csmonitor--2020-12-07--Tough lockdown measures in California expose leadership divides

California compelled much of the state to close shop and stay at home on Monday , when some of the harshest coronavirus restrictions in the United States came into effect one day after the state set a record with more than 30,000 new COVID-19 cases .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s order was triggered in areas where fewer than 15 % of intensive care hospital beds were available , affecting more than 23 million people in Southern California .
In addition , five counties in Northern California surrounding the San Francisco Bay area have voluntarily imposed the restrictions even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been under a stay-at-home order for all but essential services since March .
The new order , which will last at least three weeks , bans private gatherings of any size , shuts all but critical infrastructure and retail operations , and requires everyone to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing .
Gov .
Newsom , a first-term Democrat , has threatened to withhold funds from local governments that refuse to comply .
But the sheriffs of Los Angeles , Orange , and Riverside counties have said they will refuse to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to remain open .
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a videotaped message posted on the department ’ s website that his office “ will not be blackmailed , bullied , or used as muscle ” to enforce the governor ’ s orders .
“ Orange County Sheriff ’ s deputies will not be dispatched to , or respond to , calls for service to enforce compliance with face coverings , social gatherings or stay at home orders , ” his counterpart in Orange County , Don Barnes , said in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mayor of one Los Angeles County town said more enforcement was needed .
“ People absolutely should be arrested for not wearing masks , ” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Perris told the Orange County Register .
“ Most of these people have never been arrested before .
Spend one night incarcerated and they won ’ t do it again.
” California reported more than 30,000 new cases on Sunday , exceeding the state ’ s previous high of 21,986 set on Dec. 4 , and marked a new record for hospitalized COVID-19 patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Virginia , and West Virginia also announced record one-day rises in new infections .
Nationwide , COVID-19 infections in U.S. are at their peak with an average of 193,863 new cases reported each day over the past week , according to a Reuters tally of official data .
There have been 14.7 million infections and 282,253 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began .
States are grappling with how to respond to the global pandemic in the absence of a national strategy .
Departing President Donald Trump , a Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as mask-wearing , instead banking on the rapid development of vaccines , which could receive federal approval this month .
President-elect Joe Biden , a Democrat , has said he will make the pandemic his top priority upon taking office on Jan. 20 .
One of the president ’ s own aides on Sunday criticized leaders who have undermined the prevailing medical science .
Dr. Deborah Birx , the White House ’ s coronavirus response coordinator , has come under fire for failing to speak out against the country ’ s shortcomings on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NBC News program “ Meet the Press ” on Sunday that it was “ frustrating ” to see governors and mayors give up on measures that proved effective in slowing the virus in the spring .
“ I hear community members parroting back those situations , parroting back that masks don ’ t work , parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity , parroting back that gatherings don ’ t result in super-spreading events , ” Dr. Birx said .
Attempting to set the record straight , she said , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any indoor or close outdoor situation.
” Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .
This story was reported by Reuters .
Lisa Shumaker , Barbara Goldberg , and Daniel Trotta contributed to this report .

California compelled much of the state to close shop and stay at home on Monday, when some of the harshest coronavirus restrictions in the United States came into effect one day after the state set a record with more than 30,000 new COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order was triggered in areas where fewer than 15% of intensive care hospital beds were available, affecting more than 23 million people in Southern California.
In addition, five counties in Northern California surrounding the San Francisco Bay area have voluntarily imposed the restrictions even before reaching the ICU threshold.
California has been under a stay-at-home order for all but essential services since March. The new order, which will last at least three weeks, bans private gatherings of any size, shuts all but critical infrastructure and retail operations, and requires everyone to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing.
Gov. Newsom, a first-term Democrat, has threatened to withhold funds from local governments that refuse to comply.
But the sheriffs of Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties have said they will refuse to enforce the order, emboldening non-essential businesses to remain open.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a videotaped message posted on the department’s website that his office “will not be blackmailed, bullied, or used as muscle” to enforce the governor’s orders.
“Orange County Sheriff’s deputies will not be dispatched to, or respond to, calls for service to enforce compliance with face coverings, social gatherings or stay at home orders,” his counterpart in Orange County, Don Barnes, said in a written statement.
Even so, the mayor of one Los Angeles County town said more enforcement was needed.
“People absolutely should be arrested for not wearing masks,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Perris told the Orange County Register. “Most of these people have never been arrested before. Spend one night incarcerated and they won’t do it again.”
California reported more than 30,000 new cases on Sunday, exceeding the state’s previous high of 21,986 set on Dec. 4, and marked a new record for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia also announced record one-day rises in new infections.
Nationwide, COVID-19 infections in U.S. are at their peak with an average of 193,863 new cases reported each day over the past week, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
There have been 14.7 million infections and 282,253 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
States are grappling with how to respond to the global pandemic in the absence of a national strategy.
Departing President Donald Trump, a Republican, has downplayed public health measures such as mask-wearing, instead banking on the rapid development of vaccines, which could receive federal approval this month.
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, has said he will make the pandemic his top priority upon taking office on Jan. 20.
One of the president’s own aides on Sunday criticized leaders who have undermined the prevailing medical science.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, has come under fire for failing to speak out against the country’s shortcomings on the pandemic. But she told the NBC News program “Meet the Press” on Sunday that it was “frustrating” to see governors and mayors give up on measures that proved effective in slowing the virus in the spring.
“I hear community members parroting back those situations, parroting back that masks don’t work, parroting back that we should work towards herd immunity, parroting back that gatherings don’t result in super-spreading events,” Dr. Birx said.
Attempting to set the record straight, she said, “You cannot gather without masks in any indoor or close outdoor situation.”
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Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.
This story was reported by Reuters. Lisa Shumaker, Barbara Goldberg, and Daniel Trotta contributed to this report.


csmonitor--2020-12-07--More investors get behind women’s startups in Africa

“ We are operating in an area where money was being left on the table and we saw an opportunity , ” Ms. Ishmael says .
“ I want Nigeria to reach its full potential and I want Africa to reach its full potential and they ’ re not going to do that if they don ’ t fully embrace the potential of women.
” But a growing group of women investors in Africa are trying to rewrite the story , by deliberately investing in businesses owned by and serving women .
There ’ s a moral imperative to that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But it also just makes good business sense .
There are a host of factors feeding that funding gap , including conscious and unconscious gender biases .
One 2014 study from Harvard , for instance , showed that a pitch presentation to investors given in a woman ’ s voice was less likely to be funded than one given in a man ’ s voice – even when the content was identical .
Africa has the highest rates of female entrepreneurship in the world .
But here , as elsewhere , funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In 2018 , for instance , African startups received some $ 725 million in venture capital funding .
Of that , just 2 % went to businesses owned by women .
When ‘ Tokunboh Ishmael walked through the streets of Lagos , Nigeria ’ s commercial capital , there were women doing business everywhere she turned .
They tended to stalls frying donuts and grilling skewers of meat .
They sat behind sewing machines turning out custom-made designs and wove between cars in Nigeria ’ s infamous traffic jams , hawking air freshener @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But inside the crisp , air-conditioned offices where she worked in banking , and later private equity , the story was different .
Although Africa has the highest rates of female entrepreneurship in the world , there is a funding gap of about $ 42 billion between men and women entrepreneurs on the continent , according to the African Development Bank .
In 2018 , for instance , African startups received some $ 725 million in venture capital funding .
Of this , just 2 % went to businesses owned by women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ growing group of women investors in Africa trying to rewrite that story by deliberately investing in businesses owned by and serving women .
In 2016 , she co-founded the Alitheia Identity Fund within Alitheia Capital , the private equity firm where she is managing director , to focus on exactly that .
So far , the fund has raised about $ 70 million .
There ’ s a moral imperative to that work , investors like Ms. Ishmael say , because it brings women into spaces of power , wealth , and decision-making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excluded .
But it also just makes good business sense .
“ We are operating in an area where money was being left on the table and we saw an opportunity , ” Ms. Ishmael says .
She knew the stats : businesses owned by women grow faster , use money more efficiently , and generate more profit than those owned by men .
Diversity , more generally , makes companies more creative and innovative .
“ I want Nigeria to reach its full potential and I want Africa to reach its full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do that if they don ’ t fully embrace the potential of women.
” The problem reaches beyond Africa .
In the United States , all-female teams receive about 2 % of venture capital funds .
In the United Kingdom , the figure hovers around 1 % .
And the problem is compounded for women of color .
In the U.S. , Black female founders received just $ 6 of every $ 1 million .
The problem , experts say , is that women have been cut off from participation at every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , private equity , and even more traditional forms of lending and investment like bank loans .
“ Funding is not a gender-neutral space , ” says Sharron McPherson , a longtime investor in African business and lecturer at the University of Cape Town ’ s business school .
“ Women investors and women with companies to be invested in are working in spaces that were never made for them .
They are swimming upstream , while men float along with the current.
” There are many hurdles to women ’ s participation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scale , only 37 % of African women have a bank account , compared to 48 % of men , and that gap is widening , even as access to finance grows .
Women are often discouraged from borrowing money , both by lenders and by their own lack of financial education .
On the scale of startups looking for venture capital funds and established companies seeking private equity dollars , women still struggle to be taken seriously for their ideas because of conscious and unconscious gender biases .
One 2014 study from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pitch presentation to investors given in a woman ’ s voice was less likely to be funded than one given in a man ’ s voice – even when the content was identical .
Another study from 2017 found that women founders were far more likely to be asked “ preventative ” questions about their businesses – that is , questions focused on their potential losses .
Men , on the other hand , were asked more “ promotion ” questions focusing on the “ upsides and potential gains ” of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resulted in six times as much funding on average .
Many investors also come out of male-dominated fields like technology , mining , and agriculture , and are more inclined to invest in them than businesses built around products or services targeted at women , like maternal health , menstruation products , or makeup .
And much of the networking that leads to those deals still happens in informal settings that women either can ’ t attend or aren ’ t invited to – like golf games and after-work drinks .
“ There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that men don ’ t see or face , ” says Nthabiseng Moleko , deputy chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality in South Africa , and a development economist .
That ’ s where funds like Ms. Ishmael ’ s Alitheia IDF come in – to direct money deliberately toward companies built around women .
“ This is about finding companies with diversity at the top , but also at the bottom , ” she says .
For example , in recent years , Alitheia Capital , Alitheia IDF ’ s parent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African businesses that are both led by and targeted toward women .
In Ghana , Alitheia funded Innovative Microfinance , a company providing small loans to rural Ghanaians without bank accounts , most of them women who own small businesses like market stalls .
And in Nigeria , Alitheia backed a woman-owned tomato paste company called Tomato Jos .
About 30 % of the company ’ s tomato producers are now women , says founder Mira Mehta , and the company is trying to increase that figure – in part because they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We see our women farmers making bigger investments in their communities ” with their profits than the men , she says , such as using their money to pay for children ’ s schooling and medical care .
And when it comes to farming , Ms. Mehta says the women her company works with continually have the best yields .
“ Time and time again , ” she says , “ they just outperform the men .
”

