Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, use of the term herd immunity has spread almost as fast as the virus. But its use is fraught with misconceptions.
In the U.K., officials briefly considered a herd immunity strategy to protect the most vulnerable members of its population by encouraging others to become exposed and develop immunity to the virus. Others reignited the discussion by focusing on how far we are from herd immunity. But trying to reach herd immunity without a vaccine would be a disastrous pandemic response strategy.
As mathematics and computer science professors, we think it is important to understand what herd immunity actually is, when its a viable strategy and why, without a vaccine, it cannot reduce deaths and illnesses from the current pandemic.
What is herd immunity?
Epidemiologists define the herd immunity threshold for a given virus as the percentage of the population that must be immune to ensure that its introduction will not cause an outbreak. If enough people are immune, an infected person will likely come into contact only with people who are already immune rather than spreading the virus to someone who is susceptible.
Herd immunity is usually discussed in the context of vaccination. For example, if 90% of the population (the herd) has received a chickenpox vaccine, the remaining 10% (often including people who cannot become vaccinated, like babies and the immunocompromised) will be protected from the introduction of a single person with chickenpox.
But herd immunity from SARS-CoV-2 is different in several ways:
1) We do not have a vaccine. As biologist Carl Bergstrom and biostatistician Natalie Dean pointed out in a New York Times op-ed in May, without a widely available vaccine, most of the population 60%-85% by some estimates must become infected to reach herd immunity, and the viruss high mortality rate means millions would die.
2) The virus is not currently contained. If herd immunity is reached during an ongoing pandemic, the high number of infected people will continue to spread the virus and ultimately many more people than the herd immunity threshold will become infected likely over 90% of the population.
3) The people most vulnerable are not evenly spread across the population. Groups that have not been mixing with the herd will remain vulnerable even after the herd immunity threshold is reached.
Reaching herd immunity without a vaccine is costly
For a given virus, any person is either susceptible to being infected, currently infected or immune from being infected. If a vaccine is available, a susceptible person can become immune without ever becoming infected. Without a vaccine, the only route to immunity is through infection. And unlike with chickenpox, many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 die from it.
By mid-June, more than 115,000 people in the U.S. had died from COVID-19, and the disease can have lingering health consequences for those who survive. Moreover, scientists dont yet know the extent to which people who recover are immune from future infections. A vaccine is the only way to move directly from susceptibility to immunity, bypassing the pain from becoming infected and possibly dying.
Herd immunity reached during a pandemic doesnt stop the spread
An ongoing pandemic doesnt stop as soon as the herd immunity threshold is reached. In contrast to the scenario of a single person with chickenpox entering a largely immune population, many people are infected at any given time during an ongoing pandemic.
When the herd immunity threshold is reached during a pandemic, the number of new infections per day will decline, but the substantial infectious population at that point will continue to spread the virus. As Bergstrom and Dean noted, A runaway train doesnt stop the instant the track begins to slope uphill, and a rapidly spreading virus doesnt stop right when herd immunity is attained.
If the virus is unchecked, the final percentage of people infected will far overshoot the herd immunity threshold, affecting as many as 90% of the population in the case of SARS-CoV-2. Proactive mitigation strategies like social distancing and wearing masks flatten the curve by reducing the rate that active infections generate new cases. This delays the point at which herd immunity is reached and also reduces casualties, which should be the goal of any response strategy.
Herd immunity does not protect the vulnerable
People who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, such as people over 65, have been urged to stay inside to avoid exposure. However, many of these people live and socialize in communities of people in the same cohort. Even if the herd immunity threshold is reached by the population at large, a single infected person coming in contact with a vulnerable community can cause an outbreak. The coronavirus has devastated nursing homes, which will remain vulnerable until vaccines are available.
How to respond to a pandemic without a vaccine
Without a vaccine, we should not think of herd immunity as a light at the end of the tunnel. Getting there would result in millions of deaths in the United States and would not protect the most vulnerable. For now, washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing remain the best ways to lessen the destruction of COVID-19 by flattening the curve to buy time to develop treatments and vaccines.
Internationally, scientists now have on file the genomes of more than 47,000 different samples of the virus that causes COVID-19 up from just one in January. Here's a transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (orange) isolated from a patient. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health hide caption
Internationally, scientists now have on file the genomes of more than 47,000 different samples of the virus that causes COVID-19 up from just one in January. Here's a transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (orange) isolated from a patient.
Scientists are monitoring the virus that causes COVID-19 for genetic changes that could make a vaccine ineffective. But so far, they're not seeing any.
"There's nothing alarming about the way the coronavirus is mutating or the speed at which it's mutating," says Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland. "We don't think this will be a problem [for vaccines] in the short term."
"To date, there have been very few mutations observed," says Peter Thielen, a senior scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. "And any mutations that we do see are likely not having an effect on the function of the virus itself."
That's good news for scientists working to produce an effective vaccine by the end of the year. And it reflects the enormous quantity of genetic information on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that researchers have amassed since the virus appeared in China late last year.
In January, scientists were limited to just one whole genome sequence of the virus. "Today we have over 47,000 coronavirus genomes that have been submitted to international databases," Thielen says.
New genomes are added every day by teams of scientists from around the world. And each time a new one arrives, it gets a close examination, Thielen says.
"What we're looking for in the data is similarity between the virus that first emerged and the genome that had been deposited and any changes that have occurred in the virus," he says. And overall, the viruses circulating today look remarkably similar to the ones first identified in China.
