Here are some significant developments:
- Vermont reported zero covid-19 hospitalizations for first time since mid-March.
- New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) delivered a fiery defense of federal funding to states that have been hit hard by the coronavirus. “Stop abusing New York. Stop abusing New Jersey," Cuomo said at a briefing at the National Press Club after meeting with President Trump at the White House.
- House lawmakers cast the first-ever remote congressional floor votes Wednesday, albeit under a legal cloud after Republican leaders filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the arrangement.
- New research suggests the coronavirus outbreak began in the United States in mid-February — a conclusion that could change our understanding of how the virus spread here and how it has been fought.
- Small community hospitals in Southern California, some of the poorest in the state, have been flooded with Americans who have fallen ill and crossed the border from Mexico.
- Millennials are the unluckiest generation in U.S. history, according to a Post analysis. After accounting for pandemic, the average millennial has experienced slower economic growth since entering the workforce than any other generation, and they will bear that burden for the rest of their lives.
- Disney revealed plans to reopen its four theme parks in Florida in July with masks, temperature checks, smaller crowds and social distancing — and without the parades, fireworks shows or character meet-and-greets.
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Amtrak announces plan to cut up to 20 percent of staff
Amtrak is reducing up to 20 percent of its staff, the company said this week, as the coronavirus crisis wreaks havoc on the passenger railroad service and substantially cuts into its revenue.
The reductions will amount to 3,700 jobs. In an email to the company’s 18,500 workers, CEO William J. Flynn announced that the “essential adjustments” will be completed by October, saying the company will offer “incentives for separations and retirements before we resort to involuntary separations.”
“During the past few months, we have witnessed almost unimaginable change to our world — and also to our business,” Flynn said. “This reduction is necessary to ensure we have a sustainable Amtrak that can continue to make critical investments in our core and long-term growth strategies, while also keeping safety as our top priority.”
Read more here.
New Orleans pathologists find evidence that blood clots play key role in deaths
Researchers in New Orleans found evidence of a link between blood clots and fatalities in patients infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a new study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine on Wednesday.
Pathologists performed 10 autopsies on black victims killed by covid-19, the disease the virus causes, including men and women between the ages of 40 and 70, according to the study. The victims had each gone to the hospital after suffering a mild cough and fever for three days to one week before developing “respiratory decompensation or collapse” and struggling to breathe at home. Each patient had a preexisting condition that made them vulnerable to complications from covid-19, including hypertension, obesity, insulin-dependent type II diabetes and chronic kidney disease, the study said.
Patient X-rays found the telltale “ground-glass opacities” linked to acute respiratory distress syndrome, but the autopsies also uncovered clotting inside the lungs that researchers believe is specific to covid-19. The study suggests blood clots may have been a significant factor in the deaths.
“We found that the small vessels and capillaries in the lungs were obstructed by blood clots and associated hemorrhage that significantly contributed to decompensation and death in these patients,” senior author Richard Vander Heide, a physician, professor and director of pathology research at Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Medicine, said in a statement.
But the researchers did not find inflammation in heart tissue, which doctors had believed contributed to death in covid-19 patients early in the pandemic.
Black patients have suffered more negative outcomes and are disproportionately represented among coronavirus deaths in the United States, which surpassed 100,000 Wednesday. Meanwhile, many doctors have been reporting cases of strange clotting in covid-19 patients, even in some people taking anticoagulants, The Washington Post reported last month.
The LSU researchers hope their study will guide doctors treating patients who may be likely to develop blood clots, especially in vulnerable minority populations disproportionately impacted by the virus.
“The key implications of our study include the discovery of a mechanism for severe pathology within the African American population, likely extendable to all persons with severe disease, and possibly a target for immediate therapeutic management,” Vander Heide said. “Management of these patients should include therapy to target these pathologic mechanisms.”
Pa. state Democratic lawmakers say GOP withheld a member’s diagnosis for a week
Democratic state lawmakers in Pennsylvania accused their Republican colleagues Wednesday of withholding a member’s positive coronavirus test for a week, saying they found out only after he publicly acknowledged the diagnosis.
