| Wuhan is open and infections are down, but China's coronavirus numbers can't be trusted Posted: 10 Apr 2020 12:14 PM PDT  China this week reopened Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected, claiming that new infections were in the single digits. But in recent days Beijing has been accused of reporting inaccurate counts of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
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| The one data point that suggests both New York and California are getting coronavirus under control Posted: 10 Apr 2020 10:02 AM PDT  Good news about the coronavirus is in short supply. The United States' confirmed case count is approaching half a million — more than triple any other country's. But if it's good news you're after, pay attention to the hospitalization data in New York and California.
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| U.S. Navy destroyer transits Taiwan Strait on same day as Chinese drills Posted: 10 Apr 2020 07:15 PM PDT |
| Denmark rushed to lock down before almost every other country. Now its response is so far ahead that it's starting to remove restrictions. Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:57 AM PDT  Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said schools will reopen on April 15, but warned that the country can't return to normal too quickly.
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| African nations, U.S. condemn racism against blacks in China Posted: 11 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT  African officials are condemning China publicly and in private over the mistreatment of Africans in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, and the U.S. says African-Americans have been targeted too.
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| 'Got my blood boiling': Florida nursing homes ask governor for immunity from coronavirus lawsuits Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:35 PM PDT  Florida is reporting more than 18,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state.
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| On post-COVID-19 reopening, Trump weighs 'biggest decision of my life' Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  President Trump said Friday that determining when it will be safe to drop social distancing guidelines to stop the spread of the coronavirus is "the biggest decision I've ever had to make."
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| African community targeted in China virus crackdown Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Africans in southern China's largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as Beijing steps up its fight against imported infections, drawing US accusations of xenophobia. China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials. Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city's Yuexiu district, known as "Little Africa".
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| NYC mayor says schools will stay closed rest of year, Cuomo says not so fast Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT  "He didn't close them, and he can't reopen," Cuomo said of the the vast school district that serves over 1.1 million students in 1,800 schools.
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| 'God will shield us from all harm and sickness:' Louisiana pastor expects 2,000 to attend his Easter service Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:44 PM PDT  Rev. Tony Spell announced he would hold his largest in-person church service as Louisiana reported an increase of 970 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours.
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| Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:39 AM PDT  * British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is making very good progress in his recovery from COVID-19, his office said on Saturday, as his health minister said the peak of the outbreak in Britain had not yet been reached. * The number of coronavirus deaths in Spain fell for a third consecutive day, with 510 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours -- the smallest overnight increase since March 23. * Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended a nationwide lockdown until May 3, though he said a few types of shops would be allowed to re-open next week.
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| Cruise workers on Holland America's Rotterdam ship say they were forced into a perilous rescue mission of the COVID-19 stricken Zaandam, and now hundreds of crew members are stranded onboard wondering what's next. Posted: 11 Apr 2020 08:27 AM PDT  "The Rotterdam was told it was on a humanitarian mission to bring supplies to the Zaandam," one crew member said.
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| 15-year-old boy from Amazon tribe dies of coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:47 PM PDT  "We are seeing the possibility of genocide happening," one expert said.
