🌞 Axios AM: Defying the CDC

Heated seats, by the month | Friday, July 30, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Google   Axios AM By Mike Allen ·Jul 30, 2021 Happy Friday! Smart Brevity™ count: 1,197 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu.     1 big thing: America defies the CDC Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   Few Americans or businesses are paying attention to the confusing new CDC mask guidance, Axios Local reporters found in neighborhoods coast to coast. Why it matters: A renewed culture war over masks is inflaming encounters in the nation's grocery stores and pizza joints. In Arkansas, with one of the highest case rates in the country, most people are just fed up with having to be careful. Alex Golden of Axios Northwest Arkansas picked up a pizza in Jane, Mo., and saw no workers or customers wearing masks. But a Facebook post from a beloved bookstore in downtown Fayetteville says the business will require masks inside the store "until the Covid numbers start improving in Arkansas." This has been a recurring topic on our Zoom calls, and Ben Montgomery finally gets to type this sentence: We've been mostly maskless around Tampa Bay since February. The fact that cases didn't spike after tightly packed Super Bowl festivities — combined with a sense of safety in the sunshine and Gov. Ron DeSantis' policies — expedited a return to normal. One of the biggest contrasts is Hawaii, where most locals never stopped wearing masks, regardless of vax status, Axios executive editor Sara Kehaulani Goo reports. Many restaurants on Oahu require temperature checks before entering. Some still ask for your name, phone number and address. A Circle K in Gastonia, N.C., holds a PPE blowout sale. Photo: Katie Peralta Soloff/Axios North Carolinians, regardless of ZIP code or political stripe, ditched masks and flooded the beaches this summer. In Gastonia, 30 minutes west of Charlotte, Circle K held a "PPE BLOWOUT SALE" with buy-one-get-one-free masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and wipes. In Denver, Axios' John Frank was the only person wearing a mask at Honey Hill Cafe. The staff weren't wearing masks. The CDC this week listed most of the Denver metro area as a substantial risk zone. That did little to change behavior. In Des Moines, the revised CDC guidance hasn't budged Iowa's stand against mask mandates, but it has moved some individuals to act. Gov. Kim Reynolds said the guidance isn't "grounded in reality or common sense." But the Twin Cities are starting to mask up again in grocery stores. Axios' Jason Clayworth, John Frank, Michael Graff, Nick Halter, Katie Peralta Soloff and Worth Sparkman contributed reporting. Share this story.     2. CDC document warns: The "war has changed" Graphic: CDC via The Washington Post   Unpublished research indicates that the Delta variant causes more severe illness and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal CDC presentation obtained by the WashPost. Why it matters: The data played a key role in the CDC's decision to tell vaccinated people to resume masking indoors. The deck stresses the daunting "communication challenges" of moving "the goal posts of success in full public view," The Post reports. See the slides.     3. From gypsy moths to Audubon, nature names face racist test Freshly hatched caterpillars of gypsy moths on the bark of a red oak. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/picture alliance via Getty Images   Bugs, birds, fish and plants with names linked to white supremacists may be renamed, as science confronts its ties to systemic racism, Axios race and justice correspondent Russell Contreras reports. Why it matters: The sciences have long underrepresented and erected barriers of entry to people of color, and there's a concerted effort for a reset under way in academia, research and hiring. The Entomological Society of America announced this month that insects known as Aphaenogaster araneoides and Lymantria dispar will no longer be called "gypsy ants" and "gypsy moths." Gypsy is a racial slur for Romani people. The American Ornithological Society announced its commitment to changing "exclusionary or harmful bird names." The National Audubon Society is debating whether to change its name. The group is named after John James Audubon, a bird enthusiast who also enslaved Black people. The other side: Bird names are one of the treasures of the English language, and not all are derived from old white men, wrote Helen Andrews, a senior editor at The American Conservative: "Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were talking about swans, sparrows, and ravens when William the Conqueror was a boy." Keep reading.     A message from Google Cybersecurity requires technology that is secure by default     Cybersecurity is often an afterthought instead of being built into technology from the start. Building technology that is secure by default will help eliminate vulnerabilities and strengthen America's cyber defense. Learn how Google supports the White House cybersecurity executive order.     