2020's Atlantic Hurricane Season Has Become A Record-Smasher

By Tom Hale11 NOV 2020,


Staying true to the spirit of 2020, this year’s Atlantic Hurricane Season has been the busiest on record.

After Tropical Storm Theta became the 29th named storm in the Atlantic this year, the US National Hurricane Center announced that 2020 has broken the single-season record for the most named storms, previously held by the 2005 Hurricane Season with 28 storms.

Tropical Storm Theta sealed the deal after becoming a named storm on the evening of November 10. The storm is currently moving over the eastern Atlantic Ocean with maximum sustained winds of up to 104 kilometers (65 miles) per hour.

Storms are named once they hit a wind speed of 62 kilometers (39 miles) per hour. The name is picked from one of six annually rotating lists of 21 names in alphabetical order (avoiding the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z) created by the World Meteorological Organization. However, this year they exhausted their list of names and were forced to turn to the Greek alphabet, naming storms Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, and Theta.

Subtropical Storm #Theta has developed tonight in the Northeast Atlantic, the 29th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

This breaks the single season record for the most named storms previously held by the 2005 Hurricane Season.

Details: https://t.co/lqZULHcvhJ pic.twitter.com/ZFPgUa5Dmp— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 10, 2020

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, peaking between late August and September. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that this was likely to be a busy hurricane season back in May. However, the season has surpassed even their most extreme forecasts. On top of this new record, 2020 has also seen 12 storms make landfall in the mainland US, which is three more than the previous record set in 1916.

The rocky hurricane season is likely to be the result of a cocktail of climate factors that are playing out across the planet. The first factor is linked to the El Niño Southern Oscillation, a climate cycle that describes the fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central Pacific Ocean, which has profound implications for the whole planet's climate and weather. El Niño typically refers to the warm phase, when the Pacific's warmest surface waters sit offshore of northwestern South America, while La Niña refers to the cold phase when there are below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Pacific.

El Niño helps to strengthen hurricane activity in the central and eastern Pacific basins while suppressing it in the Atlantic basin. However, the planet saw an ongoing La Niña this year, meaning hurricane activity in the Atlantic was left unsuppressed.

Secondly, as forecasted, this year saw warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, weaker tropical Atlantic trade winds, and an enhanced west African monsoon. All of these factors are known to increase the likelihood of hurricanes in the Atlantic.

While it’s unclear how this hurricane season was influenced by the world’s deepening climate crisis, it's now known that rising sea surface temperatures from human-driven climate change can fuel the intensity and destructiveness of tropical storms.

Clock ticks for TikTok sale as ByteDance seeks more time
Executive order gave Chinese owned company until November 12th to clinch deal

Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images

ByteDance is butting up against a long-awaited deadline that would subject the Chinese internet giant to possible Trump administration penalties if it can’t clinch a deal for the US operations of its widely used video-sharing app, TikTok.

The Beijing-based company has asked the US government to extend a Thursday deadline for ByteDance to divest its TikTok business in the US. President Donald Trump in August demanded the app be spun off, citing concerns about the security of American users’ personal information, and gave the company a 90-day timeline to complete a transaction.

That window is now closing, and while TikTok has struck an agreement to sell part of its business to Oracle and Walmart, the deal hasn’t been finalised. ByteDance filed a petition in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday night, requesting the court step in to prevent the Treasury Department’s forced sale.

What TikTok is really asking for is more time.

“We remain committed to working with the administration – as we have all along – to resolve the issues it has raised, but our legal challenge today is a protection to ensure these discussions can take place,” a TikTok spokeswoman said in a statement. The petition also states that TikTok is committed to completing a deal, and confirmed that it most recently submitted a proposal for review on November 6th.

Thursday’s deadline is the latest checkpoint in what has been a long, complicated sale process, which may get more confusing as President-elect Joe Biden comes into power.
Trade war

Mr Trump has made the fight over TikTok a central front in a broader trade war with China, in particular an effort to crack down on the growing influence of China’s technology industry in the US. Mr Trump first ordered a TikTok sale in August, and has threatened to ban the app if ByteDance couldn’t reach an agreement. That proposed ban has since been delayed twice – most recently on October 30th, when a Pennsylvania judge issued a temporary injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of TikTok users who make their living via the app.

