Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
EU leaders hammer out a financial response to the coronavirus. A broad initial consensus on joint action against the economic fallout of the pandemic may be within reach, but a final deal may yet prove elusive as member states gather to discuss whether to issue common debt or resort to other measures.
The UK begins human trials of a coronavirus vaccine… The Oxford scientists developing the drug hope to have millions of approved doses by September. Meanwhile, the government announced the start of a mass survey of 20,000 households to track coronavirus in the general population.
…and the US ousted its virus vaccine chief. Rick Bright, the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ agency in charge of developing the coronavirus vaccine, believes he was pushed out for resisting the broad use of an anti-malaria drug embraced by president Donald Trump. Separately, Trump said he signed an executive order to temporarily halt the issuance of green cards.
Ramadan begins. The holy month begins tonight in Europe and the US with the sighting of the crescent moon, and tomorrow across many Arab countries. Many Muslims will be spending it under lockdown, and mosques around the world have closed to curb the spread of the disease.
Japan and South Korea posted dismal economic data. Service sector activity in April in Japan plunged to a record low, as did the purchasing managers index for manufacturing, which contracted the most since April 2009 to 37.8 this month. South Korea’s first quarter GDP shrank 1.4% on-quarter, the sharpest quarterly contraction since 2008.
There’s a severe security flaw in half a billion iPhones. US cybersecurity firm ZecOps discovered a bug in the iOS Mail app on phones and iPads, which it said had already been exploited in attacks against multiple high-profile users dating back to January 2018. Apple will roll out a fix in a forthcoming update.
China’s long-distance relationships
📲 US officials said China spread fake news to cause panic. Messages on social media—many insisting that the US was on the verge of martial law—were traced back to Chinese operatives.
🔬 The US secretary of state wants to inspect China’s laboratories. Mike Pompeo is sticking to his theory that the pandemic began in a Wuhan virology lab.
📦 India is paying manufacturers to leave China. As global corporations rethink where they concentrate their production in the country, India’s eager to be their next choice.
💺 Meanwhile, China is ready to hit the road. Its five-day Labor Day holiday is expected to provide a mini-boom for tourism.
Charting how a census fares in a pandemic
Carrying out a census is hard enough as it is, and in-person contact helps fill in much of the blanks in communities where the self-response rate is lower. The 2020 US census illustrates just how hard it is to get good data during a pandemic, when knocking on doors isn’t exactly encouraged. As a result, people of color—already hit harder by Covid-19—will be underreported, which could lead to equality issues down the road.
For Quartz members
- Most Americans find China threatening. Environmental impact tops the list of their anxieties.
- We’re endangering delivery workers… When we summon food, they expose themselves to potential contagion.
- …but we’re also giving them jobs. It’s a moral quandary, but here’s how we can respond.
We’re obsessed with Petri dishes
Before the world became one, the Petri dish was a brilliantly simple scientific tool. Little has changed about its basic design since the 1880s, although we no longer grow bacteria in a gelatin made from beef bullion. The versatile germ capsules have been used to study infectious diseases, help parents conceive, grow burgers in a lab, and create living works of art. Take a closer look with the Quartz Daily Obsession.
Surprising discoveries
Dark data is wasting a lot of energy. Unused data that is nevertheless stored in data centers is responsible for 6.4 million tons of carbon dioxide this year alone.
The lockdown will become a blur. Cognitive psychologists say the way many of us experience this stretched-out historical period won’t be conducive to creating sharp memories.
Researchers found a long-lost medieval recipe for blue ink. Folium, a key ingredient, is derived from the fruit of a small plant that grows in southern Portugal.
Think you can hack an orbiting satellite? The US Air Force wants hackers to try, in order to find bugs and vulnerabilities.
Japan enlisted a mythical sea creature to help spread public health messages. Amabie has a fish’s body, human hair, and a bird’s beak.
You asked about susceptibility in seniors
If a person is over 65 with no underlying conditions and in good health are they more vulnerable to Covid-19 than a person under 65?
Great question, reader. The short answer is yes. Just like our lungs, livers, and kidneys change with age, the conglomerate of cells that make up the immune system do, too. There tend to be fewer of them, which translates to fewer forces available to fight off a novel infection. When they do respond to a pathogen, they’re more prone to setting off inflammatory responses—which can dangerously overwhelm the body, and ultimately do more harm than the virus itself.
These inflammatory responses in older adults are particularly common with coronaviruses in general, Vineet Menachery, an immunologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told Quartz in January. But scientists still don’t know the precise triggers for that immune overreaction.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, space hacks, and Amabie sightings to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui and edited by Isabella Steger.