same, according to county public health officials. So many frontline workers in Riverside County have refused the vaccine — an estimated 50% — that hospital and public officials met to strategize how best to distribute the unused doses, Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari said. -LA Times Yet, as the Times notes, vaccine doubts among healthcare workers have come as a surprise to researchers, 'who assumed hospital staff would be among those most in tune with the scientific data backing the vaccines.' Perhaps they were spooked by a viral video of a Tennessee nurse passing out on camera roughly 10 minutes after receiving her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine - which she says was due to an 'over-reactive vagal response' and not related to the jab. "I’m choosing the risk — the risk of having COVID, or the risk of the unknown of the vaccine," said 31-year-old nurse April Lu of the Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, who added that she refused to take the vaccine because she wasn't convinced of its safety for pregnant woman. Lu is six months pregnant. "I think I’m choosing the risk of COVID. I can control that and prevent it a little by wearing masks, although not 100% for sure," she added. Lu isn't alone, with several of her co-workers similarly refusing to take the vaccine. "I feel people think, ‘I can still make it until this ends without getting the vaccine,’" she said.
Doctor gets COVID-19 after vaccination, but that's not a sign the vaccine didn't work. - Josh Mugele, an emergency-room doctor in Georgia, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday.Mugele received his first dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine nine days earlier.Mugele's COVID-19 infection isn't a sign the shot didn't work.The vaccine requires two shots to be fully effective. It can also take up to a few weeks for vaccinated people to develop immunity, so it's important to continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing after getting the shots."This was just dumb luck," Mugele said. "I happened to be exposed within a few days of getting the vaccine, but this still is the best tool we have for fighting the virus." Josh Mugele worked the night shift on Christmas. Though he had been tending to coronavirus patients since the start of the pandemic, his Georgia hospital was stretched to capacity like never before. There was one small comfort, though: Mugele had received the first dose of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine on December 20. "I had three shifts in a row right up to the vaccine date," Mugele, an emergency-room doctor at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Georgia, told Business Insider. "I was just really nervous I was going to get exposed before that. I honestly felt really a sense of relief when, on the 20th, I actually was able to get the vaccine, and I thought I'd kind of crossed the finish line." Then on Monday, he came down with a headache and a cough. The following day, he tested positive for the coronavirus. "I was scared at first, but more than anything I think I was angry," Mugele said. "I've had maximum exposure, as much as any ER doc in the country, and I've been spared for 10 months, and then to get it right after I got the vaccine is just stupid and frustrating."
Most Ohio nursing home workers not taking COVID-19 vaccine - About 60 percent of Ohio nursing home workers have so far opted against taking the COVID-19 vaccine as deaths linked to coronavirus have soared in the state.“We aren’t going to make them but we wish they had a higher compliance,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said of the nursing home staff at a Wednesday press briefing, The Columbus Dispatch reported.“Everyone makes their own choice about this but we want to make it clear that opportunity may not come back for a while,” the governor said.The high number of nursing home workers electing not to take the vaccine comes as the state experienced its deadliest month of the pandemic. Ohio reported 2,426 deaths from COVID-19 in December, the report said. Overall, since the onset of the pandemic, over 8,800 people in the state have died from the illness.
42 People In West Virginia Mistakenly Given Regeneron Antibodies Instead Of Vaccines -In keeping with the news of our flawless national roll-out of various Covid vaccines (which you will now potentially need to do such mundane things such as attend the movies), it was reported yesterday that 42 people in West Virginia actually wound up receiving Regeneron's Antibody Treatment instead of the Moderna vaccine they were supposed to get. "The 42 individuals received the antibody product at a vaccination clinic hosted by staff at the Boone County Health Department," a statement from the West Virginia National Guard said. The release said that the Joint Interagency Task Force did not believe there is any risk of harm to these 42 individuals. The PR was also happy to report that aside from the 42 massive screw-ups, there were no additional screw-ups to report. The press releases actually says, under "KEY POINTS": "No other individuals were administered the antibody instead of the vaccine at any point in time in West Virginia." Aside from the error, there was no error... The West Virginia National Guard then went on to note that "all vaccine related protocols have been reviewed and strengthened" and that "7,855 West Virginians were vaccinated yesterday across the state". An administrator for the Boone County Health Department, Julie Miller, told CNBC: “It has been determined that this was an isolated incident.” Yeah, the kind of isolated incident that affects 42 people...
Wisconsin hospital says employee intentionally discarded coronavirus vaccine vials - The Wisconsin medical center where 57 vials of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine were discarded earlier this week said in a statement Wednesday that the employee who removed the vaccines from the freezer did so “intentionally” and was no longer employed by the hospital. On Monday, hospital officials said that around 50 vials of the vaccine had to be thrown away after an employee at Advocate Aurora Health medical center in Grafton, Wis., “inadvertently” removed them from the pharmacy refrigerator, where the vaccines are required to be housed at low temperatures. At the time, the incident was attributed to “human error,” but in a statement Wednesday, the medical center said the vials had been removed intentionally. According to the statement, the 57 vials that had been discarded overnight had led to 500 doses of the vaccine being thrown out. “We immediately launched an internal review and were led to believe this was caused by inadvertent human error. The individual in question today acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration,” the hospital said in the statement Wednesday. “We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine. This was a violation of our core values, and the individual is no longer employed by us,” the hospital added. The hospital stated that the “appropriate authorities” had been notified for investigation into the incident.
Wisconsin pharmacist arrested for deliberately spoiling COVID-19 vaccine, police say- Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist Thursday suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing it from refrigeration for two nights. The Grafton Police Department said the former Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangerment, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. The department said in a news release that he was in jail. Police did not identify the pharmacist, saying he has not yet been formally charged. His motive remains unclear. Police said that detectives believe he knew the spoiled doses would be useless and people who received them would mistakenly think they'd been vaccinated when they hadn't. Advocate Aurora Health Care Chief Medical Group Officer Jeff Bahr told reporters during a teleconference Thursday afternoon that the pharmacist deliberately removed 57 vials that held hundreds of doses of the Moderna vaccine from refrigeration at a Grafton medical center overnight on Dec. 24 into Dec. 25, returned them, then left them out again on the night of Dec. 25 into Saturday. The vials contained enough doses to inoculate 570 people. A pharmacy technician discovered the vials outside the refrigerator on Saturday morning. Bahr said the pharmacist initially said that he had removed the vaccine to access other items in the refrigerator and had inadvertently failed to replace it. The Moderna vaccine is still viable for 12 hours outside refrigeration, so workers used the vaccine to inoculate 57 people before discarding the rest. Police said the discarded doses were worth between $8,000 and $11,000. Bahr said health system officials grew more suspicious of the pharmacist as they reviewed the incident. After multiple interviews the pharmacist acknowledged Wednesday that he removed the vaccine deliberately and left it out overnight Dec. 24 into Dec. 25, returned it to the refrigerator at some point and then removed it again overnight Dec. 25 to Dec. 26. Bahr said that means that the doses people received Saturday are all but useless. Moderna has told Aurora that there's no safety concerns but the system is monitoring them closely, he said.
COVID-19: US reports single-day record of 3,903 deaths - This week saw the deadliest day in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began, with a record-breaking number of hospitalizations foreshadowing potentially darker days still to come. States across the US reported more than 3,900 deaths on Wednesday and over 125,000 hospitalizations, according to data from The Covid Tracking Project. The figures may not reflect the actual tallies due to delays in reporting over the holidays, the group said. At least 341,505 Americans have now died from the virus, per Johns Hopkins University, the highest total for any country in the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the death toll could be as high as 424,000 by January 23, based on a review of modeling forecasts. States are also finding evidence that a potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus first detected in the UK, B117, is now spreading among their populations.
"It's just utter chaos": California becomes third state to surpass 25,000 COVID-19 deaths - California on Thursday became the third state to surpass 25,000 COVID deaths, following New York and Texas. In Los Angeles County, many funeral homes are filled to capacity, and health care professionals feel as if they're under siege.Hospitals in Southern California are at the breaking point with 1 in 5 COVID-19 tests coming back positive. "It's just utter chaos," said nurse Tavonia Ekwegh, who runs the ER at Anaheim Global Medical Center. Tents outside the medical center are filling up. "It is a war zone, we have ambulance run after ambulance run," Ekwegh said. Hospitalizations are on track to double in January. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti put it in blunt terms: The "simple answer" is that L.A. hospitals can't handle twice as many patients. "People will die in the hallways of our hospitals," Garcetti said. "Our behavior will dictate whether people live or die as much as any action the hospital takes." He is sending out extra patrols to shut down New Year's Eve parties. He estimated that "probably over 1,000" officers will be out on the streets. His message to city residents is to be "lifesavers, don't be killers." "When 95% of people are doing the right thing, it's still dangerous, let alone when 80% of people are doing the right thing, and it's disastrous," Garcetti said. And for Garcetti, the pandemic is now personal. "Our own daughter. went on a fast food run and one shopping round," Garcetti said. "She got a positive COVID-19 test. We did everything right and still it came to our house."
‘Like a bathtub filling up’: Alabama is slammed by the virus (AP) — With its dozen intensive care beds already full, Cullman Regional Medical Center began looking desperately for options as more and more COVID-19 patients showed up. Ten beds normally used for less severe cases were transformed into intensive care rooms, with extra IV machines brought in. Video monitors were set up to enable the staff to keep watch over patients whenever a nurse had to scurry away to care for someone else. The patch did the job — for the time being, at least. “We’re kind of like a bathtub that’s filling up with water and the drain is blocked,” the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. William Smith, said last week. Alabama, long one of the unhealthiest and most impoverished states in America, has emerged as one of the nation’s most alarming coronavirus hot spots. Its hospitals are in crisis as the virus rages out of control in a region with high rates of obesity, high blood pressure and other conditions that can make COVID-19 even more dangerous, where access to health care was limited even before the outbreak, and where public resistance to masks and other precautions is stubborn. In all, the coronavirus has killed more than 335,000 people across the U.S., including over 4,700 in Alabama.. At Cullman Regional, a midsize hospital that serves an agricultural area 55 miles north of Birmingham, the intensive care unit as of last week was at 180% of capacity, the highest in the state. Other hospitals are also struggling to keep up with the crush of people sickened by the virus. While a typical patient might need ICU treatment for two or three days, Smith said, COVID-19 patients often stay two or three weeks, causing the caseload to build up.
Twelfth worker at California poultry company dies of COVID-19 - Another worker for American poultry company Foster Farms died from complications due to COVID-19 over the weekend, making him the 12th employee of the California-based corporation to die after contracting the coronavirus. According to the Los Angeles Times, the worker’s family said the employee, who was of Punjabi descent and in his 50s, worked at Foster Farms’ Cherry Avenue plant in Fresno, Calif. After being diagnosed with COVID-19, the man spent the past three weeks in a local hospital’s intensive care unit before passing away, according to Deep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a Central Valley youth and family nonprofit that works with the Punjabi Sikh community. Singh told the Times that the worker’s family believes he contracted the virus at work, as he avoided going outside his home other than to go to the plant or for other essential reasons. The man is the third worker of the Fresno plant to die of COVID-19, with nine additional coronavirus fatalities tied to Foster Farms’ Livingston, Calif., plant. According to Foster Farms, at least 193 people at the Fresno plant have tested positive for COVID-19, roughly 20 percent of its workers. Singh said that the poultry company should have done more to protect its staff, accusing the business of a “callous lack of concern and protections that prioritize worker safety and their families.” The company has also received criticism for poorly communicating with its workers, giving directions in English, even though many in the company’s workforce have limited proficiency in the language. Foster Farms had previously come under scrutiny for its handling of the pandemic, with community leaders telling the Times that the company has asked its employees to work overtime amid the pandemic.
N.Y. and California End Year Shattering Records: Virus Update --The U.S. ended the year with records and milestones: New York state and Florida, each hit hard as the coronavirus ravaged across the nation, broke their previous daily records for cases. Texas reported a new high for hospitalizations. California became the third state to pass 25,000 fatalities, after New York and Texas. Virginia reported record infections as total fatalities surpassed 5,000.New York City plans to speed up the slow start to vaccinations and inoculate 1 million residents in January, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.Governments across the globe urged people to celebrate the New Year at home. The new, highly transmissible virus strain was found in California, China, Brazil and Singapore. Four nurses in the Netherlands were also diagnosed with the variant. Key Developments:
- Global Tracker: Cases pass 83.1 million; deaths exceed 1.8 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 10 million shots given worldwide
- Covid joins war, cancer as historic blight on Americans’ lives
- Millions of Americans are calling in sick, stunting the recovery
- Why the U.K.’s mutated coronavirus is fanning worries: QuickTake
The World Health Organization issued its first emergency-use designation for a Covid-19 vaccine, making the Pfizer/BioNtech the first immunization to receive a green light from the Geneva-based body. The move could allow more countries to import and distribute the vaccine, which has already been cleared for use in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Virus hospitalizations in Texas hospitals set a record for a fourth consecutive day as outbreaks proliferated in the second-most populous U.S. state.Hospitalizations rose 2.3% in the past 24 hours to 12,268, state health department figures showed. Covid-19 patients account for at least 15% of hospital capacity in almost three-fourths of Texas’s trauma service areas, prompting Governor Greg Abbott to shutter taverns and order restaurants and some other businesses to operate at reduced capacity in those areas. New York state reached a new high of more than 16,800 coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday.Of the over 216,500 tests reported on Wednesday, 7.76% were positive including hotspot areas, according to state data. Hospitalizations reached 7,935, the highest since May 7.There were 136 virus-related fatalities, bringing the state’s Covid-19 death total to over 30,000. Florida posted 17,192 new cases on Thursday, the highest single-day total ever except for a Nov. 27 report, which isn’t technically comparable because it included two days of data. The state also increased the number of dead by 133, including both residents and non residents, according to a report from the state health department Thursday. Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health began posting memories about people who died of Covid-19 every 10 minutes on Twitter.com Thursday. The remembrances included “the Dodgers fan who loved Kershaw” and “a recent retiree who dreamt of finally traveling the world.” Health officials in the nation’s most-populous county said Wednesday the region has been averaging 150 deaths per day due to the disease, a rate that works out to about one every 10 minutes. The daily toll almost exceeds the 170 a day who die of all other causes. California recorded 428 daily deaths from Covid-19 -- second only to the 432 reported Wednesday for the most since the pandemic began -- to push its total toll to 25,386. Los Angeles County, the state’s most populous, has been the worst-hit, with 274 deaths yesterday and more than 10,000 total, according to county health data. Virginia reported 5,239 new cases, a record since the start of the pandemic. Another 48 people died as the state surpassed 5,000 total fatalities.
California funeral homes run out of space as COVID-19 rages (AP) — As communities across the country feel the pain of a surge in coronavirus cases, funeral homes in the hot spot of Southern California say they must turn away grieving families as they run out of space for the bodies piling up. The head of the state funeral directors association says mortuaries are being inundated as the United States nears a grim tally of 350,000 COVID-19 deaths. More than 20 million people in the country have been infected, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. “I’ve been in the funeral industry for 40 years and never in my life did I think that this could happen, that I’d have to tell a family, ‘No, we can’t take your family member,’” said Magda Maldonado, owner of Continental Funeral Home in Los Angeles. Continental is averaging about 30 body removals a day — six times its normal rate. Mortuary owners are calling one another to see whether anyone can handle overflow, and the answer is always the same: They’re full, too. In order to keep up with the flood of bodies, Maldonado has rented extra 50-foot (15-meter) refrigerators for two of the four facilities she runs in LA and surrounding counties. Continental has also been delaying pickups at hospitals for a day or two while they deal with residential clients. Bob Achermann, executive director of the California Funeral Directors Association, said that the whole process of burying and cremating bodies has slowed down, including embalming bodies and obtaining death certificates. During normal times, cremation might happen within a day or two; now it takes at least a week or longer. Achermann said that in the southern part of the state, “every funeral home I talk to says, ‘We’re paddling as fast as we can.’" “The volume is just incredible and they fear that they won’t be able to keep up,” he said. “And the worst of the surge could still be ahead of us.” Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the crisis in California, has surpassed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths alone. Hospitals in the area are overwhelmed, and are struggling to keep up with basics such as oxygen as they treat an unprecedented number of patients with respiratory issues. On Saturday, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews arrived to update some hospital's oxygen delivery systems.Nationally, an average of just over 2,500 people have died of COVID-19 over the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins data. The number of daily newly reported cases in that period has averaged close to 195,000, a decline from two weeks earlier. It's feared that holiday gatherings could fuel yet another rise in cases.
December 31 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Hospitalizations - Note: Expect a dip in the data over the holidays. The week-over-week growth in positive cases slowed prior to the holidays. Hopefully that continues after the holidays. The US is now averaging close to 2 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US has far too many daily cases - and percent positive - to do effective test-and-trace.There were 1,719,181 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 221,444 positive tests.Over 77,000 US deaths were reported in December, far surpassing April as the deadliest month. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 12.9% (red line is 7 day average). The percent positive is calculated by dividing positive results by total tests (including pending). And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site) The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported and daily hospitalizations.
Deluged Atlanta hospitals warn of rationing care - Patients who don’t get bathed each day or don’t get meals on time, because there’s not enough staff. Patients just out of surgery who need a nurse dedicated to watch only them, but instead have to share. Patients in pain from a broken bone who wait hours for sedation because there are no ER beds, while ER patients wait for the ICU beds their lives may depend on. These things are happening now. COVID-19 cases are swamping more Georgia hospitals, testing them in ways that were previously unimaginable. Hospitals say that they are not rationing the most important care — yet. But, caregivers are already making decisions about who gets which scarce resources. The only question is how grave those decisions will become, with projections showing that hospitalizations will continue to surge in the weeks ahead. “We are treating patients in the hallways, in triage areas, in waiting rooms,” said Deborah Matthews, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Tanner Health System in west Georgia. “Every day we huddle as a team and look at our options. We are having to do things we have never had to do before.” Grady Memorial Hospital is full. Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center is full. The intensive care units or emergency departments of Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, Northside Atlanta Hospital, Emory University Hospital, Wellstar North Fulton Hospital, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital and others in the Atlanta metro area are full, as of data reported Wednesday afternoon. So were ERs in Covington, Chatsworth, Eatonton, Statesboro and other towns throughout Georgia at points on Wednesday, and ICUs in most parts of Georgia. “If it were just one area of the state that was disproportionately hit, you can shift resources,” It’s not just COVID-19 patients who are affected. Hospitals are running out of beds, and, most crucially, staff, for all patients.
Virginia state senator dies at age 60 after contracting Covid-19 - Virginia state Sen. Ben Chafin Jr. has died after contracting Covid-19, according to a statement from his office. He was 60 years old. "State Senator Augustus Benton (Ben) Chafin, Jr., a native son of Russell County located in Southwest Virginia, passed away on January 1, 2021 from Covid-19 complications," the statement said. The Republican lawmaker's family thanked the VCU Medical Center in Richmond for "its vigorous care and heartfelt support during his two weeks of medical services there." Chafin, a cattle farmer and attorney, served Virginia's 38th District. He was elected to the state's House of Delegates in 2013 before moving to the Senate in 2014. His office remembered him Friday as "a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, economic development and health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income Virginians." "He advocated jobs in his district, particularly in the coalfields where the decline of coal has devastated local economies," the statement said.
Florida reports first case of new, contagious coronavirus strain Health officials in Florida announced Thursday that they have detected the new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus, making it the third U.S. state to report an instance of the virus variant. The new strain was first found in the United Kingdom. “Florida has evidence of the first identified case of the UK COVID-19 variant in Martin County. The individual is a male in his 20s with no history of travel. The Department is working with the CDC on this investigation. We encourage all to continue practicing COVID-19 mitigation,” the Florida Department of Health said on Twitter Thursday. Colorado and California both detected cases of the strain this week. The new strain, called B.1.1.7, was first detected in Colorado on Tuesday and found in a man in his 20s who had not travelled. On Wednesday, a California health official announced that the patient infected with the new strain was a 30-year-old man, and he did not have any history of travel, according to Politico. The Florida health department added, "At this time, experts anticipate little to no impact on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine." Health experts and pharmaceutical companies have stated that the current vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are believed to be effective against the new strain, though more testing is being conducted to confirm its efficacy. Though it is more infectious, it is not believed to cause more severe symptoms or be more deadly.
January 1 COVID-19 Test Results --Note: It will take a week or so for the data to adjust for the holidays. The week-over-week growth in positive cases slowed prior to the holidays. Hopefully that continues after the holidays. The US is now averaging close to 2 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US has far too many daily cases - and percent positive - to do effective test-and-trace.There were 1,239,502 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 173,255 positive tests.Over 2,500 US deaths have been reported so far in January. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here.This data is from the COVID Tracking Project. The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 14.0% (red line is 7 day average). The percent positive is calculated by dividing positive results by total tests (including pending). And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site) The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported and daily hospitalizations.
US COVID Cases Top 20MM As California Deaths Hit New Record - Several US states have been plagued by reporting delays over the holiday, but with California expanding lockdowns around the state, and more cases of B.1.1.7, the mutant strain first discovered in the UK, Dr. Fauci and others are stepping up their warnings about the worst of the outbreak lying ahead. With hospitalizations - supposedly the most reliable indicator of the outbreak's trajectory, according to the COVID Tracking Project - still close to record levels, hospitals in LA County and elsewhere have struggled to accept new patients. One year after Beijing first notified the WHO about the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in the central city of Wuhan, the US has just seen its total number of confirmed cases top 20MM. The 20MM number is almost 2x the 10.3MM tally from India, the second-worst-hit country. New York state’s infections remained high, with 16.5K new cases recorded over the last 24 hours, just below the record set Wednesday, as the positivity rate for NYC climbed toward 10%. California, meanwhile, saw its fatalities reach a new record. In a single day, the Golden State added 585 new deaths, bringing the total to just under 26K. The state also reported 47.2K new cases, pushing its total to 2.3MM. The pandemic entered 2021 with no signs of slowing down. Global daily deaths reached record highs this week. Countries from Germany to Japan to South Africa ended 2020 with record daily cases. Turkey, China and Brazil became the latest to report infections of the new, highly transmissible virus strain. Offering hope that the global pace of vaccinations might pick up in the new year, the WHO announced Friday tthat it has issued its first emergency-use designation for a Covid-19 vaccine, making the Pfizer/BioNtech the first immunization to receive a green light from the Geneva-based body. Here's a rundown of more COVID-19 news from overnight:
- Italy registered 22,211 virus cases on Friday, from 23,477 the day before. Daily deaths declined too, with 462 fatalities reported, compared with 555 on Thursday.
- Portugal reported 6,951 new confirmed cases, below the record of 7,627 announced the previous day, taking the total to 420,629. The number of hospitalized cases fell by 34 to 2,806.
- Russia recorded 27,039 new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, taking the total number to 3.186 million, according to the country’s task force for combating the pandemic.
Study shows Wuhan coronavirus cases may have been 10 times higher than reported - As many as half a million residents of the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic is believed to have originated may have been infected with the virus, about 10 times more than the initially recorded number of confirmed cases. According to a study released late Monday by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention that surveyed more than 34,000 people in April, roughly 4.4 percent of those tested were found to be carrying the antibodies that fight off the virus causing COVID-19. The presence of antibodies means the people had the virus at some point in the past and, given the ratio, nearly 500,000 residents of Wuhan, which has a total population of 11 million, could have been infected. This is nearly 10 times more than the 50,000 confirmed cases reported by Chinese health authorities in mid-April. As of Sunday, Wuhan had reported a total of 50,354 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission. This week’s study indicated that the infection rate in Wuhan was significantly higher than in other Chinese cities. For example, the survey found that only 0.44 percent of Hubei residents surveyed were found to be carrying the antibodies. According to CNN, Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the initial underreporting in Wuhan could be partially attributed to the chaos of the pandemic’s early months, as well as the failure to count asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. Huang pointed out that underreporting is not a problem exclusive to Wuhan, as testing capabilities were limited and hospitals overwhelmed with a sudden surge in patients as little was known about the virus in the early months. However, the Chinese government has also faced scrutiny and criticism over a suspected lack of transparency on the severity of the virus. On Monday, a citizen journalist who reported from Wuhan at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in Chinawas sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to multiple reports. The charge is regularly used by the Chinese government against human rights activists and other dissidents. Zhang Zhan, 37, traveled to Wuhan in February and filmed hospitals, neighborhoods and more as the city locked down during its initial outbreak of COVID-19. Her reporting accused the government of failing to inform citizens about the pandemic’s reality.
French testing system missed 9 of 10 COVID-19 cases after first lock-down - On December 21, Nature published a peer-reviewed accelerated article titled, “Under-detection of cases of COVID-19 in France threatens epidemic control.” In the paper, epidemiologists and data scientists led by Giulia Pullano use mathematical modelling to chart the estimated spread of the virus in France over seven weeks—from the end of lock-down measures, on May 11, to June 28. They compare this estimated spread of the virus to the recorded cases to measure the effectiveness of France’s test and trace system in this period. During this period, Santé publique France (the public health system) recorded a few hundred cases a day. However, the authors estimate that France’s testing system missed around 90,000 symptomatic COVID-19 infections. This amounts to 86 percent of symptomatic cases. As many cases are asymptomatic, however, the true rate of detection in this period was likely well under 10 percent. This massive under-detection of the virus, due to a lack of testing, removed the real possibility of stamping out the virus in France after the first wave and of preventing the devastating second wave currently engulfing the country and claiming hundreds of lives every day. Since the end of the first lock-down on May 11, 36,621 people have died from the virus—taking the total number of COVID-19 deaths in France to nearly 63,000. In a comment published by Nature alongside the paper, Columbia University virologist Jeffrey Shaman stated: “The findings suggest that the overall testing and control system in place was inadequate to contain the virus successfully in this country of around 65 million people.” He added that “many countries, as a result of leadership failures, cultural or institutional barriers, or simple fatigue, have failed in their efforts to achieve or maintain control of the virus.” The paper found that in this seven-week period, only 31 percent of those with COVID-19-like symptoms consulted a doctor. For the majority of the French population, during this period it was necessary to contact a doctor for a prescription before receiving a test. Shaman concluded that this byzantine process “might have disadvantaged communities that have more limited access to health care, and reduced testing rates.” This suggests that having only 1 percent of tests turn out positive by itself does not guarantee that the pandemic is controlled. Throughout the seven-week period, the proportion of positive tests never exceeded 1 percent. That the virus kept spreading anyway shows that a massive increase in testing—along with a shutdown of non-essential production, services and educational facilities—is critical to control and eradicate the virus. Even with the production of a vaccine, such measures are needed to save hundreds of thousands of lives in the coming year.
Excess deaths in Russia spike - While Russia’s official death toll from coronavirus stands at just over 55,000, recently released data from the country’s statistical agency Rosstat reveal a sharp uptick in excess deaths since the start of this year. The real number of COVID-19 victims is likely at least double or triple that officially reported, if not more. October and November each posted record death rates. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Monday that mortality in Russia increased by 13.8 percent during the first eleven months of 2020 as compared to the previous year. Of that increase, 81 percent “relates to COVID-19 and the consequences of COVID-19,” she stated, adding that the figures still remain to be fully analyzed. An examination of the Rosstat data conducted by Reuters found more than 240,000 excess deaths between April and November alone. The news agency writes, “Rosstat data, tallied by Reuters, showed that less than half the total number of such excess deaths - at 116,030 since the start of the pandemic in Russia in April - can be attributed directly to the coronavirus. This is still more than double the preliminary death toll figure reported on a daily, cumulative basis by the Russian government coronavirus crisis centre.” A woman wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus walks past a graffiti dedicated to the victory of the Soviet Union in the World War II, in St.Petersburg, Russia earlier this year. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) Other news outlets, such as the Guardian, maintain that Russia’s COVID-19 deaths are closer to 186,000. Whatever the precise number contained in the Rosstat data, Golikova’s remarks make clear that the Kremlin has been grossly understating the coronavirus death toll. More than three million Russians have contracted COVID-19 since the outbreak started, with infection rates hovering between 25,000 and 29,000 a day for the past few weeks. On this basis, the government is insisting that the situation in the country has stabilized in most regions. Nonetheless, infections continue to climb in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, as well as cities in western and central Siberia, which have been particularly hard hit by the virus.
