https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/america-was-unprepared-for-a-major-crisis-again/2020/04/04/df85c0da-75d9-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html
By Dan Balz
April 4, 2020 at 6:09 p.m. EDT
•••••
“We always wait for the crisis to happen,” said Leon Panetta, who served in government as secretary of defense, director of the CIA, White House chief of staff, director of the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the House. “I know the human failings we’re dealing with, but the responsibility of people elected to these jobs is to make sure we are not caught unawares.”
In interviews over the past two weeks, senior officials from administrations of both parties, many with firsthand experience in dealing with major crises, suggest that the president and his administration have fallen short of nearly every standard a government should try to meet.
•••••
Leadership is important, and President Trump will have on his record what he did and didn’t do in the early stages of this particular crisis. But the problems go far broader and deeper than what a president does. Lack of planning and preparation contribute, but so too does bureaucratic inertia as well as fear among career officials of taking risks. Turnover in personnel robs government of historical knowledge and expertise. The process of policymaking-on-the-fly is less robust than it once was. Politics, too, gets in the way.
Long ago, this was far less the case, a time when the United States projected competence and confidence around the globe, said Philip Zelikow, a professor at the University of Virginia who served in five administrations and was executive director of the 9/11 Commission.
“America had the reputation of being non-ideological, super pragmatic, problem solvers, par excellence,” he said. “This image of the United States was an earned image, of people seeing America do almost a wondrous series of things. . . . We became known as the can-do country. If you contrast that with the image of the U.S. today, it’s kind of depressing.”
•••••
Andrew H. Card Jr. was secretary of transportation in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida and there was criticism of the federal response, Bush tapped Card to go to Florida and take charge. He spent seven weeks there.
He found resistance within the bureaucracy to bend the rules. “I found that FEMA is a great organization, but they were all afraid to do things that weren’t, quote, by the book,” Card said. “FEMA was always being challenged . . . second-guessed after a disaster.”
•••••
Lack of integration — public health with emergency management with economic assistance — across the government creates other obstacles. So too does turnover in personnel or vacancies in key positions, which has been a continuing problem particularly in this administration.
“If you do not have people who do not remember the lessons learned and you don’t have people who have navigated these enough to have relationships across the government, you can be hampered,” said Mark Harvey, former senior director for resilience policy at the National Security Council. “You never want to be exchanging business cards at a disaster scene.”
•••••
Success goes beyond a president’s capacity to engage and move the bureaucracy. A top-down system inhibits quick action when needed. Experts in disaster management suggest that a functional system empowers officials farther down in the government to act without having been ordered to do so. Coordination must be at higher levels of government; response should be at a much lower level.
Tuesday, April 07, 2020
Supreme Court blocks Wisconsin from extending absentee voting deadline
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/491466-supreme-court-blocks-wisconsin-from-extending-absentee-voting
By John Kruzel - 04/06/20 07:20 PM EDT
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night ruled that Wisconsin cannot accept absentee ballots postmarked after its voting day Tuesday.
In a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the conservative justices sided with Republican state lawmakers by halting a lower court order to extend absentee voting to April 13, a measure that would have expanded options for avoiding in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
•••••
The decision came just hours after the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) executive order to postpone Tuesday’s vote, sowing confusion and chaos around a critical election featuring a Democratic presidential primary and a pivotal state Supreme Court seat.
Evers had sought to push back the in-person voting date until June 9 and said that all mail and absentee ballots sent up to that date would be counted.
But the pair of rulings from the top federal court and highest Wisconsin state court on Monday largely returned things to the status quo, with in-person voting and a postmark deadline set for the following day, despite a flurry of last-minute legal and political wrangling and a virus that has infected some 2,500 and killed nearly 80 in the state.
Ballots that are postmarked by Tuesday may be accepted up to April 13, wrote the majority, which comprised Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
•••••
By John Kruzel - 04/06/20 07:20 PM EDT
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night ruled that Wisconsin cannot accept absentee ballots postmarked after its voting day Tuesday.
In a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the conservative justices sided with Republican state lawmakers by halting a lower court order to extend absentee voting to April 13, a measure that would have expanded options for avoiding in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
•••••
The decision came just hours after the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) executive order to postpone Tuesday’s vote, sowing confusion and chaos around a critical election featuring a Democratic presidential primary and a pivotal state Supreme Court seat.
Evers had sought to push back the in-person voting date until June 9 and said that all mail and absentee ballots sent up to that date would be counted.
But the pair of rulings from the top federal court and highest Wisconsin state court on Monday largely returned things to the status quo, with in-person voting and a postmark deadline set for the following day, despite a flurry of last-minute legal and political wrangling and a virus that has infected some 2,500 and killed nearly 80 in the state.
Ballots that are postmarked by Tuesday may be accepted up to April 13, wrote the majority, which comprised Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.
•••••
Monday, April 06, 2020
Cytokine storm
https://www.newscientist.com/term/cytokine-storm/
By Alison George
Diseases such as covid-19 and influenza can be fatal due to an overreaction of the body’s immune system called a cytokine storm.
•••••
Sometimes the body’s response to infection can go into overdrive. For example, when SARS -CoV-2 – the virus behind the covid-19 pandemic – enters the lungs, it triggers an immune response, attracting immune cells to the region to attack the virus, resulting in localised inflammation. But in some patients, excessive or uncontrolled levels of cytokines are released which then activate more immune cells, resulting in hyperinflammation. This can seriously harm or even kill the patient.
Cytokine storms are a common complication not only of covid-19 and flu but of other respiratory diseases caused by coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS. They are also associated with non-infectious diseases such as multiple sclerosis and pancreatitis.
•••••
By Alison George
Diseases such as covid-19 and influenza can be fatal due to an overreaction of the body’s immune system called a cytokine storm.
•••••
Sometimes the body’s response to infection can go into overdrive. For example, when SARS -CoV-2 – the virus behind the covid-19 pandemic – enters the lungs, it triggers an immune response, attracting immune cells to the region to attack the virus, resulting in localised inflammation. But in some patients, excessive or uncontrolled levels of cytokines are released which then activate more immune cells, resulting in hyperinflammation. This can seriously harm or even kill the patient.
Cytokine storms are a common complication not only of covid-19 and flu but of other respiratory diseases caused by coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS. They are also associated with non-infectious diseases such as multiple sclerosis and pancreatitis.
•••••
COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments for Social Security Beneficiaries
https://blog.ssa.gov/commissioner-of-social-security-shares-update-about-covid-19-economic-impact-payments-for-beneficiaries/
Commissioner of Social Security Shares Update about COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments for Beneficiaries
Posted on April 3, 2020 by Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
•••••
The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) announced on April 1 that Social Security beneficiaries who are not typically required to file tax returns will not need to file an abbreviated tax return to receive an economic impact payment. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will use the information on the Form SSA-1099 to generate $1,200 economic impact payments to Social Security beneficiaries who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019.
Treasury, not Social Security, will make automatic payments to Social Security beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will receive these payments by direct deposit or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their Social Security benefits.
For updates from the IRS, visit their web page.
•••••
Please note that we will not consider economic impact payments as income for SSI recipients
[So you would not list this as income when you file your 2020 taxes]
•••••
Commissioner of Social Security Shares Update about COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments for Beneficiaries
Posted on April 3, 2020 by Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
•••••
The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) announced on April 1 that Social Security beneficiaries who are not typically required to file tax returns will not need to file an abbreviated tax return to receive an economic impact payment. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will use the information on the Form SSA-1099 to generate $1,200 economic impact payments to Social Security beneficiaries who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019.
Treasury, not Social Security, will make automatic payments to Social Security beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will receive these payments by direct deposit or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their Social Security benefits.
For updates from the IRS, visit their web page.
•••••
Please note that we will not consider economic impact payments as income for SSI recipients
[So you would not list this as income when you file your 2020 taxes]
•••••
What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage
https://marker.medium.com/what-everyones-getting-wrong-about-the-toilet-paper-shortage-c812e1358fe0
Will Oremus
Apr 2, 2020
Around the world, in countries afflicted with the coronavirus, stores are sold out of toilet paper. There have been shortages in Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And we all know who to blame: hoarders and panic-buyers.
Well, not so fast.
•••••
No doubt there’s been some panic-buying, particularly once photos of empty store shelves began circulating on social media. There have also been a handful of documented cases of true hoarding. But you don’t need to assume that most consumers are greedy or irrational to understand how coronavirus would spur a surge in demand. And you can stop wondering where in the world people are storing all that Quilted Northern.
There’s another, entirely logical explanation for why stores have run out of toilet paper — one that has gone oddly overlooked in the vast majority of media coverage. It has nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with supply chains. It helps to explain why stores are still having trouble keeping it in stock, weeks after they started limiting how many a customer could purchase.
In short, the toilet paper industry is split into two, largely separate markets: commercial and consumer. The pandemic has shifted the lion’s share of demand to the latter. People actually do need to buy significantly more toilet paper during the pandemic — not because they’re making more trips to the bathroom, but because they’re making more of them at home. With some 75% of the U.S. population under stay-at-home orders, Americans are no longer using the restrooms at their workplace, in schools, at restaurants, at hotels, or in airports.
•••••
Talk to anyone in the industry, and they’ll tell you the toilet paper made for the commercial market is a fundamentally different product from the toilet paper you buy in the store. It comes in huge rolls, too big to fit on most home dispensers. The paper itself is thinner and more utilitarian. It comes individually wrapped and is shipped on huge pallets, rather than in brightly branded packs of six or 12.
“Not only is it not the same product, but it often doesn’t come from the same mills,” added Jim Luke, a professor of economics at Lansing Community College, who once worked as head of planning for a wholesale paper distributor. “So for instance, Procter & Gamble [which owns Charmin] is huge in the retail consumer market. But it doesn’t play in the institutional market at all.”
Georgia-Pacific, which sells to both markets, told me its commercial products also use more recycled fiber, while the retail sheets for its consumer brands Angel Soft and Quilted Northern are typically 100% virgin fiber. Eric Abercrombie, a spokesman for the company, said it has seen demand rise on the retail side, while it expects a decline in the “away-from-home activity” that drives its business-to-business sales.
•••••
“The normal distribution system is like a well-orchestrated ballet,” said Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School. “If you make a delivery to a Walmart distribution center, they give you a half-hour window, and your truck has to show up then.” The changes wrought by the coronavirus, he said, “have thrown the whole thing out of balance, and everything has to readjust.”
While toilet paper is an extreme case, similar dynamics are likely to temporarily disrupt supplies of other goods, too — even if no one’s hoarding or panic-buying. The CEO of a fruit and vegetable supplier told NPR’s Weekend Edition that schools and restaurants are canceling their banana orders, while grocery stores are selling out and want more. The problem is that the bananas he sells to schools and restaurants are “petite” and sold loose in boxes of 150, whereas grocery store bananas are larger and sold in bunches. Beer companies face a similar challenge converting commercial keg sales to retail cans and bottles.
•••••
In the meantime, some enterprising restaurateurs have begun selling their excess supplies of toilet paper, alcohol, and other basics. Last week I picked up takeout at a local restaurant with a side of toilet paper and bananas. The toilet paper was thin and individually wrapped. The bananas were puny. They’ll do just fine.
Will Oremus
Apr 2, 2020
Around the world, in countries afflicted with the coronavirus, stores are sold out of toilet paper. There have been shortages in Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And we all know who to blame: hoarders and panic-buyers.
Well, not so fast.
•••••
No doubt there’s been some panic-buying, particularly once photos of empty store shelves began circulating on social media. There have also been a handful of documented cases of true hoarding. But you don’t need to assume that most consumers are greedy or irrational to understand how coronavirus would spur a surge in demand. And you can stop wondering where in the world people are storing all that Quilted Northern.
There’s another, entirely logical explanation for why stores have run out of toilet paper — one that has gone oddly overlooked in the vast majority of media coverage. It has nothing to do with psychology and everything to do with supply chains. It helps to explain why stores are still having trouble keeping it in stock, weeks after they started limiting how many a customer could purchase.
In short, the toilet paper industry is split into two, largely separate markets: commercial and consumer. The pandemic has shifted the lion’s share of demand to the latter. People actually do need to buy significantly more toilet paper during the pandemic — not because they’re making more trips to the bathroom, but because they’re making more of them at home. With some 75% of the U.S. population under stay-at-home orders, Americans are no longer using the restrooms at their workplace, in schools, at restaurants, at hotels, or in airports.
•••••
Talk to anyone in the industry, and they’ll tell you the toilet paper made for the commercial market is a fundamentally different product from the toilet paper you buy in the store. It comes in huge rolls, too big to fit on most home dispensers. The paper itself is thinner and more utilitarian. It comes individually wrapped and is shipped on huge pallets, rather than in brightly branded packs of six or 12.
“Not only is it not the same product, but it often doesn’t come from the same mills,” added Jim Luke, a professor of economics at Lansing Community College, who once worked as head of planning for a wholesale paper distributor. “So for instance, Procter & Gamble [which owns Charmin] is huge in the retail consumer market. But it doesn’t play in the institutional market at all.”
Georgia-Pacific, which sells to both markets, told me its commercial products also use more recycled fiber, while the retail sheets for its consumer brands Angel Soft and Quilted Northern are typically 100% virgin fiber. Eric Abercrombie, a spokesman for the company, said it has seen demand rise on the retail side, while it expects a decline in the “away-from-home activity” that drives its business-to-business sales.
•••••
“The normal distribution system is like a well-orchestrated ballet,” said Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School. “If you make a delivery to a Walmart distribution center, they give you a half-hour window, and your truck has to show up then.” The changes wrought by the coronavirus, he said, “have thrown the whole thing out of balance, and everything has to readjust.”
While toilet paper is an extreme case, similar dynamics are likely to temporarily disrupt supplies of other goods, too — even if no one’s hoarding or panic-buying. The CEO of a fruit and vegetable supplier told NPR’s Weekend Edition that schools and restaurants are canceling their banana orders, while grocery stores are selling out and want more. The problem is that the bananas he sells to schools and restaurants are “petite” and sold loose in boxes of 150, whereas grocery store bananas are larger and sold in bunches. Beer companies face a similar challenge converting commercial keg sales to retail cans and bottles.
•••••
In the meantime, some enterprising restaurateurs have begun selling their excess supplies of toilet paper, alcohol, and other basics. Last week I picked up takeout at a local restaurant with a side of toilet paper and bananas. The toilet paper was thin and individually wrapped. The bananas were puny. They’ll do just fine.
Sunday, April 05, 2020
There’s Nothing Generous About Putin’s Coronavirus Aid to US
https://news.yahoo.com/nothing-generous-putin-coronavirus-aid-155235463.html
Julia Davis
,The Daily Beast•April 3, 2020
•••••
State media outlet RIA Novosti reported that Putin dispatched a planeload of “disinfectants, glasses, respirators, masks and equipment.” Kremlin-funded RT (formerly Russia Today) described it as “a gift from the Kremlin to its coronavirus-stricken rival.”
Not quite. The U.S. Department of State said that this “gift” was actually a purchase of “needed medical supplies, including ventilators and personal protection equipment, from Russia.” Maria Zakharova, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, specified that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) paid for half of the shipment.
