t ,d ecember congress agrees on covid-19 relief bill€¦ · covid-19 relief bill after months of...

Volume 79 Edition 177 ©SS 2020 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

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MILITARY

New armoredvehicles get testdrive in JapanPage 3

FACES

Boseman heldnothing back infinal movie rolePage 18

SPORTS

Black Knightslooking for abowl opponentPage 24

McDonald’s in China offers sandwich with Spam, Oreos ›› World, Page 13

them.

The agreement, announced by

congressional leaders, would es-

tablish a temporary $300 per week

supplemental jobless benefit and a

$600 direct stimulus payment to

most Americans, along with a new

round of subsidies for hard-hit

businesses and money for schools,

health care providers and renters

WASHINGTON — Top Capitol

Hill negotiators sealed a deal Sun-

day on an almost $1 trillion CO-

VID-19 economic relief package,

finally delivering long-overdue

help to businesses and individuals

and providing money to deliver

vaccines to a nation eager for

facing eviction.

It came after months of battling

and posturing, but the negotiating

dynamic changed in Republicans’

favor after the election and as the

end of the congressional session

neared. President-elect Joe Biden

was eager for a deal to deliver

Congress agrees onCOVID-19 relief billAfter months of debate, help for businesses, individuals on the way

BY ANDREW TAYLOR

Associated Press

JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AP

The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree is seen at the after negotiators sealeda deal for COVID-19 relief Sunday night in Washington. SEE RELIEF ON PAGE 6

Police and port staff turn away vehicles from the Port ofDover in Kent, England, which has been closed after

the French government banned all travel from theUnited Kingdom for 48 hours from midnight Sunday.

STEVE PARSONS/AP

Cause for concern?LONDON — Trucks waiting to

get out of Britain backed up for

miles and people were left

stranded at airports Monday as

countries around the world im-

posed stringent travel restric-

tions on the U.K. because of a

new and seemingly more conta-

gious strain of the coronavirus in

England.

A growing number of countries

halted air travel from Britain,

while France banned British

trucks for 48 hours while the new

variant is assessed.

New strain of coronavirusprompts strict restrictionson travel to and from UK

BY PAN PYLAS

Associated Press

INSIDE

Rush of holidaytravelers in US hastop health officialsurging cautionPage 6

SEE CONCERN ON PAGE 9

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, December 22, 2020

BUSINESS/WEATHER

It was meant to be one of the

greatest transformations in the

history of oil and shipping. In-

stead, a sweeping regulatory

change to clean up the maritime

industry’s fuel passed successful-

ly and with little fanfare, rendered

a historical footnote by COVID-19.

Vessel owners and oil refiners

were expected to face major up-

heaval because of rules that took

effect Jan. 1 to help improve hu-

man health and combat environ-

mental concerns by slashing the

amount of sulfur in ship fuel. The

two industries did, indeed, under-

go unprecedented turmoil — but

the cause was a pandemic that up-

ended economies and trashed oil

demand.

Known as IMO 2020, the regu-

lation forced shippers to stop

burning an old, dirty product

they’d relied on for decades. Fears

about the supply of low-sulfur al-

ternatives proved largely un-

founded: in short the rule change

was a success. Vessels switched,

the clean product was available

and worked, and the industry

eliminated a substantial part of its

sulfur-dioxide emissions.

“The fears of IMO have not been

realized,” said Mark Williams, a

senior oil analyst at Wood Mack-

enzie Ltd. “COVID’s blown most

of it out of the water.”

It’s still too early to quantify just

how beneficial the switch to low-

er-sulfur fuel has been for human

health, according to James Cor-

bett, a professor at the University

of Delaware’s School of Marine

Science and Policy.

Shipping sheds its dirty problemBloomberg

Bahrain72/65

Baghdad66/43

Doha77/65

Kuwait City68/52

Riyadh69/45

Kandahar64/34

Kabul50/29

Djibouti84/76

TUESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

48/40

Ramstein55/50

Stuttgart55/50

Lajes,Azores64/59

Rota65/57

Morón60/53 Sigonella

57/48

Naples56/37

Aviano/Vicenza43/35

Pápa43/36

Souda Bay64/52

Brussels47/38

Zagan54/43

DrawskoPomorskie 49/35

TUESDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa45/30

Guam85/79

Tokyo48/28

Okinawa64/60

Sasebo54/43

Iwakuni50/34

Seoul48/28

Osan50/31

Busan45/30

The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Classified .................... 13Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 18Opinion ........................ 14Sports .................... 19-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Dec. 22) $1.19Dollar buys (Dec. 22) 0.799British pound (Dec. 22) $1.30Japanese yen (Dec. 22) 101.00South Korean won (Dec. 22) 1,073.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 0.7520Canada (Dollar) 1.2865China (Yuan) 6.5496Denmark (Krone) 6.0930Egypt (Pound) 15.6680Euro 0.8190Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7530Hungary (Forint) 295.51Israel (Shekel) 3.2504Japan (Yen) 103.59Kuwait (Dinar) 0.3047

Norway (Krone) 8.6713

Philippines (Peso) 48.31Poland (Zloty) 3.68Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7514Singapore (Dollar) 1.3355

So. Korea (Won) 1,108.65Switzerlnd (Franc) 0.8879Thailand (Baht) 30.08Turkey (NewLira) 7.6742

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollarstopound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.25Federal funds market rate 0.093month bill 0.0830year bond 1.70

EXCHANGE RATES

Tuesday, December 22, 2020 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

MILITARY

cle commander to watch for haz-

ards, said Flores, who also main-

tains Joint Light Tactical Vehi-

cles.

Blind spots were one of the

number of problems identified in

a report to Congress on the vehi-

cles last January. Also flagged

were maintenance issues, noise

and doors that didn’t open proper-

ly.

Oshkosh Defense LLC, of Wis-

consin, is the vehicle maker. The

Army placed an order for another

2,738 vehicles on Dec. 1 at a cost of

$911 million, according to the

news site Breaking Defense on

Dec. 2.

Marines stationed in Japan are

curious about the new trucks,

Flores said.

“The Marines will come and

knock on the armor,” he said. “It’s

a lot different to what they’re used

to.”

The new light vehicle is the only

truck Flores has worked on with

the Marines. He enlisted two

years ago, not long before his bat-

talion received its new vehicles.

Flores, who drives a Buick back

in the States, said the truck has

many sensors and electric compo-

nents.

“There is a monitor inside the

cab that gives you things like the

air pressure in the tires,” he said.

Drivers can switch the vehicle

from road to cross-country mode

and raise the suspension using hy-

draulics, he said.

The 22,000-pound truck has no

issues going up steep grades in the

backcountry, Flores said.

Forest Light is the first time the

new trucks were used in an exer-

cise or operational fashion on the

main islands of Japan, although

they have been used on Okinawa

for utility duties for a year, Royer

CAMP SOUMAGAHARA, Ja-

pan — The Marine Corps’ succes-

sor to the Humvee — the Joint

Light Tactical Vehicle — got its

first workout in Japan during this

month’s Exercise Forest Light.

Twenty of the armored trucks

deployed to Japan with 3rd Battal-

ion, 8th Marine Regiment, out of

Camp Lejeune, N.C., which put

them through their paces in the

mountainous Gunma prefecture,

west of Tokyo, during training that

concluded Thursday.

The battalion was the first in the

Marine Corps to replace its Hum-

vees with the new vehicles, Capt.

Nicholas Royer, a 3rd Marine Di-

vision spokesman, said in an email

Tuesday.

“The Joint Light Tactical Vehi-

cle is the successor to the Humvee

(HMMWV), and the Marine

Corps has been leading the charge

on adopting them,” he said.

The Army, Marines and Air

Force plan to acquire more than

58,000 of the off-road armored ve-

hicles.

Three of the new vehicles com-

bined to form a mobile command

post where an air assault involving

some of the 1,000 Marines and Ja-

panese soldiers participating in

Forest Light was coordinated Dec.

15.

“It’s is pretty easy to drive,” Ma-

rine Cpl. Juan Flores, 20, of Fort

Wayne, Ind., said that day of the

truck he’s been driving through

the mountains of Gunma. “You

just have to watch out because of

the blind spots.”

Thick armor means it’s harder

for drivers to see what’s happen-

ing outside the new vehicles than

it would be if they were in a civil-

ian truck, so they work with a vehi-

said.

“The JLTV is, in pretty much

every respect, a sturdier, more ca-

pable vehicle in line with the Ma-

rine Corps’ mandate for faster,

more flexible and more surviva-

ble operations,” he said.

