vox--2020-02-23--Pete Buttigieg requests a review of Nevada caucuses results, citing “irregularities”

Shortly after conceding the Nevada caucuses to Sen. Bernie Sanders , former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg began questioning the results there .
Late Saturday night , a letter from Buttigieg ’ s campaign to the chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party made clear that the campaign has questions about what it says are “ irregularities ” in the results , the Nevada Independent reported .
In the letter , Buttigieg ’ s campaign requests all early vote and in-person vote totals be released by precinct , along with explanations for any “ anomalies in the data.
” Before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sanders ’ win was clear , and as of Sunday evening , with about 60 percent of precincts reporting , the senator has some 46 percent of the vote .
As of Sunday evening , Biden appears to be in a distant second place , and Buttigieg shoring up third place .
In the letter to the state party , his campaign argues those results may need revision and that the “ process of integrating early votes into the results of the in-person precinct caucuses ... was plagued with errors and inconsistencies.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ period this year , and featured four days of early caucusing in the form of ranked choice voting .
The totals from those early caucus forms were added to both first and second round in-person caucuses on Saturday .
Although not rife with problems like the Iowa caucus , it is true there were some hiccups in Nevada .
Some precincts reporting difficulty sharing their results with party officials , and some caucus-goers did note some confusion on rules at their precincts .
But these issues did not prevent a winner from being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seem abnormal , particularly given the caucuses process is often messy , featuring as it does multiple rounds of people moving around rooms as they try to convince others to support a given candidate .
And the process can lead to some less-than-democratic means of determining who will win , such as drawing from a deck of cards to break a tie .
According to the Buttigieg campaign , the inherent complexity of the caucuses process that caused several problems in Nevada .
According to its letter , early vote counts were not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a candidate in the first round .
The campaign also said that in some precincts , precinct chairs said that a non-viable candidate from the first round could not become viable in the second — essentially , that caucus-goers were not allowed , as they should have been , to try to convince others to support a candidate in order to bring them to viability .
Party officials in Nevada have not yet signaled whether any review will take place .
“ We are continuing to verify and to report results , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party told The Hill .
“ We never indicated we would release a separate breakdown of early vote and in-person attendees by precinct and will not change our reporting process now.
” Buttigieg can ’ t win Nevada , but revised results could help counter a criticism of his campaign As is the case with the results review currently being conducted in Iowa , a review of the Nevada results won ’ t change the caucuses ’ outcome .
Sanders currently has a roughly 30 percentage point lead on Buttigieg , and Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And even if Buttigieg were to move into second place , it is not clear how much he would benefit as far as the national delegate count is concerned .
Based on the results thus far , Sanders is expected to receive 13 national delegates to Biden ’ s two .
Picking up two delegates would do little to close Sanders ’ s current lead on Buttigieg ( who is currently second in the national delegate count ) — at the moment , Sanders has 34 to Buttigieg ’ s 23 delegates .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ could help alter the narrative that has emerged around the results .
The candidate has struggled to appeal to voters of color , while Biden — the ostensible second-place finisher in Nevada — counts on his appeal among African American voters in particular .
And his showing in Nevada seemed to provide further evidence that Buttigieg can not rely on the support of nonwhite voters .
But if Buttigieg can prove that he actually did better in Nevada than it currently appears , he would be able to make the case that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters make up a significant portion of the electorate , something that — with a slate of diverse contests fast approaching — would be an asset to his campaign .

Shortly after conceding the Nevada caucuses to Sen. Bernie Sanders, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg began questioning the results there.
Late Saturday night, a letter from Buttigieg’s campaign to the chairman of the Nevada State Democratic Party made clear that the campaign has questions about what it says are “irregularities” in the results, the Nevada Independent reported.
In the letter, Buttigieg’s campaign requests all early vote and in-person vote totals be released by precinct, along with explanations for any “anomalies in the data.”
New: Pete Buttigieg’s campaign is alleging “irregularities and a number of unresolved questions” against the Nevada State Democratic Party.
The complaints center on how early voting totals were folded into caucus day totals & claim “anomalies in the data.”
Here is the letter: pic.twitter.com/HYlvHqsr4n — Dan Merica (@merica) February 23, 2020
Before vote totals were in on Saturday, Sanders’s win was clear, and as of Sunday evening, with about 60 percent of precincts reporting, the senator has some 46 percent of the vote. As of Sunday evening, Biden appears to be in a distant second place, and Buttigieg shoring up third place.
In its letter to the state party, the Buttigieg campaign argues those results may need revision and that the “process of integrating early votes into the results of the in-person precinct caucuses ... was plagued with errors and inconsistencies.”
The caucuses were held over an extended period this year, and featured four days of early caucusing in the form of ranked choice voting. The totals from those early caucus forms were added to both first and second round in-person caucuses on Saturday.
Although not rife with problems like the Iowa caucus, it is true there were some hiccups in Nevada. Some precincts reported difficulty sharing their results with party officials, and some caucusgoers did note some confusion on rules at their precincts.
But these issues did not prevent a winner from being announced, and in general did not seem abnormal, particularly given the caucus process is often messy, featuring multiple rounds of people moving around rooms as they try to convince others to support a particular candidate. And the process can lead to some less-than-democratic means of determining who will win, such as drawing from a deck of cards to break a tie.
According to the Buttigieg campaign, the inherent complexity of the caucus process caused several problems in Nevada. According to its letter, early vote counts were not always used when determining the viability of a candidate in the first round. The campaign also said that in some precincts, precinct chairs said that a non-viable candidate from the first round could not become viable in the second — essentially, that caucusgoers were not allowed, as they should have been, to try to convince others to support a candidate in order to make them viable.
Party officials in Nevada have not yet signaled whether any review will take place.
“We are continuing to verify and to report results,” a spokesperson for the Nevada State Democratic Party told the Hill. “We never indicated we would release a separate breakdown of early vote and in-person attendees by precinct and will not change our reporting process now.”
Buttigieg can’t win Nevada, but revised results could help counter criticism of his campaign
As is the case with the results review currently being conducted in Iowa, a review of the Nevada results won’t change the caucuses’ outcome. Sanders currently has a roughly 30 percentage point lead on Buttigieg, and Biden is about four percentage points ahead.
And even if Buttigieg were to move into second place, it is not clear how much he would benefit as far as the national delegate count is concerned. Based on the results thus far, Sanders is expected to receive 13 national delegates to Biden’s two. Picking up two delegates would do little to close Sanders’s current lead on Buttigieg (who is currently second in the national delegate count) — at the moment, Sanders has 34 to Buttigieg’s 23 delegates.
Buttigieg coming in second, however, could help alter the narrative that has emerged around the results. The candidate has struggled to appeal to voters of color, while Biden — the ostensible second-place finisher in Nevada — counts on his appeal among African American voters in particular.
And his showing in Nevada seemed to provide further evidence that Buttigieg cannot rely on the support of nonwhite voters. But if Buttigieg can prove that he actually did better in Nevada than it currently appears, he would be able to make the case that he can compete even in states where nonwhite voters make up a significant portion of the electorate, something that — with a slate of diverse contests fast approaching — would be an asset to his campaign.


vox--2020-02-23--White House national security advisor denies Russian meddling on Trump’s behalf