State Rep. Andrew Lewis, a Republican from Dauphin County, released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying he tested positive on May 20. He said he immediately went into self-isolation and informed House officials, who traced his close contacts. He was last at the state Capitol on May 14, he said.
The news came as a shock to state Democrats, who accused Republican leaders of leaving them in the dark for days and potentially exposing them to the deadly virus.
“While we are pleased to learn that this House member seems to have recovered, it is simply unacceptable that some House Republicans knew about this for more than a week and sat on that knowledge,” House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody told PennLive.
At least one of Lewis’s fellow Republicans, Rep. Russ Diamond, confirmed he was contacted and was asked to self-quarantine, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
State Rep. Dan Frankel, a Democrat, said in a statement that two other Republicans were told to self-quarantine in addition to Diamond and Lewis.
“My Democratic colleagues and I have fended off a litany of attempts to degrade public health protections while Republican members were personally flouting the rules by refusing to wear masks,” Frankel said. “All the while, some Republican members knew that their own membership had been exposed to covid-19, and they chose to keep that information secret.”
A spokesman for House Republicans, Mike Straub, said GOP officials followed state and federal health guidelines for businesses that want to operate during pandemic restrictions. He declined to say which lawmakers were notified or how many.
“Anyone who met those guidelines was notified and quarantined,” Straub told The Washington Post in an email.
Public-health experts share what they will — and won’t — do this summer
Summer during a pandemic brings new questions about what’s safe and how to best protect ourselves.
Is it okay to go to a public pool? Travel by plane? Stay in a hotel? Send a kid to camp?
The Washington Post asked three public health experts what they and their families will — and won’t — do this summer, and what precautions they will take.
Read more here.
Nine Amazon employees in Colo. test positive, adding to company’s health concerns
Nine employees at an Amazon distribution center in Aurora, Colo., this week tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the latest cluster of infections to hit the e-commerce giant.
The outbreak at the Amazon facility was announced Wednesday on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s website and reported by the Denver Post.
An estimated 1,000 Amazon employees nationwide have tested positive since the virus took hold in the United States about three months ago. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Last week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that at least 32 workers at the Amazon campus in Kenosha, Wis., had contracted the virus in the past two months. The county health officer threatened to shut down the facility if the company did not fully cooperate with an investigation.
In April, at least 48 employees at a fulfillment center in Edison, N.J., were stricken, NJ.com reported.
With a surge in online orders from consumers worldwide following stay-at-home guidelines, Amazon reported $75 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 26 percent increase, and a net profit of $2.5 billion.
Bezos said on April 30 that the company would spend about $4 billion in the subsequent quarter on “covid-related expenses, getting products to customers and keeping employees safe” by purchasing personal protective equipment and increasing cleaning efforts.
Paramedics must constantly weigh whether to put on more protective N95 masks or conserve them
One view reflects nationwide reality: With limited supplies of virus-blocking N95 face masks, paramedics responding to 911 calls should limit their use to the most contagious of settings. The other view, from paramedics told to use a less-effective mask in the tight confines of an ambulance next to a coughing patient, is just as compelling.
And where these views collide — as seen in the operations of one large Maryland fire department — remains a daily source of tension for first responders battling the pandemic.
“We’re all kind of on the edge with this thing,” said TJ Brennan, a Montgomery County paramedic, firefighter and vice president of the firefighters union. “There is always a lot of risk associated with our jobs, like a building fire. But this is different. A building fire can't come home with us and hurt our families.”
Read more here.
Washington state loosens rules on in-person religious gatherings
With religious groups across the country pushing to resume in-person worship, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on Wednesday said he would ease restrictions on faith-based gatherings as part of the state’s reopening plan.
Under new guidelines from the governor, religious groups can hold outdoor services on their property with up to 100 people during the first phase of reopening.
In the second phase, religious groups can hold services inside places of worship at 25 percent capacity or with up to 50 people, whichever is less. In-home services and counseling will be allowed with up to five people, according to the guidelines.
