Paris Lockdown, AZ Vaccine Safe, Texas Bills Forgiven
March 19, 2021
Yesterday’s Newsletter / March 19, 2021
Learn about this project, the person behind it, and how to read articles on sites with paywalls.
Paris goes into lockdown as COVID-19 variant rampages
Summary: A more contagious strain of COVID-19 has become dominant in France, and a previously lockdown-averse President Macron has declared a new lockdown while acknowledging that the country has entered a third wave of infections.
Context: Like many leaders around the world, Macron has been trying to balance the needs of the economy and politics with what’s required to keep this highly contagious disease from causing too much damage—a balancing act that became more difficult in recent weeks as much of the EU’s vaccine supply was made unavailable by the Union’s regulatory agency (more on this below) and as surges in other nearby countries caused new infection waves in urban centers like Paris.
Also: Czech government extends pandemic restrictions on movement, no date for easing
—Reuters
AstraZeneca vaccine declared safe by EU drug agency, but will add clot warning
Summary: The European Union’s drug regulatory agency has said that the AZ vaccine does not increase overall incidence of blood clots and is safe for use.
Context: This scare, which has gone on for weeks and which was possibly as much about politics as actual concerns—EU leaders were upset that AZ wasn’t fulfilling the terms of the contract they’d made with the Union, and even prevented some doses from being sent to Australia from Italy—has severely damaged the image of this particular vaccine, which will likely make the vaccine-hesitant even more wary and possibly lead to a lot of wasted doses in the EU and elsewhere around the world.
Also: US to send millions of AZ vaccine doses to Mexico and Canada
—The Associated Press, The New York Times
Texas Attorney General says $29 million in electric bills will be forgiven after suing Griddy Energy
Summary: In the wake of a historic winter storm that knocked out Texas power grids for days, one electrical provider has agreed to forgive $29 million in electrical fees for customers as part of their bankruptcy plan.
Context: Griddy Energy was just one of many energy companies that didn’t look great after both failing to provide reliable electricity to their customers during an emergency, and then charging those customers massively inflated fees because of how their business model worked; rationales aside, they became the face of this particular disaster, and it’s expected that the AG’s lawsuit against them, and this resultant agreement, could bring closure for some people who survived the storm only to face significant financial aftershocks.
—CBS Dallas-Fort Worth
Visual
260
Amount of nuclear warhead-tipped Trident missiles the UK will be allowed to stockpile, up from 180, based on a leaked copy of the integrated review of defense and foreign policy acquired by The Guardian.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce this missile cap increase next Tuesday, and it’s thought to be part of a larger, controversial, £10 billion rearmament effort that uses the threat posed by Russia and China as justification for more military spending.
—The Guardian
Trust click
Yesterday’s Newsletter is published by analytic journalist and host of the Let’s Know Things podcast, Colin Wright.