The semi-generous gesture is indeed somewhat of an investment, providing a possible excuse to Trump if he moves to lift U.S. sanctions against Russia, imposed for its unlawful annexation of Crimea, covert military activities in Ukraine, attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the downing of the Malaysian aircraft MH-17, and U.S. election interference.
The ventilators provided by Russia, as it happens, were manufactured by a subsidiary of a company that is currently under U.S. sanctions. Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies is a holding company within the Russian state-owned Rostec group.
•••••
What the Russians want their people to believe is that they have a handle on the pandemic, and they’re going to emerge as the great victors when the COVID-19 crisis eventually subsides.
Thus they portray America’s failure to contain the disease as the collapse of the entire democratic system of government.
•••••
Julia Davis
,The Daily Beast•April 3, 2020
•••••
State media outlet RIA Novosti reported that Putin dispatched a planeload of “disinfectants, glasses, respirators, masks and equipment.” Kremlin-funded RT (formerly Russia Today) described it as “a gift from the Kremlin to its coronavirus-stricken rival.”
Not quite. The U.S. Department of State said that this “gift” was actually a purchase of “needed medical supplies, including ventilators and personal protection equipment, from Russia.” Maria Zakharova, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, specified that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) paid for half of the shipment.
The semi-generous gesture is indeed somewhat of an investment, providing a possible excuse to Trump if he moves to lift U.S. sanctions against Russia, imposed for its unlawful annexation of Crimea, covert military activities in Ukraine, attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the downing of the Malaysian aircraft MH-17, and U.S. election interference.
The ventilators provided by Russia, as it happens, were manufactured by a subsidiary of a company that is currently under U.S. sanctions. Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies is a holding company within the Russian state-owned Rostec group.
•••••
What the Russians want their people to believe is that they have a handle on the pandemic, and they’re going to emerge as the great victors when the COVID-19 crisis eventually subsides.
Thus they portray America’s failure to contain the disease as the collapse of the entire democratic system of government.
•••••
President Trump says US to deploy 1,000 military personnel to New York City to battle coronaviru
https://news.yahoo.com/president-trump-says-us-deploy-205827116.html
Michael Collins
,USA TODAY•April 4, 2020
President Donald Trump said Saturday he is deploying 1,000 medical personnel to New York City to help battle the coronavirus.
Personnel to be deployed will include doctors, nurses, respiratory specialists and others, Trump announced at a White House news briefing on Saturday.
“We've been doing it, but now we're doing it on a larger basis,” Trump said.
Trump did not say from which branches of the services the officials will be deployed. But he said they will be sent Sunday and Monday to New York, “where they’re needed most.”
•••••
Trump’s decision to deploy additional military personnel comes as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus marched to another record-setting pace early Saturday, with nearly 1,200 deaths in 24 hours as federal emergency workers tried to answer desperate pleas for respirators from dozens of states.
The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. has now topped 297,600, and 8,000 deaths have been reported. Worldwide, more than 1.7 million cases have been confirmed and 63,000 deaths reported.
•••••
Meanwhile, New York said it is getting 1,000 life-saving ventilators from China to aid its battle against the virus. The ventilators were expected to arrive Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at a news conference on Saturday. The Chinese government facilitated the effort connected to Alibaba, the massive online retailer in China, Cuomo said.
Another 500 of the breathing machines will be moved from upstate New York to downstate hospitals being hit hardest by the disease, Cuomo said.
New York has been at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. Cuomo has said he needs 30,000 ventilators "at a minimum" to meet the peak of the outbreak in his state in a couple of weeks. Trump has said he doesn’t believe the state needs that many.
Michael Collins
,USA TODAY•April 4, 2020
President Donald Trump said Saturday he is deploying 1,000 medical personnel to New York City to help battle the coronavirus.
Personnel to be deployed will include doctors, nurses, respiratory specialists and others, Trump announced at a White House news briefing on Saturday.
“We've been doing it, but now we're doing it on a larger basis,” Trump said.
Trump did not say from which branches of the services the officials will be deployed. But he said they will be sent Sunday and Monday to New York, “where they’re needed most.”
•••••
Trump’s decision to deploy additional military personnel comes as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus marched to another record-setting pace early Saturday, with nearly 1,200 deaths in 24 hours as federal emergency workers tried to answer desperate pleas for respirators from dozens of states.
The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. has now topped 297,600, and 8,000 deaths have been reported. Worldwide, more than 1.7 million cases have been confirmed and 63,000 deaths reported.
•••••
Meanwhile, New York said it is getting 1,000 life-saving ventilators from China to aid its battle against the virus. The ventilators were expected to arrive Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at a news conference on Saturday. The Chinese government facilitated the effort connected to Alibaba, the massive online retailer in China, Cuomo said.
Another 500 of the breathing machines will be moved from upstate New York to downstate hospitals being hit hardest by the disease, Cuomo said.
New York has been at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. Cuomo has said he needs 30,000 ventilators "at a minimum" to meet the peak of the outbreak in his state in a couple of weeks. Trump has said he doesn’t believe the state needs that many.
Germany and France accuse US of taking face masks as international tensions rise
https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-germany-france-accuse-us-125611845.html
A few days ago, I heard Trump say he was asking other countries to help us with Covid-19 supplies. Now our country does this. Not the way to encourage others to help us.
Colin Drury
,The Independent•April 4, 2020
Andreas Geisel, Germany’s interior minister, claimed the US had confiscated 200,000 masks ordered from a US producer as they transited through Thailand.
Politicians in Berlin and Paris both said America had been using unfair means to undermine their own attempts to secure personal protective equipment.
Andreas Geisel, Germany’s interior minister, claimed the US had confiscated 200,000 masks ordered from a US producer as they transited through Thailand.
“We view this as an act of modern piracy,” he said on Friday. “You cannot act in such a way among transatlantic partners. Such wild west methods can’t dominate, even in a time of global crisis.”
A city leader in Paris, meanwhile, said unidentified Americans had paid excessive prices to secure Chinese-made masks that had already been ordered by France.
•••••
She did not say whether the people involved were government officials, company representatives or private individuals.
But the US embassy in Paris said suggestions that the White House may have been involved in were “completely false”.
[The Trump administration has not given people any reason to believe what they say.]
•••••
Mayor of Georgia coastal town assails governor's 'reckless mandate' to reopen the state's beaches
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/tybee-island-georgia-beaches-open/index.html
By Raja Razek and Ralph Ellis, CNN
Updated 10:36 PM ET, Sat April 4, 2020
Tybee Island, one of Georgia's most popular vacation destinations, depends on beachgoers to keep the town's economy alive.
But in an effort to curb the coronavirus, the city council voted to close the beaches March 20. The town went so far as to put up barricades and signs to keep beachgoers away.
The town's good intentions were upended on Thursday when [republican] Gov. Brian P. Kemp issued a statewide shelter-in-place executive order which supersedes all local orders relating to coronavirus -- and also opened up the state's beaches.
The governor put Tybee Island back in the beach business -- whether the town liked it or not.
Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions fired back on Saturday, issuing a statement saying she and the town council don't want the beaches reopened now.
"As the Pentagon ordered 100,000 body bags to store the corpses of Americans killed by the Coronavirus, Governor Brian Kemp dictated that Georgia beaches must reopen, and declared any decision-makers who refused to follow these orders would face prison and/or fines," Sessions' statement read.
•••••
Kemp has already already been criticized for issuing his executive order so late in the game.
He explained he and state officials were just "finding out that this virus is now transmitting before people see signs," despite publicly available findings that have circulated for weeks about such risks.
By Raja Razek and Ralph Ellis, CNN
Updated 10:36 PM ET, Sat April 4, 2020
Tybee Island, one of Georgia's most popular vacation destinations, depends on beachgoers to keep the town's economy alive.
But in an effort to curb the coronavirus, the city council voted to close the beaches March 20. The town went so far as to put up barricades and signs to keep beachgoers away.
The town's good intentions were upended on Thursday when [republican] Gov. Brian P. Kemp issued a statewide shelter-in-place executive order which supersedes all local orders relating to coronavirus -- and also opened up the state's beaches.
The governor put Tybee Island back in the beach business -- whether the town liked it or not.
Tybee Island Mayor Shirley Sessions fired back on Saturday, issuing a statement saying she and the town council don't want the beaches reopened now.
"As the Pentagon ordered 100,000 body bags to store the corpses of Americans killed by the Coronavirus, Governor Brian Kemp dictated that Georgia beaches must reopen, and declared any decision-makers who refused to follow these orders would face prison and/or fines," Sessions' statement read.
•••••
Kemp has already already been criticized for issuing his executive order so late in the game.
He explained he and state officials were just "finding out that this virus is now transmitting before people see signs," despite publicly available findings that have circulated for weeks about such risks.
Saturday, April 04, 2020
Suffering from skin damage from face masks?
News Release 3-Apr-2020
University of Huddersfield
DOCTORS and nurses on the COVID-19 frontline are spending many hours a day wearing face masks, and many members of the general public are doing the same. But although the devices offer invaluable protection, they can be the cause of significant skin damage through sweating and the rubbing of the masks against the nose.
Skincare experts at the University of Huddersfield are warning about the risks and are suggesting remedies.
•••••
"The wearers are sweating underneath the masks and this causes friction, leading to pressure damage on the nose and cheeks," said Professor Ousey. "There can be tears to the skin as a result and these can lead to potential infection," she added.
"The masks the healthcare professionals are wearing have to be fitted to the face - so if healthcare professionals add dressings to the skin under the mask after being fitted there is a chance the mask will no longer fit correctly," continued Professor Ousey.
She suggests that people wearing masks keep their skin clean, well-hydrated and moisturised and that barrier creams should be applied at least half an hour before masks are put on.
"And we are suggesting that pressure from the mask is relieved every two hours. So you come away from the patient, relieve the pressure in a safe place and clean the skin again."
Professor Ousey advises members of the general public - such as shop workers - who are wearing masks to keep their skin clean, dry and free of sweat.
"And if they do feel their masks rubbing, take them off as soon as they safely can."
An antibiotic masquerading as a natural compound in the Giant Madeiran Squill
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/uu-aam040320.php
News Release 3-Apr-2020
Uppsala University
A previous study has shown that a type of squill [a plant of the lily family] growing in Madeira produces a chemical compound that may be useful as a medicinal drug. But a new study from researchers at Uppsala University has shown that this is probably not true: instead, the plant had likely accumulated antibiotics from contaminated soil.
•••••
But where did the sulfadiazine come from? While the compound was clearly isolated from within the plant, we know that sulfadiazine is synthetic; that is, produced only by humans. The only reasonable explanation, according to Robertson, is that the drug had contaminated the plant and the surrounding area through polluted fertilizer. Sulfadiazine is widely used within the livestock industry and is known to be spread throughout the environment via animal manure. The compound then builds up within soil and is later accumulated within plants.
•••••
News Release 3-Apr-2020
Uppsala University
A previous study has shown that a type of squill [a plant of the lily family] growing in Madeira produces a chemical compound that may be useful as a medicinal drug. But a new study from researchers at Uppsala University has shown that this is probably not true: instead, the plant had likely accumulated antibiotics from contaminated soil.
•••••
But where did the sulfadiazine come from? While the compound was clearly isolated from within the plant, we know that sulfadiazine is synthetic; that is, produced only by humans. The only reasonable explanation, according to Robertson, is that the drug had contaminated the plant and the surrounding area through polluted fertilizer. Sulfadiazine is widely used within the livestock industry and is known to be spread throughout the environment via animal manure. The compound then builds up within soil and is later accumulated within plants.
•••••
New treatment for childhood anxiety works by changing parent behavior
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/e-ntf040220.php
News Release 2-Apr-2020
Elsevier
SPACE teaches parents to reduce their accommodation and to respond to a child's anxiety symptoms in a supportive manner that conveys acceptance of the child's genuine distress along with confidence in the child's ability to cope with anxiety.
The authors found that children whose parents participated in 12 sessions of SPACE were as likely to overcome their anxiety disorder as children who participated in 12 sessions of CBT, the best-established evidence-based treatment for child anxiety.
•••••
SPACE teaches parents to reduce their accommodation and to respond to a child's anxiety symptoms in a supportive manner that conveys acceptance of the child's genuine distress along with confidence in the child's ability to cope with anxiety.
The authors found that children whose parents participated in 12 sessions of SPACE were as likely to overcome their anxiety disorder as children who participated in 12 sessions of CBT, the best-established evidence-based treatment for child anxiety.
•••••
News Release 2-Apr-2020
Elsevier
SPACE teaches parents to reduce their accommodation and to respond to a child's anxiety symptoms in a supportive manner that conveys acceptance of the child's genuine distress along with confidence in the child's ability to cope with anxiety.
The authors found that children whose parents participated in 12 sessions of SPACE were as likely to overcome their anxiety disorder as children who participated in 12 sessions of CBT, the best-established evidence-based treatment for child anxiety.
•••••
SPACE teaches parents to reduce their accommodation and to respond to a child's anxiety symptoms in a supportive manner that conveys acceptance of the child's genuine distress along with confidence in the child's ability to cope with anxiety.
The authors found that children whose parents participated in 12 sessions of SPACE were as likely to overcome their anxiety disorder as children who participated in 12 sessions of CBT, the best-established evidence-based treatment for child anxiety.
•••••
Friday, April 03, 2020
The Thinking Error at the Root of Science Denial
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-thinking-error-at-the-root-of-science-denial?utm_source=pocket-newtab
The Conversation
Jeremy P. Shapiro
Currently, there are three important issues on which there is scientific consensus but controversy among laypeople: climate change, biological evolution and childhood vaccination. On all three issues, prominent members of the Trump administration, including the president, have lined up against the conclusions of research.
•••••
As a psychotherapist, I see a striking parallel between a type of thinking involved in many mental health disturbances and the reasoning behind science denial. As I explain in my book “Psychotherapeutic Diagrams,” dichotomous thinking, also called black-and-white and all-or-none thinking, is a factor in depression, anxiety, aggression and, especially, borderline personality disorder.
In this type of cognition, a spectrum of possibilities is divided into two parts, with a blurring of distinctions within those categories. Shades of gray are missed; everything is considered either black or white. Dichotomous thinking is not always or inevitably wrong, but it is a poor tool for understanding complicated realities because these usually involve spectrums of possibilities, not binaries.
•••••
In my observations, I see science deniers engage in dichotomous thinking about truth claims. In evaluating the evidence for a hypothesis or theory, they divide the spectrum of possibilities into two unequal parts: perfect certainty and inconclusive controversy. Any bit of data that does not support a theory is misunderstood to mean that the formulation is fundamentally in doubt, regardless of the amount of supportive evidence.
Similarly, deniers perceive the spectrum of scientific agreement as divided into two unequal parts: perfect consensus and no consensus at all. Any departure from 100 percent agreement is categorized as a lack of agreement, which is misinterpreted as indicating fundamental controversy in the field.
•••••
In my view, science deniers misapply the concept of “proof.”
Proof exists in mathematics and logic but not in science. Research builds knowledge in progressive increments. As empirical evidence accumulates, there are more and more accurate approximations of ultimate truth but no final end point to the process. Deniers exploit the distinction between proof and compelling evidence by categorizing empirically well-supported ideas as “unproven.” Such statements are technically correct but extremely misleading, because there are no proven ideas in science, and evidence-based ideas are the best guides for action we have.
