Monthly Archives: March 2021

The U.S. Army has planned a major multinational warfighter exercise Warfighter 21-4 for April 6-15, with the simulation of a corps-level battle involving a U.S., U.K. and French Army tactical divisions.

The exercise involves thousands of troops and support personnel, distributed across multiple installations including Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Its another step in the Armys ongoing readiness efforts to reinforce its ability to conduct largescale combat operations with unified action partners.

The exercise strengthens U.S., U.K. and French interoperability at multiple echelons, according to the U.S. Armys exercise directive.

U.K. and French forces will train their ability to operate effectively within a U.S. corps. The combined formations are integrated down to the brigade-level with a U.K. brigade operating within a U.S. division, and U.S. brigade combat teams in U.K. and French divisions.

Theres a joint vision statement between the Chief of the General Staff, head of the U.K. Army, and the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army that will see us be interoperable by 2025, said Maj. Gen. Mike Elviss, 3rd U.K. Division commander.

What that means is we would place a British division under command of a U.S. corps and a British brigade under command of a U.S. division. The warfighter is the preeminent exercise [to do that].

Its a proper multinational corps fighting against the World-Class Opposing Force, said Elviss.

Maj. Gen. Laurent Michon, 3rd French Division commander, highlighted the substantial amount of training his division conducted in preparation for the exercise, and the value the exercise has for his formation.

Weve had eight months of training before coming to Texas, especially at the divisional level. Such an exercise as the warfighter is wonderful to gain time and to learn much. It is hard training, so it is very good for high intensity conflicts, said Michon.

The U.S. Army has specific training objectives for its corps. Fort Hood-based III Corps is being tested and trained as a tactical corps headquarters performing command and control over multinational forces in a complex operational environment.

Training and Doctrine Commands (TRADOC) expeditionary combat training center, Mission Command Training Program (MCTP), under Combined Arms Center-Training, is orchestrating the exercise. Theyve been tasked to establish a mission partner environment (MPE) with III Corps to enable the training audiences to build decisive action readiness for large scale combat operations.

Warfighter 21-4 is the largest exercise for MCTP in 35 years and is a critical step in advancing the Armys multi-national interoperability objectives, said Col. Charles Lombardo, Combined Arms Center-Training Deputy Commander.

Successfully establishing the MPE is the first test of interoperability. MPE is a joint framework intended to replicate how a corps fights with multinational partners. It establishes an operating environment that allows command and control for operations, support, planning and execution on a common network infrastructure.

In addition, the Army for the first time will implement the Army Interoperability Measurement System (AIMS). The system will assess current interoperability levels between the U.S. and the U.K., and the U.S. and French units. TRADOCs Center for Army Lessons Learned will deploy collection and analysis teams to collect observations, lessons, and best practices and provide input into AIMS.

The warfighter exercise represents a substantial investment toward gaining interoperability, borne by the U.S. and its allies. All elements involved will undoubtedly leverage successes and mistakes as dividends of lessons learned to enable success in future operations.

Author: Maj. Orlandon Howard U.S. Army Combined Arms Center

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Ft. Bliss to participate in massive multinational exercise; Will train, measure progress of interoperability - El Paso Herald-Post

Today, March 31, marks the end of the annual month-long celebration of womens incredible impact on our world and society.

March is Womens History Month, its the time when we celebrate amazing leaders such as Malala Yousafzai, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, Greta Thunberg and Michelle Obama, to name a few. Those names represent just a fraction of powerful and admirable women, but we also have many inspiring women right here on Fairfield Universitys campus who deserve recognition.

Perhaps what is most important to recognize is the interconnectedness of every powerful woman to the next.

Emily Orlando, Ph.D, professor of English at Fairfield University, said it well when she wrote via email: I stand on the shoulders of giants. I have succeeded because others have opened doors for me and because I work hard and I love what I do.

Orlando, a recent President of the Edith Wharton Society, a group of scholars founded in 1983 dedicated to the continued study and appreciation of Whartons impact on the American literary canon, noted a change in the professional area of higher education, as well as a change within the student body: more women putting themselves out there and finding success.

Reflecting on her own career as a professor, Orlando wrote of her own experience as a college student in the 1990s that: I can only think of one woman who managed to climb the academic ladder up to full professorship.

And now, Orlando is surrounded by a network of women who act as leaders in academia.

One of those women is Karen Donoghue, the vice president for student life at Fairfield University.

Donoghue graduated from Fairfield in 2003, and during her years as a student she was already a leader. She was the first woman to be elected the Fairfield University Student Association President before she ended up continuing her career at her alma mater.