“We are operating in an area where money was being left on the table and we saw an opportunity,” Ms. Ishmael says. “I want Nigeria to reach its full potential and I want Africa to reach its full potential and they’re not going to do that if they don’t fully embrace the potential of women.”
But a growing group of women investors in Africa are trying to rewrite the story, by deliberately investing in businesses owned by and serving women. There’s a moral imperative to that work, says investor ‘Tokunboh Ishmael. But it also just makes good business sense.
A growing group of investors aim to fill the drastic gap between funding for men’s and women’s startups. They say it’s about more than fairness – it’s about the bottom line.
There are a host of factors feeding that funding gap, including conscious and unconscious gender biases. One 2014 study from Harvard, for instance, showed that a pitch presentation to investors given in a woman’s voice was less likely to be funded than one given in a man’s voice – even when the content was identical.
Africa has the highest rates of female entrepreneurship in the world. But here, as elsewhere, funding for entrepreneurs tells a different story. In 2018, for instance, African startups received some $725 million in venture capital funding. Of that, just 2% went to businesses owned by women.
When ‘Tokunboh Ishmael walked through the streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, there were women doing business everywhere she turned. They tended to stalls frying donuts and grilling skewers of meat. They sat behind sewing machines turning out custom-made designs and wove between cars in Nigeria’s infamous traffic jams, hawking air freshener and inflatable pool toys to bored commuters.
But inside the crisp, air-conditioned offices where she worked in banking, and later private equity, the story was different. Although Africa has the highest rates of female entrepreneurship in the world, there is a funding gap of about $42 billion between men and women entrepreneurs on the continent, according to the African Development Bank. In 2018, for instance, African startups received some $725 million in venture capital funding. Of this, just 2% went to businesses owned by women.
Ms. Ishmael is part of a growing group of women investors in Africa trying to rewrite that story by deliberately investing in businesses owned by and serving women. In 2016, she co-founded Alitheia IDF within Alitheia Capital, the private equity firm where she is managing director, to focus on exactly that. So far, the fund has raised about $70 million.
Why We Wrote This A growing group of investors aim to fill the drastic gap between funding for men’s and women’s startups. They say it’s about more than fairness – it’s about the bottom line.
There’s a moral imperative to that work, investors like Ms. Ishmael say, because it brings women into spaces of power, wealth, and decision-making from which they’ve historically been excluded.
But it also just makes good business sense.
Courtesy of Tokunboh Ishmael View caption Hide caption 'Tokunboh Ishmael co-founded the Alitheia Identity Fund within Alitheia Capital. The fund has raised $70 million and has backed a number of African businesses that are led by and targeted toward women.
“We are operating in an area where money was being left on the table and we saw an opportunity,” Ms. Ishmael says. She knew the stats: businesses owned by women grow faster, use money more efficiently, and generate more profit than those owned by men. Diversity, more generally, makes companies more creative and innovative. “I want Nigeria to reach its full potential and I want Africa to reach its full potential and they’re not going to do that if they don’t fully embrace the potential of women.”
Worldwide gap
The problem reaches beyond Africa. In the United States, all-female teams receive about 2% of venture capital funds. In the United Kingdom, the figure hovers around 1%. And the problem is compounded for women of color. In the U.S., Black female founders received just $6 of every $1 million.
The problem, experts say, is that women have been cut off from participation at every level when it comes to venture capital, private equity, and even more traditional forms of lending and investment like bank loans.
“Funding is not a gender-neutral space,” says Sharron McPherson, a longtime investor in African business and lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s business school. “Women investors and women with companies to be invested in are working in spaces that were never made for them. They are swimming upstream, while men float along with the current.”
There are many hurdles to women’s participation, she says. On the smallest scale, only 37% of African women have a bank account, compared to 48% of men, and that gap is widening, even as access to finance grows. Women are often discouraged from borrowing money, both by lenders and by their own lack of financial education.
On the scale of startups looking for venture capital funds and established companies seeking private equity dollars, women still struggle to be taken seriously for their ideas because of conscious and unconscious gender biases. One 2014 study from Harvard, for instance, showed that a pitch presentation to investors given in a woman’s voice was less likely to be funded than one given in a man’s voice – even when the content was identical.
Another study from 2017 found that women founders were far more likely to be asked “preventative” questions about their businesses – that is, questions focused on their potential losses. Men, on the other hand, were asked more “promotion” questions focusing on the “upsides and potential gains” of their businesses, a line of questioning that resulted in six times as much funding on average.
Many investors also come out of male-dominated fields like technology, mining, and agriculture, and are more inclined to invest in them than businesses built around products or services targeted at women, like maternal health, menstruation products, or makeup. And much of the networking that leads to those deals still happens in informal settings that women either can’t attend or aren’t invited to – like golf games and after-work drinks.
“There are invisible barriers to entry for women that men don’t see or face,” says Nthabiseng Moleko, deputy chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality in South Africa, and a development economist.
Funding change
That’s where funds like Ms. Ishmael’s Alitheia IDF come in – to direct money deliberately toward companies built around women.
“This is about finding companies with diversity at the top, but also at the bottom,” she says. For example, in recent years, Alitheia Capital, Alitheia IDF’s management firm, has backed a number of African businesses that are both led by and targeted toward women. In Ghana, Alitheia funded Innovative Microfinance, a company providing small loans to rural Ghanaians without bank accounts, most of them women who own small businesses like market stalls.
And in Nigeria, Alitheia backed a woman-owned tomato paste company called Tomato Jos. About 30% of the company’s tomato producers are now women, says founder Mira Mehta, and the company is trying to increase that figure – in part because they’ve found women are a better bet.
“We see our women farmers making bigger investments in their communities” with their profits than the men, she says, such as using their money to pay for children’s schooling and medical care. And when it comes to farming, Ms. Mehta says the women her company works with continually have the best yields.
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“Time and time again,” she says, “they just outperform the men.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated the full name of Alitheia IDF, and its relationship to Alitheia Capital.


csmonitor--2020-12-08--As vaccines roll out, states face difficult questions over access