•••••
There is a vast gulf between perfect knowledge and total ignorance, and we live most of our lives in this gulf. Informed decision-making in the real world can never be perfectly informed, but responding to the inevitable uncertainties by ignoring the best available evidence is no substitute for the imperfect approach to knowledge called science.
•••••
The Conversation
Jeremy P. Shapiro
Currently, there are three important issues on which there is scientific consensus but controversy among laypeople: climate change, biological evolution and childhood vaccination. On all three issues, prominent members of the Trump administration, including the president, have lined up against the conclusions of research.
•••••
As a psychotherapist, I see a striking parallel between a type of thinking involved in many mental health disturbances and the reasoning behind science denial. As I explain in my book “Psychotherapeutic Diagrams,” dichotomous thinking, also called black-and-white and all-or-none thinking, is a factor in depression, anxiety, aggression and, especially, borderline personality disorder.
In this type of cognition, a spectrum of possibilities is divided into two parts, with a blurring of distinctions within those categories. Shades of gray are missed; everything is considered either black or white. Dichotomous thinking is not always or inevitably wrong, but it is a poor tool for understanding complicated realities because these usually involve spectrums of possibilities, not binaries.
•••••
In my observations, I see science deniers engage in dichotomous thinking about truth claims. In evaluating the evidence for a hypothesis or theory, they divide the spectrum of possibilities into two unequal parts: perfect certainty and inconclusive controversy. Any bit of data that does not support a theory is misunderstood to mean that the formulation is fundamentally in doubt, regardless of the amount of supportive evidence.
Similarly, deniers perceive the spectrum of scientific agreement as divided into two unequal parts: perfect consensus and no consensus at all. Any departure from 100 percent agreement is categorized as a lack of agreement, which is misinterpreted as indicating fundamental controversy in the field.
•••••
In my view, science deniers misapply the concept of “proof.”
Proof exists in mathematics and logic but not in science. Research builds knowledge in progressive increments. As empirical evidence accumulates, there are more and more accurate approximations of ultimate truth but no final end point to the process. Deniers exploit the distinction between proof and compelling evidence by categorizing empirically well-supported ideas as “unproven.” Such statements are technically correct but extremely misleading, because there are no proven ideas in science, and evidence-based ideas are the best guides for action we have.
•••••
There is a vast gulf between perfect knowledge and total ignorance, and we live most of our lives in this gulf. Informed decision-making in the real world can never be perfectly informed, but responding to the inevitable uncertainties by ignoring the best available evidence is no substitute for the imperfect approach to knowledge called science.
•••••
US facing hunger crisis as demand for food banks soars
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/02/us-food-banks-coronavirus-demand-unemployment
Nina Lakhani in New York
Thu 2 Apr 2020 05.10 EDT
An unprecedented number of Americans have resorted to food banks for emergency supplies since the coronavirus pandemic triggered widespread layoffs.
The demand for food aid has increased as much as eightfold in some areas, according to an investigation by the Guardian, which gives a nationwide snapshot of the hunger crisis facing the US as millions become unemployed
About one in three people seeking groceries at not-for-profit pantries last month have never previously needed emergency food aid, according to interviews with a dozen providers across the country.
The national guard has been deployed to help food banks cope with rising demand in cities including Cleveland, Phoenix and St Louis amid growing concerns that supplies may run low as the crisis evolves. Overstretched food pantries are switching to drive-thrus and home deliveries to minimize the spread of Covid-19 as almost 300 million Americans are urged to stay at home.
•••••
“First we saw people who lived paycheck to paycheck, got laid off and didn’t know where the next meal was coming from, followed by those who had a couple of weeks of savings. Now, people who knew about us because they donated or volunteered are coming in for food,” said Jerry Brown, media spokesman for St Mary’s. “The 2008 recession doesn’t touch this. It’s a different ballgame.”
•••••
Before the coronavirus pandemic, about 37 million, or one in eight, Americans could not always access enough nutritional food to lead healthy, active lives. Food insecurity forces families to make tradeoffs between basic needs such as housing, medical bills and food, and many do not qualify for federal nutrition programs.
•••••
Nina Lakhani in New York
Thu 2 Apr 2020 05.10 EDT
An unprecedented number of Americans have resorted to food banks for emergency supplies since the coronavirus pandemic triggered widespread layoffs.
The demand for food aid has increased as much as eightfold in some areas, according to an investigation by the Guardian, which gives a nationwide snapshot of the hunger crisis facing the US as millions become unemployed
About one in three people seeking groceries at not-for-profit pantries last month have never previously needed emergency food aid, according to interviews with a dozen providers across the country.
The national guard has been deployed to help food banks cope with rising demand in cities including Cleveland, Phoenix and St Louis amid growing concerns that supplies may run low as the crisis evolves. Overstretched food pantries are switching to drive-thrus and home deliveries to minimize the spread of Covid-19 as almost 300 million Americans are urged to stay at home.
•••••
“First we saw people who lived paycheck to paycheck, got laid off and didn’t know where the next meal was coming from, followed by those who had a couple of weeks of savings. Now, people who knew about us because they donated or volunteered are coming in for food,” said Jerry Brown, media spokesman for St Mary’s. “The 2008 recession doesn’t touch this. It’s a different ballgame.”
•••••
Before the coronavirus pandemic, about 37 million, or one in eight, Americans could not always access enough nutritional food to lead healthy, active lives. Food insecurity forces families to make tradeoffs between basic needs such as housing, medical bills and food, and many do not qualify for federal nutrition programs.
•••••
In quarantine with an abuser: surge in domestic violence reports linked to coronavirus
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/03/coronavirus-quarantine-abuse-domestic-violence
Sarah Fielding
Fri 3 Apr 2020 06.00 EDT
Last modified on Fri 3 Apr 2020 15.05 EDT
•••••
With more than three-quarters of the US population told to stay home to stem the pandemic’s spread, nowhere is safe for victims of intimate partner violence. A self-quarantine puts them in perpetual proximity to their abuser. Leaving exposes them not just to a deadly virus but a world that has largely closed its doors.
Activists worldwide have reported an alarming rise in domestic violence cases since the start of coronavirus-related quarantines. In Wuhan in February, while the province was under strict lockdown, one police station, reported a threefold increase in complaints compared with the same period last year. Advocates are concerned that this bleak reality has reached the United States, where experts say one in four women and one in seven men face physical violence by a partner at some point in their lifetimes.
•••••
“We are hearing from survivors how Covid-19 is already being used by their abusive partners to further control and abuse, how Covid-19 is already impacting their ability to access support and services like accessing shelter, counseling, different things that they would typically lean on in their communities,” says Crystal Justice, the chief marketing and development officer at NDVH.
“We want people to socially distance themselves as much as possible, but that really has impacts for people,” says Kimberlina Kavern, senior director of the crime victim assistance program at Safe Horizon, a New York-based victim assistance organization. “A domestic violence victim is likely not able to pick up the phone and call somebody for help because their abusive partner is in the home or in the room with them.”
•••••
Kavern explains that financial concerns as the economy falters and unemployment numbers spike can also increase incidents of domestic violence. Studies show that as unemployment rises, so do levels of domestic violence. Financial uncertainty might stop women from leaving even outside times of economic crisis. Women hold two-thirds of America’s low-wage jobs, and many have now been cut.
•••••
With much of the country shut down, advocates are also concerned that victims may assume there’s nowhere to go for help. That’s not the case, says Pearlstein, emphasizing that hotlines are still open, legal aid remains accessible, and Philadelphia courts have set up remote access to file for protection orders against abusers by phone or email. NDVH operates one of the country’s largest databases of resources and service providers and is working to track who is still operational so that women throughout the country can find where to go for help.
•••••
Advocates at the National Domestic Violence Hotline are available 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) in more than 200 languages. Survivors can also chat with advocates here.
Sarah Fielding
Fri 3 Apr 2020 06.00 EDT
Last modified on Fri 3 Apr 2020 15.05 EDT
•••••
With more than three-quarters of the US population told to stay home to stem the pandemic’s spread, nowhere is safe for victims of intimate partner violence. A self-quarantine puts them in perpetual proximity to their abuser. Leaving exposes them not just to a deadly virus but a world that has largely closed its doors.
Activists worldwide have reported an alarming rise in domestic violence cases since the start of coronavirus-related quarantines. In Wuhan in February, while the province was under strict lockdown, one police station, reported a threefold increase in complaints compared with the same period last year. Advocates are concerned that this bleak reality has reached the United States, where experts say one in four women and one in seven men face physical violence by a partner at some point in their lifetimes.
•••••
“We are hearing from survivors how Covid-19 is already being used by their abusive partners to further control and abuse, how Covid-19 is already impacting their ability to access support and services like accessing shelter, counseling, different things that they would typically lean on in their communities,” says Crystal Justice, the chief marketing and development officer at NDVH.
“We want people to socially distance themselves as much as possible, but that really has impacts for people,” says Kimberlina Kavern, senior director of the crime victim assistance program at Safe Horizon, a New York-based victim assistance organization. “A domestic violence victim is likely not able to pick up the phone and call somebody for help because their abusive partner is in the home or in the room with them.”
•••••
Kavern explains that financial concerns as the economy falters and unemployment numbers spike can also increase incidents of domestic violence. Studies show that as unemployment rises, so do levels of domestic violence. Financial uncertainty might stop women from leaving even outside times of economic crisis. Women hold two-thirds of America’s low-wage jobs, and many have now been cut.
•••••
With much of the country shut down, advocates are also concerned that victims may assume there’s nowhere to go for help. That’s not the case, says Pearlstein, emphasizing that hotlines are still open, legal aid remains accessible, and Philadelphia courts have set up remote access to file for protection orders against abusers by phone or email. NDVH operates one of the country’s largest databases of resources and service providers and is working to track who is still operational so that women throughout the country can find where to go for help.
•••••
Advocates at the National Domestic Violence Hotline are available 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) in more than 200 languages. Survivors can also chat with advocates here.
Trump administration cut pandemic early warning program in September
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/03/trump-scrapped-pandemic-early-warning-program-system-before-coronavirus
Oliver Milman
Fri 3 Apr 2020 16.02 EDT
Last modified on Fri 3 Apr 2020 17.24 EDT
The Trump administration decided to end a $200m early warning program designed to alert it to potential pandemics just three months before it is believed Covid-19 began infecting people in China.
The project, called Predict, had been run by the US Agency for International Development since 2009. It had identified more than 160 different coronaviruses that had the potential to develop into pandemics, including a virus that is considered the closest known relative to Covid-19.
A decision to wind down the program was made, however, in September, just three months before the first reports of people becoming infected with Covid-19 in Wuhan, China. The end of the program saw the departure of dozens of scientists and analysts working to identify potential pandemics in countries around the world, including China.
•••••
“I’m not confident we will learn the lessons from this, though. We saw the same thing happen after Ebola and then Zika. We are always behind with pandemics, we are flying blind. We have hit the snooze button several times and now here’s the big one.”
It’s not clear whether a continuation of the project would have dampened the current pandemic, although the Trump administration has faced criticism for its preparation before the outbreak. The administration reduced a team working in China on pandemics and has repeatedly attempted to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
•••••
Oliver Milman
Fri 3 Apr 2020 16.02 EDT
Last modified on Fri 3 Apr 2020 17.24 EDT
The Trump administration decided to end a $200m early warning program designed to alert it to potential pandemics just three months before it is believed Covid-19 began infecting people in China.
The project, called Predict, had been run by the US Agency for International Development since 2009. It had identified more than 160 different coronaviruses that had the potential to develop into pandemics, including a virus that is considered the closest known relative to Covid-19.
A decision to wind down the program was made, however, in September, just three months before the first reports of people becoming infected with Covid-19 in Wuhan, China. The end of the program saw the departure of dozens of scientists and analysts working to identify potential pandemics in countries around the world, including China.
•••••
“I’m not confident we will learn the lessons from this, though. We saw the same thing happen after Ebola and then Zika. We are always behind with pandemics, we are flying blind. We have hit the snooze button several times and now here’s the big one.”
It’s not clear whether a continuation of the project would have dampened the current pandemic, although the Trump administration has faced criticism for its preparation before the outbreak. The administration reduced a team working in China on pandemics and has repeatedly attempted to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
•••••
These Coronavirus Exposures Might Be the Most Dangerous
https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-exposures-might-most-dangerous-184640808.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html
Joshua D. Rabinowitz and Caroline R. Bartman
,The New York Times•April 2, 2020
•••••
The importance of viral dose is being overlooked in discussions of the coronavirus. As with any other poison, viruses are usually more dangerous in larger amounts. Small initial exposures tend to lead to mild or asymptomatic infections, while larger doses can be lethal.
From a policy perspective, we need to consider that not all exposures to the coronavirus may be the same. Stepping into an office building that once had someone with the coronavirus in it is not as dangerous as sitting next to that infected person for an hourlong train commute.
•••••
Because dose matters, medical personnel face an extreme risk, since they deal with the sickest, highest-viral-load patients. We must prioritize protective gear for them.
For everyone else, the importance of social distancing, mask-wearing and good hygiene is only greater, since these practices not only decrease infectious spread but also tend to decrease dose and thus the lethalness of infections that do occur. While preventing viral spread is a societal good, avoiding high-dose infections is a personal imperative, even for young healthy people.
•••••
Now is the time to stay home. But hopefully this time will be brief. When we do begin to leave our homes again, let’s do it wisely, in light of the importance of viral dose.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opinion/coronavirus-viral-dose.html
Joshua D. Rabinowitz and Caroline R. Bartman
,The New York Times•April 2, 2020
•••••
The importance of viral dose is being overlooked in discussions of the coronavirus. As with any other poison, viruses are usually more dangerous in larger amounts. Small initial exposures tend to lead to mild or asymptomatic infections, while larger doses can be lethal.
From a policy perspective, we need to consider that not all exposures to the coronavirus may be the same. Stepping into an office building that once had someone with the coronavirus in it is not as dangerous as sitting next to that infected person for an hourlong train commute.
•••••
Because dose matters, medical personnel face an extreme risk, since they deal with the sickest, highest-viral-load patients. We must prioritize protective gear for them.
For everyone else, the importance of social distancing, mask-wearing and good hygiene is only greater, since these practices not only decrease infectious spread but also tend to decrease dose and thus the lethalness of infections that do occur. While preventing viral spread is a societal good, avoiding high-dose infections is a personal imperative, even for young healthy people.
•••••
Now is the time to stay home. But hopefully this time will be brief. When we do begin to leave our homes again, let’s do it wisely, in light of the importance of viral dose.
More than 1,000 in US die in a single day from coronavirus, doubling the worst daily death toll of the flu
https://news.yahoo.com/more-1-000-u-die-023618568.html
Michael James
,USA TODAY•April 2, 2020
The U.S. topped 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day for the first time Wednesday, a daily death toll more than double that of two of America's most deadly illnesses – lung cancer and the flu.
•••••
The previous high mark for a single day in the U.S. was Tuesday, with 504 deaths.
