Covid-19 has killed more than 75,000 people in the United States, with around 1.25 million confirmed cases, according to tracking by The Washington Post.
Here are some significant developments:
- President Trump in recent weeks has sought to block or downplay information about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic as he urges a return to normalcy.
- Social media companies including YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook are removing a viral conspiracy theory video because of its claims regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
- Blood clots in covid-19 patients have been leading to some terrible outcomes, including strokes in people who were young and otherwise healthy. A new study finds that blood thinners can be an effective treatment and boost the chance for survival.
- The Food and Drug Administration approved a new diagnostic tool that employs the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing technology to determine in just one hour if someone is infected with the novel coronavirus.
- The rollout of remdesivir, the first and only treatment for covid-19, is being criticized by doctors across the country as confusing, unfair and marred by incomplete medical information.
- More than 33 million Americans lost their jobs during the outbreak, and a new poll finds that 77 percent of them believe they will get them back when the crisis is over. Optimism is high, but economists warn over 40 percent of job losses could become permanent.
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California’s first community transmission was in a nail salon, governor says
The first person to contract the coronavirus through person-to-person contact caught it in a nail salon, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday.
After the governor announced a four-step plan to lift restrictions on the state’s economy, some have questioned Newsom on why the nail salons and other personal services will not be immediately allowed to reopen.
California will shift from phase one to phase two on Friday. But unlike most other states that have reopened or are looking to do so soon, it has barred these services from reopening for at least several weeks, until phase three.
“This whole thing started in the state of California, the first community spread, in a nail salon,” Newsom said at a news conference. “I’m very worried about that.”
Businesses that have been deemed “low risk,” such as bookstores and florists, will be allowed to open as soon as Friday with changes to enforce social distancing, including curbside pickup.
But health officials have put “red flags” on nail salons and other high-risk businesses, such as gyms and hair salons, that are likelier to have more person-to-person contact between employees and customers.
Newsom did not offer any more information about the alleged link between California’s outbreak and nail salons.
In February, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the country’s first community spread case of the coronavirus had occurred in Solano County, between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area.
According to the Los Angeles Times, federal officials could not determine how that patient had contracted the virus, though they had not been in contact with people who had returned from China or other “hot spots” at the time.
One in 7 infected in Nebraska are meatpacking workers
Food processing employees make up about 1 in 7 of Nebraska’s coronavirus infections, Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) said Thursday, but state health officials will not release data on outbreaks in meatpacking plants.
Like many other Midwestern states, Nebraska is home to several large pork and beef facilities that can be especially prone to virus outbreaks. Employees work shoulder-to-shoulder on crowded factory floors, and some have said they have been ordered to come to work while showing symptoms.
On Thursday, Ricketts revealed the virus’s toll on Nebraskans in that industry. A total of 1,005 employees had contracted the virus, he said at a news conference. At least three have died, according to NET, Nebraska Public Radio and Television.
The outbreak has spurred concerns about a possible breakdown in the food supply chain, and President Trump had taken the extraordinary measure of compelling meatpacking companies, including Tyson Foods and JBS USA, to remain open.
But Ricketts will only allow the state’s health department to report aggregate data on coronavirus infections at plants, he said, because data for individual facilities may be inaccurate.
“What we’ve found is some people will go and say they work for a facility and they’ve tested positive, when they don’t work for that facility,” he said, according to NET. “Some people maybe tested positive and they won’t tell you they work for that facility.”
He also urged counties not to disclose that information, unless it has been verified and meat plants have given authorities their approval.
Yet concerns linger that processing companies may try to suppress information about outbreaks at their plants, after giving employees faulty protective equipment and telling them to come to work anyway.
Frontier becomes first U.S. airline to require passenger temperature screening
Frontier Airlines said Thursday it will require passengers to have their temperatures taken before boarding flights, starting June 1, in an effort to make traveling safer during the coronavirus pandemic.
Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or higher will not be allowed to fly, the budget carrier said.
“This new step during the boarding process, coupled with face coverings and elevated disinfection procedures, will serve to provide Frontier customers an assurance that their well-being is our foremost priority and we are taking every measure to help them travel comfortably and safely,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said in a statement.
Read more here.
Fewer Maryland, Virginia residents seek ER treatment during pandemic
Maryland and Virginia residents with heart ailments and other life-threatening conditions increasingly appear to be avoiding hospital emergency rooms, an extra layer of concern during the coronavirus crisis that is also happening elsewhere in the country.
With ER visits in Maryland down by half in recent weeks, hospital officials in the state are worried that patients in need of urgent care are choosing to suffer longer out of fear that a trip to the hospital will put them at greater risk of being infected by the novel coronavirus.
State hospital officials say visits for cancer-related ailments, heart and vascular disease, gastric disease, and obstetrics have all declined since the virus began sweeping through the region.
Read more here.
Millions of children out of school because of coronavirus in poor countries may never go back, expert says
As countries around the world start to reopen their economies and consider how to safely reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic, international development experts say they are worried that tens of millions of students in the world’s poorest nations may never go back to class.
In the world’s 67 poorest countries, 58 have closed schools, affecting 341 million children as of Wednesday, according to the Global Partnership for Education.
Alice Albright, chief executive of that organization, said the combination of the coronavirus crisis, economic weakness and unrest in some places will affect millions of young people who are out of school and that many will probably not return because of the costs and family pressures on them to work. Girls, she said, will be the most severely affected.
TSA officers must now wear masks at checkpoints
Transportation Security Administration officers will now be required to wear masks when they screen passengers at airport security checkpoints.
The decision, announced Thursday, comes as airlines began implementing mandatory mask policies for passengers and crew members. On Thursday, Amtrak also announced that passengers would have to wear masks when they travel.
Officials said the goal is to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has continued to sicken thousands across the country, officials said. More than a million people in the U.S. have been infected and more than 75,000 have died. At TSA more than 500 employees have contracted the virus and at least six have died.
Read more here.
Restaurants in some states are opening with a caveat: everyone sits outside
With some jurisdictions easing social distancing restrictions, the restaurant dine-in experience has been limited to dining outside.
This week in parts of South Carolina and West Virginia, restaurants have offered al fresco dining on patios and parking lots. New Hampshire eateries can begin serving guests outside the physical building beginning May 18. The states have allowed curbside pickup, but for the time being, restaurants must serve sit-down diners outdoors with several feet of distance between the tables.
“This is step one. We’ll never get back to normal if we don’t try,” Jason Mike, a general manager of a West Virginia Buffalo Wild Wings, told WDTV.
However, other restaurant owners have experienced challenges with the outdoor-only mandate.
“We’re losing a lot of people. The server industry is really in a shakeup. I don’t know how any place is going to be able to abide by the rules,” Scott Estep, an owner of several South Carolina restaurants, told the Sumter Item. “You’re not set to run on only 20% capacity. You still have to have a full staff to run.”
In South Carolina, tables must be spaced at least eight feet apart.
On Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced similar measures in which restaurants and bars can begin outdoors dining beginning May 15. The businesses have operated with drive-through, pickup and delivery services since the middle of March. All servers must wear face masks.
“This is a new gamble, a new journey,” DeWine said, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “The danger is, we relax. If we relax, take things for granted, things are not going to go the way we want. We don’t want to see a spike.”
FDA gives emergency authorization for CRISPR-based diagnostic tool
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a new diagnostic tool that employs the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing technology to determine in just one hour if someone is infected with the novel coronavirus.
The FDA’s emergency use authorization allows only “high-complexity” laboratories to use the test kit, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the Ragon Institute and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and marketed by Sherlock Biosciences of Cambridge, Mass. The inventors and marketers of the test describe it as highly accurate and easy to use.
“We think this has a lot of potential. The test doesn’t require any complicated or expensive equipment,” said Feng Zhang, a leader of the research team.
Read more here.
Trump tightens grip on coronavirus information as he pushes to restart the economy
President Trump in recent weeks has sought to block or downplay information about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic as he urges a return to normalcy and the rekindling of an economy that has been devastated by public health restrictions aimed at mitigating the outbreak.
His administration has sidelined or replaced officials not seen as loyal, rebuffed congressional requests for testimony, dismissed jarring statistics and models, praised states for reopening without meeting White House guidelines and, briefly, pushed to disband a task force created to combat the virus and communicate about the public health crisis.
With polls showing most consumers still afraid to venture out of their homes, the Trump administration has intensified its efforts to soothe some of those fears through a messaging campaign that relies on tightly controlling information about a virus that has proven stubbornly difficult to contain.
Read more here.
Seattle street closures for distancing will become permanent
A new normal has already begun in Seattle as street closures due to the coronavirus pandemic will become permanent.
Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) has announced that about 20 miles of Seattle streets that were closed to provide more space for social distancing will remain so after stay-at-home orders end. The city enacted a “Stay Healthy Streets” program to create additional travel options for essential services and more space for exercise and recreational activities.
“We are in a marathon and not a sprint in our fight against COVID-19,” Durkan said on her mayoral website. “As we assess how to make the changes that have kept us safe and healthy sustainable for the long term, we must ensure Seattle is rebuilding better than before. Safe and Healthy Streets are an important tool for families in our neighborhoods to get outside, get some exercise and enjoy the nice weather. Over the long term, these streets will become treasured assets in our neighborhoods.”
Residents; delivery, recycling and garbage workers; and emergency response vehicles will be permitted to use the streets, which will be closed to through traffic. Neighborhoods affected include Aurora-Licton Springs, Ballard, Beacon Hill, the Central District, Greenwood, Othello, Rainier Beach and West Seattle.
The decision is just one example of many pandemic changes that could become permanent until a vaccine is available. For example, wearing masks in public is expected to become much more widespread, and some distancing guidelines for places of business could also be here to stay.
At 107, this artist just beat covid-19 — the second pandemic she survived
Marilee Shapiro Asher works in twos: Two husbands, two children. And now, two pandemics.
Marilee — you get one-name status when your art is in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection — turned 107 last year, and a new exhibition of her work was scheduled for May.
