Here are some significant developments:
April 21, 2020 at 11:25 PM EDT
Jazz bassist Henry Grimes, who returned to music after 30-year absence, dies of the coronavirusIn the 1950s and 1960s, Henry Grimes was one of the most versatile and admired bass players in jazz. He went on to become perhaps the leading bass player in the emerging free jazz movement of the 1960s, anchoring ensembles led by pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Albert Ayler and trumpeter Don Cherry.
After moving to the West Coast in the 1960s, he simply dropped out of sight. By the 1980s, some writers and reference books said he had died. But in 2002, a jazz-loving Georgia social worker tracked him down in Los Angeles, where he lived in a single-room occupancy hotel and worked as a janitor. He hadn’t played a note of music in more than 30 years.
What followed was one of the most triumphant rediscoveries in music history. A fellow musician sent Mr. Grimes a bass as a gift, and he practiced day and night before he slowly returned to form. He moved to New York in 2003, his musical energy and skills as strong as ever, and became a revered figure in the jazz avant-garde. He performed all over the world, made numerous recordings, taught at conservatories and was hailed as a musical visionary whose time had finally come.
Mr. Grimes was 84 when he died April 15 at a nursing facility in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. He had complications from the coronavirus, said his wife, Margaret Davis Grimes.
By Matt Schudel
April 21, 2020 at 10:58 PM EDT
Kentucky, Rhode Island illustrate challenges posed by lack of national testing strategyKentucky and Rhode Island might look similar on paper. They’ve done comparable numbers of diagnostic tests and lost similar numbers of residents to the coronavirus. But Kentucky has more than four times Rhode Island’s population, meaning it has tested 0.7 percent of its residents, compared with Rhode Island’s 3.7 percent, the highest per capita testing level in the United States.
The difference suggests Rhode Island probably has a better sense of the virus’s spread throughout the state, making it better prepared to curb it. The contrast offers a clear illustration of the challenges posed by a state-by-state testing strategy, in the absence of a national plan coordinated by the federal government.
By Juliet Eilperin and Chris Mooney
April 21, 2020 at 10:26 PM EDT
The Bronx leads New York City in covid-19 cases per capitaNEW YORK â€" Amid this unfolding public health crisis, New York City has been distilled to its essential workforce. The Bronx, predominantly, is where they live, each day cramming into buses and subway trains that take them into Manhattan.
As the city rallies around a mantra of “New York Tough,†the marginalized here â€" among them city transit staff, garbage collectors and health-care workers â€" know that New Yorkers are not truly all in this together. There are now more coronavirus infections in the Bronx per capita than in any of the city’s other boroughs, according to health department data.
By Richard Morgan
April 21, 2020 at 9:55 PM EDT
Washington state’s recovery plan aims to slowly lift restrictions but most will remain in placeMany of Washington’s covid-19 restrictions will remain in place at the start of the next month, but Gov. Jay Inslee (D) hopes the state will soon allow elective surgeries, outdoor recreation and construction jobs.
During a Tuesday night address, Inslee outlined the state’s recovery plan as a process that “will look more like a turning of a dial than a flip of the switch.†In the slow rollback, most of the state’s restrictions will not be lifted by May 4 â€" the original date until which its “stay home, stay safe†order was to be in place. However, Inslee said, with information that the virus spread is “likely declining†in the state, the recovery plan would permit the trio of services that are essential to medical treatment, health and employment.
“We hope that the data comes in the next few days so we can implement these measures,†Inslee said.
Washington hopes to resume elective surgeries, if health officials have personal protective equipment, as well as permit outdoor activities that are crucial to the state’s identity and critical for mental and physical health, Inslee said. Also, the governor proposed a limited return to construction with safety measures in place.
“We’re going to take steps and then monitor to see whether they work,†Inslee said, “or if we must continue to adapt.â€
In February, Washington reported the first death related to covid-19 in the United States as the state became the epicenter for the virus before New York’s numbers spiked. As of Tuesday night, Washington had 197 new positive cases, increasing the total to 12,282, and 30 more deaths, elevating the number to 682 overall, according to the state’s health department.
However, Inslee said Washington’s spread has declined, as seen from an analysis of hospitalizations and confirmed cases and deaths from the beginning of the encounter with the virus until now.
By Candace Buckner
April 21, 2020 at 9:48 PM EDT
Biden slams Trump over immigration banFormer Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic challenger to President Trump in November, condemned the president for focusing on immigration rather than increasing coronavirus testing.
“Rather than execute a swift and aggressive effort to ramp up testing, Donald Trump is tweeting incendiary rhetoric about immigrants in the hopes that he can distract everyone from the core truth: he's moved too slowly to contain this virus, and we are all paying the price for it,†Biden said in a statement.
Biden said there should be a policy that all travelers, citizens and noncitizens, coming to the U.S. be screened for covid-19, but that a flat ban on new immigration was “irrational.â€
He also accused Trump of writing “inflammatory tweets†to hide from “one of the most glaring failures of this president’s response†â€" the lack of widespread testing.
By Colby Itkowitz
April 21, 2020 at 9:03 PM EDT
Boeing workers return to reopened factories and new anxietiesRENTON, Wash. â€" Boeing workers came back to their jobs this week after a three-week furlough intended to halt the spread of the coronavirus through the workforce. The third shift resumed at 10:30 p.m. Monday, and the first shift reported back between 5 and 6 Tuesday morning.
They returned to new hand-washing stations. To managers asking them about their health. To more signs warning of the dangers of the coronavirus â€" as if the workers needed the reminder after scores of their colleagues had fallen ill during the pandemic, forcing Boeing to shutter some of its biggest manufacturing plants across the country.
Now Boeing has started reopening the shuttered factories in what will be a closely watched experiment in whether Americans can safely return to work in the nation with the highest number of coronavirus casualties in the world.
By Christian Davenport and Gregory Scruggs
April 21, 2020 at 8:25 PM EDT
‘The numbers are low until it’s your child’: The coronavirus can be deadly for children, too.The death of a 5-year-old in Detroit from the coronavirus stands as a heartbreaking exception in a pandemic that has largely spared children even as it ravages older populations and people with underlying medical conditions. Skylar Herbert was both young and without known underlying conditions.
Her story disproves “the myth now that children couldn’t get it,†the child’s father, Ebbie Herbert, said.
Boston Children’s Hospital, one of the nation’s major pediatric medical centers, reported a jump in covid-19 admissions last week when as many as 13 patients were hospitalized with the condition at one point. Children’s National Hospital in the District reported a steady increase in cases, as did Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Doctors at both hospitals say they believe the increase correlates to the surge of cases in the broader populations of those cities, though the number of adults infected still dwarfs the number of children testing positive.
By Chelsea Janes and Vickie Elmer
April 21, 2020 at 8:19 PM EDT
Harvard says it has not received PPP funds, despite Trump urging the school to pay them backHarvard University tweeted Tuesday that it has not applied for or received funds through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which is aiding hard-hit businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
The tweets were triggered by comments by President Trump during the evening’s White House coronavirus task force press briefing. Harvard’s rebuttal came less than a half hour after the briefing ended.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was at the briefing to discuss the program. When he was asked a question about big businesses paying back money from the program, Trump butted in to point at Harvard.
“I’m going to request it, I’m going to request it. Harvard is going to pay back the money,†Trump said. “They shouldn’t be taking it. Harvard is going to, you have a number of … I’m not going to mention any other names, but when I saw Harvard, they have one of the largest endowments in the country, maybe in the world, I guess, and they’re going to pay back that money. They shouldn’t be taking it.â€
In a series of tweets, in direct response to Trump’s accusations, Harvard denied requesting or receiving PPP funds. The university added: “President Trump is right that it would not have been appropriate for our institution to receive funds that were designated for struggling small businesses.â€
Harvard and other elite private universities have faced additional criticism for receiving taxpayer money from the Cares Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. The university wrote Tuesday on Twitter that “Harvard has committed that 100% of these emergency higher education funds will be used to provide direct assistance to students facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.â€
By Jesse Dougherty
April 21, 2020 at 8:16 PM EDT
Birx: Ga. residents should still practice social distancing as the state starts to reopenAlthough Republican Gov. Brian Kemp cited the White House’s proposed reopening plan in his decision to allow some businesses to reopen as soon Friday, President Trump and his coronavirus task force weren’t as eager to put their weight behind him during a White House briefing Tuesday night.
While Trump referred to Kemp as a “very capable man†who knows what he’s doing, Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response director, said she would not prejudge a state leader’s decisions but cautioned Georgia residents to use common sense.
“I believe people in Atlanta would understand if their cases are not going down then they need to continue to do everything that we said: social distancing, washing your hands, wearing a mask in public,†Birx said, citing the administration’s “Opening Up America Again†guidelines.
Before any state attempts to reopen, Birx said it is up to the elected officials to transparently convey to the public the evidence-based data utilized to make the decision. Also, Birx said opening up retail stores, entertainment venues and salons should vary from community to community. For instance, a highly populated area like Atlanta or a hard-hit region like Dougherty County (with 103 deaths, the most of any county in the state) would not conceivably be ready to reopen as the more rural areas of the state that have recorded few positive cases.
Kemp’s decision has been highly critiqued, and even Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) expressed hesitation about the move, tweeting: “I worry that our friends and neighbors in Georgia are going too fast too soon.â€
Though Birx stated several times that she did not want to second-guess Kemp, she advised elected officials to follow the administration’s phases of reopening protocols.
“We’ve been very clear in the guidelines,†Birx said. “It’s up to the governors and mayors to ensure that they’re following, the best they can, each of those phases to make sure that the … public is completely protected.â€
Birx, however, gave an implausible scenario for hairstylists and tattoo artists to remain six feet away from patrons while providing personal services.
“So, if there’s a way that people can social distance and do those things, then they can do those things. I don’t know how, but people are very creative,†Birx said. “So I’m not going to prejudge.â€
By Candace Buckner
April 21, 2020 at 7:52 PM EDT
Prisons become part of the pandemic supply chain, despite risk of the virusWith inconsistent access to soap and disinfectant and social distancing difficult to maintain, American prisons are becoming incubators for the coronavirus. Thousands of inmates are getting sick, and guards are spreading the virus back out to the larger community. This week, a single Ohio prison has become the largest hot spot in the country, with 1,950 inmates â€" 78 percent of the prison population â€" testing positive for the virus.
But even as detention centers suspend visits and confine hundreds of thousands to their cells to try to slow transmission, inmates throughout the country are also going to work, whether they want to or not. Prisons have begun shifting to become part of the pandemic supply chain, with nearly every state drafting inmates into their virus response efforts, despite warnings from public health experts that these are the last people who should be put on production lines right now.
“That is a recipe for disaster,†said Gavin Yamey, director of Duke University’s Center for Policy Impact in Global Health. Yamey said anything that increases transmission in detention centers represents a serious public health threat, because the virus will not stay contained to just prisoners. “They are already more vulnerable because of prison conditions, and now we are compelling them to put themselves at even higher risk.â€
By Hannah Dreier
April 21, 2020 at 7:47 PM EDT
Trump says immigration ban to last 60 days, could be extendedTrump confirmed reports that his administration will be stopping legal immigration to the United States for 60 days and left open the possibility that he could extend it.
The president claimed the decision was an economic one, intended to ensure American workers are prioritized for hiring. This argument over whether immigrants “take†jobs from U.S. workers is one of the central tension points in the larger immigration debate.
But Trump denied that his order was political. When asked if he was using the pandemic to make good on campaign promises to his supporters to reduce immigration, Trump said: “No, no. I want people that are in this country, I want our citizens to get jobs. I don’t want them to have competition.â€
Trump’s executive order, which he will sign Wednesday, deals with immigrants seeking permanent resident status, or green cards.
He also claimed that the immigration ban would "help to conserve vital medical resources for American citizens,†though there’s been no evidence that immigrants are depleting the medical supplies of which Trump has said the country has plenty. Reports have actually shown immigrants are fearful of getting medical treatment because of the Trump administration’s strict immigration policies.
Trump entertained the idea of extending the order after 60 days or having a second one that goes even further, though he didn’t say what that might look like.
“As we move forward, we will examine what additional immigration-related measures should be put in place to protect U.S. workers,†Trump said. “We want to protect our U.S. workers, and I think as we move forward, we will become more and more protective of them.â€
By Colby Itkowitz
April 21, 2020 at 7:09 PM EDT
Netflix reports record growth in new subscriptions as world went into coronavirus quarantineAs the coronavirus pandemic and its quarantines hit around the world, people made purchases they thought essential. Among them, apparently, was Netflix.
