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The Time Lord has come in the form of Peter Capaldi, so Joanna and Mal are here to dive deep into the era of the twelfth Doctor. They cover Seasons 8 through 10 of the beloved BBC series in Part 5 of their Doctor Who Viewing Guide (8:43).
Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson
Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga
Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal
Social: Jomi Adeniran
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Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are back, and this time, they’re joined by the hosts of Who? Weekly, Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger. The quartet discusses Spencer’s upcoming turn on House of Villains (27:00), the ongoing Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce relationship (32:39), and celebrity Halloween costumes (46:01).
Hosts: Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag
Guests: Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger
Producers: Chelsea Stark-Jones, Amelia Wedemeyer, Aleya Zenieris, and Jonathan Kermah
Theme: Heidi Montag
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A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has put epidemiologists around the world on alert, and the World Health Organization is asking countries to sustain early warning, surveillance and reporting systems as it works to evaluate the current COVID-19 risk level.
The BA.2.86 variant, which was first detected in Israel, was designated a new variant under monitoring by the WHO on Aug. 17, after the agency received nine sequences from five countries — three in the WHO’s European Region, one in the African Region and one in the Region of the Americas.
The variant has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein compared with the XBB variants that are currently dominant in the U.S. and around the world, namely XBB.1.16 and EG.5, which has been dubbed Eris, following the Greek-alphabet designation used for other variants.
The WHO made EG.5 a variant of interest, or VOI, earlier this month, which is an upgrade from the designation of variant under monitoring, or VUM.
But BA.2.86 is worrying experts because there is too little data to assess its potential impact.
“It is crucial to sustain early warning, surveillance and reporting, variant
tracking, early clinical care provision, administration of vaccine boosters to high-risk groups, improvements in ventilation, and regular communication,” the agency said in its latest weekly update.
That update, which reviews the state of the virus for the 28-day period through Aug. 20, contains no data from the WHO’s Region of the Americas, as reports for the period were incomplete. That’s a worry that the WHO has consistently warned about as countries pull back on their monitoring of the illness as they seek to put the pandemic behind them.
The WHO officially declared the emergency phase of the pandemic to be over on May 5 but emphasized that COVID remains a major threat. Many countries have dismantled much of their systems of oversight and greatly reduced testing and data measurement.
See also: New ‘Eris’ COVID variant is dominant in the U.S., but a shortage of data is making it hard to track
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered an update this week on BA.2.86 — which it said has been detected in Denmark, South Africa, Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. — and said the multiple locations are a sign of international transmission. The CDC acknowledged the surveillance challenge.
“Notably, the amount of genomic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 globally has declined substantially from previous years, meaning more variants may emerge and spread undetected for longer periods of time,” the U.S. agency said in its update.
The CDC also noted a current increase in hospitalizations in the U.S., although it said that’s not likely driven by the BA.2.86 variant.
“It is too soon to know whether this variant might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants,” said the CDC.
Perhaps the bigger issue is whether the new variant has greater escape from existing immunity from vaccines and previous infections, compared with other recent variants.
“One analysis of mutations suggests the difference may be as large as or greater than that between BA.2 and XBB.1.5, which circulated nearly a year apart,” the CDC said. “However, virus samples are not yet broadly available for more reliable laboratory testing of antibodies, and it is too soon to know the real-world impacts on immunity.”
Americans gearing up for what’s expected to be an annual COVID vaccine booster this fall can be confident those vaccines will be designed to protect against all subvariants of XBB, including Eris, the agency said.
The CDC said it’s likely that antibodies built up in the population through infection, vaccination or both will provide protection against BA.2.86. However, it said, “this is an area of ongoing scientific investigation.”
Eric Topol, the chair of innovative medicine at Scripps Research in La Jolla, Calif., said the ability to neutralize the virus depends on the levels of neutralizing antibodies, and those are bound to be lower against BA.2.86 than earlier variants that people have been exposed to or immunized against.
“Also to note, the burden of new mutations for BA.2.86 is not confined to the spike and is seen broadly across other components of the virus,” he wrote in commentary this week. “If BA.2.86 takes off, it will be a real test of how good our T-cell response can rev up to meet the challenge.”
Meanwhile, the CDC’s weekly projections for where Eris and other variants are circulating continue to be hampered by a shortage of data. In early August, the CDC said it would unable to publish its “Nowcast” projections because it did not have enough sequences to update the estimates.