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| Washington state begins to ask: how does the coronavirus crisis end? Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The state's tough response to the deadly virus seems to have been effective in flattening the curve. But what comes next?The first person confirmed to have tested positive for the coronavirus in the US by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was a resident of Snohomish county, Washington.That was on 21 January. In the weeks that have followed, the state, which has a population of more than 7.5 million people, has seen over 9,000 confirmed cases, including 421 deaths.Washington's governor, Jay Inslee, has closed schools, ordered a halt to all elective surgeries and issued a stay-home mandate, which involves a ban on all gatherings and the closure of all businesses, except grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and other essential companies. Last week, he extended that order to 4 May, saying that was "absolutely the soonest we possibly could achieve our ends to keep our loved ones safe."But though the path back to "normal" life is still some way off, the state's early and comprehensive response looks to be flattening the curve of coronavirus infections. With the worsening of the financial crisis brought on by the public health emergency, that has prompted the questions: when, and how, could this end?Dr Anthony Fauci, America's leading expert on infectious diseases, recently explained that it will be clear the outbreak is nearing its conclusion in the US when the number of new infections is approaching almost zero and the number of deaths is not far behind."I believe that in a few months, hopefully, that we'll get it under control enough that it won't be as frightening as it is now, but it will not be an absent threat," he told the New York Times.Washington saw the initial outbreak of the virus in the US and, after the infection struck a nursing home in the state, reported the country's highest numbers of cases and deaths for weeks. But the state has since moved far behind hotspot states like New York and California, which have far greater populations of almost 20 million and 40 million respectively. Today, Washington state has the 11th-highest number of cases in the US, according to the CDC.A projection from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent population health research center at UW Medicine, shows that Washington hit its peak in coronavirus deaths 11 days ago, with 24 fatalities. In contrast, New York's peak is projected to hit this week, while California's is not expected to take place until 17 April.Washington's low numbers can be attributed to the simple fact that its cities are less dense than those in states like New York and California. Its communities may also be following social distancing measures more closely.But officials also tested and found cases of coronavirus early, then quickly proceeded to ramp up preparedness, explained Hilary Godwin, dean of the University of Washington school of public health."Our hospitals have been preparing, building up capacity," she said. "Once we got to the point where we had to do social distancing because the number of cases was so great, we were really well positioned and were able to roll those things out really systematically."Dr Scott Lindquist, Washington state's epidemiologist for communicable diseases, said officials are paying particularly close attention to the percentage of people evaluated who test positive for Covid-19.He explained that at the beginning of this outbreak, the state was seeing 3% of people tested test positive, but as of Wednesday last week, that had increased to at least 7%. He said over one or two weeks, he would want to see the average stay consistently below 7%, as that would make it clear the numbers are trending down and thus the situation is improving.Lindquist said officials would also want to see a clear trend that shows the percentage of hospitalizations for people with corona-like illnesses and the number of deaths decreasing. These measures would offer a very clear indication about how much coronavirus is still in the community, he said. Although hospitalizations have been increasing, deaths have been staying fairly steady.Given these current trends, how much time could it take the state to get to a point when it would seriously consider easing social distancing restrictions?"I definitely would say it's not days," he told the Guardian. "It's weeks to months. But again, if things turn around very quickly, we're talking just a couple weeks."More than a third of the cases in Washington have been reported in King county, which includes Seattle.According to a recent study conducted by the Institute for Disease Modeling, a private research institute in Bellevue, Washington, King county has seen a significant decrease in virus transmissions, probably due to strict social distancing measures.The researchers found that in late February each infected individual in the county was spreading the virus to an average of two or three other people. By 18 March, that number had been essentially cut in half, with people on average infecting 1.4 additional people.But, of course, in order to actually see a drop in new cases, on average each individual with coronavirus would need to infect less than one other person.Godwin said when making a decision about social distancing restrictions, it's not necessarily a matter of getting the number of new cases and deaths down to zero.The trick is to get that number down low enough so that "we would be more like we were at the early phase of the epidemic, when the health department could do contact tracing for each case and could make sure anyone who got infected was self-quarantined", she said.However, Godwin said if Washington were to get the virus under control and removed its stay-home mandate, a "second wave" of infections could still occur.Godwin said it may be a matter of Washington officials letting up for a little bit or releasing some constraints and then having to simply see how things go. But she warned that different virus timelines across US states could hamper efforts, especially if people from states that have not contained the virus continue to travel domestically.Dr Jeff Duchin, health officer for public health, Seattle and King county, said during a recent press conference that for the Seattle area or any community to transition out of comprehensive social distancing measures, there needs to be widespread availability of testing with very rapid turnaround time, and a robust healthcare system that is both heavily monitored and has the bandwidth to care for the sick.The severe lack of testing across the US is regarded as one of the biggest failures of the Trump administration's often confused response to the arrival of the pandemic on its shores. Technical flaws in early tests developed by the CDC set the country back weeks. And though private companies are now running thousands of tests a day, they cannot keep up with demand, and vital supplies for mass testing, such as swabs, remain critically low.But between the state's public health laboratory and the lab at the University of Washington in Seattle, experts say there is plenty of capacity for testing. The big limitation is that medical workers do not have adequate personal protective equipment for obtaining samples, explained Lindquist."But there are some promising new developments where we can have patients obtain their own sample in their car with a nasal swab," he said.Duchin also said there should also ideally be proven treatments available and possibly a vaccine, although that is also very unlikely to be available in the near future."We are constantly reassessing this strategy and trying to understand if and when it is advisable to change our strategy, to relax some of these measures if possible in a way that would allow our healthcare system to continue to treat all those who need healthcare and not overwhelm that system and allow us to get back to our usual lives as soon as possible," he said. "But I don't see that in the next month."Mike Faulk, spokesman for the governor's office, said the decision to transition back to "normal" life will ultimately come down to a judgment call."Even when you make that call you don't necessarily know that the disease is done or on a permanently downward track," he said. "It's just the most informed judgment you can make at the end of the day."
