| Trump says the measure of his success against coronavirus will be the final death toll. How's he doing? Posted: 21 Apr 2020 01:41 PM PDT  For the past several weeks, a fixture of President Trump's daily coronavirus task force press briefings has been his insistence that the ultimate measure of his administration's handling of the pandemic will be the number of Americans killed by COVID-19.
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| COVID-19 risk factors hint at how pandemic will play out Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:46 AM PDT  The more we find out about the coronavirus, the more worrisome it becomes.
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| Israel police kill Palestinian who launched van, stabbing attack Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:09 AM PDT  A Palestinian man was shot dead Wednesday after he hit an Israeli police officer with a van at a West Bank checkpoint and then stabbed him with a pair of scissors, police said. A pipe bomb was found at the scene which the attacker had apparently intended to hurl at the officers, police said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished a "speedy recovery" to the policeman -- who was taken to hospital but was not in a life-threatening condition -- and congratulated the forces who had "acted speedily and neutralised the terrorist".
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| Cuomo Slams Protesters: ‘Get a Job as an Essential Worker’ Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:26 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that while local officials may "feel political pressure" to lift shelter-in-place restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, he refuses to open up his virus-stricken state until steps are in place to avoid a second wave of the disease."I get the pressure, but we can't make a bad decision. Frankly, this is no time to act stupidly. Period. I don't know how else to say it," Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany, adding that the decision to reopen New York's economy should be based on "facts" and not "political pressure." "I'm not going to have the political obituary of this era be, well, they acted imprudently."Cuomo's warning came as protesters gathered at New York's state capitol to demonstrate against the stay-at-home order in place until at least May 15. The demonstration follows several protests in defiance of social-distancing guidelines that have erupted nationwide against public health orders to stay at home and close down non-essential businesses.Cuomo Praises Trump Target on His Way to Oval Office MeetingHe added that while residents may be feeling "cabin fever," reopening the state prematurely—and without the coordination of neighboring states—would set back any progress the Empire State has seen in flattening the curve of the virus. Addressing the protesters outside the capitol, Cuomo said, "The illness is death. What's worse than that? This isn't just about you... It's about we." He half-jokingly added that if New Yorkers are so desperate to work amid the virus, they should "go get a job as an essential worker."To date, 15,302 residents have died and 258,589 more have been infected by the coronavirus across the state, Cuomo said. Despite those devastating numbers, the daily death toll across the state has dramatically decreased, with 474 deaths overnight, indicating a "gentle decline." The rate of hospitalizations and ICU admissions have also decreased. As officials across the nation are shifting their attention to reopening states' economies after COVID-19, Cuomo said that diagnostic testing continues to be critical in determining when, and how, individuals will return to work. Cuomo said that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will launch a "nation-leading contact-tracing program," that will track down residents who may have been exposed or infected, and then trace those they may have been in contact with to contain the spread. Cuomo: It's Time to Start 'Reimagining' What Life Will Be in New York After COVID-19 Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg volunteered to help the state develop a testing-tracing-isolation program along with Johns Hopkins University and Vital Strategies, Cuomo said.Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced New York City's initiative to help the state "test and trace" the virus, saying that city officials are striving to have widespread testing available in every community. Those who test positive will then be given care "right away," and if they're unable to isolate properly, they will be placed in hotel rooms across the five boroughs. "We'll get you the help you need. The whole idea is to help you to isolate to get well, to have the support you need, and of course, get tested again to know when you're done with the disease so you can go back to your regular life," de Blasio said. Cuomo on Wednesday also spoke about his "productive" meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House."To me, a productive visit means we spoke the truth. We spoke facts. We made decisions, and we have a plan going forward. And that was accomplished yesterday. And I feel good about it personally," Cuomo said.'Clearly Spoiling for a Fight': Cuomo Says Pandemic Is More Important Than Trump FeudDuring the meeting, Cuomo said Trump committed to helping the state double its diagnostic and antibody testing to 40,00 tests a day."By the way, these are people in the White House who, politically, don't like me. You know, that's the fact, right? You see the president's tweets. He's often tweeted very unkind things about me and my brother," Cuomo said. "We've had conflicts back and forth. But we sat with him. We sat with his team. And that was put aside. Because who really cares how I feel or how he feels? Who cares? Get the job done."Read 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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| Asia virus latest: China sued by US state; northeast China tightens curbs Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT  The US state of Missouri has sued China's leadership over the coronavirus crisis, prompting an angry rebuke from Beijing over the "absurd" claim. Missouri is seeking damages over what it described as deliberate deception and insufficient action to stop the pandemic. New clusters of coronavirus infections in northeast China near the Russian border led officials to tighten restrictions on movement as they seek to prevent another outbreak.
