The current crisis has revealed a sobering truth: the global economic shutdown, which has been achieved at a devastating social cost, has barely dented our carbon emissions. The latest analysis, by the International Energy Agency (IEA), expects this years annual emissions to be down by just 6-8%. Such a small drop in emissions would have no measurable effect on the worlds carbon concentration, or its warming potential. Indeed, 2020 is currently on track to be the hottest year ever recorded.
Youd need about a 10% drop to have a noticeable effect on the rising CO2 concentrations, but even then concentrations would still be rising, says Richard Betts, head of climate impacts at the Met Office. The rate of rise of CO2 varies from year to year anyway, as the natural carbon sinks get stronger and weaker because of natural processes, like El Nio. During an El Nio event, tropical forests dont take up as much carbon, so the atmospheric CO2 rises a bit faster. And in La Nia, the opposite occurs. That effect is probably more important than the small drop in emissions were seeing now.
Considering that emissions have to fall by at least 7.6% every year to 2050 in order to keep global warming below 1.5C (above pre-industrial levels), this internationally agreed target now feels alarmingly unachievable.
It shows that the challenge of avoiding dangerous climate change and getting to zero emissions is unbelievably hard, says Simon Evans of climate science website Carbon Brief. Even something which seems to be having seismic implications for the global economy, at least in the short term, like the current crisis, is something of a drop in the ocean compared to that challenge.
And yet, the cleaner air, burgeoning urban wildlife, and our sudden, dramatic shift to a less carbon-intensive lifestyle reveal the scope of what we can achieve in just days. This is something to cling to as we navigate the twin storms of Covid-19 and climate. We know that the climate crisis will not wait for a more convenient time; we must deal with it and the pandemic crisis concurrently. It is, however, the killer disease that has provoked the strong and urgent response. Governments have been forced to step in and deal with the catastrophe in a way that is unprecedented, including supporting business and industry, and public and private infrastructure.
Individual action driving your car less, attending a meeting via Zoom, not taking a flight is not going to be enough
Across the world, government has never been bigger. Many experts argue that this provides us with a huge opportunity to also deal with the other crisis: to make a transformational leap towards a sustainable society that enables us to keep the world below dangerous warming. How we respond to this unique opportunity could set our climate trajectory for thousands of years to come.
These behavioural changes weve experienced some of which may become ingrained permanently, meaning travel and consumption patterns become more responsible are helpful in reducing pollution, just as hand-washing helps in the pandemic. But what the expected 8% emissions reduction figure shows us is that individual action driving your car less, attending a meeting via Zoom rather than taking a business flight is not going to be enough. Equally, it shows that moving to a no-growth economy is not the answer, as some have argued. Instead, systemic transformative action is required at international and state level to get the effective reductions in atmospheric carbon that will bring us to net zero.
It means we cant be fiddling around the edges, says Betts. If we are going to have a substantial impact on long-term CO2 concentrations, we need huge, lasting changes in energy systems and other things that rely on fossil fuels.
Its worth noting that the IEA analysis was based on the expectation that human activity will return to some approximation of normal within months, so the shutdown period itself is likely to produce a far steeper drop in emissions CO2 emissions in China fell by an estimated 25% during its February lockdown, for example. India, meanwhile, recorded its first ever annual emissions fall for the year ending March, and is expected to show a 30% drop in emissions for the month of April. But what were seeing at the moment is, for the most part, very temporary, Evans says. When we drive again, the car still burns petrol.
Instead, structural change could mean people swapping their combustion engines for electric vehicles. More fundamentally, Evans says, it would involve reimagining the way our cities are built and organised, so that going without a car becomes easier, through how roads are laid out, and how provision for walking and cycling and public transport is changed.
All of those things go far beyond the individual choices we make in our everyday lives. Our choices are bounded by society, Evans says, so a shift towards a low-carbon society cant happen via individual action alone.
Cities have been leading this transition with innovative buildings and infrastructure projects. Some are already banning cars and trucks as a temporary measure. Others are going further: Milan is reallocating 35km of street space to cyclists and pedestrians; Brussels is creating 40km of new cycle paths; and France is tempting cyclists out with subsidies. In the UK the government has announced a 2bn infrastructure scheme to encourage more walking and cycling and the mayor of London has unveiled measures to create car free bridges and streets. Many cities are exploring some form of a circular economy, in which waste is minimised with resources kept in use as long as possible through recycling and reuse.
The economist Kate Raworth says: We live in a world that is complex, deeply interconnected, and human health and planetary health are woven into one. So governments need frameworks and ways of thinking that can hold that complexity that can think about climate and health and jobs and financial stability and inequality in one space.
For instance, quite apart from the pleasure of experiencing cleaner air, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed how deadly pollution is. One recent study found that a tiny increase in particulates was associated with a 15% increase in the Covid-19 death rate, almost certainly contributing to the terrible rates seen in cities. In Italy, the high death rates seen in the north of the country correlate with the highest levels of air pollution. Reducing air pollution would lower the general health burden and may also help prevent future pandemics from being so deadly.
We have created a framework, which invites a place to answer: how can our cities be home to thriving people in this thriving place, while respecting the wellbeing of all people and the health of the planet? Raworth says. She is working with the city of Amsterdam to apply her doughnut model of a socially and environmentally sustainable economy to the Dutch capitals post-pandemic recovery.
The Amsterdam project, like many others, predates Covid-19. Momentum for environmental protection has been building over the past few years, and it may be that this crisis proves a tipping point in public consciousness, leading to a meaningful shift in policy. For one thing, the pandemic has shown us how valuable expertise is, and now were all au fait with the role of infectious disease modellers in guiding public health policy, it should help us appreciate the role climate modellers could play in guiding economic policy.
Just as we have seen that early action to deter the spread of the virus was far more effective than trying to contain the damage after the virus already spread, transforming our energy system now to prevent the spread of excessive heat over our planet will be far more effective than trying to adapt to the consequences of this excessive heat later, says Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution for Science, which is based in Washington DC.