But the November 12th deadline to finalise a sale is still intact, and poses a significant threat to ByteDance, one of the world’s most valuable private companies. TikTok is one of the most popular apps in the world – with more than 100 million US users – and is also ByteDance’s most important service outside of China. The company and its investors are desperate to finish a deal to avoid a ban in what has been a very valuable market for other social media apps, like Facebook’s Instagram and Snap’s Snapchat.

Mr Trump gave his blessing in mid-September to a preliminary plan in which ByteDance would sell part of TikTok to Oracle and Walmart, creating a new independent company called TikTok Global. But that deal has been stuck in limbo for weeks, and was quickly overshadowed by the US election. ByteDance reiterated that its most recent proposal would put American investors in charge of data and content moderation for US users, according to Tuesday’s petition.

The way the original order was worded appears to require a divestment from ByteDance to be in place by the deadline – not just an agreement. If the government does reach an accord with the company, it could exercise discretion around enforcement timing, said Aimen Mir, a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and a former deputy assistant secretary for investment security at Treasury, where he ran reviews for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.

“Usually when there is extended silence from Cfius, it suggests there’s no clear consensus within government on what the next step would be, but this has been an atypical case for awhile,” MrMir said.

It’s unclear what would happen if a deal isn’t finalised by Thursday. If the deadline comes and goes without an extension, court relief or an agreement between the company and the government, Mr Mir said the Justice Department would have to go to court and seek enforcement of the divestiture order.


Mr Trump’s executive order from August doesn’t stipulate a clear punishment for failure to divest, but says that “the Attorney General is authorised to take any steps necessary to enforce this order”.

“There could be fines, or it could be as draconian as a ban if the administration wanted to go that far,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. “But the government still has until midnight on November 12th to issue an extension, which is a plausible scenario.”
National security

This sale process was originally brought about because of national security concerns. The US government is worried about ByteDance’s access to the personal data of US citizens. Tuesday’s court filing included a detailed and previously undisclosed letter from US officials that outlined those concerns.

Cfius, which is led by the Treasury Department and reviews foreign acquisition of American businesses, said in a July 30th letter that its security concerns were based on both classified and unclassified information. The letter cited the move by a ByteDance Chinese affiliate in 2017 to establish a Communist Party Committee in its governance structure, and pointed out that ByteDance also collaborates with public security bureaus across China. Cfius generally doesn’t confirm, deny or comment on its reviews.

“The Treasury Department remains focused on reaching a resolution of the national security risks arising from ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly,” a Treasury spokeswoman said in a statement. “We have been clear with ByteDance regarding the steps necessary to achieve that resolution.” The Justice Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Mr Trump’s order requiring the sale of TikTok underscored the aggressive stance his administration has taken toward Chinese investment in the U.S. Only seven foreign acquisitions of American companies have been blocked or unwound by US presidents since 1990, and Trump is responsible for four of them.

Now, the TikTok deal, once a priority for the administration, has in recent weeks taken on less urgency as Mr Trump turned his focus to his bid for re-election and, since last week, challenging the outcome of the November 3rd vote. – Bloomberg

TikTok asks US court to intervene after Trump administration leaves app in limbo

Platform says it’s received ‘no clarity’ from government about status of proposal to place app under control of US companies


Kari Paul and agency
Wed 11 Nov 2020 
 

Donald Trump has cited concerns that the Chinese government could spy on TikTok users if the app remains under Chinese ownership. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

The popular video-sharing app TikTok says its future has been in limbo since Donald Trump tried to shut it down earlier this fall and is asking a federal court to intervene.

Trump in August signed an executive order to ban TikTok if it did not sell its US operations in 45 days. The move forced TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to consider deals with several American companies before ultimately settling on a proposal to place TikTok under the oversight of the American companies Oracle and Walmart, each of which would also have a financial stake in the company.

But TikTok said this week it’s received “no clarity” from the US government about whether that proposal has been accepted.

The deal has been under a national-security review by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, which is led by the treasury department. The department didn’t return emailed requests for comment this week.

“With the November 12 CFIUS deadline imminent and without an extension in hand, we have no choice but to file a petition in court to defend our rights and those of our more than 1,500 employees in the US,” TikTok said in a written statement Tuesday.

