| Schiff proposes postelection 9/11-style commission to study coronavirus response Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:03 AM PDT  Rep. Adam Schiff's proposal for a 9/11-style commission to study the nation's response to the coronavirus outbreak "is not an exercise in casting blame or scoring political points, but something that the American people should rightly expect from their government as an exercise in accountability," he said.
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| As coronavirus ravages Spain, doctors get a grim order on 'futility of care' for the very old and very sick Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:24 PM PDT  A document circulated by the health department of Catalonia recommends that emergency teams and health care workers stop using ventilators for patients older than 80, and further recommends that extremely ill victims of COVID-19 be allowed to die at home rather than being taken to the hospital.
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| North Korea's official coronavirus count: Zero. Why that claim is hard to believe Posted: 04 Apr 2020 10:20 AM PDT  Experts are skeptical of the no-coronavirus claim from the tightly controlled country so desperate to maintain the status of its border with China.
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| Coronavirus: RBS says revamped loan scheme will make 'big difference' Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:54 AM PDT  The revamped loan fund for ailing firms hit by the lockdown will have an immediate impact, RBS says.
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| 'Protective bubbles': How 2 Army generals stopped the spread of coronavirus among their soldiers Posted: 03 Apr 2020 02:01 AM PDT  Two Army generals took critical actions early to stop the spread of the coronavirus in Asia and Europe from spreading to military bases.
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| Putin says Russia ready to cooperate on cutting oil production Posted: 03 Apr 2020 05:03 PM PDT  Russia is ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the United States to cut oil production, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. Putin said Russia was willing to make agreements within the framework of the OPEC+ group and that "we are ready for cooperation with the United States of America on this issue," according to a statement published by the Kremlin. Oil prices have tumbled in recent weeks in the face of a drop in demand and global economic uncertainty over the new coronavirus pandemic.
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| MSNBC Host Stephanie Ruhle Shuts Down Marco Rubio’s Coronavirus Spin Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:26 AM PDT  "Can we talk about your state of Florida?" MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) midway through their interview Friday morning. Explaining Florida is "one of the last states" to issue a stay-at-home order for its residents, Ruhle asked, "What in the world is going on down there? You have a whole lot of senior citizens and last I checked, they're pretty high risk."Despite the fact that Gov. Ron DeSantis waited until this Wednesday to lockdown his state, Rubio claimed that "for all practical purposes, we were in a stay-at-home order" and that "virtually every county in the state had restrictions in place.""Senator, come on now, stop it," Ruhle said, interrupting him. "Sir, hold on," she added. "Those handful of counties don't have walls around them. You and I both saw pictures of partiers on beaches jamming on it, right? They're not bound by those counties. They can get all over the state. Come on!" Rubio dismissed those photos of crowded beaches by noting that they are mostly from two or three weeks ago. "What I'm trying to say is just because you didn't have a stay-at-home order doesn't mean people weren't staying at home," he added. After saying DeSantis did the right thing by deferring to local officials, he admitted, "That said, I think he made the right decision at this point yesterday with regards to it." Fox News Host Martha MacCallum Nails Kellyanne Conway for Rewriting Trump's Coronavirus History"So you support how he's handled it?" Ruhle asked. "You don't think he should have done it two weeks ago, three weeks ago?" "You know, honestly, I think that we will have plenty of time to look back when this is all done and see all the mistakes that were made, all the errors that were committed at every level, starting at the CDC, congressional oversight, maybe we should have started on the relief bill a week earlier in Congress," Rubio answered. "Right now, though, we can't stop to do that. We have to focus on the emergency that's at hand right now." But Ruhle wasn't done. "With all due respect, sir, you're not immune to finger pointing yourself," she said. "Earlier this week you called out people that share my job." She was referring to a tweet Rubio posted this past Sunday that read, "Some in our media can't contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more CoronaVirus cases than China." He added that "beyond being grotesque" it is "bad journalism." "I need to ask you this because I am a journalist, we're not just some personalities," Ruhle said. "You called out journalism. And I need to understand why on earth you did this." When he attempted to defend his tweet as an effort to counter "Chinese propaganda," she added, "Sir, just a moment ago you said we shouldn't be wasting any time pointing fingers or criticizing and that's exactly what you did in that tweet." 'Inexcusable': Dr. Sanjay Gupta Goes Off on Georgia Governor's 'Stunning' Coronavirus AdmissionRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| Medical stockpile seized from alleged hoarder to be distributed Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:39 AM PDT  U.S. officials have seized a stockpile of personal protective equipment from an alleged hoarder.