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| Coronavirus outbreak in Philippines jail sees 123 inmates infected Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT  A prison in the Philippines is suffering from a major outbreak of the new coronavirus with 123 infected inmates, officials said on Wednesday, adding to concerns among activists about contagion risks in some of the world's most overcrowded jails. The mayor of Cebu City said a new building in the prison capable of handling 3,000 people would be used as an isolation facility to contain an outbreak that accounts for 40% of cases in the Philippines' second biggest city. Eighteen cases have been found at a jail in Manila's Quezon City, among them nine members of staff, and media has reported infections at other facilities.
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| 'That makes no sense': Anderson Cooper stunned by Las Vegas mayor during wild CNN interview Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:40 PM PDT  At one point, Anderson Cooper had to remove his glasses, rub his eyes, and take a breath before continuing.
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| 34 crew members positive for COVID-19 on docked Costa Atlantica; Costa Deliziosa docks in Italy Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:50 PM PDT  Costa Cruises said 34 crew members on a docked cruise ship tested positive for the coronavirus as its sister ship, Costa Deliziosa docked in Genoa, Italy.
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| Trump starts new coronavirus feud with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Posted: 20 Apr 2020 06:06 PM PDT  President Trump has started feuds with several governors during the coronavirus response. Monday presented Trump with a new target: Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland.
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| Stacey Abrams criticizes Georgia governor's decision to lift lockdowns Posted: 21 Apr 2020 08:58 AM PDT  "There's no legitimate reason for reopening the state except for politics, and I think it's deeply disingenuous he would pretend otherwise," she said of the governor's decision.
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| India coronavirus lockdown: Broke tourists rescued from cave Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:47 AM PDT  The six tourists moved into a cave after running out of money when India went into lockdown.
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| Mexico braces for a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:07 PM PDT  Amid worries about shortages of hospital space, doctors and equipment, Mexico braces for a major surge in coronavirus deaths.
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| Taiwan president apologises for virus infections on navy ship Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen apologised Wednesday for "major shortcomings" within the military after a cluster of coronavirus infections emerged on a navy vessel recently returned from a goodwill mission to Palau. "I am the Commander-in-Chief, the military's business is my business and my responsibility," Tsai said in a speech broadcast live.
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| Exclusive: Sen. Marsha Blackburn, ‘China, you had the information, you lied. You need to be held to account for this.’ Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:53 PM PDT  Senator Marsha Blackburn spoke with Fox News about the Stop COVID Act and how the legislation will allow Americans to file lawsuits against China for its role in the origin and spread of the coronavirus.
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| Swedish health agency says virus has peaked in Stockholm, no easing of restrictions yet Posted: 21 Apr 2020 08:22 AM PDT  Around one-third of Stockholm's 1 million people will have had the novel coronavirus by the start of May and the disease may have already passed its peak in the capital, Sweden's public health agency said on Tuesday. The public health agency said its modelling suggested the rate of new infections in the city had peaked on April 15, although a decline was not yet evident from its data. "Already a bit more than a week ago, the peak was reached, at least according to this model, and we can expect fewer cases each day," Anders Wallensten, deputy state epidemiologist at the agency, told reporters at a daily news briefing.
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| Gov. Cuomo says Bloomberg will fund a $10 million tri-state area contact tracing network with Johns Hopkins Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:59 AM PDT  With New York State strapped for cash, the former New York City mayor and Johns Hopkins are stepping into the breach to ramp up testing and tracing.
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| Severe storms, tornadoes likely across the South today and Thursday Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:32 PM PDT  Another outbreak of severe weather is likely across the storm-weary southern U.S. Wednesday and Thursday, forecasters warned.
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| Trump halts immigration for 60 days. Here's what the president's order means. Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:18 PM PDT  The action pauses the issuance of green cards, with some exceptions.
