Evening Briefing: N.Y.C. and California to mandate Covid vaccines or tests for public employees

July 26, 2021

By Victoria Shannon

Briefings, Newsdesk

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Monday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new mandate for state employees and health care workers.Jim Wilson/The New York Times

1. New York City and the state of California announced vaccination mandates.

The nation's most populous state and its largest city said they would require their employees to either get vaccinated against the coronavirus or face frequent tests. California will require some private health care workers to be vaccinated or tested as well. The Department of Veterans Affairs also became the first federal agency to mandate that some of its employees get inoculated.

The mandates are the most dramatic response yet to the lagging pace of vaccinations around the U.S. amid outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant. Only 49 percent of people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated.

At the same time, a group of nearly 60 major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association, called for mandatory vaccination of health care workers, describing it as an ethical obligation.

Outside the U.S., France passed a new Covid-19 law that makes health passes mandatory for a number of indoor venues as the country faces a fourth wave of infections.

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A vaccine clinic in Nashville in May.Brett Carlsen for The New York Times

2. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are expanding their studies of vaccinating children ages 5 to 11.

The F.D.A. asked the companies to include 3,000 children in the trials of the age group, double the original number planned, according to people familiar with the situation. The expansion is a precautionary measure designed to detect rare side effects.

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Here's what to know about "breakthrough infections," cases in which people who were fully immunized become sick. "The Daily" podcast takes a look at why the number is growing (though vaccinated people account for just 3 percent of hospitalizations).

And as companies begin to recall workers to their offices, a generation gap has emerged between younger employees who value the advantages of working from home and colleagues who value workplace culture and camaraderie.

Britney Spears supporters outside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles in July.Maggie Shannon for The New York Times

3. Britney Spears filed to remove her father from her conservatorship.

More than 13 years after a strict legal arrangement gave James P. Spears control of the singer's affairs, a new lawyer for Spears asked the Los Angeles probate court to remove him from the arrangement.

At an emotional hearing on June 23, Spears, 39, said she wished to terminate the conservatorship, which oversees both her personal care and estate, without having to undergo psychiatric evaluations.

Mr. Spears, 69, has said the conservatorship was necessary to save his daughter's life and career during a period of concern about her mental health and substance abuse.

Spears's case has received heightened scrutiny because she continued to perform and bring in millions of dollars under the arrangement.

The Russian men's gymnastics team on the podium.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

4. Russia edged out Japan for the men's gymnastics team gold at the Olympics.

The Japanese gymnasts were stunned by the unexpected loss as the Russians won by a tenth of a point with a final floor routine. China took the bronze.

In other sports, the U.S. women remain undefeated in the inaugural Olympic three-on-three basketball tournament. Katie Ledecky settled for silver in her first swimming final, and weight lifter Hidilyn Diaz made history for the Philippines, securing its first gold.

And a typhoon is expected to make landfall north of Tokyo tomorrow, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

A flooded square in Sangli in the state of Maharashtra today.Uday Deolekar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

5. The death toll from monsoons on the western coast of India rose to at least 164.

About 100 others were reported missing after heavy rains deluged entire towns and villages. A warming climate means more extreme monsoons in many parts of the world, scientists have said.

Elsewhere, a 25-mile swath of Sardinia was hit by one of the largest wildfires in decades, devastating the Italian tourist destination. Heavy rains flooded London for the second time in two weeks.

Extreme weather is punishing the U.S. as well. A heat dome will produce highs 10 to 15 degrees above average this week in the Great Plains, Midwest and parts of the East. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were expected in parts of the drought-ridden Southwest today after weekend rains produced flash floods.

The nation's largest wildfire, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, grew over the weekend and has now burned about 411,000 acres. The Dixie Fire, California's largest this year, prompted evacuation orders. We have an interactive map to track the latest wildfires in the West.

And the deadly heat wave that scorched the Pacific Northwest in late June has dried out the Christmas tree market in Oregon, where more are grown than anywhere else in the country.

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Tunisia President Kais Saied in Tunis on Sunday.Slim Abid/Associated Press

6. Tunisia's fledgling democracy verged on the brink of dissolution.

Its president, Kais Saied, announced his effort to seize power from the rest of the government on Sunday night. His political opponents denounced it as a coup, but many Tunisians, frustrated with the economy and the government's handing of the pandemic, expressed support.

In Afghanistan, civilian casualties are rising sharply, the U.N. says. Nearly 2,400 civilians have been killed or injured since the Taliban intensified its offensive in early May, the highest number in the May-to-June period since 2009.

In Iraq, a frustrated teenager appealed to President Biden in a video that went viral. The U.S. State Department reached out, but threats of violence followed his newfound fame.

Aon and Willis Towers Watson called off their planned merger.Loren Elliott/Reuters

7. A $30 billion merger was abandoned.

Two of the world's largest insurance brokers, Aon and Willis Towers Watson, called off their planned merger a little more than a month after the Department of Justice sued to block the union.

The case against the merger was the first big trustbusting move by the Biden administration, which has signaled a willingness to be tough on corporate consolidation. This month, President Biden signed a sweeping executive order to address competition in industries including tech, railroads and meat and poultry.

The Texas Longhorns take the field in Austin, Texas, in 2020.Tim Warner/Getty Image

8. The Big 12 takes a hit.

The University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas indicated to the Big 12 football conference that they intend to leave the league in the coming years.

The formal notifications not to renew a Big 12 media rights agreement when it expires in 2025 open the way for the schools to move to the Southeastern Conference, which could swell into a 16-team league.

The two could earn millions more a year as part of the SEC's television package. Their choices will drive a realignment that could scramble the membership rosters of conferences from coast to coast.

9. Upside down and under water.

Scientists for the first time have documented a beetle that walks along the undersurface of water — not on top of it.

But how? One possibility is an air bubble clinging to the belly-up beetle, which could be providing buoyancy. But, one of the researchers said, "It's a bit of a question mark."

Maybe more important, why? The scientists are guessing at this too. It could be that "any predators above the surface may be looking down and seeing a bubble instead of a tasty treat," one scientist wrote.

The astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon in 1969.Reuters

10. And finally, who's an astronaut?

Richard Branson, probably. Jeff Bezos, maybe not.

The Federal Aviation Administration defines a commercial astronaut as someone who reached an altitude of 50 miles, was part of a spacecraft's flight crew and contributed to spaceflight safety. People who meet the requirements qualify for special F.A.A. pins. Anyone else is just a "spaceflight participant."

Because Mr. Bezos' New Shepard spacecraft was fully automated, he may not be considered part of the flight crew. Virgin Galactic is making the case that Mr. Branson did perform crew-member tasks.

Have a stellar evening.

Erin Kelly compiled photos for this briefing.

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