The vehicles can be used for ev-

erything from command and con-

trol posts to general utility trans-

port and combat use, he said.

They can attack other armored

vehicles and carry targeting and

sensor equipment, as well as ev-

ery crew-served weapon in the

Marine Corps inventory, he said.

“Marines in JLTVs can identify

targets, communicate the location

and move on quickly, allowing an-

other unit much further away to

fire at the land or sea target they

spotted,” he said.

Compared to the Humvee, the

Joint Light Tactical Vehicle is sig-

nificantly more capable of taking a

hit from direct-fire weapons, indi-

rect fire and explosives, to include

[improvised roadside bombs] and

conventional mines, and all this at

a comparable speed (about 70

mph) to the Humvee it replaces,”

Royer said.

The light vehicle’s suspension is

significantly more advanced, and

each wheel can raise and lower in-

dependently, he said.

“This allows it to reduce its pro-

file to, for example, fit in an en-

trenched position easier, then

raise up to clear obstacles and rap-

idly displace to another position,”

he said.

The vehicle can be carried by

CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters

and by a number of other air and

sea platforms operated by the Ma-

rines, he said.

[email protected]: @SethRobson1

SETH ROBSON/Stars and Stripes

From left, Marine Cpl. Juan Flores, 20, of Fort Wayne, Ind., and Cpl. Devin Gates, 26, of Panama City,Fla., with a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle during training in Gunma prefecture, Japan, on Dec. 15.

Marines test-drive new armoredvehicles in Japanese Alps region

BY SETH ROBSONStars and Stripes

BAGHDAD — Eight rockets

targeted the U.S. Embassy in

Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green

Zone late Sunday, Iraq’s military

and Iraqi officials said, sparking

fears of renewed unrest as next

month’s anniversary of the U.S.

slaying of an Iranian general

draws near.

An Iraqi military statement said

an “an outlawed group” launched

eight rockets targeting the Green

Zone, injuring one Iraqi security

person manning a checkpoint and

causing material damage to a resi-

dential complex and some cars.

The residential complex is usually

empty.

The U.S. Embassy’s C-RAM de-

fense system, which is used to de-

stroy missiles in midair, was acti-

vated to deflect the attack, the em-

bassy said in a statement.

“The U.S. Embassy confirms

rockets targeting the International

Zone (Green Zone) resulted in the

engagement of embassy defensive

systems,” the statement said. It

said there was some minor dam-

age to the embassy compound.

“We call on all Iraqi political and

governmental leaders to take steps

to prevent such attacks and hold

accountable those responsible.”

The thundering sound of the de-

fense system could be heard by As-

sociated Press reporters who were

located on the other side of the Ti-

gris River.

Iraqi army: Rocketstarget US Embassyin Baghdad Sunday

Associated Press

The Army wants to field more

upgraded M1 Abrams tanks and

will spend $4.6 billion to get the

most modernized version of them

to troops over the next eight

years.

The service announced that

General Dynamics Land Systems

has been awarded the contract

for the improved tank, which en-

tered service in its first variant

four decades ago.

The Abrams M1A2 SEPV3, de-

scribed as the most reliable of

the Abrams family, is a version of

the current SEPV2 production

model with significant improve-

ments in the areas of survivabil-

ity, maintainability and network

capability, General Dynamics

said.

Since 2017, the company has

already delivered several batch-

es of tanks upgraded to the new

standard. In July, the 3rd Ar-

mored Brigade Combat Team,

1st Cavalry Division out of Fort

Hood, Texas, was the first unit to

field them.

Putting the battle tank into op-

eration served as a milestone for

the Army as it moves to counter

potential adversaries such as

Russia and China.

“This is the first time we have

fielded a new tank in about 16

years,” Lt. Col. Nicholas C. Sin-

clair, a 3rd Brigade battalion

commander, said in an Army

statement in July after his unit

received the new tank. “We will

be the first ones trained on this,

so it’s really special to us to make

sure we’re doing it right.”

The M1A2 SEPV3 boasts addi-

tional armor in the turret and

hull to better defend against mul-

tiple threats, including impro-

vised explosive devices. An un-

derbelly IED kit includes floor

stiffeners and stronger internal

support structures to prevent in-

jury to the crewmembers’ limbs,

General Dynamics said.

A major new feature is the im-

proved 120 mm smoothbore can-

non ammunition, whose detona-

tion mode can be set by the gun-

ner before a round is fired.

Its three settings — detonate

on impact, with a delay, or with

an airburst — mean that a single

round can replace those different

types of munitions, thus easing

the burden on Army logistics.

Other upgrades include a new

communications system, which

can be fully integrated into the

unit’s command and control net-

work, as well as a new auxiliary

power unit to improve fuel effi-

ciency.

Only a single bid for the fixed-

price-incentive contract was re-

ceived, the Defense Department

said Friday in a contract announ-

cement. It cited June 17, 2028, as

the completion date for the order,

but did not specify how many

new tanks would be delivered.

General Dynamics given$4.6 billion from Army fornew M1A2 Abrams tanks

[email protected]

Stars and Stripes


MILITARY

STUTTGART, Germany — The

Army will allow reservists to serve

two-year overseas assignments

and ship their household belong-

ings, in hopes of easing the finan-

cial burden on soldiers who in

some cases have been reprimand-

ed, indebted and forced into litiga-

tion over benefit disputes with the

service.

“This significant policy adjust-

ment eliminates the military entit-

lements inequity between unac-

companied active component and

(reserve component) Soldiers by

authorizing full household goods

and shipment of privately owned

vehicle,” the Army said in a memo

outlining the shift.

Extending tour lengths up to 24

months, rather than the typical

one-year assignment, “ensures

equity, provides greater entitle-

ments to RC Soldiers, provides

predictability for Soldiers, reduc-

es administrative burden for com-

manders and efficiently utilizes

Army resources,” the memo

stated.

Previously, permanent change

of station entitlements weren’t of-

fered to unaccompanied reserv-

ists “due to many factors, one be-

ing the traditional tour length of

one year or less,” U.S. Army Eu-

rope and Africa said in a statement

Friday.

The Nov. 9 Army memo, recent-

ly provided to Stars and Stripes,

came in response to a request from

USAREUR-AF Gen. Christopher

Cavoli that the Army expand hous-

ing allowance benefits for reserv-

ists.

Cavoli asked the Army to con-

sider providing reservists with an

allowance for their residence in

the United States and an overseas

allowance when housing is un-

available on post.

The issue has been a major point

of contention for many reservists,

who have tried to keep up with

mortgage payments at home while

away from their civilian jobs, and

also paying rent near their as-

signed duty stations.

The Army said it was unable to

meet Cavoli’s specific request for

the dual housing allowance, but

did not offer a clear answer why in

its memorandum.

One factor could be an ongoing

federal lawsuit, in which a group of

Army reservists said they were

wrongly denied housing allowanc-

es and faced improper criminal in-

vestigations when the Army sud-

denly cut off their overseas hous-

ing allowances.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S.

Court of Federal Claims in 2018,

accuses the Army of “gross negli-

gence” by denying benefits it

should have paid.

Patrick Hughes of Patriots Law

Group, based in the Washington,

D.C., area, said the Army’s deci-

sion to now extend PCS benefits

for reservists on two-year tours

doesn’t solve the underlying hous-

ing benefit question.

The policy change, however,

does amount to a concession by the

Army that it has been “imposing

upon its RC soldiers a financial

hardship for these several years,”

Hughes said.

“Rather than addressing that is-

sue head-on, possibly because the

Army faces our litigation on the

matter, they created this work-

around to extend RC soldiers’

tours, thereby allowing similar en-

titlements to those in the Active

component … I believe this memo

creates strong additional support

for our lawsuit,” Hughes said.

For several years, reservists de-

ployed to Europe on unaccompa-

nied tours received both allowanc-

es to make up for not being able to

work in civilian jobs that pay their

rents and mortgages. But in 2016,

the dual allowance payments end-

ed abruptly without explanation.

Scores of soldiers were snared

in subsequent probes and were ac-

cused of fraudulently receiving

payments.

The Army in Europe said grant-

ing PCS benefits to reservists on

24-month tours “significantly re-

duces the financial burden” for

soldiers who, in some cases, won’t

need to maintain two households

or place their belongings in stor-

age.

Army extends aid to reserves on overseas toursBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

KAREN IWAMOTO/U.S. Army

A soldier supervises the delivery of her household items in 2017.