“ Each of those goals lead you to somewhat different ordering of your priorities , says Professor Charo .
“ Overlaying all of that is the general recognition that there are some groups that have been historically – and now by the pandemic currently – disproportionately burdened .
...
It gets complicated because there is no right answer.
” These questions could gain prominence in coming weeks as vaccines begin to roll out for public use .
Any framework must balance three competing goals , explains Alta Charo , a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic overall , and trying to return key areas of public life to full function .
But after that , the issue gets more complicated .
Should older Americans be prioritized , even if they are able to isolate ?
Where do teachers fit into the equation , or individuals who are incarcerated or living in a homeless shelter ?
With the coming rollout of the first approved coronavirus vaccines , an advisory committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a nonbinding recommendation to states on who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ top tier includes front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities , like nursing homes .
Charlotte Evans is avidly watching the news about coronavirus vaccines – and as soon as one is available to her , she ’ ll be lining up to get it .
An elementary school librarian in Rock Hill , South Carolina , Ms. Evans is at work five days a week , seeing six classes a day of children , who are otherwise tightly podded with their classroom teacher .
“ This is a hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Ms. Evans , who also has a diagnosis that puts her in a higher-risk category .
“ For a lot of us it feels more like a race .
Can we get the vaccine before we get COVID ?
” Assuming the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves it , the Pfizer vaccine will likely be available around Dec. 14 .
Moderna ’ s could be ready a week later .
But with limited availability and high demand , one of the top questions has been just who the vaccines will go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states to make those decisions .
Last week , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issued a nonbinding recommendation for the top tier of vaccine recipients : front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities , like nursing homes .
And there has been widespread consensus that those are the populations who should be at the front of the line .
But after that , it gets more complicated .
Should older Americans be prioritized , even if they are able to isolate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose jobs present opportunity for exposure ?
Where do teachers fit into the equation , or individuals who are incarcerated or living in a homeless shelter ?
Should allocation guidelines prioritize protecting at-risk individuals or getting society back to a semblance of normal functioning ?
And how will they fairly treat many disadvantaged populations who have suffered disproportionately under the pandemic ?
Any framework for allocation is trying to balance three competing goals , explains Alta Charo , a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison : preventing hospitalization or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and trying to return key areas of public life to full function .
“ Each of those goals lead you to somewhat different ordering of your priorities , says Professor Charo , who served on the National Academies committee that produced a report on equitable vaccine allocation .
“ Overlaying all of that is the general recognition that there are some groups that have been historically – and now by the pandemic currently – disproportionately burdened .
...
It gets complicated because there is no right answer.
” One way that Professor Charo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those competing demands is to first focus on people who fall into multiple categories : essential workers who also have underlying health conditions , for instance .
But while that might be the most ethical way to proceed , experts caution that it can also run afoul of basic practicalities .
Distribution mechanisms and logistics are going to be extraordinarily difficult for states , many of which have already indicated they lack the resources they need .
The Pfizer vaccine , in particular , needs to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures and comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when opened , need to be administered within a matter of hours .
“ It really is only practical to only drop into one location and vaccinate everyone you can in that one location , ” says Eric Toner , co-author of a report on vaccine allocation published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security .
And there are competing goals between focusing on the priority groups first and getting as many people vaccinated as possible , adds Dr. Toner .
“ Imagine a 20-something takes his grandmother to be vaccinated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you also vaccinate the 20-year-old ?
Or do you say ‘ no , come back in three months ?
” ’ There are a whole bunch of decisions like that.
” Guidelines – and how they can get complicated The guidelines suggested by the National Academies report offer one way of balancing competing priorities .
In those guidelines , the first tier to be vaccinated would include high-risk health care workers and first responders , followed by people whose underlying health conditions put them at significantly higher risk and older adults living in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Phase two would prioritize teachers and K-12 school staff ; essential workers in high-risk settings ; people whose underlying health conditions put them at moderately higher risk ; people in group living settings like homeless shelters , group homes , or prisons ; and older adults .
But ranking such categories – and even ranking within categories – can get complicated quickly .
Many older Americans , for instance , are eager for a vaccine .
But age by itself tells relatively little about their risk or overall health , especially if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctors .
“ Someone who is independently living comfortably in a home where they ’ re socially isolating and getting Grubhub and groceries delivered is very different from someone in a nursing facility with multiple diseases , in congregate living , ” says Monica Peek , a doctor of internal medicine at the University of Chicago and co-author of a paper on prioritizing vaccine access during the pandemic .
There ’ s also significant pressure to expand groups – understandable , but counterproductive , says Govind Persad , a professor of health law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and a co-author with Dr .
Peek .
In one case , he says , people involved in funeral work were lobbying the National Sciences committee to be included in their guidelines as health care workers .
“ They ’ re doing important work , but I ’ d be hesitant to say we should assign the same importance to funeral directors as to [ intensive-care ] nurses , ” says Professor Persad .
Many of the loose rankings suggested by advisory committees make sense , say experts , but they caution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of overlap .
It will be challenging to simply identify who is in each category , how to get the vaccine to them , and how to earn their trust , says Dr .
Peek .
“ It ’ s going to be a complicated system of implementation for everything , ” she says .
Dr .
Peek and others also hope states will consider equity issues when they make their plans .
Many of the communities hit hardest by COVID-19 are also disproportionately low income with higher numbers of racial and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racial groups for priority access can be problematic .
But using guidelines that acknowledge these inequities – and give some priority using the CDC ’ s social vulnerability index – might help , they say .
Uché Blackstock , the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and a Yahoo News medical contributor , says she worries that the current categories may miss key people in marginalized communities : those who haven ’ t had underlying health conditions diagnosed because of barriers to care , for instance , or people who work in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ There ’ s this focus and funding given by the federal government [ to develop vaccines ] , but only a fraction of funds is given to state and local departments of public health to distribute these vaccines , ” says Dr. Blackstock .
Given limited resources , it may be tempting for local health departments to target populations who are easier to access first , say experts , but doing so would mean missing many of the most vulnerable , as they may be harder to reach .
An older , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ multigenerational apartment is harder to find than someone in a nursing home , but has a similar risk profile .
Similarly , health care workers in rural America may be fewer in number and much harder to reach , but keeping them healthy could have a huge impact on the people they serve , says Professor Persad .
“ It ’ s important for the people setting these policies to think about not just getting to the lower hanging fruit , ” he says .
Transparency and integrity will also be key .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ when they see people who have a good ethical reason to go ahead of them going ahead , ” Professor Persad says .
That trust may disappear if they see people with money or celebrity jumping the queue .
Despite consensus about that first tier , states will arrive at different decisions – about certain categories .
Teachers are one .
Broadly speaking , says Professor Charo , they may be healthier and less at risk than some other workers .
But concern about transmission has closed thousands of schools , and reopening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many Americans .
How quickly prisons should get vaccines has also been a contentious topic .
With populations that are crowded and disproportionately older , minority , and with underlying conditions – not to mention that prisons have been a source of significant outbreaks – many experts see them as having a clear moral and public health priority .
But some guidelines have prioritized corrections officers , but not prisoners themselves , and there has already been a backlash against the idea that incarcerated individuals would have early access .
Polls show that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but in the short term , allocating a scarce resource is a bigger challenge for health officials than gaining that trust .
As fraught as many of the conversations are , that we ’ re even having them is something to be grateful for , say experts .
Vaccines have been developed sooner and more effectively than many thought possible .
Even for Americans who have no special priority , the wait may just be a matter of months .
“ I think the thing this has brought to the fore – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it – has been the fact that we ’ re all in this together , ” says Professor Charo .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , we have removed our paywall for all pandemic-related stories .