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| Coronavirus Kills More Americans in One Month Than the Flu Kills in One Year Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:25 AM PDT  Although there is still much we don't know about the coronavirus, we know enough to say that it is far more dangerous and deadly than the flu. It took twelve months and 61 million infections for the H1N1 swine flu to kill 12,500 Americans in 2009–10. The Centers for Disease Control estimated that the seasonal flu killed 34,200 Americans during the 2018–19 flu season. In 2019, car crashes killed 38,800 Americans.As for the new coronavirus? On March 20, the death toll in the United States was 225. By April 20, the coronavirus had killed more than 42,000 Americans.Last week The New Atlantis produced a chart that starkly portrays just how quickly COVID-19 became one of the leading causes of death in the United States:> Why "it's not as bad as flu" — or car crashes or the 1957 pandemic — is not credible.> > New from the @tnajournal team: https://t.co/SVNscTHZrQ> > -- Ari Schulman (@AriSchulman) April 13, 2020Despite the rapidity with which the coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of Americans, some on the right have continued to argue that the pandemic will end up being no more serious than a bad flu season. On Fox News last week, Bill Bennett said that "we're going to have fewer fatalities from this than from the flu." He pointed to the fact that the IMHE model from the University of Washington estimated that COVID-19 would most likely kill about 60,000 Americans and that the seasonal flu killed 61,000 Americans in 2017–18, a particularly bad flu season.But as Rich Lowry pointed out last week, "if we are going to have 60,000 deaths with people not leaving their homes for more than a month, the number of deaths obviously would have been higher — much higher — if everyone had gone about business as usual." Indeed, the IMHE model is making an estimate of the death toll only for a first wave of infections, and most of the country will still be vulnerable to infection after the first wave passes.While there are 800,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States — that's 0.24 percent of the U.S. population — former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb has noted that anywhere between 1 percent and 5 percent of Americans may have actually already been infected with the virus. But that's far short of the 50 percent to 70 percent required to achieve herd immunity. The seasonal flu, by contrast, infected 12 percent of the American population last year because we have a flu vaccine and some more immunity from previous infections.Not only does the new coronavirus have the potential to infect many more people than the seasonal flu does, it appears to kill a greater percentage of those infected. You don't need to rely on various statistical models to come to that conclusion. You just have to look at the reality of what has already happened around the world and in our own country.The seasonal flu kills 0.1 percent of people infected, but the new coronavirus has already killed 0.1 percent of the entire population of the state of New York. That may seem like a small percentage. But imagine the entire country getting hit as badly as New York state: 0.1 percent of the U.S. population is 330,000 people. And there's no reason to believe that New York's current death toll marks the upper limit of the virus's lethality.The Wall Street Journal reported that confirmed coronavirus cases in the Italian province of Bergamo (population 1.1 million) had killed 0.2 percent of the entire population in one month. The true percentage may be higher: There were 4,000 more deaths in Bergamo in March 2020 than the average number of deaths in March in recent years, but only 2,000 of those deaths were attributed to confirmed COVID-19 cases.We are talking not about statistical models of what might happen in the future but about the reality of what has already happened. The virus has killed 100 Italian doctors. That doesn't happen during a bad flu season. The virus has killed 30 employees of the New York City Police Department. That doesn't happen during a bad flu season.And then there's the experience of China, where the official death toll in Wuhan is 2,500, according to the Communist regime. But there are reports that the true death toll in Wuhan (a city of 10 million) was more than 40,000 people. That's 0.4 percent of the city's entire population.Almost all conservatives are skeptical of Communist China's official coronavirus death toll. Why, then, do some think that the coronavirus is not much more deadly than the flu? Did Communist China, a regime not known for valuing human life, shut down much of its economy for a couple of months because of a bad flu? Or did Communist leaders fear that without the costly shutdown the virus would inflict much greater harm on their nation and threaten their grip on power?You don't have to have a Ph.D. in epidemiology to answer those questions.No nation can afford to endure a lockdown until a vaccine is developed for the new coronavirus. But having a proper understanding of the virus's past and present danger matters. Knowing that it is extremely unlikely that the threat will be gone once the first wave passes will help guide the government, businesses, and individuals to take precautions that will limit the virus's death toll in the months to come.
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| Man dies after being denied coronavirus tests at three emergency rooms because of racism, family alleges Posted: 22 Apr 2020 09:42 AM PDT  A man who died in Michigan was denied coronavirus testing at three different emergency rooms because he was black, his family has alleged, as state officials said a "medical bias" may exist in Covid-19 testing.Gary Fowler, 56, was reportedly not tested for the novel virus at the three Detroit-area emergency rooms despite having many symptoms associated with the disease, according to his stepson, Keith Gambrell.
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| Beijing names islands in disputed South China Sea Posted: 21 Apr 2020 03:45 AM PDT  China on Tuesday defended its naming of 80 islands and other geographical features in the South China Sea in a move likely to anger neighbours as the country asserts its territorial claims. A joint announcement of the names on Sunday from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Civil Affairs came a day after China established new administrative districts for the contested Spratly and Paracel island chains. China last released such a list in 1983 when it named 287 geographical features across the disputed waterway.
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| How to identify and remove a skin tag Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Skin tags are benign skin growths that you may find annoying and unsightly. Though you don't have to remove a skin tag, a doctor can get rid of it.
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| Pakistani doctors urge government to reimpose mosque restrictions Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:06 AM PDT  Leading Pakistani doctors on Wednesday urged the government and clerics to reverse a decision to allow prayer congregations at mosques during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, warning that the spread of coronavirus could spiral out of control. Pakistan on Saturday lifted precautionary restrictions on congregational prayers. Congregations increase in size during Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Friday in Pakistan.
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| A coronavirus patient thought he was recovering. Then doctors found blood clots in his lungs — a new and potentially deadly complication of the virus. Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:38 AM PDT  "It feels like a toxin is in my body," Michael Reagan, a coronavirus patient who was told he had dozens of blood clots in his lungs, said.