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| Exclusive: Russia collecting intelligence on U.S. supply line failures amid coronavirus crisis, DHS warns Posted: 10 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT  Russian spies are using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to collect intelligence on U.S. supply lines, which have struggled to provide sufficient medical equipment, according to an intelligence report issued earlier this week by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Yahoo News.
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| Iran's virus, sanctions-hit economy slowly reopens Posted: 11 Apr 2020 07:58 AM PDT  Iran allowed small businesses outside the capital to reopen Saturday, arguing the sanctions-hit economy in the country with the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East cannot stay in lockdown. Iranians in several provinces reported a significant increase in cars on the roads as people went back to work, as some said the government's relaxation of measures was sending mixed messages.
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| Ecuador buckles under virus, broken oil lines and old debt Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:55 PM PDT  Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno unveiled an emergency economic plan Friday aimed at rescuing the South American nation hard hit by the new coronavirus and then dealt a second blow when two large pipelines broke, halting critical crude exports. Moreno in a nationwide broadcast urged the nation to come together, saying that Ecuador's massive foreign debt he inherited from past governments will have to be renegotiated, while large businesses earnings over $1 million annually will have to contribute 5% of their profits. "This economic emergency is unprecedented in the recent history of this country," Moreno said.
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| Texas governor vows to issue an executive order to end state's lockdown and help residents 'get back into the workforce' Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:56 AM PDT  "One thing about Texans, they enjoy working and they want to get back into the workforce," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
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| Death stalks French nursing home, where corpses lie in rooms Posted: 10 Apr 2020 07:35 AM PDT  In a nursing home in Paris, bodies have been left decomposing in bedrooms and the smell of death seeps under doors after the coronavirus spread through the overwhelmed facility, according to a care worker there. The employee at the Jardin des Plantes home, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, told Reuters some 30 residents - about a third of all the elderly being cared for at the facility - had died since the outbreak struck. With the city's undertakers swamped by the wave of COVID-19 deaths sweeping the capital, some corpses had laid in body bags for several days, the care worker said.
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| 'They don't get to summer in the Hamptons? Who cares?': CEO says US should let companies owned by billionaires get 'wiped out' during the coronavirus crisis Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:10 PM PDT  More than 10 million Americans filed for unemployment within two weeks. Chamath Palihapitiya said they would suffer the most during the pandemic.
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| Kentucky gov. announces mandatory quarantine for anyone who attends Easter services Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:08 PM PDT  The Democratic governor said that state officials would record the license plate information of people seen attending mass gatherings.