These women both recognize the significance of relationships with other women in finding their success. For Orlando, she expresses her appreciation for women by designing literature courses that focus on women.

Orlando shared her reasoning for this: As the critic Paul Lauter has shown, successful writers who were women, working-class or persons of color got dropped out of the literary canon when it was built in the 1920s. That canon (list of classics) was constructed by a white male professoriate.

Bringing women writers back into the forefront, as Orlando describes, has also found increasing popularity among students, as the course fills rather quickly from students across various disciplines.

Not only do these courses represent a change from just a few decades back, they also represent the shift in the general mindset of society, particularly of the younger generation as they come into adulthood.

Orlando noted, When I came to Fairfield in 2007, not one of my students would admit, in front of the class, to being a feminist. Now, the overwhelming majority of my students, even the men, who take my classes identify, quite proudly, as feminist.

And the practice of celebrating and recognizing the women around you does not always relate to the past. Those around us everyday can inspire us just as much as those who came before.

Donoghue experienced this when she was on this campus as a student.

I made a solid group of friends, and was mentored by some amazing faculty and staff. I was encouraged by this supportive community to run for FUSA, Donoghue shared.

That sense of support is still felt by current students, thanks to amazing faculty and staff members like Orlando and Donoghue.

Brigid Belger 22 is a passionate leader on our campus, and she is not hesitant to share her admiration of and thanks to the role models that surround her.

Belger is the co-president of The Concordium, a new club that pairs students with members of the elderly community with the hopes to eradicate loneliness through reciprocal conversations. She also serves as the treasurer of the Social Work club, which she helped get running last year. Belger holds other leadership positions as the president of Club Swim and an alumni mentor in the Ignatian Residential College.

Aside from working with a group of other women to bring The Concordium to Fairfield, Belger has found herself supported by an entire community of strong women, particularly her advisor, Kim Oliver, Ph.D., whom she credits with her decision to major in social work.

Belger reflected on her personal experience at Fairfield, and growing up as a woman.

One aspect of being a woman that I have struggled with is that there are so many expectations that society has around what it is to be a woman and what it is to be a teenager growing up in the 21st century, Belger shared.

She related this to college in particular, recalling the struggles she felt first-year with the expectations for young women to get dressed up and go out every weekend, when sometimes it felt more in her character to stay in with friends and watch a movie.

However, over the past three years, and with the support of the right friends and advisors, Belger learned to balance those expectations, separating the beneficial from the superficial.

Ive really grown into myself over the past three years, she said.

And in terms of leadership, Belger believes that same time for growth is necessary. She has followed her passion for Servant Leadership, which in her words is the spirit of living and breathing for and with others.

That passion has led her to accomplish many great things.

Tushi Patel 22 is another woman who deserves recognition for the positive impact that she has made on our campus. She has served as a Cura Personalis Mentor, a Resident Assistant/Senior Resident Assistant and in various leadership positions within the South Asian Student Association, including president.

Patels personal experience has in some ways led her to take on these roles on campus.

My experience at Fairfield University has been a really positive and impactful time for me, Patel shared via email. Having said that, being a woman of color at a PWI [predominantly white institution] has its challenges as it does within the global community, but Ive been fortunate to have a community of supportive women who constantly inspire me and empower me.

While every woman will have her own story, it seems a common trend that women support one another and build each other up, allowing for us to fill our world with even more strong, inspiring leaders.

Orlandos advice for women studying at Fairfield now, as those coming in the future is as follows: I would say find a mentorsomeone you aspire to beand surround yourself with good people who share your values. Attach yourself to causes that matters.

That is exactly what Belger did when she helped bring the Concordium to Fairfield and continues to follow her passion of servant leadership. Patel followed this advice as she cultivated her relationships within SASA.

Patel wrote: Growing up I would be the only South Asian female within my schools and class, therefore, coming to Fairfield and immediately being embraced within the South Asian community at Fairfield and the larger community, I felt called to be involved within SASA, as well as the other leadership roles to celebrate my own identity, culture, and bravely share it with others while cultivating bonds of friendship with others.

All of these women share the common belief that all women are capable of amazing things.

Belger would encourage other women heading to college or in the process of growing to, Be true to yourself and your values, and find people who let you thrive, find advisors that will unconditionally support you, and care about your wellbeing not just your academic success.