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| Americans overwhelmingly disagree with restarting the economy at the expense of public health Posted: 22 Apr 2020 11:49 AM PDT  Some people are protesting ongoing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most Americans aren't on board.Just 14 percent of Americans believe the country "should stop social distancing to stimulate the economy even if it means increasing the spread of coronavirus," a Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday found. A massive 76 percent meanwhile say social distancing should continue "even if it means continued damage to the economy," the poll taken just days ago found.Protesters have gathered in state capitols and, with prodding from President Trump, demanded businesses reopen and social distancing requirements be lifted even though medical experts warn against it. This poll reflects how small that movement is, despite its continued news coverage and the fact that it seems to have prompted some governors to buck federal guidelines and move to let businesses reopen before the pandemic has even peaked. The Morning Consult poll mirrors a recent survey from Pew Research, which found 66 percent of Americans were more concerned that social distancing guidelines would be lifted too soon than last too long.Morning Consult/Politico surveyed 1991 registered voters online from April 18-19, and the poll had a two percent margin of error.More stories from theweek.com How close are we to herd immunity? The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America's coronavirus experience Trump administration allegedly removed doctor developing COVID-19 vaccine for refusing to back hydroxychloroquine
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| Cuomo Praises Trump Target on His Way to Oval Office Meeting Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:50 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that while states should be responsible for COVID-19 testing and reopening plans, the federal government shouldn't abandon leaders trying to combat global supply issues amid the pandemic."It's only appropriate that the state should be in charge of actual testing in the state. I agree with the federal government's position on that," Cuomo said during a press conference in Buffalo. "You shouldn't expect all these governors to run around and do an international supply chain while they're trying to put together their testing protocol in their state, coordinating their labs. That's never been done before." Cuomo's plea came just hours before he met with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss virus testing. While governor and Trump sparred last week over the president's assertion he had "total authority," Cuomo said in an MSNBC interview afterward that the "productive" meeting was "functional and effective."As officials across the nation are shifting their attention to reopening states' economies after COVID-19, Cuomo said Tuesday that diagnostic testing will be critical to that effort. 'Clearly Spoiling for a Fight': Cuomo Says Pandemic Is More Important Than Trump FeudBut the ability to assess New York's population is impossible without "millions of tests" that have not yet been created because state-regulated labs aren't getting enough supplies from medical manufacturers—and those manufacturers don't have what they need from the international supply chain. That lack of supplies has prompted at least one government official to think outside the box. On Monday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced he had purchased 500,000 coronavirus tests from LabGenomics in South Korea. While that Republican lawmaker was praised by his peers for using his wife's connection to the country to help his state, Trump accused him of not understanding "too much about what was going on" with the federal government's pandemic response. But Cuomo praised Hogan for the "creative move," stating that he felt "diminished as a governor" when his daughters asked him why he hadn't thought of buying tests from South Korea. "That piece is where the federal government can help us. Take that national manufacturer and that supply chain for the national manufacturers and let the federal government figure out South Korea and China and international supply issues, rather than have 50 states now figuring out how to go be like Governor Hogan and figure out how to buy tests in South Korea," Cuomo said.Cuomo Suggests 'Possible Flattening of the Curve' in New YorkIn New York, the coronavirus pandemic is "past the high point," Cuomo said. To date, 14,828 people have died and 253,400 more have been infected by the coronavirus across the state. "Overall, the total hospitalizations are basically flat from where they were yesterday," Cuomo said, noting that thousands of New Yorkers are still showing up at overwhelmed hospitals daily. "Our definition of 'good' has changed here. 'Good' is now 'not terrible.'"Cuomo said that after another month of "closed-down policies," state officials need to follow several coordinated steps with the federal government to ramp up diagnostic testing to determine when, and how, individuals will return to work. "The testing will educate you as you make your transition to open," he added.On Monday, the New York Department of Health began to conduct an antibody testing survey, sampling about 3,000 people across the state. Cuomo said Tuesday that while New York has performed more than half a million tests to date—which is more than California, Florida, and Michigan combined—it is not nearly enough to meet the needs of the state's 19 million residents. "We are doing more faster than anyone else" on testing, Cuomo said, stressing that testing will be at the forefront of his meeting with the president. "But we have to do better. We have to do more. And that's what we're talking about here."Trump said in a White House press briefing Monday he looked forward to meeting with the New York lawmaker. When asked how he plans to approach his afternoon meeting with Trump, Cuomo said he plans to just tell him the truth."Life is a fine line. Being in government is a fine line. Everything is a fine line… I'll tell you how you negotiate the fine line: You tell the truth," Cuomo said. "Heck with it, just tell the truth."Cuomo told MSNBC after the Tuesday meeting that they spoke about testing and stimulus funding."For me, the substance of the agenda was testing—Who does what, how do we get up to scale. And somebody needs to stand up for funding for the states," Cuomo said, complimenting Trump for not attempting to impose a deadline for lifting COVID-19 restrictions. "He never editorialized on what he thought was an appropriate timeline." Read 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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| Two pet cats in New York test positive for coronavirus Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:15 PM PDT  This marks the first time a pet has tested positive for the virus in the United States.