Coronavirus canceled that show. And then it threatened Marilee. But Marilee is a force, and she’s been here before. Yes, that’s right. This incredible woman — artist, author, photographer, sculptor, therapist, mother, wife — conquered the 1918 flu pandemic in 1918, when she was 6 years old.
In Brooklyn, black people were vast majority of those arrested for social distancing violations
In Brooklyn, almost every person who has been arrested for not social distancing has been black or Hispanic.
As part of the city’s ban on mass gatherings, police have enforced social distancing measures among groups of people. From March 17 through Monday, the Brooklyn district attorney announced the arrests of 40 people, 35 of whom were black. Four people were Hispanic and just one was white, according to the New York Times.
The New York Police Department and the city prosecutor’s office have not released statistics that reveal the race of those arrested for social distancing violations.
The racial disparity in the Brooklyn arrests highlighted the recent criticism over how police have enforced social distancing in the city.
Over the weekend, video of a violent arrest on Manhattan’s Lower East Side led to the department taking Officer Francisco Garcia off the street. In the cellphone video, Garcia can be seen cursing at 33-year-old Donni Wright, who is black, then punching him to the ground and sitting on his torso while handcuffing him. The Wright encounter happened immediately after Garcia and two other officers dragged a man to the ground for allegedly possessing marijuana. One officer pinned his knee on the man’s head during the arrest.
In contrasting images, police have been photographed handing out masks to people in a park and a video showed a mass gathering of people appearing unbothered while sunbathing on grass. In both instances, the crowds were largely white.
This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) called the violent arrests “unfortunate and inappropriate,” but on Thursday he refused to connect the arrests to the city’s history with stop-and-frisk tactics that targeted communities of color.
“This is the farthest thing from that. This is addressing a pandemic,” de Blasio said, according to the New York Times. “This is addressing the fact that lives are in danger all the time. By definition, our police department needs to be a part of that because safety is what they do.”
YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook remove viral ‘Plandemic’ conspiracy video
Social media companies including YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook are removing a viral conspiracy theory video because of its claims regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
The roughly 26-minute video was presented as an extremely long “trailer” for a full-length film titled “Plandemic,” and features an extended interview with Judy Mikovits, a well-known figure in the anti-vaccine movement, who has made various discredited claims about the effects of vaccines.
A YouTube spokesperson said the company removes “content that includes medically unsubstantiated diagnostic advice for covid-19,” which includes the “Plandemic” video. A rep for Facebook said, “Suggesting that wearing a mask can make you sick could lead to imminent harm, so we’re removing the video.”
Read more here.
Washington state health official retracts warning about ‘coronavirus parties’
A health official in Walla Walla County, Wash., has backed off claims that people were participating in “coronavirus parties” with the intent of contracting the virus.
Department of Community Health Director Meghan DeBolt reversed course Wednesday evening after asking residents Tuesday to use common sense and stop attending such get-togethers in the county in southeast Washington.
“I formally call back my interview today,″ DeBolt said in a statement to the Associated Press. “After receiving further information, we have discovered that there were not intentional covid parties. Just innocent endeavors.”
DeBolt had told the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin that some people who had newly tested positive reported going to the parties. The county had 95 confirmed cases as of Thursday, and DeBolt had said people who had not attended were in danger because the virus can spread via an asymptomatic carrier.
The Walla Walla County board issued another statement Thursday regarding “social gatherings” that are “beginning to occur.”
“One of these gatherings had been reported initially as a ‘coronavirus party,’” the statement read, “then later identified as a social gathering, such as a birthday party or Easter service. We are reviewing the facts around this incident.”
DeBolt had made statements regarding the parties to the Union-Bulletin and on Facebook.
“We need to . . . use good common sense, and to be smart as we move through this pandemic so that we can begin to reopen our community,” she previously said in a Facebook video message. “Covid-19 parties — not part of the solution. Live music at dinner pickup at restaurants — not part of the solution.”
JetBlue attempts front-line worker salute with NYC flyover, receives harsh backlash
The New York-based airline JetBlue wanted to pay homage to the first responders fighting on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, it faced a public relations mess.
On Thursday, JetBlue planned to fly three planes approximately 2,000 feet above New York City. The aircraft with NYC-inspired decals on the tails, was intended to salute health-care workers, law enforcement and firefighters as part of a citywide initiative, Clap Because We Care, and the company’s own Healthcare Hero promotion.
However, many New Yorkers roasted the airline’s plan as a poorly conceived concept that failed to take into account the city’s history with terrorism.
During the 9/11 attacks, two hijacked, low-flying planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil killed over 2,700 people in New York alone. With this context, many people took to social media to lambaste JetBlue’s symbolic gesture.
Tomorrow at 7pm, our special I ❤NY, NYPD and FDNY planes are joining NYC’s #ClapBecauseWeCare with a flyover salute for our hometown healthcare heroes and first responders. So, keep your eyes up, and keep a healthy distance from others while watching. pic.twitter.com/usZKaCS55S
— JetBlue (@JetBlue) May 6, 2020
On Thursday morning, the airline tweeted a reminder of the flyover, prompting engagement from several users who appreciated the gesture but many others who frequently used the terms “terrible idea” or “bad idea” in responses. On Twitter, one user sarcastically wrote: “jetBlue to put anxious New Yorkers at ease by flying passenger jets low over Manhattan.”
When contacted by The Washington Post about the criticism the company received, JetBlue released a statement that read in part: “Safety is our top priority at JetBlue with tonight’s flyover. We worked closely with the Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control to coordinate this special event. Both the FAA and JetBlue have approved the flight levels and altitude of these three flights, and they will be under ATC control and communication at all times. This is happening at no cost — the fuel as well as carbon offsets have been donated.”
In its statement, JetBlue did not directly address the widespread criticism.
How Gov. Ralph Northam decided when Virginia might emerge from shutdown
Gov. Ralph Northam looked like anyone else working from home on Sunday night, wearing an old flannel shirt and sweatpants. But he was dialing into a conference call that would determine when 8.5 million Virginians could go back out amid the coronavirus pandemic.
There was increasing pressure to reopen as the state’s economy tanked. Earlier that day, President Trump had criticized Virginia — again — during a Fox News town hall.
Northam (D), the nation’s only governor who is also a physician, had said all along that he would let health data guide him in deciding when to ease restrictions. When he convened the call, advisers told him it looked like the data might be falling into place.
The percentage of positive covid-19 tests was down, hospitalizations were stable, bed capacity good. More testing could expose new surges of infection, but aides said the computer models suggested that Virginia was at the beginning of what could be 14 days of decline in the rate of new infections. That was what Northam had said he wanted to see.
Read about how Northam arrived at a reopening date, and what that means for Virginia, here.
Smartphone data shows out-of-state visitors flocked to Georgia as businesses reopened
One week after Georgia allowed dine-in restaurants, hair salons and other businesses to reopen, an additional 62,440 visitors arrived there daily, mostly from surrounding states where such businesses remained shuttered, according to an analysis of smartphone location data.
Researchers at the University of Maryland say the data provides some of the first hard evidence that reopening some state economies ahead of others could potentially worsen and prolong the spread of the novel coronavirus. Any impetus to travel, public health experts say, increases the number of people coming into contact with each other and raises the risk of transmission.
“It’s exactly the kind of effect we’ve been worried about,” said Meagan Fitzpatrick, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Read more here.
FAQ: Should you participate in a rent strike during the pandemic?
Covid-19 has exacerbated the affordable housing crisis.
Tenant groups and community advocates have organized a nationwide strike called We Strike Together in an effort to push the federal government to provide more coronavirus-related financial aid to renters.
“Rent strikes reflect public anger over the way that the housing system is designed to benefit real estate interests over the rest of society,” said Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project. “The federal government needs to step in to help protect renters and struggling landlords by providing rent relief.”
German churches stopped singing to prevent virus spread. Should Americans clam up, too?
As states reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, faith leaders are strategizing over how to prevent the spread of disease by reevaluating common practices in churches, including how people will sit in pews, greet each other and avoid the use of communal songbooks and Bibles.
Added to the list of what could spread the virus, communal singing is being reconsidered by many pastors and music leaders. The practice, seen by Christians as a core part of a worship service, could go against the recommendations of some epidemiologists. A similar question is being asked by music teachers and choirs across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes several recommendations for faith organizations, including modifying such usual practices as collecting donations (avoid passing the plate) and Communion (avoid the use of a common cup or placing elements on a person’s tongue). The guidelines, however, do not suggest anything about singing.
Read more here.
San Diego County resumes some evictions despite moratorium
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has resumed enforcing some evictions despite a moratorium order from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) banning the practice. The order bans the enforcement of eviction orders for renters affected by covid-19 through May 31.
The department issued a statement explaining that it stopped enforcing about 160 evictions that had previously been court-ordered before the pandemic. Those issued before the pandemic are being resumed as deputies “return to their regular assignments.” Resources, including temporary housing, are being provided to those in need.
Newsom’s executive order and the local moratorium on evictions are intended to protect residents dealing with financial hardships directly created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement read. “We also have a responsibility to the landlords that depend on income for their livelihoods. To be clear: deputies will not serve evictions protected by state and local emergency measures related to financial hardships created by the pandemic.”
The department did not immediately respond to questions regarding concerns that evictions run contrary to efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The majority of states, including California, have enacted some kind of temporary ban on evictions, along with Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Not every state, however, has put in such protections.
The sheriff’s department said it visited each location that had previously received a notice and issued fliers detailing the upcoming process. Occupants received a five-day notice to vacate.
The coronavirus-relief bill passed by Congress prohibited rental evictions for 120 days for properties secured by a government-backed mortgage. The United States averaged 300,000 filed evictions per month before the pandemic.
Hotels across New York City will offer rooms to people with mild covid-19 cases
As states wrestle with slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, many proposed solutions rely on suppressing the number of new cases. New York City is offering hotel rooms to residents with mild symptoms of covid-19 so they can isolate to avoid spreading the virus to members of their households.
While they’re in isolation, patients will be provided with food, access to a pharmacy and laundry service, according to Mark Levine, chair of the New York City Council’s health committee. In addition, each isolation site will have clinical staff on hand for daily checkups and EMTs ready to respond in the event of an emergency.