Speaking in a news conference, Inslee noted that faith-based gatherings had been the source of multiple disease clusters, and urged residents to continue to worship remotely or in drive-in services if possible.
“We know that people treasure religious gatherings,” Inslee said, “so this has been a difficult issue of how we simultaneously defeat this virus and maintain our congregations.”
Inslee stressed that church staff and parishioners need to keep wearing face masks and practicing social distancing. He said churches should clean frequently, screen employees for symptoms and provide personal protective equipment to employees.
Washington state has reported at least 1,095 deaths from the coronavirus and 20,400 confirmed cases.
In the early weeks of the pandemic in the United States, a church in the Seattle area became the site of a major coronavirus outbreak that underscored the risks of large gatherings at houses of worship. Two people died and at least 45 fell ill after attending a March 10 choir practice for the Skagit Valley Chorale in Mount Vernon, Wash.
For a numbers-obsessed Trump, there’s one he has tried to ignore: 100,000 dead
President Trump has spent his life in thrall to numbers — his wealth, his ratings, his polls. Even during the deadly coronavirus pandemic, he has remained fixated on certain metrics — peppering aides about infection statistics, favoring rosy projections and obsessing over the gyrating stock market.
But as the nation reached a bleak milestone this week — 100,000 Americans dead from the novel coronavirus — Trump has been uncharacteristically silent. His public schedule this week contains no special commemoration, no moment of silence, no collective sharing of grief.
Instead, Trump’s most direct comments so far on the number came in a pair of tweets Tuesday, amounting to a preemptive rebuttal. “For all of the political hacks out there, if I hadn’t done my job well, & early, we would have lost 1 1/2 to 2 Million People, as opposed to the 100,000 plus that looks like will be the number,” he wrote. “That’s 15 to 20 times more than we will lose.”
Read more here.
House casts first-ever remote vote as Republicans wage constitutional challenge
House lawmakers cast the first-ever remote congressional floor votes Wednesday, albeit under a legal cloud after Republican leaders filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the arrangement.
The new system of voting by proxy was pushed forward by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and fellow Democratic leaders this month as a temporary measure, they said, that would allow lawmakers’ full participation during the global coronavirus pandemic, which has made travel and in-person meetings hazardous.
Several Democrats have fretted about the House’s effectiveness as the outbreak has sidelined lawmakers while other parts of the federal government have adapted to the new reality and the Senate, with fewer members, has returned to Washington to vote on nominations and legislation.
Read more here.
Missing the excitement of a sports stadium crowd? In Japan, there’s an app for that.
TOKYO — With sports resuming around the world in empty stadiums, organizers are faced with a new dilemma: how to re-create the excitement and atmosphere of a regular match day without the passion and crowd noise generated by thousands of fans.
Japan may have the answer with a “Remote Cheerer” app that will allow housebound fans to root for — or heckle — their teams from the comfort of their couches.
The cheers and jeers will then be broadcast into the stadiums through loudspeakers during matches, bringing a little dose of their adulation and frustration back to the players.
Read more here.
Wyoming cancels famed summer rodeos, despite low rate of coronavirus cases
Despite one of the lowest number of coronavirus cases in the country, Wyoming will not hold its six biggest rodeos this summer, including the storied Sheridan WYO Rodeo.
“Every possible option was considered,” Sheridan officials announced Wednesday. “We came to the conclusion that it would be far too risky for our friends and neighbors to move forward this summer. This decision was not easily made.
“We could not ignore the potential for serious health consequences or, equally as damaging, reversing the progress we’ve made in reopening local businesses.”
Wyoming has reported 860 cases — one of five states with fewer than 1,000 — and 14 deaths. However, the rodeos and accompanying festivities lasting several days attract thousands of visitors from across the country.
Sheridan WYO Rodeo was last canceled in 1943, during World War II. Cheyenne Frontier Days, billed as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Rodeo and Western Celebration,” had been held uninterrupted since 1897.