Some researchers say the daily death toll could more than double – to 2,200 or more – by mid-April. That figure would eclipse heart disease, the nation's No. 1 killer with about 1,772 deaths per day, according to the CDC.
•••••
A University of Washington study updated this week projects that if the entire nation makes an all-out effort to restrict contact, coronavirus deaths will peak in the next two weeks and patients will overwhelm hospitals in most states.
•••••
The CDC estimates that the flu has resulted in 9 million to 45 million illnesses, 140,000 to 810,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 61,000 deaths annually since 2010.
Michael James
,USA TODAY•April 2, 2020
The U.S. topped 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day for the first time Wednesday, a daily death toll more than double that of two of America's most deadly illnesses – lung cancer and the flu.
•••••
The previous high mark for a single day in the U.S. was Tuesday, with 504 deaths.
Some researchers say the daily death toll could more than double – to 2,200 or more – by mid-April. That figure would eclipse heart disease, the nation's No. 1 killer with about 1,772 deaths per day, according to the CDC.
•••••
A University of Washington study updated this week projects that if the entire nation makes an all-out effort to restrict contact, coronavirus deaths will peak in the next two weeks and patients will overwhelm hospitals in most states.
•••••
The CDC estimates that the flu has resulted in 9 million to 45 million illnesses, 140,000 to 810,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 61,000 deaths annually since 2010.
Two years before coronavirus, CDC warned of a coming pandemic
https://news.yahoo.com/two-years-before-coronavirus-cdc-warned-of-a-coming-pandemic-090054010.html
Alexander NazaryanNational Correspondent
,Yahoo News•April 2, 2020
Two years ago, some of the nation’s top public health officials gathered in an auditorium at Emory University in Atlanta to commemorate the 1918 influenza pandemic — also known as “the Spanish flu” — which had killed as many as 40 million people as it swept the globe.
Hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the daylong conference on May 7, 2018, was supposed to mine a calamity from the past for lessons on the present and warnings for the future. There were sessions titled “Nature Against Man” and “Innovations for Pandemic Countermeasures.” Implicit was the understanding that while the 1918 pandemic was a singular catastrophe, conditions in the 21st century were ideal for another outbreak.
And since there are six billion more people on the planet today than there were in 1918, when the global population was only 1.8 billion, a pathogen that is a less efficient killer than the Spanish flu could nevertheless prove more deadly in absolute terms.
•••••
Auerbach described conversations he’d had on Capitol Hill about pandemic preparedness, and the diminishing funds devoted to that end. “You know, don’t worry about that,” lawmakers were apparently telling him. “If we’re not funding that at the federal level, the governors and the local officials will increase the funding and compensate” for federal cuts, he was apparently assured.
Except that wasn’t true, Auerbach said, pointing to statistics that showed both states and local governments cutting public health funding, potentially leaving the nation without the necessary defenses at any level of government.
•••••
Auerbach described conversations he’d had on Capitol Hill about pandemic preparedness, and the diminishing funds devoted to that end. “You know, don’t worry about that,” lawmakers were apparently telling him. “If we’re not funding that at the federal level, the governors and the local officials will increase the funding and compensate” for federal cuts, he was apparently assured.
Except that wasn’t true, Auerbach said, pointing to statistics that showed both states and local governments cutting public health funding, potentially leaving the nation without the necessary defenses at any level of government.
•••••
President Trump has called the current coronavirus outbreak an “unforeseen enemy” that “came out of nowhere.” He is correct in the narrow sense that SARS-CoV-2, as the pathogen is formally known, is a novel coronavirus, which means that its precise genomic sequence — the blueprint for its proteins that batter the human body — have not been glimpsed before. Existing armor in the form of vaccines could therefore not protect against the assault.
But the coronavirus was hardly unforeseen. In fact, experts like Jernigan have been warning about a new pandemic for years.
Jernigan’s webinar — which was not delivered during the May 7 seminar, but on an unspecified later date — was co-hosted by Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She is a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, but her role was minimized after she made dire warnings about the pandemic.
•••••
The prevalent finding at the May 7 symposium on the 1918 pandemic was that it would be far more costly to ignore the lessons of that catastrophe than to institute the necessary measures to keep a new outbreak at bay.
“We know what to do,” said former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding. “We just have to do it.”
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/agenda.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pdfs/1918-pandemic-webinar.pdf
Alexander NazaryanNational Correspondent
,Yahoo News•April 2, 2020
Two years ago, some of the nation’s top public health officials gathered in an auditorium at Emory University in Atlanta to commemorate the 1918 influenza pandemic — also known as “the Spanish flu” — which had killed as many as 40 million people as it swept the globe.
Hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the daylong conference on May 7, 2018, was supposed to mine a calamity from the past for lessons on the present and warnings for the future. There were sessions titled “Nature Against Man” and “Innovations for Pandemic Countermeasures.” Implicit was the understanding that while the 1918 pandemic was a singular catastrophe, conditions in the 21st century were ideal for another outbreak.
And since there are six billion more people on the planet today than there were in 1918, when the global population was only 1.8 billion, a pathogen that is a less efficient killer than the Spanish flu could nevertheless prove more deadly in absolute terms.
•••••
Auerbach described conversations he’d had on Capitol Hill about pandemic preparedness, and the diminishing funds devoted to that end. “You know, don’t worry about that,” lawmakers were apparently telling him. “If we’re not funding that at the federal level, the governors and the local officials will increase the funding and compensate” for federal cuts, he was apparently assured.
Except that wasn’t true, Auerbach said, pointing to statistics that showed both states and local governments cutting public health funding, potentially leaving the nation without the necessary defenses at any level of government.
•••••
Auerbach described conversations he’d had on Capitol Hill about pandemic preparedness, and the diminishing funds devoted to that end. “You know, don’t worry about that,” lawmakers were apparently telling him. “If we’re not funding that at the federal level, the governors and the local officials will increase the funding and compensate” for federal cuts, he was apparently assured.
Except that wasn’t true, Auerbach said, pointing to statistics that showed both states and local governments cutting public health funding, potentially leaving the nation without the necessary defenses at any level of government.
•••••
President Trump has called the current coronavirus outbreak an “unforeseen enemy” that “came out of nowhere.” He is correct in the narrow sense that SARS-CoV-2, as the pathogen is formally known, is a novel coronavirus, which means that its precise genomic sequence — the blueprint for its proteins that batter the human body — have not been glimpsed before. Existing armor in the form of vaccines could therefore not protect against the assault.
But the coronavirus was hardly unforeseen. In fact, experts like Jernigan have been warning about a new pandemic for years.
Jernigan’s webinar — which was not delivered during the May 7 seminar, but on an unspecified later date — was co-hosted by Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She is a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, but her role was minimized after she made dire warnings about the pandemic.
•••••
The prevalent finding at the May 7 symposium on the 1918 pandemic was that it would be far more costly to ignore the lessons of that catastrophe than to institute the necessary measures to keep a new outbreak at bay.
“We know what to do,” said former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding. “We just have to do it.”
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/agenda.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pdfs/1918-pandemic-webinar.pdf
CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover.html
Page last reviewed: April 3, 2020
Content source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases
CDC continues to study the spread and effects of the novel coronavirus across the United States. We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms. In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
It is critical to emphasize that maintaining 6-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus. CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.
The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.
This recommendation complements and does not replace the President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America, 30 Days to Slow the Spreadexternal icon, which remains the cornerstone of our national effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. CDC will make additional recommendations as the evidence regarding appropriate public health measures continues to develop.
Page last reviewed: April 3, 2020
Content source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases
CDC continues to study the spread and effects of the novel coronavirus across the United States. We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms. In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.
It is critical to emphasize that maintaining 6-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus. CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.
The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.
This recommendation complements and does not replace the President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America, 30 Days to Slow the Spreadexternal icon, which remains the cornerstone of our national effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. CDC will make additional recommendations as the evidence regarding appropriate public health measures continues to develop.
Billions of people are under coronavirus lockdowns – and now the upper crust of the Earth is shaking less
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-lockdowns-earth-shaking-less-seismic-noise/
By Sophie Lewis
April 3, 2020 / 3:13 PM
About four billion people — roughly half the world's population — have reportedly been told to isolate themselves in their homes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And the major decrease in the hum of normal human activity has led to a surprising shift in Earth's vibrations.
Researchers who study the Earth's movement said the mandatory shutdown of transportation systems, businesses and other human activities has correlated with the planet shaking noticeably less than usual. A drop in seismic noise — the vibrations in the planet's crust — is giving scientists the rare chance to monitor small earthquakes, volcanic activity and other subtle tremors that are usually drowned out by the everyday movement of humans.
•••••
According to Lecocq, such a dramatic decrease in noise can typically only be experienced briefly around Christmas.
•••••
While individual human activity such as vehicle traffic or construction sites only cause small movements in the Earth's crust, together they produce a sizable amount of "background noise" that hinder scientists' ability to detect natural events at the same frequency.
•••••
By Sophie Lewis
April 3, 2020 / 3:13 PM
About four billion people — roughly half the world's population — have reportedly been told to isolate themselves in their homes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And the major decrease in the hum of normal human activity has led to a surprising shift in Earth's vibrations.
Researchers who study the Earth's movement said the mandatory shutdown of transportation systems, businesses and other human activities has correlated with the planet shaking noticeably less than usual. A drop in seismic noise — the vibrations in the planet's crust — is giving scientists the rare chance to monitor small earthquakes, volcanic activity and other subtle tremors that are usually drowned out by the everyday movement of humans.
•••••
According to Lecocq, such a dramatic decrease in noise can typically only be experienced briefly around Christmas.
•••••
While individual human activity such as vehicle traffic or construction sites only cause small movements in the Earth's crust, together they produce a sizable amount of "background noise" that hinder scientists' ability to detect natural events at the same frequency.
•••••
Republicans rage as Florida becomes a nightmare for Trump
https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/04/03/its-a-sh-sandwich-republicans-rage-as-florida-becomes-a-nightmare-for-trump-1271172
By GARY FINEOUT and MARC CAPUTO
04/03/2020 05:02 AM EDT
The staggering unemployment exploding on President Donald Trump’s watch would worry any incumbent running for reelection, but troubles in Florida are injecting an added dose of fear into a jittery GOP.
Already anxious about Trump’s chances in the nation’s biggest swing state, Republicans now are dealing with thousands of unemployed workers unable to navigate the Florida system to apply for help. And the blowback is directed straight at Trump’s top allies in the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.
Privately, Republicans admit that the $77.9 million system that is now failing Florida workers is doing exactly what Scott designed it to do — lower the state’s reported number of jobless claims after the great recession.
“It’s a sh-- sandwich, and it was designed that way by Scott,” said one DeSantis advisor. “It wasn’t about saving money. It was about making it harder for people to get benefits or keep benefits so that the unemployment numbers were low to give the governor something to brag about.”
Republican Party of Florida chairman Joe Gruters was more succinct: “$77 million? Someone should go to jail over that.”
With hundreds of thousands of Floridians out of work, the state’s overwhelmed system is making it nearly impossible for many people to even get in line for benefits.
•••••
Now, as thousands of people try to get help, the system crashes or denies them access. Nearly 400,000 people have managed to file claims in the last two and half weeks. It’s not known how many have tried and failed.
Most of those who do submit applications won’t qualify for aid, and the benefits that are paid out are among the most meager in the country — a maximum of $275 a week.
“This is horrible for people. I don’t want to minimize that,” one DeSantis adviser told POLITICO. “But if we have to look past the crisis, it’s bad for the president and it’s bad for the governor.”
“Everyone we talk to in that office when we ask them what happened tells us, ‘the system was designed to fail,’” the adviser said. “That’s not a problem when unemployment is 2.8 percent, but it’s a problem now. And no system we have can handle 25,000 people a day.”
•••••
Republicans in the Legislature share the blame, said Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Miami Democrat.
“Rick Scott is the most culpable human being when we look at who’s responsible for the failed system,” Rodriguez said. “But I don’t know of any Republican who resisted these efforts to make Florida the most Scrooge-like state in the nation.”
By GARY FINEOUT and MARC CAPUTO
04/03/2020 05:02 AM EDT
The staggering unemployment exploding on President Donald Trump’s watch would worry any incumbent running for reelection, but troubles in Florida are injecting an added dose of fear into a jittery GOP.
Already anxious about Trump’s chances in the nation’s biggest swing state, Republicans now are dealing with thousands of unemployed workers unable to navigate the Florida system to apply for help. And the blowback is directed straight at Trump’s top allies in the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.
Privately, Republicans admit that the $77.9 million system that is now failing Florida workers is doing exactly what Scott designed it to do — lower the state’s reported number of jobless claims after the great recession.
“It’s a sh-- sandwich, and it was designed that way by Scott,” said one DeSantis advisor. “It wasn’t about saving money. It was about making it harder for people to get benefits or keep benefits so that the unemployment numbers were low to give the governor something to brag about.”
Republican Party of Florida chairman Joe Gruters was more succinct: “$77 million? Someone should go to jail over that.”
With hundreds of thousands of Floridians out of work, the state’s overwhelmed system is making it nearly impossible for many people to even get in line for benefits.
•••••
Now, as thousands of people try to get help, the system crashes or denies them access. Nearly 400,000 people have managed to file claims in the last two and half weeks. It’s not known how many have tried and failed.
Most of those who do submit applications won’t qualify for aid, and the benefits that are paid out are among the most meager in the country — a maximum of $275 a week.
“This is horrible for people. I don’t want to minimize that,” one DeSantis adviser told POLITICO. “But if we have to look past the crisis, it’s bad for the president and it’s bad for the governor.”
“Everyone we talk to in that office when we ask them what happened tells us, ‘the system was designed to fail,’” the adviser said. “That’s not a problem when unemployment is 2.8 percent, but it’s a problem now. And no system we have can handle 25,000 people a day.”
•••••
Republicans in the Legislature share the blame, said Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Miami Democrat.
“Rick Scott is the most culpable human being when we look at who’s responsible for the failed system,” Rodriguez said. “But I don’t know of any Republican who resisted these efforts to make Florida the most Scrooge-like state in the nation.”
Detroit bus driver who complained about a passenger coughing has died
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/detroit-bus-driver-complained-passenger-coughing-died/story?id=69957441
By Ella Torres
April 3, 2020, 1:32 PM
A bus driver in Detroit, who had complained about a passenger coughing without covering her mouth and feared people were not taking the novel coronavirus pandemic seriously, has died after contracting the virus, officials said.
Jason Hargrove, an employee of the Detroit Department of Transportation, recorded a Facebook message on March 21 criticizing a woman who he said got on his bus and coughed multiple times without covering her mouth.
"We out here as public workers, doing our jobs, trying to make an honest living to take care of our families, but for you to get on the bus and stand on the bus and cough several times without covering up your mouth … that lets me know that some folks don't care. Utterly don't give a f---, excuse my language," Hargrove said in the 8-minute video.
•••••
Thursday, April 02, 2020
FDA says heartburn drug Zantac should be immediately pulled from shelves
https://news.yahoo.com/fda-says-heartburn-drug-zantac-013832576.html
Catherine Garcia
,https://theweek.com/•April 1, 2020
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said the heartburn drug Zantac should immediately be pulled from shelves and consumers should dispose of any pills or liquid they have at home.