The streaming service added a record 15.8 million accounts between January and March. The number, which Netflix provided in its quarterly earnings report Tuesday, is double what most Wall Street analysts expected for the period and is by far the biggest quarterly add since Netflix became a mature business several years ago.
“We’re acutely aware that we are fortunate to have a service that is even more meaningful to people confined at home, and which we can operate remotely with minimal disruption in the short to medium term,†the company said in an investor letter. “Like other home entertainment services, we’re seeing temporarily higher viewing and increased membership growth.â€
By Steven Zeitchik
April 21, 2020 at 6:49 PM EDT
Edwards reminds protesters he’s following guidance from Trump and PenceLouisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has a message for protesters reportedly planning to rally in Baton Rouge this weekend to call for letting people quickly go back to work: He is simply following the guidance of President Trump and Vice President Pence in pursuing a phased reopening of the state economy.
“I would just make sure that they understand that what we are doing is what we’ve been advised to do by the president and by the vice president,†Edwards said at a news briefing Tuesday, referring to guidance issued by the White House last week on reopening state economies in three phases. “I really don’t need anybody protesting me to tell me that we ought to open up the economy as soon as we can. I get it. Nobody wants to do that more than I do. But as a governor, I’m going to protect public health and safety.â€
Edwards declined to offer details on what would happen May 1, the day after his stay-at-home order expires, except to say that the same order would not continue in place. He had already said Monday that reduced case numbers and other data suggest that the state is on a path to meet the criteria for the first phase of reopening by May 1.
He cautioned residents not to expect a quick return to normal: “It will be a gradual, phased reopening of different parts of the economy. Social distancing will be a prominent feature of daily life†for some period of time.
For now, to even get to phase one, the residents must continue to obey the state-at-home order, and the state must continue to ramp up its testing capacity and establish a robust program of contact-tracing, Edwards said.
Louisiana reported 24,854 total cases and 1,405 deaths as of Tuesday, with 6,169 cases in New Orleans and 344 deaths.
By David Montgomery
April 21, 2020 at 6:46 PM EDT
Abigail Disney criticizes Disney executives for putting employees on unpaid leave during crisisFilmmaker and Disney heiress Abigail Disney on Tuesday criticized leaders of the company that holds her family’s name.
In a Twitter thread, the documentary filmmaker criticized the findings of a Financial Times story, which showed that Disney leaders stopped paying nearly half of its workforce to save $500 million. The company has yet to disclose its 2020 dividends, but has made $1.5 billion in payments to its shareholders in the past, the Financial Times reports.
The bonuses in particular are an outrage, according to the heiress, who doesn’t hold a role in the company but often feels compelled to call out its misdeeds.
The company declined to comment.
$1.5 billion would “pay for three months salary to front line workers,†Abigail Disney wrote. “And it’s going to people who have already been collecting egregious bonuses for years.†,
The company has the opportunity to do better amid the coronavirus crisis and could’ve seen some sort of crisis on the horizon, she said.
She said the executives should give up some of their generous compensation this year and up to 3 percent of the returns on their dividends.
The Financial Times reported that chairman Bob Iger will forgo the remainder of his $3 million salary this year, and chief executive Bob Chapek will forgo half of his $2.5 million base salary.
“A crisis is always an opportunity for change. Reassess this mess you’ve made of the good will you got handed on which you depend more than you like to admit,†Disney wrote. “And pay the people who make the magic happen with respect and dignity they have more than earned from you.â€
Correction: A previous version of this post said that Disney plans to pay $1.5 billion in dividends to its leaders. The Financial Times reports that it has paid that in the past to its shareholders, but has not yet commented on this year’s dividends. The story also initially failed to distinguish between shareholder dividends and executive pay. This post has been updated.
By Lateshia Beachum
April 21, 2020 at 6:35 PM EDT
Anti-malarial drug Trump touted is linked to higher rates of death, study saysAn anti-malarial drug President Trump has aggressively promoted to treat covid-19 had no benefit and was linked to higher rates of death for Veterans Affairs patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus, according to a study.
The study by VA and academic researchers analyzed outcomes of 368 male patients nationwide, with 97 receiving hydroxychloroquine, 113 receiving hydroxychloroquine in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin, and 158 not receiving any hydroxychloroquine.
Rates of death in the groups treated with the drugs were worse than those who did not receive the drugs, the study found. Rates of patients on ventilators were roughly equal, with no benefit demonstrated by the drugs.
When asked about the study at the White House briefing on Tuesday, Trump said he was not aware of the study but that he would look into it.
By Christopher Rowland
April 21, 2020 at 6:27 PM EDT
Senate passes $484 billion bill that would expand small-business aid, boost money for hospitals and testingThe Senate passed a $484 billion deal Tuesday to replenish a small-business loan program that’s been overrun by demand and also devote more money for hospitals and coronavirus testing. President Trump said he would sign it into law.
The legislation, which came together after a bitter partisan stalemate followed by days of intense negotiations, would increase funding for the Paycheck Protection Program by $310 billion. The new bill would boost a separate small business emergency grant and loan program by $60 billion, and direct $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to a new coronavirus testing program.
The House is expected to approve the measure Thursday.
By Erica Werner and Seung Min Kim
April 21, 2020 at 6:26 PM EDT
Director of U.S. agency integral to covid-19 treatments is no longer in postThe head of HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is partnering with drug companies on covid-19 treatments and vaccines, has left his post and moved to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health.
Rick Bright will now oversee a public-private partnership aimed at developing coronavirus vaccines and treatments, an HHS spokesperson said. BARDA falls under HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and helps fund the development of vaccines, drugs and other measures for pandemic influenza, infectious diseases and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.
Bright’s deputy, Gary Disbrow, will serve as acting BARDA director, the spokesperson said. Stat News first reported Bright’s departure Tuesday.
“Dr. Rick Bright will transfer the skills he has applied as Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to the National Institutes of Health, as part of a bold plan to accelerate the development and deployment of novel point-of-care testing platforms,†the HHS spokesperson said.
Some officials were dismayed that Bright was removed from his post in the middle of the administration’s pandemic response, and argued that the move would be disruptive given Bright’s existing personal relationships with private industry, one senior administration official and one former administration official said. They added that he repeatedly clashed with his boss, Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS.
Another person familiar with the situation said Bright’s departure was discussed among top HHS officials well before the coronavirus outbreak because of dissatisfaction with his job performance.
Bright did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.
By Yasmeen Abutaleb
April 21, 2020 at 5:42 PM EDT
Sen. Rand Paul, a coronavirus survivor, says he wants to open the countrySen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a libertarian who loathes big government, returned to Washington and advocated for reopening the country on Tuesday, despite being one of a handful of lawmakers to have contracted the coronavirus.
“No amount of money, not all the money in China will save us from ourselves,†Paul said on the Senate floor. “Our only hope of rescuing this great country is to reopen the economy. If you print up billions of dollars and give it to people, they’re unlikely to spend it until you end the quarantine.â€
Paul was speaking in opposition to the next wave of relief money for small businesses that the Senate passed. Like others who want to reopen the country in the middle of the pandemic, Paul suggested the economic cost was greater than the risk of infection or death.
“Opening the economy will require Americans to rise above partisanship, to understand that deaths from infectious disease will continue,†Paul said, “but that we cannot indefinitely quarantine.â€
Paul, who tested positive for covid-19 last month, was among the fortunate ones â€" he barely had any symptoms and recovered quickly.
By Colby Itkowitz
April 21, 2020 at 5:22 PM EDT
Politicians around the world continue to push so-called coronavirus cures lacking evidencePublic health experts caution it will take a year to 18 months before the first vaccine for the novel coronavirus is available.
But the president of the east African island of Madagascar insists he’s found a faster solution: a local herbal remedy that cures the coronavirus, he told a crowd of journalists and diplomats Tuesday, without providing any scientific evidence.
“This herbal tea gives results in seven days,†said President Andry Rajoelina, as he took a sip of the drink, AFP reported.
“I will be the first to drink this today, in front of you, to show you that this product cures and does not kill,†he added.
The drink is derived from artemisia, which has had some success in treating malaria, according to AFP, but there’s no medical support that it has any effect on the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19.
“There is no scientific evidence that any of these alternative remedies can prevent or cure the illness caused by COVID-19. In fact, some of them may not be safe to consume,†the National Institutes of Health warned of the recent spate of claims around herbal or tea remedies.
Rajoelina is the latest public figure to tout a coronavirus cure with no or disputed scientific basis.
Nairobi Gov. Mike Sonko recently told reporters that he was including cognac in care packages, falsely claiming that according to the World Health Organization alcohol can sanitize the virus away.
In fact, the WHO has warned against the overconsumption of alcohol during lockdowns and has been unequivocal in saying that while alcohol-based sanitizers are helpful, alcoholic drinks offer absolutely no protection.
“Drinking alcohol does not protect you against Covid-19 and can be dangerous,†the WHO wrote on its website.
President Trump has also repeatedly pushed the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus cure, despite disputed initial studies about its potential.
By Miriam Berger
April 21, 2020 at 5:11 PM EDT
CDC director warns of a more dire second wave in the winterEven as states move ahead with plans to reopen their economies, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that a second wave of the novel coronavirus will be far more dire because it is likely to coincide with the start of flu season.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,†CDC Director Robert Redfield said in an interview with The Washington Post. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.â€
In a wide-ranging interview, Redfield said federal and state officials need to use the coming months to prepare for what lies ahead. As stay-at-home orders are lifted, officials need to stress the continued importance of social distancing. Officials also need to massively scale up their ability to identify the infected through testing and find everyone they interact with through contact tracing. Doing so prevents new cases from becoming larger outbreaks.
By Lena H. Sun
April 21, 2020 at 4:51 PM EDT
Texas Gov. Abbott defends Trump’s tweet on suspending immigration to U.S. amid pandemicTexas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday defended Trump’s tweet announcing that he will sign a new order to freeze the U.S. immigration system, arguing that the president is simply taking action to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
At a news conference, Abbott said he had only seen Trump’s Monday night tweet and hadn’t received any further information from the White House.
But he added that his perception of the tweet is something that Trump has articulated in the past â€" that he “wants to do everything possible to contain the spread of covid-19 in the United States.†Abbott noted that Trump had previously taken action to close the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada.
“As I interpret what he’s saying, his goal is to enhance his strategies to reduce further importation of covid-19,†Abbott said.
By Felicia Sonmez
April 21, 2020 at 4:48 PM EDT
Indonesian regency punishes quarantine violators by locking them in ‘haunted house’With major Indonesian cities locked down to stem the spread of the coronavirus, some people are seeking refuge in less densely populated areas such as Sragen regency in Central Java. The influx has led to new headaches for the regency’s leader, who has come up with an unusual punishment for failure to adhere to a mandated 14-day quarantine for outsiders: confining them to abandoned houses thought to be haunted.
Sragen regency leader Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati ordered this week that communities put those who violate the policy in abandoned homes widely thought to be haunted, Agence France-Presse reported.
“If there’s an empty and haunted house in the village, put people in there and lock them up,†Sukowati said. At least five people have been detained so far, according to AFP.
Sragen regency is not the only place in Indonesia using ghosts to fight the coronavirus. One village employed people dressed as ghosts to patrol the streets, scaring people indoors, Reuters reported.
Other countries have concocted similarly unorthodox punishments for people who fail to comply with coronavirus-related measures. In northern India, tourists shunning the country’s lockdown policies were forced by authorities to write “I am very sorry†500 times.
And in Paraguay, footage shared on social media appeared to show police forcing violators to do jumping jacks while being threatened with a stun gun.
Indonesia, a country of more than 260 million people, has more than 7,000 confirmed cases of the virus and more than 600 deaths, making it the country in Asia with the second-most deaths behind China. Experts have warned that travel from major metropolitan hubs in the country could cause surges in infections, especially as the traditional exodus period for Ramadan, known as “mudik,†nears.
By Ruby Mellen
April 21, 2020 at 4:08 PM EDT
Arkansas prison becomes state’s hotspot for the virusAn Arkansas maximum-security prison now makes up more than 38 percent of the state’s positive covid-19 cases.
