Category: Corona Virus

MinnPost photo by Gregg Aamot

Since the outbreak was declared a pandemic, the city of Duluth has laid off around 100 people.

But the shutdown of Minnesotas economy due to the novel coronavirus, and the health risks incurred by it, have put cities like Duluth and county governments across Minnesota in a bind: there is no tourism, there are effectively no sales, and several counties have delayed property taxes.

Duluth Mayor Emily Larson

The hope from city, state, and county officials like Larson is that Congress will allocate additional assistance. Minnesota received more than $2 billion from the CARES Act, federal legislation passed in response to COVID-19. But only three government bodies qualified for direct aid: the state, Ramsey County, which contains St. Paul; and Hennepin County, which contains Minneapolis. Government bodies that support less than 500,000 people didnt qualify for funding, meaning even the four largest cities in Minnesota Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, and Duluth received nothing.

While Gov. Tim Walz has vowed to distribute some of the state funding from the CARES Act to cities, Minnesotas elected officials at all levels have acknowledged they have nowhere near enough money to keep services fully running and ready for a post-shutdown world. As of now, a large number of them say the only hope is another round of substantial federal funding, which as of last week, doesnt seem to be anywhere close to happening.

A few hours south of Duluth down I-35, Rochester is struggling too.

Mayor Kim Norton

Were really disappointed in that the response only funded money to counties of 500,000. That sort of left out Olmsted County, said Norton, who represents a city of just over 100,000 people. Norton also previously represented District 25B, the northern portion of Rochester, as a DFLer in the Legislature. Were applying for everything we can, but when the money is coming directly to your state, we need to be able to get our hands on it, Norton said, adding: Im very frustrated.

Before the state effectively shut down, Rochester was also home to temporary visitors from all around the country receiving medical care from the Mayo Clinic. But when the virus prompted statewide closures and reduced travel, so went the industry that surrounded the Mayo Clinic: the Rochester hotels, the Rochester restaurants, and the Rochester shops. So all the employees that worked in the hospitality industry really surrounding the Mayo Clinic suddenly were unemployed, Norton said.

CC/Flickr/-Tripp-

Before the state effectively shut down, Rochester was also home to temporary visitors from all around the country receiving medical care from the Mayo Clinic.

[Congress] need[s] to get a bill that they can all agree to and sent out to cities and counties throughout the state, Norton said. They need to do it quickly, because we dont have the coffers to be able to continue to provide. Were not providing enough support [as it is]. Were providing some.

Of over $2 billion sent to Minnesota from the CARES Act, $96 million went to Ramsey County. But even with it, Ramsey County Commissioner Toni Carter described the situation as pretty dire.

Carter said shes grateful that Ramsey County, like Hennepin County, could receive some money directly appropriated by Congress. We know that the first needs that will come out of the $96 million provided to Ramsey County will go toward assistance to individuals and families who are struggling right now to maintain homes or food on the table, said Carter.

Carter sees not only a need to address these immediate problems using the money from the federal government, but to be prepared to help stimulate the economy and help rebuild Ramsey Countys infrastructure when it comes time. And thats going to require more money from Congress.

Housing problems exist all the time, she said. You know, this is nothing new that people are homeless and need assistance. Of course its aggravated and its gaining attention. But this problem was with us before COVID and it will be with us after as well.

As a member of the National Association of Counties, Carter is cognizant of the issues that face not just Ramsey County, but counties around the state as well. Counties above 500,000 have received this initial assistance and theyll need more, she said. Other counties with populations under 500,000 have not received anything to address these needs.

And even with the initial CARES Act funding, Commissioner Carter is worried about the revenue that keeps services functioning in Ramsey County. The county has been unable to collect on property taxes that were due on the 15th of May and the shortfall is compounded by the fact that while money from the CARES Act can generally be spent on coronavirus-related expenses incurred between March and the end of 2020, it cant be spent to replace revenue lost from the COVID recession.

What we anticipate needing through the end of the year is not just the $96 million that we were appropriated directly, but resources far beyond, Carter said. I cannot calculate, you know, what will be required to get us through this.

When the CARES Act was passed, Congress suggested that 45 percent of states shares of the money go to local governments. But it did not require it. Earlier this month, the Legislature tried to pass legislation directing Walz to distribute that percentage $667 million to cities and counties. A proposal from the Senate GOP bill would have forced Hennepin and Ramsey to share their money with their cities. And a bill from the House DFL would distribute the money using a per capita formula. Neither bill was signed into law, leaving the Walz administration with all of the power to decide how the money is distriburted.

Walz said he plans to distribute some of the money to cities, but prefers to distribute the funds on a per capita basis and to maintain a reserve fund to target hotspots and emergent needs via grants.

In addition to the state CARES Act funding, various state and local entities health services, transit, public health, public school and colleges received another $900 million from the CARES Act. And Minnesotas tribal governments are currently in the process of determining how much funding they will get, after a lengthy delay.

But even with the CARES Act funding at the state level, Walz said his administration has begun to cut spending.

MinnPost photo by Greta Kaul

Gov. Tim Walz

He said the state has asked some employees to take leave and is not hiring for vacancies in non-essential jobs. But he said many departments revenue, natural resources, economic development and employment security for example are as busy as they ever are.