[email protected]: @john_vandiver

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE,

Japan — The guided-missile de-

stroyer USS John S. McCain last

week practiced anti-submarine

warfare with a French submarine

and Japanese carrier in the Phi-

lippine Sea, according to a Navy

statement Friday.

France’s nuclear-powered sub-

marine FS Emeraude and support

and assistance vessel FS Seine,

along with Japan’s helicopter de-

stroyer JS Hyuga, practiced anti-

submarine warfare tactics with

the McCain, “strengthening coop-

erative efforts to support mari-

time security in the Indo-Pacific,”

according to the Navy.

While the Navy frequently

trains with the Japan Maritime

Self-Defense Force, “it is a rare

opportunity for U.S. Navy mari-

time forces to conduct operations

with their French Navy counter-

parts in the 7th Fleet area of oper-

ations,” according to the state-

ment.

The exercise further demon-

strated “the breadth, depth and

value of our network of allies and

partners,” McCain skipper Cmdr.

Ryan T. Easterday said in the

statement.

The sub and its tender paid a

port call at Guam Naval Base in

late November, according the Na-

val News website. The 241-foot-

long Emeraude, commissioned in

1988, has a crew of 70, according

to the Seaforces-online.org web-

site.

McCain weapons officer Lt.

Ryan Mati in the statement said

the opportunity to work with a

partner nation’s submarine en-

hanced the crew’s “tactical mind-

set” and allowed them to “execute

some of the best training in this

warfare area.”

Anti-submarine warfare is a

cornerstone in surface Navy oper-

ations, Mati said in the statement.

“This exercise not only allow

(ed) us to continue strengthening

our warfighting readiness with a

long-standing ally, it’ll also impart

a unique experience for the

crew,” Mati said.

It was the first time Japanese

naval forces had exercised with

the Emeraude, the Escort Divi-

sion 3 commander, Capt. Hama-

saki Shingo, said in the statement.

“Agile and advanced anti-sub-

marine capabilities utilizing ship-

board aircraft are an essential

part of our maritime operations,”

Shingo said in the statement.

“This trilateral exercise with the

United States Navy and the

French Navy not only develops

tactical skills, but also contributes

to a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’

based on the rule of law and free-

dom of navigation.”

Shingo added that the Japanese

naval forces would “continue to

pursue the opportunities to con-

duct an exercise with our partner

navies.”

The three nations plan further

exercises on land and at sea in

May, according to Reuters news

service on Dec. 6.

According to Reuters, Adm.

Pierre Vandier, chief of staff of

the French navy, told the Sankei

newspaper that France shares

U.S. and Japanese concerns over

Chinese ambitions in the South

and East China seas.

“This is a message aimed at

China,” Vandier was quoted as

saying about the May exercises.

“This is a message about multi-

lateral partnerships and the free-

dom of passage.”

USS John S. McCain trains with French, Japanese naviesBY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @CaitlinDoornbos

MARKUS CASTANEDA/U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy Lt. Christopher Baier, from Cheboygan, Mich., logs antisubmarine warfare reports while standing watch aboard the destroyerUSS John S. McCain in the Philippine Sea last week.

BETHESDA, Md. — Lockheed

Martin is buying rocket engine

manufacturer Aerojet Rocket-

dyne Holdings for $4.4 billion in a

deal that brings together compa-

nies that had already been working

together in the aeronautics indus-

try.

The acquisition announced late

Sunday is part of Lockheed Mar-

tin’s attempt to gird for competi-

tion from recent industry entrants,

Space X and Blue Origin, which are

backed by two of the world’s rich-

est men, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

“Acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne

will preserve and strengthen an es-

sential component of the domestic

defense industrial base and reduce

costs for our customers and the

American taxpayer,” Lockheed

Martin CEO James Taiclet said in a

statement.

Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed

is paying $56 per share, 33% above

the Friday closing price of Aerojet

Rocketdyne’s stock. The final

price will be reduced to $51 per

share after accounting for a special

dividend of $5 per share that will be

paid just before the deal closes.

The companies are aiming to have

the deal wrapped up during the

second half of next year.

Lockheed Martin strikes $4.4 billion deal to buy Aerojet RocketdyneAssociated Press


VIRUS OUTBREAK

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan —

Service members and civilian em-

ployees at six U.S. military bases

will be among the first to receive

the coronavirus vaccine under a

Defense Department pilot pro-

gram, U.S. Forces Japan an-

nounced Sunday.

Kadena Air Base and Camp Fos-

ter on Okinawa, Yokota Air Base in

Tokyo, Yokosuka Naval Base and

Camp Zama in Kanagawa prefec-

ture and Misawa Air Base in north-

east Japan are among sites that

DOD has selected, according to the

statement.

“Moderna’s vaccine is the one

initially scheduled for distribution

to the USFJ population,” the state-

ment said.

U.S. Army Japan expects vac-

cine supplies within two weeks,

Col. Tanya Peacock, commander

of the U.S. Army Medical Depart-

ment Activity Japan, said Monday

during a Facebook Live video.

The U.S. Food and Drug Admin-

istration on Friday approved the

Moderna vaccine for emergency

use. The approval came a week af-

ter the FDA authorized the first use

of another vaccine developed by

Pfizer and German company

BioNTech.

Subjects must volunteer for the

inoculation under the emergency-

use designation, Peacock said dur-

ing the livestream.

Both vaccines must be kept cold

but the Moderna vaccine can be

stored in most standard medical re-

frigerators. Pfizer’s requires ultra-

cold storage.

The vaccine will be adminis-

tered in a two-shot series, said Col.

Marshall Mendenhall, deputy

commander for clinical services

for U.S. Army Japan, during the

Facebook livestream.

Some predictable side effects of

the vaccine include headache,

muscle ache, fatigue and soreness

at the injection site, according to

the U.S. Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention.

The military’s pilot program will

validate vaccine distribution, ad-

ministration and reporting proc-

esses and help determine addition-

al distribution sites, USFJ said in its

statement.

“Kadena Medical Facility … will

receive a very limited amount of

vaccinations for pilot-process ad-

ministration within the coming

days,” the statement said.

The other five pilot sites in Japan

will receive initial vaccine ship-

ments “at the same time or shortly

after Kadena,” the statement said.

The Defense Department has a

coordinated strategy for prioritiz-

ing, distributing and administering

the COVID-19 vaccine, the state-

ment said. COVID-19 is the disease

caused by the coronavirus.

USFJ will use a phased approach

to vaccinate all active duty and re-

serve troops, Tricare Prime and

Tricare Select beneficiaries and

select DOD civilians and contract

personnel authorized to receive

immunizations from the depart-

ment, USFJ said in its statement.

“The timeline for the large-scale

distribution of vaccine doses has

not been solidified yet,” the state-

ment said.

Medical-care and emergency-

service providers have priority for

immediate inoculation, including

medical personnel, firefighters

and public health and safety per-

sonnel, USFJ said in its statement.

During this first round, Peacock

said, the Army will contact its peo-

ple via email for their turn for inoc-

ulations.

USFJ has made no change to its

health protection level and re-

mains under a public health emer-

gency, the statement said.

“All USFJ personnel must con-

tinue to wear appropriate masks,

practice physical distancing, wash

hands, and follow restrictions of

movement to protect the health and

safety of our community on and off

our installations,” the statement

said.

IMANI N. DANIELS/U.S. Navy

Navy Hospitalman Roman Silvestri administers a coronavirus vaccine to Cmdr. Joseph Kotora at NavalMedical Center Portsmouth, N.H., on Dec. 15. Vaccines are coming soon to six installations in Japan, U.S.Forces Japan announced Sunday.

Vaccines expected soonfor some at 6 Japan bases

BY SETH ROBSONAND ERICA EARL

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @[email protected]: @ThisEarlGirl

SEOUL, South Korea — Gather-

ings of more than five people will

be banned in South Korea’s capi-

tal region as an elevated step to

suppress what authorities call an

“explosive” surge in coronavirus

infections.

The Seoul region is home to half

of South Korea’s 51 million people

and has been at the center of a re-

cent viral resurgence. The coun-

try averaged about 960 new virus

cases each day in the past week,

more than 70% of them in the Se-

oul metropolitan area.

Acting Seoul Mayor Seo Jung-

hyup said Monday the ban will ap-

ply to any type of meetings includ-

ing year-end parties, office din-

ners, birthday parties and picnics.

Only weddings and funerals can

follow the current rule of not more

than 50 people.

