The COVID-19 History Project

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This Day in COVID: September 17, 2020

Details

Fauci honored with new bobblehead: 'Facepalm edition'

You know you’re famous when there are multiple bobbleheads honoring your likeness.

Fox

Revenge porn new normal' after cases surge in lockdown

Cases of 'revenge porn' have risen by a fifth this year, with lockdown to blame, say campaigners.

BBC

Victorian child deaths spike during Covid lockdown after series of home accidents

Eight children under the age of five die in two months as kids spend more time at home

The Guardian

Children in low-income families suffered more emotional problems during lockdown

Children from low-income households demonstrated heightened mental health difficulties throughout lockdown, further findings from a study tracking four- to 16-year-olds during the pandemic has revealed.

Nursery World

AG Barr compares pandemic lockdown to slavery during Hillsdale College speech, takes aim at BLM

The comments came while Barr was visiting the conservative college in rural Michigan.

MLive

Tunbridge Wells grandfather Paul Perkins took his life after Covid-19 lockdown worries

A 'happy, generous and funny' taxi driver took his own life because of financial concerns arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

Kent Online

Why the U.S. Still Has a Severe Shortage of Medical Supplies

Months into the pandemic, the problems with the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile remain. There continue to be shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), ICU medications, and test-kit reagents. In this article, the authors — members of teams involved in the efforts by the federal Supply Chain Task Force to understand the causes of the shortages and fix them — identify three systemic problems and offer ideas for fixing them.

Harvard Business Review

Fauci Was Right: Covid-19 Cases Are Rising Again Following Labor Day Weekend Travel

The country's top infectious disease expert had warned that this would happen.

Forbes

Yelp data shows 60% of small businesses that closed during the pandemic have now shut their doors permanently and 97,966 firms in total have closed for good - with restaurants and bars among the hardest hit

As of August 31, 163,735 total U.S. businesses on Yelp had closed since the pandemic began in March, with 97,966 of those going on to shutter permanently, according to a report from the company.

Daily Mail

New data shows small businesses in communities of color had unequal access to federal COVID-19 relief

Data show that congress’s major COVID-19 relief program for small businesses has not distributed the more than 5 million loans evenly across the country.

Brookings

From survival to revival: How to help small businesses through the COVID-19 crisis

In this proposal, Steven Hamilton of The George Washington University calls for a significant expansion of refundable tax credits to help support small businesses through this crisis.

Brookings

Governments should invest to overcome the coronavirus crisis — but don’t forget climate change, says expert

Governments should continue to make investments that combat climate change even while they are focusing on coping with the coronavirus pandemic, said Judith Rodin, President Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania.

CNBC

Facebook is cracking down on groups that give health advice and promote violence

Facebook announced new policies that will limit the spread of groups on its social network that focus on giving users health advice as well as groups with ties to violence.

CNBC

Tucker Carlson Cries Censorship After His COVID-19 Posts Flagged as Misinformation by Facebook, Instagram

Tucker Carlson hit back at Facebook, saying it 'censored' a clip from his Fox News show that promoted a COVID-19 conspiracy theory.

Variety

The U.S. Has an Empathy Deficit

Scientific American

NYU Student Confronts Cops Not Wearing Masks in Subway Station

The MTA’s $50 fine for anyone who is found not wearing a mask went into effect on Monday and a New York University student wants to know why the rules don’t apply to NYPD officers. Mihai Ciocan says he was inside the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn on Tuesday when he saw two police officers standing less than six…

NBC

White House abandoned plan to send 650 million face masks across the U.S. in April, report says

Newly uncovered documents suggest the government had initially intended to utilize the Postal Service in early pandemic response plans.

CNBC

Hundreds pose nude wearing only masks for London art installation

CNN

Shunning masks is a central sacrament of the Trump cult: Reason can't compete with faith

Trump's followers believe their leader has given their lives meaning. It's public health versus mass delusion

Salon

How Vermont became a 'model for the country' in responding to the coronavirus pandemic

How Vermont became a 'model' state in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

ABC

U.S. Public Now Divided Over Whether To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

There are widely held concerns about the safety and effectiveness of a possible vaccine and the pace of the approval process.