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| FEMA said only 3,200 of the 100,000 new coronavirus ventilators it is sourcing will be ready in time for the peak of the pandemic Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:42 AM PDT  Details of closed-door briefings by US disaster management officials were made public this week, and paint a bleak picture of US preparedness.
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| Suspected cartel shootout kills 19 in northern Mexico Posted: 04 Apr 2020 01:46 PM PDT |
| U.S. warns Americans to leave Japan as COVID-19 cases rise fast Posted: 02 Apr 2020 07:54 PM PDT  Strongest message to date from U.S. Embassy comes as experts warn Japan could be heading for a surge in new coronavirus infections.
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| WHO Official Warns Against ‘Profiling’ China, Says Observers ‘Over-Focused’ on Coronavirus Data Posted: 03 Apr 2020 05:12 AM PDT  Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Program, defended China on Thursday against accusations that the country has underreported cases and deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak."I think we need to be very careful also to not to be profiling certain parts of the world as being uncooperative or non-transparent, and we need to look at transparency across the board," Ryan said at a Geneva press conference."We need to be balanced in that, and we need to recognize that systems under pressure find it hard to share everything on a minute-to-minute basis," Ryan continued. "Frankly, at times I think we get over-focused on this issue."Ryan claimed that there was a "lack of precise information from Italy," whose medical system has been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of coronavirus patients. "Are we saying they're lacking in transparency and not sending WHO all the data every day? No."As of Friday morning, Italy has over 115,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 13,915 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker. However, a Wall Street Journal analysis suggests the Italian coronavirus death toll could be much higher than was reported, because health workers did not have the time or resources to test all the casualties for the illness.The U.S. Intelligence Community has reportedly concluded that China covered up the extent of the outbreak in the country. One recent study found that roughly 95 percent of global cases could have been prevented if China acted earlier to stem the outbreak. Meanwhile, Senator Rick Scott (R, Fla.) has called for a congressional hearing on the WHO's ties to China, while Senator Martha McSally on Thursday called on the director of the WHO to resign.
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| Coronavirus and Hunter Biden: Congressional investigators prepare for war over 2020 election Posted: 03 Apr 2020 08:49 AM PDT  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the United States, it has, for the moment, brought the partisan investigations taking shape on Capitol Hill that could swing the balance of the 2020 election to a screeching halt.Lawmakers, scattered across the country in their home states and districts for the indefinite future, have the health and economic welfare of their constituents to attend to.
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| FISA court orders FBI to review if wiretaps are invalid after errors found during investigation Posted: 03 Apr 2020 03:22 PM PDT  The directive comes just days after an internal Justice Department review found new problems with the FBI's management of wiretap applications.
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| Bernie Sanders calls for guaranteed paid medical leave, $2,000 monthly checks in new coronavirus relief proposal Posted: 03 Apr 2020 02:17 PM PDT  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is looking ahead to the next few steps in the coronavirus pandemic response.On Friday, Sanders unveiled his "Priorities for the Next Coronavirus Relief Package," proposing a number of relief measures from guaranteeing paid medical and sick leave to all workers to expanding food programs like Meals on Wheels.The proposal unsurprisingly includes a major expansion of Medicare. "We were facing a catastrophic health care crisis before the pandemic, and now that crisis has become much, much worse," writes Sanders. The legislation would use Medicare to cover all health care expenses, notably including anyone who is sick, "regardless of immigration status." In addition to further invoking the Defense Production Act, Sanders says payment on all rent, mortgage payments, and forms of debt should be suspended entirely, not just deferred during the pandemic only to cause "financial ruin" once they become due. Building on the one-time $1,200 payments, Sanders calls for monthly $2,000 payments.The entire plan fits alongside policy ideas Sanders has touted throughout his presidential bid, but are ramped up in both scale and urgency now that the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly exploded to affect millions of Americans both medically and economically. This week's jobs reports showed that likely 3.5 million Americans have lost employer-provided health insurance since the pandemic began.Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal noted the similarities between Sanders' presidential platform and his latest proposal to Congress, but argued the ideas now sound remarkably "un-radical." The suggestions are "obviously on par with the scale of this crisis," says Weisenthal, and in line with the $2.2 trillion relief package Congress previously passed, "except on a sufficient scale to really counteract the damage." "To prevent the collapse of the economy is far more humane and cost effective than rebuilding the economy after it collapses," Sanders told MSNBC. See Sanders' proposal, which does not yet have a budget estimate, here.More stories from theweek.com Social distancing is going to get darker The noble lie about masks and coronavirus should never have been told 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's TV ratings boast
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| French Coronavirus Fatalities Hit 6,507 in Deadliest Day Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:41 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Chinese explorers start Everest climb amid pandemic Posted: 03 Apr 2020 12:03 PM PDT  China has limited climbs to its nationals while Nepal has cancelled all expeditions.
