First Edition: May 4, 2020
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
COVID-Plagued California Nursing Homes Often Had Problems In Past
When Jorge Newbery finally got through to his 95-year-old mother, Jennifer, on a video call April 18, she could barely talk or move and her eyes couldn’t focus. It was the first time he had seen her since California nursing homes shut their doors to visitors a month earlier. Immediately after the video chat, Newbery called the front desk in a panic. “I said, ‘You gotta get her out, you gotta call 911,’” he recalled. “She’s looking like she’s about to die.” (Rau and Almendrala, 5/4)
Kaiser Health News:
As COVID-19 Lurks, Families Are Locked Out Of Nursing Homes. Is It Safe Inside?
Families are beset by fear and anxiety as COVID-19 makes inroads at nursing homes across the country, threatening the lives of vulnerable older adults. Alarmingly more than 10,000 residents and staff at long-term care facilities have died from COVID infections, according to an April 23 analysis of state data by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But often facilities won’t disclose how many residents and employees are infected with the coronavirus that causes the disease, citing privacy considerations. (Graham, 5/4)
Kaiser Health News:
As Lawmakers Reconvene, Not Everyone Agrees On COVID-Only Agenda
California lawmakers return to the Capitol this week to begin what they describe as necessary but painful negotiations to keep the state running and redirect dwindling funds to the costly coronavirus pandemic. Leaders of the state Senate and Assembly have asked them to pursue only COVID-related or “essential” bills. But many legislators say they aren’t letting go of their pre-COVID agendas. They’re pushing ahead with measures to tax soda, ban flavored tobacco products, reform mental health care and expand public insurance to undocumented immigrants age 65 and up, arguing that the virus’s devastating reach underscores just how badly California needs to bolster its public health system. (Young, 5/4)
Kaiser Health News:
Testing In California Still A Frustrating Patchwork Of Haves And Have-Nots
Months into the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, widespread diagnostic testing still isn’t available, and California offers a sobering view of the dysfunction blocking the way. It’s hard to overstate how uneven the access to critical test kits remains in the nation’s largest state. Even as some Southern California counties are opening drive-thru sites to make testing available to any resident who wants it, a rural northern county is testing raw sewage to determine whether the coronavirus has infiltrated its communities. (Barry-Jester, Hart and Bluth, 5/4)
Kaiser Health News:
Always The Bridesmaid, Public Health Rarely Spotlighted Until It’s Too Late
The U.S. is in the midst of both a public health crisis and a health care crisis. Yet most people aren’t aware these are two distinct things. And the response for each is going to be crucial. If you’re not a health professional of some stripe, you might not realize that the nation’s public health system operates in large part separately from the system that provides most people’s medical care. (Rovner, 5/4)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: A New Hope In The Battle Against COVID-19
Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for Kaiser Health News, participated in the Friday news roundup on “1A,” a program of WAMU and NPR. The program, hosted by Celeste Headlee, explored new study results suggesting that remdesivir may help some COVID patients, expectations for a vaccine, and the economic and health consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Guests on the show, who also included Yamiche Alcindor from PBS NewsHour and Jim Tankersley of The New York Times, also took questions from listeners. You can hear the discussion here. (5/1)
The New York Times:
Trump Foresees Virus Death Toll As High As 100,000 In The United States
President Trump predicted on Sunday night that the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country may reach as high as 100,000 in the United States, far worse than he had forecast just weeks ago, even as he pressed states to reopen the shuttered economy. Mr. Trump, who last month forecast that fatalities from the outbreak could be kept “substantially below the 100,000” mark and probably around 60,000, acknowledged that the virus has proved more devastating than expected. But nonetheless, he said that parks, beaches and some businesses should begin reopening now and that schools should resume classes in person by this fall. (Baker, 5/3)
Reuters:
Trump Says Up To 100,000 Americans May Die From Coronavirus
“We’re going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people. That’s a horrible thing,” said Trump, who as recently on Friday had said he hoped fewer than 100,000 Americans would die and earlier in the week had talked about 60,000 to 70,000 deaths. About half the states have now moved toward at least partial lifting of shutdowns as the number of new cases of the COVID-19 illness has begun to drop or level off and as citizens agitate for relief from restrictions that have sent the economy into a tailspin. (Bose and Schroeder, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
Trump Says It’s Safe To Reopen States As Governors Grapple With Loosening Restrictions
President Trump on Sunday sought to reassure Americans that it is safe for states to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, offering support to protesters who have railed against the lockdowns across the country. “I really believe that you can go to parks, you can go to beaches . . . [if] you stay away a certain amount,” Trump said during a Fox News Channel town hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. (Sonmez, Kornfield and Mettler, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Trump Wants To Switch Focus, Push For Economic Reopening