During safety tests last summer, extremely high levels of the contaminant NDMA, believed to be a carcinogen, were discovered in samples of the drug. The active ingredient in Zantac is ranitidine, and the FDA said that over time, NDMA appears as an impurity in ranitidine in levels exceeding federal standards, NPR reports.
•••••
Catherine Garcia
,https://theweek.com/•April 1, 2020
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said the heartburn drug Zantac should immediately be pulled from shelves and consumers should dispose of any pills or liquid they have at home.
During safety tests last summer, extremely high levels of the contaminant NDMA, believed to be a carcinogen, were discovered in samples of the drug. The active ingredient in Zantac is ranitidine, and the FDA said that over time, NDMA appears as an impurity in ranitidine in levels exceeding federal standards, NPR reports.
•••••
Amazon recently hosted job fairs and new-hire orientations where groups of up to 70 people were reportedly packed into one room
https://news.yahoo.com/amazon-recently-hosted-job-fairs-145632663.html
I'll bet Jeff Bezos doesn't go into these groups, or on the warehouse floors.
Avery Hartmans)
,Business Insider•April 1, 2020
Amazon recently hosted job fairs and new hire orientations, even as the coronavirus was spreading rapidly across the US.
According to a new report from Bloomberg's Spencer Soper and Matt Day, the ecommerce giant hosted large gatherings of new or potential employees as recently as March, sometimes packing as many as 70 people into one crowded room.
One man who attended an orientation event told Bloomberg he raised concerns about the amount of people gathered to an Amazon manager, who "made jokes and told me to leave if I was unhappy."
•••••
On Monday, workers at Amazon's fulfillment center in New York City went on strike, protesting Amazon's health and safety policies. The workers demanded that Amazon shut down the warehouse for extra cleaning after another worker tested positive for coronavirus, and asked that the company offer paid time off for workers while it did so.
Later on Monday, Amazon fired the organizer of the strike, Chris Smalls, saying he violated social-distancing guidelines after the company asked him to stay home on paid sick leave.
Workers in Chicago also walked out on Monday night, and workers at a fulfillment center in Detroit are planning a walkout on Wednesday.
Bill Gates, who urged world leaders to prepare for a pandemic in 2015, lays out a 3-point plan on how the US can emerge victorious against COVID-19
https://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-founder-bill-gates-urged-060512453.html
Lauren Frias)
,Business Insider•April 1, 2020
Bill Gates, who urged world leaders back in a 2015 TED talk to prepare for a pandemic, has introduced a three-point plan on how the US could defeat the novel coronavirus.
Gates wrote an op-ed article for The Washington Post on Tuesday in which he made recommendations based on expert consultations he'd had through his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is funding research for a treatment for the virus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19.
"There's no question the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the novel coronavirus," Gates wrote. "But the window for making important decisions hasn't closed.
"The choices we and our leaders make now will have an enormous impact on how soon case numbers start to go down, how long the economy remains shut down and how many Americans will have to bury a loved one because of COVID-19."
•••••
Lauren Frias)
,Business Insider•April 1, 2020
Bill Gates, who urged world leaders back in a 2015 TED talk to prepare for a pandemic, has introduced a three-point plan on how the US could defeat the novel coronavirus.
Gates wrote an op-ed article for The Washington Post on Tuesday in which he made recommendations based on expert consultations he'd had through his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is funding research for a treatment for the virus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19.
"There's no question the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the novel coronavirus," Gates wrote. "But the window for making important decisions hasn't closed.
"The choices we and our leaders make now will have an enormous impact on how soon case numbers start to go down, how long the economy remains shut down and how many Americans will have to bury a loved one because of COVID-19."
•••••
FL Gov. Overrides County Officials to Allow Church During Coronavirus Lockdown
https://news.yahoo.com/fl-gov-overrides-county-officials-204155187.html
Pilar Melendez
,The Daily Beast•April 2, 2020
[Republican] Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has overruled local counties’ power to ban large religious gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, carving out an extraordinary loophole that officials say will violate social distancing guidelines and ensure further spread of the virus.
By allowing religious services to continue, DeSantis is seemingly siding with religious leaders who’ve stood against the federally mandated guidelines—including controversial Tampa pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who refused to stop holding services because he believed his church had machines that could stop the virus.
•••••
The Sunshine State has scrambled to combat over 7,773 positive cases of coronavirus and 100 deaths less than a month after the first known infection in the state.
•••••
When asked about his second executive order that overrides local governments, DeSantis said he thought it was understood that his stay-at-home decision was going to be the newest guideline but said he is “happy to work” with officials to make sure everyone is safe.
“[Local governments] can go beyond what I’ve done...What we’re doing is setting a floor,” he said. “And they can’t go below the floor.”
•••••
Florida is not the only state to allow religious services to continue despite the ongoing pandemic that the White House believes will claim between 100,000-200,000 lives at best. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine issued a similar order to allow church services to continue while in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ruled religious services that adhere to social distancing as “essential.” Michigan and Kansas also have similar religious exceptions.
•••••
Pilar Melendez
,The Daily Beast•April 2, 2020
[Republican] Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has overruled local counties’ power to ban large religious gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, carving out an extraordinary loophole that officials say will violate social distancing guidelines and ensure further spread of the virus.
By allowing religious services to continue, DeSantis is seemingly siding with religious leaders who’ve stood against the federally mandated guidelines—including controversial Tampa pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who refused to stop holding services because he believed his church had machines that could stop the virus.
•••••
The Sunshine State has scrambled to combat over 7,773 positive cases of coronavirus and 100 deaths less than a month after the first known infection in the state.
•••••
When asked about his second executive order that overrides local governments, DeSantis said he thought it was understood that his stay-at-home decision was going to be the newest guideline but said he is “happy to work” with officials to make sure everyone is safe.
“[Local governments] can go beyond what I’ve done...What we’re doing is setting a floor,” he said. “And they can’t go below the floor.”
•••••
Florida is not the only state to allow religious services to continue despite the ongoing pandemic that the White House believes will claim between 100,000-200,000 lives at best. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine issued a similar order to allow church services to continue while in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ruled religious services that adhere to social distancing as “essential.” Michigan and Kansas also have similar religious exceptions.
•••••
GOP congressman — who warned Trump about pandemics — offers pointed criticism of proposed CDC cuts
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/10/conservative-congressman-who-warned-trump-about-pandemics-offers-pointed-criticism-proposed-cdc-cuts/
By Aaron Blake
March 10, 2020 at 5:24 p.m. EDT
This was the day Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has been warning about — and essentially predicted. Back in 2017, when the Trump administration first proposed steep cuts to programs that handle disease outbreaks, Cole said, “I promise you the president is much more likely in his term to have a deal with a pandemic than an act of terrorism. I hope he doesn’t have to deal with either one, but you have to be ready to deal with both.”
Now that the potential pandemic has come, Cole is re-upping his long-standing criticisms of the Trump administration’s posture toward preparedness. And on Tuesday, he offered a little bit of an “I told you so,” even suggesting that the situation might not be as bad if the administration had listened to him.
•••••
Cole said that the outbreak of coronavirus is a “sort of vindication of the bipartisan judgment over the last several years that this was really an area we needed to make investments.”
Cole didn’t call out the Trump administration or the president by name, but it was clear that he was referencing the steep cuts the White House has proposed to the CDC and the National Institutes of Health in each of its four proposed budgets thus far. It’s important to note that Congress has fended off these proposed cuts, often increasing funding to the programs anyway in the appropriations bills.
•••••
Even as Cole was appearing at the hearing, though, acting OMB Director Russell Vought testified in a separate hearing that the Trump administration wasn’t changing the proposed cuts in its most recent budget. (Congress has passed an $8 billion supplemental to deal with coronavirus.)
Cole also sounded a very different tune from President Trump when it comes to whether you can just throw money at such problems when they arrive. Trump said two weeks ago that it’s easy to ramp up.
“Some of the people we cut, they haven’t been used for many, many years. And if we have a need, we can get them very quickly,” Trump said. “And rather than spending the money — and I’m a business person — I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.”
Without mentioning Trump, Cole rebuked that line of thinking.
“These are investments, if they’re not made for years ahead of time, they can’t be sort of parachuted in at the last minute,” he said. “We can’t make the difference without a sustained plan for investing in what each and every one of you do,” he told the health official in front of him.
•••••
Cole in January authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed that credited Congress with making sure we’re prepared for coronavirus — implicit in which was that perhaps this wasn’t to the credit of the administration’s budgeting process.
•••••
By Aaron Blake
March 10, 2020 at 5:24 p.m. EDT
This was the day Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has been warning about — and essentially predicted. Back in 2017, when the Trump administration first proposed steep cuts to programs that handle disease outbreaks, Cole said, “I promise you the president is much more likely in his term to have a deal with a pandemic than an act of terrorism. I hope he doesn’t have to deal with either one, but you have to be ready to deal with both.”
Now that the potential pandemic has come, Cole is re-upping his long-standing criticisms of the Trump administration’s posture toward preparedness. And on Tuesday, he offered a little bit of an “I told you so,” even suggesting that the situation might not be as bad if the administration had listened to him.
•••••
Cole said that the outbreak of coronavirus is a “sort of vindication of the bipartisan judgment over the last several years that this was really an area we needed to make investments.”
Cole didn’t call out the Trump administration or the president by name, but it was clear that he was referencing the steep cuts the White House has proposed to the CDC and the National Institutes of Health in each of its four proposed budgets thus far. It’s important to note that Congress has fended off these proposed cuts, often increasing funding to the programs anyway in the appropriations bills.
•••••
Even as Cole was appearing at the hearing, though, acting OMB Director Russell Vought testified in a separate hearing that the Trump administration wasn’t changing the proposed cuts in its most recent budget. (Congress has passed an $8 billion supplemental to deal with coronavirus.)
Cole also sounded a very different tune from President Trump when it comes to whether you can just throw money at such problems when they arrive. Trump said two weeks ago that it’s easy to ramp up.
“Some of the people we cut, they haven’t been used for many, many years. And if we have a need, we can get them very quickly,” Trump said. “And rather than spending the money — and I’m a business person — I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.”
Without mentioning Trump, Cole rebuked that line of thinking.
“These are investments, if they’re not made for years ahead of time, they can’t be sort of parachuted in at the last minute,” he said. “We can’t make the difference without a sustained plan for investing in what each and every one of you do,” he told the health official in front of him.
•••••
Cole in January authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed that credited Congress with making sure we’re prepared for coronavirus — implicit in which was that perhaps this wasn’t to the credit of the administration’s budgeting process.
•••••
Government housing agency unveils new mortgage relief policies for struggling borrowers
https://news.yahoo.com/fha-unveils-mortgage-relief-policies-202655237.html
By Katy O'Donnell
,Politico•April 2, 2020
The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday directed companies that service government-insured mortgage loans to give beleaguered borrowers the option to defer payments for up to a year, effective immediately.
•••••
By Katy O'Donnell
,Politico•April 2, 2020
The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday directed companies that service government-insured mortgage loans to give beleaguered borrowers the option to defer payments for up to a year, effective immediately.
•••••
Brazil: Amazon land defender Zezico Guajajara shot dead
https://news.yahoo.com/brazil-amazon-land-defender-zezico-111632794.html
BBC•April 2, 2020
A member of a protected tribe in the Amazon has been killed by gunmen, authorities in the Brazilian state of Maranhao say.
The body of Zezico Guajajara, of the Guajajara tribe, was found near his village on Tuesday. He had been shot.
The former teacher was a supporter of Guardians of the Forest, a group formed to combat logging gangs in the area.
The killing - the fifth in six months - increases concerns about violence against Amazon forest protectors.
•••••
BBC•April 2, 2020
A member of a protected tribe in the Amazon has been killed by gunmen, authorities in the Brazilian state of Maranhao say.
The body of Zezico Guajajara, of the Guajajara tribe, was found near his village on Tuesday. He had been shot.
The former teacher was a supporter of Guardians of the Forest, a group formed to combat logging gangs in the area.
The killing - the fifth in six months - increases concerns about violence against Amazon forest protectors.
•••••
Serbia to revoke coronavirus information control decree after criticism
https://news.yahoo.com/serbia-revoke-coronavirus-information-control-093820711.html
Reuters•April 2, 2020
Serbia's government will revoke a decree giving it control over information on the coronavirus outbreak, following protests and the detention of a journalist for reporting a major hospital lacked protective gear and properly trained staff.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the decree, enforced on Saturday, would be revoked on Thursday "so not a shadow could be cast on our work."
The emergency measure, which said information about the coronavirus outbreak could only come from Brnabic or those authorized by her, had drawn criticism from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) watchdog and local media associations.
On Wednesday, police detained Ana Lalic, a journalist with private news portal Nova.rs, after she reported that staff at the hospital in the northern city of Novi Sad lacked protective gear and proper training.
•••••
Many hospitals in Serbia lacked basic safety gear at the start of the outbreak. The government has since bought equipment and aid has arrived from China and the European Union.
•••••
Reuters•April 2, 2020
Serbia's government will revoke a decree giving it control over information on the coronavirus outbreak, following protests and the detention of a journalist for reporting a major hospital lacked protective gear and properly trained staff.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the decree, enforced on Saturday, would be revoked on Thursday "so not a shadow could be cast on our work."
The emergency measure, which said information about the coronavirus outbreak could only come from Brnabic or those authorized by her, had drawn criticism from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) watchdog and local media associations.
On Wednesday, police detained Ana Lalic, a journalist with private news portal Nova.rs, after she reported that staff at the hospital in the northern city of Novi Sad lacked protective gear and proper training.
•••••
Many hospitals in Serbia lacked basic safety gear at the start of the outbreak. The government has since bought equipment and aid has arrived from China and the European Union.
•••••
As the coronavirus spreads in Ecuador, bodies are being left on streets
https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-spreads-ecuador-bodies-being-005022619.html
Pablo Jaramillo Viteri, Chris Kraul
,LA Times•April 1, 2020
The corpses have been overwhelming Guayaquil, a port city of 2.8 million at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Ecuador.
Over the last few days, several were wrapped in plastic and left on the streets. Others have lain unclaimed in hospitals and clinics that have been overwhelmed by infections. The city morgue is full.
The majority of the dead are believed to be victims of the virus, but nobody can say for sure how many. There has been little testing.
•••••
The majority of those whose bodies have been found on the street were probably indigent, said Hector Galarza, a publicist in Guayaquil. "But it is generating panic."
•••••
Pablo Jaramillo Viteri, Chris Kraul
,LA Times•April 1, 2020
The corpses have been overwhelming Guayaquil, a port city of 2.8 million at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Ecuador.
Over the last few days, several were wrapped in plastic and left on the streets. Others have lain unclaimed in hospitals and clinics that have been overwhelmed by infections. The city morgue is full.
The majority of the dead are believed to be victims of the virus, but nobody can say for sure how many. There has been little testing.
•••••
The majority of those whose bodies have been found on the street were probably indigent, said Hector Galarza, a publicist in Guayaquil. "But it is generating panic."