There had been concern about mutations because SARS-CoV-2 is a type of virus capable of quickly changing its genes. But unlike many similar viruses, the coronavirus uses a proofreading system to catch any errors in the genetic code when it begins generating copies of itself.
"The targets for vaccine design today remain the same as we would have designed them in January."
Peter Thielen, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
"So if there's a change, it will actually make a correction at a specific location," Thielen says.
Vaccine developers have been especially concerned about genetic locations that affect something called a spike protein. It's a structure on the surface of the coronavirus that allows it to invade cells.
Spike proteins also give the virus its distinctive appearance and account for its name. Scientists who first viewed a coronavirus through an electron microscope were reminded of the solar corona.
The candidates for a coronavirus vaccine now under development are all designed to teach the immune system to recognize these spike proteins. So far, Thielen says, that's looking like a good strategy.
"The targets for vaccine design today remain the same as we would have designed them in January," he says.
Some other well-known viruses have proved less amenable to the strategy of using the same vaccine from year to year. Influenza, for example, is constantly altering its surface proteins in ways that require annual vaccine updates for each strain that's making the rounds that year.
"Flu just really loves to change these parts," Hodcroft says. "And that's why we can end up with such different flus from season to season."
Measles represents a virus at the other extreme its genome has stayed fairly consistent over the years, at least in the ways that trigger immunity in people after infection. That means children today still get a measles vaccine that was developed in the 1960s, and it provides immunity for a lifetime.
Hodcroft says she thinks SARS-CoV-2 is likely to fall somewhere between the flu and measles when it comes to making a vaccine.
"I think in the short term we'll find something," she says. "The big question is whether this is something we'll be able to vaccinate once and then you never have to get it again, or will it be something you'll have to get every couple of years to keep your immunity up to date."
Scientists are uncertain because the coronavirus is still so new, Hodcroft says.
"We haven't really seen the full diversity of how the virus can mutate," she says. "It gathers mutations over time. We can't speed up time, so we just have to wait and see."
At the moment, though, vaccine developers have more pressing concerns than mutations. First, they'll have to demonstrate that they can produce vaccines that are both safe and effective. Then they'll have to make huge quantities.
"It's not a small feat to manufacture a vaccine for billions of people and then to get it to all of those people," Hodcroft says.
That will take months, she says, in addition to the months required to develop a vaccine in the first place.
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Alaska on Thursday logged the highest combined count of active coronavirus infections in residents and nonresident workers and visitors since the pandemic began.
Nearly all the new nonresident cases reported Thursday involved seafood industry workers, who are required to get tested under safety plans filed by processing companies.
Nine of the new seafood industry cases were in the Bristol Bay region, where workers are arriving for the lucrative salmon season amid local concerns about the spread of the coronavirus given their limited health-care capacity.
But local officials say none of the Bristol Bay seafood workers who tested positive were showing any symptoms as of Thursday, so they werent stressing the system.
Alaskas number of active cases among residents those with positive tests who arent considered recovered increased again to a new high of 291 as reported Thursday, according to state data. There are 114 active cases involving nonresidents.
All told, there are a total of 405 confirmed active cases in Alaska.
Health officials reported 44 new cases Thursday: 25 in residents and 21 in nonresidents, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard. State data indicated 46 new cases as of Thursday morning, but that number was updated based on information released Thursday afternoon.
Statewide data shows the spike in confirmed cases isnt leading to a parallel increase in serious illness requiring hospital stays at this point.
Alaskas total number of residents reported hospitalized with the virus rose by one Thursday to a total of 65 since March as it has for several days. Around the state, one patient with COVID-19 and another with a case under investigation were on ventilators as of Thursday, according to statewide hospital data.
The average number of people with COVID-19 who are hospitalized in the state, most of them in Anchorage, has risen slightly since the beginning of pandemic, according to Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association.
The states ICU capacity is relatively good with fewer than half those beds full now, state data shows. Just under half the non-ICU beds statewide are available statewide. At least a quarter of Anchorages non-ICU hospital beds are open, about the normal level.
There were just over seven patients hospitalized with the virus on average over the past 14 days, Kosin said. That number was closer to four on average between early April and this week.
The hospitalized COVID-19 patient numbers are still low, Kosin said, but the increase bears watching if statewide case counts keep rising and hospital capacity shrinks.
It has my attention, and I think it has other peoples attention, he said.
Health officials have tallied 973 confirmed cases in Alaska since the pandemic began in March: 816 involving residents and 157 involving nonresidents. Some 513 Alaskans are considered recovered including six new recovered cases recorded Wednesday.
Twelve Alaskans have died with the virus.
The new cases in residents include six each in Anchorage and Fairbanks; three in Homer; two each in Eagle River and North Pole; and one each in an unspecified Kenai Peninsula community; Seward; Valdez; Palmer; Wasilla; and Bethel, according to data released Thursday.
The new cases in nonresidents include at least 17 seafood workers: nine in the Bristol Bay area; four identified as unknown; two in Wrangell; and one each in Anchorage and on the Kenai Peninsula.
There were eight new cases among seafood workers at an onshore salmon plant in Naknek within the Bristol Bay Borough, said Mary Swain, executive director at the Camai Community Health Center. She declined to name the plant or company.
Six more positive cases were confirmed but wont be reported in the states data until Friday, Swain said. That group includes an independent fisherman as well as seafood plant workers, plus one additional case in the Lake and Peninsula Borough.
None of those people are showing symptoms of the illness, she said.
