npr--2020-11-05--Where Presidential Election Votes Are Still Being Counted

Where Presidential Election Votes Are Still Being Counted With both President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden still short of the 270 electoral votes needed to claim victory , anxious Americans are left with little to do but be patient and wait as election officials in key swing states furiously work to complete their vote tabulations .
An already close race appeared to narrow even further , with more votes being counted in four key states that The Associated Press , which NPR relies on for calls , has yet to announce : Georgia , Nevada , North Carolina @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet to call Alaska .
After calls by the AP in the key states of Arizona , Michigan and Wisconsin , Biden holds an Electoral College advantage of 264 votes to Trump 's 214 .
That leaves both candidates with viable paths to victory .
Georgia is one of two Sun Belt states on which Democrats pinned high hopes of flipping .
After Trump surged to an early lead , Biden has cut into that significantly .
With 99 % of the expected vote in , the president was clinging to a narrow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of nearly 5 million cast at 4:58 p.m .
ET , according to AP data .
As of Thursday afternoon , there were roughly 50,000 votes left to be tallied , mainly from the cities of Atlanta and Savannah , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports .
If Georgia , with its 16 electoral votes , flips to Biden , it will be the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since 1992 .
Nevada and its six electoral votes has been trending for the Democrats in recent elections , as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voting bloc in the state .
The AP indicates that with 76 % of votes tallied as of Thursday afternoon , Biden has increased his lead to about 11,000 votes , up from less than 8,000 earlier in the day .
Election officials in Clark County , which includes the Democratic stronghold of Las Vegas , said at a news conference Thursday that they expect to have the bulk of their outstanding ballots tabulated by this weekend .
North Carolina , another Sun Belt state that Democrats were hoping to turn blue , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of the expected vote tallied , according to the AP , Trump maintains an advantage of more than 76,000 votes as of 2:02 p.m .
ET Thursday .
The North Carolina State Board of Elections said on Wednesday morning that there were more than 116,000 outstanding absentee ballots .
In September , the agency announced that county officials can accept mail-in ballots through Nov. 12 as long as they were postmarked by Election Day .
The state carries 15 electoral votes .
With 20 electoral votes at stake , the Keystone State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grabs .
While Pennsylvania has nearly 90 % of its vote tallied , there were still roughly 340,000 mail ballots still to be counted as of Thursday afternoon , according state election officials .
Throughout the day Thursday , Trump has seen a steady decline in the slim lead he had in the state .
Shortly before 5 p.m .
ET Thursday , his advantage was a little more than 90,000 votes — down from what was an early lead of around 700,000 votes .
That suggests mail-in voters are heavily going toward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was not able to begin processing mail-in ballots until Election Day , and it can continue counting ballots received by Nov. 6 if they were postmarked by Nov. 3 .
There is less suspense in Alaska , a state President Trump is widely expected to win .
With 50 % of the vote in , the AP has Trump up by around 54,000 votes .
More than 190,000 votes have already been counted , but as Alaska Public Media reported Wednesday , election officials had more than 100,000 ballots still to count .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jess Eng ( Twitter : @ jessicaeng17 ) is an intern with NPR 's News Apps team .

Where Presidential Election Votes Are Still Being Counted
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Updated at 5:06 p.m. ET
With both President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden still short of the 270 electoral votes needed to claim victory, anxious Americans are left with little to do but be patient and wait as election officials in key swing states furiously work to complete their vote tabulations.
An already close race appeared to narrow even further, with more votes being counted in four key states that The Associated Press, which NPR relies on for calls, has yet to announce: Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The AP has also yet to call Alaska.
After calls by the AP in the key states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, Biden holds an Electoral College advantage of 264 votes to Trump's 214. That leaves both candidates with viable paths to victory.
Here's what remains undecided.
Georgia
Georgia is one of two Sun Belt states on which Democrats pinned high hopes of flipping. After Trump surged to an early lead, Biden has cut into that significantly. With 99% of the expected vote in, the president was clinging to a narrow lead of fewer than 10,000 votes out of nearly 5 million cast at 4:58 p.m. ET, according to AP data.
As of Thursday afternoon, there were roughly 50,000 votes left to be tallied, mainly from the cities of Atlanta and Savannah, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. If Georgia, with its 16 electoral votes, flips to Biden, it will be the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since 1992.
Nevada
Nevada and its six electoral votes has been trending for the Democrats in recent elections, as the Latino population has increasingly become an important voting bloc in the state. The AP indicates that with 76% of votes tallied as of Thursday afternoon, Biden has increased his lead to about 11,000 votes, up from less than 8,000 earlier in the day.
Election officials in Clark County, which includes the Democratic stronghold of Las Vegas, said at a news conference Thursday that they expect to have the bulk of their outstanding ballots tabulated by this weekend.
North Carolina
North Carolina, another Sun Belt state that Democrats were hoping to turn blue, surged early for Trump. With 94% of the expected vote tallied, according to the AP, Trump maintains an advantage of more than 76,000 votes as of 2:02 p.m. ET Thursday.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections said on Wednesday morning that there were more than 116,000 outstanding absentee ballots. In September, the agency announced that county officials can accept mail-in ballots through Nov. 12 as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. The state carries 15 electoral votes.
Pennsylvania
With 20 electoral votes at stake, the Keystone State is the biggest state still up for grabs. While Pennsylvania has nearly 90% of its vote tallied, there were still roughly 340,000 mail ballots still to be counted as of Thursday afternoon, according state election officials.
Throughout the day Thursday, Trump has seen a steady decline in the slim lead he had in the state. Shortly before 5 p.m. ET Thursday, his advantage was a little more than 90,000 votes — down from what was an early lead of around 700,000 votes. That suggests mail-in voters are heavily going toward Biden. Unlike other states, Pennsylvania was not able to begin processing mail-in ballots until Election Day, and it can continue counting ballots received by Nov. 6 if they were postmarked by Nov. 3.
Alaska
There is less suspense in Alaska, a state President Trump is widely expected to win. With 50% of the vote in, the AP has Trump up by around 54,000 votes. More than 190,000 votes have already been counted, but as Alaska Public Media reported Wednesday, election officials had more than 100,000 ballots still to count. The state has three electoral votes.
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Jess Eng (Twitter: @jessicaeng17) is an intern with NPR's News Apps team.


npr--2020-11-05--Coronavirus Is Surging: How Severe Is Your State's Outbreak?

Coronavirus Is Surging : How Severe Is Your State 's Outbreak ?
More than 9 million people in the U.S. have had confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 230,000 have died of COVID-19 .
Tens of thousands of new cases are reported daily nationwide .
In the graphics below , explore the trends in your state .
View the data via a heat map ( immediately below ) , curve charts , a table of state-by-state trends over four weeks , or a map of total cases and deaths .
The map above shows the risk of infection in each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capita .
These color-coded risk levels were developed by a consortium of researchers and public health experts .
The group advises states in the red category to issue stay-home orders .
Orange states may need to consider stay-home orders , along with increased testing and contact tracing .
Yellow states need to keep up social distancing and mask usage , and both yellow and green states should continue testing and contact tracing .
To compare state outbreaks , the chart above graphs trend lines for average new daily cases and deaths against each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ type of visualization highlights a state 's daily growth or decline relative to the overall size of its outbreak .
When both new and total case and death counts grow quickly , the curves bend upward .
As new cases and deaths slow , the curves level or bend down .
In New York , the curve rose sharply before reaching over 170,000 total cases in April .
Since then , new cases have fallen from about 10,000 per day in mid-April to over 1,000 per day in mid October .
Explore the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capita figures around the country for both new confirmed cases and reported deaths from COVID-19 .
New York was the original epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. As of mid October , California , Florida and Texas surpass New York for total cases to date , though New York still has the highest death total .
Click here to see a global map of confirmed cases and deaths .
To show trends , the table below shows the change in average new cases per day in each state , week over week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marked in shades of red have growing outbreaks ; those in shades of green , are declining .
The graphics on this page pull from data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University from several sources , including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ; the World Health Organization ; national , state and local government health departments ; 1point3acres ; and local media reports .
The JHU team automates its data uploads and regularly checks them for anomalies .
This may result in occasional data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ team resolves anomalies and updates its feeds .
State-by-state recovery data are unavailable at this time .
There may be discrepancies between what you see here and what you see on your local health department 's website .
Figures shown do not include cases on cruise ships .
Fluctuations in the numbers may happen as health authorities review old cases and or update their methodologies .
For example , in early June , Michigan health authorities started including probable cases in its totals .
This resulted in a brief spike in the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was able to reconcile the historical data .
On June 25 , New Jersey included 1,854 previously-unreported probable deaths in its totals , resulting in a spike in the state 's daily death numbers .
On Sept. 2 , Massachusetts changed its methodology for counting probable cases , which lowered its overall case and death numbers .
The JHU team maintains a list of such changes .
This story was originally published on March 16 , 2020 .
Elena Renken was a co-author on that version .
Sean McMinn contributed to and Carmel @ @ @ @ @