Russia acknowledges COVID-19 death toll is three times what was previously reported -Russian officials acknowledged on Monday that the nation's COVID-19 death toll is in fact more than three times what had been previously reported, after months of President Vladimir Putin holding up the supposedly low fatality rate as a marker of the country’s success in battling the pandemic. As The Guardian reported, the state-run statistics agency Rosstat said the total number of deaths between January and November from all causes had jumped by 229,700 when compared with the previous year. “More than 81 percent of this increase in mortality over this period is due to COVID,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, which would indicated a death toll of more than 186,000 Russians, The Guardian reported. The update means Russia has the third-highest number of fatalities in the world, surpassed only by the U.S. and Brazil. Russian officials have so far confirmed more than 3 million cases and only 55,265 deaths, The Guardian noted, a number far lower than other large impacted countries. The newspaper reported that despite rising coronavirus numbers, the Russian government is reluctant to order another national lockdown. In his end-of-year conference, Putin said, "If we follow the rules and demands of health regulators, then we do not need any lockdowns." Moscow reportedly hopes to contain the virus through its vaccination program launched this month. Russia was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine. The Russian-made vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, showed promising results but was criticized by medical journals for having short clinical trials. Earlier in December, Putin, 68, said he would delay taking the vaccine due to the lack of research done on people over 60. However the vaccine was approved for people over 60 this past weekend, The Guardian reported.
Why new coronavirus variants ‘suddenly arose’ in the U.K. and South Africa - IN EARLY DECEMBER, cases of COVID-19 soared in Kent, England—and scientists wanted to know why. For clues, Nick Loman, who is part of the COVID-19 Genomics Consortium U.K., and his colleagues examined how the coronavirus was mutating. By looking at this zoo of slightly different viruses, they could roughly track the outbreak’s spread through the community.For SARS-CoV-2, these mutations—the small errors made naturally when genomes are copied—develop at a steady pace of one or two each month, saysLoman, a professor of microbial genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Birmingham. Yet among the Kent cases, scientists found a large cluster that was remarkably different, with a total of 23 mutations arising without prior notice and faster than anyone expected."That's how many mutations you have to go back to get to anything we'd seen before," he says. "That's a very striking and unusual finding." This discovery is part of what led British officials to sound the alarm last week. A follow-up investigation by Public Health England showed that the variant, known as B.1.1.7 or 501Y.V1, began to thrive at a time when cases were spiking in Kent and other parts of southeastern England. Retroactive tracing through a database of samples tied B.1.1.7 to patients as early as September 20. But by mid-November, the variant made up between 20 and 30 percent of cases in London and a region east of the city. Three weeks later, it was roughly 60 percent. And on December 23, U.K. scientists announced aseparate SARS-CoV-2 variant reported last week in South Africa had now been spotted in two people in England. Scientists are still uncertain about how the cluster of mutations arose or what they mean long-term for the virus’s transmission. One possible hypothesis for their origin involves chronically ill patients treated with experimental therapies like convalescent plasma donated by recovered COVID-19 patients. In such lengthy illnesses, the virus has more opportunities to replicate, increasing the odds for mutations. While mutations edit genetic code, they don’t always lead to outward changes in a germ or organism. That’s why these newfound variants have garnered so much concern. It’s as if the virus entered a dressing room and came out with a new outfit, rather than the normal circumstances where it would only change its hat. Of the 23 mutations in the United Kingdom's variant, 17 are at positions in the genome that alter the building blocks that make up the virus’s proteins, as described in a recent COVID-19 Genomics Consortium report from Loman and his colleagues. The consortium stated such a large shift is so far “unprecedented” for the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight of those changes lie in the region that encodes for the spike protein—the key that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter cells. While there is no direct evidence that this collection of mutations influences the severity of disease, modeling and prior laboratory work hints at the possibility that it could make the virus more contagious. A greater abundance of cases could mean more hospitalizations and deaths. For example, lab experiments suggest that one of the observed deletions that eliminates two building blocks in the spike—dubbed H69 and V70—may double the viral infectiousness, according to a recent preprint. Other research hints that another mutation—N501Y—increases the spike protein’s binding capability. This one also independently arose in the South African variant (501Y.V2), which was first detected in October. But more work is necessary to determine if and how these changes might translate to differences in human transmission, Cevik says.
Africa CDC: New virus variant appears to emerge in Nigeria (AP) — Another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa’s top public health official said Thursday, but he added that further investigation was needed. The discovery could add to new alarm in the pandemic after similar variants were announced in Britain and South Africa, leading to the swift return of international travel restrictions and other measures during a major holiday season. “It’s a separate lineage from the U.K. and South Africa,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. He said the Nigeria CDC and the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases would analyze more samples. “Give us some time...it’s still very early,” he said. The identification of the apparent new variant was based on two or three genetic sequences, Nkengasong said, but that and South Africa’s alert last week were enough to prompt an emergency meeting of the Africa CDC this week. The variant in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, was found in two patient samples collected on Aug. 3 and on Oct. 9 in Osun state, according to a working research paper seen by The Associated Press. Unlike the variant seen in the U.K., “we haven’t observed such rapid rise of the lineage in Nigeria and do not have evidence to indicate that the P681H variant is contributing to increased transmission of the virus in Nigeria. However, the relative difference in scale of genomic surveillance in Nigeria vs. the U.K. may imply a reduced power to detect such changes,” the paper says. The news comes as infections surge again in parts of the African continent. The new virus variant in South Africa is now the predominant one there, Nkengasong said, as confirmed infections in the country approach 1 million. While the variant transmits quickly and viral loads are higher, it is not yet clear whether it leads to a more severe disease, he said.
South Africa: COVID-19 cases soar with little prospect of widespread vaccination - On Sunday, South Africa reported that its total number of COVID-19 infections had reached one million, just nine days after reporting 900,000 cases. The death rate has nearly doubled, with the seven-day rolling average of daily deaths rising from 0.25 per 100,000 people to 0.48 per 100,000 people in two weeks. The virus has now killed more than 27,000 people in the continent’s most industrialised nation. This is nearly one quarter of all the deaths from the coronavirus in Africa. The situation in South Africa is replicated in a second wave of the pandemic that is sweeping across much of the continent, which has seen a steady rise in infections since November. Dr Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s health minister, told the South African Broadcasting Corporation, “This wave has come up quite unpredictably.” This is a flat out lie. Most of the casualties occurred after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) government organised a return to work in a bid to stem the fall in corporate profits and the country’s pending insolvency, calling off one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, enforced with extreme police brutality. In the second quarter of the year, when restrictions were in force, output fell 16.4 percent, while unemployment has risen and is expected to reach 35 to 40 percent as companies cut back or close for good. Cyril Ramaphosa [credit: Tasnim News Agency] The country is now facing a new and more virulent form of COVID-19, referred to as 501.V2, which has become dominant in many parts of the country. Crucially and most alarmingly, the new infections are spreading among young people between 15 to 19 years, with the four provinces of the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the most populous parts of the country, the hardest hit. The relatively low mortality rate in African countries thus far has been attributed in part to their predominantly youthful populations.
Belgian retirement home records 26 COVID-19 deaths after visiting Santa tests positive - Twenty-six residents in a Belgian retirement home died from coronavirus following a visit from a volunteer Saint Nicholas who tested positive for the virus.The visitor made his trip to the Hemelrijck home in Mol, Belgium, earlier this month. Within a few days of the visit, several residents began to show COVID-19 symptoms.Eighty-five total residents and 40 staff members tested positive for the virus, and 26 died from the disease, The Guardian reported.Local community members criticized those who planned the event, calling them “completely irresponsible," according to the news outlet.The municipality of Mols initially said the volunteer only entered common areas within the facility and wore a mask, keeping his distance from residents.However photos later circulated revealing that many residents did not wear face masks to protect themselves, the Guardian reported.“We have received wrong information from the management,” local officials said in a statement, according to the news source. “We deeply regret that. After looking at several photos, we have to conclude that this goes much further than an error. Rather, it is a completely irresponsible event. We would never have approved this.”The nursing home has now implemented a crisis manager to help those in the facility further cope during this time. A total of 169 lived in the residence prior to the outbreak, according to the Guardian.Belgium has suffered one of Europe's highest rates of coronavirus infection. The country has seen more than 644,200 cases and reported a total of 19,441 deaths since the pandemic began, according to the World Health Organization. Nearly 11,066 retirement home residents in the country have died from the virus, The Guardian reported.
More than 2,500 attend illegal New Year's rave in France - Authorities in the French region of Breton said more than 2,000 people participated in an illegal New Year’s Eve rave in defiance of coronavirus restrictions on gatherings. "In the early evening of December 31, several hundred vehicles began to converge on an industrial area in the town of Lieuron to set up a rave party," local officials said, according to CNN. Authorities said they “faced violent hostility” when they tried to shut down the gathering, saying “a police vehicle was set on fire, three other vehicles were damaged, and soldiers were sprayed with bottles and stones, causing minor injuries.” .. Attendees are "estimated at 2,500, coming from different French departments and from abroad,” officials reportedly said, noting that the public prosecutor’s office has opened a probe of the incident. France imposed a national 8 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew beginning Dec. 15, during which residents are only allowed outside to commute to and from their jobs or schools, medical appointments that cannot take place remotely, judicial summons or essential family tasks. France has seen more than 2.6 million cases of the virus and about 65,000 deaths. After a newer, more infectious strain was detected in southeastern England, French officials briefly barred freight from the U.K.
Under cover of darkness, hundreds of skiers secretly escaped from COVID-19 quarantine at a resort in the Swiss Alps - More than 400 British tourists have “escaped’ from the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Verbier, after being ordered to quarantine there.The visitors were ordered by Swiss authorities to isolate for 10 days in their accommodations after the U.K. announced it had detected a highly transmissible new mutation of the coronavirus.The discovery of the mutation, which has swept through the U.K., causing COVID-19 infection rates to surge, led many countries, including Switzerland, to close their borders to British visitors.From midnight on Dec. 20, Switzerland banned flights from the U.K., but also put in place a retroactive quarantine.This meant that some 420 Britons who had already arrived in the village of Verbier—one of Europe’s premier ski resorts, and a popular destination with British royals—were told they would have to return immediately to their accommodations and avoid all contact with the outside world.The well-heeled visitors had other ideas. By Sunday morning, hoteliers were informing officials that breakfast trays were being left untouched outside guests’ rooms, and calls to rooms were going unanswered, the Daily Telegraph reports. The paper claims that of the 420 Britons identified by authorities as being in the luxury resort when the quarantine was hastily enforced, fewer than a dozen remained by Sunday. Laws implemented would mean breaking the quarantine could result in a fine of as much as 10,000 Swiss francs ($11,220). Some of the affected British tourists in Verbier left immediately, while others stuck it out for a short time before giving up and fleeing, according to a local newspaper.“Many of them stayed in quarantine for a day before they set off unnoticed under the cover of darkness,” Jean-Marc Sandoz, a spokesman for the wider municipality, told the SonntagsZeitung. He called the whole situation “the worst week our community has ever experienced.”
Coronavirus accelerates as new strain detected across Europe - As the coronavirus pandemic accelerates across Europe, several governments announced over the holidays that they had detected cases of the new, even more infectious strain of the virus, currently believed to have originated in England. Yesterday, Britain reported more than 40,000 cases—a record since the beginning of the pandemic. Most new cases in at least southern England are believed to be due to the new strain of the virus. The seven-day average is also at an all-time high of more than 36,000, equivalent to almost 180,000 daily cases in a country the size of the United States. The strain has now been detected on every continent. Its spread is intersecting with the criminal policy of European governments, refusing essential measures to stop the pandemic’s spread that would threaten corporate profits, including the closure of non-essential workplaces and schools and provision of a decent income to the population. On December 26, the French health ministry published a notice announcing the first confirmed case involving the new strain in France. The patient was a French national residing in England who returned from the UK on December 19. It was only detected because the patient, who was asymptomatic, went to the hospital to be treated for a different illness on December 21, and was tested according to standard procedures. Also on Saturday, Spain announced four confirmed cases of the new strain, all among people recently arrived from the UK. Madrid deputy health chief Antonio Zapatero reported that three other suspected cases could not be confirmed until Tuesday or Wednesday. Italy registered its second confirmed case of the new strain on December 21. In Europe it has also been detected in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Yesterday, Canada announced that it had detected two cases, and on Friday Japan announced that it had found five cases, all in people recently arrived from the UK. Finland reported yesterday that two people arriving from abroad had tested positive for the new strain, and another for a variant recently detected for the first time in South Africa. It has also been detected in South Korea, Lebanon and Australia. There is currently no indication that the more recent strain is more deadly, or resistant to recently developed vaccines. However, it is significantly more contagious, threatening to flood hospitals more rapidly with critically-ill patients, and cause a large increase in deaths.
EU to purchase extra 100 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine - The European Union (EU) will purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, officials said Tuesday, as the bloc of 27 nations has launched its effort to vaccinate its 450 million-person population. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the new purchase on Twitter on Tuesday, which brings the EU’s total of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses to 300 million. “We decided to take an additional 100 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, which is already being used to vaccinate people across the EU,” she said. The EU’s purchase comes as some vaccine candidates that the bloc has invested in have experienced delays during its trials, leading it to rely on the 200 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that it originally purchased. Over the weekend, EU countries first began receiving the vaccine that drug regulators approved last week. In the first contract with the EU, Pfizer and BioNTech agreed to provide 200 million doses for $18.80 per dose, officials told Reuters last month. The deal for 100 million more doses had the same price per dose although a timeline is yet to be agreed upon, officials said.
Major Covid Vaccine Glitch Emerges: Most Europeans, Including Hospital Staff, Refuse To Take It -All is not going according to plan in the biggest global rollout of what is arguably the most important vaccine in a century, and it is not just growing US mistrust in the covid injection effort that was rolled out in record time: an unexpected spike in allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (and now, Moderna too) may prove catastrophic to widespread acceptance unless scientists can figure out what is causing it after the FDA's rushed approval, and is also why as we reported yesterday, scientists are scrambling to identify the potential culprit causing the allergic reactions.Making matters worse, Europe rolled out a huge COVID-19 vaccination drive on Sunday to try to rein in the coronavirus pandemic but even more Europeans than American are sceptical about the speed at which the vaccines have been tested and approved and reluctant to have the shot. While the European Union has secured contracts drugmakers including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, for a total of more than two billion doses and has set a goal for all adults to be inoculated next year, this is looking increasingly like a pipe dream: according to recent surveys, the local population has expressed "high levels of hesitancy" towards inoculation in countries from France to Poland, with many used to vaccines taking decades to develop, not just months.“I don’t think there’s a vaccine in history that has been tested so quickly,” Ireneusz Sikorski, 41, said as he stepped out of a church in central Warsaw with his two children."I am not saying vaccination shouldn’t be taking place. But I am not going to test an unverified vaccine on my children, or on myself." Smart: why take the risk of getting vaccinated when others will do it, resulting in the same outcome. Surveys in Poland, where distrust in public institutions runs deep, show that fewer than 40% of people planning to get vaccinated. Worse, according to Reuters on Sunday, only half the medical staff in a Warsaw hospital where the country’s first shot was administered had signed up. And if the doctors don't trust the vaccine, one can be certain that the broader population will refuse to take it. The situation is similar in Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries, where 28-year-old singer and music composer German summarizes the skepticism of a broad range of the population, and plans to wait for now. A Christian Orthodox bishop in Bulgaria, where 45% of people have said they would not get a shot and 40% plan to wait to see if any negative side effects appear - meaning only 15% of the population will actually volunteer for a vaccine in the near future - is in the tiny minority when it comes to taking the vaccine.
Coronavirus deaths reach record high in Germany as hospitals teeter on brink of collapse - The death toll from the coronavirus continues to grow relentlessly. Approximately 1.8 million people have died worldwide and more than 81.5 million have been infected. On Monday, the death toll since the beginning of the pandemic in Germany surpassed the 30,000 mark. Since December 10, more than 10,000 people have died, which equates to an average of over 500 per day, or one death every three minutes. More than 1.66 million people have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 in Germany, although the number of undetected cases is much higher. Over the holiday period, significantly fewer cases have been recorded and transmitted to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s national agency for infectious diseases. On Tuesday, the RKI reported almost 13,000 infections and 852 deaths for the previous 24 hours. On Wednesday morning, the RKI reported 22,459 infections and 1,129 deaths, the first time the daily death toll has surpassed 1,000. The fact that the situation is worsening by the day is shown above all by conditions in hospitals. For months, health care staff have been struggling in hospitals to save lives, but the conditions are increasingly catastrophic due to high infection rates. Nurses in Hamburg went public to speak about working conditions shortly before Christmas. The private management of Asklepios Clinics (AK) threatened a nurse with the loss of her job as a result. Romana Knezevic spoke openly on public broadcaster NDR’s Hamburg Journal show about the conditions at AK St. Georg. “The situation is extremely serious,” she said on December 17. “The intensive care capacity is totally used up.” For some time, they had been short-staffed, especially in intensive care, she continued. Then, the coronavirus pandemic came along and “a flood of coronavirus patients we have to care for in addition, that breaks all structures,” added Knezevic. “The intensive care colleagues are working with staff-to-patient ratios of one to five; normally it would be one to two or one to one,” she continued. In addition, “we have to take over tasks from the cleaning personnel and service staff. Just like us, they have also been cut back to the bone.” The situation is a tremendous burden for health care staff, especially because it is no longer even possible to provide patients with dignified end-of-life care. “The patients die alone in their rooms,” she said. The response of the hospital’s management was swift. Instead of seriously investigating the terrible conditions and working rapidly to improve them, they threatened to fire the courageous nurse. A spokesman of the Asklepios Clinics told the Hamburger Morgenpost that it is “unacceptable for employees to deliberately spread false information to media outlets or portray emergency situations as the norm for ideological or political motivations.” This would shake the confidence of Hamburg’s population, they added.
German health care workers sent to hospital after coronavirus vaccine overdoses -Four northern German health care workers were sent to the hospital on Sunday after being accidentally given five times the recommended dose of coronavirus vaccine.Officials from the Vorpommern-Ruegen district reported that eight workers in an elderly care facility had received an overdose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with four developing flu-like symptoms and being monitored as a precautionary measure. When the mistake was discovered, the workers, who are between the ages 37 and 54, were informed and sent home. “I deeply regret the incident,” district chief Stefan Kerth said in a statement obtained The Hill. “This individual case is due to individual errors. I hope that all those affected do not experience any serious side-effects.” District authorities cited previous statements from BioNTech that indicated that larger doses were used in the first phase of trials and did not lead to serious consequences. Pfizer and BioNTech pointed out that for those who receive an overdose of the vaccine, "monitoring of vital functions and possible symptomatic treatment is recommended." The incident occurred days into Germany and the European Union’s rollout of the vaccine, approved by the EU's drug regulator last week. The U.S. and U.K. had approved the vaccine earlier this month and began giving out the first doses in recent weeks. Along with Pfizer, the EU has contracts with AstraZeneca and Moderna for its vaccination campaign and plans to vaccinate 6.25 million people by the end of the year. Some German districts refused to use vaccine doses received over the weekend out of concern that the required cold conditions for the vaccine were interrupted during the delivery, Reuters reported on Monday. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be shipped at a temperature between -112 degrees and -76 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
South Korea to accelerate virus vaccine efforts as first U.K. variant detected (Reuters) - South Korean officials are vowing to speed up efforts to launch a public coronavirus vaccination programme as the country on Monday announced it had detected its first cases of the virus variant linked to the rapid rise in infections in Britain. The new variant, thought to be more transmissible than others currently circulating, was found in three people who had entered South Korea from London on Dec. 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Monday. Overall the KDCA reported 808 new cases as of midnight Sunday, the lowest since a record 1,241 infections were logged on Friday. Authorities cautioned that the drop may be due to less testing done over the weekend and the Christmas holiday, and said on Sunday they would be extending social distancing measures until early January. South Korea’s government has faced mounting domestic criticism over its vaccine procurement and rollout plans, which call for the first vaccinations to begin in the first quarter of next year, months after places such as the United States and the European Union. Negative views of the vaccine plans was one of the leading reasons that drove President Moon Jae-in’s disapproval rating to an all-time high of nearly 60%, pollster Realmeter said on Monday. Regulators will shorten the period required to approve vaccines and treatments from and average of 180 days to as little as 40 days, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on Sunday. An additional approval process for the distribution and sale of vaccines, which usually takes several months, will be shortened to around 20 days, the ministry said. Medical workers and elderly residents will begin receiving the vaccinations in February, and plans to vaccinate the broader public is accelerating, presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min said Sunday.
Cold chain doubts delay COVID-19 vaccinations in some German cities (Reuters) -Germany’s coronavirus vaccination campaign faced delays in several cities on Sunday after temperature trackers showed that about 1,000 of the shots made by BioNTech and Pfizer may not have been kept cold enough during transit. “When reading the temperature loggers that were enclosed in the cool boxes, doubts arose about the compliance with the cold chain requirements,” the district of Lichtenfels in the north of Germany’s largest state, Bavaria, said in a statement. Medical staff found that the temperature in one vaccine transport cool box had risen to 15 degrees Celsius, a spokesman for Lichtenfels said, above the maximum of 8C stipulated by the manufacturers. He added that his district had not received advice from BioNtech yet on how to proceed. The regional government of Bavaria’s Upper Franconia region where several affected districts are based said that BioNTech cleared the vaccines late on Sunday. “BioNTech has confirmed the quality of the vaccine shots,” a spokeswoman for Upper Franconia said. “The vaccination programme can start (in our region).” BioNtech had earlier said in a statement it was responsible for the shipment to the 25 German distribution centres and that the federal states and local authorities were responsible for the shipment to the vaccination centres and the mobile vaccination teams.
Rich countries buying most of the world’s vaccine supply has left the rest ‘scrambling for supplies,’ campaigners say --Rich countries’ success in buying up most of the vaccine supply have left the rest of the world “scrambling for supplies” as they try to protect their populations, campaigners say. The world’s wealthiest countries have reserved enough vaccines to allow them to inject their populations multiple times over, and have started administering shots.The oversupply is a consequence of countries buying up multiple types of vaccine before it was clear which ones would work.If, as expected, most major candidates are approved then they will have many more than they need.Meanwhile, poorer countries are firmly at the back of the line, and may have to wait years for mass vaccination.Researchers and campaigners say the difference will be stark: One estimate from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says that 51% of vaccine doses have been reserved by countries representing less than 15% of the world’s population.Roz Scourse, a policy advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders, told Insider: “I think the worst case scenario, to be blunt, is that we will continue to see people in low and middle-income countries dying of COVID for many years to come when there are effective vaccines and treatments available.“There isn’t a greater inequity, in my mind, than dying of something when you know that a treatment or a vaccine for that exists somewhere.”She said the current situation means much of the world is “scrambling for supplies.”Researchers for leading charities told Insider they fear that scenario will soon materialise. Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s health-policy manager, said countries have become “trapped in this deadly mix insufficient vaccine supply combined with inequality in ability to pay for the vaccine — with too little supply, and the supply that we have being primarily bought by rich countries.”
Iran expects to receive 150K doses of Pfizer vaccine from US-based philanthropists -U.S. donors have arranged for around 150,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 to be sent to Iran, state media reported Monday.The Washington Post reported that a statement from Iran's branch of the Red Crescent Society carried by the Tasnim news agency credited the donation to “coordination with a group of benefactors in the U.S.”The donation of vaccines comes as Iran has struggled to contain the virus and blamed U.S.-led sanctions for its inability to import needed medical supplies.The country also plans to receive roughly 1 million doses of the vaccine for COVID-19 from China, according to the Red Crescent.“Our people should know that for any action we plan to carry out for importing medicine, vaccines and equipment, we should curse [President] Trump a hundred times,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhanisaid earlier this month, addressing Iran's difficulties in obtaining necessary supplies. The U.S. policy of sanctions has also faced independent criticism, most notably from the Atlantic Council, whose Future of Iran initiative director Barbara Slavin said the Trump administration's sanctions "will hurt ordinary people, encourage more smuggling and in the long run, undermine dollar-based sanctions."
Iran begins human trials of locally developed COVID-19 vaccine: state TV - Iranian state media on Tuesday said the country has begun its first human trials for a domestically-manufactured coronavirus vaccine. The shot is developed by Shifa Pharmed, a subsidiary of Barekat, the state-owned drug conglomerate, according to The Associated Press. Unlike Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, which uses RNA, the Iranian treatment uses a more traditional dosage of a weakened version of the virus, akin to the polio vaccine. Clinical trial manager Hamed Hosseini said the phase one trial will enroll 56 volunteers, who will receive two doses of the vaccine over two weeks, with results announced about a month after the final dosage. Among the first three volunteers was Tayebeh Mokhber, whose father chairs the Setad Foundation, the state organization that oversees Barekat. “I am happy that the scientific process went ahead in a proper way,” she said, according to the AP. “I hope the conclusion will be health for our people.” Iranian authorities have fast-tracked a development and approval process that typically takes years with a goal of getting the vaccine to market by late spring. President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran is developing a second vaccine with an unnamed foreign country and that human testing is projected for February, the AP reported. Iran has been the Middle Eastern epicenter of the virus, with nearly 55,000 deaths from the virus and more than 1.2 million infections. Tehran has said U.S. sanctions have undermined its attempts to buy vaccines from abroad. While the U.S. has claimed the sanctions do not apply to medicine, Rouhani has said financial sanctions mean waits of weeks or more to process payments for medical supplies. “Our people should know that for any action we plan to carry out for importing medicine, vaccines and equipment, we should curse Trump a hundred times,” Rouhani said earlier this month.
Israeli Man Dies After Receiving COVID Vaccine As 5K+ "Health Impact Events" Reported In US - Following a handful of reports, including one involving a priest from the Philadelphia area who volunteered as a trial participant, about patients who received a vaccine dying in the weeks following the second dose, one man in Israel has died 2 hours after receiving the vaccine.According to reports in the Israeli press, a 75 year old man from Beit Shean died Monday morning from a hear attack about 2 hours after receiving the vaccine. The patient has received the vaccine at 0830 in the morning, then waited for the customary time at the health clinic before he was released to his home after reportedly feeling well. Some time after that, the man lost consciousness, then was pronounced dead.The Israeli Health Ministry released a statement on the death: "A 75-year-old man from the north of the country suffering from active heart disease and malignant disease, who has undergone a number of heart attacks, was vaccinated this morning against the coronavirus and died at home shortly after the procedure."An investigation into the man's death has been ordered by the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, who has appointed a case investigation committee to be led by the head of the MoH's Safety and Quality Division. News of the man's death follows reports that 5K out of the first 215K recipients of the vaccine in the US reported some kind of "adverse health impact event", which could be anything that seriously limits an individual's ability to function and/or complete daily tasks. These events should be severe enough to require medical attention, but exact details are unclear.