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| The Secret Weapon Giving Mexico Power in the Oil Price War Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:22 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- As Mexico and Saudi Arabia fight over a deal to bring the oil-price war to an end, Mexico has a powerful defense: a massive Wall Street hedge shielding it from low prices.With talks well into their third day, the Mexican sovereign oil hedge, which insures the Latin American country against low prices and is considered a state secret, is a factor that may make the country less inclined to accept the OPEC+ agreement.For the last two decades, Mexico has bought so-called Asian style put options from a small group of investment banks and oil companies, in what's considered Wall Street's largest -- and most closely guarded -- annual oil deal.The options give Mexico the right to sell its oil at a predetermined price. They are the equivalent of an insurance policy: the country banks all gains from higher prices but enjoys the security of a minimum floor. So if oil prices remain weak or plunge even further, Mexico will still book higher prices.The hedge isn't the only reason Mexico is holding out. But it strengthens the country's hand and makes it less desperate for a deal than countries whose budgets have been ravaged by the collapse in oil prices since the start of the year -- first because of the coronavirus and then because of the price war launched by Saudi Arabia.The main reason driving President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a left-wing populist, to resist the deal is his pledge to revive oil production via state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos. Slashing 400,000 barrels a day to comply with the OPEC+ deal, rather than the 100,000 barrels a day that Mexico has counter-offered to Saudi Arabia, would put on hold his ambitious plan to return Pemex to its former glory.The hedge has shielded Mexico in every downturn over the last 20 years: it made $5.1 billion when prices crashed in 2009 during the global financial crisis, and it received $6.4 billion in 2015 and another $2.7 billion in 2016 after Saudi Arabia waged another price war.The operation comes at a cost. In recent years, Mexico has spent about $1 billion annually buying the options."The insurance policy isn't cheap," Mexican Finance Minister Arturo Herrera told broadcaster Televisa on March 10. "But it's insurance for times like now. Our fiscal budget isn't going to be hit."Pemex, the state-owned company, has its own separate, smaller oil hedge. This year, Pemex hedged 234,000 barrels a day at an average of $49 a barrel.State SecretMexico has disclosed very few details about its insurance for 2020 after it declared the sovereign hedge a state secret. However, based on limited public information, alongside historical data about previous years, it's possible to make a rough estimate of the potential payout if prices remain low.The government told lawmakers it has guaranteed revenues to support the assumptions for oil prices made in the country's budget -- of $49 a barrel for the Mexican oil export basket, equivalent to about $60-$65 a barrel for Brent crude.It locks in that revenue via two elements: the hedge, and the country's oil stabilization fund. The fund historically has only provided $2-$5 a barrel, so it's realistic to assume that Mexico hedged at $45 a barrel at least for its crude. In the past, Mexico has hedged around 250 million barrels, equal to nearly all its net oil exports in an operation that runs from Dec. 1 to Nov. 30.Using all those elements, a rough calculation suggests that if the Mexican oil export basket were to remain at current levels, the country would receive a multi-billion dollar payout. Since December, the Mexican oil basket has averaged $42 a barrel.If current low prices for Mexican oil continue until the end of November, the average would drop to just above $20 a barrel, and the hedge would pay out close to $6 billion, according to Bloomberg News calculations.Representatives of the Finance Ministry and Energy Ministry declined to comment.(Updates tenth paragraph with Pemex hedge volume and final paragraph with Finance Ministry and Energy Ministry comments.)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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| 10 Cosmic Close Calls That Changed Spaceflight Posted: 11 Apr 2020 06:46 AM PDT |
| Alaska Dems says they received twice as many ballots than in 2016 Posted: 11 Apr 2020 04:28 PM PDT  Joe BIden is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee after Sanders suspended his campaign earlier this week, although Sanders remained on the ballot in Alaska.
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| Boy from isolated Amazon tribe dies after being infected with coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 07:32 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - A Yanomami indigenous boy has died after contracting the coronavirus, authorities in Brazil said Friday, raising fears for the Amazon tribe, which is known for its vulnerability to disease. The 15-year-old boy, the first Yanomami to be diagnosed with the virus, was hospitalized a week ago at an intensive care unit in Boa Vista, the capital of the northern state of Roraima, officials said. Isolated indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest are particularly vulnerable to diseases brought in from the outside world, and a Yanomami rights group said the boy had come in to contact with "many" other indigenous people after he began showing symptoms.
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| Vietnam reports thousands of people linked to COVID-19 hot spot tested negative Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:11 PM PDT  More than 1,000 health care workers and 14,400 others linked to a COVID-19 outbreak at a hospital in Hanoi have tested negative for the coronavirus, the Vietnamese capital's ruling body said on Thursday.
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| Yemen's Houthi rebels sentence 4 reporters to death Posted: 11 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT  A court run by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday sentenced four journalists to death after their conviction on spying charges, their defense lawyer said. The four were among a group of 10 journalists who were detained by the Iran-backed rebels and accused of "collaborating with the enemy," in reference to the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis since 2015, lawyer Abdel-Majeed Sabra said. Sabra identified the four who were sentenced to death as Abdel-Khaleq Amran, Akram al-Walidi, Hareth Hamid and Tawfiq al-Mansouri.