Pew

Trump contradicts health advisers on coronavirus vaccine timetable as death toll mounts

Washington Post

How American Journalism Died

Media partisans believe that destroying Trump justifies any biased means necessary.

Naitonal Review

Pence’s former lead coronavirus task force aide slams Trump and endorses Biden in new video

CNN

Internal AstraZeneca safety report sheds light on neurological condition suffered by vaccine trial participant

CNN

The Slow-Fingered President

Donald Trump has been eager to tweet on many subjects—but notably reticent to emphasize public health.

The Atlantic

U.S. plans to provide free coronavirus vaccines, aims for return to ‘regular life’ in Q3 2021

The coronavirus has infected 29.65 million people globally, as of Wednesday, and killed at least 936,905 people so far.

CNBC

Attorney General William Barr Faces Backlash After Comparing Pandemic Lockdowns to Slavery

Black America Web

U.S. House resolution opposes anti-Asian coronavirus rhetoric, including Trump's 'China virus'

Reuters

How tutoring programs can combat the “Covid-19 slide”

J-PAL North America released a new publication highlighting the sizable impact tutoring programs can have on student learning.

MIT

What COVID-19 could mean for the future of “work from home”: The provocations of three women in the academy

Wiley Online

Strong relationships help kids catch up after 6 months of COVID-19 school closures

The Conversation

Who gets a COVID vaccine first? Access plans are taking shape

Advisory groups around the world release guidance to prioritize healthcare workers and others.

Nature

The impact of banning alcohol during Covid-19

Some countries have experimented with alcohol prohibition during the pandemic to keep hospitals emptier. What was the impact?

BBC

What crowdsourced big data may be able to tell us about COVID

How We Feel app lays groundwork to use big data to understand and predict coronavirus infection.

Harvard

WHO says safety comes first as over 170 nations join COVID-19 vaccine plan

Reuters

Good nutrition can contribute to keeping COVID-19 and other diseases away

The Conversation

Our Mission

The COVID-19 History Project is a curated archive of the events and policy decisions surrounding the emergence of COVID-19.

The pandemic era of 2020-2022 saw massive increases in restrictions on daily life—enforced by the government and by social stigma—accompanied social protests that roiled cities worldwide

In the United States alone, trillions of dollars were spent by the federal government to offset the forced closure of businesses and the devastation of normal life.

The impacts of these policy decisions are still being felt today.

Some would like us to forget the actions and people that played a significant role during the pandemic.

But we of the COVID-19 History Project don't want to forget. Through our work, we hope there will always be an archive to learn from and interpret this fascinating, disturbing, time in world history.

The Timeline

In order to learn from the mistakes of the past, and give COVID-19 decision makers the credit—both good and bad—they deserve, we have compiled a media timeline from every day of the pandemic.

We have endeavored to make the timeline comprehensive without being duplicative, following the major trends as they unfolded.

We provided analyses for each month highlighting major events, but encourage readers to make their own conclusions about these events as well.

This Day in COVID: September 17, 2021

Details

Covid outbreak in lions, tigers at National Zoo

Six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers tested positive for the coronavirus, zoo officials said Friday.

NBC News

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 17 September

The World Economic Forum

All Of The National Zoo's Lions And Tigers Have Tested Positive For Coronavirus

The zoo said tests for six African lions, a Sumatran tiger, and two Amur tigers came back positive.

DCist

Readers Respond: What To Say If Someone Asks Why You're Wearing A Mask

Thousands of NPR readers shared what they'd say if someone asked them why they are wearing a mask. Here's a selection of their responses.

NPR

A CRISPR/Cas9 genetically engineered organoid biobank reveals essential host factors for coronaviruses - Nature Communications

Rapid identification of host genes essential for virus replication may expedite the generation of therapeutic interventions. Here the authors generate mutant clonal intestinal organoids for 19 host genes previously implicated in coronavirus biology and identify the cell surface protease TMPRSS2 as a potential therapeutic target.

