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FLO NGALA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

One victim in a string of violent attacks in Brooklyn used social media to sound an alarm. Page A23.Warning Others When Police Didn’t

The order came on the night ofJan. 12, days after a new outbreakof the coronavirus flared in Hebei,a province bordering Beijing. TheChinese government’s plan wasbold and blunt: It needed to erectentire towns of prefabricatedhousing to quarantine people, aproject that would start the nextmorning.

Part of the job fell to Wei Ye, theowner of a construction company,which would build and install1,300 structures on comman-deered farmland.

Everything — the contract, theplans, the orders for materials —was “all fixed in a few hours,” Mr.Wei said, adding that he and hisemployees worked exhaustively

to meet the tight deadline.“There is pressure, for sure,” he

said, but he was “very honored” todo his part.

In the year since the coronavi-rus began its march around theworld, China has done what manyother countries would not or couldnot do. With equal measures of co-ercion and persuasion, it has mo-bilized its vast Communist Partyapparatus to reach deep into theprivate sector and the broaderpopulation, in what the country’sleader, Xi Jinping, has called a

“people’s war” against the pan-demic — and won.

China is now reaping long-last-ing benefits that few expectedwhen the virus first emerged inthe central Chinese city of Wuhanand the leadership seemed as rat-tled as at any moment since theTiananmen Square crackdown in1989.

The success has positionedChina well, economically and dip-lomatically, to push back againstthe United States and others wor-ried about its seemingly inexora-ble rise. It has also emboldenedMr. Xi, who has offered China’s ex-perience as a model for others tofollow.

While officials in Wuhan ini-tially dithered and obfuscated forfear of political reprisals, the au-thorities now leap into action at

Coercion, Persuasion and China’s War on CovidThis article is by Steven Lee My-

ers, Keith Bradsher, Sui-Lee Weeand Chris Buckley.

Ships on the Yangtze River in Wuhan. China’s is the only major economy that has returned to steady growth during the pandemic.GILLES SABRIE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Successes in Mobilizingthe Private Sector

Embolden Xi

Continued on Page A10

John Mahalis of Philadelphiawas two and a half months fromqualifying for his full pensionwhen he learned that he would bepermanently laid off from his jobas a toll collector on the Pennsyl-vania Turnpike. The news was agut punch; Mr. Mahalis said itwould leave him less able to finan-cially weather retirement.

“It came out of the blue,” saidMr. Mahalis, 65. He had workedfor the turnpike for five years af-ter 20 years of unemployment dueto an injury he sustained as adockworker. He had loved thework, especially interacting withcustomers, and earned goodmoney: By taking as much over-time as he could get, he madeabout $53,000 a year, along withbenefits.

“It was the best thing I everdid,” he said. “I felt like a managain.”

The job evaporated overnightwhen the Pennsylvania TurnpikeCommission, struggling duringthe coronavirus pandemic, de-cided in June to move up its planto lay off nearly 500 toll workersand replace them with electronictolling. Dismissals planned forearly 2022 instead went into effectimmediately, a move that the com-mission said would help the sys-tem financially accommodateweaker traffic during the eco-nomic downturn.

The United States may be wit-nessing the bleeding edge of a la-bor force shuffle that often occursduring recessions: Employerswho have been forced to cut work-ers turn to existing or new tech-nology to carry on with less labor.But this time the shift could bemagnified by a wave of forced lay-offs at the start of the pandemicand by the fact that demand insome cases came back before em-

Jobs SidelinedBy PandemicAre Vanishing

By JEANNA SMIALEK

Continued on Page A21

WASHINGTON — The Houseimpeachment managers issued asurprise request on Thursday forDonald J. Trump to testify in hisSenate trial next week, making along-shot attempt to question theformer president under oathabout his conduct on the day of theCapitol riot. It was quickly re-jected by his lawyers.

In a letter to Mr. Trump, Repre-sentative Jamie Raskin, the leadHouse impeachment prosecutor,said the former president’s re-sponse this week to the House’scharge that he incited an insurrec-tion on Jan. 6 had disputed crucialfacts about his actions, and de-manded further explanation.

“Two days ago, you filed an an-swer in which you denied manyfactual allegations set forth in thearticle of impeachment,” wroteMr. Raskin, Democrat of Mary-land. “You have thus attempted toput critical facts at issue notwith-standing the clear and over-whelming evidence of your consti-tutional offense.”

He proposed interviewing Mr.Trump “at a mutually convenienttime and place” between Mondayand Thursday. The trial is set tobegin on Tuesday.

But Mr. Trump’s lawyers, BruceL. Castor Jr. and David Schoen,

Trump RefusesA Call to TestifyAt Senate Trial

This article is by Nicholas Fan-dos, Michael S. Schmidt and Mag-gie Haberman.

Continued on Page A17

WASHINGTON — The Houseon Thursday exiled Representa-tive Marjorie Taylor Greene fromcongressional committees, black-listing the first-term Georgian forendorsing the executions of Dem-ocrats and spreading dangerousand bigoted misinformation evenas fellow Republicans ralliedaround her.

The House voted 230 to 199 toremove Ms. Greene from the Edu-cation and Budget Committees,with only 11 Republicans joiningDemocrats to support the move.The action came after Ms.Greene’s past statements and es-pousing of QAnon and other con-spiracy theories had pushed herparty to a political crossroads.

The vote effectively strippedMs. Greene of her influence inCongress by banishing her fromcommittees critical to advancinglegislation and conductingoversight. Party leaders tradition-ally control the membership of thepanels. While Democrats and Re-publicans have occasionallymoved to punish their own mem-bers by stripping them of assign-ments, the majority has never inmodern times moved to do so to alawmaker in the other party.