Government is not there just to fix the same system, but to shape the kind of economy and society we want to live in
City initiatives can only go so far. Ultimately, this is the time for governments to forge a new relationship with the private sector, to produce a sustainable economy. As industry, businesses and individuals plead for state aid, government has never been in a stronger position to push a sustainable agenda, and its vital this is not squandered on kneejerk bailouts. Weve already seen the US and UK bailing out oil giants, and the UK giving supermarket giant Tesco a business rates holiday, only for it to pay a dividend to shareholders. What the government should be doing is thinking about the interest of the public that it represents, that it was elected for, and not simply giving out money that benefits private interest, says economist Mariana Mazzucato at University College London. This is not about helping business make money. Its about giving them that cashflow to survive, but also helping them transform themselves to be a more functioning part of society, she says.
The government will never have the negotiating hand it has now. Theres trillions being poured into the economy, given the tragedy. So, this can be used as a way to make sure that the public private partnerships actually become a symbiotic mutualistic partnership, not a parasitic one, as weve had in the health sector for a long time, Mazzucato says.
Governments, she says, must take the long view and use stimulus packages to actively mould a cleaner economy, something that South Korea has pledged, for instance. Government on its own cannot solve climate change, or create an equitable production system. It needs the private sector, and the private sector needs the public sector.
Mazzucato and others argue that theres a danger otherwise that we will repeat the mistakes that were made in the aftermath of the 2008/9 financial crisis (during which emissions also fell), by not attaching conditions to the bailouts. Goldman Sachs was back making record profits after it was given a $10bn bailout, she says.
We need to learn that government is not there just to do bailouts to fix the same system, but to really co-create to shape the kind of economy and society we want to live in. We know thats not a fossil fuel-driven economy; we know its not a financialised one; we know its not an unequal one. But thats not going to happen on its own. It needs to be embedded inside the policies, Mazzucato says. Governments need to put strong conditions into bailout contracts, which require investment, innovation, transformation of industry, but also in society more broadly, to help us achieve these longer-term objectives.
Ending state subsidies to fossil-fuel companies would be an easy win. The plunge in oil prices, rather than spurring a rush in fossil-fuel investment, as has happened in the past, now makes oil a volatile, uncertain commodity to invest in, especially when nations are worried about foreign dependency. The dip in oil prices may actually hasten the end of domestic extraction of all fossil fuels. So it now makes sense to shore up local renewable infrastructure, especially as costs are getting cheaper and theres long-term certainty in the market. The scope for public sector jobs and growth in this decentralised industry could prove transformative as we stare down the tunnel of a long recession.
The IEA believes that renewable investment could power recovery with global GDP gains of almost $100 trillion (80tn) between now and 2050. Meanwhile, the economic risks of not meeting the globally agreed greenhouse gas emissions targets could be severe, according to research published in Nature.
There is a risk, though, that while we are so preoccupied with the pandemic, the environmental movement, which made significant progress over the past year through the activities of striking schoolchildren, Extinction Rebellion and the leadership of Greta Thunberg, falls off the agenda. The much-anticipated 2020 UN climate change conference, which sets out how nations will meet the UN climate emissions targets agreed in Paris in 2015, has been postponed from November to early 2021. In the meantime, we might forget the deadly wildfires that ravaged Australia mere months ago, or the extreme weather that displaced some 7 million people last year, or the near-record Arctic melting.
Environmental campaigners are sanguine, though, preferring to wait until the world is less distracted by the pandemic. With the US presidential elections due this year, next years climate talks could now get the chance to benefit from an enlightened leader ready to engage with the crisis.
As environmentalists we have a role even during the lockdown, for instance in opposing the aviation bailout, says Alice Bell from Possible, an organisation campaigning for a zero-carbon society. For now, weve shifted to community action, people have made new relationships within their communities, and weve been looking at, say, the debate around park closures. This pandemic is going to profoundly change the way we live and how we work.
Global problems require global collaboration, and despite the nationalistic responses of some states, the pandemic has revealed that its solutions are international: scientists and medics have been sharing data, resources and equipment, and have been advising and supporting each other as never before, united in the quest for effective treatments, tests and vaccines. This same spirit of international cooperation is essential in producing solutions for our energy and economic transitions, and the technology and pace of information sharing make it possible. Wouldnt it be great if wealthy nations collaborated with resource-rich (poor) nations in an inclusive global economic programme? Sustainable production of crops and minerals in the global south could help fuel the rich worlds low-carbon transition. Instead of unsustainable industrial expansion, the post-pandemic economy could be steered in a way that protects people and the planet from the kind of ecological destruction that produces new diseases, and the climate disaster that threatens us all.
In the Netherlands, for instance, 170 Dutch academics have put together a radical five-point manifesto for economic change, which includes investment in critical public sector areas, clean energy, education and health, and radically scaling back the oil, gas, mining and advertising sectors; debt cancellation, especially for workers and small business owners and for countries in the global south; and redistribution, with universal basic income, reduced working hours and the recognition of care work.
Perhaps because weve experienced a cleaner, quieter and kinder alternative, most people dont actually want to get back to normal (one poll found only 9% of Britons wanted to return to pre-pandemic conditions). We should perhaps recognise this as a mandate for change, and look at the alternative to normal, taking lessons from this catastrophe to create a better world from its broken parts.
Gaia Vince is the author of Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty and Time (Allen Lane 20)
In two graduation speeches, Obama offered advice to students and criticized U.S. leadership.
Former President Barack Obama delivered two virtual commencement addresses this weekend, mixing advice to graduates with criticism of the United States response to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what theyre doing, he said on Saturday in the first address streamed online. A lot of them arent even pretending to be in charge.
The speeches came as more than two-thirds of states have significantly relaxed restrictions, leaving the nation at a delicate moment.
With states scrambling to pay unemployment claims, a vast attack that flooded unemployment agencies with fraudulent claims appears to have siphoned millions of dollars. Secret Service investigators said they had information implicating a Nigerian fraud ring that filed claims on behalf of people who in many cases had not lost their jobs.
As experts continue to warn that testing needs to be more widely available, the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday granted emergency clearance for a coronavirus testing kit that will enable people to take a nasal sample at home and send it to a laboratory. It was the F.D.A.s second such approval.
Across the United States, low-income communities of color are exposed to significantly higher levels of pollution, studies have found, and also have higher levels of lung disease and other ailments. Now, scientists are racing to understand whether long-term exposure to air pollution plays a role in the pandemic, particularly since minorities in the country are dying disproportionately.