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| India decides to extend nationwide coronavirus lockdown - state chief minister Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:42 AM PDT  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to extend a nationwide lockdown to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, the Delhi state's chief minister said on Saturday, without saying how long the extension would be for. Modi earlier in the day held a video conference call with several state ministers. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Modi had "taken (a) correct decision to extend (the) lockdown", without sharing further details.
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| Trump reportedly said he would reject a bailout package if it included aid to keep the US Postal Service functioning Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:33 PM PDT  USPS has asked Congress for a $50 billion bailout and $25 billion in loans from the Treasury Department to make up for losses.
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| Cuba, U.S. dispute embargo's role in blocking coronavirus supplies Posted: 11 Apr 2020 07:27 AM PDT  The embargo is "the main obstacle to purchase the medicines, equipment and material required to confront the pandemic," Cuba's Foreign Minister tweeted.
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| Coronavirus has killed scores of Mexicans in New York. Their families are fighting to bring them home Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT  At least 150 Mexican citizens in the New York City area infected with the coronavirus have died. The crisis has made it nearly impossible to send home their bodies.
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| Businessman Bails Michael Avenatti Out of Jail After He’s Granted Temporary Release Due to COVID-19 Posted: 11 Apr 2020 06:08 AM PDT  Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels who is serving time for trying to extort Nike, has been granted temporary release from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City amid fears he might contract COVID-19, according to a court order signed by a California judge late Friday. Avenatti will have to spend 14 days in quarantine at a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to make sure he is not infected with the coronavirus before he can return to Los Angeles for 90 days. His $1 million bail was paid by banker Hubert Bromma, author of the book How to Invest in Offshore Real Estate and Pay Little or No Taxes and self-described "pioneer in the field of alternative investments in tax-free and tax-deferred environments." He will be confined to the personal residence of his childhood friend, Jay Manheimer, in Venice, California.Michael Avenatti Guilty on All Counts in Nike Extortion CaseAvenatti first petitioned the court for his release so he could avoid "disastrous health consequence" in early April, saying he had suffered from pneumonia six months earlier, which made him susceptible to COVID-19. Coronavirus has spread rapidly through New York's prison system, prompting a judge to release at least one other high-profile inmate, rapper Tekashi69.Judge James V. Selna of U.S. District Court in Santa Ana initially said Avenatti posed "a danger to the community" and could not be released unless he could post $1 million bond secured by at least half a million in real estate or hard assets.At the time, Avenatti's lawyer, H. Dean Steward, told the judge, "Frankly, your honor, we can't meet this." It is unclear what obligation Avenatti now has to the author Bromma, who secured the bond. Among the stipulations of his release laid out in the court order, seen by The Daily Beast, are his need to secure advance permission to travel and to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. He is not allowed to leave Manheimer's house and he is prohibited from using the internet, from opening any bank or credit card accounts, or from engaging in any transaction worth more than $500.In an email to The Daily Beast on Saturday, Steward said he expected Avenatti would be released next week."Our goal has been to prepare for the two upcoming trials," he said. "The release of Mr. Avenatti will help us complete that preparation."Avenatti represented Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump. He was later found guilty of wire fraud, extortion and transmitting a threat in interstate communications in his failed attempt to extort sportswear company Nike. He was due to be sentenced on June 17.He faces two other pending criminal cases in New York and California, where he's charged with stealing money from several of his clients—including Daniels, who claims he swiped $300,000 from her book advance. Federal prosecutors had opposed Avenatti's release, arguing that the celebrity lawyer had shown disregard for the court by trying to hastily organize a release without securing a bond, arranging a self-quarantine or allowing the government to properly vet Bromma and Manheimer."Defendant and his counsel continue to demonstrate that they are either unable or unwilling to follow this Court's directions, thereby wasting valuable judicial and government resources during a time when such resources are already stretched thin," prosecutors wrote in their court filing.A spokesman for the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Los Angeles declined comment to The Daily Beast on Saturday.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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| Report: Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen moved to solitary confinement Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:45 AM PDT  President Trump's former personal attorney has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement at a federal prison.
