npr--2020-04-17--Coronavirus Latest: Despite Trump's Optimism, There's Still A Long Road To Reopening

Coronavirus Latest : Despite Trump 's Optimism , There 's Still A Long Road To Reopening Touting the federal government 's response to the novel coronavirus , President Trump took something of a victory lap on Thursday , laying out guidelines for a phased `` reopening '' of the country .
Trump boasted during a coronavirus task force briefing that there would be states that could reopen `` immediately '' — as soon as Friday and within a `` few days . ''
After avoiding date targets for most of the briefing , Trump declared at one point , `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set a date of May 1 . ''
The guidelines suggest states with a 14-day `` downward trajectory '' of cases can start to reopen by relaxing their levels of social distancing .
But the guidance does n't address other crucial targets that experts say states need to consider , such as wide-spread testing .
The truth is despite the campaign-like and hopeful title of the briefing — `` Opening up America Again '' — there 's still a very long road ahead for the overwhelming majority of the country .
Consider that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the fewest coronavirus cases make up just 11 % of the U.S. population .
States with the most cases and the largest populations will have to act like mini-countries .
It 's going to produce a patchwork of plans that could wind up looking pretty similar to the red-blue electoral maps , and there are still lots of questions , including : 1 .
How do issues with testing impact governors ' ability to meet the benchmarks laid out in the guidelines ?
Testing remains one of the biggest problems with containing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toward recovery .
Despite Trump 's boasts , testing is still not widespread in the U.S. Not everyone who wants a test can get one .
Only people with symptoms are getting them — and not all of them are — and asymptomatic people are able to spread the disease .
That means no one really knows just how widespread the virus is .
And without a vaccine or known treatment , there 's the risk of more outbreaks .
2 .
Will the reopenings give a false sense of security to rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine — with one at least a year away — a major reason behind stay-at-home orders has been to avoid overwhelming hospitals .
There are fewer than 1 million hospital beds in the United States , New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo noted Thursday , and the strain would be felt even harder in underfunded rural hospitals if outbreaks start to happen in those areas .
The guidelines suggest places that see a re-occurance go back a phase , and Trump said Thursday that if `` hot spots '' arise , he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Again , there 's no vaccine or proven treatment .
3 .
How will employers screen and do contact tracing ?
These guidelines will put more of an onus on employers to do these things , and they 're not health professionals .
How is that going to work in practice ?
And does it create liability that a local small business owner ca n't afford ?
4 .
How will travel work between states in different phases ?
States will likely get to different phases at varying rates .
So , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will this create between states in different phases , and , two , what about travel between those places ?
Until there 's a vaccine or a treatment , there 's no way to be sure there wo n't be flare-ups or outbreaks that could lead to places with few cases , that may have relaxed restrictions , to see unnecessary deaths .
SOURCE : Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center , as of 11 p.m .
ET The briefing in brief : In case you missed it , here are other highlights from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daily briefing : 1 .
Trump 's 180 on authority : Trump is doing an about-face with these guidelines , going from falsely claiming he has `` total '' authority over the states to `` reopen '' the country to now ceding the way forward to governors .
Politically , Trump is setting up a scenario that he hopes is win-win for him — if things go well , he takes the credit ; if they go wrong , he blames the governors .
2 .
Testing still is n't sufficient : Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on testing .
`` We 've done more than South Korea , '' Trump claimed .
`` South Korea 's done a good job , but we 've done more . ''
The U.S. has now tested more Americans when it comes to raw numbers ( 3.4 million versus 546,000 ) , and it is now on par with South Korea per capita .
3 .
More misinformation about what the U.S. knew : Trump continued to claim that the U.S. `` should have been told ... a lot sooner , and people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
People should have talked about this . ''
They were .
Plenty of other countries and world health officials were ringing alarms for months , as Trump was playing it down .
4 .
The path to reopening sports : Trump said that , first , sports would likely be participants-only .
In other words , just the athletes playing each other in games `` made for television . ''
While it will be odd to see games with no fans , TV is where the money 's at .
Trump then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by two seats , for example , before getting back to packed arenas .
5 .
Mixed message to protesters : Asked if protesters who are against strict stay-at-home measures should listen to local officials , Trump did n't say they should and did not criticize them .
Instead , he noted that this has been a `` tough process for these people '' and that `` they want to get back . ''
`` I think they 're listening , '' he added .
`` I think they 're listening to me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undermines local authority and could only stand to encourage more of these kinds of protests and usurping of orders from governors — when people disagree politically with the authorities .
Quote of the briefing : '' I call it a beautiful puzzle .
You have 50 pieces , all very different , but when it 's all done , it 's a mosaic .
When it 's all done , it 's going to be a , I think , a very beautiful picture . ''
-- Trump on the country 's likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It Going To Take To End The Shutdown ?
5 Keys To Containing Coronavirus : There are several steps the country has to take to reopen , as NPR reported Thursday : • Create systems to isolate the sick and protect the vulnerable • Build up hospital capacity and the medical supply chain The virus has put a crippling strain on the nation 's hospitals , and facilities are still largely unprepared for additional spikes in coronavirus patients .
Already , supply shortages have ravaged many hospitals .
On average , one model @ @ @ @ @ @ @ double their intensive care unit and ventilator capacity to care for the most critically ill COVID-19 patients .
Experts say that better systems to separate and isolate known and suspected coronavirus cases will also be critical to containing the virus .
Long Before COVID-19 , Dr. Anthony Fauci 'Changed Medicine In America Forever ' : The White House 's top immunologist on the coronavirus task force has a long , storied history in medical field .
San Francisco Ramps Up Back-To-Basics Contact Tracing To Stop COVID-19 : The first city in the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus pandemic now hopes to test all residents who may have come contact with the virus and convince them to self-quarantine for 14 days .
After 7 Months In Space , Meir Will Return To A Very Different World : If you have n't been affected by coronavirus , you must have been in outer space or something .
For astronaut Jessica Meir , that 's exactly the case .
She 'll return to planet Earth Friday after seven months in space , coming home to a starkly different reality .