“Because Nowcast is modeled data, we need a certain number of sequences to accurately predict proportions in the present,” CDC representative Kathleen Conley told MarketWatch at the time.
The agency had received data from just three U.S. regions. In its most recent weekly update for the week through Aug. 19, it also got data from just three regions.
Separately, the CDC reported a 21.6% increase in U.S. hospitalizations for COVID in the week through Aug. 12. Deaths rose 21.4% in the week through Aug. 19.
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The World Health Organization has upgraded COVID-19 variant EG.5 to a variant of interest, or VOI, from a variant under monitoring, or VUM, as it continues to become more prevalent around the world.
The variant — which has been nicknamed Eris by some media, following the Greek-alphabet designation used for other variants — has been found in 51 countries, with most sequences, 30.6%, stemming from China, said the WHO.
Other countries that have submitted at least 100 sequences to a central database include the U.S., the Republic of Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Spain, the WHO said in a statement.
Eris is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2, which is an omicron subvariant. It was first detected on Feb. 17 and designated as a VUM on July 19.
Its latest designation means it’s more prevalent than it was, has a growth advantage over earlier variants and merits closer monitoring and tracking.
Here’s what you need to know about Eris.
The strain is increasing in global prevalence, accounting for 17.4% of cases sequenced in the week through July 23, up from 7.6% four weeks earlier. The WHO has been tracking COVID data on a 28-day basis, largely because countries have cut back on testing and surveillance as they emerge from the pandemic, meaning the agency has far less data than it did during the pandemic.
Eris has become dominant in the U.S., according to projections made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although a shortage of data is hampering the agency’s efforts to surveil the illness.
The CDC said last week it was unable to publish its “nowcast” projections, which it releases every two weeks, for where EG.5 and other variants are circulating for every region, because it did not have enough sequences to update the estimates.
“Because nowcast is modeled data, we need a certain number of sequences to accurately predict proportions in the present,” CDC representative Kathleen Conley told MarketWatch.
“For some regions, we have limited numbers of sequences available and therefore are not displaying nowcast estimates in those regions, though those regions are still being used in the aggregated national nowcast,” she said.
It is estimated that EG.5, an omicron subvariant, accounted for 17.3% of COVID cases in the U.S. in the two-week period through Aug. 5. That was up from an estimated 11.9% in the previous period and was more than any other variant.
For more, see: New Eris COVID variant is dominant in the U.S., but a shortage of data is making it hard to track
The public-health risk is deemed to be low at the global level, lining up with the risk posed by XBB.1.16 and other currently circulating VOIs, according to the WHO statement. But it’s likely more infectious.
“While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date,” said the WHO.
That growth advantage and immune-escape properties mean Eris may cause a rise in case incidence over time and become dominant in some countries or even the world, according to the WHO.
The Eris variant causes the same symptoms as seen with other strains of COVID, such as sore throat, runny nose, cough, congestion, fever, fatigue, body aches and a possible loss of taste or smell.
Like earlier strains of COVID, the best protection is to be vaccinated with any of the vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
and German partner BioNTech SE
BNTX,
Moderna Inc.
MRNA,
or Novavax Inc.
NVAX,
The vaccines that will be made available in the fall will be designed to protect against all subvariants of XBB, including Eris.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is definitively over, according to two recent reports focused on the same metric.
That metric is excess deaths, a measure of the difference between the number of deaths that occurred through the pandemic years, beginning in March 2020, and the number that would be expected in a nonpandemic year, based on data from earlier years.
At…
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Few people are better suited to design clothes for “Harlem” than Deirdra Govan. Raised in Houston by way of Louisiana, Govan first planted roots in the Manhattan neighborhood in 1989. Since 1994, she has been in the entertainment business after earning degrees from both Pratt and Parsons, initially working in wardrobe on Broadway.
“Through that work, I started as a dresser,” said Govan. “I had an opportunity to costume an opera overseas, which was ‘Porgy and Bess,’ George and Ira Gershwin’s famous opera. Then I got a call to come back to the U.S. to do a TV series as a set costumer, and that TV series was ‘New York Undercover.’ That literally changed the trajectory of my career.”
In 2002, she embarked on her journey as a costume designer. Govan’s resume has since expanded to include titles such as “First Wives Club” and “The L Word: Generation Q,” and films such as “Sorry to Bother You,” “The Sun Is Also A Star” and more. As an adolescent, she always knew she wanted to be a visual creator, but her interest in clothes was piqued by storytelling and her “natural curiosity of the world.”