White House national security advisor Robert O ’ Brien categorically denied reports that Russia has been interfering in the 2020 election in support of Donald Trump ’ s reelection campaign this weekend .
And as he did so , O ’ Brien also promoted reports that Russia is meddling in the 2020 Democratic primary on behalf of Sen. Bernie Sanders .
Last week , the New York Times reported that intelligence officials have determined that Russia has been working to support Trump ’ s reelection campaign .
These officials reportedly warned the House Intelligence Committee , and briefed the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday , it was revealed by the Washington Post that Russia has also attempted to meddle in the Sanders campaign , and that Sanders , lawmakers , and President Trump were informed of this as well .
On ABC ’ s This Week on Sunday , O ’ Brien told host George Stephanopoulos that the Times and Post reports of warnings about Russia attempting to meddle on the president ’ s behalf are false .
“ I haven ’ t seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And on CBS ’ Face the Nation , he told moderator Margaret Brennan that he had not seen the information used in the House briefing himself , but understood there to be “ no intelligence ” behind it .
He also said there were only news reports about the briefings because information had been “ leaked.
” “ I get this secondhand , but from Republican congressmen that were in the committee , there was no intelligence behind [ the report ] , ” he said .
“ I haven ’ t seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were leaked out of the House.
” When Stephanopoulos asked if he had asked to see any of those reports or information first-hand , O ’ Brien responded , “ All I know is that the Republicans on the side of the House hearing were unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back up what was being said.
” The official went on to make a distinction between intelligence and analysis , arguing what was presented to the House was analysis that he was not sure was backed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not clarify what that analysis might have been based upon .
The national security adviser also faced questions about the sudden ouster of former acting director of national intelligence , Joseph Maguire .
Trump reportedly berated Maguire about the House briefing before firing him , a move that Vox ’ s Alex Ward — and others — reported was “ absolutely ” related to the briefing .
“ That ’ s not true , ” O ’ Brien said of the reports on ABC .
“ I was in that meeting and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” And he told CBS that “ Maguire was always planning on leaving within the next couple of weeks.
” Again , this narrative would seem to contradict what journalists have reported .
However , O ’ Brien did appear to endorse reports that found Sanders had been briefed on 2020 interference , in order to promote the idea that Sanders is the Kremlin ’ s preferred candidate .
“ What I ’ ve heard from the FBI ... is that Russia would like Bernie Sanders to win the Democrat nomination , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ They ’ d probably like him to be president , understandably , because he wants to spend money on social programs and probably would have to take it out of the military , so that would make sense.
” The official did not elaborate on how the reporting on Sanders could be correct while the news on Trump was wrong , but his answers Sunday mirrored the narrative promoted by his boss last week in the wake of the reports .
A paradoxical spin that serves to muddy the waters At a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday , Trump acknowledged that he was in fact told “ a week ago ” about a Russian effort favoring him , although he framed the briefing as being told about his foes trying to start “ rumors ” about him .
But like O ’ Brien , he cast doubt on the analysis of the intelligence community , calling any suggestions Russia hoped to aid his campaign “ disinformation.
” He also attacked the news reports on Twitter , calling them a hoax : Sanders , who is also implicated in Russian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decidedly different tack : he condemned all interference , as he has done in the past .
“ I don ’ t care , frankly , who Putin wants to be president , ” Sanders said in a statement to The Washington Post .
“ My message to Putin is clear : stay out of American elections , and as president I will make sure that you do.
” The Trump team is walking an altogether different line : admitting that interference is happening , but arguing it both is — as O @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not necessarily happening to benefit anyone .
“ I do think the Russians and the Chinese and others like to sow disruption in the American electorate , ” O ’ Brien said on This Week .
“ And that doesn ’ t mean because they prefer a particular candidate .
It ’ s because these are autocratic regimes that don ’ t believe in democracy and they ’ d like to see Americans at each other ’ s throat.
” Clarity around election interference is important because it is , of course , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s presidency since before he was even sworn in .
But it is also important that Americans understand how and to what degree any foreign power is working to influence the outcome of the election ahead of voting , particularly given questions over interference could give anyone fertile ground to contest the outcome of American elections in general .
Given the fact the Trump administration has not hesitated to spin facts — such as the conclusions of the Mueller report — in the past makes it somewhat more difficult to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it might otherwise be .
But regardless of accuracy , O ’ Brien ’ s statements Sunday have served to only further muddy the waters around Russian interference , and to what degree that country is attempting to boost any candidate .

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien categorically denied reports that Russia has been interfering in the 2020 election in support of President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign this weekend. And as he did so, O’Brien promoted reports that Russia is meddling in the 2020 Democratic primary on behalf of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Last week, the New York Times reported that intelligence officials have determined that Russia has been working to support Trump’s reelection campaign. These officials reportedly warned the House Intelligence Committee, and briefed the president on their analysis as well. On Friday, the Washington Post revealed that Russia has also attempted to meddle in the Sanders campaign, and that Sanders, lawmakers, and President Trump were informed.
On ABC’s This Week on Sunday, O’Brien told host George Stephanopoulos that the Times and Post reports of warnings about Russia attempting to meddle on the president’s behalf are false.
“I haven’t seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected,” he said.
WH national security adviser Robert O'Brien denies new U.S. intelligence reports that Russian actors are interfering to help Trump win a second term, but admits to @GStephanopoulos he hasn't looked at or sought out materials surrounding those reports. https://t.co/GQgLNKEJy5 pic.twitter.com/iFX7DZNnms — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 23, 2020
And on CBS’s Face the Nation, he told moderator Margaret Brennan that he had not seen the information used in the House briefing himself, but understood there to be “no intelligence” behind it. He also said there were only news reports about the briefings because information had been “leaked.”
“I get this secondhand, but from Republican congressmen that were in the committee, there was no intelligence behind [the report],” he said. “I haven’t seen any intelligence to support the reports that were leaked out of the House.”
When Stephanopoulos asked if he had asked to see any of those reports or information first-hand, O’Brien responded, “All I know is that the Republicans on the side of the House hearing were unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back up what was being said.”
The official went on to make a distinction between intelligence and analysis, arguing that what was presented to the House was analysis that he was not sure was backed up by intelligence, although he did not clarify what that analysis might have been based upon.
The national security adviser also faced questions about the sudden ouster of former acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire. Trump reportedly berated Maguire about the House briefing before firing him, a move that Vox’s Alex Ward — and others — reported was “absolutely” related to the briefing.
“That’s not true,” O’Brien said of the reports on ABC. “I was in that meeting and the president was not angry with Joe Maguire.”
And he told CBS that “Maguire was always planning on leaving within the next couple of weeks.”
Again, this narrative would seem to contradict what journalists have reported. However, O’Brien did appear to endorse reports that found Sanders had been briefed on 2020 interference, in order to promote the idea that Sanders is the Kremlin’s preferred candidate.
“What I’ve heard from the FBI ... is that Russia would like Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination,” O’Brien said on CBS. “They’d probably like him to be president, understandably, because he wants to spend money on social programs and probably would have to take it out of the military, so that would make sense.”
The official did not elaborate on how the reporting on Sanders could be correct while the news on Trump was wrong, but his answers Sunday mirrored the narrative promoted by his boss last week in the wake of the reports.
A paradoxical spin that serves to muddy the waters
At a rally for supporters in Las Vegas on Friday, Trump acknowledged that he was in fact told “a week ago” about a Russian effort favoring him, although he framed the briefing as being told about his foes trying to start “rumors” about him.
But like O’Brien, he cast doubt on the analysis of the intelligence community, calling any suggestions Russia hoped to aid his campaign “disinformation.”
TRUMP: "I see these phonies, the do nothing Democrats, they said today that Putin wants to be sure that Trump gets elected. Here we go again ... doesn't [Putin] want to see who the Democrat is going to be? Wouldn't he rather have Bernie, who honeymooned in Moscow?" pic.twitter.com/zG8runP75L — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 21, 2020
He also attacked the news reports on Twitter, calling them a hoax:
Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2020
Sanders, who is also implicated in Russian attempts at election interference, took a decidedly different tack: he condemned all interference, as he has done in the past.
“I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said in a statement to the Washington Post. “My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.”
The Trump team is walking an altogether different line: admitting that interference is happening, but arguing it both is — as O’Brien did above — and is not necessarily happening to benefit anyone.
“I do think the Russians and the Chinese and others like to sow disruption in the American electorate,” O’Brien said on This Week. “And that doesn’t mean because they prefer a particular candidate. It’s because these are autocratic regimes that don’t believe in democracy and they’d like to see Americans at each other’s throat.”
Clarity around election interference is important because it is a specter that has hung over Trump’s presidency since before he was even sworn in. But it is also important that Americans understand how, and to what degree any foreign power is working to influence the outcome of the election ahead of voting, particularly given questions over interference could give anyone fertile ground to contest the outcome of American elections in general.
Given the fact the Trump administration has not hesitated to spin facts — such as the conclusions of the Mueller report — in the past makes it somewhat more difficult to take O’Brien at his word than it might otherwise be. But regardless of accuracy, O’Brien’s statements Sunday have served to only further muddy the waters around Russian interference, and to what degree that country is attempting to boost any candidate.


vox--2020-02-23--As Covid-19 cases rise, South Korea raises virus threat level to its maximum

