| Trump sees 'hard days' ahead in coronavirus fight, with as many as 240,000 Americans dead Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:05 PM PDT  Nearly a quarter million people in the United States could die as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Trump administration officials said Tuesday.
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| Two years before coronavirus, CDC warned of a coming pandemic Posted: 02 Apr 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Long before the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, and then soon spread to nearly every country on Earth, a conference in 2018 offered proof that epidemiologists at the CDC and other institutions were aware that a new pandemic was poised to strike.
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| Liberty University students choose sides after fallout from coronavirus reporting Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:30 PM PDT  The New York Times reported this week that almost a dozen Liberty University students have come down with COVID-19 symptoms since the school reopened last week. But Liberty University officials have since pushed back on these claims, calling the Times story "fake news". Now, students are choosing sides in who they believe is telling the truth.
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| Half of Iceland's COVID-19 spreaders may be asymptomatic, early data suggest Posted: 01 Apr 2020 04:51 AM PDT  Iceland is giving the world a unique look at how the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is spreading. The Nordic island nation of 360,000 started testing for the virus in early February, and it chose to test both people suspected of having COVID-19 and, notably, people who haven't shown any symptoms. DeCODE, a biotech company working on behalf of Iceland's chief epidemiologist, is testing the general population; so far, it has screened about 9,000 people, or about half of the 17,900 Icelanders tested for the virus, CNN reports.More than 99 percent of deCODE's volunteer subjects tested negative, but of the roughly 1 percent who tested positive, half said they hadn't shown any symptoms of the disease, company founder Dr. Kári Stefánsson told CNN. "What it means in my mind, is that because we are screening the general population, we are catching people early in the infection before they start showing symptoms." The 50 percent of positive tests from asymptomatic people has been fairly consistent, though the sample is pretty small. DeCODE expects to gather a larger sample of at least 50,000 people, or roughly 13 percent Iceland's population, before the virus peters out.Other studies have also shown that COVID-19 can be spread by asymptomatic people, and the higher the share of symptomless spreaders, the harder COVID-19 will be to contain. "We now know that asymptomatic transmission likely [plays] an important role in spreading this virus," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said last week, adding that it's "absolutely clear" asymptomatic infection "surely can fuel a pandemic like this in a way that's going to make it very difficult to control." Having everyone wear face masks outside the home, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering advising, would be one way to keep asymptomatic transmission at bay.More stories from theweek.com U.S. tops 5,100 coronavirus deaths, including more than 1,000 on Wednesday Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like China is bracing for a second wave of coronavirus
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| Chinese Doctor Disappears after Blowing the Whistle on Coronavirus Threat Posted: 01 Apr 2020 01:20 PM PDT  Wuhan doctor Ai Fen, who expressed early concerns about the coronavirus to the media, has disappeared and is believed detained by Chinese authorities.Fen, the head of emergency at Wuhan Central Hospital, was given a warning after she disseminated information about the coronavirus to several other doctors. She recounted the reprimand in an essay titled, "The one who supplied the whistle," which was published in China's People (Renwu) magazine. The article has since been removed.The reprimand from her boss came after Fen took a photo of a patient's positive test results and circled the words 'SARS coronavirus' in red.She brought several cases of coronavirus to the attention of her colleagues, eight of whom were later called in by police for revealing information about the respiratory illness, according to Radio Free Asia. One, opthalmologist Li Wenliang, warned fellow med school grads to wear protective clothing, an early warning that was condemned by authorities as "rumormongering." Wenliang eventually died from the virus himself.Fen's social media account on the Chinese platform Weibo has been updated several times since her disappearance, although Chinese authorities have been known to update detainees' social media accounts or order them to do so themselves. On Wednesday, a post appeared on her account reading "Happy April Fools Day," with a picture of her in a lab coat and mask.About two weeks ago, a post appeared on Fen's account reading, "Thank you for your care and love. I'm fine at the moment and I'm still working."However, Fen's whereabouts are now unknown, 60 Minutes Australia reported Monday.China has confirmed a total of 81,554 infections and 3,312 deaths from the coronavirus.However, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report Wednesday that China deliberately provided incomplete public numbers for coronavirus cases and deaths resulting from the infection. In December, local and national officials issued a gag order to labs in Wuhan after scientists there identified a new viral pneumonia, ordering them to halt tests, destroy samples, and conceal the news.
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| Pakistan court commutes death sentence of key accused in Pearl killing, acquits three Posted: 01 Apr 2020 10:51 PM PDT  A Pakistani court has commuted the death sentence of the main person accused in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and acquitted three co-accused in the matter, two lawyers told Reuters on Thursday. At least four people were convicted in connection with Pearl's murder, including British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding the murder. "The court has commuted Omar's death sentence to a seven-year sentence," Khawaja Naveed, the defence lawyer told Reuters by phone.