While Minnesota is facing deficits, it has a rainy day fund sizable enough to cover projected shortfalls, especially if it can shift some recent appropriations to CARES Act money. The states Office of Management and Budget said they will have a better understanding of its budget situation when they again update their forecast in August and again in November.

As for what comes next, Walz is not counting on another immediate round of funding from Congress. On a recent call with six other Midwestern governors, Walz discussed what and when future funding from Congress would look like.

He said there was a split in optimism. On one side, five of the governors were hopeful that congress would appropriate more funds quickly. On the other, the only two governors that had previously served in congress: Walz and Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio.

The other five seemed a lot more optimistic about this than the two of us, Walz said. Weve been there.

On Friday, the U.S. House passed a follow-up to the last major coronavirus response package, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (or HEROES) Act. The centerpiece of the $3 trillion dollar bill is more than $1 trillion for state and local governments.

Carter of Ramsey County said that money like that is a really, really big deal, because the county needs funds that dont just respond to COVID-19, but that help replace lost revenue. Larson in Duluth also took notice: The HEROES Act just recognizes that of the services that cities provide that are funded by these revenue sources that immediately stopped. So that was really hopeful to me.

MinnPost photo by Brian Halliday

Pete Stauber

Similarly, Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who represents Rochester in Congress, called the bill unserious. A few days prior to the vote, Hagedorn said that a conservative approach to funding cities might be worth looking at. As far as what the state is looking for, Im sure they and a lot of municipalities are looking for the federal government to help, he said on KEYC. We want to be fair to everybody, but the federal governments just expended over $2 trillion, and at some point we have to be mindful.

House Republicans have presented no alternative proposal for state and local funding. In recent weeks, Republicans have not negotiated with Pelosi to put any new legislation on the floor. We all have governors regardless of party who would love to have free money, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in late April. And thats why I said yesterday were going to push the pause button here, because I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments need to be thoroughly evaluated. In recent weeks, McConnells office has also called additional money to states Blue State Bailouts.

On Tuesday, Rep. Angie Craig said McConnell clearly has not been talking to people on the ground.

Rep. Angie Craig

That change was included in the HEROES Act, which is currently on McConnells desk awaiting a vote it will likely not receive.

While she did follow the HEROES Act, Larson, the Mayor of Duluth, said she cant risk getting caught up in the politics of Congress. All she can do is advocate for her city, lay out the problems clearly and honestly, and make it hard for people to say no.

But considering the circumstances, she isnt hopeful. I cant hold out hope that were going to be getting money, Larson said. Its been months now and were not getting any financial support.

Peter Callaghan contributed reporting.

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Minnesota's county and city governments wonder when more federal coronavirus aid will come - MinnPost

At this point, there is uncertainty, said Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, who has been modeling the path of the virus. Probably the next week will be one of the crucial ones because if we see more decrease of cases we are still on a good trajectory if not, it really might be more problematic for the future.

Julie Bosman reported from Chicago, Amy Harmon from New York, and Mitch Smith from Overland Park, Kan.

Continued here:

Coronavirus Cases Slow in U.S., but the Big Picture Remains Tenuous - The New York Times

Virginia's Arlington County held its first drive-thru donation for people to drop off unopened and unused personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by first-responders. Tyrone Turner/WAMU hide caption

Virginia's Arlington County held its first drive-thru donation for people to drop off unopened and unused personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by first-responders.

If you were designing a museum exhibit that would explain the coronavirus pandemic to future generations, what would you put in it?

Smithsonian curators in Washington, D.C., are trying to answer that question, even as the virus continues to spread in some states. The National Museum of American History and the Anacostia Community Museum have recently launched coronavirus collection projects. A third effort from the National Museum of African American History and Culture will kick off in June.

Each collection will have its own particular focus. The American History Museum is taking a broad approach: Curators on its COVID-19 task force are putting together lists of objects they want to collect, ranging from handwritten grocery lists and letters from patients to personal protective equipment, test kits and ventilators. Some of the objects will be put on display in an exhibit on disease planned for late next year.

"Obviously those are objects we will not collect until the pandemic has really wound down," said Alexandra Lord, the chair of the American History Museum's medicine and science division. "We don't want to put pressure on supplies."

Object collection is on hold for another reason: The District of Columbia's stay-at-home order is still in effect and the Smithsonian museums and offices are all closed.

"There's a whole set of protocol around artifacts that we can't follow right now," Lord said.

In the meantime, Smithsonian curators are soliciting digital items and oral histories for their online collections.

"Three, five, 10 years from now, we really don't want the human impact of this story to get lost. And so that's what we're really trying to collect," says Melanie Adams, the director of the Anacostia Community Museum, which explores local social change. People in the Washington region can submit digital photographs, videos and written accounts to the museum's new "Moments of Resilience" online collection.

Adams' team will eventually start collecting objects for an exhibit planned for next summer. They'll pay particular attention to the pandemic's impact on the Washington region's restaurant industry and on black and Latino residents.

Curators at the National Museum of African American History and Culture plan to collect objects that tell the stories of black Americans during the pandemic. For the pilot program, they'll ask residents of Baltimore, Chicago, Denver and New Orleans to upload oral histories, images and short videos to an online platform. Object collection will come later, once curators are back in their offices.

"It's important to make sure that those stories from African Americans are included in the record," said Dwandalyn R. Reece, the museum's associate director for curatorial affairs. She said the museum is modelling its current efforts off its work collecting artifacts during the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson and Baltimore in 2014, prior to the museum opening to the public.