The health center serves King Salmon, Naknek and South Naknek, and theyre coordinating testing for other fisheries nearby, Swain said.
The center could care for about 15 mildly ill patients who didnt need oxygen, she said. A field hospital donated by Samaritans Purse could also be set up if needed.
Swain said the recent uptick in cases among people without symptoms is less concerning than if more vulnerable people get sick.
As of Thursday, the state was reporting three COVID-19 cases involving residents of the Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula boroughs and 18 cases in nonresidents there.
Of the new Alaska resident cases identified by the Department of Health and Social Services on Wednesday, 15 are male, nine are female and one was unknown. Three are under 10; three are ages 10-19; six are in their 20s; one is in their 30s; four are in their 40s; six are in their 50s; one is in their 60s; and two are in their 70s.
A total of 99,452 tests have been conducted, state health officials say. The average percentage of daily positive tests for the previous three days is 0.69%.
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U.S. sets new high point in daily cases, two months after the previous record.
More than two months after the United States recorded its worst day of new infections since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the nation reached another grim milestone on Wednesday as it reported 36,880 new cases.
The number of infections indicated that the country was not only failing to contain the coronavirus, but also that the caseload was worsening a path at odds with many other nations that have seen steady declines after an earlier peak. Cases in the United States had been on a downward trajectory after the previous high of 36,739 cases on April 24, but they have roared back in recent weeks.
The resurgence is concentrated largely in the South and West. Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina reported their highest single-day totals on Wednesday, but case numbers have been rising in more than 20 states.
The tally of new cases, based on a New York Times database, showed that the outbreak was stronger than ever even as the United States continued to reopen its economy. The elevated numbers are a result of worsening conditions across much of the country, as well as increased testing but testing alone does not explain the surge. The percentage of people in Florida found to be positive for the virus has risen sharply. Increases in hospitalizations also signal the viruss spread.
Some states, including New York, which at one point had the most daily virus cases, have brought their numbers under control. Hoping to keep it that way, New York along with New Jersey and Connecticut said it would institute a quarantine for some out-of-state travelers.
The stock market slid 2.6 percent as investors fretted about what the latest troubling news meant for the economic recovery. That could lead some states to slow the reopening of businesses, further hobbling the economy and delaying its recovery.
As of Wednesday, 2.3 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus, and 121,925 have died.
On Wednesday it was as if the country had found itself back in March at the start of the pandemic, in the early days of the lockdown, when masks were in short supply and when the death toll was skyrocketing.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said that the state had recorded more than 7,000 new cases over the previous day.
In Washington State, where case numbers have again been trending upward, the governor said residents would have to start wearing masks in public.
This is about saving lives, said the states governor, Jay Inslee, a Democrat. Its about reopening our businesses. And its about showing respect and care for one another.
In Florida on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave no indication that the state would roll back its economic opening, but he urged residents to avoid closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowds and close contact with others.
Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, continued to attribute the rising infections, especially in cities, to younger people who have started to socialize in bars and homes, in spite of rules in many municipalities prohibiting group gatherings. He pressed older people to keep staying home as much as possible, and pleaded with young people to be responsible.
You need to do your part and make sure that youre not spreading it to people who are going to be more at risk for this, he said.
Arizona on Tuesday reported its highest number of virus hospitalizations, as did North Carolina, prompting its governor, Roy Cooper, to announce on Wednesday that the state would pause reopening for three weeks and require face masks. In Texas, more than 4,300 people with the virus are hospitalized, more than double the number at the beginning of June.
But in Missouri, where new case reports have reached their highest levels in recent days, coronavirus hospitalizations have declined slightly over the last month.
We are NOT overwhelmed, Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, said on Twitter, linking the uptick to more testing. We are NOT currently experiencing a second wave. We have NO intentions of closing Missouri back down at this point in time.
The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that if governments and communities in the Americas are not able to stop the spread of the virus through surveillance, isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts, there may be a need to impose or reimpose general lockdowns.
It is very difficult to take the sting out of this pandemic unless we are able to successfully isolate cases and quarantine contacts, said Dr. Michael Ryan, the executive director of the W.H.O. health emergencies program. In the absence of a capacity to do that, then the specter of further lockdowns cannot be excluded.
He said that the growing number of coronavirus cases in the Americas has not peaked and that the region is likely to see sustained numbers of cases and deaths in the coming weeks.
With cases surging in the Houston area, the citys intensive-care units are now filled to 97 percent of capacity, Mayor Sylvester Turner told the City Council on Wednesday, with Covid-19 patients accounting for more than one-quarter of all patients in intensive care.
The city, known for its large concentration of medical schools and research hospitals, could run out of I.C.U. beds within two weeks if nothing is done to slow the upward trajectory of the virus, said Dr. Peter Jay Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He called on the state to reimpose more aggressive social distancing restrictions.
Dr. Hotez said that hospitalizations were rising along with the case counts, so the data is not just the result of increased testing. That means we have to act this week, Dr. Hotez said.
On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a television interview that more than 5,000 people had tested positive in the past day and that more than 4,000 were hospitalized. There is a massive outbreak of Covid-19 across the state of Texas today, he said.
Apple said it closed seven of its stores in the Houston area because of rising coronavirus cases in the region. The move on Wednesday followed its closing of 11 stores in Arizona, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina because of the virus. Apple had closed nearly all of its roughly 500 stores worldwide months ago, but had opened most in the United States in recent weeks after cases declined. Just over 200 of Apples 271 American stores are now open, with some still closed because of damage from protests, an Apple spokesman said.
