"The Midwest is taking off"

Sen. Joni Ernst is "really curious" about a debunked conspiracy theory; the US is sitting out a global vaccine effort. Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters. TOP NEWS Ernst floats a Covid-19 myth as cases surge in Iowa Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images - At a campaign stop this week, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst seized on a thoroughly discredited conspiracy theory to suggest that the Covid-19 death toll in the US is far lower than it actually is. In reality, more than 184,500 people have died. [[Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier / Amie Rivers](] - Ernst isn’t the only member of her party to trade in that kind of rhetoric: President Donald Trump has amplified QAnon supporters making similar — and equally false — arguments about the US death toll. [[Iowa Starting Line / Pat Rynard](] - “Death skepticism” has cropped up repeatedly since the pandemic began earlier this year, and there might be a reason for that, according to cognitive scientists Alan Jern. Humans, simply put, aren’t quite as good at causal reasoning as we’d like to think. [[Vox / Alan Jern](] - Nonetheless, it’s been well documented that the opposite is true: Using a metric known as “excess deaths,” a New York Times analysis last month determined that the US death toll is likely a substantial undercount. [[NYT / Denise Lu](] - Ernst’s comments come as Iowa is grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases; over the past two weeks, the number of new daily cases has increased by about 90 percent, good for the fourth-highest rate of new infections in the US. [[Vox / Dylan Scott](] - Iowa isn’t alone in that: Kansas, Minnesota, and the Dakotas have also seen rising case counts recently as schools and businesses begin to reopen. [[TIME / Jamie Ducharme](] - In August, Sturgis, South Dakota hosted a motorcycle rally attended by several hundred thousand people. According to a tracking project by the Rapid City Journal, the rally has since seeded Covid-19 cases across at least nine other states. [[Rapid City Journal / Morgan Matzen](] - On Wednesday, Iowa State University canceled plans for its own large gathering — a potential crowd of 25,000 for its home football opener — after widespread opposition. The university is already reporting a nearly 30 percent test positivity rate on campus. [[Washington Post / Matt Bonesteel](] - The Midwest’s current plight isn’t all that surprising, Johns Hopkins health security expert Dr. Amesh Adalja says; instead, it’s a consequence of the US’s scattered state-by-state pandemic response, which has produced “rolling hotspots” across the country. [[CNN / Andrea Kane](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The US turns its back on a global vaccine push - More than 170 countries are in talks to team up for a global coronavirus vaccine push — and the US isn’t one of them. After spending months railing against the World Health Organization, the Trump administration plans to sit out the WHO-led vaccine initiative. [[NPR / Scott Neuman](] - The WHO effort, called Covax — or Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility — is not just intended to help the world achieve a vaccine, but to ensure “equitable access” once it’s in production. [[The Guardian / Lauren Aratani](] - By most accounts, the decision not to join is a “huge gamble,” one that could lead to the US missing out on immediate vaccine access if the international effort achieves a viable vaccine candidate before the US does. [[Washington Post / Emily Rauhala and Yasmeen Abutaleb](] - The US announced in July this year that it had formally begun withdrawing from the WHO after previously freezing funding for the organization. [[Al Jazeera](] - Currently, the US has two vaccine candidates in Phase 3 trials and several more in earlier stages of production, but there’s no guarantee that any of them will work, much less that they’ll be ready before global alternatives. [[CNN / Paul LeBlanc](] - Even if the US finds a vaccine first, though, international efforts like Covax make sense. As Vox’s Jen Kirby explained in July, “countries narrowly focused on protecting their own interests” — like the US — “are missing the point — and working counter to those interests.” [[Vox / Jen Kirby](] MISCELLANEOUS Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will moderate the first presidential debate on September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio. [[Vox / Cameron Peters](] - “He’s gone off the rails”: A close look at Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro’s bizarre contributions to the US coronavirus response. [[Washington Post / David J. Lynch, Carol D. Leonnig, Jeff Stein, and Josh Dawsey](] - On Wednesday, the US announced sanctions against the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor in response to an investigation into possible US war crimes in Afghanistan. [[BBC](] - Germany has confirmed that Putin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent, Novichok, that has been linked to the Kremlin. [[CNN / Stephanie Halasz, Bryony Jones, and Gianluca Mezzofiore](] - “These rules are for the good of everyone here”: College students are struggling with what to do when their peers throw parties. [[NYT / Troy Closson](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( VERBATIM "There will be no peace, no justice, and no prosperity unless we stop the march to climate destruction. This is a matter of life and death. The very future of our civilization depends upon it. … There is no time for compromise on the existential threat on our time. We must pass a Green New Deal." [[Sen. Ed Markey on Tuesday after his primary win against Rep. Joe Kennedy III / Boston.com](] LISTEN TO THIS [Ventilation is key to reopening office buildings safely.]( Ventilation is key to reopening office buildings safely. But the Atlantic’s Derek Thompson says many workers aren’t going back, even when it’s safer. [[Vox / Sean Rameswaram](] [Read more from Vox](#) [Can anything change Americans’ minds about Donald Trump?]( [The power of the Black athlete]( [China may double its nuclear arsenal in just 10 years. Don’t panic.]( [Mulan’s costumes are bright, dramatic, and (mostly) historically accurate]( [The new Apple-Google contact tracing tool finally seems useful]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving all emails from Vox. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Notice]( and our [Terms of Service](. 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