Coronavirus Latest: Despite Trump's Optimism, There's Still A Long Road To Reopening
Enlarge this image toggle caption Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
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Touting the federal government's response to the novel coronavirus, President Trump took something of a victory lap on Thursday, laying out guidelines for a phased "reopening" of the country.
Trump boasted during a coronavirus task force briefing that there would be states that could reopen "immediately" — as early as Friday and within a "few days." After avoiding date targets for most of the briefing, Trump declared at one point, "We're beating the date. I set a date of May 1."
The guidelines suggest that states with a 14-day "downward trajectory" of cases can start to reopen by relaxing their levels of social distancing. But the guidance doesn't address other crucial targets that experts say states need to consider, such as widespread testing.
Despite the campaignlike and hopeful title of the briefing — "Opening up America Again" — there's still a very long road ahead for the overwhelming majority of the country. Consider that the 20 states, including D.C., with the fewest coronavirus cases make up just 11% of the U.S. population.
States with the most cases and the largest populations will have to act like mini-countries. It's going to produce a patchwork of plans that could wind up looking pretty similar to the red-blue electoral maps, and there are still lots of questions.
1. How do issues with testing impact governors' ability to meet the benchmarks laid out in the guidelines?
Testing remains one of the biggest problems with containing the coronavirus and allowing places to move toward recovery. Despite Trump's boasts, testing is still not widespread in the U.S. Not everyone who wants a test can get one. Only people with symptoms are getting them — and not all of them are — and asymptomatic people are able to spread the disease. That means no one really knows just how widespread the virus is. And without a vaccine or known treatment, there's the risk of more outbreaks.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images
2. Will the reopenings give a false sense of security to rural places?
Given the lack of a vaccine — with one at least a year away — a major reason behind stay-at-home orders has been to avoid overwhelming hospitals. There are fewer than 1 million hospital beds in the United States, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo noted Thursday, and the strain would be felt even harder in underfunded rural hospitals if outbreaks start to happen in those areas.
The guidelines suggest that places that see a re-occurence go back a phase, and Trump said Thursday that if "hot spots" arise, he would "whack" them. But how? Again, there's no vaccine or proven treatment.
3. How will employers screen and do contact tracing?
These guidelines will put more of an onus on employers to do these things, and they're not health professionals. How is that going to work in practice? And does it create liability that a local small business owner can't afford?
4. How will travel work between states in different phases?
States will likely get to different phases at varying rates. So, how much of a gap will this create between states in different phases? And what about travel between those places? Until there's a vaccine or a treatment, there's no way to be sure there won't be flare-ups or outbreaks that could lead to places with few cases, which may have relaxed restrictions, seeing unnecessary deaths.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The briefing in brief
In case you missed it, here are other highlights from the White House coronavirus task force's daily briefing.
1. Trump's 180 on authority: Trump is doing an about-face with these guidelines, going from falsely claiming he has "total" authority over the states to "reopen" the country to now ceding the way forward to governors. Politically, Trump is setting up a scenario that he hopes is win-win for him — if things go well, he takes the credit; if they go wrong, he blames the governors.
2. Testing still isn't sufficient: Trump loves comparing the U.S. to South Korea on testing. "We've done more than South Korea," Trump claimed. "South Korea's done a good job, but we've done more." The U.S. has now tested more Americans when it comes to raw numbers (3.4 million versus 546,000), and it is now on par with South Korea per capita.
But South Korea did its testing much earlier. The U.S. got a late start, leading to a steeper rise in cases, and no matter what the U.S. does from here on out, it can't change that.
3. More misinformation about what the U.S. knew: Trump continued to claim that the U.S. "should have been told ... a lot sooner, and people didn't want to talk about it. People should have talked about this." It was. And they did. Plenty of other countries and world health officials were ringing alarms for months as Trump was playing it down.
4. The path to reopening sports: Trump said that at first, sports would likely be participants-only. In other words, just the athletes playing each other in games "made for television." While it will be odd to see games with no fans, TV is where the money's at. Trump then noted that fans may be reintegrated separated by two seats, for example, before getting back to packed arenas.
5. Mixed message to protesters: Asked whether protesters who are against strict stay-at-home measures should listen to local officials, Trump didn't say they should and did not criticize them. Instead, he noted that this has been a "tough process for these people" and that "they want to get back."
"I think they're listening," he added. "I think they're listening to me."
That kind of message completely undermines local authority and could only stand to encourage more of these kinds of protests and usurping of orders from governors — when people disagree politically with the authorities.
Quote of the briefing
"I call it a beautiful puzzle. You have 50 pieces, all very different, but when it's all done, it's a mosaic. When it's all done, it's going to be a, I think, a very beautiful picture."
— President Trump, on the country's likely patchwork path to reopening
Read more
Enlarge this image toggle caption Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
What's It Going To Take To End The Shutdown? 5 Keys To Containing Coronavirus: There are several steps the country has to take to reopen, as NPR reported Thursday:
Dramatically expand rapid testing. Massively upgrade contact tracing capacity. Identify effective treatments. Create systems to isolate the sick and protect the vulnerable. Build up hospital capacity and the medical supply chain.
The virus has put a crippling strain on the nation's hospitals, and facilities are still largely unprepared for additional spikes in coronavirus patients. Already, supply shortages have ravaged many hospitals.
On average, one model suggests that hospitals will need to double their intensive care unit and ventilator capacity to care for the most critically ill COVID-19 patients. Experts say that better systems to separate and isolate known and suspected coronavirus cases will also be critical to containing the virus.
Long Before COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci 'Changed Medicine In America Forever': The White House's top immunologist on the coronavirus task force has a long, storied history in the medical field.
San Francisco Ramps Up Back-To-Basics Contact Tracing To Stop COVID-19: The first city in the country to implement a stay-at-home order in the coronavirus pandemic now hopes to test all residents who may have come in contact with the virus and persuade them to self-quarantine for 14 days.
After 7 Months In Space, Meir Will Return To A Very Different World: If you haven't been affected by the coronavirus, you must have been in outer space or something. For astronaut Jessica Meir, that's exactly the case. She'll return to planet Earth on Friday after seven months in space, coming home to a starkly different reality.
NPR's Alana Wise contributed to this report.


npr--2020-04-17--Deep Sea Squid Communicate by Glowing Like E-Readers

Deep in the Pacific Ocean , six-foot-long Humboldt squid are known for being aggressive , cannibalistic and , according to new research , good communicators .
Known as `` red devils , '' the squid can rapidly change the color of their skin , making different patterns to communicate , something other squid species are known to do .
But Humboldt squid live in almost total darkness more than 1,000 feet below the surface , so their patterns are n't very visible .
Instead , according to a new study , they create backlighting for the patterns by making their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an e-reader .
`` Right now , what blows my mind is there 's probably squid talking to each other in the deep ocean and they 're probably sharing all sorts of cool information , '' said Ben Burford , a graduate student at Stanford University .
Humboldt squid crowd together in large , fast-moving groups to feed on small fish and other prey .
`` When you watch them it looks like frenzy , '' Burford said .
`` But if you pay close attention , they 're not touching each other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other . ''
Burford and his colleagues studied deep-water footage taken by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute 's remotely operated vehicles off the California coast .
They found the squid make around 30 different patterns of lines , stripes and patches .
The patterns appear dark , but researchers believe they 're illuminated by the squid 's bioluminescent skin .
`` Animals can make their own light in dark habitats , '' he said .
`` The squid have clusters of light producing cells .
They radiate light within the body tissue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only used around other squid , suggesting they 're used for communication .
The squid also appear to reorder the patterns , almost like words in a sentence .
`` That 's really exciting because then you can say a whole lot more based on their arrangement , '' Burford said .
`` So , they could for instance say : hey , that fish over there is mine , and I 'm the dominant squid . ''
The finding could change the way scientists think about bioluminescence , which is used by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or attracting a mate .
`` We generally think of deep-sea stuff as having very simple displays because it 's a low-light environment , '' said Mike Vecchione , a zoologist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the National Museum of Natural History .
`` This turns some of our ideas about bioluminescence almost around upside-down . ''
The deep ocean is a challenging place to study , so Vecchione said there may be much more complexity to discover .
`` Most of our planet is deep sea , '' he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know much about it at all . ''

Deep Sea Squid Communicate by Glowing Like E-Readers
Enlarge this image toggle caption MBARI MBARI
Deep in the Pacific Ocean, six-foot-long Humboldt squid are known for being aggressive, cannibalistic and, according to new research, good communicators.
Known as "red devils," the squid can rapidly change the color of their skin, making different patterns to communicate, something other squid species are known to do.
But Humboldt squid live in almost total darkness more than 1,000 feet below the surface, so their patterns aren't very visible. Instead, according to a new study, they create backlighting for the patterns by making their bodies glow, like the screen of an e-reader.
"Right now, what blows my mind is there's probably squid talking to each other in the deep ocean and they're probably sharing all sorts of cool information," said Ben Burford, a graduate student at Stanford University.
Humboldt squid crowd together in large, fast-moving groups to feed on small fish and other prey.
"When you watch them it looks like frenzy," Burford said. "But if you pay close attention, they're not touching each other. They're not bumping into each other."
Scientists used deepwater footage of Humboldt squid to study the changing patterns on their skin. MBARI YouTube
Burford and his colleagues studied deep-water footage taken by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's remotely operated vehicles off the California coast. They found the squid make around 30 different patterns of lines, stripes and patches. The patterns appear dark, but researchers believe they're illuminated by the squid's bioluminescent skin.
"Animals can make their own light in dark habitats," he said. "The squid have clusters of light producing cells. They radiate light within the body tissue."
Some of the patterns are only used around other squid, suggesting they're used for communication. The squid also appear to reorder the patterns, almost like words in a sentence.
"That's really exciting because then you can say a whole lot more based on their arrangement," Burford said. "So, they could for instance say: hey, that fish over there is mine, and I'm the dominant squid."
The finding could change the way scientists think about bioluminescence, which is used by many deep sea animals for luring prey or attracting a mate.
"We generally think of deep-sea stuff as having very simple displays because it's a low-light environment," said Mike Vecchione, a zoologist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the National Museum of Natural History. "This turns some of our ideas about bioluminescence almost around upside-down."
The deep ocean is a challenging place to study, so Vecchione said there may be much more complexity to discover.
"Most of our planet is deep sea," he said, "and we don't know much about it at all."


npr--2020-04-17--Did Gender Keep Democratic Women From Winning The Primary?

