Tracing COVID-19's early spread

Global travel propelled the novel coronavirus from China to Europe and beyond during the first three months of 2020. Now, we know even more.

• We’ve known since Spring that much of COVID-19’s spread was linked to skiers who visited Europe (some of whom traveled on to more skiing in Colorado, where COVID-19 took hold early in the pandemic.) Now, the New York Times traces thousands of cases specifically to one resort in the Austrian Alps.

• Nursing home testing requirements now will be based on the rate of new cases in the surrounding community.

• The Atlantic continues its excellent coverage of COVID-19 with this detailed science-based report on the many variables that impact whether the novel coronavirus infects many people at one time. Zeynep Tufekci writes that there’s more to super-spreader events than the R0 number that has been used to measure whether an outbreak is increasing.

• The White House overruled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to extend the existing ban on cruise ships beyond October 31, which is the date previously announced voluntarily by the cruise lines. President Trump is expected to welcome cruise line executives at the White House on Friday, according to Axios. (The cruise industry is a major employer and economic driver in Florida, where the president has focused much of his re-election campaign.)

• A country club in a Las Vegas suburb was fined $2,000 for hosting a gala Monday night in violation of limits on gatherings. The event was attended by several Las Vegas Raiders football players, some of whom were seen in the crowd without masks.