Tracking the coronavirus around the U.S.: See how your state is doing
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Note: This page was last updated on Feb. 1, 2023. It will no longer be updated. For current data on COVID cases and deaths, demographics, and hospitalizations, consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Feb. 1, there have been more than 101 million confirmed coronavirus infections in the U.S. and more than 1 million people have died of COVID-19. In the graphics below, explore the trends in your state.
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The above charts show average new cases per 100,000 people for each state over the last 12 months.
Note: Actual cases may be substantially higher, since many who test positive with at-home tests don't report their cases.
For additional data about COVID-19 in the U.S, including cases and deaths, demographics, and hospitalizations, consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
To show trends, the table below shows the change in average new cases per day in each state, week over week for the last 28 days. States marked in shades of red have growing outbreaks; those in shades of green, are declining.
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Methodology
The graphics on this page pull from data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University from several sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the World Health Organization; national, state and local government health departments; 1point3acres; and local media reports.
The JHU team automates its data uploads and regularly checks them for anomalies. This may result in occasional data discrepancies on this page as the JHU team resolves anomalies and updates its feeds. There may be discrepancies between what you see here and what you see on your local health department's website. Figures shown do not include cases on cruise ships.
Fluctuations in the numbers may happen as health authorities review old cases, process testing backlogs or update their methodologies. The JHU team maintains a list of such changes.
This story was originally published on March 16, 2020. Elena Renken was a co-author on that version. Sean McMinn and Audrey Carlsen contributed to this story. Carmel Wroth edited this story.


npr--2020-11-06--Employers Add Fewer Jobs In October As Pandemic Cases Start To Surge Again

Employers Add Fewer Jobs In October As Pandemic Cases Start To Surge Again U.S. employers added 638,000 jobs last month , as the economy continued its slow recovery from the coronavirus recession .
Job growth slowed for the fourth month in a row .
Unemployment fell to 6.9 % from 7.9 % in September , even as more than 700,000 people entered the labor force .
That 's a significant improvement since April , when the jobless rate peaked at 14.7 % .
But the economy has still recovered just 54 % of the 22 million jobs that were lost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shut down in a desperate effort to slow the spread of the pandemic .
Forecasters worry job growth may slow further , if a winter spike in coronavirus infections discourages people from shopping or eating out .
`` They may pull back in a situation where suddenly the cases are everywhere , '' Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday .
`` That 's a risk that we have as we go into the fall now and the cases spike .
That could weigh on economic activity .
One would expect that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases both Wednesday and Thursday and infections are on the rise in most parts of the country .
Some industries , such as manufacturing , have found ways to operate successfully despite the pandemic .
Factories added 38,000 jobs last month .
But businesses that depend on gathering large groups of people together have struggled .
Airlines , restaurants and entertainment venues were among the early casualties of the pandemic .
Service industries have since bounced partway back , but a survey released this week pointed to slowing growth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in part by the Census Bureau , which laid off 147,000 temporary workers as it wound down its decennial headcount .
The Census Bureau had hired 238,000 temporary workers in August .
As the recession drags on , more people are exhausting their regular unemployment benefits , which typically last for 26 weeks .
As of mid-October , nearly 4 million people had hit that limit and begun collecting benefits under a new federal program that provides an extra 13 weeks of aid .
That program is set to expire at the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the longer people are out of work , the more difficult it may be to find new jobs .
`` The record is , if you do n't get back in fairly quickly , it can be harder to get back in , '' Powell said .
`` That holds down the whole economy .
And by the way , it also places enormous burdens on individuals . ''

Unemployment Drops To 6.9%, But Pandemic Surge Clouds Recovery
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lynne Sladky/AP Lynne Sladky/AP
Updated at 9:02 a.m. ET
U.S. employers added 638,000 jobs last month as the economy continued its slow recovery from the coronavirus recession. Job growth slowed for the fourth month in a row.
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Unemployment fell to 6.9%, from 7.9% in September, even as more than 700,000 people entered the labor force. Women rejoined the workforce at nearly twice the rate of men, partially reversing a female exodus in September.
The unemployment rate has fallen sharply from its peak of 14.7% in April. But the economy has still recovered just 54% of the 22 million jobs that were lost during the spring, when businesses abruptly shut down in a desperate effort to slow the spread of the pandemic.
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Forecasters worry job growth may slow further if a winter spike in coronavirus infections discourages people from shopping or eating out.
"They may pull back in a situation where suddenly the cases are everywhere," Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday. "That's a risk that we have as we go into the fall now and the cases spike. That could weigh on economic activity. One would expect that it would."
The U.S. topped 100,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and Thursday, and infections are on the rise in most parts of the country.
Some industries, such as manufacturing, have found ways to operate successfully despite the pandemic. Factories added 38,000 jobs last month. Construction is also booming, thanks to strong demand for housing and rock-bottom interest rates. Construction crews added 84,000 workers in October.
But businesses that depend on gathering large groups of people together have struggled. Airlines, restaurants and entertainment venues were among the early casualties of the pandemic. Service industries have since bounced partway back, but a survey released this week pointed to slowing growth.
October's job gains were reduced in part by the Census Bureau, which laid off 147,000 temporary workers as it wound down its decennial headcount. The Census Bureau had hired 238,000 temporary workers in August. State and local governments also cut 159,000 jobs in education.
As the recession drags on, more people are exhausting their regular unemployment benefits, which typically last for 26 weeks. As of mid-October, nearly 4 million people had hit that limit and begun collecting benefits under a new federal program that provides an extra 13 weeks of aid. That program is set to expire at the end of the year.
Powell cautioned that the longer people are out of work, the more difficult it may be to find new jobs.
"The record is, if you don't get back in fairly quickly, it can be harder to get back in," Powell said. "That holds down the whole economy. And by the way, it also places enormous burdens on individuals."


npr--2020-11-06--Trump Latches On To Conspiracies, As Legal Battles Fail And Path To Win Narrows

Trump Latches On To Conspiracies , As Legal Battles Fail And Path To Win Narrows With former Vice President Joe Biden inching closer to 270 Electoral College votes , President Trump and his campaign have ramped up their efforts to delegitimize the vote-counting process .
Those efforts have come both in public comments , with Trump airing unfounded conspiracies and incorrect information about voting during remarks Thursday night , and in lawsuits that have thus far had almost no success .
It 's a playbook the president has telegraphed for much of the year , as he has amplified a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in mail-voting systems , without providing the necessary evidence to back up such claims .
`` If you count the legal votes , I easily win , '' Trump said Thursday .
`` If you count the illegal votes , they can try to steal the election from us . ''
Research has found no evidence of widespread fraud , and states with Republican and Democratic election officials at the helm have used the voting method for years without major issues .
This week the campaign has latched specifically onto the vote-counting process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inject uncertainty into the results .
Those results have slowly begun to lean in Biden 's direction , especially as more absentee votes continued to be counted in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania .
`` I think probably the political goal here is to sow discord , to undermine the legitimacy of the election , '' said Joshua Douglas , a professor at the University of Kentucky who specializes in election law .
`` Trump has been doing this for years , and now it 's come to a head . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his election issues , but chief among them was transparency .
A number of his campaign 's lawsuits have centered on who is able to watch as election officials count absentee ballots .
He claimed that election officials do n't want any election observers in Pennsylvania , saying `` they do n't want anybody watching them as they count the ballots , and I ca n't imagine why . ''
In reality , his campaign and lawyers representing Philadelphia sparred over how many election observers should be watching at one time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stay from officials who were counting ballots .
Observers from political parties are a normal part of the counting process , and officials never tried to argue that Republicans should not be allowed to watch .
Still , the Trump campaign tried to use the issue to argue that the counting of ballots in the city should be halted , a request a federal judge denied .
Similar requests were denied in Michigan , and in Georgia earlier in the day .
`` It seems like the relief the Trump Campaign keeps asking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Levitt , an election law professor at Loyola Law School .
`` They keep saying 'stop the count ! '
and the courts keep saying no . ''
Trump on Thursday said there would be more litigation coming , as his campaign has `` so much evidence , so much proof '' of illegal wrongdoing that he thinks the election may end up decided by the Supreme Court .
That 's a possibility Levitt , and other legal experts , dismiss as `` increasingly unlikely . ''
`` Before [ the election ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election , not the courts , '' Levitt said .
`` And with every passing day , I think that 's more true . ''
The ongoing litigation is not about actually affecting the results at this point , Levitt added , but instead about shaping a narrative or `` retroactively bending reality '' to fit Trump 's false claims about voting .
Levitt then corrected himself : `` No , I 'll discount that to 90 percent of it — because at least 10 percent of it is the ability to keep @ @ @

