The New York Times - USA (2020-12-01)

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After a summer of uncertainty and fear about how schools across the globe would operate in a pandemic, a consensus has emerged in more and more districts: In- person teaching with young children is safer than with older ones and particularly crucial for their development. On Sunday, New York City, home to the country’s largest school system, became the most

high-profile example of that trend, when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that only pre-Ks, elemen- tary schools and some schools for children with complex disabilities would reopen next week after all city classrooms were briefly shut in November. There is currently no plan to bring middle and high

school students back into city school buildings. It was an abrupt about-face for the mayor, who had for months promised to welcome all the city’s 1.1 million children — from 3-year- olds to high school seniors — back into classrooms this fall. But the decision put New York in line with other cities in America and across the world that have re- opened classrooms first, and often exclusively, for young children, and in some cases kept them open

In Reopening of Schools, Youngest Lead the Way

By ELIZA SHAPIRO and KATE TAYLOR New York City Follows

a Growing Consensus

Students in Miami Beach. Studies say children under 10 transmit the coronavirus less efficiently.

SCOT T McINTYRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A

WASHINGTON — President- elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. formally announced his top economic ad- visers on Monday, choosing a team that is stocked with champi- ons of organized labor and mar- ginalized workers, signaling an early focus on efforts to speed and spread the gains of the recovery from the pandemic recession. The selections build on a pledge Mr. Biden made to business groups two weeks ago, when he said labor unions would have “increased power” in his administration. They suggest that Mr. Bi- den’s team will be focused initially on increased federal spending to reduce unemployment and an ex- panded safety net to cushion households that have continued to suffer as the coronavirus persists and the recovery slows. In a sign that Mr. Biden plans to focus on spreading economic wealth, his transition team put is- sues of equality and worker em- powerment at the forefront of its news release announcing the nominees, saying they would help create “an economy that gives ev- ery single person across America a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead.” Mr. Biden’s picks include Janet L. Yellen, the former Federal Re- serve chair, as Treasury secre-

Economic Team

Suggests Focus

On Work Force

This article is by Jim Tankersley, Jeanna Smialekand Alan Rappe- port.

BANGKOK — A dissident once branded Enemy No. 1 by the Chi- nese Communist Party is spreading conspiracy theories about vote-rigging in the American presidential election. Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong are championing President Trump’s claims of an electoral victory. Human rights activists and reli- gious leaders in Vietnam and Myanmar are expressing reserva- tions about President-elect Jo- seph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to keep authoritarians in check. It might seem counterintuitive that Asian defenders of democracy are among the most ardent supporters of Mr. Trump, who has declared his friendship with Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un of North Korea. But it is precisely Mr. Trump’s willingness to flout diplomatic protocol, abandon international accords and keep his opponents off-balance that have earned him plaudits as a leader strong enough to stand up to dicta- tors and defend democratic ideals overseas, even if he has been criticized as diminishing them at home. As President-elect Biden as- sembles his foreign-policy team, prominent human rights activists across Asia are worried about his desire for the United States to hew again to international norms.

Asia Dissidents

Lament Demise

Of Trump Way

By HANNAH BEECH

A tour bus agent desperately tried to discern which passers-by were New Yorkers and which ones were out-of-towners. Newly- weds from Maryland, hoping to celebrate their nuptials with a special dinner, had to settle for McDonald’s. Four homeless men sat on a sidewalk, sharing ciga- rettes and a pipe filled with mari- juana. This is Times Square, jarringly quiet beneath flashing billboards. Times Square needs a crowd, which is as much a part of its char- acter as the incessant lights. “Look around,” said Ronnie Boyd, 54, from Brooklyn, who has been selling souvenir hats and T- shirts on the sidewalk in the area

since 2004. “Without the Broad- way shows, the office workers, the tourists, the crowds, you got no Times Square.” The throngs of visitors — the trademark of the famous neighborhood for more than a century — are gone. The air is no longer thick with the aroma of hot dogs and roasting nuts. Broadway the- aters are closed. Office buildings are nearly vacant. And there is an eeriness to the emptiness, helping to stir the faint fear that Times

Square could slip back to its 1970s self, a seamy neighborhood known for open crime, drugs and sex shows. The neighborhood’s transfor- mation — from gritty to “Disney” — was a significant chapter in the city’s revitalization, even as de- tractors criticized the new Times Square as losing its edge. Times Square has an outsize share of the city’s economic activity, despite occupying only 0.1 percent of the city’s land mass, said Tim Tomp- kins, president of the Times Square Alliance, the area’s business improvement district. Before the pandemic, the square, where Broadway meets Seventh Avenue from 42nd to 47th Streets, helped to draw a crush of tourists to the city. A record 66.

If There Are No Crowds, Is It Still Times Square?

By COREY KILGANNON

Costumed characters in need of tourists. Pedestrian traffic in Times Square is roughly one-third of what it was before the pandemic.

TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Fears That the Theater

District Could Revert

to the ’70s Version

Each week, good news about vaccines or antibody treatments surfaces, offering hope that an end to the pandemic is at hand. And yet this holiday season presents a grim reckoning. The United States has reached an ap- palling milestone: more than one million new coronavirus cases ev- ery week. Hospitals in some states are full to bursting. The number of deaths is rising and seems on track to easily surpass the 2,200-a-day average in the spring, when the pandemic was concentrated in the New York metropolitan area. Our failure to protect ourselves has caught up to us. The nation now must endure a critical period of transition, one that threatens to last far too long, as we set aside justifiable opti- mism about next spring and con- front the dark winter ahead. Some epidemiologists predict that the death toll by March could be close to twice the 250,000 figure that the nation surpassed only last week. “The next three months are go- ing to be just horrible,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown Uni- versity’s School of Public Health and one of two dozen experts in- terviewed by The New York Times about the near future. This juncture, perhaps more than any to date, exposes the deep political divisions that have al- lowed the pandemic to take root and bloom, and that will determine the depth of the winter ahead. Even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to avoid holiday travel and many health officials asked families to cancel big gath- erings, more than six million Americans took flights during Thanksgiving week, which is about 40 percent of last year’s air

traffic. And President Trump, the one person most capable of alter- ing the trajectory between now and spring, seems unwilling to help his successor do what must be done to save the lives of tens of thousands of Americans. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has assembled excellent advis- ers and a sensible plan for tackling the pandemic, public health experts said. But Mitchell Warren, the founder of AVAC, an AIDS ad- vocacy group that focuses on sev- eral diseases, said Mr. Biden’s hands appeared tied until Inaugu- ration Day on Jan. 20: “There’s not a ton of power in being president-elect.” By late December, the first doses of vaccine may be available to Americans, federal officials have said. Priorities are still being set, but vaccinations are expected to go first to health care workers, nursing home residents and oth- ers at highest risk. How long it will take to reach younger Americans depends on many factors, includ- ing how many vaccines are ap- proved and how fast they can be made. In mid-October, I surprised some New York Times readers by shifting from pessimism to opti- mism, with the epidemic in the United States most likely ending sooner than I expected. Now that at least two vaccines with efficacy greater than 90 percent have emerged, I am even more hopeful about what 2021 holds. But even as the medical re- sponse to the virus is improving, the politics of public health remain a deeply vexing challenge. The regions of the country now among those hit hardest by the virus — Midwestern and Mountain States and rural counties, includ-

Long, Dark Winter Looms

Before U.S. Gets Vaccines

A Critical Period Before Biden Takes Office

— Political Divisions Pose a Danger

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

President Trump’s sustained
assault on his own party in Geor-
gia, and his repeated claims of
election fraud in the state, have in-
tensified worries among Republi-
cans that he could be hurting their
ability to win two crucial Senate
runoff races next month.
The president has continued to
claim without evidence that his
loss in the new battleground state
was fraudulent, directing his ire in
particular at Gov. Brian Kemp and
Secretary of State Brad Raf-
fensperger, both conservative Re-
publicans, whom he has accused
of not doing enough to help him
overturn the result.
Over the weekend, he escalated
his attacks on Mr. Kemp, saying he
was “ashamed” to have endorsed
him in 2018, and on Monday he
called Mr. Kemp “hapless” as he
urged him to “overrule his obsti-
nate Republican Secretary of
state.’'
Mr. Trump’s broadsides have
quietly rattled some Republicans
in the state, who fear that con-
cerns about the fairness of the
presidential election could de-

press turnout for the Senate races,
which will determine whether
Democrats or Republicans control
the chamber.
After resisting entreaties to ap-
pear in Georgia, the president
plans to travel there this weekend,
though even some of his own aides
remain uncertain whether his an-
ger toward state officials will
overshadow any support he may
lend the party’s two candidates.
“You can’t say the system is
rigged but elect these two sena-
tors,” said Eric Johnson, a cam-
paign adviser to Kelly Loeffler,

Trump Attacks

Unsettle G.O.P.

Amid a Runoff

This article is by Lisa Lerer, Rich-
ard Faussetand Maggie Haberman.

Georgia’s Republican secretary
of state, Brad Raffensperger.

BRYNN ANDERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

COVID FATIGUEDoctors and nurses on the front lines are running on empty as the pandemic surges and hospitals fill up. PAGE D

Tens of thousands of demonstrators,
upset about farm policies, are blocking
roads into New Delhi. PAGE A

INTERNATIONAL A11-

Angry Farmers Protest in India

Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw haven’t let the pandemic, or some memory loss, block their creativeness. PAGE C

ARTS C1-

A Theater Duo Presses On A surprise clutch of eggs has solved a century-old leaf insect mystery, showing that what scientists had regarded as two species was actually one. PAGE D

SCIENCE TIMES D1-

Made for Each Other

The first shots of the drugmaker’s coronavirus vaccine could be given as early as Dec. 21, if emergency authorization is granted by the F.D.A. PAGE A

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-

Moderna Seeks Authorization Humaning. Snackable content. Market- ing is overrun with buzzwords and acronyms, and some people are saying it’s enough already. PAGE B

BUSINESS B1-

Ad Lingo Runs Amok

New York City police officers who wore cameras received fewer civilian complaints than those who didn’t. PAGE A

NATIONAL A17-

Body-Camera Report Released Michael Capiraso, amid complaints about his leadership, is leaving as chief executive of the organization that puts on the New York City event. PAGE B

SPORTSTUESDAY B8-

A Change Atop a Marathon

Noah Hawley, creator of the offbeat FX drama, discusses how the show is inter- secting with current events. PAGE C

What Lies Ahead for ‘Fargo’ The administration aims to drop some noncitizens from the tally, upsetting a constitutional consensus. PAGE A

Justices Hear Trump on Census

Gasser Abdel-Razek, a leading human
rights advocate in Cairo, had avoided
arrest until last week. PAGE A

Fueling Egypt’s Resistance

Bret Stephens PAGE A

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-

Late Edition

Today,variably cloudy, windy, show- ers, high 56, then falling. Tonight, partly cloudy, colder, low 38. Tomor- row,partly sunny, chilly, high 44. Weather map appears on Page B7.

$3.

The New York Times - USA (2020-12-01)

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