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| Differing death tolls in California and Louisiana hint at the urgency to 'flatten the curve' Posted: 01 Apr 2020 12:21 PM PDT  In the past week, California has seen its number of deaths slowing down, while the tally in Louisiana has accelerated.
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| Defense lawyer in death of 7 motorcyclists: Biker at fault Posted: 31 Mar 2020 10:33 AM PDT  One of the motorcyclists in a crash that killed him and six fellow bikers on a north woods highway was drunk and actually was the one who hit a pickup and caused the accident, the lawyer for the truck driver charged with homicide said in a document made public Tuesday. A New Hampshire State Police account of the June 21 crash in the community of Randolph "was deeply flawed," the lawyer for truck driver Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 24, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, said in a motion filed Friday that seeks a hearing to set him free on bail. State police initially determined that the flatbed trailer he was hauling was 1 1/2 feet over the center line at the time of impact, the motion said.
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| Journalists are skipping Trump's daily coronavirus press briefings, saying they don't have enough news value Posted: 01 Apr 2020 08:47 AM PDT  As President Donald Trump uses the briefings to pursue grudges and spread misinformation, reporters are asking whether it's worth the effort.
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| 28 University of Texas students test positive for coronavirus after Mexico spring break trip, officials say Posted: 01 Apr 2020 07:50 AM PDT  Officials said a group of about 70 people in their 20s departed on a chartered plane to Cabo San Lucas about a week and a half ago.
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| Coronavirus: Treasury trebles spending plans to fight virus Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:31 AM PDT  Government plans to raise cash from markets in April have been trebled in order to support the economy.
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| China under-reported coronavirus cases and deaths, U.S. intelligence reportedly concludes Posted: 01 Apr 2020 09:06 AM PDT  There has been some skepticism about China's reporting on the novel COVID-19 coronavirus for some time, especially as smaller countries like Italy surged past the world's most populous nation in both overall cases and deaths. On Wednesday, U.S. intelligence officials told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity that the skepticism is valid.Per Bloomberg, the U.S. intelligence community reportedly concluded in a classified document that China, where the pandemic originated, has under-reported its totals. The officials didn't reveal any of the reports contents, but said the gist of it is China intentionally left death and cases reports incomplete — two officials reportedly said the numbers out of China are fake.Officially, China has tallied more than 82,000 cases and 3,300 deaths, whereas the U.S. already has more than 189,000 cases and 4,000 deaths. Beijing somewhat acknowledged their stats were skewed after they changed their methodology to include some asymptomatic cases, but it's unclear how many more asymptomatic infections were discounted overall. Thousands of urns outside funeral homes have reportedly led people to doubt the Chinese government's death total, as well. Read more at Bloomberg.More stories from theweek.com U.S. tops 5,100 coronavirus deaths, including more than 1,000 on Wednesday Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like China is bracing for a second wave of coronavirus
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| Serbia sets the stage for Beijing's mask diplomacy Posted: 01 Apr 2020 07:48 PM PDT  When six Chinese doctors landed in Belgrade two weeks ago, Serbia's president greeted them with elbow-bumps before laying a kiss on their country's flag, a gesture of gratitude that sent Chinese social media aflutter. For weeks China has been showering European countries with millions of face masks, test kits and other aid, recasting itself as the hero in the battle against coronavirus.
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| Great Recession showed countries can’t fight the coronavirus economic crisis alone Posted: 01 Apr 2020 03:02 PM PDT  Trade represents close to 60% of world GDP, and national economies can't thrive in isolation. We needed a global response in 2008 and we need one now.
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| Iran warns U.S. over Iraq deployment amid virus Posted: 01 Apr 2020 07:06 AM PDT  On Wednesday Iran warned the U.S. it was "warmongering during the coronavirus outbreak," after it deployed Patriot air defense missiles to Iraq.
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| China starts to report asymptomatic coronavirus cases Posted: 31 Mar 2020 09:40 PM PDT  Chinese health authorities began on Wednesday reporting on asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus as part of an effort to allay public fears that people could be spreading the virus without knowing they are infected with it. China, where the coronavirus emerged late last year, has managed to bring its outbreak under control and is easing travel restrictions in virus hot spots. Up to now, the number of known asymptomatic cases has been classified, and it is not included in the official data, though the South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unpublished official documents, recently said it was more than 40,000.
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| US sends warships to Caribbean to stop illegal drugs Posted: 02 Apr 2020 02:09 AM PDT  The announcement came a week after the US accused Venezuela's leader of "narco-terrorism".
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| A New Jersey doctor is the first emergency physician to die from coronavirus in the US Posted: 02 Apr 2020 02:53 AM PDT  Frank Gabrin, 60, died in his husband's arms just days after he developed symptoms consistent with the virus. He was a two-time cancer survivor.
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| Japan expands ban on visitors as virus cases climb Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:46 PM PDT  Japan will bar visitors from the United States, China and most of Europe, the prime minister said Wednesday, as the country seeks to stem a recent rise in coronavirus cases. The entry ban, which will also apply to Australia, Britain, South Korea and many Southeast Asia countries, will take effect on Friday, Shinzo Abe's government said. Japan had already barred arrivals from parts of several European nations, China and South Korea.