In response to growing concerns about the spread of Covid-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus first observed in Wuhan , China — in South Korea , President Moon Jae-in has raised the country ’ s threat alert level to the highest of its four levels .
The country is currently struggling to stop the rapid spread of the novel virus , and has the second largest number of confirmed cases in the world , 602 ( not counting the passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked on the shores of Japan ) .
In the span @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of confirmed South Korean cases has jumped more than tenfold , six people have died , and over 8,000 people considered to be at risk of infection are still undergoing testing .
The last time the country raised its virus threat level to four was in 2009 , when a novel influenza outbreak killed more than 260 people .
By raising the threat level , the president has given the government the ability to take drastic measures : officials can now restrict public transportation , flights to and from South Korea , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and close schools .
None of these measures have been implemented as of yet , but Moon said he will not shy away from doing whatever it takes to contain the Covid-19 .
“ We are faced with a watershed moment in the case of the coronavirus , ” the president said , according to The New York Times .
“ The coming few days will be a critical time for us .
This will be a momentous time when the central government , local governments , and the whole people must wage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problem.
” A controversial religious organization is at the center of South Korea ’ s coronavirus cases Health officials point to a woman known as patient no .
31 , a resident of the southern city of Daegu and a devout adherent of the controversial religious group the Shincheonji Church of Jesus , as the probable origin of the recent massive uptick in confirmed cases .
The 61-year-old woman first checked in to a hospital following a small car accident .
On the fourth day of her stay , she developed a fever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus because she hadn ’ t traveled abroad or been in contact with anyone contaminated .
She was finally tested on Monday , and on Tuesday she received positive results .
Up until that point , she had slipped out of the hospital at least four times to attend services that attracted up to 1,000 people .
Even more concerning was the alleged response of the church : church members reportedly received social media messages that encouraged them to continue evangelical work in small groups and to deny their affiliation to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Church leadership , however , has denied being behind these messages and said they ’ ve punished the member who sent them .
On Sunday , the group posted a video to their YouTube channel promoting their cooperation with the government : The video claims that not only have they encouraged their membership of over 150,000 people to limit contact with other people , but they ’ ve also given officials a list of about 9,000 names affiliated with their Daegu branch , according to Shincheonji spokesperson Kim Simon .
The church also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address what it referred to as unfair aggression toward church members , and claim that they are the “ biggest victims of a virus that originated in China.
” “ We continue to see reports that suggest Shincheonji is hiding something , ” Kim said .
“ We urge you to stop the hatred against Shincheonji followers.
” Health experts are concerned that Covid-19 is shaping up to become a pandemic South Korea isn ’ t the only country overwhelmed by a sudden outbreak in confirmed cases .
As of Sunday , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 29 countries , Iran , which did not have any confirmed cases until last Thursday , now has 43 confirmed cases and a death toll of eight , the highest death toll outside of China .
Even more concerning is that cases linked to Iran have already popped up in Lebanon and Canada .
As a result , the city of Tehran has closed down all bistros and water fountains as a preemptive response , Al Jazeera reported .
Meanwhile , Northern Italy has also been hit hard : out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the Lombardy region , which includes financial hub Milan .
It ’ s now the biggest hub of Covid-19 outbreaks outside of Asia , and two people have died from the disease .
It ’ s not that countries aren ’ t taking drastic measures to stop the spread of the disease .
On Saturday , Israel denied the entry of 130 South Koreans to Tel Aviv , and sent them back home on the same flight ( earlier , South Korea informed Israel that a group of Korean tourists had tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And the United States has raised travel advisory for South Korea and Japan from Level 1 to Level 2 , which calls for increased caution but not a travel ban .
At this point , however , the spread of the virus might be inevitable .
As Vox ’ s Julia Belluz reports , Covid-19 is starting to look more and more like a pandemic ( the spread of a new disease across the world ) — and might even already be in one .
The rapid rise of cases outside of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health officials are saying that our responses should now evolve as well , she wrote : To be clear , a pandemic refers to how widely a disease spreads , not how many people die from the virus .
It is still unclear how deadly the Covid-19 virus is , although a report from the China ’ s CDC found it to be less lethal than SARS .
Nonetheless , the sheer number of people that need treatment could overwhelm any country ’ s health care system , leading to a shortage of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffering from other maladies .
Although the US only has 35 confirmed Covid-19 cases so far , South Korea , Italy , and Iran are case examples of why it is necessary to stay prepared .

In response to growing concerns about the spread of Covid-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus first observed in Wuhan, China — in South Korea, President Moon Jae-in has raised the country’s threat alert level to the highest of its four levels.
The country is currently struggling to stop the rapid spread of the novel virus, and has the second largest number of confirmed cases in the world, 602 (not counting the passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked on the shores of Japan). In the span of less than a week, the number of confirmed South Korean cases has jumped more than ten-fold, six people have died, and over 8,000 people considered to be at risk of infection are still undergoing testing.
The last time the country raised its virus threat level to four was in 2009, when a novel influenza outbreak killed more than 260 people.
By raising the threat level, the president has given the government the ability to take drastic measures: Officials can now restrict public transportation, flights to and from South Korea, bar tourists, lock down cities, and close schools. None of these measures have been implemented as of yet, but Moon said he will not shy away from doing whatever it takes to contain Covid-19.
“We are faced with a watershed moment in the case of the coronavirus,” the president said, according to the New York Times. “The coming few days will be a critical time for us. This will be a momentous time when the central government, local governments, and the whole people must wage an all-out, concerted response to the problem.”
A controversial religious organization is at the center of South Korea’s coronavirus cases
Health officials point to a woman known as patient No. 31, a resident of the southern city of Daegu and a devout adherent of the controversial religious group the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, as the probable origin of the recent massive uptick in confirmed cases.
The 61-year-old woman first checked into a hospital following a minor car accident. On the fourth day of her stay, she developed a fever, but refused to get checked for the virus because she hadn’t traveled abroad or been in contact with anyone contaminated. She was finally tested on Monday, and on Tuesday she received positive results. Up until that point, she had slipped out of the hospital at least four times to attend services that attracted up to 1,000 people.
Even more concerning was the alleged response of the church: Church members reportedly received social media messages that encouraged them to continue evangelical work in small groups and to deny their affiliation to the church if public health officials asked.
Church leadership, however, has denied being behind these messages and said they’ve punished the member who sent them. On Sunday, the group posted a video to their YouTube channel promoting their cooperation with the government: The video claims that not only have they encouraged their membership of over 150,000 people to limit contact with other people, but they’ve also given officials a list of about 9,000 names affiliated with their Daegu branch, according to Shincheonji spokesperson Kim Simon.
The church also used the video as an opportunity to address what it referred to as unfair aggression toward church members, and claim that they are the “biggest victims of a virus that originated in China.”
“We continue to see reports that suggest Shincheonji is hiding something,” Kim said. “We urge you to stop the hatred against Shincheonji followers.”
Health experts are concerned that Covid-19 is shaping up to become a pandemic
South Korea isn’t the only country overwhelmed by a sudden outbreak in confirmed cases. As of Sunday, there are over 78,000 cases of Covid-19 in at least 29 countries.
Iran, which did not have any confirmed cases until last Thursday, now has 43 confirmed cases and a death toll of eight, the highest death toll outside of China. Even more concerning is that cases linked to Iran have already popped up in Lebanon and Canada. As a result, Tehran has closed down all bistros and water fountains as a preemptive response, Al Jazeera reported.
Meanwhile, northern Italy has also been hit hard: Out of the total 132 cases, 89 come from the Lombardy region, which includes financial hub Milan. It’s now the biggest hub of Covid-19 outbreaks outside of Asia, and two people have died from the disease.
It’s not that countries aren’t taking drastic measures to stop the spread of the disease. On Saturday, Israel denied the entry of 130 South Koreans to Tel Aviv, and sent them back home on the same flight (earlier, South Korea informed Israel that a group of Korean tourists had tested positive after returning home from Israel). And the United States has raised the travel advisory for South Korea and Japan from level 1 to level 2, which calls for increased caution but not a travel ban.
At this point, however, the spread of the virus might be inevitable. As Vox’s Julia Belluz reports, Covid-19 is starting to look more and more like a pandemic (the spread of a new disease across the world). The rapid rise of cases outside of China is a new development, and health officials are saying that our responses should now evolve as well, as she wrote:
Public health experts said countries need to move from trying to contain the virus to mitigating its harm — reducing the spread, and caring for the very sick. “It is beyond time,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. This means hospitals need to be ready with Covid-19 protocols, health care workers need to be protected with access to protective equipment such as face masks, and countries need plans for maintaining supply chains and carrying on with travel and trade.
To be clear, a pandemic refers to how widely a disease spreads, not how many people die from the virus. It is still unclear how deadly the Covid-19 virus is, although a report from China’s CDC found it to be less lethal than SARS. Nonetheless, the sheer number of people that need treatment could overwhelm any country’s health care system, leading to a shortage of hospital beds or medical equipment for those suffering from other maladies. Although the US only has 35 confirmed Covid-19 cases so far, South Korea, Italy, and Iran are case examples of why it is necessary to stay prepared.


vox--2020-02-23--It looks like the debate may have given Elizabeth Warren a slight boost in Nevada

It sure looks like Elizabeth Warren ’ s fiery debate performance last week translated to a slight bump at the Nevada caucuses .
According to early Washington Post entrance polls , Warren performed better among voters who decided in the last few days , compared to those who had decided prior to that .
Of the late breaking voters , 19 percent chose Warren , while 12 percent of earlier voters did .
That seven-point jump is the largest any of the five frontrunners experienced , although it ’ s worth noting that Warren did not come in first or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Among the 86 percent of voters who decided earlier , Sen. Bernie Sanders led with 35 percent support , followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 17 percent , and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 15 percent .
Among the 13 percent who decided closer to the caucuses , Sanders secured 25 percent of the vote , Biden captured 21 percent , and Warren came in third .
The Nevada caucuses took place just three days after a contentious Democratic debate in Las Vegas that Warren , who had previously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hampshire , dominated .
That night , she delivered a breakout performance , grilling former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg over past comments he had made about women , nondisclosure agreements his company employed , and his previous support of the “ stop and frisk ” policy .
Whether Warren ’ s debate performance will be enough to fuel additional gains for her struggling campaign , however , is an open question .
The campaign has previously said that it ’ s focused on turning out a strong performance on Super Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polls , and more than 1,300 delegates will be up for grabs .
A Morning Consult poll after last week ’ s debate found that both Warren and Sanders experienced a two-point bump in support the day after the debate , while Bloomberg saw a three-point dip .
The survey noted , however , that the increases the two candidates experienced were within the poll ’ s margin of error .
As results come in from both South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states , the effect of Warren ’ s Las Vegas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In at least one measure , it ’ s been quite notable : her campaign saw its best debate fundraising day to date last week , raking in $ 2.8 million on Wednesday .