Did Gender Keep Democratic Women From Winning The Primary ?
Elizabeth Warren has now fully thrown her support behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the presidential race .
She 's even said , without question , that she would serve as his vice president .
It 's been a little over a month since Warren dropped out of the race .
At the time , only Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders , two older white men , were left as the viable candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination , highlighting that the Democratic Party would not diversify the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And yet , the Democratic Party had its most diverse candidates of all time this cycle , including the largest group of women ever .
That six-woman wave of candidates came after four years of buildup – years that featured Democratic women getting mad , getting organized , getting on the ballot and getting elected in record numbers in 2018 .
And Democrats sure seemed excited about women in the abstract : As of November , 83 % of Democrats said they were `` enthusiastic '' about voting for a woman .
Only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' about white men .
But then , it was never assured , or even widely assumed , that a woman would win the nomination .
Biden and Sanders went into the race with high name recognition among Democrats and significant bases of support , whether among party activists or the establishment .
And as it turned out , the race came down to those two white men .
So ... what happened ?
Gender was definitely a factor in this year 's Democratic primaries .
How could it not be after what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four years ?
But the ways in which attitudes about gender impacted the outcome are varied , and of course more than a bit complicated .
What we know : Democrats ' electability `` freak out '' When Elizabeth Warren bowed out , she was explicit in calling out sexism .
`` If you say , 'Yeah , there was sexism in this race , ' everyone says , 'Whiner ! '
'' Warren said .
`` If you say , 'No , there was no sexism , ' about a bazillion women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on ? '
'' I 've spent more than a year asking voters about gender and sexism in this presidential race , and I can say with confidence that Democratic voters who do n't want to vote for a woman ( or , at least , who will say such a thing out loud ) are rare to nonexistent .
In a January Ipsos/USA Today poll , 84 % of people who planned to vote in Democratic primaries said they agreed with the statement that they 'd be `` comfortable with a woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 6 potential voters in another category .
That group includes the 5 % who said they disagreed .
Perhaps 5 % is a sliver , but especially in tight primaries it is meaningful if 1 in 20 voters are biased against the women candidates .
( Furthermore , there is the question of what the other 11 % of voters meant when they said they `` neither agree nor disagree . ''
) And then there 's this : Only 33 % of likely voters of any party said they thought their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president .
This is something that many journalists ( myself included ) heard over and over in interviews with voters – not sexism itself driving voters ' choices , but fears about other people 's sexism .
`` I have a friend at work — she 's like , 'You 're not progressive . '
She thinks that I do n't want a woman president , '' Anita Burgess told NPR in March 2019 .
`` I do !
But I do n't think they 're going to do it !
And so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , because we have to get the orange man out .
I 'm sorry — orange man got to go , '' she said , mocking President Trump 's appearance .
And that feeling persisted in the Democratic electorate through the primaries .
`` I really like Elizabeth Warren , but I just do n't think a woman is going to win this election , unfortunately , '' UCLA student Brook Rosenberg told NPR as she stood in line to vote in California 's primary .
`` Also , I do n't want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Polling showed how widespread this fear was .
In that January poll , 50 % of people who planned to vote in the Democratic primaries said they agreed that a woman would have a tougher time running against Trump than a man .
Half as many — 24 % — disagreed .
It 's important to keep in mind that while a wide field of women candidates is a relatively new phenomenon , this kind of amateur political strategizing is nothing new .
`` The Democrats always freak out about electability , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Schroeder told me ( with a heavy sigh ) in December .
`` I mean , I remember every single primary , everybody starts , [ gasp ] 'Who are we going to get ? '
'' `` Of course , '' she added , `` this year , we 're having a bigger freak-out than normal just because people are so obsessed about , 'How do we get rid of Trump ? '
'' It 's not just that Democrats desperately want to unseat Trump , though .
For some voters , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman lost in 2016 , but that this man won – someone with a track record of insulting and objectifying women , who also has a long list of sexual misconduct claims against him ( all of which he denies ) – is a sign of how much sexism their fellow voters are willing to put up with .
`` I do n't think it 's right , but I think that the fact that we have the person in the White House that we do , it is evidence that the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman , '' New Hampshire voter Patti Rutka told me in March 2019 .
Or as Mother Jones ' Pema Levy more pithily opined , `` Trump 's greatest trick was convincing voters women ca n't win elections . ''
And so , as Democratic organizer Karine Jean-Pierre explains it , voters thought about who seemed like they could be president .
`` They 're thinking , 'We have to beat Donald Trump .
What 's the best way to do it ? '
'' she said .
`` OK. Maybe someone who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been the closest to being presidential , if you think about being a vice president , being the number two to the president being in the Oval Office , having all of those visuals . ''
On the Democratic side , Biden has grappled with gender in ways that have disappointed some feminists .
Early in his campaign , multiple women accused him of invading their personal space .
He eventually apologized ... around the same time that he joked about the matter on stage at a campaign event .
In addition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently about a more serious allegation against the former Vice President .
Biden also reported early in 2019 that he had apologized to Anita Hill for her treatment when she accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in his Senate confirmation hearings .
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time , Biden chaired those hearings .
Hill told the New York Times that she did n't feel Biden had apologized to her for his own role in her treatment .
`` I can not be satisfied by simply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what happened to you , ' '' she said .
`` I will be satisfied when I know that there is real change and real accountability and real purpose . ''
Here 's one more thing we know : that higher levels of sexism were associated with a greater likelihood of supporting Biden and Sanders , as well as a lower likelihood of supporting Warren .
Political scientist Brian Schaffner attempted to measure sexism by having pollsters ask Democrats if they agreed with phrases including `` women are too easily offended '' and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all that men do for them . ''
In a separate interview , pollsters asked those same people whom they preferred in the primary .
`` There is a very strong relationship between how people responded to the questions that are meant to measure sexism and whether they were likely to vote for Elizabeth Warren , '' Schaffner said .
`` And it was the least-sexist Democratic voters who supported her the most .
But her support dropped off very quickly among those who registered higher levels of sexism . ''
Schaffner found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – that there was an association between sexism , as he defined it , as well as racism – and voting for Trump .
But he says that these associations mean something different in a Democratic primary .
`` In a primary election , you take party out of the equation , '' he said .
`` You have a bunch of candidates who have very similar positions who are running against each other .
And people tend to rely on what they can , that differentiates these candidates who otherwise look fairly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ definitely one of those things . ''
Furthermore , while Schaffner found this correlation – and , to be clear , attempted to control for a range of factors , like ideology – his study does n't mean that a bunch of voters walked into the voting booth with straightforwardly sexist ideas driving their votes .
He recognizes that the relationship is subtler .
`` I think a lot of this plays at a subconscious level for voters , '' he said .
`` They may not be really aware that the things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Warren are actually things that would n't bother them if it was a man doing the same things . ''
The presidency may be different But then , hold on .
We do know that women candidates often do just fine at winning races – in fact , studies show that women congressional candidates win at roughly the same rates as men do .
( `` When women run , they win , '' is a common refrain among groups that work to elect more women . )
One possibility , as Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is that voters treat the presidency differently from other offices .
`` Voters are very , very willing to send women , younger candidates , people of color , LGBTQ candidates to Congress , '' she said .
`` But for president or executive office in general , we know from the data that people are much , much more cautious and tend to second-guess themselves much more . ''
In addition , there 's evidence that women face a `` performance premium '' in running for office – that , yes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to men at the congressional level , but that they have to be better candidates to do it .
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said something to this effect at the November debate , contrasting the women candidates to the then-37-year-old South Bend , Ind.
, Mayor Pete Buttigieg : `` Do I think that we would be standing on that stage if we had the experience that he had ?
No , I do n't .
Maybe we 're held to a different standard . ''
Of course , it 's impossible to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular candidate is more successful because they 're a man ( or less so because they 're a woman ) .
But there was another memorable debate line , this one from Warren , that threw this into relief .
At a January debate , Warren noted that she and Klobuchar were the only two candidates on stage who had never lost a race .
In addition , New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and California Sen. Kamala Harris had never lost an election until this year 's primaries , either .
It is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president with a loss or two on one 's record .
But this cycle , America only saw competitive women candidates with long resumes and perfect down-ballot records .
Knowing exactly how much gender played into voters ' decisions this year may never be possible because it 's so deeply mixed into how people think .
`` We know that what 's really happening in most cases is gender is informing a lot of the different aspects or predictors of a candidate 's success , '' says Kelly Dittmar , professor at Rutgers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Politics .
`` And so to try to pinpoint how much sexism mattered becomes much more difficult .
Instead , I try to think about it as , what are the ways in which gender shapes the dynamics of the race ? ''
Dittmar uses Kamala Harris as an example : When she dropped out , the California senator said one reason was that she did n't have enough money to carry on .
`` Was that solely because she was a woman or because she was a black woman ?
No .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in terms of the strength of support for her candidacy , '' Dittmar said .
`` But were gender and race and the interaction of those things probably a factor in how much she was able to gain support , interaction with donors ?
That 's very likely . ''
Jean-Pierre also evidence of a higher standard in Harris ' rise and fall .
`` She started off with 20,000 people at her at her rally in Oakland .
She raised tons of money very early on , and she never made it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to certain early states , '' Jean-Pierre said .
`` I do believe that there is just a different way that women are treated .
There is a different way that women of color are treated .
And there are these barriers that are so much higher that they have to jump over and cross . ''
Of course , no candidate lost purely because of their identity ( just as Biden did n't win purely because of his ) .
Voters raised substantive questions of all of the women candidates in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prosecutor angered some progressives .
Klobuchar was too moderate for some progressives , and she also faced allegations that she was abusive to her staff .
Gillibrand has swung from moderate positions to progressive ones during her career .
Warren 's early answers on how she would pay for `` Medicare for All '' struck some as evasive .
But it 's possible that women were punished more for these things than men would have been .
`` I think it 's compatible to think both that it was sexist and that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' says Kate Manne , Cornell University philosophy professor and author of Down Girl : The Logic of Misogyny .
`` And here , it 's not that the criticism is illegitimate because it 's sexist .
It 's that we 're soft-pedaling the criticism , albeit unwittingly , when it comes to a male counterpart who 's done something very , very similar . ''
The comparison between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on paying for Medicare for All is an excellent example of just how difficult it is to tell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
On the one hand , Sanders put forth a list of funding options , but never came out with an exact way to pay for his own Medicare for All plan .
Warren , meanwhile , faced heavy scrutiny over how she would pay for his plan , which she backed .
To Manne , that is plainly unfair .
`` Reasonable minds can disagree about whether her plan for implementing Medicare for All was a good plan , '' she said .
`` [ But ] it 's kind of remarkable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of her plan while his non-plan played much better . ''
Then again , Warren had made `` having a plan for that '' her brand .
So one could also argue that she naturally had additional expectations here .
But on top of that , there 's another potential layer : was Warren forced to run as the hyper-competent , plan-for-everything candidate because she 's a woman ?
Or , put another way : could a woman candidate run as a revolutionary , the way Sanders did , and get as far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be one white , straight man versus another white , straight man .
But that does n't mean gender , as well as other parts of a candidate 's identity , is no longer a factor , Dittmar points out .
`` The more that you see candidates move away from simply masculinity as the sort of measure by which president reality is determined right or valued , we see that then leads to hopefully some progress in which women do n't have a distinct set of challenges , '' she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strategist Mark Penn wrote for Hillary Clinton 's first presidential run , in which he warned her against being seen as too soft and nurturing : `` [ Voters ] do not want someone who would be the first mama ...
But there is a yearning for a kind of tough single parent . ''
These conversations have largely centered around the Democratic Party , which has had more — and more successful — women presidential candidates than Republicans have .
And when Republicans do have another opportunity to nominate a woman , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ women .
That 's because Democratic voters tend to be more receptive than Republican voters to identity-based campaigning .
In 2018 , and again in the 2020 Democratic presidential field , women ran more firmly as women , with more overtly feminist messages tailored to speak to women 's experiences .
Warren 's story of struggling to find childcare as a law student was a standby on the stump .
Similarly , Klobuchar told voters the story of being kicked out of the hospital 24 hours after giving birth .
However , Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on multiple presidential campaigns , including Michele Bachmann 's in 2012 , says that it 's nevertheless telling that her party has yet to nominate a woman .
`` I truly believe Republicans will say gender does n't matter : ' I would vote for the person based on their qualifications , whereas others might say gender is a factor . '
But they evidently are not following through with that , '' she said .
Even if a woman will not win the presidency this year , the 2020 field represented progress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candidates finding a range of ways to be themselves on the trail .
And progress could still come from the men in the race , Dittmar adds .
`` I think it 's just important to remember that the gender dynamics of the race are still very much at play , '' she said .
`` And so in terms of the value we place on masculinity , it 's something for us all to be continually evaluating with the men who are left .
How do they navigate gender ? ''
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's opponent is someone who weaponizes masculinity in his campaigning .
Biden has done so himself on occasion – `` If we were in high school , I 'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him , '' he said of Trump in 2018 .
Women candidates also are n't out of this campaign yet : Biden has promised to put a woman on the ticket with him .
Were Biden to win the presidency , that woman would be the highest-ranking female elected official in American history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slower than some Democrats would have hoped .