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| 'I heard the roar': 6.5 earthquake hits Idaho Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:21 PM PDT  An earthquake struck north of Boise Tuesday evening, with people across a large area reporting shaking. More than 2 million live in the region that could feel the Idaho quake, according to the USGS, with reports of shaking coming in from as far away as Helena, Montana, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Marcus Smith, an emergency room health unit coordinator at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, said the hospital, about 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of the epicenter, shook but the quake didn't interfere with the treatment of any patients.
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| California appears to be flattening the curve. But its testing lags behind other states Posted: 01 Apr 2020 04:18 PM PDT  The state's testing delays have limited understanding of the outbreak and hindered containment * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageCalifornia has not seen the surge in coronavirus cases that have overwhelmed cities like New York and Detroit in the past week, which suggests that the state's early and restrictive shelter-in-place orders could be slowing the virus' spread. But experts say delays in testing have limited the understanding of the outbreak and have hindered containment efforts.California implemented the earliest and strictest orders to stay at home in the United States in mid-March, and as of Wednesday, that were 8,584 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 183 deaths in the state compared to the 76,000 cases and 1,714 deaths in New York. Dr Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus task force coordinator, said on Tuesday that she was "reassured by what California has been able to do" to help control the virus with physical distancing orders.Some doctors have said California appears to be succeeding at "flattening the curve," meaning slowing the spread so hospitals have enough resources and workers to manage the number of cases. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Tuesday that "the current modeling is on the lower end of our projection". Last month, Newsom had warned that more than half of the state could be infected within two weeks. "We are in a completely different place than the state of New York," Newsom said at a briefing on Wednesday. "And I hope we continue to be, but we won't unless people continue to practice physical distancing."Indeed, the state's early and ambitious efforts to enforce shelter-in-place rules do seem to have prevented hospitals from becoming as overwhelmed as New York's system, Robert Siegel, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, told the Guardian. "But it's difficult to accurately know the impact of your interventions if you don't have adequate testing," he said.As of Tuesday, more than 86,100 tests had been administered in the state, and of those, 57,400 results were still pending. By comparison, New York, which has about half the population of California, has processed more than 200,000 tests. Washington state, which has less than a fifth of California's population, has processed 65,462 tests.Testing efforts in California have been set back due to a lack of swabs, vials and media for collecting patient samples, as well as a shortage of kits and bottlenecks at labs.Across the state, tests are in short supply and currently largely limited to people with severe symptoms and those with underlying health conditions, meaning large swathes of the state's population are left untested. "The general idea is that if somebody that has been to the hospital, and they have symptoms, then you assume they're infected," said Siegel. But by testing more, doctors and health officials could be more strategic and selective about who they isolate, he noted.Administering more than one type of test could also help California, and the country as a whole, better understand how the coronavirus spreads through communities. Most of the tests being used detect for the presence of viral RNA. Another type of test – called a serology or antibody test – can help detect if a person's immune system has faced off against Covid-19 and recovered from it. "It's really important to test for immunity," Siegel said, because people who are immune could return to work without endangering themselves or others. "They could more safely work as frontline healthcare providers," Siegel said.Wendy Parmet, a Northeastern University health policy expert, said the testing problems made tracking the virus challenging: "You need testing to make sure you quickly identify new outbreaks and trace contacts. Put out the small sparks before they become another conflagration." The lack of adequate testing could drag out the sheltering period, she said. "Many of the plans of how you go from where we are now to the next stage rely on testing," she said.A bottleneck in the commercial laboratory Quest Diagnostics, which is processing tests, has further exacerbated California's challenges. Despite initial promises of delivering results within one to two days, the private lab in southern California, which has received tests from hospitals across the country, hasn't been able to ramp up processing fast enough, meaning some healthcare professionals have had to wait more than a week for results.And although some in Silicon Valley are working on testing solutions, efforts in the international tech hub have been slow and largely unsuccessful."Why California would be lagging I really don't know," Siegel said. "Especially because it does strike me that we do have a lot of experts."South Korea's widespread testing of its population, including people who did not have symptoms but might be at risk of spreading, played a major role in allowing the country to control the virus with significantly less disruption than other nations. Widespread, random testing in Iceland has similarly has helped epidemiologists better understand how the virus affects people – data from the country found that half of those who tested positive are non-symptomatic, and overall a low population had been infected.The test shortage not only prevents people suspected of having Covid-19 from getting a diagnosis and being counted and traced, it also hampers officials' efforts to prevent an outbreak in the most vulnerable and high-risk communities.California has the largest homeless population in the US, with 40,000 people living in crowded shelters where advocates say testing access has improved over the last week, but continues to fall short."It's impeding the ability of shelters to identify people who have been infected with the virus and remove them from this incredibly dangerous environment, where the virus has the potential to spread like wildfire," said Eve Garrow, the homelessness policy analyst with the ACLU of Southern California. She argued that all residents and staff should be tested, and noted that she recently heard from one shelter resident who has a fever, but wasn't able to get a test.> You need testing to make sure you quickly identify new outbreaks and trace contacts. Put out the small sparks before they become another conflagration> > Wendy ParmetAt one shelter at Skid Row in Los Angeles, where an employee tested positive this week, staff have isolated more than 100 people who may have been exposed, and are working to test as many people as they can. "They were slow to come … but hopefully we get enough tests," said Rev Andy Bales, who runs the shelter. He said he hoped health officials would provide enough tests for those potentially exposed and residents with symptoms."In New York, they were more aggressive about testing," Siegel said. "We in California moved ahead with aggressive public health interventions in the absence of testing." And although testing is crucial, ultimately, distancing measures are more important he said, adding that California will likely have many more cases, especially in big cities, as testing ramps up. Still, Siegel doesn't think the state will follow New York's pattern.Parmet said when federal and state leaders tout California's progress, it could encourage people to stay home and distance and pressure other jurisdictions to follow suit: "It's important for people to see that there are possibilities, that efforts can make a difference."