Anxious to spur an economic recovery without risking lives, President Donald Trump insists that “you can satisfy both” — see states gradually lift lockdowns while also protecting people from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 66,000 Americans. The president, fielding questions from Americans Sunday night in a virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial, acknowledged valid fears on both sides of the issue. Some people are worried about getting sick; others are reeling from lost jobs and livelihoods. (Superville and LeMire, 5/4)
Stat:
Three Potential Futures For Covid-19: Recurring Small Outbreaks, A Monster Wave, Or A Persistent Crisis
As epidemiologists attempt to scope out what Covid-19 has in store for the U.S. this summer and beyond, they see several potential futures, differing by how often and how severely the no-longer-new coronavirus continues to wallop humankind. But while these scenarios diverge on key details — how much transmission will decrease over the summer, for instance, and how many people have already been infected (and possibly acquired immunity) — they almost unanimously foresee a world that, even when the current outbreak temporarily abates, looks and feels nothing like the world of just three months ago. (Begley, 5/1)
The New York Times:
The Coronavirus Still Is A Global Health Emergency, W.H.O. Warns
The World Health Organization extended its declaration of a global health emergency on Friday amid increasing criticism from the Trump Administration about its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes exactly three months after the organization’s original decision to announce a “public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 30. At the time, only 98 of the nearly 10,000 confirmed cases had occurred outside China’s borders. But the pandemic continues to grow. More than 3.2 million people around the world are known to have been infected, and nearly a quarter million have died, according to official counts. (Sheikh, 5/1)
The Washington Post:
34 Days Of Pandemic: Inside Trump's Attempts To Reopen America
The epidemiological models under review in the White House Situation Room in late March were bracing. In a best-case scenario, they showed the novel coronavirus was likely to kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans. President Trump was apprehensive about so much carnage on his watch, yet also impatient to reopen the economy — and he wanted data to justify doing so. So the White House considered its own analysis. A small team led by Kevin Hassett — a former chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers with no background in infectious diseases — quietly built an econometric model to guide response operations. (Rucker, Dawsey, Abutaleb, Costa and Sun, 5/2)
Politico:
In China, A Struggling America Looks Like ‘The Disaster Flick Of 2020’
In March 29, President Donald Trump stood in the Rose Garden and offered a coronavirus forecast: “If we have between 100,000 and 200,000 [deaths],” he told a reporter, “we all, together, have done a very good job.” The president meant it as self-congratulation; he’d been shown a projected American death toll as high as 2.2 million. But in China, the statement landed very differently. On Weibo, the country’s equivalent of Twitter, Trump’s declaration sounded like an astonishing statement of defeat by China’s major geopolitical rival. (Wertime, 5/4)
Politico:
‘It Just Had To Do With Luck’: Inside Biden’s Struggle To Contain The H1N1 Virus
It was April 2009 and the three-month-old Obama administration was desperately grappling with the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression when homeland security adviser John Brennan arrived at the Oval Office to warn the president and Vice President Joe Biden of a new crisis: H1N1, the “swine flu,” was showing signs of rapid spread in Mexico, while cases were popping up in California and Texas. Brennan pointed out that the Spanish flu — the deadliest pandemic in U.S. history — was an H1N1 strain. “It made their eyebrows go up,” Brennan says now, recalling Biden’s reaction in particular. (Korecki, 5/4)
Reuters:
White House Blocks Fauci From Testifying To Congress On Coronavirus Response
The White House issued an emailed statement after a spokesman for the House of Representatives committee holding the hearing said the panel had been informed by Trump administration officials that Fauci had been blocked from testifying. “While the Trump administration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. “We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time.” (Mason and Cowan, 5/1)
ABC News:
Pompeo Says 'Enormous Evidence' For Unproven Theory That Coronavirus Came From Lab
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there are "enormous" signs that the novel coronavirus outbreak originated a biomedical laboratory in Wuhan, China -- the city where cases first exploded. "I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan," Pompeo said on ABC’s "This Week" Sunday. "Do you think they intentionally released that virus, or it was an accident in the lab?" Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz pressed. "I can't answer your question about that," he said, "because the Chinese Communist Party has refused to cooperate with world health experts." (Brown, Finnegan and Arnholz, 5/3)
CNN:
China Pushes Back Against US Claims That Coronavirus Originated From Wuhan Lab
