vox--2020-12-16--A wild mink in Utah has Covid-19. Veterinarians fear this is just the beginning.

Share All sharing options for : A wild mink in Utah has Covid-19 .
Veterinarians fear this is just the beginning .
It started in nature .
A coronavirus that originated in bats has wound up in humans , causing the Covid-19 pandemic .
And it can go back to nature .
The SARS-CoV-2 virus can jump again , from humans , back into animals , back into wildlife , where it can wait , mutate , and change .
Perhaps , years from now , it can infect people again .
“ If we ’ re careful — and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be a wildlife population that becomes infected and becomes an established reservoir that can also infect people , ” Sarah Olson , associate director of the health program at the Wildlife Conservation Society , says .
“ If it does , then we ’ ve got a long-term issue here , where this virus has the potential to be with us for millennia .
And millennia is a long time .
The risk may be small , but the consequences are huge.
” Our luck may soon be tested .
On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Agriculture reported that a wild mink in Utah tested positive for the coronavirus .
“ To our knowledge , this is the first free-ranging , native wild animal confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 , ” the National Veterinary Services Laboratories reported .
A genetic analysis of the virus suggested the wild mink picked it up from a nearby mink farm , perhaps via wastewater runoff from the farm .
No other species surrounding the farm were found to be infected , though , and there ’ s no evidence that Covid-19 is spreading between wild @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mink could have just picked it up from the farm , and has not spread it since .
Another possibility : We haven ’ t yet detected a bigger outbreak .
“ This is potentially going to be a more widespread problem in wild mink , ” says Stephanie Seifert , a researcher at Washington State University ’ s school for global animal health .
It ’ s “ very unlikely they swabbed the only wild mink with SARS-CoV-2.
” Mink are just one species .
There ’ s no comprehensive analysis of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whether or not they can get Covid-19 and spread it among themselves , and potentially to other wildlife .
The virus can be establishing copies of itself in nature right now , and we would have no real-time way of knowing .
The light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic is growing brighter , however .
Safe , effective vaccines are now starting to be distributed in the US .
But the eventual end of the pandemic will likely not mean the end of SARS-CoV-2 .
It may still sporadically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really knows — infect animals and wildlife across the world .
In the right animal host , the virus could lurk for years before an opportune moment to jump back into humans .
Over that time , the virus could change a bit , mutating into a form that could evade the current vaccines .
Several species have been infected so far : cats , dogs , lions , tigers , pumas , mink , and , most recently , snow leopards .
More species have been shown , in lab studies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists are still investigating : How many more animals could potentially catch SARS-CoV-2 and what will it mean for the course of the pandemic , and , for the health of wildlife ?
To avoid the worst , scientists and veterinarians need to know which animals SARS-CoV-2 could potentially infect , and figure out the chances of the virus jumping from humans to the animals , and back to humans again .
Many different types of animals can catch Covid-19 Scientists already know of many types of animals that can catch SARS-CoV-2 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the animal world — likely in bats .
And they also know it because they ’ ve seen several species of animals get infected .
Early on in the pandemic , tigers at the Bronx zoo got sick ( three of them had a cough ) with the virus .
Veterinarians have since found signs of Covid-19 infections in some of the animals that humans spend the most time with .
Jonathan Runstadler , a veterinarian at Tufts University , is running a surveillance study of animals that come in for treatment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So far , they ’ re finding “ a few percent of those domestic pet dogs and cats are developing antibodies to this SARS-CoV-2 virus , ” Runstadler says , meaning their bodies have encountered the infection and mounted an immune response .
“ It is unknown where the infection or virus they responded to came from , ” he says , but the “ highest likelihood ” scenario was that it came from human household members .
Overall , he says it ’ s not a lot of animals getting infected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dogs and cats can , in some instances , be infected with the virus .
Cats seem to be more susceptible than dogs , overall ( though the cats themselves don ’ t seem to get very sick ) .
Dogs are a highly diverse species .
“ So it ’ s possible that there may be specific breeds or types of dogs that are more susceptible , we don ’ t really know , ” Siefert says .
Other animals have been shown to be much more susceptible not just to infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death .
In Denmark , authorities ordered the culling of millions of captive mink after outbreaks occurred on hundreds of farms .
The concern wasn ’ t just that the virus was spreading among the mink , making them sick , making their breathing difficult , and killing many .
It was that the virus had jumped from the mink , and then back into people , with some genetic changes to the virus ’ s spike protein , which the virus uses to enter cells .
“ If the virus does begin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results will really be unpredictable , ” Angela Rasmussen , a virologist with Georgetown ’ s Center for Global Health Science and Security , says .
The virus is constantly mutating , changing in subtle ways .
When it enters a new species , that species ’ immune system make it so a significantly altered strain of the virus emerges .
“ The real question is whether it will change in a way that is more or less detrimental to the human population , ” she says .
Once a disease establishes itself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just exponentially harder to control.
” Currently , there ’ s no clear evidence that the genetic changes that occurred on the mink farm would make the virus more likely to evade a person ’ s immune system , or diminish the efficacy of a vaccine .
But Denmark ’ s health authorities didn ’ t want to risk it .
So they ordered the culling of all the mink .
( Denmark ’ s health minister who made the decision has since resigned . )
The mink were a bit of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ easily among mink in farms because they are kept in close quarters ( the same ease of transmission happens among humans in close quarters ) .
Researchers are trying to figure out which animals could spread the virus from humans back to wildlife It ’ s relatively easy to keep track of the virus in farmed animals .
Their health is regularly monitored .
Farmers notice when mink start dying .
But what happens if the virus gets into an animal that spreads the virus asymptomatically , or gets into wildlife , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disease establishes itself in wildlife , Olson says “ it ’ s just exponentially harder to control .
I mean , you can barely get people to take vaccines .
Imagine wildlife .
You just have very limited options.
” The USDA maintains there “ is currently no evidence ” that the virus has established itself in wild mink populations near the farm where it was found .
“ It is important that surveillance in wildlife around infected mink farms continue , to identify if the virus enters local wildlife populations , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Inspection Service spokesperson said in a statement to Vox .
Researchers can ’ t study every animal species on Earth and test whether it can carry SARS-CoV-2 .
They ’ re focusing their research on animals that could act as conduits between humans and wildlife .
Anna Fagre , a veterinarian and microbiology researcher at Colorado State University , is doing this research on deer mice .
In a lab study , Fagre and colleagues revealed that deer mice can contract the virus and spread it among other deer mice .
Deer mice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We see them , if staying in like cabins in the woods , [ deer ] mice are going to set up shop there , ” Fagre says .
Deer mice are known to occasionally spread other viruses , and they exist at the interface between human dwelling and the broader natural world .
They could be a conduit ferrying SARS-CoV-2 from humans to other wildlife .
In her lab , “ we were able to inoculate and infect these deer mice , and they actually did transmit the virus to other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fagre says .
They experienced subtle symptoms like losing a bit of weight and they “ get a little bit quiet , ” she says ( quieter than , um , a mouse ) .
Then , a few days later , they recover .
That subtle illness might make it hard to realize if there are , suddenly , a lot of deer mice with the virus .
Plus , these are not captive animals .
If a viral mutation emerged among them , it would be discovered much later than what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this preprint [ study ] came out , ” she says , “ some people were like , ‘ Oh my god , this is so scary : deer mice !
We ’ ll never get rid of the virus if deer mice become infected.
’ ” For Fagre , her results aren ’ t a reason to panic .
It was just a lab study .
The results don ’ t mean there are deer mice running around rural areas with the virus .
They also don ’ t mean the mice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for humans .
“ There are so many different steps the virus would have to take to spill back from humans into deer mice , and then circulate in deer mice , and then be transmitted back from deer mice into humans , ” she says .
“ I ’ m not saying it couldn ’ t happen .
It certainly could .
Cross-species transmission is what led to the Covid-19 pandemic.
” The research helps scientists be vigilant .
“ It ’ s important to be aware , ” she says .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ infected with the virus helps researchers ask new questions , too .
House cats of all sorts seem to be susceptible to the virus .
“ I live in kind of a rural area of eastern Washington and I ’ ve actually caught deer mice in my house , ” Seifert says .
“ So I ’ m like , can my cat , if he kills deer mice , can my cat contract SARS-CoV-2 ?
I don ’ t know.
” That is unclear .
Also unclear : if there are circumstances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a human .
It ’ s possible , but it has yet to be seen .
“ We know that in experimental studies that this can go from cat to cat , ” Danielle Adney , a veterinarian-researcher working with the National Institutes of Health , says .
“ In the real world , it really seems like every animal that ’ s been reported has a pretty clear link to an infected human .
So this is still a pandemic that ’ s driven almost exclusively by human-to-human contact.
” But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devastating consequences .
It was rare for SARS-CoV-2 to jump from bats to humans .
“ I ’ m very worried about cats , ” Rasmussen says .
“ There ’ s a lot of feral cats out there in the world .
There ’ s also a lot of people who have outdoor cats that may or may not interact with other feral cats or other outdoor cats .
And then if those cats are coming back , and like snuggling with their owners , that ’ s a potential source for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ... introductions into the human population.
” She ’ s not saying this will happen , or that it ’ s currently happening .
She ’ s saying it ’ s something to monitor .
Because “ if it [ the virus ] got into something like cats , and became widespread among cats , that would be a huge problem in terms of being able to control it long-term.
” It ’ s still unknown which species ferried the coronavirus from bats to humans in Wuhan , China .
It could have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been another species .
Perhaps a similar species is found in other parts of the world and can carry the virus back and forth between humans and animals .