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| Top EU court says eastern states broke law by refusing to host refugees Posted: 02 Apr 2020 01:12 AM PDT |
| New York Gov. Cuomo says it's 'not likely' recreational marijuana will be legalized in New York's budget this year as the coronavirus outbreak is the focus in Albany Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:19 PM PDT  Recreational marijuana legalization likely won't be included in New York's 2020 budget, Cuomo said.
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| IRS releases more info on how to get coronavirus stimulus checks ASAP Posted: 31 Mar 2020 02:32 PM PDT  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said payments will go out "within three weeks" for people who have their direct deposit information on file with the IRS.
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| China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says Posted: 01 Apr 2020 06:08 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it's suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials.The officials asked not to be identified because the report is secret, and they declined to detail its contents. But the thrust, they said, is that China's public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete. Two of the officials said the report concludes that China's numbers are fake.The report was received by the White House last week, one of the officials said.The outbreak began in China's Hubei province in late 2019, but the country has publicly reported only about 82,000 cases and 3,300 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That compares to more than 189,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths in the U.S., which has the largest publicly reported outbreak in the world.U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that China's reported virus data appear to be on the "light side" but that he hadn't received an intelligence report saying the country had concealed the extent of its outbreak."Their numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and I'm being nice when I say that," he said at a daily coronavirus briefing at the White House.Trump added that the U.S. and China were in constant communication and that Beijing would spend $250 billion to purchase American products. "We'd like to keep it, they'd like to keep it" he said of the U.S.-China trade deal.Communications staff at the White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.'More Forthcoming'"The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming," Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday on CNN. "What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.While China eventually imposed a strict lockdown beyond those of less autocratic nations, there has been considerable skepticism toward China's reported numbers, both outside and within the country. The Chinese government has repeatedly revised its methodology for counting cases, for weeks excluding people without symptoms entirely, and only on Tuesday added more than 1,500 asymptomatic cases to its total.Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing's reporting.Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have been particularly harsh about China's role in the outbreak. Enhancing Beijing's role in the pandemic could be politically helpful to Trump, who has sought to shift blame for the U.S. outbreak away from his administration's delays in achieving widespread testing for the virus and mobilizing greater production of supplies such as face masks and hospital ventilators."The claim that the United States has more coronavirus deaths than China is false," Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, said in a statement after Bloomberg News published its report. "Without commenting on any classified information, this much is painfully obvious: The Chinese Communist Party has lied, is lying, and will continue to lie about coronavirus to protect the regime."Deborah Birx, the State Department immunologist advising the White House on its response to the outbreak, said Tuesday that China's public reporting influenced assumptions elsewhere in the world about the nature of the virus."The medical community made -- interpreted the Chinese data as: This was serious, but smaller than anyone expected," she said at a news conference on Tuesday. "Because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data, now that what we see happened to Italy and see what happened to Spain."Suspect ReportingThe U.S. intelligence community's conclusion is an attempt to divert attention from surging deaths in the U.S. and other Western countries, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China's state-run Global Times, said on his account on Chinese social media platform Weibo.There was no way for serious data faking to occur in today's China, especially for an incident that has drawn such widespread attention, Hu said. He said China managed to curtail the death toll in Hubei, the province where the virus first emerged late last year, by sending medical workers and equipment there from other parts of the country."To fake the casualty data, which departments will be deployed? Who will implement the plan?," Hu said. "It will involve many different departments in many places to get the total numbers. If one of them is faking once, they have to fake it all the time. The risk of screwing up could be very high."China isn't the only country with suspect public reporting. Western officials have pointed to Iran, Russia, Indonesia and especially North Korea, which has not reported a single case of the disease, as probable under-counts. Others including Saudi Arabia and Egypt may also be playing down their numbers.U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has publicly urged China and other nations to be transparent about their outbreaks. He has repeatedly accused China of covering up the extent of the problem and being slow to share information, especially in the weeks after the virus first emerged, and blocking offers of help from American experts."This data set matters," he said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. The development of medical therapies and public-health measures to combat the virus "so that we can save lives depends on the ability to have confidence and information about what has actually transpired," he said."I would urge every nation: Do your best to collect the data. Do your best to share that information," he said. "We're doing that."(Updates with Trump comments from fifth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Shenzhen becomes first Chinese city to ban eating cat and dogs Posted: 02 Apr 2020 01:02 AM PDT  The ruling is a tougher version of China's ban of wildlife meat, after it was linked to the virus.