Trump Latches Onto Conspiracies, As Legal Battles Fail And Path To Win Narrows
Enlarge this image toggle caption Evan Vucci/AP Evan Vucci/AP
Updated at 6 p.m. ET
With former Vice President Joe Biden inching closer to the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win, President Trump and his campaign have ramped up their efforts to delegitimize the vote-counting process.
Those efforts have come both in public comments, with Trump airing unfounded conspiracies and incorrect information about voting in recent days, and in lawsuits that have thus far had almost no success.
On Friday, the campaign vote to pursue all legal avenues to ensure "full transparency" into vote counting and election certification.
"We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government," Trump said in a statement, released by his campaign. "I will never give up fighting for you and our nation."
It's a playbook the president has telegraphed for much of the year, as he has amplified a false narrative that there is rampant fraud in mail-voting systems, without providing the necessary evidence to back up such claims.
"If you count the legal votes, I easily win," Trump said Thursday. "If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us."
YouTube
Research has found no evidence of widespread fraud, and states with Republican and Democratic election officials at the helm have used the voting method for years without major issues.
This week, the campaign has latched specifically onto the vote-counting process around mail ballots in an attempt to inject uncertainty into the results. Those results have slowly begun to lean in Biden's direction, especially as more absentee votes continued to be counted in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.
"I think probably the political goal here is to sow discord, to undermine the legitimacy of the election," said Joshua Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky who specializes in election law. "Trump has been doing this for years, and now it's come to a head."
'Bending reality'
On Thursday, Trump listed a number of his election issues, but chief among them was transparency. A number of his campaign's lawsuits have centered on who is able to watch election officials count absentee ballots.
He claimed that election officials don't want any election observers in Pennsylvania, saying, "They don't want anybody watching them as they count the ballots, and I can't imagine why."
In reality, his campaign and lawyers representing Philadelphia sparred over how many election observers should be watching at one time and how far away they needed to stay from officials who were counting ballots. Observers from political parties are a normal part of the counting process, and officials never tried to argue that Republicans should not be allowed to watch.
Still, the Trump campaign tried to use the issue to argue that the counting of ballots in the city should be halted, a request a federal judge denied.
Similar requests were denied in Michigan and in Georgia earlier in the day.
"It seems like the relief the Trump Campaign keeps asking [for] is patently ridiculous," said Justin Levitt, an election law professor at Loyola Law School. "They keep saying 'stop the count!' and the courts keep saying no."
Trump said Thursday there would be more litigation coming, as his campaign has "so much evidence, so much proof" of illegal wrongdoing that he thinks the election may end up decided by the Supreme Court.
That's a possibility Levitt, and other legal experts, dismiss as "increasingly unlikely."
"Before [the election], I thought voters would decide this election, not the courts," Levitt said. "And with every passing day, I think that's more true."
The ongoing litigation is not about actually affecting the results at this point, Levitt added, but instead it is about shaping a narrative or "retroactively bending reality" to fit Trump's false claims about voting.
Levitt then corrected himself: "No, I'll discount that to 90% of it — because at least 10% of it is the ability to keep fundraising."


npr--2020-11-06--CDC Report: Officials Knew Coronavirus Test Was Flawed But Released It Anyway

CDC Report : Officials Knew Coronavirus Test Was Flawed But Released It Anyway On Feb. 6 , a scientist in a small infectious disease lab on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campus in Atlanta was putting a coronavirus test kit through its final paces .
The lab designed and built the diagnostic test in record time , and the little vials that contained necessary reagents to identify the virus were boxed up and ready to go .
But NPR has learned the results of that final quality control test suggested something troubling — it said the kit could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Under normal circumstances , that kind of result would stop a test in its tracks , half a dozen public and private lab officials told NPR .
But an internal CDC review obtained by NPR confirms that lab officials decided to release the kit anyway .
This is the first time the early detection of a problem has been reported .
The revelation comes from a CDC internal review , known as a `` root-cause analysis , '' which the agency conducted to understand why an early coronavirus test did n't work properly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the early days of a pandemic .
In addition to learning of the early warning , reviewers determined the Respiratory Viruses Diagnostic Laboratory , run by a highly regarded scientist named Stephen Lindstrom , was beset with problems , including `` process failures , a lack of appropriate recognized laboratory quality standards , and organizational problems related to the support and management of a laboratory supporting an outbreak response , '' the review said .
The CDC declined to make Lindstrom or anyone else available for an interview and declined to discuss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would only say that the agency had `` acknowledged and corrected mistakes along the way . ''
In late January , the tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases seemed relatively manageable — about 4,500 confirmed cases worldwide and under a dozen confirmed in the continental United States .
In a pandemic , public health officials say , the best hope to keep the numbers low is to determine who else might have the virus and where it was spreading and then concentrate efforts on those areas first .
The CDC 's coronavirus test kits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public labs across the country in small white boxes on Feb. 6 , according to the CDC timeline in the review .
Each cardboard container held four tiny vials of chemicals that , when used properly , were meant to confirm the presence of the virus .
The New York City Public Health Laboratory was in that first wave of labs receiving the kits , and its director , Jennifer Rakeman , said her technicians began trying to verify the test right away .
Verification is a standard protocol ; it involves following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same way in an outside lab as they do at the CDC labs in Atlanta .
The first three vials in the box were specific to the coronavirus , and the fourth was a control that let the labs know the specimen they were examining was a good one .
Essentially , Rakeman said , it lets you know if the swab went all the way up a patient 's nose and was n't just `` waved in the air . ''
By Feb. 8 , hours after her lab started verifying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began receiving panicked emails from colleagues .
Something , they said , was wrong : They had run the tests dozens of times but were getting inconclusive results from two of the reagents , or chemicals , in the vials .
Rakeman began calling other labs to see if they were experiencing the same problem , and they said they were .
`` It was very truly an 'oh , crap ' moment , '' Rakeman said .
`` These reagents are n't working ; everybody is waiting for us all over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We think we have more cases than we 've been able to detect and the test is n't working . ''
She said trying to battle COVID-19 , which was just starting to rage through New York , without a test was like trying to build a house with a saw but no hammer .
`` And we need that hammer .
We need that other tool , we need that test , '' she said .
When the complaints reached the CDC , leaders at the lab said they suspected the problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Health and Human Services officials who spoke to them at the time .
Low-level contamination was to blame for a problem with a Middle East respiratory syndrome CDC test years ago .
Microscopic residue could roil and ruin a sensitive test such as the one built to find the coronavirus .
Key CDC officials thought that might be the problem , too .
`` Contamination is one possible explanation , but there are others , and I ca n't really comment on what is an ongoing investigation , '' Nancy Messonnier , director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Immunization and Respiratory Diseases , told reporters in March .
The contamination theory gained momentum after Timothy Stenzel , director of the Food and Drug Administration 's Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health , visited the respiratory disease lab a few weeks later .
He returned to his superiors in Washington , D.C. , saying he found sloppy lab protocols .
Researchers entered and exited the coronavirus laboratories without changing their coats , he said .
Testing ingredients were assembled in the same room where researchers had been working on positive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to three officials who were part of the discussion at the time .
These are the sorts of things that can introduce microscopic contamination .
CDC and HHS officials disagree with Stenzel 's characterization of the lab .
One former CDC official who was there when he arrived said the issues were small .
`` It was beakers on a counter that were empty and washed within 7 feet of a negative pressure hood .
He called that dirty .
Was that protocol ?
No .
But it was n't a dirty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make Stenzel available for this story .
While the CDC and HHS were trying to determine what was wrong with the kits , public labs were still waiting for something they could use .
`` We waited another month before we had testing available , '' Rakeman told NPR .
Lindstrom , who led the respiratory disease lab , had invented diagnostic tests in the past .
Before he went to the infectious diseases lab , he was running a different CDC lab , one that focused on influenza .
When he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diagnostic tests that were used to identify H1N1 in patients , and there were no issues with the test .
The FDA quickly approved the kits and sent them to labs across the country .
Within days , the same kits were dispatched around the world .
The effort was considered a triumph for the CDC , and Lindstrom was viewed internally as the guy who made it happen .
The influenza lab , however , had an infrastructure and systematic way of responding to flu outbreaks , and because of that Lindstrom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the science , one official said .
The infrastructure was already there to help .
COVID-19 was different .
When Lindstrom first built the test at the infectious disease lab , for instance , he did n't have any human sample of the virus , so it had to be manufactured .
What 's more , officials say , Lindstrom built the coronavirus test the same way he would have built one for influenza .
It was , after all , what he knew best .
The problem was , the coronavirus had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — respiratory diseases that hit the Middle East and Asia in 2002 and 2012 — than something like H1N1 .
HHS officials said there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the test Lindstrom 's lab built but had Lindstrom been at the infectious disease lab longer , he might have pulled a MERS test out of the freezer and used that as the template for a coronavirus test instead because it had more in common with a respiratory virus than influenza did .
Because the respiratory disease lab had fewer entrenched systems than Lindstrom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that basic mistakes were made .
`` The absence or failure of document control to ensure the use of a single verified correct test quality control procedure matching [ Emergency Use Authorization ] procedure , '' the review said , `` resulted in deficiencies . ''
The FDA had required a particular protocol be followed when designing the test , and the lab did n't seem to be using the correct one , it said .
`` The first round of [ quality control ] for final kit release used an 'incorrect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` Later in the timeline , detection of a 33 percent kit failure '' using the correct quality control protocols `` did not result in a kit recall or a performance alert . ''
Kelly Wroblewski , director of infectious diseases at the Association of Public Health Laboratories , said she was surprised that Lindstrom 's lab would be called out for something as basic as quality control .
That has n't been her experience .
`` I 've done studies with Steve , and he 's meticulous in so many ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' she said .
When the lab ran the very last quality control test , using the correct Emergency Use Authorization procedures and showing a possible 33 % failure rate , it was Feb. 6 , according to the review .
The kits , with their four little vials , were already in their boxes .
There was time to recall them before they went out , but Lindstrom decided not to do that , three officials familiar with the review said .
One HHS official told NPR this should n't have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ QC records showed that the test had a problem , '' the official said .
`` Lindstrom signed off on a quality control that was clearly flawed .
He should not have released that kit . ''
Wroblewski agreed .
`` The thing that hangs me up most is probably the 33 % and not recalling or not immediately going to remanufacture or something at that point , '' she said , `` because 33 % is clearly a lot . ''
Compounding the problem , officials said , was the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the test .
There was not , for example , an agency directive that said the test needed to be correct some specific percentage of the time before it could be released .
Obviously , the CDC would like the tests to be completely accurate , one official told NPR , but something less than that is typically acceptable , particularly during a public health crisis .
Because there was no benchmark set for acceptance , it became Lindstrom 's call .
He appears to have decided either that the last quality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 33 % failure rate was acceptable , officials said .
The inspector general for HHS is also investigating why that first coronavirus test failed and has not yet completed its report .
The CDC review has some recommendations so a failure such as this one does n't happen again .
Among them : setting specific criteria that must be met before test kits can go to public labs , and now requiring that an outside group reviews all the CDC tests .
NPR has confirmed that Lindstrom is no longer in the respiratory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effectively removed all the leadership from the division of viral diseases that oversaw the lab .
A CDC spokesman declined to discuss CDC personnel issues .
NPR 's Monika Evstatieva and Barbara Van Woerkom contributed to this report .