In the near-term , vaccines will help avoid the virus jumping back from animals to humans .
But 10 , 20 years from now , how many people will still be vaccinated and immune to Covid-19 ?
No one knows .
Thinking about Covid-19 in animals is to think about the bigger picture , to think on a longer timeline .
Covid-19 could essentially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , subtly mutating and changing , before making a jump back into humans .
What ’ s hard about this topic is all the ( literal ) moving , crawling , trotting , scampering pieces : There are so many species , interacting with us in so many ways , interacting with other members of their own species in so many ways , interacting with other species in so many ways .
In that sense , studying Covid-19 in animals is an opportunity to better understand the complicated ways diseases spread from animals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That could help keep SARS-CoV-2 at bay , but it could also help prevent future pandemics .
The research on Covid-19 and animals has uncovered some good news , too .
“ Luckily , ducks and chickens and pigs have all been shown not to be susceptible , in laboratory studies , and cows have really low susceptibility , ” Fagre says .
That means that the situation that happened on mink farms is unlikely to occur on farms where these more common animals are raised as livestock .
It ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health as well Veterinarians can think of a lot of potentially scary scenarios here .
Not all of them are scary in terms of human health , but for animal health , too .
Scientists have conducted broad surveys of animal biology , noting which animals have a cellular receptor similar to the ACE-2 receptor in humans .
This is a protein found on the surface of many human cells that the virus uses as a front door to start hijacking the cell and replicating within it .
At the top of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of the most critically endangered species on the planet , and some of our closest genetic relatives in the natural world .
At the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda , veterinarian and conservationist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is concerned about a potential outbreak among the park ’ s 460 mountain gorillas , which represent nearly half of all mountain gorillas left in the wild .
Gorillas share 98.4 percent of their DNA with humans .
They have a similar immune system , and have similar cellular proteins through which SARS-CoV-2 enters to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these precious few gorillas got infected , Kalema-Zikusoka worries they would get sick and die .
Worse , the disease could spread rapidly among them .
“ They don ’ t know how to social distance , ” Kalema-Zikusoka says .
Likewise , there ’ s no putting a mask on a 300-plus-pound wild gorilla .
“ They ’ re always grooming each other , they ’ re always moving together as a group .
So if one of them gets Covid-19 , it ’ s very easy for the rest of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she says , plainly “ is a threat to the gorillas , ” as well as to chimpanzees and orangutans , which also share an overwhelming amount of DNA with humans .
It ’ s not easy to treat a wild gorilla if it gets sick .
And if one does , she says , the plan is to quarantine potentially exposed gorillas via 24-hour monitoring by park workers in the forest .
“ You can ’ t provide the same level of intensive treatment to a wild gorilla as you would a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a hospital ward , put on a ventilator for days and days , ” she says .
Instead , they would try to treat the gorillas in their own habitat , shooting pharmaceutical-loaded darts at the animals , if need be .
“ The best we can do , ” she adds , “ is teach people to social distance from them.
” Since the pandemic began , all people visiting the gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda must wear masks , they must get their temperatures checked , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feet ) away from the animals .
Just as Covid-19 threatens gorilla conservation in Uganda , in North America , researchers are worried about bats .
In recent years , millions of North American bats have died of a fungal disease called white nose syndrome .
The pandemic threatens bats , for one , because it has basically shut down research on live bats .
There ’ s fear that humans could give the bats the virus , and start an outbreak among them .
“ We don ’ t know if that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happen in , ” Siefert says .
But considering how this virus likely originated in bats , scientists don ’ t want to risk it .
There ’ s no knowing what SARS-CoV-2 would do to bats in North America , or which species it could infect .
Perhaps more would get sick and die .
If infected , North American bats could become a reservoir species for SARS-CoV-2 , a potential source of the virus for other wildlife , and down the line , for more human infections .
All of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is happening with Covid-19 in animals right now , it ’ s not as critical , or dire , as the situation in humans .
It makes obvious sense that there are more resources currently going into tracking the spread among people , than tracking the spread among animals .
“ Thousands of people are dying every day from this virus , ” Fagre says .
“ Everyone ’ s first priority isn ’ t screening a bunch of wild rodents to see if they ’ ve been exposed.
” But down the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Covid-19 is leaving a lot of shadow imprints on the world .
It has upended lives and industries .
But it ’ s also potentially burrowing itself back into nature , where it will wait .
This virus came from nature , and it may very well return there .
Scientists ought to track it as it does .
“ This isn ’ t going to be the last spillover event , ” Olson says , where a virus jumps from animals to humans .
“ We owe it to future generations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ”

Share All sharing options for: A wild mink in Utah has Covid-19. Veterinarians fear this is just the beginning.
It started in nature. A coronavirus that originated in bats has wound up in humans, causing the Covid-19 pandemic.
And it can go back to nature.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus can jump again, from humans, back into animals, back into wildlife, where it can wait, mutate, and change. Perhaps, years from now, it can infect people again.
“If we’re careful — and we’re lucky — there won’t be a wildlife population that becomes infected and becomes an established reservoir that can also infect people,” Sarah Olson, associate director of the health program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, says. “If it does, then we’ve got a long-term issue here, where this virus has the potential to be with us for millennia. And millennia is a long time. The risk may be small, but the consequences are huge.”
Our luck may soon be tested. On December 13, the US Department of Agriculture reported that a wild mink in Utah tested positive for the coronavirus.
“To our knowledge, this is the first free-ranging, native wild animal confirmed with SARS-CoV-2,” the National Veterinary Services Laboratories reported. A genetic analysis of the virus suggested the wild mink picked it up from a nearby mink farm, perhaps via wastewater runoff from the farm.
No other species surrounding the farm were found to be infected, though, and there’s no evidence that Covid-19 is spreading among wild mink. One possibility is the wild mink could have just picked it up from the farm and has not spread it since.
Another possibility: We haven’t yet detected a bigger outbreak. “This is potentially going to be a more widespread problem in wild mink,” says Stephanie Seifert, a researcher at Washington State University’s school for global animal health. It’s “very unlikely they swabbed the only wild mink with SARS-CoV-2.”
Mink are just one species. There’s no comprehensive analysis of all the animals in the world, whether or not they can get Covid-19 and spread it among themselves, and potentially to other wildlife. The virus could be establishing copies of itself in nature right now, and we would have no real-time way of knowing.
The light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic is growing brighter, however. Safe, effective vaccines are now starting to be distributed in the US. But the eventual end of the pandemic will likely not mean the end of SARS-CoV-2. It may still sporadically, or more regularly — no one really knows — infect animals and wildlife across the world.
In the right animal host, the virus could lurk for years before an opportune moment to jump back into humans. Over that time, the virus could change a bit, mutating into a form that could evade the current vaccines.
Several species have been infected so far: cats, dogs, lions, tigers, pumas, mink, and, most recently, snow leopards. More species have been shown, in lab studies, to be vulnerable to infection.
But scientists are still investigating: How many more animals could potentially catch SARS-CoV-2, and what will it mean for the course of the pandemic and for the health of wildlife?
To avoid the worst, scientists and veterinarians need to know which animals SARS-CoV-2 could potentially infect, and figure out the chances of the virus jumping from humans to the animals and back to humans again.
Can dogs catch coronavirus? Can cats? Lions? What else?
Scientists already know of many types of animals that can catch SARS-CoV-2. They know it because the virus originated in the animal world — likely in bats. They also know it because they’ve seen several species of animals get infected.
Early on in the pandemic, tigers at the Bronx Zoo got sick (three of them had a cough) with the virus. Veterinarians have since found signs of Covid-19 infections in some of the animals that humans spend the most time with.
Jonathan Runstadler, a veterinarian at Tufts University, is running a surveillance study of animals that come in for treatment at the school’s veterinary clinic. So far, they’re finding “a few percent of those domestic pet dogs and cats are developing antibodies to this SARS-CoV-2 virus,” Runstadler says, meaning their bodies have encountered the infection and mounted an immune response.
“It is unknown where the infection or virus they responded to came from,” he says, but the “highest likelihood” scenario was that it came from human household members. Overall, he says, it’s not a lot of animals getting infected, but it’s clear that dogs and cats can, in some instances, be infected with the virus.
Cats seem to be more susceptible than dogs overall (though the cats themselves don’t seem to get very sick). Dogs are a highly diverse species. “So it’s possible that there may be specific breeds or types of dogs that are more susceptible, we don’t really know,” Siefert says.
Other animals have been shown to be much more susceptible not just to infection but to severe disease and even death. In Denmark, authorities ordered the culling of millions of captive mink after outbreaks occurred on hundreds of farms.
The concern wasn’t just that the virus was spreading among the mink, making them sick, making their breathing difficult, and killing many. It was that the virus had jumped from the mink and then back into people, with some genetic changes to the spike protein that the virus uses to enter cells.
“If the virus does begin circulating in a new species, the results will really be unpredictable,” Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with Georgetown’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, says. The virus is constantly mutating, changing in subtle ways. When it enters a new species, that species’ immune system makes it so a significantly altered strain of the virus emerges. “The real question is whether it will change in a way that is more or less detrimental to the human population,” she says.
Once a disease establishes itself in wildlife, “it’s just exponentially harder to control”
Currently, there’s no clear evidence that the genetic changes that occurred on the mink farm would make the virus more likely to evade a person’s immune system or diminish the efficacy of a vaccine. But Denmark’s health authorities didn’t want to risk it. So they ordered the culling of all the mink. (Denmark’s health minister who made the decision has since resigned.)