Through Tracy Oliver’s comedy series on Prime Video, Govan uses costumes to craft a vision of today’s modern Harlem woman: her highs and lows, the personal and professional, and more. Starring Meagan Good, Jerrie Johnson, Grace Byers, and Shoniqua Shandai, “Harlem” follows a group of four ambitious best friends in New York City as they navigate their departure from their late 20s into the next phase of career, life, love and relationships.
Govan said, “For me, ‘Harlem’ is deeply personal. It’s a dream show for me. I was truly honored that Tracy brought me along, she trusted me, and she had faith in me to really carry out this vision. It was important for me to have a hand in telling these stories because as women of color, we are not myopic.”
For Who’s Behind the Clothes, Govan talked to HuffPost about the hallmark fashion moments in Season 2, why she sought to spotlight small brands and how she retained the authenticity of the neighborhood and the characters’ unique style this time around.
Matt Winkelmeyer via Getty Images
What was it like getting the opportunity to costume design on “Harlem,” a series that people have compared to “Girlfriends,” “Insecure” and even dubbed a Black version of “Sex And the City?” All of those shows have set a high bar when it comes to dressing women on television, but I imagine it’s a lot to live up to. How did you create a new path for “Harlem,” while also nailing the authenticity of the neighborhood and its unique style?
Well, it’s a multifold answer. I have a longstanding, incredible working relationship with Tracy Oliver. I did “First Wives Club” Season 1 for her. I also designed “The Sun Is Also a Star” with Yara Shahidi of which [Oliver] was also executive producer. She and I just hit it off, and we just kept the relationship going. She told me about the project and I was really excited. Then when it was ready to go, she circled back to me and the rest is history.
I designed Season 1 and I felt completely and utterly in tune with these women because I was a former Harlem resident for many, many years. I did a lot of time in Harlem, because not only was I a resident, I was very active in a lot of the resurgence and rebirth of restaurants and galleries, and I served on community boards. I was just deeply embedded in the community and the transition that was happening in Harlem. I had designed two restaurants already, just had so many connections and friends, and literally knew what that lifestyle was like, not just in Harlem, per se, but globally. A lot of my friends, we lived in Harlem, but we had lived all over the world, so we were bringing our experiences and giving Harlem a new life, so to speak.
“I think in creating anything that’s of value, you put your soul in it. And I put a lot of my soul in ‘Harlem.’ I get emotional talking about it.”
I was just very excited personally because for a long time, being a woman of color, you yearn to see your stories on the screen. Like everyone else who’s spoken about “Harlem” before, they look at it and they go, “OK, this is the Black ‘Sex and the City,’ or this is a diverse, multicultural ‘Sex and the City.’” I tend to look at it where the timing was right for the show, and I feel that “Girlfriends” and “Insecure” really set the bar and paved the way for what the show is and what it means to its viewers. I was very happy in having a hand in creating these characters and really understanding these women, because so many of these personalities were personalities that I knew, that I was friends with or affiliated with in some way, shape or form.
But I also wanted to make sure when I was creating the look and the style of the show that I was not having a myopic point of view. I really wanted to show these women as multidimensional, as not perfect human beings, but they had a sense of self and they understood that they weren’t perfect and they had flaws. I wanted to really have a grounded aesthetic that was hyper-stylized, super stylish, but yet accessible to the audience that would be viewing the show. Setting that tone of aspirational was something that Tracy Oliver was very clear on from the very beginning. That’s what I wanted to achieve when we started Season 1 and that’s what I’ve carried on into Season 2.
Emily V Aragones/Prime Video
On the note of straddling the line between aspirational and accessible, in Season 2, I noticed the incorporation of Hanifa, a Black woman-owned label that has captured so many of our hearts. Tell me why it was important for you to feature smaller designers and Black designers in “Harlem.”
I fell in love with Hanifa during our COVID pandemic lockdown, when we were all home for months at a time. I discovered her because I am a digital geek, and I saw that she did an incredible fashion show in 3D and I’m a fan of that. I’m also very interested in it, the technology aspect of fashion, what that means and how it can transform our world, in addition to creating sustainable fashion and styles.