The science is preliminary, because the coronavirus remains poorly understood. But researchers are finding reason to look closely.
Said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and Detroits former health director: The system has allowed, basically, low-income people and people of color to have to breathe the pollution.
Three governors are discussing their states widely watched reopenings on television talk shows on Sunday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat leading a state where pandemic conditions vary hugely from county to county, is appearing on State of the Union on CNN. Mr. Newsom will have a national stage from which to explain his efforts, which have drawn some resistance, and provide updates on the pandemic in California.
Mr. Newsom has allowed shops to offer curbside retail and child care services to reopen, along with manufacturers that make retail goods. In much of the state, restaurants and shops remain prohibited from letting customers eat or shop inside their doors. But Mr. Newsom has allowed 22 mostly rural counties, of the states 58, to do so after submitting public safety plans.
Some beaches, trails and parks also reopened in the state this weekend.
Also scheduled to appear on the CNN show is Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican who imposed restrictive measures in the state before many of his Republican colleagues, becoming the first to close schools. The number of new daily cases in the state is down from its peak and has plateaued. Now, as Mr. DeWine looks to reopen the state, he has also chastised those seeking to get ahead of the state orders.
After The Columbus Dispatch published pictures of people crowded together at a restaurant patio, a spokesman for the governor condemned those who were disregarding safety guidelines, even as he noted that, beginning on Friday, restaurants and bars will be able to serve customers at tables outside.
Mr. Polis is not the first leader to do so, but there was pressure to make the process easier in Colorado amid the pandemic, as several big policy options may appear on the ballot in November, including a proposal for paid family leave and several tax measures, according to The Denver Post.
The federal government said this month that it would borrow a record-breaking $3 trillion from April to June to help businesses and workers get through the coronavirus-induced recession.
Running such a large deficit would have been politically untenable a year ago. Since the end of World War II, economists have warned that doing so would risk runaway inflation and possibly unsustainable tax increases on future generations. But now, even some of the United States most ardent deficit hawks have watched the debt pile up and said, More, please.
Economists have pressed for additional aid to small businesses, enhanced unemployment benefits for workers, and more assistance for state and local governments that have seen a steep falloff in tax revenue and have laid off one million workers.
Such spending, they say, would hasten a rebound in economic growth and help save businesses that might otherwise fail, generating a return to the economy that exceeds the relatively low future interest costs incurred by prolific borrowing.
Deficit critics still exist. Republican leaders in the Senate have cited debt concerns as a reason to move slowly on a new package of economic assistance amid the pandemic. But there is little argument among either conservative or liberal economists that the deficit needs to grow, as tax revenues fall and spending needs rise amid a pandemic that has shuttered business activity and thrown at least 20 million people out of work.
Any sensible policy is going to have us racking up the deficit for a long time, if you can, said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economist whose work on government debt and economic growth was frequently cited by lawmakers pushing rapid deficit reduction under President Barack Obama.
If we go up another $10 trillion, he said, I wouldnt even blink at that now.
Medical workers have been celebrated for their commitment to treating coronavirus patients. But even as applause to honor them swells nightly from city windows, and cookies and thank-you notes arrive at hospitals, many doctors, nurses and emergency responders are battling a crushing sense of inadequacy and anxiety.
Every day, they become more susceptible to post-traumatic stress, mental health experts say. And their psychological struggles could impede their ability to continue working with the intensity and focus that their jobs require.
Although the causes for the suicides last month of Dr. Lorna M. Breen, the medical director of the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, and John Mondello, a New York emergency medical technician, are unknown, the deaths served as a wake-up call about the mental health of medical workers. Even before the pandemic, their professions were pockmarked with burnout and even suicide.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization issued a report about the pandemics impact on mental health, highlighting health care workers as vulnerable. Recent studies of medical workers in China, Canada and Italy who treated Covid-19 patients found soaring rates of anxiety, depression and insomnia.
Physicians are often very self-reliant and may not easily ask for help said Dr. Chantal Brazeau, a psychiatrist at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. In this time of crisis, with high workload and many uncertainties, this trait can add to the load that they carry internally.
The isolation and close quarters of life under lockdown have shifted the balance in relationships between spouses and partners, employees and bosses, children and parents, students and teachers.
Add to this list a classification of people who typically spend years fighting for resources and turf while seeking to coexist in forced proximity.
We are talking about siblings.
The new reality for brothers and sisters is that they must spend much of their time together, in the absence of friends, school peers or teammates.
Parents say that long days at home are peppered with arguments, but it isnt just that. Plenty of families are also noticing a positive development on the new home front: the redefining and even deepening of sibling relationships.
A day after several New York regions were cleared to begin reopening, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said this weekend that horse racing tracks in the state, as well as the Watkins Glen International auto racing track, would be allowed to open without fans on June 1.
We can have economic activity without having a crowd thats great, Mr. Cuomo said in his daily briefing on Saturday. We can do that in this state. But no crowds, no fans.
With the coronaviruss grip on the region easing, Mr. Cuomos announcement paved the way for events to begin at tracks, including Belmont Park on Long Island, which hosts the Belmont Stakes. Watkins Glen International is an annual stop for NASCAR, which is set to resume its top series in South Carolina on Sunday.
The steps were announced as major indicators, such as new hospitalizations and virus-related deaths, continued to decline.
Across the Hudson River, Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey also announced reopening steps in preparation for the states beaches to reopen, with some restrictions, by Memorial Day weekend, along with those in New York, Connecticut and Delaware.
Mr. Murphy said that fishing charters and other boating rental services would be allowed to open Sunday, but that they must ensure social distancing and track customers in logs to help state officials with contract tracing, if necessary.
Mr. Murphy also announced the approval of $1.4 billion in federal funding for the New Jersey Transit system, which has taken an enormous financial hit during the shutdown. I cannot overstate how vital this funding is, Mr. Murphy said.
There were 115 new coronavirus deaths reported on Saturday in the state, bringing the total to 10,249.
As both states looked ahead to plot ways for residents to enjoy the summer without a surge in virus cases, police officers in New York City continued to work to control crowds during a warm weekend, temporarily closing the entrance to the popular Sheep Meadow in Central Park after the area became crowded.