The mink were a bit of a ticking time bomb: The virus spreads easily among mink in farms because they are kept in close quarters (the same ease of transmission happens among humans in close quarters).
Researchers are trying to figure out which animals could spread the virus from humans back to wildlife
It’s relatively easy to keep track of the virus in farmed animals. Their health is regularly monitored. Farmers notice when mink start dying. But what happens if the virus gets into an animal that spreads the virus asymptomatically, or gets into wildlife, which would be harder to track?
Once a disease establishes itself in wildlife, Olson says, “It’s just exponentially harder to control. I mean, you can barely get people to take vaccines. Imagine wildlife. You just have very limited options.”
The USDA maintains there “is currently no evidence” that the virus has established itself in wild mink populations near the farm where it was found. “It is important that surveillance in wildlife around infected mink farms continue, to identify if the virus enters local wildlife populations,” the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spokesperson said in a statement to Vox.
Researchers can’t study every animal species on Earth and test whether it can carry SARS-CoV-2. They’re focusing their research on animals that could act as conduits between humans and wildlife.
Anna Fagre, a veterinarian and microbiology researcher at Colorado State University, is doing this research on deer mice. In a lab study, Fagre and colleagues revealed that deer mice can contract the virus and spread it among other deer mice.
Deer mice are common animals in rural areas. “We see them, if staying in, like, cabins in the woods, [deer] mice are going to set up shop there,” Fagre says. Deer mice are known to occasionally spread other viruses, and they exist at the interface between human dwelling and the broader natural world. They could be a conduit ferrying SARS-CoV-2 from humans to other wildlife.
In her lab, “we were able to inoculate and infect these deer mice, and they actually did transmit the virus to other mice they were housed with,” Fagre says. They experienced subtle symptoms like losing a bit of weight, and they “get a little bit quiet,” she says (quieter than, um, a mouse). Then, a few days later, they recover. That subtle illness might make it hard to realize if there are suddenly a lot of deer mice with the virus. Plus, these are not captive animals. If a viral mutation emerged among them, it would be discovered much later than what occurred in the mink.
“When this preprint [study] came out,” she says, “some people were like, ‘Oh, my god, this is so scary: deer mice! We’ll never get rid of the virus if deer mice become infected.’”
For Fagre, her results aren’t a reason to panic. It was just a lab study. The results don’t mean there are deer mice running around rural areas with the virus. They also don’t mean the mice will become a source of future infection for humans.
“There are so many different steps the virus would have to take to spill back from humans into deer mice, and then circulate in deer mice, and then be transmitted back from deer mice into humans,” she says. “I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. It certainly could. Cross-species transmission is what led to the Covid-19 pandemic.” The research helps scientists be vigilant. “It’s important to be aware,” she says.
Rare human-to-animal-to-human jumps could have huge consequences
Being aware of which animals can be infected with the virus helps researchers ask new questions, too. House cats of all sorts seem to be susceptible to the virus. “I live in kind of a rural area of eastern Washington and I’ve actually caught deer mice in my house,” Seifert says. “So I’m like, can my cat, if he kills deer mice, can my cat contract SARS-CoV-2? I don’t know.”
That is unclear. Also unclear: if there are circumstances where a cat could pass the virus to a human. It’s possible, but it has yet to be seen.
“We know that in experimental studies that this can go from cat to cat,” Danielle Adney, a veterinarian-researcher working with the National Institutes of Health, says. “In the real world, it really seems like every animal that’s been reported has a pretty clear link to an infected human. So this is still a pandemic that’s driven almost exclusively by human-to-human contact.”
(Pet owners don’t have to be wary of their cats infecting them. That said: A few of the veterinarians said their colleagues need to be really careful and wear good personal protective equipment and N95 masks when working on cats — particularly if they’re doing dental work.)
But we know that rare events can have devastating consequences. It was rare for SARS-CoV-2 to jump from bats to humans. “I’m very worried about cats,” Rasmussen says. “There’s a lot of feral cats out there in the world. There’s also a lot of people who have outdoor cats that may or may not interact with other feral cats or other outdoor cats. And then if those cats are coming back and snuggling with their owners, that’s a potential source for the virus to spill over for future ... introductions into the human population.”
She’s not saying this will happen or that it’s currently happening. She’s saying it’s something to monitor. Because “if it [the virus] got into something like cats, and became widespread among cats, that would be a huge problem in terms of being able to control it long term.”
It’s still unknown which species ferried the coronavirus from bats to humans in Wuhan, China. It could have been bats, but it could have been another species. Perhaps a similar species is found in other parts of the world and can carry the virus back and forth between humans and animals.
In the near term, vaccines will help avoid the virus jumping back from animals to humans. But 10 or 20 years from now, how many people will still be vaccinated and immune to Covid-19? No one knows. Thinking about Covid-19 in animals is to think about the bigger picture, on a longer timeline. Covid-19 could essentially hide in animals for years, waiting, subtly mutating and changing, before making a jump back into humans.
What’s hard about this topic is all the (literal) moving, crawling, trotting, scampering pieces: There are so many species, interacting with us in so many ways, interacting with other members of their own species in so many ways, interacting with other species in so many ways. In that sense, studying Covid-19 in animals is an opportunity to better understand the complicated ways diseases spread from animals to humans and back again. That could help keep SARS-CoV-2 at bay, but it could also help prevent future pandemics.
The research on Covid-19 and animals has uncovered some good news, too.
“Luckily, ducks and chickens and pigs have all been shown not to be susceptible, in laboratory studies, and cows have really low susceptibility,” Fagre says. That means that the situation that happened on mink farms is unlikely to occur on farms where these more common animals are raised as livestock.
It’s not just about human health, but animal health as well
Veterinarians can think of a lot of potentially scary scenarios here. Some of them are scary not just in terms of human health, but for animal health, too.
Scientists have conducted broad surveys of animal biology, noting which animals have a cellular receptor similar to the ACE-2 receptor in humans. This is a protein found on the surface of many human cells that the virus uses as a front door to start hijacking the cell and replicating within it.
At the top of the list of potentially most at-risk animals are some of the most critically endangered species on the planet, and some of our closest genetic relatives in the natural world.
At the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, veterinarian and conservationist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is concerned about a potential outbreak among the park’s 460 mountain gorillas, which represent nearly half of all mountain gorillas left in the wild.
Gorillas share 98.4 percent of their DNA with humans. They have a similar immune system and have similar cellular proteins through which SARS-CoV-2 enters to infect the body. If one of these precious few gorillas got infected, Kalema-Zikusoka worries they would get sick and die. Worse, the disease could spread rapidly among them.
“They don’t know how to social distance,” Kalema-Zikusoka says. Likewise, there’s no putting a mask on a 300-plus-pound wild gorilla. “They’re always grooming each other, they’re always moving together as a group. So if one of them gets Covid-19, it’s very easy for the rest of them to get it.”
The virus, she says, plainly “is a threat to the gorillas,” as well as to chimpanzees and orangutans, which also share an overwhelming amount of DNA with humans. It’s not easy to treat a wild gorilla if it gets sick. And if one does, she says, the plan is to quarantine potentially exposed gorillas via 24-hour monitoring by park workers in the forest.
“You can’t provide the same level of intensive treatment to a wild gorilla as you would a human being, who you can put in a hospital ward, put on a ventilator for days and days,” she says. Instead, they would try to treat the gorillas in their own habitat, shooting pharmaceutical-loaded darts at the animals, if need be.
“The best we can do,” she adds, “is teach people to social distance from them.” Since the pandemic began, all people visiting the gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda must wear masks, they must get their temperatures checked, and they must stay 10 meters (32 feet) away from the animals.
Just as Covid-19 threatens gorilla conservation in Uganda, in North America, researchers are worried about bats. In recent years, millions of North American bats have died of a fungal disease called white nose syndrome. The pandemic threatens bats, for one, because it has basically shut down research on live bats. There’s fear that humans could give the bats the virus and start an outbreak among them. “We don’t know if that can happen and which species that can happen in,” Siefert says. But considering how this virus likely originated in bats, scientists don’t want to risk it.
There’s no knowing what SARS-CoV-2 would do to bats in North America or which species it could infect. Perhaps more would get sick and die. If infected, North American bats could become a reservoir species for SARS-CoV-2, a potential source of the virus for other wildlife and, down the line, for more human infections.
All the veterinarians I spoke to stressed that whatever is happening with Covid-19 in animals right now, it’s not as critical, or dire, as the situation in humans. It makes obvious sense that there are more resources currently going into tracking the spread among people than tracking the spread among animals.
“Thousands of people are dying every day from this virus,” Fagre says. “Everyone’s first priority isn’t screening a bunch of wild rodents to see if they’ve been exposed.”
But down the line, perhaps we should prioritize them. Covid-19 is leaving a lot of shadow imprints on the world. It has upended lives and industries. But it’s also potentially burrowing itself back into nature, where it will wait. This virus came from nature, and it may very well return there. Scientists ought to track it as it does.
“This isn’t going to be the last spillover event,” Olson says, where a virus jumps from animals to humans. “We owe it to future generations to get our act together here.”


vox--2020-12-16--It’s office holiday party season, but Covid-19 is making us ask what they’re even for

I ’ ve become nostalgic about last year ’ s office holiday party , as one does in 2020 .
It was lightly snowing that night , and I was on the deck of some Manhattan rooftop , surrounded by clear plastic igloos that have become hot commodities in pandemic times .
Donald Trump was being impeached by the House of Representatives , and my colleagues from Vox Media ’ s New York office were singing off-key karaoke downstairs — and sometimes wish I had joined them .
