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Entertainment

Britney Spears Fans Compare Jamie Lynn Spears With Justin Timberlake After “GMA” Interview

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Jamie Lynn calling Britney “erratic,” “paranoid,” and “spiraling” has reminded fans of how Justin Timberlake notoriously demonized the pop star in highly publicized interviews throughout their breakup.


Leyla Mohammed
BuzzFeed News Staff

Posted on January 13, 2022, at 11:03 a.m. ET


If you’ve been on the internet at all over the past 24 hours, you’ve likely seen that Jamie Lynn Spears’s Good Morning America interview has erupted across social media.

But for those who somehow missed it, Jamie Lynn found herself trending on Twitter last night, following the publicized discussion about her sister, Britney Spears.


Image Group La / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Jamie Lynn’s decision to appear on GMA was something that attracted criticism from the moment it was announced, given that Britney publicly denounced her during court proceedings last June and suggested she’d done “nothing” to help while she was living under the restrictive terms of her conservatorship.


Anthony Harvey / Getty Images

Under the legal arrangement, which had been in effect since 2008, Britney’s father and lawyers controlled her life and finances. The conservatorship was terminated in November last year after a protracted legal battle.

BuzzFeed News uncovered abuse, neglect, and death across the guardianship industry. Read our investigative series “Beyond Britney” here.

Not only did Britney accuse her sister of being complicit in the conservatorship — something Jamie Lynn has repeatedly denied — but she also specifically stated that she wanted her entire family to be jailed for their lack of support.


Ethan Miller / Getty Images

But in spite of Britney’s past comments and the ongoing criticism she’s faced about her alleged complicity, Jamie Lynn sat down with GMA on Wednesday to discuss the conservatorship and their controversial family dynamics for the first time.


Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

“I love my sister,” she said. “I’ve only ever loved and supported her, and done what’s right by her. And she knows that. So I don’t know why we’re in this position right now.”


Good Morning America / Via Good Morning America

“When [the conservatorship] was put into place I was a 17-year-old. I was about to have a baby, so I didn’t understand what was happening,” she said. “Nor was I focused on that. I was focused on the fact that I was a 17-year-old about to have a baby. I understand just as little about it then as I do now.”

Jamie Lynn went on to claim that she actually “set up ways” to help Britney under the legal arrangement, saying that she “took no steps” to be a part of it.


Good Morning America / Via Good Morning America

“There was a time where my sister asked me — of her trust and will — if I would be the person who was sure that her boys got what they needed,” she said.

“Once I realized that … she’s in a conservatorship, I felt like I just didn’t want to be a part of [it] until maybe she was out of the conservatorship,” she said.

“There was no me overseeing funds or something like that, and if that was, it was a misunderstanding,” she said. “Either way, I took no steps to be a part of it.”

Jamie Lynn said, “I’ve always been my sister’s biggest supporter, so when she needed help, I set up ways to do so.”


Good Morning America / Via Good Morning America

“I went out of my way to make sure that she had the contacts she needed to possibly go ahead and end this conservatorship, and just end this all for our family,” she said. “If it’s gonna cause this much discord, why continue it?”

She added, “If she wanted to talk to other people … I set that up. I even spoke to her legal team … previous legal team, and that did not end well in my favor.”

Jamie Lynn’s interview has continued to erupt across social media in the hours since its release, with many criticizing the actor for her “unconscionable” remarks.

Fans firstly questioned the Sweet Magnolias star’s claims about her lack of knowledge on the 13-year-long conservatorship.


Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

“Jamie Lynn said she couldn’t help Britney in 07 because she was 17, pregnant and didn’t have the capacity to be concerned with Britney. But then says ‘I know as little about it now as I did then’… So in the 13 years, you never asked, you never researched… nothing?” one tweet read.

“Jamie Lynn Spears on GMA saying she had no idea what a conservatorship was at 17 when Britney was put in it. She’s now 30 and said she still doesn’t know what it is. Girl in all that time you never once googled what happened to your sister????” another user wrote.

