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BEIJING — China signaled onThursday that it would move for-ward with laws that would takeaim at antigovernment protestsand other dissent in Hong Kong. Itis the clearest message yet thatthe Communist Party is moving toundermine the civil liberties thesemiautonomous territory hasknown since the 1997 Britishhandoff.
The proposal to enact new secu-rity laws affecting Hong Kong wasannounced ahead of the annualmeeting of China’s legislature,which is expected to approve abroad outline of the plan. Whilespecifics of the proposal were notimmediately disclosed, the rulescould be harsher than anythingHong Kong’s pro-Beijing govern-ment has done to curb oppositionto the mainland.
The freedoms that have distin-guished Hong Kong from themainland, like an unfettered judi-ciary and freedom of assembly,have helped the former Britishcolony prosper as a global city ofcommerce and capital. But theproposal raised the possibilitythat the Beijing governmentwould damage the “one country,two systems” policy that has en-sured such liberties since the ter-ritory was reclaimed by China.
The plan also revives the threatof violent demonstrations thatconvulsed the city for months andrisks worsening China’s deterio-
rating relationship with theTrump administration, which saidthe United States would respondstrongly to any crackdown inHong Kong.
In the Communist Party’s view,tightened security laws in HongKong are necessary to protectChina from external forces deter-mined to impinge on itssovereignty. The legislation wouldgive Beijing the power to counterthe Hong Kong protests, whichare seen as a blatant challenge tothe party and to China’s leader, XiJinping.
Security rules proposed by theHong Kong government in 2003would have empowered the au-thorities to close seditious news-papers and conduct searcheswithout warrants. That proposalwas abandoned after it set offlarge protests.
This time, China is effectivelycircumventing the Hong Konggovernment, undercutting the rel-ative autonomy granted to the ter-ritory. Instead, it is going throughChina’s rubber stamp legislature,the National People’s Congress,which holds its annual sessionstarting Friday.
Zhang Yesui, spokesman for theNational People’s Congress, saidat a news briefing on Thursdaythat delegates would review aplan to create a legal frameworkand enforcement mechanism forsafeguarding national security inHong Kong. He did not elaborate
CHINA MAKES MOVETO QUASH DISSENT INSIDE HONG KONG
Plan to Undercut Region’s Civil Liberties Risks a Revival of Violent Protests
This article is by Keith Bradsher,Austin Ramzy and Tiffany May.
President Xi Jinping of China, maskless at left, in Beijing on Thursday. Protests in Hong Kong are seen as a direct challenge to Mr. Xi.POOL PHOTO BY ANDY WONG
Continued on Page A16
KM ASAD/REUTERS
Satkhira, Bangladesh, on Thursday. The worst damage from thestorm was reported in the Indian state of West Bengal. Page A15.
Cyclone Kills 80
WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump has blamed many othersfor his administration’s flawed re-sponse to the coronavirus: China,governors, the Obama adminis-tration, the World Health Organi-zation. In recent weeks, he hasalso faulted the information he re-ceived from an obscure analystwho delivers his intelligencebriefings.
Mr. Trump has insisted that theintelligence agencies gave him in-adequate warnings about thethreat of the virus, describing it as“not a big deal.” Intelligence offi-cials have publicly backed him, ac-knowledging that Beth Sanner,the analyst who regularly briefsthe president, underplayed thedangers when she first mentioned
the virus to him on Jan. 23.But in blaming Ms. Sanner, a
C.I.A. analyst with three decadesof experience, Mr. Trump ignoreda host of warnings he receivedaround that time from higher-ranking officials, epidemiologists,scientists, biodefense officials,other national security aides andthe news media about the virus’sgrowing threat. Mr. Trump’s ownhealth secretary had alerted himfive days earlier to the potentialseriousness of the virus.