Trump has cited concerns that the Chinese government could spy on TikTok users if the app remains under Chinese ownership. TikTok has denied it is a security threat but said it is still trying to work with the administration to resolve its concerns.

The legal challenge is “a protection to ensure these discussions can take place”, the company said.

The Trump administration had earlier sought to ban the app from smartphone app stores and deprive it of vital technical services. To do this, the US could have internet service providers block TikTok usage from US IP addresses, as India did when it banned TikTok, effectively making TikTok unusable.

Such actions were set to take place on 20 September but federal judges have so far granted TikTok extensions.

TikTok is now looking to the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit to review Trump’s divestment order and the government’s national-security review. The company filed a 49-page petition asking the court to review the decision, saying the forced divestment from TikTok violates the constitution.

“The government has taken virtually all of the ‘sticks’ in the ‘bundle’ of property rights ByteDance possesses in its TikTok US platform, leaving it with no more than the twig of potentially being allowed to make a rushed, compelled sale, under shifting and unrealistic conditions, and subject to governmental approval,” the filing says.

The US attorney general office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

#GEMOLOGY  #GEOLOGY

Massive Purple-Pink Diamond From Russia Fetches $23.6 Million At Auction

COMMODITY FETISH

November 12, 2020 
By RFE/RL

The flawless 14.83-carat diamond is named The Spirit Of The Rose.

An exquisite purple-pink diamond mined in Russia, which Sotheby's described as having “unparalleled qualities,” sold for $23.6 million at an auction in Geneva.

Sotheby's had estimated the flawless 14.83-carat diamond, which it said was the largest purple-pink diamond to ever appear at auction, would sell for between $23 million and $38 million at the November 11 bidding.

The final hammer price was $21 million, plus commission. It was bought by a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous, Sotheby's said.

The rare diamond is named The Spirit Of The Rose after Vaslav Nijinsky’s ballet, Le Spectre de la rose, the most famous ballet performed by the Ballets Russes.

The rough diamond was unearthed by Alrosa, the world’s top diamond miner, in the Republic of Yakutia in the northeast of Russia in July 2017.

It took an entire year for Alrosa experts to cut and polish the diamond.

"The diamond’s character and immense presence is further enhanced by its perfect cut and oval shape. The numerous facets and shades of pink dance in front of your eyes in a mesmerizing way,” said Gary Schuler, the worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s jewelry division.

“It is a natural wonder, steeped in Russia’s century-long diamond tradition and cultural heritage,” he said.

With reporting by Reuters

HINDUISM IS FASCISM
Tamil Nadu university withdraws Arundhati Roy’s book after ABVP complaint

Walking with the Comrades has been removed from the postgraduate English syllabus and replaced with essays from M Krishnan’s My Native Land

TAMIL-NADU Updated: Nov 12, 2020

Divya Chandrababu
Hindustan Times, Chennai

Arundhati Roy.(HT Archive)


Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli has withdrawn Arundhati Roy’s book, Walking with the Comrades, following objections from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated student group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), according to the ABVP’s local unit.

The book, which is an account of the face-off between Maoists and the Indian government, has been removed from the postgraduate English syllabus and replaced with essays from M Krishnan’s My Native Land.

The ABVP opposed the teaching of the book, and said it was based on an “anti-national subject”.

“About 10 days ago, the university’s postgraduate literature students brought this issue to us and we found controversial topics in the book,” said Gopi Gangadaran from the ABVP’s Tirunelveli unit.

“We met the vice-chancellor K Pichumani a week ago and submitted a memorandum, following which a committee met and decided to withdraw the book because the issues we raised are valid. The book highlights Naxalism and is anti-Indian and anti-humane.”

Roy’s book, published in 2011, had been part of the varsity’s syllabus since 2017.

  ALBERTA,USA

Alberta records seven COVID-19 deaths for three consecutive days

Alberta’s COVID-19 death toll climbed to 383 on Wednesday after another seven deaths were reported for the third consecutive day.

© Provided by Calgary Herald Rivera Mount Royal Care Centre on 9th St. and 18th Ave. SW. Alberta Health Services has confirmed 66 residents at the centre have contracted COVID-19 since October 18th. Wednesday, November 11, 2020. Brendan Miller/Postmedia

An additional 672 COVID-19 infections were also reported. Due to Remembrance Day, the province did not update its COVID-19 data on active case counts.