During a Tuesday briefing, Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) updated the state’s number to 2,227 cases, with approximately 850 inmates inside Cummins Prison having tested positive for the virus. On the previous day, Arkansas had 1,923 cases: The sharp incline of 304 cases was brought on by the prison’s updated positive tests of 260.
“These are really some escalating high numbers we have seen,†Hutchinson said.
With 10 staffers and the vast majority of the inmates now with confirmed cases â€" the facility currently holds roughly 1,200 â€" the prison’s reality highlights how the virus can destructively spread through confined spaces.
In Ohio, the state’s prisons have reported 2,426 positive cases, or 21 percent of the total cases in the state, according to the Columbus Dispatch. A Marion, Ohio, correctional facility has become a hotspot in which 73 percent of the prison’s total population have tested positive.
Civil rights attorneys have filed a lawsuit, accusing the Hutchinson administration of not doing enough to prevent the transmission of coronavirus in correctional facilities. Hutchinson said that the state has provided more testing for the inmates in Cummins than what has been available to the general population.
“We’re trying to curtail it, we’re trying to know exactly where we stand in that prison environment,†Hutchinson said.
By Candace Buckner
April 21, 2020 at 3:57 PM EDT
Spain adds more support for workers and small businesses, backtracks on children’s outingsMADRID â€" Spain’s government approved an additional economic package Tuesday to help workers and small businesses struggling under the country’s strict nationwide lockdown.
The raft of measures included an extension of unemployment benefits and tax relief for small businesses and the self-employed, worth up to 1.1 billion euros in liquidity.
Spain continues to post a 2 percent daily growth in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, with a total of 204,178 infections and 21,282 fatalities to date, despite one of Europe’s strictest confinement protocols that has kept millions at home since March 13. Parliament is expected to approve an extension until May 9 on Wednesday.
Following a storm of criticism, Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa seemed to backtrack Tuesday evening on reports earlier in the day that children would be allowed to accompany parents to supermarkets starting next week.
“I’m going to ask, after announcing that starting Sunday we will allow walks, that you allow us to finish the details of the children’s [limited] outings,†Illa said in a televised news conference, emphasizing that he would define the time and distance constraints in the coming days.
Illa also announced the government had fixed the price for surgical-quality masks to be sold to the public at 0.96 euros.
“We continue to work on price regulation to avoid abuses and allow these products to arrive through the regular channels,†the minister said. “We aren’t currently working on price fixing for other products, but if we detect abuses, we are ready to act.â€
By Pamela Rolfe
April 21, 2020 at 3:42 PM EDT
SBA data breach may have exposed 8,000 business owners’ informationThe personal identifiable information of thousands of small businesses applying for federal disaster loans was potentially exposed to other applicants, marking the latest glitch in the rollout of government programs designed to help companies crippled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly 8,000 applicants to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL) â€" a long-standing program run by the Small Business Administration (SBA) â€" may have been affected. In a statement, the SBA said it “immediately disabled the impacted portion of the website, addressed the issue, and relaunched the application portal.â€
The emergency relief program typically issues loans to small businesses recovering from tornadoes and wildfires. But last month, the SBA expanded the program to include those hit by the coronavirus’s unprecedented economic fallout. EIDL funds are separate from the Paycheck Protection Program, which the White House and congressional leaders have been scrambling to replenish after its first round of funding ran out.
By Rachel Siegel
April 21, 2020 at 3:38 PM EDT
Hoyer pushes for guidelines for remote voting and House committee workHouse Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) sent a letter Tuesday to the chairs of two House panels, urging them to draft guidelines for remote voting and committee work for members of Congress in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
In his letter to House Administration Committee Chairperson Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Hoyer noted that he has already made clear his preference for allowing lawmakers to vote via videoconferencing technology.
“In addition, we must put in place procedures to allow committees to do their work in full, including markup and hearings,†he said. “We must update our rules explicitly to allow remote committee proceedings or change the rules to define ‘present’ in a way that allows for Members participation through an approved videoconferencing platform."
One option, he said, would be for lawmakers to amend the House rules so that the Committee on House Administration could establish virtual practices for committees “to ensure that there is a single clearinghouse for best practices and developing new strategies.â€
Hoyer also noted that even after the Capitol complex is eventually reopened, it will probably be necessary for lawmakers to continue to make accommodations to maintain social distancing â€" so “having a clear plan in place†will make it easier to protect lawmakers and staff in the long term, he said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), meanwhile, said in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Tuesday that House leaders should work together “to establish a clear, safe, and effective plan for reopening Congress,†arguing that lawmaking is “essential work.â€
“It is imperative that we outline a pathway forward that ensures transparency and regular order for all members,†McCarthy said.
By Felicia Sonmez
April 21, 2020 at 3:22 PM EDT
South Africa is hunting down coronavirus with thousands of health workersKRUGERSDORP, South Africa â€" As South Africa’s health experts watched the coronavirus race through Europe and begin to seed itself in their country, they made a pivotal decision.
Instead of waiting for sick people to start swamping their health-care system, potentially overwhelming it, they mobilized tens of thousands of medical workers â€" and brought the system to the people instead.
More than 28,000 health-care workers have spread out across South Africa’s nine provinces. Some go door to door, taking down people’s travel histories, temperatures and other risk factors. Others, especially in dense, poor communities known as townships, set up pop-up clinics where turnout has been high.
“Only South Africa has done that,†said Salim Abdool Karim, a member of the country’s pandemic task force, referring to the scale of the country’s effort.
By Bonolo Mogotsi and Max Bearak
April 21, 2020 at 3:12 PM EDT
Sen. Lindsey Graham, Columbia mayor weigh in as South Carolina reopens some businessesThe mayor of South Carolina’s capital city raised concerns Tuesday about the state’s move to begin reopening its economy following political pressure from some protesters. In contrast, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said he supported the governor’s decision, but questioned neighboring Georgia’s more lenient approach.
Stephen Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, S.C., told CNN on Tuesday that the city has been “focused like a laser beam†on controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus. Health experts, he said, have told him that nonessential businesses should not reopen until case numbers show a downward trend over a two-week span â€" a benchmark South Carolina has not reached.
“It’s a false choice to think you can be pro-business and not pro-public health,†Benjamin told CNN, saying he is concerned that the governor’s authority might preempt local governments that are leaning toward a more conservative approach.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R) has said his stay-at-home order will remain in effect, but that retail stores will be allowed to reopen this week. Businesses may only allow five customers into an establishment per 1,000 feet, or about 20 percent of occupancy limits.
Salons, gyms and dine-in restaurants are still prohibited, a more cautious approach that in neighboring Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is allowing most businesses to reopen by early next week â€" so long as they maintain social distancing.
In a tweet Tuesday, Graham said he supported McMaster’s approach, calling it a “small reopening of our state’s economy with a focus on social distancing."
â€I worry that our friends and neighbors in Georgia are going too fast too soon,†Graham added.
By Katie Mettler
April 21, 2020 at 2:43 PM EDT
Human vaccine trials in the U.K. to start April 23LONDON â€" The British government announced fresh funding Tuesday to two British groups racing to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, announcing that one would start human trials in Oxford on Thursday.
Speaking at the government’s daily coronavirus news conference, Britain’s Heath Secretary Matt Hancock pledged $51 million to a research group at Imperial College and another at Oxford University. He said that the project at Oxford University, led by professor Sarah Gilbert, will begin testing on volunteers Thursday.
“In normal times, reaching this stage would take years,†Hancock said.
Imperial College’s faculty of medicine tweeted Tuesday that they were looking for volunteers ages 18 to 55 and in good health to participate in a vaccine trial, for which participants could be paid up to $755.
The research teams in the United Kingdom are among dozens around the world working around-the-clock. In the United States, companies such as Moderna and Inovio are also racing to develop and test vaccines.
Gilbert, whose team at the Jenner Institute at Oxford began working on a vaccine in mid-January, has previously said that she was optimistic that a vaccine could be ready by September. Even if it is a success, experts say that rolling it out to the general population could take months.
Hancock said that finding a vaccine is “the top priority†for the British government, adding that “there’s a huge amount still to do."
By Karla Adam
April 21, 2020 at 2:19 PM EDT
Whitmer says protesters ‘need to focus on the fact that this is a short period of time’Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Tuesday said she understands the frustrations of protesters who oppose the state’s stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus pandemic, but noted that the restrictions are necessary to protect public health.
“It’s not about taking your right to assemble away,†Whitmer said in a Washington Post Live interview.
She urged Americans to focus on protecting the lives of vulnerable populations, including older people.
“It’s about making sure that my father’s right to live is protected,†she said, invoking him as an example. “We need to focus on the fact that this is a short period of time.â€
Asked what the future looks like for Michigan, Whitmer acknowledged “the odds that everyone will resume life as normal are zero.â€
“Some form of an order will continue on,†she said. “But our hope is that we will slowly start to engage sectors of our economy in a way that keeps our customers and our employees safe alike.â€
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) also defended governors’ handling of their states during the pandemic. He pushed back against Trump’s recent assurances that governors have everything they need to conduct coronavirus tests, arguing there is a “worldwide shortage†on many materials such as swabs and reagents.
“What he’s not right about is we don’t have the capacity to run those tests,†Pritzker said of Trump.
By Felicia Sonmez
April 21, 2020 at 1:54 PM EDT
Nurses in front of the White House read the names of colleagues killed by the coronavirusAbout 30 registered nurses gathered in front of the White House on Tuesday to read the names of health-care workers who have died fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Wearing masks and standing six feet apart, the nurses held up photographs of the deceased as Melody Jones, a member of the National Nurses United union, addressed reporters in an otherwise empty Lafayette Square.
The names came from all over the country â€" New York and Alabama, Puerto Rico and Nevada, California and Michigan, Florida and Maryland, New Jersey and the District. A man in blue scrubs standing behind Jones as she read held a metallic gold sign painted with the message: “20 seconds won’t scrub ‘hero’ blood off your hands."
“Let us remember and honor the ultimate sacrifice these nurses paid,†Jones said. “We commit ourselves to fight like hell for the living.â€
More than 9,000 health-care workers in the United States have tested positive for the virus, according to recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But those numbers are thought to be a gross undercount of infections because of the continuing lack of test availability in many areas.
The nurses said Tuesday that they wanted to bring their demands for more personal protective equipment directly to Trump’s doorstep. Health-care providers in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and rehabilitation centers have for weeks begged lawmakers and government agencies for more protective equipment to shield themselves and their vulnerable patients from the spread of covid-19.
By Marissa Lang
April 21, 2020 at 1:51 PM EDT
At least seven Milwaukee residents who participated in April elections have tested positive for coronavirus, health officials sayAt least seven Milwaukee residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus since Wisconsin’s April 7 elections either stood in line or worked the polls that day, Milwaukee health officials announced Tuesday.
Officials have not yet established whether the individuals contracted the virus as a result of their activities on Election Day. The individuals were identified through a state questionnaire that added “election activity†to its list of questions posed to infected residents after the April 7 elections to screen for a potential link to the vote.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s controversial decision ordering the state to proceed with the elections over the objections of the governor and public health officials led to snaking lines in several cities as determined voters waited for hours to cast their ballots.
By Amy Gardner
April 21, 2020 at 1:34 PM EDT
Georgia mayors push back on governor’s decision to reopen businessesSome mayors in Georgia are pushing back against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen parts of the state at the end of the week, voicing concerns that the move could endanger residents and upend efforts through social distancing measures to slow the spread of the virus and support hospitals overwhelmed with patients.
“I understand that the governor had a difficult decision to make,†Albany Mayor Bo Dorough said Tuesday on CNN. “I do, however, think he made the wrong decision.â€
Dorough’s town is at the center of the state’s outbreak. More than 760 people have died in Georgia, and nearly 100 of them have been in Dougherty County, where Albany is the county seat.
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms have issued similar criticisms of the new order.
Kemp announced Monday that gyms, barbershops, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys, among other businesses, would be allowed to reopen Friday, and that theaters and dine-in restaurants can resume operations April 27.
Kemp’s decision came as a handful of other states, including South Carolina, announced similar plans to begin reopening their economies.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday drew a contrast between the lifting of restrictions in his state and in Georgia. “I worry that our friends and neighbors in Georgia are going too fast too soon,†he tweeted.
In Georgia, Dorough told CNN that he believed other parts of the state, less affected by the virus, were “too anxious to return to normalcy.â€
“We understand how bad this virus can be,†Dorough said.