Driving is picking up a little. Refineries in China are buying more oil. Saudi Arabia and Russia ended their price war and slashed production, and U.S. oil companies are decommissioning rigs and shutting wells.
All of those developments helped push up oil prices modestly in recent weeks just enough for some of the best oil wells in the United States to break even, and what may seem like a minor miracle given that the price is more than $60 above where it was about a month ago.
May, it seems, is a month when traders can finally sit back more comfortably for a moment and take a breath, said Bjornar Tonhaugen, the head of oil market research at Rystad Energy, a research and consulting firm. But we warn that the second half of the year will not be met with precrisis oil prices again.
Even after the rally, oil prices are roughly half of what they were at the start of the year. And the average price for regular gasoline in the United States is 99 cents a gallon less than it was a year ago, according to AAA.
Energy experts say that oil prices may dip again if there is another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. Prices could also fall when tankers filled with more than 50 million barrels of crude oil from Saudi Arabia reach the United States in the next two months.
But there are signs that demand for petroleum products is beginning to rise again, especially the demand for gasoline.
Technical glitches during Advanced Placement online exams are the latest problem that high school students have confronted as they navigate testing, college applications and college visits remotely during the pandemic adding stress to a process that is anxiety-inducing even under the best of circumstances.
The College Board, a nonprofit organization that administers the A.P. exams, said that submission issues had affected under 1 percent of the roughly 2.2 million tests taken last week and that students would be able to retake the tests next month.
We share the deep disappointment of students who were unable to complete their exam whether for technical issues or other reasons, Zach Goldberg, a College Board spokesman, said in a statement. Were working to understand these students unique circumstances in advance of the June makeup exams.
The College Board said in March that it would administer digital versions of the A.P. exams, which can allow high school students to receive credit for introductory-level college courses.
The organization which also oversees the SAT, a standardized test that serves as a gateway to college for millions of applicants each year also said it would develop digital versions for students to take at home in the fall if social distancing continues to be necessary.
In summer resort towns across the United States, livelihoods for the year are built in the 15 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It is during those weeks that tourists arrive to bask on the beach and gather for festivals and weddings. It is also when associated tour operators, hoteliers, innkeepers, restaurant employees and others earn the bulk of their income.
But this year, with Memorial Day the kickoff for summer approaching next weekend, there will be fewer guests to welcome and likely no sizable weddings or festivals to host. Business owners in resort areas, from Cape Cod, Mass., to Lake Chelan, Wash., say that as the start of summer approaches, they are facing the difficult reality that little money will be made this year.
Between canceled trips and uncertainty about how willing and able people will be to travel once shelter-in-place rules are lifted, business owners say that even if summer travel starts late, it wont make up for losses already incurred.
For this weekend and Memorial Day weekend, everything has been canceled and we have zero income, said Barb Rishel, the owner of the Wellington Inn, a bed-and-breakfast in Traverse City, Mich. Its devastating. Its bleak.
Think smores, stars, the air mattress deflating with a cartoony hiss. Picture childrens faces, fire-lit and, for just another minute, little else. It could happen in farmland, suburbia or the Bronx and it could be lovely. In lieu of summer vacation, there are also ways to take a vacation at home.
Reporting was contributed by Mike Baker, Karen Barrow, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Jan Hoffman, Sheila Kaplan, Clifford Krauss, Michael Levenson, Tariro Mzezewa, Katherine Rosman, Andrea Salcedo, Hiroko Tabuchi and Jim Tankersley.
"When the hoarding started, my 30-day supply was in back order," said Thebarge. "The scenario really scared me, what would happen to me if I couldn't get HCQ?"
While the US seems to hold sway with its ally India in obtaining the finished product, there's a bigger issue earlier in the supply chain.
India gets around 68% of its raw materials -- known as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) -- from China. Any disruption in that supply chain can create a major problem, especially during a pandemic.
As scientists and pharmaceutical companies race to find an effective treatment and vaccine for Covid-19, there are fears the current vulnerabilities in the supply chain could expose the US -- and other countries -- to drug shortages, just when they need them most.
The US has pledged to "Buy American" drugs going forward, and Indian plans to ramp up its own API production, but will they be able to replace supplies from China during this pandemic -- or even the next?
Karan Singh, managing director of Indian pharmaceutical company ACG Worldwide, says the government realized its huge population was never going to be able to afford imported patented drugs, and needed to find a solution.
Indian companies excelled in reverse engineering big-name drugs and launched copycat versions -- legally. But it wasn't only India that wanted these products, and in the mid-1980s, regulatory changes opened up the US market more open to cheap copycat drugs, too.
Naturally, the pharmaceutical giants, which had invested millions of dollars in creating new drugs, pushed back, and in 1995 the World Trade Organization (WTO) introduced an agreement giving drug patents 20 years' protection -- and companies were given 10 years to comply.
The WTO conceded that member states could grant licenses to manufacturers to make generic versions of patented medicines needed to protect public health.
Now that company is working to reverse engineer three drugs being tested to fight Covid-19 -- Remdesivir, Favipiravir and Baloxavir. "Twenty years later we are again in the forefront here in India with regards to medicines necessary to combat Covid-19," said Dr Yusuf Hamied, chairman of Cipla.
Still, overcoming challenges from intellectual property rights is only half the story.
"(When) China shut down because of Covid-19, we got desperate," said Vinay Pinto, executive director at Wallace Pharma, one of the country's leading manufacturers of HCQ.
"We are still facing a lot of difficulty in getting imports from China," PC Mishra, director of India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in late April. "If we compare March 2020 and 2019, imports from China are down by 40%."
Jayasree Iyer, the executive director of Access to Medicine Foundation, a non-profit that analyzes pharmaceutical industries, says there is also a fear among pharma companies that they "may not have enough stocked-up APIs for their next set of commitments."
India used to have a thriving bulk drug and API industry, but when import restrictions were lifted in the early 1990s, its generic drug manufacturers began getting raw materials from China, where some APIs can cost up to 30% less, according to the CII-KPMG report.
"Large incentives were given by the Chinese government to Chinese pharmaceutical companies to set up large API plants," said Singh of ACG Worldwide. "Because of the sheer size and scale of these facilities they were able to leverage economies of scale to drive cost down."
