| Pelosi: Trump's downplaying of coronavirus has cost American lives Posted: 29 Mar 2020 07:20 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharpened her criticism of President Trump's early dismissal of the coronavirus, saying the delay cost American lives. She criticized the president's initial response to the virus during a Sunday morning interview on CNN.
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| After more than 10,000 coronavirus deaths — the worst in the world — Italy is showing signs that its 3-week lockdown is working Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Italy's counts of new coronavirus deaths and infections are starting to fall, though the country is likely still in for an extended lockdown.
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| Police commander killed, 2 officers wounded in Phoenix shooting Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:07 AM PDT  Commander Greg Carnicle, a 31-year police veteran, died after being shot in the line of duty. Two officers were shot and are expected to recover.
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| Fit, healthy 33-year-old recounts falling ill to coronavirus Posted: 29 Mar 2020 12:49 PM PDT  Andrea Napoli didn't fit the usual profile of a coronavirus patient. At 33, he was in perfect health, with no history of respiratory disease. Until that day, Napoli was following his routine of work, jogging and swimming.
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| North Korea hails 'super large' launcher test as virus timing condemned Posted: 30 Mar 2020 06:01 AM PDT  South Korea's army issued a stern statement saying that testing comes at a "very inappropriate" time.
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| Coronavirus: New York bar owner becomes first to be arrested for ignoring lockdown Posted: 30 Mar 2020 06:56 AM PDT  The owner of a bar in New York City has been arrested for operating in contravention of the city's coronavirus lockdown measures.New York police confirmed on Monday that 56-year-old Vasil Pando had been arrested on Saturday night at an address in Brooklyn.
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| Indian police fire tear gas at jobless workers defying coronavirus lockdown Posted: 29 Mar 2020 11:52 PM PDT  NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Police in India fired tear gas to disperse a stone-pelting crowd of migrant workers defying a three-week lockdown against the coronavirus that has left hundreds of thousands of poor without jobs and hungry, authorities said on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the country's 1.3 billion people to remain indoors until April 15, declaring such self-isolation was the only hope to stop the viral pandemic. On Sunday, about 500 workers clashed with police in the western city of Surat demanding they be allowed to go home to other parts of India because they had no jobs left.
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| Joe Biden is the worst imaginable challenger to Trump right now Posted: 29 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PDT  For anyone plugged in to the news firehose about the coronavirus pandemic, it has been extremely bizarre to watch President Trump's approval rating. He has botched the crisis beyond belief, and the United States now has the biggest outbreak in the world. Because of his ongoing failure to secure stockpiles of medical supplies, doctors and nurses are re-using protective gear over and over, and suiting up in garbage bags and page protectors to treat COVID-19 patients. Some have already caught the virus and died — along with over 1,300 others at time of writing, which is very likely an underestimate.Yet Trump's approval rating keeps going up. Poll averages show a marked bump in favorable ratings, a recent Washington Post/ABC poll has him above water. He does even better on the coronavirus response, with a Gallup poll finding him at 60 percent approval of his handling of the situation.This is what happens when the Democratic Party, de facto led at this point by its presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, refuses to make the case that Trump is in fact responsible for the severity of the disaster. Biden is proving to be about the worst imaginable nominee to take on Trump.Now, Biden is not entirely to blame here. Surely some of Trump's approval bump can be chalked up to the usual "rally around the flag" effect that tends to happen at times of crisis, and the fact that we are likely still in the very early stages of the pandemic.But if we dig into the numbers, some of the bump in Trump's approval rating is coming from changes in Democratic attitudes. A Pew poll, for instance, found that Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters nearly doubled their approval of Trump over the last few weeks, from 7 to 12 percent. It's not a huge change, but it could make the difference between Trump winning or losing in an election which is likely to be close.As has been made abundantly clear, Democratic voters tend to take their cues from Democratic elites. The party rallied around Biden in lockstep right before Super Tuesday, and voters fell in line. Biden won multiple states he has not visited in months and in which he had no campaign offices. And now that he's the probable nominee, Biden is not savaging Trump's response. On the contrary, his campaign says they are hesitant to even criticize him at all. "As much as I dislike Trump and think what a bad job he's doing, there's a danger now that attacking him can backfire on you if you get too far out there. I don't think the public wants to hear criticism of Trump right now," one adviser told Politico.Indeed, Biden has barely been doing anything. As the outbreak became a full-blown crisis, Biden disappeared for almost an entire week. His campaign said it was trying to figure out how to do video livestreams, something any 12-year-old could set up in about 15 minutes. (Hey guys: Any smartphone with Twitter, YouTube, or Twitch installed can become a broadcasting device with the press of a single button.) When Biden did finally appear, he gave some scripted addresses that still had technical foul-ups, and did softball interviews where he still occasionally trailed off mid-sentence.People crave leadership during times of crisis, as evidence by the sudden surge of positive sentiment towards New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who seriously mishandled the initial crisis response, and is still trying to cut Medicaid, but has been giving reassuring daily press conferences where he seems like he is on top of the situation. Washington state Governor Jay Inslee did a much, much better job (just compare the numbers in New York to those in Washington state), but has gotten comparatively little attention precisely because there are a lot fewer cases and deaths (and there are many fewer reporters in Seattle than New York City).Trump, meanwhile, is similarly out there on TV every day boasting about how what he's doing is so smart and good. What he's saying is insanely irresponsible and has already gotten people killed, but absent an effective response from the Democratic leadership, it can appear to casual news consumers as though he has the situation in hand. Democratic backbenchers and various journalists are screaming themselves hoarse, but it plainly isn't working.Biden's strategy appears to be to coast to the presidency in basically the same way he coasted to the nomination: Keep public appearances and therefore embarrassing verbal flubs to a minimum, and rely on Trump's disastrous governance to do all the work for him. But this is a horribly risky strategy. Biden is already a candidate whose awful record will make it harder to attack Trump on trade, protecting Social Security and Medicare, corruption, mental fitness, and his treatment of women — indeed, just recently a former Biden staffer came forward with an allegation that he had sexually assaulted her 26 years ago. Hunkering down and refusing to criticize Trump's world-historical bungling risks him successfully arguing that it was an unforeseeable disaster and he did the best anyone could have done.Contrary to these half-baked notions that the public doesn't want to hear criticism of Trump, we saw during impeachment that once Democrats actually started going through with it, approval jumped — largely because the liberal rank-and-file took that as a cue it was indeed a good idea. It's just another instance of the Democratic establishment's habit of hiding their desire to avoid conflict and do nothing behind an imagined obstacle of public opinion, when in fact they can change those opinions dramatically by offering a strong and clear alternative.Moreover, if and when Biden does become president, he will be in charge of a country in ruins. Fixing the place up will require extremely energetic leadership. But both Biden, his campaign, and the Democratic establishment seem to believe that if they just pretend hard enough, everything will go back to normal on its own. It is willful blindness on par with the worst Trump loyalists.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Fox News reportedly fears its early downplaying of COVID-19 leaves it open to lawsuits Drake posts the first public photos of his 'secret baby' Adonis Trump's message to blue states battling coronavirus: Drop dead
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| 'Italy is closed': A reporter's account inside Rome, where coronavirus brought the city to a halt Posted: 29 Mar 2020 01:37 AM PDT  NBC News' Bill O'Reilly reveals how rapidly the pandemic has changed life in Italy's capital.
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| Germany could issue thousands of people coronavirus 'immunity certificates' so they can leave the lockdown early Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:45 AM PDT  The tests could allow thousands of people to leave German states' coronavirus lockdowns early and return to work and other activities.
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| 'I don't know how you look at those numbers and conclude anything less than thousands of people will pass away': Cuomo discusses state fatality projections Posted: 29 Mar 2020 10:39 AM PDT  Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke about New York state's fatality projections during a press conference on Sunday.
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| Coronavirus: Brazil's Bolsonaro in denial and out on a limb Posted: 29 Mar 2020 04:37 AM PDT  The president is isolating himself from other world leaders as he downplays the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Nursing Homes Balk at Taking Back Patients From Hospitals Posted: 30 Mar 2020 01:43 AM PDT  By Judith Graham, Kaiser Health NewsA wrenching conflict is emerging as the COVID-19 virus storms through U.S. communities: Some patients are falling into a no man's land between hospitals and nursing homes. Hospitals need to clear out patients who no longer need acute care. But nursing homes don't want to take patients discharged from hospitals for fear they'll bring the coronavirus with them."It's a huge and very difficult issue," said Cassie Sauer, president of the Washington State Hospital Association, whose members were hit early by the coronavirus.Each side has legitimate concerns. Hospitals in coronavirus hot spots need to free up beds for the next wave of critically ill patients. They are canceling elective and nonessential procedures. They are also trying to move coronavirus patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible.The goal is to "allow hospitals to reserve beds for the most severely ill patients by discharging those who are less severely ill to skilled nursing facilities," Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said a few weeks ago as the federal agency relaxed rules restricting which Medicare patients can receive nursing home care.Nursing homes are alarmed at the prospect of taking patients who may have coronavirus infections. The consequences could be dire. The first nursing home known to have COVID-19, the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, saw the virus spread like wildfire. It killed 37 people."We're looking at case fatality rates of 30, 40, 50% in nursing homes when coronavirus gets introduced," said Christopher Laxton, executive director of AMDA—the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, which represents nursing home medical directors. Fears extend to patients with other conditions, such as strokes or heart attacks, who've been in the hospital and do not have COVID-19 symptoms but could harbor the virus.In its most recent guidance, the American Health Care Association, an industry trade group, said nursing homes can accept patients "who are COVID negative or do not have symptoms." If someone has symptoms such as a dry cough or fever, they "should be tested for COVID-19 before being admitted to the facility." If someone is COVID positive, they should be kept only "with other COVID positive residents."Three Nuns Left to Handle Nearly 100 Seniors Presumed to Have Coronavirus in NJ Care HomeBut nursing home doctors worry this doesn't go far enough. According to a resolution by the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine, nursing homes should not have to take patients known to have the coronavirus unless "they have