Girtz said Tuesday on CNN that he is telling his residents to continue to stay at home until the state has seen more clear evidence that cases are declining and that testing has robustly increased.
By Katie Mettler
April 21, 2020 at 1:26 PM EDT
Italy, Britain, Spain announce higher daily death talliesItaly announced 534 new deaths from the novel coronavirus Tuesday, an increase of 80 compared with Monday’s death toll. The sharp increase serves as a reminder that the country’s recovery from the pandemic may be slow.
The death toll in Italy stands at 24,548, the highest of any nation outside of the United States. Another 2,729 coronavirus cases were confirmed in the past day, Italian officials said Tuesday â€" a fall from the previous day’s count â€" bringing the country’s number of cases to 183,957.
Britain also announced a rise in deaths Tuesday, with official figures showing 823 new deaths linked to the virus confirmed in hospitals. That number, almost double the figure announced Monday, brought the death toll in Britain to 17,337. The full figure may be higher, however, as other data collected by the British government suggests deaths outside of hospitals that are not included in official counts may be significant.
An additional 4,301 people have tested positive for the virus in Britain, bringing the total number of cases to 129,044.
Earlier in the day, Spain also announced new covid-19 data, with deaths up by 430 to 21,282 and cases up by 3,968 to 204,178, both increases from Monday’s numbers.
In all three countries, experts have cautioned that the numbers being counted during the week fluctuate, as there is a lag in cases counted over the weekend. Health experts are carefully evaluating data in hopes that strict social distancing requirements can be gradually loosened.
On Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that it was likely a nationwide lockdown would be eased after May 4 but that some restrictions would stay in place.
“I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything,†Conte wrote on Facebook. “But such a decision would be irresponsible.â€
By Adam Taylor
April 21, 2020 at 1:26 PM EDT
Trump speaks with Boris Johnson as prime minister continues recovery from coronavirusTrump spoke Tuesday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is continuing to recuperate from his bout with the coronavirus, about cooperation in reopening the global economy, the White House announced.
“The Prime Minister shared that he is feeling better and on the road to recovery,†White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement in which he also relayed that the two leaders “reaffirmed their close cooperation†on issues such as ensuring that medical supplies “reach all those in need.â€
“President Trump and Prime Minister Johnson also discussed bilateral and global issues, including our shared commitment to reaching a United States-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement,†Deere added.
Johnson has spent nearly a month away from his duties, first sick and in self-isolation, then in a hospital ward and an intensive care unit, and now in recovery at the prime minister’s official countryside retreat. He and his government are coming under increasing criticism that they underestimated the threat of the pandemic, were slow to act and are bungling the response.
By John Wagner and William Booth
April 21, 2020 at 1:25 PM EDT
Refugees in crowded camps face mounting coronavirus risk, U.N. saysCrowded camps and facilities continue to post a mammoth coronavirus risk for asylum seekers and refugees, advocates warn.
Rohingya refugees in and around Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazaar â€" an area with a population density one and a half times that of hard-hit New York City â€" “are considered to be among the most at risk globally in this pandemic,†the United Nation’s refugee agency, UNHCR, said Tuesday, repeating previous warnings.
There are no confirmed coronavirus cases among the estimated 1 million Rohingya in and around Cox’s Bazaar. But UNHCR said Tuesday that the approaching monsoon season and its rains could temporarily displace thousands of households, putting people already in cramped and unsanitary camps at even further risk of a rapid outbreak.
In southern Greece, more than 100 people housed in a facility housing around 470 refugees tested positive for the virus, Greece’s state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported Tuesday. It’s the latest in several cases of coronavirus outbreaks in camps and accommodation centers across Greece’s mainland and islands. In March, UNHCR said it provided cash assistance to nearly 100,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Greece. For weeks, refugee advocates have been urging governments to move people out of cramped and unsanitary housing, where preventive practices such as social distancing and constant hand washing are practically impossible.
Bosnia began to proactively do so Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. In the northwestern city of Bihac, police are resettling hundreds of migrants and refugees from the streets into a new emergency tent camp managed by the International Organization for Migration.
The facility was “equipped with all necessary infrastructure to provide the beneficiaries with … accommodation, food, hygiene, sanitation and medical care,†IOM said in a statement.
By Miriam Berger
April 21, 2020 at 12:45 PM EDT
New York’s curve is trending down, and Cuomo wants to talk testing with TrumpNew York’s coronavirus curve is showing a downward trend, and some areas will be allowed to resume elective outpatient procedures, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said in a Tuesday news conference.
“The overall curve is on the way down, and that’s good news certainly,†he said. “The net change in hospitalizations is down, but not down as much as we would like.â€
The number of intubations in the state is also down in addition to the number of people who were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Monday, which was 1,300.
“Our definition of good has changed,†he said. “Good is now not terrible.â€
The number of deaths ticked up to 481 on Monday from 478 on Sunday, he said. Cuomo plans to take a regional approach within his state to reopen its economy. The reopening plan will be based on which parts of the state were most or least affected by the virus.
The governor will meet with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday evening, when he plans to discuss how the federal government can coordinate a partnership with states to better improve testing and the availability of testing materials.
“In my point of view, I think the federal government has to take that national manufacturer supply chain issue,†he said. He added that he does not think governors should follow the model of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) of securing 500,000 tests from South Korea for his state.
By Lateshia Beachum
April 21, 2020 at 12:41 PM EDT
Dow plunges 700 points as oil prices extend retreatA collapse in the price of oil continued to disrupt world markets Tuesday as investors braced for another deep dive in U.S. stocks. Global benchmark Brent crude fell nearly 17 percent, to $21.35 a barrel, one day after the U.S. benchmark fell below zero for the first time in history.
The commodity’s dive pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 700 points, roughly 3 percent, at midday.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite indexes also nose-dived. European and Asian markets also were in decline as uncertainty gripped investors, who are hungry for any sign of relief from the economic stranglehold of the coronavirus pandemic.
By Thomas Heath
April 21, 2020 at 12:04 PM EDT
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says ‘we’ve got to take some risks’ and reopen economyTexas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) on Monday defended an interview last month in which he said that older Americans should sacrifice their lives for the sake of the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the events of the past few weeks have proved him correct.
Public health experts have warned that prematurely relaxing social distancing and other restrictions could result in a resurgence of the novel coronavirus, leading to a greater loss of life. But Patrick on Monday appeared to argue that the fact that only 495 Texans have died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, out of the state’s 29 million population means that it’s time to reopen.
“Every life is valuable, but 500 people out of 29 million, and we’re locked down, and we’re crushing the average worker,†Patrick said. “We’re crushing small business. We’re crushing the markets.â€
Last month, Patrick came under fire for saying that senior citizens should “take a chance†on their own lives for the sake of their grandchildren during the coronavirus pandemic. In Monday’s interview, he renewed his call for Americans to “take some risks."
“I don’t want to die,†he said. “Nobody wants to die. But man, we’ve got to take some risks and get back in the game and get this country back up and running.â€
He also argued, incorrectly, that Democrats currently have “total control†over the country and appeared to blame them for the social distancing guidelines that have been recommended by the nonpartisan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other restrictions that have been enacted in both red and blue states.
“Everywhere you see these draconian rules of locking down people and keeping business shut and destroying our country, it’s mostly Democrat governors, Democrat county judges, Democrat mayors,†Patrick claimed.
By Felicia Sonmez
April 21, 2020 at 11:54 AM EDT
Saudi Arabia eases curfew hours for Ramadan in some citiesCAIRO â€" With Ramadan on the horizon, Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday that it would ease coronavirus-triggered curfews in some cities to allow people to shop for essential goods to properly celebrate Islam’s holiest month.
Residents living in areas under 24-hour curfew have been allowed to leave their homes for necessary tasks, such as for medical reasons or to stock up on food, between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. But during Ramadan, they will be allowed to do so between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the kingdom’s official news agency said.
In cities without 24-hour curfews, people can now go outside between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but residents of neighborhoods under total quarantine will still not be allowed to leave their homes.
The kingdom, like other countries in the region, has taken measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during the sacred month, a time traditionally marked by group worship, dawn-to-dusk fasting, festivities, and connecting with family and communities. On Monday, Saudi Arabia extended a ban on prayers at the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, among the holiest venues in Islam.
By Sudarsan Raghavan
April 21, 2020 at 11:41 AM EDT
U.K. coronavirus deaths 41 percent higher than daily figures show, official data suggestA new report from Britain’s Office for National Statistics suggests the country’s coronavirus death toll is 41 percent higher than the widely cited daily figures released by the Department of Health and Social Services.
The ONS report released Tuesday determined that 13,121 deaths linked to covid-19 occurred in England and Wales up to April 10. The deaths were officially registered up to April 18.
The disparity appears to hinge on a crucial distinction: The figures released daily by Britain’s Department of Health explicitly state they report only deaths in hospitals where the patient tested positive for covid-19. The ONS numbers, however, take into account any deaths outside hospitals, including in facilities for older people and in homes, where the coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate.
Some critics claimed the difference between the two figures was evidence of a coverup, but others noted that the ONS figures also came from a government agency and due to their nature, took longer to calculate than deaths in hospitals. The two figures do show, however, the difficulty in fully assessing national outbreaks.
Liz Kendall, social care spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said the ONS figures showed that Britain was just “scratching the surface†of the crisis.
“The government must now publish daily figures of covid-19 deaths outside hospital, including in care homes, so we know the true scale of the problem,†Kendall said, according to Sky News.
Concerns about “missing deaths†directly or indirectly due to the coronavirus are widespread in many countries: The New York Times reported Tuesday that an analysis of 11 countries showed 28,000 more people have died over the past month than have been officially recorded.
By Adam Taylor
April 21, 2020 at 11:41 AM EDT
Two-thirds of Americans view China unfavorably, Pew report findsNegative views of China have surged in the United States since the start of the Trump presidency, a new survey by Pew Research Center found. Two-thirds of Americans expressed unfavorable views of China in March, according to data released Tuesday by Pew, marking the most negative rating for the country since the polling organization began asking the question in 2005.
Although negative views of China have outweighed positive views since 2012, they were up nearly 20 percentage points since the start of the Trump administration. The negative views of China have coincided with a trade war between Washington and Beijing, as well as the novel coronavirus pandemic.
More than 7 in 10 Americans were also found to have a negative view of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a significant increase from just a year ago, when 50 percent viewed Xi unfavorably.
Americans’ negative views of China and Xi personally have increased even though the Chinese government has mounted a campaign to change international perceptions during the novel coronavirus pandemic, for which members of the Trump administration have blamed Beijing.
Pew found a partisan split in views of China, with Republicans more likely to view the nation negatively than Democrats, while older Americans were also more likely to view the country unfavorably than younger Americans. The Pew polling was conducted between March 3 and 29, via telephone, among 1,000 adults in the United States. Pew lists the margin of error as plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
By Adam Taylor
April 21, 2020 at 11:38 AM EDT
National Spelling Bee canceled for first time since 1945The Scripps National Spelling Bee has been canceled because there is “no clear path to safely set a new date in 2020,†organizers said Tuesday.
The only other time the spelling bee was canceled was during World War II.
The event’s organizers had said previously that they were postponing this year’s bee. In announcing the cancellation on Tuesday, bee officials said they will not change the requirements for those who are eligible for next year’s competition, scheduled for June 2021 in Maryland. The bee is open to children up to the eighth grade.
“Our hearts go out to the spellers who won’t get their final shot at winning because of the pandemic and the difficult decisions it is prompting us to make,†Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, said in a statement.
By Dana Hedgpeth
April 21, 2020 at 11:14 AM EDT
Trump shares assessment of a sex therapist on responsibility for coronavirus testingTrump on Tuesday used Twitter to elevate the assessment of a California sex therapist who suggested that governors who do not take responsibility for their state’s coronavirus testing should be voted out of office.
His retweet of Dawn Michael â€" a Trump booster whose Twitter handle is @SexCounseling â€" was not the first time he has shared her views on him and matters related to his presidency.
The latest comes as Trump has been sparring with governors over the federal role in stepped-up testing that health experts say is necessary to responsibly reopen the economy. Trump has insisted that testing is primarily the responsibility of governors, while many of them â€" including some Republicans â€" are pushing for more federal assistance. Michael sided with Trump in her tweet.
“The States need to step up their own testing and take responsibility and if they can’t, perhaps the politicians in those States needs to be replaced?†she wrote.