As of Tuesday, there were 8,090 active cases in the province after an additional 713 infections were identified.

The province is dealing with another rash of care home outbreaks as numbers spike.

At least 66 residents at the Mount Royal Care Centre in Calgary have contracted COVID-19 since Oct. 18, according to Revera, the agency that oversees the facility. Six of those patients have since died and 17 have recovered.

Additionally, 29 staff members have tested positive and are in self-isolation.

Dr. Rhonda Collins, Revera’s chief medical officer, said in a statement Tuesday the agency is working closely with Alberta Health Services to respond to the outbreak.

“All residents are isolated to their rooms and monitored closely for symptoms twice daily,” said Collins. “All staff are screened at the beginning and end of their shifts and are required to wear an appropriate mask and eye protection in the home.”

She said staff have also enhanced cleaning procedures, disallowed visitors from entering the care home and are serving meals in the residents’ rooms.

Several other care homes operated by Revera are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, including the South Terrace Continuing Care Centre in Edmonton, where there have been 66 confirmed cases in residents and another 66 among staff, according to the agency. Ten residents have died.

The province did not update its outbreak locations Wednesday, but there were 42 sites in the Calgary zone under watch as of Tuesday. Nineteen of those are connected to acute, long-term and supportive-living facilities.

Deaths announced Wednesday include a woman in her 80s connected to the outbreak at Spruce Lodge in northeast Calgary and, in the Edmonton Zone, two women in their 80s and a man in his 70s, two of which are connected to outbreak sites.

Additionally, a woman in her 60s from the South Zone, a woman in her 70s from the North Zone and a man in his 90s linked to the outbreak at Mayerthorpe Extendicare in the North Zone have died.

There were 217 people in hospital and 46 in intensive-care units, up from 207 and 43, respectively, on Tuesday.

The province did not provide laboratory testing data in Wednesday’s update “due to technical issues.” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, is scheduled to address the province on Thursday with additional details.

In her public update on Monday, Hinshaw warned Albertans that provincial COVID-19 numbers are concerning and public compliance with health guidelines is necessary to reduce the effect on health services.

“This is a critical juncture and we need to get our cases down to below 100 cases per day in our big cities,” she said, adding that the growth rate is troubling in major cities and even more so in smaller communities.

“We can only change this by working together.”
Calgary’s border communities differ on mask mandates as cases rise

Two of Calgary’s border communities have enacted mask mandates in recent days as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge across the province.

Airdrie officials introduced a mask bylaw on Friday, with 239 active cases in the community as of Tuesday. Cochrane town council similarly enacted a mask mandate on Tuesday after hitting 15 active cases.

Both communities are now dealing with divided opinions among residents.

Cochrane Mayor Jeff Genung said the town’s social media accounts and emails have been flooded with positive and negative reactions from locals.

“While a mask might be an inconvenience, I’m not going to debate the science with people. Even if the mask just reminds them that we are dealing with a serious pandemic, then it’s doing its job,” Genung told Postmedia.

“To get through this we need to be more compassionate, kind and forgiving with each other. But, unfortunately, in a lot of cases, I’m seeing the opposite.”

The division is also clear in Airdrie. Almost half of the people who responded to the bylaw said they were against masks, said Mayor Peter Brown.

Unlike other border communities, the City of Chestermere has yet to mandate mask-use despite having one of the highest active case rates per capita of any region in Alberta. The community had 80 active cases on Tuesday.

“Masks are not currently mandatory across the province, but we are going to be revisiting the idea of implementing a temporary mandatory mask bylaw for Chestermere in the near future,” Mayor Marshall Chalmers told Postmedia, adding the city is “eager to follow all directives issued by the provincial health authority.”

While Albertans are encouraged to wear non-medical masks in public places, the province has not made face coverings mandatory to curb the spread of COVID-19.

— With files from Stephanie Babych and the Canadian Press

COVID-19: Alberta records 672 new cases, seven additional deaths

© Provided by Edmonton Journal For several weeks, Alberta has been climbing towards new daily records of COVID-19 cases.


Alberta has recorded 672 new active cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday.

Seven deaths were also reported bringing the province’s death toll to 383.

There are now 217 people in the hospital, up 10 from Tuesday and 46 people in intensive care, three more since Tuesday’s update.