Did Gender Keep Democratic Women From Winning The Presidential Primary?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Meg Kinnard/AP Meg Kinnard/AP
Elizabeth Warren has now fully thrown her support behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the presidential race. She has even said, without question, that she would serve as his vice president.
It has been a little over a month since Warren dropped out of the race. At the time, only Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, two older white men, were left as the viable candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, highlighting that the Democratic Party would not diversify the top of the ticket this year.
The party had had its most diverse set of candidates of all time this cycle, including the largest group of women ever. That six-woman wave of candidates came after four years of buildup – years that featured Democratic women getting mad, getting organized, getting on the ballot and getting elected in record numbers in 2018.
And Democrats sure seemed excited about women in the abstract: As of November, 83% of Democrats said they were "enthusiastic" about voting for a woman. Only 53% said they were "enthusiastic" about white men.
But then, it was never assured, or even widely assumed, that a woman would win the nomination. Biden and Sanders went into the race with high name recognition among Democrats and with significant bases of support, whether among party activists or the establishment.
And as it turned out, the race came down to those two white men. So ... what happened? Gender was definitely a factor in this year's Democratic primaries. How could it not be after what the party has seen over the past four years? But the ways in which attitudes about gender impacted the outcome are varied and, of course, more than a bit complicated.
What we know: Democrats' electability "freakout"
When Warren bowed out, she was explicit in calling out sexism.
"If you say, 'Yeah, there was sexism in this race,' everyone says, 'Whiner!' " Warren said. "If you say, 'No, there was no sexism,' about a bazillion women think, 'What planet do you live on?' "
I've spent more than a year asking voters about gender and sexism in this presidential race, and I can say with confidence that Democratic voters who don't want to vote for a woman (or, at least, who will say such a thing out loud) are rare to nonexistent.
In a January Ipsos/USA Today poll, 84% of people who planned to vote in Democratic primaries said they agreed with the statement that they would be "comfortable with a woman president."
But that leaves 1 in 6 potential voters in another category. That group includes the 5% who said they disagreed.
Perhaps 5% is a sliver, but especially in tight primaries, it is meaningful if 1 in 20 voters are biased against the female candidates. (Furthermore, there is the question of what the other 11% of voters meant when they said they "neither agree nor disagree.")
And then there's this: Only 33% of likely voters of any party said they thought their neighbors would be comfortable with a female president.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
This is something that many journalists (myself included) heard over and over in interviews with voters – not sexism itself driving voters' choices, but fears about other people's sexism.
"I have a friend at work — she's like, 'You're not progressive.' She thinks that I don't want a woman president," Anita Burgess told NPR in March 2019. "I do! But I don't think they're going to do it! And so I can't waste my vote either, because we have to get the orange man out. I'm sorry — orange man got to go," she said, mocking President Trump's appearance.
And that feeling persisted in the Democratic electorate through the primaries.
"I really like Elizabeth Warren, but I just don't think a woman is going to win this election, unfortunately," UCLA student Brook Rosenberg told NPR as she stood in line to vote in California's primary. "Also, I don't want Trump to tear her down."
Polling showed how widespread this fear was. In that January poll, 50% of people who planned to vote in the Democratic primaries said they agreed that a woman would have a tougher time running against Trump than a man. Half as many — 24% — disagreed.
It's important to keep in mind that while a wide field of female candidates is a relatively new phenomenon, this kind of amateur political strategizing is nothing new.
"The Democrats always freak out about electability," former presidential contender and Democratic Rep. Pat Schroeder told me (with a heavy sigh) in December. "I mean, I remember every single primary, everybody starts, [gasp] 'Who are we going to get?'"
"Of course," she added, "this year, we're having a bigger freakout than normal just because people are so obsessed about, 'How do we get rid of Trump?'"
It's not just that Democrats desperately want to unseat Trump, though. For some voters, the very fact not just that a woman lost in 2016, but that this man won – someone with a track record of insulting and objectifying women, who also has a long list of sexual misconduct claims against him (all of which he denies) – is a sign of how much sexism their fellow voters are willing to put up with.
"I don't think it's right, but I think that the fact that we have the person in the White House that we do, it is evidence that the country is not quite totally ready for a woman," New Hampshire voter Patti Rutka told me in March 2019.
Or as Mother Jones' Pema Levy more pithily opined, "Trump's greatest trick was convincing voters women can't win elections."
And so, as Democratic organizer Karine Jean-Pierre explains it, voters thought about who seemed like they could be president.
"They're thinking, 'We have to beat Donald Trump. What's the best way to do it?'" she said. "OK. Maybe someone who is of his age, someone who has been the closest to being presidential, if you think about being a vice president, being the No. 2 to the president being in the Oval Office, having all of those visuals."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images
On the Democratic side, Biden has grappled with gender in ways that have disappointed some feminists. Early in his campaign, multiple women accused him of invading their personal space. He eventually apologized ... around the same time that he joked about the matter onstage at a campaign event.
In addition, some news outlets have reported more recently about a more serious allegation against the former vice president.
Biden also reported early in 2019 that he had apologized to Anita Hill for her treatment when she accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in his Senate confirmation hearings. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, Biden chaired those hearings.
Hill told The New York Times that she didn't feel Biden had apologized to her for his own role in her treatment.
"I cannot be satisfied by simply saying, 'I'm sorry for what happened to you,' " she said. "I will be satisfied when I know that there is real change and real accountability and real purpose."
The "hostile sexism" factor
Here's one more thing we know: that higher levels of sexism were associated with a greater likelihood of supporting Biden and Sanders, as well as a lower likelihood of supporting Warren.
Political scientist Brian Schaffner attempted to measure sexism by having pollsters ask Democrats if they agreed with phrases including "women are too easily offended" and "most women fail to appreciate fully all that men do for them." In a separate interview, pollsters asked those same people whom they preferred in the primary.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
"There is a very strong relationship between how people responded to the questions that are meant to measure sexism and whether they were likely to vote for Elizabeth Warren," Schaffner said. "And it was the least-sexist Democratic voters who supported her the most. But her support dropped off very quickly among those who registered higher levels of sexism."
Schaffner found something similar in the 2016 general election – that there was an association between sexism, as he defined it, as well as racism – and voting for Trump. But he says that these associations mean something different in a Democratic primary.
"In a primary election, you take party out of the equation," he said. "You have a bunch of candidates who have very similar positions who are running against each other. And people tend to rely on what they can, that differentiates these candidates who otherwise look fairly similar to them. And gender is definitely one of those things."
Furthermore, while Schaffner found this correlation – and, to be clear, attempted to control for a range of factors, like ideology – his study doesn't mean that a bunch of voters walked into the voting booth with straightforwardly sexist ideas driving their votes. He recognizes that the relationship is subtler.
"I think a lot of this plays at a subconscious level for voters," he said. "They may not be really aware that the things that they think grate on them about Warren are actually things that wouldn't bother them if it was a man doing the same things."