It sure looks like Elizabeth Warren’s fiery debate performance last week translated to a slight bump at the Nevada caucuses.
According to early Washington Post entrance polls, Warren performed better among voters who decided in the last few days, compared to those who had decided prior to that. Of the late-breaking voters, 19 percent chose Warren, while 12 percent of earlier voters did.
That seven-point jump is the largest any of the five frontrunners experienced, although it’s worth noting that Warren did not come in first or second with either group of voters.
Among the 86 percent of voters who decided earlier, Sen. Bernie Sanders led with 35 percent support, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 17 percent, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 15 percent. Among the 13 percent who decided closer to the caucuses, Sanders secured 25 percent of the vote, Biden captured 21 percent, and Warren came in third.
The Nevada caucuses took place just three days after a contentious Democratic debate in Las Vegas that Warren, who had previously seen disappointing results in Iowa and New Hampshire, dominated. That night, she delivered a breakout performance, grilling former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg over past comments he had made about women, nondisclosure agreements his company employed, and his previous support of the “stop-and-frisk” policy.
Whether Warren’s debate performance will be enough to fuel additional gains for her struggling campaign, however, is an open question. The campaign has previously said that it is focused on turning out a strong performance on Super Tuesday, when 14 states head to the polls and more than 1,300 delegates will be up for grabs.
A Morning Consult poll after last week’s debate found that both Warren and Sanders experienced a two-point bump in support the day after the debate, while Bloomberg saw a three-point dip. The survey noted, however, that the increases the two candidates experienced were within the poll’s margin of error.
As results come in from both South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states, the effect of Warren’s Las Vegas debate performance could become more apparent. In at least one measure, it’s been quite notable: Her campaign saw its best debate fundraising day to date last week, raking in $2.8 million on Wednesday.


vox--2020-02-23--The Nevada caucuses are on track to break a voter turnout record

While final numbers have yet to be released , preliminary turnout figures for the Nevada caucuses suggests voter enthusiasm is high in the state — and that Democrats concerned about the lack of record-breaking turnout in Iowa ’ s contest may have little to fear .
As Nevada political expert and Nevada Independent editor Jon Ralston noted , turnout for the caucuses could surpass the 2008 record of 118,000 caucus-goers , and was certainly greater than in 2016 .
The size of the caucuses ’ turnout was evident even before they began Saturday , thanks to four days of early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ranked choice voting ) .
Ahead of Saturday ’ s in-person caucuses , about 70,000 people filled out their early caucusing forms , a number that nearly surpassed the total of 84,000 people who caucused in 2016 .
Across the country , Democrats have been telling pollsters for months how excited they are to vote — for example , a January Quinnipiac University national poll found 85 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters were either “ extremely ” or “ very ” motivated to participate in their primaries and caucuses — but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t appear to reflect this sort of enthusiasm , causing some observers to suggest Iowa ’ s results were disappointing for not having obliterated 2008 ’ s record caucuses participation .
But things appear to be different in Nevada .
Part of this is likely due to expanded caucus access .
Nevadans were able to participate in early caucusing at any site ; their forms were then delivered by officials to where they would have caucused in person Saturday .
And — in part thanks to the efforts of unions like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of sites easily accessible to the state ’ s shift workers , like a 24-hour early caucusing site in Las Vegas ’ Bellagio hotel .
Nevada ’ s strong turnout comes after New Hampshire also broke its voter turnout record for primaries last week .
A total of 300,622 ballots were cast , higher than the previous record of 288,672 votes in 2008 , a time when primaries saw high turnout nationwide .
Nevada and New Hampshire indicate that Iowa ’ s lukewarm turnout isn ’ t part of a larger trend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the nation ” Iowa caucuses would attract a large crowd of Democrats energized by their anger against President Donald Trump , only about 176,436 people showed up .
That ’ s only slightly better than the turnout of 171,517 in 2016 and far behind the 239,000 voters who caucused in 2008 .
Voter turnout — particularly in swing states — will be particularly important this year given the margins Democrats will require to beat Trump .
Fortunately for Democratic leadership , crowds in Nevada and New Hampshire indicate that getting people to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

While final numbers have yet to be released, preliminary turnout figures for the Nevada caucuses suggest voter enthusiasm is high in the state — and that Democrats concerned about the lack of record-breaking turnout in Iowa’s contest may have little to fear.
As Nevada political expert and Nevada Independent editor Jon Ralston noted, turnout for the caucuses could surpass the 2008 record of 118,000 caucus-goers, and was certainly greater than in 2016.
Looks as if turnout today combined with early voting has a chance to break the 118K from 2008. Will easily surpass the 84K of '16. — Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) February 23, 2020
The size of the caucuses’ turnout was evident even before they began Saturday, thanks to four days of early caucusing (that took the form of ranked-choice voting). Ahead of Saturday’s in-person caucuses, about 70,000 people filled out their early caucusing forms, a number that nearly surpassed the total of 84,000 people who caucused in 2016.
Across the country, Democrats have been telling pollsters for months how excited they are to vote — for example, a January Quinnipiac University national poll found 85 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters were either “extremely” or “very” motivated to participate in their primaries and caucuses — but early results from Iowa’s caucuses didn’t appear to reflect this sort of enthusiasm, causing some observers to suggest Iowa’s results were disappointing for not having obliterated 2008’s record caucuses participation.
But things appear to be different in Nevada.
Part of this is likely due to expanded caucus access. Nevadans were able to participate in early caucusing at any site; their forms were then delivered by officials to where they would have caucused in person Saturday. And — in part thanks to the efforts of unions like the Culinary Union — there were a number of sites easily accessible to the state’s shift workers, like a 24-hour early caucusing site in Las Vegas’ Bellagio hotel.
Nevada’s strong turnout comes after New Hampshire also broke its voter turnout record for primaries last week. A total of 300,622 ballots were cast, higher than the previous record of 288,672 votes in 2008, a time when primaries saw high turnout nationwide.
Nevada and New Hampshire indicate that Iowa’s lukewarm turnout isn’t part of a larger trend. Despite expectations that the “first in the nation” Iowa caucuses would attract a large crowd of Democrats energized by their anger against President Donald Trump, only about 176,436 people showed up. That’s only slightly better than the turnout of 171,517 in 2016 and far behind the 239,000 voters who caucused in 2008.
Voter turnout — particularly in swing states — will be particularly important this year given the margins Democrats will require to beat Trump. Fortunately for Democratic leadership, crowds in Nevada and New Hampshire indicate that getting people to vote ought not to be an issue.


vox--2020-02-23--“We are at a turning point”: The coronavirus outbreak is looking more like a pandemic