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| Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews in fight over virus rules Posted: 31 Mar 2020 07:27 AM PDT  Israeli police with face masks and batons and backed by surveillance helicopters have stepped up patrols of ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods that have become coronavirus hotspots. This week has seen tense altercations, and some rabbis have admitted that their communities, where prayer and scripture study are traditionally communal, are not observing new social distancing regulations. A few days ago in Bnei Brak, a city near Tel Aviv with a largely ultra-Orthodox population, hundreds of faithful crowded together to attend the funeral of prominent rabbi Tzi Shenkar.
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| Woodworking Can Bring Solace in Times of Uncertainty Posted: 01 Apr 2020 12:00 PM PDT |
| Pausing the World to Fight Coronavirus Has Carbon Emissions Down—But True Climate Success Looks Like More Action, Not Less Posted: 01 Apr 2020 10:55 AM PDT  Even if carbon emissions are down due to COVID-19, true climate success doesn't look anything like today's situation
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| 'It is ungodly': students react to Liberty University reopening Posted: 31 Mar 2020 10:32 AM PDT  Jerry Falwell Jr, the evangelical institution's president, faced criticism for downplaying coronavirus risks when inviting students to return to campus * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageWith cases of Covid-19 rising rapidly across the US, last week was a strange time for Jerry Falwell Jr to decide to reopen Liberty University.Originally, in keeping with other universities in Virginia, Falwell, the institution's president. said that only international students or those with nowhere else to go would remain. But on Sunday he welcomed over a thousand students back to campus housing.Falwell Jr had previously compared Covid-19 to the flu, posited that there has been an "overreaction" to the pandemic intended to hurt Donald Trump, and insinuated that the virus was a "Christmas present" from North Korea and China.Falwell Jr told Fox News last Tuesday that students wanted to be there – indeed, some have spoken up in favor of his decision. But others are watching events unfold with a heavy heart."I'm a pro-life advocate for all ages," said Jess Schama, a 24-year-old history major at Liberty University.Referencing Falwell's comments in a Twitter thread, in which he said that young people are unlikely to die from contracting Covid-19, Schama said: "I don't think that people, even at my age, should be subjected to a virus that could potentially kill. It is so hypocritical that people who would advocate pro-life are OK with this."> I don't want to become one of these college presidents who are pushing this problem off on someone else by sending 20 year olds with near zero mortality risk to sit at home for the rest of the semester, often with grandparents in the house who truly are at risk. (2/4)> > — Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 15, 2020Schama has an underlying health condition and said she would have feared for her life every day if she remained on campus. Furthermore, while the mortality rate for those under 50 is much lower than for the elderly, a CDC report last week confirmed that with regard to US hospitalizations, of those admitted to intensive care, 36% were aged 45-64 years and 12% were aged 20-44 years.Lauren Lynch, 27, said she was upset by Falwell's assertion that the population in Lynchburg is less vulnerable than elsewhere. As part of her studies, she works as a mental health clinician in Lynchburg. "A lot of [people here] are at risk. [Many] live in poverty – especially in downtown Lynchburg. A lot of people don't know that, when they come here, all they see is the Liberty campus," she said.Furthermore, while states such as New York have thousands of intensive care units, Lynchburg hospitals have 1,174 beds in total – only 55 of which are for intensive care. For that reason, Schama thinks the decision to allow students to return after periods at home during spring break is particularly irresponsible."You're putting those people at risk: those who don't have healthcare, some who are already sick, while these students [come back] from all over the country – from highly populated areas like New York, New Jersey, everywhere," she said.There is no obligation for students to return to campus, and Falwell has claimed that the school is "completely online" – despite medical, aviation and other practical classes still happening in person. He has described Liberty as being "more like an apartment complex" than a university, with the canteen only open for takeout; but the library is open, as are computer labs. Falwell said that signs remind students not to sit next to each other, and that only every third computer works to prevent students from doing so. Liberty University was contacted for comment, but did not respond in time for publication.Liberty University's code of conduct, known as the "Liberty Way", includes not listening to lewd music, engaging in sexual relationships, disobeying faculty members or putting others at risk.Lynch believes that Falwell has been hypocritical and does not practice what the college preaches – for example, the Liberty Way advises against name-calling, and yet, when one parent with concerns contacted Falwell on Twitter ("I'm as right wing as they get, bud. But as a parent of three of your students, I think this is crazy," said the parent), Falwell responded by calling him a dummy."I don't believe he has conducted himself in a very professional manner … He is bringing a horrible name to Christianity," said Schama.Schama said Falwell's decision compromises students who want to do the right