The Golden State Warriors are in Arizona playing the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday evening, and Damion Lee is not active for the game.
Therefore, during the game the Warriors star sent out a tweet and his post can be seen embedded below from his Twitter account.
Lee sent out a tweet about his teammate Jordan Poole who went off in the first quarter for 16 points.
The matchup is between the two hottest teams in the NBA as the Warriors came into the game with the NBA's best record of 18-2 in their first 20 games.
Meanwhile, the Suns are 17-3, and in the middle of a 16-game winning streak game after starting the season 1-3.
The Suns made the NBA Finals last season, and the Warriors are coming off of back-to-back seasons of missing the playoffs.
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Qualcomm has a new flagship smartphone processor: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, announced at the company’s annual Snapdragon Tech Summit, giving an early preview at the brains behind the most powerful smartphones of 2022.
The successor to last year’s Snapdragon 888, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is the first chipset to bear Qualcomm’s new naming scheme (which the company had previously teased last week), ditching the triple-digit numbering system that Qualcomm has previously used for new, generation-based monikers.
As is the case every year, Qualcomm is promising some major improvements in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, with better performance, camera technology, AI capabilities, security, and 5G.
Let’s start with the hard specs. As expected, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is the first chip from Qualcomm to use the latest Armv9 architecture from Arm. Specifically, the new eight-core Kryo CPU will feature a single prime core based on the Cortex-X2 at 3.0GHz, along with three performance cores based on Cortex-A710 at 2.5GHz, and a quartet of efficiency cores based on the Cortex-A510 design at 1.8GHz. Additionally, the new chip jumps to a 4nm process, from the 5nm process on which the Snapdragon 888 was built.
All told, Qualcomm promises that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will offer up to 20 percent better performance and up to 30 percent more power efficiency over last year’s model.
Meanwhile, the new Adreno GPU (much like the Gen 1’s Kryo CPU, Qualcomm didn’t give a specific number for the updated hardware here) promises to offer 30 percent faster graphics rendering, in addition to 25 percent better power efficiency compared to the Snapdragon 888. It’ll also offer a new GPU control panel for fine-tuning how games are running on your phone.
Making its debut on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X65 modem, which promises a whole suite of 5G features and firsts. As Qualcomm’s fourth-generation 5G modem, it builds on the existing mmWave and sub-6GHz compatibility that came before, adding support for up to 10Gbps speeds and the latest 3GPP Release 16 specification. As is always the case, you almost certainly won’t actually see that kind of speed in the real world.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 also supports Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth LE Audio (a first for Qualcomm), and the company’s Snapdragon Sound technology for enabling AptX Lossless wireless audio.
As is traditional for Qualcomm’s top-tier processor, the company is putting a big emphasis on its beefed-up camera capabilities, which the company is bundling together for the first time under a new “Snapdragon Sight” brand.
While the Spectra ISP is once again a triple ISP system, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 upgrades things up to an 18-bit system (up from 14 bits on the 888). That translates to 4,096 times more camera data and up to four additional stops of dynamic range for very bright or very dark scenarios. The triple ISP (image signal processor) also allows for things like shooting 240 12-megapixel photos in a single second or simultaneously shooting in 8K with HDR while snapping 64-megapixel stills thanks to an increased 3.2-gigapixel per second throughput.
Qualcomm is also offering more high-end camera features out of the box, including support for shooting in 8K video with HDR 10 Plus and shooting in 18-bit RAW (assuming your phone has the camera hardware to actually pull it off).
The 8 Gen 1 also features a variety of other imaging improvements, including better dark mode pictures that can use data from up to 30 images in a single shot (up from six images on the 888). There’s also a host of better AI processing techniques, with improved auto-exposure, auto-focus, and auto-face detection technology, a dedicated “bokeh engine” for adding portrait effects to 4K video, and an “ultrawide engine” that can de-warp and remove chromatic aberrations from shots.
Qualcomm is also adding a fourth ISP, located in the dedicated sensing hub on the SoC: unlike the triple ISP for the primary camera, the new ISP is designed specifically to power an always-on camera that’s active at all times. Qualcomm has some big ambitions for what developers can do with the always-on camera, like automatically shutting off your screen when you put your phone down or if it detects someone trying to read over your shoulder.
And while the idea of an always-on camera raises some obvious security concerns, Qualcomm argues that the feature is intended to help make using your device more secure, with any camera data for the always-on camera staying locally on-device in the chip’s secure enclave. Additionally, customers will be able to opt in to using the always-on camera, much in the same way that they can choose whether to use an always-listening microphone feature for voice assistants.