For patient privacy, the names and locations of participating hotels cannot be disclosed, according to the mayor’s office.
Read more here.
As Iowa reopens, workers have to choose between a paycheck and their health
LONE TREE, Iowa — Terrie Neider loves to be around people. “I’m chatty,” she said. “Customer service is my thing. It’s what I’m good at.”
So when she was looking to supplement her monthly Social Security check, the 64-year-old took a part-time job at the Casey’s General Store off the main strip in this rural southeastern Iowa town. She worked three shifts, about 24 hours a week, running the cash register and occasionally making pizza, earning just enough to make ends meet.
It was perfect — until early March, when Neider became increasingly alarmed by news reports documenting the spread of the novel coronavirus. A former smoker with high blood pressure and an allergy to mold, she was diagnosed last summer with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which makes her more vulnerable to colds and other respiratory ailments.
“I’m so terrified of getting sick that I have shut myself away,” Neider said. What has made her even more anxious in recent days is what she knows is coming: the call to go back to work after she was laid off.
Read more here.
Schumer compares Republicans to Hoover as he pushes for more relief funding
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday the hesitance of Republicans to pass additional coronavirus relief legislation was reminiscent of President Herbert Hoover’s response to the Great Depression.
Schumer took aim at Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as he argued during a television interview for additional funding for states and localities, among other Democratic priorities.
“The people like McConnell and McCarthy and even Trump, who say, ‘Let’s wait and do nothing,’ well, they remind me of the old Herbert Hoovers,” Schumer said. “We had the Great Depression. Hoover said, ‘Let’s just wait it out.’ It got worse and worse.”
Hoover famously resisted directly involving the federal government in response to the depression and was decisively defeated in the 1932 election.
McConnell responded in an interview on Fox News Channel Thursday afternoon.
“Of course, no one is saying we should do nothing,” McConnell said. “We have been quite busy. The PPP loans have gone out in massive numbers. Small businesses are given this bridge to get to the next place, when, hopefully, the economy begins to open up again.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway also weighed in on Schumer’s comments. In a Fox interview, she claimed that Schumer “just lied."
“Who said, ‘Oh, we don’t want to do anything, will just do nothing?’" Conway asked. “Who said that? The president, who signed into law three consecutive legislative packages that have given trillions of dollars in direct relief to distressed individuals and industries?”
Democrats are assembling a new rescue package expected to exceed $2 trillion that would include around a $1 trillion commitment for states and localities. Money is also being eyed for a large array of other provisions, including housing, social services, law enforcement, tribal government needs, food security, the Postal Service, rural broadband, rent and mortgage relief, and veterans issues.
Republicans, meanwhile, have made it clear they will hit pause on any rescue package as they begin to scrutinize the effectiveness of previous rounds of aid sent to states, hospitals, consumers and small businesses.
At a news conference Thursday, McCarthy said lawmakers should ensure that prior relief legislation “gets implemented and implemented correctly” before they take action on another bill.
Blood thinners may increase chances of survival for the sickest covid-19 patients
Treating coronavirus patients with blood thinners could help boost their prospects for survival, according to preliminary findings from physicians at New York City’s largest hospital system that offer another clue about treating the deadly condition.
The results of an analysis of 2,733 patients, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, are part of a growing body of information about what has worked and what has not during a desperate few months in which doctors have tried dozens of treatments to save those dying of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Valentin Fuster, a physician in chief at Mount Sinai Hospital and one of the study’s authors, said in an interview that the observations are based only on a review of medical records and that more rigorous, randomized studies are needed to draw broader conclusions, but that the results are promising.
Read more here.
Michigan governor extends stay-home order but lets manufacturing work resume next week
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) announced Thursday that she was extending her stay-at-home order through May 28 but allowing manufacturing workers — among them people who work in the state’s pivotal auto industry — to go back beginning next week.
The announcement came a day after General Motors said it planned to resume most North American manufacturing this month with “extensive safety measures” in place. Whitmer’s order also included requirements for manufacturing facilities, including mandating daily screening protocols for people who enter; suspending tours; and training workers on an array of coronavirus-related topics, including symptoms of the virus, using personal protective gear and notifying businesses of any symptoms.
At a news briefing Thursday, Whitmer spoke of the state’s path forward, warning that the virus still posed a threat. She also released a multi-phase plan for how the state will reopen, which noted that if things regress, the state could shift back to more strict restrictions on gatherings and workplaces. “We still have to be vigilant across our state,” Whitmer said.
Military member who works on White House campus tests positive for coronavirus
A U.S. military member who works on the White House campus has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said in a statement Thursday, adding that both Trump and Vice President Pence have since tested negative.
CNN identified the military member as one of Trump’s personal valets.
“We were recently notified by the White House Medical Unit that a member of the United States Military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive for Coronavirus,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said in the statement. “The President and the Vice President have since tested negative for the virus and they remain in great health.”
CNN reported that the military member exhibited symptoms Wednesday morning, raising alarms given the proximity in which he works to Trump.
“So we test once a week. Now we’re going to go [to] testing once a day, but even when you test once a day, somebody could — something happens where they catch something,” Trump said.
In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon before a meeting with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Trump was asked about the military member who tested positive.
“I’ve had very little contact with this person,” Trump said. He added that internal White House testing will change from once a week to once a day, and that he himself was tested Wednesday and Thursday and received a negative result.
“They’re doing everything that you can do, again, within the limits of testing,” Trump said when asked whether the White House was taking any special cleaning steps in light of the news. He added that he believes “testing is somewhat overrated.”
FDA withdraws approval for dozens of Chinese manufacturers of N95-style masks amid quality concerns
The Food and Drug Administration withdrew approval for more than 60 manufacturers in China to export N95-style masks to the United States on Thursday, citing testing data that showed that the products did not meet quality standards.
In a letter to health-care providers, FDA officials warned that they had become concerned that N95-style masks from some Chinese manufacturers “may not provide consistent and adequate respiratory protection to health care personnel exposed to COVID-19.”
A number of devices from different manufacturers had been tested by officials from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the letter said.
Under NIOSH requirements, an N95-style mask should have a filtration efficiency of 95 percent. Some of the masks that were sold as N95 masks had a tested efficiency far lower than that. Multiple masks were tested from each manufacturer, sometimes producing wildly diverging results: One mask scored 97.1 percent in a test, while another from the same manufacturer had just 13.6 percent filtration efficiency.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said that around 60 percent of 67 different types of imported masks did not meet U.S. standards.
Under new guidelines, 14 Chinese manufacturers are authorized to export the N95-style masks. A previous Emergency Use Authorization released last month had approved more than 80 manufacturers to export masks to the United States if they met standards set in other nations, such as China’s KN95 approval, or were tested by independent laboratories.
The April 3 authorization was designed to sidestep the lengthy FDA approval process and make sure health-care workers and others had adequate protection from the coronavirus epidemic.
In a separate news statement released Thursday, FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs Judy McMeekin said the agency was making new efforts to “find and prevent the sale and distribution of products that may be harmful to the public health.”
Greece calls on countries to form ‘safe corridor’ for tourism
As countries that appear to have succeeded at containing the coronavirus seek to revive tourism to boost their economies, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on seven nations to create a “safe corridor” for summer tourism.
According to the Athens-based newspaper Ekathimerini, Mitsotakis on Thursday called on leaders of Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Israel, Norway and Singapore to adopt protocols that could allow travel between the countries without risking further spread of the virus. Greece has also reached out to the government of New Zealand.
Tourism has ground to halt amid the pandemic, as stay-at-home orders and travel bans have affected most of the world. The United Nations World Tourism Organization said Thursday that tourism could fall between 60 and 80 percent in 2020, marking another huge blow for the global economy.
While some countries in Europe have begun to lift shutdown orders and open up businesses, The Washington Post reported that most destinations, usually thronging with travelers in the summer seasons, will not open for pleasure any time soon.
Greece’s “safe corridor” approach comes as Australia and New Zealand also mull forming a “travel bubble” so people could move between the two countries without quarantines or other restrictions.
Sweden’s top scientist defends country’s coronavirus response
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, who has come under scrutiny for eschewing the stringent coronavirus restrictions neighboring European countries have adopted, said Thursday his approach was fundamentally effective.
In light of the country’s newly falling infection rate, he said he would deal with a future pandemic using similar logic.
“Now we know things that we could do better, for sure, but on the whole, I think we would go down the same route,” he said in an interview with CNBC, noting the country could have done more to protect nursing-home residents.
As the coronavirus ravaged Europe and countries implemented lockdowns, Sweden took a different tack. Younger children kept going to school, gatherings for less than 50 people were allowed, and many stores and cafes remained open. Tegnell told the network that in Sweden’s case, “We can keep our society reasonably open, without huge effects.”
The country of 10 million residents has more than 24,000 confirmed cases of the virus, and more than 3,000 deaths, many of those happening in nursing homes.
“Of course, there is a huge regret over the fatalities that we’ve had, but we’re not really clear how that could have been avoided,” Tegnell said. “We know that these settings are very vulnerable in this kind of situation, and we’re not sure that doing something different would make a huge difference to that.”
Some people miss travel so much that they are ordering airplane food delivered to their homes
The coronavirus pandemic has made us pine for travel — the booking, the downloading of the boarding pass, even the in-flight snacks. Geez, we even miss the snacks.
Imperfect Foods, an online surplus-stock grocery delivery company aimed at eliminating food waste, can help with that. This week, it is offering JetBlue airline cheese and snack trays, $2.99 for three ounces of mixed cheeses, dried cherries and crackers.
Its imperfection? It is excess inventory. Imperfect Foods chief executive Philip Behn says they’ve sold 40,000 cheese and snack trays. In addition to selling some of their excess, airlines have put donation programs in place.
Read more here.