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| Footnotes indicate FBI knew of risk of disinformation in Steele dossier Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:23 PM PDT  The FBI was warned sections of the controversial Steele dossier could have been part of a "Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations," according to the footnotes.
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| Pentagon May Relocate One of its 2 Navy Hospital Ships Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:41 PM PDT  It is working with FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services to determine the next virus hot spots.
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| Airlines and Trump administration haggle over payroll grants Posted: 10 Apr 2020 05:52 PM PDT  The Trump administration is proposing that a significant amount of the $25 billion in cash that airlines expected to keep workers on the job will instead be low-interest loans that big airlines will have to repay, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department began sending proposals for aid to airlines on Friday. American Airlines and United Airlines confirmed receiving responses to their applications for grants.
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| Kremlin says Moscow hospitals flooded as coronavirus death toll passes 100 Posted: 11 Apr 2020 09:43 AM PDT |
| The US just became the first country in the world to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:22 AM PDT  The US reported 2,108 deaths on Friday and passed 500,000 confirmed cases, but White House officials say the speed of the outbreak is easing off.
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| U.S. now leads world in deaths, day after Trump announces 'opening our country' task force Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:18 PM PDT  As the president mulls when restrictive coronavirus measures might start to be lifted, the U.S. passed a grim milestone of leading the world in deaths from the virus.
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| US Postal Service investigating issues with absentee ballots in Wisconsin that went undelivered Posted: 10 Apr 2020 06:52 PM PDT  The Postal Service said in a statement that it's looking into claims about absentee ballots that weren't delivered in time for Wisconsin's primary.
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| Coronavirus: Why have so many died in New York? Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:46 PM PDT  New York has more coronavirus cases than any country and accounts for around half of all deaths in the United States. - Was New York more vulnerable? As of Friday, New York state has almost 160,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections, more than Europe's worst-hit countries of Spain and Italy, and over 7,800 deaths.
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| 'There are two pandemics': Chicago's gun violence persists amid lockdown Posted: 11 Apr 2020 06:05 AM PDT  Shootings and murders have remained fairly consistent during shelter-in-place, with the city registering more shootings in March than the previous year * Coronavirus – live US updates * Live global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageThe coronavirus pandemic has forced Chicago into lockdown, closing restaurants, bars, stores and even its celebrated lakefront. But the crisis hasn't slowed the city's devastating gun violence epidemic.While crime overall has ticked down slightly amid shelter-in-place orders from local leaders, shootings and murders have remained fairly consistent so far, with the city registering more shootings in March this year than the previous year.During the first weekend of April, two were killed and 18 were wounded, mostly on the city's predominantly black and brown South and West Sides. On Tuesday, as unseasonably warm temperatures in Chicago rose into the 80sF (27C), the city endured its most violent day of 2020, with at least 21 shot – including a five-year-old girl – and six killed."Violence of any kind is never acceptable," the mayor, Lori Lightfoot, said at a news conference this week decrying the violence. "But the fact that this is especially urgent right now as our ability to treat all Chicagoans is being stretched to the breaking point, we cannot allow this to happen and we will not allow this to happen."The ongoing violence in America's third-largest city puts additional strain to a healthcare system struggling to combat the novel coronavirus – and could be exacerbated by the pandemic that has dramatically altered life in the city for the foreseeable future.default "Anger, frustration and depression doesn't get put on hold while there's a pandemic going on," said Pastor Michael Pfleger of St Sabina, on the city's South Side. "It's still there, and it's heightened right now. All it does is heighten the reality of the neglect."The coronavirus has brought to the fore the existing racial disparities in Chicago, with black residents representing a majority of Covid-19 deaths in the city and Cook county. Experts fear that the health and economic impacts of the pandemic may worsen the structural conditions that feed the violence issues, compounding the city's already pronounced race and class inequalities."I think there's going to be a lasting impact on this, even beyond the direct public health impact of Covid," said Max Kapustin, senior researcher at the University of Chicago