As New Strain VACCINE CREATED Grim Picture U.K ......2020/12/31 · dark hallways and oppressively...
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U(D54G1D)y+z!#!&!?!# BUENOS AIRES — Argentina on Wednesday became the largest nation in Latin America to legalize abortion, a landmark vote in a conservative region and a victory for a grass-roots movement that turned years of rallies into politi- cal power. The high-stakes vote, during 12 hours of often dramatic debate in the Senate, gripped the nation and exposed the tensions between a conservative society long influ- enced by the Roman Catholic Church, and a more secular gener- ation that is fired up by a growing feminist movement. “When I was born, women did not vote, we did not inherit, we could not manage our assets, we could not have bank accounts, we didn’t have credit cards, we could- n’t go to university,” Senator Silvia Sapag said in an emotional speech after the vote. “When I was born, women were nobody.” Now, she added, for all the wom- en who fought for those legal rights and more, “let it be law.” The effects of the legalization vote are likely to ripple across Lat- in America, galvanizing abortion- rights advocates elsewhere in the region. The symbol of that effort in Argentina — green handkerchiefs — has begun showing up in other Argentina Legalizes Abortion in Milestone for Conservative Region By DANIEL POLITI and ERNESTO LONDOÑO Continued on Page A15 WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell effectively killed off any chance that Con- gress would increase stimulus checks to $2,000 before President Trump leaves office, saying there was “no realistic path” for the Sen- ate to pass a stand-alone bill. Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, insisted on Wednesday that lawmakers would only con- sider an omnibus bill that included the $2,000 checks and two other issues that Mr. Trump has de- manded Congress address: inves- tigating the integrity of the 2020 election and revoking legal pro- tections for social media plat- forms. Democrats will not take up either matter, dooming any chance that such a bill could pass. Speaking from the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell defiantly accused Democrats of overstepping. “The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Demo- crats’ rich friends who don’t need the help,” he said. Yet it is Mr. Trump who has been demanding that lawmakers increase stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600, criticizing his own party for not moving quickly to do so. “Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH!” the president wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. McConnell Crushes Efforts For $2,000 Stimulus Checks By CATIE EDMONDSON Continued on Page A10 THE $600 Most Americans are expected to save, not spend, their aid, say economists. PAGE A10 TAYLOR RENDERING BY ANJALI SINGHVI AND BILL MARSH A New York Times visual investigation used crime scene evidence and witness testimony to pro- vide a reconstruction of the errors the police in Louisville made in Ms. Taylor’s death. Pages A11-13. How the Police Killed Breonna Taylor For more than half a century, New Yorkers have trudged through the crammed platforms, dark hallways and oppressively low ceilings of Pennsylvania Sta- tion, the busiest and perhaps most miserable train hub in North America. Entombed beneath Madison Square Garden, the station served 650,000 riders each weekday be- fore the pandemic, or three times the number it was built to handle. But as more commuters return to Penn Station next year, they will be welcomed by a new, $1.6 billion train hall complete with over an acre of glass skylights, art installations and 92-foot-high ceil- ings that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who championed the project, has likened to the majestic Grand Cen- tral Terminal. After nearly three years of con- struction, the new Moynihan Train Hall, in the James A. Farley Post Office building across Eighth Avenue from Penn Station, will open to the public on Jan. 1 as a waiting room for Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road pas- sengers. For decades, the huge under- taking was considered an absolu- tion of sorts for one of the city’s greatest sins: the demolition in the 1960s of the original Penn Sta- tion building, an awe-inspiring structure that was a stately gate- way to the country’s economic powerhouse. Penn Station Gets New Life Aboveground By CHRISTINA GOLDBAUM Decades after New York’s classic Penn Station was razed, the Moynihan Train Hall will open on Jan. 1, echoing the original’s grandeur. ANDREW MOORE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A21 The most famous doctor in China was on an urgent mission. Celebrated as the hero who helped uncover the SARS epi- demic 17 years ago, Dr. Zhong Nanshan, now 84, was under or- ders to rush to Wuhan, a city in central China, and investigate a strange new coronavirus. His as- sistant photographed the doctor on the night train, eyes closed in thought, an image that would later rocket around China and burnish Dr. Zhong’s reputation as the na- tion’s medic riding to the rescue. China’s official history now por- trays Dr. Zhong’s trip as the cine- matic turning point in an ulti- mately triumphant war against Covid-19, when he discovered the virus was spreading dangerously and sped to Beijing to sound the alarm. Four days later, on Jan. 23, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, sealed off Wuhan. That lockdown was the first de- cisive step in saving China. But in a pandemic that has since claimed more than 1.7 million lives, it came too late to prevent the virus from spilling into the rest of the world. The first alarm had actually How Coronavirus Escaped From China’s Grasp This article is by Chris Buckley, David D. Kirkpatrick, Amy Qin and Javier C. Hernández. 