For better or worse , the coronavirus has changed the nature of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees like me , it has been months since they ’ ve last shared a physical workspace with colleagues .
Holiday party season has rolled around again , but the concept of an office gathering carries some uneasy weight , especially for cash-strapped businesses that have had to lay off workers .
The unprecedented nature of the pandemic has prompted companies to rethink the social obligations tied up in the office holiday party — who these events are for , what purpose they serve in American work culture , and whether it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to an American survey of almost 200 human resources representatives , just 23 percent of companies are planning a year-end celebration .
And of those celebrations , nearly three-quarters will be held online .
This is a staggering decline from last year ’ s survey , also released by the executive coaching firm Challenger , Gray & Christmas , in which 76 percent of respondents announced plans to host a holiday party .
From a human resources perspective , holiday parties are not just an important aspect of employee appreciation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work environment by bringing together workers from across the company .
This year , bringing people together — safely , at least — doesn ’ t feel so together .
Some companies are keeping it simple by focusing on virtual entertainment , while others are diverting extra budget money to charity .
What was once a festive occasion for company bonding or , in some cases , financial stunting has little value in a world where workplace interactions have transitioned online .
For years , Silicon Valley has developed a reputation for hosting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dollars on expensive employee gifts , free booze , and winter decor .
Wall Street , too , has started splurging again on luxury venues and holiday-themed frivolities since the 2008 financial crisis , when corporate spending dipped .
( Wall Street ’ s holiday party spending is still down compared to pre-Great Recession levels though . )
And this year , even some finance and law firms are scaling back and settling on cheaper remote alternatives , Business Insider reported .
For example , Morgan Stanley is hosting a virtual benefit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s hospitals , while PayPal ’ s global event is a 29-hour online “ party ” employees can tune in to .
But these year-end corporate events naturally vary by size and grandeur depending on a company ’ s finances .
Many Americans are employed by smaller businesses , in which intimate holiday gatherings are a crucial part of building camaraderie despite the potential for awkwardness to emerge from a night of casual drinking .
These companies don ’ t usually outsource their holiday planning process , instead relying on workers to coordinate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a program associate at the Wilson Center , a DC-based think tank , traditionally plays host for the center ’ s various end-of-year events , from its Halloween bake-off to its Christmas party .
This year ’ s party was hosted over Zoom and Long improvised as Santa Claus , taking questions from employees ’ kids .
“ To be honest , it was really cute , ” Long told me over Twitter .
“ I think while the virtual holiday party is hard to pull off without it feeling stale or forced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to laugh at rather than forcing any conversation felt sweet to be able to provide.
” Even though the Zoom party was only an hour long , Long felt there was an added layer of responsibility to keep the audience entertained .
“ We run a relatively small operation , about 100 to 150 employees , so the familiarity with each other helps take some of that pressure off , ” he added .
Without the ability to mingle in person , however , the entertainment factor becomes much more crucial .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firm , employees could choose to participate in one of three virtual party options : trivia , a murder mystery game , or a sip-and-sketch art class .
The firm ’ s New York office usually throws a traditional holiday bash with food , drinks , and a DJ , but this year ’ s change was a pleasant surprise , according to one employee .
They were able to select food items for delivery , and for the murder mystery game , the company hired eight actors to play out scenes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killer .
Yet there is a subset of workers who believe the coronavirus should spell the end of the office holiday party .
This might sound Grinchian , but some argue that employees can be better appreciated through holiday benefits or time off , not through raffles or corporate merchandise .
The Harvard Business Review published a story in 2014 that urged companies to rethink the purpose of holiday parties .
It cited studies that suggest these corporate-funded events aren ’ t accomplishing much at all : People don ’ t mingle with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk of bad behavior , especially when alcohol is offered .
“ I would so much rather get off work an hour early , but instead we ’ re going to be staring at frozen screens with BYOB drinks pretending it isn ’ t grim , ” said Zelda , an employee at a tech startup based in New York .
“ You ’ re expected to go party hard and then still roll online and finish up work.
” Zelda attributed the “ work hard , party hard ” mentality to startup @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t mandatory , Zelda felt pressure to attend since she began the job remotely and hasn ’ t socialized with many colleagues .
Over-the-top celebrations and perks are meant to delight employees , but some are reassessing the ethics of financing such elaborate festivities .
Honda Wang , a former employee of a popular coffee roaster company from Philadelphia , told me that corporate employees were , as a whole , treated better than baristas — which were reflected not just in the scale of their holiday parties but also in wages and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parties , but as the company grew , the budget didn ’ t grow with it , so it became more austere as time went on , ” said Wang , who graduated from barista into a corporate role .
“ This is a separate issue , but I believe the money generated [ from the team I was on ] could have easily gone back into paying baristas a $ 15 minimum wage.
” “ Baristas also got holiday parties , but as the company grew , the budget didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more austere as time went on ” Wang admitted he enjoyed the perks of working in corporate , beyond the office parties : The company paid for expensive dinners , and managers actively encouraged his team to splurge on clients .
Over time , though , he became uneasy at how poorly the baristas were treated as the business expanded .
It was “ a microcosm of income inequality all within a single coffee company , ” Wang concluded .
Wang ’ s anecdote is reflective of a pervasive labor problem , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of workers over others .
Silicon Valley ’ s tech behemoths , for example , rely on contract workers to fulfill certain temporary roles .
But these white-collar contract workers aren ’ t able to revel in the many corporate perks dished out by the likes of Google and Facebook .
As KQED reported last April , these contractors don ’ t work directly for tech companies , and usually earn less than their employee counterparts .
Experts , academics , and labor advocates who spoke with the radio station estimated more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filling in for both white- and blue-collar roles .
Last December , The Verge ’ s Casey Newton reported that Pinterest slashed contractor pay during the holidays .
The company traditionally pays its culinary and maintenance workers during the week off between Christmas and New Year ’ s .
That perk was only extended to full-time employees in 2019 , as the company sought to cut costs .
Sure , company budgets are opaque and complex , and the fact that contractors and less skilled employees are poorly treated is more complicated than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ celebrating workers is not the only outsize cost companies may have on their balance sheet .
It does , however , reveal disparities in employee treatment and highlights how a certain type of worker is often prioritized — to the point of excess — over others .
The coronavirus has pulled back the curtain on America ’ s staggering inequalities : The pandemic is disproportionately affecting low-wage workers in the hospitality , travel , and meatpacking industries , compared to the college-educated professional class .
Employees are saying they ’ d rather receive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than cursory gestures of year-end appreciation .
Online , people are urging companies to devote their party budget to local food pantries or charitable causes .
The British property firm Landmark Investments , for example , has launched a campaign called XMas Party Heroes , urging big corporations to pledge their party budgets for charity .
In a year of adapting to the “ new normal , ” maybe companies should consider shirking tradition when it comes to appreciating employees and building collegial camaraderie .
American work culture is evolving , and as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers should forge an environment that collectively benefits all employees , not just a select few .

I’ve become nostalgic about last year’s office holiday party, as one does in 2020. It was lightly snowing that night, and I was on the deck of some Manhattan rooftop, surrounded by clear plastic igloos that have become hot commodities in pandemic times. Donald Trump was being impeached by the House of Representatives, and my colleagues from Vox Media’s New York office were singing off-key karaoke downstairs — and I sometimes wish I had joined them.
For better or worse, the coronavirus has changed the nature of office work, and for many white-collar employees like me, it has been months since they’ve last shared a physical workspace with colleagues. Holiday party season has rolled around again, but the concept of an office gathering carries some uneasy weight, especially for cash-strapped businesses that have had to lay off workers. The unprecedented nature of the pandemic has prompted companies to rethink the social obligations tied up in the office holiday party — who these events are for, what purpose they serve in American work culture, and whether it’s even necessary to pivot to virtual.
According to an American survey of almost 200 human resources representatives, just 23 percent of companies are planning a year-end celebration. And of those celebrations, nearly three-quarters will be held online. This is a staggering decline from last year’s survey, also released by the executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in which 76 percent of respondents announced plans to host a holiday party.
In separate polling conducted by Vox and Data for Progress, 26 percent of the 1,136 respondents said they were planning to host a holiday party with attendees outside of their immediate household. Meanwhile, only 10 percent said their workplace was hosting some sort of year-end event — with 70 percent of those planning to attend. Nearly half of respondents said they aren’t currently working.
From a human resources perspective, holiday parties are not just an important aspect of employee appreciation, but a means to foster a friendly work environment by bringing together workers from across the company. This year, bringing people together — safely, at least — doesn’t feel so together. Some companies are keeping it simple by focusing on virtual entertainment, while others are diverting extra budget money to charity. What was once a festive occasion for company bonding or, in some cases, financial stunting has little value in a world where workplace interactions have transitioned online.
For years, Silicon Valley has developed a reputation for hosting ostentatious parties, with some spending millions of dollars on expensive employee gifts, free booze, and winter decor. Wall Street, too, has started splurging again on luxury venues and holiday-themed frivolities since the 2008 financial crisis, when corporate spending dipped. (Wall Street’s holiday party spending is still down, though, compared to pre-Great Recession levels.) And this year, even some finance and law firms are scaling back and settling on cheaper remote alternatives, Business Insider reported. For example, Morgan Stanley is hosting a virtual benefit show to raise money for children’s hospitals, while PayPal’s global event is a 29-hour online “party” employees can tune in to.
But these year-end corporate events naturally vary by size and grandeur depending on a company’s finances. Many Americans are employed by smaller businesses, in which intimate holiday gatherings are a crucial part of building camaraderie despite the potential for awkwardness to emerge from a night of casual drinking. These companies don’t usually outsource their holiday planning process, relying instead on workers to coordinate the event schedule.
