Covid-19 is still slowly increasing in Massachusetts, with R > 1. A model suggests that 13% of the population has Covid-19 now or has recovered from it.

Reopening business and social contact will speed the spread, leaving Massachusetts with less time to set up an adequate system of testing and tracing to stop it.

The smoke from Australia's enormous fires killed 445 people. Meanwhile 4000 more were hospitalized for respiratory problems.

Some of those 4000 may die prematurely due to lingering damage caused by the smoke.

*Pressure for Europe to choose sides between US and China is building, says Josep Borrell, head of the EU's foreign affairs department.*

*(Plutocratist) Democrats in Washington are not just passively failing to mount an opposition to Trump. They are actively helping Republicans.*

Hangzhou plans to make its Covid-19 monitoring app permanent, and even Chinese resent the surveillance.