25 Days of Denial and Inaction After Alarms Issued a Year Ago Continued on Page A6 A contagious variant of the co- ronavirus spreading through Brit- ain has left that nation grappling with new lockdowns, curtailed air travel and a surge in infections. Now it has appeared in Colorado and California, threatening to complicate what had seemed a hopeful, if halting, path to recov- ery from the pandemic. Scientists do not know how widely the new mutant may have spread in the United States. But the answer to that question will color virtually every aspect of the response: hospital treatment, community lockdowns, school clo- sures and more. “The overall picture is pretty grim,” said Bill Hanage, an epide- miologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The variant’s arrival also makes it all the more imperative that Americans receive vaccina- tions in great numbers, and more quickly, scientists said. A patho- gen that spreads easily is more difficult to contain, and a greater percentage of the population must be inoculated to turn back the pan- demic. Yet even as the variant sur- faced, officials with the Trump ad- ministration acknowledged on Wednesday that the vaccine roll- out was going too slowly. Just 2.1 million people had received their first dose as of Monday morning, far short of the 20 million goal. “We agree that that number is lower than what we hoped for,” said Moncef Slaoui, scientific ad- viser to Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to accelerate vaccine development and distri- bution. The federal government has en- rolled 40,000 pharmacy locations in that program designed to accel- erate vaccine distribution, Mr. Slaoui and other officials said. The variant, called B.1.1.7, is not thought to be more deadly than other versions of the virus, nor does it seem to cause more severe illness. Masks, physical distanc- ing and hand hygiene are still the best ways to contain its spread. Current vaccines are likely to be effective against it and any others that may emerge in the short term. But given the mutant’s appar- ent contagiousness, scientists fear that its toehold in the United States augurs another difficult chapter in the pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California an- nounced on Wednesday that a case of the variant had been dis- covered in the state. Officials in San Diego County ‘Grim’ Picture As New Strain Tests Response Variant in Two States Indicates Spread By APOORVA MANDAVILLI Continued on Page A9 LONDON — Britain on Wednesday became the first country to give emergency au- thorization to the coronavirus vaccine developed by As- traZeneca and the University of Oxford, clearing the path for a cheap and easy-to-store shot that much of the world will rely on to help end the pandemic. In a departure from prevailing strategies around the world, the British government also decided to begin giving as many people as possible a first vaccine dose rather than holding back supplies for quick second shots, greatly ex- panding the number of people who will be inoculated. That decision put Britain at the vanguard of a far-reaching and uncertain experiment in speeding up vaccinations, one that some scientists say could alleviate the suffering wrought by a pandemic that has been killing hundreds of people each day in Britain and thousands more around the world. The global effort to accelerate vaccinations, coming as a new, more contagious variant of the vi- rus is spreading, gathered steam in many places on Wednesday. China said clinical trial results showed high efficacy for one of its vaccine candidates, an announce- ment that hastened the global roll- out of hundreds of millions of doses of Chinese vaccines but was short on crucial details. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, long criticized for being introduced prematurely, also began use this week in Ar- U.K. AUTHORIZES VACCINE CREATED BY ASTRAZENECA EASY TO MAKE AND SHIP Britain Shifts to Trying to Deliver First Dose to More People By BENJAMIN MUELLER and REBECCA ROBBINS AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vac- cine costs as little as $3 a dose. JOHN CAIRNS/UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES Continued on Page A9 The Bravo host Andy Cohen, a co-host with Anderson Cooper of CNN’s New Year’s Eve show, is more than eager to put 2020 behind him. PAGE D1 THURSDAY STYLES D1-6 Ready for Another Ringing In A photo retrospective of how the pan- demic changed the business world and ruptured the economy in 2020. PAGE B5 BUSINESS B1-7 No Longer Business as Usual In a muted Times Square this New Year’s Eve, “Auld Lang Syne” might well give way to “I Will Survive.” PAGE A20 NATIONAL A17-21 Fist Bumps and Elbow Room The government endorsed a home- grown coronavirus vaccine after early trials showed it was effective. PAGE B3 China Approves Vaccine With a sale deadline looming and weak interest from oil companies, Alaska may step in to buy leases. PAGE A19 No Rush on Arctic Leases Dawn Wells, who radiated wholesome- ness and charm in the 1960s sitcom’s cast of castaways, later focused on theater acting. She was 82. PAGE B10 OBITUARIES B10-11 Mary Ann of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Explosions began just before the arrival of a plane carrying several members of a new cabinet that it was hoped would help end the civil war. PAGE A16 INTERNATIONAL A14-16 20 Die at Yemen Airport Jonathan Pollard, who served 30 years for giving Israel U.S. documents, got a hero’s welcome in Jerusalem. PAGE A16 Israel Greets Its Spy Many older Americans share haunting recollections of the taming of a virus from their childhood. PAGE A8 TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-10 Memories of the Polio Era We take a look at Radha Blank, Maria Bakalova, Adrienne Warren and other performers who managed to thrive and shine in an impossible year. PAGE C1 ARTS C1-8 The Breakout Stars of 2020 Aaron E. Carroll PAGE A22 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23 Late Edition VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,924 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2020 Today, morning rain, cloudy, milder, high 48. Tonight, partly to mostly cloudy, low 32. Tomorrow, turning cloudy, afternoon rain, colder, high 41. Weather map is on Page B12. $3.00
Transcript of As New Strain VACCINE CREATED Grim Picture U.K ......2020/12/31 · dark hallways and oppressively...
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C M Y K Nxxx,2020-12-31,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
U(D54G1D)y+z!#!&!?!#
BUENOS AIRES — Argentinaon Wednesday became the largestnation in Latin America to legalizeabortion, a landmark vote in aconservative region and a victoryfor a grass-roots movement thatturned years of rallies into politi-
cal power.The high-stakes vote, during 12
hours of often dramatic debate inthe Senate, gripped the nation andexposed the tensions between aconservative society long influ-enced by the Roman CatholicChurch, and a more secular gener-ation that is fired up by a growingfeminist movement.
“When I was born, women didnot vote, we did not inherit, wecould not manage our assets, wecould not have bank accounts, wedidn’t have credit cards, we could-n’t go to university,” Senator SilviaSapag said in an emotional speechafter the vote. “When I was born,women were nobody.”
Now, she added, for all the wom-
en who fought for those legalrights and more, “let it be law.”
The effects of the legalizationvote are likely to ripple across Lat-in America, galvanizing abortion-rights advocates elsewhere in theregion. The symbol of that effort inArgentina — green handkerchiefs— has begun showing up in other
Argentina Legalizes Abortion in Milestone for Conservative RegionBy DANIEL POLITI
and ERNESTO LONDOÑO
Continued on Page A15
WASHINGTON — SenatorMitch McConnell effectivelykilled off any chance that Con-gress would increase stimuluschecks to $2,000 before PresidentTrump leaves office, saying therewas “no realistic path” for the Sen-ate to pass a stand-alone bill.
Mr. McConnell, the majorityleader, insisted on Wednesdaythat lawmakers would only con-sider an omnibus bill that includedthe $2,000 checks and two otherissues that Mr. Trump has de-manded Congress address: inves-tigating the integrity of the 2020election and revoking legal pro-tections for social media plat-forms. Democrats will not take upeither matter, dooming anychance that such a bill could pass.
Speaking from the Senate floor,Mr. McConnell defiantly accusedDemocrats of overstepping. “The
Senate is not going to be bulliedinto rushing out more borrowedmoney into the hands of Demo-crats’ rich friends who don’t needthe help,” he said.
Yet it is Mr. Trump who hasbeen demanding that lawmakersincrease stimulus checks to$2,000 from $600, criticizing hisown party for not moving quicklyto do so.
“Unless Republicans have adeath wish, and it is also the rightthing to do, they must approve the$2000 payments ASAP. $600 ISNOT ENOUGH!” the presidentwrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
McConnell Crushes EffortsFor $2,000 Stimulus Checks
By CATIE EDMONDSON
Continued on Page A10
THE $600 Most Americans areexpected to save, not spend, theiraid, say economists. PAGE A10
TAYLOR
RENDERING BY ANJALI SINGHVI AND BILL MARSH
A New York Times visual investigation used crime scene evidence and witness testimony to pro-vide a reconstruction of the errors the police in Louisville made in Ms. Taylor’s death. Pages A11-13.