Due to Remembrance Day, no other COVID-19 data was available from the province.

Deaths announced Wednesday include two women in their 80s and a man in his 70s, two of which are connected to outbreak sites in the Edmonton Zone, and a woman in her 80s connected to the outbreak at Spruce Lodge in Calgary.

Additionally, a woman in her 60s from the South Zone, a woman in her 70s from the North Zone and a man in his 90s linked to the outbreak at Mayerthorpe Extendicare in North Zone have died.

As of Tuesday, the Edmonton zone had the highest level of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in the province. That same day Canada’s active case count was over 40,000 with a total of 10,632 deaths related to COVID-19.

Edmonton Public Schools Tuesday said that a single case at Mill Creek School, Northmount School, Elizabeth Finch School and S Bruce Smith School.

Edmonton Catholic announced two cases at St. Edmund School and a single case at Our Lady of the Prairies School, St. Francis Xavier School and Archbishop O’Leary School.

On Monday Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said that Edmonton and Calgary need to reduce their daily infection rates to below 100.

“The rate of increase and rising hospitalizations are extremely concerning to me. We are assessing measures closely,” said Hinshaw on Monday.

On the same day, a group of Alberta doctors released an open letter to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to implement a two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown expressing concerns over rising case numbers and how that will affect the quality of health care in Alberta.

Kenney has previously spoken against locking down the province for a second time but said if daily numbers don’t decrease the province would have no choice but to bring in more stringent measures.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were a total 490,478 news cases reported globally in the last 24 hours bringing the world total to 51,251,715. Additionally, according to WHO, there have been 8,570 reported deaths in the last 24 hours bringing the cumulative death total to 1,270,930.

– With files from Alanna Smith and Dylan Short

KENNEY TUMP MINI ME

Editorial: COVID action needed
Edmonton Journal Editorial Board

NOV 11,2020  


As a second wave of COVID-19 surges, Albertans are right to wonder about the Kenney government’s response this time around. By most every metric, the virus is hitting the province significantly harder than it did early on but with a much more hands-off approach from authorities.Last Saturday, Alberta set a new-single day case record of 919 new infections and hundreds of new ones have appeared daily since then. Before Oct. 29, Alberta had never exceeded 600 cases in a single day. As of Monday, the virus has sent 39 Albertans to intensive care, meaning more than half of the province’s ICU beds marked for COVID are currently occupied. A 50-per-cent occupancy rate previously triggered new restrictions. At the same time, R values — the rate of viral spread — in Edmonton and Calgary now sit at a worrisome 1.1 new cases for every infection and Alberta’s contact tracers are so overwhelmed, they have switched to only contacting those deemed at highest risk of a poor health outcome.But the swelling caseloads and hospitalizations so far haven’t set off the same kind of emergency lockdown measures the province implemented in the first few months before starting to loosen restrictions on May 14. Instead, there is a “strong recommendation,” without enforcement or sanctions, for people in Edmonton and Calgary to restrict gatherings within their homes to only those they live with.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal Premier Jason Kenney speaks at the daily COVID-19 update with Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, on March 13, 2020.What’s different now appears to be political reticence about shutting businesses down again and impinging on personal freedoms. Premier Jason Kenney acknowledged as much during last Friday’s COVID update: “We’ve seen other jurisdictions implement sweeping lockdowns, indiscriminately violating people’s rights and destroying livelihoods. Nobody wants that to happen here,” he said.
The dilemma as Kenney presents it — we can either choose to protect people from the virus or protect the economy — is a fallacious one. We can find ways to protect people, and also protect the economy.

That’s the point that more than 70 doctors, including emergency and intensive care physicians are making in an open letter to Kenney expressing their concerns that rising COVID cases could overwhelm the health-care system if the infection rate isn’t brought down and additional measures are not taken.

“The province should consider a two-week short, sharp lockdown or ‘circuit breaker,’ to drop the effective reproductive number and allow contact tracing to catch up,” the letter stated.

No one wants Albertans to lose their jobs or the economy to tank, but leaving people to their own devices isn’t working; the coronavirus is spreading and that’s not only threatening people’s livelihoods, it’s costing too many Albertans their lives and loved ones.