Western European leaders warn that epidemic is not over, even as governments look to ease restrictions
Some of the latest coronavirus news and figures from across Europe:
- Italy reported 1,401 new cases Thursday, bringing its total up to 215,858. It also reported 274 new deaths, bringing its cumulative death toll to 29,958. The number of patients in intensive care dropped by 22 to 1,311, a continuation of a downward trend. Though the virus is declining in the country, Italy is still in the early stages of the “epidemic phase” of the outbreak, Higher Health Institute (ISS) chief Silvio Brusaferro told lawmakers. “We have new cases and … the virus is still circulating in the country and thus must lead us to take the necessary measures” for containment, he said.
- Britain said any changes announced to a nationwide lockdown next week would be “modest” to make sure that the rate of infection remains low. “In relation to any changes, we will be guided by the evidence,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told reporters, adding that in the short term, changes would be “modest, small, incremental.” The R-rate, as the rate of infection is known, is somewhere between 0.5 and 0.9. On Thursday, Britain announced that another 539 people had died after testing positive, bringing the total death toll to 30,615.
- France recorded 174 deaths in the previous 24 hours, officials announced Thursday, bringing the total death toll in the country to 25,987. The number of new confirmed cases was 629, which brought the total to 137,779 as the number of cases in hospitals continued to fall. France is planning to relax its restrictions beginning Monday, but they will remain longer in the Paris region. French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said that next week would “mark the start of a very gradual process stretching over several weeks at least, which will allow the country to emerge slowly but steadily from the lockdown.”
- Germany’s public health body announced Thursday that it would no longer hold daily briefings on the outbreak but warned that the epidemic was not over. The country has had 166,091 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 1,284 since Wednesday, while deaths rose by 123 to 7,119. “The epidemic is, of course, not over,” Lars Schaade, vice president of the Robert Koch Institute, told reporters. “But having substantially pushed the virus back so that the number of new cases are between 600 and 1,300 a day … our approach now has to be to learn to live with the virus and to control it.”
GOP lawmakers seek to rename street in front of Chinese embassy for whistleblower doctor
Republicans in both the House and Senate introduced legislation Thursday to rename the street outside the Chinese embassy in Washington in honor of Li Wenliang, a Wuhan-based doctor who was silenced by police for trying to share news about the novel coronavirus long before Chinese health authorities disclosed its full threat.
The measure — which would name the street “Li Wenliang Way” — comes as Republican lawmakers are increasingly seeking to highlight China’s failings in containing the coronavirus. Li, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, died of the disease in February, becoming a symbol of his government’s reported shortcomings.
“While the Chinese Communist Party caused the virus to be spread around the globe, resulting in death and economic devastation, brave medical professionals like Dr. Li spoke truth to the regime,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the bill’s House sponsor, said in a statement. “I am honored to introduce this legislation.”
A companion bill is being sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
SBA slashes disaster loan limit from $2 million to $150,000, shuts out nearly all new applicants
An emergency disaster lending program for small businesses has been so overwhelmed by demand that it has significantly limited the size of loans it issues, while blocking nearly all new applications from small businesses, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is a long-standing Small Business Administration program that is separate from the new Paycheck Protection Program, which has challenges of its own.
Congress gave the disaster loan program more than $50 billion in new funding in recent relief bills to offer quick-turnaround loans to businesses slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. But by many accounts, it is failing spectacularly. After initially telling businesses that individual disaster loans could be as high as $2 million, SBA has now imposed a $150,000 limit without publicly announcing the change, said people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly. Additionally, the agency has faced a backlog of millions of applications for the disaster loan program for the past several weeks, several SBA officials have said.
Read more here.
Think you’ve had covid-19 already? A lot of people do.
The week before Thanksgiving, Barbara O’Donnell came down with a wretched cough. “It was just really bad, and it was constant,” says O’Donnell, 62. “I would turn purple,” gasping for breath. She had never experienced anything like it before.
After two weeks of resting at her home outside Philadelphia, the illness vanished as quickly as it came. Two months later, California reported the country’s first case of covid-19 that wasn’t acquired via travel or direct contact with someone who had been abroad. Three weeks after that, O’Donnell’s job was put on hold by stay-at-home restrictions.
Sitting in her apartment, the thought occurred to her: “What if it was here way before they think it was?” she wondered. Similar questions have been spreading among anyone who recently — or even kind of recently — experienced any covid symptoms:
Did I have it? I think I had it.
Read more here.
The world is awash in different lockdown rules and workarounds. Here’s how Post correspondents have coped.
The world’s response to the coronavirus pandemic is hardly a blanket approach. It’s more like a patchwork quilt. Different places have adopted different levels of restrictions as they try to slow the spread of the virus without bringing their countries to a halt. The global mix is influenced by many variables, including how to find a balance between economic pain and public health.
Parts of the world are considering ways to reopen. Washington Post correspondents across four continents describe what lockdown has meant for them, their lives and work.
Read more here.
Afghanistan’s minister of public health tests positive for coronavirus
ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s minister of public health has tested positive for the novel coronavirus as concerns mount in the country that the number of infections could be many times higher than official tallies.
Ferozuddin Feroz is isolating at home but continues to lead his ministry, according to his spokesperson, Wahidullah Mayar. He said Feroz’s condition was “fine” but that he was “suffering some symptoms."
The minister is the highest-ranking Afghan official to publicly disclose contracting the coronavirus. He is 52, and his office says he has no underlying health conditions.
A United Nations body warned this week that Afghanistan may have one of the highest infection rates in the world. The International Organization for Migration said it found an alarming 50 percent infection rate among a sample of 500 people in Kabul, which has 5 million to 7 million residents.
Afghanistan has recorded more than 3,500 coronavirus cases and more than 100 deaths, but testing remains extremely limited. Roughly 14,300 people have been tested in Afghanistan, which has an estimated population of more than 37 million.
Feroz will continue to lead his team “as long as he is feeling well,” Mayar said, because “Afghanistan needs him at such a critical moment.” Mayar said the minister’s infection does not raise concerns that other senior government officials may have contracted the virus because Feroz was “on the front line” and more exposed than others.
Sharif Hassan in Kabul contributed to this report.
Summer travel is still a question mark. But summer airfare sales are here anyway.
“Dreaming of summer?” the recent tweet from Frontier Airlines asks. “We can take you there. Fly from $11.”
Not to be left out, fellow low-cost carrier Allegiant sent an email this week advertising domestic late-summer deals as low as $24 each way.
Cue the record-scratch sound effect. Do they mean this summer, age of the coronavirus pandemic, era of uncertainty about when most nonessential travel will return?
The short answer is yes.
Read more here.
Wisconsin chief justice says coronavirus outbreak is among meatpacking workers, not ‘the regular folks’
The offhand comment by Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack was about to take on a life of its own.
In the middle of oral arguments Tuesday over the legality of the state’s stay-at-home order, an attorney for Gov. Tony Evers (D) had just pointed to Brown County, Wis., as an example of how fast the novel coronavirus can spread. The county, home to the JBS Packerland meatpacking plant, saw its coronavirus cases surge more than tenfold, from about 60 cases to almost 800, in just two weeks, the attorney said.
That’s when Roggensack interjected. “These were due to the meatpacking, though,” she said. “That’s where Brown County got the flare. It wasn’t just the regular folks in Brown County.”
Read more here.
Was that a toilet flush in the middle of a Supreme Court live-streamed hearing?
At the outset of Supreme Court oral arguments, which are being held these days via telephone and live-streamed during the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. warns everyone to turn off their cellphones.
But he doesn’t remind people to hit the mute button when they’re not speaking. Maybe he will after Wednesday’s arguments in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants.
That’s because toward the end of the arguments, at about 59 minutes out of the scheduled hour, it sounded as if a toilet was flushing.
Read more here.
Nurse corrected by Trump maintains that equipment shortages are still an issue
The nurse who experienced real-time pushback from President Trump during a White House event maintained Thursday that some areas of the country are still experiencing difficulty obtaining personal protective equipment amid the coronavirus outbreak.
During Wednesday’s Oval Office event in recognition of National Nurses Day, Sophia Thomas, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, said the availability of such equipment has been “sporadic” — prompting Trump to intervene.
Trump said he had “heard the opposite” and contended that “we have tremendous supply to almost all places.”
During an appearance Thursday on MSNBC, Thomas said the meeting with Trump had been productive, and she praised the work of the White House coronavirus task force.
But she didn’t back off her assessment of PPE availability.
“It’s true,” Thomas said. “Some areas of the country are experiencing difficulties with PPE on their front-line providers. Others are finding PPE much more accessible, and that speaks to the continued need that we’re going to have to come together as a community to find solutions for the areas that are having trouble.”
Hispanics are almost twice as likely as whites to have lost their jobs amid pandemic, poll finds
Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus shutdowns, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll, underlining that the pandemic is wreaking a disproportionate toll on some racial and ethnic groups.
The poll finds that 20 percent of Hispanic adults and 16 percent of blacks report being laid off or furloughed since the outbreak began in the United States, compared with 11 percent of whites and 12 percent of workers of other races.
Blacks and Hispanics are also dying of covid-19 at higher rates than are whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read more here.
Axl Rose and Steven Mnuchin tangle in a pandemic Twitter feud no one saw coming
By all accounts, 2020 has been, to put it mildly, a weird year.
This week alone has already seen a 5-year-old boy from Utah attempt a solo drive to California on a mission to buy a Lamborghini, a llama named Winter emerge as a potential key player in the race for a treatment targeting the novel coronavirus, and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and Canadian singer Grimes name their newborn baby X Æ A-12.
But just when it seemed like things couldn’t possibly get any weirder, Wednesday night rolled around with a Twitter feud no one could have anticipated: Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose vs. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Read more here.
Texas governor drops jail as punishment for violating coronavirus orders, seeking to release Dallas salon owner
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday escalated his criticism of a judge’s decision to jail a Dallas salon owner for defying orders to close her business, announcing that he was modifying his coronavirus-related executive orders in a way intended to free her early.
“Throwing Texans in jail who have had their businesses shut down through no fault of their own is nonsensical, and I will not allow it to happen,” Abbott said in a statement.