My impetus for the show wasn’t just to feature Black designers, but to feature designers that people really didn’t know that were just about to pop or on the verge. Or maybe a handful of people really knew but not everybody. I really wanted to just take advantage of that opportunity just to cast a diverse net of what the style of the characters would be this season, but I definitely had some favorites, and Hanifa was one of them. I think with the girls and their distinct personalities that I’ve really worked hard to create based upon what’s on the page, it was important that I aligned designers that made sense with their aesthetic, their styles that we created for the show.
How did you elevate each character’s style in comparison to Season 1? I noticed that Tye is in a lot of tracksuits, blazers and funky prints, but it’s more crisp and structured. Camille is very boho chic outside of the classroom, while Quinn is super femme, prim and proper in the way she dresses. Then, of course, Angie is the wild child who will put any and everything together in an ensemble. How did you hone in on each of their styles, and which designers did you gravitate towards for each?
Because I was so very clear in their identities and their style of what I created in Season 1, I really didn’t have to change anything dramatic. The change really takes place within their storylines, and you see their growth and development. Style is evolutionary. Of course, with any of them, there’s an evolution, then there’s some parts that are tailored back, but that is driven by the storyline. The storyline is my Bible and it’s what I follow, but I also make sure that I’m not boxed in. I want to make sure I have the freedom for these women to grow and make different choices that they may not have made in Season 1 based upon the place they are in their character.
Grace [Byers], for me, there’s an evolution of Grace. There’s something that happens to Grace [who plays Quinn] this season, and that is called out. There are some really risky, adventurous moments that really take hold and change her. You’ll see accents of black, you’ll see some metallic accents, you’ll see some things that you haven’t seen before — and that’s really harkening to where she is in the storyline.
Therein lies her love affair and what happens, and there is a part of Quinn that is becoming more mature and is understanding herself first. Whereas in Season 1, I played a lot with pearl button details, the pious coquettish, without being overtly coy in a way to where she’s clueless. The femininity took another turn [this season]. The femininity became a sexuality and sexual awareness that she owned, and a complete understanding of who she was and how she wanted to grow into her relationship. That’s really where I started with her, and a signature look is that the details of accents of black were very key to that.
Emily V Aragones/Prime Video
With Camille, it was pretty simple. She isn’t really in the classroom that much this season. It was really more pared back, but still very boho chic. I call her my mix of Annie Hall, Diane Keaton and Diana Ross mahogany. Vintage chic is what I created; that’s the baseline. I really didn’t deviate too much from that. I pretty much kept Camille, but I wanted to take some fashion risks with her. I tried to put her in things that you would never expect to see Camille in. I put her in Junya Watanabe, which is very, very fashion-forward. It’s like a blazer/capelet, then she has these incredible, sick Zimmerman silver metallic boots. It’s a risk, it’s not safe. The reason why I say that is because she is a professor; there is a mode of decorum that you have to have and a level of professional aesthetic that you need to maintain. For me, it was about kind of pushing the envelope with Camille this time in certain areas.
For Tye, I played a lot with Wales Bonner with her. That was a grounding look, that collection that she did was so amazing, and I just really, I just wanted to lean into that. The character Tye is still Tye. She’s still doing what she does best, which is to womanize and break hearts. She is unabashedly herself, and she makes no apologies. I didn’t really do too much with her, because I think I already laid the groundwork. For all of them, because we are working in a different season right now, that’s also a silhouette change: tank tops, bare skin, the sexy, the leg, the thigh. All of these things really needed to come into play, because we were really pushing the fact that we are in spring/summer, which is such a huge departure from where we started the series, which is fall/winter.
Angie is very interesting as well. There were some things that transpired with Angie in Season 1 and I really wanted to pay attention to make sure I gave her a clear continuity and showed her growth. We do see her still out there, far out, doing the most — always — but her choices are edgy and ultimately, quintessentially, Angie. There’s a lot of sparkle, there’s a lot of bling, over-the-top jewelry choices, accessories, makeup and everything. It’s a full-on attention-grabber. I think Angie really holds her own in that respect, but I wanted to just be very mindful not to make her look cartoonish. That was really important to me. I wanted to push it to where everybody is vibing at their same level, but no one is literally so far out in left field that you’re like, “Wait, what happened?” I just wanted to try and make sure that I had a balance with all of their looks for the season.