In response, one person noted that Jamie Lynn’s claim contradicted her other remarks about allegedly providing Britney with resources to help her under the legal arrangement.


Image Group La / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

“And that contradicts her saying she gave Britney the resources to get out of it. How did she help her when she didn’t know what it was. I literally can’t. The entire interview contradicted itself,” the tweet said.

Moreover, fans called out another of Jamie Lynn’s contradictions. After describing Britney’s mental state as “erratic,” “paranoid,” and “spiraling” in her upcoming memoir, the actor said she “can’t really speak to anyone else’s state of mind” when questioned about it in the interview.


Good Morning America / Via Good Morning America

“Jamie Lynn is a walking contradiction,” one person tweeted alongside direct comparisons of her statements.

People also questioned Jamie Lynn’s apparent obliviousness as to why she and Britney aren’t on good terms. Given that the “Gimme More” singer has repeatedly condemned her over the past year, namely in court hearings and often on Instagram, many called Jamie Lynn’s cluelessness an attempt at “gaslighting” her.

“I’m sorry but Jamie Lynn on GMA acting as if she doesn’t know why her sister ain’t fuckin with her is extremely gaslighty to me. Dry up them tears mama,” read one tweet, which has received over 10,000 likes.

“I actually teared up watching this. I’m so so so sorry for Britney that after all they have done her family continues… gaslighting and [sponging] off of her,” another tweet said.

Amid the onslaught of criticism toward Jamie Lynn — and toward the ABC network for airing the interview — many users began to draw comparisons between the Zoey 101 star and another person Britney has a notorious past with: Justin Timberlake.


Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

As you’re probably aware, Britney and Justin dated back in the early ‘00s. However, their three-year-long relationship ended with a very public breakup in 2002.

Britney was demonized by the media for years after Justin seemingly perpetuated the narrative that she was the cause of their split — perhaps, some think, to bolster his own career ahead of the release of his 2002 album, Justified.

Not only did the former NSYNC member insinuate that Britney had cheated on him with pointed lyrics in his hit “Cry Me a River,” but he also infamously featured an undeniable lookalike of his ex in the music video.


Vince Bucci / Getty Images

What’s more, Justin notoriously made disrespectful comments about Britney in a series of interviews over the course of their breakup. For example, he made crude remarks about their sex life while speaking with Hot 97, saying, “I did it. I’m dirty,” when asked if he’d had “oral intercourse” with her.

Justin’s treatment of Britney is something that came to light last year, following the release of FX and Hulu’s Framing Britney Spears — a harrowing documentary that recalls his willingness to scapegoat his ex throughout their breakup.


Jamie Mccarthy / FilmMagic

And in light of Jamie Lynn’s recent publicized comments about Britney, many fans were quick to cast their minds back to Justin’s treatment of the pop star.


Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Considering that both Jamie Lynn and Justin painted Britney in a demonizing and “erratic” light, fans have since accused both parties of calculatedly driving a pointed narrative in the media — arguably for their own benefit.


Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

“[Jamie Lynn] is still profiting off of her sister playing out their relationship trouble in a public forum to sell her book. Honestly what’s the difference between what she is doing and what Justin Timberlake did?” one person said in a tweet that received over 400 likes.

“This. This. This,” one person replied in agreement.

Fans also accused Jamie Lynn of “victim shaming” and “invalidating” Britney — something that Justin has repeatedly been blamed for too.


Steve Granitz / WireImage

However, many went on to argue that Jamie Lynn’s behavior appears more damaging than Justin’s, not least because she’s Britney’s sister, but given that she’s had years to reflect on her silence throughout the conservatorship — and yet still doesn’t appear to have taken accountability.


Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

Perhaps in light of the severe backlash he faced following the reexamination of his actions, Justin eventually issued a formal apology to Britney, admitting that he “failed” her in a written statement posted last year.

“I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond,” he wrote on Instagram in Feb. 2021. “I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right.”


Andreas Rentz / Getty Images

“I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Britney has yet to address Jamie Lynn’s latest GMA interview. But, if her past Instagram posts are anything to go by, we can expect that she’ll be sharing her thoughts about her sister’s remarks on the platform anytime soon.