Abbott’s move marked the latest push by state officials to intercede in the case, which has drawn national attention. Shelley Luther, the salon owner, kept operating her business despite a judge’s temporary restraining order and a county official’s cease-and-desist order.
She was told Tuesday by Dallas County State District Judge Eric Moyé to admit wrongdoing to avoid jail time. Luther refused, and Moyé sentenced her to a week behind bars. She was booked into the Dallas County jail on Tuesday — the same day Abbott announced plans to let hair salons reopen Friday.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) wrote to the judge Wednesday, denouncing the decision to jail Luther as an “injustice.” Abbott called the sentence “excessive,” while Dan Patrick, the Republican lieutenant governor, called it “outrageous.”
In his statement, Abbott said he was modifying his executive orders to remove confinement as a punishment for violating them and making it retroactive to April 2. The order, he said, “supersedes local orders and if correctly applied should free Shelley Luther.” It could also extend to other cases, he said.
A coordinator for Moye’s court did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Abbott’s announcement.
Remember those 400,000 Turkish surgical gowns Britain needed so badly? They’re not fit for use.
LONDON — A delivery of medical protection material purchased by Britain and flown in from Turkey is not fit for use, and the promised 400,000 gowns will not be distributed to National Health Service workers, the British government said Thursday.
The Telegraph first reported that the crucial delivery, which was delayed on its way into the country for unknown reasons, was “impounded in a warehouse outside Heathrow Airport,” citing senior sources who said the equipment was “useless.”
Responding to the incident, a senior Turkish official said that the dispute was between “the buyer and a private company in Turkey, not an intergovernmental issue” and that the British government had been satisfied with deliveries from Turkey.
“The Turkish government authorized this sale despite an export ban, out of solidarity with the U.K. authorities,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing dispute.
It is another blow for strained health-care workers who are in desperate need of personal protective equipment. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticized for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that has claimed more than 30,000 lives in the country.
A recent BBC investigation revealed that the government failed to include crucial items of protective equipment, including gowns, in its pandemic stockpile.
On Thursday, opposition lawmaker David Lammy said it was “truly dreadful” that “every single one of the 400,000 gowns is unusable,” and he called on the government to take action.
This is not the first time that aid sent from other countries to Britain has failed to meet standards.
In April, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said that a delivery of 200,000 gowns from China contained just 20,000 usable ones. “This follows previous instances of consignments of gowns being mislabeled and failing safety tests,” he said.
In a letter also dated in April, British doctors warned that 250 ventilators sent from China to help treat those infected may actually kill or cause “significant patient harm,” according to a letter reviewed by NBC News.
The document highlighted a variety of concerns and said that the ventilators could not be cleaned thoroughly and had a “variable and unreliable” oxygen supply.
Pakistan to ease shutdown, despite record high coronavirus deaths
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan will ease shutdown restrictions starting Saturday, despite a steady rise in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths.
Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the change Thursday, saying restrictions have succeeded in slowing the virus’s spread but need to be lifted to ease the “suffering” of the Pakistani people.
“Yes, the [coronavirus] cases are rising, as are fatalities. However, we always knew that this would happen,” Khan said in a televised address. “No one knows if that will happen this month or the next. However, we can’t afford to remain in lockdown continuously as our people are suffering financially."
The move comes a day after Pakistan recorded its highest daily death toll from the coronavirus. But weeks of restrictive measures have crippled the country’s fragile economy. The country is also gearing up for the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a time that is traditionally busy for retailers.
Pakistan’s shutdown was poorly enforced, but most businesses, schools and transport have been closed since mid-March, putting millions out of work. The country’s economy was already struggling before the global pandemic. Nearly a quarter of the population of 220 million lives below the national poverty line.
The easing announced Thursday will allow construction companies, markets and other businesses to reopen. Retailers and customers will be asked to respect social distancing guidelines.
Pakistan has recorded over 24,000 coronavirus cases and more than 580 deaths, but testing remains limited. On Wednesday, the health ministry recorded 40 deaths in 24 hours, the highest single-day death toll in Pakistan so far.
Shaiq Hussain contributed to this report.
McCarthy appoints House Republicans to committee overseeing coronavirus response
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday named the Republican appointees to the new select committee overseeing the federal government’s coronavirus response, one month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the creation of the panel, which is led by House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-Md.).
The Republicans appointed to the panel are House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.) and Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Mark Green (Tenn.), Jackie Walorski (Ind.) and Blaine Luetkemeyer (Mo.), McCarthy announced.
They will join Democratic Reps. Clyburn, Maxine Waters (Calif.), Carolyn B. Maloney (N.Y.), Nydia M. Velázquez (N.Y.), Bill Foster (Ill.), Jamie B. Raskin (Md.) and Andy Kim (N.J.) on the committee.
The select committee has subpoena powers to scrutinize the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and its management of the relief funds that have been allocated by Congress.
McCarthy on Thursday also announced the formation of an all-Republican China task force, a move that comes as the Trump administration is increasingly ramping up scrutiny of Beijing’s handling of the pandemic.
Stock, oil markets swing higher as investors shrug off grim jobless data
Wall Street shrugged off another harrowing jobs report Thursday, with the three major U.S. indexes posting opening-bell bounces.
Investors kept their focus on states scaling back stay-at-home measures and signs of economic life. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 250 points, or 1.1 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index each climbed 1.4 percent.
Oil extended its May resurgence. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, shot up more than 10 percent, to $26.18 a barrel. Brent crude, the global standard, jumped 6 percent, to more than $31 a barrel. The gains speak to investors’ expectations that demand is on the upswing as business and social activities resume.
Wisconsin, following Georgia’s lead, will let teens get driver’s licenses without road tests
Wisconsin announced this week that teenagers in the state will be able to get driver’s licenses without taking tests on the road, following a similar move in Georgia last month.
Authorities in Wisconsin said their change, which takes effect next week, is meant to help deal with a backlog in the state. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says its Division of Motor Vehicles usually conducts about 2,100 tests a week — nearly two-thirds of them for teenagers — and that there’s a backlog of about 16,000 such tests amid the pandemic.
Starting on May 11, 16- and 17-year-olds who have already completed a certain amount of training can seek waivers to get their probationary driver’s license.
Not all teens can skip the driving test, though. Parents or guardians have to sign off, and those who want their teens to take the test can still schedule it.
In Georgia, an executive order signed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) last month similarly allowed teenagers who have met certain requirements to bypass the driving test. The move has been popular with teens in Georgia, with nearly 20,000 reportedly getting their licenses since this was enacted.
No such changes have been announced in Utah, but that didn’t stop a 5-year-old who officials said got behind the wheel of his parents’ car and went onto the freeway. His goal, police said, was to drive to California to buy his own car.
White House seeking revisions to detailed CDC document on reopening public places
The White House is seeking revisions to a document drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that offers detailed advice to local leaders on how to reopen public places after determining that it was “overly specific,” according to a coronavirus task force official.
“Guidance in rural Tennessee shouldn’t be the same guidance for urban New York City,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The official responded to an Associated Press report that the 17-page document, offering step-by-step advice regarding places such as mass transit, day-care centers and restaurants, has been shelved by the administration.
The official insisted the document has not been “shelved” but that the White House is seeking revisions. The official added that the document was never cleared by CDC leadership. It was unclear as of Thursday, however, if or when a revised document would be released.
On April 16, Trump released broader guidelines for a slow and staggered return to normal in places with minimal cases of the coronavirus.
The CDC subsequently circulated the more detailed document, which was met with resistance from many in the White House, particularly when it came to restricting parishioners from singing in choirs or sharing hymnals and to suggesting that restaurants use digital menus and avoid salad bars. The Washington Post previously reported that the document, which the Trump administration has not made public, was still in the editing process.
Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who has been advising the Trump administration, was among those who called Thursday for the full CDC document to be made public.
“A lot of business literally can’t reopen without it because CDC is a de-facto regulator in a public health crisis,” he tweeted. “CDC must publish its umbrella document to publish more detailed industry specific guidance.”
A Harvard study tying coronavirus death rates to pollution is causing an uproar in Washington
An early study from Harvard University linking dirty air to the worst coronavirus outcomes has quickly become a political football in Washington.
Presidential candidates, agency regulators, oil lobbyists and members of Congress from both parties are using the preliminary research to advance their own political priorities — well before it has a chance to be peer reviewed.
The stakes are high because the study’s tentative findings could prove enormously consequential for both the pandemic’s impact and the global debate over curbing air pollution. The researchers found that pollution emanating from everything from industrial smokestacks to household chimneys is making the worst pandemic in a century even more deadly.
Read more here.
As most schools stay closed, a handful reopen in the West
With almost every state deciding to keep schools closed for the rest of the academic year — Maryland becoming the latest — former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Thursday that children could be carriers of the coronavirus even though they might not show symptoms.
“There’s a lot of good data showing that the scope of a flu epidemic goes down dramatically when you close down the schools, because the kids become vectors inside the community for passing on the virus,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “And we assume the same thing is true of coronavirus. We don’t have data on that yet.”
Forty-eight states, four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia have ordered or recommended that schools remain closed for the rest of the academic year, according to an Education Week tracker. The closures affect nearly 60 million students.
But as millions stay home, students are returning to a handful of schools in the West. At least five school systems in Montana planned to resume in-person classes, and 19 planned a hybrid model, the Billings Gazette reported. A private Christian school in Nampa, Idaho, welcomed students back on Monday, according to Education Week.
Schools that are reopening are doing so with modifications, including shortened schedules, enhanced cleaning, temperature checks and canceled cafeteria lunches.
Officials said parents’ wishes and concerns over whether students were adapting to distance learning influenced their decision-making. At one tiny Montana school, the Gallatin County school system’s Willow Creek School, attendance will be voluntary, and temperatures of students and staff will be checked before they enter.
“We’re not taking this lightly,” Superintendent Bonnie Lower told the Associated Press. “We don’t want people to think we’re being irresponsible by making this choice. We’re trying to do what we feel is in the best interest of the students.”
Domestic violence reports in Europe have surged amid lockdowns, WHO says
BERLIN — The World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments and local authorities in Europe on Thursday to step up measures to address domestic violence.