A nationalist tabloid controlled by the Chinese Communist Party has dismissed claims by the Trump administration that the novel coronavirus originated from a laboratory, as the war of words over the pandemic escalates between Washington and Beijing. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday in an interview with ABC that there was "enormous evidence" Covid-19 originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected last December. He did not provide details to support the claim. (Gan, 5/4)
The Associated Press:
DHS Report: China Hid Virus' Severity To Hoard Supplies
U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak — and how contagious the disease is — to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show. Chinese leaders “intentionally concealed the severity” of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press. (Weissert, 5/4)
Reuters:
Trump Administration Pushing To Rip Global Supply Chains From China: Officials
The Trump administration is “turbocharging” an initiative to remove global industrial supply chains from China as it weighs new tariffs to punish Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to officials familiar with U.S. planning. President Donald Trump, who has stepped up recent attacks on China ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, has long pledged to bring manufacturing back from overseas. (Pamuk and Shalal, 5/4)
Politico:
DHS Report Accuses China Of Hiding Coronavirus Info So It Could Hoard Supplies
The report says that in January of this year, before sharing full details on the novel coronavirus outbreak with the World Health Organization, Beijing dramatically increased its imports and decreased its exports of medical supplies. In January, according to the report, China increased its imports of surgical facemasks by 278 percent, surgical gowns by 72 percent, and surgical gloves by 32 percent. Meanwhile, it slashed its global exports of a host of medical products: surgical gloves by 48 percent, surgical gowns by 71 percent, face masks by 48 percent, medical ventilators by 45 percent, intubator kits by 56 percent, thermometers by 53 percent, and cotton balls and swabs by 58 percent. (Swan, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
NY Joining Six States To Buy Vital Coronavirus Gear In Bulk
New York is banding together with six nearby states to purchase equipment and supplies that sometimes have been hard to come by during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is praising residents for mostly adhering to coronavirus social distancing rules during the warmest weekend of the spring, with police handing out only a few dozen summonses. (Sisak, 5/3)
The New York Times:
Masks Become A Flash Point In The Virus Culture Wars
As the nation edges away from lockdown and people once again share public spaces in the middle of a pandemic, wearing a face mask — or refusing to — has become a flash point in a moment when civic rules are being rewritten, seemingly on the fly. The result has been dirty looks, angry words, raw emotions and, at times, confrontations that have escalated into violence. In Flint, Mich., a security guard at a Family Dollar store was fatally shot on Friday afternoon after an altercation that the guard’s wife told The New York Times had occurred over a customer refusing to wear a face covering, which is required in Michigan in any enclosed public space. (Rojas, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Low-Quality Masks Infiltrate U.S. Coronavirus Supply
U.S. regulators and state officials are finding a significant number of imported N95-style masks fall short of certification standards, complicating the response to the coronavirus crisis and potentially putting some front-line workers at greater risk. Recent tests by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that about 60% of 67 different types of imported masks tested allowed in more tiny particles in at least one sample than U.S. standards normally permit. (Hufford and Maremont, 5/3)
Reuters:
Pence Says He Should Have Worn Face Mask At Mayo Clinic
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Sunday that he erred in not wearing a face mask during a visit with patients at the Mayo Clinic last month. The decision by Pence not to wear a mask was slammed by critics, who said it undermined efforts to slow the spread of the respiratory virus that has caused more than 67,000 deaths in the United States. Pence heads the Trump administration’s anti-coronavirus effort. (Schroeder, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
In A Time Of COVID-19, 'Obamacare' Still Part Of The Action
COVID-19 could have stamped a person “uninsurable” if not for the Affordable Care Act. The ban on insurers using preexisting conditions to deny coverage is a key part of the Obama-era law that the Trump administration still seeks to overturn. Without the law, people who recovered from COVID-19 and tried to purchase an individual health insurance policy could be turned down, charged higher premiums or have follow-up care excluded from coverage. Those considered vulnerable because of conditions such as respiratory problems or early-stage diabetes would have run into a wall of insurer suspicion. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Some Insurers Flex Balance Sheets To Help Hospitals, Doctors Amid Pandemic
With fewer claims to pay out, some health insurers are using their improved balance sheets to help struggling providers secure loans, pay claims earlier and, in some cases, underwrite patients’ outstanding bills. Many doctors, clinics and hospitals have suffered financially during the coronavirus pandemic because lucrative elective surgeries have been delayed and demand for nonemergency care has declined. The scenario has been particularly difficult for health-care providers that spent more to ramp up capabilities to treat Covid-19 but haven’t seen a surge in patients. (Trentmann, 5/3)