two negative tests that are 24 hours apart, OR 10 days after admission AND no fever for 72 hours." A new AMDA resolution echoes this caution."We have an obligation to our patients to draw the line," said Dr. Michael Wasserman, president of the California association. "Increasing the number of COVID-19 positive residents in facilities—whether these facilities have patients with the virus or not—raises the risk of infecting the uninfected and dramatically increasing the number of deaths."For their part, hospital leaders say an emphasis on testing before discharging patients is impractical, given the shortage of tests and delays in receiving results."Many nursing homes are requiring a negative COVID-19 test even for patients who were in the hospital for nothing to do with COVID," said Sauer in Washington state. "We don't agree with this. It's using up very limited testing resources."Nowhere are tensions higher than in New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said 73,000 extra hospital beds will be needed within weeks to treat a surge of COVID-19 patients. Hospitals in the state have 53,000 beds.On Wednesday, the New York State Department of Health issued an advisory noting: "No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19."Speaking on behalf of nursing home physicians, AMDA voiced strong opposition, calling the policy "over-reaching, not consistent with science, unenforceable, and beyond all, not in the least consistent with patient safety principles" in a statement.Some nursing homes are sending residents with suspected coronavirus to hospitals for evaluation and then refusing to take them back until tests confirm their negative status. "Essentially, they're dumping patients on hospitals and saying, 'Too bad—you're stuck with them now,'" said a consultant who works closely with hospitals and spoke on the condition of anonymity.Others want to do their part to serve COVID-19 patients. "It is our obligation to keep the health care system flowing," said Scott LaRue, president of ArchCare, the health care system of the Archdiocese of New York.LaRue has no illusions about keeping the coronavirus out of ArchCare's five nursing homes, which, combined, have 1,700 beds."In New York City the virus is everywhere," he said. That means it has to be managed, not avoided. "Our intention is to take COVID-19 stable patients" and move them to a single floor at each nursing home, he said.That will happen under two conditions, LaRue said. First, ArchCare will need sufficient personal protective equipment—gowns, masks and face shields—for its staff. Currently, the system can't get face shields. It was due to run out of gowns by Wednesday.Second, ArchCare will need to test whether its protocols for managing COVID-positive patients are working. Those include putting patients in isolation, monitoring them more closely, limiting the number of people who can go in, and ensuring that staff use personal protective equipment and are trained properly. So far, only one of its nursing home patients is known to have COVID-19. "We won't know for 14 days if the steps we're taking are working," LaRue said.Do I Have Coronavirus? A Symptoms Primer.But it's unrealistic to expect other nursing homes to follow suit."I would be surprised if 10% to 15% of skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. could take a COVID-positive patient and treat that patient safely while ensuring that other residents in the home are safe," said David Grabowski, a professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School.In a new commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Grabowski calls for establishing "centers of excellence" to care for patients recovering from COVID-19 and building "temporary capacity" in hot spots where the need for post-hospital services is likely to surge.That's beginning to happen. On Tuesday, Cuomo announced that a field hospital being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to house overflow coronavirus patients at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City would include 1,000 beds for patients who don't need acute care services.On Wednesday, a unit of Partners HealthCare, a large Massachusetts health care system, announced a new center for patients recovering from COVID-19 on the fourth floor of Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Care, a long-term care hospital in Cambridge. The center, set to open soon, will have 60 beds and accept patients from Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.In the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, Allina Health, which operates 11 hospitals, is partnering with Presbyterian Homes & Services to convert a 50-bed skilled nursing home to a "step-down site," said Dr. Emily Downing, a vice president of Allina Health. The goal is to help COVID-19 patients recover so they can return to nursing homes or senior living communities.Katie Smith Sloan, president of LeadingAge, which represents not-for-profit nursing homes, home care agencies and assisted living centers, said she was hearing about nascent plans to reopen closed nursing homes for COVID-19 patients. Government agencies need to make financing available to build extra capacity to care for these patients, she said.As for patients who need less intensive care or who need to be quarantined after the hospital to ensure they aren't infectious, other options exist."King County has bought a hotel and is leasing another and is looking at what are now empty ambulatory surgery centers or a Christian summer camp in the area," said Sauer of the Washington State Hospital Association. Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Iran plans tougher restrictions as coronavirus toll rises Posted: 30 Mar 2020 02:47 AM PDT  Iran had 117 new coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 2,757, a health ministry spokesman said on Monday, prompting the Middle East's worst hit country to consider tougher curbs on movement. "In the past 24 hours we had 117 new deaths and 3,186 new confirmed cases of people infected with the coronavirus," Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, calling on Iranians to stay at home. Iran has had an intercity travel ban since Thursday and the government has extended the closure of universities and schools and the suspension of all cultural, religious and sports events.
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| A New York nurse shared a chilling photo of coronavirus victims to show 'the ghastly reality of what' medical workers deal with on frontlines Posted: 29 Mar 2020 02:18 PM PDT  The harrowing image shows the bodies of deceased COVID-19 patients being stored in a refrigerated truck outside the ambulance bay.