•••••
Social Security recipients won't need tax return to receive stimulus payment
https://news.yahoo.com/social-security-recipients-wont-tax-010802081.html
By Brian Faler
,Politico•April 1, 2020
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Wednesday announced that Social Security recipients would not have to file tax returns in order to receive coronavirus stimulus payments.
•••••
Social Security beneficiaries will receive the payments “as a direct deposit or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their benefits,” the agency said.
•••••
By Brian Faler
,Politico•April 1, 2020
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Wednesday announced that Social Security recipients would not have to file tax returns in order to receive coronavirus stimulus payments.
•••••
Social Security beneficiaries will receive the payments “as a direct deposit or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their benefits,” the agency said.
•••••
Beyond fever and cough: Coronavirus symptoms take new shape
https://news.yahoo.com/headaches-vomiting-coronavirus-symptoms-beyond-132800271.html
Erika Edwards and Rosemary Guerguerian, M.D.
,NBC News•April 2, 2020
Fever, cough, shortness of breath.
Those are the three symptoms prominently listed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website under coronavirus symptoms.
But as case counts continue to rise in the United States and across the world, it's clear that COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, causes a much wider range of symptoms. The more detailed descriptions of the illness that are emerging show how doctors and researchers are still learning about the disease, which was first reported just three months ago, in real time.
•••••
[see article at link above for more info]
Erika Edwards and Rosemary Guerguerian, M.D.
,NBC News•April 2, 2020
Fever, cough, shortness of breath.
Those are the three symptoms prominently listed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website under coronavirus symptoms.
But as case counts continue to rise in the United States and across the world, it's clear that COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, causes a much wider range of symptoms. The more detailed descriptions of the illness that are emerging show how doctors and researchers are still learning about the disease, which was first reported just three months ago, in real time.
•••••
[see article at link above for more info]
Russian plane makes its way to U.S. with coronavirus medical equipment
https://news.yahoo.com/russian-plane-makes-way-u-201250095.html
April 1, 2020
A Russian military transport plane was headed to the United States on Wednesday carrying tons of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight the coronavirus outbreak, Russian state TV reported and a U.S. official said.
April 1, 2020
A Russian military transport plane was headed to the United States on Wednesday carrying tons of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight the coronavirus outbreak, Russian state TV reported and a U.S. official said.
Loss of taste and smell key COVID-19 symptoms, app study finds
https://news.yahoo.com/loss-taste-smell-key-covid-113150838.html
By Kate Kelland
,https://www.reuters.com/•April 1, 2020
Losing your sense of smell and taste may be the best way to tell if you have COVID-19, according to a study of data collected via a symptom tracker app developed by scientists in Britain and the United States to help monitor the coronavirus pandemic.
Almost 60% of patients who were subsequently confirmed as positive for COVID-19 had reported losing their sense of smell and taste, data analysed by the researchers showed.
That compared with 18% of those who tested negative.
These results, which were posted online but not peer-reviewed, were much stronger in predicting a positive COVID-19 diagnosis than self-reported fever, researchers at King's College London said.
The app, which the researchers say could help slow the outbreak and identify more swiftly those at risk of contracting COVID-19, can be downloaded via the URL covid.joinzoe.com.
•••••
By Kate Kelland
,https://www.reuters.com/•April 1, 2020
Losing your sense of smell and taste may be the best way to tell if you have COVID-19, according to a study of data collected via a symptom tracker app developed by scientists in Britain and the United States to help monitor the coronavirus pandemic.
Almost 60% of patients who were subsequently confirmed as positive for COVID-19 had reported losing their sense of smell and taste, data analysed by the researchers showed.
That compared with 18% of those who tested negative.
These results, which were posted online but not peer-reviewed, were much stronger in predicting a positive COVID-19 diagnosis than self-reported fever, researchers at King's College London said.
The app, which the researchers say could help slow the outbreak and identify more swiftly those at risk of contracting COVID-19, can be downloaded via the URL covid.joinzoe.com.
•••••
Medical experts are reportedly worried that many people testing negative for the coronavirus are actually infected and don't realize it
https://news.yahoo.com/medical-experts-reportedly-worried-close-185346243.html
Graham Rapier
,Business Insider•April 2, 2020
With many tests for the novel coronavirus being developed at a caffeinated pace, some medical experts are warning that they could have wildly different accuracy rates.
•••••
In some cases, in Texas and New York, patients tested negative but later came back to the hospital with covid-like symptoms and eventually tested positive. One doctor, Mike Lozano of Envision Healthcare, estimates that nearly one-third of tested patients might walk away with a false negative result, he told the paper.
•••••
Graham Rapier
,Business Insider•April 2, 2020
With many tests for the novel coronavirus being developed at a caffeinated pace, some medical experts are warning that they could have wildly different accuracy rates.
•••••
In some cases, in Texas and New York, patients tested negative but later came back to the hospital with covid-like symptoms and eventually tested positive. One doctor, Mike Lozano of Envision Healthcare, estimates that nearly one-third of tested patients might walk away with a false negative result, he told the paper.
•••••
Aircraft carrier captain removed from duty after pleading for help with coronavirus outbreak
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/490892-aircraft-carrier-captain-to-be-removed-from-duty-after-pleading-for-help-with?fbclid=IwAR2TRjGB97IAAKQL7Oj1BOCAwabf7jiQBtKbPAvVXUxBl3C9TAuCnVFKKDY
By Rebecca Kheel - 04/02/20 04:33 PM EDT
The captain of an aircraft carrier struggling with a coronavirus outbreak has been relieved from command after a letter he penned pleading for help leaked to the media.
•••••
As of Thursday, 114 sailors on board the Roosevelt had tested positive for COVID-19. The 4,800-crew ship has been docked in Guam since last week while the entire crew is tested for the virus.
In his letter, Crozier pleaded in stark terms for permission to evacuate all but 10 percent of the crew from the Roosevelt, where he said it was impossible to properly isolate and quarantine sailors to stop a growing coronavirus outbreak.
“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.”
•••••
By Rebecca Kheel - 04/02/20 04:33 PM EDT
The captain of an aircraft carrier struggling with a coronavirus outbreak has been relieved from command after a letter he penned pleading for help leaked to the media.
•••••
As of Thursday, 114 sailors on board the Roosevelt had tested positive for COVID-19. The 4,800-crew ship has been docked in Guam since last week while the entire crew is tested for the virus.
In his letter, Crozier pleaded in stark terms for permission to evacuate all but 10 percent of the crew from the Roosevelt, where he said it was impossible to properly isolate and quarantine sailors to stop a growing coronavirus outbreak.
“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.”
•••••
Taiwan to Donate Ten Million Masks to U.S., E.U.
https://news.yahoo.com/taiwan-donate-ten-million-masks-172312113.html
Mairead McArdle
,National Review•April 1, 2020
Taiwan will donate ten million face masks to countries struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, a move that will likely rile China, which claims Taiwan as a territory and has donated far fewer masks to other countries despite its role in covering up the risk posed by a deadly virus that originated within its borders.
•••••
Taiwan will donate ten million face masks to countries struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, a move that will likely rile China, which claims Taiwan as a territory and has donated far fewer masks to other countries despite its role in covering up the risk posed by a deadly virus that originated within its borders.
•••••
China also supplied rapid test coronavirus test kits to Spain and the Czech Republic, but the majority of the tests turned out to be faulty. Up to 80 percent of the 150,000 portable test kits China delivered to the Czech Republic earlier this month did not produce correct results. Spain, which has the second-highest number of coronavirus fatalities in the world after Italy, found that the rapid coronavirus test kits it purchased from Chinese company Bioeasy only correctly identified 30 percent of virus cases.
•••••
Mairead McArdle
,National Review•April 1, 2020
Taiwan will donate ten million face masks to countries struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, a move that will likely rile China, which claims Taiwan as a territory and has donated far fewer masks to other countries despite its role in covering up the risk posed by a deadly virus that originated within its borders.
•••••
Taiwan will donate ten million face masks to countries struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, a move that will likely rile China, which claims Taiwan as a territory and has donated far fewer masks to other countries despite its role in covering up the risk posed by a deadly virus that originated within its borders.
•••••
China also supplied rapid test coronavirus test kits to Spain and the Czech Republic, but the majority of the tests turned out to be faulty. Up to 80 percent of the 150,000 portable test kits China delivered to the Czech Republic earlier this month did not produce correct results. Spain, which has the second-highest number of coronavirus fatalities in the world after Italy, found that the rapid coronavirus test kits it purchased from Chinese company Bioeasy only correctly identified 30 percent of virus cases.
•••••
Revealed: Monsanto predicted its crop system would damage US farms
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/30/monsanto-crop-system-damage-us-farms-documents
by Carey Gillam
Mon 30 Mar 2020 05.15 EDT
The US agriculture giant Monsanto and the German chemical giant BASF were aware for years that their plan to introduce a new agricultural seed and chemical system would probably lead to damage on many US farms, internal documents seen by the Guardian show.
Risks were downplayed even while they planned how to profit off farmers who would buy Monsanto’s new seeds just to avoid damage, according to documents unearthed during a recent successful $265m lawsuit brought against both firms by a Missouri farmer.
The documents, some of which date back more than a decade, also reveal how Monsanto opposed some third-party product testing in order to curtail the generation of data that might have worried regulators.
And in some of the internal emails, employees appear to joke about sharing “voodoo science” and hoping to stay “out of jail”.
•••••
Just as Monsanto has done in the Roundup litigation, Monsanto and BASF sought to keep most of the discovery documents they turned over in the dicamba litigation designated confidential. Roughly 180 have been unsealed and were cited at the Bader trial.
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“The documents are the worst that I’ve ever seen for any case that I’ve worked on,” said lawyer Angie Splittgerber, a former tobacco industry defense attorney who works with Randles in the firm Randles & Splittgerber. “So many of them put things in writing that were just horrifying.”
•••••
A series of emails show efforts by Monsanto to block some independent testing by academics of the company’s new dicamba herbicides, in part for fear outside tests would disrupt the company’s efforts to gain product approval from the EPA.
The agency was aware of the volatility concerns and Monsanto was seeking to convince the EPA that the concerns were unfounded.
•••••
Because of farmer concerns that dicamba drift would contaminate fruits and vegetable plots, the internal documents show that Monsanto and BASF devised a plan to ask the EPA to allow certain amounts of dicamba residues to be considered legal in crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, grapes and other foods expected to be accidentally exposed to dicamba spray.
•••••
“It’s a huge problem,” said Kansas organic farmer Jack Geiger, who said his wheat, corn and soybean farm has been hit multiple times by dicamba drift. “Dicamba is going to make Roundup look like a tea party.”
•••••
by Carey Gillam
Mon 30 Mar 2020 05.15 EDT
The US agriculture giant Monsanto and the German chemical giant BASF were aware for years that their plan to introduce a new agricultural seed and chemical system would probably lead to damage on many US farms, internal documents seen by the Guardian show.
Risks were downplayed even while they planned how to profit off farmers who would buy Monsanto’s new seeds just to avoid damage, according to documents unearthed during a recent successful $265m lawsuit brought against both firms by a Missouri farmer.
The documents, some of which date back more than a decade, also reveal how Monsanto opposed some third-party product testing in order to curtail the generation of data that might have worried regulators.
And in some of the internal emails, employees appear to joke about sharing “voodoo science” and hoping to stay “out of jail”.
•••••
Just as Monsanto has done in the Roundup litigation, Monsanto and BASF sought to keep most of the discovery documents they turned over in the dicamba litigation designated confidential. Roughly 180 have been unsealed and were cited at the Bader trial.
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“The documents are the worst that I’ve ever seen for any case that I’ve worked on,” said lawyer Angie Splittgerber, a former tobacco industry defense attorney who works with Randles in the firm Randles & Splittgerber. “So many of them put things in writing that were just horrifying.”
•••••
A series of emails show efforts by Monsanto to block some independent testing by academics of the company’s new dicamba herbicides, in part for fear outside tests would disrupt the company’s efforts to gain product approval from the EPA.
The agency was aware of the volatility concerns and Monsanto was seeking to convince the EPA that the concerns were unfounded.
•••••
Because of farmer concerns that dicamba drift would contaminate fruits and vegetable plots, the internal documents show that Monsanto and BASF devised a plan to ask the EPA to allow certain amounts of dicamba residues to be considered legal in crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, grapes and other foods expected to be accidentally exposed to dicamba spray.
•••••
“It’s a huge problem,” said Kansas organic farmer Jack Geiger, who said his wheat, corn and soybean farm has been hit multiple times by dicamba drift. “Dicamba is going to make Roundup look like a tea party.”
•••••
Is coronavirus hitting young Americans harder than we thought?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/01/coronavirus-young-americans-covid-19
Danielle Renwick
Wed 1 Apr 2020 12.48 EDT
Last modified on Wed 1 Apr 2020 13.22 EDT
Early reports out of China showed that elderly people and the chronically ill were most vulnerable to Covid-19. Yet an alarming number of young people in the United States have been hospitalized with severe infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40% of American Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized were under 55 – and 20% were between ages 20 and 44. And in rare cases, even children have died after falling ill with Covid-19. Three experts interpret the data.
•••••
Dr Timothy Brewer: The data have actually been pretty consistent across lots of different countries. Initially, people were very focused on mortality rates, and death rates in young adults are low pretty much everywhere you look. And I think people interpreted that to mean that young adults were not getting infected, and were not getting severely ill. As more data came out about hospitalizations and infection rates, we learned that was not the case.
A recent study out of Shenzhen, China, showed that young people are just as likely to get infected as older individuals. Now that we’re seeing more data on hospitalization rates, we’re seeing that yes, young adults are experiencing severe illnesses. The big difference between them and older adults is [young adults’] mortality rates tend to be lower.
•••••
Brewer: It takes people a lot longer to recover from this than we thought. We’ll have to see long term, but one of the things we learned from tuberculosis – which is a totally different pathogen – is that even if you cure the tuberculosis, a lot of people are left with long-term lung damage. And that’s very much a concern with Covid-19, and it’s something we’ll learn about going forward.
•••••
Danielle Renwick
Wed 1 Apr 2020 12.48 EDT
Last modified on Wed 1 Apr 2020 13.22 EDT
Early reports out of China showed that elderly people and the chronically ill were most vulnerable to Covid-19. Yet an alarming number of young people in the United States have been hospitalized with severe infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40% of American Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized were under 55 – and 20% were between ages 20 and 44. And in rare cases, even children have died after falling ill with Covid-19. Three experts interpret the data.
•••••
Dr Timothy Brewer: The data have actually been pretty consistent across lots of different countries. Initially, people were very focused on mortality rates, and death rates in young adults are low pretty much everywhere you look. And I think people interpreted that to mean that young adults were not getting infected, and were not getting severely ill. As more data came out about hospitalizations and infection rates, we learned that was not the case.
A recent study out of Shenzhen, China, showed that young people are just as likely to get infected as older individuals. Now that we’re seeing more data on hospitalization rates, we’re seeing that yes, young adults are experiencing severe illnesses. The big difference between them and older adults is [young adults’] mortality rates tend to be lower.
