Some stuff about the coronavirus thing.

Important developments in the pandemic.

By Ben Guarino with Lindsey Bever  Email The Post's coronavirus coverage linked in this newsletter is free to access from this email.   The latest Former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb has a message for Americans: Don't get complacent. A fall surge is possible if vaccination rates drop off, Gottlieb told CBS on Sunday. The relatively high case counts in states such as Arkansas and Missouri are related to the lower population-wide immunities there, he said, agreeing with an analysis The Post published earlier this month. Gottlieb also warned the more contagious delta variant could fuel increased spread among the vulnerable later this year. Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta are publishing a book, “Nightmare Scenario,” that examines Donald Trump's response to the pandemic as president. An excerpt published today shows the dysfunction in Trump's White House – in February 2020, for instance, Trump repeatedly suggested American tourists infected with the coronavirus abroad should be sent to a military facility in Guantánamo because he desired to keep case numbers within U.S. borders low. Americans are quitting jobs in record numbers, and several retail workers among them recently spoke with The Post, describing how the pandemic led to increased hours, pay cuts and understaffed stores frequented by more disruptive customers. “We’re seeing a wider understanding that these were never good jobs and they were never livable jobs,” said Rutgers University professor Rebecca Givan.  There's another professional exodus underway, too: As the school year ends, far more school superintendents are quitting than is typical. Exits of superintendents are up in the three largest U.S. cities as well as many smaller school districts. The pandemic contributed to overwork and exacerbated tensions with parents and teachers, said a few of those who explained why they left. This summer's Olympic Games are on track to begin next month, despite opposition from critics who fear the event could spark coronavirus transmission. For now, organizers say they will permit up to 10,000 spectators, who must be residents of Japan, to watch the games. But Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizing committee, said the attendance cap could change with any “abrupt change in the situation" such as a new spike in cases. The first detection of coronavirus among international athletes traveling to Tokyo for the Olympic Games happened Saturday, when a member of Uganda's Olympic team had a positive test result on arrival at the Narita International Airport. That team had been vaccinated with AstraZeneca and tested negative before flying to Japan; the other athletes continued to Osaka but the person who tested positive was sent to a facility run by the Japanese government.  Other important news Federal and D.C. officials knocked on doors in Ward 8 this weekend to encourage vaccination among residents  – and one of the knockers was Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In the Washington area, newly eligible teenagers 12 to 15 are getting their first doses at rates faster than the opening pace set by any other age group. It's a fraught time for scientists who study animal-borne diseases. Many favor the hypothesis the coronavirus jumped from animals to humans, while acknowledging the lab-leak scenario cannot be dismissed outright. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cannot mandate 95 percent vaccination rates for passengers and crew on cruise ships, according to a federal judge's ruling celebrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).   Guide to the pandemic Track confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. and the spread around the world. U.S. vaccine distribution and delivery, tracked by state. Guides: Finding vaccine appointments | Vaccines | Variants | Masks Follow updates about the pandemic from Post reporters across the globe. Submit a question and we may answer it in a future story or newsletter.    Your questions, answered “Is covid-19 like smallpox in that it can lay dormant forever protecting you or reemerge like shingles?” — Barbara in Tennessee There are viruses that can essentially hibernate in the body long after a person recovers and then reemerge, triggering the same condition or an entirely new one. A prime example is chickenpox. The virus that causes it, the varicella zoster virus, stays dormant — sometimes for years — and can reactivate later, causing a different disease called shingles. Could something like this occur with the coronavirus? It’s an interesting question. There is currently no evidence to suggest the virus could resurface and make a person sick again or lead to other conditions in the future, but it is an active area of research. Gastroenterologist Saurabh Mehandru led a team of researchers that found that the virus could be detected in the lining of the intestines up to several months after patients had recovered from covid-19. The researchers published their findings earlier this year in the journals Nature and Gastroenterology. “There have been instances where people have initially been infected and then had an infection again. But unless we can show — based on science — that it was the same virus, we don’t know if the virus got reactivated or if the person acquired a new infection,” said Mehandru, an associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. And it is also not known whether the coronavirus could pop up again and lead to an illness other than covid-19. So Mehandru said “it would be premature to say, without any scientific data, whether there is reemergence of the virus from the body” or what such a reemergence would mean. In addition to your question, scientists are studying other hypotheses, such as the idea that viral remnants in certain parts of the body, such as the gut, may be associated with symptoms of long covid, which can include fatigue, headache and “brain fog,” among other things. “The thrust of the research right now is to see if there is any relationship between patients’ symptoms post-covid and if that can be related to any measurable persistence of the virus within the body,” Mehandru explained. Ultimately, time and continued research will tell us more.