He says the new restrictions

will take effect Wednesday and

last until Jan. 3 in Seoul, Gyeonggi

province that surrounds Seoul and

Incheon city, just west of Seoul.

Seo says he knows the ban is

“harsh” but stresses the current

viral spread cannot be slowed

without preventing transmissions

among relatives and company col-

leagues. He says Seoul could face

a lockdown if the current “explo-

sive” surge isn’t contained.

Earlier Monday, South Korea

reported 24 more virus-related

deaths in the country’s highest

daily fatalities since the pandemic

began. The government added a

total of 926 new cases, taking the

country’s total to 50,591 including

698 deaths.

In other developments in the

Asia-Pacific region:

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has

asked all residents to celebrate

Christmas and New Year’s at

home just with their families. Dai-

ly coronavirus cases have been

steadily on the rise across Japan,

with Tokyo hitting a new daily

high at 822 on Friday. On Monday,

the capital reported 392 new cases

for a prefectural total of 51,838.

Koike said organizers of Tokyo’s

Christmas illumination events

have agreed to close at 8 p.m. ev-

ery night, and subway companies

will not operate overnight trains

on New Year’s Eve to discourage

people from gathering for annual

countdown events. City-operated

parks and zoos will also be closed

until Jan. 11.

Thailand’s total number of

confirmed coronavirus cases

surged past 5,000 on Monday as

hundreds of migrant workers test-

ed positive, posing a major chal-

lenge for the authorities. Thailand

has been one of several Southeast

Asian countries that were faring

relatively unscathed by the pan-

demic. But on Saturday, health of-

ficials reported a daily record of

548 new cases, almost all of them

among migrant workers in the

seafood industry in Samut Sakhon

province.

An Australian state govern-

ment leader apologized for a bun-

gled hotel quarantine program

that led to most of the nation’s CO-

VID-19 deaths. A retired judge

who investigated Victoria state’s

quarantine program for returned

travelers criticized the use of pri-

vate security guards to enforce

isolation in Melbourne hotels in

May and June. Victoria Premier

Dan Andrews explained the quar-

antine system had been imple-

mented quickly and without a pan-

demic rulebook. The lax infection

controls at two Melbourne quar-

antine hotels set off a wave of in-

fections in Australia’s second-

largest city while the rest of the

country had been largely virus-

free. Police now provide security

at Melbourne quarantine hotels.

LEE JINMAN /AP

A medical worker prepares to take a sample in subzero temperaturesat a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday.

Seoul area limitspublic gatheringsto groups of 5

Associated Press


VIRUS OUTBREAK

SAN RAMON, Calif. — More

than 1 million people have passed

through U.S. airport security

checkpoints in each of the past

two days in a sign that public

health pleas to avoid holiday

travel are being ignored, despite

an alarming surge in COVID-19

cases.

It marks the first time U.S. air-

ports have screened more than 1

million passengers since Nov. 29.

That came at the end of a

Thanksgiving weekend that saw

far more travel around the coun-

try than had been hoped as the

weather turned colder and CO-

VID-19 cases were already spik-

ing again.

Now, hospitals in many areas

are being overwhelmed amid the

largest outbreak of the coronavi-

rus in the United States since

March, when most Americans

were ordered to stay home and

avoid interactions with other

households.

The seven-day rolling average

of newly reported infections in

the U.S. has risen from about

176,000 a day just before Thanks-

giving to more than 215,000 a

day. It’s too early to calculate

how much of that increase is due

to travel and gatherings over

Thanksgiving, but experts be-

lieve they are a factor.

Although lockdowns are no

longer in effect in many parts of

the country, stay-at-home orders

have returned in some areas in

effort to contain the virus. Nearly

99% of California’s population of

roughly 40 million people, for in-

stance, has been told to remain at

home except for essential work,

shopping and exercise.

The Centers for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention has issued an

advisory declaring “postponing

travel and staying home is the

best way to protect yourself and

others from COVID-19.”

Nevertheless, about 1.07 mil-

lion people passed through the

security checkpoints at U.S. air-

ports on Friday and again on Sat-

urday, according to the Trans-

portation Security Administra-

tion. Saturday’s volume was

down 57% from the same time

last year, the smallest year-over-

year decline in daily traffic at

U.S. airports since Nov. 22 as

people began their Thanksgiving

getaways.

If that early trend continues,

U.S. public health officials fear it

will lead to more superspreader

events as people unwittingly

transmit the virus to family and

friends while gathering indoors

for holiday celebrations. Health

officials noted that the upcoming

holiday period from Christmas to

New Year’s Day covers a longer

timespan than the Thanksgiving

break did.

Even more travel is expected

as Christmas draws closer. AAA

projected that about 85 million

people will travel between Dec.

23 and Jan. 3, most of them by

car. That would be a drop of

nearly one-third from a year ago,

but still a massive movement of

people in the middle of a pan-

demic.

US airport traffic up despite travel warnings

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST/AP

Air travelers arriving at Midway Airport in Chicago are reminded of the city's COVID19 travel orders.

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE

Associated Press

long-awaited help to those still suf-

fering and a boost to the economy,

even though it was less than half

the size that Democrats wanted

this fall.

House leaders informed law-

makers that they would vote on the

legislation on Monday, and the

Senate was likely to vote on Mon-

day, too. Lawmakers were eager to

leave Washington and close out a

tumultuous year.

“There will be another major

rescue package for the American

people,” Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in

announcing the agreement for a

relief bill that would total almost

$900 billion. “It is packed with tar-

geted policies to help struggling

Americans who have already wait-

ed too long.”

A fight over Federal Reserve

emergency powers was resolved

Saturday night by the Senate’s top

Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New

York, and conservative Republi-

can Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

That breakthrough led to a final

round of negotiations Sunday.

Still, delays in finalizing the

agreement prompted the House to

take up a one-day stopgap spend-

ing bill to prevent a government

shutdown at midnight Sunday.

The Senate was likely to pass the

measure Sunday night as well.

The final agreement would be

the largest spending measure yet.

It combined COVID-19 relief with

a $1.4 trillion government-wide

funding plan and plenty of other

unrelated measures on taxes,

health, infrastructure and educa-

tion. The government-wide fund-

ing would keep the government

open through September.

Passage neared as coronavirus

cases and deaths spiked and evi-

dence piled up that the economy

was struggling. The legislation had

been held up by months of dys-

function, posturing and bad faith.

But talks turned serious in recent

days as lawmakers on both sides fi-

nally faced the deadline of acting

before leaving Washington for

Christmas.

The $300 per week bonus jobless

benefit was half of the supplemen-

tal federal unemployment benefit

provided under the CARES Act in

March and would be limited to 11

weeks instead of 16 weeks. The di-

rect $600 stimulus payment to

most people would also be half the

March payment, subject to the

same income limits in which an in-

dividual’s payment began to phase

out after $75,000.

President Donald Trump was

supportive of the effort, particu-

larly of the push for providing

more direct payments. “GET IT

DONE,” he said in a tweet late Sat-

urday.

Lawmakers had hoped to pass

the bill this weekend and avoid the

need for a stopgap spending bill,

but progress slowed Saturday as

Toomey pressed for the inclusion

of a provision to close down the

Fed’s lending facilities. Demo-

crats and the White House said it

was too broadly worded and would

have tied the hands of the incom-

ing Biden administration, but Re-

publicans rallied to his position.

After the announcement,

Schumer and House Speaker Nan-

cy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced ad-

ditional details, including $82 bil-

lion for local schools, colleges and

universities, $15 billion for thea-

ters and other live venues, $25 bil-

lion in rental assistance and $10

billion for child care.

Still, Democrats wanted more.

Pelosi, in a letter to colleagues,

called the package an initial step.

“In 31 days, when Joe Biden en-

ters the White House, more help

will be on the way,” Pelosi said.

The governmentwide appropri-

ations bill would fund agencies

through next September. That

measure was likely to provide a

last $1.4 billion installment for

Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall

as a condition of winning his signa-

ture.

The bill was an engine to carry

much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished

business, including an almost 400-

page water resources bill that tar-

gets $10 billion for 46 Army Corps

of Engineers flood control, envi-

ronmental and coastal protection

projects. Another addition would

extend a batch of soon-to-expire

tax breaks, including one for craft

brewers, wineries and distillers.

The end-of-session rush also

promised relief for victims of

shockingly steep surprise medical

bills, a phenomenon that often oc-

curs when providers drop out of in-

surance company networks.