Still, though, the added capability — and how manufacturers implement it into their devices, if they do at all — will be something to watch when the first chips with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 roll out.
On the AI side of things, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 features Qualcomm’s latest Hexagon processor, with its seventh-generation AI engine, which the company says is four times faster than its predecessor and up to 1.7 times more power efficient.
The company showed off a variety of use cases that the boosted AI performance can enable, including the aforementioned camera functionality, a “Leica Leitz Look mode” that emulates Leica lens effects, and improved detection of where you’re holding your phone for optimizing antenna performance. Additionally, Qualcomm is adding AI-powered sampling to offer a DLSS-style effect for improving mobile games, something that it says will happen automatically when gaming on the 8 Gen 1.
Lastly, there are security improvements. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 adds a new hardware-level layer of security with a “dedicated Trust Management Engine,” in addition to offering support for the Android Ready SE standard, enabling support for digital car keys, driver’s licenses, IDs, and e-money wallets. There’s also built-in iSIM support for directly connecting to cellular networks.
Despite the new branding, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 doesn’t appear to break the mold for Qualcomm’s chips, offering the usual generational upgrades we’ve come to expect from the company’s annual flagships. Still, in a world where bespoke chips like Google’s Tensor or Apple’s A-series processors are becoming increasingly popular, it’s good to see that Qualcomm has no intention of slowing the pace on its own top chips, even as the competition heats up.
And with the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphones expected before the end of 2021, it won’t be long before we’ll be able to see just how powerful Qualcomm’s latest chip is for ourselves.
The past few days have been awash with news of the emergence of the latest concerning variant of the virus behind COVID-19, which the World Health Organization has dubbed Omicron. Scientists detected this new variant through genomic surveillance in South Africa, but in a quickly evolving pandemic we still don’t know where it originated, and we still don’t know how important Omicron will be.
I am a global health scientist, with a background in public health research and infectious disease epidemiology. I believe this new variant is a consequence of vaccine inequity in parts of Africa, where the vaccination coverage in many countries is less than 10 percent.
One of the consequences of uncontrolled outbreaks has been an increased risk of new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. We have seen this in the U.K., where the Alpha variant was first detected while vaccines were still early in deployment and the vaccination rate was low. And one consequence of the humanitarian emergency in India in early 2021 was the emergence of the Delta variant. A strong vaccination rate can reduce transmission and thus stop outbreaks. But only if people have access to the products.
In my field, many people have thought that richer countries grabbing the vaccine supply would inevitably come back to bite us on our backsides at some point. Omicron looks to be the variant with sharp teeth. Only time will tell how dangerous Omicron will be, but inequitable access to vaccines means this scenario could keep happening. Until COVID-19 is conquered everywhere, it can be reintroduced anywhere.
The main focus of my international research is West Africa, particularly Ghana and Togo, with ongoing projects around the pandemic response and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. I wrote back in July 2020 that, to coin a British phrase, there’s no “I’m alright, Jack” about this for those of us in higher-income settings. Eighteen months on, COVID-19 very much remains an issue for us all.
The international picture around vaccine distribution and uptake is stark, with the “haves” and “have nots” geographically obvious. Only around 11 percent of people on the African continent have received even one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Approximately 7 percent are considered fully vaccinated. Compare that with South America and Asia, where 72 percent and 63 percent respectively have received at least one dose.
Despite the low vaccine rates and limited public health resources, I’d argue much of sub-Saharan Africa has done very well at keeping outbreaks under control. For example, in Ghana, the Delta variant arrived in July 2021 based on sequencing data, and there was community transmission. Yet, the Ghana Health Service and public health teams have managed to control that outbreak, a feat that many richer countries have repeatedly failed to manage.
However, there is a highly susceptible population across Africa without any immunity from vaccination or prior infection. We see from the evidence base that COVID-19 vaccines reduce rates of new infections and onward transmission There is some early speculation from virologists that Omicron emerged from a person chronically infected with SARS-CoV-2, and that the index case was in an area of poor genomic surveillance outside of South Africa. It is harder to identify new variants in near real time if there is an overall lack of genomic infrastructure and expertise.