Even though object collection can't start yet, the Smithsonian curators are hustling to get the word out about their various projects to keep people from throwing away would-be artifacts. Even a homemade face mask or an empty box that held a shipment of toilet paper could tell future historians a lot about the current moment.

Today's junk, tomorrow's artifact.

Read more here:

The Smithsonian Is Collecting Coronavirus 'Artifacts' To Document The Pandemic - NPR

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Levi Tinker, resident historian and general manager of the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, makes an announcement inside the theater's empty auditorium on Monday, May 18. It was the theater's 93rd birthday celebration.

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People practice social distancing in New York's Domino Park on Sunday, May 17.

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Nurses in Nairobi, Kenya, take part in a Zumba fitness class in the parking lot of the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital on May 17.

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Mary Faye Cochran sings "You Are My Sunshine" to her son Stacey Smith from her senior-living facility in Smyrna, Georgia, on May 10. It was Mother's Day in the United States.

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Pope Francis delivers a blessing from the window of his studio overlooking an empty St. Peter's Square on May 10.

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The San Isidro cemetery in Mexico City, which was temporarily closed to the public to limit the spread of Covid-19, is seen in this aerial photo from May 10.

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Mary Washington speaks through a window to her daughter Courtney Crosby and grandchild Sydney Crosby during a Mother's Day celebration at her senior-living facility in Smyrna.

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A Briarcliff High School student participates in a parade of graduating seniors through Briarcliff Manor, New York, on May 9.

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People wear face masks while watching a Victory Day military parade in Minsk, Belarus, on May 9. The parade marked the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

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A man rides past social-distancing markers in front of a shop in Brussels, Belgium, on May 9.

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A man pauses as he places the casket of a relative into a van at a busy New York funeral home on May 9.

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Health-care workers wait for citizens to arrive at the Anna International Airport in Chennai, India, on May 9. People were arriving in Chennai from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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A man wearing a face mask cycles through Chinatown in Yokohama, Japan, on May 8. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Japan will extend its state of emergency until the end of May.

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American citizens who were stranded in Syria due to the pandemic arrive at the Lebanese border on their way to the Beirut airport, where they would be leaving for the United States.

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During a protest in Washington on May 7, members of National Nurses United stand among empty shoes that they say represent nurses who have died from Covid-19.

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A worker helps disinfect a subway train in New York on May 6. The subway syatem was shut down for a deep-cleaning.

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High school students study in a classroom in Wuhan, China, as they returned to school on May 6.

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A nursery is disinfected in Cannes, France, on May 6. Nurseries in France were to gradually reopen on May 11.

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Refrigerated trucks are seen at a morgue that opened in New York to assist overwhelmed funeral homes.

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Michigan state police prevent protesters from entering the chamber of the Michigan House of Representatives on April 30. The protesters were unhappy with the state's stay-at-home order. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently extended the order through May 15, though restrictions were relaxed so some businesses could reopen.

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This aerial photo shows surfers accessing Sydney's Tamarama Beach on April 29. Several Sydney beaches reopened for exercise only.

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A barber wears protective equipment as he cuts a customer's hair in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 27.

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Health workers at a coronavirus testing center in New Delhi attend to a colleague who fainted due to exhaustion on April 27.

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Pitrik van der Lubbe waves from a boom lift to his 88-year-old father, Henk, at his father's nursing home in Gouda, Netherlands, on April 24. Pitrik had not seen his father in more than four weeks.

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Protesters shout slogans against Lebanese Central Bank governor Riad Salam as they block Hamra Street in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 23. Anti-government protesters have been demonstrating in Beirut as they continue to endure one of its worst-ever economic crises.

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A boy plays hopscotch at his home in A Coruna, Spain, on April 23.

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A dentist wears protective equipment while treating a patient in Den Bosch, Netherlands, on April 22.

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Biology teachers prepare to hold an exam at a secondary school in Berlin on April 22.

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A volunteer in Yangon, Myanmar, spreads calcium oxide on a road to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus on April 22.

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Migrants wave from balconies at a hotel in Kranidi, Greece, on April 21. The shelter, which hosts 470 asylum seekers, was placed in isolation after a pregnant resident tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

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A man disinfects a ceiling lamp at the obanija Mosque in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on April 21.

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A nurse holds a newborn baby, wearing a face shield as a protective measure, at a maternity facility in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 21.

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Health workers at Madrid's La Paz Hospital hold a minute of silence to remember Joaquin Diaz, the hospital's chief of surgery who died because of the coronavirus.

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A woman applauds from the balcony of her Paris home to show support for health care workers on April 20.

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Mayor's office workers wear protective suits as they conduct a census in a Bogota, Colombia, neighborhood on April 19. They were trying to find out how many families needed to be provided with food.

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A woman sticks her tongue out of a torn mask at a Reopen Maryland rally outside the State House in Annapolis, Maryland, on April 18. Residents in multiple states have been protesting stay-at-home orders.

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Newly married Tyler and Caryn Suiters embrace following their marriage ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on April 18. The Rev. Andrew Merrow and his wife, Cameron, were the only other attendees at the ceremony, which was held at St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

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Abed Khankan cuts a customer's hair outdoors in Malmo, Sweden, on April 17.

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Two women walk to rent a small paddle boat by the Vltava River in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 17.