Argentina begins COVID-19 vaccination drive with Russian Sputnik V - Argentina began its COVID-19 vaccine rollout Tuesday using the Russian Sputnik V version, becoming the third country in the world to administer that type of shot outside of trials.Around 300,000 people are expected to be given the shot as inoculations began Tuesday, with the country expecting to receive 20 million doses within the next two months.Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez lauded the public's trust in the vaccine on state television, saying that he thinks "people have a lot of faith in the vaccine," Bloomberg reported.Some critics of the Sputnik V vaccine have questioned its efficacy after the Kremlin announced its registration before all clinical trials were completed. Developers have found it is 91 percent effective after people received two doses.Vaccines are free and voluntary for residents of Argentina. Priority rollouts mirror those of other nations, which focus primarily on inoculating vulnerable elderly populations and medical workers.Argentina ranks 11th in the world for COVID-19 deaths at 42,868 since the pandemic began. It is 12th in most cases at 1.6 million.The doses to Argentine residents Tuesday mark the first step of the Sputnik V immunization process. A second dose containing a different vector will arrive next month and will be administered to everyone who has received the first shot. Mexico, Costa Rica, and Chile also began inoculations this week using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which was also the first vaccine to be deployed in the U.S. Several other countries in Latin America are awaiting final approval for AstraZeneca's vaccine variant. Meanwhile, in Europe, residents of Belarus also began receiving the Sputnik V vaccine on the same day as Argentina, as Russia seeks to send its vaccine candidate to more people outside its borders, the Associated Press reported.
Britain set to infect 2,500 people with COVID-19 for research - New strains of COVID-19 have stirred new fears among people. After the UK reported a new strain which is more contagious than the original, countries have stepped up measures to identify and isolate. The strain has already been spotted in different countries including Canada, and eight European countries have also found the strain in circulation.Even though vaccination drives against COVID-19 have begun around the world, there’s a lot about the virus scientists still don’t understand.Scientists in the UK want to get to know the virus better, and to achieve this, they’re infecting 2,500 healthy volunteers with COVID-19. They will attempt to understand how the virus behaves in the body, and how much it takes for the virus to develop, the Sun reported.The government has put out $45 million for the research, which will be undertaken by the Imperial College, the National Health Service’s Royal Free Hospital, along with a pharmaceutical company hVIVO.Usually, such studies are shunned due to the ethical questions about infecting healthy people with a virus.The project will begin in January, with the pilot results expected to come out in May. The volunteers - aged between 18-30 will be given an experimental nasal vaccine, after which they’ll be infected with the virus. All volunteers will be paid $5,300 for their three-week stay at a hospital, where they will be monitored all day and night, as reported by Mail Online.
Catastrophe worsens as UK records nearly 100,000 new COVID-19 cases in 48 hours - The number of COVID-19 cases continues to surge, with a record 53,135 positive tests announced Tuesday. This was on top of the previous record of 41,385 new cases announced Monday, meaning there have been almost 100,000 cases in the first two days of this week. Another 414 people were reported dead. In the week to December 29, the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in England alone rose from 18,063 to 21,787. The main area of increase was in London which saw a 44 percent increase from 1,552 COVID patients to 2,237.The figures take the number of deaths as measured by the government to 71,567. The true figure is substantially higher and is approaching 90,000. Yesterday, the statistical associations in England and Wales produced figures showing there had been 87,000 deaths where COVID was mentioned on the death certificate. The figures will rise as Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet released fatality data for the period between December 24 and 28.The terrible death toll is the outcome of the homicidal herd immunity policy of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government. Apart from during the national lockdown of a few months’ duration, from the end of March, the government has allowed the virus to rip through the population. The new strain circulating in Britain since September is accelerating a catastrophic resurgence of the virus. It is now present on every continent. Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of the National Health Service (NHS), said yesterday, “Now again we are back in the eye of the storm with a second wave of coronavirus sweeping Europe and, indeed, this country.”By Monday, there were more people in hospital in England (20,426) than the 18,974 patients recorded on April 12 at the height of the first wave.Hospitals are being overwhelmed with a number having to declare emergencies. The situation in London is the most acute. The London Ambulance Service had one of its “busiest ever days” on December 26, with 7,918 calls—up by more than 2,500 on last year. On Sunday, an internal incident was declared at Queen Elizabeth Hospital due to fears of a shortage of oxygen. The hospital was forced to divert patients to other hospitals in the city. According to a Sky News reporter at Queen's Hospital in Romford, patients were yesterday being treated inside ambulances “because they don't have enough beds left—that's how bad the situation is”. The Daily Mirror reported, “Some health boards are considering the option of setting up tents outside hospitals to triage patients, as they work in ‘major incident mode’.”The surge in infections threatens to overwhelm a vaccine rollout taking place at a snail’s pace. At present only 600,000 people have received the vaccine. The delivery of the second required dose, only issued to people among the highest priority, began just yesterday.
UK Covid cases break another new daily record | The Independent The UK has seen another new coronavirus record with 55,892 more cases recorded in the past 24 hours and another 964 deaths. The new figures marked an increase on Wednesday’s record of 53,135, which had been the highest daily figure since the beginning of the pandemic. Of the new cases, 49,510 were recorded in England, with 2,622 in Scotland, 1,831 in Wales and 1,929 in Northern Ireland. The new figures bring the UK case total to 2,488,780 with 73,512 deaths. Speaking as the figures were released, Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, pleaded with members of the public to stay in on New Year’s Eve, echoing pleas from police and the government. Dr Doyle said: "We must not now add further fuel to the fire, as meeting in close and large groups this New Year's Eve risks further transmission. “We know the overwhelming majority of deaths reported today are people who sadly passed away in just the last few days.
Covid news - live: UK breaks daily cases record as SAGE warns full lockdown ‘may not be enough to stop spread’ - A return to a national lockdown might not be enough to control the spread of the new variant of coronavirus in England, Sage experts have warned, as police have said large New Year’s Eve parties “should not be happening”. Forces reminded the vast majority of the population that indoor mixing between people from different households will be illegal. The organisers of gatherings of more than 30 people could be punished with £10,000 fines. It comes as more than three quarters of England’s population has been ordered to stay at home to stop then spread of the virus, with large areas of the country placed under tier 4 restrictions overnight. It leaves a total of 44 million people, or 78 per cent of England’s population, in tier 4, where non-essential shops, gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers have to remain shut. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham joined calls for people to celebrate New Year’s Eve safely, before warning “this is the moment of maximum danger” as the region prepares to enter a period of tier 4 restrictions.
The UK is making a risky bet to stretch its supply of coronavirus vaccines, and scientists are split on the untested strategy --UK officials announced Tuesday that they would prioritize getting people their first doses of coronavirus vaccines instead of holding enough to ensure they can get a second dose on time.Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is supposed to be given as two injections 21 days apart.The new guidelines allow people to wait up to 12 weeks between receiving their first and second doses.The UK is the first country to publicly commit to the untested strategy, although some scientists in the US had also advocated for a single-dose strategy. Scientists are split on the UK's plan to give initial doses of coronavirus vaccines to as many people as possible, even at the risk of delaying their booster shots. UK officials announced Tuesday that the country would prioritize getting its population first doses of the coronavirus vaccine instead of holding enough for a second dose. The idea is to boost the number of people getting vaccinated with the country's initial supply of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. "At this stage of the pandemic, prioritising the first doses of vaccine for as many people as possible on the priority list will protect the greatest number of at risk people overall in the shortest possible time," UK officials said in a statement Tuesday. The vaccine is about 95% effective at preventing COVID-19 when given as two doses 21 days apart, and that's how it's being administered in the US. The UK's strategy runs the risks of leaving people vulnerable to the coronavirus, because no one has tested what happens when doses are given farther apart.
Britain will allow mixing of COVID-19 vaccines on rare occasions (Reuters) - Britain will allow people to be given shots of different COVID-19 vaccines on rare occasions, despite a lack of evidence about the extent of immunity offered by mixing doses.In a departure from other strategies globally, the government said people could be given a mix-and-match of two COVID-19 shots, for example if the same vaccine dose was out of stock, according to guidelines published on New Year’s Eve. “(If) the same vaccine is not available, or if the first product received is unknown, it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule,” according to the guidelines. Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at Public Health England, said this would only happen on extremely rare occasions, and that the government was not recommending the mixing of vaccines, which require at least two doses given several weeks apart. “Every effort should be made to give them the same vaccine, but where this is not possible it is better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not at all,” she said.COVID-19 has killed more 74,000 people in Britain - the second-highest death toll in Europe, and health officials are racing to deliver doses to help end the pandemic as fears grow that the health service could be overwhelmed. Earlier this week, the government reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the outbreak as wards fill up with COVID-19 patients.Britain has been at the forefront of approving the new coronavirus vaccines, becoming the first country to give emergency authorisation to the Pfizer/BioNTech and the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford vaccines last month. Both vaccines are meant to be administered as two shots, given several weeks apart, but they were not designed to be mixed together.
Covid wards 'full of children' for first time in pandemic, warn nurses - Medics are starting to see “whole wards of children” suffering from Covid for the first time during the pandemic, a senior nurse has warned. Laura Duffell, a matron at King’s College Hospital, London, said the new strain of Covid was affecting children and younger adults with no underlying health conditions in worrying numbers. She said: “It’s very different. That’s what makes it so much scarier for us as doctors, nurses and porters and everyone else who is working on the front line. “We have children who are coming in. It was minimally affecting children in the first wave... we now have a whole ward of children here and I know that some of my colleagues are in the same position, where they have a whole ward of children with Covid.” Ms Duffel, a Royal College of Nursing branch official, described a picture of NHS hospitals close to buckling under the strain of rising numbers of Covid patients. She told Radio 5 Live on Friday: “20 to 30 year olds with no underlying conditions are coming in. In intensive care you could have up to two or three very sick ventilated patients at the moment, which is far beyond what you should have. “Some of my colleagues across London have been looking after up to 15 adults on a Covid ward with one health care assistant supporting them, so you don’t stop.” Senior clinicians have now warned that severe staff shortages mean there is little prospect of the Nightingale hospitals riding to the rescue of the NHS as it struggles to cope with the imminent threat of being overwhelmed by Covid patients. Consultants and nursing leaders say that high levels of nursing vacancies, coupled with high numbers of staff themselves going off sick with coronavirus or stress will make it near impossible to use the Nightingale hospitals built around the country at the start of the pandemic.
UK Reports Record 57K COVID Cases; Japanese Officials Urge State Of Emergency: Live Updates – State and county officials across the US are still struggling with a backlog in new cases, but just as hospitals in LA County and other hard-hit areas seemed to be at their breaking point, it appears the number of hospitalizations and deaths are starting to slow - even as Joe Biden and Dr. Fauci continue to warn that the worst lies ahead. Yesterday, the US topped 20MM total confirmed cases, nearly 2x the total from India (which has the second-largest outbreak, by total confirmed cases). But the US isn't the only country struggling with surging COVID-19 numbers: over the past few days, as the situation in Tokyo has intensified with the number of confirmed new cases reaching unprecedented levels, Japanese officials are demanding the government impose new restrictions on movement and business.Still, US hospitalizations - seen as the most reliable indicator of the pandemic's trajectory - climbed to a new high late Friday, with 125.3K people admitted, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project. That compares with the two previous waves of the virus, in April and in July, that peaked at about 60K.COVID Tracking Project said Saturday that it will likely take at least another week before the data in the US "return to normal."On Saturday, the governors of Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures - Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono, Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa and Chiba Gov. Kensaku Morita - pleaded with the Japanese government - via Yasutoshi Nishimura, the government's coronavirus point man - to declare a state of emergency, Nikkei reports.Following a meeting that lasted longer than three hours, Koike told reporters that the government must restrict the movement of people because coronavirus cases are surging at an unprecedented rate. Nishimura, Japan's COVID point-man, said he recognizes the governors' tough situation, and added that the government would take the request "seriously". “ We take this request seriously...and will consider measures accordingly." We agreed that we are in a severe situation that warrants us considering the declaration of a state of emergency," Nishimura said.However, he added that the government needs to consult with its coronavirus expert panel before making a decision.The number of new cases reported in Tokyo has surged over the past week, with a record 1.3K reported on Thursday. The government in April declared a state of emergency for seven prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, before expanding the measure nationwide. The emergency was lifted on May 25.Elsewhere, authorities in Sydney, Australia (along with other parts of New South Wales) tightened rules on mask-wearing, ordering people to wear masks in shopping malls and on public transit as Australia’s most populous state tries to control another outbreak. In the UK, the record run of new cases continued, with authorities reporting more than 57K new cases on Saturday morning (cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours).
Different efficacy data for Chinese COVID-19 vaccine "real and valid"-media (Reuters) - Different efficacy results for a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine released separately in China and in United Arab Emirates are both real and valid, an executive at China National Biotec Group (CNBG) told state media. China approved its first COVID-19 vaccine for general public use on Thursday, a shot developed by an affiliate to state-backed Sinopharm, after the developer said the vaccine showed 79.34% efficacy based on an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials. That rate is lower than the 86% rate for the same vaccine reported by the United Arab Emirates on Dec. 9. Countries have certain differences in their standards and procedures in diagnosing patients, and the final results of COVID-19 case identification were different, Yang Xiaoming, chairman at Sinopharm unit’s CNBG, told Global Times, a tabloid published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party. “Therefore, there were differences between the comprehensive multi-country data we reviewed and the protection rate data previously evaluated by the UAE and Bahrain,” Global Times quoted Yang as saying in a report published on Thursday. “But these two results are both real and valid,” Yang said, without offering further details for the data.
100s Of Israelis Infected With COVID After Receiving Pfizer Vaccine Amid Frenzied Inoculation Campaign - In a world where the rollout of covid vaccines has been far slower than the so-called experts predicted - which is bizarre considering the plunge in public faith in the "covid scientist" sector amid the surge in horror stories involving adverse side-effects from both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, to which the mainstream media has finally caught on as detailed in "As COVID-19 vaccines come online, fewer Americans want to take them" - the same mainstream media has been fawning over those counties which have steamrolled through popular skepticism and opposition with authoritarian ruthlessness to unleash widespread vaccination campaigns, praising them as model nations for everyone to follow. Countries like Israel, where over 1 million people or 12% of the population has already been vaccinated. The New York Times rushed to congratulate Israel, explaining "How Israel became a world leader in vaccinating against COVID-19" in which it wrote that... Israel’s campaign, which began Dec. 20, has distributed the vaccine to three times as much of its population as the second-fastest nation, the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, according to figures compiled mostly from local government sources by Our World in Data. By contrast, less than 1% of the population of the United States and only small fractions of the population in many European countries received a vaccine dose by the end of 2020, according to Our World in Data, though China, the United States and Britain have each distributed more doses overall. In short: Israel is great and shining example of how to force millions to get injected with some mRNA, while the US (and orange man of course) bad. Which would be fantastic, if only it wasn't for the ideologically-mandated and rushed conclusion, which is laughable at best and potentially lethal at worst because just as Israel has been scrambling to get everyone vaccinated with substances whose side effects are still very much unknown, the Times of Israel reported that over two hundred Israeli citizens have been diagnosed with the disease days after getting the Pfizer/BioNTech shots. The number of those who got Covid-19 despite being vaccinated was at around 240 people, according to data from the Times of Israel According to the official explanation provided by the Israeli media, while the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doesn’t contain the coronavirus and can’t infect the recipient, time is needed for the genetic code in the drug to train the immune system to recognize and attack the disease. The course of the US-made vaccine requires two shots. According to the studies, immunity to Covid-19 increases only eight to ten days after the first injection and eventually reaches 50 percent. The second shot is administered 21 days from the first one, while the declared immunity of 95 percent is achieved only a week after that. And, of course, there’s still a five percent chance of getting infected even if the vaccine is at its full potential.
Certain pet foods recalled after reports of 28 dog deaths, FDA warns - At least 28 dogs have died and another eight have become sick after eating dog food that contained high levels of a toxin called aflatoxin, the Food and Drug Administration said, as some pet foods were recalled Wednesday. The FDA is investigating these reports, and alerting pet owners and veterinarians that certain Sportmix brand pet foods "may contain potentially fatal levels of aflatoxin." Aflatoxin is produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus, the FDA says. This mold can grow on corn and other grains used in pet foods. At high levels, it can be deadly for pets. On Wednesday, Midwest Pet Food Inc., which manufactures the Sportmix brand of pet foods, announced a recall of nine lots of the pet food. A list of recalled products can be found on the FDA's website.
How the FDA Ignores the Law When Approving New Chemical Additives to Food --The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) failure on food chemical safety has left consumers at risk of chronic diseases. The agency is required to review the safety of classes of chemicals rather than individual chemicals. Using the class approach, multiple chemicals adversely affecting the same organ or system (such as the immune, endocrine, or nervous systems) are evaluated together and a safe consumption level is determined for the class. This approach prevents the intentional new or expanded uses of chemical additives that increase chronic disease and, when coupled with a systematic review of prior decisions, results in health risk reduction. Instead, the agency has consistently reviewed individual chemicals without regard to the cumulative effect on chronic disease. When Congress passed the Food Additive Amendment in 1958 in response to a rapidly changing food system and rising public and scientific concerns about the potential health risks of new chemical additives, it included a health-protective requirement: the cumulative effect of chemically and pharmacologically related substances in the diet must be taken into account when assessing the safety of new additives. That means, additives with similar toxic effects, either because they look alike or affect similar body functions, must be evaluated together to prevent exposures above an amount that would cause harm. However, food manufacturers and regulators have neglected to consider this cumulative effect, failing to harness changes in food technology and use advances in scientific knowledge to protect the public from dietary chemical exposures. Medical associations and a group of health, environmental and consumer organizations have jointly challenged the FDA to change its practice of not accounting for the cumulative health effect of chemicals in the diet as required by law. In the U.S., approximately 10,000 chemicals can be purposely added to food or enter the food supply through processing equipment and packaging, and 60 percent of the calories ingested are from ultra-processed foods. In 1958, Congress gave the FDA authority to regulate chemicals intentionally added to food or to food contact materials, commonly known as food additives, to ensure their use is safe. Thus, the cumulative assessment of health effects by a class of related substances prevents the addition of intentional new or expanded uses of chemical additives that would increase chronic disease. Moreover, this approach, together with systematic review of prior safety decisions results in health risk reduction. We wanted to investigate whether and how food manufacturers and the FDA had implemented the cumulative effect requirement. To do that, we downloaded and reviewed all 877 safety determinations contained in the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notifications inventory. We found that in only one of 877 GRAS notices did a food manufacturer consider the cumulative effect requirement in a meaningful way. Notably, that one notice stopped short of establishing a safe exposure for the class as required by regulation. And we found no evidence that the agency either recognized this single attempt to follow the law or had objected to the omissions in the 876 other notices.
Biden Faces Pressure to Tackle Backlog of 'Unfunded' Toxic Waste Sites - A joint report on Monday highlighted the pressure that President-elect Joe Biden is already facing to deliver on his environmental justice campaign promises—particularly when it comes to the 34 Superfund sites nationwide for which there is no reliable cleanup funding—the largest backlog of "unfunded" sites in 15 years. The federal Superfund program began with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), passed by Congress in 1980. While cleanup efforts were initially paid for by a trust fund created by taxing the chemical and petroleum industries, lawmakers let the tax expire 25 years ago. The new report on the cleanup program from NBC News, InsideClimate News, and The Texas Observer is the fifth installment of the "Super Threats" series about Superfund sites and climate change. The first report, published in late September, detailed how hundreds of hazardous waste sites across the United States are threatened by hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, which are all exacerbated by a climate crisis that the Trump administration often refused to acknowledge let alone act to address. Both reports pointed to a 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis which found that 945 Superfund sites are vulnerable to extreme weather events that are intensifying because of human-caused climate change, including hurricanes, flooding, sea level rise, increased precipitation, or wildfires. The news outlets behind the series created an interactive map for all the locations on the office's list, which includes over half of the unfunded sites—19 of 34. The outlets reported Monday that Democrats in Congress, environmentalists, and former officials at the Environmental Protection Agency are urging Biden to consider climate change when creating cleanup plans for not only the unfunded backlog—which has grown under President Donald Trump—but all 1,570 Superfund sites. As the outlets reported: Beyond Whitehouse's call for climate-threat assessments at every site, one senior former EPA official said the incoming Biden administration should review all of the agreements negotiated by the Trump EPA at Superfund sites with corporations liable for cleanups. "You will want to see if the responsible parties were being given preferential treatment," Earlier this month, Public Citizen launched an online tool to track Trump's "most corrupt, norm-breaking, dangerous, and unjust actions during the lame-duck session," noting that the past four years have featured "cruelty, recklessness, and cronyism" from the outgoing administration. The watchdog group has been critical of Trump's EPA administrators. Currently the agency is run by former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, who was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in early 2019. The Monday report noted that "the Superfund program is led by Peter C. Wright, a lawyer who previously worked for Dow Chemical and represented the company in negotiations with the EPA over Superfund sites."
Queens Neighborhood Terrorized By Hyperaggressive Squirrels -- Between the devastating springtime COVID-19 outbreak to the protests, violence and looting inspired by the killing of George Floyd, New York City has had a difficult year. But as 2020 draws to a close, residents of quiet Rego Park, best known to many Americans as the neighborhood from "King of Queens", are facing off against a fresh horror: hyperaggressive squirrels. According to the local Patch website, at least five people in the neighborhood have been bitten or scratched by squirrels on 65th Road and 65th Drive within the last month. One woman who spoke to the reporter was forced to seek treatment at a nearby hospital for squirrel bites and scratches after one such attack, which began when she opened her front door to let in a team of movers, and the squirrel lunged at her. Here's more from Patch: They include Micheline Frederick, who had to go to the hospital after a squirrel attack so vicious that it left her hands and arms covered with bites - and her snowy front yard stained with blood. "He was angry and he was vicious," Frederick told Patch of the Dec. 21 attack."This was more than just a bite. This thing was fighting with me." Frederick said she was holding her front door open for two movers when the squirrel ran up to her and scurried up her leg. She threw the squirrel off of her, but it pounced back onto her and started biting and scratching her.The attack left her pinky finger "pretty chewed up" and her hand bruised black and blue for days, she said. She had at least eight bites, prompting physicians at a nearby urgent care center to send her to the emergency room for rabies shots. “Because I had so many, they wanted to be safe rather than sorry,” she said. The NYC Department of Health says squirrels are rarely infected with rabies. Since the agency started tracking New York City rabies cases in 1992, it has never identified a case of a squirrel with the disease. With rabies being an unlikely, but not impossible, explanation, Rego Park residents say the city has declined to intervene.
Mass die-off of birds in south-western US 'caused by starvation' -The mass die-off of thousands of songbirds in south-western US was caused by long-term starvation, made worse by unseasonably cold weather probably linked to the climate crisis, scientists have said.Flycatchers, swallows and warblers were among the migratory birds “falling out of the sky” in September, with carcasses found in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska. A USGS National Wildlife Health Center necropsy has found 80% of specimens showed typical signs of starvation. Muscles controlling the birds’ wings were severely shrunken, blood was found in their intestinal tract and they had kidney failure as well as an overall loss of body fat. The remaining 20% were not in good enough condition to carry out proper tests. Nearly 10,000 dead birds were reported to the wildlife mortality database by citizens, and previous estimates suggest hundreds of thousands may have died. “It looks like the immediate cause of death in these birds was emaciation as a result of starvation,” said Jonathan Sleeman, director of the USGS NationalWildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, which received 170 bird carcasses and did necropsies on 40 of them. “It’s really hard to attribute direct causation, but given the close correlation of the weather event with the death of these birds, we think that either the weather event forced these birds to migrate prior to being ready, or maybe impacted their access to food sources during their migration.” “We’re not talking about short-term starvation – this is a longer-term starvation,” said Martha Desmond, a professor in the biology department at New Mexico State University (NMSU), who collected carcasses. “They became so emaciated they actually had to turn to wasting their major flight muscles. This means that this isn’t something that happened overnight.”
National Park Ranger Condemned for Attacking Unarmed Indigenous Man on Sacred Native Land -Indigenous and wilderness conservation groups were among those on Wednesday responding with outrage to video of a National Park Service ranger tasering an unarmed Indigenous man after he walked off a trail inPetroglyph National Monument in New Mexico on Sunday and then refused to comply with the ranger's orders.Darrell House, a Diné (Navajo) and Oneida U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was hiking with his sister and his dog in the Albuquerque park — which features many petroglyphs, or ancient stone carvings that are sacred to tribes — so that he could harvest dirt for ceremonies and pray.House said he walked off a marked trail in order to socially distance himself from a large group of walkers when "this park ranger started following me.""I guess he was upset about me going off trail before, you know, doing my prayers for the rocks," House toldKOB. In a video released by the National Park Service, House repeatedly refuses to disclose his real name to the rangers. https://t.co/b0TSySZ7Ba "I didn't see a reason to give my identification," House told NBC News. "I don't need to tell people why I'm coming there to pray and give things in honor to the land. I don't need permission or consent. And I don't think he liked that very much." A ranger House identified by his last name Graden then fired his Taser at him. In a video recorded by his sister, House is seen writhing on the ground in agony next to his dog while the woman pleads for the attackers to stop. "I don't have anything; I apologize for going off the trail," House says between cries of pain. House said the attack left him "traumatized" and bleeding. "I'm shaking," he wrote in an Instagram post. "What hurt me the most was when my baby Geronimo felt the shock," he said, referring to his dog. "Here, you will see a white man abuse his power," House. "The law doesn't work for the Indigenous ... You would think with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, with the Black Lives Matter Movement, authorities would try to avoid having to pull a weapon out. Imagine I disarm him from the taser then what, I get charged with assault, or worse he grabs for his gun and ends me." "These scenarios have been going through my head since this afternoon," he added. "I'm a son, I'm a brother, I'm a father. More importantly, I'm a human being."