Other countries in Southern Africa have observed cases of Omicron. This includes Botswana, which weathered an uncontrolled outbreak in August 2021. There was a big spike in cases and a positive test rate of more than 50 percent. This is a high percentage, and with so many positive cases in those tested, it is very likely there were many more cases in circulation that weren’t picked up by the testing program.
Getting more people vaccinated in countries where the rate has been low is key to stopping the next variant.
The problems in resolving vaccine inequity are wide and varied. They include increasing the supply in resource-poor areas, and not just vaccines that have been “generously donated” just as they are about to expire.
What we do here in the Global North is observed and absorbed in the Global South.
When health workers do arrive in communities armed with immunizations, the people there need to be willing to be immunized. Our research in Ghana has shown that willingness to vaccinate varies over time, but was at 71 percent in June 2021, down from 82 percent from our previous survey in April. Where individuals expressed hesitancy, a common reason was to make reference to the inconsistent approaches to use of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine in the Global North. Specific comments often focused on the reactions to the blood clots as possible adverse events. To quote one of our participants: “Why would I want that damaged white-man product?” News travels fast and easily in a globalized world.
Then there are the conversations around waivers on vaccine patents. Granting these waivers has long been discussed during the pandemic, but therein lies the issue. On November 25, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the head of the World Trade Organization, described the protracted negotiations as “stuck.” There are agreements in place for some level of vaccine manufacturing in South Africa, albeit at the end stage of the process, which is termed “fill and finish.”
Many companies based in India, Thailand and South Africa have the potential to develop their own mRNA vaccines, described by Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, as “our insurance policy against variants and production failure.” But these are all still works in progress, and in the meantime, Omicron spreads, and what comes after it is surely percolating in areas of low vaccination rates.
We don’t yet know how severe Omicron will be in unvaccinated populations, or the extent and severity of breakthrough infections. There is little known about its transmissibility, or whether it is likely to outcompete Delta and become established as the most common type of coronavirus variant. These are all important questions that a global thirst for knowledge will seek to answer over the coming weeks.
But why wait for those answers? We need the richer countries and other key stakeholders to go beyond mere platitudes and actually deliver on their commitments to share doses. A variant can emerge anywhere, but we can minimize the chances of an outbreak and therefore reduce likelihood of notable new virus mutations and the need to learn another letter of the Greek alphabet.
How long do us rich folk want the pandemic to continue? Some people may consider that we are done with this novel coronavirus; however, it’s very clear that the coronavirus is nowhere near done with us.
This December brings an increase in in-person holiday events as we emerge from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, with fetes, concerts and more to keep you jingling all the way into 2022.
Here’s a roundup of many La Jolla holiday offerings.
Events spanning all ages
The La Valencia Hotel will hold a tree lighting on Thursday, Dec. 2.
(Courtesy of La Valencia Hotel)
• The La Valencia Hotel hosts a tree lighting on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 1132 Prospect St. The event will begin at at 4:30 p.m. and include beverages, treats, music, carolers and crafts counting down to the tree lighting at 5:45 p.m. Free. lavalencia.com
• The La Jolla/Riford Library presents “Deck the Halls” at 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, at 7555 Draper Ave. Children and teenagers are invited to decorate the youth areas in the library. Free. grahamk@sandiego.gov
• The La Valencia Hotel presents “Storytime Brunch with Santa” at 11 a.m. Saturdays, Dec. 4, 11 and 18, at 1132 Prospect St. The event includes The Med’s brunch menu with a visit from Santa Claus. lavalencia.com
• The La Jolla Christmas Parade & Holiday Festival kicks off its 65th annual festivities at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, with Santa photos, a meet-and-greet with astronaut Jessica Meir and more along Wall Street at Girard Avenue. The parade will start at 1:30 p.m. at Girard and Kline Street, head north on Girard, turn left onto Prospect Street and end at Prospect and Draper Avenue in front of the La Jolla Recreation Center. Free. ljparade.com
• The La Jolla Recreation Center hosts a movie night starting at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at 615 Prospect St., including activities for children, a visit from Santa Claus and a screening of the movie “Elf” at sunset. Free. (858) 552-1658
• Youth theater group Grand Facade Theatre Productions presents “Holiday Tales VIII: That Holiday Feeling” at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, and Saturday, Dec. 11, at Congregational Church of La Jolla, 1216 Cave St. The live show will include singing and dancing. $12; $10 for senior citizens, military personnel and students. lajollaucc.org/events
• Harry’s Coffee Shop will host a visit with Santa Claus at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at 7545 Girard Ave. Free.