•••••
Brewer: It takes people a lot longer to recover from this than we thought. We’ll have to see long term, but one of the things we learned from tuberculosis – which is a totally different pathogen – is that even if you cure the tuberculosis, a lot of people are left with long-term lung damage. And that’s very much a concern with Covid-19, and it’s something we’ll learn about going forward.
•••••
Wednesday, April 01, 2020
Six-week-old newborn dies of coronavirus in US
https://news.yahoo.com/six-week-old-newborn-dies-coronavirus-us-state-205950218.html
AFP•April 1, 2020
A six-week-old infant has died of complications relating to COVID-19, the governor of the US state of Connecticut said Wednesday, in one of the youngest recorded deaths from the virus.
Governor Ned Lamont tweeted that the newborn was "brought unresponsive to a hospital late last week and could not be revived."
"Testing confirmed last night that the newborn was COVID-19 positive," Lamont said.
•••••
Last week Illinois authorities said they were investigating the death of a child "younger than one year" who had tested positive for coronavirus.
According to local media that infant was nine months old.
•••••
AFP•April 1, 2020
A six-week-old infant has died of complications relating to COVID-19, the governor of the US state of Connecticut said Wednesday, in one of the youngest recorded deaths from the virus.
Governor Ned Lamont tweeted that the newborn was "brought unresponsive to a hospital late last week and could not be revived."
"Testing confirmed last night that the newborn was COVID-19 positive," Lamont said.
•••••
Last week Illinois authorities said they were investigating the death of a child "younger than one year" who had tested positive for coronavirus.
According to local media that infant was nine months old.
•••••
Most cruise lines don't pay federal income tax — just one of the reasons they aren't getting a bailout
https://news.yahoo.com/most-cruise-lines-dont-pay-105751022.html
Leticia Miranda and Isabel Soisson
,NBC News•April 1, 2020
Cruise lines, which have been pummeled by the economic impact of the coronavirus, may not be eligible to receive relief through the bailout fund included in the $2 trillion stimulus bill passed on Friday.
While the stimulus bill allocates $500 billion for distressed businesses, in order to qualify, a company must be “created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States” and “have significant operations in and a majority of its employees based in the United States,” according to the new law.
Some of the country’s largest publicly traded cruise lines are incorporated offshore. Carnival Corporation, which owns the Princess cruise line, is incorporated in Panama. Royal Caribbean is incorporated in Liberia, and Norwegian Cruise Lines is incorporated in Bermuda.
•••••
The three biggest cruise lines are incorporated in what are called equivalent exemption countries where they are not required to pay the 21 percent corporate income tax that U.S. companies are obligated to pay, said Robert Willens, a tax and accounting analyst.
“Why don’t they just relocate and domesticate and change the place of incorporation from Panama to the U.S. and this way they’ll be eligible for loans and loan guarantees?” he said. “If they did that, they would win the battle but lose the war because they would be forced to give up their tax exemption. I assure you that is sacrosanct; they're not giving up their tax exemption.”
For instance, Carnival, the biggest U.S. cruise line company, would have had to pay around $600 million in corporate taxes on its reported $3 billion in income for 2019.
With a potential loss in profit to taxes at these amounts, “they’re not moving to the U.S.,” Willens said.
•••••
Senator says White House turned down emergency coronavirus funding in early February
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/senator-says-white-house-turned-down-emergency-coronavirus-funding-in-early-february/ar-BB11OvE1?ocid=sf2
Suzanne Smalley
Mar. 28, 2020
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus.
•••••
On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”
Murphy told Yahoo News that the funding he and other congressional leaders wanted to allocate nearly two months ago would have paid for essential preventative measures, including hiring local screening and testing staff, researching a vaccine and treatments and the stockpiling of needed medical supplies.
•••••
After outcry, rules on payment eligibility changed
Gov. Cuomo opens up about brother Chris' coronavirus: 'I'm worried'
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus.
Chris Murphy wearing a suit and tie: Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Capitol Hill. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) © Provided by Yahoo! News Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Capitol Hill. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they “didn’t need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,” Murphy recalled in an interview with Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast.
“What an awful, horrible catastrophic mistake that was,” Murphy said.
On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”
News to stay informed. Advice to stay safe.
Click here for complete coronavirus coverage from Microsoft News
Murphy told Yahoo News that the funding he and other congressional leaders wanted to allocate nearly two months ago would have paid for essential preventative measures, including hiring local screening and testing staff, researching a vaccine and treatments and the stockpiling of needed medical supplies.
“The consequences of that in Connecticut is that we're going to test less people today than we tested yesterday,” Murphy told “Skullduggery” hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman. “And that means that there are lots of people who are positive who are not going to know it, who are then going to be in contact with other people, who are going to spread the disease.”
An HHS spokesperson said that a few days before the Feb. 5 meeting, Azar had let Congress know he might need to use his “transfer authority” to fund the response to the virus. The Department was already using an Infectious Disease and Rapid Response Reserve Fund, which the spokesperson said was used to pay for CDC technical assistance, medical screening, and more lab capacity, among other things.
Connecticut is so undersupplied that officials have had to cut back on tests administered even as suspected new infections are surging, Murphy said, calling the forced reduction in testing “an abomination.”
Murphy said Connecticut has been particularly challenged in trying to build up its supply of re-agents, the compounds needed to run coronavirus tests. Re-agents are mostly manufactured abroad, and Murphy said “the whole world is competing” for them now.
Slide 1 of 50: The marquee for the Iowa Theater, closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is seen on John Wayne Drive, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Winterset, Iowa. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (
Slide 2 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: People wait in a line to get into a Trader Joe's grocery store on April 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. As of April 1, the entire national capital region is under 'stay-at-home' orders, which ban residents from leaving their homes except to perform essential activities and visit essential businesses. (Photo by
Slide 3 of 50: Visitors waiting to collect free food outside the Bowery Mission are instructed to wash their hands at a kiosk due to coronavirus concerns, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (
Slide 4 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is interviewed by CNN about the government response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Pelosi told host Anderson Cooper that the federal government needs to give more financial help to state and local governments dealing with COVID-19. "We had $150 billion in the bill that the President just signed. That is simply not enough, unfortunately," she said. (Photo by
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Slide 5 of 50: Civilian nurses contracted by the Florida Department of Health gather before the start of testing for Covid-19 at the Regional Temporary Drive-Through Testing Site at the Orange County Convention Center on April 1, 2020 in Orlando, Fla. Wednesday marked the first day of testing age restrictions being lifted at the OCCC site.
Slide 6 of 50: Cots are set up at a possible COVID-19 treatment site Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in San Mateo, Calif. The National Guard is currently setting up the federal cache, which includes cots and personal protective equipment needed to establish a federal medical station with capacity up to 250 beds. No patients will be immediately housed in the space but proactively standing it up now allows the County to be ready if and when hospitals need more medical spaces. (
Slide 7 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: Basketball rims have been removed from the hoops at a Department of Parks and Recreation basketball court on April 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. As of April 1, the entire national capital region is under 'stay-at-home' orders, which ban residents from leaving their homes except to perform essential activities and visit essential businesses. (Photo by
Slide 8 of 50: Viv Brown, left, with the Women Supporting Women's support group, and Sandy Dorsainvil, right, with the City of Miami, package tomatoes during a food distribution event, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. The event was supported by the city, Ark of the City and Farm Share. (
Slide 9 of 50: WASHINGTON DC, USA - MARCH 31: Washington D.C. Street and Metro station is shown nearly empty due to the impacts of coronavirus on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by
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Slide 10 of 50: President Donald Trump listens as Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Slide 11 of 50: The Sovran family stands outside their front door shining flashlights towards their nearest hospital during the first night of ?Home Beams for Health Care Teams? to show support for healthcare workers battling coronavirus disease (COVID-19) across Southeast Michigan, March 31, 2020 in Beverly Hills, Michigan, U.S. REUTERS/Emily Elconin
Slide 12 of 50: A pedestrian wearing a facemark walks past an H&R Block tax preparation office as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Redmond
Slide 13 of 50: New Orleans police officer Deserie Broussard ensures people maintain social distancing by remaining six feet apart, as meals are distributed at the Lantern Light Ministry at the Rebuild Center, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn
Slide 14 of 50: WASHINGTON DC, USA - MARCH 31: Washington D.C. Street and Metro station is shown nearly empty due to the impacts of coronavirus on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Slide 15 of 50: Pastor Tony Spell speaks to media after holding an evening service at the Life Tabernacle Church in Central, La., Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Spell did so despite being charged with misdemeanors today, for holding services against Gov. John Bel Edwards shelter-in-place order due to the new coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Slide 16 of 50: A New York City Medical Examiner truck parks outside NYU Langone Hospital, where several trailer's are being used as a morgue, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in New York City, U.S., March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Slide 17 of 50: A closed tattoo shop is boarded up closed amid concerns of COVID-19 spreading in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (
Slide 18 of 50: A person crosses a bridge in front of the Mount Sinai logo at Mt. Sinai Hospital on March 31, 2020 in New York. - The number of deaths in the United States from coronavirus has surpassed those reported by China, where the pandemic began in December, according to a toll published on March 31, 2020 by Johns Hopkins University. There have been 3,415 deaths in the US from the virus, the Baltimore-based university said, more than the 3,309 reported officially in China. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by
Slide 19 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: A woman jogs along a mostly empty National Mall on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia have all announced stay-at-home orders this week, which strongly discourage residents from leaving home unless absolutely necessary or essential. (Photo by
Slide 20 of 50: A worker checks part of a delivery of 64 hospital beds from Hillrom to The Mount Sinai Hospital during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 31, 2020. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC23VF9CG1IO
Slide 21 of 50: Passersby stop to peer in to CenturyLink Field Event Center, which is being turned into a military field hospital for non coronavirus patients during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 30, 2020. - RC2RUF9JJHE1
Slide 22 of 50: Caution tape and zip ties are used to stop children from playing on swings during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at a park in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 30, 2020. - RC2SUF98GSGV
Slide 23 of 50: A healthcare worker sits on a bench near Central park in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Mar. 30.
Slide 24 of 50: U.S. President Donald Trump examines a coronavirus testing kit as he prepares to speak during the daily coronavirus response briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Mar. 30.
Slide 25 of 50: A nurse takes part in a candlelight vigil outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to "show solidarity and support for nurses across the nation and to demand stronger leadership from the federal government in protecting the health and safety of all healthcare workers and their patients," according to event organizers, in Los Angeles, California, Mar. 30.
Slide 26 of 50: The One World Trade Center is illuminated in red, white and blue in recognition of the ongoing nationwide effort to combat coronavirus during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, as it is seen from Exchange Place, New Jersey, March 30, 2020.
Slide 27 of 50: A portrait of President George Washington hangs as people give blood at a donation center inside the White House East Room replica at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum to help with a shortage of blood donations due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Yorba Linda, California, Mar. 30.
Slide 28 of 50: People wait in line to be tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while wearing protective gear, outside Elmhurst Hospital Center in the Queens borough of New York City, Mar. 30.
Slide 29 of 50: A man walks with a face mask past a mural amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in San Francisco, California, Mar. 30.
Slide 30 of 50: People arrive at a temporary homeless shelter with painted social-distancing boxes in a parking lot at Cashman Center on Mar. 30, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada was closed last week after a homeless man who used their services tested positive for the coronavirus, leaving about 500 people with no overnight shelter. The city of Las Vegas, Clark County and local homeless providers plan to operate the shelter through April 3rd when it is anticipated that the Catholic Charities facility will be back open. The city is also reserving the building spaces at Cashman Center in case of an overflow of hospital patients.
Slide 31 of 50: A container ship is seen as hundreds of shipping containers are seen stacked at a pier at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Mar. 30.
Slide 32 of 50: A sign about the coronavirus is displayed over Route 50 in Davidsonville, Md., Monday, March 30, 2020. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a "stay-at-home" directive in response to the coronavirus effect on Monday. "No Maryland resident should be leaving their home unless it is for an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention or for other necessary purposes," Hogan said at a news conference on the Maryland State House lawn. (
Slide 33 of 50: Beds are set out in rows at the Federal Medical Station for hospital surge capacity set up at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Monday, March 30, 2020. (
Slide 34 of 50: NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 30: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks to members of the press after the arrival of the USNS Comfort hospital to Pier 90 on the Hudson RIver on March 30, 2020 in New York City. The Comfort, a floating hospital in the form of a Navy ship, is equipped to take in patients within 24 hours but will not be treating people with COVID-19. The ship's 1,000 beds and 12 operation rooms will help ease the pressure on New York hospitals, many of which are now overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. (Photo by
Slide 35 of 50: A Pittsburgh Public Works employee removes a basketball rim from a court on the Northside of Pittsburgh, Monday, March 30, 2020. The rims were removed because people were not following social distancing rules while using the courts over the weekend. (
Slide 36 of 50: DeliverLean employee Victoria Rua prepares meals to be distributed to senior citizens as part of an emergency meal program in Miami-Dade County during the new coronavirus pandemic, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Hollywood, Fla. DeliverLean has been contracted by the county to prepare and deliver meals to homebound seniors. (
Slide 37 of 50: Amazon workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse strike in demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coronavirus on March 30, 2020 in New York. - Amazon employees at a New York City warehouse walk off the job March 30, 2020, as a growing number of delivery and warehouse workers demand better pay and protections in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by
Slide 38 of 50: A huge thank you sign placed in front of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York City to thank all hospital workers helping to fight coronavirus, in New York City, on March 30, 2020. US Navy Hospital Ship arrives at Pier 90, New York City. It has a 1000 bed capacity which will be augmenting New York hospitals, in New York City, on March 30, 2020. US Navy Hospital Ship arrives at Pier 90, New York City. It has a 1000 bed capacity which will be augmenting New York hospitals. (Photo by
Slide 39 of 50: LANDOVER, MARYLAND - MARCH 30: Healthcare professionals prepare to screen people for the coronavirus at a testing site erected by the Maryland National Guard in a parking lot at FedEx Field March 30, 2020 in Landover, Maryland. The guard, in cooperation with the state of Maryland and Prince Georges County, said the site will be able to test about 100 people a day for COVID-19 if they have been recommended by a doctor. There has been 1413 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Maryland and 15 deaths since the start of the global pandemic. (Photo by
Slide 40 of 50: Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the US Army Corps of Engineers and the state are putting up a 250-bed field hospital at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas during a press conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Sunday, March 29, 2020. The space can expand to nearly 1,400 beds. Joining him was former State Representative Dr. John Zerwas (left) and Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt, MD. (
Slide 41 of 50: A grocery store worker is protected by a shield at a Vons store during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Solana Beach, California, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Slide 42 of 50: A new makeshift morgue is set outside Lenox Health Medical Pavilion on March 29, 2020 in New York City. - A senior US scientist issued a cautious prediction March 29, 2020 that the novel coronavirus could claim 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told CNN that models predicting a million or more deaths were "almost certainly off the chart." (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Slide 43 of 50: An empty Lexington Avenue is seen during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
Slide 44 of 50: People walk around an almost empty Grand Central Terminal as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in New York City, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Slide 45 of 50: People walk on the beach next to State Route 1 amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), along the Pacific coastline outside of Big Sur, California, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Slide 46 of 50: Empty shelving of toilet paper and paper towels is shown at a Target store during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Encinitas, California, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Slide 47 of 50: A mural that reads "state of emergency" with a dollar-sign is pictured in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Redmond
Slide 48 of 50: A woman is seen during check-in at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, United States on March 29, 2020
Slide 49 of 50: NEW YORK, USA - MARCH 29: Javits Convention Center that has been converted to hospital due to Covid-19 pandemic is seen in New York City, United States on March 29, 2020. (Photo by Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Slide 50 of 50: President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2020, in Washington.