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| Trump calls fired watchdog in impeachment probe a 'disgrace' Posted: 03 Apr 2020 07:40 PM PDT  President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized the ousted inspector general who handled an anonymous whistleblower's complaint that sparked his impeachment as a "disgrace" and suggested that the complaint should have been discussed with him before it was sent to Congress. Trump informed Congress late Friday night that he was firing Michael Atkinson, saying in letters to the House and Senate intelligence committees that he had lost confidence in Atkinson. Atkinson's removal is part of a larger shakeup of the intelligence community under Trump, who has always viewed intelligence professionals with skepticism.
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| Airline refutes Mexican authority's account of spring break coronavirus outbreak Posted: 04 Apr 2020 02:25 AM PDT  College students from Texas who tested positive for the novel coronavirus after spring break in Los Cabos traveled to the Mexican beach resort on Viva Aerobus, the airline said, and were there a week later than reported by the local tourist board. At least part of the Texas group stayed at the luxury Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos hotel, two people familiar with the arrangements told Reuters.
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| 3M pushes back at Trump over order to produce more face masks Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:48 PM PDT  Manufacturing giant 3M pushed back Friday against criticism from President Trump over production of face masks that are badly needed by American health care workers.
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| New York Gov. Cuomo says he expects the peak of the coronavirus outbreak to hit in the 'seven-day' range as cases skyrocket Posted: 04 Apr 2020 11:33 AM PDT  New York has 11,000 new cases and China's donating 1,000 ventilators: Here are all the key takeaways from Gov. Cuomo's coronavirus press conference.
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| Coronavirus: Germany and France accuse US of taking face masks as international tensions rise Posted: 04 Apr 2020 05:56 AM PDT  Germany and France have accused the US of taking face masks already ordered by Europe as the coronavirus pandemic continued to cause rising international tensions.Politicians in Berlin and Paris both said America had been using unfair means to undermine their own attempts to secure personal protective equipment.
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| Wuhan residents told to stay inside and stay vigilant as China begins to lift virus lockdown Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:48 AM PDT  The top official in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in China, warned residents to stay vigilant and avoid going out, even as the latest data showed a decline in new cases in the mainland and zero new infections in the city. The country where the virus emerged late last year will hold three minutes of silence nationwide on Saturday to mourn the thousands of "martyrs" who died in the fight against the epidemic, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships will "wail in grief" after the minutes of silence are observed at 10 am (0200 GMT) across the country, Xinhua said. China appears to have curbed the epidemic through draconian restrictions that paralysed the country for two months and effectively shut down the world's second-biggest economy.
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| Gabon bans eating of pangolin and bats amid pandemic Posted: 03 Apr 2020 12:54 PM PDT  Gabon on Friday banned the sale and eating of bats and pangolins, which are suspected of sparking the novel coronavirus in China where they are highly prized in traditional medicine. President Ali Bongo Ondimba also announced the government was planning to lock down the capital Libreville and unveiled an emergency package for those hard hit by the pandemic. The novel coronavirus is believed to have come from bats, but researchers think it might have spread to humans via another mammal.
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| Trump nominates McConnell ally to powerful appeals court Posted: 03 Apr 2020 10:21 AM PDT  President Donald Trump is nominating a 37-year-old judge and former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to a seat on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Walker drew a "Not Qualified" rating from the American Bar Association when Trump nominated him last year to be a federal judge in Kentucky.