Kevin Winter / Getty Images



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Science

James Webb Space Telescope vs. Hubble: How will their images compare?

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is currently poised to launch and become the most powerful telescope in space. But how will its photos compare to Hubble’s?

The Hubble Space Telescope launched into low Earth orbit in April 1990. Over the three decades since, the famous observatory has expanded our view of the cosmos and held our attention with the stunning images it collects. What once was a faint and mysterious abyss became a detailed and colorful universe, and we could see stars and galaxies as they’d never been seen before. 

But the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch on Dec. 24, will do things a bit differently. With its giant gold mirror and infrared light observation tools, Webb is designed to “see” objects 10 to 100 times fainter than what Hubble can see, according to a NASA fact sheet. So, how will Webb’s view compare to Hubble’s?

One thing’s for sure: The images Webb will capture “will be detailed and spectacular,” according to the sheet.

Live updates: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launch

Not a replacement telescope

Webb is often described as Hubble’s replacement or successor. But despite a handful of glitches over the years, Hubble’s science instruments are still going strong, and the two big scopes are set to observe together (albeit far apart from one another) in space. 

Hubble is pretty close to us in low Earth orbit, but Webb will travel out much farther, to a gravitationally stable spot 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth known as the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2). 

Additionally, while both Hubble and Webb are large space telescopes (though Webb is considerably bigger), the two actually “see” the universe very differently. 

“It will take amazing images; they will be better than what Hubble did,” Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, said during a news conference in May. But, while better in ways, Webb’s images will also be fundamentally “different, because it’s different wavelengths,” Pontoppidan said.

While Hubble observes light at primarily optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, Webb is designed to detect primarily infrared light. 

Beauty in infrared

By observing in infrared, Webb will capture uniquely beautiful images. 

“I think it’ll be fantastic,” Pontoppidan said, “but it’s very difficult to predict what it will look like,” as this will be the first space telescope mission of its kind.

“It will look very, very different than Hubble,” Pontoppidan said. “The stars themselves fade away they get fainter and fainter [when you] go to [a] longer wavelength, but interstellar clouds go brighter and brighter and brighter.”

Some gas and dust features become a bit wispy as you start to edge into the infrared light part of the spectrum, Pontoppidan explained. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

“I think maybe there was some concern that, you know, you don’t want images that end up looking wispy,” Pontoppidan said. “But as it turns out, actually, if you just go a little bit further out into infrared … the dust itself lights up in thermal light. You get a nebula that shines.”

Related: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has a shiny giant mirror made of gold hexagons. Here’s why.

Differences in infrared

Hubble can see light that in a wavelength range from about 200 nanometers (nm) to 2.4 microns, whereas Webb’s range will go from about  600 nm to 28 microns, according to the fact sheet, which added that visible light ranges from about 700 to 400 nm. 

Even though Webb primarily observes infrared light, it will still be able to see the red/orange portion of the visible light spectrum. The gold coating of its mirrors absorbs blue light from the visible spectrum, but it does reflect yellow and red visible light that will be detected.

These are two images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, one (left) viewing the Carina Nebula in visible light and the other (right) seeing it in infrared.  (Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble 20th Anniversary Team)

Although it is not its primary observation function, Hubble has the ability to observe some infrared as well, so this type of observation is not a complete departure. In fact, in 2013, the Hubble team released a stunning infrared image of the Horsehead Nebula that the space telescope captured to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of its launch.

Related: Building the James Webb Space Telescope (gallery)

This Hubble image, captured and released to celebrate the telescope’s 23rd year in orbit, shows part of the sky in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter) in infrared light. Rising like a giant seahorse from turbulent waves of dust and gas is the Horsehead Nebula, otherwise known as Barnard 33. Image released April 19, 2013. (Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI))

The power of infrared

Hubble has provided the world with stunning images for decades and has similar sharpness to Webb. “Webb’s angular resolution, or sharpness of vision, will be the same as Hubble’s,” according to the fact sheet. “Webb images will appear just as sharp as Hubble’s do,” the sheet reads. According to NASA, Webb’s resolution would allow it to see the details of an object the size of a U.S. penny 24 miles (40 km) away.