Alaska Tribes, Conservation Groups, and Businesses Sue to Save the Tongass National Forest -- Jerri-Lynn Scofield - In October, following Trump’s direct intervention and under pressure from Alaska state officials, the administration rescinded the ‘roadless rule’ in the Tongass National Forests, thus clearing the way to expand access of logging, mining, and other extractive industries. The Trump administration has rolled back environmental protections, from the over touted yet actually modest recent levels of protection other administrations. have pursued. Trump’s policies have not proceeded unopposed. Last Wednesday, Reuters reported: A coalition of Alaska Native tribes and environmentalists filed suit on Wednesday challenging a new Trump administration policy that opens vast swaths of the largest U.S. national forest to logging, mining and other commercial development. The lawsuit, joined by tourism and fishing organizations, seeks to reinstate prohibitions on road-building through previously protected areas in the Tongass National Forest of southeastern Alaska, the world’s largest temperate rain forest The Clinton-era rule, effectively banning timber harvests and mineral extraction in undeveloped areas of national forests across the country, was lifted for the Tongass in October, part of President Donald Trump’s aim of easing various environmental regulations opposed by industry. It marked a victory for state officials who petitioned for the change because they said the roadless rule – closing off 9.2 million acres (3.7 million hectares) of the 17-million-acre (6.8-million-hectare) Tongass – had cost Alaskans jobs. As the Guardian tells the story: Protection for the Tongass national forest in Alaska, one of the world’s last intact temperate rainforests, which plays a crucial role in fighting climate change, has beengutted by a recent US government decision to overturn a two-decade ban on logging and road building. Trump intervened personally in this issue considered of great importance to Alaska officials. Over to the Guardian again: The decision to exempt the Tongass from the Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of pristine forest nationwide, came after Trump personally intervened following a private meeting with the Alaska governor, Mike Dunleavy, aboard Air Force One. The subsequent consultation process by the Forest Service was also mired in allegationsof funding violations and bias towards the logging industry and the state of Alaska, which has long pushed for the Roadless Rule to be revoked. Given the state of Alaska’s role in pressing to overturn the roadless rule, citing the jaws mantra, I wonder just what the Biden administration will do. Reinstate the Clintons-era status quo? Increase environmental protections, in Alaska and elsewhere, to counter the global warming threat? Or in the Tongass, might the rest be some fudge that would leave some form of the Trump rollback in place. The Reuters account suggests the Biden position isn’t yet known and perhaps isn’t even yet set:
Storm Bella hits Europe, leaving tens of thousands without power -- Storm Bella struck parts of Northwestern Europe on Sunday, December 27, 2020, leaving more than 55 000 households without electricity in its wake. More than 21 000 homes lost access to power in the UK, around 34 000 in the east and central France, and around 1 500 in Ireland. In parts of the UK, the storm brought heavy rain, high winds, and gusts of more than 160 km/h (100 mph). In the Needles on the Isle of Wight, gusts reached 170 km/h (106 mph).In southern England, train operators, including South Western Railway, reported delays as heavy rain "flooded the railway" between Bournemouth and Southampton. Heavy rains already triggered flooding in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire over the holidays.Up to 1 300 families by the River Great Ouse were advised to evacuate following high water levels. Elsewhere, in Gloucestershire, more than 70 homes were left without power on Christmas after an electricity substation flooded. In England, more than a hundred "immediate action" flood warnings were in force after winds of more than 113 km/h (70 mph) hit southern coasts overnight. In North Yorkshire, fire crews rescued several people from stranded vehicles. In Wales, Western Power reported power cuts for 21 000 homes. Much of the services were restored by Sunday, but 1 700 homes remained without power. The Environment Agency asked residents to stay away from swollen rivers and flooded land. In Ireland, the storm was particularly destructive in Dublin, leaving 1 134 homes without power in Greenhills and South Dublin, and another 245 homes in nearby Inchicore. 104 homes were affected in Ennis, County Clare, and 112 in Cappamore, County Limerick.
Severe weather conditions, up to 2 m (6.5 feet) of fresh snow through New Year's Day, Japan -The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued warnings for blizzards, high waves, and freezing temperatures as a potent winter storm pressure system continues affecting the country, mainly areas along the Sea of Japan through New Year's Day. The storm could remain over Japan until January 2 -- potentially affecting facilities and transport systems. Up to 2 m (6.5 feet) of snow is expected in the affected region and temperatures down to -12 °C (10.4 °F) in some places -- about 10 °C (18 °F) below average for the time of the year. 90 cm (2.9 feet) of snow is expected in the Hokuriku region along the Sea of Japan in the 24 hours ending at 18:00 LT on December 31. 80 cm (2.6 feet) in Kinki and Chugoku regions, 60 cm (1.9 feet) in Tohoku region, and 50 cm (1.6 feet) across Hokkaido region, the Kanto-Koshin, and Tokai.In the following 24-hour period, the Hokuriku region is expecting another 80 - 120 cm (2.6 - 3.9 feet), Tohoku region 60 - 80 cm (1.9 - 2.6 feet), Tokai and Kinki 50 - 70 cm (1.6 - 2.3 feet), and Kanto-Koshin and Hokkaido regions 30 - 50 cm (1 - 1.6 feet). This amounts to more than 2 m (6.5 feet) of snow in Hokuriku and up to 1.5 m (4.9 feet) in Kinki and Tohoku through January 1. However, much more can be expected over the next 10 days.
Record-setting 'bomb cyclone' batters Alaska's Aleutian Islands with hurricane force (Reuters) - A Pacific storm of record proportions swept a remote stretch of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain on Thursday, battering a region used heavily by commercial shipping with hurricane-force winds and seas five stories high. “It’s the most intense storm ever recorded in the North Pacific, excluding typhoons,” said Brian Brettschneider, a NOAA research scientist with the National Weather Service. The center of what forecasters refer to as “bomb cyclone” was measured at a record-low barometric pressure of 921 millibars, equivalent to the eye of a Category 4 hurricane and the lowest documented over the Aleutians as far back as the 1950s, Brettschneider said. The storm unleashed seas as high as 54 feet (16.5 meters) and winds topping 80 miles per hour (120 kph) - a force of Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale - in the western Aleutians, the weather service said. The storm was too far from large populated areas to pose a direct hazard to many people besides those traveling in the region by aircraft or vessel, Brettscheneider said. The Aleutian island of Shemya with a small air station and a few personnel was in the epicenter of the storm, about 1,450 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. Most of the Aleutian Islands are uninhabited. The waters, however, are heavily used by cargo ships traveling between Asia and North America. Thousands of vessels a year ply a shipping corridor known as the North Pacific Great Circle Route. The area is also important for commercial fishing. The storm also caused some erosion of Bering Sea winter ice, already at some of its thinnest levels on record for this time of year, further disrupting a frozen landscape that walruses and some species of seals depend on. “This may kind of set back ice formation,” Brettschneider said, adding that it would likely take five or six days for the winds to calm and for cold northern air to flow back in, allowing the Bering Sea to regain some ice.
Weather Service faces backlash after launching ‘slow,’ ‘unusable’ radar website - Last week, the National Weather Service launched its first new website for radar imagery since the early 2000s, touting it as a "major upgrade." The public did not see it that way. "Horrible," "really low quality work," "very very buggy," "unusable," "absolutely terrible," "not ready for public release," "garbage" and "the worst" represent a sample of complaints from users on social media since the radar.weather.gov site went live. The new radar website, which shows where it's raining and snowing across the U.S. along with other radar products, was intended to be an improvement from the legacy site, boasting a "load of new features," according to the National Weather Service."It displays radar images more frequently and at four times higher resolution than our previous site, shows radar imagery layered with weather watches and warnings on a dynamic map that allows zooming and scrolling, offers more radar data than before in an interactive, mobile-friendly format, and provides radar data in a more flexible GIS format," said Susan Buchanan, a National Weather Service spokeswoman, in a statement.Many free weather apps, as well as more feature-packed paid radar apps, have had such capabilities for years, but this is the first time the National Weather Service has rolled out something like this new site. Buchanan said the radar site was beta-tested for 90 days and that public comments were incorporated before the Dec. 18 launch. But the common refrain in initial reviews is that the site is a step backward from its simpler predecessor. "The new NOAA site is the 'New Coke' of the weather business," wrote Steve Thompson, who previously worked as a traffic reporter for WTOP, a radio news station in Washington, D.C. "They abandoned an excellent product the users liked, tried to create something new, abysmally failed and went live with it anyway."
Nine months after devastating flooding, Central Michigan residents are left abandoned - It has now been nearly nine months since the breaching of the Sanford, Smallwood, and Edenville dams and subsequent dike failures along the Tittabawassee River in Central Michigan. Boyce Hydro LLC was the private owner of these dams and was responsible for the state of disrepair that led to their breaching in May. State authorities were intimately aware of the decaying and dangerous state of the dam, as shown through decades of safety violations and the revocation of Boyce’s electric production license by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2018. Even so, they chose to do nothing to prevent a disaster. The WSWS has published extensive reports detailing the events of the flooding, its effects, and its aftermath. The floods initially displaced over 10,000 residents, affected over 4,000 homes, wiped out or damaged numerous bridges and roads, drained Wixom and Sanford Lakes, creating roughly $190 million in damages to businesses and an additional $55 million in infrastructural damages. Low water levels in the drained lakes resulted in rampant plant growth on the exposed sea-bed, with poplar trees growing at especially alarming rates. If not removed soon, the tightly clustered trees could be roughly 15–20-feet tall by 2023, the year slated for the completion of all upgrades and repairs for the dams. Most residents in the flooded areas do not have flood insurance and have not received any assistance on this front. Some Midland city residents not directly hit by the flooding experienced sewage and storm-drain backup. The village of Sanford is in ruins. Floodwaters inundated the town of 850, leaving its business center demolished, its residents financially crushed by mortifying rebuilding costs and personal property losses, and its lake-reliant local economy gutted. While various local media sources have tried to paint over the misery during the holiday season, many residents have left the town with what little they can bring with them. There is no certainty that the village will ever be able to recover from this disaster. Residents who lost their homes and chose to stay now face living out of motels, RVs, campers, or whatever section of their home is still livable. The winter months and rising levels of COVID-19 compound the dangers. Areas directly around the drained lakes are not faring well either. With the absence of water, shorelines, where 6,000 formerly lake-front properties reside, are in the process of eroding. These properties, valued at $800 million, will remain at risk of encroaching instability, which could place more families at risk until clean-up and rebuilding efforts halt erosion. The fallout of the flooding has already resulted in property values falling and the crippling of local economies reliant on the lake. Neighboring Gladwin County is experiencing a water crisis due to the fall in water levels. More than 300 wells were losing water pressure in July; as of mid-October, the number has almost doubled to nearly 600 wells. Some fire hydrants fed by Secord Lake are losing pressure. Secord is another lake created by the dam system along the Tittabawassee River, which has experienced dropping water levels since the dam failures.
Climate Change Is Threatening Aging U.S. Dams --There are more than 90,000 dams in the United States. Many of those dams are at risk of failure."Most of them were built more than 50 years ago. Usually, the design life of a dam is between 50 and 60 years, so a lot of our dams are already past their design age," says Paulina Concha Larrauri, a researcher at Columbia University.She says many of these dams are not only old, but poorly maintained."There's a lot of variation on the safety and oversight of these dams across the country," she says.In many areas, climate change is making the situation even more dangerous by causing more frequent and heavier rains.In a recent report, Concha Larrauri and her team analyzed the risks and potential impacts of dam failures. She says that if one dam fails, it can cause other breaches downstream.The risks can be extensive, and not just to people and homes. Flood waters can disrupt power generation and block roads and railways. But funds to address the problem are limited, so she says it's important to assess the risks and potential losses, and prioritize repairs accordingly.
Papua New Guinea landslide buries 15 people(Reuters) - A landslide in a remote region of Papua New Guinea has buried 15 people including three children, all feared dead, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. The people were asleep in a long house near a mine where they had been panning for gold, when the landslide, dragging trees and logs with it, buried the hut in the Goilala district of PNG’s Central Province early on Monday. “Unfortunately, there are no survivors, from what we hear,” Goilala’s member of parliament William Samb, who flew to the site, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Only two bodies have been recovered so far, with locals working with shovels and pitchforks to dig through the debris. The recovery effort has been hampered by heavy rains, which may have triggered the landslide, and the remote location, reachable only by helicopter or a two-hour walk, a spokesman for Samb said.
Norwegian rescuers hunt for 10 missing after landslide(Reuters) - Norwegian rescuers deployed drones and dogs to negotiate unstable clay soil in a search for 10 people still missing on Thursday after a landslide in southern Norway swept away more than a dozen buildings the previous day. Another 10 people were injured, one critically, after the landslide in the residential area in the Gjerdrum municipality, about 30 km (19 miles) north of the capital, Oslo. Conditions remained challenging, with the clay ground still too unstable for emergency workers to walk on and temperatures registering -1 Celsius (30F) at 0600 GMT. The edges of the crater continued to break away, authorities said, asking people not to approach the area. Some 1,000 people have so far been evacuated. “We are still searching for survivors,” the head of the police operation at the site, Roger Pettersen, told reporters, adding that both children and adults were missing. During the night, police used drones with heat-seeking equipment to search for survivors in the debris. Helicopters have tried lowering military and police with search-and-rescue dogs on some structures believed stable enough to stand on. Separately, questions were being asked about why construction was allowed in the area. Broadcaster TV2 said a 2005 geological survey for municipal authorities labeled the area at high risk of landslides. But new homes were built three years after the report was published.
Seawall Loopholes Accelerate the Disappearance of Hawaii’s Beaches - Hawaii’s beaches are owned by the public, and the government is required to preserve them. So years ago, officials adopted a “no tolerance” policy toward new seawalls, which scientists say are the primary cause of coastal erosion.But over the past two decades, oceanfront property owners across the state have used an array of loopholes in state and county laws to get around that policy, armoring their own properties at the expense of the environment and public shoreline access. Government officials have granted more than 230 environmental exemptions to owners of homes, hotels and condos, according to records compiled by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica. Those exemptions have allowed property owners to keep old seawalls in place, build new ones and install mounds of emergency sandbags along the beaches.Officials defend their actions, saying that forcing property owners to comply with anti-armoring laws would cause them too much hardship, particularly along coastlines that already have lots of seawalls.Over time, though, waves hitting the barriers pull the sand away from the shore and carry it out to sea. As a result, the government approvals have fueled beach loss and perpetuated the redevelopment of private properties along treasured and environmentally sensitive coastlines — all at a time when scientists have been warning of the dire need to push development inland. The loss of Hawaii’s beaches threatens the way of life in the islands and imperils the state’s tourist-driven economy. But the environmental damage of coastal armoring is already clear. Endangered species, like monk seals, have lost critical shoreline habitat. Particulate pollution and turbulence caused by waves slamming into seawalls has harmed already-stressed coral reefs and threatens to disrupt the islands’ famous surf breaks. If Hawaii doesn’t step up enforcement of its “no tolerance” policy toward shoreline structures, scientists warn that, by midcentury, the state could be down to just a handful of healthy beaches.
Sea-level rise from climate change could exceed the high-end projections, scientists warn - Of the many threats from climate change, sea-level rise will most certainly be among the most impactful, making hundreds of thousands of square miles of coastline uninhabitable and potentially displacing over 100 million people worldwide by the end of the century. This threat is a top concern for national security experts because forced migration poses significant risks to international security and stability. The magnitude of this threat depends heavily on how much the oceans rise in the coming decades. But because of the complex dynamics of massive ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, exact estimates remain elusive, ranging from just over a foot to several feet above current levels. That disparity is the difference between tens of millions of people forced from their homes or a much more unmanageable hundreds of millions displaced. Now, a new paper published in the past week warns that if global warming continues at the current pace — reaching high-end warming projections for 2100 — then sea-level rise will probably surpass those projections. Since the late 1800s, sea level has risen an average of about 10 inches globally, but the amount varies from region to region. Last century the largest contributor to the rise of the oceans was thermal expansion; simply put, warmer water expands. But now the melting of ice sheets, mainly from Greenland and Antarctica, constitutes a greater proportion, and that fraction will only grow. In fact, there is enough ice locked up in Greenland and Antarctica such that if all the ice melted it would cause a sea-level rise of 210 feet, a little taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. No scientist is expecting anything even close to that this century, but after the Earth surpasses a certain level of warming, ice sheets become less stable and less predictable, with potential tipping points coming into play. In the most recent report from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5), the median sea-level rise projections by the end of the century range from 16 inches for a low-end warming scenario to 2 feet for a high-end scenario (compared to the average sea level from 1986-2005). The estimates also come with a large degree of uncertainty, which pushes the top bound of likely sea-level rise above 2 and a half feet.The new paper, titled "Twenty-first century sea-level rise could exceed IPCC projections for strong-warming futures," takes issue with that upper estimate, saying it is likely too low.
Land ecosystems are becoming less efficient at absorbing CO2 --Land ecosystems currently play a key role in mitigating climate change. The more carbon dioxide (CO2) plants and trees absorb during photosynthesis, the process they use to make food, the less CO2 remains trapped in the atmosphere where it can cause temperatures to rise. But scientists have identified an unsettling trend - as levels of CO2 in the atmosphere increase, 86 percent of land ecosystems globally are becoming progressively less efficient at absorbing it. Because CO2 is a main 'ingredient' that plants need to grow, elevated concentrations of it cause an increase in photosynthesis, and consequently, plant growth - a phenomenon aptly referred to as the CO2 fertilization effect, or CFE. CFE is considered a key factor in the response of vegetation to rising atmospheric CO2 as well as an important mechanism for removing this potent greenhouse gas from our atmosphere - but that may be changing. For a new study published Dec. 10 in Science, researchers analyzed multiple field, satellite-derived and model-based datasets to better understand what effect increasing levels of CO2 may be having on CFE. Their findings have important implications for the role plants can be expected to play in offsetting climate change in the years to come. "In this study, by analyzing the best available long-term data from remote sensing and state-of-the-art land-surface models, we have found that since 1982, the global average CFE has decreased steadily from 21 percent to 12 percent per 100 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere," said Ben Poulter, study co-author and scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "In other words, terrestrial ecosystems are becoming less reliable as a temporary climate change mitigator."
How Russia Wins the Climate Crises --A great transformation is underway in the eastern half of Russia. For centuries the vast majority of the land has been impossible to farm; only the southernmost stretches along the Chinese and Mongolian borders, including around Dimitrovo, have been temperate enough to offer workable soil. But as the climate has begun to warm, the land — and the prospect for cultivating it — has begun to improve. Twenty years ago, Dima says, the spring thaw came in May, but now the ground is bare by April; rainstorms now come stronger and wetter. Across Eastern Russia, wild forests, swamps and grasslands are slowly being transformed into orderly grids of soybeans, corn and wheat. It’s a process that is likely to accelerate: Russia hopes to seize on the warming temperatures and longer growing seasons brought by climate change to refashion itself as one of the planet’s largest producers of food. Around the world, climate change is becoming an epochal crisis, a nightmare of drought, desertification, flooding and unbearable heat, threatening to make vast regions less habitable and drive the greatest migration of refugees in history. But for a few nations, climate change will present an unparalleled opportunity, as the planet’s coldest regions become more temperate. There is plenty of reason to think that those places will also receive an extraordinary influx of people displaced from the hottest parts of the world as the climate warms. And no country may be better positioned to capitalize on climate change than Russia. Russia has the largest land mass by far of any northern nation. It is positioned farther north than all of its South Asian neighbors, which collectively are home to the largest global population fending off displacement from rising seas, drought and an overheating climate. Like Canada, Russia is rich in resources and land, with room to grow. Its crop production is expected to be boosted by warming temperatures over the coming decades even as farm yields in the United States, Europe and India are all forecast to decrease. And whether by accident or cunning strategy or, most likely, some combination of the two, the steps its leaders have steadily taken — planting flags in the Arctic and propping up domestic grain production among them — have increasingly positioned Russia to regain its superpower mantle in a warmer world.
Can Fragile Cities Cope With an Influx of Climate Migrants? -- When the rains never arrived in the East African nation of Somalia in 2016, nor in 2017, hundreds of thousands of rural residents were forced to abandon their lands and livelihoods due to one of the most severe droughts in decades. Then, in 2019, from September to December, heavy rains led to severe flooding there, displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in rural areas and towns in the districts of Belet Weyne, Baardheere and Berdale.These climate migrants traversed barren and dusty landscapes, or traveled through torrential rains, in search of food and shelter. Many ended up in refugee camps in urban areas such as Badbaado, a sea of makeshift tents on the outskirts of Mogadishu that is now home to tens of thousands of internally displaced persons. The challenges they face are profound, says Ben Mbaura, national emergency response and disaster risk reduction coordinator at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), including inter clan conflict, poor sanitation, limited education and insufficient access to food. On top of that, many "do not have the necessary skills to match labor market needs, which also results in high levels of unemployment and exclusion," Mbaura notes. The response to internal displacement like this has long been to provide emergency or short-term assistance. In recent years, however, with so many internally displaced persons living in protracted displacement, humanitarian organizations have increasingly recognized the need to empower them to move toward greater self-reliance. As a result, in 2016 the U.N. and the government of Somalia created the Durable Solutions Initiative (DSI) as a way to introduce long-term solutions for internally displaced persons in Somalia. The DSI gives these people a voice in decision-making processes that shape their future — and offers a model for other cities that are, or soon will be, in similar circumstances. Every year, millions of people around the world are forced to abandon their lands, livelihoods and communities due to the effects of climate change. And the rate of climate-induced migration is increasing — with most taking place in the form of rural-urban migration within countries. According to a recent World Bank report, "internal climate migrants" could number more than 143 million by 2050, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia. If the past is any indication, most will be forced from their homes by extreme weather events. Others will move from rural areas to cities due to slow-onset climate-related events, such as desertification.
Can The US Reduce Its Dependency On Chinese Rare Earths? - Since the days of President Jimmy Carter and the 1970s oil crisis, the United States has relentlessly pursued the utopia of energy independence. But persistent oil crises, severe oil price shocks, and the global shift to clean energy have made it glaringly obvious that Washington will never achieve true energy independence by relying solely on fossil fuels. Indeed, most Americans believe that the government should “...focus on developing alternative sources of energy over expansion of fossil fuel sources” in a bid to alleviate climate change.But as the shift to clean and renewable energy gains serious momentum, the United States is now facing another conundrum: It’s almost completely dependent on China for the minerals it uses to build clean energy systems.China is a rare earth monopoly, supplying 80% of the rare earths elements (REE) used by the United States in the manufacture of solar panels, windmills, electric car batteries, cellphones, computers, national defense systems, medical equipment, and even in oil and gas technologies.That leaves the country in a particularly precarious position, especially with the never-ending trade tensions between the two nations. Indeed, all it took was a simple visit to an obscure factory by Chinese President Xi at the height of the trade war last year to raise the specter of Beijing cutting off supplies of critical materials to the U.S. and potentially crippling large swathes of industries. Further, the U.S. is about to start keenly feeling China’s stranglehold on the industry now that Biden is about to ascend into the Oval Office and possibly implement his ambitious Green Deal. In 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey identified 35 minerals critical to the country’s economy and national security. America is heavily dependent on imports of these minerals, producing less than a tenth of the world’s supplies and importing half what it consumes. It clearly highlights the U.S.’ soft underbelly. But China’s control of REE might not necessarily be ‘‘an ace in Beijing’s hand’’ as the Global Times once claimed. Biden clearly recognizes this challenge and opportunity and has pledged to support the increased exploration of lithium, copper, nickel, and rare earths, among other minerals, to ensure domestic sourcing of minerals critical to solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.
Omnibus Budget Bill Includes Push for NGVs in Public Transit -- Natural gas vehicle (NGV) use would be encouraged under a competitive grant program included in the $2.3 trillion omnibus spending and Covid-19 relief package signed by President Trump on Sunday (Dec. 27). The legislative package includes a directive to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to divert its recent emphasis on electric vehicles (EV) to refocus on low- and no-emission funding to support qualifying technologies such as NGVs. In a low- or no-emissions bus program covered in the latest transportation/housing appropriations, FTA is directed to implement a competitive grant program that encourages a variety of different fuel types, including EVs, NGVs, hydrogen and other alternatives, said Daniel Gage, president of the NGVAmerica trade association. “FTA should consider procurements that reduce an agency’s overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and considers the resources available to do so,” he said. “FTA needs to remember that for some, the transition to zero emissions requires the use of low-emission buses to bridge the funding and technology gaps.” Gage said the change by FTA would help reduce pollution in urban areas and open the door for more use of renewable natural gas in transit bus fleets. In addition to the FTA language, Congress’s spending package also includes regular appropriations for research and development that NGVAmerica has championed the last several years as part of U.S. Department of Energy funding, Gage said. NGVAmerica earlier in December released a report underscoring the advantages of NGV buses in terms of their affordability, effectiveness and reliability among alternative fuel transit options. Mexico Gas Price Index - Learn More The adoption of the new spending package also extended for another year the federal alternative fuel tax credit (AFTC) through 2021. NGVs get 50 cents/gallon, while propane credits are 36 cents/gallon. Fueling equipment is eligible for 30% of the cost, not to exceed $30,000 per property for both natural gas and propane transportation fuels.
Politico purchases E&E News - Politico is acquiring the energy and environment-focused outlet E&E News. In a statement on Tuesday, Politico said that it plans to “keep the well-established E&E News brand and its esteemed journalism in place.” The political news magazine also said it will invest in expanding E&E’s audience and explore how it can enhance Politico’s other products. Politico spokesperson Melissa Cooke said in an email that there will be no layoffs at either publication as a result of the acquisition. E&E News is a subscription-based news outlet whose readers include government agencies and offices, energy companies, environmental groups and think tanks. It has more than 65 reporters and editors based in Washington, D.C., and bureaus across the country. “We are doubling down on our policy coverage by investing in journalism and growing our product offerings in the energy and environmental policy space, which touches all aspects of the economy and government,” said Robert Allbritton, Politico’s publisher and executive chairman, in a statement. Michael Witt, E&E News’s co-founder and publisher, similarly said in the statement that he's “excited to join forces” with the Northern Virginia-based outlet. “I believe the combination of E&E News' trusted, independent and comprehensive journalism, and POLITICO's ambitious reporting, influential audience and innovation, will provide unparalleled and unique coverage of energy and environmental issues that our subscribers and the world need right now," Witt said. Politico has several journalists already on staff who cover energy and environment issues.
California Undaunted by FERC Staff Critique of Rolling Blackouts - California’s grid operator this week brushed off recent FERC staff criticism of its handling of last summer’s heat wave that resulted in state-ordered rolling blackouts throughout the nation’s most populous state last Aug. 14-15. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s staff concluded that the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) overestimated the capacity available from demand response and renewables. Critics in the industry also speculated that it was an indication the state is relying too much on power from intermittent renewable sources.CAISO officials told NGI that a proposed FERC technical conference can help clarify and resolve some of the issues raised since the FERC commissioners, on a 2-1 vote, rejected a proposed order to examine whether CAISO’s rules are “unduly discriminatory or preferential” by favoring green resources over natural gas, hydroelectric and nuclear.“We believe the proposed technical conference can enhance transparency into the actions we need to take to ensure electric grid reliability not only for summer operating conditions but in all hours of the year,” said CAISO spokesperson Anne Gonzales.CAISO’s Department of Market Monitoring filed a report with FERC staff on its activities and pertinent circumstances in play last August. FERC staff indicated that the grid operator calculated wind, solar and demand response resources as greater than were actually available. Gonzales said CAISO “recognizes and appreciates” FERC’s responsibility to ensure the grid operator’s tariff remains just and reasonable, but it also believes that the “resource adequacy program and market processes must ensure reliable grid operations while we work with policymakers to meet the state’s energy goals.”
White supremacists plotted to attack US electric grid by shooting into power stations, FBI says - White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be "operational" on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed. The teen was in a text group with more than a dozen people in the fall of 2019 when he introduced the idea of saving money to buy a ranch where they could participate in militant training, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal along with a search warrant application in Wisconsin's Eastern U.S. District Court in March. The documents were inadvertently unsealed last week before the mistake was discovered and they were quickly sealed again. The teenager wanted the group to be "operational" by the 2024 election because he believed it was likely a Democrat would win, but "the timeline for being operational would accelerate if President Trump lost the 2020 election," according to the affidavit. An informant told investigators that the teen "definitely wanted to be operational for violence, but also activism." The Ohio teen, who was 17 at the time, also shared plans with a smaller group about a plot to create a power outage by shooting rifle rounds into power stations in the southeastern U.S. The teen called the plot "Light's Out" and there were plans to carry it out in the summer of 2021, the affidavit states.One group member, a Texas native who was a Purdue University student at the time, allegedly sent the informant a text saying "leaving the power off would wake people up to the harsh reality of life by wreaking havoc across the nation." The affidavit identifies three people by name and references others who were allegedly communicating with or part of the group. The Associated Press is not naming any of the individuals because charges have not been publicly filed. None of the three men immediately replied to emails, texts or voicemails left Tuesday seeking comment. The father of one of the men had no comment.