• The La Jolla Open Aire Market presents its winter carnival from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, on the grounds of La Jolla Elementary School at Girard Avenue and Genter Street. The event will include pictures with Santa Claus, live music, crafts, a raffle and a “winter wonderland” playground. Free. lajollamarket.com
• The La Jolla Historical Society presents its first “Family Holiday Hullabaloo” at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, at 780 Prospect St. The gathering is open to all ages and will include dancing and singing to the tunes of San Diego “kid folk” band Hullabaloo, led by musicians Steve Denyes and Shawn Rohlf. The event also will include art activities with Xuchi Naungayan Eggleton, inspired by her project in “Trifecta: Art, Science, Patron.” Free; registration is required. bit.ly/LJHSHullabaloo
Ooh La La Dance Academy will present its youth holiday recital on Saturday, Dec. 18.
(Robert Nadel)
• Ooh La La Dance Academy presents its youth holiday recital at noon Saturday, Dec. 18, at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave. Young dancers will perform Christmas, Hanukkah and winter dances in several genres. $23 and up. ljms.org/events
• Ooh La La Dance Academy presents its “Holiday Spectacular for Families” at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave. The show will include dancing, singing, cirque performers, comedians and percussionists. $28 and up. ljms.org/events
• The La Jolla Music Society presents “Holiday Sing-Along at the Conrad” at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 19, at the Wu Tsai QRT.yrd, 7600 Fay Ave. La Jolla youth librarian Katia Graham will read “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus will perform jazzy holiday tunes. Guests are encouraged to bring a book to donate to the Friends of the La Jolla Library or an instrument to donate to the La Jolla Music Society’s after-school program, the Community Music Center. Free. ljms.org/events
• The La Jolla/Riford Library presents a “Noon Year’s Eve Party” at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 30, at 7555 Draper Ave. The party will start with a New Year’s Eve story and will include dancing, a photo station, music, snacks and a countdown to noon. Free. grahamk@sandiego.gov
• Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego presents “Seas ‘n’ Greetings” through Friday, Dec. 31, at 2300 Expedition Way. The month-long holiday celebration features family seasonal activities, including photo opportunities, holiday music and an interactive scavenger hunt. All holiday activities are included in aquarium admission, which is $24.95 for adults and $19.95 for children. Reservations are required. aquarium.ucsd.edu
Music, dancing and more
• The San Diego Children’s Choir presents its 32nd annual winter concert at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave. The event will feature seasonal favorites and diverse musical selections from the choir’s five performing ensembles. $25 and up. ljms.org/events/sd-childrens-choir
• The Queen’s Cartoonists perform at 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave. The show, part of the Conrad Holiday Package, will feature music from the golden age of animation, cult cartoon classics and modern animation along with singing, comedy and more. $31 and up. ljms.org/events
• La Jolla Presbyterian Church presents its annual Christmas concert at 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, at 7715 Draper Ave. The church chancel choir and a professional orchestra will perform Vivaldi’s “Gloria!” A reception will follow the concert. Free; reservations are required. LJPres.org/RSVPconcert
• Cloud of Joy Entertainment presents “Soul Holiday Christmas” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave. The program will include gospel soul, jazz and classic dance moves. $45 and up. ljms.org/events
• The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus presents a holiday program at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 743 Prospect St. The concert will feature works of Victoria, Sweelinck, Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams, Rutter and a few carols from Estonia and Germany. Free. lajollasymphony.com
• Ooh La La Dance Academy presents its “Holiday Spectacular for Adults” at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave. The show will feature singers, dancers, percussionists and performers from all over the country showcasing salsa, samba, cirque, comedy, heels and tease. $60 and up. ljms.org/events
Food and drink
• The La Valencia Hotel presents “Holiday Tea at The Med” at 11 a.m. on various days beginning Friday, Dec. 3, at 1132 Prospect St. The event will include teas paired with scones, quiche, sandwiches, mini pastries and more. $70 per adult; reservations are required. lavalencia.com
• The Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa presents a “Boozy Garden Tea Time: Holiday Edition” at noon Saturday, Dec. 18, at 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road. The event will include gin cocktails, gourmet teas, holiday sweets and sandwiches. $80. bit.ly/EstanciaDec
Karla Castetter and Charleen Boyl are co-chairs of St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church’s Christmas Bazaar set for Dec. 4-5.