“Each of those goals lead you to somewhat different ordering of your priorities, says Professor Charo. “Overlaying all of that is the general recognition that there are some groups that have been historically – and now by the pandemic currently – disproportionately burdened. ... It gets complicated because there is no right answer.”
These questions could gain prominence in coming weeks as vaccines begin to roll out for public use. Any framework must balance three competing goals, explains Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison: preventing hospitalization or death, slowing the pandemic overall, and trying to return key areas of public life to full function.
Coronavirus vaccines will be distributed soon, but not everyone will get instant access. States must balance competing priorities, from preventing deaths to keeping schools open.
But after that, the issue gets more complicated. Should older Americans be prioritized, even if they are able to isolate? Where do teachers fit into the equation, or individuals who are incarcerated or living in a homeless shelter?
With the coming rollout of the first approved coronavirus vaccines, an advisory committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a nonbinding recommendation to states on who should be first in line. The top tier includes front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, like nursing homes.
Charlotte Evans is avidly watching the news about coronavirus vaccines – and as soon as one is available to her, she’ll be lining up to get it.
An elementary school librarian in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Ms. Evans is at work five days a week, seeing six classes a day of children, who are otherwise tightly podded with their classroom teacher.
“This is a hard, hard way to teach,” says Ms. Evans, who also has a diagnosis that puts her in a higher-risk category. “For a lot of us it feels more like a race. Can we get the vaccine before we get COVID?”
Why We Wrote This Coronavirus vaccines will be distributed soon, but not everyone will get instant access. States must balance competing priorities, from preventing deaths to keeping schools open.
Assuming the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves it, the Pfizer vaccine will likely be available around Dec. 14. Moderna’s could be ready a week later. But with limited availability and high demand, one of the top questions has been just who the vaccines will go to. It’s up to states to make those decisions.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issued a nonbinding recommendation for the top tier of vaccine recipients: front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, like nursing homes. And there has been widespread consensus that those are the populations who should be at the front of the line.
But after that, it gets more complicated. Should older Americans be prioritized, even if they are able to isolate? What about younger, lower-risk individuals whose jobs present opportunity for exposure? Where do teachers fit into the equation, or individuals who are incarcerated or living in a homeless shelter? Should allocation guidelines prioritize protecting at-risk individuals or getting society back to a semblance of normal functioning? And how will they fairly treat many disadvantaged populations who have suffered disproportionately under the pandemic?
Any framework for allocation is trying to balance three competing goals, explains Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison: preventing hospitalization or death, slowing the pandemic overall, and trying to return key areas of public life to full function.
“Each of those goals lead you to somewhat different ordering of your priorities, says Professor Charo, who served on the National Academies committee that produced a report on equitable vaccine allocation. “Overlaying all of that is the general recognition that there are some groups that have been historically – and now by the pandemic currently – disproportionately burdened. ... It gets complicated because there is no right answer.”
Theory meets practice
One way that Professor Charo and others suggest health officials could balance those competing demands is to first focus on people who fall into multiple categories: essential workers who also have underlying health conditions, for instance.
But while that might be the most ethical way to proceed, experts caution that it can also run afoul of basic practicalities. Distribution mechanisms and logistics are going to be extraordinarily difficult for states, many of which have already indicated they lack the resources they need. The Pfizer vaccine, in particular, needs to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures and comes in a crate with 975 doses which, when opened, need to be administered within a matter of hours.
“It really is only practical to only drop into one location and vaccinate everyone you can in that one location,” says Eric Toner, co-author of a report on vaccine allocation published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
And there are competing goals between focusing on the priority groups first and getting as many people vaccinated as possible, adds Dr. Toner. “Imagine a 20-something takes his grandmother to be vaccinated. You vaccinate the grandmother. Do you also vaccinate the 20-year-old? Or do you say ‘no, come back in three months?”’ There are a whole bunch of decisions like that.”
Guidelines – and how they can get complicated
The guidelines suggested by the National Academies report offer one way of balancing competing priorities. In those guidelines, the first tier to be vaccinated would include high-risk health care workers and first responders, followed by people whose underlying health conditions put them at significantly higher risk and older adults living in congregate settings, like nursing homes. Phase two would prioritize teachers and K-12 school staff; essential workers in high-risk settings; people whose underlying health conditions put them at moderately higher risk; people in group living settings like homeless shelters, group homes, or prisons; and older adults.
But ranking such categories – and even ranking within categories – can get complicated quickly. Many older Americans, for instance, are eager for a vaccine. But age by itself tells relatively little about their risk or overall health, especially if they’re able to isolate, say doctors.
“Someone who is independently living comfortably in a home where they’re socially isolating and getting Grubhub and groceries delivered is very different from someone in a nursing facility with multiple diseases, in congregate living,” says Monica Peek, a doctor of internal medicine at the University of Chicago and co-author of a paper on prioritizing vaccine access during the pandemic.
There’s also significant pressure to expand groups – understandable, but counterproductive, says Govind Persad, a professor of health law and bioethics at the University of Denver, and a co-author with Dr. Peek. In one case, he says, people involved in funeral work were lobbying the National Sciences committee to be included in their guidelines as health care workers. “They’re doing important work, but I’d be hesitant to say we should assign the same importance to funeral directors as to [intensive-care] nurses,” says Professor Persad.
Many of the loose rankings suggested by advisory committees make sense, say experts, but they caution that the reality will probably involve a lot of overlap.
It will be challenging to simply identify who is in each category, how to get the vaccine to them, and how to earn their trust, says Dr. Peek. “It’s going to be a complicated system of implementation for everything,” she says.
Marginalized communities at risk
Dr. Peek and others also hope states will consider equity issues when they make their plans. Many of the communities hit hardest by COVID-19 are also disproportionately low income with higher numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. Simply singling out certain racial groups for priority access can be problematic. But using guidelines that acknowledge these inequities – and give some priority using the CDC’s social vulnerability index – might help, they say.
Uché Blackstock, the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and a Yahoo News medical contributor, says she worries that the current categories may miss key people in marginalized communities: those who haven’t had underlying health conditions diagnosed because of barriers to care, for instance, or people who work in hospitals in cafeterias or environmental services.
“There’s this focus and funding given by the federal government [to develop vaccines], but only a fraction of funds is given to state and local departments of public health to distribute these vaccines,” says Dr. Blackstock.
Given limited resources, it may be tempting for local health departments to target populations who are easier to access first, say experts, but doing so would mean missing many of the most vulnerable, as they may be harder to reach. An older, medically fragile individual living in a crowded multigenerational apartment is harder to find than someone in a nursing home, but has a similar risk profile. Similarly, health care workers in rural America may be fewer in number and much harder to reach, but keeping them healthy could have a huge impact on the people they serve, says Professor Persad.
“It’s important for the people setting these policies to think about not just getting to the lower hanging fruit,” he says.
Transparency and integrity will also be key. “People will be willing to wait when they see people who have a good ethical reason to go ahead of them going ahead,” Professor Persad says. That trust may disappear if they see people with money or celebrity jumping the queue.
What about inmates? Teachers?
Despite consensus about that first tier, states will arrive at different decisions – about certain categories. Teachers are one. Broadly speaking, says Professor Charo, they may be healthier and less at risk than some other workers. But concern about transmission has closed thousands of schools, and reopening those schools is a top priority for many Americans.
How quickly prisons should get vaccines has also been a contentious topic. With populations that are crowded and disproportionately older, minority, and with underlying conditions – not to mention that prisons have been a source of significant outbreaks – many experts see them as having a clear moral and public health priority. But some guidelines have prioritized corrections officers, but not prisoners themselves, and there has already been a backlash against the idea that incarcerated individuals would have early access.
Polls show that not all Americans want to be vaccinated, but in the short term, allocating a scarce resource is a bigger challenge for health officials than gaining that trust. As fraught as many of the conversations are, that we’re even having them is something to be grateful for, say experts. Vaccines have been developed sooner and more effectively than many thought possible. Even for Americans who have no special priority, the wait may just be a matter of months.
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“I think the thing this has brought to the fore – both the pandemic and the reactions to it – has been the fact that we’re all in this together,” says Professor Charo.
Editor’s note: As a public service, we have removed our paywall for all pandemic-related stories.


csmonitor--2020-12-08--More American families struggling to afford food. Can food banks cope?