Lethal Levels of Radiation Found in Damaged Fukushima Reactor, Impacting its Shutdown -- In what Japanese regulators on Wednesday called an "extremely serious" development, lethal levels of radiation have been recorded inside the damaged reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, threatening the shutdown and decommissioning of the site of the second-worst peacetime nuclear disaster in history.According to The Asahi Shimbun, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) reported that massive amounts of radioactive materials have been found around shield plugs of the containment vessels in the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors. NRA officials estimated radiation levels at 10 sieverts per hour—enough to kill a worker who spends just one hour there.Decommission of the reactor requires workers to remove the shield plugs, which block radiation from the reactor core during normal plant operation. This discovery has forced officials to reconsider their shutdown plans. NRA chair Toyoshi Fuketa said that removing the highly irradiated shield plugs made safe retrieval of nuclear fuel debris—an already dangerously daunting task—all the more difficult. "It appears that nuclear debris lies at an elevated place," Fuketa said at a news conference earlier this month. "This will have a huge impact on the whole process of decommissioning work." The latest alarming find is the result of an investigation that resumed in September after a five-year pause in which the NRA took new measurements of radiation levels around the shield plugs at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, announced December 24 that nuclear fuel debris removal would be postponed until 2022 or later due to the coronavirus pandemic. As Common Dreams reported in October, Greenpeace and other environmental and anti-nuclear advocates expressed shock and outrage after the Japanese government announced a plan to release stored water from the ill-fated plant into the Pacific Ocean. Greenpeace subsequently released a report claiming that radioactive carbon-14 released into the ocean "has the potential to damage human DNA." The Fukushima Daiichi disaster—the result of a 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people in northeastern Japan—was the worst nuclear incident since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union, and the worst in Japan since the United States waged a nuclear war against the country in 1945 that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Pennsylvania natural gas industry ends 2020 with fewer rigs drilling in Marcellus - Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry ends the year with a rig count not only around the lowest of 2020 but also well below where it started the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, oil price wars and overall economic turmoil turned everything upside down. There were an average of 18 rigs working in Pennsylvania in the middle of December, according to data from energy analysis firm Baker Hughes. That’s down from 25 at the same time last year before the pandemic and recession but smack dab in the middle of a glut in the natural gas industry that led to more production than the market needed and sustained low prices in the bargain. Pennsylvania is the country’s second-largest state for natural gas production, behind only Texas, as well as being the center of the Marcellus and Utica Shale boom of the past decade and a half. But production has been taking a hit over the past year as natural gas companies like EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT) and CNX Resources Corp. (NYSE: CNX), among others, shut off the spigot at some of its gas wells temporarily as prices lagged. The strategy allows the drillers to produce less natural gas when the prices are low — and they were down to near historic lows in 2020 — and then turn it back on when they can get more in a higher price environment. Current production is only one part of the story. Natural gas wells are most productive in the first year or so after they become operational and older wells bring out less gas over time. A natural gas company must keep drilling new wells to maintain or increase production to take into account the older wells. For much of the past decade, that’s meant more wells being drilled and higher production year over year. But 2020 is already destined to have less production in the Appalachian basin, and most of the publicly traded drillers have made clear that they aren’t planning to do any more drilling in 2021 than is required to keep the same production as 2020. Jen Snyder, director at energy analysis firm Enverus, said that the discipline on holding the line in production is due to investors handing “religion and a prayer book” to drillers. That’s showing up in the rig counts. After starting the year at 25, it fell to 22 in May in the heat of the early pandemic and then dropped to 18 in September where it mostly stayed for the rest of the year even though the market signaled that prices could go over the $3 per million British Thermal Units that the drillers say they need to be stable. The rig count was only above 18 once, in November, since the late summer. And that was only two rigs drilling in Pennsylvania for a short time.
University of Pittsburgh receives contract to study health effects of fracking -- The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health will receive a $2.5 million contract from the state of Pennsylvania to study the health effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. In recent years, dozens of cases of Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and other childhood and young adult cancers have been identified in Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties, where shale gas sites are operating. The state Department of Health last year declined to designate Washington County, where six Ewing sarcoma cases had occurred in the Canon-McMillan School District area, as a cancer cluster. Residents were dissatisfied with those results, which only included three of the six cases in the investigation. In March of 2020, the Department of Health published a four-county report on the number childhood cancer cases. “We have heard the concerns from families and community members impacted by cancer and other health issues in the southwestern part of the state, and we are dedicated to taking the proper steps to keep our residents healthy,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. Pitt Public Health will be conducting two observational epidemiological studies focusing on known or suspected health effects of hydraulic fracturing. One study will be led by Dr. Evelyn Talbott, professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health and director of the Environmental Epidemiology section, who has over 35 years of experience conducting cancer and other health effects studies in Southwestern Pennsylvania and abroad. She will investigate the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and the development of childhood cancers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. “I grew up in Washington County, and one of my first epidemiology investigations at Pitt involved a health study of thyroid cancer among those living near a uranium mill tailings site,” Talbott said. “So this investigation holds both personal and professional significance to me. I am committed to community inclusion and openness as we go forward in our endeavor to learn the facts.” The other study, led by the director of Pitt Public Health’s Center for Occupational Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Research Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Dr. Jeanine Buchanich, will aim to replicate earlier studies on acute conditions, such as asthma and birth outcomes, using data from Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Celebs Protest Fed Approval of Liquid Natural Gas Facility Near Philly - A liquid natural gas facility near Philadelphia got the go-ahead from a federal agency, resulting in a big thumbs-down from some very famous environmental activists.The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) recently approved a construction permit for the Gibbstown Logistics Center in Gloucester County, NJ, which will be capable of handling exports of liquified natural gas. The project from New Fortress Energy involves transporting the gas from the Marcellus Shale across Pennsylvania to the terminal using 100-car trains that activists have called “bomb trains.”Pennsylvania State Sen. Katie Muth, who represents Philadelphia’s suburbs, likened the trains to “the energy of the Hiroshima bomb” in a tweet opposing the project.A flurry of statements from environmental groups came out after Wednesday’s ruling, including one from actor Mark Ruffalo who recently starred in a movie about contaminated water in West Virginia calling the commission’s decision “shameful.” Ruffalo and fellow actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio were among the signatories on a letter to Govs. Phil Murphy (D-NJ), Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), John Carney (D-DE), and Tom Wolf (D-PA) opposing the terminal. The governors serve as ex-officio members of the Commission and appoint alternates to represent them.The letter argued that the project violates the “strict water quality laws and regulations for toxic” chemicals, and the commission should hold off on voting until President-elect Joe Biden takes offices. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is also represented on the Commission, previously approved the project as has the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.Ruffalo issued a statement calling the decision “shameful” and put the governors on notice. “We will not stand by and let our leaders deceive us in this way,” he said. “We will hold them accountable. And we will replace them.”
Gas-fired Electricity Advances Across Most U.S. Regions Over Past 5 Years, EIA Says -Natural gas-fired electricity generation jumped across all but one U.S. region over the past five years, and the trend continued through November 2020, according to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Power Plant Operations Report. U.S. natural gas power plants boosted electricity generation by 31% in the Northeast, by 20% in the Central region, and by 17% in the South between 2015 and 2019, EIA said.Gas-fired electricity over the same period in the West declined 1%, dragged lower by a 29% drop in California, where solar-generated power is on the rise. The decline in California more than offset growth in the Northwest and Southwest subregions, according to the agency.Even in California, however, natural gas continues to play an important role. Output from gas-fired power plants in the state is often in high demand in the late afternoon and early evening “because solar power tends to peak and then plateau around midday, rapidly declining by the evening as the sun sets,” according to EIA.“As solar output declines, natural gas-fired generators often have to ramp up, or increase their output, considerably,” researchers said.Through November 2020, the Central, South, and Northeast regions each maintained levels of electricity from natural gas power plants on par with the level of the prior five-year period. The West was up modestly.Increased gas-fired generation reflects a boost in capacity, EIA said. Between 2015 and 2019, nearly 35 GW of net summer capacity entered service, an 11% increase during that period. Most of this new capacity was added in the Northeast region, the agency said.The largest increases in gas-fired generation were in the Northeast and Central regions, near the Appalachian natural gas production region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Affordable prices “made it more economical to generate electricity using natural gas instead of coal,” EIA said. “This trend has been most pronounced in regions with competition between coal and natural gas generators,” particularly in the Midcontinent area in the Central region and the PJM Interconnection in the Northeast. “When natural gas and coal are similarly priced on a cost-per-energy-content basis, most natural gas-fired generators can produce electricity more efficiently than coal-fired generators, providing an economic advantage in electricity markets,” EIA said.
Christmas Eve Decline Sets Stage for Natural Gas Futures' Post-Holiday Crash - Natural gas traders on Thursday couldn’t be convinced to go long despite the extended Christmas holiday weekend, especially with the weather data turning milder with every run of the latest models. The January Nymex gas futures contract settled Christmas Eve at $2.518, down 9.0 cents. February slipped 7.6 cents to $2.512. Spot gas prices, which were for gas delivered through Monday, were mostly lower amid the mostly light holiday weekend demand outlook. However, a chilly, wet forecast in the Northeast sparked big gains there. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. ultimately climbed 9.0 cents to $2.780.. On Thursday, the few traders that hadn’t quite punched the clock were still digesting the latest storage inventory report. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that inventories fell 152 Bcf for the week ending Dec. 18, a pull that came in well short of the near 160 Bcf draw that the market had been expecting.Mobius Risk Group said the published withdrawal of 152 Bcf shows how fragile a market with a short-term memory and a long net speculative position can be. The inventory reduction was 5 Bcf more than the same week last year despite warmer temperatures, and importantly, South Central inventory posted the largest surplus reduction of all EIA regions.“This mattered little to a market which had begun to consider the possibility of a 160-170 Bcf-like withdrawal in the days leading up to the number,” Mobius said.Pausing for a moment and considering what the latest EIA figure implies for the remainder of withdrawal season is an important sanity check, according to Mobius. It’s also a valuable exercise for the producing and consuming community, the firm said.For producers, the fear that a price response like Wednesday’s can generate “feels like being locked outside on a snowy winter day with no shoes, no coat and no one home to unlock the door.” Consumers, on the other hand, may feel “cozily settled in front of the fire with little concern of what’s happening outside, and the perception that cheap fuel is as reliable as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West,” according to Mobius.
Natgas Plunges 10% On "Extremely Bearish" Warmer January Forecast -- Natural gas futures are down more than 10% on Monday morning following new weather models that suggest warmer weather is ahead. Meteorologists at BAMWX show one model that suggests temperature anomalies for much of the country could be well above average for early January. For the next two weeks, heating degree days for US-Lower 48 will be below trend, suggesting warmer temperatures and a decline in energy use to heat homes. "I suspect, however, the forecast for January came out extremely bearish over the weekend, triggering the gap opening, but we'll learn more about that on Monday. The big takeaway this week is likely to be that next week's government report is going to show an average draw. Remember that professionals look at least two weeks ahead," said FX Empire.
Natural Gas Futures Pummeled by Increasingly Warmer Weather Outlooks; Cash Sinks Too - Natural gas futures tumbled more than 20 cents lower in post-Christmas trading as weather data “failed miserably” over the weekend, shedding a hefty amount of demand from the 15-day outlook. With any opportunity for truly cold weather not expected before the middle of next month, the January Nymex gas futures contract settled Monday at $2.305/MMBtu, down 21.3 cents from last Thursday’s close. February plunged 18.6 cents to $2.326. Spot gas prices also tumbled, with widespread losses of 30.0 cents or more seen across the United States. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 24.5 cents to $2.535. With the European weather data erasing more than 25 heating degree days from the long-range outlook, and the American model also backing off the projected demand in the early part of January, natural gas traders wasted no time in taking a hatchet to prices. The January Nymex contract opened Monday’s session at $2.311 and traded in a roughly 10.0-cent range before ultimately settling very close to where it started. After trending milder with several consecutive runs right before the Christmas holiday, the weekend weather data trended further milder, according to NatGasWeather. The Global Forecast System (GFS) lost 12 heating degree days (HDD), while the European model lost a heftier 25-plus HDDs. The midday GFS failed to add any “meaningful” demand, the forecaster said, with modest bouts of cooling into the United States over the next week but without widespread frigid cold. “What makes the coming pattern strongly bearish is the eight- to 15-day period favors mild conditions over most of the U.S. with continued only minor bouts of subfreezing temperatures into the northern U.S.,” NatGasWeather said. The firm expects the period is now “too bearish” and will likely add demand in time, “although it would need to be a hefty amount” in order to flip bearish weather sentiment to bullish, which isn’t expected. “We continue to look to Jan. 10-13 as the next best opportunity for more impressive/widespread cold.” Bespoke Weather Services said until the warmer momentum halts, it is difficult to say where a price bottom may be. There is still a healthy block expected to form by the middle third of January, aided by a strong warming in the polar stratosphere, according to the forecaster. However, the Pacific flow needs to slow down for this to send temperatures materially colder. “That is something that may happen in the back half of the month, enough to at least bring back some variability, but confidence is lower after seeing such a huge model bust over the last several days,” Bespoke said. The firm doesn’t see much risk/reward in being bearish, though it advised caution until the market clears the January contract’s expiration on Tuesday, as well as the holiday period, so that it can see how balances shape up once clear of any holiday impact. “It is worth noting that both Europe and Asia are seeing cold,” which should keep high liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes in play for the foreseeable future, Bespoke said. “This low price environment should give power burns a boost as well into the new year.”
January Natural Gas Bounces Sharply Upon Expiration; Cool Blast Boosts Cash - On a day of heightened volatility, the January Nymex natural gas futures contract rebounded sharply ahead of expiration as robust liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand took center stage. Though a full recovery from Monday’s steep sell-off proved difficult, the January contract expired a whopping 16.2 cents higher at $2.467. The February contract, which takes over the prompt position on Wednesday, jumped 11.8 cents to $2.444. Spot gas prices were mixed, but several locations across the country posted double-digit gains. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. ultimately slipped 1.0 cent to $2.525. Whether Tuesday’s swift turnaround in the futures market is warranted is up for debate. That’s primarily because nothing much has changed on the weather front. The latest weather models still don’t show potential for sustained widespread cold until Jan. 12 at the earliest, according to NatGasWeather. The firm said the midday Global Forecast System model held a warmer-than-normal pattern for the coming 15 days, with only the western United States to see weather systems considered cold enough to induce stronger demand. Even then, any boost in demand would be marginal. “We continue to look to Jan. 12-15 as the next best opportunity for more impressive cold shots to arrive into the U.S., and it will need to if weather patterns are to finally take advantage of a tighter year over year supply/demand balance,” NatGasWeather said. The forecaster said Tuesday’s gains are likely because of other reasons, including the January contract’s expiration. “Or, it could simply be a technically oversold bounce after prices plummeted more than 30 cents in less than 24 hours of trading.” The ill-timed span of warm weather is set to occur as the clock ticks away on the remaining storage withdrawal season. When taking into account actual weather over the Christmas holiday, forecasted weather changes through Jan. 7, and newly instituted forecasts for Jan. 8-11, Mobius Risk Group said the change in the cumulative population-weighted heating degree days equates to the loss of roughly 175 Bcf of demand.
February Natural Gas Dips on Continued Bearish Weather Outlook, Slip in LNG Demand -- A decline in liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand aided a small pullback in natural gas futures on Wednesday. With weather models stabilizing around a warm outlook for the first half of January, the new prompt February Nymex contract settled at $2.422/MMBtu, down 2.2 cents from Tuesday’s close. March slipped 1.7 cents to $2.422. Spot gas prices were mixed, but big losses on the East and West coasts left NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. unchanged at $2.525.After some major price fluctuations during the first two trading sessions of the short holiday week, Wednesday’s more muted action along the Nymex futures curve offered traders a chance to digest the whirlwind swings. “As the market limps towards 2021, there are numerous questions in the air regarding the price path in the New Year and the fundamental factors that will be at play,” said Mobius Risk Group. With weather models offering little new insight into the January pattern, Thursday’s government storage report may be the next big price mover for the February contract.The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release its weekly inventory report at 10:30 a.m. ET Thursday. Analysts are expecting another larger-than-normal draw, with major surveys ahead of the report clustering around a pull in the mid-120s Bcf. Last week, EIA reported a 152 Bcf draw that lowered stocks to 3,574 Bcf, which is 278 Bcf above year-ago levels and 218 Bcf above the five-year average.
2020 Ends With Fireworks for Natural Gas Futures as Chillier Weather Models Trump EIA Data - Natural Gas Intelligence - Natural gas futures closed the book on 2020 with a bang after weather models flipped colder for the next couple of weeks and production dipped back below 90 Bcf/d. The February Nymex futures contract settled Thursday at $2.539, up 11.7 cents day/day. March climbed 10.4 cents to $2.526. Spot gas, which traded Thursday for delivery through Monday, was mostly lower on a lack of widespread cold in the near term. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 8.5 cents to $2.440. New Year’s Eve action in the futures market started off on solid footing, with the February Nymex contract opening about a penny higher and climbing about 6.0 cents or so early in the session, ahead of Thursday’s government storage inventory report. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) report proved to be another disappointment, though, coming in with another lower-than-expected withdrawal. The EIA said inventories fell 114 Bcf for the week ending Dec. 25, about 10 Bcf below what the market had expected. Ahead of the report, major surveys clustered around a pull in the mid-120s Bcf, though estimates ranged widely from as low as 85 Bcf to as large as 150 Bcf. NGI had pegged the draw at 124 Bcf. Participants on The Desk’s online energy chat Enelyst attributed the big miss to several factors, including the Christmas holiday, the heavy wind penetration across the country during the reference week and Covid-19’s ongoing impacts on consumption. EIA recorded an 87 Bcf draw for the similar week last year, and the five-year average is a 102 Bcf draw. The EIA withdrawal included a 42 Bcf decline in Midwest inventories and a 34 Bcf decrease in East stocks, according to EIA. In the South Central, 21 Bcf was pulled from nonsalt facilities and 3 Bcf was drawn from salts. Total working gas in storage fell to 3,460 Bcf, which is still 251 Bcf above year-ago levels and 206 Bcf above the five-year average. Despite the hugely bearish EIA report, Nymex futures remained well in the green after the data was released. The February contract’s $2.429 intraday low was still a modest improvement from Wednesday’s settlement, and prices continued to gather momentum with each run of the American and European weather models. The latest European Centre (EC) model run, which already was quite a bit colder than the American Global Forecast System (GFS) model, added even more demand to the 15-day outlook. Specifically, it favors stronger weather systems with colder temperatures into the western United States, Southern Plains, Texas and the South during the Jan. 9-15 period.
US natural gas futures post best year since 2016 - US natural gas futures rose on Thursday, recording their best year since 2016, as forecasts for slightly colder weather and record liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports overshadowed a smaller-than-expected storage draw last week. Front-month natural gas futures for February delivery gained 11.7 cents, or 4.8%, to settle at $2.539 per million British thermal units. For the year, the contract is up 15.5%, its biggest yearly percentage rise since 2016. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities pulled 114 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas from storage during the week ended Dec. 25. That was less than the 125-bcf decline analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with a decrease of 87 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year (2015-19) average withdrawal of 102 bcf. "While demand is not expected to change much over the next few days, lower supply and the potential for a colder second half of January is giving the market a lift (today)," said Robert DiDona of Energy Ventures Analysis. Data provider Refinitiv estimated 381 heating degree days (HDDs) over the next two weeks in the Lower 48 US states, up from Tuesday's forecast of 371 HDDs. The normal is 461 HDDs for this time of year. HDDs measure the number of degrees a day's average temperature is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius). The measure is used to estimate demand to heat homes and businesses. "Couple that insight with today being the last trading day of 2020 and we are seeing increased volatility early in the session," DiDona added. However, Refinitiv projected average demand, including exports, would slip from 123.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this week to 117.8 bcfd next week. The amount of gas flowing to US LNG export plants, meanwhile, has averaged 10.7 bcfd in December, which would top November's 9.8 bcfd record as rising prices in Europe and Asia in recent months have prompted global buyers to buy more US gas. Output in the Lower 48 has averaged 91.1 billion bcfd in December. That compares with a seven-month high of 91.1 bcfd in November 2020 and an all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019./p>
LNG Market Readies for Swift Recovery-- Liquefied natural gas traders anticipate a swift demand recovery in 2021 after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic prompted dramatic price swings. Colder weather in key importing nations, outages at major production hubs and congestion along global shipping routes already have combined to push spot prices in Asia to the highest level since 2014. That’s a more than sixfold jump from a record low in April, making Asian LNG the best performer among major commodities in 2020. Demand for the fuel used in heating and power generation is growing faster than for any other fossil fuel as nations look for a cheap, reliable and cleaner alternative to coal. The pandemic derailed that growth for 2020, but China and India are emerging as major sources of demand. “A lot of countries are looking to import LNG,” “I still think we are going to see growth in the LNG market.” Below are the key areas likely to shape the market in 2021: Global LNG imports in 2020 were roughly equal to the previous year, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That was a big disappointment for an industry that has enjoyed 10% annual growth rate since 2016. However, global gas demand is expected to resume growth next year. LNG demand, which makes up roughly 10% of the total, may rebound even faster, depending on how Pakistan, India and Bangladesh perform, Shipments of the fuel into Asia have mostly recovered since the height of the pandemic, and the region’s LNG demand will rebound sharply next year, according to S&P Global Platts. On the last day of 2020, spot Asian LNG price - the Japan-Korea Marker benchmark - rallied above $15 per million British thermal units for the first time since April 2014. “It has been interesting to see how quickly Asian demand seems to have ramped up,” The picture in Europe is very different as countries grapple with a new surge of infections and lockdowns that sap energy demand. The continent is headed for a “very neutral recovery” in 2021, according to Satapathy. Europe mainly relies on storage and pipeline gas shipments, which may be boosted with flows from a new link from Azerbaijan and the controversial Nord Stream 2 project that’s nearing completion. Unplanned maintenance at LNG export facilities from Australia to Qatar to Malaysia has led to a tighter than expected market in the second half of the year. And delays in navigating the Panama Canal curbed supplies to Asia. If these disruptions persist well into the year, then prices could remain elevated well above current levels.
How The Fracking Revolution Is Killing the U.S. Oil and Gas Industry -After over a decade of the much-hyped U.S. fracking miracle, the U.S. oil and gas industry is having to deal with years of losses and falling asset values which has dealt the industry a serious financial blow. This is despite the fracking revolution delivering record oil and gas production for the past decade, peaking in 2019. While the pandemic has hurt the industry, companies have also benefited from excessive bailoutsfrom pandemic relief programs but these bailouts are a stop gap financial band-aid for the struggling industry.The oil and gas industry has always required huge amounts of money to explore for and produce oil and gas but up until now the industry made returns on those investmentsThe industry made a huge bet on fracking shale deposits to unleash the oil and gas reserves in that shale. It worked from a production standpoint; the industry produced record amounts of oil and gas. The difference is that, unlike traditional oil and gas production, the cost to produce fracked oil and gas was more than what the market was willing to pay for it.As a result, the U.S. fracking industry has lost over $300 billion. Fracking was supposed to be the future of the U.S. oil and gas industry — instead it has dealt the industry a major financial blow which has likely sped up the energy transition away from oil and gas towards a lower carbon future.In April 2018, while many were predicting a bright financial future for the U.S.fracking industry, DeSmog started a series on the finances of the fracking industry with the article, The Secret of the Great American Fracking Bubble. This article highlighted the huge losses by the U.S. fracking industry, which were around a quarter trillion dollars at the time.More than two years later the Washington Post ran an article on “Shale’s Bust” and updated the losses to-date to be $300 billion — noting that while the pandemic made things worse, “the sector’s weaknesses extend back many years.”In late 2019, before the pandemic hit, Chevron wrote off $11 billion, the majority of which was related to gas fracking assets.This trend continued in the industry in 2020 with historic write-downs of the industry’s remaining fracking assets, and in June, accounting firm Deloitte estimated the industry could soon write off $300 billion more. This is what the fracking revolution has done to the U.S. oil and gas industry: financial devastation.
Texas fracking billionaires drew Covid-19 aid while investing in rivals -As the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices walloped US frackers this spring, Texas billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks got a $35 million relief loan to help one of their fracking companies stay afloat. At the same time, they were on a buying spree in the country’s oil patch.Since spring, businesses controlled by the Wilks brothers have hunted for deals among fracking firms going through bankruptcy and taken or increased stakes in at least six other companies, corporate filings show. But when it looked like the oil-and-gas industry would be shut out of a key pandemic lending program, they and others in the industry turned their attention to Washington, making an appeal for help in meetings with home-state senator Ted Cruz.The twin dynamics of acquisitions and government rescue show how the economic tumult caused by the pandemic has reshaped the landscape for a key US industry. But the industry was already under pressure from international competition and a sagging oil price by the time the pandemic hit, and its mounting woes prompted the Wilkses and others to turn to allies in Washington, including Mr. Cruz. The Republican senator helped convince the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve to change the rules for pandemic loans to ensure oil and gas firms could participate.Soon after the US government changed the rules of its lending program in April, a Wilks family company, ProFrac Holdings LLC, applied for and received a $35 million loan, federal records show. ProFrac, a supplier of pumping equipment and services, is just one slice of the sprawling portfolio of fracking businesses that the Wilks family owns in part or outright across the American West and Canada.The Wilks brothers are longtime financial backers of Mr. Cruz. The brothers donated $15 million to a super PAC called Keeping the Promise that championed Mr. Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, making them the largest financial backers of his political career. BailoutWatch, a nonprofit group that tracks pandemic aid to industry, said Mr. Cruz’s efforts to get relief for the oil-and-gas industry amount to a reward for a campaign contributor.“ProFrac’s loan is blatant misappropriation of taxpayer dollars," said Chris Kuveke, an analyst for the organization, which has received funding from Climate Nexus, a group that advocates for clean energy. He said Mr. Cruz’s biggest political benefactors ended up receiving one of the relief program’s largest loans to the fossil-fuel industry. “It’s hard not to connect the dots."
Ted Cruz helped Texas fracking billionaires reap millions in COVID-19 aid relief: report - According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lent a helping hand to two Texas fracking billionaires by asking for changes to rules that would allow them to acquire a $35 million COVID-19 relief loan aimed at helping struggling businesses stay afloat. The report notes that Texas billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks were on a buying spree as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country -- buying up bankrupt competitors and investing in others -- only to find they were prohibited from taking advantage of the government-backed loan program as one of their many companies struggled. According to the Journal, they then reached out to Cruz for help. "Since spring, businesses controlled by the Wilks brothers have hunted for deals among fracking firms going through bankruptcy and taken or increased stakes in at least six other companies, corporate filings show,": the Journal's Ted Mann and Brody Mullins reported before adding, "But the industry was already under pressure from international competition and a sagging oil price by the time the pandemic hit, and its mounting woes prompted the Wilkses and others to turn to allies in Washington, including Mr. Cruz. The Republican senator helped convince the Trump administration and the Federal Reserve to change the rules for pandemic loans to ensure oil and gas firms could participate." The report goes on to note that the changes Cruz asked for quickly allowed the wealthy Texas oilmen to cash in. "Soon after the U.S. government changed the rules of its lending program in April, a Wilks family company, ProFrac Holdings LLC, applied for and received a $35 million loan, federal records show," the report notes before adding, "The Wilks brothers are longtime financial backers of Mr. Cruz. The brothers donated $15 million to a super PAC called Keeping the Promise that championed Mr. Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, making them the largest financial backers of his political career."