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| Plane catches fire at Manila airport, killing all 8 aboard Posted: 29 Mar 2020 07:57 AM PDT  A plane carrying eight people, including an American and a Canadian, burst into flames Sunday while attempting to take off from Manila's airport on a flight bound for Japan, killing all those on board, officials said. The Westwind 24 plane, which was carrying six Filipino crew members and the American and Canadian passengers, was bound for Tokyo on a medical mission when it caught fire near the end of the main runway, Manila airport general manager Ed Monreal said. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said the aircraft apparently encountered an unspecified "problem which resulted in a fire" as it rolled to take off, adding its chief investigator was on the way to the scene.
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| Florida does not want virus-stricken cruise ship: governor Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:45 AM PDT  Florida's governor said Monday that he does not want a cruise ship with passengers suspected to be suffering from coronavirus to dock in his southern US state. The Holland America Line vessel, the Zaandam, passed through the Panama Canal overnight as the company searched for a port that will allow passengers to disembark. "We view this as a big, big problem and we do not want to see people dumped in southern Florida right now," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told Fox News.
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| Dr. Birx predicts up to 200,000 coronavirus deaths 'if we do things almost perfectly' Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:47 AM PDT  "I think in some of the metro areas we were late in getting people to follow the 15-day guidelines," the White House coronavirus response coordinator said on "TODAY."
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| There are early signs that coronavirus outbreaks around the world are slowing down Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:15 AM PDT  Data shows that the number of new cases is slowing in the US and Western Europe, two major epicenters of the virus.
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| Coronavirus: Trump orders 'time-wasting' General Motors to make ventilators Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:41 AM PDT  The US president orders the car maker to help manufacture medical devices and attacks its CEO.
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| Florida coronavirus cases pass 4000: state border checkpoints begin, vacation rentals halted Posted: 29 Mar 2020 06:12 AM PDT  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tells travelers, "Don't come here" as cases pass 4,000. The state is also checking Louisianians crossing the border by car.
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| Largest U.S. dam removal sparks debate over coveted West water Posted: 29 Mar 2020 11:38 AM PDT  California's second-largest river has sustained Native American tribes with salmon for millennia, provided upstream farmers with irrigation water for generations and served as a haven for retirees who built homes along its banks.
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| Coronavirus deaths fall again in Italy but lockdown extension looms Posted: 29 Mar 2020 11:11 AM PDT  The number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy fell for the second consecutive day on Sunday but the country still looked almost certain to see an extension of stringent containment measures. The Civil Protection department said 756 people had died in the last day, bringing the total to 10,779 - more than a third of all deaths from the virus worldwide. "The measures that were due to expire on April 3 inevitably will be extended," Regional Affairs Minister Francesco Boccia told Sky TG24 television.
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| In Zimbabwe, 'you win coronavirus or you win starvation' Posted: 30 Mar 2020 02:04 AM PDT  The World Health Organization's recommended virus precautions seem far-fetched for many of Zimbabwe's 15 million people. Last year a United Nations expert called the number of hungry people in Zimbabwe "shocking" for a country not in conflict. Harare, like most cities and towns across Zimbabwe, has an acute water shortage and residents at times go for months, even years, without a working tap.
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| Inmate dies after contracting coronavirus at Louisiana federal prison Posted: 29 Mar 2020 08:08 AM PDT  The death of Patrick Jones marks the first COVID-19-related death of an inmate in the federal prison system, a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said.
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| Prime Minister Boris Johnson is spending £5.7 million to write to all 66 million people in the UK, urging them to stay at home to fight coronavirus Posted: 28 Mar 2020 03:00 PM PDT  "The more we all follow the rules, the fewer lives will be lost and the sooner life can return to normal," Johnson said in a letter
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| FDA Authorizes Use of Malaria Drugs for Coronavirus Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:59 AM PDT  The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday granted an emergency authorization for two drugs, which are typically prescribed to treat malaria, to be used as treatments for the coronavirus.The emergency-use authorization is for two oral prescription drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which are used primarily to treat malaria, but are now being investigated by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, as possible treatments for the coronavirus.The Health and Human Services Department announced Sunday that 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate have been donated.The FDA will allow the drugs "to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible.""Let's see how it works," Trump said Sunday. "It may, it may not."Hydroxychloroquine has been tested on patients in a small coronavirus clinical trial and produced inconclusive but promising results. Trump said 1,100 patients are getting hydroxychloroquine treatment in New York City, the epicenter in the U.S. of the coronavirus pandemic.As of early Monday morning, the coronavirus has infected more than 143,000 people in the U.S. and at least 2,513 people have died from the respiratory illness.