Despite this similarity, Webb has a much larger mirror — 21.3 feet (6.5 m) wide, compared to 7.8 feet (2.4 m) — cutting-edge detectors and is designed to see deeper into the infrared spectrum than Hubble. 

By observing in infrared, Webb will allow scientists to see much farther out into the universe, NASA has explained. Its larger mirror also gives it more surface area to collect light, enabling the scope to peer even farther out into space, which essentially allows scientists to look “back in time,” at the universe billions of years in the past. 

Webb was designed to be able to “see” the first stars and galaxies that ever formed in the early universe. It can detect objects 10 billion times fainter than the faintest stars visible with no telescope, or 10 to100 times fainter than what Hubble can observe.

Webb is equipped with four scientific instruments to help it make its observations. These include the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and the Fine Guidance Sensor/Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS-NIRISS).

With these tools, Webb “can do what we call imaging spectroscopy,” Pontoppidan said, “where it can take an image, but it will take a spectrum and every pixel of the image as well.” In imaging spectroscopy, there is information on the spectrum of wavelengths present in each tiny piece of the image. This can help clue scientists in as to what elements or chemicals might have created that spectrum.

Pontoppidan added that Webb’s unique suite of imaging tools will allow it to do all sorts of other scientific work, such as observing exoplanets transiting in front of stars or determining the composition of a cloud in a star-forming region; he pointed to studies that may look for ice, water and complex organics in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

After an additional delay, Webb is still on track to launch on Dec. 24, 2021, atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.



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Technology

Here’s How Diamond & Pearl Remake Sales Compare To Pokémon’s Past Switch And 3DS Launches In Japan

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Image: Nintendo

Yesterday, Famitsu released its latest game charts – revealing Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl for Nintendo Switch got off to an amazing start in Japan, shifting 1,395,642 copies in just the first three days.

This figure was based on in-store purchases alone and means these titles are now officially the second largest Switch game launch in Japan. They’ve even managed to outdo Pokémon Sword and Shield on release, which sold 1,364,544 million units on release in Japan.

If it’s got you wondering how this launch compares to other Pokémon opening weekends in Japan, Serebii.net webmaster has now shared some more physical sales data – highlighting launch sales of past Pokémon games on 3DS and Switch. While the latest releases managed to outperform Let’s Go, the older 3DS titles are still out in front.

The opening sales for the Diamond and Pearl remakes in Japan place them behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons (which sold around 1,880,626 physical copies in its first three days). Over in the UK, the remakes have also dominated the charts – becoming the second biggest domestic box launch of the year.

Have you contributed to the sales success of the latest Pokémon games on Switch? Leave a comment below.



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Business

Most Medicare beneficiaries don’t compare options in open enrollment

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This is one of those times you may not want to follow the herd.

Most Medicare beneficiaries — 71% — do not explore their coverage options during open enrollment, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation study. Because the specifics of health plans change from one year to the next, experts say this is a mistake.

“It can be a really unpleasant surprise for people who think they’re happy with their plan and then in January they have to confront the reality that their plan changed, which has an impact on their care or out-of-pocket costs,” said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director for the foundation’s program on Medicare policy.

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Medicare’s fall open enrollment period starts Friday and runs through Dec. 7. In simple terms, this annual window is for adding or changing coverage related to an Advantage Plan (Medicare Part C) and/or prescription drugs (Part D).

You can switch, add or drop those parts of your coverage, and changes go into effect Jan. 1. If you take no action, your 2021 plan generally would continue into 2022.

Fall open enrollment touches most beneficiaries in one way or another due to the coverage they select. For instance, of Medicare’s 63.3 million enrollees, 26.7 million choose to get their Part A (inpatient care) and Part B (outpatient care) benefits delivered through Advantage Plans, which are likely to include Part D.

The remainder stick with original Medicare (Parts A and B) and often pair it with a standalone Part D plan. Altogether, 48.5 million beneficiaries have prescription drug coverage through either an Advantage Plan or a standalone plan.