(Courtesy of St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church)
• St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church hosts a Christmas Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, and 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, at 743 Prospect St., featuring ornaments, trees, decor, clothing, bakeware, wreathes, toys, jewelry, wrapping paper and more. Free admission. sjbts.org
• The Perry Gallery hosts a Christmas Faire from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, and Sunday, Dec. 5, at 2218 Avenida de la Playa. Local artists will paint small, affordable and creative items for gift-giving. The event also will include refreshments and music. theperrygallery.com
• The Bird Rock Artist Guild presents the 10th annual “Holiday Art in the Garden” at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, at 5571 Bellevue Ave. Bird Rock resident Leslie Davis will open her garden full of art from local artists. The event also will include live music, refreshments and shopping. Donations will be accepted for Art Reach, Unity4 Orphans and the Center for World Music. facebook.com/BirdRockArtistGuild
• The La Jolla Community Center presents a holiday party at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at 6811 La Jolla Blvd. The event will feature music, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, prizes and more. Free for Community Center members; $10 for non-members. Registration is required. ljcommunitycenter.org
• Promises2Kids holds its second annual holiday wine auction at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, online and at Julep, 1735 Hancock St., San Diego. The event will include wine tastings, live entertainment and live and silent auctions. Proceeds will benefit programs that support foster youths. $50 and up. promises2kids.org/wine-auction
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library will hold a holiday bookstore Dec. 14-31.
(Courtesy of Athenaeum Music & Arts Library)
• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library presents a holiday bookstore beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14, and running through Friday, Dec. 31, at 1008 Wall St. The sale will include a large selection of gently used books, CDs, vinyl LPs and sheet music. ljathenaeum.org/book-sale
• The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is holding its “Toys for Tots” drive through Wednesday, Dec. 15, at all fire and lifeguard stations, including in La Jolla. The collection of new toys and books will be distributed to needy children in partnership with the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program. ◆
The Game Table Cafe in Hampden Township is closing after a six-year run.
Owners Tom and Laura Keegan made the announcement Nov. 29 and cited “no single reason” and a “multitude of facts” for their decision. It will close on Dec. 24.
The cafe opened in 2016 at 4900 Carlisle Pike at the Hampden Center and was one of the first game cafes in the Harrisburg area. The cafe serves food including sandwiches, salads, baked goods and coffee and offers more than 500 board and table top games.
“This has been one of the toughest decisions I have had to make in recent memory,” Tom Keegan wrote. “Our customers and employees (both past & present) have become like family to us and closing the café was a very tough decision.”
Keegan said 2021 was anticipated to be the year to take the business to the next level at a new location but the current business climate is too chaotic. The cafe’s lease ends in January 2022.
He said contractors are booked and ones he’s talked to say tell him the soonest they could start his project would be in the fall of 2022.
“I had hoped to find a new location before our current lease runs out. However, the fact that it is easy and cheap to borrow money right now means that there are a lot of people building things,” he wrote.
In addition, Keegan said the high cost of food and supply chain issues have made it difficult to do business and pass along reasonable prices to customers. Also, Laura, who is the cafe’s chef, is experiencing knee pain and scheduled to have surgery in January.
He noted there is a possibility the cafe could return but before that happens the business climate needs to stabilize. The couple is encouraging customers to continue to enjoy the cafe over the coming weeks.
“My goal is to continue to provide the highest quality service and entertainment experience possible. That will be a huge help to all of us. This has been an emotional decision for us and has been emotional for our employees. They all love the café,” Keegan wrote.
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Author Jodi Picoult attends the STARZ mid-season premiere of "Outlander" at the Ziegfeld Theatre on April 1, 2015, in New York. Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Author Jodi Picoult says couldn't wrap her head around how she might tell the story of the pandemic — to both memorialize it and make sense of it.
Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books
That was until she heard the true story of a Japanese tourist that ended up stranded in Machu Picchu due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Instead of going back home to Japan, the tourist, named Jesse Katayama, wound up staying in the gateway community of Aguas Calientes for months until the government offered Katayama special permission to see the historical site.
"I thought, oh, I've never been to Machu Picchu. I can't write about that, and I'm not going in 2020," Picoult told Scott Simon on Weekend Edition. "But I have been to the Galápagos. We took our kids there many years ago, and it's everyone's bucket list destination. And I thought, surely somebody got stuck there."
Picoult did find someone. There was a young Scottish man trapped in the Galápagos. She tracked him down and did an interview with him and the families he stayed with. From there, she began to craft her story.