In other news around the United States:
In Florida, which had a record number of new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged people to avoid closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowds and close contact with others. Total virus cases in Florida exceeded 100,000 on Monday, with more than 3,100 deaths. About one-quarter of the cases have been in Miami-Dade County, where the per capita rate is twice the number statewide. Still, Trump National Doral, which is in the county and is the most important source of revenue for the presidents strained family business, reopened last weekend.
Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, which reached a record 915 virus hospitalizations on Tuesday, announced on Wednesday that the state would pause its reopening for three weeks and require face masks in public. The state has more than 56,000 cases and nearly 1,300 deaths. Mr. Cooper said that hospitals had not reached capacity, but could quickly become overwhelmed. Also, a judge in the state ruled against the reopening of Ace Speedway, which state health officials had ordered to shut down, saying the racetrack had defied restrictions on the size of public gatherings.
State officials in Virginia are proposing workplace virus safety rules that, unlike those in some other states, would be mandatory and backed by enforcement. Labor activists and state officials said Virginia was acting because the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration had not issued enforceable standards or acted on thousands of complaints. The Virginia rules would impose physical distancing and sanitation requirements, and among other measures, companies would have to notify workers of possible exposure. Violators could be fined or shut down.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. has taken a commanding lead over President Trump in the 2020 presidential race, building a wide advantage among women and nonwhite voters, according to a new national poll of registered voters by The New York Times and Siena College. Mr. Biden has made deep inroads into some traditionally Republican-leaning groups that have shifted away from Mr. Trump after his ineffective response to the coronavirus pandemic. He currently leads Mr. Trump by 14 percentage points, garnering 50 percent of the vote. Nearly three-fifths of voters disapprove of Mr. Trumps handling of the pandemic.
A judge in Texas who signed an order requiring everyone in the San Antonio area to wear masks was assaulted at a Lowes home improvement store on Wednesday after he confronted another customer who was not wearing a mask, the authorities said. When Judge Nelson Wolff tried to hand a card to the man, the other customer slapped away his hand, surveillance video released by the Bexar County Sheriffs Office showed. It was not clear what the card said. The man, who also berated the judge, could face a felony charge of assault of a public servant, the sheriff, Javier Salazar, said during a news conference at the store.
As California recorded its highest number of infections, Disneyland indefinitely postponed its plans to reopen in Anaheim on July 17. The Walt Disney Co. said that it was awaiting the states guidelines for reopening theme parks, which were not expected to be issued until after July 4. Thousands of workers at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World in Florida, which is scheduled to begin a phased reopening on July 11, have signed petitions calling on Disney executives to pause plans.
N.Y. ROUNDUP
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced on Wednesday that the state will begin requiring out-of-state travelers coming from hard-hit states to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, a move that punctuated a stark shift in the course of the nations outbreak.
The restrictions will be based on specific health metrics related to the virus, he said at a news conference. The quarantine would apply to travelers arriving from a state, as well as New Yorkers returning from a state, where there was either a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or a state with a 10 percent or higher rate over a seven-day rolling average.
A lot of people come into this region and they could literally bring the infection with them, he said. It wouldnt be malicious or malevolent, but it would still be real.
Eight states would be included, Mr. Cuomo said, when the restrictions took effect at midnight: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Washington State had originally been included, but was dropped from the list after a further review of the data.
Travelers returning to New Jersey and Connecticut from those states would also be told to quarantine; their governors appeared with Mr. Cuomo to announce a tristate joint travel advisory. Mr. Cuomo said that enforcement would be up to each of the three states. Officials from New Jersey and Connecticut said there was no enforcement mechanism at the moment in their states.
In New York, those violating the quarantine order could be subject to a judicial order and mandatory quarantine, he said, and fines of up to $10,000. Mr. Cuomo also said that officials would not be stopping people at state borders to forbid them to enter, but that travelers were being asked to comply once they arrived.
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo said that if a New Yorker believes that a recent arrival or a returning neighbor has not been abiding by the quarantine, then that person should start by reporting the possible violation to the local health department. Elsewhere in the U.S. where there are similar quarantines for travelers, there has not been widespread enforcement.
The goal, the governor said, was to maintain the hard-fought gains made in the region at great economic and human cost. For months, the state New York City particularly had been a global center of the pandemic. Hospitals filled to near capacity. Hundreds died each day, reaching a peak in mid-April. But on Wednesday, Mr. Cuomo said there were only an additional 17 deaths statewide.
New Yorks quarantine will not apply to Yankees and Mets players returning to the area to complete spring training, which can begin on July 1, Mr. Cuomo said, adding that the state had been working on separate health protocols with them since last week.
Elsewhere in New York:
The New York City Marathon has been canceled this year. City officials and organizers decided holding the race, the worlds largest marathon, would be too risky.
The mayor said that the city will close 23 more miles of streets to car traffic to provide more outdoor space while social distancing rules remain in place. The citys beaches will also be open for swimming and recreation on July 1 but with required social distancing.
Five upstate regions are set to enter Phase 4, the final phase of the states reopening plan, on Friday, Mr. Cuomo said. Indoor gatherings of up to 50 people will be allowed, and some arts and entertainment venues can open. Malls, movie theaters and gyms must remain closed.
New Jersey officials said on Wednesday that bowling alleys, museums, arcades, aquariums, batting cages, shooting ranges and libraries may reopen at 25 percent capacity on July 2. Gyms stay closed, though individual appointments with trainers can be scheduled, said the governor, who reported 48 more deaths on Wednesday.