Among beneficiaries in Advantage Plans, 68% said they did do any comparisons, according to Kaiser’s research, which examined 2019 coverage choices. That compares with 73% of those in original Medicare.

Changes to your Advantage Plan could include adjustments to monthly premiums, copays, deductibles, coinsurance or the maximum out-of-pocket limit. Your drug coverage could change as well, as could doctors, hospitals and other providers that are considered in-network for your Advantage Plan.

If you discover after fall enrollment that the Advantage Plan you picked is not a good fit, you can change your coverage between Jan. 1 and March 31. You would be able to switch to either another Advantage Plan or to original Medicare and a stand-alone prescription plan.

However, you would be unable to switch from your standalone Part D plan to another during that early-year window.

The average monthly premium for Advantage plans will be $19 next year, down from $21.22 in 2021, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The average 2022 monthly premium for Part D coverage will be $33, up from $31.47 this year.

Part B monthly premiums — as well as other various cost details — for 2022 have not been announced yet. However, the standard Part B premium is anticipated to rise to $158.50 from $148.50 this year, according to the latest Medicare trustees report.

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Health

California vs. Britain: How do COVID cases, vaccines compare?

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California’s overall pandemic trends appear to be improving, led especially by declining hospitalizations in Southern California and the Bay Area, although hospitals in the Central Valley and the rural north remain under terrible strain.

But as some health officials have been warning, the improvements are not guaranteed to last.

In late July, Britain celebrated what seemed to be a recovery from its own Delta surge, an improvement that came about six weeks before California began having its drop in cases. But cases rose again in the U.K.

“The cautionary tale here is from the United Kingdom, where they had a very similar pattern, with a surge that dropped down across the summer … which we’re seeing now. But then it went right back up again,” Dr. George Rutherford, a UC San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious disease expert, said at a recent campus forum.

“We need to be careful that this doesn’t happen here,” Rutherford said. “We are at risk for this happening. And it’s going to take some concerted effort to keep it from not happening.”

The vaccines are still having a helpful impact in Britain: The nation is reporting about 36,000 cases a day, below both the peak of about 60,000 new daily cases during the winter surge and the summer peak of about 48,000 cases a day in late July.

Still, the latest numbers in Britain illustrate an uptick from a midsummer low of about 25,000 cases a day around early August.

Daily deaths are rising in the U.K. but are still far lower than they were during the winter surge. At its winter peak, Britain was reporting about 1,300 deaths a day over a weekly period before falling to nearly zero in the late spring; the country is now reporting about 140 deaths a day over a weekly period, according to Johns Hopkins University.

California already is at a disadvantage compared with Britain. The Golden State, while boasting one of the United States’ highest vaccination rates, still lags behind Britain’s shot record. Among Californians of all ages, 58% are fully vaccinated, while in Britain, 65% are fully vaccinated.

The latest model by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation shows just how uncertain California’s future could be.

Currently, California is reporting an average of 100 COVID-19 deaths a day, significantly worse than the tallies of 20 to 30 deaths a day earlier in the summer, but still far better than the nearly 550 deaths a day recorded at the peak of the pandemic during the winter surge.

In the most likely scenario, if vaccines continue to be distributed at the current pace, daily deaths are expected to remain steady, the institute’s model says. If more people wear masks, daily deaths would decline.

But if all vaccinated people stopped wearing masks, and variants spread even faster than expected, daily deaths could reach 500 a day by mid-November, according to the institute’s model.

With the experience of the U.K., we can’t be complacent, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said in a tweet.

California’s weekly coronavirus case rates continue to improve.

Los Angeles County did not report case numbers on Saturday or Sunday because of a planned upgrade in its processing systems, but the trend heading into the weekend appeared consistent with continued declines in cases.

Between Aug. 27 and Friday, new weekly coronavirus cases have dropped by 36% in the Bay Area, 28% in Southern California, 27% in the Greater Sacramento area, 18% in the San Joaquin Valley and 15% in rural Northern California.