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| Tucker Carlson Wants to Have It Both Ways on Coronavirus Posted: 30 Mar 2020 01:41 AM PDT  Fox News primetime star Tucker Carlson has been credited with pushing President Donald Trump to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously and has received mainstream media plaudits for seemingly calling out his own colleagues for actively downplaying the outbreak.Yet, while Carlson has been applauded for preaching concern about the viral outbreak while his fellow pro-Trump hosts on the network attempted to dismiss the COVID-19 fears as a partisan ploy, he has actually played both sides for his audience, giving voice to reckless conspiracies, unserious characters with no expertise, and wholly dangerous rhetoric.Earlier this month, as confirmed cases and deaths began surging across the country, Carlson gained widespread acclaim when he called out those "minimizing" COVID-19, calling the pandemic a "very serious problem." It was seen at the time that Carlson was calling out both Trump and many of his Fox News colleagues—without naming them, of course—for reacting inappropriately to the impending crisis.That March 9 monologue apparently helped prompt the president to finally take action on the pandemic after waving it away for weeks, with White House sources saying Carlson's segment was a "turning point" for Trump. The Fox News host, who has informally advised the president on other matters in the past, also traveled down to Mar-a-Lago the previous weekend to convince the president about the gravity of the situation, later saying he felt it was his "moral obligation" to do so.As a result, Carlson has been the focus of several largely sympathetic portraits and interviews in the mainstream press. Various outlets remarked positively on Carlson's "moral obligation" to convince Trump to take the crisis seriously, with some noting that the Fox host "admirably focused" on pandemic from the beginning.The Fox host's portrayal in the media as courageously standing alone among his overtly pro-Trump primetime brethren has rankled network brass. According to The New York Times, the network's PR chief Irena Briganti has complained about Carlson "casting himself to reporters as a heroic truth-teller in contrast with other hosts."While it is true that Carlson was essentially alone among the network's key stars in sounding the alarm on coronavirus—for instance, now-former Fox Business host Trish Regan labeled it an "impeachment scam" the same time Carlson was declaring the pandemic was "real"—his early warnings also revolved around peddling baseless conspiracies and blaming "woke" politics for the spread of the virus.Tucker Carlson Appears to Call Out Trump, Fox Colleagues for 'Minimizing' CoronavirusThroughout February, Carlson floated the debunked theory that the virus was created by the Chinese government in a research laboratory, potentially as a bioweapon against the United States. The theory began making rounds in the right-wing media ecosystem after former Trump adviser Steve Bannon began pushing it on his radio show.Despite a medical expert shooting down the now-debunked theory earlier in the month, Carlson continued to peddle it on subsequent broadcasts. On Feb. 18, Carlson hosted The Washington Times' Bill Gertz, whose specious reporting was the basis of Bannon's theory, to discuss his speculation. During the interview, the Fox host claimed unnamed "experts" were considering the possibility the virus was created in a Chinese lab while adding it is "worth getting to the bottom of."When he wasn't wildly speculating that the virus was a Chinese bioweapon, Carlson also spent weeks blaming "diversity" for the virus. Taking aim at progressive writers who warned against racist attacks in the wake of the pandemic—hate crimes against Asian-Americans have been on the rise—Carlson groused that "identity politics trumped public health and not for the first time.""Wokeness is a cult," he added. "They would let you die before they admitted that diversity is not our strength."He would continue to blame "identity politics" for the spread of the virus, resulting in him at one point turning to conservative columnist Eddie Scarry—best-known as the "AOC creepshot guy"—for coronavirus expertise in late February. As financial markets started to experience record drops over COVID-19 fears, Carlson gave primetime airspace to the Examiner writer, who called the disease the "Commie cough" while claiming it originated from Chinese people eating skunks. Carlson, meanwhile, applauded Scarry, claiming "everything" he said "is true" as the trollish columnist railed against political correctness and its supposed impact on the health crisis.In the wake of his call for conservatives to take coronavirus seriously, Carlson kept blasting "wokeness" as one of the central causes of the disease's spread, at one point insisting that not calling it the "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus" could literally kill people. "In times of crisis euphemisms kill," he said. "You need accuracy and clear language in the way you talk about the threat. It's essential." He later applauded Trump for publicly using the term "Chinese virus."Moreover, and more recently, Carlson seemed to backpedal on his "serious" concerns over the pandemic this week. With the president's declared desire for an early end to social distancing restrictions, many conservatives backed Trump's push despite the warning of public health experts.Texas Lt. Gov: Senior Citizens Willing to Die to Save Economy for GrandkidsDuring last Monday's broadcast of his show, Carlson brought on Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to defend the president's suggestion, who subsequently said that elderly people such as himself would be willing to die from coronavirus to save America's economy for their grandkids."No one reached out to me and said as a senior citizen, 'Are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?'" Patrick said. "And if that is the exchange, I'm all in."At the end of the segment, Carlson nodded along with Patrick and added: "We really needed to hear that perspective."The following night, Carlson hosted Fox News analyst Brit Hume to defend Patrick's comments after they sparked controversy. In Hume's opinion, Patrick saying grandparents were willing to sacrifice themselves to reopen the economy was an "extremely reasonable viewpoint." Carlson, for his part, seemed confused why the lieutenant governor's remarks "enrages so many people," prompting Hume to say it was due to anti-Trump sentiment.Other guests that appeared this past week to share their coronavirus wisdom included comedian Adam Carrola, goofy podcaster Dave Rubin, and talk-radio blowhard Buck Sexton.But Carlson's newfound reputation as a sober and earnest broker on the crisis perhaps looked the silliest on Wednesday when he brought on a self-proclaimed "corona truther" to wax poetic on self-isolation. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, a notorious troll and semi-regular guest of Carlson's, showed up to talk about how he has taken a "financial beating" because the casino business is currently down—before discussing his choice of sweatpants and his TV-viewing habits.Prior to his Carlson appearance, Portnoy had spent weeks mocking concerns about the pandemic, comparing the virus to "the common cold" and saying he didn't "care about the people dying... I just care about my wallet."In fact, just two weeks before appearing on Tucker's primetime show, Portnoy griped about the NBA suspending its season amid the outbreak, calling himself a "corona truther" and insisting that concern over the virus—which has now killed over 25,000 people worldwide—is either a "fraud, overreaction, or media concoction."Carlson may have won media plaudits for his early concerns about the pandemic, but a closer look at his overall coverage proves we shouldn't be so easily fooled.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Coronavirus: India's pandemic lockdown turns into a human tragedy Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:40 AM PDT  Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers are fleeing cities, posing a fresh risk of infection.