In Picoult's 26st novel Wish You Were Here, released Tuesday — with rights already sold to Netflix — she centers on Diana O'Toole, who is on the verge of 30, an associate specialist at Sotheby's and about to fly off to the Galápagos with her boyfriend, Finn, who's a surgical resident. Everything is going according to plan for Diana.
Then March 13, 2020 happens. The pandemic.
Finn is told by his boss, as Picoult notes, "You are not allowed to leave the hospital. And he says to his girlfriend, 'Look, this vacation is paid for. You should go.'"
And so Diana does. But upon arrival, she is told the island will shut down for two weeks. Her accommodations are voided, and she has to find a way to get by on an island that does not have stable Wi-Fi or good cell service.
She's all alone on the island where Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection was formed. Picoult said being there "it's like a beautiful metaphor."
Diana begins re-evaluating her life — her relationships, choices and herself — wondering when she returns back home, would she have evolved into another person?
"Diana really learns to re-evaluate the goals she had and the life she wanted and begins to ask herself, 'Why did I want those things in the first place?' - which I think is an experience that many of us had," Picoult said. "The pandemic was such a strange time because we were all so isolated, but we were all feeling the same things. You know, we just weren't connecting about it."
In the Galápagos, Diana learns a lot, not just about herself, but also her job and art, working with impressionist paintings.
"I kept thinking a lot about impressionism, and I kept thinking about how if you see a Monet painting from 6 inches away, it's a lot of blobs of pretty color," Picoult said. "But if you step back a few feet, you go, 'Oh, it's a cathedral; oh, it's water lilies' — because you have perspective. And we are just now beginning to get perspective on what 2020 was."
As for Picoult, she said learned a lot too, noting how she's a "control freak." And like a lot of us, she said she learned that it's OK to grieve for the things you've lost.
But she also pointed to the idea that maybe some of us found new measures of success.
"Maybe it's not getting a degree or a promotion or a slot on a bestseller list," she said. "Maybe instead it is having your health and knowing your family's healthy, having a roof over your head, being able to hold the hand of someone who's dying," she said. "You know, and suddenly, I think having all these new senses of what our priorities are, that's what I'm really interested in. Maybe we will be better and stronger in the future because of it."
NPR's Ian Stewartproduced Scott Simon's interview with Jodi Picoult for NPR's Weekend Edition. Kroc Fellow Mia Estrada adapted it for the web.
Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug to treat mild to moderate COVID-19, is under consideration by an FDA advisory panel for possible authorization. Merck
Merck
An FDA advisory committee is meeting Tuesday to consider whether to recommend a new antiviral pill for the COVID-19 treatment toolkit.
Take-at-home pills could be a game changer for keeping COVID-19 in check, and helping people recover from early stages of the disease.
"With omicron [variant] breathing down our necks, we need drugs, we need really effective antivirals, and we need more of them," says Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who is leading antiviral development.
If authorized by the FDA, the new antiviral pill, molnupiravir — made by the drug companies Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics — would be the first oral home treatment available for mild to moderate COVID-19. A second antiviral pill, Paxlovid — from the drug company Pfizer — is being vetted by the FDA and authorization could soon follow.
Currently, the only FDA-authorized treatments for non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients are monoclonal antibodies, which typically require intravenous infusion in a clinical setting. By contrast, pills are cheaper to make, and easier to distribute and take.
"This [could be] huge for the world, in terms of what we can do to slow down, and hopefully stop, the transmission of this virus," says Dr. Phyllis Tien, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco and a member of the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines panel for the National Institutes of Health.
Tien and other specialists note that the drugs are not designed to replace vaccination but to provide additional support for people who get sick, especially the elderly or immunocompromised who don't have strong response from the vaccines.
"You can't take the pill until you get sick," says Dieffenbach. "So you still want to avoid getting the disease. I think that's rule number one."
NPR consulted COVID-19 treatment experts for their views on the pills' promises and pitfalls, and what's next on the COVID-19 treatment horizon.
How effective are these pills?
According to Merck's data analysis, molnupiravir reduces the risks of hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients by 30%, when the pills are started within five days of symptom onset.
Health experts find these results lackluster. "It'd be great if molnupiravir had held up [to a higher efficacy rate] because it could be, in some ways, an ace in the hole here. But it's not," says Dieffenbach.