The New York Times:
How Remdesivir, New Hope For Covid-19 Patients, Was Resurrected
Remdesivir, an antiviral drug designed to treat both hepatitis and a common respiratory virus, seemed fated to join thousands of other failed medications after proving useless against those diseases. The drug was consigned to the pharmaceutical scrap heap, all but forgotten by the scientists who once championed it. But on Friday, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency approval for remdesivir as a treatment for patients severely ill with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. (Kolata, 5/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
Researchers Explore Using Common Blood-Plasma Treatment To Fight Coronavirus
Researchers are investigating whether a common blood-plasma product used in treating immune-system disorders could also be effective in coronavirus patients and potentially shape future trials of new treatments specific to Covid-19. Already, some industry experts have raised concerns that new demand for the product, intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, for experimental treatment of Covid-19 patients could lead to shortages for patients with conditions for whom the benefit is proven. (Cherney and Marcus, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
FDA Allows Emergency Use Of Drug For Coronavirus
U.S. regulators on Friday allowed emergency use of an experimental drug that appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster. It is the first drug shown to help fight COVID-19, which has killed more than 230,000 people worldwide. The Food and Drug Administration acted after preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that Gilead Sciences' remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. (5/1)
Politico:
Coronavirus Gets A Promising Drug. MAGA World Isn’t Buying It.
Over three weeks ago, hydroxychloroquine was all the rage in MAGA world, despite flawed and scattered evidence about whether the drug could help cure coronavirus. Now there is another drug, remdesivir, with positive early scientific data. Much of MAGA world wants little to do with it. (Nguyen, 5/2)
The New York Times:
Profits And Pride At Stake, The Race For A Vaccine Intensifies
Four months after a mysterious new virus began its deadly march around the globe, the search for a vaccine has taken on an intensity never before seen in medical research, with huge implications for public health, the world economy and politics. Seven of the roughly 90 projects being pursued by governments, pharmaceutical makers, biotech innovators and academic laboratories have reached the stage of clinical trials. With political leaders — not least President Trump — increasingly pressing for progress, and with big potential profits at stake for the industry, drug makers and researchers have signaled that they are moving ahead at unheard-of speeds. (Sanger, Kirkpatrick, Zimmer, Thomas and Wee, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
COVID-19 Vaccine Hunt Heats Up Globally, Still No Guarantee
Hundreds of people are rolling up their sleeves in countries across the world to be injected with experimental vaccines that might stop COVID-19, spurring hope — maybe unrealistic — that an end to the pandemic may arrive sooner than anticipated. About 100 research groups are pursuing vaccines with nearly a dozen in early stages of human trials or poised to start. It’s a crowded field, but researchers say that only increases the odds that a few might overcome the many obstacles that remain. (Neergaard, 5/4)
Politico:
Fears Rise That Trump Will Incite A Global Vaccine Brawl
When global leaders gathered virtually last month at the behest of the World Health Organization to commit to distributing a future coronavirus vaccine in an internationally equitable way, the United States didn’t join in. On Monday, the European Union is hosting a gathering for countries to pledge funding for research into vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. But once again the U.S. government isn’t expected to participate. (Toosi and Bertrand, 5/3)
The New York Times:
China’s Coronavirus Vaccine Drive Empowers A Troubled Industry
China wants to beat the world in the race to find a coronavirus vaccine — and, by some measures, it is doing just that. Desperate to protect its people and to deflect growing international criticism of how it handled the outbreak, it has slashed red tape and offered resources to drug companies. Four Chinese companies have started testing their vaccine candidates on humans, more than the United States and Britain combined. (Wee, 5/4)
Reuters:
Global Pledging 'Marathon' Aims To Raise Billions For COVID-19 Vaccine
World leaders will hold an international pledging “marathon” on Monday to raise at least 7.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion) for research into a possible vaccine and treatments for the novel coronavirus, after rich countries promised a unified response. Organised by the European Union, non-EU states Britain and Norway, and Japan, Canada and Saudi Arabia, leaders aim to raise funds over several weeks or months, building on efforts by the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and wealthy individuals. (5/4)
The New York Times:
Anti-Vaccination Activists Are Growing Force At Virus Protests
