| President Trump's top scientist, once sidelined, now faces a coronavirus test Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  As one of President Trump's top scientific advisers, Kelvin Droegemeier is a key figure in the fight to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Army Corps of Engineers races to provide 10,000 hospital rooms for coronavirus response Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:30 PM PDT  The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to create more than 10,000 ICU-type hospital rooms in hotels, dormitories and other available buildings in New York City over the next few weeks, its commander said Friday.
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| Why did coronavirus hit hard in Italy and Spain? Some blame a lack of social distancing — and a lot of social kissing. Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A seeming lack of urgency marks the coronavirus in Spain, where cases began climbing three weeks ago, and where concepts like social distancing didn't enter the discussion until this week.
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| Remains of missing Colorado boy, 11, found in Florida Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:50 PM PDT  Investigators want to know if anyone saw suspect Leticia Staunch in the Panhandle in early February
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| America's extreme neoliberal healthcare system is putting the country at risk Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Single-payer healthcare can't prevent a novel virus like Covid-19 but it could help us plan, coordinate and save lives * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverageAt the final debate of the Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden clashed on the coronavirus. Sanders contended the pandemic laid bare "the incredible weakness and dysfunctionality" of the US healthcare system, and called for single-payer reform. Biden countered that Italy's universal system had failed to protect the Mediterranean nation, and asserted that Covid-19 "has nothing to do with Bernie's Medicare for All". At first glance, the ex-vice-president seems right: of course single-payer can't close the door to a novel virus, any more than it can forestall a deadly earthquake or fend off a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, a national health program with unified financing and governance – basically the opposite of what we have in America today – is a powerful tool in a health crisis.The debate over Medicare for All in the age of Covid-19 is complicated by the fact that it is our public health agencies – and not the medical care system – that serve as our first line of defense against novel epidemics. In that regard, we've shot ourselves in the foot with a 12-gauge shotgun: year after year of underfunding of our federal, state and local public health agencies has left us ill-prepared for the Covid-19 challenge (as evidenced by the testing fiasco). How we finance medical care, however, is also critical. On the most basic level, containing the coronavirus will require those infected to seek medical care, so that they can be diagnosed and isolated. Fear of devastating ER or hospital bills, however, could keep some home – or at work. As a Taiwan government spokeswoman, lauding her country's single-payer system for its successful containment of Covid-19, told NBC News, "Taiwan's health insurance lets everyone not be afraid to go to the hospital. If you suspect you have coronavirus, you won't have to worry that you can't afford the hospital visit to get tested."On Wednesday, Trump signed into law a bill that would make Covid-19 testing – but not treatment – free. It's hence inadequate, given the predicted looming surge in hospitalizations from Covid-19 pneumonia. After all, 30 million Americans are uninsured – a number that will surely grow as the economy tanks and millions or tens of millions of Americans lose their jobs. Even more are underinsured, and for these individuals, co-pays and deductibles will only become more unaffordable as disposable income falls and savings dwindle. For both groups, medical bills for an intensive care unit (ICU) stay for Covid-19 could be devastating. People, of course, will also not stop having heart attacks, cancer or traffic accidents during this outbreak – on the contrary, medical needs are likely to rise in the face of a recession, as unemployment and misery takes its toll on the nation's health. Financial ruin from medical costs – whether it stems from Covid-19 pneumonia or the looming Covid-19 recession – is financial ruin all the same, and will compound the harm of the epidemic.But there's more to it than that. We need single-payer not only to protect us from healthcare costs, but to transform our healthcare infrastructure. In recent weeks, you may have heard that the US, despite our high healthcare spending, has fewer hospital beds per capita than many other wealthy nations. You may have also heard in recent years about an epidemic of hospital closures in poorly served rural areas, or the 2019 closure of a major academic safety-net hospital in Philadelphia. These hospitals closed not because they are unneeded, but because they are unprofitable. For the American hospital landscape is shaped by market forces, which largely determine where hospitals grow and where they wane.> Healthcare in America is uncoordinated – and ungovernedAt the same time, while our hospital bed supply is relatively low, our ICU bed supply per capita is among the highest in the world. Yet those beds aren't necessarily where they need to be: a 2010 study in the Journal of American Medical Association, for instance, found large regional disparities in the distribution of ICU beds; the researchers concluded that in the face of a major epidemic, some areas might have empty beds, while others would have too few. Again, this distribution, far too often, is driven by market logic – not health needs.Finally, healthcare in America is uncoordinated – and ungoverned. Since the epidemic's onset, hospital and city and state governments have waged "bidding wars" over crucial supplies and ventilators, the New York Times noted. It's every hospital for itself: some are resorting to pleas to the community for donations of masks; presumably, others are well-stocked – but who knows? "Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment – try getting it yourselves," Trump suggested to state governors on Monday, quoted by the New York Times. This is not a healthcare system – it is atomized chaos. For again, in the American way of paying for healthcare, our hospitals (or increasingly, our multi-hospital systems) are silos, some rich and some poor, each fending for themselves, locked in market competition.This is neither necessary nor rational, leading both to excess and shortfalls, to generous overall health system funding yet care that remains unaffordable for many. A single-payer national health program would allow us to move past the market-driven status quo to remake this chaotic healthcare landscape of simultaneous healthcare plenty and poverty. It would, in short, allow us to begin to plan – not merely for this epidemic, but for the one that follows. * Adam Gaffney is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a pulmonary and critical care doctor at the Cambridge Health Alliance. He is President of the advocacy organization Physicians for a National Health Program. He blogs at theprogressivephysician.org
