1. A deadly new virus reminiscent of one of China’s biggest public health debacles has the country’s leaders rushing to keep another outbreak from becoming a political crisis. After three weeks of revelations about a mysterious strain of coronavirus first detected in central China, President Xi Jinping stepped in personally yesterday to order “all-out prevention and control efforts.” The government convened a series of task force meetings while a social media account affiliated with the Communist Party’s top law enforcement body warned that officials who withheld information would be “nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity.” (via Bloomberg News, Ed. Note: emphasis added)
2. In 2018, video game sales exceeded $43.4 billion, according to the Electronic Software Association, an industry trade group. “Over 164 million adults in the United States play video games and three-quarters of all Americans have at least one gamer in their household,” according to the ESA. Roughly 60% of Americans play games daily. By some estimates, 2.4 billion people, or one third of the world’s population, gamed last year. Even though the trope of a white, pimply teenage boy persists, gamers are increasingly female, older, and more diverse in the US and around the world. Around 70% of gamers are over 18 years old, and 46% are women. The average gamer, according to the ESA, is now 33. (via theesa.com, Quartz)
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