Nonetheless, coronavirus transmission levels remain high, and so are COVID-19 hospitalization levels.

Hospitals in the Central Valley and rural Northern California remain under considerable duress and have the state’s highest rates of hospitalization for COVID-19. For every 100,000 residents, the San Joaquin Valley has 36 people in the hospital with COVID-19; in rural Northern California, there are 32; and in the Greater Sacramento area, there are 27.

By contrast, Southern California’s rate is 15; the Bay Area, 12.

Some experts say that it can be prudent to implement emergency COVID-19 measures, such as indoor mask mandates, when there are five or more COVID-19 hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents.

In Del Norte County, on California’s northern border, more than half of hospitalized patients at the main hospital in Crescent City have COVID-19.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a broad region with more than 4 million people that stretches from Stockton to Bakersfield, available intensive care unit capacity has remained under 10% for 12 consecutive days, and officials in Fresno County have warned they are so overwhelmed that they might have to ration healthcare — choosing who receives lifesaving measures.

Fresno County’s ICUs have been particularly crowded in the last several weeks, filled with 80 to 93 patients — numbers not seen since January. And because hospitals also are caring for non-COVID-19 patients, the crowding has been so extreme that officials have been forced to transfer critically ill patients as far as Sacramento and the Bay Area, about a 170-mile drive away.

Some experts expressed hope that vaccination mandates, or shot-or-test requirements, will boost vaccination rates. Last week, President Biden said employees at companies with at least 100 workers will be required to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

In Los Angeles County, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has said the pace of vaccinations needs to rise much more. But she expressed hope that targeted vaccination orders will help, such as the one that children 12 and older in Los Angeles public schools be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January to enter campus.

“There’s just an obligation for us to really try to stop the continued pandemic, and vaccinations are the most powerful tool we have,” Ferrer said.

Statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has ordered, with limited exceptions, that healthcare workers must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30; California school employees also have been ordered to be vaccinated or be tested weekly.

Ongoing studies continue to demonstrate the power of vaccinations. A recent study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that, compared with vaccinated people, unvaccinated people in areas hit by the Delta surge were 4½ times more likely to contract the coronavirus, 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19, and 11 times more likely to die.

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Technology

How Google and Apple’s Free Password Managers Compare With 1Password, Dashlane and Others

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With ransomware attacks on the rise—and compromised passwords to blame for some of the hackings—there’s no better time to review your personal security practices.

It all starts with how you create and store passwords.

You may have read a thing or two about password managers, perhaps in my previous column on the subject.

This software can create strong randomized passwords, then remember them for you, and they can auto-fill credentials, simplifying the login process. Having unique passwords is critical to your online security: Around 25% of security breaches in 2020 involved the use of stolen usernames and passwords, according to a Verizon report published in May.

In this column, I’m comparing the two main types:

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Health

Here are the current U.S. COVID hot spots and how California, Bay Area compare

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California and the nation continued their march toward pre-pandemic normal over the holiday weekend, as revelers celebrated the Fourth of July with gatherings, fireworks shows and travel.

Air travel for the holiday exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time. The Transportation Security Administration reported it screened 2,147,090 people on Thursday, topping the same day in 2019 by 58,330. And nearly 2.2 million passengers passed through checkpoints on Friday, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.

But the delta coronavirus variant continues to spread, causing concern particularly for the unvaccinated. The highly infectious variant, first identified in India, is surging across the world and leading to new restrictions, and accounts for 25% of new cases in the U.S. In California, it just became the dominant strain, inching past the U.K.-originating alpha variant for the first time in June.

The rise in the delta variant has resulted in COVID-19 hot spots flaring up across the country. We looked at the key coronavirus indicators to see how those states compare to California and the Bay Area through data provided by nonprofit website COVID Act Now, which gathers its figures from a number of sources including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New York Times, and official state and county dashboards.

What states are faring the worst?

The COVID Act Now tracker shows 10 states at “high risk” from COVID-19, determined by the rate of daily new cases (seven-day average per 100,000 people), positive test rate and infection rate, which is the estimated number of new people each COVID-positive person will infect.

