| Ultraviolet light can be used against coronavirus — just not in the way Trump imagines Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Researchers have shown that ultraviolet light can be used to disinfect surfaces and kill viruses in ambient air in ways that could be used to reduce transmission in public spaces.
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| I'm a postal worker. In the coronavirus pandemic, I am my customers' link to the world. Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT  A California postal worker talks about his interactions with customers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Mnuchin predicts US economic 'bounce back' as pandemic spending rises Posted: 26 Apr 2020 10:30 AM PDT  US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted Sunday the US economy will come roaring back even amid warnings from another White House adviser of longer-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic's unprecedented shock to the economy. Mnuchin's upbeat assessment came amid skyrocketing unemployment figures and forecasts predicting a deep contraction in economic activity this year. In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Mnuchin defended the soaring deficit spending as key to reviving the economy, even amid rising signs of Republican pushback in Congress.
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| 'Extensive search' for missing soldier after keys, wallet found Posted: 25 Apr 2020 12:09 PM PDT  Vanessa Guillen, 20, was last seen Wednesday in a parking lot at Fort Hood in Texas.
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| After sailing into New York less than a month ago, the USNS Comfort is set to discharge its last coronavirus patient Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:19 AM PDT  According to a report by ABC7, the USNS Comfort will be discharging its last coronavirus patient on Sunday, April 26 and returning to its homeport.
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| Re-Opening Politics, North Korea’s Future Draw Scrutiny: Weekend Reads Posted: 25 Apr 2020 05:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- How and when to ease lockdowns to fight the coronavirus — along with government efforts to ramp up testing capacity — were the key questions across the globe this week as the pandemic spread.In the U.S., small bands of protesters — driven by the social-media tactics of a coalition of gun-rights activists and far-right groups — staged demonstrations over government-ordered closures of businesses and schools, particularly in Democratic-led states. Elsewhere the impact of the virus on the world's poorest people is coming into focus. And uncertainty swirled around the state of Kim Jong Un's health after reports the North Korean leader was in critical condition following cardiovascular surgery. Dig deeper into these and other topics with the latest edition of Weekend Reads. Patchwork Approach to Reopening States Reveals a Red-Blue DivideAs Amanda Hurley reports, the gap between how Republican- and Democratic-controlled states seek to ease social distacing measures and restart their economies will likely grow wider as the pandemic grinds on.Inside the Dystopian, Post-Lockdown World of WuhanThe first epicenter is coming back to life, but not as anyone knew it. Sharon Chen and Matthew Campbell — with the help of Claire Che and Sarah Chen — tell what it's like for some of the millions of people in Wuhan trying to come to grips with the economic and social fallout from the worst pandemic in a century.The Week Coronavirus Got Away From Boris Johnson's GovernmentBritain had time. Academics, disease specialists and critics say the prime minister wasted it. Alex Morales, Suzi Ring, Robert Hutton and James Paton take you inside a critical week in March. Kim Jong Un Has Put North Korea in Position to Outlast His ReignWhatever the state of Kim's health, he's already put North Korea in its strongest position to resist U.S. pressure in decades. Eight years after Kim filled the power vacuum left by the death of his reclusive father, Kim Jong Il, North Korea is more secure and less isolated. Jihye Lee and Jon Herskovitz explain why that matters right now. Workers Who Make the World's Clothes Are Facing Abject PovertyRozina Begum is worried that she and her husband and two children will starve. Rozina — along with 300 other workers at the Ultimate Fashions plant on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital lost their jobs March 25. She's one of the millions of people who are on the lowest rung of a global supply chain that has been shattered by the virus, Marvin G. Perez and Arun Devnath report. Virus Care Disruptions Raise Infant Death Risk in Poor NationsThe Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to reverse years of progress in reducing maternal and child mortality worldwide by impairing access to medical care in poorer countries. Anne Pollak takes a closer look. Hope Turns to Doubt, Then Gunfire, as Saudi Megacity EmergesWhen Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans for Neom, a futuristic megacity on the Red Sea coast, residents rejoiced. Jobs and investment would surely accompany the $500 billion development at the center of the young leader's plan to transform his conservative kingdom. But that optimism has faded. Vivian Nereim explores why. High-Seas Energy Fight Off Malaysia Draws U.S., Chinese WarshipsMalaysia's push to explore energy blocks off its coast has turned into a five-nation face-off involving U.S. and Chinese warships. That's raised the risk of a direct confrontation as broader tensions grow between the world's biggest economies, Philip J. Heijmans reports.Religious Group's Mass Gatherings Spark Asian Virus ClustersA conservative religious group's gatherings have emerged as virus hotspots in Malaysia, India and now Pakistan, with authorities tracking people who attended an event with as many as 70,000 worshipers. Faseeh Mangi has more.Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally … Sushen Dang, 26, and his fiancee, Keerti Narang, dreamed of making their wedding an affair to remember — but not like this. Instead of hundreds of guests descending on a wildlife resort for a multi-day revelry with cocktail parties and elaborate feasts, the couple got married over the video conferencing app Zoom amid a stringent national lockdown. It's just one example of how India's $70-billion wedding industry has skidded to a stop in the midst of peak marriage season. 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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| Saudi Arabia ends death penalty for minors and floggings Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered an end to the death penalty for crimes committed by minors, according to a statement Sunday by a top official. The decision comes on the heels of another ordering judges to end the practice of flogging, replacing it with jail time, fines or community service and bringing one of the kingdom's most controversial forms of public punishment to a close. King Salman's son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is seen as the force behind the kingdom's loosening of restrictions and its pivot away from ultraconservative interpretations of Islamic law known as Wahhabism, which many in the country still closely adhere to.
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| China 'sought to block EU report that claimed it was spreading coronavirus disinformation' Posted: 24 Apr 2020 07:03 PM PDT  China sought to block a European Union report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to four sources and diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters. The report was eventually released, albeit just before the start of the weekend Europe time and with some criticism of the Chinese government rearranged or removed, a sign of the balancing act Brussels is trying to pull off as the coronavirus outbreak scrambles international relations. The Chinese Mission to the EU was not immediately available for comment and China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the exchange. An EU spokeswoman said "we never comment on content or alleged content of internal diplomatic contacts and communication with our partners from another countries." Another EU official said the disinformation report had been published as usual and denied any of it had been watered down. Four diplomatic sources told Reuters that the report had initially been slated for release on April 21, but was delayed after Chinese officials picked up on a Politico news report that previewed its findings. A senior Chinese official contacted European officials in Beijing the same day to tell them that, "if the report is as described and it is released today it will be very bad for cooperation", according to EU diplomatic correspondence reviewed by Reuters. READ MORE: How China is rewriting the coronavirus narrative to distract from mistakes at home Will the coronavirus crisis tear the European Union apart? Donald Trump warns of consequences if China was knowingly responsible for coronavirus Trump's top diplomat claims China not sharing Covid-19 sample with world scientists The correspondence quoted senior Chinese foreign ministry official Yang Xiaoguang as saying that publishing the report would make Beijing "very angry" and accused European officials of trying to please "someone else" - something the EU diplomats understood to be a reference to Washington. The four sources said the report had been delayed as a result, and a comparison of the internal version of the report obtained by Reuters and the final version published late on Friday showed several differences. For example, on the first page of the internal report shared with EU governments on April 20, the EU's foreign policy arm said: "China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed." The public summary posted on Friday to the bloc's disinformation portal, euvsdisinfo.eu, attributed the disinformation to "state-backed sources from various governments, including Russia and – to a lesser extent – China". The public summary did note "significant evidence of covert Chinese operations on social media", but the reference was left to the final six paragraphs of the document. Disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak is emerging as a flashpoint between the United States and China, and officials on both sides have traded allegations of hiding information about the pandemic.
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| Woman in India gang-raped after being quarantined alone in school: Police Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:59 AM PDT  A woman was allegedly gang-raped while being quarantined alone in a school amid India's strict coronavirus lockdown, a police official said.