Relief: Late breakthroughs, compromises lead to agreement on new aidFROM PAGE 1


VIRUS OUTBREAK

TOKYO — The U.S. military in

Japan and South Korea counted 39

new coronavirus cases over the

weekend and Monday.

U.S. Forces Korea reported the

bulk of those, 22 new patients, all

but one new arrivals to the Korean

Peninsula since Nov. 29.

In the capital city, the Tokyo

Metropolitan Government added

another 392 newly infected people

to its pandemic total, according to

public broadcaster NHK. The city

on Saturday reported 736 people

tested positive, its second highest

daily measure just two days after

the record, 822, according to met-

ro government data.

Monday counts are typically

low in the city because most test-

ing centers are closed on week-

ends, nevertheless Japanese

media reported Monday’s total is

the most ever counted on that day

in Tokyo.

U.S. commands in Japan report-

ed 17 newly infected patients be-

tween Friday night and 6 p.m.

Monday.

Naval Air Facility Atsugi, 27

miles southwest of central Tokyo,

reported eight people tested posi-

tive for the coronavirus on Friday,

base spokesman Sam Samuelson

said Monday. All eight were iden-

tified as close contacts of a previ-

ously infected individual, he said.

Also Friday, U.S. Army Japan,

headquartered at Camp Zama, 28

miles southwest of Tokyo, report-

ed three individuals tested posi-

tive last week. Two were already

in isolation as new arrivals to Ja-

pan; the third was tested Thursday

upon arrival by Japanese health

authorities, according to an Army

news release.

One of the two fell ill Friday with

symptoms of COVID-19, the dis-

ease caused by the coronavirus;

the second was tested Wednesday

as part of the U.S. Forces Japan re-

quirement that individuals must

be free of the virus before leaving

isolation, according to the release.

Marine Corps Air Station Iwa-

kuni on Sunday reported one new

coronavirus patient, an individual

already in isolation as a close con-

tact of another infected person, ac-

cording to a base Facebook post.

The Marines on Okinawa over

the weekend also reported five

new infected individuals, three at

Camp Hansen, two at Marine

Corps Air Station Futenma and

one at Camp Foster.

USFK updateAt Camp Humphreys, USFK

headquarters south of Seoul, a

South Korean contractor who de-

veloped COVID-19 symptoms

tested positive for the virus Fri-

day, according to a USFK news re-

lease. The contractor, who was

tested at the Pyeongtaek Public

Health Center, last visited Hum-

phreys on Wednesday, according

to the release.

USFK broke down its recent 21

cases this way: Five service mem-

bers arrived at Osan Air Base on

the Patriot Express, a govern-

ment-chartered passenger air ser-

vice, on Dec. 2, 9, 14 and Wednes-

day; 10 service members, five de-

pendents and a retiree arrived on

commercial flights to Incheon In-

ternational Airport on Nov. 29,

Dec. 3, 6, 15 and Wednesday, Fri-

day and Saturday.

Fourteen individuals tested pos-

itive upon arrival; seven tested

positive on the test required be-

fore leaving quarantine. All 21 are

quarantined at either Humphreys

or Osan, according to USFK.

39 new cases among Japan, S. Korea bases

AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes

Tokyo, a city of 13.5 million, within two days during the week of Dec. 13 hit its highest and second highestdaily totals for new coronavirus patients. U.S. commands in Japan reported 17 newly infected patientsbetween Friday night and 6 p.m. Monday.

BY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @JosephDitzler


WASHINGTON — Grocery

store employees, teachers, emer-

gency workers and other people

on the front lines of America’s

workforce should be next to get

the coronavirus vaccine, along

with adults ages 75 and older, a

federal advisory panel said Sun-

day.

The recommendations, which

came two days after regulators au-

thorized a second coronavirus

vaccine, will guide state author-

ities in deciding who should have

priority to receive limited doses of

shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech

and Moderna. Nearly 2.9 million

doses of the Pfizer vaccine have

been distributed, and 556,208 of

those shots were given as of Sun-

day afternoon, according to the

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

The groups designated Sunday

include about 49 million people,

some of whom could begin getting

shots early in the new year. The

priorities represent a compromise

between the desire to shield peo-

ple most likely to catch and trans-

mit the virus, because they cannot

socially distance or work from

home, and the effort to protect

people who are most prone to seri-

ous complications and death.

An estimated 30 million front-

line essential workers labor in

meat plants, grocery stores, pris-

ons, public transit and other key

areas, and cannot work remotely.

They are a priority because they

play a critical role in keeping so-

ciety functioning, and they live or

work in high-risk, high-transmis-

sion communities.

Adults 75 and older — about 19

million people — were also includ-

ed in this priority group because

they account for 25% of hospital-

izations and a significant share of

deaths linked to COVID-19, the ill-

ness caused by the coronavirus.

The committee’s vote also ad-

dressed an even larger group of

people poised to gain access in the

third phase. That larger group of

129 million people is made up of a

second tier of essential workers,

adults 65 to 74 and adults 16 to 64

with high risk medical conditions.

MichiganDETROIT — Families of men

incarcerated at Michigan’s Kin-

ross Correctional Facility be-

lieved its remote location would

spare it from a deadly COVID-19

outbreak. For a while, they

seemed to be right.

Kinross, built on the grounds of

a former Air Force base in the Up-

per Peninsula, is closer to Canada

than it is to Detroit. Unlike most

prisons in Michigan, Kinross had

remained almost unscathed by the

novel coronavirus with only one

case between March and October.

But on Oct. 28, corrections offi-

cials transferred nine prisoners to

Kinross from Marquette Branch

Prison, several hours west, where

COVID-19 was running rampant.

There were 837 confirmed cases

by late October, 350 of which were

still active when the men were

transferred.

Roughly three weeks later, Kin-

ross had its first major outbreak,

corrections department data

showed. Though agency officials

say it’s not because of the trans-

fers, more than 1,100 prisoners

have now been infected, at least

seven have died and more than

100 guards have fallen ill. The

prisoners who came to Kinross

had been transferred twice, sent

first to Marquette after a riot

where they were held, and then

had tested positive for COVID-19

there before leaving for Kinross,

officials said.

CaliforniaSACRAMENTO — California

Gov. Gavin Newsom will quaran-

tine for 10 days after one of his

staffers tested positive for CO-

VID-19, according to a spokesper-

son for the governor’s office.

The staffer tested positive Sun-

day afternoon, the spokesperson

stated. Newsom was then tested

and his result came back negative.

The staffer also had contact

with other staff members, who

were also tested. Their results

came back negative.

Newsom’s 10-day quarantine is

out of “an abundance of caution,”

the statement said. The governor

and other staffers were expected

to be tested again in the next few

days.

MinnesotaWHITE BEAR LAKE — When-

ever Sheila Stuart gets a message

on her phone that a donor is on the

way she dons a light jacket, gloves

and a mask and makes her way

down from the second floor of her

apartment building to the lobby.

Since March, residents around

the Mahtomedi area have been

dropping off food and supplies for

seniors at her low-income build-

ing, East Shore Place.

Fostered by a Nextdoor group

called the White Bear Lake Mah-

tomedi Angels, which now has

over 100 members, they drop off

bags of groceries, toilet paper,

homemade bread and handwrit-

ten notes to seniors who are often

unable to afford or navigate groce-

ry shopping in a pandemic.

“They are my angels,” said Ar-

dith Pearl, a 71-year-old widow

who lives in East Shore Place and

helps Stuart collect and lay out the

donations.

“That means to me that we have

a lot of caring people in our com-

munity. A lot of people who are

concerned and caring about some-

body not going hungry,” Pearl

said.

North DakotaMINOT — The impact of the

coronavirus pandemic couldn’t be

more evident than it is for Minot’s

hotels. Business has plummeted.

People haven’t been traveling.

The Canadian border has been

closed for months. Social distanc-

ing has put an end to hosting

events like banquets, wedding re-

ceptions and Christmas parties.

While hotels are certainly not

the only businesses impacted by

COVID-19, their empty parking

lots and lobbies are vivid remind-

ers of the ongoing economic ef-

fects of the pandemic.

“Before COVID we were meet-

ing all of our goals and revenue

was looking good,” said Chris

Baze, Clarion Hotel and Conven-

tion Center of Minot. “Now we’re

down to about 10% of revenue. It’s

sad. It really is. Fortunately, own-

ership has been very good through

this and keeps our business go-

ing.”

The Clarion, located near the

State Fairgrounds, boasts the

largest convention center of any

hotel in the state. But the conven-

tion business went away quickly

as coronavirus spread, leaving the

spacious center dark and quiet.