How the Police Killed Breonna Taylor
For more than half a century,New Yorkers have trudgedthrough the crammed platforms,dark hallways and oppressivelylow ceilings of Pennsylvania Sta-tion, the busiest and perhaps mostmiserable train hub in NorthAmerica.
Entombed beneath MadisonSquare Garden, the station served650,000 riders each weekday be-fore the pandemic, or three timesthe number it was built to handle.
But as more commuters returnto Penn Station next year, theywill be welcomed by a new, $1.6billion train hall complete withover an acre of glass skylights, artinstallations and 92-foot-high ceil-ings that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo,who championed the project, haslikened to the majestic Grand Cen-tral Terminal.
After nearly three years of con-struction, the new MoynihanTrain Hall, in the James A. FarleyPost Office building across EighthAvenue from Penn Station, willopen to the public on Jan. 1 as awaiting room for Amtrak andLong Island Rail Road pas-sengers.
For decades, the huge under-taking was considered an absolu-tion of sorts for one of the city’sgreatest sins: the demolition inthe 1960s of the original Penn Sta-tion building, an awe-inspiringstructure that was a stately gate-way to the country’s economicpowerhouse.
Penn StationGets New Life
AbovegroundBy CHRISTINA GOLDBAUM
Decades after New York’s classic Penn Station was razed, the Moynihan Train Hall will open on Jan. 1, echoing the original’s grandeur.ANDREW MOORE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A21
The most famous doctor inChina was on an urgent mission.
Celebrated as the hero whohelped uncover the SARS epi-demic 17 years ago, Dr. ZhongNanshan, now 84, was under or-ders to rush to Wuhan, a city incentral China, and investigate astrange new coronavirus. His as-sistant photographed the doctoron the night train, eyes closed in
thought, an image that would laterrocket around China and burnishDr. Zhong’s reputation as the na-tion’s medic riding to the rescue.
China’s official history now por-trays Dr. Zhong’s trip as the cine-matic turning point in an ulti-
mately triumphant war againstCovid-19, when he discovered thevirus was spreading dangerouslyand sped to Beijing to sound thealarm. Four days later, on Jan. 23,China’s leader, Xi Jinping, sealedoff Wuhan.
That lockdown was the first de-cisive step in saving China. But ina pandemic that has since claimedmore than 1.7 million lives, it cametoo late to prevent the virus fromspilling into the rest of the world.
The first alarm had actually
How Coronavirus Escaped From China’s GraspThis article is by Chris Buckley,
David D. Kirkpatrick, Amy Qin andJavier C. Hernández.
25 Days of Denial andInaction After Alarms
Issued a Year Ago
Continued on Page A6
A contagious variant of the co-ronavirus spreading through Brit-ain has left that nation grapplingwith new lockdowns, curtailed airtravel and a surge in infections.Now it has appeared in Coloradoand California, threatening tocomplicate what had seemed ahopeful, if halting, path to recov-ery from the pandemic.
Scientists do not know howwidely the new mutant may havespread in the United States. Butthe answer to that question willcolor virtually every aspect of theresponse: hospital treatment,community lockdowns, school clo-sures and more.
“The overall picture is prettygrim,” said Bill Hanage, an epide-miologist at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health.
The variant’s arrival alsomakes it all the more imperativethat Americans receive vaccina-tions in great numbers, and morequickly, scientists said. A patho-gen that spreads easily is moredifficult to contain, and a greaterpercentage of the population mustbe inoculated to turn back the pan-demic.
Yet even as the variant sur-faced, officials with the Trump ad-ministration acknowledged onWednesday that the vaccine roll-out was going too slowly. Just 2.1million people had received theirfirst dose as of Monday morning,far short of the 20 million goal.
“We agree that that number islower than what we hoped for,”said Moncef Slaoui, scientific ad-viser to Operation Warp Speed,the federal effort to acceleratevaccine development and distri-bution.
The federal government has en-rolled 40,000 pharmacy locationsin that program designed to accel-erate vaccine distribution, Mr.Slaoui and other officials said.
