Canadian officials warn drivers not to let moose lick their cars CNN

Jens Weidmann: Combating climate change – what central banks can and cannot do Bank of International Settlements

Asleep at the Wheel: Why Didn’t Carmakers Prepare for Massachusetts’ Right to Repair Law? EFF

Why Getting Paid for Your Data Is a Bad Deal EFF

The Code That Controls Your Money Wealthsimple. Cobol.

Drugs for the People The Baffler

#COVID-19

Op-Ed: Demanding Thanksgiving Abstinence Is Not Public Health MedPage Today

U.S. hits 12 million COVID-19 cases as many Americans defy Thanksgiving travel guidance Reuters

‘It’s scary’: Family members returning home bring higher COVID risk for Thanksgiving gatherings USA Today

* * *

Hospitals Know What’s Coming The Atlantic

Over 900 Mayo staff have gotten COVID-19 in past two weeks Post-Bulletin

Indiana health officials brace for continued COVID-19 surge, while hospitals scramble for staff Indiana Business Journal

Coronavirus pandemic’s third wave threatens to flood Colorado hospitals Denver Post

Utah hospitals have begun informal rationing of care, doctors say, as they cope with surge of COVID-19 patients Salt Lake City Tribune

* * *

Astra-Oxford Vaccine Prevents Average of 70% of Covid Cases Bloomberg. That’s efficacy. Ultimately, this vaccine may end up being more effective, since it’s cheaper and requires only refrigeration. Handy chart:

Bonus antidote (dk):

What does emergency use of a Covid-19 vaccine mean? NBC

* * *

Formulation of a composite nasal spray enabling enhanced surface coverage and prophylaxis of SARS-COV-2 (preprint) bioRxiv. From the Conclusions: “As the primary mode of transmission for airborne viruses is uptake through the respiratory tract, the nasal passage poses one of the largest risk factors to contraction. Although it is well known that the nose filters 1000s of litres of air daily, there is little in the way of preventative measures to ensure protection to infection. This study has demonstrated the formulation of a potent antiviral nasal spray, with not only prophylactic capacity, but the ability to prevent viral transmission.”

Intermittent fasting, a possible priming tool for host defense against SARS-CoV-2 infection: Crosstalk among calorie restriction, autophagy and immune response Immunology Letters. Underlining “possible.” Big if true.

* * *

Coronaviruses closely related to the pandemic virus discovered in Japan and Cambodia Nature

Naturally occurring indels in multiple coronavirus spikes Virological.org. From the Introduction: “Proponents of theories for the unnatural origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have asserted that the 12 nucleotide insert in the spike gene, which results in acquisition of a furin cleavage site in spike, may have arisen by laboratory manipulation (Relman, 2020; Segreto and Deigin, 2020; Seyran et al., 2020; Sirotkin and Sirotkin, 2020). Here, we compile evidence demonstrating that insertion/deletion (indel) events at the S1/S2 and S2′ protease cleavage sites of the spike precursors are commonly occurring natural features of coronavirus evolution.”

* * *

Polypropylene, the material now recommended for COVID-19 mask filters: What it is, where to get it Brighter World

Inside the longest lockdown in the world Unherd. You can’t do lockdowns without economic support, as Slavitt and Ferguson et al. recommend.

America’s narrow idea of freedom is literally killing us Ryan Cooper, The Week

G-20 summit ends with support for COVID-19 vaccines for all Independent

World’s Supplier of Nurses to Limit Sending New Hires Abroad Bloomberg

Virus swells Montreal’s homeless camps as winter comes Agence France Presse

China?

Beijing warns of crackdown on misconduct after bond defaults FT

Chinese authorities warn bond issuers they can’t ‘run away’ from their debts after defaults rock investor confidence South China Morning Post

China tests millions after coronavirus flare-ups in 3 cities AP

Covid-19: China pushes for QR code based global travel system BBC

Smelling blood, Huawei’s Chinese mobile rivals look to capitalise on its U.S. woes Reuters

Nigeria’s richest plough money into Africa’s biggest economy FT

Syraqistan

Kazakh fintech star Kaspi a pandemic bright spot Agence France Presse

UK/EU

Boris Johnson will unveil post-December 2 lockdown ‘Tiers’ TODAY with Christmas shopping saved and gyms able to reopen – but pubs and restaurants pay the price as ministers plead with Tory rebels to recognise there is a ‘way through’ the crisis Daily Mai

Swedish PM Sends Covid Plea to Nation After ‘Careless’ Response Bloomberg

Protesters set fire to Guatemala’s Congress building AP (Re Silc).

New Cold War

Putin: Russia-China military alliance can’t be ruled out AP

Trump Transition

US economy hurtles toward ‘COVID cliff’ with programs set to expire The Hill

Trump Unveils Disputed, Long-Shot Drug Rules Upending System Bloomberg

Air Force Base to begin using robot dogs to patrol its base ABC St Louis

2020

The Trailer: All the votes Trump and his allies are challenging WaPo

When Politics isn’t All Personal Zeynep Tufecki, Insight

Let’s not overthink this Science

Big California donors want to fill Kamala Harris’s Senate seat with a woman of color Recode

Biden Transition

Transition Highlights: Biden Plans to Name Blinken, Sullivan and Thomas-Greenfield to Cabinet NYT

Say It Ain’t So, Joe: CBS Reporter Draws Ire Of Biden For Asking Substantive Question Jonathan Turley

Intelligence Community

Has Moscow been secretly microwaving our spies for years? CIA investigates after the world was shocked by claims Indian troops had been ‘cooked alive’ by Chinese electromagnetic pulse weapon Daily Mail

Health Care

Sadly, this tweet is a genre piece. I couldn’t tell you how many thread like it I’ve seen:

Tell me a story about a time your health insurance company did something terrible or inexplicable to you.

Tell me a story about a time your health insurance company made your life more difficult.

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 22, 2020

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Police in Mississippi To Pilot a Program to Live-Stream Amazon Ring Cameras Mozilla

Opinion: On Google’s ReCAPTCHA Privacy Nightmare Humans for Ethical Technology

Bots Grade Your Kids’ Schoolwork—and They’re Often Wrong WSJ

Class Warfare

Inheritance, not work, has become the main route to middle-class home ownership Guardian

Labor Law and Corporate Concentration Labor Law Lite

An Account of Human Costs Places Journal. New York City’s reservoirs.

OED Word of the Year expanded for ‘unprecedented’ 2020 BBC

Antidote du jour (via):

“It’s working!” Check out the critters big and small who are using Utah’s first wildlife overpass to cross Interstate 80. The @UtahDWR shared this video on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/H7d896eiYs

— KUTV2news (@KUTV2News) November 21, 2020

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.