“ It 's flipped our world upside down since March , ” says Karen Joyner , the food bank ’ s CEO .
“ If I ever questioned the work ethic of my staff prior to 2020 , I really do n't right now .
They 're getting it done and there 's not a lot of drama about getting it done.
” Greater food insecurity means more work for food banks and food pantries .
The pandemic has forced organizations to adopt longer hours and new models to meet their communities ’ changing needs , and to make sure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t go hungry .
“ I was definitely grateful , ” says Ms. White .
“ If it wasn ’ t for [ the food bank ] , we would ’ ve been eating whatever we had.
” Just ask Marquitta White .
A full-time student in Norfolk , Virginia , with two jobs and two daughters , Ms. White ’ s Thanksgiving dinner – and a week ’ s worth of leftovers – was provided with help from the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank .
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the U.S. economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ related public health crisis : food insecurity .
Last year , 35 million Americans were food insecure , according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture .
That number may rise to 50 million by the end of the year .
To Marquitta White , cooking is less about preparing calories and more about painting a canvas .
Take her home-cooked Thanksgiving meal .
The turkey , garnished with apples , peppers , and onions , was so tender that it fell off the bone .
Her deviled eggs shined with decadent , colorful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And , as she and her two daughters helped themselves to a buffet of yams , greens , macaroni and cheese , potatoes , cranberry sauce , and sweet potato pie this year , Ms. White wanted to express gratitude .
The feast before them was provided using ingredients from their local food bank .
Ms. White is a full-time student in Norfolk , Virginia , and works two jobs , including as a personal chef .
When times get tough , no one complains .
But turkey helps .
“ I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ If it wasn ’ t for [ the food bank this Thanksgiving ] , we would ’ ve been eating whatever we had.
” The economic fallout brought on by COVID-19 put millions of families in Ms. White ’ s shoes .
According to the US Department of Agriculture , 35 million Americans were food insecure before the pandemic , a number that may rise to 50 million by the end of the year , says Zuani Villarreal of Feeding America , a nonprofit that supplies food banks .
On the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pantries .
Adjusting to the pandemic has demanded long hours and new models to meet their communities ’ changing needs , and to make sure families like Ms. White ’ s don ’ t go hungry .
“ It 's flipped our world upside down since March , ” says Karen Joyner , CEO of the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank ( VPFB ) in Hampton , Virginia .
“ If I ever questioned the work ethic of my staff prior to 2020 , I really do n't right now .
They 're getting it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of drama about getting it done.
” Those who have suffered most of the pandemic ’ s economic costs also tend to be those who are the most food insecure , says Craig Gundersen , an expert on food security at the University of Illinois , Urbana‐Champaign .
Working-class families in service-level jobs often had an unstable foundation before this year ; COVID-19 was an earthquake .
“ People do n't realize how many families , even though they may have a good life and be living well , [ are ] living @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Ms. Villarreal , director of communications for Feeding America .
“ Job loss , reduction in hours – something can happen that can put them in the situation where they are looking to the food bank for help.
” Expanded , and more accessible , benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and government stimulus have stabilized many families in need .
But there are always holes in such broad safety nets , leaving some ineligible or in need of more assistance .
Much of this relief – particularly that allocated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expire at the end of the year .
For example , of the 5.2 billion meals that Feeding America distributed in the year to June 30 , about 1.7 billion came from the USDA , says Ms. Villarreal .
Without government action , that source of food will shrink by half come January .
“ We 're looking at a sustained increase in demand , potentially even more so with some of these programs expiring , and then a potential shrinkage in supply , ” says Ms. Villarreal .
“ The reality is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to their communities ... we ca n't do it alone.
” Meanwhile , the threat of coronavirus has forced food banks to transform their operations .
Bob Biedron , a recent retiree and volunteer at the VPFB since March , has a four-step checklist : Mask on , temperature checked , hands washed , and gloves worn .
He and other volunteers must stay socially distanced , so fewer can work at the same time in their cavernous warehouse .
“ We have a lot of people who are food-challenged at this point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ So it 's very rewarding to give out food to people who need it.
” The VPFB almost always has enough volunteer labor , but nationwide around two-thirds of food banks face volunteer shortages , says Ms. Villarreal .
And for volunteers to work at all , there has to be food .
Donations plummeted earlier in the year as corporate partners grappled with slower supply chains and fewer disposable items , and while things have improved since , food banks are now buying more food than ever before .
Then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ March , the VFPB delivered truckloads of food into mobile pantries , where residents could walk inside and pick up food .
Now residents congregate in car-filled parking lots , with masks on and trunks open so volunteers can load boxes , sometimes playing 3D Tetris to make everything fit .
Other communities are less accessible .
From March to September , more than a dozen low-income senior communities the VFPB serviced wouldn ’ t accept donations due to fear of transmitting coronavirus .
Serving them required partnerships with other charities in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the area has been a village effort .
The same is true for Ruth Jones Nichols , President and CEO of the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore .
Demand in her area skyrocketed after March , and initially , they didn ’ t have enough cash in reserve .
“ Almost overnight , we went from an average cost per meal of $ 0.40 to $ 3.50 , ” says Ms. Nichols via email .
“ Fortunately , the community helped us get through the first several months by giving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need.
” A mix of staff dedication , public generosity , nonprofit partnerships , federal relief , and local government assistance have helped them rebound .
Serving is still a work in progress , but Ms. Nichols finds joy in the support of local communities .
One locale gave her food bank more than $ 2 million in funding .
Another “ leveraged local funds to help us serve one neighborhood that became a food desert , ” she writes .
`` Who could have imagined this moment ?
” Perhaps Ms. White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Ms. Nichols ’ food bank .
The leftovers became meals for the week ahead – stew , sandwiches , and a rich broth – which meant that Ms. White 's two daughters could eat healthily .
“ I ’ m not one of those noodle moms , ” she says .
But Ms. White doesn ’ t stray from noodle soup for the soul .
Like every Thanksgiving meal she asked her daughters to list what they were thankful for this year .
The full plates in front of them were a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids it ’ s not about the holiday or the food , '' she says .

“It's flipped our world upside down since March,” says Karen Joyner, the food bank’s CEO. “If I ever questioned the work ethic of my staff prior to 2020, I really don't right now. They're getting it done and there's not a lot of drama about getting it done.”
Greater food insecurity means more work for food banks and food pantries. The pandemic has forced organizations to adopt longer hours and new models to meet their communities’ changing needs, and to make sure families like Ms. White’s don’t go hungry.
“I was definitely grateful,” says Ms. White. “If it wasn’t for [the food bank], we would’ve been eating whatever we had.”
The holidays are traditionally a time to focus on people experiencing hunger. This year, the social safety net designed to counter food insecurity is starting to fray.
Just ask Marquitta White. A full-time student in Norfolk, Virginia, with two jobs and two daughters, Ms. White’s Thanksgiving dinner – and a week’s worth of leftovers – was provided with help from the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank.
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the U.S. economy, it has given rise to a related public health crisis: food insecurity. Last year, 35 million Americans were food insecure, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That number may rise to 50 million by the end of the year.
To Marquitta White, cooking is less about preparing calories and more about painting a canvas.
Take her home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. The turkey, garnished with apples, peppers, and onions, was so tender that it fell off the bone. Her deviled eggs shined with decadent, colorful fillings of chicken and crab salad. And, as she and her two daughters helped themselves to a buffet of yams, greens, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato pie this year, Ms. White wanted to express gratitude.
The feast before them was provided using ingredients from their local food bank. Ms. White is a full-time student in Norfolk, Virginia, and works two jobs, including as a personal chef. When times get tough, no one complains. But turkey helps.
Why We Wrote This The holidays are traditionally a time to focus on people experiencing hunger. This year, the social safety net designed to counter food insecurity is starting to fray.
“I was definitely grateful,” says Ms. White. “If it wasn’t for [the food bank this Thanksgiving], we would’ve been eating whatever we had.”
The economic fallout brought on by COVID-19 put millions of families in Ms. White’s shoes. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 35 million Americans were food insecure before the pandemic, a number that may rise to 50 million by the end of the year, says Zuani Villarreal of Feeding America, a nonprofit that supplies food banks.
On the front lines are food banks and food pantries. Adjusting to the pandemic has demanded long hours and new models to meet their communities’ changing needs, and to make sure families like Ms. White’s don’t go hungry.
“It's flipped our world upside down since March,” says Karen Joyner, CEO of the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank (VPFB) in Hampton, Virginia. “If I ever questioned the work ethic of my staff prior to 2020, I really don't right now. They're getting it done and there's not a lot of drama about getting it done.”
“On the cusp of tragedy”
Those who have suffered most of the pandemic’s economic costs also tend to be those who are the most food insecure, says Craig Gundersen, an expert on food security at the University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign. Working-class families in service-level jobs often had an unstable foundation before this year; COVID-19 was an earthquake.
“People don't realize how many families, even though they may have a good life and be living well, [are] living on the cusp of tragedy,” says Ms. Villarreal, director of communications for Feeding America. “Job loss, reduction in hours – something can happen that can put them in the situation where they are looking to the food bank for help.”
Expanded, and more accessible, benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and government stimulus have stabilized many families in need. But there are always holes in such broad safety nets, leaving some ineligible or in need of more assistance. Much of this relief – particularly that allocated by the CARES Act – is set to expire at the end of the year.
Kevin Mohatt/Reuters View caption Hide caption A staff member at Food Bank of the Rockies stacks boxes of food in their warehouse in Denver to be distributed to people in need in time for Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, 2020.
For example, of the 5.2 billion meals that Feeding America distributed in the year to June 30, about 1.7 billion came from the USDA, says Ms. Villarreal. Without government action, that source of food will shrink by half come January.
“We're looking at a sustained increase in demand, potentially even more so with some of these programs expiring, and then a potential shrinkage in supply,” says Ms. Villarreal. “The reality is that as dedicated as food banks are to their communities ... we can't do it alone.”
Adapting to the pandemic
Meanwhile, the threat of coronavirus has forced food banks to transform their operations.
Bob Biedron, a recent retiree and volunteer at the VPFB since March, has a four-step checklist: Mask on, temperature checked, hands washed, and gloves worn. He and other volunteers must stay socially distanced, so fewer can work at the same time in their cavernous warehouse.
“We have a lot of people who are food-challenged at this point in time,” says Mr. Biedron. “So it's very rewarding to give out food to people who need it.”
The VPFB almost always has enough volunteer labor, but nationwide around two-thirds of food banks face volunteer shortages, says Ms. Villarreal.
And for volunteers to work at all, there has to be food. Donations plummeted earlier in the year as corporate partners grappled with slower supply chains and fewer disposable items, and while things have improved since, food banks are now buying more food than ever before.
Then there are issues of delivery.
Before March, the VPFB delivered truckloads of food into mobile pantries, where residents could walk inside and pick up food. Now residents congregate in car-filled parking lots, with masks on and trunks open so volunteers can load boxes, sometimes playing 3D Tetris to make everything fit.
Other communities are less accessible. From March to September, more than a dozen low-income senior communities the VPFB serviced wouldn’t accept donations due to fear of transmitting coronavirus. Serving them required partnerships with other charities in the area. All in all, feeding the area has been a village effort.
Rising costs
The same is true for Ruth Jones Nichols, president and CEO of the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore. Demand in her area skyrocketed after March, and initially, they didn’t have enough cash in reserve.
“Almost overnight, we went from an average cost per meal of $0.40 to $3.50,” says Ms. Nichols via email. “Fortunately, the community helped us get through the first several months by giving more to support … our neighbors in need.”
A mix of staff dedication, public generosity, nonprofit partnerships, federal relief, and local government assistance has helped them rebound. Serving is still a work in progress, but Ms. Nichols finds joy in the support of local communities. One locale gave her food bank more than $2 million in funding. Another “leveraged local funds to help us serve one neighborhood that became a food desert,” she writes. "Who could have imagined this moment?”
Perhaps Ms. White, whose Thanksgiving meal came with donations from Ms. Nichols’ food bank. The leftovers became meals for the week ahead – stew, sandwiches, and a rich broth – which meant that Ms. White's two daughters could eat healthily.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
“I’m not one of those noodle moms,” she says.
But Ms. White doesn’t stray from noodle soup for the soul. Like at every other Thanksgiving meal she asked her daughters to list what they were thankful for this year. The full plates in front of them were a given. “I always teach my kids it’s not about the holiday or the food," she says.