The protest on Friday in Sacramento urging California’s governor to reopen the state resembled the rallies that have appeared elsewhere in the country, with crowds flocking to the State Capitol, pressing leaders to undo restrictions on businesses and daily life. But the organizers were not militia members, restaurant owners or prominent conservative operatives. They were some of the loudest anti-vaccination activists in the country. The people behind the rally are founders of a group, the Freedom Angels Foundation, which is best known in California for its opposition to state efforts to mandate vaccinations. (Bogel-Burroughs, 5/2)
The New York Times:
Italians Find Promise Of Antibodies Remains Elusive, For Now
Cooped up, stir crazy and desperate for their lives back, many Europeans and Americans have seized on antibodies and their promise of potential immunity to the coronavirus as the golden ticket to reopen societies and economies. Not long ago, politicians in Italy — which, as the epicenter of Europe’s contagion, is further in the pandemic’s cycle than other Western nations — proposed issuing licenses to those who had beaten the virus and developed the right antibodies to get back to work. Researchers and politicians in China, the United States, Germany, Britain and beyond have latched onto antibodies as a potential solution to the virus and an outlet from containment measures. (Horowitz, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Smart Or Lucky? How Florida Dodged The Worst Of Coronavirus
When the coronavirus pandemic swept toward Florida, public-health professionals nationally warned of a potentially devastating wave of infections that could imperil the state’s large senior population. But so far, the state seems to have dodged that fate, despite not following advice to impose measures such as an early, blanket lockdown to minimize spread. With Gov. Ron DeSantis preparing to start reopening the state on Monday, epidemiologists and others are asking: What happened? Was Florida smart or lucky? (Campo-Flores and Leary, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
As Washington Stumbled, Governors Stepped To The Forefront
The history of the United States has generally been written with the states in a subordinate role or cast in a negative light — but no longer. The story of America’s confrontation with the coronavirus pandemic is one in which states and their governors have been dominant. As Washington has stumbled, governors of both parties have acted to fill the void. States have pleaded with Washington for help, and sometimes have gotten it. As often, however, the tensions and disagreements between state leaders and the federal government — especially with President Trump — have come to define the crisis. (Balz, 5/3)
Politico:
Backlash To The Backlash: Governors, Medical Officials Wary Of Rush To Reopen
America’s governors indicated on Sunday that they were continuing to walk a fine line in dealing with a global pandemic and economic desperation, as well as pushing back against resistance to measures designed to curb the spread of Covid-19. Governors from both parties discussed a range of difficult choices that would have been almost unimaginable three months ago — as well as such peculiar side issues as having armed protesters march on their capitols or needing to use the National Guard to protect coronavirus testing kits. (Perez and Cohen, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Georgia Officials Watch Coronavirus Infection Data After Reopening
A week into the most ambitious reopening in the U.S., Georgia officials are watching coronavirus infection rates for any aftershocks from lifting restrictions. Epidemiologists warned it was too soon to tell. The virus can incubate for two weeks before symptoms appear, and then it can take longer for tests to be taken and results reported. The state reported 1,000 new cases in 24 hours Friday, which was a jump from previous days, according to Department of Public Health data. The state attributed that to a doubling of testing in the past week. (Siddiqui and Donati, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Surf’s Up—And So Are Tensions—After California Closes Beaches
Surfers walked right by law-enforcement officials telling them the beach was closed this weekend. Cyclists zipped across bike paths that were supposed to be off limits. Protesters shouted at police and passersby, denouncing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order to close the beaches in Orange County, the wealthy coastal enclave south of Los Angeles. Long a symbol of free-spirited life, Southern California’s beaches have been transformed into ground zero in the fight over coronavirus lockdown rules in the state. (Lovett, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Florida Joins Gradual Coronavirus Reopening
Florida is joining the U.S. states and countries around the world starting to reopen, as the global number of confirmed cases from the coronavirus pandemic crossed 3.5 million with nearly a quarter-million deaths. The first phase of Florida’s reopening plan calls for restaurants and shops in most parts of the state to operate at 25% of their indoor capacity starting Monday. But schools, bars, gyms and salons will remain closed. (Ping, 5/4)
The Washington Post:
Florida Beaches Stayed Open As Medical Examiner Warned Officials About Coronavirus Deaths
Beaches in Florida’s St. Johns County remained open to record crowds through most of March, despite mounting concerns raised by the county’s medical examiner and residents. While many states were issuing directives to residents to stay home in March, officials in St. Johns County, home of St. Augustine, kept beaches open, even as the county’s medical examiner repeatedly said the county couldn’t handle a deadly outbreak, according to emails obtained by Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and reviewed by The Washington Post. (Kornfield, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
American Public Space, Rebooted: What Might It Feel Like?