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| Oklahoma asks Trump to declare coronavirus an 'act of God' to help oil producers Posted: 26 Apr 2020 10:55 AM PDT |
| The White House is reportedly discussing a plan to replace HHS chief Azar Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:50 AM PDT  It may seem unlikely that the White House would implement any major departmental leadership changes during a global health crisis, especially in the Department of Health and Human Services, but don't count it out just yet.Though they're indeed reluctant to complete any major shakeups during the coronavirus pandemic, White House officials are discussing a plan to replace HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Politico and The Wall Street Journal report. Criticism of Azar's role has reportedly mounted in recent weeks, especially after Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority Rick Bright was moved to a National Institutes of Health position, a transfer which Bright described as a form of retaliation, reportedly rattling some administration officials.President Trump had reportedly expressed frustration with Azar even before the pandemic and ultimately replaced him as the coronavirus task force leader with Vice President Mike Pence. Some names that are being considered as his replacement include coronavirus coordinator Dr. Debora Birx, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, and Deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan, Politico reports.Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement Saturday that Azar "continues to lead on a number of the president's priorities" and "any speculation about personnel is irresponsible." Read more at Politico and The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com 7 funny cartoons about the oil price crash The president is unwell Missing your stimulus check?
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| Spanish flu-era diaries give Ohio family hope Posted: 26 Apr 2020 09:42 AM PDT  "While a global pandemic shuttering schools and businesses feels like new territory, many of our families still bear the scars of the 1918 influenza pandemic," Amy Patterson says.
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| Democrats Eye Cold, Hard Cash In Next Stimulus Round Posted: 25 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Cuban doctors go to South Africa Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:28 AM PDT  The medics are among 1,200 sent to countries that requested help from the communist state.
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| Governors say they'll ease virus restrictions, with an abundance of caution Posted: 26 Apr 2020 11:50 AM PDT  The governors of Colorado and New York outlined plans to ease pandemic restrictions but stressed they were moving with caution.
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| Mexico returns Central Americans, empties migrant centers Posted: 26 Apr 2020 03:17 PM PDT |
| Disinfectant makers steer consumers away from Trump's coronavirus comments Posted: 24 Apr 2020 09:49 PM PDT  Reckitt Benckiser, the UK-based maker of Lysol and Dettol, issued the first warning, saying: "Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)." "Bleach and other disinfectants are not suitable for consumption or injection under any circumstances," it said. The comments came after Trump said at a Thursday news briefing that scientists should explore whether inserting ultraviolet light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus would help.
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| El Paso Walmart shooting victim dies, raising death toll to 23 Posted: 26 Apr 2020 03:46 PM PDT  A hospital official said Guillermo "Memo" Garcia died after a nine-month fight.
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| Yemen crisis deepens as separatists declare self-governance Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Yemeni separatists early Sunday declared self-rule of the country's south as a peace deal with the government crumbled, complicating a long and separate conflict with Huthi rebels who control much of the north. The Southern Transitional Council (STC) accused the government of failing to perform its duties and of "conspiring" against the southern cause, and said self-governance had begun at midnight. The government condemned the move and said the separatists -- who have long agitated for independence in the south -- would be responsible for the "catastrophic and dangerous" outcome.
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| Philip Kahn, 100, Dies; Spanish Flu Took His Twin a Century Ago Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Philip Kahn believed that history repeats itself, a truism that has hit home for his family in extraordinary fashion.His twin brother, Samuel, died as an infant during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. Now Kahn himself has died of the coronavirus. He was 100."He was a very healthy 100," Warren Zysman, one of his grandsons, said in a phone interview. "He watched the news, he was completely aware of the pandemic. When he started coughing, he knew he might have it, and he knew the irony of what was going on."Zysman added: "And he would say, 'Warren my boy, I told you history always repeats itself. We could have been much better prepared for this.'"Philip Kahn, a decorated World War II veteran, died April 17 at his home in Westbury, New York, on Long Island. "Tests confirmed he had COVID-19," his doctor, Sandeep Jauhar, a cardiologist in nearby New Hyde Park, wrote on Facebook."Lovely man, wry wit, a kind soul," Jauhar added. "His twin brother succumbed in a different pandemic, the Spanish flu ... 