Texas Deepwater Oil Terminal Achieves VLCC Milestone --Buckeye Partners reported Wednesday that crude oil export operations have begun at the second deepwater dock at its South Texas Gateway (STG) Terminal, which sits at the mouth of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.The company pointed out in a written statement emailed to Rigzone that the new dock enables the Ingleside, Texas, facility to accommodate the berthing and loading of two vessels simultaneously. Moreover, it stated that STG has loaded its first very large crude carrier (VLCC) tanker with crude oil for export. “ “STG’s new terminal, alongside our nearby Buckeye Texas Partners facility, will be instrumental in providing our customers with cutting-edge logistics solutions and in reinforcing the role of the Port of Corpus Christi as a top export location for U.S. energy producers.”With the exception of final construction of storage facilities that will conclude during the first quarter of 2021, STG’s marine facilities are now fully operational and can safely and efficiency load up to VLCC-sized vessels, Buckeye stated. Upon completion, STG will boast 8.6 million barrels of petroleum products storage capacity – expandable to 10 million barrels – and throughput capacity of up to 800,000 barrels per day via its two deepwater docks, the company added. “The completion of the second dock and loading of its first VLCC cargo at the STG Terminal are significant milestones for Buckeye and the Port of Corpus Christi,” commented Sean Strawbridge, the port’s CEO. “As Texas moves into the next phase of economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, partnerships like those between the Port of Corpus Christi and its customers such as STG are critical to the continuance of American leadership in the global energy marketplace.” Buckeye Partners owns a 50-percent stake in STG and operates the joint venture. Its co-venturers, each of which holds a 25-percent interest, include Phillips 66 Partners and Marathon Petroleum Corp.
Vandalism string leaves thousands in Colorado without heat, hot water - A natural gas company is working to restore service to thousands of customers in Colorado following vandalism that damaged lines and forced gas to be shut off, leaving residents without heat and hot water. According to a statement Monday from Black Hills Energy's vice president of operations, Vance Crocker, crews were working to bring more than 3,500 gas meters in Aspen back online, a process that “requires several steps."“We must first make sure all gas meters are off, then purge the system so it’s ready for the reintroduction of the natural gas supply,” Crocker added. “Finally, our technicians will go door-to-door and relight each customer’s gas appliances.”According to NBC’s Denver affiliate KUSA, Crocker said during a community meeting Monday that the process of restoring gas lines was expected to go into Tuesday, with 150 technicians deployed to work on the issue and 4,000 heaters being distributed during repairs. The Aspen Times reported that gas lines across the city were found damaged, with the name of environmental advocacy organization Earth First! written on one pipe at one of three Black Hills Energy sites vandalized.It was not clear as of Monday whether the organization’s members were directly involved in the damages, according to the Aspen newspaper. “They would have had to have some familiarity with the system” to carry out the sabotage, Bill Linn, Aspen assistant police chief, said Monday. “They tampered with flow lines. They turned off gas lines,” he continued. Linn added that police have not received any communication from Earth First! in response to the damages. In Monday’s community meeting,Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor said that a multijurisdictional investigation was being carried out to determine who was behind the vandalism and how they were able to carry it out. Linn said Monday that the FBI was assisting local detectives in the investigation, as well as state law enforcement officials, according to the Times. Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper, who was without heat Monday at her Smuggler Mountain-area home, called the vandalism "an act of terrorism." “It’s trying to destroy a mountain community at the height of the holiday season,” Clapper continued, the Times reported. “This wasn’t a national gas glitch. This was a purposeful act.”
Colorado Officials to Ramp Up Ozone Controls on Natural Gas, Oil Industry - Colorado officials have agreed to enact more stringent regulations on ozone emissions from sectors including oil and natural gas at the instruction of Gov. Jared Polis. The commitment follows a review of air quality data from 2018-2020 which showed that despite a downward trend in ozone concentrations, the Denver Metropolitan/North Front Range (DMNFR) area remains a trouble spot for ground-level ozone, the main component of smog. The area is likely to receive a status downgrade under the ground-level ozone standards outlined in the Clean Air Act (CAA), Polis said in a Dec. 15 letter to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC). The DMNFR area currently is in serious nonattainment status for the 75 parts per billion (ppb) standard, with an attainment date scheduled by July 2021. Based on the review, “it is apparent that the DMNFR area will not meet the standard in time for the attainment date, even excluding the days of high pollution from wildfires in Colorado in 2020,” said Polis. “As a result, state agencies and stakeholders should plan for the downgrade of the DMNFR nonattainment area to a severe status following the attainment deadline…” Polis said Colorado will not seek a waiver for the downgrade, despite an option in the CAA to show that ozone exceedances are caused by international emissions. Economic impacts of the downgrade will include “a requirement for federal reformulated gasoline in the nonattainment area during the summer months,” Polis said. “The state is concerned about the potential costs, as well as the limited environmental benefits of this requirement.” As a result, Polis said he has asked the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment (DPHE), the Energy Office and the Department of Transportation “to explore other options both for more effective and cost-effective means of reducing emissions.”
U.S. Upstream Partnership Unveils New Natural Gas Flaring Program Focused on Reduction, Best Practices - The U.S. oil and gas industry faced a unique set of challenges this year but it did not deter the Environmental Partnership from making strides to reduce natural gas flaring in upstream operations. The 80-plus members, which together represent more than 70% of total oil and gas production in the Lower 48, launched its latest performance program to expand on their core mission to reduce gas flaring. The group, which recently added midstream operators, encourages companies of all sizes to join. Members share information on best practices, advance technologies and foster collaboration to reduce emissions and collect data to help minimize flaring. “Despite the challenges this year, the Environmental Partnership continues to grow and advance innovative solutions for a cleaner future,” Director Matthew Todd said. “This commitment to reduce flaring builds on the industry’s progress in reducing methane emissions and is the latest example of how companies are constantly innovating to improve environmental performance while delivering affordable, reliable energy around the world.” As part of the new program announced earlier this month, members plan to advance best practices, promote the beneficial use of associated gas and improve flare reliability and efficiency when it occurs. Flaring typically is used by producers when there is a lack of gas gathering lines or processing capacity, as well as during maintenance activities. It sometimes is used for unplanned events as a safety measure to alleviate pressure. In these instances, flaring is considered the safer environmental option. Rather than venting the gas into the air, flaring burns the gas, which releases fewer emissions than venting.To gauge progress each year, participants of the partnership’s Flare Management Program have committed to report data to calculate flare intensity, a measurement of volumes relative to production. The program would analyze and aggregate the data for an annual report and use the insights from the participant’s combined actions and reporting to identify opportunities to further reduce flaring.
FERC Clears Kenai LNG Terminal in Alaska for Imports - FERC has approved a Marathon Petroleum Corp. subsidiary’s request to convert the Kenai liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Alaska to import operations. Trans-Foreland Pipeline Co. LLC filed an application to import natural gas earlier this year at the terminal in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula. The facility began operating in 1969 and for more than 40 years was the only LNG export terminal in North America. Kenai has a liquefaction capacity of 200 MMcf/d, but the plant hasn’t exported LNG since 2015. It’s been idled since Marathon acquired it from ConocoPhillips in 2018. Trans-Foreland wants to construct new facilities, return two 35,000 cubic meter storage tanks and other equipment to service to import up to four vessel loads of LNG annually. The company plans to apply for import approval with the U.S. Department of Energy a month before the conversion project enters service. The import terminal would have the capacity to take in 1.825 MMBtu of natural gas each year for delivery to Marathon’s Kenai Refinery on the Cook Inlet, 60 miles southwest of Anchorage, AK. The refinery processes mainly Alaska domestic crude to manufacture gasoline, distillates, heavy fuel oil, asphalt and propane. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found the conversion project is in the public’s interest and would not significantly impact the environment. The project must be constructed and put into service within two years, according to FERC’s order authorizing the project. Commissioner Richard Glick dissented from the order as he has repeatedly since joining FERC in 2017, saying the Commission “is again refusing to consider the consequences its actions have for climate change.”
U.S. crude output drops in October as demand falls further (Reuters) -U.S. crude oil production was down more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in October from earlier this year, as weak prices and tepid demand due to the coronavirus pandemic weighed on output, a government report showed on Thursday. The report suggested that crude demand in the world’s largest economy remained below the highs of earlier this year, and production was largely flat since cuts began in the spring. Total U.S. oil demand in October was down by 2.15 million bpd, or more than 10% below the same month a year earlier. The decline was sharper than the 9.5% seen in September. Output has fallen from a record-high monthly average of 12.86 million bpd in November, 2019. Production dropped sharply in May as low demand and prices forced widespread drilling cuts. Oil output dropped by 442,000 barrels per day to 10.42 million bpd in October, the latest month for which data was available. The losses were led by declines in the offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to the Energy Information Administration report. Storms that month caused offshore production shut-ins, contributing to the losses. Still, even without the Gulf declines, production remained below pre-pandemic levels. Top onshore producers Texas and North Dakota reported modest gains in the month as some producers brought into production wells that had been shut, as prices improved. Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas production for October was 99,568 million cubic feet a day, down from 100,221 in September.
Baker Hughes Posts Gain in US Rig Count -The total number of rotary drilling rigs operating in the United States increased by three this week to hit 351, Baker Hughes Co. (NYSE: BKR) reported Wednesday. The service company’s latest U.S. rig count reflects a three-unit gain in oil rigs (to 267) and no change in gas rigs, which stood at 83 again this week. Also, the miscellaneous rig figure held steady at one unit. Against the year-ago figure of 796, the latest total U.S. rig count is down 445 drilling units, Baker Hughes continued. It pointed out that oil rigs are down 403, gas rigs are down 40 and miscellaneous rigs are down two. Baker Hughes added the U.S. offshore rig count remained flat at 17 this week, compared to 22 this time last year. Canada’s fleet of operating drilling units plunged by 23 this week, bringing the country’s total to 59. The most recent figures comprise 18 oil rigs (down 13 from last week) and 41 gas rigs (down 10), Baker Hughes noted. At this time last year, 85 rigs (27 oil and 58 gas) were operating in Canada, the firm added.
Exxon Signals 4th Consecutive Loss-- Exxon Mobil Corp., which is struggling to maintain a $15 billion-a-year dividend program, indicated it incurred a fourth straight quarterly loss. Exxon confirmed in a filing Wednesday it will take a writedown of as much as $20 billion on its upstream assets, a possibility first disclosed at the end of October. It also reported much smaller non-cash impairments related to its refining business. There were some positives. Higher oil and gas prices had an impact of up to $1 billion on upstream profits compared with the third quarter. The chemicals segment saw an earnings boost of as much as $400 million due to improved margins. Exxon’s shares were little changed in after-hours trading in New York. Still, a fourth-quarter loss would confirm Exxon’s challenges in covering both dividends and capital expenditures from operational cash flow, and remains reliant on debt. The last time the Irving, Texas-based company generated enough free cash to cover its payout was the third quarter of 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Exxon is set to disclose its full quarterly results on Feb. 2, amid one of the most-punishing periods in the company’s 150-year history. Its stock cratered to a 22-year low during 2020 amid a worldwide glut of oil and collapsing demand that gutted cash flow, spurring widespread job cuts. Exxon was kicked out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, warned it will incur the biggest writedown of its modern history, and was assailed by activist investors seeking better returns and more climate accountability. Exxon, which has long prided itself on its decades-long record of annual dividend increases, may have opened the door to changing course in late November, according to Cowen & Co. analyst Jason Gabelman. Whereas company executives touted Exxon’s “reliable and growing dividend” during an October conference call, a Nov. 30 statement announcing writedowns and spending cuts only mentioned its commitment to a “reliable” payout, Gabelman said in a note to clients.
Trans Mountain Pipeline Detour to Increase Construction Costs An extra C$20 million ($15 million) has been added to construction costs of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion for a detour around a southern British Columbia (BC) native tribe, according to evidence before the Canada Energy Regulator (CER). The oil pipeline’s route change raises the expense of steering the project past the Coldwater Indian Band to C$70 million ($52.5 million) from C$50 million ($37.5 million), Trans Mountain disclosed in a reply to a CER information request. The extra bill is a relatively small addition to the total cost of expanding Trans Mountain as an export route for Canada’s top natural gas user, Alberta thermal oilsands production. The added expense of the Coldwater detour is just 1.6% of the C$12.6 billion ($9.4 billion) current estimate for nearly tripling capacity to 890,000 b/d on the pipeline from Alberta to a tanker port in Vancouver Harbor. The detour, now going through the CER approval process, would settle a seven-year feud over the project route. Coldwater fought the original plan to use the established right-of-way along the east side of its reservation as a threat to the tribal water supply. The proposed settlement, a new right-of-way west of the reservation, emerged after the pipeline and tribal chiefs agreed to stop butting heads and engage in a meeting of the minds, according to Trans Mountain’s CER application for the detour. “Since May of this year, Trans Mountain president and CEO Ian Anderson has been meeting regularly with Chief Lee Spahan of Coldwater, attempting to reach consensus on routing,” the application said. “In early October, Coldwater confirmed that the west alternative route for the TMEP [Trans Mountain expansion project] addresses its concerns regarding potential impacts to the aquifer used by the Coldwater community.” In addition to written support from Coldwater and seven other southern BC tribes, the detour has won a favor from the owner of the pipeline, Canada’s federal government. Natural Resources Canada has served notice that it will refrain from using its authority under the Canada Energy Regulator Act to require time-consuming cabinet review of any CER detour approval and possibly add conditions. The federal ministry’s decision not to interfere enables Trans Mountain to hit a detour construction start target of August 2021, in order to complete the full 1,150 (690-mile) project on schedule the following year. The only qualification of the detour consensus between Trans Mountain and the BC natives is that Coldwater says its continued support remains subject to engagement by the tribal leadership with its community. About four-fifths of the 18.3-kilometer (11-mile) detour crosses provincially owned BC public land. The provincial government has not intervened in the approval case to date. The BC Oil and Gas Commission controls construction permits on the provincial property.
Supply Crunch, Brexit Deal Push Global Gas Prices Higher — LNG Recap -Global natural gas prices remain strong coming off a week shortened by Christmas and heading into another with limited trading activity as the New Year holiday nears. The Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) contract for February delivery finished the short week on Thursday at $6.321/MMBtu, while the UK’s National Balancing Point finished at $7.015 and the Japan Korea Marker prompt month contract kept climbing to finish at $11.000. TTF traded near two-year highs after the Christmas holiday on colder weather and optimism over a Christmas Eve Brexit deal in which terms were finally reached over trade and other issues for the UK to leave the European Union (EU). European prices climbed higher Monday. In North Asia, spot prices for February delivery remain above $13.00 as bids support the mark on cold weather and a supply crunch.Meanwhile, in the United States, front-month Henry Hub finished lower last week at $2.512 as milder temperatures forecast over the next two weeks are seen dragging down heating demand. The U.S. benchmark fell again on Monday, with the January contract falling to $2.305 before expiring. “January is normally one of the highest demand months of the year for natural gas, driven primarily by heating demand, so mild weather next month would be quite bearish for prices,” said Schneider Electric analyst Christin Redmond of the U.S. natural gas market. “The current weather outlooks have traders so confident about winter supply that the remainder of the winter strip is now trading at a discount to the 2021 summer strip.”As Henry Hub prices fall and overseas benchmarks move upward, the arbitrage window for U.S. LNG deliveries remains wide open, particularly to Asia. According to NGI data, the spread between the Gulf Coast and the Asian market was at $7.429 on Christmas Eve, well above the $6.304 spread recorded on the same day a week earlier. As a result, U.S. feed gas deliveries remain at or near capacity and stood over 11 Bcf/d on Monday. The shipping market continues to remain tight as it has since colder weather set in across the Northern Hemisphere in recent weeks. Shipbroker Braemar ACM said that vessel rates were up by more than 35% across three different classes of LNG carriers between November and December. Spot vessel rates haven’t budged and were at $180,000/day in the Atlantic Basin, where demand remains elevated to capture particularly strong winter spreads to Asia, and $170,000/day in the Pacific Basin.
LNG Shipbuilders See Influx of Orders as Year Comes to an End - Two of Asia’s leading shipbuilders saw an influx of orders for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers this month, capping an otherwise slow year for newbuilds. Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering said in a regulatory filing last week that it landed various contracts to build nine LNG carriers. KSOE is scheduled to deliver one vessel to a Panamanian shipping company in 2024, while another two ships will be delivered to a buyer in Bermuda in 2023. KSOE subsidiary Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries will build the ships. KSOE announced other deals earlier last week to build six more LNG vessels for two undisclosed companies. In another deal, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd said it signed a contract with an African owner that’s worth more than $700 million for four LNG carriers that are expected to be delivered in 2024, according to a regulatory filing. Despite the late surge in orders, it’s been a slow year for new LNG vessels as the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the global economy and the natural gas trade. According to shipbroker Braemar ACM, just 19 vessels in the large conventional class with sizes of 160,000-190,000 cubic meters have been ordered this year. Vessels of that size have become more common as global supplies of LNG have increased. Last year, owners ordered 67 vessels in that class, Braemar said. Activity in the global LNG trade slowed this year as the pandemic took a bite out of energy demand. But trading has increased with colder weather, which has strained vessel availability with only so many on the water at one time.Increased U.S. LNG exports to Asia this winter have driven vessel spot charter rates to two-year highs. Spot vessel rates on Tuesday were at $180,000/day in the Atlantic Basin and $170,000/day in the Pacific Basin, according to NGI data provided by Fearnleys. Japan Korea Marker prices have reached levels not seen in years, with spot deals assessed at over $13.00/MMBtu in early February. Stronger prices have lifted the February arbitrage spread between the Gulf Coast and Asia to $7.725 for those with vessels chartered and to $5.312 for those who need to secure a vessel.
Troops Fight Off Attack Near $20B LNG Project -- Mozambique said its security forces repelled an attack by Islamist insurgents on a town close to the site where Total SE is building a $20 billion natural gas facility. The attack took place about 21 kilometers (13 miles) from Total’s project overnight on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense, and is the second this month on the town of Mute in the northern Cabo Delgado province. It accused the militants of trying to derail the investment. Fighters who’ve aligned with Islamic State in August have already seized the port town of Mocimboa da Praia, about 42 kilometers south of Mute, raising the stakes in a conflict that’s killed about 2,500 people and caused 570,000 to flee their homes since it started three years ago. Mozambique’s government has struggled to contain the insurgency and President Filipe Nyusi has faced criticism for refusing outside help. Leaders from the Southern African Development Community are set to meet in January to agree on a plan to prevent the conflict from spilling across Mozambique’s borders.
As 2020 Ends, Door Remains Closed to New Oil and Gas E&P Contracts in Mexico - As 2020 draws to a close, the door remains closed for new exploration and production (E&P) contracts in Mexico’s oil and gas sector, with little visibility as to when they might resume. With bid rounds, farmout tenders and service contract migrations frozen until further notice by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, upstream activity will in the meantime be limited to state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the 111 E&P contracts awarded from 2015-2018 under the previous government following the 2013-2014 market-opening energy reform. A recently published five-year plan for oil and gas auctions published by energy ministry Sener offered some hope that bid rounds may return, although Sener may have just released the document in order to comply with the law, according to analysts at Talanza Energy Consulting. The reform’s mechanisms for awarding new upstream contracts remains halted despite dire financial circumstances facing Pemex. In a decree published Monday in Mexico’s federal register, López Obrador authorized the deferral until January 7 of production-sharing duties owed to the government by Pemex that were supposed to be paid in November. The relief was not extended to private sector operators, whom López Obrador has antagonized since taking office in December 2018. To justify the extension, López Obrador cited the unexpected decline of Mexico’s crude oil export basket price due to the destruction of global oil demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The basket price averaged $38.07/bbl in the third quarter, down 29.6% year/year. The deferral follows legislation introduced in December by Senator Armando Guadiana that would see Pemex’s profit-sharing duty reduced to 35% from the current effective rate of 58%. However, even if the tax break is approved, Pemex will likely require additional government support in order to increase capital spending without taking on more debt, Fitch Ratings analysts said recently. Pemex’s total financial debt stood at $110.3 billion as of September 30, up 24.9% from year-end 2019. Pemex said the increase was “mainly due to the drawn amounts from credit facilities and the depreciation of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar during the period.”
New Fuel Permit Rules in Mexico Said Damaging to Energy Sector Competition - New regulation over the permitting process involved in the importing and exporting of fuels in Mexico published in the country’s Official Gazette on Dec. 26 could prove harmful to competition in the Mexican energy sector. petroleum trade Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Competencia Económica (Cofece), the federal economic competition commission, published a statement last week warning the rules would “seriously hamper competition and free markets in the commercialization of petroleum products, and would affect consumer access to supply options at the best possible prices.” Still, Mexico’s Energy Ministry (Sener) made the requirements for permits official over the holiday weekend. Read the details, in Spanish, here. One of the major changes in the published rules is the reduction in duration of refined fuel permits for private sector companies to five years, from twenty years. This reduces incentives to invest in long term transportation and storage infrastructure, Cofece alleges. The bill also establishes unclear and burdensome requirements for requesting permits and grants wide discretion to Sener in their ability to revoke them. It turns the granting of permits into “a public policy instrument” to control the makeup of the energy sector. In sum, the rules would essentially hand Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) a more dominant monopoly position in the marketing of refined fuels within Mexico, according to Cofece.
Argentina Natural Gas Production Down 13% in October - Natural gas production in Argentina fell by 12.9% year/year in October to 121.9 million cubic meters/day (MMm3/d), or 4.3 Bcf/d, according to the latest report by the IAE Argentine Energy Institute. Production was down from 4.37 Bcf/d in September. Analysts attributed the drop to restrictions in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Argentina has had one of the strictest lockdowns in place globally since the pandemic began to spread in March. In November, executives at Argentina’s state energy firm Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales SA (YPF) said their oil and gas fields were starting to return to work after the complete shutdown in April that became “the worst” month in the company’s history. YPF shale production in the Vaca Muerta formation has returned to pre-Covid levels, the executive said, as wells have come back online at the flagship Loma Campana field. Power demand on Argentina’s national grid was down 6.6% year/year in October at 323 GWh/day. Gas production was down in October in Neuquén, home to most of Vaca Muerta. Neuquén, the largest gas-producing province in Argentina, saw production fall 16.3% year/year to 2.61 Bcf/d in October. Natural gas production in Neuquén was 2.65 Bcf/d in September. Production from Vaca Muerta in October fell to 1.06 Bcf/d, from 1.25 Bcf/d in October 2019. Meanwhile, the national government handed out 23 contracts in its natural gas plan ‘Plan Gas 4’ in mid-December. Winning companies included YPF, Tecpetrol SA and Pampa Energia SA.
Russian Gas Gets New Rival in Europe -- Azerbaijan started commercial natural gas exports to Europe via the U.S.-backed Southern Gas Corridor, helping the region to diversify supplies away from Russia. Gas pumped from the BP Plc-led Shah Deniz deposit in the Caspian Sea began flowing into Italy, Greece and Bulgaria on Thursday, BP and Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar said in a joint statement. The European Union has worked for years to ease its dependence on Russia, which accounts for about a third of the region’s gas supplies. The Southern Gas Corridor, which took $33 billion and seven years to build, includes the Shah Deniz field and more than 2,000 miles of pipelines connecting the Caspian Sea with Europe via Georgia and Turkey. Azerbaijan will ship 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe every year over the next quarter-century, with 8 billion of that going to Italy and 1 billion each to Greece and Bulgaria. “Some people were skeptical about the project” at the outset, Socar President Rovnaq Abdullayev said. “Now the mission is accomplished. Azerbaijan’s natural gas has arrived in Europe.” Shah Deniz, which means King of the Sea in Azeri, is the nation’s largest gas deposit, containing about 1 trillion cubic meters of the fuel and 2 billion barrels of condensate, according to BP estimates. Azerbaijan plans to ship gas to more countries in Europe in the future as additional Caspian Sea fields start production. BP leads Shah Deniz with a 28.8% interest. Other partners in the project include Socar, Turkiye Petrolleri AO, Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Lukoil PJSC and a unit of Iran’s national oil company.
Russian annual oil output falls for the first time since 2008 on OPEC+ deal, pandemic(Reuters) - Oil production in Russia declined last year for the first time since 2008 and reached its lowest level since 2011 following a global deal to cut output and sluggish demand caused by the coronavirus, statistics showed on Saturday. Russian oil and gas condensate output declined to 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, according to energy ministry data cited by the Interfax news agency. In tonnes, oil and gas condensate output dropped to 512.68 million in 2020 from a post-Soviet record-high of 560.2 million, or 11.25 million bpd, in 2019. The sharp decline was almost in line with expectations. The 512.68 million tonnes reading for 2020 was the lowest since 511.43 million tonnes in 2011, and the first annualised decline since 2008 amid the global financial crisis and falling oil prices. Russia agreed to reduce its oil production in April last year by more than 2 million barrels per day, an unprecedented voluntary cut, along with other leading oil producers and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The move was designed to bolster the oil market beset by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the April agreement, a record for global supply reductions, the group known as OPEC+ has progressively reduced the cuts and is expected to release an extra 500,000 bpd into the market in January. OPEC+ is due to hold its next summit on Monday, Jan. 4. Russia has been expected to increase its oil output by 125,000 bpd from the New Year. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, in charge of Moscow’s ties with OPEC+, has said Russia would support a gradual increase of the group’s output by another 500,000 bpd starting in February.
Petrobras Makes Oil Find - Petrobras announced Tuesday that it has confirmed oil of “excellent quality” at well 9-BUZ-48D-RJS, which is located in the extreme northwest of the Buzios field in the Santos Basin. Situated 116 miles from Rio de Janeiro, the well was drilled at a water depth of 6,069 feet. Tests carried out from a depth of 18,175 feet confirmed the presence of an oil reservoir of “excellent quality”, according to Petrobras, which said the discovery reinforces the potential of the pre-salt in the Buzios field. Petrobras is the operator of the Buzios field consortium with a 90 percent interest. CNOOC holds a five percent stake in the project and CNODC holds the remaining five percent interest. In April this year, Petrobras announced that it had identified the presence of oil in an exploratory well located in the Campos Basin. The well, informally called Natator, is located 80 miles from Macae, in water depths of 3,543 feet. During the same month, the company revealed that it had identified the presence of oil in the pioneer well of the Uirapuru block, which is located in the Santos Basin pre-salt. The Santos Basin is the largest offshore sedimentary basin in Brazil, covering total area of over 135,000 square miles, all the way from Cabo Frio to Florianopolis, Petrobras’ website highlights, adding that the first investments in exploration and production studies for this basin date back to the 1970s.
