| | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | Good morning from Lake Geneva, Wisc., where the cheese curds are aplenty, Spotted Cow flows freely and raspberry-flavored kringle is what drives you from bed. Two months ago, we celebrated the Fourth of July with family in Ohio, thinking — like many Americans — this pandemic was on the way out. President JOE BIDEN touted the holiday as an emergence "from the darkness… of isolation… and heartbreaking loss" — and the beginning of a return to normal American life: Cookouts. Hugs. Shedding of masks. Fast forward to Labor Day: hospitalizations and deaths are now on the rise, the vaccination effort has plateaued, and the Delta variant has resurrected fear, even infecting some who are vaccinated. Americans are wondering: When the hell is this thing going to end? This morning in POLITICO Magazine, our health editor-at-large Joanne Kenen tackles the question of "why we can't turn the corner on covid," for. — The hard truth: Joanne writes that the question of when life will return normal is actually the "wrong question," according to public health officials: "There will be no quick and clear turning point ahead in the Covid-19 pandemic, no 'X' to mark on the calendar indicating that the worst is past and we can be confident that going forward there will be fewer cases, fewer deaths, fewer hospitals stuffed to their dangerous limits." "The deadly surge currently raging in the Southern states may level off, but as the virus recedes in one part of the country, it may explode in another… It seems the narrow window to wipe the coronavirus completely off the face of the globe has slipped through our unvaccinated fingers." — But (and this is a good "but") we may have found "a manageable middle," Joanne reports. "[J]ust because we aren't looking at the best-case scenario, doesn't mean that we're now in a worst-case scenario. Instead, according to U.S. Surgeon General VIVEK MURTHY, we're looking at something in the manageable middle. 'It is really important that we convey that success does not equal no cases,' Murthy told POLITICO in an interview. 'Success looks like very few people in the hospital and very few dying.' "With all the worry about Delta, he noted, the gains we've made are sometimes forgotten or diminished. The vaccines do work, he stressed. Breakthrough cases remain infrequent; few are life threatening." — Coronavirus is "here to stay." "Epidemiologists now expect the coronavirus to be endemic, meaning it's here to stay. But even if the virus persists, it doesn't mean a perpetual pandemic. Over time, human immunity will keep growing through vaccination and natural infection; that's already started. Scientists will develop new treatments. Eventually, Covid can become one of many diseases that circulate, that sometimes even kill, without bringing the world to a deadly standstill. Until then, the challenge is to find out how to co-exist with it, tenuously, as safely as we can." Read the full piece here. | | A message from Amazon: On September 15, Amazon will be hosting its largest-ever training and recruitment event – Career Day 2021. This event is open to anyone and designed to support all job seekers, regardless of their level of experience, professional field, or background. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in more than 20,000 personalized career-coaching sessions with an Amazon recruiter. The company is also offering thousands of 1-on-1 career-coaching sessions for Amazon employees looking to grow their careers at the company. Learn more about Amazon Career Day 2021. | | | ON A RELATED NOTE, Marc Fisher at WaPo spoke to a bunch of epidemiologists who disagreed on the future of Covid. But they all did agree on at least one thing: "Pandemics do end, sort of. (Though there are exceptions, such as malaria.) … [M]any pandemics become endemic, meaning they morph into something that is no longer an emergency, but rather an annoyance, an ugly, even painful fact of life that people simply learn to cope with, like the flu or common cold. The question is when and how we get to that point." From the piece: — MONICA GANDHI , an infectious-disease specialist and professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, told Fisher "I truly, truly think we are in the endgame." Go on, please: "Gandhi, too, has concluded that as scary and dangerous as the delta variant has been, 'we're sort of at the peak of the pandemic because the delta variant is causing immunity like crazy. Delta comes in like a hurricane, but it leaves a lot of immunity in its wake.' Although its rapid spread and severe impact on some people are scary, the delta version has a hidden benefit: It makes future variants less likely to be more lethal, Gandhi said." — But but but … "JULIE SWANN views Gandhi as overly optimistic about how and when normal life might return. 'She's wrong,' said Swann, a systems engineer at North Carolina State University who advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the H1N1 pandemic. 'And I hope it takes longer than she's saying because that will be much safer.' … Swann said Gandhi's argument that the delta variant will create so much immunity that life can return to normal 'is a really apocalyptic way of getting there. Do you want delta to burn through the population, creating immunity at a very high cost, or would you rather just wear a mask?'" MORE ON COVID … — "U.S. hits 40 million Covid cases as delta variant spreads," by NBC News' Ben Kesslen — "Moderna Covid-19 booster may come later than Pfizer and a 3-dose regimen may be best, Fauci says," by CNN's John Bonifield Happy Monday, and thanks for reading Playbook. The AP notes that this Labor Day marks a "perilous crossroads" for millions of Americans who will lose unemployment benefits. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, begins at sundown. For this holiday edition, our editor Mike Zapler tried something a little different for the "Playbook Reads" section, our roundup of the key stories of the day. We'd love to hear what you think. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. | | A message from Amazon: Amazon is hiring 40,000+ corporate and tech roles across 220+ locations in the U.S., as well as tens of thousands of hourly positions in Amazon's Operations network. | | | BIDEN'S MONDAY: — 6 p.m.: The president will depart Wilmington, Del., to return to the White House, where he is scheduled to arrive at 6:55 p.m. THE HOUSE and THE SENATE are out. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | 