Local editorials are the consensus opinion of the Journal’s editorial board, comprising Colin McGarrigle , Dave Breakenridge and Bill Mah. (THE DIVERSITY IS LACKING BOYS)

PRIMARY SOURCES

Socialism and modern science. (Darwin, Spencer, Marx)

by Ferri, Enrico, 1856-1929

https://archive.org/details/socialismmoderns00ferr/page/n7/mode/2up

Publication date 1904

Topics Spencer, Herbert, 1820-1903, Spencer, Herbert, 1820-1903, Socialism, Evolution, Evolution, Socialism

Publisher New York : International Library

 

THE BIRTH OF LIBERALISM UTILITARIANISM IN ENGLAND

 

https://archive.org/details/politicalthought00daviuoft/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/englishutilitari00stepuoft/page/n7/mode/2up 

https://archive.org/details/englishutilitari00stepuoft/page/n7/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/cu31924092293384

 

https://archive.org/details/cu31924092293400/mode/2up

                                                                                                                                               

 https://archive.org/details/modernhumanistss00roberich/mode/2up                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

#ENDFURFARMING

Dutch scientists reconstruct spread of coronavirus through mink farms

So far, however, no evidence of dangerous mutations being selected in mink.

JOHN TIMMER - 11/10/2020


It's still not clear what species carried the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that made its way into humans. But it has become increasingly clear that we can spread it to a large number of species, and a subset of those species are then able to pass it on to others. If those species are able to pass it back to humans, it adds to the risk posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. That's because it provides a route for new infections that avoids all of the means we're using to try to control the virus's spread between humans. And there's also the chance that the virus's reproduction within an animal species would select for a mutation that would make the virus more dangerous to humans.

While we've already found the virus in cats and dogs, the big risk so far has turned out to be an unexpected source: mink. As early as August, it was clear that the virus was killing lots of the animals on US mink farms. Earlier this month, the discovery that the virus had spread back from mink to humans caused Denmark to decide to cull its entire population of mink. Now, with some people on edge because of that drastic action, we have a report that provides detailed tracing of the virus' spread between mink and humans, providing us a better sense of the risks involved.


FURTHER READING

Mink variant of coronavirus spreads to humans in Denmark; full cull planned

There and back again

The work was done in the Netherlands, which also hosts a substantial number of mink farms. The new paper, written by public health and veterinary officials, is essentially the equivalent of a contact-tracing report done for mink. It uses a combination of diagnostics to identify people and animals that have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2, whole genome sequencing to understand the source of those infections, and interviews (limited to the humans) to help determine any actions that might influence the virus's spread.

Overall, the researchers were able to trace infections on 16 different farms, although in at least one case, two farms had the same owner and shared workers. The researchers were also able to compare the genomes of the viruses found on those farms to a panel of over 1,700 viral genomes found in the general population of the Netherlands.

The first thing that is very clear from the survey: the virus is widespread among the farm workers. Of the roughly 100 people tested, 68 percent were either currently infected or had antibodies indicative of a past infection. A number of people were either known to have had a case of COVID-19 or reported having had respiratory symptoms during the interviews.

Samples were obtained from the people with active infections, and the entire genome was sequenced, allowing the researchers to reconstruct its evolutionary history. In each of these cases, the farm workers were carrying a virus that was most closely related to the strains known to be circulating in mink. This indicates that these workers were picking up SARS-CoV-2 from the animals in their care. Separately, it was clear that many of the farms had distinct infections, which suggested that the virus had spread from humans to mink multiple times.
Staying on the farm

That's the bad news. The good news is that it doesn't appear to be spreading much from farm workers to the general population. The researchers identified 34 infected people from the same post codes as the mink farms and sequenced the genomes of their viruses, too. In all cases, those viruses looked like the ones that were in general circulation among the Netherlands' human population rather than the ones common on the mink farm. In only one case did one of the workers spread a mink SARS-CoV-2 strain to someone they spent time with.

(Many of the mink-farm workers in the Netherlands are from Poland, but viruses circulating in that country were even more distantly related.)

Does the virus seem to be adapting to mink in any specific ways? Not obviously, according to the sequences available. The 16 farms grouped into five distinct clusters of related viruses, and they don't seem to have much in the way of common mutations, as you might expect for a virus adapting to a new species. And for the most part, the viruses that hopped back into humans from the mink simply looked like variants on the ones from the mink.