Michael did not respond to requests for comment by phone and email when The Washington Post reached out to her last month after Trump had retweeted her for the third time in a short span. White House aides have played down reading too much into whose views are elevated on Twitter from a president who has a habit of amplifying online praise from random corners of the Internet.
By John Wagner
April 21, 2020 at 10:44 AM EDT
New York City turns to itself for help and makes plans for a post-pandemic paradeNew York City is creating its own equipment stockpile and ramping up its coronavirus testing for its hardest-hit communities, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
De Blasio said the New York City Strategic Reserve Program is bracing for any future wave of the pandemic by planning for ongoing supplies of locally manufactured items that the city has already started producing, such as face shields, surgical gowns and test kits.
“We have learned the hard way that we cannot depend on the federal government in the future,†he said. “I hate saying that, but I think it’s quite evident. We certainly cannot depend on the global market.â€
The new stockpile will also consist of New York City-manufactured “bridge ventilators,†which help patients who need assistance breathing but aren’t quite in critical condition, he said. The mayor plans to purchase 3,000 of these ventilators for $10 million, saying they can “buy time to keep patients alive.â€
“They can help to stretch out the capacity of a hospital,†he said.
People admitted to hospitals in New York for suspected covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, declined from 212 on April 18 to 204 on April 19. The number of people currently in intensive care units for suspected covid-19 increased from 853 on April 18 to 857 on April 19.
The new data is a step in the right direction, de Blasio said, adding that more testing sites will open next week in seriously affected parts of the city. The walk-in sites aim to test up to 7,000 people per week once all 10 are open, he said.
When the fog of the coronavirus lifts and the city reopens, de Blasio said he will throw a ticker-tape parade in honor of the front line workers who cared for the sick and kept the city running.
“It will mark the beginning of our renaissance,†he said.
By Lateshia Beachum
April 21, 2020 at 10:39 AM EDT
Belarus’s Lukashenko says WHO doesn’t ‘really love us’ after organization recommends more restrictionsMOSCOW â€" A delegation from the World Health Organization arrived in Belarus earlier this month, at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko, to assess the country’s response to the pandemic.
The verdict published Tuesday: Belarus needs to reverse its lax approach and implement more physical distancing measures, the delegation advised.
Belarus remains the rare country where people can still attend live sporting events and students still gather in classrooms. Lukashenko has balked at imposing restrictions and downplayed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus, recommending vodka and sauna visits as treatment before saying that the comments were meant as a joke. He has also declared that no one in Belarus will die of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The country has officially registered more than 50 fatalities from the virus, but Lukashenko said Tuesday that “everyone is dying from chronic illnesses, because all viruses strike those who are weak and have no immunity,†according to the Belarusan state news agency Belta. The capital, Minsk, has reported 6,264 confirmed coronavirus cases.
“They don’t really love us,†Lukashenko said, referring to the WHO. “This is an international organization, which always involves a lot of politics.â€
The WHO mission that was in Belarus two weeks ago “visited everything here, even hospital rooms, which I didn’t expect. They advised us a lot, up to a quarantine and possibly a curfew,†Lukashenko added.
By Isabelle Khurshudyan
April 21, 2020 at 10:20 AM EDT
Virus likely originated in animals, not a lab, WHO saysThe World Health Organization reiterated Tuesday that its evidence continues to suggest the novel coronavirus causing covid-19 was not produced in a laboratory, but rather originated in animals and appeared in China late last year.
“All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed in a lab or somewhere else,†Fadela Chaib, spokeswoman for the WHO, said during a news briefing, Reuters reported. “It is probable, likely, that the virus is of animal origin.â€
The WHO has rejected claims that the virus originated in a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the initial epicenter of the coronavirus. Last week, President Trump said his administration was assessing that claim, providing further fodder to a theory that scientists have repeatedly said does not hold weight, as the genetic makeup of the virus indicates it is of animal origin.
The WHO, however, did not directly address the question of how the virus jumped from animal to humans, and whether there was a possibility that the preexisting virus had unintentionally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Chinese lab has rejected that theory.
Trump suspended funding to the WHO last week as part of his sparring with the United Nations health agency over its handling of the pandemic. Critics have accused the WHO of being too lenient on China amid accusations that Beijing has withheld information about the coronavirus’s spread and the country’s number of infections and fatalities. Nonetheless, Trump’s funding cut garnered widespread international condemnation as a counterproductive move in the midst of a global pandemic.
Chaib told the news briefing that the WHO is still assessing the impact of the aid suspension, but that its $4.8 billion two-year budget was 81 percent funded as of the end of March.
By Miriam Berger
April 21, 2020 at 10:19 AM EDT
FDA authorizes first coronavirus test with at-home swabbingThe Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to the first coronavirus test that allows patients to collect nasal samples at home.
The emergency-use authorization was granted to LabCorp for its Pixel home collection kit, the North Carolina-based company announced Tuesday.
The FDA said patients will be able to collect nasal samples using the kit’s swabs and saline. Once patients collect the specimens, they will mail them to a LabCorp lab for testing.
The agency said the authorization was not for tests that are processed at home. LabCorp said it would initially make the tests available to health-care workers and first responders who are showing symptoms of covid-19. The company plans to make the test available to consumers in the coming weeks.
Allowing people to self-swab reduces the risk of transmitting the virus to others and the need for personal protective equipment, since health-care providers are not involved in sample collection, the company said.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement that the agency worked with LabCorp to ensure the data demonstrated that at-home collection was as safe and accurate as sample collection at a doctor’s office, hospital or other testing site.
By Laurie McGinley
April 21, 2020 at 10:05 AM EDT
Louisiana pastor faces arrest warrant for allegedly backing his church bus toward a protesterA megachurch pastor in Louisiana who has defied stay-at-home orders by holding large worship services is facing criminal charges for driving a church bus in reverse toward a protester outside the church, authorities said.
Pastor Tony Spell has drawn nationwide attention for continuing to hold services attended by hundreds of people at his Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge, despite facing six misdemeanor charges in March for violating orders from Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) that limited mass gatherings.
Central, La., Police Chief Roger Corcoran said authorities have a warrant for Spell’s arrest. He is wanted on a charge of aggravated assault related to the bus incident, which took place Sunday.
According to Corcoran, Spell was driving a bus and backed it up on the shoulder of the road, stopping the vehicle within a few feet of a protester. A parishioner is also facing charges for swerving his car toward a protester. No one was hurt in either incident.
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey
April 21, 2020 at 9:51 AM EDT
Maryland Gov. Hogan said Trump told governors to get it done â€" ‘and then we did and got criticized’Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said he was doing what President Trump asked states to do when he purchased a half-million coronavirus tests from South Korea â€" and he doesn’t know why Trump disparaged him on Monday.
“This is exactly what the president has told us to do,†Hogan said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.†“He was saying that the governors were responsible for this, they’re on the front lines, we should just get it done. And then we did get it done, and then we got criticized.â€
Hogan, who leads the National Governors Association, said he had a “great conversation†with Vice President Pence and Trump’s coronavirus task force on Monday, during which he thanked the federal government for its hard work. But, Hogan said, “somehow it went off the rails†when Trump spoke at a White House briefing.
“I have no idea why,†Hogan said.
At the briefing, Trump said Hogan didn’t need to turn to South Korea for tests. The governor disagreed and said the $9 million purchase facilitated by his wife, Yumi Hogan, will make “a huge difference†in Maryland’s effort to stem the spread of the virus and reopen the economy.
By Ovetta Wiggins
April 21, 2020 at 9:35 AM EDT
Top Senate Democrat urges Trump to rein in governors on reopeningsSenate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged President Trump on Tuesday to discourage governors from moving too quickly to reopen parts of their economy, cautioning that the “weakest link†among them could “bring down the other states.â€
Appearing on CNN, Schumer suggested that some governors were responding to protesters in their capitals whose views on social distancing are not representative of the broader population.
“Everyone has a right to protest and make their views known, but because a couple of thousand protesters gather on a lawn doesn’t mean we should bend to their will,†Schumer said. “They’re not the scientific experts, nor am I. We ought to listen to them, and we ought to be very careful.â€
Asked whether he is concerned, for example, that residents of Georgia â€" where the governor is easing restrictions â€" could spread further infection to his state of New York, Schumer warned that this is a possibility.
“You could have the weakest link bring down the other states, and I am very worried about that,†he said. “I wish the president would discourage and not encourage these governors.â€
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) also argued Tuesday that other states and localities should proceed with caution. He said New York will start reopening more only when health officials can roll out aggressive contact-tracing operations so that each new case can be isolated.
“Every place is different, but I would say to leaders, governors, mayors all over the country, make sure you get it right,†de Blasio said on CNN. “You do not want to miss on this one.â€
De Blasio said the disease could “reassert†itself across the country “if any state or city jumps the gun.â€
By John Wagner and Katie Mettler
April 21, 2020 at 9:21 AM EDT
Two-thirds of voters support voting by mail in November, poll findsDemocrats in Congress are pushing to expand voting-by-mail options in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but many Republicans â€" including President Trump â€" have warned about a potential for fraud.
The poll finds that 67 percent of the electorate overall supports an expansion in states that would allow anyone to cast a ballot by mail in November, compared with 29 percent who disagree with that proposition.
Support, however, varies significantly by party. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents favor such a move, while only 44 percent of Republicans support it.
By John Wagner
April 21, 2020 at 9:18 AM EDT
Los Angeles antibody test results are a warning to statesThere’s new evidence from Los Angeles County that the novel coronavirus may have infected around 4 percent of its population.
Officials in the nation’s most populous county announced results from an antibody testing effort, in which residents in a randomized sample were given blood serology tests to determine whether their bodies had already fought off the virus â€" and could now have some immunity to it.
Los Angeles County is the first major U.S. municipality to announce the results of its antibody testing, which is deemed essential by public health officials to safely reopen the country.
Based on their findings, the researchers estimate that between 2.8 percent and 5.6 percent of Los Angeles county adults have antibodies to the virus. This is a glass-half-empty-vs.-glass-half-full situation.
By Paige Winfield Cunningham
April 21, 2020 at 8:50 AM EDT
ICE delayed its pandemic response, putting detainees at ‘substantial’ risk of harm, judge findsA federal judge on Monday ordered immigration authorities to begin considering for release all detained immigrants at higher risk of complications from covid-19, starkly admonishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a slow, insufficient pandemic response that he said has jeopardized lives.
U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal, based in Los Angeles, granted an emergency preliminary injunction at the request of immigrants with serious medical conditions or disabilities who said ICE has failed to take meaningful steps to protect them from the virus over the past month.
Bernal, in siding with the immigrants, said they were likely to succeed in their arguments that ICE has shown “medical indifference†and has put them at “substantial risk of harm†because of a month-long delay in developing a systemwide plan to combat the pandemic in the close quarters of detention buildings.
By Meagan Flynn
April 21, 2020 at 8:47 AM EDT
Newsom expresses empathy for California protesters but says he doesn’t see ‘normalcy’ anytime soonCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he has empathy for the protesters who are emerging in multiple cities in his state but cautioned that he doesn’t see the “normalcy that many of us wish for happening anytime soon.â€
“I share the empathy of frustration that we’re all living through something we’ve never lived through in our lifetime and the need and desire for all us to get back to work and some semblance of normalcy,†Newsom said on “CBS This Morning.†He was responding to the latest protest in Sacramento on Monday calling for easing social distancing measures that have been credited with containing the coronavirus spread in his state.
As some governors in other states are now moving quickly to reopen parts of their economy, Newsom continued to sound a cautious note, declining to say the worst of the pandemic has passed.
“No, because if we all pull back we could see a second wave that makes this pale in comparison. I can’t say that honestly,†he said.
Asked whether baseball would be possible in July, schools will be back in session in September and elections will happen as normal in November, Newsom hesitated to use the word “normal.â€
“Yeah, I don’t know as normal,†he said. “You have to radically change the floor plans in the schools, in businesses, private-public institutions, large and small. We’re going to have new protocols and procedures, temperature checks, people wearing face coverings across the spectrum. … But the idea of tens of thousands of fans coming together across their differences, high-fiving one another, hugging each other â€" after a base hit â€" or a strikeout â€" is not something I’m anticipating any time soon.â€
By John Wagner
April 21, 2020 at 8:31 AM EDT
Spain’s running of the bulls canceled due to covid-19MADRID â€" The Spanish city of Pamplona has canceled its renowned bull run and the rest of the festivities of its San FermÃn Festival in July because of the covid-19 pandemic, municipal authorities announced Tuesday.