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Col. Mamadi Doumbouya and members of the army's special forces unit address the nation from state television headquarters in Conakry, Guinea on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. | Radio Television Guineenne via AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | TALIBAN TAKEOVER — " Around 1,000 people, including dozens of American citizens and Afghans holding visas to the U.S. or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for the fifth day on Sunday as they awaited clearance for the departure from the Taliban," according to the NYT's Melissa Eddy and Thomas Gibbons-Neff. — WaPo's Sean Sullivan, Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Nick Miroff report that administration officials are wrestling with a thorny question: Which of the tens of thousands of Afghan refugees to allow to resettle in the U.S.? — Hope for humanity? The NYT writes that "a mass mobilization is underway" to help people fleeing Afghanistan — an effort that, according to one pastor, includes "even the most right-leaning isolationists." THE WHITE HOUSE — "Remain in Mexico-lite": That's essentially what the Biden administration is weighing for the Trump-era asylum program — and even that scaled-back version is angering immigration advocates, Anita Kumar writes. The NYT, meanwhile, has a piece about how some Biden officials were privately relieved that SCOTUS upheld the program. — AP: ANTONY BLINKEN and LLOYD AUSTIN are heading to the Gulf (separately) "to reassure Gulf allies that Biden's decision to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan in order to focus more on other security challenges like China and Russia does not foretell an abandonment of U.S. partners in the Middle East." | | | | A message from Amazon:   Amazon was recently named by LinkedIn as the No. 1 company where Americans want to work and develop their careers. | | | POLITICS CORNER — For those who've been checked out, our Nick Niedzwiadek has a California recall for dummies (the election is in two weeks, and GAVIN NEWSOM could lose, though we highly doubt it.) — Human Rights Campaign head ALPHONSO DAVID — a former adviser to disgraced ex-New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO — issued a defiant statement refusing to resign over his role in Cuomo's damage control efforts. The New York Post and WaPo have stories. IDA AFTERMATH — Seriously? Here comes "Fierce Hurricane Larry," which USA Today says "could be even stronger than Ida." — Parts of Louisiana could be without power for weeks longer, per CNN. TRUMP CARDS — New York Mag's Ed Kilgore has a very detailed timeline of " Trump's Long Campaign to Steal the Presidency." — The Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney is still investigating whether state laws were broken "when Trump and his allies tried to overturn election results there," per Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery and Asawin Suebsaeng. MEDIAWATCH — Rolling Stone is backtracking from a provocative but apparently overblown/untrue assertion that hospitals are turning away gunshot victims because they're swamped by Ivermectin overdoses. — Ben Smith's latest: "If Gawker Is Nice, Is It Still Gawker?" | | | | JOIN THURSDAY FOR A CONVERSATION ABOUT RETURNING TO THE WORKPLACE : Businesses across the U.S. are having to navigate all sorts of complexities around vaccines, masking requirements, testing and social distancing. Join POLITICO for a conversation to explore how government, public health officials and employers are navigating the return of in-person work. The focus of the conversation will be on the solutions for creating safe, in-person workplaces. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Melania has "zero desire" for a White House redux, according to CNN's Kate Bennett. Andy Biggs and 10 other House Republicans wrote a letter to Marissa Mayer, "President and Chief Executive Officer" of Yahoo, even though she left the company in 2017. Andrew Bates and Naomi Biden both got engaged (not to each other). The Anti-Defamation League's Jonathan Greenblatt apologized for opposing a planned Islamic center near Ground Zero 11 years ago. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) revealed that she is freezing her eggs. Shonda Rhimes and Eva Longoria stepped down from the Time Up's board. TRANSITIONS — Annie Barletta is now West and Florida regional finance director for the RNC. She previously was senior legislative assistant for Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.). … Matt Rimkunas is now director of government relations at Breakthrough Energy. He previously was deputy COS for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) … Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) … Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) (8-0) … Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas)… Mariannette Miller-Meeks … former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie … Carly Fiorina … Brittany Bramell … Matt Littman … Ryan Mahoney … Lizzie Ulmer … Ari Schaffer … Peter Barnes … Elizabeth Vargas … Bloomberg's Jason Schechter … POLITICO's Paul Volpe, Krystal Campos and Jack Larsen … MSNBC's Kendis Gibson … Meredith McPhillips … Liz Shrum … CNN's Tala Alrajjal … Tim Ogborn … Camilo Vilaseca … Fox News' Gillian Turner … Clyde Prestowitz of the Economic Strategy Institute … Ben Hammer … Kathy Grannis Allen … Brian Abrams … Brianna Tucker … Christa Davis … NPR's Claire Harbage … former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter … former Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) (9-0) … former Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) … former Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) ... Owen Kibenge ... Kevin Rieg ... Jessica Goldstein … Scott McCrary … Douglass Daniel … John Hagner … Ken Smukler … Robin Wright Parker … Howard Zucker … Patrick Guarasci … Zeke Emanuel Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com . Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross. | | A message from Amazon: Amazon has hired more than 450,000 people in the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic, and is now the largest job-creator in the U.S.
During Career Day 2020, Amazon saw the highest one-week number of job applications in the history of the company.
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