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| Vietnam protests Beijing's sinking of South China Sea boat Posted: 03 Apr 2020 10:36 PM PDT |
| A Kentucky resident who was potentially exposed to the coronavirus and refused to self-isolate was forced to wear an ankle monitor Posted: 03 Apr 2020 07:53 PM PDT  One man who tested positive for the coronavirus was put under house arrest after he went out shopping and violated his quarantine.
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| USPS mail carriers say the service isn't doing enough to protect them from the coronavirus and are mixing DIY sanitizer and buying gloves online to stay safe Posted: 03 Apr 2020 08:52 AM PDT  The USPS says it has implemented a raft of measures to fight the virus. Two postal workers we spoke with said it hasn't materialized.
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| We all want to know how the coronavirus pandemic ends. How do we cope with uncertainty? Posted: 04 Apr 2020 11:09 AM PDT  Uncertainty during the pandemic is unsettling because people need predictability to feel safe, experts say. So how do we cope when we don't have it?
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| Coronavirus: Islamophobia concerns after India mosque outbreak Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:54 AM PDT  Outrage over a Muslim congregation that led to new Covid-19 cluster turns hateful.
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| 'We're nesting. We prepared his room': Families adopting children from China anxiously wait Posted: 03 Apr 2020 07:53 AM PDT  At one agency, 250 families in the process of adopting children are on hold and wait for answers.
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| Boris Johnson's pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds suffers coronavirus symptoms Posted: 04 Apr 2020 09:49 AM PDT  Boris Johnson's pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds has revealed she has "spent the past week in bed" after suffering coronavirus symptoms but is now recovering. The 32-year-old, who is expecting the couple's baby in early summer, falls into the group of vulnerable people urged to avoid contact with those with symptoms of Covid-19. Prime Minister Mr Johnson said last week that he had tested positive for coronavirus and has now spent more than a week in self-isolation in Downing Street. Shortly after his announcement, Ms Symonds - who usually lives with the Prime Minister in the Number 11 flat - shared a photograph of herself self-isolating in Camberwell, south London, with the couple's dog Dilyn. But on Saturday evening she revealed she too has suffered coronavirus symptoms. She tweeted: "I've spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus. I haven't needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I'm on the mend. "Being pregnant with Covid-19 is obviously worrying. To other pregnant women, please do read and follow the most up to date guidance which I found to be v reassuring."
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| Trump Sent Them to the Coronavirus Front Line but Denied Them Health Care Posted: 04 Apr 2020 02:06 AM PDT  Thousands of National Guardsmen around the country are in contact with people who've contracted COVID-19. But while the federal government has called on them for frontline assistance in battling the pandemic, it's not giving them what they need to protect themselves: access to the military's health insurance.The approximately 20,000 guardsmen who have been called up to help states around the country deal with the spread of the coronavirus are federalized on what's called Title 32 status, which puts them in command of their various state governors but with the federal government paying costs. But according to the National Guard's advocates and the U.S. governors' association, the guardsmen are activated on orders that last 30 days. That puts them one single day shy of the requirement allowing the military health insurance system known as TRICARE—think of it as Medicare For All In Uniform—to cover them. Military Times first reported the eligibility shortfall. It's an urgent problem for guardsmen now that the pandemic-spurred economic collapse has exposed the folly of the current system of employer-provided health insurance. Some proportion of the guardsmen who may expose themselves to COVID-19 will have lost their jobs, and more surely will in the weeks to come.If their jobs came with health insurance, they would be qualified to shop on the Obamacare exchanges. But that process can be cumbersome and expensive at a moment when they face unemployment. If they never had job-based insurance, then they've lost their income right at the moment they are being asked to risk their own health and what remains of their financial security. Similarly, Guardsmen on orders short of 31 days qualify for an aspect of TRICARE called TRICARE Reserve Select. But that's an optional purchase, and while its premiums are lower than civilian health insurance, Guardsmen will still have to pay.'New York Is in Crisis': Cuomo Pleads for Help as State Suffers Worst Single-Day Death Toll The lack of TRICARE eligibility puts guardsmen and their families "in a terrible position," said J. Roy Robinson, a retired one-star general and the president of the National Guard Association of the United States. "These kids are in jeopardy, and it's wrong." Robinson, who served for 33 years as an officer in the Mississippi National Guard, continued: "Leadership at the Pentagon, either knowingly or unknowingly, are putting soldiers and airmen, in my opinion, in harm's way without them having proper medical coverage."On April 1, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) asked Trump to ensure federalized guardsmen's TRICARE eligibility during an "unprecedented situation." "During this time, we should do all we can to support the men and women being asked to assist our nation's response to this pandemic and ensure that they are put on orders long enough to make them eligible for TRICARE," Daines wrote.The first U.S. servicemember to die from coronavirus was 57-year-old New Jersey National Guardsman Douglas Linn Hickok, an Army captain. Hickok had not deployed to respond to COVID-19 when he contracted it, but he was preparing to deploy when he grew sick on March 21. He died on March 28. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. GOP Plows Forward on Plans to Kill Obamacare, Pandemic Be DamnedAs coronavirus has spread, the Trump administration has faced mounting pressure to expand health insurance coverage options for the broad universe of the uninsured. But it has so far resisted allowing a special enrollment period for Obamacare, claiming that there are other options for those in need to get insurance and that cash assistance from the government could help instead. The issue is more acute with members of the Guard who are being tasked by the government to help combat the spread of the pandemic. A senior administration official told The Daily Beast that the governors were receiving "full federal funding of the state National Guard"—a separate issue from the guardsmen's TRICARE access. The official, who would not speak for the record, said that every "request granted is set for a full month," which confirms the activation period falling just short of TRICARE eligibility. "We are working with states and the National Guard by continuously monitoring the situation on the ground to determine any Title 32 extension," the official said. The official would not address why the current orders fall short of the TRICARE eligibility period. Without TRICARE, warned Robinson, members of the Guard will "have to fall back on their personal health insurance. I hate to say it, but in a lot of those areas, a lot of these guys don't have health insurance." Robinson lamented that as of Friday, "there is no agreement to fix this." "We appreciate the administration's willingness to take steps to address this need, however, we are concerned that the current orders coming down from the Department have been limited to only 30 days," said James Nash, a spokesman for the National Governors' Association. "As you note, service members will not have full federal protections for anything under 31 days. We would encourage the administration to look at this and extend orders."Some 24 states and territories are receiving Title 32 funding for their National Guard operations, with other states continuing to submit funding requests, the senior official said. It's unclear how many guardsmen are currently operating without health insurance and require TRICARE—let alone how many of their private insurance companies will charge them substantial deductibles for any COVID-19-related treatment they might require as a consequence of their service. On Friday morning, with no agreement in place to extend the Guard's orders to ensure TRICARE eligibility, President Trump tweeted, "Thank you @USNationalGuard, keep up the great work!"\-- Sam Stein contributed reportingRead 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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| Trump, 3M clash over order to produce more face masks for US Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:57 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said Friday his administration will try to stop "profiteers" from exporting medical protective gear, shortly after picking a fight with manufacturing giant 3M, a major producer and exporter of face masks used to protect health care workers from the coronavirus. 3M argued that blocking exports will raise "significant humanitarian implications" abroad and lead other countries to retaliate by withholding much-needed medical supplies from the U.S. Nearly all of 3M's exports of high-grade N95 masks go to Canada and Latin America, and Canadian officials led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau took the company's side.
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| SoftBank's Son tests state of emergency appetite via Twitter poll Posted: 03 Apr 2020 05:08 AM PDT  SoftBank Group Corp founder and CEO Masayoshi Son on Friday began polling his Twitter followers over whether a state of emergency should be declared, as the number of people in Tokyo infected with the coronavirus continues to rise. Japan has so far been spared the explosive surge in cases seen in some other countries but, with the capital the centre of the outbreak, clamour for tighter curbs is growing, with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike also indicating support for such a step. One of a small number of Japanese executives who are also household names, Son has recently returned to Twitter to express his concern about the coronavirus outbreak.
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| Controversial Soviet-era statue removed in Prague Posted: 03 Apr 2020 07:14 AM PDT  Prague authorities on Friday said they had removed a controversial Soviet-era statue, despite protests from Moscow, to make way for a World War II memorial. The Russian embassy on Friday protested the removal of the bronze statue of Soviet general Ivan Konev, terming it an "unfriendly" act of "vandalism by unhinged municipal representatives." While Konev is regarded as a hero in Russia, many Czechs see him as a symbol of Soviet-era oppression.