101 years ago."The chances of siblings dying a century apart in global pandemics seem beyond remote, but the Kahns are not the only ones. Selma Ryan, 96, who died of the virus in San Antonio, Texas, on April 14, lost her older sister, Esther, to the Spanish Flu 102 years earlier, according to News4SA, a local television station. The sisters never knew each other.Philip Felix Kahn did not know his brother either. The twins, whose father ran a bakery on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, were born Dec. 15, 1919, also in Manhattan, while the Spanish flu was still raging. The boys were just a few weeks old when Samuel died."He had this level of sadness about it because, while he was born a twin, he never got to experience being a twin," said Zysman, who is himself a twin."He always told me how hard the loss of his brother was for his parents," he added, "and that he carried this void with him his entire life."Kahn served in an Army aerial unit in the Pacific during World War II, participating in the Battle of Iwo Jima and later in firebombing raids over Japan. He also helped make aerial surveys after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He earned two Bronze Stars.After the war, he worked as an electrical foreman and helped build the World Trade Center and the first New York City blood bank. He was always active, enjoying swimming and dancing. He would even dance on roller skates.In addition to Zysman, Kahn is survived by his daughter, Lynn Zysman; five other grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.Zysman said that his grandfather loved to talk about the war and history, and that almost every story he told began with his brother, Samuel, and ended with the same point: It was important to learn from experience. Toward the end of his life he spoke often of Samuel.Zysman's wife, Dr. Corey Karlin-Zysman, who has been treating coronavirus patients around the clock at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, called the brothers "pandemic bookends."The Spanish Flu killed 50 million people worldwide; so far, the coronavirus has killed 191,000.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| The IRS is telling 10,000 'mission-critical' employees to bring their own face masks while calling them back to work this week Posted: 26 Apr 2020 12:51 PM PDT  The Friday memo was published by two Democratic lawmakers who blasted the IRS' decision to tell employees to bring their own PPE.
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| White House could change virus briefings to limit Trump role Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:36 AM PDT  For the first time, President Trump cut off his daily coronavirus task force briefing on Friday without taking any questions from reporters, and it may not be the last time.
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| Jack Ma: The billionaire trying to stop coronavirus (and fix China's reputation) Posted: 26 Apr 2020 01:44 AM PDT  How Jack Ma's growing clout during the coronavirus crisis may put him in the sights of China's jealous leaders.
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| Nearly 150 total coronavirus cases confirmed on cruise ship in Japan Posted: 24 Apr 2020 08:36 PM PDT  Nearly 150 cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed among crew members of an Italian cruise ship docked in Japan after health authorities finished testing everyone on board, an official said on Saturday. The Nagasaki prefecture official said 57 more crew had tested positive, bringing the total infections on board the Costa Atlantica to 148, roughly one quarter of the vessel's 623 crew members. Authorities began testing after one crew member tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
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| Body of murdered student tracked down using Apple's Find My Friends app Posted: 25 Apr 2020 11:50 AM PDT  The body of a nursing student who was strangled to death by her classmate was discovered by her friends after they used Apple's Find My Friends app to track her down.Binghampton University student Haley Anderson, 22, went missing in March 2018, and it later emerged she had been killed by Orlando Tercero, 23.
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| Police arrest 3 people protesting closed beaches at SoCal beach set to reopen Monday Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:05 PM PDT  Encinitas mayor Catherine Blakespear said she believed the protesters "were trying to make a political point" at a beach scheduled to reopen Monday.
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| Judge: California can't require background checks for ammo Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:07 PM PDT  "California's new ammunition background check law misfires," wrote U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez.
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| Israel's once-mighty Labor party weighs unity with Netanyahu Posted: 26 Apr 2020 04:18 AM PDT  Israel's Labor party voted on Sunday to join the incoming government headed by arch-rival Benjamin Netanyahu, despite repeated campaign promises to never sit with a prime minister facing criminal indictments. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud is the largest faction, with 36. Around 3,800 members of Labor's central committee were eligible to vote electronically on party leader Amir Peretz's proposal to join the unity government headed by Netanyahu and his main political adversary, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party.