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| Czechs get first batch of sorely needed gear from China to fight coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:55 AM PDT  Czechs received a first batch of medical equipment from China needed to curb the spread of the coronavirus as doctors, nurses and care home workers complain of shortages of respirators and people sew masks at home. Following a highly publicised hunt for supplies amid mounting criticism from local authorities and hospitals, government officials greeted a flight from Shanghai carrying 1.1 million FFP-2 level respirators at Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport. Respirators have been in acute demand in some hospitals, where even front-line staff didn't have sufficient supplies, news website http://www.novinky.cz reported earlier this week.
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| An infectious disease expert explains why herd immunity probably won't work in the fight against coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:59 PM PDT  The only safe way we'll achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus is with the help of a vaccine, which will be available in at least 18 months.
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| Jordan goes on virus lockdown as Iran's death toll mounts Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:16 AM PDT  Air raid sirens echoed across Jordan's capital Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran, home to the region's worst outbreak. The latest deaths bring Iran's overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials.
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| Senate working overtime to put together stimulus package, but negotiations reportedly see 'tremendous' progress Posted: 21 Mar 2020 07:42 AM PDT  There's no rest for the Senate this weekend, as lawmakers are set to dig in for a weekend session beginning at noon Saturday so the chamber can expedite an agreement on a stimulus package to provide relief from the coronavirus pandemic. The final bill could reportedly cost at least $1 trillion.Negotiators said they're getting closer to an agreement, but they missed the original Friday night deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) after haggling for about 12 hours over issues like increased unemployment insurance payments, financial assistance for hospitals and health-care providers, and funds to cover for state governments' revenue shortfalls, Politico reports. But Congress remains under pressure to get something done quickly, and Republicans — who hold the majority — reportedly believe Democrats won't block any rescue bill with time running short.Eric Ueland, the White House director of legislative affairs, is optimistic consensus is right around the corner. He singled out the debate over unemployment as an area where "tremendous" progress has been made thanks to bipartisan support for rebate checks. Read more at The Hill and Politico.More stories from theweek.com The small-government case for giving everyone a big check Government officials reportedly 'just couldn't get' Trump to do anything about coronavirus early on The FDA expedited the approval of a rapid coronavirus test
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| Dallas megachurch pastor Jeffress capitulates to coronavirus warnings, moves services online Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:11 PM PDT  The pews will be empty this Sunday at First Baptist Dallas, the megachurch whose pastor, Robert Jeffress, is one of President Trump's most ardent supporters and a frequent guest on Fox News.
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| Emirates Airlines suspends flights to dozens more cities Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Dubai carrier Emirates Airlines announced Saturday it would suspend flights to dozens more cities, taking its total route closures past 100, in a bid to forestall the spread of coronavirus. The United Arab Emirates on Friday announced its first two deaths from the disease. Total recorded infections in the UAE stood at 153, of which 38 have recovered.
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| Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Government Could Underwrite ‘70 Percent’ of U.S. Payroll if Coronavirus Containment Continues Posted: 20 Mar 2020 12:20 PM PDT  Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Friday warned that federal and state governments could be forced to support a large segment of the American workforce if measures designed to contain the Wuhan coronavirus remain in place."I talked with [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin this morning. Here's the challenge, and we've just got to tell the public the truth: we're going to be floating probably 70 percent of the nation's payroll," Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill. "The federal government in some form, working with the states and the private sector, but mostly the federal government is going to underwrite 70 percent of the payroll in this country if the containment policies continue to be this aggressive."Graham said the economic stimulus currently being hashed out by senators in conjunction with the White House will be much more expensive than originally thought."It's going to be a hell of a lot more than $1 trillion," Graham said. Other Republican and Democratic senators have privately agreed that the stimulus will exceed the $1 trillion mark, CNN reported on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said the body would be ready to vote on the stimulus by Monday."We expect to have an agreement by the end of today," McConnell told CNN. "The game plan remains the same. We will be voting on a final package in the Senate on Monday."The Wuhan coronavirus pandemic has caused large swaths of the U.S. to implement closures of schools, theaters and other public venues, with New York and California ordering nonessential workers to stay at home and residents to remain home as much as possible. Jobless claims have surged by 281,000 since March 8, the highest rise since September 2017.