Alex Long, a program associate at the Wilson Center, a DC-based think tank, traditionally plays host for the center’s various end-of-year events, from its Halloween bake-off to its Christmas party. This year’s party was hosted over Zoom and Long improvised as Santa Claus, taking questions from employees’ kids. “To be honest, it was really cute,” Long told me over Twitter. “I think while the virtual holiday party is hard to pull off without it feeling stale or forced, having something or someone for people to laugh at rather than forcing any conversation felt sweet to be able to provide.”
Even though the Zoom party was only an hour long, Long felt there was an added layer of responsibility to keep the audience entertained. “We run a relatively small operation, about 100 to 150 employees, so the familiarity with each other helps take some of that pressure off,” he added. Without the ability to mingle in person, however, the entertainment factor becomes much more crucial.
For Finn Partners, a marketing and communications firm, employees could choose to participate in one of three virtual party options: trivia, a murder mystery game, or a sip-and-sketch art class. The firm’s New York office usually throws a traditional holiday bash with food, drinks, and a DJ, but this year’s change was a pleasant surprise, according to one employee. They were able to select food items for delivery, and for the murder mystery game, the company hired eight actors to play out scenes while employees were tasked with determining the killer.
Yet there is a subset of workers who believe the coronavirus should spell the end of the office holiday party. This might sound Grinchian, but some argue that employees can be better appreciated through holiday benefits or time off, not through raffles or corporate merchandise. The Harvard Business Review published a story in 2014 that urged companies to rethink the purpose of holiday parties. It cited studies that suggest these corporate-funded events aren’t accomplishing much at all: People don’t mingle with strangers, and there’s added risk of bad behavior, especially when alcohol is offered.
“I would so much rather get off work an hour early, but instead we’re going to be staring at frozen screens with BYOB drinks pretending it isn’t grim,” said Zelda, an employee at a tech startup based in New York. “You’re expected to go party hard and then still roll online and finish up work.” Zelda attributed the “work hard, party hard” mentality to startup culture. And while attendance isn’t mandatory, Zelda felt pressure to attend since she began the job remotely and hasn’t socialized with many colleagues.
Over-the-top celebrations and perks are meant to delight employees, but some are reassessing the ethics of financing such elaborate festivities. Honda Wang, a former employee of a popular coffee roaster company from Philadelphia, told me that corporate employees were, as a whole, treated better than baristas — which was reflected not just in the scale of their holiday parties but also in wages and benefits.
“Baristas also got holiday parties, but as the company grew, the budget didn’t grow with it, so it became more austere as time went on,” said Wang, who graduated from barista into a corporate role. “This is a separate issue, but I believe the money generated [from the team I was on] could have easily gone back into paying baristas a $15 minimum wage.”
“Baristas also got holiday parties, but as the company grew, the budget didn’t grow with it, so it became more austere as time went on”
Wang admitted he enjoyed the perks of working in corporate, beyond the office parties: The company paid for expensive dinners, and managers actively encouraged his team to splurge on clients. Over time, though, he became uneasy at how poorly the baristas were treated as the business expanded. It was “a microcosm of income inequality all within a single coffee company,” Wang concluded.
Wang’s anecdote is reflective of a pervasive labor problem, in which companies favor and court certain types of workers over others. Silicon Valley’s tech behemoths, for example, rely on contract workers to fulfill certain temporary roles. But these white-collar contract workers aren’t able to revel in the many corporate perks dished out by the likes of Google and Facebook.
As KQED reported last April, these contractors don’t work directly for tech companies, and usually earn less than their employee counterparts. Experts, academics, and labor advocates who spoke with the radio station estimated more than 100,000 contractors are working in tech, filling in for both white- and blue-collar roles. Last December, The Verge’s Casey Newton reported that Pinterest slashed contractor pay during the holidays. The company traditionally pays its culinary and maintenance workers during the week off between Christmas and New Year’s. That perk was only extended to full-time employees in 2019 as the company sought to cut costs.
Sure, company budgets are opaque and complex, and the fact that contractors and less skilled employees are poorly treated is more complicated than an indictment of corporate party culture; celebrating workers is not the only outsize cost companies may have on their balance sheet. It does, however, reveal disparities in employee treatment and highlights how a certain type of worker is often prioritized — to the point of excess — over others.
The coronavirus has pulled back the curtain on America’s staggering inequalities: The pandemic is disproportionately affecting low-wage workers in the hospitality, travel, and meatpacking industries, compared to the college-educated professional class. Employees are saying they’d rather receive hazard pay or bonuses for their work than cursory gestures of year-end appreciation. Online, people are urging companies to devote their party budget to local food pantries or charitable causes. The British property firm Landmark Investments, for example, has launched a campaign called Xmas Party Heroes, urging big corporations to pledge their party budgets for charity.
In a year of adapting to the “new normal,” maybe companies should consider shirking tradition when it comes to appreciating employees and building collegial camaraderie. American work culture is evolving, and as the new year approaches, managers and workers should forge an environment that collectively benefits all employees, not just a select few.


vox--2020-12-16--Poll: A majority of voters want Joe Biden to advance polices that promote gender equity

An overwhelming majority of voters want President-elect Joe Biden and the next Congress to advance policies related to gender equity upon taking office in 2021 , according to a new poll provided exclusively to Vox .
The survey , conducted by Lake Research Partners in collaboration with the National Women ’ s Law Center , found that 83 percent of respondents want Biden and members of Congress to work on ending sexual harassment in schools and the workplace , 77 percent support policies that would help close the gender pay gap , 81 percent want to guarantee access to affordable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent want to protect and expand access to reproductive health care , including abortion .
And 76 percent of Biden voters said the Trump administration ’ s approach to women ’ s issues motivated them to take political action , including voting .
These results suggest that the incoming administration would have broad support for prioritizing policies that address gender disparities as part of its legislative agenda , including proposals the Biden campaign has previously highlighted .
Biden ’ s “ agenda for women ” includes support for a policy based on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers , and up to $ 8,000 in tax credits to help low-income and middle-class families pay for child care .
He ’ s also said he would restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood , which has been blocked under a Trump administration rule barring health care providers that receive Title X money from performing or referring for abortions .
Biden has further noted that he ’ d push to reauthorize funding for the Violence Against Women ’ s Act , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prosecute abuse against women , within his first 100 days .
Conducted between October 31 and November 3 , the poll surveyed registered voters who had already voted or planned to vote in the 2020 election .
Questions about voting were fielded with 2,400 people , while the questions about specific issue areas reached a total of 1,200 people .
The survey has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points , with a 2.8 percentage point margin of error for the issue questions specifically .
In addition to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NWLC survey underscores just how much support from women — especially women of color — bolstered Biden : 53 percent of women polled said they voted for him , including 92 percent of Black women and roughly 60 percent of both Latina and Asian American and Pacific Islander women .
( The survey notes the smaller sample size of AAPI women . )
“ The widespread support for an agenda that truly focuses on and centers gender justice should be the big takeaway here , ” said NWLC President and CEO Fatima Goss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; they want low-cost , accessible health care ; they want affordable , high-quality child care ; and they want to end sexual harassment and violence in schools and in workplaces — regardless of who they voted for.
” The pandemic has exacerbated gender inequities — and highlighted the need to address them A renewed push for these policies comes as the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated gender inequities even further .
As Bryce Covert previously reported for Vox , the lack of comprehensive paid family leave and child care options as well as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pushing thousands of women out of the workforce : Young mothers have been far more likely than fathers to say they couldn ’ t work due to closed schools and day cares , Covert noted .
The paid leave included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act — which guaranteed individuals up to 12 weeks of paid leave if they needed to take care of children whose schools or day cares closed as a result of the pandemic — helped some , but it wasn ’ t accessible to those working at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These departures could set women ’ s participation in the workforce back decades , Covert wrote .
Because of the pervasive effects of the pandemic , any steps the Biden administration takes to address ongoing disparities across work , education , child care , and health care are as pressing as ever .
The results of the NWLC poll are among the data points stressing that — while simultaneously capturing how integral women were to Biden ’ s victory .

An overwhelming majority of voters want President-elect Joe Biden and the next Congress to advance policies related to gender equity upon taking office in 2021, according to a new poll provided exclusively to Vox.
The survey, conducted by Lake Research Partners in collaboration with the National Women’s Law Center, found that 83 percent of respondents want Biden and members of Congress to work on ending sexual harassment in schools and the workplace, 77 percent support policies that would help close the gender pay gap, 81 percent want to guarantee access to affordable, high-quality child care, and 56 percent want to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion. And 76 percent of Biden voters said the Trump administration’s approach to women’s issues motivated them to take political action, including voting.
These results suggest that the incoming administration would have broad support for prioritizing policies that address gender disparities as part of its legislative agenda, including proposals the Biden campaign has previously highlighted.
Biden’s “agenda for women” includes support for a policy based on the FAMILY Act, which would provide up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers, and up to $8,000 in tax credits to help low-income and middle-class families pay for child care. He’s also said he would restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which has been blocked under a Trump administration rule barring health care providers that receive Title X money from performing or referring for abortions. Biden has further noted that he’d push to reauthorize funding for the Violence Against Women’s Act, which allocates money to meant to prevent and prosecute abuse against women, within his first 100 days.