“It seems obvious, and I think in line with public opinion, that our beloved festival is at odds with the coronavirus,†said Ana Elizalde, Pamplona’s acting mayor. She is filling in for Enrique Maya, the city’s mayor, who is suffering from covid-19. The festival was due to be held from July 6 to 14, with the running of the bulls staged daily starting July 7.
Elizalde said part of the festival’s budget would defray extraordinary expenses related to the coronavirus, which has claimed 21,282 lives in Spain, with 204,178 confirmed cases in total.
The running of the bulls, in which hundreds of runners race ahead of charging bulls for three or four minutes on cobblestone streets through the city of Pamplona daily for a week, was made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, “The Sun Also Rises,†and draws more than a million spectators every year.
Spain continues its nationwide lockdown, with the government planning to extend current confinement measures at least through May 9. However, children under 12 will be allowed to go for “short walks†with parents for the first time in more than a month starting April 27.
By Pamela Rolfe
April 21, 2020 at 8:05 AM EDT
Oil prices extend slide a day after historic collapse in U.S. crudeOil prices continued to slide Tuesday, with global benchmark Brent crude falling nearly 17 percent.
The fall came a day after the U.S. benchmark fell below zero for the first time in history. Brent crude was trading at $21.35 a barrel Tuesday after briefly falling below $20 for the first time in nearly two decades.
The collapse was weighing on stock markets, with Wall Street signaling a big loss at Tuesday’s open.
Oil was the story of the day Monday amid the collapse of West Texas Intermediate crude. Sellers holding contracts were paying would-be buyers to take the oil off their hands, an unprecedented move that has rippled through global oil and currency markets.
With many businesses shuttered by public health orders and travel almost totally scrapped due to the coronavirus outbreak, crude inventories far outpace demand and have overwhelmed storage capacity.
By Thomas Heath
April 21, 2020 at 8:01 AM EDT
Transportation Department allows Alaska, Hawaiian airlines to cut some routesThree airlines have won exemptions from rules that require they fly to certain cities as a condition of accepting bailout money from the federal government.
Alaska and Hawaiian airlines will be permitted to suspend many of their flights to Hawaii, largely because of state-imposed stay-at-home orders, the U.S. Transportation Department said. In addition, Delta Air Lines and Alaska will be allowed to delay the start of service they operate on a seasonal basis, the department said.
The department’s announcement contrasts with decisions issued last week, when it largely denied requests from JetBlue and Spirit airlines to suspend service at three dozen airports to save money.
By Lori Aratani
April 21, 2020 at 7:57 AM EDT
Egypt sends military plane filled with medical aid to help U.S. with coronavirusA C-130 military aircraft loaded with medical supplies from Egypt is scheduled to land at Dulles International Airport on Tuesday to help fight the coronavirus, a U.S. official said Monday, a gesture meant to show support for President Trump and the U.S.-Egypt alliance.
Some Egyptian critics question whether their country has the resources to be giving away supplies during the pandemic.
The supplies, according to a log provided by Mike Evans, a Texas writer and Christian activist who has advised Trump and met frequently with Middle Eastern leaders including Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, include anesthesia drugs and antibiotics, as well as body bags, masks and testing swabs.
By Michelle Boorstein and Sudarsan Raghavan
April 21, 2020 at 7:51 AM EDT
Covid-19 threatens to double number of people facing severe hunger, U.N. warnsCAIRO â€" By the end of the year, more than a quarter of a billion people could be suffering from severe malnutrition and possible starvation due to the coronavirus pandemic, nearly doubling the current rate, the United Nations’ World Food Program warned Tuesday.
The agency urged swift action to deal with the potential explosion of “acute hunger,†which aid groups consider the most extreme and life-threatening form of hunger.
According to a newly released report on food crises, the number of people facing “acute food insecurity†is projected to rise to 265 million this year, up from 135 million in 2019, due to the economic impact of the pandemic. Lockdowns, curfews, business shutdowns and closures of borders are weakening economies globally and threatening to severely impact developing nations with vulnerable populations.
“COVID-19 is potentially catastrophic for millions who are already hanging by a thread,†WFP senior economist Arif Husain said in a statement, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage.â€
“Lockdowns and global economic recession have already decimated their nest eggs. It only takes one more shock â€" like COVID-19 â€" to push them over the edge.â€
The majority of people suffering from food crisis last year were in nations affected by conflict, climate change and economic upheaval. Ten countries were the worst impacted: Yemen, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, Sudan, Nigeria and Haiti.
By Sudarsan Raghavan
April 21, 2020 at 7:41 AM EDT
Most Americans expect crowds to be unsafe until summer, poll findsMost Americans expect no immediate easing of the health risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic, despite calls by President Trump and others to begin reopening the economy quickly. A majority say it could be June or later before it will be safe for larger gatherings to take place again, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
Most Americans â€" 54 percent â€" give the president negative marks for his handling of the outbreak in this country and offer mixed reviews for the federal government as a whole. By contrast, 72 percent of Americans give positive ratings to the governors of their states for the way they have dealt with the crisis, with workers also rating their employers positively.
Partisan allegiances shape perceptions of when it will be safe to have gatherings of 10 or more people and of the president’s performance during the pandemic. But governors win praise across the political spectrum for their leadership, which has sometimes put them sharply at odds with Trump and his administration.
By Scott Clement and Dan Balz
April 21, 2020 at 7:30 AM EDT
Tom Brady evicted from closed public park in Tampa, says mayorFlorida beaches may be reopening, but Tom Brady found out the hard way that things are different in his newly adopted hometown.
The NFL quarterback was kicked out of a public park in Tampa that was closed during the novel coronavirus outbreak. A new guy in town, he and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, relocated with their children last month after he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and they moved into the waterfront mansion owned by former New York Yankees star Derek Jeter. As he often does during the offseason, he had headed outdoors for a workout.
The revelation came during a Facebook Live video chat Monday between Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
“I always tell people, ‘Now I’m not one to gossip, so you didn’t hear this from me,’†Castor began. “But you know our parks are closed down, and so a lot of our parks staff, they patrol around just to make sure people aren’t doing contact sports and things and saw an individual working out in one of our downtown parks. And she went over to tell him that it was closed, and it was Tom Brady.â€
Visibly taken aback, Kriseman responded, “Oh, my goodness.â€
Brady has not commented on the matter, but the city of Tampa did apologize, in a fashion. “Sorry @TomBrady!†officials wrote on the city’s Twitter account. “Our @tampaparksrec team can’t wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles â€" until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve.â€
By Cindy Boren
April 21, 2020 at 7:21 AM EDT
European governments vow widespread testing as coronavirus lockdown exit strategiesThe Czech Health Ministry unveiled plans Tuesday for a massive testing initiative designed to gauge the extent of coronavirus infections in the country.
The blanket testing will begin Thursday and will reach as many as 27,000 people, Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech said Tuesday.
“I do not remember that a similar study has ever been conducted in the Czech Republic in modern history,†he said. “It will be unique as we face the biggest pandemic in the last hundred years.â€
The news came as Belgian authorities likewise announced that they soon intended to test anyone with flu-like symptoms.
“I’ve been a supporter of increasing the number of tests for a while and of broadening the criteria that determine who is tested. We will do this as part of the exit strategy,†Philippe de Backer, the Belgian federal minister running the country’s coronavirus task force, said to Belgian media.
“We must monitor how the virus spreads in order to stop it ASAP,†he added.
The principal objective of the Czech testing, according to local health authorities, is to determine what percentage of the population may have been exposed to the coronavirus and developed antibodies after exposure.
The tests are open to anyone between ages 18 and 89 without acute health problems or known symptoms of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. These will be simple blood tests that are meant to reveal the presence of antibodies within a half-hour after samples are collected.
“There is a group of people who are not captured in the positive case statistics but have already gone through the disease,†Vojtech said. “They do not know about it because they did not have or do not have symptoms. They have already developed antibodies and can be infectious.â€
Other countries like Britain, however, have experimented with antibody tests but expressed dissatisfaction about their accuracy.
By James McAuley
April 21, 2020 at 7:09 AM EDT
White House readies push to slash regulations as major part of its coronavirus economic recovery planSenior White House and Trump administration officials are planning to launch a sweeping effort in the coming days to repeal or suspend federal regulations affecting businesses, with the expected executive action seen by advisers as a way to boost an economy facing its worst shock in generations, two people familiar with the internal planning said.
The White House-driven initiative is expected to center on suspending federal regulations for small businesses and expanding an existing administration program that requires agencies to revoke two regulations for every new one they issue, the two people said.
While the plan remains in flux, changes could affect environmental policy, labor policy, workplace safety and health care, among other areas.
By Jeff Stein and Robert Costa
April 21, 2020 at 6:48 AM EDT
Trump wants to lift lockdowns. Other countries’ attempts show why the U.S. isn’t ready.Trump later defended these scenes, arguing that the protesters â€" some mobilized by far-right, pro-gun groups on Facebook â€" were agitating against governors who “have gone too far†in their imposition of restrictions on daily life.
But critics and experts argue that Trump and his supporters’ desire to open up the U.S. economy is premature. The country may be in the beginning of a long “plateau†in its battle with the virus â€" registering about 2,000 deaths a day for the past week â€" but still lags behind in testing a necessary proportion of its population.
By Ishaan Tharoor
April 21, 2020 at 6:30 AM EDT
Amid protests to open up Wyoming, some worry the worst is yet to comeCHEYENNE, Wyo. â€" A steer skull decorated in turquoise gemstones greets visitors inside Teton Jewelers on West 17th Street, the lone jewelry store in the small shopping district here. Standing behind it is Ken Bingham, 67, slim and bald and packing a loaded .410 revolver capable of shooting shotgun shells. He says he is taking nearly every precaution against the novel coronavirus.
Bingham’s wife, who recently finished chemotherapy, has not been within six feet of him in a month. After Cheyenne got its first confirmed case of the virus March 11, Bingham decided to sleep in the store he has owned and operated for 17 years while his wife, son and asthmatic grandchildren are at home. Bingham works double duty, manning the front counter and driving a city transit bus.
The one thing he hasn’t done to ward off infection: shutter his jewelry store.
“I can take care of myself. And most people can, and most people will,†he said. â€The government should stay out as much as they possibly can. I’m not willing to give up my freedoms for Âsecurity.â€
By Robert Klemko
April 21, 2020 at 6:14 AM EDT
Mexico’s president tells cartels to stop distributing food suppliesAfter viral images showed armed cartels in Mexico distributing food and cleaning supplies, the country’s president responded with a swift rebuke: Forget the handouts, he told them. Focus on ending violence instead.
“To those in criminal organizations that have been seen distributing packages: That doesn’t help,†President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at a news conference Monday. “What would help is for you to stop your bad deeds.â€
His plea to the country’s powerful gangs comes as López Obrador faces criticism for a stubborn approach to the Mexican economy, which has slowed dramatically over the past month amid measures to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic.
As he accuses companies of exploiting the outbreak to fire workers, the leftist president has refused to suspend tax payments and dismissed proposals to inject cash into the economy.
Where the government has fallen short for some, armed groups in Mexico have stepped in.
In the western state of Michoacán, one cartel was filmed handing out plastic bags of food to hundreds of people, The Washington Post reported. Toward the border with Texas, in Tamaulipas, another group reportedly distributed boxes full of food staples.
Even the daughter of infamous drug lord JoaquÃn “El Chapo†Guzmán handed out packages to quarantined seniors, with an image of her jailed father stamped on top.
On Monday, López Obrador implored gang members to instead think about the suffering their violence causes to their victims’ mothers.
As in other countries around the world, the parallel safety net created by the cartels is linked to their complex standing in society. As they directly prey on residents, they are also creating a sense of protection â€" although, arguably, to assert even more influence.
Mexican authorities have reported more than 8,700 confirmed infections, including upward of 700 fatalities.
By Teo Armus
April 21, 2020 at 5:50 AM EDT
Coronavirus pandemic posing risks for press freedom, media watchdog warnsThe coronavirus pandemic is both worsening and highlighting press freedom restrictions around the world, according to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, released Tuesday by Reporters Without Borders.