Nature

9 Lions And Tigers At The National Zoo Are Being Treated For COVID

Zookeepers noticed something was amiss when the animals began eating less and were seen coughing and sneezing. Visitors are not at risk because the public doesn't have access to the enclosures.

NPR

Children And Teens Gained Weight At An Alarming Rate During The Pandemic, The CDC Says

A new CDC study found that the percentage of obese children and teens increased to 22%, compared to 19% before the pandemic. It also found that expected annual weight gain ranged from 5 to 15 pounds.

NPR

Structural biology of SARS-CoV-2 and implications for therapeutic development - Nature Reviews Microbiology

Elucidating the structure and function of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins is vital for understanding the molecular mechanisms of viral replication and COVID-19 pathogenesis, and could lead to the development of novel therapeutics. In this Review, Yang and Rao delineate the structural features of SARS-CoV-2 from the whole viral particle to the individual viral proteins and discuss their functions as well as their potential as targets for therapeutic intervent...

Nature

Sarah Palin explains why she has resisted getting vaccinated

The Hill

N.Y.C. will require workers and customers show proof of at least one dose for indoor dining and other activities.

The New York Times

The New Faces Of Pandemic Food Insecurity: Hungry, Worried ... Yet Generous

A lawyer who lost her job. A single mom with HIV. A grandmother who thought she had enough money to get by. A onetime golf coach. They're among the millions now struggling to put meals on the table.

NPR

India’s true pandemic death toll is likely to be well over 3 million, a new study finds. (Published 2021)

The New York Times

After the omicron surge in early 2022, COVID-19 cases declined in Texas schools

Student and staff COVID-19 cases declined after districts reported their highest levels in January since the pandemic began. But the data is incomplete and likely an undercount.

The Texas Tribune

Allergies to mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines rare, generally mild, Stanford-led study finds

In a study of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine doses given at Stanford Medicine, vaccine allergies were rare, mild and mostly triggered by a vaccine additive, not the mRNA.

Stanford Medicine

Are COVID-19 boosters ethical, with half the world waiting for a first shot? A bioethicist weighs in

Scientists debate the medical benefits of booster shots. But there’s another aspect to consider: bioethics.

The Conversation

COVID-19 vaccination and unemployment risk: lessons from the Italian crisis - Scientific Reports

Nature

COVID vaccine immunity is waning — how much does that matter?

As debates about booster shots heat up, what’s known about the duration of vaccine-based immunity is still evolving.

Nature

'The Morning Show' Season 2 Was Written And In Production. Then COVID Hit

When COVID hit the U.S., writers of The Morning Show on Apple TV+ scrapped a year's worth of work to make the fictional TV show's new season newsworthy.

NPR

More Than 600,000 White Flags On The National Mall Honor Lives Lost To COVID

The art installation, called In America: Remember, will be on display at the National Mall for more than two weeks. It honors the more than 660,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States.

NPR

Vaccine innovation and COVID’s collateral damage — the week in infographics

Nature highlights three key infographics from the week in science and research.

Nature

Rationing medical care becomes a reality in Alaska, Idaho and Montana hospitals overwhelmed by covid

The Washington Post

Italy Is Making COVID-19 Health Passes Mandatory For All Workers

The "green pass" will show whether a person has been vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID, or tested negative for the virus. Workers failing to present a pass will be suspended without pay.

NPR

SARS-CoV-2's origin should be investigated worldwide for pandemic prevention

The Lancet

Rates of body mass in children nearly doubled during pandemic, study finds | CNN

CNN

The Pandemic’s Toll on Children With Special Needs and Their Parents (Published 2020)

The New York Times

OSHA Criticized for Lax Regulation of Meatpacking in Pandemic (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Denmark returns to pre-pandemic life with a huge pop concert

About 52,000 people flocked to Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium a day after Denmark abolished coronavirus restrictions.

Al Jazeera

Two of Gavin Newsom's children test positive for coronavirus; the governor has not

Two of Gov. Gavin Newsom's four children have tested positive for the coronavirus, the governor's office said Friday.

Los Angeles Times

White flags along the National Mall will mark more than 600,000 U.S. Covid deaths. (Published 2021)

The New York Times