Eni Finds Oil in Egypt Desert - Eni has announced a new oil discovery in the Meleiha Concession in the Western Desert of Egypt. Achieved through the Arcadia 9 well on the Arcadia South structure, the find is located a mile south of the main Arcadia field already in production. The well was said to have encountered an 85 foot oil column in the Cretaceous sandstones of the Alam El Bueib 3G formation. Arcadia 9 has registered a stabilized rate of 5,500 barrels of oil per day, Eni revealed. Following the discovery, two development wells, Arcadia 10 and Arcadia 11, were drilled back to back. The first one encountered a 25 foot oil column and the second one an 80 foot oil column within the Alam El Bueib 3G formation. The three wells share the same oil-water contact in the discovered reservoir, Eni highlighted. Arcadia 11 was also said to have encountered 20 feet of oil pay in the overlying Alam El Bueib 3D formation. Through its subsidiary Ieoc, Eni holds a 38 percent interest in the Meleiha concession. Lukoil holds a 12 percent stake and EGPC holds the remaining 50 percent interest. Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954 and is the country’s main producer. The company’s current equity hydrocarbon production is said to be around 320,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
India - NIO, NPC sign MoU on oil spill management-The Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography has signed a memorandum of understanding with New Delhi-based National Productivity Council (NPC) to jointly work in the areas of climate change, environment-related data analytics, combating oil spills, and exploration of renewable energy, a statement said on Saturday."The aim of this MoU is primarily to develop a long-term joint working partnership in the areas of environment management, climate resilience in coastal zones and communities, oceanographic data analytics, environmental impact studies and modelling to predict environmental impact, besides identifying remedial and mitigation measures and contributing to policy research," the statement said.The NIO, which functions under the aegis of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the NPC, an arm of the central government's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, will also focus on assessment of macro and microplastics in the country's rivers, seas and other marine bodies.The two organisations will also jointly carry out "oceanographic modeling and data analytics pertaining to environmental factors and pollutants and related impact assessments in Coastal Regulatory Zone, marine environment and forecasting". Preparation of emergency plans and conducting risk analysis related to oil spills as well as "periodic monitoring of environmental conditions and assessment studies prescribed for projects in CRZ, ports, harbours, etc" is also a part of the MoU.
Iraq aims to boost southern ports crude export capacity - - Iraq aims to increase crude oil export capacity from its southern ports to 6 million barrels per day from the current 3.5 million barrels a day capacity, Karim Hattab, deputy oil minister for distribution affairs said in a statement. Hattab said the increased capacity would be after 2023 and that the plan includes building 24 storage tanks.
Iraq plans to produce 6 mln b/d crude oil after 2023 - On Saturday, Iraqi deputy oil minister, Karim Hattab, said that they are planning to double the country’s crude oil production to 6 million barrels per day after 2023. In a statement, Hattab said”The goal is to implement large-scale projects, including the installation of another 24 tanks to increase export capacity from the current 3. 5 million to 6 million barrels per day after 2023,” Hattab was quoted by the ministry as saying during his inspection of oil storage facilities on the Al-Faw peninsula. According to Hattab, the ministry is also planning to build an offshore pipeline linking the Al-Faw storage facilities to ports that export oil. Last week, the ministry reported that Iraq’s oil output totaled 81 million barrels in November.
Iran slashes gas exports to Iraq, threatening electricity shortages -Iran has slashed the amount of natural gas it exports to Iraq and threatened further cutbacks over unpaid bills, increasing the likelihood of more electricity shortages in Baghdad and other major cities. Iraq has been receiving 5 million cubic meters a day since Iran cut its daily exports from 50 million cubic meters two weeks ago, Ahmed Moussa, a spokesman for Iraq’s electricity ministry, said in an interview. The Iranian government told Iraq it will reduce its supplies to 3 million cubic meters a day starting Sunday, but has not yet implemented the move, he added. Iran started cutting exports to its neighbor, which is OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, after Iraq fell behind on its gas payments. Iraq owes around $2.7 billion in unpaid bills, Moussa said. Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian will meet Iraqi officials in Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss the issue, the spokesman said. Power production has dropped by around 7 gigawatts as a result of the gas supply curbs, Moussa said. Baghdad and other central locations have been hit hardest by electricity shortages. While Iraq’s supply of Iranian gas has been disrupted, its electricity imports have continued as normal, he added.
CHINA DATA: Nov crude imports from Oman hit fresh high at 1.25 mil b/d, up 33% on year | S&P Global Platts — China's imports of Oman crude oil surged 63.7% in November to a record high of 5.1 million mt, or 1.25 million b/d, from October, making the producer the third-biggest crude supplier in the month, data from the General Administration of Customs, or GAC, showed on Dec. 26. The previous high was at 4.16 million mt, or 983,101 b/d, in December 2019, GAC data showed. The volume brought imports from Oman at 36.2 million mt in January-November, jumping 21.9% year on year. Saudi Arabia returned to the top spot with a month-on-month increase of 42.8% in shipments delivered in November, at 8.48 million mt, or 2.07 million b/d. These led crude imports from the Middle East to jump 15.9% year on year at 5.19 million b/d over the January-November period to take 47.1% market share compared with 44.3% in the same period last year. Volume increase was also seen from North America, 137.7% on the year at 428,000 b/d in the period, making the region's market share gain 2.1 percentage points to 3.9% due to an 154.6% growth in US crude imports. Crude imports from the US rebounded 122.2% from October at 3.61 million mt, or 882,451 b/d, in November. The volume was 7% lower than the record high of 952,254 b/d imported in September. Imports from Africa and South America fell 14.6% and 8.8%, respectively, at 1.56 million b/d and 1.25 million b/d in January-November, GAC data showed. China's top crude suppliers ('000 mt):
China’s Energy Dependence To Grow Despite Major Oil Discoveries -- Energy independence is an important precondition for any country which allows for relatively unbound foreign and economic policies. China’s growing reliance on imports concerning fossil fuels is a major headache for Beijing. Therefore, increasing domestic production is high on the agenda. Despite some successes in exploration and production activities, import reliance is expected to rise over the next couple of years. Beijing has instructed its three domestic energy champions PetroChina, CNOOC, and Sinopec, to increase spending on domestic resources. In the next five years, these companies have vowed to invest 517 billion yuan ($77 billion), which is a growth of 18 percent year-on-year. These investments have already achieved reversing falling domestic oil production. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the production of petroleum and other liquids in China has increased to 4.9 million barrels per day (mbpd). Despite the increase, foreign oil dependency has reached 70 percent and the number is expected to grow. Announcements of the discovery of new oil and gas fields are not a rare occasion in China these days. According to media group Netease, some 200 million tonnes (around 1.5 billion barrels) of oil and 300 million tonnes of gas have been discovered in November only. CNOOC has started using China's first domestically designed and produced self-operated large-scale deepwater rig and the world's largest oil and gas storage platform on the coast of Hainan. The company also made a significant discovery in the shallow waters of the Pearl River Mouth Basin. Due to growing investments, the Chinese energy sector is hitting new records this year. Despite these successes, the industry is facing an uphill battle due to insatiable domestic demand for oil. Stellar economic growth has led to a booming market for energy, but the level of reliance on fossil fuels is different. Dependence on coal is limited due to significant domestic production and gas has a moderate share in the national energy mix. Oil, however, is the biggest challenge.
Oil Trading Changing Forever After Wrong Virus Bet - In January, as a mysterious illness ripped through the Chinese city of Wuhan, global oil prices plunged. Two thousand miles away in the island state of Singapore, one of the most powerful men in the world of commodities trading, Lim Oon Kuin, quietly added to his vast stockpiles of fuel – making a bet that China would successfully control the spread of the new disease. That gamble soured quickly. While China did curb the coronavirus at home, the pandemic that followed brought crude oil prices tumbling as much as 70%. Banks tried to recover loans from Lim’s company, Hin Leong Trading Pte, triggering one of the biggest scandals in the oil industry this century. Lim’s empire collapsed, owing $3.5 billion to 23 banks, and the fallout from the debacle is still reverberating into 2021, shaking out large tracts of the vast and often opaque $4 trillion global oil-trading industry. The losers are likely to be the hundreds of small trading firms, many of them employing only a handful of people, who will find it expensive, if not impossible, to meet the increased demands for information from banks that have become wary of lending them money. Those gaining from the crisis are the big global trading houses such as Trafigura Group and Vitol SA, that retain the confidence of the finance companies and are better able to absorb the costs of increased oversight. A sign of those changes came earlier this month when banks in the major oil trading hub of Singapore issued new guidelines for financing that could curb some of the practices that led to the shock from Hin Leong, whose creditors, including HSBC Holdings Plc. and Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd., are still fighting to recover funds. Netherlands-based ABN Amro Bank NV has said it will pull out of commodity trade finance altogether, and others, including France’s BNP Paribas SA, said they were scaling back or reviewing their businesses. More than 20 veteran traders and industry bankers told Bloomberg News in interviews that financing for the industry is tightening, with the contraction likely to continue next year as bankers apply stricter standards or cut their exposure to smaller merchants.
Russian gov’t considers $45-$55 a barrel oil price range optimum– Russia’s government considers the oil price range of USD45 to USD55 per barrel optimum in the current market situation, which allows preventing the market from overheating and supporting producers, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters. “The range of prices of USD45 to USD55 per barrel is optimum for recovery of our production, which we have let strongly down, otherwise we will never restore production, others will do, whereas we will remain at our level all the time,” Novak said. The head of the commodity strategy department at Saxo Bank, Ole Hansen, said earlier the price of Brent crude oil might decrease amid reports about a new strain of the coronavirus that may push the infecting rates up and lead to new lockdowns. That may halt the growth of futures and even get them back to USD46 per barrel in the short-term. On December 14, Britain’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said British scientists had identified a new coronavirus strain that might be to blame for high infection rates in southeastern England. On December 19, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said according to the current findings, the new strain might be 70 percent more contagious. However, there is no proof yet of a greater risk of lethal outcome. The World Health Organization has said the mutated strain has already reached Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
Novak Backs Further OPEC+ Output Hike-- Russia plans to support a further gradual increase in OPEC+ production at the next meeting in January, because crude prices are within an optimal range. “To restore our output, that we’ve reduced a lot, the price range of $45 to $55 a barrel is the most optimal,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters in Moscow. “Otherwise we’ll never restore production, others will restore it.” Brent crude has averaged about $50 a barrel since early December, when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies adopted a new plan to make gradual output increases. The group, which is led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, will boost daily crude production in monthly increments of as much as 500,000 barrels next year, instead of the previous plan to add almost 2 million barrels from Jan. 1. OPEC+ ministers will gather every month to discuss the size of each increment, allowing the group to react to uncertain demand as the Covid-19 pandemic continues. The next meeting, scheduled for Jan. 4, will determine how much supply should be added to the market in February. “If the situation is normal, stable, we will support the increase,” Novak said, when asked if Russia wants a further hike of 500,000 barrels a day in February. “We must reach levels that were envisaged earlier, from Jan. 1, gradually, without pulling the market too much.” That change would mean OPEC+ is still withholding about 6.7 million barrels a day from the market in February, compared with the current supply cuts of 7.7 million barrels a day. It’s unclear whether Saudi Arabia, the leader of OPEC+ alongside Russia, will back an increase in crude output. Last week, after face-to-face talks with Novak in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Crown Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said he wants to keep market speculators “on their toes.” “Nobody will know what we will do on the 4th of January until the day of the meeting,” Abdulaziz said.
Oil Steady as Virus Pessimism Balanced by Stimulus -- Oil steadied -- after posting its first weekly loss since October -- as pessimism over a new strain of Covid-19 that’s threatening more travel restrictions was balanced by the passage of a U.S. stimulus bill into law. Futures in New York traded near $48 a barrel after sliding 1.8% last week. Tougher restrictions were extended to much of England to try and stem the virus mutation, while American officials warned of a post-Christmas surge of infections. Japanese industrial production missed analyst expectations to come in unchanged last month from October, more evidence that the resurgent pandemic is stalling the economic recovery in some parts of Asia. Crude pared losses of as much as 1.5% after President Donald Trump signed the long-awaited bill containing $900 billion of virus relief that’s expected to boost energy demand in the world’s largest economy. Trump had previously expressed his displeasure with the package that Congress approved last week. Oil is finishing the year on a somber note as the short-term demand risk of more travel restrictions outweighs optimism over vaccine rollouts, which are already underway and will eventually boost energy demand. The OPEC+ alliance will also return 500,000 barrels a day of output to the market from January. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery fell 0.1% to $48.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:47 a.m. in London. Brent for February settlement declined 0.2% to $51.20 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange after closing up 0.2% on Thursday. Crude’s futures curve is reflecting the pessimism. Brent’s prompt timespread is 5 cents a barrel in contango, a bearish market structure where near-term prices are cheaper than later-dated ones. The spread was as much as 13 cents in backwardation earlier this month. President Trump, meanwhile, has raised geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, accusing Iran of being responsible for a rocket attack near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry said the claims were baseless. The country’s oil minister said this month that Iran was planning to double its production in 2021, which will clash with OPEC+ efforts to gradually increase supply without flooding the market.
Oil rises after Trump signs aid bill - Oil rose towards $52 a barrel on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump's signing of a coronavirus aid package and the start of a European vaccination campaign outweighed concern about weak near-term demand. Brent crude rose 43 cents, or 0.84%, to $51.72 a barrel, reversing an earlier decline. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude added 45 cents, or 0.93%, to $48.68. "The signing of the U.S. stimulus bill, with the possibility of an increased size, should put a floor under oil prices in a shortened week," said Jeffrey Halley, analyst at broker OANDA. Trump, whose presidency is set to end next month, had earlier threatened to block the $2.3 trillion aid and spending package. Oil has recovered from historic lows reached in the spring as the emerging pandemic hammered demand. And in a further sign of progress against COVID-19, Europe launched a mass vaccination drive on Sunday. But, the emergence of a new variant of the virus, first seen in Britain and now detected in other countries, has led to movement restrictions being reimposed, hitting near-term demand and weighing on prices. And Brent is still below the $52.48 level reached on Dec. 18, which was its strongest since March. Oil remains vulnerable to any further setbacks in efforts to control the virus, said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi, in a note. Also coming into focus will be a Jan. 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+. The group is slowly tapering record oil output cuts made this year to support the market. OPEC+ is set to boost output by 500,000 barrels per day in January.
Oil gains on hopes U.S. pandemic stimulus payments to spur fuel demand - Oil rose on Tuesday, for the third time in four sessions, on expectations for rising fuel demand as the United States may expand their pandemic aid payments and a final Brexit deal is set to stabilize trade between Europe and the UK. Brent crude futures climbed 36 cents, or 0.7%, to $51.22 a barrel, as of 0151 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures added 34 cents, or 0.7%, to $47.96 a barrel. Crude rose along with a gains in Asian shares, with Japanese stocks hitting a 29-year high, on rising investor risk appetite as the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise pandemic relief payments to $2,000 from $600. The Senate still needs to vote on the measure. Forecasts for tightening U.S. crude oil stocks also added support to prices. U.S. crude oil stockpiles are expected to have declined last week, while refined products inventories likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll ahead of this week's data showed on Monday. Five analysts polled by Reuters estimated, on average, that crude stocks likely fell by 2.1 million barrels in the week to Dec. 25. Still, concerns over coronavirus lockdowns are capping gains. A new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom has led to the reimposition of movement restrictions, hitting near-term demand and weighing on prices, while hospitalizations and infections have surged in parts of Europe and Africa. A Jan. 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, also looms over the market. OPEC+ is tapering record oil output cuts made this year to support the market. The group is set to boost output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January and Russia supports another increase of the same amount in February. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday he expected there would be 5 million to 6 million bpd additional oil demand in 2021, which has not fully recovered from the pandemic. Money managers raised their net-long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to December 21, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Monday. The speculator group raise its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 4,455 contracts to 325,787 during the period.
Oil Prices Climb On Stimulus Hopes - Oil has seesawed back and forth over the past week, sandwiched between very strong bullish and bearish forces on each side. Covid-19 is at its worst in many parts of the world, but vaccinations are picking up in earnest as well. Brent edged back above $51 per barrel after the house passed a major stimulus bill on Monday evening. “Markets feel very rangy into the New Year but should find support today from broader risk markets as stocks are soaring on the prospects of larger stimulus checks,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi. The terms of the OPEC+ production pact could berevised if oil demand recovers next year faster than currently expected, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is still in charge of coordinating Russia’s oil policy with OPEC, told Rossiya TV news channel in an interview on Monday. Rising JKM prices for LNG in Asia brighten the outlook for U.S. LNG exports. “We assume near-max utilization rates of US LNG export facilities next year,” Bank of America said. Oil and gas companies in North America and Europe wrote down around $145 billion in assets in the first three quarters of 2020, the most since 2010. Prices are rebounding, but the write-downs also reflect long-term concerns. “They are coming to grips with the fact that demand for the product will decline, and the write-downs are a harbinger of that,” KPMG’s Regina Mayor told the WSJ. Japan said it would end sales of gasoline vehicles by the mid-2030s, the latest major economy to chart a course away from the internal combustion engine. Internal planning documents reviewed byBloomberg Green reveal detailed emissions projections for individual projects from ExxonMobil. For instance, the Golden Pass LNG project would emit 3.1 million metric tons, and the liquefaction process would emit as much as a coal-fired power plant. Investors are growing increasingly concerned that carbon-intensive projects will be subjected to future regulation or taxation, and they are pressuring Exxon to detail more of their risk.
Oil Rise Aided by Dollar - - Oil pushed higher with support from a weakening dollar as investors weighed a worsening short-term demand outlook against an eventual rebound as Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out. Futures in New York rose past $48 a barrel after falling 1.3% Monday. A dip in the dollar boosted the appeal of commodities like oil that are priced in the currency. Crude was also aided by an improvement in broad market sentiment after the House backed higher stimulus checks following President Donald Trump’s signing of a $900 billion virus relief package. The coronavirus continued to surge unabated, however. Southern California is set to extend a lockdown amid a surge in cases, while Germany is concerned the slow pace of its vaccine rollout could prolong the economic damage from the pandemic. The virus is also making a comeback in Asia, with Thailand tightening restrictions and South Korea’s daily death toll rising to a record. Crude’s vaccine-driven rally has faltered in the last couple of weeks on signs it may have gotten ahead of the recovery in energy demand. The OPEC+ alliance is also set to add another 500,000 barrels a day of output to the market from January, while Russia’s deputy prime minister said last week the nation would support a further gradual increase in production in February. “Renewed concern over the virus will limit the upside for oil in the near term” and noise around Russia supposedly favoring adding more output in February won’t help either, said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Groep NV in Singapore. Price moves will continue to be driven by Covid-19 developments, he said. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose 0.9% to $48.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:49 a.m. in London. Brent for February settlement climbed 0.9% to $51.33 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange after falling 0.8% on Monday. OPEC+ will meet next week to decide on production levels for February, with traders looking out for indications of changing sentiment among its members. Over the longer term, Iranian plans to hike oil output may undermine the alliance’s efforts to raise production while avoiding flooding the market.
Oil holds steady on U.S. inventory draw, but demand fears weigh - Oil held steady on Wednesday as a U.S. coronavirus fiscal aid package and a decline in crude oil inventories supported prices. Brent crude futures rose 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $51.19 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was unchanged at $48. "Oil prices have remained supported by a weaker U.S. dollar overnight and have finally found a friend in the API inventory report," said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi, a broker. "This morning the American Petroleum Institute reported a much larger draw versus consensus in crude oil inventories for the week ending December 25." The dollar fell to its lowest in more than two years against the euro as currency traders looked past a new delay in U.S. stimulus checks and maintained bets that additional financial aid was still likely. The Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives voted to meet President Donald Trump's demand to increase direct Covid-19 aid payments to Americans hurting from the pandemic to $2,000. Asian shares retreated as investors cashed in on a recent rally, while the euro flirted with highs not seen in more than 2-1/2 years on as hopes of a gradual global economic recovery. Oil prices could gain strength as vaccination programs around the world begin next year, allowing countries to relax restrictions on movement and business activity. U.S. physical crude oil grades strengthened on Tuesday as the API reported a decline in stockpiles, dealers said. Crude oil stocks fell by 4.8 million barrels last week to about 492.9 million barrels, exceeding analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a draw of 2.6 million barrels, data from API showed. In the short-term, concerns over coronavirus lockdowns are likely to cap gains. A new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom has led to the reimposition of movement restrictions, hitting near-term demand and weighing on prices, while hospitalizations and infections have surged in parts of Europe and Africa. Fossil-fuel demand in coming years could remain softer even after the pandemic as countries seek to limit emissions to slow climate change. Major oil companies, such as BP and Total SE, published forecasts that include scenarios where global oil demand may have peaked in 2019. A Jan. 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, also looms over the market. OPEC+ is tapering record oil output cuts made this year to support the market. The group is set to boost output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, and Russia supports another increase of the same amount in February.
Oil prices dip as demand concerns counter U.S. stimulus (Reuters) -Oil prices fell on Monday as concerns about weakening fuel demand and the prospect of higher OPEC+ output outweighed optimism over a U.S. stimulus package. Oil prices strengthened earlier in the day, with Brent rising above $52 a barrel, as Democrats aimed for larger $2,000 COVID-19 relief payments following U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing of a $2.3 trillion stimulus deal. But a new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom has led to restrictions on movement being reimposed, hitting near-term demand and weighing on prices, while hospitalizations and infections surged in parts of Europe and Africa. Brent crude settled at $50.86 a barrel, falling 43 cents, or 0.84%, after trading as high as $52.02 earlier in the session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $47.62 a barrel, losing 61 cents, or 1.26%. “We continue to focus on this pandemic and what January is going to bring,” “The prospects of more lockdowns are looming and I think that is what’s holding things back.” A Jan. 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, also looms over the market. “While much focus will remain on the demand side of the global oil balances this week and into the new year, the supply side of the equation will be garnering more attention next month after OPEC+ cranks up its production allowances,”
Oil Prices Rise as U.S. Crude Stock Draw Supports but Demand Hopes Dim - (Reuters) -Oil prices settled higher on Wednesday, supported by a draw in U.S. crude inventories and Britain's approval of a second coronavirus vaccine but pressured by swelling year-over-year supply. Brent crude futures settled up 25 cents to $51.34 a barrel, off the session high of $51.56 and well lower than the $66 price that started the year. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 40 cents to trade at $48.40, substantially down from about $62 at the start of 2020. Both contracts slipped early the session as a bigger fiscal aid package in the United States looked increasingly unlikely, dampening hopes for a swifter recovery of oil demand that has been hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices rallied after an Energy Information Administration report showed crude inventories fell by 6.1 million barrels in the latest week to 493.5 million barrels. [EIA/S] But traders noted that U.S. crude inventories still were ending the year more than 10% higher than the last week of 2019. "We couldn't even pull down storage levels with a 6.1 million inventory draw which is sad but a reality, and it took the wind out of the sails for a big rally" said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. On the supply front, U.S. energy firms this week added 3 oil and natural gas rigs to the best quarter for boosting the rig count since the second quarter of 2017, according to data from Baker Hughes. A Jan. 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is set to boost output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January. Oil prices found some support on Wednesday from the U.S. dollar hitting its lowest against a basket of currencies since 2018, making oil cheaper for holders of other currencies. Raising hopes of a faster normalization of travel and work, Britain on Wednesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Oil Prices Settle Higher on Final Day of 2020 | Rigzone -- West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude oil prices posted increases on the final trading day of 2020. The February WTI futures price gained 12 cents, settling at $48.52 per barrel. The light crude marker Thursday traded within a range from $47.77 to $48.58.Brent crude for March delivery finished Thursday’s session at $51.80 per barrel, reflecting a 17-cent gain.Although oil prices have recovered since plunging this past spring amid steep pandemic-driven demand destruction, the benchmarks are still 20-plus percent overall for the year. By comparison, the closing WTI and Brent per-barrel prices on Jan. 2, 2020, were $61.18 (21 percent higher) and $66.25 (22 percent higher), respectively.The price of a gallon of reformulated gasoline (RBOB) often moves in the same direction as the oil benchmarks, but such was not the case Thursday. January RBOB posted a slight loss – well under a penny – to close just below $1.41. Henry Hub natural gas futures finished higher, with the February contract adding nearly 12 cents to settle at $2.54.
Oil edges higher, but posts 20% annual drop in tumultuous 2020 (Reuters) -Global crude prices edged higher on Thursday but lost more than a fifth of their value in 2020, as lockdowns to combat the novel coronavirus depressed economic activity and sent oil markets reeling. Still, Brent and U.S. crude benchmarks have more than doubled from April’s nadir as producers cut output to match weaker demand. News of coronavirus vaccine distributions also bolstered prices in the fourth quarter, helping futures recover to the highest in about 10 months. On the last trading day of 2020, Brent rose 17 cents to settle at $51.80 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 12 cents to settle at $48.52 a barrel. Brent fell 21.5% for the year, with WTI falling 20.5%. Prices for 2020 bottomed in April as fuel demand collapsed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after a price war between oil giants Saudi Arabia and Russia. WTI plummeted to a record low negative-$40.32 per barrel, while Brent fell to $15.98 barrel, the lowest since 1999. From there prices drifted higher and took off once vaccine optimism hit the market. “The first half was remarkable and unprecedented with a steep move lower and a snapback rally,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York. “Then it was like watching paint dry for several months through October.” Though prices have climbed the last two months, additional lockdowns have weighed again on fuel demand and a new, highly infectious variant of the virus has raised alarms. A monthly Reuters poll on Thursday showed oil prices are not expected to make much progress in 2021. And the demand outlook for fuel still remains murky. U.S. gasoline futures fell 17% for the year, while U.S. heating oil futures dropped 27%. Some commodity markets, including spot Asian LNG and silver, were ending 2020 on a strong note, with recovering demand and widespread stimulus packages buoying prices. Rollouts of vaccines to combat the virus and trillions of dollars’ worth of fiscal support were expected to boost investment and spending in 2021.
'So Frustrated': Iranians' Fears Skyrocket That They Won't Get Access To COVID-19 Vaccines - Amid the launch of mass COVID-19 vaccination drives in the West, there’s growing concern among Iranians that they could be left behind. They fear U.S. sanctions and what some regard as the Iranian clerical establishment’s failure to prioritize the well-being of its citizens. Iranians, including health workers, have taken to social media to call on their leaders to purchase vaccines against the coronavirus amid allegations by Iranian officials that U.S. sanctions are impeding their ability to procure them through COVAX, a global payment facility aimed at ensuring vaccine distribution around the world. The concern over Iranians’ access to vaccines was also highlighted in a December 22 statement by more than two dozen rights groups and humanitarian organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), who called on "all stakeholders to ensure that Iranians have swift, unencumbered, and equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable COVID-19 vaccines." Without inoculations, many more Iranians are likely to die from the Middle East’s worst COVID-19 outbreak, which has already infected more than 1.1 million Iranians and claimed the lives of nearly 54,000, according to officials figures. Health officials have suggested that the country’s real coronavirus death toll could be twice that number. Earlier this month, Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said in a social-media post that "inhumane sanctions by the U.S. government" were preventing the country from making any payment for vaccine doses via "the official channel of the World Health Organization (WHO)." Republican U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed stifling sanctions on Iran in 2018 after withdrawing the United States from a multilateral 2015 nuclear deal that exchanged sanctions relief for curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program. Democratic President-elect Joe Biden has said the United States will rejoin the accord if Tehran returns to strict compliance, although there is at least one effort afoot among Republicans in the U.S. Senate to prevent that.