There are now more than 7,000 API manufacturers in China compared to around 1,500 plants in India, where big players like Sun Pharma and Cipla are a rarity, according to the CII-KPMG report.
This is not the first time India's pharma sector has been affected by a slowdown in China.
After that, the Indian government explored the idea of building Mega Pharma Parks to produce APIs but the project was reportedly shelved due to a lack of financial assistance.
However, the most recent supply shortages have caused a rethink.
On March 21, the Indian government revived plans for Bulk Pharma Parks as part of a $1.3 billion package to boost domestic production of bulk drugs and exports.
It includes establishing three bulk drug parks with common infrastructure facilities and a production-linked incentive scheme to promote domestic production of 53 critical key starting materials, drug intermediates and APIs.
"This is a much-needed step, but we will have to see how it's implemented at state level. In the past we have faced immense challenges for environmental clearances or accessing finance," said Dr Kamal Vashi, Vice President of Mangalam Drugs and Organics, one of India's API manufacturing companies.
The United States, too, has recognized the need to become more self-sufficient.
Speaking about Trump's "Buy American" executive order, he said that after this pandemic, the American government would source essential medicines, medical supplies and equipment only from American companies.
The push to reduce the US's reliance on other countries for drugs has gained bipartisan support.
"India is the source of 24.5% of generic drugs sold in the US," she said. "This appears to suggest that we don't need to worry about generics coming from China. In fact, India is dramatically dependent on China for raw materials and chemical intermediates that are used to make active pharmaceutical ingredients."
In short, the US will only not be reliant on China if it cuts ties with India, too.
Nicole Longo, public affairs director at pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA, says US plans to move all pharmaceutical manufacturing onshore vastly "underestimate the significant time, resources and other feasibility challenges and complexities involved."
"They also ignore the strength of a robust and geographically diverse global supply chain," she added.
Indian pharmaceutical companies say it will take time to build up their API production capacity -- and reduce their reliance on China.
"Covid-19 has been an eye opener," said Dinesh Dua, Chairman of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil). "The government has done more in the past few weeks than what it has done in the past few years. But even if we start now, it will take us at least 10 years to end our dependency on China."
Philippe Andre, who audits pharmaceutical companies' manufacturing practices in China, endorses a more collaborative approach. "The solution would have to be international, through some sort of system where the producer countries would have to ensure they have sufficient capacity to continue supplying the world during a crisis," he said.
For now, India appears to have little choice but to rely on China for the majority of its APIs -- and the US to rely on India for the majority of its drugs. The true test of that supply chain will will come when -- or perhaps if -- scientists find a treatment or vaccine for Covid-19.
Horse racing tracks in New York can open in June, Cuomo says.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Saturday said the state would allow horse racing tracks and the Watkins Glen International auto racing track to open without fans on June 1, opening the door for televised events at those venues.
We can have economic activity without having a crowd, thats great, Mr. Cuomo said. We can do that in this state. But no crowds, no fans.
Remember, the problem here are crowds and gatherings, he said.
With the coronaviruss grip on the region easing, Mr. Cuomos announcement paved the way for events to begin at tracks, including Belmont Park on Long Island, which hosts the Belmont Stakes. Watkins Glen International is an annual stop for NASCAR, which is set to resume its top series in South Carolina on Sunday.
With warm weather arriving this weekend, New York City is again working to reduce crowds at parks in Brooklyn and Manhattan, including deploying police officers to limit access to the popular Sheep Meadow in Central Park, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
But the city would also reset its approach to enforcing social distancing, Mr. de Blasio said at his most recent daily briefing. Police officers would now focus on breaking up large gatherings, with the goal of avoiding giving summons, he said.
The Police Department would also no longer be asked to enforce orders requiring people to wear face coverings if they cannot properly social distance, Mr. de Blasio said.
Sheep Meadow slowly began to fill with people early Saturday afternoon, with sunny weather and temperatures in the mid-70s. By about 2 p.m., police officers had decided to temporarily close off the entrance to the grassy expanse, telling parkgoers that it was too full.
For New Yorkers, a refreshing dip at one of the citys storied beaches has long been a staple of summer and a vital source of relief from the heat.
But those beloved strips of sand will not be the same this summer.
While many beaches across the Northeast are set to open by Memorial Day weekend, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday that opening the citys 14 miles of public beaches by then was not in the cards, and that they would stay closed until officials were confident they could be used without a serious risk of beachgoers spreading the coronavirus.
The mayor warned that beach crowds could too easily violate strict social distancing rules, and another consideration is that the beaches are mostly accessible by bus and subway, where crowds of people could also spread the virus.
Coming up with a safe plan to eventually open the beaches is going to be a daunting task, said Henry A. Garrido, executive director of the municipal union District Council 37, which represents parks workers.
Youve had people cooped up for months and youre going to have more people than ever coming to the beach, he said. But there is a way to control the crowds.
The decision on the citys beaches, which can attract an estimated one million people on a hot day, drew criticism for how it might disproportionately affect New Yorkers who are unable to afford second homes, cars or even air conditioning.
Adrian Benepe, the citys parks commissioner from 2002 to 2012, said closing beaches wouldnt prevent everyone from dipping into the water on hot days.
People will do whatever it takes to get cool, Mr. Benepe said. And if you dont open the beaches in some modified manner, they will go there anyway, requiring much more expensive resources to keep them out of the water.
Fishing charters and other boating rental services can open for business on Sunday morning, Governor Philip D. Murphy announced on Saturday, further paving the way for the state to open the Jersey Shore.
The announcement came two days after Mr. Murphy signed an order allowing beaches, boardwalks and lakeshores to open by Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the busy season for beaches in the region.
Mr. Murphy said charters and boat rental shops must enforce social distancing and maintain customer logs to help state officials with contact tracing, if necessary.
As The New York Times follows the spread of the coronavirus across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, we need your help. We want to talk to doctors, nurses, lab technicians, respiratory therapists, emergency services workers, nursing home managers anyone who can share whats happening in the regions hospitals and other health care centers.
A reporter or editor may contact you. Your information will not be published without your consent.
Reporting was contributed by Maria Cramer, Corey Kilgannon, Andrea Salcedo, Edgar Sandoval and Alex Traub.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. More than 25,000 coronavirus tests administered by AdventHealth in Central Florida, which includes Volusia and Flagler counties, are not reliable, according to hospital officials.
