STAFF VACCINATED COMPANIES TO GET N.Y.C. TO REQUIRE

1 C MYKNxxx,2021-12-07,A,001,Bs-4C,E1U(D54G1 D)y+\!"!$!?!#Elon Musk built his electric carcompany, Tesla, around the prom-ise that it represented the futureof driving a phrase emblazonedon the automaker s of that promise was cen-tered on Autopilot, a system offeatures that could steer, brakeand accelerate the company ssleek electric vehicles on high-ways. Over and over, Mr. Musk de-clared that truly autonomousdriving was nearly at hand theday when a Tesla could drive itself and that the capability would bewhisked to drivers over the air insoftware technologists at almostevery other company working onself-driving vehicles, Mr. Musk in-sisted that autonomy could beachieved solely with camerastracking their surroundings.

2 Butmany Tesla engineers questionedwhether it was safe enough to relyon cameras without the benefit ofother sensing devices andwhether Mr. Musk was promisingdrivers too much about Auto-pilot s those questions are at theheart of an investigation by theNational Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration after at least 12 ac-cidents in which Teslas using Pushing for Self-Driving Tesla,Musk Downplayed Tech LimitsBy CADE METZand NEAL E. BOUDETTEThe Autopilot system has yetto reach full GOODNEY/BLOOMBERGC ontinued on Page A16 New York City unveiled planson Monday to REQUIRE on-site em-ployees at all private businesses,from bodegas to multinationalbanks, to get VACCINATED themost sweeping local mandate inthe country and one that is in-tended to limit the spread of thenew coronavirus variant this mandate, almost certain toface legal challenges and to posedifficulties for the employerstasked with enforcing it, will applyto about 184,000 businesses.

3 It isset to take effect on Dec. 27, justdays before Mayor Bill de Blasioleaves de Blasio described his ac-tion as a pre-emptive strike de-signed to stall another wave of vi-rus cases amid rising concernsabout the Omicron variant. This is the biggest crisis notonly of our time, but in the historyof New York City, Mr. de Blasiosaid at a news conference. Wecannot let Covid back in the dooragain. New York City, once the centerof the pandemic, has taken an ag-gressive stance on mandates andcurrently requires vaccines forcity workers and for employeesand customers ages 12 and olderat indoor restaurants, entertain-ment venues and gyms. Mr. deBlasio also announced plans totighten those rules by requiringone dose of the vaccine for chil-dren 5 to 11 and two doses for mostpeople ages 12 and next mayor, Eric Adams,who takes office on Jan.

4 1, will beresponsible for enforcing the pol-icy and has not said whether hesupports a vaccine requirementfor private employers, though hehas been broadly supportive ofMr. de Blasio s mandates for cityworkers and indoor Adams and Mr. de Blasioare political allies, and the mayorsaid he had spoken with Mr. Ad-ams twice about the mandate inrecent days. Mr. Adams will TO REQUIRECOMPANIES TO GETSTAFF VACCINATEDBATTLING THE VARIANTS weeping New MandateWill Apply to 184,000 Private EmployersBy EMMA G. FITZSIMMONSC ontinued on Page A12 JOHANNESBURG TheCovid-19 virus is spreading fasterthan ever in South Africa, thecountry s president said Monday,an indication of how the new Omi-cron variant is driving the pan-demic, but there are early indica-tions that Omicron may cause lessserious illness than other forms ofthe at a major hospitalcomplex in Pretoria reported thattheir patients with the coronavi-rus are much less sick than thosethey have treated before, and thatother hospitals are seeing thesame trends.

5 In fact, they said,most of their infected patientswere admitted for other reasonsand have no Covid scientists cautioned againstplacing too much stock in eitherthe potential good news of less se-verity, or bad news like early evi-dence that prior coronavirus in-fection offers little immunity toOmicron. The variant was discov-ered just last month, and morestudy is needed before expertscan say much about it with confi-dence. Beyond that, the true im-pact of the coronavirus is not al-ways felt immediately, with hospi-talizations and deaths often lag-ging considerably behind Emily S. Gurley, an epidemi-ologist at Johns Hopkins Bloom-berg School of Public Health, saidof the signs that the variant is lesssevere, It would not be shockingif that s true, but I m not sure wecan conclude that yet.