The presidency may be different
But then, hold on. We do know that female candidates often do just fine at winning races — in fact, studies show that female congressional candidates win at roughly the same rates as men do. ("When women run, they win" is a common refrain among groups that work to elect more women.)
One possibility, as Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told NPR last year, is that voters treat the presidency different from other offices.
"Voters are very, very willing to send women, younger candidates, people of color, LGBTQ candidates to Congress," she said. "But for president or executive office in general, we know from the data that people are much, much more cautious and tend to second-guess themselves much more."
In addition, there's evidence that women face a "performance premium" in running for office — that, yes, they may win at similar rates to men at the congressional level, but that they have to be better candidates to do it.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said something to this effect at the November debate, contrasting the female candidates to the then-37-year-old South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg: "Do I think that we would be standing on that stage if we had the experience that he had? No, I don't. Maybe we're held to a different standard."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Of course, it's impossible to know on an individual basis whether any particular candidate is more successful because they're a man (or less so because they're a woman).
But there was another memorable debate line, this one from Warren, that threw this into relief. At a January debate, Warren noted that she and Klobuchar were the only two candidates onstage who had never lost a race.
In addition, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and California Sen. Kamala Harris had never lost an election until this year's primaries, either.
It is, of course, possible to become president with a loss or two on one's record. But this cycle, America only saw competitive female candidates with long resumes and perfect down-ballot records.
Unanswered questions
Knowing exactly how much gender played into voters' decisions this year may never be possible because it's so deeply mixed into how people think.
"We know that what's really happening in most cases is gender is informing a lot of the different aspects or predictors of a candidate's success," says Kelly Dittmar, professor at Rutgers University's Center on American Women and Politics. "And so to try to pinpoint how much sexism mattered becomes much more difficult. Instead, I try to think about it as, 'What are the ways in which gender shapes the dynamics of the race?' "
Dittmar uses Kamala Harris as an example: When she dropped out, the California senator said one reason was that she didn't have enough money to carry on.
"Was that solely because she was a woman or because she was a black woman? No. There were other challenges at play, in terms of the strength of support for her candidacy," Dittmar said. "But were gender and race and the interaction of those things probably a factor in how much she was able to gain support, interaction with donors? That's very likely."
Jean-Pierre also evidence of a higher standard in Harris' rise and fall.
"She started off with 20,000 people at her at her rally in Oakland. She raised tons of money very early on, and she never made it to Iowa. She never made it to certain early states," Jean-Pierre said. "I do believe that there is just a different way that women are treated. There is a different way that women of color are treated. And there are these barriers that are so much higher that they have to jump over and cross."
Of course, no candidate lost purely because of their identity (just as Biden didn't win purely because of his). Voters raised substantive questions of all of the female candidates in this race: Harris' record as a prosecutor angered some progressives. Klobuchar was too moderate for some progressives, and she also faced allegations that she was abusive to her staff. Gillibrand has swung from moderate positions to progressive ones during her career. Warren's early answers on how she would pay for "Medicare for All" struck some as evasive.
But it's possible that women were punished more for these things than men would have been.
"I think it's compatible to think both that it was sexist and that there's really some substance to those criticisms," says Kate Manne, Cornell University philosophy professor and author of Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. "And here, it's not that the criticism is illegitimate because it's sexist. It's that we're soft-pedaling the criticism, albeit unwittingly, when it comes to a male counterpart who's done something very, very similar."
The comparison between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on paying for Medicare for All is an excellent example of just how difficult it is to tell what was driving voter attitudes and expectations.
Enlarge this image toggle caption AFP Contributor/AFP via Getty Images AFP Contributor/AFP via Getty Images
On the one hand, Sanders put forth a list of funding options, but never came out with an exact way to pay for his own Medicare for All plan. Warren, meanwhile, faced heavy scrutiny over how she would pay for his plan, which she backed. To Manne, that is plainly unfair.
"Reasonable minds can disagree about whether her plan for implementing Medicare for All was a good plan," she said. "[But] it's kind of remarkable that she got lambasted for the content of her plan while his non-plan played much better."
Then again, Warren had made "having a plan for that" her brand. So one could also argue that she naturally had additional expectations here.
But on top of that, there's another potential layer: Was Warren forced to run as the hypercompetent, plan-for-everything candidate because she's a woman? Or, put another way: Could a woman candidate run as a revolutionary, the way Sanders did, and get as far as he did?
Gender still matters
The presidential race will be one white, straight man versus another white, straight man. But that doesn't mean gender, as well as other parts of a candidate's identity, is no longer a factor, Dittmar points out.
"The more that you see candidates move away from simply masculinity as the sort of measure by which presidentiality is determined or valued, we see that then leads to hopefully some progress in which women don't have a distinct set of challenges," she said.
She points to a 2006 memo strategist Mark Penn wrote for Hillary Clinton's first presidential run, in which he warned her against being seen as too soft and nurturing: "[Voters] do not want someone who would be the first mama... But there is a yearning for a kind of tough single parent."
These conversations have largely centered on the Democratic Party, which has had more — and more successful — female presidential candidates than Republicans have.
And when Republicans do have another opportunity to nominate a woman, those women might run differently than Democratic women. That's because Democratic voters tend to be more receptive than Republican voters to identity-based campaigning.
In 2018, and again in the 2020 Democratic presidential field, women ran more firmly as women, with more overtly feminist messages tailored to speak to women's experiences. Warren's story of struggling to find child care as a law student was a standby on the stump. Similarly, Klobuchar told voters the story of being kicked out of the hospital 24 hours after giving birth.
However, Republican strategist Alice Stewart, who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns, including Michele Bachmann's in 2012, says that it's nevertheless telling that her party has yet to nominate a woman.
"I truly believe Republicans will say gender doesn't matter: 'I would vote for the person based on their qualifications, whereas others might say gender is a factor.' But they evidently are not following through with that," she said.
Even though a woman will not win the presidency this year, the 2020 field represented progress, with a diverse range of female candidates finding a range of ways to be themselves on the trail.
And progress could still come from the men in the race, Dittmar adds.
"I think it's just important to remember that the gender dynamics of the race are still very much at play," she said. "And so in terms of the value we place on masculinity, it's something for us all to be continually evaluating with the men who are left. How do they navigate gender?"
The question is doubly relevant considering that Biden's opponent is someone who weaponizes masculinity in his campaigning. Biden has done so himself on occasion – "If we were in high school, I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," he said of Trump in 2018.
Female candidates also aren't out of this campaign yet: Biden has promised to put a woman on the ticket with him. Were Biden to win the presidency, that woman would be the highest-ranking female elected official in American history.
It would be progress. Just slower than some Democrats would have hoped.