During the last two months , as the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak has spiraled into a global threat , countries around the world have scrambled to impose travel bans , quarantine millions , and isolate sick people in an attempt to stop the spread of the new virus .
Yet , as of Sunday , there were 78,000 cases of Covid-19 in at least 29 countries , including surging case tolls in Italy , Iran , and South Korea , as well as an ongoing outbreak on a cruise ship off Japan .
The likelihood that we ’ re hurtling into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spreads around the world — or that we ’ re already in one , seems higher than just a week ago .
“ Our window of opportunity [ for containing the virus ] is narrowing so we need to act quickly before it closes completely , ” said World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , on Friday .
Other public health experts think the window has already closed .
They say worrisome , new developments suggest containing the virus — particularly in low-resource settings — may no longer be possible .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , then spillover to other countries is inevitable , ” said Anthony Fauci , head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases .
“ One can not shut out the rest of the world.
” “ I don ’ t think the answer is shutting down the world to stop this virus .
It ’ s already out , ” said Michael Osterholm , director of the University of Minnesota ’ s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy .
If halting the spread of the virus is increasingly out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to accept that it ’ s everywhere — and move into a new phase of readying for a pandemic .
( To be clear , a disease outbreak can become a pandemic without being especially severe or fatal . )
“ We are at a turning point in the Covid-19 epidemic , ” said Lawrence Gostin , a global health law professor at Georgetown University .
“ We must prepare for the foreseeable possibility , even probability , that Covid-19 may soon become a pandemic affecting countries on virtually all continents.
” A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and what they tell us about how this virus is spreading , helps explain why .
Numerous countries ( and one cruise ship ) have seen rapid spread of the coronavirus As of February 23 , there were more than 1,800 cases of Covid-19 outside of China in at least 29 countries .
That ’ s an increase from around 500 cases just over a week ago .
Many of these new cases are occurring in people who never traveled to China , or from an unknown source .
The virus has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — cruise ships and prisons — and spread like a wildfire , revealing its contagiousness and how difficult it is to stop .
Let ’ s dive into the latest developments .
The Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan , which quarantined 3,600 passengers and crew after an 80-year-old man tested positive for the virus , now has 634 cases associated with an ongoing outbreak there .
That ’ s the largest local outbreak outside of China .
Japanese authorities ordered the quarantine in early February in an attempt to contain the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ They ’ ve basically trapped a bunch of people in a large container with [ the ] virus , ” said University of Toronto epidemiology professor David Fisman , over email .
Public health experts and researchers now believe the quarantine probably generated more cases — both because the virus appears to be highly contagious , and because proper quarantine protocols weren ’ t followed .
By February 18 , Japanese officials began letting passengers off the ship who tested negative for the virus — and within days , a case turned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on another cruise ship in Asia , the Westerdam .
After one woman disembarked , she tested positive for the virus in Malaysia , setting off a global search for other passengers who may have been exposed .
South Korea has now reported the most cases outside of China : 602 as of Sunday — up from only 30 on Monday .
Many of them are linked to a secretive religious group , known as the Shincheonji Church of Jesus , in the city of Daegu .
The country ’ s president , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on its highest level alert over the outbreak , giving cities the power to impose their own containment measures .
“ This will be a momentous time when the central government , local governments , health officials and medical personnel and the entire people must wage an all-out , concerted response to the problem , ” he said , according to the New York Times .
As of Sunday , Iran reported 28 cases , including 5 deaths — days after authorities there said they had no Covid-19 within their borders .
Cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up in Canada and Lebanon .
Very quickly , the country ’ s narrative about the virus has changed .
Schools and universities across the country are being shuttered as a “ preventive measure , ” along with some cinemas and restaurants , according to Al Jazeera .
But this outbreak might be much larger than it looks now , said Sylvie Briand , the director of infectious hazard management at the WHO , in a media briefing Friday .
“ We are wondering about the potential for more cases to be exported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all countries to be aware of this and to put in place detailed measures to pick up these cases as early as possible.
” Osterholm pointed out that the detection of five deaths likely means there are hundreds more cases , since the current estimated Covid-19 case fatality rate is only 2 percent .
Italy is now home to the biggest Covid-19 outbreak outside of Asia : Some 132 people have confirmed infections including at least two deaths .
The worrisome rise in cases in the country ’ s north has prompted authorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stop the virus .
Sporting , religious , and cultural events are canceled , along with university classes .
Authorities are also fining anyone who tries to enter or leave areas where the outbreak is occurring , including 11 towns in the Lombardy region .
Why this looks like the beginning of a pandemic The developments outside of China , along with the latest science on Covid-19 , suggest we may soon see a rapid rise in infections — in China and around the world .
1 ) The virus is very contagious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to infect others before they know they ’ re sick : Researchers currently believe one infected person generally infects two to more than three others , which would make the new coronavirus more contagious than other coronaviruses , like SARS and MERS .
“ For a virus pretty closely related to SARS , it shows very effective person-to-person transmission , something nobody really expected , ” Stephen Morse , a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health , told Vox .
Look at the cruise ship in Japan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China who are infected , and the situation in China ’ s prisons for more evidence of Covid-19 ’ s potential for rapid spread .
At the same time , the latest science suggests some people can transmit the virus very early in their illness or even before they are showing symptoms — which is again different from SARS and MERS , and suggests contagion more like the flu virus than SARS .
SARS was eventually contained because , when people began to show symptoms , they were isolated — at a time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and their contacts could be traced and isolated too , explained Minnesota ’ s Osterholm .
But “ trying to stop influenza-like transmission is like trying to stop the wind .
It ’ s virtually impossible , ” he told Vox .
For these reasons , Osterholm said the fact that extraordinary measures to contain this virus haven ’ t worked doesn ’ t mean containment failed .
“ Containment never had a chance because of the influenza-virus-like transmission.
” 2 ) Countries are still mostly looking for the disease in people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The main method of screening in many countries is still testing passengers coming from China , or from Hubei province only .
But as we ’ ve seen , spread is happening beyond those people .
And other cases may be undetected .
“ We don ’ t really know if there is community transmission going on in other parts of the world because for the most part countries are not doing diagnostic testing on anyone but returning travelers or their close contacts , ” Tom Inglesby , director of the Center for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ School of Public Health , told Vox .
Though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that the risk of spread in the US is low , it ’ s beginning to change its screening strategy to look for people with the virus who aren ’ t returning travelers from China .
The CDC will use the national flu surveillance tracking infrastructure to test patients who have flu symptoms for Covid-19 in five cities across the US .
3 ) With flu season ongoing , it can take time to identify @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with this illness is that the clinical symptoms resemble other viral illnesses , like flu , ” said Inglesby .
So people with the flu , and doctors examining them , may not even be thinking of Covid-19 yet , especially in people who haven ’ t traveled to China .
4 ) China may also see another surge in cases soon as travel restrictions are gradually lifted : The country has taken extraordinarily draconian measures to stop this virus , quarantining millions , and shutting down transit and travel .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the restrictions , and is pressuring government officials to lift some of them .
“ [ It ’ s ] the most intense human social distancing effort in modern public health , ” Osterholm said .
“ What happens when all these people start to go back to work , and public transport is back , and crowding occurs ?
This is at best a temporary respite in the numbers in China.
” 5 ) Many countries are only now getting testing up and running : Even the US — with one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world — doesn ’ t have adequate diagnostic capacity right now : And until last week , only two countries in Africa — Senegal and South Africa — had the lab capacity to screen for this virus .
While other countries are now scaling up , this outbreak has been going on since late last year , and it ’ s possible cases have gone uncounted .
So far , only one case has been detected in Africa — in Egypt — yet Africa is thought to be at particular risk given its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than a million Chinese workers .
“ If the disease spreads to fragile states it would be even harder to contain .
Many states are undergoing political violence or are poorly governed , such as Syria , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Yemen , and Afghanistan , ” said Gostin .
“ Others have weak health systems , for example in sub-Saharan Africa.
” 6 ) Some people may have abdominal pain before respiratory symptoms — and that ’ s not something health officials are screening for : This coronavirus is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t know the entire spectrum of illness yet , but we ’ re learning the disease may sometimes surface in surprising ways .
Though it ’ s a respiratory infection , a recent JAMA article found some have abdominal symptoms such as discomfort first .
This means “ we may not be detecting cases that do not present in the classic way with fever and respiratory symptoms , ” said William Schaffner , an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University .
Models have repeatedly suggested there are thousands more cases than have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ latest , from Imperial College London , estimated that about “ two thirds of Covid-19 cases exported from mainland China have remained undetected worldwide , potentially resulting in multiple chains of as yet undetected human-to-human transmission outside mainland China.
” ) We need to prepare for a pandemic Keep in mind : A disease can spread widely , and become a pandemic , without being particularly severe .
And no one knows yet what the death rate of a Covid-19 pandemic would be — mostly because we don ’ t yet know precisely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ February 16 , China ’ s CDC published a report of the first 72,314 patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in mainland China .
It ’ s the largest such analysis to date .
And it found an overall case fatality rate of 2.3 — suggesting Covid-19 is less deadly than SARS , which killed around 10 percent of those infected .
The death toll was also much higher among the elderly .
As more and more mild or asymptomatic cases are found , the death rate is likely to drop .
Still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or 2 percent case fatality rate could equate to a lot of deaths if Covid-19 continues to spread around the world .
“ A 2 percent case fatality rate is 20 times higher than a bad flu year , ” he said .
( Seasonal flu has about a 0.1 percent case fatality rate . )
“ So now , you can infect many more people than the flu and add a case fatality that is as much as 20 times higher.
” What ’ s more , a less severe pandemic still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s health system .
The current data from China suggests as many as 5 to 10 percent of patients need care in an ICU , Osterholm said .
Many countries may not have enough beds or equipment to care for them , not to mention such care could cost billions .
Public health experts said countries need to move from trying to contain the virus to mitigating its harm — reducing the spread , and caring for the very sick .
“ It is beyond time , ” said Jennifer Nuzzo , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security .
This means hospitals need to be ready with Covid-19 protocols , health care workers need to be protected with access to protective equipment such as face masks , and countries need plans for maintaining supply chains and carrying on with travel and trade .
Recent outbreaks in Germany , France , and the UK suggest high-income countries with strong public health systems may be able to control the virus ’ spread , at least for now .
( In these places , after Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t rise appreciably . )
But as the virus moves around the world and infections mount in more countries , sometimes without notice , even high-income countries are likely to struggle , Osterholm said .
“ I think we have to expect there are going to be many locations around the world that will experience what China is experiencing .
”