CDC Report: Officials Knew Coronavirus Test Was Flawed But Released It Anyway
Enlarge this image toggle caption Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP
On Feb. 6, a scientist in a small infectious disease lab on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campus in Atlanta was putting a coronavirus test kit through its final paces. The lab designed and built the diagnostic test in record time, and the little vials that contained necessary reagents to identify the virus were boxed up and ready to go. But NPR has learned the results of that final quality control test suggested something troubling — it said the kit could fail 33% of the time.
Under normal circumstances, that kind of result would stop a test in its tracks, half a dozen public and private lab officials told NPR. But an internal CDC review obtained by NPR confirms that lab officials decided to release the kit anyway. The revelation comes from a CDC internal review, known as a "root-cause analysis," which the agency conducted to understand why an early coronavirus test didn't work properly and wound up costing scientists precious weeks in the early days of a pandemic.
In addition to learning of the early warning, reviewers determined the Respiratory Viruses Diagnostic Laboratory, run by a highly regarded scientist named Stephen Lindstrom, was beset with problems, including "process failures, a lack of appropriate recognized laboratory quality standards, and organizational problems related to the support and management of a laboratory supporting an outbreak response," the review said.
The CDC declined to make Lindstrom or anyone else available for an interview and declined to discuss the unreleased internal review. A spokesman would only say that the agency had "acknowledged and corrected mistakes along the way."
Like building a house without a hammer
In late January, the tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases seemed relatively manageable — about 4,500 confirmed cases worldwide and under a dozen confirmed in the continental United States. In a pandemic, public health officials say, the best hope to keep the numbers low is to determine who else might have the virus and where it was spreading and then concentrate efforts on those areas first.
The CDC's coronavirus test kits began arriving at the 100 or so public labs across the country in small white boxes on Feb. 6, according to the CDC timeline in the review. Each cardboard container held four tiny vials of chemicals that, when used properly, were meant to confirm the presence of the virus.
The New York City Public Health Laboratory was in that first wave of labs receiving the kits, and its director, Jennifer Rakeman, said her technicians began trying to verify the test right away. Verification is a standard protocol; it involves following detailed instructions to ensure the tests work the same way in an outside lab as they do at the CDC labs in Atlanta.
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Minchillo/AP John Minchillo/AP
The first three vials in the box were specific to the coronavirus, and the fourth was a control that let the labs know the specimen they were examining was a good one. Essentially, Rakeman said, it lets you know if the swab went all the way up a patient's nose and wasn't just "waved in the air."
By Feb. 8, hours after her lab started verifying the test kits, Rakeman said she began receiving panicked emails from colleagues. Something, they said, was wrong: They had run the tests dozens of times but were getting inconclusive results from two of the reagents, or chemicals, in the vials.
Rakeman began calling other labs to see if they were experiencing the same problem, and they said they were. "It was very truly an 'oh, crap' moment," Rakeman said. "These reagents aren't working; everybody is waiting for us all over the city to have this test online. We think we have more cases than we've been able to detect and the test isn't working."
She said trying to battle COVID-19, which was just starting to rage through New York, without a test was like trying to build a house with a saw but no hammer. "And we need that hammer. We need that other tool, we need that test," she said.
Contamination
When the complaints reached the CDC, leaders at the lab said they suspected the problem was contamination, according to Department of Health and Human Services officials who spoke to them at the time. Low-level contamination was to blame for a problem with a Middle East respiratory syndrome CDC test years ago. Microscopic residue could roil and ruin a sensitive test such as the one built to find the coronavirus.
Key CDC officials thought that might be the problem, too. "Contamination is one possible explanation, but there are others, and I can't really comment on what is an ongoing investigation," Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters in March.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Samuel Corum/Getty Images Samuel Corum/Getty Images
The contamination theory gained momentum after Timothy Stenzel, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, visited the respiratory disease lab a few weeks later.
He returned to his superiors in Washington, D.C., saying he found sloppy lab protocols. Researchers entered and exited the coronavirus laboratories without changing their coats, he said. Testing ingredients were assembled in the same room where researchers had been working on positive coronavirus samples, he told them, according to three officials who were part of the discussion at the time. These are the sorts of things that can introduce microscopic contamination.
CDC and HHS officials disagree with Stenzel's characterization of the lab. One former CDC official who was there when he arrived said the issues were small. "It was beakers on a counter that were empty and washed within 7 feet of a negative pressure hood. He called that dirty. Was that protocol? No. But it wasn't a dirty lab."
The FDA declined to make Stenzel available for this story.
While the CDC and HHS were trying to determine what was wrong with the kits, public labs were still waiting for something they could use. "We waited another month before we had testing available," Rakeman told NPR.
''Absence or failure of document control''
Lindstrom, who led the respiratory disease lab, had invented diagnostic tests in the past. Before he went to the infectious diseases lab, he was running a different CDC lab, one that focused on influenza.
When he was there, he had helped create the diagnostic tests that were used to identify H1N1 in patients, and there were no issues with the test. The FDA quickly approved the kits and sent them to labs across the country. Within days, the same kits were dispatched around the world. The effort was considered a triumph for the CDC, and Lindstrom was viewed internally as the guy who made it happen.
The influenza lab, however, had an infrastructure and systematic way of responding to flu outbreaks, and because of that Lindstrom and his team just had to do the science, one official said. The infrastructure was already there to help. COVID-19 was different. When Lindstrom first built the test at the infectious disease lab, for instance, he didn't have any human sample of the virus, so it had to be manufactured.
What's more, officials say, Lindstrom built the coronavirus test the same way he would have built one for influenza. It was, after all, what he knew best. The problem was, the coronavirus had more in common with SARS or MERS — respiratory diseases that hit the Middle East and Asia in 2002 and 2012 — than something like H1N1.
HHS officials said there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the test Lindstrom's lab built but had Lindstrom been at the infectious disease lab longer, he might have pulled a MERS test out of the freezer and used that as the template for a coronavirus test instead because it had more in common with a respiratory virus than influenza did.
Because the respiratory disease lab had fewer entrenched systems than Lindstrom's previous lab, the review also found that basic mistakes were made. "The absence or failure of document control to ensure the use of a single verified correct test quality control procedure matching [Emergency Use Authorization] procedure," the review said, "resulted in deficiencies."
The FDA had required a particular protocol be followed when designing the test, and the lab didn't seem to be using the correct one, it said. "The first round of [quality control] for final kit release used an 'incorrect' testing procedure," it said. "Later in the timeline, detection of a 33 percent kit failure" using the correct quality control protocols "did not result in a kit recall or a performance alert."
ProPublica reported last month on the events inside the CDC lab at the time of the test failure. This is the first time the CDC internal review's findings have been made public.
Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious diseases at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, said she was surprised that Lindstrom's lab would be called out for something as basic as quality control. That hasn't been her experience. "I've done studies with Steve, and he's meticulous in so many ways so the documentation failure is really surprising," she said.
When the lab ran the very last quality control test, using the correct Emergency Use Authorization procedures and showing a possible 33% failure rate, it was Feb. 6, according to the review. The kits, with their four little vials, were already in their boxes. There was time to recall them before they went out, but Lindstrom decided not to do that, three officials familiar with the review said.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images
One HHS official told NPR this shouldn't have been a tough call. "The QC records showed that the test had a problem," the official said. "Lindstrom signed off on a quality control that was clearly flawed. He should not have released that kit."
Wroblewski agreed. "The thing that hangs me up most is probably the 33% and not recalling or not immediately going to remanufacture or something at that point," she said, "because 33% is clearly a lot."
Compounding the problem, officials said, was the fact that the CDC had not established specific benchmarks for the test. There was not, for example, an agency directive that said the test needed to be correct some specific percentage of the time before it could be released.
Obviously, the CDC would like the tests to be completely accurate, one official told NPR, but something less than that is typically acceptable, particularly during a public health crisis.
Because there was no benchmark set for acceptance, it became Lindstrom's call. He appears to have decided either that the last quality control test was wrong or that the 33% failure rate was acceptable, officials said.
Ramping up testing
The inspector general for HHS is also investigating why that first coronavirus test failed and has not yet completed its report.
The CDC review has some recommendations so a failure such as this one doesn't happen again. Among them: setting specific criteria that must be met before test kits can go to public labs, and now requiring that an outside group reviews all the CDC tests.
NPR has confirmed that Lindstrom is no longer in the respiratory disease lab, and the CDC has effectively removed all the leadership from the division of viral diseases that oversaw the lab. A CDC spokesman declined to discuss CDC personnel issues.
NPR's Monika Evstatieva and Barbara Van Woerkom contributed to this report.


