Evening Briefing: President Biden’s coronavirus response

January 21, 2021

Your Thursday Evening Briefing

By Will Dudding and Jeremiah M. Bogert, Jr.

Good evening. Here's the latest.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

1. President Biden's first full day in office was hectic.

He rushed to put his administration in place and to dismantle some of the Trump administration's most contentious policies, while putting his response to the coronavirus pandemic at the forefront of his agenda.

"Help is on the way," Mr. Biden said.

Pete Buttigieg said in his Senate confirmation hearing for transportation secretary that there was a "generational opportunity" to transform the country's infrastructure in a way that advances Mr. Biden's goals on climate change, racial justice and job creation. Lloyd Austin III, the retired army general Mr. Biden picked to be secretary of defense, pledged to make rooting out right-wing extremism in the ranks a top priority. Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, is the only confirmed cabinet member so far.

Jennifer Psaki, the new White House press secretary, projected a return to normalcy for press briefings.

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Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

2. Retrenching in the battle against the virus.

President Biden released a national pandemic response plan, including 10 executive orders intended to increase testing capacity, require mask-wearing on federal property and boost production of Covid-19 supplies. However, experts say that vaccine manufacturing facilities are already at or near capacity, and that production capacity will not grow significantly until April.

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Others worry that the president's plan for 100 million shots in 100 days is far too modest. Above, medical workers preparing to vaccinate farm workers in Mecca, Calif., today.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization that the U.S. would re-engage and intended to join Covax, a program to distribute vaccines to poorer nations.

Since the U.S. confirmed its first coronavirus infection, one year ago today, the nation has recorded over 24 million cases and 400,000 deaths.

Eve Edelheit for The New York Times

3. Jobless claims remain at extraordinarily high levels.

New and continuing restrictions and lockdowns have decimated employment in the restaurant, leisure and entertainment industries. Above, a closed restaurant in Tampa, Fla.

The nation's unemployment insurance program, conceived during the Great Depression, was meant to keep jobless workers and their families from suffering drops in income that could tip them into poverty. But multiple factors, including a lack of funding and changes to the workplace, have left the program unequal to the modern economy.

Meanwhile, Treasury bond yields are rising, an indication that traders, at least, expect mass inoculations to pick up and drive the coronavirus back, allowing faster growth.

Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

4. What does public school in the U.S. look like now?

The answer can differ considerably depending on which of the nation's 13,000 school districts you're in.

In many rural and suburban areas in the South, the Midwest and the Great Plains, almost all students attended school in person, sometimes against the will of local administrators, except during major outbreaks. In urban areas like Los Angeles, many students haven't seen a classroom since March. Some places, like New York City and its suburbs, had options for in-person classes for younger students and part-time attendance for others. Above, a fifth-grade class in Wisconsin in December.

We don't yet know which approaches to remote instruction work best, but some data is troubling. A recent study found that public school students in Washington, D.C., this fall were four months behind in math and one month behind in reading.

Amr Alfiky/The New York Times

5. Senator Mitch McConnell wants to delay Donald J. Trump's second impeachment trial.

Mr. McConnell is asking Democrats to wait until early February to allow the Trump legal team time to prepare a defense, according to a person familiar with his remarks. Earlier, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she planned to send the House's article of impeachment to the Senate "soon."

Mr. Trump has returned to his estate in Palm Beach, but not everybody in the area is happy about that, and it remains unclear if he can use the resort as his full-time residence.

And dozens of prominent lawyers signed a formal complaint seeking to disbar one person in Mr. Trump's circle who did not receive a pardon — Rudy Giuliani.

Alisha Jucevic for The New York Times

6. Unrest broke out in the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, while much of the country was focused on celebrations of the presidential inauguration.

Antifascist and racial-justice protesters marched in Portland, burned an American flag, smashed windows at a Democratic Party headquarters and declared that President Biden's promised reforms "won't save us." Federal agents used tear gas and pepper balls in response. A separate protest in Seattle resulted in more broken windows and graffiti.

In Charlottesville, Va., where violent events in 2017 inspired Mr. Biden to run for office, some citizens are urging him to go beyond seeing unity as the ultimate political goal and to prioritize social justice.

"Unity is not uniformity, and unity is not without accountability," said Rev. Phil Woodson, a local Methodist preacher. "It's really hard to be unified with people if you don't have a common understanding of truth and a common understanding of justice."

Alexey Vitvitsky/Sputnik, via Associated Press

7. Russia is making things tough for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Headquartered in Prague, above, the U.S.-funded news outlet is one of the largest operating within Russia that refuses to toe the Kremlin's official line. Now its journalists are facing fines and possible criminal charges because their content was not labeled as being produced by a "foreign agent."

Russia could escalate the penalties into millions of dollars, and RFE/RL might have to withdraw from the country.

The moves, which come as President Vladimir Putin is facing rising dissent at home, will offer a test to the new U.S. administration.

RFE/RL provided live coverage of the opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's homecoming and arrest, and it plans to broadcast live coverage of the protests that Mr. Navalny's supporters are preparing to hold on Saturday.

Ricco Torres/AFP, via Getty Images

8. The movie "Selena" may finally get its due.

A group of lawmakers has called for the 1997 film, with Jennifer Lopez playing Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in the title role, above, to be added to the National Film Registry in a push for Hollywood to increase Latino representation.

Selena remains a giant in pop culture, especially among Latinos from her native Texas.

And the film itself also deserves recognition, said Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, noting that Latino creators are too often brushed aside, and that Latinos are too often portrayed through negative stereotypes like gang members, drug dealers and hypersexualized women.

Thomas Prior for The New York Times

9. The pandemic on Broadway: an oral history.

Last winter, the stage version of "Moulin Rouge" was a smash. On March 12, 2020, the producers decided to cancel that night's performance because a cast member was symptomatic. A few hours later, Broadway closed, and has yet to reopen.

In the end, at least 25 members of the show's company were infected with the coronavirus, from some of its biggest stars to the crew.

Danny Burstein, who played the crucial role of the cabaret proprietor, recalled the moment that sent him to the hospital for six desperate days: "I was in the shower, and I started coughing up blood, and I thought, 'This is bad.'"

Theater lovers haven't stopped loving theater, and streaming makes it possible to mix and match offerings in a single evening.

Joel Caldwell

10. And finally, a new mind-set for travel.

The crises of 2020 have forced people to rethink how and where to travel. Rather than fly and flop, many are seeking to put more meaning into their future trips. Above, cyclists riding through Georgia in October on an 1,100-mile trip to visit places associated with Black history.

Bookings are also up for volunteer travel. Restoring homes in New Orleans is a popular option. We have more ideas.

Have a fulfilling evening.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

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What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

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