Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Fauci’s new warning

U.S. health officials warned that a more harmful Covid-19 variant known as Delta has surged in the U.K. (a country with high vaccination levels) in a grim warning to America as demand for inoculations in some states fades (only 42% of the U.S. is fully vaccinated). White House adviser Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that the variant first reported in India dominates new infections in Britain. “It’s essentially taking over,” he said. “We cannot let that happen in the U.S.” Delta has been reported in 60 countries including America, which is still the world’s worst hit by number of coronavirus infections and deaths, the latter totaling almost 600,000. That’s about one-sixth of all confirmed virus fatalities worldwide. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic worldwide. 

Here are today’s top stories  

A U.S. Senate investigation into the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol found widespread intelligence and law enforcement failures that led to an “unprecedented attack” on Congress and the democratic process. The report said Capitol Police received information about the potential for an attack by followers of Donald Trump, including white supremacists and other far-right extremists, but failed to communicate it properly. The bipartisan report, however, doesn’t address the root causes of the attack or Trump’s role in potentially fomenting it.

Vista Global Holding, a private aviation provider that competes with Warren Buffett’s NetJets, is in talks to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

GameStop? AMC? The latest day trader flavor is called Clover. As in Clover Health, a health insurer backed by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya. The stock posted a second day of wild gains that appear to be driven by a Reddit crowd determined to punish short-sellers.

After China’s top diplomat recently lectured U.S. counterparts on America’s moral failings, they in turn reminded him of what they consider the “secret sauce” of U.S. governance: the ability to acknowledge and fix mistakes. The implication was that China often seems unable to do that itself. Indeed, Bloomberg Businessweek reports, Beijing’s strident diplomatic corps of “wolf warriors” is turning the world against China.

The U.S. and the European Union are set to end their trade war for good and back a renewed push into investigating the origins of Covid-19. The U.S. is among several countries that have called on China to be more transparent with its data amid renewed questions over whether the outbreak was caused by a laboratory accident.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a controversial Biogen drug may signal a fundamental shift in how the regulator thinks about Alzheimer's disease, one with lasting ramifications for other drugs in the pipeline.

The U.S. Navy’s $166 billion Virginia-class submarine program continues to experience cost increases and “persistent problems” that are likely to force delays in delivery, according to a congressional watchdog’s assessment of the Pentagon’s $1.8 trillion weapons portfolio. It’s just one of a number of U.S. defense projects coming in late and over-budget. 

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• A company you never heard of just took down a chunk of the internet.
• Canada is set to ease quarantine rules for vaccinated travelers.
• Black directors gained ground in the boardroom as others slipped.
• France’s Emmanuel Macron was slapped on Tuesday. In the face.
• Americans pocketed $4 billion in Bitcoin profits last year.
• But not so much on Tuesday, when it was driven to a two-week low.
• CityLab: Chicago must reinvigorate its formerly Magnificent Mile.

Some States Are Taxing Covid Bailout Loans

Lindsay DesLauriers was on a roll. Her family had bought back the Bolton Valley Resort in Vermont, which her father originally developed in the 60s. The business was on a “really positive growth trajectory” in early 2020 when the pandemic hit, she said. DesLauriers rushed to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program, created by Congress to aid small business owners like herself. DesLauriers assumed the money would be tax free, Bloomberg Digital reports. But she was wrong. 

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