Patel wants to remind women, Dont ignore your own potential. And know this there is no such thing as failure. In the moment, it will feel as if you have failed and it will look like it, but life is not perfect, being a leader does not necessarily mean you have everything figured out. Its okay to make mistakes. Learn from them.

Progress has been made, but it shouldnt end here.

As Donoghue said, Gender discrimination is still present. We have a duty to mentor and encourage women to be loud and present in spaces that have been traditionally dominated by men.

Go here to see the original:

50 Years of Women at Fairfield: What Progress Has Been Made? - Fairfield Mirror

Enthusiasm about Seattles progress on vaccination and move to a new phase of reopening including more room for sit-down dining after a year of COVID-19 restrictions is being tempered by an uptick in new positive cases in King County.

The health departments latest tallies show a rise to around 187 new positive cases per day over the past week in King County up just under 30% over recent levels. Hospitalized cases and deaths that had mostly leveled off after peaking again in winter havent yet started to climb but could tail the positive case uptick. Currently, around six people per day are hospitalized with COVID-19 complications and the county is averaging two daily deaths over the past week. 1,456 have died here since the start of the pandemic.

Even as more opens up, we need to proceed with caution, King County Public Health Tweeted this week. We are already seeing an uptick in cases. Wear a mask, keep gatherings small, and stay outdoors when possible.

Monday, Seattle and King County joined the entire state in moving to Phase 3 of reopening including a further reopening of Washingtons economy and loosening of restrictions on large gatherings including professional and youth sports and other outdoor spectator events. Restaurants can now serve indoor diners at 50% capacity.

Large counties like King County with more than 50,000 residents must maintain a 14-day average of new COVID cases at or below 200 per 100,000 residents, and a seven-day average of new hospitalizations per 100,000 at five or fewer to remain in Phase 3.

The county currently is measuring a positive rate of around 104 per 100,000 and its hospitalization rate is considered flat/decreasing.

The eligibility for vaccination is also being expanded though supplies still cant keep up with demand a situation the White House says will improve by May. Washington residents 60 to 64 and those experiencing homelessness that live in or access services at shelters and congregate settings will also be eligible. Restaurant workers have also joined the ranks of the essential workers who formally qualify for COVID-19 vaccination.

Seattle officials sayefforts to reach vulnerable residents including communities of color have been successful here with around 70% of those 65 years old and older in all parts of the city receiving at least one shot of vaccine. Despite efforts to reach the communities, People of Color groups continue to lag the countys white population in the rate of vaccination.

King County reports that 31% of its 16+ population has now received at least one dose with more than 18% fully vaccinated.

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Uptick in King County positive cases tempers Seattle's vaccination progress and Phase 3 enthusiasm - CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News

ABERDEEN From downtown development to ongoing preservation projects, potential was a theme of March 15s Save Aberdeen Landmarks meeting.

Aberdeen Main Street Director Ann Tackett gave an update on recent business activities and an upcoming planning meeting for a performing stage at Acker Park.

We do have very few vacancies downtown. We have three places under construction and other than that, Ive got two people wanting to buy a building, she said. Yesterday, I understand someone bought the old KFC building and will offer pizza.

Aberdeen Main Street received a $25,000 grant last year for planning a stage at Acker Park. The USDA grant was through the Mississippi Main Street Association. Acker Park was adopted by Save Aberdeen Landmarks years ago and has since underwent improvements.

Tackett said a meeting for the project is planned for May.

For us to get on the right path, you cant start and worry about some of these things out here. We have got to worry about the foundation. If we cant this foundation right, you arent going to get anything else right, she said.

A Mississippi Main Street resource team and design firm Orion Planning + Design will help officials develop a plan and help find grant funding to implement it.

Tackett also talked about the potential of developing walking and bike paths through parts of downtown to encourage healthy living and more handrails for city sidewalks downtown.

Save Aberdeen Landmarks Chairman Dwight Stevens recapped the organizations success story of preserving the Kimmel building years ago. It now houses three upstairs apartments and two downtown businesses generating income to pay off the projects loan.

Any project you start, you think youve got enough money but you never do, he said. Our initial loan was $265,000 and now were at $80,000. When we get the building paid for, well have a pretty good income from that.

Save Aberdeen Landmarks acquired ownership of the former Phoenix drugstore building downtown roughly a decade ago, but its restoration has stalled in recent years.

We have turned it over and took it to a vote with board members and decided we have someone who is going to build it back. Hes going to put the floors and ceiling back and put the roof all the way back, and its going to be two store buildings. We dont really care how were going to save these buildings. If its giving it away, we accomplished the saving of the building. Thats our biggest eyesore downtown, Stevens said.