Slide 1 of 50: The marquee for the Iowa Theater, closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is seen on John Wayne Drive, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Winterset, Iowa. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (
Full screen
1/50 SLIDES © Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo
The world is battling the COVID-19 outbreak that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, which has claimed more than 4,720 lives and infected more than 211,698 people in the U.S.
(Pictured) The marquee for the Iowa Theater, closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is seen on John Wayne Drive on April 1 in Winterset, Iowa.
Slideshow by photo services
The senator said he spent part of Thursday on the phone with a lab official in Connecticut who said he cannot administer enough tests due to the re-agent shortage.
“Had we appropriated money in February to start buying re-agent, we would be in a position to do many more tests today than we are,” Murphy said. ”It was just so clear to us that the administration didn't think this was going to be a problem. We begged them in that meeting to request emergency funding from the Congress and they told us ... that they had everything that they needed on hand, which was false.”
Murphy also criticized the White House’s decision not to take coronavirus test kits offered by the World Health Organization in January, which he said was an especially devastating mistake because that test was ready to go and easily replicable. Murphy said he believes that, as a result of the administration’s testing decisions, only about 20 percent to 30 percent of people who should be tested are able to do so.
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Suzanne Smalley
Mar. 28, 2020
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus.
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On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”
Murphy told Yahoo News that the funding he and other congressional leaders wanted to allocate nearly two months ago would have paid for essential preventative measures, including hiring local screening and testing staff, researching a vaccine and treatments and the stockpiling of needed medical supplies.
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Gov. Cuomo opens up about brother Chris' coronavirus: 'I'm worried'
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, says that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus.
Chris Murphy wearing a suit and tie: Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Capitol Hill. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) © Provided by Yahoo! News Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Capitol Hill. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they “didn’t need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,” Murphy recalled in an interview with Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast.
“What an awful, horrible catastrophic mistake that was,” Murphy said.
On Feb. 5, Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”
News to stay informed. Advice to stay safe.
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Murphy told Yahoo News that the funding he and other congressional leaders wanted to allocate nearly two months ago would have paid for essential preventative measures, including hiring local screening and testing staff, researching a vaccine and treatments and the stockpiling of needed medical supplies.
“The consequences of that in Connecticut is that we're going to test less people today than we tested yesterday,” Murphy told “Skullduggery” hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman. “And that means that there are lots of people who are positive who are not going to know it, who are then going to be in contact with other people, who are going to spread the disease.”
An HHS spokesperson said that a few days before the Feb. 5 meeting, Azar had let Congress know he might need to use his “transfer authority” to fund the response to the virus. The Department was already using an Infectious Disease and Rapid Response Reserve Fund, which the spokesperson said was used to pay for CDC technical assistance, medical screening, and more lab capacity, among other things.
Connecticut is so undersupplied that officials have had to cut back on tests administered even as suspected new infections are surging, Murphy said, calling the forced reduction in testing “an abomination.”
Murphy said Connecticut has been particularly challenged in trying to build up its supply of re-agents, the compounds needed to run coronavirus tests. Re-agents are mostly manufactured abroad, and Murphy said “the whole world is competing” for them now.
Slide 1 of 50: The marquee for the Iowa Theater, closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is seen on John Wayne Drive, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Winterset, Iowa. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (
Slide 2 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: People wait in a line to get into a Trader Joe's grocery store on April 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. As of April 1, the entire national capital region is under 'stay-at-home' orders, which ban residents from leaving their homes except to perform essential activities and visit essential businesses. (Photo by
Slide 3 of 50: Visitors waiting to collect free food outside the Bowery Mission are instructed to wash their hands at a kiosk due to coronavirus concerns, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (
Slide 4 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is interviewed by CNN about the government response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Pelosi told host Anderson Cooper that the federal government needs to give more financial help to state and local governments dealing with COVID-19. "We had $150 billion in the bill that the President just signed. That is simply not enough, unfortunately," she said. (Photo by
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Slide 5 of 50: Civilian nurses contracted by the Florida Department of Health gather before the start of testing for Covid-19 at the Regional Temporary Drive-Through Testing Site at the Orange County Convention Center on April 1, 2020 in Orlando, Fla. Wednesday marked the first day of testing age restrictions being lifted at the OCCC site.
Slide 6 of 50: Cots are set up at a possible COVID-19 treatment site Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in San Mateo, Calif. The National Guard is currently setting up the federal cache, which includes cots and personal protective equipment needed to establish a federal medical station with capacity up to 250 beds. No patients will be immediately housed in the space but proactively standing it up now allows the County to be ready if and when hospitals need more medical spaces. (
Slide 7 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: Basketball rims have been removed from the hoops at a Department of Parks and Recreation basketball court on April 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. As of April 1, the entire national capital region is under 'stay-at-home' orders, which ban residents from leaving their homes except to perform essential activities and visit essential businesses. (Photo by
Slide 8 of 50: Viv Brown, left, with the Women Supporting Women's support group, and Sandy Dorsainvil, right, with the City of Miami, package tomatoes during a food distribution event, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. The event was supported by the city, Ark of the City and Farm Share. (
Slide 9 of 50: WASHINGTON DC, USA - MARCH 31: Washington D.C. Street and Metro station is shown nearly empty due to the impacts of coronavirus on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by
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Slide 10 of 50: President Donald Trump listens as Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Slide 11 of 50: The Sovran family stands outside their front door shining flashlights towards their nearest hospital during the first night of ?Home Beams for Health Care Teams? to show support for healthcare workers battling coronavirus disease (COVID-19) across Southeast Michigan, March 31, 2020 in Beverly Hills, Michigan, U.S. REUTERS/Emily Elconin
Slide 12 of 50: A pedestrian wearing a facemark walks past an H&R Block tax preparation office as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Redmond
Slide 13 of 50: New Orleans police officer Deserie Broussard ensures people maintain social distancing by remaining six feet apart, as meals are distributed at the Lantern Light Ministry at the Rebuild Center, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn
Slide 14 of 50: WASHINGTON DC, USA - MARCH 31: Washington D.C. Street and Metro station is shown nearly empty due to the impacts of coronavirus on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Slide 15 of 50: Pastor Tony Spell speaks to media after holding an evening service at the Life Tabernacle Church in Central, La., Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Spell did so despite being charged with misdemeanors today, for holding services against Gov. John Bel Edwards shelter-in-place order due to the new coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Slide 16 of 50: A New York City Medical Examiner truck parks outside NYU Langone Hospital, where several trailer's are being used as a morgue, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in New York City, U.S., March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Slide 17 of 50: A closed tattoo shop is boarded up closed amid concerns of COVID-19 spreading in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (
Slide 18 of 50: A person crosses a bridge in front of the Mount Sinai logo at Mt. Sinai Hospital on March 31, 2020 in New York. - The number of deaths in the United States from coronavirus has surpassed those reported by China, where the pandemic began in December, according to a toll published on March 31, 2020 by Johns Hopkins University. There have been 3,415 deaths in the US from the virus, the Baltimore-based university said, more than the 3,309 reported officially in China. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by
Slide 19 of 50: WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: A woman jogs along a mostly empty National Mall on March 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia have all announced stay-at-home orders this week, which strongly discourage residents from leaving home unless absolutely necessary or essential. (Photo by
Slide 20 of 50: A worker checks part of a delivery of 64 hospital beds from Hillrom to The Mount Sinai Hospital during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 31, 2020. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC23VF9CG1IO
Slide 21 of 50: Passersby stop to peer in to CenturyLink Field Event Center, which is being turned into a military field hospital for non coronavirus patients during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 30, 2020. - RC2RUF9JJHE1
Slide 22 of 50: Caution tape and zip ties are used to stop children from playing on swings during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at a park in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 30, 2020. - RC2SUF98GSGV
Slide 23 of 50: A healthcare worker sits on a bench near Central park in the Manhattan borough of New York City, Mar. 30.
Slide 24 of 50: U.S. President Donald Trump examines a coronavirus testing kit as he prepares to speak during the daily coronavirus response briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Mar. 30.
Slide 25 of 50: A nurse takes part in a candlelight vigil outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to "show solidarity and support for nurses across the nation and to demand stronger leadership from the federal government in protecting the health and safety of all healthcare workers and their patients," according to event organizers, in Los Angeles, California, Mar. 30.
Slide 26 of 50: The One World Trade Center is illuminated in red, white and blue in recognition of the ongoing nationwide effort to combat coronavirus during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, as it is seen from Exchange Place, New Jersey, March 30, 2020.
Slide 27 of 50: A portrait of President George Washington hangs as people give blood at a donation center inside the White House East Room replica at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum to help with a shortage of blood donations due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Yorba Linda, California, Mar. 30.
Slide 28 of 50: People wait in line to be tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while wearing protective gear, outside Elmhurst Hospital Center in the Queens borough of New York City, Mar. 30.
Slide 29 of 50: A man walks with a face mask past a mural amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in San Francisco, California, Mar. 30.
Slide 30 of 50: People arrive at a temporary homeless shelter with painted social-distancing boxes in a parking lot at Cashman Center on Mar. 30, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada was closed last week after a homeless man who used their services tested positive for the coronavirus, leaving about 500 people with no overnight shelter. The city of Las Vegas, Clark County and local homeless providers plan to operate the shelter through April 3rd when it is anticipated that the Catholic Charities facility will be back open. The city is also reserving the building spaces at Cashman Center in case of an overflow of hospital patients.
Slide 31 of 50: A container ship is seen as hundreds of shipping containers are seen stacked at a pier at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Mar. 30.
Slide 32 of 50: A sign about the coronavirus is displayed over Route 50 in Davidsonville, Md., Monday, March 30, 2020. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a "stay-at-home" directive in response to the coronavirus effect on Monday. "No Maryland resident should be leaving their home unless it is for an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention or for other necessary purposes," Hogan said at a news conference on the Maryland State House lawn. (
Slide 33 of 50: Beds are set out in rows at the Federal Medical Station for hospital surge capacity set up at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Monday, March 30, 2020. (
Slide 34 of 50: NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 30: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks to members of the press after the arrival of the USNS Comfort hospital to Pier 90 on the Hudson RIver on March 30, 2020 in New York City. The Comfort, a floating hospital in the form of a Navy ship, is equipped to take in patients within 24 hours but will not be treating people with COVID-19. The ship's 1,000 beds and 12 operation rooms will help ease the pressure on New York hospitals, many of which are now overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. (Photo by
Slide 35 of 50: A Pittsburgh Public Works employee removes a basketball rim from a court on the Northside of Pittsburgh, Monday, March 30, 2020. The rims were removed because people were not following social distancing rules while using the courts over the weekend. (
Slide 36 of 50: DeliverLean employee Victoria Rua prepares meals to be distributed to senior citizens as part of an emergency meal program in Miami-Dade County during the new coronavirus pandemic, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Hollywood, Fla. DeliverLean has been contracted by the county to prepare and deliver meals to homebound seniors. (
Slide 37 of 50: Amazon workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse strike in demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coronavirus on March 30, 2020 in New York. - Amazon employees at a New York City warehouse walk off the job March 30, 2020, as a growing number of delivery and warehouse workers demand better pay and protections in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by
Slide 38 of 50: A huge thank you sign placed in front of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York City to thank all hospital workers helping to fight coronavirus, in New York City, on March 30, 2020. US Navy Hospital Ship arrives at Pier 90, New York City. It has a 1000 bed capacity which will be augmenting New York hospitals, in New York City, on March 30, 2020. US Navy Hospital Ship arrives at Pier 90, New York City. It has a 1000 bed capacity which will be augmenting New York hospitals. (Photo by
Slide 39 of 50: LANDOVER, MARYLAND - MARCH 30: Healthcare professionals prepare to screen people for the coronavirus at a testing site erected by the Maryland National Guard in a parking lot at FedEx Field March 30, 2020 in Landover, Maryland. The guard, in cooperation with the state of Maryland and Prince Georges County, said the site will be able to test about 100 people a day for COVID-19 if they have been recommended by a doctor. There has been 1413 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Maryland and 15 deaths since the start of the global pandemic. (Photo by
Slide 40 of 50: Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the US Army Corps of Engineers and the state are putting up a 250-bed field hospital at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas during a press conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Sunday, March 29, 2020. The space can expand to nearly 1,400 beds. Joining him was former State Representative Dr. John Zerwas (left) and Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt, MD. (
Slide 41 of 50: A grocery store worker is protected by a shield at a Vons store during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Solana Beach, California, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Slide 42 of 50: A new makeshift morgue is set outside Lenox Health Medical Pavilion on March 29, 2020 in New York City. - A senior US scientist issued a cautious prediction March 29, 2020 that the novel coronavirus could claim 100,000 to 200,000 lives in the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told CNN that models predicting a million or more deaths were "almost certainly off the chart." (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Slide 43 of 50: An empty Lexington Avenue is seen during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
Slide 44 of 50: People walk around an almost empty Grand Central Terminal as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in New York City, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Slide 45 of 50: People walk on the beach next to State Route 1 amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), along the Pacific coastline outside of Big Sur, California, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Slide 46 of 50: Empty shelving of toilet paper and paper towels is shown at a Target store during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Encinitas, California, U.S., March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Slide 47 of 50: A mural that reads "state of emergency" with a dollar-sign is pictured in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Redmond
Slide 48 of 50: A woman is seen during check-in at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, United States on March 29, 2020
Slide 49 of 50: NEW YORK, USA - MARCH 29: Javits Convention Center that has been converted to hospital due to Covid-19 pandemic is seen in New York City, United States on March 29, 2020. (Photo by Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Slide 50 of 50: President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2020, in Washington.
Slide 1 of 50: The marquee for the Iowa Theater, closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is seen on John Wayne Drive, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Winterset, Iowa. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (
Full screen
1/50 SLIDES © Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo
The world is battling the COVID-19 outbreak that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, which has claimed more than 4,720 lives and infected more than 211,698 people in the U.S.
(Pictured) The marquee for the Iowa Theater, closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, is seen on John Wayne Drive on April 1 in Winterset, Iowa.
Slideshow by photo services
The senator said he spent part of Thursday on the phone with a lab official in Connecticut who said he cannot administer enough tests due to the re-agent shortage.
“Had we appropriated money in February to start buying re-agent, we would be in a position to do many more tests today than we are,” Murphy said. ”It was just so clear to us that the administration didn't think this was going to be a problem. We begged them in that meeting to request emergency funding from the Congress and they told us ... that they had everything that they needed on hand, which was false.”
Murphy also criticized the White House’s decision not to take coronavirus test kits offered by the World Health Organization in January, which he said was an especially devastating mistake because that test was ready to go and easily replicable. Murphy said he believes that, as a result of the administration’s testing decisions, only about 20 percent to 30 percent of people who should be tested are able to do so.
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