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| Amazon is turning away employees with temperatures over than 100.4 degrees and slashing up to half their pay Posted: 04 Apr 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Amazon employees say the new policy could be a devastating blow to many workers who live paycheck to paycheck.
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| Coronavirus: More than 500 die in New York overnight with 100,000 reported cases Posted: 03 Apr 2020 08:26 AM PDT  New York state has the biggest single-day increase of death toll with 592 people dying from the coronavirus yesterday, the governor said.Governor Andrew Cuomo started his daily press briefing on Friday with the grim news about the death toll increasing in the state.
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| IMF May Hold Remote Consultations With Argentina Amid Pandemic Posted: 03 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT |
| The noble lie about masks and coronavirus should never have been told Posted: 04 Apr 2020 03:40 AM PDT  Those of you of a certain age will doubtless remember a time when it was universally acknowledged that wearing masks would not protect you or anyone else from the coronavirus pandemic. By "certain age" here I mean all living Americans born on or before April 1, 2020, which according to my notes is when it became possible to express a contrary position in polite society.This was always nonsense. The White House is now suggesting that all of us should wear masks whenever we leave our houses. We are even stealing vast stockpiles of them from the Germans, who have been wearing them in public for around a month on the rather more numerous occasions when their leaders exempt them from house arrest. People who can't get proper masks (apparently the kind people wear when they spray for bugs) are being encouraged to make their own. If nothing else, this has given tedious DIY addicts something else to be self satisfied about. No one cares how quaint and interesting you think the piece of cloth meant to protect you from a disease is, okay?Whether the journalists and other apparent experts who enthusiastically spread this apparent lie about masks knew it was false is very much an open question. Some of us found it odd that the same people were also saying that masks should be reserved for use by medical professionals. If masks don't do anything, why do doctors and nurses need them? Are they an ornamental part of a dress uniform? The mind reels.Regardless of the personal honesty of those involved in it, this propaganda campaign should never have been conducted in the first place. It is one thing to debate what should be empirical questions, such as the efficacy of wearing protective equipment in an attempt to forestall the spread of viral infections; it is another for people to bang on about whatever the latest current corona wisdom is with the same tedious certainty that not long ago made us a nation of Logan Act scholars and experts on the non-existent criminal law implications of the emoluments clause. These manias do roughly as much for public health as those kids — there was at least one in every first-grade class — who relentlessly ssshh everyone else in line do to improve schoolyard behavior.The 180-degree shift in acceptable public opinion about masks is in line with how the rest of this crisis has unfolded. Masks won't help. Everyone needs a mask. It's not worth shutting down travel to and from China over the virus, and Trump is just being a xenophobe here. Trump should have done more to prevent the virus from coming to these shores. It's less dangerous than the flu; calling it less dangerous than the flu is a right-wing meme, perhaps even (one shudders) "misinformation." Human beings can't even transmit the virus directly to one another; it originated with animals in Chinese open-air "wet" food markets. Talking about the wet markets is racist, except when Dr. Fauci does it.Can we please stop talking this way? As I write this our paper of record is all but publicly rooting for the failure of anti-malarial drugs that appear to have been successful in treating some coronavirus patients. It is not against "science," whatever that may be, for the president or anyone else to observe that certain medicines or treatments have worked. It is not for science, either. It's just a fact that may or may not have limited application depending upon what happens over the next few months. A bit more epistemic humility would be welcome all around.As would more of I will bluntly call adult behavior. We must put an end to the idea that the best way to get through this crisis is to say things we know are not true in the hope of getting people to behave a certain way. This means not saying masks are useless when what you really mean is, "Masks are in short supply, please consider before you start hoarding them whether you really need them at present and if so how many." Ditto the painfully relentless attempts to give young people the impression that they are horribly likely to die from the new virus. Even in Italy, the country with the worst measured fatality rate so far, around 86 percent of all the deceased have been aged 70 or older, and 50 percent were at least 80. We do not need to zero in on statistical anomalies or otherwise engage in scaremongering. It should be enough to say, "Even though you are very unlikely to die from coronavirus, remember that you could contract the disease and spread it to more vulnerable people without even experiencing symptoms, so please don't revel with 5000 strangers at the beach and then run home to give Grandma a hug."This is how grown-ups talk to one another.More stories from theweek.com Social distancing is going to get darker 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's TV ratings boast The political lessons of the 1918 pandemic
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| Residents Clean Up Kansas City Neighborhood During Stay-at-Home Order Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:07 PM PDT  A community in Kansas is making the best out of the stay-at-home order by beautifying its neighborhood.