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| I was quarantined at home as an 8-year-old during the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong. Here's my advice for parents with kids at home now. Posted: 29 Mar 2020 03:38 AM PDT  Janet Lam remembers how her mom kept her active during six weeks off school, and shares four tips for parents navigating the coronavirus crisis now.
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| Air strikes hit Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa: witnesses Posted: 30 Mar 2020 03:42 AM PDT  The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen carried out several air strikes on Monday on the capital Sanaa, witnesses and media said, killing dozens of horses at a military school. A number of sensitive sites including the presidential palace compound, the school and an air base close to Sanaa airport were hit, and loud explosions were heard across the city, residents said. The coalition said the operation was aimed at destroying "legitimate military targets including Houthi ballistic batteries which threaten civilian lives".
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| Trump asks why reporter doesn't act 'a little more positive' Posted: 29 Mar 2020 04:17 PM PDT  President Trump on Sunday asked why a White House reporter does not act "a little more positive" in covering the administration's coronavirus response.
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| Serial killer dubbed Grim Sleeper dies in California prison Posted: 29 Mar 2020 02:34 PM PDT  Lonnie Franklin, the convicted serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" who preyed on the women of South Los Angeles for more than two decades, has died in prison. California corrections officials said Franklin was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday evening. An autopsy will determine the cause of death; however, there were no signs of trauma, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in a statement.
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| Nigeria orders lockdown in Lagos, Abuja over virus Posted: 29 Mar 2020 04:41 PM PDT  Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday ordered the "cessation of all movements" for two weeks in the largest city Lagos and capital Abuja to stop the spread of coronavirus. "All citizens in these areas are to stay in their homes" starting from 2200 GMT on Monday, Buhari announced in a televised address to the nation. Buhari said the restrictions -- which also cover Ogun state neighbouring Lagos -- do not apply to hospitals, food shops or petrol stations.
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| Kremlin Fights U.S. Sanctions, Backs Maduro in Rosneft Deal Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:03 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The Kremlin's sudden shift of ownership of multi-billion-dollar oil projects in Venezuela shields oil giant Rosneft PJSC from further U.S. sanctions but keeps Moscow firmly behind embattled President Nicolas Maduro amid a wider stand-off with Washington."Russia is not walking away from Maduro and will seek to thwart U.S. efforts to depose him," said Vladimir Frolov, a former diplomat and foreign policy analyst in Moscow. "Moscow is just shielding Rosneft from sanctions which could result in a blanket embargo on all Rosneft exports."Fears of broader sanctions have grown after the U.S. in recent months slapped restrictions on Rosneft trading companies for handling business with Venezuela. More recently, the U.S. has hinted that it might step up pressure on the Russian oil sector to reduce production. That followed Moscow's decision early this month not to deepen output cuts agreed with OPEC led Saudi Arabia to boost output, flooding the market and pushing prices to the lowest levels in decades.The administration of President Donald Trump has already reached out to Saudi leaders to reconsider their strategy, which has battered producers in the U.S. with low prices. Trump said Monday he plans to speak by phone with Putin later in the day to talk about the oil market and may discuss sanctions and Venezuela.Read: Putin and MBS Draw Trump Into Grudge Match for Oil SupremacyRosneft late Saturday announced it's turning over its Venezuelan projects to an unnamed state-owned company in what it called an effort to protect its shareholders' interests.Sechin AutonomyAs part of the deal, Rosneft gets 9.6% of its own shares previously held by state holding company Rosneftegaz, bringing direct government ownership to just over 40%, according to two people familiar with the transaction. While Rosneft will remain firmly under Kremlin control, the shift in ownership could give Igor Sechin, who as chief executive and a longtime Putin ally is already one of Russia's most influential people, even more autonomy, these people said."Sechin gets Rosneft shares and Putin gets the chance to trade with Trump," said Konstantin Simonov, head of the National Energy Security Fund in Moscow.Neither the company nor the government would comment on whether the deal will bring state ownership below 50%.Rosneft, which produces 40% of Russian oil and 5% of world output and has substantial exposure in the western financial system, can't afford the risk of broad U.S. sanctions that could cripple its operations. Earlier this month, a Chinese company said it wouldn't buy crude from Rosneft because of the risks caused by the sanctions on the trading companies."As recently as February, the Venezuelan business was profitable, which offset the sanctions risk," said Ivan Timofeyev, an analyst at the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. "Now the desire to avoid sanctions coincided with the need to avoid losses" after oil prices plunged, he added.The Russian giant has already cut its exposure under multi-billion-dollar prepayment deals reached several years ago. Venezuela's oil producer PDVSA owes Rosneft only $800 million at the end of the third quarter of 2019, according to the last available data, down from $4.6 billion at the end of 2017.Sanctions ProtectionThe latest Russian maneuver mirrored its strategy in 2018 when it used Promsvzyabank to set up a new banking vehicle to serve