Also during the meeting, Traci Kent and Randy Emerson were elected to serve on the board, with Kent serving as secretary.

Toni Reece also spoke on behalf of the Aberdeen Animal Shelter and Rescue, saying efforts are underway to attract a veterinarian and pet groomer to town once a week. She added there will be a pet adoption day April 17.

See the article here:

Save Aberdeen Landmarks meeting focuses on progress | News | djournal.com - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Paly librarian Sima Thomas said in an interview with The Paly Voice that she feels more protected due to her COVID-19 vaccinations. Thomas has already received her first dose of the vaccine and is expecting her second dose on Monday; she said her vaccinations have eased her worries about visiting her parents, who have received both doses of their vaccines. It doesnt mean I feel like being reckless, but it just feels safer, like I have protections, she said. Compared to six months ago, it just feels like we have so much more control over our exposure and our experience than [we used to]. The vaccine is definitely like a huge part of that. Photo: Andy Robinson

As COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to increase for Palo Alto High School staff, many are expressing relief at a safer on-campus environment.

Santa Clara County educators have been eligible to receive vaccines since Sunday, Feb. 28, with many teachers at Paly already receiving their first doses.

Being vaccinated does make me feel better about returning to campus, though I am wary of getting too comfortable, science teacher Samuel Howles-Banerji said.

According to Howles-Banerji, who said he has received his first dose of the vaccine and is awaiting a second, scheduling the vaccination was not a simple process.

I live in San Mateo county, Howles-Banerji said. At the time that I scheduled mine, they released a block of appointments at 8 a.m., and they were all booked by 9 a.m. If one wasnt waiting for them [vaccine appointments] at that time, they would be difficult to get.

Howles-Banerji said though he feels safer due to his vaccinations, he remains concerned about his personal safety in a classroom setting with students and staff who have not received the vaccine.

I will not be fully vaccinated until the end of March, and even then I will still be in a classroom with a number of unvaccinated individuals from different households, he said. This is still considered a risk, even if its substantially reduced. It is also still a risk for students who are not vaccinated to be in that setting, as well as for their families who may not be vaccinated yet.

Other educators, including math teacher Steve Marsheck, have expressed concern that the vaccine should be prioritized to other groups.

I think it is good teachers are getting vaccinated, Marsheck said. But to be honest, we are not more important than lots of essential workers who have had no choice but to go to work for months without a vaccine.

According to California All, the California state government website dedicated to COVID-19 pandemic updates, agriculture and food, education and childcare, and emergency services workers are deemed to have a high chance of exposure, and are currently receiving vaccinations under Phase 1B. Individuals 50 and older will be eligible for vaccinations beginning April 1, with the process for all Californians over age 16 starting on April 15.

Paly librarian Sima Thomas echoed the sentiments of Marsheck, saying she is unsure whether the vaccination timeline and stratification system has been the most effective, efficient, and equitable for all local residents.

I guess they feel really conflicted, Thomas said. I know it was a hard decision to make. I felt really good about the food industry and the agricultural industry getting vaccinated because [these] people have much more high risk situations than Im in.

Despite these concerns, Thomas said she is ultimately satisfied with the countys decision to vaccinate teachers before opening the process up to all individuals over 16.

Selfishly, Im glad I got to go when I got to go, [and] it does kind of make sense that we want to get schools back open, she said. If we have the vaccine then it feels respectful to say alright teachers, were going to vaccinate you and were going to open schools because we want to get students back to campus and get students back into the classroom.

Thomas said she hopes that the vaccination process will continue to expand in order to return to some sense of normalcy.

The faster we can get vaccination done and get towards herd immunity, [the better], Thomas said. Im not in the lets just all return to normal and go out and not wear masks [group] but it is nice to know that at least for the last month of school my son, whos in second grade, will get to go to school every day. Its nice to feel like some parts of life that feel very essential can return.

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Faculty relieved at vaccination progress - palyvoice.com

While the administration at Penn State embraces the spirit of a new report detailing the challenges the authors say are faced by Black professors, the university argues that progress is being made.

Part Two of the More Rivers to Cross report was released Thursday with the authors finding that Black professors are underrepresented in the university system as hiring and retention remain flat over 15 years, and eight out of 10 Black faculty members reported experiencing racism from students, administrators or colleagues.

Obviously, it is with considerable distress and disappointment that we read about the racist experiences described by faculty who completed the More Rivers to Cross survey, university officials said in the statement released Sunday evening. No one in our community should have to endure such treatment.