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Cars sit at a newly opened drive-in cinema in Dortmund, Germany, on April 17. It's in front of a former blast furnace.

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Funeral workers in Manaus, Brazil, prepare the grave of a woman who is suspected to have died from the coronavirus.

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A member of the Don Bosco Foundation delivers food from the Fraternitas Project, which serves vulnerable families in Seville, Spain, on April 16.

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Police officerstry on personal protective equipment in Amritsar, India, on April 16.

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Workers in Nairobi, Kenya, fumigate the streets and the stalls of the City Park Market on April 15.

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China has been trying to avoid fallout from coronavirus. Now 100 countries are pushing for an investigation - CNN

Messages written on the individuals masks read: MOTHER POWER," THANK YOU HEALTH CARE & ESSENTIAL WORKERS, and Whatever happens, I LOVE you." Two of the masks read I RUN WITH MAUD, a reference to Ahmaud Arbery, the unarmed black man who was shot to death by two white men while jogging in Georgia earlier this year.

The rest is here:

South Philly residents are framing this strange era with their coronavirus-inspired window displays - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Apple and Google have released long-awaited smartphone technology to automatically notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus.

The companies had announced the unprecedented collaboration to leverage their technology to help trace and contain the spread of coronavirus last month, and say 22 countries and several US states are already planning to build voluntary phone apps using their software.

The software relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to detect when someone who downloaded the app has spent time near another app user who later tests positive for the virus.

Many governments have already tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to roll out their own phone apps to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of those apps have encountered technical problems on Apple and Android phones and havent been widely adopted. They often use GPS to track peoples location, which Apple and Google are omitting from their new tool because of privacy and accuracy concerns.

Public health agencies from Germany to the states of Alabama and South Carolina have been waiting to use the Apple-Google model, while other governments have said the tech giants privacy restrictions will be a hindrance because public health workers will have no access to the data.

The companies said theyre not trying to replace contact tracing, a pillar of infection control that involves trained public health workers reaching out to people who may have been exposed to an infected person. But they said their automatic exposure notification system can augment that process and slow the spread of Covid-19 by virus carriers who are interacting with strangers and arent yet showing symptoms.

The identity of app users will be protected by encryption and anonymous identifier beacons that change frequently. The software will be downloadable on most Androids and iPhone models released since September 2015.

User adoption is key to success and we believe that these strong privacy protections are also the best way to encourage use of these apps, the companies said in a joint statement Wednesday.

The companies said the new technology the product of a rare partnership between the rival tech giants solves some of the main technical challenges that governments have had in building Bluetooth-based apps. It will make it easier for iPhones and Android phones to detect each other, work across national and regional borders and fix some of the problems that led previous apps to quickly drain a phones battery.

The statement on Wednesday also included remarks from state officials in North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina signaling that they plan to use it.

We invite other states to join us in leveraging smartphone technologies to strengthen existing contact tracing efforts, which are critical to getting communities and economies back up and running, said North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, a Republican.

North Dakota had already launched a location-tracking app that about 4% of state residents are using, higher than other US states with similar apps but falling far short of the participation rate that experts say is needed to make such technology useful.

Tim Brookins, the CEO of ProudCrowd, a startup that developed North Dakotas app, said on Wednesday that North Dakotans will now be asked to download two complementary apps his model, to help public health workers track where Covid-19 patients have been, and the Apple-Google model, to privately notify people who might have been exposed to the virus.

Read more:

Apple and Google release phone technology to notify users of coronavirus exposure - The Guardian

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomosaid Tuesday that the state's coronavirus outbreak has slowed to levels not seen since the beginning of the pandemic as the number of fatalities, rate of new infections and the daily number of hospitalizations related to Covid-19 continue to fall.

"We're basically back to where we started before this tragedy descended upon us," he said at a news briefing.

The number of coronavirus deaths topped 105 on Monday, which is about the same number of lives lost on March 26, according to Cuomo. Close to 800 people were dying every day at the height of the state's outbreak in late March and early April.

Source: The State of New York

"Number of deaths on a relative scale is down dramatically from where it was in the first place but it's still painfully high," he said.

The governor also announced that the number of total hospitalizations, net change in total hospitalizations, net change in intubations and daily number of new Covid-19 hospitalizations all declined.

Source: The State of New York

"Look how fast that incline is, how steep that incline is and look at how slow relatively that decline is. You can get into trouble quickly with this virus and it takes you a longer time to turn that curve and to turn that infection rate. So don't let a spike happen in the first place,"Cuomo said while referencing a chart of total hospitalizations in the state related to Covid-19.

Early this month, Cuomo stated that New York was "on the other side of the mountain" as the state began to see a continuous fall in the daily metrics.

New York is now working toward reopening regions of the state in phases. Cuomo announced last week that three areas Finger Lakes, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley were ready to move into phase one of the state's reopening plan. Since then, Central New York, North County and Western New York have also met the state's metrics to begin reopening this week.

Phase one allows retail stores to offer curbside or in-store pickup and for manufacturing and construction work to resume.

The Capital Region, which surrounds the state capital, Albany, hired 430 contact tracers as it prepares to begin reopening on Wednesday, according to Cuomo. The tracers are now being trained in preparation for entering phase one.

Cuomo said Long Island has been making great progress. "We were losing about 100 residents per day; we're now down to about 13 per day," he said of Long Island.