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| As deliveries soar, UPS drivers say company's coronavirus precautions may not keep them or customers safe Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:04 PM PDT  "I got 160 stops, 300 packages," one UPS driver said. "I deliver to doctors' offices, urgent cares. The potential for bad things to happen is crazy."
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| One Mask Only: Coronavirus Docs and Nurses Forced to Make Terrifying Compromises Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PDT  In the passenger seat of her car, Rachael, a hospice nurse in South Carolina, carries a Ziploc bag with two surgical masks inside. Every day, she dons one of the masks and wears it into nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes across the area, caring for her elderly patients. Twelve hours later, she takes what is supposed to be a single-use mask off, sanitizes it, and puts it back in the bag. It is the only equipment her employer has provided to protect her and her patients from the coronavirus, she said. It is meant to last her "indefinitely.""I'm not worried about getting [the 2019 novel coronavirus.] I'm assuming that I will," said Rachael, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job. But, she added, "I would feel terrible if I found out I was the person who brought it into three different nursing homes.""It feels like a Third World country," she said. "I never thought this would be the challenge we were up against." As has been previously reported, the exponential growth of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. has exacerbated an existing shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), leaving hospitals to ration gear at levels many providers said they had never seen. The situation has become so dire that the Journal of the American Medical Association recently put out a call for ideas on how to conserve the supply of PPE and identify new sources.Around the country, providers are now reusing single-use gear and fashioning new equipment out of protective material. Interviews with an array of doctors and nurses on the frontline of a national crisis revealed widespread astonishment at just how ill-supplied they were in what was supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world.Will Americans Actually Comply With a Long-Term Lockdown?Peter Chai, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where two providers have already tested positive for COVID-19, compared the measures to using dirty bath water for multiple baths."That's totally unheard of in America. Why would you ever have to do that?" he said. "Why would we ever run out of something so simple?"The Centers for Disease Control previously recommended using N95 masks—a respiratory protective device that filters disease-carrying particles from the air—when treating any patient suspected of having COVID-19. But the agency's recommendations have loosened as supplies dwindled. In guidance released this week, the CDC said providers should wear N95s only when performing procedures that might cause a patient to "aerosolize" the virus." In the latest guidance, the agency also suggested mask-strapped providers use bandanas or scarves as a "last resort."In an advisory Friday, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health warned of the "rapidly diminishing supply of PPE." Providers were instructed to immediately stop testing most non-hospitalized patients for COVID-19 to preserve supplies. To stave off a complete shortfall, medical workers have resorted to creative measures, stapling plastic bands onto expired procedure masks and making splash shields out of plastic dividers and mounting tape, according to Twitter posts.Alli, an emergency nurse in Indiana who asked to be identified by her first name only, told The Daily Beast she used a single-use surgical mask so long it was wet from her breath when she took it off. When her mother heard about the shortage, she asked her quilting group to sew more masks for the hospital. While the masks likely don't meet medical standards, Alli said, "I want to have these on standby for when worse comes to worse. And I fear we will get there."An emergency physician in Tennessee, who asked not to be named for fear of professional retaliation, told The Daily Beast she brought leftover N95 masks from a home construction project into work with her. A good friend, who works for an alcohol distilling company, donated a box from her distilling plant as well. Her sister's neighbor donated more than a dozen masks he found in his garage.In Boston, Chai said all the major hospitals have banded together to conserve supplies, borrowing masks and goggles from shuttered research labs and experimenting with other protective materials. "The large institutions that usually don't talk to each other, there's all of a sudden all of this coordination and cross talk," she said. "It just took a virus to do it."Along with ingenuity, the situation has also spawned protests. Nurses at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco demonstrated outside the hospital Thursday, waving signs reading, "Protect nurse, patients, public health." More than 760,000 people have signed onto a Change.org petition asking hospital administrators for more protective equipment. Another group of physicians wrote an open letter to President Trump and Vice President Pence asking them to boost the supply and develop clear guidelines around sanitizing and reusing protective gear."The only institution with the power to require adequate production of protective equipment, to distribute the equipment effectively, and to create universal guidelines on its use, is the federal government," the physicians wrote. "The federal government needs to step up, right now."The federal government has taken some measure to increase the supply of protective gear. The Department of Health and Human Services tweeted Thursday they were deploying equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile—a repository of pharmaceuticals and medical products for use in a public health emergency. Trump this week invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate production of supplies, and Pence noted that a coronavirus relief law would also protect manufacturers from lawsuits when selling protective gear to health care workers. The