Share All sharing options for: “We are at a turning point”: The coronavirus outbreak is looking more like a pandemic
During the past two months, as the new coronavirus outbreak spiraled into a global threat, countries around the world have scrambled to impose travel bans, quarantine millions, and isolate sick people in an attempt to stop the spread of the new virus.
Yet, as of Tuesday, there were more than 80,000 cases of Covid-19 in nearly 40 countries, including case tolls in Italy, Iran, and South Korea that have surged almost overnight, and an ongoing outbreak on a cruise ship off Japan.
The likelihood that we’re in a pandemic, a new disease that spreads around the world — or that we’re hurtling toward one — seems higher than just a week ago. That means more countries are likely to see spread of the virus within their borders very soon — and that includes the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Tuesday.
“The data over the last week, and the spread in other countries, has raised our level of concern and our level of expectation we’re going to have community spread here,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at CDC. “It’s not a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen, and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.”
Other public health experts agreed, telling Vox that containing the virus — fully halting its spread — may no longer be possible.
“I don’t think the answer is shutting down the world to stop this virus. It’s already out,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
“When several countries have widespread transmission, then spillover to other countries is inevitable,” said Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
If stopping the virus is increasingly out of reach, health officials will have to accept that it’s everywhere and move into a new phase in their response strategy. (To be clear, a disease outbreak can become a pandemic without being especially severe or fatal.)
“We are at a turning point in the Covid-19 epidemic,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown University. “We must prepare for the foreseeable possibility, even probability, that Covid-19 may soon become a pandemic affecting countries on virtually all continents.”
A look at new outbreaks outside China, and what they tell us about how this virus is moving, helps explain why.
Numerous countries (and one cruise ship) have seen rapid spread of the coronavirus
Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering
As of February 25, there were more than 2,600 cases of Covid-19 outside China. That’s an increase from around 500 cases just over a week ago.
Sizable outbreaks are popping up in places that had barely registered any cases mere days ago. Many of these new cases are occurring in people who never traveled to China, or from an unknown source. The virus has also entered a few relatively contained environments — cruise ships and prisons — and spread like a wildfire, revealing its contagiousness and how difficult it is to stop. Let’s dive into the latest developments.
South Korea now has the most cases outside of China: 977 as of Tuesday, up from only 30 a week before. Many of them are linked to a secretive religious group, known as the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, in the city of Daegu.
The country’s president, Moon Jae-in, has put South Korea on its highest alert level over the outbreak, giving cities the power to impose their own containment measures. “This will be a momentous time when the central government, local governments, health officials and medical personnel and the entire people must wage an all-out, concerted response to the problem,” he said, according to the New York Times.
As of Tuesday, Iran reported 95 cases, including 19 deaths. Its outbreak was first identified days after authorities there said they had no Covid-19 within their borders. Cases with links to Iran have already turned up in other countries, including Canada and Lebanon.
Very quickly, the country’s narrative about the virus has changed. Schools and universities across the country are being shuttered as a “preventive measure,” along with some cinemas and restaurants, according to Al Jazeera.
But this outbreak might be much larger than it looks now, according to disease modelers who have been tracking it. “The fact that you’re getting exported cases and deaths reflects that the underlying burden of illness is much larger than what is being reported,” said Isaac Bogoch, a professor and infectious diseases expert at the University of Toronto.
Italy is now home to the biggest Covid-19 outbreak outside of Asia: 322 people have confirmed infections, including at least 10 deaths. The worrisome rise in cases in the country’s north has prompted authorities to impose severe measures to try to stop the virus. Sporting, religious, and cultural events have been canceled, along with university classes. Authorities are also fining anyone who tries to enter or leave areas where the outbreak is occurring, including 11 towns in the Lombardy region.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, which quarantined 3,600 passengers and crew after an 80-year-old man tested positive for the virus, now has 691 cases associated with an ongoing outbreak there, including three deaths. That’s the second-largest local outbreak outside of China. Japanese authorities ordered the quarantine in early February in an attempt to contain the virus — but the effort backfired dramatically.
“They’ve basically trapped a bunch of people in a large container with [the] virus,” said University of Toronto epidemiology professor David Fisman over email. Public health experts and researchers now believe the quarantine probably generated more cases — both because the virus appears to be highly contagious and because proper quarantine protocols weren’t followed.
By February 18, Japanese officials began letting passengers off the ship who tested negative for the virus — and within days, a case turned up among them, mirroring the situation on another cruise ship in Asia, the Westerdam. After one woman disembarked, she tested positive for the virus in Malaysia, setting off a global search for other passengers who may have been exposed.
Why this looks like the beginning of a pandemic
These outbreaks outside of China, along with the latest science on Covid-19, suggest we may soon see a rapid rise in infections in more countries around the world. Here’s why.
1) The virus is very contagious, and some people seem to be able to infect others before they know they’re sick: Researchers currently believe one infected person generally infects two to three others, which would make the new coronavirus more contagious than other coronaviruses, like SARS and MERS.
“For a virus pretty closely related to SARS, it shows very effective person-to-person transmission, something nobody really expected,” Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told Vox. Look at the cruise ship in Japan, the thousands of health care workers in China who have been infected, and the situation in China’s prisons for more evidence of Covid-19’s potential for rapid spread.
At the same time, the latest science suggests some people may transmit the virus very early in their illness or even before they are showing symptoms — which is again different from SARS and MERS and suggests this virus looks about as contagious as seasonal influenza.
SARS was eventually contained because, when people began to show symptoms, they were only just becoming contagious. And if they were promptly isolated, and their contacts traced and isolated, too, it was possible to stop the virus from spreading, explained Minnesota’s Osterholm. But “trying to stop influenza-like transmission is like trying to stop the wind. It’s virtually impossible,” he told Vox.
For these reasons, Osterholm said the fact that extraordinary measures to contain this virus haven’t worked to stop its global spread doesn’t mean Covid-19 containment failed. “Containment never had a chance because of the influenza-virus-like transmission.”
2) Countries are still mostly looking for the disease in people who’ve traveled from China: The main method of screening in many countries is still testing passengers coming from China or from Hubei province only. But as we’ve seen, spread is happening beyond those people. And other cases may be undetected.
“We don’t really know if there is community transmission going on in other parts of the world because for the most part countries are not doing diagnostic testing on anyone but returning travelers or their close contacts,” Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Vox.
Though the US CDC maintains that the risk of spread in the US is low, it’s beginning to change its screening strategy to look for people with the virus who aren’t returning travelers from China. It will use the national flu surveillance tracking infrastructure to test patients who have flu symptoms for Covid-19 in five cities across the US.
3) With flu season ongoing, it can take time to identify cases and outbreaks: “The challenge with this illness is that the clinical symptoms resemble other viral illnesses, like flu,” said Inglesby. So people with the flu, and doctors examining them, may not even be thinking of Covid-19 yet, especially in people who haven’t traveled to China.
4) China’s case toll is falling — but it may see another surge soon as travel restrictions are gradually lifted: The country has taken extraordinarily draconian measures to stop this virus, quarantining millions, and shutting down transit and travel. But the business community is growing increasingly frustrated with the restrictions and is pressuring government officials to ease some of them.
This is “the most intense human social distancing effort in modern public health,” Osterholm said. “What happens when all these people start to go back to work, and public transport is back, and crowding occurs? This is at best a temporary respite in the numbers in China.”
5) Many countries are only now getting testing up and running: Even the US, with one of the most highly resourced health systems in the world, doesn’t have adequate diagnostic capacity right now:
Reminder: As of today (Feb 23), the US remains extremely limited in #COVID19 testing. Only 3 of ~100 public health labs have @CDC test kits working and CDC is not sharing what went wrong with the kits. How to know if COVID19 is spreading here if we are not looking for it. 1/7 — Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab) February 23, 2020
And the same is true for other countries around the world. For example, until last week, only two countries in Africa — Senegal and South Africa — had the lab capacity to screen for this virus. While other countries are now scaling up, this outbreak has been going on since late last year, and it’s possible cases have gone uncounted.
So far, only one case has been detected in Africa — in Egypt — yet Africa is thought to be at particular risk given its economic ties to China, with more than a million Chinese workers.
“If the disease spreads to fragile states it would be even harder to contain. Many states are undergoing political violence or are poorly governed, such as Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, and Afghanistan,” said Gostin. “Others have weak health systems, for example in sub-Saharan Africa.”
6) Some people may have abdominal pain before respiratory symptoms — and that’s not something health officials are screening for: This coronavirus is still very new, and we don’t know its entire spectrum of illness yet, but we’re learning the disease may sometimes surface in surprising ways. Though it’s a respiratory infection, a recent JAMA article found some have abdominal symptoms such as discomfort first. This means “we may not be detecting cases that do not present in the classic way with fever and respiratory symptoms,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.
Putting all this together, it means there’s probably many more Covid-19 cases than are being detected right now — and many more to come. That’s something models have repeatedly shown. One of the latest, from Imperial College London, estimated that about “two-thirds of Covid-19 cases exported from mainland China have remained undetected worldwide, potentially resulting in multiple chains of as yet undetected human-to-human transmission outside mainland China.”
We need to prepare for a pandemic
Keep in mind: A disease can spread widely and become a pandemic without being particularly severe. And no one knows yet what the death rate of a Covid-19 pandemic would be — mostly because we don’t yet know precisely how lethal this disease is.
On February 16, China’s CDC published a report of the first 72,314 patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in mainland China. It’s the largest such analysis to date. And it found an overall case fatality rate of 2.3, suggesting Covid-19 is less deadly than SARS, which killed around 10 percent of those infected. The death toll was also much higher among the elderly. And many cases — around 80 percent — were mild. As more and more mild or asymptomatic cases are found, the death rate is likely to drop.
Still, Osterholm warned, even a 1 or 2 percent case fatality rate could equate to a lot of deaths if Covid-19 continues to spread around the world. “A 2 percent case fatality rate is 20 times higher than a bad flu year,” he said. (Seasonal flu has about a 0.1 percent case fatality rate.) “So now, you can infect many more people than the flu and add a case fatality that is as much as 20 times higher.”
What’s more, a less severe pandemic still has the potential to overwhelm a country’s health system. The current data from China suggests as many as 5 to 10 percent of patients need care in an ICU, Osterholm said. Many countries may not have enough beds or equipment to care for the needy, not to mention such care could cost billions.
For now, countries need to move from trying to contain the virus to mitigating its harm — reducing the spread and caring for the very sick, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It is beyond time,” she added.
This means hospitals need to be ready with Covid-19 protocols, health care workers need to be protected with access to protective equipment such as face masks, and countries need plans in place for maintaining supply chains and carrying on with travel and trade.
Recent outbreaks in Germany, France, and the UK suggest high-income countries with strong public health systems may be able to control the virus’s spread, at least for now.
But it’s also possible they, too, are harboring outbreaks that have yet to be detected. And as the virus moves around the world and infections mount, even high-income countries are likely to struggle, Osterholm said. “I think we have to expect there are going to be many locations around the world that will experience what China is experiencing.”