Conducted between October 31 and November 3, the poll surveyed registered voters who had already voted or planned to vote in the 2020 election. Questions about voting were fielded with 2,400 people, while the questions about specific issue areas reached a total of 1,200 people. The survey has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a 2.8 percentage point margin of error for the issue questions specifically.
In addition to findings about different issue areas, the NWLC survey underscores just how much support from women — especially women of color — bolstered Biden: 53 percent of women polled said they voted for him, including 92 percent of Black women and roughly 60 percent of both Latina and Asian American and Pacific Islander women. (The survey notes the smaller sample size of AAPI women.)
“The widespread support for an agenda that truly focuses on and centers gender justice should be the big takeaway here,” said NWLC President and CEO Fatima Goss Graves. “People want equal pay; they want low-cost, accessible health care; they want affordable, high-quality child care; and they want to end sexual harassment and violence in schools and in workplaces — regardless of who they voted for.”
The pandemic has exacerbated gender inequities — and highlighted the need to address them
A renewed push for these policies comes as the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated gender inequities even further.
As Bryce Covert previously reported for Vox, the lack of comprehensive paid family leave and child care options as well as COVID-19’s economic fallout have contributed to pushing thousands of women out of the workforce:
In August and September, 865,000 women left work altogether; in September, there were 2.2 million fewer women in the labor force than a year earlier. There are fewer women employed or looking for work, and more women simply sitting on the sidelines of the labor force, than any time since 1986.
Young mothers have been far more likely than fathers to say they couldn’t work due to closed schools and day cares, Covert noted. The paid leave included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act — which guaranteed individuals up to 12 weeks of paid leave if they needed to take care of children whose schools or day cares closed as a result of the pandemic — helped some, but it wasn’t accessible to those working at larger companies with 500 or more employees. These departures could set women’s participation in the workforce back decades, Covert wrote.
Because of the pervasive effects of the pandemic, any steps the Biden administration takes to address ongoing disparities across work, education, child care, and health care are as pressing as ever. The results of the NWLC poll are among the data points stressing that — while simultaneously capturing how integral women were to Biden’s victory.


The year of bad posts

It was supposed to be a joke about candy .
On November 30 , Alison Leiby , a 37-year-old comedian and TV writer , was in the middle of moving apartments when she sent a tweet that would make her the website ’ s main character of the day .
In layman ’ s terms , that meant she ’ d done something horribly wrong and everyone was talking about it .
“ People who live outside of NYC and don ’ t have bodegas , ” she began , “ where do you go to buy two Diet Cokes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and oh also lem me get some peanut butter m & ms since I ’ m here , why not.
” Leiby would like you to know that yes , she has heard of CVS before .
The intent of the joke , she says , was not “ Where do you hillbillies even go to buy food ?
” it was , “ Where do you do your impulse candy purchasing ?
” This , however , is not the way the internet received it .
She doesn ’ t know which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it into a platform-wide discourse , but within an hour or two , the replies had grown from 8,000 , to 10,000 , then 20,000 ( as of publication time , more than 21,000 people have quote-tweeted it and another 20,000 have replied ) .
The most common responses were to the effect of “ Literally any place with a cash register ” or sarcastic quips about , say , Floridians having to wade miles through swamps and braving alligators to get to the nearest Publix .
The ordeal , of course , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Would a tweet like this have generated such a storm in any other year ?
Maybe , because people on the internet are always outraged over something .
But it is undeniable that the tone of internet discourse during the months of the pandemic has changed .
In this year of tragedy , of dramatic social and political upheaval , of loneliness , fear , and boredom , the rules about what is or is not acceptable to say or do online are being litigated in real time .
The result is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hell they ’ re doing .
“ Will my friends judge me if I share photos from my weekend getaway to an Airbnb ?
” “ Am I a bad person if I posted a black square during the Black Lives Matter protests ?
” “ Do I need to know or care about what ‘ The Letter ’ is and should I tweet about it ?
” Posting on social media and thereby inviting potential criticism is always somewhat of a risk , but this year the stakes felt unfathomably high .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be confronted by an infinite scroll of confounding , cringeworthy , or otherwise outrageous opinions that , in any other moment , may have been relegated to an off-hand comment at happy hour with friends .
Instead , we screamed it into the digital void , allowing those sometimes-terrible , sometimes-merely-inelegant missives to travel far wider than they ever should have .
Welcome to the year of bad posts .
In fairness to all of the bad posts mentioned hereafter , pandemics sort of make us lose our minds .
Multiple studies of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loved ones can deteriorate our mental health in ways that may include stress , depression , irritability , insomnia , fear , confusion , anger , frustration , and boredom .
Young people , those who live alone , and those with chronic health conditions are at a greater risk for these things ; one US study from April and May showed that nearly two-thirds of people under 30 had high levels of loneliness and that 37 percent said they had low support from family .
The first inkling that this year would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before any US lockdowns did .
As signs about hand-washing were going up in workplaces and the idea that toilet paper was maybe going to become a valuable commodity was starting to enter the public consciousness , a certain kind of voice reigned supreme : the scold .
To a certain extent , scolding can provide a net benefit to society in times where individual behavior does need to be policed for the greater good — wearing masks and social distancing are matters of personal choice , after all .
But there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to venture to a park or the beach were scolded in the media and online using misleading camera lenses that made everyone appear closer together .
Women in hazmat suits screamed at joggers in Central Park , even while in Missouri it was still technically legal to attend a concert .
As lockdowns began to add to the strain of working families , parents online scolded the childless for their perceived privilege ; child-free people scolded companies for giving parents more time to care for their children .
In the first few months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no right way to live .
With what seemed like a total lack of government support or consistent directives , individuals took it upon themselves to make their own rules and demanded that everyone else follow the same ones .
At the same time as we were told that Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity and Shakespeare wrote King Lear during pandemics , and therefore we too should spend this uniquely terrifying time contributing great works to society , the rest of the internet was telling us that to be productive in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slave to capitalism .
While many of us turned to soothing hobbies like Animal Crossing or bread baking , one woman suggested that buying flour at the store was akin to “ literally taking food from my mouth ” because she chooses to make all of her own bread from scratch .
And these were only the most trivial of early-quarantine discourses .
The social justice reckonings sparked by the police killing of George Floyd made social media another space for both rampant public shaming and extremely unwise posting habits .
Viral activist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well-intentioned infographic about racism could come across as performative if someone had never posted political statements before , but to say nothing as a non-Black person could be perceived as “ white silence.
” The aesthetically pleasing illustrations of police brutality victims and Spark Notes-style explainers on complex topics like “ defund the police ” accelerated their virality , even when the content contained misinformation or collapsed the context with which they were created .
Similarly , when companies and influencers inevitably got called out for their callousness in light of racist behavior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filled with slickly designed apologies articulating a commitment to “ do better , ” ironically all the while capitalizing on the aesthetics and mood of the moment with little concrete action attached .
No flashpoint better illustrated this tension than # BlackoutTuesday , which began as an online movement within the entertainment industry where workers could pause and reflect on the ways in which the music business has profited off of Black artists .
Within hours , the hashtag was co-opted by white celebrities and trickled down to the masses , divorced from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of history-making protests in which Instagram was critical for sharing information between activists , the entire platform was overrun with white users posting mostly contextless black squares .
By attempting to show their support for Black Lives Matter , these posts ended up drowning out crucial communication between people actually doing the groundwork .
The level of care devoted to decisions about what to post and what not to trickled down to our most innocuous activities , be they images of small gatherings within “ pods ” or an expensive cheese plate , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ posters were enjoying themselves while lots of people were suffering .
This anecdote from The Cut editor-in-chief Stella Bugbee is one such example : “ I remember getting a text from a friend criticizing someone for documenting their exercise habits on Instagram .
Normally she wouldn ’ t have cared , but now the depictions of their outdoorsy life felt tone-deaf .
The exchange made me wonder if my posts were the subject of such texts .
I shared a beautiful spread of food , only to take it off my Instagram Stories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be seen as insensitive to those who were suffering food insecurity .
And even as I was having that thought , I knew it wasn ’ t just that I was afraid of causing pain directly but also of appearing unaware that some people were experiencing food insecurity.
” Imagine going through this range of confusion and anxiety over a picture of food — and yet , it makes sense .
One could argue that any way we can find happiness in the face of tragedy says something wonderful about humanity , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ someone is able to enjoy luxurious dinners while bail funds and food banks desperately need money .
There is a case to be made that each of us has the personal responsibility to perform the seriousness of the moment , or risk being seen as a “ Brunch Democrat , ” someone whose commitment to politics only exists insofar as it affects the privileged .
Fittingly , the worst posting offenders this year were the wealthy : A-listers who felt that the pandemic was the perfect time to make an uncomfortable video of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who treated their inner circle to private island getaways and birthday blowouts while swearing it was done safely , a Netflix rom-com star suggesting on Instagram Live that people are going to die of Covid-19 anyway , so what ’ s the big deal , not to mention Madonna ’ s notoriously unsettling bathtub video in which the pop icon , covered in gemstones and rose petals , claimed the virus was “ the great equalizer.
” There is no precedent for a time like this , which is how we end up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with friends and masks couched in mealy-mouthed captions like , “ before you say anything , we all tested negative !
” , which just feels embarrassing for everyone involved .
If the decision was so difficult to make , why post at all ?
Perhaps you are starting to see why a rather sapless tweet about bodegas created such a fervent pile-on , or maybe you need more pandemic examples of people going absolutely bananas over objectively trivial debates online .
All of the discourses listed below have received far too much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ include them here not to add to the dogpile or make some sort of bad faith statement about “ woke ” PC culture gone too far , but to illustrate the particular wackiness that was the internet in 2020 .