csmonitor--2020-12-08--‘Fossil Men’ explores breakthrough science – and human nature

In the Afar Triangle region of Ethiopia – a formidable landscape known for prehistoric fossils , dangerous wildlife , and heavily armed insurgents – a team of scientists crawled slowly over the ground , looking for clues .
It was the early 1990s , and the group of researchers was led by Tim White , a brash and brilliant scientist from the University of California , Berkeley .
As a paleoanthropologist , White focused on human fossil records .
He had worked with – and then parted ways with – the famous Leakey family , the celebrities of the fossil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the team that reconstructed and analyzed the 3.2 million-year-old partial Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy , who for years was considered humankind ’ s oldest ancestor .
And now he was on the trail of something even more groundbreaking .
His team had discovered a tooth , and then another , of a creature older than Lucy .
Soon they found an arm bone , and parts of a leg , a foot , and a skull .
Their work was painstakingly slow and exacting ; they took weeks to reveal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contact with air .
Eventually , they would recover more than 125 pieces of a skeleton – a 4.4-million-year-old female the team would call Ardi , short for Ardipithecus ramidus .
But that was just the beginning .
The paleontologists would take 15 years “ to agonizingly reconstruct the skeleton and make sense of it , ” writes Kermit Pattison in his new book , “ Fossil Men : The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind.
” They would enlist dozens of other scientists to study more fossils of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environment and build a geological timeline to frame her existence .
And they would defend against attacks from other scientists and researchers .
Ardi , they quickly recognized , was a threat to much of what the scientific world thought it knew about the way humans evolved .
“ Together , ” Pattison writes , “ they would reveal new truths , send old notions to their graves , ignite hatreds , and cleave the scientific community.
” In “ Fossil Men , ” Pattison weaves the multiple intrigues of science , politics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tale .
It ’ s no easy task to write compellingly of the sort of minute details that absorb those who study , say , the same tiny foot bone for years on end .
Yet Pattison ’ s reporting and prose bring the readers into the excitement of scenes that turn on these details , such as when White and his colleagues realize that all human species , new and old , seem to have a facet in their cuboid foot bone .
This bit of anatomical trivia , in the context @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possibilities of how humans evolved .
Perhaps humans did not evolve from apes , White ’ s team begins to reason .
Perhaps apes actually evolved from human ancestors ; or perhaps they were separate lines from a creature further removed .
Through Pattison ’ s skillful rendering , readers get a sense of being in on the investigation and finally recognizing the clues in plain sight that begin to solve the mystery .
And this mystery is sprawling .
In the quest to understand Ardi , scientists explore – and argue about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , from the idea that our ancestors evolved in savanna grasslands to the different possible reasons for why our predecessors started walking on two legs .
“ Fossil Men ” shows the intricate science underlying these debates , from interpretations of carbon dating to genetic research .
By the end , the book leaves readers with a new sense of wonder at the origins of humankind .
It certainly disrupts the outdated , simplistic view of humans evolving from apes , turning those diagrams of gorillas to knuckle-walkers to upright homo sapiens into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past .
But it also does something more .
In his recounting of the characters and science involved in Ardi ’ s discovery and the controversies that followed it , Pattison reveals the imperfect , all-too-human nature of science itself .
“ Science is not just a quest for new facts ; it also is a contest between rival models for interpreting nature , ” he writes .
Humans are regularly blinded by what we think we know .
We try to fit science into stories .
We want to describe the past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even when that past is millions upon millions of years ago .
We “ hunger for more than just pure description – we search for meaning and emotionally satisfying endings , and that ’ s when we run astray , because our reach for narrative often exceeds our grasp of facts , ” he writes .
Nature “ usually turns out to be more complex than what we imagine .
”

In the Afar Triangle region of Ethiopia – a formidable landscape known for prehistoric fossils, dangerous wildlife, and heavily armed insurgents – a team of scientists crawled slowly over the ground, looking for clues.
It was the early 1990s, and the group of researchers was led by Tim White, a brash and brilliant scientist from the University of California, Berkeley. As a paleoanthropologist, White focused on human fossil records. He had worked with – and then parted ways with – the famous Leakey family, the celebrities of the fossil hunting world; he had been part of the team that reconstructed and analyzed the 3.2 million-year-old partial Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy, who for years was considered humankind’s oldest ancestor. And now he was on the trail of something even more groundbreaking.
His team had discovered a tooth, and then another, of a creature older than Lucy. Soon they found an arm bone, and parts of a leg, a foot, and a skull. Their work was painstakingly slow and exacting; they took weeks to reveal tiny specimens likely to crumble once in contact with air.
Eventually, they would recover more than 125 pieces of a skeleton – a 4.4-million-year-old female the team would call Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus.
But that was just the beginning.
The paleontologists would take 15 years “to agonizingly reconstruct the skeleton and make sense of it,” writes Kermit Pattison in his new book, “Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind.” They would enlist dozens of other scientists to study more fossils of extinct animals to reconstruct Ardi’s environment and build a geological timeline to frame her existence. And they would defend against attacks from other scientists and researchers. Ardi, they quickly recognized, was a threat to much of what the scientific world thought it knew about the way humans evolved.
“Together,” Pattison writes, “they would reveal new truths, send old notions to their graves, ignite hatreds, and cleave the scientific community.”
In “Fossil Men,” Pattison weaves the multiple intrigues of science, politics, and personalities into a masterly structured tale. It’s no easy task to write compellingly of the sort of minute details that absorb those who study, say, the same tiny foot bone for years on end.
Yet Pattison’s reporting and prose bring the readers into the excitement of scenes that turn on these details, such as when White and his colleagues realize that all human species, new and old, seem to have a facet in their cuboid foot bone.
This bit of anatomical trivia, in the context of their work, opens up new possibilities of how humans evolved. Perhaps humans did not evolve from apes, White’s team begins to reason. Perhaps apes actually evolved from human ancestors; or perhaps they were separate lines from a creature further removed. Through Pattison’s skillful rendering, readers get a sense of being in on the investigation and finally recognizing the clues in plain sight that begin to solve the mystery.
And this mystery is sprawling. In the quest to understand Ardi, scientists explore – and argue about – myriad theories that frame human evolution, from the idea that our ancestors evolved in savanna grasslands to the different possible reasons for why our predecessors started walking on two legs. “Fossil Men” shows the intricate science underlying these debates, from interpretations of carbon dating to genetic research.
By the end, the book leaves readers with a new sense of wonder at the origins of humankind. It certainly disrupts the outdated, simplistic view of humans evolving from apes, turning those diagrams of gorillas to knuckle-walkers to upright homo sapiens into vintage imagery from a less scientifically sophisticated past.
But it also does something more. In his recounting of the characters and science involved in Ardi’s discovery and the controversies that followed it, Pattison reveals the imperfect, all-too-human nature of science itself.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
“Science is not just a quest for new facts; it also is a contest between rival models for interpreting nature,” he writes.
Humans are regularly blinded by what we think we know. We try to fit science into stories. We want to describe the past by comparing it to the present – even when that past is millions upon millions of years ago. We “hunger for more than just pure description – we search for meaning and emotionally satisfying endings, and that’s when we run astray, because our reach for narrative often exceeds our grasp of facts,” he writes. Nature “usually turns out to be more complex than what we imagine.”