The global economy will shrink 4.9 percent this year, the I.M.F. predicts in a dismal forecast.
The forecast underscores the scale of the task that policymakers are facing as they try to dig out from what the I.M.F. has described as the most severe economic contraction since the Great Depression. Even as countries begin reopening their economies, it is increasingly evident that the recovery will be uneven and protracted, particularly until the virus dissipates or a vaccine becomes available.
In an update to its World Economic Outlook, the I.M.F. said it expected the global economy to shrink 4.9 percent this year a sharper contraction than the 3 percent it predicted in April. The fund noted that, even as businesses began to reopen, voluntary social distancing and enhanced workplace safety standards were weighing on economic activity. Moreover, the scarring of the labor force from mass job cuts and business closures means that the world economy will recover much more slowly, with the I.M.F. projecting 5.4 percent global growth in 2021, far below its pre-pandemic projections.
The I.M.F. now projects that the U.S. economy will shrink 8 percent this year before expanding 4.5 percent next year. Economies in the eurozone are projected to shrink 10.2 percent this year and expand 6 percent next year. The economy of China, where the virus originated and which imposed draconian containment measures, is expected to expand 1 percent this year and 8.2 percent in 2021.
In the markets on Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell more than 2 percent by midafternoon, erasing gains from earlier in the week, as investors confronted new signs of the pandemics persistence. Shares of retailers, airlines and cruise companies which are proxies for sentiment about the prospects of a recovery are faring poorly. Nervousness about the economic outlook was evident in oil prices, and shares of energy companies also declined.
In Yemen, the toll of the pandemic is rising. So is the cost of a burial.
The top U.N. relief official warned Wednesday of a drastic worsening in the outbreak in war-ravaged Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country, where he said 25 percent of those infected die about five times the global average.
As Covid-19 sweeps the country, many deaths are most likely going unreported, said Mark Lowcock, the under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. But there is one unmistakable measure of the viruss toll: Burial prices in some areas have increased by seven times compared to a few months ago, he said.
The United Nations has been chronically hampered in providing aid to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been waging war on the rebel Houthi group for more than five years.
Even before the pandemic, the devastation caused by the war had left a vast majority of Yemens population hungry, destitute and afflicted with preventable diseases, including cholera and diphtheria. Millions of Yemeni children are malnourished, and some have died of starvation.
Mr. Lowcock spoke Wednesday at a United Nations Security Council briefing on the conflict, held three weeks after a major donor conference to raise money for the humanitarian emergency in Yemen secured $1.35 billion in pledges.
That was about half what was pledged a year earlier and many of the pledges, Mr. Lowcock said, have not yet been paid.
If donors fail to make good on their pledges, he said, at a minimum, we can expect many more people to starve to death and to succumb to Covid-19, and to die of cholera, and to watch their children die because they are not immunized for killer diseases.
The pandemic could erase 20 years of progress against tuberculosis, H.I.V. and malaria, an NGO warns.
In low-income nations, the pandemic may erase 20 years of hard-fought progress against tuberculosis, H.I.V. and malaria, diseases that together claim more than 2.4 million lives each year.
A report released on Wednesday estimates that countries hit hard by these diseases will need at least $28.5 billion over the next year to shore up health campaigns and to respond to the pandemic itself. The figure does not include costs associated with a vaccine, assuming one is found.
Updated June 24, 2020
A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort and requires balancing benefits versus possible adverse events. Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. In my personal experience, he says, heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask. Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico.
The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.
The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who dont typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the countrys largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
If youve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
The toll is most severe in nations already strapped for resources. The pandemic has overwhelmed fragile health care systems in those countries, disrupting programs for preventing and treating tuberculosis, H.I.V. and malaria. Restricted air and sea transport also threatens the availability of crucial medicines.
Several models produced by the World Health Organization and others project that deaths from these diseases could double as a result. Treatment interruptions also raise the threat of drug resistance, already a formidable problem in many countries.
The stakes are extraordinarily high, Peter Sands, who heads The Global Fund, a public-private partnership that published the estimates, said in a statement. The knock-on effects of Covid-19 on the fight against H.I.V., T.B. and malaria and other infectious diseases could be catastrophic.
Since March, The Global Fund, which works mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, has provided $1 billion to help countries maintain their campaigns against these diseases. In the new report, the organization said that amount served only as a stopgap measure.
The Global Fund estimated that countries would need more than $13 billion to protect front-line health care workers and shore up their health systems, about $9 billion to develop and deploy treatments, and nearly $5 billion for diagnostics.
A state-run veterans home in Massachusetts was total pandemonium and a nightmare in late March, when a series of blunders contributed to the rapid spread of the virus at the home and the deaths of 76 patients, employees told investigators.
A blistering 174-page independent report on the outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, released on Wednesday, paints a picture of a facility in chaos, as traumatized nurses carried out orders to combine wards of infected and uninfected men, knowing that the move would prove deadly to many of their patients.
One social worker told investigators that she felt it was like moving the concentration camp we [were] moving these unknowing veterans off to die, the report said.
More than 60 percent of fatalities from the coronavirus in Massachusetts have been at nursing homes.
In addition to combining crowded wards, the report said, the home rotated staff members between the wards; discouraged them from using protective gear in an effort to conserve limited supplies; and often failed to isolate infected veterans or to test those who had symptoms.
In short, this was the opposite of infection control, the report said.
Thousands of employees with the federal agency that administers the countrys immigration system are expected to begin receiving furlough notices as applications for green cards, citizenship and other programs drop, Zolan Kanno-Youngs reports.