The only thing that might suggest some added risk of having the virus in mink is that it seems to pick up mutations with the animal at a somewhat faster rate than it does within humans. But because of the large uncertainties about when the infections in the mink farm started, that's going to require considerably more data before we can say anything with confidence.
Hooray?

So overall, the news is somewhat reassuring. While it's clear that the mink can give us back the virus we gave them, it hasn't led to widespread infections in the communities around the mink farms. It's obviously worth trying to figure out whether the workers took any precautions that helped limit the spread of their infections—something the interview material gathered by the researchers can undoubtedly address.

The other good news is that the virus doesn't seem to have accumulated any mutations that clearly help it adapt to that species. That can clearly change with time, so we'll want to continue monitoring these farms. But in the absence of that, the presence of the virus in mink doesn't seem to pose a dramatic threat to humans. Obviously, we'll want to look out for any data gathered in Denmark or other countries with large mink farms to see if the data is consistent with this. But if it is, it will be very reassuring.

Science, 2020. DOI: 10.1126/science.abe5901 (About DOIs).

With coal dying, Arizona utility offers $169 million deal with Navajo

As three coal plants and mines wind down, a plan for what comes next.

SCOTT K. JOHNSON - 11/10/2020

Enlarge / This electric train carried coal from the mines to the Navajo Generating Station, which has now shut down.

The physics of climate change dictate that we must move on from fossil fuels to avoid expensive and deadly consequences, but that shift obviously comes with pain for communities and businesses tied to the fossil fuel industry. This may bring to mind coal-mining communities in places like Kentucky and West Virginia, but it’s also playing out across the Navajo and Hopi lands in Arizona and New Mexico.

There are several coal plants located in or near the Navajo Nation, fed by associated coal mines, and staffed by Navajo and Hopi workers—a major source of jobs. Of these, the Navajo Generating Station and Kayenta mine has already shuttered, while the Cholla Power Plant is shutting down over the next few years. The Four Corners plant in New Mexico has seen its planned 2031 retirement date accelerated.

FURTHER READING Last year’s US emissions went down after 2018 uptick

There are several reasons for this. Older coal plants have been retiring across the US as the economics favor cheaper natural gas and renewables. Additionally, the electric utility Arizona Public Service (APS), which owns part of each of these three plants, had a change in leadership at the beginning of the year. New CEO Jeff Guldner announced a plan for the utility to reach zero emissions by 2050, with 45 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030. That was a shocking reversal considering that APS spent nearly $40 million to fight a 2018 ballot proposition that would have required 50 percent renewables by 2030.

In October, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez testified before the Arizona Corporation Commission to propose that APS provide at least $193 million to help the communities affected by the closing coal plants. Nez wanted consideration for workers who might lose their jobs, cooperation to help develop renewable energy projects to replace the jobs and income, and aid expanding access to electricity. A significant number of Navajo and Hopi homes are still not connected to the grid—a long-term challenge given the expense of remedying it.

Last Friday, APS submitted a proposal in response, The Arizona Republic reported. It would provide around $144 million in various measures. That includes $100 million over 10 years in direct funding and $2.5 million per year from the Four Corners plant’s closure through 2038. APS would also provide $10 million to fund electrification projects and promise to run new lines 2,000 feet toward homes before charging for work.

Solar and wind

APS also indicates a willingness to pursue renewable projects on the Navajo Nation, requesting proposals for 250 megawatts in new projects now and another 350 megawatts after the closure of Four Corners. A 55-megawatt solar array is already operating near the now-retired Kayenta mine—the first step toward new sources of energy in the area.

It’s worth noting that APS is currently seeking permission from the Corporation Commission for a rate increase that would increase revenue by about $169 million. But the utility also wants to present this deal as a way to do right by communities they’ve long relied on.

President Nez is supportive of the APS proposal. “This Just Energy Transition Plan will position the Navajo Nation as a national leader in solar and wind energy and will help launch a new era of electrification of homes on the Navajo Nation,” Nez said.

In his testimony last month, Nez said, “The Nation has been a foundational-but-unacknowledged partner in Arizona’s remarkable growth over the last 75 years. The Nation is proud of its Navajo workers at power plants and mines, but understands that the ground is shifting underneath its feet again.”


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