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| Trump's Temporary Halt to Immigration is Part of Broader Plan, Stephen Miller Says Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:12 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's decision to suspend family-based immigration because of the coronavirus is the beginning of a broader strategy to reduce the flow of foreigners into the United States, Stephen Miller, the architect of President Donald Trump's immigration agenda, told a group of conservative allies Thursday.During a private conference call with the president's supporters, Miller sought to reassure them of Trump's commitment to their cause and urged them to publicly defend his executive order. He pledged that it was only a first step in the administration's longer-term goal of shrinking legal immigration."The first and most important thing is to turn off the faucet of new immigrant labor -- mission accomplished -- with signing that executive order," Miller said, according to an audio recording of the conference call obtained by The New York Times.The executive order Trump signed this week bars people from receiving green cards for 60 days, a move that immigration advocates condemned. But it does nothing to limit visa programs that bring tens of thousands of workers to the United States, infuriating groups that call for deep reductions in the number of foreign citizens entering the country.Miller said that further restrictions on programs for foreign workers were likely."In terms of dealing with some of these seasonal flows of guest workers and developing a strategy for that, that's what the president directed us to do," he said. The existence of the tape was first reported by The Washington Post.During the 2016 campaign, Trump seized on fear of immigrants as a powerful political issue, and after winning the election, he aggressively pushed to shut down illegal crossings by demanding a "big, beautiful wall" between the United States and Mexico. In summer 2018, he separated migrant parents from their children when they crossed the border illegally and sent the U.S. military to fortify the border with Mexico.But immigration hard-liners have repeatedly urged the president to do more to permanently reduce the number of foreigners allowed to enter legally. Miller has made that a top priority in the last several years, pushing through regulatory changes aimed at shrinking the opportunities for foreigners to live and work in the United States.During the call, Miller said that the president's executive order, while temporary, would have long-lasting effects because it would disrupt what conservatives call "chain migration," in which the arrival of one immigrant in the United States opens the door to an extended family: parents, adult children, siblings and others."When you suspend the entry of a new immigrant from abroad, you're also reducing immigration further, because of the chains of follow-on migration that are disrupted," Miller said. "So the benefit to American workers compounds with time."Immigration is an issue that Trump has repeatedly turned to as a way to shore up his political base whenever his fortunes have appeared troubled. In late 2018, as polls predicted -- accurately, it turned out -- deep Republican losses in the midterm elections, the president pointed to what he claimed was an "invasion" by a caravan of immigrants who were heading toward the southwestern border.During Miller's call, the deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, echoed Miller's comments by saying the president has been considering such a step "since the economic effects of the COVID virus began."Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general who has long pushed for less immigration, told the president's supporters on the call that "your best approach, in my view, is just to note this is a positive step -- note the president has opened the door to more steps.""You can certainly expect more actions from him as time goes forward," Cuccinelli added.In response to a question from a caller about how to "message" the intent of the executive order, Cuccinelli said, "Talk about the fact that the president is taking steps, is taking this seriously, and has instructed us to prepare for other steps."The issue of what to do about legal immigration has long divided Republicans, and many in the president's party on Capitol Hill oppose proposals that would block businesses -- including technology companies in Silicon Valley and big agricultural industries -- from tapping into large pools of foreign labor.But others in the party, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have repeatedly pushed for legislation that would reduce legal immigration. In 2017, Trump endorsed the RAISE Act, a bill that Cotton sponsored that would have cut legal immigration each year by about half, from about 1 million to about 500,000. The legislation ultimately went nowhere.While Trump has often used immigration as a tool to rally his base, he has not been consistent in his approach. The administration is facing a potential inflection point when the Supreme Court rules in the next few months on whether the administration's end of the program that protects undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, known as DACA, was done legally.If the administration's decision is upheld, Trump will face the possibility of deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many of whom are in high school or college and have known no other life, while he is in the middle of a reelection battle.On a recent call with Republican senators, Trump told the group that he would not "leave them hanging," in reference to immigrants affected by the decision, but he said nothing further.It is unclear exactly how the executive order that temporarily halted immigration was drafted. Two officials familiar with the discussions said that Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser who has taken on a bigger role in immigration discussions, was left out of the process of developing the order.Officials said that the order was initially meant to be broader, putting what the president called "a pause" on both family-based immigration and the guest worker programs that are important to business groups.But Tuesday, after the president tweeted about the executive order the previous night -- which caught several advisers by surprise -- the White House faced fierce criticism from corporate executives, farmers and others who rely on temporary guest workers.Kushner told the president that he should consider alternatives to the strict measures that were under discussion, according to the officials with knowledge of the discussions.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Saudi ramps up virus testing as lockdown relaxed Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:23 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia announced Sunday a $265 million deal with a Chinese firm to ramp up coronavirus testing as the kingdom eased a 24-hour curfew, except in hotspots including Islam's holy city of Mecca. The agreement with China's Beijing Genome Institute (BGI) will provide for nine million COVID-19 tests, the government said in a statement. Earlier the government decided to relax a nationwide curfew between 9am and 5pm, with malls and retailers allowed to reopen until May 13, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