Here are just a few of the things people argued about this year : • When one scientist tweeted that the “ most overhyped animal ” was the roundworm , others compared his opinion to bias against marginalized groups .
• A single TikTok reignited the neverending debate about whether a man owning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ morally suspect .
• Charcuterie boards were deemed “ the definition of bourgeoisie decadence ” and therefore “ not part of leftist praxis.
” ( So were cast iron skillets . )
• When the term “ himbo , ” or a hot and kind yet unintelligent man , went viral , one woman argued that the term was predatory because being interested in someone ’ s lack of intellect was comparable to being sexually attracted to children .
• Another recurring debate about what makes someone a pedophile : being attracted to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elliot Page came out as trans , some viewed it as a loss for lesbians and a symptom of compulsory heterosexuality .
• 16-year-old TikTok star Charli D ’ Amelio was told to commit suicide because she seemed rude in a video with a family friend .
• People bemoaned the “ erased queerness ” of Anne Frank , whom some believed was bisexual .
• When New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin was fired for exposing himself during a work Zoom , some defended his actions using comparisons to corporate micromanagement or prison @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when someone is less interested in another person and still has sex with them , that the sex was not consensual ( later immortalized as the “ ghosting is rape ” tweet ) .
• It was suggested that sex under communism should be considered mutual aid .
Arguably the most divisive and most needlessly drawn out discourse was centered around the nature of discourse itself .
In July , Harper ’ s magazine published an open letter calling for free speech and an end to cancel culture , signed by some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Noam Chomsky , Margaret Atwood , David Brooks , Steven Pinker , Malcolm Gladwell , Salman Rushdie , Gloria Steinem , Cornel West , and Fareed Zakaria among them .
The backlash was immediate .
Critics claimed that the argument of “ The Letter ” was not actually about free speech but about power , and that “ cancel culture ” as these thinkers would like to portray it does not actually exist in the way they think it does ( that several of the signees have espoused transphobic beliefs made the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
If the signees ’ ability to speak freely were in any real peril , for instance , how would so many of them occupy the most influential seats in American media and academics ?
Debates around free speech have existed in the public sphere for centuries , but as Vox ’ s Zack Beauchamp explained , “ What ’ s happening now seems novel because we are currently seeing a wave of social justice activism that seeks to redefine how we understand appropriate debate over these topics , sometimes even pushing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may have seemed tolerable in the past.
” As dreadful as it often makes the internet feel , social media was the reason The Letter existed in the first place .
Without a platform like Twitter , millions of people ’ s experiences never would have been shared and considered , particularly those of BIPOC .
“ While most Americans do not have Twitter accounts , journalists and politicians often do , and they have turned heavily in the past decade to the activists , scholars and people of color on Twitter to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote University of Pennsylvania communications professor Sarah Jackson in a defense of Twitter in the New York Times .
“ When they haven ’ t done so , these communities have responded resoundingly online .
And America has listened.
” This is social media at its very best : democratizing the discourse so that the loudest and most historically prominent voices must also answer directly to the public .
It ’ s something we forget about when we describe Twitter as a “ hell site , ” even when so much of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Brandy Jensen , a writer and editor living in New Orleans who could be described as having been “ Extremely Online ” since 2015 , is often one of the first people to make a joke about an especially bad tweet .
This year , though , the stakes felt higher .
“ It felt like everybody was probably too excited to jump on any and all bad posts because we ’ re all stuck at home and wanting to yell about stuff , ” she says .
The bodega tweet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a not-especially-good but not-especially-bad tweet whose vicious response felt unwarranted and may not have happened in a different moment .
“ The pathway from ‘ bad tweet ’ to ‘ death threat ’ is getting shorter and more well-trod , ” she says .
“ I do wish that people would treat bad posts like the gifts that they are rather than like , snitching to employers .
Have a little bit of perspective about what a tweet actually is.
” For instance , sometimes a particularly awful tweet can be the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ references the infamous “ gator ” tweet sent after a 2-year-old boy was killed by an alligator near a Disney World hotel in 2016 .
The tweet declared that the person was “ so finished with white men ’ s entitlement lately that I ’ m not really sad about a 2yo being eaten by a gator bc his daddy ignored signs , ” a sentiment so outlandishly vile that it almost falls into the category of absurdist humor .
“ I personally think that there ’ s something beautiful about the kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Jensen says .
“ You ’ ll think that you ’ ve seen every way that people can be and get a little bored with it all , and then you ’ ll come across something that introduces you to like an orientation that you have never even considered before .
Like , I just had no idea that people could be stupid in this unique particular way.
” Isn ’ t this why we continue to log on , after all ?
To better understand the range of human behavior and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There is something oddly wholesome about the most seemingly pointless online debates of the year , and why a scientist quipping that worms are overrated invited a comparison to social justice dynamics .
It illustrates just how desperate we are to get things right , to be able to agree on the morality of our thoughts even if they sound completely ridiculous to everyone else .
Leiby says she can understand , theoretically , why people were eager to jump on the bodega tweet .
Yet I think we should also understand why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like it this year .
Leiby , for example , says she usually tests her “ rough draft ” ideas when she performs standup comedy .
Naturally , she wasn ’ t able to this year .
“ There ’ s something very different about saying [ a joke ] out loud to 40 people and being like , ‘ All right , maybe I didn ’ t need to say that , so I just won ’ t say it again , ’ versus tweeting it out to the internet where potentially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she says .
“ I think everybody ’ s feeling the need to express themselves , whatever that means.
” Most of us don ’ t do standup , but we do have friends , family , and coworkers who , until this year , we regularly bounced jokes or opinions among .
These discussions have since moved online , where it is far easier to lose crucial context and the tones and facial expressions that in-person interaction provides , and where every point must be made in under 280 characters or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s fun to dunk on a bad tweet , but what is the point when the tweet in question was probably sent by someone who , like the rest of us , is lonely , scared , and incurably bored ?
The only thing we need to know about the bodega tweet — and in all likelihood , most of the tweets we saw this year — is that , as Leiby says , “ I don ’ t think I gave it more than five minutes of thought .
”

It was supposed to be a joke about candy. On November 30, Alison Leiby, a 37-year-old comedian and TV writer, was in the middle of moving apartments when she sent a tweet that would make her the website’s main character of the day. In layman’s terms, that meant she’d done something horribly wrong and everyone was talking about it.
“People who live outside of NYC and don’t have bodegas,” she began, “where do you go to buy two Diet Cokes, a roll of paper towels, and oh also lemme get some peanut butter m&ms since I’m here, why not.”
Leiby would like you to know that yes, she has heard of CVS before. The intent of the joke, she says, was not, “Where do you hillbillies even go to buy food?” it was, “Where do you do your impulse candy purchasing?” This, however, is not the way the internet received it.
She doesn’t know which single retweet was the one to elevate it into a platform-wide discourse, but within an hour or two, the replies had grown from 8,000, to 10,000, then 20,000 (as of publication time, more than 21,000 people have quote-tweeted it and another 20,000 have replied).
The most common responses were to the effect of “Literally any place with a cash register” or sarcastic quips about, say, Floridians having to wade miles through swamps and braving alligators to get to the nearest Publix. The ordeal, of course, got its own name: #Bodegagate.
we ride our horses to the dry goods mercantile and hold it up with old-timey pistols https://t.co/wAOtW27BGk — Holly Michels (@hollykmichels) December 1, 2020
Would a tweet like this have generated such a storm in any other year? Maybe, because people on the internet are always outraged over something. But it is undeniable that the tone of internet discourse during the months of the pandemic has changed. In this year of tragedy, of dramatic social and political upheaval, of loneliness, fear, and boredom, the rules about what is or is not acceptable to say or do online are being litigated in real time. The result is that nobody seems to know what the hell they’re doing.
“Will my friends judge me if I share photos from my weekend getaway to an Airbnb?” “Am I a bad person if I posted a black square during the Black Lives Matter protests?” “Do I need to know or care about what ‘The Letter’ is and should I tweet about it?”
Posting on social media and thereby inviting potential criticism is always somewhat of a risk, but this year the stakes felt unfathomably high. To be online in 2020 was to be confronted by an infinite scroll of confounding, cringeworthy, or otherwise outrageous opinions that, in any other moment, may have been relegated to an off-hand comment at happy hour with friends. Instead, we screamed it into the digital void, allowing those sometimes-terrible, sometimes-merely-inelegant missives to travel far wider than they ever should have. Welcome to the year of bad posts.
In fairness to all of the bad posts mentioned hereafter, pandemics sort of make us lose our minds. Multiple studies of quarantined people have shown that separation from loved ones can deteriorate our mental health in ways that may include stress, depression, irritability, insomnia, fear, confusion, anger, frustration, and boredom. Young people, those who live alone, and those with chronic health conditions are at a greater risk for these things; one US study from April and May showed that nearly two-thirds of people under 30 had high levels of loneliness and that 37 percent said they had low support from family.
The first inkling that this year would bring a barrage of insufferable discourse began before any US lockdowns did. As signs about hand-washing were going up in workplaces and the idea that toilet paper was maybe going to become a valuable commodity was starting to enter the public consciousness, a certain kind of voice reigned supreme: the scold.
To a certain extent, scolding can provide a net benefit to society in times where individual behavior does need to be policed for the greater good — wearing masks and social distancing are matters of personal choice, after all. But there is a limit. Supposed rule-breakers who dared to venture to a park or the beach were scolded in the media and online using misleading camera lenses that made everyone appear closer together. Women in hazmat suits screamed at joggers in Central Park, even while in Missouri it was still technically legal to attend a concert. As lockdowns began to add to the strain of working families, parents online scolded the childless for their perceived privilege; child-free people scolded companies for giving parents more time to care for their children.