Emily V Aragones/Prime Video
In the trailer for Season 2, Quinn was in a really colorful, beaded look for Pride, which you designed yourself. How long did that assembly take for you, and what was the process?
Like Camille, pushing the envelope also happened with Grace because she did take a risk in Episode 5, which is our Pride episode. That look was completely out of my brain, and I built it for her. It was a week. I had five days. The whole look of that was inspired by Cher. I love Cher, and I was a huge fan of everything that Bob Mackie did for Cher. He was an incredible designer and costume designer. His fashions, his stage costumes that he created for Cher literally were the baseline of what I wanted to do with Quinn. But the forerunner for me? It was a mash-up of Cher and Grace Jones, because I am the ultimate Grace Jones fan. That’s really what inspired me. The hairpiece was inspired by a headpiece that Bob Mackie created for Cher for one of her shows many years ago. The catsuit was something that I was obsessed with [from] Grace Jones and the multitude of catsuits that she did.
Those were my muses when I designed Quinn’s look for Pride, and me being the invisible hand behind Quinn’s fashions, that was it. And it needed to be so ridiculously over-the-top, because she really wanted everybody to know, “Look, I’m here, and I’m queer.” I wanted to hit home with that. I had several iterations that I presented to our team and our showrunners, and that’s the one we settled on, and I ran with it. There was one iteration where I had shoulder feathers — big, over-the-top feathers — but I let the feathers go, and I had a beaded catsuit with a lattice bodice. It was fire, and Grace [Byers] pulled it off flawlessly. I mean, she looked stunning, and it just really delivered the message. I just loved everything that it said: the capelet to the bodysuit to the latticework, the bodice, the silver belt. Everything from head to toe — with the exception of the shoes and the handbag, which are by Kurt Geiger — they’re all custom. That’s everything that we built in the shop, and we did that in less than five days.
You also designed a stunning gown featured later in the season that Quinn wears for her coveted 73 Questions interview with Vogue. What was the reason behind that dress choice, the tones and the train?
That look is completely and utterly the simplistic moment of her fashion talent. This was an opportunity to really show what she could do and at the same time not deviate too much, but make her more heightened and more stylish and sexy. That outfit is an original design that I created, and it is my ode to New York. That outfit is everything that New York means to me. It is art deco-inspired, obviously by the Chrysler Building. The detailed work of the ruching is reminiscent of Mary McFadden and the pleated fabric that I used. It’s a raw silk jumpsuit and the bodice is pressed out, then the overlay, the top is meant to be like the tears at the top of the Chrysler Building. I just loved it so much. When I found that fabric and sourced the fabrics, it just all came together to me. It’s my glamour art deco moment for Quinn because it is a total New York style piece. The whole cutaway bustle that she has is detachable. That came from an idea from Season 1 that didn’t materialize, so I just brought it back in this way. And I said, “OK, this is the moment where she’s able to detach the bustle and you see the full-on jumpsuit.”
I wanted something dramatic for her. There’s a song called “Native New Yorker” by Odyssey and there’s all these amazing, cool jazz songs, old R&B songs that are just so classy and classic. Sometimes, when I’m designing and I’m creating looks for characters, I always have music going because it sets the tone and it sets the mood. I even do that when I’m reading scripts or breaking down scripts because music is also indicative of how I want to tell the story through clothes.
In that moment, for Quinn, it was all about champagne kisses and caviar dreams, lifestyles of the rich and famous. This is her big moment, but it is so profound to me because in her big moment, she freezes and she realizes she doesn’t have everything. I wanted that tension of the beauty with the anguish that we of course see later. Most of her palate was pastels and blush tones that I created for Season 1, but I take little risks, I go a little bit deeper, but I still have that intact. When I made this departure, when I went this deep with purple, blue, and darker tones, that’s because what she’s feeling is deep. I know some people say, “Oh, that’s a little too literal,” but no. This is what it means to tell a story through clothing. I felt that was a huge win visually, a huge win storyline-wise and a huge win for the character. I’m so glad that it went over so well, because she looked beautiful, and it did what it needed to do to tell the story.
Let’s talk about dressing the flagship male love interests: Tyler Lepley as Ian and Sullivan Jones as Jameson Royce. Although they’re both lax in their style, how did you juxtapose the chef and the academic?