npr--2020-04-17--CRISPR And Spit Might Be Keys To Faster, Cheaper, Easier Tests For The Coronavirus

CRISPR And Spit Might Be Keys To Faster , Cheaper , Easier Tests For The Coronavirus Being able to test for coronavirus infections is a critical component to reopening society — even a little bit — after the initial wave of COVID-19 .
So there is an urgent need for faster , cheaper tests than the ones available at present .
One approach to the next generation of tests is being developed by the University of California , San Francisco Medical School and Mammoth Biosciences .
In a paper released Thursday in the journal Nature Biotechnology , researchers describe a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as CRISPR .
CRISPR systems have been widely used by researchers to modify the genetic material in living cells .
In this case , a system known as CRISPR-Cas12 is used to recognize genetic signatures of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 , and then make cuts in it to release a fluorescent molecule that will show whether the virus is present or not .
Like the test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , this CRISPR-based test can run multiple samples at once .
And while the CDC version delivers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UCSF and Mammoth Biosciences is faster — providing results in 30-45 minutes .
The test is self-contained , so it does n't require sophisticated , expensive equipment that is used in other tests for the virus .
`` I can run it now myself at home , '' explains Dr. Charles Chiu , professor of laboratory medicine at UCSF and co-lead developer of the new test — although he notes it does require some expertise to conduct it .
He says he and his colleagues hope to submit the current version of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But it probably wo n't be the final iteration .
`` What we really want to develop is something like a handheld , pocket-sized device using disposable cartridges , '' says Chiu — something that could even be use by non-experts as a home-based test .
Chiu is confident such tests could be manufactured at a scale that would be widely available .
Other labs , including two at the Broad Institute in Cambridge , Mass.
, are also working on CRISPR-based diagnostic tests .
Sara Sawyer , a virologist at the University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one step further in the testing world .
She 's trying to develop a low-cost test people could use at home that would reveal whether they are infected — days before they show any symptoms .
`` For two years , we 've been working on trying to develop a diagnostic that can pick up on the earliest stages of common respiratory diseases , '' Sawyer says .
Her test does n't look for the virus itself .
Instead , it looks for a response to the virus by the cells of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that once cells in the nose and throat are infected , certain genes are switched on that are n't normally switched on .
Sawyer says it 's possible to detect those `` up-regulated '' genes in saliva — instead of the nasal swab other coronavirus tests rely on .
The question is , can she distinguish the new coronavirus from other viruses .
She thinks she can .
But do others agree ?
`` The answer is maybe , '' says Benjamin tenOever , a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He says yes , infection by the virus that causes COVID-19 results in different genes being up-regulated , compared to flu or other viruses .
He 's just skeptical the technology exists to be able to detect those differences .
`` I 'd say theoretically it is possible , '' tenOever says .
`` She 's a very smart scientist .
And so if she says she can do it , I would give her the benefit of the doubt . ''
Sawyer has formed a company to build her test kit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she says , there will have to be easy ways for people to check their infection status .
She 's in the process of designing and raising money for a study to validate her test 's accuracy .
`` We think saliva is the key to moving these tests out of the doctor 's office , '' Sawyer says , because all people would have to do to collect a sample is spit in cup .
No blood draws , no nasal swabs .
Easy .

CRISPR And Spit Might Be Keys To Faster, Cheaper, Easier Tests For The Coronavirus
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mammoth Biosciences Mammoth Biosciences
Being able to test for coronavirus infections is a critical component to reopening society — even a little bit — after the initial wave of COVID-19. So there is an urgent need for faster, cheaper tests than the ones available at present.
One approach to the next generation of tests is being developed by the University of California, San Francisco Medical School and Mammoth Biosciences. In a paper released Thursday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, researchers describe a test based on a new technology known as CRISPR.
CRISPR systems have been widely used by researchers to modify the genetic material in living cells. In this case, a system known as CRISPR-Cas12 is used to recognize genetic signatures of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and then make cuts in it to release a fluorescent molecule that will show whether the virus is present.
Like the test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this CRISPR-based test can run multiple samples at once. And while the CDC version delivers answers in hours, the test from UCSF and Mammoth Biosciences is faster — providing results in 30-45 minutes.
The test is self-contained, so it doesn't require sophisticated, expensive equipment that is used in other tests for the virus.
"I can run it now myself at home," explains Dr. Charles Chiu, professor of laboratory medicine at UCSF and co-lead developer of the new test — although he notes it does require some expertise to conduct it. He says he and his colleagues hope to submit the current version of their test next week for FDA approval. But it probably won't be the final iteration.
"What we really want to develop is something like a handheld, pocket-sized device using disposable cartridges," says Chiu — something that could even be used by nonexperts as a home-based test. Chiu is confident such tests could be manufactured at a scale that would be widely available.
Other labs, including two at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., are also working on CRISPR-based diagnostic tests.
Sara Sawyer, a virologist at the University of Colorado, is trying to go one step further in the testing world. She's trying to develop a low-cost test people could use at home that would reveal whether they are infected — days before they show any symptoms.
"For two years, we've been working on trying to develop a diagnostic that can pick up on the earliest stages of common respiratory diseases," Sawyer says. Her test doesn't look for the virus itself. Instead, it looks for a response to the virus by the cells of a person who is infected.
The idea is that once cells in the nose and throat are infected, certain genes are switched on that aren't normally switched on. Sawyer says it's possible to detect those "up-regulated" genes in saliva — instead of the nasal swab other coronavirus tests rely on. The question is, can she distinguish the new coronavirus from other viruses. She thinks she can.
But do others agree?
"The answer is maybe," says Benjamin tenOever, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He says yes, infection by the virus that causes COVID-19 results in different genes being up-regulated, compared with flu or other viruses. He's just skeptical the technology exists to be able to detect those differences.
"I'd say theoretically it is possible," tenOever says. "She's a very smart scientist. And so if she says she can do it, I would give her the benefit of the doubt."
Sawyer has formed a company to build her test kit. If society is to reopen, she says, there will have to be easy ways for people to check their infection status. She's in the process of designing and raising money for a study to validate her test's accuracy.
"We think saliva is the key to moving these tests out of the doctor's office," Sawyer says, because all people would have to do to collect a sample is spit in a cup. No blood draws, no nasal swabs. Easy.
If it works.


npr--2020-04-17--China Raises Wuhan Death Stats By Half To Account For Reporting Delays And Omissions