In the first few months, it seemed as though there was no right way to live. With what seemed like a total lack of government support or consistent directives, individuals took it upon themselves to make their own rules and demanded that everyone else follow the same ones.
At the same time as we were told that Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity and Shakespeare wrote King Lear during pandemics, and therefore we too should spend this uniquely terrifying time contributing great works to society, the rest of the internet was telling us that to be productive in quarantine really means you are being a slave to capitalism. While many of us turned to soothing hobbies like Animal Crossing or bread baking, one woman suggested that buying flour at the store was akin to “literally taking food from my mouth” because she chooses to make all of her own bread from scratch.
And these were only the most trivial of early-quarantine discourses. The social justice reckonings sparked by the police killing of George Floyd made social media another space for both rampant public shaming and extremely unwise posting habits. Viral activist slideshows made Instagram a minefield: A well-intentioned infographic about racism could come across as performative if someone had never posted political statements before, but to say nothing as a non-Black person could be perceived as “white silence.” The aesthetically pleasing illustrations of police brutality victims and Spark Notes-style explainers on complex topics like “defund the police” accelerated their virality, even when the content contained misinformation or collapsed the context with which they were created.
Similarly, when companies and influencers inevitably got called out for their callousness in light of racist behavior or ill-treatment of employees, Instagram was filled with slickly designed apologies articulating a commitment to “do better,” ironically all the while capitalizing on the aesthetics and mood of the moment with little concrete action attached.
No flashpoint better illustrated this tension than #BlackoutTuesday, which began as an online movement within the entertainment industry where workers could pause and reflect on the ways in which the music business has profited off of Black artists. Within hours, the hashtag was co-opted by white celebrities and trickled down to the masses, divorced from its original intent. In the midst of history-making protests in which Instagram was critical for sharing information between activists, the entire platform was overrun with white users posting mostly contextless black squares. By attempting to show their support for Black Lives Matter, these posts ended up drowning out crucial communication between people actually doing the groundwork.
The level of care devoted to decisions about what to post and what not to trickled down to our most innocuous activities, be they images of small gatherings within “pods” or an expensive cheese plate, becoming complicated in the context that the posters were enjoying themselves while lots of people were suffering. This anecdote from The Cut editor-in-chief Stella Bugbee is one such example:
“I remember getting a text from a friend criticizing someone for documenting their exercise habits on Instagram. Normally she wouldn’t have cared, but now the depictions of their outdoorsy life felt tone-deaf. The exchange made me wonder if my posts were the subject of such texts. I shared a beautiful spread of food, only to take it off my Instagram Stories a few hours later, lest it be seen as insensitive to those who were suffering food insecurity. And even as I was having that thought, I knew it wasn’t just that I was afraid of causing pain directly but also of appearing unaware that some people were experiencing food insecurity.”
Imagine going through this range of confusion and anxiety over a picture of food — and yet, it makes sense. One could argue that any way we can find happiness in the face of tragedy says something wonderful about humanity, but you could just as easily question how someone is able to enjoy luxurious dinners while bail funds and food banks desperately need money. There is a case to be made that each of us has the personal responsibility to perform the seriousness of the moment or risk being seen as a “Brunch Democrat,” someone whose commitment to politics only exists insofar as it affects the privileged.
Fittingly, the worst posting offenders this year were the wealthy: A-listers who felt that the pandemic was the perfect time to make an uncomfortable video of themselves singing “Imagine,” Kardashians who treated their inner circle to private island getaways and birthday blowouts while swearing it was done safely, a Netflix rom-com star suggesting on Instagram Live that people are going to die of Covid-19 anyway, so what’s the big deal, not to mention Madonna’s notoriously unsettling bathtub video in which the pop icon, covered in gemstones and rose petals, claimed the virus was “the great equalizer.”
There is no precedent for a time like this, which is how we end up with lots of Instagrams of people posing with friends and masks couched in mealy-mouthed captions like, “before you say anything, we all tested negative!”, which just feels embarrassing for everyone involved. If the decision was so difficult to make, why post at all?
Perhaps you are starting to see why a rather sapless tweet about bodegas created such a fervent pile-on, or maybe you need more pandemic examples of people going absolutely bananas over objectively trivial debates online. All of the discourses listed below have received far too much attention as it is, and I include them here not to add to the dogpile or make some sort of bad-faith statement about “woke” PC culture gone too far, but to illustrate the particular wackiness that was the internet in 2020.
Here are just a few of the things people argued about this year:
Arguably the most divisive and most needlessly drawn-out discourse was centered around the nature of discourse itself. In July, Harper’s magazine published an open letter calling for free speech and an end to cancel culture, signed by some of the world’s most prominent thinkers: Noam Chomsky, Margaret Atwood, David Brooks, Steven Pinker, Malcolm Gladwell, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, Cornel West, and Fareed Zakaria among them.
The backlash was immediate. Critics claimed that the argument of “The Letter” was not actually about free speech but about power, and that “cancel culture” as these thinkers would like to portray it does not actually exist in the way they think it does (that several of the signees have espoused transphobic beliefs made the content of the letter even more suspect). If the signees’ ability to speak freely were in any real peril, for instance, how would so many of them occupy the most influential seats in American media and academics?
Debates around free speech have existed in the public sphere for centuries, but as Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explained, “What’s happening now seems novel because we are currently seeing a wave of social justice activism that seeks to redefine how we understand appropriate debate over these topics, sometimes even pushing to consign to the margins views that may have seemed tolerable in the past.”
As dreadful as it often makes the internet feel, social media was the reason The Letter existed in the first place. Without a platform like Twitter, millions of people’s experiences never would have been shared and considered, particularly those of BIPOC.
“While most Americans do not have Twitter accounts, journalists and politicians often do, and they have turned heavily in the past decade to the activists, scholars and people of color on Twitter to inform their coverage and policies,” wrote University of Pennsylvania communications professor Sarah Jackson in a defense of Twitter in the New York Times. “When they haven’t done so, these communities have responded resoundingly online. And America has listened.”
This is social media at its very best: democratizing the discourse so that the loudest and most historically prominent voices must also answer directly to the public. It’s something we forget about when we describe Twitter as a “hell site,” even when so much of it is devoted to inane debates over himbos.
“Phillip Roth is JOAN DIDION for people not secure in their masculinity to read Joan Didion” is maybe the most accursed sentence of pure stupidity I’ve heard in a while pic.twitter.com/3qYi4S4hNu — Iva Dixit (@ivadixit) October 6, 2020
Brandy Jensen, a writer and editor living in New Orleans who could be described as having been “Extremely Online” since 2015, is often one of the first people to make a joke about an especially bad tweet. This year, though, the stakes felt higher. “It felt like everybody was probably too excited to jump on any and all bad posts because we’re all stuck at home and wanting to yell about stuff,” she says.
The bodega tweet, she adds, was the perfect example of a not-especially-good but not-especially-bad tweet whose vicious response felt unwarranted and may not have happened in a different moment. “The pathway from ‘bad tweet’ to ‘death threat’ is getting shorter and more well-trod,” she says. “I do wish that people would treat bad posts like the gifts that they are rather than, like, snitching to employers. Have a little bit of perspective about what a tweet actually is.”
For instance, sometimes a particularly awful tweet can be the best part of our days. She references the infamous “gator” tweet sent after a 2-year-old boy was killed by an alligator near a Disney World hotel in 2016. The tweet declared that the person was “so finished with white men’s entitlement lately that I’m not really sad about a 2yo being eaten by a gator bc his daddy ignored signs,” a sentiment so outlandishly vile that it almost falls into the category of absurdist humor.
“I personally think that there’s something beautiful about the kind of endless well of human pathologies,” Jensen says. “You’ll think that you’ve seen every way that people can be and get a little bored with it all, and then you’ll come across something that introduces you to like an orientation that you have never even considered before. Like, I just had no idea that people could be stupid in this unique particular way.”
Isn’t this why we continue to log on, after all? To better understand the range of human behavior and learn about how to be better? There is something oddly wholesome about the most seemingly pointless online debates of the year, and why a scientist quipping that worms are overrated invited a comparison to social justice dynamics. It illustrates just how desperate we are to get things right, to be able to agree on the morality of our thoughts even if they sound completely ridiculous to everyone else.
Leiby says she can understand, theoretically, why people were eager to jump on the bodega tweet. Yet I think we should also understand why there seemed to be so many tweets like it this year. Leiby, for example, says she usually tests her “rough draft” ideas when she performs standup comedy. Naturally, she wasn’t able to this year.
“There’s something very different about saying [a joke] out loud to 40 people and being like, ‘All right, maybe I didn’t need to say that, so I just won’t say it again,’ versus tweeting it out to the internet where potentially millions of people can see it,” she says. “I think everybody’s feeling the need to express themselves, whatever that means.”
Most of us don’t do standup, but we do have friends, family, and coworkers who, until this year, we regularly bounced jokes or opinions among. These discussions have since moved online, where it is far easier to lose crucial context and the tones and facial expressions that in-person interaction provides, and where every point must be made in under 280 characters or a 60-second video clip. It’s fun to dunk on a bad tweet, but what is the point when the tweet in question was probably sent by someone who, like the rest of us, is lonely, scared, and incurably bored?
The only thing we need to know about the bodega tweet — and in all likelihood, most of the tweets we saw this year — is that, as Leiby says, “I don’t think I gave it more than five minutes of thought.”