Ian, quintessentially, he’s that sexy dream. He’s the head chef, he’s got that masculine style, and I wanted to play mixing and matching patterns. So in one scene, I have him in a pink shirt, and then I have [him in] a printed textile, almost like an Aztec print, then I have him matched with plaid pants. I really wanted to put him in a fashion-forward direction. I didn’t see him as a typical jeans and T-shirt guy unless the storyline required that. The storyline many times required him to be in a tank top, but when he was out, I just wanted to show that sexy, suave side and that it was more than sneakers and kicks for him. He had an elevated style of his own.
With Jameson, I really leaned into Greg Lauren with him. There was a deconstructed look that I wanted to really play with, so I had the opportunity to do that. I had some deconstructed jackets, patchwork jackets, which I love. Again, we weren’t really in the college environment [this season], so we really needed to understand what his life was outside of the university. That’s really why he’s more pared-down and casual in that way. There’s an innocence to Jameson that I was trying to show, but not innocent in terms of him not being sexy. He still needed to be desirable. He still needed to be that guy that Camille can look to and feel safe with and know, “Oh, my God, there’s no question.” With Ian, you needed to feel that sexiness come through, that desire, that passion. Those were the two hallmarks of both of those men and their styles: Jameson was more deconstructed —still stylized — and Ian was just sexy, but a sexiness that was palatable. He walks in the room and you’re like, “Oh, damn, all right.”
Emily V Aragones/Prime Video
What has been the most rewarding part about working on “Harlem?”
For me, “Harlem” is deeply personal. It’s a dream show for me. I was truly honored that Tracy brought me along, she trusted me, and she had faith in me to really carry out this vision. Also, these women are my friends. I’ve known Meagan [Good] for a very, very long time. You develop very close personal relationships with them as people. It was important for me to have a hand in telling these stories, because as women of color, we are not myopic. I say that because it’s so easy to put diverse voices in a box. You don’t get the opportunity that often to just really fly creatively.
Don’t get me wrong: there are boxes, boundaries, and a lot of people I have to answer to. Sometimes, what I want in terms of costumes doesn’t always win, and I have to just abide by that. It’s not a free-for-all, but I think in creating anything that’s of value, you put your soul in it. And I put a lot of my soul in “Harlem.” I get emotional talking about it, because it’s a show that means a lot to me, and just feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity. As costume designers, I don’t like to break it down the color line — I think I can design anything and everything, as my body of work has shown — but we don’t, we don’t often get those choices. I’m completely humbled and honored that I had that opportunity.
Emily V Aragones/Prime Video
On the pace that we have, which is TV, it is so fast-breaking. We have six days to create an episode; we were block shooting, shooting four episodes at a time. “Harlem” is a huge show. It is not small, and it takes a lot to pull it off. We have a lot of scenes, the girls have a lot of looks, and you have to have a very strong team and you have to be a strong designer to manage it. It’s not for the meek. It seems like it was just yesterday that we wrapped, and now we’re six months later and in February. I’m just very excited for people to see Season 2 and praying that it’ll get a Season 3. Fingers crossed.
What are you currently working on, and what’s next for you?
I just wrapped a film with Chiwetel Ejiofor, designing another period film. It’s a period piece called “Rob Peace.” It’s a true story, based upon the novel “The Short and Tragic Life of Rob Peace.” It’s a deep, deep, deep story, but it’s going to be beautiful. Next month, I have “I’m a Virgo” coming out. It’ll drop at SXSW, so I designed that, and that’s a joy ride. It’s my second project with Boots Riley after “Sorry To Bother You,” which we did almost six years ago.
Having started out in Harlem when you first moved to New York City and now working on this series, what do you wish you could say to your younger self?
I would say to my younger self two things: Buy that brownstone, don’t be scared. Invest in your community and stay with it. I would say what someone said to me when I was in college starting out: Don’t get stuck, explore your cognitive world and take risks.
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BEIJING (AP) — China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had COVID-19 since early December following complaints it was failing to release data, and said the “emergency peak” of its latest surge appears to have passed.
The toll included 5,503 deaths due to respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 and 54,435 fatalities from other ailments combined with COVID-19 since Dec. 8, the National Health Commission announced. It said those “deaths related to COVID” occurred in hospitals, which left open the possibility more people also might have died at home.
The report would more than double China’s official COVID-19 death toll to 10,775 since the disease was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
China stopped reporting data on COVID-19 deaths and infections after abruptly lifting anti-virus controls in early December despite a surge in infections that began in October and has filled hospitals with feverish, wheezing patients.