While university officials say such discrimination and biases have no place at Penn State, they do take issue with some facets of the More Rivers to Cross report.

We embrace the spirit, but not the pessimism, of this report produced by an independent group of faculty members and we share the commitment of its authors that more must be accomplished., officials said.

However, the authors took issue with their report being seemingly dismissed as pessimistic and released a statement Monday saying, One cannot be optimistic about racism, especially when it is ones lived experience.

But university officials say that while more must be accomplished it is important to recognize the tangible progress being made.

The university points to significant increases in the diversity of the student body and the leadership of the university. Students from underrepresented groups represent 13.6% of the student population, an increase of 2.2% between 2019 and 2020, the university states.

Penn State officials also said since the formation of the Presidential Commission on Racism, Bias, and Community Safety last year, university-wide initiatives are underway to combat racism and hate and to increase diversity, equity and inclusion. Key recommendations include:

The university also points to several new programs that include:

One of the More Rivers to Cross reports main findings was the lack of recruitment and retention of Black faculty members. The university noted in its response that Penn State President Eric Barron addressed this to the University Faculty Senate, saying every faculty member plays a vital part of the universitys efforts to increase the hiring of Black faculty, as hiring decisions are largely in the hands of the faculty itself.

University officials do admit progress must be improved and sustained, and the university acknowledged it is troubling that the number of Black faculty members has remained stagnant for the last 15 years.

We will not rest until every student, staff and faculty member feels represented, welcomed and supported. The president, provost, deans, chancellors and administrators across the institution are fully committed to this goal, university officials pledged in their statement.

The university also said efforts are underway that address some of the specific concerns in the report, from a comprehensive study on salary equity to modifying the use of student evaluations, which the report noted are unfair to faculty members of color.

But the authors of More Rivers to Cross said in their statement Monday that the university response seemingly dismisses the perspectives and experiences of Black faculty members. They wrote that our report presents a truth that the administration would do well to consider with serious reflection rather than a perfunctory response and a laundry list of actions that echo the universitys historical and perpetual responses to institutionalized racism.

The authors say the universitys response seems to be more aimed at maintaining the credibility of a process and of a commission that has not yet produced results and does not address the authors recommendations for changes. Those recommendations included:

See more here:

Penn State says its making progress on diversity and inclusion despite critical report from Black faculty - PennLive

Actualizado 31/03/2021- 12:10

Top seed Daniil Medvedev powered his way into the Miami Open quarter-finals, along with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev on Tuesday.

Medvedev won in straight sets against unseeded American Frances Tiafoe, hitting 24 winners.

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas won in straight sets against 24th seed Lorenzo Sonego, although the second went to a tie-break which the Greek dominated.

Medvedev beats Tiafoe to make first Miami quarter-finalPerform

World number eight Andrey Rublev got past Marin Cilic in straight sets to book his last-eight spot.

Fifth seed Diego Schwartzman was the major casualty on Tuesday, losing to unseeded American Sebastian Korda in three sets. Seeds Josh Isner, Milos Raonic and Taylor Fritz also exited.

World number nine Schwartzman was knocked out in three sets by Korda 6-3 4-6 7-5 as he continues his super run.

Florida resident Korda, 20, reached his maiden ATP 1000 quarter-final, showing fight after the Argentinian raised his game in the second set, winning after an early break in the last.

Rublev made light work of former US Open champion Marin Cilic, triumphing 6-4 6-4.

Bautista Agut got past 18th seed Isner 6-3 4-6 7-6 (9-7), while Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev's conqueror Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3 6-2.

Alexander Bublik, seeded 32nd, sent down 23 aces as he beat Taylor Fritz 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4.

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Medvedev leads the way as Tsitsipas and Rublev progress at Miami Open - MARCA.com

Airlines bosses across the United States are starting to smile again as domestic travel begins to rebound strongly. The big carriers like United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines are all enjoying strong bookings and forward demand. But underscoring the sunny forecast is an ongoing warning against traveling and the possibility of further waves of COVID-19.

Yesterday, Simple Flyings Jay Singh reported domestic travel bookings at American Airlines earlier this week were running at 90% of 2019 levels. Seat utilization across Americans domestic flights last week was also good, averaging 80%.

Airline database RadarBox.com paints an even more positive picture. In the week between March 26 and April 1, American Airlines is scheduling an average of 4,034 domestic flights a day. In the same week in 2019, the airline scheduled an average of 3.039 domestic flights a day.

