Rowdy Beach Parties, a Vaccine Volunteer, and an Eid Celebration in ‘Animal Crossing’
A roundup of stories we’re reading about Covid-19 today
Published in
2 min readMay 26, 2020
--
- “It looks like there are two people out the sunroof throwing money,” said the pilot of a police helicopter as he flew over Daytona Beach, Florida this weekend, one of many places where rowdy Memorial Day weekend parties illustrated a new dilemma. In areas where executive orders related to the coronavirus have expired, reports the Washington Post, law enforcement officials say they can’t really enforce social distancing guidelines, no matter how important they remain.
- At the end of March, a Seattle resident named Ian Haydon announced he was volunteering to get Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine, even though the risks were high. Now, STAT News reports that Haydon had an adverse reaction to the vaccine that involved a high fever and fainting. While he was at first reluctant to speak about his reaction out of fear it would stoke general antagonism around vaccines, he decided to do it, he says, to caution those who are clamoring to rush a vaccine to market.
- China “has been using practically every surveillance system in its toolbox since at least February,” writes my colleague Dave Gershgorn in his roundup of coronavirus surveillance programs around the world. Apps and maps powered by facial recognition, location tracking, and drones have been instrumental in helping the country manage its Covid-19 epidemic, raising urgent privacy concerns. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, there are plans to create a permanent version of a smartphone-based health tracking app in at least one Chinese city.
- This weekend was Eid, the feast that marks the end of the monthlong fasting of Ramadan. Under normal circumstances, many people would break their fast with friends and family, but coronavirus restrictions have inspired alternative platforms for celebration — including, as Vice reports, an Eid celebration held on a virtual island in the Nintendo Switch game Animal Crossing.