AdventHealth had partnered with multiple third-party labs across multiple states to assist with the overwhelming demand for COVID-19 testing, according to a news release.
One of those labs, which was processing a significant number of public tests, has not been able to fulfill its obligation, according to the release. The name of the lab was not provided by hospital officials.
We take our responsibility to safeguard everyone who entrusts us with their care very seriously. Weve made significant investments to help minimize the spread of COVID-19 in Central Florida and will continue to stand beside our neighbors in these unprecedented times, said Daryl Tol, president and CEO of AdventHealths Central Florida Division in the release.
Teams across our organization are working around-the-clock to remedy the situation. We will continue to lead, innovate and care for those impacted by COVID-19. We remain committed to our purpose of providing whole-person and whole-community health.
Now, more than 25,000 people throughout Central Florida will either not receive a result for their COVID-19 test or be notified that their test result is not reliable, according to the release. AdventHealth has terminated its contract with this lab and we share in the disappointment and frustration this situation has created, the news release stated. "We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and uncertainty it has caused.
AdventHealth is working to notify and appropriately accommodate those who have been impacted by phone or letter.
Those whose samples were processed, and whose results provided by the lab are not deemed reliable, will need to be retested. Those who tested positive will need to be retested for COVID-19. Those who tested negative but have symptoms need to seek care and be retested. Those who tested negative but do not show any symptoms will be offered retesting if its available, according to the release.
For those whose samples are at the lab, and are part of the backlog will not receive a test result. Those who are symptomatic will need to be retested, according to the release.
AdventHealth has directed the lab to destroy the samples.
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More than 500 additional Wisconsinites have tested positive for coronavirus, the largest single-day increase in cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic.
The 502 new cases reported Saturday by the Department of Health Services came from a round of 6,051COVID-19 tests that were processed.The percent of new tests that were positive for the virus was 8.3% slightly higher than the average of around 6% from the previous six days.
This latest round of tests brings Wisconsin's total number of confirmed cases to12,187, according to DHS. More than 134,200 people have tested negative for coronavirus as of Saturdayand 453 people have died, eight more than reported Friday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,018 people have been hospitalized, which is around 17% of all positive cases. As of Saturday morning, 361patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to theWisconsin Hospital Association.Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, 182 are in the intensive care unit.
LIVE UPDATES:The latest on coronavirus in Wisconsin
DAILY DIGEST:What you need to know about coronavirus in Wisconsin
Langlade and Taylor countiesare the only two of the 72 Wisconsin counties that have not had a confirmed case of coronavirus.The state's count of confirmed cases by county stood as follows Saturday:
Note that the state's totals are frozen once each day, and that some counties may have reported more up-to-date counts.
Globally, there have been nearly 4.6 million cases of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. About 1.4 million of those cases are from the United States. As of Saturday inthe U.S., 88,200 people have died.
Contact Natalie Brophy at (715) 216-5452 or nbrophy@gannett.com. Followher on Twitter @brophy_natalie.
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Dr. Ray Lorenzoni is in his second year of a pediatric cardiology fellowship at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. In March, he was recruited to treat adult COVID-19 patients during New York City's peak. Elias Williams for NPR hide caption
Dr. Ray Lorenzoni is in his second year of a pediatric cardiology fellowship at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. In March, he was recruited to treat adult COVID-19 patients during New York City's peak.
On the night of March 30, just before 7 p.m., Dr. Ray Lorenzoni put on his face mask, walked across the street from the Bronx apartment he shares with his wife and started his shift at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center.
Lorenzoni, 35, is in his second year of a pediatric cardiology fellowship at the hospital. But this night, the patients would be different: It was his first shift treating adult coronavirus patients the first adults he's treated in the hospital since medical school six years before.
"Coming into the hospital, it was a little bit unreal," he says. "The whole floor was filled with adult patients."
By then, COVID-19 cases systemwide at Montefiore Medical Center had gone from just two cases a little over two weeks earlier to more than 700. In response, Montefiore transformed part of the children's hospital into a 40-bed adult COVID unit. All around the city, other hospitals were making similar adjustments. Medical students graduated early. Operating rooms were converted into ICUs. A field hospital went up in Central Park.
But the surge in New York City has done much more than simply rearrange space and upend protocol. More than 15,000 people have died of COVID-19 there, and that enormous toll will profoundly impact the city's tens of thousands of health care workers for years to come. Lorenzoni is one of them.
A little over a month ago, Lorenzoni answered a request from NPR for hospital workers to describe what work was like at the epicenter of the crisis. Lorenzoni began recording his reflections for NPR after his shifts, sitting at the desk in his bedroom, speaking into his iPhone in a slow, measured voice.
Just a few weeks earlier, Lorenzoni had watched along with many other Americans how the Italian medical system had been brought to its knees. It seemed likely it was only a matter of when, not if, the coronavirus would arrive in the U.S. And of course, by then, it already had.
"I knew I could be involved because of what happened in Italy," Lorenzoni says, and adds, "a pediatric physician needing to take care of critical adult patients is unheard of."
Still, he was surprised he was recruited so early.
"They filled us up pretty quickly and the patients were very sick. I remember in the first couple shifts we were putting breathing tubes in patients on a floor that doesn't usually do that," he says.
Treating adults hit him hard, he says. He's used to working with kids.
"Pediatrics is a career where most of your patients get better," he says. "But these were very with-it adults who were scared. They knew what the risk was."
It felt important to him, he says, to be honest about what was happening, even when the news wasn't good.
"One of my main mantras is to sit down with somebody. And that was very tough in this environment because our protective equipment didn't surround us," he says. "So we were discouraged from sitting down on the bed next to a patient to have a deep discussion or sitting down in a chair and being at eye level with the patient."
Instead, he says he would do his best to give his patient a sense of comfort by leaning against the wall, trying not to stand over or talk down to them.
"I think patients can see right through a physician when they try to dance around a difficult conversation," he says. "You can be honest with a person and they appreciate that honesty."
One patient, a man in his mid-forties, kept asking how bad his condition was. As the man's health deteriorated, Lorenzoni was open with him, aware that those hard conversations like what it means to be put on a ventilator are sometimes the last a patient will ever have.