And the American people returned to the American streets, bit by bit, place by place. And in the spaces they shared, they found a world that appeared much the same but was, in many ways, different — and changing by the day. And the people were at turns uncertain, fearful, angry, determined. As they looked to their institutions to set the tone, they wondered: What would this new world be like? (Anthony, 5/4)
The New York Times:
Balmy Weekend Presents A Challenge: New Yorkers Rushing To Parks
On the second day of May, New Yorkers were greeted with sunny skies and the warmest weekend so far this spring. People got up off their couch, put on their shoes, donned their face coverings, and left their cramped houses and apartments for the nearest park — desperate for fresh air and a little exercise. After weeks spent almost entirely indoors to avoid the coronavirus, they seemed to be drawn outside as much by the balmy weather as by their hopes that New York City was slowly, cautiously, starting to emerge from the crisis that has kept it locked down since mid-March. (Goldstein and Kilgannon, 5/2)
Reuters:
Warm Weather Draws Crowds In Some Cities As Parts Of U.S. Start Easing Coronavirus Lockdowns
On Saturday, thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington to view a U.S. Navy flyover to honor healthcare workers and others battling the pandemic. In New York City, the warmest weather yet this spring caused picnickers and sunbathers to flock to green spaces in Manhattan, including crowded conditions at the Christopher Street Pier in Greenwich Village, according to photos on social media. (Chiacu and Allen, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Senate Set To Re-Open As Virus Risk Divides Congress
The Senate will gavel in Monday as the coronavirus rages, returning to an uncertain agenda and deepening national debate over how best to confront the deadly pandemic and its economic devastation. With the House staying away due to the health risks, and the 100 senators convening for the first time since March, the conflicted Congress reflects an uneasy nation. The Washington area remains a virus hot-spot under stay-home rules. (Mascaro, 5/4)
The New York Times:
How Bailout Backlash And Moral Hazard Outrage Could Endanger The Economy
The United States economy is in free fall, with tens of millions of people unemployed and countless businesses at risk of collapse. Congress has already allocated nearly $3 trillion to contain the crisis, and it is widely understood that it will need to do more. Yet with stunning speed, the political conversation has pivoted from whatever-it-takes determination toward a different feeling: outrage. Increasingly, lawmakers, media coverage and ordinary voters are focused not on preventing a potential depression, but on litigating which recipients of federal rescue are morally worthy and which are not. (Irwin, 5/4)
Modern Healthcare:
Hospitals Ask Congress For Another $100 Billion COVID-19 Bailout
Hospital groups are asking Congress to forgive more than $100 billion in loans the Trump administration has handed out to help providers maintain cash flow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provider lobbyists successfully secured $175 billion in grant funds over the last two COVID-19 relief packages, but they are arguing that isn't enough. As Congress gears up for another major legislative push, providers are asking lawmakers to forgive or relax terms on another $100 billion in Medicare accelerated and advance payments that the Trump administration has already sent out. (Cohrs, 5/1)
The New York Times:
Native American Tribes Sue Over Coronavirus Stimulus Aid
A group of Native American tribes is suing the Treasury Department for failing to provide billions of dollars in coronavirus relief allocated for tribes in the $2.2 trillion stimulus package, setting off one of the most significant legal battles between tribal governments and the United States in years. The human and economic toll of the pandemic has been particularly devastating for tribes across the country, which were already struggling with inadequate federal resources and are now among the most vulnerable and hardest hit by the virus. (Walker and Cochrane, 5/1)
The New York Times:
For A.O.C., ‘Existential Crises’ As Her District Becomes The Coronavirus Epicenter
The dash to overnight millennial celebrity can take abrupt detours. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist from the Bronx, was propelled from an anonymous existence as a bartender after her upset victory in 2018 straight onto magazine covers, late-night TV and the top of every partisan love-hate list in America. It made her perhaps the most exposed and fixated-on House freshman in history. Today, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress — known simply as A.O.C. — owns another distinction, this one far grimmer: She represents the nation’s most devastated hot zone of the coronavirus outbreak. (Leibovich, 5/4)
The New York Times:
After The Virus: California Liberals Say Returning To Normal Won’t Be Enough
Housing for the homeless. Criminal justice reform. Addressing the digital divide for schoolchildren in rural areas. Propelled by the urgency of the coronavirus crisis, and despite severe economic headwinds, liberal Californians see this moment as an opening to push through an agenda that addresses some of the state’s most intractable and long-debated problems. (Arango and Fuller, 5/4)
The New York Times:
Both Parties Wonder: How Much Do Conventions Even Matter Anymore?