npr--2020-11-06--Many Places Hard Hit By COVID-19 Leaned More Toward Trump In 2020 Than 2016

Many Places Hard Hit By COVID-19 Leaned More Toward Trump In 2020 Than 2016 Support for President Trump increased in 2020 in many of the U.S. counties that lost lives at the highest rate to COVID-19 , according to an NPR analysis .
Of the 100 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates per capita , 68 had a higher proportion of votes cast for Trump this cycle than they did in 2016 .
This includes both Republican-leaning counties and counties that supported Joe Biden .
`` It 's surprising to see that the president surged compared to 2016 in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hardest by the pandemic , '' says Thad Kousser , a political scientist at the University of California , San Diego .
But Kousser and several other experts stress that many things influence how people vote and that it 's currently impossible to tease out what effect high death rates and the pandemic in general might have had on voting .
Numerous other factors may have led voters in these places to support Trump .
Of the top 100 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates , all but six had completed vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ran this analysis .
And the shift toward support for Trump was significant in some cases .
For example , the shift in the vote margin for Trump increased in Starr County , Texas , by 55 points .
That 's the largest shift toward the president in the U.S. , though the county ultimately went for Biden ; the county has seen 186 deaths and has a population of 65,000 .
And in Richmond County , N.Y. , Trump 's lead over Biden was 9 points higher than it was in 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump 's support rose even in the county with the highest death rate per capita in the country : Gove County , Kansas , where there have been 18 deaths out of the town 's 2,600 residents .
There , Trump 's tally increased from a 74-point win against Hillary Clinton in 2016 to a 76-point win against Biden .
Overall , of the top 25 % of counties with the highest death rates , two-thirds saw increases in the share of votes cast for Trump .
Kousser notes that teasing out cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It 's not likely that high death rates caused voters to shift toward Trump , Kousser says , adding that it 's `` more likely that both of these trends are effects of something different about [ these ] counties . ''
For example , `` they may have been simpatico with the president 's approach to the pandemic , '' which led people to do things like be less likely to wear masks and impose lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus , Kousser says .
Still , the correlation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump is worth studying , Kousser says : `` [ It ] shows that the impact of the pandemic on this election was much more complicated than we thought . ''
It has been well documented that Republicans and Democrats hold extremely different views about the pandemic and Trump 's response to it .
Though 41 % of voters ranked the pandemic as the most important issue facing the country , according to the AP VoteCast survey conducted by The Associated Press , 73 % of those who did so voted for Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and jobs , with 28 % of voters choosing that issue .
Of those , 81 % voted for Trump .
Some political scientists say this partisan divide is not surprising .
`` What we 've seen is over time that the biggest determinant of people 's worries about COVID-19 and their attitudes about COVID-19 is not where they live or the COVID-19 deaths in their area , but it is their partisanship , '' says Shana Gadarian , an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University who has been surveying voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partisanship matters a great deal for people 's vote choice . ''
Americans she surveyed were only slightly more likely to support a ban on large public gatherings , for example , if someone in their family had been infected by the coronavirus .
But they were far more likely to support such a ban if they identified as a Democrat , regardless of whether someone in their family had had COVID-19 .
Gadarian stresses that `` it 's not the case that people are totally unresponsive to death and bad things happening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if you are someone who already trusts the president and you trust him to handle the crisis , then you are both not as concerned as Democrats are and you 're more willing to trust that he is the person who can keep you safe and keep the country safe from COVID , '' she says .
Gadarian and others note that many factors influence how people vote .
Without more detailed information about the counties where support increased even though the pandemic took a heavy toll , it 's impossible to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a Harvard University social scientist .
`` We just do n't know what the cause is , '' King said .
`` This is a just a snapshot . ''
It 's possible support for Trump would have increased in those counties for reasons entirely unrelated to the pandemic , such as more campaigning or advertising by the president , King says .
`` Maybe the people in those areas were Republicans and conservatives and Trump supporters to begin with , and they were increasing their support for Trump , entirely unrelated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It could also be that places that have strong support for the president also are the most likely to experience more deaths for other reasons , such as their populations having higher rates of risk factors such as older age , other health problems or inferior health care , he says .
It 's possible the increased support for Trump among some voters stems from `` the gains they believe they 've gotten for the economy from the sacrifice they 've made through , presumably , refusing to participate in masking and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Harvard University political theorist .
`` Having sacrificed , those communities may now be invested in that playbook , '' Allen says .
And , of course , it 's possible that support for Trump would have increased even more in counties that supported him strongly if the pandemic had not hit them so hard .
`` We just do n't actually know , right ? ''
King says .
But King and others say the effect of the pandemic on voting will be fodder for more in-depth research for years to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an election occurring in the midst of one of history 's most consequential health emergencies .
`` It 's a very important research question , '' King says .
`` We absolutely want to track that down and figure that out . ''

Many Places Hard Hit By COVID-19 Leaned More Toward Trump In 2020 Than 2016
Support for President Trump increased in 2020 in many of the U.S. counties that lost lives at the highest rate to COVID-19, according to an NPR analysis.
Of the 100 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates per capita, 68 had a higher proportion of votes cast for Trump this cycle than they did in 2016. This includes both Republican-leaning counties and counties that supported Joe Biden.
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"It's surprising to see that the president surged compared to 2016 in the areas that have been hit the hardest by the pandemic," says Thad Kousser, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego.
But Kousser and several other experts stress that many things influence how people vote and that it's currently impossible to tease out what effect high death rates and the pandemic in general might have had on voting. Numerous other factors may have led voters in these places to support Trump.
Of the top 100 counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates, all but six had completed vote counts as of Thursday, when NPR ran this analysis. And the shift toward support for Trump was significant in some cases.
For example, the shift in the vote margin for Trump increased in Starr County, Texas, by 55 points. That's the largest shift toward the president in the U.S., though the county ultimately went for Biden; the county has seen 186 deaths and has a population of 65,000. And in Richmond County, N.Y., Trump's lead over Biden was 9 points higher than it was in 2016; that county saw 1,100 deaths.
Trump's support rose even in the county with the highest death rate per capita in the country: Gove County, Kansas, where there have been 18 deaths out of the town's 2,600 residents. There, Trump's tally increased from a 74-point win against Hillary Clinton in 2016 to a 76-point win against Biden.
Overall, of the top 25% of counties with the highest death rates, two-thirds saw increases in the share of votes cast for Trump.
Kousser notes that teasing out cause and effect with these results is difficult. It's not likely that high death rates caused voters to shift toward Trump, Kousser says, adding that it's "more likely that both of these trends are effects of something different about [these] counties."
For example, "they may have been simpatico with the president's approach to the pandemic," which led people to do things like be less likely to wear masks and impose lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Kousser says.
Still, the correlation between high death rates and voting for Trump is worth studying, Kousser says: "[It] shows that the impact of the pandemic on this election was much more complicated than we thought."
The pandemic's impact on voters
It has been well documented that Republicans and Democrats hold extremely different views about the pandemic and Trump's response to it.
Though 41% of voters ranked the pandemic as the most important issue facing the country, according to the AP VoteCast survey conducted by The Associated Press, 73% of those who did so voted for Biden. The second-highest-ranked issue was the economy and jobs, with 28% of voters choosing that issue. Of those, 81% voted for Trump.
Some political scientists say this partisan divide is not surprising.
"What we've seen is over time that the biggest determinant of people's worries about COVID-19 and their attitudes about COVID-19 is not where they live or the COVID-19 deaths in their area, but it is their partisanship," says Shana Gadarian, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University who has been surveying voters through the campaign. "We know partisanship matters a great deal for people's vote choice."
Americans she surveyed were only slightly more likely to support a ban on large public gatherings, for example, if someone in their family had been infected by the coronavirus. But they were far more likely to support such a ban if they identified as a Democrat, regardless of whether someone in their family had had COVID-19.
Gadarian stresses that "it's not the case that people are totally unresponsive to death and bad things happening in their area."
But "if you are someone who already trusts the president and you trust him to handle the crisis, then you are both not as concerned as Democrats are and you're more willing to trust that he is the person who can keep you safe and keep the country safe from COVID," she says.
Teasing out voter attitudes
Gadarian and others note that many factors influence how people vote. Without more detailed information about the counties where support increased even though the pandemic took a heavy toll, it's impossible to understand cause and effect, says Gary King, a Harvard University social scientist.
"We just don't know what the cause is," King said. "This is a just a snapshot."
It's possible support for Trump would have increased in those counties for reasons entirely unrelated to the pandemic, such as more campaigning or advertising by the president, King says.
"Maybe the people in those areas were Republicans and conservatives and Trump supporters to begin with, and they were increasing their support for Trump, entirely unrelated to the pandemic," King says.
It could also be that places that have strong support for the president also are the most likely to experience more deaths for other reasons, such as their populations having higher rates of risk factors such as older age, other health problems or inferior health care, he says.
It's possible the increased support for Trump among some voters stems from "the gains they believe they've gotten for the economy from the sacrifice they've made through, presumably, refusing to participate in masking and lockdowns," says Danielle Allen, a Harvard University political theorist.
"Having sacrificed, those communities may now be invested in that playbook," Allen says.
And, of course, it's possible that support for Trump would have increased even more in counties that supported him strongly if the pandemic had not hit them so hard.
"We just don't actually know, right?" King says.
But King and others say the effect of the pandemic on voting will be fodder for more in-depth research for years to come, given the historic nature of an election occurring in the midst of one of history's most consequential health emergencies.
"It's a very important research question," King says. "We absolutely want to track that down and figure that out."