"I remember that he asked me, 'doc, I know I'm not getting better, what else can we do?' and unfortunately I had to answer that we'd been doing everything we could. And he broke down. And I broke down a little bit in tears," he says.
Dr. Ray Lorenzoni, a pediatrician in the Bronx, answered a request from NPR and captured his experiences treating adult COVID-19 patients during New York City's peak in a series of audio recordings. Elias Williams for NPR hide caption
Dr. Ray Lorenzoni, a pediatrician in the Bronx, answered a request from NPR and captured his experiences treating adult COVID-19 patients during New York City's peak in a series of audio recordings.
In his recordings, Lorenzoni lingered on the quieter moments. He spoke about why it was important to take time with his patients, especially because visitors were not allowed. One woman, in her early 30s, often wanted staff to check in on her, beyond the usual rounds that doctors and nurses make.
"I feel like she knew she wasn't doing well, and she wanted the company," Lorenzoni says.
When he would leave for the day, he'd check in on her to make sure she was okay, but he worried that she would take a turn for the worse by the time he returned.
Eventually, that's what happened. She needed to be placed on a ventilator to breathe.
"One of the things I remember before the breathing tube was placed was simply sitting by her side and telling her what was going to happen. And what we could and couldn't do to help," he remembers. "She was scared about how little control she had or even the doctors had in how she did."
Lorenzoni transferred her to an ICU, an operating room that had been converted. His shift was ending, and he signed out his other patients, but he stayed on to be with this one during the intubation.
"When her body didn't respond well to that, because it was so weak, I was there doing chest compressions on her," he says. "And I signed her death certificate afterwards. It was a tough day."
She was the first of his patients to die.
"Although she passed away without her family by her side, she wasn't alone," he says. "I hope that even this small amount of company that she had at the end was comforting for her. And it's going to be one of the things that sticks with me for the rest of my career."
Many of the people who have died from COVID-19 in New York had underlying health conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, and that's true in Lorenzoni's experience as well. But he says conditions that put someone at a higher risk are much more common than people realize.
"These are people that we know. These are people that we're related to," he says. "It's either yourself, or your neighbor, or people that you work with."
Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 have been decreasing for a few weeks now in New York, and Lorenzoni is back on pediatrics. It's a welcome relief for now, but he says if there's another surge, he could be called back.
Recommendations on how to protect ourselves from contracting the virus that causes COVID-19 are everywhere, like washing your hands, wearing a mask, and staying at least 6 feet away from people outside your home. But not all risks are created equal; home, public transportation and the grocery store all have different challenges.
A blog post by University of Massachusetts Dartmouth professor, Dr. Erin Bromage, who studies immunity of infectious diseases in animals, titled "The Risks - Know Them - Avoid Them" garnered major attention for showing that some of the highest risk areas may not be what you'd expect.
A cashier wearing a face shield bags groceries for a customer at the Local Market Foods store in Chicago, April, 8, 2020.
A lot of attention is being spent on opening up the economy, but it seems like the highest risk is more likely your own living room.
The data suggests that most people will get infected in their home, according to Bromage.
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So where are the highest risk areas in the community for getting infected?
"The general theme of what I can see is, lots of people together in an enclosed environment with poor airflow and usually some sort of talking or singing involved leads to lots of people in that environment getting infected," said Bromage, in an interview with ABC News.
Case studies that traced back COVID-19 outbreaks at the beginning of the pandemic, have found that the main sources of infections in the community lead back to the workplace, public transportation, social gatherings, and restaurants indoor environments, with limited air circulation, and many people spending a prolonged period of time in the same place.
Some of the biggest outbreaks, excluding nursing homes, in fact, that have been reported and traced occurred in prisons, religious ceremonies, choir practices, indoor sporting events, and even birthday parties.
"You've got a lot of people in an enclosed space with lots of huffing, puffing, or yelling, which just led to large outbreak events," Bromage said.
Being exposed to the virus does not automatically mean you will be infected. A successful infection is dependent on the time exposed to the virus and the amount of viral particles you are exposed to. For example, "While joggers may be releasing more virus due to deep breathing, remember the exposure time is also less due to their speed," Bromage writes.
Scientists call the amount of exposure to the virus that leads to infection the "infectious dose." Although scientists are still learning more about how many viral particles lead to infection, they do know that sneezing and coughing release the highest amount of viral material into the air, and you're more likely to become infected if you're in a confined space.
A masked grocery store worker in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood with one of the city's largest Mexican and Hispanic community, organize shopping carts while people waiting to enter the store, May 5, 2020, in New York City.
A single sneeze, according to Bromage, has been estimated to release about 30,000 droplets that can travel up to 200 miles per hour, which means it could easily cross a room. A cough releases round 3,000 droplets that can travel around 50 miles per hour. These particles may drop to the ground or could hang around in the air for a short period of time.
In fact, a recently published study showed that speaking loudly in an enclosed space creates "substantial" risk of transmitting the virus to others. Prolonged contact and lots of direct talking, breathing, and yelling between individuals increases the direct exposure to viral particles, which increases the likelihood for infection.
The amount of virus a person release changes over the course of the infection and varies by person. This is dependent on the infected persons' viral load, which is the amount of the virus detected in a test sample from a patient and reflects how well the virus is replicating.
Many people are asymptomatic and may easily spread the virus, unknowingly, by directly talking, singing, yelling, or even breathing around other people in close contact. This is why the CDC advises that everyone wear face coverings in public.
Bromage underscores that the exact number of people infected by respiratory droplets versus transmission through touching contaminated objects like door handles and elevator buttons is unknown, which is why it's also important to wash your hands often and avoid touching your face. But the compilation of studies he wrote, "serves to highlight that being in an enclosed space, sharing the same air for a prolonged period increases your chances of exposure and infection."
In very high-risk situations, social distancing guidelines are not as effective because even if you are far away from an infected individual in a small, poorly ventilated enclosed space for a long period of time, a low dose of the virus in the air can reach you and over a sustained period of time may be enough to cause infection.
Bromage said that the activities many typically view as highest risk for infection like grocery shopping might not be as risky if you're spending a brief amount of time at the store, you're avoiding other shoppers, not speaking directly with people, and the store restricts the number of people that can enter at a given time.