csmonitor--2020-12-08--The human touch: Choosing handcraft over machines

That level of quality flows from the hands that create it .
Or as their former furniture-shop manager puts it , “ It ’ s a part of you going into somebody else ’ s home , and you want it to be the best part of you.
” While the process happens in Vermont , the finished work is recognized for its beauty well beyond local borders .
For example , Ms. Thomas once created a peace bowl that then-President Bill Clinton presented as a gift to Pope John Paul II .
“ We believe when human beings make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them , ” Mr. Shackleton says .
“ It passes on a little piece of soul , if you will.
” For Charles Shackleton and his wife , Miranda Thomas , who run the furniture and pottery operations , respectively , their work centers on the human touch , from design to finish .
It ’ s not that quitting has never occurred to the owners , but they have yet to give in to the urge – in large part because the work itself rejuvenates them .
Optimism , persistence , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen ShackletonThomas , a furniture-making and pottery business , through decades of ups and downs , including the shutdown earlier this year of its production shops due to the pandemic .
“ Optimism is true moral courage.
” That ’ s a quote from the great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton , who learned that , sometimes , the mere act of pressing on goes a long way when facing challenges .
His descendant , Charles Shackleton , agrees .
“ My biggest lesson from him is being able to get out of bed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the other and just do it – and stuff will happen , ” Mr. Shackleton says .
Optimism plus persistence has been a winning formula in uncharted waters for Mr. Shackleton and his wife , Miranda Thomas , who are at the helm of ShackletonThomas , the international business that has produced handcrafted furniture and pottery for more than 30 years out of Bridgewater , Vermont , by the scenic Ottauquechee River .
The other key to success is their focus on the human touch , from design to finish .
The big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the governor ’ s executive order shut them down for about a month .
“ That was a hard hit , but we ’ d just shipped a lot of stuff , and we had a lot of orders , ” Mr. Shackleton says .
When state rules permitted it , both workshops slowly ramped up production , with lots of work to complete .
Thanks to the federal Paycheck Protection Program , they were able to keep paying their staff of about 15 , and the normal flow of production had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wouldn ’ t know that for two years , the couple had been thinking of selling their part of the condoized historic Bridgewater Mill Mall property , largely because of all the exterior work it needed , including a new roof .
But eventually both of their buildings got a fresh coat of paint , and Mr. Shackleton and Ms. Thomas used a loan and some of their own money to fund the roof work .
The turning point came when the exterior work began , Mr. Shackleton recalls .
“ We started @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ This is a treasure , ’ whereas a year ago we were ready to give it away.
” While painting intricate lines depicting wildlife on the outside of a mug , Ms. Thomas notes that pottery , one of the most ancient arts , takes on a deeply human feeling instilled by the one crafting it .
“ There ’ s an energy , and if you can get that energy across , that feeling , then everybody ’ s happy , ” she says .
For Mr. Shackleton and Ms. Thomas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ operations , respectively , their work is the result of skilled makers , not a mechanized factory line .
That lends a special human element you don ’ t get otherwise , Mr. Shackleton says .
“ We believe when human beings make things , they have a character to them , ” he says .
“ It passes on a little piece of soul , if you will.
” While the process happens in Vermont , the finished work has gone well beyond local borders .
For example , Ms. Thomas once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ special design of peace doves , that then-President Bill Clinton presented as a gift to Pope John Paul II during the pope ’ s visit to St. Louis in 1999 .
Her pottery was also part of the celebration of Kofi Annan ’ s 2006 retirement from the United Nations as secretary-general .
It ’ s no small thing to carry on that legacy of precision and utmost quality , and now the owners ’ son , Hugh Shackleton , is doing so as shop manager on the furniture side , after joining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and learning the craft .
“ The coolest thing is seeing what people can create , ” Hugh Shackleton says .
“ We are artists.
” His son ’ s arrival and subsequent shop-manager role were huge steps forward for the business , Mr. Shackleton says .
“ It saved the business , because he brought in young inspiration , and he ’ s completely passionate about making things , designing things , and he ’ s really good at management , ” Mr. Shackleton notes .
Hugh Shackleton took over the shop-manager @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s worked there for 24 years and recently began training his son on furniture-making .
For Mr. Higgs , the workshop has been a place of “ peace and refuge.
” “ There ’ s nothing really more relaxing than hand-planing a large tabletop , ” he says , noting the side-to-side rhythm of the work and the slight “ ringing ” sound .
“ The emphasis isn ’ t so much on getting things done quickly , but getting things done so they ’ re beautiful when finished – and highly functional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now , Mr. Higgs ’ son is also enjoying that process .
He finished his first table with his father ’ s guidance in late October .
“ It ’ s been nice for me , especially in such a tumultuous year , to have ... some peace and focus , something to witness , ” August Higgs says .
It takes time to build two renowned brands , and for Mr. Shackleton and Ms. Thomas , the journey began more than three decades ago .
She met Mr. Shackleton , who hails @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , where they ended up in the same pottery class .
After coming to Vermont at different points in the 1980s , they each ended up working for the famous craft entrepreneur Simon Pearce , who was an important mentor for them both as a craftsperson and business owner .
“ Simon really talked us into it , ” Ms. Thomas says , recalling striking out on their own in 1987 .
“ He helped us get there , and we couldn ’ t have done this , I don ’ t think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ step , they also made a commitment to stick with handcrafting .
“ We didn ’ t want it to become a commercial , mechanized thing , so we decided to stay with handwork , ” Ms. Thomas says .
Not everyone has done the same , but this husband-and-wife team has persisted in the approach that propelled their success .
“ We have made ourselves champions of the small-production workshop … and I say ‘ champions ’ because that ’ s been a goal , to really do that , so you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some incredible quality , ” Ms. Thomas says .
That quality flows from the hands that create it .
For Marty Higgs , there ’ s a lasting connection between him and the pieces he crafts and signs .
“ It ’ s a part of you going into somebody else ’ s home , and you want it to be the best part of you .
”