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| WHO Spox Claims ‘All Evidence Suggests’ Coronavirus Wasn’t Engineered But Refuses to Address Whether It Escaped from Lab Posted: 21 Apr 2020 12:43 PM PDT  The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the coronavirus was most likely not engineered by humans, but did not address the possibility that the virus could have been released from a lab."All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed in a lab or somewhere else," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said at a press conference in Geneva. "It is probable, likely, that the virus is of animal origin."Chaib added, "It most likely has its ecological reservoir in bats but how the virus came from bats to humans is still to be seen and discovered." Chaib did not respond when asked whether the coronavirus may have escaped from a lab.The WHO has publicly stated that the coronavirus has been traced to a wet market in the city of Wuhan. However, the specific market cited by the WHO and China is a seafood market that does not sell bats.About twelve kilometers from the market sits the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In a series of diplomatic cables from January 2018, U.S. officials warned that the institute studied "SARS-like coronaviruses in bats," and that serious safety issues at the institute could result in a "future emerging coronavirus outbreak.""The new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory," one cable reads.President Trump has halted U.S. funding to the WHO, accusing the agency of "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."
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| Speeding car filmed flying from road and crashing into side of family home in California Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:48 AM PDT  Shocking CCTV footage has shown the dramatic moment a speeding car crashed through the wall of a family's home in California.In the video, a Toyota Camry soars from the pavement into the side of a house, and two men can be seen running away from the crash moments later.
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| Hong Kong teens charged with murder over protest death Posted: 22 Apr 2020 03:55 AM PDT  Luo Chang-qing died in November when pro-democracy supporters and government loyalists started hurling bricks at each other in the border town of Sheung Shui. Luo, 70, died from a blow to the head. Hong Kong's protests were sparked by an attempt to allow extradition to China's opaque justice system but soon morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule.
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| Trump 'strongly' disagrees with Georgia governor's reopening plan Posted: 22 Apr 2020 04:11 PM PDT 
"It's just too soon. I think it's too soon," Trump said at the White House coronavirus news briefing. "They can wait a little bit longer, just a little bit - not much. Because safety has to predominate. We have to have that. So I told the governor very simply that I disagree with his decision but he has to do what he thinks is right." Kemp, a Republican, is allowing gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo and massage parlors to reopen on Friday, followed by movie houses and restaurants next week. The easing of sweeping restrictions in Georgia, along with South Carolina and other mostly Southern U.S. states, follows protests against rules imposed during the pandemic that shut down businesses and largely confined residents to their homes.
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| California says a person who died February 6 had COVID-19, suggesting the first US coronavirus death happened at least 3 weeks earlier than previously thought Posted: 21 Apr 2020 09:14 PM PDT  The US recorded its first coronavirus death on February 28, but new data indicates at least one person died of COVID-19 three weeks prior.
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| California becomes 1st state to endorse coronavirus testing for people without symptoms Posted: 21 Apr 2020 07:03 PM PDT  California is changing up who can receive coronavirus testing, becoming the first state to broaden the strict federal guidelines.Public health officials in the state said Tuesday they are now recommending that asymptomatic people who work or live at places where the coronavirus could spread easily, like prisons or nursing homes, get tested, labeling them "Priority 1.""California is leading the way," Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Riverside, told the Los Angeles Times. "We will be able to test more individuals, identify more people with COVID-19, isolate them, and thereby both flatten the curve and prevent the future spread of infection."The federal guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list hospitalized patients and health care workers displaying coronavirus symptoms as the primary people eligible for testing, followed by elderly symptomatic patients and those with underlying health conditions. People who do not show any symptoms are a non-priority. While doctors do have a say in who can get tested, hospital administrators have been citing CDC guidelines in order to hold on to tests for the sickest patients, the Times reports.Last Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said there was a shortage of testing swabs in the state, and on Monday, Los Angeles County announced it was experiencing a testing backlog. Bob Kocher, a member of Newsom's task force on testing, told the Times while some labs do have shortages of extraction chemicals, "we've come up with good plans to resolve bottlenecks. We have a nice supply." He also said that combined, high-volume labs in the state are able to run more than 80,000 coronavirus tests every day.More stories from theweek.com How close are we to herd immunity? The Navajo Nation outbreak reveals an ugly truth behind America's coronavirus experience Trump administration allegedly removed doctor developing COVID-19 vaccine for refusing to back hydroxychloroquine
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| 26 Cheap, Neutral Rugs That Actually Look Good Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:10 AM PDT |
| Birx says Georgia residents 'can be very creative' about getting tattoos and haircuts while social distancing Posted: 21 Apr 2020 05:19 PM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx tried to reconcile the controversial order by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp reopening some businesses across the state with the task force recommendations that call for continued social distancing.