"When someone asks, Well, why did we go through all this pain for two months, three months? Because we saved lives. That's why."

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New York's coronavirus outbreak is back to where it started, Gov. Andrew Cuomo says - CNBC

A Florida man who thought the coronavirus was "a fake crisis" has changed his mind after he and his wife contracted COVID-19.

Brian Hitchens, a rideshare driver who lives in Jupiter, downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus in Facebook posts in March and April.

"I'm honoring what our government says to do during this epidemic but I do not fear this virus because I know that my God is bigger than this Virus will ever be," he wrote in a post on April 2. "Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

In mid-April, Hitchens, 46, began documenting his and his wife's health on Facebook.

"Been home sick for over a week. Both my wife and I home sick," he wrote in a post on April 18. "I've got no energy and all I want to do is sleep."

A day later, Hitchens and his wife, Erin, were admitted to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, Hitchens said in a Facebook post.

Hitchens could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. The voicemail box for a number listed for him is full.

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There have been at least 46,442 cases of the coronavirus in Florida with 1,997 deaths reported as of Monday morning, according to state health data.

In a lengthy post on May 12, Hitchens said that he was once among those who thought the coronavirus "is a fake crisis" that was "blown out of proportion" and "wasn't that serious."

That changed when he started to feel sick in April and stopped working, he wrote.

Hitchens said he "had just enough energy" to drive himself and his wife to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center on April 19, where they both tested positive for the virus.

"They admitted us right away and we both went to ICU," he wrote. "I started feeling better within a few days but my wife got worse to the point where they sedated her and put her on the ventilator."

Hitchens said he never experienced terrible aches and pains but felt weak and exhausted. He said he felt better on May 12, at which point he had been in the hospital for three weeks, and that he still had COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. He also said he had pneumonia in his lungs.

"As of today my wife is still sedated and on the ventilator with no signs of improving," Hitchens wrote. "There were a couple times were they tried to start weaning her off the ventilator but as soon as they've done that her oxygen level dropped and they had to put her back on the ventilator full time."

He said his wife of eight years has been sick "quite a few times" in the past and she always fought through. This time, he said, "I have come to accept that my wife may pass away."

Hitchens, who has seen his wife infrequently since they were hospitalized, said he was holding out hope she would recover.

"This thing is nothing to be messed with please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts," he wrote. "We don't have to fear this and by heeding the advice doesn't mean that you fear it that means you're showing wisdom during this epidemic time."

The May 12 post, in which he implored people to "use wisdom," has been shared more than 500 times.

"Looking back I should have wore a mask in the beginning but I didn't and perhaps I'm paying the price for it now," he wrote. If he passed the virus on to his wife, he said, he knows that she and God forgive him.

"So just think about what I said and if you have to go out please use wisdom and don't be foolish like I was ... so the same thing won't happen to you like it happened to me and my wife," he wrote.

Hitchens had one thing to say in a Facebook post Monday to people who have sent him "nasty messages" saying he deserved to die: "'I AM NEGATIVE"! "PRAISE THE LORD!'"

Janelle Griffith is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

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He thought the coronavirus was 'a fake crisis.' Then he contracted it and changed his mind. - NBC News

The latest slate of restrictions indicate that while the United States moves toward reopening, the federal government is not ready to ease measures put in place in March that largely sealed off the US to stem the spread of Covid-19. The strict rules also have the effect of continuing to curb immigration to the US.

"Those restrictions do expire here on the 21st of May. We will likely look at expanding those restrictions, as the country continues to be a phased opening approach, state-by-state, governor-by-governor, so we're taking a look at that as well," acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters last week.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also suggested last week that the US-Canada border would likely remain closed through June. The agreement as it stands forbids any non-essential travel, although commercial traffic continues.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN, "The United States has great appreciation for the efforts of our partners in Canada and Mexico to ensure that North America is working together to combat the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. Although a formal decision has not yet been made, the United States will continue to maintain the current restrictions on travelers crossing our land borders for non-essential purposes for as long as is necessary, while supporting cross-border activities that protect our economy, health and supply security, and critical industries."

CNN reached out to the White House for comment.

The limits of travel at the US northern and southern borders are one of a series of changes related to the pandemic. In March, the Trump administration also invoked a public health law, citing the coronavirus, that allowed for the swift removal of migrants apprehended at the border -- a move that raised concerns among officials involved in compiling data who believed it to be driven by political motivations. That order is also expected to be extended.

The rules curbing immigration have raised concern among immigrant advocates, lawyers and public health experts who argue restrictions appear to be intended to halt immigration, not to serve a public health purpose.

On Monday, more than two dozen health experts at leading public health schools, medical schools and hospitals cast doubt about the basis of those restrictions.

Behind the scenes, the push to limit immigration during the coronavirus pandemic has been led by Miller, according to administration officials. After the President's April proclamation limiting green cards, Miller cast the move as a first step toward reducing the flow of immigrants coming into the United States.

Since then, aides have been developing follow-up actions that could limit the number of guest workers, which were a key exemption from the first action. Among the categories being raised are H-1B visas intended for highly skilled workers and H-2B visas, which allow employers to bring foreign workers to the United States for temporary non-agricultural jobs, such as landscaping, hospitality and other industries.

The suspension of the Optional Practical Training program, which allows foreign students to be temporarily employed in a job in the US related to their area of study is also being considered, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

Together, the series of changes by the administration have severely limited entry to the US.