Public bathrooms may also pose a risk, but for slightly different reasons, said Bromage. Bathrooms have a lot of high touch surfaces like door handles, faucets, and countertops.
So far, the science seems to suggest that outdoor areas and large ventilated spaces are the lowest risk areas for infection. Outdoor areas are generally safer because wind and infinite air space could dilute the viral particles circulating. If you are actively moving outside that also reduces the exposure time to any viral particles hanging around.
With restrictions lifted in some states, many Americans will face a new challenge: "Just because something is open doesn't mean it is an instruction to go," said Dr. Andrew Noymer, associate professor of population health at UC Irvine.
Before you put yourself in a high-risk situation, Bromage suggests asking yourself, "Are there too many people here and how much time have they spent here? Are there loud talkers? Singing or yelling? What's the amount of people in my area that actually are infected?" If you are in an environment with a lot of people, you should also assess what changes the business owner put in place to lower the risk of virus spreading.
If you choose to meet other people, you should also consider their level of exposure and health status. Ask your friends or family where they have been, how often they go to the store and whether they have been staying home, suggests Dr. Henry Raymond, epidemiologist and associate professor at Rutgers University.
"It's not just about your health but about the health of those people around you," Raymond said.
If you know your friend or relative has underlying health conditions or is at an increased risk of developing severe symptoms due to a weaker immune system you should take extra precautions to avoid exposing them to the virus. If your state permits social gatherings and you decide to meet up, keep it to a small group and make it safe as possible by staying outside, Raymond said. Agree on some ground rules, such as: "We don't shake hands, we bring our own food, we space the chair out at least 6 feet away."
"The best course of action is to be personally cautious and personally responsible. We don't have a vaccine. But we do have social distancing and masks," said Raymond.
Eden David, who's studying neuroscience at Columbia University and is matriculating to medical school later this year, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday granted emergency clearance for a coronavirus testing kit that will enable individuals to take a nasal sample at home and send it to a laboratory for diagnostic testing, the second such approval it has made.
Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the agencys Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement that the new test not only provides increased patient access to tests, but also protects others from potential exposure. Health care workers can risk infection when they administer diagnostic tests.
The kit, made by Everlywell, will contain a swab for individuals to use to take a sample from inside the nostrils, and a tube filled with a saline solution to put it in for sending to one of two private lab companies: Fulgent Therapeutics or Assurance Scientific Laboratories. The company plans to partner with additional laboratories.
Some public health researchers have warned that at-home nasal swab tests can be less accurate than the specimen collection performed by health care providers, which involves inserting a long nasal swab through the nose into the back of the throat.
Christina Song, an Everlywell spokeswoman, said consumers will first take an online screening survey to determine whether they meet federal guidelines for the test. The survey will be reviewed quickly by health care providers affiliated with PWNHealth, the companys telemedicine partner. If a consumer qualifies for the test, one will be shipped out immediately.
From the moment that you hit the order button, to the moment that you get the test results on your phone or device, that process is designed to take three to five days, Ms. Song said.
The test kits will be available later this month, according to Ms. Song, and will cost $135.
In announcing its authorization for the Everlywell testing kit, the F.D.A. said the company had leveraged data from studies supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and UnitedHealth Group to show that the specimens would stay stable during shipping.
Everlywell makes a variety of products that individuals can buy online or in stores, among them at-home test kits for diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases and high cholesterol.
Some of the companys products, such as those purporting to test for food sensitivities, have come under criticism. Everlywell was also one of several businesses that drew attention from members of Congress in March for entering the market for coronavirus test kits in March without F.D.A. approval.
Everlywell, which had promoted its at-home kit as a consumer product, said in a statement at the time that it had not sold any of the kits to consumers, but was providing the test materials at cost to hospitals and health care organizations who can commit to providing the test for free to their workers and patients.
The F.D.A.s announcement on Saturday follows other recent emergency use authorizations for coronavirus testing kits that also permit individuals to take samples at home. One, sold by LabCorp, also uses a nasal swab to collect a sample, which is then sent to the lab. The other, developed by a Rutgers University laboratory, called RUCDR Infinite Biologics, in partnership with Spectrum Solutions and Accurate Diagnostic Labs, is for collecting a saliva sample.
More than 700 new coronavirus cases were reported in the Amarillo region Saturday, as results from targeted testing at meatpacking plants came in.
According to the office of the governor, a surge response team was deployed in Amarillo on May 4 to survey high-risk locations and test workers at meatpacking plants. The Texas Panhandle, where a workforce of Hispanics and immigrants power several meatpacking plants, is home to the highest rates of infection in the state.
"As Texas continues ramping up its testing capabilities, there will be an increase in positive cases as the state targets the most high-risk areas: nursing homes, meatpacking plants and jails," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. "By immediately deploying resources and supplies to these high risk areas, we will identify the positive cases, isolate the individuals and ensure any outbreak is quickly contained."
In a press release Saturday, the governors office indicated plants with widespread outbreaks have temporarily shut down for thorough disinfection.
At a Tyson Foods plant just outside of Amarillo, all 3,587 employees were tested, according to High Plains Public Radio. The plant is undergoing additional sanitation and cleaning during the weekend and plans to operate on Monday, according to the company.
The Amarillo region includes two counties. Potter County reported 618 new cases on Saturday bringing its total to 2,080, while Randall County reported 116 new cases for a total of 593. Moore County, which has the highest rate of cases per 1,000 residents in Texas and is north of Amarillo, added 4 new cases on Saturday. In total, the three counties accounted for 738 of the 1,801 new cases reported on Saturday.
Across the country, the coronavirus has spread easily in meatpacking plants, where workers typically stand shoulder to shoulder on fast-moving butchering lines. More than a dozen have been forced to shut down temporarily after surges in infections and deaths tied to those facilities. The processing plants, including those in Texas, have scrambled to ramp up health and safety precautions, providing masks and eye protection to workers and placing plastic dividers in some areas.
In Moore County, a JBS Beef plant has seen several cases and one death. On Wednesday, the company reversed course and accepted the offer from the state to test employees in their facilities.
Workers at JBS and family members of JBS employees who have been infected previously told The Texas Tribune that plant management was slow to acknowledge when workers began testing positive, and those who come in contact with the sick are not always informed of their exposure.
Alexa Ura contributed to this report.