New York National Guard was also preparing to deliver a mix of protective gear, medication, and ventilators from two large warehouses in the state, a source there told The Daily Beast. "The scale of the supplies ordered is massive," the source said. "The quantities of PPE items are in the tens of millions per item."The National Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.But the interventions came too late for some. One travel nurse told The Daily Beast that he and his wife chose to terminate their contracts when their hospital ordered them to repurpose single-use masks. The two moved home and have enough in savings to survive without income for a while, he said.Others weren't so lucky. His roommate, a 53-year-old nurse, could not afford to stop working at the hospital. "We all cried when we left," he said. "She's scared."The equipment shortages are also taking a toll on other, non-virus-related hospital procedures. The emergency physician in Tennessee said she recently treated a gunshot victim whose chest had to be cracked open in the ER. The disposable gowns usually used for such a procedure were nowhere to be found, she said—they had been locked up in a separate room, stockpiled with the other protective gear."There was blood everywhere," the doctor said. "I don't think anyone got exposed, but it could have been a lot worse than it was."The same doctor said she had recently tried to order her own protective gear, for fear that her hospital would run out. When she went to check out, she learned the items were back-ordered until mid-April. She recently checked Amazon to see if they had any in stock, she said, and saw the same mask she'd been eyeing for $25 was now selling for $70.Ordering protective gear is even more difficult for small, rural clinics. Dr. Surinder Sra, the owner of a freestanding clinic in Cherokee Village, AR—population 4,600—said he had tried to order masks, goggles, and hand sanitizer to prepare for an outbreak in his town. The supplier cancelled his order, he said, telling him he did not order from them regularly enough to be prioritized. Sra told The Daily Beast his clinic was still getting by on the supplies they saved from last year. "But if they're not going to send us the new ones," he said, "how am I going to continue to protect myself, my staff and my patients?" Chai said the situation is causing many providers to have these kinds of life-altering questions. His wife is also a provider, and he said they have started thinking about the best way to change out of their clothes when they get home, to prevent spreading the virus to their child."It's stuff you never wanted to have to think about," Chai said. "But as an emergency physician this is my job. This is what I signed up to do. We're not going to run away from this."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 793 in a day, lifting total death toll to 4,825 Posted: 21 Mar 2020 09:23 AM PDT  The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has leapt by 793 to 4,825, officials said on Saturday, an increase of 19.6% -- by far the largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago. On Thursday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious virus.
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| Trump on China: ‘I just wish they could have told us earlier’ Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:05 PM PDT  President Trump on Saturday said he wished that China would have notified the United States sooner about the coronavirus and its impact.
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| Covid-19: disaster declared in New York as fears grow over lack of ventilators Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:10 AM PDT  * Widespread shortage of equipment including gloves and masks * Cuomo: administration is 'scouring the globe' for suppliesNew York is preparing to ration its ventilators for sick coronavirus patients as a major disaster was declared in the city as it struggles to cope with the deadly outbreak.The disaster declaration comes as New York prepares guidance on how to deploy vital ventilators amid a widespread shortage of key equipment that also includes masks and surgical gloves, and medical supplies such as blood.The draft guidance on ventilators, prepared by a state taskforce in 2015 for a possible influenza pandemic, has reportedly been updated for the coronavirus crisis, though new guidelines have not been finalized.According to Sam Gorovitz, a professor of philosophy at Syracuse University and member of the taskforce, the revisions to the ventilator allocation guidelines include the formation of designated triage committees to determine which critically ill patients will or will not receive life-supporting respiration.Gorovitz told the Guardian he is "100% certain" that New York health administrators will face ethical decision-making in the near future about whom to ventilate – just as it is now making decisions about the allocation of masks and protective equipment."Consider a patient, 85 years old, on a ventilator, out of hospice care. Along comes a 45-year-old, with a family, and in fundamentally good health and a good prospect of full recovery from coronavirus if treated with the best available treatment."Is it not only acceptable but ethically necessary to take grandpa off the ventilator and switch him to palliative care, wipe away the tears, and switch the ventilator to the younger patient?" he said."These decisions are already being faced with regard to protective equipment that are inadequately supplied," Gorovitz said. "That's not the same as ventilator allocations, but everyone knows it's coming and those decisions are likely being made right now."At a press conference on Saturday New York state governor Andrew Cuomo said that his administration was "literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies".Cuomo added that New York is doing more tests than China or South Korea, calling the 45,000 tests to date a "great accomplishment."The announcement came as New York state recorded 10,000 infections. Forty to 80% of New Yorkers, or 7.8 million to 15 million people, would likely be affected by the virus in the end, Cuomo said."You don't have to wait til the end of the movie to know what happens," he said, saying that the measures being taken would ease pressure on medical facilities and allow the authorities