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Over at Delta Air Lines, the outlook is equally good. Between March 26 and April 1, Delta is running an average of 3,694 domestic flights a day. In the same week last year, the airline operated just an average of 1,345 flights a day. In the same week in 2019, well before COVID-19 struck, Delta ran an average of 3,267 domestic flights a day.

United Airlines is also running above its 2019 domestic flight levels this week, if by a smaller margin. Between March 26 and April 1, United is operating an average of 2,438 domestic flights a day. Across the same week in 2019, the airline flew an average of 2,341 domestic flights a day. Just one year ago, United was running an average of 843 domestic flights a day.

Similarly, Alaska Airlines is also storming back, operating an average of 975 domestic flights a day this week. Over the same week in 2019, the Seattle-based airline flew an average of 736 domestic flights a day. This time last year, Alaska was flying just 551 domestic flights a day.

Interestingly, neither Southwest Airlines nor Hawaiian Airlines is performing so well. Hawaiian Airlines is running 32.34% fewer domestic flights this week than in the same week in 2019. Likewise, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is also operating substantially fewer domestic flights this week than it did in the comparable 2019 week. However, Southwest Airlines is now running more domestic flights than it did this time last year.

What to make of this? On the surface, its great news. Its not just last-minute bookings either. United States-based airlines are reporting booking periods are starting to widen again, and they are even contemplating a return to yield management. From these perspectives, its a reassuring sign some normality is returning.

In the past six weeks, weve seen that move-out, so that bookings that are beyond 60 days are almost flat to 2019 levels, just down a few points, CAPA quotes Deltas Glen Hauenstein saying recently.

But the threat of COVID-19 continues to lurk in the background. According to the CDC, over 95 million or nearly 29% of the United States population have had their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. 52.6 million people, or nearly 16% of the population, have had both doses. The rollout of the vaccination program in the United States and its takeup have been good. Thats driving confidence, and thats getting people back into the air.

But theres no guarantee the vaccination will work against any new COVID variants. That is a key threat that may yet derail aviations rebound. And while the vaccination rate is good, its still a long way shy of total vaccination, and the CDC continues to warn against travel. That warning will deter some travelers and may have insurance implications.

But overall, its good news for Americas airlines. The airlines CEOs will be crossing their fingers and hoping the rebound continues beyond the short term.

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United States Airlines Making Good Progress In COVID Recovery - Simple Flying