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| Bill Maher Believes People Should ‘Want’ to Get Coronavirus Posted: 24 Apr 2020 11:39 PM PDT  On Friday night, instead of opting for a despicably racist rant against China over the novel coronavirus or blaming the media, Bill Maher welcomed Dr. David Katz, a doctor and ex-instructor at the Yale School of Medicine, onto his show Real Time. Dr. Katz, who consistently flaunts his Yale ties despite the fact that they were severed in 2016, has become something of a right-wing darling after penning a controversial New York Times op-ed on March 20 titled "Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?" In it, Katz argues against the self-isolation policies put in place by most of the U.S., instead saying the country should isolate the elderly and infirm, which would thus "allow most of society to return to life as usual and perhaps prevent vast segments of the economy from collapsing. Healthy children could return to school and healthy adults go back to their jobs. Theaters and restaurants could reopen, though we might be wise to avoid very large social gatherings like stadium sporting events and concerts." John Oliver Exposes Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh's Coronavirus BSBen Affleck Smoking in a Mask Might Be the Ultimate Coronavirus MemeFollowing his op-ed, Katz has made appearances on Fox News touting his hole-filled theory, thereby co-signing a network that's called the pandemic a "hoax"; repeatedly downplayed it; and spent hours and hours pushing hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure, even though it's been determined by most of the medical community to do way more harm than good following a series of poisonings and deaths. On top of that, a convincing refutation of Katz's ill-advised piece was published in The New York Times from those currently at the Yale School of Public Health that read, in part: First, it is not yet known who all of the most vulnerable people are. We believe that it is easier, quicker and more efficient to reduce transmission over all than to permit high levels of transmission in the community but somehow keep it from afflicting susceptible people in our highly networked world.Second, it is likely that more intense transmission among younger people, who Dr. Katz suggests should be freed of most social-distancing restrictions, would result in many more of their deaths, especially as hospitals become overwhelmed.Third, allowing the virus to spread uninhibited across a wide swath of our country might eliminate any hope we might have of snuffing out viral transmission into a new respiratory virus season next winter.Despite all this, there Katz was on Maher's HBO show regurgitating the arguments he made in his ridiculed Times piece—which he wrote when we were at 200 deaths nationwide; we're now at 52,400 deaths and climbing with strict shutdowns and social distancing in place. He said America should take "the middle path," wherein "high-risk people are protected from exposure, low-risk people go out in the world early," before saying something truly wild: "We actually kind of want to get this, and get over with, and be immune, because that is the path to the all-clear that doesn't require us to wait for a vaccine." To Katz's argument that everyone should want to get infected with COVID-19, Maher replied, "Yeah, I think you make a lot of sense there. And I think it's a shame—you talk about politicization, that people like you who sound reasonable, maybe it's not the exact one true opinion you hear somewhere else, has to go on Fox News." Further, Katz claimed that it's "the liberal ideology that seems to be so resistant to talking about unemployment and the economy," when amid the COVID-19 crisis, the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party—Bernie Sanders, AOC and the like—have been fighting hard for workers and arguing for rent cancellation as well as giving $2,000 a month to each household during the shutdown (similar to the policies instituted in Canada, which has done a fine job containing the virus' spread), while Republicans in Congress pushed for tax language in the stimulus bill that overwhelmingly benefits millionaires. But far be it from Bill Maher, a supposed Sanders supporter, to disagree with that dubious claim. Here are some things Katz conveniently left out: as we've seen in New York City, the epicenter of the crisis, approximately 20 percent of deaths have been people under the age of 64. And while people under the age of 44 have only accounted for a comparatively small number of deaths, they've accounted for a high number of hospitalizations, which has not only overwhelmed hospitals (causing many sick people to die due to a lack of supplies or staff) but will also inevitably land many in serious financial debt. I'll leave you with the current leadership of the Yale School of Public Health who, in their letter repudiating Katz, wrote: Until we have a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 and effective antiviral drugs, it is essential to engage in aggressive personal hygiene, social distancing, increased testing, isolation of exposed people, and strategies to avoid transmission in health settings. We must buy time for these advances and save lives in the interim.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. 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| Coronavirus: The different approaches to lockdowns in Africa Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:29 AM PDT  Countries have taken different routes in imposing restrictions - which ones are working against the virus?
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| French coronavirus deaths reach 22,856 as government eyes how to ease lockdown Posted: 26 Apr 2020 10:27 AM PDT  The death toll in France from the coronavirus has risen by 242 to 22,856, the health ministry said on Sunday, as the government prepares to see how it might ease a national lockdown that has been in place since mid-March. While the number of deaths from the virus has risen, the rate at which the casualties have mounted has steadily fallen over the last two weeks, emboldening those who want France to start to lift the lockdown measures. The numbers of people leaving intensive care units (ICUs) has also outpaced the numbers of those entering those units.
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| Trump: Postal Service must charge Amazon more, or won't receive loan Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:39 AM PDT  President Trump said on Friday that he won't approve a $10 billion loan for the U.S. Postal Service unless it raises charges for Amazon and other big shippers to four to five times current rates.
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| Could a 'controlled avalanche' stop the coronavirus faster, and with fewer deaths? Posted: 25 Apr 2020 02:21 PM PDT  Israeli scientists say they can mimic the effects of a vaccination campaign if certain people willingly get infected with the coronavirus and recover.
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| Court: City must pay for claims police officers planted guns Posted: 25 Apr 2020 10:10 AM PDT |
| Trump administration and Mitch McConnell hit with lawsuit over claims they denied stimulus checks to citizens married to 'unauthorized' immigrants Posted: 26 Apr 2020 07:26 AM PDT  There are around 1.2 million "unauthorized" US residents married to US citizens, the lawsuit alleges, citing the Migration Policy Institute.
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| Ramadan begins in Iran amid fears of 'fresh outbreak' of virus Posted: 25 Apr 2020 08:40 AM PDT  Ramadan began in Iran on Saturday as health officials raised fears of a "fresh outbreak" of coronavirus cases in the country, two weeks into a gradual reopening of shops. As the predominantly Shiite country marked the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a day later than the mostly Sunni Muslim world, another 76 fatalities were declared. With an official death toll of 5,650, Iran has paid the deadliest price in the Middle East from the pandemic.
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| Fact check: Did the Kennedy Center donate coronavirus stimulus aid to Democrats? Posted: 25 Apr 2020 06:45 AM PDT  Claims that the Kennedy Center received coronavirus stimulus funding then made a donation to the Democratic Party are false.
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| Hong Kong protests: Jailed man gets judge's sympathy for stabbing Posted: 25 Apr 2020 07:49 AM PDT  The judge who jailed the man for the attack at an anti-government protest said he was a victim.
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| Russia at risk of spike in coronavirus cases during May holidays: official Posted: 26 Apr 2020 02:07 AM PDT  Russia could experience a spike in cases of the new coronavirus if people flout lockdown measures during public holidays scheduled for early May, a top health official said on Sunday. The number of coronavirus cases in Russia began rising sharply this month, reaching more than 80,000 on Sunday after a record 6,361 new cases were registered over the past day. Anna Popova, head of Russia's consumer health watchdog, said the country had so far avoided a spike in cases and could continue to do so "if only we do not give up during the holidays".
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| No more bodies on the streets. But coronavirus batters Ecuador with disproportionate force Posted: 26 Apr 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Images of corpses in Ecuador stoked fear of the coronavirus' effect on developing nations. Infections have yet to peak elsewhere in Latin America.
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| VA has provided few answers around agency's virus study, veteran advocates say Posted: 26 Apr 2020 05:48 AM PDT  "It feels like they've talked about everything but [the study]," a Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman said.
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