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| There’s Nothing Generous About Putin’s Coronavirus Aid to US Posted: 03 Apr 2020 08:52 AM PDT  The Kremlin's highly publicized "humanitarian aid" to the plague-stricken United States is not an altruistic gesture. It's a coldly calculated political move. But that doesn't seem to worry President Donald Trump, who proclaimed during his press conference Thursday: "I'm not concerned about Russian propaganda. Not even a little bit."A Doctor Who Met Putin Just Tested Positive, and Russia's COVID-19 Crackdowns Could Get Real Ugly.That's a very big mistake. Yes, yet another one. This is an example of the Kremlin's time-honored tactic diverting attention to another country as an example of things going even worse elsewhere, and Russian state media make it clear it's anything but a goodwill gesture.As the official story goes, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked Trump whether the United States needed Russia's help in dealing with the coronavirus. As a publicity stunt, this could hardly be more obvious. But, likely to Putin's surprise, the president of the mightiest country in the world said "Yes." According to Russia's state news outlet TASS, Trump accepted the favor "with gratitude" and is expected to reciprocate as needed in the future.According to Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, the conversation between Trump and Putin pertained to the lack of Personal Protective Equipment, commonly referred to as "PPE," in the United States. (Trump's request is especially puzzling in light of his public statements claiming that there is no shortage of PPE in the U.S.) 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.The Kremlin denies that Putin has ever asked Trump to lift the sanctions, while the U.S. president claimed that the Russian president "has been asking that for two years," and Russian state media pundits complain that Trump didn't get the message when Putin called for the immediate removal of all sanctions at the recent G-20 summit. The lifting of the western sanctions remains one of the Kremlin's top priorities.During his press conference on Thursday, Trump claimed that Russia offered to send the supplies to America because it had a surplus. On the contrary, Russia itself is in dire need of tests, disinfectants, PPE and medical equipment, and the consequences are surfacing even on state television. "They say, sew your own masks. There are no antiseptics… The doctors have no masks," complained Russian lawmaker Alexei Zhuravlyov, appearing on Russia's 60 Minutes. Olga Skabeeva, the host of 60 minutes, agreed: "There are no masks. That is completely true. Not a single pharmacy in Moscow has any masks… They don't have the masks in our hospitals," she said. "We're all sewing them," said Russian state TV host Vladimir Soloviev during his own program, The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev. In March, convicts in three Russian prisons produced 132,000 masks. In April, prisoners in 120 of Russia's penal colonies are set to begin mass-producing them. It's unclear whether the masks produced in Russian prisons were sold by Putin to the United States under the guise of "humanitarian aid" requested by Trump."Overnight, the United States became the anti-leader—in the number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus," proclaimed Igor Kozhevin, the host of Russian state TV news show Vesti on channel Rossiya-1, naming the U.S. as an example not to be followed.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. Discussing Russia's aid to the United States, the Russian newspaper Vzglyad wrote: "America is no longer a hegemon, but is still trying to act as such… If the death rate from coronavirus in the United States goes to many tens, or even hundreds of thousands, and the economic disruption continues, against the backdrop of the elections, this could lead to serious internal upheavals in the already divided American society."Vzglyad concluded: "In any case, China emerges victorious—not because it defeated the virus first, but because it will continue its expansion into all parts of the world… The U.S.-Chinese battle is only part of a common geopolitical war… In this complex conflict, Russia appears not just as the owner of a 'golden share,' as the Americans think, but as the main engine of the whole process of creating a new world order. Russia and China are essentially allies; we have a very close vision of the post-American world."Appearing on The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev, political scientist Sergey Mikheyev opined about the United States: "They're hiding, trying to solve their own problems. Russia and China are helping them… Everyone noticed it. Even the most pro-Western people noticed it… This will degrade the value of democracy in the entire world." In point of fact, Russia is not doing well at all. After months of denial, the Kremlin is suddenly forced to admit the unfolding reality of the coronavirus pandemic. Official statistics this Friday reported 4,149 cases of infection and 34 deaths, with 215,000 "under observation" for potential exposure to the virus.Russian President Vladimir Putin shook hands with a coronavirus-infected doctor, minutes before encasing himself in a yellow hazmat suit. The stunt of visiting a hospital that treats