thing without being insubordinate. She says students have been advised when speaking to the media to remember that Liberty students "are champions for Christ, we are all Christ's children, and we need to promote ourselves in a godly way". Schama empathizes with those principles, and believes students should respect authority. However, as a Christian, she feels she has a duty to speak out."At this point it doesn't come down to how I think I should be conducting myself on social media. It comes down to what I think is right, and giving a voice to those who can't speak up because of the potential backlash," she says. And for her, there is a clear line when it comes to her Christian values: "Absolutely – it is ungodly to allow people to keep spreading an infection that could potentially kill people," she says.On Sunday, the New York Times reported that one Liberty University student had tested positive for Covid-19 of three that were referred to local hospital centers for testing, while an additional eight were told to self-isolate.Schama believes the New York Times is propagating fake news, and said she had instead been going to the faculty website for updates. Still, she keeps on looking – mainly out of fear for her teachers. "I'm terrified for my lecturers. I really don't feel like anyone's safety has been taken into consideration," she says.What will she do, then, if she finds out later that the numbers are correct?"A lot of people, including myself will be very upset that the university did not speak up sooner. Timing is everything. It would mean it was just putting more people at risk," she says.
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| Afghanistan prepares to swap 100 Taliban prisoners for 20 security forces Posted: 02 Apr 2020 12:15 AM PDT |
| 'Sailors do not need to die': Captain of aircraft carrier hit by coronavirus outbreak begs Navy for more help Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:47 AM PDT  The commanding officer told the Navy that the outbreak was worsening and called for the removal of almost the entire crew as soon as possible.
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| Black, Asian and Hispanic House caucus chairs unite in 'no tolerance' for coronavirus racism Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:08 PM PDT  Rep. Judy Chu, head of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said about 100 hate incidents a day have been directed at Asian Americans.
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| Coronavirus live updates: US toll tops 5,100 after deadliest day yet; Florida, 3 other states issue stay-at-home orders; CDC considers masks Posted: 01 Apr 2020 10:13 PM PDT  Florida announced a stay-at-home order, and officials weighed recommending more Americans wear masks. Here are the latest coronavirus updates.
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| The South, Sickest Part of a Sick America, Falls Prey to Virus Posted: 01 Apr 2020 03:06 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A virus that is particularly lethal for people with underlying health conditions is now spreading into the unhealthiest part of the U.S.: the South.For decades, people in the 11 states that seceded during the Civil War -- America's poorest region -- have suffered from a scourge of obesity and hypertension, which intensify the danger of the coronavirus and the Covid-19 respiratory disease that it causes. Four of the five states with the highest diabetes rates are in the South. And eight didn't expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving thousands of families without access to routine care, even as financially troubled rural hospitals wither away.Those factors give the South a special vulnerability, as did the haphazard response from some governors as the disease began to course through the country. Without clear direction from the Trump administration, they were loath to mandate stay-at-home orders. Beaches were open in Florida, churches held services in rural Tennessee and Mardi Gras went on in Louisiana.Now Covid-19 has infected 47 long-term care centers in Georgia, overwhelmed hospitals in New Orleans, spread into at least six Alabama nursing homes, forced the evacuation of scores of elderly residents from a Tennessee rehabilitation center and killed a country music star in Nashville."Covid-19 is going to be a disaster in the Southeast," said Aaron Milstone, a Tennessee pulmonologist. "We'll see higher morbidity, which is getting sick from the virus, and higher mortality, which is dying from the virus."That prediction is already playing out in Louisiana, which saw Covid-19 infections and deaths soar in New Orleans after weeks of Carnival celebrations ended last month. Of the 239 Covid-19 fatalities there, 40% had diabetes, 25% were obese and 21% had heart problems, according to state figures."We, in general, have a sicker population, and we are concerned that our outcomes in the Covid-19 pandemic are going to be worse because of that," said Joseph Kanter, an assistant state health officer.The South is the sickest part of a sick country: The U.S. is unhealthier on average than other developed nations.Despite spending dramatically more on health care than other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Americans die younger. The nation spends an annual average of $9,892 per person, which is 2.5 times more than the OECD average. The U.S. has the highest obesity rate among the 36 OECD member nations, and its life expectancy is two years less than the average of 78.8.Among American Covid-19 patients, diabetes, lung or heart disease accounted for 78% of those who developed severe respiratory infections and needed critical care, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report issued Tuesday.Diabetics were at greatest risk, said the report, which was based on