In emotional remarks on theHouse floor, Ms. Greene ex-pressed regret on Thursday forher previous comments and disa-

Vote by HouseEjects Greene

From 2 PanelsBy CATIE EDMONDSON

Continued on Page A18

WASHINGTON — PresidentBiden on Thursday ordered anend to arms sales and other sup-port to Saudi Arabia for a war inYemen that he called a “humani-tarian and strategic catastrophe”and declared that the UnitedStates would no longer be “rollingover in the face of Russia’s ag-gressive actions.”

The announcement was theclearest signal Mr. Biden has giv-en of his intention to reverse theway President Donald J. Trumpdealt with two of the hardest is-sues in American foreign policy.

Mr. Trump regularly rejectedcalls to rein in the Saudis for theindiscriminate bombing they car-ried out in their intervention in thecivil war in Yemen as well as forthe killing of a dissident journalist,Jamal Khashoggi, on the groundsthat American sales of arms to Ri-yadh “creates hundreds of thou-sands of jobs” in the United States.And he repeatedly dismissed evi-dence of interference by Presi-dent Vladimir V. Putin of Russia inAmerican elections and Russia’srole in a highly sophisticated

hacking of the United States gov-ernment.

Saudi leaders knew that themove was coming. Mr. Biden hadpromised to stop selling arms tothem during the presidential cam-paign, and it follows the new ad-ministration’s announcement lastmonth that it was pausing the saleof $478 million in precision-guidedmunitions to Saudi Arabia, atransfer the State Department ap-proved in December over strongobjections in Congress. The ad-ministration has also announced areview of major American armssales to the United Arab Emirates.

But Mr. Biden’s order on Thurs-day went further, appearing toalso end providing the Saudis tar-geting data and logistical support.

It was not only a rejection ofTrump administration policy butalso a reversal of American sup-port for the Saudi effort that datedto the Obama administration —and that Mr. Biden and his newlyappointed secretary of state,Antony J. Blinken, helped formu-

Biden Cuts Off SupportFor Saudis’ Yemen War;Has Warning for Russia

Hardens Response to Kremlin Aggression— A Reversal of Trump’s Policies

By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT

President Biden shifted course on two thorny issues on Thursday.STEFANI REYNOLDS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

When Chanel Maronge saw onFacebook that she was eligible toget a Covid-19 vaccine, she seizedthe opportunity. The only catch?She had to cross the state line toMississippi last week, driving anhour and a half from her home inBaton Rouge, La., to get her firstshot.

“The idea of having to wait anunlimited amount of time in Loui-siana to get a vaccine just didn’twork for us,” said Ms. Maronge,37, a school librarian who has hy-pertension. Her husband, who hasdiabetes, and both her parentswere able to get vaccinated alongwith her in McComb, Miss.

With overwhelming demand inthe early months of the vaccinerollout, thousands of Americansare crossing state lines on quests

for doses. The scramble to get in-oculated has turned attention tothe patchwork of vaccinationrules devised by states, given alack of national, standardized pro-tocols.

With states varying widely inprioritizing who can get shots,“vaccine hunter” groups, whichscour the country for placeswhere people qualify for the vac-cine, have sprung into action onsocial media. That has publichealth officials grappling withhow to handle pandemic trav-elers: Should strict rules be fol-lowed, turning away all outsiders,or should as many shots be admin-

‘Vaccine Hunters’ Fan Out for Shots They Can’t Get Near HomeThis article is by Simon Romero,

Amy Harmon, Lucy Tompkins andGiulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio.

Making Trips to StatesWhere Rules Vary

Continued on Page A8

An exhibition at the American Folk ArtMuseum brings together generations ofself-taught artists. Above, just some ofIchiwo Sugino’s alter egos. PAGE C1

WEEKEND ARTS C1-12

Transformative PhotographyJeffrey A. Zucker played a central rolein the rise of Donald J. Trump, thensharply reversed course. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

CNN Leader to LeaveA year in, many on the front lines havereached their limit. Above, Dr. SheetalKhedkar Rao outside Chicago. PAGE A6

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8

Health Care Workers Burn Out

Samuel Fisher left a trail of online postsabout his Jan. 6 exploits. “People died,”but it was great, he wrote. PAGE A16

Charged in Capitol Attack

With the whole world watching, theN.F.L. and CBS Sports face the chal-lenge of presenting a uniquely Ameri-can spectacle in a time of widespreadunease, unrest and misery. PAGE B8

SPORTSFRIDAY B7-10

Super Bowl’s Big Quandary

It used to be the rare and momentousoccasion when an American playerwould make it overseas. But more andmore, European powers are miningM.L.S. for talent. On Soccer. PAGE B10

Soccer’s Surprising Exporter

Paul Krugman PAGE A26

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

With Aleksei A. Navalny facing his firstlong prison term, his wife, Yulia B.Navalnaya, has been thrust reluctantlyinto a public spotlight. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A9-13

‘I Am Not Afraid’

Neighborhoods are seeing a flurry ofredevelopment a decade after the city’sdowntown began to rebound. PAGE A14

NATIONAL A14-25

Back to Newark’s Future

Smartmatic, a tech company, suedRupert Murdoch’s network for over $2.7billion, charging defamation. PAGE B1

Election Firm Sues Fox NewsJohnson & Johnson asked for urgentapproval from the F.D.A. and could beginshipments in March. PAGE A8

F.D.A. Considers 1-Shot Vaccine

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,960 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Today, mostly cloudy, morning rain,wintry mix, high 42. Tonight, partlycloudy, low 28. Tomorrow, mostlysunny, breezy, seasonable, high 40.Weather map appears on Page A24.

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