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Throughout the pandemic,masks have ranked among themost contentious public healthmeasures in the United States,symbolizing a bitter partisan di-vide over the role of governmentand individual liberties.

Now, with a new variant of thecoronavirus rapidly spreadingacross the globe, masks are againthe focus of conflicting views, andfears, about the course of the pan-demic and the restrictions re-quired to manage it.

The renewed concerns followthe wildfire growth of the Deltavariant, a highly infectious form ofthe virus first detected in Indiaand later identified in at least 85countries. It now accounts for onein five infections in the UnitedStates.

In May, federal health officialssaid that fully vaccinated peopleno longer needed to mask up, evenindoors. The advice signified a seachange in American life, settingthe stage for a national reopeningthat continues to gain momentum.

But that was before the spreadof the Delta variant. Worried by aglobal surge in cases, the WorldHealth Organization last week re-iterated its longstanding recom-

Rise of VariantRenews DebateOn Mask Rules

This article is by Roni Caryn Ra-bin, Apoorva Mandavilli and ShawnHubler.

Continued on Page A19

HONG KONG — With eachpassing day, the boundary be-tween Hong Kong and the rest ofChina fades faster.

The Chinese Communist Partyis remaking this city, permeatingits once vibrant, irreverent char-acter with ever more overt signsof its authoritarian will. The verytexture of daily life is under as-sault as Beijing molds Hong Kong

into something more familiar,more docile.

Residents now swarm policehotlines with reports about dis-loyal neighbors or colleagues.Teachers have been told to imbuestudents with patriotic fervorthrough 48-volume book setscalled “My Home Is in China.”

Public libraries have removeddozens of books from circulation,including one about the Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. and NelsonMandela.

Hong Kong had always been animprobability. It was a thrivingmetropolis on a spit of inhospita-ble land, an oasis of civil libertiesunder iron-fisted rule. A formerBritish colony that returned toChina in 1997, the city was prom-ised freedoms of speech, assem-bly and the press unimaginable in

China Bends Freewheeling Hong Kong to Its WillBy VIVIAN WANG

and ALEXANDRA STEVENSON

Flags flying at Hong Kong’s Central Library, which has removed dozens of books from circulation.LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Makes It Mirror DocileMainland Cities

Continued on Page A6

SURFSIDE, Fla. — All aroundMagaly Ramsey a chorus of newlyfamiliar strangers were shoutingout the names of their loved ones,hoping their voices would pene-trate the looming pile of debris.These were the people Ms. Ram-sey had spent long days with,waiting for any news of their rela-tives buried under the fallen build-ing.

“I love you,” they screamedover the rubble. “Please come outof there.” “We are waiting for you.”

But Ms. Ramsey did not shoutthe name of her missing 80-year-old mother. As soon as rescue offi-cials let her get close to the site ofthe tragedy on Monday afternoon,she decided that her mother couldnot be alive.

Up close, the rubble pile lookedlike a sand dune.

“I’m a very logical, tough wom-an,” Ms. Ramsey said. Instead ofshouting, she said, she asked

questions of a rescue officialnearby. Can a body just disinte-grate?

The answer, Ms. Ramsey re-called in an interview, was “yes.”

The death toll rose by one, to 12,on Tuesday at Champlain TowersSouth in Surfside, where the floorsin a section of the 13-story build-ing fell on top of one another earlyon Thursday morning. Almost 150people, including Ms. Ramsey’smother, Magaly Delgado, are stillclassified as missing.

The round-the-clock rescue op-eration now involves 210 workersscouring the giant mound at anygiven time. In the days since thecollapse, crews had moved threemillion pounds of concrete off the

Amid the Debris, Families SeekNews as a Grim Reality Sets In

By RICHARD FAUSSET Mourning Seems BothFitting and Too Soon

Continued on Page A11

KABUL, Afghanistan — Thecommander of the U.S.-led mis-sion in Afghanistan warned onTuesday that the country could beon a path to chaotic, multi-sidedcivil war as American and otherinternational troops prepare toleave in the coming weeks.

His assessment, in a rare newsconference at the headquarters ofU.S. and NATO command in Ka-bul, will likely be one of the lastpublicly delivered by an Americanfour-star general in Afghanistan,where recent events have includ-ed a Taliban offensive that hasseized around 100 district centers,left dozens of civilians woundedand killed, and displaced thou-sands more.

“Civil war is certainly a paththat can be visualized if it contin-ues on the trajectory it’s on,” thecommander, Gen. Austin S. Miller,told reporters during the newsconference. “That should be a con-cern for the world.”

Speaking from a garden adja-cent to the circle of flagpoles thatonce displayed the flags of the 36countries that contributed to theU.S.-led NATO mission — now re-duced to Turkey, Britain and theUnited States — General Millersaid the troop withdrawal wasreaching a point where he wouldsoon end his command, which be-gan in September 2018, and inturn, say goodbye to Afghanistan.

“From a military standpoint it’sgoing very well,” General Millersaid of the U.S. withdrawal. He didnot offer a timeline for when thewithdrawal will be complete. TheTaliban, for the most part, havenot attacked U.S. or internationalforces as they have departed, in-stead focusing the brunt of the vio-lence on the Afghanistan securityforces and the civilians caught in

U.S. General Warns of Civil WarGripping Afghanistan After Exit

By THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFFand ERIC SCHMITT

Raising Concerns as aMission Winds Down

Continued on Page A7

MEKELLE, Ethiopia — A col-umn of triumphant fighters parad-ed into the city just after dawn onTuesday, led by a woman in cam-ouflage who brandished a Kalash-nikov and the flag of the Tigray re-gion of northern Ethiopia, whilepeople poured onto the streets towelcome them — cheering, weep-ing with relief and chanting “Vic-tory is ours!”