By the time of the Jan. 23 intelli-gence briefing, many governmentofficials were already alarmed by
Trump, Diverting Virus Blame,Points Finger at a Messenger
By JULIAN E. BARNESand ADAM GOLDMAN
Continued on Page A19
Intelligence Reports for a Restless Recipient
SACRAMENTO — The Univer-sity of California on Thursdayvoted to phase out the SAT andACT as requirements to apply toits system of 10 schools, which in-clude some of the nation’s mostpopular campuses, in a decisionwith major implications for theuse of standardized tests in col-lege admissions.
Given the size and influence ofthe California system, whosemarquee schools include the Uni-versity of California, Los Angeles,and the University of California,Berkeley, the move is expected toaccelerate the momentum ofAmerican colleges away from thetests, amid charges that they areunfair to poor, black and Hispanicstudents.
The school system’s action,which follows many small liberalarts colleges, comes as the ACTand the College Board, a nonprofitorganization that administers theSAT, are suffering financially fromthe cancellation of test dates dur-ing the coronavirus pandemic.
No SAT or ACTFor University
Of CaliforniaBy SHAWN HUBLER
Continued on Page A24
This article is a collaborationamong The New York Times, TheBaltimore Sun, KPPC/LAist and TheSouthern Illinoisan.
In the suburbs of Baltimore,workers at one nursing home saidthey were given rain ponchos toprotect from infection. Twenty-seven employees at the facility,where most residents are African-American, tested positive for thecoronavirus.
One of the many black residentsof a nursing home in Belleville, Ill.,died in April amid a coronavirusoutbreak. But his niece com-plained that he was never testedfor the virus.
In East Los Angeles, a staffmember at a predominantly Lati-no nursing home where an out-break emerged said she was givenswimming goggles before profes-sional gear could be obtained. Shesaid she later tested positive forthe virus.
The coronavirus pandemic hasdevastated the nation’s nursinghomes, sickening staff members,ravaging residents and contribut-ing to at least 20 percent of the na-tion’s Covid-19 death toll. The im-pact has been felt in cities and sub-urbs, in large facilities and small,in poorly rated homes and in thosewith stellar marks.
But Covid-19 has been particu-larly virulent toward African-Americans and Latinos: Nursinghomes where those groups makeup a significant portion of the resi-dents — no matter their location,no matter their size, no mattertheir government rating — havebeen twice as likely to get hit bythe coronavirus as those wherethe population is overwhelmingly
white.More than 60 percent of nursing
homes where at least a quarter ofthe residents are black or Latinohave reported at least one coro-navirus case, a New York Timesanalysis shows. That is double therate of homes where black and La-tino people make up less than 5percent of the population. And in
The Racial Divide of Nursing Home Outbreaks
Bria of Belleville, a rehabilitation and nursing facility in Illinois.WHITNEY CURTIS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page A8
Even as states begin to reopenfor business, a further 2.4 millionworkers joined the nation’s unem-ployment rolls last week, andthere is growing concern amongeconomists that many of the lostjobs are gone for good.
The Labor Department’s reportof new jobless claims, releasedThursday, brought the total to 38.6million since mid-March, whenthe coronavirus outbreak forcedwidespread shutdowns.
While workers and their em-ployers have expressed optimismthat most of the joblessness will betemporary, many who are study-ing the pandemic’s impact are in-creasingly worried about the em-ployment situation.
“I hate to say it, but this is goingto take longer and look grimmerthan we thought,” NicholasBloom, an economist at StanfordUniversity, said of the path to re-covery.
Mr. Bloom is a co-author of an
analysis that estimates 42 percentof recent layoffs will result in per-manent job loss.
“Firms intend to hire these peo-ple back,” he said, referring to a re-cent survey of businesses by theFederal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.“But we know from the past thatthese aspirations often don’t turnout to be true.”
The precariousness of the pathahead was underscored Thursdayby the Federal Reserve chair, Je-rome H. Powell. “We are now ex-periencing a whole new level ofuncertainty, as questions only thevirus can answer complicate theoutlook,” he said in remarks fordelivery at an online forum.