Hans Kluge, the WHO’s top official for Europe, said during a virtual news briefing that emergency calls by women subjected to violence by their intimate partners have increased by up to 60 percent year on year in April, according to the U.N. agency’s member states.
“Online inquiries to violence prevention support hotlines have increased up to five times,” Kluge said, referring to data from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Britain and other countries on violence against women and men by their intimate partners and violence against children.
Several member states have stepped up measures to address the issue, with both France and Spain encouraging victims to alert workers of drugstores by mentioning specific code words. But in many places, the measures have not been adequate to address the scale of the global problem, experts told The Washington Post last month. Thursday’s WHO warning suggests that the agency continues to deem the help provided by many governments insufficient.
“Governments and local authorities,” said Kluge, have a “moral obligation to make sure services to address violence are available and resourced.”
Kluge’s remarks came as a number of European countries were either preparing to or already lifting coronavirus restrictions, two months after Italy became the region’s first country to impose a strict lockdown. To date, 1.6 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the region, constituting 45 percent of cases worldwide.
The focus of public health experts is increasingly shifting from Western Europe, where cases are now in decline, to Eastern Europe, where nations such as Russia and Belarus have seen infections surge.
Woman gives birth on Emirates repatriation flight headed to Lagos
DUBAI — There were 256 Nigerians aboard an Emirates flight when it took off Wednesday carrying passengers stranded for months in Dubai by coronavirus restrictions. And then there was one more.
Emirates airline announced Thursday that half an hour into the repatriation flight headed for Lagos, a woman went into labor and gave birth, forcing the plane to turn around. Flight EK783 was then delayed another four hours as the plane was changed.
All passenger flights to and from the United Arab Emirates, once one of the busiest international travel hubs in the world, were suspended in late March, stranding hundreds of thousands of people in the Persian Gulf state.
Over the past few weeks, UAE airlines have started running repatriation flights for citizens back to their home countries. Thursday also marked the first flights to India. Some 200,000 Indians stranded in the UAE have registered with their embassy to return home.
The country is still closed to incoming flights, however, unless carrying Emirati citizens.
The statement did not say what happened to the mother and child, but their return to Nigeria probably will be further delayed.
Where Americans are still staying at home the most
If you’re still at home, you’re not alone.
After a peak week of sheltering at home in early April, U.S. residents began to inch out of their residences, according to new cellphone data. But even as states begin to “open up,” more Americans appear to be staying put than sprinting out the door.
According to a Washington Post analysis of data provided by SafeGraph, a company that aggregates cellphone location information, the peak period of our collective, coronavirus-induced lockdown was the seven-day period ending April 7. (There was also a one-day spike on Easter Sunday.) During that time, U.S. residents spent a whopping 93 percent of their time at home, up from the early March averages of roughly 70 percent.
Read more here.
Analysis: Kayleigh McEnany’s slippery defense of saying coronavirus will not ‘come here’
A month before Kayleigh McEnany became White House press secretary, she echoed President Trump’s problematic rhetoric about the coronavirus. She played down the threat by saying Trump’s travel restrictions meant that “we will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.”
Now that the United States is dealing with the most confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths in the world and one of the highest per capita outbreaks, those Feb. 25 comments have come to haunt McEnany’s ascent to a top White House job.
McEnany’s response was to point to the media’s own alleged sins in downplaying the threat — a retort that led to plenty of cheers among Trumps supporters.
Unfortunately, she left out plenty of vital context and — crucially — dates.
Read more here.
Conservative senators press Trump to pause guest worker visas
Four conservative senators are pushing President Trump to put the brakes on issuing guest worker visas to the United States, casting the move as needed to help Americans find jobs amid the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter, dated Thursday, seeks a 60-day pause for all guest worker visas and the suspension for at least a year — “or until employment has returned to normal levels” — of several categories of the visas, including those for nonagricultural seasonal workers and specialty occupation workers.
The suggested moves go well beyond an executive order signed by Trump last month restricting certain categories of immigrants from entering the United States for 60 days — an order that the four senators call only a “step in the right direction.”
The letter, first reported by Politico, was signed by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
“The coronavirus pandemic has wrought terrible damage on our country, and we will likely continue to experience the economic effects of social distancing and shutdown measures for years to come,” the senators said. “As we work toward recovery, we urge you to keep the American worker in mind and limit the importation of unnecessary guest workers while American families and businesses get back on their feet.”
The senators argued that the measures are particularly needed to help young job seekers.
“There are millions of high school and college students who, if not for the coronavirus pandemic, would be walking across a graduation stage in front of their families and friends over the new few weeks,” they wrote. “Instead of celebrating their hard work, most will be receiving their diplomas in the mail while worrying about whether they will be able to find a job in this market.”
Democrats have already accused Trump of using the pandemic to justify what they characterize as unwarranted and shortsighted changes to immigration policies.
Slamming regional governments, Amazon’s indigenous groups launch their own efforts to fight covid-19
Without adequate access to health care, the Amazon basin’s indigenous populations are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic. But regional governments in South America have failed to protect them from the outbreak, they say, as covid-19 spreads across the continent.
So they are taking matters into their own hands.
A coalition of indigenous groups representing 3 million people in the rainforest is calling for donations to purchase food, medicine and personal protective equipment, it said Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Organizers at the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin said their emergency fund will look to raise $3 million over the next two weeks and $5 million in the next two months.
“We cannot wait any longer for our governments,” José Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, the group’s general coordinator, told Reuters. “We are in danger of extinction.”
Government officials have failed to consider the needs of indigenous people in their responses to the pandemic, said Diaz Mirabal, who is also a member of Venezuela’s Wakuenai Kurripaco tribe. Since the virus was first detected in the Amazon basin, it has reached 180 of the region’s 600 indigenous tribes and killed more than 30 people.
The group previously asked the World Health Organization to set up such a fund.
On Sunday, dozens of celebrities — from Ai Weiwei to Sting and Glenn Close — penned a letter to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, urging him to protect the country’s indigenous groups.
Their letter said that illegal invasions of protected tribal lands for mining and agriculture pose an “extreme threat” that could end in the total destruction of some ethnic groups.
Bolsonaro has brushed aside concerns about the virus, refusing to declare a nationwide shutdown and insisting that the risks posed by the pandemic are not worth the economic devastation of such an order.
Analysis: Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the U.S. is optimistic in the age of coronavirus
Among the ambassadors stuck in Washington during the coronavirus pandemic, Stanley Kao is in a unique position. He represents the Taiwanese government, which had some of the earliest cases of the epidemic outside China and is also a geopolitical rival of Beijing.
The pandemic has made Taiwan look strong. Its success has been hailed alongside nations such as New Zealand and Vietnam. Taipei has highlighted what it dubs the “Taiwan model,” pointing to its national health insurance system, big data and artificial intelligence, and public-private partnerships, among other factors.
Read more here.
Black Britons four times more likely to die from covid-19 than whites
LONDON — Black Britons are four times more likely to die of covid-19 than whites, according to new figures published Thursday by Britain’s Office for National Statistics.
The agency said that, when adjusted for age, black males are 4.2 times more likely, and black females 4.3 times more likely, to die of covid-19 than whites are.
The report also said that people of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian and mixed ethnicities have statistically higher rates of death involving covid-19. “Appalling,” tweeted David Lammy, the opposition Labour Party’s point person on justice. “It is urgent the causes of this disproportionality are investigated.”
The statistics agency looked at deaths in England and Wales over a six-week period. It said that part of the differences could be explained by geography and socioeconomic factors. When socio-demographic characteristics and self-reported health issues were factored in, the agency found that blacks, Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups were almost twice as likely to die of coronavirus as whites.
“These results show that the difference between ethnic groups in COVID-19 mortality is partly a result of socioeconomic disadvantage and other circumstances, but a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained,” the agency said.
Similar trends are playing out on the front lines. More than 90 percent of the doctors who have died of covid-19 are from BAME communities — an acronym for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups — while only 44 percent of doctors who work in the National Health Service are from ethnic minorities. Speaking at a parliamentary select committee hearing on Wednesday, Michael Marmot, director of University College London’s Institute of Health Equity, said that “the pandemic has exposed and amplified underlying inequalities in society.”
Research in the United States has similarly shown that African Americans are disproportionately dying of covid-19.
Baltic countries agree to create ‘travel bubble,’ setting stage for gradual reversal of border restrictions
BERLIN — Europe’s three Baltic states have agreed to reverse travel restrictions starting at the end of next week, allowing their 6 million citizens to travel freely again between their countries.
The agreement struck by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia marks one of the first concerted efforts of European Union member states to return to borderless travel across parts of the bloc, of which all three countries are members.
Several European countries began abolishing border controls in the mid-1990s, creating the so-called Schengen area with a population of now more than 400 million. But amid a surging number of coronavirus cases, most E.U. nations and other countries around the world reintroduced or stepped up travel restrictions earlier this year, ignoring advice by the World Health Organization to the contrary.
European governments have defended their steps, arguing that border restrictions were necessary to slow the spread of the virus. Unease has grown in recent weeks, however, amid concerns that a prolonged return to hard borders could advance ideas promoted by critics of the European Union.
In recent weeks, the Austrian government has already proposed the creation of a travel bubble for tourism purposes this summer, eyeing bilateral agreements with Germany and the Czech Republic.
The free travel area now being established by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia could become a template for other E.U. nations on how to gradually ease restrictions on travel. It may also add pressure on nations that have been more hesitant to ease border restrictions.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have each reported fewer than 2,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. Their agreement may eventually be expanded to include other countries in the region with a relatively low case load, including Poland and Finland, officials have suggested.
With their own outbreaks seemingly under control, Australia and New Zealand are also discussing forming their own travel bubble.
Moscow mayor says city’s actual coronavirus count is actually three times higher than official number
MOSCOW — Russia’s capital has approximately 300,000 actual coronavirus cases, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Thursday, a figure that is triple the confirmed number for the city and nearly double the country’s official total.