Customs and Border Protection, the agency tasked with US border security, referred 59 migrants to USCIS, which processes asylum claims, who expressed fear of torture if they were to be returned. Under the new policy barring most migrants at the border, the threshold to be exempted from expulsion is a claim under the Convention Against Torture, according to a Homeland Security official.

Previously, other asylum claims would be reviewed, but amid the pandemic, the administration has further limited access to humanitarian protections for migrants, claiming it is in the interest of public health.

CNN's Paula Newton contributed to this report.

Read more here:

Trump administration to extend border and travel restrictions related to coronavirus - CNN

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Illinois makes it a misdemeanor for business owners who flout pandemic restrictions.

The owners of restaurants, bars and other establishments in Illinois that open too soon can now be charged with a Class A misdemeanor under a measure enacted by the governor.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, filed an emergency rule on Friday that his office said was intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as a growing number of businesses defy stay-at-home orders across the country.

In Illinois, where a stay-at-home order remains in effect through May, a Class A misdemeanor carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and up to a $2,500 fine. The rule also applies to businesses such as barbershops and gyms, according to Mr. Pritzkers office.

Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Mr. Pritzker, said in an email Sunday that the measure provided an additional enforcement tool for businesses that refuse to comply with the most critical aspects of the stay-at-home order.

As of Sunday, 4,177 people had died from Covid-19 in Illinois, according to state health officials, and there have been 94,191 confirmed cases of the virus.

Conservative state lawmakers have criticized the measure. Senator Dan McConchie, a Republican and a member of the Senates Public Health Committee, called it an affront to the separation of powers in a Twitter post on Sunday.

Ms. Abudayyeh, the governors spokeswoman, said that bringing misdemeanor charges against business owners was not a first resort.

Law enforcement has relied heavily on educating business owners about the order and always first discusses the regulations with business owners to urge compliance, she said. Only businesses that pose a serious risk to public health and refuse to comply with health regulations would be issued a citation. The rule gives law enforcement a tool that may be more appropriate and less severe than closing the business altogether.

In neighboring Wisconsin last week, the state Supreme Court struck down the states stay-at-home extension, siding with Republican legislators in a high-profile challenge of the emergency authority of a statewide official during the pandemic.

Governors struggle to find the right balance on reopening.

The pain of the coronavirus shutdown, in terms of wrecked economies and shattered lives, has been unmistakable. Now, governors across the country are contemplating the risks of reopening, particularly if it produces a surge of new cases and deaths.

This is really the most crucial time, and the most dangerous time, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, said on the CNN program State of the Union on Sunday. All of this is a work in progress. We thought it was a huge risk not to open. But we also know its a huge risk in opening.

The push to reopen has been fueled by swelling frustration, as unemployment soars, businesses declare bankruptcy or announce they cannot survive the shutdowns, and fears intensify about enduring economic devastation. Some businesses have even reopened in defiance of state orders.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, said on CNN, I deeply understand the stress and anxiety that people have, that entire dreams have been torn asunder because of the shutdowns, their savings account depleted and their credit ratings destroyed.

The question is, he added, how do you toggle back and make meaningful modifications to the stay-at-home order?

But governors also acknowledged concerns about a fresh resurgence of the coronavirus, and they are haunted by images of restaurants and stores packed with patrons with uncovered faces.

This is a virus were still learning a lot about, Mr. DeWine said.

The response to the virus has been defined by the balance between trying to curb the viruss spread and trying to minimize the economic harm. In much of the country, the pendulum has swung toward favoring the economy.

The shift has come as the national figures for reported new cases of the virus have declined in recent weeks, and as more states have allowed a wider array of businesses to return to operation. More than two-thirds of states have relaxed restrictions significantly. California, New York and Washington are among those partially reopening on a regional basis. Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey remain fully shut down.

This economy will recover; it may take a while.

Jerome H. Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that while he expected the U.S. economy to recover from the sharp and painful downturn brought about by the coronavirus, that process would take time potentially until the end of 2021.

This economy will recover; it may take a while, Mr. Powell said in a preview of the CBS program 60 Minutes, which is scheduled to air Sunday evening. It may take a period of time, it could stretch through the end of next year, we dont really know.

Asked whether the economy could recover without an effective vaccine, Mr. Powell suggested that it could make a start, but not get all the way there.

Assuming that theres not a second wave of the coronavirus, I think youll see the economy recover steadily through the second half of this year, he said. For the economy to fully recover, people will have to be fully confident, and that may have to await the arrival of a vaccine.

The interview with Mr. Powell, which CBS said was recorded on May 13, follows a blunt speech he gave the same day, warning that the economy may need more financial support to prevent permanent job losses and waves of bankruptcies.

Wondering what a coronavirus test is like? Watch Cuomo get swabbed on live TV.

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Im going to show you how fast and easy it is to take the test. And demonstrate why there should be no reluctance. This is Dr. Elizabeth Dufort, who is in the appropriate P.P.E. wear. Nice to see you, doctor. You make that gown look good. Head up a little bit. Head up. Close your eyes. Close my eyes. Why do I need to close my eyes? You can question the doctor. Thats OK. Why do I need to close my eyes? For comfort. Comfort. It might make you tear a little bit. If I fall asleep? Then well have you sit down. Thats it? Thats it. Nothing else. Told you. Thank you very much, doctor. That is the whole test. Im not in pain. Im not in discomfort. Closing my eyes was a moment of relaxation. There is no reason why you should not get the test.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo provided a lasting image on Sunday for fellow New Yorkers who may be apprehensive about getting tested for the coronavirus he invited a doctor to stick a swab up his nose during his live news briefing on the pandemic.