The economy that does comeback is likely to look quite differ-ent from the one that closed. If so-
Another 2.4 Million Jobs Vanish,And Many May Be Gone Forever
By PATRICIA COHEN Some Analysts Forecasta Fundamental Shift
Continued on Page A11
When a stay-at-home order inMarch all but closed the reveredlabs of the gene-editing pioneerJennifer Doudna, her team at theUniversity of California, Berkeley,dropped everything and startedtesting for the coronavirus.
They expected their institute tobe inundated with samples since itwas offering the service at nocharge, with support from philan-thropies. But there were few tak-ers.
Instead, the scientists learned,many local hospitals and doctors’offices continued sending sam-ples to national laboratory compa-nies — like LabCorp and Quest Di-agnostics — even though, earlyon, patients had to wait a week ormore for results. The bureaucratichurdles of quickly switching to anew lab were just too high.
“It’s still amazing to me, like,how can that be the case, thatthere is not a more systematicway to address a central need?”
said Fyodor Urnov, the scientistwho oversaw the transformationof the Innovative Genomics Insti-tute into a clinical laboratory.
The inability of the UnitedStates to provide broad diagnostictesting, widely seen as a pivotalfailing in the nation’s effort to con-tain the virus, has been traced tothe botched rollout by the Centersfor Disease Control and Preven-tion, the tardy response by theFood and Drug Administration,and supply shortages of swabsand masks.
Yet one major impediment totesting has been largely over-looked: the fragmented, poorly or-ganized American health caresystem, which made it difficult forhospitals and other medicalproviders to quickly overcome ob-
In Testing Chaos, Some LabsDrowned While Others Sat Idle
By KATIE THOMAS Bureaucratic ObstaclesFavor a Few Giants
Continued on Page A5
Engineers fear there may be morefailures like the one this week in Michi-gan as the world gets warmer. PAGE A20
NATIONAL A17-25
Dams vs. Climate Change
A strict weekend curfew leaves theTurkish city’s streets mostly empty, butthe ovens of the baklava makers are fullof life. Istanbul Dispatch. PAGE A10
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-13
Quiet Istanbul, but Busy BakersA scientist argues that the quest for fullyautomated robots is misguided, perhapseven dangerous. His decades of warn-ings are gaining attention. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-7
Robots That Lean on Humans
This summer’s reading list will have todo a little more than usual to help usescape our surroundings. PAGE C1
WEEKEND ARTS C1-16
Pages That’ll Take You Away
Facing health questions and a shrinkingwindow of opportunity, Tiger Woods isset to return to competition. PAGE B8
SPORTSFRIDAY B8-9
All Eyes Are on Woods’s Back
With 14 months to go before the re-scheduled Tokyo Olympics, everythingabout them is uncertain. PAGE B9
The Doubtful Games
Tim Morrison PAGE A27
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
The move is a dramatic change from anoffice-centric culture. But there’s acatch: Salaries are likely to change tomatch local costs of living. PAGE B1
Facebook to Keep Remote Work
Despite the addition of 90,000 sub-scribers since March, the venerablepublication said it would eliminate 68jobs, or 17 percent of its staff. PAGE B1
Layoffs at The Atlantic
Watching theater online can feel like apale imitation of being there, but sometechnologies are changing that. PAGE C4
Bringing Digital Plays to Life
A 130-mile coastline that is an economicengine and a cultural touchstone has hadits usual rhythms upended. PAGE A13
Distancing at the Jersey Shore
Relatives of an ex-intelligence officialwho has hidden in Canada since 2017were arrested in Riyadh. PAGE A14
INTERNATIONAL A14-16
Saudi Intimidation AllegedThe president has decided to tell Russiathat the United States will withdrawfrom the Open Skies Treaty. PAGE A20
Trump to Leave Arms Pact
Late Edition
VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,701 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2020
Today, sunshine, increasing clouds,afternoon showers, not as cool, high70. Tonight, cloudy, showers, low 59.Tomorrow, rather cloudy, showers,high 69. Weather map, Page A22.
$3.00