The variant, called B.1.1.7, is notthought to be more deadly thanother versions of the virus, nordoes it seem to cause more severeillness. Masks, physical distanc-ing and hand hygiene are still thebest ways to contain its spread.Current vaccines are likely to beeffective against it and any othersthat may emerge in the shortterm.
But given the mutant’s appar-ent contagiousness, scientistsfear that its toehold in the UnitedStates augurs another difficultchapter in the pandemic. Gov.Gavin Newsom of California an-nounced on Wednesday that acase of the variant had been dis-covered in the state.
Officials in San Diego County
‘Grim’ PictureAs New StrainTests Response
Variant in Two StatesIndicates Spread
By APOORVA MANDAVILLI
Continued on Page A9
LONDON — Britain onWednesday became the firstcountry to give emergency au-thorization to the coronavirusvaccine developed by As-traZeneca and the University ofOxford, clearing the path for acheap and easy-to-store shot thatmuch of the world will rely on tohelp end the pandemic.
In a departure from prevailingstrategies around the world, theBritish government also decidedto begin giving as many people aspossible a first vaccine doserather than holding back suppliesfor quick second shots, greatly ex-panding the number of peoplewho will be inoculated.
That decision put Britain at thevanguard of a far-reaching anduncertain experiment in speedingup vaccinations, one that somescientists say could alleviate thesuffering wrought by a pandemic
that has been killing hundreds ofpeople each day in Britain andthousands more around the world.
The global effort to acceleratevaccinations, coming as a new,more contagious variant of the vi-rus is spreading, gathered steamin many places on Wednesday.
China said clinical trial resultsshowed high efficacy for one of itsvaccine candidates, an announce-ment that hastened the global roll-out of hundreds of millions ofdoses of Chinese vaccines but wasshort on crucial details. Russia’sSputnik V vaccine, long criticizedfor being introduced prematurely,also began use this week in Ar-
U.K. AUTHORIZESVACCINE CREATED
BY ASTRAZENECA
EASY TO MAKE AND SHIP
Britain Shifts to Trying to Deliver First Dose
to More People
By BENJAMIN MUELLERand REBECCA ROBBINS
AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vac-cine costs as little as $3 a dose.
JOHN CAIRNS/UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, VIAAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Continued on Page A9
The Bravo host Andy Cohen, a co-hostwith Anderson Cooper of CNN’s NewYear’s Eve show, is more than eager to put 2020 behind him. PAGE D1
THURSDAY STYLES D1-6
Ready for Another Ringing InA photo retrospective of how the pan-demic changed the business world andruptured the economy in 2020. PAGE B5
BUSINESS B1-7
No Longer Business as UsualIn a muted Times Square this NewYear’s Eve, “Auld Lang Syne” might wellgive way to “I Will Survive.” PAGE A20
NATIONAL A17-21
Fist Bumps and Elbow Room
The government endorsed a home-grown coronavirus vaccine after earlytrials showed it was effective. PAGE B3
China Approves VaccineWith a sale deadline looming and weakinterest from oil companies, Alaskamay step in to buy leases. PAGE A19
No Rush on Arctic Leases
Dawn Wells, who radiated wholesome-ness and charm in the 1960s sitcom’scast of castaways, later focused ontheater acting. She was 82. PAGE B10
OBITUARIES B10-11
Mary Ann of ‘Gilligan’s Island’Explosions began just before the arrivalof a plane carrying several members ofa new cabinet that it was hoped wouldhelp end the civil war. PAGE A16
INTERNATIONAL A14-16
20 Die at Yemen Airport
Jonathan Pollard, who served 30 yearsfor giving Israel U.S. documents, got ahero’s welcome in Jerusalem. PAGE A16
Israel Greets Its Spy
Many older Americans share hauntingrecollections of the taming of a virusfrom their childhood. PAGE A8
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-10
Memories of the Polio Era
We take a look at Radha Blank, MariaBakalova, Adrienne Warren and otherperformers who managed to thrive andshine in an impossible year. PAGE C1
ARTS C1-8
The Breakout Stars of 2020
Aaron E. Carroll PAGE A22EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23
Late Edition
VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,924 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2020
Today, morning rain, cloudy, milder,high 48. Tonight, partly to mostlycloudy, low 32. Tomorrow, turningcloudy, afternoon rain, colder, high41. Weather map is on Page B12.
$3.00
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