Others affected are Thermopolis Cowboy Rendezvous, Cody Stampede, Central Wyoming Fair & PRCA Rodeo in Casper, and Laramie Jubilee Days.
“This hurts,” Gov. Mark Gordon (R) said, according to Wyoming News Now. “I grew up with rodeo and it is part of Wyoming’s fabric and our culture. … The financial and emotional impacts are immense. But it’s the right thing to do.”
Joe Biden says 100,000 death toll could have been averted if Trump administration acted sooner
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke in a solemn tone as he marked the death toll from the coronavirus reaching 100,000 in the United States, a moment he argued could have been averted if President Trump’s administration had acted sooner.
“There are moments in our history so grim, so heart-rending, they are forever fixed in each of our hearts as shared grief. Today is one of those moments,” Biden said in a video posted online. He spoke from a converted basement TV studio inside his Delaware home.
He added, “It’s made all the worse by knowing that this is a fateful milestone we should have never reached, that could have been avoided.”
The former vice president, speaking in a low voice, sought to convey empathy to people who have lost loved ones to the pandemic. He alluded to personal tragedies he has endured over the years — his then-wife and infant daughter died in a car crash in 1972 and his son Beau died of brain cancer at age 46 in 2015 — as he aimed the end the video on an encouraging note.
“I know there’s nothing I or anyone else can say or do to dull the sharpness of the pain you feel right now,” Biden said. “But I can promise you from experience, the day will come when the memory of your loved one will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes.” As he spoke, Biden pointed with his forefinger then balled his hand into a fist.
California hospitals overwhelmed by virus patients from Mexico
EL CENTRO, Calif. — When Manuel Ochoa started feeling sick — his body sore, his breathing restricted — he drove from his mother’s home in Mexicali, Mexico, to the U.S. border.
The 65-year-old retiree parked his car at the international bridge and tried to drag himself to the country where he has permanent residency, and where his health insurance is valid. Just before he approached the Border Patrol checkpoint, he collapsed in the sun. That’s when U.S. immigration officials made a call that has become increasingly common during the coronavirus outbreak: for an ambulance to transport a U.S. citizen or resident from the Mexican border to the nearest American hospital.
As Mexico’s health-care system has strained under the coronavirus, small community hospitals in Southern California, some of the poorest in the state, have been flooded with Americans who have fallen ill and crossed the border. They are retirees and dual citizens, Americans working in Mexico or visiting family there.
Read more here.
Vermont reports zero covid-19 hospitalizations for first time since mid-March
The Vermont Department of Health said Wednesday that for the first time in more than two months there were no covid-19 patients in Vermont hospitals, marking a milestone in the state’s efforts to contain the novel coronavirus.
Not since mid-March, when health officials started tallying coronavirus-related hospitalizations, has the number been zero, according to department spokesman Ben Truman.
“It’s excellent news,” Truman told The Washington Post. “We’re very fortunate.”
Vermont, the second-smallest state in the country by population, has reported 971 confirmed cases and 54 deaths attributed to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Infections peaked in early April, with 72 cases in a single day, and have tapered down to the single digits over the past several weeks. The state last reported a death from covid-19 on May 17, according to The Post’s tracking.
Truman said officials were “cautiously optimistic” about their progress.
“We’re surrounded by states that are improving, and we’re ahead of the game,” he said. “But the rules can change quickly, and that’s the trick.”
He said that while infections and fatalities in Vermont were relatively low compared with other states, “the toll is the same for friends, neighbors and family.”
As the pandemic struck, Gov. Phil Scott (R) declared a state of emergency on March 13. He issued a stay-at-home order less than two weeks later. A gradual reopening began in late April.
On Wednesday, with the number of new cases flat, Scott announced plans to ease restrictions on large gatherings by the end of the week, raising the limit from 10 people to 25.
Vermont also recently expanded testing, opening 20 new pop-up sites where asymptomatic people can have specimens collected. Most sites can handle about 100 tests per day, according to Truman, and typically have results turned around within 24 hours.