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Axel Kicillof relished the role he played in the Argentine government years ago: the brash left-wing economy minister who clashed at every opportunity with foreign investors. They hated him and he loved it.Today, Kicillof is once again locked in a bruising battle with financiers in New York and London. This time its as governor of Buenos Aires, which, along with nearly a dozen other provinces, called for debt restructuring talks last year as the federal government began negotiations of its own with creditors. But unlike the others, Buenos Aires has yet to emerge from default. In fact, 10 months after Kicillof halted payments on $7.1 billion worth of bonds, barely any progress has been made in talks.With the bonds now languishing at just 35 cents on the dollar in secondary markets and not a penny of interest income flowing their way, creditors are growing tired of the stalling and the disinterest displayed by Kicillofs aides. Last week, funds from the Buenos Aires Ad Hoc Bondholder Group sued the province in U.S. court for unpaid principal and interest.This gambit, analysts say, may help jump-start the process by forcing the province to take a more active role in negotiations. But, they warn, theres another dynamic at play that threatens to only embolden Kicillof to further radicalize his hard-line approach. The federal government -- under the growing influence of Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a mentor to Kicillof -- is aggressively pushing for concessions to refinance a $45 billion failed program with the International Monetary Fund.The governments newly restructured sovereign bonds, like the defaulted Buenos Aires bonds, now trade below 40 cents on the dollar, a reflection of how badly the countrys economy and finances have been battered by the pandemic and lack of credibility.For Kicillof, this is political, said Diego Ferro, founder of M2M Capital in New York, a veteran debt investor who doesnt hold bonds of the province. Which means that unless he gets a deal consistent with what Argentina got, it will reflect poorly on him.And as August primaries and October mid-term elections get closer, politics will play an ever larger role in shaping all aspects of policy. Cutting a deal with the IMF or provincial bondholders isnt a priority, especially during a pandemic.Buenos Aires has extended the deadline on its debt proposal no fewer than 13 times. But last week, the province published details of a new one shown to New York-based hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management, one of its largest creditors. It was swiftly rejected -- as was the counteroffer.The next day, the creditor group, including GoldenTree, submitted two legal claims against the province in the U.S District Court of New York seeking $366 million in unpaid interest and principal.Theres definitely more pressure with the litigation now ongoing, said Carlos de Sousa, an emerging market portfolio manager at Vontobel Asset Management in Zurich. Kicillof is quite ideologically driven and close to Cristina. And thus his lack of cooperation with creditors until recently.The provinces bonds due 2027 fell 0.3 cent to 37.7 cents on the dollar at 4:50 p.m. in Buenos Aires.Those who observed Kicillof as Economy Minister between 2013-2015 under then president Fernandez de Kirchner know that he doesnt quickly surrender in high profile conflicts with creditors. Back then he battled Paul Singers Elliott Management and other holdouts, insisting that Argentina couldnt comply with a ruling in their favor and eventually opted to default again with the presidents blessing.And while hes delegated negotiations this time around as governor to his provincial Economy Minister Pablo Lopez, hes very much involved.Read More: Buenos Aires Province Weighs Next Steps After Creditor LawsuitThe legal claims are only a strategy to pressure the government and the province will still have 60 days to respond, Lopez said in an interview last week. While Kicillof, 49, doesnt directly participate in conversations with bondholders, Lopez frequently discusses the debt restructuring process with him, he said.He is focused and interested, Lopez said. The debt negotiation is determined by the provincial government.The province is bigger than many countries and represents half of the debt from regional governments. Home to almost 18 million people and accounting for two-fifths of Argentinas GDP, its a critical political battleground in any election.Last week at an event, Fernandez de Kirchner, who hand-picked Alberto Fernandez as the presidential candidate in 2019, railed against the IMF and the terms being sought to renegotiate the largest credit agreement ever struck with the Washington-based lender. Bond prices fell.We cant pay because we dont have the money, she said, with Kicillof nodding in the background. While they spoke, Economy Minister Martin Guzman was wrapping up a trip to Washington after meeting IMF officials.After Fernandez took power in December 2019, Buenos Aires Province was the first to default on its debt payments in May. Days later, the federal government followed suit, along with several other provinces over the course of the next months.Since then, the government and eight provinces have settled with creditors. Deals ranged from about 55 cents on the dollar for the government while many regional authorities agreed to much smaller discounts, between 83.4 and 96.3 cents considering a 10% exit yield. While a few small provinces also remain in talks, Buenos Aires, which offered to pay about 65 cents, is the last major holdout.As economy minister, Kicillof negotiated a settlement with Spains Repsol SA after the government seized its stake in oil producer YPF SA in 2012, agreeing to compensate the company with bonds. He also struck a deal with the Paris Club of creditors.Those events give some investors hope that hell eventually come around to an agreement. Still, his rhetoric remains combative. Speaking at an event on Friday, Kicillof called investors unsupportive and intransigent.Court claims arent going to lead to solutions to the root problems, he said. We remain open to dialogue to reach an agreement thats convenient to creditors and that the province can pay.Even after the lawsuit was filed, Kicillof has little financial incentive to reach a settlement soon or offer concessions to creditors. The province realistically has no chance of tapping international markets for fresh funding, so it has little to lose in dragging out talks. And if a court ruling were to go against it, the provinces lawyers could appeal the case several times, and that could stretch the saga into the next gubernatorial elections in 2023.I dont see a situation where Kicillof agrees to a deal thats better than what the sovereign agreed to, Ferro said.(Updates with bond move in 11th paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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Africa has suffered about three million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemicat least officially. The continents comparatively low number of reported cases has puzzled scientists and prompted many theories about its exceptionalism, from its young population to its countries rapid and aggressive lockdowns.

But numerous seroprevalence surveys, which use blood tests to identify whether people have antibodies from prior infection with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), point to a significant underestimation of African countries COVID burden. Undercounting could increase the risk of the disease spreading widely, hinder vaccine rollout and uptake, and ultimately threaten global efforts to control the pandemic, experts warn. Wherever the virus is circulatingespecially in regions with little access to vaccinesnew mutations are likely to arise, and it is crucial to identify them quickly.

Viral variants are already complicating vaccination drives around the world. New SARS-CoV-2 variants first detected in South Africa, Brazil and the U.K. have raised concerns that they could be more transmissible or make available vaccines less effective. And drugmakers are scrambling to develop vaccine boosters to protect against them. (The currently authorized vaccines still provide strong protection against severe disease and death.)