Arkansas is at the top of the list with 17.1 daily new cases per 100,000, a positive test rate of 7.5%, an infection rate of 1.24, and 42% of the population having received at least one vaccine dose. Experts in Arkansas believe the delta variant could soon become the dominant strain there. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “the solution is the vaccinations,” expressing concern for unvaccinated younger people and those living in rural areas who are more vaccine resistant.

Missouri has the second highest case rate of 15.6, with a positive test rate of 9.2%, an infection rate of 1.1, and 45% of the eligible population vaccinated with at least one dose. Over the weekend, the state requested help from the White House’s new “surge response teams” to help with boosting vaccinations and testing. Cases are surging particularly in the southwest region of the state due to the delta variant, with 4,652 cases reported statewide in the past seven days, according to state data.

Nevada has the third-highest case rate with 14.6 new daily cases per 100,000, the highest positive test rate of any state at 12%, and an infection rate of 1.23. According to the state dashboard, 53.6% of the eligible population has received at least one vaccine dose. Las Vegas fully reopened on June 1 and has seen tourists stream back into casinos, nightclubs and entertainment venues. The state expected tens of thousands of tourists to visit for the holiday, which saw the positive test rate jump 2% over Fourth of July weekend, according to KLAS-TV in Las Vegas. Gov. Steve Sisolak has also reached out for help from the federal surge teams.

What states have the lowest numbers?

Vermont has the lowest case rate at just 0.4 daily new cases per 100,000, a positive test rate of 0.6% and an infection rate of 0.66. Vermont also has the highest rate of vaccinations with 82.4% of the eligible population having received at least one dose, according to state data, prompting state health commissioner Mark Levine to declare Vermont as likely the “safest place in the country.”

Massachusetts has the second-lowest rate at 0.7 daily new cases per 100,000, a positive test rate of 0.5% and an infection rate of 0.79. The state has the country’s second highest vaccination rate, with 71% of the eligible population having received at least one dose. Still, health officials are on alert about the slight uptick in cases, about one-quarter of them tied to the delta variant.

Connecticut has the third-lowest case rate in the U.S. with 0.9 daily new cases per 100,000, a positive test rate of 0.5%, an infection rate of 0.88 and 67% of the eligible population having received at least one vaccine dose.

Where do California and the Bay Area stand?

According to COVID Act Now, California is right in the middle of all the states with 3 daily new cases per population of 100,000, and a positive test rate of 1.4%. The state tracker shows 69% of residents 12 and older have received at least one vaccine dose.

Data collected by The Chronicle shows the state’s 7-day average daily new cases have remained relatively steady since the beginning of June, hovering from 2 to 3 new cases per 100,000. In the past week or so, the daily average has been closer to 3, last reported at 2.6 on July 5.

Last week, amid concerns about the spread of the delta variant in the region, Los Angeles County took the unusual step of strongly recommending that all people continue to wear their masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

In the Bay Area, Marin County has the lowest case rate and Santa Clara County has the lowest positive test rate. Sonoma County has both the highest case rate and positive test rate of the region’s nine counties.

Marin County: 1.3 daily new cases per 100,000, 0.6% positive test rat

San Francisco: 1.5 daily new cases per 100,000, 0.8% positive test rate

Napa County: 1.9 daily new cases per 100,000, 1.1% positive test rate

Santa Clara County: 2.4 daily new cases per 100,000, 0.5% positive test rate

Alameda County: 3 daily new cases per 100,000, 1.4% positive test rate

San Mateo County: 3.3 daily new cases per 100,000, 0.8% positive test rate

Solano County: 4.7 daily new cases per 100,000, 1.8% positive test rate

Contra Costa County: 6.5 daily new cases per 100,000, 1.8% positive test rate

Sonoma County: 7.3 daily new cases per 100,000, 3.4% positive test rate

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang



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Health

NIH study compares low-fat, plant-based diet to low-carb, animal-based diet

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News Release

Thursday, January 21, 2021

People on a low-fat, plant-based diet ate fewer daily calories but had higher insulin and blood glucose levels, compared to when they ate a low-carbohydrate, animal-based diet, according to a small but highly controlled study at the National Institutes of Health. Led by researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the study compared the effects of the two diets on calorie intake, hormone levels, body weight, and more. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, broaden understanding of how restricting dietary carbohydrates or fats may impact health.