Crime Lab.The continued violence comes as hospitals in Chicago, like New York and other communities across the US that have been hit hard so far by the outbreak, grapple with a pandemic that has stretched their limited resources.Illinois's governor, JB Pritzker, has warned that intensive care unit beds are filling up quickly and that the state needs more ventilators, as the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases here rises above 15,000 and its death toll nears 500."Every one of those beds, every one of those ER beds, taken up by a gunshot victim could be somebody's grandmother, somebody with pre-existing conditions, somebody that is in danger of losing their lives because of the pandemic," Charlie Beck, the city's interim police chief, said in a news conference with Lightfoot."There are two pandemics in Chicago," Beck said, "and only one is virus-induced."> Anger, frustration and depression doesn't get put on hold while there's a pandemic going on> > Pastor Michael PflegerAt Mount Sinai hospital in Douglas Park on Chicago's West Side, one of the busiest trauma centers in the country, the dueling crises of Covid-19 and gun violence have stretched staff and resources.Even for longtime medical professionals at the facility on the frontline of the city's violence epidemic, the coronavirus pandemic has been shocking."I'm amazed by it," said Michele Mazurek, chief nurse officer and vice-president of patient care services. "We're used to trauma patients here. Covid is almost like its own trauma itself."The continued gun violence has forced the hospital to put into place its surge plan, with educators, nurse practitioners and Mazurek herself providing patient care at the hospital."The influx sometimes is incredible," Mazurek said. "It is stressing on our emergency room."Mount Sinai officials said it has been able to maintain a high level of care despite the obstacles, thanks to the efforts of staff. But, they said, the situation has already taken a toll on healthcare workers."I've been a nurse since 1993," Mazurek said. "This has been the hardest experience I've ever lived through."As of Wednesday, Chicago had seen a reported 550 shootings in 2020 – up 64 from last year. That number will probably continue to grow, particularly as the weather warms into the summer months, when violence in the city tends to spike."Unfortunately, the epidemic of gun violence continues to plague us every day, every hour of the day," Lightfoot said on Wednesday. "This level of violence is never acceptable. Never, ever."
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| "It's been torture": LGBTQ health care suffers amid coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:39 PM PDT  Access to adequate health care has always been a struggle for the transgender community. Coronavirus just made it even worse.
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| New case of Ebola in DR Congo two days before WHO set to announce end to outbreak Posted: 10 Apr 2020 10:24 AM PDT  A new case of Ebola was reported in eastern DR Congo on Friday, just three days before a deadline that would have marked the official end to the long epidemic, the UN said. "Unfortunately, this means the government of DRC will not be able to declare an end to the Ebola outbreak on Monday, as hoped," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Twitter. The country's health ministry said the case - the first recorded in 52 days - was a 26-year-old man. "Our teams, in collaboration with the WHO, are already on the ground to carry out further investigations and implement health measures," the ministry's Ebola task force said in a statement. A health official said the patient reportedly died in hospital early Thursday, several days after falling ill with Ebola symptoms. The epidemic, the 10th in the Democratic Republic of Congo's history, dates back to August 1 2018.
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| Virus sends Holocaust survivors behind doors, back in time Posted: 11 Apr 2020 07:34 AM PDT  For Olga Weiss, the order to stay at home is about much more than simply locking her door to the coronavirus. Close to 400,000 survivors of the Holocaust are believed to be alive worldwide, and for many elderly Jews the coronavirus pandemic has dredged up feelings of fear, uncertainty and helplesness not felt since they were children during that dark period. While the fast-spreading virus has caused fear and the reliving of trauma for many in the general public, Yael Danieli, a psychologist and director of the Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children, said the emotional toll can be particularly acute for survivors of the Nazi genocide.
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| India to export wheat to Afghanistan, Lebanon in diplomatic deals Posted: 10 Apr 2020 06:59 PM PDT  India will export 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan and 40,000 tonnes of the grain to Lebanon in diplomatic deals, the Indian farm minister said on Friday. Since India has produced more wheat than it consumes, New Delhi has decided to export the grain to Afghanistan and Lebanon after receiving requests from the two countries, Narendra Singh Tomar said in a Tweet. The Indian government has asked the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd, a farmers' cooperative, to supply wheat to Afghanistan and Lebanon under a government-to-government deal, Tomar said.
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