At one office, where well over half the employees were warned to expect furlough notices, staffers were told that the agency was focused on retaining jobs that keep the lights on, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.
LaDonna Davis, a spokeswoman for the agency, said that more than 13,000 employees should expect to receive the notices in early July.
This dramatic drop in revenue has made it impossible for our agency to operate at full capacity, she said. Without additional funding from Congress before Aug. 3, U.S.C.I.S. has no choice but to administratively furlough a substantial portion of our work force.
The agency has asked lawmakers for $1.2 billion, citing economic damage from the pandemic.
But critics say the problem lies not with the recession but with the Trump administrations restrictionist immigration policies, which have led to backlogs and skyrocketing denials. The agency relies on application fees to fund most of its operations.
Evan Hollander, spokesman for the Democratic-controlled House Appropriations Committee, said the Office of Management and Budget had provided a letter to the committee with virtually no information on the shortfall or their proposed remedies. He said Democratic lawmakers were prepared to discuss the financial situation with Republicans.
Citizenship and Immigration Services officials have told Congress they would repay the funds to the Treasury Department by adding a 10-percent surcharge to applications.
In the email obtained by The Times, Jennifer Higgins, associate director of the office that deals with asylum and refugee applications, said the agency would send furlough notices to 1,500 of its 2,200 employees. It will to retain people whose duties include border screenings, refugee case completions and parole requests, she said.
Global roundup
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Wednesday celebrated his countrys victory 75 years ago against Nazi Germany, presiding over an enormous military parade through Red Square in Moscow that featured thousands of soldiers marching shoulder-to-shoulder without face masks.
The parade, the largest of several celebrations taking place nationwide, was originally scheduled for May 9, an annual holiday known as Victory Day, but was delayed for six weeks by the pandemic. The outbreak continues to grow in Russia the worlds third-worst-affected country, with more than 600,000 cases but at a slightly slower pace than before.
Aging veterans in their 80s and 90s joined Mr. Putin on the reviewing stand, nearly all of them without masks, to watch 14,000 troops march by.
Kremlin critics have accused Mr. Putin of gambling with public health to put himself at the center of a gigantic display of Russias military might and to rally support ahead of a nationwide vote on his future. Voting on constitutional amendments that would allow Mr. Putin to stay in power until 2036 starts on Thursday.
But there is little evidence so far that American voters are punishing Mr. Biden for his caution. A suite of polls from The New York Times and Siena College released this week show Mr. Biden leading Mr. Trump by 14 percentage points nationwide and with healthy leads in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
On Thursday Mr. Biden called on Americans to wear masks in public to protect themselves and others. He began his remarks wearing what has become his signature black face mask, which hung from his left ear for the opening minutes of his speech. As he finished and walked off stage, Mr. Biden reattached the mask.
I know as Americans, its not something were used to, but it matters, he said. All the evidence from all over the world tells us it might be the single most effective thing we can do.
Mr. Trump, who has refused to wear a mask in public and has appeared at political events at which most of his supporters have gone maskless as well, first said that he had ordered a slowdown in coronavirus testing during a speech he gave to a half-full arena Saturday in Tulsa, Okla. He said that more testing had led to more evidence of infection, which he said reflected poorly on the United States.
So I said to my people, Slow the testing down, Mr. Trump said.
Almost immediately, White House aides said the president had been joking. But later this week, Mr. Trump told reporters, I dont kid, and reiterated his opposition to increased testing.
Mr. Biden called Mr. Trumps response self-centered and compared him to a child who constantly complains about being unable to get what he wants.
The president wants you to believe this is a choice between the economy and the publics health, Mr. Biden said. He still hasnt grasped the most basic fact of this crisis: To fix our economy, we have to get control of the virus.
A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services who says he was ousted from a key pandemic response job for pushing back against demands to sign off on a coronavirus treatment the president had advocated said Thursday hed been further retaliated against by the departments head.
Dr. Rick Bright, who had been deputy assistant secretary of health and human services for preparedness and response and director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, until mid-April, updated his existing whistleblower complaint Thursday with allegations that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar directed staff at the agency to thwart his ability to do his new job.
According to the amended complaint, Bright alleged that Azar had told agency employees to refrain from doing anything that would help Dr. Bright be successful in his new role and that employees had been warned that Azar was on the warpath in response to Brights initial complaint.
Going forward, Dr. Bright will need a collaborative relationship with BARDA to be successful, and Secretary Azars direction to BARDA employees is a clear act of retaliation that has impaired his ability to perform his job, the amended complaint said.
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In his initial whistleblower complaint to the Office of Special Counsel filed last month, Bright had said he was transferred from BARDA "without warning or explanation" over his refusal to embrace hydroxychloroquine the anti-malarial drug promoted by President Donald Trump as a potential coronavirus remedy. Bright also said there was gross mismanagement" at the agency.
Bright, whose initial complaint sought his reinstatement at BARDA, was transferred to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In the initial complaint, Bright also described a chaotic response to the coronavirus at the Department of Health and Human Services fueled largely by "pressure from HHS leadership to ignore scientific merit and expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism.
But in his amended complaint filed Thursday, Bright alleged that after he filed his initial complaint, top administration officials, including Trump, launched a retaliatory media campaign to try to discredit him and that hed been sidelined at the NIH in an extremely narrow role that excluded him from the agencys work on vaccines, including the vaccine programs that he initiated in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic response.