to cope with the influx of the infected.The Trump administration late Friday issued a major disaster declaration for New York, the center of the US coronavirus outbreak, as infections spike across New York City to 5,000 as one person an hour dies from the coronavirus.The emergency declaration was issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to allow the state to access billions of dollars in aid from the disaster relief fund, as the number of confirmed New York cases soar."With no time to waste, the administration heeded the call and approved the nation's first major disaster declaration in response to the coronavirus, right here in New York," Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement."With more and more cases confirmed here each day, it's imperative that the federal government does everything within its power to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus."The disaster declaration allows for the US military to be called in, and the US Army Corps of Engineers may take over hotels, sports arenas, college dormitories and other buildings as needed.Under the declaration, Fema will be authorized to send its personnel and resources to set up mobile coronavirus testing centers, disinfect public facilities, and provide the state with medical supplies that are in high demand such as masks, gloves and surgical gowns.The vast Jacob Javits convention center on the west side of Manhattan could be used as a makeshift hospital, state officials have said.New Yorkers are already living under shutdown conditions that from Sunday night will see all residents, except for certain vital professions, expected to stay at home. Only a few vital businesses – like supermarkets and pharmacies – will remain open and citizens will be asked to only venture outside on vital tasks and not in groups.On Friday, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said: 'We constitute 30 percent of the cases in the US and 70 per cent of the cases in New York State. Whether we like it or not, we are the epicenter.'New York certainly needs help: it has become the main focus of the epidemic in the US, outstripping the original "hot zone" of Washington state.New York state has about 6,000 intensive care unit ventilators, and state health officials fear the pandemic will overwhelm the roughly 3,000 ICU beds available.With cases of coronavirus in the state spiking from around 800 to 8,000 in a week, Andrew Cuomo, New York's governor, has estimated that the state may require 30,000 ventilators to meet demand."It's ventilators, ventilators, ventilators. That is the greatest need," Cuomo told reporters on Friday after ordering a statewide shutdown of non-essential businesses. He also directed health facilities to turn over any non-essential ventilators to the department of health."We will purchase it from you if you could lend it to us. But we need ventilators, and anyone who has them now please call the New York state department of health," he said.Warnings of a ventilator shortage comes two days after Trump invoked wartime powers to harness private business to slow the spread of coronavirus to a manageable infection curve.But in New York and other major metropolitan areas, a shortage of basic masks and scrubs is threatening the effort even as testing ramps up.In Los Angeles, health officials are instructing doctors to only test sick people if a diagnosis would change how they would be treated, according to the LA Times.The LA Times reports that the county health department sent a letter to doctors this week saying they should only administer tests if "a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response".The decision is part of a shift "from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality," according to the paper.
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| Coronavirus: FAA briefly suspends all flights bound for NYC, Philadelphia airports Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:02 PM PDT  The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a "ground stop" for all flights to New York City airports including John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark due to staffing issues related to Coronavirus.
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| Fauci tempers Trump's optimism on chloroquine use for coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:10 AM PDT  President Trump and the leading scientific expert on infectious diseases on his coronavirus task force offered starkly different views Friday about whether Americans should feel hopeful that the antimalarial drug chloroquine could be used to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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| China says Pompeo 'lying' in new coronavirus clash Posted: 20 Mar 2020 07:54 AM PDT  The United States and China on Friday took their growing clash over the coronavirus pandemic to social media, with Beijing telling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo he was "lying through (his) teeth." In an interview on Fox News, Pompeo said Beijing "wasted valuable days" after identifying the novel coronavirus by letting "hundreds of thousands" leave the epicenter of Wuhan to places including Italy, which has surpassed China as the country with the highest death toll.
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| Dozens of Michael Bloomberg campaign staffers learned they were exposed to coronavirus hours before getting laid off and days before they'll lose their health insurance Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:41 PM PDT  Bloomberg campaign employees who worked in the New York headquarters will lose their jobs and health insurance on March 31.
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| Is spring break over? Local Florida officials close beaches after gov refuses to. Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:19 AM PDT  At the height of the spring break rush, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he would not order the beaches closed.
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| Former White House economic adviser returns as economy tanks Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:25 AM PDT  Former White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has offered some bleak economic pictures in the days ahead if businesses remain closed.