It is so fast and so easy that even a governor can take this test, Mr. Cuomo said.

Mr. Cuomo then stood up and turned to a doctor, who was holding a cotton swab and was wearing coveralls, a face shield and gloves. Camera shutters clicked furiously as the doctor guided the swab up the Mr. Cuomos nostril.

Thats it? he said. Thats it? Nothing else?

New York has the capability of conducting 40,000 tests per day at 700 sites, said Mr. Cuomo, who noted that testing would be critical to monitoring the spread of the virus as the state begins to reopen.

There is nothing about this test that should intimidate people from not taking this test, he said.

Calling into a golf broadcast, Trump says he wants big, big stadiums loaded with people.

In a telephone appearance during a televised charity golf exhibition Sunday, President Trump said he enthusiastically supported the return of live sporting events during the pandemic.

We want to get sports back, we miss sports, Mr. Trump said during NBCs broadcast of a skins game match involving Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff. We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country. And thats what were doing.

While Sundays exhibition was contested without spectators, Mr. Trump said he hoped that future events would be teeming with fans.

We want to get it back to where it was, we want big, big stadiums loaded with people, he said.

He later added, We want to get back to normal where you have the big crowds where theyre practically standing on top of each other, not where theyre worried.

I would love to be able to have all sports back, Dr. Fauci said. But as a health official and a physician and a scientist, I have to say, right now, when you look at the country, were not ready for that yet.

Thirteen sick sailors seemed to recover. Then they tested positive again.

Thirteen sailors aboard the virus-stricken aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt have retested positive for Covid-19 after seeming to have recovered from the disease, Navy officials said on Sunday.

The infected sailors, who had all tested negative twice before reboarding the Roosevelt in recent days, have been removed from the warship to self-quarantine. The Roosevelt has been docked in Guam since March 27 as Navy officials wrestle with how to deal with sickened sailors, disinfect the vessel and prepare for it to resume operations in the Western Pacific.

Navy officials have said they are aggressively screening and testing as crew members return to the Roosevelt after quarantining at the U.S. military base in Guam, as well as at hotels and in other lodging there. Officials on the ship are requiring masks and repeatedly cleaning and sanitizing to prevent another outbreak of the virus, which has infected about 1,100 crew members since March. One sailor has died.

About 2,900 of the 4,800 crew members are now back on board. They are under strict orders to report to doctors the slightest cough, headache or other flulike symptom. In the past week or so, the new testing even turned up a sailor who tested positive for tuberculosis. That set off a wild contact-tracing scramble that found no other cases on board, Navy officials said.

The results of the Navys latest investigation into events surrounding the Roosevelt are due by the end of this month.

Recent research in South Korea suggested that dozens of patients there who had tested positive a second time after recovering from the illness appeared to be false positives caused by lingering but likely not infectious bits of the virus.

You could feel it going through your veins. A teens battle with a virus-linked syndrome.

When a sprinkling of a reddish rash appeared on Jack McMorrows hands in mid-April, his father figured the 14-year-old was overusing hand sanitizer not a bad thing during a global pandemic.

When Jacks parents noticed that his eyes looked glossy, they attributed it to late nights of video games and TV.

When he developed a stomachache and didnt want dinner, they thought it was because I ate too many cookies or whatever, said Jack, a ninth-grader in Woodside, Queens, who loves Marvel Comics and has ambitions to teach himself Stairway to Heaven on the guitar.

But over the next 10 days, Jack felt increasingly unwell. His parents consulted his pediatricians in video appointments and took him to a weekend urgent care clinic. Then, one morning, he awoke unable to move.

He had a tennis ball-size lymph node, raging fever, racing heartbeat and dangerously low blood pressure. Pain deluged his body in a throbbing, stinging rush, he said.

You could feel it going through your veins and it was almost like someone injected you with straight-up fire, he said.

Jack, who was previously healthy, was hospitalized with heart failure that day, in a stark example of the newly discovered severe inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that has already been identified in about 200 children in the United States and Europe and killed several.

Colorado offers an alternative, much lower, count of its Covid-19 deaths.

What is the difference between deaths among Covid-19 cases and deaths due to Covid-19? In Colorado, that distinction in wording changes the total by about 30 percent.

Until Friday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had been including anyone who had Covid-19 at the time of death in the official total, a practice consistent with the C.D.C.s counting criteria. By that reckoning, Colorado had 1,192 deaths as of Friday.

But the state said it would now also report a lower figure those for whom the disease is considered the sole cause of death, with no other complicating factors. Counting that way knocks the states total down to 892.

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, defended the change on Sunday.

The C.D.C. criteria include anybody who died with Covid-19, he said on Fox News. What the people of Colorado and the people of the country want to know is how many people died of Covid-19.

Health experts have warned for weeks that inconsistent reporting protocols and insufficient testing have led to an undercounting of coronavirus deaths nationally. North Dakota and Alabama have both experimented with death counts similar to Colorados new approach, but have continued to report the C.D.C.s way.