Speaking to the state-run Rossiya-24 channel, Sobyanin said screening studies have revealed that the coronavirus has infected up to 2.5 percent of Moscow’s population of about 13 million people. Russia announced a record one-day increase of 11,231 new cases Thursday, with more than 6,700 of them in Moscow. The capital officially has 92,676 of Russia’s roughly 177,000 confirmed diagnoses.
Despite acknowledging that the outbreak is significantly larger than official numbers reveal, Sobyanin has said Moscow’s outlook is encouraging. The rise in cases has come amid more comprehensive testing — the country has said it has performed nearly 5 million tests — and nearly half of the new cases are considered asymptomatic.
“Moscow has seen stable hospitalization dynamics, and more patients have been discharged from hospitals than hospitalized, which is good,” he said Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans Wednesday to gradually ease the country’s tough lockdown measures next week, starting with the resumption of construction and industrial projects. For Muscovites who might have been hoping that signaled an end to self-isolation measures that prohibit even leaving home for socially distanced exercise, Sobyanin was quick to clarify.
“On the contrary, these must be strictly adhered to to enable a large number of enterprises to work,” Sobyanin said Wednesday.
New Banksy art celebrates work of Britain’s National Health Service workers
LONDON — Elusive British artist Banksy has paid tribute to the country’s National Health Service workers with a new artwork that depicts a young child playing with a nurse superhero toy as Batman and Spider-Man lie abandoned nearby.
The nurse soars through the air wearing a mask and surgical gown, her cape flowing behind her.
As the coronavirus swept Britain, claiming at least 30,000 lives, health-care workers have been celebrated and praised for sacrificing their own health to help others — despite facing significant challenges such as lack of personal protective equipment and access to covid-19 testing kits.
The artwork was revealed at Southampton General Hospital on Wednesday and will remain on display until after lockdown. It will eventually be auctioned to raise money for NHS charities.
On social media, many praised the anonymous artist’s latest work, calling it “beautiful” and “brilliant,” while health-care workers at the hospital posed alongside the framed image for photos and interviews.
“When you’re walking around and everything is so clinical, to see a beautiful picture like this, it warms the heart,” one hospital worker said. Another echoed Banksy’s sentiment, saying: “The nurses and the hospital staff are the superheroes at the moment. It’s really flattering Banksy wanted to give us something here.”
Paula Head, chief executive at University Hospital Southampton, called the piece an “inspirational backdrop to pause and reflect in these unprecedented times.”
“I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white,” Banksy wrote in a parting message to health-care workers.
Air France will enter talks with French unions, likely sign of layoffs
Air France’s parent company will enter into talks with French unions on workforce cuts, the carrier’s top executive said on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic pummels the airline with spiraling losses.
At a strategic workforce planning meeting in June, the Air France-KLM group is set to discuss future capacity cuts and how those may impact employees, CEO Ben Smith told Reuters. Such events, known as “GPEC” in French,” often signal future layoffs.
The company’s quarterly results may offer some additional clues of what is to come. Amid an operating loss of nearly $880 million, the French airline’s fleet will be cut by 20 percent by next year, the news agency reported, and workforce cuts could reach a similar figure.
As the pandemic prompts concerns of a long travel slump, other airlines have already announced significant job cuts. British Airways, Ryanair, and Virgin Atlantic collectively laid off 18,000 employees, according to Reuters, while Lufthansa’s Austrian branch may reportedly eliminate 1,000 positions.
Its parent company is in talks with Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium about a $10.8 billion aid package. The German economy minister said Thursday he will prevent Lufthansa from being sold out.
Air France’s Smith said his company had “already identified” some opportunities for voluntary layoffs. With lots of employees close to retirement age, he said, Air France could cut some jobs by offering buyout packages.
“In France you go to the GPEC, you explain the situation, you negotiate it with the unions and you put it into place,'" he told Reuters. “You don’t just come out and say, ‘I want to cut a thousand jobs.’”
Besides its powerful unions, the company must also work with French and Dutch governments, who each own about 14 percent of the company. Officials have committed up nearly $12 billion in bailout money to Air France-KLM.
World food prices fall for third month in a row, U.N. says
For the third month in a row, food prices fell worldwide as the coronavirus continues to disrupt logistics and consumption patterns, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said on Thursday.
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks the cost of commodities such as sugar, vegetable oil and meat, averaged 165.5 points in April. That represented a 3.4 percent decline from March and a 3 percent drop from the year before, the agency said.
Sugar prices hit a 13-year low, falling 14.6 percent from March because plummeting oil prices meant there was less demand for sugar cane to produce ethanol. Reduced demand while much of the world was in lockdown also played a role, according to the FAO.
Meat prices also declined by 2.7 percent, which the agency attributed to logistical bottlenecks in major meat-producing countries, coupled with the fact that fewer people were eating out.
The pandemic “is hitting both the demand and supply sides for meat, as restaurant closures and reduced household incomes lead to lower consumption and labor shortages on the processing side are impacting just-in-time production systems in major livestock producing countries,” FAO senior economist Upali Galketi Aratchilage said.
Despite the trend, some staple foods have grown more costly as countries cut back on exports. Rice prices rose 7.2 percent in April because Vietnam limited how much it would ship abroad. Those restrictions have since been repealed.
Hundreds flock to mall after California counties defy governor’s order
Not too long ago, malls were thought to be dead. But when the Yuba Sutter Mall in Yuba City, Calif., opened its doors on Wednesday morning, hundreds showed up — just because they could.
“I’ve been on house arrest too long,” one visitor, Bob Lawson, told CBS 13. Another shopper, Joanne Doerter, told the Sacramento Bee that she drove four hours from her home near Fresno after learning that the mall would be the first in California to reopen.
“I’m excited for it to get back to some normalcy,” she said. “It feels great to be out among people.”
Three counties in rural Northern California — Sutter, Yuba and Modoc — have defied Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) stay-at-home order and started allowing some businesses to reopen in recent days. On Wednesday, most of the large chain stores at the Yuba Sutter Mall remained closed. But visitors were able to eat at the food court, get a massage, take their kids to play on the “Bungee Blast” or get their nails done, none of which would have been possible under Newsom’s order.
Some businesses that are open inside Yuba-Sutter Mall- defying the state’s #statathome order. Will social distancing protocols be enforced? pic.twitter.com/sJWDurmYJm
— Marissa Perlman (@MPerlmanNews) May 6, 2020
Many of those shoppers weren’t wearing masks, in violation of county regulations mandating that face coverings be worn inside stores, the Associated Press reported. A few hours after the mall reopened, Yuba-Sutter Public Health Officer Phuong Luu issued a stern warning to the local business community, saying that it had become clear that many merchants weren’t complying with sanitation and social distancing requirements.
“These were not suggestions,” Luu wrote.
Newsom said Tuesday that Yuba and Sutter counties were making a “big mistake” by allowing businesses like hair salons and tattoo parlors to reopen this week, and state regulators have ordered a handful of newly-reopened restaurants to shut down. While shoppers seemed thrilled to get back to the mall on Wednesday, not all employees were equally thrilled.
“Working here is scary. Too many people here are not wearing masks,” Mohammad Hossain, who works at a cellphone accessories kiosk in the mall, told the Bee.
Disproportionately black counties account for more than half of covid-19 cases in U.S., new study finds
Black people make up a disproportionate share of the population in 22 percent of U.S. counties, and those localities account for more than half of covid-19 cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths, a new national study by a national AIDS research group finds.
The study also found that socioeconomic factors such as employment status and access to health care were better predictors of infection and death rates than underlying health conditions.
Gregorio Millett, vice president of Amfar, the Foundation for AIDS Research, said the findings suggest that black people will be more vulnerable to the pandemic as states begin to or are poised to reopen businesses and public spaces.
McDonald’s customers shoot two employees over virus restrictions
The dining area at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma City had been closed because of safety precautions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But when two customers entered Wednesday evening and were informed of the rules, things got physical.
“They were asked to leave, and they refused and produced a gun,” Lt. Michelle Henderson, a spokeswoman for the city’s police department, told NBC News.
The incident, which left two employees in the hospital and another injured, marks the latest in a growing trend of violent incidents directed at employees trying to enforce social distancing measures. Over the weekend, a Family Dollar security guard was killed in Flint, Mich., after telling a customer that her child had to wear a face mask to enter the store.
Restaurants in Oklahoma City were allowed to open for dine-in service at the start of this month, after a local shelter-in-place order expired on April 30. But many businesses, including the McDonald’s, were implementing voluntary measures to contain the virus, and additional social distancing requirements were still in place.
One of the two customers pulled out a 9mm pistol, authorities told Fox News affiliate KOKH, and fired three rounds that hit two employees, one in the upper arm, the other in the shoulder, according to KOCO, the local ABC news station.
During the scuffle, a female McDonald’s employee was assaulted by one of the customers, KOKH reported, and suffered injuries from hitting her head on furniture in the dining area.
Police said the two male victims, whose injuries were not considered to be life-threatening, were taken to a nearby hospital. Two of the three employees who suffered injuries are 17 years old, according to NBC News.
At least one female suspect was taken into custody following the incident, authorities said.
The state of Oklahoma never issued formal restrictions on restaurants.
Strip clubs, payday lenders, lobbyists fight to get emergency federal loans
The Little Darlings strip club in Flint, Mich., was forced to turn off its stage lights and close its doors by the state’s stay-at-home order, but it failed to get a federal small-business emergency loan aimed at softening the financial blow from the pandemic.
Owners of Little Darlings, along with clubs such as Baby Dolls in Dallas and Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club in Philadelphia, said it was wrong that they were excluded from the more than $600 billion Paycheck Protection Program created by Congress and the Trump administration to try to save businesses and jobs during the coronavirus crisis.
SBA rules have long denied loans to businesses that “present live performances of a prurient sexual nature.” Until the pandemic, it didn’t really matter.
Read more here.
Disney is about to reopen its Shanghai theme park. It could be a lot longer before that happens in the U.S.
Sometimes what’s not said is more telling than what is.