The World Health Organization and other governments appealed for information after reports by city and provincial governments suggest as many as hundreds of millions of people in China might have contracted the virus.
The peak of the latest infection wave appears to have passed based on the decline in the number of patients visiting fever clinics, said a National Health Commission official, Jiao Yahui.
The daily number of people going to those clinics peaked at 2.9 million on Dec. 23 and had fallen by 83% to to 477,000 on Thursday, according to Jiao.
“These data show the national emergency peak has passed,” Jiao said at a news conference.
The United States, South Korea and other governments have imposed virus-testing and other controls on people arriving from China. Beijing retaliated on Wednesday by suspending issuance of new visas to travelers from South Korea and Japan.
China kept its infection rate and deaths lower than those of the United States and some other countries at the height of the pandemic with a “zero-COVID” strategy that aimed to isolate every case. That shut down access to some cities, kept millions of people at home and sparked angry protests.
The average age of people who died since Dec. 8 is 80.3 years and 90.1% are aged 65 and above, according to the Health Commission. It said more than 90% of people who died had cancer, heart or lung diseases or kidney problems.
“The number of elderly patients dying from illness is relatively large, which suggests that we should pay more attention to elderly patients and try our best to save their lives,” said Jiao.
This month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said agency officials met with Chinese officials to underline the importance of sharing more details about COVID-19 issues including hospitalization rates and genetic sequences.
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The U.S. is at risk of prolonging the COVID pandemic if it fails to back an initiative that aims to get vaccines, diagnostics and treatments to lower-income countries, a congressional group has told President Joe Biden.
In a letter to Biden from the group led by Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, the group urged him to back the World Trade Organization’s agreement in June to ease exports of lifesaving therapies.
“With more than 600 million shots in arms, 21,500 free testing sites, the ability to order at-home tests for free, and more treatments available now than at any point in the pandemic, the outlook in the United States is better than ever. Unfortunately, however, the prospect for many low-income countries is not so positive — putting the United States’ own success in jeopardy,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter was sent ahead of a meeting of the WTO council for trade-related aspects of IP rights that is due to kick off Thursday.
The group noted that lower-income countries are facing a higher risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death as only a small percentage of their populations are vaccinated. Just 19% of people in those countries are vaccinated, compared with about 75% in high-income countries, according to the Multilateral Leaders Taskforce on COVID-19, a joint initiative of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the WTO.
U.S. known cases of COVID are continuing to ease and now stand at their lowest level since late April, although the true tally is likely higher given how many people are testing at home, where the data are not being collected.
The daily average for new cases stood at 43,149 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker, down 23% from two weeks ago. Cases are rising in most northeastern states by 10% of more, while cases in the western states Montana, Washington and Oregon are rising.
The daily average for hospitalizations was down 11% at 27,184, while the daily average for deaths is down 8% to 391.
Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began
Other COVID-19 news you should know about:
• China’s huge Xinjiang region has been hit with sweeping COVID travel restrictions ahead of a key Communist Party congress later this month, the Associated Press reported. Trains and buses in and out of the region of 22 million people have been suspended, and passenger numbers on flights have been reduced to 75% of capacity in recent days, according to Chinese media reports. The region is home to minorities who have been forced into prison-like re-education centers to force them to renounce their religion, typically Islam, and allegedly subjected to human-rights abuses.
• Five current or former Internal Revenue Service workers have been charged with fraud for illegally getting money from federal COVID-19 relief programs and using a total of $1 million for luxury items and personal trips, prosecutors said, the AP reported. The U.S. attorney’s office in Memphis said Tuesday that the five have been charged with wire fraud after they filed fake applications for the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, which were part of a federal stimulus package tied to the pandemic response in 2020.
• Peloton Interactive Inc.
PTON,
said it plans to cut about 500 jobs, roughly 12% of its remaining workforce, in the company’s fourth round of layoffs this year as the connected fitness-equipment maker tries to reverse mounting losses, the Wall Street Journal reported. After enjoying a strong run early on in the pandemic, Peloton has struggled since the start of the U.S. recovery, and CEO Barry McCarthy, who took over in February, said he is giving the unprofitable company another six months or so to significantly turn itself around and, if it fails, Peloton likely isn’t viable as a stand-alone company.
Don’t miss: Peloton CEO says ‘naysayers’ are looking at the company’s $1.2 billion quarterly loss all wrong.