npr--2020-11-06--Why Does The Navy Have So Few Black Admirals? Some Blame A Culture Of Discrimination

Why Does The Navy Have So Few Black Admirals ?
Some Blame A Culture Of Discrimination Only 10 of the Navy 's 268 admirals are African-American , most are rear admirals and none holds the two highest ranks , according to data from a task force that 's examining the history of discrimination in the Navy .
Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey , who heads the One Navy Task Force for the Chief of Naval Operations , concedes that those numbers are small .
Building an admiral is a 20- to 30-year commitment , he said , and someone has to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` As a Black officer in the U.S. Navy , I will tell you I 've mentored more people who do n't look like me than do look like me , '' Holsey said .
`` Somebody who does n't look like me had to reach out and engage in my career . ''
African Americans comprise about 13 % of the U.S. population , but roughly 8.1 % of naval officers are Black , according to a 2019 report by the Congressional Research Service .
So the pipeline is small , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they work their way up the chain of command , said Keith Green , a retired lieutenant commander .
He recently wrote the book Black Officer/White Navy .
`` It is not simply just unconscious bias , '' Green said .
Some in the Navy `` do n't like working for a Black person or a minority , and they do n't like having one be their supervisor , '' he said .
Not everyone who African American officers encounter is a problem , but Green said the extra effort to work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black sailors ' careers .
`` Not only do you have to do all the other stressful things that any military person has do to , '' Green said , `` you have to play that double game of trying to figure out why you 're being treated differently or what 's happening to you .
Why is something happening to you that is n't happening to other people ? ''
Retired Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris heads the National Naval Officers Association , which has worked for 50 years to promote diversity in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ takes hundreds of ensigns to eventually make one admiral — or what the Navy calls a flag officer .
The Navy has to bring in more young officers of color , he said , so when it 's time to promote people to flag officer , `` you have enough people in the pot . ''
Harris referred to the point where junior officers decide to end their careers as `` Death Valley . ''
Graduating from the Naval Academy is the most well worn path to admiral , but fewer than 6 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Naval Academy is Black .
Harris , who was rejected when he applied to the academy at the beginning of his career , said one solution is mentoring officers coming through less traditional paths .
`` When you have one out of 20 diverse candidates going up for flag officer in a community and they decide , you know what , I just got this high-paying job at IBM ... now you 're down to zero and you have to look at that pipeline , and that pipeline is anemic , '' Harris @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the lower ranks .
Nearly 20 % of enlisted sailors are African American .
But Force Master Chief Huben Phillips , who is part of the One Navy Task Force , said sailors can face discrimination in the ranks .
`` Throughout my 31 years , when I 've seen racial discrimination against me , I knew what the policy was ; I knew it was wrong , '' Phillips said .
`` But when you 're in the minority , you just kind of put your head down .
You think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your family .
You think about the bigger picture . ''
Right now , the One Navy Task Force , which was formed after the death of George Floyd and the racial justice protests that followed , is holding focus groups throughout the service to encourage enlisted sailors and officers alike to speak up .
The task force is scheduled to issue its report in December .

Why Does The Navy Have So Few Black Admirals? Some Blame A Culture Of Discrimination
Enlarge this image toggle caption Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Rodarte/U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Rodarte/U.S. Navy
Only 10 of the Navy's 268 admirals are African-American, most are rear admirals and none holds the two highest ranks, according to data from a task force that's examining the history of discrimination in the Navy. Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, who heads the One Navy Task Force for the Chief of Naval Operations, concedes that those numbers are small.
Building an admiral is a 20- to 30-year commitment, he said, and someone has to be willing to guide that young officer. "As a Black officer in the U.S. Navy, I will tell you I've mentored more people who don't look like me than do look like me," Holsey said. "Somebody who doesn't look like me had to reach out and engage in my career."
African Americans comprise about 13% of the U.S. population, but roughly 8.1% of naval officers are Black, according to a 2019 report by the Congressional Research Service. So the pipeline is small, and many Black officers just become exhausted as they work their way up the chain of command, said Keith Green, a retired lieutenant commander. He recently wrote the book Black Officer/White Navy.
"It is not simply just unconscious bias," Green said. Some in the Navy "don't like working for a Black person or a minority, and they don't like having one be their supervisor," he said. Not everyone who African American officers encounter is a problem, but Green said the extra effort to work around troublesome colleagues takes its toll on Black sailors' careers.
"Not only do you have to do all the other stressful things that any military person has do to," Green said, "you have to play that double game of trying to figure out why you're being treated differently or what's happening to you. Why is something happening to you that isn't happening to other people?"
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker/U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker/U.S. Navy
Retired Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris heads the National Naval Officers Association, which has worked for 50 years to promote diversity in the sea services. He said it takes hundreds of ensigns to eventually make one admiral — or what the Navy calls a flag officer.
The Navy has to bring in more young officers of color, he said, so when it's time to promote people to flag officer, "you have enough people in the pot."
Harris referred to the point where junior officers decide to end their careers as "Death Valley."
Graduating from the Naval Academy is the most well worn path to admiral, but fewer than 6% of the current class at the Naval Academy is Black. Harris, who was rejected when he applied to the academy at the beginning of his career, said one solution is mentoring officers coming through less traditional paths.
"When you have one out of 20 diverse candidates going up for flag officer in a community and they decide, you know what, I just got this high-paying job at IBM...now you're down to zero and you have to look at that pipeline, and that pipeline is anemic," Harris said.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Petty Officer 3rd Class Alan Lewis/U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Alan Lewis/U.S. Navy
The Navy is more diverse at the lower ranks. Nearly 20% of enlisted sailors are African American. But Force Master Chief Huben Phillips, who is part of the One Navy Task Force, said sailors can face discrimination in the ranks.
"Throughout my 31 years, when I've seen racial discrimination against me, I knew what the policy was; I knew it was wrong," Phillips said. "But when you're in the minority, you just kind of put your head down. You think about self preservation. You think about your family. You think about the bigger picture."
Right now, the One Navy Task Force, which was formed after the death of George Floyd and the racial justice protests that followed, is holding focus groups throughout the service to encourage enlisted sailors and officers alike to speak up. The task force is scheduled to issue its report in December.


npr--2020-11-06--A National Fight Over Who Is Counted In Voting Districts May Arise From Missouri

A National Fight Over Who Is Counted In Voting Districts May Arise From Missouri Voters in Missouri approved amending their state constitution this week with a subtle change that could spark a national legal fight over who is counted in voting districts .
In general , political mapmakers around the country have long drawn state legislative districts once a decade based on the total number of people living in an area as determined by the latest census results .
With the support of more than 51 % of those who voted on the ballot measure , Republican state lawmakers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ districts have to `` be drawn on the basis of one person , one vote , '' according to the newly-passed Amendment 3 .
It 's not clear exactly how the phrase `` one person , one vote '' will be interpreted when the state 's voting maps are expected to be redrawn next year by either bipartisan commissions or judges from Missouri 's appellate courts .
There is no requirement under Amendment 3 for Missouri to stop redistricting based on total population .
But Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer was explicit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a court hearing in August .
`` So 'one person , one vote , ' the criteria is based on the number of actual eligible voters in a relevant district as opposed to an absolute population , '' Sauer told state appeals court Judge Alok Ahuja during a hearing for a lawsuit over how the amendment was presented on election ballots , which did not go into any detail about how the redistricting criteria would be modified .
Sauer 's comment echoed the interpretation of Republican state Sen. Dan Hegeman of Cosby , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legislation that proposed the constitutional amendment who said during a Missouri senate floor debate in January that the phrase meant using a count of `` people that are able to vote . ''
Drawing state legislative districts based on the number of U.S. citizens old enough to vote would be a radical shift in political mapmaking .
A GOP strategist concluded it `` would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites . ''
Opponents of Missouri 's Amendment 3 say the new criteria open the door to redistricting that does not take into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noncitizens and other residents who are not eligible to vote .
According to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice , redistricting based on the numbers of adult citizens could siphon away political representation from two major metropolitan areas in Missouri — greater Kansas City and the suburbs of St. Louis .
The change could also come with `` stark '' racial disparities , the Brennan Center report says , potentially leaving out more than half of Asian and Latino residents in Missouri and more than a quarter of Black residents while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's white population .
Still , it remains an open question whether it is legal to draw voting districts based on the number of eligible voters or another group other than all residents .
The U.S. Supreme Court left it unresolved in its 2016 ruling for the Texas redistricting case Evenwel v. Abbott .
`` That open question could be one of the big fights of this decade , '' Michael Li , a redistricting expert who is a senior counsel for the Brennan Center 's Democracy Program , told NPR in May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closer , the ingredients for a potential Supreme Court fight are lining up .
Political mapmakers need block-level data about people 's U.S. citizenship status in order to carry out redistricting based on eligible voters — and the Census Bureau says it is planning to release that information next year , although the exact timing for it and other redistricting data from the 2020 census is unclear due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and last-minute schedule changes by the Trump administration .
After the Supreme Court blocked the administration last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ census forms , Trump officials pushed ahead with using an alternative source to produce block-level citizenship data — government records including Social Security Administration files , U.S. passport data and some states ' driver 's license information .
The administration has also directed the Census Bureau to try to use records to produce a count of unauthorized immigrants living in the country , which President Trump would need to attempt to make an unprecedented change to who is counted in numbers used to redraw congressional districts .
Despite the U.S. Constitution 's requirement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ persons in each state , '' Trump wants to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the congressional apportionment counts .
Two lower courts have found the memo Trump issued calling for that change to be unlawful , and one of the courts declared it to be unconstitutional .
The Supreme Court is set to issue its ruling after hearing oral arguments on Nov. 30 .