6 In the absence of more hard in-formation, governments have re-acted to Omicron with sharp re-strictions on international traveland new vaccination REQUIRE -ments. World leaders who wereaccused of responding too slowlyor weakly earlier in the pandemicare eager to be seen as taking ac-tion, though some experts ques-tion whether the travel restric-tions are an variant has spread rapidlyand has been detected in morethan 30 countries on six conti-nents so far. Health officials andresearchers say that it could bethe most contagious form of the vi-Early ReportsSignal VariantIs Less SevereSouth Africa ObservesEncouraging SignsThis article is by Lynsey Chutel,Richard P rez-Pe aand Emily on Page A10 WASHINGTON The UnitedStates will not send governmentofficials to the 2022 WinterOlympics in Beijing, a slap atChina for human rights diplomatic boycott allowsAmerican athletes to compete, butit is seen as an affront and one ofPresident Biden s most publiccondemnations of Beijing.

7 Chinasaid it would respond with reso-lute countermeasures. Pressure has been building formonths from members of Con-gress in both parties to hold Chinaaccountable for abuses of UyghurMuslims in the Xinjiang regionand crackdowns on pro-democra-cy protests in hong kong . Thosecalls only intensified after the dis-appearance from public life of thetennis star Peng Shuai after sheaccused a top Communist Partyleader of sexual Psaki, the White Housepress secretary, said administra-tion officials did not believe it wasappropriate to send a delegationof officials to the Games inFebruary after genocide andcrimes against humanity in Xin-jiang. We will not be contributing tothe fanfare of the Games, Biden had raised the Uses a Diplomatic Boycott of the Olympics to Rebuke ChinaBy ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGSC ontinued on Page A7 JOVELLE TAMAYO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESNear-record flooding drowned cattle and destroyed homes.

8 Now, finding feed is tough. Page s Dairy Farms DevastatedWASHINGTON The JusticeDepartment sued Texas on Mon-day over the state s plan to redrawits voting districts, saying it wouldessentially make ballots cast byBlack and Latino voters count forless than those of announcing the suit, Attor-ney General Merrick B. Garlandsaid that the redistricting planthat the state s Republican-ledlegislature approved in Octoberviolates Section 2 of the VotingRights Act, which says that voterscannot be denied equal access tothe political process based ontheir race or suit was the second in a lit-tle over a month to be filed by theJustice Department challengingTexas over voting.

9 The depart-ment sued the state in early No-vember over a new voting law thatit argued would disenfranchiseTexans who do not speak English,people with disabilities, older vot-ers and those who live outside theUnited suit also puts other stateson notice as they redraw their vot-ing districts, a process that occursonce a decade. Seventeen stateshave already finalized congres-sional maps this year, with moreexpected to complete the processbefore the Texas plan not only deniesBlack and Latino voters the equalopportunity to participate in theelection process, some aspects ofthe plan were created with dis-criminatory intent, Associate At-torney General Vanita Gupta saidat a news lawsuit laid out several Sues TexasFor Its RedrawOf Voting MapThis article is by Katie Benner,Nick Corasanitiand Reid J.

10 On Page A17 AVDIIVKA, Ukraine Ma-chine-gun fire broke the stillnessjust after 8 when Capt. DenisBranitskii was midway throughthe evening patrol. The shotscame in sporadic bursts and wereclose by, fired by Russian-backedseparatists whose positions wereobscured in the darkness. Onlywhen the flash of a rocket-pro-pelled grenade illuminated thenewly fallen snow did CaptainBranitskii break his stride, brieflypausing to take cover before mov-ing on. This happens every night, said Captain Branitskii, a cleft-chinned company commanderwith the Ukrainian military s 25thAirborne Brigade, positionedalong the front lines in easternUkraine. Sometimes it s muchheavier, sometimes it s like to-night.