data from 7,162 early U.S. patients. Diabetes mellitus, tied to excess weight and poor fitness, is at epidemic levels in the U.S., where nearly 40% of the population is obese and another 30% overweight.Those conditions run rampant in the South, according to the nonprofit United Health Foundation. For example, Mississippians are 85% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than Minnesotans, and 41.9% of Arkansans have high blood pressure, compared with 24.5% in Utah, according to the organization's America's Health Rankings report. The region also has a large African-American population, which is disproportionately prone to the underlying conditions."We have a higher than usual rate of underlying, chronic conditions like diabetes, obesity, asthma and hypertension," said L. Faye Grimsley, head of the Public Health Sciences department at Xavier University in New Orleans. "We're at the bottom of the rankings when it comes to heart attacks, strokes, infant mortality and maternal mortality."The trend has held true "as long as we've collected health statistics," said Jay Maddock, professor of public health at Texas A&M University in College Station. "It's a legacy of poverty."With a pre-Civil War economy built on agriculture and slave labor, the 11 states that make up the historic South attracted low-wage industry for decades, including textiles, millwork and mining. After Reconstruction, most approved new constitutions and laws to disenfranchise and segregate blacks, deepening poverty; the region still has the highest rate in the U.S.The South's white majorities have supported Republican presidential candidates for most of the past 40 years, and state parties there recently have marched in lockstep with President Donald Trump. As the president slowly came to grasp the gravity of the crisis, the region's nine Republican governors mirrored his response.Only the Democratic governors of Louisiana and North Carolina had issued stay-at-home orders for their entire states until Tuesday, when Republican Greg Abbott of Texas told residents to remain behind closed doors except for essential errands. Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, did so Wednesday after resisting such a move for weeks. So did the governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves. Georgia's Brian Kemp said he would issue rules Thursday.But the disease is on the loose.Bo Dorough, mayor of Albany in south Georgia, heard of his area's first Covid-19 case on March 11. By March 31, the city of 73,000 and the surrounding area had Georgia's highest concentration of patients and highest number of deaths, one of the fastest outbreaks in the U.S. "We're three weeks [in] and we already have 40 dead," Dorough said Monday.The disaster began with the Feb. 29 funeral of a retired janitor and a second funeral the following week. Hundreds attended, and most patients who began flooding Albany's Phoebe Putney hospital had been at one or both. The dead all had underlying conditions, said Michael Fowler, coroner of surrounding Dougherty County. More than half were diabetic. Others had hypertension or cancer or congestive heart failure. "None of them had nothing," he said.By the end of March, Dougherty County alone had 455 infections and a 5% death rate among those patients. Fulton County, home of Atlanta and with a population of more than 1 million, had 547 cases and a death rate of less than 3%."People really need to pay attention to this, and how fast it spread, and how many people died," Dorough said.As the virus raged, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp ordered the medically fragile and nursing home residents to stay home, but refused to include the state at large. He closed bars and nightclubs and banned gatherings of more than 10, but still hasn't set a blanket stay-at-home order.Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, whose state sits across the Chattahoochee River, scoffed at a lockdown, even as the virus showed up in nursing homes. "Y'all, we are not Louisiana, we are not New York state, we are not California," she said March 26, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Four days later, she released a video urging -- but not ordering -- people to stay home.In Tennessee, Milstone, the pulmonologist, led a petition drive of physicians to persuade Republican Governor Bill Lee to issue a stay-at-home mandate. He got nowhere. Milstone said on television that only the death of a country-music star would move Lee.Last weekend, in quick succession, the state lost honky-tonk singer Joe Diffie and witnessed the dramatic evacuation of a nursing home in Gallatin, about 30 minutes from Nashville. The latter required a phalanx of ambulances from three counties and -- the next day -- 20 members of the state National Guard, who tested those left behind. By Monday, more than 100 residents and staff had tested positive for the virus.That day, Lee recommended that Tennessee residents shelter at home. He didn't order it.(Updates in fourth paragraph with Georgia long-term care centers. )For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Putin working remotely after meeting infected doctor: Kremlin Posted: 01 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT  Russian leader Vladimir Putin has decided to handle his duties remotely, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after the head of the country's main coronavirus hospital tested positive following a meeting with the president. Denis Protsenko, who met with Putin last week as the Russian leader visited the Kommunarka hospital in Moscow, said Tuesday he had been infected with the coronavirus but was feeling well. "The president prefers these days to work remotely," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, shortly before Putin was due to hold a cabinet meeting by videoconference.