A National Fight Over Who Is Counted In Voting Districts May Arise From Missouri
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
Updated Nov. 8 at 3:23 p.m. ET
Voters in Missouri have approved amending their state constitution with a subtle change that could spark a national legal fight over who is counted in voting districts.
That fight, however, could be stemmed if President-elect Joe Biden reverses the Trump administration's directives for the Census Bureau to produce the citizenship data needed to carry out a radically different way of redrawing maps that determine the areas state lawmakers represent.
In general, political mapmakers around the country have long drawn state legislative districts once a decade based on the total number of people living in an area as determined by the latest census results.
With the support of more than 51% of those who voted on the Missouri ballot measure, Republican state lawmakers have changed redistricting requirements so that going forward districts have to "be drawn on the basis of one person, one vote," according to the newly-passed Amendment 3.
It's not clear exactly how the phrase "one person, one vote" will be interpreted when the state's voting maps are expected to be redrawn next year by either bipartisan commissions or judges from Missouri's appellate courts. There is no requirement under Amendment 3 for Missouri to stop redistricting based on total population.
But Missouri Solicitor General D. John Sauer was explicit about the state government's interpretation during a court hearing in August.
"So 'one person, one vote,' the criteria is based on the number of actual eligible voters in a relevant district as opposed to an absolute population," Sauer told state appeals court Judge Alok Ahuja during a hearing for a lawsuit over how the amendment was presented on election ballots, which did not go into any detail about how the redistricting criteria would be modified.
Sauer's comment echoed the interpretation of Republican state Sen. Dan Hegeman of Cosby, Mo., a lead sponsor of the legislation that proposed the constitutional amendment who said during a Missouri senate floor debate in January that the phrase meant using a count of "people that are able to vote."
Drawing state legislative districts based on the number of U.S. citizens old enough to vote would be a radical shift in political mapmaking. A GOP strategist concluded it "would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites."
Opponents of Missouri's Amendment 3 say the new criteria open the door to redistricting that does not take into account the political representation of children, noncitizens and other residents who are not eligible to vote.
According to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice, redistricting based on the numbers of adult citizens could siphon away political representation from two major metropolitan areas in Missouri — greater Kansas City and the suburbs of St. Louis.
The change could also come with "stark" racial disparities, the Brennan Center report says, potentially leaving out more than half of Asian and Latino residents in Missouri and more than a quarter of Black residents while excluding only 21% of the state's white population.
Still, it remains an open question whether it is legal to draw voting districts based on the number of eligible voters or another group other than all residents. The U.S. Supreme Court left it unresolved in its 2016 ruling for the Texas redistricting case Evenwel v. Abbott.
"That open question could be one of the big fights of this decade," Michael Li, a redistricting expert who is a senior counsel for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, told NPR in May.
As the 2021 redistricting season draws closer, the ingredients for a potential Supreme Court fight are lining up.
Political mapmakers need block-level data about people's U.S. citizenship status in order to carry out redistricting based on eligible voters — and as directed by the Trump administration, the Census Bureau says it is planning to release that information next year, although the exact timing for it and other redistricting data from the 2020 census is unclear due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and last-minute schedule changes by the administration.
After the Supreme Court blocked the administration last year from adding a citizenship question to 2020 census forms, Trump officials pushed ahead with using an alternative source to produce block-level citizenship data — government records including Social Security Administration files, U.S. passport data and some states' driver's license information.
Latinx community groups represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC filed an ongoing federal lawsuit last year to block this effort to produce citizenship data, alleging that it's part of a conspiracy to prevent Latinos and noncitizens from receiving fair political representation.
Once in office, however, Biden is likely to reverse the Trump administration's directives to the Census Bureau given that redistricting based on eligible voters would likely not benefit Democrats.
The Trump administration has also directed the Census Bureau to try to use records to produce a count of unauthorized immigrants living in the country, which Trump would need to attempt to make an unprecedented change to who is counted in numbers used to redraw congressional districts.
Despite the U.S. Constitution's requirement to include the "whole number of persons in each state," Trump wants to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the congressional apportionment counts.
Three lower courts — including a three-judge court in Maryland that ruled on Nov. 6 — have found the memo Trump issued calling for that change to be unlawful, and one of the courts declared it to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is set to issue its ruling after hearing oral arguments on Nov. 30.


npr--2020-11-05--'The Wound Is Very Deep': Azerbaijanis And Armenians In Russia Long For Peace

'The Wound Is Very Deep ' : Azerbaijanis And Armenians In Russia Long For Peace Sanubar Aliyeva has lived in Russia for more than half her life , but she says she is still a proud Azerbaijani .
On a recent afternoon , the 61-year-old health care worker came to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow to pay her respects to the victims of the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh , more than 1,000 miles away .
Aliyeva says her younger brother lost a leg in the first Nagorno-Karabakh war almost 30 years ago .
When fierce fighting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis flared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , her brother volunteered for the army .
`` Of course they did n't take him , he 's over 50 , '' Aliyeva says .
`` They told him the Azerbaijani army is so strong now that they do n't need dads like him . ''
The reignited war in Nagorno-Karabakh has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis and Armenians who call Russia home .
The two ethnic communities are among Russia 's biggest and most organized , though the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has driven them into hostile camps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many of its ethnic groups began to break free in the late 1980s .
When Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991 , the ethnic Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region fought and won a bloody war of secession from Azerbaijan .
Now , with the support of Turkey , Azerbaijanis are determined to take back the territory they lost to Armenians .
The renewed fighting has killed hundreds , if not thousands , of people on both sides .
Red carnations , photographs and stuffed animals have piled up outside the Azerbaijani @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flowers .
She says she remembers working together with Armenians when she was a young woman in Soviet Azerbaijan .
`` I somehow doubt that we 'll be able to live together in the same way we used to during Soviet times , '' she says .
Elshad Agverdiyev , a 32-year-old Muscovite of Azerbaijani descent , was born when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was just coming to a head .
He says he has given up hope on the diplomatic efforts of Russia and the United States , which together with France have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` We 've waited 10 years , 20 years , now it 's almost 30 years .
Unfortunately the international community has done nothing .
We were fed empty promises , '' Agverdiyev says .
`` What is left for Azerbaijan to do ?
We want to resolve this issue on our own . ''
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has led to tensions between Russia 's Azerbaijani and Armenian communities .
In July , when Azerbaijan and Armenia skirmished in a prelude to the current fighting , members of the two diasporas clashed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reports of dozens of arrests .
Following the new outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh , the city of Moscow had leaders of both ethnic communities sign a statement addressed to their constituents appealing for calm .
`` From the first day , we called on people not to give in to provocations and emotions and to follow the law , '' says Shamil Tagiyev , a leader of the Azerbaijani community in Moscow .
His contacts to local Armenians are mediated through the mayor 's office , he says .
The chasm between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that fighting continues in and around Nagorno-Karabakh .
For Armenians in Moscow , the Armenian Apostolic cathedral has become the center of gravity for the community .
The cavernous church , consecrated in 2013 , is built out of tuff stone in the traditional Armenian style .
Sasun Davtyan , a migrant worker from Armenia , came to pray for Artsakh , as Armenians call Nagorno-Karabakh .
`` My brothers are there now , they 're volunteers .
They went to defend their homeland , '' Davtyan , 28 , says .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be ready to join them . ''
He says he does n't harbor any hope for help from Russia , Armenia 's historical protector , or the United States , which also has a significant Armenian community .
`` The hope is on us and us alone , '' Davtyan says .
The Armenian Apostolic Church , one of the oldest in Christianity , has held together Armenians for almost 2,000 years .
`` The conflict has brought the community closer together , because we all understand that Armenia and Artsakh are on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gevorg Vardanyan , a priest at the Moscow cathedral .
He says Armenians ' collective memory of the Ottoman Empire 's 1915 mass killing of 1.5 million Armenians looms large .
Most historians and a growing number of countries consider it genocide ; Turkey rejects the term .
In today 's conflict , Vardanyan says , religion plays a big role , with Christian Armenians pitted against predominantly Muslim Azerbaijanis .
But he suggests that faith can also show the way to reconciliation .
`` Both Azerbaijanis and Armenians understand that young men @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there to be mourning in their home , '' Vardanyan says .
`` Religion is that ray of light around which we can build our relationship , because a religious person never wants to kill and never should kill .
There is no need for war ; war is there where there is no God . ''
For some members of his congregation , Vardanyan 's words may sound aspirational at best .
`` The longer the war goes on , the more difficult the situation gets , '' says Akop Akavyan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ afternoon service with his wife and teenage son .
`` The wound is very deep and just keeps getting bigger . ''
Akavyan says he simply wants the fighting to end and has n't started thinking about how Armenians and Azerbaijanis may one day live in peace .
His son Andrei , 17 , who was born and raised in multiethnic Moscow , takes another view .
It will take time , he says , but one day Armenians and Azerbaijanis will think differently , the same way that Germans and Russians — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can now be friends .