When he was asked by Wall Street analysts Tuesday about the immediate future of his company’s theme parks, Walt Disney Co. chief executive Bob Chapek said that a plan to get people into Shanghai Disney Resort has been well underway — so much so that the park will reopen Monday with new safety measures.
But Chapek avoided nearly all talk of a timeline for a reopening of its U.S. locations during the coronavirus crisis, including major venues Disneyland in Southern California and Disney World in Central Florida. He said it was “too early to predict” such moves and used language such as, “We are evaluating a number of different scenarios to ensure a cautious, sensible and deliberate approach.”
Read more here.
Frontier Airlines abandons plan to sell $39 social distancing upgrade
Faced with widespread outrage from Democratic lawmakers, Frontier Airlines said Wednesday it was abandoning its plan to sell passengers a $39 upgrade that would guarantee they could sit next to an empty middle seat while flying during the coronavirus outbreak.
Prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill had criticized the program, scheduled to start Friday, saying it was taking advantage of people’s fear during the pandemic.
Airlines have been grappling with how to keep passengers and their employees safe during the pandemic. Many have taken steps to spread passengers out on board, but Frontier stood out for offering guaranteed social distancing as a paid-for upgrade.
Read more here.
Providence, R.I., mayor calls on residents to ‘socially shame’ people without masks
The mayor of Providence, R.I., is giving his constituents permission to publicly shame people who venture outside without a mask on.
During a Tuesday appearance on radio station WPRO, Mayor Jorge Elorza said that the city didn’t have enough police officers to make sure that people are wearing masks in public, or to break up large gatherings. As a result, he said, it was going to be up to residents to police their neighbors.
“You should socially shame them, so they fall in line,” he said.
The suggestion was immediately met with some pushback: Host Gene Valicenti pointed out that confronting strangers could easily go south, and eventually, “you’re going to come across the wrong guy.” But Elorza maintained that calling people out for not wearing a mask doesn’t have to be “a confrontational thing.”
“There’s a role for every person to play to make sure everyone else is a part of the solution,” he said.
While there’s some debate over whether shaming and guilt-tripping can be an effective way of getting people to comply with public health measures, Elorza’s comments came at a time when telling people to put on a mask is particularly fraught — and potentially dangerous.
On Friday, a security guard at a Family Dollar store in Michigan was shot after telling a customer that masks were required in the store, according to prosecutors. That same day, one Oklahoma city overturned an ordinance mandating masks inside stores and restaurants after workers tasked with enforcing the rule received threats of violence and physical abuse.
Trump says he will end all of Obamacare, though some administration officials warn caution amid pandemic
President Trump vowed Wednesday to completely “terminate” the Affordable Care Act, even as some administration officials have privately said that the coronavirus pandemic necessitates preserving some parts of the law.
“Obamacare, we run it really well,” he told reporters. “But running it great, it’s still lousy health care.”
Wednesday was the last day for his administration to change its legal position in a Supreme Court case challenging the law. Its position looks to end the plan in its entirety, The Washington Post’s Devlin Barrett reported, even though Trump has said he will preserve some of the measure’s most popular provisions.
Yet the president has not offered a plan to keep those popular provisions, such as guaranteed coverage for preexisting medical conditions, and the stakes have become only greater now.
As the nation’s health-care system struggles to deal with the coronavirus, Attorney General William P. Barr has privately said the administration should temper its opposition, leaving some parts of Obamacare intact.
The internal split among administration officials underscores growing tensions in the White House between pushing for normalcy and expressing caution, as the virus’s death toll surpasses 73,000 in the United States.
Also on Wednesday, Trump reversed course and said his White House coronavirus task force would “continue on indefinitely,” despite suggesting Tuesday that it might soon be disbanded.
Meanwhile, the Postal Service confirmed that a top donor to Trump and the Republican National Committee will be named the agency’s new head.
The Treasury Department and the Postal Service have been locked in negotiations over a piece of coronavirus legislation, on how the agency handles fees for delivering packages for customers like Amazon. (The company’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, owns The Post.)
‘We’re disease vectors’: Senators press for rapid coronavirus testing for lawmakers
The sense of gravity — and mortality — settled in this week as most senators returned for the first full sessions since they bolted out of the Capitol in late March ahead of the growing coronavirus pandemic here in Washington.
Now, after a couple of days back, there is a growing bipartisan consensus that members of Congress need to avoid becoming super-spreaders of the virus akin to soccer fans in Italy and Mardi Gras celebrants in New Orleans.
“Members of Congress would represent sort of a virus-spreading machine, coming in here to a coronavirus hot spot and then going home,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told reporters Tuesday.
Read more here.
Nearly half of all workers at one Utah business test positive after sick employees are told to report to work
A Utah business forced employees who tested positive for coronavirus to report to work, causing nearly half the staff to get sick, according to local officials.
The company wasn’t identified in a Monday notice from the Utah County Commission, which said that contact tracing had found that 68 cases within the county could be linked to just two businesses.
Both required employees with a confirmed coronavirus diagnosis to come into work, and also told other staffers who were exposed to the virus at work not to quarantine themselves. Consequently, the outbreak spread, and 48 percent of the workers at one company were infected.
“This is completely unacceptable,” the notice said.
County health officials have declined to name the offending businesses for privacy reasons, saying doing so could lead to the owners being targeted. They further justified their decision by saying that neither business interacts directly with the public, the Deseret News reported. But some politicians feel that information should be released to the public, or at least to local elected officials.
“I’ll tell you what, I’d hate to have groups of people out there picketing or doing something with the business, but I think we need to know what’s going on,” Utah County Commissioner Bill Lee told the paper.
The Utah Department of Health is conducting an investigation into both businesses, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. But since Utah County didn’t have a stay-at-home order in place when the transmission occurred, it’s unlikely that any action will be taken. Utah has not issued a statewide stay-at-home order.
Many people newly hospitalized in N.Y. were staying home, Cuomo says
Many coronavirus patients who were recently hospitalized in New York state had been staying home, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said Wednesday, a statistic he called “shocking."
At his daily briefing, Cuomo said that of 1,000 patients at hospitals across the state, 66 percent of new admissions came from people sheltering in place. The data is preliminary and does not include all admissions.
“This is a surprise. Overwhelmingly, the people were at home,” he said. “We thought maybe they were taking public transportation, and we’ve taken special precautions on public transportation, but actually no, because these people were literally at home.”
The next highest source of admissions came from nursing homes, at 18 percent. A much smaller fraction had been in other residential facilities, in jail or prison, or homeless before being taken to the hospital.
Of all 1,000 people hospitalized, most shared several other notable characteristics. A majority of the pool was made up of racial minorities, people in and around New York City, people who were not essential employees and those who were not working or traveling.
The findings came as a surprise to state health officials, who had predicted essential workers or others in high-risk situations, such as health-care workers or city staff, would make up most of the hospitalizations.
That offers a clue for the population at large, Cuomo said.
“Much of this comes down to what you do to protect yourself,” he added at the briefing. “Everything is closed down, government has done everything it could, society has done everything it could. Now it’s up to you.”
America’s coronavirus divide is reflected in two New Mexico mayors. One asked for a lockdown. The other defied orders.
GALLUP, N.M. — Louie Bonaguidi had been mayor of this tiny city set among high desert buttes and Native American reservations for just a matter of hours last week when the governor called.
“I want to congratulate you on your election,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told him. “And give my condolences, because we’re locking your city down.”
Bonaguidi was not disappointed to hear that state troopers would be deployed to blockade all roads into Gallup. He was relieved: This was the only way, he believed, to stop local hospitals from spinning out of control during a novel coronavirus outbreak that already had overwhelmed them.
Read more here.
Kizzmekia Corbett spent her life preparing for this moment. Can she create the vaccine to end a pandemic?
Halfway through the school year, Myrtis Bradsher found herself paying close attention to a little girl called Kizzy. She always looked sharp, with ribbons knotted to her ponytails and socks that matched every outfit. But it was the way she rushed to help other fourth-graders with classwork that really stood out. “She had so much knowledge,” the teacher recalled. “She knew something about everything.”
In 25 years at Oak Lane Elementary School in rural Hurdle Mills, N.C., Bradsher had not seen a child like her. Bradsher was one of a few black teachers, and Kizzy was a rare black student. At a parent-teacher conference, Bradsher pushed to give the girl the advantages she felt she deserved. “Look,” she recalled saying to her mother, Rhonda Brooks, “she’s so far above other children. We need to send her to a class for exceptional students. I need you to say we have your permission.”
Read more here.
New York doctor on the coronavirus front line says she was denied a green card
A sports medicine doctor who says she is volunteering on the front lines in New York during the coronavirus epidemic was denied a green card to be in the United States, she told CNN.
Julia Iafrate, an assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center who immigrated from Canada, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that she has lived in the United States for 13 years, completing a residency program and fellowship and getting a job in her field. She is one of the team physicians for the USA Ski Team and Columbia University Athletics, according to the university’s website.
“I was blindsided,” she said. “I was flabbergasted, and so was my immigration lawyer and so was my chair of my department and everyone else involved in this case. They ask you to be an expert in your field … and I am, and I’ve proven that time and time again.”
Iafrate, who plans to appeal the decision, told Cuomo that she feels helpless.
“I don’t know what I could have done better,” she said. “I don’t know what I could have done any differently. I’m putting my life on the line every day to do this.”
President Trump has increasingly tied the pandemic to the need to tighten borders, out of concern for spread of the virus and loss of jobs. He has previously said he wants to suspend all immigration to the country.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told CNN that it does not comment on decisions related to individual cases.
NFL provides teams with protocols for reopening facilities
The National Football League outlined for teams in a memo Wednesday the protocols by which facilities can be reopened once any applicable local restrictions related to the novel coronavirus are lifted.
The protocols for reopening teams’ facilities include temperature checks of employees and visitors, social distancing measures inside offices, the use of face coverings and the appointment of an infection control officer by each team. The league told teams that the protocols should be in place by May 15, after which teams will be advised when facilities can reopen.
Teams initially will be allowed to have half of their employees — not including players — in a facility on a given day, up to a maximum of 75 people, unless local restrictions require a lower number.
Read more here.