“The coronavirus pandemic illustrates the negative factors threatening the right to reliable information, and is itself an exacerbating factor,†the group’s secretary general, Christophe Deloire, was quoted as saying in a news release.
“The public health crisis provides authoritarian governments with an opportunity to implement the notorious ‘shock doctrine’ â€" to take advantage of the fact that politics are on hold, the public is stunned and protests are out of the question, in order to impose measures that would be impossible in normal times,†Deloire said.
The group singled out Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has pushed a bill through parliament that allows judges to punish anyone found guilty of distorting or publishing “false†information on the coronavirus outbreak by sentencing them to five years in jail.
Reporters Without Borders also criticized China, Iran, Iraq and Brazil, among other countries, for cracking down on the free media, censoring reports and attacking journalists amid the pandemic.
In the United States, the organization noted, hostility against journalists and media outlets has “deepened and intensified, and few attacks were as vitriolic as those that came from the president.â€
“The abuse is only getting worse amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, as journalists covering the Trump administration’s response to the crisis are subjected to the president’s attacks during his press briefings,†according to an analysis by Reporters Without Borders.
By Rick Noack
April 21, 2020 at 5:33 AM EDT
Facebook cracks down on anti-quarantine rallies, prompting blowback from conservatives and civil liberties advocatesFacebook will bar protesters from using its platform to organize anti-quarantine rallies that violate states’ social distancing rules, the company said Monday.
The decision has led to blowback from conservative lawmakers and civil liberties advocates, who say it sets a dangerous precedent by clamping down on free speech and individuals’ right to protest.
Demonstrations against coronavirus-inspired restrictions, many of them engineered by far-right activists, have popped up in state capitals from Salem, Ore., to Augusta, Maine, in recent days. Most have been orchestrated in Facebook groups that count tens of thousands of members.
Facebook told Recode on Monday that the company was removing posts that were being used to organize protests in California, New Jersey and Nebraska, and will continue to do so in states where the demonstrations would violate stay-at-home orders.
“Events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook,†a company spokesperson said.
The move immediately drew criticism from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who expressed concern that the tech platform was cracking down on dissenting views. Donald Trump, Jr., the president’s son, accused Facebook of “colluding with state governments to quash peoples free speech.â€
Although large public gatherings may present a public health hazard, Facebook “should not be censoring political speech online,†Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, told Politico. “This is especially true now, when questions of when and how to reopen the country are among the central political questions.â€
Other advocates have questioned why Facebook is cracking down on demonstrations, rather than leaving it to the police to take action against illegal gatherings.
“Whether a protest is lawful or unlawful is a decision for government authorities to make on the ground,†David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, told the Guardian.
By Antonia Farzan
April 21, 2020 at 5:13 AM EDT
Russia breaks 50,000 coronavirus cases with the peak expected still aheadMOSCOW â€" Russia’s confirmed coronavirus cases eclipsed 50,000 Tuesday, after 5,642 new cases were identified, despite more than three weeks of stay-at-home orders.
Russia’s coronavirus cases have continued to rise steeply, and there have been 456 official fatalities from the disease. More than 6,000 new diagnoses were announced Sunday â€" a record one-day increase following a week of them.
The jump in new cases comes amid more aggressive testing. Russia’s consumer health watchdog said Monday that more than 2 million tests for the coronavirus have been conducted.
During a televised conference Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “the peak of morbidity is still ahead, and now we should do our utmost to smooth this peak out and reduce the period of the so-called plateau phase, when the highest numbers of new infection cases are recorded.â€
The majority of the cases are in Moscow, with the capital making up 29,433 of the country’s 52,763 confirmed total, but all 85 of Russia’s regions have registered at least one case. Nearly half of the new cases announced Tuesday were asymptomatic, Russia’s coronavirus response center said.
Putin has stopped short of calling Russia’s restrictions a “lockdown,†instead encouraging people to stay home for the month of April as nonessential businesses are expected to continue paying their employees while closed. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has been stricter about cracking down in the capital, introducing a mobile pass system to keep Russians inside â€" with exceptions for taking out the trash, walking the dog and visiting the nearest grocery store or pharmacy.
Sobyanin, who heads Russia’s coronavirus response body, expressed optimism Monday, because the number of critically ill patients has stabilized, he said.
By Isabelle Khurshudyan
April 21, 2020 at 4:57 AM EDT
Court ruling effectively bans pill-induced abortions in Texas, though likely not for longTexas can enforce a ban on medication-induced abortions, an appeals court ruled Monday, in a reversal that effectively shuts down the practice during the coronavirus pandemic.
The ruling is the latest in a dizzying legal back-and-forth over abortion and the outbreak, one that has also played out in other states. But in Texas, its impact could be brief, as hospitals and states look to restart non-emergency surgery.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he first issued a ban on “non-urgent†medical procedures to ensure that hospital resources were used to treat coronavirus patients.
In recent weeks, a legal battle sought to determine whether pill-induced abortions â€" which constitute about half of all abortions in Texas â€" were “immediately medically necessary,†as abortion providers accused Abbott of taking advantage of the pandemic to further his agenda.
The case bounced back and forth between a federal district judge in Austin, who largely sided with abortion providers, and the more politically conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which tended to favor the governor.
However, Abbott has said he will ease his ban starting Tuesday night, according to the Texas Tribune, in facilities that meet certain capacity conditions and do not request protective equipment from the government.
Abbott did not specify whether abortion providers could resume administering abortions through medication, saying that question was “not part of this order.†That question will be litigated in the courts.
Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, has said that these pill-induced abortions may require personal protective equipment during doctors’ visits and in the very few cases that end up in the emergency room, the Tribune reported.
By Teo Armus
April 21, 2020 at 4:28 AM EDT
WHO driver carrying coronavirus test samples killed in Myanmar, agency saysA World Health Organization driver carrying the test samples of coronavirus patients was killed in Myanmar, the agency said Tuesday.
Pyae Sone Win Maung was driving a marked United Nations vehicle from the city of Sittwe to Yangon, the former capital of the Southeast Asian country.
The western region he was traveling through, Rakhine state, has been marked by escalating conflicts between Myanmar’s military and insurgents, including a rising number of civilian deaths.
Both parties have denied responsibility for the attack, while at the same time accusing each other, according to Reuters.
The driver, Pyae Sone Win Maun, was wounded in the incident on Monday night, WHO said, and later died. His work was meant to support efforts by Myanmar’s Health Ministry, and the U.N. is seeking additional information.
Warring parties in Rakhine have continued fighting during the global pandemic in Rakhine, where the Rohingya â€" a long-persecuted Muslim minority â€" live under tight restrictions that have compelled hundreds of thousands to flee.
An Internet blackout since June 2019 has limited reliable public information on hygiene and social distancing measures, including in Rohingya refugee camps.
The U.N.’s human rights office has called on Myanmar’s government to lift the Internet ban and grant humanitarian access to the area, the Voice of America reported. The agency has warned that not doing so could hamper efforts to contain the virus.
Myanmar has only reported 119 cases of the virus with just five deaths, but there are concerns this could be because of the country’s limited testing capacity.
By Teo Armus
April 21, 2020 at 4:21 AM EDT
Queen Elizabeth turns a quiet 94 today, as pandemic courses through BritainLONDON â€" Queen Elizabeth II turns 94 today. but it will be a birthday unlike any other. This year, there will be no crowds or public tributes, including the gun salutes that usually take place on British soil to mark the occasion.
It will be the first time in 68 years that the booming salute, which is used as a mark of respect on significant royal occasions, will not take place. British media reported on Tuesday that the palace had confirmed the queen did not think the act appropriate given the current national crisis.
This year’s low-key birthday plans did not stop thousands from using social media to wish the world’s longest-reigning monarch a happy birthday, with #QueenElizabeth the top trend on Twitter in Britain on Tuesday morning. Some shared their favorite photos of her majesty at various functions over the years, while many others simply wrote: God save the queen.
That is exactly what officials worked fast to do when the coronavirus outbreak reached Britain. The queen was whisked out of London, an infection hotbed, and off to Windsor Castle ahead of schedule to isolate alongside her husband, 98-year-old Prince Philip.
A string of events in the queen’s diary have recently been canceled due to the outbreak, including the Trooping the Colour military parade, which takes place in June when the queen’s official birthday is celebrated.
In March, Prince Charles, who is the queen’s eldest son and next in line to the British throne, was diagnosed with covid-19 and forced to self-isolate. According to the palace he is now in good health.
On Monday, Prince Philip thanked health-care workers and those on the front lines helping to combat the devastation caused by an infection that has so far claimed more than 16,000 lives in the country.
By Jennifer Hassan
April 21, 2020 at 4:13 AM EDT
Munich’s famed Oktoberfest has been canceledBERLIN â€" Munich’s Oktoberfest, Germany’s most famous version of this festival, was canceled Tuesday, preempting an expected debate this summer over the event’s fate.
The folk festival draws around 6 million visitors to Munich from around Germany and many other countries in normal years, with crowds usually celebrating in packed beer tents.
“The risk is simply too high. One can neither keep distance to others nor wear a face mask [at Oktoberfest]," Markus Söder, the regional leader of Bavaria, where Munich is located, wrote on Twitter. “To live with corona means to live carefully until there is a vaccine or until there are treatments.â€
Germany has canceled all major events until the end of August, and health officials had earlier suggested that gatherings of the size of Oktoberfest were unlikely to resume this year. Local officials long maintained they would only seek to make a final decision by June, however.
Munich’s Oktoberfest has been canceled only a few times since it was founded in 1810, including during World War II and during cholera outbreaks in the 19th century.
By Rick Noack
April 21, 2020 at 3:54 AM EDT
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looks to open the state to business againFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is in a hurry to open the state for business and gave a specially appointed committee five days to come up with ways to do it.
DeSantis on Monday announced a “Re-Open Florida Task Force†as a stay-at-home order due to the novel coronavirus is set to expire. The task force’s members include executives at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios â€" two of the state’s largest employers â€" as well as other corporate executives and elected leaders.
DeSantis’s move comes as President Trump last week unveiled broad guidelines for states to follow as they begin reopening. The plan leaves specifics to governors, who must show that cases of coronavirus are decreasing. Governors in states including Georgia, Tennessee and Texas have announced plans in recent days to ease stay-at-home orders and gradually reopen businesses.
By Lori Rosza
April 21, 2020 at 3:20 AM EDT
Hard-hit Italy ready to ease restrictions on May 4, prime minister saysItaly, the hardest hit country by the novel coronavirus in all of Europe, will begin to gradually lift lockdown restrictions on May 4, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday.
Conte wrote on Facebook that the country was preparing to move into “phase two†of its coronavirus response, which will be carefully calibrated to allow some people to go back to work while also ensuring that public transport isn’t crowded with rush hour commuters. The details of the plan will be announced by the end of the week, he said.
Acknowledging that many Italians have grown tired of living under strict lockdown, Conte warned that ending all restrictions at once would undo the country’s work to stop the spread of the virus. Extreme caution is needed to ensure that the curve of contagion doesn’t begin climbing again, he said.
“I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately,†Conte wrote. “But such a decision would be irresponsible.â€
As of Monday, Italy had recorded 24,114 deaths from the coronavirus, more than any country besides the United States. A total of 454 new deaths were reported on Monday, about half the number that the country saw on March 27.
By Antonia Farzan
April 21, 2020 at 2:58 AM EDT
Alcohol sales surge in virus-stricken Europe amid coronavirus lockdownsAlcohol sales in parts of Europe surged in recent weeks, as lockdowns forced millions to stay indoors amid economic uncertainty that has added to anxiety over a quickly spreading pandemic.
In March, alcohol sales in Britain increased more than grocery sales. While overall alcohol sales were 22 percent above the average, shoppers particularly sought out flavored alcoholic drinks, with sales in that category rising by more than 40 percent.
New data by market analysts IRI and the Boston Consulting Group shows that alcohol sales in several particularly virus-stricken countries â€" including Italy, Britain, the United States and Spain â€" mostly continued to be above average long after restrictions triggered stockpiling, indicating that the increased sales reflect at least partially an increased consumption in isolation.
Measures to restrict access to alcohol, the agency said, “should be upheld and even reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic.â€
“Alcohol is consumed in excessive quantities in the European Region, and leaves too many victims. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we should really ask ourselves what risks we are taking in leaving people under lockdown in their homes with a substance that is harmful both in terms of their health and the effects of their behavior on others, including violence,†said Carina Ferreira-Borges, the alcohol and illicit drugs program manager at the WHO in Europe.