Here’s what the numbers say:
The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 619.9 million on Wednesday, while the death toll rose above 6.55 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. leads the world with 96.6 million cases and 1,061,490 fatalities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 225.3 million people living in the U.S., equal to 67.9% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots. Just 109.9 million have had a booster, equal to 48.8% of the vaccinated population, and 23.9 million of those who are eligible for a second booster have had one, equal to 36.6% of those who received a first booster.
Some 7.6 million people have had a shot of one of the new bivalent boosters that target the new omicron subvariants that have become dominant around the world.
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Press Release
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updated: Mar 19, 2020
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., March 19, 2020 (Newswire.com)
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Round Up to Zero, the student debt fintech startup, has announced that it will be opening up their platform to help organizations drive donations to the global fight against COVID-19 and will also be donating a portion of its own proceeds to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, organized by the World Health Organization.
“At Zero, we are committed to a greater cause of helping people. Today, that cause shifts beyond the student debt crisis and is refocused on the health of our community,” said Patrick Salome, CEO. “The actions of today will impact the trajectory of the virus tomorrow. It is critical that we all take the steps to end the spread of this virus and encourage others to do the same.”
Patrick added, “This will allow users the option to donate to an approved organization dedicated and focused on putting an end to COVID-19 until our country is back on its feet.”
With a suite of technology and artificial intelligence geared toward moving money, Round Up to Zero has also offered to help government, public, and private institutions fundraise remotely while most American’s are social distancing. “We find ourselves in a unique position to help organize fundraising efforts. We would be privileged to join other organizations in this fight through the use of our technology to facilitate the greater cause of eradicating this virus.”
More About Zero –
Zero is a financial technology organization that is focused on ending student debt. Zero helps the 45+ million student loan borrowers in the United States pay off their student debt faster and more efficiently through its suite of leading technologies. Round Up to Zero is the “app of choice” for students and graduates who are looking for automated solutions to pay off their student debt.
Round Up to Zero can be found on the iOS App and Google Play stores.
Contact:
Media
Zero Student Debt Initiative Inc.
info@rounduptozero.com
Follow us on Instagram @rounduptozero
Source: Round Up to Zero
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Inspirotec, Inc. announced today that their currently available commercial air sampling device, AirAnswers, has the capability to detect viruses in the air and potentially Covid 19.
Press Release
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updated: Mar 5, 2020
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., March 5, 2020 (Newswire.com)
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Inspirotec Inc., a Chicago based company, has developed a highly sensitive patented technology for testing and measuring biological agents in the air including fine particle molds and allergens to address allergies and asthma healthcare concerns. The company announced today that their currently available commercial air sampling device (AirAnswersTM) has the capability to detect viruses in the air and potentially Covid 19.
“Considering the uncertainties about how the Covid 19 is transmitted, it would be essential for national security to be able to directly track the virus itself and how it is spreading prior to people actually getting sick. We will then be able to anticipate and prevent public exposure to the virus,” said Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Julian Gordon.
Inspirotec has previously shown feasibility for the detection of airborne viruses in collaboration with US Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), the United States’ principal research and developmental resource for non-medical chemical and biological defense. Inspirotec has reached-out to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the NIH, Dr. Rick Bright of BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority), Dr. Andre Kalil of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Dr. Robert Redfield of the CDC.
“We are prepared to enter into an initial study to test and validate our technology today against Covid-19. We believe our proprietary device can contribute to public health against this global crisis,” said President & CEO, Tom Brya.
About Inspirotec., Inc.
Inspirotec., Inc. is the only company providing airborne allergen detection either through physicians, industrial hygienists, indoor air quality professionals, home resale, or direct to consumer. https://airanswers.com
Inspirotec’s vision is to improve health and happiness by finding allergy and mold solutions in transforming the home environment critical to our wellbeing. Our mission is to deliver the most personalized prevention and management solutions for allergies, asthma, and respiratory conditions.
Inspirotec has an extensive portfolio of patents* as well as publications in the peer-reviewed literature.
*US patents 8,038,944, 9,216,421, 9,360,402, 9,481,904, 9,618,431 as well as patents and application world-wide.
Contact
Tom Brya
President & CEO Inspirotec, Inc.
866-539-4253, ext. 805
support@inspirotec.com
Source: Inspirotec, Inc.
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