vox--2020-02-23--Buttigieg used his Nevada concession speech to make the case against Bernie Sanders

After Bernie Sanders decisively won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday night , former South Bend , Indiana , Mayor Pete Buttigieg used his concession speech to make a pointed case against the senator from Vermont — arguing that Sanders is too divisive and therefore can not defeat President Donald Trump .
“ Before we rush to nominate Sen. Sanders in our one shot to take on this president , let us take a sober look at what is at stake , for our party , for our values , and for those with the most to lose , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way to defeat Donald Trump and deliver for the American people is to broaden and galvanize the majority that supports us on critical issues , ” Buttigieg said .
“ Sen .
Sanders believes in an inflexible , ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats , not to mention most Americans.
” The pointed attacks are a reminder of how close the race remains ahead of South Carolina ’ s primary and Super Tuesday ’ s contests , particularly with respect to Sanders and Buttigieg .
The two men were neck and neck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contests : They essentially tied in Iowa and emerged from New Hampshire with the same number of delegates , although Sanders received more votes .
Following the Nevada caucuses , the two candidates are first and second in the national delegate count , with Sanders currently at 34 and Buttigieg at 23 .
Buttigieg has made the critique that Sanders ’ s campaign is not powered by a broad coalition before .
But at least in Nevada , that claim is not proving true .
For instance , in Nevada , the primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sanders won decisively , with 46 percent of the vote .
Buttigieg finished third , after former Vice President Joe Biden .
Sanders also finished first among men and women , all voters below the age of 65 ( those above favored Biden ) , and both Democrats and independents , according to entrance polls .
Broadly , Buttigieg ’ s relationship with nonwhite voters has consistently been among his campaign ’ s weakest points , and in Nevada , this proved the sharpest contrast between him and Sanders .
Sanders won 27 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent of Latinx voters while Buttigieg won just 2 percent of black voters and 10 percent of Latinx voters , according to the Washington Post .
As Vox ’ s Li Zhou has pointed out , Buttigieg ’ s lack of support from voters of color could prove an ongoing problem as the contest moves into more diverse states , such as next week ’ s South Carolina primary .
Nationally , black voters make up 20 percent of Democratic voters .
But in an election in which so many Democrats are fixated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump from the White House — Buttigieg also hammered home the message that , because Sanders is not a unity figure , he would weaken the party as a whole if he became the nominee .
Specifically , the former mayor argued that Sanders would undermine the candidacies of down-ballot Democrats and threaten the party ’ s House of Representatives majority , using terms that painted Sanders as selfish and uninterested in supporting the Democratic Party .
” I believe the only way to truly deliver any of the progressive changes we care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actually gives a damn about the effect you are having , from the top of the ticket , on those crucial , front-line House and Senate Democrats running to win , who we need to win , to make sure our agenda is more than just words on a page , ” Buttigieg said .
Buttigieg went on to accuse Sanders of “ ignoring , dismissing , or even attacking the very Democrats we absolutely must send to Capitol Hill in order to keep Nancy Pelosi as speaker , in order to support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and in order to send Mitch McConnell into retirement.
” It is true that Sanders — while certainly not lacking support among progressives in Congress — does not have the support of many of the more prominent moderate members who helped bring the House back under Democratic control in 2018 .
Many of those members , like Reps. Conor Lamb and Abby Finkenauer , have endorsed Biden ; others , like Mikie Sherrill and Lucy McBath , have endorsed former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg .
But it is also true that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of support and may be open to moderating his message , as his campaign surrogate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has signaled recently with statements about seeking a compromise on Medicare-for-all .
And should Sanders be able to build coalitions similar to his in Nevada in the states to come , it would undermine Buttigieg ’ s argument that he can not form a broad coalition .
Until that time , however , Buttigieg will likely continue to give voice to , as Vox ’ s Matt Yglesias put it , an “ alarm , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic circles over the past several weeks , [ that is ] now going to kick into overdrive .
”

After Bernie Sanders decisively won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday night, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg used his concession speech to make a pointed case against the senator from Vermont — arguing that Sanders is too divisive and therefore cannot defeat President Donald Trump.
“Before we rush to nominate Sen. Sanders in our one shot to take on this president, let us take a sober look at what is at stake, for our party, for our values, and for those with the most to lose,” he said.
Pete Buttigieg congratulates Sen. Bernie Sanders on a "strong showing" in Nevada, adds, "before we rush to nominate Senator Sanders in our one shot to take on this president, let us take a sober look at what is at stake." https://t.co/Xkud10Xi4J pic.twitter.com/HI1joPGBNH — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 23, 2020
“I believe the best way to defeat Donald Trump and deliver for the American people is to broaden and galvanize the majority that supports us on critical issues,” Buttigieg said. “Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans.”
The pointed attacks are a reminder of how close the race remains ahead of South Carolina’s primary and Super Tuesday’s contests, particularly with respect to Sanders and Buttigieg. The two men were neck and neck in the race’s first primary contests: They essentially tied in Iowa and emerged from New Hampshire with the same number of delegates, although Sanders received more votes. Following the Nevada caucuses, the two candidates are first and second in the national delegate count, with Sanders currently at 34 and Buttigieg at 23.
Buttigieg has made the critique before that Sanders’s campaign is not powered by a broad coalition. But at least in Nevada, that claim is not proving true.
For instance, in Nevada, the primary’s first racially diverse state, Sanders won decisively, with 46 percent of the vote. Buttigieg finished third, after former Vice President Joe Biden. Sanders also finished first among men and women, all voters below the age of 65 (those above favored Biden), and both Democrats and independents, according to entrance polls.
Broadly, Buttigieg’s relationship with nonwhite voters has consistently been among his campaign’s weakest points, and in Nevada, this proved the sharpest contrast between him and Sanders. Sanders won 27 percent of the black vote and 51 percent of Latinx voters while Buttigieg won just 2 percent of black voters and 10 percent of Latinx voters, according to the Washington Post.
As Vox’s Li Zhou has pointed out, Buttigieg’s lack of support from voters of color could prove an ongoing problem as the contest moves into more diverse states, such as next week’s South Carolina primary. Nationally, black voters make up 20 percent of Democratic voters.
But in an election in which so many Democrats are fixated on exactly one agenda item — removing Trump from the White House — Buttigieg also hammered home the message that, because Sanders is not a unity figure, he would weaken the party as a whole if he became the nominee.
Specifically, the former mayor argued that Sanders would undermine the candidacies of down-ballot Democrats and threaten the party’s House of Representatives majority, using terms that painted Sanders as selfish and uninterested in supporting the Democratic Party.
”I believe the only way to truly deliver any of the progressive changes we care about is to be a nominee who actually gives a damn about the effect you are having, from the top of the ticket, on those crucial, front-line House and Senate Democrats running to win, who we need to win, to make sure our agenda is more than just words on a page,” Buttigieg said.
Buttigieg went on to accuse Sanders of “ignoring, dismissing, or even attacking the very Democrats we absolutely must send to Capitol Hill in order to keep Nancy Pelosi as speaker, in order to support judges who respect privacy and democracy, and in order to send Mitch McConnell into retirement.”
It is true that Sanders — while certainly not lacking support among progressives in Congress — does not have the support of many of the more prominent moderate members who helped bring the House back under Democratic control in 2018. Many of those members, like Reps. Conor Lamb and Abby Finkenauer, have endorsed Biden; others, like Mikie Sherrill and Lucy McBath, have endorsed former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
But it is also true that Sanders won Nevada with a diverse base of support and may be open to moderating his message, as his campaign surrogate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has signaled recently with statements about seeking a compromise on Medicare-for-all.
And should Sanders be able to build coalitions similar to his in Nevada in the states to come, it would undermine Buttigieg’s argument that he cannot form a broad coalition.
Until that time, however, Buttigieg will likely continue to give voice to, as Vox’s Matt Yglesias put it, an “alarm, clearly visible in a range of mainstream Democratic circles over the past several weeks, [that is] now going to kick into overdrive.”


vox--2020-02-23--Nevada highlighted Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar’s weakness with African American voters