It had been eight months sincethe government of Ethiopiamounted an offensive in the coun-try’s Tigray region, unleashingcivil war, atrocities and famine inAfrica’s second most populouscountry, and creating what is now

one of the world’s worst humani-tarian crises. More than 1.7 millionpeople have been displaced, andas many as 900,000 are sufferingfrom famine, according to U.S. of-ficials.

But on Monday, Ethiopiantroops suddenly withdrew fromMekelle, the capital city of Tigray,as well as other towns in the re-gion, ahead of advancingTigrayan fighters. The fall ofMekelle signaled a turning point

in a war that has plunged Ethiopiainto chaos and threatened to de-stabilize the wider Horn of Africaregion.

It was also a stunning blow tothe authority of the country’sleader, Abiy Ahmed, who won theNobel Peace Prize in 2019 and ayear later gambled his power andreputation on what he said wouldbe a brief, decisive campaign tobring the restive Tigray region un-der control.

When he took office just threeyears ago, Mr. Abiy promised tounite his fractured country. Nowhe is left reeling from a seismicmilitary loss to Tigrayan leadershe has derided as a “criminal

A Battered City Rejoices After Ethiopia’s RetreatBy DECLAN WALSH

Cheering crowds chanted and wept in Mekelle, Ethiopia, late Monday after Tigrayan fighters dealt a stunning blow to the authority of the nation’s leader, Abiy Ahmed.FINBARR O’REILLY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Fall of Tigray’s Capital Signals Shift in War

Continued on Page A5

Shake up dinnertime by grilling ingredi-ents with only oil and salt, and overunrelenting direct heat, Ali Slagle sug-gests. Above, spiced halloumi. PAGE D8

FOOD D1-8

Skip the MarinadeAfter a pandemic year off, a New JerseyCatholic school’s mandatory hike on theAppalachian Trail returned. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A8-19

A 40-Mile Rite of PassageJacob Zuma, a former president of thecountry, got a 15-month term for con-tempt in a corruption inquiry. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-7

In South Africa, Jail for Zuma

Kim Jong-un of North Korea emergedfrom a hiatus looking thinner, stirringspeculation about his health. PAGE A4

A Svelte Kim Generates BuzzThe former president said the stateparty was not working hard enough tochallenge the 2020 results. PAGE A16

Trump Roils Wisconsin G.O.P.

Serena Williams, a seven-time cham-pion in pursuit of her record-tying 24thGrand Slam singles title, started quicklybut withdrew during her first-roundmatch with a leg injury. PAGE B10

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B10-12

Williams Is Out at WimbledonAfter a federal judge threw out stateand federal competition cases againstFacebook, calls grew for lawmakers tochange monopoly laws. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-9

Push to Update Antitrust Laws

Reggie Jackson, the baseball Hall ofFamer known as Mr. October, has en-joyed the N.B.A. success of ReggieJackson, the Los Angeles Clippersguard hailed as Mr. June. PAGE B12

What’s in a Name? A Lot.New York City landlords are redesign-ing spaces with social distancing andsocializing in mind. PAGE B1

Keeping Their Office Tenants

Bruce Springsteen is back on Broadway,and so is Jim Barry, who has worked as atheater usher for 20 years. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Finding the Right Seats Again

Louisa Lim PAGE A23

OPINION A22-23

The New York City mayor’srace plunged into chaos on Tues-day night when the city Board ofElections released a new tally ofvotes in the Democratic mayoralprimary and then removed thetabulations from its website afterciting a “discrepancy.”

The results released earlier inthe day had suggested that therace between Eric Adams and histwo closest rivals had tightenedsignificantly.

But just a few hours after re-leasing the results, the electionsboard issued a mysterious tweetrevealing a “discrepancy” in thereport, saying that it was workingwith its “technical staff to identifywhere the discrepancy occurred.”

By Tuesday evening, the tabula-tions had been taken down, re-placed by a new advisory that theranked-choice results would beavailable “starting on June 30.”

Then, around 10:30 p.m., theboard finally released a state-ment, explaining that it had failedto remove sample ballot imagesused to test its ranked-choice vot-ing software. When the board ranthe program, it counted “both testand election night results, pro-ducing approximately 135,000 ad-ditional records,” the statementsaid. The ranked-choice numbers,it said, would be tabulated again.

The extraordinary sequence ofevents seeded further confusionabout the outcome, and threw theclosely watched contest into anew period of uncertainty at aconsequential moment for thecity.

For the Board of Elections,which has long been plagued bydysfunction and nepotism, thiswas its first try at implementingranked-choice voting on a city-

ELECTION BOARDSOWS CONFUSION

IN MAYOR’S RACE

‘DISCREPANCY’ IN REPORT

Totals Pulled Back AfterShowing a Narrowing

of Adams’s Lead

By KATIE GLUECK

Continued on Page A14

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 59,105 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2021

Today, partly sunny, quite hot, hu-mid, high 96. Tonight, strong thun-derstorms, cloudy, low 75. Tomor-row, heavy thunderstorms, high 84.Weather map appears on Page A18.

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