Undiagnosed transmission of COVID in African countries increases the risk of new variants taking hold in the population before authorities have a chance to detect them and prevent their spread, says Richard Lessells, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform in South Africa. That nation has the highest number of recorded cases on the continent (many of them caused by a new variant). And officials suspect that its surveillance network is only catching one in every 10 infections.

Mutations develop spontaneously as a virus replicates and spreads. While many of them are innocuous, they can sometimes make the pathogen more transmissible or deadly, as seen in the SARS-CoV-2 variant first detected in the U.K.

If you allow it to continue to spread, it will continue to evolve, warns Lessells, who was part of the team that first identified the new variant in South Africa. The threat of mutation is greater if the virus is moving unhindered through large swaths of a countrys or regions population. Lessells emphasizes that Africa is not the problem and that new variants could just as easily emerge elsewhere. Rather the issue is vaccine equity. It is clear that if we leave Africa behind on the vaccine front, then theres clearly a risk that it gets more challenging to control transmission, he says.

The underestimation of COVID cases feeds into a narrative that African countries do not need vaccines as urgently as other nations. After all, if there are relatively few cases and deaths, then some people may say, Good, no problemthey dont need vaccines, says Maysoon Dahab, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research estimated that only about 2 percent of COVID deaths in Khartoum, Sudan, were correctly attributed to the illness between last April and September.

Many African countries have initiated limited vaccination programs, mainly procured through the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility. Vaccines are earmarked for health care workers and extremely vulnerable groups. They are simply not available to inoculate entire African nations in the short to medium termboth as a result of global demand and because of rich countries hoarding doses.

Currently, rich nations accounting for 16 percent of the worlds population have bought 60 percent of the global vaccine supply, wrote World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Foreign Policy last month. Many of these countries aim to vaccinate 70 percent of their adult population by midyear in pursuit of herd immunity, he wrote.

Vaccine-induced herd immunity is not likely for African countries in the near future. A spokesperson for COVAX co-leader GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, told Scientific American that the initiative aims to vaccinate 20 percent of people in its member countries by the end of the year. COVAXs work has only just begun: it is vitally important that manufacturers continue to support COVAX and governments refrain from more bilateral deals that take further supply out of the market, the spokesperson said.

But if reported COVID cases are low, officials may struggle to persuade people to get a shot even if they are in a position to do so. The low reported disease numbers are bolstering vaccine hesitancy, warns Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya. People are asking why they need to be vaccinated when theyve already gotten rid of the virus without vaccines, she says.

Kenya has officially had 122,000 cases, but a nationwide blood-bank survey found that about 5 percent of more than 3,000 samples taken between last April and June contained SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. If extrapolated, this finding points to the possibility of millions of undiagnosed cases in Kenya, although some scientists say that the survey was not representative of the general population and could have had skewed results. Nevertheless, the country aims to vaccinate 30 percent of its populationa figure Kyobutungi describes as a drop in the oceanby 2023.

Without widespread access to vaccines, African countries are relying on basic public health measures such as mask wearing and handwashing alone to control the diseases spread. And, as with vaccination, people could dismiss these measures as unnecessary if the numbers misrepresent the risk of infection.

Governments may also take the statistics at face value and downscale their COVID surveillance efforts, Kyobutungi warns. That is, they may do so until something terrible happens or, a year down the line, theres a Malawian variant, a Ugandan variant or Sudanese variant, she says. If new lethal variants emerge in Africa, Africa gets cut off from the rest of the world, or the variants spread like the first cases in China. Then you have cases everywhere, and we need to vaccinate the whole world all over again.

Others, however, are less concerned about undercounting and its potential consequences. Epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim, co-leader of South Africas ministerial advisory committee, says that the only way to completely protect the public is to presume everybody is potentially infected and institute universal health measures such as mask wearing. Vaccines are an important part of our prevention tool boxprobably the most important part, Abdool Karim says. But they arent enough on their own.

Ngoy Nsenga, WHO Africas program manager for emergency response, agrees that variants are a concern and that the best response is implementing public health interventions. Of course, we wish we could have vaccines to vaccinate everyone and stop the chain of transmission, but because of availability, that is not possible, he says.

Without worldwide concurrent vaccination, COVID will continue to spread. With the disease, African countries are here for the long haul, Nsenga says. And if that is true for the continent, it could well be true for the rest of the world. If any place, any country, is not safe in this world, no country will be safe, he says.

Read more about the coronavirus outbreak from Scientific American here. And read coverage from our international network of magazines here.

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Hidden Toll of COVID in Africa Threatens Global Pandemic Progress - Scientific American