September 6, 2020

NYU suspends more than 20 students for breaking coronavirus rules less than a week into in-person instruction, joining a growing list of universities using mass discipline to signal seriousness about compliance. Scientists warn in the Telegraph that the speed of the vaccine race has become “crazy” and unsafe, with one expert saying the more the process moves into politics, “the more it becomes a little crazy.” Mexico announces it will pursue its own vaccine, unwilling to depend entirely on American and European candidates.

Anti-mask rallies take place in cities across the U.S., UK, Australia, Italy, and Canada, while bodega workers in New York say the mask law puts their safety at risk, caught between a mandate they are expected to enforce and customers who react with violence. In Alabama, thousands attend the Chilton County Fair with sanitizer and social distancing measures in place, an example of the uneven, localized approach to risk that will define the pandemic’s next phase as blanket restrictions give way to ad hoc judgment calls.