June 2020

by Richard Russo,

[Report]

Terrace Story

by Hilary Leichter,

Harper’s Magazine welcomes reader response.

Email us about articles in the magazine.

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of those people who say they seldom or never pray : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Chances an American has gone to work while feeling sick : 3 in 4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. doctors who said in 2014 that they had gone to work sick in the past year : 83

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of those doctors who said they had done so because they “did not want to let their colleagues down” : 99

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of text messages sent per second over AT&T’s network during peak traffic on New Year’s Eve : 15,000

[Harper’s Index]

During peak traffic in the last two weeks of March this year : 23,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease in the total number of steps taken by New Yorkers during the first week of the city’s stay-at-home order : 50

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which Google searches for “bidet” increased in March : 7

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who say they would spend most of a two-week quarantine learning a new skill : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Who say they would spend most of it watching television or movies : 35

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which streaming of the film Contagion in mid-March exceeded the previous four-week average : 3,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which Netflix cut its European traffic in March by reducing its streaming quality : 25

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of countries in which Netflix has reduced its streaming quality : 71

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who believed in March that the media had exaggerated the risks of COVID-19 : 62

[Harper’s Index]

Who believed that COVID-19 was developed intentionally in a lab : 23

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage chance that a laboratory will accidentally release a deadly, airborne avian flu in the next five years : 16

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage chance that such a release will result in a pandemic : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of U.S. deaths in a novel influenza pandemic simulation conducted by the federal government last year : 400,000

[Harper’s Index]

Maximum value of damage done to the economy in that simulation : $3,790,000,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since January in users of the top ten most popular teleconferencing apps : 142

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of paying Slack customers that the company’s CEO anticipates losing because of bankruptcies by September : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Number of states that have laws requiring employers to provide paid sick leave : 12

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. workers in the top 25 percent of earners who have access to paid sick leave : 92

[Harper’s Index]

Of U.S. workers in the bottom 10 percent of earners who do : 31

[Harper’s Index]

Amount of money since 2017 that venture capitalists have invested in drug development : $42,000,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of that money that has gone toward drugs to treat rare diseases : 11

[Harper’s Index]

That has gone toward drugs to treat infectious diseases : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change in CDC funding proposed in a 2021 Trump budget plan that was released in February : –9

[Harper’s Index]

In CDC funding proposed in a revised budget plan that was released in March : +8

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who think there will be an apocalyptic disaster in their lifetimes : 3/10

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of men who think they would survive a week or more in such a disaster : 49

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who think the apocalypse will most likely be caused by climate change : 19

[Harper’s Index]

Who think it will most likely be caused by a pandemic : 19

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. adults who believed in 2018 that Americans would cooperate with one another in a crisis : 3/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which a white American was more likely than a black American to believe this : 16

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of U.S. states that have treated gun stores as essential businesses during the pandemic : 27

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they have prayed for an end to the spread of the coronavirus : 55

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of those people who say they seldom or never pray : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Chances an American has gone to work while feeling sick : 3 in 4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. doctors who said in 2014 that they had gone to work sick in the past year : 83

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of those doctors who said they had done so because they “did not want to let their colleagues down” : 99

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of text messages sent per second over AT&T’s network during peak traffic on New Year’s Eve : 15,000

[Harper’s Index]

During peak traffic in the last two weeks of March this year : 23,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease in the total number of steps taken by New Yorkers during the first week of the city’s stay-at-home order : 50

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which Google searches for “bidet” increased in March : 7

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who say they would spend most of a two-week quarantine learning a new skill : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Who say they would spend most of it watching television or movies : 35

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which streaming of the film Contagion in mid-March exceeded the previous four-week average : 3,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which Netflix cut its European traffic in March by reducing its streaming quality : 25

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of countries in which Netflix has reduced its streaming quality : 71

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who believed in March that the media had exaggerated the risks of COVID-19 : 62

[Harper’s Index]

Who believed that COVID-19 was developed intentionally in a lab : 23

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage chance that a laboratory will accidentally release a deadly, airborne avian flu in the next five years : 16

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage chance that such a release will result in a pandemic : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of U.S. deaths in a novel influenza pandemic simulation conducted by the federal government last year : 400,000

[Harper’s Index]

Maximum value of damage done to the economy in that simulation : $3,790,000,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since January in users of the top ten most popular teleconferencing apps : 142

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of paying Slack customers that the company’s CEO anticipates losing because of bankruptcies by September : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Number of states that have laws requiring employers to provide paid sick leave : 12

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. workers in the top 25 percent of earners who have access to paid sick leave : 92

[Harper’s Index]

Of U.S. workers in the bottom 10 percent of earners who do : 31

[Harper’s Index]

Amount of money since 2017 that venture capitalists have invested in drug development : $42,000,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of that money that has gone toward drugs to treat rare diseases : 11

[Harper’s Index]

That has gone toward drugs to treat infectious diseases : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change in CDC funding proposed in a 2021 Trump budget plan that was released in February : –9

[Harper’s Index]

In CDC funding proposed in a revised budget plan that was released in March : +8

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who think there will be an apocalyptic disaster in their lifetimes : 3/10

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of men who think they would survive a week or more in such a disaster : 49

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who think the apocalypse will most likely be caused by climate change : 19

[Harper’s Index]

Who think it will most likely be caused by a pandemic : 19

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. adults who believed in 2018 that Americans would cooperate with one another in a crisis : 3/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which a white American was more likely than a black American to believe this : 16

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of U.S. states that have treated gun stores as essential businesses during the pandemic : 27

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they have prayed for an end to the spread of the coronavirus : 55

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of those people who say they seldom or never pray : 15

Readings

[Essay]

Survive and Advance

by Albert Camus,Translated by Madison Mainwaring,

[Guidelines]

Buried in the Sand

by Tahar Ben Jelloun,Translated by Linda Coverdale,

[Account]

Staycation

by Rachel Torres, Tyler Torres,

[Poem]

That Passed, This May Too

by Geoffrey G. O’Brien,

From Polar Bears, a book of vintage photographs collected by Jochen Raiß, which was published in October by Hatje Cantz.

“Pearsall, Texas 01.2018,” a photograph by Mark Power, from the first volume of his book Good Morning, America. The third volume will be published this fall by GOST Books.

Western Lilies, a painting by Kirsten Everberg, whose work was on view last June at 1301PE, in Los Angeles.

A photograph by Alfredo Sarabia, whose work was on view last July at Galería Habana, in Havana. The photograph is part of Round House, a project that documents trips Sarabia and his family have taken around Cuba in a Volkswagen that was passed down from his grandfather.

Song to the Siren, a painting by Aaron Gilbert, whose work was on view in March at the Independent Art Fair, in New York City.

Courtesy the artist and P·P·O·W, New York City

From Polar Bears, a book of vintage photographs collected by Jochen Raiß, which was published in October by Hatje Cantz.

“Pearsall, Texas 01.2018,” a photograph by Mark Power, from the first volume of his book Good Morning, America. The third volume will be published this fall by GOST Books.