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| 2 cats in NY become first US pets to test positive for virus Posted: 22 Apr 2020 10:34 AM PDT  Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first confirmed cases in companion animals in the United States, federal officials said Wednesday. The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The finding, which comes after positive tests in some tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, adds to a small number of confirmed cases of the virus in animals worldwide.
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| Delta warns of need to 'resize' after big loss on virus shutdowns Posted: 22 Apr 2020 01:39 PM PDT  Delta Air Lines will need to "resize" the company in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, executives said Wednesday, as they sketched out a picture of airline industry recovery that is expected to be slow and choppy. The message from Chief Executive Ed Bastian was grim. Delta lost $534 million in the first quarter, compared with profits of $730 million in the same period a year ago.
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| Las Vegas mayor wants COVID-19 restrictions lifted, faces widespread national criticism Posted: 22 Apr 2020 05:19 PM PDT  As mayor, Goodman has no power or jurisdiction over the Las Vegas Strip, which lies outside city limits in Clark County.
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| American among tourists found living in Indian cave during lockdown Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:13 AM PDT  Local police said the six spent nearly four weeks in the cave after running out of money for a hotel.
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| How Singapore went from being applauded for its coronavirus response to facing an alarming second wave with thousands of new cases Posted: 22 Apr 2020 06:59 AM PDT  Singapore appeared to contain its outbreak until a cluster of new infections in poorly-kept migrant dorms forced the country to clamp down harder.
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| China failed to disclose coronavirus outbreak to WHO in timely manner -Pompeo Posted: 22 Apr 2020 08:59 AM PDT 
Speaking at a State Department news conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also accused China of failing to report human-to-human transmission of the virus "for a month until it was in every province inside of China." The coronavirus, believed to have emerged in a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, was first reported by China to the WHO on Dec. 31.
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| N.J. Governor Calls McConnell Bankruptcy Comment ‘Irresponsible’ Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:49 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying he favors allowing states struggling with high pension costs amid the burdens of the pandemic response to declare bankruptcy rather than giving them a federal bailout."I'm taken aback -- my breath is taken away -- I have almost nothing to say to what Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said -- that it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea for states to go bankrupt. It's actually worked out pretty well for some cities over time. Really?" Murphy said Wednesday at a press briefing."Encouraging, engendering, explicitly almost hoping" for bankruptcy "is completely and utterly irresponsible," he said, in a rare display of anger for the generally even-tempered governor."You have my word we won't go bankrupt," Murphy said.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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| Trump Dodges on Hydroxychloroquine After Study Raises Red Flags Posted: 21 Apr 2020 10:13 AM PDT  President Trump was grilled Tuesday about his flogging of an anti-malaria drug as a coronavirus treatment after a government-funded study showed it didn't help veterans and was associated with more deaths.He dodged."I don't know of the report," he said at the daily briefing by the coronavirus task force. "Obviously there have been some very good reports and perhaps this one's not a good report—but we'll be looking at it."The research released earlier on Tuesday, which has not yet been peer-reviewed but was backed by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia, is the latest evidence that hydroxychloroquine is not the magic bullet that Trump and his allies suggested it was."In this study, we found no evidence that use of hydroxychloroquine, either with or without azithromycin, reduced the risk of mechanical ventilation in patients hospitalized with Covid-19," the authors wrote.In fact, the analysis of data from 368 patients at veterans hospitals found 28 percent of those who got it died—compared to 11 percent who received the standard treatment without the drug. And 22 percent of the patients who got hydroxychloroquine plus the antibiotic azithromycin died.Doctors Are Hoarding Drug Trump Hyped—for Themselves"Specifically, hydroxychloroquine use with or without co-administration of azithromycin did not improve mortality or reduce the need for mechanical ventilation in hospitalized patients," they wrote. "On the contrary, hydroxychloroquine use alone was associated with an increased risk of mortality compared to standard care alone."The authors said it was not clear why the group that got the drug had a higher death rate, but they noted that a Brazil study on the analog chloroquine was halted because some of the patients developed heart problems.The team acknowledged that patients who got hydroxychlroquine were likely to be among the most critically ill, but even accounting for that, the death rate was outsize.Two other small studies, one in France and one in China, also found hydroxychloroquine was no better than standard therapies. The authors of the VA analysis said their limited study shows how data from clinical trials is desperately needed before hydroxychloroquine could be considered a useful weapon in the fight against COVID-19.In fact, they suggested medical providers exercise caution before trying it.Food and Drug Commissioner Stephen Hahn said at the Tuesday briefing that while there are 30 clinical trials underway, the results are not expected until early summer. He said that the veterans study was too small