This intentional effort to pigeon-hole Dr. Bright is detrimental to his entire professional career, the amended complaint said. He is excluded from the scientific and industry work to which he has devoted decades of his career.
The amended complaint seeks that Azar recuse himself from the departments official response to Brights initial complaints request that Bright be reinstated to his old job.
A week after he filed his initial complaint, Bright testified before Congress that the Trump administration's timeline for a coronavirus vaccine is likely too optimistic and faulted Trump and other senior officials for having minimized the outbreak early on with, he said, deadly consequences.
As of Thursday, there were nearly 2.4 million COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S. and more than 122,000 deaths.
Trump dismissed Bright as a "disgruntled employee" on Twitter ahead of his testimony a tweet that Bright cited in his amended complaint as evidence of the administrations retaliatory campaign.
Adam Edelman is a political reporter for NBC News.
No final decision has been made and Dunford still needs to complete an ethics review, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
It was created in the stimulus law after Democrats demanded additional oversight measures over the Treasury Department's $500 billion fund.
Dunford, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman for Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, is well known by those who have worked for him to be meticulous and detailed in his decision making.
Dunford sits on the board of directors at Lockheed Martin and is chairman of the board at Semper Fi Fund & America's Fund, which provides resources and support to wounded and critically ill service members and their families.
He is also a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Flare-ups of COVID-19 in the U.S. have delivered a fresh gut check to bulls on Wall Street, following an unprecedented market rebound from the coronavirus-ignited downturn back in March.
The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, the highest figure since late April, when the number was viewed as having peaked at 36,400, the Associated Press reported, citing using data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Cases in the southern and western state of the U.S. have accelerated and threaten to reverse, or stall, plans to reopen economies nearly frozen for months to limit the spread of the deadly contagion. Over the past several days, hospitalizations and infections have been resurgent in places like California, with more than 7,000 new cases, as of Tuesday, and in Arizona, where identified infections jumped nearly 50% from a week earlier, representing the largest increase by any U.S. state, the Wall Street Journal reported.
President Donald Trump traveled to Arizona on Wednesday for an event at a megachurch in Phoenix attended by about 3,000 mainly youthful supporters and a visit to a section of wall along the southern border, on which he inked his autograph.
Read:Fauci says in 40 years of dealing with viral outbreaks, hes never seen anything like COVID-19
Coronavirus cases reportedly have been increasing among people between the ages of 22 and 44, notably in Arizona and Texas.
While the ramp-up in infections may not represent a second wave most experts say we remain in the first wave in the U.S., and at least one has observed that a forest fire might be a more apt description than first, second and subsequent waves the equity market on Wednesday suffered its biggest selloff since June 11, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.17% and the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.86% ending the session 2.6% or more lower and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -2.06% snapping an eight-day winning streak.
Over the course of this pandemic, some market experts have sought to evolve into armchair epidemiologists, assessing the implications of the rising tide of infections in the U.S. and around the globe.
Thomas Lee, head of Fundstrat Global Advisors, in a research report Monday, said that the biggest implications were on policy. This raises many questions but the most important is the policy direction. Given the surge in COVID-19 cases, states and the U.S. need to mitigate transmission [which is to say] course correct, wrote Lee.
Thirty-three states on Tuesday recorded a seven-day average of new cases that was higher than their average during the past two weeks, according to the Wall Street Journals analysis of data from Johns Hopkins.
Ironically, elevated infections and hospitalizations in clusters across America, compelled New York formerly an epicenter of the global pandemic to instate a quarantine on travelers visiting from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas. New York is rolling out the 14-day quarantine protocol in coordination with Connecticut and New Jersey, states that also have seen cases stabilize in recent weeks.
Trump, slated to travel to his Bedminster, N.J., golf resort this weekend, will not abide by the quarantine, according to a White House deputy press secretary. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy noted on CNN that there is a carve-out in the quarantine order for essential work.
Fundstrats Lee wrote that one of the fears for investors is that the jump in infections will force a broader reinstatement of stay-at-home orders, which are viewed as politically and economically unpalatable after three months of such procedures in much of the world.
The last resort is likely reinstate shelter at home, Lee wrote. He said the best solution, probably, but also the most unpopular, is [to] require usage of masks.
Lee provided a list of 10 public-policy steps that could be implemented to curtail a surge in COVID-19 infections:
A number of states, including Washington and California, are mandating the wearing of facial coverings. Until a vaccine or cure is developed, this is going to be one of our best defenses, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement.
On Tuesday, at a congressional hearing, public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci described the rise in cases as a disturbing development and vowed to increase testing, but also expressed hope about progress toward a vaccine.
See:Race for a COVID-19 vaccine has drug makers scaling up manufacturing before one is developed
It isnt universally clear why certain states are showing flare-ups while others are not, though experts say that the adherence to social-distancing protocols and stricter public health policies have been far from uniform across the 50 states. Some states more eagerly heeded a White House preference for quick and full reopenings.
In Arizona, some health professionals have linked the surge in cases in the Grand Canyon state to lifting stay-at-home orders too early. Arizona eased its orders a month ago. Gov. Doug Ducey has said that hes not considering reinstating a shelter-in-place measure even as cases rise, though he did stage an about-face to allow localities to mandate mask usage.
Emergency rooms in the state are seeing about 1,200 suspected COVID-19 patients a day, compared with some 500 a month ago, the AP reported.
That surge has prompted Dr. Joseph Gerald, a professor of public health policy at the University of Arizona, to predict that, if current trends continue, hospitals will probably exceed capacity within the weeks. We are in deep trouble, the doctor was quoted as saying.