the coronavirus patients, meant to reassure the general population, turned out to be a much riskier photo-op than bare-chested horse riding.Adding to the Kremlin's worries, two of its officials reportedly have tested positive for the coronavirus. Additionally, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov attended the same party as singer Lev Leschenko, who was later diagnosed with the coronavirus. Multiple Russian government officials, including Vladimir Putin, are reportedly being tested for the coronavirus on a daily basis.Viktor Maleev, the head of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of the Russian government agency Rospotrebnadzor, called the coronavirus test "a psychotherapeutic measure," meant to comfort worried citizens. It seems that these days, Kremlin officials are in need of much comforting. Russian state television program Vesti on channel Rossiya-1 assured anxious audiences: "Situation with the spread of the coronavirus in our country is under control… Unlike a number of other countries, there is no explosive growth of the number of infected people in Russia." The Kremlin is known for its creative approach to facts, skewing heavily in favor of saving face rather than saving the population.Surreal scenes are unfolding in Moscow, where barren streets are being heavily patrolled and the stern voice over the loudspeakers urges citizens to stay at home. Policemen stop passing vehicles and those traveling on foot, asking for their justification to venture outside of their home or work. All patients diagnosed with the coronavirus are entered into a specially-created database that includes their photographs. Appearing on the nightly television show The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev, former Chairman of the National Society of Industrial Medicine Alexey Yakovlev argued that eventually—unless the citizens comply with the terms dictated by the government—the time will come "to close the subways, bring out the army and chase them down with nightsticks." "Hard times lie ahead of us," warned Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Russia Claimed It Created a Coronavirus Cure, but It's an American Malaria DrugTensions run high on Russia's state TV, with out-of-control pundits yelling and finger-pointing about the best measures for dealing with the spread of the coronavirus. Appearing on state TV show 60 Minutes, lawmakers Leonid Kalashnikov and Alexei Zhuravlyov accused each other of lying to the people, "licking President [Putin's] behind" and drinking before the show. The host, Evgeny Popov, nervously attempted to calm them down, but the horrid story that the show covered next did little to diffuse the tensions.In a local hospital of Syktyvkar, the capital of Russia's Komi republic, located 620 miles northeast of Moscow, 55 people had been accidentally infected by a doctor. Multiple patients who tested negative for the coronavirus are being confined in the Ezhvinsky district hospital against their will. Terrified of being infected by the medical staff that is freely coming and going from the facility, these hostages of the medical system recorded a video pleading for their release—to no avail. A total of 261 people, including 24 members of the medical staff, remain in isolation at the hospital. After the government announced the commencement of an investigation into this matter, Governor of Komi Sergey Gaplikov promptly resigned."Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," warns a Latin phrase from Virgil's Aeneid, referring to the hollow horse that defeated Troy's defenses. It has been paraphrased in English as the proverb "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." The same could be said about accepting aid from the Kremlin.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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| After ignoring warnings, Israeli ultra-Orthodox hit by virus Posted: 02 Apr 2020 11:43 PM PDT  Early this week, the streets of the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak were bustling with shoppers as ultra-Orthodox residents, obeying their religious leaders, ignored pleas to stay home in the face of the coronavirus threat. The military will soon be sending troops in to assist local authorities. The city has become a lightning rod for anger and frustration by some secular Israelis who allege insular Haredi communities — with disproportionately high numbers of confirmed cases — are undermining national efforts to contain the virus.
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| Senators urge formal probe of Navy carrier commander's firing over coronavirus plea Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:23 AM PDT  A group of prominent Democratic senators formally requested on Friday that the Pentagon's independent Inspector General investigate the Navy's firing of the commander of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, who called for stronger measures to halt a coronavirus outbreak on board. Captain Brett Crozier was relieved of his command on Thursday after his scathing letter was leaked to the media. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland led the push and were joined by 15 other U.S. senators, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris.
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