One key trend in the Nevada entrance polls could mean trouble for both former South Bend Mayor , Indiana , Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar .
According to data from the Washington Post , both candidates performed poorly with African American voters , who made up 11 percent of caucus voters in the state .
Buttigieg , per the early entrance polls , secured 2 percent support from African Americans , while Klobuchar secured 3 percent .
That ’ s compared to the two candidates garnering 19 percent and 14 percent of support from white voters , and 10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , respectively .
Of course , these entrance polls only capture part of the story , which will be more clear as additional data comes in .
Buttigieg ’ s campaign notes that their internal data — which includes 35 percent of precincts in the state — shows him picking up 11 percent of delegates in precincts that had high concentrations of African American voters .
While Buttigieg and Klobuchar both had strong finishes in New Hampshire ’ s primary , there have long been questions about their support among people of color @ @ @ @ @ @ @ primary , it appears those questions remain : A recent South Carolina poll from Winthrop University had Buttigieg receiving 1 percent of African Americans ’ support while Klobuchar received too little to register in the results ( the margin of error for the poll is 5.9 percent ) .
This dynamic — if it holds — could pose a major challenge for both candidates in South Carolina , the next early state , where the Democratic electorate is 60 percent African American .
The state , which has its Democratic primary on Saturday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support from African American voters , and it could well signal that certain candidates aren ’ t resonating with this critical Democratic constituency , which makes up roughly 20 percent of the party ’ s voters overall .
Additionally , South Carolina has long been viewed as an important bellwether for other Southern states that vote on Super Tuesday and later in March that have a similar composition of voters .
An underwhelming performance could stall candidates ’ momentum as this series of races kicks off .
“ For [ any candidate ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for their campaigns if they don ’ t do well in South Carolina , ” Johnnie Cordero , the head of the state ’ s Democratic Black Caucus , previously told Vox .
The entrance polls for Buttigieg and Klobuchar mirror the candidates ’ struggles to connect with voters of color .
Both have been called out for their records : Buttigieg ’ s relationship with African Americans in South Bend has been strained by his dismissal of the city ’ s first black police chief as well as the implementation of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Klobuchar , too , has been pressed about how her work as a prosecutor in Minnesota affected communities of color there and , in recent weeks , has faced scrutiny over her role in a murder case involving a life sentence for a 16-year-old African American boy .
Whether Buttigieg and Klobuchar can overcome these questions about their records and find ways to build support among black voters remains an open question — but the outcome in Nevada offers a glimpse of how that could go .

One key trend in the Nevada entrance polls could mean trouble for both former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. According to data from the Washington Post, both candidates performed poorly with African American voters, who made up 11 percent of caucus voters in the state.
Buttigieg, per the early entrance polls, secured 2 percent support from African Americans, while Klobuchar secured 3 percent. That’s compared to the two candidates garnering 19 percent and 14 percent of support from white voters, and 10 percent and 4 percent from Latinx voters, respectively.
Of course, these entrance polls only capture part of the story, which will be more clear as additional data comes in. Buttigieg’s campaign notes that their internal data — which includes 35 percent of precincts in the state — shows him picking up 11 percent of delegates in precincts that had high concentrations of African American voters.
While Buttigieg and Klobuchar both had strong finishes in New Hampshire’s primary, there have long been questions about their support among people of color. And ahead of the South Carolina primary, it appears those questions remain: A recent South Carolina poll from Winthrop University had Buttigieg receiving 1 percent of African Americans’ support while Klobuchar received too little to register in the results (the margin of error for the poll is 5.9 percent).
This dynamic — if it holds — could pose a major challenge for both candidates in South Carolina, the next early state, where the Democratic electorate is 60 percent African American. The state, which has its Democratic primary on Saturday, is the first major test of support from African American voters, and it could well signal that certain candidates aren’t resonating with this critical Democratic constituency, which makes up roughly 20 percent of the party’s voters overall.
Additionally, South Carolina has long been viewed as an important bellwether for other Southern states that vote on Super Tuesday and later in March that have a similar composition of voters. An underwhelming performance could stall candidates’ momentum as this series of races kicks off.
“For [any candidate], that almost is the death knell for their campaigns if they don’t do well in South Carolina,” Johnnie Cordero, the head of the state’s Democratic Black Caucus, previously told Vox.
The entrance polls for Buttigieg and Klobuchar mirror the candidates’ struggles to connect with voters of color.
Both have been called out for their records: Buttigieg’s relationship with African Americans in South Bend has been strained by his dismissal of the city’s first black police chief as well as the implementation of an initiative that tore down deteriorating homes. Klobuchar, too, has been pressed about how her work as a prosecutor in Minnesota affected communities of color there and, in recent weeks, has faced scrutiny over her role in a murder case involving a life sentence for a 16-year-old African American boy.
Whether Buttigieg and Klobuchar can overcome these questions about their records and find ways to build support among black voters remains an open question — but the outcome in Nevada offers a glimpse of how that could go.


vox--2020-02-23--Joe Biden was the most popular candidate among black voters in the Nevada caucuses

Former Vice President Joe Biden — once the national frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primary — may have come in second behind Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-VT ) in the Nevada caucuses , but he still has one thing going for him : the support of black voters .
Biden trailed Sanders — who , with more than 60 percent of precincts reporting , appears to have won big with about 40 percent of the vote — as the state ’ s second-place finisher with about 19 percent of the votes .
Biden ’ s currently projected to win two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early entrance polls from the Washington Post , the former vice president came in second with Latino voters , with 17 percent support among that group and tied with Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Elizabeth Warren for third place with white voters at 14 percent .
But the entrance polls show there was one thing Biden was right about when talking about his coalition in Nevada ahead of the caucuses : his strong lead with black voters .
Biden received the most black votes , 39 percent .
It ’ s a demographic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president , winning 27 percent of that vote .
This suggests that although other candidates are slowly chipping away at his black voter base — most recently , Mike Bloomberg has seen a rise in black support — Biden remains a popular candidate among the demographic .
Overall , however , the Nevada caucuses were a disappointing outcome for Biden , who struggled in Iowa and New Hampshire ’ s contests and was banking on better results once the primary moved to a state with a more diverse electorate .
Sanders , however @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with 51 percent of that vote ( this particular demographic group makes up 18 percent of Nevada ’ s voters ) .
The senator is expected to win 13 delegates from Saturday , putting him in the lead .
Biden , meanwhile , currently lingers at 8 delegates .
And although the entrance polls feature good news for Biden about his black support in the state , the former vice president can ’ t become complacent about his support from black voters , considering there ’ s a significant generation gap among the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Li Zhou : Younger black voters who spoke with Vox have emphasized that they are interested in more ambitious policies than the ones Biden has championed .
Many older black voters also cited Biden ’ s work alongside former President Barack Obama as a major asset , though younger voters did not weigh these efforts as strongly .
“ I think there ’ s a generational gap between younger African Americans and older African Americans , ” South Carolina state Rep. Kambrell Garvin , a Warren surrogate , previously told Vox .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but a lot of us aren ’ t supportive of Joe Biden , because we want a change in policies .
We aren ’ t looking to tinker around the edges.
” Still , Biden ’ s lead among black voters in Nevada shows why Biden remains hopeful about the next stop : South Carolina .
He ’ s maintained a strong lead in the state where black voters make up 60 percent of South Carolina ’ s Democratic electorate , and he ’ s hoping for a change in the narrative about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big win .

Former Vice President Joe Biden — once the national frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primary — may have come in second behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the Nevada caucuses, but he still has one thing going for him: the support of black voters.
Biden trailed Sanders — who, with more than 60 percent of precincts reporting, appears to have won big with about 40 percent of the vote — as the state’s second-place finisher with about 19 percent of the vote. Biden is currently projected to win two delegates from the caucuses.
According to early entrance polls from the Washington Post, the former vice president came in second with Latinx voters, with 17 percent support among that group and tied with Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Elizabeth Warren for third place with white voters at 14 percent.
But the entrance polls show there was one thing Biden was right about when talking about his coalition in Nevada ahead of the caucuses: his strong lead with black voters. Biden received the most black votes, 39 percent. It’s a demographic with which Sanders trailed the former vice president, winning 27 percent of that vote. This suggests that although other candidates are slowly chipping away at his black voter base — most recently, Mike Bloomberg has seen a rise in black support — Biden remains a popular candidate among the demographic.
Overall, however, the Nevada caucuses were a disappointing outcome for Biden, who struggled in Iowa and New Hampshire’s contests and was banking on better results once the primary moved to a state with a more diverse electorate. Sanders, however, overwhelmingly won among Latinx voters, with 51 percent of that vote (this particular demographic group makes up 18 percent of Nevada’s voters). The senator is expected to win 13 delegates from Saturday, putting him in the lead. Biden, meanwhile, currently lingers at 8 delegates.
And although the entrance polls feature good news for Biden about his black support in the state, the former vice president can’t become complacent about his support from black voters, considering there’s a significant generation gap among the group, according to Vox’s Li Zhou:
Younger black voters who spoke with Vox have emphasized that they are interested in more ambitious policies than the ones Biden has championed. Many older black voters also cited Biden’s work alongside former President Barack Obama as a major asset, though younger voters did not weigh these efforts as strongly. “I think there’s a generational gap between younger African Americans and older African Americans,” South Carolina state Rep. Kambrell Garvin, a Warren surrogate, previously told Vox. “Younger African Americans like Joe Biden, but a lot of us aren’t supportive of Joe Biden, because we want a change in policies. We aren’t looking to tinker around the edges.”
Still, Biden’s lead among black voters in Nevada shows why Biden remains hopeful about the next stop: South Carolina. He’s maintained a strong lead in the state where black voters make up 60 percent of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate, and he’s hoping for a change in the narrative about the state of the primary with a big win.