The results are still significant for this pill, in terms of reducing hospitalizations and deaths. But the pill appears considerably less effective than treatment with monoclonal antibodies, which reduces the risk of severe COVID-19 by 70% to 85%.
Given the higher efficacy of the antibody treatments, "I think we will continue to use those, particularly for high risk people," says Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who serves on COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panels for the NIH and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Paxlovid, the Pfizer drug, may be much more effective — the company announced preliminary results showing that the drug reduces the risks of hospitalizations and deaths by 89%, though these numbers may change after the full study results are analyzed.
Both molnupiravir and Paxlovid are a series of pills that are taken twice daily for five days. Paxlovid is taken with an additional booster pill of ritonavir, a drug that helps keep the drug active in the body for longer.
How do they work?
When the coronavirus enters a human cell, it makes many copies of itself — more viruses that can then spread around the body and out of the body to infect others. Both pills stop the virus from multiplying — by targeting parts of the replication process.
"In order for the virus to make itself, it needs to first make a very long string of proteins, which are the building blocks that will build the next virus," Dieffenbach explains.
Molnupiravir changes the order of the amino acids that make up the proteins, so the proteins are defective — and the new virus that's built is broken, unable to infect new cells or replicate itself.
Paxlovid, the Pfizer drug, interferes in the next step of replication — when the virus uses a protease — a specific kind of enzyme — to chop the protein string in exactly the right places to create its building blocks. The drug blocks the enzyme and keeps the virus stuck on this step. "It gums up the works and kills the cell and makes for a great immune response," says Dieffenbach.
Both drugs are intended to give your body a leg up in fighting off a COVID-19 infection. "If your viral load comes down quickly, then your body doesn't have to do as much work to try and get rid of this virus," Tien says.
Molnupiravir impairs SARS-CoV-2 replication. The drug works by changing the order of the amino acids in the proteins it's making to build new viruses, so the proteins are defective — and the new viruses are unable to infect new cells or replicate. Juan Gaertner/Science Source
Juan Gaertner/Science Source
Are there any known risks or side effects?
Some experts have raised concerns that molnupiravir could interfere with the development of babies during pregnancy, or hasten the development of new viral variants. For now, these drug safety concerns are largely hypothetical, but they are important to weighing the risks of the drug versus its benefits, says Tien. She expects a discussion of these potential issues at today's FDA advisory committee meeting.
Because the Pfizer drug works through a different mechanism, the concerns with molnupiravir do not directly apply to Paxlovid, though the company has not made its safety data public yet. Ritonavir, the booster for Paxlovid, is a drug that has been used in HIV treatment, and is known to cause nausea, vomiting and a bitter, metallic taste.
Who will they help?
Both pills are demonstrated to work best when given early in the course of infection, in patients at high risk for disease progression, says Tien. In clinical trials, both molnupiravirand Paxlovid were given to patients within five days of symptom onset.
That's because COVID-19 can be broken roughly into two phases — the viral phase, and the immune dysregulation phase. "The goal of the drugs is to assist in the process of really whacking the virus hard so the immunity can finish it off," Dieffenbach says.
In the later stages of disease, the health problem often shifts to hyper-inflammation — where a person's own immune response is causing much of the symptoms of severe disease. Then, dampening the immune response with drugs like steroids is more helpful to recovery.
Stopping the viral phase would be great — but there's a hitch: Because the pills work best when given within days of infection, testing and treatment go "hand in glove," Gandhi says.
"When someone develops a symptom, they [should be] able to get a test and result rapidly, and if they're at high risk for progression, start on a pill," he says. If instead, a person waits a few days to get tested and another few days for results, the period when these pills are most effective has likely passed.
Will they be effective against variants, including omicron?
Probably. It's likely that the antiviral pills will remain effective against coronavirus variants, even if protection from current vaccines and antibody treatments wane — though studies are needed to confirm this, says Dieffenbach.
That's because the antiviral pills take aim at a different part of the virus life cycle.
Vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments target the virus through its spike protein, which it uses to attach and gain entry into cells. This part of the virus is under "intense selective pressure," Dieffenbach says — new variants of concern, including delta and omicron, often have changes to the spike protein which may help the virus spread more easily.
The antiviral pills, on the other hand, are directed at the "viral copying machinery," or the enzymes that help the virus replicate once it's inside a cell, says Gandhi: "So there's reason to be optimistic that these drugs will continue to be efficacious against variants including omicron," even if immunity from vaccination declines.