“High-fat foods have been thought to result in excess calorie intake because they have many calories per bite. Alternatively, high-carb foods can cause large swings in blood glucose and insulin that may increase hunger and lead to overeating,” said NIDDK Senior Investigator Kevin Hall, Ph.D., the study’s lead author. “Our study was designed to determine whether high-carb or high-fat diets result in greater calorie intake.”

The researchers housed 20 adults without diabetes for four continuous weeks in the NIH Clinical Center’s Metabolic Clinical Research Unit. The participants, 11 men and nine women, received either a plant-based, low-fat diet or an animal-based, low-carbohydrate diet for two weeks, immediately followed by two weeks on the alternate diet. The low-fat diet was high in carbohydrates. The low-carbohydrate diet was high in fats. Both diets were minimally processed and had equivalent amounts of non-starchy vegetables. The participants were given three meals a day, plus snacks, and could eat as much as desired. 

The main results showed that people on the low-fat diet ate 550 to 700 fewer calories per day than when they ate the low-carb diet. Despite the large differences in calorie intake, participants reported no differences in hunger, enjoyment of meals, or fullness between the two diets. Participants lost weight on both diets, but only the low-fat diet led to a significant loss of body fat.

“Despite eating food with an abundance of high glycemic carbohydrates that resulted in pronounced swings in blood glucose and insulin, people eating the plant-based, low-fat diet showed a significant reduction in calorie intake and loss of body fat, which challenges the idea that high-carb diets per se lead people to overeat. On the other hand, the animal-based, low-carb diet did not result in weight gain despite being high in fat,” said Hall.

These findings suggest that the factors that result in overeating and weight gain are more complex than the amount of carbs or fat in one’s diet. For example, Hall’s laboratory showed in 2019 that a diet high in ultra-processed food led to overeating and weight gain in comparison to a minimally processed diet matched for carbs and fat.   

The plant-based, low-fat diet contained 10.3% fat and 75.2% carbohydrate, while the animal-based, low-carb diet was 10% carbohydrate and 75.8% fat. Both diets contained about 14% protein and were matched for total calories presented to the subjects, although the low-carb diet had twice as many calories per gram of food than the low-fat diet. On the low-fat menu, dinner might consist of a baked sweet potato, chickpeas, broccoli and oranges, while a low-carb dinner might be beef stir fry with cauliflower rice. Subjects could eat what and however much they chose of the meals they were given.

“Interestingly, our findings suggest benefits to both diets, at least in the short-term. While the low-fat, plant-based diet helps curb appetite, the animal-based, low-carb diet resulted in lower and more steady insulin and glucose levels,” Hall said. “We don’t yet know if these differences would be sustained over the long term.”

The researchers note that the study was not designed to make diet recommendations for weight loss, and results may have been different if participants were actively trying to lose weight. Further, all meals were prepared and provided for participants in an inpatient setting, which may make results difficult to repeat outside the lab, where factors such as food costs, food availability, and meal preparation constraints can make adherence to diets challenging. The tightly controlled clinical environment, however, ensured objective measurement of food intake and accuracy of data.

“To help us achieve good nutrition, rigorous science is critical − and of particular importance now, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as we aim to identify strategies to help us stay healthy,” said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D. “This study brings us closer to answering long-sought questions about how what we eat affects our health.”

The research was supported by the NIDDK Intramural Research Program. Additional NIH support came from the National Institute of Nursing Research under grant 1Z1ANR000035-01.

About the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): The NIDDK, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and supports research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about the NIDDK and its programs, see http://www.niddk.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

References

Hall KD, et al. Effect of a plant-based, low-fat diet versus an animal-based, ketogenic diet on ad libitum energy intake. Nature Medicine. January 21, 2021.

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