If business were normal, said

Baze, the Clarion would have 150

or so rooms occupied daily. Dur-

ing the pandemic there have been

days with no overnight rooms oc-

cupied. There’s little difference at

most other hotels in Minot where

rooms that would turn over sever-

al times a week are seldom used,

the Minot Daily News reported.

MississippiPEARL — Mississippi’s top

emergency manager is hospital-

ized because of COVID-19 compli-

cations.

The Mississippi Emergency

Management Agency said in a

statement Sunday that Director

Greg Michel has been admitted to

a hospital with pneumonia, a com-

plication from his infection with

COVID-19.

Michel tested positive for the

coronavirus Dec. 9.

Spokesperson Malary White

said the agency continues to “op-

erate as usual while taking every

precaution necessary to protect

our staff.”

White described Michel as re-

maining “in good spirits.”

TennesseeNASHVILLE — Tennessee

Gov. Bill Lee has announced new

social gathering restrictions while

still refusing to implement a mask

mandate despite pleas from front-

line health care workers in a state

experiencing the highest new

cases per capita in the country.

Instead of a mask mandate, the

Republican on Sunday signed an

executive order limiting public

gatherings to 10 people. However,

places of worship, weddings and

funerals are exempt from the or-

der.

He called the state “ground ze-

ro” in the COVID-19 battle and

urged Tennesseans not to gather

with people outside their immedi-

ate households during the upcom-

ing holidays. His message comes

just a day after Lee confirmed that

his wife Maria had tested positive

for COVID-19. Lee says he has

tested negative but will remain in

quarantine at the governor’s resi-

dence.

Tennessee is one of a dozen

states without a mask mandate.

Instead, local counties have the

option of implementing their own

mask restrictions.

TexasAUSTIN — The number of peo-

ple hospitalized with COVID-19 in

Texas continues to increase, as

more doses of the vaccine are ex-

pected this week for front-line

health care workers and residents

of long-term care facilities.

The Texas Department of State

Health Services reported Sunday

that 9,856 people with COVID-19

were hospitalized across the state.

This month Texas surpassed 9,000

hospitalized coronavirus patients

for the first time since a deadly

summer outbreak.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins

University say that over the past

two weeks, the rolling average

number of daily new cases in Tex-

as has remained mostly constant

around 15,908 per day. One in ev-

ery 258 people in Texas tested

positive in the past week.

Johns Hopkins is reporting over

25,700 COVID-19 related deaths

in Texas, the second highest in the

country overall.

WisconsinMILWAUKEE — Wisconsin

health officials Sunday confirmed

more than 1,800 positive CO-

VID-19 tests in the last day and 18

new deaths due to complications

from the coronavirus.

The update increased the total

number of cases to 457,177 since

the start of the pandemic.

There were more than 907 new

cases per 100,000 people in Wis-

consin over the past two weeks,

which ranks 26th in the country

for new cases per capita, accord-

ing to The COVID Tracking Pro-

ject. One in every 235 people in

Wisconsin tested positive in the

past week.

Officials said there were 1,330

people hospitalized as of Friday,

including 290 in intensive care

units. That’s a decrease of 887 pa-

tients from a month ago.

CDC: Front-line workers,

those over 75 shouldbe next to get vaccine

From wire reports

ANDREW NELLES, THE TENNESSEAN/ AP

Nurse practitioner Franklin Grauzer receives a highfive from his daughter, Emerson, 5, after he received aCOVID19 vaccine in Nashville, Tenn., last week. On Sunday, Gov. Bill Lee announced new social gatheringrestrictions.

VIRUS OUTBREAK ROUNDUP


VIRUS OUTBREAK

A flurry of European travel restrictions

announced Sunday over worries about a

fast-spreading new variant of the coronavi-

rus have spurred curiosity and concern

that the mutation could infect Americans.

After officials in the United Kingdom

said Saturday that the variant first identi-

fied there was spreading 70% faster than

others, Google searches about the muta-

tion have spiked. American public health

experts and federal officials say that al-

though it appears that the variant may be

more contagious, it is not any more dan-

gerous than others already detected in the

United States.

“I don’t think there should be any reason

for alarm right now,” Adm. Brett Giroir,

who has been in charge of U.S. testing, told

George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This

Week.”

Variations to the virus are nothing new,

and experts say the coronavirus does not

mutate as much as influenza, meaning it is

less likely that a vaccine would need to be

developed every year to keep up with the

new strains.

Still, much about this variant remains

unknown, such as whether it is a new

strain — a functionally different version of

the virus.

“The take-home message for right now

is that we need to get more information,”

said Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious-dis-

eases specialist at the Medical University

of South Carolina. “In the meantime, we all

need to really double down on our public

health measures — wearing masks, re-

maining physically distanced, avoiding

crowds of people.”

Where has the variant been detect-

ed?

In September, U.K. researchers discov-

ered the variant’s prevalence when they

collected samples from infected people in

southeastern England. It seemed to spread

quickly.

“This lineage came up quite rapidly,”

Nick Loman, one of the researchers and a

professor of microbial genomics at the

University of Birmingham, told The Wash-

ington Post.

Since then, Australia, Denmark and the

Netherlands have identified cases of the

variant in their countries, the World

Health Organization told the BBC. On Sun-

day, Italian officials announced that a pa-

tient returning from Britain “in the last

few days” was in isolation after scientists

detected the mutation.

In South Africa, health officials said Sun-

day that a version of the virus similar to the

U.K. variant has been found in 80% to 90%

of samples analyzed since mid-November.

Is the variant already in the United

States?

The virus has not been detected in the

United States, but officials are watching

for developments in Britain, Giroir told

Stephanopoulos.

Although guidance from federal agen-

cies discourages traveling to Britain, the

United States has not banned travel from

there.

“I really don’t believe we need to do that

yet,” Giroir said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Dem-

ocrat, pointed out Sunday that it would

take only one flight to the United States to

spread the mutation; he urged federal offi-

cials to restrict travel.

“Right now, this variant in the U.K. is

getting on a plane and flying to JFK,” Cuo-

mo said on a conference call with report-

ers.

Kuppalli warned that little is known

about the effectiveness of a ban, referring

to instances in which people rushed to air-

ports and congregated in long lines trying

to travel before restrictions were put into

effect earlier in the pandemic.

“It seems like this new strain is more

contagious,” Scott Gottlieb, a former head

of the Food and Drug Administration, said

on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “It doesn’t

seem to be any more virulent, any more

dangerous than run-of-the-mill COVID.

The next question is: Will it obviate our

natural immunity?”

Will the authorized vaccines still be

effective against this variant of the virus?

Experts say there has been no indication

that the variant is resistant to the Pfizer

and Moderna vaccines authorized by the

FDA.

“There is no reason to believe that the

vaccines that have been developed will not

be effective against this virus as well,” Vi-

vek Murthy, President-elect Joe Biden’s

nominee for surgeon general, told host

Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“The bottom line is if you’re at home and

hearing this news, it does not change what

we do in terms of precautions.”

Although the vaccine remains out of re-

ach for most Americans, following guid-

ance such as social distancing and wearing

masks remains the most practical way to

prevent transmission.

What to know about England’s virus mutationBY MERYL KORNFIELD

The Washington Post

British Health Secretary Matt

Hancock said the strain is "out of

control" around London and

southeastern England, though ex-

perts have said it is not clear

whether it is more lethal, and

they expressed confidence that

the vaccines now being rolled out

would still be effective against it.

There were rising hopes that

France would soon allow traffic

to flow again, if truck drivers took

coronavirus tests on arrival.

Meanwhile, the European

Union's drug regulatory agency

recommended use of Pfizer-

BioNTech's vaccine, setting the

stage for the first COVID-19 shots

across the 27-nation bloc. The

vaccine is already being dis-

pensed in Britain and the U.S.

The EU was expected to give

final approval to the recommen-

dation within hours. Authorities

in Germany and several other

European countries said they

hope to begin vaccinating people

on Dec. 27.

While the French ban does not

prevent trucks from heading for

Britain, the move stoked worries

about shortages at a time of year

when Britain produces very little

of its food and relies heavily on

produce delivered from Europe

by truck. In a sign of the govern-

ment's concern, Prime Minister

Boris Johnson called a meeting of

the government's emergency

committee.

The ban caused chaos in Kent,

the southeastern English county

that is home to many of Britain's

English Channel ports. The gov-

ernment urged against travel to

the county, but trucks snaked

along the shoulders of the main

highways to the ports anyway.

