Bloomberg Businessweek USA 03.16.2020_

(Darren Dugan) #1
◼ COVID-19 / GOVERNMENT Bloomberg Businessweek March 16, 2020

19

geneticallyidenticaltotheoriginalexceptforthree
minormutationsinthevirus.Andit containeda key
geneticvariantthatwaspresentinonlytwoof 59
viralsamplesfromChina.Thistypeofcircumstan-
tialevidencestopsjustshortofprovinga chain of
transmission.It’spossibletheWashingtoncluster
didn’tderivefromtheknownpatientzero,butfrom
anothercasethatcameintoWashingtonatthesame
timeandwentundetected.Still,Bedfordcalculated
a 97%probabilitythenewcasewasa directdescen-
dant—onethathadn’tbeenspottedbecauseofthe
narrowtestingatthattime,hewroteina blogpost
onMarch2. “Thislackoftestingwasa criticalerror
andallowedanoutbreakinSnohomishCountyand
surroundingstogrowtoa sizableproblembefore
it wasevendetected,”hewrote.

Educationandhealthservices Otherservices Retailtrade* Leisureandhospitality

Lowestweeklywages▶
*TRANSPORTATION IS CATEGORIZED WITH UTILITIES AND WHOLESALE TRADE IS CATEGORIZED WITH RETAIL TRADE FOR WORK-AT-HOME AND PAID LEAVE DATA RELEASED BY THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. DATA: BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY, BANKRATE JANUARY 2020 FINANCIAL SECURITY INDEX

Dotheyhavehealth
benefits?

Dotheyworkfrom
home?

Incomebracket: Lowest Second Third Fourth Highest

2008 2018 2008 2018

Cantheyhandlea
financialemergency?

HowAmericans would cover an
unexpected $1,000 expense

41%
Savings

37%
Borrowing

13%
Reduce
spending

7%
Something
else/don’t
know

75%

50

25

0

Howoldarethey?
◼A morethan20%
increaseinworkers
from2008-18


16 to 24
21mworkers
25 to 34
38m
35 to 44
34m
45 to 54
33m
55 to 64
28m
65+
11m

Boxwidth= number of workers
1m 10m

95% 5%

85 3

75 1

spent weeks analyzing genomes of patients from
around the world, tracing minor mutations to deduce
how Covid-19 emerged and spread. The early work
foundthatinfectionsweredoublingroughlyevery
sixdays,andthatforeverythreetofourrounds
oftransmission—or once every 20 to 30 days—one
minor mutation was occurring, Bedford said in an
interview on Feb. 13. “We are watching very care-
fully for more local transmission,” he said. They
soon found it: a teenager with mild symptoms who
attended a high school about 15 miles from where
the first case was identified—someone who wouldn’t
havebeentestedbecausehedidn’tmeetthecri-
teria.ButtheresultsshowedupintheSeattleFlu
Study,aproject on which Bedford is a lead scientist.
The new case, announced on Feb. 28, was
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