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| Brazil's Sao Paulo to get two-week coronavirus shutdown, Bolsonaro blasts 'hysteria' Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:23 AM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's largest state Sao Paulo will essentially shut down for two weeks to help fight the coronavirus, its governor said on Saturday, as President Jair Bolsonaro again claimed that "hysteria" over the outbreak could cause more harm than the virus itself. Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria said a statewide quarantine order would take effect on Tuesday and last through April 7. All but non-essential businesses and services, including bars and restaurants, will remain closed across the country's most populous state, which includes its financial hub, for the duration.
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| Coronavirus: Elon Musk 'child immunity' tweet will stay online Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:07 AM PDT  The entrepreneur falsely claimed that children were "essentially immune" to the virus.
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| Why is the coronavirus so much more deadly for men than for women? Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Italy announced that coronavirus deaths of men outnumbered those of women by a factor of 2 to 1. That mirrors the experience of China. What gives?
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| Government officials reportedly 'just couldn't get' Trump to do anything about coronavirus early on Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:41 AM PDT  The Trump administration has taken some heat for what many consider a delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic that's now sweeping through the country. But, The Washington Post reports, there were apparently numerous government officials who tried to warn the president about the repercussions as early as January.U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting told the Post the intelligence community issued warnings that China, where the new virus originated, was minimizing its own outbreak earlier in the year and that the U.S. could be facing a crisis. "Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn't get him to do anything about it," one official said. "The system was blinking red."Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar reportedly couldn't get Trump to speak with him about the virus until mid-January, two weeks after officials were alerted about its spread in China. Even then, Trump was reportedly more interested in when flavored vaping products were going to return to the market.In late January, Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, argued the virus could cost Trump re-election, while Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger began calling for a more forceful response in early February. But despite all that, Trump maintained his belief the threat would dissipate before it became serious in the U.S. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com The small-government case for giving everyone a big check The FDA expedited the approval of a rapid coronavirus test Democrats are divided over how Joe Biden should react to Trump amid pandemic
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| Iraq Shiites defy curfews to commemorate revered imam Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:12 PM PDT  Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiites turned out to commemorate a revered imam on Saturday, defying curfews imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus. On foot, they streamed to the golden-domed mausoleum of Imam al-Kadhim in Baghdad, where authorities kept an outer gate open to allow pilgrims into the surrounding courtyard. The inner shrine remained closed despite some pilgrims pressing authorities to let them in, a shrine official told AFP.
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| All flights bound for NYC-area and Philadelphia airports were briefly suspended after an air traffic controller tested positive for coronavirus Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:03 PM PDT  Flights were briefly put on hold as federal officials worked to disinfect the air traffic control tower where an employee tested positive Saturday.
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| China, South Korea, Taiwan sending masks and medical staff to other countries in need Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:33 AM PDT  The Chinese Red Cross shipped 30 tons of medical equipment along with nine Chinese medical staff to assist with preventing and controlling the virus.
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| Costa cruise resumes disembarking passengers in Italy; Ruby Princess guests to quarantine Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:17 PM PDT  Costa Luminosa continued its disembarkation process in Savona, Italy Saturday. The ship was allowed to dock despite the country being under lockdown.
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| Italy coronavirus deaths jump by almost 800, government shuts most workplaces Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:27 PM PDT  Italy recorded a jump in deaths from coronavirus of almost 800 on Saturday, taking the toll in the world's hardest-hit country to almost 5,000. "It is the most difficult crisis in our post-war period," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a video posted on Facebook, adding "only production activities deemed vital for national production will be allowed". Conte did not specify which factories and businesses will be considered crucial to keep the country going.
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| ‘There is hope’: 90-year-old grandmother is recovering from COVID-19 Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:48 PM PDT  The family all said their goodbyes to Geneva Wood in what seemed like her last days. But the 90-year-old kept fighting.
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| Editorial: Don't be fooled. The coronavirus pandemic is deadly serious, and it's everyone's problem Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:18 AM PDT  California's order might seem like a big deal. But what we don't know about this virus, which is a lot, means the risk of inaction is too high.
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| Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: Trump is not committed to criminal justice Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:57 AM PDT  The Brooklyn Democrat Hakeem Jeffries does not believe that President Trump is fully committed to criminal justice. "It's clear to me that President Trump is authentically committed to President Trump, and beyond that it's hard to tell," Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Yahoo News in a sit-down interview. Jeffries was one of the seven impeachment managers leading the impeachment trial against the president and questions how committed the White House is to reform.
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| Coronavirus bungling by White House is now 'too late to be fixed,' Obama's Ebola czar says Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:52 AM PDT  Ron Klain, who was the Obama administration's Ebola response coordinator, said he expects that the shortage of tests in the United States will be one of the most enduring legacies of the crisis.