In an email to NPR on Monday, a Merck spokesperson concurred, writing "we believe molnupirvir will likely be active against [the omicron variant]," noting that the drug "demonstrated consistent efficacy" across viral variants gamma, delta, and mu.
However, both Dieffenbach and Gandhi say specific studies pitting the pills against specific variants are needed to confirm this hunch.
What's next?
These antiviral pills, if authorized by the FDA, could be useful tools — but there's room for better antivirals to be developed, says Dieffenbach. And that's to be expected: "It wasn't until we had HIV drugs for six or seven or eight years that we really got to a cocktail of three drugs that were easier to take and didn't have pretty profound side effects," he says.
Gandhi would like to see pills that are proven to be safe and effective in specific, vulnerable populations. "I'm hoping for a drug that we can safely give to pregnant women, because they're at high risk for severe COVID," he says. He'd also like to see trials for immunocompromised people who may have a longer window of opportunity for antiviral treatments, because they tend to take longer to clear the virus from their systems.
There may be a future need to develop COVID-19 treatments that skirt drug resistance, says Tien, if the coronavirus evolves to make specific targets ineffective. Again taking a lesson from HIV treatment, she says, using combinations of therapies could be one strategy against variants.
Even as treatments get better, they should not be seen as replacement for vaccines, says Gandhi. "What omicron tells me most forcefully is that, until we drive down rates of COVID around the world, these variants are going to continue," he says. As for treatments: "They are a backup plan. They're an adjunct. They're not the prime way we should be getting out of this pandemic."
Recruiters speak with potential applicants during a job fair in Leesburg, Virginia, on Oct. 21, 2021.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS | AFP | Getty Images
Claims for unemployment benefits dipped to their lowest point in more than 50 years the week before Thanksgiving — a remarkable rebound from the nosebleed levels earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reduction is good news for the U.S. economy and labor market. However, the headline figure masks a detail that likely makes the data appear overly rosy, according to labor experts.
"I would not break out the party hats just yet," said AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at job site Indeed.
Seasonal adjustment
Workers filed 199,000 initial claims during the week ended Nov. 20, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Wednesday. (Initial claims are a proxy for benefit applications.) That's the fewest since the week ending Nov. 15, 1969, and a decrease of 71,000 from the prior week.
But that figure has a seasonal adjustment, which controls for layoff patterns that occur at various times of year. (For example, layoffs generally rise in construction and agriculture in the colder months.)
The unadjusted number (which reflects the true number of claims) tells a different story. Unadjusted initial claims increased by 18,000, to almost 259,000, the week before Thanksgiving.
How can the seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data move in opposite directions?
Basically, the Labor Department expected many more workers to apply for benefits than did during the week before Thanksgiving. (They anticipated about another 70,000.) That showed up as a big decrease in seasonally adjusted claims.
"It's a bit of an art," said Susan Houseman, research director at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, of the seasonal adjustment. "In that sense, I wouldn't make too much of this being the lowest number of [unemployment] claims since 1969."
That said, unemployment claims are generally trending in a positive direction.
The level of unadjusted initial claims is roughly equivalent to the week before Thanksgiving 2019 — which was a strong period for the U.S. economy, Houseman said. It's also a dramatic reduction from roughly 6 million new claims a week at the height of the pandemic.
Employers are holding onto workers instead of laying them off, at a time when it's difficult for many to find and retain their existing employees, according to Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at Glassdoor.
"Ultimately, the holistic picture provided by all our economic data is the economy is recovering from the delta slowdown," said Zhao, referring to the Covid-19 variant.
Future rebound?
By accounting for seasonal volatility, data adjustments generally give a more accurate portrayal of economic trends.
But the exercise has proven more difficult for federal agencies during the pandemic, and is typically harder around holidays, according to Zhao.
Supply-chain issues may also have disrupted typical seasonal labor patterns in certain industries, perhaps if they caused an earlier-than-anticipated layoff, for example, he said.
"It does seem like last week's figures, in particular, were partially driven by the seasonal adjustment," Zhao said of the large decrease in seasonal claims. "I do expect to see a rebound in claims in the coming weeks."
Further, comparing claims across decades (whether adjusted or not) is challenging due to different rules to collect benefits over time, according to economists.
Many states, for example, made it harder to get benefits after the Great Recession, which would tend to reduce the number of people who apply for aid relative to past years. However, increased awareness around benefit availability during the pandemic might pushed more people to apply.
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