Mr. Polis acknowledged that the virus, which he called a bad bug, can be particularly dangerous for older people and people with underlying medical conditions those who would be most likely to be excluded from the states sole-cause count.

As Alaskas salmon season opens, another coronavirus case adds to concerns.

A second fisheries worker in Alaska has tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to fears that the isolated fishing towns that have so far avoided infections could face challenges as thousands of seasonal workers pour in for the start of Alaskas summer seafood rush.

State officials said the positive case was identified Friday in the city of Dillingham. The infected worker, an employee of Trident Seafoods, had recently arrived and tested positive at the end of a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Earlier this month, a worker who had arrived in the fishing community of Cordova also tested positive.

Some locals have expressed concern about the fishing season, which began in Cordova with the pursuit of the famed Copper River salmon. In Dillingham, hospital leaders at the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation had requested that the fishing season remain closed, arguing that the arrival of thousands of outsiders put the community at risk.

To prepare for the influx of workers, state and local government officials have put in place strict quarantine procedures, social-distancing requirements and aggressive testing. Some companies are requiring their workers to stay on site, where the seasonal crews often sleep in bunkhouses.

State officials said the worker who tested positive in Dillingham was removed from the area. None of that persons contacts in the city have so far tested positive.

Congress appears no closer to a deal on further stimulus spending.

The passage of a $3 trillion stimulus package by the House on Friday appeared to bring Congress no closer this weekend to a deal on coronavirus aid, as pleas for more assistance collided with a conservative push to wait and see whether staggered state reopenings and previous aid packages arrest the economic free-fall.

The Republican-controlled Senate is not expected to take up the legislation that the Democratic-controlled House approved on Friday. Instead, the Senate will turn to a number of pending nominations before an expected Memorial Day recess. Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Republicans to reconsider.

Time is of the essence, she said in an interview aired Sunday on the CBS program Face the Nation. In the past bills, they put forth their proposal, and then we worked in a bipartisan way that we anticipate now.

They may think its OK to pause, but people are hungry across America, she added. Hunger doesnt take a pause.

Republican leaders have played down what Democrats say is an immediate need for relief, arguing that it was too early to allocate additional funds after Congress previously passed close to $3 trillion in relief.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has laid down a red line, saying that strengthening liability protections for health workers and businesses moving to reopen must be part of any future package.

Ms. Pelosi said on Sunday that she had no red lines, but she singled out a provision in the bill passed on Friday that would strengthen federal protections for essential workers.

The best protection for our workers and their employers is to follow very good OSHA mandatory guidelines, she said, referring to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. That protects the workers, protects their lives, as well as protects the employer if they follow the guidelines. Remember, when people go to work, they go home.

The legislation the House passed on Friday, which Democratic leaders acknowledged amounted to an opening offer, faces some opposition from within their party, including in the Senate.

I think what Pelosi did in the House it is significant, said Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats. I have some disagreements with it, and I want to see the Senate improve on it.

Fall school openings are shrouded in uncertainty.

A major question on the minds of many parents is whether their childrens schools will reopen in the fall. So far the plans and guidelines that have emerged are a patchwork, and state leaders are divided about whether it is possible to have the schools ready in time and what it will take to do it safely.

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said on Sunday that starting the school year open would not guarantee that they stayed that way. There might be times, if theres an outbreak at a school, that it has to convert to online for a period of weeks until its reasonably safe to return to school, he said on Fox News Sunday.

Governor Polis said his state was considering measures like staggering start times, class schedules and breaks to minimize crowds in hallways.

California will proceed slowly and methodically in allowing crowds to gather again anywhere, including schools, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Sunday, and that may mean that some schools in the state reopen while others remain closed.

Its all predicated on data, on science, not just observed evidence, he said on CNN. Each part of California is unique.

Both governors noted that while children were not often affected as severely by the virus as adults are, they were potential spreaders.

This is no question from an epidemiological perspective that this is a less severe, almost infinitesimal fatality rate for kids, Mr. Polis said. But the thing is, kids live with parents, they live with grandparents, kids are around teachers, so thats where it gets a little bit more complicated.

Health issues that affect minority groups are making the pandemic worse, Azar says.

Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, suggested in televised remarks on Sunday that the high death toll from Covid-19 in the United States, compared with other nations, was due at least in part to the prevalence of underlying health issues in minority communities.

Unfortunately, the American population is very diverse, and it is a population with significant unhealthy comorbidities that do make many individuals in our communities, in particular African-American minority communities, particularly at risk, Mr. Azar said on the CNN program State of the Union, adding, That is an unfortunate legacy of our health care system that we certainly do need to address.

The host, Jake Tapper, pressed Mr. Azar on whether he was trying to place the blame for the pandemic on its victims. I want to give you an opportunity to clear it up, Mr. Tapper said, because it sounded like you were saying that the reason that there are so many dead Americans is because were unhealthier than the rest of the world, and I know thats not what you meant.

Mr. Azar responded: We have a significantly disproportionate burden of comorbidities in the United States obesity, hypertension, diabetes these are demonstrated facts that make us at risk for any type of disease burden, of course, but that doesnt mean its the fault of the American people.

The federal agency that issues visas is almost broke.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that administers the countrys lawful immigration system, says it could be insolvent by summer, and has asked Congress for $1.2 billion to stay afloat.

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Illinois Threatens to Fine Defiant Businesses as Reopening Tensions Rise Nationally - The New York Times