the defense industry after state-owned weapons producers came under U.S. sanctions, thereby shielding the country's two largest banks, government-controlled Sberbank and VTB. Unlike those big lenders, which have significant exposure to western financial institutions and thus are at risk from sweeping U.S. sanctions, the new special entity operated largely out of Washington's reach.While Rosneft may even push to have the recently imposed sanctions on the trading units lifted, risks remain."Rosneft is trying to stay out of the firing-line but nothing stops the Americans from finding another pretext to sanction it," said Fyodor Lukyanov, who heads the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a research group in Moscow that advises the Kremlin."Russia understands that Maduro is in an awful situation, especially with oil prices at rock bottom," he said. "But Putin's psychology is that you should stick with partners in difficulty."Frolov said, "Moscow thinks that Maduro is actually winning the fight with the opposition and is likely to split it to the point where he would be able to win parliamentary elections this year." Russia has backed Maduro even as the U.S. and its allies back opposition leader Juan Guaido.Maduro said on state TV on Saturday evening that "President Putin sent me a message through his ambassador reaffirming their strategic and integral support to Venezuela in all areas."(Updates with Rosneft stake shift in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New York's coronavirus death toll just topped 1,000, but Gov. Cuomo warns that 'thousands' will die Posted: 30 Mar 2020 12:25 AM PDT  Accessible, rapid testing could bring a "return to normalcy," Cuomo said. But for now, he's extending New York's lockdown another two weeks.
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| Coronavirus: Oil price collapses to lowest level for 18 years Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:31 AM PDT  The price of crude falls below $23 a barrel as demand plummets due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Tornado tears through Arkansas city, prompting curfew and National Guard response Posted: 28 Mar 2020 06:14 PM PDT  "I know there is property damage," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. "Just praying all is safe."
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| South Korea to pay families hundreds of dollars to ease coronavirus impact Posted: 29 Mar 2020 07:44 PM PDT  South Korea will make emergency cash payments to all but the richest families and draw up a second supplementary budget next month in a bid to ease the drawn-out economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, President Moon Jae-in said on Monday. Moon, after an emergency meeting with economic policymakers, said an "emergency disaster relief payment" of up to 1 million won ($820) would be made to all households except the top 30% by income, totalling some 9.1 trillion won ($7.44 billion). "Citizens suffered from the coronavirus and they all deserve to be rewarded for their pain and participation in preventive efforts," Moon told the meeting in comments broadcast on television.
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| Trump's message to blue states battling coronavirus: Drop dead Posted: 30 Mar 2020 02:50 AM PDT  Heading into 2020, it seemed like those online election prediction maps would be the most exciting thing to watch over the coming year. But now, a different map may tell us much more about what the future holds.While the coronavirus spreads across the nation with no regards to state borders, the nation's governors are taking wildly different approaches to tackling the disease, resulting in a patchwork national map that undermines our ability to stop COVID-19 effectively. Coupled with the disastrous leadership of a president more interested in retaliating against his perceived enemies than employing his powers for good, the fractured response to coronavirus reveals how much has to be healed in our nation's system. It also sets in motion an inevitable showdown between Trump and those state leaders who are taking coronavirus seriously, a divide that is only going to get worse given Trump's toxic tendency to blame others for his own shortcomings.Trump's sickness was startlingly evident in his interview with Fox News' Bill Hemmer last Tuesday. Asked about his administration's coordination with the states, a basic function of the federal government and a critical one in a crisis moment, Trump's response displayed his typically transactional view of how things get done under his watch. "It's a two-way street," Trump childishly whined, "They have to treat us well, also. They can't say, 'Oh, gee, we should get this, we should get that.'"That's been Trump's approach to working with others, especially those in need, from the start, a twisted outgrowth of the manipulation tactics he's used throughout his personal and professional life.As president, his self-interest and demands for personal loyalty always guide his decision making. At the depressingly dysfunctional level, that has meant a revolving door of White House staffers and administration appointees, including Jeff Sessions, who didn't satisfy Trump's insatiable ego enough to stay. At the lawbreaking level, it has meant his bald quid pro quo demand that Ukraine investigate a political rival in order to receive congressionally-mandated foreign aid and putting extreme restrictions on federal aid to Puerto Rico, seemingly in retaliation for how government officials there had criticized his handling of Hurricane Maria.But where Trump's pay-to-play expectations of Ukraine, despite the Senate's judgments, were unconstitutional, his praise-to-play demands of state governors while the health of the nation hangs in the balance are nothing short of unconscionable. Trump's refusal to take federal action against the virus may be the most disastrous decision of his presidency. His petty privileging of red states and his punishing of blue states may be the most deadly, with consequences for all Americans no matter their politics.After Andrew Cuomo requested 30,000 ventilators for his coronavirus-ravaged New York, Trump coughed up only 400 machines while, as