China Raises Wuhan Death Stats By Half To Account For Reporting Delays And Omissions China has made a huge upward adjustment to its official count of COVID-19 victims in Wuhan — the city where the novel coronavirus was first identified in December — adding nearly 1,300 deaths .
The change comes on the same day that the worldwide number of confirmed infections topped 2 million for the first time since the start of the pandemic , with well over a quarter of those in the U.S .
Some 145,000 have died across the globe , with more than 33,000 of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revised figures from Wuhan , a city of 11 million people , reflect incorrect reporting , delays and omissions , according to state-run CCTV television .
They add 1,290 deaths , bringing the total for the city to 3,869 .
The number of confirmed cases there was also increased by 325 , bringing the total for the city to 50,333 , approximately 60 % of mainland China 's reported infections .
`` In the early stage , due to limited hospital capacity and the shortage of medical staff , a few medical institutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and prevention systems in a timely manner , which resulted in delayed reporting of confirmed cases and some failures to count patients accurately , '' another state broadcaster , CGTN , reported , quoting an unidentified Wuhan official .
The revision in the official statistics comes as Beijing has been criticized by President Trump and others and accused of covering up the scale of the outbreak in its earliest days , leaving governments elsewhere with a false picture of what they might be facing as the virus spread around the world .
At @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus response on Wednesday , Trump was asked about whether China had been forthright in its reporting on the outbreak within its borders .
`` Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China , and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of deaths ; does anybody really believe that ? ''
the president responded .
Asked whether he had discussed with Chinese leader Xi Jinping an unsubstantiated theory that the virus could have been accidentally released from a laboratory in Wuhan , Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to discuss what I talked to him about the laboratory , I just do n't want to discuss , it 's inappropriate right now . ''
In an interview later on Fox News , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , without offering evidence , appeared to give currency to the idea .
`` [ We ] know the virus originated in Wuhan , China , '' Pompeo said , noting that the Institute of Virology was only a few miles away from the wet market where people are believed to have first come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Chinese government needs to come clean , '' he said .
However , earlier this week , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Gen. Mark Milley , appeared to push back on at least one sinister conspiracy theory that has been making the rounds — that the virus was deliberately engineered , possibly as a biological weapon .
`` There 's a lot of rumor and speculation , '' he said , adding that `` we 've taken a keen interest in that . ''
`` We 've had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ look at that , '' he said , adding , `` I would just say at this point that it 's inconclusive , although the weight of the evidence seems to indicate [ the virus 's origin is ] natural . ''

China Raises Wuhan Death Stats By Half To Account For Reporting Delays And Omissions
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ng Han Guan/AP Ng Han Guan/AP
China has made a huge upward adjustment to its official count of COVID-19 victims in Wuhan — the city where the novel coronavirus was first identified in December — adding nearly 1,300 deaths.
The change comes on the same day that the worldwide number of confirmed infections topped 2 million for the first time since the start of the pandemic, with well over a quarter of those in the U.S. Some 145,000 have died across the globe, with more than 33,000 of the deaths in the U.S.
The revised figures from Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, reflect incorrect reporting, delays and omissions, according to state-run CCTV television. They add 1,290 deaths, bringing the total for the city to 3,869. The number of confirmed cases there was also increased by 325, bringing the total for the city to 50,333, approximately 60% of mainland China's reported infections.
"In the early stage, due to limited hospital capacity and the shortage of medical staff, a few medical institutions failed to connect with local disease control and prevention systems in a timely manner, which resulted in delayed reporting of confirmed cases and some failures to count patients accurately," another state broadcaster, CGTN, reported, quoting an unidentified Wuhan official.
The revision in the official statistics comes as Beijing has been criticized by President Trump and others and accused of covering up the scale of the outbreak in its earliest days, leaving governments elsewhere with a false picture of what they might be facing as the virus spread around the world.
At a daily White House briefing on the coronavirus response on Wednesday, Trump was asked about whether China had been forthright in its reporting on the outbreak within its borders.
"Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China, and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of deaths; does anybody really believe that?" the president responded.
Asked whether he had discussed with Chinese leader Xi Jinping an unsubstantiated theory that the virus could have been accidentally released from a laboratory in Wuhan, Trump answered: "I don't want to discuss what I talked to him about the laboratory, I just don't want to discuss, it's inappropriate right now."
In an interview later on Fox News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, without offering evidence, appeared to give currency to the idea.
"[We] know the virus originated in Wuhan, China," Pompeo said, noting that the Institute of Virology was only a few miles away from the wet market where people are believed to have first come in contact with the disease.
"The Chinese government needs to come clean," he said.
However, earlier this week, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, appeared to push back on at least one sinister conspiracy theory that has been making the rounds — that the virus was deliberately engineered, possibly as a biological weapon.
"There's a lot of rumor and speculation," he said, adding that "we've taken a keen interest in that."
"We've had a lot of intelligence take a hard look at that," he said, adding, "I would just say at this point that it's inconclusive, although the weight of the evidence seems to indicate [the virus's origin is] natural."


npr--2020-04-17--Self-Employed And Gig Workers Face Long Waits For Coronavirus Relief Checks

Crashing servers , outmoded software and overloaded call centers are some of the obstacles standing between millions of unemployed workers and the financial lifeline the government has promised under the $ 2 trillion relief package approved late last month .
With every passing week the problem is exacerbated by new waves of jobless or laid-off workers whose paychecks have vanished since the coronavirus pandemic crippled the U.S. economy .
But the delays may be even longer for the self-employed , independent contractors and gig-economy workers who are not normally eligible for unemployment benefits , but are covered under two separate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Economic Security Act , or CARES Act .
New figures released by the Department of Labor show 22 million Americans have filed unemployment claims since mid-March .
The staggering surge reflects how jobs , created during a decade-long economic expansion , have been wiped out .
Meanwhile , state agencies say a large part of what is causing the technology problems leading to delays is the avalanche of newly eligible applicants that have overwhelmed existing systems .
The crush of calls and online applications have proved to be too much for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and under-staffed call centers .
Among those caught in the fiscal melee is Ted , a self-employed state and local government consultant who became Internet-famous last week for creating a diagram of his Sisyphean journey to file a claim .
Ted , who asked that his last name be withheld to protect future job prospects , said that over the span of six days he made 991 calls to the New York State Department of Labor before finally connecting with a human being to complete an online application .
According to the data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cell phone call logs into an app , 845 of those calls resulted in a busy signal .
`` A sound I have n't heard since the 90s , '' he laughed .
On 147 of the calls , he made it through to a message saying the line was too busy , before it severed the connection .
In 68 attempts , Ted managed to make it into the automated system but was disconnected as he was transferred to an agent .
`` So my last call , the 992nd call was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number , dialed in my pin number and instead of saying , 'We 're sorry .
We 're too busy .
Call back again , ' it actually said , 'We 're transferring the call to a representative . '
`` He was told the wait time was between six and eight minutes .
In the end , `` it was not six minutes , '' he said .
`` But I was gleeful for the whole time because finally , something different was happening .
Even if at the end of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was something different . ''
When Ted got through , he was told what he already knew : that he is eligible for $ 600 per week under one provision of the CARES Act , and up to an additional $ 600 per week under the Act 's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance ( PUA ) program for those who do not normally qualify for traditional unemployment insurance .
Unfortunately , neither Ted nor any of New York 's other tens of thousands of self-employed or part-time workers can apply for the PUA program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet to launch .
The New York labor department requires staffers to conduct phone interviews to certify eligibility for regular unemployment insurance or the federal PUA program .
Ted admits he does n't know exactly what to do next .
`` Just wait , I guess , and keep checking the web site , '' he said .
New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo announced last week that 300 additional call center employees had been hired to help process applications .
A few days later , the state 's labor department changed its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still needed to finalize applications would be initiated by staff .
But applicants have apparently been reluctant to answer calls from a strange phone number .
On Monday , during his daily press conference , Cuomo urged people to pick up the phone .
During a press call on Wednesday , U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said only 29 states are capable of issuing weekly PUA benefits .
`` How long that takes will vary by state , '' Scalia said , adding , `` some states will take longer because they rely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ old and in need of significant IT support . ''
State officials nationwide say a primary factor behind the delay in rolling out PUA payments is that programs could n't be finalized until states received guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor , which was not conveyed until April 5 .
That was almost a week after President Trump signed the stimulus bill into law .
`` Without it we could n't move forward , '' California Labor Secretary Julie Su told NPR .
Once those guidelines were issued , Su said the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on creating a new PUA program .
`` We expect to roll it out in three weeks , '' she said , explaining that it will likely take an additional three weeks for applicants to receive their first payment after submitting an application .
In a twist , Su noted that nearly all states appear to have been understaffed ahead of the unemployment crisis because agencies shrink when the economy is strong .
`` During times of economic boom there are fewer people who apply for unemployment insurance which means there are fewer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Su said .
`` At the time that COVID-19 hit it was one of those times , '' she said .
`` We had seen a decades-long , year-over-year growth in our economy , so it was a time of lower staff to begin with . ''
Over the last few weeks , California has scrambled to hire hundreds of new workers , bringing some out of retirement and others from a variety of departments to help process claims .
Call center hours have been extended from eight to 14 hours a day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when employees were given the chance to take time off , `` 500 of them showed up to work , '' Su said .
California deposits funds electronically onto a debit card .
Su explained that back-payments will arrive in a single lump sum .
`` I know that does n't bring much relief to people who need money right now , but we 're doing everything we can , '' she stated .
Su added that earlier this week California became one of the first states to start sending an additional $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress under the CARES Act , separate from the PUA .
In Florida , the deluge of calls and influx of online applications have been so heavy that residents have been urged to abandon the Internet for now and return to the world of paper , envelopes , stamps and , if need be , face-to-face meetings .
As the state upgrades its servers and adds staff , people have been told to submit forms by mail or visit a CareerSource location in person to get help .
But even then , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer to process the paper form than an online application .
Ohio 's Department of Jobs and Family Services is `` re-programming '' a system that was used to issue stimulus checks in 2009 for the distribution of extra $ 600 weekly checks , Bret Crow , an agency spokesman , told NPR in an email .
`` We are reusing functionality we used back then , so it will be sooner than the ones we have to create from scratch , '' Crow explained , but he not offer a date when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Independent contractors who file 1099s and other previously ineligible self-employed workers seeking aid through the PUA program will have to wait until mid-May , he estimated .
That 's because the system is still under development by an outside vendor .
`` We decided to go that route to offer better customer service to the new group of folks , '' he said , clarifying that `` it will be separate and apart from the traditional unemployment system . ''
He added : `` As soon as that system is ready to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ folks how to apply . ''
Another layer of confusion in deciding who is entitled to what under which piece of the CARES Act , is the ongoing legal battle over whether gig-economy workers , whose jobs depend on apps , including Uber and Lyft , are self-employed or regular employees .
The classification is imperative in determining whether a person is eligible under the PUA program or under traditional unemployment insurance .
Some states , including California , New York and Illinois have passed bills recognizing app-based workers as employees — a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they 've been accused of failing to share payroll information with state agencies , further stalling the calculation of weekly benefits .