and preliminary to "help us make a decision from a regulatory point of view."But, he added, the study results are something doctors should take into consideration when deciding whether to prescribe hydroxychloroquine to a COVID-19 patient.Although Trump talked up hydroxychloroquine so often in his briefings that they began to resemble infomercials, in the last week or so he has abandoned his hype, and conservative media is no longer beating the hydroxychloroquine drum.Fox News Quietly Backs Away From Hyping Trump's Coronavirus 'Miracle Drug'But at the height of Trump's hydroxychloroquine fever, the federal government bought millions of doses. One side effect of that rush to judgment: Americans who use the drug to treat illnesses like lupus face shortages.Interest in hydroxychloroquine peaked in mid-March when it began to pick up celebrity endorsements from the likes of Elon Musk, who tweeted that "it may be worth considering" following some early Chinese research into the drug. French researcher Didier Raoult helped rocket the anti-malarial to international prominence and Trump's Twitter feed with a study of chloroquine and azithromycin. Raoult claimed the two produced "promising" results in COVID-19 patients, which, he claimed, "open the possibility of an international strategy to decisionmakers to fight this emerging viral infection in real-time."But Raoult's study came under intense criticism for its design and small sample size—and the International Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, which published the article, later issued a statement saying it "does not meet the Society's expected standard." Remarkably, the criticism did not dull the celebrity endorsements with Dr. Oz and Laura Ingraham touting the drug on Fox News. Read 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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| Vote by Mail in Wisconsin Helped a Liberal Candidate, Upending Old Theories Posted: 21 Apr 2020 11:59 AM PDT  The liberal candidate in Wisconsin's hard-fought state Supreme Court race this month prevailed in voting by mail by a significant margin, upending years of study showing little advantage to either party when a state transitions from in-person to mail voting.The gap suggests that Democrats were more organized and proactive in their vote-by-mail efforts in an election conducted under extraordinary circumstances, with voters forced to weigh the health risks of voting in person against the sometimes unreliable option of requesting and mailing in their ballots. Still, it is likely to add to the skepticism President Donald Trump and Republicans have expressed about mail voting, which they worry would increase Democratic turnout at Republicans' expense.The liberal jurist, Jill Karofsky, performed 10 percentage points better than her conservative opponent in votes cast by mail than she did in votes cast at Election Day polling places, a gap that powered a surprising 11-point victory overall in a state both parties view as crucial to winning November's presidential election.The voting data, collected by The New York Times from 27 Wisconsin municipalities that segregate ballots cast on Election Day from those sent by mail, shows that Karofsky's advantage in mail ballots over the conservative incumbent, Justice Daniel Kelly, was consistent across communities of varying size, geography and partisan lean. In a state with little history of voting by mail, more than 1.1 million of 1.55 million votes cast came by mail.The Times analysis of Wisconsin records shows a staggering gap between in-person and mail voting in some communities. At a single precinct, Beloit's 11th Ward, Kelly won 64% of the Election Day vote while Karofsky took 70% of votes cast by mail.Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is among the academics who have produced studies that found no partisan advantage to mail voting, said the Times analysis of the Wisconsin data did not align with any previous studies from states such as Colorado and Utah, which transitioned to fully vote-by-mail systems in recent years."I'm surprised by the results," Burden said when told of the gap between in-person and mail results. "It is convincing and surprising that Karofsky appears to have done better among mail voters than in-person voters. That's a change from past trends. It's unclear if that's going to be a permanent change or something very specific to this particular election."Karofsky performed better in the mail voting in every Wisconsin community in which results were made available to The Times. In Milwaukee, the state's largest city, her performance among mail ballots was 5.8 points better than it was on Election Day, when voters waited in line for hours to vote at the five polling places that remained open.Even in the Republican heartland of Waukesha County, Karofsky performed far better among mail voters than she did on Election Day. In New Berlin, she won just 33% of votes at polling sites, but 43% in the mail, where 4 in 5 of the city's votes were cast. In the city of Pewaukee, she took 27% of the Election Day vote and 37% of the mail ballots.The pattern helped Karofsky carry swing communities that are crucial to winning statewide races in Wisconsin. In Neenah, in the Fox Valley south of Green Bay, Kelly won the Election Day vote, 53% to 47%. But Karofsky took 60% of the mail ballots. She won the citywide vote, 58% to 42%.None of the academic studies cited as evidence that there was no partisan advantage to mail voting had been able to segregate mail voting results from in-person ones for a single election.Such results are available from Wisconsin's April 7 election because 32 of the state's municipalities, including Milwaukee, count absentee ballots at a central location using separate tabulating equipment. The state's other 1,800 cities, villages and towns do not segregate absentee ballots from those cast on Election Day when counting them, according to Reid Magney, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Elections Commission.Robert Stein, a political scientist at Rice University who has helped put in place vote-by-mail systems across the country, said the Wisconsin results showed the ability of Democrats there to build a statewide vote-by-mail system essentially from scratch just weeks before the election."You probably had much more core frequent and Democratic voters voting by mail and late-deciding voters waiting to vote at the polls," he said. "The Democrats proved they can mobilize their voters to vote by mail."The gap in mail voting may have been influenced by the diverging concerns about the coronavirus pandemic among Wisconsin's Democrats and Republicans. A Marquette Law School poll released six days before the election found 87% of Democrats were very concerned about the coronavirus, compared with just 56% of Republicans.Amelia Showalter, the data analytics director for Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, said the Wisconsin results might change the perception of mail voting."The people who used it were older voters who voted more Republican," Showalter said. "As you get more widespread adoption, you get into more of those low-propensity voters. It might advantage Democrats."Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, attributed Karofsky's success in mail voting to the party's mid-March decision to focus entirely on educating Democrats about how to request and complete a mail ballot."The Democratic Party decided weeks out from the election to switch 100% of its efforts to vote-by-mail in the first time in its history," Wikler said. "I think Republicans bought some of their own disinformation."Wisconsin Republicans acknowledged that the state's Democrats became far more invested in encouraging their voters to request and return absentee ballots before this month's election."They were invested in doing this starting as early as the first week in March," said Robin Vos, the Republican speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly who, on Election Day, was photographed in full personal protective equipment during his stint as a poll monitor in his hometown, Burlington. "I would say that, stereotyping, Republicans like to go vote on Election Day."Vos said the Wisconsin election was evidence that no changes in the state's voting laws and procedures are necessary before the November general election, when twice as many people are expected to vote. Democratic requests to mail ballots to all registered voters and to remove requirements that voters upload a photo identification to request an absentee ballot and obtain a witness signature before returning ballots are out of the question, Vos said."The only reason they would want to expand voting would be to create an opportunity for potential fraud or because they want to give themselves some kind of partisan advantage," Vos said. "The current situation is pretty fair to everybody."Vos and other senior Wisconsin Republicans rejected the idea that Trump's repeated dismissal of mail voting depressed conservative voters' interest in voting absentee."The daily hubbub in Washington, that stuff doesn't necessarily break through with our voters," said Brian Reisinger, who served as a senior aide to former Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ron Johnson.Yet there was some acknowledgment that the GOP's political apparatus in Wisconsin, which built a powerful get-out-the-vote machine that elected Walker three times and gave Trump a shocking 2016 victory, was slow to adapt to a rapidly changing public health situation."The right is more rigid," said Matt Batzel, the Cedar Grove, Wisconsin-based national executive director of American Majority Action, a conservative grassroots training organization. "People on the right need to use the rules of the game and use all the voting opportunities that are available."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Cuomo Pushes Back On Lockdown Protesters: ‘Economic Hardship Doesn’t Equal Death’ Posted: 22 Apr 2020 12:31 PM PDT  New York governor Andrew Cuomo pushed back on claims that state lockdowns were creating more harm than the COVID-19 pandemic, saying "how can the cure be worse than the illness if the illness is potential death?"Speaking to reporters as protestors demonstrated outside New York's state capitol in Albany, Cuomo denied that his measures, which closed nonessential businesses and banned unnecessary gatherings, "equal death.""Economic hardship — yes, very bad — not death. Emotional stress, from being locked in a house — very bad, not death. Domestic violence on the increase? Very bad, not death. And the death of someone else," he stated. "See, that's what we have to factor into this equation. Yea, it's your life, do whatever you want, but you're now responsible for my life, you have a responsibility to me. It's not just about you, you have a responsibility to me, right?"> A reporter asked Gov. Cuomo what he'd say to New Yorkers who want to go back to work because they're running out of money, to which he replied, "economic hardship doesn't equal death"> > "You want to go to work? Go take a job as an essential worker" he added https://t.co/BgwoOZsQRy pic.twitter.com/WxGQxtg49p> > -- CBS News (@CBSNews) April 22, 2020Lockdown protests have occurred across the country, with some governors pushing back. During an address on Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer compared state residents protesting her social distancing restrictions to Americans who protested the World War II production effort in the 1940s.On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr said that the Justice Department could take action against states whose measures are deemed too strict, as a coalition of southern states — Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee — all plan to reopen businesses in coming days.Cuomo, who last week extended the rules to May 15 in coordination with other states, added that "when I see 484 New Yorkers die, I feel that it's like people in my family, and nothing comes before the public health risk of somebody else's life.""We started here saying, 'it's not about me, it's about we,' get your head around the 'we' concept. So it's not just all about you. It's about me too, it's about we," he explained. " . . . And think about it as if, it was your family that might get infected, right? And that's what we're talking about. And when you think about it as your family, you have a different perspective."Pressed on claims that New Yorkers wanted to return to work, Cuomo retorted, "if you want to go to work, go take the job as an essential worker. Do it tomorrow."
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