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| US airlines warn of 'draconian' steps if Congress fails to help Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:14 PM PDT  The chief executives of the largest US airline companies asked Congress Saturday for urgent help avoiding widespread layoffs among the industry's 750,000 employees. "Unless worker payroll protection grants are passed immediately, many of us will be forced to take draconian measures such as furloughs," the CEOs said in a letter to leaders of both houses of Congress distributed by the Airlines for America trade group. Airlines for America represents American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines as well as shippers FedEx and UPS.
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| Peloton is temporarily halting sales and deliveries of its $4,295 treadmill because of the coronavirus, just as people are looking for new ways to work out at home Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:58 AM PDT  Peloton is suspending delivery and sales of its treadmill, but it's still selling its bike and offering a free 90-day trial of its workout app.
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| California tests out strict limits on daily life previously unimaginable Posted: 20 Mar 2020 07:21 PM PDT  Residents prepared for a month-long stay-at-home order once thought unimaginable.
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| India may be about to discover "tens of thousands" more COVID-19 cases Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:46 AM PDT  After criticism over low test rates, government vows to ramp up "very narrow" efforts to detect the disease.
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| Italy sees biggest day-to-day rise in coronavirus deaths Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:55 AM PDT  Italy has recorded its highest day-to-day-rise in the number of deaths of people infected with the new coronavirus. Civil Protection Chief Angelo Borrelli said Friday the country recorded 627 more deaths in the 24 hours since Italy surpassed China on Thursday as the nation with the most COVID-19-related deaths. Borrelli says Italy also saw a staggering increase of 5,986 cases from a day earlier, bringing the official total in Italy to 47,021.
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| Sick parents with 102° fevers denied coronavirus test, as son begins vaccine trial Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:12 PM PDT  As Pennsylvania parents stayed home with Coronavirus symptoms, their son participated in a test that could change the course of a global pandemic.
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| To Protect the Future, Hold China to Account Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:54 PM PDT  In the winter of 2002–2003, the deadly SARS coronavirus exploded out of China's 'wet-blood' wildlife markets. SARS infected over 8,000 people worldwide and killed almost 800. Yet post-crisis, China laxly enforced bans on the offending markets, only to permit them to flourish soon thereafter. Today's COVID-19 is the deadly and avoidable legacy of China's recklessness.U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo has proclaimed that COVID-19 stems from just such Chinese 'wet-blood' markets. While Beijing has praised them as protein sources, their unsanitary practices have long been identified as "perfect viral melting pots" for zoonotic diseases -- diseases that jump from animals to man. In COVID-19's wake, China shut down cities and shuttered the offending Wuhan markets — for now.Today the world strains to curtail COVID-19, mourn losses, and salvage livelihoods. Tomorrow it must prevent a like recurrence and account for damage done. Tomorrow's tasks regrettably require forthrightly identifying and addressing Beijing's wrongful, unnecessary, and repeated misdeeds.As many, including Dr. Bill Karesh of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, have shown, readily affordable measures, including refrigeration and culturally sensitive regulation, could replace China's lax and dangerous wet-market practices. Yet Beijing persisted, even after SARS illustrated the international risks. That disturbing record proved a breeding ground for COVID-19 and may recur.Despite a vast treasury and a world-leading economy, the Chinese Communist leadership has neglected necessary reforms, spending lavishly instead to further hegemonic ambitions in Asia and beyond, as well as its hold on China.To expand her geo-political reach, China's Belt and Road Initiative throws money at infrastructure projects from South Asia to the North Atlantic and from the South China Sea to Palau. National Bureau of Asian Research currently estimates BRI to cost around $1-1.3 trillion (USD). Over the past decades, China's defense spending increased on average roughly 10 percent per year, a rate vastly exceeding any competitor. For a pittance of such expenditures, China could have avoided today's pandemic and helped prevent future ones.Internally, the CCP has spent millions viciously repressing multi-child families, Internet use, Muslim Uighurs, Hong Kong democrats, and the Dalai Lama's Tibet, to name a few. Food stalls would be child play.Who suffers from CCP leaders prioritizing international hegemony and party supremacy? The world.Sadly, after COVID-19 began to spread, China exacerbated its wrongful conduct: first covering it up; then hindering others' abilities to understand, halt, and mitigate the disease; and finally blaming its victims.In a recent interview, National Security adviser Robert O'Brien suggested that China's cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak delayed the global response by two months. Chinese authorities, he noted, actively suppressed doctors' warnings.Once word got out, China then barred health experts from China, where they had hoped to study the disease and its spread.These lost months were costly. All the while, unwitting travelers spread the virus. Lost weeks delayed gathering medical supplies, readying facilities, and