Around 10,000 trucks pass

through Britain's port of Dover

every day, accounting for about

20% of the country's trade in

goods. British Transport Secreta-

ry Grant Shapps said France's

ban was "slightly surprising" but

insisted that the public won't no-

tice any shortages "for the most

part."

France's Minister of Transport

Jean-Baptiste Djebbari indicated

that a solution was coming. In a

tweet, he said that "in the coming

hours, at a European level, we

will put a solid health protocol in

place so that the flow from the

United Kingdom can resume."

And a croaky-voiced French

President Emmanuel Macron,

who is working from the Elysee

Palace as he recovers from CO-

VID-19, told a Cabinet meeting by

video: "We are looking at system-

atic testing upon arrival."

Canada, India, France, Germa-

ny, Italy, Spain and Poland were

among the countries that halted

flights from Britain. In the U.S.,

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

said he wanted a ban on flights

from Britain to New York City.

Eurotunnel, the rail operator that

carries passengers and freight

between Britain mainland Eu-

rope, also suspended service out

of the U.K.

At Germany's Berlin and

Frankfurt airports, passengers

arriving from Britain had to

spend Sunday night in the termi-

nals as they awaited test results.

Sophie Taxil, a Frenchwoman

who lives in London, caught a

train back home from Paris and

urged everyone in Britain to fol-

low the rules.

"I live there and I need to go

back there; my family is there,"

she said. "I think that phlegmatic

British nature suits these COVID

times: Stay calm and carry on,

fair play. Regarding this new

strain, we don't know. We will

see."

The moves come in the wake of

Johnson's announcement on Sat-

urday that he was placing London

and the southeast of England in a

newly created tier of restrictions

after scientific advisers warned

that they had detected a new

strain of the virus that may be

more contagious.

Johnson said early indications

are that the variant is 70% more

transmissible and is driving the

rapid spread of infections in the

capital and surrounding areas.

As a result, he scrapped a

planned relaxation of rules over

Christmastime for millions of

people and imposed other tough

new restrictions in the affected

zone. No indoor mixing of house-

holds will be allowed, and only es-

sential travel will be permitted.

Stores selling nonessential goods

were ordered closed, putting a

crimp in Christmas shopping.

The European Centre for Dis-

ease Prevention and Control said

that while preliminary analysis

suggests the new variant is "sig-

nificantly more transmissible,"

there is no indication that infec-

tions are more severe. Experts,

however, have stressed that even

if the new strain is not more le-

thal, it is inevitable that more in-

fections will lead to more hospi-

talizations and deaths.

The Stockholm-based agency

said a few cases of the variant

have been reported by Iceland,

Denmark and the Netherlands. It

also cited news reports of cases in

Belgium and Italy.

The chaos at the border comes

at a time of huge uncertainty for

Britain, less than two weeks be-

fore the final stage of the coun-

try's exit from the EU.

Though Britain left the bloc on

Jan. 31, it is in a transition period

during which it effectively abides

by EU rules until the end of this

year. Talks on a post-Brexit trade

relationship were deadlocked but

set to resume on Monday.

Retailers played down fears of

food shortages in the short term

but warned that there could be

problems if the travel bans last

for a while and if Britain and the

EU fail to reach a trade deal.

"Retailers have stocked up on

goods ahead of Christmas, which

should prevent immediate prob-

lems," said Andrew Opie, director

of food and sustainability at the

British Retail Consortium. "How-

ever, any prolonged closure of the

French border would be a prob-

lem as the U.K. enters the final

weeks before the transition ends."

Concern: French ban stokes worries about UK food shortagesFROM PAGE 1

STEVE PARSONS /AP

Lorries are parked on the M20 near Folkestone, England, as part ofOperation Stack after the Port of Dover was closed and access to theEurotunnel terminal suspended following France's announcement onMonday. France banned all travel from the U.K. for 48 hours frommidnight Sunday, including trucks carrying freight through the tunnelunder the English Channel or from the Port of Dover.


NATION

WASHINGTON — Once in of-

fice, President-elect Joe Biden

will punish Russia for its suspect-

ed cyberespionage operation

against the United States with fi-

nancial sanctions and measures to

hobble the Kremlin’s ability to

launch future hacks, his chief of

staff said Sunday, as a GOP sen-

ator criticized President Donald

Trump for having a “blind spot”

when it comes to Moscow.

“Those who are responsible are

going to face consequences for it,”

said Biden chief of staff Ron Klain.

“It’s not just sanctions. It’s also

steps and things we could do to de-

grade the capacity of foreign ac-

tors to repeat this sort of attack or,

worse still, engage in even more

dangerous attacks.”

The head of the cybersecurity

firm FireEye, which disclosed

that it had been targeted by the

spying attempt, said it was clear

the foreign intrusions were not

“one and done” and suggested

there was little time to spare be-

fore the next one.

“These attacks will continue to

escalate, and get worse if we do

nothing,” said CEO Kevin Man-

dia.

Cybersecurity experts and U.S.

officials such as Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo have been clear

over the past week that they be-

lieve Russia was behind the mas-

sive hack that infiltrated over 40

federal agencies, including the de-

partments of Treasury, Energy

and Commerce, as well as govern-

ment contractors.

But Trump over the weekend

cast doubt on that assessment,

suggesting without evidence that

China may be behind the cyber in-

trusions and minimizing the im-

pact. “The Cyber Hack is far grea-

ter in the Fake News Media than in

actuality. I have been fully briefed

and everything is well under con-

trol,” Trump tweeted, contradict-

ing his own cybersecurity agency,

which described the hacks as a

“grave” threat.

On Sunday, Sen. Mitt Romney,

R-Utah, blasted Trump for putting

the U.S. at continuing risk.

“Russia acted with impunity,”

he said. “They didn’t fear what we

would be able to do from a cyber-

capacity. They didn’t think that

our defense systems were partic-

ularly adequate. And they appar-

ently didn’t think that we would

respond in a very aggressive

way.”

“I think we’ve come to recog-

nize that the president has a blind

spot when it comes to Russia,”

Romney added, urging an imme-

diate response and calling cyber-

space the “warfare of the future.”

While Trump downplayed the

impact of the hacks, the Cyberse-

curity and Infrastructure Security

Agency has said it compromised

federal agencies as well as “criti-

cal infrastructure.” Homeland Se-

curity, the agency’s parent depart-

ment, defines such infrastructure

as any “vital” assets to the U.S. or

its economy, a broad category that

could include power plants and fi-

nancial institutions.

It’s not clear exactly what the

hackers were seeking, but experts

say it could include nuclear se-

crets, blueprints for advanced

weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-re-

lated research and information for

dossiers on government and in-

dustry leaders.

Still, it may take months to kick

elite hackers out of the U.S. gov-

ernment networks they have been

quietly rifling through since as far

back as March. Christopher

Krebs, former director of CISA,

highlighted the challenges ahead

as Trump dismisses the threat and

Biden prepares for his Jan. 20 in-

auguration.

“The federal civilian agencies,

the 101 civilian agencies, are not

really optimized for defense right

now,” Krebs said. “And what that

means is, there’s a lot of old anti-

quated, legacy IT systems that are

hard to defend. Plus, the author-

ities are not in place for teams like

CISA to really get out there and

aggressively root out adversar-

ies.”

Throughout his presidency,

Trump has refused to blame Rus-

sia for well-documented hostili-

ties, including its interference in

the 2016 election to help him get

elected. He blamed his predeces-

sor, Barack Obama, for Russia’s

annexation of Crimea, has en-

dorsed allowing Russia to return

to the G-7 group of nations and has

never taken the country to task for

allegedly putting bounties on U.S.

soldiers in Afghanistan.

Klain said the incoming admin-

istration was still learning infor-

mation about the purpose, nature

and extent of the hacks and fault-

ed the confused messaging from

the Trump administration on

who’s to blame.

Klain and Mandia spoke on

CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Krebs

was on CNN’s “State of the

Union,” and Romney was on CNN

and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

AP

Presidentelect Joe Biden — shown in 2014 with Ebola ResponseCoordinator Ron Klain, left — will punish Russia for its suspectedcyberespionage operation against the United States once in office,Klain said Sunday. Klain is preparing to serve as Biden’s chief of staff.

Biden team vowsaction on hack asthreats persist

BY HOPE YEN

Associated Press

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Alfred

Thomas Farrar, a former Tuske-

gee Airman, died on Thursday in

Virginia only days before a cere-

mony planned to honor his ser-

vice in the program that famously

trained Black military pilots dur-

ing World War II. He was 99.