Self-Employed And Gig Workers Face Long Waits For Coronavirus Relief Checks
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rick Bowmer/AP Rick Bowmer/AP
Crashing servers, outmoded software and overloaded call centers are some of the obstacles standing between millions of unemployed workers and the financial lifeline the government has promised under the $2 trillion relief package approved late last month.
With every passing week the problem is exacerbated by new waves of jobless or laid-off workers whose paychecks have vanished since the coronavirus pandemic crippled the U.S. economy.
But the delays may be even longer for the self-employed, independent contractors and gig-economy workers who are not normally eligible for unemployment benefits, but are covered under two separate provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.
New figures released by the Department of Labor show 22 million Americans have filed unemployment claims since mid-March. The staggering surge reflects how jobs, created during a decade-long economic expansion, have been wiped out.
Meanwhile, state agencies say a large part of what is causing the technology problems leading to delays is the avalanche of newly eligible applicants that have overwhelmed existing systems. The crush of calls and online applications have proved to be too much for understaffed call centers and outdated benefit programs running on old software.
Among those caught in the fiscal melee is Ted, a self-employed state and local government consultant who became Internet-famous last week for creating a diagram of his Sisyphean journey to file a claim.
Ted, who asked that his last name be withheld to protect future job prospects, said that over the span of six days he made 991 calls to the New York State Department of Labor before finally connecting with a human being to complete an online application.
According to the chart that he made by downloading his cellphone call logs into an app, 845 of those calls resulted in a busy signal.
"A sound I haven't heard since the '90s," he laughed.
On 147 of the calls, he made it through to a message saying the line was too busy, before it severed the connection. In 68 attempts, Ted managed to make it into the automated system, but was disconnected as he was transferred to an agent.
"So my last call, the 992nd call, was when I typed in my Social Security number, dialed in my pin number and instead of saying, 'We're sorry. We're too busy. Call back again,' it actually said, 'We're transferring the call to a representative.' "
He was told the wait time was between six and eight minutes.
He waited an hour.
He was elated.
In the end, "It was not six minutes," he said. "But I was gleeful for the whole time because finally, something different was happening. Even if at the end of it they disconnected me again, at least it was something different."
When Ted got through, he was told what he already knew: that he is eligible for $600 per week under one provision of the CARES Act and up to an additional $600 per week under the Act's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program for those who do not normally qualify for traditional unemployment insurance.
Unfortunately, neither Ted nor any of New York's other tens of thousands of self-employed or part-time workers can apply for the PUA program at this time, because it has yet to launch.
The New York labor department requires staffers to conduct phone interviews to certify eligibility for regular unemployment insurance or the federal PUA program.
Ted admits he doesn't know exactly what to do next. "Just wait, I guess, and keep checking the website," he said.
States struggle to meet the demand
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week that 300 additional call center employees had been hired to help process applications. A few days later, the state's labor department changed its process so that calls to applicants who still needed to finalize applications would be initiated by staff.
But applicants have apparently been reluctant to answer calls from a strange phone number. On Monday, during his daily press conference, Cuomo urged people to pick up the phone.
During a press call on Wednesday, U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said only 29 states are capable of issuing weekly PUA benefits.
"How long that takes will vary by state," Scalia said, adding "some states will take longer because they rely on computer equipment that is 40 years old and in need of significant IT support."
State officials nationwide say a primary factor behind the delay in rolling out PUA payments is that programs couldn't be finalized until states received guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, which was not conveyed until April 5. That was almost a week after President Trump signed the stimulus bill into law.
"Without it we couldn't move forward," California Labor Secretary Julie Su told NPR.
Once those guidelines were issued, Su said, the state's Employment Development Department began working on creating a new PUA program.
"We expect to roll it out in three weeks," she said, explaining that it will likely take an additional three weeks for applicants to receive their first payment after submitting an application.
In a twist, Su noted that nearly all states appear to have been understaffed ahead of the unemployment crisis because agencies shrink when the economy is strong.
"During times of economic boom there are fewer people who apply for unemployment insurance, which means there are fewer staff who work on claims," Su said.
"At the time that COVID-19 hit it was one of those times," she said. "We had seen a decades-long, year-over-year growth in our economy, so it was a time of lower staff to begin with."
Over the last few weeks, California has scrambled to hire hundreds of new workers, bringing some out of retirement and others from a variety of departments to help process claims. Call center hours have been extended from eight to 14 hours a day. And on Easter weekend, when employees were given the chance to take time off, "500 of them showed up to work," Su said.
California deposits funds electronically onto a debit card. Su explained that back-payments will arrive in a single lump sum.
"I know that doesn't bring much relief to people who need money right now, but we're doing everything we can," she stated.
Su added that earlier this week California became one of the first states to start sending an additional $600 of weekly unemployment compensation approved by Congress under the CARES Act, separate from the PUA.
In Florida, the deluge of calls and influx of online applications have been so heavy that residents have been urged to abandon the Internet for now and return to the world of paper, envelopes, stamps and, if need be, face-to-face meetings. As the state upgrades its servers and adds staff, people have been told to submit forms by mail or visit a CareerSource location in person to get help.
But even then, the department said, it could potentially take longer to process the paper form than an online application.
Ohio's Department of Jobs and Family Services is "re-programming" a system that was used to issue stimulus checks in 2009 for the distribution of extra $600 weekly checks, Bret Crow, an agency spokesman, told NPR in an email.
"We are reusing functionality we used back then, so it will be sooner than the ones we have to create from scratch," Crow explained, but he did not offer a date when the state will start sending them out.
Independent contractors who file 1099s and other previously ineligible self-employed workers seeking aid through the PUA program will have to wait until mid-May, he estimated. That's because the system is still under development by an outside vendor.
"We decided to go that route to offer better customer service to the new group of folks," he said, clarifying that "it will be separate and apart from the traditional unemployment system."
He added: "As soon as that system is ready to accept new applications, we will inform folks how to apply."
Another layer of confusion in deciding who is entitled to what under which piece of the CARES Act is the ongoing legal battle over whether gig-economy workers, whose jobs depend on apps such as Uber and Lyft, are self-employed or regular employees. The classification is imperative in determining whether a person is eligible under the PUA program or under traditional unemployment insurance.
Some states, including California, New York and Illinois, have passed bills recognizing app-based workers as employees — a position those companies dispute and for which they've been accused of failing to share payroll information with state agencies, further stalling the calculation of weekly benefits.