'The Wound Is Very Deep': Azerbaijanis And Armenians In Russia Long For Peace
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lucian Kim/NPR Lucian Kim/NPR
Sanubar Aliyeva has lived in Russia for more than half her life, but she says she is still a proud Azerbaijani. On a recent afternoon, the 61-year-old health care worker came to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow to pay her respects to the victims of the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 1,000 miles away.
Aliyeva says her younger brother lost a leg in the first Nagorno-Karabakh war almost 30 years ago. When fierce fighting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis flared up again in September, she says, her brother volunteered for the army.
"Of course they didn't take him, he's over 50," Aliyeva says. "They told him the Azerbaijani army is so strong now that they don't need dads like him."
The reignited war in Nagorno-Karabakh has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis and Armenians who call Russia home. The two ethnic communities are among Russia's biggest and most organized, though the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has driven them into hostile camps.
The Soviet Union fell apart after many of its ethnic groups began to break free in the late 1980s. When Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991, the ethnic Armenians living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region fought and won a bloody war of secession from Azerbaijan. Now, with the support of Turkey, Azerbaijanis are determined to take back the territory they lost to Armenians.
The renewed fighting has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people on both sides.
Red carnations, photographs and stuffed animals have piled up outside the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow.
Aliyeva also brought flowers. She says she remembers working together with Armenians when she was a young woman in Soviet Azerbaijan.
"I somehow doubt that we'll be able to live together in the same way we used to during Soviet times," she says.
Elshad Agverdiyev, a 32-year-old Muscovite of Azerbaijani descent, was born when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was just coming to a head. He says he has given up hope on the diplomatic efforts of Russia and the United States, which together with France have co-chaired a peace process since the 1990s.
"We've waited 10 years, 20 years, now it's almost 30 years. Unfortunately the international community has done nothing. We were fed empty promises," Agverdiyev says. "What is left for Azerbaijan to do? We want to resolve this issue on our own."
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has led to tensions between Russia's Azerbaijani and Armenian communities. In July, when Azerbaijan and Armenia skirmished in a prelude to the current fighting, members of the two diasporas clashed in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with reports of dozens of arrests. Following the new outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, the city of Moscow had leaders of both ethnic communities sign a statement addressed to their constituents appealing for calm.
"From the first day, we called on people not to give in to provocations and emotions and to follow the law," says Shamil Tagiyev, a leader of the Azerbaijani community in Moscow. His contacts to local Armenians are mediated through the mayor's office, he says.
The chasm between Armenians and Azerbaijanis widens with every day that fighting continues in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
For Armenians in Moscow, the Armenian Apostolic cathedral has become the center of gravity for the community. The cavernous church, consecrated in 2013, is built out of tuff stone in the traditional Armenian style.
Sasun Davtyan, a migrant worker from Armenia, came to pray for Artsakh, as Armenians call Nagorno-Karabakh.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lucian Kim/NPR Lucian Kim/NPR
"My brothers are there now, they're volunteers. They went to defend their homeland," Davtyan, 28, says. "When the time comes, I'll be ready to join them."
He says he doesn't harbor any hope for help from Russia, Armenia's historical protector, or the United States, which also has a significant Armenian community.
"The hope is on us and us alone," Davtyan says.
The Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the oldest in Christianity, has held together Armenians for almost 2,000 years.
"The conflict has brought the community closer together, because we all understand that Armenia and Artsakh are on the verge of extinction," says Gevorg Vardanyan, a priest at the Moscow cathedral. He says Armenians' collective memory of the Ottoman Empire's 1915 mass killing of 1.5 million Armenians looms large. Most historians and a growing number of countries consider it genocide; Turkey rejects the term.
In today's conflict, Vardanyan says, religion plays a big role, with Christian Armenians pitted against predominantly Muslim Azerbaijanis. But he suggests that faith can also show the way to reconciliation.
"Both Azerbaijanis and Armenians understand that young men are dying, and no one wants there to be mourning in their home," Vardanyan says. "Religion is that ray of light around which we can build our relationship, because a religious person never wants to kill and never should kill. There is no need for war; war is there where there is no God."
For some members of his congregation, Vardanyan's words may sound aspirational at best.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Lucian Kim/NPR Lucian Kim/NPR
"The longer the war goes on, the more difficult the situation gets," says Akop Akavyan, who came to the cathedral for an afternoon service with his wife and teenage son. "The wound is very deep and just keeps getting bigger."
Akavyan says he simply wants the fighting to end and hasn't started thinking about how Armenians and Azerbaijanis may one day live in peace.
His son Andrei, 17, who was born and raised in multiethnic Moscow, takes another view.
It will take time, he says, but one day Armenians and Azerbaijanis will think differently, the same way that Germans and Russians — bitter enemies in World War II — can now be friends.


npr--2020-11-05--Pandemic Expedites ESPN Employee Purge, Hundreds Laid Off

Sports monolith ESPN informed employees that pandemic-related layoffs are coming Thursday morning .
In a company memo obtained by NPR , Jimmy Pitaro , chairman , ESPN and sports content , revealed that 300 people will be laid off .
Additionally , 200 open positions will be eliminated , totaling a 10 % workforce reduction worldwide .
`` Prior to the pandemic , we had been deeply engaged in strategizing how best to position ESPN for future success amidst tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports , '' Pitaro said in the memo .
`` The pandemic 's significant impact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussions . ''
ESPN made efforts to avoid terminations by reducing executive and talent salaries , budget cuts and furloughs .
The initiatives , however , fell short .
ESPN , which was purchased by Walt Disney Company in 1996 , has been making efforts to transition to a direct-to-consumer business strategy ; streaming services .
ESPN+ , which launched in April 2018 , has 8.5 million subscribers and provides fans with live events as well as content not available on cable .
Pitaro told staff that ESPN had reached `` an inflection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be made .
`` Building a successful future in a changing world means facing hard choices , '' the memo read .
`` Making informed decisions about how and where we need to go – and , as always , in the most efficient way possible - is by far the most challenging job of any leadership team . ''
It 's unclear what staff members would be let go , but Pitaro 's memo hinted it would not be limited to low-level employees .
`` We are parting ways with some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ here for a long time—and all of whom have made important contributions to ESPN , '' the memo read .
This round of layoffs is not the first in recent memory .
In 2017 , ESPN let over 200 employees go , including on-air talent and journalists .

Pandemic Expedites ESPN Employee Purge, Hundreds Laid Off
Enlarge this image Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN
Sports monolith ESPN informed employees that pandemic-related layoffs are coming Thursday morning. In a company memo obtained by NPR, Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN and sports content, revealed that 300 people will be laid off. Additionally, 200 open positions will be eliminated, totaling a 10% workforce reduction worldwide.
"Prior to the pandemic, we had been deeply engaged in strategizing how best to position ESPN for future success amidst tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports," Pitaro said in the memo. "The pandemic's significant impact on our business clearly accelerated those forward-looking discussions."
ESPN made efforts to avoid terminations by reducing executive and talent salaries, budget cuts and furloughs. The initiatives, however, fell short.
ESPN, which was purchased by Walt Disney Company in 1996, has been making efforts to transition to a direct-to-consumer business strategy; streaming services.
ESPN+, which launched in April 2018, has 8.5 million subscribers and provides fans with live events as well as content not available on cable.
Pitaro told staff that ESPN had reached "an inflection point" and that business-minded decisions needed to be made.
"Building a successful future in a changing world means facing hard choices," the memo read. "Making informed decisions about how and where we need to go – and, as always, in the most efficient way possible - is by far the most challenging job of any leadership team."
It's unclear what staff members would be let go, but Pitaro's memo hinted it would not be limited to low-level employees.
"We are parting ways with some exceptional team members—some of whom have been here for a long time—and all of whom have made important contributions to ESPN," the memo read.
This round of layoffs is not the first in recent memory. In 2017, ESPN let over 200 employees go, including on-air talent and journalists.