4. Pic du jour: Lollapalooza opens in Chicago Photo: Gary Miller/FilmMagic via Getty Images Hordes thronged Day 1 of the 30th anniversary of Lollapalooza, at Grant Park, "Chicago's Front Yard." Attendees were required to show a vax card or negative COVID test. More photos.     5. First Afghan families and allies arrive in U.S. In 2009, Josh Habib (left), a 53-year-old translator for the U.S. Marines, speaks with Afghan villagers and two Marines in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP About 200 Afghans who served as interpreters, contractors or other ally roles for the U.S. military landed at Dulles — the first of many such flights as U.S. troops withdraw from the region. 700 Afghan allies and families will be brought into the U.S. on special immigrant visas, Axios' Erin Doherty and Stef Kight report. Keep reading.     6. Scarlett Johansson sues Disney over release Photo: Scarlett Johansson in "Black Widow." Photo: Marvel Studios/Disney via AP Scarlett Johansson sued Disney over the early streaming release of her current hit "Black Widow" (on Disney+ for a $30 rental), which she said breached her contract and deprived her of earnings. Why it matters: Studios and stars are coming into conflict as film distribution is disrupted in the chase for homebound eyeballs. Once taboo, hybrid theatrical and streaming releases have become more normal for many of the biggest studios during the pandemic, AP reports. Disney said the case has no merit: "The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic."     7. First look: Jonathan Karl's Trump book Cover: Dutton   In a sequel to his bestselling "Front Row at the Trump Show," ABC News' Jonathan Karl will be out Nov. 16 with "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show." You're seeing the cover here for the first time. The publisher says Karl "tells the story of Trump's downfall, complete with riveting behind-the-scenes accounts of some of the darkest days in the history of the American presidency," and on-record interviews "with central figures ... telling their stories for the first time." Karl interviewed developer Donald Trump as a rookie reporter for the New York Post, then covered the entire presidency from the front row of the White House briefing room. 📚 Trump books are selling: "I Alone Can Fix It," by the WashPost's Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, debuted at No. 2 on the N.Y. Times hardcover nonfiction list for Aug. 8. Michael Wolff's "Landslide" is No. 3 and Michael Bender's "Frankly, We Did Win This Election" is No. 11. Both have been on the list for two weeks. Share the cover.     8. Tweet of the day Via Twitter     9. 1 car thing: Heated seats, by the month Tesla is proposing a $199 monthly subscription for its assisted-driving system. Photo: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg via Getty Images   Automakers are moving software features to monthly subscriptions, and drooling over the recurring revenue from car owners, Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller writes from Detroit. "If you can get somebody hooked on a subscription, then it's like Netflix," said Sam Abuelsamid, analyst at Guidehouse Insights. "You tend to keep paying ... whether you use the feature or not." Tesla said it would let customers subscribe to its "Full Self-Driving" advanced driver assistance package for $199 a month, rather than paying $10,000 upfront. BMW enables features like heated seats and steering wheels to be unlocked via subscription fees. Share this story.     10. Tokyo tech: "Remote cheering" A 50-meter-wide display brings sailing action closer to those watching from land. Photo: NTT Japanese telecom giant NTT is using augmented reality and holograms to teleport badminton matches to crowds at a museum 22 miles away, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried reports from Tokyo. Before the Games, NTT tested fiber-optic cables to allow real-time remote cheering. But Tokyo's state of emergency means it isn't safe for Japanese fans to gather and cheer at the remote location. Keep reading. 🥇 The latest: Axios Olympics Dashboard.     A message from Google Google's AI-driven security protects billions of people     We keep more people safe online than anyone else in the world by blocking malware, phishing attempts, spam messages, and potential cyberattacks. We're partnering with public and private sectors to develop and implement security technologies to make us all safer. Learn more.   📬 Please invite your friends, family, colleagues to sign up here for Axios AM and Axios PM. Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox. And make sure you subscribe to Mike's afternoon wrap up, Axios PM.   Follow Axios on social media: