| Pence suggests coronavirus social distancing won’t end soon Posted: 09 Apr 2020 07:07 PM PDT  At the daily briefing of the White House coronavirus task force on Thursday evening, Vice President Mike Pence indicated that the end to those restrictions might not come anytime soon.
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| Wuhan is open and infections are down, but China's coronavirus numbers can't be trusted Posted: 10 Apr 2020 12:14 PM PDT  China this week reopened Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected, claiming that new infections were in the single digits. But in recent days Beijing has been accused of reporting inaccurate counts of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
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| The one data point that suggests both New York and California are getting coronavirus under control Posted: 10 Apr 2020 10:02 AM PDT  Good news about the coronavirus is in short supply. The United States' confirmed case count is approaching half a million — more than triple any other country's. But if it's good news you're after, pay attention to the hospitalization data in New York and California.
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| NYC mayor says schools will stay closed rest of year, Cuomo says not so fast Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT  "He didn't close them, and he can't reopen," Cuomo said of the the vast school district that serves over 1.1 million students in 1,800 schools.
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| Cruise workers on Holland America's Rotterdam ship say they were forced into a perilous rescue mission of the COVID-19 stricken Zaandam, and now hundreds of crew members are stranded onboard wondering what's next. Posted: 11 Apr 2020 08:27 AM PDT  "The Rotterdam was told it was on a humanitarian mission to bring supplies to the Zaandam," one crew member said.
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| Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:39 AM PDT  * British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is making very good progress in his recovery from COVID-19, his office said on Saturday, as his health minister said the peak of the outbreak in Britain had not yet been reached. * The number of coronavirus deaths in Spain fell for a third consecutive day, with 510 fatalities reported in the past 24 hours -- the smallest overnight increase since March 23. * Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended a nationwide lockdown until May 3, though he said a few types of shops would be allowed to re-open next week.
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| Yemen's Houthi rebels sentence 4 reporters to death Posted: 11 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT  A court run by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday sentenced four journalists to death after their conviction on spying charges, their defense lawyer said. The four were among a group of 10 journalists who were detained by the Iran-backed rebels and accused of "collaborating with the enemy," in reference to the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Houthis since 2015, lawyer Abdel-Majeed Sabra said. Sabra identified the four who were sentenced to death as Abdel-Khaleq Amran, Akram al-Walidi, Hareth Hamid and Tawfiq al-Mansouri.
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| 'Nothing Off the Table': Pentagon Won't Rule Out Reinstating Fired Navy Captain Posted: 10 Apr 2020 09:33 AM PDT  The Navy has completed its investigation into Crozier, though the results have not been made public.
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| African community targeted in China virus crackdown Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Africans in southern China's largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as Beijing steps up its fight against imported infections, drawing US accusations of xenophobia. China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials. Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city's Yuexiu district, known as "Little Africa".
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| African nations, U.S. condemn racism against blacks in China Posted: 11 Apr 2020 09:09 AM PDT  African officials are condemning China publicly and in private over the mistreatment of Africans in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, and the U.S. says African-Americans have been targeted too.
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| 'God will shield us from all harm and sickness:' Louisiana pastor expects 2,000 to attend his Easter service Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:44 PM PDT  Rev. Tony Spell announced he would hold his largest in-person church service as Louisiana reported an increase of 970 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours.
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| The US just became the first country in the world to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:22 AM PDT  The US reported 2,108 deaths on Friday and passed 500,000 confirmed cases, but White House officials say the speed of the outbreak is easing off.
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| New York City mayor orders public schools shut for rest of school year; Cuomo says it's his call Posted: 11 Apr 2020 07:18 AM PDT  De Blasio had ordered public schools shut beginning March 16 to curb the spread of the disease, with an initial goal of reopening by April 20. A few hours later, New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo pushed back on the mayor's announcement, saying there had been no decision on school closures. Cuomo said de Blasio could not unilaterally close New York City's schools without coordinating with the rest of the metropolitan area, and insisted the decision to reopen New York schools rested with him.
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| Ecuador buckles under virus, broken oil lines and old debt Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:55 PM PDT  Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno unveiled an emergency economic plan Friday aimed at rescuing the South American nation hard hit by the new coronavirus and then dealt a second blow when two large pipelines broke, halting critical crude exports. Moreno in a nationwide broadcast urged the nation to come together, saying that Ecuador's massive foreign debt he inherited from past governments will have to be renegotiated, while large businesses earnings over $1 million annually will have to contribute 5% of their profits. "This economic emergency is unprecedented in the recent history of this country," Moreno said.
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| Coronavirus live updates: 2,000 US coronavirus deaths in a day; US has 'not reached the peak,' Dr. Birx says Posted: 10 Apr 2020 07:13 PM PDT  Surgeon General says we must get past the next 30 days, travelers are cautioned to stay home Easter weekend, and more COVID-19 news Friday.
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| Exclusive: Russia collecting intelligence on U.S. supply line failures amid coronavirus crisis, DHS warns Posted: 10 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT  Russian spies are using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to collect intelligence on U.S. supply lines, which have struggled to provide sufficient medical equipment, according to an intelligence report issued earlier this week by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Yahoo News.
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| Faulty masks. Flawed tests. China's quality control problem in leading global COVID-19 fight Posted: 10 Apr 2020 10:18 AM PDT  Chinese companies producing faulty testing kits and masks are marring Beijing's attempts to assert leadership in the fight against the coronavirus.
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| Iran's virus, sanctions-hit economy slowly reopens Posted: 11 Apr 2020 07:58 AM PDT  Iran allowed small businesses outside the capital to reopen Saturday, arguing the sanctions-hit economy in the country with the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East cannot stay in lockdown. Iranians in several provinces reported a significant increase in cars on the roads as people went back to work, as some said the government's relaxation of measures was sending mixed messages.
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| A federal program promised small businesses up to $2 million in loans. Now it's maxing out at $15,000. Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:03 AM PDT  A federal disaster loan program offering up to $2 million in relief is now capping out at $15,000 — and is leaving some borrowers wondering if they'll even get that.The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, an offshoot of the Small Business Administration's emergency funds system, has faced an unprecedented number of requests amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and is having trouble keeping up and following through with promised loan amounts, The New York Times reports.Several applicants reportedly said SBA representatives told them funding for the program was running out. Deb Wood-Schade, a chiropractic wellness business owner, told the Times she had been approved for a nearly $25,000 loan, but was given documents on Wednesday telling her the loan had been cut to less than a third of that amount.As part of the $2 trillion relief bill signed by President Trump last month, applicants to the program were also supposed to be made eligible for a $10,000 advance in the form of a grant that would not have to be repaid, and the money was reportedly supposed to be distributed within three days of applying. According to the Times, that money has yet to be dispensed."I'm afraid I won't see a penny," Virginia Warnken Kelsey, an opera singer who applied on March 29, told the Times.The sudden onslaught of requests caused by the virus has handed the SBA a "historic influx of loan applications," The Washington Post reports, leading to a major applicant backlog. The $10 billion in federal funding provided by the CARES act would cover the $10,000 advances of around one million businesses. But in three days, the program reportedly received more than three million applicants.Lawmakers in Washington are still negotiating over a bill that would inject more money to small businesses, with Democrats blocking the latest attempt by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and demanding double the amount.More stories from theweek.com Trump's obsession with hydroxychloroquine is an encapsulation of his presidency Sting, Jimmy Fallon, and the Roots perform 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' remotely, creatively South Korea's coronavirus success
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| Vietnam reports thousands of people linked to COVID-19 hot spot tested negative Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:11 PM PDT  More than 1,000 health care workers and 14,400 others linked to a COVID-19 outbreak at a hospital in Hanoi have tested negative for the coronavirus, the Vietnamese capital's ruling body said on Thursday.
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| Boeing's Washington facilities closed indefinitely due to COVID-19. Take a look at the greatest successes and failures which were built there. Posted: 11 Apr 2020 05:58 AM PDT  Boeing has been building iconic passenger aircraft at three production facilities in the Seattle area since World War II.
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| New York sees highest single-day death toll for third straight day Posted: 10 Apr 2020 10:01 AM PDT  "9/11 was so devastating, so tragic, and then in many ways we lose so many more New Yorkers to this silent killer," he said.
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| Airlines and Trump administration haggle over payroll grants Posted: 10 Apr 2020 05:52 PM PDT  The Trump administration is proposing that a significant amount of the $25 billion in cash that airlines expected to keep workers on the job will instead be low-interest loans that big airlines will have to repay, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department began sending proposals for aid to airlines on Friday. American Airlines and United Airlines confirmed receiving responses to their applications for grants.
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| U.S. Navy destroyer transits Taiwan Strait on same day as Chinese drills Posted: 10 Apr 2020 07:15 PM PDT |
| U.S. now leads world in deaths, day after Trump announces 'opening our country' task force Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:18 PM PDT  As the president mulls when restrictive coronavirus measures might start to be lifted, the U.S. passed a grim milestone of leading the world in deaths from the virus.
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| Dr. Fauci hopes America could return to some 'degree of normality' by November presidential election Posted: 11 Apr 2020 08:59 AM PDT  Fauci declined to say whether Americans would have to cast their ballots by mail but said he hoped for some "degree of normality" by November.
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| Some Veterans May Need to Take This Extra Step to Get Their Stimulus Check Posted: 10 Apr 2020 12:25 PM PDT  Make sure your economic stimulus check isn't delayed.
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| Barr: 'Troubling' evidence in review of Russia involvement in 2016 election that could lead to charges Posted: 10 Apr 2020 09:45 AM PDT  AG William Barr signals possible criminal charges in Russia review; cites 'troubling' evidence and signs of possible abuse.
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| 10 Cosmic Close Calls That Changed Spaceflight Posted: 11 Apr 2020 06:46 AM PDT |
| Thousands of US nursing home patients have died of coronavirus — far higher than the federal government has reported Posted: 11 Apr 2020 07:50 AM PDT  In New York, the epicenter of the outbreak, some nursing homes have been forced to convert spare rooms to makeshift morgues.
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| "It's been torture": LGBTQ health care suffers amid coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:39 PM PDT  Access to adequate health care has always been a struggle for the transgender community. Coronavirus just made it even worse.
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| Kremlin says Moscow hospitals flooded as coronavirus death toll passes 100 Posted: 11 Apr 2020 09:43 AM PDT |
| NYC mayor says schools will stay closed rest of year, Cuomo says not so fast Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT "He didn't close them, and he can't reopen," Cuomo said of the the vast school district that serves over 1.1 million students in 1,800 schools.
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| Donald Trump prepares task force to lift coronavirus lockdown but health experts warn it is too soon Posted: 10 Apr 2020 05:15 PM PDT  Donald Trump says he will soon be announcing a second coronavirus task force, creating a council to focus on re-opening the country after the worst of the pandemic passes. "We will be announcing that in a short while. Probably Tuesday," Mr Trump told reporters during the daily coronavirus task force briefing. The US president said he would be announcing the launch of what he dubbed the "Opening our Country" task force "as soon as possible". With the US economy reeling and job losses soaring, Mr Trump has been itching to reopen the country, drawing alarm from health experts who warn that doing so too quickly could spark a deadly resurgence that could undermine current distancing efforts. Experts on Friday insisted that the US was not ready to lift social distancing measures.
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| Chicago mayor takes hard line fighting coronavirus outbreak Posted: 11 Apr 2020 10:06 AM PDT  As large American cities try various strategies to keep people home to limit the coronavirus's spread, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has balanced a blend of stern — and occasionally scolding — news conferences with lighthearted social media to drive home her point. Lightfoot's hard-line approach began with an exasperated announcement in March that she was shutting down lakefront trails, adjacent parks and other crowded public spaces after Chicagoans flocked there on a 70-degree weekday. "Your conduct — yours — is posing a direct threat to our public health," Lightfoot chastised people spotted flouting social distancing orders.
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| Coronavirus has killed scores of Mexicans in New York. Their families are fighting to bring them home Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT  At least 150 Mexican citizens in the New York City area infected with the coronavirus have died. The crisis has made it nearly impossible to send home their bodies.
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| Texas governor vows to issue an executive order to end state's lockdown and help residents 'get back into the workforce' Posted: 11 Apr 2020 11:56 AM PDT  "One thing about Texans, they enjoy working and they want to get back into the workforce," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
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| Scott Gottlieb: Coronavirus Would Have Been ‘Far More Deadly than Spanish Flu’ If It Appeared in 1918 Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:31 PM PDT  Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Friday warned that the coronavirus would have been more deadly than the Spanish flu if it had appeared in 1918."I think [that] given the profile of this virus, it's likely it would have been far more deadly than the Spanish flu" if the coronavirus had originated in 1918 with the medical capacities of that time, Gottlieb said in an interview on National Review's The Editors podcast."I think it's reasonable to surmise that anyone who gets admitted to a prolonged I.C.U. stay with COVID-19 who ends up getting intubated, [or] ends up getting prolonged critical care-that's probably someone who would have died from the Spanish flu," Gottlieb continued. "And if you do accept that assumption…if you say, some large proportion of people who are surviving COVID-19…would have died from Spanish flu, then COVID-19 not only looks like Spanish flu in terms of its distribution across the age range, but looks far more fearsome."The coronavirus has spread from Wuhan, China, to infect over 1,600,000 people and kill over 101,000 as of Friday. U.S. officials and lawmakers have criticized China for initially covering up the extent of the outbreak in Wuhan, as well as for failing to contain the outbreak when it first appeared."China was not being forthcoming with information that could have helped us prepare," Gottlieb said. "This virus has changed the course of history…The gravity of what this virus is going to mean to society for the next two years can't be overstated, in my view, and this is the consequence of something that came out of China."Gottlieb went on, "Had China been more aggressive sometime in November, and certainly in December, in trying to contain the spread of this…then they might have been able to fully contain this."
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| Sweden said it didn't need a lockdown because people could be trusted to socially distance themselves. The government still says the strategy is working. Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:33 AM PDT  Sweden's Parliament is preparing in case it needs to introduce more restrictions, but for now the government is defending its unusual strategy.
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| Pentagon May Relocate One of its 2 Navy Hospital Ships Posted: 10 Apr 2020 02:41 PM PDT  It is working with FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services to determine the next virus hot spots.
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| India decides to extend nationwide coronavirus lockdown - state chief minister Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:42 AM PDT  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to extend a nationwide lockdown to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, the Delhi state's chief minister said on Saturday, without saying how long the extension would be for. Modi earlier in the day held a video conference call with several state ministers. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Modi had "taken (a) correct decision to extend (the) lockdown", without sharing further details.
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| Check your balance: Coronavirus stimulus money starts to flow into bank accounts Posted: 11 Apr 2020 03:26 PM PDT  The IRS tweeted Saturday that payments to qualifying Americans with direct deposit accounts set up had begun to receive their coronavirus relief payment.
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| Laura Ingraham Wants to Give You the Freedom to Die From Coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:44 AM PDT  Laura Ingraham wants you to have the unrestricted freedom to spread or die from the coronavirus.Over the past several months, Fox News has been an important platform for those seeking to mock expert opinions on the virus, downplay the outbreak's lethality, and spread anecdotal claims about how to fight it. All seemingly in the service of either absolving President Trump of any potential responsibility for the pandemic's U.S. toll or to fulfill the network's single-note, decades-long crusade to blame anything and everything on Democrats and "the media."But few personalities have approached the global pandemic with as little concern as Ingraham, the longtime conservative pundit with a coveted primetime Fox News spot and one of the most-viewed shows on the network. In front of an audience of millions every evening, Ingraham has displayed a commitment to dismissing concerns about the virus, mocking advice from doctors she disagrees with, and waving away the importance of coronavirus deaths.As COVID-19 kills thousands across the country each day, the Fox News anchor has demanded a "reopening" of the economy at the start of next month, despite numerous warnings from top public health experts about the risks of leaving quarantine mode too early.Doctor Scolds Fox News: It's 'Irresponsible' to Promote Unproven Coronavirus Drug"At some point, the president is going to have to look at Drs. Fauci and Birx and say, we're opening on May 1," she wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. "Give me your best guidance on protocols, but we cannot deny our people their basic freedoms any longer."Late last month, she railed against doctors, saying they should not dictate government health policy and arguing that opening up the economy was more important than the life-saving measures medical professionals had recommended."You got to imagine the policymakers at some point will hear from the people who are suffering with these job losses in these businesses and say, you know, 'We have lives as well, and we have to somehow preserve them,'" Ingraham said.Ingraham did identify the obvious—the projections and advice from public health officials have occasionally shifted. But rather than approaching the topic cautiously on her show, or evaluate how our own drastic measures have curtailed the spread of the virus, she has impatiently drawn the conclusion that any number of deaths below a catastrophic 100,000 is a sign that experts ought to be ignored in favor of a robust economic return (when that, too, seems highly unlikely). Earlier this month, the Fox News star questioned the social-distancing decisions that have slowed down the economy, noting that "hundreds of thousands of Americans die every year from horrific things." And during one Tuesday evening segment, Ingraham declared that although she believed that "every life matters," the U.S. may be too overzealous in its social-distancing measures. "It is worth asking, is it not, what would our response have been and would our response have been less damaging to the economy, and to the lives of all of you millions of Americans, if we had had more accurate models from the start?" she said. "And shouldn't this experience make us less willing to rely on the same experts to help determine when and how we should reopen our economy?"Indeed, there has been a theme for Ingraham. Loss of life, overcrowded hospitals, and an unnecessarily prolonged pandemic are of seemingly little concern.Instead, the virus has been just another excuse to beat up on the show's recurring punching bags: media and Democrats. In early March, Ingraham compared virus fears from both groups to impeachment and the special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying such concerns were merely attempts to "stoke panic" and undermine Trump. At the time, she didn't have much to say about actual coronavirus deaths, but she did have plenty to say about an imaginary universe in which Hillary Clinton was president and the virus would have been a "nightmare."Perhaps sensing the urgency of the outbreak last month, network brass seemingly attempted to crack down on such outrageous coverage, benching and eventually parting ways with Fox Business Network primetime host Trish Regan after she declared coronavirus fears to be an "impeachment scam." Fox Business Ditches Trish Regan After Coronavirus 'Impeachment Scam' RantBut Regan's bonkers monologue was delivered to a substantially smaller audience than the three-million nightly viewers Ingraham has enjoyed during the crisis. And Ingraham's campaign of disinformation and obfuscation has been far more sustained and, at every step, directly flown in the face of not just public-health expertise but the guidelines set forth by her own bosses.Even after much of the U.S. began to shut down to fight the virus' spread, and Fox News brass advised network staff to work from home and banned non-essential business travel, Ingraham tweeted that it was actually a "great time to fly if not in at-risk population." (She deleted the tweet days later without any explanation).A number of Fox News employees in New York and D.C.—including Fox & Friends Weekend host Jedediah Bila, and one woman whose family said she had to be intubated—have also tested positive for the virus and, according to New York Times media columnist Ben Smith, several of Ingraham's own staffers have been quarantined with suspected COVID-19 cases.And yet, even as the virus hits closer to home, Ingraham's concerns could hardly be less disdainful. Despite a number of journalists having died from the virus, and many more having lost their jobs as a direct result of the resultant economic slowdown, Ingraham has fallen back on one of the laziest tropes of right-wing punditry by claiming the "liberal media" is rooting for death."They like this crisis point and they really don't want things to go back to normal, and that a lot of them seem—as the news comes in that might be slightly better than we thought, they're angrier and grumpier than they should be," Ingraham said earlier this month, with no recognition of the mourning many news organizations have already had for current and former colleagues who've died from the virus. "It's odd."Instead of reflecting on her potentially life-threatening advice, Ingraham has only doubled down and, in recent days, settled on a new bogeyman for her audience: egghead doctors with their cautious statements, models, projections, and warnings about the virus.Despite medical experts like Dr. Fauci urging Fox News hosts to be "careful" when touting hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus cure, Ingraham has taken up the mantle of the drug's most public booster, at one point privately urging the president to promote it. Twitter Deletes Laura Ingraham's 'Misleading' Post Touting Coronavirus CureOn multiple occasions, she misrepresented the credentials of a doctor to boost his anecdotal claim of the drug giving one patient a "Lazarus"-like resurrection at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. The doctor does not actually work at that hospital, and while Fox News quietly buried a digital correction to her claim, Twitter eventually forced her to delete her post on the matter.On Monday afternoon, former Harvard Medical professor and renowned HIV/AIDS researcher Dr. William Haseltine complained to Ingraham's colleague Dana Perino that it is "irresponsible" and "sad to me that people were promoting that drug" which, "at very best… will have a very mild effect on changing the course of the disease, if it has any effect at all." In return, on her Tuesday show, Ingraham mocked the doctor, calling his logic "disgusting." The Fox primetime star further ranted against medical experts who have preached caution on miracle cures, claiming that their objections are "merely partisan attacks in disguise." In Ingraham's mind, any doctor who disagrees with her is merely trying to attack President Trump. "I see right through their motives."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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| Footnotes indicate FBI knew of risk of disinformation in Steele dossier Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:23 PM PDT  The FBI was warned sections of the controversial Steele dossier could have been part of a "Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations," according to the footnotes.
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| New York City to keep schools closed, mayor says Posted: 11 Apr 2020 04:47 PM PDT  New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday that public schools in the largest US city would stay closed until the end of the school year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, even as the state's governor stressed that the decision was his to make. "You can't make a decision just within New York City without coordinating that decision with the whole metropolitan region, because it all works together," Cuomo said. "Until the governor actually overrules the mayor either through a contrary order or by a superseding order, the mayor's order stands," said Roderick Hills, a professor at New York University's law school.
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| Report: Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen moved to solitary confinement Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:45 AM PDT  President Trump's former personal attorney has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement at a federal prison.
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