usual, freely blaming the governor for the state's situation. "You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators," an exasperated Cuomo asked at a recent news conference. "You're missing the magnitude of the problem."On Thursday, Trump lashed out at Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her criticisms of the administration's inaction. "We've had a big problem with the... woman governor," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "We don't like to see the complaints." He later said he'd told Vice President Mike Pence not to call "the woman in Michigan."Meanwhile Florida, a state run by a loyal Trump supporter, Gov. Ron DeSantis, has fared better, not surprisingly. Despite DeSantis' failure to take the disease seriously and limit its escalating spread through the state, Florida has received all the medical supplies it has requested from the federal stockpile, and then some. New Jersey, on the other hand, a state with currently the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the country, initially got only a small fraction of what it requested.Other Republican state leaders are making Trump's abdication of responsibility even easier, propping up his fantastical and fatalist thinking and actively undercutting public health measures. Trump's arbitrary selection of April 12 as the date he wanted the country "opened up" outraged public health officials who warn we need much more time (he's since backed down to say April 30). But Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's horrific recent comments that grandparents should be willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the economy is merely putting the public voice to the sort of Machiavellian logic shaping red states' policies.In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday signed an executive order declaring almost all the businesses in the state as "essential," thereby invalidating any local mayors or state agencies that have tried to implement social-distancing requirements. Reeves' decision also included religious facilities, despite an earlier directive by the state's Department of Health that Mississippians avoid church services, weddings, and funerals to help curb the virus' spread.In other Republican-led states, the continued lack of prohibitions against public gatherings will spell disastrous consequences. Blue states and places like Ohio and Maryland, led by reasonable Republican governors, cannot combat the virus alone. If Trump keeps picking favorite states to help in the absence of a national approach, everyone will lose.A moment like this requires leadership, but Trump is no leader. Sulking that he can no longer hold the public rallies that give him life, Trump is incapable of rallying the nation in defense of its own. With potentially millions of Americans at risk of dying from coronavirus, Trump's only interest, as always, is in tending to his bruised ego, and he'll ruthlessly play governors against each other to fulfill his needs.In his Friday press conference, Trump told reporters, "All I want [governors] to do... I want them to be appreciative. We've done a great job." All those governors want is a president who cares about the lives of their constituents, regardless of whether they voted for him.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Fox News reportedly fears its early downplaying of COVID-19 leaves it open to lawsuits Drake posts the first public photos of his 'secret baby' Adonis John Krasinski launches YouTube show dedicated to good news, slips in Office mini-reunion with Steve Carell
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| Ill man seeks return to US amid West Bank virus restrictions Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:45 AM PDT  Ismail "Sam" Mousa is very worried. The 48-year-old Uber driver and Subway worker from Delaware has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which means contracting the coronavirus could be deadly for him. With the help of U.S. diplomatic officials, Mousa and his 12-year-old daughter, Anisa, have been granted permission to fly home later this week from Tel Aviv, Israel — if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't lock down the country to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
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| 'Merkel is back': virus crisis boosts Germany's centre-right Posted: 29 Mar 2020 03:10 AM PDT  Angela Merkel's long-struggling conservatives have rebounded in the polls thanks to the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and widespread faith in the outgoing German chancellor's ability to manage the upheaval. Shaking off years of record-low popularity, Merkel's centre-right CDU/CSU bloc is now enjoying approval ratings of around 32 to 35 percent, some six to seven points higher than just a few weeks ago. It's a surprise turn of events for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) which as recently as last month was riven by internal turmoil and debate over who would be the party's chancellor candidate when Merkel bows out in 2021.
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| Rats swarm New Orleans' streets as coronavirus precautions leave them empty Posted: 29 Mar 2020 10:34 AM PDT  With restaurants closed save for take-out service, far less food waste is being discarded in the city's alleyways, driving the local rodent population out into the open to search for scraps.
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| Boris Johnson's government is reportedly furious with China and believes it could have 40 times more coronavirus cases than it claims Posted: 29 Mar 2020 12:52 AM PDT  UK government sources quoted on Sunday say China faces a "reckoning" over its handling of the coronavirus crisis.
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| Africa's paradox: It may be the worst and best place to ride out coronavirus Posted: 30 Mar 2020 12:39 AM PDT  COVID-19 may compound difficulties in a part of the world that's long grappled with conflict, humanitarian disaster and infrastructure inadequacies. Yet Africa has deep experience fighting infectious disease and a very young population.
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