Political conventions have been a balloons-and-bunting mainstay of American campaigns since the Republican Party gathered in Baltimore to nominate Henry Clay for president in 1831. But this year, they may join the list of crowded events — concerts, baseball games, movies and Broadway shows — forced off the stage because of the coronavirus. And it may not matter. Some Democratic leaders are discussing replacing their convention with a virtual gathering, and some Republicans are unsure about holding the big spectacle that President Trump wants. (Nagourney and Flegenheimer, 5/4)
The Associated Press:
Georgia Deploys 3D Printers, Guard Units In Testing Scramble
Seeing a chance to help amid a shortage of kits to test people for the coronavirus, Dr. Jeffrey James dedicated a 3D printer at the dental college where he teaches to churning out nasal swabs at a rate of 300 per day. Then Georgia officials working with Gov. Brian Kemp heard about the project. They asked James if he could crank up swab production even more — to 5,000 daily.“I said yes,” James recalled, “then I left the meeting and had a panic attack.” (Collins and Bynum, 5/4)
The New York Times:
The Covid-19 Riddle: Why Does The Virus Wallop Some Places And Spare Others?
The coronavirus has killed so many people in Iran that the country has resorted to mass burials, but in neighboring Iraq, the body count is fewer than 100. The Dominican Republic has reported nearly 7,600 cases of the virus. Just across the border, Haiti has recorded about 85. In Indonesia, thousands are believed to have died of the coronavirus. In nearby Malaysia, a strict lockdown has kept fatalities to about 100. (Beech, Rubin and Maclean, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Isolated By Oceans: Hawaii, Other Islands Tamp Down Virus
Flying to a faraway beach might seem like the perfect way to escape a pandemic, but for isolated Pacific islands, controlling the coronavirus means cutting off tourism. Hawaii has among the lowest COVID-19 infection and mortality rates in the U.S. As cases rose in March, Gov. David Ige did something no other state can — effectively seal its borders. People who do come face a two-week quarantine, stopping the flow of tens of thousands of tourists who typically arrive every day. (Jones, 5/4)
The Associated Press:
Faced With 20,000 Dead, Care Homes Seek Shield From Lawsuits
Faced with 20,000 coronavirus deaths and counting, the nation’s nursing homes are pushing back against a potential flood of lawsuits with a sweeping lobbying effort to get states to grant them emergency protection from claims of inadequate care. At least 15 states have enacted laws or governors’ orders that explicitly or apparently provide nursing homes and long-term care facilities some protection from lawsuits arising from the crisis. And in the case of New York, which leads the nation in deaths in such facilities, a lobbying group wrote the first draft of a measure that apparently makes it the only state with specific protection from both civil lawsuits and criminal prosecution. (Condon, Mustian and Peltz, 5/4)
Stat:
Covid-19 Has Shuttered Labs. It Could Put A Generation Of Researchers At Risk
Scientists are skilled at tackling unexpected problems that threaten the integrity of their experiments — it comes with the territory. But the coronavirus pandemic poses a new — and entirely unprecedented — challenge. The global health emergency has shut down scientific research labs across the country in a crisis that has left some scientists scrambling to save their work — and has left others grieving the loss of experiments they had dedicated months or even years to carrying out. Many are grappling with an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about how they’ll continue their work. (Chen, 5/4)