Iran's President Claims Washington Demanding That Coronavirus Vaccine Transaction Run Through U.S. Bank - Following an announcement that Tehran had won approval from the United States to use foreign-currency reserves to buy coronavirus vaccines, Iran's president has claimed that Washington is now demanding that such a transaction go through a U.S. bank. President Hassan Rohani told a meeting of the government's coronavirus-response team on December 26 that Iran sought to transfer money from an unidentified third country, and that it had received approval from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). However, Rohani claimed, while the OFAC "had initially indicated that it was not a problem," it "later said that the money had to first pass through a U.S. bank before it reaches [the recipient]." Rohani blasted the alleged demand, which the Treasury Department has not confirmed, and questioned whether the United States might confiscate the funds. On December 24, Iranian central bank chief Abdolnaser Hemmati said that the OFAC had approved the transfer of around $244 million to a Swiss bank in order to purchase 16.8 million doses of vaccines from COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine-allocation plan led by the World Health Organization (WHO). While punitive financial sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran over its nuclear and regional activities prevented such transactions, Washington had been constrained by global public opinion to make an exception in this case, Hemmati claimed on Iranian state TV. Iran has been hard-hit by COVID-19, with nearly 1.2 million coronavirus cases recorded along with more than 54,000 deaths. Those numbers, which would make Iran the worst-affected country in the Middle East, are considered to be far lower than the actual figures released by Iranian health authorities.
B-52s fly over Persian Gulf as Washington escalates war threat against Iran --For the third time in little more than a month, the Pentagon has sent a pair of B-52 Stratofortress long-range heavy bombers to the Persian Gulf in a threat of war against Iran. This threat is being steadily escalated on the orders of US President Donald Trump as he continues to demand the overturning of the results of November’s US presidential election. The warplanes, which are capable of launching both nuclear and conventional weapons, flew low over the Gulf after a midair refueling over the Eastern Mediterranean in a 30-hour round-trip flight from their base in North Dakota. They were escorted by a squadron of F-16 fighter planes. A U.S. Air Force B-52H “Stratofortress” from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., is refueled by a KC-135 “Stratotanker” over the Persian Gulf. (Senior Airman Roslyn Ward/U.S. Air Force via AP) Without mentioning Iran by name, the chief of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US military operations throughout the Middle East, left no doubt as to the target of the provocative bomber deployment. “The United States continues to deploy combat-ready capabilities into the US Central Command area of responsibility to deter any potential adversary, and make clear that we are ready and able to respond to any aggression directed at Americans or our interests,” said CENTCOM commander General Frank McKenzie in announcing the Gulf overflight. “We do not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack.” The B-52 flights are only part of a continuous and ominous US military buildup in the region. Last week, the Navy sent the nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia, armed with cruise missiles, along with accompanying warships, into the Persian Gulf, joining the USS Nimitz carrier strike group already deployed there. The Israeli and other Middle Eastern media have also revealed that Israel has dispatched its own submarine through the Suez Canal in an apparent approach to the Persian Gulf. The Dolphin-class submarine is capable of firing nuclear cruise missiles. Meanwhile Israel has continued its airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, bombing the Nabi Habil area near Damascus on Wednesday.
Saudi women's rights activist sentenced to nearly 6 years(AP) — One of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s rights activists was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in prison, according to state-linked media, under a vague and broadly worded counterterrorism law. The ruling nearly brings to a close a case that has drawn international criticism and the ire of U.S. lawmakers. Loujain al-Hathloul has already been in pre-trial detention and has endured several stretches of solitary confinement. Her continued imprisonment was likely to be a point of contention in relations between the kingdom and the incoming presidency of Joe Biden, whose inauguration takes place in January — around two months before what is now expected to be al-Hathloul’s release date. Rights group “Prisoners of Conscience,” which focuses on Saudi political detainees, said al-Hathloul could be released in March 2021 based on time served. She has been imprisoned since May 2018, and 34 months of her sentencing will be suspended. Her family said in a statement she will be barred from leaving the kingdom for five years and required to serve three years of probation after her release. Biden has vowed to review the U.S.-Saudi relationship and take into greater consideration human rights and democratic principles. He has also vowed to reverse President Donald Trump’s policy of giving Saudi Arabia “a blank check to pursue a disastrous set of policies,” including the targeting of female activists. Al-Hathloul was found guilty and sentenced to five years and eight months by the kingdom’s anti-terrorism court on charges of agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda, using the internet to harm public order and cooperating with individuals and entities that have committed crimes under anti-terror laws, according to state-linked Saudi news site Sabq. The charges all come under the country’s broadly worded counterterrorism law. She has 30 days to appeal the verdict. “She was charged, tried and convicted using counter-terrorism laws,” her sister, Lina al-Hathloul, said in a statement. “My sister is not a terrorist, she is an activist. To be sentenced for her activism for the very reforms that MBS and the Saudi kingdom so proudly tout is the ultimate hypocrisy,” she said, referring to the Saudi crown prince by his initials. Sabq, which said its reporter was allowed inside the courtroom, reported that the judge said the defendant had confessed to committing the crimes and that her confessions were made voluntarily and without coercion.
Saudi Arabia to allow outgoing international flights for foreign nationals -Saudi Arabian authorities will allow outgoing flights carrying foreign nationals to resume after placing a temporary hold due to a new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus, state television announced Sunday. Under the new terms, any country dealing with the more infectious strain will still be restricted, and crew members on flights landing in Saudi Arabia will be confined to the plane, according to Bloomberg. New York Democratic Party chairman warns Ocasio-Cortez against... Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or... Last week, the kingdom announced all international flights would be suspended due to the new variant, first detected in southeastern England. The prohibition was set to last a week with the option to extend it if necessary. Saudi Arabia has officially reported just over 361,000 cases of the virus, and official numbers have not shown a second wave of the virus like that of numerous other countries, including Europe and much of the U.S. Official U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines still advise Americans against traveling to the country. Several countries responded to the new variant by banning flights from the U.K. The U.S. was not among them as of Sunday, and Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’ top infectious diseases expert, has said such a move could be an “overreaction” and said the strain was likely in the country already. Public health experts have said the strain does not appear to be any deadlier and there is no reason to believe vaccines will not be effective against it.
China's factory recovery moderates as higher costs slow business (Reuters) - China’s factory activity expanded in December as hot export demand fueled a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy from the coronavirus slump, although higher labour and transport costs slowed the pace of growth. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) fell to 51.9 in December from 52.1 in November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday. The index remained above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction but was a tad below the 52.0 in a Reuters’ poll of analysts. China’s vast industrial sector has staged an impressive recovery from the coronavirus shock thanks to surprisingly strong exports. The economy is expected to expand around 2% for the full year - the weakest pace in over three decades but much stronger than other major economies still struggling to contain infections. However, tougher coronavirus control measures in many of its key trading partners in the west and recent domestic infections could dent industrial demand, weighing on the recovery. The official PMI, which largely focuses on big and state-owned firms, showed the sub-index for new export orders stood at 51.3 in December, easing from 51.5 a month earlier.
Singapore and Malaysia Terminate High Speed Rail Project -A multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur has been terminated. The two countries were unable to reach an agreement on the project after Malaysia sought changes because of the pandemic’s economic impact, according to a joint statement Friday. Malaysia will have to compensate Singapore for costs already incurred, the city-state’s transport ministry said in a separate statement. The announcement came just after a Dec. 31 deadline for the second and final extension of the suspension of the project, which was first mooted a decade ago and given the green light in 2013. In June, the Southeast Asian neighbors had agreed to put the development, which has already incurred multiple suspensions, on hold again amid a discussion around costs. The on-again, off-again 350 kilometer (218 mile) high-speed rail link would have cut travel time between the centers down to about 90 minutes versus more than four hours by car. Although flying between the two only takes about an hour, that’s a lot longer once airport check-in and security is taken into account. The service was due to start in 2026. “In light of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the Malaysian economy, the Government of Malaysia had proposed several changes to the HSR project,” according to the joint statement by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. “Both Governments had conducted several discussions with regard to these changes and had not been able to reach an agreement.” Malaysia had proposed changes in the project structure, alignment and station design as well as advancing the start of construction by two years to give a boost to the economy battered by the pandemic, Malaysian Economy Minister Mustapa Mohamed said in a separate statement. It also wanted to allow for more flexible financing options, including deferred payments and public-private partnerships. The administration of former Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who resigned in February, sought to cancel the project as the country grappled with debt and liabilities amounting to more than 1 trillion ringgit ($249 billion), before settling for a deferment and a S$15 million ($11.4 million) compensation fee to Singapore. Mahathir had at one stage estimated the project would cost around 110 billion ringgit for Malaysia. “Both countries will abide by their respective obligations, and will now proceed with the necessary actions, resulting from this termination of the HSR Agreement,” said the joint statement.
Covid Crisis Decimates Indonesia’s Hordes of Motorcycle Taxis - Millions of sidelined motorcycle taxi drivers in Indonesia are bracing for a long recovery as the country’s coronavirus outbreak shows no signs of abating. The taxis -- known locally as “ojek” -- are a fixture in congested Indonesian cities where transport infrastructure is limited and gridlock is among the worst in the world. They’re also the inspiration for Indonesia’s most valuable startup, the ride-hailing and food-delivery app Gojek. The ojek drivers are a bellwether for Southeast Asia’s largest economy, as they facilitate consumer spending and business activity. Roughly 40% of the country’s estimated 5 million ojek drivers have lost their jobs in the pandemic. President Joko Widodo has been hard-pressed to tame unemployment and pull the economy out of recession, while keeping a lid on Covid cases that have topped 700,000. “These are very basic jobs we have.” Spikes in Covid-19 infections and deaths have ushered in a raft of stricter social-distancing measures this month, threatening to undercut a gradual improvement in ridership since the worst of the crisis. Amid gaps in social-safety nets, drivers are resorting to lower-paying gigs. Wicaksono estimates that drivers are seeing only about half their prior business. The government is aiming for 5% economic growth next year, hoping that stimulus spending and an aggressive vaccination plan can boost private consumption. The economy is expected to shrink as much as 2.2% this year, Indonesia’s first annual contraction in more than two decades. Amid gaps in social-safety nets, drivers are resorting to lower-paying gigs that may not be enough to pay down loans they took for their motorbikes, according to Joanna Octavia, a doctoral researcher at the U.K.-based Warwick Institute for Employment Research. “For an ojek driver, their most important asset is their motorcycle. It’s the way to get around and the way they generate an income,” she said. “If that was taken away, it would be very difficult for them to start all over again.” That could have broader implications for the economy, where the ranks of the jobless are growing. The sector has been crucial in absorbing low-skilled labor, Octavia said, since all drivers need is a license and a bike to earn money.
Thailand announces new restrictions amid COVID-19 surge - Thailand announced additional COVID-19 pandemic restrictions amid a surge in cases threatening the country's good standing in combating widespread outbreaks of the virus. On Monday, government officials ordered the closure of Bangkok hostess bars, gambling venues, and massage parlors starting Tuesday until Jan. 4. It will allow bars and restaurants to remain open with an order to close at midnight and enforce social distancing, the Associated Press reported. Thailand recorded 155 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, a small spike in comparison to other countries with thousands of severely climbing case numbers. It marks a notable rise for Thailand which has a well-regarded health program and a population that strictly abides by pandemic safety measures. The government's COVID-19 coordinating center reported 134 cases were local transmissions. Eleven cases reportedly came from migrant workers at a fish market in the capital city of Bangkok, and 10 were found in state quarantine zones. Over 20 percent of Thailand's 6,440 confirmed cases since the outset of the pandemic reportedly derived from migrant workers in Samut Sakhon. Officials have warned the seafood market outbreak along with a cluster of cases near a gambling venue in an eastern province could threaten to undo the country's progress in maintaining low rates of infections. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised Tuesday there would not be any travel restrictions for the New Year's holiday, though he added, "there will be measures put in place in many provinces."
India Asked to Pay $1.2B to Cairn -- India has been ordered to return over $1.2 billion to Cairn Energy Plc after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration lost arbitration proceedings in a tax dispute, its second defeat since September over such levies. An international arbitration tribunal ruled that India’s tax claim was not valid and asked the government to repay the funds, along with interest, to Cairn. India had seized dividend, tax refund and shares to partly recover the dues. The judges unanimously ruled that India’s retrospective tax demand breached the U.K.-India bilateral investment protection treaty, Cairn said in a statement Wednesday. India can appeal. Cairn Energy surged as much as 45% in early London trading, its biggest intraday gain in almost 17 years. The ruling is India’s second loss in an international arbitration after it changed a law in 2012 enabling it to retrospectively tax companies for mergers and acquisitions going as far back as 1962. A move that spooked investors. Three months ago, Vodafone Group Plc won a years-long tax dispute with the government over a controversial $3 billion tax demand. “The 2012 amendment muddied the waters for everyone,” said Chitranshul Sinha, a partner at India-based law firm Dua Associates. “Vodafone and Cairn awards should be taken as a lesson that predatorial retrospective tax policies are something which should be done away with.” Former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee introduced the retrospective tax after the nation’s income tax office lost a case demanding Vodafone pay capital gains levies for its 2007 acquisition of the then Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.’s Indian operations. The restitution of Cairn’s claim compares with its market capitalization of $1.3 billion, and “if successful and enforced, could produce windfall-enabling M&A or a special dividend,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Will Hares wrote last year.
AMLO government falsified COVID-19 data to avoid shutdowns in Mexico City - The government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) falsified data on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico City to prevent the alert level being raised to “red,” which mandates a shutdown of “nonessential economic activities.” In the second largest metropolitan area in the Americas with 21.6 million people, Mexico City and the neighboring State of Mexico have been the epicenter of the pandemic in the country. Together the two entities have recorded 458,000 cases and 34,700 deaths out of 1.39 million cases and 123,000 deaths confirmed nationwide. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the government has connived with corporations and trade unions to cover up outbreaks in factories and other workplaces. Testing levels are so low that Mexico currently has the highest positivity rate—the percentage of tests that come out positive—in the world at 40.6 percent. Moreover, the year is expected to end with 280,000 excess deaths. The resulting official figures, which greatly minimize the pandemic’s real spread and death toll, are plugged into a formula with 10 indicators to determine each state’s alert and restriction levels under a “semaphore system.” On December 4, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, who leads the pandemic response, provided Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who belongs to López Obrador’s Morena party, a report with lower figures than the official ones. According to documents reported by the New York Times last week, López-Gatell’s report stated that 45 percent of hospital beds with ventilators were occupied, and that the positivity rate was 25 percent in the capital. Official data, however, had shown 59 of these beds occupied and a 35 percent positivity rate. If the official numbers had been used, the semaphore formula would have exceeded the 32-point threshold to activate a red light. When contacted by the Times, the Health Ministry refused to explain the source of the lower numbers. The authorities did not declare the red light in Mexico City until a new report was filed on December 18. “Yet officials kept the capital open for business for an extra two weeks, its streets thronged with shoppers, its restaurants teeming with diners,” the Times reported.
Canada to require negative coronavirus test for air travelers entering country - Canada will require air travelers to present a negative COVID-19 test in order to enter the country, officials announced Wednesday. Travelers coming into Canada by plane will have to get a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours of boarding, which Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said will likely be in place within a week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Canada currently mandates that those who enter the country quarantine for 14 days, which Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said during a press conference would not be affected by the new restrictions. "This is not an alternative to quarantine,” Blair said, according to the CBC. “It's an additional layer.” Blair also countered the calls from some to reduce the 14-day quarantine period, saying “at the current time we should only be considering testing as an additional layer of defense against the illness,” according to Yahoo News. He cited the mandate as Canada’s “most effective line of defense for keeping the illness out of Canada.” Disobedience of the quarantine period could result in up to six months in prison or up to $750,000 in fines. Transport Minister Marc Garneau is expected to reveal more details about the test requirement on Thursday, the network noted. Blair announced that Ottawa was exploring instituting testing at land points of entry to the country. The country has also banned all flights from the U.K. amid the outbreak of a new COVID-19 strain estimated to be more contagious, although Canada has already confirmed cases of the strain within its borders. The restrictions will also follow Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s condemnation of his finance minister’s vacation to the French island of St. Barts over the holidays. Ford called the trip “unacceptable” as the government is requesting people avoid nonessential travel, The Associated Press reported.
“The working conditions are hell”—Ontario allows COVID-19 to run rampant through workplaces - The current surge of COVID-19 infections in Ontario is being driven by major workplace outbreaks that are the direct product of the refusal of governments and big business to take the necessary measures to protect workers on the job. In recent weeks, hundreds of workers have been infected in several major workplace outbreaks, including at a Cargill meatpacking plant in Guelph and four Amazon fulfillment centres in the Peel Region, which lies on the outskirts of Toronto. Cargill revealed on December 17 that 82 workers at its Guelph plant had been infected and that the facility would be temporarily closed. After lecturing workers to remain home for 14 days, Cargill management promptly announced that full production will recommence today, December 29, less than two weeks after the initial shutdown. This reckless decision reflects not just Cargill’s disregard for the health and wellbeing of its workers. It is possible only because Ontario’s Conservative government has refused to impose COVID-19 restrictions on most workplaces (aside from retail outlets), despite new infections reaching record levels. Premier Doug Ford announced a “lockdown” December 21 with so many loopholes that large parts of the economy are continuing to operate. It delayed the beginning of restrictions on social gatherings until December 26, thereby encouraging dangerous levels of social contact over the Christmas holiday. And under Ford’s “lockdown,” all food processing, distribution and delivery, manufacturing, parts supply, and temporary staffing operations are allowed to remain open as usual. Even Ontario’s highly selective official data, which undoubtedly fails to capture the true extent of workplace infections due to the virtual collapse of contact tracing, shows that workplaces are one of the most likely sources of COVID-19 infections. As of December 21, the province had officially recorded 6,242 workplace infections since the beginning of the pandemic, compared to 1,404 in recreational settings like bars and restaurants. Earlier this month, workplaces emerged as the most common setting for new outbreaks in Ontario, surpassing even care homes. As of December 4, workplaces accounted for almost a third of the province’s active COVID-19 outbreaks, a total of 227 out of 773.
Epidemiological and Economic Consequences of Government Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic - OECD economists. VoxEU - Policymakers have faced a crucial trade-off between curbing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and minimising further damage to economic activity. Employing reduced form econometric estimates of the Covid-19 pandemic, this column seeks to quantify the impact of government interventions on disease progression and mobility. It finds that a wide-ranging package of public health policies – including comprehensive testing, tracing and isolation, mask-wearing, and policies directed at vulnerable people in care homes – are crucial to avoid full lockdowns while also containing the spread of the virus. Such policies may, however, need to be complemented by selective containment measures such as restricting large public events and international travel or localised lockdowns.
German high school student: “If we don’t close the schools, no one will!” - Faced with death tolls unseen in Europe since World War II, the Network of Action Committees for Safe Education (Netzwerk der Aktionskomitees für sichere Bildung) in Germany convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to advance the fight for school closures and discuss prospects for a general strike against the politics of mass infection with the coronavirus. “Since our last meeting, the situation has worsened enormously,” Christoph Vandreier, deputy chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (SGP), stated at the outset of the meeting. “Almost 1,000 people a day are now dying in Germany, and according to experts, this figure will continue to rise, driving the health care system to collapse, which in turn will cause many more deaths. Even now, clinics have begun triage.” In this context, the emergence of a mutation of the coronavirus, which initial reports suggest is around 70 percent more contagious, is a deadly warning, said Vandreier. “While thousands have died and 40 percent of the population have lost income, the champagne corks have been popping on the stock exchanges. This situation, in which hundreds of thousands have died, was deliberately brought about politically. It is a result of the policy of opening schools and businesses, pursued in order to secure profits. In fact, outside of retail and hospitality, not a single business has been closed.” All public talk about the current measures qualifying as a “lock-down,” Vandreier concluded, therefore constitutes a fraud: “All these measures are aimed at keeping businesses open and the economy running while 1,000 people a day are dying. And despite the continuing surge in numbers and the mutation in the UK, there’s already discussion about opening schools as soon as possible.” Already, he said, day-care centres and many schools are not in fact closed, but instead serve as “storage facilities” for children so that parents can be forced to work. “The GEW [teachers’ union] spoke out against school closures just days before the so-called lock-down and even ruled out alternate teaching at elementary school.” That is why the work of the action committees is taking on such dire importance, said Vandreier. “We need to prevent schools from reopening in January and we need to organize massive school strikes. Businesses, schools, day-care centres and public transportation are the main drivers of the pandemic and must be shut down immediately. Non-essential production must cease and all workers must continue to receive full pay.”
Germany’s DAX stock index feasts upon mass death - After the holidays, mass deaths continue in Germany and around the world. On Tuesday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 852 coronavirus deaths, and on Wednesday morning a new record number of 1,129. This makes December by far the deadliest month since the beginning of the pandemic. In Germany alone, more than 15,500 people are officially recorded as having died of coronavirus between 1 and 28 December, more than twice as many as in November (6,231 deaths) and April (5,708 deaths). By the end of the year, the death toll will have risen to about 35,000. Such a scale of death is usually only encountered in times of war. Worldwide, almost 1.8 million people have now died from COVID-19, including more than half a million in Europe and about 350,000 in the USA. Since mid-March, an average of more than 6,000 people each day have succumbed to the virus. In the course of World War I, the average number of fallen soldiers per day was about 6,060. The medical situation is dramatic. In hospitals working at full capacity, doctors, nurses and orderlies are desperately trying to keep thousands of patients from dying due to suffocation. Due to the brutal austerity policies of the last decades, there is not only a lack of staff but often also of necessary medical equipment. The social situation can also only be compared to the great crises in the first half of the 20th century.. In Germany, the poverty rate reached an all-time high of 15.9 percent (13.2 million people) last year. The pandemic has further exacerbated social inequality. On the other hand, there is a thin layer at the top of society that has become unbelievably wealthier and are feasting on death and social misery. After peaking on Monday, the German share index (DAX) reached another record high on Tuesday, temporarily exceeding 13,900 points. The closing level of 13,761 points was only about 30 points below Monday’s all-time high (13,790 points). Other German stock indices also set new records on Tuesday: the MDAX reached a new high of 30,912 points, the SDAX 14,766 points. The German stock market has thus not only fully recovered from the interim price slump at the beginning of the pandemic but ended the year with a significant uptick. At the end of 2019, the DAX stood at 13,249 points, meaning an overall increase of almost four percent for 2020. The MDAX rose by more than nine percent and the SDAX by over 18 percent. The stock market bonanza amid the pandemic means the super-rich have further increased their already astronomical fortunes. According to calculations by the consulting firm PwC and the Swiss bank UBS, the total assets of the more than 2,000 dollar-billionaires worldwide had risen to the record value of about €8.7 trillion by the end of July. The sum is more than twice as high as the total annual economic output of Germany (about €3.5 trillion).
Daily deaths near 1,000 as UK Parliament spends day ratifying Brexit treaty - Yesterday was a continuing nightmare for the British population, as another 981 deaths were announced from COVID-19. A further 50,023 new cases of the disease were recorded. These numbers will rise as Scotland and Wales are yet to detail deaths over the Christmas period. But in a world far removed from this death and suffering, Parliament and the House of Lords were engaged in a day long ratification of the Brexit treaty agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government with the European Union (EU). A foregone conclusion, the government won the vote in the House of Commons by 521 to just 73 against, a majority of 448. The Bill was sent to the House of Lords, where it was passed before receiving Royal Assent around midnight. With EU member states already endorsing the treaty, it will be implemented by Brussels and London from 11pm on December 31. Straight after a Commons debate in which all parties and MPs for and against the treaty posed as loyal defenders of the “national interest”, the government confirmed its indifference to the public health catastrophe threatening millions by announcing that all primary school would open as planned on January 4, and all secondary schools would follow —after a meaningless two week delay—on January 18. This is despite the fact that they were forced to take, with the virus raging throughout the country, the token action of placing another 21 million people in England under Tier 4, the highest level of still limited restrictions. The debate on the 85 page European Union (Future Relationship) Bill was in reality over the 1,246-page Brexit deal Johnson signed last week. It was rushed through in just five hours, with under 60 MPs called to speak. Not one had anything to say that did not uphold the interests of the City of London and Britain’s major corporations. Johnson has a parliamentary majority of 80 and Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer had whipped his 200 MPs to back the government. The pro-EU Scottish National Party (47 MPs) and Liberal Democrats (11) and the Democratic Unionist Party (8) voted against but comprised a small minority in the 650-seat chamber. Proceedings were dominated by mutual back slapping from the government benches, with non-stop gloating from its hard Brexit wing. There was mainly a collective sigh of relief from the Labour opposition benches.
Anti-lockdown protest organiser faces £10,000 fine as London enters tier 4 - The organiser of anti-lockdown protests in which five police officers were injured and 29 people were arrested faces a fine of £10,000, the Metropolitan Police have said. The woman was identified as the organiser of the demonstrations in which more than 150 people gathered on Saturday and marched through parts of central London – just as tier 4 restrictions for the capital were being announced. Several clashes occurred between officers and unmasked demonstrators, who chanted “we demand freedom”. The Met said that the protest “endangered the health of Londoners” and that those arrested had been charged with breaching health protection regulations. The force added that three men had also been charged with assaulting an emergency worker. Christmas Fallah, 35, Joss Lillis, 27, and Leon Larose, 28, will appear at a London magistrates’ court in the new year. The majority of the other 26 people arrested were issued with fixed penalty notices for breaching health protection regulations, the Met said.
Boxing Day retail traffic drops 60 percent amid UK pandemic restrictions -Boxing Day retail traffic in the U.K. fell by 60 percent compared with last year, Reuters reported, another effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on the global economy. A researcher from Springboard, a retail and foot traffic analysis company released, its findings on Sunday and attributed the sudden drop to the COVID-19 restrictions currently in place in the U.K. Reuters noted that London and large swaths of east and south England are currently under Tier 4 restrictions, meaning all non-essential retail stores are closed.According to Springboard, foot traffic fell as much as 76 percent in Tier 4 areas of the country. However, even areas with more lenient restrictions saw rather large decreases in traffic, the company noted.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed Tier 4 restrictions, the harshest the country has seen yet, just before the Christmas holiday, tossing out previous plans to lessen the restrictions and allow families to gather. "Residents in those areas must stay at home, apart from limited exemptions set out in law. Nonessential retail, indoor gyms and leisure facilities and personal care services must close. People must work from home if they can but may travel to work if this is not possible," Johnson said when announcing the heightened restrictions.Areas under Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions saw their foot traffic fall by more than 30 percent, Springboard reported, despite being allowed to keep nonessential shops open. Areas under such tiers are required to place restrictions on hospitality venues, Reuters reported.
UK reactivates emergency COVID-19 hospitals, closes London primary schools - (Reuters) - Britain reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London on Friday to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus. With more than 50,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the last four days, the health service said it was preparing for an anticipated rush of patients and needed more beds. The announcement comes just days after the Royal London Hospital told staff in an email it was now in “disaster medicine mode” and unable to provide high standard critical care. With the capital one of the areas worst-hit by the new variant, which is up to 70% more infectious, the government also decided to close all London primary schools, reversing a decision made just two days ago. “Children’s education and wellbeing remains a national priority,” Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said. “Moving further parts of London to remote education really is a last resort and a temporary solution.” Britain is battling a new wave of a virus that has already killed more than 74,000 people and crushed the economy. One of the worst hit countries in the world, it recorded 53,285 cases in the last 24 hours on Friday, and 613 new deaths. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been criticised for frequent reversals during the pandemic, including delaying lockdown during the first wave in March and abandoning a system to award school grades without exams. The temporary ‘Nightingale’ hospitals at locations such as convention centres were one success, built by the military in a matter of days. They were barely used but have remained on standby. A Sky News report said intensive care units of three London hospitals were full on New Year’s Eve, forcing patients to be transferred to other hospitals for critical care.
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