That level of quality flows from the hands that create it. Or as their former furniture-shop manager puts it, “It’s a part of you going into somebody else’s home, and you want it to be the best part of you.”
While the process happens in Vermont, the finished work is recognized for its beauty well beyond local borders. For example, Ms. Thomas once created a peace bowl that then-President Bill Clinton presented as a gift to Pope John Paul II.
“We believe when human beings make things, they have a character to them,” Mr. Shackleton says. “It passes on a little piece of soul, if you will.”
For Charles Shackleton and his wife, Miranda Thomas, who run the furniture and pottery operations, respectively, their work centers on the human touch, from design to finish.
Staying true to the practice of handcrafting, the owners of ShackletonThomas have earned international renown – and their employees have found peace in the process.
It’s not that quitting has never occurred to the owners, but they have yet to give in to the urge – in large part because the work itself rejuvenates them.
Optimism, persistence, and handwork. These keys to success have seen ShackletonThomas, a furniture-making and pottery business, through decades of ups and downs, including the shutdown earlier this year of its production shops due to the pandemic.
“Optimism is true moral courage.” That’s a quote from the great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, who learned that, sometimes, the mere act of pressing on goes a long way when facing challenges. His descendant, Charles Shackleton, agrees.
“My biggest lesson from him is being able to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other and just do it – and stuff will happen,” Mr. Shackleton says.
Optimism plus persistence has been a winning formula in uncharted waters for Mr. Shackleton and his wife, Miranda Thomas, who are at the helm of ShackletonThomas, the international business that has produced handcrafted furniture and pottery for more than 30 years out of Bridgewater, Vermont, by the scenic Ottauquechee River. The other key to success is their focus on the human touch, from design to finish.
Why We Wrote This Staying true to the practice of handcrafting, the owners of ShackletonThomas have earned international renown – and their employees have found peace in the process.
The big challenge this year came in mid-March, when the governor’s executive order shut them down for about a month. “That was a hard hit, but we’d just shipped a lot of stuff, and we had a lot of orders,” Mr. Shackleton says.
When state rules permitted it, both workshops slowly ramped up production, with lots of work to complete. Thanks to the federal Paycheck Protection Program, they were able to keep paying their staff of about 15, and the normal flow of production had mostly returned by early November.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff View caption Hide caption An old mill, recently refurbished, houses ShackletonThomas, in Bridgewater, Vermont.
You wouldn’t know that for two years, the couple had been thinking of selling their part of the condoized historic Bridgewater Mill Mall property, largely because of all the exterior work it needed, including a new roof. But eventually both of their buildings got a fresh coat of paint, and Mr. Shackleton and Ms. Thomas used a loan and some of their own money to fund the roof work.
The turning point came when the exterior work began, Mr. Shackleton recalls. “We started looking at the whole thing like, ‘This is a treasure,’ whereas a year ago we were ready to give it away.”
That human touch
While painting intricate lines depicting wildlife on the outside of a mug, Ms. Thomas notes that pottery, one of the most ancient arts, takes on a deeply human feeling instilled by the one crafting it.
“There’s an energy, and if you can get that energy across, that feeling, then everybody’s happy,” she says.
For Mr. Shackleton and Ms. Thomas, who run the furniture and pottery operations, respectively, their work is the result of skilled makers, not a mechanized factory line. That lends a special human element you don’t get otherwise, Mr. Shackleton says.
“We believe when human beings make things, they have a character to them,” he says. “It passes on a little piece of soul, if you will.”
While the process happens in Vermont, the finished work has gone well beyond local borders. For example, Ms. Thomas once created a peace bowl, with a special design of peace doves, that then-President Bill Clinton presented as a gift to Pope John Paul II during the pope’s visit to St. Louis in 1999. Her pottery was also part of the celebration of Kofi Annan’s 2006 retirement from the United Nations as secretary-general.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff View caption Hide caption Miranda Thomas uses a porcupine quill to draw on a pie plate in her pottery studio at ShackletonThomas.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff View caption Hide caption Using a porcupine quill, Miranda Thomas etches the fins of fish she painted on a bowl in her pottery studio.
It’s no small thing to carry on that legacy of precision and utmost quality, and now the owners’ son, Hugh Shackleton, is doing so as shop manager on the furniture side, after joining the operation more than four years ago and learning the craft.
“The coolest thing is seeing what people can create,” Hugh Shackleton says. “We are artists.”
His son’s arrival and subsequent shop-manager role were huge steps forward for the business, Mr. Shackleton says.
“It saved the business, because he brought in young inspiration, and he’s completely passionate about making things, designing things, and he’s really good at management,” Mr. Shackleton notes.
Hugh Shackleton took over the shop-manager reins from Marty Higgs, who’s worked there for 24 years and recently began training his son on furniture-making. For Mr. Higgs, the workshop has been a place of “peace and refuge.”
“There’s nothing really more relaxing than hand-planing a large tabletop,” he says, noting the side-to-side rhythm of the work and the slight “ringing” sound. “The emphasis isn’t so much on getting things done quickly, but getting things done so they’re beautiful when finished – and highly functional as well,” he adds.
Now, Mr. Higgs’ son is also enjoying that process. He finished his first table with his father’s guidance in late October.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff View caption Hide caption This $18,000 table made by Hugh Shackleton is on display in the showroom and store at ShackletonThomas.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff View caption Hide caption Nick English works on a pedestal table at ShackletonThomas. The company has been in business for more than three decades.
“It’s been nice for me, especially in such a tumultuous year, to have ... some peace and focus, something to witness,” August Higgs says.
Staying the course
It takes time to build two renowned brands, and for Mr. Shackleton and Ms. Thomas, the journey began more than three decades ago. She met Mr. Shackleton, who hails from Ireland, at college in England, where they ended up in the same pottery class. After coming to Vermont at different points in the 1980s, they each ended up working for the famous craft entrepreneur Simon Pearce, who was an important mentor for them both as a craftsperson and business owner.
“Simon really talked us into it,” Ms. Thomas says, recalling striking out on their own in 1987. “He helped us get there, and we couldn’t have done this, I don’t think, without Simon.”
After taking that step, they also made a commitment to stick with handcrafting.
“We didn’t want it to become a commercial, mechanized thing, so we decided to stay with handwork,” Ms. Thomas says.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff View caption Hide caption Handmade furniture and pottery are on display in the showroom and store at ShackletonThomas in Bridgewater, Vermont.
Not everyone has done the same, but this husband-and-wife team has persisted in the approach that propelled their success.
“We have made ourselves champions of the small-production workshop … and I say ‘champions’ because that’s been a goal, to really do that, so you’re putting out on the market some incredible quality,” Ms. Thomas says.
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
That quality flows from the hands that create it. For Marty Higgs, there’s a lasting connection between him and the pieces he crafts and signs.
“It’s a part of you going into somebody else’s home, and you want it to be the best part of you.”


csmonitor--2020-12-08--Britain's stroke against luck

Britain's stroke against luck

Soon after the pandemic hit Britain last spring , the government decided to prepare for a post-pandemic economy .
It poured $ 1.5 billion into protecting startup companies , or entrepreneurs with the talent , skill , and discipline to spot new opportunities .
The aid was also part of a plan to ensure Britain becomes better known for its “ innovation economy ” after leaving the European Union .
On a global index for innovation , Britain already ranks fourth .
Now the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to help those in Britain who may need special @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and discipline .
It wants to reduce the number of problem gamblers , or those who regard luck as a quick way to wealth .
On Dec. 8 , it announced the biggest shake-up of betting laws in 15 years .
The first step was to raise the minimum age for buying lottery products from 16 to 18 starting next year .
The government itself , said Nigel Huddleston , minister for sport , tourism , and heritage , must ensure the National Lottery is “ not a gateway to problem gambling.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ages 11 to 16 are considered either problem gamblers or “ at risk.
” Child gambling is plunging tens of thousands of families into a “ tidal wave of misery , ” according to an all-party parliamentary group on gambling-related harm .
A gambling-addiction clinic dedicated to young people opened in London last year .
One possible plan is to cap gamblers ’ losses to as little as £100 ( $ 133 ) a month .
This would force the betting industry to act more forcibly against gambling addiction .
“ The time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made accountable for any damage it causes , ” says Carolyn Harris , a Welsh Labour Party member of Parliament .
More than a quarter of a million people in the United Kingdom are addicted to gambling .
And perhaps because of the pandemic ’ s uneven effects on women , the rate of addiction for women is increasing at twice that for men .
Other ideas include tougher advertising regulations , restrictions on promotional offers , and safeguards in game design to prevent addiction .
The government ’ s review of gambling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more for addiction research and treatment .
Only about 3 % of problem gamblers are receiving treatment , according to the National Gambling Treatment Service .
The government ’ s plans are even more urgent because the gaming industry has shifted swiftly toward online play during the COVID-19 lockdowns .
“ This wide-ranging review is a long overdue opportunity to clean up our outdated gambling laws , which are incompatible with the smartphone era , ” according to Matt Zarb-Cousin of the Clean Up Gambling campaign .
Britain ’ s hopes for its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the country ’ s work ethic , creativity , and economic productivity .
One path to solid growth includes helping all gamblers realize the false promises of luck and lifting problem gamblers out of debilitating addiction .
Their future is brighter if they learn to value their own inherent merit and talent , the core resource for innovation .

Soon after the pandemic hit Britain last spring, the government decided to prepare for a post-pandemic economy. It poured $1.5 billion into protecting startup companies, or entrepreneurs with the talent, skill, and discipline to spot new opportunities. The aid was also part of a plan to ensure Britain becomes better known for its “innovation economy” after leaving the European Union. On a global index for innovation, Britain already ranks fourth.
Now the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to help those in Britain who may need special help in tapping their talent, skill, and discipline. It wants to reduce the number of problem gamblers, or those who regard luck as a quick way to wealth. On Dec. 8, it announced the biggest shake-up of betting laws in 15 years.
The first step was to raise the minimum age for buying lottery products from 16 to 18 starting next year. The government itself, said Nigel Huddleston, minister for sport, tourism, and heritage, must ensure the National Lottery is “not a gateway to problem gambling.” About 1 in 20 children from ages 11 to 16 are considered either problem gamblers or “at risk.” Child gambling is plunging tens of thousands of families into a “tidal wave of misery,” according to an all-party parliamentary group on gambling-related harm. A gambling-addiction clinic dedicated to young people opened in London last year.
One possible plan is to cap gamblers’ losses to as little as £100 ($133) a month. This would force the betting industry to act more forcibly against gambling addiction. “The time has come for the industry to be made accountable for any damage it causes,” says Carolyn Harris, a Welsh Labour Party member of Parliament. More than a quarter of a million people in the United Kingdom are addicted to gambling. And perhaps because of the pandemic’s uneven effects on women, the rate of addiction for women is increasing at twice that for men.
Other ideas include tougher advertising regulations, restrictions on promotional offers, and safeguards in game design to prevent addiction. The government’s review of gambling rules might result in the industry paying more for addiction research and treatment. Only about 3% of problem gamblers are receiving treatment, according to the National Gambling Treatment Service.
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
The government’s plans are even more urgent because the gaming industry has shifted swiftly toward online play during the COVID-19 lockdowns. “This wide-ranging review is a long overdue opportunity to clean up our outdated gambling laws, which are incompatible with the smartphone era,” according to Matt Zarb-Cousin of the Clean Up Gambling campaign.
Britain’s hopes for its innovation economy will require a stronger emphasis on the country’s work ethic, creativity, and economic productivity. One path to solid growth includes helping all gamblers realize the false promises of luck and lifting problem gamblers out of debilitating addiction. Their future is brighter if they learn to value their own inherent merit and talent, the core resource for innovation.