Earlier this week, California touched a new high in the number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19, surpassing the previous peak in late April. Data as of Sunday showed that the state had 3,702 hospitalized, with the rise in infections being attributed there to an erosion of social distancing, particularly as residents welcome summertime weather and activities.
Fundstrats Lee has attributed at least some of the rise in cases to a wave of national protests that erupted in late May and earlier this month following the murder of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black handcuffed man, died on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis officer, was captured on video driving his knee into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds even as Floyd said he couldnt breathe and stopped moving. That action helped spark a wave of civil unrest over inequality in the U.S. and treatment of black Americans in policy custody.
Chauvin and three fellow officers were fired and criminally charged.
Each of the protests involved tens of thousands of Americans in close proximity for hours, Lee wrote.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Gov. Greg Abbott reopened Texas businesses too soon. I would have stayed with the course that was working well for the city of Houston and other cities in the state of Texas, he said, according to the Texas Tribune.
Dr. Robert Quigley, senior vice president and regional medical director of International SOS, a medical-security and travel-safety company, said that its hard to place blame on any one state for the resurgence in cases. Even as an immunologist, I am struggling with some of the characteristics of this novel virus and itsbehavior, he said, referring to the highly contagious nature of this coronavirus compared with other coronaviruses.
The virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December and has infected more than 9 million people worldwide. The World Health Organization currently estimates that 16% of people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic and can transmit the coronavirus, while other data posit that 40% of coronavirus transmissions are due to carriers not displaying symptoms of the illness. As a result, public health officials have advised people to keep a distance of 6 feet between themselves and others from outside their households.
Read: No, this surge in coronavirus cases in some states isnt part of a second wave
Plus:Disney delays reopening Disneyland and other California theme parks
Quigley said that its important for states to impose restrictions and compel citizens to wear masks and to adhere to proper sanitization procedures to have any hope of limiting the spread of the virus. What we do know is that if we are compliant with social distancing and universalprecautions, not limited to sanitizing our hands and wearing a mask at all times possible,the likelihood of transmitting the disease is remarkably lower, he said.
Dr. Jeremy Faust, in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, said that states and local governments need to be more evidence-based in their decision making around the pathogen. The lesson, he said, is that they need to be "data driven not date driven.
He also advocated for measures that in their totality help reduce the contagions spread, including wearing facial coverings. It helps a little, he said. Just because something isnt perfect, it doesnt mean it doesnt help.
As for the markets downturn, Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, told MarketWatch via email that investors may have become too complacent about the epidemic and too hopeful that a V-shaped, or quick, economic recovery would take place.
We probably had a lull because of hopium around stronger economic data recently, but concerns are increasing (justifiably so) about the ability for the economy to sustain a V-shaped recovery with rising cases, she said. Even if governments dont shut things down again, it wont prevent businesses from doing so, or consumers from deciding on their own to shelter in place again.
Wednesdays selloff and early declines on Thursday came amid growing worries about the divergence between buzzy technology stocks, which have gotten a boost from the long-term implications of the viral outbreak, and cyclical stocks that are more sensitive to the economic outlook.
There is also some legitimate concern about equity valuations and how strong the rally has been over the past couple of months, wrote Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network.
The massive amount of monetary and fiscal stimulus that has been injected into the global economy was the primary catalyst behind the markets advance, but there seems to be ambiguity about additional support.
Reluctance to extend or offer additional stimulus could bring a risk factor into the market that may not be fully appreciated at this point, he said, referring to calls for further fiscal stimulus to help mitigate damage to businesses during this public health crisis.
My colleague Jack Nicas usually covers tech in the Bay Area, but recently he snagged what sounded like a dream assignment: reporting on his local bar. It was actually heart-wrenching.
Heres an update about the Hatch, an Oakland watering hole:
On March 15, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the states restaurants and bars to close to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Restaurateurs and bar owners across California knew they were in for a struggle, but they expected the closure wouldnt last much more than a month.
Three months later, Californias restaurants and bars are now just starting to open. In many cases, diners are kept outside, and some bars without kitchens are remaining shuttered.
For the public, the lockdown has been an inconvenience. Many of us have sharpened our cooking skills or become even more reliant on takeout and delivery. But for many of the millions of Californians who work in the service industry, the past few months have been economic anguish.
When the lockdown began, I started following my local watering hole in Oakland, a side-street hideaway called the Hatch, to understand the economic toll on the bar and its staff. In that story, which we published earlier this month, I wrote about the bars owner, Louwenda Pancho Kachingwe, and his creative efforts to save the Hatch, including battling with delivery apps and scrambling for a stimulus loan. By the time we published, he had burned through $40,000 of the bars emergency funds and his personal money, but he had some hope after securing a $72,500 federal loan.
I also kept up with several of his employees. Santos, the 56-year-old cook, lost his job the same day as his six children and hunkered down in a three-bedroom house he shared with 11 family members on the outskirts of Oakland. They gathered each night to pray for a way to pay their bills. The last time we spoke, they had missed their latest rent payment. Maria, the 55-year-old undocumented cleaner, battled extreme back pain that turned out to be cancer while also struggling to pay rent.
Both said they were fortunate not to have been touched by the virus; money was their biggest worry.
And Abel Oleson, a 34-year-old bartender, had $20 to his name shortly after the lockdown began but soon was making twice as much as he did at the Hatch with his stimulus-boosted unemployment checks.