Farrar’s son, Roy, told The As-

sociated Press on Sunday that his

father died at his Lynchburg

home. Alfred Farrar would have

turned 100 years old on Dec. 26.

Farrar left his Lynchburg

hometown for Tuskegee, Ala., af-

ter graduating from high school

to began his aviation training in

1941.

“It was the next best thing to

do,” Farrar had told The News &

Advance in a story that ran last

week.

Farrar learned to be a pilot dur-

ing his time in the U.S. Army Air

Corps program but didn’t fly any

combat missions overseas, ac-

cording to his son.

Roy Farrar said he was proud

of his father’s service but doesn’t

remember him having much to

say about his time as a Tuskegee

Airman.

“It was just something that he

did at the time, that was needed at

the time,” Roy Farrar said.

After his discharge in 1943,

Alfred Farrar studied to be an

aerospace engineer and worked

as an engineer with the Federal

Aviation Administration for four

decades.

WFXR-TV reported that the

Lynchburg Area Veterans Coun-

cil plans to honor Farrar and his

service during the council’s

“troop rally” on Christmas Day.

“In spite of tremendous dis-

crimination, these young Ameri-

can men and women served their

nation with distinction and

opened the door of opportunity

for many other Americans,” the

council said in a statement.

Roy Farrar said several planes

are expected to fly over a sepa-

rate memorial ceremony for his

father on his birthday this week.

Ex-Tuskegee Airman Farrar dies at 99

KENDALL WARNER, THE (LYNCHBURG, VA.) NEWS & ADVANCE/AP

Alfred Thomas Farrar, a Tuskegee Airman, poses for a portrait in thedoorway of his home in Lynchburg, Va., on Dec. 9. Farrar diedThursday at 99, days before a ceremony planned to honor his service.

Associated Press “It was the nextbest thing to do”

Alfred Thomas Farrar

former Tuskegee Airman

WASHINGTON — Breaking

with President Donald Trump,

outgoing Attorney General Wil-

liam Barr said Monday he saw no

reason to appoint a special counsel

to look into the president’s claims

of election fraud or the tax investi-

gation into the son of President-

elect Joe Biden.

In his final press conference,

Barr also undercut Trump as he re-

inforced the belief of federal offi-

cials that Russia was behind the cy-

berespionage operation targeting

the U.S. government. Trump had

suggested without evidence that

China could be responsible.

Barr said the investigation into

Hunter Biden’s financial dealings

was “being handled responsibly

and professionally.”

“I have not seen a reason to ap-

point a special counsel and I have

no plan to do so before I leave,” he

said. Barr also told The Associated

Press in a previous interview that

he had seen no evidence of wide-

spread voting fraud, despite

Trump’s claims to the contrary.

Trump — angry that Barr didn’t

announce there was a 2-year-old

investigation into Hunter Biden —

has consulted on special counsels

with allies, according to several

Trump administration officials

and Republicans close to the White

House who spoke to The Associat-

ed Press on condition of anonymi-

ty.

Naming a special counsel would

make it harder for Joe Biden to

shut down investigations. But it’s

not clear how it could be done with-

out buy-in from Justice officials.

Barr said the hack of U.S. gov-

ernment agencies “certainly ap-

pears to be the Russians.”

Barr breakswith Trumpon election,Biden’s son

Associated Press


AMERICAN ROUNDUP

New program offers freecollege to prisoners

SC ORANGEBURG —Some prisoners inSouth Carolina will soon be able to

attend college for free.

The South Carolina Depart-

ment of Corrections says it is part-

nering with Claflin University, a

historically Black private school

in Orangeburg, to offer bachelor’s

degrees to people incarcerated in

state prisons. The program is slat-

ed to start in 2021, according to an

agency news release on Thursday.

Claflin will offer the students

degrees in criminal justice, psy-

chology and organizational man-

agement, as well as minors and

certificates.

The program is part of a federal

initiative to help prisoners earn

university credentials. School and

prison officials said the partner-

ship will help give prisoners skills

to return to society successfully.

45 cold-stunned seaturtles being treated

MS GULFPORT — Sev-enty-five endangeredsea turtles are being treated in

Mississippi and Louisiana after

being rescued from New England

beaches where they washed up,

injured and sick from the cold.

They’re Kemp’s ridley sea tur-

tles, the world’s smallest and most

endangered sea turtles.

Twenty-five are being treated at

the Mississippi Aquarium and 20

at the Institute for Marine Mam-

mal Studies, which are about 5.5

miles apart in Gulfport.

Another 30 are being treated at

the Audubon Nature Institute in

New Orleans.

More than 800 turtles have been

stranded in New England so far

this year, according to a news re-

lease from the aquarium. That’s

about the number found during

the entire winter of 2018-2019. A

paper published in 2019 predicted

that by 2031, more than 2,300

Kemp’s ridleys a year could be

stranded as warming temper-

atures attract more and more to

the Gulf of Maine.

Helicopter-dropped treatsgiven to good schoolkids

LA CARENCRO — Girlsand boys at one school inLouisiana were so good that Mrs.

Claus visited early, showering the

basketball court with treats drop-

ped from a helicopter.

Teachers at Carencro Catholic

School kept masked students in

tacky sweaters and flannel paja-

mas at a safe distance until all of

the candy, toys, beads and rein-

deer headbands had landed, the

Lafayette Daily Advertiser re-

ported.

Then students rushed for good-

ies donated by a school sponsor

and tossed from a chopper piloted

by a student’s father.

Principal Devin Soeseno, who

played Mrs. Claus, had promised a

helicopter drop last spring if stu-

dents earned 5,000 reward tickets

for good behavior.

Grant will help restorehome at historic camp

IN CHESTERFIELD —Boosters of a historiccentral Indiana camp once famed

for its spiritual mediums have

won a grant to partially restore a

home where it’s believed the foun-

der of Alcoholics Anonymous

once lived.

The $11,500 grant from the Indi-

ana Department of Natural Re-

sources’ historic preservation di-

vision will allow for the work on

the Lizzie Koch home at Camp

Chesterfield.

The Friends of Camp Chester-

field, which received the grant,

raised $11,500 in matching funds

for the project, which will go to-

ward removing the two-story cot-

tage’s asphalt siding and shoring

up its foundation.

The restoration work on the

home, which will be painted in his-

toric colors, is expected to be com-

pleted next year, said Normandi

Ellis with the Friends of Camp

Chesterfield.

Prosecutor: 5 accused in58 break-ins in total

GA MACON — A Georgiaprosecutor said a bur-glary ring hit 49 businesses a total

of 58 times over four months, and

five people are accused.

Targets included gas stations,

dollar stores and popular restau-

rants in Macon, and burglaries oc-

curred from Dec. 23, 2019, into

April, said Bibb County District

Attorney David Cooke.

He said Wednesday that four

men and a woman were charged

on Tuesday with racketeering,

and the men were also indicted on

numerous burglary charges, The

Telegraph reported.

The indictment said three of

them were jailed April 28 after in-

vestigators learned they had re-

ceived stolen property, including

electronics and a slow cooker

from a grocery store.

Officer rescues man anddog who fell through ice

CT EASTON — An Eastonpolice officer is beingcredited with rescuing a man and

his dog who both wound up falling

through the ice at a local pond.

Easton Police Chief Richard

Doye said Officer Anthony Tele-

sco, 32, a two-year veteran on the

force, was on routine patrol Fri-

day night when he was flagged

down by a man who said his dog

had fallen through the ice at Kell-

er Pond.

Telesco, who called the Easton

Fire Department to perform an

ice rescue, wound up having to en-

ter the frigid water after the dog’s

owner climbed onto the ice and at-

tempted to rescue the animal him-

self before the fire department ar-

rived. The man had fallen through

the ice, onto his dog.

Doye, who posted a written

statement Saturday on the depart-

ment’s Facebook page, said Tele-

sco was in water up to his chest

and experienced “minor distress”

as he was existing the water. The

officer was transported to Bridge-

port Hospital for cold-water expo-

sure and later released in good

condition. The dog’s owner, whose

name was not released, was treat-

ed at the scene and reunited with

his pet, which is doing fine, the

chief said.

Civil War battlefield beingpreserved with $300K

AL SPANISH FORT — Asouth Alabama battle-field where thousands of Black

t ,d ecember congress agrees on covid-19 relief bill€¦ · covid-19 relief bill after months of...

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