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| PA Man ‘Upset Over Coronavirus’ Shoots Girlfriend Before Turning Gun on Himself: Cops Posted: 01 Apr 2020 10:54 AM PDT  A Pennsylvania man "extremely upset" about losing his job amidst the coronavirus pandemic allegedly shot his girlfriend, before turning the gun on himself in an attempted murder-suicide, authorities said Wednesday.The Wilson Borough Police Department said in a statement to The Daily Beast that Roderick Bliss IV, 38, attempted to fatally shoot his girlfriend with a semi-automatic pistol on Monday afternoon, before dying by suicide, after he "had become increasingly upset over the COVID-19 pandemic." The 43-year-old girlfriend, who was shot once in the back, survived the attack and is in St. Luke's hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. "In the days prior to the shooting, Bliss had become increasingly upset over the COVID-19 pandemic," police said. "Minutes before the shooting Bliss was extremely upset about the pandemic and the fact that he had recently lost his job."What if This Coronavirus Lockdown Is Only the Beginning?At around 1:20 p.m. on Monday, authorities responded to reports of "multiple shots fired with injuries" at Bliss' Wilson Borough home, about an hour outside of Philadelphia. Upon arrival, officers found Bliss "unresponsive and not breathing" and a semi-automatic pistol near his body. The Northampton County Coroner ruled Bliss' death a suicide.The girlfriend, who is alert, and other witnesses told police that Bliss had become upset that the pandemic—which has infected more than 206,200 people and killed 4,542 nationwide—cost him his job. Authorities said an enraged Bliss "went into the basement and came outside on to the rear porch" with a handgun. "While holding the handgun, Bliss told the victim, 'I already talked to God and I have to do this,'" police said. "The victim ran off of the porch and he shot at her four times striking her once. Bliss then shot himself."The attempted murder-suicide marks the latest example of the collateral damage of the coronavirus pandemic. Domestic violence experts and law enforcement believe domestic violence incidents will rise as families are forced into social isolation across the country.Judy Harris Kluger, executive director of Sanctuary for Families in New York, told The Daily Beast that, for some survivors of domestic violence, being able to leave their home is critical—and forced stay-at-home orders isolate them from the "social support system" that would have previously allowed them to report abuse. White House Trots Out Grim Death Models to Drive Home Social Distancing"Domestic violence is all about power and control and what a powerful tool it is to be able to say to somebody, 'You can't go out of this house, you have to be here,'" Kluger said. "Even though people can go out for certain things, this environment just engages in the most negative way the power of the abuser." Kluger said her organization, and several others across New York—the current epicenter of the outbreak in the United States—are anticipating an increase in domestic violence calls as the pandemic continues. A spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline said they haven't yet seen a significant increase in call volumes but were receiving an increase in calls related to COVID-19 and the anxiety of people being stuck in their homes. "Right now, the people who are at risk are very isolated," Kluger said, noting her organization is reaching out to former clients who might be at risk. "We are worried that we are going to see an uptick while this 'shelter-in-place' is in effect. Also, as the tension of the crisis rises, we anticipate people will begin reporting soon."But, even as the looming number of domestic violence cases threatens New York and other cities, the number of healthy police officers is also dwindling. New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Wednesday there were at least 1,400 officers who had tested positive for coronavirus, while about 17 percent had called out sick. Despite trying to police a city with a virus-related death toll of more than 1,000, Shea has previously stressed the NYPD is focused on domestic violence cases. "What I'm concerned about is, it's happening and it's not getting reported," Shea said Tuesday, noting that survivors may not be calling for help. "We've asked the domestic violence officers—you know who the people are in your commands, who are most vulnerable. Pick up the phone, pick up the computer keyboard and start communicating with them. Just make sure that things are OK."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Los Angeles mayor urges everyone to wear masks Posted: 31 Mar 2020 10:02 PM PDT  The mayor of Los Angeles on Wednesday told everyone in the nation's second-largest city to start wearing masks to combat the coronavirus, but California's governor isn't ready to take that idea statewide. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he's focused instead on keeping people inside. At an afternoon news conference, Mayor Eric Garcetti said he had been awaiting advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on mask-wearing but with the COVID-19 rate surging had decided to wait no longer.
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| The mystery behind Germany's low coronavirus death rate Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:57 PM PDT  Experts see a number of possible reasons why Germany has fared better than Italy in the pandemic so far.
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| Russian plane makes its way to U.S. with coronavirus medical equipment Posted: 01 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT  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.
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| Lift sanctions on Iran, North Korea, Venezuela in coronavirus crisis: U.N. rights expert Posted: 31 Mar 2020 09:15 AM PDT |
| I followed New York City 'deathcare' workers as they collected the bodies of people killed by the coronavirus, and I saw a growing, chaotic, and risky battle Posted: 31 Mar 2020 11:31 AM PDT  As hospitals and morgues fill with the bodies of coronavirus patients, mortuary professionals face a growing struggle in putting the dead to rest.
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| Sweden's 'free will' coronavirus strategy alarms some scientists Posted: 01 Apr 2020 01:09 AM PDT  "The material presented by the public health authorities is weak, even embarrassing," said one professor who is critical of Sweden's strategy.
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| Health issues for blacks, Latinos and Native Americans may cause coronavirus to ravage communities Posted: 31 Mar 2020 11:58 AM PDT  People of color have many underlying health conditions that could make them vulnerable to health risks from the coronavirus pandemic, experts said.
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