developing countermeasures.Having unnecessarily caused and exacerbated a worldwide pandemic, untouchable Chinese officials added their next outrage — blaming America. Beijing shamelessly poses as both victim and savior, seeking disproportionate praise for sharing genome information, casualty data, and, relative to the harm, limited supplies.In any just and lawful setting, actors who recklessly pursue hazardous activities would be held accountable for foreseeable harm caused to others. It would not matter if the wrongdoers did not intend such harm; it would be enough that they knowingly persisted. Exacerbating harm by concealing it and retarding mitigation only increases such liability.Prevention and simple justice require that Beijing accept consequences facing any other wrongdoer — including an end to dangerous practices and extending at least partial compensation to those so grievously harmed outside China. International diplomacy, legislation, executive action or legal proceedings here and abroad should seek to ensure Beijing acts responsibly.Yes, China, too, has suffered from its irresponsible practices. Many Chinese have tragically died, and Beijing's guided economy has stumbled from Beijing's misguided choices.However, the free world groans under horrendous losses of Beijing's making. The unnecessary deaths will be staggering and financial losses crippling. According to assessments by the UN and others, this outbreak could cost the world between $1 to $2.7 trillion. As of mid-March, the U.S. stock market has dropped almost 30 percent from its mid-February high, wiping out nearly $3.7 trillion from the U.S. market alone. As families cower amid Lysol wipes, businesses reel from disrupted supply chains and operations. Recession looms, forcing states worldwide to introduce stimulus packages, with the U.S. debating a $1 trillion plan.Over the years, the self-appointed rulers of China have escaped not just domestic, but international liability for their wrongdoing. Over the years, their thefts of intellectual property, wrongful trade practices, ruthless domestic oppression, support of rogue regimes, proliferation of nuclear technology, and unlawful conduct in the South China Sea have been excused or effectively ignored. Certainly, China has never suffered setbacks commensurate with what it sought to gain.Why do Chinese leaders think they can get away with such wrongs? As President Trump warned Americans years ago, because they have. He added, shame on us for letting them do so.To his enormous credit, President Trump has said, "Enough." His administration has made great strides reversing the world's complacency toward Beijing's misdeeds. As the president and leaders like Senators Cotton and Rubio turn to bolstering U.S. defenses and preventing future devastation, American and world leaders alike should find ways to ensure that this time, China does more than temporarily close a market. Otherwise, the next 'wet-blood' pandemic awaits.
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| Top coronavirus doctor puts head in hands when Trump mentions 'Deep State Department' at briefing Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:45 AM PDT  President Trump is busy conspiracy theorizing during a international crisis.In a press conference Friday outlining several new actions the U.S. government is taking during the new coronavirus spread, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the leader of the State Department, took the lectern. "Or as they like to call it, the Deep State Department," Trump said before Pompeo stepped up.Pompeo, who tends to agree with Trump's far-right tendencies, seemed to take no issue with the term that connotes the U.S. government is actually run by shady political forces behind the scenes. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump's top coronavirus adviser, rejected his own advice and put his head in his hand after the president threw out the comment.> The president's apparent anger on display as he used the derogatory term "Deep State Department" and Dr Fauci reacted by putting his hand over his face. Watch. pic.twitter.com/Ks7j4WciVt> > — Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) March 20, 2020No matter how wild Trump's eccentricities get, Fauci should probably avoid touching his face — though the crowded press briefing room wasn't exactly up to CDC standards either.More stories from theweek.com The small-government case for giving everyone a big check Government officials reportedly 'just couldn't get' Trump to do anything about coronavirus early on The FDA expedited the approval of a rapid coronavirus test
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| Amsterdam-Delhi flight turned back amid corona confusion Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:57 AM PDT  A KLM flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi was turned around midair, an official and a passenger told AFP on Saturday, after apparent confusion about India's coronavirus regulations. Because of the pandemic, India has imposed a bar on flights from Europe and from Sunday a one-week complete ban on all incoming international commercial flights comes into force. Passengers on the KLM flight, which had been due to arrive in the Indian capital early Saturday, included a pregnant woman who needed medical treatment on returning to Amsterdam.
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| Pet adoption is spiking amid the coronavirus pandemic. Here are 7 science-backed reasons a pet could be the best thing for your health. Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:12 AM PDT  As people practice social distancing, many are discovering the mental and physical health benefits of owning an animal.
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| Democrats sound the alarm on Joe Biden's young voter problem Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The party's presidential front-runner is taking the vulnerability seriously. Some say it reminds them of Clinton in 2016, and won't be easy to overcome.
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