By Rick Noack
April 21, 2020 at 2:44 AM EDT
Indonesian president bans annual mass exodus at end of Ramadan holy monthIndonesia will ban the traditional mass exodus marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, its president said on Tuesday, bowing to fears that widespread holiday travel would accelerate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The ban marks a sharp reversal, after authorities in the Southeast Asian country repeatedly downplayed the pandemic’s danger and willingly misinformed citizens at the start of the outbreak.
In explaining his move on Tuesday, President Joko Widodo cited a government survey that said nearly one-quarter of residents in the country were insistent on making trips home for the holiday marking the end of the fasting month, according to Reuters.
The annual holiday exodus, known locally as “mudik,†sees about 75 million residents return home to celebrate with their families, especially as cities quiet down around the Idul Fitri holiday.
While other nations were imposing lockdowns and sweeping measures to curb the outbreak, Indonesian authorities initially denied that the coronavirus had reached their country, the Associated Press reported. The country’s health minister praised Indonesian “immunity†and the strength of prayer for a lack of infections.
But with one of the highest ratios of deaths to cases in Asia, many health experts concluded that Indonesia has far more coronavirus cases than the recorded total of about 6,800.
Experts have warned that the cramped travel conditions and the wide dispersal of people around the country would further spread the virus during this holiday period. One study said a normal mudik could result in least 1 million infections by July.
Authorities have also barred foreigners from entering the country, closed schools and shops in the capital of Jakarta and limited capacity on public transit, though Widodo was opposing a full lockdown as recently last week.
Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
By Teo Armus
April 21, 2020 at 2:22 AM EDT
Distributing a vaccine will require ‘one of the greatest public health operations in a generation,’ WHO warnsEven if scientists successfully develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, making it widely available will be a challenge, Michael Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization’s emergencies program, said at a Monday briefing.
“If this is to work, it will require one of the greatest scientific, one of the greatest political, one of the greatest financial, one of the greatest public health operations in a generation,†Ryan told reporters.
More than 20 companies are working round-the-clock to develop a coronavirus vaccine, which experts warn could take 18 months or more. And creating an effective vaccine is only the first of many challenges. Only a select number of specialized manufacturers worldwide have the ability to make vaccines, while billions of people will need to be immunized. Those manufacturers will need to quickly ramp up production to ensure that they have the capacity to keep up with global demand, Ryan said.
Making sure that the vaccine gets to parts of the world that have the greatest need will also present a logistical challenge, Ryan said. The WHO plans to work with world leaders and nonprofit organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure that the vaccines are allocated in an equitable manner, and that poorer countries aren’t left behind.
Getting billions of people to agree to be vaccinated could be yet another hurdle. Global health officials have successfully pushed for childhood immunizations to become the norm, but adults are another story. “We’ve seen a lot of problems with vaccine acceptance,†Ryan said.
By Antonia Farzan
April 21, 2020 at 1:59 AM EDT
Australia to resume some non-emergency elective surgeries â€" a move some in Europe want to followSuch surgeries were suspended to free up hospital resources for coronavirus treatments, at a time when intensive-care cases overwhelmed hospitals in Italy and other hot spots.
Australia’s daily new coronavirus caseload has significantly dropped in recent weeks, however, from a peak in late March when hundreds of new cases were reported each day to now only 13 new cases on Monday.
Meanwhile, concerns have mounted that the coronavirus-related restrictions on elective surgeries could pose its own health risks â€" a fear that is being shared by some doctors in parts of the United States and Europe, even though the conditions affected by the suspension of non-emergency surgeries have differed between countries.
Acting on guidance by federal officials, some U.S. medical centers in regions with few coronavirus cases moved ahead to resume non-emergency procedures on Monday, including for patients with heart diseases.
Last week, German hospitals had also issued a warning that the suspension of many surgeries has resulted in a problematic surplus rather than a shortage of hospital beds in the country.
In the middle of a global pandemic, there are now 150,000 empty hospital beds in a country with around one-fourth the population of the United States, forcing some hospitals to consider cutting staff working hours amid a lack of patients.
“If the current trend continues, we don’t expect any overload of [coronavirus] patients within the next two or three weeks,†said Joachim Odenbach, a spokesman for the German hospital association.
“We should now carefully resume surgeries that were put on hold,†he said. “Even if a tumor may not be life-threatening, not being able to get surgery is an extreme burden.â€
By Rick Noack
April 21, 2020 at 1:51 AM EDT
Hospitals tiptoe toward restarting non-emergency surgery and proceduresSome hospitals in communities less affected by the novel coronavirus moved cautiously Monday toward resuming non-emergency surgeries and procedures â€" a hopeful sign for patients awaiting that care and a medical system badly in need of the revenue those services provide.
Acting on guidance released Sunday night by federal officials, medical centers with relatively few covid-19 patients readied some cancer, heart and other care that has been postponed by a nationwide call to halt such procedures.
By Frances Stead Sellers, Amy Goldstein and Lenny Bernstein
April 21, 2020 at 1:40 AM EDT
Gov. Brian Kemp sets Georgia on aggressive course to reopenGeorgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s move Monday to lift restrictions on a wide range of businesses, among the most aggressive moves yet by a governor to reopen in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, put his state at the center of a deepening national battle over whether Americans are ready to risk exacerbating the public health crisis to revive the shattered economy.
The announcement from Kemp (R), who was among the last of the nation’s governors to impose a statewide stay-at-home directive, caused blowback from public health experts, who said the state did not yet meet the criteria issued by the White House, and set up a potential confrontation with the mayor of Atlanta and leaders from other cities advising residents to stay at home.
Kemp, a first-term governor, said he would allow gyms, barber shops, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys, among other businesses, to reopen on Friday.
By Isaac Stanley-Becker
April 21, 2020 at 1:22 AM EDT
Debt-plagued Virgin Australia enters voluntary administration after pandemic grounds most flightsDebt-saddled Virgin Australia announced that it had entered voluntary administration on Tuesday, following the cancellation of most of its flights.
The airline, which is the second-largest carrier in Australia, had already posted annual losses for seven consecutive years before the coronavirus pandemic grounded many of its planes. As of Dec. 31, it had 5 billion Australian dollars (roughly $3.2 billion) worth of debt.
In March, as travel restrictions led to the sudden collapse of Virgin Australia’s cash flow, 80 percent of the company’s direct workforce was placed on unpaid leave. An attempt to secure a loan for $888 million from the Australian government was unsuccessful, the airline said Tuesday.
A team of administrators from consulting firm Deloitte have been appointed to “recapitalize the business and help ensure it emerges in a stronger financial position on the other side of the covid-19 crisis,†Virgin said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange. The newly appointed management team said Tuesday that they intend to continue operating the airline’s few remaining scheduled flights.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that the country does not intend to bail out the “five large foreign shareholders with deep pockets†who control more than 90 percent of Virgin Australia’s shares, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. But some lawmakers fear that Virgin’s collapse would effectively give rival Qantas a monopoly in the country.
While Deloitte has said that there are “no plans to make any redundancies,†unions representing transit workers worry that Virgin employees could see their entitlements cut. “Sixteen thousand workers and their families have been abandoned by the Government,†Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Union, told the ABC.
By Antonia Farzan
April 21, 2020 at 1:00 AM EDT
Coronavirus restrictions begin to ease in some places as wedge between states and White House over testing deepensIndividual states and localities â€" as well as foreign governments â€" began to announce a gradual easing of restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus Monday, amid protests that openings were not fast or extensive enough.
The demonstrations came as a dispute over the availability of virus tests, and the need to test far more widely to provide crucial data before reopening the economy, deepened a wedge between many of the nation’s governors and the White House. While governors want the federal government to take responsibility for ensuring the availability of tests, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the administration favors a “state-driven approach.â€
President Trump said on Twitter that the demand for more tests was driven by the same “Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats†who earlier had demanded that the federal government intervene to provide more ventilators for acute-care coronavirus patients.
By Karen DeYoung
April 21, 2020 at 12:40 AM EDT
Trump says he will issue order to suspend immigration, closing off the United States to a new extremePresident Trump announced in a tweet late Monday night that he plans to suspend immigration to the United States, a move he said is needed to safeguard American jobs and defend the country from the coronavirus pandemic, which he called “the Invisible Enemy.â€
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!†the president wrote, announcing the plan at 10:06 p.m.
Trump, who is running for reelection on his immigration record and his effort to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, has long been frustrated with the limits on his ability to seal off the United States by decree. An executive order suspending all immigration to the country would take the president’s impulses to an untested extreme.
By Nick Miroff, Josh Dawsey and Teo Armus
April 21, 2020 at 12:35 AM EDT
Nearly 1 in 10 nursing homes nationwide report coronavirus casesNearly 1 in 10 nursing homes in America have publicly reported cases of the coronavirus, a count that has soared in the past three days as several hard-hit states released the names of facilities after weeks of pressure from families, journalists and watchdog groups.
Through state reports and media accounts, The Washington Post has compiled a nationwide list of more than 1,300 nursing homes, with a death count that has spiraled into the thousands.
The list is far from complete. More than a half-dozen states with significant outbreaks â€" including Maryland and Virginia, where dozens of nursing home residents have died â€" have not released the names of facilities with coronavirus cases.
By Debbie Cenziper, Joel Jacobs and Shawn Mulcahy
April 21, 2020 at 12:33 AM EDT
Trump, Congress near deal for more small-business money, trying to work through last-minute snagsThe White House and Congress on Monday tried to design another giant bailout package aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic’s economic and health fallout, scrambling to resolve last-minute snags over loan access and testing.
“We have I believe come to terms on the principles of the legislation, which is a good thing, but it’s always in the fine print,†House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on CNN Monday evening. “And so now we’re down to fine print, but I feel very optimistic and hopeful that we’ll come to a conclusion.†Pelosi said she hoped for action Tuesday in the Senate and Wednesday in the House.
If a deal is reached, the nearly $500 billion measure would become the fourth virus-related bill rushed through Congress in just two months at a total price tag of almost $3 trillion.
By Erica Werner
April 21, 2020 at 12:31 AM EDT
China reports 11 new cases, no new deathsFor the first time this month, travelers from overseas represented a minority of new coronavirus cases reported in China over the past 24 hours. Of 11 new confirmed cases, only four came from abroad, the country’s National Health Commission said Tuesday.
What’s known as “imported†cases involving people returning from abroad have made up the majority of new infections since March 25, prompting fears of a new wave of transmission and leading to intensified quarantine measures and the closure of checkpoints along the Russia-China border. The northeast province of Heilongjiang, which borders Russia, continues to be the front line of ongoing efforts to stop the spread of the virus. On Monday, six new cases were reported in Heilongjiang.
For the sixth day in a row, no new deaths were reported.
China tracks asymptomatic cases separately and does not include those tallies in the count of confirmed cases. On Monday, 37 new asymptomatic cases were reported, including two from abroad.
By Antonia Farzan
April 21, 2020 at 12:30 AM EDT
As MLB shutdown continues, team employees wonder how long they’ll be paidWith employees of some teams, including the Washington Nationals, uncertain of their employment status beyond the end of the month, Major League Baseball this week is expected to make it easier for teams to institute furloughs or pay reductions as the 2020 season remains delayed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The expected suspension of MLB’s Uniform Employee Contracts, first reported by the Athletic on Sunday night, would not require teams to begin reducing payroll costs but would enable them to do so. Language in those contracts grants Commissioner Rob Manfred the power to suspend them in the event of a national emergency, which President Trump declared March 13.
By Dave Sheinin
April 21, 2020 at 12:29 AM EDT
This American family left Wuhan, China, and thought they averted coronavirusIn early February, as their flight departed the airport in Wuhan, China, William Lowe and his wife, Xiaoli, thought they had escaped the most dangerous place on Earth.
The Maryland couple and their 5-year-old daughter had been visiting Xiaoli’s parents in Hubei province, the original hot spot of the novel coronavirus outbreak, when they were evacuated. When the cargo plane chartered by the U.S. government to fly them and other Americans out of China finally landed at Travis Air Force Base in California, William breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Back on U.S. soil, he felt a sense of security. He believed the human and medical disaster unfolding in China couldn’t happen here. He trusted the United States would respond with its scientific and economic might to prevent an outbreak of similar scale.
By Joe Heim
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